Books published by Ardent Writer Press, LLC

This is a children's book of the life and career of Alan B. Shepard, Jr., the first American to go to space under NASA's Mercury Project in his Freedom 7 capsule. He was also selected for NASA's Apollo 14 Mission as the oldest person to fly to and land on the moon which landed in the Fra Mauro highlands of the lunar surface. He had a remarkable career not only as an astronaut, but also in the military with the Navy in World War II and later as a test pilot. In 1971 he was promoted to Rear Admiral while still working with NASA.Shepard and his wife, Louise, were married for over 53 years, and raised two children, Julie and Laura, as well as a niece, Alice, whom they adopted.Alan B. Shepard, Jr. (1923-1998) was a hero who will be remembered always for his accomplishments. This book contains numerous photos of his life.

William, The Patriarch is the first in a series of books on life in the village of Watertown, MA in the late 17th century. It chronicles the Sherborn family and their trials in life, work, and religion, in an area compromised by developing tensions.

Toni Ortner's Daybook III, Morning Is Long Since Gone infuses her inner life's dreamscape, her singing tree with realities that scream over the land. Ortner's surreal meditations in corridors persistent with memory evoke a world of redemption shattered in the ashes of hope. She writes in a minor key, for love, for life, with apocalyptic images that disturb and surprise. Listen, as Ortner's waves rhythmically wash over us, like murmured prayers trapped in frozen rivers, crossing borders into a metaphysical disturbance in the field. She invokes: Is this what it means to grow old,To fold space around you like a cloak.Terry HauptmanAuthor/Poet of On Hearing Thunder, The Indwelling of Dissonance, and The Tremulous Seasons, a triptych of poetry books from the North Star Press

HEATHER CORBALLY BRYANT just knew she had to follow in the steps of her grandmother, trail-blazing journalist Irene Kuhn. After all, she grew up listening to the stories of her grandmother, and Irene never let Heather forget that a woman's place was not in the kitchen or by her husband's side but in the forefront of adventure as a writer. Like her famous grandmother as well as her mother, Rene Kuhn, Heather was a natural.Heather's reimagination of her grandmother's life in glamorous and exotic Shanghai of the 1920s is fascinating in its detail which closely follows the real events of Irene's career and of her momentous meeting with Heather's grandfather, Bert Kuhn. It's not only a memoir of the stories Irene told Heather, but it is the touching story of a fiery passion between fellow adventurers and journalists which ultimately resulted in tragedy as well as great happiness. Read You Can't Wrap Fire in Paper and you will see that the title is appropriate. Irene Corbally Kuhn was not a woman to be subdued but she was like any woman captured by the fires of obsession and love.To be strong their love had to be more than paper. PROLOGUE BY HEATHER CORBALLY BRYANT IRENE CORBALLY KUHN, my maternal grandmother, and I are standing outside the Hotel Vancouver in late June of 1981. It is a rare sunny afternoon and we are returning from a cruise to Alaska, her graduation present to me. She is eighty-four years old, still writing, and I am twenty-one, a month past my Harvard commencement. For my grandmother, the trip is one of hundreds she has taken. For me, it is a continuation of our long and close relationship starting with the summer I spent living with her when I was three.I have grown up on tales of her travels, but this is the first trip we have taken together. Along the way, we have talked about her unwavering conviction I must be a writer, her memories of being a foreign correspondent covering the world, but most of all, we have talked about China and how much she misses it. We have just finished lunch and are walking around the gardens of the hotel. My grandmother's deep chocolate eyes are focused on a sight far off in the distance, a place I cannot see. She stands tall, at five feet six inches, wearing heels higher than I have ever worn. Her sense of fashion owes much to her days as a reporter for the Paris Tribune. She is wearing a navy blue dress, tucked in at the waist. The only time I've ever seen her in slacks, as she called them, was when we jumped rapids outside Juneau.After a few minutes of quiet she speaks, "Here," she says, "Here is where my life ended."I say nothing in response; I have been trained to let her emotions pass."Here," my grandmother repeats, "here is where I lost everything."Although I have heard many times about her beautiful life in Shanghai in the 1920s, her whirlwind marriage to her first husband, Bert Lewis Kuhn, the birth of my mother in Honolulu nine months later, Irene's departure to the States to visit family, and Bert's subsequent and mysterious death at the age of 30 in China, I know few details.I do know that my grandmother keeps dried eucalyptus in a blue and white vase in her Greenwich Village apartment; the smell, she says, reminds her of Shanghai after the rains.On a small table she keeps a black lacquer box decorated with children chasing butterflies carved in colored jade. I peeked inside once. The box is full of musty papers, layers of envelopes with Chinese stamps held together by fraying rubber bands. My grandmother told me to close the box; she said the contents were very important, but that I was too young to understand them.

After Elise by Denise Pattiz Bogard is a novel about unexpected tragedy and how it changes the lives of a dysfunctional family while demonstrating that patience, understanding and forgiveness bring hope.Imagine this: You are a married mother of two, driving to the grocery store in a storm, changing the radio station, answering your cell phone, when you notice a woman stranded by the side of the road and, on impulse, decide to pull over….Teri Berger's car skids in the rain, killing twenty-year-old Elise and leaving Teri reeling with guilt and the rest of her family in disarray as they struggle to adjust to this new reality. Already strained family relationships are tested, and Teri's marriage suffers, her son withdraws, and her daughter faces a heartbreaking decision.AFTER ELISE confronts readers with the most everyday tragedy-an accident that could happen to anyone-and its effects, changing the lives forever of everyone involved.Ultimately, the novel is a story of forgiveness and healing.After Elise was a finalist in the 2017 Faulkner-Wisdom Writing Competition sponsored by the Faulkner Society.

THIS IS THE COLOR INTERIOR PAPERBACK. ISBN: 978-1-938667-40-4THE BLACK AND WHITE INTERIOR PAPERBACK IS ISBN: 978-1-64066-108-0.This is a second edition, non-fiction, children's science biography, revised and expanded from the first edition.Wernher von Braun was not born in America, but he became an American citizen because he believed in American ideals as well as the courage and capabilities of our great nation. It was von Braun and his team who helped launch America's first satellite as well as NASA. Along the way from El Paso to Huntsville to Washington D.C. he became America's most important symbol for space exploration.With intelligence and daring, Dr. von Braun not only launched rockets but also American minds and hearts to the heavens and above.This children's book, Wernher von Braun - Space Scientist by Annie Laura Smith, is part of The Ardent Writer Press' Young Reader Series of books and biographies, notably biographies of prominent scientists.Be a part of von Braun's life as a NASA director and visionary leader for space exploration. See how it was his ideas and conviction that sold John F. Kennedy to launch America to the Moon and beyond. He left a rich legacy of achievements which will encourage young readers to pursue careers in science, math, and technology.

THIS IS THE COLOR INTERIOR PAPERBACK OF NEIL ARMSTRONG, ISBN: 978-1-938667-39-8.THE BLACK AND WHITE INTERIOR PAPERBACK OF NEIL ARMSTRONG IS ISBN: 978-1-64066-110-3.This is a second edition, non-fiction, children's science biography, revised and expanded from the first edition. It is about Neil Armstrong, astronaut, adventurer, educator, and engineer, who on July 21, 1969 became the first person to step onto the surface of the moon. Pushed by the flaming coat-tails of the Saturn V rocket, the earth's most powerful engine, Armstrong and his crew in the Command Module Columbia rode beyond the earth's gravitational pull. Buzz Aldrin accompanied Armstrong to the lunar surface in the Lunar Module Eagle while Michael Collins remained behind in Columbia to wait for the return of the soon-to-be moon-walkers.Neil Armstrong, born August 5, 1930, lived an amazing life of science and adventure, even a photographer and educator, blazing a path that few have followed. He died on August 25, 2012. Though he was a humble man, fame followed him throughout his life in the form of numerous awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, as well as rewarding careers teaching engineering and assisting NASA in several support roles.This children's book, Neil Armstrong-First Man on the Moon, by Annie Laura Smith, is part of The Ardent Writer Press' Young Reader Series of books and biographies, notably biographies of prominent scientists.Be a part of Neil Armstrong's life as an astronaut, educator, and leader for space exploration. He left a rich legacy of achievements which will encourage young readers to pursue careers in science, math, and technology.

THIS IS THE COLOR INTERIOR PAPERBACK FOR SALLY RIDE, ISBN: 978-1-938667-38-1.THE BLACK AND WHITE INTERIOR PAPERBACK FOR SALLY RIDE IS ISBN: 978-1-64066-109-7This is a second edition non-fiction book, revised and expanded,for young school age juveniles. It is about Sally Ride, who on June 18, 1983, became America's first female astronaut, riding the flaming coat-tails of the Space Shuttle as it orbited the Earth with her crew, the members of NASA's STS-7 Shuttle mission. Sally Ride, born May 26, 1951, lived an amazing life of science and adventure, blazing a path for all women of the world. She died on July 23, 2012, along the way not only demonstrating the capabilities of intelligent women, but working to motivate students of all genders toward careers in science and education. The author, Annie Laura Smith, and her family were in attendance at Cape Canaveral, Florida when Sally blasted off for outer space on her first mission.

The 319th in Action, recorded by Lieutenant William B. Monroe who later was a commentator for Meet the Press, was compiled by a member of that famed group of WWII aviators, Harold E. Oyster, and his wife, Esther M. Oyster Queneau. It records the daily routine and exploits of this marvelous and courageous group of men. Much of their actions is taken from the daily journals maintained during World War II.The 319th Bomb Group fought all three World War II Axis powers (Italy, Germany and Japan) and participated in two major theaters of war, the Mediterranean (MTO) and Pacific (PTO). They flew three different aircraft into battle: the B-26 Marauder, the B-25 Mitchell and the A-26 Invader and developed a reputation for bombing accuracy. The Group received two back-to-back Presidential Citations for bombing the Rome and Florence marshalling yards without damaging any historical or religious edifices. General de Gaulle cited them with the Croix de Guerre avec Palme for outstanding support of the Allied offensive in Italy. This effort was not without a price. Casualties occurred and 328 men were killed.Harold E. Oyster (439th Squadron) with the support of his wife, Esther, and family knew the uniqueness of this group's endeavor and wanted to document its place in history. Through their perseverance they were able to complete the first edition in 1976, making The 319th in Action available for that first reunion held in 1977 that the Oysters had worked so diligently to organize.The joy of 25 years of reunions by the survivors renewed that uncommon comradeship that is a result of combat and lives depending on one another. That spirit seemed to permeate the pages of this book for our descendents and history buffs. The reunion attendees were keenly aware of the fallen whose lives were told in the stories exchanged but weren't there to listen. If this book serves no other purpose, let it be a tribute to those who gave their all.