This is the story of Brennan Mór Chief of the Brennan Clan - set in 17th century Ireland. Tragedy and suffering was commonplace and the old Gaelic order was being replaced by the New English System of Administration. One feudal form of landlord was being replaced by another.

Forced through hunger and privation the Chief and his followers trespassed on forbidden ground and were outlawed. Their only recourse was to turn to pillage and plunder. One of the chief's sons Conal raped the Squires daughter the beautiful Jane Bowyer and as a result a child was born. Hidden away in a convent in France the boy was brought up and educated in the manner befitting a gentleman, unaware of his illegitimate background. Now by chance the young lawyer met up with his fugitive father on a business trip to Paris, and the long held secret was revealed. Faced with difficult decision whether to acknowledge his true identity or go on with the masquerade he choose the latter.

The story tells of his woes and fears, his indecision and his courage. A dilemma that blighted his life and ended in tragedy on Lake Geneva.

Set upon the distant world of Taüma, this is a tale of many passions: the passion of an immensely powerful immortal ruler for a mortal man, the unlawful passion of one brother for another, the passion of a jealous woman for a man who is indifferent to her, and the passion of a pair of "star-crossed" lovers- and hatred, which together ultimately precipitate a bloody war culminating in the downfall of the "white city" of Lôren in the land of Karled-Dû.

Rycharst Kalmaïthis, Lord of Shadowe, an exotic immortal exiled on this remote world, has sworn revenge on the land of Karled-Dû and its overlord, the Dukrugvola, for the indignity of being driven out of his domain and having had his freedom in the destruction of the circlet Caelvorchadu which chains him in his exile and which is held in the safekeeping of the Dukrugvola; and thirdly, he desires to recover into his power the fair young man, Francys Coras, whose name has become a by-word for scandal and vice throughout Karled-Dû following his escape from the clutches of the Lord of Shadowe some three years prior to the opening of this story.

It is around the character of Francys Coras that the whole tale unfolds. He enters on the stage as a hero, having recently saved the Dukrugvola's life during a military campaign, and the story charts the course of his life over the following year or more, whilst his reactions to his experiences, and teh responses which he evokes from others conspire to build a chain of events with far-reaching effects upon the whole of the world.

This book is the first volume of a quartet (The White City Dimmed) which will take the story through to its gripping conclusion.

In Gazzaniga's first novel, "Seeds For All Seasons", Timothy Graves, while a student at Harvard Medical School, donates his sperm in an effort to supplement his meager income. after completing his training he stays on at Harvard and becomes a world-reknown neurosurgeon. After his only son dies of a cerebral aneurysm, Tim learns that his sperm was used without his permission for artificial insemination. As he tries to track down his offspring, he discovers that they all have died of cerebral aneurysms, all of them, that is, except the son of the notorious Boston organized crime leader Tony Santori. Tim operates on the gangster's son and saves his life, but subsequently Dr. Timothy Graves and his girlfriend are killed in a car crash.

"The Seeds We Sow" is a follow-up to "Seeds For All Seasons" and explores the complexities of the ethnic groups that are so much a part of Boston. Sean Connors, a Southie crook, wants to wipe out the Italian gangsters, especially Tony Santori and his brother Gianni. To this end he is willing to act as an FBI informant. As the Boston Police Department and various government agencies close in on the Santori empire, the threat of Sean Connors in addition to the Santoris' nephew, who has become a government witness against his uncles, brings things to a head. "The Seeds We Sow" uses familiar characters and introduces new faces to continue the saga of betrayal and corruption within and outside of organized crime.

    The Last Comeback is the story of Frank Shannon and his quest for greatness, to make a difference, to leave a mark. It is a story that will appeal to all those who once in their own lives believed they were destined to do great things.

There was so much he wanted to say but how to say it best? Should he stand on some corner at noon and shout it out for all the world to hear? "Hey listen people, I've got the answers." Should he spread it out in colour across a canvas in scenes so gripping it would make people stop in their tracks and shake their heads. "Hey, this man's been there, he knows the way." There were so many people out there lost and confused, stumbling around in the dark crying out for help. If only somehow he could express his feelings, all the things he had learned then maybe somehow they would see the light and save themselves.

Also by Franco E. Scanloni:
The Last Comeback - The Play
Loose Ends
Racist
Team America

Selfish and flirtatious Madame Latille, and her son, Anatole, and eccentric ex-seminarian, turn their backs on Geneviéve and conspire to "wipe the family slate clean". They refuse to respect the provisions M. Latille had provided for her and his child.

Just before his fatal heart attack, M. Latille receives a coded message from his old friend, Amédée, warning him that his life is in danger. Edward, a young Canadian Professor on sabbatical, (and bearer of the message) quickly takes stock of the situation. He is attracted to the young widow and allies himself with her cause. He helps the old gentleman escape from his Mansion prison and reunites him with Geneviéve and their lawyer, Chevalier.

After a violent confrontation with the young widow, Madame Latille softens her attitude, when she learns that Geneviéve is privy to certain unsavory documents concerning her past. Anatole, her unstable son, remains adamant. He is horrified when he meets his father's 13 year old lovechild for the first time: the boy is the spitting image of his tall handsome father and bears his name, Jean-Claude! Anatole is livid. His reilgious fantasies on morality turn his jealousy into vengeance. He is determined to wipe out both mother and child and ultimately conspires to do so through his contacts with the Mafia.

For Anatole, the last straw comes when his mother arranges for Jules, her artist and "escort", to move into the family Mansion, and finances his entry into an international portrait contest, using the handsome boy as his model. The thought of his father's bastard hanging in the national gallery for all to see reduces him to blind rage. When his attempts to destroy the painting fail, he hires a hit-man to do the job with explosives. Geneviéve risks her life to save her dear friend, Edward. All of which brings about a chilling but startling dénouement.

The Wolfe family had a penchant for tragedy. They tried to live about the fray, and the evil devices of those that surrounded them, but in so doing, they found their lives so bugged down in the very mush, they tried so hard to avoid. Those that were supposed to protect, and guide them, were the ones scheming and undermining their efforts. Thus they were forced to view the world, from an angle of distrust, dismay, and disgust.

On the other hand, a message of hope and triumph is also conveyed, in this grueling tale of woe, madness, and corruption. It is however consoling to know, that good always triumphs over evil.

The DeWitt genealogy is a fascinating study of 26 generations of the family from 1293 to the present. This work is the collaboration of descendants of the three children of Leucas, ninth child of Tierck Clafsen DeWitt. American Ambassador Lester DeWitt Ballor of UEL descent obtained a copy from The Royal Library of the Hague of Beschayving DerStad Dordrecht by Mattys Balen, Jans Zoon published in 1677. This information provided the first thirteen generations in Holland.

He also received a 32-page copy of a lawsuit in 1684 by Jan DeWitt on behalf of his brother Tierck for rent owned by Pieter Janz, their sister Faelde's husband. The property was land inherited by Tierck from his father Nicholaas. It provided information on her mother Taetje Cornelisz, her father, brothers and their shipyard.

This fictional, coming-of-age autobiography is well researched and describes in detail much of the early 20th Century times and customs. Peter and Katina Yiopoulos, formerly school teachers in Greece, emigrating to America in 1893. They gave birth to three sons. Telly, as the youngest, was born in 1900.

Live with Telly as he grows through his childhood, youth, and manhood, World War I, and the 1916 and 1920 Olympics. Read and feel this budding young athlete's effort, anguish, tribulations, determination, victories, and defeats in his numerous interesting incidents, predicaments, and romances.

• Learn how Telly got his name from his godfathers.
• Enjoy the time Telly and his friend played "Mailmen."
• What happened when Telly rode a new red wagon?
• Read how he overcame smoking at the age of 7.
• Who was Daphne? Why did she leave school?
• How did Telly and his friends create a horrendous situation with a huge flow of soapsuds?
• What does a twelve-year-old boy do when he has a natural inclination to play sports and his mother insists he become a concert violinist? In 1912, this became Telly's life-altering dilemma.
• Telly secretly participated in sports. Keeping this from his mother was difficult but he played baseball whenever he could.
• Why, after many years of diligent field and track training and ultimate qualifications, were thousands of athletes denied the opportunity to participate in the 1916 Olympics?
• What were Barbara's two mishaps?
• Read about Telly's harrowing experiences in World War I.
• How did Telly learn to paint with Marcelle?
• Who did Telly meet at the Eiffel Tower and the Moulin Rouge?
• Who were Daphne, Barbara, Linda, Marcelle, Elly, Nancy, Roselle and Kris?

Telly tells all in Telly's Torch.

By the time Albert and Saskatchewan achieved provincial status in 1905, settlers by the hundreds of thousands flocked to the free homesteads of the western prairie. In the Palliser Triangle, on a veneer of topsoil, they faces choking drought, incessant winds, unrelenting winters, and plagues of pests. Only a fraction survived the hardships of the unforgiving prairie. Tom Reardon and his bride Hannorah settled a marginal quarter north of the fictional town of Henley Junction.

The story follows their lives, loves and tragedies through three generations as they interact, inter-marry and feud with neighbors and towsfolk. Their lives become entangled in intrigue, including rape, murder, political blackmail and eco terror. Fundamental to their existence is an endless campaign to stabilze the region with a small share of Red Deer River water. In the end, love conquers all except the futile quest for a secure supply of water.

This book is about an 82-year-old-man who was forced in the dark of night, in his own home, and at knifepoint to father a child twenty-seven years ealier, and now believes he may have met the child and the child's mother.

The story deals with how he and some of the other characters in the book attempt to prove or disprove his belief. Of course the child is now an adult but the child's mother feels she must protect her child in spite of the fact, and yet she truly understands the elderly mans desire to know the truth, whatever that might be.

In most cases racists don't pose a serious threat. They are easy to recognize and most people know how to deal with them. However, there is another strain of racism much more virulent and lethal, a strain more subtle and harder to diagnose, a strain that exists in all of us no matter what our colour, religion and background may be and the author believes, if given the right set of circumstances, each of us is capable of falling prey to that strain of nastiness.

In the novel Racist, Frank Freemont, a middle-aged, liberal-thinking white man suffers a humiliating experience and finds himself turning into a full-blown, hate-filled racist. The question now is, can Frank recognize the hatred for what it is, overcome it, and regain some sense of balance?

In this day and age when all of us are constantly barraged with images of racism and violence, the question facing each of us is, can we rise above the tides of hate and maintain our sense of balance or will we succumb to our darker side?

The Story begins in Spain, leads to Burma and finally to Singapore.

Fil, the Spanish Pearl Diver leaves the poor coastal Spanish village he grew up in for a new life in Rangoon, Burma. There, he meets Ma Kan, a beautiful, Burmese Buddhist young girl from an elite family. He brings with him the morals of his religious mother and shares with his new bride the Bible, although he, himself does not really practice his religion. As Ma Kan's search of this new found religion unravels, she can no longer live with the deep dark secrets of her life. Tragedy strikes.

The story now moves to life in Singapore, where Fil resettles with his family. This British Colonial island is full of flavor and color that adds to the backdrop of this saga.

His two daughters, Cis and Malina, battle and compete constantly. Both are strong-willed and their character and personalities are portrayed to capture readers' attention and draw them into the drama. The two daughters, with whom readers will identify, highlight the continuing saga. Each struggles to make sense of a God they know exists but can't seem to grasp.

As their lives evolve, we see how these sisters interact with one another and their families to learn their lessons of love and forgiveness.

The novel The Island of the Elyms is set in a village of Sicily. It touches four generations of a well-to-do family and relates the tragic and humorous occurrences in the life of each member of that family. The story is narrated by a young girl, Marianna, whose romantic ideals and openness are often in conflict with the secretive and reserved nature of her family.

Marianna loves the more salubrious and rustic lifestyle of the land-workers as opposed to the refined and sophisticated lifestyle of her aristocratic family. She feels the former to be an honest way of life and the latter a pretentious and artificial one.

Marianna, with the exuberance of youth, would like to see a radical change in the way her family deals with certain issues. She herself represents a slowly changing society.

However, the people whose beliefs have been forged and impressed into their very soul by generations of tumultuous historical events, are resistant to change. Eventually, Marianna learns to appreciate the island's cultural richness and its paradox. A sense of history and mythology, superstition and religion, in fact, often exist alongside one another and are portrayed in the novel.

The novel touches also on both the First and Second World Wars because two members of Marianna's family, her grandfather and father, fought in each war respectively. It depicts every human emotion by means of adopting humor and tragedy throughout.

One might say that in the novel The Island of the Elyms there is a book within the book as the lives of Marianna's great grandparents and grandparents emerge. The former being read by Nonna from her mother's memoirs and the latter narrated by Nonna herself.

When finally Marianna is comfortable with who she is - different from the rest of her family, she is torn away from her birthplace for the great unknown which happens to be Australia. The story ends with the uprooting of the girl by the family, who, inturn, has to forfeit and abandon every dream, and thus becoming the innocent victim of the tragedy of emigration.

Liquor House Music, the first novel written by Katrina Parker Williams, is a raw, gritty tale of a proud, yet bitter black woman, Laura Dunn, and her struggle to survive in an abusive relationship. Each chapter in the novel reveals, through flashbacks, aspects of Laura's troubled life as an abused wife and mother of three children.

As a southern Black family, the Dunns experience more heartache and pain than the average family when one tragic episode transforms their lives forever. The discovery of sexual abuse of Laura's daughter, Tyesha, inflicted by her stepfather Big Champ, sets in motion a sequence of events that eventually destroys Big Champ, Laura's son Tyrell, and Laura. Laura's own battle with sexual abuse at the hands of her foster father lays the foundation for a cycle of abuse that scars her children for life. The characters in the novel are strong, determined, proud black people with a strong sense of family and loyalty, and a realism truly representative of southern Black America.