Bøger af Mark W Sasse

Fruit, Faeries, & Fascist Dictators. The Adventure Continues.A child has been saved, but with international master criminal Heinrich Ulrich still on the lam, no one is content-not Bee, not Ash, and most certainly not Francis Frick. As the FBI closes in on Frick's dealings, Bee decides to recruit young Hatty Parker to help Frick exact revenge on Ulrich and search for another child to save. But when Bee's actions begin to worry the realm beyond, her old nemesis returns to earth to thwart her plans and pit her against her beloved companion Ash, leaving Frick and his new side-kick to play dangerous time-travel games with a genocidal maniac.In part two of The Forgotten Child Trilogy, enigmatic beings from the realm beyond-Bee & Ash-team up once again with old Manhattan businessman Francis Frick. Joined by a mysterious new recruit, Frick must fight to bring Ulrich to justice and continue searching for the truth about the forgotten child.

If she wanted help changing the world for one forgotten child, she chose the wrong man. Seventy-two-year-old Francis Frick would scorn his own family to close another deal. But Bee doesn't see the world like you or me. She is an optimist, searching for potential where none exists, and so she hovers above Frick's bed every night, eating pomegranates and waiting for his eyes to open to the possibilities. One night, it finally happens. A rogue droplet of juice slips through her fingers and hits the sleeping Manhattan businessman on the forehead, thrusting him on a series of baffling adventures to some of the twentieth century's most brutal regimes-all to help Bee save a forgotten child of history. A Man Too Old for a Place Too Far is part one of The Forgotten Child Trilogy-a one-of-a-kind adventure that mixes time travel, magical realism, and historical fiction into a contemporary story about an old man, his estranged daughter, and a tiny flying person in a white robe, who chooses to believe that anything can happen with enough prodding and an endless supply of pomegranates.

An ancient warrior awakens to fight for her people.Modern day Hanoi. A giant, shadowy menace has been terrorizing the capital of Vietnam for two years as Chinese troops occupy the city. But old Mr. Tho sees something he can't quite believe. He's convinced that the indominable warrior is actually an ancient Chinese emperor brought back to life. Mr. Tho, along with his neighbor and her son, try the unthinkable. They attempt to summon the spirit of Lady Trieu, the lauded Vietnamese heroine, who repelled the Chinese two millenniums ago. To do so, they decide to plunge beneath the depths of mysterious Hoan Kiem Lake at the center of Hanoi and in hopes that Mr. Tho's four magical marble tablets will allow history to come to life.A giant turtle, an ancient lost bird, a demon warrior, a mysterious beast and a resolute heroine come face to face with old Mr. Tho and his two neighbors in a thrilling adventure to save Hanoi from utter destruction. Lady Trieu and the Demon Warrior of Hanoi is a contemporary fantasy adventure, which explores a common theme in Vietnamese history: the struggle for a national identity.Novelist and playwright Mark W Sasse lived in northern Vietnam for ten years. He learned the language and studied the culture and history of this proud ancient nation. This novel is his attempt to allow the glory of Vietnam's past to shine into the present in a fast-paced fantasy that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

A witch who covets the pool. A crazed woman who controls it. A princess who wants to marry her prince. A cobbler who wants to marry off his daughters. A baker who keeps a deep secret. A blind beggar who sees better than most.Set off on a magical journey to discover the secrets of the magic pool.A witch tempts the king's exiled brother, Cane, with a drop of the magic water in order to use him to break the curse of the caretaker of the pool. Cane's plot to capture the water puts him at odds with the prince of the Northern Kingdom, the princess he intends to marry, and the unlikely residents of the village of Kidron. But when the witch comes calling, there's more than just Cane to worry about. With a wonderful cast of thirteen unforgettable characters, "The Secrets of the Magic Pool" will delight audiences of all ages with its witty dialogue, intense dramatic scenes, and emotional impact while exploring universal themes of family, courage, temptation, love, and sacrifice.

Poor grades, lofty dreams, desperate love, painful bullying, and tragic loss. "Dear High School" is a full-length dramatic production about the joy, angst, trials, and triumphs of high school. This collection of plays themed together can be produced by as few as 6 actors and as many as 30, giving producers tremendous flexibility over the final production. It can be played with an all teen cast or a mixed adult/youth cast. All of these plays have been production-tested and adapted for minimal sets and ultimate flexibility. While these plays are curated together on purpose to provide a powerful thematic black-box show, the individual pieces can be produced in isolation as part of a school assembly, a forensics competition, a classroom assignment, or a specially themed event. Fun, challenging, and rewarding. This show will be unlike any you've ever produced but with themes we can all relate to.Contents: Grade Semantics (A comedy about bad grades.) Shame on the Moon (A new take off of Romeo & Juliet) Heavy Weight Paper (Two seniors after graduation face the reality of the changes ahead.) Grade Semantics II: The Mentor (A raucous sequel to the first one.) More Heart, Less Attack (A poignant play about parents, teens, and expectations) Why Leaves Change Color (A girl experiences a tragedy. To cope, she decides to be happy in all things.) I Lost a Friend (A heart-felt drama of two friends who fade away from each other.) Project B (An anti-bullying piece. A person comes from the future to warn his younger self about his actions.) Me, Myself, & the Bridge of Sighs (One student paralyzed by fear. Her alter ego encourages to step out and try.) Drive-By (A poignant, hard-hitting drama about one student who loses her sister to a drive-by shooting.)BONUS MATERIAL The Anatomy of a Bold Move (Super short. Super fun.) Prom (We've all been there. A super short play.) The Art of Procrastination: A Solo Act (Her drama project is due tomorrow, she just finds out.) The Rebellious, the Confident, and the Honest (A graduate who is not sure if she's ready for the future.)About the author: Mark W Sasse is an award-winning playwright whose plays have been produced in New York, Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Columbus, and Sydney Australia. He is the 2018 Greywood Arts Winter Residency winner for his play "The Last Bastion." He is a three-time winner of the Best Script Award at the Penang Short & Sweet Theatre Festival. He currently teaches theatre in Saudi Arabia.

Is your obsession worth killing for? American mission worker Tobin Matthews faces off against two imposing giants: a vicious gang of human traffickers and a corrupt justice system ready to imprison a group of hill tribesmen. But his greatest foe remains within as he finds himself wrestling with a broken marriage and a crippling set of doubts. When his brazen ex-lover shows up with her own agenda, she becomes the greatest temptation of his life, and he must decide how far he is willing to go to have her. "Which Half David" is a modern twist on the centuries old tale of King David. Set against the lush backdrop of the fictitious Southeast Asian island nation of Sulu, it is the story of one man's dramatic fall from grace and his struggle to come to grips with both halves of who he really is.

A talented group of teen musicians. A destitute old man living on the margins of society. What do they have in common? Humanity and sweet music.Will, Sanchez, Song-Yi, and Stephanie attend an American international school on the island of Penang, Malaysia. But at night, they are a talented band of musicians striving to win their school's talent show, so they can further their dreams of becoming professional musicians. Musa "Moses" Marbun has been without a country for forty-six years. The crippled and destitute rickshaw driver pedals tourists through the quaint streets of Penang's capital city to meet his daily needs.One day when downtown, Song-Yi witnesses Musa being beaten on a sidewalk for a theft he didn't commit. As she intervenes on his behalf, an unlikely friendship ensues, which puts the band on a collision course with musical destiny while Musa hopes to end his decades long journey through the wilderness by confronting his past.Introducing the Band: Song-Yi, lead singerWill, guitarist & composerSanchez, bass guitaristStephanie, percussionistMoses the Singer

Quirky comedy. Poignant drama. Monologues for everyone from award-winning playwright Mark W. Sasse.This collection of more than fifty short monologues are perfect for teens and adults alike. Most of these are culled from Sasse's myriad, stage-tested plays - both short-form and full-length but also includes monologues written specifically for this collection.No strong language! Only strong stories!From light-hearted romps about teen love and school trials to hard-hitting themes like inner city violence, bullying, regret, and relationships, Theatrical Monologues will give you plenty of options to choose.Do you need a unique monologue for an audition? A fun monologue for a school project? An original monologue for a stage production? Theatrical Monologues delivers all of them plus more.Bonus material includes three solo-acts for female performers.Other Works by Mark W SasseTHE SHORT PLAY COLLECTIONVol. 1: Theatrical Duets for Stage, Competition, or ClassroomVol. 2: Tales of Wonder: Sacred & Secular Christmas PlaysVol. 3: Dear High SchoolVol. 4: Tales of Redemption: Christian Drama for Stage, School, or ChurchVol. 5: Theatrical Monologues for Audition, Classroom, and StageNOVELSA Diamond for Her: Myths and Tales of the Winasook Iron Horses (2021)Moses the Singer (2020)A Parting in the Sky (2019) (Forgotten Child Book 3)The African Connection (2018) (Forgotten Child Book 2)A Man Too Old for a Place Too Far (2017) (Forgotten Child Book 1)Which Half David (2016)A Love Story for a Nation (2015)The Reach of the Banyan Tree (2014)The Recluse Storyteller (2013)Beauty Rising (2012)

Drama for the Christian Experience! Tales of Redemption is a collection of 27 dramatic pieces for stage, school, or church. All of these have been stage-tested in a theatrical setting. These poignant and fun dramas, with laser-sharp Christian themes, will be a fun, rewarding, yet challenging sketches for actors of all ages. And there's really something for everyone!What do you need? Comedy sketch on salvation? Poignant play about the hope of Easter? A raucous tale about the creation of the universe? A lesson on King David? All this and so much more is included! From faith, to family, to missions, to proverbs, to the Life of Christ in Verse, Tales of Redemption encompasses a wide swath of the Christian experience. Stage ready. Audience approved.THE SHORT PLAY COLLECTIONVolume 1: Theatrical Duets for Stage, Competition, or ClassroomVolume 2: Tales of Wonder - Sacred & Secular Christmas Plays for Stage, School, or ChurchVolume 3: Dear High School Volume 4: Tales of Redemption

The creation myth, and baseball's lost men.Charles "Shoeshine" Henry travels to Iowa to search for the truth about a historical, mysterious baseball league. As he enters Davenport, he hits a man with his rental car. The man smashes his hood with a baseball bat. That man turns out to be Canadian author W.P. Kinsella. This sets off a series of bizarre encounters between Kinsella and Charles Henry as he tries to discover a lost lineup of forgotten ballplayers and Kinsella tries to save the game's integrity from a historical conspiracy.The mythical gods of baseball are up to something!While Kinsella and Henry are locked in their struggle for the truth, Raymond Blythe mysteriously returns to Iowa with the gods of baseball, tasked with creating the perfect game prescribed by Aristotle in the Pythagorean Society's List of Opposites. To prove that baseball is that game, Raymond tells forgotten stories of his beloved former team, the Winasook Iron Horses. If Blythe and the gods can create the game in time, and if Kinsella and Charles can discover their way to the mystical field, perhaps a grand homecoming can occur, which will inaugurate baseball's first pitch.All the wonderfully quirky characters return!Book Two of the Myths & Tales of the Winasook Iron Horses returns with all the wonderful and quirky characters from book 1, A Diamond for Her. But this time, the stakes are higher. Part historical fiction, part thriller, part adventure, part magical realism, part fantasy, The Lost Lineup is an adventure cobbled together like no other, brimming with unique historical characters and poignant stories. It is a baseball lover's dream as it delves into the creation story of the world's greatest game.Myths & Tales of the Winasook Iron HorsesBook 1 - A Diamond for HerBook 2 - The Lost Lineup

29 plays! Three complete shows!These 29 plays comprise three complete Christmas shows - Tales of Wonder I, II, III - which were performed by the RLT Players at the Penang Performing Arts Center from 2015-2017. Audiences from all walks of life rolled-over in laughter and teared up with emotion as these funny & poignant plays were brought to life to high acclaim and sold-out shows. And now, for the first time ever, they are available to you! These unique and gripping plays will be equally at home in a community theater, on a school stage, or part of a church's festive celebration. From the gripping tale in the WWI trenches, to a modern take on the composing of Silent Night, to a revised version of the 12 Days of Christmas, to Mrs. Claus conspiring against the elves, to kids sledding and making snow angels, these nostalgic and powerful plays will allow people to wonder in awe at the most magical time of the year. Tales of Wonder (Premiered at Penang Performing Arts Centre in December 2015) Tales of Wonder: A Drama Medley Snow Fort Santa Daddy You Gotta Get Up Christmas in the Trenches, 1914 Tree Talk Jolly Old St. Hick The Spies and Mrs. Claus National Toy Day The Christmas Banquet A Vigil for a Starry Night The Last Shepherd: A Ten-Minute MusicalTales of Wonder II Premiered in December 2016 @ Penang Performing Arts Centre Tales of Wonder: Another Drama Medley Snowflakes Sledding The Truth About Santa Clause Tree Talk II On a Cold Winter's Night Entertaining Angels Manger Talk Where You Headed This Christmas? The Runaway Slave: A Christmas Story Tales of Wonder III Premiered in December 2017 @ Penang Performing Arts Centre Silent Night: The Almost True Story The Annoying Little Drummer Boy Fruitcake: The Gift that Keeps on Giving The Kettle Man The Naughty List The Twelve Days of Christmas Revisited We Make Our Stars When Longfellow Heard the Bells

"A banyan tree knows all, sees all, and keeps many secrets."Chip Carson intends to marry a young Vietnamese woman named Thuy until a tragic accident lands him in prison, forever altering the outlook of their relationship. As he struggles to cope with their strained love, a mysterious stranger appears, bearing a journal about Chip's grandfather who parachuted into French Indochina at the end of World War II. As the words of the journal reveal a life that Chip never knew, he begins to understand the depth of love and sacrifice needed in order to have a second chance with Thuy. Part historical fiction, part contemporary love story, The Reach of the Banyan Tree explores the effects of war, love, culture, and family obligation in twentieth century Vietnam through the eyes of three generations of American men, who each lost their soul in the tangled reach of the banyan tree.

"My heart sank. I dumped my father's ashes in the heart of communist Vietnam - over a thousand miles from the death of his comrades - over a thousand miles from the smile of that girl. How could I have been so stupid?" Only the bumbling, overweight, thirtyish, stay-at-home Martin Kinney could have mistakenly flubbed his dying father's request with such gusto. This thousand mile mistake awakens the ghosts of long-held family secrets and puts Martin on a fateful course with an unlikely romantic interest - a young, beautiful, yet troubled Vietnamese woman named My Phuong. With its cross-cultural setting and unlikely romance, the 61,000 word novel Beauty Rising creates a powerful, unique voice in today's literature. In a swift- moving, dialogue-driven prose which is funny, honest, tragic and unpredictable, Beauty Rising explores the depths of culture, family, and love as the Vietnam War, a generation removed, continues to hang on the periphery of society, cursing families and causing destruction.

The twins, beckoned by an ominous streak of light across the sky, climb Harper's Hill to encounter an apparition of their missing father. The reverend stands on a muddy ridge, the barrel of a rifle in his neck, looking down on a Vietnamese village, scarred by war and regret. The brash terrorist, Red Hat, desperately tries to walk away from life unscathed and unattached. The stories haunt Margaret every waking moment, but they are anything but random. A fractured view Michael Cheevers' red hat through a discreetly cracked door sends her off on adventure. A glimpse of the Johnson twins from apartment 2D transports her mind to the lonely hill on a Midwestern prairie in 1887. The regular letters from Reverend Davies bring her to the brink of exhaustion as she stares intensely into the heart of war, deep in the jungle of Vietnam. Margaret is not insane, at least not in a clinical sense. She's like a midnight raccoon, painfully aware of her surroundings, gleaning crumbs of information at every turn. Her eyes peer incessantly in the night, stealing glances of the neighbors through partially opened doors. But the tales she weaves were not meant to merely hold empty court to the receptive dead air of her apartment. Her stories were meant to embolden the lives of the inhabitants of that drab apartment block because her story is also their story--and everything would be different if they could only hear the prophetic words of the rambling recluse. The Recluse Storyteller weaves five stories into one as the loner, Margaret, not only searches for meaning from her reclusive life, but also gives meaning in the most unexpected ways to the troubled souls of her apartment complex. Part adventure, part tragedy, and part discovery, The Recluse Storyteller bridges genres, bringing hope, life, and redemption to the broken relationships of modern society.

As nightly raids burn the capital city, the mundane existence of Gerald Sanpatri takes a dramatic shift when Rosia walks into his life bringing laughter and unexpected love. She inspires the ex-writer to once again take up his pen and write the impossible: a love story for an entire nation. A Love Story for a Nation chronicles the explosive and heart-warming journey of one country's brush with history through the eyes of a courageous man who dared to stand up, smile, and think the unimaginable. Mark Sasse grew up in Butler County in western PA, but he has spent most of the last twenty years in Asia, teaching, writing and enjoying the food. He has authored three additional novels and many dramatic works. He won the Best Script award in 2013 & 2014 at the Short & Sweet Theatre Festival Penang. His dramatic works have also been performed in Sydney and Kuala Lumpur. In addition to writing, he loves to cook, coach softball, travel, and spend time with his family.

Her father told her he would return from war. He didn't.On Christmas Eve 1944, two men in uniforms knock on the door of the Ares' house to inform Mrs. Ares that her husband had been killed in the war. At that moment, nine-year-old Roberta enters an adult world of inconsistencies and inexplicable grief as she tries to make sense of her father never returning.Before he left for war, her father told her he had to cross the water far away to help fight for their country. Roberta becomes convinced that if she can cross the large lake by their house, she will be able to find her father and discover the truth about what happened. Through trial, error, and painful lessons, she embarks on a journey in her mind in search of peace and understanding as Christmas in '45-the year anniversary of her father's death-approaches.