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THE NFB STORY
There is a better way. There was the publishing industry before NFB and there will be a different one after NFB. The central idea of NFB is community not corporation. The author, the artist, the editor, the agent, all those involved working toward a common goal: to produce the best books ever or just a really good book. The author retains all rights to their intellectual property without exception, as well as 90% of the royalties after tax and shipping. We hope to provide all that is necessary for the author to flourish including editing, design and in some cases representation. NFB means no excess, no double-speak, no empty promises. The words on the page are the core, the author is the center and the book is the goal. Expansion is always happening. NFB is constantly looking for passionate writers, artists, and anyone associated with the publishing industry interested in something different.
Free Besieged
by Peter Routis
The Athens Polytechnic uprising that started 14 November 1973 and lasted for three days, was indeed an immense protest of the students and the Athenians toward the tyrannical military junta of George Papadopoulos. Army tanks surrounded the buildings of the Polytechnic, as the students were barricaded within the confines of the university campus. And so, the massacre began. The grounds and the perimeter of the Polytechnic and the streets and sidewalks of the capital were painted red from the blood of the students and so many others. They were besieged. They were physically blockaded, but their spirits were not; not their hearts and souls. They were merely Free Besieged.
Witch’s Return
Stargazer Island Series Book 1
Sionna Trenz
After fifteen years away, Sonya McKenzie is finally back on Stargazer Island, the one place she felt at home. As old friends welcome her back, Sonya creates new bonds and strengthens old. Love, soul deep and long dormant, springs to new life.
But an age-old darkness begins to encroach on the idyllic island, threatening everything and everyone Sonya holds dear. With her circle at her side and the island at her back, Sonya must stand against evil’s building energy. She must find the strength within herself to defend and defeat the dark in order to protect Stargazer Island. The fate of the entire world now hangs in the balance.
Motive
by Dennis M. Adams
A good Homicide Detective always sets out to answer the H and five Ws of a crime: How, Who, What, Where, When, and Why. With the typical murder investigation, most homicide detectives would be satisfied if they could prove HOW the homicide occurred, WHO committed the murder, WHAT weapon was used, and establish WHERE and WHEN the crime occurred. But that would not be enough for Joe Morgan, the retired Homicide Chief whose grandson, Sean, was intentionally run down and killed by a Hit and Run driver. To further complicate matters, Joe’s son, Mike, Sean’s father, is also a Lieutenant on the Police Department. The Police Department’s finding that the killer is deceased has all but closed the investigation. However, it had been unable to find a motive for the murder, and this of course, this leaves open the possibility that either Mike or Joe may have been the actual intended target. And to Joe, this screams for the WHY to be answered. Until the motive is discovered there is a chance that whomever directed the killing would strike again.
When the Department’s Homicide Bureau is unable to completely close the case, the retired Homicide Chief turns to the Coterie, a menagerie of mostly retired supervisors and detectives who utilize their ‘old school’ techniques and ingenuity to find ALL the answers. Along the way the ensemble cast of characters uncover the reason why Sean was killed, and also solves several other murders, a cold-case homicide, and discover corruption in the Police Department. The story leads Joe Morgan and the Coterie into their next series of adventures.
The Boxcar Killer
by M. Hartman
The year is 1967...
Des Campbell is the smart but insecure son of an extraordinarily successful yet bigoted attorney who pushes Des into following in his footsteps. Des regularly escapes to the tracks where he finds solace in the street art of a tagger named Brando who creates stunning murals on the boxcars. After his high school crush, Tessa Rhodes, is brutally murdered at the tracks, Des enters Harvard Law broken hearted and unsure of himself. Later, he emerges stronger, more confident and ready to face the demons he left behind.
He returns to his home in Charleston at the prodding of his trusted mentor, John Taylor, who heads Harvard’s School of Law. A secret meeting takes place at the public defender’s office whereby Des is inspired by the no B.S. style of the white-haired attorney with a heart for the discriminated. The duo set out to free a young boy, Brandon Michael Thompson, currently on his fourth of a forty-year sentence whom Des later learns has been convicted of the murder of Tessa Rhodes.
Along the way Des struggles with his feelings for Tessa and lingering doubts as to Brandon’s innocence. After a brief confrontation he befriends a detective with a chip on his shoulder who reluctantly helps solve the murder. Des accidentally discovers Brandon and Brando are one in the same which ultimately proves his innocence. After a long battle, Brandon is exonerated. The two men form a friendship, both freed from their dark pasts. The real killer is someone closer than you think.
Revolutionary Girl
Written by Charles Courtsal
Illustrated by Kitty Forbush
Revolutionary Girl is the true story of a teenager that served as a spy for General George Washington at the start of the American Revolution. Closely based on her family’s diary, this is the first time the story of Elizabeth Wilson has ever been told. She was a dynamic, brave and smart young woman sought out by General Washington . The charming illustrations by Kitty Forbush spark the imagination in this book for 5th grade readers and up. The book includes a family tree, questions for further exploration, and links to the actual diary. These are meant to encourage the reader to explore the stories of their own families.
The Jump: A Vaudeville
Adventure
by Jessica DiPalma
Book Three in the Jump Series
To most people best friends Riley Caldwell and Jack Saunders are just two average sixth graders living in New York City. However, things are not always what they seem.
The truth is Riley is descended from a secret legacy of art jumpers. Since Jack accidentally discovered that fact as Riley was about to enter a painting and she was forced to take him with her on a jump, they have shared two amazing adventures together.
When Riley’s grandfather, a conservator at the New York Museum of Art, shows them a painting of a city scene, they instantly know this is the perfect work for their next jump. Upon landing in this painting, Jack and Riley quickly become caught up in the fascinating world of a traveling show from the early 1900s. It is also there that they meet Max, a boy about their age, and his younger sister Lettie who are part of the troupe’s crew and have dreams of playing a much bigger role in the show. When a turn of fate offers an opportunity to make their dreams come true, Riley and Jack will face an exciting adventure as they attempt to help their new friends become vaudeville stars while also being careful to be sure to make it back to the portal before it closes and they are trapped in the painting’s world.
Colin O'Brien Returns in
Action at Maple Springs
by Bob Terreberry
As if summer hadn’t been active enough (murder, attempted assassination, family reunion) now strangers are bringing new ‘action’ to post-summer Maple Springs.
Some ‘lights’ and ‘camera’, but lots of ‘action’, mostly off set, occurs when an indie movie crew takes up residence and The Springs becomes an important piece of the production. Maple Springers facilitate with the new friends that are part of the movie cast and crew and they all work, play and conspire as the novel HEARTS ADRIFT comes to life for the screen.
Oh yes, there is also another production simultaneously underway in The Springs. The goal of this second production is to facilitate the ‘makeover’ of the Maple Springs Inn featuring fabulous homewares from the universe of Martha Steward. These goods and décor details, Martha inspired, are sure to be loved across the country.
And incidentally, a ‘star stalker’ causes fear and confusion.
“Sounds like fun,” says Springer Colin O’Brien. “What could go wrong?”
The Bond of Blue
by Mary Pierre Quinn-Stanbro
and Michele Graves
The Bond of Blue is a tribute to my father, Francis P. Quinn who was a Buffalo, New York Police Officer.
The main story in my memoir is a non-fiction account of my father’s life through my eyes, with my voice. The story takes you back to his upbringing with his father, Frank P. Quinn who was also a Buffalo Police Officer. It then spans through my father’s career with BPD, his life with our family, his passing and beyond.
At the end of the memoir is a separate fictional story of What Might Have Been, regarding an actual homicide of an infant boy that my Grandfather was investigating in 1946.
The story showcases the love of family, respect for the law enforcement officers, especially the Buffalo Police Department and the bond of blue that connects them.
Education News, Research, and Cultural Insights
Al Bruno is a teacher and writer and has been reporting on education news and research, while writing insights about culture and personalities since his college reporting days at Canisius College (in Buffalo, NY) in the late 1970s. His passion and insights in sports is fueled by his experiences as a teacher, coach, and a short-and-medium form writer.
Education News, Research, and Cultural Insights is Bruno’s third book that he has written and produced in the past year. In 2020, he published both Buffalo’s Sports Headliners and Insights and 11 Italian Greats in Sports and Italian Insights, now available online at Amazon Books.
Education News, Research, and Cultural Insights is a compilation of 43 education and cultural insight articles; most of these pieces have been published locally and a few have been recognized nationally. The book has been segmented into three parts: Part 1 – Education News and Research, Part 2 – Diverse Cultural Insights and Part 3 – Italian Insights.
We All Just Bought A Team: The Biggest What-Ifs in Buffalo Sports History
by Jeff Dahlberg
In We All Just Bought a Team: The Biggest What-Ifs in Buffalo Sports History, readers can learn what could have happened if Terry and Kim Pegula didn’t buy the Buffalo Bills in 2014. Would the team be the Toronto, Los Angeles or Las Vegas Bills? How would the sports landscape change if Scott Norwood made that 47-yard field goal in Super Bowl XXV or Jim Kelly had refused to sign with Buffalo when the USFL folded? What if the NHL had disallowed Brett Hull’s goal in Game 6 of the 1999 Stanley Cup Finals or the Vancouver Canucks had drafted Gilbert Perrault? What if the Buffalo Sabres had chosen Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel became an Arizona Coyote? Buffalo sports fans can explore those questions and more in these pages.
Each chapter opens with a recap of the actual history, then pivots to the what-ifs. Prominent sportswriters, authors, historians and sports pundits then weigh in with their view of each question. It’s like being at a bar or a party where everybody is talking about sports and everybody has an opinion. Not everyone agrees but everyone has something to say. We All Just Bought a Team: The Biggest What-Ifs in Buffalo Sports History is sure to be a hit among Buffalo sports fans everywhere.
A Lot Like Fun - Only Different
by Jack Livingston
Author Jack Livingston describes the book; “Clearing out the high school with a smoke bomb prank in our senior year, raising a family of pigs in a village yard, saving a drowning man in Singapore, and overcoming the trauma of a childhood abduction are part of my friend, Chris Kelley’s past. I knew little about them. To me, Chris was the guy who was always up for doing two fun things in one day (sometimes three).
When Chris was diagnosed with Pick’s disease (a rare type of dementia) in his mid-fifties, it signaled the end to what we had taken for granted. It changed our friendship. No longer would I follow him on epic adventures he planned. These days, I take him for hikes, hold both sides of our conversations, and help him across a two-foot stream. But because I didn’t want to forget the times we’d had together, I started to write, and as a result found out there was more to my friend.
In A Lot Like Fun –– Only Different I share incredible stories of our improbable friendship where Chris met life head on while I asked, “Are you sure we want to do this?” It contains dozens of stories and photos from our past that contrast ‘current day’ Chris, diminished by Pick’s, with the Chris I knew so well. No longer are we barreling down the 219 to ski or mountain bike the Bent Rim Trail, and celebrating with a ‘couple tree’ beers. We aren’t breaking trails with our snowshoes in the Adirondack High Peaks or cruising through Appalachia on the way to a 24-hour mountain bike race.
We still get together every week. And I look forward to those times. It’s fun –– only different. Chris greets me with a smile and a hearty laugh. He doesn’t speak, but I know if he could, he’d tell me, ‘Thanks for coming out, Jack. Today was great.’ And then it breaks my heart when he stands next to my car, wanting to ride home with me and I have to tell him, ‘Chris, you're riding with your brother. I’ll see you next week, okay buddy.’ And I hear his words of the past. ‘Good deal.’”
