Substack Collection

This is the new Fourth Edition, with extra chapters and more details on this beloved song. 

Discover the song that shocked the nation!

• Unravel a Musical Mystery: Discover the rich history of "St. James Infirmary," one of the most enduring and influential jazz-blues songs, tracing its roots from folk traditions to its modern cultural impact.
• Dive into Jazz Era Intrigue: Follow a cast of fascinating characters—musicians, moguls, and minstrels—who shaped the song and left their mark on American music and culture.
• Meticulously Researched, Wryly Told: Authored by Robert W. Harwood, this book blends humor, scholarly rigor, and vivid storytelling to illuminate the song’s origins, evolution, and mysterious allure.
• Praise from Critics and Scholars: Called "the definitive statement on the subject," the book has been lauded for its compelling narrative and cultural insight by music historians and fans alike.
• A Must-Read for Music Lovers: Whether you're a jazz enthusiast, history buff, or curious reader, this is a fascinating exploration of music’s power to inspire, unite, and endure.

Seeking Mirth and Beauty: Musings on How Things Come to Be is a thoughtful exploration of art, music, and the creative mind, centered on the work of Bob Dylan. Rather than retelling a famous life story or decoding lyrics for hidden messages, this book turns its attention to a deeper question: why certain songs, sounds, and images stay with people long after they are heard.

Written as a series of meditative essays, the book treats Dylan’s songs as works of art—objects shaped by feeling, intuition, and imagination. It suggests that great art does not always explain itself and that meaning often comes from experience rather than answers. Along the way, the author reflects on creativity itself: how ideas take shape, how art separates from its maker, and how music can feel both timeless and personal at once.

The tone is curious, reflective, and often poetic, inviting readers to slow down and listen closely—to songs, to language, and to their own thoughts. While Dylan’s work provides the starting point, the book reaches beyond any single artist, offering insight into how art connects to memory, emotion, and the shared human experience.

This is a book for readers who enjoy thinking deeply about music, creativity, and the quiet moments where meaning begins to form.

Guard: A True Story of Duty, Sacrifice, and Leadership in Kentucky's Maximum Security Penitentiary 

• Step Behind the Bars: Experience life inside “The Castle,” Kentucky State Penitentiary, through the eyes of a seasoned prison guard.
• Witness Unthinkable Events: From mass escapes and hostage crises to daily violence and racial tensions, every page delivers gripping, real-life drama.
• Relive Harrowing Moments: Discover chilling details, including a highway crime spree where two officers were shot, and the struggles of managing executions.
• Explore the Evolution of Justice: Learn how the penitentiary transformed from medieval punishments to modern-day practices, reflecting the changing face of the prison system.
• Gain Unique Insights: Understand the toll on those tasked with managing society’s most dangerous individuals, as well as the compassion and resilience required for the job.
• Perfect for True Crime and Memoir Fans: An unforgettable read for those captivated by real stories of duty, sacrifice, and leadership under extreme conditions. Dr. Norman Rose, professor of Sociology and Criminology at Kent State University, will be pairing Guard with his book, A Career in Corrections, for use with his students. When used together in a course, the books offer students the opportunity to read insightful perspectives of an instructor within the discipline and a correction officer within the field, providing them with a holistic and comprehensive understanding of work within the corrections system. https://titles.cognella.com/a-career-in-corrections-9798823310499

Living is Easy with Eyes Closed is releasing February 7, 2026. Order Yours Today!

If meditation has ever felt out of reach, this book shows it’s closer than you think.

Have you tried meditation without success? Maybe your mind races. Maybe visualizing is a challenge. Maybe stillness feels uneasy. Or maybe you’ve tried traditional methods and thought, Meditation works—for someone else.

This book bridges the gap between what’s felt missing and what’s been within you all along.

Living Is Easy With Eyes Closed is a gentle guide for those who long for calm and seek a practice that feels like home. For anyone who’s wrestled with sitting still, silencing thoughts, or “seeing” what others describe, Andrea Thorfinson offers a new path—one that meets every kind of mind with kindness.

Inside, you’ll find grounding practices rooted in breath, nature, and imagination-free awareness. You’ll learn to meditate with the elements—fire, water, earth, air—as well as sound, movement, and stillness. Each one becomes a doorway to clarity, calm, and reconnection.

Here, meditation becomes a return to your body—through breath that softens, movement that steadies, and sound that opens the heart. Visualizing is optional. So is sitting still. Just arrive as you are.

With tender stories, light humor, and clear, adaptable steps, this book invites you back to your senses—and into a steadier, kinder way of being.

If meditation has always felt like it belonged to others, this book makes it yours.

Open the pages. Close your eyes. Begin.

Market Like It’s 1999 is a practical guide for authors, artists, and entrepreneurs who are tired of chasing algorithms and marketing trends that never seem to stick.

Instead of offering hacks or shortcuts, this book returns to fundamentals that worked long before social media dashboards and automation tools took over. It explains why marketing often feels uncomfortable, confusing, or fake—and how to replace that feeling with clarity.

At the center of the book is a simple but powerful question: What business are you really in? Not what product is being sold, but what problem is being solved. By answering that question clearly, marketing becomes less about performance and more about connection.

Through practical examples and straightforward language, the book shows how testing ideas, recognizing real signals, and showing up consistently in the right places can build trust over time. Phones, email, websites, live rooms, and modern tools all still work—when they are used to support real contact instead of replace it.

This is not a promise of overnight success. It is a framework for sustainable visibility. The focus is on steady presence, clear communication, and building something that lasts without burning out or losing integrity.

For creatives and business owners who want marketing to feel honest again, this book offers a durable path forward.

John Hyland lives a small, tightly controlled life in suburban Chicago. He works a dull office job, keeps the same routines every day, and tries to stay ahead of painful memories from his past. Then an old man at a diner starts calling him by another name—Blaney—and seems certain John is tied to a long-ago crime involving stolen gold. That strange meeting cracks open the careful life John has built.

As John tries to understand why this man has singled him out, the story begins to connect his lonely present to buried trauma, old violence, and a mystery that reaches back dec-ades. Fear follows him from the diner to his job, to his apartment, and finally out toward the rail lines linked to the famous robbery known as “The Big Touch.” John is no longer simply hiding from old wounds. He is pulled into something larger, darker, and far more dangerous than he expected.

What remains is a mood of unease and quiet sorrow, mixed with deep empathy for a man cornered by memory, guilt, and the pull of the past.

A serene evening walk takes an ominous turn for Kendi Liston when he stumbles upon a lifeless woman in the shadows of his apartment building. Faced with a haunting choice—to help or to protect himself from inevitable suspicion—Kendi makes the fateful decision to report the discovery. But in a world where his identity often precedes him, this single act of integrity may cost him everything.

As the investigation unfolds, Kendi becomes entangled in a web of prejudices, assumptions, and danger. Officers Regan and Crowe, both battling their own demons, approach the case with opposing philosophies that escalate tension and risk. Witness accounts and evidence intertwine in ways that challenge perceptions of guilt and innocence, leaving no character untouched by the consequences.

This gripping narrative explores the weight of truth, the complexity of identity, and the silent battles fought in every interaction. With masterful pacing and profound emotional depth, Right There in Black and White immerses readers in a world where every choice matters and nothing is as simple as it seems.