Families are like snowflakes, in that no two are exactly alike. Each individual has a part to play on the stage of family drama, and those characters can be so different and yet so much alike as they share that clan identity. An individual can change the name or wear a mask, and move away to seek obscurity or fashion some other identity on near or distant frontiers or foreign shores, to dwell among strangers. Fame and fortune are calling, and for some a hermit's life is more attractive. The American traditions of love and romance, marriage and creation of another family institution have conventional conservative designs, but occasionally there is the unorthodox merger of opposites or the union of similar spirits in a compatible but unconventional connubial design. Children are born and grow up in these milieus to inaugurate their own family dramas, taking with them into those relationships all the features that genetics, nature and nurture have provided to equip them for assuming their place to play their part in the drama of human life in the American family tradition. This story is about one of those resulting families of unconventional design.

An American woman plays a redeeming role amidst America's duplicity and betrayal of the Philippine struggle for independence during the revolution against Spain, which culminated in the Spanish-American and Philippine American wars. The fiction/nonfiction novel highlights the military and romantic exploits of the dashing and legendary hero, 23-year old General Gregorio Del Pilar, then the youngest in the Philippine army and American Christine Kelcher's intimate relationship with him and her allegiance to his country. Aide-de-camp to Philippine president Emilio Aguinaldo in exile in Hong Kong, the young general was euphoric over the coming of the Americans, espousing to his president acceptance of their offer of help in liberating Manila from the Spanish. When Commodore George Dewey and General Wesley Merritt betrayed the insurgency in a secret agreement with the Spanish to wage a mock battle to liberate the city to the exclusion of the insurgents "to protect the pride and honor of Spain," the general vowed to protect the president from capture, "or else the Republic dies." Military maneuvers by Major Peyton March and Colonel Charles Gilbert and their well-armed and well-trained soldiers are matched by surprise maneuvers by the insurgent general, making his last stand in Tirad Pass with 60 soldiers against 600 Texas Volunteers of the 33rd Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Expeditionary Force. The president avoided capture for 11 months more after the battle.

It is the early twentieth century, and aspiring journalist Howard Andrews has been nurturing a love affair with Eleanor Arlington-partly in his own imagination-since he was fifteen years old. But when Ellie tells Howie she is dropping out of college because her father has lost their family farm, he can only hope that they will be together one day. But even as the country prepares for a seemingly inevitable world war, Howard proposes. It seems all his dreams are about to come true. By the spring of 1917, the world has turned inside out. With a little more than three months to go before their wedding, Congress declares war, changing everything for the young couple. In a short span, Howard signs up for artillery school and seals his commitment with Eleanor during what turns out to be a beautiful, military wedding ceremony. Just two days later, he must report for duty and leave his new wife behind. Little does he know that a tiny life has already begun to grow inside Eleanor. In this historical tale based on true events, a father and son soon discover that the consequences of war-and the peace that follows-will pursue both of them for much longer than they ever imagined.

Maximilian Fausto is on a mission. His dead mother set him the task of collecting her personal journals, but he quickly discovers that the elusive journals are not so easy to find. And he begins to suspect that his mother planned this journey for his personal growth. He's suspicious and depressed by nature, and he chafes against any attempt to right himself with the world.

Things get rough for Max. He's snared in a destructive love affair; he tangles with an Evangelical family; he narrowly escapes a drug lord's wrath. But working with his fractious family--a brother disabled in Vietnam, a well-meaning but alcoholic uncle, an angry father and a handful of dotty aunts--Max learns the evanescent quality of true love.

This odyssey is filled with heartache as well as joy, with the struggles and triumphs played out against a backdrop of profound longing and deep hope.

A political science major with three years of college under his belt, Charlie R. McNeil has planned his future, but serving in the military and fighting in a war is not part of the future he imagined. The American government thinks otherwise, however; he is drafted into the military, and sent to Korea-an assignment no one asks for. McNeil neither complains nor make waves; he goes where he's told to go and does what he's told to do. When the unexpected happens in Korea and the North Koreans cross the thirty-eighth parallel, Corporal McNeil finds himself immersed in war-a war that came so quickly after WWII that no one believed it possible and none of the military services were prepared. While McNeil moves up in military rank he never loses sight of his goal to earn a degree and work in Washington, DC. But first, he must survive Korea and return home to the United States. A military novel, "McNeil" captures the essence of war and the hardships of life on the battlefield from one young man who has other dreams.

This is a story of Africa at its most cruel and tender moments. It is a story of violence set against the breathtaking beauty of Nyanga; that is not its real name, but those who were there will know the location. If I Should Die is not about black against white, but of resistance to change and the righting of past wrongs. It is about a war men know they cannot win, but fight anyway, because it's their job. The fight becomes personalized between two combatants who represent the best each side has to offer. Sergeant Wilson is severely wounded and taken away for interrogation. When the injured man's fiance tries to find him, she must make tough decisions in the name of love. Although this action-packed story set in Africa is fiction, most of it did happen. Author Tom Edwards was born in Hampshire, England. He served six years in the Fleet Air Arm branch of the Royal Navy. He then worked several years as an artist before moving to Southern Africa, where he was a freelance newspaper reporter and then a mining engineer in South Africa, Zambia and Namibia, finally settling in what was then Rhodesia. During the Rhodesian conflict, he joined the reserve branch of the security forces, serving on border patrol.

Andy Bishop's quest begins promisingly when he leaves Columbus, Ohio, in 1914 after graduating from the University of Notre Dame. In Austria, Hungary, his goals are threefold: make contact with distant Austrian relatives, practice his nascent journalistic skills, and discover why his aristocratic ancestor, Matthias zu Windischgratz, immigrated to America so long ago. The scenery changes drastically as Andy witnesses the last stand of imperial Austrian society. He arrives just three weeks before the assassination of the Kaiser's nephew, the Habsburg Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and his wife, Sophie. This event sparks the fateful slide toward world war and chaos for both family and friends. Andy's fateful decision to remain in the doomed Habsburg Empire after the war begins-and his irresistible attraction to a young Austrian countess-lead him to Budapest, Rome, and finally Paris, as Europe is convulsed by the greatest war since the defeat of Napoleon. Told from the perspective of Andy Bishop, "An American in Vienna" presents historical insight into the Austrian court, royal society, and the demise of a once-powerful empire as it becomes embroiled in the Great War.

"The Last Hookers" is intrigue, danger, action, and romance about aviators in Viet Nam, Cambodia, and Laos Colonel Dunn who were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Their story shines light into dark corners of the NSA and CIA during covert operations in Southeast Asia.