True Stories

A Mexican Odyssey
Escape to Paradise   
By William Reed with Sylvia Rosa Garces Marroqui de Reed

Bill Reed's memoir, A Mexican Odyssey, is an amazing journey spanning 32-years of living, loving and getting around in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

• Item# 4709
• 237 pgs., softcover, 970-94047-0-9
• $19.95

At Home in Asia
Expatriates in Southeast Asia and Their Stories
By Harold Stephens

At Home in Asia comes from the pen of Harold Stephens who has spent most of his adult years in Asia where he has become one of that region's best-known writer/adventurers.  He has authored more than a dozen books (travel, adventure, exploration, biographies) and thousands of newspaper and magazine articles on his Asia experience.  From mountain climbing to jungle trekking, from sailing to diving, few have experienced Asia and its people with the richness of Harold Stephens.  He presently divides his time between Miranda, northern California, and Bangkok, Thailand, where he writes a weekly travel column for the Bangkok Post and is Travel Correspondent for Thai Airways International.

In this, his latest book, Stephens introduces the reader to some of the fascinating expatriate men and women he has come to know over the years.  The biographical sketches of action photographers, artists, philosophers, entrepreneurs, sailors, environmentalists and others, are as varied and alluring as Southeast Asia itself.  The book can also serve as a how-to book for those who dream about living abroad.

Battle At Alcatraz
By Ernest B. Lageson

A desperate attempt to escape "The Rock." They said nobody could escape "The Rock," but in May of 1946, six desperate inmates attempted the impossible-escape from Alcatraz. The result: one of the bloodiest uprisings in the history of American prisons. For months, the "cons" had meticulously planned the breakout, and at first, the plan went like work - they broke into the gun gallery, armed themselves, and took nine guards hostage. But when their plan hit a last-minute snag, the heavily armed inmates refused to surrender, swearing they'd fight to the end.

The battle ensued as U. S. Marines shelled the cell house, and five Coast Guard ships and a Navy destroyer circled the island. Thousands of rounds were exchanged during the three-day siege. When the inmates realized their escape was doomed, they shot the hostages to eliminate witnesses.

Ernest Lageson Sr. was one of the guards shot. His son, Ernest Jr., a teenager at the time, agonized along with other hostage families waiting to hear if loved ones were alive. Now Ernest Lageson Jr. delivers an insider's account of both the notorious riot and life inside the most infamous prison in American history.

• Item# 9372
• 265 pgs., softcover, 1-886039-37-2
• $16.95

Bridge Busters 
The Story of the 394th Bomb Group
By J. Guy Ziegler, Major, U. S. A. F. (Retired)

Bridge Busters is the authentic and gripping story of the 394th Bomb Group. The outstanding and valiant struggle of the Bridge Busters is told with grit, compassion and an attention to detail. Each of the 9 chapters is packed with pertinent pictures and a recap by target and results of each major battle. This beautifully bound 170 page edition contains over 360 fully captioned, action-packed photographs and 20 illustrations. From the activation of the 394th in the United States to its deactivation in Germany after V. E. Day, Bridge Busters presents accurate facts and figures on the missions, from the Washington files, as well as interesting stories about the men on the ground and in the air who made them possible. This newly revised fifth edition includes the official U.S. Air Force report on the final mission of Colonel Thomas B. Hall who was killed over North Korea on February 11, 1951, a complete list of casualties as well as two new chapters with 17 current photographs that feature the return trip of 18 former members of the 394th Bomb Group to Europe in the summer of 2001 and a tribute to those service men fallen and buried in World War II cemeteries in Europe.

*About the Author*
Major Ziegler enlisted as an aviation cadet in May 1942 in Oklahoma City. After his assignment to the Western Flying Training Command, he received his commission and pilot's wings at Fort Sumner, New Mexico and joined the 394th Bomb Group at Boreham Field, England in June 1944, as a replacement pilot. Major Ziegler flew an astonishing 55 combat missions during his service in World War II, leaving the Group in September, 1945 from Venlo, Holland. During his extensive and impressive career with the Air Force, Major Ziegler flew a total of 29 different planes, most notably the B-26 Marauder and the B-36 Peacemaker. In 1963, Major Ziegler retired from the Air Force after 21 years of service. Major Ziegler is married, has four sons and currently resides in Phoenix, Arizona.

• Item# 8700
• 170 pgs., softcover, 0-9671187-0-0
• $24.95

Defiance
Or How to Succeed in Business Despite Being Hounded By the FBI, the KGB, the INS, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, Interpol, and Mafia Hit Men.  A True Story
By Alex Konanykhin

And you think you've got it rough? Young, wealthy, powerful and prominent one day and a robbed fugitive with a KGB contract out on his head the next, so has gone the life of Alex Konanykhin. Like they said it on 60 Minutes, "Alex Konanykhin didn't only have KGB after him" He had the FBI, the Justice Department, even the CIA all on his case, as a favor to the Russians, part of a deal to allow the FBI to keep a bureau in Moscow.  And while you may have heard a bit about the chaos and danger faced by Alex and his wife Elena on 60 Minutes, CNN and FOX News, you now have the chance to experience the thrill of their misadventures first hand in Alex's page turner, Defiance. While the plot is as twisted as any international paperback novel, this is the real McCoy every bit of it a true story.

• Item# 7707
• 240 pgs., hardcover, 0-9727377-0-7
• $27.95

Evil Harvest
By Rod Colvin

The true story of cult murder in the American Heartland. On a peaceful August morning in 19885, grim-faced FBI agents led a dawn raid on an eighty acre farm outside Rulo, Nebraska, said to be occupied by a group of religious survivalists led by the charismatic Mike Ryan. What they found on the farm shocked even experienced investigators. Their investigation would uncover what had been a truly Evil Harvest.

For months Ryan's Nebraska neighbors spoke in whispers of gunfire in the night, the disappearance of women and children, neo-Nazis and white supremacists. But little did the locals know what was happening to those Mike Ryan decided to punish for their "sin." In Evil Harvest, the author re-creates a chilling story of torture, hate, and perversion, and how good, ordinary people could be pulled into a destructive, religious cult - a cult that committed unthinkable acts... all in the name of God.
This book contains 8 pages of photos.

• Item# 9429
• 339 pgs., softcover, 1-886039-42-9
• $15.95

Eye of the Beast
By Terry Adams, Scott Shaw (Lead Investigator) & Mary Brooks-Mueller (Forensic Psychologist.)

The true story of serial killer James Wood. James Wood looked quite ordinary. A master at appearing normal, he wouldn't be noticed in a crowd. In the fall of 1992, when the friendly community of Poeatello, Idaho, opened its arms to Wood, little did residents realize the soft-spoken stranger in town was a serial killer

The truth came to light only after the abduction and murder of Jeralee Underwood, the eleven-year-old daughter of a devout Mormon family. The entire region was shocked and outraged.

Now the authors take you behind the headlines, into the heart of the Idaho investigation. Why had Wood gotten away with other murders for two decades? What made him so unlike other sexual psychopaths?

After years of research, the authors skillfully re-create a story of how and why Wood killed, how a community coped with tragedy, and how law enforcement captured James Wood - one of the nation's most unusual serial killers.

• Item# 9321
• softcover, 1-886039-32-1
• $16.95

Falling Into Place  
by Rita M. Ippoliti

"Ready, set, go!" With a rousing shout, a group of skydivers leaps from an aircraft 13,000 feet above the earth. During freefall they build intricate formations before separating to deploy their parachutes and glide in for a gentle landing. Skydivers are a unique breed. Whether world-class competitors or recreational jumpers, all are bound by camaraderie based on the ultimate stakes: life or death. It was into this world that Rita Ippoliti sought entrance. At the age of 40, she wanted to add adventure to a life grown dull. But the odds that an overweight woman with limited athletic ability would take to this extreme sport were stacked against her. Instructors and fellow students, most of them half her age and twice as agile, admire Rita's fierce determination to defy the odds and achieve self-jumpmaster status. After reading Rita's story, perhaps your dreams, like hers, will start Falling Into Place.

There are NO shipping charges for this title.  Even though a shipping charge will show in your shopping cart the shipping charge will be deducted when we charge your credit card.  If you place an order for other titles the shipping charge will apply.

• Item# ZZ5102
• 329 pgs., softcover, 0-9723351-0-2
• $19.95

The Five People You Meet in Hell
Surviving Katrina
By Robert Smallwood

This is an eye witness account by a long-time New Orleans resident of the unfolding of events before, during and after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. You'll meet five unique people, and be there inside their thoughts, conversations and the life-threatening events they endured. You'll feel the explosions, fires and gunfire as if you were there. The "five people" include comic actor Harry Anderson (from the series Night Court), Gennifer Flowers' ex-husband Finis, a salty 81 year-old sailor and others. You will be there to experience the return and renewal of New Orleans after seven weeks in exile. In the last part of the book, you'll see what life in the French Quarter was like before the storm hit, from the view of a campy group of artists, musicians, writers and hangers-on. When you finish reading it, you'll truly know what it means to miss New Orleans.

• Item# 7249
• 245 pgs., softcover, 1-4196-1724-9
• $16.99

Fleet Walker's Divided Heart
the life of baseball's first black major leaguer
By David Zang, Narrator Andrew L. Barnes

Moses Fleetwood Walker was the first black American to play baseball in a major league. But Walker is more than a footnote: his life demonstrates both the devastation of racism and the role of baseball as a symbol of the nation. Walker achieved college baseball stardom while he was a student at Oberlin College in the 1880s. As Walker's athletic ability earned success on the playing field, racial attitudes were hardening and segregation was becoming the pattern of American society, both on the field and off. Teammates as well as opponents harassed him; Cap Anson, the Chicago White Stockings star, is credited with driving Walker and the few other blacks in the major leagues out of the game but could not have done so alone. Walker's life was defined as much by the fact that he was part white as it was by his black heritage. His attempts to reconcile his Anglo and African aspects left him in glorious disarray. Although acquitted of a murder on the grounds of self-defense, he eventually served time in prison on a federal mail robbery conviction. A gifted athlete, an inventor, a civil rights activist, an author, and an entrepreneur, Walker lived precariously along the fault lines of America's racial dilemma. He died in 1924 after a life of thwarted ambition and talent, frustrated by both the American dream and the national pastime.

• Item# 8341
• Audio Book, 7 CD Set, 978-0-9779883-4-1, 0-9779883-4-1
• $39.95

Heavenly Patchwork
Quilt Stories Stitched with Love
by Judy Howard

"Heavenly Patchwork--Quilt Stories Stitched with Love" will inspire and entertain as it transports you into the lives and hearts of pioneer and contemporary women. Rejoice or cry with those who homesteaded a hostile and barren landscape, struggled to survive and nurture their families through the Great Depression and Dust Bowl Days or currently cope with our fast-paced society.

These interesting—often amusing—vignettes will renew your hope, inspire your faith as these everyday heroines stitch true tales of courage against insurmountable obstacles into heart-warming patchwork. Each leaves behind a legacy of love and faith in God to future generations.

Observe as each brave woman pieces brokenness into beauty and forges the way into a brighter tomorrow. "Heavenly Patchwork" tells the larger story of God's faithfulness to sustain, heal, comfort and strengthen women through hardships.

All book profits go to non-profit groups that make charity quilts

• Item# 37501
• 150 pgs., hardcover
• 9780976237501
• 0976237504
• $12.95

Heavenly Patchwork II
Quilt Stories to Warm Your Heart
by Judy Howard

Following the success of her first award-winning book, Oklahoma author Judy Howard has released her second in a series, Heavenly Patchwork II--Quilt Stories to Warm Your Heart. This hard-bound anthology of true stories about contemporary women and their Oklahoma pioneer ancestors is sure to please quilt lovers and lovers of history, alike.

The 103 vignettes about everyday people, and a few famous ones, are easy to read and sure to touch your heart strings. At 192 pages, it boasts a four-color section featuring 32 pages of choice quilt photos and sells for $14.95.

Both Heavenly Patchwork books won First Places in the regional OWFI Writing Conference May 6th. Book profits go to charity quilting organizations.

• Item# 37525
• 182 pgs., hardcover
• 9780976237525
• 0976237520
• $14.95

• Item# 9509
• 218 pgs., softcover, 09717895-0-9
• $22.00

Journeys in the Lifeboat
Life Stories that Touch the Heart
By Uta Monique Behrens

Journeys in the Lifeboat is a touching collection of life stories reflecting the humor, joys, trials, courage of conviction and gratitude of a full life. Behrens' motto: The first 25 years are for learning, the second are for earning, and the third are for returning.

• Item# 2418
• 172 pp., softcover, 0-9762224-1-8
• $12.95

Malvern Stories, The
by Catherine Cocke Moyano Maldonado

Catherine Maldonado, now in her nineties, has written a memoir about her childhood at the turn of the century on a remote plantation in northeastern Mississippi called Malvern. Her eighty page book carries you to an altogether different time and place; one full of childhood frolic mixed with racial tension. The afterword details the roots of her lineage in 18th century Virginia, including a profile of one ancestor who aspired to reform laws concerning alcohol, tobacco and slavery.

Catherine, whose later life led her to Paris, Argentina and New York, where she now resides, brings to life a corner of the rural south from long, long ago.

• Item# 670x
• 80 pgs., softcover, 0-9703267-0-x
• $12.50

Marcus Wesson  
Mysterious Web of Deception
by Julia Dudley Najieb

Marcus Wesson: Mysterious Web of Deception entails the true accounts of one of the largest and most unusual mass murders to ever plague the San Joaquin Valley.

On March 12, 2004, chaos broke the peace of the close-knit community at 761 Hammond Ave., Fresno, Ca. The bloodied, accused Marcus Wesson surrendered himself at gunpoint to Fresno police officers and the SWAT team. His cooperative and emotionless demeanor was disturbing to all who watched the plot unfold. Inside the house was a horrid crime scene, where a heap of nine bodies lay intertwined in a bedroom corner: nine victims of a bizarre shooting, each shot in the eye. All of the deceased victims were offspring of Marcus Wesson; no signs of struggle from any of them were apparent before their murders. Several coffins were found at the murder scene causing some to believe the homicides were premeditated.

Join the author Julia Dudley Najieb as she unweaves the sticky web of deception and brings light to the darkness discovered:

• Marcus’s incestuous relations and lewd sex acts with his daughters and nieces who became his wives
• Significance of the gunshots to the right eyes
• The lasting impact of the insidious, emotional rape of the women in the family
• The meaning of the coffins made of antique wood found at the scene
• Marcus’s dominating religious beliefs
• The meaning of Marcus’s long, unkempt shaggy dreadlocks
• Wesson children who had no birth certificates or academic records
• Interpretations of the Wesson family dynamics by Dr. Eric Hickey, a criminology professor and author of the book, Serial Murderers and Their Victims
• Read about the upcoming trial and possible judgments Marcus Wesson will face from Fresno renowned criminal defense attorney Ernest Kinney and other experts offering commentary
• Also find other ambiguities and Wesson family secrets exposed

The above information is from the book's back cover.

• Item# ZZ6089
• 200 pgs., softcover, 0-9763860-8-9
• $27.99

The Marlena Fuhrman Story
by Margo Madigan

In this masterful work, author Margo Madigan tells Marlena’s story in a personalized style, wherein she details her experiences involving dramatic crisis situations arising out of mental illness in her family, affecting both her mother and her daughter. She entertainingly describes Marlena’s romantic experiences, which includes traveling to European countries, and her marriage to a prominent Philadelphia lawyer, and former assistant district attorney.

• Item# 09327
• 99 pgs., hardcover
• 9781425709327
• $16.99

Maude (1883-1993): She Grew Up With The Country
by Mardo Williams

During her 110 years, Maude went from a 400-lb. wood-burning stove to a microwave oven, from an outdoor privy to indoor plumbing. She got the vote in 1920 and voted in the next 18 Presidential elections.

With poetry and human dramas (two murders and a suicide), written by a master journalist, the book shows the impact of the changing times on shy, unassuming Maude, her fun-loving husband Lee, and their four active children. They farmed 100-acres on the banks of Rush Creek in Logan County (Ohio).

Maude is a favorite with book discussion groups and is being used as a supplemental text (to "put a human face on history") in college American history classes.

"Maude is not only a fascinating story of an extraordinarily resilient woman but also an invaluable insight into how family life, and making a living, changed so dramatically during the 20th century. The book is of considerable value not only to general readers but also to social historians…"-Dr. Richard 
Trainor, Vice-Chancellor, University of Greenwich, U.K.

"Mardo Williams brings out the extraordinary in a seemingly ordinary century's worth of experiences in his fine biography of Maude."-Leonard Lopate, New York & Co., National Public Radio

"Because he was patient with the details, the scenes, the landscape of character, [the author] came away with an engaging and fascinating work about a courageous woman whose story truly ought to be shared..."--Mike Harden, The Columbus Dispatch 

"..full of delightful stories about rural America-just the kind you wished you'd jotted down after conversations with your grandmother"--Joan Dyer-Zinner, Michigan Community Newspapers

"Maude's life story is [one] of the transformation of America from a world of primitive farms to a world of electrified cities. More than a collection of stories, it is a tribute to one woman's love, patience, and courage."-Lindsay Peterson, Tampa Tribune

"Mardo Williams brings the harshness and deprivation of Ohio farm life vividly back to life as well as its simple joys. And at the center of it is Maude--dignified, supremely competent as she stood beside her husband and raised their children, and uncomplaining. These days, as politicians pay lip service to family values, Maude is what they're all about."--Ralph Gardner, Jr., New York Observer

Mardo Williams began his writing career in 1927 as a reporter for the Kenton (Ohio) News-Republican, later writing a daily business column with byline for the Columbus Dispatch. At 88 he learned the computer and wrote this book as a tribute to his mother and other women like her at the turn of the century who did so much with so little--no electricity, no indoor plumbing, none of the 
conveniences we take for granted today. He won an Ohioana Library Award in 2001 (posthumously) for his unique and outstanding lifelong literary contributions as author and journalist.

• Item# 4129
• 335 pgs., 32-page photo insert, hardcover,  0-9649241-2-9
• $22.95

Micronesia's Never-Forgotten Island  
Where Life Is A Coconut
By Raymond Refoen

A true story of forbidden love and tragedy. A young Peace Corp volunteer is commissioned to replant the aging coconut groves of Losap, Micronesia, to dispel hunger. Bucking the traditions and facing the disdain which oppose his plan, the young Robert Ralston becomes embroiled in an illicit and taboo love affair. A plot against him, a primitive love potion, and the curse of a burial chamber prevent Ralston from achieving all he would attempt.

*Review - The Bookwatch: The Midwest Book Review*

"In Micronesia's Never-Forgotten island Where Life Is A Coconut, Raymond Refoen relates the true story of a Peace Corps volunteer who went on a two-year service mission to a south sea island. There he encountered a culture radically different from anything he had ever known. He fell in love with an island girl (a very taboo thing to do), and found himself in the midst of intrigue that reads like something out of a dime novel. Action-packed, fast paced, vividly written, laced with love potions, burial chamber curses, and more, it's astonishing that this is a genuine work of non-fiction. Highly recommended, unique reading!"

• Item# 880x
• 243 pgs., softcover, 0-9679288-0-x
• $17.49

Operation Desert Storm/Shield  
Through The Eyes of a Black Lieutenant: Saga 1
By 1^st LT. William J. Simmons, Sr.

The book is autobiographical that is slightly fictionalized.  The author vividly relates the events surrounding the "Gulf War" as he explores the issue of racial discrimination and tension that is still so prevalent in what has many times been referred to as "America's great equalizer," the armed forces

Once you start to read this book you will not put it down.  Simmons writes in a way that will make you want to read more and anticipation of Saga 2.

• Item# zz4079
• softcover, 1-58898-407-9
• $15.00

Pieces of Pie 
Surviving Love
By Pie Dumas

 

Pie Dumas’ new book opens to a lonely little girl sitting in a cardboard house, decorating its interior walls with the smiling faces of imaginary family members. That image seems to linger—as indelible as the colored marker young Pie draws with—all the way through to the book’s final, moving paragraphs.

Flimsy as the cardboard walls are and no matter how often they must be rebuilt, redecorated and refastened with brown shipping tape, they are the youngster’s only sanctuary from the horrific betrayal she is subjected to almost daily, and which she represses entirely from her awareness. Well into young adulthood, Pie similarly must build and rebuild her own fragile identity, until such time she can face her darkest nightmares and connect with her genuine self.

On one level Pieces of Pie tells a raw and candid story of Pie’s inner struggle with the bewildering implications of childhood incest—and for this reason alone, it’s a book for anyone who longs to reconnect with their authentic spirit. On another level, it is a richly detailed and readable travelogue and adventure story, which takes the reader:

• from a drab inner office in Ohio where young Pie is forced by her father into years of child labor
• to the carnival circuit, where she lugs her father’s merchandise display cases
• to seedy, brutal underworld encounters, affairs with black men, fashionable life in a swank Central Park apartment, and a private audience with the king of Thailand.

Ultimately, this is an exhilarating tale of self-discovery, of a reunion of spirit, and of a full life that only really begins as the last page is turned.

• Item# 0801
• 256 pgs., softcover, 0-9765608-0-1
• $15.95

Pursuit of Freedom
A True Story of the Enduring Power of Hope and Dreams
By Susanne M. Reyto

Pursuit of Freedom is a family’s journey from oppression to freedom; surviving the cruel Nazi era, soon to be followed by the equally evil, stifled life under Communism. The book inspires as it describes turning adversity into strength and success, and finding courage to be optimistic about the future.

• Item# ZZ120X
• 328 pgs., hardcover, 0-944581-20-X
• $21.95

Shalom in my heart, Salaam on my lips
a Jewish woman in modern Morocco
By Gloria Becker Marchick

An incredible journey during an incredible time undertaken by an incredible woman -- Gloria Marchick arrives in Morocco on a Fulbright Foreign Grant as an ESL teacher weeks before the second Intifada breaks out -- and proves that one can keep one's Jewish identity, humanity, and sense of humor intact during one of the worst of times and situations for a woman and a Jew.

• Item# 848X
• 159 pgs., softcover, 0-916288-48-X
• $15.00

Under the Rising Sun  
Memories of a Japanese Prisoner of War
By Mario Machi

Against the advice of his father, Mario Machi dropped out of college and enlisted in the U.S. Army on February 17, 1941. War in the Pacific seemed imminent and he believed it was best for him to enlist early and get himself into something he liked. He'd had three years of college behind him at San Francisco State. With a major in physical education, he'd studied anatomy and biology, and some medicine, and decided the medical corps was the place for him. However, he'd received very little training and in September he asked to be transferred to the infantry.

Like all soldiers readying themselves to go overseas, Mario Machi had a dinner with his family and friends on Fisherman's Wharf, made wishes, tossed pennies into the water, began a diary and naively entered into his diary that he hoped this would be an "experience of value" and that he and all his friends would return safely. Two months later, they were thrown into a world they had not thought humanly possible.

Would You?
Now That I've Told You All That Would You? 
by Winston G. Williams

Imagine going out on a date with the man of your dreams who, without embellishment, shares the graphic truths of his existence and character, admits that he is looking for someone who will love all of him - even the ugly parts - and offers you the same unconditional love.

Once he told you all that, would you consider marriage or even a second date?

• Item# 2104W
• 273 pgs., softcover, 0-9749621-0-4
• $14.95

Wrong Feet First  
A Gift of Stories for Your Inside-Out Kind of Day
By Arta D. Banks

Wrong Feet First: A Gift of Stories for Your Inside-Out Kind of Day is a collection of true stories based on everyday occurrences and their life lessons. The vignettes will make you think, laugh, cry, dream, and appreciate the important things in life...family, friends, and health. These stories are written from the heart and filled with strength and love. They will inspire and motivate you to be all that you can be. The stories will give you hope and remind you that you are uniquely important.

*Quote from the book*
One day as a young boy ran out to play, his mother said, "Your shoes are on the wrong feet." The boy replied, "But these are the only feed I've got."

*About the Author*
Arta Banks is the single mother of six children, five of whom are adopted. She is a pediatric nurse and her nursing career includes selection into Who's Who Among American Nurses. She is an advocate for adoption, children in foster care, children with special needs, and people living with HIV/AIDS.

• Item# 0113
• 128 pgs., hardcover, 0-9702601-1-3
• $14.95