We write upbeat novels with strong characters who are trying to do good things. All titles are available at: Amazon.com. Select titles are also available at: Smashwords.
Too Close for Comfort
: Val and her husband have the ideal life running a quiet, child-free bed and breakfast in scenic Wisconsin. Their peaceful life is shattered by the arrival of Val’s half-French sixteen-year-old niece after the death of her father. Val’s sister claims that she is caring for her ailing mother-in-law in France, but she always has an excuse. Val wants her peaceful life back, but her niece makes that impossible since she disdains all things American, especially her frumpy aunt.
Overbooked: What should forty-five year old Candice do when her family doesn’t respect her and the airline makes a tempting offer to take a later flight? An extra day in Amsterdam provides an opportunity for a much longer stay with an attractive French man and a chance to reconnect with the father who walked out thirty years ago. It’s more tempting than returning home to a huge house that’s as empty as her life. Paperback version.
Sticky Note Empire: Work conflict explodes between experienced software engineer, Riva and newcomer Chuck over the latest management fad. Riva focuses on the successful completion of important work. Chuck knows that older workers get stuck doing things the same way and oppose change. If unsuccessful, this project could be Chuck and Riva’s last. And success is not assured, especially when sticky notes appear on their to-do board without anyone admitting to writing them. Paperback version.
French Impression
: Working in Paris for a year could help Miriam move on with life after the death of her husband. She’s off to an exciting start when she has a romantic night with a charming Frenchman, until she discovers he’s married to her new boss, Estelle. Enduring her husband’s tales about his perfect dead wife was bad enough, now Estelle has an employee, Miriam, who mourns a similar loss. So much divides these two women. Will they discover what they have in common? Paperback version.
French Encounters: Estelle’s joy in her pregnancy is tempered by an impending divorce. Was her husband habitually unfaithful or was it just the one time with Miriam? It shouldn’t matter, but she can’t move on without knowing. Working in Paris for a year is helping Miriam adjust to the loss of her husband. Spring brings a constant stream of visitors. A secret project further strains Miriam’s relationship with her boss, Estelle. Two women from different cultures connect in uncomfortable ways through work and life choices. Paperback version.
French Threads: While working in Paris for a year, Miriam returns to the States to see her children, start the process of selling her house, and recruit members for an important work project. Nothing goes as planned. Her son is in danger of abandoning his PhD, her daughter’s summer internship fell through, and there’s a problem with the people renting her house.
Estelle’s romantic life is thrown into chaos by the death of her stepson. Since her ex-husband is in pain, she wants to comfort him, but spending time together threatens her new romance and her plans for children of our own.
French Forecast: Miriam has extended her one year in France and is vacationing to Morocco and southern Spain with her daughter. Their mother-daughter time is interrupted by her daughter’s male friend. About to have her baby, Estelle faces her ex-husband’s demand that she let him buy their apartment. Although she never liked the apartment, she’s not in a position to move this close to her baby’s birth. Two women from different cultures learn from each other how to make good choices in life.
Making Family
: Reeling from the unexpected death of her beloved husband, Ruth loses the opportunity to adopt her foster daughter. With her children grown, she faces middle-age with only an orange cat named Snowball to share her daily life. A phone call from a busy social worker changes everything. Eight-year-old Kata is sweet, but doesn’t speak a single word. Her teenage sister could help, but she wants nothing to do with the foster system. While the adorable eight-year-old could find a home in Ruth’s heart, she isn’t ready for a teenager.
Yes, And…: Yes, and… is a mantra in improvisational theater. It is also a life philosophy that an ad hoc group performing improv learns to apply to their lives during twenty-four hours in Edinburgh. When Steve grabs the opportunity to perform at a larger theater, Andy scrambles to get the group ready and to fill the theater. Aside from the two organizers, the group consists of amateurs, so the performance is bound to have awkward moments. Their cohesiveness is endangered when some members of the group use the clarity of the stage to uncover secrets with dangerous results.
Yes, But–
: When Steve and Andy take their amateur show to Edinburgh, they apply the principle of yes, and… to rehearsals, performances and life for two weeks. The rest of the year, they struggle to be creative while doing professional improv and corporate training to pay the bills. Scotland provides a welcome break, but many complications. Steve donated sperm to a lesbian couple last year and is distracted by the baby, leaving Andy to turn the amateurs into a cohesive improv group. Theater, and life, sometimes requires yes, but–
Yes, Or? After two years of staging amateur productions at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with his business partner, Steve is on his own with a group that includes a couple celebrating their 35th anniversary with different views about retirement. A timid woman staying with her bold ex-sister-in-law struggles to express herself on the stage and in life. Two video game creators spend so much time in a fantasy world that they have difficulty in the real world. Steve worries that his son’s mother is returning to the woman who dumped her last year which would end his daily involvement in his son’s life. The distraction could spell disaster for the group living and performing together.
Yes, If: Andy and Steve are in Scotland with another group of amateurs performing improv. They are trying to put on an engaging show despite distractions, conflicts within the group and a last minute crisis. This trip had been carefully planned, but plans have a way of going awry when faced with reality. The presence of his wife’s ex-husband, Mr. Perfect, gnaws at Andy’s self-confidence and makes him question his life choices. Maybe it’s time to give up improv and get a real job?
Hierarchy
: Imagine a world where clothes, towels, toothpaste, everything has a use-by date and the average citizen must spend hours a day deciding between competing brands for everything. Add a class of Associated and Elevated to be the rulers of glamor and power, even to the extent of being judges in criminal cases. With Guardians occasionally murdering the celebrities they are supposed to protect, businesses aren’t the only organizations acting like crime syndicates.
Co-authored with Barry Glicklich
Uplifting themes, like solving world hunger, importance of connections.
The Shortest Route: Building connections makes life meaningful while working at a corporate career, or delivering groceries in Milwaukee. Thirty-three-year-old Marty turns each stop on his route into a community event. Marty enjoys zipping around Milwaukee following the special routes his mathematician girlfriend provides. Life is cruising along, until her route makes him late, and jeopardizes her research. When a recently divorced customer sets her sights on him, his confidence in his approach is shaken. Should he give up trying to help others, or continue no matter how rocky the route gets?
Alternate Routes: Marty once thought he would save the world or at least eliminate hunger in his city. Now he’s struggling with school, work and family issues, while facing a move from the city that provides ninety-five percent of his connections. Moving means he may never get his masters degree, or even finish his undergraduate studies. The only thing dumber than dropping out of college again would be to risk losing Susan and their daughter. But he learned twenty years ago that everything he most wanted was in Milwaukee. How can he leave?
Sparks: During high school, Rich thought he’d change the world. Contrary to his ambitious plans to design computers to help the blind like his beloved grandfather, he struggles to hold on to a dead-end job and inspire his son to avoid his mistakes. Although Rich regrets the haste of his second marriage, he’d never abandon his adopted daughter, who creeps through life hoping no one notices her. Vivid memories cause him to rethink his life. As the reunion progresses, Rich takes action and sparks fly.
All titles are available at: Amazon.com
Select titles are also available at: Smashwords
Other Writing: