SCANTIC BOOKS ~ HOME

SCANTIC BOOKS ~ HOME

~~ Scantic Books is OPEN for submissions.  ~~

Scantic Books does not consider AI written materials for publication.

Scantic Books is a small, independent publisher located in New England.

The Scantic River flows through many small towns of Connecticut and Massachusetts and brings with it local history and lore. Named after a local Native American tribe who settled nearby, the Scantic roars in the spring, murmurs in the summer, and once powered such mills as the Hazard Gunpowder Company. This hidden river in the heart of New England now lends its name to a publishing house dedicated to bringing high-quality authors to light.

New!  View the Scantic Books trailer by clicking the link below!

Scantic Books

 

Our Editors:

Are experienced writers, editors, and instructors who work in higher education teaching English (Composition, Literature, Creative Writing, Communication, etc) to college students. They are widely traveled, have held seminars on writer's block, led fiction writing and journalism clubs, and have served as reviewers and tutors for other authors. They are animal lovers, newspaper columnists, and literary club advisors. They believe small press has the ability to publish voices that otherwise may go unheard by major publishing corporations. They believe in working closely with their authors to produce and publish quality literature that all involved can be proud of.
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What We ARE Looking For:

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In FICTION:

Fantasy, Science Fiction, Psychological Horror, Psychological Thriller, Historical Fiction, Gothic. Short Story Collections, Novels and Novellas, Young Adult, Children’s Literature.
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In NON - FICTION:

Memoir, Essay Collections, Politics/Current Events.
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GRAPHIC NOVELS:

Finished PDFs only.  If your novel falls under one of the genres listed above (For example, fantasy), and is finished in PDF format, send it along!

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What We AREN'T Looking For:

Romance, Romance Sub-genres, Mystery, Religion.  No Slashers, no Gore.  No violence against children.

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What Acquisitions would LOVE to see: Any genre listed above with strong female characters. 

 

GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSIONS TO SCANTIC BOOKS:

Please send a cover letter, synopsis, and first 15 pages in the body of the email to: ScanticEditors@yahoo.com Be sure to include the word QUERY in the subject line, followed by the title of the manuscript. For example: Query - Heartbreak Hill.  No attachments unless requested.

Questions? Contact us via email.  We are also on Facebook.
We prefer to work with un-agented authors, and never charge reading fees.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES 

Scantic Books does not consider AI written materials for publication.

 

GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSIONS TO SCANTIC BOOKS:

Please send a cover letter, synopsis, and first 15 pages in the body of the email to: ScanticEditors@yahoo.com Be sure to include the word QUERY in the subject line, followed by the title of the manuscript. For example: Query - Heartbreak Hill.  No attachments unless requested.

Questions? Contact us via email.  We are also on Facebook.
We never charge reading fees. 

 

What We ARE Looking For:

* 

In FICTION:

Fantasy, Science Fiction, Psychological Horror, Psychological Thriller, Historical Fiction, Gothic. Short Story Collections, Novels and Novellas, Young Adult, Children’s Literature.
*

In NON - FICTION:

Memoir, Essay Collections, Politics/Current Events.
*

GRAPHIC NOVELS:

Finished PDFs only.  If your novel falls under one of the genres listed above (For example, fantasy), and is finished in PDF format, send it along!

 *

What We AREN'T Looking For:

Romance, Romance Sub-genres, Mystery, Religion.  No Slashers, no Gore.  No violence against children.

 *

What Acquisitions would LOVE to see: Any genre listed above with strong female characters. 

 

"So Many Shapes and Sizes: Stories (Small, Medium, and Large)" by John Sheirer

Scantic Books is proud to publish John Sheirer's new book, So Many Shapes and Sizes: Stories (Small, Medium, and Large).

 

Few authors today match John Sheirer’s storytelling versatility as he glides from microfiction to novelette to every size in between. Sheirer’s themes range as widely as his forms. So Many Shapes and Sizes explores how we live in a world that often presents itself in contrasting ways: simultaneously beautiful and troubling, kind and cruel, connected and isolated, funny and tragic, joyful and despondent. 

 

The characters in these stories find themselves at unexpected crossroads—sometimes literally, always figuratively. A woman is torn between confronting or comforting her dying father. A routine instructional note to a housesitter becomes unintentionally personal. Two strangers develop an unexpected bond on a hiking trail. A NASA scientist discusses her work searching for signs of intelligent extraterrestrial life during a poolside family cookout. On his final day at work, a retiring teacher deals with a “wildling” kindergarten child while he looks back at his long life and five-decade career. 

 

Through it all, Sheirer’s stories embody the empathy, humor, and depth of our human quest for community and love in troubled times.

 

“With his signature wit and wisdom, John Sheirer introduces us to another multi-hued assortment of flawed, funny, and fantastic characters—each of whom possesses the uncanny power to remind us of ourselves. The humble, relatable folks in So Many Shapes and Sizes are everymen and women, the sort who might live next door or teach your kids or grandkids. In his stories, Sheirer is always asking, “What makes us human?” The answers he finds never fail to move us and encourage us to look with new eyes at the ways we treat the people in our lives. The collection is highly entertaining, but the true gift here is the life lessons contained in these stories.” – Jon DiSavino, host of the Short Story Today podcast

 

“Dear reader, beware. This is not a book. You are holding a magic spyglass. Each of its sections, perfectly snugly fitted into the next, will bring you closer to the infinite universe of the human condition. Alongside constellations of love, solitude, humor, and the illogical puzzlement of being alive, like a literary Pascal, John Sheirer shows in this collection that an atom and a galaxy are interchangeable and wondrously reversible.” – Fabiana Elisa Martínez, author of Conquered by Fog and 12 Random Words

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/So-Many-Shapes-Sizes-Stories/dp/B0FVDX1NK4/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.GgUoVo4XfeeeWvQeV4aLHi5YMkt6Pp5aOnmPYdY3WQI.R6YUAfAJGRB_i34dnmqtOGycT4Kt-SKxUQpocHH-T8Q&qid=1769098821&sr=8-1 

 

"Methods of Repair" by Michael C. Keith

 Scantic Books is proud to present this collection of micro poems by award-winning author Michael C. Keith. In the tradition of poet laureate Billy Collins’s Musical Tables, Keith’s haiku-like micro poems focus on the irony and folly of human nature. At once compelling and provocative, Methods of Repair takes the reader to places only a vivid and original imagination could and, in the process, inspires smiles and shudders, all leading to increased awareness of who we are as a less than perfect species. “I found the microscopic, microtonal Rumi-nations of Methods of Repair, fiction writer Michael C. Keith’s first venture into verse, instantly engaging and a pleasure to read.” –– Lloyd Schwartz, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of Who’s on First: New and Selected Poems.

https://www.amazon.com/Methods-Repair-Micro-Michael-Keith-ebook/dp/B0DXFT1N1V/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.pHKoQ3I46nHi9dN6qfRtMZBLvpmce19ALfm5j9DqTP-8ek_NIktUhillzbCoPsTeLYZ6OaGgVST5-tHUMNv2STxsxGr2e0Mb9pv8jKHh5cX-lNVckM8lDqepFubN1-ItIem0EDN_gEqA-Oz22lO7VR-OHY1IOQ_0vc2McsgryzKskSD9_JblYtd_1YhoiGocz421hC734_MPLsmcbY0b4nrDWpUIVf_JOpEzlPnzmLs.90lhj_GdEoM9R_uKrxe0WDterERxipBS15E8rFe9EZg&dib_tag=se&keywords=Michael+C.+Keith&qid=1739980106&sr=8-1
 

"The Loneliness Channel" by Michael C. Keith

 

"The Loneliness Channel" by Michael C. Keith

 

Scantic Books is proud to present "The Loneliness Channel" by acclaimed author Michael C. Keith. (Available in paperback and ebook; proceeds to go to charity supporting loneliness.)

 

The country’s major communication media (networks, magazines, journals, newspapers, and internet) have been reporting what it considers the new global pandemic: loneliness. The reports stem from the research of prominent medical and psychology institutions. While the findings are startling, they have not been a surprise to Michael C. Keith, the author of The Loneliness Channel. A sense of aloneness and isolation were prominent aspects of his life as a child hitchhiking America under the dubious stewardship of his divorced alcoholic parent. Frequently left to his own resources in strange cities while his hapless father took day jobs before hitting the road again to places the elder Keith imbued with endless unrealistic possibilities, his son passed time companionless in gloomy rooming houses. While the pair’s cross-country jaunts possessed moments of distracting adventure, they were inevitably followed by long periods of disappointment and longing. This left an indelible mark on the author even as he grew to be a successful adult, surrounded by loving friends and family. In recent years, those far-gone days have manifested in a myriad of fiction and an acclaimed memoir, including this new collection, which is devoted to the topic of loneliness through the literary devices of irony, humor, and pathos. 

 

“Pithy and profound mini-tales abound in The Loneliness Channel. New perceptions, decisions, regrets, rants, all things possible and impossible on every page. Delights and forebodings. Joys and sorrows. Keith plays with real and potentially real life from every angle in this marvel of a book. Powerful and compelling. Such abundance in compression.” –Tony Press, author of Crossing the Lines

“Two great strains in American culture are vulgarity and loneliness. Michael C. Keith understands one without resorting to the other.” –Luke Salisbury, author of No Common War

“Michael C. Keith’s The Loneliness Channel is a collection of quietly powerful prose poems, or ‘micro-prose,’ as the author describes them, that explore solitude and loss. The work is suffused with a sense of poignancy and regret, but also with touches of dark and subtle humor. One thing that strikes the reader is that this could only be the work of a mature writer, one who realizes that the value of what has been lost reminds us of the value of what remains.” –Charles Coe, author of Purgatory Row

“In this marvelous compendium, Michael C. Keith provides an amazing range of very brief stories about the experience of loneliness, most with a sardonic twist, many with a touching tone. Turns out there are more than a hundred ways to be lonely!” –Lawrence Kessenich, author of Hard Times Require Furious Dancing

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CX88C48R/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=&fbclid=IwAR23dNocD6IhPyugidhX6F7VNbqSrDb5LFzwgSUHUdyQ2NkRYyCgzqYMyUI

"The Oldest Male Kindergarten Teacher in America" by John Sheirer

 "The Oldest Male Kindergarten Teacher in America" by John Sheirer

Scantic Books is proud to publish this new novelette by award-winning author John Sheirer. Guy Mann’s last day as a kindergarten teacher is interrupted by a child’s tantrum. As Guy deals with the situation as only he can, he reflects on a career that spans more than five decades and a life filled with purpose, love, family, and unexpected tragedy. With the same deft attention to character development, storytelling, and beautiful language that made Sheirer’s most recent book, Stumbling Through Adulthood: Linked Stories, so compelling, The Oldest Kindergarten Teacher in America will captivate readers from the first sentence to the final word.

 Available now at Amazon.com!  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CCSP9Z99?fbclid=IwAR1JTygbFNhpSp9WGZaAfLTwC-gje06SHMo3AyPhnRE57nbr3ZFfZc7exFs

"Once Upon a Blue Moon" by Jessica Barone

 

NOW AVAILABLE!!!

 

Once Upon a Blue Moon: Stories to Enrapture the Mind, Delight the Senses, and Chill the Soul

 

Scantic Books is proud to present this inspiring story collection by Jessica Barone. A blood-drinker offers protection to the daughter of a drug lord. A guardian is more than he seems. A girl is taken on the ride of her life. The inner beast takes control. Obsession is made into art. Blood is thicker than water. Some things just aren’t worth coming home for. Stuck between fire and water. The end of the world really isn’t. Anything is better than marriage. When you look into the abyss, the abyss looks back. Jessica Barone, author of The Shadowlands series, offers this collection of short stories to enrapture the mind, delight the senses, and chill the soul.

 

 Available now at Amazon.com!  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZFJ44LK?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860&fbclid=IwAR2Khjv7YRiJnhraFHfcct79i1TzEhjjUEOndcrbPGv34A4adVdpBa2D6NY