The book came from thoughts and inspirations that occurred to me when I returned to Canada after separating from my wife and three beloved children. I believe the poems show a progression from utter sadness and despair to acceptance, patience, and hope. Underpinning all the poetry is an unwavering faith in the Almighty Creator, whose designs and miracles cannot always be fully understood. I tried to write, too, about the beauty of nature and humanity and, ultimately, about forgiveness. It is sincerely hoped the reader will derive some inspiration or hope through their own paths.
Shattered Innocence tells a gripping dramatic story of teenage innocence mixed with adult family drama. Brent Miller, main character, is the town hero due to his superb athletic ability and his presupposed destiny of being a professional athlete. His best friend Frankie Sutter idolizes Brent. When tragedy strikes Brent’s life, Frankie must carry the burden of responsibility for what follows. Another young teenager filled with rage kills his father who was sexually abusing his little sister. Leaving his father in a pool of blood, Johnny Walker races away in an old pickup truck which crashes into Frankie’s Mustang killing Brent’s girlfriend and leaving Brent paralyzed from the waist down. Brent believes his life is over. No longer the Hero, Frankie, who survived the accident with a few broken bones, must deal with the guilt and trauma of Brent’s Paralysis, his fall from town worship status and responsibility for the death of Brent’s girl friend Kelly.
Hope Rises from a Shattered Innocence will help those who have suffered trauma to receive God’s love as the key to releasing shame, rejection and hurts of the past; replace self-image confusion with knowing their identity in Christ; take realistic steps in learning to make disciplined choices; replace out-of-control behavior with spirit- empowered responses; replace self-defeating mindsets with confidence-producing beliefs; renew lost faith by nourishing it with relevant spiritual insights. In struggling through the destabilizing emotions of despair, depression, anger, social anxiety, and DID, from the innocent girl who was abused to becoming the authentic woman she is now, Lorraine managed to overcome what she felt was an internal hell. As a woman of faith and a former masters-level rehabilitation counselor, with God’s help, she developed a faith-based holistic approach that helped her move beyond her own trauma. Over the past ten years, she has been involved in supporting women affected by traumatic events—childhood abuse, partner violence, sexual abuse. Hope Rises from a Shattered Innocence inspires hope in others that they, too, can leave their past behind and step into their God-originated identities in Christ.
The Recidivist is an exploration of religious, moral and political ethics throughout history and mythology, and across alternative worlds. This story gets up close and personal with historical characters, the result being a unique re-imagining of ancient myths and legends.
Why Do You Walk the Way You Do? By: Jim Cohlmeyer All things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His Purpose. Why Do You Walk the Way You Do? was written as a personal memoir. In telling his story, Cohlmeyer tells everyone that overcoming obstacles in life is possible, no matter the circumstance. In turn, a rewarding life is attainable.
My name is Amber Reynolds. There are three things you should know about me: 1. I’m in a coma. 2. My husband doesn’t love me anymore. 3. Sometimes I lie. Amber wakes up in a hospital. She can’t move. She can’t speak. She can’t open her eyes. She can hear everyone around her, but they have no idea. Amber doesn’t remember what happened, but she has a suspicion her husband had something to do with it. Alternating between her paralyzed present, the week before her accident, and a series of childhood diaries from twenty years ago, this brilliant psychological thriller asks: Is something really a lie if you believe it's the truth?
Twelve years ago Matthew "the Rocket" Rising had it all. Married to his high school sweetheart and one of the winningest quarterbacks in the history of college football, he was the number one NFL draft pick. But on the night of the draft, he plummeted from the pinnacle of esteem. Falsely accused of a heinous crime with irrefutable evidence, it seemed in an instant all was lost -- his reputation, his career, his freedom, and most devastatingly, the love of his life. Having served his sentence and never played a down of professional football, Matthew leaves prison with one goal -- to find his wife, Audrey, whom no one has seen since the trial. He returns to an unwelcoming reception from his Gardi, Georgia, hometown to learn that Audrey has taken shelter from the media with the nuns at a Catholic school. There she has discovered a young man with the talent to achieve the football career Matthew should have had. All he needs is the right coach. Although helping the boy means Matthew violates the conditions of his release and -- if discovered -- reincarceration for life, he'll take the chance with hope of winning back Audrey's love.
A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of 2020 Winner of the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence “A comically dark coming-of-age story about growing up on the South Side of Chicago, but it’s also social commentary at its finest, woven seamlessly into the work . . . Bump’s meditation on belonging and not belonging, where or with whom, how love is a way home no matter where you are, is handled so beautifully that you don’t know he’s hypnotized you until he’s done.” —Tommy Orange, The New York Times Book Review In this alternately witty and heartbreaking debut novel, Gabriel Bump gives us an unforgettable protagonist, Claude McKay Love. Claude isn’t dangerous or brilliant—he’s an average kid coping with abandonment, violence, riots, failed love, and societal pressures as he steers his way past the signposts of youth: childhood friendships, basketball tryouts, first love, first heartbreak, picking a college, moving away from home. Claude just wants a place where he can fit. As a young black man born on the South Side of Chicago, he is raised by his civil rights–era grandmother, who tries to shape him into a principled actor for change; yet when riots consume his neighborhood, he hesitates to take sides, unwilling to let race define his life. He decides to escape Chicago for another place, to go to college, to find a new identity, to leave the pressure cooker of his hometown behind. But as he discovers, he cannot; there is no safe haven for a young black man in this time and place called America. Percolating with fierceness and originality, attuned to the ironies inherent in our twenty-first-century landscape, Everywhere You Don’t Belong marks the arrival of a brilliant young talent.
Japan and China are thrown close to the brink of war when a Japanese warship is attacked. Meanwhile top Covert-One operative Jon Smith is sent to recover mysterious material from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear reactor. Smith vanishes, and CIA agent Randi Russell goes on an unsanctioned mission to find him. She discovers that the missing samples may be evidence that Japan, led by Chief of Staff Masao Takahashi, has been developing next-generation weapons systems in preparation for a conflict with China. The Covert-One team must prevent Takahashi from sparking a war, or the world will be dragged into a battle certain to kill tens of millions of people and leave much of the planet uninhabitable.
