New Interview with Daniella Rushton on the Media Page

The Panther Tales

The Watchers and the Gifted Ones Book 1

by Daniella Rushton

‘It was to be a battle of belief,’ she said.

A teenage girl, Hannah, befriends a panther whilst discovering she possesses an extraordinary imaginative gift. Dark forces are waiting and watching to destroy Hannah’s happiness.
All she needs to do is to believe in herself and a panther called Parky.

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.

COLLARED

by Juliana Weber

Father Paul is assigned to heal a parish scandalized by the former pastor’s involvement in underage sex trafficking. A gifted yet new priest, Father Paul gains the survivors’ trust and hears their stories, bringing healing and fatherly love. As he listens, he inadvertently puts together the clues to bring down the trafficking ring, one so lucrative that even the police are afraid to touch it. Or are some of the police in on the take?

Like every church, this one is full of suspicious characters, and someone nearby is clearly trying to harm Father Paul. The pastor endures all the usual church politics and ministry mayhem, while he races to bring down the crime ring. Can he stop the traffickers before they collar their next round of victims? Or will the traffickers be the ones to stop him?

What the Living Know: A Novel of Suicide and Philosophy
by Matthew Kruger

Now that science has granted eternal life and youth to all, the world is a place of endless opportunity to live out one’s dreams and fulfill one’s desires. A unified world government maintains a peaceful, blissful existence, with no poverty, no disease, and only the odd injustice; the struggle now is in finding a reason to live.

And so even in this time when death is optional, Warren Walker’s friends and loved ones keep opting for it. Each suicide is celebrated with a raucous party and a sense they have gotten all they could out of life.

But how many times can you send someone on their way and not start to feel as if it might be your time to go? How many parties can you attend, how many drugs can you take, how much dancing can you do before the shine wears off of your joy filled days? How much life will you live before you come to say “that’s enough for me”? Or, through it all, will your love for life always endure?

Drunk on Sunday

by Ross Warner

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Twenty five years in the making after almost as much time living it, Drunk On Sunday is a coming of age tale that is both familiar and unique.  It’s a story for anyone who tried to find themselves on the road to responsibility without losing sight of who you are.  From Westchester to Rochester to the Upper East Side to the East Village, Drunk On Sunday chronicles the story of Rob Gross and his battles against adulthood.  It’s that, along with a whole lot of strong drinks, good friends, and great times along the way.  Like so many, Rob discovers that his biggest obstacle isn't finding someone to share his life with, but figuring out how to deal once he does.

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Even if you didn’t come of age in the ‘80s and ‘90s or have never been consumed with your favorite movie, team, or band you’ll enjoy this look at the rites of passage that so many of us must go through. 

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.’”