The mental hospital can be a scary, uncertain place. However, the friends you meet there can stick with you for a lifetime When Zoey wakes up in the adolescent psych ward with no memory of how she got there, she struggles greatly to adjust to her new environment and interact with the other patients. Then she meets Melanie, a wild, sarcastic fireball of a girl whose antics regularly land her in the psych ward. As Zoey gets caught up in one of Melanie’s schemes, she finds out there’s more to her than meets the eye, leaving her haunted well into adulthood. The Friends We Make in the Psych Ward is a story that tackles themes of trauma, mental illness, friendship and resilience all told through the eyes of a relatable teenage girl.
Meet Grace Anderson
Grace Anderson is an up and coming indie author based out of Denver, Colorado. Her work centers around grief, mental health and all the emotional ups and downs that come with being human. When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading, thrift shopping and sipping chai at local coffee shops.
In darkness and torrential rain, Second Lieutenant Alex Ryan makes a terrible mistake.
To make matters worse, the only witness is the famous war hero, Captain Eden, who convinces Alex that unless they both lie about what happened, Alex will be shot for what he’s done.
Life in the trenches is brutal and death is never far away, but behind the lines, Alex finds solace with Odette, a beautiful farmer’s daughter. Eden disapproves and tension between the two officers grows. And there are rumours that Eden might not be the hero that he seems…
When a soldier’s life is threatened, after seeing something that could destroy Eden’s reputation, Alex knows he should intervene. But Eden knows his secret. So a choice must be made. One that will test Alex’s loyalty, his morality, and even his humanity.
Inspired by true events and the stories of 306 British soldiers who were shot for cowardice during the Great War, The Longest Spring is a poignant exploration of how even in the most extreme circumstances, we still love, grieve and seek validation from our peers.
If you loved Birdsong and All Quiet on the Western Front, then you’ll love The Longest Spring.
Meet P. D. Sherrard
P. D. Sherrard is a writer and an award-winning sculptor and photographer. He currently spends part of the time travelling around the world in a campervan and the other half in a house in Bristol, England, both with his partner, a toddler and a three-legged dog.
Twelve-year-old Ben panics when his parents don’t come home from work one day, while his timid six-year-old sister Lucy clings to him for support. Having been raised to believe that the police and Child Protective Services are considered the enemy, the children will do anything to avoid ending up in foster homes. Unfortunately, their incredible journey to evade the authorities brings them into contact with people who may not have their best interests at heart. The lessons Ben learns in his nineteen-hundred-day journey, as he tries to get his own life on track and protect the lives of others, serve to prepare him for what lies ahead.
Meet Florence Osmund
After a long career in the corporate world, Florence Osmund retired to write novels. “I strive to write literary fiction and endeavor to craft stories that challenge readers to survey their own beliefs and values,” Osmund states. In addition to her store of published novels, Florence wrote “How to Write, Publish, and Promote a Novel” which offers substantial advice for new and aspiring writers including how to begin the project, writing techniques, building an author platform, book promotion and more. Florence lives on a small tranquil lake in northern Illinois, where she continues to write novels and enjoy all that Mother Nature has to offer.
BRILLIANT, YOUNG AND AMBITIOUS, Annika Tritzchler defies the norms of 1930s Berlin by pursuing medical training in a venue traditionally dominated by men. Facing contempt from her counterparts is minor compared to the massive upheaval in a city transitioning to dictatorship while brutally persecuting its enemies.
Annika’s career takes a decisive turn when, early in her psychiatric residency, she is expected to participate in applied eugenics- the roguish trend within Nazi medicine. Sterilizing patients deemed racially inferior and euthanizing the handicapped (including patients that she, herself, has been treating) works against everything she holds sacred. Acquiescence means choosing survival over morality, the antithesis to the spirituality nurtured by her Lutheran mother and Jewish stepfather.
Brimming with historical detail, Fräulein is less a story of Nazism than a woman’s attempt to rediscover meaning after her sense of self was shattered by unimaginable trauma. Recapturing identity is central, but only if she comes to terms with guilt.
★★★★★
“There’s so much to love about this novel. It’s a fantastic historical fiction piece that explores a full life heading into the Holocaust and even a bit afterwards, and I love the texture and established setting within the timeline most of all. Leonards’ knowledge of the war accents the plot and allows the gritty realism to feel that much more sound. Annika’s character is quite accessible and well rounded. Her growth from beginning to end is remarkable to witness.” -Writer’s Digest
“Leonards successfully blends the horrific events of early 20th century Germany with the life story of Annika, whose search for meaning in life leads her into a career in medicine and beyond that into psychiatry and treatment of mental illness. The novel breathes life into many of the key issues of the era, including anti-Semitism, the mass hysteria of Fascism, and the totalitarian regime’s iconic institutions, the concentration camps and the euthanasia programs. Experiencing all of this, Annika tries valiantly to maintain her sanity as well as her sense of morality, and in describing her struggles Leonards has created one of the most unforgettable characters in modern literature.” -Jack Morrison, Ph.D. Author of Ravensbrück: Everyday Life in a Women’s Concentration Camp 1939-45
“Amazing really what you have done… Ambitious and panoramic!” -Charles Rotmil one of Maine’s few living survivors of the Holocaust
“Fraulein is a masterfully written, psychologically astute portrayal of a young woman living and practicing psychiatry in a country descending into political and moral insanity, a chaos that consumes its intelligentsia and decent people, and that threatens to consume her own integrity. Filled with lyrical, almost transcendental beauty, and etched depictions of evil, Fraulein is both a gripping story and an unforgettable lesson from history that the gift of a civilized society cannot be taken for granted, but must be nurtured at every turn – it is the only thing saving humanity from the abyss.” -Jonathan Borkum, Ph.D. Psychologist and Author of Chronic Headaches: Biology, Psychology, and Behavioral Treatment
“Your fictional character, Annika, sounds like my kind of person…” -Tony Campolo, Ph.D. Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Eastern University; public speaker; author of over 35 books; and former spiritual advisor to US President Bill Clinton.
Cozy mystery writer Margaret Manning’s world becomes engulfed in suspicion and fear when her husband seems to be mimicking the behavior of her book’s shadier characters.
Meet Florence Osmund
After a long career in the corporate world, Florence Osmund retired to write novels. “I strive to create stories that contain complex characters and thought-provoking plots that challenge readers to survey their own values,” Osmund states. She has published eight novels and currently lives on a small tranquil lake in northern Illinois, where she continues to write.
Aryan is a young man living in the coastal village of Kornur, India. He dreams of becoming an artist one day, but his dream comes to an abrupt end when his father passes away when he is only sixteen, and since then he has been condemned to live the mundane life of a fisherman. But fate gives him a chance to achieve his dream and he moves to Mumbai in the hope of becoming a successful artist. The story then follows Aryan’s life in Mumbai as a struggling artist, the new things he learns and experiences, and his quest for self-discovery. During his struggle, he strives to master a new style of painting in order to stand out and succeed. He perfects his broken Hindi and explores human nature by observing himself and the people around him. He ponders on the nature of power, the desperate need for lies, the craze and importance of cricket in India, and the cultural differences between a small village and a big city, and he explores the relationship between God and human charity. This is a coming-of-age story about perseverance and survival.
Meet Arthinkal
Arthinkal is a pseudonym for Jordan John Anthony, who was born in Mumbai, India. A Fisherman’s Dream is his debut novel. He also maintains a website on which he posts essays on subjects that interest him. Connect with him on: https://arthinkal.com/ https://www.instagram.com/arthinkal_/
Set on the Ruzizi River above Lake Tanganyika, Cicinski’s exquisitely crafted second novel is the story of an old Burundian fisherwoman who sets out to hunt and kill the legendarily large and vicious crocodile that killed her husband a year previously; and of her granddaughter, Lenka, who follows her in the hopes of protecting her not only from the dangers she faces in her quest for vengeance, but from losing the last vestiges of the woman she once was. Through the course of the hunt, Cicinski paints a vivid picture not only of a relationship between a young girl full of hope and optimism and dreams of the future, and an old woman who has been all but destroyed by grief and an all-consuming desire for revenge, but more broadly of the relationship between humanity and nature, the experience of grief and ageing, and the character of a strong woman who even in her darkest moments of despair refuses to be ruled by the expectations of her society.
Meet T.M Cicinski
T.M Cicinski is a British-born literary fiction novelist and short story writer, currently living and working in Granada, Spain. From Whence The Rivers Run is his second novel.
Lizbeth Shannon must escape Skid Row and stall her descent into madness.
But not before severing the trauma bonds shackling her to an early grave.
In the fall of 2005, devils chased Liz Shannon across nightmarish acres and deep into the bowels of hell. Not actual devils, only personal demons. And hell meant the seediest underbelly of L.A., where she walked among clever predators and outright ghouls. Discarded and homeless after her girlfriend, Dell—a hospice nurse—finally grew a spine and tossed the “energy vampire” out the door and smack into the jaws of the street wolves.
But Lizbeth isn’t really a vampire. Forget the pale skin, sharp bite, and a life spent roaming through the gloaming hours. Depraved conditions fell upon her early, as they do to many who end up deformed by circumstance.
And yet, an inexplicable bond remains between the two women—an otherworldly connection—a cord that cannot be severed, no matter the fraying threads. Still, Dell can’t root through the ugly places or prevent her love from hitting bottom.
Only Liz can battle the fiends and avoid the abyss.
First, she must dig her inner child from the ruins. But the weight of history hovers, like the sword of Damocles, eager to generate more debris—and crush them both to smithereens.
***This book, previously published as Dig Up Through Within, deals with mature themes of trauma and abuse.
★★★★★ “Masterfully written.” ~ J. Adams
Meet Katherine Carlson
Katherine Carlson loves to write about the perpetual chase. About outrunning and outwitting the demons, always closing the gap and ready to strike. She loves to hide her characters in gnarly trees and plunk them into hostile mazes. She remains obsessed with the transformative journey of survivors—lost in the woods or lost to addictions.
How could one small piece of jewelry mean so much to so many?
Paige West is a well-educated, financially stable business owner who mourns the death of her father and misses the closeness she had with him throughout her life.
Jessivel Salter is a high school dropout who had a child out of wedlock at sixteen and is now a single mother on the brink of becoming homeless. She also misses her now-deceased father, but for very different reasons.
When fate unites the two women, Paige is drawn to Jessivel from the start and wants to help her. But Jessivel doesn’t trust Paige or her intentions and rejects her many “helping hand” offers.
When the two women eventually connect, certain disturbing truths are unveiled, and they discover they have something in common that is inconceivable and shocking. Each woman must decide whether to take the easy way out and part ways forevermore or face up to the adversity that fate has thrown at them.
And it all started with “the ring.”
Meet Florence Osmund
After a long career in the corporate world, Florence Osmund retired to write novels. “I strive to write literary fiction and endeavor to craft stories that challenge readers to survey their own beliefs and values,” Osmund states. Florence’s book “How to Write, Publish, and Promote a Novel” offers substantial advice for new and aspiring writers including how to begin the project, writing techniques, building an author platform, book promotion and more. Florence lives on a small tranquil lake in northern Illinois, where she continues to write novels and enjoy all that Mother Nature has to offer.
Terrified he’s becoming just like his father, Wyatt Lewis, a disillusioned millennial, breaks up with his fiancée to chase his childhood dream – a fresh start in Southern California.
Once in San Diego, Wyatt reunites with an old friend, Summer Harrison, while falling hard for the elusive and free-spirited, Leah Murphy. Summer and Leah show Wyatt a dazzling world littered with lavish speakeasies, egregious drug use, and overpriced cocktails. Surrounded by fake glamor and stuck in a terrible corporate job, Wyatt’s escape turns into his worst nightmare.
Overworked, alone, and filled with regret, the aspiring writer spirals down a self-destructive path that forces him to confront the violent past he ran away to California to forget.
In his raw, hilarious, and dark debut novel, Brian Price showcases our world, on the verge of the COVID-19 pandemic, through the eyes of a sarcastic and stubborn narrator as he attempts to drown his family’s demons.
Meet Brian Price
Brian Price worked in the marketing and communications industry for nine years. The Public Relations Society of America, American Business Awards, and Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals are a few of the organizations that awarded his work.
But who actually cares about that?
He certainly doesn’t.
Sick of bookshelves being stuffed with bureaucrats’ memoirs and snake-oil entrepreneurs using books as sales funnels, Brian wrote a novel, Last Chance California.
If he isn’t reading or writing, Brian is probably playing with his rescue pup, Bucky, or ranting about the government. He resides in Southern New Jersey
