Media Maestro's book list started in 1989 and both its fiction and non-fiction attempts to focus on socially significant accurate American history of the twentieth century which points up social and political mistakes of the past which appear to be repeated in the present. We hope these works are of interest to educators and activists in the social and political arenas. Each book is available in print and digital formats, and each listing offers links to detailed descriptions, excerpts, and online purchase options. Books are listed in the order in which they were acquired by the publisher. Each author's name is a hot link to their bio. For autographed copies or to offer feedback or ask questions, please email Media Maestro.
LENNY BRUCE: THE MAKING OF A PROPHET
A professional memoir by William Karl Thomas
William Karl Thomas' intimate and poignant memoir of his ten year collaboration with the most
controversial comedian of the 20th century, a martyr to First Amendment rights. The book
begins before Bruce's rise to international fame and continues through the night Bruce died.
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ISBN: 978-0-9799477-0-4 Hardcover: $24.95
ISBN: 978-1-62768-003-5 Softcover $9.95
ISBN: 978-0-9799477-4-2 digital E-edition $2.99
THE PIANO LOVER
A show business fiction trilogy by William Karl Thomas
In New Orleans French Quarter during the 1950's, a young male cocktail pianist's life is
complicated by four beautiful women: two young women from opposite poles of society who
love him in diverse ways, and two middle aged women who seek to control him for their own
secret reasons.
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ISBN #978-1-62768-005-9 Softcover $14.95
ISBN: 978-1-62768-006-6 digital E-edition $4.99
PIANO LOVER: THE MUSICAL
A show business fiction trilogy by William Karl Thomas
The second novel of The Piano Lover trilogy includes the script and score of an entire original
musical stage production. Follow the careers of the talented alumni from New Orleans French
Quarter who helped create the 1950's and 1960's counter culture.
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ISBN #978-1-62768-011-0 Softcover $14.95
ISBN: 978-1-62768-012-7 digital E-edition $4.99
PIANO LOVER: THE MOVIE
A show business fiction trilogy by William Karl Thomas
In the third novel of the trilogy, the musical is made into a movie. The entourage experience
professional and romantic adventures in Hollywood, San Francisco, and exotic foreign capitals
with their famous and celebrated show biz peers.
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ISBN #978-1-62768-013-4 Softcover $14.95
ISBN: 978-1-62768-014-1 digital E-edition $4.99
THE JOSAN AND THE JEE
A Korean War novel by William Karl Thomas
A novel about three women who survived massacres and rape during The Korean War, and their
intimate relationship with an American GI dealing with his own demons from his failed marriage
to his unfaithful stateside wife to his contentious relationship with his bigoted military boss.
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ISBN: 978-1-62768-001-1 Softcover $9.95
ISBN: 978-0-9799477-5-9 digital E-edition $2.99
CLEO
A civil rights era novel by William Karl Thomas
A novel about a beautiful and talented black female journalist who is an intimate friend of black
entertainment and political celebrities during the turbulent civil rights era in the 1950's and 1960's.
Her professional and private life takes a quantum leap when she crosses paths with a cynical but
equally talented white male publicist.
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ISBN: 978-1-62768-002-8 Softcover $9.95
ISBN: 978-0-9799477-6-6 digital E-edition $2.99
HOLLYWOOD TALES FROM THE OUTER FRINGE
An anthology of twelve short stories by William Karl Thomas
William Karl Thomas' career brought him in contact with 'A' list celebrities and the armies of 'little
people' who served them. This anthology of twelve short stories reveals the intimate relationship
between the two set against a historically accurate 1950's-1960's background.
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ISBN: 978-0-9799477-3-5 Softcover $9.95
ISBN: 978-0-9799477-7-3 digital E-edition $2.99
THE RELUCTANT HOLLYWOOD P.I.
An anthology of twelve short stories by William Karl Thomas who collaborated with comedian Lenny Bruce on screenplays and comedy material in the 1950's and 60's. One of his bread and butter jobs was as a private investigator working for a leading Hollywood agency. His misadventures there included everything from being a bodyguard for damsels in distress to bugging the homes of suspected unfaithful spouses, dealing with snakes and coyotes that got in the way, and occasionally saving a life. While names are changed to protect the innocent and the guilty, these stories are based on actual cases and told in the first person voice of a man who just wanted to be an artist and was reluctant to invade the privacy of Hollywood's 'A' list celebrities.
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ISBN: 978-1-62768-028-8 Softcover $9.95
ISBN: 978-1-62768-029-5 digital E-edition $2.99
THE GENTEEL POOR
A childhood memoir by William Karl Thomas
A memoir telling the story of four generations of the author's colorful and talented family spanning
the Civil War, World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II. This coming of age memoir
deals with the social and ethnic evolution of the New Orleans/Gulf Coast area a century before it was
devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
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ISBN: 978-1-59663-565-4 Hardcover: $29.95
ISBN: 978-1-62768-000-4 Softcover $12.95
ISBN: 978-0-9799477-9-7 digital E-edition $2.99
A PLACE FOR US
The biography of a disabled activcist by William Karl Thomas
The biography of Wendy Wolf who entered an iron lung at the age of four and emerged a polio
survivor whose life illustrates the challenges of opportunity and acceptance people with disabilities
face and the triumphs and successes this extraordinary woman achieved.
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ISBN: 978-0-9799477-2-8 Hardcover: $29.95
ISBN: 978-1-62768-004-2 Softcover $9.95
ISBN: 978-0-9799477-8-0 digital E-edition $2.99
THE CANDY BUTCHER
The biography of a cult film screenwriter and producer by William Karl Thomas
The biography of Frank Ray Perilli whose offbeat films have a cult following and whose show biz
career spanned the latter half of the twentieth century. From The Doberman Gang and Dracula's Dog to
Laserblast and The End of the World, his 17 films and 3 plays challenge our imagination and his life
proves more bizarre than any of his films.
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ISBN: 978-1-62768-019-6 Softcover $9.95
ISBN: 978-1-62768-020-2 digital E-edition $2.99
IMMORTAL (coming June 5, 2023)
A science fiction novel by William Karl Thomas
Three extra-terrestrial explorers find an android guarding a human gene bank on a Saturnian moon. One male seeks to destroy the bank while one female offers to aid the android in restoring humanity with a new physical and social design in time to save them from annihilation. In view of global warming, Thomas' astute analysis of how and why humanity chose a path of self destruction, and the future alternatives he offers us, make this book a profound and urgent message.
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ISBN: 978-1-62768-007-3 Softcover $14.95
ISBN: 978-1-62768-008-0 digital E-edition $4.99
BEHOLD A PALE HORSE
by Seulgi Choi
Science fiction meets the new cold war in Asia. North Korea's leading space weaponry scientist, Min Cho, and her Russian mentor, Vladimir, race against time to perfect the ultimate weapon of mass destruction before the Americans..
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ISBN 978-1-62768-051-6 Softcover $9.95
FOR THE LOVE OF WOMEN
by Seulgi Choi
This collection of international figure photography by a lesbian photographer is diverse in ethnicity, age, and attitude. The text explores the distinctions between heterosexual male's and lesbian's perspectives of eroticism.
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ISBN 978-1-62768-058-5 Softcover $9.95
TOUCHE
by Seulgi Choi
Injecting a tactile sense into artistic female figure photography. The photo illustrated text discusses the use of props, textures, and subject context to evoke the sense of touch and sensualitry.
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ISBN 978-1-62768-059-2 Softcover $9.95
BLACK AND WHITE MAGIC
by Alfred Josephs
Religious and secular mind control techniques to achieve cultural goals. A discussion of negative and positive forces as perceived and practiced through the ages by establishment and anti-establishment venues.
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ISBN 978-1-62768-056-1 Softcover $9.95
FETISH
by Alfred Josephs
The use of dolls, marionettes, effigies, and images for good and evil around the world and throughout history as focal points to influence negative or positive forces to achieve negative or positive goals..
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ISBN 978-1-62768-057-8 Softcover $9.95
THE YIN AND YANG OF SYMBOLOGY
by Alfred Josephs
Symbols of good and evil, around the world and throughout history. Alchemy, astrology, petroglyphs and beyond, man's search for iconography to record and communicate with powers beyond his five senses.
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ISBN 978-1-62768-052-3 Softcover $9.95
BOOGIE BONTEMPS
by Michelle Moreau
The black underside of white New Orleans during the Great Depression. Moreau records the comedy and tragedy of her parents youth in 'The Big Easy' during America's greatest economic crisis.
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ISBN 978-1-62768-053-0 Softcover $9.95
KISS MY BLACK ASS
by Michelle Moreau
A black prostitute becomes a successful entrepreneur. New Orlans' famed Storyville red light district becomes an opportunity for an enterprising young black woman during the turn of the twentieth century.
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ISBN 978-1-62768-055-4 Softcover $9.95
THE TRIPLE GLASS CEILING
by Michelle Moreau
Survival in the corporate world of America's late twentieth century despite being black, a woman, and over thirty. Racism, misogyny, and executive jealousy are not the only challenges when lust and love enter the picture.
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ISBN 978-1-62768-054-7 Softcover $9.95
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