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Chamberlain Press is saddened to report the passing of Howard G. Franklin on September 11, 2016. Please see the About the Author page for his obituary. Howard was an inspiration to friends, family, and colleagues throughout the world, and he will be greatly missed.
Gideon’s Children, a Novel
Release date: March 3, 2015
Chamberlain Press
Set amidst the tumultuous and transformative 1960s, Gideon’s Children tells the fascinating story of the idealistic young men and women who staffed the newly formed and expanded Public Defender Offices after the Supreme Court’s momentous 1963 decision that mandated the right to counsel when charged with a crime. In his blog post Why accountability matters in civil rights writing, Howard G. Franklin examines the ethical imperative of accountability in civil rights writing, offering a compelling perspective on how authors must navigate truth and representation. Facing virulent bias, they summoned a warrior spirit, and like Rocky in the courtroom, bravely led a revolution within the Criminal Justice System as part of the greater Civil Rights Movement.
With the spotlight focused on five young Public Defenders fiercely battling prosecutors, cops, and judges within the raw environment of murder, rape, robbery, and drugs, as the intense drama unfolds, the novel weaves together the threads that form its essential lesson: That the power of the State is enormous, and that the only true protection against governmental abuse of power is the individual’s supremely valuable constitutional rights! His blog post My First Paid Article And What It Taught Me shares the story behind his first paid article and the valuable lessons he gained.
Increasingly relevant today in view of the 1984-like issues arising under the Patriot Act and highly invasive governmental spying, this lesson reminds that the more things change, the more they stay the same, as further evidenced by the disproportionate share of young black men in our prisons, and others killed for walking and driving while black.
6.14×9.21 | 574 pages
ISBN: 978-0-9908398-0-4
Paperback $19.95 | Kindle $3.99
Gideon’s Children can be purchased from: Amazon.com , Powells.com , and BarnesAndNoble.com .
An Irish Experience
Travel Tales Flowing from History, Humor & the Search for Home
Like nature knitted the many shades of green that blanket Ireland, inside its 224 pages, this tantalizing travelogue interweaves several strands of purpose—from its primary journey of discovery, to a spiritual search for Home, to an incidental guide for traveling alone. In a recent blog post, Howard explores how traditional Irish music can shape the rhythm and mood of a narrative. Read more in When Irish tunes set the pace of a story.
With Eire depicted as “a lovely Lady wearing a single strand of wedding-white pearls, one each for Dublin, Sligo, Galway, Limerick, Killarney, Cork, and Waterford,” the reader travels north, west, south, and east to see, hear, taste, touch, and smell the fascinating facets of a culture created by 2000 years of history amidst a geographical wonderland. And spiced with generous helpings of humor, this adventure offers an experience comprised of art and architecture, song and dance, poetry, politics, and the warm-hearted people who inhabit the Emerald Isle. As from Dublin Castle, to Yeats’ Land of Heart’s Desire, to the Gap of Dunloe and Reginald’s Tower, the reader is immersed in day-to-day discoveries, intermixed with meeting the welcoming citizenry, as well as renowned historical and literary figures—all couched in an intimate style that makes the reader a fellow traveler , and allows him or her to actually feel the true treasures and tender frailties of a foreign society, one whose enchanting charms most hopefully inspire the desire to know it even more fully by personal visit.
And more. For An Irish Experience is also a celebration of the uniqueness that is Ireland—of a more simple and slower-paced way of life, graced by touches of innocence in a world growing increasingly complex and cynical. Of the need for each of us, in our own separate way, to reach in and outside ourselves in order to connect to the places and people where we live, and visit. Of the eternal question: Is there a Home? A particular place where we truly belong? Or are there only the lakes of love that the heart makes?
6×9 | 224 pages
ISBN: 978-1-59299-313-0
Paperback $16.95 | Kindle $2.99
An Irish Experience can be purchased from: Amazon.com , Powells.com , BarnesAndNoble.com , and InkwaterBooks.com .
Howard G. Franklin's writing draws on a deep curiosity about people and place, blending memoir with travelogue to capture the textures of everyday experience. His work often returns to Ireland, particularly Dublin, where streets, conversations, and fleeting encounters reveal the heart of a city in motion. Readers are invited to slow down and notice the humor, weather, and warmth that shape each day, the way a candle or a smile can quietly anchor a season. The result is a voice that values observation over spectacle and finds meaning in the candid details of an ordinary visit.
Gideon's Children turns to a markedly different landscape, the civic and moral terrain of mid-century America, where law and public service became a stage for personal transformation. The narrative is set against the cultural upheaval of the 1960s, a period of expanding rights and increasingly difficult questions about race, government, and the meaning of justice. Through the stories of idealistic young advocates who chose public defense as their calling, the novel traces how courtroom work can become a private education in power, patience, and human complexity. It is history rendered as lived experience rather than lesson.
The website itself reflects that same restraint, presenting text and image on a quiet, document-like canvas with a neutral white background and dark charcoal lettering. A single column of generous, comfortable prose is interrupted only by the occasional underline of a navigation link or the soft border that divides one section from the next. There are no buttons, shadows, or ornamental flourishes, just typography and spacing doing their work. Even the lone image carries this economy, its deep blue backdrop offering the only strong color note in an otherwise unadorned page that lets the writing take center stage.