Posts

The Border Between Us by Rudy Ruiz on Pop-Up Blog Hop with LSLL!

Image
THE BORDER BETWEEN US By Rudy Ruiz Literary Fiction Publisher: Blackstone Publishing Pages: 256 Publication Date: August 27, 2024 SYNOPSIS The Border Between Us is a poignant coming-of-age novel from one of the most exciting voices in fiction. Ramón López was born along the US–Mexico border but is determined to get out and embrace the American dream—and he’s not sure whether his complicated family is a help or a hindrance. As the son of immigrants, as Ramón grows, his admiration for his entrepreneurial father sours as he watches his dad’s dreams of success wither on the vine. Ramón’s mother is constantly preoccupied with his younger brother, who struggles with intellectual disabilities. And the outside world is rife with danger and temptations threatening to distract Ramón from his dreams of making it to New York and succeeding as an artist. As dreams clash with reality and values conflict with desires, Ramón finds the American dream within his reach—but will it demand too big a sacri
1 comment
Read more

The Art of Farming by T.D. Motley

Image
  THE ART OF FARMING: A NOVEL by T.D. MOTLEY Fiction / Agriculture / Nature / Stewardship Publisher: Stoney Creek Publishing Pages: 144 Publication Date: August 26, 2024 SYNOPSIS Sam Bartlett’s formidable antagonist has four legs. Sol, a miniature donkey, schemes daily to outwit his kindly caretaker. This delightful rural drama regales a symbiosis of plants, humans, dogs, and livestock, with wild creatures observing from secluded, weedy perimeters.    Retired from teaching, artist Sam farms thirty acres. His popular paintings of vast prairies at sunset are selling well. He plans to market organic herbs and produce, hiring local after-school teens. Begrudgingly raised on a farm, he once swore that when he grew up, he’d never go back. Time and age break promises.   Elysia boasts a pretty town square, complete with a handsome county courthouse. Sam’s girlfriend, Annie, is a food writer who travels a lot. Bartlett Farm is her sanctuary.   The Art of Farming  is a hopeful tale a
Post a Comment
Read more

In the Mad Mountains by Joe R. Lansdale on LSBB tour with giveaway!

Image
  IN THE MAD MOUNTAINS By Joe R. Lansdale Fiction / Horror Publisher: Tachyon Publications Pages: 256 Publication Date: October 15, 2024 SYNOPSIS “Joe Lansdale squares up to the Great Old Ones―and taps into rich veins of awe and wit, with always a backbeat thrum of cosmic terror.” ―Kim Newman, author of the Anno Dracula series Eleven-time Bram Stoker Award-winner Joe R. Lansdale ( Bubba Ho-tep ) returns with this wicked short story collection of his irreverent Lovecraftian tributes. Lansdale is terrifyingly down-home while merging his classic gonzo stylings with the eldritch horrors of H. P. Lovecraft. Knowingly skewering Lovecraft’s paranoid mythos, Lansdale embarks upon haunting yet sly explorations of the unknown, capturing the essence of cosmic dread. A sinister blues recording pressed on vinyl in blood conjures lethal shadows with its unearthly wails. In order to rescue Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn traverses the shifting horrors of the aptly named Dread Island. In the weird Wild We
1 comment
Read more

Pintsized Pioneers by Preston Lewis and Harriet Kocher Lewis on LSLL book blog tour!

Image
  PINTSIZED PIONEERS: Taming the Frontier,  One Chore at a Time By Preston Lewis & Harriet Kocher Lewis Young Adult / Nonfiction / History Publisher: Bariso Press Pages: 184 Publication Date: September 24, 2024 SYNOPSIS Children tread lightly through the pages of Old West history. Pintsized Pioneers: Taming the Frontier, One Chore at a Time gives frontier children their due for all the work they did to help their families survive. Even at early ages, the youngsters helped families make ends meet and handled chores that today seem unbelievable. Written for today’s young adults, Pintsized Pioneers offers lessons on frontier history and on the value of work for contemporary youth. In 1850 adolescents 16 and under accounted for 46 percent of the national population, making them an important labor force in settling the country. Pintsized Pioneers examines their tasks and toils starting with the chores on the trail west. Children assisted in providing fuel and water on the trail and
1 comment
Read more

The Pink Dress by Jane Little Botkin on LSLL Book Blitz with giveway!

Image
  THE PINK DRESS: A Memoir of a Reluctant Beauty Queen By Janet Little Botkin Memoir Publisher: She Writes Press Pages: 304 Publication Date: 9/10/24 SYNOPSIS Growing up in West Texas, Jane Little Botkin didn’t have designs on becoming a beauty queen. But not long after joining a pageant on a whim in college, she became the first protégé of El Paso’s Richard Guy and Rex Holt, known as the “Kings of Beauty”—just as the 1970’s counterculture movement began to take off. A pink, rose-covered gown—a Guyrex creation—symbolizes the fairy tale life that young women in Jane’s time imagined beauty queens had. Its near destruction exposes reality: the author’s failed relationship with her mother, and her parents’ failed relationship with one another. Weaving these narrative threads together is the Wild West notion that anything is possible, especially do-overs. The Pink Dress awakens nostalgia for the 1960s and 1970s, the era’s conflicts and growth pains. A common expectation that women went t
Post a Comment
Read more