by Lisa Rusczyk

Parker didn’t expect to find his next great magazine story sleeping off a hangover in the back seat of his car. The homeless woman, Cleo, says she never wakes after dawn, which makes Parker curious. His intuition for finding a unique story is buzzing after meeting Cleo, and he decides to interview her to find out what drove her to live on the streets. 

Cleo explains how the early death of her first love set the path for her life. She withdraws from the world after he dies, only to re-enter it by going to a strange club called the Beacon. At the underground club, the patrons channel spirits on the improv stage and share psychic readings in the room behind the beaded curtain. While Cleo describes her spiritual awakening, Parker wonders if she actually fell prey to mental illness.

Because of a first article Parker wrote about Cleo, another reporter is after the story, blackmailing Parker to give it up. Parker must decide how to keep his story and not let Cleo down in the process.

Jim Owen is a damn good computer programmer, but he isn't a people person. He is, once again, stuck in a terrible job situation.  His boss, Dave, has disappeared and instead of him taking over managing his department, he’s asked to train his new boss....Jim is not a happy camper...

The FBI comes in and interviews each of the people with security clearances who were working for Dave.  However, no one really knows anything at all about the guy. Jim then becomes involved with the wrap up of his Dave's estate, and learns some things about the man.  He invariably comes up with an idea as to where Dave might have gone.

Jim then gets called into a meeting by his government customer.  The government people tell him that his ex-boss had very important classified information and the government has to find him.  In addition, the government isn't happy with Jim's employer.  It dawns on Jim, that if he can find his ex-boss, he can run his own company.  Jim, while not a people person, is ambitious and willing to do just about anything to run his own company. 

He then meets with the FBI and tells them that he thinks he knows where Dave probably went.  Jim's idea is wild and based on speculation. However, it's the only lead the FBI has.  Jim then meets with a special FBI squad and convinces them that his idea is good. 

There is a problem.  Jim is the only one who can positively identify Dave, therefore, he is drafted to go to Chile to find Dave.  The mission to find Dave is in trouble from the start.  One of the FBI squad is murdered on the plane down to Chile.  Jim is a kung-fu guy, as well as a programmer and he kills the guy who murdered his FBI teammate.  

The FBI team, plus amateur Jim then arrive in Chile.  The experts are all known to people in Chile as well as some Chinese hard boys.  Only Jim is unknown.  Things begin to break down.  The FBI team is betrayed by their own government, possibly due to stupidity, probably betrayed by the Chilean government and hunted by the Chinese.

The FBI team discovers that Jim is not only unknown to the other side, he also has about the same reaction to killing people as he has to eliminating bugs in his computer programs.  The action is fast, furious and deadly.

The FBI team finds and deals with Dave.  Now, reduced to just Jim and the FBI lady who heads the team, they are faced with the problem of getting back home. The trip home is as much of an adventure as the operation to find Dave.

Susan, the FBI lady who heads the team, speaks Spanish, can fly an airplane, can shoot straight and fast and can deal with people.  Jim is a systems analyst who can think his way through complex situations and he will kill anyone who tries to harm Susan, and quite a few people do try to harm her.  He has begun to have strong feelings for her.  

With an outstanding joint effort, Susan and Jim manage to escape to Belize where they are joined by another FBI team. The action is not yet over, since the Chinese trace Susan and Jim to a stop on the way home.  When they finally arrive back home, Susan and Jim marry.  Jim begins to run his own company.

The controversial Taser gun, claims another victim in this fast paced thriller with an erotic edge. Deron and Curtis, the police officers who fired the fatal shot, are catapulted into a nightmarish media blitz that screams for their blood. The last thing they expected, when they answered the call of a man acting bizarrely, was that it would destroy their lives. Communication is impossible, as he speaks only Spanish. They attempt to arrest him, and he pulls a knife. They Taser him and he dies on the floor at their feet. 

A bystander has recorded the incident on video. He sells it to the media. Capturing the action from one angle only, it does not show the man reaching into his pocket for the knife. It is assumed, therefore, that the police acted brutally and without provocation. Public condemnation is fierce and international. Deron and Curtis are branded murderers. They are threatened and attacked. 

The man who died is Manuel Vega, a Mexican tourist. He lived in Pinada; a small village near the US border. His mother has been prominent in the media, grieving for her son. She says he never showed any signs of violence before, and the autopsy found no drugs or alcohol in his system. Suspecting that nothing is ever as it seems, Deron travels to Pinada, to try and uncover the truth behind Manuel’s deranged behaviour. What he finds there provides the shocking conclusion to this tense and unusual story. 

The idea for TASERED came from a real incident. However, the characters and situations are entirely fictional.

http://www.mobipocket.com/en/eBooks/BookDetails.asp?BookID=108677&Origine=2104

http://www.mobipocket.com/en/eBooks/BookDetails.asp?BookID=108678&Origine=2104

THE SON 

by  W. Richard St. James

Years later with her daughter, a bright and gregarious teenager in whom Norah sees herself as she once was, the two return to Ethiopia to try and educate the women about the horror the mother experienced.  However, her precious daughter is kidnapped and subjected to the same horror which she doesn't survive.  The mother, more determined than ever to make sure the story of the plight of thousands of women like herself is told, returns to South Africa to continue with her life's mission to  fight against this atrocity... 

Written in the first person, Ms. Das has captured Norah's raw, heart wrenching emotions with an incisive clarity that will make one weep for her and rejoice at her strength to overcome the horrors she experienced in her young life......