Raindrops and Sycamores

Raindrops and Sycamores
Author: Mary Jane Butler
Publisher: Paragon Publishing
Total Pages: 250
Release: 2021-07
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1782228578

Raindrops and Sycamores is a moving insight into the life of Piers Cantwell, a sensitive individual with a unique view of the world. His daughter, Rosie, a prescient little child, quite unnerves him at times but through her, he is given a glimpse of another realm of existence. Piers has a strong affinity with Cork City and through his eyes the reader is drawn into its very breath and pulse. Raindrops and Sycamores is essentially a story about love, loss, and the resourcefulness of the human spirit in adversity.

Albert's Rain

Albert's Rain
Author: Annette Snyder
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 158
Release: 2007-12-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1593749317

Albert's dream led him toward independence. Escaping slavery, and to pursue a life where no man controlled him, was his goal. Frivolities of friendships could vanish with the whip of a switch, but freedom could be held a lifetime. Rayna's choice was to set an example and board a ship so her people could survive. Only after arrival in America, at Bristol Plantation, did she realize what consequences her sacrifice held. Her surrender meant life as a slave and separation from her island family. Can Albert's heart transcend language and barriers of repression and allow Rayna close? Will Rayna put aside hurt caused by the plantation owner and permit Albert's love to heal her heart? Can the pair abandon mistrust and let the kindness of strangers be their salvation?

The Story Prize

The Story Prize
Author: Larry Dark
Publisher: Catapult
Total Pages: 395
Release: 2019-03-05
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1936787636

"You don’t often get collections, or even anthologies where every story knocks you out, but I’ve been bewildered in the best way over each one [in The Story Prize] so far." —Lillian Li, author of Number One Chinese Restaurant This anthology of short stories marks the fifteenth anniversary of The Story Prize and includes one story from each of the annual winning collections, beginning with Edwidge Danticat’s The Dew Breaker and concluding with Elizabeth Strout’s Anything Is Possible. The founder of The Story Prize, Julie Lindsey, and its director, Larry Dark, created this award to address the lack of one specifically for collections of stories. Together they choose three finalists from the previous year’s publications, which are sent to three judges—an author, a bookseller or librarian, and a critic or editor—who, independently of one another, relay their choices. The prize is then presented at an annual celebration in New York, where the finalists read from their books and then discuss their work with Dark. Excerpts from these interviews—or, in a few cases, the judges’ citations—introduce each story in the book. The authors chose the stories included to read at the annual Story Prize event.

Sycamore Whispers

Sycamore Whispers
Author: Shane Ledyard
Publisher: Shane Ledyard
Total Pages: 92
Release: 2023-10-24
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN:

The second story in the Horse Gone Silent trilogy! Sweet Emma Sterling is living a storybook life filled by horses, friends, and her loving parents, Julia and Chase. Then, without warning, young Emma’s heart is shattered when her father returns home from military duty a completely changed person. Emma’s youthful innocence and her family’s future are threatened as her mother desperately attempts to save them from a viscous emotional struggle that may destroy them all. A nasty, throwaway mare named Ophelia, and a mother’s deep faith are the Sterling family’s only chance to overcome a battle for their lives that they never saw coming. In this follow-up to the acclaimed "Horse Gone Silent", Ledyard has written a powerful, coming of age horse story where faith and nature play their mysterious roles perfectly in a young girl’s struggle to overcome adversity. Horse and animal lovers be ready to have your heart captured-you will love "Sycamore Whispers"! "Such a beautiful, honest story." ~ Norman J Riddell "Thank you for a very wonderful and heartfelt story." ~ Amazon review "A heartwarming, inspiring, beautiful story about a young girl, her horse and a difficult family situation. It offers a message of patience, hope and love for us all." ~ Amazon review "Ledyard writes of the delicate dance between despair, and joy--love and disappointment, and he does it like a master." ~Robin Landry, Top 1000 Amazon Reviewer

Ebb and Flow

Ebb and Flow
Author: Easkey Britton
Publisher: Watkins Media Limited
Total Pages: 214
Release: 2023-04-11
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 1786786680

An exploration of water's power to heal us, inspire us and offer us spiritual meaning. This is a feminist reimagining of the meaning of power through the lens of water. Easkey offers a range of wellness practices to encourage the reader to connect with water as healer, restoring a relationship of care. Our strength lies in being soft like water. This book is about the power we gain by connecting to water. It’s about how we can restore our relationship with the world's different bodies of water, and by doing so, restore both the water and ourselves. By sharing Easkey's own experiences as surfer and marine scientist, as well as those of many of her mentors who are at the forefront of water protection and activism around the world, it guides readers into reimagining the spirituality of water and restoring our innate connection with this lifeblood of the planet. The book also provides the reader with water-inspired strategies to restore calm, reduce stress and soothe anxiety. These range from simple breathing and visualization exercises to undertaking a journey from a water source to the ocean in order to forge a deep connection with the water. The emphasis is as much on the benefit to water as it is to the individual, and on creating a culture of reciprocity and care. By regaining this lost connection with water, we learn to develop an empathic connection with the force of all life and in the process restore our own hearts and minds.

Village of Sycamore

Village of Sycamore
Author: Maria Rihte
Publisher: iUniverse
Total Pages: 402
Release: 2010-02-24
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 144019548X

When thirty-two-year-old woodworker and designer Jacqueline Callaghan arrives in the small village of Sycamore on a windswept island, she has just sold her apartment in the city, lost her job, left her boyfriend, and buried her grandmother. Shes ready to begin a new life in her grandmothers old cottage in this picturesque village of lush gardens and wild waterfront. Jackie opens her own studio and gallery and finds that life is perfect except for the bills. In a desperate attempt to save the life she now loves, Jackie organizes a studio tour, rallying together the islands many artists and crafts people, in hopes of bringing more visitors to the island. The idea is popular, but Jackie is almost defeated. How to persuade these fiercely independent artists to work together without disrupting the delicate balance of their daily lives? The whole village falls into chaos as artistic personalities clash and long-hidden skeletons come out of the closet. Secret trysts, nude portraits, love and inconsolable broken hearts, mistaken death, and resurrection slowly unravel Jackies carefully crafted tour plans.

INVOLUTION

INVOLUTION
Author: John Malcolm Pouch
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 120
Release: 2017-03-28
Genre: Poetry
ISBN: 1365853470

This is my fourth published book of poems. Thank you for supporting me in my favorite past-time of writing. Since I began writing, I have been published in various poetry journals, papers and internet poetry sites. I have been a contributing writer to several internet based poetry sites and have poems published in several books of compilation. This latest work, Involution, is a collection of poems offering a different perspective on many subjects, such as Fumigation, Funeral for a Cat, Rumors, Middle Age, Climbing Stairs and many other subjects of everyday life.

Under the Sycamore Tree

Under the Sycamore Tree
Author: James Keith
Publisher: James Keith
Total Pages: 269
Release: 2020-12-14
Genre: Fiction
ISBN:

A story about the hunger for food, life, and opportunity. After stealing a loaf of bread, Edward was running to escape when he slammed into Dorothy. In that moment, fate intervened, and a love began that would span the years. Desperate to make a better life for himself and be a man worthy of Dorothy, Edward takes a job in the mines. When catastrophe strikes, he finds his world in a state of upheaval once more. But his isn’t the only future at stake. War is looming and the desire to stand for his country is staring Edward in the face. In the midst of battle, surrounded by pain and suffering, it’s his love of Dorothy that keeps him fighting. Will he find his way back to her, under their favorite sycamore tree? Or will his hunger to be a better man end in tragedy? From author James Keith comes, Under the Sycamore Tree, a gripping tale of life, love, and hope.