Tag Archives: Coming of Age

From Dog to Wolf Virtual Book Tour

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From Dog to Wolf cover

Coming of Age

 

Date Published: May 5, 2021

Publisher: MindStir Media

How did the first Americans end up last in America?

From Dog to Wolf is the story of Daniel Graywolf, an Oglala Lakota teen struggling to survive on the impoverished Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Shy and a loner, young Daniel escapes the drama of life there by wandering the creek beds and washed-out roads in search of specimens for his rock collection; a practice that has earned him the regrettable nickname “Rock Dog.” One day he meets Dr. Robert Timberland, a geology professor from the nearby university. Together they solve the mystery of an important find Daniel has made while searching ancestral lands near the reservation. With the help and wisdom of tribal elders, they devise a plan that brings about the long-deserved restitution for his Sioux ancestors. To succeed will require considerably more of Daniel than just human resolve.

 

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EXCERPT

PROLOGUE

Many of america’s closest allies blamed us for the financial collapse of 2008 and lost faith in our ability to manage the world’s financial system. In 2013, as a sign of distrust, Germany shocked world markets with plans to repatriate 300 tons of their gold, stored in the vaults of the New York Federal Reserve. When the US Treasury refused Germany’s request to audit its own gold, supposedly held in the Fed’s vaults, and insisted on a seven-year plan to return a relatively small amount of bullion, the world took notice. It appeared that Germany’s original gold may no longer be held in the New York Federal Reserve vaults and, in fact, the Fed may not have 300 tons of gold on hand to return to Germany. 

Russia and China have long awaited an opportunity to free themselves from the American financial dominion that so strongly influences their economies and limits their expansionist activities. Believing that America did not have the gold reserves it claimed, while watching America’s debt soar past twenty-two trillion dollars, they determined it was time to challenge the US petrodollar as the world’s reserve currency. The two American adversaries embarked on a five-year plan, aimed at the acquisition of enough 

gold bullion to back a new joint currency; one that would replace the dollar and thus end America’s world financial hegemony. 

Delbert Sandlin

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From Dog to Wolf Blitz

 

From Dog to Wolf cover

Coming of Age

 

Date Published: May 5, 2021

Publisher: MindStir Media

How did the first Americans end up last in America?

From Dog to Wolf is the story of Daniel Graywolf, an Oglala Lakota teen struggling to survive on the impoverished Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Shy and a loner, young Daniel escapes the drama of life there by wandering the creek beds and washed-out roads in search of specimens for his rock collection; a practice that has earned him the regrettable nickname “Rock Dog.” One day he meets Dr. Robert Timberland, a geology professor from the nearby university. Together they solve the mystery of an important find Daniel has made while searching ancestral lands near the reservation. With the help and wisdom of tribal elders, they devise a plan that brings about the long-deserved restitution for his Sioux ancestors. To succeed will require considerably more of Daniel than just human resolve.

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Dream of the White Stallion Blitz

 

Dream of the White Stallion cover

 

Historical Romantic Fiction, Coming of Age, Romance

 

Publisher: Page Publishing

Kathryn Alexander, writing in her personal journal, describes her coming of age while dealing with childhood bullies and a dying mother. She is a shy teenager living in 18th century England, the era when Thoroughbred racing and breeding became the rage among the aristocracy. She has always loved horses, and even though her Irish father is an exceptional, but nontraditional, equine trainer and healer, her humble working-class family could never afford one of the beautiful animals. Although a commoner herself, Kathryn secretly loves William Stanley, the handsome young viscount who shares her passion and affinity for horses. Kathryn and her father save a crippled, young foal and raise it only to have the filly stolen the night her father is killed. This horrific event spirals Kathryn into a nightmare of desperate destitution, destructive choices, and eventually a spiritual journey that will change her life forever. Will she solve the mystery of her father’s murder, find forgiveness for her crushing guilt, and overcome the class differences that separate her from the man she loves?

Dream of the White Stallion tablet

 

Excerpt

 

“The massive stallion, silvery in the moonlight, was rending the air with his screams. From my vantage lying helpless on the ground beneath him, it appeared as if he was trying to claw a hole in the sky, his front legs thrashing above me. Any moment now he was going to return those hooves to the earth, most likely crushing my skull. I shrieked and tried to roll out from under the giant, white beast. I could feel the ground shake below as his feet pounded back to earth- had he missed me by inches? I kept rolling as I heard another blast from his nostrils, and then he was rearing again. I had the sensation of several men struggling and shuffling around me, hauling on ropes, shouting, and trying in vain to control the colossal energy of the maddened animal. I could smell their rank sweat and my own fear. But none of their faces or voices seemed clear. My only focus was on the piercing scream of the stallion and avoiding those stomping, flailing hooves.”

About The Author

Julia Oliver


Julia Oliver, like her heroine, has also loved horses from an early age. With her veterinarian husband, they have raised and trained jumpers, eventers, and carriage animals ever since their marriage in 1970. In her younger years, Julia was a high school teacher, but in the last decade has dedicated her life to Meadowstone Therapeutic Riding Center where she provides riding lessons to children with disabilities and also directs equine psycho-therapy for adult clients from a residential addictions program. Julia has previously written two non-fiction books that have gained wide acceptance in her field of therapeutic riding and carriage driving. She and her husband have lived on their Meadowstone farm for 43 years and are active members and teachers in their non-denominational church.

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Chokecherry Girl Tour

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Young Adult, Coming of Age, Multi-Cultural Fiction

 

Date Published: 2/16/21

Publisher Acorn Publishing

It’s 1958. Racial tension and class disparities have everyone on edge in a small Montana town. Despite their differences, three women of the community become the unlikeliest of friends.

BOBBI VERNON is a quirky teen, who will do whatever it takes to drive her teacher’s new Chevy convertible. Adding to the already volatile mix, she meets Pretty Weasel, an Indian basketball player, who calls her Chokecherry Girl. She dreams of dating him and wearing his class ring.

PATSY OLSON, after two failed marriages, is desperate to get her life back. After opening a beauty shop with a shaky bank loan, she watches Coach Vernon, Bobbi’s father, arriving for school each day. Attracted yet wary, she needs the business of the town ladies, including the Coach’s wife, Lois.

MARY AGNES LONE HILL, an alcoholic Crow Indian who was sent far away to a brutal Indian school as a child, now cleans houses for the town ladies and longs to end her estrangement with her son, Pretty Weasel.

These three women are drawn together through an illicit love affair, a stolen car, and a shooting that changes their lives forever.

Chokecherry Girl

Barbara Link

Excerpt

Chapter One – 1958

The worst thing about babysitting for the O’Malley’s was the dead baby. When the bell rang at their mortuary next door, Bobbi would leave the kids and unlock the door so family and friends could view the deceased. 

There she was, the silent baby tucked into a satin lined box like a doll under the Christmas tree. Her tiny hands remained fixed in place, pointing to nothing or maybe to heaven. 

For other baby-sitting dangers, Bobbi devised a strategy. After all, in 1958 she was a freshman in high school and knew a few things. So when the dads drove her home, she scooted to the far side of the front seat. If they grabbed her, she’d pull Grandma’s darning needle from her sleeve and jam it into their arm.

You’d be surprised how many husbands tried to feel her up. The men left home in ironed white shirts with clean-shaven cheeks smelling of Old Spice and talking in company voices. But during the evening, they grew stubble, breathed whiskey fumes and pawed at a flat-chested fourteen-year-old girl. 

  1. The year in which Bobbi tangled with the adults—Patsy, the beautician, Mary Agnes, the Crow Indian, and Miss Bauer, the new teacher. Bobbi knew she should have obeyed the law and her parents. She never thought it crucial until she stood before the judge.

 “Donna,” she’d said to her best friend, “honestly, I wanted to kneel with prayer hands like the picture of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, maybe with the Platters playing My Prayer in the background. Not because it was religious, but because it sounded sad and romantic. Dad said no! No kneeling and no music in Judge Henderson’s chambers.”

 “I love The Platters! That would have been so cool,” Donna said.

“No shit,” Bobbi replied. 

The trouble started the first week of March when she discovered the car parked behind the high school. A ‘58 black Chevy convertible with red leather seats, slick red steering wheel, acres of polished chrome, and white wall tires like frosted donuts.  A black and red shining jewel. 

Bobbi rode to school that day with her dad. From behind the school, they had a clear view of a new business—a beauty shop in an old house trailer. The blonde beautician stood in her doorway, smoking and staring at them like they were something to see. 

Dad glanced at the blonde, and then entered the school through the back door. Bobbi paused by the Black Beauty, smoothed her hand over the hood, inhaled the fragrance of the high gloss wax and felt the sun-soaked shiny metal.  

     A young woman stepped out of the school’s back door and lit a cig. Her eyes were deep set behind heavy-framed black glasses. Her brownish, unwashed hair curled like bacon over her forehead. She wore a rumpled tweed skirt, white Oxford shirt, and penny loafers. Altogether, she gave off a quality of raw, lean power.

Bobbi knew all of the instructors, so she assumed this must be the new English teacher. 

“My new rag top. Like it?” the woman asked. 

Bobbi sucked in a lungful of air. She’d never ridden in a convertible! “Very cool,” she stammered, hoping she wouldn’t pee her pants. 

The teacher displayed a faint expression of her lips, something stealthy, a smile that was not a smile. She tossed her cigarette and went back inside the school. 

About The Author

Barbara Meyer Link

Award-winning California author and poet, Barbara Meyer Link, has had three stories aired on KVPR, a National Public Radio Affiliate. Her poetry and fiction have appeared in numerous literary magazines and small presses. She also received the Sacramento State University Bazzanella Prize for fiction. Her memoir, Blue Shy, was published in 2010 and awarded first prize in the Sacramento Friends of the Library First Chapter contest. She co-authored Coffee and Ink, a handbook for writing groups and was a past editor of Sacramento’s Poetry Now. In addition, she was a poet/teacher for California Poets in the Schools for over fourteen years. Most recently, she was awarded second prize for poetry at the Mendocino Coast Writer’s contest.

Partial list of publications. American River Review, Poetry Now, Mindprint Review, Anima, Missouri Review, Women’s Compendium, Hardpan, Earth’s Daughter’s, (2014-2016) Whitefish Review, Dead Snakes, Noyo Review, Piker Press (on Dec 5, Dec 12)

Blue Moon Literary & Art Review (2019, 2020)

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Chokecherry Girl Blitz

 

Chokecherry Girl cover

 

Young Adult, Coming of Age, Multi-Cultural Fiction

 

Date Published: 2/16/21

Publisher Acorn Publishing

It’s 1958. Racial tension and class disparities have everyone on edge in a small Montana town. Despite their differences, three women of the community become the unlikeliest of friends.

BOBBI VERNON is a quirky teen, who will do whatever it takes to drive her teacher’s new Chevy convertible. Adding to the already volatile mix, she meets Pretty Weasel, an Indian basketball player, who calls her Chokecherry Girl. She dreams of dating him and wearing his class ring.

PATSY OLSON, after two failed marriages, is desperate to get her life back. After opening a beauty shop with a shaky bank loan, she watches Coach Vernon, Bobbi’s father, arriving for school each day. Attracted yet wary, she needs the business of the town ladies, including the Coach’s wife, Lois.

MARY AGNES LONE HILL, an alcoholic Crow Indian who was sent far away to a brutal Indian school as a child, now cleans houses for the town ladies and longs to end her estrangement with her son, Pretty Weasel.

These three women are drawn together through an illicit love affair, a stolen car, and a shooting that changes their lives forever.

About The Author

Barbara Meyer Link

Award-winning California author and poet, Barbara Meyer Link, has had three stories aired on KVPR, a National Public Radio Affiliate. Her poetry and fiction have appeared in numerous literary magazines and small presses. She also received the Sacramento State University Bazzanella Prize for fiction. Her memoir, Blue Shy, was published in 2010 and awarded first prize in the Sacramento Friends of the Library First Chapter contest. She co-authored Coffee and Ink, a handbook for writing groups and was a past editor of Sacramento’s Poetry Now. In addition, she was a poet/teacher for California Poets in the Schools for over fourteen years. Most recently, she was awarded second prize for poetry at the Mendocino Coast Writer’s contest.

Partial list of publications. American River Review, Poetry Now, Mindprint Review, Anima, Missouri Review, Women’s Compendium, Hardpan, Earth’s Daughter’s, (2014-2016) Whitefish Review, Dead Snakes, Noyo Review, Piker Press (on Dec 5, Dec 12)

Blue Moon Literary & Art Review (2019, 2020)

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Instagram: @Saclynk

Purchase Link

Amazon

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