Now available from Open Road Publishing—The Hidden Congregation, The CareTakers and Patients in Purgatory by William T. Delamar! 

“Trash Compactor” Josh Bernhard Interview – John L. Flynn, Ph.D. and Star Wars Episode 3: Fall of the Republic

John Flynn in costume for Dragon Con

Josh Bernhard, a huge Star Wars fan who operates the Podcast “Trash Compactor” for other Star Wars fans, invited John L. Flynn to participate in an hour-long interview to discuss his script/story treatment for Star Wars Episode 3: Fall of the Republic. In 1982, when Flynn was a budding author/writer, being published regularly with the various sci-fi magazines, like Starlog, Cinefantastique, and Fangoria (to name a few), he wrote a script/story treatment for one of the future Star Wars movies as Christmas gifts to a number of his sci-fi fan friends. “I was too poor to purchase a traditional holiday gift at the time.” One of the people who received his “gift” was a wheeler-dealer vendor at one of the sci-fi conventions who thought his story was good enough to print, and arranged to print hundreds (perhaps even thousands) of copies of Flynn’s story for sale at the conventions. At his vendor table, he told everyone that he had obtained a copy of the script for the next Star Wars movie and sold innumerable copies. Other vendors, not wanting to be left out of the potential sales, bought a copy themselves, and they reproduced hundreds of more. Like most urban legends, his story sprouted legs, and it was suddenly available in every venue where there were Star Wars fans anxious to get a sneak peek at the next Star Wars movie. His script/story treatment for Star Wars Episode 3: Fall of the Republic went the equivalent of “viral” in those days, with fan groups discussing, debating, and spreading the word. Nearly everyone who encountered Flynn’s story thought it was a terrific, well-written with great characters and set pieces, and that it was the “real” basis for one of the next Star Wars films. Yet, Flynn never made a dime on the story. Having produced it for his friends, he had no way to know what would eventually happen. Therefore, John L. Flynn was a household name with Star Wars fans for a very long time.

Flynn eventually started publishing his own stories, apart from Star Wars, and made a career for himself as an author of science fiction and mystery stories. He has written over 20 books and has been nominated for 3 Hugo Awards. Josh Bernhard used his investigative skills as a journalist, tracking Flynn down several months ago, and invited him to record a podcast with him. In the hour-long podcast, they talked about how his script/story treatment for Star Wars Episode 3: Fall of the Republic took Star Wars fandom by storm—deeper into the origins of the story—and how many fans, even to this day, feel his story was far superior to the one George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars, produced on his own. Lucas’ Episode 3 was criticized when it finally came out on the big screen, whereas Star Wars fans wished that Lucas had used Flynn’s. The interview had Josh and Flynn comparing versions, talking about the various sequels and prequels, and then came back around to Flynn’s current works as a professional writer.

Open Road Publishing takes on Robert Goswitz’s The Dragon Soldier’s Good Fortune!

 A story of luck and Devine protection in a most unusual form…

An ancient king of Vietnam commanded his subjects to cover their arms and thighs with dragon tattoos. The accepted belief of the time was that the Dragon Spirit protected farmers against evil spirits in their rice paddies.

In 1971, Private Ed Lansky seeks protection from a different form of evil, ‘Something’ to guide him through his year in country. Each time the war tries to kill him or burden him with guilt, the dragon appears, guarding and guiding him. A weight lifts from his soul as he discovers the power of the Dragon Spirit…his Warrior Shield.

Although this is a work of fiction, much of what happens comes directly from Goswitz’s personal accounts, making it ever so real in the mind’s eye of the reader. Commendable writing of a turbulent time in American and Vietnam history.

Robert Goswitz was born and raised in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, graduated from Milton College, and holds an MA in Education from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. He was drafted into the US Army in March of 1971 and served in Vietnam from September of 1971 to August of 1972, receiving the Combat Infantry Badge and the Bronze Star for his service. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE! After the military, Robert was a special education teacher from 1974 until his retirement in 2007. Goswitz is a Wisconsin writer whose novel excerpts have been published in O Dark Thirty Literary Magazine and The Military Writers Anthology for 2015. Another excerpt received Honorable Mention from the Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction/ Essay Contest sponsored by Winning Writers “One of the Writer’s Digest 101 Best Websites for Writers” www.winningwriters.com. The Dragon Soldier’s Good Fortune is his first novel. The prequel, The Earth Shall Claim Your Bones, is available for acquisition. Robert Goswitz   Facebook Represented by Loiacono Literary Agency

Move over, Trump is coming!

https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/110013703924450068

Open Road releases Jeanne Charters’ first two novels in the Daughters of Ireland Trilogy: Shanty Gold and Lace Curtain!

“Charters interweaves many important topics—immigration, civil rights, women’s rights—into her exciting novels . . . An evocative portrait of South Boston.” —Kirkus Reviews

Shanty Gold — After the deaths of her mother and infant sister during Ireland’s Great Famine, thirteen-year-old Mary Boland makes her way to the Queenstown harbor and onto a coffin ship bound for America. But what happens during her transatlantic passage is enough to quash the strongest of dreams. After being assaulted by crewmembers, Mary thinks of ending her life—until a young Black slave named Kamua comes to her rescue . . .

Lace Curtain — In a time of great gains and upheavals, Nellie faces women’s rights, racism — black, white, Irish, Italian — and the struggle of being who she is meant to be regardless of gender, religion, or status. In her world there were three choices: Silk Stocking, the top-o-the-rung, Shanty Irish, the bottom-o-the-barrel, or Lace Curtain, those who refuse to go back and are striving to be the best.

After years of working in radio sales and raising four daughters, Jeanne Charters became VP of marketing for Viacom TV, then branched-off and opened her own advertising agency, Charters Marketing, with her husband, Matt. “He’s the business brain, I’m the creative one.”

The writing bug had bitten a long time ago, but its effects stayed hidden until it was time.

“People sometimes wonder where a character comes from. ‘When did you think up Mary Boland anyway?’ I don’t know about all authors, but for me, Mary Boland was a magical name I heard through my childhood from my mother and aunts. She was my great-great-grandmother. There were no pictures of her and no records of her accomplishments, but she came to me in dreams…a young girl with curly red hair, riding her horse along the Irish seacoast.

“’Tell my story,’ she whispered.

“In her first iteration, she was the star of a manuscript called Daughters of Ireland. Mary was the first in three generations of women. Writing class instructors and published authors alike told me, ‘Each of these women deserves her own book.’ They were right. So, I started over and told Mary’s story in Shanty Gold. Next came Nellie Kelly’s story, Mary Boland’s daughter, in Lace Curtain. Silk Stocking, soon to be released, brings three generations together when Nellie gives birth to Kathleen. These women are family to me and I am thrilled to see their stories in print. Enjoy!”

Charters is also the author of a humorous memoir, Funny, isn’t’ it?

Represented by Loiacono Literary Agency

Fascinating personal histories are revealed through the stories of cherished objects, in this anthology celebrating the meaningful mementos of our lives.

Amber Lanier Nagle has always been interested in keepsakes, whether her own or those she encounters in her friends’ homes. Seemingly ordinary items—a glass bluebird, a pocketknife, a dime-store locket, a faded fishing lure, a dented cake pan, a model train car—become priceless treasures when their stories are uncovered. In Project Keepsake, Nagle collects the tales of these objects and their beloved memories from contributors near and far.

“Why do you keep this?” Nagle asks. “Where did it come from?” And then she listens as the stories pour out. Told in first-person by both seasoned and aspiring writers, every essay in the anthology is unique—yet each reveals common threads that connect us all and celebrate the glorious human experience.

BUY NOW FROM Amazon  Barnes & Noble  Apple Books  Kobo

Amber Lanier Nagle is a Georgia girl through and through. In 2006, after working for eighteen years as an engineer, she reinvented herself as a freelance writer specializing in nonfiction articles. Her work has appeared in GRIT, Mother Earth News, GEORGIA Magazine, Atlanta Life, Points North, Chatter, Get Out Chattanooga and many other magazines and newspapers.

For eleven years, she penned a monthly newspaper column focusing on memories, relationships, and unique observations from her lifetime in Georgia. In 2012, she published a selection of these articles in an ebook titled Southern Exposure: A Few Random, Rambling, Retrospective Pieces of My Life.,

She’s the brainchild behind Project Keepsake, a collection of stories told in first-person by ordinary people about their treasured keepsakes and mementos, and she conducts “Writing About Keepsakes” workshops in Georgia and Tennessee to help aspiring writers find their voice and craft their own keepsake stories.

She is a graduate of both Georgia Institute of Technology and Mercer University and is an active member of the Georgia Writers Association and the Chattanooga Writers Guild.

She lives in the woods in Northwest Georgia with her husband, Gene, and an assortment of beloved pets and wild critters.

Nagle is published by Open Road Integrated Media and represented by Loiacono Literary Agency.

Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember? — Mark 8:18 Yes, Jesus was talking about Himself, but we are His Children. We must see and hear!

This is the junk that Big Pharma and our government approved to put in the experimental jabs to control us. DOCTORS AROUND THE WORLD ARE SPEAKING OUT Nano Particles – Dancing Hydro Gel – Graphene Oxide ( black goo ) that coats the Red Blood Cells making it harder for them to absorb Oxygen – 5 G Micro Chip technology that sends data up to the satellites as the cells deteriorate and Die – Spike Proteins that cause Blood Clots & Heart Attacks , Inflammation of the Brain , Strokes & Seizures , a constant attack to destroy the Immune System – Snake Venom and Metal Particles found in 1.2 Million doses in Japan – Embalmers everywhere report finding Large Fibrous Strands growing in the Major Arteries blocking the Blood Circulation causing Sudden Death – Sodium Azide, a Poison being found on the swabs of Home Test Kits , just like the rigged results of the PCR Test where healthy people are testing Positive – Now , Traces of Mercury have been found in the Winter Flu Shots ! Nuremberg Code 2.0 = Crimes Against Humanity for the Use of Bio Weapons. War Criminals that need to be arrested and taken for Military Tribunals at GITMO THIS MUST NEVER BE ALLOWED TO HAPPEN AGAIN = IN GOD WE TRUST

Hirsch’s mastery of the word captures a love that spans space and time… against all odds.

Robert E. Hirsch’s five epic novels in the The Dark Ages Saga of Tristan de Saint-Germain — Promise of the Black Monks, Hammer of God, A Horde of Fools, God’s Scarlet Fury, and Cup of Blood…Bread of Salvation — vividly unearth the political, spiritual, and military chaos of Europe during the end of the 11^th Century. Beginning with the Investiture War between Pope Gregory VII and Emperor Heinrich IV of Germany, and ending with the capture of Jerusalem during the First Holy Crusade, the series precisely and accurately dissects the exploitive, unforgiving struggle for power between Church and Crown to control territory, hoard wealth, and claim dominion over the populace.

Medieval life and warfare, Benedictine monastery culture, and Church political intrigue erupt with searing action and heart-throttling emotion during history’s blackest age of brutality, ignorance, and superstition. The Gregorian Church battles to establish independence from Emperor Heinrich IV, but in the shadows, it also begins to set an intractable course toward holy war against Islam—the Crusades.

Behold, in the middle of chaos there lies hope…

Born of French nobility in 1066, seven-year-old Tristan de Saint-Germain’s father is executed for treason against William the Conqueror. Abandoned, Tristan is cast into the rigid, monastic world of the Benedictine Order. Under the tutelage of Grand Prior Odo de Lagery, Tristan’s frightening intelligence and perception turn him into an academic and linguistic prodigy by age twelve. With time, Tristan’s rise makes him vital to Benedictine intrigue and the Gregorian papacy, forcing him into the visceral power struggle between Pope Gregory VII and Emperor Heinrich IV to claim supremacy over Europe.

Even as Tristan matures and the fate of Church and Crown waver in the balance, he has never forgotten Mala the Romani, a fleeing gypsy girl of mysterious origins he met by chance at age seven as he was being sent to Burgundy and the Black Monks. From the moment of that first encounter, though both were but children, each felt in the other a shared dispossession and loneliness; one that had been forced upon them by an unforgiving world driven by power and privilege. Trapped in childhood and adolescence by thrashing political currents beyond their ability to repulse, as adults the two struggle to survive in their own respective spheres; never surrendering, never losing hope, nor ever abandoning love of the other despite damnation by Church law, cultural intolerance, and war.

Robert E. Hirsch retired in 2012 as the Superintendent of the Ocean Springs School District along the Mississippi Gulf Coast where he now resides with his wife, Melissa. After forty years in education (both public and private), he chose to realize his college dream: writing historical fiction erupting with action and intrigue while also unearthing readers’ deepest emotions and personal angst as concerns the human heart.

Having experienced his own adversities concerning racial stigmas, nationality, and Catholic doctrine, Hirsch writes with distinct accuracy of the walled façade individuals construct to insulate themselves against others and the terrors of life no less formidable than those constructed by powerful and established institutions. According to Hirsch, “We are all caught, at times, in raging currents that strip us of our ability to fight or overcome circumstance. Does one then surrender, or take on a battle beyond all odds… leaving hope as the sole and final ally?”

Hirsch’s first novel, Contrition (JournalStone, 2012), sparked his authoring of the five-book series, all published by Open Road Integrated Media and represented by Loiacono Literary Agency. The audio version of Promise of the Black Monks can be found on Audible, narrated by Joshua Young.

Thailand drops a BOMBSHELL on @pfizer, and they’re PISSED! The narrative is collapsing! https://twitter.com/TheRedactedInc/status/1621176618856357888?s=20&t=T32gmAWYXrvRVbqbqcXc7w