About Featured Book: Mijo: We Bend, Not Break by Francisco Castillo

Mijo: We Bend, Not Break is a multigenerational family saga that explores the silence, strength, and emotional inheritance passed down through three generations of Mexican American men: Joaquín, Alejandro, and Gabriel Martínez. Set between the hills of Michoacán, Mexico, and the agricultural heartland of Hollister, California, the novel reveals how unspoken lessons of manhood ripple across decades, shaping love, loss, and the fragile hope of change.

The story begins in the late 1970s with Joaquín, a young husband and field laborer who leaves his hometown of Caulcomán, Michoacán, determined to build a better life in America. Hardened by poverty and his father’s emotional distance, Joaquín believes that silence and sacrifice define strength. Alongside his devoted wife, Carmen, he crosses the border and settles in Central California, where the promise of opportunity meets the reality of exhaustion and invisibility.

His quiet determination provides stability but also creates emotional distance that seeps into his home.
Years later, his son Alejandro comes of age in the 1990s, growing up between cultures and expectations. To Joaquín, emotion is weakness; to Alejandro, emotion is survival. Yet despite his yearning to connect, Alejandro internalizes his father’s restraint and carries the same unspoken lessons into adulthood. He falls in love with Elena, a woman who recognizes his tenderness but also senses the walls he cannot lower. When their son Gabriel is born, Alejandro vows to parent differently, but fatherhood exposes the very wounds he has spent his life avoiding.

Through recessions, job insecurity, and shifting generational values, the Martínez men confront what it truly means to be strong. Joaquín’s aging brings regret and quiet recognition of the love he failed to express. Alejandro, now a father himself, struggles to find emotional footing in a world that demands both resilience and vulnerability. Gabriel, growing up in the age of social media and mental health awareness, becomes the bridge between his family’s past and its possible future. His generation speaks the language of healing that his father and grandfather never learned.

When a family crisis forces old resentments and buried pain to surface, the three men begin therapy for the first time. Guided by a marriage and family therapist, they face the unspoken truths that have haunted them for decades. Through tears, resistance, and moments of clarity, each man begins to see that strength is not found in silence but in the courage to feel.

Mijo: We Bend, Not Break is a deeply human novel about fathers and sons, culture and migration, love and repair. It is about how healing rarely begins with words but with the decision to finally be seen.

This Fiction book is available in these Formats: eBook, Print

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Self-Liberation of Parson Sykes: Return to Southampton County by David J. Mason

With a victorious end to the Civil War, Parson Sykes fulfilled the goal of self-liberation, but he grew frustrated with the Reconstruction programs. At the suspension of open hostility, he recognized the need for complete emancipation. Following the defeat of the Confederacy, he must advance civil and human rights to gain real freedom. As post-war planning emerged, new challenges arose. Parson grew frustrated with the connivance practices in racial superiority and inferiority that hindered everyday freedom.
Parson experienced the chaotic end of the Civil War while serving in the Union Army. Grappling with military-civil affairs duty, political uncertainty, and the unfulfilled promises of emancipation, Parson realized the Emancipation Proclamation did not go far enough. Following the defeat of the Confederacy, vicious racial violence characterized the resistance to integrating Black people.
Parson joyously learned that Federal government created the Freedmen’s Bureau to help formerly enslaved people transition to freedom with humanitarian aid. Parson relentlessly advocated and pursued education, political participation, and full citizenship. With the creation of the Bureau, he felt less pressure.
Parson witnesses the final year of the Civil War and the chaotic dawn of Reconstruction, learning about the complex political fight for civil rights from mentors and personal observation. Parson’s insights taught him that in war, the victory is just the blossom, and nothing is more frustrating than a bloom that refuses to morph into some fruit.
Parson returns to Virginia, where he confronts the defeated confederates, including the rise of hate groups and violent insurgents. In Southampton County, the Bureau mediated sharecropping agreements between white landowners and Black families after the constitutional end of enslavement. Despite granting freedom, the federal government took little action to help Black families acquire the promised land.
Through his interactions with mentors, Parson becomes a fierce advocate for the human and civil rights of Black Americans, focusing on education, land ownership, and political participation. He navigated the legal and social struggles surrounding the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, revealing both the hope they inspired and the violent backlash they provoked.
With the passage of these amendments, they guaranteed equal rights for all citizens and prohibited states from denying the right to vote based on race or color. Simply put, Parson’s efforts to gain freedom, citizenship, and equality required long-term commitment, resilience, and perseverance.
Having secured his right to vote and purchase land, Parson married, started a family, and established himself as an independent community leader in Southampton County, achieving a hard-won personal liberation despite the systemic failures of the Reconstruction era.
As revealed by Parson’s genealogy, Reconstruction has ongoing effects, especially in the importance of addressing root causes and the need for ongoing human and civil rights enhancements. Racism is an inescapable reality in the American society. Still, the complexities of social problems, with their cultural subtleties and interconnectedness, demand a deeper understanding and more nuanced approaches than those used in managing a political solution.

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About Featured Book: Mijo, We Bend, Not Break by Francisco Castillo

Some inherit wealth. Others inherit silence. Three generations of men must decide which legacy to pass on.

From the sun-scorched fields of Michoacán to the crowded kitchens of California, Mijo, We Bend, Not Break traces the Martínez family’s struggle to survive, love, and redefine what strength really means. Joaquín grows up under a father whose distance teaches him that tenderness is weakness. Alejandro, his son, becomes a father himself-determined to be different, yet haunted by the weight of inherited silence. And Gabriel, the grandson, comes of age in a world where unspoken pain destroys families, daring to imagine a new way forward.

Spanning border crossings, economic upheaval, earthquakes, and a global pandemic, this sweeping novel captures both the private and public moments that shape generations. With searing honesty and lyrical grace, Francisco Castillo tells a story that is at once intimate and universal: the cost of silence, the power of vulnerability, and the courage it takes for men to finally say what they were never taught to speak.

Unforgettable, heart-wrenching, and ultimately hopeful, Mijo, We Bend, Not Break is a testament to resilience and the healing that becomes possible when families choose connection over silence.

This Fiction book is available in these Formats: eBook, Print

This book is in Kindle Unlimited!

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The Wretched and Undone by J. E. Weiner

A sinister specter is hell-bent on revenge, and an ethereal woman in white is desperate to repel the menacing force. A battle rages for the hearts, minds, and souls of the Anderwalds and their extended family of immigrant outcasts, Arab camel wranglers, wounded warriors, and a songstress on the verge of madness. A sweeping Southern Gothic saga unfolds in the Texas Hill Country, where history’s silenced voices rise amidst an astonishing tale that defies expectations.

On the eve of the Civil War, Polish immigrants Marcin and Agnieszka Anderwald arrive in Bandera, Texas, seeking a new beginning. But when Marcin crosses paths with a vengeful ghost known as the Shadow, their dream quickly turns into a nightmare. The Anderwalds’ baby drowns, and Agnieszka is convinced she is to blame. She starves herself to death, returning from the grave as a ghostly Woman in White, determined to protect her family. Marcin and Agnieszka’s son, Zacharias, burdened by grief, becomes entangled in a quest for vengeance that threatens his very soul. As he and his wife Liza clash with the relentless Shadow, they cling to hope when blessed with a child, John Marcin Anderwald.

But the curse of the Anderwalds is unyielding. John Marcin grows up amidst murder trials, haunting executions, and the ever-present Shadow that seeks to destroy his family. His love for the troubled singer Anna Schulte leads to further heartache, and his sons, Luke and Junior, inherit a legacy of sorrow and secrets that could tear them apart.

As the Anderwald legacy unfolds, each generation faces its own harrowing ordeal, where love and sacrifice are pitted against an unrelenting evil. Will they break free from the Shadow’s curse, or will they remain forever wretched and undone?

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Blood Sweat and Dreams by Robert Barzelay

“Blood, Sweat and Dreams” is a collection of ten gripping tales that plunge into the heart of human courage, sacrifice, and survival, each a portal to a distinct corner of the human experience, where mystery, and the unyielding pulse of life converge. These stories, diverse in setting and spirit, weave together the raw threads of adventure, and introspection, inviting you to journeys across continents, cultures, and the boundaries of the known world.

Imagine the sun-scorched streets in “Kidnapped in Tel Aviv” that sets the stage for a heart-pounding abduction, torment and mysterious developments, which end in bewilderment and the unexpected.

Or picture the vast, unforgiving expanse of the Sahara in “Emergency Landing in the Sahara”, where survival hinges on wit and will against the desert’s relentless embrace, the only nonfiction story, experienced by the writer himself.

In “The Signal in the Static”, the air crackles with enigma, as whispers from the ether hint at truths beyond our grasp, set against the ancient, sacred skyline of Jerusalem.

Venture further, to the jungles of Paraguay in “Eulogy with a Vengeance”, where justice takes on a primal edge, sharp and unyielding.

In “Silent Strike”, the stakes are global, the action swift, as operatives navigate a deadly dance of strategy and sacrifice to eliminate terrorists in North Africa.

Meanwhile, “Two 75-year-olds and a 75-year-old Skytrain” plunge you into the heart of human compassion, where heroes defy chaos to shield the vulnerable, saving lives in Darfur, their every step a gamble against fate.

Not all these tales pulse with adrenaline. “Esther’s Path of Acceptance” elaborates on the mindset of her father-in-law, Baruch Spinoza, an invitation to pause and be intrigued by this 17th-century philosopher, whose ideas of existence and freedom sparked revolutions of thought.

In contrast, “A Detour to Destiny” thrusts you back into the crucible of conflict, where chance encounters in Kashmir ignite life-or-death struggles, a land of rugged beauty, albeit a hotbed of revolt and dissension.

The collection also celebrates the vibrant tapestry of humanity. “A Journey through Time and Terrain” transports you to Aotearoa, where ancient Māori traditions breathe through sacred chants and the heartbeat of the haka, grounding the soul in community and earth.

Yet not all stories offer solace. “The Shadow of Sobibor”, a part fictional and true narrative of one of the writer’s family members, confronts the darkest chapters of history, unflinching in its portrayal of human cruelty and resilience, a stark reminder of the cost of antisemitism.

Brace yourself for these ten unforgettable stories that blur the line between the possible and the unimaginable. These ten stories, though distinct, are bound by a shared thread: they explore what it means to be human in the face of the extraordinary. From the pulse of danger to the whisper of wisdom, they challenge, inspire, and haunt. As you turn these pages, may you find yourself lost in worlds both familiar and strange, and may they leave you, as they have me as the writer, forever changed.

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The Brothers Brown: For the Sake of a Brother by R.G. Stanford

You can almost feel the red dust clinging to your skin and catch the faint scent of jasmine in the air. This is Indian Territory at the edge of everything—law and lawlessness, hope and heartbreak, where the lines between right and wrong blur with every sunset.
Told with vivid detail, this is the story of a man caught between loyalty and his past, between a brother’s shadow and the light of his own becoming. A tale of love, betrayal, and the quiet courage it takes to change your fate.
From a stagecoach town in Tennessee to the first railroad towns of the Indian Territory, we delve into the lives of the charismatic and flawed brothers, Matt and Robert. Their sibling dynamic shapes the lives of the entire Brown family, steering them down a road of familial struggles and cultural clashes.
Matt always idolized his oldest brother, Robert – a smooth-talking charmer who taught him at a young age to live hard and win big. Following Robert’s footsteps, Matt is drawn into a life of high-stakes games and deception. Then he meets Milla. Sharp-eyed, brave, and unafraid to speak the truth, Milla is a woman rooted in her Choctaw heritage, carrying both strength and sorrow in equal measure. For the first time, Matt imagines a different future. But the past doesn’t let go easily and buried secrets never stay buried for long, clawing their way back to the surface when you least expect it. Now, Matt must choose between what consumes him and the life he wants to build.
Set against the raw beauty of the Choctaw Nation, this is a powerful story of blood ties and hard choices, of the people we love and the ones we betray. Gritty, tender, and unforgettable—this is where redemption begins.

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The Best Cadet by Lucas Kinkaid

Saint Michael’s Military Academy is a private school that needs a miracle. It has lost an unfair lawsuit and can no longer afford to continue operating. The administration does not know how to overcome this problem. A reason for hope arrives one day in the form of a very unlikely individual.

A defiant young man is forced by his wealthy family to attend the academy. Paul Wildman needs to attend the military academy to stay in good graces with his family. The academy needs the financial help this will provide.

The two forge a very unlikely relationship. The interactions are usually humorous and often enlightening.

This is the story of how perceptions can easily change through experience.

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THE SILENT SYMPHONY by GEETA LAL SAHAI

“May you never experience what it is to mourn a partner who is there, yet not there.”

When memory begins to fade, love is tested in its most profound, most haunting ways.

The Silent Symphony is a moving story of families living with Alzheimer’s—where forgotten names, misplaced words, and moments of confusion become part of everyday life. Through intimate portraits of caregivers and their loved ones, the book captures both the heartbreak and the quiet resilience of those who stand by someone slipping away into silence.
Drawing from real experiences, it gives voice to the invisible labour of caregiving—the sleepless nights, the patience stretched thin, the grief of watching someone disappear while still alive. Yet, amid the despair, the book also finds extraordinary tenderness: a smile that returns for a second, a song that stirs a lost memory, a hand that remembers how to hold.
The novel portrays courage, love, and the unspoken music that binds families together. The Silent Symphony is not just about Alzheimer’s—it is about what it means to remain human when everything else seems to fall apart.

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The Munich Girl by Phyllis Edgerly Ring

The past may not be done with us. Anna Dahlberg grew up eating dinner under her father’s war-trophy portrait of Eva Braun. Fifty years after the war, she discovers what he never did—that her mother and Hitler’s mistress were friends. The secret surfaces with a mysterious monogrammed handkerchief, and a man whose Third Reich family history is entwined with Anna’s. Plunged into the world of the Munich girl who was her mother’s confidante—and a tyrant’s lover—Anna finds her every belief about right and wrong shattered. “Historical fiction that reads like memoir.” Philadelphia Inquirer

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