tlevs press

Sunday, August 23, 2020

The Story of My Life

Autobiography of the Treasurer of Hillsdale College, 1862-1877

Paperback - On Amazon, $4.69 + postage
Kindle - Only $1.05

Lorenzo Reynolds was my great great grandfather. That's why, when I found this typed document among my genealogical papers, I felt some obligation to get it out to the public. But as I writer, I'm very impressed by his crisp style (while I have, myself, fallen into sloppy tortured sentences at times). He's clear, powerful, and strong, and he has a grudge against a certain character at Hillsdale College, in Michigan. He tells his story thoroughly and carefully.

He was the Treasurer right through the great fire, and through some very important times. His pioneering, and his family, are also of interest. Whereas he has gotten his story of the college out already, this is the first that I know where he has told his life story. It's worth it.

Saturday, May 16, 2020

Eighteenth Century Leveretts - A genealogist's journey

paperback on Amazon $8.40 + shipping
on kindle $4.99

Tells the story of an incredible family - actually several families - that lived through the times of hardship in Boston before the Revolutionary War. It was an uncertain time - some records may have been lost during the witch trials, and again during the revolution itself, but this book tells how the families intertwined and finally came to leave the city.

Saturday, May 2, 2020

All from before is now obsolete

All from before is now obsolete
100 Haiku

Now available on Amazon $4.29 + sh
and on Kindle $2.99

These haiku were written in a single week of April 2020 that represented a massive transformation in American life and culture.

Post-Covid Haiku

Available on Kindle $3.29

This was the original volume and represented the 100 haiku straight from the single week of April 2020. Not all had perfect kigo, that is, no traditional season clue as is expected in traditional haiku. The volume was accepted for Kindle but rejected by Amazon which (I suspect) was hesitant to print anything with Covid in the title. I rewrote the haiku to a higher standard (see above) and changed the title. This volume is still available.

Thursday, April 30, 2020

Hands Off That Pear

Hands Off That Pear
& 23 other short stories

Available in paperback at Amazon $5.29 + shipping
Available on Kindle $3.79
Available as Audiobook at ACX, narrated by Jordan Lewis

Saturday, August 31, 2019

Puritan Leveretts

Paperback, $7.70 + shipping, on Amazon
Kindle, $5.00 here

The Leveretts were one of the earliest families in Puritan Massachusetts. This book follows Thomas Leverett, elder and friend of John Cotton; his son Governor John Leverett, John's son Hudson, and Hudson's son John Leverett, President of Harvard. Parallels with the Cottons and Mathers are pointed out. Around the time of the witch trials, the exact lineage becomes murky, so the book points out possible reasons.

Sunday, October 7, 2018

Free Range Flash Fiction

Now available on audiobook (ACX) - narrated by Steve Bulls. He's done a good job - check it out!

Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Grazing for some reads?

short stories for your grazing pleasure!

Free Range Flash Fiction

30 stories a thousand words or less

Available on Amazon $5.99 + shipping
Available on Kindle $3.00
Coming soon on Audiobook!

Mannequin Challenge

& 20 short stories you can't put down

Available on Amazon
$5.50 + shipping

Available on Kindle for $2.99, also on Kindle Select

Available in Audiobook, at ACX, $13.08, narrated by Greta Gorsuch

Do Unto
A short story and twenty others

Available on Amazon $6 + shipping

Available on Kindle $2.99

Available on audiobook, narrated by Greta Gorsuch

Five Second Rule
20 Short stories to pick up

Available from Amazon ($4.59 + shipping)

Available on Kindle $2.99

Available on audiobook $5.95, narrated by Greta Gorsuch

A Dozen Crime Stories
from a well-known, big-box discount retail chain
12 Short Stories

Available from Amazon ($4.27 + shipping)

Available on Kindle $2.99

Available on Audiobook! Narrated by Greta Gorsuch

"Americana at its best"....Greta Gorsuch Griffee

Pile of Leaves:
Stories of a rake
17 Short stories

Available at Amazon $4.29 + shipping

Available on Kindle $2.99

Coming soon on Audiobook!

Welcome!

tlevspress, along with its proprietor (me), wife, three teens, and dogs and cats, is now in Galesburg, Illinois. The mountains depicted above are merely an apparition or a memory. I will soon come forth with better Illinois visuals (mostly trains, which are common here) but in the meantime, accept these old symbols and graphics. I have been writing for a while, and use my free time to write several things: short stories, a novel, haiku, family-related biography, and Quaker plays. You'll find most of it here. I am 100% indie; I do my own art, and my own proofreading (extremely difficult, proofreading your own) - but, with ten children, I can't take money from the family budget to get started. I'd rather write what I want and enjoy the freedom of whatever success will bring me. It's been an interesting journey - glad you're joining me for a while!.

About my work

I am part of the "self-publishing revolution," as my work is among millions that people publish themselves, mostly through Amazon and Createspace. But it's not because I dislike publishers. It's more because 1) I want to keep the rights to my own work, and 2) because, having ten children, I'm too busy to send things out and maintain relationships with publishers.

As an ESL teacher, I've always written my own material; it was more current than any textbook. I could also tailor it to my students' interests. I sometimes picked up news reports and rewrote them, so that we were in effect examining something that had just happened, or a change brought on by technology. It kept my classes interesting and it kept me in the habit of writing.

A greater source of my inspiration, however, was my travels, which spanned a couple of years in the early seventies, and covered a territory from Guatemala to Alaska. On that trip I was determined to really get to know the USA but also explore the different options for making a livelihood. I have been lucky to be basically happy teaching ESL; it has allowed my to develop my music and my writing without having to depend on it. Now I would like to see if I could make a career out of either writing or music or both; this is my feeble attempt to try the former. Enjoy!

If you have encountered an issue or something you would like to correct, or need to contact me for any reason, feel free. I cannot guarantee a response.