The remarkable writing Duo, Charles Breakfield and Rox Burkey have been acknowledged as Award Winners with two separate books in two separate awards. Their critically acclaimed novel, Enigma Forced, which is the second book in their Enigma Heirs trilogy, was the recipient of the 2025 Independent Press Award in the Techno-Thriller category. In addition, their short story collection, Trusted Friends and Lovers, was the winner of the 2025 Pencraft Seasonal Book Award Winter edition.
These awards are the latest highlights in several accomplishments, including positive Five-Star reviews by Publishers Weekly and Readers Favorite along with other Award wins including the reputable Page Turner Awards, the ABR Award, which focuses on audiobooks and is sponsored by Audio Book Reviewer, and Gold and Bronze Award recognition at the prestigious Global Book Awards.
Rox Burkey is a technology professional who excels at optimizing technology and business investments. She works with customers all over the world, focusing on optimized customer experiences. Rox writes white papers and documentation but has a marked preference for fiction. Together these Texas authors create award-winning stories that resonate with males and females and young and experienced adults. They bring a fresh new view to technology possibilities today in exciting stories. Visit their website for more information and free stuff. Https://www.EnigmaSeries.com
Critically acclaimed author Tong Ge is now a multiple Award Winner. Her critically acclaimed historical epic, The House Filler was the recipient of the prestigious 2024 National Association of Independent Writers and Editors (NAIWE) Award for Literary Fiction. This recognition of acknowledgement in a contest of this magnitude is a first for this up- and-coming author and is the latest highlight in a number of accomplishments including an award win at the 2024 Independent Press Award for new fiction as well as being a finalist at the 2023 Eyelands Book Awards and the 2024 Canadian Book Club Awards for fiction.
2024 National Association of Independent Writers and Editors Award for Literary Fiction “We are pleased to share with you that your book, The House Filler, was selected from over 100 entries in the 2 nd Annual NAIWE Book Awards Contest! And it was selected to represent this category because of the literary skills you used to successively develop the story and the descriptive language you wrote in to allow the reader to understand the community in which the main character lives!”
About NAIWE
NAIWE is a professional association for all publishing professionals! We exist to help members succeed with our unique focus on creating multiple streams of income. We’ll cheer you on when your first novel hits the shelves or the first printing of your business book sells out. We’ll support you as you add new skills to your repertoire and learn to make a great living doing what you do best.
We believe in professional freelancers and in-house publishing professionals who love the rhythm and cadence of the language and are committed to polishing even the humblest prose to its highest luster.
At NAIWE, we know that a career in the publishing industry isn’t all about the art. It’s not all about the money either. Your work is about the joy of creativity, the freedom of working independently, and the fulfillment that comes from creating an authentic, abundant life, earning a living doing what you love to do. We believe that taking the road less traveled is often the best way to go.
We encourage everyone in the publishing industry to belong to two professional organizations. The first is a large, general, career-building association such as NAIWE, and the second is a smaller craft- or genre-focused association that will help develop additional skills in the minutiae of your craft.
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About Tong Ge
Born and raised in China, Tong Ge moved to Canada in the late 1980s as an international student, earning a Master of Science degree from the University of Saskatchewan in 1992. Since 2012, she has written under both her real name and the pen name Tong Ge, publishing poetry, prose, and short stories in English and Chinese across North America, England, and Taiwan. A recipient of five literary awards and a finalist for five others. Her debut novel, “The House Filler,” was published in Canada in 2023. It is a finalist for the 2023 Eyelands Book Awards and the 2024 Canadian Book Club Awards for fiction and won the 2024 Independent Press Award for new fiction and National Association of Independent Writers and Editors (NAIWE) Award for Literary Fiction.
A moving and powerful historical epic by critically acclaimed author, Tong Ge
Published by Ronsdale Press
Available in both print and e-book format worldwide
The House Filler is a moving and powerful portrayal of one family’s struggle to survive in the face of an historical upheaval and political oppression.
A family saga set in China during the most tumultuous time of the twentieth century including the Japanese invasion, the civil war, and the Communist takeover.
The House Filler is told through the experiences of Golden Phoenix, a woman who faces war, poverty, and political oppression as she fights for survival, freedom and happiness. After the untimely death of her husband, Golden Phoenix is determined to keep her family together. However, poverty forces her to make the heart-wrenching decision to give her teenage twins to the Red Army. During the upheaval of the Japanese invasion of her hometown, she is separated from her two young girls, and her remaining son leaves to fight with the Nationalist army. Golden Phoenix, along with her adopted son, remains to endure the horror and hardship of war. When the civil war ends with the Communists in power in 1949, one of her twins, who had joined the Communist Party, is wrongly accused of being a traitor and is sentenced to death. Golden Phoenix and her family must find a way to save her son’s life.
“Golden Phoenix’s voice is strong. It feels that she is right there, sitting with the reader, telling her story”_Miramichi Reader
“When momentous events take the whole of China by storm, her family is buffeted as well: ‘Blessings do not come in pairs, and calamities never come alone.’ Quotidian struggles give way to horrendous tragedies with the Japanese invasion, the civil war between the Communists and the Nationalists, and the iron-fisted regime of modern China. Golden Phoenix and her family go through incredible pain. In simplistic works, the ones who inflict pain under an occupying power would face retribution when the regime changes. This is no such fairy tale. It is a testament to the power of spirit; a work reminiscent of Yu Hua’s To Live but also one with a unique, wry voice.” _ Historical Novel Society
“A debut novel of a proposed trilogy from Canadian writer Tong Ge promises more to come” _ The Epoch Times.
About Tong:
Born and raised in China, Tong Ge came to Canada in the late 80s as an international student. She has obtained a Master of Science degree from University of Saskatchewan in 1992. Since 2012, she has written under both her real name and the pen name Tong Ge, publishing poems, prose, and short stories in both English and Chinese across North America, England, and Taiwan. Her works can be found in publications such as PRISM International, Canadian Stories, Ricepaper, Academy of the Heart and Mind, FLOW magazine, Vineyard Poetry Quarterly, 渥水, 远方的诗, Polyglot Magazine, Aloka Magazine, Magnets and Ladders. With four literary prizes already received, she is also a finalist for four others. Her debut novel, “The House Filler,” was published in Canada in 2023 and is among the five finalists worldwide for the 2023 Eyelands Book Awards historical fiction + memoir category and is the winner of the 2024 Independent Press Award for new fiction. It is also a finalist for the 2024 Canadian Book Club Award.
Another passage refers to “the obligatory winter mix of snow-laden grey sky and face-slapping ocean wind.” But the author’s wry, sharp-eyed humor is always as warm as the weather is cold. Whether he’s fondly reflecting on the nicknames he’s given his sons or on his wife’s nature, he relates his tales and misadventures with wonderful care and relish. Even when these episodes verge on being grim (a long story about a serious legal battle with the Canada Revenue Agency, for instance, is in many ways the highlight of the book), Rem’s gimlet-eyed raconteur spirit is irrepressible.
And the balance of the volume’s antic, detailed escapades in New York reads like the most inviting kind of travelogue. An outsiders-in-New York story with plenty of chuckles and a lot of heart. ~ Kirkus Indie Review
More From Emil Rem:
The adventure continues… In his third novel—using his signature blend of personal memories interwoven with history and depictions of his ongoing travels, the author takes us through Spain and Gibraltar—creating an insightful narrative around a vivid host of characters and experiences on this journey to rediscover the ‘vanished’ landscapes of his culture and his childhood. …“Sitting cross-legged in his tent, Prince Feisal laments, “But you know Lieutenant, in the Arab city of Cordova were two miles of public lighting in the streets when London was a village?” “Yes, you were great,” Lawrence admitted. “Nine centuries ago.” “Time to be great again, my lord.” “My father is old and I…I long for the vanished gardens of Cordova.” Cordova. The name hung over him like rich, intoxicating Arab perfume. He had longed to visit her since a child. What would she be like? Were her gardens still abloom? …” The Vanished Gardens of Cordova eBook : Rem, Emil, Miller Hansen, Lorie: Amazon.ca: Kindle Store
EXACTLY WHAT IT SAYS ON THE TIN
Join Emil on his adventures around the world in a series of beautifully written and illustrated stories—heartfelt, and uniquely insightful this book will take you from England to Africa, from Canada to Cyprus—all through the author’s skillful storytelling lens…
…“As he gazed out at the revellers on the beach, he was transported to a beach in Africa, where a native boy peered at him from behind a sand dune, much as he had spent his life peering at the alien world around him, trying in vain to understand it, to make it more manageable.
And so he oscillated between the past and the present—the past so dangerously more real…”
Emil Rem—an eccentric accountant, has become a writer of eccentric characters in exotic locales—using his stories to take us on a trip into his fascinating twisted world. Born to a close-knit, Muslim, East Indian family in Dar-es-Salam in the 50’s, he then moved to Maidenhead, England at the age of five. The next twenty years were spent shuttling between England and East Africa—attending Christian church wearing a St. Christopher’s Cross one minute, to wearing a green armband at Muslim religious classes in Africa the next. These days, Emil and his wife (originally from the Philippines) live in Calgary, Canada. They have two sons.
“The writing is solid and definitely directed toward the younger set, but that is yet another reason why the book works well. If authors can conjure books that attract youngsters to read, then we must bow to them in thanks. Reading Jenna Greene results in that old urge to sit on a park bench and just gaze and chat about all the possible variations of ‘world’ there are/can be!” _ Grady Harp, Top 100 Amazon Reviewer
“Yet it’s the evolution of Lexil as she showcases a well-rounded and thrilling journey of a young woman surviving after escaping enslavement to becoming a leader and heroine who must risk everything she has fought for in order to save others. This novel cements her heroic journey and highlights the shifting landscape of this dystopian world that blends realism with sci-fi and fantasy elements. Anthony Avina, Book Sirens Reviewer
“The stakes are raised, it’s a life-or-death gamble. The odds? Surely not in their favor. Our characters find themselves in a gruesome and Jenna Greene does not shy away from showing it. Bound by the author’s narrative, as the author resumes the story without funfair, while giving us precious content, reflections, thoughts and a grim reality of what it’s like to be considered less than a living being. In “Restore” by Jenna Greene good intentions do not count, and practicality isn’t always possible. There are many swift thriller scenes that will grip your attention for four or five pages as they run from either retrievers, prisons, camps and fires they provoked one way or the other. Restore by Jenna Greene is a worthy continuation from the previous book Renew, and an interesting stepping stone to the final book of the Reborn Marks Series to which the epilogue hints to. We are eager to read the next book as there’s still much more for us to discover.” The Avid Reader
About Jenna:
Jenna Greene is a YA/ Children’s writer. She is also a teacher … as well as a clumsy dancer, enthusiastic dragon boat paddler, and a semi-professional napper.
The Award-Winning and critically acclaimed writing duo, Burkey and Breakfield begin a new adventure inspired with hope!
How is it that the dreamers among us always know which way to go? The irrational path often appears brilliant in hindsight. When one takes a leap of faith, there can be challenging obstacles.
More from Rox and Charles!
First Place Gold Award at 2024 BookFest in Fiction – Short Stories Category
Charles Breakfield is a technology expert in security, networking, voice, and anything digital. He enjoys writing, studying World War II history, travel, and cultural exchanges. Charles is a fan of wine tastings, winemaking, Harley riding, cooking extravaganzas, and woodworking.
Together these Texas authors create award-winning stories that resonate with males and females and young and experienced adults. They bring a fresh new view to technology possibilities today in exciting stories. Visit their website for more information and free stuff. Https://www.EnigmaSeries.com
I’m doing a happy dance! After months of studying, analyzing and planning, I did it. I hit the launch button and my first Kickstarter campaign was successful. Monday Motivation is going to market on November 11th and I cannot wait to embrace this and share this project with the world. I can’t believe it. OMG!
Monday Motivation is a beautiful coffee-table book of 52 motivational quotes and reflections (like our Monday Motivations) that you can enjoy anytime and I want to thank everyone helped who helped contribute to my kickstarter and advocate for this project. There were so many individuals who believed in this project and I thank each and every one of you for the support and contributions from an emotional, mental, and financial aspect.
Finally, I also want to thank my fans and readers for their support of me because without each of you, I would not be here as a successful author or a USA Today Bestseller. Monday Motivation was written and created with all of you in mind and I hope that everyone will not only enjoy it but advocate for it and truly live for the principles within the pages!
Mondays can be tough!
About D.C.
D. C. Gomez is an award-winning USA Today Bestselling Author, podcaster, motivational speaker, and coach. Born in the Dominican Republic, she grew up in Salem, Massachusetts. D. C. studied film and television at New York University. After college she joined the US Army, and proudly served for four years.
D. C. has a Master’s Degree in Science Administration from the Central Michigan University, as well as a Master in Adult Education from Texas A&M- Texarkana University. She is a certified John Maxwell Team speaker and coach, and a certified meditation instructor from the Chopra Center.
One of D. C. passions is helping those around her overcome their self-limiting beliefs. She writes both non-fiction and fiction books, ranging from Urban Fantasy to Children’s Books. To learn more about her books and her passion, you can find her at www.dcgomez-author.com.
To request additional information about the Kickstarter or an interview with DC Gomez, please contact Mickey Mikkelson at Creative Edge Publicity: mickey.creativeedge@gmail.com / 403.464.6925. We look forward to the coverage!
John Mondragon is the co-author of the new young adult novel, The Clash Inside Me, which he wrote with Kelly Albinger. The novel features a young man who is struggling with a complicated mental health disorder: dissociative identity disorder (DID), also known as multiple personality disorder. When a murder takes place in the area, the young man is forced to take a hard look at all of his personalities and face the jarring reality that he could be responsible.
John Mondragon first came up with the idea for the book over ten years ago, when he was struggling with own his mental health as a 20-something. Societal stigmas around anxiety and depression made it difficult to speak openly about his struggles, so he turned to writing instead.
Now, as a father of two young boys, John feels even more inspired to break down those stigmas and let young people know that it is okay to reach out for help. “Speak Up, Speak Out” is the book’s mantra and is featured in merchandise, such as t-shirts, sweatshirts, and yoga pants.
John is a diverse author who speaks three languages, English, Arabic, and Spanish. This history is important to John and it is what inspired him to release the novel in Spanish as Mi Choque Interior, so that language was not a barrier.
While the novel is fictional, John has created an official workbook to accompany the novel. The workbook is a 12-week journey to better mental health and he hopes that it will provide a creative and introspective outlet for anyone that finds it challenging to talk about their struggles. The workbook, as well as the novel, are available in paperback.
