Joni Ankerson lives in her hometown of Traverse City, Michigan. After being released from prison in April of 2017, she returned home to the house she grew up in and is moving forward with her new, independent life. She is a strong advocate for victims of domestic violence and has many family members, friends and community members that support her and stand behind her. She hopes that by sharing her story, other victims will gain the … [Read more...]
HOW NOW, BUTTERFLY? A Mother’s Struggle After Her Son Murders Her 4-Year-Old Daughter
Losing a young daughter to murder is the worst nightmare that a mother could possibly imagine, but what if the killer was her son? Charity Lee was thrust into this unimaginable situation when her 13-year-old son Paris murdered her beloved 4-year-old daughter, Ella. Charity goes through intense grief at the loss of her daughter, while at the same time trying to understand why her son would have done something as horrific as this, and how she … [Read more...]
Charity Lee
Charity Lee is the daughter of a murdered father, daughter of an acquitted mother, mother of a murdered daughter, and mother of a murderer... In 1980, her father was murdered in the family home. Her mother was subsequently charged with, tried for, and acquitted of, murder-for-hire in his death. During her youth and young adulthood, she coped with mental health and addiction issues, experienced the birth of two children, Paris and … [Read more...]
Jeff Morris On Why He Chose To Write LEGION RISING
To be completely honest, it still does not seem real to me to have written a book about my life and experiences. After all, it’s my life. It’s what I’ve lived and to me, it’s normal with nothing special about it. Why in the world would someone be interested in reading something about me? Yet here we are. The seed was first planted during my first deployment by a writer who was in Iraq for a project. It was early 2005 and I took him out on … [Read more...]
MOTHERS AND MURDERERS: A True Story by Pulitzer Prize Winner Katherine Ellison
"A dark jewel" - Jacquelyn Mitchard, bestselling author of The Deep End of the Ocean Mothers & Murderers: A True Story of Love, Lies, Obsession … and Second Chances takes readers on a wild tragicomic ride from the criminal courtrooms of California’s Silicon Valley to the Himalayan mountains of Pakistan to the deserts of Ethiopia. In delightful, insightful prose, Ellison reflects on her mistakes and her triumphs as she weaves together the … [Read more...]
Pulitzer Prize Winner Katherine Ellison
Katherine Ellison is a Pulitzer-prize-winning former foreign correspondent and the author of ten non-fiction books, on topics ranging from Imelda Marcos to environmental conservation to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. From 1984-99, she reported from Asia, Africa, and Latin America for Knight Ridder Newspapers, covering attempted coups, earthquakes, samba parades, civil wars, drug-trafficking, dictators, Avon ladies in the Amazon and … [Read more...]
PLAYING DEAD: A Memoir Of Terror And Survival
Winner of multiple literary awards! Monique, the daughter of San Diego Charger’s football great Earl Faison, married her high school sweetheart soon after she discovered she was pregnant with his child. Her relationship with Chris was shaky from the start, but turned tumultuous as he became verbally and physically abusive. When she could no longer put up with the abuse, she left him with their children. That was when the stalking and genuine … [Read more...]
Monique Faison Ross
Monique Faison Ross was born in San Francisco and grew up as an only child in San Diego. She was raised primarily by her mom, Barbara, an industrial engineer. Her father, William Earl (Earle) Faison, was a four-time all-star defensive end for the San Diego Chargers. Monique has worked as a program manager for a Connecticut educational non-profit since 2004. She has also served in various volunteer roles—from being a board of trustee member … [Read more...]
GABACHO: Drugs Landed Me In Mexican Prison, Theater Saved Me
Gabacho is the true tale of youthful angst, crime, misunderstandings, love, friendship and redemption. Over Christmas break of his senior year, a University of Utah theatre student disenchanted with his conservative Mormon upbringing, took off for Mexico with a college friend seeking a wild adventure. If the adventure hadn’t included smuggling drugs it might have been another college road trip. But after a disastrous encounter with a drug … [Read more...]
THE GANGSTER’S COUSIN: Growing Up In The Luciano Family
Born in 1942, Salvatore "Sal" Lucania was not only raised but educated by the streets of East Harlem. Dropping out of his Catholic high school at 15 after punching out a priest, a formal education was not Sal's future. As such, it would have been easy to fall into the trappings of "made man" status in the mafia, like his cousin Charles "Lucky" Luciano. But Sal had a different vision of the future, if he could just escape the confines of his … [Read more...]