When we stop beating ourselves up and start helping ourselves instead, we find the peace we’ve always wanted—but never thought possible.

Most of us are trying to succeed our way out of insecurity. But it never ends. This is the fundamental problem of all high achievers: our desire to get more, win bigger, be better, and prove once and for all we’re good enough is not enough.

Proving anything to your satisfaction is a rational process. But feeling like we’re not good enough is an emotional conclusion. And the emotional mind ignores rational proof. Feelings don’t care about your facts, so no matter how hard you push or how much you win, victory is only fleeting. Ultimately, this creates obsession, then exhaustion. It doesn’t even feel good to finish anymore. It only feels good to work. That’s not good.

The author's screenplay adaptation of Mr. Ballpoint was awarded a Film Independent (FILM) Fellowship in 2001 by Independent Feature Project / West Screenwriting Laboratory under the working title, "The Big Idea." Inspired by the true story. Included in the Prize-Winning Literary Fiction Series from LaPuerta Books and Media
In 1945, Milton Reynolds introduced the ballpoint to the United States and triggered the biggest single-day shopping riot in history at Gimbels in Manhattan.
The Reynolds International Pen Company made $5 million in eight weeks during the first non-wartime Christmas season. Thereafter, increasing competition from established companies such as Eversharp triggered several years of the "Pen Wars."

She was a loving housewife. He was a hard-working husband. Together they shared three precious boys. Their marriage wasn’t perfect, but there was love between them, and it worked…right until that fateful day when it all fell apart.
This is the true story of Amanda who, through no fault of her own, found herself caught up by the darkest most insidious corners of the criminal world of sex trafficking minors. Her husband, the man she loved and the father of her children, was a criminal. And when it all came down, she was left holding the pieces.
This book is written for the women left in the shadows and the aftermath. For the spouses and partners who lose everything in an instant, but still have to keep going, navigating through complex legal systems, coming to terms with the betrayal, and somehow “holding it all together for the kids.” The ones nobody talks about, except in hushed whispers.

Winner of 7 Book Awards in Literary Fiction - Included in the Prize-Winning Literary Fiction Series from LaPuerta Books and Media
Intrigue on the white sands of the Indian Ocean. From the award-winning author of Clifford’s Spiral. A lonely widower from Los Angeles buys a tour package to East Africa on the promise of hookups and parties. What he finds instead are new reasons to live. Aldo Barbieri, a slick Italian tour operator, convinces Harry to join a group of adventuresome “voluntourists.” In a resort town on the Indian Ocean, Harry doesn’t find the promised excitement with local ladies. But in the supermarket he meets Esther Mwemba, a demure widow who works as a bookkeeper. The attraction is strong and mutual, but Harry gets worried when he finds out that Esther and Aldo have a history. They introduce him to Victor Skebelsky, rumored to be the meanest man in town. Skebelsky has a plan to convert his grand colonial home and residential compound into a rehab center – as a tax dodge. The scheme calls for Harry to head up the charity. He could live like a wealthy diplomat and it won’t cost him a shilling! Harry has to come to terms with questions at the heart of his character: Is corruption a fact of life everywhere? Is all love transactional? Harry Harambee’s Kenyan Sundowner is an emotional story of expat intrigue in Africa, reminiscent of The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene and The Constant Gardener by John le Carré.

Praise for Clifford’s Spiral (Independent Press Awards 2020 Distinguished Favorite in Literary Fiction) We've seen and noted the comparison of this author by other reviewers to literary giants like Roth and Vonnegut. And we can't disagree. Yet we feel there may be yet another strata for Gerald Everett Jones, who arguably is doing the best work of his career. We predict that he lacks only a mention in the The New York Review of Books or, better yet, Oprah, to become a nationwide best-selling author. Five-plus stars to Clifford's Spiral, a true literary novel if ever there was one. We say in all seriousness that if you only read one novel this year, this should be it. - Don Sloan, Publishers Daily Reviews

Preacher Finds a Corpse (NYC Big Book Awards 2020 Winner in Mystery, IPA 2020 Distinguished Favorite in Mystery, Eric Hoffer 2020 Finalist in Mystery) This is literature masquerading as a mystery. Carefully yet powerfully, Gerald Jones creates a small, stunning world in a tiny midwestern town, infusing each character with not just life but wit, charm, and occasionally menace. This is the kind of writing one expects from John Irving or Jane Smiley. - Marvin J. Wolf, author of the Rabbi Ben Mysteries, including A Scribe Dies in Brooklyn

When a near-fatal stroke gate-crashes his family holiday in Vietnam, Antonio must fight to stay alive.

At the surprisingly young age of thirty-eight, he thought he had lost everything. As he lay completely paralysed in an intensive care unit, trapped in a foreign country with his distraught young family by his side, his life completely turned upside down.

After a harrowing rescue flight home to Melbourne, Antonio realises his journey has only just begun. Challenged by his inability to sit, stand, walk, or even talk, he must confront the emotional anguish, the highs and lows, and the heartache and pain that accompany the gruelling rehabilitation process as he adjusts to his new normal.

Saigon Siren is an alarmingly honest and refreshingly humorous account of Antonio’s ongoing battle with the dirty stroke demon Vaughn, as he came to call it. He details his meandering road to recovery with endearing intimacy and amusing anecdotes—the kinds of stories you never hear. Unfolding into a delicate and uplifting quest for self-discovery, Antonio shares the healing power of creativity, love, and peace as he stumbles through the seemingly countless obstacles his new disability presents.

is life of globetrotting the globe was not the one he expected to lead. He grew up a quiet, shy boy teased by other kids on the playgrounds for his red hair. But he developed a keen wit and sense of humor to always see the funnier side of life.

With an overwhelming love of travel, a propensity to find trouble where there was none, and being a passionate advocate of mental health, Simon’s stories will leave a reader either rolling on the floor in tears of laughter, or breathing deeply that the adventures he has led were survived.

No author has laughed longer or cried with less restraint at the travails of life.

Gerald Everett Jones won six book awards in 2020, seven in 2021, and six in 2022:

2022 - Independent Press Award (IPA) Distinguished Favorite in General Fiction and Reader's Choice 5 Star in Fiction for "Harry Harambee's Kenyan Sundowner." National Association of Book Entrepreneurs (NABE) Pinnacle Best in Mystery and TheBookFest Spring Third Place in Mystery Murder & Crime for "Preacher Raises the Dead." TheBookFest Spring Honorable Mention in Literary Fiction for "Clifford's Spiral." International Review of Books Gold in Fiction for "My Inflatable Friend."

2021 - NYC Big Book Award Distinguished Favorite in General Fiction, NABE Pinnacle Best in Literary Fiction, Florida Authors and Publishers Association (FAPA) President's Award Bronze, Royal Dragonfly Honorable Mention in Literary Fiction, Shelf Unbound Best Indies Top Shelf 100 in Fiction, Book Publicists of Southern California IRWIN Best in Literary Fiction for "Harry Harambee's Kenyan Sundowner." NABE Pinnacle Best in Mystery for "Preacher Finds a Corpse."

Solomea Krushelnytska, was hailed as the world's leading dramatic soprano during the Golden Age of opera at the turn of the 20th century. Born in 1872 into the family of a Ukrainian Catholic priest and his wife with eight children in a small village in Western Ukraine, she studied opera first in Lviv, and later in Milan, Vienna, and Paris. She battled to rise to fame and to perform with opera legends like Giacomo Puccini, Arturo Toscanini, and Enrico Caruso until she reached superstardom.