* * *

• Richard Martin (ABNA Contest 2008) has his novel MIXED ANIMAL accepted for publication by MacAdam/Cage. From the Publishers Marketplace details: "Richard Martin's MIXED ANIMAL, a tale of hillbilly magical realism about the unlikely friendship that develops between a grumpy fix-it man and Reader's Digest connoisseur and the strange animal that fate (and a mad scientist uncle) drops into his lap."
• Robin Meloy Goldsby had an article appear in the July issue of The Writer, in the Breakthrough Column.
• Christina Pacosz had several of her poems written for her mother featured in the Editor's Choice section of the July issue of Kritya. The issue focused on "mothers" as a theme.
• Don't forget that the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award winner, FRESH KILLS by Bill Loehfelm will be released on August 21, 2008. Be sure to pre-order your copy.

• Julie Ann Shapiro has had three stories accepted for publication this month. "Senor P and the Missing Socks" is published in Short Humor UK. "The Dialer Spell" is published in Literary Chaos and "Dizzying Rain" is published in Inscribed.
• Marjorie Carlson Davis has another 2nd place short story contest win--the 2008 American Kennel Club Fiction contest. Her story will appear in upcoming issues of the AKC Gazette and Family Dog.

ABNA Books News  

Finding Balance, by Megan Bostic. "Is it possible to find time to write while working, maintaining a household, and attempting some kind of social life? If so, where do you squeeze it in? I don'’t even work outside the home and still barely find time to jot down a chapter, paragraph, or even a sentence before it slips into my middle aged, faulty memory abyss. I’ve had to be extremely creative when it comes to my passion. Here are some ideas for how to squeeze writing into your busy schedule."(more)


Zen and the Art of Writing, by Mark Fowler. "If you could prove God exists, should you? I don’t know who struggles most with that question, my fictional protagonist, Lowell Whaley, or me. If you can prove God, doesn’t that take the whole faith thing out of the equation?" (more)




Running the Gauntlet, Ian Thomas Healy. "There is a problem with most writers. It is something that runs rampant through nearly everything we do. No matter how much we are writing, it is pervasive and insidious. It is even running all through this paragraph. It is the passive voice, and I hate it!" (more)



In Our Words, Susanne O'Leary. "Eight years ago, when My first novel, Diplomatic Incidents, was published, I thought: this is it, I am an author, my career has taken off and from now on, my books will be in the shops until I decide to stop writing. I thought I would be allowed to grow as a writer, building up a readership over the next few years and the next few novels, until I found my voice and wrote that break-through novel, which might be my third or fourth one. I expected my publisher help me nurture my career, trust me to improve and go from strength to strength. This belief proved to be a complete fairytale." (more)


The Next Step, Julie Ann Shapiro. "Book marketing is not a solitary event. It’s not like writing a book. It’s a social process involving networking and promotions to generate buzz about your book. One of the more fun ways to get the momentum building is through marketing collaboration with other authors." (more)

Featured Published Books
Read great fiction and nonfiction by ABNA Authors!
Browse through our published books to read works already available by these breakthrough authors. These books are all available for purchase! Here are few examples of what's available:

COOL by Mary Walters
In these sixteen collected stories, Mary W. Walters reveals the bizarre workings of seemingly normal minds. Walters enlivens the commonplace, finds joy in the intimate details of the surface, then takes her readers into the infinitely varied landscape of the mind with humor, clarity and purpose.
"She didn't want their husbands, nor did the husbands want to leave their wives. She'd thought of the affairs as good things, small avalanches of intensity and passion in busy, routine lives. Finished in their time - and with no hard feelings afterward on either side. She had always been careful, fastidiously circumspect. She believed they’d left no victims.” From “Show Jumping”





Savage Utopia
by Margaret Tanner
On board the convict ship taking them to the penal colony of Australia, Maryanne Watson and Jake Smith meet and fall in love. Jake hides a terrible secret that will take him to the gallows if it ever comes out. On arrival in Sydney, the lovers are separated. Maryanne is forced to work for the lecherous Captain Fitzhugh who attacks her. Fleeing into the wilderness she meets up with Jake who has escaped from a chain gang. They set up home in a hidden valley. When Maryanne falls pregnant Jake risks everything to come out of hiding to protect his fledgling family. Can love triumph over such crushing odds?
Available from www.whiskeycreekpress.com

JEN-ZEN AND THE ONE SHOE DIARIES by Julie Ann Shapiro
Brad Lynberry, a successful photographer is haunted by the memory of Jen-Zen. He finds himself first fascinated then obsessed with shoes but only lost shoes! Is Brad driven by artistic inspiration or is he going off the deep end like his sister fears? The answer comes through encounters with his Grandma who loves birds; a shaman named Red Hawk who tells him to look in the shadows, and Jonathan the art collector who leads him to Swansea where lost shoes keep popping up in a display of whimsy. Time is running out. Brad must unravel Jen-Zen s poetic riddles or go mad trying.






FLASHES OF THE OTHER WORLD by Julie Ann Shapiro
Flashes of the Other World is an intriguing collection of short stories and one-act, to-the-point flash fiction covering everything from dark family secrets and death to lovers transforming into dinosaurs and mental patients making a meal out of their mothers' closets. Between the heartbreak, misunderstandings, craziness and surrealism, Julie Ann Shapiro has blended in some fantastic descriptions, funky yet easy-to-relate to characters, and genius plot twists.
Available as an eBook from DPP STORE


FINDING MARGOT by Susanne O'Leary
When Margo misreads the map as they travel through France, her husband Alan indulges in yet another of his habitual rages. On impulse, Margo walks out of her emotionally suppressed life into the hands of fate and the vast French countryside. As her world is turned upside down, so are her expectations, and while she is making new friends and waiting for Alan to find her, she might just find herself…








GARBIE BARBYHOG-THE WORM THAT WANTED TO FLY by Veena Nagpal
Listening to his best friend Cathy Butterfly chatter about the wonderful world that lies beyond the garbage heap where he lives, Garbie Garbyhog is extremely unhappy. All he longs for is to be able to fly. He sets out on an arduous journey to get himself wings. Garbie meets a young boy who is as unhappy – he is sick of the way people leave their garbage littered everywhere. They form a unique partnership. Garbie realizes that God has created him with a unique mission€“ to hog garbage and turn it into valuable vermi-compost. The book includes a booklet on Vermi-composting. (Printing Rights Available. Rights for Garbie Garbyhog - The Worm That Wanted to Fly (except in India) are still available.) Available from environedu.promoters@rediffmail.com

THE MILKMAN
by Ian Healy
One question has plagued UFO researchers for sixty years: What's the deal with aliens and anal probes?
Blake, a milkman with a penchant for sword fighting, and Liza, a reporter who needs a hot story, discover the answer to this question when they are abducted: aliens are clouds of sentient gas that require a specific intestinal environment in which to live. Blake and Liza are the first humans ever found to possess the correct qualities. They will have only one chance to save the world, their friends, and themselves...





OBSESSIONS: THE SHOCKING TRUE STORY OF THE REAL BILLIE JEAN IN MICHAEL JACKSON'S LIFE by Theresa J. Gonsalves
Delve into a world of intrigue, love, sex and manipulation as you enter the real life world of Theresa Gonsalves, known as the real Billie Jean in Michael Jackson's life! Theresa Gonsalves grew up in a fantasy world of Michael Jackson. She wrote him numerous letters that intrigued him which led Michael to cultivate a relationship with her after they meet on her 16th birthday. As time goes on, the friendship between them is nurtured. But while trying to develop a relationship with another man, Theresa finds herself pregnant and turns to Michael. Her baby's father denies the kid as being his son. Michael is privy to this information and soon the song Billie Jean is released. When Star Magazine finds out about their relationship, they dub her the Real Billie Jean in Michael Jackson's life, as many believe the song was written about her.

Featured Not-Yet-Published Books
Discover the next great novel!
Browse through unpublished books to read the synopses of great novels from a variety of genres. Download and review your favorites. Here are few examples of what's available:

IN YOUR DREAMS
By Michael von Glahn
Institutionalized for behaviors resulting from a sleep disorder, James learns to enter -- and alter -- other people's dreams. Discovered by a program exploring the next stages of human evolution, he's introduced to other teens with paranormal powers. But when the research facility is destroyed by unknown paranormal assailants, James and a handful of survivors find themselves on the run from the killers, as well as from government agents who think THEY wiped out the program. Can they stay alive long enough to decipher what's behind the attack -- and what the real goal of the program was? (Read excerpt)

THREE DROP PENNIES
by Julie Ann Shapiro
In Three Drop Pennies two teenagers and life long friends, Tommy and Lori start a romance. But Tommy's increasingly dark psychic visions threaten to tear them apart. Lori seeks solace and collects pennies. Online she befriends Bo, another coin collector. Unbeknownst to Lori, Bo is a former mental patient. He struggles to make his way in the world and is tormented by his past, the evil impulses of Abe and a bewitching ghost. When Lori disappears and is seriously injured, Tommy must determine the nature of Bo's involvement; as he too is lured into the world of the mysterious penny man. (Read excerpt)

WHERE THE HEART IS
by Susanne O'Leary
A woman finds out who her late mother was through letters written thirty years earlier. It's a voyage of discovery and identity. (Read excerpt)

GUARDIAN OF THE ELEMENTS BOOK ONE: The Paladin and the Pirate
by Jarucia Jaycox Nirula
Varuna (Una) Kannon lives an ordinary, American life. She loves books, movies, and hanging out with her best friend, Reed. The last day of school is the first day to signal something unusual on Una's horizon. Increasingly strange things happen to Una, leading her to believe she's cursed, though her mother insists it'€™s something else. In the days that follow, she'€™s plagued with questions. Why is Reed acting weird? Why are her parents so indifferent? When her thirteenth birthday arrives, its time for Una to except her fate, which will lead to a calling no one has yet to imagine. (Read excerpt)

TO:GOD@HEAVEN.COM
by Veena Nagpal 'A bitter, crusty old woman in India. A young Indian girl in UK, trying to reach out to God in a moment of trouble. A chance connection. Set in India and UK, ‘To God @ Heaven.com’ is a growing up novel with a difference in that the person growing up is an old woman in her seventies.' (Read excerpt)




LINCOLN PARK
by Anne Moore
Lincoln Park is a smart, sexy comedy of manners set in downtown Chicago. Architect Philip Hamner has just won a top prize, sending him to Paris, with women falling all over him. Wife Sarah feels like she's being left behind with a glamorous but easy job and their three kids. His brother Marty can't help it, but is in love with Sarah. Colleague Anna openly pines for Philip. Young wanna-bees circle Philip and Sarah, making sad or hilarious mistakes. Philip's 40th birthday caps the story: will he stay or will he go? (Read excerpt)


DEEP SIX: A JUST CAUSE NOVEL
by Ian Thomas Healy
How is it possible to contain a prisoner who has the ability to fly or walk through walls? In answer to this question, the underground prison Deep Six was built. It is the most secure prison in the world from which nobody has ever escaped that is until a brilliant psychopath engineers a mass breakout of the entire prison population leaving it up to two guards to thwart the escape. The underground prison quickly becomes a battleground for a deadly war of attrition. The two guards must devise a plan to overcome the super-powered criminals and save the hostages. (Read excerpt)

THE PROPERTY
by G.R. Greene
Kath Havens isn't like other people. She doesn't understand or trust them. She buys a home in the country wanting to live on her own terms. The former owner’s death aroused no suspicion and Kath has no warning she's next. Kath's reality is different. Secrets about her parentage haunt her, she is suspicious, and has extreme mood swings.  She's also a fighter. After moving to the property, Kath's life improves.   She's learning to trust when tragedy strikes.  Her friends and family turn against her. She falls into a dark place, a depression that takes her to the edge of self-destruction. (Read excerpt)

RHYTHM
Robin Meloy Goldsby
Teenage drummer Jane Bowman lives in swanky Sewickley Heights with her father and two eccentric maids. She attends a private high school, practices the drums, and struggles to recover from her mother’s death, caused by a fire in a Manhattan nightclub. After graduation Jane moves to New York City, where she encounters the best and worst elements of the music business. RHYTHM reveals the tragic beauty of human resilience, the restorative power of love and laughter, and the way one girl's music—steady, solid, and courageous—helps to mend her shattered heart. (Read excerpt)

DENA POWERS: SUPERHERO?
by Megan Bostic
Strange things begin to happen to Dena Powers on her thirteenth birthday. She writes it off as overtired delusions, but only until lunch time, when an incident at school leads her to believe that her bizarre day is due to more than just lack of sleep. Dena gets home to find out she has super human powers. Her father advises her to keep her them under wraps because of the overwhelming temptation to use them selfishly. However, Dena confides in her BFF's Mary and Rachel, who urge her to use her new gifts to better society. Dena begins a crusade against crime, while still dealing with homework, snobs, and boys, making her world go from confusing to downright chaotic. (Read excerpt)

From the founders of ABNA Books, we proudly announce Conclave: A Journal of Character
Conclave is an annual print journal that focuses on character-driven writing in short stories, flash fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and prose poems. Conclave will also feature black and white photographs, and excerpts from plays: monologues, scenes, single acts, or one-act plays. The editors will be accepting submission from April 1 to July 1, 2008. (more)

• Ian Healy has been busy with the launch of his new site www.ianhealy.com (adding to a list of several fascinating and informative web sites that he maintains).
• Stephanie Feuer has an essay in the upcoming Democrat Soul anthology, and recently read at New York's premier literary bar, KGB, as part of the Momapalooza festival.
• April L. Hamilton's first article for Teleread is up about the current state of the publishing industry and how it got that way.

"Barnes & Noble is really complicit in pushing the industry to emphasize blockbusters and best-sellers," says indie author April Hamilton, who has successfully self-published two novels using tools provided by Amazon.com. Horowitz says Barnes & Noble has contributed to "homogenizing America's tastes."

Zen & the Art of Writing, by Rebecca Crandell. "When I conceived the idea of the 7th Moon Chronicles, most of us relied on dot-matrix printers. I still have a stack of yellowing sheets with holes along the edges, but the story and its author have undergone so many transformations that it’s impossible to connect the initial concept with what exists now, on my flash drive or in my heart." (more)



Running the Gauntlet, Ian Thomas Healy. "Hello, my name is Ian, and I’m a self-published author.
'Hi Ian,' you all chorus.
A lot of people are curious about self-publishing. What is it? How is it different from conventional publishing? And, of course, can you make any money with it?
To answer those questions, I’d like to share some of my own experiences with dodging the pitfalls of the self-publishing industry." (more)


Featured Book Review, by Leah Davidson. "December 31, 2004, eleven-o-something PM. After one last read-through of my first email query for my first completed novel, I hit the "send" button. It took nine months of late nights writing, time snatched proof-reading and note-making on every lunch hour, but I'd done it. I'd actually written a novel. I'd read the first chapters of the latest Writer's Digest Guide to Literary Agents (so of course I knew how to write a query letter) and picked a dozen agents I was sure would be thrilled to read my manuscript. Now I was ready to barrage the publishing industry with brilliant queries." (more)


The Next Step, by Thomas Maremaa. "It was not an easy decision: I had written both books with the intention of placing them with a New York agent and a conventional print publisher. Both works came to me spontaneously and wrote themselves over a period of time, working long nights and weekends, as I channelled the voices of each narrator emotionally and through some creative process I can't describe. Both works, modesty aside, are originals; nobody's done before. So what happened? "(more)


Author Interview with April L. Hamilton. "I’m trying a different approach with one of my works in progress, but every other novel, short story or screenplay I’ve ever written has followed the same process. I begin with a protagonist and a general challenge or life situation. Next I think about the likely people who would populate the protagonist’s world: family members, friends, co-workers and so on." (more)

Featured Published Books
Read great fiction and nonfiction by ABNA Authors!
Browse through our published books to read works already available by these breakthrough authors. These books are all available for purchase! Here are few examples of what's available:

SNOW BALL
by April L. Hamilton
Cinder Torley is an intelligent young woman who yearns to escape the stifling yoke imposed by her small town upbringing and unhappy marriage, but that doesn't mean she killed her husband. When he goes missing one night, Cinder quickly learns who---and how few---her friends really are in this darkly comic tale of dueling schemers and incompetents. The sheriff thinks this might be his only ticket out of back-country law enforcement. Coffee house barista Clark Norris knows a sordid, true-crime story could jumpstart his stalled writing career. Glamorous correspondent Bailey Weems sees a ratings bonanza that can make her a cable news star. And as for Velma and Naomi, who may or may not be part of the notorious Manitoba Six Canadian crime ring, they're only in it for the black market Phen-Fen. The surprising truth about what happened to Cinder's husband will lay waste to all these agendas, but will it prove Cinder's innocence?



THE LOTTERY TICKET
by Tom Maremaa
The Lottery Ticket, set in the sleepy yet vibrant town of Palo Alto, California, takes the conventional murder mystery and turns it flat on its head. One day Luke Cherry finds his mother hanging from the living room rafters, an apparent suicide, but this is far from the truth. When Luke's father, the Ur-Geek of Silicon Valley, is arrested and charged with assisting in his wife's suicide, all hell breaks loose in the Cherry family. A stormy trial ensues, shaking up the community. Dad looks sure to be convicted, until Luke, his wily, loving son, is able to connect with Dad's motley crew of friends, including a tribe of Afghan refugees who challenge the natural order of things and come heroically to his rescue. The story is told in the cool, unflappable voice of its youthful narrator.



CROSSING WITH THE LIGHT
by Dwight Okita
It was a labor of love. Thanks to the fantastic and multicultural Tia Chucha Press for being the first to publish a book of my poems. Some of these poems have been reprinted in the Norton Introduction to Literature, the Smithsonian, an array of anthologies, and textbooks from publishers such as Holt Rinehart Winston, Penguin, and Milkweed. And they have appeared on the NPR show This American Life hosted by Ira Glass, as well as on Chicago buses and trains. The title poem appears on a bronze plaque in San Francisco along the Embarcadero.
Much of the poetic voice of my novel grows out of my days as a poet.



BAREFOOT IN THE DARK
by Lynne Barrett-lee
Do you believe in fairytales?
When Hope Shepherd loses her trainer while boarding the 8.42 into Cardiff, Cinderella couldn't be further from her thoughts. Painfully divorced, she's all out of daydreams - and it's not a glass slipper, after all. It's picked up, however, by a Prince Charming of sorts - DJ Jack Valentine, who's just been divorced too. He appeals on his show for the owner to come forward; a latterday princess being just what he needs... Hope works as a publicist for the charity, Heartbeat, and is encouraged by her boss to get Jack on board. A celebrity endorsement is exactly what they're after, to raise the profile of their upcoming fun run. So far, so good; a fairytale beginning - their mutual attraction's just too strong to ignore. But this is the real world, and these are two damaged people. With both of them determined not to risk another heartbreak, is a happy-ever-after an impossible dream?



THE MILKMAN
by Ian Healy
One question has plagued UFO researchers for sixty years: What's the deal with aliens and anal probes?
Blake, a milkman with a penchant for sword fighting, and Liza, a reporter who needs a hot story, discover the answer to this question when they are abducted: aliens are clouds of sentient gas that require a specific intestinal environment in which to live. Blake and Liza are the first humans ever found to possess the correct qualities. They will have only one chance to save the world, their friends, and themselves...




Featured Not-Yet-Published Books
Discover the next great novel!
Browse through unpublished books to read the synopses of great novels from a variety of genres. Download and review your favorites. Here are few examples of what's available:

SWIMMING IN THE RAINBOW
by Rebecca Crandell
Following a devastating attack on her home that kills her only friend, young Zoé is torn from her solitary, fantasy-filled life in pastoral Germany. With help from an extraordinary man of poetry and courage, she flees deep into the Mediterranean archipelago, barely a step ahead of the soldiers who relentlessly pursue her. Magic and realism collide as she discovers why she is so important, why governments are fighting over her. When the soldiers catch up to Zoé, they force her into a world wounded by the loss of dream and myth. Ultimately, she alone must choose between life and final obliteration. (Read excerpt)

SOLDIERS OF ORANGE
by Tom Maremaa
Soldiers of Orange is a powerful, heartbreaking novel about veterans of the Iraq war coming home and being treated for their wounds in a California hospital. The story is told by Jeremy Witherspoon, an ex-Marine who knows all the soldiers on the ward, a collection of oddball, yet heroic characters. Spoon, as he is called, witnessed a brutal crime of war in Ramadi, did nothing about it, and covered up the details. His fear is one of discovery. One day a private contractor named Skank shows up at the hospital, realizing Spoon's worst fear. Critics have hailed Soldiers of Orange as the Catch-22 of the Iraq war. (Read excerpt)

A LIGHT IN THE CANE FIELDS
by Enrico Antiporda
This coming-of-age story chronicling a Filipino boy's wrenching passage from son of privilege to guerilla fighter is a stylistic tour-de-force. From its first lines, the saga of Jando Flores seizes readers with the same chilling intensity as the cold water that wraps around Jando's chest as he hides in a river to escape a gang of pillaging cutthroats. Mountain bandits, sugar warlords, Peace Corps volunteers, dignitaries, and revolutionaries all jostle beneath "mango-colored" skies in this riveting epic of loss and transformation, but it is a masterful and delicate choreography--Publishers Weekly (Read excerpt)

OF TWO MINDS, A STORY OF THE ALLIANCE CHRONICLES
by Leah Davidson
Timu Maarinen, the worst slacker in Vaaseli's school for diplomats, enjoys telepathic gifts so great, and a family so prominent, he can't contrive to get himself expelled. Stubbornly devoted to natural history rather than politics, he falls under the influence of three compelling women. His schoolmate, Aulia, offers to help him academically, hoping to spark his romantic interest; his sister Elian, progressive scholar betrothed to the heir to the throne, enlists him in her political causes; and Lady Rilsa Karula decides to further his diplomatic career while teaching him the arts of pleasure.
When these forces converge, they propel Timu into dangers that threaten to destroy his family and all progressives and jeopardize the international Alliance made possible by the Peace of Alidor. (Read excerpt)

DEEP SIX: A JUST CAUSE NOVEL
by Ian Thomas Healy
How is it possible to contain a prisoner who has the ability to fly or walk through walls? In answer to this question, the underground prison Deep Six was built. It is the most secure prison in the world from which nobody has ever escaped that is until a brilliant psychopath engineers a mass breakout of the entire prison population leaving it up to two guards to thwart the escape. The underground prison quickly becomes a battleground for a deadly war of attrition. The two guards must devise a plan to overcome the super-powered criminals and save the hostages. (Read excerpt)




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"Margo Hunter feels trapped. Her husband is sitting beside her in the car swearing at her, calling her a half-wit with venom in his voice and she has had enough.  In a split second decision she decides to hitch a lift to Paris, leaving her husband whilst he is sitting waiting his turn for the petrol pump.

Margo and her husband Alan had been driving on the French motorway when he asked her which exit they needed. But Margo hadn’t read the map correctly and Alan goes into his usual rage. This time, however, enough is enough..."

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About ABNA Books.com:
ABNA began as a group of entrants and semifinalists of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. Through the forum, they grew into a community of writers working together to improve their writing and promote their books. ABNABooks.com is the next step in their evolution, a place to maintain that solidarity while promoting their work and perfecting their craft. ABNA Books is an online showcase, network, and marketplace for writers, created by Valya Dudycz Lupescu and her husband, Mark Lupescu. It’s a place for writers to present their work, get the attention of publishers and agents, and help each other in the process of publishing and promotion.

A COUPLE of days before Christmas, when my 9-year-old son couldn’t sleep, I thought he was excited about our forthcoming vacation.

That was not the problem. “It’s just too quiet,” he complained.

My son is used to hearing traffic, traffic that comes in waves like an urban ocean — the traffic of the 80,000 or so vehicles that, according to the Department of Transportation, pass through the Queens-Midtown Tunnel each day. But the holiday weekend had left the city eerily silent.