our authors
Alphabetical (M-R)
CHRISTOPHER MANCUSO
Christopher Mancuso is unofficially the cat guy of Staten Island, NY. Over the past decade, this award-winning screenwriter has held leadership roles within rescue agencies while fostering over 300 cats in his home, now affectionately known as Hotel Mancuso. Christopher's passion for cats includes spreading the "felion" gospel by applying his trademark charm and humor to help others become informed and responsible cat owners—or as he would say: cat servants! An early pioneer in paranormal television, Christopher was the co-creator behind SCARED! (formerly Scared on Staten Island) and served as the Lead Investigator for the series. Most recently his satirical paranormal screenplay was awarded Best Short Script at the 2022 Boston Horror Comedy Film Festival. Other scripts by Christopher have won various awards at festivals nationwide.
YOUR HOUSE, THEIR RULES: Your Guide to Being Owned by a Cat (Nonfiction) - An authoritative guide to life with a cat, with emphasis on rescue and adoption, infused with delightful true tales and the characteristic wit of a lifelong New Yorker.
Contact - Chip Rice
FRANK MCADAMS
The author holds an MFA from UCLA. For 3 decades he was an Adjunct Professor at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, and a Senior Instructor, UCLA Extension Writers’ Program. McAdams’s Vietnam memoir Vietnam Rough Riders: A Convoy Commander’s Memoir (University of Kansas Press 2013) was nominated for Pulitzer Prize. He co-authored, Final Affair (Berkley True Crime, 2002) and authored The American War Film: History and Hollywood (Praeger Publishers, 2002); and he was a contributor to George Lucas’s Blockbusting (IT Books/HarperCollins, 2010). His honors include a Fulbright Specialist Scholar, University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain, 2010; 2-time First Place winner of the Samuel Goldwyn Screenwriting Competition, and listed in Who’s Who in America, 2005-21.
CALIFORNIA RAIN (Debuts Fall 2024 Blank Slate Press) - Los Angeles, 1950: When New York investigative reporter, Mike Foyle, learns that his World War II combat buddy, Bernie Crusher, is dead of an "apparent suicide" he immediately suspects foul play. Arriving in Los Angeles to replace Crusher, who was reporting on the subcommittee of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), Foyle is faced with a mountain of roadblocks in picking up a winding, murderous, trail that leads to a scandalous Hollywood statutory rape trial and a dark secret about a powerful Southern California family. With colleague Kitty Chandler, Foyle uncovers Crusher's last moments that point to the historic 1950 mid-term California elections. Set against the infamous Hollywood Blacklist, California Rain is a noir break from the stereotypical homicide police investigation with a "twist" ending.
TREASON’S TIME (Historical Fiction) - A political firestorm erupts during President Truman’s reelection campaign when Iva Toguri - a Japanese-American (born on the 4th of July no less) is identified as “Tokyo Rose” who made propaganda broadcasts on behalf of Japan during the war. Enter Captain Jim Geary, an US Army intelligence to interrogate Toguri. Geary soon learns that the US government is not seeking justice, but rather revenge. Both become victims, in separate ways, as they face a vindictive government, and media demanding blood—led by Walter Winchell, using his journalistic brand of vigilante justice.
Contact - Dean Krystek
DANIEL MESINO
The author is an external acquisitions editor for HarperCollins (Mexico) and runs a small company which promotes wellness through yoga and meditation. With 20 years of experience in the book industry, he has worked for companies such as Grupo Planeta and Pearson. He studied journalism at the National University of Mexico (UNAM) and his articles have been published in several newspapers and magazines. He lives in Mexico City and participates in radio shows promoting literature and wellness. He has written three books about yoga and meditation.
(Writing as Dan Sam) - BUENOS DÍAS AVRIL, ¡ESTÁS EN DELHI! (Harper Collins 2019) -Buenos días Avril, ¡estás en Delhi! holds wide appeal for fans of the Netflix show Sex Education, Glee, Gossip Girl, and Degrassi Next Generation. The novel deals with relevant topics such as bullying, racism, multiculturalism, terrorist attacks and the feelings of insecurity that many young people have begun to experience following the 2017 attack that happened at the end of the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester.
Contact - Zeynep Sen
PAUL MONCRIEFFE & SHANE MAHONEY
Paul Moncrieffe and Shane Mahoney are television writers and sketch comedy partners from Ontario, Canada. Together they’ve worked on projects for PBS and Teletoon and have a series in development with Cartoon Network. Between them, they’ve written numerous pilots and a feature film. Shane has performed stand-up comedy for many years and is a published journalist. Paul studied at Second City before starting his career in cartoons.
GETTING THE GIRL: A GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO SEDUCTION, ALLUREMENT, AND BEGUILANCE BY ANDREW MUNGE - (Humorist Books, February 2024) - As Airplane! was to the disaster movie, so is Getting the Girl a send-up of every so-called seduction manual ever written. Using the moniker Andrew Munge the authors have crafted the book as Munge’s manuscript, and by framing Munge’s first-person narrative around his manuscript, the advice book really serves as a detailed account of the fictional author’s disastrous life as “the world’s greatest pickup artist”. The authors hope that after reading Getting the Girl those who adhere to a misogynistic philosophy on romance and dating share Munge’s epiphany and stand up straight to spare their knuckles additional punishment.
Contact - Dean Krystek
DAN NORMAN
Dan worked in the wireless industry for more than three decades and holds seven U.S. patents. He has been a professional sales performance speaker, a monthly columnist for three sales & marketing magazines, and wrote a book on sales excellence. He has a BFA from the University of Georgia and is a past member of the board of directors of the Florida Literacy Coalition. He has had several short stories published and is the creator of a published comic strip. He is married and lives in Colorado. PENANCE is his debut novel with more on the way.
PENANCE (Mystery) - A startup company invents technology that will revolutionize the consumer credit industry by eliminating both identity theft and the need for passwords. An illegal investment plan by three individuals to purchase controlling stock in the company is thwarted when one of the conspirators carelessly leaves documents detailing their scheme at a vacation beach house. Justin Sanders, a down-on-his-luck ex-Air Force and commercial airline pilot and recently released from prison is seeking to rebuild his life as he recluses himself in the beach house. His discovery of the documents offers him the opportunity to move forward. However, he soon learns that rather than the documents leading him toward a promising future, they most certainly are going to lead him to an early grave as the original investment trio unleash hired killers to reclaim their prize by eliminating everyone who has come in contact with the documents. Think Sheelah Kolhatkar’s Black Edge with insider-traders colliding with John Grisham’s Camino Winds.
Contact - Mira Perrizo
AMANDA OLSEN
As a child, Amanda Olsen took books in the tub, to the dinner table, and to family gatherings. She rode her bike to the town library and maxed out her library card on science fiction and fantasy. Once she was even locked in the library at closing time, lost in Greek myths. She won her first writing award at age nine. Connecting people with remarkable stories, vivid new worlds, and tangible characters is her lifelong pursuit. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing and works as an editor and journalist.
MORE TODAY THAN YESTERDAY (MG Fiction) - After a mysterious cataclysm strikes an alternate near-future, two siblings must journey with their horses from Long Island to Maine—unsure if they’re the last of humankind.
Contact - Dean Krystek
MAY OSKAN
May Oskan was born and raised on Martha's Vineyard in a family of musicians and mechanics. She moved to San Francisco with two suitcases in 2010, and has since continued to make questionable choices all over the Bay Area, including living on a boat and leading a David Bowie tribute band. She holds a bachelor's in English and a master's in voice pedagogy, and now lives in Oakland, where she teaches voice and coaches creative people of all stripes. She also writes overly complicated pop music and moonlights as a jazz singer.
A DREAM FOR A STRANGER (Contemporary YA) - Stuck in her best friend’s shadow and burdened by her traumatic past, Imelda Finch arrives at a San Francisco art school on a mission to reinvent herself, never imagining that psychic visions would be part of her new identity. While her newfound abilities help other people find their way, using them pulls Imelda deeper into her own unresolved wounds—the last place she expects to find healing. In a queer coming-of-age dripping with Northern California vibes, Oskan skillfully weaves Imelda’s psychic journey with her path to self-discovery, while examining themes of mental illness, friendship, first romance, and found family.
Contact - Chip Rice
The Honorable Judge BELVIN PERRY, JR
Chief Judge Belvin Perry Jr. is a retired Chief Judge of the Ninth Judicial Circuit in Orlando, Florida. A graduate of Thurgood Marshall School of Law, he became the first African American elected to the bench without being appointed. His efforts during his twenty-five years of service included helping establish Florida’s first complex business litigation court, serving as a driving force behind a receiving center to assist those with mental illness and substance abuse disorders, implementing technology into the court system, serving on the Orange County Jail Oversight Committee, and creating safeguards for domestic violence victims. Perry has been featured on The Today Show, Dr. Oz, TMZ, CNN, and Inside Edition, along with a large array of media. Since retiring from the bench in 2014, Perry has enjoyed being a personal injury lawyer. Perry lives by Winston Churchill’s wise words, “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.”
THE VELVET HAMMER: Judge Belvin Perry’s Life & True Crime Career (Debuts Fall 2024 Post Hill Press) - Written in partnership with Amy Mitchell, Esq., this true crime memoir tells the life story of the honorable Belvin Perry Jr., who in 2011 served as chief judge for the trial of the century: State of Florida vs. Casey Marie Anthony. Perry spares no details reconstructing the most brutal cases he has seen, and in doing so debunks Casey’s explanation for what happened to her daughter.
Contact: Sydney Queen DeTellis
AL PESSIN
Multi-award-winning author, Al Pessin, had a long career as a journalist—including seven years in the White House and Pentagon press corps and fifteen years as a foreign correspondent—which gives his novels verité that few others can match. His books deliver flawed heroes, three-dimensional villains, and plot twists that are all too realistic, enhanced by critiques from expert beta-readers in the military, law enforcement, and politics. He is the author of three previous novels (Kensington) and an award-winning play. Al has led writing seminars for Writer’s Digest and other outlets, and taught graduate-level journalism as an adjunct at Northwestern, his alma mater. He was featured in the Breaking In section of WD (May/June 2020) and the My Book page of Mystery Scene (summer 2020). Al blogs on writing for the Florida Writers Association at https://floridawriters.blog/author/alpessi/. Visit his website at alpessin.com.
BODY MAN (Thriller) - The novel is a dual first-person narrative told by Spencer, close personal aide (“body man”) to a senator who catapults to the presidency on a strong gun control platform, and Carl, a Marine Corps sniper with a bad conduct discharge who gets drawn into the militia movement and recruited to assassinate the new president. When the attempt goes horribly wrong, the president launches a war against the militias, sparking nationwide riots and mutinies in the military. As the president spirals into depression, Spencer takes on more responsibility and power than a Body Man ever should. By the end, one of them—the president, the marine, or the Body Man—is a national hero. Which one, depends on your point of view.
In the tradition of Gatsby, Grapes and Catch 22, Body Man takes a cold look at the hot mess of America today and shows just how much worse things could get if we let them. One person in the know calls it “a compelling, can’t-look-away train wreck of a thriller.” And it’s ideal for release during the 2024 presidential election season.
Contact - Mira Perrizo
NABILA RAMDANI
Nabila Ramdani is a French-Algerian writer from Paris who works as an academic, journalist and broadcaster, mainly covering France and the Arab and Muslim World. She began her award-winning journalistic career in the BBC Bureau in Paris and has since written extensively for publications ranging from the Guardian to the Daily Mail and Washington Post, while broadcasting for outlets including Sky News, Al Jazeera, and CNN. Educated at Paris VII University, Nabila holds an MPhil in British and American History and Literature, and an Agrégation—France’s highest teaching qualification—in English. She also has an MPhil in International History, specializing in the Middle East and North Africa, from the London School of Economics (LSE). Nabila first lectured at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in the US, and then taught at Jesus College, Oxford University, in the UK.
FIXING FRANCE: HOW TO REPAIR A BROKEN REPUBLIC (Public Affairs, September 2023) A French-Algerian journalist, born and brought up in a neglected Paris suburb, offers unique insight into crisis-ridden France from a very different perspective than the establishment elites. France, the romanticized, revolutionary land with an enlightened historical mission—Liberty, Equality, Fraternity for all—is failing its own citizens and its admirers around the world. How did the country get here, and what can be done about it? Nabila Ramdani assesses the fault lines in her struggling nation with unflinching clarity and originality. The critique is stark but provides real hope: the broken French Republic can and must be fixed.
Contact - Zeynep Sen
BILL RIVERS
Bill Rivers is a former speech writer for former Secretary of Defense James Mattis, traveling extensively and developing strategic messages in support of US national security priorities. Prior to the Pentagon, Bill held communications roles in the US Senate. His ghostwritten pieces have run in The Wall Street Journal, TIME, and The Philadelphia Inquirer. He holds an MPA from the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied as a Truman Scholar, and a BA in international relations from the University of Delaware. Recently, NBC has invited the author to write articles for its online opinion section.
LAST SUMMER BOYS - (Lake Union Publishing, June 2022) - Set in a small rural Pennsylvania town in 1968, the story follows irrepressible 13-year-old Jack Elliot’s naive quest to save his brother from the Vietnam War. Rivers crafts a lyrical narrative voice in Jack—which from the first page, pulls us into that late in the decade of social turbulence and a tragic distant war. It conjures up emotions of a time in our own lives when we began to explore the inconsistencies of the world around us. A time when we discovered there was so much about the world that we did not understand—a time when we began to question what we did understand. It was the last summer of our youth.
Contact - Dean Krystek
DANIELLE ROBERTSON
New Jersey native Danielle Robertson holds a BA in creative writing from SUNY Purchase and is a 2021 alum of the Tin House YA Workshop. Her short fiction for teens and adults has been published in anthologies by Once Upon a Book Club, Terrorcore Publishing, and Haunted Words Press. Across all genres, Danielle’s fiction tackles the messy emotions and universal complications of growing up.
BETWEEN ME AND MORGAN VALENTINE (YA Horror) - Thirteen years ago on prom night, high school senior Morgan Valentine went missing. Is the Jersey Devil to blame? True crime podcaster Natalie Bonello is determined to find out. Her crusade for answers leads to strained relationships and a prom nightmare of her own in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, where the devil’s lore runs deeper than ever imagined.
Contact - Chip Rice
DR. BRYAN E. ROBINSON
Dr. Robinson has authored 40 academic and self-help books that have been translated into 15 languages, and he’s been published in such magazines as Forbes, U.S. News and World Report, and Fortune. He has been interviewed by leading newspapers including The Boston Globe, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and The London Times. He has appeared on ABC’s 20/20, discussing his research on the effects of workaholism on children, and has guested on numerous news programs including Good Morning America, ABC World News Tonight, NBC Nightly News, NBC Universal, the CBS Early Show, and CNN’s Minding Your Money. Dr. Robinson is a regular contributor to Psychology Today, Forbes.com, and Thrive Global.
WAY DEAD UPON THE SUWANNEE RIVER (Debuts Spring 2024 Level Best Books) - Reminiscent of The Help and Fried Green Tomatoes, this offbeat, fast-paced mystery blends humor and a dark plot, keeping you on the edge of your seat or making you fall out of it laughing as it witnesses beauty and brutality in a small Southern town, twisting, turning, and teasing to the surface one suspicion, one misunderstanding, and one murder at a time. The novel is the Winner of the Beverly Hills Book Award, the New Apple Award for psychological suspense, the Silver IPPY Award, Foreword Reviews’ INDIEFAB Bronze Award, the USA Regional Excellence Book Award in the Southeast for Best Mystery, and finalist for the Silver Falchion Award
Contact - Dean Krystek
#CHILL - TURN OFF YOUR JOB AND TURN ON YOUR LIFE (William Morrow, December 2018) - A month-by-month manifesto to tackling overworking. #CHILL contains year-long meditations, calming practical exercises, the ten commandments of self-care, and professional advice by a leading mindfulness expert. This is the ultimate guide to finding time to relax and live better. So take a #Breath—#Chill!
Contact - Dean Krystek
SYLVIA RODMAN
The author’s life—including growing up in Chile; emigrating to Brazil; launching an advertising career in Los Angeles; marrying and raising three children in New York—is as fascinating as her fiction. She worked at Spanish International Network (SIN), where, as a pioneer in cable television, she was instrumental in the formation of Galavision, the first Spanish language premium pay service in the world and became its program director. A graduate of New York University, she is a member of the Dramatists Guild and has written and produced plays, won awards for her short fiction, and, in 2013, self-published her first novel, The Anglo Brambles, which introduced many of the characters featured in Of Spirits and Aromas (though this is not a sequel).
OF SPIRITS AND AROMAS (Literary - Magical Realism) - A brilliantly insightful novel of magical realism that explores the many nuances of multiculturalism – it dives into the perils of assimilation and cultural warfare, of commercialism and greed. Yet at the same time, it’s an entertaining, larger-than-life tale of simple people taking on an enormous existential task: holding fast to their ancient customs and culture even amongst those who would just as well erase them and everything they stand for.
As Sylvia describes it, “Just beyond the surface of the seemingly innocent comments made by practically all the characters throughout Of Spirits and Aromas, there lies the subconscious bigotry, or ignorance, we all have. And there’s the practically unavoidable presumption that your culture is superior to all others. Then there are the entanglements of religious beliefs and the influence of mythology generally used as fact. Having personally experienced this, I intend to bring it to light, not to scold or berate, but to help create a smoother path towards peaceful living. Too preachy? Perhaps, but it’s truly my deepest hope.”
CONTACT: Zeynep Sen
SYDNEY RAEBURN-POWER
Sydney has an English degree and Master of Public Policy from the University of Toronto. She currently works for the Government of Ontario as a Senior Policy Analyst and lives in Toronto with her husband and two young boys.
THE SLEEPERS - It’s 2070, and the world is running out of food and water. The Canadian government has come up with a solution to extend resources in a quickly changing climate: divide the population into two classes - the X and the Y, with the former considered the elite class. Each class takes turns “sleeping” for months at a time. Class X 33-year-old Avery whose mother is Canada’s Deputy Leader, uncovers a sinister plot contrived by his mother that would dramatically change the Sleep Regime. 32-year-old Piper is a working-class journalist Class Y. Avery and Piper’s worlds collied when Piper learns of the outrageous scheme and they are brought together by circumstance to form an unlikely alliance to prevent the government from going through with its version of the “Final Solution” to save country not for all, but only for some.
Contact - Dean Krystek