COMING in 2014:

The LIFE and TRUTH of GEORGE R. STEWART: A Literary Biography of the Author of Earth Abides by Donald Scott (McFarland, September 2012)

JANE AUSTEN’S GUIDE to THRIFT: An Independent Woman’s Advice on Living Within One’s Means by Kathleen Anderson and Susan Jones (Penguin, April 2013)

SICK JUSTICE: Inside the American Gulag by Ivan G. Goldman (Potomac Books, June 2013)  A riveting expose of America’s prison-industrial-complex.

JUNCTION, UTAH by Rebecca Lawton (an eBook original, January 2013)  a novel about a young river guide – &- READING WATER: Lessons from the River by Rebecca Lawton (a 2013 eBook edition, formerly published by Capital Books 2002) a best-selling collection of essays described as a “spiritual autobiography of a true whitewater gypsy.”

CALIFORNIOS: a surf noir collection by Jeff McElroy (an eBook original, December 2012) “The surfers, beach bums, migrant farm workers, and burned-out corporate drones that populate Californios are descendants of Kerouac and pilgrims in search of the perfect wave.” -Steve Heller, Author of The Automotive History of Lucky Kellerman

DEATH-DEFYING NINA: A true story of three sisters and a  mother of a midlife crisis by Lily Salter (an eBook original,  August 2012)

VAMPIRES of BUSTAMANTE by James Peyton (an eBook original, August 2012) A south-of-the-border detective investigates grisly murders traced to a secret cabal known as Grupo Vampiro.

BOHEMIA by the BAY by Chris Sands (an eBook original, September 2012), Bay Area art dealer Mal Gerard finds himself implicated in a string of art thefts and murders in this modern noir mystery

Death in a Wine Dark Sea by Lisa King (The Permanent  Press, June 2012) When her best friend’s wealthy fiancé is  pushed into San Francisco Bay during their wedding cruise, a  lusty wine journalist investigates, and with the help of an  unlikely lover uncovers an elaborate blackmail operation and a  boatload of suspects.

So L.A. by Bridget Hoida (Lettered Press, June 2012) is the story of Magdalena de la Cruz, a displaced San Joaquin valley girl who masterminds a bottled-water empire, only to find herself sidelined as a pampered Beverly Hills wife.  Mourning the death of her twin brother, Magdalena embraces the Hell-A lifestyle with comic vengeance.  ”This is a book Joan Didion will wish she’d written!” — Chris Abani, author of Graceland and The Virgin of Flames
DEAREST by Carole Marshall (reissued eBook edition, September 2012; formerly published by Cogito Media in 2011)  In this touchingly weird and wonderful story, veterinarian Amelia Payne is unwillingly drawn into the carnival world of her youth, where she not only finds her missing charm bracelet–a family heirloom that spells out D E A R E S T in gemstones–but is reunited with Maize the Clown, the mother who abandoned her.

HICK is in selected theaters and available  via Video on Demand! Novel and screenplay adaptation by Andrea Portes.  (starring Chloe Moretz, Blake Lively and Eddie Redmayne, with Juliette Lewis and Alec Baldwin)


FILM SCHOOL: The True Story of a Midwestern Family Man Who Went to the World’s Most Famous Film School, Fell Flat on His Face, Had a Stroke, and Sold a Television Series to CBS by Steve Boman (BenBella Books, November 2011)

NATO 2.0:  Reboot or Delete? by Sarwar Kashmeri (Potomac Books, April 2011)  Today NATO is a shadow of what it used to be—the world’s most formidable military alliance. It is time for a new version of NATO to fit the realities of the twenty-first century.

Does this Mean You’ll See Me Naked? by Robert Webster (Sourcebooks, May 2011), a lively collection of field notes from a funeral director.

America Libre by Raul Ramos y Sanchez (Grand Central) A debut thriller trilogy, set in the near future, of a Hispanic liberation movement seeking to redraw the borders of the U.S.   America Libre won Best Adventure/Drama-International Latino Book Awards, and Latino Literacy Now’s First Place (Drama/Adventure) for Best Book into Film, 2010.  House Divided was released January 2011. Pancho Land was released November 2012 by David Scott Publishers.

The Leisure Seeker by Michael Zadoorian (Morrow/HarperCollins) A Detroit couple in their twilight years steal off on a forbidden vacation to Disneyland, driving cross-country in their ‘78 RV along the remnants of Route 66.  Italian/Dutch/French/Polish/Hebrew/UK/Australian editions.

Second Hand by Michael Zadoorian (Norton & Random House) The novel for everyone who has ever loved something secondhand–the High Fidelity of garage sales, the On the Road of thrift shopping, The Moviegoer of the flea market. Italian and French editions.

Hick, a Los Angeles Times bestseller–an American picaresque about a disgruntled 13-year-old and a glamorous but fading grifter. The debut novel (Unbridled Books)  by Andrea Portes tracks the power and peril of one young girl’s sexual curiosity. Film adaptation based on Andrea’s screenplay, release date May 2012:  starring Chloe Moretz as Luli, Blake Lively as Glenda, Eddie Redmayne as Eddie and Juliette Lewis as Tammy, with Alec Balwin.

Wesley the Owl, by Stacey O’Brien (Free Press/Simon & Schuster)  The New York Times and Los Angeles Times bestseller, a true story of how biologist Stacey O’Brien rescued, bonded and lived with a barn owl for l9 years against all odds, literally saving her own life in the process.   Brazilian/Chinese/Korean/Japanese/Hungarian/Italian/Polish/UK/Australian editions


Craig Brandon’s The Five Year Party (BenBella Books, August 2010), an expose of US colleges woefully preparing graduates for the real world; grounded by research and interviews with leading academics, parents learn how to avoid third-tier party schools.

Silverstein & Me: a memoir (Red Hen Press), an intimate portrait of the prolific yet reclusive Shel Silverstein, with illustrations by close friend, fellow cartoonist and Cannes award-winning experimental film director Marv Gold.

Dancing Otters and Clever Coyotes, by Gary Buffalo Horn Man and Sherry Firedancer (Skyhorse). Selling over 100,000 copies as a self-published edition, interpreting our physical and spiritual encounters with animals through Native American traditions and little known facts about their behavior.

Retired UPS driver and publications editor Greg Niemann’s Big Brown (Wiley), the rags-to-riches story of reclusive UPS founder Jim Casey and the world’s largest package delivery company; celebrating its centennial in 2007.   Korean & Lithuanian editions.

PEN award winner Cris Mazza’s novel Waterbaby: a woman seduced by a mysterious lighthouse keeper relives her ancestors’ legend of a shipwrecked baby.  (Soft Skull Press/Counterpoint)

Illuminations, edited by Mark Tompkins and Jennifer McMahon, a powerful collection of personal stories and artwork examining cross-cultural, universal truths about our challenging spiritual journey. (Ten Speed /Random House)

Anthony Iaquinto, professor of entrepreneurship based in Japan, and Stephen Spinelli, Jr., former Babson College entrepreneurship director and Jiffy-Lube co-founder: Never Bet the Farm.  Successful risk-taking blending Western gung-ho spirit with Eastern caution. (Wiley)

America and Europe after 9/11 and Iraq (Praeger Security/Potomac Books), by foreign policy expert Sarwar Kashmeri, argues the current US/EU alliance must be scrapped and reconfigured to confront 21st century threats; with input from George Bush Sr., Chuck Hagel, Paul Volcker, James Baker, Brent Scowcroft and John Major.

Apples Are Square (Kaplan), by management experts Dr. Susan Smith Kuczmarski and Thomas Kuczmarski, redefines leadership core values that strengthen employee satisfaction and performance. Taiwanese edition.

Erotic Mentoring, by award-winning communications professor Janice Hocker Rushing, explores the transformative path of bright young women mentored by older male scholars. (Left Coast Press)

Former Johns Hopkins neuroscientist Paul Fitzgerald’s Adjust Your Brain proposes that a cocktail of FDA drugs resetting major brain chemicals can treat nearly every type of mental illness.  (O-Books/John Hunt Publishing, Ltd)

The Art of Office War: Classic Strategies Solving Modern Office Confusions, by Simon Drake, takes its cue from Sun Tzu and Machiavelli in a deliciously dead-on deconstruction of work-force dynamics. (Self-published in US; Foreign rights sold to One Press/Poland)

UCLA education specialist Ron Dietels Get Smart! (Wiley), an upbeat guide to research-based learning strategies for parents and teachers to improve their children’s academic performance.