As the hunter brings his bow to shoulder height, he takes aim at the big bear. Thwiick! He hears the sound before he exhales and feels the tightening in his chest. Looking down, he sees an arrow mysteriously protruding from the center of his coat. Untied, the prominent businessman from Portland, falls from his tree stand and dies. Catherine Higloss is in her second year and still one of the few women ever to work as a game warden in the U.S. She’s called to investigate but must fight to stay involved in the case and prove she’s capable. Weathering the harshness of the outdoors, arresting poachers, and being on-call whenever lost souls need to be rescued, Cat struggles to balance her profession with a personal life.
Maine mystery readers, rejoice! The quiet coastal village of Ferry Landing once again takes center stage in the newly revised edition of A Fickle Tide by Moe Claire. First published in 2019, this slow-burn, character-driven mystery introduces readers to Del Corriveau, a young woman with deep family roots and a past she's still untangling. When she’s abducted by a stranger and left unconscious in a remote cottage—on the same night a Hollywood producer vanishes from his mansion—Del is pulled into a chilling web of smuggling, secrets, and murder. Set in Downeast Maine on the fictional Pyke Island, A Fickle Tide has been praised for its layered characters, atmospheric writing, and evocative sense of place. Perfect for fans of Louise Penny, Paul Doiron, and coastal New England suspense, this indie mystery blends page-turning tension with a deep emotional core. Available now in paperback, large print, and eBook editions.
Organic Matter
E.N. Couturier
Autofocus Books
E.N. Couturier has decided, against the wishes of everyone in her life, to work on a vegetable farm after her college graduation. In a series of diaristic entries, Organic Matter documents Couturier’s experience in the fields and hoop houses over the course of one growing season as she labors alongside an eccentric cast of characters. The work is mundane, brutal, and often absurd. Pea plants slip free of their twine, diamond squash bugs munch the blighted cucumbers, and Couturier’s joints grow stiff and swollen as her alienation from the urban world beyond the farm grows. With incisiveness and wry humor, Couturier grapples with her uncertain future and the uncertain future of the land that sustains us. Organic Matter paints a luminous portrait of the rural ecosystem that feeds the city and explores one perceptive young woman’s relationship with faith, labor, love, family, the body, and the ground.
A Matter of Death and Life
Alice Aldrich Hildebrand
Resource Publications
A memoir of caregiving for the author's elderly father in his last years, this book is also about the loss of a beloved career as a hospital chaplain and a reflection on the many "deaths" experienced throughout life. Family dysfunction and fierce love, recovery from addiction, regret and guilt, thanksgiving and hopefulness are woven through the saga of accompanying an infuriating, deeply loved parent to his death. The timeline of this memoir intersects with the beginning of the COVID pandemic, which makes everything more complicated. Because the author is a pastoral theologian and preacher, biblical reflection is braided into the narrative, as well as reflections on mortality from other sources. Throughout, the author probes deeply into the realities of her own aging and death, providing insights that will be helpful to thoughtful readers of all ages as well as to other caregivers.
Body: My Life in Parts is the memoir of an ex-pat Norwegian Lutheran turned American Viking Jewess on a quest. This front-end Gen X’er wonders, “How the hell did I end up here, now, like this?” and uses her body to find answers. In stand-alone but interconnected chapters (“Eyes,” “Belly,” “Breasts,” “Hands,” etc.; 16 chapters in all), body parts serve as portals toward remembrances and stories, with one goal: making sense of a life that has been full of reactivity and agency, despite this truth being rarely realized in the moment and only fully realized in the writing of it. This book celebrates the body as witness and recordkeeper; a most dependable collaborator in “keeping the score” and in living a more examined life. An appendix with body memory/writing prompts is also included, serving as a guide for readers who want to explore how to re-member—bring together—their own life-building stories.
Moriah's first eclectic collection includes poems on aging, love, mindfulness, pain, death, nature, and Buddhist practice. Some are humorous, others are angry, and still others are piercingly honest. Spanning more than forty years of her writing life, these verses express a persistent search for meaning and trace a soul's journey toward self-awareness and surrender.
Nothing is Something Unimaginable
John S. McClenahen
Independently Published
Imagine nothing. Now, imagine a collection of poems that are real, relevant, and remarkable in the ways they capture the human experience in a time of division, discord, and despair. Imagine them no more, for in this book they exist, ready to affect the reader's mind and soul.
Leona is a little sheep who loves music. Trying one instrument after another, she is determined to find a sound that inspires her flock to play and prance. In this rhyming storybook about sharing the gift of music, readers will delight in an exploration of instruments and sound through pictures felted out of wool.
Defiance: Maine Poets Protest the Attack on Democracy
Edited by Kristin Frangoulis
The Evergreen Press
Defiance: Maine Poets Protest the Attack on Democracy is a poetry anthology sponsored by the Dirigo Democracy Project. The Project was founded to give a literary voice to all Maine poets concerned about the future of our democracy under the Trump administration. Published by The Evergreen Press of Albion, the anthology comprises 46 poems representing the contributions of 41 poets from throughout the state. Using language simply, powerfully, and vividly, these poets convey the concerns and fears many citizens have for our republic. In founding The Dirigo Democracy Project, Maine poet Gerald George warned, “At this point in our history, we must all raise our voices to protect what we value in the history and traditions of our nation.” There was no charge for submissions and all submissions were published. The Dirigo Democracy Project is now considering a second poetry anthology following the initial success of Defiance.
The Loss of a Lifetime: Grieving Siblings Share Stories of Love, Loss, and Hope
Those who lose a sister or brother to death are often referred to as “forgotten” or “invisible” mourners. But the impact of outliving a sibling is complex and long-lasting, stretching and morphing over the years. This collection of writing from 26 authors examines sibling loss from a number of unique perspectives, including dealing with the death of an estranged sibling, unpacking delayed grief, what it means to know your existence is inextricably tangled with a sister’s death, and exploring signs and continuing bonds, while also validating common experiences among grieving siblings such as having our loss overlooked, a lack of resources, and the impossibility of “getting over it.” These stories affirm that the death of a sibling is a profound and life-altering loss–and that both love and grief can last a lifetime.
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