Go Small Or Go Home

Massage therapist Tess Grayson has long dreamed of turning her hobby of building intricate miniature dioramas into an art career. She’s finally ready to grab for that tiny brass ring, but her potential new massage client shakes her resolve. Forrest Williams had finally healed from the car accident that killed his fiancée, but a new injury now threatens his professional hockey career. Even allowing for everything he’s suffered, the depth of the emotional and physical pain Tess senses in Forrest at their first meeting shocks her, and she puts aside her artistic aspirations for two months to help him recover. When Forrest shows Tess’s dioramas to his mother, who owns a top Toronto art gallery, she agrees to sell Tess’s work but her rules and restrictions stifle Tess’s creativity. Giving up the career of her dreams is unthinkable, but losing the freedom and joy she’d always found in her art is unbearable, and Tess can’t seem to find a way to have both at once.

It is in the seemingly ordinary moments of life where God does his greatest work. Go big or go home . . . so they say. But do you ever feel like no matter how big you go, you still haven’t gone big enough? Have you grown so frustrated with the pursuit of “go big” that “go home” is starting to look inviting? Going big all the time is not only a recipe for burnout—it’s not the way God works in your life. It’s time to break free from “go big or go home.” It’s time to invest in stamina, to cultivate endurance, to recognize the miraculous world of the ordinary, little things. Show the door to “go big or go home” thinking. Your ordinary life is miraculous. It’s time to go small—and keep on going.

This book is a compilation of stories and lifetime experiences over a seventy-one year period in the author’s life. From World War II through the Space Age: from childhood innocence through the adventures of adulthood. All of this, motivated by her desire for her children, grandchildren, and subsequent generations to see what she has seen, and know her as a person. “I’ve always wished I had asked my grandmothers more questions about their lives. I don’t think I’m unique in that respect,” she says. Its filled with humor, history, and simply the joy of living while striving to become the person you think you were meant to be.

The words "inimitable" and "unique" are bandied about too often in artistic circles, so much so that critics seem to have forgotten those words were invented to describe Howard Waldrop's fiction. Waldrop's mastery of arcane knowledge, his transcendent wit, and the way his stories explode like cheerty bombs inside a reader's mind have all made Howard Waldrop one of the most beloved writers of the past two decades. Readers who encounter his work never forget the experience, and this new collection compiles nine such experiences (heretofore uncollected), including: "Flatfeet!", a madcap tour of this century's first decades, courtesy of the Keystone Kops. "Ocean's Ducks," an homage to those brave black actors of the 1930s. Remember those "Little Moron" jokes in the schoolyard, like "Why did the Little Moron throw the clock out the window?" "He wanted to see Time fly." Now ask yourself again "Why Did?" And beware the masked Mexican wrestlers of "El Castillo de la Perserverancia"! Howard Waldrop's unique and inimitable talents are on full display here. Read on, marvel, and rejoice.

“Do you remember Savannah?” How could she forget? Two decades ago, Trinity Calhoun's best friend—18-year-old Savannah Stuart—went missing. Just weeks later, Savannah’s body was found brutally slain outside the mountain town. With no suspects or leads, the local authorities dismissed the murder as a tragic one-off, likely perpetrated by a tourist. But Trinity wasn’t convinced. Determined to do better for other victims, she left town and settled in Vancouver, rising through the ranks to become a detective. She’s never looked back. But now, an unexpected phone call from her former lover has her barreling down the highway to face the past. Another young woman has disappeared under eerily similar circumstances. Allegedly. But the local police are disinterested. Trinity’s ex has a tenuous—at best—hold on his mental and physical health. And Savannah’s secretive and handsome brother is in town, asking an awful lot of questions. Trinity’s focus is clouded. Maybe her judgment, too. As she wades through her past, she needs to answer a potentially life-threatening question: is there a dangerous, repeat criminal on the loose, or is she just desperate for closure?

Offers teachers, students, and general readers a fascinating glimpse into the Filipina diaspora.