Dr Ralph Penner became an expert locksmith, a pilot and a professor after his wife and he separated. These pursuits were activities that he used to fill the voids in his life, but they became extremely useful as he was faced with a summer of adventure. After years of being single Ralph is faced with a summer of falling in love with one lady after another and none seem to fit his dream girl status. He does get involved with a human trafficking organization which consumes his entire summer as he tries to protect many young lives caught up in the illegal business of crimes against unwitting young people from other lands. The ladies that he meets along this summer experience don't seem to fit his requirements of mate selection. Before the end of the book, two of the ladies become very important to him, one very young and one somewhere around his age. Ralph goes back to his teaching job with full intentions of keeping in touch with two of his new friends. He finds out that making a tough decision at his age isn't always that easy.

Sid had a choice. He could marry a fourteen year old Mayan or let her die as a sacrifice to the fertility god of Mayan women. The fourteen year old girl was nice, she was sweet and she was very pretty, but oh so young. Her name was Si. He knew he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was in a real tough spot trapped between two dimensions about five-hundred years apart. Socially he would have to comply with the cultural requirement of marriage, but then later as the tribal women began watching her belly, he found out that if she didn't show a child within two years she would still be sacrificed and he would have to marry another. Morally and ethically, he did not intend to make anyone that young his wife. Sounds complicated? It's not; he works it out with the best results for everyone, even himself. How do they have a baby when they really need one without Sid breaking his own cultural code of ethics?

A young Indian orphan desires to do more, learn more and become more than anyone in his tribe. His primary goal is to get an education not available to him as an orphan living among his peers. He accomplishes a few remarkable things before he runs away from the land of his ancestors. He ends up on the east coast of the United States and begins working but has no desire to keep his earnings. Through some chance meetings and lucky breaks he begins a college career that leads him to a PhD and eventually, he becomes a professor admired by all. His lifetime ambition is sidetracked when a beautiful, former student tells him that she is and has been in love with him. I am sure everyone reading this book will be surprised at the way it ends.

This story is about one of the Wisnook Tribal legends, albeit a lesser legend, but nonetheless, one of great significance. We know the greatest legend among the Wisnook is the White Panther or the spirit leader of the tribe. At the time of this story the steamboat had recently been invented. These powerful machines were beginning to travel the larger waterways. A young man without prior knowledge of such a contraption became familiar with a few of the men who were searching for new ways of travel to improve commerce and human transportation. This story involves the uncanny innocence of a young Indian lad who with good luck and the right companions would be able to do more for the world than he would have otherwise had he not been summoned away from the comfort and friendly life among his family and peers. Did I say peers, he had no peers. He was that much different. His situation was much different than any normal boy born into the Wisnook Tribe, he had a distinct birth characteristic that made him one of the most reserved and most challenged lads of his time. He found it very difficult to be normal even though he didn't mind his difference.

White Bird Returns White Bird was born under very strange circumstances. His mother Sweentouk had just given birth when a band of strange Indians passed nearby. One of the men began chasing her and she knew she couldn't outrun him and hid the baby in a hollow tree. He got his name from a Great Snowy Owl that lived in that tree. Later, White Bird would be an outcast from his own tribe and join with a band of French trapper. He would begin a journey of thousands of miles because of that association, but it would be the English that carried him back to the old world as a bonded slave. During this period he would be captured by the Iroquois Indians to be sold in slavery. He would escape and become a lifelong enemy to the Iroquois who he continually outfoxes throughout his association with them. He also meets his future wife during his first encounter with these slave trading Indians. Naragomset will be his lifelong partner and the mother of his children. His return and experiences is the story in this book. He faces many, many challenges and one great challenge is a more than twenty year separation from his wife and two sons. His destiny is to find an Irish lad who will accompany him back to the New World and become the most famous chief in all of Wisnook history. The Irish lad, Alvy will become the guiding spirit of the Wisnook tribe for a thousand years and is the spirit behind all of the books about the Wisnook Indians.

Throughout the ages, dogs have been part of human life, beginning so far back that there are no certain records. There have been many wonderful, special dogs and we do have records of some of these. This story is about one of those very special dogs that arrived mysteriously and left the same way. Propane appears in Haiti amid the aftermath of a devastating hurricane. This book reveals her adventures to the United States and across the continent. She gets involved with the lives of many people and in all cases those that she connects with are better off after knowing her.

We are placed on the merry-go-round as babies and most of us leave as old men and women, but the things we do while going from one place to the next has all to do with what and who we are more than anything else other than our genetics. You have heard that old saying, "What goes around, comes around." I really think that is one way to look at our situation and our relationship with others. This story is in that vein. Our spy, Robert Copeland will be called upon to save his friend Little Eagle who at one time stepped forward to save him in a previous book, Little Eagle Saves A Spy. My comments here are not intended to describe that book, but it is mentioned briefly in order to get the gist of the reason this book came about. This story is reversed in who saves whom, and the situation is reversed in an unsure way in order for the reader who has read the first book and knows there is a big difference in the strength and fortitude of Little Eagle and the seemingly lack of those characteristics in our main character Robert Copeland, but, having said that, Robert always somehow gets the job done and usually get rewarded for it.

When a story comes to mind it often takes a life of its own and becomes something greater than the author envisioned. This story has grown out of other stories I have heard or read that always put me in mind of the O'Bannon Castle back in the old days of Ireland. I am sure no one knows all the history associated with that monument to time and this story just might be part of it. In your own life you have heard stories told by family members that were unverifiable and possibly without truth, but maybe there was a possible hint of truth hidden somewhere between the lines that made you wonder. The 'What If' factor has always intrigued me, because what if I hadn't said this or done that, where would I be today? I am sure if you haven't had that thought run through your mind before, you will someday. What if this story really did happen just as it is written? Even the main character has doubts after all is said and done: if he can't prove his story, who can say what actually happened? The main character is Robert Copeland, a young man from the States who takes a train heading north in England. During the train ride, he meets a young lady who will not only become his friend, but help him in solving a half-century-old mystery. But strange things happen during their train ride that puts the story into a different perspective than anyone could have imagined up to that point. The young lady gets off the train and meets him again on anther train. She looks the same, but he can't shake the feeling that she isn't quite the same girl. This story involves a lot of friendly ghosts who have not always lived a friendly life, either after becoming a ghost or before. The main character has to sort through a lot of different people and by good fortune and wise choices eventually produces a conclusion that is satisfactory to all: the ghosts, his friends, the young lady that he met on the train and also the church that is involved in the conclusion.

Wisnook Treasure begins with a cross country hop in three different planes of the same kind. A flying club has arranged for our two main characters to fly from Texas to the East Coast of the United States undetected. The flight requires an excellent plane with short take off and landing capabilities along with safety and fuel economy. The Zenith STOL CH 750 Light Sport Utility proved to be the perfect choice for the task. The home of the manufacture of this company is in Mexico, Missouri. The author, Dr Robert E McGinnis is a pilot and he has long admired this great plane and the company that makes it. His choice for using this small, neat and proven aircraft was not difficult. Once the mystery begins, our two companions from the previous book, The Golden Cross get involved with government agents and unscrupulous treasure hunters as well. A chase begins in Texas and with help and good luck; our two companions make it across the continent and solve the riddle of the Wisnook Treasure.

Robin Long Bird was born Robert Copeland, but extreme circumstances and devastating threats from several spy agencies throughout the world required a name change for his personal safety. Robert Copeland had been hired to take secret pictures for a cartel of international spy agencies linked by their need to share information without sharing their true identities. Robert Copeland failed to turn over this secret information to any of the agencies demanding it and not even to the covert American agency that authorized his service. He was treated badly by the agency that hired him, which also tried to prevent him from being paid for his summer of spy work. With the help of some special friends, he was able to get his payment and escape into an unknown and untraceable identity. His revenge for his poor treatment was in keeping the secret information. This story is about Robin's ability to hide from those who wanted the information that only he had access to. Robert Long Bird has one unique feature which is extremely rare and not known by many, and that is his ability to move between dimensions and to take objects and people with him. This may seem unlikely, but when the concept of dimensional travel is understood, the events in this book become a possibility.

There are five books in this Paradise Series and in this book our hero travels to Canada in a long and difficult search for his parents from whom he was separated at birth.

Dr. Robert E McGinnis has been writing books for over thirty years. All of his books are intended to offer motivation and entertainment to the reader. This latest group of books, called the Paradise Series are each totally fictional with a hint of reality. There are five books in this series and A Beckoning From Paradise is the first. Dr. McGinnis graduated from Southern Illinois University with a BS in education and his Doctorate from Nova Southern University. He spent almost thirty years teaching school and retired from that noble occupation to complete these books which were conceived years back. The books in this series are: 1. A Beckoning From Paradise 2. Secrets Of Paradise 3. Paradise Is Where you Find It 4. Paradise Grows 5. Raised In Paradise Other books include: In Search of Paradise 1999 In Search of Paradise 2000 revised In Search of Paradise 2007 expanded Sunday Letters 2007