I've had an exciting life, I think—shootings and cuttings and high speed chases—far too many wives and way too little money. Yes, life was exciting when I was a randy young policeman working the mean streets of Denver . . . every day was an adventure! Legends in our own minds, each of us share a similar family history . . . people with parents who loved us and taught us the difference between right and wrong, and just like our spouses, feared for our safety every day we walked in harm's way. Not really the Superman little kids see us as or the Stormtroopers far too many people choose to believe we are, but ordinary people just trying to do the right thing. So, this is my story. Told from a police officer's cynical yet humorous point of view, it's a warm and loving family history, rich with snippets of family lore and detailed memories that began well before the blood and gore of the police world, and continuing into the safety and comfort of my retirement years. It's proof that you don't have to be shot in order to have a story worth telling. Reader Reviews: One of the most entertaining autobiography’s ever written – get ready to laugh and be totally engaged through to the end of the book!! - Sharon Riek, Palm Harbor, Florida I read it in about three days involving two late nights and found it highly pleasurable from beginning to end. - Dr. Gordon Farley, Psychiatry, Denver, Colorado I enjoyed Bill’s book from start to finish! After only one chapter, I was hooked on his writing style. - Tammy Esslinger-Lehman, CPA, Principal, UtiliBiz Solutions, Crowley, Texas Told in great detail, with humor, this is the truth and reality of life; an entertaining and interesting read. - Sergeant Jim Lindsey, Retired, DPD A fascinating read! - Captain Steve Metros, Retired, DPD

Better Rags: A Police Officer's Story

Biographies & Memoirs

Aumiller, William L.

Professionals & Academics

Tattered Cover Press

My Life Without a Stage Manager

Wilma Gundy

An international romp with big money, steamy relationships, murder and intrigue. Helmut Schneider, an uber-successful investment banker based in Hong Kong wants more out of life than money. After a major financial coup, which yielded millions for himself and his major clients, he decides to give new meaning to his life by establishing and funding the Arcadia Foundation. Its mission is to effectively address the problem of crushing poverty, especially in developing countries. His exceptionally intelligent, attractive, and assertive deputy, Lingliu, uses her persuasive talents, mind and body, to attract dynamic men and women from China, India, Egypt, England, the Caribbean and the USA to join the Foundation and embrace its altruistic goals. The Arcadia Foundation enjoys initial success but spawns lethal enemies among powerful governments and organizations. Helmut is brutally murdered; the lives of the Foundation’s principals are credibly threatened. The Foundation strives to survive and be successful under the new leadership of Lingliu who vows to find the murderer of her mentor.

Arcadia

Literature & Fiction

Haviland, R. Michael

Literary

Beyond the Golden Smile: Jack Johnson and Class

Jim Foglio

“Paula's Window: Papa, the Bielski Partisans, and A Life Unexpected” is the gripping Holocaust memoir of a Jewish girl’s waking nightmare in a world gone mad and hope regained in the ashes. Artist Paula Burger’s carefree childhood in Novogrudek, Poland, exploded when the Nazis occupied the town in July of 1941. Paula and her family evaded the round ups and executions of thousands of Jews until 1942, when they were discovered by the Germans and forced inside the ghetto, a holding pen of death. Her father eventually escaped and joined the Bielski Partisans in the Naliboki Forest, where he planned to bring his family. One of their neighbors got wind of his activities and informed on him to the Nazis. Unable to locate Paula’s father, the Nazis took her mother away and interrogated her at official headquarters. She told them her husband had disappeared, and denied having children. The Nazis arrested her. Six weeks later, on Yom Kippur, 1942, she was killed. Paula never had a chance to say goodbye. As soon as Paula’s father learned of his wife’s fate, he realized his daughter and son were next. He arranged to smuggle them out of the ghetto and brought them to their new home with the Bielski Partisans in the Naliboki Forest. But no one was safe, especially the children. One night Paula overheard the awful truth: If anything ever happened to her father, his children were expendable. “I loved my father more than life,” Paula writes. “And I knew, one way or another, my life ended with his. Ever since I heard people talking about my brother and me around the campfire, I carried this secret like a bullet in my soul . . . The Bielskis could not risk the lives of hundreds of Jews to save two children.” “After Mama was killed, I wanted to give up,” she writes. “When Papa disappeared for weeks in the forest, I willed myself to die. I guess death didn’t want me. Like the snowflakes of my childhood, we swirl, struggle, collapse — but as long as we breathe, we are commanded to live.” “Paula’s Window, ” written by Paula Burger and Andrea Jacobs, is a haunting chronicle of crushing inhumanity and the tenacity of human love. After reading this book, you will never forget what must be remembered.

Paula's Window: Papa, the Bielski Partisans, and A Life Unexpected

Burger, Paula

Jacobs, Andrea

Historical

Do you believe in angels? Yeah, me too, but not the heaven kind with wings and white gowns. The angels I'm talking about are the ordinary good people we've all known and loved in life. Mom was an angel. Dad too, even if his halo tilted a little. I wrote about them in my memoir, Better Rags, and now pay tribute to three equal earth angels whose stories just begged to be told.

Earth Angels: Three Who Mattered

Memoirs

Life of Coach The Story of Pat Weis

Unknown, Author

Rose the Fierce

Hwaja Chung

A historical novel taking place in Denver during the Great Depression, this beautiful story is layered with insight and love of family. Handwritten on nearly 400 sheets of notebook paper over the past three years, my mother handed me a 3-ring binder just prior to her 83rd birthday and asked me to publish this story. Being an aficionado of historical novels myself, I am proud to state that Champa Street is truly a gem, a precious jewel, that only a heartfelt author of great perceptiveness, intelligence, and integrity could have put to pen and paper. Bonnee Shafner Oderberg

Champa Street

Evelyn Golden Shafner

In the summer of 1993, Tom Hollar lost his life when he was pulled from his car and shot twice. He had been leading a life that emulated Denver's hip culture at the time. He and his wife, Christina, owned and operated the punk skateboard and clothing/accessories store, iMiJimi on 13th Avenue. His death and his wife's beating and abduction were random acts of violence that resonate with us even now, as our nation tries to understand the increase in random murders. Tom's murder and trial coincided with a new era for Denver and the summer of his death was called the Summer of Violence. The roles of Denver's then mayor, Wellington Webb and its Chief Deputy District Attorney, Craig Silverman, as well as police and media representatives are detailed in the section covering the murder and the trial. Whether you have experienced the loss of a loved one to an act of violence or not, you will more completely understand the extreme situations the families and friends of the victim go through during the legal processes hoping for justice. Now you can read about this pivotal event for the Denver community in the just released book When Tom Went West. Written by Nedra Downing, Tom's mother (a physician and pharmacist) it chronicles Tom's life in Michigan and Denver and the details leading to the trial in May and June 1994 of the two perpetrators who were successfully brought to justice. Also included are over 90 photos and dozens of poems written by the author to help her live through the most difficult experience a parent can have.

When Tom Went West: A Good Life, A Gang Slaying

Downing, Nedra J.

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