Michael Bronte

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About Michael Bronte
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From Michael Bronte:
As a teenager I remember reading paperback mysteries under a huge oak tree outside my parents' grocery store in Dalton, Massachusetts, a small town in the heart of the Berkshires. I can recall pulling a book from the rack and getting locked in to those novels as the summer breeze of Berkshire County tried to turn the page before I was done reading it. I don't know why, but I was greatly affected by a book titled The Fan Club, by Irving Wallace. When I was done reading it, I can still recall thinking that someday I'd be able to write a book like that on my own; I knew I could do it.
Well, the idea stayed dormant for over thirty years while I did what I thought I should have been doing for a living until I rekindled my infatuation with writing novels. Now, many books later, people often ask me, "How in the world did you think of that?" It pleases me immensely to know that they enjoyed the story. It's the ultimate reward for any writer.
I think most people have no idea that they're capable of doing great things, and all the heroes in my stories are everyday people with their own specific flaws. I think what's endearing to the reader is that not only do the characters overcome the challenges that are thrust upon them, but the face up to their own inner demons in the process.
I'd like to thank my wife, Gail, for allowing me and encouraging me to write; she's truly my companion.
Michael Bronte
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michael.bronte
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MichaelBronte1
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michael.bronte.books/
From Michael Bronte:
As a teenager I remember reading paperback mysteries under a huge oak tree outside my parents' grocery store in Dalton, Massachusetts, a small town in the heart of the Berkshires. I can recall pulling a book from the rack and getting locked in to those novels as the summer breeze of Berkshire County tried to turn the page before I was done reading it. I don't know why, but I was greatly affected by a book titled The Fan Club, by Irving Wallace. When I was done reading it, I can still recall thinking that someday I'd be able to write a book like that on my own; I knew I could do it.
Well, the idea stayed dormant for over thirty years while I did what I thought I should have been doing for a living until I rekindled my infatuation with writing novels. Now, many books later, people often ask me, "How in the world did you think of that?" It pleases me immensely to know that they enjoyed the story. It's the ultimate reward for any writer.
I think most people have no idea that they're capable of doing great things, and all the heroes in my stories are everyday people with their own specific flaws. I think what's endearing to the reader is that not only do the characters overcome the challenges that are thrust upon them, but the face up to their own inner demons in the process.
I'd like to thank my wife, Gail, for allowing me and encouraging me to write; she's truly my companion.
Michael Bronte
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Books By Michael Bronte
The Zipper Club
Jan 3, 2021
$6.99
Eight senior citizen who have all had open-heart surgery play poker every Monday night. Their surgery scars all look like zippers, hence the name The Zipper Club. When they learn their property taxes are going up by forty percent, they decide to start asking questions. That’s when they and a young TV news reporter uncover a deadly scheme to intentionally drive down property values so an unscrupulous developer can gobble up properties and flip them in a deal worth a hundred billion dollars. The corruption runs as high as the U.S. Senate, and the developer will stop at nothing to complete his land grab, including toxic dumping, bribery, and murder.
Other Formats:
Paperback
The Incident: a novella
Dec 25, 2020
$0.00
When Tom Slater and his eight-year-old son walk to their car after seeing a New Jersey Devils hockey game, they are accosted by two loudmouths who were sitting near them during the game. They try to rob Slater, but he fights back, inadvertently killing one of the attackers. Slater is subsequently arrested and charged with manslaughter. Enter Sidney Diamond, the flashy female attorney who maintains that the only way for Slater to save himself from being convicted is for young Nolan to testify, he being the only eyewitness as to what really happened. Slater and his wife will have nothing of it. See what happens as Slater tries to protect his son from reliving this traumatic experience, while also trying to avoid a multi-year prison sentence.
Other Formats:
Paperback
The Brothers
May 24, 2017
$3.99
Y.I.T.B.: It means Yours In The Bonds. It was how they signed their letters and their emails to each other. They were The Brothers of Zeta Chi, and they vowed decades earlier that their pledge meant more than having drinking buddies for life. For these brothers it was an assurance that they’d be there for each other in good times and bad, and that their bond would go far beyond the occasional stock tip or job reference. For them, being able to count on each other was for real.
It was their thirtieth reunion at John Adams College and they’d come in from all over for the momentous occasion. Bones was there, as was Stokes and Fighting Al. The Zen Master came in from Philly, Doc from Chicago, and Ducky brought wife number three, only too proud to gloat over the other brothers as to how he managed to marry a fine-looking dish like her, who also happened to be the local assistant district attorney.
Harry “Dirty Harry” Curlander had organized the event, and he’d managed to convince all twelve brothers from their pledge class to attend; the only one missing was his roommate from back in the day, R. Todd Hutchinson, known to the brothers simply as Hutch. Hutch never did make it to the reunion, but he had a good reason. Hutch was dead, found locked in his car outside the bar where the other brothers were waiting for him. Was it suicide, or an accident? Was it due to natural causes? None of the explanations were satisfactory, and when the police, the DA, and the medical examiner all refused to authorize an investigation due to lack of any evidence indicating foul play, the brothers said, “If you won’t investigate, we will.” Who knew it would turn into a murder investigation, and that it would lead Harry and The Brothers into a showdown involving international terrorists, the police, the CIA, and the Financial Crimes and Enforcement Network inside the U.S. Treasury called FinCEN.
It was their thirtieth reunion at John Adams College and they’d come in from all over for the momentous occasion. Bones was there, as was Stokes and Fighting Al. The Zen Master came in from Philly, Doc from Chicago, and Ducky brought wife number three, only too proud to gloat over the other brothers as to how he managed to marry a fine-looking dish like her, who also happened to be the local assistant district attorney.
Harry “Dirty Harry” Curlander had organized the event, and he’d managed to convince all twelve brothers from their pledge class to attend; the only one missing was his roommate from back in the day, R. Todd Hutchinson, known to the brothers simply as Hutch. Hutch never did make it to the reunion, but he had a good reason. Hutch was dead, found locked in his car outside the bar where the other brothers were waiting for him. Was it suicide, or an accident? Was it due to natural causes? None of the explanations were satisfactory, and when the police, the DA, and the medical examiner all refused to authorize an investigation due to lack of any evidence indicating foul play, the brothers said, “If you won’t investigate, we will.” Who knew it would turn into a murder investigation, and that it would lead Harry and The Brothers into a showdown involving international terrorists, the police, the CIA, and the Financial Crimes and Enforcement Network inside the U.S. Treasury called FinCEN.
Call Me Crash
May 1, 2018
$3.99
Few people would consider the department store business to be a dangerous profession. Similarly, not many people would think that a skinny kid from the streets of D.C. would have any fashion sense.
It’s 1979, Jimmy Carter is president, and Rosenbloom & Starr is a department store empire in which Tom “Crash” Crandall has worked his way up to become floor manager at the flagship store where the wives of congressmen, senators, and power brokers shop. It’s the busiest time of the year and he knows there is something terribly wrong with the way the goods are flowing—or to put it another way, not flowing— into his department. Where were the backup orders? What the heck were those buyers doing up there on the seventh floor?
Crash has no idea that the problem he’s observing is an offshoot of a hostile takeover attempt being perpetrated by Associated Department Stores of America, a villainous outfit that has been swallowing up other department store chains across the country. CEO Gino Starr knows, however, and he isn’t about to let Rosenbloom & Starr be torn apart by ruthless raiders who would destroy what he has built from humble beginnings. Associated stops at nothing to accomplish the takeover, including brutal attacks and grisly murders. What Gino doesn’t know is that Associated’s vicious dealings are tied to an international crime syndicate that has infiltrated our own government. Crash is thrust into the fray simply by being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and to say he earns his shot at promotion into the buying office would be an understatement.
It’s 1979, Jimmy Carter is president, and Rosenbloom & Starr is a department store empire in which Tom “Crash” Crandall has worked his way up to become floor manager at the flagship store where the wives of congressmen, senators, and power brokers shop. It’s the busiest time of the year and he knows there is something terribly wrong with the way the goods are flowing—or to put it another way, not flowing— into his department. Where were the backup orders? What the heck were those buyers doing up there on the seventh floor?
Crash has no idea that the problem he’s observing is an offshoot of a hostile takeover attempt being perpetrated by Associated Department Stores of America, a villainous outfit that has been swallowing up other department store chains across the country. CEO Gino Starr knows, however, and he isn’t about to let Rosenbloom & Starr be torn apart by ruthless raiders who would destroy what he has built from humble beginnings. Associated stops at nothing to accomplish the takeover, including brutal attacks and grisly murders. What Gino doesn’t know is that Associated’s vicious dealings are tied to an international crime syndicate that has infiltrated our own government. Crash is thrust into the fray simply by being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and to say he earns his shot at promotion into the buying office would be an understatement.
The Tenth Caller
Feb 14, 2015
$3.99
He’d been up there with the biggest of them, shock-jock extraordinaire, on the biggest stations, in syndication in every major market in the country. It had been quite the fall, all right, his last gig ending when the station manager didn’t accept the fact that jail time was a valid excuse for not showing up for work. With good behavior, he was out in two years, but he’d become a media scum at that point, blackballed and forgotten, doomed to doing the graveyard shift on godforsaken AM at a 5,000-watt piss-ant station in Andersonville, Indiana, home to a million cold crows, where the highest rated program was the tornado report.
Andersonville, Indiana—not exactly the center of the radio broadcast universe, but at night and under the right atmospheric conditions, the “mega-signal of the Midwest” can be heard for a thousand miles, and in the wee hours between midnight and six a.m., the lonely, the depressed, and the depraved gather on the broadcast doorstep of Gulliver McKnight to confide in his wisdom. Some call it a cult following. Others call it a radio freak parade. At 3:16 a.m. on November 8th, Gulliver takes the tenth call, but the caller isn’t interested in the chicken dinner Gulliver is giving away. He’s into murder.
There hasn’t been a murder in Andersonville in twenty years, and now there are two in as many months. After some investigation, it’s discovered that the killings are but the most recent in a string that goes back decades, and it’s Detectives Julie Hernandez’s job (Julie’s a he, not a she) and Sam Olsen’s job (Sam’s a she, not a he) to stop this serial killer who’s found that calling in to Gulliver’s show is an interesting new way to get his jollies. The killer calls repeatedly, he’s always the tenth call, and he knows Gulliver from way back. The question becomes: who is he, and how is he always the tenth call? Oh, he’s into riddles too.
Ultimately The Tenth Caller is a story of inner conviction, or stubbornness, depending on one’s point of view, with enough insight thrown in so that it could be interpreted as persistence. Good thing for Julie, for the last intended victim turns out to be his own fiancée.
Andersonville, Indiana—not exactly the center of the radio broadcast universe, but at night and under the right atmospheric conditions, the “mega-signal of the Midwest” can be heard for a thousand miles, and in the wee hours between midnight and six a.m., the lonely, the depressed, and the depraved gather on the broadcast doorstep of Gulliver McKnight to confide in his wisdom. Some call it a cult following. Others call it a radio freak parade. At 3:16 a.m. on November 8th, Gulliver takes the tenth call, but the caller isn’t interested in the chicken dinner Gulliver is giving away. He’s into murder.
There hasn’t been a murder in Andersonville in twenty years, and now there are two in as many months. After some investigation, it’s discovered that the killings are but the most recent in a string that goes back decades, and it’s Detectives Julie Hernandez’s job (Julie’s a he, not a she) and Sam Olsen’s job (Sam’s a she, not a he) to stop this serial killer who’s found that calling in to Gulliver’s show is an interesting new way to get his jollies. The killer calls repeatedly, he’s always the tenth call, and he knows Gulliver from way back. The question becomes: who is he, and how is he always the tenth call? Oh, he’s into riddles too.
Ultimately The Tenth Caller is a story of inner conviction, or stubbornness, depending on one’s point of view, with enough insight thrown in so that it could be interpreted as persistence. Good thing for Julie, for the last intended victim turns out to be his own fiancée.
Other Formats:
Paperback
Homicide: Party of Twelve
Aug 2, 2020
$6.99
Homicide: Party of Twelve takes us to Jersey City where the boss of Chez Alain restaurant has just been gunned down in a drive by shooting. Frankie Fortunato, a hardworking server, moves up to become the new manager. New Jersey State Police Detective, Matt Klimecki, catches the case and leans heavily on the restaurant's employees to help solve it, including Frankie and his girlfriend, Gabby D'Angelo, who also works at Chez Alain. The plot twists and turns as Frankie struggles to please the owners and reopen the restaurant, while also dealing with the opposing forces of gun-running criminals and the authorities who are trying to catch them.
Other Formats:
Paperback
The Handyman
Dec 25, 2018
$3.99
Jake Blackwell wasn’t always a handyman. As an Army Ranger and part of the elite 75th Ranger Regiment, he’d done four tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, only to be taken out by an IED while closing in on a sniper nest outside of Ramadi. The result? Traumatic brain injury, otherwise known as TBI. His life as a close combat and special operations specialist was over. What was not over, however, were the lingering effects of his TBI. Seizures, blackouts, and memory loss were all part of the problem, and no one wanted him on their payroll after ten years of fighting for his country. For Jake, there was no choice but to go into business for himself.His last job seemed normal enough: spackling, painting, nothing he hadn’t done a hundred times before for other wealthy clients who lived in prestigious Potomac. It didn’t turn out to be normal after all, however, when he stumbled across a package containing what appeared to be blueprints of some sort. But what kind of blueprints contained the word detonator? What was he looking at? He answered his own question when he discovered that the plans were for a W54 nuclear device, known otherwise as the backpack nuke. It was one of ours, it weighted just fifty-four pounds, and the implications were mind-boggling. Someone could take out the Empire State Building with this thing, along with several other city blocks, and if the blast didn’t kill you, the radiation would. Literally tens of thousands could die with one detonation, and there would be no way to stop it from happening. What could two of these devices do, he wondered. Or ten, or fifty!Why were those blueprints in that house? Who was the owner, and why did he possess plans, our plans, to construct a miniature nuclear device? Jake pursues the answers to those questions, risking not only his own life but that of his daughter who is kidnapped by the terrorists as part of their plan to get the blueprints back from Jake.
The Dealership
Oct 10, 2018
$0.99
Carmen Madrid finally got his opportunity when he moved up to become a hotshot salesman selling Jaguars, Lincolns, and Chevys. Life in Jamaica Queens was good—for a while—but the commission checks weren’t as big as he’d anticipated, and it wasn’t long before he was looking for other ways to pay the bills. That’s when he discovered that the dealership did more than sell cars. Money laundering, drug peddling and pornography were all part of the gig, and it wasn’t long before he had to make a choice: be an honest salesman, or take the big money from the “side jobs” the dealership offered.
There are others interested in his decision. Meet Rita O’Shea, the lady cop who infiltrates the dealership by working undercover as a salesperson, Patty Fairchild, the goody-goody owner who wants to prove she can make the dealership profitable, and Chita Espino, who believes in Carmen when others do not.
Travel with Carmen through the gritty world of fast cars and faster women, organized crime and racketeering, all of it shrouded by the crack epidemic and tough times that blanketed New York City in the mid-‘80s. Does Carmen do the right thing, or does he become just another punk trying to get over on others before they get over on him? Find out how he walks the line between decency and depravity, and see if he comes out on top. It’s quite a trip.
There are others interested in his decision. Meet Rita O’Shea, the lady cop who infiltrates the dealership by working undercover as a salesperson, Patty Fairchild, the goody-goody owner who wants to prove she can make the dealership profitable, and Chita Espino, who believes in Carmen when others do not.
Travel with Carmen through the gritty world of fast cars and faster women, organized crime and racketeering, all of it shrouded by the crack epidemic and tough times that blanketed New York City in the mid-‘80s. Does Carmen do the right thing, or does he become just another punk trying to get over on others before they get over on him? Find out how he walks the line between decency and depravity, and see if he comes out on top. It’s quite a trip.
Other Formats:
Paperback
Porchball
Oct 9, 2018
$1.99
1969 has been called the most eventful year in our history, and it’s against the backdrop of Vietnam and anti-establishment culture that Brownie wrote his own history that year: he smoked his first joint, and got laid, both of those momentous events taking place in the sun and the mud at Woodstock. He also attended Alliance College, and while there was no war there, people died, victims of an evil crime network fronted by a fraternity house cook. Brownie and his best friend become inextricably tangled in Dandy Don’s web of crime, bribery, depravity, and degradation. From professors to ballplayers to strippers, Dandy Don ruins the lives of everyone he touches.
Porchball is a story of loyalty, betrayal, and deception as the characters’ lives are funneled into a single situation where the only goal is to stop Dandy Don. Ultimately, it’s the code by which the game of Porchball is played that rises above all other of life’s principles. When a fraternity brother explains that no one cheats at the game, Brownie doesn’t understand. It’s simple. “Everyone is taken at their word,” says the brother. “Everyone does the right thing.”
Porchball is a story of loyalty, betrayal, and deception as the characters’ lives are funneled into a single situation where the only goal is to stop Dandy Don. Ultimately, it’s the code by which the game of Porchball is played that rises above all other of life’s principles. When a fraternity brother explains that no one cheats at the game, Brownie doesn’t understand. It’s simple. “Everyone is taken at their word,” says the brother. “Everyone does the right thing.”
Other Formats:
Paperback
Lost Friday
Oct 9, 2018
$3.99
It’s Saturday, September 25th, and the entire town of Sea Beach, New Jersey, has no recollection of what happened to Friday the 24th. Reporter Johnny Pappas is among the baffled residents, as is Chief of Police Roy Mulroney. It’s only when Johnny discovers the abduction of high school quarterback David Robelle that the fog over this mystery begins to lift.
The evidence leads to the unfathomable conclusion that they’ve been visited by futuristic time travelers from the International Counter Terrorist Organization, or the ICTO. In the future, time travel becomes a huge geopolitical weapon, enabling those who control the technology to go back in time and manipulate history so that important historical outcomes fall to their favor. The influence extends all the way to the White House.
Time travel, human clones called Synthetics, editions of newspapers that haven’t even been written yet, it’s all part of Lost Friday. Johnny has three objectives: cover the story as a reporter, win the romantic attention of fellow reporter Kelli Remington, and rescue David Robelle from the terrorists. Oh yeah, he’d also like to win a Pulitzer.
The evidence leads to the unfathomable conclusion that they’ve been visited by futuristic time travelers from the International Counter Terrorist Organization, or the ICTO. In the future, time travel becomes a huge geopolitical weapon, enabling those who control the technology to go back in time and manipulate history so that important historical outcomes fall to their favor. The influence extends all the way to the White House.
Time travel, human clones called Synthetics, editions of newspapers that haven’t even been written yet, it’s all part of Lost Friday. Johnny has three objectives: cover the story as a reporter, win the romantic attention of fellow reporter Kelli Remington, and rescue David Robelle from the terrorists. Oh yeah, he’d also like to win a Pulitzer.
Presidential Risk
Oct 9, 2018
$3.99
When dead presidents in a supernatural world play the board game of world conquest, their moves are carried out in the human world.
Leaders are born and dictators rise to power as presidents past such as Teddy Roosevelt, Abe Lincoln, Dwight Eisenhower, and others, plot their moves. One of them makes a move, and an invasion takes place on Earth.
In the supernatural world, it’s about strategy, wits, and the will to win. On Earth, however, it’s an action and adventure story featuring a psychopathic dictator threatening the United States, and the boy who will grow up to stop him from taking over the world. It might seem impossible, but history is being determined before it actually happens.
In the end, it’s all about leadership, and little Pauli Campo emerges from his meager existence to lead his country in the fight to avert a world war that could lead to the deaths of millions of people. This is the unGame, and the struggle for world domination continues with each roll of the dice in Presidential Risk.
Leaders are born and dictators rise to power as presidents past such as Teddy Roosevelt, Abe Lincoln, Dwight Eisenhower, and others, plot their moves. One of them makes a move, and an invasion takes place on Earth.
In the supernatural world, it’s about strategy, wits, and the will to win. On Earth, however, it’s an action and adventure story featuring a psychopathic dictator threatening the United States, and the boy who will grow up to stop him from taking over the world. It might seem impossible, but history is being determined before it actually happens.
In the end, it’s all about leadership, and little Pauli Campo emerges from his meager existence to lead his country in the fight to avert a world war that could lead to the deaths of millions of people. This is the unGame, and the struggle for world domination continues with each roll of the dice in Presidential Risk.
Other Formats:
Paperback
The Handyman
Apr 30, 2018
$3.99
Jake Blackwell wasn’t always a handyman. As an Army Ranger and part of the elite 75th Ranger Regiment, he’d done four tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, only to be taken out by an IED while closing in on a sniper nest outside of Ramadi. The result? Traumatic brain injury, otherwise known as TBI. His life as a close combat and special operations specialist was over. What was not over, however, were the lingering effects of his TBI. Seizures, blackouts, and memory loss were all part of the problem, and no one wanted him on their payroll after ten years of fighting for his country. For Jake, there was no choice but to go into business for himself.
His last job seemed normal enough: spackling, painting, nothing he hadn’t done a hundred times before for other wealthy clients who lived in prestigious Potomac. It didn’t turn out to be normal after all, however, when he stumbled across a package containing what appeared to be blueprints of some sort. But what kind of blueprints contained the word detonator? What was he looking at? He answered his own question when he discovered that the plans were for a W54 nuclear device, known otherwise as the backpack nuke. It was one of ours, it weighted just fifty-four pounds, and the implications were mind-boggling. Someone could take out the Empire State Building with this thing, along with several other city blocks, and if the blast didn’t kill you, the radiation would. Literally tens of thousands could die with one detonation, and there would be no way to stop it from happening. What could two of these devices do, he wondered. Or ten, or fifty!
Why were those blueprints in that house? Who was the owner, and why did he possess plans, our plans, to construct a miniature nuclear device? Jake pursues the answers to those questions, risking not only his own life but that of his daughter who is kidnapped by the terrorists as part of their plan to get the blueprints back from Jake.
His last job seemed normal enough: spackling, painting, nothing he hadn’t done a hundred times before for other wealthy clients who lived in prestigious Potomac. It didn’t turn out to be normal after all, however, when he stumbled across a package containing what appeared to be blueprints of some sort. But what kind of blueprints contained the word detonator? What was he looking at? He answered his own question when he discovered that the plans were for a W54 nuclear device, known otherwise as the backpack nuke. It was one of ours, it weighted just fifty-four pounds, and the implications were mind-boggling. Someone could take out the Empire State Building with this thing, along with several other city blocks, and if the blast didn’t kill you, the radiation would. Literally tens of thousands could die with one detonation, and there would be no way to stop it from happening. What could two of these devices do, he wondered. Or ten, or fifty!
Why were those blueprints in that house? Who was the owner, and why did he possess plans, our plans, to construct a miniature nuclear device? Jake pursues the answers to those questions, risking not only his own life but that of his daughter who is kidnapped by the terrorists as part of their plan to get the blueprints back from Jake.
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