Author of Contemporary & Historical Fiction
ANITA MELILLO
THE BOOKS
The Great Empty
ISBN-13 978-1482050783
When a rebellious youth named Donovan leaves his home in Europe for a family trip to Australia, he quickly determines another course when he takes advantage of an opportunity to seek out adventure of his own. While slipping away from the care of his guardian and sister at the airport in Darwin, he decides to take a tour bus to a Crocodile Farm, which inadvertently continues to take him hundreds of miles deeper in the outback and into Kakadu National park. His curiosity continues to get the best of him, when he sets off on foot to explore a trail to a waterfall and plunge pool. One mishap leads to another until he finds himself alone in the dark and unprepared to face the unknown that envelopes his surroundings.
Once he discovers that he is lost, he continues to make his way through the bush, but not without its perils. Eventually, he befriends an Aborigine boy named Neji, who is on a journey into manhood. Together they fight against the elements and the mysteries of the dark, with beliefs and rituals as deep as the Dreamtime. All the while, a peculiar stranger continues to shadow them for unknown reasons.
Pretty soon, Donovan finds himself on an unexpected course with this deliberate Swagman, with his harsh ways and cruel intentions. Without warning, Donovan is forced to use all that he has learned, in order to survive this downward spiral that seems to be leading him nowhere, with his only hope of making it back to civilization again...
Ford At Valverde
ISBN-13 978-1482728323
One man’s attempt at dodging the war while on a treasure seeking mission for gold, leads him on a quest that he never imagined possible. As he crosses state borders from North to South, he is hell bent on determining his own path, until circumstances continue to fuel his situation beyond his control. With each tacking pace of the train, he will eventually venture into the bayous of Louisiana where he is beaten and left for dead, until he is discovered by someone that can alter the course of his destiny forever, but not before many battles are waged against him.
Eventually, he is brought to a place where he must choose to live as a soldier of misfortune or discover the real reason why he began his journey in the first place. From the timber mills of Wisconsin, into the deep South and the rugged West, nothing will keep Daniel Stone from going after what he wants, neither the cruelty of strangers or the vengeful warriors of the plains, while the Civil War looms around him. He would rather die trying to get where he wants to go, than to live with the regrets of a life unlived…