Can We Get a Giraffe?

A little girl longs to have a pet and her choice is an unusual one, indeed: a GIRAFFE. Dad is surprised by this selection. He tells his daughter how impractical it is considering where they live and the room they have for her far-fetched idea. She then suggests other options: 

What about a penguin? 

How do you feel about a sloth? 

Why not a sea turtle? 

But as she continues to negotiate for a giraffe, Dad reminds her that giraffes are endangered animals, and he has another idea for his daughter. What could it be?

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Fundamentals of Power-Filled Living: How to Live a Power-Filled Life Through Daily Application of God's Word

Fundamentals of Power-Filled Living: How to Live a Power-Filled Life Through Daily Application of God's Word

By Robert Canton

What Does It Mean to Live with God’s Power in Everyday Life?

At a time when faith-based and self-help writing often competes for attention with quick fixes and instant answers, Robert Canton’s Fundamentals of Power-Filled Living: How to Live a Power-Filled Life Through Daily Application of God’s Word takes a more grounded approach. Its central concern is not simply what Christians believe, but what those beliefs look like when practiced through prayer, trust, service, forgiveness, humility, and reliance on the Holy Spirit.

Canton writes from years of experience in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, including leading prayer meetings, giving spiritual talks, serving as a Catholic evangelist, and conducting healing and deliverance ministries in the United States and abroad. That ministry background gives the book an experiential quality. Scripture is not presented merely as something to study; it becomes a foundation for responding to uncertainty, weakness, conflict, responsibility, and spiritual struggle.

The scope is notably broad. Christian growth occupies the opening portion, with discussions of faith, surrender, trust, spiritual gifts, leadership, evangelization, forgiveness, and intercession before the book moves into spiritual warfare and healing. This structure makes Fundamentals of Power-Filled Living less like a single-topic devotional and more like a practical handbook for readers seeking consistency between faith and daily life.

That emphasis feels particularly relevant to contemporary Christian writers. Inspirational writing can encourage readers for a moment; application asks what happens after the page is turned. Canton repeatedly brings spiritual principles into human relationships and responsibilities. His discussion of leadership, for example, emphasizes love, compassion, humility, putting others ahead of personal preference, and focusing on the good of those being served. 

Those ideas also give the book significance beyond individual spirituality. A society shaped by more compassionate leadership, forgiveness instead of prolonged resentment, concern for others, and service rather than self-interest has greater room for healthier families, stronger communities, reconciliation, and responsible citizenship. Canton’s treatment of intercession similarly turns attention outward, presenting prayer as an act concerned with the needs and struggles of other people. 

Robert Canton’s work is worth discovering for readers seeking a faith-centered book that does not stop at inspiration but challenges Christian belief to become visible in everyday life. 

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Bid Whist at Midnight

  

 Bid Whist at Midnight

By Marva Washington

History does not only live-in textbooks—it lives in the people who had to survive it.

A card table, an empty chair, and nearly twenty years of silence provide the deceptively intimate setting for Marva Washington’s Bid Whist at Midnight. What begins as a late-night reunion among former college friends Sardis, Grace, and Dorcus gradually becomes something far more revealing: an examination of friendship, memory, identity, and the history people carry long after the defining moment has passed.

The novel opens in February 1988, when the women reunite for the game that once helped bind them together in college. Their familiar rhythm cannot completely disguise what has changed. Four chairs surround the table, but Taletha will not be joining them, and the absence immediately gives the gathering emotional weight. 

From there, Washington reaches back into their college years, placing personal stories alongside the social unrest of 1968. Student demonstrations against segregation, debates over Black identity, changing attitudes toward beauty and belonging, and the pressures surrounding the Civil Rights era become part of the characters’ everyday lives rather than distant historical footnotes. The friends themselves do not always agree on how change should happen. Taletha embraces activism, while Grace weighs the fight for equality against the possibility of losing the education her family sacrificed to provide. 

That tension gives Bid Whist at Midnight particular relevance for contemporary readers and writers. Washington demonstrates how historical fiction can make large social movements personal. History is not presented only through famous names, protests, or political ideas; it is felt through friendships, family expectations, romantic relationships, ambitions, prejudice, grief, and the decisions ordinary people make when society itself is changing.

The card game becomes especially meaningful in that context. Bid whist is more than recreation. During college, the foursome grows from an uneasy grouping into friends who share personal trials, changing beliefs, and the complications of becoming adults. Their story suggests that meaningful relationships are not necessarily built on complete agreement, but on the willingness to listen, challenge assumptions, and recognize experiences beyond one’s own.

That idea carries considerable weight today. In a society still wrestling with questions of race, identity, inequality, belonging, gender, and generational trauma, fiction can create room for conversations that statistics and headlines alone cannot provide. Stories such as Washington’s remind contemporary writers of the value of preserving lived perspectives while giving readers the opportunity to encounter history through human consequences.

Bid Whist at Midnight offers readers something to carry beyond its final page: the understanding that the past rarely stays neatly in the past—and sometimes healing begins when people finally return to the table.

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Cheap Houses: A Memoir of Poverty and Reinvention in Rural America

Some children grow up believing the world is fair. Others learn to survive before they are old enough to understand why they have to.

Stevie G. Davis was born to a teenage mother and abandoned by his father before birth. His childhood unfolded in the coal camps and small communities of rural northern Alabama, where his family moved from one cheap house to another in search of work and a place they could afford. The houses had cracked walls, little insulation, and few comforts. Hunger was never far away, and every dollar mattered.

As a boy, he picked cotton, hauled pulpwood, baled hay, cut fence posts, and accepted whatever work he could find. He wore hand-me-down clothes, carried paper-sack lunches, and stuffed cardboard inside worn-out shoes because new ones were a luxury his family could not afford. Poverty was not something he recognized at first—it was simply life.

Everything began to change when he discovered a set of "Future Cards" describing the emerging world of computers. To a boy who had never seen one, they represented more than technology. They represented possibility.

At seventeen, Davis enlisted in the United States Air Force as a medic. Through persistence, self-education, and a willingness to embrace every opportunity, he built a career that eventually led him into medical information systems. In 1992, he was recognized as the United States Air Force Medical Information Systems Non-Commissioned Officer of the Year before continuing his journey into corporate information technology.

Yet success never erased the memories of the cheap houses that shaped him.

Written with honesty, humility, and the eye of someone who remembers every detail, Cheap Houses is more than a memoir of poverty. It is a story of resilience, family, sacrifice, fear, reinvention, and the quiet determination to build a different future without forgetting where you came from.

For readers who appreciated the emotional honesty of The Glass Castle or the perseverance found in Hillbilly Elegy, Cheap Houses offers an unforgettable journey from hardship to hope—proving that while our beginnings shape us, they do not have to define the rest of our lives.

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A Memoir of Poverty and Reinvention in Rural America

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Capitalism: A Pillar for People, Community, and Our Ways of Life

     

Capitalism: A Pillar for People, Community, and Our Ways of Life

By William M. Togbah

What if the future of capitalism depends not only on how markets grow, but on how widely opportunity is shared?

Economic systems are often discussed through statistics, policies, and political arguments. William M. Togbah takes a more human-centered route in Capitalism: A Pillar for People, Communities, and Our Ways of Life, examining capitalism through the people and communities expected to live within it. Rather than treating capitalism as a settled idea, Togbah presents it as an economic model that should be reconsidered for a changing, increasingly interconnected century. 

Africa plays an important role in that discussion. Togbah argues that conversations about capitalism often overlook developing economies, particularly places where governments and public services may have less capacity. His examination considers how private enterprise, individual initiative, competition, and different levels of government regulation affect economic life across African societies. 

Yet the book reaches beyond a defense of one economic system. Its chapters move through women’s empowerment, the growth of the middle class, technology, education, multinational business, and job creation—subjects that bring economics closer to everyday concerns. Education receives particular attention as a path toward specialization, productivity, knowledge sharing, and greater economic participation. 

That perspective gives the book particular relevance for today’s writers, thinkers, students, and socially conscious readers. Discussions of inequality, employment, education, and development can easily become abstract. Togbah continually returns those discussions to human outcomes: whether people can find work, develop useful skills, participate economically, strengthen their communities, and imagine better possibilities for the next generation. His exploration also draws from interviews concerning education, wealth disparity, public safety, and other social concerns, alongside his own experience of economic inequality in Liberia. 

For contemporary society, perhaps the book’s most valuable invitation is not that every reader must agree with its conclusions. It is that economic ideas deserve closer examination when they shape education, opportunity, work, identity, and community life.

Readers interested in African politics, global economics, development, education, and the continuing debate over capitalism will find plenty to consider in William M. Togbah’s Capitalism: A Pillar for People, Communities, and Our Ways of Life. 

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A Pillar for People, Community, and Our Ways of Life

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A Pillar for People, Community, and Our Ways of Life

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Jaxon Discovers Dimension Z

   

Jaxon Discovers Dimension Z

By Marva Washington

Some adventures begin with a treasure map, a mysterious letter, or a secret doorway.

In Marva Washington’s children’s action-and-adventure story, Jaxon travels from Minnesota to South Carolina for a week with his Grand mom. She has plans for his visit—especially plans involving the colorful vegetables growing in her backyard. Jaxon, however, has ideas of his own. Naturally inquisitive and eager to explore, he soon notices that the garden holds something much more interesting than carrots, squash, and spinach: a tool shed he has specifically been told to avoid.

That forbidden shed becomes the doorway to an adventure neither Jaxon nor his family could have anticipated.

Inside, Jaxon encounters Zolo, a strange being who looks vaguely familiar but is definitely not an ordinary Earth creature. Zolo comes from another dimension, communicates in remarkable ways, and seems to know much more about Jaxon than Jaxon knows about him. Their meeting quickly transforms an ordinary summer visit into a journey filled with secrets, strange discoveries, and questions that Jaxon must learn to navigate largely on his own.

Washington gives the story an especially appealing contrast. The familiar world of grandparents, picky eating, gardens, family outings, and childhood curiosity sits comfortably beside a fantastic world where flying, mind reading, mysterious lands, and hidden dangers are possible. Dimension Z is not simply somewhere unusual to visit; it is connected to childhood dreams, imagination, and the sense that possibilities can exist before young minds begin placing limits on themselves.

Yet the adventure has more on its mind than fantasy.

At its heart, Jaxon Discovers Dimension Z explores friendship, responsibility, honesty, compassion, and the importance of treating others with respect. Jaxon may be young, but he is observant enough to question what he is told and caring enough to recognize when someone needs help. Even Zolo carries lessons of his own as his actions reveal that mistakes have consequences and that trust must be earned.

For children who enjoy imaginative worlds, unusual creatures, mystery, humor, and adventure, Marva Washington offers a story that invites curiosity while leaving meaningful ideas for young readers to consider after the journey ends.

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Broken Pieces: There is beauty in scars a Kaleidoscope of colors

    

Broken Pieces: There is beauty in scars a Kaleidoscope of colors

By: TL Stankus

Can a scar become more than a reminder of pain and instead become part of a larger picture of faith, endurance, and purpose?

Some Christian living books teach through principles. Tracey Stankus’s Broken Pieces: There is Beauty in Scars | A Kaleidoscope of Colors takes another path: it places faith inside the complicated realities of lived experience.

Written as a faith-centered memoir, Broken Pieces moves through family fractures, addiction, grief, relationships, caregiving, difficult choices, and the long process of learning when to hold on and when to establish boundaries. Stankus makes clear from the beginning that the purpose of revisiting the past is not simply to recount hardship. Her hope is that people facing their own struggles may recognize that they are not alone and that darkness does not have to be the final destination. 

That perspective gives the book particular relevance today. In a culture where polished versions of life are easy to present, honest writing can create room for conversations that are much harder to have. Stankus writes about experiences that families often keep behind closed doors, especially addiction, emotional wounds, strained relationships, and the consequences of remaining silent inside unhealthy patterns. Her story repeatedly returns to faith, self-reflection, compassion, personal responsibility, and the courage to protect one’s peace.

For contemporary writers, Broken Pieces also demonstrates why personal storytelling can matter beyond the person telling it. Stankus describes writing as a way of leaving part of herself behind, with the hope that sharing her experiences might help someone else along the way. That kind of writing can contribute something valuable to society: greater empathy for struggles that may not be visible, more openness about seeking help, and permission to discuss difficult family cycles rather than quietly passing them from one generation to another.

The title’s image of a kaleidoscope becomes especially fitting. Scars are not presented as something that must disappear before life can hold beauty. Near the book’s conclusion, Stankus connects those scars to a larger mosaic shaped by faith, human difference, and the belief that every life remains part of something greater. For readers drawn to Christian memoirs that do not separate faith from life’s messier chapters, Broken Pieces offers something worth exploring: a personal journey that asks readers to consider what healing, boundaries, forgiveness, perseverance, and faith can look like after the pieces have fallen.

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There is beauty in scars a Kaleidoscope of colors

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There is beauty in scars a Kaleidoscope of colors

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CULT: We Don't Die Book Three

Police detective Dallas Scott tries to do the right thing. He teaches his young daughter to be honest and accountable, coaches a teen boys basketball team, and shows up every day for his boring job in the basement at the police station, benched from solving crimes and a persona non gratis on the force after exposing the department’s corruption.

Then everything changes. He watches demons drag his wife’s beloved aunt to hell—screaming for Dallas to help her and that she’s sorry. Then there are the bizarre, unsolved satanic cult killings terrorizing the city.

Dallas is determined to find out what’s happening, even though investigating is no longer his job. But each step pulls him closer to a reckoning with Lucifer that’s been years in the making

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The Evolution of Ignorance: Life’s Poetry by Linwood Tracy

       

The Evolution of Ignorance:

Life’s Poetry by Linwood Tracy

The Evolution of Ignorance: Life’s Poetry is a raw and reflective poetry collection exploring love, identity, masculinity, wisdom, family, and the difficult lessons hidden within everyday life. Through the shifting perspectives of a young man coming of age, Linwood Tracy examines the beautifully decorated traps, heavy burdens, personal misunderstandings, and defining relationships that shape the journey into adulthood. Each poem invites readers to look beneath appearances, question what they believe, and consider how ignorance can gradually evolve into understanding. With honesty, vulnerability, and emotional depth, this collection captures the challenges of walking blindly into life’s tests while searching for truth, purpose, and self-awareness. Thought-provoking and unforgettable, The Evolution of Ignorance: Life’s Poetry is for readers who appreciate introspective poetry about: Coming of age and becoming a man Love, family, and lifelong relationships Identity and self-discovery Life lessons and hard-earned wisdom Emotional healing and resilience Growth through mistakes and misunderstandings Sometimes evolution begins when we finally question what we thought we knew.

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Just One Text: A Single text That Stole Forever Promised

 

Just One Text:

A Single text That Stole Forever Promised

What if one message could destroy the future you had built with someone?

Just One Text by Joseph Kaburu is a deeply personal memoir about love, betrayal, heartbreak and the difficult journey towards healing. Joe believes he has found the woman he will spend the rest of his life with. Together, they pray, dream and prepare for a shared future—until one text message reveals a devastating betrayal and everything falls apart.

But this is not a story of revenge or bitterness. It is an honest exploration of a man’s vulnerability as he faces grief, unanswered questions and the painful task of rebuilding his life. Through faith, forgiveness and quiet resilience, Joe discovers that healing does not mean forgetting—it means refusing to let the past control the future.

Powerful, emotional and rooted in lived experience, Just One Text speaks to anyone who has ever loved deeply, lost painfully and wondered whether the heart can rise again.

Some stories are written. This one was lived.

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Just One Text: A Single text That Stole Forever Promised

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