SIGNING ANNOUNCEMENT: Diane Chiddister

Publishing Announcements

We’re pleased to announce that we’ll be publishing Diane Chiddister’s second novel, Just This, in 2024. Just This is an exploration of love, family, and intergenerational purpose-finding. Watch the blog here for more release details, including a cover reveal.

Diane Chiddister is a journalist and former editor of the Yellow Springs News in Yellow Springs, Ohio. She’s also a short story writer and 1981 MFA graduate of the University of Iowa Writer’s Workshop, where she was a Teaching-Writing Fellow. Diane’s first novel, One More Day (Boyle & Dalton, 2021) received high praise from readers and critics. In February of 2023, One More Day was awarded the grand prize in the prestigious North Street Book Awards.

From contest judge Jendi Reiter:

Diane Chiddister’s exquisite literary novel One More Day delves into the inner lives of four denizens of an old-age home. Full of tenderness that stays on the right side of sentimentality, One More Day braids its characters’ paths into a journey that leaves all their lives richer. The action is intimate and small-scale, but as Robert Frost said, “the game is played for mortal stakes.” Nothing less is at issue here than how we might die well.

From its delicacy and sophistication of feeling, to its elegant cover design and clean text formatting, Chiddister’s novel stands up well against any output of the prestigious literary presses.

Order a copy of One More Day here, or ask for it at your favorite local bookstore.

Follow our blog and social media to keep up with release developments for Just This!

BOOK RELEASE: Pocket Dog

Book Release

We’re delighted to release Pocket Dog by Jim Garland today. This is one of our most anticipated books of 2023, and it’s a pleasure to share it with the world!

Pocket Dog is available as a paperback, hardback, and e-book wherever books are sold. Find it here, or ask for it at your favorite local bookstore!

Pocket Dog is a smart, upmarket rom-com about Ollie Allyinphree, a hapless and perpetually single (if charmingly nerdy) research librarian in Boston. When Ollie comes into a sizeable fortune, he begins to receive marriage proposals from women all over the world. One relationship after another falls through until, with the help of a long-lost twin brother and a mysterious tiny rescue dog, Ollie learns how to overcome his passivity and take the risks that lead him to find and name what he truly wants.

Pocket Dog explores themes of taking risks in relationships and decision-making, the limits of knowledge and logic, and the meaning of love.

PRAISE

“… extremely clever, deft, learned, really funny in many places, but above all has a deep sense of tenderness and heart that to my mind carries the day.” — Frank Huyler, author of White Hot Light, The Blood of Strangers, The Right of Thirst

“… an original and stunning tour de force, laughing out loud more times than I can count…the wit, the satire of contemporary culture, the detailed knowledge…” — Minrose Gwin, author of The Accidentals and Promise, plus many non-fiction books and essays.

“… probably the best novel ever written, and I’m not just saying that.” — Mrs. Marcelle Garland, the author’s mother

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jim Garland grew up in Kansas City and graduated from Princeton (AB) and Cornell (PhD). He was professor of physics and executive dean of arts and sciences at Ohio State and for ten years president of Miami U. of Ohio. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society.

Jim is the author of more than a hundred scientific papers, essays, and opinion pieces. His humorous debut novel, Pocket Dog, started life as a classroom exercise in a course he audited at Ohio State. His 2010 non-fiction tome, Saving Alma Mater (U of Chicago Press), has been described as hilariously unfunny.

Jim lives and writes in Santa Fe, on a hundred cactus-ridden acres, accompanied by three dogs, six chickens, a very tolerant spouse, and a courtyard bull snake named Beatrice.

Learn more about Jim at his website: www.jimgarlandauthor.com.

BOOK RELEASE: Warehouse H

Book Catalog, Book Release

Warehouse H: The Story of Blanton’s Bourbon, America’s Most Influential Whiskey by Dominic Guglielmi is available NOW! Order it from Amazon here, or better yet, get it straight from the author on the Warehouse H website here.

“Warehouse H unveils the history and secrets of Blanton’s—the most polarizing bourbon brand—in a remarkable story of perseverance, the power of marketing, and the allure of novelty, along with an entertaining take on what many consider to be irrational exuberance.  Guglielmi brings a fresh perspective from a position of true admiration, making the case for why Blanton’s is America’s most influential whiskey.”
—Brian Haara, author of Bourbon Justice: How Whiskey Law Shaped America

Blanton’s Single Barrel Bourbon isn’t just a popular brand of whiskey; its launch in 1984 was historic. As the first single-barrel bourbon, it helped define a new “super-premium” category of spirit, and only the choicest barrels are selected and bottled. Together with other super-premium brands launched in the years following Blanton’s debut, its release sowed the seeds of a twenty-first-century bourbon boom that saved the American whiskey industry from near collapse. 

Along with its historic rise, Blanton’s is now one of the world’s most sought-after whiskeys. While it maintains legions of loyal fans who line up to deplete liquor store shelves, the hype surrounding the brand is often the subject of debate, as is the quality of the bourbon itself. 

Warehouse H dives deep into the story behind the brand, explores its origins, and documents the unlikely rise and contribution of the first single-barrel bourbon. In addition, it is a catalog of all known Blanton’s releases, some exceptionally rare, with insights and anecdotes capturing all things Blanton’s, from its inception to its present-day popularity.

Warehouse H is a gorgeous, full-color hardcover book. Here’s a sneak peek at the design!

About the author

Dominic Guglielmi is widely considered one of the most prolific and knowledgeable collectors of Blanton’s bourbon. He has amassed a nearly unrivaled collection of known Blanton’s releases, including nearly all extremely rare and limited bottles that have been produced. He has worked to document the brand’s history through his website, warehouseh.com. Guglielmi’s interest in the whiskey doesn’t stop at rare Blanton’s collecting. It starts there.

Follow Guglielmi on Instagram: @WarehouseHinfo

BOOK RELEASE: Call Me Sonny

Book Release

Happy release day to Steve Lazarus, author of Call Me Sonny!

Call Me Sonny is available everywhere as a paperback, hardback, or e-book. Find it here, or request it at your favorite bookstore!

“Bryce Chandler is a compelling addition to the pantheon of hard-boiled fictional detectives. Lazarus puts his experience as an FBI agent to good use in Call Me Sonny, and the book feels more realistic than most detective novels. Impossible to put down!”

—Joe Weisberg, Emmy Award-winning writer and creator of The Americans

Shortly after a corrupt attorney pays a visit to an inmate serving a life sentence in a federal supermax prison, people from the inmate’s past start to die. Bryce Chandler, a retired FBI agent eking out a living as a private investigator in the Florida Keys, ties the string of killings to a shadowy murder-for-hire organization operating on the dark web. As Bryce digs into the murders, he discovers the final name on the hit list is his own.

Meanwhile, a simple divorce case turns out to be much more than meets the eye, as Bryce’s investigation of the defendant leads him down a path of international drug smuggling, money laundering, and violent henchmen bent on keeping him silent. The two storylines run parallel to one another until they eventually converge in a final bloody outcome.

About the author

Steve Lazarus is an author, retired FBI Special Agent, and United States Air Force veteran. He served twenty-two years in the FBI, spending the first half of his career investigating drug trafficking organizations and violent street gangs. Later, he became a full-time bomb technician, an assignment that led him to Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan as part of the Global War on Terror.  After retiring from the Bureau, he spent several years as a national security instructor in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Steve lives outside Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, with his wife, Susan, and their amazing wonder dog, Aspen.

Keep up with Steve on his website here: stevelazarusbooks.com.

NEW AUTHOR ANNOUNCEMENT: S.F. Hayes, author of THE RED CONCERTO

Books Coming Soon

We’re so happy to announce that we’ve signed S.F. Hayes to the Boyle & Dalton cadre of authors! S.F. Hayes is the author of The Red Concerto, to be released spring of 2024.

About The Red Concerto

Charlie Emerson’s multimedia company is tanking. To save it, he’s conceived a new reality show: the story of a music industry prince who marries a struggling musician. Charlie casts himself as the star, and he goes on the hunt for a fake bride to boost ratings and save his business empire.

Alex is a street vendor and musician who has spent her life trying to blend in. While she makes herself as quietly inconspicuous as possible on the outside, inside, Alex is filled with color and music, as synesthesia informs her magnum opus, the Red Concerto.

When Charlie notices Alex and asks her to be on his show, his proposal is counter to the intensely private way she’s lived for so long. But the promise of production for the Red Concerto outweighs Alex’s mistrust of Charlie, and she agrees.

As the Red Concerto nears premiere, Charlie’s bitterness over his own failed ambitions compels him to dig deeper into Alex’s past, uncovering childhood secrets that threaten her music, her identity, and her life.

About S.F. Hayes

S.F. Hayes has made a living doing many things: sticking electrodes into insect brains, performing surgery on frogs, consulting on railroads, and teaching aerobics. But she was always one of those kids who was endlessly reading and writing and finally made it back to those passions (after having two kids). These days she can be found writing in New York City cafes, parks, and subway cars. 

She holds a PhD in biology from Caltech and undergraduate degrees in molecular biology and philosophy from UC Berkeley. She lives in the city with her husband, two kids, and one ambivalent cat.

Learn more about S.F. Hayes at her website here.

Follow our blog and social media to keep up with release developments for The Red Concerto, including a cover reveal coming soon!

BOOK RELEASE: The Beast Keepers

Book Catalog, Book Release

Happy release day to Julie Fudge Smith, author of The Beast Keepers!

The Beast Keepers is available everywhere as a paperback and e-book. Find it here, or request it at your favorite local bookstore.

We’ve been taken with the premise of this book from the moment we met Julie. Think C.S. Lewis meets James Herriot!

Jonathan F. St. Roche, a young veterinarian jaded by the wealthy horse world, answers an ad for a job as a small-town veterinarian in rural Carrollton, Ohio. Once there, he soon discovers the town is a safe haven for a menagerie of mythical creatures (including a pregnant pegasus, a flying monkey with a sprained wing, a centaur with Cushing’s disease, and a unicorn with a sweet tooth) who rely on him for their medical care and shelter from the outside world. When a deadly basilisk threatens the town, Jonathan and his new friends must balance the dangerous creature’s needs against the grave risk to the community.

“With a cast of beastly characters, this is a playful consideration of what kindness to animals really means. Fun, inventive, and charming, The Beast Keepers is a delight for animal lovers. I loved it!”

—Zazie Todd, PhD, author of Wag and Purr

“If you love the bond between animals and their guardians, you’re going to love this book. Not only do you meet some fun domestic animals, but you’ll also be captivated by the mythical creatures. A thoroughly enjoyable, well-written story. As a dog trainer, I especially enjoyed the sections about how animals think and learn! Well done!”

—Robin Bennett, CPDT-KA, Co-founder, The Dog Gurus, former president of the Association of Professional Dog Trainers

About the Author

Julie Smith is a writer and an extensively credentialed Certified Professional Dog Trainer living in Galena, Ohio. The idea for The Beast Keepers was born from a visit to the vet:

Several years ago while I waited with my flat-coated retriever Mr. Bingley at the holistic vet for a chiropractic adjustment, I studied the poster showing the acupuncture points for dogs. I wondered if animals such as turtles, frogs, snakes, porcupines, etc., had acupuncture points as well.

While the vet worked on Bingley, I asked him whether he learned acupuncture for animals besides dogs, cats, horses, etc. He replied that there were classes for “other” animals. Although I think he probably meant animals such as goats or sheep, there was something about the way he said “other” that caused me to think:

“You meant griffins? Centaurs? Fauns?” Showing a modicum of restraint, I did not ask that aloud. I did, however, spend the remainder of the day contemplating how you would treat medical issues in mythological animals. If a griffin had a lung infection, would you be treating bird lungs or mammalian lungs? Can centaurs get gout, and if so, how would it manifest? Can unicorns get laminitis?

Thus was born the idea of The Beast Keepers, an adult literary novel with a twist.

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NEW AUTHOR ANNOUNCEMENT: Cassandra Martindell, author of LIKE LEAVES ON A STREAM

Books Coming Soon

We’re delighted to announce that we’ll be publishing Cassandra Martindell’s debut novel, Like Leaves on a Stream.

Set in rural Ohio, Like Leaves on a Stream tells the story of twelve-year-old Sadie Watkins, whose world is being upended by her mother’s disease: a severe form of multiple sclerosis.

Sadie faces the impending grief of losing her mother, and consequently, her childhood. She seeks solace in the woods behind her house, where she processes her overwhelming home life through traditional Appalachian herbology, pressing and cataloging flowers and plants like a budding scientist.

Sadie’s grief often causes her to question reality, and when she meets another young girl in the woods, Cali, she isn’t quite sure Cali actually exists. Cali is a barefoot wild child who seems to come from nowhere, but the two girls become instant friends. Cali re-introduces Sadie to the wonders of the forest and gives her the courage she needs to face the future—the one without her mom in it.

This novel intertwines grief, love, nature, and wonder. It also acts as a time capsule from the Healthcare Crisis in the early 2000s, and the many American families like Sadie’s who had to make great sacrifices when illness struck. 

Want to get the vibe of Like Leaves on a Stream? Check out this Spotify playlist inspired by the book here!

About the author

Cassandra Martindell is a nonprofit marketing professional, currently serving as Communications Director for the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation in Columbus, Ohio. She is a graduate of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism and continues to freelance as a science writer for major publications, including Mechanical Engineering Magazine. She serves as an active member of her local writing community and has been a judge and editor for the Ohio Writers Association. Her writing explores themes such as gender, culture, mental health, disability, nature, and all of the universal forces that influence our human experience.

Learn more about Cassandra on her website here.

Like Leaves on a Stream releases May 12, 2024! Follow us here to keep up with book developments, including a cover reveal coming soon.

COVER REVEAL: Call Me Sonny

Book Catalog, Books Coming Soon, Cover Reveal

It’s cover reveal day for Call Me Sonny by Steve Lazarus. We LOVE how this cover nails the dark crime fiction vibe of this Bryce Chandler mystery, and we can’t wait for the release of Call Me Sonny in the fall!

ABOUT CALL ME SONNY

Shortly after a corrupt attorney pays a visit to an inmate serving a life sentence in a federal supermax prison, people from the inmate’s past start to die. Bryce Chandler, a retired FBI Agent eking out a living as a private investigator in the Florida Keys, ties the string of killings to a shadowy murder-for-hire organization operating on the Dark Web, and in the process he discovers the final name on the list is his own.  At the same time, a simple divorce case turns out to be much more than meets the eye, as Bryce’s investigation of the defendant leads him down a path of international drug smuggling, money laundering, and violent henchmen bent on keeping him silent. The two storylines run parallel to one another until they eventually converge in a final bloody outcome.

About the author

Steve Lazarus is a first-time author, retired FBI Special Agent, and United States Air Force veteran. He served twenty-two years in the FBI, spending the first half of his career investigating drug trafficking organizations and violent street gangs. Later, he became a full-time bomb technician, an assignment which led him to Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan as part of the Global War on Terror.  After retiring from the Bureau, he spent several years as a national security instructor in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Steve lives outside Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, with his partner Susan and their amazing wonder dog, Aspen.

Follow our blog and social media to keep up with release developments for Call Me Sonny!

NEW AUTHOR ANNOUNCEMENT: Jim Garland, author of Pocket Dog

Books Coming Soon

We’re thrilled to announce we’ll be publishing Pocket Dog by Jim Garland, to be released fall of 2023.

Pocket Dog is a smart, upmarket rom-com about Ollie Allyinphree, a hapless and perpetually single (if charmingly nerdy) research librarian in Boston. When Ollie comes into a sizeable fortune, he begins to receive marriage proposals from women all over the world. One relationship after another falls through until, with the help of a long-lost twin brother and a mysterious tiny rescue dog, Ollie learns how to overcome his passivity and take the risks that lead him to find and name what he truly wants.

Pocket Dog explores themes of taking risks in relationships and decision-making, the limits of knowledge and logic, and the meaning of love. 

About the author

Jim Garland grew up in Kansas City and graduated from Princeton (AB), Cornell (PhD) and Cambridge U. (postdoc). He was professor of physics and executive dean of arts and sciences at Ohio State and for ten years president of Miami U. of Ohio. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society.

Garland is the author of more than a hundred scientific papers, essays, and opinion pieces. His humorous debut novel, Pocket Dog, started life as a classroom exercise in a course he audited at Ohio State. His non-fiction tome, Saving Alma Mater: a Rescue Plan for America’s Public Universities, (University of Chicago Press) has been described as hilariously unfunny.

Garland lives and writes in Santa Fe, on a hundred cactus-ridden acres, accompanied by three dogs, six chickens, a very tolerant spouse, and a courtyard bull snake named Beatrice.

Follow us here for updates on Pocket Dog’s production, including a highly anticipated cover reveal, coming soon!

COVER REVEAL: The Beast Keepers

Author Spotlight, Books Coming Soon, Cover Reveal

It’s cover reveal day for The Beast Keepers by Julie Fudge Smith. We love how this intricate cover turned out, and we can’t wait for the release of The Beastkeepers on August 1, 2023!

The Beast Keepers is the story of Jonathan F. St. Roche, a young veterinarian who takes a job in the rural Ohio town of Carrollton. He soon discovers it is a safe haven for a menagerie of mythical creatures (including a pregnant pegasus, a flying monkey with a sprained wing, a centaur with Cushing’s disease, and a unicorn with a sweet tooth) who rely on him for their medical care and shelter from the outside world. When a deadly basilisk threatens the town, Jonathan, along with his new friends wrestle with balancing the dangerous creature’s needs against the risk to the community.

Julie Smith is a writer and an extensively credentialed Certified Professional Dog Trainer living in Granville, Ohio. The idea for The Beast Keepers was born from a visit to the vet:

Several years ago while my flat-coated retriever, Mr. Bingley, and I waited at the holistic vet for a chiropractic adjustment, I studied the poster showing the acupuncture points for dogs. I wondered if animals such as turtles, frogs, snakes, porcupines, etc., had acupuncture points as well.

While the vet worked on Bingley, I asked him whether he learned acupuncture for animals besides dogs, cats, horses, etc. He replied that there were classes for “other” animals. Although I think he probably meant animals such as goats or sheep, there was something about the way he said “other” that caused me to think:

“You meant griffins? Centaurs? Fauns?” Showing a modicum of restraint, I did not ask that aloud. I did, however, spend the remainder of the day contemplating how you would treat medical issues in mythological animals. If a griffin had a lung infection, would you be treating bird lungs or mammalian lungs? Can centaurs get gout, and if so, how would it manifest? Can unicorns get laminitis?

Thus was born the idea of The Beast Keepers, an adult literary novel with a twist.

Learn more about Julie Smith on her website here.

Follow our blog and social media to keep up with release developments for The Beast Keepers, including the announce of a pre-order period!