And so begins the journey of Professor Cole Fitzgerald
as he battles outside forces and his inner demon.
Set (mostly) on an inner-city college campus, The Voice in Your Ear tells a gripping story of deception and retribution as the bullied stand up for inner peace, professional respect, and community visibility.
Here are the first few words of my soon-to-be-released novel:
“I don’t want him fired, damn it! I want him dead!” The Senator pounded his oak conference table, and the coffee spewed from his visitors’ cups.
“You don’t mean that,” Doyle Bartley stammered. “I mean. I mean that would be an extraordinarily bad thing to do. Kill someone. Extraordinarily bad. Extraordinarily.” His thin-fingered hands shook as he raised his coffee cup to his pale, skinny lips. Halfway up, the coffee was sloshing out. Pat Turkle reached across the table and steadied his president’s hand.
“Doyle, of course, Senator Wackenslong doesn’t mean that.”
“Really? I don’t? So both of you want to spend the next 20 to 30 years in prison? Trust me. Neither one of you is built for doing time!” He mashed the unmute button on his office TV’s remote and pointed toward the wall. “Look at this!”
. . .
The official release of The Voice in Your Ear is Tuesday, September 17, 2024. The eBook can be pre-ordered at its reduced price. The eBook will be “delivered” to your device on the release date. You will be able to order the paperback on September 17.
I also wrote and recorded a song with the same title (“The Voice in Your Ear”). Consider it the book’s “soundtrack.” You can listen to it on my website or my YouTube channel.
Thank you for taking a chance on a “first-time” novelist.
©2024. Steve Piscitelli
The Growth and Resilience Network®
Atlantic Beach, Florida
The Growth and Resilience Network® 
Steve:
Here is the text (so far) for my October newsletter. Give any feedback about improving it, etc. (It’s just copy, not my heart and soul.) – hd3
Piscitelli’s first novel mixes higher ed with political skullduggery — A Northeast Florida writer has long dwelt in the Land of Self-Help, but he has now gotten a passport to visit the Land of Crime and its denizens Sherlock, Miss Marple, Travis McGee, and others. That’s because Steve Piscitelli has written his first novel, one that is set in higher education.
The Voice in Your Ear (Amazon.com) is a story of deception and retribution as the bullied stand up for inner peace, professional respect, and community visibility. Although Professor Cole Fitzgerald just wants to teach, play guitar, and silence his relentless inner voice, a state senator wants him dead.
As the conflicted leader of an intimidated faculty at Central City College, Cole finds himself in a life-and-death struggle with the evil forces orchestrating financial aid fraud and manipulating student-athletes.
When the stakes escalate the voice of Cole’s inner critic drives him deeper into darkness. Even with the help of a rough-around-the-edges faculty union organizer, a no-nonsense radio show host, and his eccentric aunt, Cole and his colleagues are about to be crushed.
On the plus side, an idiosyncratic professor and three determined students step in to help, but on the negative side, is it too late?
Piscitelli retired in 2015 from thirty-three years of teaching mainly on the Downtown Campus of Florida State College at Jacksonville. During this time, he worked with middle school, high school, and college students. In addition, he worked with audiences across the United States when he facilitated workshops and delivered keynote presentations.
His canine companion, Roxie, inspired one of his books as he worked as a nationally certified pet therapy team for five years. In that capacity, they visited our local hospital, hospice center, and international airport. He has also served on a number of community committees/boards that address quality of life in our beach community.
He and his wife Laurie live in Atlantic Beach.
He does not describe himself as a “life coach,” but his other books help readers to process events in their lives. These self-help books include the following:
Sharing Wisdom Across the Ages: From Elementary School to Retirement—This presents a non-scientific look at wisdom from seven-year-olds to people ninety and older.
Roxie Looks for Purpose Beyond the Biscuit—Fifty-two short stories sharing life lessons from the paws of my canine partner. Roxie travelled from being abandoned on the side of the road, to being rescued and adopted, to becoming a certified pet therapy dog visiting the hospital, hospice, schools, and the local airport.
Community as a Safe Place to Land—This book addresses community development and resilience, using seven core values and provocative questions.
Stories about Teaching, Learning, and Resilience —The title, plus the subtitle, gives the readers what to expect: There’s No Need to be an Island.
Choices for College Success (3rd edition) is from Pearson Education, 2015 and emphasizes the power of personal choice and responsibility to help students maximize their talents and minimize their anxiety by building successful habits.
Study Skills: Do I Really Need This Stuff? (3rd edition)—This provides a critical thinking theme in each chapter.
Engaging Activities for Motivation —Written and compiled by National Student Success Institute ( NSSI ® ) co-founders Amy Baldwin, Steve Piscitelli, and Robert Sherfield, the material connects, supports, and empowers educators in the Two-Year, Technical, and Career Colleges.
All of his books are available at Amazon.com. His website: https://www.stevepiscitelli.com/
LikeLike
This is very kind of you, Howard. Thank you!
LikeLike