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Acts of a Dubious Nature: A Collection of Short Stories

by Tony Canino

In Acts of a Dubious Nature, Tony Canino casts a fresh voice and a baleful eye on the many affronts and trespasses that human beings both suffer and inflict. An abused elder who’ll protect his dead son’s memory at any cost, an honest fighter forced to throw a fight, a man recalling his many sins as his parachute fails, a sailboat full of reprobates burying a German admiral at sea, and a rancher with the darkest of secrets. Axel, Lickety, “Don” Carmine, Aunt Mavis, Bee Boy, Lucky the Space Alien ... more

Sembach

by Said Shafik

While Ukraine President was leading Ukrainians in resisting the Russian invasion and inflecting tremendous damage to the Russian war machines, killing tens of thousands of the Russian troops and generals, a plot was underway by the Russian intelligence service to prepare an operation with a code name Terermok, a famous Russian fairy tale, to infiltrate and unstable European societies, and military communities and facilities all over Europe as a way of retaliation and punishment for siding with a... more

Paper Roses on Stony Mountain

by Diana Stevan

Wars, typhus, draught and family losses could not stop Lukia Mazurec. Will her children's indifference finally break her spirit? With the Great Depression ending and Hitler’s armies marching across Europe, the young in Canada are called upon to enlist. Though her children are not eligible to serve, Lukia Mazurec can’t count on them to help her manage her farm in Manitoba. Her sons are at odds, their fights getting uglier every day, and her daughter, Dolly, has fallen in love with Peter, an in... more

The Trail Back Out

by Jadi Campbell

The Trail Back Out was American Book Fest 2020 Best Book Award Finalist, 2021 IAN Book of the Year Award Finalist, 2021 Top Shelf Award Runner Up, and won a Red Ribbon from the 2021 Wishing Shelf Award. The title story The Trail Back Out was longlisted for the 2021 Screen Craft Cinematic Short Story Award. This collection is Jadi Campbell's fourth book and her first finished work in four years. She completed many of these stories during the coronavirus lockdown. From tales of Edd... more

Tales of the Tinkertoy

by JJ Semple

Today, this book could not be published. Nevertheless, despite its “lavish use of freewheeling, multiethnic caricature,” it has been. That it stands up to a steady stream of accusations and invective that rule the Internet will depend on readers who value truth and logic because it most certainly does not pass muster according to the precepts of Presentism, defined by Webster as an attitude toward the past dominated by present-day attitudes and experiences, meani... more

The Man Who Screams at Nightfall: and other stories

by Rush Leaming

Thailand. The Congo. Greece. Spain. America… Four continents and forty-plus years in the making. The Man Who Screams at Nightfall is a landmark collection of short stories depicting a young man on a classic voyage of self-discovery, wandering our planet in search of some purpose in life. From childhood to parenthood and everything in between—these tales are raw and unflinching; at other times, poignant and moving. Get ready for a literary journey unlike any you’ve experienced bef... more

The Decisions We Make

by Tara Marlow

DO THE DECISIONS WE MAKE DEFINE US?

Sam Taylor is stuck. Her house is falling apart, the bills are piling up, and her daughter is hiding something from her. This is not the life she imagined, living on the idyllic east coast of Tasmania.

Brooke Choi-Scott has her life planned out. Her own medical practice, a house in an affluent Sydney suburb, and best friends she can count on to tell her the truth, no matter what. So why does she feel so empty? ... more

Camino Wandering

by Tara Marlow

On the journey of a lifetime, can one woman complete a spiritual trek to find herself and rebuild?

Saint Jean Pied de Port, France. Aubrey aches to pick up the pieces of her shattered life. So, at her son’s urging, she swallows her anxiety to walk the Camino de Santiago. But at the start of the 500-mile route across Spain, the fifty-year-old already feels the full weight of the pilgrimage, anticipating it will only end in failure.

Desperate to face... more

Wonders in the Waves: A Novel Inspired By Love That Does Not Die

by Jennifer Collins

Resilience has brought Larissa Whitcomb a long way toward surviving recent losses of those closest to her. “I’m emotionally bankrupt,” she admits in the aftermath of her tragedies. Yet, gradually, she yearns for more than survival. It is time to reframe her grief and expend her energy in new directions. Encouraged by family and friends, a trail of letters and old postcards lead her to a picturesque beach house on Hutchinson Island, Florida. Larissa’s walks beside the ocean and river, full of won... more

American Nomads

by N.L. McLaughlin

A coming of age story for a new generation.

Beth always dreamed of being popular. Of living a life filled with fun, travel, and adventure. A life without rules or expectations. A life worthy of sharing online.

These hopes and aspirations were nothing more than distant dreams until a chance encounter with a young drifter. Beautiful, outgoing, and brimming with confidence, River is everything Beth wishes she could be.

She introduces Beth to her tight-knit family of misfits and... more

Tiel's Saga - Scottish Lore, Norse Roots

by Thom Simmons

Tiel's Saga pieces together fragmented stories about the mysterious Viking prince, the son of a Norwegian king, for whom Loch Pooltiel is named on the Isle of Skye. Through meticulous research of family dynasties, ancient manuscripts, historical narratives, folktale variants, interviews, and correspondence, the author has written the most complete tale to date of the mysterious Tiel Hakonsson., As a bonus, four additional pieces of folklore, similarly treated, are included.

Brixton Nights

by Amy Tollyfield

Brixton Nights by Amy Tollyfield: official book blurb

Brixton Nights is the third book and first novella by acclaimed, twice-published poet, Amy Tollyfield. Brixton Nights charts the life of a young lesbian woman named Christina who once lived in Brixton and now lives in Hull. The book follows her tempestuous journey through young adulthood and into early adult life, including many losses and heartaches along the way. Working-class, femal... more

Balloon Dog

by Daniel Paisner

The story of a brazen art heist gone wrong, alongside a life of suburban angst and ennui gone sideways, "Balloon Dog" centers on the theft of an industrial-sized Jeff Koons sculpture. The guy who's out to blow the whistle on that theft is a Long Island writer who's been questioning his Jewish faith and the road ahead. A darkly funny caper about legacy and belonging, "Balloon Dog" asks readers what it means to matter, and what it takes to get caught up in the same currents that move the rest of... more

Most Famous Short Film of All Time

by Tucker Lieberman

Ghosts and goddesses beckon Lev Ockenshaw. Oh, bother. Fortunately, he’s got a pill for that. In 2014, Lev is happily telling campfire stories in Boston with his longtime friend, Stanley, and his coworker, Aparna. One day, he receives an anonymous, threatening email referring to the company where he and Aparna work. Lev reports the threat to his boss, but is not believed.

Invoking over 250 books, songs, and movies, Most Famous Short Film of All Time is a non/fiction-hybri... more

Island of Redemption

by Chris Reynolds

The Shack, with a Castaway twist, wrapped up in the conundrum of Life of Pi. When Mark Lambert disappears at sea, he is assumed dead by the outside world. Instead, he lands upon an uninhabited island far from any shipping lanes and far from hope. Alone for five years, all the things he once thought important slowly fall away as new priorities, beliefs, and a broader sense of existence begin to emerge. He feels in control of his new life, until a powerful hurricane slams the island and changes... more

The Wartime Matchmakers

by Lauren Smith

When the world went to war . . . they fought for love. England, 1939: The world is on the brink of war when Elizabeth Mowbray breaks her engagement with a tea planter in India and returns home to the English countryside. Desperate to escape a stifling life under her parents’ roof, she moves to London seeking adventure and excitement. With German forces sweeping across Europe, she has little hope of finding steady, fulfilling employment as England readies itself for war. A chance encounter wi... more

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