Storeylines Press Catalogue
Into the Rhubarb
Carla Coles
"Into the rhubarb: headed off the road; to get into trouble; a brawl, argument, or squabble."
In her fifth volume of poetry, Carla Coles once again brings us into her inimitable inner world. This time, along with her odes to the pleasures of coffee and cake and writing, she delves into the darker emotions of betrayal, endings, and coming through the fire with her sense of humour intact and her gift with words honed to a new level of insight.
"Whether the subject matter is painful, wonderful, chaotically confusing, or simply the inappropriating of her own kaleidoscopic inner culture, Carla's perfectly parsed insights are never anything less than a delight. And sometimes there's a sly lesson about how to be human in an inhuman world." ~ Bruce Barber,author of Jetsam: New and Collected Fictions
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Also available in a large-print edition; audiobook available soon.
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POETRY
ISBN-13: 979-8363410956
Published: Nov 12, 2022
194 pages, $22.99 CD
Medals and Memories
And a Prayer for Peace
Pat Keachie
This touching volume of poetry is devoted to the emotions and the emotional costs of war. Whether soldier or veteran, mother or wife, family or friends, the ravages of armed conflict affect us all in some way.
Pat Keachie, through her words and poetic images, helps us all express our tears, loss, grief, and gratitude for the brave souls who take on the ultimate service and sacrifice. In return we give them not only medals but, more importantly,
our love and our remembrance.
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Also available in a large-print edition.
POETRY
ISBN-13: 979-8361693351
Published: Nov 1, 2022
88 pages, $10.99 CD
Elmington
Renee Lehnen
No good deed goes unpunished in a willfully blind, technocratic society.
Gordon Gray, a retired librarian, only wishes to chain smoke, read twentieth-century novels by dead white men, and at the time of his choosing, shuffle off his mortal coil. Everyone from his thanatophobic doctor to his New Age neighbour has an opinion on what Gordon should want and how he should be treated. When his daughter Martha arrives from the West Coast, she finds Gordon disheveled, wheezy, and cantankerous in his squalid bungalow. She remains in Elmington to negotiate with his meddlesome entourage and look after him. Seven months later, Gordon is dead, and Martha is in police custody for the crime of caring unconventionally.
Winner of the Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence for
Best Unpublished Manuscript in 2022
“Very engaging, great dialogue, great dark humour and social commentary.”
– Crime Writers of Canada Judges
Also available in a large-print edition and as an audiobook.
LITERARY FICTION/SATIRE
ISBN-13: 979-8859183531
Published: August 6, 2023
310 pages, $24.99 CD
One Hundred Words
Michael E Smidts
“Within these pages, a wondrous realm awaits — somewhere between once upon a time and happily ever after — to become a part of who you are, an eternal refuge absorbed into your soul.”
This debut collection of short stories from author Michael E Smidts takes the reader from the depths of the ocean to the farthest reaches of the solar system, from bygone eras to the distant future and everywhere in between. Each story is captured in exactly one hundred words and will spark your imagination and self-reflection.
“Step on board Michael Smidts’s slice-of-life train and experience 215 stops that bring you full circle with the human experience. Each of these masterfully written short stories cleanses the emotional cupboard with a poetic brilliance that belies a debut offering.” - Stephen Roth, author of Innocence on Trial and The Perfect Season
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Also available in a large-print edition and as an audiobook.
LITERARY FICTION/SHORT STORIES
ISBN-13: 979-8864710135
Published: October 18, 2023
250 pages, $22.99 CD
Tales from a Broken Girl
Chris Dean
You hear it all the time . . . "I'm fine!" "We're doing great!" Sometimes, it's true. A lot of times, it's BS. Because no one likes to admit their lives are a mess.
Tales From a Broken Girl is me doing just that, admitting my life is one massive hot mess! But it's also my way of cleaning it up instead of just sweeping it all under the rug.
These are the things that piss me off. These are the things that make me cry. But these are also the things that gave me hope and helped me move on from feeling "broken" to learning to live with the cracks. I hope you find something here that speaks to you.
Also, I cuss a lot.
"Tales From a Broken Girl is a book of pure beauty. Such an intimate and deeply personal read. It feels as if you're sitting across from the author, sipping a drink while listening to them drop brutal truth bombs. About love, the human soul, their life journey, and the ultimate destination of finding themself along the way. Chris Dean lays it all on the line in this collection. It draws you in and doesn't let go until the end. I read it all in one sitting, and the echoes definitely remain."
— James D. Casey IV, author of Bad Weed Never Dies, Founder/EIC of Cajun Mutt Press
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Also available in a large-print edition.
POETRY
ISBN-13: 979-8857651865
Published: September 16, 2023
132 pages, $18.99 CD
We're All Stories In the End
Chris Dean
Chris Dean's brilliant second book of poetry focuses on the stories that make each of us who we are, the stories that connect us.
A Debt of Words
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I don't want anything from poetry,
I want to give back to it.
I want to speak balms
and antidotes
that comfort and heal,
sing connections
and write repairs
so we all feel less alone,
blaze paths
and clear overgrowth
so others can find their way.
I don't want anything from poetry.
I'd rather write to repay
the debt of words I owe
to those who have done
the same for me.
"Miracles, prayers answered. Poems from the creative forces of the universe channeled through the pages of WE'RE ALL STORIES in THE END. Chris Dean's poems are diamonds. Chris Dean is a new voice to be reckoned with. WE'RE ALL STORIES in THE END is a masterpiece."
~ Ron Whitehead, U.S. National Lifetime Beat Poet Laureate
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Also available in a Large Print Edition
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POETRY
ISBN-13: 978-1998389353​
Published July 14, 2024
216 pages, $17.99 USD/$24.99 CD
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Evie's Haven
Lisa Plaice
Is dating after forty really as hard as they say?
Well, Evie doesn't want to find out! Evie Jones is a widow of three years, with an eighteen-year-old daughter. Struggling to simplify her life and trying desperately to convince her daughter not to leave the nest. And her 'No Dating' rule is part of that struggle. So is selling her big house and moving into something smaller. To help with that plan, she hires a handsome contractor to complete her partially finished basement.
Sullivan Contracting owner Ryan Sullivan is still reeling from a bitter divorce. This handsome, hard-working bachelor, is starting to think he might stay that way. Especially after his best friends sign him up for a blind date that ends in disaster. But unbeknownst to them, Ryan has had his eye on someone special. Someone that has a strict 'No Dating' rule.
But when the attraction between Ryan and Evie builds, can Ryan convince Evie that some rules are made to be broken? Is he perhaps the one man capable of showing her that dating after forty doesn't have to be hard after all?
Steamy, funny, and romantic, Evie's Haven is a surprising mixture of laughter, swoon-worthy romance, and deeply emotional moments. Because life is messy,
and laughter is too important not to share.
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Also available in a large-print edition and as an audiobook.
ROMANCE
ISBN-13: 978-1998389070
Published: Nov 12, 2022
278 pages, $22.99 CD
Of Coffee and Connections
Carla Coles
Carla Coles’s first three books – Zarf, Wont, and Pore – have been
out of print for too long.
Now, finally, they have been collected in this new edition to be
experienced by readers again.
“Words are the waveforms of our beating hearts,
silent until captured on pages by skilled poets like
Coles. Expect to find yourself in these pages.”
~ Dayna Manning, Singer-Songwriter
ZARF: an oddly specific collection of poems for a tiny niche audience. A zarf (plural: zarfs, zuruuf, zarves) is a holder, usually of ornamental metal, for a coffee cup without a handle… Also, the cardboard ones you wrap around your Americano-to-go because we don’t want you to burn your fingers . . .
WONT: Another oddly specific collection of poems for a tiny niche audience. Café poetry, people watching and drinking coffee. Wont: Pronounced \wänt\ adjective Meaning: habit or ritual; customary behaviour in a given situation. From the middle English wonen, which meant to dwell . . .
PORE: One last oddly specific collection of poems for a tiny niche audience. Pore: pronounced \pór\ verb Meaning: to be absorbed in the reading or study of. From the Middle English pouren, to ponder. The last of the "Café" book series
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Also available in a large-print edition.
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POETRY
ISBN-13: 978-1998389247
Published: May 1, 2024
228 pages, $22.99 CD
Homespun
Vicki Merrigan-Schofield
Homespun: A Collection of Poems and Paintings from a Newfoundland Expat is a collection of writing, art, processing, and healing from the earliest part of my life in a beautiful province. I hope it inspires you on your journey, brings you peace and joy and reaffirms your belief that Newfoundlanders are often resilient, kind and full of hope, not only after hard times but during them. It’s these hard times that make Newfoundlanders and Labradorians salt of the earth.
POETRY, ART
ISBN-13: 978-1998389-29-2
Published: May 10, 2024
80 pages, $18.99 CD
Finding Our Way
Barbara L.B. Storey
Getting lost can help you find your way. . . .
Set designer Becca Ward is used to being in the background. After all, her work takes the stage, not her. When she’s stranded with car trouble in the middle of nowhere after a movie wraps, she isn’t stressed. She’ll camp out and look for help in the morning.
After his friends leave without him, gorgeous lead actor Jon Jacobs is also stranded—and stressed! He has places to be and people who care and he’s never slept rough in his life.
When Jon shelters in Becca’s car, mutual comfort transforms into a passion so intense they wish they could stay lost. Alas, rescue arrives, and possessive friends and family, not to mention the ever-present paparazzi, test their whirlwind romance. When the two of them face an unexpected crisis, Jon and Becca must decide just how strong their newfound love really is.
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Also available in a large-print edition.
ROMANCE
ISBN-13: 978-0992046033
Published: May 10, 2024
468 pages, $24.99 CD
Need:
An Erotic Anthology
Barbara L.B. Storey
Love is a mystery; passion is an adventure. Every time.
NEED, a collection of very spicy yet totally romantic short stories, is an exploration of what love and passion can become, how they both affect two people for a moment or a lifetime, What happens when two lovers close their eyes, literally or not; when they tumble into a love they never expected; when they decide it's worth the risk to stay . . . or time to leave?
(This book was originally published as Perfect Need: Seven Tales of Love and Passion - this edition has an additional story, "Beginning Again," not previously available in paperback.)
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Also available in a large-print edition.
ROMANCE
ISBN-13: 979-8808664746
Published: April 23, 2022
162 pages, $14.99 CD
Crow's Foot
Mark Hertzberger
From the darkly humourous to the quietly reflective, Hertzberger's poetry takes the reader on an eclectic journey between past revelations and imagined futures; from stormy skies to peaceful Sunday afternoons.
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Crow’s Foot gifts the reader a fast-paced, punchy romp through Hertzberger’s marvellous world of curiosities, keen insights, and memorable observations. From the whimsical to the reflective, mischievous yet tender, these clever, intuitive poems dispense events and emotions with the delightful abandonment of tossed bird seed. With this, his first major collection, Hertzberger shines as the upstart crow, and the world of poetry is all the better for it.
David Stones, poet, author of sfumato and Essays of Light (Blue Moon Publishers)
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Also available in a large-print edition.
POETRY
ISBN-13: 978-1998389407
Published: September 12, 2024
168 pages, $21.99 CD
Catastrophic Conclusions
Poems for a Tiny Niche Audience​
Carla Coles
Everything in my life
Is a series of
Doom piles
Shifting
Precariously.
Hoarded, Carla Coles
A new collection by a consummate artist of the short poem genre: Carla Coles writes of the cataclysmic nature of modern life in events both personal and universal.
Change.
All my settings have been changed.
I needed help navigating the changes
And for once in my life I listened.
I listened to my body when it needed rest.
I listened to my doctors.
I listened to my friends
And I listened to my therapist.
And I listened when we were mucking through a session and she told me I jump to catastrophic conclusions. I heard her and responded with, "That's a great name for a book." - face palm -
Yes, friends, I have a lot of work to do.
Thanks for taking this journey with me.
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Also available in a large-print edition.
The Little Book of Grief:
For A Wounded Heart
Pat Keachie
Grief leaves a wound on your heart than can never completely heal, especially when you have lost someone you love.
Perhaps you've lost your health, your home, your pet, your credibility, a friendship; any loss hurts. Though the level of pain may vary, the feelings are real.
Grief is personal, painful and frightening. We feel totally alone, as if our world has turned upside down.
Know that there is no right or wrong way to grieve. It does not have a time limit. What you are thinking or feeling is okay and you are not going mad.
May you find comfort in the assurance that you are not alone. I believe with all my heart that you can never lose or be disconnected from Love.
You can and you will live again.
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​Also available in a large-print edition.