Local Authors

Blue Boy

Blue Boy

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"Compassionate, moving, funny, and wise, Blue Boy is one of the best debut novels I have read in years." --David Ebershoff, author of The Danish Girl

Meet Kiran Sharma: lover of music, dance, and all things sensual; son of immigrants, social outcast, spiritual seeker. A boy who doesn't quite understand his lot--until he realizes he's a god. . .

As an only son, Kiran has obligations--to excel in his studies, to honor the deities, to find a nice Indian girl, and, above all, to make his mother and father proud--standard stuff for a boy of his background. If only Kiran had anything in common with the other Indian kids besides the color of his skin. They reject him at every turn, and his cretinous public schoolmates are no better. Cincinnati in the early 1990s isn't exactly a hotbed of cultural diversity, and Kiran's not-so-well-kept secrets don't endear him to any group. Playing with dolls, choosing ballet over basketball, taking the annual talent show way too seriously. . .the very things that make Kiran who he is also make him the star of his own personal freak show. . .

Surrounded by examples of upstanding Indian Americans--in his own home, in his temple, at the weekly parties given by his parents' friends--Kiran nevertheless finds it impossible to get the knack of "normalcy." And then one fateful day, a revelation: perhaps his desires aren't too earthly, but too divine. Perhaps the solution to the mystery of his existence has been before him since birth. For Kiran Sharma, a long, strange trip is about to begin--a journey so sublime, so ridiculous, so painfully beautiful, that it can only lead to the truth. . .

"The best fiction reminds us that humanity is much, much larger than our personal world, our own little reality. Blue Boy shows us a world too funny and sad and sweet to be based on anything but the truth." --Chuck Palahniuk New York Times bestselling author

Blur: A Collection of Writing by Cleveland Teens

Blur: A Collection of Writing by Cleveland Teens

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A Collection of Writing by Cleveland Teens. This anthology of poetry, short fiction, personal stories, and visual art created and edited by Cleveland area teens, collects responses to a question: what does blur mean to you? Teen creators answer by telling a story about a misty forest, snapping a photo through a foggy, rain-streaked window, and leading the reader on a journey to a refrigerator in the middle of the rainforest. (Yes, you read that right!) These are just a few of the many insightful, heartfelt, and powerful ways that the authors and artists in this collection explain what blur means to them.

Body and Soul Food

Body and Soul Food

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In this page-turning new mystery series, fraternal twins Keaton and Koby will pull double duty when they take down a killer while preparing to open their new bookstore and soul-food café, Books & Biscuits.

When Koby Hill and Keaton Rutledge were orphaned at age two, they were separated, but their unbreakable connection lingered. Years later, they reunite and decide to make up for lost time and capitalize on their shared interests by opening up a well-stocked bookstore and cozy soul-food café in the quaint Pacific Northwest town of Timber Lake. But this new chapter of their lives could end on a cliffhanger after Koby's foster brother is found murdered.

The murder, which occurred in public between light-rail stops, seems impossible for the police to solve. But as Keaton and Koby know, two heads are always better than one, especially when it comes to mysteries. With just a week to go before the grand opening of their new café, the twins will use their revitalized connection with each other to make sure this is the killer's final page.

Body of Stars

Body of Stars

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"An incredibly strong debut.... It's well worth your time."--New York Journal of Books

In a world where female bodies hold the map to the future, one young woman must fight to change her family's fate.

Celeste Morton has eagerly awaited her passage to adulthood. Like every girl, she was born with a set of childhood markings--the freckles, moles, and birthmarks on her body that foretell her future and that of those around her--and with puberty will come a new set of predictions that will solidify her fate. The possibilities are tantalizing enough to outweigh her worry that the future she dreams of won't be the one she's fated to experience.

Celeste's beloved brother, Miles, who is training to be a fortune-teller, is equally anticipating what Celeste's transformation will reveal. But when Celeste matures into her adult markings, she discovers a devastating omen about Miles's future. Desperate to protect her family from the truth, Celeste's once charmed life unravels, forcing her to question everything she's ever known about fate and female agency, and face the perils of knowing what's to come too soon.

Bonsai Babies

Bonsai Babies

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In Bonsai Babies: - A man screws his wife after she has turned into a carnivorous dinosaur.- A knight becomes a dragon's sex slave.-The bandit-queen Phoolan Devi is reincarnated in a vindaloo.- A child prodigy is trapped in the Mandelbrot set.- A woman spurned after a mastectomy is revenged by a ghost with an electric drill.- A baseball-playing squid two-times his human girlfriend. - A women bioengineered to be a regenerating crudité board enjoys the kielbassa of a man bioengineered to be an antipasto.
Book of Duels

Book of Duels

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Fierce, searing, and darkly comical, Garriga's debut collection of short-short fiction depicts historical and imagined duels, re-envisioning in a flash the competing points of motivation--courage and cowardice, honor and vengeance--that lead individuals to risk it all.

In this compact collection, "settling the score" provides a fascinating apparatus for exploring foundational civilizing ideas. Notions of courage, cowardice, and revenge course through Michael Garriga's flash fiction pieces, each one of which captures a duel's decisive moment from three distinct perspectives: opposing accounts from the individual duelists, followed by the third account of a witness. In razor-honed language, the voices of the duelists take center stage, training a spotlight on the litany of misguided beliefs and perceptions that lead individuals into such conflicts.

From Cain and Abel to Andrew Jackson and Charles Dickenson; from John Henry and the steam drill to an alcoholic fighting the bottle: the cumulative effect of these powerful pieces is a probing and disconcerting look at humankind's long-held notions of pride, honor, vengeance, and satisfaction. Meticulously crafted by Garriga, and with stunning illustrations by Tynan Kerr, The Book of Duels is a unique and remarkable debut.

Book Talk : Essays on Books, Booksellers, Collecting, And Special Collections

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Bound by Danger

Bound by Danger

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The disappearance of a local girl leads Special Agent Graham Grassi right to the doorstep of the sexy redhead that has haunted him since they were part of a thwarted hijacking last week.

Questioning Mickey O'Shay cuts through him as he informs her about her missing goddaughter, one of the girls involved in his investigation. He wants to keep her safe, but she won't sit on the sidelines. The life of her goddaughter is in jeopardy and Mickey's determination has him ready to handcuff her-or kiss her-in place. As time runs out though, the stakes run higher. They both struggle to ignore their attraction as they try to unravel a web of deception-- before it's too late.

Box of Chocolates: Assorted Poems for Assorted Times

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Boy in the Hole

Boy in the Hole

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From an anti-other political climate comes a novel that gives voice to outcasts tyrannized by power. Boy in the Hole is the gripping account of Jacob, a boy wrestling to understand himself, his family, and the world in which he lives as he grows up in the Deep South in the seventies. Emerging from a family of sexual deviancy and alcoholism masked by religion and wealth, Jacob learns to define who he is, but struggles to find the balance between faith and sexuality. To embrace his true identity, he must go on an exodus to face his demons and overcome the pressures to conform. But his parents' toxic beliefs and the messages of self-hate taught by religion and society could prove his undoing.Will Jacob love himself despite the potential isolation? Or will he conform to the norms and settle for mediocrity--and a life in which he can never truly live?