A Life Through Books

Homemade Frontier Fun and Danger written by Preston Lewis and Harriet Kocher Lewis

Date Published: 11-04-2025

Publisher: Bariso Press

While their parents settled the land, these pintsized pioneers explored it, creating their own adventures with homemade toys, daring games, wild animal encounters, and risky escapades. This engaging sequel to the award-winning Pintsized Pioneers: Taming the Frontier, One Chore at a Time shines a spotlight on the joys and perils of play in a land still being tamed.

From exploring the prairie and wrangling critters to celebrating frontier holidays and watching traveling circuses, this book reveals how children carved out fun and entertainment in a rough-and-tumble world. Learn how railroads and mail-order catalogs brought new toys, how schools and churches doubled as social hubs, and how a simple game could end in laughter—or injury.

Written for young adults but fascinating for readers of all ages, Pintsized Pioneers at Play is packed with history, heart, and a hint of danger. Written at a tenth-grade reading level perfect for curious minds, Pintsized Pioneers at Play includes a glossary of related terms.

Perfect for fans of Western history, educators, homeschoolers, and lovers of untold American stories!

About the Author

 Preston Lewis is the award-winning author of more than sixty western, historical, juvenile, and nonfiction works. In 2021 he was inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters for his literary achievements. The Will Rogers Medallion Awards named him the 2025 recipient of the organization’s Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to the literature of the American West.

Western Writers of America (WWA) has honored Lewis with three Spur Awards, one for best article, a second for best western novel and a third one for YA nonfiction in 2025. He has received eleven Will Rogers Medallion Awards (seven gold, two silver and two bronze) for written western humor, short stories, YA nonfiction, short nonfiction, and traditional Western novel.

Harriet Kocher Lewis is a retired physical therapist and PT educator. As an assistant clinical professor of physical therapy at Angelo State University, she taught documentation and scientific writing among other topics as the department’s coordinator of clinical education.

After retirement she became the publisher of Bariso Press and in that capacity an award-winning author and editor. Books she has edited have earned a Spur Award, Will Rogers Gold and Bronze Medallions for YA nonfiction and western humor, a Literary Global Book Award for cookbooks, and an Independent Author Award for western nonfiction. Other books she has edited have been finalists for Spur Awards in juvenile nonfiction and for Independent Author Awards for both memoirs and humor.

Kocher Lewis is co-author with her husband of the Spur Award-winning Pintsized Pioneers: Taming the Frontier, One Chore at a Time and three books on artificial Intelligence, all published by Bariso Press. They live in San Angelo, Texas.

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M/M Romantasy

Date Published: Jul 8, 2025

Publisher: She Writes Press

Narrator: Nicholas Boulton

Run Time: 10 hours

Until Lucian is truly possessed.

A powerful demon takes hold, twisting his body into something unnatural, horrific, wrong—and no priest, no con, no desperate lie can fix it. With time running out and Lucian slipping further away, Colton has no choice but to learn real magic, break every rule, and attempt the impossible.

Because if he fails, Lucian won’t just be lost. He’ll be something else entirely.

About the Author

E.L. Deards grew up in New York City and earned her undergraduate degree at Barnard College at Columbia University, where she studied Japanese literature and biology. She was then accepted to The University of Edinburgh, where she completed her veterinary degree. She remained in the UK afterward, and since then has split her time between her day job as a vet and her truest passion: writing. Emma has authored a number of humor articles for In Practice, a veterinary magazine, and was the recipient in college of two writing awards: the Oscar Lee Award and the Harumatsuri Award. Her first book, Wild with All Regrets, came out in 2023.

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Date Published: November 14, 2025

Earth civilians are obsessed with selfies and social media, but my life revolves around alien starships, superhuman strength, and A.I. implants. Too bad none of it helped when I was captured and tortured. Now I crave revenge, but as a genetically engineered Ranger, I must obey Mothership’s rules: protect humanity. Never kill.

When another alien ship sends monsters to invade Earth, Mothership’s Rangers must stop them. My new Ranger teammate is everything I shouldn’t crave: handsome, skilled, and haunted by his own dark past. He helped rescue me from torture, but it cost him his entire team. Now I’m the mess he’s got to clean up.

Battling invisible monsters may be the death of us, but our mutual attraction is undeniable. Can we stop an alien invasion despite our dangerous chemistry?

EXCERPT

Present Day

Diana

I stared at the screen, watching the Earth grow larger as our transport raced toward it. Even after two months as one of Mothership’s Rangers, the sight reminded me how strange my new life had become. Down there, people were obsessed with selfies, celebrities, and social media. I’d plunged into a world of giant alien starships, AI brain implants, and super-strength.

And worse.

An image flashed through my head -- the sadistic grin on Roger Bannon’s face as he leaned in, the surgical drill whining as it spun. I’d fought not to scream as the drill bit in.

Roger loved it when I screamed.

I shoved away the memory, hard. If I wasn’t careful, that thin face with those pale, rabid eyes would start running through my head on an OCD loop. “I should have killed you when I had the chance,” I muttered.

Next to me, Ian Cartwright turned to give me a narrow stare. “What did you say?”

Damnit, Diana, you’re not supposed to creep out your battle buddy. “Bad memories.”

His expression softened, ice-blue eyes going a little less chilly. “I can imagine.”

No, you really can’t. I didn’t say it aloud. Cartwright already thought I was a human hand grenade just waiting for somebody to pull my pin. The team didn’t need that kind of distrust, especially in the middle of an op.

I looked away to see Indra Fox watching me in concern. Crap, I’d even freaked her out. She and our team leader, Rowan Kerr, sat on one of the other bench seats beside the huge oval screens that lined the transport’s curving fuselage.

Indy had been my best friend all my life, my sister in every way but blood. She could read me as if she were telepathic. “Having a flashback?” She tilted her head, long, dark hair swinging around her face, green eyes startling against the silken fall of black. Like me, Indy had a tough, athletic build from the combat and strength training we’d had from the time we could walk. Our dads hadn’t been fooling around.

“I’ve got it handled.”

“Cyberpunk could block those if you’d let him.”

She was right -- my AI brain implant could suppress the firing synapses that triggered those memories. “I’m not going to give Roger the satisfaction.”

Rowan Kerr snorted. “Satisfaction’s the last thing Bannon’s feeling.” Our team leader was even bigger than Cartwright, though his features were less classically handsome, with the rich golden coloring of his Latino heritage. His angular features and intense gaze made him look like he’d escaped a temple in ancient Greece. “If he even thinks about what he did to you, he’ll get a one-way trip to PTSD hell. Pissing Mothership off is never a good idea.”

“She still turned him loose. He could try it again.” That’s why I dreamed of killing him, First Reg or no First Reg. If Bannon was dead, he’d never come back.

Cartwright gave me a frustrated glower. “Newman, he can’t. His conditioning won’t let him. If you violate the First Reg again, you’re going to find out why -- the hard way. You’ve used up the only second chance you get.”

That just pissed me off. “If Mothership had rescued Indra and me when Satan’s Horsemen murdered our --”

“How about not starting a fight in the middle of a mission?” Rowan interrupted. “We’ve got a child and his family to rescue. Preferably before the damn Boars grab them.”

I shut my mouth so fast, my teeth clicked. I’d seen the file photo in Aiden Scott’s dossier. Just eight years old, the kid had huge brown eyes in a pale, round little face under a flyaway mop of dark hair, his grin wide and white and missing a couple of baby teeth.

When Aiden was diagnosed with a high-risk medulloblastoma at age four, doctors treated the brain tumor with surgery, chemo, and radiation. He’d still relapsed three years later. The boy would probably be dead now, except Mothership spotted his family’s medical GoFundMe. She’d sent a Ranger team to the Scott family with an offer to heal Aiden. His parents hadn’t looked a gift miracle in the mouth -- just packed him up and flown off with the Rangers.

Giant alien spaceships are a lot less scary than losing a child.

Mothership’s doctors had infused Aiden’s body with nanotech -- molecule-sized bots that hunted down every cancer cell in his body and killed them all. Then the tech corrected the genetic condition that caused the cancer while healing the damage it had inflicted. He’d been healthy and happy within three months.

But that nanotech also made him a tempting target for the Boarosans who’d invaded the solar system a decade back. The humans whose bodies the Boars used as unwilling hosts were as vulnerable to disease as everyone else, and the aliens wanted to keep their meat suits healthy. That was why they’d ordered the Horsemen to kidnap me, why Bannon and his “researchers” had cut me, scarred me, peeled me so they could watch my tech put me back together. They’d hoped to reverse engineer my nanotech.

They could easily do the same to Aiden. Mothership’s simulations predicted that since I’d escaped, the Boar might well decide to go after the Cured she’d treated.

The idea of that sweet little boy at the mercy of the same aliens who’d given me to Roger…

Rescuing Aiden’s a hell of a lot more important than beefing with my own team. Better mend some fences.

I gave Ian a tight nod. “Sorry for going off on you, Cartwright. Rowan’s right -- an op isn’t the time to get pissy.”

He studied me thoughtfully. Rangers were universally attractive -- Mothership’s genetic engineering at work -- but Ian was even more gorgeous than the typical agent. His face was intensely masculine, all high cheekbones and square jaw, his nose aquiline, his mouth wide, with a lower lip I longed to nibble. He wore his sable hair in a severe style that made him look even harder, sexier, but it was his eyes that pulled me in. An icy blue, they were ringed and rayed in a rich cobalt, watchful and cool. People tend to dismiss a man that pretty, but Cartwright was also six-five and built like an NFL defensive lineman. As one of Mothership’s Rangers, he was even more dangerous than he looked.

“I started it.” His voice rumbled in a way that made me yearn to exchange more than snark with him. “Shouldn’t have poked the wound. I’m sorry.”

“Let’s just… start over, okay? The point is getting Aiden and his family to safety.”

His nod was tight and controlled, like everything else about the man. “Works for me.”

New York Times best-selling author Angela Knight has written and published more than sixty novels, novellas, and ebooks, including the Mageverse and Merlin’s Legacy series. With a career spanning more than two decades, Romantic Times Bookclub Magazine has awarded her their Career Achievement award in Paranormal Romance, as well as two Reviewers’ Choice awards for Best Erotic Romance and Best Werewolf Romance.

Angela is currently a writer, editor, and cover artist for Changeling Press LLC. She also teaches online writing courses. Besides her fiction work, Angela’s writing career includes a decade as an award-winning South Carolina newspaper reporter. She lives in South Carolina with her husband, Michael, a thirty-year police veteran and detective with a local police department.

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African American / Nonfiction

Date Published: 08-30-2025

When the idea for this particular book came, it was an all-consuming project. I didn't have the luxury of having three 'practice novels' in a trunk somewhere like fiction writers sometimes do. Every moment I had was dedicated to research, writing, and making sure this one core argument was absolutely rock-solid. So, there are no half-finished manuscripts, no abandoned concepts. There was just this one book, and I poured everything I had into getting it right."My proudest moment came a few months ago. I got an email from a reader, a man who runs a small local business. He told me that he'd been struggling with the concept of being a 'Plastic Man'—the man who prioritizes superficial success and outward performance over his own integrity and inner life.

 

About the Author

 

 Mr. Jones is entrepreneur with well over 33 years in the U.S. government and knows how to operate a successful business. He has had experience as well in the entertainment field. During the late 1970s' and much of the early 80s' Mr. Jones affectionately known to his many friends and loved ones as 'June' or 'Jonesie' collaborated on various singles by several local DC area recording artists and has mentored underground rap star "D Young". A phenomenal businessman who loves people and live talk radio Elbert Jones Jr. is a great access to KJ Publications,Inc..

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Mystery

Date Published: June 10, 2025

Publisher: MindStir Media

In Murder on the Squid Row Run, oboist Georgiana Quilter is finally hitting her stride—with a dream orchestra job and a new apartment. But when she agrees to pose as a celebrity’s girlfriend during a glamorous international sailing rally, things take a dark and deadly turn.

A body turns up on board. A child disappears. A saboteur strikes. As the Squid Row Run heads from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas, Georgiana races to uncover secrets buried at sea—all while navigating a fake romance that’s becoming dangerously real.

Perfect for fans of cozy mysteries, strong female sleuths, and nautical adventures, authentic maritime details inspired by the author’s own seven-year circumnavigation. Suspense, wit, and danger at every port

Love mystery series set on the water? This is your next great read.

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 Author Julia Shovein brings authenticity and edge to her mystery novels, drawn from a life spent at sea and in service. After a thirty-year career as a university professor of nursing (Professor Emeritus), Julia retired and embarked on a global sailing adventure with her husband, circumnavigating the globe over seven years.

She lived and wrote in exotic locations like New Zealand, Turkey, and London’s St. Katherine Dock. Upon returning home to Paradise, California, Julia and her husband narrowly escaped the devastating Campfire wildfire. These life-altering experiences shaped her writing—and her heroine, Georgiana Quilter.

Now living in Bremerton, Washington, with her husband Horst and husky Blue, Julia is a proud member of the Poulsbo Yacht Club. She’s truly, as Cruising World puts it, “the real thing.”

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Non-fiction Chapter Book Juvenile Fiction

Date Published: 10-30-2025

Publisher: Solander Press

 Chapter Six A Single Bag of Wheat

On October 15, 1880, a fierce blizzard struck the Dakota Territory. It soon became clear that the Ingalls family could not survive the coming winter in a one-room shanty.

First, Charles took his haystacks to town in the wagon. Then he returned to the shanty, and he and Caroline packed the wagon with their few pieces of furniture, bedding, and clothes. They returned to town and moved back into the rooms above the small store Charles had built. The good news was that Laura and Carrie could go to school.

A lot had changed over the summer while they lived in the shanty. The school had been completed and opened on November 1, 1880. Laura and Carrie were two of the first fifteen students to attend De Smet School. When another blizzard hit during a school day, Laura and Carrie struggled to find their way back to where they lived.

Settlers depended on the train for their supplies. Not only did they get food delivered daily by train, but they also received mail and, most importantly, coal for fuel. Charles and the other men from town often shoveled snow from the tracks so the train could reach the station.

As the blizzards continued into January 1881, the railroad made a decision that significantly affected Carrie and her family. They would not deliver more supplies until spring and would cease operations for the winter.

The school was shut down because there wasn’t enough coal to keep the children warm, and soon food became scarce in the town. Food prices rose sharply, with flour costing $50 a pound, and the last few pounds of sugar selling for $1 a pound. Without coal, the Ingalls burned hay twisted into bundles. As their kerosene ran low, they burned the oil lamps less and less at night. But a good deed by Charles may have saved the family.

 Award-winning author Clarissa Willis writes children's books. She has authored four picture books and one chapter book. Bloomers on Pike’s Peak, the story of Julia Archibald Holmes, received a Will Rogers Medallion Award and was a finalist for the Women Writing the West 2025 WILLA Literary Award in Children's Picture Books. Her book Fast as the Wind: The Story of Johnny Fry Pony Express Rider won a Will Rogers Medallion in 2023. The Three Little Pigs and the Not So Big Bad Wolf, released in early 2025. It tells a familiar story with a new twist. She believes childhood is a journey and strives to make it joyful through her books and public speaking.

Clarissa loves traveling and has a special connection to the American West. She finds inspiration in the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona, and the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. In fact, her next book, Not from Around Here, is set in Sedona and chronicles an unusual friendship between a young cowboy and his friend from far away.

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Unveiling One of the Great Composers of the 20th Century

Contemporary Women's Fiction/Contemporary Romance

Date Published: November 6th, 2025

Publisher: Acorn Publishing

On a rainy Manhattan afternoon, career-obsessed writer and news producer Kennedy loses the interview that was guaranteed to catapult her to senior producer status. Hours later, revered and feared book editor Muffin Evans, aka the Manuscript Eater, shelves the publication of her promising debut novel.

Over a night of tears and too many glasses of wine, Kennedy responds to an internet ad for a villa on the picturesque island of Hilton Head. She books a five-week “hiatus from life,” to focus on herself, free from distractions.

However, soon after arriving on the island, J.P. Long catches Kennedy’s hesitant eye. Despite a series of serendipitous encounters around the romantic oasis, Kennedy knows there’s no room in her life for a charming professional golfer turned businessman who is battling his own personal and professional insecurities.

But maybe he’s worth the trouble.

If there’s one thing Kennedy’s learned, it’s that life rarely happens as expected, and sometimes, the best stories unfold when you stop chasing the perfect headline.

About the Author

 A graduate of Fordham University, Caila Klaiss is an award-winning network news producer who spent seventeen years crisscrossing the country to cover breaking and developing stories for platforms across ABC News. The bulk of her career was spent producing true crime documentaries for 20/20.

Since making the difficult decision to leave a career she loved, Caila has pursued her other life-long dream of becoming a writer. When she is not reading, writing, or researching, Caila recharges by practicing yoga.

Born, raised, and currently living in northeastern Pennsylvania, Caila is a New Yorker at heart whose happy place is a warm sandy beach, under a palm tree.

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Nonfiction / Health

Date Published: June 5, 2025

●  Why kidney stones hurt so damn much (hint: it’s not just the jagged edges)

●  How to suffer like a philosopher—or just survive like a human

●  What Stoics, Buddhists, and Navy SEALs can teach us about pain

●  How to stop these unholy invaders from ever coming back

With over 20 years of experience specializing in minimally invasive surgery and kidney stone management, Dr. Kalorin has seen firsthand how painful and life-disruptive kidney stones can be. His mission goes beyond treatment—he is passionate about empowering patients through education. By helping people understand why kidney stones form, how pain develops, and what prevention truly looks like, he believes patients can reclaim control over their health.

That philosophy led to his book, The Philosopher’s Guide to Life, Suffering, and Kidney Stones (but Mostly Kidney Stones)—a blend of practical medical insights and timeless philosophical wisdom. Drawing from thousands of patient conversations, Dr. Kalorin translates complex medical science into approachable, often humorous lessons about resilience, suffering, and the human condition.

Book 1 of The Gift

Historical Fiction

Date to be Published: November 5, 2025

Publisher: Acorn Publishing

But the violin Marthe’s father left her is a constant reminder of the profound bond between them, and it gives her the strength to begin healing. When the Köln Conservatory offers her an unexpected scholarship, she seizes her chance to reach for excellence.

Under the rigorous tutelage of Professorin Wolff, and subjected to predatory harassment by a fellow student determined to destroy both her self-worth and her chances of success, Marthe quickly learns she will need more than motivation and talent to rise to the top.

Filled with heart, wit, and music, The Well-Tempered Violinist is an enduring coming-of-age tale about an artist striving for greatness against enormous odds.

The Well-Tempered Violinist, Book 1 of The Gift series, is her first novel.

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