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Welcome to the Late-August 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,Memoir,Poetry, and Children's.
For more information on any title below, simply click on the book's cover.
All she wanted was an apartment… Amanda Jackson was used to toxic men. It’s all she’d ever known. And this gorgeous blonde property manager, Connor Brooks, was a walking red flag. But she needed a place to stay, and this unit sounded amazing. She’d be crazy not to look at it. For Connor, finding a mark was easy. A simple ad in the classifieds. Once they were inside, it was too late to escape. They had no way out. One look at their frightened eyes on the monitor, that’s when the housebreaking could begin. The second Connor closed the door, Amanda understood her situation. She was trapped and defenseless. Or was she? She has one card to play: make her captor fall for her before it's too late. All she wanted was an apartment. What she got was The Cage.
“You ever hear of the Church of Satan?” Jewell asked. There was silence around the fire. The flames danced and flickered, casting shadows in the dark May night. Langdon took the bottle from Richam and poured himself another. In the latest installment of The Goff Langdon Mainely Mystery Series, Bart, the dour but poetic cop, is back—even if demoted to a blue uniform. The dapper lawyer, Jimmy 4 by Four, is up to his regular philandering ways, Richam is hiding a secret from Jewell, and Chabal makes a new friend. . .then goes missing. Langdon is hired to find a man who answered a classified ad, then disappeared into thin air. Soon, a second person vanishes. What starts as a couple of simple missing-person cases quickly spirals into a diabolical world of forbidden magic. What will happen during the Super Flower Blood Moon and who is the Wendigo?
A wounded Luna and two of her friends have risked their lives bucking their ancient race's patriarchal system that kills female heirs to the throne at birth. Now, after hatching three babies in Wells--two females and a male--they are hiding in the Allagash Wilderness west of Mt. Katahdin. They must battle harsh weather, infections, starvation, wild animals, trigger-happy humans, Luna's arch-enemy Faucon, and the king's assassins. But with the help of six humans including the bookseller Maryann, her daughter Keegan, and their friends, there's hope. Second in the Allagash gargouilles series. 2023 NY Book Festival runner-up General Fiction. Sequel to the 2019 regional bestseller, The Bookseller's Daughter, which won the New York Book Festival grand prize for adults and the 2019 Mom's Choice gold medal for teens.
Follow the Crumbs: A Cozy Quilts Club Mystery
Marsha DeFilippo
Independently Published
When Eva Perkins, Annalise Jordan, Jennifer Ryder, and Sarah Pascal start a quilt club, the last thing they expect to discuss at their meetings is their paranormal abilities. Even less likely? Using these gifts to find a killer. But when Jennifer discovers her great-aunt Sadie dead from a fatal blow to the head and the police run out of clues to solve this murder, everything changes. Calling upon their unconventional skills, the quilting club discovers what the police could not—the identity of the killer and, even better, a confession. That was the easy part. Now they’re left with a dilemma: How can they convince the police to believe them before it’s too late? And can they avoid ruining their reputations in the process?
Where the Cryptids Fled
Mo Drammeh
The Telling Room
Cassie never asked for any of this. Cassie Byrne and Jess Wakefield are struggling reporters, grappling with bigotry and barely making enough to get by, weighed down by fierce social and professional backlash to their queer relationship. Struggling to live in a world which maligns them, the couple discovers something never seen before: evidence of cryptids, such as Mothman, the Jersey Devil, and a few unknown and far too horrific to have ever been named. When the pair publishes these findings, their lives are irrevocably set on a new course—one which tries their relationship as Cassie vies for success at any cost and Jess's faith in her partner is tested. A cautionary tale from a debut author, Where The Cryptids Fled interrogates our standards of human dignity, asking "Who is valid, and why?" "Who determines which identities are 'wrong' and which are 'right?'" And, most of all, "When you are determined to be invalid and society has rejected you, what do you do?"
King of the Mountains: The Remarkable Story of Giuseppe Musolino, Italy's Most Famous Outlaw
In 1897, a young Italian peasant named Giuseppe Musolino was sentenced to 21 years of hard labor for a crime he did not commit. Defying all odds, he mounted a daring escape and embarked on a relentless pursuit of those responsible for his wrongful conviction, exacting a chilling and deadly retribution. For nearly three years, he cunningly outmaneuvered a vast manhunt consisting of hundreds of local and regional police, the Carabinieri, and even an Italian Army regiment. His exploits transformed him into a beloved Robin Hood figure among the inhabitants of the Mezzogiorno, the impoverished southern region of Italy. However, to the authorities, he was a cold-blooded murderer who had to be stopped. Eventually apprehended, his trial captured the attention of newspapers around the world. When he died in 1956, TIME Magazine aptly remarked, "Few adventurers, past or present, have become so legendary in so short a time."
Becoming Fearless: Finding Courage in the African Wilderness
Brenda E. Smith
Eye Opener Press
Coerced by her boss and fellow river guides, Brenda Smith reluctantly embarks on a rafting trip through a vast Tanzanian game reserve. If she can survive twelve days on the remote jungle rivers, then she must scale Africa’s tallest mountain. After twenty-eight years of a safe and predictable life, Brenda is terrified of what awaits her in these unfamiliar wildernesses. She comes face to face with angry hippos, roaring lions and stealthy crocodiles, and struggles with the extremes of unbearable heat and hypothermia. Despite external threats, Brenda’s greatest challenge is a profound inner journey—a courageous transformation as she uncovers the internal source of her fears and discovers the personal strength to do anything. Becoming Fearless is an inspirational true story showcasing what is possible when you step out of your comfort zone.
The Burning Key: New & Selected Poems (1973-2023) features new poems and selections from limited editions and published books. A meditation on hope as resistance, it is a testament to the communities and legacies which sustain intimate relationships and bridge intergenerational social movements. From Dana Delibovi in Cable Street: “Love haunts, colors every page spanning 50 years of glorious work. Gates’ unflinching awareness brings wounds to surface and violence to account, commemorating necessary truths as a member of the LGBTQ+ community. What resonates most, however--the compassion she feels through struggle, time, setback, and success. Indeed, the poet defies gender roles, never shies away from the human body. Love permeates--every line infused with the energy of people, living or departed, that Gates cares about.” San Francisco Poet Laureate Tongo Eisen-Martin says: “Like witnessing a holy physics, Gates’ talent for motion through convergence makes all phenomena music. You will exit this collection transformed”.
The third story in The Douglas Rabbit Series, Douglas the Rabbit’s Fall Field Trip takes Douglas and Sammy on another seasonal outing to Brown’s Farm, where they visit animals, enjoy treats, and narrowly escape raspberry pickers and Buster the Dog. Author's Note: Like the first two books, this one stays true to the characters my dad created and offers a good dose of nature, friendship, and intrigue. It’s dedicated to my cousin Margie who joins me on adventures of our own. Brown's farm was inspired by recollections of her childhood home merged with memories of R’s Farm of Mequon, Wisconsin, where my spouse and I took our kids for fun outings. I'm thankful, too, for examples set by our bunnies who showed me how rabbits move and our dogs who alerted me to visitors when the kids were young. Here's to the beauty of the coming season. Can't you smell the warm apple pie?!
SUBMISSIONS If you are a current Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance member, and you would like to announce your new book in ExLibris Maine, click HERE. If you are not a member, click HERE to learn more about our member benefits.
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