(Authors listed in order of length of “Alas” association.)
Books by Barry Deutsch (aka Ampersand)
Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword
Spunky, strong-willed, eleven-year-old Mirka Hirschberg isn’t interested in knitting lessons from her step-mother, or how-to-find-a-husband advice from her sister, or you-better-not warnings from her brother. There’s only one thing she does want: to fight dragons!
Granted, no dragons have been breathing fire around Hereville, the Orthodox Jewish community where Mirka lives, but that doesn’t stop the plucky girl from honing her skills. She fearlessly stands up to local bullies. She battles a very large, very menacing pig. And she boldly accepts a challenge from a mysterious witch, a challenge that could bring Mirka her heart’s desire: a dragon-slaying sword! All she has to do is find – and outwit – the giant troll who’s got it!
“Without a doubt, this is the best graphic novel of 2010 for kids. Bar none.”
—Elizabeth Bird, School Library Journal.
“A terrific story, told with skill and lots of heart, that readers of all ages will enjoy.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Hardcover, 144 pages, to be released November 2010. Ordering information here.
Books by Rachel Swirsky (aka Mandolin)
Through The Drowsy Dark
Through the Drowsy Dark collects ten stories and nine poems by Nebula- and Hugo-nominee Rachel Swirsky, “a terrific writer who’s been making a name for herself with a string of intelligent, perceptive stories,” as critic Jonathan Strahan characterizes her. In Through the Drowsy Dark, Swirsky’s characters struggle with too much and too little emotional control, with heartbreak, with grief that has gone deep underground; they search for nothingness, for difference, for oneness. One commits a terrible crime because she believes it’s the moral thing to do, while another digs up a dead dog because the very thought of kissing it on the lips makes her clitoris throb. Swirsky’s explorations of the heart and mind are fearless—and dangerous fictions indeed.
“Swirsky’s range as a writer, from carefully realized fantasy stories to thought-driven short pieces and poems that embrace several political and feminist perspectives, is one of the most impressive things about Through the Drowsy Dark.”
—Sara Polsky, Strange Horizons
“Swirsky is an insightful, incisive writer, and with these stories she gently (sometimes not so gently) vivisects reality, uncovering truths — often painful, occasionally joyful, frequently delightful — that are sometimes revelatory…”
—Nathan Blumenfeld
Paperback, 146 pages. Purchase Through the Drowsy Dark on the Aquaduct Press website, Amazon, and everywhere books are sold.
Books by Richard Jeffrey Newman
The Silence of Men
The Silence of Men confronts and breaks the silence in men’s lives surrounding sex, family, power and violence; graphic and intimate, celebratory and heartbreakingly painful, these are the poems of a survivor for whom writing, because it breaks that silence, has been a primary means of survival.
“This is a fairly hard volume to read. Not because the poetry is bad: it has moments of epiphany and insight many writers would love to produce, but because the materials and themes are so close to the bone.”
—William G. Doty, Journal of Men, Masculinities and Spirituality
“From Korea to Manhattan, and from the haunted voices still rising from the concentration camps, Richard Jeffrey Newman’s The Silence of Men exposes the violence of men toward men, and men toward women, and the tenderness also, the resounding tenderness. His is an unremitting empathy, as uncommon as it is necessary. Such a brave debut.”
—Robin Behn
Paperback, 124 pages. Available from UPNE, IndieBound, Powell’s, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble
For further information, including sample poems, please visit Richard’s website.
Translations by Richard J. Newman:
- A Bird in the Garden of Angels (Mazda Publishers, 2007), with John Moyne
- Selections from Saadi’s Bustan (Global Scholarly Publications, 2006)
- Selections from Saadi’s Gulistan (Global Scholarly Publications, 2004)
Books by Jeff Fecke
The Valkyrie’s Tale
A young Valkyrie apprentice has visions of a world of technology and science — while in that world, her twin has visions of swordsmanship and sorcery. Both will have to overcome tragedy and their own doubts to learn how to balance the worlds, and save their homes.
Paperback, 444 pages. Available from Lulu, Amazon, and as an ebook from Smashwords.
Books by N. K. Jemisin (aka Nojojojo)
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
Book one of The Inheritance Trilogy
Yeine Darr is an outcast from the barbarian north. But when her mother dies under mysterious circumstances, she is summoned to the majestic city of Sky, seat of the ruling Arameri family. There, to her shock, Yeine is named an heiress to the king. But the throne of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is not easily won, and Yeine is thrust into a vicious power struggle with a pair of cousins she never knew she had. As she fights for her life, she draws ever closer to the secrets of her mother’s death and her family’s bloody history.
With the fate of the world hanging in the balance, Yeine will learn how perilous it can be when love and hate — and gods and mortals — are bound inseparably.
“Extremely well-written, imaginative, emotionally gripping, and featuring a compelling narrator, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is an almost-perfect debut that deserves far more attention and could end up being one of the best fantasy releases of the year.”
—Robert Thompson, Fantasy Book Critic
“This complex tale of politics, assassination, racism, and gods too intimately involved in the lives of humans is a challenging read and a notable authorial debut.”
—Booklist
“The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is an incredible debut by a truly talented author, full of danger, sensuality, and wonder.”
—Jason Erik Lundberg, The SF Site
Paperback, 432 pages. Available from Amazon, Powells, IndieBound, and everywhere books are sold.