Tom Lowe tops today’s Buffet with his 2009 debut novel, A False Dawn. It’s the first book in his Sean O’Brien mystery series. A False Dawn was followed by The 24th Letter, The Butterfly Forest, and The Black Bullet. Tom also has two stand-alone novels, The Crossing and Gravity, which will be published this summer. The next book to be released featuring Sean O’Brien is Blood of Cain.
Tom is also an award-winning documentary writer and director whose films air nationwide on PBS. As he writes his books, Tom draws from his travels around the world and his background as a print and broadcast journalist. In his leisure time, Tom is a sailor and scuba diver. He lives in Florida.
Tom doesn’t write from an outline. Instead, he makes brief sketches of the characters, no more than a paragraph of each one. Then he writes a dozen or so bullet points—places he thinks the story will journey. The bullet points are always on the next page as he writes the story. As he arrives at each of those points in the story, he deletes the bullet point references.
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A False Dawn
Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Police Procedurals
Author: Tom Lowe
Sean O’Brien couldn’t remember the last time he made a promise and then broke it. Many years ago his grandfather had taught him a “man’s word is his bond.”
It’s a personal code–a way O’Brien conducts his life. He has every intention of keeping the promise he makes to wife, Sherri, right before her death.
After Sherri dies, O’Brien leaves his career as a homicide investigator with the Miami PD and relocates to a remote section of Florida wilderness on the banks of the St. Johns River.
He’s restoring an old home and trying to rebuild his life when he discovers a young woman badly beaten and left for dead near the alligator-infested river. She whispers a cryptic message in O’Brien’s ear, and he makes a promise to her.
It’s an accord O’Brien believes the local police will fulfill. But when authorities drag their feet on the investigation, O’Brien finds the promise he made to his dead wife is about to conflict with the promise he made to the woman who was savagely attacked.
Soon O’Brien is plunging deep into the dark world of human trafficking and sexual slavery. O’Brien finds that an old case he never solved in Miami resurrects it’s head on the banks of an ancient river and tracks him.
O’Brien is tossed into a deadly cat-and-mouse game where the only vow he can make is to stop an evil antagonist with a twisted, Godlike complex that’s hellbent on sacrificing O’Brien to a greater cause.
The Thirteenth Unicorn (The Ben Alderman Series)
Genre Fiction > Action & Adventure > Sword & Sorcery
Author: W. D. Newman
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While spending the summer with their grandparents on a remote farm in South Carolina, Ben Alderman and his sister Casey uncover a hidden world of magic; a world their grandmother is secretly visiting. It is a world where elves and dwarves are locked in mortal combat against a witch who is trying to free the last surviving wizard from exile. The witch has been defeated once before but with the combined power of the wizard, no one will be able to stand against them. Much to Ben’s dismay, he learns that he is the one foretold in the ancient elfin prophecies to bring about the downfall of the witch and save this exciting new world from destruction.
Follow the Stone (an Emmett Love Western)
Genre Fiction > Westerns
Author: John Locke
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A good-hearted, rollicking story about a former gunslinger and his crablike scout who journey West with a mail-order bride, a witch, and a wagon full of prostitutes.
Brood of Bones
Fantasy > Epic
Author: A.E. Marling
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Cursed with endless drowsiness, Enchantress Hiresha sleeps more than she lives. Since she never has had a chance to raise a family, she sometimes feels like every woman is pregnant except for her. This time, she is right.
From virgin to grandmother, all the women in her city have conceived. A lurking sorcerer drains power from the unnatural pregnancies, and
Hiresha must track him by his magic. Unfortunately, her cultured education in enchantment ill equips her to understand his spellcraft,
which is decidedly less than proper. The only person uncivilized enough to help is the Lord of the Feast, a dangerous yet charming illusionist. Associating with him may imperil Hiresha’s city, yet refusing his help will allow the sorcerer to leech godlike power from the mass births.
The Last American Martyr
Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
Author: Tom Winton
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In this me-me twenty-first century, Thomas Soles may very well be the last American martyr. This self-described “simple man” writes a book that is so powerful it brings back to life the all-but-dead international labor movement. The response to his thoughts and perceptions are astounding. Around the globe, from pole to pole, America to Zimbabwe, the footsteps of marching workers begin to tremor the earth. But not everyone is pleased.
There’s a tight-knit, elitist clique that is absolutely livid over the thoughts and ideals that fill the pages of Tom’s book. And when he and his wife, Elaina, return home from Sweden, they realize just how dangerous this profit-hungry mob can be.
Mortified by the horrible scene that awaits them inside their apartment, the Soles have no choice but to flee their longtime home.
Yesterday’s Gone: Episode 1 (The Post-Apocalyptic Serial Thriller)
Science Fiction > Post-Apocalyptic > Horror
Author: Sean Platt, David Wright
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A journalist wanders the horrible reality of an empty New York in search of his wife and son. A serial killer must hunt in a land where prey is now an endangered species. A mother shields her young daughter from danger, though every breath fills her with terror. A bullied teen is thrilled to find everyone gone. Until the knock at the door.
A fugitive survives a fiery plane crash. Will he be redeemed, or return to what he’s best at: the kill? An eight year old boy sets out on a journey to find his missing family. What he finds will change him forever.
And there’s a few people who aren’t surprised that this happened at all. In fact, they’ve been dreaming about this day for years.
These survivors aren’t really alone…
High Tide: A Story of Football, Freefall, and Forgiveness
Biographies & Memoirs
Author: Bill Searcey, Kelly Wittmann
On March 7, 2011, Bill Searcey appeared on the A&E television show “Heavy” and shared with its viewers his tale of football glory, substance abuse, personal devastation, debilitating obesity, hard-fought weight loss, and longed-for redemption. The audience response to Bill’s honesty and humility was overwhelmingly positive: his harrowing but ultimately uplifting true story propelled “Heavy” to its highest episode rating to date, with over 1.2 million viewers.
Football fans will get their fill of wild and crazy adventures as he recounts his rise at the University of Alabama under the legendary coach Paul “Bear” Bryant and his years in the pros, but this book is about so much more than just football. It’s about a man’s quest for forgiveness after his life has spun out of control, and the peace he finally finds after decades of mental and emotional chaos.
The Power of Communication
Management & Leadership
Author: Helio Fred Garcia
Communication is the absolutely indispensable leadership discipline. But, too often, leaders and professional communicators get mired in tactics, and fail to influence public attitudes in the ways that would help them the most. The Power of Communication builds on the U.S. Marine Corps’ legendary publication Warfighting, showing how to apply the Corps’ proven leadership and strategy doctrine to all forms of public communication — and achieve truly extraordinary results.