Beasts of Ayutthaya

Beasts of Ayutthaya

Three retellings of Beauty and the Beast

On Amazon:
$10.59 in Paperback
$2.99 on Kindle
free on kindle unlimited

A beautiful young woman falls in love with a beast - what could possibly go wrong? These three tales explore that question, in the light of Disney's classic animation and the original 1740 tale, along with a few other variations. It seems it's more common than you think. Beasts can be charming, handsome in their own way, intelligent, loyal, fiercely protective....yet they can kill without hesitation or guilt. They may of course turn into a prince - but is that so great? Visit 18th century Siam (Thailand) for these variations. Be Our Guest, White Elephant, and The Halberd give you some idea of the importance of elephants and tigers in ancient Thai culture, and tell tales that are worth comparing to the tales we know.

The Halberd

The Halberd A retelling of Beauty and the Beast

On Kindle $2.99
In paperback $6.99 + shipping

The Halberd is the third in a series of retellings of Beauty and the Beast; along with Be Our Guest and White Elephant, it is part of Beasts of Ayutthaya: Three retellings of Beauty and the Beast. Phang is in love with an elephant, Naresuan, in 18th century Thailand. She is a mahout, an elephant trainer, while he is a white or albino elephant, the most royal of the royal. It is a turbulent time in Thailand, with King Taksin the Great reuniting the Siamese yet losing his mental stability. Enemies conspire to keep them apart. In modern Ayutthaya, a young boy finds a halberd, an ancient weapon used by people who fought on elephants. Relics of the ancient capital stir up everyone's imagination.

This book has been taken off the market, since it is now included in a larger work, Beasts of Ayutthaya. Single copies are rare but still can be found.

White Elephant

(my new one) White Elephant: A folktale retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Magical realism in a well-known story. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FSXS741M

In paperback: $5.99 + shipping
On Kindle: $2.99
Free on kindle unlimited

This book has been taken off the market, since it is now included in a larger work, Beasts of Ayutthaya. Single copies are rare but still can be found.

Be Our Guest

Be Our Guest
A retelling of Beauty and the Beast

Now available on Amazon:
Paperback $7.39 + shipping
Kindle $2.99
Free on Kindle Unlimited


(prices can change)
This tale was written to be part of the Global Beasts Series, in which every book features a different country. This one is set in Thailand, against the government shutdown of Tiger Temple, a famous tourist theme park in Kanchanaburi. It's a tale as old as time, but it can be seen in many ways, with a wide variety of characters. The original tale was written in 1740, and this one brings the original to light against the traditional ideas of karma, reincarnation, and animism that have been in Thailand since before Buddhism ever arrived.

This book has been taken off the market, since it is now included in a larger work, Beasts of Ayutthaya. Single copies are rare but still can be found.

Beginner's Guide to Quakerism

Beginner's Guide to Quakerism
by Maurine Pyle, Margaret Katranides, Thomas Leverett, and Fernando Freire
$3.83 + postage on Amazon
$0.99 on Kindle


(prices can change)

Followers of this blog and the press will recognize this as the pamphlet, published in 2021 and printed at home by me for $0.80 each + postage. Now it is cheaper but may not stay that way. It is still be available in pamphlet form, printed more professionally, and possibly cheaper; it can be found and ordered in bulk here. This Amazon version is at least available now, here from this site.

It was intended to give the average outsider a good general overview of what Quakerism is. It is, after all, a discipline to live by Truth and integrity, and to have as your community people who may feel differently about the exact role of God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the literal doctrines of mainstream Christianity. Many Quakers today do not call themselves Christian; if so, what do they have in common? This pamphlet will explain.

Stay current here.

Mario's Dystopia

Announcing the book of my son, Noah Abraham Leverett
Mario's Dystopia
$4.99 + postage, paperback $2.99 on Kindle
free on Kindle Unlimited

prices are subject to change

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He has also written poetry, which I will try to highlight.

Have a Magical Day

These are not feel-good, happily-ever-after stories like Disney movies, nor are they dark or violent. Each story is from a different perspective (tour guide, PR staffer, detective, fantasy author, housewife, state patrolman, and businessman among others) and gives insight into life in 2024 at a huge theme park and large entertainment corporation. It is not adoring of Disney, or scornful, but the stories include a variety of characters you might meet if you spent a little free time in the park, and they offer a variety of perspectives about the role of fantasy and of Disney in modern American culture. Stories included are Have a Magical Day, Space Mountain Getaway, Stealing his Heart, Slapping a Mickey, Afternoon Snake, Detective's Tale, Garbage Duty, Downpour, Attic Bride, Just Ashes, Cocktail Party, Small World Problems, If the Shoe Fits, and It is what it is. All were written in 2023 or 2024. It is the author's eleventh volume of short stories.

$5.99 + shipping, Amazon paperback
$2.99 on kindle
free on kindle unlimited
acx audible coming
prices subject to change

Prairie Leveretts

A plains pioneer biography

True story of one of a homesteader who fought in the Civil War, and survived both. His brother had died of cholera which he got on a steamboat; this book tells his story and that of his family. Like me, he bounced around the plains, going where he could best educate his children.

https://www.amazon.com//dp/B0DCV2DND1

On kindle, kindleunlimited, and paperback

Harvardinates

Now on ACX, narrated by Anne Charlotte:

:

(Har-VAR-di-NAH-tays) The Life and Times of John Leverett, first secular President of Harvard
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D893GHM9

Story of My Life

Now on ACX, narrated by Bill Andersen
https://www.amazon.com/Story-Life-Autobiography-Treasurer-Hillsdale/dp/B0CWPQ579X

The Story of My Life: Autobiography of the Treasurer of Hillsdale College, 1862-1877
by Lorenzo Reynolds

I found this manuscript among my genealogical papers. In short, Lorenzo was a crotchety pioneer ancestor of mine who got injured before the Civil War, became adept at handwriting and the writing arts, wrote a guide to Hillsdale Michigan among other things, and felt he'd been badly wronged by the leadership of Hillsdale College when he was ousted from the Treasurer's role in the late 1800's. It turns out that if your family has been here since before the Civil War then the story of its survival is the story of how it survived that war as so few actually did. But in his case being badly injured was enough to excuse him from service and at the same time made him driven to accomplish something with his life that he was uniquely suited to.

The College had a huge fire, and later his own building in downtown Hillsdale had a fire, and all this was recorded in this beautiful handwriting on old crinkly paper in my attic. Now I feel a little guilty, having it on Amazon, but I felt his story needed to be told. Now I can use this handwriting in the marketing, I guess; it would be a shame if nobody saw it.

Devour that Spaghetti

Now available on audiobook
https://www.amazon.com/Devour-That-Spaghetti-Other-Stories/dp/B0CPFXLZGX
Narrated by Bill Andersen

Harvardinates

Harvardinates (Har-VAR-di-NAH-tays): The Life and Times of John Leverett, first secular President of Harvard 1708-1724

Paperback (Amazon) $7.10 + postage
On Kindle $2.99
Free on Kindle Unlimited
Hardback $14.70 (coming)
On ACX also
prices subject to change
This book is a biography of John Leverett (1662-1724), first secular President of Harvard, who kept Harvard from becoming a Puritan Divinity School when that was what Cotton Mather and orthodox Puritans wanted. It was a very divided time in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and Mather had seen his unquestioned support fade after the witch trials of 1692. The story gives an overview of his illustrious grandfather, Governor of the Colony, a father who had trouble making a living, and deaths in the family, one after another, as was usual in a time of smallpox and other diseases, hard winters, inadequate water, and various other problems. Leverett designed Massachusetts Hall, which survives today as Harvard's oldest building, and holds its President.

September Tuesday

A hundred haiku from that one horrific day

$4.70 + shipping on Amazon
$1.99 on Kindle
Free on Kindle Unlimited prices subject to change

Ten Quaker Plays

For reflection and discernment
and for adult education and quarantine zooms...
read about Fox, Nayler, Rufus Jones, Hoover, Nixon, and even Smedley Butler (Nixon and Butler grew up Quaker, but weren't Quakers as adults).

On Amazon
Paperback $6.990 + shipping
Kindle $2.99, or free on Kindle Unlimited
Hardcover $12.80 + shipping prices subject to change

One Woman's Voice

Now on ACX
Narrated by Yarnell Henrie
https://www.amazon.com/One-Womans-Voice-Biography-Elocutionist/dp/B0BH69D2M1

Devour That Spaghetti

Devour That Spaghetti
and 22 other short stories

Now available at Amazon
On Kindle $3.99
In paperback $5.25 + shipping
Free on Kindle Unlimited
Coming soon on ACX
prices subject to change

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New covers

e pluribus haiku 2016
https://www.amazon.com/pluribus-haiku-2016-thomas-leverett-ebook/dp/B01FOLGWCE

e pluribus haiku 2017
https://www.amazon.com/pluribus-haiku-2017-thousand-moments-ebook/dp/B071WNYXTK

e pluribus haiku 2018
https://www.amazon.com/pluribus-haiku-2018-thousand-moments-ebook/dp/B07DCJD3KP

Back in Illinois

arrived!

Please forgive a little extra time when I can restore normalcy after a family move from Cloudcroft, New Mexico to Monmouth, Illinois and ultimately to Galesburg, Illinois. It will take a while to readjust and in that time I will not be cranking out the novels as I'd like. But don't worry, they're coming!

One Woman's Voice

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One Woman's Voice:
Biography of Elizabeth Mansfield Irving (1852-1939), elocutionist, patriot, women's rights pioneer

Available on Amazon, Kindle and Kindle Unlimited
paperback %5.95 + shipping
Kindle $3.99
free on Kindle Unlimited
ACX version coming
Non-zons (people who refuse to use Amazon), contact me & we'll work something out


This is a story of a woman who wanted to be an elocutionist, on the cusp of the nation's Centennial (1876), when women were not permitted to speak on important topics of the day. A gifted reader and orator, with a beautiful voice, she went into reading war poetry to reunions and encampments of Civil War veterans. She also inherited an insurance business when her husband got sick and died, becoming one of Toledo (Ohio)'s first women business owners. It's the story of using one's voice when one can, and getting one's voice when one is able. Her life corresponed with the rise of elocutionists as a united group, and the rise of the woman's suffrage movement, which ultimately gave women their voice in the political arena also.

Beginner's Guide to Quakerism

New pamphlet, homemade and sent out on the snail-mail post. Details here.