Shelf unbound april may 2013

APRIL /MAY 2013

68

SEPTEMBER 2010

what to read next in independent publishing

STAN CRADER T H E

C O L B Y

S E R I E S

Paperboy The Bridge A glimpse of rural America through the eyes of a young boy during the summer of 1967.

“Paperboy” tells the story as only an afternoon paperboy in rural America in the sixties can.

The Longest Year Like all of his friends, Tommy Thopson dreams of obtaining the ultimate ticket to freedom: a driver’s license.

All proceeds from The Bridge, Paperboy, and The Longest Year benefit America’s wounded warriors.

RESURRECTING LIVES Supporting research, treatment, advocacy, and education of Traumatic Brain Injury for America’s warriors.

Learn more at resurrectinglives.org

W W W . S TA N C R A D E R . C O M

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 ’s reviewer

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For adver tising inqu i r i e s : call 214.704.4182 or e-mail margaret@she l f m e d i a g ro u p. c o m For editor ial inquir ie s : e-mail margaret@she l f m e d i a g ro u p. c o m or write to Shelf Unb o u n d, 3 3 2 2 G re e nv i ew D r. , Garland, TX 75044

Photo: Theron Humphrey, from Maddie On Things

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Spring & Summer 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

april/may

contents

DEPARTMENTS

10

maddie on things Theron Humphrey’s popular pup

14

crapalachia Scott McClanahan’s “biography of a place”

18

michael kimball writes your life (on a postcard) an interview, and a dog story

22

wayne thiebaud shelf unbound interviews the renowned painter

24

a dog walks into a nursing home Sue Halpern and her therapy dog Pransky

26

short tails four short stories, dogs included

6

a note from the publisher

34

novel thinking

36

indie spotlight

38

afterword

40

photo essay

66

poetry

68

staff picks

70

small press reviews

72

last words

73

contributors

On the cover: Theron Humphrey, whose new book Maddie on Things is just out from Chronicle Books, shot this cover exclusively for Shelf Unbound. Photograph copyright Theron Humphrey. www.thiswildidea.com, www. maddieonthings.com.

what to read next in independent publishing

a word from the

publisher

F

PUP FICTION

rom our earliest encounters with pup fiction (“see Spot run”) to our latest (the heartbreaking puppyadoption-gone-wrong story in George Saunders’ Tenth of December comes to mind), dogs have been part of the stories we tell each other about what it means to be alive. One such storyteller is photographer Theron Humphrey, who spent an entire year traversing the country with his Coonhound Maddie, documenting the stories of ordinary people through photography and oral histories. His “This Wild Idea” project was awarded National Geographic’s Travel Project of the Year in 2012 (www.thiswildidea.com), and his blog of photos of Maddie posing on all manner of things (road signs, gas pumps, a horse) developed an enormous, avid following. His book of these photos, Maddie on Things, is just out from Chronicle Books and is the inspiration for this dog-themed issue. Humphrey even shot an exclusive cover for us, posing the ever-affable Maddie in a bookshelf.

Michael Kimball handwrites people’s (and occasionally dogs’) life stories on the back of postcards and has assembled a collection of them in a new book.

They tenderly explore the human condition from the lows (“She stopped going to therapy and started cutting.”) to the highs (“She has a dog named Percival Fontaine Barksdale, which—how great is that?”). “I found everybody’s life story is interesting if you ask the right questions, “ Kimball says.

Theron Humphrey discovered this on his travels with Maddie, and we discover it anew every time we open that next great book. Dogs optional.

Margaret Brown publisher

CORRECTION: The photo of Ronald De Feo on page 14 of our previous issue should have been credited to Margarett Loke.

6

APRIL/MAY 2013

Photograph: Belinda Baldwin, www.belindabaldwin.com

of of

A psychological thriller and thought-provoking discussion about the meaning of life. This book is definitely going on my list of favorite books of all time.

— Kathy Schneider, NetGalley

p w e n a r e n ractitio p l a ic h p o s o ght li s ’t n s e o d Eric is a phil t bu easonpractitioner—a r Ericpishaasphilosophical s e iz now is m d n ie r that enew lf ir g old profession that is emphasizes h t u b , h ge ic o r t ’t k c isn but doesn’t slight a b t Hereason e g to nts emotions. a w e h S . s u ver morich, but his old girlfriend e r a d faisn’t s le anHe y t s e and lif ls a o g ir e h t ts wa n She but both rich and famous. e li c himis, now is H . g goin with him, is d in m wants to get back together ’s r e h ves. li ir His fat e h t e v li to owlifestyles but their goals h and are very

different. His father’s mind is going. n befo e e s r e v His clients want atonknow how to live e n he’s m o w a d Anlives. their to kill him.

49 And a woman he’s never seen before 0 7 6 5 3 9 ISBN 978-1 Amazon.c wants to kill him. n See reviews

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ISBN 978-1-935670-94-0 See reviews on Amazon.com

Dialogue is razor-sharp. Hilarious, incisive observations about all things great and small.

— Robert Bidinotto, author of the bestseller Hunter

FROM THE MYSTERIOUS HOLY GHOST WRITER …

THE SULTAN OF MONTE CRISTO

www.sultanofmontecristo.com For so many years, passionate fans of The Count of Monte Cristo have suffered a loss upon finishing Alexandre Dumas’ last words. It is a grieving of sorts that has long been unmitigable ... until now.

The mysterious Holy Ghost Writer has penned The Sultan of Monte Cristo as a direct continuance of the story readers have long struggled against leaving behind.

The Holy Ghost Writer seems a literary time-traveller: the swiftness with which he carries us straight into the 1800s is mindboggling and a rare feat even in the best historical fiction writing. Excellent novel, and highly recommended!

—Peanut’s review

THAT GIRL STARTED HER OWN COUNTRY www.thatgirlstartedherowncountry.com International Playgirl Zaydee finds herself in the midst of a crisis fueled by international intrigue, multinational corporate greed, and a convoluted legal system. Imprisoned for computer hacking, this brilliant jetsetter becomes an international media celebrity as she defends herself, an unknown girl labeled Princess Jane Doe, against unknown charges. With complicated and shadowy plots brewing, the book is lush and captivating and perhaps the best addition to the series yet.

“A truly imaginative, unique page-turner that will leave readers wanting more.”

—Kirkus

WHO IS

THE HOLY GHOST WRITER?

THE BOY WHO PLAYED WITH DARK MATTER

In a world where caffeine is distributed only by terrorists and 1000-SPF sunscreen isn’t strong enough, scientists long for a discovery that will restore Earth to a greener state. However, the International Government likes to think it has everything under control, especially since it issues twenty to thirty new laws each day to keep its constituents current.

Six-year-old Zeddy, whose “IQ is off the charts,” soon finds himself racing to avoid capture when his physicist father, Zane, goes missing. His mother, Zadie, suspects that the International Military Police have taken Zane, but Nimueh, the ancient Lady of the Lake, believes that he’s in a parallel universe in a neighboring constellation. She also believes that young Zeddy, with a “brain that is exceptionally rare,” is the key to saving Earth.

Despite its part in the larger series, The Boy Who Played with Dark Matter makes a fine read all on its own, although a reader will most certainly crave the sequel to find out if Zeddy gets his father back.”

—ForeWord Clarion review

The mystery of the identity of the author is part of an international contest. The first person to discover the identity of the HG Writer, from the clues found in the Count of Monte Cristo sequels, will receive a reward of $2,500. Write to prize@ sultanofmontecristo.com in order to claim this reward along with letting us know the clues that led you to discovering the identity of the author. Should you wish your discovery to be known in the press, that opportunity will also be afforded. Those that already know the author or have worked with him/her will not qualify.z

feature

travels with maddie

Maddie on Things A super serious project about dogs and physics

By Theron Humphrey

I

“Once a journey is designed, equipped, and put in process, a new factor enters and takes over,” wrote Steinbeck in his road trip memoir Travels with Charley.

In Theron Humphrey’s case, that factor turned out to be his rescued coonhound Maddie.

n the fall of 2011, Maddie and I said goodbye to old friends and hit the road together across America. When you’re stuck behind a desk, the idea of the open road is nothing short of romantic. It’s full of promises and adventure and running out of gas. I can’t say anything new about the intrinsically American love of the road, but I can say that it’s alive and well, and it’s still beautiful. That first morning, Maddie and I sat in my old Toyota pickup trying to figure out what we had gotten ourselves into.

Some days the truck was too small, and her tail was in my face too much, but we ate together, met and photographed folks together, and slept in the back of that old pickup truck together. I even discovered Maddie’s talent on

10

Chronicle Books www.chroniclebooks.com

APRIL/MAY 2013

that truck. One morning I figured I needed a photograph to remember how we traveled together. So I picked up Maddie and put her on the roof. She just stood there and smiled at me. Good things seem to start that way. You know, small.

Maddie taught me that I should wake up every day and be grateful. She taught me that committing to something and sticking to it is how we grow. But most of all, she taught me that standing on things, everyday objects, can be incredible.

She’s my best friend and I wouldn’t trade our time together for anything.

From Maddie on Things by Theron Humphrey, Chronicle Books 2013, www.chroniclebooks.com.

Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

UNBOUND

11

We caught up with Theron Humphrey and Maddie on one of the first legs of their cross-country 35-stop book tour to talk about their journeys.

Shelf Unbound: How did you meet Maddie?

Theron Humphrey: I was about to leave on a year-long road trip to document the stories of people around the country, and I decided I needed a dog to come with me. I went on Petfinder. com and searched for “coonhound,” discovered 1-year-old rescue dog Maddie, and adopted her that same day.

his fellow Americans.

But you actually spent an entire year doing just that, recording ordinary people’s stories for your This Wild Idea project. What have you discovered about humanity on your travels?

Humphrey: I’ve learned that everyone has a story.

Often the people with the best stories are initially quick to say they don’t have one. But as you ask Shelf: You have 180,000 people following your them questions about their lives, they realize that blog, Tumblr, and Instagram. What do you they and their stories are worthy and interesting. think is the appeal of your photos of Maddie I have found nothing but good people with genon things? erous hearts. People who helped me when I was Humphrey: First, it’s that Maddie is an awesome out of gas or lost. I have found that people are animal. Her expressions are so appealing, and yearning to connect with each other and to be she’s always up for the next thing. And second, part of something bigger than themselves. it’s the photography – thoughtful compositions and good lighting. It’s a mix of an enjoyable pho- Shelf: What have you learned from Maddie? tograph and Maddie being great subject matter. Humphrey: I’ve learned to always be thankful for the simple things. If she’s fed and watered, then Shelf: Steinbeck may or may not have trav- she’s set. Maddie never wakes up in a bad mood. eled the country with Charley to discover It’s awesome to appreciate that, and humbling.

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APRIL/MAY 2013

Be a Great One Theron Humphrey and Maddie’s book tour is being fueled, literally, by PetCo, who as a sponsor is paying for their gas. While on tour, Murphy is spreading the word about PetCo’s Be a Great One contest. Here’s info from BeAGreatOne.com: “Every day, in every way, you are there for your pet. Being a great one is about the bond you share and how you care for your pet’s physical, mental, social and emotional needs. Are you a great one?

Create your choice of a short video or essay that explains why you’re a great one. We’ll select five winners, including a grand prizewinner who will receive $50,000 plus a $50,000 donation to the rescue organization of your choice.”

How great is that?

UNBOUND

13

interview

place

Crapalachia is an open-hearted, poetic existential exploration disguised as a southern-fried memoir.

McClanahan has staked out new literary territory and firmly planted the Crapalachian flag there.

Long may it wave.

Crapalachia: A Biography of Place

by Scott McClanahan Two Dollar Radio www.twodollarradio.com

14

APRIL/MAY 2013

Shelf Unbound: Your fiction reads like nonfiction. Your nonfiction reads like fiction.

Both read like truth. Do you give any thought to these labels when you are writing?

Scott McClanahan: Hardly ever. I’m usually thinking more about stuff like this: There is a storm out at sea. A sailor asks the captain of the ship. “Captain, how often does a ship like this sink?”

The captain pauses and says, “JUST ONCE.” Or maybe it’s more like when the writer is asked by the family member, “What is your book about?” The writer answers, “It’s about 160 pages long.”

These feel like little pieces of Zen wisdom to me. I could spend hours thinking about them.

Shelf: In your Collected Works Vol. 1, released last year, an old abused dog commits suicide by running headlong into a coal truck. In Crapalachia, you write about the coal miners killed in the Sago Mine tragedy. You reference John Henry. The hard-toiling, hard-suffering common man (or dog) transcends the crush of the world through an act of dignity, and is remembered for it. Crapalachia is largely an homage to your Grandmother Ruby and your Uncle Nathan, who suffered from Cerebral Palsy and couldn’t walk or speak, and to your OCD friend Bill, an earnest soul who ends up going wrong. Was it important to you that the reader see the dignity in these characters?

McClanahan: Did you know that Erroll Flynn’s friends kidnapped his body after he died? They snuck it out of the funeral home one night and took it out to a party. They sat him up at the table and let him play some cards and then they opened up his rigor mortis mouth and let him drink some gin. They put a lit cigar in his mouth and almost caught him on fire. They even had some party girls sit on his lap. Of course, they didn’t return his body until dawn, but dead Errol had one last great fucking time in his flesh. I don’t know if that’s dignified or not, but it seems to me like it is.

I don’t think dignity is a word that I really understand though. The shroud awaits us all. The evacuation of our bowels happens to everyone including Helen of Troy.

I guess it’s kind of like that scene from the Heller novel Catch-22. The young soldier is talking to the old Italian man. The old man is explaining his political principles. He says when the fascists were in power he was pro-facist. When the Germans came he was pro-German and now that the Americans are here he is proAmerican. The young soldier says, “Well you’re without principles then. It’s better to live on your feet than die on your knees.”

The old man stops him. He says, “No. It’s better to live on your knees than to die on your feet.” Then he says: “How do I know? Because I am 108 years old.”

Shelf: You write of your Uncle Nathan, “You’ll never know just how sweet he was. You’ll never know how alive he was.” Yet after reading this book I think I do know. Is that possible?

McClanahan: Nope.

Shelf: The subtitle of Crapalachia is “A Biography of Place.” It is, of course, that. But at the end, you write, “I wanted to write a book about all the people I knew and loved before I forgot them, but I see that my book is something else now ... I see that I have been praying this prayer ... Please tell me I existed ... .”

So is this very close and tender examination of the lives of your people the cause of or the result of your existentialist thinking?

UNBOUND

15

McClanahan: I’m not sure. I just wanted to see if I could resurrect the dead. I found out you couldn’t, but I think we need to get back to a place where writing is more like a spell, or a chant, or an amulet of some sort. Besides, the dead would probably be pissed anyway if we brought them back.

I mean most of this stuff we do now came out of fertility cults, rituals, prayers to lead you through the underworld like the Egyptian Book of the Dead.

I’ve just always been bothered by things. I mean bothered to the point I can barely function at times. One of my earliest memories is of this wild rabbit that got caught in a chain-linked fence behind our house. I was only four or five and the more it would fight to get free, the more it started to rip itself apart.

I feel like that rabbit sometimes. I’m trying to get free, but my hide is coming off because of it.

Shelf: You’re in a singing group called The Holler Boys. Did you by chance write the line “We all have hell and glory down in our hearts” in the song “I’ve Got the Sins!”? It sounds like it could be another tagline for Crapalachia.

McClanahan: Nope, that is my Holler Presents partner Chris Oxley. This is his picture: http://hollerpresents.tumblr.com/post/44187927786/depression-maintained-1time-to-get-kicked-out#notes. You can tell by this picture that he’s a genius. We got kicked out of Kohl’s last night because we were up to some no good shenanigans. We’re living together now because my wife divorced me and his wife kicked him out of the house.

We tell each other this before we go to work. “Don’t die today. Don’t die.” It’s the only mantra I trust anymore.

Shelf: We’ve got a dog theme going in this issue. Your long list of things you’ve loved includes Samantha the dog, Nanook the dog, Midget the dog, and Buddy the dog. In your setting-the-record-straight appendix, you say, “I wouldn’t put Midget the dog on the list of things I’ve loved anymore. I really hated that fucking dog.” What’s the story there?

McClanahan: She was a mean ass Chihuahua spoiled by my Aunt Nell. She’d bite you all of the time, but she was so old she didn’t have any teeth left so it didn’t really hurt.

One person I would add to that list who I forgot to put on there is my ex father in law Elonza Turner. He’s one of those great human beings who still has some wildness in him. One morning Sarah was making up his bed and she found a giant chunk of cheese under the sheets. One night he woke up because he was hungry and he went to the freezer and ate some ice cream. He thought it tasted funny, but he kept eating it. The next morning he told Sarah, “Sarah, I think you need to throw out that ice cream. I think it has freezer burn.” Of course, he didn’t realize that he had eaten doggie ice cream. He’s a wild ass peacock. We need more wild ass peacocks in this life.

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APRIL/MAY 2013

“As good as anything I’ve read in courtroom fiction.”

—The Reporter

Capital Kill

Horns of the Devil

“Federal prosecutor Jeff Trask returns to work on a case involving Salvadoran gang members. Soon, several are marked for death by hit men, including Trask himself. A well-paced mystery featuring an entertainingly complicated protagonist, supported by a robust cast.”

—Kirkus Reviews.

“Lawyer Jeff Trask is a new Assistant U.S. Attorney when he becomes embroiled in a high-stakes international. … Trask, an engaging main character, works to find out who is behind the heinous murders plaguing D.C. Despite being extremely intelligent, he comes across as an everyman. … The book’s intense action, realistic tone and memorable characters will keep readers engrossed in this thriller with a superb payoff.”

—Kirkus Reviews

New from former federal prosecutor Marc Rainer, Capital Kill and Horns of the Devil are available at Amazon.com.

w w w. m a r c r a i n e r. c o m UNBOUND

17

feature

mail man

Michael Kimball Writes Your Life Story (on a postcard)

by Michael Kimball Mud Luscious Press www.mudlusciouspress.com

F

rom #45 Adam Robinson, who once “hid out all night in a porta potty at an amusement park because some bands he really wanted to see were playing the next day” and later became a poet (Adam Robinson and Other Poems and Say Poem) to #307 Soap, who “was amazed at all the lather it could make,” Michael Kimball condenses life stories to the space of a postcard. In doing so, he gets to the heart of what it means to be alive.

“I never expected strangers to tell me so much about themselves, so many things they have never told anybody else, but I found an unexpected intimacy in the postcard life story project. It tapped into something human and humane. I was continually amazed by what people told me.

I wrote just over three hundred postcard life stories. I wrote one for anybody who wanted one. I didn’t want anybody to feel their life story wasn’t interesting enough. In fact, I found everybody’s life story is interesting if you ask the right questions.”

—Michael Kimball in Michael Kimball Writes Your Life Story (on a postcard) 18

APRIL/MAY 2013

It was there that he learned that life is really terrible unless everybody forgives each other.

Shelf Unbound: You’ve condensed to postcard length the life stories of hundreds of people over the years. What have you discovered about humanity in the process?

Michael Kimball: I was surprised by how earnest most people were and how willing they were to tell me intimate and difficult things about themselves. And I have even more empathy than I did. I see how broken and scared and flawed all of us are. I see how hard almost everybody is trying. It is so difficult to be alive and so wonderful too.

Shelf: You include your own life story in the book. It begins, “Michael Kimball was born two weeks late—in Lansing, MI—during the Great Midwest Blizzard of 1967.” What, to you, is the most significant line in your own story?

Kimball: I just re-read mine and I wasn’t sure what my answer would be until I reached the last line: “There’s something about being where he is, in Baltimore, that makes him feel like he can

do anything.” I feel like there’s some great, asyet-unknown future in that for me.

Shelf: Your novel Big Ray, published last year, begins with the death of your abusive father. Your writing style is, as with your postcards, concise, direct, and unfettered. What have you learned as a novelist from writing the postcard stories?

Kimball: I learned how to condense lots of life and story into one sentence. I learned more and more about picking the right details. I learned to only tell the most important parts. I learned how to maintain a narrative arc without obvious transitions and how to skip 10+ years with a little clause.

Shelf: What do you think it means existentially that our lives can be condensed to a few hundred words on a postcard?

Kimball: This question is probably catching me at a bad time, but I suppose it means that we do exist, at least for a little while, and that we matter, at least a little bit.

UNBOUND

19

The morning after that, the man went to the shelter and got the dog back and brought her home. The people named her Isla after a short story

by Susan Steinberg. #225 Isla the Dog

I

sla the dog showed up on the back step of the house in the middle of the night. The people already had two dogs, Molly and Gretta, who were barking their heads off. The people thought they’d find a burglar, but when they turned the backlight on, the dog was sitting there looking up as if she were expecting them. She was. The dog had fleas and a round belly because of worms.

Unfortunately, the people couldn’t afford another dog, so the next day the woman took Isla to the shelter and then she cried the whole way home. The woman cried until the man got home. The morning after that, the man went to the shelter and got the dog back and brought her home. The people named her Isla after a short story by Susan Steinberg. Isla is probably a black lab and Rottweiler mix.

Isla is the dog the people always wanted when they were kids. She’s like a big stuffed animal that will never leave your side.

Isla loves running in huge circles as fast as she can with a stick in her mouth. Isla loves dancing when the woman sings “Hey Mickey” in her terrible falsetto. One evening, when Isla was just a year old, a huge black dog showed up at the carport while Isla was sitting outside with her people. The dog tag said his name was Gravy, and he looked a lot like Isla, but Isla and the people never saw him again.

Isla loves Molly and Gretta and will start looking for Molly if she isn’t where Isla is. Isla is so relieved when she finds Molly. When they go to the dog park, Isla squeals the whole way there. Isla introduces herself to every dog and every owner there. When her people are away, Isla stands on the back of the couch and looks out the window until her people get home. Isla loves to spoon in bed. Isla snores and runs in her sleep. After a while, the people bought a king-size bed — because Isla scrunched them up in the full-size bed — but Isla just lay diagonally across the whole thing. If the man gets home late, he sleeps on the sliver of bed that is left.

Isla thinks she’s smaller than Molly and Gretta, maybe because she once was, but she isn’t. Isla likes to curl up in the woman’s lap even though she weighs sixty pounds. Isla is the only living thing the people have ever met who is always happy. Isla even enjoys going to the vet. And life doesn’t seem as bleak now that Isla has her people and the people have Isla. Isla loves her people more than anybody ever will. Isla keeps them alive.

From Michael Kimball Writes Your Life Story (on a postcard) by Michael Kimball, Mud Luscious Press 2013, www.mudluscious.com. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

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interview

hot dog

Wayne Thiebaud

by John Wilmderding Acquavella Galleries www.acquavellagalleries.com Rizolli International Publications www.rizzoliusa.com

“In a career of almost unparalleled longevity and qualitative consistency, he has gained a much-admired seniority among American realist painters. Known for his sensuous brushwork, strong saturated colors, and manipulated spatial design, he has produced an unmistakably singular body of images in an equally personal style of execution,” writes John Wilmerding in Wayne Thiebaud, a large-format book surveying the artist’s work from the 1960s up to his recent Hot Dog Stand, which he completed last year.

Barbara Pflaumer, editor of the forthcoming magazine Foreground: Fine Art for the Culturally Curious (coming from Shelf Media later this year), talked to the 92-year-old painter about painting, subject matter, and hotdogs.

Shelf Unbound: Hotdogs have been a subject you’re returned to over the years. You painted a row of them in 1961’s 5 Hotdogs and you’ve got one on a sign in last year’s Hot Dog Stand, which was on the cover of the New Yorker. What’s the appeal of this subject for you and what does it mean to you?

Wayne Thiebaud: Essentially it is a subject matter that offers a chance for painting in a different way, which generally has been the probe of my painting research. I am continually looking for things that have meant something to me.

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I worked in those kinds of stands when growing up as a young boy and I draw and paint them from memory. It is a sentimental journey in some ways and represents a wider reference to American culture and experience in the way people work, eat, dress and the places they like to go and are in the habit of going to as part of their daily lives.

Shelf: Does photography have a role in your process?

Thiebaud: No. I do all my work by memory and drawings.

Shelf: Does irony or whimsy play a role in your work?

Thiebaud: I am less interested in that and more in the positive challenges that represent traditions of paintings and the notion of caricature. As an old teacher, the concept of caricature is central to the notion of style. People don’t invest the time of knowing what role caricature plays in the character of space, color and light—but it is important to examine those things which are central to the act of painting and essential to use in the character of light. How one can use many kinds of light in a single painting—the glint of light, the focus and out of focus use of light —that’s what Vermeer did and what gives his paintings magic, the magic of caricature. Bonnard caricatures everything in his paintings, his space is almost nutty—he gives his space uniqueness and personal style. These artists have developed a new vision species—also Van Gogh and De Kooning—other worlds they have created that are parallel and unique.

Shelf: You are perhaps best known for your paintings of desserts—colorful rows of cakes, or ice cream cones, or lollipops. Does that subject still interest you?

Thiebaud: I still paint that subject matter—I approach each painting with a slightly different problem with the light and the space of the works and I like to take it on again. A painting from 1950 and what you do with it today fascinates me—I encourage my students to do the same as Cezanne proved there is no such thing as a finished painting, there are only completed works.

Shelf: Do you have a sweet tooth?

Thiebaud: Yes. Shelf: We’ve got a dog theme going in this issue. Are you a dog person?

Thiebaud: I’m a dog lover but no longer have a dog.

Shelf: Who is your favorite author and whom are you reading today?

Thiebaud: Flaubert’s Parrot and a lot of poetry—the life of the mind is as rich and as wide as we make it and is of primary importance to painters. If painters do not use art, history, and literature, which have always been linked, they are not very good painters.

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interview

good dog

“This joyous and moving account of the human-animal bond challenges our fears, stereotypes and prejudice about what it means to be old and ailing,” says Geraldine Brooks of Sue Halpern’s forthcoming memoir. We asked Halpern to tell us about the book and share her “interview” with Pransky the therapy dog.

A Dog Walks Into a Nursing Home: Lessons on the Good Life from an Unlikely Teacher

by Sue Halpern Riverhead Books www.us.penguingroup.com

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About four years ago, I started working at the local public nursing home as the human member of a therapy dog team. While I knew that my very smart, sweet, dog, Pransky, would think this was fun, I was less sure about myself.

Who, after all, spends time in a nursing home unless they have to? But having set this challenge—first to train to take the certification test, and second to show up and share the dog’s unbounded love, I was committed to seeing it through—at least for one day.

By now I cannot count the days we have spent at the nursing home, there are so many. And over that time, I have found myself not only discarding many of my preconceptions about nursing homes and old age and death, and dying, I have learned how to be a better human from watching my dog be, well, a dog.

There are truths to be uncovered at places like a county nursing home, and sometimes it takes holding onto one end of a leash while your dog pulls you forward to find that out.

—Sue Halpern

An “interview” with Pransky the therapy dog, transcribed by Sue Halpern There’s something that confused me in your bio: At times you’re referred to as a mutt, but other times you’re called a Labradoodle. Which is it?

Pransky: My mother was a Labrador retriever and my father was a poodle, which makes me a “first cross” Labradoodle, which is a kid of mutt.

Why did you decide to become a therapy dog?

Pransky: I didn’t really decide until I was actually working at the nursing home and I met the residents and the staff, and I liked them and they liked me. Until then it was lots of being told what I could and could not do, and lots of leash-walking, which I do not like. I’m sure you wouldn’t like someone pulling you around by your neck, either.

In the book it says that you were the one who was pulling.

Pransky: Seriously?

I understand that when you get certified to be a therapy dog, you get certified as a team—a dog and a handler. Tell me about Sue Halpern, the other member of your team.

Pransky: She’s more of an introvert than I am, though when we’re working she’ll pretty much talk to anyone about anything: baseball, quilting, poker, grandchildren, current events, great-grandchildren, the weather, pigeons, Tom Hanks, crop yields, Nora Roberts, pie crusts, NASCAR, dogs (generially) and me. She talks a lot about me, which can get embarrassing.

How has your relationship changed since you became a team?

Pransky: We have always been close, but now that we work together, we finish each other’s sentences.

What do you like to do when you’re not working at the nursing home?

Pransky: I am very fond of sleeping. I also love to hike, cross-country ski, and chase small rodents.

Any advice for other canines hoping to become a therapy dog?

Pransky: Trust your partner. Stay hydrated. Be yourself.

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short tails

From “Ham,” in Safe As Houses: Stories

by Marie-Helene Bertino This Christmas, I have done the unthinkable. Out of insurance money I have written a check for four hundred dollars and have received in exchange an earnest-looking dachshund. The dog has small inconsequential feet and a long brown torso. I bring it to my father’s apartment on Christmas Eve afternoon.

He is already tense and complains about his sweater scratching the back of his neck as he answers the door.

The dog takes one look at the apartment and begins hurtling itself against the walls and doorjambs.

My father holds up his cup of coffee as the dog runs laps around our ankles. “What is that?”

“For someone who reads so much about dogs, you sure don’t know too much. It’s a dog.”

“What is it doing here?”

“Running around.”

His television is on.

“I told you I didn’t want a dog.

Don’t you listen?”

“I guess not.”

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“You get that from your mother. Sure as hell don’t get it from me. There are no dropouts on my side of the family.”

The dog ceases its assault on my father’s apartment. The look it gives me is clear: Get a load of this guy.

My father scratches at his neck.

“I can’t believe you brought this thing into my house. You have no head. Where is your head?

You’re just like your mother.

Stupid. Where did all my smarts go? Where did they go?”

“Don’t know,” I say.

“Something must have translated.”

The dog stabs at its paw with a soft-looking tongue. I cannot think of why I brought it. I want to make a bed where it can sleep.

I want to watch it eat. My father glares at the dog with such acute hatred that it makes me tired.

From Safe as Houses: Stories by Marie-Helene Bertino, University of Iowa Press 2012, www.uiowapress. org. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

Finally a book that makes sense out of life!

Many people have read about the benefits of meditation and would love to try it, but feel it is beyond their capabilities. Coming to Your Senses changes that perception. It teaches a new approach to meditation that makes the task of silencing the thoughts and clutter in your head no longer a difficult challenge.

This book takes you by the arm and leads you step by step through the process of learning this new approach to meditation called Inner Vision Meditation.

Coming to Your Senses is different from other meditation books in the following ways: It reveals how each of us may utilize our own bodily senses to move effortlessly inward to a peaceful place.

It shows us how by turning our attention inward we can gain a different perceptive on lifeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s challenges.

It teaches us how we may bring our awareness to the present moment and watch ourselves manifest our realit y.

It helps us develop a trust in ourselves and teaches us that the answers we seek lie within.

It shows us that we alone hold the key to our happiness.

w w w.silentplace.com Available on UNBOUND

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short tails

“Dog Park” in Walk Back from Monkey School: Short Stories by Kate Hill Cantrill We met an old friend and his old dog. We went off leash on the lush Buffalo grass. He and I— this old friend, I mean—talked mostly of divorce, something we shared between us.

“Is someone in my back yard every night?” I asked.

“I don’t think so,” he said, “but it’s hard to say.”

“The dog, she’s always jumping up and looking out there. It could simply be rats, but still, it frightens me.”

“I have a side alley,” he said, “as you well know. My dog goes bananas on it every night around eight.” He called to his dog then— she had run too far—and as she came back to us, he said, “Sometimes seven o’clock in the winter.”

Our dogs are of different ages and one tired before the other.

“Let’s get some water,” my old friend said, “and avoid these children on the way.”

I agreed. We re-leashed them and veered away from the kids.

One was having a tantrum.

“Dogs don’t like tantrums,” he said. “It unnerves them.”

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I nodded, but thought he spoke mostly of himself. Men don’t like tantrums, I thought. Something is happening in the world.

“When you lived here,” he said, “when you were married— when we were both married—I thought you were so beautiful.”

“I’m still beautiful,” I said. I pressed the metal button so the dog could drink from the dogheight water fountain.

“Ma’am,” my old friend said in falsetto. “That’s not for dogs.

That’s for very, very, very tiny people.” He placed his hand on my back and breathed out a laugh.

“More beautiful,” he said. “You have nostalgia on your side now.”

We embraced and then we parted, both with our leashed dogs.

After a run in the park, mine tends to curl herself like a donut and fall into a deep sleep. Sometimes when I look at her, I feel this sleep will last a lifetime, but then, at some point, I trust she will wake.

From Walk Back from Monkey School: Short Stories by Kate Hill Cantrill, Press 53 2012, www.press53.com. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

Timeless Wisdom for Parents, Grandparents—Everyone

This accessible, easy-to-read guide to great relationships is packed with wisdom you’ll want to put into action immediately—with all your relationships.

You’ll learn: • • • • •

Five ways to help your kids build self-confidence Seven things you should never do for your kids Seven ways to let your kids know you love them Seven ways to let your kids know you like them Ten things not to say to your kids—and what to say to them instead • Three essential questions you should ask your kids • The five conversations that impact your kids most • How to teach your kids values—the three best methods

AVAILABLE AT:

TENPOWERFULTHINGSTOSAY.COM Download the chapter for free here!

short tails

From “Bad Boy Number Seventeen,” in Happiness is a Chemical in the Brain: Stories by Lucia Perillo What I’m trying to explain is why I’m not crestfallen in the morning when I discover Number Seventeen is gone. Only for a moment does his vanishing come as a surprise, until I remember that sometime during his examination of my marked and unmarked skin he told me that he’d have to be at a roofing job by six. In fact when I first wake up I think I’m lying in a strange motel until I realize that it’s just my mother’s bedroom with its Johnny Carson drapes.

And just like in a cheap motel there’s this loud thump-crashthumping coming from the other rooms, where I find Louisa romping around with Seventeen’s beast, who’s still chained to the tire that he’s dragging across my mother’s rug. Already they’ve broken one wing off the wingback chair, and now he puts his paw right through a sofa cushion as though he were stepping into a bucket. Hanging from his teeth the dog’s got some kind of translucent seaweed that I finally realize is Louisa’s rainhat.

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“What’s going on here,” I scream, but Louisa’s confused that I could be angry on such a joyful morning. “I think that boy left this nice dog for me.” And damned if she’s not right: on the counter there’s a note that reads, Didn’t want to tell you I am married, etc. Wife has allergies and wanted me to put the dog down yesterday, so maybe it was Red’s good luck that I ran into you and your sister, who seems like she could use a hound like him. Spelling is not Seventeen’s best subject; actually the note reads, “I am marred, ect.” I am marred? And I slap myself when I finally get it—should have known he was married. Said his mother was dead and yet that T-shirt reeked of laundry soap.

I crumple the note and yell for Louisa to throw herself between the dog and the knickknack shelf.

Reprinted from Happiness Is A Chemical in the Brain: Stories

by Lucia Perillo. Copyright © 2012

by Lucia Perillo. With permission of the publisher, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

Is what we know about Jesus true?

D.C. Smith reintroduces history’s most misunderstood Messiah. He presents the Torah-observant 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.com.

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short tails

From “Gas Bar” in Bull Head by John Vigna Town unhinges him now, more strange faces, seasonal vagrants coming and going, people who don’t give a damn about the place.

He nods to her and leaves, closing the door behind him. The miners are gone; he drops a pepperoni stick in front of the dog. Its tail thumps against the garbage can; he stoops down and rubs its ears.

It turns on its side, licks his hand.

“You’re a good dog.” He asks the kid who the dog belongs to, but the kid shrugs and turns back to filling up an RV. Dwight thinks about how this dog needs a home and how nice it would be to have some company. He knows this game; he’s only fooling himself, so he drops another pepperoni stick and leaves the dog snuffling the ground for more.

He climbs into his truck, slips it into gear, and within minutes the Lamplighter sign comes into view. Good TV and close enough to the house to feel like home, far enough that he won’t walk over there when he gets drunk. Cold beer and wine, tavern next door. At the front desk, 32

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Alice gives him a fistful of messages. “That realtor isn’t one to give up, is he?”

“Keep pre-paying in advance, and he can call as much as he wants.” She returns to her crochet.

He drives around back, buys a fifth of rye and case of beer, slips into his room, peels off his wet clothes, tears the paper wrapper off a stubby glass in the bathroom, pours three thick fingers of rye and splash of Coke. The candy sits in a small white paper bag on the rim of the sink. … The inside of the door is scraped in long vertical claw marks, many of them deep, desperate. He touches them, decides someone must have locked up their dog when they went out or something, and slaps the door hard with the flat of his palm. A man who mistreats his dog mistreats his wife. He’s seen it time and again with the men he has worked with over the years.

From Bull Head by John Vigna, Arsenal Pulp Press 2013, www.arsenalpulp.com. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

How can a pint-sized, self-avowed word nerd master otherworldly forces when she hardly has the wherewithal to master calculus? That’s exactly the conundrum for Ariel Robinson, a college freshman at Montana State University who’s been lured to Montana by feuding Fallen Angels in search of the Coveted Piece of Home.

“Think Twilight meets The Hobbit with a strong heroine and a dash of humor ... a smart fantastical foray into the surprisingly human world of the Fallen Angels.”

Available on and all eBook retailers

www.bablackwood.com

Siren Song: Book 1 of the Siren Song Trilogy is author B.A. Blackwood’s first of a trilogy of wildly inventive, humorinflected young adult fantasy novels starring fallen angels who roam the earth, and the unsuspecting who happen across their highflying paths.

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novel thinking

The Myth Makers

by John Crawley

Published by Venture Galleries The invention: was it real or a hoax? Were the men who created it scientists or con artists? Only five people in the world know for sure. And two of them are dead. Proving the adage: Some people will give anything to get the story. Others will do anything to keep that story from seeing the light of day. Learn more at www. johncrawleybooks.com 34

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T

he crushing together of fact and fiction makes delicious spices for the pages of our books. They are the flavors that when sprinkled atop our entrees bring a delightful new aroma and flavor to the quest. But these same ingredients are many times at crosspurposes with one another. Facts are just that: facts. Truth. Set in stone.

Time, dates, locations, etc., all placed there for authenticity within a novel. The creative elements, those small points of brilliant light that we stir into the mixture, are simply our pure fantasy.

When I was writing The Myth Makers, I kept bumping into the two elements in their conflicting states. Scientific facts not agreeing with the creative elements I wished to mold into the story. So, I sought assistance on the problem faced by the hero in the book with scientists and engineers. Those to whom I turned showed me that a scientist often starts with a fantasy looking for the facts to support it. ‘How do I turn this hypothesis — this theory — into reality? How do I prove the existence of nothing?’ The real trick both in the lab and on the keyboard is holding it all together — keeping the imaginary believable and the reality something probable. As one of the scientists assisting me said, “Improbability is not bad. Unlike impossibility, it leaves the door cracked open just enough to allow doubt and chance to enter.” I like to think that is the job of good fiction.

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indie:

spotlight

Dogging Steinbeck Discovering America and Exposing the Truth About “Travels With Charley”

by Bill Steigerwald www.truthaboutcharley.com

I

t was Oct. 12, 2010. For three weeks and 12 states I had been retracing the 10,000-mile road trip Steinbeck made around America in the fall of 1960 and turned into his bestseller “Travels With Charley in Search of America.” From Long Island to Maine to Chicago to Seattle to California to Texas and back, wherever Steinbeck and his poodle companion Charley went on their famed journey, I was going too – exactly 50 years later.

I wasn’t following Steinbeck for any of the usual TV-docudrama reasons. He wasn’t my real father.

I wasn’t hoping to find myself or lose anyone else.

My old dog and I didn’t each have prostate cancer and six months to live. I didn’t even own a dog.

The unromantic, un-cinematic truth was I thought it would make a good book if I followed Steinbeck’s route and compared the country I found with the America he toured. It’d be a simple and easy way to show how much the country has changed along the Steinbeck Highway since Ike was president, Elvis was king and everything worth 36

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buying was still Made in America and sold at Sears.

Writing a book about America hooked around Steinbeck’s trip would not be complicated or controversial. Or so I thought. I figured I’d simply retrace the trail he blazed as faithfully as possible, as a journalist, using “Travels With Charley” as my guide, map and timeline.

But when I reread the book I quickly learned that “Charley” made a lousy map. Though it was a nonfiction book filled with real places, real people and real events, it was often vague and confusing about where Steinbeck really was on any given date. It was not a travelogue, not a serious work of journalism and, as I soon realized, it was not an accurate, full or reliable account of his actual road trip.

From Dogging Steinbeck: Discovering America and Exposing the Truth About “Travels with Charley” by Bill Steigerwald, www.truthaboutcharley. com. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

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.com

“...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

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afterword

Change A Child’s Life

by Timothy Joseph, PhD

O

ur schools must teach math, science, history, English and other subjects to yield a well-educated young adult. And though our kids learn writing in English class, it is usually more grammar and punctuation, and less on how to put thoughts and emotions into words. We as writers, individually or as a group, can offer our gifts. I present here how a “group” can entice our children to write, and perhaps in a follow-up article I will share how, as an individual writer, you can—I do both.

We in the Roane Writers’ Group in East Tennessee sponsor a countywide Student Writing Contest every year for grades 4 through 12. Students submit short stories, poetry, and essays. The winning senior receives a $2,500 college scholarship plus $500 for books and supplies, and every grade level has winners in each category: $50 - $100. This means many children win. We publish all winning entries and include other good writings in an annual anthology, making these kids published authors. We hold an awards ceremony at Roane State Community College, Harriman, TN. It is well attended by local dignitaries, parents, teachers, friends, and of course kids, and every contributing child reads all or a portion of their creation.

Following publication, each child is presented a copy of their book, and you should see their faces when, unannounced, their principal walks into their classroom, and in front of all the students acknowledges that he or she is a “Published Author” as the book is presented.

Your writers’ group can do this. Of course it takes a team of dedicated people and a lot of work to set up, judge, have fund raising events, and find sponsors, but when you see those beautiful, proud faces on stage, you will know it’s worth it. The rewards are simply spectacular, for nothing in the world can match changing a child’s life for the positive. Please, if within your ability, just DO IT—spawn a few new writers—won’t you?

(Note: If our group can help advise you in any way, we would be pleased to assist. My email is: timjosephphd@gmail.com) 38

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The Grand Prize winner in the most recent anthology was a poem by Abigail Stevenson of Roane County High School.

Wild Words for a Waygone World

by Abigail Stevenson What a mind in which I live, I don’t remember, I can’t forgive.

The truths I thought I knew, and the lies I’ve lived, Have grown together, and around me spin.

I tried to wave them all away, But half of me just wanted to stay.

That half of me said, “Why even bother?

What’s the point? Why struggle any longer?”

I managed though, to push those doubts away, And violently, from that wretched prison I wrenched free.

Only to be lost in a tormented sea; A world of people, searching just like me.

What would mend my war-torn heart?

What could keep it in one part?

The answer I finally found (or rather, he found me), Can help my heart have healing peace.

Whatever your will God, Your will let me keep.

For I know that wheresoever you lead me, There I will find water in abundance; running freely.

You have taught me how to swim, And your crystal waters have washed my sin.

Your spirits windthrow has whisked away, The wicked whispers that drove my heart astray.

Your warmth and light wash over me, I’m no longer lost in that cold, waving sea.

No longer helpless, my mind is clear, As it always will be, with your spirit here.

We are all at war in our hearts and minds, Our restless spirits wander without concept of time.

Waiting to be rescued from our wild illusions, Wanting escape from our wuthering confusion.

Why are we drowned in our thoughts and sin?

Because, we have not learned how to swim.

Yes, we recklessly throw ourselves, Into stagnant, murky water wells, Our wearied, waygone thoughts left to ourselves.

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feature

photo essay

The Silence of Dogs in Cars

By Martin Usborne www.martinusborne.com

W

ith the images gathered in The Silence of Dogs in Cars, Martin Usborne foregrounds two distinct ways to view animals in art. Drawing from the psychological power of identification with animals, we can see the dogs as versions of ourselves, investing our authority in their furry suits. Or we can see them as animals, as the outer orbit or absolute limit of what it means to be human. Outlining these two conflicting potentials for animal representation, the photographer asks us as viewers to decide where we see ourselves, inside the car our outside the car, but always through glass, and darkly. â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Susan McHugh in The Silence of Dogs in Cars Text and images from The Silence of Dogs in Cars by Michael Usborne, Kehrer Verlag 2013, www.kehrerverlag.com. Used with permission. All rights reserved.

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Kehrer Verlag www.kehrerverlag.com

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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 Blood Land

by R.S. Guthrie

C

rime’s an ugly constant in the big city. L.A., Chicago, New York. But when a savage murder brutalizes a small town and neighbor turns on neighbor, a tough-as-nails cop is essential to restoring order. Blood Land is a gritty, emotional saga set in the Wyoming badlands with both greed and vengeance at its core, and a reluctant hero forced to battle his own demons and ultimately choose between justice, revenge, and duty. www.rsguthrie.com Available at Amazon.com.

Hippo in the Garden

by Mark Trodd, illustrated

by Steve Hallam

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n this sequel to Hippo in the Stable, Hector is captured by Roman soldiers after his cousins play a trick on him.

Hector escapes and ends up in Jerusalem for the first Easter. He witnesses the crucifixion and hears Jesus forgive those who hurt Him. Moved by this, Hector decides to forgive his cousins when he gets back home because that’s what Jesus would do.

www.hippointhegarden.com Available at Amazon.com and Ebooks.

Faithwriters.com.

The Webs of Varok

by Cary Neeper

W

hat does it take to sustain an enjoyable standard of living for all the world— and across millenia?

The possibilities come to life, explored through the adventures of a mixed human-and-alien family as they travel an alternate 21st Century Solar System in The Webs of Varok, science fiction finalist in the 2012 ForeWord Reviews Book of the Year Awards.

www.archivesofvarok.com FACEBOOK LINK | GOODREADS LINK Available at Amazon.com.

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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 $250/quarter page as seen here.

Contact publisher Margaret Brown to reserve your space.

Margaret@shelfmediagroup.com 214.704.4182.

BOOK The Brother-in-Law

by F.X. Biasi Jr.

The Future of Our Past, Book 1, The Remembrance Trilogy

by Kahlen Aymes.

J

ust days before 9-11, and after months of plotting, a disguised Bart LaRocca inflicts vengeance on his brother-in-law, the powerful Mafia boss, Al (aka Little Nicky) Nicosia.

Bart then vanishes without a trace. The Brother-in-Law is a fictional forty- year saga of an Italian-American family whose lives are caught up and shattered by their family association with the Mob.

www.fxbiasijr.com Available at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.

Available in print and eBook at amazon.com, amazon. ca, amazon.co.uk, smashwords.com, barnesandnoble. com, sony.com and online Apple stores.

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his was absolutely a stunningly, beautiful book…It’s complex and intriguing… yet it’s real…both heartbreaking and beautiful…I literally feel every emotion Ryan and Julia felt. It tore at my heart more than once! The passion…is amazing.”

—ReviewsByMollly.com Book 2, Don’t Forget to Remember Me available now. Book 3 coming summer 2013.

Prologue available at Kahlen-Aymes.blogspot.com

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Couples’ Therapy: A Do-It-Yourself Guide to a Better Relationship

by Ariel S. Compton, MD

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Studies: Joint Memories !

by Margaret Schuyler Sternbergh

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They touch on the death of a child, on the joy of love, and the pain of unrequited love, on the wonder of man, and despair at his destructiveness.

They reveal a life-long struggle for justice and goodness.

Not discovered until after her death, the poems are remarkable for their lyrical beauty and intensity of feeling.

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They are presented here as a remembrance of her indomitable spirit.

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She was an independent spirit, an artist, a musician and a poet, a woman beyond her time.

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These poems, dedicated to her beloved sister, Gertrude, were not found until after her death. They are published here now in her honor.

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ISBN: 978-1-4363-9610-3

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Ariel S. Compton, MD

ouples’ Therapy is written to help the many couples who struggle on their own to A Do-It-Yourself Guide to a Better Relationship make their relationships ªxHSLENGy396103zv*:+:!:+:!@ a success. Drawing from her training as a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, her many years as a therapist, and her own personal experience as a woman, Dr. Compton takes you through a therapy hour just as if you were in a session with her.

STERNBERGH

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Margaret Schuyler Sternbergh lived from 1897 until 1982. Her father, James Hervey Sternbergh was the founder of the Reading Bolt and Nut Works which later became Bethlehem Steel. Her mother, Mary Candace Dodds, was the oldest of twelve children born on a farm in Burlington, Vermont. Margaret, or Mardi as she was known, attended the National Cathedral School in Washington, D.C. as a teenager, and then boarding school in Weisbaden, Germany.

STUDIES: Joint Memories

CORREX 04/03/09 DESIGNER: AJomoc REVIEWER: EVillamante/ FAres

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Couples’ Therapy

Margaret Schuyler Sternbergh wrote these poems over the course of her life. Written at a time when women were meant to be docile and submissive, they reveal a vital and passionate spirit.

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Couples’ Therapy: A Do-It-Yourself Guide to a Better Relationship

Ariel S. Compton, MD

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argaret Schuyler Sternbergh wrote these poems over the course of her life. Written at a time when women were meant to be docile and submissive, they reveal a vital and passionate spirit. They touch on the death of a child, on the joy of love, and the pain of unrequired love, on the wonder of man, and despair at his destructiveness.

They reveal a life-long struggle for justice and goodness.

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www.poemsbymardi.com FACEBOOK LINK Available at Amazon.com and Xlibris.com.

BOOK The Disharmonic Misadventures of David Stein

by Jonathan L. Segal BUSINESS AND SPIRITUALITY

funny, far-out musical mystery.

A jazzy novel written by a jazz pianist. A bungling, neurotic jazz musician gets caught in a crazy, comic world of musical intrigue. His obsessive quest to find out the identity of the pianist on a mysterious recording leads him to outrageous gigs, a death-music cult, a murder, and a mystical battle of the bands.

“Mind Your Business is a rare book that combines eminently practical and valuable advice for would-be entrepreneurs with wise reflections that imbue the whole activity with a larger purpose. Toine Knipping is a hugely successful entrepreneur who has valuable observations not only about business but also about the business of life. Mind Your Business should not only be read by budding entrepreneurs but by everyone who is involved in business life and is struggling to give this life more meaning.”

—Sudhir Kakar, World-renowned Psychoanalyst and Author of numerous books including The Inner World

TOINE KNIPPING , founder of the Amicorp Group, has been promoting a

balanced and holistic approach to business ever since he started his first company. He believes that in a business, employees, clients, shareholders, and suppliers all need to benefit commensurately to the benefits generated by the business. In the process, the society at large should feel a positive impact as well, and the environment should not be negatively impacted.

U.S. $XX.XX

www.disharmonicmisadventures.com Available at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.

Rickie Redeemed: Chronicle Of A Cure

by Trudi Knoedler

TOINE KNIPPING

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“While you may or may not agree with everything Toine Knipping says, one thing is for sure: he is an inspiration to all entrepreneurs. Mind Your Business is a practical and necessary read for anyone who wants to succeed in business.”

—Chip Conley, Founder of Joie de Vivre Hotels and author of PEAK and Emotional Equations

MIND YOUR BUSINESS

“Toine Knipping has taken to heart the statement, ‘One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure that it is worth watching.’ In a very engaging, lucid style, he draws the reader not only into his philosophy of entrepreneurship but also explains how to live a well-rounded life. This is a book full of wisdom—highly recommended to anyone interested in acquiring a deeper understanding of the inner theatre of the entrepreneur.”

—Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries, Clinical Professor of Leadership and Organizational Change, The Raoul de Vitry d’Avaucourt Chaired Professor of Leadership Development

Mind Your Business: Thoughts for Entrepreneurs

by Toine Knipping

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ind your Business,written

by Toine Knipping, straddles the area between spirituality and business. Learn how a business needs to service not only clients, employees, suppliers and shareholders, but also provide useful life challenges and contribute positively to the society without damaging the environment.

FACEBOOK LINK Available at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and Chapters.Indigo.ca.

Can’t Buy Me Love

by Dan McNeil

F

n Rickie Redeemed, 50-year-old cougar and fitness expert Rickie Lennox is thrust into the next phase of her personal evolution when she is diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer and decides to re-evaluate her treatment options, her approach to the men in her life, and her innermost notions of how to fight for a cure. See excerpts at the author’s Facebook link, below.

ebruary 9, 1964: the Beatles performed on Ed Sullivan, starting the British Invasion. That night, not one major crime was committed in NYC—or was there?

Can’t Buy Me Love is a light-hearted suspense novel featuring four ex-cons, New Jersey mobsters, unexpected love, loss, and bittersweet triumph during one of the most important eras in rock & roll history.

FACEBOOK LINK www.trudiknoedler.com Available at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and most e-book retailers.

www.danmcneil.ca Available at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, BarnesandNoble.com and Pulsepub.net.

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BOOK

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Victor over Cancer: !

Mixing Faith with Medicine

by Victor Roldan

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Classmate Murders

by Bob Moats

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Below 108 pages or 0.216 of an inch will no longer have spine text.

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Victor over Cancer: Mixing Faith with Medicine is an account of my struggle with a throat cancer via diary excerpts, doctors’ reports, and e-mails to and from people I love and people who love me.

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CORREX 02/14/08 DESIGNER: RPuzon REVIEWER: JDoblados

Victor Over CANCER

INITIAL 1/07/08 DESIGNER: FAres REVIEWER: MPagorogon

God, in his wisdom, allowed me to walk “through the valley of the shadow of death” and true to His word, He “was with me”!

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From “You have six months to live” to “I declare you to have no evidence of disease” and the spiritual formula that doesn’t fail in between, this was an incredible journey and a demonstration of God’s healing powers.

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im Richards receives an urgent email from a girlfriend he hasn’t seen in years. He doesn’t get to her in time, she’s been murdered. Jim must stop the killer ªxHSLENGy313568zv*:+:!:+:!@ before he reaches another woman, a new love in Jim’s life. First of the 27 book series.

Victor Roldan met Jesus Christ during the summer of 1963 in a small Pentecostal church in Brooklyn, New York, where he was born and raised.

Throughout the forty-four-year relationship with the Master, Victor has served as a Sunday school teacher, youth leader, drummer, actor, choir member, humorist, band member, vocalist, missionary, interpreter, care group leader, and percussionist.

Victor Over CANCER

IMPORTANT!

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http://murdernovels.com Now FREE on Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Kobo, Sony and iBookstore.

Available at Amazon.com.

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“Just finished Classmate Murders—well done!

Rockin’ good fun!”

—John Locke, Million Selling author.

n account of the author faith during his struggle with a throat cancer, via diary excerpts, doctors’ reports, and e-mails. “From ‘You have six months to live’ to ‘I declare you to have no evidence of disease’ and the spiritual formula that doesn’t fail in between, this was an incredible journey and a demonstration of God’s healing powers,” says Roldan.

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Victor was also founder and director of the ChristCentered Men’s Basketball Association which ministered for two years in Fort Myers, Florida, where he currently lives, and led many a young men to salvation.

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Victor is the father of three children and three stepsons and the grandfather of five beautiful girls and one boy.

Victor has written five screenplays for Hollywood.

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ISBN: 978-1-4363-1356-8

VICTOR ROLDAN

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All for Love

by Ann Swann

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iz falls in love with Quinn the moment they meet in college.

He professes to love her, too. She begins to think about the future, but his past rips them apart. What Liz does next impacts the rest of their lives, but she feels it is the only way… she does it all for love.

www.5Princebooks.com, www.annswann.blogspot.com FACEBOOK LINK Available at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and Smashwords.

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Traces of Kara

by Melissa Foster

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rom international bestselling and awardwinning author Melissa Foster comes her newest pulse-pounding thriller, the International Kindle Bestseller, Traces of Kara.

“Traces of Kara is psychological suspense at its best...”

—Midwest Book Review “Traces of Kara is a twisted, eerily atmospheric tale with an ending that will shock you.”

—Author Barbara Taylor Sissel www.melissafoster.com Available at Amazon.com.

BOOK Life Is Strange, Phase One: Pain and Pleasure

by Anastasia McConnel

A

mericans flocked to read 50 Shades of Gray and its taboo subject of BDSM. Well now you can enjoy a reality version of bondage in Anastasia McConnel’s bibliography of her amusing escapades as a Dominatrix. Join this average woman as she tells the story of her unintentional initiation into the world of BDSM and her life today as a professional Dominatrix.

Available at All Romance and Amazon.com.

Summer’s Growth

by Tina Gayle

F

orced by the family spirits to get a life, Mattie Winston has to train her replacement Amber Harrison to be in charge of the Winston estate. Mattie forms a bond with Amber, when strange accidents start happening which threaten their lives. Can they meet the challenges ahead?

Read the first chapter of my books on my website.

www.tinagayle.net Available at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Kobo.com, and itunes.apple.com.

The Music …

Oh, the Music

by Francesca Noumoff

A

n account of Elonora, a Russian Holocaust survivor and violinist whose love for music sheltered her through hardship. “I am the witness who discovered her a decade ago after the Second World War,” says the narrator. The book offers a worthy invocation to hold fast to beauty amid travesty.

Recommended for those intrigued by short forms that border between genres, and those intrigued by Europe’s 20th-century cultural elite.

—Foreword Reviews Available at Amazon.com, Xlibris.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and BooksaMillion.com.

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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 $250/quarter page as seen here.

Contact publisher Margaret Brown to reserve your space.

Margaret@shelfmediagroup.com 214.704.4182.

BOOK Learning to Live with Fritz

by E. Rawlins 5 Stars: “Spirited, Philosophical and Beautiful.”

“Just as Fritz, the feisty yet irresistible Maltese puppy, drew author E. Rawlins into a pet store one day so that she would take him into her life, Fritz called to me to read his story. I couldn’t put it down. Through this fast-paced, bumpy ride we follow the life of an opera singer while Fritz amuses us and teaches important life lessons.”

—Caryn Hartglass www.learningtolivewithfritz.com Available at Amazon.com, iUniverse.com, and BarnesandNoble.com.

Never Climbed His Mountain: One Life’s Journey To the Heights and The Abyss (Second Edition)

by Julian Gladstone

A

t this moment millions of American males are publicly “underdressing” in feminine lingerie. And no, they are not gay! Join me in the disarmingly honest engrossing journey of one. Call 1-877-buybook to order. Find reviews, blogs, and more at the website below. www.neverclimbedhismountain.com Available at BuyBooksontheWeb.com, Amazon.com, BarnesnandNoble.com, and bookstores.

Skinny the Cat and the Magic of Kindness: The Cure for the Common Curmudgeon

by Donna Rawlins

C

at lover, people lover, dog lover. It is about the kindness one can give in life. The story of a scrawny rescue cat who shares a secret that can change the world: how to love with unwavering persistence. A funny, captivating tale complete with heart-warming photographs. Learn how to practice a new verb—“to skinny.” http://skinnythecat.com/ FACEBOOK LINK Available at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, the iTunes Store, and eBookstore.Sony.

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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 $250/quarter page as seen here.

Contact publisher Margaret Brown to reserve your space.

Margaret@shelfmediagroup.com 214.704.4182.

BOOK Debut for a Spy

by Harry Currie

F

Fleeting Memory

by Sherban Young

T

ormer military pilot David Baird is a rising-star singer in the UK. David thinks his life is in control. Engaged to perform at a Soviet Embassy reception, British intelligence engage him to snoop a bit—nothing dangerous. They lie, of course.

Drawn into a morass of espionage, deceit and death, compounded by a beautiful Soviet agent, David’s life and music are altered forever.

wo amnesia victims, two couriers without a package, two dead bodies (or rather one body dead twice), and one cryptic message regarding the poet Keats. Check out the first in the Enescu Fleet detective series: the book Kirkus called “an utterly winning, deceptively smart collection of mishaps, plot twists and grinning oneliners.” (Named to Kirkus Reviews’ Best of 2011; read the Kirkus review here.)

Available at Ebookit.com, Amazon.com, KoboBooks.com, iTunes.apple.com, and other online booksellers.

www.mysterycaper.com Available at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and iTunes.apple.com.

Night Buddies, Imposters, and One Far-Out Flying Machine

by Sands Hetherington

J

oin John and Crosley as they scoot around the Borough in their fantastic flying machine, trying to snare the Crosley look-alikes popping up everywhere. They’ll do anything to restore Crosley’s good name and put a stop to all the evildoing, but it won’t be easy!

Juvenile Fiction/Readers/Chapter Books, ages 7+.

“Another great Night Buddies epic adventure and mystery, in an incredible, delicious word salad narrative style that absolutely keeps the pages turning.”

—Midwest Book Review www.nightbuddiesadventures.com Available at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.

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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 $250/quarter page as seen here.

Contact publisher Margaret Brown to reserve your space.

Margaret@shelfmediagroup.com 214.704.4182.

BOOK The Soldier’s Seed

by Sharyn Bradford Lunn

T

he series that brings Australia to the hearts of readers worldwide: Southern Skyes. Sydney-born author Sharyn Bradford Lunn makes waves not just in her homeland but through the world with this historical fiction collection, which she dedicates to the First Tasmanians. Now three books into the series, it’s reminiscent of other great family sagas that have captured the interest of the world. Purchase Book One, The Soldier’s Seed, and prepare to be immersed. www.sharynbradfordlunnauthor.com Available at Amazon.com, KoboBooks.com, and Smashwords.com.

Secretsincity

by Deray Ogden

B

RINEY RUZA has created a bizarre graffiti game, but the walls she paints on begin using her to release secrets they were built to contain. One secret lures Briney to Terezin, once a Jewish Ghetto under Nazi control during WWII. Here the walls draw her deep into the conspiracies surrounding the Holocaust, corruption and rise of neo-Nazism … with a deadly outcome. www.ogdenimprint.com Available at Xlibris.com, Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, iBookstore, and most major online bookstores.

The Beautiful American

by Marilyn Holdsworth

E

lizabeth Monroe, James Monroe’s wife, and Jasmine, a young slave girl, develop an extraordinary relationship as they are united by pivotal historic events and personal tragedies. From a bucolic Virginia plantation to the bloodied streets of post-revolutionary Paris, this powerful tale follows the lives of two courageous women from the past as they inspire a woman of today’s world. www.marilynholdsworthauthor.com Available at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.

The Stonehenge Scrolls

by K.P. Robbins

A

ncient scrolls reveal Stonehenge secrets, and an archaeologist blogs about their meaning in this thought provoking e-novel.

You’ll meet Myrddin the monument builder, his mind-reading daughter Sulis, Ogwyn the medicine woman, and the impetuous chieftain Gwyr.

Midwest Book Review calls it “a fine saga and a pick for any who enjoyed Auel’s ‘Earth’s Children’ series and similar historical novels.” www.thestonehengescrolls.com Available on Amazon Kindle and from MuseItUpPublishing.com.

BOOK A Prison of

A Prison of Lies

by Robert Thomas Doran

Lies

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Thieves

by Robert Crawson

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RO B E RT TH O M AS D O RAN

ental illness is a brutal, lifealtering darkness that many people don’t understand. A Prison of Lies is the author’s A Prison of retelling of his descent ROBERT THOMAS DORAN into mental illness—a vivid look from the inside. A great choice for those struggling with the disease in their own loved ones, Doran uses rich detail, dialog and poetry to examine his own downfall and ultimate breakingfree of the illness.

second chance for a priest going through a mid-life crisis requires risking everything to witness the most significant event in history.

Taking a new assignment requested by his Bishop, Father James Foster befriends Frank Javan, who has perfected time travel. Now James has to consider staying behind and explaining Frank’s disappearance or go with him.

www.aprisonoflies.com; www.stopharm.com Available at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and iUniverse.com.

Available at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.

Lies

The Definitive Guide to Buying

Craft Beer

The Definitive Guide to Buying Craft Beer

by Dan Koester

Twists of Fate

by William Bain

A

o you love craft beer, but don’t know much about it? It can take years to become a craft beer connoisseur and to learn how to properly DAN KOESTER appreciate beer. With The Definitive Guide to Buying Craft Beer you won’t have to wait that long! Learn the most important facets of this booming industry today and become an instant aficionado.

dventure, intrigue, romance and suspense blend into a compelling story of three lives over a seven-year period, beginning with a fateful encounter in Scotland. Their lives split apart until a dramatic encounter in Toronto in 1982 where two people confront a U.S. Senator who is running for President. They intend to have revenge and thwart his ambition.

www.thedefinitiveguidetobuyingcraftbeer.com Available at Amazon.com.

www.williambain.net Available at Amazon.com and on Kindle.

Discover Everything You Need To Know About Buying and Enjoying Craft Beer

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BOOK Nobody’s Laughing

by Jeffrey Arnold

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Alpha Male

by Mike Walsh

effrey Arnold’s focus is on the ultimate cost of modern life to humans as social, political, cultural and spiritual beings. We are running flat out but continue to lose ground.

Ultimately Mother Nature is our scorekeeper, not our opponent.

With irony and humor Arnold poses fundamental questions about the well-being of the human race and the planet.

Thrilling adventure novel set in deep Alaska.

Man versus wolf in the wolf’s environment … who wins?

iles Coffin, an authority on wolves, takes some New York City businessmen on a hunting trip in Alaska. Their prey: wolves. Coffin guides them but he secretly plans to hunt and kill Midnight, a large black wolf with whom he has a personal vendetta.

www.jeffreyarnold.ca Available at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, and Indigo/Chapters.

www.mikewalshart.com Available as hardbound, paperback or Kindle at Xlibris.com, Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Abebooks.com, and iPad.

Unlocking the Consciousness of Your Soul

by Terry Newbegin

A

good teacher is not afraid to explore what lies beyond conventional beliefs. Are you looking for clarity, abundance, and healing in your life?

Discover how by dropping the old way of using the mind, hope, and prayer, and discover a better way to achieve it. Read Unlocking the Consciousness of Your Soul by Terry Newbegin.

www.terrynewbegin.com; email: terry@nei.net Available at Amazon.com and www.

TerryNewbegin.com.

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Kids, Dogs, Canaries, and Other Curiosities

by Hal Reichardt

H

al writes about family life in a way that is laugh-out-loud funny, outrageous, delightful, off the wall, ridiculous, wry, and droll. Selecting everyday subjects we all can relate to, Hal finds the greatest humor in the illuminating details of life. All the while, with his inner child working overtime, Hal’s humor is grounded in good values and decent common sense.

www.whimsystreet.us Available at Amazon.com.

BOOK Jerusalem Diary

by Joanna Kujawa

B

ased on a true story, this bestselling travel guide is an adventurous journey of intrigue and discovery in the Holy Land. After finishing her PhD, Joanna joins two Australian men who discovered new sites that could be Jesus’ home in Nazareth and his tomb in Jerusalem. A fresh and sharply intelligent account that reads like a novel.

www.joannakujawa.com Available as an e-book and paperback at Amazon. com, The Book Depository, and Lybrary.com.

Spies and Lies: The Paradox

by Fred Malphurs

S

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.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Books-a-Million, and other online stores.

Statehood of Affairs

by Dr. Daniel R. Cillis

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et in 1911 New Mexico with implications for today’s immigration issues, this political adventure imagines a history that places the U.S. and Mexico on a collision course. The unjust commitment of a woman to an insane asylum reveals a conspiracy to find a secret document. If found before New Mexico statehood, Mexico could recover her lost territory—and change history. www.statehoodofaffairs.com Available in print and as an e-book at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.

The Devil’s Son

by Jennifer Loren

F

irst there was The Devil’s Eyes, then The Devil’s Revenge and now … The Devil’s Son. The Devil’s Eyes series is dark, sexually intense and dangerous. Nick and Kayla are two imperfect people overcoming the brutal realities of their worlds and finding life as criminals comes naturally to them both.

“This series is so powerful, I dream about it.”

—SKoen www.thedevilseyesbyloren.com; www.jenniferloren.com Available at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com and other online bookstores.

BOOK Code Name Rustler

by Charles Wolstenholme and Douglas Sipple

A

n explosive spy thriller of international intrigue, family secrets and romance, using the Soviet highjacking of a U.S. nuclear submarine as a ploy to defect by Colonel Zelta Rensky. She works frantically to outwit the KGB, Cuban Military Intelligence, and her estranged brother, Joseph Rendman, in the CIA. www.blacklabpublishing.net Available at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble. com, iBooks and Kobo Books. Also soon to be released as a paperback on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.

10 Keys to ebook Marketing Success

by Karen Baney

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s it really possible to make a living as an author? Yes it is! Author Karen Baney shares the 10 keys that helped her achieve over 200,000 downloads in her second year as a published author.

“A must-have marketing manual for both the new and veteran author…”

—Matt Patterson, My Emily www.myauthorservices.com/10Keys Available at Amazon.com.

Hex: The Haunting of Barrington County

by Stacy Charasidis

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n 1595, the witch Willow Kellar is hung and burned, but before she dies, legend says she cast a vicious hex on the townspeople who executed her. Hundreds of years later, teens Nathalie, Dean, Luke, and Sadie anticipate a wonderful summer of fun and romance. Witchcraft and ancient hexes are not a concern until their town starts to go crazy.

Sometimes, legends come true. www.stacycharasidis.com Available in print and on Kindle at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, and www.chapters.indigo.ca and as a PDF at www.ebookpie.com.

5.4%

by Juliette Guidara

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ith her husband’s cancer diagnosis just days before their first wedding anniversary, Juliette’s world came crashing down. “Guidara’s moving portrayal of the agony of coping with such a deadly cancer is riveting. … A stirring, inspiring account of one couple’s story of surviving cancer.”

—KIRKUS 5 STARS! “… this stunning and well-written work will provide guidance, comfort, and most of all, inspiration.”

—Elizabeth Millard, Clarion Review Available at Amazon.com.

BOOK A Life to Rescue: The True Story of a Child Freed from the Bonds of Autism

by Karen Michelle Graham

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couple faces the heartache of their two-year-old son being diagnosed with autism. Yet amid the tears, they turn their hopelessness into an all-out rescue mission.

This is an emotionally charged account of one family’s triumphant response to autism and the wonder of their son’s deliverance from autism. “ … so compelling I actually read it twice!”

—Susan Lynn Perry, Radio Show Host www.alifetorescue.com Available on Amazon and many other online bookstores.

Men Don’t Pee Straight

by Mr. Rick Dean

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hock full of stuff about men that you’ve always suspected yet hoped would change, Men Don’t Pee Straight confirms your worst fear—male stereotypes are real, accurate, and here to stay.

Blunt and comedic, these cartoon-illustrated pages soften this sad reality. From diapers and driving thru fragile egos and toilet seats, this poignant yet tactless book brings a smile. www.betterbathroombooks.com Available at Amazon.com.

South of Burnt Rocks, West of the Moon

by G.J. Berger

I

n this “captivating debut historical fiction, a young Iberian-Celtic she-warrior makes a stand against the invading Roman army.

Smartly written, the novel moves quickly…. The simple yet powerful narrative relies on a commanding cast of characters. … Berger beautifully crafts them as more than one-dimensional warriors. … Berger also builds an elaborate world full of small details that add depth and historical context.”

—Kirkus Review, September 2012. www.writerschoice.org Available at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and most other booksellers in e-book, soft cover, and hard cover formats.

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Contact publisher Margaret Brown to reserve your space.

Margaret@shelfmediagroup.com 214.704.4182.

BOOK Operation Doublepayback

by Jack Freeman

A

I Want To Do Yoga Too.

by Carole P. Roman

H

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.

allie and Mommy are going to the yoga studio and Hallie is very unhappy.

She wants to do yoga too! In this delightful tale, Carole P. Roman shows how you can find yoga poses in everyday life and enjoy them as well. Roman’s first book, Captain No Beard— An Imaginary Tale of a Pirate’s Life, was named to Kirkus Reviews’ Best of 2012.

jackfreeman_writer@hotmail.co.uk Available at Amazon.com.

www.caroleproman.com Available at Amazon.com.

I Will Never Forget

by Elaine C. Pereia

I

Pepper Parrot’s Problem With Patience—A Captain No Beard Story

by Carole P. Roman

Will Never Forget is the exquisite story of the author’s talented mother’s humorous and extraordinary journey through Dementia.

Through stories of Elaine’s childhood her mom’s wonderful character is revealed. As their relationship evolves, Elaine referees her mom’s uncharacteristic verbal assaults and Houdini-like disappearances. She witnesses her mother’s stunning rally to control her destiny and finally accompanies her mom as her brilliant mind is slowly destroyed by Alzheimer’s.

his time the crew tackles dyslexia as well as handling emotions correctly, teaching children to manage stressful circumstances.

Watch the crew of the Flying Dragon work together to overcome challenges. Roman’s first book, Captain No Beard—An Imaginary Tale of a Pirate’s Life, was named to Kirkus Reviews’ Best of 2012.

http://elainecpereira.authorsxpress.com Available at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and iUniverse.

www.caroleproman.com Available at Amazon.com.

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BOOK

Made in China

by Mark Reutlinger

Sanctuary

by Kris Kramer

L

Another book from www.the4threalm.com.

ook at the labels on your clothes, appliances, tools, and toys. What if everything “Made in China” suddenly disappeared from the American scene and we had no way to replace them? In Made in China, love, murder, industrial espionage, and international intrigue combine in a timely political thriller that will hit very close to home.

Available at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.

The Fingerprint of Jack: A Time Savers Club Adventure.

by Christopher Marshall

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n old newspaper with a bloody fingerprint, a book of incantations, and the eccentric Mrs. Steers take eleven-year-old Sam Henry on an extraordinary trip back to 1888 London where he comes face to face with the famous serial killer, Jack the Ripper. What Sam didn’t realize was he would find himself involved in a dangerous mission to save time. http://christophermarshallwriter.blogspot.com/ http://thetimesaversclub.blogspot.com Available at Amazon.com.

I

n 9th century Britain, a young priest witnesses a lone warrior save his village from savage raiders.

Believing he’s seen a miracle, he follows the reclusive warrior on his mysterious trek across the island, hoping to find his own path in this brutal, chaotic world.

www.the4threalm.com Available at Amazon.com.

The Vampire Girl Next Door

by Richard Arbib

M

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.com in paperback and Kindle.

Paperback and all e-book formats available on author’s website.

BOOK My Prison Without Bars

by Taylor Evan Fulks

Backseat

by Tom Wascoe

I

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.

Sometimes the strongest manacles in this life are bonds forged from painful memories of a past so horrific, they shackle and incarcerate the very essence of one’s soul. Inevitably, the constraint is a life sentence. I have a secret … a really dark, and dirty secret. It’s a prison. A prison I can’t be pardoned from. My prison … without bars.

www.TomWascoe.com Available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com, and iBookstore.

The Day the Earth Moved Haiti

by Elaine Hughes, Patricia Koenig, Christina Ruotolo, Elizabeth Thompson, Lynne Wigent

A

n emotional compilation of pictures, stories, poems and journalistic accounts personalizing the devastating January 2010 earthquake in Haiti. The writings come from individuals touched by this tragic force of Mother Nature, as well as mission team members who helped with recovery efforts in Haiti. All profits from the book go to three NPO’s that directly help the people of Haiti. http://haitibook.wix.com/ thedaytheearthmovedhaiti BOOK TRAILER LINK | FACEBOOK LINK Available in paperback at BarnesandNoble. com, Amazon.com, and Tate Publishing and in hardback from the authors’ website.

www.taylorfulks.com Available at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.

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Contact publisher Margaret Brown to reserve your space.

Margaret@shelfmediagroup.com 214.704.4182.

BOOK The Book

by Jessica Bell “Jessica Bell’s surprising risks with language capture a child’s clear vision in a world of adult heartbreak. Indelible.

Courageous.”

—Thaisa Frank, author of Heidegger’s Glasses and Enchantment

Ladd Springs

by Dianne Venetta

A

“A curiously captivating read that somehow manages to encapsulate the length and breadth of love and family in one slim volume.”

—Josh Donellan, author of Zeb and the Great Ruckus

deathbed promise and a mysterious find in the forest bring Delaney Wilkins and Nick Harris together in a dramatic fight for the rights to Ladd Springs, a wealth of natural springs, streams and trails in the eastern Tennessee mountains. Clem Sweeney and Annie Owens want to stake a claim of their own, but only one will win the prize…

www.jessicabellauthor.com Available at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, BarnesandNoble.com, and KoboBooks.com.

www.dianevenetta.com Available at Amazon.com.

HerStory

by Delaina M. Waldron

H

erStory set in the beginning of slavery in America, is a paranormal thriller about a young African slave woman who is rescued by a Native American tribe. The young African slave woman has a dark secret. A dark secret that is beyond her control.

She can see the past and the future and she can also speak to the dead.

www.herstorynovel.com Available at Amazon.com.

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Contact publisher Margaret Brown to reserve your space.

Margaret@shelfmediagroup.com 214.704.4182.

BOOK Crimes of Redemption

by Linda McDonald

A

The Immortal Von B.

by M. Scott Carter

A

psychological suspense debut: Albert Raeder is dead, but he wields power from the grave—thanks to the good-ole-boys he left behind. They’re going to see someone pays for his untimely demise. Sheriff Tommy Maynard has always been more babysitter than crime-solver. Until the Viet Nam vet-turned-sheriff realizes he and a grumpy recluse are all that’s keeping a fragile stranger from being railroaded into prison. $24.00 U.S. / ISBN: 978-1-937054-25-0

young adult novel: Josie Brunswick moves to Europe so her dad can head a secret genetics lab. Lonely and adrift, her only solace is her electric guitar—until an accident in her dad’s lab sends her on a mad adventure throughout Vienna and time.

Leaving Josie to wonder: could a girl from this century find love with a young composer from another? $18.95 U.S. / ISBN: 978-1-937054-30-4

www.theroadrunnerpress.com Available at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and indiebound.org.

www.theroadrunnerpress.com Available at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and indiebound.org.

Naked Intolerances: Flynn’s Crossing Series Book Three

by Yvonne Kohano

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hen Gabby Cooley-Burke’s great love dies, she guards her son Jeremy and a lifetime of romantic memories.

Rick Chagres is also protecting his troubled son Will, perhaps a little too much. When the boys clash in science class, their parents collide as well. Is love enough to protect them from the danger looming in their future? www.YvonneKohano.com.

Books available from your favorite ebook or paperback seller or at www.abbottpress.com.

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Contact publisher Margaret Brown to reserve your space.

Margaret@shelfmediagroup.com 214.704.4182.

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 business—today’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

poetry

Book of Dog, an excerpt In the book of dog, a few syllables contain the world, and you own them. You dole out car, home, sit, stay—for the sweet yelp, the whine.

But at cookie, the wet mouth seizes, the low growl transforming Give it to me into oh how I love you. The pure love we assign when the dog gets what it wants. And when it doesn’t, that famously humble and contrived looking the other way, studying the air— the mote in the air— the not wanting for anything, not saying oh you dear one with the meat, the bone, the biscuit come back, give it to me.

From Book of Dog: Poems by Cleopatra Mathis, Sarabande Books 2012, www.sarabandebooks.org. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

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poetry

White Heat Doggish, nose pressed to glass, occasionally wiping away the fog of my own damp breath, and I’m not tired, just drunk and considering self-immolation like Quang Duc who sat so peacefully in flame.

The industry stretches on. A row of metal globes like the one Cagney stood atop before he exploded.

When did I start imagining these scenes in color?

There’s always work waiting at the end of the line, a month’s worth of dishes, stacked and breeding, two bottles of Drano to unclog the shower, two bottles until I’m free from the plague of girl hair.

The bridge marks the Pennsylvania border.

In profile, red and green lights, flashing between St. Andrew’s steel crosses. Another mile

From Sudden Dog: Poems by Matthew Pennock, Alice James Books 2012, www.alicejamesbooks.org. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

traveled, and it seems so much of my life consists of waiting for the other shoe to drop, but I will not, I will not die in Delaware tonight.

UNBOUND

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on our shelf

Knit Your Own Dog: The Second Litter

S

oft, cuddly, and obedient—the knitted dog is a loyal companion indeed.

This delightful book includes photos and easy-to-follow instructions for knitting 25 breeds, including a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Bichon Frise, and Boxer. While these yarn canines won’t play fetch, they are fetching enough to deserve best of show honCast-Iron Cooking with ors. (Cat lovers, never fear Sisters on the Fly —Knit Your Own Cat was alled “Girl Scouts for published last year).

—Anna Nair grown-ups...except with martinis,” Sisters on the Fly travel the country in search of Knit Your Own Dog: The Secadventure, and cooking over a ond Litter, Black Dog & Levencampfire is a big part of the fun. thal Publishers, www.blackdoIrene Rawlings has gathered gandleventhal.com. the group’s favorite recipes in a new cookbook with inviting photographs that will have you pulling out your cast iron whether you are at home on the range or home at your range.

—Margaret Brown

C

Cast-Iron Cooking with Sisters on the Fly by Irene Rawlings, Andrews McMeel Publishing, www.andrewsmcmeel.com, www.sistersonthefly.com.

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Tirza

A

uthor Arnon Grunberg has twice won the AKO Literature Prize, the Dutch equivalent of the Booker, and his latest work to be translated into English, Tirza, was a best-seller in Europe. In Tirza, a book editor has lost his wife and his job and is about to lose his beloved daughter Tirza as she embarks on a trip with her boyfriend. Comic and heartbreaking.

—Ben Minton Tirza by Arnon Grunberg, translated from the Dutch by Sam Garrett, Open Letter, www.openletterbooks.org.

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COOL READS FOR KIDS.

COMING IN OCTOBER 2013 SIGN UP FOR A FREE SUBSCRIPTION AT W W W.SHELFMEDIAGROUP.COM UNBOUND

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small press reviews Everyone Loves Elwood: A True Story

By Karen Quigley with Loren Spiota-DiMare, illustrations by Kay A. Klotzbach www.everyoneloveselwood.com

A

s Jonathan Swift once said, every dog must have his day, and for one dog, that day is immortalized in Karen Quigley and Loren Spiota-DiMare’s charming children’s book Everyone Loves Elwood: A True Story. The story centers on Elwood, a dog once deemed too ugly for his breeder to sell. Fate, however, steps in for Elwood, and he’s eventually adopted by someone who loves him not despite but because of his unique appearance. That Elwood has a heart of gold only sweetens the deal.

In addition to being a story that champions the underdog in all of us, Everyone Loves Elwood also beautifully reflects the old saw that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Bearing a slight resemblance to a gremlin, Elwood’s tongue hangs out of his mouth in perpetuity, and what little fur he has sits atop his head like an angry white mohawk. Yet something about him is undeniably captivating—as are all of the colorful illustrations by Kay A. Klotzbach that bring the book to life. Indeed, as Elwood closes in on his destiny of being named the world’s ugliest dog, what comes across most clearly is that dogs are a lot more forgiving than people when it comes to appearances. Elwood, after all, doesn’t realize that he’s “ugly.” In his mind, he’s just Elwood.

Playing the cards he’s been dealt, Elwood shows us all—adults and children alike—that personality trumps beauty any day of the week. Or at least that it should.

—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 ranging from Weird Tales to Reader’s Digest. When he’s not writing, Marc teaches writing and literature courses at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania.

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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

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“

ELEMENTARY Siobhan said that the book should begin with something to grab people’s attention. That is why I started with the dog.

”

— from The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

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april/may MARIE-HELENE BERTINO’s debut collection of short stories Safe as Houses received The 2012 Iowa Short Fiction Award, judged by Jim Shepard, and was published October 1, 2012. It was long listed for The Story Prize.

KATE HILL CANTRILL’s writing has appeared in literary publications including Story Quarterly, Salt Hill, The Believer, Blackbird, QuickFiction, Mississippi Review, Smokelong Quarterly, Swink, and others.

JOHN CRAWLEY is the author of the award-winning novels, The Man on the Grassy Knoll, Stuff and Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt, as well as his popular serial novel, Dream Chaser. Visit johncrawleybooks.com.

SUE HALPERN is the author of five previous books. Her writing has appeared in The New York Review of Books, The New York Times Magazine, Time, The New Yorker, Parade, Rolling Stone, and Glamour, among others. She has been a Rhodes Scholar and a Guggenheim Fellow and is a scholar in residence at Middlebury College.

THERON HUMPHREY is a photographer who has lived and worked across the country, most recently in Idaho.

He embarked on a cross-country trip, meeting and photographing someone new every day as part of a Kickstarterfunded project. He took his coonhound Maddie on his travels, and also photographed her along the way.

MICHAEL KIMBALL is the author of five books, including Big Ray (which The Wall Street Journal calls “mesmerizing”), Dear Everybody (which The Believer calls “a curatorial masterpiece”), and Us (which Time Out Chicago calls “a simply gorgeous and astonishing book”).

contributors

uses tactile brushwork, saturated colors and luminous light for a range of subjects he describes as “people, places and things.”

MATTHEW PENNOCK’s poems have appeared or are forthcoming in such literary journals as Western Humanities Review, LIT, Denver Quarterly, New York Quarterly, Love Among the Ruins, Guernica: A Journal of Art and Politics, and American Literary Review, among others.

LUCIA PERILLO has published five books of poetry. She was a MacArthur Fellow in 2000 and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2009.

BILL STEIGERWALD is a veteran journalist from Pittsburgh who worked as an editor and writer/reporter/columnist for the Los Angeles Times in the 1980s, the PostGazette in the 1990s and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review in the 2000s.

MARTIN USBORNE is a fine art photographer who focuses his work mainly on portraits, both human and animal. The Silence of Dogs in Cars has been shown in solo exhibitions in London and Los Angeles.

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.

CLEOPATRA MATHIS has since 1982 taught at Dartmouth College, where she founded the creative writing program. She is the Frederick Sessions Beebe ‘35 Professor in the Art of Writing.

SCOTT MCCLANAHAN is the author of Stories, Stories II (Six Gallery Press), Stories V! (Fascist Press) and Crapalachia: A Biography of a Place (Two Dollar Radio).

His forthcoming novel, Hill William, is coming soon from Tyrant Books.

WAYNE THIEBAUD is one of the most celebrated artists working today. Best known for painting everyday objects from gumball machines to bakeshop windows, Thiebaud

what to read next in independent publishing

APRIL /MAY 2013

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what to read next in independent publishing