Better Angels
by David Floody
“All God’s angels come to us disguised.”
— James Russell Lowell
Seven-year-old David Phelan watched the drama unfold through the wide window of Windsor’s Mulvaney’s Tavern and feared for his mother, Lulu Pearl. Wallace Phelan had broken his Temperance Oath and promise to quit The Loyal Orange Lodge and leave Ireland’s religious “Troubles” behind them.
“Sure, and if you want criticism—marry! Be off home, woman!”
“Home? Oh yes, Wallace, I’ll be off home, alright…but you’ll be coming with me!”
With one swing of his father’s own Ty Cobb bat, loyal wife and Temperance leader, Lulu Pearl Phelan, struck her wayward husband a mighty blow to the head. His father just— disappeared.
And his formidable mother would not be the only unlikely hero to change David’s life.
“Better Angels takes the reader on David Charles Phelan’s quest for a rare 1954 Topps 201 Al Kaline rookie baseball card. The story begins in 1919 with larger-than-life characters like David’s baseball bat-wielding grandmother, Lulu Pearl Phelan, part of the “Famine Irish” community of Windsor, Ontario. Also larger than life is Big Al Greathwaite, car salesman and catalyst in the tense and dramatic competition for the unique baseball card. Packed with baseball lore and historical detail, this book immerses the reader in a time few remember, a story resonant with the lasting impacts our actions have on each other’s lives.”
— Joanna Streetly,
author of Silent Inlet and Wild Fierce Life
*** Read an excerpt from “Better Angels” ***
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Insect Youth
by David Floody
It’s 1970 and Frank Phelan doesn’t see love coming when the mysterious Starr Summers joins his Grade 10 History class and screams in protest when Frank is brutally strapped by the teacher, Michaels. Starr has her own history of abuse.
Laura Phelan is not a mother any teacher wants to cross. She confronts Michaels in the Principal’s office and gets him suspended. Beside himself with anger and humiliation, the disgraced Michaels plans his revenge, unaware that Laura’s friend and former WWII assassin, Gisella Taglio, has plans of her own for the teacher.
Frank is about to declare his love for Starr, when she suddenly becomes silent and withdrawn. He suspects his enemy, Dixie, a vicious older punk. When the law fails him, Frank goes to war with himself and the world.
“Set at the time of the Detroit Race Riots, Insect Youth unfolds in an era surprisingly like our own. It is a gripping teenage story of extremes: persecution, kindness, jealousy, love, cruelty, loss, and ultimately — revenge.”
— Joanna Streetly,
author of Wild Fierce Life:
Dangerous Moments on the Outer Coast
*** Read an excerpt from “Insect Youth” ***
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The Colour of Pride
by David Floody
In 1967 David Floody watched from the Canadian shores of the Detroit River as the fires of racial hatred consumed Detroit in a five-day riot. That unforgettable experience became the basis of this novel.
“He’s white. She’s black. Both must cross the divide of race and racism swirling around them. It helps that both are baseball fanatics. Step up to the plate for an exciting and winning read!”
— Shirley Langer
author of Anita’s Revolution
*** Read an excerpt from “The Colour of Pride” ***
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Kittenstein and Frankenfur
by David Floody
Bruce Dalwhinney, retired and deeply depressed by the loss of his aged and much-loved calico cat, is existing on a diet of fried vanilla Twinkies and diet cokes. When his dream of lovingly hand-raising two Grand Champion, purebred Siamese kittens is shattered, Bruce is suicidal.
In desperation, his loving wife, Doris, kidnaps him and spirits him away to an animal shelter to adopt two common, barn-born tabby kittens, feline hoi polloi.
Are Kittenstein and Frankenfur mini-monsters from kitten Hell or Bruce Dalwhinney’s last hope of salvation?
*** Read an excerpt from “Kittenstein & Frankenfur” ***
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