‘It’s a matter of degree, that’s all. We all prostitute ourselves when it suits us; we only differ in how far we’re prepared to go.’ Two stories for the price of one await readers in The Seven Stars, a novel by Simon Leighton-Porter. And in...

In Danila Botha’s A Place for People Like Us, Hannah meets Jillian during a night out and, after reconnecting in a university class, moves into her apartment, where their relationship centers on filming Jillian’s music and building a shared routine. While studying, Hannah is paired...

In Ion Parreah’s The Cost of Knowing, after the death of his childhood friend Karen O’Neil and a public declaration that unsettles his parish, Father David Callaghan leaves Newcastle West and travels to Namibia in search of an answer to a question that has begun...

Breathe Easy by Tammy Donahue is a touching story about Ann Montgomery, who was brought up in the countryside of Southern West Virginia. She married her childhood sweetheart, Bobby, and just as they were celebrating that they were soon going to be parents, tragedy struck....

In Victoria Bastedo’s Zugadu’s Heart, after being found living alone in the woods, Oskar is taken in by Stu and Marla, a couple who give him a place to stay while bringing him into Stu’s off-the-books work, collecting proof of illegal activity. While traveling, Stu...

“The truth? It don't fit clean. Life don't work like no sermon or a newspaper headline. It's messy. It bleeds.” Life does these things and more, and messy can be an understatement as The Bible Of Blackwater County, a novel by Jenny Cafaro, clearly illustrates....

In 14 Hours of Saturn by Mike J. Kizman, Saturn Syres arrives in Oakfield at twenty-four to begin work at All Ways Advertising, determined to move beyond the voice roles that defined her early career and claim a place shaping campaigns of her own. Living...

The Gospel of Caiaphas by Nicole Diamond Austin is a fictional telling of Joseph ben Caiaphas, who has always been infamously portrayed as presiding over the Sanhedrin trial of Jesus. Austin recreates Caiaphas, from childhood in a priestly household, to his rise as the high...

At twenty-one, Alice had left college behind and was working at a restaurant, trying to make sense of her life. Her father, John, has accepted her choices, but he worried that she was never going to be an independent and responsible young adult. Alice was...

In Mountain Home by Grace Zacaroli, Danat belongs to a quiet faith community that shelters Solomon after war kills the boy’s parents. Solomon is twelve years old with a living father, whom he has never met, in the northern mountains. Danat accepts the duty of...