Tag Archives: #amwriting

Steve Bassett Father Divines Bikes

About Father Divines Bikes

Offering an extensive look inside the history and urban problems — and how they began — in post-World War II Newark, New Jersey like never before, author Steve Bassett releases the first in the trilogy, Father Divine’s Bikes. In this noir crime thriller, Bassett melds character, time and place into a mosaic that uncovers the plight of a city on a downward spiral immediately after the war, a time when our nation was basking in the afterglow of victory.

A gangster war, three murders, a gun-toting paperboy, and the numbers racket lay bare a dark, compelling story in a world of poverty and hopelessness from which there is little hope of escape. In the autumn of 1945, a battle rages when the city’s competing mobs end their truce. When it gets bloody, other criminal forces are ready to move in. Citywide corruption is endemic. Bookies using Father Divine’s controversial International Peace Mission Movement as a front, recruit two Catholic altar boys, Joey Bancik and Richie Maxwell, to run numbers under the guise of newspaper routes. The boys quickly realize they are players in a dangerous game, but the easy money is too good to pass up. They are now petty criminals and being hauled into juvie court is a risk they’re willing to take. Two homicide detectives track Joey to a luxury apartment, but arrive too late to prevent the inevitable. Joey’s body lay in a pool of blood on the basement floor.

About Steve Bassett:

Born and raised in Newark\'s crime-ridden Third Ward, although far removed during a career as a multiple award-winning journalist, Steve Bassett has always been the proud sobriquet Jersey Guy. He has been legally blind for almost a decade, but this hasn\'t slowed him down.

Bassett has written two nonfiction books, The Battered Rich and Golden Ghetto: How the Americans and French Fell In and Out of Love During the Cold War. Continuing with his newest fiction release, Father Divine’s Bikes, readers share in his insights that earned him three Emmys for investigative documentaries, and the California Bar Association\'s Medallion Award for Distinguished Reporting on the Administration of Justice. He now resides in Placitas, New Mexico with his wife, Darlene.

Dawn Davis– Falling – The Tower Room Series

About Falling:

It is 1988 and Leo is about to experience a life changing adventure. Leo has just recently moved into the Rose Park mansion at the invitation of his cousin, Dilys, and finds himself awaiting the birth of his first grandchild, Charlotte. His daughter Francine, a whip-smart Toronto lawyer, is pregnant, and pregnancy has done nothing to soften the naturally jagged edges of her personality. When she is hospitalized over concerns with her blood pressure, it appears likely that Francine, incensed over her forced “incarceration” will soon be dragging the entire hospital into court. Leo is beside himself with worry and Dilys deems the situation ripe for Leo’s initiation into the mysteries of the Tower Room.
Suddenly transported to Queenston, Ontario in the year 1813 when the Americans are in control of Fort George during the War of 1812, Leo meets historical figures of the time, principally Laura Secord and her family – Loyalists who have moved to Upper Canada to start a new life.

The startling transposition of time and place changes Leo in ways he will only realize when he returns home – most importantly his relationship with the two young children who become his teachers in methods of survival during a time of war. Not knowing where he is or even who he is, Leo learns quickly what living on the edge is all about. The surprise that awaits him when he returns to his own time is one he could never have imagined.

About Dawn Davis:

Currently working on the final two books in the series, Dawn Davis is a retired teacher living in downtown Toronto, on the ravine, with Charlie, her Maine Coon cat. Falling is Book Two in the Tower Room Series. The Tree of Life, her debut novel, was published in 2015.

Mark Wallace Maguire — Alexandria Rising

About Alexandria Rising:

Rand O\'Neal, an ambition-less newspaper reporter, is given a single task upon the death of his grandfather: Destroy a mysterious map. What should be a simple errand thrusts Rand into a journey across three countries chased by unknown pursuers where he discovers humanity\'s biggest secret.
The book is labelled an action adventure, but contains elements of conspiracy fiction, science fiction and suspense. It is also linked to a multi-media website which allows readers to engage with the experience in video, images and interactive appendices.

About the Author:

As a preacher’s son, Mark Wallace Maguire spent his childhood crisscrossing the South soaking in the lilting dialects, oral traditions and cultural idiosyncrasies. After a brief career in music, he settled behind the desk as a reporter at the Marietta Daily Journal and has spent the last 20 years as fixture in the metro Atlanta media scene as a columnist, editor and director. In 2017, he was nominated for Georgia Author of The Year for his first novel, “Alexandria Rising” which was published in October 2016. The sequel, “Alexandria Reborn” was published in August 2017. “Letters from Red Clay Country: Selected Columns” was published in 2015 and features the best of his award-winning newspaper and magazine columns. Maguire currently serves as director of Cobb Life magazine and Cobb Business Journal. His writing has been published in many regional and national publications including Snake Nation Review, Reach of Song, Cobb Life magazine, Neighbor Newspapers and The Blood and Fire Review. He has been honored for his writing by several organizations including The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists and The Georgia Poetry Society. In 2005, he was named the Berry College Outstanding Young Alumni of The Year. When he’s not writing, Maguire produces musical projects inspired by his favorite authors and books as well as painting, gardening and making Star Wars puns with his sons.