And now for the news!
Some highlights from this month in the world of self-publishing, specifically new releases written by self-publishing authors and published by independent presses! Today we’ll be featuring brand-new releases in the Outskirts Press Bookstore!
This week, we’re happy to highlight Jenny Conner Keeley’s latest book (previously she was author of The Hollow: A Kansas Fairytale), an historical fantasy chronicling the life and times of the real historical figure of Captain Douglas Dummett, a resident of New Smyrna Beach, Florida. There’s a personal connection at the heart of this story: a career Law Enforcement Officer and Detective for Heath PD, Ohio, Keeley’s love of research and of the history behind her mother’s hometown brought her to this story–and to New Smyrna Beach, where dolphins fly. New Smyrna Beach, located on the site of the now-shuttered plantation of Mount Pleasant, is also the home to Dummett’s crypt–and the inspiration for this book, which uses his life as an anchor to a century gone by. Not that he wasn’t plenty interesting himself. Writes Keeley: “The cracked, marble-topped vault holds a family story of pioneer grit and courage in wild and dangerous jungles of territorial Florida, the chaotic settlement of New Smyrna through grisly Seminole Wars, and a divisive, bloody Civil War. Based on the life of Yale-educated Douglas Dummett, originator of the Indian River citrus strain; he was a judge, Territorial and State Representative, and leader of the mounted militia [known as] ‘The Moskito Roarers.'” He was, in point of fact, the most interesting person you can imagine–and this book does him great justice.
Every now and again we need a good reminder that bullies don’t always win, that it’s worth standing up to them, and that we don’t need to use their methods to do so. Enter Elm Wood Academy students Brad Fuller, Edward Sane, Ben Green, and Emily Tate, who have just about had enough from lead bullies Robbie Brian and Shannon Price, who more or less rule the roost. And enter the angel David Saint, sent to stop a growing evil lurking in the hearts of the tiny town of Bryar’s Grove, “where corruption and sin flow like a murky river.” (That last comes from the book description, which is just too good not to repeat.) If you like a tale of supernatural horror and suspense, of good people trying to do good in the midst of a dangerous world, and of powers battling over the lives and souls of mere mortals like us, then this is the rollicking adventure you need in your life right now!
Sometimes, if you’re at all like us, you simply crave a good true story, one rife with the twists and turns which prove that reality really is stranger than fiction. Stranger, and more wonderful, and far more complicated. Enter Jim LaRue, star of this particular autobiography. A native of northwestern Montana, he received a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1968 from Oregon State University thanks to an ROTC scholarship. After five years as a Navy aviator repaying that scholarship, he launched into a series of independent business ventures, retiring in 2006 after twenty years in the financial services industry with a major national firm. But don’t let his quiet lakeside retirement in South Carolina fool you: this is a man who has been everywhere, seen it all, and lived a full life. He describes his autobiography as “A rambling collection of thoughts, opinions, observations and memories from an average small-town guy who survived the Cold War, the polio epidemic, chicken pox, measles, mumps, broken bones, drinking water from a garden hose, nuclear war drills, an older sister, playing in the street, speeding, underage drinking, riding a bike without a helmet, dog bites, cat scratches, skiing in the fog, driving on icy roads in winter blizzards, corporal punishment, harsh winters in Montana, living for two months under water in a submarine, flying jets off the deck of an aircraft carrier, raising two sons and forty-nine years […] of marriage.” And this book is oh-so-worth your time!
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