Tag Archives: thursdays-on-first

A Distant World Beckons

Embracing the Mystical

by Tom Eberhard

ADo we really see everything that is visible, hear all that is spoken, or understand the intended message? Do we even know who is communicating? How often does rigid, formal learning limit our ability to perceive the mystery of our destiny?

Explore the world beyond through a series of inspirational stories involving deceased relatives and otherworldly entities. These unique accounts unveil the likelihood that the other side will lend a guiding hand as we meander through our earthly existence.

Proceed with confidence and gratitude. Ordinary events often unveil pathways to enlightenment. Wisdom of the ages is within your grasp.

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About the Author

Tom Eberhard resides in Rochester, MNwith his family and has been semi-retired for several years. From a spiritual perspective, certain events in his life form an unusual pattern. Being close to nature while growing up on a farm has sharpened his awareness of signs, symbols and phenomena that facilitate communication with the world beyond. These other-world communications often reveal themselves through common occurrences in the natural world. The author believes it is through the sharing of his personal experiences that others are enabled to prosper by gaining insights into their own spiritual destinies.

Three Dreams of Anne Frank

by Rod Starcke

ThreeThree Dreams of Anne Frank is a fantasy, an allegorical story involving three fictional dreams Anne has on the night of May 11, 1944 which express the anguish and bravery she must endure from nightly air raids, break-ins to the building where she is hidden, and possible capture. It combines reality and fairy tale elements in Kafkaesque fashion to explore both Anne's frame of mind and the torment that can become the human condition.

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About the Author

Rod Starcke retired from the Army in 2014 and now writes full time in his home town of Rochester, Minnesota. His favorite genres are fairy tales and allegorical fantasy, such as the works of David Lindsay, George MacDonald, and H. C. Andersen.

Dark Roses for the Grave of Andersen

Seven Fairy Tales in Memory of the Great Danish Storyteller

by Rod Starcke

DarkThis collection of entertaining stories were written in the tradition of older fairy tales such as The Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen. It contains "The Unicorn And The Lovelorn Knight" in which a unicorn falls in love with a human, "The Little Skeleton" wherein a little girl continues to dance after her death, "The Wine Of Good Humor"--a tale of a soldier who chances upon a magic bottle of wine that grants good humor to any who drink of it. Readers will be enthralled at the caste of characters, the original story lines and the return to the archetypal fairy tale style.

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About the Author

Rod Starcke retired from the Army in 2014 and now writes full time in his home town of Rochester, Minnesota. His favorite genres are fairy tales and allegorical fantasy, such as the works of David Lindsay, George MacDonald, and H. C. Andersen.

Heart of a Dove

Dove #1

by Abbie Williams

HeartThe Civil War has ended, leaving the country with a gaping wound. Lorie Blake, a southern orphan sold into prostitution at fifteen, has carefully guarded her aching soul from the disgrace forced upon her every evening. Two years have passed, leaving her with little hope of anything more. Meanwhile, three men – longtime friends – and a young boy with a heart of gold are traveling northward, planning to rebuild their lives in the north and leave behind the horrors of their time as soldiers in the Confederate Army.

Fate, however, has plans of its own, causing their lives to collide in a river town whorehouse. Forced to flee, Lorie escapes and joins them on the journey north. But danger stalks them all in the form of a vindictive whorehouse madam and an ex-Union soldier, insane and bent on exacting revenge. At last, Lorie must come to terms with her past and devastating secrets that she cannot yet bear to reveal.

Heart of a Dove is the first book in a gripping, sweeping romantic saga of pain, unbearable choices, loss and true love set against the backdrop of a scarred, post-Civil War America.

Publisher

Published by: Everheart Books

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About the Author

I am writer Abbie Williams, and I have been addicted to love stories ever since first sneaking my mother's copy of The Flame and the Flower; since then, I've been jotting down stories of my own in notebook after spiral-bound notebook. Well, that is until I got a computer that was equipped with Word, one fine day.

I spend my days with my own true love, our three daughters, and a very busy schedule. I am most happy when I can sneak in a few hours to write and thereby indulge in visiting the characters in my stories.

When I'm not writing, teaching or spending time with my family, you can find me listening to my favorite musical groups of all time: Alison Krauss and Union Station, the Wailin' Jennys, and The Be Good Tanyas. If there's time in the evening, I might watch a few episodes of Hell on Wheels and eat a jar of crunchy peanut butter.

Summer at the Shore Leave Cafe

Shore Leave Cafe #1

by Abbie Williams

SummerJoelle Gordon is leaving Chicago and her cheating husband to head for her hometown of Landon, Minnesota. There, she returns to the Shore Leave Café, the lakeside diner the Davis women have run for decades. Joelle's family, including her three teenaged daughters, Camille, Tish, and Ruthann, is made up of strong women who have long believed in a curse upon them - a curse that robs them of the men they love.

This summer has plenty in store for Joelle. Finding herself confronted with the reality of single motherhood, the last thing she expects is gorgeous, passionate Blythe Tilson, a summer employee at Shore Leave, with an uncertain past. Can Joelle risk the temptation of a younger man - and does she dare to risk loving someone again, or will the Davis family curse prove all too true?

Summer at the Shore Leave Café is the first book in a series about true love, parenthood, and the strength of what binds families together.

Publisher

Published by: Everheart Books

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About the Author

I am writer Abbie Williams, and I have been addicted to love stories ever since first sneaking my mother's copy of The Flame and the Flower; since then, I've been jotting down stories of my own in notebook after spiral-bound notebook. Well, that is until I got a computer that was equipped with Word, one fine day.

I spend my days with my own true love, our three daughters, and a very busy schedule. I am most happy when I can sneak in a few hours to write and thereby indulge in visiting the characters in my stories.

When I'm not writing, teaching or spending time with my family, you can find me listening to my favorite musical groups of all time: Alison Krauss and Union Station, the Wailin' Jennys, and The Be Good Tanyas. If there's time in the evening, I might watch a few episodes of Hell on Wheels and eat a jar of crunchy peanut butter.

Shadow Play

by D A Lampi

ShadowPsychiatrist Grace Rendeau struggles to make sense of her husband's untimely death. Left a widow with two children, Grace forges a new life for her family, abandoning her private practice and moving to Minnesota to take on a prestigious position at the Rochester Forensic Center for the Criminally Insane.

In striving to heal her patients, she finds healing, a new strength, and a sense of possibilities. Among the possibilities is a budding romance with Alex Sawyer, a divorced doctor engaged in humanitarian work. Grace accompanies Alex on a medical mission to Indonesia and they return committed to a new life together. But their joy is short lived.

Grace returns home not to her children, but to an empty house and a chilling kidnapper's note. Enemies known and unknown haunt Grace's every waking hour. Grace's story illuminates the hopes and fears of every wife or husband, mother or father, woman or man, caught in life's turmoil and striving to overcome it.

Publisher

Published by: North Star Press of St. Cloud, Inc.

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About the Author

D.A. Lampi lives in southeastern Minnesota with her husband, four children and a sheltie named Scout Finch. She has a Master of Arts degree in Psychology and writes fiction. This is her first novel. Her short story, Fifty Years is soon be published in a horror anthology of horror stories by Aprocryphile Press. She is currently working on a second Grace Rendeau novel.

A Shark at the Park

by Mike Kalmbach and Alexander Kalmbach
Illustrated by Nicole Cardiff

AA timeless story about the special relationship between father and son. This story will be enjoyed by fans of Love You Forever by Robert Munsch and Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney.

Follow one boy, his dad, and a host of animals as they encounter A SHARK AT THE PARK.

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About the Authors

Mike Kalmbach grew up in a forest near Lake Michigan. Spending his summers chasing wizards and fighting battles with evil ogres, Mike has always had a creative mind. He'll often share stories from his past, and some of them are even true.

After time dragged him from childhood, Mike moved into freelance editing, helping other authors improve dozens of stories. During the daylight hours, he writes software to help with genetics research. He leads the Rochester MN Writing group and often speaks on topics from writing and editing to engineering and robotics.

Luckily, Mike now has two sons, so he has plenty of excuses to set down the pen and play. He lives in Minnesota where he, his family, and a band of pirates can still be found battling ogres, dust bunnies, and even the occasional dragon.

Alexander Kalmbach was just two years old when he helped write his first book, A Shark at the Park. He has inherited his dad’s creativity and sense of humor (sorry world!). He spends his days fighting fires, busting ghosts, and chasing sharks away from the park.

About the Illustrator

Nicole Cardiff is an American artist currently living in Los Angeles, California. She graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design with BFA in illustration. Nicole has been honored by the ImagineFX Magazine as a Rising Star and featured artist under 25. She works as a freelance artist and her works have mainly fantasy themes.

If You Leave this Farm

by Amanda Farmer

IfAs a teenage Mennonite girl, Amanda lives with her close-knit family in south central Pennsylvania. Life revolves around hard work, faith, and commitment to the family. She doesn’t question the daily routine; it’s the only life she’s known. Her father talks about buying a farm out west with a lot of land in one block. Not only will the family farm there together, but the parents hope to begin a new Mennonite community. To a fifteen-year-old girl, this move begins as an exciting adventure.

In If You Leave This Farm, Amanda shares the story of her family’s relocation to Minnesota and the subsequent challenges they face as farmers, a family, and Mennonites. She tells how the first crop year was a huge failure and her father alone makes the decision to expand the new dairy in an attempt to recoup the losses. This memoir chronicles the years of struggle as Amanda and her younger brother Joseph seek to escape their father’s suffocating and controlling behavior.

Intermingled with the struggle on the farm is the effort to become an accepted member of the Minnesota Mennonite community. The change in Amanda’s father’s behavior and attitude during the first years in Minnesota alienates him and his family from others of the same faith. She shares a mix of emotions as she wrestles with the shame of her family’s standing with the Mennonites and the crushing weight of constant submission to her father’s misguided use of his God-given authority.

Publisher

Published by: Archway Publishing

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About the Author

Amanda Farmer grew up on the farm and worked there with her family until the age of twenty-nine. She earned a master's degree in nurse anesthesia. Farmer now lives with her husband on a hobby farm in southeastern Minnesota. They have one grown daughter.

How to Date Dead Guys

The Witches Handbook #1

by Ann M. Noser

HowQuiet college sophomore Emma Roberts remembers her mother’s sage advice: “don’t sleep around, don’t burp in public, and don’t tell anyone you see ghosts”. But when cute Mike Carlson drowns in the campus river under her watch, Emma’s sheltered life shatters.

Blamed for Mike’s death and haunted by nightmares, Emma turns to witchcraft and a mysterious Book of Shadows to bring him back. Under a Blood Moon, she lights candles, draws a pentacle on the campus bridge, and casts a spell. The invoked river rages up against her, but she escapes its fury. As she stumbles back to the dorm, a stranger drags himself from the water and follows her home.

Instead of raising Mike, Emma assists the others she stole back from the dead—a pre-med student who jumped off the bridge, a young father determined to solve his own murder, and a frat boy Emma can’t stand…at first. More comfortable with the dead than the living, Emma delves deeper into the seductive Book of Shadows. Her powers grow, but witchcraft may not be enough to protect her against the vengeful river and the killers that feed it their victims.

Publisher

Published by: Curiosity Quills

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About the Author

My to-do list dictates that I try to cram 48 hours of living into a day instead of the usual 24. I’ve chosen a life filled with animals. I train for marathons with my dog, then go to work as a small animal veterinarian, and finish the day by tripping over my pets as I attempt to convince my two unruly children that YES, it really IS time for bed. But I can’t wait until the house is quiet to write; I have to steal moments throughout the day. Ten minutes here, a half hour there, I live within my imagination.

Like all busy American mothers, I multi-task. I work out plot holes during runs. Instead of meditating, I type madly during yoga stretches. I find inspiration in everyday things: a beautiful smile, a heartbreaking song, or a newspaper article on a political theory. For example, a long drive in the dark listening to an NPR program on the SMILEY FACE MURDERS theory made me ask so many questions that I wrote HOW TO DATE DEAD GUYS to answer them to my satisfaction.

I’d love to have more time to write (and run, read, and sleep), but until I find Hermione Granger’s time turner, I will juggle real life with the half-written stories in my head. Main characters and plot lines intertwine in my cranium, and I need to let my writing weave the tales on paper so I can find out what happens next.

Reliance on Citizens Makes Us Great Book 1 – Price of a Bounty

by S. L. Wallace

PriceKeira Maddock has never considered herself a lady. In fact, she often acts in ways that would be considered downright un-ladylike. A hired killer and thief whose only goal is to provide the necessities of life for herself and her sister, she has learned to be brutally effective in her trade, with skills as sharp as the weapons she prefers. And when the head of a huge, shadowy corporation hires her to remove a powerful and wealthy opponent, Keira is happy to oblige. Until she meets him... Scott Maddock is a hardened Terenian soldier-for-life. His job, to uphold the motto of the realm: "Reliance on Citizens Makes Us Great!" Soldiers work for the Gov, and the Gov is run by heads of corporations. But where do Scott's loyalties really lie? Only he and his best friend know for sure. April Maddock is trying to make it on her own and has taken a job with a wealthy family. She has chosen not to fight the system like Keira, nor to fight for the Gov like Scott. Unlike her siblings, she recognizes the good in everyone. Even so, outside appearances can be deceiving. April knows that better than most. Infested with greed and divided by power, the realm of Terene bears remarkable resemblance to our own society. But opposite despair, there is always hope. Whereas Keira Maddock brings destruction, Guy Bensen brings promise. Wealthy and powerful, yet thoughtful and caring, he is an anomaly who throws her completely off guard. When she learns of his connections to Scott and April, Keira knows she has made the right decision in not only sparing his life but in joining his cause. In book one of the Reliance on Citizens trilogy, S. L. Wallace introduces a world divided in which not everyone is who he seems to be. In a seamless blend of action, sci-fi, romance and political suspense, we are encouraged to consider the bonds that makes us human.

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About the Author

S.L. Wallace is a teacher and life long writer who is a descendant of the famous William Wallace. Like him, she believes in freedom and independence. Unlike him, she fights her battles with the pen.