First Draft to Published

Rally Round the Corpse Book Tour 1.   It’s a mystery within a mystery. If you’ve ever played a mystery game or been to a mystery party, you’ve probably wondered what would happen if someone were actually killed in the middle of it.   That’s the premise behind “Rally ‘Round the Corpse”. It begins with a group of spoiled Americans paying big bucks to take part in a two-week road rally, in which they scour the European countryside looking for clues to solve a fictional murder.   No one suspects that the game is based on a real, unsolved case and that someone will stop at nothing to keep the true killer from being discovered. 2.   It’s got travel. As far as I know, Abel Adventures is the only detective series that combines my two favorite things: mystery and travel.   After writing the first book, I can see why.   It’s a real challenge to find ways to send Amy Abel to exotic locations and still develop a coherent mystery.   It would b...

About Voices of the Locusts  From his deathbed, 81-year-old Jack O’Brien reveals to his grandson the existence of a long-forgotten story he wrote as a teenager years earlier while living in Japan. The 16-year-old grandson finds the story in an old footlocker in his grandfather’s attic, and spends days pouring over the real-life account. Set at a U.S. military base in rural Japan in 1948, and playing out against a backdrop of swirling post-War social change, Jack’s Voices of the Locusts tells the story of three families—one black, one white, one Asian. The story also recounts Jack’s love for a Japanese girl, Fujiko Kobaysi, who has been promised in marriage by her parents to an older man. Told in vivid and sometimes haunting detail, Jack and Fujiko are frustrated in their romantic quest by story characters coming to terms (often violently) with the emotional scars of World War II. (The content of this novel depicts violence, and is recommended for mature young adults....

ABOUT GARY’S GRAY WORLD When Gary’s father is too busy to play, a scary moment at the baseball field brings his dad rushing to the park to rescue him. But instead the two discover that making time for each other is the most important thing in a father and son relationship. by Ryan J. Cunningham What a father can do to make his son feel appreciated is mostly just by being there for him and showing his love and affection. A father should not only say the words, “I love you,” but he also needs to show how he loves his son. Giving his son a hug each day will let him know that he’s loved and cared for.             As a father, having a job to support his family is very important, but he also needs to spend quality time with his son as well. When the father comes home from work he should play with his son for an hour or so each night, even if he had a stressful day or is feeling tired.   This will give the s...