Böcker av Denis Eucalyptus

Andy Shepard was not particularly a good match to join the ranks of the Protestant clergy, nor a great candidate for marriage either, but that did not stop him. Now as he begins his retirement and his new single life, he reflects back on his career and relationships with a critical eye, and he resolves to live his days differently. Although his past catches up with him, he gleans the wisdom of his years to meet life head on. Barbara, Andy's lover and manager of a historic gold-rush era hotel, experiences life meeting her head-on, and now she has to learn how to recover. Life sometimes draws together the most unlikely people, and it is fascinating to see how they sometimes beautifully fit together.

Wine of Gladness is a historical novel exploring the early life of Jesus from his conception to his baptism at the approximate age of twenty-seven. There is no record of these years other than the mythical birth narratives and one short description of Jesus visiting Jerusalem at age twelve. Here is a passionate, human story of how Jesus might have developed into the spiritual teacher and Jewish reformer that we find in the Gospels' account of his last three years. This is not Jesus as a miracle working boy, but as a shamed bastard searching for a father. It is not Jesus whom some assume was a carpenter, but Jesus the vintner and wine maker. It is not Jesus as a freakish loner, but a young man with close friends including his cousin John (the Baptist), Mary (of Magdala), Lazarus (of Bethany), and Jesse (his grandfather). And this is not Jesus who is somehow miraculously born with God-given wisdom and knowledge; rather, he draws lessons from his vineyard, and interesting mentors in Palestine as he encounters Essenes, Sadducees, Greek philosophers, Rabbis, and Dionysian teachers. He learns to uniquely interpret the Old Testament, to meditate and heal, and to look compassionately into the hearts of others. Follow Jesus from Nazareth to Jerusalem, and from Lake Galilee to the Dead Sea, as he grows from fatherless outcast to a powerful teacher on the verge of changing the course of history. The second edition includes an appendix listing references to the Wine of Gladness characters in the New Testament.

Reverend Andy Shepard presents us with an honest picture of a liberal Protestant minister - for some it may be too honest. The Reverend tells us that there are only three ways that he feels profoundly close to God: being in nature's wilderness, deep meditative prayer, and sex that is truly lovemaking. Otherwise he often feels homeless and abandoned. Despite this "handicap," Andy feels that his impossible job is to speak for God every Sunday morning. The Ticket Home is a story of how his world gets turned upside down when he confronts the downside of the California Lottery.