Eine sensibel erzählte Geschichte über zwei ungleiche Mädchen, deren Freundschaft beide in einem Strudel aus Liebe, Eifersucht, Drogen und Gewalt in die Tiefe zieht, bis eines der Mädchen stirbt. Romy ist fünfzehn. Ein Mädchen, das sich unter zu weiten Pullis und einer strubbeligen Lockenmähne versteckt. Eine Einzelgängerin, die in ihren romantischen Träumen lebt - ganz im Gegenteil zu Anja. Die Siebzehnjährige ist schlank, hübsch und in jeder Hinsicht erfahren. Weit weg von daheim finden diese so ungleichen Zwei zueinander und werden beste Freundinnen. Denn jede der beiden scheint genau das zu besitzen, was der anderen fehlt. Zurück im schulischen Alltag nimmt sich Anja der Jüngeren an. Doch je besser Romy sich in das Spiel der Großen einfügt, umso mehr wächst in Anja die Eifersucht. Als sie beschließt, Romy nicht nur von außen, sondern auch von innen gleichzumachen, hat das ungeahnte Folgen für beide. »Ein Buch, das dich gefangen nimmt, wütend macht und gleichzeitig aufschluchzten lässt, weil es realistischer ist, als du wahr haben willst.« Mit Aufklärungsanhang und Kontaktadressen.

An aspiring writer of gothic fiction and his wife move upstate when financial crisis hits New York City. Their destination ― a house that was once the height of modernity and the orchard that they establish there. As the couple begin a new life, crisis continues to stalk them. Astrid is slowly consumed by her beloved apple trees. The police are joined by the local community in investigating a headline missing person case, and nothing is quite as it seems. Then, when the pair seem to have established their own personal Eden, they must confront the ungodly powers gathering in the roots of the surrounding forests. Ricky Monahan Brown's Little Apples has all the aromatic flavour of the modern Gothic: sharply tart amid rot and decay. This dark and wry tale explores some of the strangest manifestations ever to be found growing at the heart of a contemporary marriage.

Edition 4 of Novella Express Endless Publishing Possibilities featuring: • TWO LIVES by Ja' Licia Gainer • THE GROUND by Siné Kang • WHAT'S THE MOOSE, MUNTER? by Sean McNulty Three new novellas from North America, South Korea and Éire. CONTRIBUTING TO EDITION 4: Two Lives by Ja' Licia Gainer Joanna thought she would always struggle to trust men. From an unwell mother to a father battling addiction, Joanna was lost in a sea of panic, fear and worry. Dante believed he would never be able to open up to another person again, either. From an unwell mother to a father who battled with addiction, Dante had fallen into a world of dissociation and anger. But when these two lives collide, they find that through their love and time together, some wounds can heal. Overcoming their problems was never going to be easy. But through each other, Joanna and Dante will certainly try. The two lives of Joanna and Dante meet head on, both for better, and for worse. From Ja 'Licia Gainer, a writer based in Missouri, comes a tale of love, family and betrayal. The Ground by Siné Kang "To read is to perform. I have many names, however, that cannot be true. The title of this text has been changed many times, and these are the names I can still recall: 'Drinking milk', 'Look!', 'The Breath', and 'Sin'. I am afraid of making mistakes. It seems mistakes are omnipresent, and the phobia about making a mistake is never discontinued. I am afraid I am alone." So starts Sine Kang's existential tale of a mother and son. Sine's work delves into the ideas of hatred, knowledge, the world, perfection, and the concept of words themselves. With confidence in the written word, Sine's masterful work rouses the readers mind in concepts and thoughts that will preoccupy a mind long after the work has been completed. Through witnessing the discussion between a mother and son, a son's whose voice is ignored, and a mother whose ignorance is forced, we come to understand that the long discussions of Mother and Son on the page is merely an example of the discussions we wish to have with our friends, our loved ones, and ourselves. Siné is a poet and playwright in South Korea. She lives on an island called Namhae-gun. And she invites you to read along. What's the Moose Munter? by Sean McNulty? Munter lives for his dreams, but lately his dreams have been provoking him. Living out his days in the city of Dublin, forgotten and anonymous, he is haunted by an alcoholic past, the pigeon-faced girls of his life, and the ghost of a Japanese rock star. While investigating this ghost, Munter meets and befriends Nobuko, a bereaved woman with a fierce drinking problem of her own. Their adventures bring them to late cafes and pub quizzes, as they roam the streets with the pale and the pole-axed, with God, Chinese philosophy . . . and a moose – whatever that is. Could Nobuko be Munter's ticket out of exile? But when his new ally disappears one night under mysterious circumstances, Munter must face up to all the demons he left behind. What's the Moose, Munter? is a ghostly bittersweet tale of lonely souls... and their slime-green cans? Novella Express is a book series sharing literature's most vital form ― the novella. In Edition 4 find three new novellas, from North America, South Korea, and The Irish Republic.

Edition #2 of Novella Express featuring: • The Hardest Winter by Carole Hamilton • Heaven Burns by Jen McGregor • Just Like Him To Die by Douglas Bruton Novella Express is a book series publishing novellas submitted from around the world. CONTRIBUTING TO EDITION #2: Carole Hamilton writes stories which often focus on individuals who live in the fringes of our society Jen McGregor is a playwright who specialises in using horror tropes to explore painful experiences, and will tell anyone who holds still long enough about her journey from gothic heroine to monster. Douglas Bruton has won many prizes for his short fiction. His children's novel, The Chess Piece Magician was published by Floris Books (2009); his literary fiction debut, Mrs Winchester's Gun Club, was published by Scotland Street Press (2019); and Blue Postcards, longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2022, was published by Fairlight Books (2021). THE NOVELLAS IN EDITION #2: THE HARDEST WINTER by Carole Hamilton The Hardest Winter by Carole Hamilton is a beautifully and realistically drawn novella, showing the hardships of farming life in Scotland today. Fiona and Drew live and work on a Scottish cattle farm. Beauty contrasts with the never ending chores and muck. Fiona is suffocated by the monotony of the endless tasks both in the farmhouse and outside. The continual preparation of meals, cleaning, feeding calves and helping with farm chores leaves her exhausted. Birth and death infiltrate her life till the harshest of winters with painful circumstances arrive. With this adversity there is always hope of a new future just as winter will always turn to spring. The ritual of the farming year, ploughing, planting and harvesting are linked to love, loss and new life. Fiona's life is caught in this exquisite and intricate web. HEAVEN BURNS by Jen McGregor Heaven Burns is a historical novella, dramatizing one of the most barbarous practices prevalent in Restoration Scotland. It is 1662 and Scotland suffers a scourge of witches. What else could explain the wars, the plagues, the storms? Runaway housewife Isobel has a duty to do, acting as clerk to John Dixon, the finest witchpricker in the country. She's sure it's what God wants her to do. She's sure she can keep her growing feelings for Dixon in check. When a stranger appears telling wild tales of stolen names and false identities, Isobel's loyalty is put to the test. Is the stranger telling her of a great wrong to be put right, or sent from Hell to thwart the witch hunts? JUST LIKE HIM TO DIE by Douglas Bruton Just Like Him To Die by Douglas Bruton tells of the last days of Dylan Thomas as he lies unconscious and dying far from his Welsh home in a hospital bed in New York's Saint Vincent Hospital. Dylan Thomas was a womanizer, a drunk, a bad husband, parent and friend, but Just Like Him To Die makes an effort to redeem him. In this new novella from Douglas Bruton, Dylan Thomas remembers ― albeit imperfectly ― episodes from his life which he transmutes these into gentle Under-Milk-Wood-like stories which are full of fun and word-play pyrotechnics. Weaving in and out of the poet's thoughts and recollections are the voices of those gathered around him at the end. At the poet's death, everyone forgives Dylan Thomas his failings and remembers only the soft and the warm and the good things about him. Just Like Him To Die is subtitled 'a short novel for voices' which mirrors the subtitle for Under Milk Wood: (a play for voices)

The Hardest Winter by Carole Hamilton is a beautifully and realistically drawn novella, showing the hardships of farming life in Scotland today.Fiona and Drew live and work on a Scottish cattle farm. Beauty contrasts with the never ending chores and muck.Fiona is suffocated by the monotony of the endless tasks both in the farmhouse and outside. The continual preparation of meals, cleaning, feeding calves and helping with farm chores leaves her exhausted.At other times she is exhilarated by the magic of the changing seasons and landscape. Often she feels trapped in the repetitive, isolated environment that doesn't offer much scope for interaction with others. When she gets the chance to escape the mundane, her melancholy lifts.Birth and death infiltrate her life till the harshest of winters with painful circumstances arrive. With this adversity there is always hope of a new future just as winter will always turn to spring.The ritual of the farming year, ploughing, planting and harvesting are linked to love, loss and new life. Fiona's life is caught in this exquisite and intricate web.

"To read is to perform. I have many names, however, that cannot be true. The title of this text has been changed many times, and these are the names I can still recall: 'Drinking milk', 'Look!', 'The Breath', and 'Sin'. I am afraid of making mistakes. It seems mistakes are omnipresent, and the phobia about making a mistake is never discontinued. I am afraid I am alone." So starts Sine Kang's existential tale of a mother and son. Sine's work delves into the ideas of hatred, knowledge, the world, perfection, and the concept of words themselves. With confidence in the written word, Sine's masterful work rouses the readers mind in concepts and thoughts that will preoccupy a mind long after the work has been completed. Through witnessing the discussion between a mother and son, a son's whose voice is ignored, and a mother whose ignorance is forced, we come to understand that the long discussions of Mother and Son on the page is merely an example of the discussions we wish to have with our friends, our loved ones, and ourselves. Siné is a poet and playwright in South Korea. She lives on an island called Namhae-gun. And she invites you to read along.

When life is no longer short, what will we long for?In the near-future, those who can afford it will be genetically engineered to age slower and live longer, to have many lives within one life.Now the privileged and galvanic Albertine is at yet another crossroads in her seemingly endless time on Earth, having met one more person with whom she has fallen passionately and heedlessly in love.Albertine's friend is her medician, "half-doctor, half-magician," who administers her longevity treatments and narrates the story. Albertine will beg him to stop the pain of loving so many. Meanwhile, the government decides to take drastic measures to pare the vast amounts of rich people who keep existing, gobbling resources.Albertine is a story about how technology might alter how we live and die, have sex, kill, earn, achieve, parent, and grow up. It's also a timeless novella about the transitions all lovers make and—if they're lucky—survive.

Edition #1 of Novella Expressfeaturing:• Albertine by Laurence Klavan• Little Apples by Ricky Monahan Brown• Black Cat and the Japanese Umbrella by Lowri LarsenNovella Express is a hybrid book / periodical series publishing novellas submitted from around the world.CONTRIBUTING TO EDITION #1Ricky Monahan Brown suffered a massive haemorrhagic stroke in 2012. Doctors gave him a one-in-twenty chance of a good outcome, where a 'good outcome' would be surviving in a non-vegetative, non-plegic state. The resulting survival memoir, Stroke: A 5% Chance of Survival, became one of The Scotsman's Scottish Nonfiction Books of 2019. Ricky's short fiction has been widely published, including in 404 Ink literary magazine and the Dublin Inquirer. The live literature and music series he co-founded, Interrobang?! won the Saboteur Award for the Best Regular Spoken Word Night in Britain for 2017. A stroke awareness ambassador for the British Heart Foundation, Ricky lives in Edinburgh with his wife and their son.Lowri Larsen is a writer based in Wales. She was awarded a first-class honours MA from University College Dublin. She was awarded a grant from Literature Wales to write this novella. The novella "Black Cat and The Japanese Umbrella" was longlisted for The Reflex Press Novella Award.Laurence Klavan wrote the story collection, "'The Family Unit' and Other Fantasies," published by Chizine. An Edgar Award-winner, he received two Drama Desk nominations for the book and lyrics of "Bed and Sofa," the musical produced by the Vineyard Theater in New York and the Finborough Theatre in London. His graphic novels, "Brain Camp" and "City of Spies," co-authored with Susan Kim, were published by Chizine, and their YA fiction series, "Wasteland," was published by Harper Collins. His Web site is laurenceklavan.com.

Black cat was magical and like no other mother. What she gave us we will never forget; the most beautiful, magical mother ever.The narrator of Black Cat and the Japanese Umbrella is a young girl processing her childhood to find enchantment and healing in place of damaged lives, and mundane home and school life. Nobody should come of age at age ten.Lowri Larsen's novella is a charmed yet sad story, bringing to life the transforming power of magic in all its forms.

Heaven Burns is a historical novella, dramatising one of the most barbarous practices prevalent in Restoration Scotland.It is 1662 and Scotland suffers a scourge of witches. What else could explain the wars, the plagues, the storms?Runaway housewife Isobel has a duty to do, acting as clerk to John Dixon, the finest witchpricker in the country. She's sure it's what God wants her to do. She's sure she can keep her growing feelings for Dixon in check.When a stranger appears telling wild tales of stolen names and false identities, Isobel's loyalty is put to the test. Is the stranger telling her of a great wrong to be put right, or sent from Hell to thwart the witch hunts?*The background to Heaven Burns is very real. Research estimates that between 1590 and 1622, around 1,000 women may have been executed in Scotland for witchcraft, and many more tried.In Scotland, under the second King Charles, and especially after the passing of the 1649 Witchcraft Act, local religious leaders began hunt and execute witches. Once a woman had been accused of witchcraft, all that was needed by the local minister was a confession. Instead of a confession however, women could be condemned through the use of witchpricking.Just as it sounds, witch pricking was a vicious practice, which involved pricking accused women with various needles in order to obtain proof of witchcraft.The cover and interior illustrations of Heaven Burns show an imaginative rendering of some of the witchpricker's accoutrements and chattelsAs well as being brutally drawn in places, Heaven Burns is also a story of passion. It is excellently researched, for anyone interested in historical fiction, especially around the period of Scottish witch hunting.

Munter lives for his dreams, but lately his dreams have been provoking him. Living out his days in the city of Dublin, forgotten and anonymous, he is haunted by an alcoholic past, the pigeon-faced girls of his life, and the ghost of a Japanese rock star. While investigating this ghost, Munter meets and befriends Nobuko, a bereaved woman with a fierce drinking problem of her own. Their adventures bring them to late cafes and pub quizzes, as they roam the streets with the pale and the pole-axed, with God, Chinese philosophy . . . and a moose – whatever that is. Could Nobuko be Munter's ticket out of exile? But when his new ally disappears one night under mysterious circumstances, Munter must face up to all the demons he left behind. What's the Moose, Munter? is a ghostly bittersweet tale of lonely souls... and their slime-green cans?

Edition #3 of Novella ExpressA New Dawn for the Novellafeaturing:• Bluebird by Sonia Hadj Said• Between the Virgin and the Sea by Cath Barton• Dear FIN by Andrea Layne BlackNovella Express is a book series publishing novellas submitted from around the world.CONTRIBUTING TO EDITION #3:Bluebird starts on a morning that the protagonist believes to be the end of her life.An immigrant from Eastern Europe, the narrator has spent the last ten years thriving to be a writer or a journalist in London and failing on every front.In a bid to try and save herself, she takes a month off from her catering job and takes us down memory lane of experiences of being a young immigrant woman as well as a struggling artist. Minimum-wage jobs, unpaid internships, school certificates, rented rooms in dangerous-feeling areas, nightlife, rejections, family expectations: these are all entwined in her inner monologue as she fights for her own life before time runs out.Without sentimentality, Sonia Hadj Said's captivating novella records the casual cruelties of life and its fleeting moments of human connection and tenderness as an immigrant woman attempts to reconcile herself to the world around her.Cath Barton's melancholic novella Between The Virgin and the Sea is set in an unnamed city which has fallen off the map of the world, and is accessible now only by sea.Violence has broken out in the city and the people, fearing that the church is involved, pray instead at roadside shrines.The story tells the events of a day at the end of which the white statue of the Virgin which stands on a hill overlooking the city may ― or may not ― come to life to restore peace to its people. Central to the story and living in the barrios is a boy called Tag, the things of which he dreams and the maps he draws.Set in a surreal and changing city, in which pizza delivery is carried out by donkey, and nothing may be what it seems, Between the Virgin and the Sea explores themes of childhood and coming of age.A captivating blend of magical realism, tender comedy, and literary experimentation, Between the Virgin and the Sea is a captivating portrait of urban life quite unlike any other.Andrea Layne Black's LGBQT novella Dear FIN tells the story of Jack Wilson, a young man mourning his beloved dog, on the eve of his 17th birthday and the six-year anniversary of the tragic death of his parents, as he struggles with friends, family, sexuality, and his troubled feelings in the small coastal community of Old Riverdam.Dear FIN creates the dazzling, funny, and raw world of a troubled teenager; coming of age; coming out; coming to terms; and coming together with new friends and loves.The narrator Jack is an instant friend to the reader, too ― and Jack will make you look at life more differently than ever before.A book that dives deep into the pressures of how mental health and loss can take a toll on your life, Dear FIN is a fun heart-pounding novella that looks at coping with loss.To read Dear FIN is to step with Jack as he struggles with friends, family, sexuality, and his troubled feelings in the small coastal community of Old Riverdam. A funny and charismatic tale from Canada, Dear FIN is a satisfying and thoughtful novella, within which the reader can unusually participate.Published by Leamington Books, Edinburgh