Tag Archives: Literary Fiction

Visions of Johanna Blitz

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Literary Fiction 

Date Published: November 14, 2022

 Publisher: PFP Publishing

 

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Johanna, an artist, and Matt, a music critic, couldn’t be more
different, but by a simple twist of fate, she plucks him from a crowd at a
Dylan concert. What follows is a heady and intense relationship buffeted by
the usual suspects that gently rocked the ‘80s. Matt’s lessons
in art—as well as life—at the hands of Johanna, drive the novel
into pockets of feminism and quiet revolution. All of this is tempered by
deeply held traumatic secrets that torque their intimacy.

Yet it’s Revere—and not Boston—that remains one of the
underlying attractions in “Visions of Johanna”. This north shore
backdrop brings Matt into full focus – a child in a city of recent
immigrants, life by the ocean, the bilious flavor of the Mob are just some
of the elements rendered in skillful detail. Johanna, a renegade from
Wisconsin—freewheeling and hyper-energized—draws Matt out of his
comfort zone and into her world.

A meditation on art and unrest, “Visions of Johanna” celebrates
life, love, memory and the undying power of the deep connections that
sustain us. The novel follows Johanna and Matt as they pursue their dreams
to paint and to write. But burdening problems collide with these artistic
desires and other forces conspire against them. Ultimately, the two are done
in by their inability to share aspects of their past they believe they must
hide from.

The novel travels through time and social unrest to the final moment hinted
at in the prologue. Within this book’s pages, tragedies haunt, acts of moral
goodness manifest themselves, and benevolence reigns with a finality that
absolves all.

About the Author

Peter Sarno

 Peter Sarno taught literature and memoir courses at the University of
Massachusetts, Boston and has published essays, reviews, and short stories.
While a graduate student at UMass, he won the Donald E Cookson prize in
nonfiction. His work has appeared in The Boston Globe, Music World magazine,
Sweet Potato, Gannet newspapers, Gatehouse Media, and other outlets. Visions
of Johanna is his first published novel.

 

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Lonely Dove Virtual Book Tour

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Literary Fiction, Women’s Fiction, Multicultural Fiction

Date Published: September 27, 2022

Publisher: Koehler Books

Finalist for the 2022 American Fiction Awards for Multicultural
Fiction

Anji is forty-one, single, of Indian origin, and grew up in Colombia. Now a
successful journalist in New York City, she’s missing only love in her
life. Then a vision reveals her soul mate; he calls her “lonely
dove”—two words that describe her perfectly—but she cannot
see his face. Determined to find this mysterious man, she draws on all her
work and personal resources to find him.

As Anji embraces the signs and visions she receives, she discovers a need
to heal from her past relationships. Will she ever find her twin
flame—and will she be ready when she does?

 

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EXCERPT 

“Anji had loved all things bright and beautiful, especially her beloved Bollywood movies and Latin American telenovelas, where the girl always got the guy of her dreams. Anji had spent her lifetime wishing, with every fiber of her being, for her happily ever after, certain it would happen when her soulmate appeared.

Now aged forty-one and still single, she thought of how gullible she had been to be conned by the idea of soulmates, much less to think she would marry the person. She had learned that life was filled with eternal struggles to find her soulmate. Her frustration reached a new level after she’d had that vision a couple of weeks before. That, and this meeting with Danny, felt like unnecessary provocations, the universe daring her to hold onto the childish notion.”

 

February 7, 2019

She stood on the platform waiting for a train. The man standing on the opposite platform seemed familiar but she couldn’t get a good look. His face was hidden behind a hoodie and he peered down at a book in his hands. 

She tried to call out to him. When she opened her mouth, there was no sound. She tried to clear her throat. Even that didn’t make a sound. She grasped at her throat, wondering what had happened to her voice.

A train whistled in the distance. She raised her hand to get his attention. He didn’t look up. He still didn’t notice when she waved. Her hands motioned ever more fervently as she jumped up and down, but to no avail. The train pulled into the platform. He got on the train and took a seat without glancing at her.

As the train chugged away, a pair of dark eyes loomed into sight, blocking her view. A hairless wrinkled face spoke one word,“Exorcismo.”

Anji sat with a jolt and opened her eyes. As she focused on the evening sky and the leaves overhead, she realized she was sitting on a bench in the Parque del Retiro. Alone.

Anji had gotten a vision. Again. She had gone back to the Parque del Retiro for a walk. She’d had several long workdays, and Josh had called her a second time to bug her about the piece on dreams. He hadn’t been so persistent before, but then again, she hadn’t been so resistant to discuss what she was working on.

Anji needed her head to be screwed back onto her body and thought a short meditation would help. It had worked until she got the vision with the taunting face of the Romani woman. Anji was covered in cold sweat.

The first time Anji got a vision was the morning of January 26, and it had come to her in a similar way as it had that afternoon. Instead of lying on a park bench, she’d lain on a rock in Central Park. When she went to her rock in New York she got a sense of peace, and she tried to recreate the same feeling again, that day, in the Parque del Retiro, but it hadn’t worked.

Anji wondered if her visions were hypnagogic. The visions were vivid, almost real, which is how Danny described his dreams. Danny told her he entered them easily. He lay still, cleared his mind, and set the intention to go into a hypnagogic state. After a few deep breaths, he found himself in a semi-conscious dream.

On the other hand, Anji didn’t intend to enter anything other than calmness. She had meditated and without her awareness, the vision had appeared. She didn’t have to try.

The first vision had left her feeling elated. She wished it was real. When her mystery soulmate had whispered, “my lonely dove,” a surge had coursed through her. The connection to the man in her dream was unlike any she’d felt before. She had wanted to stay with him. She didn’t care that she hadn’t been able to see his face. There was something about him that had felt familiar. Most of all, she had felt loved. Despite the weight of her forty-one years, the vision had made her feel she might still have a chance. It had awakened a hope in her that she hadn’t felt in a long time. She wondered if it was a sign, a confirmation that she was destined to find her soulmate. 

 

 

About the Author

Sonee Singh

Sonee Singh is a cross-cultural seeker of deep knowing. She is of Indian
descent, born in Mexico, raised in Colombia, and resides in the United
States. Sonee writes stories of self-discovery to encourage people to accept
themselves and live life on their own terms. The mystical and spiritual are
integral in her storytelling, as is her multicultural background. When not
traveling, reading, or writing, she indulges in meditation, yoga, and
aromatherapy. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in biology and society, a Master
of Management in hospitality from Cornell University, and a Master of
Science in complementary alternative medicine from American College of
Healthcare Sciences. She is currently pursuing a Doctor of Divinity from the
University of Metaphysical Sciences. Sonee has published the Soul-Seeker
Collection of poetry: Embody, Embrace, and Embolden. She has been published
in two anthologies: Blessing the Page and The Colours of Me. She has
multiple articles published in Elephant Journal.

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A Kind of Hush Blitz

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Literary Fiction, Mystery

Publisher: Imagery Lit

 

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A Kind of Hush explores whether there is a gray area between right and
wrong. The Mackie family is enjoying a June outing at a rugged park near
their Buffalo, New York home when tragedy strikes. One parent survives along
with their teenage daughter and seven-year-old son found hiding in the
woods. Was this a horrendous accident or something more heinous, and if so,
whodunnit and whydunit? A mantle of ambiguity – a kind of hush –
hangs between the survivors like a live grenade without its pin as each one
deals with the circumstances and revelations surrounding the incident.

A Kind of Hush is one of five finalists in the 16th annual National Indie
Excellence Awards contest in the highly competitive mystery category.

Excerpt

 

Chapter 1

Slow Dancing in a Burning Room

BUFFALO, NEW YORK. Gabriel Mackie had just celebrated his fourth birthday
the first time
 he visited the whisper room, a windowless enclave with lavender walls
brimming with daydreams, 
obscured from reality. All he knew for certain was that his older brother,
Griff, nicknamed Boo, was 
gone. His bedroom at the end of the long hallway had been transformed into
a guest room with ecru 
lace duvets instead of the blue and white pinstriped spreads covering the
twin beds. Vanished were 
his toy box and New York Yankee American League pennants that had plastered
the walls, replaced 
by paintings of water lilies and wheat fields. A stray tear trickled down
Gabe’s cheek when he 
remembered Boo’s curly blonde hair and how he snorted when he
laughed. Silence is deafening and 
the Mackie household screamed heartbreak.

Tree branches dipped in the wind tossing shadows across the windows
heralding a tempest
 gathering force. Matt sipped his coffee and thumbed through last
night’s restaurant receipts. Summer, 
lost in her on own thoughts, mindlessly poured herself a refill with one
hand while twirling a strand 
of hair with the other. Gabe tiptoed to the kitchen doorway, jumping back
when he heard his mother 
slam her fist on the counter.

“It’s Willa’s fault Griff is gone,” her voice
stringent and tight. “Tickling him while he sucked on
 a gumball, for God’s sake. I trusted her to take care of him for
fifteen minutes—fifteen damn 
minutes—while I picked up Gabe from a birthday party. He
couldn’t find his shoes . . . I would have 
been home sooner and maybe . . . I love my daughter, but . . . She knew to
call 911 in an 
emergency . . . Why the hell didn’t she?”

Matt shook his head. “Summer come on . . . you’ve got to quit
blaming her,” his voice rising an 
octave in frustration. “You’re as responsible as
Willa.”

Summer turned her back to her husband shielding the wounds caused by his
words.

“I shouldn’t have said that,” regret echoed in his
apology. “I’m so sorry . . . Please, we don’t need 
to be playing this blame game. . . .”

“I guess it’s too much to ask for you to understand what
I’m going through, Matt. What part of 
my daughter killing our son don’t you get?”

“Honey, you’re overreacting. . . .”

They both turned as Gabe scampered into the room dragging a stuffed
elephant by its trunk.

“Mommy, did Willa find where Boo’s hiding? Quackers and me
wanna play next . . . you count to ten 
and say ready-or-not, here I come . . . okay?”

 

*****

 

 

About the Author

JoDee Neathery

JoDee Neathery is a firm believer that dreams do come true with the release
of her debut award winning novel, Life in a Box, in July 2017 asking the
question, how much would you sacrifice to hide a secret? A few colorful
characters were plucked off her family tree, encasing their world inside
fictional events to create her literary novel.

The idea for her latest novel, A Kind of Hush, appeared in the middle of
the night with the profile of the young boy and the first few sentences
scratched out on the every-present notepad on the nightstand beside her bed.
“I didn’t know the whole story, but I knew that whatever I wrote
next, this young lad had to play a major role in the narrative and Gabriel
Edward Mackie doesn’t disappoint.”

JoDee was born in Southern California moving to Midland, Texas at the age
of five. Her professional career began in the banking industry moving into
public relations executive recruiting until relocating to East Texas where
she experienced more opportunities to write and enjoys a byline, Back Porch
Musings, a lighthearted view of life in general, in an area newspaper. Her
dream “job” has been chairing and writing minutes and reviews
for the community book club, Bookers, for eighteen years and it was those
members that championed her novel writing journey. “They believed in
me before I did.”

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Professor Marvel Blitz

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Literary Fiction

Date Published: March 1, 2022

Publisher: Crimson Cloak Publishing

 

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Dubbed “Professor Marvel,” a popular black male professor at a
predominantly white, women’s college who freaks when a radical
feminist compares him to the Kansas charlatan turned Wizard of Oz. His
dubiousness is confirmed when he succumbs to the charms of a student, an
aspiring fashion model.

Meanwhile, he keeps a secret affair with an older feminist colleague. The
she-it hits the fan when her estranged husband becomes jealous and
challenges him to a fistfight. Certain he’ll be blamed when the old
man’s pacemaker explodes, Professor Marvel takes flight.

His prior indiscretion eventually catches up to him when he discovers the
fashion model exploits a sex tape as her steppingstone to fame.

The Black List says, “Professor Marvel is an outside-the-box and
thought-provoking read that keeps the reader in anticipation of what’s to
come over the course of the story.”

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 About the Author

Nkosi Ife Bandele

Nkosi Ife Bandele tells stories. He writes for periodicals, stage, TV, and
film. His extended fiction, The Ape is Dead!, The Beast, and Scott Free are
published by Crimson Cloak Publishing. His short fiction, including the
outrageous “Itty Bitty Titty Committee,” appears in Akashic
Book’s Terrible Twosdays series

 

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Her Jailer’s Secrets Blitz

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A broken family’s fight against a brutal justice system

 

Historical Fiction, Australian History, Literary Fiction

Date Published: April 2022

Publisher: Tablo Publishing

 

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In 1786 Elizabeth Fitzgerald, a 26 year old woman, became involved in
England’s brutal justice system and found herself exiled from her homeland
to Botany Bay in the antipodes where she had to endure brutality, near
starvation, love and a shipwreck off Norfolk Island with her friend Jane
Fitzgerald. She bore twin girls to a marine William Mitchell while on the
island and began her own family in this strange new land, as she never
expected to ever see her family members, or friends, ever again.

On her return to Sydney she began a new life with another soldier, Thomas
Wright, with whom she had another child but was imprisoned again for selling
her children’s rations to purchase rum where she met a strange cockney woman
named Margaret, who was in charge of the prison and who changed her
life.

William Mitchell, who returned to England carried out an investigation into
who Margaret really was as she had now died, and in doing so came up against
Irish rebels who threatened his life but finally gave him a sealed letter as
to her true identity, that could not be opened by anyone other than one of
the two Fitzgerald women.

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About the Author

Brian F. Smith

Brian F. Smith has always had an interest in writing that became further
enhanced with his early career moves which included his service with the
Australian Army before joining the Victoria Police Force. He later went on
to become the Chief Security Officer at the Loloho Port Site on Bougainville
Island in Papua New Guinea. On his return to Australia, he founded the
‘Jordan River Journal,’ a Hobart, Tasmania suburban newspaper before going
to the island’s west coast where he founded the ‘ The Western Herald’
another local weekly newspaper. Since his retirement, he has written four
books: ‘Off The Record”, “Convict Connections’, ‘Witness to a
Miracle’ and ‘Her Jailer’s Secrets’. In 2020 he obtained a Diploma in Family
History from the University of Tasmania.

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