ABNA Books continues to grow and evolve to meet the needs of the literary community. We have added a new page, the Small Press Collective. Participating Small Presses have listed their information and agreed to review the ABNA Books site for talent that may meet their needs. We invite all interested Small Presses to fill out the contact form if they would like to be added to the Small Press Collective. There is no cost for participation. We only ask that publishers notify us if they decide to sign an ABNA author.
The contest that evolved into a community is growing strong on ABNA Books.com.
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Come back often. Tell your friends.
Check us out!
Finding
Balance, by
Megan Bostic. "Is
it possible to find time to write while working,
maintaining a household, and attempting some kind of
social life? If so, where do you squeeze it in? I don't
even work outside the home and still barely find time to
jot down a chapter, paragraph, or even a sentence before
it slips into my middle aged, faulty memory abyss. Ive
had to be extremely creative when it comes to my
passion. Here are some ideas for how to squeeze writing
into your busy schedule."(more)
Zen and the Art of
Writing, by
Mark Fowler. "If
you could prove God exists, should you? I don’t know who
struggles most with that question, my fictional
protagonist, Lowell Whaley, or me. If you can prove God,
doesn’t that take the whole faith thing out of the
equation?" (more)
Running the
Gauntlet, Ian
Thomas Healy. "There is a problem with most writers.
It is something that runs rampant through nearly
everything we do. No matter how much we are writing, it
is pervasive and insidious. It is even running all
through this paragraph. It is the passive voice, and I
hate it!" (more)
In
Our Words,
Susanne O'Leary. "Eight years ago, when My first
novel, Diplomatic
Incidents, was
published, I thought: this is it, I am an author, my
career has taken off and from now on, my books will be
in the shops until I decide to stop writing. I thought I
would be allowed to grow as a writer, building up a
readership over the next few years and the next few
novels, until I found my voice and wrote that
break-through novel, which might be my third or fourth
one. I expected my publisher help me nurture my career,
trust me to improve and go from strength to strength.
This belief proved to be a complete fairytale."
(more)
The Next
Step, Julie Ann
Shapiro. "Book
marketing is not a solitary event. It’s not like writing
a book. It’s a social process involving networking and
promotions to generate buzz about your book. One of the
more fun ways to get the momentum building is through
marketing collaboration with other authors."
(more)
Featured
Not-Yet-Published Books
Discover the next great novel!
Browse through unpublished books to read the
synopses of great novels from a variety of genres.
Download and review your favorites. Here are few
examples of what's available:
IN YOUR DREAMS
By Michael von Glahn
Institutionalized for behaviors resulting from a sleep
disorder, James learns to enter -- and alter -- other
people's dreams. Discovered by a program exploring the
next stages of human evolution, he's introduced to
other teens with paranormal powers. But when the
research facility is destroyed by unknown paranormal
assailants, James and a handful of survivors find
themselves on the run from the killers, as well as from
government agents who think THEY wiped out the program.
Can they stay alive long enough to decipher what's
behind the attack -- and what the real goal of the
program was? (Read
excerpt)
THREE DROP PENNIES
by Julie Ann Shapiro
In Three Drop Pennies two teenagers and life long
friends, Tommy and Lori start a romance. But Tommy's
increasingly dark psychic visions threaten to tear them
apart. Lori seeks solace and collects pennies. Online
she befriends Bo, another coin collector. Unbeknownst
to Lori, Bo is a former mental patient. He struggles to
make his way in the world and is tormented by his past,
the evil impulses of Abe and a bewitching ghost. When
Lori disappears and is seriously injured, Tommy must
determine the nature of Bo's involvement; as he too is
lured into the world of the mysterious penny man.
(Read
excerpt)
WHERE THE HEART IS
by Susanne O'Leary
A woman finds out who her late mother was through
letters written thirty years earlier. It's a voyage of
discovery and identity. (Read
excerpt)
GUARDIAN OF THE
ELEMENTS BOOK ONE: The Paladin and the Pirate
by Jarucia Jaycox Nirula
Varuna (Una) Kannon lives an ordinary, American life.
She loves books, movies, and hanging out with her best
friend, Reed. The last day of school is the first day
to signal something unusual on Una's horizon.
Increasingly strange things happen to Una, leading her
to believe she's cursed, though her mother insists
it's something else. In the days that follow, she's
plagued with questions. Why is Reed acting weird? Why
are her parents so indifferent? When her thirteenth
birthday arrives, its time for Una to except her fate,
which will lead to a calling no one has yet to imagine.
(Read
excerpt)
TO:GOD@HEAVEN.COM
by Veena Nagpal
'A bitter, crusty old woman in
India. A young Indian girl in UK, trying to reach out
to God in a moment of trouble. A chance connection.
Set in India and UK, ‘To God @ Heaven.com’ is a
growing up novel with a difference in that the person
growing up is an old woman in her seventies.' (Read
excerpt)
LINCOLN PARK
by Anne Moore
Lincoln Park is a smart, sexy comedy of
manners set in downtown Chicago. Architect Philip
Hamner has just won a top prize, sending him to Paris,
with women falling all over him. Wife Sarah feels like
she's being left behind with a glamorous but easy job
and their three kids. His brother Marty can't help it,
but is in love with Sarah. Colleague Anna openly pines
for Philip. Young wanna-bees circle Philip and Sarah,
making sad or hilarious mistakes. Philip's 40th
birthday caps the story: will he stay or will he go?
(Read
excerpt)
DEEP
SIX: A JUST CAUSE NOVEL
by Ian Thomas
Healy
How is it possible to contain a prisoner who has the
ability to fly or walk through walls? In answer to this
question, the underground prison Deep Six was built. It
is the most secure prison in the world from which
nobody has ever escaped that is until a brilliant
psychopath engineers a mass breakout of the entire
prison population leaving it up to two guards to thwart
the escape. The underground prison quickly becomes a
battleground for a deadly war of attrition. The two
guards must devise a plan to overcome the super-powered
criminals and save the hostages. (Read
excerpt)
THE PROPERTY
by G.R. Greene
Kath Havens isn't like
other people. She doesn't understand or trust them. She
buys a home in the country wanting to live on her own
terms. The former owner’s death aroused no suspicion
and Kath has no warning she's next. Kath's reality
is different. Secrets about her parentage haunt her,
she is suspicious, and has extreme mood swings.
She's also a fighter. After moving to the property,
Kath's life improves. She's learning to
trust when tragedy strikes. Her friends and
family turn against her. She falls into a dark place, a
depression that takes her to the edge of
self-destruction. (Read excerpt)
RHYTHM
Robin Meloy Goldsby
Teenage drummer Jane Bowman lives in swanky Sewickley
Heights with her father and two eccentric maids. She
attends a private high school, practices the drums, and
struggles to recover from her mother’s death, caused by
a fire in a Manhattan nightclub. After graduation Jane
moves to New York City, where she encounters the best
and worst elements of the music business. RHYTHM
reveals the tragic beauty of human resilience, the
restorative power of love and laughter, and the way one
girl's music—steady, solid, and courageous—helps to
mend her shattered heart. (Read
excerpt)
DENA POWERS: SUPERHERO?
by Megan Bostic
Strange things begin to happen to Dena Powers on her
thirteenth birthday. She writes it off as overtired
delusions, but only until lunch time, when an incident
at school leads her to believe that her bizarre day is
due to more than just lack of sleep. Dena gets home to
find out she has super human powers. Her father advises
her to keep her them under wraps because of the
overwhelming temptation to use them selfishly. However,
Dena confides in her BFF's Mary and Rachel, who urge
her to use her new gifts to better society. Dena begins
a crusade against crime, while still dealing with
homework, snobs, and boys, making her world go from
confusing to downright chaotic. (Read
excerpt)
Read great fiction and nonfiction by ABNA Authors!
Browse through our published books to read works already available by these breakthrough authors. These books are all available for purchase! Here are few examples of what's available:
COOL by Mary Walters
In these sixteen collected stories, Mary W. Walters reveals the bizarre workings of seemingly normal minds. Walters enlivens the commonplace, finds joy in the intimate details of the surface, then takes her readers into the infinitely varied landscape of the mind with humor, clarity and purpose.
"She didn't want their husbands, nor did the husbands want to leave their wives. She'd thought of the affairs as good things, small avalanches of intensity and passion in busy, routine lives. Finished in their time - and with no hard feelings afterward on either side. She had always been careful, fastidiously circumspect. She believed they’d left no victims.” From “Show Jumping”
Savage
Utopia
by Margaret Tanner
On board the convict ship taking them to the penal colony of Australia, Maryanne Watson and Jake Smith meet and fall in love. Jake hides a terrible secret that will take him to the gallows if it ever comes out. On arrival in Sydney, the lovers are separated. Maryanne is forced to work for the lecherous Captain Fitzhugh who attacks her. Fleeing into the wilderness she meets up with Jake who has escaped from a chain gang. They set up home in a hidden valley. When Maryanne falls pregnant Jake risks everything to come out of hiding to protect his fledgling family. Can love triumph over such crushing odds?
Available from www.whiskeycreekpress.com
JEN-ZEN AND THE ONE SHOE DIARIES by Julie Ann Shapiro
Brad Lynberry, a successful photographer is haunted by the memory of Jen-Zen. He finds himself first fascinated then obsessed with shoes but only lost shoes! Is Brad driven by artistic inspiration or is he going off the deep end like his sister fears? The answer comes through encounters with his Grandma who loves birds; a shaman named Red Hawk who tells him to look in the shadows, and Jonathan the art collector who leads him to Swansea where lost shoes keep popping up in a display of whimsy. Time is running out. Brad must unravel Jen-Zen s poetic riddles or go mad trying.
FINDING MARGOT by Susanne O'Leary
When Margo misreads the map as they travel through France, her husband Alan indulges in yet another of his habitual rages. On impulse, Margo walks out of her emotionally suppressed life into the hands of fate and the vast French countryside. As her world is turned upside down, so are her expectations, and while she is making new friends and waiting for Alan to find her, she might just find herself…
GARBIE BARBYHOG-THE
WORM THAT WANTED TO FLY by Veena
Nagpal
Listening to his best friend Cathy Butterfly chatter about the wonderful world that lies beyond the garbage heap where he lives, Garbie Garbyhog is extremely unhappy. All he longs for is to be able to fly. He sets out on an arduous journey to get himself wings. Garbie meets a young boy who is as unhappy â he is sick of the way people leave their garbage littered everywhere. They form a unique partnership. Garbie realizes that God has created him with a unique mission to hog garbage and turn it into valuable vermi-compost. The book includes a booklet on Vermi-composting. (Printing Rights Available. Rights for Garbie Garbyhog - The Worm That Wanted to Fly(except in India) are still available.)
Available from environedu.promoters@rediffmail.com
THE MILKMAN
by Ian Healy
One question has plagued UFO researchers for sixty years: What's the deal with aliens and anal probes?
Blake, a milkman with a penchant for sword fighting, and Liza, a reporter who needs a hot story, discover the answer to this question when they are abducted: aliens are clouds of sentient gas that require a specific intestinal environment in which to live. Blake and Liza are the first humans ever found to possess the correct qualities. They will have only one chance to save the world, their friends, and themselves...
OBSESSIONS: THE SHOCKING TRUE STORY OF THE REAL BILLIE JEAN IN MICHAEL JACKSON'S LIFE by Theresa J. Gonsalves
Delve into a world of intrigue, love, sex and manipulation as you enter the real life world of Theresa Gonsalves, known as the real Billie Jean in Michael Jackson's life! Theresa Gonsalves grew up in a fantasy world of Michael Jackson. She wrote him numerous letters that intrigued him which led Michael to cultivate a relationship with her after they meet on her 16th birthday. As time goes on, the friendship between them is nurtured. But while trying to develop a relationship with another man, Theresa finds herself pregnant and turns to Michael. Her baby's father denies the kid as being his son. Michael is privy to this information and soon the song Billie Jean is released. When Star Magazine finds out about their relationship, they dub her the Real Billie Jean in Michael Jackson's life, as many believe the song was written about her.

From the founders
of ABNA Books, we proudly announce Conclave: A Journal of
Character
Conclave is an annual print journal that
focuses on character-driven writing in short stories,
flash fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and prose
poems. Conclave will also feature black and white
photographs, and excerpts from plays: monologues,
scenes, single acts, or one-act plays. The editors will
be accepting submission from April 1 to July 1, 2008.
(more)

