Showing results by author "William Ferrier Jr." in All Categories

She was sold into sexual slavery at age seven. By thirty-five, she commanded 80,000 pirates and negotiated with empires as an equal. In 1801, Shi Yang was property—a flower boat prostitute in Canton with no future and no hope. By 1810, she was Zheng Yi Sao, the Pirate Queen, commander of the largest criminal fleet in history. This is the true story of how one woman transformed herself from victim to victor, building an empire on the South China Sea that neither the Chinese government nor European powers could destroy. Starting with nothing but intelligence and ruthless pragmatism, Shi ...

A dying man. Ten thousand miles of road. One question that will not let him rest. In August 1784, Father Junípero Serra lies dying in a small adobe cell at the edge of the world. He has walked farther than any missionary in history. He has founded nine missions along the California coast. He has baptized thousands of souls and buried hundreds of children who died from diseases he carried in his breath. Now, with his final hours approaching, he looks back on a life consumed by holy fire—and asks the question he has avoided for fifty years: Did the good outweigh the harm? The Burning Road ...

Verdict of Silent Water is an electrifying legal thriller where buried secrets refuse to stay submerged. When legendary federal prosecutor Tom Alden is lured out of retirement, it isn’t for prestige or politics—it’s to defend Caleb Mercer, the decorated war hero who once saved his life. Caleb stands accused of a brutal murder, and every shred of evidence screams guilty. But as Tom peels back the case, he uncovers a multi-million-dollar corruption scheme, a hired killer, and a conspiracy that reaches the halls of Congress. The deeper Tom digs, the closer he comes to a night forty years...

Seven men vanished from Spain’s first over-land march into California. This is the story the diaries erased—and the gold that doomed them. 1769. Governor Gaspar de Portolá leads soldiers, missionaries, and ships toward the mythical ports of San Diego and Monterey. Scurvy hollows the ranks, rations rot, and earthquakes rattle the coast. Deep in the fog-shrouded redwoods, five soldados de cuera and two Native scouts discover river sand that glitters with raw gold. Bound by desperation, they desert under cover of night, vowing to survive the wilderness and return for the mother lode. ...

The President's Doctor: The Untold Story of America's First Black Presidential Physician What if the most important medical case in American history was treated by a doctor the country tried to forget? In 1881, when an assassin's bullet struck President James A. Garfield at a Washington D.C. railroad station, one man stepped forward to save the leader of the free world. Dr. Charles Burleigh Purvis—the only Black physician in the room—would spend the next 80 days fighting not just for the President's life, but for his own place in American history. This is the extraordinary true story ...

He had the dream. He had the voice. Then one night, he lost everything. At sixteen, Colton Reeves wasn’t chasing fame — just love. But when tragedy strikes on a dark Tennessee road, his voice becomes the only thing he has left. From dusty county fairs to Nashville stages, Colton searches for meaning in the spotlight, trying to outrun the silence that haunts him. Then Mae Parker walks into his life — a songwriter with a soul full of truth and a song that could heal them both. Together, they’ll learn that real faith isn’t found on stage… it’s found in the quiet places where love...

LOVE, JOE The Story Joe DiMaggio Never Told A Novel by William Ferrier Jr. ★ A legendary life. A love that haunted him. A confession the world was never meant to hear. ★ Joe DiMaggio was an icon—America’s quiet hero, the Yankee Clipper, the man whose talent seemed untouchable. But behind the legend lived a man who built walls so high even those he loved could not reach him. Not his son. Not his brothers. Not even Marilyn Monroe—the woman whose memory he could never let go. On the final day of his life, Joe begins to speak the truth he spent decades burying. What unfolds is a ...

A foul ball, a red ribbon, and one promise that spans generations. When Kaylee catches a screaming pop fly at Woodland’s Clark Field, the world tilts—and she finds herself in 1942 on the eve of Japanese American incarceration. There she meets Emi, a fearless girl determined to play one last game before the buses arrive. What begins as a reluctant afternoon at the ballpark becomes a race to hold on to home, history, and the friend who teaches Kaylee how courage sounds when you say it out loud. Perfect for fans of When You Reach Me, Refugee, and Baseball Saved Us, this heartfelt middle-...

You Got This: The High School Survival Guide is the book every middle schooler needs before stepping into high school—and every parent will be glad they found. Packed with honest advice, relatable stories, and zero cheesy lectures, this guide helps teens navigate the real stuff: making friends, handling pressure, staying organized (sort of), and staying true to themselves in a world that’s constantly trying to shape them. Whether your student is excited, anxious, or somewhere in between, this book offers something better than a blueprint—it offers reassurance. With short, digestible ...

Leaving for college is one of life’s biggest transitions—and one of its greatest adventures. This thoughtful, funny, and practical guide was written for soon-to-be freshmen taking their first steps toward independence. Packed with honest advice and comforting wisdom, this book covers everything from managing time and money to finding your people and surviving homesickness. It’s the conversation every parent, mentor, and older sibling wishes they’d had—and now you can give it to someone you love. More than a how-to, it’s a reassuring reminder: they’re ready for this.

When sound is the only truth you can trust, every second is a verdict. 1943, Western Pacific. A damaged U.S. submarine stalks enemy waters on fumes and nerve, commanded by a skipper who believes courage is restraint. Through the headphones of Ash, the boat's sonarman, we enter a patrol of split-second choices: slipping a mined harbor by inches, shadowing an unmarked transport, and surfacing under smoke to pull survivors from burning water while enemy destroyers close. Ash hears death before anyone sees it—hedgehog patterns stepping closer, a torpedo turning back to hunt its maker, the ...

Build Without Permission is the no-fluff, real-world playbook for builders, leaders, and doers who are tired of waiting for a degree, a title, or someone else's approval. Drawing from battle-tested experience in startups, enterprise tech, and government innovation, William Ferrier Jr. reveals the unspoken truths that actually drive success—whether you're launching a product, leading a team, or scaling a business. No jargon. No MBA required. Inside, you'll learn how to: Think like a strategist, even under pressure Build products people actually want Earn trust through marketing that feels ...

The Experience Engine Reinventing Business Through Radical Customer Empathy By William Ferrier Jr What if your product isn’t broken—but your perspective is? In today’s crowded, fast-moving market, features alone don’t win. Feelings do. The Experience Engine reveals a bold new approach to business innovation—one that puts customer emotion, memory, and behavior at the heart of product strategy. Written by a leader who’s redesigned justice systems, led global tech marketing, and built products that users swear they helped create, this book is part playbook, part manifesto. It shows...

In the aftermath of the Gold Rush, the Sierra Nevada is a land of breathtaking beauty—and deadly secrets. Sixteen-year-old Lila has known only the quiet rhythms of life with her grandfather Elias, a former scout who teaches her how to read the sky, track the forest, and survive in the wild. But when whispers of young women vanishing spread through the scattered mountain settlements, unease begins to shadow even their remote cabin. One night, masked men shatter Lila’s world. Abducted and dragged into the lawless depths of the wilderness, she is forced to endure hunger, fear, and the ...

A haunting World War II espionage novel about the secrets that survive the silence. Lisbon, 1940. A city of exiles, double agents, and voices that refuse to die. British intelligence officer Tom Hale is recalled to the neutral port after a rogue transmission echoes the cadence of his brother’s last signal—sent from a plane that never came home. Ordered to shut down the broadcast, Tom discovers a web of radio operators, smugglers, and coded messages pulsing through the city’s narrow streets. Each frequency seems to carry a ghost—one that sounds too much like family. Across the ...

AN IMAGINATIVE JOURNEY INTO THE GOSPELS ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "This novel made the Gospels come alive for me in ways I never expected." ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "Beautifully written, theologically sound, and deeply moving." ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "Sent me straight back to my Bible to read the real accounts with fresh eyes." A HUMBLE ATTEMPT TO IMAGINE JESUS'S PERSPECTIVE This is not Scripture. Only the Bible is the Word of God. But what if you could walk through the Gospel accounts from a new perspective? What if a gifted novelist attempted to imagine what Jesus might have been thinking and feeling during the ...

The Plague Rider plunges you into a forgotten chapter of the American Southwest—when deserts were roadless, smallpox was a death sentence, and one unsung doctor dared to gallop straight into the epidemic’s maw. In December 1803, Basque-born surgeon Dr. Cristóbal María de Larrañaga receives a fragile vial of cow-pox lymph and an impossible order: carry living vaccine 1,400 miles from Chihuahua to the edge of the Rocky Mountains before it dies in the cold. With a mule train of orphan “courier” children, a scarred Navajo scout, and a midwife who trusts science more than saints, ...

STILL WALKING Surviving the Mountains, Memories, and Monsters by William Ferrier Jr. When the plane went down, Maya thought the worst thing she’d face was the cold. She was wrong. Maya Chen-Rodriguez survives the impossible—an air-crash deep in the Bitterroot Mountains. Injured, alone, and with a damaged prosthetic leg, she should not be alive. But when she discovers her grandmother Rose wandered from the wreckage—confused, bleeding, and slipping into the fog of early-onset dementia—Maya makes a decision that will change her forever. She goes after her. What Maya doesn’t know is ...

Lost in the Valley of the Oregon Trail What if a history assignment could change your life forever? Twelve-year-old Matthew never cared much about dusty textbooks or wagon-train pioneers. But when a school field trip takes an unexpected turn, he finds himself thrust into the middle of 1840s America—where survival is real, choices matter, and the Oregon Trail stretches farther than he ever imagined. Caught between two worlds, Matthew must learn to adapt quickly: crossing rivers, braving storms, and discovering courage he never knew he had. Along the way, he forges bonds with settlers whose...

Blood & Adobe: The Untold Story of the Pico Dynasty and the Making of California From frontier soldiers on the 1775 Anza trail to the neon rush of modern L.A., Blood & Adobe follows the meteoric rise—and courtroom collapse—of the Pico family, the last Mexican rulers of California. Governor Pío Pico, fearless general Andrés, and their multiracial clan built a cattle empire the size of Delaware, outmaneuvered the Bear Flag revolt, and briefly turned Los Angeles into their personal capital. Then drought, U.S. land courts, and ruthless financiers stripped it all away. Part epic biography,...