Subscriber News: August 2023
Recent Honors
Congratulations to Elizabeth Lukács Chesla. Her debut novel, You Cannot Forbid the Flower, was published this month by Tolsun Books. Award-winning poet, translator, and essayist David Keplinger says of this book, "This fictionalized reconstruction of a life is like the symbolic Matyó rose itself: an embroidered figure; more real than real; an act of artifice to paint memory as moments across time, overlain with the onion skin of a daughter's yearning to know her distant father. Lukács Chesla shapes, reshapes him as he dies several kinds of deaths in flash form/micro-essay/prose poem, a region of literature somewhere between genres much like those shifting borders, declared now German, now Soviet, now Hungary, now Romania, in the years during and following the Second World War."
Congratulations to John Russell. His first book, Riding with Ghosts, Angels, and the Spirits of the Dead, was a 2023 Pencraft Award winner in the category of Best Book for Nonfiction—Religion/Philosophy, as well as a 2023 Beach Book Festival winner in the Spiritual/Religious category. His second book, A Knock in the Attic, won the Paranormal category in the 2023 Book Excellence Awards, an Honorable Mention and Compelling Read Award in BooksShelf's 2023 Nonfiction Writing Contest, and a medal in the 2023 Florida Authors and Publishers Association President's Book Awards. In previous years, these books were also honored in competitions from Readers' Favorite, Shelf Unbound, and BookLife, among others. Both volumes recount his adventures as a paranormal investigator and psychic. Visit his website to learn more.
Congratulations to Mary Beth Laufer. Her middle-grade novel Katelyn's Crow received a Kirkus Star from Kirkus Reviews, which said the book "thoughtfully examines a child's encounter with the complex natures of people and other creatures." Mary explains, "The Kirkus Star is reserved for books of 'exceptional merit,' according to Kirkus, making Katelyn's Crow automatically nominated for the 2023 Kirkus Prize. About 10% of all books reviewed by Kirkus receive a star but far fewer (2-3%) of Kirkus reviewed self-published books are awarded one."
Recent Publications
Barbara Regenspan will host a reading from her poetry collection The Chessmaster's Daughter (Cayuga Lake Books, 2022) at 7pm Eastern time on Saturday, August 26, at a friend's home in Ithaca, NY. Email Barbara for location details. She will be reading new poems at Autumn Leaves Used Books in Ithaca Commons in September.
Duane L. Herrmann's story "Light Man" was published at MasticadoresUSA on August 9. His story "And the Beginning..." was published in Literary Yard in July. Three stories appeared in the Kansas Authors Club anthology All Over the Map. His poems appeared in the journals Children, Churches and Daddies (June 2023), The Gardan (Issue 8), and Heron Clan. Carrot Ranch and the Adirondack Center for Writing posted several of his responses to their writing prompts.
Anita Haas recently released her bilingual picture book, Chato, the Puppy-Cat/Chato, el Perri-Gato. She describes the theme as: "You are a dog, but everyone thinks you are a cat. What do you do?" All proceeds from book sales go to animal rescue organizations.
Edward Ferri Jr.'s poetry collection Café Edmovia is now available from BookLocker or Amazon. Watch the book trailer. Dr. Jennifer Lagier Fellguth, editor of Monterey Poetry Review, says of this collection: "Café Edmovia offers the reader a unique smorgasbord of accessible narrative poems...Ferri's deft compilation of poetic memoir and philosophical musings never fail to entertain, enlighten and deliver."
R.T. Castleberry's poems "Shedding Mistakes" and "I Am the Perfect Guest" were published at Dissident Voice. "All I Had Was Gone" appeared in The Courtship of Winds.
CB Anderson's story "Her Own Heart Within Her" was published in Narrative Magazine.
Matthew E. Henry's poem "When Asked What Skills We Gained From Slavery" was published in July at The New Verse News, an online journal of poetry about current events.
Judy Juanita's most recent poetry collection, Gawdzilla (Equidistance Press, 2022), was favorably reviewed at Online Book Club by Kaivalya Khisti, who wrote: "The poems are bold and daring. Juanita uses the monster from the classic movie Godzilla as a metaphor to point out everything that is wrong with society... Women fighting racial or sexual prejudice will find motivation in this book."
Kip Meyerhoff's novel The Big Vinnie Chronicles: A Rollo Michaels Novel is now available as an audiobook narrated by Randy McCarten. In this installment of his mystery series featuring Los Angeles private investigator Rollo Michaels, the PI tangles with the FBI after doing a favor for a gangster friend of the family.
Eva Tortora had four poems published in the Summer 2023 issue of ScreaminMamas and will have more writing and art in the Fall issue.
C.A. Morningstarr's author website is now online, with links to her books of English-language haiku: Breathe In, Breathe Out, and Repeat After Me.
Published: August 7, 2023
