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)
Come back often. Tell your friends.
Check us out!
Zen & the Art
of Writing, by
Rebecca Crandell. "When I conceived the idea of the 7th
Moon Chronicles, most of us relied on dot-matrix
printers. I still have a stack of yellowing sheets with
holes along the edges, but the story and its author have
undergone so many transformations that it’s impossible
to connect the initial concept with what exists now, on
my flash drive or in my heart." (more)
Running the
Gauntlet, Ian
Thomas Healy. "Hello, my name is Ian, and I’m a
self-published author.
“Hi Ian,” you all chorus.
A lot of people are curious about self-publishing. What is
it? How is it different from conventional publishing? And,
of course, can you make any money with it?
To answer those questions, I’d like to share some of my own
experiences with dodging the pitfalls of the
self-publishing industry." (more)
Featured Book
Review, by Leah
Davidson. "December
31, 2004, eleven-o-something PM. After one last
read-through of my first email query for my first
completed novel, I hit the "send" button. It took nine
months of late nights writing, time snatched
proof-reading and note-making on every lunch hour, but
I'd done it. I'd actually written a novel. I'd read the
first chapters of the latest Writer's Digest Guide to
Literary Agents (so of course I knew how to write a
query letter) and picked a dozen agents I was sure would
be thrilled to read my manuscript. Now I was ready to
barrage the publishing industry with brilliant queries."
(more)
The Next
Step, by Thomas
Maremaa. "It was
not an easy decision: I had written both books with the
intention of placing them with a New York agent and a
conventional print publisher. Both works came to me
spontaneously and wrote themselves over a period of
time, working long nights and weekends, as I channelled
the voices of each narrator emotionally and through some
creative process I can't describe. Both works, modesty
aside, are originals; nobody's done before. So what
happened? (more)
Author
Interview with April L. Hamilton. "I’m trying a different approach with
one of my works in progress, but every other novel,
short story or screenplay I’ve ever written has followed
the same process. I begin with a protagonist and a
general challenge or life situation. Next I think about
the likely people who would populate the protagonist’s
world: family members, friends, co-workers and so on."
(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:
SWIMMING IN THE RAINBOW
by Rebecca Crandell
Following a devastating attack on her home that kills
her only friend, young Zoé is torn from her solitary,
fantasy-filled life in pastoral Germany. With help from
an extraordinary man of poetry and courage, she flees
deep into the Mediterranean archipelago, barely a step
ahead of the soldiers who relentlessly pursue her.
Magic and realism collide as she discovers why she is
so important, why governments are fighting over her.
When the soldiers catch up to Zoé, they force her into
a world wounded by the loss of dream and myth.
Ultimately, she alone must choose between life and
final obliteration. (Read
excerpt)
SOLDIERS OF ORANGE
by Tom Maremaa
Soldiers of Orange is a
powerful, heartbreaking novel about veterans of the
Iraq war coming home and being treated for their wounds
in a California hospital. The story is told by Jeremy
Witherspoon, an ex-Marine who knows all the soldiers on
the ward, a collection of oddball, yet heroic
characters. Spoon, as he is called, witnessed a brutal
crime of war in Ramadi, did nothing about it, and
covered up the details. His fear is one of discovery.
One day a private contractor named Skank shows up at
the hospital, realizing Spoon's worst fear. Critics
have hailed Soldiers of Orange as the Catch-22 of the
Iraq war. (Read
excerpt)
A LIGHT IN THE CANE
FIELDS
by Enrico Antiporda
This coming-of-age story chronicling a
Filipino boy's wrenching passage from son of privilege
to guerilla fighter is a stylistic tour-de-force. From
its first lines, the saga of Jando Flores seizes
readers with the same chilling intensity as the cold
water that wraps around Jando's chest as he hides in a
river to escape a gang of pillaging cutthroats.
Mountain bandits, sugar warlords, Peace Corps
volunteers, dignitaries, and revolutionaries all jostle
beneath "mango-colored" skies in this riveting epic of
loss and transformation, but it is a masterful and
delicate choreography--Publishers Weekly (Read
excerpt)
OF TWO MINDS, A STORY
OF THE ALLIANCE CHRONICLES
by Leah Davidson
Timu Maarinen, the worst slacker in Vaaseli's school
for diplomats, enjoys telepathic gifts so great, and a
family so prominent, he can't contrive to get himself
expelled. Stubbornly devoted to natural history rather
than politics, he falls under the influence of three
compelling women. His schoolmate, Aulia, offers to help
him academically, hoping to spark his romantic
interest; his sister Elian, progressive scholar
betrothed to the heir to the throne, enlists him in her
political causes; and Lady Rilsa Karula decides to
further his diplomatic career while teaching him the
arts of pleasure.
When these forces converge, they propel Timu into
dangers that threaten to destroy his family and all
progressives and jeopardize the international Alliance
made possible by the Peace of Alidor. (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)
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:
SNOW BALL
by April L. Hamilton
Cinder Torley is an intelligent young woman who yearns to escape the stifling yoke imposed by her small town upbringing and unhappy marriage, but that doesn't mean she killed her husband. When he goes missing one night, Cinder quickly learns who---and how few---her friends really are in this darkly comic tale of dueling schemers and incompetents. The sheriff thinks this might be his only ticket out of back-country law enforcement. Coffee house barista Clark Norris knows a sordid, true-crime story could jumpstart his stalled writing career. Glamorous correspondent Bailey Weems sees a ratings bonanza that can make her a cable news star. And as for Velma and Naomi, who may or may not be part of the notorious Manitoba Six Canadian crime ring, they're only in it for the black market Phen-Fen. The surprising truth about what happened to Cinder's husband will lay waste to all these agendas, but will it prove Cinder's innocence?
THE LOTTERY TICKET
by Tom Maremaa
The Lottery Ticket, set in the sleepy yet vibrant town of Palo Alto, California, takes the conventional murder mystery and turns it flat on its head. One day Luke Cherry finds his mother hanging from the living room rafters, an apparent suicide, but this is far from the truth. When Luke's father, the Ur-Geek of Silicon Valley, is arrested and charged with assisting in his wife's suicide, all hell breaks loose in the Cherry family. A stormy trial ensues, shaking up the community. Dad looks sure to be convicted, until Luke, his wily, loving son, is able to connect with Dad's motley crew of friends, including a tribe of Afghan refugees who challenge the natural order of things and come heroically to his rescue. The story is told in the cool, unflappable voice of its youthful narrator.
CROSSING WITH THE LIGHT
by Dwight Okita
It was a labor of love. Thanks to the fantastic and multicultural Tia Chucha Press for being the first to publish a book of my poems. Some of these poems have been reprinted in the Norton Introduction to Literature, the Smithsonian, an array of anthologies, and textbooks from publishers such as Holt Rinehart Winston, Penguin, and Milkweed. And they have appeared on the NPR show This American Life hosted by Ira Glass, as well as on Chicago buses and trains. The title poem appears on a bronze plaque in San Francisco along the Embarcadero.
Much of the poetic voice of my novel grows out of my days as a poet.
BAREFOOT IN THE DARK
by Lynne Barrett-lee
Do you believe in fairytales?
When Hope Shepherd loses her trainer while boarding the 8.42 into Cardiff, Cinderella couldn't be further from her thoughts. Painfully divorced, she's all out of daydreams - and it's not a glass slipper, after all. It's picked up, however, by a Prince Charming of sorts - DJ Jack Valentine, who's just been divorced too. He appeals on his show for the owner to come forward; a latterday princess being just what he needs... Hope works as a publicist for the charity, Heartbeat, and is encouraged by her boss to get Jack on board. A celebrity endorsement is exactly what they're after, to raise the profile of their upcoming fun run. So far, so good; a fairytale beginning - their mutual attraction's just too strong to ignore. But this is the real world, and these are two damaged people. With both of them determined not to risk another heartbreak, is a happy-ever-after an impossible dream?
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...
