Four Books in Six Months?

Some friends have asked, “How can you write four books in six months?” This is an obvious question because The Greek Boxer was released on November 15, 2025; American Andarte on January 15, 2026; Wolf Pelt on March 15; and Fifty-Seven on May 15. The answer is, of course, sleight of hand. I wrote the four books between 2017 and 2022, and I am only now releasing them. Here’s what happened.

In 2017, after the publication of Rails of War by the University of Nebraska Press, I had an agent, an excellent agent with an overstuffed Rolodex. Ronald Goldfarb secured my University of Nebraska Press contract. Ron and his assistant, Gerrie, were great. And the best part was that they were only a couple of miles from our home in Alexandria, Virginia. That meant no torturous trips to New York City, where every other literary agency of any salt is located. I’m not a fan of NYC.

I began working on The Greek Boxer by fictionalizing and expanding a 15,000-word monograph written in the early 1990s on the Great Colorado Coal Strike of 1913-14. When I showed Ron my first draft, we had mild disagreements about action scenes. He wanted more. He also worried that the genre was nonconformist. The Greek Boxer is not narrative nonfiction. It’s fiction but noted with a bibliography. I’ve heard this genre described as “creative nonfiction.” I don’t know what to call it; it’s just the way I liked to write. Fiction is fine, but I like my readers to know when history jumps out at you. Hence, my footnotes and references.

So, I kept writing, and American Andarte followed. Then Wolf Pelt. Ron liked all three, but the genre did not fit neatly into commercial preconceptions. Ron passed away before I finished Fifty-Seven.

Ron’s passing left me agentless. I halfheartedly tried to wrangle new representation, my least favorite part of writing. My lackadaisical efforts resulted in nibbles and noncommitment. So, my four books lived only in my mind and on my cloud for the coming years. Then I decided to self-publish using my own LLC, Alinet. Now, the four books are tangible and available. You can find them here: https://books2read.com/u/bWXlo7

I like “The Greek Stories” genre, a noted factual format with fictional action. And if anyone is still confused, I cannot write a book in 90-days. That’s what AI is for.

I hope you enjoy the series, and I look forward to your feedback.                 –SJH