Nestled deep in the heart of the countryside lies the beautiful valley of Scotney Castle. This peaceful place is home to all manner of wildlife, but perhaps most notably of all, is a young rabbit named Wrapper, with a heart full of excitement and an unquenchable thirst for adventure.
As the season of Autumn falls across the picturesque woods and hillsides he calls home, we follow Wrapper and his companions as they explore the natural world around them. Making new friends as they go and getting into all manner of situations, Wrapper learns about life, the world in which he lives and even a little about himself along the way.
“Change is the only thing that will always be the same. We just have to appreciate it as it comes.”
This collection of five short stories holds closely to themes of adventure, friendship and nature throughout. You may just find yourself happily lost in a world where the grass is green and the air is fresh, with just a sprinkling of magic.
Publisher: C&R Press (October 15, 2021) Category: Linked Short Stories, Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction ISBN: 978-1949540239 Available in Print and ebook, 150 pages
Description
A Mother’s Tale is a tale of salvaging one’s soul from received and inherited war-related trauma. Within the titular beautiful story of a mother’s love for her son is the cruelty and senselessness of the Vietnam War, the poignant human connection, and a haunting narrative whose set ting and atmosphere appear at times otherworldly through their landscape and inhabitants.
Captured in the vivid descriptions of Vietnam’s country and culture are a host of characters, tortured and maimed and generous and still empathetic despite many obstacles, including a culture wrecked by losses. Somewhere in this chaos readers will find a tender link between the present-day survivors and those already gone. Rich and yet buoyant with a vision-like quality, this collection shares a common theme of love and loneliness, longing and compassion, where beauty is discovered in the moments of brutality, and agony is felt in ecstasy.
From award-winning author Khanh Ha, comes a book of short stories revolving around the Vietnam War. Countless lives were impacted by the war, and every story in ‘A Mother’s Tale and Other Stories’ showcases a little slice of that impact in a deeply personal way.
In this collection there are eleven stories, each following different characters who give their perspective on the war. Some of the stories include, ‘Heartbreak Grass,’ the tale of a young man, newly drafted into the war, who spends his last days before shipping out caring for a man that is referred to in the village as ‘Uncle Chung.’
Uncle Chung is a quadruple amputee, having lost all of his limbs in the war. He is also blind. While caring for him, the young man strikes up a friendship with Uncle Chung, and begins to wonder if the man’s wife might not be faithful. She leaves him for many hours at a time while he has to sit in his own filth.
Another story, ‘The River Of White Lilies,’ revolves around an American soldier who is stationed in a Catholic village near the U Minh forest. The soldier laments being stuck in Vietnam until he eventually befriends a beautiful school teacher and begins spending time with her, as well as the other people in the village.
Finally, the titular story, ‘A Mother’s Tale,’ is about a mother who travels from the U.S. to Vietnam years after the war ends in order to find the son that she lost.
Every story in this collection is better than the last! Ha’s writing is atmospheric, magical and very touching. He writes so intimately about the food and culture of Vietnam that, when reading the book, I felt like I was really there.
Each story flowed into the next just like the river of White Lilies from the book, and each one was unforgettable. If you love well written short stories, trust me, you will love this book.
About the Author
Khanh Ha is the author of Flesh, The Demon Who Peddled Longing, and Mrs. Rossi’s Dream. He is a seven-time Pushcart nominee, finalist for the Mary McCarthy Prize, Many Voices Project, Prairie Schooner Book Prize, and The University of New Orleans Press Lab Prize. He is the recipient of the Sand Hills Prize for Best Fiction, the Robert Watson Literary Prize in Fiction, and the Orison Anthology Award for Fiction. Mrs. Rossi’s Dream, was named Best New Book by Booklist and a 2019 Foreword Reviews INDIES Silver Winner and Bronze Winner. A Mother’s Tale & Other Stories has already won the C&R Press Fiction Prize.
This giveaway is for 3 print copies, 1 per winner, U.S. only and ends on November 24, 2021, 12 midnight, pacific time. Entries accepted via Rafflecopter only.
This fourth book in the series, portrays a closely-knit group of people living in the north Tipperary hills during the early 20th century – a community largely made up of small farmers, whose lives were far different from today. The book’s inspiration comes from writers such as Thomas Hardy and attempts to pass on to readers the lyrical and rich phrasings of Tipperary’s old hill folk and capture the spiritual wealth of an age that remained unchanged for several centuries.
Tales of . . .
* brotherly love and hate.
* a rogue’s return from across the sea and his efforts to reform.
* an unexpected first-love at the harvest-time dance-in-the-fields.
* persecution of two old saints at the hands of misguided youth.
* sports-day activities for adults and children alike, following the arduous channelling of a new stream.
* two adventurous toddlers, getting lost in the wilderness but saved by a witch.
‘. . . lovers of literature will find themselves engrossed in the lives of a past hillside community.’
Addison & Cole
My Review
Old Faces isn’t the type of book I would normally read, but I really enjoyed it. As I read the story, I could “hear” the narration in an Irish brogue. Some of the names are ordinary, but many of the names are hilarious. In the first sentence is Molly-rattle-the-tea-and-sugar-bag. What a great introduction to some unique names and stories.
I liked all of the stories, but of course I had my favorites. It was interesting that some of the stories were tragic, others had happy endings, but there was humor in all of them, some more than others. I went through the Table of Contents so that I could pick out the story or stories I liked the least, but I honestly liked them all.
There was a lot of humour in the stories, but I laughed most when I read this:
I didn’t know that Tipperary is a real place! It’s about the size of the town I live in. I wish the people here were as interesting!
I have enjoyed all of the books about Tipperary and I hope there are more to come!
About the Author:
Edward Forde Hickey lives in Kent with his wife. They have three sons. During the years 1962 until 1998, he taught in inner city primary schools (laterally as a headteacher for 18 years). In early life, he was a pop star with Decca records (see ‘Eddie Hickey/Lady May’) and later sang with the Glenside Ceilidhe Band in The Galtymore Dancehall, Cricklewood (1965/1975).
Born of Irish parents during the Blitz of London, he spent his first five years of life nurtured and moulded by his grandmother in the foothills above Dolla, near Nenagh in County Tipperary. His grandmother is and always was his inspiration; she had a natural gift with words.
Edward has always been interested in folklore and the Irish past (its music, dance and literature). He was a champion Irish step-dancer. He taught and adjudicated it, even as far afield as in Australia, before dedicating himself to research into hillside communities in north Tipperary, from where he brought back tapes of original songs for The English Folk Dance and Song Society.
He keeps a small farm in the foothills of north Tipperary and visits it often.
The first three books in the series are entitled “Tales from Tipperarary”, “Reflections” and “From Time to Time”.
“Old Faces” by Edward Forde Hickey is currently available in paperback from Amazon at:
This book is also available to download in e-book format from Amazon at:
Press/Media Contact Details:
Grosvenor House Publishing Tel. 0208 339 6060 E-mail: info@grosvenorhousepublishing.co.uk
Join Dr. Arthur Doweyko in a mind-boggling excursion into alternate realities with stories designed to stretch your view of our Universe. Robots, angels and ghosts will be your companions as you travel through a life that could have been and struggle to change a life that should not have been. PLUS Enjoy a bonus. His award-winning essay FIVE REASONS TO WONDER An exploration of the meaning of existence through several very curious observations of the world around us.
I chose to read this book after receiving a free e-copy from the author. All opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased.
I enjoyed all of these short stories. I read this book while I was out of town, and I knew it would be a couple of weeks before I posted my review, so I made a few quick notes as I read it. While glancing through my notes, there were quite a few that I wrote “odd ending” or “weird ending.” That doesn’t mean I didn’t like them but that the endings were not what one would expect.
I was beginning to think that none of the stories would have a happy ending, but there ended up being a couple that did. Although I liked all of the stories, I had my favorites of course. The last two stories, “Guardian Angel” (yes, about a guardian angel) and “Lost and Found” (about Arthur who lost his father when he was a kid), were my absolute favorites.
Several of the stories such as “Retirement,” “What Goes Around” and “Son” were really out there but I also liked them a lot. The title story, “Captain Arnold,” is about a sick boy and it’s interesting, exciting, and sad all in one. “Edge” and “FLib734” are science fiction and weird but very good.
If you like short stories and don’t mind reading things that are a little different, then you definitely should get this book!
About the Author
As a scientist, Arthur has authored 100+ publications, and shares the 2008 Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award for the discovery of Sprycel, a new anti-cancer drug. He writes hard science fiction, fantasy and horror. His debut novel, Algorithm, which is a story about DNA and the purpose of humanity, garnered a 2010 Royal Palm Literary Award (RPLA) and was published by E-Lit Books, NY in October, 2014. His second novel, Angela’s Apple, now called As Wings Unfurl, won 1st Place Best Science Fiction Novel at the 2014 RPLA and has been published by Red Adept (July, 2016). He has published a number of award-winning short stories, including several with Honorable Mentions in the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future competitions. He is currently working on a novel about the last creature with a human brain. He lives in Florida with his wife Lidia, teaching and wandering the beaches.
Ghosts and Bad Toasts (Mitzy Moon Mysteries 9.5) is a short story is from the Cold Cases and Haunted Places Anthology, which is no longer available. I thought I’d still share it since I just found it in my TBR list (I can’t believe I forgot about it!). This is such a fun series to read!
My Review
Mitzy Moon inherited her grandmother’s bookstore even though she hadn’t known her. She’s gotten close to her grandmother’s ghost as well as others who had been close to her grandmother…even Mitzy’s father. She also has found the love of her life in Erick, the sheriff of the town she moved to.
When Mitzy attends a Halloween party at an old asylum that’s supposed to be haunted, she find out pretty quickly that it’s truly haunted. One of the ghosts was a mobster who was gunned down during prohibition and another is a relative of Mitzy’s. She’s unable to find out much though because someone is murdered and she has to leave.
Through investigation and with a little assistance from her grams and her solicitor/alchemist friend, Mitzy learns what she has to do to help the ghosts cross over. Will it be a simple crossing or will it be more difficult as is usually the case for Mitzy?
This is a quick read and nice in-between story while waiting for the next paranormal mystery about Mitzy and her sidekicks.
About the Author
Trixie Silvertale grew up reading an endless supply of Lillian Jackson Braun, Hardy Boys, and Nancy Drew novels. She loves the amateur sleuths in cozy mysteries and is obsessed with all things paranormal. Those two passions unite in her Mitzy Moon Mysteries, and she’s thrilled to write them and share them with you.
When she’s not consumed by writing, she bakes to fuel her creative engine and tends to her herb garden.
Barney has been brought up under the watchful eye of humans, known as the Johnsons, where he has found a peacefully tolerable existence. Turmoil in the family pushes him out into the town which took the place of the forest that once stood before it. Darkness envelops him as he experiences humans who are less favourable of bears whilst he attempts to latch on to hope of his former way of life.
I chose to read this book after receiving a free e-copy from the author. All opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased.
Development is the second story in the series The Black Bear Brotherhood. Humans took over the bears’ planet in Arrival when Barney was just a cub. Now, Barney is grown and bears are the humans’ slaves. Barney doesn’t seem to remember freedom and accepts his place in this world. The way the bears are treated breaks my heart because most of them are treated poorly. They are considered property, not equals.
I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series, and I’m hoping the bears rebel. The only thing I don’t like about these stories is that they’re so short. I would prefer all of them in one book.
About the Author
Henry Bassett is an ebook writer first published in early 2019 with The Dead Chronicles of Martha Railer series; a supernatural urban dark fantasy which comprises of six instalments. He went on to write dark fantasy one-offs and, at this time, is working on a new dark fantasy series The Black Bear Brotherhood.
A bear, known only as Caver, recounts when his planet was covered in nature and not yet tainted by human touch. Since then, humans have branched out from another world and enveloped his planet. The differences between the two species result in an atmosphere of fear which rips apart the old way of life and enforces the creation of an apparently more civilised one. However, how much will be lost in the process?
I chose to read this book after receiving a free e-copy from the author. All opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased.
Arrival is the first story in the series The Black Bear Brotherhood. Although it’s short, it’s interesting. Caver is a bear whose planet is invaded by humans. As he works as their slave, he remembers when they first arrived. Both in the past and currently, some of what Caver sees is confusing, but it’s realistic since it’s from his point of view, and he can’t understand what he calls are our “screeches.”
This is a sad but true look at the way we would probably be perceived if we arrived on a planet. Arrival was too short and left me wanting more. Thankfully, I have the next installment to read, and it’s a little longer.
About the Author
Henry Bassett is an ebook writer first published in early 2019 with The Dead Chronicles of Martha Railer series; a supernatural urban dark fantasy which comprises of six instalments. He went on to write dark fantasy one-offs and, at this time, is working on a new dark fantasy series The Black Bear Brotherhood.
Genre: Time Travel/ Sci Fi Published by: Fidelli Publication Date: July 8, 2020 Number of Pages: 78 ISBN: B08CNKX3DT Purchase Links: Amazon | Goodreads
With the pandemic that never seems to be leaving us anytime soon I’ve created worlds that might make you pause for thought. Dark stories told by the characters as they experienced their journeys into worlds that you might not want to live in a hopefully be happy in the one you’re in.
My Review
I chose to read this book after receiving a free copy. All opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased.
What If? has six dark stories and a poem that will make you think. I liked them, but I particularly two that rang true during the times that we are in:
“Confined!” is about Fern who self-isolates due to fear of the virus. See what can happen when someone isolates both their mind and body.
“One Race: On World – The Year 2050”: the government makes everyone multicolored, everyone works, everyone is paid the same amount no matter their job, and no one can have their own opinions (sounds a lot like 1984). Then, new neighbors move in…
“The Match” is a poem that’s disturbing. The other three stories are pretty good; they’re interesting and thought-provoking. What If? is a good book to read for when you don’t have much time (the stories are just 6 to 16 pages each) but want something that will make you think.
Read an Excerpt
One Race: One World: The Year 2050
It was now 2050 and the world had really changed. There were no more planes or trains. All you needed to do was think about being somewhere and you were there. The government, in order to save money on gas and fuel, had banned cars, buses, and any means of transportation, and implanted chips in everyone’s arms that helped transport them to wherever they wanted to go, including the past.
A huge explosion had occurred, and all that was left in the world were twenty countries, with only twelve hundred people in each country. Most people had not survived the explosion, which had caused most of the countries to just disappear into space forever. No one really knew if anyone was out there or if these people survived somewhere, and no one really cared enough to find out.
One man called The Ruler headed all the countries, and assigned one person as the Chief of Law and Enforcement in each country. Under this person, five people helped to enforce the rules and the laws.
Then, one miserable day, someone decided there were too many wars, too many hate crimes, too many people being killed on the streets, and too much traffic and congestion on the highways. The government hired several scientists to find a solution to the problem, and that was how everyone in the entire world wound up multicolored.
Because of all the wars and fighting and hate that took place in the past, the government created a way to eliminate the many different races in the world and opted for only one. Everyone looked the same. Our faces might have looked a little different, but our skin colors were the same—multicolored. They did this so that no one would insult, mock, or hurt anyone because of their skin color. They eliminated houses of worship so that everyone was nonsectarian, and no one would be discriminated against. However, what they could not eliminate were our thoughts and desires to make changes in our lives, even though they tried.
Everyone that lived here had a job that paid the same amount. No one, no matter what they did or what career they chose, was paid more than anyone else. We never had to worry about being laid off. Unless we decided to move somewhere else our job stayed the same, and there was no room for advancement—ever. Everyone did the same thing every day. Nothing changed. Life was supposed to be anger free, insult free, and most of all, calm and tranquil. HOW DULL AND BORING! (OH! I am not supposed to say that. Opinions are not allowed here.)
One morning I got up and got dressed to go to my boring job as an accountant with the only accounting firm in this city. I went over the books daily, entered my accounts in their daily ledgers, and did taxes for some of the companies in this city. It was grunt work, and nothing exciting ever happened at work or anywhere else.
Walking to work as usual, I began remembering how it was only twenty years ago when there were cars, trains, and people running and yelling for cabs and trains to wait for them at the station. I missed the newspaper people on the street and the vendors selling hot coffee and bagels from their pushcarts. Those were the days. I loved the way people had looked and the different races and nationalities that lived here. Learning from other people was what made life exciting.
Then the unexpected happened. A new family with two children moved in down the street from me. These two kids were not going to conform to our way of thinking, and decided it was time to shake things up—and they did. One morning when going to school they each wore something other than the school’s drab gray uniform. The girl wore a pink and green dress with flowers, and the boy wore something blue, and a shirt that said, “I hate being the same. Different Rules.”
This did not go over well, and they were taken into custody by the guards in their school and promptly suspended. This did not stop them. They started screaming and yelling all sorts of words we had not heard before. “One race is not what we are supposed to be. I hate this planet. I hate all of you.”
I could not believe my ears. This was grounds for banishment into the Devoid Zone. These two children had painted stars all over their faces. Their younger sister decided to paint her face one color. Who in today’s world had a face that was one color? Everyone here looked and dressed the same. It prevented jealousy, arguments, and fashion wars. How dare they go against the laws of this state?
***
Excerpt from What if? by Fran Lewis. Copyright 2020 by Fran Lewis. Reproduced with permission from Fran Lewis. All rights reserved.
About the Author
Fran Lewis is a reviewer, talk show host, mj network, reading and writing staff developer. She was the administrative assistant to the Principal and created original programs for students after school. She was the music director and created musical festivals along with other staff members. She’s a member of Marquis Who’s Who, Continental Who’s who and who’s who of America’s professionals and educators.
Third book in an award-winning series helping children to express their emotions
About the Book:
From the international award-winning author Katie Flanagan, ‘What else am I feeling?’ is the sequel to ‘What am I feeling?’
‘What else am I feeling?’ helps to introduce and extend further the vocabulary linked to the emotions children are likely to experience. It offers valuable insights for adults in helping to expand their child’s knowledge, understanding and vocabulary regarding a wide range of emotions. Its gentle approach and warm illustrations helps provide the opportunity to open up discussions with children about a wider variety of feelings in a non-intrusive way.
The forewords for children and adults provide a useful background to help develop understanding of the importance of learning about our emotions and growing in our skills to help children become more comfortable with everyday feelings they encounter.
Through useful questions and suggestions, it also offers ideas and guidance for how best to support children with their emotional experiences. It is a versatile resource; easy for carers, educators and family members to use.
Look out for the accompanying journal coming soon for children to use to personalise their own experience of the emotions covered in this picture discussion book.
About the Author:
Katie Flanagan has worked as a teacher for over a decade and currently works as the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator. She has always had a keen interest in helping children to develop emotional literacy skills. When she was teaching, she used to help the children expand their vocabulary around the emotions they experience by getting them to answer how they felt during register time.
She used the opportunity to help teach them new words for different feelings. During this time and in her parenting, she found herself trying to define emotions in a child-friendly way to help describe the emotion and when they might be feeling it. This inspired her to create pictures book with a wide range of emotions to help increase children’s understanding of the emotions and the words they could use. She also decided to create a journal so children had a place where they could explore their own experience of their emotions.
She published the first book, What am I feeling? Defining Emotions in 2017 and has had lots of positive feedback from Educational Psychologists and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service. She won the American Bookfest International Book Award for children’s ‘mind body and spirit’ category 2018. She has had positive reviews from the SEN resources blog, top parenting blogger ‘What the Redhead Said’ and Melissa Hood, Co-Founder of the Parent Practice.
Katie has qualifications in Psychology, PGCE, National SENCo Award, Time out for Parents, and Group facilitator for charity Care for The Family.
What Else Am I Feeling? Defining More Emotions by Katie Flanagan is available in paperback from Amazon at:
Katie’s first book and journal are also available from Amazon at:
Press/Media Contact Details:
Grosvenor House Publishing Tel. 0208 339 6060 E-mail: info@grosvenorhousepublishing.co.uk
The first book in a series of fictional southern Irish tales
About the Book:
The book is set in Tipperary – in the unreal world of the hillslopes below Keeper Hill. Essentially, it is an unashamed homage to a typical past rural community, written in the colloquial and colourful language of the times. It opens with Dandy-the-Galwayman’s arrival in Tipperary shortly after the Famine. The generation that follows him lead a colourful life, weaving a rich tapestry.
Tales include:
The reliance of families on children’s rabbit-poaching with ferrets acts of adolescent rebelliousness like setting fire to a load of hay, or building a snowman as a surprise ‘gift’ in an enemy’s back room
The death of a young hurler in his very first match
The story of a child-saint and her ghostly return to see the new baby
The tale of a bonesetter, his place in the community
The days of a silenced priest, involving his heroism
The confession of an old lady
Children cattle-droving at dawn
Jealousy when a mountainy man wins the Show-Fair Cup
About the Author:
Edward Forde Hickey lives in Kent with his wife. They have three sons. During the years 1962 until 1998, he taught in inner city primary schools (laterally as a headteacher for 18 years). In early life, he was a pop star with Decca records (see ‘Eddie Hickey/Lady May’) and later sang with the Glenside Ceilidhe Band in The Galtymore Dancehall, Cricklewood (1965/1975).
Born of Irish parents during the Blitz of London, he spent his first five years of life nurtured and moulded by his grandmother in the foothills above Dolla, near Nenagh in County Tipperary. His grandmother is and always was his inspiration; she had a natural gift with words.
Edward has always been interested in folklore and the Irish past (its music, dance and literature). He was a champion Irish step-dancer. He taught and adjudicated it, even as far afield as in Australia, before dedicating himself to research into hillside communities in north Tipperary, from where he brought back tapes of original songs for The English Folk Dance and Song Society.
He keeps a small farm in the foothills of north Tipperary and visits it often.
Review of the Book:
“A wonderful collection of tales delivered by a natural storyteller completely beguiling an effortless evocation of an almost forgotten world a wonderfully personable narration endlessly charming characterisation
Life and death are treated with simplicity, profundity and a lightness of touch. Every individual tale is undoubtedly very strong.”
Jakob von Beyer, Director of Addison and Cole
Tales from Tipperary by Edward Forde Hickey is available in paperback from Amazon at:
Press/Media Contact Details:
Grosvenor House Publishing Tel. 0208 339 6060 E-mail: info@grosvenorhousepublishing.co.uk
A nostalgic story about a young Mancunian lad with a love for loud music and misadventure
About the Book:
There was nothing extraordinary about Pugnatious Smelt. He was just an ordinary boy, born to an ordinary family in a small South Manchester suburb in the 1960s.
This book documents his growing pains as he learns what life is about and how easy it is to make the wrong decisions and yet end with the right result, sometimes.
Excerpt from the book:
“Pugnatious would look at the adverts each week to see if any of the album bands were on live that Saturday and if they were off he would go with a select bunch of friends to experience them first-hand. He was still nowhere near driving age and so it was a bus into the centre and then a walk, a walk he had done all those years before with his father to see the Spinners, this was very different, it seemed that this new generation of musicians felt the need to play loud. Now there is a difference between loud, as measured by Mrs Smelt when he played his records at home, loud as in the volume he played them at when his mother was out and loud at the Free Trade Hall, this was proper loud. So loud he could feel the bass drum in his chest, his teeth would hurt when the guitars hit high notes in the middle of solos and his ears hurt from the overall cacophony of sound. A good night at the Hall would be measured by the ringing and hissing in his ears once he left the building.
Pugnatious like his peers wanted the volume, the louder the better, the greater the ringing in the ears the better the night had been, the more his parents advised against it the more he wanted it, Van Der Graaf Generator gave it to him, Cream gave it to him, Yes gave it to him, Mr and Mrs Smelt gave it to him warning of the dangers of deafness in later life.”
“Butcher Boy: Pugnatious Smelt – an ordinary boy” by Dik Cavanagh is available to purchase in paperback from Amazon.co.uk at:
Press/Media Contact Details:
New Generation Publishing Tel. 01234 712 064 E-mail: info@newgeneration-publishing.com
Bound 4 Escape 