Bøger udgivet af Forest Avenue Press

Rumi is the bestselling poet of all time in the U.S. and the world at large. The Rumi poems in this novel are all original translations by the author, Ari Honarvar. Deepak Chopra very rarely blurbs but was drawn to this project; his endorsement will significantly raise its profile as a debut novel. A major theme of A Girl Called Rumi is how storytelling can transcend and transform trauma, which will appeal to booksellers, librarians, and reviewers.Ari Honarvar's work with asylum seekers has earned her fans and a platform on a hot political issue as well as connections with influential nonprofits and authors who admire what she does, including Deepak Chopra and the Chopra Center. A Girl Called Rumi is an #ownvoices novel. Blurbs forthcoming include one from Mirabai Starr, who has a huge platform and made the 2020 Watkins List of the "100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People of the World."Self-care themes are big right now with readers, given the pandemic and stay at home orders; in fall 2021, even if there's a vaccine circulating, a book about coming to terms with one's past should still hit a strong societal chord.

"As a last-ditch effort to save his marriage, Lewis--an East Coast suburban Jew who has run from his roots--buys a cabin on a wild and scenic river in the Cascade foothills; after the marriage falls apart, he moves to the woods and makes the long commute every morning to Salem, the state capital, where he works a tedious government job. Skye stays with him on weekends, leaving behind her middle-school friends, her cellular service, her cat, and her mom in exchange for ancient trees and clear water and moss-covered rocks. In fifty-two vignettes-one for each week of the year-that alternate between Lewis's perspective and Skye's, the novel traces their days foraging for mushrooms and searching for newts, arguing over jigsaw puzzles and confronting menacing neighbors, hosting skeptical visitors and taking city jaunts, finding pleasure in small moments of wonder and coping with devastating loss. By turns comic and heartbreaking, Trust Me is a study of the uneasy bond between a hapless father and his precocious daughter, of their love for a complex and changing landscape, of the necessity and precariousness of the relationships and places we cherish most"--

"The Queen of Steeplechase Park is the absolutely, positively, practically, almost-true story of infamous burlesque queen and magic meatball maker Belladonna Marie Donato. Pregnant at fifteen after gleefully losing her virginity to pansexual neighborhood strongman Francis Anthony Mozzarelli, she is robbed of her baby by a pack of nefarious nuns and her embittered papa has her sterilized without her consent (legal in 1935). With the help of a besotted Francis and her top-secret meatball recipe, a devastated Bella embarks on a riotous quest through Depression-era Coney Island sideshows, the tawdry world of peek-a-boo striptease routines, a queer mob marriage, and a tasty collection of wisdom-filled recipes to find her lost child, herself, and maybe even true love. It all leads Bella back home, to the scene of her Original Sin, where she boldly faces matters of life and death, questions of forgiveness, and a holy mess only the healing properties of great Italian cooking can fix"--

"An unnamed paralegal, brought back to life through a controversial process, maneuvers through a near-future world that both needs and resents him. As the United States president spouts anti-reanimation rhetoric and giant pharmaceutical companies rake in profits, the man falls in love with lawyer Faustina Godâinez. His world expands as he meets her network of family and friends, setting him on a course to discover his first-life history, which the reanimation process erased. With elements of science fiction, horror, political satire and romance, Chicano Frankenstein confronts our nation's bigotries and the question of what it truly means to be human."--

Includes readers guide with discussion questions.

"Winner of the Oregon Book Award for Fiction. Kesha Ajose-Fisher's No God like the Mother follows characters in transition, through tribulation and hope. Set around the world--the bustling streets of Lagos, the arid gardens beside the Red Sea, an apartment in Paris, and the rain-washed suburbs of the Pacific Northwest--this collection of nine stories is a masterful exploration of life's uncertainty"--

Neil Cochrane's third novel will build on his existing fan base of queer readers; he published two previous books under different namesTrans protagonists are underrepresented in fiction; trans authors are underrepresented as wellTwo sensitivity reads were completed for race and aromanticismThe Story of the Hundred Promises engages many aspects of queerness (including gender identity and aromanticism) and represents different types of family units, allowing for many readers to find depictions of themselves in the bookThose who struggle with depression and those who seek realistic depictions of mental health in fiction will appreciate The Story of the Hundred Promises, particularly the character MerriganAs our society continues to do better with asking/sharing pronouns, a book set in a world where pronoun announcements are part of every formal greeting will be appreciated and celebrated, especially by the LGBTQIA+ community and those who are often, frustratingly misgenderedThe novel includes a book club section featuring readers' guide questions and more information about the worldbuildingThis hopeful epic will appeal to fantasy readers seeking an escape from the ongoing harsh reality of the pandemicThe Story of the Hundred Promises taps into the age-old story of a child grappling with a father's disapprovalThe cover features the colors of the nonbinary flagNeil is represented by Michaela Whatnall of Dystel, Goderich & Bourret

Kate Gray takes an unblinking look at bullying in her debut novel, Carry the Sky. Its 1983 at an elite Delaware boarding school. Taylor Alta, the new rowing coach, arrives reeling from the death of the woman she loved. Physics teacher Jack Song, the only Asian American on campus, struggles with his personal code of honor when he gets too close to a student. These two young, lonely teachers narrate the story of a strange and brilliant thirteen-year-old boy who draws atomic mushroom clouds on his notebook, pings through the corridors like a pinball, and develops a crush on an older girl with secrets of her own. Carry the Sky sings a brave and honest anthem about what it means to be different in a world of uniformity.

A current of longing runs through twenty-two short stories by Oregon writers. As the characters strive for connection, they make mistakes, reach out to the wrong people, and recalibrate their lives based on what they desire, whether or not it’s attainable—or even a good idea. Editor Liz Prato has curated a powerful collection of smart, funny, sad, and exquisite stories about the losses that shape our lives.

As the wind picks up and the sky grays over, Kennesaw trudges the remaining miles into town, catching his breath by the hole in the stone wall at Nedewen Field where dust returns to dust. He passes the broken stone markers that show their old age like chipped teeth in a mouth full of mourning, and lays to rest the memories of those who have gone before him. He continues on down the gravel road and crosses the tangled patch that had once been the village green, and past the strip of acre beside the barn behind True’s house where the prized row of Granny-Macs once stood. It’s taken him all of the morning and most of the afternoon and much of the last ninety-nine years to reach here. The weather is due to turn calamitous. Kennesaw runs a moist hand across his moist scalp as he continues on his way to True’s. He approaches her plain front gate where he rests a moment before starting up again and making his way up her walkway and onto her front stone slab, which is only a pebble less settled than his.One arm pumping and then the other. One leg shuffling and then the other. One ache and then another and then another and then another. And this is how the aged walk into heaven.He’s ninety-nine. It’s been a long journey. Tea sounds good to him.Robert Hill's second novel, The Remnants, is an ebullient ode to the last days of the last three residents of the town of New Eden. It follows his highly acclaimed debut, When All Is Said and Done (Graywolf Press, 2006), which was shortlisted for the Ken Kesey Award for Fiction and touted as "a bravura and resounding performance" by Donna Seaman of Booklist.

Audiobook rights sold to Blackstone Publishing; foreign rights and film interest in the works. The Royal Abduls is an #ownvoices novel by a secular Muslim and second-generation immigrant. Many Muslim stories are told from the viewpoint of terrorists or new immigrants. The Royal Abduls offers a counter-narrative to stereotypes and explores secular Muslim identity. A 2017 survey of Muslim Americans reported discrimination specifically including being treated with suspicion, pulled aside by airport security, or called offensive names. This is a major plot point in The Royal Abduls.A 2019 Pew Research Survey found that 82 percent of U.S. adults say that Muslims are subject to some discrimination, an increase from 62 percent in 2016-a fact that emphasizes the need for literature that counteracts stereotypes and explores what it means to live in the U.S. as a secular Muslim family. Washington, D.C., where the book is mostly set, has the fifth highest population of Indians of any U.S. city. Most D.C.-set books are thrillers or about politics; this title will appeal to residents, which as of 2019 are estimated at 713,244.The American Psychological Association reports that 40 to 50 percent of the couples in the U.S. divorce. Omar's parents' deteriorating relationship puts them into this demographic and may be appealing to readers who have experienced divorce, either themselves or with their parents. Mo's increase in drinking impairs his ability to empathize with his wife and son. American Addiction Centers states that as many as 76 million Americans, or 45 percent of the population, "have been exposed to some form of alcoholism or alcoholic behaviors in their family." Those who have experienced this in their own families will see how the Abduls manage the situation and how their relationships get torn.

Family means everything to widowed Alaskan fisherman Ray Bancroft, raising his granddaughter with help from a multitude of gods and goddesses—not to mention rituals ad-libbed at sea by his half-Tlingit best friend. But statues and otter bone ceremonies aren’t enough when Ray''s estranged daughter returns from prison, her search for a safe harbor threatening everything he holds sacred.

Based on the author¿s experience working as a poker dealer, Queen of Spades is a modern re-telling of the classic Pushkin fable of the same name, a highly stylized tale set in a Seattle-area casino that combines elements of a Hong Kong gambling movie with literary language and a lively cast of unforgettable characters.The three main narrative threads follow Barbara, a recovering gambler trapped in a cultish twelve-step program; Mannheim, a pit boss at the Royal Casino who discovers he has just six months to live; and Chan, a dealer obsessed with the playing style of a mysterious customer known as the Countess. Queen of Spades invites readers into the murky realm of taking chances not just as a recreational activity but as a way of life. The beauty and complexity of the novel lies in its unique portmanteau structure, its page-turning plot, and its insider view into the late-night card-dealer¿s world, where everyone yearns for more than what they have, and where luck plays a curious, fidgety role that may¿given the right card at the right moment¿change everything, for better or worse.

When Froelich disappears from his permanent perch atop a giant ladder, his nephew embarks on a madcap quest to find him in this nineteenth century adventure novel, set in a reimagined Pacific Northwest landscape inhabited by resolute young women who outwit their guardians, skittish Civil War veterans, hungry clouds, and a few murderers, all seeking their own versions of the American dream.

City of Weird conjures what we fear: death, darkness, ghosts. Hungry sea monsters and alien slime molds. Blood drinkers and game show hosts. Set in Portland, Oregon, these thirty stories blend imagination, literary writing, and pop culture into a cohesive weirdness that honors the city’s personality, its bookstores and bridges and solo volcano, as well as the tradition of sci-fi pulp magazines. Including such authors as Rene Denfeld, Justin Hocking, Leni Zumas, and Kevin Sampsell, editor Gigi Little has curated a collection that is quirky, chilling, often profound—and always perfectly weird.

Fifteen linked stories chart a true course through the lives of families, farmers, loggers, former classmates, and the occasional stripper. In the richly imagined town of Renata, Oregon, a man watches his neighbor's big-screen TV through binoculars. An errant son paints himself silver. Mysterious electrical humming emanates from an enormous barn. In A Simplified Map of the Real World, intimate boundaries are loosened by divorce and death in a rural community where even an old pickle crock has an unsettling history-and high above the strife and the hope and the often hilarious, geese seek the perfect tailwind. Stevan Allred's stunning debut deftly navigates the stubborn geography of the human heart.

When a fisherman receives a mysterious letter about his beloved's demise, he sets off in his skiff to find her on the Isle of the Dead. The Alehouse at the End of the World is an epic comedy set in the sixteenth century, where bawdy Shakespearean love triangles play out with shapeshifting avian demigods and a fertility goddess, drunken revelry, bio-dynamic gardening, and a narcissistic, bullying crow, who may have colluded with a foreign power. A raucous, aw-aw-aw-awe-inspiring romp, Stevan Allred's second book is a juicy fable for adults, and a hopeful tale for out troubled times.

Manolo Lualhati, a respected doctor in the Philippine countryside, believes his wife hides a secret. Prior to their marriage, he spied her wearing wings and flying to the stars with her sisters each evening. As Tala tries to keep her dangerous past from her new husband, Manolo begins questioning the gaps in her stories-and his suspicions push him even further from the truth. The Hour of Daydreams, a contemporary reimagining of a Filipino folktale, weaves in the perspectives of Tala's siblings, her new in-laws, and the all-seeing housekeeper while exploring trust, identity, and how myths can take root from the seeds of our most difficult truths.

Two mothers and their teenage daughters, whose lives collide in a fatal car crash, take turns narrating Ellen Urbani's breathtaking novel, Landfall, set in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Eighteen-year-olds Rose and Rosebud have never met but they share a birth year, a name, and a bloody pair of sneakers. Roses quest to atone for the accident that kills Rosebud, a young woman so much like herself but for the color of her skin, unfolds alongside Rosebuds battle to survive the devastating flooding in the Lower Ninth Ward and to find help for her unstable mother. These unforgettable characters give voice to the dead of the storm and, in a stunning twist, demonstrate how what we think we know can make us blind to what matters most.