One String Guitar

One-String Guitar, a novel about the Rwandan

Genocide, eerily comes to life following the recent

tortures and killings in Burundi

One-String Guitar’s central topic of resiliency after the Rwandan Genocide hits center stage with the current killings in Burundi Following President Nkurinziza seeking third bid.

Ten years after surviving the 1994 Rwandan genocide, Francine tries to rebuild her life in Upstate New York where she befriends Elbe, the medical interpreter assigned to her—an adoptee in search of her roots on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. Against the backdrop of the harrowing 100-day massacres of one million lives in Kigali and the revolution of the Lakota in 1972 on the res, One-String Guitar weaves a narrative of resilience, healing and ultimately, love.

The UN Commission on Human Rights recently announced that 230,000 in Burundi have sought refuge in other countries due to the killings, tortures, rapes and enforced disappearances in the last year.

“When I wrote One-String Guitar, I never thought ethnic cleansing would be taking place again so soon,” said de Vestel the author One-String Guitar.

The novel’s title—a reference to August Wilson’s Seven Guitars in which Hedley plucks a single string instrument to connect with the memory of his mother—urges us all to remain connected to the wisdom of our ancestors in order to avoid repeating the worst chapters of our history.

“But the reality is that there is always a genocide going on somewhere on our planet at any given moment,” de Vestel added.

Praise for One String Guitar

“Ten years after surviving the 1994 Rwandan genocide, Francine tries to rebuild her life in Upstate New York where she befriends Elbe, the medical interpreter assigned to her — an adoptee in search of her roots on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. Against the backdrop of the harrowing 100-day massacres of one million lives in Kigali and the revolution of the Lakota in 1972 on the reservation, One-String Guitar by writer, performer and professor Mona de Vestl deftly weaves a narrative of resilience, healing and ultimately, love. It is interesting to note that the novel’s title is a reference to August Wilson’s Seven Guitars in which Hedley plucks a single string instrument to connect with the memory of his mother — urging us all to remain connected to the wisdom of our ancestors in order to avoid repeating the worst chapters of our history. While unreservedly recommended for both community and academic library Contemporary Literary Fiction collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that One-String Guitar is also available in a Kindle format ($9.99).”

—Midwest Book Review

“One String Guitar (Harvard Square Editions, 2016) weaves the histories of the Rwandan genocide and the 1973 Siege at Wounded Knee through two women’s stories—Francine, a survivor of the genocide who has resettled in upstate New York; and her medical interpreter, Elbe, who was born on a reservation and adopted by a white family. One-String Guitar follows their journeys to come to terms with their personal and generational trauma.

—Apogee Journal

“Akin to Leslie Marmon Silko’s weaving, One-String Guitar is at once a personal, political and poetic novel, that draws the reader into lives beyond the borders of geography, culture, and even biology. de Vestel is a skilled storyteller, traversing multiple landscapes, and contending with the charged political consequences of genocide and complex intersections of class, race and queer identity. Her treatment of relationships is reminiscent of Maggie Nelson’s The Argonauts: sensitive, revealing and finely-attuned. You won’t want to put One-String Guitar down.”

—Amy King, Author of The Missing Museum

“One String Guitar is a revelation. It’s also a novel you should give yourself plenty of time to read so that you can savor its many depths, both personal and political. Earlier in her career, Mona de Vestel was a spoken word poet and performance artist of magnetic power, all her incandescence is right there on the page where you have been waiting for it all your life.”

—Nancy Keefe Rhodes, arts writer & editor

“Congratulations are in order, to Mona for the achievement, to the reader for the journey at hand. Here you will find a compelling narrative of grace rare in an inaugural work. This is a meticulously crafted text that still somehow manages to sprawl across characters, cultures, continents, and an impressive array of emotional registers. It is a sophisticated work, polished, crafted, deeply layered while never forgetting what makes literature literature – it is a good read, reeking of authority. The text facilitates unique character intimacy before reforging it in the horrific genocides of Rwanda and the First Nations without ever sliding into easy sentiment or sensationalism. This is a journey both disturbing and revelatory, and ultimately beautiful as only meaningful literature can be. This inaugural work establishes Mona de Vestel as a contender and true voice. This one she can be proud of. Forever.”

—novelist Arthur Flowers

“One String Guitar tells stories so embedded in sensations and rhythms of everyday consciousness that when it takes us across the boundaries of identities and cultures, we travel there with open hearts and minds.
From the Pine Ridge Reservation of South Dakota, to the rust-belt Central New York town that becomes a refuge from the genocide in Rwanda, to the borderland of transgender identity, we are taken on a journey of pain but also of hope and love for these characters in crisis.
de Vestel is an astute interpreter of historical trauma, addiction, and mental illness who conveys an understanding of home and the notion of a socially-constructed family from the perspective of the displaced.

—Rebecca Garden, Associate Professor of Bioethics & Humanities, Upstate Medical University

Interview with Mona de Vestel

About the Author

Of mixed Belgian and African descent, Mona grew up in Brussels and later moved to the United States where she taught writing at the State University of New York (Oswego & Utica). Her memoir King Leopold’s Daughter is a finalist for Restless Books’ Immigrant Writing Prize. Her work explores the role of the ‘other’ in the marginalized voices of our world. She is currently at work on Trail of Light, a memoir about her quest for joy, healing, and the magic in her life. Mona now lives in Southern California with her family. For more info about the author, please visit: www.authormona.com

Spiders & Flies

Spiders and flies

Scott Adlerberg’s debut novel

An American fugitive in Martinique recovering from a six-hour marriage. A young woman who has a cat for a best friend. A wealthy couple who bicker so much they make solitary life seem irresistible and a yoga-practicing midget with lethal karate skills These are a few of the players at the heart of Spiders and Flies, the story of an abduction gone wrong. Set in the lush sun-drenched tropics, the novel captures the deepest fears and desires of the people drawn into the kidnapper’s web. A drama that unfolds with twisty suspense and dark humor, it sheds a skewed light on the notions of family ties, loyalty, deceit, and friendship.

Praise for Spiders and Flies
 

“Scott Adlerberg is a terrific storyteller and Spiders and Flies belongs on your bookshelf.”

⎯Jason Starr, Anthony Award-winning author of The Craving

“Adlerberg’s Paul Raven is that rare kind of character – a predatory schemer we nonetheless can’t help but identify with through the many twists and turns this story takes him on. The Martinique setting provides a palpable, sensuous, and vivid atmosphere, making it almost a character itself. I was totally immersed from start to finish.”

⎯Larry Dark, Director of The Story Prize

Scott Adlerberg hosting Reel Talks,

with Peter Blauner

in New York’s Bryant Park

About the Author

Scott Adlerberg lives in Brooklyn. This Martinique-set crime novel, SPIDERS AND FLIES (Harvard Square Editions, 2012), is his debut novel. Next came the noir/fantasy novella JUNGLE HORSES (2014), followed by the psychological thriller GRAVEYARD LOVE (2016). He is a regular contributor to sites such as Lithub and Criminal Element, and each summer he co-hosts the Word for Word Reel Talks film commentary series in Manhattan.His new novel, JACK WATERS, a historical revenge thriller, is out now from Broken River Books.

In the Land of Eternal Spring by Alan Howard

In the Land of Eternal Spring

by Alan Howard

A Most Anticipated Small Press Book of 2017!

A poignant love story and dynamic political novel on a period in our history that resonates today

Peace Corps Volunteer Laura Jenson has a lot in common with Peter Franklin, a Fulbright Scholar, whom she meets in Guatemala City in 1963. Both of them are inspired by JFK’s call to action for a new foreign policy that would help the poor and promote democracy. What they find, however, is the reality of America’s one-dimensional Cold War policies that got us into Vietnam and radicalized a generation. They fall in love as Laura becomes involved in Guatemala’s nascent revolutionary movement.

As the political situation in Guatemala erupts, Laura draws Peter into also supporting the revolutionary movement, and they begin working together clandestinely in the city and mountains. The tension builds as the government’s security forces close in on them and then trap them in a safe house.

Events

Thursday, June 15th @ 7pm, Launch event/reading/signing, Newtonville Books, 10 Langley Road, Newton Centre, Newton, MA 02459

Wednesday, June 21st @ 7pm, Reading/conversation/signing, Home of Kate Linker and Bernard Tschumi, 227 W 17th St., 6th Floor, New York, NY 10011

Monday, July 17th @ 7pm, Reading/signing, Surf City Ocean Library, 217 S. Central Ave., Surf City, NJ 08008

Wednesday, July 19th @ 1pm, Reading/signing, Beach Haven Library, 247 Beach Avenue, Beach Haven NJ 08008

Praise for In the Land of Eternal Spring

Most Anticipated Small Press Books of 2017: “Set in Guatemala in the 1960s, Howard’s novel about politics, idealism, regret and lost love is not only profoundly moving but also timeless in its resonance.”

—Big Other

“Vivid and complex, this novel is a portrait of a very specific moment in history that feels just as vital today.”

—Kirkus

“…Peter Franklin is a Fulbright scholar in Guatemala, conducting a study on the nascent literacy project. Revolution is in the air; the Cold War is escalating, and Peter has fallen hard for Laura Jenson, a Peace Corps volunteer who has become involved with the rebels…..the suffering, abuse, and oppression of the Guatemalan people give the story its emotional heft.”

—Booklist

“If Ernest Hemingway had written a novel about the Guatemalan civil war,
it may well have looked like In the Land of Eternal Spring.”

—Peace Corps Worldwide

“This is a good read in the genre of young rich-world people off in a poor country getting into political trouble. But it’s also a touching love story, written from the 50-years-later perspective of a journalist (so we know he survived) filled with nostalgia…. Peter reminded me bit of Jay McInerny’s character in Bright Lights Big City: bad boy with a complicated and damaged but salvageable heart. The plot line of events, in this case sex and violence, are realistic but they are the beguiling surface over a strong romantic and sentimental – in a good way – undertow. I liked the scope of this author’s skill. 9.0/8.2”

—John nan’s Reviews

“This novel, so beautifully written and deeply felt, reads like a haunting from a forgotten past. It captures, especially through the vividly rendered characters of its young American idealists and the choices they make, a precise moment when Guatemala—and much of Latin America—seemed balanced between two destinies. It makes you ache to go back in time and change the outcome.”

—Francisco Goldman, author of Say Her Name

“Alan Howard’s novel about idealism, violence, and love in 1960s Guatemala is timeless in its resonance. The political and the personal are brilliantly intertwined from the wry, sharp-eyed opening to the profoundly moving end.”

—Dawn Raffel, author of The Secret Life of Objects

“In the Land of Eternal Spring brings us back to an era, place and U.S. governmental policy involving the covert terrorizing of other peoples. It is an era now long forgotten by some, unknown by others. Alan Howard’s way with a story and his evocative prose render this tale believable in every detail, yet larger than life: hard as steel, tender as the wisest love, and once again a terrible premonition. I am immensely grateful for this magnificent novel.”

—Margaret Randall, author of Che on My Mind

“A remarkable love story and vivid portrait of the great dilemma of our times, our national priorities and beleaguered world…. I can’t remember when a tale so carefully and cleanly crafted, so understated and straightforward, has moved me so deeply at the end.”

—John Nichols, author of The Milagro Beanfield War

“This is a truly wonderful book…. The final pages will slam you and change
your political views forever.”

—David Mangurian, author of Children of the Incas

Interviews

The Sand Paper

About the Author

Alan Howard has written for The New York Times Magazine, the Nation, Dissent, public television and labor union publications about workers and politics in the US and many other countries around the world. He was a Fulbright Scholar at San Carlos University in Guatemala, an International Fellow at Columbia University, the Latin American correspondent for Liberation News Service, and a national volunteer leader in the 2008 and 2012 campaigns of Barack Obama. His novella Hollywood Furs was short-listed for the 2011 Paris Literary Prize. In the Land of Eternal Spring is his first novel.

Author web site: https://www.alanhowardwrites.com

Love, Life and Logic

Love, Life, and Logic captures the individual struggle of a young man against the seemingly unnamed, unknown, anonymous power of the universe. In a shocking revelation of his innermost thoughts, the book depicts a painful account of his emotional turmoil arising out of his own confusions and dilemmas, and his personal developments through all that.

Rohan grows up in a middle class family in a small town in Goa, India. He asks himself many life questions like we all do every day. Is our life and death an end in itself, or do they have a much deeper implication in a gigantic universal process? Is each human life also someway connected to the chain of events unfolding every day in front of our eyes? We all have different thumbprints; but why? Are we all a part of big numbers game, or does each one of us really matter?

Chased by these and many such questions, Rohan leaves his lucrative job and his family in search of the truth. The journey gets complicated when he meets Adeline, a 23-year old vivacious girl in Vienna. Love, again? That brings him back to question his failed marriage. Is marriage an end of the road for love? Do all marriages come with an expiration date?

“In a fast-paced world filled with scars, broken vows, newfound commitments, and insecure relationships in the face of change, Rohan slowly uncovers new paths to understanding the greater universe at large. His journey neatly takes the reader’s hand and mind and leads to an engrossing tale of love and redemption, highly recommended for those seeking more than a casual romance story. Love, Life and Logic comes packed with thought-provoking mental and spiritual changes, in which the ultimate goal fluidly changes with better understanding.”

-Diane Donovan, Midwest Book Review

“Filled with Indian culture, this story is thought-provoking and is full of emotions.”

–Amy’s Bookshelf Reviews
 

“A fascinating, alluring book that is existential in nature and draws you into the conflict that Rohan is having as he questions himself what life is about but also has you turn the journey into one of your own.”

–Books are Love
 

“It’s the search and the road leading to his final realization that makes this book insightful and thought-provoking.”

–Dehaggerty

“If you like ruminating on important matters, you will find food for thought. Love, Life, and Logic is among my favourite five of 2016. Highly recommended!”

–My Train of Thoughts…

“This is a very deep book, that will make you think about your own life”

–Books and Movies: Reviews

“This is a surprising and delightful voyage of discovery that is easy to relate to. It is well written and a joy to read. It makes a wonderful read for anyone thinking about their direction in life, but is light enough to make a good holiday read.”

–SarahJacksonWriter.com

“If you want a book to help you reflect on the bigger picture of life, this may be the book for you…. Is marriage an end of the road for love? Do all marriages come with an expiration date? It’s the search and the road leading to his final realization that makes this book insightful and thought-provoking.”

–He Said Books or Me

Interview with Uday Mukerji

About the Author

Uday Mukerji left his creative director’s job in advertising to pursue a writing career in 2009. After writing, re-writing, and deleting a few versions, and secretly burying two laptops, six years later, he is now ready to share his first literary fiction with you.

He was born in India, and had worked in Singapore for nearly twenty years. He loves to travel, and interact with people, not so much on FB or Twitter, though, but face to face, maybe with a cup of coffee. He is a nature lover and his concern for environmental protection also made him the editor of Singapore Environmental Technology Yearbook for ten consecutive years.

The Growing Rock

The Growing Rock
by Susanna Lancaster

Susanna will appear at Southwest Tennessee Community College on February 15th, and will be a guest at this year’s Ripley Tomato Festival (the same one featured in the book!) on July 13-14.

Past events: Susanna was a guest on Radio Talk, Memphis on December 6th at 10 PM
Book signing and reading at Novel independent bookstore in Memphis, January 4th at 6:00 p.m.

Papa is a good liar—he can tell a fib all the way from Ripley to Nashville to calm everyone down or make a situation seem better, including the Great Depression. But the day he promises fourteen-year-old Caroline that everything will be okay when he leaves the farm to find work elsewhere, she isn’t so sure. After all, George told her something very similar not long ago. And they haven’t heard from him since.

His loud laugh echoes in her mind, especially in the silence of the cotton fields. How could her favorite brother possibly have died in the Ohio River floods the way the rest of the family says? Now that the women are left to take care of the farm, Caroline has to believe he’ll come back. Otherwise, she won’t have the strength to do her share of the work while looking after her sickly little sister Phoebe and telling her hopeful stories about the Growing Rock that George always said grew magically larger every summer. But as time moves on, Caroline feels more and more discouraged. Except for the town’s strange recluse, she often has no one to talk to. It doesn’t help that she feels different now around her best friend Peter, and, on top of everything, her older sister Blanche constantly runs off. When tragedy occurs that threatens to break the large family apart even more, will Caroline give into the hopelessness that has consumed Mama?

“For readers ages 10-14, The Growing Rock is a coming of age story which offers a realistic glimpse into life during the Depression. Caroline is an historically accurate character from a more innocent time. Particularly relatable for today’s young readers is her relationship with Blanche, whom Caroline admires despite her selfish behavior. Also of particular tenderness is the budding romance between Caroline and Peter, the boy next door.”

—The Historical Novel Society

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Growing Rock

by Susanna Lancaster

Giveaway ends December 24, 2017.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

“Through rich visual prose and historical detail, The Growing Rock deftly captures life for a young girl coming of age in the cotton fields of the South during the Great Depression. You’ll feel a part of those unsettling times, fall in love with Caroline, and be embraced by the warmth of her struggling family.”

—Pat Lowery Collins, acclaimed author of The Fattening Hut

“The Growing Rock moves from fairy tale to tough times as Caroline and her family face the Great Depression and fears for Caroline’s beloved brother who disappears after leaving home to find work. This gentle coming-of-age story makes you remember moments you’ve never lived and reminds you we can still find sweetness in the hardest of times.”

—Susan E. Goodman, award winning author of The First Step: How One Girl Put Segregation on Trial

“Gritty and warm, pulsating with life and all its problems, The Growing Rock connects previous generations to the millennial generation through trials, love, and rugged endurance.”

—Terrence Neal Brown, director of library services at Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary

“When I was a little girl I was obsessed with anything Little House on the Prairie and anything from that time period or setting because it was such a great series for children to grow up with. I read everything I could about that region and then slowly grew out of that phase. I never realized how much I would enjoy revisiting a book that could very easily fit into my favorite childhood genre, even though they are definitely set in different time periods. And I never thought I’d read a book that would make me want to read Little Women so much. But this book did! Not only was it a wave of nostalgia for me, it was a very incredible book to read. The characters were developed so well without it feeling drawn out.”

—Paiges of a Book

“While this book contains just 200 pages, it feels like a lot more, in a positive way…it gave me the feeling of The Little House on the Priarie, and the book left me feeling nostalgic!”

—The Dutch Book Reviewer

Descriptions of Heaven

Descriptions of Heaven

by Randal Eldon Greene

A Indie Reader Approved title

Thursday May 18th, 2017 – Reading at Blue Cafe 1301 Pierce St, Sioux City, Iowa – 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Saturday April 22nd, 2017 – Barnes & Noble Book Signing, Southern Hills Mall, 4400 Sergeant Road, Sioux City, Iowa – 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Friday October 28th, 2016 – John R Milton Writers Conference, Muenster University Center – Rm 211/211A
On the Campus of the University of South Dakota, 8:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.
Randal Eldon Greene will be reading from his forthcoming novella, Descriptions of Heaven. Greene will be joined by Leslie J. Claussen, Kathryn Wohlpart, and Jen Corrigan who will also be reading selections of their fiction. A Q&A and discussion on writing will follow the readings – Register here

An linguist, a lake monster, and the looming shadow of death—news of an unknown creature in the New Bedford Lake coincides with news that Natalia’s cancer has returned.

On the shores of the lake in a strange house with many secret doors, Robert and his family must face the fact that Natalia is dying, and there is no hope this time. But they continue on; their son plays by the lakeside, Natalia paints, Robert writes, and all the while the air is thick with dust from a worldwide drought that threatens to come down and coat their little corner of green.

A lament for what is already lost and what is yet to be lost, Descriptions of Heaven leaves only one question to be asked: What’s next?

“Randal Eldon Greene’s novel Descriptions of Heaven is a courageous and unflinching story about the mystery at the center of human life—death—and the stories we tell to make sense of its brutal reality…. This is an accomplished work. Greene has addressed a great deal of material in a short space. His story is physically minimal while his prose, and the ideas and situations it conveys, are expansive….a thoughtful and emotional novel that examines with intelligence and compassion the deepest levels of human suffering and loss.”

—Colorado Review

“Some authors tell great stories with drab prose, and some have striking prose, but no real story. Greene nails both.”

—Unbroken Journal

“Descriptions of Heaven is an admirable sort of quietly suspenseful literary novel; its prose flows without awkwardness, and heartrending gothic secrets are revealed in due course as the philosophical narrative unfolds.”

—Kevin Polman, author of The Extra Key

“From the very first pages, I saw the lives of these characters like a shattering mirror. All those details which make everyday life normal will be torn apart in front of the characters, leaving them unable to do anything but wait for that final dreaded moment and afterwards try to move on.”

—eLitere

“I loved the author’s prose and his style in general. Greene makes poetry of his prose and commands the page. For that reason alone, it was a joy to read.”

—The Underground

“Let yourself get involved, and you may be pulled in by the linguist’s efforts to use the tools of his craft—words—as aids in his search for answers to his son’s (and his own) questions about why Natalia is dying and where she is going.”

—IndieReader

“What’s surprised me is how such a short book has left lasting thoughts. Greene’s use of words has evoked such vivid images and thoughts that I find I’m contemplating life and death myself. An interesting and thought-provoking read.”

—Happymeerkatreviews, C.

Articles by Randal Eldon Greene

“If My Book”

About the Author

Randal Eldon Greene’s short fiction has appeared in VLP Magazine, 34thParallel, as|peers, Unbroken Journal, NPR online, and elsewhere. Greene holds a degree in English and Anthropology from the University of South Dakota. He is a volunteer judge of fiction for Heart & Mind Zine and works full time as a seeing eye human for his blind dog, Missy. Greene lives in Sioux City, Iowa. His typos are tweeted @authorgreene and his website is found at authorgreene.com

Krakow

Krakow

A debut novella by Sean Akerman

Sean Akerman’s crisp, evocative voice lays bare vulnerabilities, wonder, and mystery. With deep attention to his characters’ psychologies, he creates men and women who linger in your mind long after you finish reading. His novella, Krakow, does just that.

A man moves into a Brooklyn apartment and finds the journals left behind by the previous tenants. As he reads the journals, he discovers two people wrestling with why and how their love disappeared. Krakow is set in the present day, amid the streets of Brooklyn. Its concerns will resonate with readers young and old, telling a timeless story of how lovers become strangers.

Working in the novella form, Akerman is able to move swiftly over a landscape of heartache and hope. It is this sort of writing that is re-establishing the novella as a potent form of storytelling in contemporary literature.

Suitable for all ages, Krakow points to Sean Akerman as a force to be reckoned with in American letters.

Praise for Krakow

“With Krakow, Akerman presents characters to be explored through their writings and interrelation, all of whom become fully realized and complex, flesh-and-blood people. As such, readers will alternately care about them, empathize with them, dislike them, and get frustrated by them. We join in their victories and defeats, their regrets and yearnings, and their complicated lives. It remains a testament to Akerman, with the notion that what is written lingers in the mind of the reader long after the book has ended.”

–Newfound

“Krakow is an intensely literary text that rewards the reader’s close attention to the nuances of thought and feeling experienced by the struggling couple, described with hermetic, elusive prose. Akerman is particularly skilled in delineating the distinctive voices of his protagonists, as well as their conflicting perspectives and needs. The woman’s journal entries are especially impressive: her self-understanding and powers of self-expression contrast vividly with her partner’s chopped-up, disconnected evasions and retreats. Krakow is also a New York story: the various quarters of the city, its streets and bars, the girdling ocean, are an enfolding presence, pierced only by a moment’s betrayal in another city and, above all, by a mysteriously significant visit to Auschwitz, the connotations of which are powerfully suggestive. Devotees of the contemporary American literary movement will respond with enthusiasm to this exemplary novella.”

–Readers’ Favorite

“Even if love ends, the marks it leaves are indelible.”

–Foreword Reviews

About the Author

Sean Akerman grew up in rural Maine and moved to New York City in 2006, where he earned a PhD in social and personality psychology. He has taught at Hunter College, Sarah Lawrence College, and Bennington College. In 2015, he moved to the North Woods, where he writes and edits full time. His poetry and prose have appeared in Main Street Rag, Delivered Magazine, and Theory & Psychology, among other locations.

Sazzae

J. L. Morin’s Japan novel

Sazzae

Winner of the eLit Gold medal
 
and a Living Now Book Award

Sazzae opens the door to a wondrous cityscape where Japanese and American youth find each other in Tokyo. Discover the machinations of a lovers’ triangle, a painter’s inspiration, and an Untouchable’s dark secret through sensuous and evocative language. The pain and pleasures of Japan are remembered with lyric passion.  J.L. Morin started writing Sazzae as a creative thesis at Harvard.
 

Fantastic praise for Sazzae

“Japanese myth beautifully percolates into the lives of the three young people.”

—The Harvard Independent

“Step into Sazzae and embark on an ethereal journey of lyrical imagery, manga-esque twists and turns, and intriguing characters at once both fanciful and engaging.”

— Alex Sanchez, Author of Rainbow Boys and Bait

“Morin’s wit can be delicious. Her Tokyo actuality puts Morin several cuts above contemporary American novelists who bash Japan.”

— Canberra Times

“Her most delightful descriptions are of the intrigues in the personal lives of the protagonists.”

— The Harvard Crimson

“Like opening an expensive box of chocolates.”

— Sini Cedercreutz

Excerpt of the novel Sazzae, published in the Harvard Yisei Magazine

Shintaro’s bronze fist rose to the large metal 43. His fingers opened slowly, touched the numbers. Cold. He knocked.

“Just a minute,” came the voice from inside.

Shintaro straightened his jacket, realized he was smoking, put out the cigarette on the bottom of his shoe, and stuffed the butt into his pocket. The door opened.

“Hi,” Lois said. “What a surprise.”

Shintaro looked at his shoes.

“Um, how was the audition?” she quickly asked.

“The audition? Yes. I . . . blew it.”

“Oh. I’m sorry. Are you sure?”

“Yes. I forgot the song.”

“Damn. You probably didn’t have time to learn it.”

“No. I didn’t sing that song. I sang ‘Strangers in the Night’.”

“You did?”

“Yes.”

“Oh. Well. Come in.” She smiled and opened the door.

He followed her, not knowing what else to do. She looked especially nice today. He liked her best in her work clothes. She said she never wore skirts unless she had to. He wanted to say something about how pretty her sweater was or how nice she looked in a skirt, but all he could manage was, “Oh, you got a run.”

“Yeah, those subways. You know, so many people stepped on my feet. I think today is the record. I had to change stockings three times, and I was fifteen minutes late for work . . . .” The run started under her shoe and ended somewhere above her hemline.

Shintaro began untying his shoes.

“No, no, keep your shoes on. I’ve decided this is an American apartment. The floor’s dirty. Never mind. Come on.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, it’s O.K. The floor is very dirty.”

“Oh.”

“It’s tea time. I’ll make some tea.”

“Thank you.”

Lois went off to the kitchen. Shintaro walked around the apartment in his shoes. There was really nothing to it. Large space, large windows, nothing on the walls except a black painting with Lois’s name on the bottom. He stared at this.

Lois returned with two cups and a pot of tea. “Oh. Don’t look at that.”

“Sorry I wasn’t . . . . Why?”

“It’s no good.”

“Is it yours? I mean, did you?”

“Yes, I painted it.”

“It’s . . . what is it?”

“Some people who . . . have a lot of trouble keeping their feet on the ground.”

“They lives in the Floating World.”

“They live.”

“They live.”

“Yes,” she said. She sat on the couch and poured the tea. “I thought your generation didn’t know about that stuff.”

“Yes. But my grandfather love that stuff.”

“Yeah? What else?”

“I don’t remember, just you can leave the Floating world by . . . medi —”

“Meditation.”

“Yes. Meditation.”

“Or death?”

“Yes. But that’s not . . .”

“Practical.”

“Plactical?”

“What else does he say?”

“He think Japan is under the ‘Curse of the Green Snake.’ It’s Mishima. My grandfather likes the military.”

“And what is the ‘Curse of the Green Snake’?”

“I don’t know that word in English.”

She handed him the dictionary. Shintaro sat down, took a sip of tea, and flipped through the pages. “The theory or doctrine that ‘p’ ‘h’ ‘y’ ‘s’ ‘i’ ‘c’ ‘a’ ‘l’. What’s that?”

“Physical.” She tried to touch his chest, but he turned away.

“Physical well-being and worldly possessions con . . . constitute the greatest good and highest value in life. That’s ‘materialism’.”

“Hm. Maybe it’s a good thing that you’re not going to become a teen idol.”

“Yes, my grandfather must think so.”

“Does he know?”

“Yes, he discovered it today. But he doesn’t know I failed at the audition.”

“You didn’t tell him until today?”

“A kind of.”

“Why not. I mean, I don’t really think he’d be that angry considering that it’s the only way to become a singer in Japan.”

Shintaro took a sip of tea. He was blushing. “Yes,” he said, and said no more.

Lois leaned forward over the table. “Well why then?”

“It’s very difficult,” Shintaro said.

“Fine. I like difficult things.”

“You can’t understand it.”

“Come on, that’s not fair; you’re not trying.” She set her cup loudly down on the table.

Now Shintaro almost wished he hadn’t come, was about to make an excuse to leave. His hand reached for the dictionary instead. After looking up a couple of words, he closed the dictionary, put it down on the table, and repeated something a few times under his breath.

“What?” Lois said.

“American people are free to invent his own past.”

Lois thought about that for a minute. “So?”

“So, Japanese are not.”

“I don’t get it.”

“Told you,” he said.

There were certain things she wished she’d never taught him. “Come on.” She sighed, drew back her hair and tried again. “That’s too vague. You have to apply it.”

Shintaro picked up the dictionary. He looked up ‘vague,’ and ‘apply.’ “‘Apply’ is like ‘plactical’?”

“Yes.”

“I see.” His eyes drifted from the page to his fingertips, and followed the bones of his fingers up to his wrist. Three o’clock, his watch read. He lifted it to his face. “It’s late. I better go.” Shintaro stood up.

“Wait a minute,” Lois said.

Her eyes were big and deep.

“How are we supposed to be friends if you don’t trust me?” she asked. “Friends trust each other.”

Shintaro opened the dictionary again. Trust: firm reliance on the integrity, ability, or character of a person or thing; confident belief; faith. Reliance on something in the future; hope. To have confidence in. To believe . . . . He closed the dictionary, was silent for a long time.

The telephone rang, one, two, three . . . eleven times. Shintaro looked up at Lois to see if she was going to answer it, but she just stared at Shintaro.

“O.K., I trust you don’t tell ANYONE. Even Maximilian.” Shintaro’s breathing was hard.

“I promise,” she said.

“Because I never told anyone. Not even Japanese, or Maximilian. You promise?”

“I said I promised. Don’t you believe me?”

“But this is real. No jokes.”

“I’m not joking.”

“O.K., well . . . .” He drained his cup. “Can I have some more tea please?”

She poured him another cup.

“A long time ago, before the Tokugawa Emperors of Japan — do you know about them?”

“Yeah, sort of.”

“Those were the emperor who kept the peace for hundreds of years. But before them even was a —” He looked up a few words in the dictionary, “a class of people called . . . burakumin.” Shintaro took a deep breath. He was surprised at himself for saying that word. “Do you know what that mean?”

“No.”

“Oh.” Relief. He could still leave and be safe. The words forced their way to the surface: “That mean . . .” He looked into the dictionary. “. . . that mean ‘untouchable’.” He fell silent. His hands were shaking.

“I don’t see what that has to do with anything.”

“Don’t you see? ‘Untouchable’ is the worst thing in the world. No one can discover that.”

“You mean your family was untouchable?”

“I mean ‘was’ and ‘is’, are the same in Japan. ‘Untouchable’ is dirty, not clean, like animals, people thinks.” Now he was shaking uncontrollably all over. “I am untouchable. That’s what I mean. I AM UNTOUCHABLE.” He turned his back to her.

Lois set down her tea cup, walked over to him. “Come on, that must have been so long ago. You are beautiful. Those silly superstitions don’t apply to you.” She put her arms around his shoulders.

He started, pushed her away. “Don’t touch!” he said.

“Look, I don’t believe those things. They’re not true.”

“No, you will be dirty.”

“I’m already dirty,” she said, stepping in front of him.

“This is not a joke.” He turned away again.

Her voice was small. She said, “Let me hug you.”

Shintaro stared at his feet. She pulled him close, wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed him hard.

He stood frozen. The thin white arms finally around him. And she might as well be getting her feet stepped on in the subway as he lay in his futon. Might as well be teaching his English class. Or flirting with Maximilian. “You don’t understand,” he whispered. She might as well be in America.

“No, you don’t,” she said, and laughed, still holding him tight against her breast.

He did not cry.

The phone rang again. “Answer it,” he said.

Lois answered it. “Hi Maximilian . . . . Yeah, I heard it didn’t go so well . . . . Really? That’s great! . . . . No, no, he’s here. Yeah. I’ll let you talk to him. Just a minute.” She set down the receiver. “Shintaro, Maximilian is on the phone.”

“I . . . don’t want to talk.” He turned his face to the window.

“Just for a second? He has some news.”

“No.”

“Please?” She handed him the receiver.

“Hello what.”

“Sorry,” Maximilian said.

Shintaro held his breath.

“SORRY!” Maximilian said. “I didn’t know about the photos. It was Masami’s little prank. I guess he took it too far.”

Shintaro listened.

“I don’t want to argue with you. There’d be no one on my side. Look, Masami gave those photos back to Kato. He’ll tell you. Kato said he wants you anyway. Are you listening?”

“Yes.”

“You’re supposed to go to his office on Tuesday. I gave Lois the address. Got it?”

“I understand what you said.”

“Well are you going?”

“I don’t know.”

“I know how you feel. I really am sorry. I don’t know what Masami could have been thinking. O.K.?”

Shintaro exhaled.

“Well, put Lois on.”

Shintaro watched Lois take the phone, heard Maximilian’s voice, “Is he going to do it?”

“What?” Lois asked.

“Be a teen idol.”

“How should I know? They have to offer it to him first.”

“They will. I’m gonna give them a great stock tip. What they’re going to make on fish stock will cover the cost of promoting ‘Tomorrow’.” Although Maximilian didn’t like giving away his best stock tip, the idea of Shintaro failing the audition was unacceptable. He deserved to succeed, and Maximilian had to make sure it happened. Once the boy had the deal under his belt and had built up a little self-confidence, things would be different. They would both be comfortable, and then they’d see how they felt. “Come on. I know he talks to you. Is he going to accept? What’s going on with him? Tell me the truth.”

Shintaro slipped through the apartment door. He walked down the street humming the hunt song quietly to himself.

Shintaro sang, and lo! the falcon, as it burrowed into the snow. They sang the falcon hunt song as they marched back down the trail to their village. The untouchables. They hung the game on the pole at the center of the houses. The ancestor warmed himself by the fire pit. They told stories. It seemed a young girl had saved the life of a samurai with a blade of grass. When it was the ancestor’s turn, he simply unfolded his wonderful sash. The hunters stared. He hung it on the pole with the shiny falcons. What luck. They sang. As if it were alive, the purple sash flew with the singsong on the wind. Its silken skin captured the red and orange fire in its coolness, like the hottest of flames, like a tongue, like a flag hailing the great cause of the world. Indeed, there were many spirits hovering beyond the halo of fire, and as their number increased, the youths felt their boundlessness. It was the day of remembering dead souls. The sash fluttered triumphantly as if heralding a long-forgotten spirit. The men fell silent. Such a sash could only belong to royalty, and was not for them. Each knew the others’ fear. They could answer only with their own, and disbursed. Shintaro sang in a low voice as he walked along.

Autumn was something Shintaro knew, with its golden leaves. Autumn made Shintaro feel he should be back at school. He was wearing his burgundy sweater. He had told her. He got out of the station and rode his moped along the country road under a tunnel of trees with a feeling of enormous well-being. He felt for the first time that no matter what happened, he would be all right. His bike dipped into a puddle. He splashed the leaves on the roadside. He rode on into the sunshine past a field. He felt extraordinarily safe, with such a high level of ki, that he wondered if the energy had gathered around him because of some impending danger. But why shouldn’t he be all right? He knew he was not alone. He felt a presence, and expected to see his ancestor when he looked into the mirror on his handlebars. No one, of course. He vaguely wondered what was going to happen next, but he felt so reassured by the presence that he didn’t question it. He was already on the road. The trip would be long. He came to the end of the woods, and turned off the dirt road and onto a main road. When he arrived at the house, the angel had gone.

Get the book!

About the Author

JL Morin grew up in inner-city Detroit. She proffered moral support while her parents sacrificed all to a failed system. Wondering what the Japanese were doing right, she decamped to Tokyo. Her debut Japan novel, Sazzae, won an eLit Gold Medal, and a Living Now Book Award. Her second novel, Travelling Light, was a USA Best Book Awards finalist, and her third, Trading Dreams, became ‘Occupy’s first bestselling novel’. Her climate fiction novel, Nature’s Confession, won first place in the Dante Rossetti Book Awards; a Readers’ Favorite Book Award; a LitPick 5-Star Review Award; and an excerpt received an Honorable Mention in the Eco-Fiction Story Contest, published in the Winds of Change anthology of eco-fiction. Her second cli-fi novel, Loveoid, is a Cygnus Sci-fi 1st place winner, among others.

Her cli-fi novels are on course syllabi at many universities. Ivy League professors have facilitated discussions with JL Morin’s writing, and it is discussed in textbooks, such as Science Fiction and Climate Change: A Sociological Approach, by Andrew Milner, ‎and J. R. Burgmann, 2020, published by Oxford University Press.

Her most recent work, Tuck-a-tuck Dragon, is a diverse rhyming children’s book illustrated by children throughout their childhood from the ages of 2–21.

JL Morin’s writing draws on a breadth of experience. She traded derivatives in New York while studying nights for her MBA at New York University’s Stern School of Business; worked for the Federal Reserve Bank posted to the 103rd floor of the World Trade Center; presented the news as a TV broadcaster; and she is adjunct faculty at Boston University. Morin’s fiction has appeared in The Harvard Advocate and Harvard Yisei, and her articles and translations in The Huffington Post, Library Journal, The Detroit News, European Daily, Livonia Observer Eccentric Newspapers, The Harvard Crimson, and Agence France Presse while she worked in their Middle East Headquarters.

Four Tales of Troubled Love

Four Tales of Troubled Love

by Matthew James Babcock

BYU Idaho Radio Excerpt of Four Tales of Troubled Love

Enter this tetrad of tangled love tales at the turn of the last millennium when what were then the latest technologies—personal computers, fax machines, and mobile phones—started to short-circuit pacemakers. This tour de four of realistic love stories operates operatically, like a piece of music in four movements, sometimes zany and tragic, at times surreal and sublime.

Help Phone Thirteen’ (scherzando con misterioso): A young father moves his family across the country to escape his oppressive in-laws and, when his job and marriage implode, gets guidance from a mystical voice on a “help phone” at the local mall and a professional clown masquerading as social savior.

‘Meer, Tarn, Water, Fell’ (marcia moderato con fuoco): A poetry-loathing Dutch tour bus driver on a stopover in The Lake District plots revenge on his German ex-wife, unaware that the daughter he never knew he had has followed him half way around the world for the love she was denied.

‘Impressions’ (appassionato): An ex-military pilot turned tech CEO finds his unconventional marriage and newfound faith at odds when he discovers the joys and dangers that come with waiting for answers from heaven and the heart.

‘The Seal’ (eroico non troppo): A young family, caught between the baby blues and the deep blue sea, battles professional and personal pressures, but thanks to a homeless benefactor and captive harbor seal, learns that loving the environment and loving each other are a matter of instinct.

T. S. Eliot had his Four Quartets of poetry, now comes a foursome of fiction. For beach readers, literature connoisseurs, and book club junkies alike, these tales will quadruple the pleasure in reflecting on how we live and love. Wherever you take them, they will find you once again, in love with trouble and troubled by love.

Praise for Four Tales of Troubled Love

“Matthew James Babcock is charming with a poetic bent…. Throughout all the stories there is a push and pull for what love really means. For all those beach readers or book clubs looking for their next read — this is it.”

⎯J Bowen West, The Times News
 
 

“With sentences like, ‘His sick heart swings like a clapperless bell,’ Matthew James Babcock’s Four Tales of Troubled Love is a banquet of rich, abundant and wildly inventive language.  In these novellas, only oddly matched lovers survive, and the fantastic and hilarious are indistinguishable from the painful and dismal.  A unique and exceptional book.”

⎯John Vernon, Author of Lucky Billy

Poetry by Matthew James Babcock

Running at Trearddur Bay
 
 

About the Author

A veteran presenter, professor, and reader, Matthew James Babcock has traveled, studied, and written in Utah, New York, Pennsylvania, Great Britain, Germany, and has come home to roost in the great basins of the Rocky Mountain Northwest. He lurks online under the code name ‘Wordman’. Visit Matt’s web site.

Birds of Passage

Birds of Passage

An Italian Immigrant Coming of Age Story

May, Joe Giordano Readings in Manhattan for Birds of Passage, an Italian Immigrant Coming of Age Story

6.30 PM, Thursday, May 12- Italian American Museum – 155 Mulberry Street – Tel.: 212.965.9000

Reading at 5.45 PM, Saturday, May 14 – Cornelia Street Café – 29 Cornelia St. (On Cornelia just off Bleecker Street)

Reading at Malvern Books, March 10, 7 – 8 p.m. 613 West 29th Street, Austin, TX 78705 Ph: 512-322-2097 info@malvernbooks.com

What turns the gentle mean, and the mean brutal? The thirst for wealth? The demand for respect? Vying for a woman? Birds of Passage recalls the Italian immigration experience at the turn of the twentieth-century when New York’s streets were paved with violence and disappointment.

Leonardo Robustelli leaves Naples in 1905 to seek his fortune. Carlo Mazzi committed murder and escaped. Azzura Medina is an American of Italian parents. She’s ambitious but strictly controlled by her mother. Leonardo and Carlo vie for her affection. Azzura, Leonardo, and Carlo confront con men, Tammany Hall politicians, the longshoreman’s union, Camorra clans, Black Hand extortion, and the Tombs prison.

“This riveting debut novel by Giordano charts the passage of two young Italian men to early twentieth century New York, as they strive to make their mark in the New World…. Part thriller, part love story, part coming-of-age narrative, this book’s appeal reaches successfully beyond the often restrictive confines of its genre. A refreshing rethink of the archetypal mafia novel.”

—Kirkus

“With a landscape stretching from Naples, Italy, to New York City, the pages of this compelling narrative create vivid images of the Big Apple’s Italian immigrants and their struggles in America, for better or worse….With a New York City cast of gripping personalities, including Lower East Side gang leader Frank Rizzo and union boss ‘Big’ Jim O’Neil, there’s no shortage of machinations.”

—Ambassador Magazine, Winter 2016

“Remarkably visual and audible. You will swear you’ve seen it. The book is a raw and beautiful saga that will transport you across oceans, cultures and generations.”

—The Zodiac Review

“If you had the means to change your destiny, would you do it? …What begins as a simple tale of immigrant hopes and dreams quickly evolves into a story of destiny: how we change it, how we defy it, and how we accept it.”

—Summerset Review

“This novel has all the ingredients you need to enjoy an excellent read. It is beautifully researched and I guarantee that you will feel as though you too are experiencing the streets of New York – and the lives of the Italian immigrants – as you read.”

—Jaquo

“An enjoyable historical novel”

—The Autisitc Gamer

“Birds of Passage by Joe Giordano is a dark look into the lives of immigrants as many of their dreams are dashed to the ground in pools of blood. Take this journey back to a time we can hardly imagine as the melting pot of the world struggles with growing pains and the onslaught of violence for those who settle in New York. Joe Giordano spares nothing in his bold presentation of what life was like using the eyes and heart of young Leonardo. Not a fast-paced read, but richly detailed and atmospheric. If you are looking for something different, dark and filled with emotion and slices of history, Birds of Passage will draw you in and tether you to each well-written page.”

—TomeTender

“Giordano illuminates the murky worlds of organised crime and organised labour and the plight of migrant populations as they try to unlock the promise of the American dream. He paints some vibrant images of the migrant experience, from the marina at Naples where “the sun broiled humanity like chops on the grill”; to the traumatic voyage across the Atlantic.”

—Richard Hough, Notes from Verona

“Imagine the mania of the rhizomic cesspool that was turn-of-the-century New York City for shivering masses wandering through the gates of Ellis Island, receiving new names, becoming homeless for the first time in their lives.”

—Maudlin House

“With Birds of Passage, Joe Giordano delivers a rollicking, wholly entertaining take on the Italian immigrant story. His rich cast of characters arrives seeking the usual: Money, honor, love, respect, a decent shot at the pursuit of happiness. But things get complicated fast as they plunge into the rough-and-tumble world of rackets, scams, and politics of early 20th-century New York City. Giordano serves up a thick, satisfying slice of the entire era in all its raw and brutal glory.”

—Ben Fountain, author of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk,

“This book rapidly catches your attention and keeps it throughout the book. There a many characters and they are used to paint a picture of this time of change in New York. The corruption was overwhelming and scary for those trying to earn a living. The descriptions are well drawn – you can see the filth of the times and almost smell the unsanitary conditions.”

—Carol Early Cooney

More Reviews:

Stephanie Ward

Singing Librarian Books

Essentially Italian

Bound4escape.com

Penmen Review

About the Author

Joe Giordano was born in Brooklyn. Joe and his wife, Jane, have lived in Brazil, Greece, Belgium and the Netherlands. They now live in Texas with their shih tzu, Sophia.

Joe’s stories have appeared in more than ninety magazines including Bartleby Snopes, The Saturday Evening Post, decomP, The Summerset Review, and Shenandoah. His novel, Birds of Passage, An Italian Immigrant Coming of Age Story, was published by Harvard Square Editions October 2015. Read the first chapter and sign up for his blog at joe-giordano.com.