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California Dreaming

by Noa Silver

Having grown up on stories of her mother's wild youth in California, Elena Berg relocates from New England to the Bay Area in 2011 for a placement as an English teacher with Teach for America. Once there, she is eager to inspire a love of poetry and literature in her diverse but underprivileged students. Her own grandfather—a Holocaust survivor—was a storyteller and teacher who touched the lives of his students for years to come. Elena’s mother followed in his footsteps, leaving behind the hippi... more

Elly Robin in Harlem

by PD Quaver

Stranded in Manhattan (and still a notorious fugitive, wanted for a crime she didn't commit), 16-year-old piano prodigy Elly Robin concocts the mad ruse of dying her skin to pass as a "Negro"--the enlightened term for an African American in 1916. Her audacious disguise enables her to perform again, and her colossal talent quickly takes her to the pinnacle of such musical success as her adopted race allows. But she also experiences the city's pervasive racism first-hand, and risks exposure by fl... more

Rhapsody in a Minor Mode

by Elaine Kozak

After learning a shocking secret about his origins, Niels Larsen, a young musician, abandons his studies, soul-mate, and family to embark on a solitary journey of reflection and healing. His journey takes him to Spain where he discovers flamenco and sets off on a new musical path. As he reconciles himself to his past, Niels learns about love, loss, and the true meaning of family, and discovers that sometimes life does give you a second chance.

Falstaff Inn

by Kevin Amsler

"Falstaff Inn" is the story of August Rick who while working for the prominent Lemp Brewery oversees the launch of the Falstaff Inn, the brewer's restaurant at the upcoming 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. While gang violence continues to climb in a city packed with breweries and saloons, August's boyhood friend Edward Lally, now a police detective, investigates the people behind the violence.

Kronos

by Laurie Devine

Kronos is a modern-day Greek tragedy centered on a wily and beautiful Greek woman who is loved by two brothers – one a leftist leader and the other a rightwing general – whose intertwined lives are the fraught saga of contemporary Greek culture. The rugged landscape of Greece provides the exotic background for a story of primitive passions harkening back to ancient times.

Impossible People

by Anna Lyndsey

Tom, a young physicist, is drawn into the nightmare world of “reactors”, people made ill by modern communications technology. But is their condition psychological or real? A university experiment claims to find out – but is full of dangerous flaws, which Tom and his friend Kevin battle to expose. In an isolated valley where reactors have found a haven, Tom starts a rival research project which uncovers something so shocking that vested interests take reve... more

Tao of Life and Death A Tale

by Stephen McDonough

This tale, set in ancient China, braids the stories of Zhong Kui and Happy Willow—two poor but talented boys who left their villages with their eyes set on officialdom. Like the epics of old, Tao of Life and Death is composed mostly in verse, and like any good tale, it offers both adventure and thought-provoking explorations of morality and mortality. Accompanied by original paintings created by the author, this book is sure to captivate readers interested in mythology, Eastern philosophy, and q... more

The Compass: A Novel

by Jenna Miles

From the author of The Catch comes THE COMPASS, Part One of its stand-alone “midquel.” With brand-new material as well as flashbacks to The Catch, all told from William’s point of view, The Compass is equal parts hilarious, harrowing, heartwarming, and hopeful.

In 1995, twenty-year-old William Quinn’s quest for reprieve after a painful breakup reunites him with Serafima “Haze” Temkina, a tat... more

Soul Hoppers

by Laura Clementz

Cody, a pleasure-seeking caterer, and Josephine, a self-sacrificing philanthropist, are destined to discover each other in a union so intense it sets them free and unleashes healing across the land. When souls depart this world, they return to The Origin, a realm of profound bliss and connection. But, occasionally, a unique phenomenon occurs—two souls return to this world as intertwined reflections of one another or what is known in the spiritual texts as soul hoppers. Once they make the cho... more

Going Where They Belong, Stories

by Judith Day

Going Where They Belong is a collection of nine stories from late 20th- and early 21st-century America that voice the peculiarities and perceptions of ordinary, sometimes eccentric, people. A woman runs away after killing another woman; a homeless teenager takes care of his younger brother after their father disappears; an aging lesbian faces the disordered personality of her long- time partner. Most of the characters are plagued with inner instability and social marginality; all of them disc... more

Glowing in the Dark, Stories of Wounded Healers

by Judith Day

Glowing in the Dark is a book of fiction that portrays the inner worlds of several physicians—psychiatrists and an ICU doctor—as they discover healing through encounters with other people. In authentic voices and a range of moods, these three compelling stories follow each healer’s personal, unconventional path on an unprescribed journey. The stories are evocative, disturbing, sometimes erotic, sometimes funny, always heartful. Like wounding, like healing, the stories are not what you expect.

Born a Viking: Blót

by Riccardo Polacci

"Born a Viking: Blót" delves deep into Viking Age Scandinavia, narrating the journey of nine-year-old Sigurd during a spiritual pilgrimage to Uppsala, Sweden, alongside his family. Filled with mystical visions and the revelation of his father's hidden life as the leader of a group of shaman-warriors devoted to Odin, Sigurd becomes embroiled in a tapestry of ancient secrets, political intrigue, and family bonds. The novel intricately weaves Norse paganism, mysticism, and legends into a riveting t... more

The Shoe Box Waltz: A Psychological Novel

by Kathleen Patrick

Two women. A yacht in the Tyrrhenian Sea. One choice that changes everything. Cora Daneli is a young woman looking for adventure. Against a gorgeous backdrop of the coast of Italy, she begins a journey that takes her to places she never wanted to go. And she is not alone. Characters stories are woven together, taking the reader on an emotional ride, blurring the lines between reality and fiction, between dreams and nightmares, between that which could have happened, and that which did. This psyc... more

Lex Talionis: An eye for an eye

by Njord Christensen

"God does not play dice," it's how I start all my physics undergraduate lectures. Little do they know that I'm the one holding the dice.

Refuge

by Bill VanPatten

Jesse Pérez’s fifteen-year-old pregnant niece from Texas shows up on his doorstep in Central California seeking help. Still grieving from the death of his husband while raising their son alone, he is plunged into the politics and law of a post-Roe era and a showdown with his estranged evangelical family.

What Lies Buried

by Leslie Kain

What Lies Buried…doesn’t stay buried. Scarred by a lifetime of emotional abuse and traumatic violence, Gavin battles the triggers of Complex PTSD. His wife Katie is determined to support him despite the strain of his unpredictable reactions on their marriage. But returning to Boston to settle his father’s estate reactivates Gavin’s childhood scars, and more triggers. Then when he uncovers his family’s mob history, his volatile reactions put him in the crosshairs of dangerous people. Worrie... more

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