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What do you do when the worst thing in the world actually happens?
Run.
What do you do when you can’t face the truth?
Hide.
What if there’s no escape?
Break everything and start over.
Kirsten Madsen’s sister, Astrid, is the victim of a school shooter. As the town rages and grieves, Kirsten just wants to escape… to a world where Astrid never died. Where they can grow up as sisters. Where they can both watch the willow tree they planted together reach its full potential. But there are some things you can’t outrun…
This gripping and powerful novel about love and grief—and the lengths our psyches go to when protecting us from trauma—will have readers gasping with each twist, and rooting for Kirsten to become whole again.
Young adult novel The Willow explores the lives we are dealt, the lives we wish we had, and how we can face the truth in this searing psychological drama.
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Find it now at Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, or at your favorite indie bookseller.
My debut
novel!
FRIENDS AND ANEMONES: Ocean Poems for Children, is a fun and informative collection of original poems and art by New England authors and illustrators. Hands join fins in an adventure through kelp forests to meet sea otters and whales. Attend an underwater birthday party! Voyage through tempests to bottom-of-the-ocean volcanos and mysterious creatures in the deep, deep darkness. This book is a valuable ecological and poetry resource for parents as well as librarians and teachers.
The Writers' Loft brings together authors and artists from all over New England to collaborate, because writing doesn't have to be a solitary pursuit!
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Find it now at Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, The Silver Unicorn, Amazon, or at your favorite indie bookseller.
from the introduction to FIRSTS:
The Writers’ Loft is a haven for creativity, and I know that I’ve become a better writer by being part of this community and taking advantage of this space. So when Heather Kelly asked me to edit the Loft’s first anthology, I jumped at the opportunity.
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The work is as varied as the Loft members themselves: We received limericks, short stories, narrative essays, and novel excerpts. Celebrity encounters with Diana Ross and brushes with infamy as one writer inadvertently closed down an airport. Stories that are poignant representations of deep love and friendship, and stories that show the bewilderment we feel on our first day of college–or when we first lose a tooth. Here you will also find the pain of loss and explorations of expectation.
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I hope you enjoy these selections as much as I did, and I really hope you come visit the Writers’ Loft if you’re in the area.
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Find it now at Amazon.
ONCE UPON AN APOCALYPSE
edited by Scott T. Goudsward and Rachel Kenley
from the introduction:
“Wait, aren’t fairy tales cute stories about talking bunnies and Disney characters?” The answer is yes and no.
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Not the old ones. If you never read the Brothers Grimm are you in for a shock! The ‘fairy tale ending’ we’ve come to know is a far cry from what Jacob and Wilhelm were writing back in early nineteenth century. Things tend to end very, very badly for the characters—even the good guys. Not all of the stories in Once Upon an Apocalypse are scary. Some are hilarious, some are tragic, and some are disturbing. However each contains a spark of real magic—that special element separating these stories from others of the horror genre.
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In fairy tales absolutely anything can happen. There are no rules and there are few happy endings. These are fairy stories, and they’re zombie stories, and they are absolutely magical.
And we mean that in the least-comforting way possible.
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Find it now at Amazon.
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