Ollie Finds His Happy Place

Ollie, a little screech owl needs to find a new place to roost. He finds several places that just don't work for him until he comes across a wonderful place that has several reasons for being his "Happy Place."

“Much like Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, M. L. Rio’s sparkling debut is a richly layered story of love, friendship, and obsession...will keep you riveted through its final, electrifying moments.” —Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, New York Times bestselling author of The Nest "Nerdily (and winningly) in love with Shakespeare...Readable, smart.” —New York Times Book Review On the day Oliver Marks is released from jail, the man who put him there is waiting at the door. Detective Colborne wants to know the truth, and after ten years, Oliver is finally ready to tell it. A decade ago: Oliver is one of seven young Shakespearean actors at Dellecher Classical Conservatory, a place of keen ambition and fierce competition. In this secluded world of firelight and leather-bound books, Oliver and his friends play the same roles onstage and off: hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingénue, extras. But in their fourth and final year, good-natured rivalries turn ugly, and on opening night real violence invades the students’ world of make-believe. In the morning, the fourth-years find themselves facing their very own tragedy, and their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, each other, and themselves that they are innocent. If We Were Villains was named one of Bustle's Best Thriller Novels of the Year, and Mystery Scene says, "A well-written and gripping ode to the stage...A fascinating, unorthodox take on rivalry, friendship, and truth."

Imagine you worked at a company in which every other week, people you knew were dying. But not just dying: being gruesomely murdered. That is the watercooler topic of the month for workers at Showbiz Studios, once the legendary home to the Hollywood silent movie era. Meet Christian McCorkle, a thirty year-old man-child obsessed with living each day at work as if it were a TV show. Christian only wants a happy workplace for himself and the clerks he supervises in the studio's mail department. Unfortunately, a serial killer, known as the Whistler, has found a plethora of victims on the massive studio lot-executing each one in a grisly manner. If that weren't enough, a secret cult holds meetings on the premises; ghosts walk the corridors; and Christian's least favorite employee, the always-tardy Mu-Chin Chin, may be a spy for the evil head of Human Resources. It's up to Christian and his employees, who call themselves The Unfortunates, to tackle these sinister goings-on before one of their own falls victim to one of the various maniacs who threaten them. Their efforts might even earn these mailroom clerks long overdue raises if they can survive.

Nine-year-old Samantha Plum (Sammy), a city girl, journeys with her parents from San Francisco to Hawai'i, where she meets a wise old man with glittering eyes. He has a mysterious message for her, which she does not yet understand. In the Philippines, home of her ancestors, on the old family farm, she finds herself in a world filled with magic — a sky of a billion stars, a gecko that glows in the dark, a fish girl, a ball of light, fairies in a jar. But the family's happiness is threatened by an evil scheming cousin, in league with a vengeful earth spirit who appears out of nowhere, a bony white-bearded little man with long scrawny fingers as cold as ice. He plots to steal Sammy away, in a swirling cloud that his power can conjure up. Sammy, only a little girl, unsure of herself, must somehow learn to battle these dark forces. In peril, she finds that she is not alone. Good magic comes to her aid from another little girl, who can speak to her without words, a heroic presence from her family more than a hundred years ago, and a tiger shark who can carry messages thousands of miles to the wise old man in Hawai'i. And, most powerful of all, Sammy discovers a special gift in herself . . .

Nanoo is Ollie’s beloved grandmother and an astronomer who discovered the planet Terenza, in a gentle galaxy east of the moon. When Nanoo disappears on a trip to the Outback, Ollie cannot accept that she is gone. He is worried, sad and refuses to believe that Nanoo would leave him. He feels helpless sitting around on his farm with only his faithful Labrador, Chloe, to listen to his feelings. However, his luck changes when the Starchaser and his Star-fordshire Terrier, Buddy, plot a way to get to Earth from Terenza. The boys and their dogs begin an epic adventure to find Nanoo. Their journey takes them across the Outback, up the Steps to the Moon and into space. But will Ollie find her, and will he bring her home?

2022 Midwest Book Awards- Debut Poetry Finalist 2022 Eric Hoffer Awards - Da Vinci Eye Finalist 2022 Eric Hoffer Awards - Grand Prize Short List 2022 Eric Hoffer Awards - Poetry Honorable Mention 2019 Button Poetry Video Contest Winner Dead Dad Jokes is an unflinching take on family, loss and trauma. There is nothing quiet about Schminkey's debut. Every page is raw, honest and unforgettable. Dead Dad Jokes brings the impact of addiction into crisp focus while also shattering our simplistic TV preconceptions about it. Ollie never lets the reader slip into the easy sadness of cliche - instead they guide us through the realities and contradictions of losing someone you love and of death - reminding us that they need not be one and the same.

Reprint of the original.