Kirjahaku

There isn't a poet in the world, extinct or extant, who hasn't written about love or will write about love. Every poet in the future, no matter how far into the future we managed to get, will write about love. Some of those poets have written quite well about love. Others...not so much. I'd sure like to think I've cut into line somewhere between the two extremes. Good love. Bad love. Somewhere-in-between love. You'll find each represented in these pages.

The Button Man takes a button when he takes a victim. And he takes a victim whenever he wants. The authorities don't know he exists, though he leaves them ample evidence of his existence. They just don't see it. As a rookie patrolman, Detective Dan Finney met The Button Man in Maria Kuroshchepova's apartment. Finney discovered her body, tucked neatly into her bed. A decade later the case is still unsolved and Detective Finney has seen the handiwork of The Button Man again and again without knowing it. Saddled with a partner who seems hellbent on destroying both their careers and a girlfriend who just might take what sanity he has left, Finney gradually becomes aware of a sinister force loose in the city, a man who has gotten away with murder time and time again. As the picture of The Button Man becomes clearer, Finney comes face to face with his worst nightmare.

BIGELOW - When his wife is found brutally murdered, the scratches on Dan Samuels' face are enough to convince a jury. But Con Bigelow knows Dan is innocent and vows to find the man responsible for Lorna's murder.LIFE QUEST - Princess Benal claims a Life Quest of her father, the King. Now she must fulfill it.THE PHOTOGRAPH - Sometimes there's more to a photograph than meets the eye.DAY OF DEATH - Eric Donaldson woke up one morning determined to be the cause of someone's death.SHE WORE A SCARLET RIBBON - Can young love survive a father's desire for gain?Fifteen stories in this second collection from the author of "Selected," "Angeltown," and "The Button Man."

THE DEVIL'S IN THE DETAILS - Before you sign that Hellish contract, make sure you understand the fine print. JANET AND GEORGE - One day you fall down the stairs. When you wake up you're not quite yourself. Or anybody else you know.BRUMLEY'S GIFT - Even a gift of gab can't talk you out of everything.SECOND CHANCES - Make sure that Do Over moment is really what you want.A HELL OF A STORY - Collaborations aren't always the best idea.These and ten additional stories make the debut of the "Angeltown", "Selected" and "The Button Man" author into short fiction.

On the train platform in the dying town of Norton, Kansas, Michael Anderson is approached by Sarah Rogers, an anguished woman in search of the daughter kidnapped nine years earlier. It is the beginning of a personal odyssey that will take Michael to Denver and back to the Kansas plains and Angeltown. Along the way he will survive a blizzard with the help of two Indians named Bob and Steve, meet the beautiful Katherine Hodges, seek answers in the disappearance of several missing children, and pursue his destiny through the dreams that carry him to the very edge of madness.

Enter the world of Wayne DePriest's poetry where, as the title says, "They Ain't All Pretty, But Some Of Them Rhyme." Compiled here are upwards of a hundred poems of wit and whimsy and not a bit of angst-filled longing or despair or self-analysis in the bunch. Animals, grandchildren, lawn chairs, and buildings are the subject matter. Body parts and grammar and classic movies provide fodder for the author's imagination. One might even discover a "message" lurking in the lines, though one might suspect it wasn't intentional.

A Thing of the Past - The past ain't what it used to be. And never was.Sanctuary - Home sweet home can still be home sweet home...even if it belongs to someone else.After Life - Dying doesn't have to mean your life is over.Nightwork - Sometimes a little night work is just what's needed.The Mistake - It only takes one, you know.Five of the fifteen stories in this new collection by the author of "Second Chances," "The Button Man," and "Angeltown."