William Bernhardt

Sizzling Style is what distinguishes a spellbinding book from an ordinary one. The writer who understands the fundamentals of fictional writing style knows how to capture readers and never let them go. Too often aspiring writers are frustrated by rejection, not realizing that the problem is not the story but the way they are telling it. In this book, bestselling author William Bernhardt brings his down-to-earth approach to the subject of style, revealing everything you need to know to write with the art and craft of a seasoned professional. Bernhardt goes beyond memorizing rules to a fresh approach, a philosophy of writing that will transform your work and take it to a higher level. Because as William Goldman famously said, "No one really knows what will be commercial, but everyone knows good writing from bad writing." The book also includes exercises designed to help writers apply this approach to their own writing. William Bernhardt is the bestselling author of more than thirty books, including the blockbuster Ben Kincaid novels and Nemesis: The Final Case of Eliot Ness, currently in production as an NBC miniseries. Bernhardt is also one of the most sought-after writing instructors in the nation. He is the only person to have received the Southern Writers Gold Medal Award, the Royden B. Davis Distinguished Author Award (U Penn) and the H. Louise Cobb Distinguished Author Award (OSU), which is given "in recognition of an outstanding body of work that has profoundly influenced the way in which we understand ourselves and American society at large." The Red Sneaker Writing Center is dedicated to helping writers achieve their literary goals. What is a red sneaker writer? A committed writer seeking useful instruction and guidance rather than obfuscation and attitude. Red sneakers get the job done and so do red sneaker writers, by paying close attention to their art and craft, committing to hard work, and never quitting. Are you a red sneaker writer? If so, this book is for you.

A YOUNG GIRL DREAMS OF A BETTER WORLD...The law said America kept the black and white races separate but equal. Growing up in Chickasha, Oklahoma, Ada Sipuel learned that separate was never equal. Once she asked her father why the world was divided by race. He said it shouldn't be. "There's only one Constitution, only one Bible." He also taught her not to be afraid to challenge injustice.Years later, Ada hoped to fight for equality by becoming a lawyer. But Oklahoma's law school would not admit her because of the color of her skin. Her legal struggle for education set off a chain of events that broke down the barriers of injustice across America.Equal Justice: The Courage of Ada Sipuel honors the principles and convictions that exemplified her remarkable life and legacy--and proves that one person can forever change the landscape of a nation.

Are you a Red Sneaker Writer?"Writing is structure," William Goldman said, but too often aspiring writers plunge into their work without grasping this fundamental principle. Story structure is one of the most important concepts for a writer to understand-and ironically, one of the least frequently taught. In this book, New York Times-bestselling author William Bernhardt explains the elements that make stories work, using examples spanning from Gilgamesh to The Hunger Games. In each chapter, he introduces essential concepts in a direct and easily comprehended manner. Most importantly, Bernhardt demonstrates how you can apply these ideas to improve your own writing. William Bernhardt is the author of more than thirty books, including the blockbuster Ben Kincaid series of legal thrillers and The Last Chance Lawyer. Bernhardt is also one of the most sought-after writing instructors in the nation. His programs have educated many authors now published by major houses. He is the only person to have received the Southern Writers Gold Medal Award, the Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award, the Royden B. Davis Distinguished Author Award (U Penn), and the H. Louise Cobb Distinguished Author Award (OSU), which is given "in recognition of an outstanding body of work that has profoundly influenced the way in which we understand ourselves and American society at large." The Red Sneaker Writing Center is dedicated to helping writers achieve their literary goals. What is a red sneaker writer? A committed writer seeking useful instruction and guidance rather than obfuscation and attitude. Red sneakers get the job done, and so do red sneaker writers, by paying close attention to their art and craft, committing to hard work, and never quitting. Are you a red sneaker writer? If so, this book is for you.

In Chicago, Eliot Ness created "the Untouchables," the fabled team of federal agents who finally put Al Capone behind bars. Now, in the fall of 1935, Ness has been moved to Cleveland to become the city's director of public safety. But as Ness starts his new job, a grisly serial killer starts a career of his own. One by one, bodies are found, each one decapitated and dissected with a doctor's skill and a madman's bent. The police are baffled and the population is terrorized over the so-called "Torso Killer." Though it's not his turf, Ness is forced to take over the case, but the more energy he pours into the investigation, the more it takes over his life and even his untouchable reputation. Because in Cleveland, there is only one true untouchable: a killer who has the perfect hiding place and the perfect plan for destroying Eliot Ness.

Oklahoma defense attorney Ben Kincaid has found himself smack in the middle of more than a few controversies and deadly predicaments-and the unexpected leap from his modest Tulsa law offices to Washington, D.C.'s Senate chamber hasn't taken the edge off Ben's knack for stepping into the line of fire. Now the idealistic junior senator is plunged into the thick of lethal intrigue when a shocking campaign of terror against key government officials rocks the nation's capital. The nightmare begins with the abduction and murder of the director of Homeland Security; escalates with the killing of the Senate minority leader, who is felled in his office by an envelope laced with weaponized poison; and comes to a shattering climax at the site of the Oklahoma City Memorial, where a fusillade of sniper fire meant for the president claims unintended victims. In all, twelve people perish in the melee, while Ben himself narrowly escapes a car-bomb blast that leaves his best friend, Tulsa cop Mike Morelli, comatose. But the smoke has barely cleared when the stunned nation is sent reeling yet again by the president's impassioned call to amend the U.S. Constitution with an antiterrorism law that would drastically curtail civil liberties. It's a hot-button issue guaranteed to bitterly divide the Beltway and the country. The chief executive has handpicked Ben to help harvest the support that will make the amendment a reality. Shaken by the carnage, Ben embraces the president's radical cause, and alongside unlikely new political allies he takes the battle for the controversial bill to the Senate floor. But he can't ignore his growing suspicion that what's haunting Capitol Hill isn't the specter of foreign terrorism but something much closer to home. Now, with his ever-resourceful chief of staff-his wife, Christina-and along with his support team backing his play, Ben sets squares off against what could be the most dangerous Goliath he's ever challenged. Capitol Conspiracy is a bravura William Bernhardt performance-bursting into action on the very first page, and crackling with breathless suspense, sharp wit, crafty twists, and timely thrills clear through to the last.

When the senior senator from his native Oklahoma is accused of the murder of a female intern, the apparent victim of a ritual killing whose body is found in the tunnels leading from the Senate, crusading attorney Ben Kincaid heads for Washington, D.C., to take the case, but an incriminating videotape forces him to reevaluate his loyalty to an old friend. Reprint.

Sometimes her eyes seduce. Sometimes they stare straight at the kind of sights most people turn away from. But in the blazing neon and searing sun of Las Vegas, she can't see the man who is watching her and thinking to himself: She is the one. . . . From the mountain views beyond the Strip to the dingy dens of forbidden pleasure, Susan Pulaski loves Las Vegas. A woman who wears a gun at her side and her heart on a sleeve, Pulaski is the perfect fit for her city and her job: unraveling the minds of deviant personalities. Until a killer begins decorating Sin City with the horribly disfigured bodies of once beautiful young women. . . . and Pulaski's own demons go on a binge. Eight months after her cop husband's death, her life is spinning out of control-just as her detective colleagues start searching for a serial killer who methodically stalks his female victims and plunges them into an orgy of terror. When a violent incident earns Pulaski a pink slip from the LVPD and a trip to detox, she's out of the hunt altogether, so she begins to desperately try to regain her job, her reputation, and custody of the niece she's been raising on her own. It seems hopeless-until Pulaski meets the one person who can lead her into the mind of a madman no one else can understand. Darcy O'Bannon is a twenty-five-year-old autistic savant whose relationship with the world around him is so unusual that it forces Pulaski to view the crimes from a bizarre-but ultimately insightful-perspective. White-knuckling her way to the center of the case, she becomes the key player in a desperate hunt for a killer who believes he has found divine inspiration in the works of Edgar Allan Poe. But even with the assistance of Darcy's astonishing skills, Pulaski is in even more danger than she knows. For the man she seeks is watching her, seduced by her frailties and strengths, her beauty and boldness. To finish his masterwork of horror, he needs her. In a blistering novel that brings together glitz and goth, human weakness and human genius, and a murderous psychopath who is all too chillingly real, master storyteller William Bernhardt has created an unparalleled literary Las Vegas thrill ride that will leave readers breathless until the final, stunning page.