"Master of Arts" by Colleen Alles

Scantic Books is proud to publish a new novel by up-and-coming author Colleen Alles. Recent college graduate Viola Hartman is happy to answer her sister Natalie’s cry for help. After all, Viola has no permanent job, no boyfriend, no place to live, and, really no idea what she’s doing next. Viola moves in with Natalie and Natalie’s husband, a big-deal writer, to care for their two children. And while Viola shows up ready for midnight feedings and dirty diapers, Viola isn’t prepared to learn that her sister has been keeping secrets for years. Slowly, Viola must unravel the truth about perfect, put-together, successful Natalie. And little by little, Viola needs to learn how to tell the secrets she’s been keeping, too. 

“… a well-crafted, relatable yarn about figuring out your life. Alles balances humor and heart while wonderfully capturing those intricate dynamics we must navigate among family, friends, and lovers.” -Adam Schuitema, author of The Things We Do That Make No Sense.

“… absorbing and intimate … A refreshingly honest reflection on sisterhood and friendship; Alles writes with such humor and heart, I couldn’t put it down.” -Meagan Lucas, author of Songbirds and Stray Dogs, and editor of Recon Review.

 

 You can order Master of Arts here:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BFVCL9W2?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860

"The Green Ray" by Gregory J. Wolos.

 Scantic Books is proud to publish The Green Ray, the new story collection by award-winning author Gregory J. Wolos. Short stories are deceptively simple: characters in situations do things for a limited amount of time. In the hands of short story master Gregory J. Wolos, simplicity leads to a rare depth of literature that holds a reader’s mind well beyond the final line. A grandfather nearly doesn’t make it to a new phase of life. A candle maker waxes on about his complex life. A family reemerges from isolation after an alternative-universe pandemic. An aging musician may be betrayed by his own brain. A teacher puzzles over how to be present for a traumatized young student and his own son. Wolos brings these and other stories to life with suspense, empathy, and the power of a writer whose work will captivate readers for years to come.

“Gregory J Wolos’s work will make you laugh out loud and, in the next moment, transport you to the other side of the mirror. Like Kurt Vonnegut, he shows us life’s dark and heartbreaking absurdity. Wolos captures moments of ordinary life and turns them upside down to uncover their truth.” – Jessica Barcomb, author of Letting Go.

“In The Green Ray and Other Stories, Gregory J. Wolos is at the pinnacle of his conspicuous talent, and that is really saying something because his previous short fiction collections occupy a prominent place in the pantheon of best short fiction. By any measure, he is one of the most original and adept writers at work today, and this new volume is an occasion to celebrate. The literary canon is enriched by Wolos’s formidable imagination and authentic voice. In every one of Wolos's masterful tales, we witness his dedication to the art and craft of storytelling. There is nothing facile here. Hard work has been done to consummate effect, and the reader is lavishly rewarded.” – Michael C. Keith, author of The Late Epiphany of a Low-Key Oracle.

 You can order The Green Ray and Other Stories here:

https://www.amazon.com/Green-Ray-Other-Stories/dp/B0B9R2MBDL/ref=sr_1_1?crid=349TDDV5LEG98&keywords=The+green+ray+and+other+short+stories&qid=1661363111&sprefix=the+green+ray+and+other+short+stories%2Caps%2C96&sr=8-1 

"The Late Epiphany of a Low-Key Oracle" by Michael C. Keith

Scantic Books is proud to publish The Late Epiphany of a Low-Key Oracle, Michael C. Keith’s latest collection of microfiction. This book contains 188 mini-epics, each one beaming with quirky characters, oddball situations, and biting irony.

“Michael C. Keith is a champion of truth, a connoisseur of the absurd, a somewhat bewildered student of human nature, and one of the undisputed masters of short fiction.” – Rob Dinsmoor, author of Toxic Cookout and You’ll Never See it Coming.  

“The Late Epiphany of a Low-Key Oracle by Michael C. Keith is filled with concise, insightful flash fiction that shines a light on our current era of paradoxes and contradiction. Take for example this story: “When Leon declared that no American restaurant could hold a candle to the Kuushuur served at the Khan Buuz Bistro in Ulanbataar, everyone argued the point.” Keith has the background and authority to regale us with tales that zero in like lasers to illuminate our lives. Like Lydia Davis, Keith combines credible dialogue with concrete details and surprising moves that have us by turns laughing and reflecting. The author of more than twenty books, Keith is someone you will want to add to your reading list this year.” – Ed Meek, author of Luck and High Tide.

 You can order The Late Epiphany of a Low-Key Oracle here:

https://www.amazon.com/Late-Epiphany-Low-Key-Oracle/dp/B0B9QWHFNT/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3F5YIVNL2YHAV&keywords=the+late+epiphany+of+a+low-key+oracle&qid=1661362724&sprefix=The+Late+Epi%2Caps%2C429&sr=8-1

 

"Hotel of the Siren" by Antoinette Carone

Scantic Books is proud to publish Hotel of the Siren, the richly textured debut novel by Antionette Carone. 

In the late twentieth-century, before cell phones and the internet, Lucy comes home from work and finds her artist husband Jon slumped over his easel. Some days later, Jon dies. At his funeral, Lucy watches a lady in a green scarf linger by his grave. When Lucy later finds the green scarf carefully placed over Jon’s grave, she begins to suspect Jon may have been having an affair. Lucy collects Jon’s life insurance, sells her house, and moves to Naples, Italy. She takes the scarf with her. There, she changes her name to Lucia, meets new friends, enjoys running along the bay, and begins a love affair of her own with Antonio. Unbeknownst to Lucia, Antonio is The Lady of the Green Scarf’s cousin. Hotel of the Siren tells of lovers and a city where reality can differ from appearance and expectations can be overturned.

 

You can order Hotel of the Siren here:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09V34QY2Q 

"Ways to Read the World" by Robert Scotellaro

Scantic Books is proud to publish Ways to Read the World, the new collection from flash fiction master, Robert Scotellaro. 

There's an old saying that postulates there are two sides to every story. Scotellaro goes one step beyond with these triptych tales. These three-part stories present three unique and interconnection literary explorations, giving readers three distinct ways to consider each character, relationship, event, mood, theme. In short, over and over again, Scotellaro expertly packs three stories into one with the skill of someone packing for three separate sojourns in one compact carry-on bag. Join him on his journeys and discover a multitude of ways to read the world in what author Meg Pokrass calls, "mini-marvels of diamond-cut prose." Author Michael C. Keith calls this book, "A triple delight and triumph," while author Robin Stratton notes that, "No one--no one--does flash fiction better than Robert Scotellaro."

 

Order Ways to Read the World here:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09TYSFMSS

Ways to Read the World is another masterwork by a brilliant weaver of the compact tale. Robert Scotellaro’s ability to compress whole worlds into a few sentences is singular and always profoundly entertaining and illuminating. As with the author’s previous short-short fiction collections, this new effort challenges the reader’s complacency and imagination––a sudden turn of phrase and the train is off its tracks and bound in unexpected directions. The innovative triptych format in Ways to Read the World works to marvelous effect as well, expanding and enriching the motifs and themes of its luminous prosetry. Scotellaro’s incomparable artistry, wit, and insight are all on exquisite display in this wonderful new volume. A triple delight and triumph. – Michael C. Keith, author Insomnia 11 and Quiet Geography.

 

Ways to Read the World is a dazzling collection of stories so beautifully written and so powerfully sad that your heart will break over and over. No one—no one—does flash fiction better than Robert Scotellaro. Is there such a thing as a perfect book? This might be it.  – Robin Stratton, Some Have Gone and Some Remain           

In Ways to Read the World, Robert Scotellaro’s head-of-the-pin triptych stories are miniature wonders. This author’s great gift is his power to condense human experience into mini-marvels of diamond-cut prose.  – Meg Pokrasss, author of Damn Sure Right and The Dog Seated Next to Me

Robert Scotellaro’s work has been included in W.W. Norton’s Flash Fiction International, Maryland Literary Review, Gargoyle, Matter Press, New World Writing, Best Small Fictions 2016, 2017, and 2021, Best Microfiction 2020, and elsewhere. He is the author of seven chapbooks, several books for children, and five flash fiction collections. He was the winner of Zone 3’s Rainmaker Award in Poetry and the Blue Light Book Award for his fiction. His flash collection, What Are the Chances? (Press 53), was a finalist for the 2020 Big Other Book Award for fiction. A new chapbook of flash and micro stories, God in a Can, is scheduled for release in 2022 (Bamboo Dart Press). He has, along with James Thomas, co-edited New Micro: Exceptionally Short Fiction, published by W.W. Norton & Co. Robert is one of the founding donors to The Ransom Flash Fiction Collection at the University of Texas, Austin. He lives in San Francisco. Visit him at www.robertscotellaro.com.