Inspiration, Encouragement, and Diversion in the New Year!

As 2011 gently morphs into 2012…as Christmas trees are taken down and ornaments put away…as parties are remembered…and resolutions considered…as publisher here at Lucky Press, I'm thinking of the characters within our books and how they might relate to a reader's hopes for the new year. 


Sometimes, though, to know what to hope for we must know what we need. So, let's start there. What do you need? Love? Security? Adventure? Health? Diversion? We wish we could give you all of those things! But, one must do what is within one's power to do; so in that spirit…


Adventure (also in the category of "war and planes"): 

If you are a reader who often finds yourself sitting at a desk when where you'd really like to be is soaring over the earth in a plane, being a part of history, then join Will Turner in his aviation adventures. British author Chris Davey weaves a tale at times relaxing, at other times harrowing, and almost always with that wonderful sense of British humor Americans love. His books are The Aviator's Apprentice, Turner's Flight, and Turner's Defense. They are available in print and in ebook format. Here is a link for paperbacks. Here is a link for ebooks.




Self-Reliance (also in the categories of "romance" and "stories of scrappy women who make do and do well):


If you are in need of self-reliance and security, with perhaps a touch of romance as well, consider these six great books from Lucky Press… First, Norah by Cynthia Neale. Set in 19th-century NYC, Norah is a young woman who, like millions of women forgotten to us now, arrived in New York from Ireland and is now challenged to survive and live in a difficult world, finding in it beauty and love as she can. Norah survives a horrible experience with strength and grace. This is a book you will settle into as the snow falls in January or February. Here is the link.

If you prefer a quicker read, consider Max and Menna by Shauna Kelley or My Beginning by Melissa Kline. Appropriate for YA and adults, Max and Menna is a story of love and survival in rural, poor Alabama in the 1980s. Paperback and ebook. 


My Beginning is a dystopian sci-fi love story. It's a wonderful book about first love and coming-of-age in a time of turmoil: paperback and ebook. 


YA readers will also be drawn to the characters in Sarah Martin Byrd's book Guardian Spirit. Set in the beautiful mountains of North Carolina, Guardian Spirit is a little scary, a little mystical, a little sentimental, and a lot of heart. In hardcover, paperback, and ebook.


In a manner similar to Cynthia Neale's Norah, Diane Mechem Kinser has written a historical novel, Dappled Glory, about the resilient folks who lived in Nelsonville and Athens, Ohio, in the early 20th-century when coal mining and railroads ruled the area. The Markham family had several department stores in Ohio and this is the fictional story of their lives. If you live in SE Ohio you will love reading a novel that features familiar historical places and people. Here it is in paperback and ebook.


Recently released is String Bridge by Australian-now-living-in-Greece author Jessica Bell. The story of a young mother who longs to return to performing music, String Bridge is literary fiction, women's fiction, stay-up-all-night-to-see-what-happens fictions. In paperback and ebook.




Health (also under the category of "What the Heck?" and "I didn't deserve this!"):

Here at Lucky Press we wish all of our fans and readers good health in the New Year. But life being what it is, we know this is often not the case. If you or a loved one has been touched by cancer, consider Cancer: How Will I Get Through This? by Kevin Molloy. In paperback and ebook. Also consider I Didn't Order This Pink Ribbon by nurse and educator Alice Krumm, in paperback. 


Mental illness in the form of bipolar disorder can steal a young life and threaten to rip a family apart. Learn how writer and poet Madeline Sharples and her family survived the death of their talented musician son, Paul Sharples, and went on to rebuild their beautiful family after a truly heart-breaking loss in her memoir Leaving the Hall Light On. If you know any parent who has lost a child to suicide, this a good book to give to them when you just don't know what to say. Madeline has said it well. In hardcover at both Amazon and B&N but with immediate shipping at Barnes and Noble. (coming in May in ebook format)


A mention here for "Inspirational": Check out Harold "Bud" Boughton's book The Missing Piece. Released recently in a 2nd Edition, this book by Coach B, will appeal to guys who want to do right by their family, friends, and, well, by life! In hardcover and ebook.


Diversion (also under the category of "Books for guys who are sick of winter and the Superbowl is over and baseball season hasn't started yet"):


One of my favorite movies is "Finding Forrester." In it, Rob Brown's character notices Sean Connery's character (a famous, reclusive novelist) reading a tabloid newspaper and questions the choice of reading material. "This is dessert," Connery's character says. Well, we have dessert here at Lucky Press, also! And, if I might say so, of a better reading quality than any tabloid…a better value too!


For only 2.99 cents, those who love vampires+hillbillies+raunchy adult humor might want to take a peek at The Hillbilly Vampire Chronicles by Tonto Fielding. What have you got to lose, but your preconceived ideas about vampires, hillbillies, and, well, perhaps your soul, but that's between you and your Maker! Ebook here.

If you prefer detective stories, then let me introduce you to Sam Haggard, the main character in The Killing of Strangers by Jerry Holt. Here's what one Amazon reviewer said: "The Killing of Strangers thrust me into a fast-paced trek across places and faces that I recall from my own Ohio childhood. Vividly, I crept back in time with his pages, and through the dialogue and soundtrack that plays in print I lost myself. It captures not only the mindset of a tumultuous generation but the repercussions of living in its aftermath." In paperback.


Is it literary fiction? A crime novel? An eye-opening look at small town prejudices? You decide, in All the Bad Things by J. Michael Dew. All the Bad Things tells the story in four distinct voices of a social outcast who falls prey to the relentless scorn of a small Pennsylvania town and the cruel lies of its teenage girls. Paperback and ebook.

Leon Trotsky's life ended when an ice pick pierced his head! Yeah, that's a good start for a story. Read about what his killer might have said to justify his part in history in Mark Van Aken Williams' novella The Prophet of Sorrow. In hardcover, paperback, and ebook.


Wishing you, Dear Reader, a wonderful 2012, full of good books, good friends, and good times.


Janice Phelps Williams, Publisher


Lucky Press has more books than those listed above. You can find them all at www.LuckyPress.com.
To learn more about the personal projects of the publisher, visit her blog, www.appalachianmorning.blogspot.com or personal website.