| It's Write Now

IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award
– Popular Fiction (Winner of Silver)
National Indie Excellence Awards
– New Fiction (Winner) and Visionary Fiction (Finalist)
Next Generation Indie Book Awards
– First Novel (Finalist) and Inspirational Fiction (Finalist)
Best Book Awards
– Fiction: Visionary (Finalist) and Best New Fiction (Finalist)

Devastated by his father’s sudden death, eight-year-old Ricky begins to see things—a ghostly silhouette in his bedroom window, a gruesome train accident involving four local teenagers, a terrorist attack that won’t occur for another twenty-five years. After a traumatic incident at a New England summer camp, the visions become more frequent, more vivid, and more disturbing. A mysterious voice assures him everything will be okay if he crosses the “threshold.” But just what is the threshold? And what lies beyond?

A tale of hope, faith, courage, and profound self-discovery, A Hero Dreams is a work of inspirational fiction that takes the reader on an epic journey along the furthermost frontiers of human consciousness, through the very darkest of nights, and into a miraculous realm where anything is possible.

Beyond the Threshold (Hero’s Path Book 2) publication date: September 13, 2022

Meet Mark Ristau

Mark Ristau is an award-winning author whose life took a sharp turn when he was downsized from a corporate attorney job he’d held for nearly fifteen years. Instead of sending out his résumé, however, he decided it was time to pursue his dream. Selling his house and virtually all his belongings, he packed the car and migrated to a town on Florida’s Gulf Coast, setting for the prologue to the first book in the Hero’s Path series, A Hero Dreams.

A Hero Dreams has garnered the following awards:
• National Indie Excellence Awards – New Fiction (Winner) and Visionary Fiction (Finalist)
• IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards – Popular Fiction (Silver Winner)
• Next Generation Indie Book Awards – First Novel (Finalist) and Inspirational Fiction (Finalist)
• Best Book Awards – Best New Fiction (Finalist) and Visionary Fiction (Finalist)

A Presidency under siege. A worldwide pandemic, followed by a global economic collapse. Is a happy ending even possible?

Does real life emulate fiction? Or does fiction emulate real life?

All five books of the BrainTrust examine topics ripped from today’s headlines: Pandemic, Global Economic Meltdown, Deportation. How closely will the world follow the BrainTrust script?

Warning: Political satire included in this near-future hard sf techno-thriller. Please remember the Golden Question: How do you tell if a politician is lying? His lips are moving!

Long ago, the President for Life expelled all foreign engineers from Silicon Valley. They moved to…

The BrainTrust:

A fleet of immense cruise liners jammed with teams seeking the next great breakthrough

A locus freed of bureaucracy and autocracy, a thorn in the side of every dirtside power.

A home for creativity where no problem is unsolvable, but no crisis is as simple as it seems.

A clean, well-lighted place for … ferocious commando assaults, and desperate copter combat.

The Heroines:

Dash: the plucky mad scientist.

Ping: the bouncy itty bitty ninja with the Real Big Gun.

Jam: the quiet, resilient commando with the grace of a dancer.

The Frightening Fact: A little too much of it is coming true.

If you can’t laugh about your favorite politician, journey elsewhere.

Otherwise, Come Aboard the BrainTrust.

Every book a Prometheus Award nominee.

If you like Robert Heinlein, Michael Crichton, Charles Stross, or Ayn Rand, buy your ticket and come aboard.