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Our Cover Polls


Want to have some fun?

Help us pick the cover designs for our new books. Read the books' descriptions below and click on the cover you like best.
Please limit your voting to one per person.


  • Old House and Red Neckties

    by Grace Virtue

    Born into extreme poverty in the village of Old House, Jamaica, 127 years after the end of plantation slavery, Grace Virtue learns about barriers early on. Yet the equal distribution of poverty and the matter-of-fact resolve of the village women leave her unprepared for the classism, sexism, and racism she will encounter as she grows into adulthood and ventures far from home. Armed with the values learned in Old House and a dogged determination to escape poverty, Grace takes the reader through deeply complex spaces as she tries to find her place in the world while remaining true to herself. From her very first experience watching television in rural Jamaica to her time in Washington, DC, Old House and Red Neckties offers biting insights into the dynamics of race and the true barriers to justice in the US and beyond, explaining why radical courage, honesty, and authenticity are essential pillars of genuine liberation.

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  • Karma and Kismet

    by Michael Shandler

    Evoking Paul Theroux’s travel novels in directness, color, and observations, Karma and Kismet catapults the reader into an international and cross-cultural journey, an authentic sixties and seventies quest for meaning and place. Filled with real characters, deep human conflicts, pathos, and passion, this memoir tells a unique yet universal story about overcoming bad karma and the role of kismet, or fate, in shaping life and destiny. A deeply honest, courageous, and inspiring account, Karma and Kismet challenges readers to go beyond their comfort zones, resonating with anyone who has ever questioned their identity or their place in the world and how they might find connection and belonging. With a vivid and immersive style, Shandler effortlessly draws readers into his story, inviting them to reflect on their own life paths. “A beautifully balanced blend of heartfelt storytelling, serene narration, and meaningful dialogues . . . encouragement for self-reflection, and a celebration of acceptance . . . a heartwarming read that leaves readers with a sense of joy and introspection.” ––Literary Titan Five Star Gold Award

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  • A Gentle Clash of Cultures

    by Karen J. Clayton and Dale L. Clayton

    A diminutive Filipina dynamo visiting the States invited Dale to teach in a small college in the Philippines. The family accepted the adventure; Karen worked and took classes, and Jeff, 12, and Kimberly, 9, attended a one-room, multi-grade school. Cultural differences were challenging and fascinating—one practical issue was that "there were no cats for cat lab!" Dale's students were from 17 different countries; he guided some of them on a boat tour of the islands. The family traveled to many countries in Asia, always observing that people are more alike than different. They experienced reverse culture shock moving back home to another new culture in Texas! Looking back on the family's arrival in 1978, Dale wrote, "We were coming home to a land we had never seen before. . . . to a people we would learn to love, but never totally understand...once back in the States, I missed the 'Hey Joe' greeting which was really meant to connect, not separate me from the people whose land I had invaded."

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  • Hug of War

    by Cathy Carroll

    Should you fire your deadweight brother-in-law or comply with your mom’s pleas to give him a raise? Should you pay all your kids the same, based on the market, or based on how many of your grandkids they raise? These are the questions family business leaders confront due to the opposing expectations of the family and the business. Hug of War offers a path forward. When the competing impulses of the family mindset and the business mindset are embraced as a polarity, leaders transcend either-or thinking and craft better solutions that embrace the best of both mindsets. With stories that take you into the hearts and heads of real-life family business leaders, Hug of War offers a bridge to greater harmony in your family, greater clarity in your mind, and greater peace in your heart.

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  • Tuesday’s Mah Jongg Is More Than a Game

    by Marsha Temlock

    In the ancient Chinese game of mah jongg, each player must make the most of the tiles they've been given. It’s the same in the game of life. When Roseann is called away to a family emergency, her mah jongg pals bring in a new player, Grace. Roseann returns with her grandson, committed to raising a child again—this time as a widow with serious health issues. Marlene, a dutiful but repressed wife, is dealing with a dying mother and fractious father; Susan, a twice-divorced new grandmother, struggles with the realities of aging and fading beauty amid the modern dating scene; Barbara, a successful businesswoman, is married to a manipulative philanderer; and Grace, a social worker, becomes the voice of reason—until her loyalties are tested. Will these friends—with ties both old and new—strengthen their bonds as they support each other through life’s challenges? Or will the group fracture, leaving them scattered like mah jongg tiles from an overturned table?

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  • Shaking in the Forest

    by Lori R. Hodges

    What do you do when faced with trauma? "Shaking in the Forest" opens with a plane crash and ends with a life-threatening illness. At the age of twenty-five, Lori Hodges chose to make a career helping people during the worst days of their lives. She has spent the last thirty years in emergency services—first as a firefighter and paramedic and later as an emergency manager, helping to coordinate the response and recovery to disasters. It is through this work that she has come to see the beauty in tragedy. Each of us will face difficulty in our lives, but it is often the most difficult of times that teach us the greatest lessons. And, it is through our connections to others that we are able to step forward into a new day. Connecting the lessons Lori learned as a paramedic with her own personal trauma, Shaking in the Forest brings light to the darkness to help each of us find a way to thrive even during our most difficult days.

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  • Murder on Money Mountain

    by G. Eldon Smith

    Attorney Andrew Coyle returns again to do legal battle in the American Wild West. This time, Coyle is summoned by a close friend to Cripple Creek to defend a "working girl" accused of murdering her madam. Coyle, traveling with his wife and daughter, enters a tumultuous mining town of roughnecks, prospectors, and assassins. Coyle's investigation proves unsettling to some, and he himself is accused of yet another murder. His life threatened, Coyle resists and stubbornly tries to solve both cases.

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  • Playing Army

    by Nancy Stroer

    Can you really fake it till you make it? Lieutenant Minerva Mills is about to find out. It’s 1995 and the Army units of Fort Stewart, Georgia, are gearing up to deploy to Bosnia. But Min has no intention of going to war-torn Eastern Europe. Her father disappeared in Vietnam and—longing for some connection to him—she’s determined to go on a long-promised tour to Asia. The colonel will only release her on two conditions: she ensures the rag-tag Headquarters Company is ready for the peacekeeping mission and she gets her weight within Army regs. Min only has one summer to kick everyone’s butts into shape, but the harder she plays Army, the more the soldiers—and her body—rebel. If she can’t even get the other women on her side, much less lose those eight lousy pounds, she’ll never have another chance to stand where her father once stood in Vietnam. The colonel may sweep her along to Bosnia or throw her out of the Army altogether. Or Min may be forced to conclude that no amount of faking it will ever be enough to make it, and as was true for her father, that the Army is an impossible space for her to occupy.

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  • Summer Skies, the Road Ahead

    by Rolf Wicks

    One night just before summer break, Tor Bergman, a bewildered college sophomore, receives an unexpected invitation from striking coed Connie St. Louis. She wants to hitchhike across the country from Ohio to Washington, through Canada to Alaska, and back in just seventy-eight days. Tor hardly knows Connie. Why agree to such a crazy undertaking? Call it infatuation, a call from the collective unconscious, or perhaps an innate desire to complete the hero’s journey, but Tor agrees and sets out with Connie on their epic adventure. Backpacking across America, the duo meets all kinds of fascinating new people each day and witness a beauty and splendor of the countryside that’s as varied as the weather. Along with his opinionated traveling partner, Tor soaks in the zen events of everyday life, learns about accepting oneself and others despite personal complications, and discovers a spiritual side to life. The summer of 1970 will be one Tor never forgets—and not just because of the skinny-dipping.

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  • Gypsy Escapades

    by William J. Jackson

    A handful of assorted friends from wildly divergent backgrounds set off on a journey across India to answer a fanatic’s challenge. Will their attempt to avert his terrorist threat work? This story is a passage through an unfamiliar world, with its colorful surfaces and differing values. Gypsy Escapades addresses the issue of violence, asking, Can the friends go all out, never knowing what tomorrow has in store, face odd monsters, and then come out the other side all in one piece?

    Please read the synopsis above and then CLICK on the cover you prefer. Thanks for helping us pick a cover.

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