Writers Who Finished (and Their Books)

Unlikely Hero

After inheriting her grandmother's rural Pennsylvania home, Jesse Lehman thinks she's finally found safety-until a charming stranger shatters that illusion.

When her partner Josh dies suddenly, Jesse is left grief-stricken and alone with Legend, the headstrong dog he left behind. Isolated and vulnerable, she turns to Rick Sabin, a charismatic dog trainer who promises to transform Legend into the guardian that stands between her and danger.

But Rick has his own plans. And Jesse is exactly where he wants her-alone, dependent, and miles from help.

When your protector becomes your predator, who can you trust?

Unlikely Hero is the perfect book for readers who like to be entertained and emotionally engaged-a "thinking person's thriller," full of heart. It explores themes of vulnerability, resilience, and the surprising places we find strength when our survival depends on it.

Turning Survival into Words

Turning Survival into Words is a memoir of a woman who spent years moving through houses that should have been safe but instead held fear, silence, and survival. Told through the rooms and thresholds she crossed, it follows her evolution from a hopeful young wife shaped by strict religious expectations into a mother fighting to save her children, and finally herself.

The story begins inside a marriage defined by alcoholism, financial instability, coercive control, and the pressure of a religious cult. The narrator learns to navigate unspoken rules, shifting moods, and the quiet terror that dictates every moment of their lives. Her sons grow up trying to stay unseen, tiptoeing around their father's rages, and eventually give voice to the truth she has avoided: They are ready to run away, even if it means living in a field, rather than staying another day.

That moment breaks open her world. What follows is the complicated, emotional, and dangerous process of leaving.

This is the story of a mother who walked away from control disguised as faith, and discovered a truth she had never been allowed to know. Freedom may have cost everything, but it gives back more than she ever imagined.

Better to Beg

The bloody Deserters—the band that belongs nowhere. To no one.

With raw musical talent and wild sexual chemistry, early aughts NYC rock duo The Deserters, comprised of ambitious midwestern feminist Viv and the half-cracked British expat Hux, head west in a stolen jalopy to perform in the seedy bars and sketchy clubs of America’s great cities, hoping to “make it” as crowds grow violent, money dries up, and their trust in each other erodes, forcing them to confront the limits of freedom, faith and creative integrity in an ever-changing post-9/11 America.

Small Shoes, Impossible to Fill

In June 2020, Maureen retired from her job, left her family in the west of Ireland, and travelled to Scotland to look after her terminally ill mother.

As a distraction from cancer and Covid, Maureen began documenting her mum’s memories and transformed them into stories. The weaving together of past and present affected both women in ways they never imagined.

Small Shoes, Impossible to Fill is not just a memoir about facing the challenges of terminal illness, or how a mother and daughter find connection, resilience and laughter during their final months together. It is a story about family, relationships, love and loss across generations.

As Terri herself said, ‘The thing about history is that it’s just life when you’re living through it.’

Late Blossoms

A beautiful, poignant collection of linked short stories about ten migrant women artists, past and present. Based on the lives of pioneering writers, poets and painters, Late Blossoms weaves their stories into a vivid portrait of Jerusalem -- its beauty and brutality, its promise and prejudice.

The Chorus Beneath Our Feet

A grief-stricken soldier accompanies his best friend's body home after eight years away, only to find his mute sister, Mary, missing and wanted for questioning by the police in the murder of an infant in the city's central park. As Mary's life hangs in the balance, Jes must follow the obscure clues she has left behind, the only means to find her and absolve her of wrongdoing. In his labyrinthine search, the mystery of the park's infamous Harron tree and its connection to his sister, and their community, is slowly revealed. The Chorus Beneath Our Feet explores buried secrets, and the human desire for healing and connection.

The Dictograph Case

Sometimes the truth is difficult to believe. And finding it has consequences.

In 1937, a German immigrant is beaten in the dark. Everyone suspects who did it. No one will say.

Journalist Michael Schumann and schoolteacher Olivia Kendall start asking questions—Michael haunted by his grandfather’s ruin in 1918, Olivia by her father’s suspicious death. What they uncover is worse than rumor: their small town’s powerful men built their reputations on surveillance, coercion, and a weaponized version of patriotism. And that machinery is still running.

Every answer leads to another threat. Every witness who talks pays a price. And the deeper they dig into the past, the more dangerous the present becomes.

Would you stay silent? Uncovering the truth might redeem a town’s conscience…or destroy everything they love.

The Dictograph Case is a morally complex historical mystery about the lies communities tell to protect themselves—and the price of that protection.

For readers who love Louise Penny’s intricate character work and Jacqueline Winspear’s atmospheric interwar tension.

Dire Contact

He wasn’t the first to survive. But the first able to tell the story.

Steve Floros is a physicist who never stopped asking one question: What happened that day in summer 2006, when a man disintegrated before his eyes?

Cain Raptis is the boy who found him after. The one who stayed. The one Steve trusts, maybe enough to save the world.

Steve has spent two decades searching for patterns in the data. When the same disturbances reappear in his hometown Concord, he returns to investigate.

What he finds isn’t closure. It’s a tear in the fabric of reality.

Dire Contact is a story about impossible events, unseen forces, and the bond between two people trying to hold on to what’s real, even as reality starts to fall apart. If you love slow-burn science fiction where X-Files meets X-Men, with heart, mystery, and a fracture in reality, then this is for you.

Are you ready to discover the secret of Dire Contact?

Immerse yourself in this extraordinary adventure and experience a world that’s anything but ordinary. Get your copy today and be part of the adventure when it begins!

Grand Tour

A 2025 IPPY Award Bronze Medal Winner

The grass was always greener in another dimension.

In a fantastical steam-powered world, eccentric aristocrat and secret arms dealer, Miss Constance Haltwhistle, has been blackmailed into stealing alien artifacts from the crown heads of Europe. Only the shady but annoyingly handsome US spy, “Liberty” Trusdale, can help her execute her perfect palace heists. As Constance creates chaos and mayhem across the Continent, monstrous creatures are plotting an interdimensional invasion of Earth. Will Constance and Trusdale stop bickering long enough to end the war of the worlds before it starts?

If you enjoy stories inspired by HG Wells’s War of the Worlds, you’ll love this gaslamp romp across an alternate 1890s Europe where our bickering heroes may just be the bad guys.

When Not If

Terri Edmund's glimpse of Old Florida paints a dangerous yet exciting place to grow up for Aida May Stuart, born during the unnamed hurricane that wiped out the Cortez fishing village in 1921. Nicknamed Stormy, the gal's adventures wind you through rum running and drug smuggling, mythical island characters and real estate millionaires created as Anna Maria Island changes, surviving one storm after another storm. "When" turns out to be 2024 ... when three storms again battered the area unlike any since 1921.

Nightmares of My Own

Humanity hunted to the brink of extinction, hauntings and possessions, lost loves, alternate realities, and more await to entertain and delight readers in this collection from award-winning author, Terra Luft. Step inside for a journey through a decade of publishing that will take you from science fiction to contemporary, and horror to urban fantasy.

When He Returns

Her promotion was days away. Her freedom felt secure. And then—he came back.

Everything in Marissa’s life was finally falling into place. After years of hard work, she was up for a promotion. On top of that, she had reconnected with old friends and even the quiet possibility of romance no longer seemed out of reach.

But just when things were starting to look up, her abusive ex, Vance, resurfaced after six long years. His return not only brought back painful memories but also threatened to destroy everything Marissa had worked so hard for.

Faced with the possibility of losing everything, Marissa must find the strength to stand up to Vance and protect her newfound happiness. Will she be able to overcome her past and find true strength within herself?

If you enjoyed the emotional rollercoaster of Colleen Hoover's It Ends With Us, then you won't want to miss When He Returns. This gripping novel, originally published under the title True Strength and winner of the Bronze Quill award, will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end.

Everything That Was

For fans of You’ve Reached Sam, If He Had Been With Me, and This Is Us—a heartbreaking story of first love, last goodbyes, and the magic of dreams.

Davis always said music could fix anything. But he didn’t leave a playlist for this.

Seventeen-year-old Prudence Spellmeyer is barely holding it together. Her brother—her best friend, her lifeline—is gone.

Lost in grief, she drafts a flawless escape: graduate, bolt to the city, and ditch her tragic Podunk town full of ghosts and gossip. Her only therapy? Hiding out in the back seat of the Gherkin—her brother’s 1971 pickle-green Monte Carlo. Wrapped in his old letterman’s jacket, she slips into dreams where Davis is still alive. Dreams so sharp, so real, they’re the only place she wants to be.

But the dreams are shifting. What once felt comforting—his voice, his jokes, his quiet way of showing up—now feels twisted. Darker. And the only person who might understand is Steve Nolan: her ex-best friend, her childhood crush… and the guy who caused Davis’s death.

She’d rather fail senior year than talk to him. Period. But when the choice is endure his tutoring or spend another year trapped in Podunk, Pru begins confronting everything she’s tried to bury—including the truth about that night, and the love she never thought she’d feel again.

Winner of both the IndieBRAG medallion and Reader Ready Author Shout Top Pick awards comes a story about what grief keeps, what love forgives, and how far we’ll go to hold on to everything that was.

Downproofing

As a longtime maternity nurse at a Northern Ontario hospital, Bets has experienced the daily creation of new families. Yet this sixty-something "matriarch" of the hospital has only experienced personal loss; most recently, her husband Raz. When she meets Hannah, a high-school student who wants to learn about nursing, Bets enjoys sharing stories of her work, never suspecting the new direction their lives will take.

As Drownproofing unfolds from present to past and back again, the complexity of Bets' own family story is slowly revealed. She's confronted with tough choices that challenge her outlook on life and her definition of family. A compelling and emotional read, author Karen Lea Armstrong drew from her career as a family physician to tell this story with striking depth and drama.

Extreme Healing

Are you struggling to muster the motivation to move your body? Are you wishing for a stronger connection with your physical self and better overall well-being? Ever wonder if individuals with chronic health conditions like diabetes, cancer, or asthma can become endurance athletes?

What if I told you that people facing these challenges, including diabetes and cancer survivors who've endured trauma, can embrace the endurance athlete lifestyle?

In Extreme Healing, Mari empathizes with your journey. Childhood trauma left her disconnected from her body for most of her life. However, Mari discovered that exercise could bring her back into her body, where she initially felt uncomfortable. It became clear that improving health required a confident approach to exercise.

Extreme Healing is Mari's journey of finding salvation through cycling, running, and triathlon. These activities carried her through trauma, type 1 diabetes, and two rounds of cancer. In this book, Mari shares hard-won wisdom and personal experiences, aiming to inspire and motivate you to embrace the endurance athlete mindset and lifestyle for your health, joy, and well-being.

In this book, Mari shares the path to salvation through cycling, running, triathlon, and cross-country skiing. Along the way, she found coaches, followed training plans, received nutrition guidance, and connected with like-minded friends who reveled in the joy of movement.

Embrace your journey to move an integral part of your health and wellness. Whether you dream of participating in races or simply desire a more active lifestyle, Extreme Healing offers guidance, inspiration, and a roadmap to transform your life.

  You'll unlock the doors to joy, health, and overall well-being through movement and an endurance athlete's mindset.

The Marriage Matrix

Treating her search for a husband as a research project, socially inept Dr. Wanda Walling creates a marriage matrix listing the qualities she wants in a husband. All candidates will be evaluated by how many boxes are ticked off. Then Wanda meets handsome Detective Jack Pendleton, who excites and delights her but doesn't meet any of her requirements, and he has a phobia about marriage.

Jack is enthralled by Wanda and wants her any way he can get her. Even though he is appalled that she is hubby hunting, he still wants to bed her. Can he convince her to have a fling with him when he doesn't check off any boxes in the matrix? Will Wanda be diverted from her goal by a sexy detective?

Crew of Three

As we sailed out of our cove, our home behind us and the complete unknown ahead, I couldn’t help thinking that I was leaving everything I knew and loved—with the exception of Michael and Ally. Talk about being pushed past my comfort zone in just about every direction.

Kimberly is a traveler, adventurer, and gardener. Not a sailor. Yet she, her husband, and their 10-year-old daughter moved aboard their 34-foot boat for two years and sailed from Massachusetts to Grenada and back.

In this captivating memoir, the author shares how they meticulously planned their escape from the constraints of the everyday, embarking on a remarkable journey that defies convention and embraces the winds of change.

Packed with detailed information, this is the story of their decision to go, the two years of planning to make it work, plus the first several months they lived aboard. It is part memoir and part instruction manual for breaking free of the ordinary.

Sailors and non-sailors alike, who thrive on adventure and seek to live an intentional life, a bit off of the beaten path, will find both wisdom and inspiration in this family’s adventures.

The Cat that Played Chess

Having received an eviction notice, Zapporah Leverne needs money fast. Her current job as a Product Tester will not meet the deadline. She believes her extraordinary cat named Rookie can fix this. This feline is so good at copying humans that she can move chess pieces on the chessboard. Zapporah pulls ropes to land Rookie a part in a commercial. Her cat wows the director to the point he thinks she would be good in his reality television series. But Rookie is stolen from Zapporah's apartment. Although there are barely any clues to the thief's identity, Zapporah's roommate, Sloth, believes the landlady is the thief and attempts to prove it. When Zapporah receives a voice message with a cat meowing in the background from talent agent, Gloria Stravos, her suspicions are confirmed. Whoever stole Rookie will put her in show business. Arriving at Gloria's office, Zapporah discovers Gloria has been murdered. Things don't look good for Zapporah when the homicide detective learns she and Gloria had a history of fighting. Will Zapporah's intuition and tech-savvy help find Rookie and save her from a cunning murderer hiding behind the cloak of a white nationalist organization?

Above Discovery

A couple coping with a recent loss are tasked with taking stock of a late biology enthusiast’s hoard. A support worker dedicated to rehabilitating young women suffering from, among other things, a certain unexpected effect of the climate apocalypse faces a truth that shatters the illusion separating her work and her personal life. An archaeologist formerly working in Syria struggles with her decision to flee from unrest, while the people she has left behind face an uncertain fate.

In Jennifer Falkner’s richly imagined first collection, past and present glancingly converge, making the familiar outlines of myth, history, and everyday life seem suddenly strange. With spare, elegant prose, Falkner introduces the reader to those whose narratives are written in the language of empty space. Above Discovery is a stunning debut collection from an author to watch.

What I Carry With Me

If you have ever wondered what the world looks like through the eyes of a poet, What I Carry with Me offers a glimpse. Only a hint because, as poet Carol A. Stephen illuminates, the world contains endless moments for pause, awe, and reflection. Using various poetic forms, this collection unveils the powers of the lyric and narrative, the beauty in ekphrasis and abecedarian. These poems take your hand and lead you through European cities, old-growth forests, hospital stays, and the intimacies of memory. Themes of conservation, existence, ageing, and reciprocity can be found in these lines. The real and imagined are investigated, the natural and clinical worlds unearthed. The taste of a mountain, the texture of air, or tripping over a bone—nothing is too small or ordinary for the poet to notice and revere with unique imagery, alliteration, and rhythm. These poems are honest as they honour the poet’s gaze.

Catastrophe Theory

Due to a rare brain tumor, Vera Garcia's soccer career is suddenly sidelined at the start of her senior year. When her single mother Eliza, terrified at the thought of losing her only daughter, clings too tightly, both Vera's identity and her freedom are in jeopardy. They make it to St. Petersburg, Florida for surgery, just as Hurricane Phoenix's trajectory turns directly toward them. As it churns closer and closer, past and present collide in a whirlwind of love, betrayal, and illusion. Will they succumb to loss, or like the phoenix, reinvent themselves, rewrite their stories, and rise anew?

The Marta Poems

The Marta Poems is a collection which showcases the strength of the human spirit through the story of Marta, whose life weaves from Poland to Siberia, from Rhodesia to England, and then finally to Canada. Her path is a familiar one for many who were displaced during WWII and highlights the struggles of the ordinary surviving the extraordinary. Marta's plight will be familiar to many, as she endeavours to find a home, and she becomes an unlikely spokesperson for so many unheard voices.

The elements of history provide the backdrop for Marta's story. The poems explore the many complexities of a lifetime defined by hardship and intense emotion that was influenced by the invasion of Poland, World War II, refuge, displacement, and loss. Themes of sorrow and separation intertwine with the search for a better life.

This collection will find a market and readership beyond the poetry/literary community as its appeal will also stretch to those interested in history.