The Sentinel Oak: A Short Story
Can’t Find My Way Home Recreates the Chaos and Human Cost of the American Revolution The American Revolution is often remembered through its ideals. Former U.S. Naval Officer Ray Deptula wants readers to experience it through its uncertainty, exhaustion and human cost — the same way they would any other conflict. “Ironically, the British experience in the American Revolution was strikingly similar to our own in Vietnam and even more recently in Afghanistan, where a superpower took on a woefully inferior foe and where expectation and actions of the government, the military and the people were not necessarily aligned,” Deptula said. His website https://raydeptulaauthor.com/ In Can’t Find My Way Home, the second installment in his Those Damned Yankees series, Deptula combines meticulous historical research with emotionally charged storytelling to recreate the Revolutionary War as it was lived by ordinary people caught inside extraordinary events. Rather than using history as a backdrop, Deptula immerses readers in the actual sequence of Revolutionary War battles, troop movements and political upheaval that shaped America’s founding, all the while tracing the story of a common soldier embroiled in, and at the mercy of, a chaos that challenges his ability to survive.

Author and playwright Dyanna Morrison is bringing renewed attention to the enduring principles of the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights through Justice, the first installment in her acclaimed trilogy of stage plays published in book format. Available on Amazon, the award-recognized work combines courtroom drama with documented historical dialogue to encourage thoughtful discussion about the First Amendment, civic responsibility, and the continuing relevance of America's founding ideals as the nation marks its 250th anniversary of independence.
Justice follows newly appointed Judge Grace Porter as she presides over two contemporary First Amendment cases inspired by real events, including the January 20, 2017 inauguration protests and the Charlottesville Unite the Right Rally of August 2017. Throughout the proceedings, America's founding fathers observe the courtroom proceedings through one-way windows, offering commentary drawn largely from their documented writings and debates during the drafting of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
This distinctive narrative approach creates a conversation between the nation's founding era and present-day legal interpretation. Readers are invited to consider how constitutional freedoms continue to influence modern society while reflecting on the responsibilities that accompany those rights.
The foundation of Justice reflects more than twenty-five years of research by Dyanna into the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the historical debates surrounding America's founding. Originally written as a screenplay, the project evolved into a stage play before ultimately being published in book format, allowing readers worldwide to experience its thought-provoking message.
Justice is available in hardcover, paperback, and eBook editions through Amazon. Readers interested in constitutional history, courtroom drama, and historically inspired theatre can learn more by visiting the book's Amazon listing: https://www.amazon.com/Justice-Dyanna-Morrison/dp/1735911615.
The work also examines the historical context surrounding the founders, acknowledging their aspirations, imperfections and interpersonal dynamics, while encouraging readers to evaluate history through careful study and informed discussion. By presenting documented dialogue alongside contemporary legal issues, Justice offers an engaging reading experience for audiences interested in history, law, theatre, and public affairs.
Justice has earned recognition as a finalist in several respected literary competitions, including the Book Excellence Awards, National Indie Excellence Awards, International Book Awards, and Best Book Awards in the Performing Arts category. These honors reflect the book's strong writing, creative concept, and thoughtful presentation of constitutional themes.
The premise for Justice began with a simple question that has stayed with Dyanna for years: What would the framers who wrote the Constitution think if they could witness today's legal proceedings? Would they agree and does it matter? Dyanna hopes this story encourages readers to reflect on Americans' shared history and the principles that continue to guide the foundation of American democracy.
“Can hatred ever be truly dismantled by the bonds of shared humanity?”
Set against the sweeping backdrop of European history — from the muddy roads of 18th-century Ukraine to the shadow of the Holocaust. This ambitious work of historical fiction follows two families across generations, asking a question that feels as urgent today as it did a hundred years ago
The novel opens with a vivid, almost visceral image: Miriam and Aaron Giessel, Jewish peasants fleeing Ukraine under Catherine II's brutal Pale of Settlement decree, hauling a cart through torrential rain and deep mud, their worldly possessions balanced against an uncertain future. From that first page, Myers establishes his dual gift — a novelist's instinct for rich, grounded storytelling and a historian's fidelity to the documented reality of Jewish life in Europe. The early chapters move with the rhythm of displacement, tracing the Bergman family from Poland to Prussia, through riots and decrees, as each generation dares to hope they have finally found a country that will accept them.
That country, eventually, is Germany — and Ralph renders the cruel irony of that choice with extraordinary care. German-Jewish communities-built lives, opened businesses, served in wars, and contributed to culture and commerce, only to find that belonging, in the end, would be revoked. Running parallel to the Bergman story is the Schuour family: aristocratic, Prussian, privileged — and, crucially, not indifferent. The intersection of these two worlds forms the novel's moral and emotional core.
What sets The Bergman-Schuour Destiny apart from more straightforward Holocaust narratives is its timeframe. By beginning in the 1700s, Ralph allows readers to understand the Holocaust not as a sudden eruption but as the culmination of centuries of expulsion, adaptation, and resilience. Readers witness history not as footnotes but as lived experience — arguments in Yiddish, letters written by candlelight, mothers praying for sons they may never see again.
The novel also carries a quietly powerful message: that within societies defined by prejudice, individuals have always existed who chose differently. The Schuours represent that possibility — the road not taken by a nation.
For readers drawn to multigenerational sagas, Jewish history, or narratives that grapple honestly with the roots of hatred and the persistence of hope, this is a book that rewards patience and reflection in equal measure.

The Sentinel Oak: A Short Story Looking for a quick atmospheric escape where the lines between nature and reality start to blur? The Sent...