Maureen Foley

Lonely California pastry chef Win never learned how to swim, despite growing up just miles from the Pacific Ocean. Even Janie, her flaky pro-surfer single mother, couldn't convince her to brave the water, solidifying Win’s fear of the water when she leaves her at the tender age of 9. But when Win turns 29 and decides to take swimming lessons for the first time -- finally confronting her hydrophobia and trying to make sense of why her mer-mother suddenly swam off all those years ago -- she must also deal with a desperate crush she's developed on her New Age neighbor, Livia, mysterious postcards that keep arriving in the mail, and her bad habit of pathological lying. This touching and humorous look at female relationships and the dramas that come for contemporary women turning thirty also doubles as a loving ode to the small coastal town of Carpinteria and the laid-back SoCal lifestyle that guides it. Poetic and moving, Maureen Foley's fiction debut is both a perfect beach read and an insightful look at love, accidental families and the power of friendships.

Women Float

Mary Ann Winkowski

Preferring her bookbinding career to her work solving cold cases for the Cambridge police, psychic and single mom Anza O'Malley aids unhappy spirits in the wake of a priceless manuscript's theft from the Boston Athenæum, a case in which she is aided by an unlikely trio of ghosts. Original. A first novel.

A Novel from the Ghost Files

The Book of Illumination

Regina Calcaterra

Paula Young Lee

Kristopher Jansma

David Whitehouse

Jenny Milchman

Marissa Stapley

Vicki Lesage

Lizzie Harwood

Adria Cimino

Didier Quémener

Piper Punches

Stephanie Carroll

J. J. Hensley

A collection of literary fiction short stories on the theme of legacy What will you leave behind? Long after we've left this world, our legacy remains. Or doesn't. Or remains only in the minds of those who knew us, those whose lives we've touched. Those we've written to, or about. If you had a choice, what mark would you leave? How should people remember you? Should they remember you? Fourteen authors sat down during the month of January 2015, shut out distractions of the outside world and wrote about the subject. The resulting fiction and nonfiction stories fill the pages of Legacy: An Anthology. The book includes stories from Kristopher Jansma, winner of the 2014 Sherwood Anderson Award for Fiction, New York Times best-selling author Regina Calcaterra and Canadian best-selling author Marissa Stapley among others. Within these pages, there is laughter, pride and hope. There is romance and rock and roll. Certain messages are eerie, while others bestow a sense of peace. The collection, through the discerning lens of each writer, runs the gamut of the human experience. Author proceeds benefit the charity Paws for Reading, which pairs pets with children to improve reading and communication skills. Thanks for supporting the cause! This collection of literary fiction short stories has something for everyone. Its heavy theme will ultimately leave you feeling hopeful about the future. Interview with the EditorsQ: We see some big names in Legacy: Regina Calcaterra, whose memoir Etched in Sand was a New York Times best seller; Kristopher Jansma (The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards), winner of the 2014 Sherwood Anderson Award for Fiction; Jenny Milchman (Cover of Snow), winner of the Mary Higgins Clark Award for best suspense novel of 2013-and that's just to name a few! How did you manage to assemble such a list of talented authors? A: We were inspired by the #30Authors blog event hosted by The Book Wheel, where authors reviewed their favorite books of 2014 on participating blogs. So we thought, how about featuring the work of these authors in an anthology? We liked the idea of best-selling authors, award-winning authors and a few talented debut authors collaborating on a project. So we invited them to participate, and to our delight, they were just as excited to contribute to such an anthology as we were to publish it. Q: Why the theme of legacy? A: Words remain. And the writer's art is created through words. So it seemed the perfect subject to explore through fiction and nonfiction stories. Q: What sorts of tales will we find in the book? A: Our writers wrote stories along a common theme, legacy, yet each story is very different. It is interesting to see each author's take on the idea. You'll find the classic love story, stories of family secrets, friendship and life-changing experiences, mother-daughter relationships, father-son relationships, an on-the-edge-of-your-seat thriller, quirky stories, World War II memories, a remembrance of the Holocaust, stories of mean girls, and a tribute to rock and roll. Q: We hear your anthology is for a good cause? A: Yes, a cause we're really excited about! Author proceeds from Legacy go to the "Paws for Reading" program, which allows children to read aloud to a therapy dog (or cat, or bunny!) to improve reading and communication skills. Thanks for supporting the cause! Categories for the Legacy collection- Literary Fiction Short Stories - Literary Fiction Drama - Short Story Mysteries - Short Story Collection The Legacy anthology touches on the following themes: death, hope, human experience, quest, love story, World War II novels, Holocaust stories, rock and roll, star-crossed lovers, foster children, family secrets, friendship, destiny

An Anthology

Legacy

Sleepy Block Island seems just the place for ghost whisperer Anza O’Malley to find some much-needed peace and quiet. But with troubled spirits dead set on making their voices heard, rest is in short supply! February 1907, Block Island. Residents of this tiny Rhode Island community awaken to a scene of tragedy: During a midnight blizzard, a New York–bound steamer carrying 157 passengers has been destroyed at sea. Volunteers rush to the beach to organize a search-and-rescue effort—but for most of the passengers, hope is already lost. A century later, residents of the island are busy preparing for the summer season and debating the merits of a proposed wind farm near the beach. No one expects that those long-forgotten passengers may have something to say about the project, but the restless spirits are furious that their final resting place may be disturbed—and turn to Anza to help them protect it. If spirit-world preservationists aren’t enough, Anza also has to face the uncomfortable possibility that her five-year-old son, Henry, has inherited her gift. And then there’s that handsome fisherman whose charms are proving difficult to ignore. What began as a simple island sojourn turns into a week of chills, thrills, and ghostly intrigue in this gripping second novel in the Ghost Files series.

The Ice Cradle

Maureen Foley

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