Shelf Unbound | New & Upcoming | February / March 2022 by Shelf Media Group

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2022 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021

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Matthew Lyons Grace M. Cho Nicholas Ward Zachary Lazar

WHAT TO READ NEXT IN INDEPENDENT PUBLISHING

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M A G A Z I N E All we wanted was a really good magazine. About books. That was full of the really great stuff. So we made it. And we really like it. And we hope you do, too. Because we’re just getting started.

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2022

Lamb to the

Slaughter by Pete Delohery A novel about love and cour age, sin and redemption “Iron” Mike McGann is facing the twilight of his prizefighting career. Desperate for his future, he has refused to honor his promise to his wife to quit the ring and start a family. Rufus “Hurricane” Hilliard is the most menacing presence in prizefighting. But behind his menacing ring presence lives a man nobody knows, a complex man who despises his own image. Rufus “Hurricane” Hilliard vs. “Iron” Mike McGann, just another fight shown on The Continuous Sports Network, but by the time it is over the lives of these and many others will be forever different.

“This heartfelt tale makes a powerful emotional impact.” —Blue Ink Starred Review Also in Spanish: El Cordero al matadero Available in print and e-book at Amazon, xlibris, and Barnes & Noble.

w w w. p e t e d e l o h e r y. c o m

Shelf Unbound Staff. PRESIDENT, EDITOR IN CHIEF Sarah Kloth PARTNER, PUBLISHER Debra Pandak COPY EDITOR Molly Niklasch CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Megan Lord V. Jolene Miller Christian Brown Alyse Mgrdichian Gabriella Guerra Wyatt Bandt Christina Consolino Michele Mathews Anthony Carinhas FINANCE MANAGER Jane Miller

For Advertising Inquiries: e-mail sarah@shelfmediagroup.com For editorial inquiries: e-mail media@shelfmediagroup.com

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1877: A NORTHERN PHYSICIAN IN SOUTHERN UNGOVERNED SPACES

Colonel Charles Noble is a US Civil War veteran, and an Army surgeon reservist, who is recommissioned by the government eleven years after the war. Extreme violence in the former Confederacy, in anticipation of a national election, has caused President Grant to send additional federal troops to the Southern states. Dr. Noble uses his Army deployment as an opportunity to help heal the wounds and afflictions of Southern US citizens. However, terrorists are determined to counter Noble’s good intentions, as they threaten the civil rights, and the very lives, of all who oppose them.

1918: THE GREAT PANDEMIC Major Edward Nobel’s mission, as a physician, is to help protect American troops from infectious ailments during the First World War. However, his unique vantage point in Boston allows him to detect an emerging influenza strain that is an unprecedented global threat. Noble desperately tries to warn and prepare the country for the approaching horror. Influenza’s effect on the world, nation, and Dr. Noble’s own family unfolds as medical science seeks ways to somehow stop it. Eventually, the 1918 influenza pandemic killed up to 100 million people, and became the worst natural disaster in human history.

1980: THE EMERGENCE OF HIV Dr. Arthur Noble is a brilliant first-year medical resident in San Francisco, who has a stellar career ahead of him. However, all of Noble’s skills are put to the test when he encounters a strange new illness. The ailment seemingly appears out of nowhere, and delivers its victims a most horrible merciless death. Dr. Noble struggles to find answers to the medical mystery, even as many researchers and society refuse to believe that it is a serious public health hazard, or that it even exists.

LEARN MORE AT

WWW.DAVIDCORNISHBOOKS.COM

CONTENTS

I N TH IS

ISSUE

SECTIONS 32 Bookstagram 39 Recommended Reading 62 Indie Catalog

FEATURES 10 Interview: Matthew Lyons Author of A Black and Endless Sky By Anthony

Carinhas

18 10 New Creative Voices to Discover By Alyse Mgrdichian

50 Interview with WhirlWhirl Publishing Company By V. Jolene Miller 60 Popular Genres & Topics: Spring 2022 Predictions By Alyse Mgrdichian

78 Food, Memories, & Grief: An Interview with Grace M. Cho By Alyse Mgrdichian

70 Book Shelf 114 Indie Bookstore

86 20 New & Upcoming Publications to Add to Your TBR By Alyse Mgrdichian

120 Indie Reviews

98 Interview with Nicholas Ward

136 On Our Shelf

By Wyatt Bandt

108 BookTok: More Than A Trend By Wyatt Bandt

COLUMNS 56 Girl Plus Book Megan Lord 76 Small Press Reviews Jenna Zerbel 102 Podster Gabrielle Guerra 106 Pride & Publishing Chrissy Brown 112 Reading on the Run V. Jolene Miller 116 Book Mom Megan Lord 118 Fit Lit Christian Brown

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2022

130 Interview with Zachary Lazar By Michele L. Mathews

A WORD FROM THE PUBLISHER

New & Upcoming. BY SARAH KLOTH, PUBLISHER

Everyone loves something new. For some it's a new version of an old favorite. Which is why we are happy to announce the return on Podster.... in an all new format. Everything you loved about our podcast magazine is now available in each issue of Shelf Unbound in our new "Podster" column. Be sure to check out the first interview with The Worst Best Sellers Podcast on page 102. In this issue we take an inside look at new titles, debut authors, and upcoming genres to watch for in 2022. We have interviews with Matthew Lyons Author of A Black and Endless Sky, Interview with WhirlWhirl Publishing Company,

Grace M. Cho, Nicholas Ward, and Zachary Lazar. We also break down everything new and upcoming in publishing this year with our featured stories: New Creative Voices to Discover, Popular Genres & Topics: Spring 2022 Predictions, 20 New & Upcoming Publications, and a great feature on BookTok: More Than A Trend. And we’re excited to announce that the 2022 Shelf Unbound Best Indie Book Competition is open for entries. Visit our website for more information. Enjoy the issue! 

First two books now available

GEHENNA SERIES The Underworld Comes To Life In This Supernatural Adventure Series A community of demons in the Underworld and Middle Earth co-exist in the spirit realm and are controlled by the rulers of Hell - Lucifer and Lucinda. Most demons cannot cross between the human and demon world, and most are unaware of the existence of the human world at all. However, the halfhuman half-demon offspring of demons and humans known as Cambions heavily populate Middle Earth and attempt to duplicate the human experience, while mediating between transcendent realms in their attempt to maintain the balance of power between Heaven and Hell.

www.kaylinmcfarren.com

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The Hive.

By Melissa Scholes Young

A STORY OF SURVIVAL, SISTERS, AND SECRETS.

INTERVIEW

Interview: Matthew Lyons Author of A Black and Endless Sky. BY ANTHONY CARINHAS

MATTHEW LYONS 10

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THANKS SO MUCH FOR TAKING THE TIME TO MEET TODAY, I HOPE 2022 BRINGS YOU AND THOSE CLOSEST TO YOU JOY, PROMISE, AND PEACE OF MIND DURING THESE TURBULENT TIMES. ALSO, A FINAL APPLAUSE FOR LAUREN ASH FROM TURNER PUBLISHING FOR SENDING A COPY OF YOUR BOOK ON SHORT NOTICE AND FOR MAKING OUR INTERVIEW HAPPEN.

ML: Hey, thank you so much for having me on! It’s an honor to be here, and yes, a massive shout out is due to Lauren and everyone else at Turner. They’re doing really great work out in Nashville.

AS SIBLINGS, NELL AND JONAH’S ROCKY RELATIONSHIP IN A BLACK AND ENDLESS SKY IS THE CENTERPIECE OF THE STORY. WAS THEIR BICKERING PLANNED OR DID THAT NATURALLY UNFOLD AS THE NOVEL MATERIALIZED?

ML: So even as I started pulling together the very earliest pieces of the book, I knew that Jonah and Nell didn’t really get along much anymore. I knew they used to be close, but I didn’t know the exact details of their individual

grievances until they—and the story itself—really hit the road, as it were. They’re siblings, after all, and what siblings don’t fight? Given that, it was important to me that their internal conflicts feel organic to who they are as people, rather than mechanical elements designed to move the narrative along. Road trips can be pressure cookers for anybody, but two people who used to be tight and aren’t anymore? Conflict’s inevitable in a situation like that. Best thing I could do there was to stand aside to let Nell and Jonah have their say and try and sort their shit out like adults. IN THE NIGHT WILL FIND US SIX TEENAGERS GO CAMPING IN THE PINE BARRENS OF NEW JERSEY WHERE ISOLATION, COSMIC TERROR, SPIRITS, AND MONSTERS LURK IN THE SHADOWS. ONE OF THE CHARACTERS, PARKER, CAREFULLY CONCEALS HIS MOTIVE TO FIND HIS FATHER WHO RECENTLY DISAPPEARED IN THE SAME VICINITY. DID DANIEL MYRICK’S THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, NEW DAWN FILMS’ SMILEY FACE KILLERS DOCUMENTARY, OR FABRICE 11

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ZAPHIRATOS’ BLOOD BEAT BEAR ANY INFLUENCE ON THE NIGHT WILL FIND US?

ML: Most definitely The Blair Witch Project, but honestly, the other major influences on The Night Will Find Us were The Breakfast Club, and arguably one of the greatest episodes of The Sopranos ever, “Pine Barrens” from the third season. Seems like kind of a weird 3-circle Venn diagram at first blush, but there’s some surprising common ground between the three, because they’re really all riffs on the survival story, right? People with dwindling reasons to trust each other, trapped in hostile environments while they search for something and do their best to just make it out alive. I’ve always been a sucker for setups like that. IS JONAH’S CHARACTER AND FAILED MARRIAGE A METAPHOR FOR THE STATE SAN FRANCISCO IS IN TODAY OR WAS THAT A COINCIDENCE?

ML: Oh, purely coincidence. I’d love to be able to lie and say that there’s a deeper metaphor at work there, but the truth is, I’m not familiar enough with the city to thread something like that into the narrative and thematics of A Black and Endless Sky.

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San Francisco and Jonah’s marriage falling apart are way more part and parcel with the book’s themes of journeyor-destination and the failure to change one’s true nature. The Bay Area isn’t just a place, it’s a “destination”, you know? It’s like New York or Los Angeles, in that it’s one of those spots people go with an eye on becoming someone different and making their mark on the world. Jonah tried to change who he was by moving to California, getting a job in tech, getting married, but none of it took, and at the outset of the novel, he finds himself heading right back to where he started. He has to drop the illusions of the person that he spent so long telling himself he was and learn to embrace his real, actual self. Destination versus journey. AS NELL AND JONAH CROSS THE AMERICAN WEST, IS THERE AN UNDERLYING MESSAGE THAT HAPPINESS CAN BE FOUND ANYWHERE—EVEN FOR THOSE WHO’VE LEFT HOME IN SEARCH OF GREATER THINGS? WAS THIS A MEMOIR OF SORTS OR PURELY A WORK OF FICTION?

ML: Absolutely. I think one of the major themes of the book is that true happiness is possible (and most achievable) through honest self-acceptance. I don’t know anybody who’s happier than people who

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are willing to let go of all the lies and fictions they tell themselves and just own their shit. Self-acceptance is a powerful thing, man.

AN AUDIENCE SO MUCH THEY CAN'T WAIT TO FIND OUT WHAT REALLY OVERTOOK NELL?

As for how much of this book was based in reality, I’ll admit to a scant few elements of Jonah’s journey being drawn from my own life, sure. Back in ABOUT THEI BOOKS 2019, when was first thinking about writing this book, my wife and I moved back from New York to Colorado to be closer to our families, and I was having a really hard time reckoning with the idea of leaving the city. I love New York, I truly do, and moving back home after ten years felt a little like I was washing out or failing myself in some way. Writing the early chapters of A Black and Endless Sky helped me work through a lot of that self-imposed anxiety.

ML: Okay, I like this question a lot. I personally think that it has to do with mythology-building and worldbuilding. It’s about knowing the story’s world (both natural and super-) inside and out before you ever put pen to paper. That way you can IV-drip answers out in a way that best serves the art. Sometimes that means a Stephensonian infodump, sometimes a seemingly-impossible Lynchian puzzlebox. There’s a quote from Futurama that I think applies here: When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all. Myth-and-worldbuilding is a lot like that. It does so much heavy lifting, but when it’s done properly, it looks completely effortless. It’s the best magic trick in the world. I’m a big fan of focusing primarily on the human cost of the mythology and the supernatural, because to me, that’s where the story comes from. Answers about the big existential whys can be great, sure, but it’s seeing how normal people who are profoundly unequipped to deal with that kind of shit react to the supernatural that really gets an audience’s buy-in. We love a mystery, supernatural or otherwise, but we’re

A BLACK AND ENDLESS SKY SHOWCASES A MYTHOLOGICAL AND SUPERNATURAL ELEMENT THE MOMENT NELL IS OVERCOME WITH MURMUR. THE DEEPER THIS MYSTERIOUS POSSESSION LATCHES ON, NOT EVEN THE DESOLATION OF THE DESERT CAN SAVE THEM FROM GHASTLY VIOLENCE. WHAT IS IT ABOUT THE SUPERNATURAL WORLD THAT CAN CAPTIVATE

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always going to love the utter humanity of it all so much more. SIMILARITIES OF WES CRAVEN’S LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT AND THE HILLS HAVE EYES ARE PRESENT IN YOUR WORK. HORROR IS AN EXTREMELY DIFFICULT GENRE TO BREAK BECAUSE IT’S ALL PRETTY MUCH BEEN DONE. THAT DOESN’T MEAN THE AMERICAN MARKET WILL STOP BEING BLOODTHIRSTY FOR GOOD MACABRE—NO MATTER HOW OFTEN A TOPIC'S BEEN REHASHED. WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO DELVE IN THE FIELD KNOWING HOW COMPETITIVE IT IS?

ML: Well, I think there are two answers to that question, really: I got into horror because I legitimately just love horror. Have ever since I was a kid watching Evil Dead 2 on VHS for the first time. Honestly, I didn’t think at all about how crowded or competitive the genre was, I just wanted to create art that I loved and wanted to see in the world. But that’s kind of the coolest thing about the horror community, I’ve found— whatever competition might be there 14

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is totally undercut by how supportive and enthusiastic literally everyone in the space is. Fact is, we all work in horror because we love horror, and love seeing the interesting and new ways everybody’s pushing the boundaries of the genre. That said, I have to say that I disagree with the idea that horror is in any way rehashing topics to slake market bloodthirst. One of my favorite things about horror is that it’s so deeply genreinclusive—every story traffics in some measure of dread or fear just by having internal stakes, after all. That makes it easy for horror to friction weld itself onto whatever genre it likes: family dramas, westerns, coming out stories, sci-fi sagas, comedies, on and on and on. And because it’s so adaptable and fluid, it’s never going to run out of space. It hasn’t all been done yet, not even close. There’s always something new to be found in horror. That’s one of the things that makes it—and all the phenomenally talented authors, agents, editors, publishers, readers and reviewers working in the space—genuinely amazing. There’s plenty of room for everybody to do the work they want to do while unabashedly rooting for each other. It’s a really exciting time to be hanging out in Horror World, both as a writer and a fan.

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FANS REALLY ENJOYED YOUR COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES, AND LIKE EVERY HORROR WRITER, THEY USUALLY HAVE AN ANTHOLOGY OF SHORT STORIES. WILL THAT BE YOUR NEXT VENTURE? PERHAPS A TRUE CRIME NOVEL? WHAT CAN FANS EXPECT AFTER THE RELEASE OF A BLACK AND ENDLESS SKY?

ML: Well, I’m currently at work on my next full-length novel; like A Black and Endless Sky (and a little bit The Night Will Find Us, I guess), it’s kind of a crime thriller that gets suddenly car-crashed into a horror story, and after having it in my head for a few years now, I’m so damn excited to finally be getting to work on it. That goes double because this next one takes place in my home state; I’ve been trying to write about Colorado for years, and but for a short story here or there, I’ve never quite been able to crack it, despite the fact that the Centennial State’s kind a scary place, when you peel back the wallpaper. Plenty of chills to be found out here in the weird west. FAVORITE HORROR STORY AND WHY.

ML: Oof, okay, this is a tough one, because there are so many great choices out there. Realistically, I don’t think I can pick just one, so I’m going to cheat a little bit and lightninground a few that will never not haunt me: Carmen Maria Machado’s “Especially Heinous: 272 Views of Law & Order: SVU” is one of those bonkers-genius, how-in-the-unbelievable-fuck-did-sheeven-do-that triumphs of storytelling that only come along once in a very long time. Machado was a finalist for the National Book Award for a reason, and really, there’s no way for me to tell you about this story without spoiling something about it, so please, just go read it. Right now. My friend Lindsay King-Miller has got a story coming out soon called “Penance” that just fucking destroyed me in the best way. It’s beautiful, haunting, scary as shit, and ultimately goddamned heartbreaking. It floors me every time I read it; it’s a flat-out incredible piece. Finally, let’s go a little old school and say Arthur C. Clarke’s “The Nine Billion Names of God,” because it’s a cosmic horror story masquerading as a sci-fi story, and it doesn’t show its hand until the last possible second. I 15

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first read it when I was like, fifteen, and the thing has been living rent-free inside my head ever since.

Jess is breathtaking in so many ways. One of the few movies that I immediately restarted the second the credits rolled.

FAVORITE HORROR FILM AND WHY. DOESN’T HAVE TO BE AN ADAPTATION FROM A BOOK IN CASE YOU’RE WONDERING IF THIS IS A TRICK QUESTION.

IF A MOTION PICTURE COMPANY LIKE BLUMHOUSE PRODUCTIONS, ARTISAN ENTERTAINMENT, POLONIA BROTHERS OR A24 OFFERED YOU A DEAL TO COMPOSE A SCREENPLAY FOR AN UPCOMING HORROR FILM. WHAT COMPANY WOULD YOU CHOOSE, AND WOULD YOU EVEN VENTURE INTO FILM?

ML: Oh, John Carpenter’s The Thing, no question. Not just my favorite horror movie, it’s my favorite movie of all time, bar none. Left unchecked, I can (and will) talk about The Thing for hours. Every single part of it is fantastic: the writing, the casting, the acting, the set design, the practical effects and creature design, the score—the score! Ennio Morricone and John Carpenter working together on music is a notion that’s so cool it should be illegal, somehow. Close second would probably be Christopher Smith’s Triangle. I still don’t know how people aren’t talking about this movie all the time. I know I am— whether my friends and family like it or not. It’s a beautiful narrative machine, a masterwork of form and function working perfectly in concert, with all the panic, paranoia, blood, nihilism, references to Greek mythology and, most importantly, scares you could ask for. Melissa George’s lead performance as 16

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ML: Okay, so, if we take books and short stories out of the running, movies are pretty much my favorite thing in the whole world, so I would absolutely jump at the chance to venture into writing horror movies—especially right now. It’s been so heartening to see that the resurgence in interesting, experimental and artistic marquee horror flicks over the past eight or nine years has been driven by true-believer production companies, run by people that are doing astonishing work on the regular. All that being said, if I had to pick just one to work with? Right now, I think it’s probably going to be SpectreVision (not just because I want to meet Elijah Wood, but it’s not not because of that,

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either). I think SV’s carved out such a cool niche for themselves in that they can put out a movie as utterly batshit crazy as Mandy beside something as poetic and ruminative as A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night. SpectreVision’s got an eye for talent and quality, man. The fact that they’ve worked with people like Ana Lily Amirpour, Adam Egypt Mortimer and Panos Cosmatos is proof enough of that, which also shows that they’re not afraid to get seriously weird with it. I love that brand of horror: the kind that manages to strike a perfect balance between scary as hell and weird as fuck. SpectreVision does that better than pretty much anybody else in the game. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SITTING DOWN WITH ME TODAY, MATTHEW. I LOOK FORWARD TO PRESENTING OUR CONVERSATION TO OUR READERS JUST IN TIME FOR THE RELEASE OF YOUR NOVEL IN MARCH. BEST OF LUCK ON THIS PROJECT.

ML: Thanks so much again for having me! It’s been a blast. 

ABOUT THE BOOK

A BLACK AND ENDLESS SKY Road trips can be hell. Siblings Jonah and Nell Talbot used to be inseparable, but ever since Jonah suddenly blew town twelve years ago, they couldn’t be more distant. Now, in the wake of Jonah’s divorce, they embark on a cross-country road trip back to their hometown of Albuquerque, hoping to mend their broken relationship along the way. But when a strange accident befalls Nell at an abandoned industrial site somewhere in the Nevada desert, she begins experiencing ghastly visions and exhibiting terrifying, otherworldly symptoms. As their journey through the desolate American Southwest reveals the grotesque change happening within his sister, one thing becomes clear to Jonah: It’s not only Nell in there anymore. Pursued by a mysterious stranger who knows far more about Nell’s worsening condition than they let on, the siblings race to find a way to help Nell and escape the desert before they’re met with a violent, bloody end. But there are far worse things lurking in the desert ahead... some of them just beneath the skin.

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10 New Creative Voices to Discover BY ALYSE MGRDICHIAN

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DOLORES REYES

First, let’s meet to Dolores Reyes. Born and raised in Buenos Aires, Dolores studied classical literature, then went on to become a teacher. She is best known for her feminist activism, and is a mother of seven children. Eartheater, her first novel, was originally published in Spanish on January 12, 2021 by HarperCollins Español. Then, on September 14, 2021, Eartheater became available in English through HarperVia, and was translated by Julia Sanches. If you want to learn more about Dolores and her debut, follow this link to read one of her interviews.

EARTHEATER

Set in an unnamed slum in contemporary Argentina, Eartheater is the story of a young woman who finds herself drawn to eating the earth—a compulsion that gives her visions of broken and lost lives. With her first taste of dirt, she learns the horrifying truth of her mother’s death. Disturbed by what she witnesses, the woman keeps her visions to herself. But when the Earth-eater begins an unlikely relationship with a

withdrawn police officer, word of her ability begins to spread, and soon desperate members of her community beg for her help, anxious to uncover the truth about their own loved ones. Surreal and haunting, spare yet complex, Eartheater is a dark, emotionally resonant tale told from a feminist perspective that brilliantly explores the stories of those left behind—the women enduring the pain of uncertainty, whose lives have been shaped by violence and loss. 19

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ERICA MARTIN

Next there’s Erica Martin. Born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, Erica strives to make a positive impact on the world through her activism and writing. Her debut publication, And We Rise, is a poetry collection that is equal parts art and history, guiding readers through the Civil Rights movement via verse. On February 1, 2022, And We Rise will be published by Viking Books for Young Readers.

AND WE RISE

In stunning verse and vivid use of white space, Erica Martin’s debut poetry collection walks readers through the Civil Rights Movement— from the well-documented events that shaped the nation’s treatment of Black people, beginning with the ‘Separate but Equal’ ruling—and introduces lesser-known figures and moments that were just as crucial to the Movement and our nation’s centuries-long fight for justice and equality. A poignant, powerful, all-too-timely collection that is both a vital history lesson and much-needed conversation starter in our modern world. 20

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Complete with historical photographs, author’s note, chronology of events, research, and sources.

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ANDREW JOSEPH WHITE

Now we’ll meet Andrew Joseph White, a queer, trans author from Virginia with a lifelong love for monsters. Having studied creative writing in college, Andrew writes stories, as he states on his website, about trans kids who have “claws and fangs, and what happens when they bite back.” His debut book, Hell Followed with Us, will be published by Peachtree Teen in June 2022. To learn more about Andrew and his writing journey, follow this link to read his interview with Project Write.

HELL FOLLOWED WITH US Sixteen-year-old trans boy Benji is on the run from the cult that raised him—the fundamentalist sect that unleashed Armageddon and decimated the world’s population. Desperately, he searches for a place where the cult can’t get their hands on him, or more importantly, on the bioweapon they infected him with. But when cornered by monsters born from the decimation, Benji is rescued by a group of teens from the local Acheson LGBTQ+ Center, affectionately known as the ALC.

The ALC’s leader, Nick, is gorgeous, autistic, and a deadly shot, and he knows Benji’s darkest secret: the cult’s bioweapon is mutating him into a monster deadly enough to wipe humanity from the earth once and for all. Still, Nick offers Benji shelter among his ragtag group of queer teens, as long as Benji can control the monster inside and use its power to defend the ALC. Eager to belong, Benji accepts Nick’s terms…until he discovers the ALC’s mysterious leader has a hidden agenda, and more than a few secrets of his own. 21

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MEGHA MAJUMDAR

Next is Megha Majumdar, born and raised in Kolkata, India. She came to America for college, attending Harvard University for her undergraduate degree and John Hopkins University for her graduate degree, now living and working in New York City as an editor. Her debut novel, A Burning, was initially published in 2020 (via Knopf), but is now available in paperback form as of June 29, 2021 (via Vintage). To learn more about Megha, follow this link to read her interview with the Guardian.

A BURNING

In this National Book Award Longlist honoree and ‘gripping thriller with compassionate social commentary’ (USA Today), Jivan is a Muslim girl from the slums, determined to move up in life, who is accused of executing a terrorist attack on a train because of a careless comment on Facebook. PT Sir is an opportunistic gym teacher who hitches his aspirations to a right-wing political party, and finds that his own ascent becomes linked to Jivan's fall. Lovely— 22

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an irresistible outcast whose exuberant voice and dreams of glory fill the novel with warmth and hope and humor—has the alibi that can set Jivan free, but it will cost her everything she holds dear. Taut, symphonic, propulsive, and riveting from its opening lines, A Burning has the force of an epic while being so masterfully compressed it can be read in a single sitting. Majumdar writes with dazzling assurance at a breakneck pace on complex themes that read here as the components of a thriller: class, fate, corruption, justice, and what it feels like to face profound obstacles and yet nurture big dreams in a country spinning toward extremism.

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SUE LYNN TAN

Now we’ll meet Sue Lynn Tan, born and raised in Malaysia. She studied in London and France, and now lives in Hong Kong with her family. Sue loves to write stories inspired by the myths and tales she grew up with, and her debut is no exception. Daughter of the Moon Goddess, Sue’s first book, was made available by Harper Voyager on January 11, 2022. As she puts it on her website, Daughter of the Moon Goddess is “inspired by the beloved Chinese legend, of Chang’e flying to the moon upon taking the elixir of immortality.” To learn more about Sue’s writing journey and her debut, follow this link to read one of her interviews. DAUGHTER OF THE MOON GODDESS Growing up on the moon, Xingyin is accustomed to solitude, unaware that she is being hidden from the powerful Celestial Emperor who exiled her mother for stealing his elixir of immortality. But when Xingyin’s magic flares and her existence is discovered, she is forced to flee her home, leaving her mother behind. Alone, untrained, and afraid, she makes her way to the Celestial Kingdom, a land of wonder and secrets. Disguising her identity, she seizes an opportunity to learn alongside the Crown Prince, mastering archery and magic, even

as passion flames between her and the emperor’s son. To save her mother, Xingyin embarks on a perilous quest, confronting legendary creatures and vicious enemies across the earth and skies. When treachery looms and forbidden magic threatens the kingdom, however, she must challenge the ruthless Celestial Emperor for her dream—striking a dangerous bargain in which she is torn between losing all she loves or plunging the realm into chaos. Daughter of the Moon Goddess begins an enchanting, romantic duology which weaves ancient Chinese mythology into a sweeping adventure of immortals and magic, of loss and sacrifice—where love vies with honor, dreams are fraught with betrayal, and hope emerges triumphant. 23

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MARK PRINS

Next is Mark Prins, a recent graduate of the Iowa Writer’s Workshop and the recipient of multiple fellowships, namely from the Truman Capote Trust, the Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference, and the Sun Valley Writer’s Conference. Mark now lives in Brooklyn, and, as of January 4, 2022, has published his debut novel. The Latinist, made available by W.W. Norton, is a modern reimagining of the Daphne and Apollo myth.

THE LATINIST

Tessa Templeton has thrived at Oxford University under the tutelage and praise of esteemed classics professor Christopher Eccles. And now, his support is the one thing she can rely on: her job search has yielded nothing, and her devotion to her work has just cost her her boyfriend, Ben. Yet shortly before her thesis defense, Tessa learns that Chris has sabotaged her career–and realizes their relationship is not at all what she believed. Driven by what he mistakes as love for Tessa, Chris has ensured that no 24

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other institution will offer her a position, keeping her at Oxford with him. His tactics grow more invasive as he determines to prove he has her best interests at heart. Meanwhile, Tessa scrambles to undo the damage–and in the process makes a startling discovery about an obscure second-century Latin poet that could launch her into academic stardom, finally freeing her from Chris’s influence. A contemporary reimagining of the Daphne and Apollo myth, The Latinist is a page-turning exploration of power, ambition, and the intertwining of love and obsession.

F E AT U R E

CONTINUED

SASHA TAQ W Š ә BLU LAPOINTE

Now we’ll meet Sasha taqwšәblu Lapointe, an indigenous author, poet, and artist from the Upper Skagit and Nooksack Indian Tribe. Her debut book, Red Paint, will be published by Counterpoint Press on March 8, 2022. Acting as a memoir, Sasha’s debut will take punk rock aesthetics and blend them with the traditional spiritual practices of her Coast Salish ancestors. Also forthcoming from Sasha is a poetry collection, which will be published by Milkweed. To read “What he should have had,” one of the poems from Sasha’s upcoming collection (along with the poems of other indigenous women), follow this link.

RED PAINT Sasha has always longed for a sense of home. When she was a child, her family moved around frequently, often staying in barely habitable church attics and trailers—dangerous places for young Sasha. With little more to guide her than a passion for the thriving punk scene of the Pacific Northwest and a desire to live up to the responsibility of being the namesake of her beloved greatgrandmother—a linguist who helped preserve her Indigenous language of Lushootseed—Sasha throws herself headlong into the world, determined to build a better future for

herself and her people. Set against a backdrop of the breathtaking beauty of Coast Salish ancestral land and imbued with the universal spirit of punk, Red Paint is ultimately a story of the ways we learn to find our true selves while fighting for our right to claim a place of our own. Examining what it means to be vulnerable in love and in art, Sasha offers up an unblinking reckoning with personal traumas amplified by the collective historical traumas of colonialism and genocide that continue to haunt native peoples. Red Paint is an intersectional autobiography of lineage, resilience, and, above all, the ability to heal. 25

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CONTINUED

XOCHITL GONZALEZ

Next is Xochitl Gonzalez, an author, screenwriter, essayist, and producer from Brooklyn. With an MFA from the Univeristy of Iowa Writer’s Workshop, Xochitl is also a contributor to The Atlantic, in which she writes Brooklyn, Everywhere, a weekly newsletter that explores the topic of gentrification. Her debut novel, Olga Dies Dreaming, was published on January 4, 2022 by Flatiron Books.

OLGA DIES DREAMING It's 2017, and Olga and her brother, Pedro ‘Prieto’ Acevedo, are boldfaced names in their hometown of New York. Prieto is a popular congressman representing their gentrifying Latinx neighborhood in Brooklyn, while Olga is the tony wedding planner for Manhattan’s power brokers. Despite their alluring public lives, behind closed doors things are far less rosy. Sure, Olga can orchestrate the love stories of the 1 percent, but she can’t seem to find her own … until she meets 26

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Matteo, who forces her to confront the effects of long-held family secrets. Olga and Prieto’s mother, Blanca, a Young Lord turned radical, abandoned her children to advance a militant political cause, leaving them to be raised by their grandmother. Now, with the winds of hurricane season, Blanca has come barreling back into their lives. Set against the backdrop of New York City in the months surrounding the most devastating hurricane in Puerto Rico’s history, Xochitl Gonzalez’s Olga Dies Dreaming is a story that examines political corruption, familial strife, and the very notion of the American dream— all while asking what it really means to weather a storm.

F E AT U R E

CONTINUED

JAMAR J. PERRY

Next we’ll meet Jamar J. Perry, who has an undergraduate degree in English, a Master’s degree in educational leadership, and a PhD, in which his research focus was on Black boys, the history of Black masculinity in America, and racial literacy. Dr. Perry’s website states it best: he writes stories “for the type of reader he has always wanted to engage: reluctant readers, Black boys who need to understand that they are magic, that they can also have joy, that they can be vulnerable and emotional, that they can be the hero in their own stories.” His debut novel, Cameron Battle and the Hidden Kingdoms, is a middle-grade fantasy published on February 1, 2022, by Bloomsbury Children’s Books.

CAMERON BATTLE AND THE HIDDEN KINGDOMS Cameron Battle grew up reading The Book of Chidani, cherishing stories about the fabled kingdom that cut itself off from the world to save the Igbo people from danger. Passed down over generations, the Book is Cameron's only connection to his parents who disappeared one fateful night, two years ago. Ever since, his grandmother has kept the Book locked away, but it calls to Cameron. When he and his best friends Zion and

Aliyah decide to open it again, they are magically transported to Chidani. Instead of a land of beauty and wonder, they find a kingdom in extreme danger, as the Queen's sister seeks to destroy the barrier between worlds. The people of Chidani have been waiting for the last Descendant to return and save them . . . is Cameron ready to be the hero they need? Inspired by West African and Igbo history and mythology, this adventurous middle-grade fantasy debut is perfect for fans of Aru Shah and Tristan Strong, celebrating the triumphs and challenges of a boy finding his true path to greatness.

F E AT U R E

CONTINUED

DOLORES REYES

The final debut author we will meet is Silje Ulstein, a Norwegian writer with a Master’s degree in Literature from the University of Oslo. Silje’s debut thriller, Reptile Memoirs, was originally published in 2020 by H. Aschehoug & Co. However, on March 15, 2022, Reptile Memoirs will be published in English by Grove Press, translated from Norwegian by Alison McCullough.

REPTILE MEMOIRS Liv has a lot of secrets. For her, home is the picturesque town of Ålesund, perched on a fjord in western Norway. One night, in the early-morning embers of a great party in the basement apartment she shares with two friends, Liv is watching TV, high on weed, and sees a python on an Australian nature show. She becomes obsessed with the idea of buying a snake as a pet. Soon Nero, the baby Burmese python, becomes the apartment's fourth roommate. As Liv bonds with Nero, she feels extremely protective, like a caring mother, and she is struck by a desire that surprises her with 28

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its intensity. Finally she is safe. Thirteen years later, in the nearby town of Kristiansund, Mariam Lind goes on a shopping trip with her eleven-year-old daughter, Iben, who angers her mother by asking for a magazine one too many times. Mariam storms off, leaving Iben in the shop and, expecting her young daughter to find her own way home, heads off on a long calming drive. When she returns home in the evening, her husband is relieved to see her but terrified that Iben isn't also there. Detective Roe Olsvik is assigned to the case of Iben's disappearance; he has just turned sixty and is new to the Kristiansund police department. As he interrogates Mariam, he instantly suspects her—but there is much more to this case and these characters than their outer appearances would suggest.

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@Womanon TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOU. @womanon: My name is Manon. I'm a 27-yearold based in the Netherlands. I work as a full-time English teacher, and I run a small embroidery business on the side. Apart from embroidering, other hobbies of mine include reading, writing, photography and gaming. TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR BOOKSTAGRAM ACCOUNT AND HOW IT GOT STARTED. @womanon: I started my account in 2017. In autumn of 2016, I fully refound my love for reading, and I distinctly remember searching for the hashtag 'book' on Instagram one night. I came across all these beautiful photos and I thought to myself: 'I want to do this as well'. I then started posting about books every once in a while, but it wasn't until summer 2017 that I fully got into it. WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE INDIE/SMALL PRESS AUTHOR AND WHY? @womanon: I think it has to be one of the first indie authors I read, Elise Kova. I got her Air Awakens series one Christmas, and binged the whole thing within a week. I was so addicted, and to be honest: I still am. That series remains one of my favourites to this day. And ever since that series, I have read every book by her! WHAT IS ONE OF YOUR FAVORITE WINTER TIME READS? @womanon: When I think of winter, one book that comes to mind is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Cliché, I know. But I feel like this book captures the essence of winter for me: those slow, quiet mornings spent reading with a cup of coffee or tea; the magic of the first snowfall; the cosiness of early evenings spent by the fire. 

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Call For Entries. Shelf Unbound book review magazine announces the Shelf Unbound Writing Competition for Best SelfPublished Book. Any self-published book in any genre is eligible for entry. Entry fee is $100 per book. The winning entry will be selected by the editors of Shelf Unbound magazine. To submit an entry, Apply Online. All entries received (and entry fee paid) will be considered. THE TOP FIVE BOOKS, as determined by the editors of Shelf Media Group, will receive editorial coverage in the December / January issue of Shelf Unbound. The author of the book named as the Best Self-Published book will receive editorial coverage as well as a year’s worth of fullpage ads in the magazine.

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A Black and Endless Sky. BY MATTHEW LYONS

Keylight Books | March 2022

From this far up, the desert looks like an ocean churning in the dark, the glowing worksite a galleon on black waves. Down in the sandy scrub below, the workers use spotlights to stab holes in heaven, hunting the skies for helicopters, planes, drones, ultralights, anything, everything. They do not abide trespassers here. Not tonight. Not when they’re so close. In between the lights and machines, jumpsuits and helmets scurry from trailer to trailer like nervous army ants, clutching clipboards and radios, trying to make sure everything hangs together the way it’s supposed to. Tonight, something’s different. Tonight, something’s happening. Word came from on high early the day before: they’re finally going to breach.They can’t afford fuckups, now. They usually run a 40

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2022

skeleton crew on the site, especially this late at night, but when the news broke that, after all their months of digging, they were actually going to break through and see what waited for them underneath the desert, the workers started showing up on their own. Not to try to log a few hours of overtime, not even to impress their supervisors—just to see. They’ve all been digging out here for so long that many of them forget what life was like before their shovels bit into dirt. This is what they’ve been working toward for months. They wouldn’t miss this for their lives. Under the panopticon eye of the central tower, the gathered workers file through the chain-link gates, pushing past each other for a better view of the site proper, steam jetting from their noses and mouths

in billowing white rushes. The desert gets cold at night, with snow on the way if the weather outlets are to be trusted. Working in the sand over winter can be a nasty proposition—the snow sucks, but the cold is always worse. It leaves the ground hard as stone, soaks frost and ice into their bones, slows the work to a crawl. But almost none of them notice the freeze tonight; they can barely feel the chill past the electric anxiety that crackles between them, dancing across their collective skin in shallow blue arcs.

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They crowd around the edges of what management’s been calling the Well—the great hole that they all harrowed into the earth in pursuit of...well, what, exactly? Almost none of them know for sure, and the ones that do have been forbidden by frighteningly worded NDAs to say for certain. Security clearance and all that—a real bitch. No matter. They were sent here to dig, so they dug. Simple as that. Never mind the acousticians and sonar techs tracking their every movement and telling them where to excavate next, the tower overseers keeping their eyes narrowed behind plastic safety glasses, the strange static feedback like muffled screams fluttering their radios the deeper they plumb. They’re company

men and women to the last, and they know how to shut up and work when they’re told. Shoulder to shoulder, the workers flock to the edge of the Well and peer through the consuming darkness that fills it like black water, all the way down to the funnel’s vertex, and the thing they found waiting for them there earlier this week, like a Christmas present left forgotten under the tree. The news traveled fast after they unearthed it. How could something like that not? There’s a door in the sand. At first they hardly believed it. But then, one by one and group by group, they crept forward and saw it for themselves. It wasn’t a door by any modern definition—a massive stone

triangle pressed flat into the earth and buried deep under a thousand feet of frozensolid Mojave Desert—but there wasn’t any better word to describe it. For days after they uncovered it, they ran test after test to confirm what they already knew as the salient points spread among the workers like wildfire through dry grass: the door was ancient, its carvings remarkably intricate, and whatever hollow network that lay beneath it absolutely massive. And now, tonight, after weeks and months of waiting, they’re going to crack it open and see what’s what. 

ABOUT THE BOOK

Road trips can be hell. Siblings Jonah and Nell Talbot used to be inseparable, but ever since Jonah suddenly blew town twelve years ago, they couldn’t be more distant. Now, in the wake of Jonah’s divorce, they embark on a cross-country road trip back to their hometown of Albuquerque, hoping to mend their broken relationship along the way. But when a strange accident befalls Nell at an abandoned industrial site somewhere in the Nevada desert, she begins experiencing ghastly visions and exhibiting terrifying, otherworldly symptoms.

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The Honeybee Emeralds. BY AMY TECTOR

Keylight Books

Alice Ahmadi slowed her headlong run. The dark tangle of hallways was a different world to the shabby yet bright magazine office somewhere above her head. She stopped and blinked. The sharp, toothy panic that had driven her to flee into the pitch blackness was easing. She couldn’t see a single thing. Bloody hell, why was this basement so mindbendingly vast? She remembered the stories she’d heard about the Parisian catacombs. How befuddled tourists would get lost in them for days before being retrieved by the exasperated gendarmerie. Did Bonjour Paris’s basement actually lead into the catacombs? Was she about to be confronted by the bones of a nice couple from Wichita or the ghosts of some Tokyo schoolgirls? She took a deep breath, her first since the lights had unexpectedly turned

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2022

| March 2022

off and plunged her into blackness. Well, her and Alexander. Oh God. He must have thought she had gone stark raving mad. When the lights snapped off , she had bolted like Alexander was Dr. Jekyll. Or was Mr. Hyde the monster? Bugger. So much for her degree in literature. Alice turned to make her way back to where she had abandoned him, keeping one hand on the slightly damp brick wall to her right. In her defense, it was unnerving to be down in this absurdly creepy basement with a man she had only met half an hour ago and who was, let’s be honest, decidedly rude. Alice remembered how last night, her boss, Lily, had told her to come into the magazine’s offices early today. If Bonjour Paris still didn’t have heat, Alice was to go next door and in Lily’s parlance, “shoot the breeze” with their

neighbor. Like many large Parisian blocks of flats, theirs had several streetfacing offices, including Bonjour Paris. Alice should get the “dealio” from their right-side neighbor on why the building’s heating was, according to Lily, “kaput.” “Shooting the breeze” was not in Alice’s repertoire. She didn’t have Lily’s easy American confidence or tendency toward aggressively slangy expressions. She couldn’t even summon a smidge of British arrogance, despite having lived in the UK for so many years.

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Still, Lily was the editor, and her word was law. Well, Madame Boucher, their terrifying office manager, actually ruled the roost. Either way, as the magazine’s intern, Alice knew these types of tasks fell to her. So this morning, when it was clear the heat still didn’t work, Alice had ventured outside to the neighboring office and knocked on its black door. No answer. There was a light rain and a woman wearing a beret with a poodle on a leash sauntered past, needing only a baguette and a cigarette to complete the Parisian stereotype. Alice had banged harder, smashing the heel of her palm against the door. There was something satisfying about pounding away at an immovable object.

The door was wrenched open. Alice had taken a step back. An enormous man, at least six foot five, stood before her—not just tall but heavyset and thick bodied. Even his hair seemed big— brown, curly, and wildly uncombed. “Bonjour,” she had said. She’d never actually talked to the neighbor before. He had simply been a shape she occasionally passed on her way into the office. “What do you want?” he growled in English. “I’m sorry, but I was wondering if you—” She stopped. The most amazing scent, like honeysuckle and tangerines, wafted out from behind him.

when the whole family, her mother, Dale, and her two halfsisters, would drive out to visit her grandmother in Skidby. Well, technically Florence wasn’t Alice’s real grandmother, but she never made a fuss about that. Alice had always been grateful that she had one granny to lay claim to, given that all of her blood grandparents had been wiped out by ill health, stress, Revolution, and state violence. “What is that smell?” she blurted. “You like it?” he asked, his scowl softening. His English was inflected with a slight accent that wasn’t French. “It’s brilliant,” she said. 

It reminded her of the hedgerows in summertime

ABOUT THE BOOK

Alice Ahmadi has never been certain of where she belongs. When she discovers a famed emerald necklace while interning at a struggling Parisian magazine, she is plunged into a glittering world of diamonds and emeralds, courtesans and spies, and the long-buried secrets surrounding the necklace and its glamorous former owners. When Alice realizes the mysterious Honeybee Emeralds could be her chance to save the magazine, she recruits her friends Lily and Daphne to form the “Fellowship of the Necklace.” Together, they set out to uncover the romantic history of the gems.

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Kiss Kiss For Real. BY CHARVET CLARK

Motina Books | January 2022

My brain scrambled to process a highly unlikely, unexpected scenario as it played out. Did he just nod at me? Whoa, he did. He actually noticed me. I was rewarded with a tough-guy-gangster-style chin jerk complete with a snobby glare down his nose as he and a couple of his friends strutted past me and the girls I was walking with down the athletics hall. I slightly lifted my chin back, returning a quick hint of an unsure but polite thank-God-for-afamiliar-face smile back. And that was it. We passed by one another and I didn’t swoon, have a hissy fit, freak or anything like my new compatriots were for me. But it did seriously warm my newkid-at-school nervous heart that he chose to sorta say hi. The small amount of relief I felt that I actually

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2022

kinda already knew someone here at this school was so welcome. He, my new next-door neighbor who I’d only just met over the past weekend, had just chosen to acknowledge my existence here. And it felt good. I mean I’d already pegged him as the elusive egotistical type, so already knew it was probably pretty exceptional that he had. “Oh my gosh Rico Alvarez is so fine!” Alicia gasped in a rush after he’d walked far enough away from me, her and the other two girls from P.E. that she’d introduced me to. “Too bad he’s going out with that trampy skank, Jodi.” The other two emphatically agreed and gushed about how his friends were majorly cute, too. Then they all started explaining that Rico was one of the most popular boys in the ninth grade and, therefore, the entire school and was the best basketball and

the best baseball player either Varsity team had. He was totally elite in their description and they wouldn’t shut up about how hot he was and how any girl that hooked up with him would totally gain instant it-girl popularity. I just listened and didn’t say anything. Then Alicia halted her girly-girl sashay as we left the athletics hall. “Wait, he nodded at you, Diana. Oh my gosh!! You are so lucky. Like getting noticed by him is like…it.” Then her hazel eyes gave me an insecure once-over; a tight pouty frown on her perfectly glossed bubble gum pink lips as if she was

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trying to see what made me so great. “Oh, it’s not like that,” I quickly explained shrugging it off. “We’re just next-door neighbors, that’s all. I’m sure he was just being nice.” “Nice?! He does not just say hi to someone to be nice,” Alicia stated authoritatively. “He’s sooo picky about who he associates with – like he’s super snobby but he can totally get away with it. Oh my gosh you have to tell him I love him – please! I swear I’d give my left boob to go out with him,” she sighed. The four of us broke down into hysterics over that. “I can tell him you like him. I don’t care,” I casually offered after we recovered. But she looked stricken when I did.

“NO! Oh my gosh, really? I’m so not like cool enough for him!” she exclaimed selfdeprecatingly. But then her face morphed into a wicked grin. “However, since you offered, try to find out what he thinks of me! Okay?” “Sure. I don’t know if he’ll talk to me, but I’ll do what I can. I only just met him the other night,” I explained with a shrug. “Oooh! What was he doing?” Lindy asked with an eager metal-mouthed smile, her round face and bright blue eyes poking into my personal space. The others eagerly leaned in, too, practically smacking their lips in anticipation. I couldn’t believe they were

this hyped up on the guy and didn’t seem to care in the least that he had a girlfriend. “Shooting hoops off his garage,” I answered indifferently. “Was he sweaty?” Summer asked, her eager green eyes getting wider. “‘Cause sweat on guys makes them shiny. And shiny things are pretty…” “Uhhh, I guess?” I answered a little warily, taking a step back from her. They all giggled and then Alicia exclaimed, “Ooh, I bet he looked so good! Did he take his shirt off? I’d fuh-reak if I saw him with his shirt off!” 

ABOUT THE BOOK

Mean Girls meets The Kissing Booth! Kiss Kiss For Real is a fun, slow burn teen romance. Hang on for the ride as you find out how the good girl gets the "bad" boy! It takes you through a roller coaster school year of cat fights, hot guys, chickening out, sneaking around, a secret admirer, making friends and losing a few. Join Diana as she tries to stay sane, look her cutest, figure out who she is and what her heart wants in the midst of it all. 45

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The Essence of Nathan Biddle. BY J. WILLIAM LEWIS

Greenleaf Book Group Press | June 2021

On the first anniversary of Nathan’s death, we went to the sea. We may have been looking for the ungraspable image that Melville said is visible in all rivers and oceans, but I didn’t see it. Maybe I wouldn’t have recognized it if it were floating like flotsam on the surface of the water. In any case, I didn’t see the image and I didn’t find the key to it all. We spent two weeks in a little cottage my mother rented, walking on the beach in solemn silence and sitting on the deck in the evenings while the sun sank into the ocean. We talked some about Nathan but not really that much. Neither of us mentioned his death. We had exhausted ourselves in hours of anguished fretting over a death that in any sane world was inconceivable. The ocean didn’t provide any answers but it did envelop us in an almost mystical caressing balm. The beach house stood a couple hundred yards back from the water, built on

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2022

pilings among the sea oats and bordered on the beach side by a large wooden deck. At twilight, when the sun left nothing but an orange tint on the waves, the ocean flooded the deck with a pungent fragrance and gentle gusting breezes. Even in the half-light, you could see the whitecaps cascading along the line of the beach. The hush of the evening was punctuated only by the incessant, rhythmic pounding of the surf like a gigantic heart. The last night we were there, I was sitting on the deck looking absently toward the surf when I noticed a great blue heron standing alone about twenty yards from the deck. The bird stood on one leg at the edge of the area lit by the flood lamp on the beach side of the house. The wind off the ocean moved the lamppost gently to and fro, so that the ring of light on the ground moved back and forth and the solitary fowl was alternately bathed in light and sheathed in darkness. The bird never

moved while I watched him. The light came and went but he just stood there looking wary and maybe perplexed. I still think about that strange, gaunt bird standing on one leg in the pulsing light. It seems unbearably sad to be totally alone and uncomprehending: The heron had no way of knowing and no one to explain why the light came and went or why the ocean throbbed and the wind moaned along the shore. I don’t worry all that much about Nathan’s death anymore, but the bizarre monopode randomly

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sneaks back into my mind and roosts there like a spirit from another world. Maybe because he first showed up in the summer, the hint of warm weather always invites him to return. He seems always to be lurking in the shadows but in the summer he is a constant intruder, yawking wildly if I try to elude him or chase him away. As far back as I can remember, I have expected summers to be wonderful. I don’t know why I delude myself with that notion but I don’t seem to have any control over it. It begins with a giddy sensation in the spring, and I can feel the anticipation rising inside me like a providential tide. But summer is never anything like the images I create in my mind. Last summer was particularly disappointing. My friend Eddie Lichtman’s father hired us to deliver furniture

again, and I was tired almost every weeknight. Also, Anna was gone the last month and a half of the summer, working as a counselor at a camp. We had not been getting along very well when she left, and then right before school started everything collapsed. She wrote me a letter in early August saying that she just wanted to be friends. I was already getting more and more nervous and strung out worrying about the meaning of things, and I couldn’t make the “friends” thing work in my mind. It was probably an illusion to begin with, but everything had seemed to be pretty much on track. I had been clacking along, more or less trying to stay with everybody’s programs and schedules, and all of a sudden the trestle seemed to give way under me. My last day of work at the furniture store was on

Wednesday of the week before the start of the fall semester. I was tired Wednesday night, so I decided to stay home and read instead of going out. But I really didn’t do much of anything. I fell asleep on the couch. I don’t even remember moving, but I was in my bed Thursday morning. The house was quiet and it was already nine-thirty when I woke up. My mother had left early because she had teachers’ meetings, so I just lay there for a while. I thought about staying in bed all day but, after about thirty minutes, I started getting restless and my thoughts began to roam. 

ABOUT THE BOOK

The Essence of Nathan Biddle is a timeless coming-of-age tale that, as novelist David Armstrong observed, "is like discovering The Catcher in the Rye all over again." Protagonist Kit Biddle is a rising prep school senior who finds himself tangled in a web of spiritual quandaries and intellectual absurdities. Kit's angst is compounded by a unique psychological burden he is forced to carry: his intelligent but unstable Uncle Nat has committed an unspeakable act on what, according to the Uncle's deranged account, were direct orders from God.

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Finding Grace. BY GARY LEE MILLER

Morgan James Fiction | March 2022

Judith exchanged her fancy pumps and business suit for something more comfortable. She still looked chic, though. Always did. Pouring a glass of her favorite red, Judith savored a few sips before she settled on the sofa. The tranquility of the scene was a stark contrast to the storm within. She took some time to prepare herself emotionally. “Call Mimi,” she instructed Alexa and took a long sip of the wine. “Calling Mimi,” Alexa replied. Judith knew the sound of her grandmother’s antiquated, pink, princess phone well. In her imagination, she could hear its peculiar ring. And she could see Mimi walking as fast as she could to get to the phone sitting on the end table, next to the photo of her grandparents. “Judy honey, you called at the perfect time,” Mimi 48

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answered just like she usually did, no matter the time of day. “Hi, Mimi. I just spoke with Rachel.” “Isn’t she a dear?” Judith was not about to make small talk. “This was quite a surprise you sprung on us,” she said. “I’ll have to admit, honey,” Grace responded with spunk in her voice, “even though I knew something was going on, this kinda caught me by surprise too.” “Rachel told me about your prognosis.” Judith swallowed hard to get rid of the lump in her throat. “Five or six weeks?” “The good Lord’s got a plan for us, Judy. You know I’ve always trusted him. Still do.” At that moment, Judith was more ticked at God than trusting him, but there was no sense telling Mimi that. Not now, at least. “I’ve started making arrangements to be away from the office for

the next month or two. I’ll fly in the day after tomorrow, Sunday, to be there with you.” “Honey, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about,” Grace responded. “You remember when Granddaddy took me down to Chattanooga to see Rock City and visit Ruby Falls and the Tennessee Aquarium? We even spent the night in one of them Pullman cars at the Chattanooga ChooChoo.” “I remember, Mimi.” Judith was confused why Grace felt it necessary to reminisce at this very moment about a trip

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she and Virgil had taken thirty years ago. Still, she humored her grandmother. “That photo on your end table of you and Granddaddy is from that trip, right?” “Sure is, sweetheart. You know that was the farthest I’ve ever been from Nashville, don’t you? I’ve always been such an old homebody.” “I know, Mimi. And you know how many times I’ve tried to convince you and Granddaddy to come visit me in Los Angeles.” “I’m going to tell you about something you don’t know, Judy.” Mimi paused. “Ever since Virgil passed, my dream has been to get on the bus and visit you.” “Mimi, I’d have sent for you, had I only known.”

“You know you’d never get me on a plane, sweet child. But the bus? That has been my dream. I’ve imagined all the people I would meet and places I would see,” Grace shared with a hint of mischief in her voice. “Did you know the I-40 runs all the way from Nashville to Barstow, California?” “I do.” “Well, there’s a bus service that stops over in some of the major cities so you can see places along the way.” “Can’t say I knew that,” Judith responded, puzzled by Grace’s “confession.” “Well, that has been my dream, honey—to take that bus.” Is this some joke? She listened to Grace continuing to lay out her dream. “I should have done it

before now, but now I’ve run out of time.” “I’m so sorry, Mimi. I wish I had known.” “Well, I’ve been thinkin’ about it since our call this afternoon. You said there’s nothing under the sun you wouldn’t do for me. I know that’s true, but Judy, you know I’d never ask you for a favor.” “That is true.” Pausing briefly, Grace gathered herself. “Well, that is about to change, sweetie pie,” she said. “I’m sorry, but not too sorry to ask. I want you to catch that bus in Barstow to come home to Nashville.”

ABOUT THE BOOK Grace Lee calls her granddaughter, Judith, with a dying wish…for Judith to travel from Los Angeles to Nashville to come visit her. But there’s a catch. Judith must make the journey by bus. The award-winning novel Finding Grace shares Judith Lee’s transformative, cross-country journey, revealing what truly matters. Each day of Judith’s journey becomes a story on its own, as the people she meets and places she visits along the way challenge her to rethink her life. Finding Grace is about Judith’s transformation back into the real world during this journey as a result of the people she meets on the bus, how she deals with the imminent passing of her grandmother, and how all this changes her life’s future plans.

INTERVIEW

Interview with WhirlWhirl Publishing Company Vanessa Leavitt & David J. Knight BY V. JOLENE MILLER

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2022

INTERVIEW

CONTINUED

Recently, I had the opportunity to spend a month ocean-side. It has been a longstanding dream of mine to balance my Arctic life with some sun and sand. As I narrowed down the destination, I made plans to connect with a fellow writer I’ve known for some time. Unbeknownst to me, this same writer was making plans of her own, including starting an independent publishing company. As soon as she announced WhirlWhirl had opened its doors, I asked her for the opportunity to interview Vanessa Leavitt and her business partner, David J. Knight. So, I bring you an inside look at WhirlWhirl Publishing. FIRST, A ROUND OF INTRODUCTIONS. WHO ARE YOU?

VL: I’ve been a writer for about twenty years. Well, I’ve been trying to learn [about writing] and take it seriously for that long. I write fantasy and speculative fiction mostly. During the day, I am a customer success manager. My company provides contesting software and websites to our clients. I help train them on these tools and with their overall digital strategy. I also have a side gig with the Orlando Informer, writing about various events at the theme parks, like Halloween

Horror Nights or Food and Wine Festival for the Orlando Informer. I’ve also written reviews for restaurants and other attractions in the area. DJK: I’m not really a musicologist, but I delve into music. I appreciate experimentalists and early Italian futurists. I make my own music to shape how it’s heard. I’m amazed by the idea that at dawn, as we are waking up and having REM sleep, those dreams are informed by the morning chorus of birds wherever we live…speculative, new mythology of dreaming…aerosomnia… sleep and dreams brought to us by the air. It’s poetic, not scientific. Think of it like an art book about listening and dreaming. SO, I’M SITTING HERE PHYSICALLY WITH VANESSA, SOMEONE I’VE ONLY KNOWN THROUGH ONLINE WRITING GROUPS AND POSTAL MAIL EXCHANGES, AND GETTING THE CHANCE TO MEET YOU (DAVID) VIA ZOOM. I THINK IT’S ONLY NATURAL TO ASK, HOW DID YOU TWO MEET?

DJK: (chuckles) I started my career in the UK as a field archeologist. For 51

INTERVIEW

CONTINUED

health reasons, I decided to go into higher education at the University of Southampton. I received an MA and Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in archaeology there, with a specialization in Archeoaccoustics, specifically the ancient acoustics and architectural space of the sixth-century Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy. For various professional and personal reasons I returned to my hometown (Guelph, Ontario, Canada). Giving up my career was a shock. Later, I got involved in local heritage and spent time writing and publishing a lot of academic work with colleagues in Italy, namely Professor Lamberto Tronchin (University of Bologna). Since 2007, I’ve published 11 major publications. Last year I was able to write a paper on the 6th-century pandemic known as the Justinian Plague (San Vitale's Aural Networks in the Context of Pandemic and Transformation) an article in the Journal of Physics: Conference Series, organized in Manila, Philippines. Then in 2017, I was invited by the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at UCLA to speak at a conference on Sound and the Sacred. This particular conference was open to the public, and that’s where I met Martin

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2022

Page. [AS DAVID IS TALKING, ALL I AM THINKING IS THIS MUST BE IT! AT THIS MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE CONFERENCE IS WHERE HE AND VANESSA MET!]

DJK: About a year ago, I was working with Martin. He’s into music and such like I am, and we worked on covers and music, that sort of thing. Then, the pandemic and lockdowns hit. Martin told me to get in touch with his media person, and that’s how we met. SO VANESSA, YOU WEREN’T AT THE MEDEVIAL AND RENAISANCE CONFERENCE?

VL: No. I DON’T UNDERSTAND. DAVID, DO YOU LIVE NEAR HERE?

VL: [Laughs] Oh, we’ve never met… in person. David had the idea to publish Martin’s work. When Martin introduced us, I discovered it would be better if we formed a publishing company. DJK: WhirlWhirl was born in June 2021. We had some fun making logos

INTERVIEW

CONTINUED

and taking care of logistics. In July/ August, we were all set up and launched the company on Martin’s birthday, September 23rd. SO, YOU ALL HAVE THIS ONE MUTUAL FRIEND, HAVE NEVER MET IN PERSON, AND YOU DECIDED TO START A COMPANY TOGETHER?

VL: [Nods] Yeah, basically. DJK: My entire archaeology career brought me to the UCLA conference, where I met Martin. [NATURALLY, I WAS BLOWN AWAY BY THIS KISMET-CREATED ENTITY AND HAD TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE PEOPLE BEHIND IT.] TELL US MORE ABOUT YOUR WRITING/BOOKISH BACKGROUNDS.

VL: My latest book, Five Tales of Transfor mation, is a collection of short stories. It’s an e-book, and it’s available on Amazon. I’m hoping to do another book of short stories in early 2022 and a novel later in 2022. Also, David and I are collaborating on some projects that will be happening in the near future.

DJK: Personally, I appreciate aesthetic writing -- the look of writing, not actual writing. Similar to New York writer, Cy Twombly, who has a visual nexus of the aesthetics of books. After Martin writes lyrics, I put them into drawings. I’m interested in the visuality of reading. WHAT ARE YOU READING RIGHT NOW?

VL: I’m currently reading two books. The first is Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book. I’m also reading a nonfiction book called The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule. It’s about a lady who was friends with Ted Bundy. DJK: I always made quotes of whatever I was reading when I was in academia. I’m a big fan now of Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys. For heavy reading, I turn to books by Paul Oster. I’m also a huge fan of John Steinbeck. I love reading whatever Brian Eno writes, and I like his ideas. I just read Crocodile Island by Nancy Drew. I also collect Mad Magazine. YOU BOTH ARE SO UNIQUE. I’M EAGER TO HEAR HOW THAT TRANSLATES INTO THE

INTERVIEW

CONTINUED

BUSINESS. TELL ME ABOUT YOUR COMPANY. WHY THE NAME WHIRLWHIRL?

VL: It was David’s idea. It wasn’t hard to get the domain name or for social media. Except for Twitter-- that was annoying.

DJK: Simply for the musicality of the word. I knew Vanessa lived in Orlando and we were having a storm, a tornado, and I thought of WhirlWhirl. It’s pliable for social media. WHAT ARE YOUR ROLES IN THE BUSINESS?

WHIRLWHIRL: As for our roles, we’re equal partners, but we handle different elements. Vanessa does more of the business side and social media. David does more on the creative side, such as creating our first e-book project. We both collaborate on what will actually go on social medi as well as any projects we’ll work on. WHO ARE YOUR CLIENTELE?

VL: David’s working on a book right now. We’re in collaboration on a children’s book I wrote that David will likely illustrate. We’re kind of open to anything going forward. But for now, 54

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2022

we’re starting slow and go from there. DJK: The spine of WhirlWhirl was set up basically to publish the book and other creative things that I do. But, we quickly honed in on the fact that Vanessa’s a writer, I’m a visual artist, and we can do quite a lot of things that are text-based and visual art as well. CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THE SUBMISSION PROCESS? REQUIREMENTS, PARAMETERS, OPEN/CLOSED PERIODS?

WHIRLWHIRL: For submissions, we are always willing to discuss projects at any time. People can contact us via our website or through social media. We also offer a la carte editing for projects who may or may not want to publish with us. You can learn more about WhirlWhirl Publishing and the fabulous duo behind the company, almost anywhere online and on your favorite social media platforms. WhirlWhirl Website WhirlWhirl on Facebook WhirlWhirl Twitter Handle WhirlWhirl in Images (Instagram) WhirlWhirl & YouTube 

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The Ivory Key. BY AKSHAYA RAMAN

This book will leave you patiently waiting for the second one, but knowing you are for sure going to read that second one. If you’ve followed me in the book world at all, you’ve probably noticed I’m drawn to cover art.. And keys for some reason. I’ve talked often and highly of The Memory Thief by Lauren Mansy, which I was drawn to by the intriguing keyhole cover art, and then was in awe of everything about it and have deemed it a top 3 favorite, likely forever. This book drew me in the same way - cover art and title. Once those got my interest, I read the synopsis and I knew I had to read it. Okay, so think a little along the lines of Indiana Jones meets complex family relationships and drama. The premise, magic and this key need to be acquired to save Ashoka from it’s enemies completely taking over. Vira has to recruit the help of her other 3 estranged royal siblings to help her in the conquest for the key. But they all have secret agendas and reasons to agree and want the key. This means the thing bringing them together could ultimately be the thing that tears them back apart unfortunately. You’ll journey with Vira and her siblings through some intricate puzzles, wild plot twists and turns, and vividly described settings. I could picture it all. And I LOVE the family dynamic, and how it shows independence, but also familial bond and inevitable loyalty mixed with dramatics and realism. As always - my reviews will NEVER give too much away - but if you liked Indiana Jones, if you like books that have more complex family relationships and you like books in vivid settings with immersive writing styles - you want to check this one out. And don’t be surprised when you see me review the second one once it’s released!

WHAT TO READ IN YA FICTION BY MEGAN LORD

Young adult fiction continues to become one of the most popular genres – mostly for adults. Join us each issue to find your next YA read.

THE IVORY KEY BY AKSHAYA RAMAN

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YA R E A D

THE IVORY KEY .

Vira is desperate to get out of her mother’s shadow and establish her legacy as a revered queen of Ashoka. But with the country’s only quarry running out of magic–a precious resource that has kept Ashoka safe from conflict–she can barely protect her citizens from the looming threat of war. And if her enemies discover this, they’ll stop at nothing to seize the last of the magic. Vira’s only hope is to find a mysterious object of legend: the Ivory Key, rumored to unlock a new source of magic. But in order to infiltrate enemy territory and retrieve it, she must reunite with her siblings, torn apart by the different paths their lives have taken. Each of them has something to gain from finding the Ivory Key–and even more to lose if they fail. Ronak plans to sell it to the highest bidder in exchange for escape from his impending political marriage. Kaleb, falsely accused of assassinating the former maharani needs it to clear his name. And Riya, a runaway who cut all family ties, wants the Key to prove her loyalty to the rebels who want to strip the nobility of its power. They must work together to survive the treacherous journey. But with each sibling harboring secrets and their own agendas, the very thing that brought them together could tear apart their family–and their world–for good. 58

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W H AT P E O P L E A R E S AY I N G A B O U T G I R L + B OO K

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“I Just Read Girl Plus Book’s Review Of Revelation, And It Made My Night!” - ELLERY KANE, AUTHOR OF LEGACY SERIES

F E AT U R E

Popular Genres & Topics: Spring 2022 Predictions. BY ALYSE MGRDICHIAN

As the years come and go, popularity fluctuates, whether it has to do with fashion, food, music, or movies. However, humans have predictable patterns, and book tastes are no exception. So, what trends can we expect to see in 2022? Regarding popular genres, romance has always reigned supreme in terms of sales, whether it be contemporary, historical, or YA. This is because the genre itself has a loyal fan-base, one which will carry over into 2022 and beyond. The next most popular genre will likely be Mystery & Thriller, tied with Adult Nonfiction (especially self-help and inspirational) and followed closely by Adult & YA Fantasy / Sci-Fi. These genres, especially the first three, have dominated book sales over the past few years, and will likely continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2022

What sorts of topics can we then expect to perform well in 2022? With nonfiction, the most popular topics have consistently been memoir, self-help, business, relationships, and social change. And, while there are nonfiction books that are more traditionally educational or specialized, niche books tend to have niche audiences. This trend will likely carry over into 2022, as people continue learning and bettering themselves and the world around them.

Fiction, on the other hand, isn’t as easy to pin down as nonfiction. This is because a good story is a complicated blend of different themes, subgenres, and tropes, whereas nonfiction tends to be more static. However, despite the difficulty of assessing fiction’s different topics (because there are far too many), there are three main themes across all genres that consistently sell: 1) murder, 2) romantic relationships, and 3) coming of age. These three things, especially when combined, tend to be what the majority of readers gravitate towards.

Keep in mind, art is subjective—popularity does not inherently denote quality, and quality does not necessitate popularity. In other words, if you don’t see your favorite genre or topic on this list, don’t take it too personally. 

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YOUNG ADULT FANTASY

PHOEBE DOUSE: SECRET SOCIETY FOR SPECIAL ABILITIES AND ARTEFACTS

BY L. SAMUELS

Where to Buy: Amazon | Authors Website “The author rounds out her tale with increasing suspense…. a delightful fantasy with a likable and powerful young heroine.” ~ Kirkus Reviews “Samuels delivers a YA novel that expertly weaves themes of troubled friendships, identity, and family changes with an evocative paranormal mystery.” - Publishers Weekly, The BookLife Prize

Grandmother Naan's superstitious stories seem too peculiar and childish to Phoebe Douse. But when surprising and unfortunate circumstances in Texas lead her to accept a timely invitation to attend a remote boarding school, thousands of miles away in Scotland, Phoebe finds that everything is not what she made herself believe. Unwittingly, Phoebe is thrown onto the stage of power and danger as events unfold that reveal the extent of her abilities and Naan's connection to the school. There, Phoebe is introduced to the clandestine world of S3A2 and is forced to decide between her new friends and the promises of power and S3A2 status from the welcoming but strangely mysterious Headmaster Duff. In this first installment of a YA trilogy (for ages 12 and up), Phoebe Douse: S3A2 presents an adventure-filled, coming-of-age novel, with mystery and a touch of the paranormal. There are also themes of selfdiscovery, valuing culture and diversity, and building trust and friendship. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

L. Samuels is a Jamaican-American author and illustrator, born and raised in Texas. Along with writing, L. operates a global education company and loves to travel, spend time with her family, hike, and dance.

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Thieves, Beasts & Men. This stunning debut uses the irresistible scenario of a hermit living in near-complete self-sufficiency in the wilderness, and asks the universally relevant question: what is the value of existing within a civilization when it is fraught with evil? Adelaide has lived a long, solitary existence in the Blue Ridge Mountains. On the verge of ending it all, she discovers two feral children raiding her garden and rescues them in a misguided attempt at a new life. Now she must find a way to care for children who are more beast than human. They only communicate with chirps and grunts, and they pine for their feral mother. When dangerous men and a wild woman emerge from the darkness in pursuit, Adelaide faces a grueling choice. She can release the children back to the wild, saving her own life but losing everything she has grown to love, or fight to defend her new family, risking the death she no longer seeks.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

SHAN LEAH Shan Leah is an award-winning fine artist, freelance photographer, and lover/writer of dark literary fiction.

She was inspired to write Thieves, Beasts & Men, her debut novel, because like her protagonist, she has a tendency to romanticize a life of solitude spent deep in the woods. And though not a feral child herself, Shan was born and raised in the Florida Keys, and with more mangroves than streetlights, it was pretty damn close. 64

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Winter of the Wolf. A tragic mystery blending sleuthing and spirituality n exploration in grief, suicide, spiritualism, A and Inuit culture, Winter of the Wolf follows Bean, an empathic and spiritually evolved fifteen-year-old, who is determined to unravel the mystery of her brother Sam's death. Though all evidence points to a suicide, her heart and intuition compel her to dig deeper. With help from her friend Julie, they retrace Sam's steps, delve into his Inuit beliefs, and reconnect with their spiritual beliefs to uncover clues beyond material understanding. Both tragic and heartwarming, this twisting novel draws you into Bean's world as she struggles with grief, navigates high school dramas, and learns to open her heart in order to see the true nature of the people around her. Winter of the Wolf is about seeking the truth--no matter how painful--in order to see the full picture.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR MARTHA HUNT HANDLER Martha Hunt Handler grew up dreaming of wolves and has always understood that her role in this lifetime is to tell stories and be a voice for nature. She has been an environmental consultant, a magazine columnist, an actress, and a polar explorer, among other occupations. When she and her four children relocated from Los Angeles to New York more than twenty years ago she began to literally hear the howls of wolves. This marked the beginning of her work advocating on behalf of wolves at the Wolf Conservation Center (nywolf.org). Winter of the Wolf is Martha's debut novel. 65

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Silk: Caroline's Story. Headless dolls, horse races, and arsonthe tools of passion. It's 1899, and Caroline Corbett is ready for the twentieth century. She's excited to find work and meet new people-but gets more than expected when a rough-hewn Lowcountry farmer and a smalltown doctor both engage her affections. The broad-shouldered, genial farmer is clear about his desires, and he's there for her. The doctor is sophisticated, educated, and obviously the right choice-but sees no reason to dwell on certain realities. In trying to decide between them, Caroline fails to consider the girl Jessie. A young sociopath bent on her own way, Jessie Bell sees very good reasons to dredge up unpleasant realities-and to create new ones. Before long, this South Carolina landscape is riddled with the detritus of her intense jealousies, which have set astonishing and horrifying events into motion.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

SOPHIA ALEXANDER Sophia Alexander writes character-driven historical fiction that grips readers' emotions and surprises them with unexpected twists. A Lowcountry native, she is the author of the Silk Trilogy. Her writing is inspired by historical fact, genealogical investigations, intuitive guesswork, and fanciful romanticizations. Sophia is a graduate of the College of Charleston and lives with her family in Savannah, GA.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

HOWARD T. JOE, M.S., PH.D. Howard T. Jow has an M.S. degree in Biochemistry from the University of California, Riverside, and a Ph D. degree in Biochemistry from the University of Houston. He is married and his hobby is reading health-related publications.

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The Girl in the Triangle. When your dreams finally seem to be coming true, it's hard to trust them. It's been four years since seventeen-year-old Ruth set eyes on her fiance. After surviving near-starvation, revolution and a long trip across the stormy ocean, she can't help but wonder: Will Abraham still love her? Or has America changed him? Nowhere's as full of change as 1909 New York. From moving pictures to daring clothes to the ultra-modern Triangle Shirtwaist Factory where she gets a job, everything exhilarates Ruth. When the New World even seems to rejuvenate her bond with Abraham, she is filled with hope for their prospects and the future of their war-torn families. But when she makes friends and joins the labor movement-fighting for rights of the mostly female workers against the powerful factory owners-something happens she never expected. She realizes she might be the one America is changing. And she just might be leaving Abraham behind. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

JOYANA PETERS JOYANA PETERS grew up in New York and loves exploring—this led to her discovery of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire and the stories it holds. She got her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of New Orleans. She currently lives in the DC area and continues to write narratives that shine a light on empowering women and moments in history.

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Tell Me You Love Me. In 1965 April Toulane's life is turned upside down on her fifth birthday when her mother marries a man she's known for only two weeks. The life she'd known is forever changed with the addition of a stepfather and a five-year-old stepbrother who terrorizes her on a daily basis. After a family tragedy the young siblings are thrust into the Hollywood spotlight, surrounded by people whose very foundation is based on secrets and lies. Struggling to grow up and find their way in a world where child stars are forever manipulated and exploited, the siblings form an unbreakable bond vowing to always protect each other when the adults entrusted to take care of them fail at every turn. "Tell Me You Love Me" is the story of April and Auggie Fairbanks, the most sought after faces in show business throughout the sixties and seventies, maneuvering their way through the lies and corruption to learn the truth about their parents and searching for the love and acceptance they so desperately crave.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

KATHLEEN STONE Kathleen has been a freelance writer since 1999 and now writes full time. Her work has appeared in Doll World Magazine, Apolloslyre.com, The Lake County Journals, Trails. com; USA Today (travel), Livestrong.com (lifestyle), Essortment, eHow, Answerbag, Examiner.com, Suite101 and YahooVoices. She is the author of the award-winning novels Tell Me You Love Me and Whispers On A String, and the Head Case Rock Novel Series (Head Case, Whiplash and Haven). She also has short stories published in the Secrets: Fact or Fiction I & II anthologies. 69

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Twin Bill

The Fall of Partha

Baseball challenges players on and off the field.

War breaks out between the kingdoms of Partha and Zeiglon.

BY MIKE MCSORLEY

“Payback” offers a chance to even the score for lefty Alan Coltard, but at what price? In “Big Finish” slugging outfielder J.C. Taylor finds his baseball world turned upside down when he’s traded midseason from a contender to hopeless also ran. He’s faced with the choice of playing out the sting or becoming a bigtime player in a whole new role.

BY STEVE STEPHENSON

The Young wizard, Celedant and his bonded dragon, Azimuth set out to unite the dwarvan clans against the growing threat as the first small step in a grander plan. The Staff of Adaman, an instrument of good, is miraculously brought into play, but with devastating results. A titan clash with the evil Staff of Adois brings about a conflagration that soon threatens to destroy all.

Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Tripping Past Om

3 A.M. AUSTIN TEXAS

Jemma, engulfed in selfloathing from a failed romance and boredom from caring for an autistic brother, plunges herself into a dangerous relationship with a head, a proselytizer of LSD. He soon controls her through the drug and her own false perceptions. She emerges into a life of drugs, sex, and violence. The escapades she experiences, both literally and symbolically, roller coast Jemma into self-awareness. She finds that Om (blessedness) is neither out nor in but who and what she is. Tripping Past Om sensually and lyrically pays tribute to the quest for spiritual and personal value in the postmodern world.

3 a.m. Austin Texas" is based on a true story of the author, Klecko. In 1982, when he was a young Minnesota man, still in his late teens, he threw away his life only to reclaim it while hitchhiking to Texas in the dead of winter.

Available at Amazon.

Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

BY SHELBY COCHRAN

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BY KLECKO

Long before the days of cellphones, this journey, made in abject solitude, save for a few people he met along the way, taught him how to be resilient and gain confidence.

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Two Tickets to Dubrovnik BY ANGUS KENNEDY

A View From The Languedoc BY ANGUS KENNEDY

Australian wine writer, Andrew Johnston, goes to Dubrovnik to prepare an article for his editor on the wines and wineries of southern Rhône. He meets up with an old Bordelaise wine making acquaintance, Lucien Delasalles, and his step-sister, Niki Menčetić. He becomes embroiled in the murky affairs of Niki and her family and the local police, which leads to his sad departure from the ancient city.

Australian wine writer, Andrew Johnston, is again staying in Europe, this time with his brother, Adrian, for both work and a holiday. During an extensive new wine project from his publisher, he meets up again with a number of his old acquaintances from both France and Dubrovnik, including Niki Menčetić. Whether he can resolve his difficulties with Niki’s life is uncertain.

www.anguskennedybooks.com Available at Amazon, Amazon UK, and Barnes & Noble.

To The East

The Final Programme

The book gives a composite picture of what heaven is like based on the eyewitness testimony of nineteen separate accounts. As a result it gives a more complete picture than any other single book does. All of Scripture’s testimony about heaven is confirmed and many more details God never revealed in His Word. Many readers say it’s a great blessing and have bought extra copies to give away.

In this final novel of the Out of Solitude tetralogy, Australian wine writer, Andrew Johnston, is comatose in a hospital in Sydney, Australia after the events of Međjugorje in Bosnia and Herzegovina. His Croatian lover, Niki Menčetić, believes him gone, the victim of a cruel deception by Andrew’s brother, Adrian, and has returned to Dubrovnik. Andrew now has to try to re-establish the rest of his life.

www.anguskennedybooks.com Available at Amazon, Amazon UK, and Barnes & Noble.

BY ANGUS KENNEDY

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Omitted Pieces

These Walls Between Us

Omitted Pieces is a quirky, YA SCI-FI mixed with a dash of thriller and a pinch of romance about a girl on a rescue mission.

Two girls meet in a 1950’s kitchen. Mary, who is Black and 15, works as a summer-time domestic worker for Wendy’s white family. Wendy, at 12, is the family’s privileged daughter. Over sixty-five years, the two co-create a deep friendship. Vivid stories in Wendy's award-winning memoir lift up the obstacles, in society and in herself, to this unlikely friendship. These two complex and accomplished women will stay with you. Their story will spark conversation and change.

BY STEPHANIE HANSEN

It is 2164 and the mad scientist Cromwell has kidnapped Sierra’s mother and set up shop on planet Scepter. In order to save her, Sierra will need the help of friends in this place of glowing leaves and a floating capital. On Vortex, Al has shut down the old facility, but will he be able to join Sierra? What about those who made it to Earth? Are they closer to danger than they realize? Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Feast of Fates

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Journey Into Darkness: A Story In Four Parts, 3rd Edition BY J. ARTHUR MOORE

Morigan lives a quiet life as the handmaiden to a fatherly old sorcerer named Thackery. But when she crosses paths with Caenith, a not wholly mortal man, her world changes forever. Their meeting sparks long buried magical powers deep within Morigan. As she attempts to understand her newfound abilities, unbidden visions begin to plague her—visions that show a devastating madness descending on one of the Immortal Kings who rules the land.

Duane Kinkade was ten years old in the summer of 1861 when raiders struck his farm after his pa had gone to the war; eleven the following spring when he left in search of his father and became a part of the war himself; thirteen the summer he returned home, a veteran soldier after two and a half years of army life and battlefield experience. An intricate blend of fact and fiction, the thread of experience of the fictitious boy soldier runs through the fabric of a very real war and its historic violence as it actually happened.

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Mildred the Bird Lady

The Talking Drum

A chance encounter in a chicago park between inquisitive 4-year old Mary and the eccentric Mildred begins a lifelong unconventional friendship. Despite her mother's wishes not to engage with Mildred, Mary finds herself drawn to the kind Bird Lady. Impressed by Mary's independence and creativity, Mildred shares the lessons of her gilded life and becomes a mentor for Mary. In their moments together, Mildred teaches Mary about courtship,manners, ethics, art, culture, and life's little luxuries. Through the twists and turns of Mary's life, Mildred's influence is felt time and time again, like a gentle beacon guiding Mary toward her true passion and purpose.

The fictional city of Bellport, Massachusetts, is in decline with an urban redevelopment project on the horizon expected to transform this dying factory town into a thriving economic center. This planned transformation has a profound effect on the residents who live in Bellport as their own personal transformations take place.

Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

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A Knock in the Attic: True Ghost Stories & Other Spine-chilling Paranormal Adventures BY JOHN RUSSELL

When I was five years old I was awakened by an intrusive ghost who not only scared the wits out of me but who also opened up a portal that activated my psychic gifts and allowed a neverending parade of paranormal manifestations to occur in my life. A Knock in the Attic is my story, not only about my psychic awakening and the abundance of mind-blowing otherworldly confrontations I've experienced, but also about the life lessons those many supernatural encounters have taught me. Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

BY LISA BRAXTON

The Talking Drum explores intra-racial, class, and cross-cultural tensions, along with the meaning of community and belonging.

Grounded Eagles

BY HELENA P. SCHRADER

An identity crisis triggered by facial injuries, single parenting in the armed services, and PTSD are the focus of three heartwrenching tales set in WWII by award-winning novelist Helena P. Schrader. Find out more about these three critically acclaimed novellas, A Stranger in the Mirror, A Rose in November and Lack of Moral Fibre at: https:// crossseaspress.com/grounded-eagles Buy the collection from amazon in paperback or ebook at: https://www.amazon.com/Grounded-EaglesThree-Tales-WWII/dp/0989159795/ Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. 75

Truth and Other Lies, a novel by Maggie Smith.

Review by Jenna Zerbel, editor with Orange Hat Publishing | Ten16 Press

SMALL PRESS REVIEWS

TEN16 PRESS TEN16 Press, a division of Orange Hat Publishing, housing fiction, non-fiction, YA and poetry books. WWW.ORANGEHATPUBLISHING.COM

“Maggie Smith’s ambitious debut tackles not only mother-daughter dynamics and family secrets, but also the workplace and realworld politics affecting modern women. Written with an engaging, conversational tone, the story conflicts are both realistic and substantial.” —Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author Jamie Beck

Perhaps the most critical component of any novel’s success is its main character. In the case of Truth and Other Lies, that’s Megan Barnes – a spirited and ambitious young woman chasing a career in journalism. After losing her boyfriend and job on the same day, she flees to Chicago and moves in with her mother, who is in the midst of running for US Congress. While Megan gets settled into a new job on the PR team of her hero – renowned journalist Jocelyn Jones – she finds herself involved in newsroom hierarchies, social justice, and political campaigns. The more tangled she gets in this media whirlwind, Megan discovers that the lines between fact and fiction are not always black and white. Truth and Other Lies steeps readers in the cutthroat fields of journalism and politics, following along as Megan unravels harsh truths about how professional ambition often leads to questionable ethics. What’s most impressive about Smith’s debut novel is how seamlessly she manages to weave critical realworld issues into the story – ranging from sexual harassment to reproductive rights. Another standout feature of Truth and Other Lies is how it examines the complex dynamics between mother and daughter, as well as mentor and protégé. This book is a contemporary feminist triumph, featuring a strong protagonist who maintains her integrity despite striving for success in an industry built on corruption.

Centered around three career-driven women, this book manages to capture readers’ attention at the outset and keep it through FEBRUARY / MARCH 2022

the final page. This is a work of women’s fiction with elements of mystery and romance – one that will ensnare you in scandal and deceit. Truth and Other Lies has the plot twists of a Jodi Picoult novel, the characterdriven appeal of a Liane Moriarty book, and feminist themes in the vein of Jane Austen’s classics, but with the modern spin of social media. Maggie Smith’s writing style is witty, engaging, and relatable. Any spunky, twentyfirst century woman will be able to easily empathize with Megan’s perspective. Among the many great qualities of this book, my favorite is Megan’s inner monologue. The writing is fresh and clever, adding humor to even mundane events – like rummaging through family photos or going to a job interview. Further improving the narration is the intense realism of it all. Maggie Smith describes newsrooms and the city of Chicago

so vividly that you can’t help but get invested in the action. Truth and Other Lies is perfect for any fan of fast-paced drama and modern feminism, so gripping that it’s hard to believe this is Smith’s first novel. 

AUTHOR MAGGIE SMITH

ABOUT THE BOOK

TRUTH AND OTHER LIES Megan Barnes' life is in free fall. After losing both her job as a reporter and her boyfriend in the same day, she retreats to Chicago and moves in with Helen, her over-protective mother. Before long, the two are clashing over everything from pro-choice to #MeToo, not to mention Helen's run for US Congress which puts Megan's career on hold until after the election. Desperate to reboot her life, Megan gets her chance when an altercation at a campus rally brings her face to face with Pulitzer-prize-winning journalist Jocelyn Jones, who offers her a job on her PR team. Before long, Megan is pulled into the heady world of fame and glamour her charismatic new mentor represents. Until an anonymous tweet brings it all crashing down. To salvage Jocelyn's reputation, Megan must locate the online troll and expose the lies. But when the trail leads to blackmail, and circles back to her own mother, Megan realizes if she pulls any harder on this thread, what should have been the scoop of her career could unravel into a tabloid nightmare.

INTERVIEW

Food, Memories, & Grief: An Interview with Grace M. Cho BY ALYSE MGRDICHIAN

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2022

INTERVIEW

CONTINUED

Food is a powerful thing. As a person of Middle Eastern heritage, I understand the ability food has to bring people together, spark memories, and heal wounded souls. With this in mind, I was very excited to get the opportunity to speak to Grace M. Cho, the author of Tastes Like War, which was published in May 2021 by Feminist Press. The book itself is a memoir, in which Dr. Cho uses food to discover her family’s history and reconnect with her mother, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia. ____ THE FIRST QUESTION I FOUND MYSELF WANTING TO ASK DR. CHO HAD TO DO WITH FOOD – NAMELY, HOW DOES FOOD HAVE THE POWER TO REVEAL THE PAST AND PROVIDE A SENSE OF IDENTITY, CLOSURE, OR BELONGING? SHE PROVIDED AN INTERESTING RESPONSE.

GMC: The memories of our childhood foods are imprinted upon us in a profound way – not just the taste of them, but the people, places, and contexts associated with eating them. We often aren’t aware of how powerful food memories are until something triggers them. For example, if I haven’t

eaten something since my childhood, and then I eat it again, the sensory experience can unseal a vault in my unconscious. I write about how, after my mother’s death, the taste of kimchi unlocked very early memories of her feeding it to me. Also, cooking my grandmother’s dishes for my mother inspired her to talk to me about some of her childhood memories of Korea, which had rarely happened before. From an anthropological point of view, food is a marker of belonging and kinship. We belong to each other when we sit at a table and share a meal together. I NOW FOUND MYSELF CURIOUS, WHAT SORT OF PLANNING WENT INTO DR. CHO REACHING HER MOTHER THROUGH FOOD?

GMC: To be honest, I never really put much thought into trying to reach her through food. It was something that just happened organically. As her mental illness progressed, she stopped doing a lot of things for herself. One of them was cooking. More and more, she needed other people to provide food for her, but at the same time she often rejected food. She argued with me for 79

INTERVIEW

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the first several months about how she didn’t want to eat my cooking because I was ‘wasting my time.’ I was in the first semester of my doctoral program, and she thought I should be studying instead. I’d sometimes get so frustrated that I’d break down in tears. But after a while she started to not only eat, but enjoy my cooking. When I was growing up, my mother was a passionate cook and a foodie (before anyone ever started using that term). In my adult life, I started to gauge her state of mind by her appetite. At the point when she started to crave Korean food enough to ask for it and teach me how to make it, I knew that something inside her was changing. Something between us was also starting to change. All those years of cooking for my mother healed some of the wounds from our past. THIS MADE ME WONDER, DID DR. CHO’S MOTHER HAVE A FAVORITE DISH, SINCE IT SOUNDS LIKE DR. CHO COOKED (OR LEARNED TO COOK) QUITE AN ARRAY OF FOOD FOR HER?

GMC: My mother’s favorite food was a cheeseburger, medium rare, with cheddar and tomato. I used to think that it was a symbol of her life in

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2022

America and the things she appreciated about coming here, but as I began doing research on the Korean War, I learned that many Koreans survived the near total devastation of its aftermath by scavenging in the dumpsters around the U.S. bases. Some survivors spoke of rescuing half-eaten hamburgers and hotdogs that the Americans threw out, making meals out of the discards. That bit of new knowledge made me rethink my mother’s relationship to the cheeseburger, imagining it as having a far more complex role in her psyche than I had first thought. Another favorite dish was saengtae jjigae, an oldfashioned fish stew, made with pollack and radishes. The first time I made it for her, she tried a spoonful of it and sighed, ‘I haven’t tasted this in forty years.’ It was a dish that reminded her of her mother, and it was one of her comfort foods towards the end of her life. AS THE BIO OF TASTES LIKE WAR SUGGESTS, DR. CHO’S MOTHER EXPERIENCED THE ONSET AND MATURATION OF SCHIZOPHRENIA, A PSYCHIATRIC DISORDER MOST OFTEN CHARACTERIZED IN WESTERN MEDICINE

INTERVIEW

CONTINUED

BY DELUSIONS AND HALLUCINATIONS. DR. CHO WAS KIND ENOUGH TO TELL ME A BIT ABOUT WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO WATCH THE PROGRESSION OF HER MOTHER’S ILLNESS:

GMC: I don’t know exactly when it started, but I first noticed signs of it in 1986, when I was fifteen and my mother was forty-five. It had become pretty obvious by that point that she was experiencing deep mental distress. Some of the reasons for that did not immediately point to schizophrenia – her mother had died that year, her work environment was extremely toxic, she had experienced long-term sleep deprivation, and she was going through hormonal changes. I kept looking to these things as explanations, but she started to become increasingly ‘paranoid’ (to use the psychiatric language) about people she used to have good or neutral relationships with, and she began talking to herself. I later realized that she was hearing voices. At the time, I was all alone in dealing with this terrifying series of events because my father was a merchant marine and was at sea for months at a time, and my brother had moved out of the house

when I was eleven. I was the one, along with my childhood best friend, who witnessed my mother’s unraveling. As a fifteen-year-old child, I tried my best to get help for her, but even the mental health professional I spoke to said that there was nothing they could do for her. It wasn’t until I began doing the research for this book, more than 30 years later, that I learned that, until recently, psychiatry didn’t recognize the onset of schizophrenia in middleaged women. All the research had been based on the experiences of men, who typically experience onset in their teens or twenties, but women’s onset is typically either in their twenties or in their forties, during perimenopause. This made me wonder if the counselor thought my mother had already been living with schizophrenia for decades, in which case treatment is much more difficult. I also learned that funding for community mental health was decimated in the 1980s, and mental health care centers sometimes let people with schizophrenia fall through the cracks so they wouldn’t use up too many resources. FAMILIAL RELATIONSHIPS ARE A DELICATE THING,

INTERVIEW

CONTINUED

ESPECIALLY WHEN ONE PARTY IS UNDERGOING SEVERE PSYCHIATRIC CHANGES – I KNOW THIS FROM EXPERIENCE. THERE IS LOVE, BUT THERE IS ALSO CONFUSION AND A SENSE OF HELPLESSNESS. I WONDER, WHAT WAS IT LIKE FOR DR. CHO TO PUT HER AND HER MOTHER’S EXPERIENCES DOWN IN WORDS, EFFECTIVELY IMMORTALIZING THEIR RELATIONSHIP?

GMC: A friend of mine, who scattered my mother’s ashes with me, described the book as a ‘literary funeral,’ and I think that captures the essence of what it was like for me to write it. My family of origin was so fractured by the time my mother died that we didn’t come together to grieve the way most families do. And because my mother so rarely left her house and had a phobia of strangers, only a handful of the people in my life ever met her. The book was born out of my grief, and in a sense, my friend was right – it’s a 296-page eulogy. My intention in writing about my mother was always about wanting her to be seen as fully human, and to move away from individualistic notions of morality. She most likely became a

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2022

sex worker in Korea out of necessity, but regardless of the reason a woman enters the sex industry, she shouldn’t be shamed for it. I’ve always been driven by the desire to seek justice for sex workers and for other stigmatized groups. I especially seek to combat the reductive stereotype of the ‘dangerous schizophrenic’ – my mother was so much more than either of these things, and I wanted to show off her gifts and talents through my earlier memories. Mainly, I wanted to portray her as a hero, but without whitewashing her history. It was an ambitious goal, so of course I had doubts about how others would perceive my portrayal of her. Coming out of academia, I also had doubts about whether my writing would be engaging enough for a general readership. The one thing that gave me the confidence and motivation to write the story was that I knew my mother supported my first book, Haunting the Korean Diaspora. A couple members of my family vehemently opposed it, which led me to change my name so I could write. But my mother encouraged me to publish the first book, and she was the only person whose opinion mattered to me. I think she understood that I was denouncing the shame that

INTERVIEW

CONTINUED

had burdened her for most of her life, and of course, my success was a form of vindication for her. TASTES LIKE WAR IS DR. CHO’S SECOND BOOK, SO I FOUND MYSELF CURIOUS ABOUT HOW HER SECOND WRITING EXPERIENCE COMPARED TO HER FIRST. DR. CHO REVEALS HOW HER METHODS OF RESEARCH DIFFERED AND OVERLAPPED:

GMC: In Tastes Like War, I drew heavily on the research I did for Haunting the Korean Diaspora regarding 1) the civilian experience of the Korean War and 2) the system of state-sanctioned prostitution for American troops. It wasn’t always a conscious decision to incorporate that research in my second book, but because it became so ingrained in the way I think about the historical and geopolitical context of my mother’s life, it naturally found its way into Tastes Like War. When it came to doing research specifically for Tastes Like War, I focused on the narratives we have about what Western psychiatry

classifies as ‘schizophrenia,’ as well as the social factors that can lead to its intensification. As memories of my childhood and young adulthood surfaced, I researched the places and events associated with those memories, such as the juvenile detention center where my mother used to work, and I found that it was notorious for sexual abuse. That was one of the puzzle pieces that helped me see the various traumatic events in my mother’s life as a continuum. It wasn’t as if she left all the trauma behind in Korea, but rather, she encountered new ones in the U.S. that resonated with her past. To answer your question about how the process was different for the two books, Haunting the Korean Diaspora was an experimental hybrid academic book that grew out of my doctoral dissertation, so the research was guided by a thesis and set of research questions that I had laid out at the start, whereas the research process for Tastes Like War was much more driven by the memories themselves. I CHOSE TO END BY ASKING DR. CHO HOW HER RESEARCH INTERESTS IMPACT HER MISSION AND CALLING –

INTERVIEW

CONTINUED

HOWEVER, DR. CHO INFORMED ME THAT IT’S ACTUALLY THE OTHER WAY AROUND.

GMC: My lived experience has always guided my research interests. I was drawn to sociology and social theory as a way of making sense of my own life, and particularly the aspects that I came to identify as unjust. My early experiences – 1) growing up as one of the few immigrants or people of color in an American small town in the 70s and 80s, 2) being a girl coming of age during an era of rape culture, and 3) living with the aftereffects of the Korean War as they manifested in my mother’s mental illness – all led me to want to understand how these intimate experiences are part of larger social and geopolitical phenomena. As I do more research in these areas, my knowledge then reinforces my desire to deconstruct shame and secrecy. As a culture, we tend to project shame onto individuals whenever they bear the brunt of social problems, and when those individuals internalize the shame, it forecloses the possibility of public dialogue about those social problems. I want to see that changed. ____ 84

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Dr. Cho’s life story is a complicated one, full of pain and love in equal measure. Tastes Like War is, above all else, a daughter’s journey to discover her mother’s past, present, and future, whether it be through trauma, illness, or time itself. Dr. Cho watched her mother’s metamorphosis of self, unable to stop it from happening. However, with food and conversation, she was able to bridge the generational gap between them, giving voice to the experiences her mother had formerly refused to talk about. Tastes Like War is a book of grief and memories, which go hand-in-hand – grief is a painful thing that never fully goes away, but the memories that come with grief … those are what immortalize the people you’ve lost. To put those memories down on paper only seals the deal. And now, with a book dedicated to her life, Dr. Cho’s mother, although gone, will live forever. 

INTERVIEW

CONTINUED

Grace M. Cho is the author of Tastes Like War, a 2021 National Book Awards finalist, and Haunting the Korean Diaspora: Shame, Secrecy, and the Forgotten War, which received a 2010 book award from the American Sociological Association. Her writings have appeared in journals such as the New Inquiry, Poem Memoir Story, Contexts, Gastronomica, Feminist Studies, WSQ , and Qualitative Inquiry. She is associate professor of sociology and anthropology at the College of Staten Island, CUNY. ABOUT THE BOOK

TASTES LIKE WAR Grace M. Cho grew up as the daughter of a white American merchant marine and the Korean bar hostess he met abroad. They were one of few immigrants in a xenophobic small town during the Cold War, where identity was politicized by everyday details—language, cultural references, memories, and food. When Grace was fifteen, her dynamic mother experienced the onset of schizophrenia, a condition that would continue and evolve for the rest of her life. Part food memoir, part sociological investigation, Tastes Like War is a hybrid text about a daughter’s search through intimate and global history for the roots of her mother’s schizophrenia. In her mother’s final years, Grace learned to cook dishes from her mother’s childhood in order to invite the past into the present, and to hold space for her mother’s multiple voices at the table. And through careful listening over these shared meals, Grace discovered not only the things that broke the brilliant, complicated woman who raised her—but also the things that kept her alive.

F E AT U R E

20 New & Upcoming Publications to Add to Your TBR BY ALYSE MGRDICHIAN

As we roll into the new year, there are lots of new things to experience and enjoy: from food and (covid safe) travel to friends and DIYs, this is a year of opportunity. And if you’re looking for new books to read, 2022 has lots to offer! Here are 20 new and upcoming books you should check out.

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2022

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ENJOY ME AMONG MY RUINS (JUNIPER FITZGERALD)

Feminist Press (Jul. 12, 2022) Combining feminist theories, the X-Files fandom, and personal memoir, Enjoy Me Among My Ruins draws together a kaleidoscopic archive of Juniper Fitzgerald’s experiences as a queer sex-working mother. Plumbing the major events that shaped her life, and interspersing her childhood letters written to cult icon Gillian Anderson, this experimental manifesto contends with dominant narratives placed upon marginalized bodies and ultimately rejects a capitalist system that demands our purity and submission over our survival.

TURN UP THE OCEAN: POEMS (TONY HOAGLAND)

Graywolf Press (Jul. 22, 2022) Over the course of his celebrated career, Tony Hoagland ventured fearlessly into the unlit alleys of emotion and experience. The poems in Turn Up the Ocean examine with an unflinching eye and mordant humor the reality of living and dying in a time and culture that conspire to erase our inner lives. Hoagland’s signature wit and unparalleled observations take in longstanding injustices, the atrocities of American empire and consumerism, and our ongoing habit of looking away. In these poems, perseverance depends on a gymnastics of skepticism and comedy, a dogged quest for authentic connection, and the consolations of the natural world. Turn Up the Ocean is a remarkable and moving collection, a fitting testament to Hoagland’s devotion to the capaciousness and art of poetry. 87

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PEACH BLOSSOM SPRING (MELISSA FU) Little, Brown & Co. (Mar. 15, 2022) Within every misfortune there is a blessing and within every blessing, the seeds of misfortune, and so it goes, until the end of time. It is 1938 in China and, as a young wife, Meilin’s future is bright. But with the Japanese army approaching, Meilin and her four-year-old son, Renshu, are forced to flee their home. Relying on little but their wits and a beautifully illustrated hand scroll, filled with ancient fables that offer solace and wisdom, they must travel through a ravaged country, seeking refuge. Years later, Renshu has settled in America as Henry Dao. Though his daughter is desperate to understand her heritage, he refuses to talk about his childhood. How can he keep his family safe in this new land when the weight of his history threatens to drag them down? Yet how can Lily learn who she is if she can never know her family’s story? Spanning continents and generations, Peach Blossom Spring is a bold and moving look at the history of modern China, told through the story of one family. It’s about the power of our past, the hope for a better future, and the haunting question: What would it mean to finally be home?”

A COMB OF WISHES (LISA STRINGFELLOW)

Quill Tree Books (Feb. 8, 2022)

Set against the backdrop of Caribbean folklore, Lisa Stringfellow’s spellbinding middle grade debut tells of a grieving girl and a vengeful mermaid. Ever since her mother’s death, Kela feels every bit as broken as the shards of glass, known as ‘mermaid’s tears,’ that sparkle on the Caribbean beaches of St. Rita. So when Kela and her friend Lissy stumble across an ancient-looking comb in a coral cave, with all she’s already lost, Kela can’t help but bring home her very own found treasure. Far away, deep in the cold ocean, the mermaid Ophidia can feel that her comb has been taken. And despite her hatred of all humans, her magic requires that she make a bargain: the comb in exchange for a wish. But what Kela wants most is for her mother to be alive. And a wish that big will exact an even bigger price… 88

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CHOUETTE (CLAIRE OSHETSKY)

Ecco (Nov. 16, 2021) An exhilarating, provocative novel of motherhood in extremis. Tiny is pregnant. Her husband is delighted. ‘You think this baby is going to be like you, but it’s not like you at all,’ she warns him. ‘This baby is an owlbaby.’ When Chouette is born small and broken-winged, Tiny works around the clock to meet her daughter’s needs. Left on her own to care for a child who seems more predatory bird than baby, Tiny vows to raise Chouette to be her authentic self. Even in those times when Chouette’s behaviors grow violent and strange, Tiny’s loving commitment to her daughter is unwavering. When she discovers that her husband is on an obsessive and increasingly dangerous quest to find a ‘cure’ for their daughter, Tiny must decide whether Chouette should be raised to fit in or to be herself—and learn what it truly means to be a mother.

THE ANOMALY (HERVÉ LE TELLIER, TRAN. ADRIANA HUNTER)

Other Press (Nov. 23, 2021)

Who would we be if we had made different choices? Told that secret, left that relationship, written that book? We all wonder—the passengers of Air France 006 will find out. In their own way, they were all living double lives when they boarded the plane: Blake, a respectable family man who works as a contract killer. Slimboy, a Nigerian pop star who uses his womanizing image to hide that he’s gay. Joanna, a Black American lawyer pressured to play the good old boys’ game to succeed with her Big Pharma client. Victor Miesel, a critically acclaimed yet largely obscure writer suddenly on the precipice of global fame. About to start their descent to JFK, they hit a shockingly violent patch of turbulence, emerging on the other side to a reality both perfectly familiar and utterly strange. As it charts the fallout of this logic-defying event, The Anomaly takes us on a journey from Lagos and Mumbai to the White House and a top-secret hangar. An ingenious, timely variation on the doppelgänger theme, this ambitious story taps into the parts of ourselves that elude us most.

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TASTES LIKE WAR (GRACE M. CHO)

Feminist Press (May 18, 2021)

Grace M. Cho grew up as the daughter of a white American merchant marine and the Korean bar hostess he met abroad. They were one of few immigrants in a xenophobic small town during the Cold War, where identity was politicized by everyday details—language, cultural references, memories, and food. When Grace was fifteen, her dynamic mother experienced the onset of schizophrenia, a condition that would continue and evolve for the rest of her life. Part food memoir, part sociological investigation, Tastes Like War is a hybrid text about a daughter’s search through intimate and global history for the roots of her mother’s schizophrenia. In her mother’s final years, Grace learned to cook dishes from her parent’s childhood in order to invite the past into the present, and to hold space for her mother’s multiple voices at the table. And through careful listening over these shared meals, Grace discovered not only the things that broke the brilliant, complicated woman who raised her—but also the things that kept her alive.

THE BOOK OF PERILOUS DISHES (DOINA RUȘTI, TRAN. JAMES CHRISTIAN BROWN)

Neem Tree Press (Mar. 23, 2022) “1798: A magical, dark adventure. Fourteen-year-old Pâtca, initiated in the occult arts, comes to Bucharest for her uncle, Cuviosu Zăval, to retrieve the Book of Perilous Dishes. The recipes in this magical book can bring about damaging sincerity, forgetfulness, the gift of prediction, or hysterical laughter. She finds her uncle murdered and the book missing. All that Zăval has left her is a strange map she must decipher. Travelling from Romania and France to Germany to do so, Pâtca’s family’s true past and powers are revealed, as is her connection to the famous and sublime chef, Silica.

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VOICE OF THE FISH: A LYRIC ESSAY (LARS HORN)

Graywolf Press (Jun. 7, 2022)

Lars Horn’s Voice of the Fish, the latest Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize winner, is an interwoven essay collection that explores the trans experience through themes of water, fish, and mythology, set against the backdrop of travels in Russia and a debilitating back injury that left Horn temporarily unable to speak. In Horn’s adept hands, the collection takes shape as a unified book: short vignettes about fish, reliquaries, and antiquities serve as interludes between longer essays, knitting together a sinuous, wave-like form that flows across the book.

HERE LIES (OLIVIA CLARE FRIEDMAN)

Grove Press (Mar. 22, 2022)

Louisiana, 2042. Spurred by the effects of climate change, states have closed graveyards and banned burials, making cremation mandatory and the ashes of loved ones state-owned unless otherwise claimed. In the small town of St. Genevieve, Alma lives alone and struggles to grieve in the wake of her young mother Naomi’s death, during which Alma failed to honor Naomi’s final wishes. Now, Alma decides to fight to reclaim Naomi’s ashes, a journey of unburial that will bring into her life a mysterious and fiercely loyal stranger, Bordelon, who appears in St. Genevieve after a storm, as well as a group of strong, rebellious local women who, together, teach Alma anew the meaning of family and strength. With poignance, poeticism, and deep insight in Here Lies, Olivia Clare Friedman gives us a stunning portrait of motherhood, friendship, and humanity in an alternate American South torn asunder by global warming.

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BEASTS OF A LITTLE LAND (JUHEA KIM)

Ecco (Dec. 7, 2021) In 1917, deep in the snowy mountains of occupied Korea, an impoverished local hunter on the brink of starvation saves a young Japanese officer from an attacking tiger. In an instant, their fates are connected—and from this encounter unfolds a saga that spans half a century. In the aftermath, a young girl named Jade is sold by her family to Miss Silver’s courtesan school, an act of desperation that will cement her place in the lowest social status. When she befriends an orphan boy named JungHo, who scrapes together a living begging on the streets of Seoul, they form a deep friendship. As they come of age, JungHo is swept up in the revolutionary fight for independence, and Jade becomes a sought-after performer with a new romantic prospect of noble birth. Soon Jade must decide whether she will risk everything for the one who would do the same for her. SLEEPING ALONE: STORIES (RU FREEMAN)

Graywolf Press (Jun. 7, 2022)

In this collection of rich and textured stories about crossing borders, both real and imagined, Sleeping Alone asks one of the fundamental questions of our time: What is the toll of feeling foreign in one’s land, to others, or even to oneself? A cast of misfits, young and old, single and coupled, even entire family units, confront startling changes wrought by difficult circumstances or harrowing choices. These stories span the world, moving from Maine to Sri Lanka, from Dublin to Philadelphia, paying exquisite attention to the dance between the intimate details of our lives and our public selves. Whether Ru Freeman is capturing secrets kept by siblings in Sri Lanka, or the life of itinerants in New York City, she renders the nuances of her characters’ lives with real sensitivity, and imbues them with surprising dignity and grace. 92

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VIOLETS (KYUNG-SOOK SHIN, TRAN. ANTON HUR)

Feminist Press (Apr. 21, 2022)

San is twenty-two and alone when she happens upon a job at a flower shop in Seoul’s bustling city center. Haunted by childhood rejection, she stumbles through life—painfully vulnerable, stifled, and unsure. She barely registers to others, especially by the ruthless standards of 1990s South Korea. Over the course of one hazy, volatile summer, San meets a curious cast of characters: the nonspeaking shop owner, a brash coworker, kind farmers, and aggressive customers. Fueled by a quiet desperation to jump-start her life, she plunges headfirst into obsession with a passing magazine photographer. In Violets, best-selling author Kyung-Sook Shin explores misogyny, erasure, and repressed desire, as San desperately searches for both autonomy and attachment in the unforgiving reality of contemporary Korean society. THIN PLACES (KERRI NÍ DOCHARTAIGH)

Milkweed Editions (Apr. 12, 2022) Kerri ní Dochartaigh was born in Derry, on the border of the North and South of Ireland, at the very height of the Troubles. She was brought up on a council estate on the wrong side of town. But for her family, and many others, there was no right side. One parent was Catholic, the other was Protestant. In the space of one year they were forced out of two homes, and when she was eleven a homemade petrol bomb was thrown through her bedroom window. Terror was in the very fabric of the city, and for families like Kerri’s, the ones who fell between the cracks of identity, it seemed there was no escape. In Thin Places, a mixture of memoir, history and nature writing, Kerri explores how nature kept her sane and helped her heal, how violence and poverty are never more than a stone’s throw from beauty and hope, and how we are, once again, allowing our borders to become hard, and terror to creep back in.

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ELDER RACE (ADRIAN TCHAIKOVSKY)

Tor (Nov. 16, 2021)

Lynesse is the lowly Fourth Daughter of the queen, and always getting in the way. But a demon is terrorizing the land, and now she’s an adult (albeit barely) with responsibilities (she tells herself). Although she still gets in the way, she understands that the only way to save her people is to invoke the pact between her family and the Elder sorcerer who has inhabited the local tower for as long as her people have lived here (though none in living memory has approached it). But Elder Nyr isn’t a sorcerer, and he is forbidden to help, and his knowledge of science tells him the threat cannot possibly be a demon… WONDERLANDS: ESSAYS ON THE LIFE OF LITERATURE (CHARLES BAXTER)

Graywolf Press (Jul. 12, 2022) Charles Baxter’s new collection of essays, Wonderlands, joins his other works of nonfiction, Burning Down the House and The Art of Subtext. In the mold of those books, Baxter shares years of wisdom and reflection on what makes fiction work, including essays that were first given as craft talks at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. The essays here range from brilliant thinking on the nature of wonderlands in the fiction of Haruki Murakami and other fabulist writers, to how request moments function in a story. Baxter is equally at home tackling a thorny matter such as charisma (which intersects with political figures like the disastrous forty-fifth US president) as he is bringing new interest to subjects such as list-making in fiction. 94

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THE IMMORTAL KING RHAO (VAUHINI VARA)

W.W. Norton & Co. (May 3, 2022) Athena Rao must reckon with the memory of her father, King Rao― literally. Through biotechnological innovation, he has given her his memories. His Dalit childhood on an Indian coconut plantation in the 1950s is as alive to her as her own existence in a prison cell, accused of her father’s murder. Egocentric, brilliant, a little damaged, King Rao had a visionary idea: the personal computer known as the Coconut. His wife, Margie, was an artist with a marketing genius. Together they created a new world order, led by a corporate-run government. Athena’s future is now in the hands of its Shareholders–unless she can rejoin the Exes, a resistance group sustaining tech-free lifestyles on low-lying islands.

A THING OF BEAUTY: TRAVELS IN MYTHICAL & MODERN GREECE (PETER FIENNES)

Oneworld Publications (Nov. 30, 2021)

What do the Greek myths mean to us today? It’s now a golden age for these tales – they crop up in novels, films and popular culture. But what’s the modern relevance of Theseus, Hera, and Pandora? Were these stories ever meant for children? And what’s to be seen now at the places where heroes fought and gods once quarrelled? Peter Fiennes travels to the sites of some of the most famous Greek myths, on the trail of hope, beauty and a new way of seeing what we have done to our world. Fiennes walks through landscapes— stunning and spoiled—on the trail of dancing activists and Arcadian shepherds, finds the ‘most beautiful beach in Greece’, consults the Oracle, and loses himself in the cities, remote villages and ruins of this storied land.

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PANICS (BARBARA MOLINARD, TRAN. EMMA RAMADAN)

Feminist Press (Aug. 9, 2022)

A close friend and protégé of Marguerite Duras, Barbara Molinard (1921–1986) wrote and wrote feverishly, but only managed to publish one book in her lifetime: the surreal, nightmarish collection Panics. These thirteen stories beat with a frantic, off-kilter rhythm as Molinard obsesses over sickness, death, and control. A woman goes to disastrous measures to escape beloved houseguests, mysterious surgeons dismember their patient, and the author narrates to Duras how she was stopped from sleeping in a cemetery vault, only to be haunted by the pain of sleeping on its stone floor.

THE CAT WHO SAVED BOOKS (SOSUKE NATSUKAWA, TRAN. LOUISE HEAL KAWAI)

HarperVia (Dec. 7, 2021) Bookish high school student Rintaro Natsuki is about to close the secondhand bookstore he inherited from his beloved bookworm grandfather. Then, a talking cat appears with an unusual request. The feline asks for—or rather, demands—the teenager’s help in saving books with him. The world is full of lonely books left unread and unloved, and the cat and Rintaro must liberate them from their neglectful owners. Their mission sends this odd couple on an amazing journey, where they enter different mazes to set books free. Through their travels, the cat and Rintaro meet a man who leaves his books to perish on a bookshelf, an unwitting book torturer who cuts the pages of books into snippets to help people speed read, and a publishing drone who only wants to create bestsellers. Their adventures culminate in one final, unforgettable challenge—the last maze that awaits leads Rintaro down a realm only the bravest dare enter . . . 96

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INTERVIEW

Interview with Nicholas Ward. Author of All Who Belong May Enter BY WYATT BANDT

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TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF.

NW: I’m a writer, organizer, arts administrator, cyclist, cat dad, unrepentant sports junkie. I’ve lived my entire life in the Midwest (Michigan, Ohio, Illinois). I live in Chicago, about which many people outside and more than a few inside refuse to tell the truth about. YOU SEEM TO HAVE ALWAYS BEEN DRAWN TOWARD THE ARTS, HAVING BEEN A THEATRE KID AND LOVING MUSIC. WHEN DID YOU DISCOVER THAT YOU ALSO ENJOYED WRITING?

WRITING IN ANOTHER GENRE?

NW: To me, personal essay writing is what allows me to think through and process the world and how it’s organized. By locating my writing in my own body and my own stories, I allow myself the grace and space to fail, tinker, challenge, re-assess, and dream what might be possible in our world. And by adhering to stories that impacted me deeply and truthfully, that helps me uphold my own fidelity to the material itself. IN THIS COLLECTION OF ESSAYS, DO YOU HAVE A PERSONAL FAVORITE?

NW: I’ve always loved the physical act of writing, both the way my pen would fly across my page in school and plunking away at a keyboard. But it wasn’t until I moved to Chicago and linked up with 2nd Story, a Chicago-based storytelling collective, that I began writing and telling stories from my own life. I realized that the act of personal memoir writing, rather than naval-gazing, actually created a pathway for collective culture building.

NW: I have favorites for different reasons: “Watch Him Go” because of how it encapsulates my complicated love of sports; “The Dresden” because it was the first story I told to an audience and I’ve rewritten it over and over to suit my changing understanding of the narrative; “Paul and Patti and Me” because it represents the two people I have loved the most, and “I Am Easy to Find” because it brings all the themes of the book together in one long piece.

WHAT DRAWS YOU TOWARD PERSONAL ESSAY VERSUS

YOUR ESSAYS ARE VERY PERSONAL, REMINDING ME

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OF THE STEREOTYPICAL CONVERSATIONS HAD AT 2:00 AM: RAW AND THERAPEUTIC. YOU TALK ABOUT A LOT OF HARD SUBJECTS AND MEMORIES, AND LAY YOURSELF BARE IN FRONT OF YOUR READERS. WHAT HAS WRITING THIS COLLECTION BEEN LIKE FOR YOU? WHAT CHALLENGES HAVE YOU FACED IN COMPOSING IT?

NW: The act of creation starts from a place of deep emotion, but one thing that I’ve learned over the years is that if I’m not emotionally prepared to start treating my work as a piece of art to be dissected, dismantled, edited, and challenged, then I’m not ready to work on it as a piece of text. I’ve got to be okay with the artistic process playing out fully in order to bring my work to any audience, even if that’s just one person. So, for all of the essays in the book, I had to get myself into that space before really knowing that they could be considered for the final project. IF YOU COULD HAVE SOMEONE WALK AWAY WITH ONE THING FROM YOUR WRITING, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

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NW: I want people to leave thinking about their relationship to systems of power and how they do or do not accept the terms of that deal. I want them to reckon with the stories of their own lives and decide if they are willing or not to be honest about them.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Nicholas Ward’s debut essay collection, All Who Belong May Enter, centers on selfexploration and cultural critique. These deeply personal essays examine whiteness, masculinity, and a Midwest upbringing through tales of sporting events, parties, posh (and not-so-posh) restaurant jobs, and the many relationships built and lost along the way. With a storyteller’s spirit, Ward recounts and evaluates the privilege of his upbringing with acumen and vulnerability. Ward’s profound affection for his friends, family, lovers, pets, and particularly for his chosen home, Chicago, shines through. This collection offers readers hope for healing that comes through greater understanding and inquiry into one’s self, relationships, and culture. Through these essays, Ward acknowledges his position within whiteness and masculinity, and he continuously holds himself and the society around him accountable.

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RETURN OF PODSTER!

Shelf Media Group's digital magazine about podcasts and podcasters.

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The Worst Best Sellers. BY RENATA & KAIT

FIND YOUR NEXT PODCAST BY GABBY GUERRA

About the Podcast Worst Bestsellers is a podcast where Kait, Renata, and a guest talk about popular books of questionable quality. It’s kind of like How Did This Get Made? or Mystery Science Theater 3000, but for books.

Podster is a column for podcast listeners and serves as a curator for the best of known and unknown podcasts.

THE WORST BEST SELLERS. BY RENATA AND KAIT

We want to be clear about something: we’re not snobs, honestly. If somebody only ever reads James Patterson books, or vampire books, or magazines: more power to them, we say. We’re reading these books because we’re curious about what’s popular, and also, reading these books gives us a better idea of what’s popular and how to give good readers advisory. We make jokes about the books we read, but our intent is never to make fun of readers. READ THE INTERVIEW ON THE NEXT PAGE. 103

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TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF/ SELVES. WBS: We are two longtime friends and book lovers. Renata is a teen services librarian who loves reading contemporary YA fiction and is scared of horror. She adopted her cat, Duarte, when she was serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Dominican Republic, and now Duarte shares his opinions on the podcast too. Kait is a former bookseller who currently has a desk job outside of the world of books. She is an aspiring writer who loves horror for all ages and especially enjoys books with queer protagonists across age ranges and genres. HOW DID YOU GET STARTED WITH THE WORST BESTSELLERS? WBS: In 2014, we were living in different states and time zones, but we were both listeners of other podcasts and decided to research how to start our own podcast. We're both big readers, so we decided to do something around books. Being a fan of media critiquing other media like the podcasts How Did This Get Made? and The Flop House, and knowing Kait was a fellow fan of the thematically similar television show Mystery Science Theater 3000, Renata suggested trying something 104

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like that for books. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR PODCAST? WBS: We read and discuss popular books of questionable quality, usually with a guest. We'd like to emphasize that, despite having "Worst" in our name, we don't always dislike the things we read. We are interested in investigating popular books, and sometimes we find that things are in fact popular because they are good. Other times, perhaps they are popular for…other reasons, and then we enjoy unpacking why a book didn't work for us. We also provide Readers Advisory where we suggest other books for people to read instead of or in addition to the title we discussed. WHAT’S THE MOST CHALLENGING AND MOST SATISFYING PART OF RUNNING A PODCAST? WBS: Since we're an independent podcast with no studio/producer/etc, the most challenging part is just the literal work of making the podcast--reading the book we're going to talk about, preparing notes on it, recording it, and editing it. The most satisfying part is connecting with our listeners, particularly when we hear that they've enjoyed a book we've

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recommended. It's also really enlightening to read outside of our comfort zones and discover things we never would have picked up on our own, but end up truly enjoying. An example of that last one would be Nora Roberts, whose book (the first one of hers we read was Black Hills) we loved so much we make time every year to read more as a palate cleanser for us.

WHAT IS YOUR UPLOADING SCHEDULE, AND WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM THE WORST BESTSELLERS IN THE UPCOMING MONTHS? WBS:We usually post new episodes on alternate Mondays, although we are taking a hiatus in January. We'll be back in February with some Valentine's Day-ready romance novels.

HOW MANY LISTENERS DO YOU HAVE? WBS: Because our podcast focuses on a single book per episode, our listenership varies wildly depending on how many people are curious about a specific book. Our audience has been known to quadruple when we discuss one of Stephenie Meyer's works, for example.

DO YOU HAVE ANY OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA THAT ACCOMPANIES THE PODCAST? WBS: https://www.twitter.com/worstbestseller

WHAT’S ONE OF YOUR FAVORITE EPISODES? WBS:We really love talking about the Twilight series (episodes 1, 31, 40, 58, 82, 158, and 181) and are very sad that we've finally read all of Stephenie Meyer's books. We hope she writes something else soon. We also enjoy any time we have a friend as a guest, or a book is just egregiously bonkers, like Modelland (episode 19) or Ready Player One (episode 100).

https://www.instagram.com/ worstbestsellers/ https://www.facebook.com/ worstbestsellers WHERE CAN LISTENERS FIND THE WORST BESTSELLERS? WBS: Our website is https://www. worstbestsellers.com and the podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and all the usual podcatchers.

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I have written my book, the hard work is over … or is it? Marketing and promoting your work. by Chrissy Brown | C.A.A.B Publishing

PRIDE & PUBLISHING

A lot of authors feel that once they have finished writing a novel, they have put in the hard work and now they deserve to sit back and reap the rewards. Yes? Well, no actually.

C.A.A.B PUBLISHING CAAB Publishing Ltd is a traditional, small, indie company helping unknown authors have a voice and inspiring new writers to take that first step into the world of publishing. WWW.CAABPUBLISHING.CO.UK

After a book is written and edited and formatted, and checked, and triple checked, once the cover is designed and agreed on, the back cover piece is written, and added, and the dedication is finished. That is when the hard work really begins. Marketing your book is vital. Even if you have a huge budget and a big hitting publisher behind you, you have to get involved. You must work the circuit, visit the bookstores, sign and smile. You must do interviews and sit for hours in draft filled halls answering potential readers’ questions. No matter how big an author you are, the rules are the same. Promote your work, promote yourself, and get some sales. If you are an unknown author this is even more important. Amazon has on average 7500 new books uploaded to Kindle every day (fact curtesy of justpublishingadvice.com), and yours will get lost in that sea of words. If you have a publisher that is helping with promotion, they can only do so much. Readers do not know that you exist, and you must show them that you are not only an author but a good one, as they have no basis for comparison. You must get your book under their noses, get reviews, get your voice, face and book cover out into the public consciousness. No interview is too small, no blog too unknown. If three people listen to the podcast, it is three people that did not know about you before, and who may talk about you or your book to others.

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Write a little press release and send it to every local paper, radio or Facebook page. Use every contact that you have, do not be embarrassed

to blow your own trumpet. Then send the press release to any place even slightly related to the book, places mentioned, places that might want to promote your work. Is it a book for kids? Try schools, pre-schools, mother and baby groups. Is it about a horse? Look for stables that could recommend it on their websites. Does it mention magic or the supernatural? Look for local magic shops, historical sites that are listed as haunted, they often have onsite shops, ghostbusting groups that would be interested in the book or might mention it on their website. The most important thing is to promote the angles, all of them. These can come in many forms, did you work on the book while you moved house or had a baby? Add that into the press release to show what a hard worker you are and to emphasis the struggle you had to get the book into print. Do you have a personal interest in a character, are they like you? Were you bullied like them? Did you have an annoying little sister? Did you write the book to help others in a bad situation or to highlight something? Think about every facet of your

novel. Who might read it and why? Then aim your marketing in that direction. Some authors have been known to do crazy stunts to help promote their books, one well known author used actors to read their books in public places and laugh out loud as people passed by. It got people talking, so it worked. Another had a book that was only available for a few weeks and then it self-destructed (deleted itself from the device). Stunts can work, but so can original launch party ideas. A spooky book could have a launch event at a haunted house with a medium on hand and ghost walks in between readings. A book about fairies could be launched in the woods with people dressed as fairies and dolls dressed up and hidden in the branches to delight the young attendees, you can have fun stuff to do, and crafts based around the books theme. Anything to get people talking, buying and sharing your work. So, if you have a book out there, take another look at it, could you be doing more? And if you are a reader, maybe look for an unknown author to pick up and read today, you could discover a diamond in the rough. 

FEATURED BOOK FROM C.A.A.B

THE AULE STRATAGEM BY DAVID CLEGG The Aule Sector, a crucial region of space between the Confederacy of Bellona and the League of Independent Systems, is being plagued by piracy. Lieutenant Commander Michael Patterson, newly assigned tactical officer on CSS Aurora, is part of the Confederate Navy's response. Intelligence reports tell him that pirate attacks are increasing by the day and patrol ships are being evaded. The news that frontline warships are in these scavengers’ hands adds to the tension. Many crews have been captured and sold into slavery; their cargo now pirate booty. Cara Tayley’s ship is one of those destroyed by the vultures, and she and her crew are now prisoners. But she will not go quietly, she will fight against the vile pirates that have them, even if it means her death. Better that than a slave. Patterson is out to complete his mission and stop these marauders, he may be Tayley’s only hope of salvation. But questions plague the crew of the Aurora. What is really going on in the Aule Sector? How are the pirates so well informed and well-armed? Is there a traitor on the station? Can Patterson find the answers, make the sector safe and find Tayley before it is too late?

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BookTok: More Than A Trend. BY WYATT BANDT

It’s safe to say that we’ve all heard of TikTok at this point. It’s become unbelievably popular in the last few years, earning the title of most downloaded app in 2019 and 2020, and maintaining over one billion monthly users in September 2021. With short videos ranging from dogs, DIY, to how to cook Grandma’s enchiladas, TikTok has pretty much everything. With the advent of BookTok, it even has something for the bookworms like us. BookTok was always present on the platform, with a handful of creators sharing their favorite books, recommendations, and memes for the book-minded. However, it wasn’t until mid-2020 that BookTok erupted into the mainstream, with 108

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several creators such as @caitsbooks— run by Cait Jacobs, a long-time book blogger—going viral. In part, the success of BookTok can’t be separated from the quarantines caused by the COVID-19 pandemic; many BookTokers saw surges in their followers as people began consuming more digital and print content. Over a year later, BookTok is still going strong. It clearly has filled a niche, with new creators sporting the BookTok hashtag appearing all the time. One thing that makes BookTok special is its reach. Normally, the only way the average person hears about books is word of mouth or walking around a bookstore. If they’re an enfranchised reader, they may be subscribed to websites or magazines that give recommendations, but this is far from the norm. BookTok is able to seamlessly interact with both die-hard book lovers and people who are just looking for something new to read. Much like a ‘crate’ style subscription service where a company curates a collection of games, clothes, or snacks to send you each month, a user can subscribe to a BookTok channel that focuses on their preferred genre. Then, with each new video, they’re hear about new titles they may be interested in.

In addition to its accessibility, BookTok is able to interact with literature with more personal flair and style, and are much less of a time investment than reading a longer review. No matter your view of the word ‘influencer’, personality is an important aspect of BookTok’ing and is what may draw you toward Abby of @abbysbooks and her sense of humor, versus Ms. B of @gvhslibrary and the ever-present influence of her being a high school librarian, with her poking fun at herself and her students. BookTok has also become a space that actively fosters diversity, with channels focusing exclusively on writing for— and by—the LGBTQ and BIPOC communities, such as Jacob Demlow of @a.veryqueerbookclub. BookTok’s ability to break through the ‘standard’ literary canon reminded me of a course I took in university that did the very same thing with American literature. Instead of well-established classics like Fahrenheit 451 or The Grapes of Wrath, we read books and stories that were written by more than the handful of prolific authors of a limited demographic. From indigenous tribes’ creation myths to Twelve Years a 109

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Slave, Solomon Northup’s experience as a free black man being kidnapped and sold into slavery in 1853, what I read in that course was the first time I fully experienced the diversity of American literature, simply because my preconceived notions of what ‘American literature’ was had never been challenged. Just like that college course, BookTok is great way to find literature from all walks of life. But BookTok affects more than just the consumer; it has also reflected back on the publisher. Books featured on BookTok often see increases in sales, and particular genres have seen a major uptick in popularity. The NPD Group, and American market research company, stated that the YA genre was 70% more popular as of May 2021, something they attributed to BookTok. Stores have also started leaning into this new market, with giants such as Barnes & Noble that have a BookTok tab on their site, boasting the most popular books in the community. To conclude my research, I wanted to hear about BookTok from the source. Over the holidays, I interviewed with Sydney Blanchard of @sydneyyybean to 110

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ask a few questions about her experience as a BookToker.

When did you become a BookToker, and what was that experience like? SB: I posted my first BookTok video in November of 2020, back when "BookTok" hadn't even really been established as a subgenre yet. At that point, I had only come across a small handful of book-related videos, and I noticed they were all recommending the same few books without much variety or diversity. I myself had been an avid reader and book collector for years and felt like I had a lot to add to the conversation! I very quickly realized that there were tons of other users like me on the platform who were looking for book recommendations similar to what I could offer, and the rest is history! How have you seen BookTok affect your readers?

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SB: I’ve noticed a lot of my followers finding BookTok through my videos, and they tell me how much more they’ve been reading since finding it, which is obviously fantastic. I think the consensus of most of us on BookTok is that, before we joined the community, we were reading way less than we are now. Now we just can’t seem to get enough! How have you seen BookTok impact publishing? SB: BookTok has impacted publishing in a major way, and the evidence of this is clear in the way certain genres are flying off the shelves now, especially romance. I’ve seen numerous authors specifically thanking BookTok for helping their books reach more readers and I think it’s safe to say that people are reading more now than ever before. What does BookTok bring to the table that traditional advertising doesn’t? SB: I think BookTok brings a huge sense of community that really inspires and motivates people to read and to explore genres that they maybe wouldn’t otherwise. People are much more likely to go out and buy a book that was recommended by their favorite creator than maybe an ad they saw somewhere else. There’s a big sense of trust

involved. Why do you love BookTok? SB: I love BookTok because it’s brought so many amazing friends, books, and opportunities into my life. Before discovering it, I knew very few people who were avid readers like me, so discovering this community was pretty life changing. I’ve been able to diversify my own reading in ways I never expected and to help others find their own love of reading as well! Though TikTok is often associated with dances or staged pranks, BookTok is a sunny little corner that is helping people find books they’ll love. And, as more people flock to creators like Sydney and many others, publishers are taking note and wondering how they can best tap into the growing community of BookTok. 

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NEW & UPCOMING. BY V. JOLENE MILLER

READING ON THE RUN Binge reading on the run because everything else can wait. ABOUT THE COLUMNIST

In Alaska, I’m a behavioral health instructor by day and a Ph.D. student by night. When I’m not teaching, I have my nose in a textbook or a scholarly article. These days, my writing is nonfiction and my puppy, Omar, is lucky if I can spare ten minutes to play fetch. I still carry a book in my purse because I hope to get a few minutes to read. Fifteen minutes before dawn, in between assignments, or right before falling into bed. Reading is my resting place.

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During the writing process, authors incorporate transitions to bridge the gap between paragraphs, character dialogue, chapters, time sequence, events, and scenes during the writing process. Transitions are necessary to move the story forward; linking the events from beginning to end. If they’re done well, they create a narrative path for the reader to walk along, immersed in the magical happenings as they unfold. Likewise, when bridges are made well, people can traverse from one side to the other - typically, across bodies of water. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like bridges. Their height boggles my brain, and I worry about falling off or over the sides of them. Their length can make me dizzy with apprehension, and I worry about them falling down or crumbling beneath me. Oftentimes, I find myself holding my breath or gripping the arm rest on the car door until my knuckles are white, and we’re safely across. The great thing about book transitions and bridges is that they can lead us to something new, maybe even something unexpected or exciting. Last semester, my graduate school coursework could have used a bridge, and maybe a sign to indicate the transition to actively working on the dissertation phase of things. Previously, I’d spent a year feverishly cranking out coursework assignments. The rapid pace had me reading and writing faster than my NaNoWriMo days when I managed 10,000-word days to write novels. Switching to writing a research outline and a literature review made my head spin. Someone had clearly changed the rules and failed to inform me.

The experience was unsettling and further exacerbated after a more thorough review of my degree completion plan and a consult with one of my professors. Apparently, I had miscalculated and was smack dab in the middle of the bridge of the program! Instead of having eight months before starting the actual dissertation, I only had four months to go. I wasn’t ready! Talk about the bridge crumbling beneath me. I wasn’t ready! As I took some steadying breaths and began to find my footing, I stood on my toes (metaphorically speaking) to get an idea of what lay ahead. There, in the (much closer) distance, I saw something I hadn’t seen in a while. I saw my creative self.

begin? Perhaps, an item in the bundle I saw will become a completed project? Or, perhaps not. Maybe a different writing life will emerge from beneath the mound of scholarly articles I’ve been reading. No one knows. Given the global events of the last two years, aren’t we all tenatively hopeful for something bright, shiny, and, dare I say, healthy? I know I am. Yet, our steps may be timid as we re-experience moments of trauma and despair that have bared its teeth at us time and again, dashing away our tender hopes.

She was a bit rough around the edges–a Ph.D. program will do that to a person– but otherwise in decent shape. In her arms, she held a bundle of assorted things. That novel she was supposed to publish in winter of 2020, the collection of stories she had drafted with that writing group she lost touch with, and some shiny new ideas - the tiniest of gems that still need to be explored. There’s still a dissertation to write. For that, she is grateful because she’s uncertain what her post-Ph.D. life will look like.

I encourage you to look ahead. Gaze into this new year, maybe even into the new you, and forge ahead. Explore the new and embrace what lies ahead. I realize it could be that we aren’t quite sure who we are anymore and even less sure what our “new normal” will turn into, so grip the armrest as necessary. It’s okay to feel afraid. Take a deep breath, and feel the strength of the bridge beneath you. Turn the page in that new story, or reread an old one. Because, one thing I know for sure, books will be there. Comforting old ones or new authors and tales we’ve not yet experienced whatever form they may take, may they be the bridge that welcomes us into a new season.

Will a renewed creative writing period

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Arctic Tern Books. ROCKLAND, MAINE

F E AT U R E D I N D I E B OO K S TO R E

BACKGROUND INFO ABOUT YOURSELF AND ARCTIC TERN BOOKS ATB: Much like the arctic tern, which migrates from pole to pole each year, I have lived a largely itinerant life. Born in Alaska in the early 70s, I have spent almost as many years living outside of my birth country as in it. First in the outback of Australia and later in the middle of Europe. For a variety of reasons, I’ve just kept moving and traveling and exploring until I finally found my way to Maine in 2018. Now, I’m the sole proprietor of Arctic Tern Books, which opened its doors on Rockland’s historic Main Street on November 26, 2021. In some ways, the store’s namesake can be seen as a metaphor for my own, previously nomadic life, but more importantly, it’s a metaphor for discovery and expanding horizons. Two things I believe are essential for humans and intrinsic to bookstores. WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO OPEN A BOOKSTORE? ATB: In 2013, my sister, Amber, was 114

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diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer, and I became her primary caregiver. While caring for her, and then my parents, I became acutely aware of the overwhelming magnitude of, not just physical suffering, but mental and emotional anguish that so many people are experiencing. Right now. This second. Every day. And sometimes it can seem interminable. During those years, I became so grateful for the rare moments and places that felt peaceful and restorative. Places where hope seemed accessible and alive. It was while caring for my sister and seeing so many individuals and families and doctors and nurses who were struggling that I decided I would, some day, create that kind of restorative place for people. A place where very real cares and worries could be left at the door - even if just for a few minutes. A place where people could browse peacefully and find something akin to peace, through things that give them comfort or inspiration or direction. A boutique bookstore seemed like the perfect vehicle for that. Whether one is in need of escapist fiction, soothing poetry, inspiring memoirs, practical advice,

F E AT U R E D I N D I E B OO K S TO R E

tantalizing recipes, or hope, it can all be found in books. And that, to me, is magical.

heart really happy. That’s when I know I’m achieving what I set out to do.

WAS A BOOKSTORE A MAJOR NEED IN YOUR AREA? ATB: Midcoast Maine is blessed with a variety of outstanding bookstores that each serve our communities in their own unique way. However, the section of Rockland’s Main Street where Arctic Tern Books is located had been largely vacant for several years. It was the perfect location to create the type of experiential, highly curated, boutique bookstore I envisioned, and people have been responding really well to it.

WHAT DO YOU THINK THE FUTURE OF INDIE BOOKSTORES WILL LOOK LIKE? ATB: This may just be the fantasy of a novice bookstore owner, but I believe indie bookstores that are well-attuned to their market and offer an experience beyond a simple retail exchange will thrive well into the future. Two facts the current pandemic have brought into focus are i) just how tightly wired humans are for connection, and ii) how vital books are for fostering a sense of belonging and connection and well being, even in lieu of physical contact. So, I believe bookstores that manage to serve their communities by fulfilling people's tangible desires for books and other products while also meeting their intangible, or even subconscious, desires for human connection and community will have an enduring and valued place in society.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT OWNING AND WORKING IN AN INDIE BOOKSTORE? ATB: Connecting with my customers, becoming a valued part of this remarkable community, and seeing people relax and enjoy the space. When people walk through the door and say “It feels so good in here,” or they browse for a while and say “Your books are so well curated,” that makes my

PHOTO CREDIT: JOSEPH CORRADO PHOTOGRAPHY

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IT’S OKAY TO MAKE MISTAKES. BY MEGAN LORD

BOOK MOM A little bit of everything from a scatter-brained, book-loving Mom.

ABOUT THE COLUMNIST

I am the mother of an adventurous and exhausting but amazing toddler boy that runs my life. I spend a ridiculous amount of time reading mind numbing children’s books over and over again because he has his select favorites… But when I do get time to read (or listen) I love reading and listening to a variety of genres. I get the most time to indulge in books of my choice during what I like to call “wind-down baths” once a week.

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Alright parents - we made it to 2022! We all know the events of the past 2 years have impacted our children. The Covid lockdowns, the shifts to so much virtual and less in person and socialization. The past 2 years families have been cooped up at home together a lot more than previously. And of course none of us are complaining about the time with our kids - but man can it make for some LONG fast days if you know what I mean. For my family this extra time at home has resulted in more story and book time. Both of my children (oldest almost 5, and youngest almost 2) LOVE to be read to. If one brings over a book to be read to them the other immediately runs over and wants the book to be re-started so they both can listen. I love it about both of them - their love for books. My only wish is they liked more of a variety and wanted a different book to be read each time. Instead, they cling to a favorite. They want the same book read on repeat for weeks before they’re ready to move on to the next one. The one thing usually going for me is that they each have a separate favorite. This one I’m about to talk about, however, has stuck for a couple months, and is an equal favorite for both of them even at their different ages. And I think it’s message is so great, and resonates with both of them so much and will continue to for years to come. I don’t see this one leaving circulation for a long while and I recommend it for every household with young children.

It’s Okay to Make Mistakes by: Todd Parr Todd Parr's bestselling books have reminded kids to embrace differences, to be thankful, to love one another, and to be themselves. It's Okay to Make Mistakes embraces life's happy accidents, the mistakes and mess-ups that can lead to self discovery. Todd Parr brings a timely theme to life with his signature bold, kid-friendly illustrations and a passion for making readers feel good about themselves, encouraging them to try new things, experiment, and dare to explore new paths. From coloring outside the lines and creating a unique piece of art to forgetting an umbrella but making a new friend, each page offers a kid-friendly take on the importance of taking chances, trying new things, and embracing life, mistakes and all. That sums it up right there. IT IS OKAY TO MAKE MISTAKES. Every kid deserves to know this. Every kid deserves to understand and be okay with imperfections, mishaps, change. The illustrations are fun. Every page has an “uh oh” moment, and my almost 2 year LOVES saying “uh oh” followed by “it’s okay” each page turn. My son (almost 5) enjoys relaying back why each thing is okay. And they both react better to spills, or falls, or mistakes much better after reading this book so many times.

It also references how even adults make mistakes. I believe this is so very important for your children to understand. The strive for perfection is unrealistic. We need to be able to admit to our children that even we are not perfect. That Mommy’s and Daddy’s make mistakes too, but your reaction and adaptation is what matters. That life is a never ending lesson, and without mistakes there is no learning, no growth. This is a key message and by far one of my favorite books for them as well. So even if I read it 100 more times - I have no regrets with this Scholastic Book Fair purchase. 5/5 stars. 

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New Year.

BY CHRISTIAN ADRIAN BROWN

FIT LIT Body, Mind and Quill

ABOUT THE COLUMNIST

Quadragenarian fitness model, lifestyle coach and bestselling author of the critically acclaimed Feast of Fates, Christian A. Brown received a Kirkus star in 2014 for the first novel in his genrechanging Four Feasts till Darkness series. He has appeared on Newstalk 1010, AM640, Daytime Rogers, and Get Bold Today with LeGrande Green. He actively writes and speaks about his mother’s journey with cancer and on gender issues in the media.

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We’ve talked about New Year’s resolutions before, moreover, how to structure them into small, measurable goals to achieve incremental success. If you’re looking for advice on that front, you can revisit my piece in last year’s early issue. Today, though, I’d like to talk about a specific metric for personal fulfillment and success, your health. Since this is a literary column or at least one where we talk about the conjunction of wellness and literature, we’ll later talk about how you can use reading—yes reading—to enhance your health. Covid has been a daunting global challenge. We’ll be dealing with the personal, financial and policy aftershocks of the pandemic for decades to come. Although one thing that we’ve known from the beginning—and which has been largely ignored in the panic and mania surrounding the disease—is that people who suffer from metabolic disorders are disproportionately affected by the illness. In addition to modern therapeutics and vaccines, control over our health and wellness has always been within our reach. Now more than ever, we need to be having familial, community and national conversations about health and the sovereign, personal actions we should all be taking to ease the burden on our health care systems. As someone who has worked in the fitness industry with people of various body types, I can assure you that there is no “perfect” body. I can equally assure you that no one should aspire to be too thin or too large. Just do the best that you can with nutrition and activity and allow your body to find its ideal fat/ muscle distribution. Don’t look to magazines, social media or other coercive influences to tell you how you should feel about your body. As we begin to understand more and more about the corrosive— and not just the beneficial—aspects of social media, we learn that these places are echo chambers and often do

naught else but reinforce positive or negative confirmation bias. All of this is a preamble to the discussion that we must be reasonable about our body image and perceptions of what constitutes “health” and “healthy habits”. Almost universally, nutritionists agree that too much sugar is bad for you. Indeed, eliminating all excess sugars in the highly saturated North American diet has no downsides. Furthermore, the growing popularity of natural and commercially available sweeteners such as Xylitol or stevia blends (the former is a 1:1 granulated sugar substitute) make for a tantalizing proposition. Likewise, keeping an eye on your saturated and trans fat intake is another good place to start. Read labels! I can’t stress the importance of this enough—particularly as this is a column based on literature and literacy, so consider this your recommended reading. Perhaps you don’t know how to read labels, so two pieces of advice. First, the more ingredients, the greater the chance something untoward and unhealthy is in the product. Second, always check the quantity cited on the label. If the caloric intake and nutrients (or sugars) seem too good to be true that could be because the manufacturer has done the old bait-n-switch. A tactic where they give you the nutritional info for a portion of the product, which is generally far less than anyone with a moderate appetite will consume. So consider what they’re qualifying as a ‘serving size’ against the amount you would ideally consume.

And finally, we need to take care of the bodies we’re fuelling with all this goodness. 3-5 days of vigorous exercise—a combination of weights, cardio and stretching—is generally the regime prescribed by doctors and trainers alike. And with the pandemic, manufacturers have produced a dizzying array of spacesaving home fitness equipment, personal training apps and weight management tools to help people through every stage of development. A personal pastime that I’ve come to enjoy, too, is my morning “reads” while doing the cardio components of my workouts: 30 minutes of serene contemplation in the morning, watching the sunrise, connected to my body and breath, and listening to my latest Audible title. I’ve read/ listened to over two dozen books during the pandemic; a great feat considering that I’ve struggled to come anywhere near the voracious appetite and propensity I had for finishing books in my youth. The pleasure of engaging with a story also satisfies the need to unwind and unclench from stress and anxiety. Stories serve to improve our mental health and will be essential in not only leading us out of the darkness of the last two years but in helping us dream and build the systems that will allow our society to endure past this trial. May 2022 bring you health, resilience, equilibrium and an abundance of stories to inspire and motivate you. —C  119

BOOKS IN REVIEW BR

SHELF UNBOUND’S

Books In Review Self-Published & Small Press Book Reviews

SPONSORED BY

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Annihilation.

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BY KAYLIN MCFARREN

The second installment in Kaylin McFarren’s Gehenna saga (after 2020’s Soul-Seeker) is set largely in the realm of Hell, blending biblical myth, dark fantasy, and erotica. The story begins with teenager Samara Daemonium attending high school in the realm of Middle Earth—a place where angels and demons exist like humans. Her mother Ariel, a guardian angel living in a demon’s body, and her father Crighton, a soul-seeking demon, grow worried when her former demon boyfriend Legend Hunter is murdered and Samara becomes entangled in a looming conflict called the Red War, prophesized to be the deadliest conflict in biblical history.

PUBLISHER: CREATIVE EDGE PUBLISHING

Meanwhile in Hell, Lucifer—believed to be dead—returns in the body of Legend and reclaims his throne from Queen Lucinda, who has been increasing her dark power in preparation of the upcoming war. As vindictive and twisted as ever, Lucifer tortures Lucinda—and others who stand in

his way. Obsessed with Samara, Lucifer’s ultimate goal is to have her as his queen for eternity. But others see Samara as the key to defeating Lucifer and his officers. Samara must figure out who she is and her place in the world before she makes a mistake that could destroy countless souls. The series is comparable in tone and content to Anne Bishop’s sensual Black Jewels saga and Cassie Ryan’s Sisters of Darkness novels. Most of the sex scenes are steamy, and the blending of dark fantasy and erotica is appealing. The story falls down, however, in the gratuitously graphic nature of the sex sequences, many of which contain brutal rape scenes. Additionally, the storyline is bloated in places due to numerous secondary characters and their machinations, and the planes of existence and their interconnectivity—Hell, Earth, Middle Earth, even a planet in the Twelfth Dimension—isn’t as meticulously described and coherent as it could have been. Despite such issues, the story is dark and decadent, and fans of such fare should find it largely entertaining. 

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The Rape of Persephone: A Novel.

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BY MONICA BRILLHART

In his “Hymn to Demeter,” the Greek poet Homer wrote about Persephone, the beautiful daughter of Zeus and priestess Demeter, who is abducted by Hades, King of the Underworld. Homer’s poem is just under 500 lines long. Novelist Monica Brillhart has reimagined this story into an enchanting 431-page novel, the first of a trilogy. The story takes place in ancient Greece. Brillhart offers some context in her introduction, explaining that in the original Latin, the word “rape,” means “seized or carried off, and does not necessarily imply sexual violence.” In Homer’s myth, teenage Persephone is picking a narcissus when Hades’s chariot rises from the earth and he seizes the innocent girl by “her delicate ankles,” dragging her into hell. In Brillhart’s version, Persephone still has delicate ankles, PUBLISHER: but she’s not so innocent. She boldly steals a purse of coins FERRYMAN PRESS Zeus gave her mother and buys passage on a ship called the Narcissus, aiming to finally meet her father. But a natural disaster thwarts her plan, and eventually Hades’s soldiers kidnap and carry her away to his dark castle. There, she develops a special bond with the Hounds of Hell and a serious crush on Hades. In an original twist, the mythological characters here are humans (to be raised as gods after death). When Hades takes a ship to Olympus to ask Zeus for Persephone’s hand, he worries about seasickness. Zeus, the god of gods, has a bum knee. The author provides immediacy by using colloquial language in the present tense. Yet while she breathes contemporary life – and abundant humor – into this ancient tale, she remains faithful to the bones of Homer’s poem, quoting portions of it at the start of each of the book’s five sections. This beguiling novel is sure to appeal to fans of Homer’s poem, who will enjoy the modern twist on familiar characters. But even those new to the story will be utterly charmed by Brillhart’s novel—and eagerly await the sequels. 

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Sisters of the Sweetwater Fury.

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BY KINLEY BRYAN

Three sisters find their lives at risk during a dramatic storm on the Great Lakes in 1913 in this utterly immersive historical novel. Sunny Colvin has spent ten years working as a galley cook on freight ships with her husband, ship’s steward Herb. Now she has an opportunity to make her dream of running her own restaurant a reality and wants to talk Herb into it. But before she can do so, they must survive a days-long storm across Lake Huron. Sunny’s younger sister Cordelia is also on the water, on Lake Superior. Newly, and possibly rashly married to a ship’s captain, she’s travelling with him in the hopes of knowing him better. Meanwhile, on land, their widowed third sister, Agnes, chaffs at her life at home with their demanding mother and finds herself drawn toward the lifeboat keeper’s sister, Lizzie. Each sister dreams of changing her life. Will the storm make or break them? PUBLISHER: BLUE MUG PRESS

This tale of one week in November 1913 is recounted in vivid, absorbing detail. Chapters alternate between the three sisters, all strong characters. Sunny is brave and resilient, Cordelia hopeful and kind, Agnes more resilient than she knows but unsure of what she wants. As events unfold and the storm wreaks havoc on land and sea, each sister’s story is moving to read. Kinley Bryan successfully weaves description, dialogue and dramatic action, conveying a detailed picture of life onboard a ship without slowing the story’s pace. Secondary characters are well rendered; each strand of the narrative is emotionally charged; and the storm itself is masterfully described as ships and shore are battered by hurricane force winds and blizzards. “In watching that expanse of dark water stippled with whitecaps,” the author writes, “it wasn’t hard to imagine a fantastical sea creature like Mishipeshu rising up and thrashing ships with its gigantic tail.” Inspired by actual events and the author’s own family history, Bryan’s debut is a highly assured and gripping novel.  123

A Black and Endless Sky.

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BY MATTHEW LYONS

In Matthew Lyons’ second novel A Black and Endless Sky, we find ourselves back in a world of mystery and supernatural mysticism the way his debut novel The Night Will Find Us embarked on. Emerging from a recent divorce in San Francisco, Jonah, and his sister, Nell, make plans to go on a road trip across the American West. With positive vibes at hand, the siblings attempt to mend a rocky relationship as they drive home to Albuquerque, New Mexico. But when their luck’s overturned by mischief and old habits, their best laid plans are unexpectedly spoiled.

PUBLISHER: TURNER PUBLISHING .

The change in mood and atmosphere lead to an unforeseen accident that succumbs Nell to an ancient power that possesses her. Troubled by his sister’s abrupt shift in behavior, Jonah ignores the truth until the entity vehemently begins to divulge long kept secrets only he could know about.

As the story advances, Nell and Jonah somehow achieve the concept that the desert will offer reprieve—but when they find themselves buried in a siege of passion with a local criminal ring, the power of the supernatural Murmur is summoned for a final showdown that saves them from annihilation. In a relatively short novel told from multiple perspectives, A Black and Endless Sky takes its reader on a ride horror fans thrive on. Blood and guts, and more blood and guts. Packed with bar fights, chilly nights, and ghastly violence, A Black and Endless Sky invokes components of some of the best known horror stories in the industry. Nothing falls short in this eerie tale on redemption, loss and second chances. First time readers of Lyons’ work will find themselves on the edge of their seat wanting to know if Jonah and Nell will survive an exhaustive excursion along the great American scape.

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All Who Belong May Enter.

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BY NICK WARD

PUBLISHER: AUTUMN HOUSE PRESS

In All Who Belong May Enter, Nick Ward challenges American culture at homegrown and national levels, relaying his experiences of masculinity, whiteness, and being a career restaurant server. This collection of personal essays is introspective and intimate, a necessity as Nick forces his Midwestern upbringing into conversation with topics that are considered taboo, potential sources of conflict, or frankly too uncomfortable to be vulnerable about. My favorite essay in the collection was The Dresden. In it, Nick and his roommates decide to throw a broken speaker through a fraternity house window. Overall, it’s an understandable decision. The way the boys of the Dresden house are presented is less than flattering; they were vulgar and violent. Nick and his friends were never caught, but they later heard that the fraternity found someone else to blame, beating them to a pulp. By the end of the piece, Nick is humbled, realizing that he wasn’t that different from the frat boys after all.

This attitude is what makes Nick’s writing successful. Despite his frustrations with people or culture, he acknowledges that he has—sometimes unwittingly— contributed to the very things he criticizes. It makes the writing more human because we often know what the right thing to do is, but until we are faced with a choice to take the higher ground, we don’t actually know what we will do. Throughout his work, Nick shows the reader that failure can be just as instrumental as success when it comes to personal growth. The core criticism I had with this collection was there were a few essays where the transition between anecdote to thematic summary was abrupt. Also, these sections sometimes muddled the thematic development of the essay, introducing new topics that haven’t been clearly developed. The points Nick makes are valid and significant, but I would have been happier to see these elements of story and summary more thoroughly entwined, unifying the personal tone taken with the essay’s underlying purpose. Overall, in “All Who Belong May Enter, Nick lets the reader get to know him. The writing is personal and casual, and it forces you to wrestle with things you may have been aware of or insulated from. And all of this lends nicely to what I believe is Nick’s end goal: to start a conversation.  125

Sankofa.

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BY CHIBUNDU ONUZO

Sankofa is Chibundu Onuzo’s third novel, following a woman (i.e., Anna) in her 40s as she looks for a sense of identity and belonging. Anna is separated from her husband, her daughter has grown up, and her mother, the one who raised her, has just died. However, while looking through her mother’s things, she finds proof of her biological father – a West African man named Francis who was involved in radical politics while in London, where he unknowingly impregnated her mother. Desperate for answers, Anna learns whatever she can about Francis through the diary he left behind, and soon discovers that he is, in fact, still alive. However, all is not as it seems, and when she goes to West Africa to meet him in person, she must deal with her shattered expectations of what her father is really like. A retired president of Bamana, Francis (who now goes by Kofi) seems to be a completely different man than the one who wrote the journal. My favorite part of the story is the moving, multi-faceted internal journey that Anna goes on. One of these facets includes her growing PUBLISHER: up as a black child with a white mother, considered too ethnic by CATAPULT her prejudiced English town to belong. However, upon arriving in Bamana, she learns that she is viewed as a foreigner by her own people, and subsequently feels out of place in both environments. In this way, she keeps her life with her mother separate in her mind from her father’s history in West Africa. Onuzo is masterful in the way she demonstrates these complex themes – any person who is bi-racial and/or part of an ethnic diaspora will relate to Anna’s struggle on a deeply personal level. The ending is my favorite part, as it sees Anna being given her West African name, Nana (an anagram of Anna, demonstrating how close her father’s heritage was to her identity from the start). Although well into her 40s, she undergoes her country’s ceremonial rite of passage into womanhood, through which the rift between her multiple identities, experiences, and ancestors is bridged within her own heart. It is a powerful end, and brings a satisfying yet compelling sense of closure to the story. I also like how the name of Anna’s father changes throughout the book based on how she perceives him. In the beginning, when she hopes he is still the same man from his journal, the narrative calls him Francis. As she learns that Francis isn’t fully there anymore, he is then called Kofi. And finally, within the final pages of the book, Anna calls him Papa for the first time, and the book reflects that. It is a small detail, but I think it’s a compelling touch, and is effective in portraying the different identities of Anna’s father within her own heart. I initially didn’t know what to expect when opening Sankofa for the first time, but I’m very glad I read it – it’s a journey of identity and belonging unlike anything I’ve ever read before.  126

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Seeking Fortune Elsewhere.

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BY SINDYA BHANOO

To leave home inherently means that one must endure loss, whether it’s losing family, friends, culture, or simple familiarity. Seeking Fortune Elsewhere by Sindya Bhanoo is collection of eight short stories about this very thing, following South Indian immigrants as they’ve left their homes in search of more. Though there are challenges, what makes this collection stand out is how Sindya backlights struggle with beauty, so even the most bittersweet endings hold hope for the future. Chandrasekharan or ‘Chand’ of “A Life in America” is a university teacher whose generosity and care for his Indian graduate students eventually backfires when he is accused for taking advantage of them, that he forced them to tend to his lawn or dishes after parties. Convinced that this was a smear campaign started by a fellow professor with a PUBLISHER: vendetta against him, Chand’s relationships and memories CATAPULT of these events are challenged. The realism of the characters and the intrigue of whether the claims against Chand are legitimate kept me invested until the story’s closing lines. “Malliga Homes”, a 2021 O. Henry Prize winner, is about a woman whose emigrated daughter pressured her to live in a retirement community after being widowed. Despite the welcoming accommodations, the narrator misses her life in the city. More importantly, she misses family being close by, but her children have not visited in years despite promises to do so. This short fully deserves all praise it receives, delivering a story that is simultaneously sorrowful and heartwarming. Sindya’s writing as a whole is refreshingly simple, and this lack of linguistic garnish highlights her mechanical skill: her attention to pacing, character, and theme. Throughout each story, Sindya adds layers of nuance, so each story has subtleties that aren’t immediately apparent until a second or third read. Most of all, Sindya’s skill in creating compelling plots does justice to the characters within them, often showing the importance of compassion. Life is hard. It’s complicated. This is especially true for those who are far from the place they call home. In Seeking Fortune Elsewhere, you can sit down with these individuals, knowing that even if they are fiction, there is someone out there just like them.  127

The Apartment on Calle Uruguay.

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BY ZACHARY LAZAR

Zachary Lazar uses a unique writing style and creates believable characters in his upcoming release, The Apartment on Calle Uruguay. When the story opens, Lazar takes readers to the east end of Long Island where we first meet the characters of the story. Christopher Bell is a blocked painter trying to paint again, and Ana Ramirez is a journalist looking for a job in New York City. Having believable characters is an author’s hope, and Lazar does an excellent job of creating his two main characters and showing us what it’s like for immigrants coming to the United States. At the beginning of the novel, we learn Chris came from Israel as a child and has lived in the U.S. since then, and Ana fled Venezuela when that country was in PUBLISHER: CATAPULT turmoil. Soon after Chris and Ana start dating, a complicated romance develops between the two, and we learn more and more about their past lives. Chris is dealing with the loss of his love interest, Malika, and he feels the need to visit her incarcerated brother in prison while Ana is worried about her family, who is now living in Mexico City. With both characters, Lazar describes them in such a way that I really began to feel like I could have known either character in real life. They are that believable. Over the years, I’ve read many books, but I haven’t read a book with the unique writing style that Lazar has. Chris tells the story not only in a first person narrative but also in a stream-of-consciousness way. I felt like I was inside his head and actually seeing the story unfold in front of me. At the same time, this unique writing style makes it hard at times to follow the story, but I could easily get back on track. I mean, think about how we speak. Don’t we sometimes lose our train of thought and jump from topic to topic? This novel is no different than our real-life conversations. If you’re looking for a book with well-developed characters and a stream-ofconsciousness writing style, The Apartment on Calle Uruguay is a must-read. 

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Search History.

A du lt

BY EUGENE LIM

Sometimes a book comes along in which the reader isn’t quite sure where they stand on it until the final page is reached. Such is the experience with Eugene Lim’s Search History. Published by Coffee House Press in October 2021, the book landed on multiple “Most Anticipated” lists. K.W. Colyard from Bustle deemed it “A delightfully strange little book,” and The New Yorker wrote, “As the book toggles between the narrator’s autobiography, a meandering quest for the friend, and conversations among the search party about grief, selfhood, and Asian American authorship, Lim evokes the disorienting idiosyncrasy of an Internet search history.” That concept of the internet search history is what the reader keeps coming back to as they drift through the book. The plotline is clear, but progress from chapter to PUBLISHER: COFFEE HOUSE PRESS chapter often feels more like a leap than a transition, until the reader reaches a point where they are brought back to where they previously left off. Imagine jumping between different tabs in a browser, moving to the next one in line before finishing the information on the first. At times, confusion set in, but a quick backtrack by a page or two allowed catching up in the narrative, which features a robust cast of eccentric characters including a robot named César Aira, an artificial intelligence scientist Doctor Y, a piano player Frank Exit, Frank’s friend Muriel, and more. Each has a role to play, though at times, the reader may be unsure of exactly who is speaking. Aside from the unique structure, some of the most memorable parts of this book are the autobiographical interludes that Lim intersperses in several places. Thoughts on death, friendship, memories of his mother and son, and cultural identity shed light on Lim himself, his values, and societal viewpoints and expectations, and those passages reiterate the book’s themes of grief, mortality, and memory, especially. Search History is the sort of book a reader might want to read multiple times in order to feel as though they’d gained all it has to offer. It’s a challenging read, but with 2022 having just turned the corner, it’s a good one with which to begin.  129

INTERVIEW

Interview with Zachary Lazar. Author of The Apartment on Calle Uruguay BY MICHELE MATHEWS

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INTERVIEW

CONTINUED

YOUR BOOKS TEND TO FOCUS ON ISSUES IN OUR WORLD, AND YOUR UPCOMING RELEASE, THE APARTMENT ON CALLE URUGUAY, IS NO EXCEPTION. WHAT MAKES YOU WANT TO WRITE ABOUT REAL LIFE ISSUES?

ZL: It’s not so much that I want to write about issues. It’s more that writing fiction has always been a way for me to process the mess of life on earth. The world is clearly messed up. Why and how and what, if anything, can an individual do or even say about it? I often think about Chekhov, who was tormented because he could point out the problems of his time but didn’t have any solutions. It was all about to fall apart. The Russian Revolution was just around the corner, and everyone could feel it. Lenin was a Chekhov fan, but I doubt Chekhov would have been a Lenin fan. If Chekhov came back from the dead, he would probably still feel tormented about not having had the answers. But his stories and plays have value to me when I myself am feeling tormented about not having the answers. CHRIS AND ANA ARE SUCH

BELIEVABLE CHARACTERS. HOW DO YOU CREATE THE CHARACTERS FOR YOUR BOOKS? ARE THEY BASED ON PEOPLE YOU KNOW, OR DO THEY JUST COME TO YOU?

ZL: I’m glad they’re believable. They are not based on anyone. They’re imaginary, but the advantage of being alive for as long as I have been is that I’ve known a lot of people and had a lot of conversations. When I make up characters and dialogue, I don’t have to start with an empty tank. I also know that people are inconsistent, so sometimes that frees you up as a writer to push your characters in various ways and not worry if it will be believable. You can make most things believable if you work at it, and if you can’t, it is probably a sign that you should go in a different direction. But certainly in my experience most of the process is unconscious, and the best writing is always unplanned and improvised. THE APARTMENT ON CALLE URUGUAY IS WRITTEN IN A UNIQUE WRITING STYLE. ARE THERE ANY AUTHORS WHO INSPIRED YOU TO WRITE IN THIS STYLE? WHY DO YOU

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THINK YOU WRITE THIS WAY?

ZL: Thank you–I’m glad it came across as unique. I’ve been writing fiction for more than thirty years, which is a ridiculously long time. I think this book is the best expression so far of whatever it is that I do that is unique to me. It doesn’t sound like anyone else. There’s a certain balance between coherence and incoherence, leaps from one sentence to the next that are a little disorienting but not so confusing that you’re just bewildered. I guess it’s an attempt to capture what it actually feels like to live inside a consciousness. When we move around in the world, we don’t understand everything instantly. We kind of negotiate a million little moments of totally understanding, sort of understanding, not understanding at all, finally understanding something from before, and so on, in various combinations. But I didn’t consciously plan and execute any of that. I just went by sound. I like fiction that feels alive in every sentence–not decorative or predictable but dialed-in, concrete, dynamic, and surprising. WHAT MESSAGE DO YOU HOPE YOUR READERS WILL TAKE AWAY FROM YOUR BOOK?

ZL: I wrote this book out of fear and 132

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outrage over the 2016 election. But Trumpism didn’t come out of nowhere, so I was also upset at myself for being surprised by it. I had written a whole novel, I Pity the Poor Immigrant, about the political power of gangsters–after doing that, how could I have been so naive? But also why was this the particular moment when the country finally decided to take off the mask and just openly embrace hatred, cruelty, stupidity, ignorance, and bigotry? To go back to Chekhov, I noticed that in his late work, his plays, there are a lot of people who are baffled by the changing world around them. They’re prone to despair, and they have reason to feel despair because their way of life really is going to disappear. But one of the reasons it’s going to disappear is because they give in so easily to despair. Just thinking about something unpleasant is enough to “fill them with despair.” And in Chekhov’s plays, he’s always sympathetic to them, but he’s also always making fun of his characters for being so fragile. Where I’m going with all this is that I hope one of the take-aways from my book is that despair is a luxury item. In the 18th and 19th centuries, London’s chimneys were cleaned by children, sometimes as young as four, because they were small enough to fit inside tight

spaces. These children often did the work naked, so that their clothes wouldn’t snag on the chimney walls, and sometimes the chimney was actually active when they were inside “sweeping.” There were no bathing facilities, so they couldn’t clean the soot off of their bare skin after the workday, which caused cancer. At night they slept on sacks stuffed with soot they scraped from the chimneys. This was all because their parents had to sell them into servitude because they couldn’t afford to feed them. There would have been conservatives then arguing that child chimney sweeps were a regrettable but necessary evil– there was no other way to clean chimneys and if you didn’t clean the chimneys, buildings would catch fire and everyone would die. These people would have called reformers dreamers, hypocrites, bleeding hearts, snowflakes, etc. The reformers liked heated buildings just as much as everyone else, so (the argument would have gone) they needed to grow up, put their big boy pants on, etc., and accept the world as it was. After about a hundred years, this situation changed, and eventually Londoners imagined a less barbaric way to clean their chimneys. The reformers won. After that, there would have been

zero people arguing that child chimney sweeps were a regrettable but necessary evil. There would have been a lot of reason for despair during the hundred or so years it took for this change to take place. But as James Baldwin said, “Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced. YOU CURRENTLY TEACH AN INTRODUCTION TO CREATIVE WRITING CLASS WITH YOUR STUDENTS AT TULANE UNIVERSITY AND STUDENTS WHO ARE INCARCERATED. TELL US HOW THAT CAME TO BE AND HOW IT WORKS.

ZL: My class is possible because of Cathy Fontenot, who I met at Angola Prison, where she was a warden. The class takes place at her subsequent places of work, the parish jails in Lafayette and Baton Rouge. It grew out of the journalism and other writing I’ve done about Angola, including my novel Vengeance, and the abundance of creative people I’ve met over the years who happen to be incarcerated. Cathy has given me unusual access and freedom to design the course the way I want it. 133

ABOUT THE BOOK

Basically, it’s an intro creative writing course that includes an equal number of Tulane students and incarcerated students. They do the same reading and writing assignments and exchange work every week for an entire semester. We are usually able to visit the jail three times to have a “live class”, and the rest is kind of a correspondence course online. Covid has shut everything down for the last two years, but I hope to do it again in the future. It’s been hugely transformative for everyone involved, including me. Anyone who is interested can see a segment about the class on the Netflix documentary, “The Creative Brain. WHAT’S NEXT? ARE YOU WORKING ON A NEW BOOK? COULD YOU SHARE ANYTHING ABOUT IT?

ZL: I’m hoping to make a trilogy of connected novels that starts with Calle Uruguay. The second one takes place during the pandemic and ends right around the January 6 insurrection. It centers on the same part of Eastern Long Island that Calle Uruguay take s place in and is kind of a riff on Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard.” More Chekhov references! 

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THE APARTMENT ON CALLE URUGUAY A haunting new novel by the author of Vengeance in which a chance encounter between a blocked painter and a journalist leads to a complicated romance that reveals their buried histories and vulnerabilities against the backdrops of an America in chaos and Mexico. Beginning in the first summer of the postObama world, Zachary Lazar’s bewitching and masterful new novel tells the story of Christopher Bell, a blocked painter on the East End of Long Island, and Ana Ramirez, a journalist who fled the crisis in Venezuela and is looking for work in New York. Bell has always felt marked by his foreignness, having emigrated to the U.S. as a child, and has come to believe that “words like ‘identity’ and ‘American’ are somehow very meaningful and very meaningless at the same time.” He has retreated to a modest house near a patch of woods, “a rural nowhere…that sometimes held more meaning for me in its silence than human language.”

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What's On Our Shelf Nobody loves books more than us. We're a team of readers with broad interests and strong feelings about the books on our shelves.

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ON OUR SHELF

WHERE THE SKY MEETS THE OCEAN AND THE AIR TASTES LIKE METAL AND THE BIRDS DON'T MAKE SOUND by Mike Kleine and Dan Hoy

Detectives Michael and Daniel must try to solve a murder on planet Earth. The victim may or may not be named Jane from Yesterday. And the Man of One Thousand Years, cult leader of the Architects of Q'Noor, may or may not be responsible. As Michael and Daniel hurl themselves inexorably toward a final confrontation with the Man of One Thousand Years through a dreamlike landscape of exploding cacti, cultists, centaurs, spells, river gorgons, lobster enthusiasts, and undulating portals activated by prayer, they collide with a succession of randos and adversaries—Vampyre King, Man with Face Like Fire, Qyumoo'un, Eater of Dreams, Excalibur, Prince Al-Wajeed, and dozens more—sparing few in their frenzied quest for the truth.

THE BOUNDARIES OF THEIR DWELLING by Blake

THE NEW EXISTENCE by Michael Collins

Sanz

Moving between the American South and Mexico, these stories explore how immigrant and native characters are shaped by absent family and geography. A Chilanga teen wins a trip to Miami to film a reality show about family while pining for the American brother she's never met. A Louisiana carpenter tends to his drug-addicted son while rebuilding his house after a slew of hurricanes. A New Orleans ne'er-do-well opens a Catholicthemed bar in the wake of his devout mother’s death. A village girl from Chiapas baptizes her infant on a trek toward the U.S. border.

Chicagoan Helen Price, a dying woman, recounts her life while driving toward an oncology appointment. She attempts to take her own life, survives, then dies under tragic circumstances. In death, Helen bequeaths the family home to her only son, gay playwright Norman Price. Father to an adopted Chinese child, and recently broken up with his partner, Norman’s life is in crisis. Helen also bequeaths a series of tapes to Nate Feldman, a Vietnam draft dodger ensconced in the far reaches of Canada, and the son of Helen’s former boss, Theodore Feldman. Nate’s return to America to claim the tapes occasions confronting a history of animus between father and son, but also the nature of the relationship between Helen Price and Theodore Feldman.

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THE HOUSE OF RUST by Khadija Abdalla Bajaber

The House of Rust is an enchanting novel about a Hadrami girl in Mombasa. When her fisherman father goes missing, Aisha takes to the sea on a magical boat made of a skeleton to rescue him. She is guided by a talking scholar’s cat (and soon crows, goats, and other animals all have their say, too). On this journey Aisha meets three terrifying sea monsters. After she survives a final confrontation with Baba wa Papa, the father of all sharks, she rescues her own father, and hopes that life will return to normal. But at home, things only grow stranger. Caught between her grandmother’s wish to safeguard her happiness with marriage and her own desire for adventure, Aisha is pushed toward a match with a sweet local boy that she doesn’t want.

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THE BOYS WHO WOKE UP EARLY by A.D. Hopkins TThe gravy train hasn’t stopped in the hollers of western Virginia for more than thirty years when Stony Shelor starts his junior year at Jubal Early High. Class divides and racism are still the hardened norms as the Eisenhower years draw to a close. Violence lies coiled under the calm surface, ready to strike at any time. On the high school front, the cool boys are taking their wardrobe and music cues from hip TV private dick Peter Gunn, and Dobie Gillis is teaching them how to hit on pretty girls. There’s no help for Stony on the horizon, though. Mary Lou Martin is the girl of his dreams, and she hardly knows Stony exists. In addition, Stony can’t seem to stay out of juvenile court and just may end up in reform school. A long, difficult year stretches out in front of him when a new boy arrives in town.

HEIRS OF DECEITS by Elizabeth Reinach

The novel is set in the late Victorian period in England. It concerns conflicts in attitude to social class and destitution and religion. The central character is Sir Gilbert Stanley, Tory politician and great landowner. Like many rich men, he had taken peasant mistresses in his youth, later abandoning them with no means of support. These women all died evil deaths, and the children were placed in the workhouse. Sir Gilbert longed secretly for these children and watched their progress to adulthood. Unaware he was their father, the children became absorbed into his household as servants. He favoured them, and their status became ambiguous. The outside world was horrified, and the household imploded. Murder and chaos followed.

ON OUR SHELF

2084 by David Perlstein After its second revolution, America is nothing—and everything—to joke about. The U.S.A. is history. In 2044, the Covenantal States of America constitutes a whiteChristian autocracy echoing George Orwell’s banned classic, 1984. Washington pushes back against armed rebels, humor ridiculing tyranny and mushrooming graffiti referencing Orwell’s novel in the form of 2084. Sam Klein, a member of the Minyan, a clandestine group of stand-up comics, organizes a July Fourth comedy protest while his Indian-American wife Indira, a native Californian, faces deportation. The Fourth, celebrating an America made great yet again, brings unexpected fireworks.

THE SON OF ABRAHAM

OPEN BLIND EYES

by Kathleen Kaufman

by Rachel Timothy

Ten years after the city of Los Angeles is nearly destroyed by a violent domestic terrorist attack, Esther Robertson struggles to reconcile her father’s culpability as leader of the deadly Son of Abraham cult. She grants CBS’s top reporter, Cooper Carlson, a rare interview and insight into her father, Alan Robertson, who sits awaiting trial for his crimes in federal prison.

Open Blind Eyes brings you face to face with the reality of sex trafficking in America through the true story viewpoint of a girl from a small town. Rachel was only nine years old when she was first approached by a perpetrator who was known to her as a teacher and coach. She goes into detail of the process of being groomed and how the evil of what was happening to her in the dark remained unseen by everyone around her. She describes how she coped for so many years by blocking out the memories only to have them resurface when she was an adult with a family of her own. Rachel had no idea that when she would pursue justice it would end up putting her right back in the world of trafficking. It wasn’t until her church family saw the signs and believed what she was saying that she was able to start the process of finding freedom. Rachel shows her faith and love of God during the highs and lows of her journey and she prays for each person who reads her story.

A report of a horrific and seemingly natural disaster interrupts the interview. Another will follow and another after that. Are these increasingly violent and bizarre phenoms truly natural, or is there another force behind them?

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SWIMMING TO THE TOP OF THE TIDE by Patricia Hanlon

The Great Marsh is the largest continuous stretch of salt marsh in New England, extending from Cape Ann to New Hampshire. Patricia Hanlon and her husband built their home and raised their children alongside it. But it is not until the children are grown that they begin to swim the tidal estuary daily. Immersing herself, she experiences, with all her senses in all seasons, the vigor of a place where the two ecosystems of fresh and salt water mix, merge, and create new life. In Swimming to the Top of the Tide, Hanlon lyrically charts her explorations, at once intimate and scientific. Noting the disruptions caused by human intervention, she bears witness to the vitality of the watersheds, their essential role in the natural world, and the responsibility of those who love them to contribute to their sustainability.

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HER PERFECT BONES by Ellery Kane

The girl’s body is curled up like a shell and almost completely buried in sand. Only her fingertips can be seen, reaching helplessly up towards an escape she will never find… Seventeen-year-old Shelby Mayfield sits alone on a bus to Fog Harbor, California. Aside from a few items of clothing, all she has with her is twenty-two dollars, the ragdoll she’s kept since kindergarten, and the devastating secret she’s been hiding. How long will it be before her family realizes she’s gone? Can anyone see the fresh bruise on her cheek beneath the makeup? Perhaps she was a fool to believe the person she is meeting in this remote little town could help her…

INKED: CARTOONS, CONFESSIONS, REJECTED IDEAS AND SECRET SKETCHES FROM THE NEW YORKER'S JOE DATOR by Joe Dator From inspiration to conception and all the trials in-between. Filled with more than 150 of Dator’s single-panel cartoons, this lively, quick-witted book betrays a deadpan sense of humor. But Inked is more than a book of cartoons. Dator also dives into the creative process, offering bonus commentary on how ideas have come to fruition, how one idea has led to another, and the various attempts to get an idea right. Along the way, he shows how a spark of imagination has turned into a laugh-out-loud moment with only a single image and caption, and how other attempts have found themselves on the cutting-room floor.

ON OUR SHELF

CONSTANTINE AT THE BRIDGE by Stephen Dando-Collins

The AD 312 Battle of the Milvian Bridge, just outside Rome, marked the start of a monumental change for Rome and her empire. This battle was the figurative bridge between old pagan Rome and new Christian Rome. And once Constantine had crossed that bridge, there was no turning back. Constantine the Great, after winning this battle against his brother-in-law Maxentius and taking power at Rome, and strongly influenced by his mother, forcefully steered Romans away from the traditional worship of their classical gods toward Christianity, setting Rome on two paths – the adoption of Christianity as the state religion, and the relegation of the city of Rome to obscurity as the Western Roman Empire collapsed within 175 years.

PHOENIX FLAME by Sara

FOOL'S ERRAND by Jeffrey S.

Holland

Stephens

Maddie Morrow thought her problems were over. She saved the Inn at Havenfall--a sanctuary between magical worlds hidden deep in the mountains of Colorado--from the evil Silver Prince. Her uncle the Innkeeper is slowly recovering from a mysterious spell that has left him not quite human. And there are still a few weeks of summer left to spend with her handsome, more-than-just-a-friend Brekken, even though she can't stop thinking about Taya.

Years after the death of his gangster father, a young man discovers a letter that sends him reluctantly defying the mob as he races to locate a hidden treasure.

But Maddie soon realizes there's more work to be done to protect the place her family has run for centuries. She must embark on a dangerous mission to put an end to the black-market trading of magical objects and open the Inn's doors to Solaria, the once feared land of shapeshifters. As she tries to accomplish both seemingly impossible tasks, Maddie uncovers family secrets that could change everything.

It’s been six years since the untimely death of Blackie—a charming rogue who endlessly pursued “The Big Deal”—when his son discovers an enigmatic letter telling of a cache of stolen money. Feeling no choice but to pursue his father’s dream, he embarks on a search that leads from New York, to the Strip in Las Vegas, and ultimately to the south of France. Along this life-altering journey, he is confronted by the dangers of his father’s past as he unravels a decadesold mystery, while revealing other long-buried secrets as well. Poignant and entertaining, humorous and exciting, romantic and mysterious, Fool’s Errand leads him to discover both the treasure and himself.

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TROPIC OF VIOLENCE by Nathacha Appanah, translated from French by Geoffrey Strachan

A potent novel about lost youth and migration by the author of The Last Brother and Waiting for Tomorrow Marie, a nurse in Mayotte, a far-flung, tropical department of France in the Indian Ocean, adopts a baby abandoned at birth by his mother, a refugee from Comoros. She names him Moïse and raises him as her own-and she avoids his increasing questions about his origins as he grows up. When Marie suddenly dies, thirteen-year-old Moïse is left completely alone, plunged into uncertainty and turmoil. In a state of panic, he runs away from home, and sets himself on a collision course with the gangs of Gaza, the largest and most infamous slum on the island.

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WHEN THE WHALES LEAVE by by Yuri Rytkheu, translated from Russian by Ilona Yazhbin Chavasse

Nau cannot remember a time when she was not one with the world around her: with the fast breeze, the green grass, the high clouds, and the endless blue sky above the Shingled Spit. But her greatest joy is to visit the sea, where whales gather every morning to gaily spout rainbows. Then, one day, she finds a man in the mist where a whale should be: Reu, who has taken human form out of his Great Love for her. Together these first humans become parents to two whales, and then to mankind. Even after Reu dies, Nau continues on, sharing her story of brotherhood between the two species. But as these origins grow more distant, the old woman's tales are subsumed into myth--and her descendants turn increasingly bent on parading their dominance over the natural world.

LAKE LIKE A MIRROR by Ho Sok Fong, translated from Chinese by Natascha Bruce

Squeezing themselves between the gaps of rabid urbanization, patriarchal structures and a theocratic government, these women find their lives twisted in disturbing ways. In precise and disquieting prose, Ho Sok Fong draws her readers into a richly atmospheric world of naked sleepwalkers in a rehabilitation center for wayward Muslims, mysterious wooden boxes, gossip in unlicensed hairdressers, hotels with amnesiac guests, and poetry classes with accidentally charged politics-a world that is peopled with the ghosts of unsaid words, unmanaged desires and uncertain statuses, surreal and utterly true.

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MY PART OF HER by

FAUNA by Christiane Vadnais

THE SKY WEEPS FOR ME

Javad Djavahery, translated from French by Emma Ramadan

(Author), Pablo Strauss (Translator)

by Sergio Ramirez (Author), Leland H. Chambers (translator) (Author)

For our unnamed confessor, the summer months spent on the Caspian Sea during the 1970s are a magically transformative experience. There, he is not the "poor relative from the North," but a welcome guest at his wealthy cousin Nilou's home and the gatekeeper of her affections. He revels in the power of orchestrating the attentions of her many admirers, granting and denying access to her would-be lovers. But in a moment of jealousy and youthful bravado, he betrays and humiliates an unlikely suitor, setting into motion a series of events that will have drastic repercussions for all of them as the country is forever transformed by the Iranian Revolution a few short years later.

In a near-future world ravaged by climate change, who will win in the struggle between humanity and nature? A thick fog rolls in over Shivering Heights. The river overflows, the sky is streaked with toxic green, parasites proliferate in torrential rains and once safely classified species humans included - are evolving and behaving in unprecedented ways. Against this poetically hostile backdrop, a biologist, Laura, fights to understand the nature and scope of the changes transforming her own body and the world around her. Ten lush and bracing linked climate fictions depict a world gorgeous and terrifying in its likeness to our own.

In this Nicaraguan noir (the first in a series), Inspector Dolores Morales and Deputy Inspector Bert Dixon former Sandinista guerilla fighters now attached to the Narcotics Unit of the National Police investigate the disappearance of a young woman after the discovery of an abandoned yacht and a wedding dress. As the mystery widens the two inspectors and their ad-hoc team are brought face to face with drug smugglers from the Cali and Sinaloa cartels. With tension and irony, Sergio Ramirez (A Thousand Deaths Plus One; Divine Punishment) portrays an unsettled and impoverished Central American country struggling in the 1990s to retain the shreds of its revolutionary ideals.

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There is only one thing that can replace a book: the next book.” – PIOTR KOWALCZYK

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SHELF UNBOUND WHAT TO READ NEXT IN INDEPENDENT PUBLISHING WWW.SHELFMEDIAGROUP.COM

Shelf Unbound | New & Upcoming | February / March 2022

Articles inside

Interview with Zachary Lazar

Indie Reviews

Fit Lit Christian Brown

Book Mom Megan Lord

Indie Bookstore

Podster

Reading on the Run V. Jolene Miller

Pride & Publishing Chrissy Brown

20 New & Upcoming Publications to

BookTok: More Than A Trend

Interview with Nicholas Ward

Food, Memories, & Grief: An Interview

Popular Genres & Topics: Spring 2022

Girl Plus Book Megan Lord

10 New Creative Voices to Discover

Small Press Reviews,

Interview: Matthew Lyons Author of A Black and Endless Sky By Anthony