In a St. Louis memory care center, amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, two unlikely people run afoul of each other. And somehow, despite their faults and bad intentions, almost inexplicably … they fall in love. If it happens to you, remember how Helen and Frank found joy in their imperfect lives.

Growing old is risky. Combine it with poverty and you have a conundrum. In Defiance Is Different, the fourth in the Helen and Frank series, Frank Palermo had lost his money by 2023. He had sent it to aid the defense of Ukraine, along with prodigious sums of money he had defrauded from Russian oligarchs. Helen Palermo was living on a placid lake in Florida, estranged from Frank, whom she feared might get her killed. Barney Browning and Vinnie Palermo continued to make money. They needed to ...

The second novella in the series of Helen and Frank stories, Marinated Money continues to follow the antics, love, crime and capers of Helen and Frank, who met in a St. Louis memory care center amidst the Covid-19 pandemic ... and fell in love.By the end of 2021, the pandemic dragged on.Economies were in chaos. Politicians were at each other's throats. Helen and Frank have married and moved to a rural area of St. Albans, Missouri, to escape urban ...

The African Asset is the fifth novella in the Helen and Frank series by Thomas Morgan. Helen and Frank built their retirement home in Defiance, Missouri, and try to settle into a quiet life. Their friend and colleague, Barney Browning, goes to Africa on a mysterious government assignment and doesn't return.In Defiance, Helen Palermo began to devise her own plan. She called Rachel Palermo in Chicago on a secure line. "Frank is determined to go to Africa. I can't tal...

Russians and Rubles, the third installment of the Helen and Frank Stories by Thomas Morgan, takes our two stalwarts and their little band of conspirators through the tumultuous year of 2022.Amidst the disorder of Covid-19, crime, inflation, fentanyl overdoses, and a porous southern border, a new plague arrived in 2022: Vladimir Putin had his military invade Ukraine on February 28.Helen's aggressive nature and Frank's money laundering skills attract...

I drank in places where I fit in. I was a hustler, a full blown alcoholic, and an occasional brawler; I didnt stand out because we all were pretty much the same in the joints I chose.I was pretty sure I would not live long, as I was always walking on the edge. I thought I was destined for either prison or early death. I met guys from the twelve-step program while in the county jail. They came in to do meetings. They talked to me once in a while, but I was not interested. I always f...

Having managed to continue Ironman training with an abdominal aortic aneurysm stent graft, Dr. Morgan tackles a tougher challenge, triathlons with peripheral arterial disease (PAD). This comes with a significant amount of pain and dysfunction. He tackled this in his usual scientific manner, or as Mark Watney in "The Martian" would put it, "Dr. Morgan has "scienced the sh*t out of it." As a veterinary pathologist, life-long athlete, and student of body movement, his training was ideal for t...

Four books in one, to encourage action for environmental protection. Talk is cheap, but action is necessary to save species from ecocide. Book one, Not Just Talk, provides a series of simple actions one can take to help the health of the Biosphere. The second and third books describe how the author reduced his carbon footprint, and improved his retirement cash flow, by building a tiny house with a large vegetable garden.Book four, the author's first historical novel, "Scientist in ...

When a physician or other medical professional encounters symptoms of unknown cause, the responsible name for such symptoms, in the case of heel pain, is "Idiopathic Heel Pain," not plantar fasciitis. Such a label is demonstrably mistaken, irresponsible and potentially dangerous.Sara, age 46, loves running her crafts store. But after 23 years of enduring heel pain, she had given up hope of a cure. Sara had even submitted to shockwave therapy under complete anesthesia at Duke Hospit...

This book will inspire you to action. It will guide your training towards an enjoyable old age.Cover image: The author completing the Lake Placid Ironman, at age 68, as the only person to undertake such a race with an abdominal aortic aneurysm stent graft. Nearly 10 years later, now with peripheral vascular disease, he’s still training for Ironman, his beloved sport. Endurance training taught him how to fight the ravages of aging, by adapting to change.There are both destru...

The author decided to leave his scientific career during a final invited lecture, the keynote address to a small scientific society. He realized that 40 years was quite enough. He needed to step aside for the next generation. After his lecture entitled, “Paradigm Shifts In Biology,” several young scientists in the audience came up to ask him, “What would you do if you were just starting your career in the biological sciences?”He replied without hesitation:“I would choose a ...

Why did the author spend seven years and several thousand dollars of his retirement savings to do the research that led to this little book? Because, as a trained pathologist, researcher and life-long athlete, who suffered this horrible heel pain several times, he realized that no-one was tackling the underlying cause of so-called plantar fasciitis, which it clearly is not.Pathology is the study of the nature and causes of disease. Acute, often morning, heel pain is clearly a dys-e...