Stark Raving Group: 11 books

Mood Swings offers the reader a behind the scenes look into the world of jazz through the eyes of nine musicians. Like the music itself, the stories range from humor, joy, and success, to failure, and at times, even danger and darkness, as each musician offers a glimpse into some aspect of the jazz life.

Stephen Longacre, good for nothing playboy, is given an ultimatum by his wealthy father. Unless he rises to a certain challenge, his father will disconnect him from his world, and that includes paying for his lavish lifestyle. Longacre finally takes his life seriously as he finds his voice in a turbulent time, filled with hatred and violence.

From the marbled precincts of New York's uptown museum scene to the galleries and lofts of Soho to a Mafia mansion on the coast of Long Island, Lustbader's hotly paced novella sweeps Tess Chase - a no-nonsense woman with a connoisseur's taste for martial and fine arts - into the perilous pursuit of a long-lost painting by Renaissance master Raphael.

Award winning author Eric Beetner's latest novel begins with an abandoned truck, a dead body and a sack of cash. So begins a treacherous and twisty tale of escape and survival. A path of blood and destruction follow at every turn. It’s all leading to a showdown. Sometimes there is no escape without confrontation.

McBleak enjoys hobnobbing with the upper crust. Yet McBleak is never more alive than when he’s extracting wealth from the wealthy. He plans to take a greedy man’s gain while wondering if his girlfriend sees through his façade. But nothing ever goes as planned, and McBleak has to think on his feet or his life might be extracted from him.

Gifted drifter Ned “Noc” Brenner, adept at MMA fighting, motocross riding to blitz chess, finds himself teamed with others of specialized skills to prevent a super villain from unleashing an anti-gravity device that would rain down death on untold millions. It all came so easy to Noc before, now he might just loose his life to prevent wholesale destruction.

Abraham Snow’s career ended with a bullet. Left for dead, the undercover operative barely survived an assassin’s bullet. After a long and painful recovery, Snow retires and returns home. After thwarting an assassination attempt on a diplomat that endangers his sister, Snow leaps into action to keep his family out of a killer’s crosshairs.

A disgraced former home run king, whose rampant steroid use has left him as a testicle shrinking, soprano speaking, bra wearing recluse, is holding on to his single season home run record, asterisk be damned. When Roy learns his record may be broken, he won’t let it happen. He leaves a trail of destruction and bodies in his wake.

Yuri Konikov becomes an unwitting subject for a bioengineered technology that transforms him into an enhanced, privately owned Corporate Agent. The Russian Alliance Corporation wanted an army of agents, but after repeated failures they canceled the project. All traces of the technology must be eliminated, including their only successful super agent.

To come...

Charles Rathe and his sister assistant Eliza toured the world performing magic. But, tragically, everything changed. Eliza died and, to all concerned, it was Charles' fault. But, Eliza came back. Was she a dream or an hallucination? Might he actually be crazy? She pushed him to get off his ass and use his skills to become a Private Investigator.