Lau's deft clinical inspection of the dynamics of power, sex, and money takes caustic snapshots of lives lived in stasis or, worse, caught in a downward spiral. In the title story, Monica, the queen bee of the massage parlour, is threatened by the constant influx of supple young women: "New girls, they come; new girls all the time. How am I supposed to make a living? Tell me!" In "Marriage," a nameless young woman falls heavily for an older doctor. Under his deluge of compensatory gifts and outright cash, she gasps, "I have no similar method of striking such bargains with my conscience." Plain Jane, in "The Apartments," dares to dream that "Perhaps tonight will be the night he sinks to his knees" and tells her that he loves her, "that he can't be a client anymore." Not a chance. On the sobering cab ride home, "between the waves of nausea it occurs to her that certain things, things that once seemed so possible, are becoming less and less likely with each passing night." Lau's writing is clear and relentlessly nuanced, neither jaded nor sanctimonious. A detour toward personal destruction spawned her best-selling 1989 memoir, Runaway: Diary of a Street Kid. Three years later, her first book of poetry, Oedipal Dreams, made Lau the youngest-ever Governor General's Award nominee, and she has continued to fashion poignant books of poetry, short story collections, and novels from the shards of her shattered past. --Sigcino Moyo

    Walden s follow up to the lyrical I Love This Part is a poetic exploration of the process of growing older; the journey towards finding out who you are and building a life for yourself. It is a universal story of how we don t just come-of-age once, but many times throughout our lives."

    It’s a book with the flow of poetry but the ebb of short stories – rightfully called “Shoetry”. This creation takes you to the roots of humanity - stripping back the veneers of life, society and interaction to see people and their ways in an entirely new light.

    Introduction by Adrienne Rich

    She travels the U.S. as a photographer for Rider magazine. A self-proclaimed nomad, Val has little inclination to settle down. But something keeps calling her back to a little tourist trap called Cool Springs in rural West Virginia. The sign at the quirky little store boasts, “Good food, groceries, ice cream, hardware, feed store, taxidermy, gifts, and gas.” Cool Springs is owned by Laurel Stemple and her grandmother Ree. Laurel is charged with the daily operations of the catch-all little store/diner and the care of her octogenarian grandmother. A frequent visitor, Val has become like family at Cool Springs. Interesting characters like Mule, aptly nicknamed for his braying laughter and Wunder, whose child-like questions keep everyone in stitches, create a unique tapestry of community in the little store. Over the years, Val and Laurel have gradually fallen in love without acknowledging it. Personal secrets and scars have left the pair unable to move toward a relationship. While covering an annual Memorial Day Ride to the Wall, a near tragic accident forces Val and Laurel to confront their feelings and fears.

    With a gift for delicate, violent imagery, Ashe invites us to lose ourselves in her world. Wrong Side of a Fistfight feels like getting lost in the woods, with someone holding your hand promising to guide you home. This is the second book of poems by Ashe Vernon, spoken word poet and author of the blog Late Night Corner Store.

    Granted unprecedented access to personal papers and diaries, Peters gives us a compelling look at the woman who influenced a legion of readers with rich and intimate writings, and reveals the fascinating life that Sarton herself kept hidden.Beginning with a young Sarton largely ignored by her parents, Peters traces the compulsive quest for recognition and artistic inspiration that would characterize most of Sarton's life. We witness her at nineteen as she chooses a life in the theater, only to discover later her real passion: writing. As her literary career takes shape, we watch her personal and professional struggles for acceptance, her intense relationships with such learned friends as Muriel Rukeyser and Louise Bogan, and her secret turmoil over her sexuality. But ultimately, we see Sarton begin to create in her works the image of a strong, independent woman who lived peacefully with solitude--an image that often contradicted the reality of her life.

    Sixteen-year-old Audre is despondent, having just found out she’s going to be sent to live in America with her father because her strictly religious mother caught her with her secret girlfriend, the pastor’s daughter. Audre’s grandmother Queenie (a former dancer who drives a white convertible Cadillac and who has a few secrets of her own) tries to reassure her granddaughter that she won’t lose her roots, not even in some place called Minneapolis. “America have dey spirits too, believe me,” she tells Audre.Minneapolis. Sixteen-year-old Mabel is lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling and trying to figure out why she feels the way she feels–about her ex Terrell, about her girl Jada and that moment they had in the woods, and about the vague feeling of illness that’s plagued her all summer. Mabel’s reverie is cut short when her father announces that his best friend and his just-arrived-from-Trinidad daughter are coming for dinner. Mabel quickly falls hard for Audre and is determined to take care of her as she tries to navigate an American high school. But their romance takes a turn when test results reveal exactly why Mabel has been feeling low-key sick all summer and suddenly it’s Audre who is caring for Mabel as she faces a deeply uncertain future.Junauda Petrus’s debut brilliantly captures the distinctly lush and lyrical voices of Mabel and Audre as they conjure a love that is stronger than hatred, prison, and death and as vast as the blackness between the stars.

    In typical Acker fashion, he's including a text exchange with one of Acker's fictional heroines, Janey Smith, along with stories of their friendship and what Acker would think of everything now, today, "as the world begins to burn."

    Mosh Pit, a compelling story of rebel girls in the modern city, stars Simone - torn between her loyalty to her rebellious heart - throb Cherry and her feelings for Carol, streetwise and distant enough to be alluring.This edgy young adult novel takes Simone through the modern equivalent of Hades where she gradually gains a sense of who she is and more importantly who she can be.

    But she has reckoned without floppy-eared, tail-wagging Mouse, who comes nosing to her window. Followed shortly by his owner, Alice. As Beth’s year of solitude rolls out, Alice gently steals her way first into Beth’s house and later into her heart. And by the time New Year’s Eve comes round again – who knows?A tender and delicate love story in verse, The Space Between is a tale of how warmth, support and friendship can overcome mental anguish.

    This country girl grew up in Sylvania, a little mountain town outside of Pittsburgh populated entirely by wolves. Out of all of the members of her boisterous family, she’s the most stubborn.But she’s met her match in Darcy Williams.When Lizzie and Darcy first meet at a charity auction, it’s not so much a spark as an instant inferno. Darcy is sexy as all hell, a smoldering force of nature and a deeply mysterious lady: so Lizzie’s immediately smitten.Until Darcy opens her mouth. Because this alpha wolf on vacation from L.A. is as snobby as they come. And Lizzie just happens to be an alpha, too.Two alphas can’t possibly see eye to eye, and two headstrong women who hate each other can’t possibly fall in love...right?