Chronicles of a Reluctant Widower


Book Description

In December 2020 my wife, Andrea, died of breast cancer. This sucks. I've a lot to say about this matter, actually! And boy, say it I did. The day after Andrea died, I started posting semi-daily postings on Facebook, telling people about my feelings, my experiences, my emotions, and making crappy jokes to make myself feel better. I held nothing back, just let it out for the world to see. And boy, see it they did! These social media entries went places. Several posts went viral, and I got messages of support - and urging me to continue - from as far away as India and New Zealand. Some of these messages asked me when they will be available in book form, because people wanted to share my journey with others. Because my journey helped them. Y'know, this seems like a jolly good idea! But there is a lot more to life than death. Like how the skinny runt with the ponytail managed to get the girl, marry her in a literal fairy tale wedding, and (now fat and bald) live until death do us part. Like the importance of music, dogs, and cricket. ...and stuffed animals. But I digress. I also have a lot to say about life after death, and carrying on as a reluctant widower. Because who the hell wants to be an enthusiastic one, anyway? How I plodded along after the most important being in the universe died, and how I managed to get out the other side, if only just. This is a book on love, death, and life. And the most self-indulgent homage I can write to my wife. I cannot wait to tell you all about it. Beer's on me! WARNING: This book contains more triggers than a gun shop. Reader discretion is advised. Not for inexperienced readers.




Chronicles of a Reluctant Immigrant


Book Description

This autobiographical journey is a multi-dimensioned narrative encompassing a number of distinct though interwoven themes. It is a coming of age story of a boy (Raj) from an obscure small town in India born and raised in an orthodox Hindu family. It is a love story that spans distant continents and different cultures. It is a story of a mixed race and cross-cultural marriage played out in the East and the West. It is a commentary about the history and culture of the people and places the protagonist encounters over the journey and the times he lives through. Finally, it is the story of a well-educated man who is frustrated and disheartened because he is unable to find professional fulfillment in his country of birth, and reluctantly looks to the West for better opportunities, where he finally succeeds in salvaging his moribund professional career and in earning the recognition he deserves. The narrative would tickle the imagination of readers; it would enhance their understanding of diverse cultures and it would nudge them to empathize with the protagonists dilemmas as he navigates through the social and cultural landscapes of the East and the West.




A Reluctant Wife


Book Description

Sophie had been a trophy wife—once—and was never going to make that mistake again! She had her beautiful daughter, Jade, and she was a happy, fulfilled single mother. She simply didn't need a man! And she wasn't interested in a date with Gregory Wallace, that was for sure! Rich, arrogant—he seemed exactly like her ex-husband! Except he wasn't. He was charming, funny.... She had a new baby, a gorgeous man who made her head spin—how long could Sophie hold out against marriage?




The Reluctant RV Wife


Book Description

Follow a reluctant wife and her excited husband through two humorously-conflicted years of RV travel. He wanted to go; she wanted to stay. They both learn, grow, and change as a new level of freedom evolves. This book is light-hearted and humorous but at the same time serious. While not a How-To book, it gives lots of basic information about RVing. And while not a travelogue, it touches upon many travel destinations in the United States and Canada. On deeper levels, the book is about marital relationships, retiring and getting old, and finding a new kind of freedom through a minimalistic lifestyle. After reading this book, you'll never again look at one of those huge monstrosities driving down the road in quite the same way. The book answers questions for non-RVers and triggers chuckles of recognition from experienced RVers.




Discovering Leigh


Book Description

To feel without thinking, and to love in simple and perfect trust. Photographer Leigh McCabe's life is about to change. Disillusioned and needing an escape from life, she stumbles across an alternative-lifestyle club in the dirty end of Johannesburg, where she meets Michael Marais. 'Just Mikey' to his friends, but more importantly, 'Sir Michael' to those of a more submissive persuasion.Fascinated by his capacity for rope-work, she asks for tutelage from Sir Michael, which ensues a much deeper rite of passage than she bargained for. In a complex journey that spans from the urban sprawl of South Africa's financial capital to the breathtaking beauty of the untamed African bush, Leigh and Sir Michael join in a mutual emotional voyage of discovery, surprising each other, and themselves, along the way. The only question is, what would happen if Leigh's boyfriend, Wayne, was to discover Leigh's escapades?A multifaceted and gripping work of fiction that takes us to hitherto unexplored areas of love, lust, trust and betrayal. "Gerry Pelser writes from the pits of his well-versed soul, binding your hand on the journey with him, making you feel as if you are a first-class voyeur to his attention-to-detail ability to mesmerize the reader and hold them captive firmly in the palm of his hand long after the words 'The End' have been read" - Goodreads Reviewer4.8-rating on Goodreads.




Defining Giulia


Book Description

Unrequited love leaves room for another in Leigh's heart... and bed. Leigh McCabe has had a taste of the dark side and there is no return to normality: as a master of Shibari and a connoisseur of Dominance and submission, Mikey Marais has shown her pleasure in restraint and pain. But the student turns teacher as Dominance beckons to the sub. The beautiful and innocent Giulia Hoffmann is ready to spread her wings and escape from her mother's rusty cage. She convinces Leigh to take nude photos of her to prove to her controlling mother that she's her own woman now. Leigh cannot deny the stirring of desire the extraordinary Giulia causes. Leigh uses her as a photographic model; excited to share her seductive new world and explore a taboo relationship with an eager, submissive woman. Love knows no bounds, and no gender. Leigh finds herself caught between her submissive instinct and the thrill of the Domme. Between a man's control and a woman's delicate touch. Her body and soul. Heart and mind. Darkness and light. While helping Giulia discover the pleasures of deviant desires; Leigh becomes addicted to what it feels like to be loved by a woman's touch, and the rush of dominating someone so eager to submit. However, Mikey saved her life physically and emotionally, and Leigh can't bear to lose him. But she knows she can never love him completely, and Giulia may need her too much. How will Leigh choose? Can Giulia reconcile? And What will Mikey make of all of this?




Chronicles of the Cosmic Void


Book Description

Chronicles of the Cosmic Void: The Reluctant Traveler By: Richard W. Pfeffer Chronicles of the Cosmic Void: The Reluctant Traveler begins with the abduction of a party of Roman soldiers by belligerent alien beings. Centuries later, the US Air Force, after noticing a pattern of mysterious abductions and the detection of an anomalous signal deep within our solar system, launches a program of deep space exploration to uncover a horrifying truth that we are not alone in this universe and are far from being the dominant species. Recruited by the US Air Force and persuaded to join the covert top secret program, a romantic couple of young scientists- Doctor Ryan Williams and Doctor Rebecca Lang, learn that they are part of a crew that might be humanity’s last hope of survival when they discover two warring alien races: one, a benevolent species, and the other, hostile to the human race intent on its subjugation and destruction! Written to inspire interest in science fiction and astronomy, the book is an adventurous tale of hope, compassion and camaraderie dedicated to the premise that no matter where you are in life or what challenges life might bring, it’s love that gives us the strength to tolerate and overcome all obstacles, however insurmountable they might seem.




The God Susanoo and Korea in Japan’s Cultural Memory


Book Description

This book discusses how ancient Japanese mythology was utilized during the colonial period to justify the annexation of Korea to Japan, with special focus on the god Susanoo. Described as an ambivalent figure and wanderer between the worlds, Susanoo served as a foil to set off the sun goddess, who played an important role in the modern construction of a Japanese national identity. Susanoo inhabited a sinister otherworld, which came to be associated with colonial Korea. Imperialist ideologues were able to build on these interpretations of the Susanoo myth to depict Korea as a dreary realm at the margin of the Japanese empire that made the imperial metropole shine all the more brightly. At the same time, Susanoo was identified as the ancestor of the Korean people. Thus, the colonial subjects were ideologically incorporated into the homogeneous Japanese “family state.” The book situates Susanoo in Japan's cultural memory and shows how the deity, while being repeatedly transformed in order to meet the religious and ideological needs of the day, continued to symbolize the margin of Japan.




For Pete's Sake (The Piper Cove Chronicles)


Book Description

Ellen isn't sure true love exists. That is until she landscapes the estate of the widower next door, Adrian Sinclair. Adrian has it all—at least on the surface. A successful businessman, he's engaged to a beautiful woman and he'll soon have a stepmom for his troubled son, Pete. Yet from the moment Ellen rescues a stranded Adrian on her Harley, his well-ordered world turns upside down. With his business under investigation for espionage and his son pushing for the tomboy next door as his new mom, Adrian's facade of happiness shatters. As Ellen and Pete bond, she realizes that Adrian is about to marry the wrong woman. Despite her resolve to remain “neighbors only,” Ellen is drawn to Adrian. But how can she be the one when he's engaged to a sophisticated beauty who is everything Ellen isn't? As Ellen's three best friends step in to help her navigate this uncharted territory, Ellen must ask herself whether she's ready to risk the heart that she's always held close. Will Ellen trust that God brought this family into her life for a reason? Or will fear cause her to turn away from God's plan and her one true chance at love?




Chronicles of Sherlock Holmes


Book Description

James Innes Watson, the great-great-grandson of Dr. John H. Watson, has inherited all the manuscripts of his forebear. These include stories that, for whatever reason, Watson never came to publish. In this collection, The Case of Ailsa Craig, Holmes is summoned by an old university friend to a bleak island off the coast of Scotland. A lighthouse keeper has disappeared in apparent supernatural circumstances. The Amateur Cracksman, Scotland Yard approaches Holmes regarding a high society cracksman. It is only when Mycroft Holmes enters the investigation with a robbery of radio inventor Marconi that the case is solved. Sherlock Holmes in Cumbria, Holmes and Watson travel to the English Lake District to solve a murder case on the mountains. A second murder on the peak of one of Englands highest mountains, and then a theft from a family from Holmess past make up this north-country case.