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NewPages Blog :: New Books

Discover new and forthcoming books from independent publishers and university presses on the NewPages Book Stand.

Sponsored :: New Book :: The Voice of the Wooden Dragon

The Voice of the Wood Dragon by Christie Waldman cover

The Voice of the Wooden Dragon, Fiction by Christie Waldman

NFB Publishing, September 2024

After a brief hiccup, in which an irate dragon must be placated, this MG/YA fantasy begins—as now told by Christie and her new co-author, Marcus A. Dragon.

In the land of Deweydaire, which is ruled by (anthropomorphic) dragons, things are not fair. Humans work while dragons play. Princess Meredith, a dragon, leads others in fighting against the injustice, supporting the human cause. How could she have foreseen that she, like her human friend, young Peter Porter, would fall afoul of her bully cousin, Prince Rupert? Or that he would go to such lengths to silence her voice? Will intrepid Peter and the underrated court-jester Felix be able to help Meredith break the power of an illegal spell? In this Year of the Wood Dragon, The Voice of the Wooden Dragon is an entertaining-yet-inspiring story of transformation and new beginnings.

This is Christie and Lane Waldman’s debut novel as an author-illustrator team. Christie’s stories for children may be read at Ember: A Journal of Luminous Things, Skipping Stones, and East of the Web. Lane is also a writer whose sci-fi/fantasy stories have appeared in Uncanny, Daily Science Fiction, and Capricious, among other places.

New Books October 2024

Fall is the time to fatten up your reading list. To help you achieve that goal, check out the October 2024 New Books Received. Each month we post the new and forthcoming titles NewPages has received from small, independent, university, and alternative presses as well as author-published titles.

If you are a follower of our blog or a subscriber to our weekly newsletter, you can see several of the titles we received featured. For publishers or authors looking to be featured on our blog and social media, please visit our FAQ page.

[Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash]

New Book :: Persephone’s Escalator

Persephone’s Escalator by Joe Taylor
Sley House Publishing, October 2024

The world is all we know, claims the philosopher Wittgenstein. But Professor Dean Kirby is painfully learning this is not so, for his new neighbor in the mid-state swamps of Florida has turned his wife into a zombie, has turned him into something taunted by a darkly evil alter ego, and she has driven his son into suicidal insanity. On top of this, she’s opened a cavern that leads to the primal murderer Cain on her creepy, statue-filled property.

Rumors persist those statues stalk the swamps nightly, and that they could have been involved in the sacrificial murder of a child. When the police prove to be no help, a strange airline attendant and her beguiling daughter with the oddest interest in ancient Egyptian mummification arrive, but even they might be too late to help Professor Kirby and his family.


To discover more great books from small, independent, and university presses, visit the NewPages Guide to Publishers as well as our Books Received monthly roundup. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to stay up to date!

New Book :: The Detroit Lions: An Illustrated Timeline

Detroit Lions: An Illustrated Timeline by Dave Birkett
Reedy Press, October 2024

In Detroit Lions, An Illustrated Timeline, award-winning reporter Dave Birkett vividly recounts the most important people, games and moments of the franchise’s first 90 seasons, from the early days of Earl “Dutch” Clark, the team’s first superstar, to the 10 Hall-of-Famers who played for the team in the ‘50s, to the spine-tingling performances of Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson and the team’s resurrection under beloved head coach Dan Campbell.


To discover more great books from small, independent, and university presses, visit the NewPages Guide to Publishers as well as our Books Received monthly roundup. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to stay up to date!

New Book :: The Whole Catastrophe

The Whole Catastrophe by Jami Macarty
Vallum, September 2024

In her aptly titled fourth chapbook, The Whole Catastrophe, Jami Macarty takes readers on a road trip to the Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico while reflecting on fragility of life, greed of corporations, and the disasters we must withstand, from plastics pollution to toxic feedlots to carbon monoxide poisoning. Mourning the death of a dear friend and threats of fragile ecologies are reasons for despair but not to disengage. In The Whole Catastrophe, resisting destruction means caring for the interdependent parts of wonder, annotating birds on their migratory course, waving hello to grief, and knowing catastrophe like a constellation above.

Jami Macarty is the author of The Long Now Conditions Permit, winner of the 2023 Test Site Poetry Series Prize (forthcoming University of Nevada Press), and The Minuses (Center for Literary Publishing, 2020), winner of the 2020 New Mexico/Arizona Book Award – Poetry Arizona. Jami’s four chapbooks include Mind of Spring (Vallum Chapbook Series, 2017), winner of the 2017 Vallum Chapbook Award. To learn more about Jami’s writing, editing, and teaching practices, visit her author website.

New Book :: On the Wrong Side

On the Wrong Side: How Universities Protect Perpetrators and Betray Survivors of Sexual Violence by Nicole Bedera
University of California Press, October 2024

The debate over campus sexual violence is more heated than ever, but hardly anyone knows what actually happens inside Title IX offices. On the Wrong Side by sociologist Nicole Bedera provides the first comprehensive account of the inner workings of the secretive Title IX system. Drawing on a yearlong study of survivors, perpetrators, and the administrators who oversaw their cases, Bedera exposes the structures that predictably punish survivors who come forward in the service of protecting—or even rewarding—their perpetrators. In doing so, she reveals that the system tasked with ending gender inequality on campus only intensifies it, upending survivors’ lives and threatening the degrees that brought them to college in the first place.

Dr. Nicole Bedera is a sociologist and cofounder of the antiviolence consulting practice Beyond Compliance. She received her PhD from the University of Michigan and has spent more than a decade studying sexual violence and advocating for survivors in media outlets including the New York Times, NPR, and Harper’s BAZAAR.


To discover more great books from small, independent, and university presses, visit the NewPages Guide to Publishers as well as our Books Received monthly roundup. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to stay up to date!

New Book :: Power Point

Power Point: Poems by Jane Muschenetz
Sheila-Na-Gig Editions, April 2024

Power Point is a groundbreaking collection of feminist poetry by Jane Muschenetz, including Best of the Net nominated, “100% Mom” (Whale Road Review), Pushcart nominated, “Failure to Thrive” (Meat for Tea), and several genre/discipline bending poems that intersect economics, science, popular art, and literature. Too often, women and change-makers are dismissed as “hysterical, emotion-driven, irrational.” Power Point turns this notion on its head, presenting meticulously researched “data poems” to make the case for a more compassionate world. Blending traditional and hybrid formats, Muschenetz exposes the status quo as a malleable and subjective reality that can and must be questioned and improved. Muschenetz, an MIT trained Business Strategy Consultant, used Microsoft PowerPoint™ software to create several of the ‘pointed’ poems about ‘power’ dynamics in this collection.


To discover more great books from small, independent, and university presses, visit the NewPages Guide to Publishers as well as our Books Received monthly roundup. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to stay up to date!

New Books September 2024

It’s time to stock your fall reading list, and to help you with that task, check out the September 2024 New Books Received. Each month we post the new and forthcoming titles NewPages has received from small, independent, university, and alternative presses as well as author-published titles.

If you are a follower of our blog or a subscriber to our weekly newsletter, you can see several of the titles we received featured. For publishers or authors looking to be featured on our blog and social media, please visit our FAQ page.

Image by congerdesign from Pixabay

New Book :: Just YA: Short Poems, Stories, & Essays

Just YA: Short Poems, Essays, & Fiction for Grades 7-12
Seela Books, September 2024

Just YA: Short Poems, Essays, & Fiction is a powerful collection of literature celebrating the diverse and dynamic experiences of contemporary youth. This open-access anthology features short texts that can be read in a single class period and are designed to spark deep conversations. Organized around themes of identity, love, place, justice, and the future, these works offer inclusive and affirming perspectives. With contributions from  acclaimed young adult authors, flash fiction writers, and teacher-poets, Just YA provides educators with contemporary texts that resonate with and inspire today’s students. All content is freely available online, encouraging widespread access and use, including 50 pages of instructional materials for teachers.

Contributors include Kristin Bartley Lenz, Tamara Belko, Joe Bisicchia, Stefani Boutelier, Taylor Byas, Dana Claire, Mary E. Cronin, Chris Crowe, Kacie Day, Sarah J. Donovan, Carlos Greaves, Zetta Elliott, Federico Erebia, Kennedy Essmiller, Jen Ferguson, Glenda Funk, Hope Goodearl, Jennifer Guyor Jowett, Regina Harris Baiocchi, Christine Hartman Derr, Melissa Heaton, Rajpreet Heir, Jamie Jo Hoang, Julia Horton, Val Howlett, Valerie Hunter, Stacey Joy, Shih-Li Kow, Laura Kumicz, Sandra Marchetti, Lee Martin, S Maxfield, Jonathon Medeiros, Linda Mitchell, Alana Mondschein, Erin Murphy, Aimee Parkison, Alicia Partnoy, Sonia Patel, Darius Phelps, Brittany Saulnier, David Schaafsma, Laura Shovan, Kate Sjostrom, S., Samuel Stinson, Rachel Toalson, Padma Venkatraman, Karen J Weyant, Kayla Whaley, Emanuel Xavier, Aida Zilelian, and Laura Zucca-Scott.

A free digital version is available at www.ethicalela.com/store

Sponsored :: New Book :: New Moon: Day One

cover of New Moon: Day One by Thanassis Valtinos

New Moon: Day One, Fiction by Thanassis Valtinos

Translated from the Greek by Jane Assimakopoulos and Stavros Deligiorgis

Laertes, September 2024

Set in a provincial capital, in the penultimate throes of the Greek Civil War, New Moon: Day One is semi-autobiographical, a tale of two protagonists on the brink of manhood. They speak in bluntly human tones, but in precincts that echo of death the impulse to life is declared.

The elements of a screenplay are recast by Valtinos as a novel. Interposed with bursts of dialogue, and reading like stage directions, intimate scenes alternate with a wide-screen view. Fade-outs, as blank pages, punctuate the whole. Though the gaze is that of a camera—of pristine detachment—the energy is propulsive. The thread of a breathless suspense is drawn through a complex collage. It seems to precisely catch the rhythm of human becoming.

“Thanassis Valtinos is a masterful storyteller who has vividly captured in his novels and short stories some of the most turbulent and tragic periods in Greece‘s recent history. In “New Moon” he tells a coming-of-age tale of two boys who struggle to deal with their emerging sexual impulses as they try to survive the brutalities of a vicious civil war. A searing story by Greece’s premier living novelist at the top of his game.”
—Nicholas Gage

New Book :: Dreams the Stones Have

Dreams the Stones Have by David Chorlton
The Bitter Oleander Press, August 2024

This new book of poetry by David Chorlton continues his firm legacy as a great Southwestern poet whose current Arizona roots have established him in the deserts, the wildlife, and all its surprising vegetation revived after each year’s monsoon season. These poems bring a recognition of what’s been lost among all he loves and what he discovers each day as a kind of supplement to that loss.

Born in Austria in 1948, David Chorlton grew up in Manchester, close to rain and the northern English industrial zone. In his early 20s he went to live in Vienna and stayed for seven years before moving to Phoenix with his wife in 1978. In Arizona he has grown ever more fascinated by the desert and its wildlife. Much of his poetry has come to reflect his growing concern for the natural world. He now lives in Ahwatukee in Phoenix, within easy reach of South Mountain which dominates a 20,000 acre desert park within the city.

The Colorado Authors League

Screenshot of the Colorado Authors League September 2024 new releases flyer
click image to open flyer

The Colorado Authors League (CAL) supports and promotes its community of published writers while connecting with and adding value to the reading world. Formed in 1931, authors become members to: keep up with changes in the craft of writing, publishing, and marketing, gain greater visibility for their writing, join a group of like-minded people who love writing. View our flyer to see new releases by members and a link to our website.

Want early access to our eLitPak flyers? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter! You can also support NewPages with a paid subscription and get early access to the majority submission opportunities, upcoming events, and more before they are posted to our site.

Interested in advertising in the eLitPak? Learn more here.

New Book :: Words That Mend: The Transformative Power of Writing Poetry for Teachers, Students, and Community Wellbeing

Words That Mend: The Transformative Power of Writing Poetry for Teachers, Students, and Community Wellbeing by Sarah J Donovan, et al.
Seela Books, September 2024

A compelling look at writing poetry as a powerful transformative agent to support teachers, their students, and community. Words That Mend includes practical ways for teachers to engage in poetry writing providing prompts, instructions, and invitations for teachers to nurture their writing lives. The authors candidly share their personal stories of trauma, pain, and loss, as well as incredible stories from the classrooms and community events. These teachers warmth and love for teaching emphasize that processing traumatic or tragic events through poetry writing has become a step toward recovery and rediscovering hope at a time when the teaching profession most needs it.

Additional authors include Jennifer Guyor Jowett, Denise Krebs, Tamara Belko, Barbara Edler, Wendy Everard, Kim Johnson, Leilya A. Pitre, and Margaret Simon.

Available for free in digital form at www.ethicalela.com/store

Sponsored :: New Book :: The Poet’s Guide to Publishing

cover of The Poet's Guide to Publishing by Katerina Stoykova

The Poet’s Guide to Publishing: How to Conceive, Arrange, Edit, Publish and Market a Book of Poetry, Nonfiction by Katerina Stoykova

McFarland, August 2024

This guide to publishing poetry is designed for the poet on a journey from facing a pile of poems to celebrating at a book launch. If you have been writing poetry for some time and have accumulated a volume of work, this guide is designed to meet you where you are in your book creation or publication process. It is organized into five sections to mimic the distinct phases of conceiving, arranging, editing, publishing, and promoting a poetry collection. Each section provides a mix of theoretical materials and practical assignments to demystify and ground the publication process.

New Book :: 90 Ways of Community: Nurturing Safe & Inclusive Classrooms Writing One Poem at a Time

90 Ways of Community: Nurturing Safe & Inclusive Classrooms Writing One Poem at a Time by Sarah J Donovan, Mo Daley, Maureen Young Ingram
Seela Books, September 2024

For writing poetry in grades 6-12, this indispensable resource guides teachers through a year-long journey of poetic engagement, fostering a safe and inclusive environment where every student feels valued and heard. Grounded in social emotional learning and trauma-informed pedagogy, the authors provide practical, adaptable lessons that seamlessly integrate poetry writing into any curriculum.

With a clear framework developed by experienced educators, 90 Ways of Community is designed for teachers at all levels, from novices to veterans. Each chapter begins with a heartfelt “Dear Teacher” letter, offering context and support, while thematic clusters of prompts inspire creativity and connection. The book covers a wide range of topics, from celebrating individuality to extending community and healing through poetic expression. The authors draw on real classroom experiences and the collective wisdom of a community of teacher-poets.

90 Ways of Community is more than a collection of prompts—it’s a roadmap to building a classroom culture where poetry becomes a vital tool for learning and growth. Join in nurturing the hearts and minds of students, one poem at a time.

A free digital version is available at www.ethicalela.com/store

Editor’s Choice :: The Little Ambulance War of Winchester County

The Little Ambulance War of Winchester County by I.M. Aiken
Flare Books / Catalyst Press, September 2024

Informing the storyline for The Little Ambulance War of Winchester County, I.M. Aiken worked on ambulances off and on since the 1980s, starting in the Boston area where she was born and raised. She served one tour in Iraq with the US Army’s 4th Infantry Division, and now lives in Vermont.

This novel is based on her 40 years of work in the paramedic field and centers on main character Alex Flynn. Following in the footsteps of their beloved Boston cop father, Alex trains as an EMT and spends years chasing emergencies in an ambulance. But the person Alex becomes is a far cry from the hero they signed up to be.

Over four decades in public safety, Alex encounters a changing America, where veterans are left to rot on streets, women are welcome in dangerous fields but abusers still walk free, and service providers are subjected to intense public scrutiny while being denied the resources they need. After moving from bustling Boston to small town Vermont, Alex discovers an escalating feud between emergency operators and must decide which to protect: their community or their legacy.


To discover more great books from small, independent, and university presses, visit the NewPages Guide to Publishers as well as our Books Received monthly roundup. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to stay up to date!

New Books August 2024

Still plenty of time to enjoy summer reading. To help you achieve that goal, check out the August 2024 New Books Received. Each month we post the new and forthcoming titles NewPages has received from small, independent, university, and alternative presses as well as author-published titles.

If you are a follower of our blog or a subscriber to our weekly newsletter, you can see several of the titles we received featured. For publishers or authors looking to be featured on our blog and social media, please visit our FAQ page.

[Image by go_see from Pixabay]

Sponsored :: New Book :: Pulp into Paper

front cover of Pulp into Paper by Lenore Weiss

Pulp into Paper: A Novel, Fiction by Lenore Weiss

Atmosphere Press, April 2024

In the close-knit community of Hentsbury, racism and the local paper mill’s oppressive control over the town collide in a gripping tale set in the 1990s in southern Arkansas along the fictional Mud River.

Rae-Ann, owner of a convenience store and unofficial mayor of Hentsbury, finds her life intertwined with Vernon’s when a budding romance between them hits an unexpected roadblock. Their love story takes an abrupt turn when chemicals from the mill’s runoff claim the life of Rincon, a young black boy battling acute asthma. In a harrowing failed rescue attempt, Vernon, the plant’s Environmental Officer, relives the trauma of holding the dying boy in his arms.

As the community grapples with this tragedy, Vernon stumbles upon a back-door deal between state and local officials who ask him to suppress critical information about the mill’s dangerous hydrogen sulfide emissions. With the rising tensions, Rae-Ann begins to question whether Vernon will stand by his principles.

In the end, it’s Rincon’s determined grandmother, along with Rae-Ann and her older sister, who rallies the town to take action. Their efforts lead to the arrival of an EPA investigatory team, but not without consequences. When the dust settles, Vernon loses his job, but he and Rae-Ann embark on a new chapter in life together.

Sponsored :: New Book :: Wrongland

cover of Wrongland by Gazmend Kapllani, translated by Peter Bien

Wrongland, Fiction by Gazmend Kapllani

Translated from the Greek by Peter Bien

Laertes Press/Egret Fiction, September 2024

Wrongland balances on an edge of migration and return. It crosses from an Albania recently rid of Hoxha to a Greece riven by tensions that ultimately drive the protagonist on to America. But homecoming is the pivot — one stuck in an unavoidable vying between alternate worlds.  

The reader, a simple stranger, is introduced to Ters, a city configured by remnants from the past, a locale scored by evil — at times, gripped by good.

Gazmend Kapllani is the author of two collections of poetry in Albanian and four published novels (written in Greek and Albanian). His literary work centers on borders, totalitarianism, migration, identity, and how Balkan history has shaped private and public narratives and memories.

Editor’s Choice :: Home, Rewritten Anthology

Home, Rewritten: Celebrating Asian American & Pacific Islander Voices
Fleeting Daze Magazine, May 2024

“Created in 1992, AAPI Heritage Month celebrates the immense culture and history fostered in the AAPI community. With the growing population of the AAPI community, AAPI media has been embedded into American society and heavily influenced its culture. However, AAPI artists constantly face stigmatization and microaggression in their work, especially when Asian artists deviate from the traditional ‘Asian ideal.’ This unwelcoming environment diminishes the diverse voices representing the AAPI community, leaving the American population vulnerable to homogeneity and narrow-mindedness. As editors-in-chief stemming from an AAPI background, we felt motivated to use the platform we’ve created to uplift AAPI youth voices undermined in society. We realized that allowing Asian artists to express their heritage genuinely and candidly brings true representation that society is working towards.”

“This project has been a long time in the making,” say Editors-in-Chief Rosie Hong and Caroline Zhang, “and we are so proud to be able to highlight AAPI voices and share with the world how we have redefined our homes and families through our experiences growing up.”


To discover more great books from small, independent, and university presses, visit the NewPages Guide to Publishers as well as our Books Received monthly roundup. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to stay up to date!

Editor’s Choice :: White Poverty

White Poverty: How Exposing Myths About Race and Class Can Reconstruct American Democracy by Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II with Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove
Liveright / W. W. Norton, June 2024

One of the most pernicious and persistent myths in the United States is the association of Black skin with poverty. Though there are forty million more poor white people than Black people, most Americans, both Republicans and Democrats, continue to think of poverty—along with issues like welfare, unemployment, and food stamps—as solely a Black problem. Why is this so? What are the historical causes? And what are the political consequences that result?

These are among the questions that the Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II, a leading advocate for the rights of the poor and the “closest person we have to Dr. King” (Cornel West), addresses in White Poverty, a groundbreaking work that exposes a legacy of historical myths that continue to define both white and Black people, creating in the process what might seem like an insuperable divide. Analyzing what has changed since the 1930s, when the face of American poverty was white, Barber, along with Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, addresses white poverty as a hugely neglected subject that just might provide the key to mitigating racism and bringing together tens of millions of working class and impoverished Americans.


To discover more great books from small, independent, and university presses, visit the NewPages Guide to Publishers as well as our Books Received monthly roundup. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to stay up to date!

Unsolicited Press Is Releasing Literary Fiction that Challenges and Inspires You

screenshot of Unsolicited Press' flyer showcasing new 2024 titles
click image to open flyer

Unsolicited Press is set to release enchanting literary fiction this year including THE HEDGEROW by Anne Leigh Parrish, LINES by Sung J. Woo, and DEVIL ON MY TRAIL by Danial DiFranco. See our flyer and learn more at our website.

Want early access to our eLitPak flyers? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter! You can also support NewPages with a paid subscription and get early access to the majority submission opportunities, upcoming events, and more before they are posted to our site.

Interested in advertising in the eLitPak? Learn more here.

New Books June 2024

Summer + Reading = Happy Place. To help you achieve that goal, check out the July 2024 New Books Received. Each month we post the new and forthcoming titles NewPages has received from small, independent, university, and alternative presses as well as author-published titles.

If you are a follower of our blog or a subscriber to our weekly newsletter, you can see several of the titles we received featured. For publishers or authors looking to be featured on our blog and social media, please visit our FAQ page.

[Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay]

Sponsored :: New Book :: Exits

cover of Exits by Stephen Pollock

Exits: Selected Poems, Poetry by Stephen C. Pollock

Windtree Press, June 2023

Stephen C. Pollock’s poetry collection Exits explores the beauty and frailty of life, the cycles of nature, and the potential for renewal. It also responds to contemporary anxieties surrounding death and the universal search for meaning. 

Musical and multilayered, Exits features a potpourri of styles, ranging from traditional forms to free verse to hybrid works. Many of the images are drawn from nature. In addition, each poem is paired with a piece of artwork intended to resonate with the writing and enhance the reader’s experience.

Exits has been honored with the Gold Medal for poetry in the 2023 Readers’ Favorite International Book Awards and the Silver Medal for poetry in the 2024 Feathered Quill Book Awards. Echoing these accolades, Midwest Book Review declares: “Exits is a book that has profoundly impacted the literary world.”

“Pollock’s poetry is brilliant”
—Kristiana Reed, editor-in-chief, Free Verse Revolution

“Exits exemplifies the musicality of language”
—Foreword-Clarion Reviews

“Full of wit, insight and provocative imagery, Exits is a masterful collection”
—IndieReader, 5.0 stars

Visit exitspoetry.net to learn more about the book.

Editor’s Choice :: Rendered Paradise

Rendered Paradise by Susanne Dyckman & Elizabeth Robinson
Apogee Press, April 2024

In Rendered Paradise, poets Susanne Dyckman and Elizabeth Robinson invite the reader into the worlds of three major women artists: Vivian Maier, Agnes Martin and Kiki Smith. Dyckman and Robinson bring a radical collaborative approach to this gathering: through their shared vision, contemplation, and creation, each artist’s works are encountered as unique presences coming alive in fresh and unexpected ways. “We have seen so many instance of men writing about men,” says Editor Edward Smallfield, “and have had many fewer opportunities to read women writing about women. The writing changes as the poets move from one artists to another, so that the focus of the language is the work of art, not the preferred vocabulary of the poets.” This remarkable book isn’t “about” the artworks it engages with, but is its own work of art, new and wondrous.

To discover more great books from small, independent, and university presses, visit the NewPages Guide to Publishers as well as our Books Received monthly roundup. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to stay up to date!

Sponsored :: New Book :: Cadenza

cover of Cadenza by Justin Courter

Cadenza: A Novel, Fiction by Justin Courter

Owl Canyon Press, July 2024

At the age of seven, Jennifer Coleman is severely burned in a house fire that kills her sister. Despite the barriers of her scarred face and her tragic childhood, she reaches the pinnacle of achievement as a classical concert pianist, but at a deep psychological cost.

During Jennifer’s meteoric rise as a virtuoso pianist, her disfigurement takes on mythic proportions. She is internationally loved and admired, but unable to love herself. At a pivotal point in her career, she meets an extraordinarily creative, suicidal musician named Felix, who challenges Jennifer’s beliefs and falls deeply in love with her. Will Jennifer be able to learn from Felix’s example before she self-destructs?

Cadenza is symphonic. It succeeds not only as an absorbing, psychologically nuanced novel, but also as a tragic fable of ambition and virtuosity. Its extraordinary heroine offers profound truths about purpose, memory, trauma, and the transcendent powers of art and love.

— Lauren Acampora, author of The Hundred Waters

“An engrossing epic of artistic triumphs and personal disasters, unflinching in its depiction of scars both physical and emotional, Cadenza reads like a piano concerto playing in a house on fire.”

— Brett Marie, author of The Upsetter Blog

Editor’s Choice :: Killer Insight by Karoline Anderson

Killer Insight by Karoline Anderson
Flare Books, September 2024

When a local woman’s body is found in a shallow grave on one of Seattle’s pristine hiking trails, Detective Kaitlyn Kruse and her partner Joe Riley are under pressure to find her killer as swiftly as possible. But more than one body is recovered at the site, and – alarmingly – they all look a bit like Kaitlyn.

Fortunately, Kaitlyn has a secret weapon. She dreams of her past lives, and their memories are always eager to help her solve the crime at hand. But Kaitlyn’s dreams are getting more desperate every night, like one of her past selves is trying to tell her something, and a shady black sedan is tracking her every move. It may be too late to stop the inevitable – but Kaitlyn is determined to get justice for the dead before she becomes one of them.

In this rousing crime debut with a touch of the supernatural, the first in her Detective Kaitlyn Kruse series, Karoline Anderson proves she’s got a knack for the thrill.

Killer Insight is Karoline Anderson’s debut novel as well as the inaugural publication from Flare Books, an imprint of Jessica Powers’ Catalyst Press founded in 2017.

New Book :: 8000 Mile Roll

8000 Mile Roll: A Motorcycle Memoir by M. Scott Douglass
Paycock Press, April 2024

In 2021, in the fading days of the pandemic, M. Scott Douglass took a motorcycle ride across America. The ride itself took 24 days and covered 8001 miles through 24 states with extended stops in the Grand Canyon area and his native state of Pennsylvania. This book is a journal of that adventure, the places where he went, and the people he met along the way. North Carolina Poet Laureate Joseph Bathanti says, “It’s impossible to read and not conjure Steppenwolf’s ‘Born to Be Wild,’ the revving, reverberating anthem to the iconic film Easy Rider.” And check out Charlotte Readers Podcast Episode 385 which features Douglass in conversation with Landis Wade.

To discover more great books from small, independent, and university presses, visit the NewPages Guide to Publishers as well as our Books Received monthly roundup. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to stay up to date!

Editor’s Choice :: 2024 Rattle Young Poets Anthology

2024 Rattle Young Poets Anthology
Rattle, May 2024

The 2024 Rattle Young Poets Anthology curates another year of delightful and insightful poetry that happens to be written by young people. As always, this is not a book of poems for children, but the other way around—these are poems written by children for us all, revealing the startling insights that are possible when looking at the world through fresh eyes.

This 36-page chapbook is mailed to all Rattle subscribers along with the Summer 2024 issue of Rattle poetry magazine. Eighteen poets age 15 or younger contributed to the 2024 volume, offering their perspectives on life in an impressive variety of poetic forms, including an abecedarian, a ghazal, a contrapuntal poem, and a haiku series.

Cover art: “Rainbow Cake” by Amy DiGi (2022, Oil on panel)

To discover more great books from small, independent, and university presses, visit the NewPages Guide to Publishers as well as our Books Received monthly roundup. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to stay up to date!

Sponsored :: New Book :: The Genetic Universe

cover of The Genetic Universe by Garcia-Gonzalez

The Genetic Universe: Revised Edition, Nonfiction by Garcia-Gonzalez

Nelson E. Garcia, May 2024

Garcia-Gonzalez’s work forays into numerous aspects of our existence to probe into the constraints of the human experience. What is reality? What incites the disparity between one individual’s observation of reality and another’s? As the author dives deeper into his immense understanding of what is, he provides a series of intriguing, thought-provoking insights that cut right to the core of one’s belief system, yet he does so with grace and knowledge that impels readers to at least consider what is being proposed.

The US Review of Books, May 13, 2024

New Books May 2024

Check out these great titles received in the month of May 2024, just in time to transition us into summer reading. Each month we post the new and forthcoming titles NewPages has received from small, independent, university, and alternative presses as well as author-published titles. You can view the full list here.

If you are a follower of our blog or a subscriber to our weekly newsletter, you can see several of the titles we received featured. For publishers or authors looking to be featured on our blog and social media, please visit our FAQ page.

[Photo by Gaelle Marcel on Unsplash]

Editor’s Choice :: Cemetery Citizens

Cemetery Citizens: Reclaiming the Past and Working for Justice in American Burial Grounds by Adam Rosenblatt
Stanford University Press, April 2024

Across the United States, groups of grassroots volunteers gather in overgrown, systemically neglected cemeteries. As they rake, clean headstones, and research silenced histories, they offer care to individuals who were denied basic rights and forms of belonging in life and in death. Cemetery Citizens is the first book-length study of this emerging form of social justice work. It focuses on how racial disparities shape the fates of the dead, and asks what kinds of repair are still possible. Drawing on interviews, activist anthropology, poems, and drawings, Adam Rosenblatt takes readers to gravesite reclamation efforts in three prominent American cities.

Cemetery Citizens dives into the ethical quandaries and practical complexities of cemetery reclamation, showing how volunteers build community across social boundaries, craft new ideas about citizenship and ancestry, and expose injustices that would otherwise be suppressed. Ultimately, Rosenblatt argues that an ethic of reclamation must honor the presence of the dead—treating them as fellow cemetery citizens who share our histories, landscapes, and need for care.

Adam Rosenblatt is Associate Professor of the Practice in International Comparative Studies and Cultural Anthropology at Duke University. He is the author of Digging for the Disappeared: Forensic Science after Atrocity (2015).

Editor’s Choice :: Black Fire This Time Volume 2

Black Fire This Time, Volume 2, Ed. Derrick Harriell and Kofi Antwi
Willow Books, March 2024

Willow Books has announced the release of Black Fire This Time, Volume 2 (2024) edited by Derrick Harriell with Assistant Editor Kofi Antwi with an introduction by Mona Lisa Saloy. The second in a series celebrating the history and legacy of the Black Arts movement, Volume 2 continues to showcase the works of multiple generations, from the founders of the movement to contemporary writers in the tradition. Hailed as the “New Golden Age of Black Writing,” the Black Fire This Time series is an unprecedented collection of the best in writing by black writers. Featured writers in the series include Sonia Sanchez, Ishmael Reed, Amiri Baraka, Gwendolyn Brooks, Lucille Clifton, 2023 American Book Award winner Everett Hoagland and 75 new poets, dramatists and fiction writers from across the country. Black Fire This Time Volume 2 will be distributed by the University of Mississippi Press.

To discover more great books from small, independent, and university presses, visit the NewPages Guide to Publishers as well as our Books Received monthly roundup. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to stay up to date!

Sponsored :: New Book :: Knowing

cover of Knowing by Mark Cox

Knowing: Poems, Poetry by Mark Cox

Press 53, April 2024

Mark Cox pulls no punches in these poems about family, relationships, loss, regret, growing older and our human condition, generally. Sometimes wry, sometimes tender, always thought provoking, Knowing is the seventh volume of poetry from a lauded veteran poet who has been publishing prominently for almost 40 years.

Previous Praise for Mark Cox:

On Readiness

Thrilling prose poems from a cherished writer . . . . Cox gives lie to the common notion that prose poetry is too formless to count as real verse . . . . [He] is as careful with diction, rhythm, and even rhyme as one might be if they were writing strict alexandrines-and yet, his poems are as fluid and readable as Jack Kerouac’s novels.

Kirkus Reviews

On Sorrow Bread

Tony Hoagland has said Mark Cox is “a veteran of the deep water; there’s no one like him,” and Thomas Lux identified him as “one of the finest poets of his generation.” No one speaks more effectively of the vital and enduring syntaxes of common, even communal, life.

Richard Simpson

Editor’s Choice :: A Nice Safe Place by Andrew Madigan

A Nice Safe Place: A Cutler Series Book 1 by Andrew Madigan
Next Chapter, August 2024

One day, Amy Snyder disappears. Her father Wayne starts looking for her because the sheriff can’t be bothered. Who took her? There are a few sketchy people around: Jason, Amy’s boyfriend; Lupo, the middle-aged drug dealer who dates teenage girls; the creepy minister, Pastor Stone. Wayne searches all over the county but doesn’t find answers. As Wayne slowly discovers, Belvue isn’t the nice, safe place he thought it was.

Amy suddenly returns, but that’s just the beginning of her story. She’s quiet, thin, traumatized. She says a man kept her locked in a basement along with several other girls. Wayne takes her to the sheriff to make a statement, and she sees her captor’s face in a book of mug shots. Ray Loris, a cutler. Loris is arrested, but a few days later he’s released. There’s no material evidence at his home, no girls, not even a basement. And one more thing: Amy’s pregnant. She swears Loris isn’t the father, and neither is Jason, but she won’t say who is.

A Nice Safe Place follows Wayne as he searches for his daughter while other sections of the novel shift from the point of view of Amy to Loris to Pastor Stone. It is a story about a girl, her family, and a town that’s struggling through hard times. It’s also a story of family secrets and the terrible things people can do to one another, and a story of what it takes to heal.


To discover more great books from small, independent, and university presses, visit the NewPages Guide to Publishers as well as our Books Received monthly roundup. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to stay up to date!

Sponsored :: New Book :: Heart’s Code

cover of Heart's Code by Eugene Stevenson

Heart’s Code, Poetry by Eugene Stevenson

Kelsay Books, March 2024

“Eugene Stevenson’s Heart’s Code is a work of true wonder. Ever since my introduction to his poetry, I have awaited his first collection and it is nothing short of magnificent. With deft precision and a keen eye, Stevenson captures ‘the places of great joy [and] the places of great pain’ with a tender grace and moving beauty that will leave readers’ hearts aching for more.”—Michelle Champagne, Susurrus, A Literary Arts Magazine of the American South

“Filled with snapshots of compassion, the poems in Heart’s Code explore both the grand and pocket-sized experiences that drive us apart and bring us back together again, transformed into something greater than before.”—Maxwell Bauman, Door Is A Jar Literary Magazine Editor-In-Chief

“Expansive and stirring, Heart’s Code carries us through complex landscapes of generational love and loss. A study in impermanence, anchored to nature’s juxtaposed cycles of rebirth, Stevenson’s verse offers redemption through the very journey itself. A poetic atlas of life’s gutting transience, not to be missed.”—Kelly Easton, Editor, Compass Rose Literary Journal

“Eugene Stevenson’s debut collection of poetry ruminates on points of origin and journeys in sharply observed language. Simultaneously plain and artful, poem after poem draws us into dislocated people finding their way, following their own path, as a sensuous realism that conducts its own exploration, both familiar and unfamiliar, without constraining, as the ‘world / recede[s] in the distance.’ Heart’s Code is a meditation on a world balancing at the edge of its own disappearance.”   —Geoffrey Gatza, author of Disappointment Apples

New Books April 2024

So long, April! Hello May! Each month we post the new and forthcoming titles NewPages has received from small, independent, university, and alternative presses as well as author-published titles. You can view the full list here.

If you are a follower of our blog or a subscriber to our weekly newsletter, you can see several of the titles we received featured. For publishers or authors looking to be featured on our blog and social media, please visit our FAQ page.

[Photo by Gaelle Marcel on Unsplash]

New and Forthcoming Titles from Black Rose Books

click image to open flyer

New titles from Black Rose Books, Montreal’s radical publisher since 1969. This year’s catalogue includes Freedom or Death, the definitive text on Mikhail Bakunin, titan of the Left; Eros and Revolution, a daring exploration into the history of revolutionary social movements; and Castoriadis Against Heidegger, a critical tour-de-force juxtaposing the politics of these two pivotal philosophers. View our flyer and see our website for more!

Want early access to our eLitPak flyers? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter! You can also support NewPages with a paid subscription and get early access to the majority submission opportunities, upcoming events, and more before they are posted to our site.

Interested in advertising in the eLitPak? Learn more here.

New Books March 2024

With the end of the month comes our update of all the wonderful new and forthcoming titles that NewPages has received from small, independent, university, and alternative presses as well as author-published titles. You can view the full list here.

If you are a follower of our blog or a subscriber to our weekly newsletter, you can see several of the titles we received featured. For publishers or authors looking to be featured on our blog and social media, please visit our FAQ page.

[Photo by Jaredd Craig on Unsplash]

March 2024 eLitPak :: Announcing the Book Wheatley at 250 from Pangyrus Press

screenshot of the Pangyrus Wheatley at 250 new release announcement flyer
click image to open flyer

Just published! Pangyrus Press announces Wheatley at 250, celebrating the 250th anniversary of Phillis Wheatley Peters’s historic and transformative Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral with exciting re-inscriptions by some of today’s most compelling poets: U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith, Evie Shockley, Kiki Petrosino, Mahogany L. Browne, and more. View our flyer and learn more at our website.

Want early access to our eLitPak flyers? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter! You can also support NewPages with a paid subscription and get early access to the majority submission opportunities, upcoming events, and more before they are posted to our site.

Interested in advertising in the eLitPak? Learn more here.

New Books February 2024

With the end of the month comes our update of all the wonderful new and forthcoming titles that NewPages has received from small, independent, university, and alternative presses as well as author-published titles. You can view the full list here.

If you are a follower of our blog or a subscriber to our weekly newsletter, you can see several of the titles we received featured. For publishers or authors looking to be featured on our blog and social media, please visit our FAQ page.

[Thanks to our friends at The Book Store on the Hill in Richmond Hill, Georgia, for the image – and Happy Birthday!]

Sponsored :: New Book :: Marriage 2001: A Bruised Odyssey

cover of Marriage 2002: A Bruised Odyssey by J. W. Young

Marriage 2001: A Bruised Odyssey, Poetry by J. W. Young

unPublications, February 2024

Marriage 2001: A Bruised Odyssey by J. W Young is a book of poetry & writings which deals with the confines of marriage when defined and marred by subjugation, domestic abuse, and censorship in modern times. It is Young’s first published literary work. Though many of the writings were destroyed, this book contains survivors. The poetic expressions served as a means to cope and endure. Marriage 2001: A Bruised Odyssey is a journey of hope, pain, grief and the difficult pathway to reclaiming a sense of self.

February 2024 eLitPak :: WP-MFA: Rachel Wetzsteon Chapbook Award

Rachel Wetzsteon Chapbook Award Winner Fiona Lu flyer announcement
click image to open full-size flyer

I’m going to let you in on a secret:
I have so many ghosts and nowhere to put them.

Map Literary and the MFA program at William Paterson University are thrilled to celebrate the publication of Fiona Lu’s How to Become the God of Small Things. Come celebrate with us! View flyer to learn more.

Want early access to our eLitPak flyers? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter! You can also support NewPages with a paid subscription and get early access to the majority submission opportunities, upcoming events, and more before they are posted to our site.

Interested in advertising in the eLitPak? Learn more here.

New Books January 2024

We succeeded in making it through January! How are those New Year’s Resolutions holding out? Well, if reading more was one of them – great news!

With the end of the month comes our update of all the wonderful new and forthcoming titles that NewPages has received from small, independent, university, and alternative presses as well as author-published titles. You can view the full list here.

If you are a follower of our blog or a subscriber to our weekly newsletter, you can see several of the titles we received featured. For publishers or authors looking to be featured on our blog and social media, please visit our FAQ page.

Editor’s Choice :: Unnie by Yun-Yun

Unnie by Yun-Yun
Libre Books, April 2024

On the morning of April 16, 2014, a passenger ferry carrying 476 people was en route from Incheon, South Korea to the island of Jeju. After a dangerous turn against a strong current, the boat began to capsize, with hundreds trapped inside.

The sinking would take the lives of 306 passengers, including 250 schoolchildren and 11 teachers from the outskirts of Seoul onboard for a field trip. The excessive death toll has been largely attributed to the failure of the Korean Coast Guard to mobilize sufficiently, leading to a highly publicized court case and jail time for members of the crew, who abandoned the ship and all aboard.

The tragedy caused public outcry around the world. But none were so bereft as the families left behind, like the main character, Yun-young. As the days turn into weeks and the weeks turn into months, they wait for news of Yun-young’s Unnie (the Korean word for “older sister”), a teacher now missing. As Yun-young embarks on an unfamiliar journey to understand Unnie’s life, she finds herself entangled in a blend of memories and unforeseen revelations, stirring an irresistible yearning. From Korea to America and back again, past and present overlap, as Yun-young tries to piece together the life of her enigmatic older sister.

“I’m a high school teacher in Korea,” writes author Yun-Yun. “At times, when I observe my students immersed in laughter with their peers, I feel a sudden wave of sadness, reminded of all the young lives taken away too soon. I imagine they, too, would have laughed just like that. Writing Unnie, my first novel, I was surprised at how easily the words flowed from me. To this day, I can’t shake the feeling that the lost students were guiding me as I wrote.”

Originally published in 2022, this edition is revised and re-released in honor of the 10-year anniversary of the event.

New Book :: Book of Lamentations

Book of Lamentations: Poems by Red Hawk, aka Robert Moore
The Bittler Oleander Press, January 2024

Red Hawk’s Book of Lamentations opens with the poem, “Come Sisters, Let Us Lament,” which begins, “Where do we go, how / shall we make our way / when the Stars go out?” The collection is divided into sections of poems that seek to answer the question – or take readers on a quest of their own: Lamentations of Innocence: What is Lost, What is Gained; Lamentations of the Animals: Whose Cross is to Bear Our Pain; Lamentations of Experience: What it Costs, What Remains; Lamentations of Conscience: The Holy Ghost in Our Brains.

The author shares his experience that guides his writing, “Red Hawk is not an Indian name, nor was it ever intended to be one or pretend to be one; it is an Earth name, given by Mother Earth many years ago after a 4-day water fast at the Buffalo River in an effort to save my life in one of the darkest periods of my life. It was given as answered prayer. It indicates a deep love & reverence for the Earth which named me, and how it has shaped my life. I stand by it. Love of the Earth is my Spiritual path. It honors Her power to direct the course of our lives. I am Her legitimate son. As the illegitimate son of unknown parents, Robert Moore is my adopted name given to me by 2 people who died of alcoholism; I honor them by the way I live my life.”

Red Hawk is Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Arkansas at Monticello. He is the author of 11 books of poetry and two books on spiritual practice. He is a student and devotee of the Spiritual Teacher Lee Lozowick and of Lozowick’s Master, Yogi Ramsuratkumar, the Godchild of Tiruvanamali, India. He is also a long-time student of the Spiritual Teacher George Gurdjieff. His root-Guru was Osho Rajneesh. He is the winner of numerous national honors for his writing.

To discover more great books from small, independent, and university presses, visit the NewPages Guide to Publishers as well as our Books Received monthly roundup. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to stay up to date!

Sponsored :: New Book :: Three Sixes and a Forked Tongue or Cold Medicine and a Liar

cover of Three Sixes and a Forked Tongue or Cold Medicine and a Liar

Three Sixes and a Forked Tongue or Cold Medicine and a Liar, Fiction by James Tyler Toothman

millions of colors, December 2023

The year is 1971. Lost deep in the woods of West Virginia, a desperate young girl discovers a book of witchcraft and pledges herself to Satan. But the Devil’s checking into town, and he’s got something special in store for this new little witch.

When Black Lavender Luci, the Devil himself, rocks up to Clockmaker, West Virginia in a Rolls Royce Silver Wraith, wearing alligator boots, a chinchilla coat, Porkpie hat and a gold-plated grin, he’s got his sights on only one thing: fifteen-year-old Miss Priscilla Carpenter, the baddest witch in town. Tired of being on the receiving end of Old Red—her father’s favorite paddle—Priscilla doesn’t hesitate when she stumbles upon a book of witchcraft and stains the pages with her blood.

At first, signing her soul away to Satan was just an opportunity to have some fun, help the people she loves, and get a little revenge on the townspeople that turned their backs on her and her mother, Lavinia. Flanked by her childhood best friend Joseph and her loyal disciple Big Tommy, Priscilla makes her way through the increasingly demanding spells of her beloved grimoire. But when the Devil calls in his favor and seduces Priscilla deeper into the world of dark magic, drugs, and desire, she unwittingly unleashes a torrent of death on Clockmaker, causing dams to break, women to go missing, and rabbit piss to fall from the sky. And pretty soon, she finds herself the baby mama of Hell himself.

Sponsored :: New Book :: Another Name for Darkness

cover of Sans. PRESS sixth anthology Another Name for Darkness

Another Name for Darkness: Sans. PRESS Anthology #6

Sans. PRESS, December 2023

A lifetime buried in the mud, a shadow haunting your past, a creature built from offered scraps – there is something lurking in the dark! In this new collection, 15 writers explore the many shapes that darkness can take, from the monstrous to the stark realities of loss and heartbreak. In tales that embrace both the mundane and the supernatural, nothing is impossible, and realities can be shattered and rebuilt for those willing to dare.

Sponsored :: New Book :: MONARCH: Stories

cover of MONARCH: Stories by Emily Jon Tobias

MONARCH: Stories by Emily Jon Tobias

Black Lawrence Press, May 2024

MONARCH: Stories subverts the reader’s common perceptions about how love can heal, how loss and suffering can transform, and how every character deserves a second chance. America’s city scars, sewers, alleyways, and bars are landscape to their wars, as characters heal and transform under wind turbines and on open roads, in golden cornfields and with the wails of Chicago blues. Heroes in this collection are the marginalized, the sufferers, the down-trodden, the misfits, the wanderers, and the wounded, shaped by grief but not defined by their scars.

The collection is driven by its characters, unsung heroes who are shades of the sufferers and healers in all. An inclusive invitation, MONARCH is aimed at an intimate portrayal of scarred characters on American streets beating the drum of current culture against the fierce rhythm of critical social justice issues. An exploration of the human condition through a lens of the damaged, MONARCH’s characters bear traumas with their bodies, and often, they transgress while learning how to love through small acts of kindness. They break in, break down, and ultimately, break open.

Foreword by Chris Abani, author of The Secret History of Las Vegas.

Editor’s Choice :: Eating Peru by Robert Bradley

Eating Peru: A Gastronomic Journey by Robert Bradley
The University of Oklahoma Press, September 2023

In Eating Peru: A Gastronomic Journey, wine merchant–turned–archaeologist and art historian Robert Bradley shares his past twenty-five years of personal discovery about the food of Peru and the history that led to its current culinary fluorescence today. Journeying from coasts to highlands and back again, the author introduces readers to the most interesting aspects of Peruvian cuisine that he encounters along the way, with several recipes included. Bradley sizzles about Peruvian ceviche, pisco and the pisco sour, and the country’s best restaurants—two ranked in the top ten by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2023. He does this all while sampling food lore, Andean anthropology, history, linguistics, and the pleasures and perils of travel within Peru.

Robert C. Bradley started out as a wine merchant for New York City’s most acclaimed restaurants. A trip to Central America put him on the path to studying Mesoamerican art history and archaeology at Columbia University. He is now an associate professor in the School of Art and Design at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.


Editor’s Choice is not a paid promotion; selections are made solely at the discretion of the editor. To discover more great books from small, independent, and university presses, visit the NewPages Guide to Publishers as well as our Books Received monthly roundup. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to stay up to date!