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BEYOND THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE By Bernice Carton Order from Sunstone: (505) 988-4418 Since the triumph of “Our Town,” many American writers have sensed the tug of the past, the longing to share the sights, sounds and smells of gentler times with each new generation. Bernice Carton is part of that noble tradition as she depicts Brooklyn, New York in the glittering 1920s and the depressed 1930s—a time when America was innocent and hopeful. This evocative portrait will appeal to young people exploring their roots as well as to older people looking for the glow of cherished memories. Carton uses the eye of a journalist and the sensitivity of a novelist to explore a long-past world where nobody ever left Brooklyn because it was the center of the universe.
Bernice Carton has sailed the seven seas but has never lost her love for home. Her travels have ranged from the Arctic to the Antarctic and just about everywhere in between. She's waded ashore to barter for lemons with tribal chiefs in the South Pacific, explored Alaska's Inside Passage, the fjords of Scandinavia, the secret islands of the Caribbean and Greece—all from the deck of a small sailboat. She has also spent evenings waltzing at the Vienna Opera Ball, been a guest at the palace of the Prince of Morocco, and has enjoyed dinners at the White House. Her writing and photography have appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers across the US and Canada. While her schoolteacher mother in Brooklyn claimed half jokingly to be preparing her as a child to marry the then Prince of Rumania, she never did realize that ambition. Secure Movie & TV Rights
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BRIDLEWOOD (Forgive Me Father, for You Have Sinned) By C. Frederick Long Father Richard has settled into his new parish, Our Lady of Damascus Catholic Church, in the peaceful Appalachian mountains of North Carolina. It’s a far cry from New York City, his home for most of his life, but a married couple in his parish, Janet and Curtis, welcome him with open arms. They befriend their new priest, and he begins to settle into his new surroundings with ease, thanks to them. Unfortunately, his friendship with Janet soon grows into a forbidden love affair that takes them down an atmosphere of deception and intrigue. They go to any lengths to protect what they believe is an anointed union. The discovery of the affair not only devastates Curtis, but he also gets labeled as the town’s villain, leaving him with nowhere to turn in order to save his family until an unsuspecting ally gives him hope. Are the powers behind Father Richard too much for him to overcome? Includes Reading Guide
C. Frederick Long lives in Appalachia and is a practicing Roman Catholic. He is a graduate of Emory and Henry College and attended graduate school at East Tennessee State University. His areas of study are religious studies and American history. For several years, studying the Catholic Church and their practices concerning priesthood, marriage, and their views on celibacy for its priests has been of particular interest to him. Secure Movie & TV Rights
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DINNER IN THE LABYRINTH A Novel By Douglas Atwill Graham cannot decide between his two loves, both accomplished and successful members of a long-established Santa Fe family of artists and writers. Graham Obermann is an established biographer of the Post-Impressionists. He is married to Celia Prosper, a modernist painter well-regarded by critics and collectors. As Obermann organizes a birthday party for Celia, looking after all the details, he describes in a single day the odd Prosper family and his attraction to his novelist brother-in-law Karl. Several significant events test all the characters in this family saga with subplots of many generations, and a new generation making its mark.
Other books by Douglas Atwill, all from Sunstone Press, are Why I Won’t Be Going to Lunch Anymore, The Galisteo Escarpment, Imperial Yellow, Creep Around the Corner, The Oyster Shell Driveway, Husband Memory Pickles, and Douglas Atwill Paintings. Atwill lives in Santa Fe, painting New Mexico landscapes and gardens. Secure Movie & TV Rights
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HUGO’S VOICE AND OTHER FICTIONS, FABLES AND FANTASIES OF LOVE By Melvyn Chase Storytelling is one way we affirm our humanity, sharing memories and feelings and dreams with each other, the joy of love and the pain of loneliness. In one story in this collection, Hugo Strauss is a man of few words. Raised in the shadow of his parents, two gifted, self-absorbed artists, he devalues his own talent and retreats from the tenderness of love. When he finally meets a young woman who touches his heart, his unhappy past threatens to come between them. In another story, a middle-aged man meets the movie star he worshiped as a teenager and learns the truth about his dreams. Sometimes the stories we tell are touched by fantasy. There is a tale of a discouraged author whose faith in himself is restored by a magical encounter, and another about a predictable, orderly life that is changed forever by the death of a stranger. Stories we tell others, stories we tell ourselves, fictions, fables and fantasies. They are all stories we need to tell.
After a thirty-five-year career in public relations, Melvyn Chase retired and began to write fiction. In 2005, Sunstone Press published his first collection of short stories, The Terminal Project and Other Voyages of Discovery. In 2008, Sunstone published his first novel, The Wingthorn Rose, in 2012, his second novel, September Songs and in 2014, a second short-story collection, The Food of Love and Other Tales of Lovers, Dreamers and Schemers. Chase was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He earned a B.A. in English Literature at Brooklyn College and an M.A. at New York University. He and his wife, a retired editor and publicist, live in suburban Connecticut, only a short drive from their son and daughter and four grandchildren. Secure Movie & TV Rights
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THE LAST RESORT A Novel By James R. Davis Angry about losing his dream, Marquito returns to Mexico and takes a job at a five star resort where he meets elderly time-share owners, Vera and Ollie, who discover new life in old age as they help him escape the influence of a runaway, red-haired, radical and find his better self and true love. Marquito González, an outstanding student and high school track star, returns to Mexico with his undocumented parents. He has lost everything: his chance to go to college, his girlfriend, and his dreams. Back in Mexico after ten years of being Americanized, Marquito doesn’t know who he is or how to survive. He finds work as a waiter at the five-star Sunset Point Hotel in Cabo San Lucas. Angry, confused, and vulnerable, he meets Ashley, a red-haired runaway radical, a tattooed gringa with an asymmetrical bob. She feeds his anger and resentment as they plan how to shut down the resort and terrorize the guests. Vera and Ollie Webster, timeshare owners at Sunset Point, sit at Marquito’s table for breakfast each morning. Ollie was a successful corporate attorney, but now in retirement, he questions the value of his law career and ponders anew the purpose of life. Vera, a former social worker, wants to do some good with their wealth before they die by helping the workers they have befriended, particularly Marquito, who seems so lost and upset. Can she match him up with Maribel, the dimpled breakfast cook who watches him with loving eyes? Includes Readers Guide.
James R. Davis is a professor and dean emeritus of the University of Denver. He earned degrees from Oberlin College, Yale University Divinity School, and Michigan State University and is the author of eight academic books on college teaching, training, and leadership. Jim lives in a suburb of Denver, Colorado. His other novel, Ranch Without Cowboys, and a non-fiction work, Timeless Questions: How World Religions Explore the Mysteries of Life, are also published by Sunstone Press.
Author and cover photograph by Adelaide Davis. Secure Movie & TV Rights
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POACHERS Hunting for a Life in Tanzania By Patricia Lee Sharpe Reinstated after leaving the U.S. Foreign Service to marry the wrong man, Diana Forrest is sent to counter Soviet propaganda in Cold War Tanzania where graft corrupts the socialist ideal and poachers slaughter elephants for ivory. Toggling between a diffident boss and a hard-to-please Ambassador in a media wasteland, Diana spends weekends in the bush courtesy of a Tanzanian subordinate with a safari business on the side. As that relationship trends from teamwork toward intimacy, Diana wrestles with her conscience and is also troubled by safari companions who aren’t above petty poaching—or worse: one of them may have colluded in the murder of a conservation-minded headman. It’s soon clear that Diana’s job performance will rate an excellent follow-on assignment, but she’s not sure she wants to leave.
As a U.S. foreign service officer, Patricia Lee Sharpe shunned personnel-heavy prestige posts in order to work in challenging (and sometimes dangerous) places: Sierra Leone during the rebel period, violence-prone Karachi and much maligned Kolkata, among others. But even on assignment to the Dominican Republic, her credo was this: get out of the office and into the thick of things. She’s also been an academic with a doctorate in American literature leading to a Fulbright lectureship in Pakistan, as well as a journalist, including a stint in Moscow during the Cold War. These days she lives and writes and hikes in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Secure Movie & TV Rights
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A PRIVATE AND HER FOES A Novel of the American Civil War By Mark Gallik During the American Civil War, a young wife does everything in her power to keep close to her husband. (SEE MOVIE/TV TREATMENT BELOW) By the late summer of 1863, the American Civil War has become entrenched into its third year, the bloody conflict raging far longer than could have been anticipated. The armies remain hungry for recruits in order to replenish their depleted ranks, the pressures being applied to all the corners of Union territory. The state of Iowa is no exception, here dwelling a certain newlywed couple, Susha and Sylvetus Potter. In no way do they wish to become separated. Nevertheless, Sylvetus succumbs to the persuasions and decides to enlist. However, Susha does her husband one better, concocting a scheme which would have her take on a manly pose, so that she might accompany him as a fellow soldier. That she has her arguments in perfect order makes it all the simpler for Sylvetus to acquiesce. Meanwhile, 800 miles to the south in Confederate Texas, Captain John Singleton is recovering from his severe wound under the care of his wife, Henrietta. Yet what she fears most is of his convalescence coming to an end, that he’ll return to the fight of which she and her husband have yet to embrace. John is torn between Henrietta’s gifted insights and intuitions and his own loyalties toward comradeship and duty. The war has too many campaigns waiting to be hatched, making it impossible to predict sure objectives. There is a good chance that Iowa will cross paths with Texas. The circumstances and encounters that may happen remain to be seen. So must trudge a private and her foes. Includes Readers Guide.
A native of the Lone Star state, with a B.S. in wildlife biology from Texas A&M University, Mark Gallik has merged his background with his lifelong passion for history and literature. The foregone conclusion is a penchant for research, to seek even the minutest of details. With that, the letters, journals and reminiscences of both military and civilian participants have been scoured, these discoveries exposing the treasures of regional tongues and varying mindsets. Naturally, the author fell into the trap of historical reenacting, from which not only did he learn the drill and rigors of campaigning, but also how to hand stitch period garments. It all provided invigorating and insightful experiences. Secure Movie & TV Rights
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RANCH WITHOUT COWBOYS Recovery, Romance, and a Second Chance By James R. Davis A Kansas dairy farmer’s daughter is raped and banished from home by her father, but with the help of strong women and real men, she survives with her baby on a guest ranch and bison reserve in Southern Colorado—the ranch without cowboys. (See MOVIE/TV TREATMENT below) Molly O’Reilly, the daughter of a Kansas dairy farmer, is raped by the hired hand. She blames herself. Her father tells her to get out and never come back. She leaves home the day of her high school graduation and lands a job at Horseshoe Ranch, a cattle, bison, and guest ranch adjacent to Great Sand Dunes National Park, nestled against the snow-capped Sangre de Christo Mountains in southern Colorado. Except for Wayne, the gentle manager, all of the employees are women—no cowboys—and when Molly’s secret gets too big to hide, they take care of her. After all, they have a lot of experience birthing calves. At Pepe’s Cantina, Molly meets Carlos Ouray, a descendent of Ute Indians and Old Spanish settlers. She’s definitely not ready for a relationship, but Carlos is persistent in caring for Molly and baby Norma Lou. He and Wayne help Molly through desperate times as a single mother. Carlos is part-owner of a family potato farm in the San Luis Valley. But can Molly find a new home there? Shouldn’t she go back to Kansas to settle up with her father? And what about Tommy Dawson, the guy who raped her—is he just going to run free? As Molly loses one home and finds another, she discovers her own resilience and learns to love a different kind of man. But then she discovers that Carlos has a secret of his own. Includes Readers Guide.
James R. Davis is a professor and dean emeritus of the University of Denver. He earned degrees from Oberlin College, Yale University Divinity School, and Michigan State University and is the author of eight academic books on college teaching, training, and leadership. Although widely traveled, he loves Colorado, particularly the history-rich San Luis Valley. Jim lives and writes at home in a suburb west of Denver with his wife Adelaide, who is originally from Brazil. Secure Movie & TV Rights
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WHEN IT ALL COMES AROUND A Novel Based on a True Ukrainian Love Story By Steven M. Best From the Ukrainian-Russian front to the horrors of Hamburg’s firestorm, Nick Hrab somehow manages to survive and find love in a world turned upside down with hate. When It All Comes Around is based on the story of the author’s brother and sister-in-law, who emigrated from the Ukrainian/Romanian border area, during World War II. In this tale of survival during wartime. Nick Hrab had just begun milking his family cow one morning when the invading Russian army sends him racing beneath a hailstorm of bullets. With half their family and half their village murdered, the Hrab family fights with the underground resistance for a short time before seeking shelter in Germany. Meanwhile, Hilda, the daughter of a locomotive engineer, is growing up on the sheltered island of Lindau, Germany, directly below the Swiss, German and Italian Alps. After her father is sent to Paris, she and her mother live in Munich, for a time, but the bombing is so heavy they must return to Lindau for safety, only to be caught up in the vengeance of their French and Turkish captors. After a night of Christmas dancing, where Nick and Hilda fall in love, they decide to go to America. Having given up everything for love, Hilda embraces the challenges of leaving everything behind to start a new life in America, while her mother-in-law secretly seeks to destroy her reputation and friendships abroad.
Steven M. Best grew up in the Great Lakes region, in Minnesota, Michigan and Ohio. After a tour of duty in Vietnam, he married into a Ukrainian family, whose story of survival during World War II seemed somewhat of an epic love tale. After retiring from private practice, Best spent several years researching and writing Nick and Hilda’s special story of finding love in a world turned upside down by hate. His first novel, When Philosophers Were Kings, also from Sunstone Press, told the story of his family's many trials during the Civil War, and was critically acclaimed by Midwest Book Review and many others. After its release in 2004, Best received honorable mention at the Georgia Writer of the Year Awards. This is his second novel. Secure Movie & TV Rights
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WHEREOF ONE CANNOT SPEAK A Novel By Barbara Grenfell Fairhead Octavia, a strong willed young woman, making her own way as an artist, dreams of changing the minds of her audience but soon is forced to question her own motives in the company of a Zen monk who suggests: “Tell a wise man, or else keep silent.”
See In-depth Review Below. Octavia Chavez, eighteen and fiercely passionate, has spent her life listening to the remote music of the stars, which only she seems to hear. She has a forbidden love of which she dares not speak, and a longing for wild, empty places. Her one true friend is a sanguine, seventy-seven-year-old wood-carver, Alejandro Jaramillo. Alejandro has been carving angels ever since he was summoned to do so at the age of ten. These two unlikely friends share one thing: a sense of having been called to something that lifts them towards an experience of the sacred. But when Octavia is involved in a life-threatening accident, and Alejandro begins to have dreams in which thousands of angels fall away from him into a bottomless abyss, they are both forced to question everything they have come to assume about themselves and their place in the world. So begins a voyage of discovery on which silence and dark music, new love and ancient landscapes will test their resolve to inhabit their own, inimitable lives. In prose that is both refreshingly muscular and hauntingly lyrical, Grenfell Fairhead invites us to examine what it means to grow up and truly belong, but also¯even more crucially¯what it could mean to grow down into one’s own center, learning the slow, fierce discipline of paying attention to each fleeting moment.
Barbara Grenfell Fairhead was born in the United Kingdom in 1939, and has lived most of her life in South Africa. After her first visit to New Mexico in the early 1990s, it became her second home. She made many extended visits over a period of twenty years, staying in her casita close to Black Mesa. She is an artist, writer, poet and lyricist, and lives in Cape Town with her husband, singer-songwriter, poet and editor Jacques Coetzee. Her first novel, Of Death and Beauty, was also published by Sunstone Press. Secure Movie & TV Rights
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