What are the elements of friendship that last a lifetime-the mysterious connection that can outlast great distances and more than half a century of separation to bring friends back together? For Lázaro, a salty Cuban mariner and Dominic, a brilliant Chicago engineer, the answers can be found in the game of chess.
From the time of their meeting and first chess match on Key West in the 1930s, each man’s win is scratched into the back of the board. As the game tally grows, so does their friendship. Now, both men are in their twilight years, but it’s Dominic’s life, weathered by cancer, which is reaching its conclusion. Lázaro, who fled from his island home and his friend years ago, learns that Dominic is rapidly dying and sets off on the long journey from Boston to Florida to see his old friend. Prior to leaving, Lázaro retrieves the old chessboard and makes a startling discovery. The number of scratches, first marked over sixty years before and uncounted until now, has the two men evenly tied.
As he drives towards Dominic and the keys, Lázaro is forced to confront a past he has struggled to forget while anticipating the reunion with his old friend and what could be their final game.
What if everything in your life was changed because you opened a mysterious package?
Jennifer Campbell is a beautiful, talented woman with ambition and drive to succeed in corporate America. Moving to Virginia into the tightly knit community of Norfolk was a dream come true. A house on the beach, famly and security for the first time in many years providing the comfort and serenity Jennifer had searched for.
All is well, until the fateful day Jennifer received a telephone call. “Jennifer, go someplace and hide; don’t trust anyone. You can’t trust the police or internal affairs. Just go somewhere you can’t be found. I’ll call you in a few hours.”
Tom Nelson is struggling after the death of his son at the hands of his wife Jane. While Jane sits in a Texas mental hospital for her part in the crime, prosecutors turn their focus to Tom. They believe Tom should have known Jane was on the cusp of a breakdown and protected his children from her illness. As a result, he is charged with “failure to protect.” Enter attorney, Dave Frontella, who employs a radical defense strategy – one that lays the blame at the feet of Jane’s nature and nurture. To gather evidence about Jane’s forbears, Frontella hires a woman with the power of retrocognition – the ability to use a person’s belongings to re-create their past. An unforgettable journey through the troubled minds and souls of Jane’s ancestors, spanning decades and continents, this debut novel deftly illustrates the ways nature and nurture weave the fabric of one woman’s life, and renders a portrait of one man left in its tragic wake.
The Winds of Asharra Vol.1: First-Flight is 600 pages of wonder, a blend of exciting fantasy adventure and sizzling sensual romance, set in the mythic land of our half-forgotten dreams. Filled with a group of richly diverse characters and speaking to everyone’s hidden longings, the story will quicken your pulse and carry you to a world of new possibilities.
If Books Could Talk 