The Dowry

In India, the dowry was ransom.
Bride burning was what happened when the ransom was not paid.

It’s 1971 in Delhi, India, and Maya is about to enter into the time-honored tradition of arranged marriage—a tradition that holds strong against modern ways. But no sooner than Maya’s father provides her agreed upon dowry to her fiancé’s family does Maya learn that she has just been traded into a deal deeply imbedded into Indian culture—a deal in which Maya is chattel. What will happen to her if the ever-increasing dowry demands are not met?

Maya embarks on a quest to find the root of the cruel customs that have seeped into the families, relationships, and minds of India’s people. Going against her prescribed destiny, she faces irate backlash and is hunted by her enemies. But when Indira Gandhi enacts new emergency measures in a forceful attempt to bring a chaotic country further into modernization, Maya finds an ally in her fight.

Can Maya change the course of Indian history despite the traditions fused into its identity? Or will she be drawn into India’s ancient spells?

• Womens Fiction

It’s 1941. Europe lies at the mercy of the victorious Nazi war machine. For some in the British army the war is already over. Or is it? Lance Corporal Jock Mitchell has paid the price for being a territorial soldier in the Royal West Kent Regiment. His battalion, ill-equipped and untrained, found itself sacrificed in France against the all-conquering Wehrmacht, trying to hold the line while the bulk of the British army retreated to Dunkirk to fight another day. A prisoner of war camp awaits Jock for the remainder of the conflict, far from home and his loved ones, under the watchful eye of a brutal regime. Food is scarce, the work hard, the news grim, the future appearing hopeless. But what if the prisoners could still contribute to the war effort? What if they could land a blow against Hitler? When an opportunity arises, Jock reluctantly finds himself at the heart of the plan. Failure means certain death, but all will be fine if his alibi holds. However, that means escaping from Stalag XXA and then breaking back in!

• Historical Fiction

Collin Griffin has changed. His wife, Jolene, suspects infidelity. His mother sees him lash out at his beloved dog and wonders what could be wrong. His father sees Collin as a disappointment for refusing to live up to his view of what a “man” should be. But no one suspects his downward spiral will lead to murder. Collin, incarcerated and in the grips of psychosis, is unable to explain what went wrong. Convinced he has found a link between Collin’s work for Monarch Industries pig slaughterhouse and his mental decline, Collin’s attorney, Cam Burton, prepares to make an unprecedented defense. To save his client from the death penalty, Cam seeks to implicate Monarch Industry’s dehumanizing work in his client’s breakdown. Set against the backdrop of tension and polarity in the summer of 2016 in Mosier, North Carolina, Quiet Man explores the interconnection between addiction, capitalism, speciesism, racism and various forms of oppression. Quiet Man was a Finalist in the Siskiyou Prize in Environmental Literature.

• General/Literary Fiction
• Elite Missions

Jake McCallum was a deputy sheriff in rural Beecham County, West Virginia until he was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to federal prison. Adding insult to injury, Jake's best friend accused him of committing adultery with his wife. After having lost everything, including his will to live, Jake attempts to commit suicide, but his enemies interupt him in the act by trying to kill him. In prison Jake befriends a preacher who prophesies that the Holy Ghost, conceived by a virgin, like Jesus, has come into the world. At the preacher's behest, Jake takes on the quest to find the Holy Ghost incarnate, most likely a boy under the age of twelve. The pages of Incarnate, The Third Entity, chronicle one man's sacrifice in defense of a little girl, his battle against enemies both natural and unnatural and his bizarre discovery of the origin of the boy he suspects is the Holy Ghost incarnate.

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• General/Literary Fiction
• Mystery-Crime