Small Town America

In 1971, a small-town high school baseball team from rural Illinois playing with hand-me-down uniforms and peace signs on their hats defied convention and the odds. Led by an English teacher with no coaching experience, the Macon Ironmen emerged from a field of 370 teams to become the smallest school in Illinois history to make the state final, a distinction that still stands. There, sporting long hair, and warming up to "Jesus Christ Superstar", the Ironmen would play a dramatic game that would change their lives forever.

From one of the most beloved Western authors comes an epic historical tale of adventure and romance in the great wilderness. Against the epic backdrop of the building of the Union Pacific Railroad across plains and deserts and through the mountains to meet up with the Southern Pacific in Utah comes a sprawling, historical tale. Warren Neale is a brilliant civil engineer who is constantly confronted with construction problems. He is sided by Larry Red King, a Texas gunfighter and friend.

The lonely predicament of Carol Kennicott, caught between her desires for social reform and individual happiness, reflects the position in which America's turn-of-the-century "emancipated woman" found herself.

Andy Adams (1859-1935) was born to pioneer parents in Indiana, worked in Texas for a decade driving cattle, and settled in Colorado Springs, where he penned his cowboy narratives. The Log of a Cowboy chronicles a five-month drive of three thousand head of cattle from Brownsville, Texas, to the Blackfoot Indian Reservation in Montana. This classical work of fiction provides fascinating insights of everyday life on the Great Western Cattle Trail with a team of 12 cowhands, a cook, a horse wrangler and a foreman.

Assigned to the CIA's survivalist school in the Appalachians, Sasha Kopytina intercepts a short wave radio transmission from a long-dormant Russian sleeper agent, a spy ring headed up by her father. They went off the grid after the Berlin Wall fell twenty-five years ago. A quick phone call to her half-brother, Sam Mulchay, in the CIA's Black Ops, and he appears on the scene under the guise of FBI Special Agent Adam Brookfield. Sam arrives in the dusty, hot small town of Brownville, Alabama, to investigate and quickly finds himself caught up in the spiraling mystery of the disappearance of ...

The Lindsay family has come west hoping to help the father, John, recover from an illness. When they arrive, they are induced to purchase Spanish Peaks Ranch, an abandoned United States military post surrounded by mountains. It seems like a perfect place to settle into their new life as ranchers. As they soon find out, though, this deserted fort is equally suited for both protection and imprisonment.

Nothing casts a more sinister shadow over our nation's history than the gruesome lynchings that happened between 1882 and 1937, claiming 4,680 victims. Often, in a show of racist violence, the lynchers tortured their victims before murdering them. Most killers were never brought to justice; some were instead celebrated as heroes, their victims' bodies displayed or even cut up and distributed as trophies.

Elvira is home to creatures the world doesn’t want—or wants too much, like the fairies. Now the secret’s out, and tourists are coming to see the tiny town’s wonders. Before they arrive, someone spellbinds fairies, slashes werewolves and sets the vampires at each other’s throats. Ghost hunter Josh Seldom and his (mostly human) friends must stop the mayhem. But in a town full of monsters, how do you find a killer? Expect realism & fantasy, mystery & humor. Pure fun!

The Waitress 🌟 A Story of Love, Loss, and Hope in a Changing World Step into the life of Betty Powers, a woman whose life unfolds amidst the chaos of a country rebuilding itself. Set in the post-Depression era, The Waitress is a powerful tale of resilience and the enduring strength of the human spirit. Born and raised in Huntington, West Virginia, Betty’s childhood during the Great Depression was filled with harsh realities of economic hardship and emotional struggle. But her spirit is unshakable, even during the toughest challenges of her life. As a young woman, she becomes entangled ...

Welcome to Angel Falls, a deep-south small town in the heart of L.A. (That’s Lower Alabama, y’all.) Injury shatters Casey Alexander’s dream of becoming a prima ballerina, so she opens a dance studio in her home town of Angel Falls. Among her students are the daughters of her high-school sweetheart Ben and his wife Melody, Casey’s ex-best friend. Witnessing Ben and Melody’s happy-ever-after on a weekly basis fuels her determination to find someone of her own to love. But eligible men are scarce as hen’s teeth in the quaint little town on the backside of nowhere. Until a sexy ...

Based on a remarkable true story. Winter, 1969. Since she was a little girl, Catarina learned not to ask for much. Born to a family of corn farmers in rural south Brazil, she was happiest when she was surrounded by sprawling fields and burly, familial farmhands—until her family was driven out of the land they had worked diligently for years, and Catarina was sent to work for a wealthy family in São Paolo. Only ten years old, Catarina becomes a housemaid—and the lifeline of her family. Far from everyone and everything she’d ever known, she discovers the shocking gap between her life ...

“… Jack Dancer is a slightly less violent (but wackier) Tarantino, and while it is possible Jack may be batshit crazy himself, he is quickly becoming one of my favorite contemporary authors. Reading his work makes me smile.” 5-Stars, Gaius Konstantine for Readers’ Favorite. What’s it all about? In the secluded McKinnon County of North Carolina, Tucker Blue's simple family visit entangles him in a struggle against a billionaire seeking global power through the county's quartz mines, the backbone of the semiconductor industry. Amidst emerging love, whistleblower revelations, and a ...

John Henry Cole is an operative of Ike Kelly's Detective Agency, based out of Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory. Returning to Cheyenne from what had been a deadly assignment in Deadwood, Dakota Territory, Cole has decided that he has no alternative but to resign from the agency and pursue a different line of work. However, in Cheyenne, Cole learns that Ike Kelly has been murdered and his body burned in a fire that destroyed both the agency office and the shop next door.

The Boarderby Harper Stanwick, Sr. is a historical fiction novel set in a small American town during the early 20th century. This compelling story weaves together the lives of ordinary people, exploring themes of love, ambition, and the pursuit of independence. Leah Page's life is confined to her modest home, where she lives with her mother and Aunt Abagail. The arrival of K. Montross, a mysterious boarder seeking solitude, disrupts the quiet rhythm of their lives. Leah, caught between her responsibilities at home and her blossoming relationship with Isaiah Ewing, dreams of a future filled ...

Ninety-seven year young, Frank takes you on a pleasant journey through the time of our fathers and grandfathers. Laugh and cry with him as he tells his tale. At ninety-seven, Frank Stanbauer is the oldest person in Helen, South Dakota. Frank has lived a full life, from working with his father during the depression and drought of the dirty thirties, to walking through Europe with General George Paton's army in World War Two. Through his recollections and flashbacks, relive the major events in his life, from the birth of his three children to the premature death of his young wife, Rose. ...

Unto the Altar of God by Lawrence D. Maloney is set in the 1958-1966 period and describes a teenage boy’s struggles to persevere in a rigorous Catholic seminary amid nagging personal doubts, the turmoil of the 1960s, and revolutionary changes in the Catholic Church triggered by the Second Vatican Council. Adding to these challenges in this coming-of-age memoir is the boy’s strong attraction to a girl who attends a convent school. The book, which has plenty of humor, romance and pop culture from the 50s and 60s, also shows the powerful influence of people in a small Western Pennsylvania ...

Cyrus Brandt’s life is falling apart. Amid a disintegrating marriage and a failing career, he returns to his childhood home on an Illinois farm to make a new start. Adapting to the slow pace of his new environs, Cyrus quickly finds himself in a burgeoning romance with Annie, who owns a diner in the nearby town. But when a spring tornado deposits the body of a murdered man on a nearby rural roadside, Cyrus’ quiet new life is turned upside down. Annie’s brother, Sheriff Thomas Bales, is now caught up in a manhunt, and Cyrus volunteers to assist the sheriff’s under-staffed department ...

The story of a Civil War soldier finding his humanity in the face of horrible savagery. Emerging from the Civil War a shamed and broken man, Stephen Latch turns to a life of thievery and murder. Still hoping to uphold the values of the Confederacy, Latch sets his sights on the wealth of resources pouring westward from the northern United States, putting together a band of ruthless misfits to help him stake his claim of the riches of the caravans.

His need to dominate could destroy everything. There’s a darkness within Eric, fueled by control and the need to dominate. It poisoned his last relationship. Refusing to let it out is tough when his new flame, Catherine, desires a man with power over her. She’s strong, a self-assured business owner, and craves a different experience in the bedroom. When her parents come to town trying to set her up with another man, he agrees to pretend to be her boyfriend, but the deception quickly turns far too truthful. And Eric’s heart isn’t the only thing at stake.  

On the evening of the eighteenth of May, a young woman walks alone into the small village of Chimney Rock, North Carolina, with the intention of staying for exactly one year. As she sets about to find lodging and work, she quickly meets two precocious children, a caring and generous business owner, and the neighboring town's Chief of Police. Family and loss make up many of their stories, and while these people and others attempt to get to know and help the stranger, the history and troubled memories of what led her to this place begin to gradually unfold. As the date of her planned ...