Winner of the 2016 Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Fiction

“I read The Life and Death of Sophie Stark with my heart in my mouth. Not only a dissection of genius and the havoc it can wreak, but also a thunderously good story.”—Emma Donoghue, New York Times bestselling author of Room

“This novel is perceptive, subtle, funny and lingers in unexpected ways. The analysis of a woman who puts her art above all else is equal parts inspiration and warning story. Anna North makes prose look easy.”—Lena Dunham

Gripping and provocative, The Life and Death of Sophie Stark is a haunting story of fame, love, and legacy told through the propulsive rise of an iconoclastic artist. Sophie Stark begins her filmmaking career by creating a documentary about her obsession, Daniel, a college basketball star. But when she becomes too invasive, she finds herself the victim of a cruel retribution. The humiliation doesn’t stop her. Visionary and unapologetic, Sophie begins to use stories from the lives of those around her to create movies, and as she gains critical recognition and acclaim, she risks betraying the one she loves most.

Told in a chorus of voices belonging to those who knew Sophie best, The Life and Death of Sophie Stark is an intimate portrait of an elusive woman whose monumental talent and relentless pursuit of truth reveal the cost of producing great art. It is “not only a dissection of genius and the havoc it can wreak, but also a thunderously good story” (Emma Donoghue).

William Shakespeare's The Tempest retold as Hag-Seed
 
Felix is at the top of his game as Artistic Director of the Makeshiweg Theatre Festival. His productions have amazed and confounded. Now he's staging a Tempest like no other: not only will it boost his reputation, it will heal emotional wounds.
 
Or that was the plan. Instead, after an act of unforeseen treachery, Felix is living in exile in a backwoods hovel, haunted by memories of his beloved lost daughter, Miranda. And also brewing revenge.
 
After twelve years, revenge finally arrives in the shape of a theatre course at a nearby prison. Here, Felix and his inmate actors will put on his Tempest and snare the traitors who destroyed him. It's magic! But will it remake Felix as his enemies fall?
 
Margaret Atwood’s novel take on Shakespeare’s play of enchantment, retribution, and second chances leads us on an interactive, illusion-ridden journey filled with new surprises and wonders of its own.

In a world where the South has won the Civil War…

It’s 1982. A hundred years have passed since the South emerged victorious in the War of Northern Aggression. From the ashes of the aftermath, the industrial North has evolved into the technical center of the modern world, while the agrarian South, now broken up into Protectorate territories overseen by Protectors, props up its culture with vicious oppression. But now the South is in dire economic straits. Their refusal to allow slaves to use technology in their work has made their system obsolete and unable to compete with the global economy. Something must be done.

Patrick Edgerton is the leader of the Railway Association, an underground network devoted to freeing slaves. When Patrick learns of the horrifying “final solution” to the South’s economic predicament, he teams up with Olivia Askew, a Southern Protector’s daughter. Now, it’s up to them to prevent the mass genocide the South is proposing.

Southern Republic brings to life vivid details about the dual nations created when the South succeeded in defending its way of life, and asks the question, ‘What would our world look like if the South had won the Civil War?’

As Lord Byron, who no doubt survived many an awkward situation himself, said, “Always laugh whenever you can. It is cheap medicine."

In the Glow of the Lavalamp delivers ten stories of sex gone hilariously wrong, set in the bathtubs, back seats, battlegrounds, and bedrooms of America. These tales confirm that bizarre is indeed the nature of the universe and humor may be the best path through it.

A grad student rappels down the side of a building on a bed sheet in an attempt to escape shame. An unlikely couple destroys a family heirloom when desire careens out of control. A bumbling lothario nearly beheads his lover when his seduction plans go awry. A middle-aged woman finds herself entwined in a passionate embrace at a Civil War battlefield. Earnest people, hell-bent on believing that reality lies at the surface of things, scramble toward acceptance of their humanity as they stumble over the unspoken and unacknowledged.

You'll laugh, grimace, maybe even shriek with recognition. Odd as it may seem, tales of bad sex and other misfortunes can restore your faith in humankind, in your ability to weather the chaos of life, and in the healing power of laughter. Light and redemption glitter among the catastrophes within these pages.

Jendi Reiter's debut novel offers a backstage look at the glamour and tragedy of 1990s New York City through the eyes of Julian Selkirk, an aspiring fashion photographer. Coming of age during the height of the AIDS epidemic, Julian worships beauty and romance, however fleeting, as substitutes for the religion that rejected him. His spiritual crisis is one that too many gay youth still face today. This genre-bending novel couples the ambitious political analysis of literary fiction with the pleasures of an unconventional love story. Vivid social realism, enriched by unforgettable characters, eroticism, and wit, make Two Natures a satisfying read of the highest sort.

A war on vice In Washington, DC—a city constantly awash in scandals? Hard to believe, but it really happened. Only not exactly the way it’s told here.

In an upscale residential neighborhood, in a perfectly respectable apartment building, one of the best-known, high-priced call houses on the East Coast operates quietly on the top floor. Everything goes along smoothly until the DC Police and the FBI try to outdo each other in waging a war on vice.

This funny, fast-paced novel casts 1940s Washington DC as the main character, not just the setting. And as the adolescent world capital fills up with trainloads of hopefuls, you’ll get to know Mattie Simon, who wants some adventure, and Andrew Stevens, the newly elected congressman, who only wants to serve his country. But Washington has a way of changing people—even when they get what they want.

C.P. Stiles’ crisp writing and sharp eye for detail keep you smiling as you take in a Washington that never dreamed of today’s scandals—but was on its way to them.

Brilliant young trial attorney J.T. Lockman finds himself in the trial of a lifetime when he's appointed to represent an innocent African American man accused of murdering a wealthy white man in a county where the Klan has ruled supreme for many years. Lindsey Wilkens, a proud family man, has already experienced the impact of racism on a jury verdict. He was charged with dealing in stolen property for selling an electric saw he found abandoned in the woods as he walked home from work. He went to trial against his attorney's advice and learned that innocence didn't matter when it came to a finding of guilt in a courtroom set in one of the state's most infamously racist counties. Now, when he finds himself in the bowels of a jailhouse run by the sheriff whose reputation is what gives the county its shameful notoriety, he turns to the same attorney, a man he'd learned to love during his first experience with criminal justice.

Lockman embraces the chance to right what he considered a terrible wrong the first time his client was convicted, but he faces the wrath of public opinion, as well as the anger of his friends, family, and the woman he loves as he takes on the establishment of the county, bringing to the surface the many ghosts of its racist and violent past. In doing so, he must also come to terms with his own past if he will have any chance to save his relationship with the first woman he's ever really loved. This is a book that makes us face the reality of our past, but carries within its pages a hope for a future where we, as a society, may be able to move beyond the disease of racism, although the journey may destroy the lives of many along the way.

Take a quirky, fun, medieval trip with a gorgeous alchemist, teenage genius and a tiny, wisecracking, 600-year-old eggplant.

A damaged, up-and-coming rock star doesn’t know what love is. Even when it smacks him in the face. Twice. When he falls hard for a girl who's determined to resist him, what else can he do but break apart?

Dark forests, rogue waves, and pinned, brittle dragonflies. Someone's having nightmares. But who?

Sizzling-hot New York rocker, Bran, is sure of just two things in life. You can’t rely on anyone. And love isn’t real. With music and a wild surf to subdue his demons, he can cope with anything.

Except maybe Ava.

The feisty girl, who works for his Australian record company, is a total pain in the butt. There’s no way she could be the key to overcoming the traumatic past he keeps well-hidden. Or is there?

Siren’s Wave is a slow-build, dark rock romance. A realistic opposites attract tale of a sexy muso saved from his tramatic past by the love a reluctant girl. It features subtle mythological symbology and poetic dream sequences provide clues to a childhood trauma. Perfect for readers seeking something different.

Note:

Contains strong language, drug use, slang, and Australian English spelling. This reflects the author's experience of working in the Australian music industry.

THE COOPER FAMILY SAGA

Patty Friedmann's entire New Orleans trilogy—the sweeping story of three generations (plus an inspiring bonus book!) is now available at an irresistible price! A thirty per cent savings, a priceless read. (Four reads, actually.)

For more than half a century, the Coopers battle against several of the greatest scourges of the past century: the Holocaust, Hurricane Katrina, possibly the mob, and—not the least of them-- each other. First comes steadfast, upright Bernie. Then he marries headstrong Letty and Darby is born—along with Cooper Family Drama. Throughout this mesmerizing trilogy, each in her own way, Letty, Darby, and Darby’s daughter Honor, The Wannabe Mob Princess, manipulate, wise-crack, rebel, and otherwise misbehave their way through historical, marital, natural, and self-inflicted disasters. But despite their foibles, these ladies, as seen through Patty Friedmann’s subtly humorous, razor-honed prose, are guaranteed to charm and exhilarate.
 

TOO JEWISH

Like Patty Friedmann's father, young, brainy Bernie Cooper escapes Nazi Germany and ends up in New Orleans, where he marries the lovely Letty and finds an entirely new kind of prejudice against Jews—the kind that comes from other Jews. Sadly, they’re his own in-laws. The good news: a brilliant daughter named Darby. The bad (besides Letty’s parents): Darby doesn’t fit in either.

GREEN EYES

You just know a book titled GREEN EYES delivers all the good stuff--seduction, envy, Southern charm with all the accompanying treachery, (Scarlett O’Hara had them); and shopping. You heard right—we did say shopping— in Darby Cooper’s case, for the perfect human studhorse, a man who can pass along the gene that gets you into grad school along with the prettiest emerald orbs in Louisiana. Who wouldn’t want that for her kid?

“The story is by turns humorous and heartbreaking, and the author is adept at capturing that quirky combination of love and resentment that characterizes so many families.” —School Library Journal

DO NOT OPEN FOR 50 YEARS

“A trio of eccentric women and the city of New Orleans come vividly alive...Quirky, irreverent and irresistible.” --Publishers Weekly

THREE GENERATIONS OF WITTY, WILLFUL WOMEN…WHAT'S NOT TO LOVE? The world turns upside down when Hurricane Katrina hits New Orleans, blasting apart three generations of women in the final installment of The Cooper Family Saga. Darby Cooper, the daughter of Bernie and Letty, has become a bestselling New Orleans author, drawing on the tragedy of her father’s life.
Letty, now your classic Tough Old Babe in teetering heels and designer shoes, is missing—possibly a casualty of the storm-- although nobody who knows Letty really thinks Katrina would be much of a match for her. And Honor, Darby’s beautiful green-eyed daughter, has evacuated to Florida, gotten engaged to a mobster, and brought him home to Mama. Can these three somehow find each other and some way work it all out?

Who will like this saga: Women (men too) partial to dark humor, Jewish fiction, family dramas, and slyly humorous literary fiction. And everyone who loves New Orleans!

BONUS BOOK!

In addition to the three dynamic fictional women you’ll meet, The Cooper Family Saga box set includes the story of a vibrant real-life heroine--

ART OF A JEWISH WOMAN: The True Story of How a Penniless Holocaust Escapee Became an Influential Modern Art Connoisseur by Henry Massie

Art of a Jewish Woman is a memoir and biography of Massie's mother, a brilliant and beautiful woman who escaped the Holocaust and participated in many of the most critical periods of the 20th Century. One part historical biography, weaving World War II era European cultural relationships with the history of Modern Art, and one part inspirational romance, it paints a vivid portrait of Felice as a bold and indomitable spirit.

Just like everyone else in that small, remote and beautiful village, Mohammed was living a simple, happy and peaceful life with his wife and eight children. They had their own farmlands, goats and water for themselves and life was good. That was of course until a group of strangers suddenly appeared at the village and nothing remained the same again. With time, more outsiders arrived and before too long, they were almost everywhere. New settlements were built, new jobs were created and the villagers welcomed them with open arms as they were their own people. The outsiders were smart, educated and powerful people with higher connections. As they had come with well-thought-out plans and had no intention whatsoever of leaving soon, they were here to stay permanently. While the systematic schemes worked perfectly as planned, the simple and naive villagers hadn't even had the slightest clue about it, and by the time they had realized it, it was already too late. It was not only their farmlands, goats and water that were gone but also their freedom too and the next thing the villagers found themselves was being barricaded in a restricted place like caged animals. With time, the resentment, hatred and bitterness between the two sides grew in great deal and the fighting persisted on indefinitely. How the villagers fought with the superior enemy? What happened to their lands and water that were supposed to be a gift from the God? How Mohammed survived through the infighting? What happened to his goats, olive trees and family? And what happened to the hope, dream and future of those innocent villagers? What happened to their dignity? What happened to humanity? This is not only a work of fiction by itself, just take a look around yourself and you will find reality more closer than you can ever imagine! It's not only Mohammed's story anymore, it's our story!

TIM I GURUNG is an author working on 15th book based in Hong Kong, he writes on serious global and social issues, and he only writes for his charity - ISSLCARE.

Maggie Elizabeth Harrington is the story of a young woman in the 1890s, whose world is a remote northern Michigan mining town, where she tries to save a pack of young wolves from a bounty hunter. A terse historical love story of a young woman’s struggle with environmental and moral issues concerning the slaughter of wolves, and the church’s condemnation of her love for a young man, are as real in today’s global world as they were for young Maggie more than a century ago.

In 1866, Peter Baxter’s misfortune ends the day he leaves Badgerys Creek orphanage. Unsure of what to do next, Peter finds himself on a farm run by Mr. Brown. An aging man, Brown needs help and is happy to give Peter a place to live in exchange for his labor. Unbeknownst to Peter, Brown’s past is riddled with dark secrets tied to the same orphanage, which he has documented in a red folder.

During a chance encounter, Peter meets Rose. Peter cannot help but fall in love with her beauty, grace, and wit; however, he fears that his affection will go unrequited as a result of his crippling poverty. But fate changes when Peter joins the search for gold in Hill End, New South Wales. Striking it rich, he returns to Rose a wealthy man. Peter is changed by his new found affluence, heading towards the mire of greed. Will Rose regret her relationship with Peter?

Meanwhile, Rose has her own troubled history. One that is deeply entwined with Brown’s past and Peter’s future.

Set in a small town during the 1900's, The Gingerbread House is Historical Literary Fiction grounded in nostalgia, mirth, and true love. When a journalist comes home from Europe to take over the town newspaper from his sister, he becomes infatuated with the local people and their stories. From an orphaned young girl to a threatening politician to a mysterious and beautiful woman, each individual has a tale to tell in this anthology of brief yet captivating fictional vignettes, each of which rings all too familiar. The Gingerbread House is very much like gingerbread itself - just as tasty whether one delves into it a bit at a time or all at once

A lonely girl learns to play a discarded trombone.
An abused stallion learns to trust.
Together, they save their world.
Eleven-year-old Josey Miller knows two things: it’s her fault Mama left, and she will do anything to coax her back.
When Mrs. Casey, the new music teacher, starts a band at Bennett Springs Middle School, Josey sees it as her chance to finally belong to something and convince Mama to visit for her concerts. The only problem: there’s no money for a clarinet, what with Dad laid off and fighting to keep their farm.
But things start looking up when Grandpa Joe gives Josey an old trombone to play, and Mr. McInerny starts boarding his high-dollar Arabian stallion with Dad. Nobody can train horses like Josey’s father. And that’s good because Chief is dangerous.
When her father and the stallion go missing during a 50-mile endurance ride in the Ozark Mountains, can Josey bring them safely home?

‘Bobby Wayner was twelve when he watched his older brother, Eldon, die on the kitchen table from a shotgun wound.’ The opening of Fred Calvert’s lyrical novel “The Balladeer” sets the tone for this striking and poignant tale about the destruction of two families. During World War II in Kentucky, farm boys Bobby and Eldon Wayner are budding balladeers. They become intrigued with a recluse farmer, “Ol’ Weber,” a German immigrant. Rumors allege that he’s a Nazi and that he‘d even murdered his own family. The boys spy on him and discover that at night he plays a mesmerizing piano tune. To write a ballad about Ol’ Weber, Eldon takes a fatal risk. Many years later, after time served in California’s Folsom Prison for a barroom killing, Bobby travels back to Kentucky. On the way, his ballads and memories tell why he’d run away after Eldon died. When he reaches home, he discovers the past has been waiting like Judgment Day.

​An Adele concert held in Verona becomes the focus for an unhappy married couple, a divorced mother and a devoted lover from three different countries and cultures.
This is the story of three flawed but likeable people. First up is Elias, a Moroccan man living in Rome. He discovers that a black magic spell was cast upon him but starts to doubt whether it was the real cause of the break-up between him and his long-lost love Malika. He decides to search for her in the shadows of Marrakesh after eight years of separation.
Nadia, a single mother from Jordan, is battling her ex-husband in the courts and doing all she can to secure freedom for herself and her only son. Her dream is to take her son to see his idol, Adele, live.
Finally, Yaser, a married man living in Las Vegas, realizes that his marriage is crawling all over him like a slow, painful death, so he starts to rebel against his wife. While faith initially brought them together, it is now causing them to drift apart.
These three characters are on a journey to break free of everything that has haunted them, learning harsh truths about fate, religion, courage, desire and guilt along the way.

In this sweeping epic of the northernmost American frontier, James A. Michener guides us through Alaska’s fierce terrain and history, from the long-forgotten past to the bustling present. As his characters struggle for survival, Michener weaves together the exciting high points of Alaska’s story: its brutal origins; the American acquisition; the gold rush; the tremendous growth and exploitation of the salmon industry; the arduous construction of the Alcan Highway, undertaken to defend the territory during World War II. A spellbinding portrait of a human community fighting to establish its place in the world, Alaska traces a bold and majestic saga of the enduring spirit of a land and its people.

BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from James A. Michener's Hawaii.
 
Praise for Alaska
 
“Few will escape the allure of the land and people [Michener] describes. . . . Alaska takes the reader on a journey through one of the bleakest, richest, most foreboding, and highly inviting territories in our Republic, if not the world. . . . The characters that Michener creates are bigger than life.”—Los Angeles Times Book Review
 
“Always the master of exhaustive historical research, Michener tracks the settling of Alaska [in] vividly detailed scenes and well-developed characters.”—Boston Herald
 
“Michener is still, sentence for sentence, writing’s fastest attention grabber.”—The New York Times

Nude swimming is a collection of stories about love and romance in the lives of an eclectic group of individuals. From physicist Jack Joseph, caught in the space between his love for the beautiful Marilee and his famous General Theory of Non-Existence, to the manic Loonsfoot and his possessive love for Esther who has left him to be with a woman. These short romantic fictions explore relationships from the extreme peripheral to the  intimate inside of affairs of the heart.

The single thread that binds the stories together is our need for love, compassion and companionship in spite of our variances in ideas and ethics that separate us. I want the reader to experience why a young Maggie Harrington, on the eve of her wedding to one man, surrenders her virginity to another. Or what propels a self assured Rosemary to request her lover to  dominate her in a spanking episode. I am hoping, within the framework of these not so ordinary characters, to connect you as a reader to the not so ordinary conflicts that exist in your own relationships.

After devastating family events, Scott Trundel clings to the last remnant of his former family life: an unrelenting passion for baseball. With no real athletic skills, Scott eventually embarks on a career as a baseball reporter at the turn of the millennium, when newspapers are quickly becoming relics and the information age threatens to make journalists extinct. Scott must rise above the rest to survive in the dying medium he loves.
When Scott meets Cameron Dobson, he feels an inexplicable draw to the player most others now see as unremarkable. Cam was born with velocity in his arm and notoriety in his lineage. His skill is his one way out of his rural Pennsylvania hometown, where his last name is as dreaded as his fastball. To fully realize his talent Cam must overcome a lifetime of unfulfilled expectation .
Scott and Cam meet in the purgatory that is independent league baseball. Both looking for a shot at something bigger, they can only hope someone is taking notice of them and the new baseball team in blue collar Vineland, New Jersey.