Shelf Unbound August/September 2013 by Shelf Media Group

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2013

3rd

anniversary issue [ Hats Off! ]

Three Questions for Amy Sackville and Anne Michaels

Magritte: The Mystery of the Ordinary

SEPTEMBER 2010

what to read next in independent publishing

Lose the love of your life, the novel of your career and the direction for your future. What do you do?

Go fishing. Fishing Lessons,

The exciting new novel from John Crawley Fishing Lessons, John Crawley’s 12th novel, is not about the act of catching fish. It is about life. About love. About selfdiscovery. It is about believing in yourself and believing in others. It is about ignoring the critics and using your mind in following your heart along the Great Way.

John Crawley

Fishing Lessons is about never giving up. “Crawley delivers his best yet. Something totally different from his pen. Never standing still, he never ceases to amaze one in his depth and variety; and Fishing Lessons is no exception.” —Author Gary Brahl.

fishing Lessons

w w w.johncrawleybooks.com

Available at Amazon, BarnesandNoble and Lulu.

a novel

staff

Margaret Brown fo u n d e r a n d p u b l i s her Anna Nair e d i to r i n ch i e f Christina Davidson c re a t i ve d i re c to r Ben Minton c i rc u l a t i o n m a n a g e r Patricia McClain c o py e d i to r Marc Schuster c o n t r i b u t i n g e d i to r Kelly Bergh yo u n g a d u l t / ch i l d re n â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s reviewer

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Illustration: Magritteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Marvelous Hat by D.B. Johnson, Houghton Mifflin 2012, www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com

what to read next in independent publishing

Where Independent Publishers Live

Our Man in Iraq Robert Perisic Translated by Will Firth

All My Friends Are Superheroes Andrew Kaufman

The Devil and the Detective John Goldbach

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Understanding the Qur’an Today Mahmoud Hussein Translated by David Bond Saqi Books Trade Paper $14.95 978-0-86356-849-7 Religion | September

The Riot Grrrl Collection Edited with an introduction by Lisa Darms Essay by Johanna Fateman The Feminist Press at CUNY Trade Paper $34.95 978-1-55861-822-0* Music

I Am Nobody’s Nigger Dean Atta Telegram Books/The Westbourne Press Trade Paper $14.95 978-1-908906-16-8 Poetry | September

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4000 Miles and After the Revolution Two Plays Amy Herzog Theatre Communications Group Trade Paper $15.95 978-1-55936-422-5* Drama

Introducing Graphic Guides is the brilliant, comic book-style series of humankind’s biggest ideas. There’s no better—or more enjoyable—way to get your head around subjects from Quantum Theory to Ethics to Buddha or “the Elvis of cultural theory” Slavoj Žižek. Head to introducingbooks.com for much more!

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Summer 2013

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august/september

contents

DEPARTMENTS

three questions an interview with Amy Sackville

three questions an interview with Anne Michaels

three pages graphic illustrations of classic literature

three ways of the saw short story excerpt

magritte a new catalog and exhibit at MOMA

threefold history of 3d and more

a note from the publisher

novel thinking

read global

photo essay

middle shelf

poetry

staff picks

small press reviews

last words

contributors

On the cover: Photography by Bryn Bache

Photograph: The Graphic Canon Vol. 3. Near Guymon, Oklahoma, 2009 from Storms, photographs by Mitch Dobrowner.

a word from the

publisher

THREE

his issue is brought to you by the number three, to coin the Sesame Street phrase, in celebration of the third anniversary of Shelf Unbound. As such we pose three questions each to authors Amy Sackville (Orkney), Anne Michaels (Railtracks), and Chris Baumgartner (Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library); excerpt three pages from the brilliantly illustrated new Graphic Canon 3; and survey new books on 3D, three-week-old puppies, and three generations of explorers, among other triples, trios, and triads. On the occasion of our third anniversary, I want to thank all of you readers who have supported us with encouragement and enthusiasm and have shared Shelf Unbound with friends and family from the other side of the cubicle to the other side of the globe, so that we now have subscribers in 64 countries. And I want to thank all of the authors and publishers who have so graciously granted us interviews, contributed essays, and otherwise facilitated the creation of each issue of Shelf Unbound. It is perhaps fitting here that I announce that this fall Shelf Media will be launching not just its second magazine but also its third: Middle Shelf: Cool Reads for Kids is a middle reader level spinoff of Shelf Unbound debuting in October. As with Shelf Unbound, subscriptions are free at www.shelfmediagroup.com. Our third title will be an art magazine—more details to come. Hat’s off to the indie writing community and indie books!

Margaret Brown publisher Like what you read? Click on any book cover to purchase from an online bookstore, or click on the publisher website for more information.

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2013

Photograph: Belinda Baldwin

In Stores September 3, 2013 "NOAH'S RAINY DAY sheds light on communication methods used by “ those with cerebral palsy. One letter at a time our words can be formed and we can be heard, hopefully reaching those whom may have misconceptions about people with CP and disabilities." by Rick Hoyt of Team Hoyt, 6 Ironman Finishes and 30 Boston Marathon Finishes

“...grabs the reader and doesn’t turn loose until the gripping, breathless end…” Reavis Z. Wortham

feature

three questions

“If the dream is a translation of waking life, waking life is also a translation of the dream.” —Magritte

Orkney by Amy Sackville Counterpoint Press | www.counterpointpress.com

A literature professor honeymoons with his much younger bride on the Orkney Islands in this beautifully rendered tale of love and obsession. If you have yet to read Amy Sackville, prepare to be entranced.

Shelf Unbound: Like your debut novel The Still Point, which was long-listed for the Orange Prize, Orkney is very much a novel of place, with the sea being not just the new young bride’s obsession but also a character, a metaphor, a part of the novel’s overall dreamscape. How did you decide 6

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to place your May-December newlyweds by the sea? Amy Sackville: The place and the characters arrived at the same time; it was that situation, of a couple in isolation on the island, that I started with. (Two clichés in one—the professor marrying his student, the woman gaz-

ing out to sea—but I’m quite interested in clichés. I’m interested in received narratives, I’m interested in resuscitating dead metaphors.) It is undeniably an enduring image, the figure on the shoreline; there’s both yearning and fear in it; standing there you feel yourself somehow dissipate, the borders of the self seem less solid, I think. And that idea, of self and landscape becoming inextricable, is central to the book; it’s one long pathetic fallacy, in a way. The sea conditions the formal framework of the book. There is a repetitive patterning, and a play on presence and absence, text and white space, which plays on the rise and fall of waves, the ebb and flow of tides. It’s not just any sea, either; the specific place is important. I am interested in Orkney as a place of mutability; one can’t always discern the border between sea, land and sky, and those borders are constantly in flux. I spent a few days on Westray, at the far Northwest of the peninsula, and it is a beautiPhotograph: Peter Schiazza, www.peterschiazza.com

ful and bewildering place; I spent most of my time just watching the weather changing. There is a layering and fluidity of meaning, too; Orcadian archaeology, history, myth, story, are all interwoven. I think that kind of instability, meaning shifting and mutating and slipping out from the grasp, is thrilling and vertiginous and compelling for me as a writer. Shelf: Dreams and dreamlike language and imagery run throughout Orkney. We, along with the husband, for example, get to know the wife mainly through the intense and fantastical dreams she recounts to him upon waking. What draws you to dreams? Sackville: I have always been a vivid dreamer, or perhaps I just remember my dreams more clearly than most people. My family typically greets the announcement “I had such a weird dream last night” with a groan. People say there’s nothing more boring than hearing about other people’s dreams, UNBOUND

“I find the logic of dreams fascinating, the shifts and associations, the disjuncture, the synaesthesia …” but as with any narrative, it’s the way you tell ‘em... I find the logic of dreams fascinating, the shifts and associations, the disjuncture, the synaesthesia, and most of all the fact that none of these things, in the dream, seem strange. I am interested in the profound dread that can accompany even the most innocuous of dreams, which can haunt you all day, even if you can’t say when you wake what it was that made the dream unsettling. In Orkney in particular I am interested in the gaps in narrative, and in attempting to tell a dream we must always find a way to accommodate those gaps. We say “and then for some reason...,” “and then I can’t remember a bit but then...,” or just, “and then” (which is the logic of dream narrative—and then, and then). When Richard’s wife tells her dreams, these are some of the most sustained parts of her speech that we hear (the only comparable sections are when she’s telling fairy tales). She exists most 8

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vividly in these in-between places; she relates her dreams half-waking, and they reveal the fears and compulsions that she can’t or won’t articulate through rational, waking speech. Like her, I have recurring dreams of floods and of water overwhelming me, and almost all of her dreams are my dreams. Shelf: Orkney is your second novel. What did you learn or discover in writing The Still Point that informed or influenced Orkney? Sackville: The practical stuff: how, when, where I like to write; how to balance planning, research and writing, how to balance instinct and craft; how long it takes to rework a first draft and how to go about that. But, saying that, even those processes were quite different, because the book is very different structurally and the way it was composed reflected that. I would like to say I learned, on the one hand, not to procrastinate, and on the other, not to beat myself up about doing so (because sometimes it’s necessary)—but I still haven’t learned not to do either. I think, actually, that it was a line in The Still Point—something about a sketch of the island that the explorer character ends up on becoming “another Orkney”— that put these islands in particular into my head.

Learning to Live with Fritz E. Rawlins

U.S. $XX.XX

“...a heartfelt and engaging read...certain to be appreciated by dog lovers, especially those who have experienced a holy terror of their own.”

— Blue Ink Reviews

“...genuinely hilarious...reading about the first time Rawlins “hears” from the dog’s spirit is better than watching an episode of The Sopranos.”

— Clarion Reviews

W W W.W HISPER INGFR ITZ.COM Blog: http://whisperingfritz.wordpress.com

Available at Amazon, Barnes+Noble and IUniverse

UNBOUND

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three questions

“I decided to paint the image of a locomotive … in order for its mystery to be evoked…” —Magritte

Railtracks by Anne Michaels and John Berger photographs by Tereza Stehlíková Counterpoint Press | www.counterpointpress.com

Constructed as a dialogue between revered writers John Berger and Anne Michaels, Railtracks is a luminous meditation on love and nostalgia scaffolded on the metaphor of trains and tracks.

Shelf Unbound: How did your collaboration with John Berger (Ways of Seeing) come about, and what was the process of creating the work and then adding in the photography of Tereza Stehlíková? Anne Michaels: John and I were commissioned by Artevents, in the UK, to 10

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collaborate on a piece that would be produced during a season of events— readings, exhibits, screenings—in London, to honour John and his work. It was wonderful to be able to present this new work as part of the season. We met with Artevent’s Gareth Evans and Platform’s Dan Gretton for a daylong walk

together through London and through what was, at the time, “the largest building site in Europe”—King’s Cross station and St. Pancras during the construction of the Channel rail tunnel. The land surrounding King’s Cross has a long history of being appropriated for the trains— including the digging up of the cemetery at St. Pancras. The plan was to create a piece that would be presented in an historic building in King’s Cross. Over the course of about eight months or so, John and I wrote to each other, a dialogue exploring migration (labour migration and other migrations), ways of looking at history, and the history of the specific area of King’s Cross and St. Pancras, how trains have altered our perception of landscape and time, and with all our historical associations to trains and stations. This dialogue, with the absence and intimacy between the two voices, became Railtracks. We both have favoured that now ancient technology of fax—the pleasure of waking in the morning and finding handwritten pages

waiting for you—and so some of our writing together was by fax, some by regular mail and, once we started editing and moving text around, by email. After the text was finished, Simon McBurney of Complicite directed us along with a great cast, including Juliet Stevenson, in a production at the German Gymnasium. The book was first published in the UK by Gareth Evans, who suggested the inclusion of the photographs, and now Railtracks has recently been published by Counterpoint in the U.S. Shelf: You’ve written several poetry collections and two novels, winning numerous prestigious awards, including the Orange Prize for Fiction. What did collaborating with Berger bring to the experience of writing for you? Michaels: John and I have quite a long correspondence. There is a shared sensibility and intent between us. So when we were approached to make a collaboration it seemed a very natural thing to do. Some collaborations work from the UNBOUND

“For me, a novel must have the deepest sense of pacing; to read and to write is to hold another human being close; this is a privilege.” energy of differences, others by shared intuitions. With us, it is the latter, and so we could enter straight into the writing, each knowing we would be carried forward by the other. There is a great degree of necessary loneliness in writing and to feel a bond in the deepest, writing part of oneself, in the place of deepest intention, is a rare honour. Anyone who knows John’s work will know what an extraordinary mind and heart he has—a man of deepest integrity. To work with someone you deeply respect is to feel gratitude. In order to collaborate, one must feel an absolute trust in terms of intent—what must be said and how it must be said. I think we both feel uncomfortable with the notion of language for its own sake. Language must serve a purpose, the deepest human values must be at stake. Shelf: In addition to writing, you compose scores for musical theatre. Your writing strikes me as having the same attention to pacing and ebb and flow 12

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as in music; do you approach writing and composing in a similar fashion, or with a similar aesthetic? Michaels: Composing for theatre taught me a great deal about writing. To read the playwright’s text and try to profoundly represent their intention; where and how to support the words, with sound and with silence. I often say that I consider a score a success if the audience leaves the theatre without even being aware of the music. The visual field of the stage, everything that is said and is not said, pacing—to be paying utmost attention in order to serve the text—that kind of listening to the text taught me a great deal. For me, a novel must have the deepest sense of pacing; to read and to write is to hold another human being close; this is a privilege. A reader must be given freedom within the text to think and feel; this is the difference, in rhetorical terms, between the “poetic,” which offers choice, and “propaganda,” which does not offer choice. An image, like a musical phrase, is both emotion and idea, and contains its own kind of pacing. A powerful image works the way music works: it reaches us immediately and profoundly, before we have a chance to defend ourselves. That is why an image must be used with discretion. I always hope that a book will encourage the reader to stop reading—temporarily!—and inhabit the ideas, with both heart and head. To write with this aim is a form of respect— not only for your characters and your subject matter—but for the reader.

A Novel By

MARY L. TABOR

What others are saying: A breakthrough novel ...Will catch you up in the blaze of its eroticism ... Parts the literary tides ... A beautifully wrought tale of love and betrayal In this groundbreaking novel, a male narrator betrayed by his wife tells the story he does not actually know but discovers through memory, through piecing the puzzles of his marriage, after her death.

Mary L. Tabor is the author of

The Woman Who Never Cooked, winner of Mid-List’s First Series Award and (Re)Making Love: a sex after sixty story. She is a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow, has taught at George Washington University, in the graduate creative program at University of Missouri and The Smithsonian’s Campus-on-the-Mall.

CLICK HERE to read Shelf Unbound’s recent interview with Tabor.

“Mary L. Tabor’s Who by Fire is a lovely, innovative, deeply engaging novel about how it is that human beings make their way through the mysteries of existence.” —Robert Olen Butler, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction “Every once in a rare while a novel emerges from a small press that promises to part the literary tides and challenge the way we think about fiction. Who by Fire simply defies genre, a story about love that cannot be reduced to a love story, a tragic account of desire and grief that never descends into tragedy.” —Aubrey Sanders, All the Thunder literary magazine

Available at

feature

three pages

The third volume in Seven Stories Press’s The Graphic Canon is another epic (564page) graphic joyride through 20th century literature. In keeping with our “three” theme, we’re showcasing three pages from the book. After seeing them you’ll no doubt want to collect all 564.

The Graphic Canon,

Volume 3

The World’s Greatest Literature as Comics and Visuals, from Heart of Darkness to Hemingway to Infinite Jest Edited by Russ Kick Seven Stories Press www.sevenstories.com

asked the artists to stay true to the literary works as far as plot, characters, and text, but visually they had free reign. Any style, any media, any approach. Spare. Dense. Lush. Fragmented. Seamless. Experimental. Old school. Monochrome. Saturated. Pen and ink. Markers. Digital. Silk-screened. Painted. Sequential art. Full-page illustrations. Unusual hybrids of words and images. Images without words. And in one case, words without images. The Canon was always meant as an art project, part of the ages-old tradition of visual artists using classic works of literature as their springboard. It was also conceived as a celebration of literature, a way to present dramatic new takes on the greatest stories ever told. It turned into a lot more—a survey of Western literature (with some Asian and indigenous works represented), an encyclopedia of ways to merge images and text, a showcase for some of the best (and often underexposed) comics artists and illustrators. And a kicky examination of love, sex, death, violence, revolution, money, drugs, religion, family, (non)conformity, longing, transcendence, and other aspects of the human condition that literature and art have always wrestled with. —Russ Kick, editor, in the introduction to The Graphic Canon Volume 3 Text and images from The Graphic Canon Volume 3, edited by Russ Kick, Seven Stories Press, www.sevenstories. com. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

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“What We talk about When We talk about love” raymond carver ILLuST R AT I O N S BY annie mok

appEaRing REgulaRly in The neW yOrker, Esquire, the Best American Short Stories series, and other prestigious spots, raymond Carver was one of the 1970s–1980s masters of the short story. He typically employed an extremely lean, spare style that hinted at more than it showed about the sad, tragic lives of his middle-class and working-poor characters. (though, it turns out—as everyone discovered much later—this skeletal style was largely the product of Carver’s heavy-handed editor, Gordon Lish.) Carver’s style was referred to as minimalism; his themes and content were called dirty realism or Kmart realism. one of Carver’s most well-known stories is “What We talk About When We talk About Love.” two married couples sit in a living room in the late afternoon, drinking and discussing the nature of love. Mel brings up one of the main sticklers of the evening, wondering what happens to the love we had for our former partners. He points out that every

one of them was once seriously involved with—and deeply loved—someone else. His wife, terri, brings up another main point of the story by insisting that her former boyfriend’s homicidal and suicidal rages caused by her were expressions of his love. in the end, the sun has sunk, leaving the four in total darkness, and the gin has likewise vanished, leaving them drunk. the conversation stops and they sit in silence, no one knowing a goddamn thing about what love is, the issue more cloudy than ever. Annie Mok gave us a cracking good sequential adaptation of “Araby” by James Joyce earlier in this volume. Here she presents a diptych based on Carver’s 1981 story of love and disillusionment. the first illustration—ingeniously eschewing text—resembles a cover for the story or perhaps the shortstory collection that bears its title. the other illustration uses a quote from the original manuscript version of the story (then called “Beginners”) that was cut by Lish in the published version. 501

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short story

Three Ways of the Saw: Stories by Matt Mullins Atticus Books www.atticusbooksonline.com

How to Time an Engine

now the guts of that tin can like no one else. Go shirtless, skin sheened with oil and diesel. Duck past the coffee pot swinging from a lanyard as the pounding engines shake. Fire the pistons that turn the screws. Churn out the speed destroyers die and live by. Wring more knots out of the Edwards. Prowl the Solomon Islands on a mission to derail

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2013

the Tokyo Express. Knife your ship through The Slot above the ruptured hulls of Ironbottom Sound. Barely outrun the Divine Winds and grin a tight line at the telling shock of a wing sheared off by the fantail, a Kamikaze’s fuselage slamming into your destroyer’s drowning wake. Be a salvo in the hunter-killers convoys, a warrant machinist, and no one’s father yet.

“Leave it to others to wonder at all the synchronicities housed inside a torpedo glanced off the water.” Get honorably discharged from that life. Return home to Detroit in 1945. Raise six kids after burying a wife who died too young in a car crash. In your eighties, point a sailboat into the setting sun while holding fast to a can of beer. Never say much about the World War in your past. Keep it all below decks. Tell no one about seeing a flak blossom into those questions luck asks of aim. Leave it to others to speak of the torpedo bomber, a type the Japanese called “Heavenly Mountain,” and your shipmates called a “Jill,” peeling off from her sisters “Kate” and “Betty” and keening down through the explosive sky. Leave it to others to wonder at all the synchronicities housed inside

a torpedo glanced off the water. A torpedo bouncing across the waves toward a speeding destroyer with perfectly timed engines pushed near to bursting by your hand. Pull the back of that hand across your grimy brow in the roaring engine room directly beneath the ship’s twin stacks. Know those twin stacks are exactly far enough apart for a torpedo to leap over the gunwale and spin harmlessly in between. In between the story of your nearly taken life and all that will happen to you after. From Three Ways of the Saw: Stories by Matt Mullins, Atticus Books 2012, www. atticusbooksonline.com. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

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novel thinking

Three by Atiq Rahimi Other Press www.otherpress.com

Atiq Rahimi was born in Afghanistan in 1962 and fled to France in 1984. There he has become renowned as a maker of documentary and feature films, and as a writer. Since 2002 he has returned to Afghanistan to set up a Writers’ House in Kabul and to offer support and training to young Afghan writers and filmmakers. Other Press has just published a collection of his first three novels, and in this excerpt from the preface Rahimi reflects on the country of his birth and his life as a writer.

y first book, Earth and Ashes, was written in 1996, the year that the Taliban took power in Kabul, and that I had recently become a father for the first time. Before these events, Afghanistan had been just a sad recollection in the recesses of my memory, a memory traumatized by my brother’s killing six years earlier, at the very beginning of Afghanistan’s civil war. My family hid this tragedy from me for two years, so I did my mourning later, in the solitude of exile, wondering about my family’s silence, about what had kept them from telling me about my brother’s death. That was when I embarked on an unvoiced, inner conversation with my relations. I wrote Earth and Ashes for them; it is a space for mourning, where death can think things through and work. It thinks through life, my life, and it works a language, the language of my native land, a land first trampled underfoot by the Red Army, then destroyed by a fratricidal war of revenge before ending up lacerated and flogged by the “army of darkness,” the Taliban. At the time, writing in Persian, my native language, was the only way I could share in my country’s suffering. And the source from which my pen’s ink flowed over those melancholy pages of exile went by the name of 20

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nostalgia. A very private text, then. One without a future and without any hope. It never occurred to me that it might one day be published. But, one day, it did happen. And, one day, I became a writer, an identity launched into history. I had little choice but to undertake that journey to the wonderland of words and, to paraphrase R. Tagore, “to explore, discover, and share the best of me”: to write with hatred about war. Then came September 11. Still in exile, I was right in the middle of writing my second novel, A Thousand Rooms of Dream and Fear, and busy cradling my second child, who was just six months old on that fateful day. Long after the Soviet-Afghan war, the eyes of the world were turned once again on my native land, which had now become the very face of terror. How to explain such human savagery from a place that was once the land of mystic horsemen and epic poets? Through the misadventures of one young Afghan man over the course of twenty-four hours, I tell the story of twenty-four years in the life of my country as it shifts from the red terror of Communism to the black terror of fundamental Islamists. This cult of fear is what created monsters like the Taliban, and what produced their first victims: women. It is in homage to women that I wrote my third book, The Patience Stone. A less nostalgic book; a severing book. I wrote directly in French, after returning to my native country, and this aroused anger in my fellow Afghans. They cried treason! [But] I had to change languages. Because my mother tongue, Persian, still imposes its taboos and prohibitions on me, even if only for its name. The language of intimacy that taught me about life, love, and suffering, The language of propriety that established too many emotive, incestuous links. So adopting another language meant choosing freedom, not betrayal! And so, by writing, I allowed myself to grieve, renouncing revenge; by writing, I set sail into history, denouncing terror; by writing, I revealed my true self to myself. Today, although I may doubt my books’ power to change anything in my readers’ lives, I am absolutely convinced that writing has changed a great deal about me. I have become what I write. Atiq Rahimi, February 2013, reprinted with permission, all rights reserved. UNBOUND

feature

surreality show

Magritte:

The Mystery of the Ordinary, 1926-1938 A new exhibit and accompanying catalog explore a thrilling period in the career of the surrealist painter.

etween 1926 and 1938, René Magritte pioneered a radically new, nonacademic approach to figurative painting. Earlier, he had experimented with a series of quasi-abstract styles; now, he set himself the task of making, in his words, “everyday objects shriek out loud,” and of creating works that would “challenge the real world.” His paintings from this period are invitations to look closely and to pay careful, critical attention to what is seen, both in each image and, when turned away from them, in the surrounding world. —Anne Umland, Stephanie D’Alessandro, and Josef Helfenstein in Magritte: The Mystery of the Ordinary, 1926-1938, edited by Anne Umland, The Museum of Modern Art 2013, www.moma.org.

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2013

Magritte at MOMA

his exhibition Magritte: The Mystery of the Ordinary, 1926-1938 is the first to focus exclusively on the breakthrough Surrealist years of René Magritte, creator of some of the 20th century’s most extraordinary images. Beginning in 1926, when Magritte first aimed to create paintings that would, in his words, “challenge the real world,” and concluding in 1938—a historically and biographically significant moment just before the outbreak of World War II—the exhibition traces central strategies and themes from the most inventive and experimental period in the artist’s prolific career. Displacement, transformation, metamorphosis, the “misnaming” of objects, and the representation of visions seen in half-waking states are among Magritte’s innovative image-making tactics during these essential years. The exhibit is on view at the Museum of Modern Art from September 28 through January 12, 2014, and then travels to The Menil Collection, Houston (February 14–June 1, 2014), and The Art Institute of Chicago (June 29–October 12, 2014). UNBOUND

threefold

3D Revolution: The History of Modern Stereoscopic Cinema

by Ray Zone

“3

The University Press of Kentucky www.kentuckypress.com

-D Day Hits Hollywood in Blinding Flash” was the headline for a story in the February 16, 1953, issue of Life magazine. A two-page photo spread included shots of the stereoscopic frenzy in Hollywood. It pictured a 3-D camera under guard, a delighted Jack Warner in 3-D glasses having a “stereo moment” watching dailies for House of Wax, Milton and Julian Gunzburg with a padlocked trunk containing the Natural Vision camera, and a portrait of veteran stereoscopist John Norling. What was the impetus for this Hollywood frenzy? “A flash in the pan,” wrote Life magazine, “a cheap, preposterous film called Bwana Devil.” By December 1952, when Bwana Devil began breaking movie attendance records, “the flash was blinding, and all Hollywood was reeling happily in a frenzy of what looked like the biggest boom since the advent of the talkies. Bwana Devil is done in a three-dimensional process called Natural Vision and Hol-

lywood could talk, think or read about nothing but “Three-D.” Produced by radio veteran Arch Oboler, Bwana Devil premiered at two Paramount Theaters in Los Angeles on Thanksgiving Eve, November 27, 1952. It was an immediate success, grossing more than $95,000 in the first week at the two theaters. The publicity for Bwana Devil erroneously proclaimed it to be “the first Feature-length Motion Picture in Natural Vision 3-Dimension.” Critics panned Bwana Devil, but the excited public formed long lines around the block to see the film. Movie executives took note of Bwana Devil’s success. Quite a few of them had seen test footage of Natural Vision three dimension earlier in the year and had passed on the process. Now they were paying attention. From 3D Revolution: The History of Modern Stereoscopic Cinema by Ray Zone, The University Press of Kentucky 2012, www.kentuckypress.com. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

[ Watch the Bwana Devil trailer HERE ] 24

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2013

Is what we know about Jesus true? D.C. Smith reintroduces

history’s most misunderstood Messiah. He presents the Torahobservant teacher, accompanied by classical artwork and concise explanations, to show what actually happened to him both before and after Christianity took root in Roman-occupied Judea. Using a carefully drawn out series of historical segments, Smith peels back 2,000 years of revisionist distortions to uncover the many myths and made-up stories about a local rabbi we now think of as “Jesus,” but whose real name was Joshua. From start to finish, this remarkable book separates fact from fantasy in reconstructing the historical Jesus and the turbulent times in which he lived. It is a must read for inquisitive people of all faiths as well as secular humanists.

The Jesus No One Knows by D.C. Smith

Available in paperback and e-book at Amazon. UNBOUND

threefold

interview

Three Squares

The Invention of the American Meal

by Abigail Carroll Shelf Unbound: Your book is a fascinating study of the evolution of meals in America. What drew you to the topic? Abigail Carroll: Assumptions intrigue me, and few aspects of American life are more saturated with assumptions than meals. Why do we eat hamburgers for dinner but never for breakfast, and cereal for breakfast but never for dinner? We simply assume one is suitable for the morning and the other for the evening. But there are historical reasons for our distinct mealtime habits, and the fun of writing this book has been attempting to uncover them. Basic Books www.basicbooks.com

Shelf: Which meal has changed the most over time: breakfast, lunch, or dinner? And how so? Carroll: Breakfast once typically consisted of leftovers, a prospect that would have many Americans today skipping the morning meal rather than reheating the remains of yesterday’s dinner. Meat played a starring role for much of the 19th century, as did fish in coastal areas, and the day’s opening meal was rich and heavy. The shift to a lighter, grain-based morning meal of cereal, toast, orange juice, and coffee was revolutionary, and it hinged on several factors: the upending of traditional work patterns, new attitudes about health, and a national case of indigestion. Shelf: What was one thing you discovered in your research

that was most surprising or interesting to you? Carroll: Work patterns have shaped American meals more than anything else. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner reflect our jobs as much (if not more) than they reflect our ideas about what makes a tasty meal. Before writing Three Squares, I knew dinner changed to accommodate new work patterns: It shifted from midday to evening during the Industrial Revolution when much of the country traded in an agricultural schedule for a factory one. But I did not realize that all our meals owe their shape largely to work. How we make money, it turns out, has a heavy hand in determining how we eat.

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2013

San Francisco Book Festival 2012: Honorable Mention “I work as a pipefitter at refineries, paper mills and various power plants. The National Indie Excellence Book Awards 2012: Finalist I have had to face the fact that women are discriminated against in the industrial construction field which is dominated by men. I have learned to deal with it in different ways. Discrimination has become part of my job. After reading my book women will realize that with a little imagination, determination and hard work that any dream can come true.” – Susan Miller

HISTORY OF A PIPE DREAM By Susan Miller

“I work as a pipefitter at refineries, paper mills and various power plants. I have had to face the fact that women are discriminated against in the industrial construction field which is dominated by men. I have learned to deal with it in different ways. Discrimination has become part of my job. After reading my book women will realize that with a little imagination, determination and hard work that any dream can come true.” —Susan Miller “I was surprised and happily entertained!” —Jill Otradovec, Amateur Traveler Wyoming native Susan Miller has worked the past 27 years as pipefitter in industrial construction. She’s a rare sight, but gets great career satisfaction out of her chosen profession. … She shares her life story and encounters with workplace discrimination in a new memoir, History of a Pipe Dream. —Winning with DraftSight

WWW.HISTORYOFAPIPEDREAM.COM Available at UNBOUND

threefold

The Explorer Gene: How Three

Generations of One Family Went Higher, Deeper and Further Than Anyone Before

by Tom Cheshire

foreword by James Cameron

Short Books www.shortbooks.co.uk

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2013

inally, on May 26, 1931, the weather forecasts were favourable. At 11 pm that night, the filling of the gasbag began. This time roughly 2,800 cubic metres of hydrogen were pumped in. The next morning, the large balloon stood 80 metres tall once more. Underneath, the gondola hung from the hoop, “relatively toylike in size,” Popular Mechanics recorded. The flight had been designated CH113, a reference to the fact that this would be Piccard’s thirteenth balloon flight. To the journalists who pointed out the portent, Piccard replied by quoting his friend Einstein: “God does not play dice.” Once more, though, the wind rose again. The situation became chaotic, and the wind knocked the cabin off its lorry, putting it, according to Piccard, “slightly out of shape.” He and Kipfer would notice the consequences of this later in the flight, but for now, Piccard had to make

the decision: stay or go. Piccard and Kipfer entered the cabin and closed the manhole behind them. The balloon looked like an inverted teardrop. The wind increased and the ground crew attached another rope to the hoop, without informing the pilots. At 3:57 am, Kipfer looked out of the manhole and noticed that a factory chimney was passing beneath them. The assistants had let go of the balloon two minutes earlier, without giving the signal of departure. The F.N.R.S. bounded up in to the pale sky; “the two men hitched their chariot to a star,” Popular Mechanics wrote. From The Explorer Gene: How Three Generations of One Family Went Higher, Deeper and Further Than Anyone Before by Tom Cheshire, Short Books 2013, www. shortbooks.co.uk. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

The world is big......and its demands can go on forever. Therefore, no matter how capable you are, you must know that you cannot always give to the world all that it will require of you...... Your objective is not to form or shape the world but to be formed and shaped by its persistent challenges. The only way you can satisfy your personal objective of developing the conscious insight and fulfilment that will equip you to manage lifeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s stresses is to use your creativity. That means discovering your limits and challenging yourself beyond them, applying your personally unique self-management skills. In other words, you must have the humility of knowing that the assets you have, no matter how great they may be, can function only within some recognizable boundaries. Humble, realistic self-examination gives you the incentive to keep expanding those limits, knowing how and where to extend them. Of course, even after you define them, and even if you function beyond them, your contribution will be offered to a world that sees only what you exhibit, your presentations, and not the assets that drive them. You will not receive support or encouragement from the world for something it cannot see. Therefore, you must be able to get that encouragement from yourself. Unlike external feedback that will always be fluctuating and unreliable, self-affirmation is an unwavering resource upon which you will forever be able to depend as it strengthens and grows along with your ability to meet lifeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s challenges.

AVAILABLE AT AMAZON, BARNES AND NOBLE, CHAPTERS IUNIVERSE

HTTPS ://UNDERSTANDINGCHANGE.ORG/EMOTIONS _MANAGEMENT/EBOOK HTTPS ://UNDERSTANDINGCHANGE.ORG UNBOUND

threefold

Newborn Puppies:

Dogs in their First Three Weeks

text and photographs by Traer Scott

Chronicle Books www.chroniclebooks.com

chose twenty-one days as the cutoff for my subjects because I feel that it represents a crucial developmental turning point. After three weeks, puppies start to look and act more clearly like the dogs they will grow up to be. They also become very familiar to us, what we envision when someone says “puppy.” But these early days also show a stage of canine life that few get to witness, and represent a time of remarkable growth, fragility, and change.

In making The Newborn Puppy, I worked only with shelters, families with “oops” litters, and hobby breeders who raise their puppies by hand in their homes. As I worked, the photos revealed themselves through the puppies’ behavior, body language, and response to outside stimuli. I never planned a pose or approach. It all happened organically, and I loved every minute of it. Some of my subjects are the offspring of champions while others are from the unwanted litters of strays. Whether show dog or mutt, pedigree or puzzling heritage, every one of these little puppies is equally exquisite and about to embark on the very great adventure of growing up. From Newborn Puppies: Dogs in their First Three Weeks, text and photographs by Traer Scott, Chronicle Books 2013, www.chroniclebooks. com. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2013

menacing ckout and Mafia. But dy knows, one before nfront 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.

PETE DELOHERY LAMB TO THE SLAUGHTER

demption. zefighting mise to his is leaving

Lamb to the

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.

terrorized olic and a zefighters. ust finally

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.

ther fight s over the

DELOHERY

LAMB TO THE

S l au g h t e R

“This heartfelt tale makes a powerful emotional impact.” —Blue Ink Starred Review

> Click on this link to read two free chapters < Available in print and e-book at Amazon.com, xlibris.com, and BarnesandNoble.com.

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

read global

wo or Three Years Later: Forty-Nine Digressions by Ror Wolf defies traditional plot development, both from story-to-story and as a whole. Wolf’s book is split into two sections: The first section is a collection of short stories or digressions (some only a sentence long), in which a seemingly unreliable, unnamed narrator makes observations of everyday life. These observations often change course and end abruptly. Our narrator witnesses nameless men appearing and disappearing, random acts of violence and rocks falling from the sky. All of these occurrences lead up to the second half, which is a twelve chapter narrative, recounting the narrator’s life. The traTwo or Three Years ditional novel structure is continuously Later: Forty-Nine Digressions subverted by reoccurring shipwrecks, by Ror Wolf failed jobs and horrific animals threatentranslated from the ing to devour him whole. Throughout the German by Jennifer Marquart second half, the narrator makes mention of missing time and notes, which at Open Letter points make veiled references to imporwww.openletterbooks.org tant points in post-war German history. Absurdity, surrealism and word games play a major role in the way Wolf crafts his stories. There is a fine line that an author can walk between marginally believable and utter nonsense. Here Wolf’s tightness in both word choice and grammatical structures allows him to bend our sense of reality, so that we almost believe that a city in the distance is indeed oozing from a tear in the sky. Dealing with the exactness of Wolf’s prose as a translator was both exciting and challenging. Every word, every turn of phrase has a very distinct meaning that had to be equally as precise in English. If there was one misplaced clause the entire story would unravel; the humor and uncanniness would be lost. Hovering somewhere between the mundane and the hyper-surreal, Two or Three Years Later offers a profound and entertaining investigation into the world around us. 32

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2013

The Association of Independent Authors (AiA) is a global not-for-profit membership organization representing, advancing, supporting and encouraging self-published (independent) authors. Our membership spans five continents, with directors based in the USA, Asia, Australia and South Africa. The role of the AiA is to guide, educate, support, encourage and unite authors who have chosen to self-publish. Our Body of Knowledge (BoK) is a comprehensive resource on all aspects of selfpublishing and running a small businessâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s authors must understand the business side of publishing (sales, marketing, promotion, legal and financial issues) and how to sell a book in a global marketplace.

Our vision is that independent publishing will be the preferred, first choice, for all authors.

Our mission is to create a culture of excellence, teamwork and professionalism in a community environment where sharing and collaboration benefits each individual member and independent authors as a whole. Annual membership subscription (Associate, Member) US$50. Affiliate level is free. Come join us! (Mention promo code SHELF to receive an additional three months membership for the annual subscription of US$50.)

www.independent-authors.org

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feature

photo essay

STORMS Mitch Dobrowner

photographs by Mitch Dobrowner introduction by Gretel Ehrlich Aperture | www.aperture.org

â&#x20AC;&#x153;For me, photographing storms is a combination of landscape photography, slow and reflective, with the adrenalin of a sports event, where things can change any second,â&#x20AC;? writes Mitch Dobrowner of his evocative images of monsoons, tornados, and thunderstorms that appear in the coffee table book Storms. The images are accompanied by a similarly evocative introduction by novelist and poet Gretel Ehrlich.

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2013

Photograph: Road, near Guymon, Oklahoma, 2009 from Storms, photographs by Mitch Dobrowner

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2013

Artwork: Rick Berry

Photograph: Chromosphere, Green Grass, South Dakota, 2012 from Storms, photographs by Mitch Dobrowner

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2013

Photograph: Bearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Claw, Moorcroft, Wyoming, 2010 from Storms, photographs by Mitch Dobrowner

We think of storms as singular events but they are really parts of huge cycles. Water, sun, wind, and space: all linked and coupled, water vapor rising from aqueous bodies and colliding currents, and falling back down from the layered atmosphere and pure space. â&#x20AC;&#x201C;Gretel Ehrlich

Sips Card puts short fiction and poetry into local coffee shop venues around the country. We are a publication run by artists, for artists. Each card contains a QR code, loaded with a short story, or set of poems, from an independent writer, meant to last as long as a cup of coffee. Our passion is to share the work of other artists with likely readers. Visit

www.sipscard.com for more information.

Call for submissions: We are accepting short fiction and poetry submissions for our October 2012 issue from August 1st through August 31st. Guidelines can be found at www.sipscard.com/submit.

BOOK Pennies from Hell by D.L. Williams

Dream Operative by G. Gary Westfal

“A hilarious tale of misadventure...”

“Well-written multiple story lines, expertly woven! A fun, fast read.” —Writer’s Digest

“I

n Williams’ debut novel, several colorful characters pursue fortune, only to discover how much of life is beyond price. The group’s wacky adventures are consistently entertaining and, at times, surprisingly touching. … In the end, the group learns firsthand how the power of love, in all its forms, is what truly brings a person happiness. … A quirky, fun-filled tale about the seductive power of cold, hard cash.” —Kirkus Reviews www.dlwilliamsauthor.wix.com Available at Amazon. Damian Garcia: PhD Drug Smuggler by Chris Mosquera

his is a story of Damian Garcia and the international drug trade in opium and hashish by PhD graduate students in New York City, circa 1972. It is about love, friendship, family, loyalty, and an extremely discreet and very lucrative international drug smuggling business plan, with the financial returns totaling in the many millions of dollars. Those that knew would never tell; that was the family code.

www.outskirtspress.com/damiangarcia Available at Outskirts Press, Amazon, and BarnesandNoble.

linical psychologist Joey “G” Weston has a passion for Oneirology - the study and analysis of dreams. But that passion proves to be a doubled-edged sword when word gets out that G has discovered the ability to consciously manipulate and freely move about in his dreams, and various governmental agencies pursue him in an attempt to exploit him ... or eliminate him altogether. www.gwestfal.com Available at Amazon and BarnesandNoble.

Special Advertising Section For Authors Promote your book in Shelf Unbound in our new Special Advertising Section for Authors. Each issue of Shelf Unbound is distributed to more than 125,000 people in the U.S. and 57 countries around the globe. Our introductory ad rate for this section is $375/quarter page as seen here. Contact publisher Margaret Brown to reserve your space.

Margaret@shelfmediagroup.com 214.704.4182.

BOOK Heroes of Old by Todd Crusan

Ezrah’s Plateau by Jacqueline Mahan

nnaturally perceptive detective John Larocque resigns in disgrace after his delusional father dies, a victim of an apparent accident. Discovering his father was the secret protector of a trove of ancient manuscripts, John must glean the origin of his family’s strange abilities from the seven hundred year-old tale of the Forgotten Ones, and why it was worth dying for.

ngela Horne discovers an old diary in the attic of her grandmother’s house that reveals secrets about Ezrah’s Plateau. After reading it, her attempts to shed light on a centuries old town secret and the truth about the local cemetery witch are dismissed. However, some people want those secrets preserved and both Angela and the diary out of the way.

www.toddcrusan.com Available at Amazon.

www.jacquelinemahan.com Available at Amazon.

Waking Sleep Beauty Freak by Nina Lora

aking Sleep Beauty Freak is a nonfiction inspirational tale about disillusionment, self-discovery and the universal web of pain and growth. This “Girls-grownup” style narrative addresses what happens when an ambitious hard-working, world traveling PR girl-verging-on-woman wakes up from a seven-year relationship to realize she is on the wrong life path and married to the wrong person. What happens now? www.wakingsleepbeautyfreak.com FACEBOOK LINK Available at Amazon.

Margaret@shelfmediagroup.com 214.704.4182.

BOOK Lifting the Sky: Southwestern Haiku & Haiga edited by Scott Wiggerman and Constance Campbell

ssential reading for haiku and poetry lovers everywhere. A perfect marriage of form—haiku— and subject—the limitless inspirations of the American Southwest. Thirty-three stunning haiga make this collection a treat for the eye. With work by 131 poets from all over the world, Lifting the Sky breathes new life into the stunning landscapes of the Southwest. www.dosgatospress.org Available at Dos Gatos Press, Amazon, and Small Press Distribution.

Life in a Jar The Irena Sendler Project by Jack Mayer

he true story of a Holocaust hero who rescued 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto, but whose heroism was forgotten. Sixty years later, three Kansas teenagers, each carrying her own burden, “rescue the rescuer” and elevate Irena Sendler to an international hero, championing tolerance and respect for all people. 2012 IndieReader Discovery Award, 2011 Kansas Notable Book Award, 2011 Eric Hoffer DaVinci Eye Award. www.longtrailpress.com Available at Amazon, BarnesandNoble, and the iBookstore.

Lion’s Head Deception by Chuck Waldron

n investigative blogger uncovers a sinister conspiracy, a billionaire’s plan backed by select government officials, designed to exterminate citizens who do not live up to a predetermined screening matrix; under the guise of rioting and a destabilized city, the plan is implemented and the blogger fights not only to discover and reveal the truth, but to survive.

Hello by Amanda Tenshi

or readers who enjoy literary works and challenging and metaphysical journeys comes a 600-word short story inspired by the style of Nobel-prize winning novelist Yasunari Kawabata. From a new voice is a window made into a brief, thoughtful self-discovery. “Hello” Who are you trying to reach?

www.chuckwaldron.com Watch the trailer here: http://youtu. be/2AFCcjdCsmQ Available at Amazon.

Download it free on lulu.com. Available on the IBookstore and through the Nook for less than a dollar.

BOOK The Chip by James E. Park

crooked senator’s fiendish plot to rule the Internet via a computer chip traps Mark Stone, a beautiful woman, and an Asian into doing his bidding. After a one-night tryst with the woman, Mark uncovers an obscure code which is the basis for the computer chip’s design. What happens afterwards will leave the reader wanting more.

www.jameseparkauthor.com Available at Amazon-Kindle. Divine Messages by Gary Savitsky

“G

ary Savitsky’s wisdom book is support for my soul! He taps the Divine healing force through sacred art. The messages from the symbols are given to guide, heal, and bless us all.” —Anita Eubank, author of The Rainbow of Hope Spiritual art and message together are combined to provide a wonderful experience of energy for ones soul and life. http://www.messageart.ca/divine-messages/ Available at www.messageart.ca/divinemessages/.

Come Hell or High Water by Stephen Morris

“A

group of professors specializing in folklore attempts to prevent George, a powerful priest, and Elizabeth, an Irish vampire, from unleashing an evil that threatens to destroy all of Prague.... The first half of the novel is a mystery in which the professors try to identify the four magical items that protect Prague from evil, while the second half becomes a suspenseful race as both sides try to obtain the items.” —Kirkus Indie Reviews www.stephenmorrisauthor.com Available at Amazon.

Margaret@shelfmediagroup.com 214.704.4182.

BOOK Deacon’s Winter by Roger Burgraff

hen a battered woman on the run enters his church, Deacon is drawn into a world of blackmail, murder and political corruption in Chicago. Suspected of murder, he draws on his connections with street people and colleagues from the secret society of Gabrians to clear himself, prevent an assassination and fight Chicago’s worst snowstorm to protect the woman he loves.

www.rogerburgraff.com Available at Amazon. Reflections of the Heart: A Story of Hope by Tsungi Chiwara

20/20 Blindsight by Busser Howell 20/20 Blindsight, Powerful New Book Illuminates the Accomplishments/ Challenges of Blind Artists. ritten by Busser Howell, an artist who lost ninety-eight percent of his vision at aged fifteen, 20/20 Blindsight is the world’s only book dedicated to the work and achievements of visually impaired artists, illustrating that people see the same way, through the use of their visual cortex.

www.busserhowell.com Available at Amazon, Google Books, and Kindle. Have No Shame by Melissa Foster HAVE NO SHAME, where civil rights and forbidden love collide.

his intense novel takes you on a journey with Kui, focusing on her teenage years. She leads a somewhat cushioned life in Zimbabwe and grows up during pre and post-independence. She experiences much soulsearching and turmoil within her heart, including love issues. Is it possible to find God amidst pain and rejection? It is primarily for readers searching for purpose.

he racially-charged prejudice of the deep South forces 18-year-old Alison Tillman to confront societal norms—and her own beliefs—when she discovers the body of a hate crime victim, and the specter of forbidden love turns her safe, comfortable world upside down. For fans of The Help and A Time to Kill.

www.tsungichiwara.com Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Reader Store, Kobo, and the.iBookstore.

www.melissafoster.com Available at Amazon.

BOOK Sympathy for the Devil by Gary Acton

Holy Water by Robert Schwab “Four Stars … an artfully constructed first novel. Schwab is a capable and engaging storyteller.” —ForeWord Reviews What can the French Quarter teach a young doctor about healing? Everything. “… tells a good story but also explores the complexities of walking the tight rope of balancing one’s life and career choice along with one’s morals and convictions.” —Annals of Emergency Medicine GOODREADS PAGE Available as a paperback or ebook at Amazon. Cover of Darkness by Gregory Delaurentis

high profile murder of a Wall Street executive pits three people against the criminal underbelly of Manhattan’s brutal and sometimes heartless nightlife. Cover of Darkness is the first in a series that follows the lives of three ordinary people who struggle to retain their humanity while they confront, unafraid, a methodical and vicious killer. www.darknessnovels.com Available at Amazon, BarnesandNoble and other retailers.

ympathy For The Devil is a tragicomic true story, bordering on the surreal. It reveals the extraordinary world inhabited by those involved in cancer drug development. It’s a place where money, medicine and magic collide. You need the luck of the Devil to survive. This is a unique account of an important issue, told with an irresistibly irreverent black humor.

Available at Amazon.

Margaret@shelfmediagroup.com 214.704.4182.

BOOK Deadly Links by Paul Murphy

eadly Links is a Canadian murder mystery with a golf backdrop that weaves unexpected plot twists through a story filled with rich characters and biting dialogue. Former golf protégé Michael Flanigan risks his life trying to find out if murders at his home course are connected to the death of his wife.

www.blackrosewriting.com Available at Amazon, BarnesandNoble, and other online bookstores. When Sarah Laughed by Allegra Magrisso WHEN SARAH LAUGHED is a playful adaptation of the Biblical story about Abraham and Sarah. In this delightful retelling, God notices something is missing on his Bee-eautiful Earth and in the home of Abraham and Sarah. When Sarah laughs the world is awakened by something wonderful. The warm and humorous text and watercolor illustrations will engage families from different faith traditions. www.allegramagrisso.com Available at Amazon.

Smart Customers, Stupid Companies by Michael Hinshaw and Bruce Kasanoff

ustomers strike back! Read how power is shifting dramatically from companies to customers, changing the rules of business and giving customers—like you—options never before possible. This shift will not only change who you buy from and how you do it, it can also dramatically impact your career. “One of the most exciting business books I’ve ever read” —Don Peppers, 1to1 Marketing Available on Amazon. Patriot’s Blood by Richard Holcroft

hen Marchetti investigates a murder, he finds evidence of a coverup in the Oklahoma City bombing and a plot to strike at a major hotel and an airliner inbound to DFW Airport. When minutes count down to the difference between life and death, Marchetti and his sidekick become the only two who can stop the terrorist attacks in time. http://richardholcroft.com Available at Amazon, BarnesandNoble, and Smashwords.

BOOK A Taste for Truth by Thistle Brown

“A

newlywed uncovers some unsettling family secrets. Anne’s strong narrative voice guides the story through WASP family get-togethers, newlywed clashes and office politics, offering pointed observations about relationships. Lively writing, brisk pacing and a likable narrator fill out this promising debut.” —Kirkus Reviews “The book aptly examines the fragile realities of two people who enter into a marriage with conflicting expectations.” —Christina Hamlett for Clarion Reviews www.thistlebrown.com Available at Amazon. Love Crazy: A Memoir by Selby Fleming McPhee

n this memoir, the discovery of a forbidden box of letters sends the author on a bumpy ride through her family’s history in the first half of the American twentieth century. On the box’s lid is a provocative warning: “Personal letters of Mr. and Mrs. J. J. Fleming—to be destroyed unopened,” an invitation if there ever was one … www.selbyflemingmcphee.com Available at Amazon, BarnesandNoble, and Martin Sisters Publishing.

Surviving Curtis Hall: The Lure of Blood by L.A. Matthies

hese compelling teens strive for excellence in academics, sports, arts, and music; all while maintaining lifelong friendships. Tristen, Billy and Sasha’s lives are made more perilous when they transfer to a new school filled with a fascinating array of subterranean tunnels, glyphic codes, and a labyrinth. The sharply etched, appealing characters, both human and supernatural, lead us down a path of intrigue while attempting to sort out their love/hate/friendship triangles. www.SurvivingCurtisHall.com Available at Amazon and BarnesandNoble.

Margaret@shelfmediagroup.com 214.704.4182.

BOOK Introduction to Islam by Haj Dawud Bell

slam is a religion of over one billion people, and is the fastest growing religion in the West. Yet it is largely misunderstood and misrepresented. Fanatics in any religion tend to occupy the headlines, and unfortunately, few Westerners look beneath these headlines. This book is written for the Western reader, including relatives and/or friends of those who have embraced Islam and wish to understand the basics.

Available at Amazon and Trafford Publishing. The Girl in the Butternut Dress by Joanne Hardy

abrielle, an illegitimate orphan, comes of age on the eve of the Civil War and her familiar world comes apart. Sent to help on a nearby farm, she discovers it is a station on the Underground Railroad. Based on real historical events in a border state, the county is alive and volatile with Copperheads, vigilantes, Union Army deserters, and war-hardened veterans. Can Gabrielle’s love for a Southern-sympathizer have a future? With postage paid, author will send signed copies; contact BJH110233@gmail.com. www.joannehardyauthor.com; www.joannehardy.blogspot.com Available on Amazon, Kindle, and BarnesandNoble.

Buying the Farm by Kimberly Conn

hen a horrific accident leaves Missi Jennings scared and alone, it also becomes a catalyst for the change her tired, urban life needs. From the chaotic streets of Washington, D.C. to the fragrant fields of rural Mississippi, family secrets give way to family love in this heartwarming portrait of one woman’s journey to discover her Southern roots.

www.kimberlyconn.com Available at Amazon and Smashwords.

Boiling Point by Eileen Susan Eckert

sychologist Sara Bradley finds herself triggered by haunting memories of her past while working with a child who possibly witnessed her mother’s death. The attorney for the admitted murderer, Michael Grey, is thrown up against his violent past while defending his client. A chance meeting between Sara and Michael fuels a mutual attraction. Can their relationship survive the mysteries they uncover?

www.eileensusaneckert.com Available at Amazon.

BOOK Penalty Stroke By Susan Leigh Shallcross

A Prison of Lies by Robert Thomas Doran

FAMILY/CHILDCARE

A Prison of

In his novel, A Prison of Lies, Robert Thomas Doran portrays a troubled youth, who confronts a world of sadness and hopelessness and comes to question the existence of God. Beset by challenges on every quarter: unable to fit in with his peers, shamed by his sexuality, ill equipped for emotional intimacy and unable to express himself with girls; he slips from a depression into full blown mental illness. In the depths of his illness, he battles internal demons that threaten to steal his innocence with evil thoughts and hallucinations.

A Prison of Lies is a brutally honest look into one man’s odyssey into the darkness of mental illness and finally out into the light where he finally heals his broken spirit and begins a new chapter in his life.

As this fiction is inspired by his own struggle with mental illness Robert Thomas Doran is grateful to god for helping him recover from mental illness. Today he lives in Pennsylvania with his wife of fifteen years. A Prison of Lies was written as an act of faith and with the hope of helping others afflicted with mental illness.

U.S. $XX.XX

Age of the Gentiles and the White God Delusion by Timothy Hugee

he book is a logical Bible study and in-depth examination of Race, Sex, Power, Politics and War. The Author addresses the false doctrine and propaganda that has been fronted for centuries, by Christianity and Judaism, as to their supremacy above other religions and black and Semite races. www.authortimhugee.info Available at Authorhouse, Amazon, and BarnesandNoble.

RO B E RT TH O M AS D O RAN

enalty Stroke is a thrilling mystery centered on the wealthy, aristocratic Abbott family—and the dark secrets of their past that haunt the present. When Lady Madison’s university friend unexpectedly dies at a charity polo match, no one believes it was murder, except Madison. Not knowing who she can trust— maybe not even herself—Madison struggles to solve the mystery and her erase her own haunted past. www.susanleighshallcross.com Available at Amazon and Audible.

Lies

In A Prison of Lies, Doran presents a story of anguish, breakdown, and recovery with the hope that this journey through mental illness might raise our consciousness; kindle a common understanding and most importantly, facilitate the recovery of individuals who may be similarly afflicted. As he offers this compelling glimpse into a man’s personal crisis that includes the reasons why he loathed himself and developed a massive inferiority complex, Doran illuminates an intriguing and often frightening path into what exactly motivates suicides and fuels crimes of passion. Highlighted in his story are insightful poems and compelling conversations therapists and hypnotists.

ith its brutal honesty, witness one man’s odyssey into the darkness of mental illness and his slow A Prison of emergence out of ROBERT THOMAS DORAN that darkness where a broken spirit is healed and a life begins anew. A Prison of Lies offers a candle in the cave for those seeking to understand and for those who are themselves lost and unable to find their way. (Mature content)

Lies

www.aprisonoflies.com; www.stopharm.com Available at Amazon, BarnesandNoble, and iUniverse. Blooms on the Bones by Yvonne Kohano

Who’s next for romance in Flynn’s Crossing?

ld bones, predestined love, and troubled adversaries clash as an unlikely relationship soars to conquer the spirit world. The story of Tess and Powers is heating up Main Street! www.YvonneKohano.com. Find your copy at your favorite ebook or paperback vendor.

BOOK WTF? How Karl Rove and the Establishment Lost … Again By C. Edmund Wright

his book has the Republican Establishment in shock—a stunning indictment of two decades of beltway failures that threaten the country. Wright’s conversational style and logic approach mixes in just the right amount of humor and anger as he explains our current political universe like no other. A must read for all political junkies, and others worried about the country. www.tokyorove.com Available at Amazon.

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Gabriel’s Wizard by Daniel Turner

Daniel Turner

abriel’s Wizard is a tale of metaphysics and magic in the real world today. A young adventurer makes his way to Alaska and encounters an old Alaskan mountain man, Daniel Turner a powerful wizard as wise in the ancient teachings as he is in the modern world. Together they journey through encounters and dangers that test his spirit as he learns of wisdom and power. A Mystical Journey Through Alaska

www.gabrielswizard.com Available at Amazon.

Ixeos: Book One of the Ixeos Trilogy by Jennings Wright

hen they’re lured from our world into Ixeos, an alternate Earth, the McClellands find themselves in a maze of tunnels that lead all over the world. They’ve been brought to Ixeos for one purpose: to take the planet back from humanoid aliens who have claimed it. The aliens aren’t the only problem on Ixeos. The worst? There’s no way home.

www.jenningswright.com Available at Amazon. All The Light There Was by Nancy Kricorian

t the beginning of ALL THE LIGHT THERE WAS, Maral Pegorian, a teenage girl, peers through shuttered blinds as German troops march into Paris. Her journey to adulthood over the next six years takes her through a world transformed by war, but also by everyday acts of heroism and love. www.nancykricorian.net Available from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and wherever books and ebooks are sold, including from Amazon, BarnesandNoble. and Powells.

BOOK Field of Vision by Michael Jarvis

My Life On Craigslist by Alexandra Ares

HAVE YOU READ IT YET?

hotographer Jake Mayfield finds racial trouble and multiple passions on a beautiful Caribbean island, but feels his journey spiraling downward into paranoia and criminal tourism. A surprising literary adventure story of sex, war, art, love, travel and survival. “....Field of Vision is a formidable achievement from a talented new writer.” —ForeWord Clarion Reviews www.michaeljarvis.net Available at Amazon and BarnesandNoble. Cemetery Whites by Connie Knight

mateur detective Caroline Hargrove Hamilton solves two murders, one from 1875 and one from today. Biracial friendships, during slavery and after the Civil War, are discovered in her research. She finds the corpse of history professor Thomas Harrison, a black man, in the Hargrove Family Cemetery, then she uncovers family secrets that solve the crime.

www.ConnieKnightBooks.com eBook available at Amazon and BarnesandNoble.

New York girl who works in the arts lives vicariously on Craigslist where she runs into big trouble ... But she has a special talent. Finalist of Best Books USA. Recommended by Midwest Book Review, US Review of Books and Readers’ Favorite. Heartbreaking and Zany! Critics say it is funny like Seinfeld. www.alexandraares.com Available in paperback and e-book on Amazon. Operation Doublepayback by Jack Freeman

fast-paced thriller set in 1961. An ex-CIA officer turned London-based beat generation bookseller, blackmailed into infiltrating a revolutionary terror group (RPI), is quickly involved in an attack on the U.S. London Embassy, assassination in Amsterdam, bombs in Berlin, fire fights in Venice and L.A., affair in Miami, torture in Mayfair, and a conspiracy to provoke all-out nuclear war in N.Y.C. jackfreeman_writer@hotmail.co.uk Available at Amazon.

BOOK Blood and Whiskey: A Cowboy and Vampire Thriller by Clark Hays and Kathleen McFall

Endor the Wizard Trilogy by John R. Garland

ndor leads the peaceful country of Greysmire, who must join forces with neighboring Dame, to overcome the wicked powers of the evil Lord Gundermire. Book 1, Endor the Wizard, introduces Endor from the beginning. Book 2, Endor’s Adventures, takes Endor into Dame to bond an allegiance against the might of Gundermire. Book 3, The Final Chapter, brings about the end.

nlightenment just took a strange detour. Welcome to LonePine, Wyoming, population 438; it’s like any other slowlydying western town, only with vampires. When a cowboy falls for a beautiful vampire, saddle up for a metaphysical ride through love, death and the afterlife. “Strong writing, funny characters, and plenty of action; a riveting tale of love and blood in the modern West.” —Kirkus Reviews

www.endorthewizard.com Available at Amazon, BarnesandNoble, and Lulu.

www.cowboyandvampire.com Available at Amazon.

Lamb to the Slaughter is a novel about love and courage, sin and redemption. “Iron” Mike McGann, 32 years old, 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. In despair, his wife, Madge, is leaving him. Rufus “Hurricane” Hilliard, Mike’s next opponent, is the most menacing presence in prizefighting. He has won all 22 of his fights by knockout and is said to be a former enforcer for something called The Black Mafia. But behind Rufus Hilliard’s menacing ring presence lives a man nobody knows, a complex man who despises his own image. Unexpectedly left alone before his bout with McGann, Rufus “Hurricane” Hilliard is forced to confront the past that haunts him and the future he dreads. Charles “Charliehorse” O’Connell, Rufus’s cornerman, has been terrorized by a mob kingpin to sabotage him. O’Connell, who is an alcoholic and a compulsive gambler, blames himself for the ring deaths of two prizefighters. Trapped in a moral crisis, Charles “Charliehorse” O’Connell must finally

n Eirelan you will live for a time with men and women, old and young, fighters and writers, poets andªxHSLEQFyship 3 9270zv*:+:!:+:!@ captains, who cannot take for granted that anything they treasure will survive to be the inheritance of their children. Conor, Fethnaid, Oran, Mairin travel a road unlike ours. It is a dangerous road, yet one well worth exploring. Contact the author: highc.king@ verizon.net.

confront his “Cardinal Sin.” 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.

(101870)

www.eirelan.com Available at Amazon in print and as ebook.

DELOHERY

ISBN: 978-1-4653-3927-0

Lamb to the Slaughter by Pete Delohery

PETE DELOHERY LAMB TO THE SLAUGHTER

Eirelan—Saga of the Latter-Day Celts by Liam O’Shiel

“S

et against the vividly rendered backdrop of professional boxing, Pete Delohery’s hard-bitten yet LAMB TO THE generous-spirited novel S l au g h t e R focuses on three men at crossroads in their lives. The moving portraits Delohery creates of three men, each damaged by a brutal world, who flee from personal demons toward the only imperfect redemption available to them: victory in a fight. This heartfelt tale makes a powerful emotional impact.” —Blue Ink Starred Review www.petedelohery.com

Available at Amazon, xlibris, and BarnesandNoble.

BOOK Mirror Deep by Joss Landry Danger and Romance …

oll like thunder in Kat Bonner’s world, when a known felon comes to the ranch to drop a bomb about her past. Kat turns to Pierce for help, the same Pierce who bucks her every chance he gets, and whose feverish investigation lands them in trouble with the law and directly in the path of a serial killer.

www.josslandry.com Available at Amazon, Kobo, BarnesandNoble, Indigo Chapters, EbookPie, and E Sentral. Awaken Our Spirit Within by Patsie Smith

his book will awaken your true reality, shift your perceptions, and raise your consciousness onto a higher plane. it contains words of wisdom from our core and essence, conveyed with concise simplicity, clarity and insight. A must-read for the transformation and transcendence from the web of human ignorance and suffering, into true inner peace and joy. www.patsiesmith.com Available at Balboapress, Amazon, Barnes&Noble, and all leading online bookstores.

Tales from the Loon Town Cafe by Dennis Frahmann

ame, fortune, ambition and love collide when smalltown boy leaves big city job for his northwoods hometown. Much like the writings of Garrison Keillor, this novel captures the characters, rhythms and sometimes downright loopiness of a town where most everyone thinks they know most everything about what’s going on.

www.loontowncafe.com Available at Amazon, the iBookstore, and BarnesandNoble. The Vampire Girl Next Door by Richard Arbib

ark falls in love with Sylvia, the beautiful, but quirky girl next door, not realizing that she’s a vampire who killed his last neighbor. When Mark first meets Sylvia, he tells her, “You’re the girl of my dreams!” Sylvia smiles and responds with a warning—“Be careful what you wish for.” “Alternately eerie and funny, the novel blends horror, romance, and humor.” —from the publisher’s press release. www.thevampiregirlnextdoor.com Available at Amazon in paperback and Kindle. Paperback and all e-book formats available on author’s website.

BOOK Neiko’s Five Land Adventure by A.K. Taylor

he IndieReader Approved Award winning debut YA fantasy novel by A.K. Taylor. Follow Native American warrior Neiko when she is trapped in another universe by the ultimate force of evil while she must get back to her own world.

www.backwoodsauthor.com Available at MyBookOrders, Amazon, and BarnesandNoble. Ye Gods! How the World REALLY Works by Betsy Jo Miller

e Gods! shows our part in the problems of our day through the spectacular creative ability of our thoughts. We see here how to change those creations now slowing our evolving and devastating our planet—including the terrorism from countries abetted by religions and government leaders, including ours. This trip is not tedious but joyous! A wakeup call long overdue.

Available at Amazon and BarnesandNoble.

Girl Unmoored by Jennifer Gooch Hummer

et in Maine, 1985, Apron Bramhall has come unmoored. Her mother has died, her father is about to marry a wicked witch and her best friend has dumped her for a newer model. Then she meets “Jesus”—the actor who plays him in Jesus Christ Superstar—and his boyfriend. These three unlikely friends form an unbreakable bond not even death can separate. “Girl Unmoored may be the undiscovered young adult novel of the summer.” —Entertainment Weekly www.jennifergoochhummer.com Available at Amazon, BarnesandNoble, iTunes and other online retailers. Spies and Lies: The Paradox by Fred Malphurs

pies and Lies: The Paradox is a gripping story about espionage, politics, deceit, and romance as one man, David Pearl, risks everything to defend his country—and his reputation— from evil forces. With national security at stake, Pearl must overcome adversity and the ultimate betrayal in order to determine whom he can trust, before an assassin strikes again.

www.fredmalphurs.com Available at Amazon, BarnesandNoble, Books-a-Million, and other online stores.

BOOK The Tesla Conspiracy by Michael D. Finley

n 1931 Nikola Tesla invented a car that ran on free energy, but the information was buried. Now, two female graduate students are on the verge of re-creating that technology, but sinister forces are amassing against them. A weapons designer in hiding, who has unlocked one of Tesla’s darkest secrets, may be their only hope… and they may be his. www.theteslaconspiracy.com FACEBOOK LINK Available in paperback and as an ebook at Amazon and BarnesandNoble and onther online retailers. Dissonance in A Minor by Nicole Disney

ainn never meant to fall in love, definitely not with a meth addict. But Jaselle is the only one who doesn’t see Rainn as the homeless girl. To Rainn, that makes her worth all the pain, fear, and danger she’ll have to go through if she wants to save Jaselle.

www.nicoledisney.com Available at JMSBooks, Amazon, and BarnesandNoble.

Scorched by the Sun: Poems by Moshe Dor translated from the Hebrew by Barbara Goldberg

hese poems live, breathe, smell and taste like Israel. Here is the harsh reality of clashes unfolding in biblical landscapes, the agony of war and the craving for peace. This is also a book about love—love for a woman, love for a motherland. “Ardent, compressed, pungent and lyrical, these poems have a glorious force that recalls the roots of all poetry.”—Robert Pinsky. Former U.S. Poet Laureate. www.barbaragoldberg.net Available at Amazon, Small Press Distribution, and WordWorksBooks. Backseat by Tom Wascoe

n 1969 failure from college or dropping out meant the draft and possibly Vietnam. Michael’s freshman year has not gone well. He believes that pledging a fraternity will put him on the right path. To get in he must hitchhike 1,500 miles in one weekend. The rides he gets, the people he meets change his life. www.TomWascoe.com Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and iBookstore.

BOOK Black Pool—A Jack Flynn Adventure by C.H. Garbutt

elpless to save his mum from drowning off the coast of County Kerry, Ireland, and just barely surviving himself, young Jack Flynn is rescued by a mysterious pair of webbed hands reaching up from the ocean depths. Jack recalls nothing of his narrow escape until years later when he meets Lillay, a young teenage mermaid, at the Dublin docklands, where his past and future meet. www.blackpoolthebook.wordpress.com Available at Amazon. Baby Rocket By Stephanie A. Smith BABY ROCKET is the story of an abandoned, adopted child, who, as an adult, must heal the traumatic ruptures BABY of suicide and abuse in ROCKET her past by becoming a Stephanie A. Smith detective with respect to her own life and is the second book in a trilogy about contemporary American women and historical trauma. WARPAINT is the first novel in the series; BABY ROCKET will be available in June 2013 and the last in the series, CONTENT BURNS, in October. www.stephanieasmith.net Baby Rocket and Warpaint are available at Amazon and ThamesRiverPress.

When Women Were Warriors Book I: The Warrior’s Path by Catherine M. Wilson

“T

hink Beowulf—only comprehensible and with girls.” —The Rainbow Reader “Breathtakingly gorgeous writing … a multilayered tale of such depth, breadth and insight that it was very nearly a spiritual experience… Both men and women of all persuasions seem to love these books... Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!” —T. T. Thomas The ebook is FREE at Amazon, B&N, Apple’s iBookstore, and Smashwords www.shieldmaidenpress.com Available at Amazon.

Margaret@shelfmediagroup.com 214.704.4182.

BOOK The Marathon Man by Liz Cowan

horn Burdette is a long tall, gorgeous Texan content with his life of success, wealth and women. P. J. McConnell is a smart, stunning Dallas detective with evolving paranormal abilities. They have nothing in common except irresistible desire and a sense of destiny. Then she discovers his secret— leading them on a twisted journey of passion and pain. P. J. may be the only one who can save him ... save them. www.facebook.com/lizcowanauthor Available at Amazon. I, Livia: The Counterfeit Criminal by Mary Mudd

or two millennia Livia Drusilla, third and much beloved wife of Caesar Augustus, has been misrepresented as a conniving criminal, who killed or incapacitated Augustus’ descendants through his previous wife to promote the political career of her son by a former husband. I, Livia: The Counterfeit Criminal corrects those popular misconceptions with an accurate assessment of this much maligned woman. www.livia-drusilla.com Orders can be placed with Amazon or with the publisher directly at www.trafford.com.

Regnum Vita by Naim Sadeer

egnum Vita is the story of Prudence. On her coronation day, Prudence is attacked and forced to run away. When she awakes, Prudence meets Ryan in a city named London. Prudence returns to Vita and learns the myth of a sword with the power of an army. It is only a myth—but her only chance to free her kingdom. www.naimsadeer.co.uk Available at Amazon, Waterstone, and Troubador. Red Is for Rage by Connie Corcoran Wilson Red Is for Rage: 2nd in The Color of Evil (YA Paranormal thriller) trilogy from Connie (Corcoran) Wilson. Winner of E-Lit, Silver Feather and Pinnacle awards. “If you’re looking for action, it’s here; suspense, it’s here; mystery, romance, adventure, thrills— Red Is for Rage has them all.” —Mallory Anne-Marie Haws “Wilson’s good! She’s DAMN good!” —William F. Nolan, Living Legend in Dark Fantasy www.redisforrage.com Available at Amazon and BarnesandNoble.

Divergent Lives

by Minnie Lahongrais RJ and Adina enter the world as fraternal twins, one raised by old-world, controlling immigrants in El Barrio, the other sold into a religious home filled with lies and scorn. Both are sociopaths. Turns out, RJ’s got a secret that enrages him with the flip of a switch. Adina uses her sexual power to dominate every man in her life. They are on a mysterious trajectory to cross paths in New York City, where the end of their lives culminates in an apex of horror and carnage. Twitter: @Lahongrais Facebook: fb.com/lahongrais Blog: divergentlives.blogspot.com Supporting other authors: minnielahongrais.com/GuestBlogs.html Available at Amazon

“...Lahongrais possesses this innate talent at peeling the layers, exposing the real truth about her characters one page at a time, forcing you to put up with their vices and witness their demise. There’s no redemption, no happy ending. All you will find in this story is the raw description of what a sociopath really is, and what he really does. Life at its most realistic and horrifying stage...” —JKP, Amazon customer reviews

SHELF UNBOUND’S COOL READS FOR KIDS.

New in 2013: Shelf Unbound’s Middle Shelf magazine Know any middle-schoolers who are avid readers? This fall, we’re launching Shelf Unbound’s Middle Shelf—Cool Reads for Kids magazine. Like Shelf Unbound, Middle Shelf will feature the best of small press and indie reads, all directed to a middle-reader audience. Like Shelf Unbound, it will include author interviews, reviews, excerpts, and photo essays. And like Shelf Unbound, subscriptions are free. To learn more and sign up for a free subscription, go to www.shelfmediagroup. com/pages/introducingmiddle-shelf Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library by Chris Grabenstein Random House Books for Young Readers www.randomhousekids.com

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2013

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library is a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for the 21st century—at once a flashlight-under-the-covers adventure and a literary delight. Shelf Unbound: You started out as an improv comedian. Have any rules of improv influenced your fiction writing? Chris Grabenstein: Yes, indeed! I use the basic improv principle of saying “Yes, and...” every day when I write. When you’re improvising a scene with a partner, the only real rule is to not deny what your partner creates and then build on it. For instance, if you say, “Hands up, I have a gun!” and I say, “No, that’s your finger” our scene dies. But, if I say, “Hey, isn’t that the gun the Martians left last time they landed in our trailer park?” we’re off and running. In my author visits to school, I try to teach kids how to use this technique so they never have writer’s block. It’s a great way to let your subconscious come out and play. Of course, once you improvise that scene on paper, you go back and tighten it up and make it better. (The second lesson of my school visits is that the secret to writing is rewriting.) But, utilizing the “Yes, and...” technique opens you up to all sorts of opportunities your rational brain may never find.

Shelf: You’ve written books for kids as well as a number of mysteries and thrillers for adults. What does writing for middle readers allow you to do or explore that writing for adults does not? Grabenstein: I find that I get to use more of my imagination when I’m writing for Middle Grades readers. That said, I borrow the pacing, cliffhangers, and twists of my adult mysteries and thrillers to keep kids burning through the pages. I suspect this is why my books have done so well with reluctant readers. The nicest e-mails I receive are from parents who tell me that their son or daughter wasn’t a reader until they picked up one of my books and couldn’t put it down. Also, at book signings, kids sometimes hug your book while they wait on line for you to sign it. Very few adults are book huggers. Shelf: Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library is a celebration of literature and libraries and even the Dewey Decimal System. Did you frequent the library as a kid, and what were some of your favorite books that you discovered there? Grabenstein: Unfortunately, in my own life, the opposite is true. After being born in Buffalo, NY my family moved to a part of Tennessee where, at the time, libraries and books and even education weren’t celebrated very much. I don’t think our small town even had a public library. At school, our library wasn’t considered an important part of the learning experience. Visiting schools and public libraries for the past five years to talk about my Haunted Mystery series books, I have been extremely impressed by the libraries and librarians that are out there helping young minds find books to devour. Often, the favorite part of my school visit day is early in the morning, drinking coffee with the librarians, listening to them interacting with the eager kids who come through the door at 8 a.m. hungry for a new book to read. “Oh, if you liked X, you’ll love Z,” they say. And I ask myself, where were these libraries and librarians when I was a kid? So, right now I’m doing a lot of remedial reading, getting caught up on all the classics like Bud, Not Buddy that I missed growing up. It was really thinking about my own childhood without a strong library that inspired Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library. I was more like [the book’s main character] Kyle and the other eleven 12-year-olds who have gone their whole life without a library. And, even though I’m older than most middle schoolers, the nice librarians I meet are always recommending good books for me to read! UNBOUND

poetry

Flowers Pressed In A Book by Kristina Marie Darling and Carol Guess I lived alone. I had lovers and friends and pets and projects. I kept my coffee pot warm, real cream in the fridge. I had trees and a garden, pressed flowers and photos. My sofa was soft and my mattress was firm. It was a good life, but my friends and family never believed me. There’s someone out there for you, they said. This made me think of a moon-faced man pacing the streets, searching for my cheerful calico curtains, my well-stocked kitchen. The moon-faced man would smash my windows, undaunted by my growling dog. In the morning I’d find him sitting at my pink formica table, eating buttered toast, reading a magazine fished from recycling.

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2013

Surprise! He’d say. I’m the one your friends and family were talking about. I’m here! And I would live with this man for the rest of my life.

poetry

Celebration by Grace Schulman Seeing, in April, hostas unfurl like arias, and tulips, white cups inscribed with licks of flame, gaze feverish, grown almost to my waist, and the oaks raise new leaves for benediction, I mourn for what does not come back: the movie theater— reels spinning out vampire bats, last trains, the arc of Chaplin’s cane, the hidden doorways— struck down for a fast-food store; your rangy stride; my shawl of hair; my mother’s grand piano. My mother. How to make it new, how to find the gain in it? Ask the sea at sunrise how a million sparks can fly over dead bones.

UNBOUND

on our shelf

WAKING SLEEP BEAUTY FREAK

EQUILATERAL

haunting novel about communication and its discontents, Equilateral follows a late-nineteenth century astronomer who sets out to carve a giant equilateral triangle into the African desert in order to signal to theoretical Martian astronomers that intelligent life exists on Earth. While humans are highly intent on communicating with life from beyond the stars, it turns out that we’re not so good at communicating with each other. —Marc Schuster Equilateral by Ken Kalfus, Bloomsbury USA 2013, www. bloomsbury.com. 64

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2013

f you like your memoirs overly confessional in the manner of a threemartini outing with girlfriends turned therapy session, Nina Lora’s Waking Sleep Beauty Freak may strike your fancy. The globe-trotting young Manhattanite shares her unhappy marriage to “Ferrari,” a series of assignations with such characters as “The MAGRITTE’S MARVELOUS HAT Liberator”—her tent-sharing tour guide in Argentina, and hile researching this the challenges of illness and issue I discovered her own parents’ divorce. the delightful and very fun —Anna Nair children’s book Magritte’s Marvelous Hat. The painter Waking Sleep Beauty Freak by Nina Lora, Winking Buddha, www. Magritte is in this tale a dog whose sartorial fancy is struck wakingsleepbeautyfreak.com. by a bowler hat in a shop window. When he tries it on he discovers the hat seems to have a mind of its own, even exerting its influence on Magritte’s painting style. Written and superbly illustrated by D.B. Johnson, this playful nod to Magritte is a winner. —Margaret Brown

Magritte’s Marvelous Hat by D.B. Johnson, Houghton Mifflin 2012, www. houghtonmifflinbooks.com.

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small press reviews Three Stories by Ken Kalfus

Madras Press www.madraspress.com

his brief but charming collection of short stories serves as the perfect introduction to Ken Kalfus, whose novel A Disorder Peculiar to the Country was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2006 and whose latest novel, Equilateral, hit bookstore shelves earlier this year. In one tale, “Professor Arecibo,” an academic with a bad reputation overhears a telephone conversation about himself and struggles to deal with the resulting emotional fallout. In another, “The Un-,” a young writer named Josh Glory yearns for publication and the recognition he imagines will come with it. The last story alone is worth the $7.00 cover price for this 68-page collection, as the myriad anxieties that make Josh Glory tick offer insight into the minds of all writers. “You could go crazy as you ascended the ladder of literary disappointment,” Kalfus writes. “You could be disappointed that you hadn’t written anything. You could be disappointed that what you’d written hadn’t been published. You could be disappointed that you’d been published but hadn’t sold many books.” The list goes on and on, and every writer in every stage of his or her career will identify with at least some element of the story. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that “The Un-” should be required reading for anyone considering a “career” in creative writing. The collection as a whole has an engaging, subtly Kafkaesque tone that amuses even as it offers a dark vision of humanity. We are all struggling to make sense of a universe that can drive us crazy, each story in the collection insists, and the only way to deal with the maddening crush is to keep on living one day at a time. —Marc Schuster, www.smallpressreviews.wordpress.com Shelf Unbound Contributing Editor Marc Schuster is the author of The Grievers, The Singular Exploits of Wonder Mom and Party Girl, Don DeLillo, Jean Baudrillard, and the Consumer Conundrum, and, with Tom Powers, The Greatest Show in the Galaxy: The Discerning Fan’s Guide to Doctor Who. He is the editor of Small Press Reviews, and his work has appeared in numerous magazines and journals. Marc teaches writing and literature courses at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania.

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2013

a war…”

“There was always

The Last Death of Tev Chrisini Winner of the Shelf Unbound Writing Competition for Best Self-Published Book

“An exceptionally well-built world... the sheer depth was done brilliantly.” —Fantasy Book Review UK “Jennifer Bresnick’s enchanting Tolkien-esque epic fantasy The Last Death of Tev Chrisini captivated our judges from page one and held us in thrall through its conclusion 467 pages later. We fell in love with the story and its characters and with Bresnick’s assured literary tale-spinning.” —Margaret Brown, Shelf Unbound magazine

Available on

and

W W W. J EN N I FER B R E SN I CK .CO M UNBOUND

MAD HATTER

“

I am the unnoticed, the unnoticeable man: The man who sat on your right in the morning train …

”

— from the poem “The Man in the Bowler Hat” by A.S.J. Tessimond

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2013

august/september ABIGAIL CARROLL holds a PhD in American Studies, and her writing has appeared in a variety of journals and publications, including the New York Times. She lives in Vermont. TOM CHESHIRE read Classics at Cambridge University, where he won the John Stuart of Rannoch scholarship. He is assistant editor of the UK edition of WIRED and has written several cover stories. His work has also appeared in GQ, WIRED US and Italia, Conde Nast Traveler, and on BBC2. He has spoken at Chatham House, BAFTA and the Apple Store. He is 25 years old and lives in London. KRISTINA MARIE DARLING is the author of twelve books, which include Melancholia (An Essay) (Ravenna Press, 2012), and Petrarchan (BlazeVOX Books, 2013). Her work has been recognized with nominations for the PEN/ Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay, the San Francisco State University Poetry Center Book Award, and the Poetry Society of America’s William Carlos Williams Book Award. MITCH DOBROWNER derives his inspiration from the natural world, and from the masters of landscape photography who have captured it before him, in particular, Ansel Adams and Minor White. Dobrowner began photographing the landscape of the American West in 2005, and since then, storms have become one of his main subjects. CHRIS GRABENSTEIN is an award-winning author of books for children and adults, a playwright, screenwriter, and former advertising executive and improvisational comedian. Winner of two Anthony and three Agatha Awards, Chris used to write for Jim Henson’s Muppets and was president of the New York Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America. CAROL GUESS is the author of 13 books of poetry and prose, including Tinderbox Lawn and Doll Studies: Forensics. She teaches Creative Writing and Queer Studies at Western Washington University. Follow her here: www. carolguess.blogspot.com JENNIFER MARQUART is a former University of Rochester student, and a translator from German. Two or Three Years Later is her first book-length translation.

contributors

er’s Pond, and Skin Divers. She is also a composer for the theater. She lives in Toronto. MATT MULLINS is a writer, musician, experimental filmmaker and multimedia artist. His fiction and poetry have appeared in Mid American Review, Pleiades, Hunger Mountain, Harpur Palate, Descant, Hobart, and a number of other print and online literary journals. He is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Ball State University (BSU) where he is a faculty fellow with BSU’s Emerging Media Initiative. ATIQ RAHIMI was born in Afghanistan in 1962, and fled to France in 1984. There he has become renowned as a maker of documentary and feature films, and as a writer. His new novel, A Curse on Dostoevsky, is forthcoming from Other Press. He lives in Paris. AMY SACKVILLE was born in 1981. She studied English and Theatre Studies at Leeds, and went on to an MPhil in English at Exeter College, Oxford, and an MA in Creative & Life Writing at Goldsmiths. Her first novel was The Still Point. She teaches creative writing at the University of Kent. GRACE SCHULMAN is the author many acclaimed books of poetry, including Days of Wonder: New and Selected Poems, a Library Journal Best Book of the Year. For her poetry she has received a Guggenheim fellowship, the Aiken-Taylor Award, the Delmore Schwartz Memorial Award, New York University’s Distinguished Alumni Award, and three Pushcart prizes. TRAER SCOTT is an award winning photographer and the author of several books on dogs. Her photographs have been featured in National Georgraphic, Life, People, O, and many other publications. She lives in Rhode Island with her husband, daughter and adopted dog. RAY ZONE is an award-winning 3D artist, speaker and film producer. He is the author of Stereoscopic Cinema and the Origins of 3-D film, 1838-1952 and lives in Hollywood. California. Shelf Unbound is published bimonthly by Shelf Media Group LLC, 3322 Greenview Drive, Garland, TX 75044. Copyright 2013 by Shelf Media Group LLC. Subscriptions are FREE, go to www.shelfmediagroup.com to subscribe.

ANNE MICHAELS is the multi-award winning author of two novels, Fugitive Pieces and The Winter Vault, and three collections of poetry, The Weight of Oranges, Min-

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