Books

The second book in the Illusions series.

Martino Harrow’s ability to raise living creatures from thought isn’t his only secret. He isn’t who everyone thinks he is. When his foster mother discovers his true nature, she is furious and heartbroken, and Martino vows to find the human son she lost — Caliban.

In the Fae realm, everyone knows who...

Jack Harrow thinks he is investigating psychics and spirit mediums. A Bavarian professor hired him to research a new book. But Jack soon discovers a whole new world. He learns there is a different species of human living among us. Professor Kruger calls them Homo Sapiens Obscurus. They are like us, but special powers set them apart. They have...

Waters of Doubt, third tale in the DiPaolo trilogy, a novella. Theodore Roosevelt has invited Martino DiPaolo to an exciting vacation in the Brazilian rain forest. The trip nearly proves the last of both men, as well as the rest of the expedition. They have chosen to follow the course of an unmapped river, the River de Duvidas, River of Doubt....

This is a collection of trunk tales. A trunk tale is a story which I dug out of my trunk. I wrote it years ago, it didn’t get published, so I filed it away in my trunk and forgot about it. Recently I began winnowing my papers and found several that I think are not too bad. The first story, “Cheops,” I first published as a stand alone short. It’s...

“You are the only one who saw a president assassinated. That makes you the expert.”

Having failed to protect McKinley, Martino DiPaolo, hesitates to accept the assignment to safeguard his successor.

Elsewhere, John Flammang Schrank believes that McKinley’s ghost urged him to kill Roosevelt. That sworn commitment of a madman persuades DiPaolo to...

Ira Beard hunted Joaquin, the mountain bandit. In the Civil War he chased Confederate rebels. Now he’s settled down with a family and business, hoping for some peace and quiet. He has seen San Francisco through riots, fires, earthquake and war. It’s time for a change.

Then a banker sends him on a mission to inspect a new silver mine down in the...

San Francisco, 1906. Broderick McRae is again being haunted.

As the city struggles to recover from earthquake and fires, an unseen spirit begs McRae for help. This is no revenant but the essence of a living woman, Elinor, who lies in a coma thousands of miles away. Her husband tried to kill her, and he may yet succeed if McRae doesn’t intervene.

...

Sometimes real sanity is found only in a mad house.

San Francisco, 1879. Georg Vintner, A.K.A the Driver, has returned after two years at sea only to discover that the woman he loves is still confined to a lunatic asylum. Only by rescuing her, can he discover if he wants a life with her. Only then can he learn the truth.

Wealthy investor, Nathan...

1901: Pinkerton op Martino DiPaolo is working as bodyguard. He’s guarding the Hong Kong consul general and family on their voyage to San Francisco aboard the S.S. City of Rio de Janeiro. The consul’s in a hurry to get to the U.S. president’s inauguration. That’s because he know of a threat on the president’s life. There’s also a threat against...

December, 1906. For the third time, McRae finds himself conversing with a disembodied spirit. The first time, before the San Francisco Quake, it was a dead Italian soldier. The second, A.Q. (After Quake), she was a live woman lying in a coma thousands of miles distant. Now McRae, reporter for the San Francisco Call, gets sent to cover a story...

San Francisco, 1906. Broderick McRae, reporter for the Morning Call, has discovered he’s two people. A different person inhabits his mind and body. The Other is a dead Italian soldier named Abramo. He tells McRae they are both on a mission to save the city. Their task involves a murdered opera singer and a killer on the loose. There’s also...

Sometimes murder happens in broad daylight. In 1877 a man is stabbed on a San Francisco streetcar, but no one sees it happen. How is the driver supposed to clear his name?


Georg Vintner is the Driver. He finds himself suspected of the crime because there’s no one else to pin it on. The victim is from a wealthy family, and the DA wants a...

Black Bart disappeared. At least he meant to, after leaving prison. He wasn’t counting on the man who put him there, Detective Hume. Nor on his old enemy Sutliffe, from Montana days. And there was Magdalena, who insisted on coming along, just because she loved him.

Black Bart really did disappear, that’s history. He only did time for robbing one...

When Geraldine Halloran arrives at the Central Pacific end of track in the winter of 1866, she’s resolved not to be terrified. After all, she has a right to be there. She was hired on as regular telegraph operator, though they thought they were hiring a man. She’s the only other woman at Tunnel 6, except for Mrs. Strobridge, the superintendent’s...

Ira Beard came west to escape war.

War has found him. He’d hunted for Joaquin

Murietta, the bandit. Now he’s supposed to

track down Confederate rebels stealing

California gold. He’s become desperate

because his wife Octavia found them first.

Read the tale for yourself, and wonder.

The only path to safety is through the most dangerous place in this world. Men pursue Benjamin for his wild talent, which he doesn’t understand. His path will lead him to imprisonment, to a lesbian biker chick, a gypsy, and a certified lunatic. Among his allies is a woman from another world. His enemy wants his lunch money. Now come on a journey...

Nathaniel had his reasons for making his journey to Rhyolite. Rhyolite was the greatest boom town in the west, with a population of ten thousand and growing fast. Nathaniel hoped to find what had been taken from him—taken by the snallygaster, that old legend from the back hills of Maryland. Snallygaster was that four legged flying snake that...

In 1852, Joaquin Murietta is Gold Rush California’s most notorious bandit. The Rangers are hunting for him, with promise of a sizable reward. Ira Beard, a bounty hunter from New York, also decides to go after Joaquin. He has only two men in his posse, but encounters a Spanish lady who will save his life three times. Who will get to Joaquin...

Hyram and his wife Lisbeth have lived in San Francisco since it was Yerba Buena. They have some strange stories to tell. If you’d like to hear one, they’re short enough to read while waiting for your horse drawn street car.

Liam O’Malley was just looking for an honest job. The California Gold Rush wasn’t paying off for him, and he was tired of living in tents. In San Francisco he did find employment, but he wasn’t sure how honest. He found himself assistant to a Daguerreotype photographer who specialized in photographing ghosts and departed spirits. Of course the...