- Autobiographies
- Children's Literature
- Cincinnati
- Fiction
- History
- Mysteries
- Religion & Inspiration
- Scholarly works
- Self-help
- Sports
- Travel & Leisure
The Condemned
By David Jack Bell, PhD (A&S) ’05
The
world is at war. The water supply to Jett Dormer’s city was
contaminated in a terrorist attack, and now the city’s inhabitants are
condemned “City People” -- zombies in the night. Determined to rescue
his partner and friend, Dormer discovers there may be more to these
lost souls than meets the eye. Bell’s first book, “The Condemned” puts
a new spin on zombie stories in the horror genre.
Order Information:
Amazon.com
ISBN: 1929653905
Legend of the Feather Pillow
by A.H. Felman, A&S '51, MD '55
 |
 |
A young physician struggles
to keep his moral footing as he defends himself at a negligence
hearing and confronts his new boss about false Medicare billings.
Shunned by associates, Dr. Diamond finds it difficult to forgive
and forget, but a surprising invitation offers him a way back.
|
Jack's Notebook:
A Business Novel about Creative Problem Solving
by Gregg Fraley, BFA '75
 |
An innovation consultant to Fortune 500 companies, Fraley teaches
through storytelling and introspection in this conversational novel. A
young, would-be photographer comes to him, wondering how to make his
dream of a creative career a reality. The consultant shows Jack the
value of asking himself the right questions -- writing down possible
solutions in his notebook -- when he's faced with roadblocks.
|
All There Is
by Marilyn "Mert" Guswiler,
MEd '65
 |
|
A
likeable character's quest for identity, acceptance and
belonging is a universally popular theme. When the protagonist
is a young orphan girl, the premise becomes even more
compelling. Mert Guswiler's "All There Is" is
a richly detailed novel that invites readers to come along
as her appealing heroine determines to make a journey
of discovery, in spite of inevitable hurdles in the path. The year 2000 was a busy one for Guswiler, who also found time to publish two additional works: "A Sock In The Eye," a first-person reflection on the challenges of being herself, and "Many Loves and Further Journeys," a collection of close-to-the-earth poetry. As these works hit print, Guswiler had already started compiling her folk and classical music compositions for publication. Order information: InfoPost, Powell's Books. For a free sample chapter from one or all three books, send an e-mail message to excerpts@GetResponse.com. |
 |
Answer: A writer
Because two of the longest-running television shows of all time seem to be part of such disparate genres, the fact that they shared a writer may seem a little odd. But Earl Hamner, Emmy-winning writer, producer, narrator and creator of "The Waltons," says, "I was able to bring a quality to it that hadnÂ’t been there before, which was a kind of integration of folk tales and folkish material."
That flavor comes through when reading his eight scripts, which aired in the early '60s and remain in syndication today (as does "The Waltons"). He penned the scripts after writing "Spencer's Mountain," which became a movie and later evolved into the Walton's Mountain saga in the early '70s.
Although the scripts are intriguing by themselves, Tony Albarella adds a wealth of behind-the-scene anecdotes and insider information after each script. Readers will also find additional dialogue, scenes that were never filmed and an in-depth interview with Hamner.
Order information: Amazon.com, local and online booksellers. ISBN 1-58182-330-4
House of the Deaf
by Lamar Herrin, PhD (A&S) '78
 |
|
It's
the worst news a father could hear: Ben Williamson's talented oldest
daughter, Michelle, is killed accidentally by a Basque separatist's
bomb while on her morning run in Madrid, Spain. In this compelling
novel based on a real event, the grieving father is tormented by a need
to discover exactly who is to blame, and perhaps to exact some kind of
revenge. Driven like the Spanish painter Goya, who late in life was
deaf to all but himself, Ben travels to Spain and eventually has his
moment alone with the terrorist leader. |
The Void
by Teri (Brashear) Jacobs, A&S '92
 |
 |
Jacobs discovered
in grade school how much fun it is to tell a scary story. She
has already had more than a dozen short stories published in
the dark fiction genre and now is creating longer works that
fling readers into terrifying worlds of flesh-eating creatures
and bone-crunching demons. In this first macabre romance, Jacobs' heroine discovers that her disturbing dreams about a horrific underworld are not merely nightmares. She is being stalked by a human ghoul ordered to steal her soul and drag her down to a blood-drenched netherworld ruled by a vile, powerful entity. If this novel is your cup of chills, watch for her second book, "Shadow of Jezebel," accepted for publication next year. Jacobs earned her writing certificate at UC in 1992. Order information: Joseph-Beth, Borders, Waldenbooks, Walmart, Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com |
Barometer's Shadow
 |
A first-time novelist, Kaufman excels at descriptive narrative. Readers will have no difficulty visualizing BillyÂ’s triumph at pulling huge salmon from numbingly cold streams, nor his muscle-wrenching exhaustion after 18-hour days of shoveling fresh-caught crabs from slippery fishing boats to the processing plant docks.
Order information: Amazon.com, Silvercrest Publishing
 |
Latham is a talented storyteller. He keeps a reader so involved in the action that it is extremely difficult to put down the book before the tale is resolved. Somehow, that seems fitting for a writer rumored to live in a Victorian haunted house.
Author of numerous short stories and a first novel, "Michael in Hell," Latham sold his first story to a fellow Marine, who bet him $10 he couldn't write something he would enjoy, in less than half an hour. Latham won.
or Clocktower Books
ISBN: 0-7433-0905-7
Lord of Homicides
by Dennis Latham, A&S '92
 |
This
talented storyteller takes readers on another weird and entertaining
ride in his new paranormal humor novel. Original and unexpected
characters, both good and evil, vie for and against an event of
possibly major destruction in Greater Cincinnati. More slapstick than
terrifying, each "army" in this Armageddon is burdened with very odd
habits and crude expressions. Even the confused hero, Nathan Bright, is
uncertain about where his loyalty lies.
|
Michael in Hell
by Dennis Latham, A&S '92
 |
Latham's
first novel (reprinted 2007) looks into the heart of a former Marine
who is convinced his body harbors an avenging "monster" capable of
destroying child abusers and murderers. Michael lives in a grim,
futuristic Cincinnati where authorities dispose of convicts at public
beheading festivals and street gangs frequently slaughter one another
to mark their racial territory. |
Well-Founded Fear
by Tom LeClair, professor of comparative
literature, A&S
 |
|
Imagine being without
a homeland, experiencing constant fear, enduring persecution,
living as a refugee. In Tom LeClair's second novel, the
heroine, an empathetic young attorney from Cincinnati, yearns
to make a difference. She takes a job with the United Nations
in Greece, where she has the power to recommend asylum for
Kurdish applicants with proof of a "well-founded fear
of persecution." After befriending one of the refugees,
a Kurdish nurse, the attorney finds herself inexplicably
entangled in the girl's life and becomes unwittingly involved
in a scheme of international terrorism, with the U.S. as
target. This is LeClair's second international thriller;
the first was "Passing Off" (1996), a mixture
of Greek League basketball, deception, blackmail and eco-terrorism. Order information: major Internet booksellers, local bookstores |
Mocky's Revinge
by Mark Louis Lehman, MA (A&S) '70, PhD (A&S) '77
 |
|
For
an eight-year-old, Carrie Ann Watson has a pretty good understanding of
how people should treat one another: with kindness. Those who
deliberately hurt others are due for some come-uppance. So when Roy,
her mother's rude boyfriend, insults Carrie's favorite uncle -- a
40-year-old gay professor of French -- the child struggles for a way to
even the score. |
Accrual Way to Die
by C.M. (Cora Price) Miller, Eve '84
 |
|
A perverse
proverb says that no good deed goes unpunished. That's
perilously true for Miller's heroine, financial planner
Audrey Wilson, whose willingness to help a friend entangles
her in an elaborate embezzlement scheme. Before she can
confront her two-faced pal, the woman is killed. Tagged
as prime suspect, Audrey must discover the murderer's
identity before she loses her freedom as well as her business. This is former accountant Miller's second Audrey Wilson novel, a follow-up to "Taxes, Death and Trouble," published in 2000. Readers get to know her energetic heroine, her colorful family, romantic encounters and unsavory characters through Miller's lively dialogue and tantalizing details about the fictional Cincinnati suburb, Rosemont. Order information: IUniverse, Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble local bookstores. Miller has a Web site. |
What She Left Behind
by C.M. (Cora Price) Miller, Eve ’84
 |
|
Only
brotherly love can compel Miller’s financial-planner
heroine, Audrey Wilson, to put herself in mortal danger
again. When Wilson’s basketball-pro sibling becomes
a prime suspect in the death of his son’s mother,
Audrey follows clues into Atlanta’s seedy underworld
to try to prove his innocence. Along the way, she discovers
evidence in the dead girl’s journal that a close friend
of the Wilson family is involved with pornography and violent
criminal activity. Could this trusted friend be a murderer,
as well? |
Caviar Dreams
by Judy Nichols, MA (CAHS) '85
 |
|
A
tale of duplicity, extortion and double murder turns
into terrifying reality for struggling photographer
Lisa Watson. Not only is she haunted by her discovery
of a friend’s strangled body, she begins to suspect
the murderer is not the girl’s thieving boyfriend
but his wealthy male lover. |
The Monarch of Key West
by David (D. M.) Paule, Eng '88
 |
|
Ready
for a fresh start, engineer and pilot Aiden McInnis abandons
Boston when he unexpectedly inherits his eccentric uncle's
vintage DC-2 airplane, six-room Florida guest house and Victorian
home. In Key West, his late uncle's unconventional friend
and self-proclaimed "king of the Conch Republic,"
Louie Robideau, draws Aiden into the island's chaotic, Margaritaville
lifestyle. Will he ever return to Boston, or will he be content
to "waste away" in paradise? |
Wooden Shoe Hollow
by Charlotte Pieper, A&S ’35, edited
by Don Heinrich Tolzmann, director of German-American studies at UC
 |
|
Newly arrived in America, Rica
Heber is welcomed by Cincinnati’s German immigrant families
in Wooden Shoe Hollow. Although she quickly settles into her new
life, she is troubled by a secret that lies on the other side
of the ocean. |
Only with the Heart
by Sherri Szeman, PhD (A&S)
'86
 |
|
How far can you
go in the name of love? That question haunts the heroine of this novel,
as she and her family struggle with the devastating effects of an
elderly relative's Alzheimer's. When the old woman dies, the heroine
is astonished to find herself charged with murder. The New York Times
calls this book "riveting" and "remarkable." Szeman's
award-winning first novel, "The Kommandant's Mistress" (1993),
sold more than 11,000 copies around the world and is under development
for a movie starring Patrick Stewart. Order information: Major Internet book sellers |
Fuhrer's Heart:
An American Story
by James Ward, MPA (A&S) '83, PhD (A&S) '88
 |
|
Although
warmly welcomed to the faculty at a Louisiana university, a talented
young black professor is confused when his career begins to stumble
almost immediately. Several academics and students deliberately
misrepresent Michael's words and actions. White supremacy symbols are
displayed as a "joke" in offices of supposedly liberal faculty. When
his Jewish friend, an outspoken professor, mysteriously dies, Michael
is alarmed enough to ask the FBI to check out the campus. The novel's
high point is the account of the agent's risky undercover pose as a
Klan member.
Ward is a former newspaper and television reporter who lived in New Orleans in the 1990s. This is the political science professor's (Mississippi University for Women) first attempt at fiction. Order information: Amazon.com. ISBN: 978-142572-3118 |
 |
The girl's growth, not only in ball-playing skill but also in learning to understand and appreciate the value of unexpected friendships, helps her to become more tolerant of her flawed parents, and herself, as well. This book is a satisfying read for adolescent girls and the families who love them.
ISBN: 1413778267
River Rats
by Dorothy Weil, MA (A&S)
'69, PhD (A&S) '74
 |
|
Buoyed by
river lore and legend, three long-time Cincinnati friends
begin a dangerous search along the Ohio for a crossbow-wielding
sniper. Struggling through an undercurrent of romance and
jealousy, they follow clues to an ominous river town, a
backwoods Kentucky village and the ruins of an old steamboat
on the banks of the Mississippi. The killer, however, is
much closer to home. |
