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Welcome to Bywater Books
Dear Readers,
The holidays are coming! (Not a moment too soon, I reckon.) To celebrate, we're offering Free Shipping on any order during December. (See the Coupon at the bottom of this e-mail.)
This month, we are publishing two books. Our first is the latest novel from Cynn Chadwick: Angels and Manners. To find out more about the book itself, see Hot Off the Press (below). And to find out what inspired it, take a look Behind the Book (below).
Love in the Balance by Marianne K. Martin has just been republished (see Hot Off the Press, below). If you don't already know this book, start reading now! The sequel, The Indelible Heart, will be published in March 2011.
Just in time for the holidays comes the return of the Micro-Fiction Contest, where we challenge you to write a story in just 250 words. Give it a go, and you could see your story printed in next month's newsletter. See Micro-Fiction Contest (below).
Finally, here's a heads-up: Bywater's going digital! Many Bywater titles will soon be available as e-books. For more details, see News from Bywater below.
As always, we at Bywater strive to bring you the finest in lesbian romance, mystery, and literary fiction.
Till next time!
Kelly Smith
Marianne K. Martin
Val McDermid
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For some time, Cynn Chadwick thought she was on her own — "over-worked, under-paid … alone." In front of her were tasks that got left "undone, or half done, or overdone." Just showing up to her sons' T-ball games or school plays were "triumphant moments," but no, they didn't make up for those matches and those parties which she missed. This was Cynn's life as a single mother, and these were struggles that felt like hers alone.
Until, that is, she began writing the story that would eventually become Angels and Manners. It was "my attempt to fiction-up our family's story, mine and my sons; to at least acknowledge where we've been, what we've weathered, how we've coped." And as she told her story "I began to learn of other stories, of other single mothers and their children. Over the course of years, I heard from strangers, siblings, friends, children, parents, and single mothers, all sharing similar tales, and I realized that this story which I'd once considered my own, is not."
In the writing, she learned something else just as important. That yes, we do get to choose our stories — because we get to choose how we tell them: "Once, having dinner with friends, my oldest son shared what I had always considered a horror story about an incident which occurred during his grade school play not long after my ex and I had split. … [He had] frozen on stage upon glimpsing his father making-out with his new girlfriend, two rows behind me. At the time, I had felt my own and my son's mortification; yet, here he was, fifteen years later, laughing at a dinner party, relaying a story as if it were just a funny joke. My own version was laced with anguish, my son's somehow settled in a place where he saw the humor."
As Cynn's understanding changed, so too did her story develop. An early draft had the working title The Flying Sperm Donors — one of her angrier moments, I think we can assume. Outta Section Eight was, she says, the "resigned" version; Measure Twice, Cut Once the "reflective" one. She settled on Angels and Manners "because it is only with the combination of the help from our own personal angels and our own humbling hard work that we survive and thrive in these complex and challenging experiences."
The story of a single mother is inevitably the story of her children too. And yet, as Cynn observes, "unless they are breaking laws, doing drugs, getting knocked up, these otherwise unremarkable kids rarely get heard, and so I wanted to include their stories in this one." Especially because there is also an element to the children's story that is even more bleak than the story of their single mother: "I cannot begin to know what it would feel like to have a parent abandon me. My sons know something I can only imagine, and I can only imagine that would feel forever heart-broken."
She dedicates Angels and Manners to her two sons, Zac and Sam.
by Caroline Curtis
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Angels and Manners
by Cynn Chadwick
Life's what you make it.
Working-class mother Carrie Angel is raising her two teenaged sons in Section 8 housing while she finishes her carpentry certification. It's not the ideal place to raise the boys but it is all she can afford since her divorce. And once she is a working carpenter she'll be able to buy them a house of their own.
Divorce also forces upscale Jen Manners and her resentful daughter Emily from their comfortable, suburban lifestyle into subsidized housing. Jen's decade old Lit-degree and lack of work history send her into a system she thought reserved for a different class of woman than herself.
And so Carrie and Jen meet. Two women with nothing in common in their lives but their financial situation and Section 8 housing. Gradually they get to know each other, even like each other. And together begin to believe that yes, life is what you make it.
$14.95Lesbian Fiction 304 pp ISBN 978-1-932859-71-3
At fine stores everywhere
or order directly from Bywater Books. |
Love in the Balance
by Marianne K. Martin
Life has a way of sneaking up on you.
Connie likes men. Sure, she's just dumped one, but she'll find another one soon enough. Instead she finds Kasey. Who happens to be a woman. A lesbian, actually. Connie reckons they'll be good friends.
And soon realizes she wants more.
But Kasey has already had her heart broken. Her ex-girlfriend turned out to prefer men. Kasey won't take a chance on that happening again. And her friends won't let her, either. Especially Sharon.
So if this is love, Connie has a lot of convincing to do and a lot of people to win over. Just when it seems like maybe she has, life comes sneaking up again. Some people hate lesbians, hate them enough to kill.
And it's not obvious that the authorities care. Connie, Kasey, and Sharon each put their doubts to one side and work together to get justice. But is Connie strong enough to face her fear and stay with Kasey after the shadow of violence has passed over them . . .
Praise for Marianne K. Martin:
"Not only does [Love in the Balance] have love and excitement, but it has issues very close to all of us." — The Alabama Forum Gaiety
"Marianne Martin is a wonderful story teller and a graceful writer with a light, witty touch with language and a sensitivity to the emotions of people in love." — Ann Bannon
$14.95Lesbian Fiction 216 pp ISBN 978-1-932859-74-4
At fine stores everywhere
or order directly from Bywater Books.
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Every month, Bywater holds a Prize Draw! To enter, just answer a simple question. (It is simple: you'll find the answer on the website!)
All the correct answers will be thrown into a hat. The first one to be picked out will win.
This month's question is:
Who is the editor of the Bywater anthology of holiday stories for lesbians, All in the Seasoning?
This month, the winner can have the Bywater title of their choice.
Send answers to us by e-mail at trivia@bywaterbooks.com or by post to the address in the righthand column above — see To Order Books.
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| Cynn Chadwick and Napping Porch Press, along with Bywater Books, invite you to submit to our second annual Micro-Fiction Contest.
The challenge here is to write a short piece containing all the elements of a romance story, taking place in a romantic setting, between love-torn romantic characters, hurdling romantic obstacles, all leading to the romantically tragic or happily romantic ending — and all in 250 words!
We've done some of the work for you: the setting is the mysterious village of Little Bliss (see above). For more photographs, from the inspirational camera of Elenna Rybicki, visit Cynn's blog.
As for what happens there, that's up to you. And if you want to know what 250 words look like, that's exactly how many words we've used to tell you more:
Each year in early December, far off in the ribboned Blue Ridges of a mountain range, rising magically from misty hills, appears a village known as Little Bliss.
No one knows for how long the town has come and gone, just that it always emerges after the first snowy blast of winter turns the ancient hillsides a cool blue-white, freezing ponds and rivers. Houses and storefronts shimmer, trimmed with glistening icicles that dangle from gutters. The brush of wind paints frost across windowpanes that frame Christmas scenes within cozy homes.
Main Street, lined with shops and cafés, wraps itself around a wintry park where townsfolk gather at the skate pond to share hot cocoa. A Christmas-tree lot on the riverbank is run by two men, who have adopted a baby together. Bustling along sidewalks, villagers go about their business: shopkeepers greet customers, children build snowmen, a carpenter strings lights while her partner, the hockey coach, goes to the grocery. Mothers hurry baby carriages through flurries to cottages, and once warm inside they sip wine, waiting on husbands drinking up bonuses at the Blissful Pub.
Across the railroad tracks lies a ragged grid of dirty streets known as Tinker Town. Behind Bobby's Gas Station, gamblers and thieves count loot, hookers above the saloon rise after noon, and now there's a rumor going round: a stranger's on the way. If those townsfolk from Little Bliss get wind of it, they'll think twice before crossing the tracks for a jiffy lube and oil change.
Be quick! We're accepting submissions from December 1 to December 10.
Send them by e-mail to: Cynnchad@aol.com
For details of how to enter, click here.
The winning entry will be published in next month's newsletter and at www.cynnchadwick.wordpress.com.
The winner will receive a signed copy of Cynn Chadwick's latest novel Angels & Manners.
The runner-up will receive a copy of Verge by Lambda Award nominee Z Egloff.
All submissions will receive a 10% discount for purchases made at www.nappingporchpress.com (excluding originals).
The winning submission will be chosen by Colette Moody, author of The Sublime and Spirited Voyage of Original Sin, and the winner of the 2010 Lambda Award for Lesbian Romance. |
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Congratulations to Stella Duffy, joint winner of the Stonewall Writer of the Year Award for her most recent novel Theodora: Actress, Empress, Whore. We published an earlier novel, Parallel Lies, this November — and Richard LaBonte of Book Marks gave it a great review: click here. And Amos Lassen was impressed too; click here.
Good reviews keeping coming in for Lisa Gitlin and her debut novel, I Came Out for THIS?, which is now in its second printing. The latest praise comes from ForeWord Reviews.
Marianne K. Martin picked up a great review for Love in the Balance from Amos Lassen. To read what he said, click here.
This year, the Band of Thebes queer lit survey was the biggest ever. Eighty authors were asked to pick their favorite books of the year. Three Bywater authors took part — Stella Duffy, Elana Dykewomon, and Jill Malone.
Author James Magruder gave a nod to Jill's 2010 Lambda winner, A Field Guide to Deception. To see details of the full list, including all the authors and the titles they chose, click here.
Go Magazine wrote a small profile of Bywater Books. For more details, click here.
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Our readers have been asking, our authors have been asking, and now we've got an answer:
Yes, many of Bywater's books will soon by available as e-books!
The paperwork was all signed off yesterday, December 1, and soon our titles will be available on our website and from:
Amazon Kindle, Sony Connect, Apple iBookstore, OverDrive, Ebrary, eBooks.com, ReadHowYouWant, Follett Digital Services, Ingram MyiLibrary, Ingram Digital eBook Wholesale Distribution and Fulfillment Services, BN.com, Kobo, and Google Editions.
As soon as the titles become available, we'll let you know!
(This might be the time to sign up to our Facebook page. You'll see it there first!)
There's exciting news too from two of our authors. They've just become publishers too:
· To find out more about Lindy Cameron's Clan Destine Press, click here.
· To find out about Cynn Chadwick's latest venture, Napping Porch Press, click here.
Good luck, Lindy! Good luck, Cynn!
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Lisa Gitlin
· will attend the Book Readers' Group of Bet Mishpachah, the LGBT synagogue in Washington, DC. Readers will be discussing her novel I Came Out for THIS? at their Hanukkah potluck on December 6. 1529 16th Street N.W., Washington DC, 20036 Phone: (202) 777-3278
· will be joining fellow authors Fay Jacobs, Stefani Deoul, Renee Bess, and Sheri Reynolds at Proud Book Store in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware on December 11, 2 to 4 p.m. She will be signing copies of I Came Out for THIS?. 149 Rehoboth Ave Rehoboth Beach DE 19971 For more info: 302-227-6969
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| To Order Books
Order online:
www.bywaterbooks.com
Order by phone:
1-734-662-8815
Order by mail:
Bywater Books
PO Box 3671
Ann Arbor MI 48106
click here to print order form
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for as many books as you order
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* free shipping with coupon below
Booksellers:
Bywater Books are distributed to the trade by Consortium Books Sales and Distribution and are available through major wholesalers.
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