Why am I passionate about this?

During my 45 years of practicing law, I've learned that everyone has flaws, but we all still struggle to be recognized and accepted. I always ask my law clients why things have gone sideways because understanding the personalities involved and why they are in conflict is essential. This depth of understanding is equally necessary in the process of writing believable fiction. Characters and their conflicts must resonate with the reader. For me, as a writer, this is the essential challenge for writing good fiction. I can have imaginary conversations with any of my characters because they become very real personalities in my mind.


I wrote

Goering's Gold

By Stan Morse,

Book cover of Goering's Gold

What is my book about?

In 1934, Hermann Goering smuggled three tons of gold to America, embedded in pipes destined for a hydroelectric project. When…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of The Firm

Stan Morse Why did I love this book?

Mitch McDeere, a top Harvard Law School graduate, is hired by a law firm at a premium salary. When he discovers that the firm represents the mafia, his instinct for survival and his understanding of the law will lead him to find a solution for leaving the firm...a task that has gotten former associates killed by the firm’s security division.

Ultimately, he makes the “bad guys” pay in a way that protects himself, his wife, and his brother, and outsmarts even the FBI.

By John Grisham,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked The Firm as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

**THE BOOK THAT MADE JOHN GRISHAM A HOUSEHOLD NAME**
Featuring an exclusive introduction from the author.
_______________________________________

He thought it was his dream job. Until it turned into his worst nightmare...

When Mitch McDeere qualified third in his class at Harvard, offers poured in from every law firm in America. Bendini, Lambert and Locke were a small, well-respected firm, but their offer exceeded Mitch's wildest expectations: a fantastic salary, a new home, and the keys to a brand new BMW.

Except for the mysterious deaths of previous lawyers with the firm. And the FBI investigations. And the secret files.

Mitch…


Book cover of Apt Pupil

Stan Morse Why did I love this book?

Todd Bowden, a middle-class boy, has everything good going for him until he meets Kurt Dussander, a man who was the pure embodiment of evil during Hitler’s Nazi regime, now living in America under the assumed name, Arthur Denker. Todd figures out who “Arthur Denker” is from crime magazines his father had kept in a trunk in the garage.

Todd’s curiosity for violence rises to the surface. He is increasingly drawn down into darkness, blackmailing Mr. Dussander to tell him what went on in the concentration camps.

By Stephen King,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Apt Pupil as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

#1 New York Times bestselling author Stephen King’s timeless coming-of-age novella, Apt Pupil—published in his 1982 story collection Different Seasons and made into a 1998 Tristar movie starring Ian McKellan and Brad Renfro—now available for the first time as a standalone publication.

If you don’t believe in the existence of evil, you have a lot to learn.

Todd Bowden is an apt pupil. Good grades, good family, a paper route. But he is about to meet a different kind of teacher, Mr. Dussander, and to learn all about Dussander’s dark and deadly past…a decades-old manhunt Dussander has escaped to this…


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Book cover of Shadow of the Hidden

Shadow of the Hidden by Kev Harrison,

It’s Seb’s last day working in Turkey, but his friend Oz has been cursed. Superstition turns to terror as the effects of the ancient malediction spill over, and the lives of Oz and his family hang in the balance. Can Seb find the answers to remove the hex before it’s…

Book cover of Schindler's List

Stan Morse Why did I love this book?

Just because you are a good person, does not mean that those who occupy your social class are not equally good people. It often takes personal sacrifice, and a willingness to face personal risk, in order to help those who are  deserving.

Even if it means you may be found out and punished for your good deeds.

By Thomas Keneally,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Schindler's List as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The basis for the Oscar-winning Spielberg movie, this novel recreates the story of Oskar Schindler, an Aryan who risked his life to protect Jews in Nazi-occupied Poland.


Book cover of Of Mice and Men

Stan Morse Why did I love this book?

Lenny is mentally challenged, what we might today call severe ADHD with a psychopathic twist. His friend George facilitates Lenny's dealing with a world he would otherwise struggle in. But this “facilitation” leads to a death, which requires George to to protect himself, by killing Lenny, who would otherwise have to deal with a criminal legal system that would ultimately see him executed.

Steinbeck’s opening scene is wonderfully visually descriptive and forms an elegant set-up bracket for the ending scene.

By John Steinbeck,

Why should I read it?

9 authors picked Of Mice and Men as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Introducing Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world's greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith.

Celebrating the range and diversity of Penguin Classics, they take us from snowy Japan to springtime Vienna, from haunted New England to a sun-drenched Mediterranean island, and from a game of chess on the ocean to a love story on the moon. Beautifully designed and printed, these collectible editions are bound in colourful, tactile cloth and stamped with foil.

Drifters in search of work, George and his childlike friend Lennie have nothing in the world except…


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Book cover of TimeBlink

TimeBlink by MJ Mumford,

When Syd Brixton was eleven years old, her identical twin vanished from a park and was never found. 

Now twenty years later, Syd’s favorite customer, Morley, is killed in a horrific accident outside the pub where Syd works. Moments before Morley dies, he gives Syd an extraordinary gift: the power…

Book cover of A Tale of Two Cities

Stan Morse Why did I love this book?

One of the great opening lines in fiction that begins with: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times . . .” Sydney Carton is a lawyer in London at the time of the French Revolution. He takes on the case of Doctor Manette, released from imprisonment at the Bastille to live in exile in London with his daughter Lucie.

Returning to France, Dr. Manette is subsequently accused of being a spy for the British government and is sentenced to death. Sydney’s love for Lucie causes him to make the ultimate sacrifice to save Lucie’s father from the guillotine.

By Charles Dickens,

Why should I read it?

10 authors picked A Tale of Two Cities as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Sydney Carton is a lawyer who has wasted his abilities and his life. Now he has to make a difficult choice about what is really important to him, which could be a matter of life or death. The French Revolution is running its violent course; lives are ruined as a new France is created. How did the gentle Doctor Manette and his daughter Lucie become caught up in France's struggles? What is the real identity of the handsome Charles Darnay, who wins Lucie's hand in marriage? And why does the shadow of La Bastille Prison hang over them all? The…


Explore my book 😀

Goering's Gold

By Stan Morse,

Book cover of Goering's Gold

What is my book about?

In 1934, Hermann Goering smuggled three tons of gold to America, embedded in pipes destined for a hydroelectric project. When the Third Reich fell, the Russians seized Goering’s papers. A former KGB officer has found those papers and knows where the gold may be hidden.

America’s finest assassin is presumed dead after a Cuban MiG shoots down his jet over the Caribbean. What his employer, the secretive U.S. Foreign Intervention Coordination Office (FICO), doesn’t know is that Jerry wasn’t on the jet and is now rough camping near the powerhouse where Goering’s pipes were installed. Discovering a woman’s body near his campsite, Jerry is involuntarily drawn into a struggle between persons seeking the lost gold. If FICO learns he still lives, Jerry’s days are numbered.

Book cover of The Firm
Book cover of Apt Pupil
Book cover of Schindler's List

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