Coming March 15, 2026

I’m excited to announce the release of my new novel, The Paper Balloon, on March 15^th.  This one is set in the early 20^th century, much of it in Lima, Ohio, and the rest follows a U.S. soldier named Herbert Marcus through his various assignments. (This is not the Herbert Marcus who founded Neiman Marcus. This is the one who became one of the early pilots – one of the “bird men,” as the newspapers called them.)

Marcus did his best work in the Army Aeronautical Detachment, participating in the development of flight from hot-air balloons to the Wright Brothers’ planes and beyond. You can still find copies of old newspaper articles about his outstanding achievements as a pilot.

As I dug into my research for this book, I became fascinated. I learned that the story of heavier-than-air flight is deeply human. It is shaped by men of imagination—men of wonder and patience; men who used failure as a ladder to success; men with a passionate belief that the sky could be conquered.

Learning to Fly: A Story of Humans and Machines

Early inventors observed birds with envy and awe. If birds could rise on beating wings, surely humans could learn to do the same. This belief gave rise to ornithopters, machines designed to flap their wings in imitation of nature. As you can guess, they weren’t very successful.

In later centuries, men strapped on wings of wood and fabric and jumped off towers or hillsides. Ouch! These attempts often resulted in painful injuries, but they displayed a stubborn willingness to test ideas regardless of risk.

A Shift from Muscle to Mind

The early 1800s brought a breakthrough. Sir George Cayley, an English engineer, realized that human flight did not need to copy birds exactly. Instead of flapping wings, he built gliders capable of carrying a person, proving that sustained lift was possible. For the first time, flight seemed less like a fantasy and more like a problem that could be solved.

Power, Promise, and Frustration

The next hurdle was power. If wings could lift a machine, what could drive it forward?

Inventors experimented with compressed air, springs, and steam engines—technologies that felt modern and promising at the time. Some machines made brief hops, others slid awkwardly along the ground, and a few made short rises into the air. They

may have lifted off briefly, but they couldn’t be controlled.

The Quiet Discipline of Gliding

While some men struggled with powered machines, others looked to gliders for what they could learn. In the 1890s, Otto Lilienthal of Germany made thousands of glider flights, launching himself from hills and studying how wings behaved in moving air.

He documented his successes and failures carefully, believing knowledge should be shared. Among those who studied his work closely were two brothers in Ohio who repaired bicycles for a living.

Kitty Hawk and a New Way of Thinking

Wilbur and Orville Wright approached flight from a new direction. Instead of going for dramatic leaps into the air, they asked quieter questions: How does an aircraft stay balanced? How does a pilot control it once airborne?

They tested ideas methodically, building wind tunnels and refining wing shapes. Most importantly, they developed a system—wing warping—that allowed a pilot to control roll and remain stable in the air. For them, flight was not about brute force, but cooperation between human and machine.

On December 17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, their fragile biplane lifted off the ground. The duration of their flights could be measured in seconds, but they were controlled, powered, and repeatable. Their quiet success changed the world. You can read more details of their early development from a mechanic and pilot's point of view in The Paper Balloon.

More Than Machines

Heavier-than-air flight was not born in a single moment. It emerged from centuries of curiosity. The airplane is a testament to patience, collaboration, and the courage to keep going when progress felt painfully slow.

And perhaps that is why the story still resonates—because it reminds us that even the boldest human achievements begin with ordinary people who refuse to stop wondering, What if?

But The Paper Balloon is about more than flight.

In the pages of The Paper Balloon, you can follow the rapid development of flight from 1908 through 1913 as seen through the eyes of Sgt. Herbert Marcus.

You'll also follow Marie Dalton of Lima, Ohio, as she met Sergeant Marcus in a way that only God could have arranged.

The two became dear, devoted friends who wouldn't have recognized each other if they had passed on the sidewalk. And then . . .

Read the story to find out what happened after that!

To pre-order the eBook on Amazon, click the button below. (The paperback will be available for pre-order at a later date and will include an extra photo and notes at the back.)

Click Me