Books I've Written
Thanks for taking a look at my books.
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​"Read Sample" takes you to Amazon, but if you prefer not to buy from them, most are available at Bookshop.Org, Barnes & Noble, and other retailers.
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If you're a teacher or book club, check out the Supplemental Materials.
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Retailers should be able to order them from Ingram. If you don't find them by author or title, search with the ISBN. The ISBNs for each format are listed on every copyright page when you Read Sample. If you still have trouble, please use the contact form below to let me know. Thanks.
Through the nineteen fifties and sixties, they grew up together in a small town that could have been anywhere in the United States. It could have been your town. "All for one, one for all!" was their cry as three young boys battled with sticks. It became their motto as teens.
Janet was always one of the guys; Cathy became a romantic partner.
July 1, 1970 - The Draft Lottery - "All for one" changed their lives forever.
July 1, 2022 - Cathy and her husband are content. He's about to retire. They have their grandkids for the summer. Life is good.
Then the past shoves its way into the present, bringing fear and uncertainty. By the end of the deadly month, their lives again change forever.
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Amazon reviewer: "Masterfully written with suspense at every turn."
The story starts with Peg looking back:
When I started high school in 1971, my plans for the future were not clear, but they included an exciting career that would take me all over the world, far from the boring small town of my parents. Instead, a series of detours became my life... It was easy to disappear for ten years.
Kirkus Reviews summarized the theme nicely: “In some ways, the novel is a brutal cautionary tale, showing how one mistake can spiral into a life-changing series of events. In another, however, it is a moving coming-of-age narrative about a girl who discovers herself amid extreme circumstances. A nuanced yet plainly told novel.”​
The plan is in place. By the time they realize her camping trip was bogus, Maggie is in another state, about to run again from new dangers. When Peg realizes her daughter is not coming back, she knows she must find her quickly or they may never see each other again. Peg's missing journal from when she ran away as a teen is the only clue to Maggie's whereabouts.
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Originally published as Running Away, this novel won an Honorable Mention in the Writer’s Digest International Self-Published Book Awards.
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Judge Commentary: “I could not put this book down.”
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Kirkus Reviews: "A tense and unsettling portrait of a family torn apart by a predator in its midst."
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The movie Running Away has been shown in Europe and is streaming.​
Michael's beloved step-father died a year ago. Now his mother's gone too, with an empty pill bottle and a note saying to stay together. With help from the girl he likes, Michael starts a cross-country trip with his young white siblings, figuring the grandparents they've never known will at least accept the little ones. While Michael navigates responsibility, grief, prejudice, fear, and his first romantic relationship, the police label his mother's death murder. They suspect Michael, but the killer is stalking the kids.
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One of five finalists in the YA division of Kindle Book Awards 2023.
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Amazon Expert Reviewer: “The writing is good…the plot is gripping”
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Publisher’s Weekly: “…issues of race and identity are nicely handled”
Thirteen-year-old Nina tells the story of her mother Alice, a totally uptight, proper, responsible French teacher whose department has been eliminated. It's always been just the two of them. Then the hippie father ​Alice has never talked about drops into their lives and Nina's perfectly proper mother unravels - revealing secrets, surprises, and the fire that will make her the Rosa Parks of the Taxpayers Civil Rights Movement.
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Judge, 25th Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards: “Overall, one of the most interesting and useful novels I’ve seen.”
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Amazon Reviewer: “I …found myself laughing, crying and getting totally sucked into the story. Yet…the ethical storyline is still sticking with me”​
For more than 200 years, The Saturday Evening Post has been publishing a who’s who of American authors — Ray Bradbury, F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, Louis L’Amour, Jack London, Joyce Carol Oates, Edgar Allan Poe, Anne Tyler, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Sinclair Lewis, among so many others — and continues to support the legacy of the storyteller.
This anthology includes 31 stories they consider the best from their 2016 Great American Fiction Contest, including Sheri McGuinn's "Maria Angelica's Baby." ​
Maria's always been a good girl. Now she has secrets she must keep hidden.
When Amazon moved print books from CreateSpace to KDP, I discontinued this book rather than continually updating it. However, the info on formatting and working with others in your school will still apply so I've left the eBook available for ninety-nine cents - or free if you have Kindle Unlimited.
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This guide can help you develop projects to prepare students for the new workplace. You can publish: a body of work by one person, cookbooks or other fund-raisers, anthologies, affordable yearbooks - even if you're tech-challenged! One caveat - when we published a yearbook for $7, you could limit sales to the school and not publish for the world. That is no longer an option at KDP, but Barnes and Noble Publishing might allow this.
This is the School Edition of Running Away. In this edition, words inappropriate for use in school were replaced with **. Also, it has the original entries from Peg's journal - before I wrote her story and found out she was trafficked - so those are also more school appropriate in this edition.
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Unless you find a used copy, it is available only as a digital book at Amazon - but if you have Kindle Unlimited, it's free!
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If you really want a paperback, use the contact form below to let me know. I could special order what you need.