| Do
I need an agent? * Active Projects * Projects Finished * Open Letter From Rebecca * Site Map * Formatting Guidelines * Submitting a Query * Contacts * HOME PAGE * Writers Links |
| --Active
Projects-- |
|
| --Fiction-- |
| THE
DEVIL MADE ME . . . .
by Stephen
Tobias.
Everyone knows that Satan collects souls, but his other
passion
is to amass a fabulous art collection. Much of the art that has been
lost or stolen over the ages now hangs on the walls in his
“Museum of the Lost.” His claim that his is the
only
collection free of fakes and forgeries is undisputed. When rumor of a
previously undocumented Vermeer, appropriated by Nazi Air Marshal,
Herman Goering in the closing days of WW II reaches him, Satan sends
his chief demon curator; Renaissance sculptor, Pietro Tacca to buy it
from a dying war veteran who has it hanging on his wall in Houston,
Texas. Pietro returns with the painting which has been damaged by years of neglect in a bombed out farm house basement and Satan (AKA-Staggs, Stagger Lee) picks an innocent New York painter to do the restoration; hoping to obtain her soul and the painting both in one fell swoop. It is only when Pietro takes one look at her and falls madly in love that Satan’s plans go awry; as everything Pietro does to make the artist suffer backfires and Satan can see the painting slipping out of his grasp. Add a Capuchin monkey that is the artist’s guardian angel, an Israeli Mossad agent trying to repatriate the painting to its original owner, and a rapacious demon with fetal alcohol syndrome anxious to score points with the boss and, as they say in Hollywood-hilarity ensues. [Approximately
80,000 words, Manuscript Completed]
|
| EMERSON'S HOME
by Wendy
Fiore. When
Emerson LaMonica, an
over-achiever working as an
archivist in [Approximately
75,000 words. Manuscript Completed]
|
| A
FORTUNE IN LIES by Jason Carter
is the story of 34 year old Eric Matthews who
is catapulted into a race against time after learning of his wife,
Michelle’s, abduction and her abductor’s plot for a
twelve-hour ransom
recovery. Forced to stay inside a strict set of boundaries to ensure
his wife’s safety, Eric’s actions are not only
impossibly
daring, but
also under constant surveillance. Meanwhile, when two Long Beach
detectives, Wallace Trimble and Jonathan Childress, begin their
investigation into the untimely death of a young woman, the question of
whether or not she could be Eric’s wife is raised. The story
of
love,
trust, betrayal and murder, A FORTUNE IN LIES an adrenaline-pumping
rollercoaster that will rocket you through plot twists and turns and
keep you guessing from beginning to end.
[Approximately
90,000
words.
Manuscript Completed]
|
| THE GOLDEN GLEAM;
Fantasy fiction by Pam
Chillemi-Yeager. is
the story of Rick
Dearborn, a cynical mental health
worker, and Rubilee Gardner, the enigmatic, bi-racial
clairvoyant he
meets and marries after a whirlwind romance. Their wedded
bliss is
quickly thwarted when Rubilee miscarries during a
frightening
supernatural event. Shortly after, Rick's favorite client,
Ray
Antonelli, takes off, leaving behind a map, and a
note stating that
he is going to meet space creatures. Finding evidence that the
two
events are related, Rick and Rubilee, along
with Rubilee's two
colorful aunts and a coon dog with a fondness for baying at the moon
are off on a cross country quest to find answers, as well as the
missing Mr. Antonelli. From the lush farmlands of PA to the
beauty of
Nag's Head and ultimately a tribe of Goddess worshippers in
the Marble
Desert, THE GOLDEN GLEAM is filled with contemporary fantasy, humor and
suspense.
[Approximately
71,000 words. Manuscript Complete]
|
|
THE HAND OF OSIRIS by Frank Cavallo. 1879. Bounty hunter Jacob Hatcher has pursued the outlaw Jedediah Sykes from the Texas prairie to the deserts of the Arizona Territory. On the verge of capture, Sykes escapes into a valley that Hatcher’s Apache guides refuse to enter, warning that the lands are cursed by an ancient, nameless evil. The trail leads him to a town, a dark paradise of sin and vice called Gehenna. Though gambling and gunfights rule the day, no one in Gehenna ever dies. Unless everyone in Gehenna is already dead. Hatcher and Sykes soon find themselves entangled in the mysteries of Gehenna’s peculiar denizens – a pale dandy, a fire & brimstone Jesuit preaching to a city of lost souls, and a shadowy figure who rules over the town like a living god. When one of them makes a choice that threatens to damn them all, the rest must work together, confronting not only their own demons, but the hidden horrors of Gehenna itself, to find a stolen key that can unlock the domain of the dead. [Approximately
100,000 words. Manuscript Completed]
|
|
THE
JEWISH JOURNEY by Sheldon
Cohen.
From the
1840's to World War II, The Bauemler
family of [Approximately
100,000 words. Manuscript Completed]
|
|
LEFT LUGGAGE by Geoff
Nelder contains a
shattering original premise. The concept of memory is examined as the
part it plays in making us who we are. From space is brought a
suitcase-size
object that fundamentally affects memory. A few escape its invidious
consequences
and attempt to secure a future. Dangerous, yet sometimes humorous
action takes
us from orbit in the International Space Station to an apparent
sanctuary in a
remote valley in
[Approximately
108,000 words. Manuscript Completed]
|
| NEVER
FOREVER,
by Judy
Light Ayyildiz,
Forced out from the western provinces of the weakening Ottoman Empire
and into the heart of Anatolia and the establishment of the new Turkish
Republic, Adalet embodies both the dreams and struggles of the 20th
century woman. She is disowned for her love. She fights for the new
ideals of tomorrow and for her children. She is engendered by war and
an era that gave Turkish women a secular voice even before much of the
west. But she never is able to buck the traditions and dilemmas faced
by a woman determined to own her independence. Adalet was
born
into the grace and education of high Ottoman society, where European
ideals fostered the uprising of the Young Turks. She is one of the many
builders, wives and mothers of the new state whose bold pride secured a
revolution. As Adalet's life folds dreams into deception, love into
rejection and birth into loss it is her inner strength, a spirit forged
in both East and West that stands down and rebuilds. [Approximately
90,000 words. Manuscript
Completed]
|
| OUTSIDER,
by Stephen
Tobias.
Nathan Lerner, photographer and art professor has been unable to work
since the loss of his daughter to leukemia and the subsequent break-up
of his marriage. He keeps his lack of creative output secret,
re-cycling his old negatives and sleep walking through his days. When
an elderly tenant in a building Nathan owns moves into a nursing home,
Nathan goes to clean out his apartment and finds a vast collection of
original art done by the reclusive and disturbed ex-janitor, Herman
Vireck. The art, done on cheap sketch paper with Woolworth water colors
and using sophisticated techniques of collage and blending of sacred
and profane images will eventually be recognized as the work of an
obsessive genus and effect the work of hundreds of contemporary
artists. For Lerner the discovery of Herman’s work sends him
on a tortuous journey into the nature of his own creative sensibility
and to the dark secrets surrounding his daughter’s hidden
relationship with “crazy” Herman.
OUTSIDER is loosely based on the life of outsider artist Henry Darger, about whom little is actually known. It is hoped that through this fictional exploration of the imagined relationship between Nathan and Herman an emotional satisfying conclusion can be brought to some of the questions that surround this disturbed and elusive genius. (Approximately 100,000 words. Manuscript Complete) |
| A PLACE TO BE FREE
by Hugh
Mannfield is set in a future
where machines have
become an
extension of the mind, scientists have learned how time assumes
physical form,
and humans are migrating into space. In
this future, antigravity technology is transforming the moon into a
living
world and setting the stage for a technological clash that will
violently
reshape civilization. When
off world
ballots are thrown out in the US
presidential election down on Earth, the colonies revolt. Some of the
rebels have
more in mind than
independence and in order to prevent global devastation, Captain Jack
Hawkins,
and Specialist Amanda Yeager must track a band of rebel extremists who
have
stolen an antigravity field generator beyond Mars to the asteroid mines
on
Ceres. Along the
way they learn the
explosive hidden truth about antigravity fields, secrets of space-time
manipulation
that Albert Einstein may have taken to his grave. [Approximately
100.000 words.
Manuscript Completed]
|
| THE PROMETHEUS GATE
by Frank
Cavallo.
After more than four decades behind bars, notorious serial
killer
Al Grimsby stages an inexplicable escape. Christina Falcone,
the
FBI’s top behavioral analyst, is assigned to hunt him
down.
Her investigation leads her into a maze of conflicting clues: secret
government experiments, legends of lost gods and an archaeologist named
Carter McAlester—who works for a shadowy organization with
their
own agenda. From the streets of Berlin to the ruins of
Babylon
they race to find a legendary artifact that may hold the key to an
unspeakable power—a power that Al Grimsby may already
possess,
and which may have driven him mad. Plagued by nightmares and
dark
visions, they must discover the truth before Grimsby can finish his
bloody work. Before the Prometheus Gate can be opened. [Horror.
Approximately
120,000 words. Manuscript Completed]
|
| THE
PUZZLE BOX by Chris C. Ewing.
A
chain of bizarre events is set in motion when
geologist Thomas McEwen discovers an intricately-carved wooden box in
the mountains of Wyoming. No one seems to know what is inside the
sealed box but many are willing to go to great lengths to find out.
When a university professor is murdered for researching the artifact,
the Abbess of a mysterious rogue church in the mountains offers Thomas
sanctuary. Caught in over 100 years of eerie destiny, Thomas races to
find the ancient truth before he becomes yet another victim of the
PUZZLE BOX. [Approximately
71,000 words. Manuscript
Completed]
|
| SUCH
SWEET THUNDER: The Woman who
Loved Beethoven by David Ryback. Sometimes a man’s hidden secrets are best understood by the woman who loves him most deeply. This is the story of Beethoven's life as seen through the eyes of his immortal beloved. Hers is the voice that sets up the narrative, with all the passion that reverberates with his powerful music. It takes the reader through the life of Beethoven, based on a memoir that he leaves for her after his death. The memoir is intermingled with her own remembrances of this immortal love for the ages. [Approximately 85,000
words.
Manuscript Completed]
|
|
THE TWINS
by Sheldon
Cohen.
The Nazis have assumed power in Germany. A
brilliant theoretical and experimental German physicist has discovered
the secret of nuclear fission and the nuclear bomb and is prepared to
assure Adolf Hitler control of the world. Who is this physicist? Can he
be stopped? The intelligence services of two nations combine to kill or
capture this physicist. There is one chance. What is there about his
past that can be used to stop him? The future of the world hangs in the
balance. [Approximately 70,000
words. Manuscript Completed.]
|
| UNDER
LOW SKIES is another
adventure from Ed
Teja
with the exotic background of the
Southern Caribbean and South America to add spice. The action-oriented
adventure murder mystery is peopled with interesting and likable
characters. [Approximately
80,000 words. Manuscript
Completed]
|
| THE
VAMPIRE LOVER'S COOKBOOK by Pam
Chillemi-Yeager. Bram
Stoker would never have imagined his
seminal work would create such madness. For here in the new millenium,
vampires are all the rage. Girls swoon, boys scoff, and the sometimes
secretly smitten adults fund it all. But has anyone ever wondered how
this pop culture phenomenon plays out in real ife? THE VAMPIRE LOVER'S
COOKBOOK, a
Young Adult novel of first love, loss and today's
complex
family dynamic does just that. All fourteen-year-old Cal wants to do is
play football. When he accidentally breaks a church window, he and his
friends are corralled into a mortifying church cooking class. Enter one
Nikki Sixx Morganstien, the sultry teen clutching the Sunset vampire
books to her chest. Sparks fly as the class progresses, culminating in
the frightening kidnapping of Cal's young neighbor. Featuring
first love, blended families, rock and roll, sexuality, religion and
the power of friendship and forgiveness against the backdrop of small
town USA,
THE VAMPIRE LOVER'S COOKBOOK tells a
beguiling story which also shows how pop culture shapes each
generation. [Young Adult,
Approximately
75,000 words. Manuscript Completed]
|
| WHO IS MISTER I?
by Robert
VanDeventer
is an adventure/intrigue novel that anticipates coming detente with
Cuba in the atmosphere of that much maligned business – used
cars. Huge, erudite Fred Burns is a former smack-down wrestler and
recent drama critic who insists that he merely sells vintage cars
– Hudsons, Packards, and Cords. But federal agents
and
Roger Deerman, world’s largest car dealer, insist that he is
also
the mysterious Mr. Iconoplast, Philly’s arcane image maker.
When
Burns learns that Deerman is selling cars in Cuba, he knows more than
is healthy for him, and he’s framed for murder. Within hours,
Deerman, the feds, and local cops want him, dead or alive, and Burns is
on the run all over south Jersey in all sorts of vehicles.
He’s
dumped in the bay, blasted into the Delaware River, and winds up chased
by an elephant. On the way, he deals with assorted thugs, Deerman, who
doesn’t mean to sin – “But the
profit!”
– daughter Nell who is a caustic coed, and a blonde
bombshell who’s more mysterious than he is. As Burns the car
dealer might put it, the whole book is one tight and fast cream puff. [Approximately
72.000 words. Manuscript Completed]
|
| WORDS
OF GRACE by Pam Chillemi-Yaeger
is the story of one woman's journey back to her
hometown, the calamities of her lively Italian family, as well as the
heartbreak of first love, family secrets and the surprising danger
facing old friends in small-town USA. [Approximately
80,000 words. Manuscript
Completed]
|
| XAGHRA'S
REVENGE;
Magic realism fantasy.
XAGHRA'S REVENGE by Geoff
Nelder, follows
the fate of a sixteenth century abducted family, and of two
contemporary lovers thrown together by the ancients. Reece and Zita are
unaware that one descends from the pirates, the other from the abducted
family. While the Gozo spirits seek revenge, so do the Ottoman
Corsairs, who intend to roll back history, and this time win the siege
of Malta. [Approximately
90,000 words. Manuscript Completed]
|
| --Nonfiction- |
| AN ACCIDENTAL PRISONER'S
SURVIVAL
GUIDE ; A memoir/black
comedy, by John
J. Reiner.
When a strait-laced attorney is jailed for a crime he didn’t
commit, he must use his background in psychology, sociology,
pediatrics, and, especially, his sense of humor to first thwart and
ultimately befriend his fellow inmates and the jail staff, who, thanks
to Erin Brockovich, peg him as “the enemy” and use
malevolent and comical methods in their attempts to wreak havoc upon
him and explode his “good time” release credits to
maximize
his jail term and prevent him from returning to his home and family
until the latest possible date. [Approximately
90,000 words. Manuscript Completed]
|
|
THE COMING HEALTHCARE
REVOLUTION by Sheldon Cohen.
Medical errors kill 98,000
patients per year in the United States. You, the patient, can play a
crucial role in not becoming part of this statistic. The coming
healthcare changes that will be implemented over the next ten years
will make the patient’s role more crucial then ever. You will
learn the important details about a complete medical examination
including a medical history, physical examination and screening
laboratory data; risk factor analysis for the major diseases; health
screening; symptoms that must never be ignored; and how to take charge
of your health. Once confident about your personal health information
you will be in a position to minimize medical errors and live a longer
and healthier life.
[Approximately 90,000 words. Manuscript Completed]
|
| HEY
DOC: REVELATIONS OF A
MODERN FAMILY DOCTOR
by Richard
Bowles, MD.
Dr. Bowles, with his patients' permission,
shares his amazing and intimate dealings with them. He was
there. He spoke with them. He touched
them. He spoke with family members. They trusted
him, or they didn't. Things worked out well, or they
didn't. He was sued. The reader is invited on one
fantastic life adventure after another. [Approximately
75,000 words. Manuscript
Completed]
|
| A GUIDE TO THE PSALMS OF
DAVID (A Book for All
Reasons) by Steve
Rosner is a resource for an individual—of
any faith—who is suffering
and/or directionless:
To help him/her find solace, direction, receive a new awareness and/or
be transformed. One that will result in healing and/or reconsideration
of one’s personal ethics—to become more inclined to
clean
hands and a pure heart..
Highlighted by a detailed taxonomy
that—using modern data base technology—classifies
each of the 150 Psalms within four major categories (For Whom Intended,
Purpose, Theme, Mood), it
allows the reader to quickly find the right
psalm at the time
of greatest need.
Additionally, the book contains, but is not limited to, a deeply felt,
yet eminently readable, English translation of all 150
psalms,
not based upon a particular religious belief or practice, but
attempting to convey the human
condition
and engage the reader’s soul. [Approximately
90,000 words. Manuscript
Completed]
|
| HOW VIDEO GAMES SAVED MY
LIFE by Benjamin S. Dutka.
A memoir, dating from the first moment a young child of four
grasped the unfamiliar plastic stick in his hands, which shows how
video games
have had an overwhelmingly positive influence on an otherwise typical
life. The gaming industry has long since
been misunderstood; as far as the media and many parents are concerned,
such a
hobby can only have a negative impact. But
in looking back, the author recalls the moments when gaming enriched
his life:
virtues rather than vices, conventional, old-fashioned beliefs in the
form of
duty-driven heroes and heroines, nearly unparalleled creativity and
imagination
that prompted the very same traits within a young, developing mind,
etc. Could video games really give birth to such
crucially important elements of human decency?
Once we reach the end of the candid, emotional memoir, filled with the
short story events of a wide-eyed kid who continues to be a wide-eyed
adult,
everyone will know the answer. [Manuscript
Nearly Completed]
|
| JUSTICE FOR ONE AND ALL?
The story of Jane Gagliardo vs. Connaught Laboratories, by Sherry Karasik.
(Summary
coming soon.) [Approximately
75,000 words. Manuscript Completed]
|
| STUMP CITY
CHRONICLES--MEMOIR OF
A BLUE COLLAR KID is Robert
J. Porter Jr.'s
journey through the life he was handed, and made for himself.
It
is a wry, yet poignant look at blue-collar family life as it was in the
1950's and 60's in small town America, which was influenced by the
blessed trinity of church, school and tavern. STUMP CITY
describes life during the era of black and white TV's with rabbit ears
antennas, the imminent invasion from illegal aliens from Mars, who
somehow became Mexicans just a few years later, entering puberty in the
absence of biological instruction, thus, his first time (with a
partner), though memorable, was also forgettable. He found
out
early that his town expected blind obedience to the Republican Party,
and later, despite having 25% of his DNA derived from Mohawk
Indian blood, this did not insure the safe operation of a canoe. [Approximately
70,000 words. Manuscript
Completed]
|
| THIS IS NOT ABOUT
BASKETBALL by Tom Morgan.;
A
Boy finds his voice; an Old Man finds renewal and purpose. Daniel, a little boy, is rescued from a serious malady - in part because of his uncle’s urgings. Twelve years later the uncle intervenes again. At 65, with a faulty heart, he builds a basketball court, buys balls and shoes and takes up the challenge to help his nephew learn to play the sport. This is the chronicle of Daniel’s progress from awkwardness, through goals, drills every morning, to his first game as a high school player. “This is not about basketball” is the uncle’s mantra. “This is about your piano lessons, your Spanish class. This is about life, Daniel.” The uncle explores his own painful memories of learning to play amidst neglect and disinterest from his parents. He reflects on a range of topics: The brilliant coach who never played. A speedster who had no speed. The anatomically impossible jump shot. A guru who knew nothing. Idiot twins who learn to read. A jazz pianist who has heard rumors “they’s writin’ music”. How the brains of John Nash (A BEAUTIFUL MIND) and Daniel tackle problems. Golfers who learned without clubs. The worldwide mystery of the 4-minute mile. The TAO/DAO of basketball. Death of a brother. A throwaway kid who becomes a Navy officer. The lesson that “Unusual, plus hard work, equals extra-ordinary.” As Daniel progresses and nephew and uncle grow closer, we realize that this is about more than basketball. It is about life - why the uncle’s was spared , extended. It is about something valuable to Daniel: How it is that he learns. [Approximately
50,000
words.
Manuscript
Completed]
|
| TRIAL IN COOPERSTOWN
by Tom
Morgan.
In Cooperstown you attend your first jury trial, in 2006, of
a
man accused of beating his wife to death. By the time the
jury’s foreman sings out their verdict you have befriended
the
accused’s parents and brother and minister, the dead
woman’s siblings, the district attorney who prosecutes and
the
colorful legendary man who crafts the defense for “an
innocent
man, ladies and gentlemen”. In his farewell he
beseeches
you to “Let the people know what you witnessed here this
week.” Questions he peppered us with in his
masterful
defense will resonate with you for years to come. You will
come
to appreciate COOPERSTOWN
as a celebration of an American treasure, the jury trial. [Approximately
85,000 words. Manuscript Completed]
|