Marc Schuster Rates The Inbetween People for Small Press Reviews

"In 'The Inbetween People', debut novelist Emma McEvoy weaves together the disparate narratives of a handful of desperate, disenchanted characters to demonstrate that we are all, despite our differences, doing our best to make sense of our fallen, fractured world." --Marc Schuster, Small Press Reviews

Read the full review and more on December 28th at http://smallpressreviews.wordpress.com/

Look for The Inbetween People coming January 2013 from The Permanent Press!

Knock Knock Review on Gather.com

Shiela Deeth has praised Suzanne McNear's Knock Knock, a Life in her latest review on Gather.com

"Suzanne McNear’s Knock Knock, a Life brings a world of bright hopes and hard knocks into focus, where the Bishop rushes through confirmation, post-WWII songs play their soundtrack, and a father takes pictures of his daughter “to prove that she is pretty.” “To smile is to engage the world,” he says, and young March is learning to hide behind her smile.

Will success at school make her popular? Will finding a lover make her loved? Will marrying and carrying children make her the daughter she’s meant to be? But the world March grows up in is changing. Women’s roles broaden while men’s expectations hold them back. And the young woman who wants to fit in is condemned to feel like an imposter. March graduates, leaves home, gains her independence and returns with everything she’d hoped for and none of her dreams. But children bring connection to the present, even as depression drives March ever further from herself and her past." 

"The author uses detail to great effect in this novel, highlighting authenticity with echoes on the phone and the awkward determination of motherhood...The little girl who knew her neighbors so well eventually knows herself and tells her own tale, writing it down, bleeding an age into words, and delighting readers with hope’s ongoing fulfillment."

Read the full review and more at Gather.com

Look for Knock Knock coming December 31 from The Permanent Press!

December Kindle Sales!

Hey Kindle users! The following Permanent Press novels will be on sale in the Amazon Kindle store from now through the holiday season:

Fallen Angels - Connie Dial

Digital List Price:	$12.99
Print List Price:	$29.00
Kindle Price:	$1.99
You Save:	$27.01 (93%)

All Cry Chaos - Leonard Rosen

Digital List Price:	$11.99
Print List Price:	$29.00
Kindle Price:	$3.99
You Save:	$25.01 (86%)

Giving it All Away: The Doris Buffet Story - Michael Zitz

Digital List Price:	$28.00
Print List Price:	$28.00
Kindle Price:	$1.99
You Save:	$26.01 (93%)

Kirkus Reviews -- December 1, 2012

Knock Knock:

"Editor and short story writer McNear (Drought, 2009) sketches the life of her alter ego, March Rivers, from her mother's womb to the present day."

"McNear, an editor at Playboy in the magazine's heyday and a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin at the height of student unrest, has stories worth telling, and her kaleidoscopic, stream-of-consciousness style alternately engages and disorients. At her best, the author describes people and events in striking, original and funny ways."

Look for Knock Knock coming December 2012 from The Permanent Press!

New Review For The Grievers

Marc Schuster's The Grievers has been praised again, this time on Luxury Reading.com.

"The Grievers is a bittersweet little gem of a novel that opens up the reader’s mind to emotions not usually given face time, at least not to this degree. Life, loss and the dark place where people go when neither can be attended to in a healthy manner, create a story about human nature and how one moment in time can alter past and present, individually, as well as cumulatively. Funny and sad, sweet and tender, crass and rude, The Grievers delivers a quick, succinct, raw and honest approach to life and death and the unique reactions of human beings to situations out of their control or understanding. Seamless and clean, it’s a quirky insight in to the interconnectedness of all of us, despite our differences, in the face of tragedy." -- Claudia Robinson, luxuryreading.com

Read the full review and more at Luxury Reading.com!

Click here for more information on The Grievers

The Ringer wins 2012 High Plains Book Award

The Ringer (first published in March 2011 by The Permanent Press) has just won the 2012 High Plains Book Award for fiction!

Author Jenny Shank (pictured below with fellow winner Thomas McGuane) visited the town of Billings, MT to receive her award. 

Read about the award and the other winners at: http://ci.billings.mt.us/index.aspx?nid=1180 

For more information on The Ringer visit: http://thepermanentpress.com/p-297-the-ringer.aspx 

Congratulations Jenny! 

Looking for Przybylski favorably praised by early reviewers on Librarything!

K.C. Frederick's Looking for Przybylski has received it's first batch of early reviews from readers who were sent preliminary copies via Librarything.com

One such user "pixiedark" gave it 5 out of 5 stars and said the following:

"I was literally glued to this book. I could not put it down! Every-time I turned the page, something new and interesting happened to Ziggy and the people he met on his travels. Ziggy relives memories from his past and I learned a lot about him and his family. It is hard to believe that "Looking for Przybylski" is only 232 pages long! This book is filled with action and suspense. It also has excellent scene setting and characterization. K.C. Frederick did an excellent job of weaving Ziggy's back story in with the present events of the book. When I was done with this book I was sad. I enjoyed the journey of Ziggy across the country from Detroit to California I believe this book shows that what is important is the journey and not the end." (  )

Thanks pixiedark for the great review!

To see more Permanent Press posts on librarything, and for a chance to become an early reviewer yourself visit http://www.librarything.com/catalog/permanent

Look for Looking for Przybylski coming later this month from The Permanent Press!

The Inbetween People: "An Impressive Debut" says Kirkus

The Inbetween People is not only the debut novel for author Emma McEvoy, it is also marks the beginning of The Permanent Press' 2013 catalog!

When Avi Goldberg, the son of a Jewish pioneer, sits at a desk in a dark cell in a military prison in the Negev desert, he fills the long nights writing about his friend Saleem, an Israeli Arab he befriended on a beach one scorching July day, and the story of Saleem’s family, whose loss of their Ancestral home in 1948 cast a long shadow over their lives.

Avi and Saleem understand about the past: they believe it can be buried, reduced to nothing. But then September 2000 comes and war breaks out—endless, unforgiving and filled with loss. And in the midst of the Intifada, which rips their peoples apart, they both learn that war devours everything, that even seemingly insignificant, utterly mundane, things get lost in war and that, sometimes, if you do not speak of these things, they are lost to you forever.

Set amongst the white chalk Galilee Mountains and the hostile desert terrain of the Negev Desert, The Inbetween People is a story of longing that deals with hatred, forgiveness, and the search for redemption.

The haunting poetic tone is not unlike that of Ben Okri’s The Famished Road, whilst the themes examined are similar to those dealt with by Pat Barker in The Ghost Road. The simplicity of the tone is unflinching throughout, and depicts the eternal search for a home and a sense of place.

"A first novel that examines personal grief and political grievances in contemporary Israel...An impressive debut..." --Kirkus

Look for The Inbetween People coming this January from The Permanent Press!

Download our 2013 Catalog now!

Leonard Rosen's All Cry Chaos wins the 2012 Macavity Award for Best First Novel

http://www.mysteryreaders.org/macavity.html

Review Roundup!

New Reviews have come in for Chris Knopf's Dead Anyway and Victoria Jenkins' An Unattended Death

Dead Anyway:

"A thinking man’s mystery and an investigator’s action adventure, Dead Anyway keeps readers glued to the page, reads itself into pitch-perfect dialogue turns the world upside down, and introduces a wonderful wounded genius to carry a brand new series. The twists and turns are clever and neat, the characters memorable and deep, the love interest enticingly believable, and the adventure has just enough slips twixt plot and execution to feel real and dangerous and fun." —Sheila Deeth, Gather.com

"The story is told in a way that makes you forget everything around as you BECOME Arthur. I had a hard time ''switching off'' his voice every time I had to put this novel down. An original and fascinating read!"  —Sons of Spade

Dead Anyway is available now from The Permanent Press!

An Unattended Death:

"An Unattended Death has all the twists and turns of a mystery, the finely measured cadences of a police procedural, and the musical sense of character and place of an intricately haunting drama. Evocative and intriguing, it’s an enticing beginning to what promises to be an enjoyable mystery series."  —Sheila Deeth, Gather.com

Look for An Unattended Death coming this October from The Permanent Press!

Publisher's Weekly Reviews The Grievers

The Grievers, Marc Shuster's latest novel released in May, has been reviewed in a web-exclusive article on PublishersWeekly.com!

"The dialogue throughout is pitch-perfect, there's a laugh on nearly every page, and Schuster's crystal-clear prose shimmers." --Publisher's Weekly

Read the full review and more at www.PublishersWeekly.com

Look for The Grievers now available from The Permanent Press!

New Reviews for An Unattended Death

Victoria Jenkins' upcoming novel has received two new positive reviews, including its second starred review!

" Jenkins's series debut holds the reader captive from the first paragraph. Her strong sense of place coupled with the plot's palpable psychological tension makes her police procedural especially arresting." 
--Library Journal, starred review 

"The mystery is interesting and moves along at a cool but steady pace, making it hard to put down. Irene’s straightforwardness and reluctance to change make her refreshingly human. If Ms. Jenkins continues with this character, she’ll have a series that will likely draw loyal followers." --NY Journal of Books

Look for An Unattended Death coming this October from The Permanent Press!

New interview with author Jaden Terrell now up on the 'Author Interview's' page.

Jaden Terrell author of Racing the Devil recently interviewed with Amy Steele from "Entertainment Realm" regarding her latest release A Cup Full of Midnight.

Amy Steele: What appeals to you most about writing mysteries?


Jaden Terrell: I think we often write about things that frighten us or things we don’t understand. In real life, justice isn’t always served. Criminals are released on technicalities. Crimes can go unsolved, and even when they are solved, we’re left wondering why they happened. Mysteries explore both the motivations behind criminal acts and the effects of crimes on the victims and their loved ones. In the conflict between good and evil, good ultimately wins, though often at great cost. It’s reassuring to think there are strong, brave people standing between evil and the rest of us. Writing about Jared, the hero of my private detective series, reminds me that those people exist.

Read the full interview now on our Author Interviews page!

Publisher's Weekly 8/31/12 - The Man on the Third Floor Review

Anne Bernay's newest novel The Man on the Third Floor has been reviewed in the latest issue of Publisher's Weekly:

"Bernays deftly articulates the difficulties faced by homosexuals during the McCarthy witch-hunt years...[She] explores a dramatic era in American history and the psyches of her characters with equal ease in this well-written and entertaining new novel."

Read the full review and more at www.PublishersWeekly.com

Look for The Man on the Third Floor coming this November from The Permanent Press!

Even More Praise for Chris Knopf's Dead Anyway

Yet another positive review for Chris Knopf and The Permanent Press' latest release Dead Anyway. This one comes from freelance journalist Jeff Mannix writing for his "Murder Ink" review column of "The Durango Herald.

"Nobody dislikes a revenge story, and this is a beaut. Knopf is clever, meticulous and patient."

"Knopf’s two protagonists are compelling – the putatively dead Arthur Cathcart, and Natsumi, a flighty but sagacious blackjack dealer Cathcart meets, trusts and teams up with to attempt an honest, justifiable revenge sting on the people and powers who summarily executed him and his wife. You’ll love these characters."

"Dead Anyway is the quintessential whodunit."

Read the full review and more at http://www.DurangoHerald.com/

Look for Dead Anyway coming this September from The Permanent Press!

More Reviews for An Unattended Death by Victoria Jenkins

Early reviews for An Unattended Death have come in praising the latest novel by author Victoria Jenkins.

"Jenkins’ deft use of plot and character skillfully advances the story, and her all-too-human protagonist, Chavez, is credible and identifiable as she strives to solve the case and reconcile her duties as a law enforcement officer and a single parent...she’s not your typical glamorous heroine, but someone who’s low key, trying to balance work and home life...Hopefully, a sequel won't be far behind." --Kirkus

"Jenkins spins police procedure into a startlingly realistic psychological mystery, with a laid-back pace that is never slow. Chavez's point of view offers a curious, driven perspective; readers definitely will want to slip into her head again." 

--Booklist

Look for An Unattended Death Coming this October from The Permanent Press!

Oregon Hill Featured as "Killer Nashville's Book of the Day"

Clay Stafford, founder of online mystery community Killer Nashville, has selected Howard Owen's Oregon Hill as his latest pick for "Book of the Day".

                                          He favorably says of the novel:

"This is so much better than those other books you might have read. Author Howard Owen is a brilliant observer of people."

"I love the dialogue. It has that rare combination of being both plot and character driven, an infrequent amalgamation in most books."

And of The Permanent Press:

"What’s the magic at Permanent Press? The house is fast becoming one of my favorite publishers. Consistently, publisher Martin Shepard and staff keep turning out winners."

Read the full review and more at www.KillerNashville.wordpress.com!

Looking for Przybylski Review in Publisher's Weekly

K.C. Frederick's Looking for Pryzybylski has been reviewed in the latest Publisher's Weekly:

"Frederick (Lyletown) has lately begun to explore the lives of Eastern Europeans in the U.S. and to mine the tension of divided loyalties and unexpected consequences." 

"Ziggy’s quest is related without sentiment...it resonates as a rumination on the trials and triumphs of a newly examined life."

Read the full review and more at www.PublishersWeekly.com

Look for Looking For Przybylski coming this October from The Permanent Press

Starred Review for An Unattended Death in Publisher's Weekly

Publishers Weekly  August 13, 2012:

"Clean prose and impeccable pacing."

"Secret affairs, the vagaries of tides, and queasy step-sibling relationships all figure in what turns into a murder investigation."

Read the full review and more at www.PublishersWeekly.com

Look for An Unattended Death coming this October from The Permanent Press!
                                                                                     

Death in a Wine Dark Sea Reviewed in "Crimespree Magazine"

Lisa King's mystery thriller novel Death in a Wine Dark Sea has been given a new favorable review from Crimespree Magazine.

"Great pacing, complex characters, and the juicy details of people’s darkest secrets make for a book I couldn’t put down. I’m sure I won’t be alone in hoping for more of Jean and Zeppo."

  

Read the full review at www.CrimespreeMag.com

Oregon Hill Reviewed in NY Times

Marilyn Stasio has reviewed Howard Owen's Oregon Hill in the NY Times' latest "Sunday Book Review".

"If anyone is watching out for the forgotten citizens of Oregon Hill, it’s Willie, who grew up there and speaks the local language, a crisp and colorful urban idiom we can’t wait to hear again."

Read the full review and more at http://www.nytimes.com/

Library Journal August 2012 Reviews

Reviews of Jaden Terrell's "A Cup Full of Midnight" and Chris Knopf's "Dead Anyway" have offered high praise in the August 2012 issue of Library Journal

"Saddle up for PI Jared McKean's welcome second appearance. While successfully juggling a complex cast with numerous minidramas, Terrell never loses focus on a case about troubled teens, which he writes with sympathy"

"Knopf's tale is suspenseful from the get-go, with an intellectual, yet visceral, vigilantism coursing through the pages. In a major change in direction, the author of the "Sam Acquillo Hamptons Mysteries" (Black Swan; Hard Stop) never misses an angle and manages to weave a bit of humor into a storyline that could have been purely dark. This bodes well for a really good series"

Read more at www.LibraryJournal.com

Death in a Wine Dark Sea by Lisa King in LL Book Review

The LL Book Review has recently praised Lisa King's debut novel  calling it a " can't put it down, classic mystery".

"The pace of DEATH IN A WINE DARK SEA by Lisa King is fast; the plot, pleasingly intricate, the storyline surprising from the start, the suspects numerous and humorous. Reading the book, I could feel, see, and smell the damp San Francisco fog rolling in over the hills."

"DEATH IN A WINE DARK SEA by Lisa King is for mystery lovers who choose a book because it conforms to the conventions of classic mystery but who want something more than a great puzzle. It is for readers who like surprises, who delight in characters well drawn, who relish stories told in transparent prose with a consistent style. If you are one, you won’t want to miss this book."

Read the full review at www.llbookreview.com

Senior Writer's Thoughts #7

Seventh in a series of reflections from our writers aged 70 and up, The Permanent Press presents: "Senior Writer's Thoughts"

From K.C. (Chet) Fredericks:  I’m flattered to be in the company of such eloquent, passionate witnesses to the hard and immensely satisfying craft of writing, no  matter what their ages. Doing this stuff for so long, I never thought  of myself as an older writer, or older person, for that matter; but somehow, story came after story, novel followed novel, and suddenly, it seemed, I was over seventy. Funny how that happens.

       It’s always been a miracle, looking back at my earliest notes for a fiction, that already latent in those obscure scratchings was a  complex entity that would some day breathe and move. To make it happen, though, meant using every tool in the tool box as well as every instrument in my little orchestra. When the fiction’s done a sense of ending goes along with the feeling of achievement: this thing is finished, it doesn’t have to be done again, let’s try something new. But then there’s the blank page. Next time around you have to start as a baby, learning to speak all over. Each novel can be a lifetime—doesn't that complicate how writers calculate their ages?

       There’s something bittersweet about a life of writing. Faulkner said it as well as anyone. I can’t find the quote but somewhere he talks about his career as a series of partial satisfactions: OK, he’d think, that novel was pretty good, but it could have been stronger, that one had its moments, I think I can do better; until one day he looked at the whole bunch and realized that what he had was a pretty fair achievement.  At the same moment, though, he saw that the years he’d spent calling into being this wonderful fictive universe had only brought him closer to the point of final silence. Typical Faulkner, right?  Turning even his astonishing accomplishment into an occasion 

for brooding.

       He may have got that right. There’s no way to fake that ending. But fiction writers philosophize mostly when they’re not writing. Caught up in the heat of yet another fiction, we acknowledge only the clock that controls narrative time. As for those other clocks and calendars, the philosopher who put it best was Lawrence Berra with his yogic declaration that “it ain’t over till it’s over.”

K.C. Frederick lives in the Boston area with his wife. Born in Detroit, he’s taught at Michigan, Cornell and the University of Massachusetts at Boston. His novel, Inland, won the L.L. Winship/PEN New England Prize for Fiction in 2007.

Look for his next novel Looking for Przybylski coming October 2012 from The Permanent Press!

A review of Oregon Hill in Small Press Reviews

     ..... While the narrative is certainly compelling, what gives Oregon Hill​ a degree of heft is its commentary on the fate of print journalism in the digital age. To an extent, the novel decries the sad state of affairs created by the dwindling readership for traditional newspapers. At the same time, however, Owen is careful not to indulge in too much hand-wringing, as his protagonist is quick to recognize the value of so-called "new media" even if he's somewhat reluctant to embrace it. In this sense, ​Oregon Hill​ looks forward as much as it looks back, and offers a fairly complex look at our culture's current relationship with journalism.

 

   Oregon Hill reviewed in The New York Journal of Books

 ........ Having worked as a newspaper reporter, Mr. Owen writes in a captivating voice, his acute observations granting authenticity to the bullet-speed pace of the story. Newspaperman Willie Black is masterfully created, ink and dark humor coursing through his hardboiled veins. It is hoped that this is the beginning of a series of books staring Willie and crew. Bring on the sequel!

 

Oregon Hill Book Signings!

Author Howard Owen will be appearing on the following dates to sign and promote his newest novel Oregon Hill.

Aug. 11: Flyleaf Books: Jamie Fiocco. 2 p.m.; 752 MLK Jr Blvd,  Chapel Hill, NC 27514; Direct Tel: 919.942.7936, Fax: 919.942.7301; www.flyleafbooks.com

Aug. 12: Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh, N.C.  Nancy Olsen. 3 p.m.  919 828-1588 rene.martin@quailridgebooks.com

Aug. 14: Fountain Books, Richmond, Kelly Justice, 6:30 p.m. 804/788-1594, fountain.bookstore@verizon.net

Aug. 18: Griffin Books, Fredericksburg, 2-4 p.m., Eileen Boyd, 899-8041

Early Reviews for Oregon Hill on LibraryThing

LibraryThing Early Reviewers have favorably praised Howard Owen's newest novel Oregon Hill

"This is pure classic noir in the best possible way...The plot moves along quickly with some interesting twists...to make every character three dimensional and to create a feel for the streets of Richmond."

"Owen creates a story that is both suspenseful and rich in character development and the feeling of small town life...I am left with the desire to read the past works of Howard Owen."

"Oregon Hill by Howard Owen is a character-driven mystery enhanced by the first-person observations of the very self-aware narrator, Willie Mays Black...It all makes for an entertaining and colorful mix of character, plot and setting."

Read the full reviews and more at LibraryThing.com

Early Reviews for A Cup Full of Midnight on LibraryThing

LibraryThing Early Reviewers have favorably praised Jaden Terrell's first novel A Cup Full of Midnight

"Terrell does not just tell a story, she plays with language to permit the story to take on its own life as you

 read. And her characters never lose their humanity, even as they struggle with pain that is almost more than an individual can bear."

"I loved this book. The character development was great, Terrell did a lot of research into the culture, including witchcraft and gaming. I can't wait to read [other] Jared McKean mysteries."

"Challenges traditional norms/values but through the process you come to admire Jared and wish more people were like him. Definitely glad I had the opportunity to read this book."

Read the full reviews and more at LibraryThing.com

Death in a Wine Dark Sea Reviews on LibraryThing

LibraryThing Early Reviewers have favorably praised Lisa King's first novel Death in a Wine Dark Sea

"Definitely a page-turner...There are all sorts of sub-plots that keep one's interest without detracting from the story line...I'd definitely like to read another of Lisa King's books."

"A fantastic mystery featuring an irrepressible female sleuth...King establishes her heroine as wildly different from the bland amateur-sleuth mystery heroines I'm used to, and Jean is a breath of fresh air in an often stale subgenre."

"If you like strong characterization, Death in a Wine Dark Sea, is the book for you. It's a page-turning mystery as well, with twists and turns to keep you wondering what's going on...I truly enjoyed this book."

Read the full reviews and more at LibraryThing.com

Senior Writer's Thoughts #6

Sixth in a series of reflections from our writers aged 70 and up, The Permanent Press presents: "Senior Writer's Thoughts"

From Bill Eisner: A writer’s life is his working capital: the people he has known, the situations he has encountered, the places he has seen, the experiences he has had. Older folks simply have more to draw from. Much of my own writing  was inspired by the lives of the people I have known, but once a person is transposed to fiction and given the roundness and completeness that fiction demands, he or she is so changed as to be unrecognizable even to the person who inspired the character. When you are older, you have seen and done enough to provide sufficient material for a lifetime of writing.

Bill Eisner's first novel, The Sévigné Letters, was adapted for the stage and played at the Lobero Theater in Santa Barbara. A collection of his short fiction, entitled Done In By Innocent Things, was published by GreyCore Press. Some forty of Eisner’s short stories have appeared in various literary magazines. His novels, Athena and Fault Line,  were published in 2009 and 2010 respectively. 

Look for his next novel, The Stone Lion, coming from The Permanent Press in February 2013! 

Call Me When You Land by Michael Schiavone reviewed in Rain Taxi's Summer 2012 edition.

"Schiavone writes skillfully and with purpose. There is as much (if not more) meaning in what he doesn’t say as in what he does. The brusque exchanges between mother and son underscore the painfully vast distance between them. The author also often sets up a scene then immediately enriches it with flashbacks, the constant shifts in time is reflecting the pasts that pervasively haunt the characters’ presents. Schiavone’s attention to details in portraying ordinary events (a hockey match, a night of bartending) may seem merely practical, but such details serve to convey the searing realities...that underlie these events."

"Powerful in its subtleties, moving in its understatedness, the novel expresses the painful realities of a family and the quiet desperations that threaten to break it."

Read the full review at RainTaxi.com