A music producer named Marion, who was in the South during the 1950s, loved the sound of Black musicians. However, he knows they cannot record their music, especially down South, where he lives.

He uses his profession to continue a forbidden relationship that he has carried on for 15 years, one with a Black woman. The relationship has produced an athletically gifted son who appears white. While he resides in Meridian, Mississippi, with his alcoholic wife and two sons, the music allows him to travel throughout the South and to Birmingham, Alabama, where his “other” family resides.

Marion’s Black lover, Rosa, is victimized twice in her life. A trained attorney and a woman, she was not of her time. Brilliant and talented, she championed the work of Black musicians. Most of the connections she made in selling her music were through Marion.

Marion wants to help Black people advance their careers. Since there have been some breakthroughs in the North and he has connections there, he does what he can to help. However, because of his second family in Birmingham, he loses almost all connection with his white family in Meridian, including the fact that his oldest son has become so consumed with hate that he has joined the Klan.

With the wife in Mississippi, drinking all the time, and the oldest son out spreading his hate with his friends, the youngest son becomes withdrawn. Marion is away so often that he never realizes how badly his family has disintegrated. The arguments with his wife over the years were a routine fiasco. Marion never realized it was a manifestation of what he left her with when he went in search of music.

His athletically gifted son, while appearing to be white, identifies with his African American heritage, and this causes some conflict with his father. Marion keeps telling him it will be easier to pass as “white.” His father goes to great lengths to advance his son’s career, driving him to another county to play youth baseball. His teammates cherished their star, but Aaron knew they would despise him if they were aware he was part black. It reinforces his Black identity.

The story explores the struggles within a family and the life of a man who lives a lie. Rosa knows Marion will never leave his wife, especially for a Black woman. She has loved him for fifteen years and knows it cannot reach the fruition she desires. Aaron has grown, and he is now the focus of Rosa’s life. Many Black people are moving North in search of a better life for their families. Rosa applies for a job in Washington with the government and is hired. Marion is devastated because Rosa and Aaron were the only absolute pleasures he had ever known.

The year is 2044, and America is going to the polls to elect a new president. The political landscape has undergone significant shifts following the 2020 election. The Democrats are running Lanni Portello, who was their choice in the previous five elections. After each loss, she divorced her husband, blaming him for the loss. The Republicans count on the incumbent until he drops out, forcing them to seek a candidate.
Political pundits are predicting the lowest turnout in recorded American history. They even speculate that if there ever were a year for a third-party candidate to prevail, this would be it.

The Party of Eagles, a fringe party, is fielding a weak candidate. However, the party leaders see this as an opportunity. One of their party contributors is John Smith, a hedge fund manager with a net worth of $77 billion. They decide to try to convince him to run. He ultimately agrees, but only because of some influence from his wife.
When he first enters the race, he garners some public support, but it remains low. When it comes out that he and his wife are swingers, and he admits to it, his popularity soars. The reason is that the public considers him honest, which is something they are not accustomed to.

The Secret Service doesn’t want to protect him because of where they may have to go. Once John Smith reaches 15% of the projected vote, the Secret Service must provide the requested protection because he is considered a viable candidate. While sorting out the details of security, the head of the Secret Service discovers that several of her agents are also swingers.

Once elected, the First Couple enjoys their sexual appetite in every room they can, the Red Room, the Green Room, the China Room, etc. They draw the attention of some White House staff, who use drinking glasses to eavesdrop on the conversations.
John Smith turns the Party of Eagles' symbol, rabbit ears, and hierarchy of men upside down. John brings in a woman to run as his vice president and names several to his cabinet.

TYPE OF HUMOR In one scene, the First Couple evades the Secret Service and makes their way to a local hotel for a change of pace. When the Secret Service arrives and inquires if a John Smith is registered, the reply is yes. There is a John Smith in rooms 101, 104, 117, and 124. 214, 218, 221, 227, 308, and 317.

The California Supreme Court receives a petition for review from a person declared a frivolous appellant. When the judges review the file, they fail to find any briefs. The missing briefs indicate that an appeal had not taken place. When they reviewed the file further, they discovered that the court of appeal, from which the case had originated, claimed to have taken the appeal in 87 days, which is physically impossible. Chief Justice Talcolm Powder is convinced it is just a clerical error. He argues the case be returned to the appellate court where it emanated.

However, after returning the case to the court of appeal, Justice Powder orders his clerk to bring him all the cases the California Supreme Court reviewed over the previous 6 months from the appellate court in question. He found an excessive number of petitions for review from that court and appealed to the California Supreme Court. The outrageous decisions the California Supreme Court received from the appellate court where the frivolous appellant originated raise eyebrows. To make matters worse, the Chief Justice realizes that the California Supreme Court upheld some of the outrageous decisions. Suddenly, Justice Powder comes to terms with a corrupt court on his hands. After further reviewing the files, he determines that Judge Reuben Ortotozo is the ringleader, as he is listed on every decision as one of the three judges. Now he must decide how to handle the problem.

After thinking the situation over, he understands he can’t turn him in since, after all, Reuben is a judge, and one of them; Justice Powder must protect his kind. Besides, after careful consideration, Justice Powder remembered that the California Supreme Court had reviewed the cases, and he would draw attention to the California Supreme Court for not having turned him in sooner. The only alternative he can think of is to plant the name of Reuben Ortotzo in the mind of the governor as quickly as possible, then force one of the current members off to create a vacancy. His motive is to get Ortotzo on the court where he can watch him. He hopes to curtail Reuben’s corrupt ways, now an obsession—his two closest allies on the court, the two oldest members, and both alcoholics.

Justice Powder’s plan works to perfection, but in the process, members of the state senate judiciary committee discover Ortotzo’s corruption. They confirm him, so they won’t make the governor look bad with his nomination. Besides, they know they don’t need a scandal involving the state’s highest court. The motivation? They fear it might undermine public confidence in the judicial system. Once Reuben is seated on the court, it becomes evident to the others of the California Supreme Court that he is still doing business with his former colleagues at the appellate level. He now uses his place on the court to argue why their decisions should be upheld using esoteric logic that escapes everyone. He now has a dual profession: judge and lobbyist. He also becomes a pain in everyone’s butt with his conduct. Oh, what to do about this man? When one of the alcoholic jurists mutters, “Oh, I wish that man were dead,” she sparks an idea. The death sentence for Reuben Ortotzo was convicted of corruption and sentenced under special circumstances in absentia.

Because no public charges were brought against Justice Ortotzo, the court is forced to turn to the private sector. A hit contract is taken out, and the court’s problems with Reuben get worse as the assassin fails on repeated attempts. In the end, six jurists are arrested for the attempted murder of Reuben. The irony is that Reuben will still be on the court to hear their appeals.

The story also examines the baggage judges bring to the court.

Donald Morehead is a Hollywood success story career-wise, but marriage is another story. Divorced 6 times, he never settled in.

Having made substantial sums of money during the early years of his career, Donald Morehead was very generous in agreeing to divorce settlements, since he had more than enough to cover them and still live well. However, as the years passed and the parts grew smaller and fewer, his income diminished substantially, making the payment schedule impossible.
His long-time agent, Glitz, knew how desperate his client's plight was. He made it a mission to get himself work, any work. Because of his client's small stature, which also limited the parts available to him, Glitz had to look much harder. When a part came up for Donald to play Peter Pan in a television series, Glitz pushed it on his client, even though it offered only a 4-week guarantee. While not wanting to take the part, Donald Morehead agreed, knowing he needed the money. The show becomes an overwhelming success, and Donald ends up back on the Hollywood social circuit.
Donald attends a Hollywood party where a murder occurs—the victim is a twenty-one-year-old college student who is shot while working as a valet. Nobody can figure out a motive for the crime. However, when another party makes another attempt, the lead detective begins to believe the youth was not the intended victim. The detective assigned to the case is also an aspiring screenwriter.
When exiting one of the soirees along with two other well-known people, one a plastic surgeon who is only invited to the parties to identify the guests, a shot is fired. The detective assigned to the case finds himself in an idyllic situation: he is an aspiring screenwriter, and between the intended victims and the partygoers he needs to interview, he finds his new social network better than anything Facebook could offer.
After a while, Donald becomes frustrated with the detective sensing he is more concerned with selling his screenplays than finding the would-be killer. The detective reminds Donald that he was the one who married all those suspects, not the detective.
The detective catches the killer, and the case turns into a career maker, just not with the Brentwood Police Department.

Milton Kahl, a young Jewish boy in Austria, begins to feel the wave of anti-Semitic sentiment as the Nazi incursion draws near. His closest friend, Alfred Hoflager, is not Jewish. Alfred’s father, a university professor, feels the ominous warning of the advancing Nazi forces … and what will happen to the Jews and intellectuals if the Nazis control Austria.

The anti-Semitic mindset of many in Austria is painfully apparent when Alfred is physically beaten in school because his friend, Milton, is a Jew. Milton is warned again by another non-Jewish classmate of the impending dangers of being a Jew under Nazi control and is then assaulted by the same group that attacked Alfred. Milton confronts his father, Gottfried, about the possibility of the family leaving Austria. His father refuses to believe that if the Germans came to Austria, the Jews would be made second-class citizens as they were in Germany at the time. He believes the Nazis would still need him because of his expertise as a currency dealer. He does not want to give up everything he owns and leave for America … a land where he knows nobody and has nothing.
Milton and Alfred are set to attend Oxford in the autumn. When the ominous signs of an imminent Nazi invasion become clear, Alfred and his family prepare to leave for America and ask Milton to join them. Gottfried dismisses the thought of any danger from the Nazis and refuses. His mother finally signs the parental papers for Milton to emigrate.

Once in America, they settled at Albert’s brother’s house in Connecticut. A professor at Yale, Harlan, believes he can guarantee both boys a spot at Yale for the coming term. Though they insist Milton accept their hospitality and stay until he can start school, Milton believes he must earn his way and lands a job in Manhattan’s garment district. Milton’s boss, Erwin, is Jewish and ultimately sponsors Milton’s parents and brother Lawrence with no expectation of being repaid. Erwin hires his brother for a position in the factory. He is rewarded by being attacked and blinded by Lawrence, who turns to the streets of New York, where money is easier and more lucrative, using extortion rather than hard work.

The book explores the rise and ultimate victory of a young Jewish man during the Nazi invasion of Austria. The horrific impact and extremes of the Nazis on the lives of those in Europe reach other countries as well.

The book reflects on a stranger’s humanity for his fellow man. And a family, so long held together by fear and arrogance, ultimately reaped what they had sown.