Amazon, Penguin Group (USA), and CreateSpace are partnering once again to present the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award in 2009. Authors with unpublished manuscripts are invited by Amazon to submit their unpublished, English-language, fiction manuscript from February 2 until February 8, 2009, or until 10,000 entries have been received.Visit Amazon's ABNA Contest site for more information.
Several published and not-yet-published writers who were not a part of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest have contacted us asking to become members of ABNA Books. We have added this capability in the form of Sponsored and Professional Levels of Membership. Writers who are interested in having their nonpublished manuscript excerpts and covers added to the site may submit their synopses and excerpts for review by an ABNA Books Reviewer. Click here for more information. Professional writers who would like to show their support for ABNA Books may become Professional Members and submit their titles and links. Click here for more information.
ABNA Books continues to grow and evolve to meet the needs of the literary community. We have added a new page, the Small Press Collective. Participating Small Presses have listed their information and agreed to review the ABNA Books site for talent that may meet their needs. We invite all interested Small Presses to fill out the contact form if they would like to be added to the Small Press Collective. There is no cost for participation. We only ask that publishers notify us if they decide to sign an ABNA author.
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Browse through unpublished books to read the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:
ANNIE CLARK AND THE PEARLS OF WISDOM
by Laura Browne
What would you do if you a met a moody teenage tooth
fairy who hated to touch teeth and a centaur in a
wheelchair? They are some of the quirky characters that
thirteen-year-old Annie meets at summer school after
unexpectedly learning she has special powers. She
visits her family's flying horse farm and must
discover the meaning behind a mysterious prophecy.
A Publisher's Weekly reviewer said it was reminiscent
of Harry Potter and Ella Enchanted but with "cute ideas
like a disappearing opaky (invisible pet), Non-stop
shoes, an oracle who communicates via the pearls of
wisdom and some dangerous "expectacles"." (Read
excerpt)
IN BYRON'S SHADOW
by Ashley J. Barnard
Aspiring poet Nicholas Price, heir to his father's
fortune, is about to meet Ada Byron, the daughter of
his idol Lord Byron. However, when an attempted
elopement ends in disaster, he is disinherited. Ten
years later he receives a visit from Catherine, an old
friend seeking shelter after a rape that resulted in
pregnancy. Nicholas agrees to take her on as a maid,
though at first only his brother James can see through
the submissive servant to the passionate woman within.
Both brothers fall for Catherine, unaware that the
secret she is harboring is about to shatter Nicholas’s
fragile world.
(Read
excerpt)
HARD NEWS
by Alix Christie
This beautifully crafted mystery takes reporter Kathryn
Quinn home again to northern California where she
spends a six-month "stress" leave from her post at the
Boston News-Record. Still reeling from the
repercussions of a mistakenly revealed source, Kathryn
has sworn off journalism of any kind, but the
disappearance of a local college student, and the
intimate involvement of a childhood friend, pull
Kathryn back into reporting. The myriad characters and
lush California setting are palpable, and snippets of
other journalists' filed stories on the case make a
profound comment on the nature of truth in reporting.
The author's explorations into journalistic ethics and
procedure are as riveting as the murder case itself.
This unique look at murder, friendship, journalism and
responsibility through a reporter's eyes is an
absorbing read. -- manuscript review by Publishers
Weekly, an independent organization (Read
excerpt)
DESTINED FOR GLORY
by Jules de Lonzeray
Carlos Aguilar, the son of a German
Luftwaffe colonel, escapes from war-torn Europe as a
child, and reaches Cuba. Aguilar fights as a guerrilla
leader in Castro's revolution; he becomes a pilot in
the Cuban Rebel Air Force. Captain Carlos Aguilar
realizes he cannot change Castro's regime from the
inside, he decides to defect to the United States.
Carlos joins with other Cuban exiles, taking part in
the U.S.-sponsored invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs;
he then enlists in the United States Army. Resulting
from Aguilar's defection; the dictatorship orders his
assassination. (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:
Passport Baby
Yu-Han Chao
Available from www.yuhanchao.com/button.swf
"Passport Baby" depicts the lives of denizens of Taipei from different social backgrounds and their interactions. The characters are schoolgirls, mail order brides, foreign workers, trash collectors, professors, betel nut girls, and many more. These stories work together to create poignant vignettes of a cross section of Taipei people and their struggles, interspersed with moments of epiphany and happiness.
RHYTHM: A NOVEL
by Robin Meloy Goldsby
Meet teenage drummer Jane Bowman. She’s fifteen, funny, and wounded by the loss of her famous percussionist mother. Robin Meloy Goldsby’s touching and humorous coming-of-age musical odyssey invites us to tap our toes in time to Jane’s powerful music—cheering her on as she mends her shattered heart, finds her groove, and discovers the tragic beauty of human resilience.
“Goldsby, who marries the pathos of her plot line with the whimsy and near-magical-realism of her characters, deserves comparison with John Irving, a modern master.” Marion Winik, NPR commentator and author of First Comes Love. (Look Inside! on Amazon)
FUTURE FREAKS
by Sheila Reading
Tre Barringer is under suspicion after a close friend of his, Flip, is nearly killed while playing a full-immersion video game with his log-on. Before he can be questioned by authorities, he receives word that his estranged grandfather has died on the moon. Tre must present himself to the board of his grandfather's company, or he will loose his inheritance. On the run from federal agents and being pursued by hired cyber assassins, Tre must use all his gifting to reach the moon alive. Along the way, the fates of five individuals become entwined, as circumstances began to herd them together for a climactic cyber show-down. Future Freaks plays out in a highly futuristic, cyber-suffused, world that’s been both benefited and corrupted by extremely advanced genetic engineering and neural networking that allow for the creation of inner-scapes and fantasies-into-action that go beyond anything computer-“virtual” imaginable today.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY?!: A COLLECTION OF POEMS...
by Rosemary Rivera
"A simple, little diddy" A simple, little diddy is what I do best. ADD and acronyms seem to be everywhere. Whether it is short or sweet, long or sour, nothing is done without first rehearsal. Take it like a man, don't be a pansy. Wear your heart in your pants. But things are not so simple, no yang without the ying. Tired of your overnight dreaming? Well leave! Go out and live your life. Oprah says so. Go Oprah. Bye:D (Look Inside! on Amazon)
From the founders of ABNA Books, we announce that Conclave: A Journal of Character is available on Amazon.com
Conclave is an annual print journal that focuses on character-driven writing in short stories, flash fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and prose poems. Conclave also feature black and white photographs, and excerpts from plays: monologues, scenes, single acts, or one-act plays. The premiere issue was launched in October 2008. The editors will begin accepting submissions for the next issue from April 1 to July 1, 2009. (more)


