Patriot Wars

Sparks fly when Meg McCracken enters Alexander Ogilvie's blacksmith shop. Attracted to the beautiful young woman from the start, he understands that her station in society is far above his, even though he has dreams of moving beyond the city and becoming a man of property. He is handsome and endearing, but he's also a lowly blacksmith. That isn't the worst of it, however. How can Meg be attracted to a man whose position on a revolution is neutral and still face her Patriot father and brothers? This novella was originally published in The Blacksmith Brides novella collection.

Prisons and Patriots provides a detailed account of 41 Nisei (second-generation Japanese Americans), known as the Tucsonians, who were imprisoned for resisting the draft during WWII. Cherstin Lyon parallels their courage as resisters with that of civil rights hero Gordon Hirabayashi, well known for his legal battle against curfew and internment, who also resisted the draft. These dual stories highlight the intrinsic relationship between the rights and the obligations of citizenship, particularly salient in times of war.

Like many Americans, as soon as Vincent J. Riccio heard about the attack on Pearl Harbor, he wanted to enlist in the military. This memoir recounts his experiences in the United States Army Air Corps as an instrument technician, aviation cadet, and flight engineer in World War II. It describes his escapades during training and deployment, the missions flown over Germany, the fateful events that led to his captivity in Stalag Luft IV, and the long road home. It reflects his impressions of military service, the people he met, and the lessons he learned along the way.