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Suite 15A •
7001 Cahill Road •
Edina, Minnesota 55439
Phone: 612-965-3755
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Attorney
Mark Litman has self-published
the "PASSION" trilogy; a series of novels consisting of
the following:
- PASSION: PIT to PRECIPICE
- PASSION: Journey then Judgement
- PASSION: fLAW and fLAME
All books are available on Amazon-Kindle and
Barnes & Noble Online — as eBooks, Paperbacks, and
Hardcovers.
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PASSION: PIT to PRECIPICE |
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The
first novel in the chronology of the "PASSION"
trilogy. Passing through teenage
years is never easy, even in the casual years of the early 1960's in
Minnesota. A lonely, brudened, intellectually gifted outcast —
Mikhael Ustinov — struggles within his cold family life and
driving compulstions. He seeks an upward path, unwittingly guided
through shared interest with two young women.
When one
friendship turns to love, his balance is lost. His intellectually
formal approach to their accelerating relationship is no longer an
option for an explication. A solution is critical for each of them,
and both of them, to individually mature and enable their eventual
life together.
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PASSION: Journey then Judgement |
The middle novel of the "PASSION" trilogy of life-testing
emotions. Patricia McDonald is on her personal, professional
journey, awaiting the promised return of her acknowledged soulmate,
Mikhael Ustinov. Near the end of her efforts, a young attorney —
Max Lepus — challenges her goals and beliefs, offering his own
passion as and alternative future. Will her seven-year commitment to
Mikhael survive, and can Max endure yet another heartbreak?
The life of young attorney Max Lepus compels him towards Dr.
Patricia McDonald as she concludes her journey to reunite with her
soulmate, Mikhael Ustinov. The new pair struggle through present
competing emotions. Max seeks a resolution with the least
destructive outcome. Must he once more self-sacrifice when offered a
chance of redemption with Pat?
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PASSION: fLAW and fLAME |
The
final novel of the "PASSION" trilogy. Max Lepus had two curses on his life. First, he was genetically programmed to be a
patent attorney — a profession generally considered to be second
only to Certified Public Accountant as inexplicably boring work.
Second, the remained of his genetic markers compels him to be a
White Knight, seldom refusing to help anyone in proven need —
especially if female.
Having endured the long and painful
demise of his wife of forty years, he has turned inward, his day
directed towards work, and when his knees allow him, a round of
golf. When a unique litigation opportunity presents itself to him at
age 75, he becomes ensnared in the Cause and with new relationships
that force him to change his life. A new legal intern immediately
relates to him as a legally skilled avuncular grouch. She becomes a
catalyst for necessary changes in all aspects of his increasingly
complicated personal affairs and professional life.
The legal elements of the story in this volume lean heavily on
memories of the author’s actual work experiences. Max Lepus
maintains a quality, but shrinking patent law practice at age 75,
after becoming widowed. Entering a lonely and sarcastically grumpy
phase in his life, a civil case that no other firm will take on
becomes a Cause.
Cursed with the White Knight syndrome, his
instinct to protect others also entangles him in a complex
relationship with a younger woman and her son. A new summer intern
becomes a catalyst for changing his life and his practice, even
while still in the middle of the complex law suit.
The
Nevada litigation was begun on life support and without funding. His
immediate hatred of one of the defendants drives him forward, as his
friends, the family of his longest-working client, and the new
intern reawaken his need for companionship and his desire to
continue his professional life.
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ABOUT the AUTHOR |
In a late life attempt to
compensate for authoring over 1,000 of the world's most
incomprehensible documents, — utility patents — Mark A. Litman
turned at age 77 to creative writing. With a B.S. in Chemical
Engineering from Cornell University and a law degree from American
University, as a competitive swimmer for more than 50 years, and as
a frustrated golfer for longer, that background is woven into the
three current works constituting the "PASSION"
trilogy series of novels.
Although
the author grew up in Washington, D.C., when it was a town and not a
metropolis, this book is set in his now residence State of
Minnesota, which retained the charm of many tight knit communities
from the 1960's — 2000's.
He feels sorrow
for today's
children, facing heightened intensity and extremes of troubles.
Violence in the author's childhood was a tightened fist or a deadly
sharp tongue. Drugs were stolen bottles of liquor from a parent's
cupboard. A girl might get a hickey, not a fatal disease or bear a
child at 14.
Yet the author still recalls old emotions and drama
that were just as fragile and electric as those of today. This story
is dedicated to the educators, swimming friends (Bigelows, Thomases,
and Friedmans), and families that shaped Mark's life in his
teenage years.
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