"This book brought me to tears and a greater understanding of my own possibilities." Terresa Cooper Haskew, author of Winston's Book of SoulsAn email from a stranger tells Alison Earley that her natural father, whom she has known for only six years, has died suddenly. What begins as a short trip back to Scotland for a funeral soon becomes a journey that puts adoption, sexuality, and identity on a collision course as Alison finds herself caught between the life and family she has so carefully constructed on one continent and the family from which she was taken on another.Shunned by her father's family, reunited with her natural mother, and reconnected with a long-lost love, Alison finds herself trying to shepherd her youngest child towards college while questioning everything she thought she knew about herself.When her natural mother uncovers a series of letters written to Alison from the grandmother she never knew, resurrecting the stories of generations of women-stories long buried by patriarchal rule-Alison realizes that she must find the courage to face and reveal the secrets of her own past. At what cost, though? And who and what will be left in the aftermath?When the Ocean Flies explores the pain of separation and abuse, and the power of love to heal even over huge gaps in time and geographical distance.
"50 ways to get to the heart of the matter." Joanne NelsonRead a story between sips of coffee, while running errands, or on your commute home. Vine Leaves Press 50-word stories are a welcome break from a busy day. The 50 Give or Take newsletter series delivers a bite-sized piece of literature straight into your inbox. This anthology contains our third year's worth of stories.
"Achingly beautiful" Robbie Jarvis, actor "Prepare to be seduced." David Scrivener, Oxfam BooksA woman's soul is laid bare between these pages, eviscerated, sunk deep between ink and page. Life in the Dressing Room of the Theatre is a meandering journey of a heart both scarred and lonely and fierce and wild as it seeks itself in each new incarnation. It is stitched and pieced together with the blades of grass and faded-yellow ribbons that string themselves through each poem, following the thread of love, through grief and trauma, suicide and rose-tinted memories while traversing the vague and uneven road to self-rediscovery.
A young boy dies during a midnight ceremony. A fish buyer and $75,000 goes missing. And a runaway becomes the object of an Alaskan wilderness search.It is 1979 in a small native village in Alaska accessible only by boat. The local Tlingits continue to honor many traditions of the past, although increased contact with the outside world is accelerating a cultural shift. Caught in a slipstream of time, the village has become a curious blend of old and new.When a young boy dies from a potion that was supposed to cure his limp, all the evidence points to the teenage shaman as the killer. It is up to Jonah St. Clair, the only police officer in the village, to solve the murder and, at the same time, find the missing fish buyer. To do so, he must use both his police skills and his knowledge of the local culture.During his investigation, Jonah becomes prey and predator in a nighttime chase through the Alaskan wilderness and barely survives a rugged boat trip in dangerous waters. In the end, he not only apprehends a killer but discovers the bittersweet secret of the Raven's Grave.
"A profound and riveting journey through shame and grief, A Hard Silence is, quite simply, unforgettable." Monica Wood, author of When We Were the KennedysIn the mid 1980s, Canada's worst public health disaster was unfolding. Catastrophic mismanagement of the country's blood supply allowed contaminated blood to be knowingly distributed nationwide, infecting close to two thousand Canadians with HIV. Among them was Melanie Brooks's surgeon father who, after receiving a blood transfusion during open-heart surgery in 1985, learned he was HIV positive.At a time when HIV/AIDS was widely misunderstood and public perception was shaped by fear, prejudice, and homophobia, victims of the disease faced ostracism and persecution. Afraid of this stigma and wanting to protect his family, Melanie's father decided his illness would be a secret. A secret they'd all have to keep. They did not know that her father would live past that first year, but he did. And for ten years before his death in 1995, from the time she was thirteen until she was twenty-three, Melanie's family lived in the shadow of AIDS. She carried the weight of the uncertain trajectory of her father's health and the heartbreaking anticipation of impending loss silently and alone. It became a way of life. A Hard Silence is an intimate glimpse into Melanie's memories of coping with the tragedy of her father's illness and enduring the loneliness and isolation of not being able to speak. With candor and vulnerability, Melanie opens her grief wounds and brings her reader inside her journey, twenty years after her father died, to finally understand the consequences of her family's silence, to interrogate the roots of stigma and discrimination responsible for the ongoing secret-keeping, and to show how she's now learned to be authentic.
"Intelligent and laden with surprises... Marvelous." Lorrie Moore, author of I Am Homeless If This Is Not My HomeWill Sorley, a native Californian, is barely surviving his days teaching college in rural Pennsylvania when he receives an email from a teenage girl in Kenya claiming to be his long-lost daughter.This explosive note leads to a trip halfway around the globe to find this young woman and uncover more about her enigmatic mother, while trying to stay connected to his new girlfriend.Swerving from the comic to the tragic, For You I Would Make an Exception follows Will from Pennsylvania to Kenya, San Francisco to India as his life expands in ways he never imagined.
Tristan Wishnasky seems to have it all: a successful career as a cynical novelist in love with the Void, a romantic relationship with a formidable woman, and admission to the parties and revelries of the glitterati. But just when he's confident nothing can stop his stupendous rise, he begins to hallucinate mysterious messages telling him he's wasting his life. When the messages don't stop, he turns to his atheist lover, his oracular psychotherapist, and an ingenious female rabbi for guidance and direction. Where has he gone wrong? How should he be living?In his search for self-knowledge, Tristan lurches from the art galleries of the famous to the homeless shelters of the abandoned; from the arms of college dean Vanessa to the bed of struggling actress Barbara; from a career that ignores every claim beyond ego to the company of people trying to rescue the imperiled Earth.As he learns to destroy every false image that's ever laid claim to him, he begins to think possible a life that deeply, truly matters.
Ryan Shipley wouldn't have recognized his grandfather if they were the only two people in a room. So when an unwanted inheritance lands in his lap, Ryan is overcome with obligation. Does he leave his life as a journalist in LA to run his grandfather's weekly newspaper and revive a dying Ozark town, half of which he now owns?The overwhelming amount of casserole dishes brought to his door, along with being stopped by anyone and everyone to be regaled about the virtues of his grandfather, don't sway him. But when he starts to fall in love with more than just a girl named Olivia, Ryan sees a future there.Change is due for this small town, and Ryan is all in. But when there is talk of a chicken processing plant being built on the outskirts, he writes an editorial in its favor and stirs up trouble. An arsonist and a rigid bigot turn the uproar of the townspeople into mayhem. But it only makes Ryan more empowered to guide the town, and with Olivia by his side, they begin to turn the tide.Charming and humorously thoughtful, Chicken Dinner News is contemporary fiction for open-minded soul searchers that enjoy books by such authors as Richard Russo, Robert James Waller, and Boo Walker.
It's 1943 on the American home front, and Ella's pent-up, common-law husband finally decides to leave their farm and enlist. Ella must either depart their seafaring town in coastal Delaware to pursue other dreams inland or try to save their farm. Their grade-school son, Reese, won't budge, and Ella sees that farmers have a patriotic duty to stay on the land. The bay and ocean waters before them have been preyed upon by German U-boats, and their village has become a refuge for survivors. When an officer from a surrendered German submarine is sent to her as part of POW farm labor, can Ella embrace the help in order to survive? And what happens when Dieter becomes more than a hand to her, amidst prying eyes and under her beloved but conflicted son's watch? How will she choose when her explosive husband returns from Europe wounded from infantry duty against the Germans?In Ella's War, we travel a journey amongst women and men whose lives are deeply altered by the circumstances of WWII. What heroic or questionable choices must they make to be true to themselves and come through the great conflict?
From the snowy Soviet shooting range to the heat and dust of Africa, nothing is what it seems. And neither is Sue Dobson.The image of South Africa in the 1980's as the golden paradise on the tip of the African continent conceals a brutal, racist Apartheid regime. Those who oppose it risk their lives. Beauty and brutality go hand in hand.Sue Dobson, a young white South African woman lives a 'legend'-a life where she pretends to conform, moving easily through the echelons of the racist government in her work as a journalist, whilst concealing her espionage and military training in the Soviet Union, and her intelligence work for the banned African National Congress. Matters come to a head when sinister forces try to derail the Namibian independence process and Sue's cover is blown during a difficult honey trap operation, bringing the Cold War to Africa, and leading to her desperate flight across Southern Africa with the Apartheid security police snapping at her heels.
Camus once stated that fiction is a lie through which we tell the truth. The main characters in Heart and Salt all have truths, lies, and in-betweens, similar to every human being you've ever met. We all carry scraps of our past in our heart, the hope of the present in our palm, and the leftovers in our souls. Heart and Salt unwraps what is boxed tightly until it can't be contained any longer-Charli tests her seemingly strong marriage, Genevieve investigates a crumbly old beach shack after decades of storms, February navigates a new friendship, and Feather can't find her way out of the self-imposed "middle." Every piece's setting inhales and exhales as strongly as the people living within its walls, from backyards to kitchens to small towns, to cities. Dive deep into their heart, their salt, and their truths.
Inspired by the special bond between mother and child, Bell's poems search for meaning in a world of misconception. They begin with small everyday moments and end with a shift in understanding that not only enlightens, but leaves you wondering.From quiet nights reflecting on the sound of her child's smile, to viewing the world from the perspective of a potted tree dreaming of being rooted into true mother earth, A Tide Should Be Able to Rise Despite Its Moon is a collection of raw, honest, modern-day fables that remind readers to look deeper, feel more, and let the world speak for itself.
Understand the chemistry of book cover design in Can You Make the Title Bigga? by award-winning book cover designer, Jessica Bell, who is recommended by Dave Chesson of Kindlepreneur, Makeuseof.com, John Fox of Bookfox, and more.Are you self-publishing? Can You Make the Title Bigga? will inspire you with practical, actionable advice and information.Work in marketing or graphic design in a publishing house? It offers an invaluable resource.Studying graphic design? Already designing book covers professionally-or with dreams of doing so? Find inspiration for designs, workshops and classes.From Jessica Bell's witty, kind, and thoughtful perspective, you will discover:*why book cover design is so important, whether you're self-published, indie, or traditionally published*the elements of an eye-catching, professional cover design*how to research and choose potential book cover designers*some of the biggest challenges an author and a designer face during a collaboration*the balance between creating a book cover the author loves, the designer loves, and a potential reader loves*how to prepare for a collaboration*how to ensure a smooth sailing collaboration*costs and recommended designersand much more!Includes over 100 color book cover design examples and information about project agreements, how to obtain puff quotes for your book, how to obtain ISBNs, a list of standard trim sizes, and binding options.
A delicious romp through the smudged halls of academia, this book will make you laugh out loud, as pretenders, druggies, hapless romantics, and the slightly talented do battle in fiction.
Online teaching can be a wonderful way to share what you know about writing with other authors and to inspire more writing of your own. Ever wondered how to break into online teaching? Wonder no more!Whether you're just getting started on your teaching journey or if you've taught for years in a brick-and-mortar classroom and would like to make the leap into online instruction, this book offers insight into topics such as: choosing your class theme or genre, determining target audience, choosing the length and platform of your class, tips for what to charge, determining objectives, creating a syllabus, marketing your class, interviews with experienced online teachers, and so much more!Packed with exercises, a sample syllabus, a self-quest survey about your teaching strengths, and a resources list, this book is a one-stop read to launching your online courses and inspiring your writing students. Teach on!
They kidnapped the wrong girl.During the famed running of the bulls in Pamplona, Symphony Messina, the daughter of a Mafia capo is visiting Spain with her fiance, Miguel Angel, a young heir to a Spanish-Basque fortune. While Symphony waits for Miguel to run with the bulls, Basque terrorists watch her every move.In a lightning operation, Miguel is abducted and Symphony is held a secret prisoner. Back in New Jersey, Symphony's parents have no idea where she is. Was she kidnapped too? Is she alive? Unable to turn to the authorities, Joey Messina, her mobster father, turns to his crime family don, who recruits New York's most vicious hitman to track down her abductors. The bloodbath that ensues sets off a dog-eat-dog match that threatens to leave no one involved alive.Hope comes in the person of Tess Bernard, a sympathetic young lawyer, who hires Zeus Aguirre, a former CIA operative experienced in military Intelligence.Will Tess and Zeus be able to rescue Symphony after she is abducted yet again by Minot, one of her crispiest kidnappers?More than a clash between Euro-terrorists and American gangsters, Where Labyrinths End explores the volatile mixture of emotions that pull average men and women to shocking choices. Readers who appreciate Robert Ludlum's fast-paced action and the absorbing prose of Don DeLillo's political thrillers will enjoy the blend of multiple plot twists and intense storytelling.
In 1968, why did a gently raised southern girl quit college, run away to sea, and join a scurvy crew of pirates, searching for sunken treasure and running contraband? Why did she allow the first mate to tie her in the crow's-nest during a fierce tropical storm? Why did she flee the Bahamas in the cover of night, fall through a beaver dam during a Rocky Mountain blizzard, and hide out in a Colorado wilderness cave with her good dog, Rocky Raccoon?Wren Godfrey Chapman told herself it was to escape the tragedy of the war in Vietnam and her failed engagement to the love of her young life. But then again, maybe it was to assuage her rebellious case of wanderlust.With a strong female voice and sense of place in the Carolinas, Florida, Colorado, and the Bahamas, Pirate Girl describes a lifelong process of discovery through the adventurous lessons of Earth School.
In What Just Happened: 210 Haiku Against the Trump Presidency (a Satire), David Starkey memorializes each week of Donald Trump's four years in office with a single haiku. While the poems sizzle with dismay and disbelief, they are often tempered by dark comedy as Starkey catalogues Trump's outrages in lines you won't soon forget."e;Here's a book of high-speed history for you, friends. It's easy to forget the Trump years, probably because we want to. But if we are to remember the past so as not to repeat it, David Starkey makes it easy and even pleasant to do so by wrapping each of the president's gaffes in that most durable of poetical forms, the haiku. "e;Literature is news that stays news,"e; says Pound, and Starkey proves his point with poems that are funny, maddening, and razor-sharp."e; David Kirby
If Joy Williams and Raymond Carver had a love child that was often left in the care of Lydia Davis it might grow up to be Jayne Martin. Martin's writing evokes the literary DNA of those who have influenced her most, while in a style and voice that is uniquely her own.In these 38 tiny tales, everyday people do their best to manage the wounds life inflicts on all of us: A six-year-old beauty pageant contestant strives to please her demanding mother; a woman marries a 1985 Buick LeSabre; in a laundromat bored wives fall under the romantic spell of a lobster; a grown woman is still being fat-shamed by her deceased mother via a Ouija board; a widow carries her husband's ashes around in Baggies.With pathos and humor, these and all of the characters in this collection will speak to the reader's own wounded heart.
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