Book 3
Book 4
Book 1
Novels in Shingle Creek Sagas can be read in any
order. Each is a complete, stand-alone story.
No Free Soup for Millionaires
“Ordinary” Workers Fight Oppressive Power
A Novel by David R. Yale
When blue collar workers confront a factory owner for stealing soup at a neighborhood meeting, millionaires start a war against the community’s budding campaign for worker’s rights.
“…vividly represented…thought provoking…story that is
unusually rooted in a sense of time, place, and community… outstanding…bittersweet depiction of love, loss, growth, and social and political involvement…”
— Midwest Book Review
“I Can Still Feel Her Hand in Mine,” excerpted from chapters 3 and 4 of No Free Soup for Millionaires, was first published in Newtown Literary, Spring/Summer 2020.
In No Free Soup for Millionaires, Paul and Karen have a kind of magic between them, but … (read more)
When essential workers get legal authority to stop industrial hazards, and successfully sue a factory owner, panicked millionaires sabotage community meetings, hire armed spies, harass their kids, and raise their real estate taxes four times over. But workers still push their rights campaigns forward.
“… vivid descriptions of places … relevant themes … strong appeal … Well-plotted [with] unique and fully fleshed-out [characters who have] compelling, layered motivations and traits…”
— Judge, 10th Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published E-Book Awards.
My Mommy Questions and My Bonnie Answers, poetry excerpted from Chapter 16, was first published as Two-Poem Dialogue in Pangolin Review, April 30, 2021.
In They Break the Laws We Must Obey, Paul kisses Karen for the first time, but … (read more)
2025 Pencraft Awards for Literary Excellence
Inspiring anti-fascist novel first published in 2022 predicted Minnesota general strike, kidnappings, assassinations, disappearings, arrests with no charges. How do workers resist an illegal armed militia and win back their rights? Helps you imagine how to fight back to save democracy.
“… life-changing choices … unexpected consequences …”
— Midwest Book Review
“David R. Yale’s novel, Getting Back Our Stolen Bootstraps, has everything—murder, class warfare, struggle for justice, romance, and sex, including one of the most sensuous love scenes you’ll ever read.
With page-turning ferocity, Yale makes the workers’ struggles against corporate tyranny and criminality part of the reader’s experience on a visceral level. You feel for these people as if they were your friends and neighbors. As tensions build, the book’s pace quickens, increasing anticipation as to how it will all turn out for the workers, the community, and the two main characters’ love for each other. Given the current political tensions between today’s working classes and oligarchs, Yale’s book is especially timely.”
— Mary Batten, author, Sexual Strategies: How Females Choose Their Mates.
Taking Away the Tracks, a short story excerpted from Chapter 8, was reprinted in Blue Collar Review, Fall 2022.
I Have to Go Away, a song from Chapter 15, was reprinted in Which Side Are You On? Labor Day 2023 Poetry Anthology, Moonstone Arts Center.
At the Creekers’ strike victory celebration, Paul is finally able to tell Karen that … (read more)
A gifted teen, challenged to win the love of her life and build a singing career, struggles to transform defeatism into success, with help from three wise women. In the process she helps empower her working class neighborhood.
You have a beautiful natural writing style. It’s a pleasure to read, and it’s so refreshing to read about real-seeming characters with everyday issues.
— Judge, 6th Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published E-Book Awards. First Place, Winner, Contemporary Fiction category.
Quarterfinalist, 2019 ScreenCraft Cinematic Book Competition.
Chemical Explosions, a short story excerpted from Becoming JiJi was long-listed for the Lascaux Prize in Short Fiction.
Becoming JiJi is the first book in the Shingle Creek Sagas.
The love of Jill’s life has suddenly moved out of town, and she doesn’t know what … (read more)