Author: Marissa DeCuir

ONTARIO, Canada – A fresh take on belonging, obsession and schoolyard politics, debut author Heather Dixon brings a fresh perspective to domestic suspense in her exciting new novel, “Burlington” (Aug. 22, 2023, Rising Action Publishing Co.), perfect for fans of Celeste Ng and Liane Moriarty.

Mae Roberts never thought she would fit in amongst the beautiful and rich mothers at Riverpark Elementary. But, when she’s accepted into their clique and they ask her to be a part of their unofficial neighborhood watch, Mae finds herself slipping more and more into a world of odd dinner parties, secrets and lies, and even rumors of suicide attempts. When one of the Riverpark Moms disappears, and then another, Mae must decide what’s more important — fitting in or uncovering the truth.

“Burlington” is a suspenseful debut novel that explores the exclusive world of wealthy mothers and demonstrates how privilege can come at a devastating price.

“Burlington”

Heather Dixon | Aug. 22, 2023 | Rising Action Publishing Co. | Domestic Suspense

Paperback | 9781990253492 | $21.99

Heather Dixon is a managing editor of a nonprofit website and author of “Burlington.” She spent over a decade in the marketing and advertising industry as a copywriter, and has written about motherhood for a number of established websites. She lives just outside of Toronto, Ontario with her husband, her three young daughters and her Bouvier, Zoey. For more, visit her website heatherdixon.ca/. 

Follow Heather Dixon
on social media:

Facebook: @heatherdixonwriter
Twitter: @hdixonwriter
   Instagram: @heatherdixonwriter
         TikTok: @heatherdixonwriter

In an interview, Heather Dixon can discuss:

• Why she chose to set the novel in Burlington, Vermont — one of 29 U.S. cities named Burlington
• The novel’s location and the idea of someone finding themselves in a city or a suburb where they don’t fit in
• How her experiences as a mother helped her write a novel largely focusing on the theme of motherhood
• The idea of people struggling to fit in and the lengths they’ll go to in order to belong
• Analyzing female friendships through her writing
• Projects she’s working on next 

An interview with Heather Dixon

1. You’re from Burlington, Ontario, but the book isn’t set there. Why’d you choose to set the book in Burlington, Vermont, instead?

When I was first doing some research into setting, I knew I wanted to set the book in a place similar to Burlington, Ontario, because it was where I lived and what I knew. And while I was researching, I learned that there were 27 cities in the United States named Burlington, as well as more than one city in Canada named Burlington, too. It made me think of how the setting could almost be a metaphor for the experience: A mother moving somewhere new, trying to find belonging and looking to find her place in the world — that kind of experience and feeling is something many women feel. Burlington could be anywhere and everywhere, because that search for belonging is a universal thing. 

2. The book focuses largely on the theme of motherhood. What experiences as a mother helped you when writing the story?

Motherhood is one of those things that I wouldn’t say defines me entirely, because I also have many other sides to who I am, but it’s definitely been the most enormous change I’ve experienced in my life. And it’s also had the most significant impact on who I am now. After becoming a mother, I wanted to write about it so much, because that’s how I process my thoughts and feelings — and I had so many thoughts and feelings as a new mother. The intense emotions — both high and low — that came with every stage of motherhood shaped me. And I’ve found in the past, whenever I felt my most vulnerable as a mother and actually wrote about it in a blog, that was when my writing resonated the most with others.

3. You also focus on the concepts of privilege and wealth — why were those themes important for you to touch on?

I think I’m still trying to understand and articulate my thoughts on privilege and wealth. The fact that I live in an affluent neighborhood has a lot to do with it. For me, when I see something about the world that doesn’t make sense to me, I try to write out my thoughts to understand them. But these topics are ones I’m still working to understand.

4. Why is this book important to you personally?

The idea for this book came to me when I would walk my oldest daughter to school for the first time, back when she was in kindergarten. School was new for both of us, and it could have been my own hang up, but I felt out of place. While my daughter was making friends, I was noticing groups of parents and unwritten rules and was fascinated by this new world I didn’t know how to navigate. Also, I’ve always felt like the odd woman out, or like I didn’t quite belong. It’s been hard to find my place, even as an adult, and I wanted to explore that among female relationships.

5. Are there any myths or stereotypes about female friendship that you wanted to focus on specifically?

I’ve actually always somewhat struggled with female friendships and that has always bothered me. When I was growing up, I would make new friends every few years in school, and I never had that one best friend that many women seem to have from when they were really young. It might have been because I had a brother and hung around with boys a lot as a kid, but I always longed for that best female friend and never quite established it in the way I wanted. I’ve had many, many great female friends in my life and have some wonderful friendships now as well that I cherish, but that “ride or die” friend thing was something I missed out on and always wanted, and I think that’s why I focus on the theme of female friendship in this book. I think it’s a very special thing.

6. Are any characters inspired by you or people from your life?

All of the characters I write have little bits of many people in my life. Specifically, the character of Frankie is inspired by my mother. Frankie is just a really good, loving mom, and that’s who my mother is. I wanted to honor her in that way. Also, I gave Drew, Mae’s husband, some of my husband’s characteristics. Any good or sweet thing about Drew is from my husband because I think he’s just a really fantastic person. I also wrote this when my daughters were younger, so some of the things Ruby and Isla say and do, and the way they look, are inspired by my daughters.

7. What parts of the book did you find most difficult to write? Which did you most enjoy?

I found getting the plot right took me the longest to figure out. For a long time, I had to revise and rework so the pacing would be just right. I find I love to write about character development and can get lost in writing details about setting — it’s my most favorite! But I can’t forget that the actual plot needs to be on the page, too.

8. What do you hope readers gain from reading the book?

I hope readers are entertained by this book. I hope that they enjoy reading it and getting lost in the story for however long it takes them to read it. But I also hope, as I always do when I write, that someone will read it and think “Hey, I felt that way, too” or that they’ll see themselves on the pages and it will resonate with them.

9. What are you working on next?

My next project is a book about three sisters who struggle with their father’s death (and his deceit) after learning of a long-held secret. It’s told from each sister’s point of view and it’s a story about the complicated nature of family and the ties that bind us together. It’s coming out in October 2023.

Download press kit and photos

Marissa DeCuir

A former award-winning journalist with national exposure, Marissa now oversees the day-to-day operation of the Books Forward author branding and book marketing firm, along with our indie publishing support sister company Books Fluent.

Born and bred in Louisiana, currently living in New Orleans, she has lived and developed a strong base for our company and authors in Chicago and Nashville. Her journalism work has appeared in USA Today, National Geographic and other major publications. She is now interviewed by media on best practices for book marketing.

booksforward.com/about-us/marissa-decuir/

Boston, MA – After she is seduced into a sexual “romance” by her 8th-grade teacher, it takes years for Liz Kinchen to understand–and even identify–her abuse, and seek healing for the emotional isolation that underpins her adult relationships. Now Kinchen debuts a candid, moving memoir about reckoning with and healing from childhood trauma, in hopes of helping others along their own paths of rediscovery and repair, “Light in Bandaged Places: Healing in the Wake of Young Betrayal” (September 5, 2023, She Writes Press). 

“I cannot rewrite my inner child’s history, but I can provide the care, attention, parenting, love, and safety net she didn’t have back then. Because she lives in me still, my adult self can offer her all those things, so she no longer has to run my life out of her fear and isolation.” –from “Light in Bandaged Places”

As a lonely girl coming of age in the 1970s, Liz has every reason to believe her 8th-grade teacher is in love with her. Because the sex isn’t physically violent and is wrapped in a message of love, she learns to exchange sex for attention. It feels like love, after all. But years later, as an adult, emotional closeness eludes Liz. Even after marrying a sensitive, caring man, she is walled off. Struggling through confusing years, she believes something is deeply wrong with her.

Healing begins when an unexpected event takes Liz back to those formative years, and she sees for the first time that what happened to her was not love but abuse. As she begins to understand how her relationship with her former teacher destroyed her innocence and self-worth, she begins a spiritual and psychological journey that sets her free. Now a meditation teacher and Buddhist practitioner, Liz offers her story with the goal of helping readers understand and pursue their healing.

“Light in Bandaged Places”

Liz Kinchen | September 5, 2023 | She Writes Press | Memoir 

Paperback  | 978-1-64742-535-7 | $17.95

Liz Kinchen is a writer, meditation teacher, and Buddhist practitioner. With graduate degrees in computer science and counseling psychology, Kinchen worked in software development management for 21 years before  moving into the nonprofit sector for seventeen years as the executive director of a small organization working with underserved children and families in Honduras. Her passions are her family, meditation, teaching mindfulness, spirituality, writing, talking with close friends, and walking in nature. She is a contributing author to the anthology Art in the Time of Unbearable Crisis, published by She Writes Press in 2022. She lives in the greater Boston area with her husband of over 30 years. Find out more about her and check out her blog about mediation teaching at lizkinchen.com. 

Follow Liz Kinchen on social media:

Twitter: @lkinchen | Instagram: @lizkinchen

LinkedIn: @LizKinchen YouTube: @LizKinchen

In an interview, Liz Kinchen can discuss:

• How she learned to identify her relationship with her teacher as sexual abuse–and why this identification took time 
• How and why abuse is not always easily identifiable
• How the way a child is parented affects their later adult behavior
• How she learned to understand and care for her inner child
• What to do about the all-too-relatable feeling that “something is wrong with you”
• How she learned to renavigate her relationships with herself, and with others
• How her practice of Buddhism and meditation contributed to her healing

An Interview with

Liz Kinchen

1. What were the components that contributed to your healing from your teenage abuse? 

There were many, although it took some time before I found them, or before they entered my life…

The event that really began my journey of healing was watching a video that showed a man gradually seducing a vulnerable teenage boy, and experiencing a visceral reaction that told me, for the first time, that what I experienced with my middle school teacher was not a loving relationship, as I had thought for many years, but one of his grooming me to meet his narcissistic needs. This opened my eyes because it took me abruptly from holding my past experience with him mainly in my head, to feeling it in my body.

That led to years of working intensively with a trauma therapist. Placing myself in the hands of a skilled and loving professional helped tremendously.

Although my marriage was strained by my difficulty being open and honest, my husband loved me and believed in me, nonetheless. His loyalty and commitment to me and our marriage provided a strong foundation to stand on while I learned how to heal.

A very powerful factor in my healing was becoming a mother. I had (and still have) such a strong bond of unconditional love with my children; it showed me what openness and honesty in a relationship felt like. I had it in me all along, but being a mother made it real to me.

Although I struggled with knowing what kind of spiritual path felt right for me, I always had a strong sense of something larger than myself. This provided comfort and an anchor in my confusion and despair. This spiritual searching led me to Buddhist teachings, which showed me how to navigate the challenges in my life.

2. Why did it take decades before you realized and understood the true impact of your childhood and teen trauma?

It is often the case that trauma leads to shutting down or compartmentalizing the emotional parts of us that were hurt. This is what I did. This made being open and loving in adult relationships difficult for me. I had blocked off access to feelings of trust and safety in a relationship. I didn’t even know I was doing this until my second husband persisted in asking me to trust him – thereby bringing to light how much I distrusted everyone. I thought feeling unsafe in the world and in a loving relationship was normal – was how everyone felt.

The emotional neglect I experienced in my childhood made me an easy target for being groomed because no one was paying much attention to me. Additionally, that early neglect taught me that my emotional needs were not important, so I learned to erase my needs.

3. What is the role secrecy played in your story – how did it help and/or hurt you?

My family of origin did not communicate much, particularly about things of importance. My father was an alcoholic, but the kind that drank quietly and was never loud or disruptive, so as a child, it was easy to not understand how this contributed to his emotional absence. No one in my family talked about it, yet even unspoken, it was in the air. It felt like a secret. Then, when I started my relationship with my middle school teacher, he taught me it was important to keep that a secret, that it was just our business. So, at an early age, I learned it was better and safer to keep secrets. I carried this inclination into my adult life, making it easy to have relationships with married men, believing it was alright to do as long as no one knew. Holding secrets became part of my identity. I guess it helped me in a false kind of way by providing a sense of safety by avoiding the judgments of others. But it mostly hurt me and hurt people I loved when I wasn’t truthful with them. It also hurt me because I wasn’t truthful with myself either, so I remained in delusion about my actions. Keeping secrets in relationships is corrosive. 

4. How did you find Buddhism and spirituality as a means of healing?

I was always interested in spirituality and a relationship with a higher power. I was confused for many years about who and what God was, but I wanted there to be a God who was kind and not punishing. When I discovered Buddhism, I was struck by its invitational quality – that we should test ideas out for ourselves and not just believe them because someone said to. I was also drawn to Buddhism’s emphasis on compassion – for ourselves and others. This appealed to my sense of wanting to help people, which I’ve had my whole life. Applying it to myself was a new and healing idea for me. Buddhism teaches not to ignore what is painful but rather look deeply into it – this teaching has been vital to my healing, rather than hiding the truth from myself.

5. Do you think this is a story just for women, or are there messages for men also?

When I decided to publish my book, I was thinking of the girls and women who might have experiences like mine, and who might find hope that healing is possible. However, there are messages for all people in my story. There is something misguided and very harmful to women in today’s patriarchy. Boys should be taught from a young age to respect girls and not view them as less-than, and as they become men, to not exert power over them but treat them as equals – different but equal. This would help men not take advantage of girls and women of any age. Perhaps by reading how damaging it is for a man with greater power to prey on young girls, this can become better understood and no longer done. Men in partnership with women who have experienced similar abuse as mine might better understand the ways they struggle and become part of their healing. It is equally important for us all to remember that boys as well as girls are often the subjects of grooming, betrayal, and abuse at the hands of those more powerful than they, and are subject to its resulting trauma.

6. What do you hope both teenagers and older audiences will learn from your story?

I assume most of my audience will be adult women – particularly women who struggle with self-worth regardless of its origin- and seek greater peace and wholeness in their lives. Some women may have had abusive relationships like mine, maybe even be unaware of its damaging impact, as I was. So I think an older audience may benefit from my story of waking up to my hurt and seeing that healing is possible. I would love for my book to be found by teenage girls considering entering a relationship with an adult man with greater power – girls being groomed. It might give them insight into the long-lasting dangers of such a relationship, even though it can feel very exciting and affirming at the time. I believe many young girls are being groomed by their trusted teachers, coaches, family members, ministers, and others – more than we realize. I would love to help expose this insidious and very harmful practice. I would love to help expose all the cover-ups and colluding done by institutions that help keep this in the shadows.

7. How did the act of writing your story contribute to your healing?

My therapist suggested that writing might be a good way to help me remember events and feelings from the past. I had snapshots of scenes, but once I began writing about them, some gaps were filled in, and I was able to recall ambiance and feeling states from the past. Somehow the creative act of writing opened channels that otherwise might have remained closed. This helped my past come more alive to me, and I could better connect the past to my present. Naming our feelings is an important early step in facing and working with difficult emotions. I continue to find writing to be a powerful way for what lies deep inside me to emerge. 

8. What was the most difficult aspect of writing about your teenage trauma?

I found writing the scenes with Mark, and later with Jason, to be the most difficult. 

In Mark’s case, it was challenging to write the scenes in enough detail to convey exactly how the grooming took place, while not being overly graphic. Emotionally, writing these scenes required me to directly face what happened, and as I pictured the young girl I was then, it broke my heart. 

In the case of Jason, it was difficult for me to relive the pain of the struggle we went through and for me to be honest about the ways I hurt him. I know how I acted with Jason resulted from my abuse and trauma, and at the same time, it saddens me that it played out in ways that hurt him – that hurt us.

9. Are there present-day triggers that can still activate your trauma? If so, how do you handle that?

Yes, absolutely! Most people with trauma histories (and even those without) will continue to be triggered by events in the present. The big difference, however, is in what happens after the trigger. As I described in the book, I used to respond to being triggered by entering a state of emotional paralysis, dissociation, and withdrawal, to the point of being unable to find words to speak and entering a downward spiral of self-contempt. Now, I can be triggered and see pretty quickly what is happening. I have many tools to help me. The primary one is the awareness I can bring to the moment and the recognition of the trigger. This allows me to breathe with it, sit with it, gently regulate myself, and then choose how I want to respond. Sometimes this process happens quickly after being triggered, and sometimes it takes a little while. Either way, I don’t descend into that downward spiral. Truly, my life is very different now, even in the face of inevitable triggers.

Download press kit and photos

Marissa DeCuir

A former award-winning journalist with national exposure, Marissa now oversees the day-to-day operation of the Books Forward author branding and book marketing firm, along with our indie publishing support sister company Books Fluent.

Born and bred in Louisiana, currently living in New Orleans, she has lived and developed a strong base for our company and authors in Chicago and Nashville. Her journalism work has appeared in USA Today, National Geographic and other major publications. She is now interviewed by media on best practices for book marketing.

booksforward.com/about-us/marissa-decuir/

Lives intertwine around the search for stolen snakes and a missing man in novel

Daytona Beach, FL–In award-winning Florida author Ginger Pinholster’s new novel ”Snakes of St. Augustine” (Regal House,  Sept. 12, 2023), stolen snakes and a missing person set off a chain of events ranging from thrilling to romantic to deeply poignant.

The theft of Trina Leigh Dean’s beloved snakes – including a rare Eastern indigo named Unicorn, Banana Splits the yellow ball python, and Bandit the banded king snake – coincides with the disappearance of a troubled young man named Gethin Jacobs. While his sister Serena searches for him, she gains an unlikely accomplice: Jazz, a homeless community college student. Meanwhile, Trina’s friend Fletch, a burnt-out cop, scours St. Augustine, Florida, for the stolen snakes. Fletch’s quest puts him on a dangerous collision course with Gethin, raising questions about community, family, and the power of compassion.

A love story served up with a side of Florida weirdness, “Snakes of St. Augustine” centers around unforgettable characters that will remain in your heart long after the final page.

“Snakes of St. Augustine”

Ginger Pinholster | September 12, 2023 | Regal House | Fiction 

Paperback | ISBN: 9781646033829 | $19.95

GINGER PINHOLSTER likes to say that turtles find her. A volunteer member of Florida’s Volusia Turtle Patrol, she earned her M.F.A. degree from Queens University of Charlotte and a B.A. from Eckerd College. Her first novel, “City in a Forest,” won a Gold Royal Palm Literary Award from the Florida Writers Association in 2020. A resident of Ponce Inlet, she serves as vice president for communications at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach. Previously, she was the long-time chief communications officer for the American Association for the Advancement of Science, where she became an elected Fellow. Long ago and far away, she was a journalist. To learn more, visit: www.gingerpinholster.com

Follow Ginger Pinholster on social media:

Facebook: @GingerPinholster | Twitter: @gingerpin | Instagram: @gingpin

In an interview, Ginger Pinholster can discuss:

• What being a Floridian means to her, and how/why she writes about the state’s unique wacky charm
• What the research process was like for this novel
• How the true story of Jason Harrison–a man struggling with his mental health who was killed by Dallas police in 2014–inspired parts of this novel
• How she works to break the stigma surrounding mental health issues, and neurodiversity in general, and how readers can make a difference
• What she hopes readers will take away from this story
  

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PRAISE FOR “SNAKES OF ST. AUGUSTINE”

“I love the snakes in Ginger Pinholster’s new novel, ‘Snakes of St. Augustine,’ because the people in her book love them. These snakes do not inspire fear, they do not elicit revulsion; they are powerful, beautiful, strong. As are Pinholster’s characters. This big-hearted novel is inhabited not just by dreamers and misfits, but by people struggling with serious mental illness, with addiction, with homelessness, with criminal behavior. Pinholster challenges our assumptions about their lives, without denying their pain or the harm they inflict. Steeped in a singular Florida charm, the novel reads sometimes like a thriller, sometimes like a love story, sometimes like a family drama. Take the leap: fall in love with Jazz, with Serena, with Fletch, with Rocky – maybe even with a ball python or a dusky pygmy rattler.”

 —Laura McBride, author of “We Are Called to Rise” and “In the Midnight Room”

“Here is a richly textured and compelling novel full of unforgettable personalities who will have you turning pages long into the night. Set in a slice of Florida that exists outside the margins of paradise, Pinholster masterfully spins a tale of humor and tragedy, trial and triumph. A book you won’t want to miss.”

 —Gale Massey, author of “The Girl From Blind River”

 “In ‘Snakes of St. Augustine,’ an engaging novel about desperate love and pilfered snakes, Ginger Pinholster writes about neurodiversity with empathy and clarity. Her Florida reflects both the weirdness and beauty of her unforgettable characters.”

 —Mickey Dubrow, author of “American Judas”

“Serena, a young woman searching for her missing brother, finds herself swept up in a bleak and bizarre world of homeless encampments, drug-addled street jesters, and random pet reptiles. The last thing she needs is to fall in love with one of its denizens, until the charming but manic Jazz appoints himself her deputy. Pinholster’s equally wrenching and comic novel takes place against a backdrop of dead-ended despair endemic to northern Florida. Her characters, all of them at loose ends, become bound in a vasculature of feelings that turn them into family. Pinholster is a master of detail, both physical and emotional, and in her masterful hands, even lives tragically touched by mental illness attain poetry and meaning.”

—Jennie Erin Smith, author of “Stolen World”

“‘Snakes of St. Augustine,’ Ginger Pinholster’s compelling second novel, deals with young men and women emerging from difficult childhoods and struggling with mental illness. The story is told from multiple points of view and the writing is stunning and deeply engaging. The characters are complex and authentic. They will work their way into your heart and as a reader you will feel an intense stake in the outcome. A mesmerizing story that defines ‘page turner’—you won’t want to let go with the last page. Pinholster is a talented novelist to watch and we’ll look forward to her next book.”

—Carla Rachel Sameth, author of “What Is Left” and “One Day on the Gold Line”

“Pinholster describes wacky Florida with compassion and grace. With an ingenious plot and deeply rendered characters, the novel shows us the power of forgiveness, and the things that really matter in a nutty world: strength, love, humor, and hope.”

—Sara B. Fraser, author of “Just River” and “Long Division”

“Pinholster compassionately and deftly creates a cast of characters who live on the margin of our social fabric—people who are suffering from mental illness, who are homeless, who are struggling to get by having grown up without family support; yet these characters, some of whom have become largely invisible to society, find a family among one another. And then there is a story of stolen snakes, a missing person, and drug dealers amid the authentic ambience of a beach community.”

—Eva Silverfine Ott, author of “How to Bury Your Dog”

An Interview with

Ginger Pinholster

1. What inspired you to write “Snakes of St. Augustine”?

“Snakes of St. Augustine” was inspired by a real-life tragedy involving the late Jason Harrison. A 38-year-old man living with psychosis, Harrison was killed by police officers in Dallas in 2014 after his mother asked for help getting him to a hospital. When I saw the police bodycam video of the killing, I found it deeply sad and disturbing. It made me think about the people in my own life, including my late brother, who have struggled with being different. In writing my book, I learned that people living with psychosis are rarely a threat to others, and in fact, they are far more likely to be mugged or raped, compared with the rest of us. Yet, discrimination and stigma too often turn those with mental illness into “the others.” And, although we now have a 9-8-8 hotline that people can call when they have a mental health crisis, too many police units still lack the training or personnel to safely deal with people who have neurodiversity – people like the late Jason Harrison.

2. How much of this story was drawn from real life?

This novel is fictional, and so it’s largely a product of my imagination. With that said, as a former teacher once told me, “It all comes from somewhere” – that is, deeply buried memories and life events tend to wind up in the stories that we write. In my case, losing my younger brother to mental illness, and subsequently finding a partner who has neurodiversity, clearly influenced me as I was writing “Snakes of St. Augustine.” When I met my current partner, although I didn’t realize it at the time, I was probably subconsciously thinking, “Okay, here’s someone I can help, even if I wasn’t able to help my brother.” All of those feelings certainly wound up in the novel.

3. The Florida setting feels so essential to this story. How did you go about capturing the state’s unique wacky charm?

Many works of Southern fiction have historically treated the physical setting as another character in the story… maybe because of the transition from farmland to industrial land uses, in so many places. As a writer, I feel a need to preserve rapidly vanishing places, at least in the mind’s eye. I love to read immersive descriptions of physical settings, and to do that, I try to engage all five senses.

For her workshops, the wonderful ecology writer Janisse Ray has developed a free-writing exercise called, “I’ve seen it with my own eyes.” The purpose of the exercise is to write a scene – moment to moment, through the senses, by showing rather than telling. This is how I try to write about story settings. Florida is a wild and beautiful place, and there’s no end to the state’s weirdness, such as monkeys colonizing a state park, or giant pythons invading the Everglades, or alligators inexplicably strolling through the ocean surf. Plenty of fodder for a fiction writer.

4. What do you hope readers will take away from this story?

“Snakes of St. Augustine” is fundamentally about the power of community to help people who are living on the margins of our society. One of the characters in the book, Jazz, describes feeling as if he is “a homeless, potentially dangerous ghost, out of focus and wavy around the edges.” In other words, he feels invisible because of his homelessness and his obvious neurological differences. I hope that readers might look again at people like Jazz – people who are different, or on the margins – and consider the ways in which we are all similar, and all worthy of inclusion and compassion.  

5. What’s next for you?

I’m currently revising a third novel set in New Mexico. It’s a dual-timeline historical novel. It tells the story of a wounded warrior, Jemi, who is fighting to regain her confidence, in parallel with a nursing home resident, Rose, who is struggling to have her Native American heritage verified. The historical story delves into a shameful period of American history when, sadly, many Native American children were removed from their families. I’ve also begun to outline a fourth novel – I can’t share details yet, but suffice it to say, there are sea turtles.

Download press kit and photos

Marissa DeCuir

A former award-winning journalist with national exposure, Marissa now oversees the day-to-day operation of the Books Forward author branding and book marketing firm, along with our indie publishing support sister company Books Fluent.

Born and bred in Louisiana, currently living in New Orleans, she has lived and developed a strong base for our company and authors in Chicago and Nashville. Her journalism work has appeared in USA Today, National Geographic and other major publications. She is now interviewed by media on best practices for book marketing.

booksforward.com/about-us/marissa-decuir/

DURHAM, NC – Stephen C. Pollock’s debut collection nods to the literary traditions of years past while simultaneously speaking to the present moment. Multilayered and musical, the poems in Pollock’s “Exits” (Windtree Press, June 29, 2023) have drawn comparisons to the work of Eavan Boland and Seamus Heaney. With bold imagery, attention to form, and a consistent throughline rooted in the theme of mortality, his collection responds to contemporary anxieties surrounding death and the universal search for meaning in life’s transience.

From “Steve’s Balloons,” which was awarded the 2nd Place Prize for the 2020 Thomas H. McDill Award:

I saw then that balloons are not at all round

but are shaped like tears,

that a dream is not so much

that scrap of rubber on the ground

as the breath that once filled it.

“Exits”

Stephen C. Pollock | June 29, 2023 | Windtree Press | Poetry

Paperback | ISBN: 978-1-957638-68-3 | $12.95

Ebook | ISBN: 978-1-957638-67-6 | $3.95

Praise for “Exits” and Stephen C. Pollock…

“Full of wit, insight, and provocative imagery, Exits is a masterful collection by award-winning poet Stephen C. Pollock. Some are sonnets as artful as any by Shakespeare or Ben Jonson.”

      —IndieReader, 5.0 stars ★★★★★

“A unique and diverse group of harmonious poems…producing the multilayered depth that distinguishes lasting poetry.”

 —BookLife Reviews, EDITOR’S PICK

“Dedicated to the beauty and frailty of life, the poetry collection Exits exemplifies the musicality of language.”

       —Camille-Yvette Welsch, Foreword Clarion Reviews

 “Pollock’s poetry is brilliant. The exploration of form is thoroughly enjoyable and inspiring. Many of Pollock’s pieces are reminiscent of Irish poets like Eavan Boland and Seamus Heaney.”

           —Kristiana Reed, Editor-in-Chief, Free Verse Revolution

A look inside…

About the Author…

Stephen C. Pollock is a recipient of the Rolfe Humphries Poetry Prize and a former associate professor at Duke University.  His poems have appeared in a wide variety of literary journals, including “Blue Unicorn,” “The Road Not Taken,” “Live Canon Anthology,” “Pinesong,” “Coffin Bell,” and “Buddhist Poetry Review.” “Exits” is his first book. To learn more, visit www.exitspoetry.net.

  In an interview, Stephen C. Pollock can discuss:

• How he reconnected with his love for poetry after a 26-year hiatus
• His writing process, and how he uses formal elements in his work
• Why he paired the poems in this collection with visual art, and how the artworks represented were chosen
• Why the theme of mortality is woven through his collection, and what he’d like readers to take away from his work

An Interview with

Stephen C. Pollock

How did you get started writing poetry?

I began writing rhymed poems on shirt cardboard at age nine.  “Yertle the Turtle” by Dr. Seuss was a strong influence.  In my sophomore year of high school, my English teacher had his students maintain a poetry notebook for half the year.  My notebook was a repository for selected poems by favorite authors (e.g. Sylvia Plath); personal reactions to those poems; photos and illustrations cut from magazines and pasted onto the pages; and my own abysmal attempts to write verse.  My interest in poetry intensified in college where, as a biology major on the pre-medical track, I took four rigorous poetry courses.  During the last of these, in an act of love masquerading as mania, I stopped attending classes, isolated myself from friends, ate and slept reluctantly, and spent five straight weeks writing a metaphysical poem on the theme of subjective vs. objective reality.  

What made you pick up the pen again after a 26-year hiatus?

My career in academic medicine was all-consuming.  The ten years of post-graduate training and the seventeen years spent as a full-time faculty member at Duke University completely filled my days, nights and weekends.  To the extent that creativity was called upon, it was creative problem-solving with respect to patient diagnoses and clinical research.  And the papers I wrote and published in the medical literature were strictly factual, analytical and logical.

The instinct to write poetry was completely suppressed throughout this period, but it was not extinguished.  As I cut back on my responsibilities during my last year at Duke, that instinct began to slowly reassert itself.

What motivates you to write a poem?

The impulse for me to write can originate from a variety of sources:  from a dream; from a vague thought or idea that percolates to the surface from somewhere in the subconscious; from an observation, usually of some natural phenomenon; or from a particularly compelling or disturbing personal experience.

What’s your writing process?

Sporadic and intense.

I have always been undisciplined with respect to writing poems, as evidenced by the fact that I have no set writing schedule.  In contrast to many other poets, I lack the ability to sit down daily at my desk and call forth ideas and/or personal experiences to serve as the basis for new poems.  Nor have I ever relied on writing prompts.  Instead, I wait for lightning to strike (or, mixing metaphors, for the Muse to whisper in my ear).  The unpredictability of this approach means that I never know when, or even if, the next poem will materialize.

Once I begin writing, however, I become intensely focused.  I often begin as I did in childhood, with pencil and paper.  After sketching out a preliminary concept or drafting a few auspicious words or phrases or stanzas, I transition to composing in Word on a laptop.

The key for me is to occupy a mental space where words, sounds, rhythms, and metaphorical possibilities freely and continuously enter the mind, while at the same time applying critical filters to eliminate the 99.9% of options that lack usefulness or merit.  Those filters are internal and idiosyncratic.  They don’t relate to prevailing trends in poetry or to contemporary poets, though some, no doubt, are subtly influenced by selected works of historical poets.

When fully engaged and maximally productive, I typically write four new lines of poetry per day (derived from perhaps a dozen pages of notes and drafts).

In many of your poems, form seems to play a role.  Can you discuss the prevalence of formal elements in your poetry?

Form is as old as poetry itself.  It excites the human psyche.  Even young children respond to rhyme and repetitive rhythms with joy and the impulse to move in concert with the tempo.

The received form that most commonly appears in my work is the sonnet, probably because of its musicality and because it often surprises the reader with a change in perspective or an unexpected twist at the end.  While some of my sonnets obey traditional conventions, others employ more challenging rhyme schemes and/or syllabics (a prescribed number of syllables per line).  This raises the stakes, but it also increases the potential for enjoyment if the diction retains its natural inflections and fluidity, the syntax resists distortion, and the formal elements seem to materialize as if by coincidence (what Frost famously described as “riding easy in harness”).

In most of my longer poems, formal elements coexist with free verse.  The role of meter and rhyme in these “hybrid” works varies, but includes irony (when blended with darker content), humor, and maximizing the impact of a closing line.

For me, form is paradoxically liberating.  Word choices and ideas that never would have bubbled up into consciousness are often evoked by the very constraints that define the form.  Indeed, I find free verse much more difficult to write than formal verse, mainly because it mandates that I create the desired semantics, tone, rhythms, and sonic effects organically and without a safety net.

Why are the poems in this collection paired with visual art?  How did you select the artwork that would be represented?

The decision to include visual art was an intuitive one.  I sensed that many of the poems would resonate in interesting ways with visual images and that this would enhance the reader’s experience.

While a few of the images were selected solely for illustrative purposes (e.g. the image of a goldfinch and coneflower accompanying “Seeds”), most were chosen because they offered alternative slants on the content of the poems.  Though the poem “(eclipse)” drips with erotic innuendo, it’s paired with the image of a 1908 patent for an orrery, a mechanical device that replicates the motion of the earth around the sun and the moon around the earth.  The sonnet “Nasal Biopsy” is ostensibly about a surgical procedure, but a cathedral door was chosen to accompany the poem because the speaker perceives gothic architecture in the structure of the nose and because the poem is ultimately concerned with questions of faith.

Before writing the poems that appear in “Exits,” did you plan to write a book on the theme of mortality?

No.  My initial goal was to curate what I considered to be my best poems from 2003 to 2022 and incorporate that work into a book entitled “Line Drawings.”  However, during that process, I noticed that a significant number of the poems were related to one or more aspects of mortality ― disease and decline, death and remembrance.  This realization led me to compile a more concise, themed collection of poems, and “Exits” was born.

While writing a poem, do you have an intended audience in mind?  Does this influence the content, tone or technical aspects of your work?

The intended audience is always me, or to be more precise, the facsimile of me that constantly looks over my shoulder and critiques every word I write.  The word ecstasy comes to mind.  It captures the elation I feel when a line finally comes together, but it derives from the Greek ek-stasis ― to stand outside of oneself.

There’s certainly nothing wrong with writing for a defined audience, or respecting the conventions of a particular genre, or exploring themes and issues that currently are in the public eye.  My approach happens to be different.  What matters most to me are the words on the page, how they sound in air, and whether or not the poem achieves what it set out to achieve.

What do you hope readers will take away from your work?

Enjoyment of the book.

An enhanced interest in form.

Deepened immersion in the concepts of mortality, renewal, and the cycles of life.

Perhaps once in a blue moon, a sense of awe and wonder.

 Download press kit and photos

Marissa DeCuir

A former award-winning journalist with national exposure, Marissa now oversees the day-to-day operation of the Books Forward author branding and book marketing firm, along with our indie publishing support sister company Books Fluent.

Born and bred in Louisiana, currently living in New Orleans, she has lived and developed a strong base for our company and authors in Chicago and Nashville. Her journalism work has appeared in USA Today, National Geographic and other major publications. She is now interviewed by media on best practices for book marketing.

booksforward.com/about-us/marissa-decuir/

“A high-quality anthology with a Christian outlook that embraces science”—Kirkus

Brookeville, MD—Nancy Joie Wilkie, a multi-talented artist by nature, is set to release her second collection of celestial stories that combine science fiction and faith. “Faraway and Forever—More Stories” (She Writes Press, July 18, 2023) is a collection of novelettes that will propel readers through space and time with introspective themes that reckon with the physical and spiritual world around us. Through concise and unique prose Wilkie introduces readers to complex characters that push the boundaries of science and faith to meet at a compelling intersection. 

“Faraway and Forever—More Stories” is a compilation of interstellar fictional tales that takes the reader from the not-too-distant future to a time when travel between worlds is a common occurrence. Each stop along mankind’s journey outward to the stars is accompanied by a deeper look inward—from examining how extraterrestrial beings might use our own biology against us, to whether a human consciousness can survive in a virtual environment, to how wishes are really granted. Original and thought provoking, these stories  will stimulate the intellect and engage the imagination. 

“Hatred and anger and a need for revenge have followed us as we’ve spread out into the stars. Perhaps such negative emotions are not things we can leave behind as we move on. Why did God create us this way?”—“Half the Sky,” “Faraway and Forever—More Stories”

NANCY JOIE WILKIE worked for over thirty years in both 

the biotechnology industry and as part of the federal government’s biodefense effort. She served as a project manager, providing oversight for the development of many 

new products. Now retired, she composes original music, 

plays a variety of instruments, and has recorded many of her original compositions. She also created a series of greeting cards that display her artwork and photographs. “Faraway and Forever—More Stories” is her second collection of stories. “Seven Sides of Self” was published by She Writes Press in November 2019. She will be releasing a third collection of short stories, “The River Keeper and Other Tales,” in early 2024. She is also working on a science fiction novel and a children’s story. She resides in Brookeville, MD. Her cards, prints, and more information about her books can be found on her website. 

“Faraway and Forever—More Stories”

Nancy Joie Wilkie | July 18, 2023 | She Writes Press | Short Stories, Science Fiction

Print | 978-1-64742-454-1 | $17.95

Advanced Praise for

“Faraway and Forever—More Stories”

“The five works here offer readers remarkable flights of imagination, occasional surprises, and an overarching sense of wonder. A high-quality anthology with a Christian outlook that embraces science.”

—KIRKUS REVIEWS

“I especially admire that the use of science (and fictive science) is in service of, never overpowering, the human dynamic, the human question, the human center to each story … all of them are compelling.” 

—TOM O. PHILLIPS, MA, PhD, Associate Dean of the College, 

Wake Forest University, and Founder of Words Awake!

“Wilkie has produced an amazingly imaginative and compelling set of stories that not only take the reader to new worlds, but convey fundamental life lessons we would all do well to ingest. For a non-science fiction reader, they were a revelation. I highly recommend them to anyone interested in an entertaining and enlightening read.”

—MARY LLEWELLYN McNEIL, author of “Century’s Witness”

In an interview, Nancy Joie Wilkie can discuss:

• Why she decided to weave the themes of faith and science into this collection 
• How her career in biotechnology and biodefense influenced her writing 
• How overarching themes in the collection are interwoven through each short story 
• The inspiration behind crafting short stories grappling with the core of humanity
• How her writing relates to current events even though the stories are set in an interstellar landscape 

An Interview with

Nancy Joie Wilkie

What would you say to people who believe Christianity and science are at odds with one another? Why did you decide to weave faith and science into this collection of short stories? 

I would say that while I do believe there is a divine intelligence running the show we call the Universe, I do not believe that to be at odds with science.  Science is simply our attempt to understand what the Good Lord has created.

As for why I decided to weave faith and science into these stories, it really wasn’t much of a decision or anything requiring a great deal of thought.  I am a scientist … albeit a retired scientist … and always interested in how things really work behind the curtain.  And I am a deeply spiritual person.  I think there must be a connection between science and religion somewhere.

Can you talk about your writing process and how you add “Easter eggs” into the stories that give readers insight into your motivations behind your writing? 

I do love Easter eggs!  And there are quite a few in these novelettes.  Friends who know me well immediately recognize them.  One dear friend recently told me he wished he didn’t know me so well such that when he was reading the stories his mind could stay in the story and not on me!  It is me just having fun!

As for the writing process … whenever the Muses drop something into my head, I feel obliged to write it down!  It is really that simple.

What was the most difficult short story for you to write in this collection, and what was the inspiration behind it? 

One of the stories was written 25 years ago while the rest were written within the last two or three years.  None of them were particularly difficult to write.  But I can tell you the story that was the most fun to write … The Wishbringer!  The trouble the main character has in finding a significant other is a reflection of own journey of ups and downs in that department.  This story does seem to be everyone’s favorite!

In one of your short stories, “The Goldfire Project” you explore what you call “spiritual dynamics”. Can you talk more about that idea and why it was the inspiration for that piece?

Being a distant relative of William Thomson—better known as Lord Kelvin, a major contributor to the Third Law of Thermodynamics—and having been a scientist myself, I have always been interested in the Three Laws of Thermodynamics.  After I lost my father to cancer 17 years ago, I started to rethink how I viewed the soul and the afterlife—trying to make some sense of my father’s passing—and then started thinking about our “before life.”  It was then that I thought developing the Three Laws of Spiritual Dynamics would be an interesting analog and might be used in some of my stories.  How do souls come and go from our physical bodies?  A future story titled “The Natural Order of Things” (to be included in a fourth collection of stories titled “By The Light Of The Sun”) will explore these ideas and how they came about in greater depth.

What do you hope that readers will take away from this collection? 

• The more mankind looks outward, the more he looks inward.
• Is there really such a place as heaven?  And if we are given an alternate path at the end of our corporeal life, would we take it?
• Relationships between parents and children are complicated.
• Do we really understand how the Universe operates and what if we are given a chance to look behind the curtain?
• What was the message that Jesus Christ delivered during his time on Earth?  And how would we respond to Him if He were to appear again?

What’s next for you in your author career? Are you working on anything new? 

Oh, yes!  I am always working on something new!  Those darned Muses never seem to leave me alone!

I have a third collection of tales that will be released by Austin Macauley Publishers LLC in early 2024—titled “The River Keeper and Other Tales.”  One of the tales is about Aurora, a young girl who discovers a ring with magical powers and uses those powers to help a young knight battle an evil dragon.  It isn’t until after the battle she learns that use of those powers came at a cost.  The title of the story, not surprisingly, is “Aurora’s Ring.”

And for the record (pun intended), inspiration for the story came from a song of the same name, written by me after an idyllic day on the beach.  After hearing the tune, my musical collaborator, Stephen Bloodsworth, suggested we compose and record a concept album telling Aurora’s full story!  And so we did!  “Dragon’s Door—A Tale of Ring and Sword” was released on Christmas Day 2022.  You can hear songs from it on Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music, Pandora, and our HearNow Web Page (https://sparrows-tale.hearnow.com/).  It is also available on Amazon … complete with a really nice booklet! 

Looking forward, I have completed a fourth work of fiction titled “Who Moved My Planet? —A Story For Those Needing To Understand Something About Needs (A Novella).  I have several beta readers reviewing it now and hope to send it to a publisher in early fall of 2023.

Download press kit and photos

Marissa DeCuir

A former award-winning journalist with national exposure, Marissa now oversees the day-to-day operation of the Books Forward author branding and book marketing firm, along with our indie publishing support sister company Books Fluent.

Born and bred in Louisiana, currently living in New Orleans, she has lived and developed a strong base for our company and authors in Chicago and Nashville. Her journalism work has appeared in USA Today, National Geographic and other major publications. She is now interviewed by media on best practices for book marketing.

booksforward.com/about-us/marissa-decuir/

“…an honest account of the profound “awakening” that stems from an appetite for life and yet also comes at a cost. ” –Richard C. Morais, author of The Hundred-Foot Journey

WAYNE, New Jersey – In a raw, honest memoir Melissa Giberson lays bare her story of a middle-aged suburban wife who uprooted everything to embrace her true identity as a gay woman. “Late Bloomer: Finding My Authentic Self at Midlife” (She Writes Press, Aug 8, 2023) is a stunning display of grief, rebirth, motherhood, and dedication to stepping into one’s true power. 

Melissa Giberson longs for something she can’t quite put her finger on until, one night at the Y, she finds herself mesmerized by the sight of a naked woman and levels with herself for the first time: Am I gay? This revelation sends Melissa on a head-spinning journey of self-discovery, one that challenges everything she thinks she knows about herself, forces her to decide exactly how much she’s willing to risk for authenticity, and shakes the foundations of the family she’s fiercely determined to shield from the kinds of wounds she sustained during her own childhood. Torn between her desire to be true to herself and her desire to protect her children, she is consumed by fear and conflicting emotions.

As Melissa wades through the difficult dissolution of her marriage and struggles with how to come out to her kids, she is met with overwhelming support from the Jewish LGBTQ+ community. “Late Bloomer” is a triumphant exploration of a mother navigating grief and fear to ultimately accept herself with the support and love of her ‘found family’ in her LGBTQ community. 

“Late Bloomer: Finding My Authentic Self at Midlife”

Melissa Giberson | August 8th, 2023 | She Writes Press | Memoir 

Print | ISBN: 9781647425197 | $17.95 | Ebook | ASIN: B0BQBP3VQ8 | $8.99

Melissa Giberson: Melissa is a native New Yorker who identifies as a late bloomer, a highly sensitive introvert, and proud mama bear to two children. An occupational therapist and writer, she has published articles in Kveller, Dorothy Parker’s Ashes, and Highly Sensitive Refuge. She received an Honorable Mention in the Memoirs/Personal Essays category of the 91st Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition and her essay, “Art is the Antidote,” appears in the anthology, Art in The Time of Unbearable Crisis (June, 2022). Melissa’s debut book, “Late Bloomer: Finding My Authentic Self at Midlife” (She Writes Press) comes out August, 2023. Melissa is living her authentic life with her partner and their two cats; together, they split their time between New Jersey and Provincetown, Massachusetts. Find out more at her website.

Follow Melissa Giberson on social media: 

Facebook: @MelissaGiberson Twitter: @LateBloomer823 

Instagram: @Melissagiberson031 Linkedin: Melissa Giberson

In an interview, Melissa Giberson can discuss:

• How “Late Bloomer” is a memoir that pays-it-forward to folks who are questioning their sexuality 
• The LGBTQ+ community and the integral part they played in supporting Melissa in her coming out process 
• How Melissa’s intersectional identities of being a Jewish, gay, mother are key themes in her journey to self-acceptance and discovery 
• Why themes of grief and resilience play an important role in her story and what she hopes readers will take away from reading “Late Bloomer.”

Advanced Praise for 

“Late Bloomer: Finding My Authentic Self at Midlife”

“Late Bloomer is an absolutely glorious memoir about a woman coming out, coming into her true self. A woman sharing the most intimate details. The ending of a marriage, the discovering of her own heartbeat, her own desires, the bumpy, scary, frightening, magnificent journey of self-discovery. Giberson writes that coming out is a gut-wrenching process and that she carefully chose each person with whom to share her truth. With this memoir, she’s done just that—sharing her truth, sharing the pain and sorrow and joy. And the fear. Sharing intimate details that become chapters filled with so much raw beauty. At the end of this glorious book, Giberson declares, ‘Above all, I’ve found me.’ And we, as readers, are awfully glad she shared herself with us. A remarkable journey,  indeed.” 

–Amy Ferris, author of Mighty Gorgeous and Marrying George Clooney

“Melissa Giberson’s memoir is a gripping account of a suburban mom’s journey from a world of shuttling kids to pools and temple to the self-discovery she’s trembling with lust after the beautiful women on Provincetown’s beaches. There is a kind of madness that befalls a person brave enough to make that journey  – a human roiling through self-loathing, euphoria, depression, joy, guilt, fury, fear, erotic discovery – until they finally make it safely to where they need to be. This is an honest account of the profound “awakening” that stems from an appetite for life and yet also comes at a cost. The writing is just right. It’s straight – from the heart.”

–Richard C. Morais, author of The Hundred-Foot Journey 

“In Late Bloomer, Melissa Giberson establishes her voice as a brave truth teller. By sharing her most life-altering experiences with unfiltered authenticity, she delivers an emotional tale of identity, sexuality, motherhood, and forgiveness.”

–Julie Cantrell, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Perennials

An Interview with

Melissa Giberson

What was your main motivation for writing “Late Bloomer,” and what do you hope that readers will take away from reading it? 

My motivation for writing Late Bloomer was born of the many times someone told me that my story was helpful to them. Early in my journey, women who were on the other side of their own journey showed up to help me and I want to do that for others as well. Writing a book enables me to reach more people. I hope readers come away from reading my book with the knowledge that they’re not alone – whether they’re just starting their journey or on the other side and hearing a story that resonates and validates their experience. I want people to know that there is an “other” side.

Your children were a primary concern for you when you decided to come out. What was it like to come out to your kids? How has your relationship with them changed and strengthened? 

I was terrified of hurting my children, that they would hate me for changing their story. Telling them was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It’s a challenging situation but I knew that not pursuing an authentic life would have hurt them because kids are intuitive. I had, and continue to have, wonderful adventures with my kids and because of everything we’ve been through, I work harder to make sure I always show up for them. I’m so proud of my kids and it’s my hope that I make them proud as well.

What was it like diving back into dating and dating women for the first time in your 40’s? 

I didn’t do much dating before my ex and I became a couple (we were very young), so it didn’t feel like returning to dating in my forties, it felt like engaging in something entirely foreign to me. It was awkward and I didn’t like it but I also knew that I wanted to ultimately have the experience of being in a relationship with a woman. I learned by asking questions of a friend who was in a same-sex marriage and observing couples I met in the community.

How did the stigma of being a “late bloomer” in the queer community impact you? What was the rationale for titling the book after this stigma? 

It was stunning the first time a woman said I was taboo, that women would run from me. I wasn’t prepared for the various types of discrimination that can exist within the LGBTQ community—that it was no different than any other ethnic, socioeconomic, or religious group in which members of the community may be deemed “less than” based on any number of variables. I have come to embrace being a late bloomer and want to celebrate that people come into their own aptitude, and self-awareness, at various times and in variable ways.

How did your Jewish identity impact your coming out? In what ways did that community support you? 

My earliest supporters were Jewish and there was a sense of comfort in that, a common ground as I was struggling with planning for my daughter’s bat mitzvah, a major milestone for her at the beginning of my crisis. At a time when my world was undergoing such drastic change, having this one familiar thread was helpful. I was invited to attend services and events within the Jewish community and found solace in some of the teachings found in Judaism.

Download press kit and photos

Marissa DeCuir

A former award-winning journalist with national exposure, Marissa now oversees the day-to-day operation of the Books Forward author branding and book marketing firm, along with our indie publishing support sister company Books Fluent.

Born and bred in Louisiana, currently living in New Orleans, she has lived and developed a strong base for our company and authors in Chicago and Nashville. Her journalism work has appeared in USA Today, National Geographic and other major publications. She is now interviewed by media on best practices for book marketing.

booksforward.com/about-us/marissa-decuir/

CHICAGO, IL–Inspired by the life of Christine Gallagher Kearney’s maternal grandmother, “What We Leave Behind” (She Writes Press, July 25, 2023) is an engrossing WWII-era narrative of love, loss, and one woman’s search for identity after being separated from her homeland and husband. 

About the book: In 1947, war bride Ursula arrives in Minneapolis torn between guilt over leaving loved ones behind and her desire to start a new life, and a family. But the American dream proves elusive—she is struck with polio, and then shocked by the sudden death of her GI husband. 

Without a spouse or the child she so desperately wanted, Ursula must rely on her shrewd survival skills from wartime Berlin, and she takes in a boarder to help make ends meet. She soon falls in love with the Argentinean medical technician living in her spare bedroom, but his devotion to communism troubles her—and when she finds herself pregnant with his child, she is faced with a dilemma: how to reconcile her dream of motherhood with an America that is so different from what she imagined.

Based on a true story, this WWII novel considers the lengths to which we’ll go to improve our lives, and the ways we cope with unexpected setbacks. With timely meditations on war, immigration, disability and women’s issues, “What We Leave Behind” is sure to be a conversation-starter and book club favorite. 

“What We Leave Behind”

Christine Gallagher Kearney | July 25, 2023 | She Writes Press | Historical Fiction

Paperback | ISBN: 978-1-64742-493-0 | $17.95

Ebook | 978-1-64742-494-7 | $9.95

Praise for Christine Gallagher Kearney and “What We Leave Behind”

“Christine Gallagher Kearney adeptly crafts the story of a German war bride, whose dreams of comfort and ease in mid-century America pan out quite differently than imagined, but who, battling polio, loneliness, and an unexpected pregnancy, grows into her own life’s stern heroine.”

–Annette Gendler, author of “Jumping Over Shadows” and “How to Write Compelling Stories from Family History”

“‘What We Leave Behind’ is a stirring narrative of love, determination, loss, and renewed resolve. Gallagher Kearney’s understanding of the difficulties and challenges of disability coupled with the angst of separation from family illuminate every page. As a polio survivor, I nodded often at her portrayals of the nuances of disability and how it affects one’s familial, social and romantic life. Thanks to Gallagher Kearney’s deft prose, her grandmother Ursula will not be left behind.”

–Francine Falk-Allen, author of “Not a Poster Child: Living Well with a Disability”

“‘What We Leave Behind’ is a heartfelt portrait of a woman whose story—despite the 1940’s setting—feels vital to our contemporary lives. Ursula’s fear, grief, and joy are lovingly rendered by Gallagher Kearney, whose close connection to the source material brings history to life. The novel’s themes are universal: the big swings we take when we dream of something more, the unexpected and profound loss that life contains, and the resiliency that drives us forward.”

—Krista Diamond, contributing freelance writer to The New York Times and HuffPost

About the Author

Christine Gallagher Kearney is a Midwest Review “Great Midwest Writing Contest” finalist, and a semi-finalist for Chestnut Review’s “Stubborn Artists Contest.” In 2022, she was accepted to StoryStudio Chicago’s StoryBoard fiction workshop led by Ingrid Rojas Contreras. She has published in Wild Roof Journal, Driftless Magazine, ForbesWoman, Fortune, and Cara Magazine and is a former food columnist for the Irish American News. Christine graduated with her bachelor’s degrees in International Relations and Spanish from Mount Holyoke College, later earning her master’s degree in Organizational and Multicultural Communication through DePaul University. She has a career in the corporate world and writes in her off hours. What We Leave Behind is her debut novel (She Writes Press; July 2023). Christine grew up in Minnesota, but now lives in Chicago with her husband and dachshund. To learn more about her work, visit: www.christinegallagherkearney.com

In an interview, Christine Gallagher Kearney can discuss:

• How the true story of her maternal grandmother’s strength and sacrifices as a war bride influenced this novel
• How she approached the research process for a novel set in the 1940s and 1950s
• Why she almost-gave up writing this book multiple times, and more importantly, how she found the courage to keep going
• How the novel’s exploration of women’s issues remains relevant today
• Why it’s important to learn from history, and what she hopes readers will take away from the novel

An Interview with

Christine Gallagher Kearney

1. “What We Leave Behind” was inspired in part by the life of your maternal grandmother. What did you find most compelling about her life story, and how is that emphasized in the novel?

What I find most compelling about Urusla’s story is that she kept going. She faced countless challenges, but she did not let those challenges stop her. I also love how much she cared about her family, and how much she relied on her own creative pursuits (knitting) as an outlet. She was resilient and persistent!

2. What kind of research did you do in order to accurately portray what life was like for a war bride from Germany in the 1940s and 1950s?

I relied heavily on first-hand accounts from other war brides, newspaper articles and secondary materials.

For research on living with polio, I interviewed polio survivors, and read memoirs of polio survivors. And for my research on the polio hospital in Minneapolis, I relied on the archives at the University of Minnesota, and the Minnesota History Museum. 

Finally, Ursula had written her own account of her experiences, so I referenced her journals as well. 

3. You mentioned that you almost gave up writing this book multiple times. Where did you find the perseverance to continue on this path, and what advice would you give to other writers who are considering abandoning their projects?

As a child, I wrote a chapter book. I remember drafting the manuscript in a spiral notebook, then later I folded blank pages, bent a piece of cardboard in half to create a cover, then glued the pages inside to create my own book where I transposed the story from the manuscript. Whenever I wanted to quit because I had lost faith in myself, I remembered this Christine from childhood, and her dream of writing and publishing a book. I didn’t want to give up on her, or myself.

My advice for other writers is: find someone who will hold you accountable, and remind you why you started your writing project. My husband played this role for me. I told him: “I’m going to come to you and ask if I can quit, and you’re going to tell me ‘no’,  you cannot quit.” He didn’t give up on me, even when I wanted to give up.

4. Although set in the years after WWII, “What We Leave Behind” maintains a sense of timeliness. What’s one theme readers should be on the lookout for?

A big theme in this book is Urusla chasing what she thinks is the American Dream, and part of that dream is becoming a mother. She realizes parts of that dream–some level of stability, opportunity to work, making friends and building a family–but it looks different compared to what she imagined. 

5. What do you hope readers will take away from the novel?

I hope readers will learn more about what being a war bride was like after WWII, that they will learn about polio and possibly recognize some of the same fears we experienced during the pandemic. More than anything, I hope they will come to understand the complexities of living with a disability, and what it means to have family, community, social and medical support. And, what it means when support systems are not accessible and/or available, and the consequences of that lack of support.

Download press kit and photos

Marissa DeCuir

A former award-winning journalist with national exposure, Marissa now oversees the day-to-day operation of the Books Forward author branding and book marketing firm, along with our indie publishing support sister company Books Fluent.

Born and bred in Louisiana, currently living in New Orleans, she has lived and developed a strong base for our company and authors in Chicago and Nashville. Her journalism work has appeared in USA Today, National Geographic and other major publications. She is now interviewed by media on best practices for book marketing.

booksforward.com/about-us/marissa-decuir/

PHOENIX, Arizona – Adoptive and foster parents assume there will be adequate resources to support their growing families – but too often, the system doesn’t follow through. In “Shattered” (AuthorHouse, May 16, 2023), Jenell M. Jones tells the raw truth behind America’s foster and adoption system, sharing the day-to-day realities and challenges of raising children with mental and physical limitations, and tells parents (and would-be parents) what they most need to hear: It won’t be what you expect, and you are not alone.

With the trajectory of today’s society, we can all agree that parenting is difficult. Choosing to foster and adopt proves to not be an easy feat. Parents are in constant competition with societal influences and sometimes feel it’s an uphill battle. These same parents are often told they will be supported in the rearing of their children and that adequate resources would be made available. But what happens when you discover the system that promised to help you, would betray you? What happens when you decide to enter into another realm of difficulty – fostering and adopting children who come with mental and physical baggage? 

Meet Jenell M. Jones, an adoptive mother who is still trying to find the answers to these questions. In these pages, you will see through a mother’s eyes as she shares her deepest pain for her daughter, “Mercy.” In the end, justice is necessary and peace is questionable.

“Shattered”

Jenell M. Jones | May 16, 2023 | AuthorHouse | Memoir 

Paperback | ISBN 9798823000314 | $19.99 

Hardcover | ISBN 9798823000338 | $28.99

About the Author

Jenell M. Jones is an early education entrepreneur, currently operating multiple early learning centers, which specialize in providing high quality learning experiences to children who experience trauma in low-income areas. Her education background includes earning a bachelor’s degree in business management and a master’s in curriculum and instruction with an emphasis on autism spectrum disorders from Arizona State University. A native of Phoenix, Jones has provided her expertise to families for the last decade and currently hosts private discussions with other foster and adoptive parents on current issues affecting the nontraditional home. Through her life experiences, passion is the source by which she governs herself to make a difference. The goal is not to be perfect but to assist others in rising through difficulties. Jones’ blueprint of success can be summed up in a few statements: Be tenacious, be kind, be loving, but most of all…be forgiving. Find out more about her at JenellJones.com.

Follow Jenell Jones on Facebook

In an interview, Jenell M. Jones can discuss:

• An honest take on the adoption and foster care system — and how to navigate the system without necessary support
• The lack of accountability for those who victimize children, and how to advocate for the often-overlooked and voiceless victims in the foster and adoption care system. 
• Her experience as a biological, adoptive and foster mother, and how these experiences shaped her ideas of motherhood
• Her work in her hometown community in Phoenix, Arizona, hosting private discussions with other foster and adoptive parents on the current issues affecting nontraditional homes
• The lack of mental health support for children in the foster care adoption system 
• How her educational background influenced her desire to become an adoptive parent
• How to integrate adoptive children into your existing family structure
• The frequency of sibling separations in the foster and adoption system

An Interview with

Jenell M. Jones

Before we dive into everything, can you introduce us to your family?

I feel I am a normal mom with extraordinary children, who I have been blessed to raise. I am a mother of seven children, ages 33, 28, 25, 22, 20, 17 and 16. I have three girls and four boys. I live in Laveen, Arizona, with my four toy poodles. I have three children living at home (26, 22, and 17 years old). Mercy, 16, is currently living in a group home near our house. As a mom, I often battle with my mistakes, all the millions of things I have done wrong and all the things I could do better. I am a very imperfect person that struggles daily to be a good mom. One of my most pressing issues is to maintain my relationship with my daughter, Mercy, and do what’s right and not beat myself up for issues. I also have an autistic child and must monitor the safety issues that may be present. However, with all that, my children have always been the most important thing to me in the world. I feel children need to be protected and advocated for. I feel children need to be loved and nurtured and grow up in a safe and loving environment that allows developmentally appropriate choices. As a parent, I have always tried to provide my children with opportunities and to foster an environment that allows, supports, and encourages them to become self-sufficient and well-rounded adults. I tried to create a family structure that allowed this to happen. Each member of my family is unique and different, but that is what allows my family to be great.

When and why did you first get involved in the foster and adoption system? 

“What’s one more?” These are my husband’s famous words that have always gotten us into trouble. I would find a child in need, or we would come across a child who needed a temporary home, and this was always his response.

I became a foster parent because I love children, and so does my spouse. When my adopted 17-year-old son needed a home at birth, I took him home. I saw him, fell in love with him and called my husband. The same happened with Mercy when she was 8 years old. I never planned on adopting, but I am the kind of person who will help any child in need. Mercy needed a home; typically, older children do not get adopted, especially by a two-parent home. I felt, we are an African American two-parent family; we can offer this child a home. I felt we could do our part to help children in need. I just wanted to make a difference in Mercy’s life.

When did you first realize that you wouldn’t have the expected support from the adoption and foster care system, and how did you continue to navigate this without that support?

I realized I wouldn’t get the support I needed when I started calling the therapist who had stated she would be there to assist, but she didn’t return my calls. That’s when I knew I wouldn’t have the support of all the people who promised. I really got the impression very quickly that the social workers and caseworkers I met didn’t have my child’s best interest at heart. They tuned out as soon as they found a parent to take care of Mercy. They didn’t even understand basic child development. I understand I may have more experience in some areas than most, but we have laws that govern childcare centers and schools. The child protective services don’t have to abide by the strict regulations, and children are not being cared for properly. They are the ones monitoring, but who monitors them? The foster and adoption care system frequently withholds information to foster and adoptive care parents; lacking that information can be detrimental. Unfortunately, my child has suffered as I learned this information the hard way. They caused Mercy physical harm with mistakes and neglect. Some of it has been so harmful that if any parent made these mistakes, they would attempt to remove the child from parental care. However, they treat the children like pieces of paper in a file drawer, not like the individuals they are.

Can you tell us about Mercy’s background before she became a part of your family? Can you explain some of the physical and emotional challenges she faces, and how others can support children like her?

Mercy entered the foster/adoption system at age 3. By the time she came to us, she was 8, and she had been in 21 placements. In addition, she had behavioral challenges and abandonment issues, but a lot of her problems were hidden from us. We found things out by accident, even about the 21 placements. I was told they suspected sexual abuse, but I have now confirmed that they knew about her sexual abuse. They just chose to hide it. In their words, “If we told you about her past, how bad it really was, you wouldn’t adopt her.” This is the problem—we should have been told. When you buy a house, you are told about floods, fires, and even murders in the disclosure process.  However, you can adopt or foster a child, without receiving disclosures, which is detrimental to any family if there’s a history of abuse. All children need opportunities to experience a wonderful family, and families need to be supported and protected. Measures must exist to protect children and families. Mercy had experienced extreme trauma—behavioral, emotional, physical and sexual abuse—that was not disclosed to us. The lack of disclosure caused harm to her. Vital therapy time was lost, mistakes were made in treatment, opportunities lost. This is a deceptive practice.

Mercy has a twin brother, Michael, who she was separated from during adoption. Does she have a relationship with him or any of her other siblings? What are your thoughts on separating siblings in the foster care system? How does this impact them long-term? 

Separating siblings is a horrible practice! Separating twins is even more horrendous! When a child has been taken away from their parents, for whatever reason, they have lost their entire family structure. So then to tear her barbarically away from the only consistent thing in her life, her twin brother, the person she shared her mother womb with, is just outrageous, insensitive, and a ridiculous process! I want to know who thought this was okay; was this one person or a team of people? Were there any psychologists on this team? Why is the state trying to destroy this child? Why would anybody in their right mind think that this was acceptable? This was in no way developmentally or social-emotionally appropriate. Did a judge okay this? This is outrageous. Why did everyone fail these children? How many more children have been treated like this?

Mercy does not have much contact with her twin brother. He has exhibited a lot of sexualized behaviors because of his past, so the therapist thinks it’s best that we keep them apart. Of course, this therapist is paid by the state, and maybe because the damage is done, maybe because it reminds them of the inhumane separation, maybe because they hope if we ignore it, it’ll go away, maybe because they don’t want to be reminded that they failed these children! I would be okay with monitored contact because there is a side of her that greatly misses her twin. It’s obvious; when they are together, they finish each other’s sentences. My daughter cries for her twin often. I know that part of their brokenness has been caused because of their separation and how awful it was. I do let her have contact with her two older siblings. It is a challenge because their behaviors can be a bit extreme, and they’ve all faced so much abuse, but there’s a side of her that misses them, and she worries about them. I feel like either way it’s tough.

The process of separating siblings and twins needs to be revisited in all foster/adoption care systems. The emotional impact on these children needs to be researched and studied, and laws of protection need to be formed.

Children under the age of 18 often have no avenues to advocate for themselves, making them more susceptible to abuse. How does the system victimize children, and how can we create more accountability for those victimizing children?

I think children are more at risk of being victimized because stories of abuse are not told. There are so many mistakes made by the agencies that are supposed to protect them, and they get away with it. This is a part of the problem.

How did your experiences as a biological, adoptive and foster mother shape your ideas of motherhood? Did anything change significantly? 

A few things shaped by ideas of motherhood – being a child raised by a single mom and experienced abuse, watching things happen to children that shouldn’t, and my experiences as a child advocate through the realms of preschool. I have a different perspective, and I understand what abuse and trauma does to children. If intervention doesn’t happen and therapy isn’t given, children don’t have a chance, and there will be a cycle, potentially in which they can abuse others as well, and nobody looks at these things. As an adoptive and a biological mother, my goal is to protect my children at all costs, get them the best care and advocate for them. I feel that I treat my children all the same way. It doesn’t matter if they’re biological or adopted; they’re my children. There hasn’t been a significant change in the way I parent, except my awareness was heightened throughout this journey with Mercy.

How does your faith play into your role as an adoptive parent? 

Without God, I wouldn’t have made it this far. Forgiveness, love, kindness and prayer are all things I can find in my faith. I pray all the time for Mercy. It’s hard because Mercy is better off with me. I keep her safe, I protect her, and I take great care of her. She receives the best therapy with me because I will pay for private sessions, and I will drive and fly anywhere to get her the care she needs. I will research what she needs and then get her the care she needs. However, I don’t have anyone to protect me from her. Mercy only has me to protect her from them; they don’t look out for her best interest, and they have proven this over and over again. I know she is better with me, but I have to protect the entire household, and families deserve more options. This is why I am always praying because it grieves my spirit. It’s only God that allows me to keep going.

Can you tell us more about your work in Phoenix, Arizona — your hometown — and how you help other parents in nontraditional homes? 

Both of my preschools have early Head Start grants, which focus on a 0 to 2 early intervention, working with low income children, who are exposed to trauma. These programs give high quality childcare to children who would not otherwise have it. We’re able to identify children that may have special needs at an early age and help them be more well-rounded with additional education opportunities.

What advice do you have to other nontraditional families looking to add family members, whether by fostering or adopting? 

Ask a lot of questions and make them tell you the child’s history. Get support, and get everything in writing. Trust and verify. We need adoptive parents, but we need a better system.

What do you want readers to take away from your book? Do you have any calls to action? 

We need to change the system for these children and families. We need to be concerned for every child in this system. We need justice and advocacy.

Download press kit and photos

Marissa DeCuir

A former award-winning journalist with national exposure, Marissa now oversees the day-to-day operation of the Books Forward author branding and book marketing firm, along with our indie publishing support sister company Books Fluent.

Born and bred in Louisiana, currently living in New Orleans, she has lived and developed a strong base for our company and authors in Chicago and Nashville. Her journalism work has appeared in USA Today, National Geographic and other major publications. She is now interviewed by media on best practices for book marketing.

booksforward.com/about-us/marissa-decuir/

Young teen activists make US debut in playfully educational children’s book

San Francisco, CA – This World Ocean Day, journey through the ocean with Baby Whale in this fundamental children’s book about a young whale who is too shy to poop and its importance to the ecosystem in Daniel and Benjamin Kim’s spirited story and US debut, The Whale Who Refused to Poo (Common Planet, June 8, 2023).

Having started before the age of ten, two brothers, Daniel and Benjamin wrote six children’s books all ranging in different endangered animals. After much success in Korean and their book, A Letter from Sumatra, adapted for the screen, the young teen activists share their delightful stories to the US audience. The Whale Who Refused to Poo is the first book to be released and all proceeds benefit the protection of endangered animals.

Baby Whale feels shy about pooping in the ocean. Surrounded by other fish and plankton, he never learned why he had to poop in front of everyone. He journeys to the bottom of the ocean for some privacy and meets a scholarly octopus who explains to him how important it is to poop; that it helps share important nutrients to the fish and plankton around him. With this new knowledge, Baby Whale is ready to go back to the surface and poop again. 

With deeper themes and lessons of the interconnection between all creatures featuring beautifully drawn images, The Whale Who Refused to Poo is the perfect book to help children understand the importance of protecting animals in their ecosystem and teaching them that some things are necessary for survival.  

“The Whale Who Refused to Poo”

Daniel and Benjamin Kim 

June 8, 2023 | Children’s book

Paperback | 978-1-960920-00-3 | $14.99

Ebook | 978-1-960920-01-0 | $9.99

DANIEL KIM: Daniel attends a middle school in the Bay Area. His love of dinosaurs and disappointment at their extinction sparked his interest in endangered animals on the brink of extinction. He believes that creating a world that is good for animals also means a better world for humans. In his free time, Daniel enjoys reading, playing tennis, and listening to music. You can find him blogging on his site, commonplanet.org.

In an interview, Daniel can discuss:

• The successful launch of his books in Korea and his release to the US audience
• His continued love for animals and how it shaped his desire for animal activism and what it means to be a child activist
• The colorful appeal of his stories and how he shares knowledge through playful narrative and the impact he is making with his books
• The worldwide importance of his stories and how children of any culture can understand its message
• The research behind The Whale Who Refused to Poo and the impact whales have on their ecosystem
• His aspirations for helping animals in the future
• How he and his brother collaborated to write six books, short films and continue to create more

Take a look inside The Whale Who Refused to Poo

An Interview with

Daniel Kim

1. Where did your love for the environment come from? What sparked your interest in writing books?

As a child, I was fascinated by dinosaurs and could easily identify hundreds of different species. However, my love for these prehistoric creatures was tempered by the realization that they had gone extinct. Years later, during a visit to the San Diego Zoo, I learned that we were observing one of the last three surviving Northern White Rhinos, a species on the brink of extinction due to human negligence. This experience opened my eyes to the harsh reality that many animals face today and inspired me to spread awareness about conservation efforts. I firmly believe that a world where animals thrive is a better world for all of us.

2. Baby whale struggles pooping in front of his friends, but learns that it’s important for the ecosystem. How did you research the importance of whale poop to the ecosystem?

As an avid conservation enthusiast, I frequently indulge in reading books and articles about animals. During one of my recent explorations, I stumbled upon an article about the remarkable nutrition pump that whales create in the ocean, which serves as a catalyst for the surrounding ecosystem. This discovery left me captivated and sparked a thought within me. It reminded me of how children are often intrigued by the topic of poop. I am convinced that this unique story has the potential to serve as an excellent educational resource, and inspire a new generation of conservationists.

3. Do you want to be an environmentalist when you get older? What else do you want to study? What does being an activist mean to you?

Although I am currently uncertain about the specific field of study I would like to pursue, I possess a deep-rooted passion for contributing to the cause of animal conservation and helping to make our world a better place. While activism is a crucial way to make a difference, I also firmly believe that breakthrough technologies developed by scientists and medical professionals have the potential to make a significant contribution to animal conservation. Moreover, policymakers and media companies have a pivotal role to play in this effort.

Despite my current uncertainty concerning how and where I will contribute, I remain resolute in my unwavering commitment to supporting environmental improvement for the betterment of both our present and future generations. I wholeheartedly subscribe to the notion that we have merely borrowed this nature from our future generation and that we have no right to destroy it.

4. I heard these books are in other languages! What made you decide to translate the books into Korean and Chinese?

The purpose of our books is to inspire and empower children to take action in saving the planet and its inhabitants, ultimately safeguarding our own future. We also leverage various media formats, such as animated movies, to amplify our message and reach a wider audience. Our goal is to spread awareness and foster a global movement, where everyone plays a crucial role in creating a sustainable future for generations to come. Join us in making a lasting impact and be part of the change we wish to see in the world.

5. I heard that you’re already working on another book! What’s your next book going to be about?

I am currently engaged in the development of a narrative that centers around an animal on the precipice of extinction. Although I am not at liberty to disclose specific details regarding the animal or the storyline, I can reveal that this is a project of great personal significance to me.

6. What do you hope your books will inspire? What do you want kids to take away from your books? 

My ultimate objective with my books is to foster empathy and understanding towards these imperiled creatures. By sharing their story and drawing attention to their plight, my hope is to instill a greater appreciation for the value of all life, and to inspire people to take action to safeguard these vulnerable species.

I believe that storytelling has the power to effect meaningful change and to forge deep connections between people and important causes. Through my writing, I aspire to make a meaningful contribution towards raising awareness about the urgent need to protect our planet’s most precious and threatened species.

Download press kit and photos

Marissa DeCuir

A former award-winning journalist with national exposure, Marissa now oversees the day-to-day operation of the Books Forward author branding and book marketing firm, along with our indie publishing support sister company Books Fluent.

Born and bred in Louisiana, currently living in New Orleans, she has lived and developed a strong base for our company and authors in Chicago and Nashville. Her journalism work has appeared in USA Today, National Geographic and other major publications. She is now interviewed by media on best practices for book marketing.

booksforward.com/about-us/marissa-decuir/

Hailed as “Speak” for a new generation, a sixth grader heals from trauma in latest addition to acclaimed author’s “Brave Girls Collection”

NEW HAVEN, CT–In a starred review of Kimberly Behre Kenna’s debut novel, “Artemis Sparke and the Sound Seekers Brigade” (Regal House/Fitzroy), Foreword praised Kenna’s ability to write “a courageous, passionate, and observant heroine who is vivified by her emotional complexity.” The second book in her Brave Girls Collection, “Jett Jamison and the Secret Storm” (Black Rose Writing) is no exception. Following a pre-teen who is battling her town’s book censorship along with a secret personal trauma, the story celebrates speaking up while honoring the messy, difficult journey to finding one’s voice.

About the book: Sixth-grader Jett Jamison can’t catch a break. Her home in small town Wisteria is noisy as a zoo, and her mind buzzes with bits of a traumatic memory she’d rather forget. She’s filled a shoebox with one hundred thirty-three to-do lists, her roadmaps to peace, but they only lead to dead ends. Sister Gia, master gardener and cat-whisperer extraordinaire, suggests a book by an anonymous author, but it’s disappeared from all local libraries, and nobody wants to talk about it. Enraged at the injustice, Jett continues to dig for answers and is drawn into a censorship battle with a high-profile radio host. Her peaceful protest backfires big time, and the town goes berserk. Now, for peace to be within reach, Jett must either face up to her past or remain forever bound by silence much more suffocating than the din in Wisteria.

“Jett Jamison and the Secret Storm”

Kimberly Behre Kenna | August 3, 2023 | Black Rose Writing | Children’s, Middle Grade

Paperback | ISBN: 978-1-68513-243-9 | $19.95

Praise for “Jett Jamison and the Secret Storm” and Kimberly Behre Kenna…

“Readers will love the memorable and realistic cast of characters in this tale of a sixth-grader’s journey to discover the mystery of a suppressed library book. Along the way, she will discover answers to the difficult storm brewing inside herself, as well as find her voice to advocate for both. Jett is a brave, compelling character, and this novel is an engaging and inspiring take on a sensitive topic. An important read!” 

–Sonja K. Solter, award-winning author of When You Know What I Know

“Jett Jamison has a secret—a deeply painful one. She also has determination, a strong sense of justice, and a wide open heart that will have young readers glued to her side and rooting for her as she works to stop a censorship campaign against a book she knows she needs to read in order to heal. With bravery, beautiful writing, and just the right amount of restraint, Kimberly Behre Kenna has opened the door for a crucial and overdue conversation about sexual abuse and survival for middle grade readers. More than twenty years ago, teenagers were given the gift of Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak. Now, finally, pre-teens have this stunning and necessary book.” 

– Ona Gritz, author of August or Forever

“Kenna has done that rare and wonderful magic trick of immersing the reader into the psyche of a tender tween soul in crisis without any dissembling or subterfuge. The story breathes with subtle and deft nuances of insight and feeling… The reader of any age enters into Jett’s world of pitfalls and trauma from the first page, though they quickly learn that Jett is no frozen victim: she’s a fighter, a detective, and when it counts the most, a trailblazer. The town of Wisteria can be found in Anywhere, America… This unassuming but also unabashed book will do wonders for the heart and spirit of young people grappling with silence where an open conversation could change their lives forever.”

–JR Potter, award-winning teen mystery author of Thomas Creeper and the Gloomsbury Secret

“Sixth-grader Jett Jamison relies on carefully curated lists and schedules to protect her from the stress of a chaotic family life and the jumbled fragments of a disturbing memory. But an unexpected friendship and a mysterious book challenge Jett’s beliefs about the value of predictability and order and embolden her to face those who have silenced her and others. Kimberly Behre Kenna tackles a difficult subject with the perfect balance of honesty and hope in her portrayal of a courageous and relatable heroine whose observations about herself and the world sparkle.” 

–Linda B. Davis, MSW, author of Food Fight

About the author…

KIMBERLY BEHRE KENNA: After years as an adolescent and family counselor, and then as a fifth grade teacher of ecology and language arts, Kimberly returned to school for her MA in creative writing from Wilkes University. Her middle-grade novel, “Artemis Sparke and the Sound Seekers Brigade” (Regal House/Fitzroy) was a finalist and received Honorable Mention in the 2019 Tassy Walden New Voices in Children’s Literature Competition. “Jett Jamison and the Secret Storm” (Black Rose) is the second book in her Brave Girls Collection. A third in the collection, as yet unpublished, won second place in The Institute of Children’s Literature 2022 MG Mystery Contest. Her poems and stories have been published in American Writers Review, Mused, Plumtree Tavern, and Rubbertop Review. Her full-length play, “Ana’s Hummingbird,” was given a staged reading at The Dramatists Guild in NYC. She’s a member of SCBWI and PEN America, and now devotes herself to writing full time. Connect with her at www.kimberlybehrekenna.com

Follow Kimberly Behre Kenna on social media:

Twitter: @KimberlyBKenna | Instagram: @KimberlyBKenna 

Facebook: @KimberlyBehreKenna

In an interview, Kimberly Behre Kenna can discuss:

• The importance of public libraries as safe spaces, and why she’s donating a portion of the proceeds from book sales to her local library
• The recent increase in book bannings across the U.S. and how “Jett Jamison” addresses this issue
• How and why she wrote about sexual assault for a pre-teen audience, and why it’s crucial that safe, open communication exists for that age group
• The similarities and differences between the two heroines in her “Brave Girls Collection” and what characteristics make a “brave girl”

An Interview with

Kimberly Behre Kenna

1. What inspired you to write “Jett Jamison and the Secret Storm”? Were you influenced by the recent increase in book bannings in the United States?

I started writing this book before the recent increase in book bannings, around the time of #MeToo, when so many women bravely came forward to tell their stories. One day as I sat writing in my hometown library, the very place my mother escaped to in order to get away from her noisy siblings many years ago, I wondered how my own childhood would’ve been different if I’d had a sanctuary like this library with books to help me deal with my trauma. Jett’s character grew from these real life situations, and her story evolved into exploring what would happen if the important healing books that now exist disappeared. So, my story’s universal themes of book censorship and silenced voices are also very personal.

2. Part of the proceeds from book sales will benefit your hometown public library. What role does the library play in “Jett Jamison and the Secret Storm”?

The fictional Wisteria Library is largely inspired by the one in my hometown, the historic

James Blackstone Library. Over the past few years, I’ve spent many, many hours at the

Blackstone Library, where most of this book was written. The building itself is magical,

and the staff and librarians provide patrons of all ages with a safe, non-judgmental space

where they can explore, ask questions, and have fun. Wisteria Library offers Jett the

same, until the troubling events she witnesses there illustrate the unreasonable pressure

that libraries and librarians are facing today. This place that was sacred to Jett becomes

yet another victim of injustice, and she decides to right the wrong.

3. Sexual assault and the resulting trauma is a topic rarely explored in middle grade fiction. Why did you want to write about this for a pre-teen audience, and how did you approach doing so?

Like Jett and many children, I’m a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. These children live in a void of secrecy. If there had been books exploring the issue, or open discussions about it back in the day, perhaps I wouldn’t have kept the secret for decades. I wrote this book so that traumatized kids would feel less alone and hopefully reach out to an adult for help. The silence needs to be broken early on so healing can begin. There’s a fine balance that must be struck when writing about such topics for middle grade. The story must be age appropriate (no graphic depiction on the page) and softened with humor and hope without diminishing the serious truths of the topic. Fiction provides a safe place for young readers to explore difficult things.

4. What are the similarities and differences between the two heroines in your Brave Girls Collection: Artemis Sparke and Jett Jamison? 

Both girls have lost their voices due to victimization, and their resulting lack of confidence prevents them from getting what they want. Both girls have male friends and wise adults willing to help them reclaim their voices and reach their goals, but overwhelming emotions get in the way of their achieving those things. They both find solace in nature, and the outdoor plants and animals help them restore their spirit, but the way each of their stories unfolds is what makes the two girls unique.

5. What do you hope readers will take away from “Jett Jamison and the Secret Storm”? 

I hope readers come away with a better idea of how common trauma is and how it affects people, and I hope they’ll feel more comfortable discussing it. This is a book that must be discussed, or we land right back at the spot where we started—a child alone with a heavy subject that they don’t know what to do with. Regardless of whether the reader has been abused or not, I hope they now see that we cannot make assumptions about people based on their behavior when we have no idea of their backstory. We need to remain open and receptive to others so that they feel comfortable enough to say what they need to say.

6. What’s next for you? Do you have another Brave Girls book in the works?

Yes! Book three is complete, but still needs a tweak or two. Meanwhile, I’m happy to say that my immediate future is full of visits with kids, teachers, and librarians, and many, many unread books that I’ve not paid enough attention to during this busy year of publishing!

Download press kit and photos

Marissa DeCuir

A former award-winning journalist with national exposure, Marissa now oversees the day-to-day operation of the Books Forward author branding and book marketing firm, along with our indie publishing support sister company Books Fluent.

Born and bred in Louisiana, currently living in New Orleans, she has lived and developed a strong base for our company and authors in Chicago and Nashville. Her journalism work has appeared in USA Today, National Geographic and other major publications. She is now interviewed by media on best practices for book marketing.

booksforward.com/about-us/marissa-decuir/