Beneath The Light

A Publishers Weekly Notable Book 49th Shelf Recommended Read A modern gay memoir exploring love, death, pain, and community that will resonate long after the last page. “This is an embodied story of love, loss, and recovery — raw, candid, and filled with a sense of awe at human resilience.” — Shelf Awareness “A timely story so human, so beautiful, so bravely told with heart and humour.” — Rosie O’Donnell A lifetime of finding punchlines in his heartache comes to a shuddering stop when comedian and writer Shawn Hitchins loses two great loves, five months apart, to sudden death. In this deeply poignant memoir that combines sober self-portrait with tender elegy, Hitchins explores the messiness of being alive: the longing and desire, scorching-earth anger, raw grief — and the pathway of healing he discovers when he lets his heart remain open. Never without an edge of self-awareness, The Light Streamed Beneath It invites the reader into Hitchins’s world as he reckons with his past and stays painfully in the present. As he builds an embodied future, he confronts the stories that have shaped him, sets aside his ambition, and seeks connection in what he used to deflect with laughter — therapy, community and chosen family, movement, spirituality, and an awareness of death’s ever-presence. A heartrending and hope-filled story of resilience in the wake of death, The Light Streamed Beneath It joyfully affirms that life is essentially good, as Hitchins weaves his tale full of tenacious spirit, humor, kindness, and grit through life’s most unforgiving challenges.

A Palestinian reimagining of Jane Eyre

More interested in bird bones than people, Elizah Rayne is nothing like other fourteen-year-old girls. “Normal” life seems impossible when she and her mother move into an old house bordering a cemetery, where Elizah finds a human jawbone and meets Nathaniel, a strange boy with an unimaginable secret.

Lincoln Stone is President of the Dark Angels motorcycle club, and he's been accused of a crime he didn't commit. Will this finally be his downfall?Lincoln lives a life that straddles the fine line between right and wrong. Now he stands accused of a crime that could see him losing everything he holds close and breaking a promise to the one person who loved him unconditionally, his sister.That is, until Mason.Mason Davenport believes in the law and what it stands for. When his father asks him to take on Lincoln's case, he learns some things are not as clear cut as they seem. Can he see beneath the exterior Lincoln hides behind to help him battle for his freedom and keep what he treasures most? Or will those who are conspiring against Lincoln win?The Light Beneath the Dark is a standalone MM gay romance, with a sassy little girl that can offer one man freedom and another what he never realized he wanted, a daughter.

Black Swan meets Paranormal Activity in this compelling ghost story about a former dancer whose grip on reality slips when she begins to think a dark entity is stalking her. Something is wrong with Marianne. It's not just that her parents have finally split up. Or that life hasn't been the same since she quit dancing. Or even that her mother has checked herself into the hospital. She's losing time. Doing things she would never do. And objects around her seem to break whenever she comes close. Something is after her. And the only one who seems to believe her is the daughter of a local psychic. But their first attempt at an exorcism calls down the full force of the thing's rage. It demands Marianne give back what she stole. Whatever is haunting her, it wants everything she has—everything it's convinced she stole. Marianne must uncover the truth that lies beneath it all before the nightmare can take what it thinks it's owed, leaving Marianne trapped in the darkness of the other side.

A cloth bag containing ten copies of the title.

“Foster is in top form here, entertainingly mixing politics, comedy, and intriguing alien anthropology.”—Booklist Abducted by aliens to be sold as pets in a more civilized part of the galaxy, earthlings Marcus Walker and a scruffy dog named George (speech-enhanced to increase his market value) have managed to escape their captors. Walker loves being humankind’s first galactic traveler—until he remembers he hasn’t a clue where home is or how to get there. So the erstwhile commodities broker becomes a chef, whipping up delicacies for demanding alien palates. Of course he never imagined that the way back to Chicago would involve swapping his easy-living adopted planet for an all-out, age-old war many parsecs away. But hey, it’s all for a good cause, he has George and their two fellow escapees for company, and what else is there to do, besides avoid nasty aliens? Plenty, as it turns out. “An enjoyable read . . . Foster’s writing is smooth and his characters engaging.”—SFReader “Sometimes humorous, sometimes serious, and always entertaining.”—Library Journal

It's perfectly normal for a 19-year-old to be captivated by a beautiful young girl. But it's a bit unusual if he's never met her and she's been dead for more than a decade. In the Summer of 1978, Chad Anderson takes a construction job at a local amusement park. It is there he learns of Evelyn Welsh, a 16-year-old girl brutally murdered at the park thirteen years earlier. Although her killer was arrested and confessed to the crime, he has refused to reveal his motive or where he disposed of her body. Over the course of the summer, Chad's interest in the case develops into an obsession as he pursues the truth about Evelyn and tries to locate her remains. But he soon learns she may not have been as innocent as everyone has been led to believe. He also discovers the truth can be painful...and dangerous. Beneath the Lights is the literary equivalent of a Ramones song of the time period: fast-paced, tight, and compelling. The story is told from Chad's point of view interspersed with flashbacks that gradually reveal the details surrounding Evelyn's fate. As both narratives converge, Chad realizes he's uncovered a secret meant to stay buried for years. Finally, but no less important, it is a coming-of-age story that explores the themes of sacrifice and redemption. --- "This mystery paints a vivid picture of life in a small town and the danger and darkness that lurks even in the most benign of settings." - Jennifer Dornbush (Author of The Coroner, Secret Remains, and Forensic Speak)