Books published by Flashpoint Publications

Thomas Wolfe said: “You can’t go home again,” and most of us know that, but it doesn’t mean wanting to recapture just one good memory about our family isn’t powerful enough to draw us back over and over again.Harriett Markham and her lover, Jess Raines have finally settled into a comfortable relationship together following a harrowing and disturbing case when their peaceful life is interrupted by a plea from a high school friend of Harriett’s, who has been arrested for the murder of a fellow teacher. Their investigation drags them both into a past they’d rather forget and forces them to acknowledge their seemingly perfect life might not be quite so perfect to the rest of their family.Every family has secrets they’d prefer to not share, even with the people they love most. A trip to Harriett’s home town re-opens old wounds for both Harriett and Jess that will either force their families together again or rip them apart forever.

Jamie is an engineer who keeps humor close to her heart and people at arm's length. Kelsey is a dental assistant who deals with everything from the hilarious to the disgusting on a daily basis. What happens when a driving app brings them together as friends? The nerd car and the rainbow car both know a thing or two about hazard avoidance. When a flat tire brings them together in person, Jamie immediately realizes that Kelsey isn't just another woman on her radar. Both of them have struggled to break free from stereotypes while they navigate the road of life. As their friendship deepens they realize that sometimes you have to break the rules to get where you need to go.

Siobhan Landry’s granddad had one wish before he died. That she would travel from their small town in Indiana to the place of his birth in southern Ireland and become the artist he knew her to be. She never expected how much her life would change when she got there.Katie O’Briain nearly lost her life, but that couldn’t stop her from doing what she’s always loved—being a marathon runner. However, no matter how much she pushes herself, or convinces herself life is good, there’s something very obviously missing. But Katie has a lot of scars and even though her attraction to Siobhan is immediate, can she bare those scars to the lovely American?Siobhan also feels that attraction. Will she be able to move beyond her broken past and let Katie heal her heart?Or will the scars they both hide keep them apart forever?

Kyri was raised a fletcher but after finding a new home and family with the Telequire Amazons, she discovers a desire to take on more responsibility within the tribe. She has skills they desperately need and she is called to action to protect those around her. But Kyri's path is ever-changing even as she finds herself altered by love, loyalty, and grief. Far away from home, the new Amazon is forced to decide what to sacrifice and who to become in order to get back to all that she has left behind. And she wonders what is worse, losing everyone she's ever loved or having those people lose her?

We are three parts; body, spirit, and soul.Emotion, which echoes all of our parts, is a multifaceted, multicoloured palette of feelings, a kaleidoscope of colors from the palest of white, to the deepest, darkest of black, and everything in between, all formed by three primary colors.We use words to try to express ourselves, to paint a picture for others of how we feel.Poetry does so in a succinct, no-holds-barred fashion, using words as color to paint our joy, our pain, our BEING.Sometimes, we get glimpses of colors not usually shared, a snapshot that may reveal more than we intended.

Of Sea and Stars continues the saga of Interforce Agent Jess Drake and her Biological Alternative partner NM-Dev-1 that began in Melissa Good's first two books in her Partners series. This series chronicles what happens to humankind after a massive volcanic eruption puts earth into nuclear winter. The planet is cloaked in clouds and no sun penetrates. Seas cover most of the land areas except high elevations. These exist as islands where the remaining humans have learned to make do with much less. People survive on what they can take from the sea, and with foodstuffs supplemented from an orbiting set of space stations.This new world is divided into two factions, and the struggle for resources between them is brutal, pitting one side against the other.In Of Sea and Stars, Jess and Dev uncover a hidden cavern at Drakes Bay full of growing vegetables and fruit trees. There is evidence that the "other side" has been negotiating with Jess's brother, and with someone on the space station that created Dev. This sends them on a quest into space to solve the mystery.

Dr. Emma Rothenberg is the most feared professor at Overland University because of her failure rate. Laramie "Ramie" Sunderlund is a senior art major, desperate to earn three lousy English credits to graduate.Thrown together in a battle of wills, the two women grudgingly establish a measure of respect for one another during one long semester. Emma is a lonely woman of forty-five who occasionally risks her career with dangerous liaisons.Ramie faces unwanted advances from Rothenberg's graduate assistant, resulting in an assault that threatens her future as a sculptress. Relieved when the semester ends and Ramie leaves to recuperate at home, Emma is suddenly faced with the fact that she misses the woman with curly blonde hair and deep blue eyes who occupied an aisle seat on the third row. She was also a young woman half her age, virtually a child. The notion of anything between them is ridiculous.When Ramie returns to the university a decade later as the artist-in-residence, Emma is shocked that the younger woman seems interested in actively pursuing her. Against the objections of parents, friends, and colleagues, and despite their own reservations, what are these two very different women willing to sacrifice to find the happiness both are seeking?

Jourdaine Troyce is the commandant of the Guardians, her entire life spent training to kill, literally, anyone that poses the slightest threat to her emperor or the royal family. Killing is as natural as breathing.Ambreen Prins is a pacifist by nature, killing only as a last resort as she and her young companions fight against the tyranny of the emperor.Rowan Shayne is the captain of an Intergalactic ship crewed by all the misfits the Fleet can’t put anywhere else. They aren’t expected to do great things. They’re not even expected to function well enough to do their jobs.Alec Travers is one of the best fighter pilots the Fleet has ever seen, especially when flanked by her two closest friends, creating what they call The Furies. But being posted to Captain Shayne’s ship of misfits, out where there are no enemies to fight, is stifling. All she and the other Furies want is to get out there and take down the enemy.  Whoever that enemy might be.Heartbreak, treachery, evil, and the need for justice bring these four together on an adventure to discover the gift of the Redeemer, and the heroines they are destined to become. 

Joan Carmichael, a successful New York businesswoman, lost the love of her life ten years earlier. Alone, she raised their four children, always cherishing her deep love for her wife. Her memories of their life together come back even stronger as one of their daughters prepares to marry. Joan and her four adult kids fly to Virginia to meet the groom''s family and attend the ceremony at the small horse farm owned by the mother of the fiancé.Evelyn "Evey" Chase, also a widow, has secrets in her past, and her memories of her dead husband aren''t pleasant. She''s concerned about meeting her future daughter-in-law''s family, certain that she and her three kids will have little in common with the wealthy New Yorkers. Besides, the thought of two women in a relationship bringing up a family together makes her uncomfortable, even though her daughter-in-law assures her that being lesbian is not hereditary or catching.When the two women meet they are drawn to one another in a way neither anticipated, and the game of denial begins. Evey fights her attraction and doesn''t realize the effect she has on Joan. Joan tries to shake off her feelings, seeing them as a betrayal to the memory of her wife. Besides, isn''t Evey Chase straight? After Evey and Joan share an intimate moment at the wedding reception, they are both emotionally terrified and Joan flees. Will Joan overcome the feeling of betraying her former mate and stop denying her desire to be happy again? Can Evey finally face her past in order to accept the love of another woman and the desire to live the life she had once dreamed of?

Dar and Kerry both feel the cruise ship project seems off somehow, but they can't quite grasp what's wrong with the whole scenario. Things continue to go wrong and their competitors still look to be the culprits behind the problems. Then new information leads them to discover a plot that everyone finds difficult to believe. Out of her comfort zone yet again, Dar refuses to lose and launches a new plan that will be a win-win, only to find another major twist thrown in her path. With everyone believing Dar can somehow win the day, can Dar and Kerry pull off another miracle finish? Do they want to?

Athon Dailey hasn't had many breaks in her life other than the ones she made for herself by living up to her reputation as a tough girl until she meets Lauren Shelton, a new girl at school in Duvalle, Texas. Tamed by Lauren's affection, Athon begins to believe there could be a brighter future. When Lauren's parents discover the growing relationship they send her away, making sure the two girls never have contact, leaving Athon alone and abandoned. Twenty years later the two women meet again. Athon has established a successful military career as a helicopter pilot while Lauren has returned to Duvalle to teach. It doesn't take long for them to rekindle their feelings for one another and they finally get the chance to rebuild their teenage dreams. Permanent happiness is within their grasp when Athon's unit is deployed. Athon comes home in a coma, diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury. She awakens to find Lauren by her side to welcome her home. When Athon chooses to retire and return to Texas, neither realizes the twists and turns the journey home will take. The Athon Dailey who returned to Lauren is not the woman she remembers. In order for their relationship to survive, Lauren begins her search for the woman she loves. Will Athon finally find her way back to Lauren and the dream they both once had? Does Lauren have the courage to live with a woman who is now a stranger?

After a massive volcanic eruption puts earth into nuclear winter, the planet is cloaked in clouds and no sun penetrates. Seas cover most of the land areas except high elevations which exist as islands where the remaining humans have learned to make do with much less. People survive on what they can take from the sea and with foodstuffs supplemented from an orbiting set of space stations. Jess Drake is an agent for Interforce, a small and exclusive special forces organization that still possesses access to technology. Her job is to protect and serve the citizens of the American continent who are in conflict with those left on the European continent. The struggle for resources is brutal, and when a rogue agent nearly destroys everything, Interforce decides to trust no one. They send Jess a biologically-created agent who has been artificially devised and given knowledge using specialized brain programming techniques. Instead of the mindless automaton one might expect, Biological Alternative NM-Dev-1 proves to be human and attractive. Against all odds, Jess and the new agent are swept into a relationship neither expected. Can they survive in these strange circumstances? And will they even be able to stay alive in this bleak new world?

Six years ago Detective Christine Shaw left her happy life and a good job in Texas to follow her libido to New York City. She's still a cop, but her stewardess girlfriend has flown the coop and Chris hasn't been able to fill the void. Everything in her life begins to change when she and her partner are assigned to a high profile case. The murder of Broadway star Elaine Barrie propels Chris into a whole new world. A fan of the murdered actress since she was a teenager, Chris isn't prepared for the secrets she uncovers during their investigation, including her attraction to the daughter of her number one suspect. Was the victim any of the personalities witnesses describe, or was the real person a chameleon, satisfying the expectations of each person she met?

In 1872, sixteen-year-old Loretta Digby fled her home in Indiana to escape an abusive step-father. Rescued from the streets of St. Joseph, Missouri by brothel owner Jack Coulter, she turns to the only work available. By twenty she became a much sought after prostitute catering to St. Jo''s most influential men and dreaming of the day she can leave her past behind and start her life anew. Jack is enraged when he discovers his favorite employee''s plan to leave. Bloody and beaten, Loretta is rescued by a young prostitute, Amelia Benson, and customer Reverend Cyrus Langford. Working with teacher, Hettie Tobias, who is traveling west for a teaching position in Trinidad, Colorado, Loretta and Amelia leave their former lives behind. In the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains outside Trinidad, Clare McIlhenney has been struggling for years to make her father''s dream of owning a cattle ranch in the west come true. Working with a few ranch hands and her foreman, Ino Valdez, Clare has slowly built the ranch over the last twenty years while overcoming everything that should have stopped her.In the spring of 1876 Loretta and her friends arrive in the dusty Colorado town. Her first meeting with Clare McIlhenney is less than inspiring. When Clare is injured, over her strenuous objections, Ino hires Loretta as a temporary cook and housekeeper for the ranch. Over the next few months, Clare struggles with her unwanted attraction to the much younger woman, unable to forget the events of her past that led to the deaths of everyone she had been close to. Determined to never lose anyone else, Clare closed off her emotions and became a distant and disliked stranger to everyone around her.Will Loretta be able to keep her past a secret and find a new life? Will Clare open herself up to loss yet again and put her own prejudices behind her? In a story of the struggles in a harsh and unforgiving time will the two women find peace at last?

Royce Brodie, a 50-year-old homicide detective in the quiet town of Cedar Springs, a bedroom community 30 miles from Austin, Texas, has spent the last seven years coming to grips with the incident that took the life of her partner and narrowly missed taking her own. The peace and quiet she had been enjoying is shattered by two seemingly unrelated murders in the same week: the first, a John Doe, and the second, a janitor at the local university. As Brodie and her partner, Curtis Nicholls, begin their investigation, the assignment of a new trainee disrupts Brodie's life. Not only is Maggie Weston Brodie's former lover, but her father had been Brodie's commander at the Austin Police Department and nearly destroyed her career. As the three detectives try to piece together the scattered evidence to solve the two murders, they become convinced the two murders are related. The discovery of a similar murder committed five years earlier at a small university in upstate New York creates a sense of urgency as they realize they are chasing a serial killer. The already difficult case becomes even more so when a third victim is found. But the case becomes personal for Brodie when Maggie becomes the killer's next target. Unless Brodie finds a way to save Maggie, she could face losing everything a second time.

Dr. Julia Blanchard, a marine archaeologist, and her team of divers have spent almost eighteen months excavating the remains of a ship found a few miles off the coast of Georgia. Although they learn quite a bit about the nineteenth century sailing vessel, they have found nothing that would reveal the identity of the ship they have nicknamed "The Georgia Peach." Consumed by the excavation of the mysterious ship, Julia''s relationship with her partner, Amy, has deteriorated. When she forgets Amy''s birthday and finds her celebrating in the arms of another woman, Julia returns alone to the Peach site. Caught in a violent storm, she finds herself separated from her boat and adrift on the vast Atlantic Ocean.Her rescue at sea leads her on an unexpected journey into the true identity of the Peach and the captain and crew who called it their home. Her travels take her to the island of Martinique, the eastern Caribbean islands, the Louisiana German Coast and New Orleans at the close of the War of 1812.How had the Peach come to rest in the waters off the Georgia coast? What had become of her alluring and enigmatic captain, Simone Moreau? Can love conquer everything, even time? On a voyage that lifts her spirits and eventually breaks her heart, Julia discovers the identity of the ship she had been excavating and the fate of its crew. Along the way she also discovers the true meaning of love which can be as boundless and unpredictable as the ocean itself.