The More Beyond

Jill Charlotte Thomas

Independently Published

Morton Guthrie is a trust fund baby who doesn’t trust anyone. People disappoint. Her father is busy with his boyfriends, her mother is preoccupied with her own mental health struggles, and Morton is a suicide survivor still suffering from intrusive thoughts and compulsions. After surviving two back-to-back attempts, she finds herself in a psychiatric hospital, and just when she has begun to trust her psychiatrist and herself, her parents invite her to join them in Manhattan for a three-day weekend. They’re staying at The Sherry-Netherland hotel on the twenty-third floor—placing Morton at a potentially dangerous height. Against Medical Advice, she heads to New York in search of parental love. But narcissistic love is conditional, and Morton is in a vulnerable place. How can she continue to survive and endure? Perhaps happiness for Morton is learning to live with one eye closed.

Goat Rope

K.A. Bachus

Independently Published

Christine Barton, a Vermont state trooper, witnesses a murder while walking her dog in a Montreal park on a bright summer morning in 1999. When she takes refuge from the killer in a safe house full of spies and deadly operatives who could be allies but seem more like enemies, she soon understands she is not free to leave. Enter Charlemagne, the premier freelance specialist team used by Western governments for black operations conducted without fingerprints, which has been tasked with tracing and destroying a well-funded network of political assassins. They must sift reality from deception in a bewildering kaleidoscope of information and agendas and will use Christine to gain the advantage regardless of the cost to her. With deep, mutual distrust, Christine and Charlemagne work together in the narrow space of their shared interests surrounded by the chaos of a true goat rope.

8 Days: A Dee Rommel Mystery #3

Jule Selbo

Pandomoon Publishing

Determined Dee Rommel is adjusting to her life-changing injury and working for her godfather, private investigator Gordy Greer. On the eve of her return to 10K competition, a mysterious car crashes and burns in the middle of Maine’s Casco Bay Bridge, and a young woman (a sex trafficking survivor) is found dead. In the aftermath, Dee finds herself lending protection to a high school valedictorian named Yuusuf, a bystander to the incident. Dee is happy to do this favor, believing Yuusuf may be able to help identify whoever is responsible for this murder. But when a nasty web of crime is revealed, and old relationships come into play, nothing and no one is as they seem. Dee has eight days to fight for her allies and for her own life. When it’s clear who is worthy of trust, it’s Dee who needs to keep the pursuit of justice in play.

The Corpse Bloom

Bryan Wiggins

with Lee Thibodeau, MD

Independently Published

When a kidney transplant performed by Boston General Hospital’s preeminent surgeon goes bad, the life of his patient is only the first thing Dr. Brad Baker will lose. Threatened with a malpractice suit, Brad takes a leave of absence to accept a job offer from Carlos Cardoza, the suave director of a remote transplant clinic in Campeche, Mexico. But by the time Brad learns of the source of the cadaveric kidneys he's been transplanting into wealthy patients, he finds escape from this jungle of incriminating circumstances nearly impossible. When a DEA agent intercepts Brad to offer the key to his release, Brad struggles to accept a cure which may prove more deadly than his troubles themselves. He’ll need to risk everything—and everyone—he loves to find his way home. Read the Kirkus “recommended review” of this “tight, nuanced medical thriller” and learn more at the author's website.

Soul of the Mountain

Leah Chyten

Strategic Publishing

“If it weren’t for the pipe, I might have thought it a dream. But whenever I hold the pipe, it all comes back to me. We who were inside the mountain, choose not to speak it aloud, being too sacred to share. Who can truly understand until one has traveled to the unseen worlds, so close and yet invisible to those without sight.” Luce, a social justice lawyer is visited by a Lakota woman who leaves her with a secretly encoded gold nugget. Plagued with nocturnal visitations, Luce and her bestie, Suze Whitaker, travel out to the rez to return the nugget. She meets Roy, a charismatic, Harley driving Indigenous man, White Owl, an elder shaman, and various guides and helpers. Together, Roy and Luce are called to journey inside a mountain sacred to the Lakota, to rescue the soul of the mountain, exiled and ravaged during the gold rush.

Downtown, Up River: Bangor in the 1970s

Emily Stoddard Burnham

Islandport Press

Caught at a tipping point between the city it was and the city it could be, 1970s Bangor, Maine was undergoing rapid change, both physical and social. As the urban renewal program and the opening of the Bangor Mall began to decimate the city's downtown, Bangor's people—hard-working, plainspoken and good-humored—tried to bridge that gap between progressive and traditional, modern and historic, urban and rural. Through more than 140 images captured by photographers from The Bangor Daily News and elsewhere in the community, Downtown, Up River: Bangor in the 1970s paints a picture of a city caught in the middle. In photos of people, places and notable events, these images capture life in the tumultuous 70s in Bangor, as post-WWII sensibilities coexisted alongside a nascent counterculture, and the memories of Bangor's days as the lumber capital of the world tried to hang on amid controversial attempts to modernize the city.

A Full Net: Fishing Stories from Maine and Beyond

Susan Daignault

Islandport Press

Susan “Sue” Daignault was practically born with a rod and reel in her hand. Nearly from her birth, she and her family spent entire summers surfcasting for striped bass along the coasts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. That love has followed her through her days in the Coast Guard, to her home on the coast of Maine, and to some of the most beautiful, and fishy, places in the world. In her fun and fascinating new book, A Full Net, Sue shares with readers how she became “fish-brained,” and a woman increasingly driven to pursue everything from bonefish and tarpon to bass and, of course, stripers—wherever and whenever she could. What shines through all of her stories of success, failure, and friendship is a love for the waters of the world and the respect and admiration for the fish who call them home.

Self-Portrait with Ghosts of the Diaspora

Meghan Sterling

Harbor Editions

"In Self-Portrait with Ghosts of the Diaspora, Meghan Sterling sees deeply beneath the surfaces of things.  These resonant poems take her on a journey—where she investigates the past that shaped and continues to shape who she is now. Her evocative and precise language allows us to experience the depth of the complex connections between generations. She weaves love and loss together in a way that makes us alive in every moment"—Stuart Kestenbaum, former Poet Laureate of the State of Maine.

More Adventures of Emma

Richard Spinney

Newman Springs

More Adventures of Emma is a heartwarming story for both children and adults. Told by Emma herself, this sequel was requested by readers who gave The Adventures of Emma five star reviews. Emma lives happily with William, his wife, Molly, their two large dogs, Beauregard and Kasey, and a cat Emma found as an abandoned kitten. And she loves going on adventures. But in this saga, Kasey takes a turn with adventure. Molly and Kasey meet Allison Stillman, a former Customs agent who recognizes Kasey as a dog she once called Tobey. Allison decides to train this Tobey, who has been uncooperative since receiving a new name, and we learn to expect the unexpected with Tobey—especially when a command is unintentionally given, or when he is responding to former training. With its subtle teaching moments, More Adventures of Emma will leave you smiling and happy. . .and wanting to read more.