Sarah's Daughter
by Ruth Bass

"The setting is richly evoked; the characters are utterly persuasive; and the issues of loss and mourning, friendship and love, and the complexities of family life are explored with sensitivity and wisdom."
-- Judith Viorst, The New York Times bestselling author of Necessary Losses and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Sarah’s Daughter tells the story of a young girl, Rose, whose childhood in 19th century New England is abruptly interrupted by the unexpected death of her mother and the new responsibilities that are heaped upon her. The story is set shortly after the Civil War and was inspired by the author’s grandmother, who was fifteen when she lost her mother and was suddenly faced with taking over the responsibilities of raising her siblings, running the household and caring for her grieving father. Bass’ heroine, Rose, confronts a similar situation. Forced to be both adult and child, Rose deals with dilemmas difficult for a girl her age and, like every adult and child, makes some good decisions and some poor ones.

In addition to the rich historical detail including the demise of the small family farm, the push toward modernization and the rise of automation, this story successfully depicts many social issues of the era, and readers will discover that a lot of those issues—such as addiction, women’s rights, and education—are the same as those that trouble young adults today.

Ruth Bass has a long history as a newspaper reporter and columnist. A resident of the Berkshires in Massachusetts, she has won many awards for writing and was recently inducted in to the New England Press Association’s Hall of Fame. She is a graduate of Bates College and of Columbia School of Journalism.

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More Information
Copies of Sarah’s Daughter and other Gadd Books titles may be purchased through Ingram, Baker & Taylor, or directly from Gadd Books at www.gaddbooks.com or by phone (413) 528-8895 or fax (413) 528-8825.
PAGES: 390
PRICE: $14.95
ISBN: 978-0-9774053-4-3

New Fiction by Harvey Havel!

Available through your Book Distributor, Barnes and Noble.com, or Amazon.com!

From Poets to Protagonists: Fiction from the Hudson Valley Poetry Scene Featuring the Poets as Main Characters from Amazon.com

ISBN-13: 9781607497011
Format: Paperback, 160pp
Pub. Date: May 2009
$24.95

From Poets to Protagonists: Fiction from the Hudson Valley Poetry Scene Featuring the Poets as Main Characters is a literary collection of short stories that depicts some of New York’s most well-known downstate poets and artists whom the author has had the privilege of reading with at many popular coffee houses, libraries, and cultural centers throughout his earlier years as a traveling writer in the Hudson Valley. These stories range in genre from general-interest fiction and science fiction to expository essay and short character sketches.

These stories are accessible to all connoisseurs of strong, complex characters that portray the very real lives of these poets through Harvey Havel’s highly imaginative fictional lens. His skillfully-crafted narratives serve as the backdrop for the presence of these fine poets on the page.

The poets in this selection include (in order of appearance):

• William Seaton
• Patricia Seaton
• George Nitti
• Bill Perry
• Sarah Morr
• Bonnie Law
• Christopher Wheeling
• Kevin Larkin Angioli
• Will Nixon
• Donald Lev
• Ingeborg
• Ken Van Rensselaer
• Phillip Levine
• Laura Ludwig Lonshein
• Robert Milby
• Ted Gill
• Jane Gill
• Roberta Gould
• Teresa Marta Costa

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Stranded: Stories from the Edge of Infinity
by Kimberly Raiser

A Sci-Fi / Speculative Short Fiction Anthology

Book Review

"The short story is hard enough to write. Even more difficult is the short short story. Raiser is a master of both types as evidenced in Stranded. There are generous doses of tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror. Her writings have appeared all over the Internet. This is the first time they have appeared together in one collection. Some of the pieces are dark and sinister while others are very funny. Many of them are in the realm of The Twilight Zone."
~ Midwest Book Review

About the Author

Kimberly Raiser began her literary career as a poet, dedicated to everything a poet’s life should be—a downward spiral of endless despair. Fortunately, she met and married her “muse,” who coaxed from her an exuberant fiction writer. Today, Kimberly's poetry resides in the dusty pages of her past.

Following several attempts at penning the Great American Novel, Raiser settled on writing short stories. After two years of gathering enough published material for a collection of warped and witty tales, she pieced together a remarkably creative anthology entitled Stranded: Stories from the Edge of Infinity.

From where did this writer's interest in Sci-Fi/Fantasy spring? She attributes it to the influence of her grandfather, Henry Kunicki (Google it!), who grew up with famed physicist David Bohm, who in turn had once worked with a man named Albert Einstein. Kunicki and Bohm used to fantasize about space travel together, weaving a strong element of Sci-Fi throughout the family.

Raiser’s writing has been compared to that of Ray Bradbury, Douglas Adams, and Monty Python, with a few Twilight Zone twists thrown in for good fortune. Not at all bad company to keep--for a New Jersey girl who wound up setting roots among the palm trees of Florida’s oldest city, St. Augustine.

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Visit Kimberly Raiser's Homepage

The Advent of the King by Fletcher King

Reviewed by David Daffins

In Fletcher King’s The Advent of the King, a young, rash king attempts to cope with challenges to his reign of which he has not been prepared. A neighboring kingdom is making preparations to invade his kingdom, and with infertility plaguing his own people, his subjects may rebel.

The moment the reader picks up this fast-paced medieval adventure, one is drawn quickly into a richly delineated world of 9th Century palace life -- high adventure, earthy romance, and courtly intrigue -- from which there is no escape until the final chapter. (And even then one finds oneself rushing to the computer to find the publishers website in hopes of quickly getting hold of the sequel!)

From the intricate twists and turns of its plot, to the wildly unexpected outcomes of the events into which the characters find themselves entangled, the reader is propelled along like a fully fledged participant in the action.

The characters are all unique members of a society that ranges all the way from the handsome but dissolute King of the tiny Kingdom of Speyron, to some of the raunchiest serving wenches that ever plied the world’s most ancient profession. And all of the principal characters have personalities that are at once engaging and yet exasperating, ringing true to life with all the complexity of motive and irrationality of method that make us human beings the most glorious yet most perverse of creatures.

The situations into which the characters find themselves entangled range from the comings and goings of daily (and nightly) palace life, through the often violent convulsions of insurrection and battle, to the most sublime out-workings of religious fervor. Yet all portray for the reader a life that is both fully human and totally believable. And nowhere in this, Fletcher King’s first hard-charging novel, is there even a hint of the sort of cardboard stuffing that has given adventure fiction such a bad name over the years.

And with all of its glimpses into the seamier sides of human existence, with few exceptions, it retains a sense of moral purpose and integrity beyond the scope of most works of fiction, adventure or otherwise. A difficult task for a smartly fashioned medieval novel, and yet one which the author handles with a real skill and ability, creating an authentic sense of medieval life along the way.

Not to mention the fact that it’s a damn good read!

The Advent of the King, ISBN 1-4259-1493-4, LC# 2006900565, was published on July 30, 2006 by AuthorHouse Books, 1663 Liberty Drive, Ste 200, Bloomington, IN 47403.

Go to the Official Website for The Advent of the King.
Buy The Advent of the King from AuthorHouse Books.