ORANGE TABBY PUBLISHING
My High School Yearbook
Among the many lessons learned in high school, perhaps the most enduring is learning to bridge the divide between who we are and who we are perceived to be. My High School Yearbook is a poignant and humorous story of a high school senior who scoffs at the notion of being labeled. He has no intention of conforming to restrictive expectations imposed by others. He is determined to set his own goals and boundaries. Before he graduates, the student formulates a response to the grandest of all high school labels, the superficial yearbook accolades. He then embarks upon the joyful experience of writing his own story.
The Fight For My Daughter
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The Fight For My Daughter is the story of one devoted father's battle to preserve his family and defend his right to raise his child. After losing his wife to cancer, Hudson faces a shocking challenge: his wealthy in-laws invoke an obscure law in an attempt to gain custody of Sadie, his four-year-old daughter.
The Fight For My Daughter takes the reader inside the unimaginable drama of well-connected grandparents using legal tactics to usurp a rightful parent. With limited finances and even fewer legal options, Hudson must fight a system designed to favor power and privilege. Can he prevail? Can he save Sadie?
THE PLATYPUS
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The Platypus is an intriguing tale of personal justice. Jaime, a practicing physician, presumed the childhood abuse he inflicted upon his younger brother would never be revealed. The younger brother, having no lawful options for justice, patiently waited for the alignment of opportunity and karma. The Platypus takes the reader inside a journey of retribution, inside the psychology and execution of a brilliant plan. There are those who believe that revenge reduces one to the level of the enemy. Others believe that punishment is justified for one who commits an immorality.
Read The Platypus and decide what you believe.
FIRST TOKEN
First Token: A Story of Life, Love, & Tennis is set in the 1950s, a golden era for some, misery for others, transformation for all.
Hillard Abraham, an unmarried lawyer with a blue-collar upbringing, becomes the second Jewish member at a Long Island tennis club. Hillard befriends Dexter Alexander, a Korean War veteran and the club's first black employee. Dexter's wife, Becky, works for the wealthy Cabot family. So begins an unforgettable story of relationships.
An unexpected relationship derails Hillard's sense of logic; a spiritual encounter distills his existence to its core. "Where do we fit in, Buster?" he asks his feline confidant, an orange tabby.
First Token will resonate with those who yearn for the wholesome values and attributes of the 1950s and with those who value the American Dream. The delivery reflects the pace and cadence of the day, and the wit is as dry as a well-poured Martini. As the challenges for those who cherish liberty and independence are ongoing, remember this: as the going gets tough, the tough get funny.
About Howard
On the day I became a published author, the U.S. Geological Survey reported a seismic event in the Northeast. I knew the precise source of that disturbance: My English teachers were spinning wildly in their graves.
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There were twenty-five students in my public school classes, and the order for groupings and presentations was alphabetical. I was always last. If those teachers had been asked to compose a list of the students most likely to author a published work my position would not have changed. If the other students had been asked the same question I would have been last on all twenty-four submissions. If I had been that question I would have put myself first.
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My perception of literature changed in my senior year of college. I fell in love with our elegant language. As George Bernard Shaw eloquently expressed, we are possessed with “the divine gift of articulate speech.” In 1972, while earning a Master of Arts degree at the State University of New York, publishing a work of fiction became an aspiration. That aspiration remained inert until 2016 when Elizabeth, my extraordinary wife reminded me that every aspiration has an expiration date.
The short story has always been my preferred medium. The Platypus is an intriguing story of personal justice and retribution. The Fight For My Daughter presents a battle fought by a single, devoted father to preserve his family and fend off a full-fledged attempt to kidnap his daughter. The Fight For My Daughter is a testament to the unbreakable bond between a parent and his child. The protagonist in My High School Yearbook rejects the notion that we are defined by others; he will write his own story and enjoy doing so.
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There is a worthy story behind every human on earth and yet most of those stories also have an expiration date. My intention is to create fiction that combines the tidbits from those real life stories with a writer’s license. If my stories elicit a laugh or relieve someone’s pain or offer a shred of illumination I will have succeeded. Memorializing those everyday stories is one facet of the precious jewel that is the written word
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