Greenwich Meridian Memoir

Greenwich Meridian Memoir is an epic story of love and emigration from former Czechoslovakia to the U.S. spanning two generations. The Konecny family immigration saga plays out on the backdrop of two major historic events that propelled the set of main characters, Ella & Vaclav Konecny, Emma Palova, and Ludek Pala into action: the 1968 Prague Spring and the 1989 Velvet Revolution.
Professor Vaclav Konecny taught at the University of Khartoum in Sudan, Africa when the Soviet tanks invaded the country in 1968. This was the driving force to escape the grip of communism and socialism for an entire generation, that has settled in New York, Detroit, Los Angeles, Toronto, Montreal, and Australia. The memoir presents different points of view from the participating characters.

Shifting Sands: The Lost Town

The historical fiction romance novel is set in Singapore on the shores of Lake Michigan at the foot of the sand dunes adorned with white pines. Beautiful Ida is torn between her hometown of Chicago and her new home on the other side of the lake, and between two men. Developed by New York investors, the once-thriving settlement of Singapore nurtured the dreams of adventurers like Oshea Wilder and pioneer settlers alike. Singapore would rival Chicago and Milwaukee. It almost did with its sawmills, hotels, boarding houses, stores, and a “wildcat bank.” Entrepreneurial Ida struggles to adjust to the rough environment but finds more than support in her boss who invited her to Singapore to be the “Mistress” of the Big House. A “wildcat” bank was established in Singapore in 1837.
Who will win Ida’s heart?

Shifting Sands: Short Stories (First volume Book 1)

Shifting Sands is a collection of 13 short stories where heroes and heroines shift their destinies like sand shifts in time, grain by grain, often to the surprise of the reader. Like the sand in the hour glass on the cover, the characters go through narrow passages.They try to break away from the conformity of their lives and relationships as they struggle to find themselves. Sometimes, they get stranded on the edge of the intricate web of vices. They come out in different forms, transformed, victorious or condemned.
The short stories are divided into three circles, chronologically and thematically. They span 27 years.
The characters embody the state of impermanence due to their inner struggles, as in the first circle of stories based on immigration from the old Czechoslovakia to America. The first circle of stories includes: Danillo, Honey Azrael & the Temptation of Martin Duggan. The second circle of short stories is the circle of assimilation and adaptation of living in the USA and working in a Midwest retail chain. These stories include: Tonight on Main, Therese’s Mind, Boxcutter Amy, Orange Nights and the Death Songs.
The third circle of stories is based in the newspaper experience of a journalist. These stories include: Foxy, Iron Horse, In the Shadows, Riddleyville Clowns and Chatamal.
Based on the Riddleyville Clowns short story, I wrote a screenplay named Riddleyville Clowns.
The setting for most of the short stories is in Midwest America and on Main Street America.

Secrets (Shifting Sands)

From action-packed 40 Hunks to the corrupt police chief Will who extorts favors from his victims during hometown events, to Father Samuel in White Nights,the book delivers egoistical characters to the reader.Thematically the subjects of the stories cover the epic human struggle for happiness. Some stories like the Chief and Secrets in Ink are based on my journalistic experience from covering small towns.Typishly Magazine wrote:“The story Chief has a nice premise: The town had two memories; one forgiving and one unforgiven.The ambitious characters of chief Will in the Chief and Father Samuel in White Nights rock the scene in their vivid portrayal of the doomed.The main historical fiction story Silk Nora digs deep into the turn-of-the- century Belding and beyond into the roaring 1920s with the inventions and advancements such the Ford Model T automobile and the telephone. In the action-packed 40 Hunks, driver Jose transports Mexican men across the border to work in the Michigan orchards under a shady governmental agreement. Underlying are themes of sexuality and loneliness.Aging and time create the main premise in Waiting for Snow and in Six Palms by the Tiki. In Six Palms by the Tiki, a doctor renders a scary diagnosis. I explored the theme of mature love.Other stories like When Layla met Corey and Oceans Away touch on longing for love in spite of distance.Devil’s Elixir questions a doctor’s expertise and misuse of opioids.Catholicism and sins shape the following stories: White Nights, Being Faustina and Six Palms by the Tiki.Also, the category of addiction to drugs plagues the characters in Cupcake Wine and Raspberry Rage.The Booksafe Code digs into the history of an old village.The main insights include the transformation of characters such as in Waiting for Snow and in The Writer, the Nun and the Gardener not always to the positive outcome. Some end tragically due to the characters’ inability to cope.People often ask me what inspires me, and how do I come up with the ideas for the stories? The answer varies from day to day, even from morning to night. Most of the characters are simple men and women, who do not always find a way out of different situations and challenges; their perception shifts like the grains in an hour glass. Some get stranded in the narrow part, others pass through.But good also prevails over evil as in Waiting for Snow, as the two friends explore different dimensions of time.About the cover and the main story Silk Nora.I have visited the Belrockton Museum in Belding on countless times. It was built as a dormitory for silk city girls in 1906 at the height of the silk industry built up by the Belding brothers. While visiting the museum in the fall of 2017 with a friend, we found the photo of “Gossip” in the bathroom. Not only did it inspire the cover, but also the name of the book “Secrets.” I firmly believe that gossip lies at the bottom of any secret. It is also one of the major sins, along with lies.