Category Archives: Books

New for Pride Month – Acts of Atonement

 

Acts of Atonement
by S. W. Leicher

ISBN # 978-1-940189-30-7
$19.95

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Ten years have passed since Paloma Rodriguez—bold, seductive daughter of the Latin South Bronx, and Serach Gottesman—quietly iconoclastic daughter of Haredi Jewish Brooklyn, first broke with the painful constrictions of their cultures to seek healing within an artfully blended household of their own.  Six years have passed since Serach’s little brother Shmuely fled New York altogether for a life of well-supported scholarship in Jerusalem.

Convinced of the success of their escapes, they are all totally unprepared for the upending series of events that force them to re-examine what they’ve built, what they’ve left behind—and what it means to have a heart in conflict with itself.

About the Author

S.W. Leicher grew up in the Bronx in a bi-cultural (Latina and Jewish) home. She moved to Manhattan after graduate school and raised her family on the Upper West Side, where she still lives with her husband and two black cats. When not dreaming up fiction, she writes about social justice issues for nonprofit organizations.

 

Praise for Acts of Atonement

“From Jewish synagogues and rites to the foundations of faith and love, S.W. Leicher deftly crafts a landscape in which kindness and forgiveness too often only emerge after violence and loss…. Replete with images of these transformation moments and the challenges which overlay them, Acts of Atonement is filled with powerful insights and revelations… highly recommended.”  ~ D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

“The core beauty of Ms. Leicher’s brilliantly written Acts of Atonement lies in how deftly it draws us into the pain, irrationality, and joy of family, captures the nuances of love between two women, and tests our personal capacity for tolerance, acceptance, and empathy.” ~ Michael J. Coffino, author of the multi-award-winning novel Truth Is in the House

A Tragic But Beautiful Love Story Born of the Turbulent 60’s


Take a Left at Tomorrow

Released November 15, 2021

“Something had gone seriously wrong in the land where everyone was supposed to be equal and free. These days, all we had to do to lose our rights and become the enemy was speak out against the war.”

To Joey Dean, Kit Griffith is everything—every possibility and joy in the whole wide world. And then he is gone, to a place no one can pronounce and a war no one can understand. When he returns, he is changed in every way, is a man at war with his memories, his wounds, and his government. But Joey, who now has her own mission, believes love is all they need. She has yet to realize that in a world where cities, draft cards, and bras are burning, dreams as well as tear gas are in the wind.

On the frontlines of America’s social revolution during the Vietnam war era, Joey must learn the truth about love, changing times, and her own dreams.

Set amidst the social and political tumult of the late sixties, this novel depicts the complicated love shared by Kit Griffith and Joey Dean, two mid-western kids on the cusp of adulthood, each carrying wounds and ambitions that both propel and hobble their relationship.  Renee Anduze tells their story in a well-wrought narrative, filled with beautiful language, stunning imagery, and an array of characters right out of the Sixties.  If you lived through this dramatic history of our country, you will be impressed with her deft portrayal of the times.  The chapter on the Woodstock Festival alone is well worth the price of admission.  If you missed those times (for better or for worse), you will be wisely instructed in the challenges, paradoxes, and hopes they gave us.  ~ Lezlie Laws, Ph.D.—Twelve Doors: Writing for Pleasure, Self-Expression, and Insight; TIA Journal; Shifting Gears, Editor

About the Author:
Renée Anduze holds an MFA in Writing from Spalding University and a BA in English from Rollins College (summa cum laude). She has worked as a professional writer and editor for nearly 20 years—five of them at Rollins College. Her work has appeared in national magazines, newspapers, newsletters, and online. She has won several writing awards, including three Royal Palm Literary Awards. Her poetry is published in Rollins Book of Verse 1885–2010. Renée has taught and tutored upper-level English and participated in Bread Loaf and many other major workshop conferences. She is a member of the Association of Writers & Writing Programs, Florida Writers Association, Sigma Tau Delta International English Honor Society, and Alpha Sigma Lambda National Honor Society. Find her at ReneeAnduze.com.

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Dorothy Allison to Select Winner of Twisted Road Publications Short Fiction Contest

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. —(April 8, 2015) Are you twisted? Twisted Road Publications announced on the first day of the Association of Writing Programs (AWP) Conference that it is celebrating the great storytelling tradition of the American South with a contest aimed at finding the next William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, Carson McCullers, or Tennessee Williams. Winners will receive cash prizes and publication in a Southern Gothic short story anthology to publish in 2016.

For Twisted Road Publications, “Southern Gothic” refers to the southern literary tradition of gritty and sometimes disturbing tales examining the lives of flawed or marginalized characters that point out the conflicts and contradictions of society. Call it Southern Gothic, Grit-Lit, Rough South, or simply weird. Entries do not necessarily have to be set in the south, nor do authors need to be of southern origin or residence. Salem, Mass., author Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, for example, set in New England, certainly fits the bill.

allison1-133x180Bestselling author Dorothy Allison will select the final winners of the Twisted Road Publications Southern Gothic Fiction Short Story Anthology Contest.

Allison’s first novel “Bastard out of Carolina” was a finalist for a National Book Award, won an ALA Award and became an award-winning movie. She has won numerous other awards and was described by the Boston Globe as “one of the finest writers of her generation”.

In 1998, Allison founded The Independent Spirit Award, a prize given each year to an individual whose work with small presses and independent bookstores has helped to sustain that enterprise. She also serves on the Advisory board of the National Coalition Against Censorship and Feminists for Free Expression, and the advisory board of the James Tiptree Jr. Memorial Award, a prize that is presented annually to a science fiction or fantasy work that explores and expands on contemporary ideas of gender.

For contest rules and submission guidelines visit our Contests page.