BookSpeak Network

Altoona, Pennsylvania, 1966. Nineteen-year-old Frank Davis stands on the edge of adulthood in a tumultuous time of American history, brought to life in Fred J. Lauver's new novel, Heart in the Jungle - Mountain City. Frank's middle-class neighborhood has streets named after poets, in contrast to the reality of the city's industrial lands, the remains of the coal and railroad industr...

A small-town murder in rural Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania is examined by author Taj Magruder in his Milford House Press debut, In the Day of Trouble. On March 17, 1934, a woman named Susan Mummey was shot and killed by a known assailant. Her murder was due to her being known as the Witch of Ringtown Valley, which Magruder covers in detail for the first time. For years Mummey was rumored to prac...

Rita Wilson's debut novel, When the Only Light is the Moon tells the tale of four women, each with their own story, and a chance encounter in a foreign land that changes everything. Demi is a Greek-American banquet manager who is still recovering from a breakup. She joins her mother, aunt, and cousin for a trip to Greece. The plan for a relaxing holiday does not begin well as their rental car...

Brian George has drawn on his experiences (both in and out of body) for his poetry and essays. A collection of the latter form his book, Masks of Origin: Regression in the Service of Omnipotence, on Untimely Books. Stories, examinations of faith and spirituality, philosophy, and visual works show a unique take on our world. George discusses the pushing of boundaries, including time and space, and...

The Young Frontiersman Series follows Barnabus Locke as he lives through a formative period in America. The son of a fur trader, Locke's odyssey from the Revolutionary Period through the time of the Louisiana Purchase. The volumes of his adventures, "Fidelity," "Allegiance," and "Alliance" are now joined by the latest in the series, "Identity." All come...

The Holly Garner and Stephanie Miller team return to the Sunbury Press Books Show to discuss their new series of children's books, designed to help kids navigate difficult times. Best known for the engaging books "Letters to Leo" and "More Letters to Leo," they return with the Emotional Monster series on Speckled Egg Press. The first two of these, "Why is Frustrated s...

The fourth and final volume of the Anthems of al-Andalus series, John D. Cressler takes the reader to Spain and tells the tale of forbidden love during a bloody war that heralds the end of a golden age. As much a tale of fiction, it is also one of history, which most never learn about in the west. Most of modern Spain was under Muslim control from 711 to 1492 C.E. This time was one of deep influen...

Murial Robertson is a rebellious woman of the late 19th century but has to keep a fair amount of that under wraps. Attached to the security detail of her Senator father, Murial longs to break from his grip, yet must also protect him. When her father is threatened by an unknown stalker known as "The Serpent," it is up to Murial to discover his identity. Aided by her cousin Walter and a la...

Baseball cards were collected, traded, and used in games we made up as kids. In recent decades, however, the collectibles market has turned these into a multi-million-dollar business. They are the stuff of memories, the object of historians, and an addition to some people's portfolios. A recent discovery of a rare set of T206 cards sold in cigarette packs in the early 20th century has become...

"Promised Rewards" is a tale that takes the reader through 9th Century England, and follows an aspiring Bard, who tells the tales of the axe-wielding hero Sigurd. They don't quite start out that way, but seeking adventure means conflict, friendship, and perhaps even love as the two make their way through uncertain times. The story is one of many from Clif Flynt, who joins the Brown...

The full, eventful, and rich life of Lew Wallace is examined in detail in "Lew: The Life and Times of the Author of Ben Hur." Biographer Michael E. Fox appears on the Sunbury Press Books Show to discuss Wallace's career, and how one of the most popular novels of the 19th century was not religious, but a semi-autobiographical account of his own times. Fox traces Wallace's early...

Book 3 of the Rian Krieger's Journey takes Roger A. Smith's tomboyish heroine to Russia in "The Blackmailer." Thirteen-year-old Rian (that's Ree-in) runs away to Russia in 1838 to assist her uncle and cousin as they build a railroad for Tsar Nicholas I. There's a problem, though perhaps not for Rian--she is masquerading as her uncle's coachman, a boy. Rian's...

Steven Grier Williams brings his latest work, "Skadi and the Geats," the third of the Prose Edda Series to the Sunbury Press Books Show. The heart of the mysterious Ironwood forest has been pillaged and turned into a mine. Hrothgar, the Earl of Lejre has staked his claim as ruler of Midgard, but with force and violence which leaves the kingdom in his grip. But there are those who will fi...

Author Dan Van Tassel returns to the Sunbury Press Books Show to discuss his new travel memoir, "Beyond Barron." The sequel to the 2008 release, "Back to Barron," Van Tassel tells of he and his wife Rhoda's travels and career. The memoir focuses on schools and universities attended, taught and visited; homes built, bought and redecorated; vehicles and pets acquired, all do...

The life of Major William Trent is shrouded in relative obscurity, but his mark on the Colonial period of early US history cannot be taken from him. The son of a Philadelphia shipping merchant, and the namesake for the capitol of New Jersey, Trent served as the factor for one of the most powerful land speculation companies, known for his impeccable record-keeping and penmanship. By the eve of the...

In this second of two special episodes, the Sunbury Press Books Show hears from participating authors in the 2024 Writers Conference of Northern Appalachia, held at St. Francis University in Loretto, Pennsylvania. Producer and presenter Tory Gates interviews three of these authors:Hilary Hauck, author of From Ashes to Song, on our Milford House Press imprint, discusses the WCONA Conference experie...

J.T. Kunkel brings his unique brand of writing, setting, description and action in a series of mystery works. We are introduced to Miranda Marquette, an ex-cop turned entrepreneur who cannot get crime-fighting out of her system. From the debut Blood on the Bayou, readers have followed the detective across the US in seven (so far) tales that include Murder in the Extreme, and A Death in Santa Clara...

Debuting in 2019, the Writers Conference of Northern Appalachia honors the authors, past and present who occupy a unique place in this part of the United States. The goals of the annual conference are to help writers continue to evolve, progress, and improve their work while highlighting the region, and its character. Sunbury Press is a sponsor and supporter of this event, held this year at St. Fr...

Recently at Cleveland Concoction in Aurora, Ohio, BPP Host Tory Gates was joined by fellow authors for a Roundtable Discussion, "Structuring Your Story." He was joined in this shoot-style talk by:Addie King, an attorney by day and author by night, is the author of The Grimm Legacy and The Hochenwalt Files series, along with a collection of short stories, Demons and Heroes and Robots, Oh...

Brown Posey Press Show host Tory Gates recently returned from Cleveland Concoction, an annual event in Aurora, Ohio which brings together authors, cosplayers, gamers, and creatives from across the artistic spectrum. As he did last year, Tory recorded a series of short interviews with many of his fellow authors, and these have been assembled to showcase independent authors who are writing and creat...

Jim, a brooding, self-absorbed hobo is traveling the country, obsessed with the belief that his father is the famous (and dead?) rock legend Jim Morrison. Sorrie is an intelligent, but non-streetwise teenage girl who is fleeing her controlling and abusive parents. The pair meet and in a cross-country odyssey overcome obstacles before them, and with one another, in "Travels with Jim," the...

Laura LaBrie is about living her best life. Having lived all over the world, Laura and her late husband Daryl had long promised they were going to run away to Mexico. Daryl's sudden passing led Laura back there with his ashes, and what followed was an ongoing journey of discovery, teaching, learning, and a spiritual sense of place. Laura is the author of a dozen books, including "I Ran A...

The son of an Italian-American fisherman, Johnny Cavelli is destined for greater things past his home, Granite Island, Maine. When his father is injured during a storm on his high school graduation day, Johnny decides to stay and help in the family business. Acquiring a boat, Johnny assembles a crew of colorful Downeast Mainers and puts to sea. In a story of twists and turns, Johnny makes friends,...

"Leave Everything You Know Behind" is the story of two women who meet by chance, and find how their lives intertwine around the ultimate end. Anne Canfield is a cranky, aging newspaper publisher who believes she will live forever, only to discover she doesn't have much time left. When she rescues a younger woman, teacher Indira Anand from drowning, Anne finds Indira is dying, too an...

Author Jill Evans winds the tales of two young people from different worlds into a strange, gritty odyssey and search for self in "Travels with Jim." Jim is on a quest to find his father and is traveling the roads and rails in search of the man he believes to be his father, The Doors frontman, lyricist, and poet Jim Morrison. Sorrie is a girl from a family of means who has little interes...