A Semi-Monthly Look at New Releases
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Welcome to the Mid-October edition of MWPA's Ex Libris Maine.

This edition offers new books by Maine authors in the categories of Fiction, Crime Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Children's, and Young Adult / Young Readers.

For more information on any title below, simply click on the book's cover.

Happy Reading!

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The Scoundrel's Son

Frederic Fahey

Goose River Press

 

It’s 1553, and the King is gravely ill. His best friend pleads with him not to make the worst mistake of his brief reign. Caught in the succession crisis at the midpoint of the Tudor Dynasty is a circle of teenage friends, a pauper, a king and a lady. Six years after Tom Canty, the pauper in Mark Twain’s beloved The Prince and the Pauper, first exchanged places with Edward, now the King, Edward introduces Tom to his cousin, the strong-minded, beautiful Lady Jane Grey. Edward asks Tom to impersonate him again, and Tom can’t refuse. He watches through street-smart eyes, keeping Edward abreast of those around him vying for power. When Edward becomes ill and names Jane heir to the throne rather than his sister, Lady Mary Tudor, conflict ensues. Tom realizes only he can aid his best friend and rescue his first love, Lady Jane.

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The Shattered Curling Stone

David S. Florig

Independently Published

 

Girls simply aren't supposed to curl in 1880s Scotland. Curling is a sport only men play. "The manly Scottish exercise," they call it. But none of this matters to Ailsa Maclaren, a twelve-year-old lass who takes to the ice to learn the game from her father over the oft-repeated objections of the mouthy John Carswell. As it unfolds, Ailsa's curling journey takes her to the first women's bonspiel in Scotland, the Scottish Women's Championship, and the World Championship in Canada. Along the way, she meets the charming and very handsome Lucas Plotcok. And therein lies the real tale. An homage to the bold, pioneer women who dared to play the game at a time when they were neither encouraged, nor often even permitted, to play, The Shattered Curling Stone is also an homage to bold, fearless, pioneer women who simply find a way.

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Closing Time

 

Richard J. Cass

Encircle Publications

 

 

Boston-based jazz lover and alcoholic Elder Darrow owns a bar—the Esposito. But he’s been slowly losing his passion for the business, and the drinking is starting to catch up with him. When Elder’s best friend, Boston Police Detective Dan Burton, is gunned down in what appears to be a random liquor store robbery, Elder barely has time to grieve before mobster Mickey Barksdale shows up at the Esposito with a proposition. Mickey, who grew up with Burton, thinks the cop has been murdered, perhaps in a bid to send Mickey a message. He wants Elder to take on the role of detective and ask the questions Mickey can’t. Elder refuses—he doesn’t want to believe Burton’s death was anything but bad luck. But when a masked man with a gun shows up at the bar to warn him off the investigation, he knows something bigger is going on.

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Being Real: Facing Demons

J.H. Lyons

Independently Published

 

Being Real: Facing Demons is the second book in the Being Free series by debut author J.H. Lyons. This saga continues the gripping and inspirational story of Corey Astin, a former lawyer and present inmate, which began in Being Free: On the Inside. In this installment, Corey discovers the brutal truth behind the reasons for his incarceration, and we learn his past has spawned self-destructive demons he must transform to make peace in his own mind. As Corey gets transferred from Thomaston Prison to SMCF and finally The Farm, he learns to defend himself from those who believe he has not yet paid the price the inmate code demands. Corey battles powerful and sometimes magical adversaries, including a dangerous sorcerer, and he must choose to fight the evil which haunts him or risk losing everything he has accomplished.

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Lessons in Teletherapy

Louis Propp

Rowman & Littlefield

 

Lessons in Teletherapy provides composite case studies and a treatment framework for clinicians exploring virtual therapy with clients. Louis Propp, a seasoned clinical psychologist specializing in child, adolescent, and family therapy, draws from his experience rapidly transitioning to telehealth during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic. These stories mirror real patient and provider challenges and progression in monthly segments, addressing such issues as family domestic violence, behavioral issues, neurodivergence, substance abuse, social discrimination, grief, and psychopathology. Using a cognitive behavioral therapy-based treatment intervention, developed from ideas common to both in-person and virtual therapy, Dr. Propp demonstrates and explains how this framework may be applied to each client's unique situation.

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This Changing Sky: Shahai from the Coast of Maine

Catherine J.S. Lee

Sea Smoke Press

 

A dedicated cloud-watcher and sunset chaser, award-winning haiku poet and fiction writer Catherine J.S. Lee pairs her haiku poetry with her photographs of skies in Downeast Maine to create shahai or photo-haiga, a hybrid form in which image, poem, and calligraphic font combine to create a cohesive work of art. In this unique, multi-media genre, the elements bear a subtle and resonant relationship without directly referencing each other. Through seasonal and emotional weather, these 51 full-color shahai reveal moments of life captured in landscapes and seascapes featuring the skies of the remote and ruggedly beautiful coast of Maine.

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Matches Strike Boxes

Jane Spencer

Finishing Line Press

 

Growing up in Maine influenced the connection to nature running throughout Jane Spencer's first book of poems. Inventively, she explores a multitude of animals, plants, and natural events which reflect human emotions and personal struggles. But she often redirects us from the seriousness commonly found in poetry to humor. We see words appear from boot prints in snow, whales rejecting civilization, an egret as a punk, the Zen perspective of a baby dragon, and a child communing with a bull in a pasture. The theme of nature making the best theatre is translated through all her senses, and even a garden's shadows can enrich one's world, answering our desires. This writer reveals a truly philosophical approach to a world quickly fading from our consciousness.

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Mood of the Ocean

Evelyn Gurr

Illustrated by Natalie Hoch

Maine Authors Publishing

 

This is a story about Kai, a young child who lives by the sea with their little black dog. Together they experience human emotions through the environment around them. No matter their experience, they still face the day and go outside to play—just like children (and dogs) all over the world do every day.

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Stowaways: A Maine Pirate Tale

Susan Vaughan

Illustrated by Thomas Brooks

Maine Authors Publishing

 

In Stowaways, twins Emma and Jacob love to play pirates. They hear from their grandfather about Dixie Bull, a Maine pirate whose ship still searches for his lost gold. Grampy warns them not to say the pirate’s name, or his ghost will appear. But when the twins venture out to play at the town harbor, they want to be real pirates, and they call for Dixie Bull. A ship appears in the mist, and they hide aboard. Once discovered, they learn about pirates’ work and recover the captain’s lost treasure. But will they go home or remain pirates on the ship forever? Softcover. For early readers, ages 6-9

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The Daughters of Veah

Debora Norton

Newman Springs Publishing

 

In this fantastical adventure, Earth is the center of a Pentaworlda planet linked to four other planets by vortex portals. While access to these portals is limited to those with precious travel stones or with a special item belonging to a living unicorn, one of these portals can be found on a peninsula jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean, on land that was once owned by Oshira Chamavi's family. But no today has knowledge of this family, and the land is now an islandDingley Island, guarded by a sentient house. To fulfill her destiny and recover the stolen gems of the Goddess, Oshira unlocks the portal and finds herself in present-day Maine as a tourist. She is not treated like royalty, as she should be. Far from it! Friends and foes alike hinder her quest. Will she find the gems? She finds the house has its own agenda.

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FOUND IN A BOOKSTORE NEAR YOU
To shop for these and many other unique local titles, please check out our list of independent book sellers in Maine.

 

SUBMISSIONS
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