New books from PTP Book Division

List Price: $14.95

6" x 9" (15.24 x 22.86 cm)
Black & White on White paper
424 pages

ISBN-13: 978-1987433937
ISBN-10: 1987433939
BISAC: Fiction / Action & Adventure

Twenty-two-year-old Brittany Carlson has just been signed by Baez Productions to star in a film that everyone in Tinsel town is sure will be the next Oscar winner. Brittany should be thrilled, but instead she is terrified. Her life has been turned upside down and she is trying desperately to keep it a secret. Someone is stalking her and yet the police are suggesting this is merely a publicity stunt!
She is even more horrified when her Pulitzer Prize-winning mother descends on her home in the middle of a party only to find that cocaine is one of the guests.
Between the efforts of her world famous mother as well as Brittany’s two sisters, life begins to look as though it might just have a chance to get back to normal; at least as normal as any life in Hollywood can be. That is until the stalker makes a lethal threat against her mother and her sisters. Brittany is sure this nightmare can’t get any worse. Now, her whole family is in danger. How do they find this psycho and will they be in time?

 

List Price: $14.95

6" x 9" (15.24 x 22.86 cm)
Black & White on Cream paper
310 pages

ISBN-13: 978-1984187567
ISBN-10: 1984187562
BISAC: Fiction / Action & Adventure

In 1972, the political situation in Nicaragua is far from stable and Signe Carlson is worried. The corrupt dictator, Anastasio Somoza Debayle, controls the National Guard that acts as both police and army. The leftist guerilla group, The Sandinistas, is waging a covert war against the current regime. Mick McKenna and her daughter – Jenna Carlson – who has become one of Mick’s top operatives at McKenna International are both on assignment in Managua as are several other of Mick’s senior agents.
Signe’s sixth sense is in overdrive and when her daughters, Lia and Brittany, unexpectedly show up at her home, she finds out that her intuition was correct: Mick is missing. His plane made a forced landing in the mountains of Nicaragua and although his operatives got to the site in less than thirty minutes there was no sign of either Mick or the pilot.
Signe goes into action and within three hours of receiving the news, she is on her way to Managua in her corporate Learjet. She has a plan and she intends to find Mick. An old friend from her days in the OSS, Maria Dolores Díaz Aguero, lives just outside Managua and Signe knows that she and her family are highly involved in the politics of their country. Although Signe plans to commandeer Jenna as well, if anyone can help her to locate Mick, it is Maria.

List Price: $11.95

6" x 9" (15.24 x 22.86 cm)
Black & White on White paper
292 pages

ISBN-13: 978-1987433791
ISBN-10: 1987433793
BISAC: Fiction / Action & Adventure

March 21, 1976
Family and friends are gathered at Buckingham to celebrate Signe Carlson's 51st Birthday. Mick McKenna's gift to Signe is a month long cruise on their yacht, The Enickma. Where they would cruise is up to Signe and little did either of them suspect the deadly threats from both man and Nature they would undergo during their vacation.
From their home in Scottsdale, AZ to cruising the South Pacific attractions of Micronesia to a boardroom in Austin, TX, Signe and her family as well as Mick and his associates must work against time once the schemes of the man they call The Puppet Master are discovered and before he has a chance to turn his plans into catastrophic events.

 

Conflict

Does your story need conflict? Maybe, maybe not but conflict is the one aspect of a story that is sure to raise interest, cause a reader to take sides and, in general, portray a true-to-life situation. Much of our lives, from early childhood, have involved some type of conflict, be it sibling rivalry, teen competition, adult competition and rivalry for jobs, mates and other facets of our lives. So, to speak, conflict is a normal part of life.

Conflict boils down to five main areas:

a.      Man against self: A person deals with conflict within him/herself when ones decides whether or not do “do the right thing”. Do I keep that beautiful ring lying on the sidewalk or try to find its owner?

b.     Man against man: We are well aware of the conflict of man against man—just watch the evening news.

c.      Man against society: People have fought to break from social mores since we lived in caves. There have always been do’s and don’ts, often called taboos. Women, for generations, were raised to believe that ‘decent’ women wore dresses. Now, that is no longer true, women wear dresses, slacks, jeans, shorts or whatever is comfortable or fitting for the occasion.

d.     Man against nature: Humans have conflicted with nature since time began. The most notable conflict comes from the weather. We have conflict with dust storms, tornadoes, blizzards, floods, hurricanes and all other manner of foul weather that can be damaging or life threatening.

e.      Man against God: This is the trickiest one in that it assumes a belief  in, or at least a grudging recognition of, the Almighty. No God, no conflict, no problem, right? No so fast—there are always forces that cannot be explained, whether they’re supernatural, chance or “dumb luck”. These areas of conflict are covered here.