Today's Featured Books

Congratulations to Melanie Brooks and Vine Leaves Press on the release of A Hard Silence, a memoir that gives readers an intimate glimpse into the author's memories of coping with the tragedy of her father's illness and enduring the loneliness and isolation of not being able to speak.

★★★★★ "Melanie Brooks is that rare writer who can delve as deeply into the world of ideas as she can the pitted terrain of the human heart." ~Andre Dubus III, author of Gone So Long

A Hard Silence by Melanie Brooks

In the mid 1980s, Canada's worst public health disaster was unfolding. Catastrophic mismanagement of the country's blood supply allowed contaminated blood to be knowingly distributed nationwide, infecting close to two thousand Canadians with HIV. Among them was Melanie Brooks's surgeon father who, after receiving a blood transfusion during open-heart surgery in 1985, learned he was HIV positive.

At a time when HIV/AIDS was widely misunderstood and public perception was shaped by fear, prejudice, and homophobia, victims of the disease faced ostracism and persecution. Afraid of this stigma and wanting to protect his family, Melanie's father decided his illness would be a secret. A secret they'd all have to keep. They did not know that her father would live past that first year, but he did. And for ten years before his death in 1995, from the time she was thirteen until she was twenty-three, Melanie's family lived in the shadow of AIDS. She carried the weight of the uncertain trajectory of her father’s health and the heartbreaking anticipation of impending loss silently and alone. It became a way of life.

A Hard Silence is an intimate glimpse into Melanie's memories of coping with the tragedy of her father's illness and enduring the loneliness and isolation of not being able to speak. With candor and vulnerability, Melanie opens her grief wounds and brings her reader inside her journey, twenty years after her father died, to finally understand the consequences of her family's silence, to interrogate the roots of stigma and discrimination responsible for the ongoing secret-keeping, and to show how she's now learned to be authentic.

Praise for A Hard Silence
★★★★★ "A book with a universal message of love, and the courage every single one of us needs to navigate our way to personal, familial, and communal healing." ~Michael Patrick MacDonald, author of All Souls

~★★★★★ "Those of us whose family members were contaminated by HIV/AIDS around the same time shared her feelings, the agony of family secrecy and the fear of stigmatization." ~Vic Parsons, author of Bad Blood: The Unspeakable Truth

★★★★★ “Fills me with a sense of urgency, gratitude, and awe.” ~Abigail Thomas, author of Still Life

★★★★★ “This beautifully rendered memoir asks important questions about the complexities of loss and grief, the roots of stigma and shame, and the courage necessary to endure that resonate in this new and unfortunate age of social exclusion.” ~Richard Blanco, author of The Prince of los Cocuyos

★★★★★ “A vivid and thoughtful exploration of a daughter’s grief for her father, and a family’s unwanted place in history, A Hard Silence movingly depicts the long toll of stigma and the healing power of words.” ~Alex Marzano-Lesnevich, author of The Fact of a Body

★★★★★ “A profound and riveting journey through shame and grief, A Hard Silence is, quite simply, unforgettable.” ~Monica Wood, author of When We Were the Kennedys

★★★★★ “In this important and profound narrative, Brooks chronicles what gets us all through times of grief: love, empathy, even vulnerability. And, most importantly, nurturing a sense of wholeness, even as it slips from us.” ~Sue William Silverman, author of How to Survive Death and Other Inconveniences 

Free online: Evergreen - The History of Little Tokyo. Join Edgar Award–winning author Naomi Hirahara for a dive into the history of Little Tokyo through her newest book, Evergreen, the story of a Japanese American nurse’s aide who navigates the dangers of post–World War II as she attempts to find justice for a broken family. Sponsored by the Japanese American National Museum. Saturday, September 9, 2 PM PDT. 

"In a time of destruction, create something." ~Maxine Hong Kingston

Want to buy a werewolf? It's the latest fad. The WereHouse insists their werepets are loyal, docile, and completely safe, but what happens when these gentle giants turn on their masters? While on a routine EMS call, paramedic Christine Alt is attacked by a rogue werepet. She escapes with her life, but the encounter leaves her with more than just scars. As her body begins to change, she discovers the WereHouse is hiding a terrible secret, and they will stop at nothing to keep her from exposing them. Book One of Werepets Unleashed. 4.3 stars, 150+ ratings. FREE - SHOP NOW / 

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Today, LitNuts is shining a spotlight on the release of Hear, O Earth!, a new novel from best-selling sci-fi/fantasy author Daniel Arenson. Read on to learn more.

To celebrate the launch, Daniel is giving away a commemorative coin. Forged from an ounce of pure silver and minted by the world-renowned Scottsdale Mint, this unique coin features an imposing alien and is perfect for sci-fi fans and collectors of precious metals.

Hear, O Earth! (A Prayer for Earthrise Book 1)

They came from beyond.

From beyond the galaxy. From beyond human understanding. They came with one mission.

To kill us all.

Some call them aliens. Others call them gods. Their tentacles grip worlds. Their malice destroys civilizations. They've crushed a million planets.

And now they crave Earth.

Marco and Addy, veterans of the Alien Wars, are retired. They fought for many years. They saved Earth many times. Now they're raising their children in a peaceful forest. They've earned this peace.

But Earth needs them. More than ever.

Because a war is coming. A war unlike any before. A war that can devour our very galaxy.

The enemy is almost here.

From the shadows of despair, heroes will rise. Heroes will sound the cry of our world, the prayer of our people. "Hear, O Earth! We will live!"

From the USA Today bestselling author of Earthrise comes a tale of courage, sacrifice, and honor among the stars. A Prayer for Earthrise returns to the bestselling Earthrise universe with a brand new story—one for new fans and old readers alike.

Praise for Earthrise and Daniel Arenson

Bonus Offer: Three Free Books!

About the Author

Daniel Arenson is an author, bookworm, and proud geek. He has written more than 80 novels and sold more than 1 million books. His series include:

MINTARI -- Dinosaurs. Majestic giants. They've captured our imagination for generations. On planet Mintari, they live again.

EARTHRISE -- They came from deep space. They came to destroy us. But we will fight back! Start reading with Earth Alone, the first novel.

STARSHIP FREEDOM — The starship Freedom is just a museum ship... until the aliens attack.

REQUIEM -- Welcome to Requiem, an ancient kingdom whose people can grow wings and scales, breathe fire, and take flight as dragons. Start reading with Requiem's Song.

KINGDOMS OF SAND -- Enter a world of sand and splendor, a world where gladiators battle in the arena, where legionaries and barbarians fight for glory, and where empires rise and fall. Start reading with Kings of Ruin.

MOTH -- Discover Moth, a world torn between day and night--its one half drenched in eternal daylight, the other cloaked in endless darkness.

To learn more, visit DanielArenson.com.

Free online: A Royal Rendezvous: Unveiling the Secrets of Windsor. Join Colin Mustful, the founder and editor of History Through Fiction, and acclaimed authors Christine Wells and Bryn Turnbull for a conversation that will revolve around Christine's highly anticipated historical novel, The Royal Windsor Secret, a story that imagines the life of a young woman who believes she is the secret daughter of the Prince of Wales, Edward VIII. They will also discuss a second scandalous chapter in Edward VIII’s life through Bryn’s bestselling debut novel, The Woman Before Wallis, about the life of Viscountess Thelma Furness, Edward VIII’s mistress who fatefully introduced him to Wallis Simpson and lit the flame of the abdication crisis. Thursday, September 7, 4 PM CDT. 

"All kings is mostly rapscallions." ~Mark Twain

Military scientist Rydel Scott has discovered time travel. He also believes he's received a message from God to go back in time and save Jesus Christ from being crucified. As he covers his tracks to journey back undetected, he neglects to factor in the consequences of a devastating butterfly effect. He discovers his own elite soldiers are hunting him down to stop him from making choices that could upend all of human history. 4.2 stars, 179 ratings. From $0.99 SHOP NOW / 

Congratulations to Jennifer Lang and Vine Leaves Press on the release of Places We Left Behind, a "memoir-in-miniature" that examines commitment and compromise in a marriage via a creative blend of prose and poetry.

★★★★★ “For anyone who has ever loved deeply and been willing to take risks for the sake of love.” ~Rachel Barenbaum author of Atomic Anna

Places We Left Behind by Jennifer Lang

When American-born Jennifer falls in love with French-born Philippe during the First Intifada in Israel, she understands their relationship isn't perfect.

Both 23, both Jewish, they lead very different lives: she's a secular tourist, he's an observant immigrant. Despite their opposing outlooks on two fundamental issues—country and religion—they are determined to make it work. For the next 20 years, they root and uproot their growing family, each longing for a singular place to call home.

In Places We Left Behind, Jennifer Lang puts her marriage under a microscope, examining commitment and compromise, faith and family while moving between prose and poetry, playing with language and form, daring the reader to read between the lines.

Praise for Places We Left Behind
★★★★★ “Each facet in this collection is its own world-in-miniature that ultimately coheres into a compelling whole.” ~Sue William Silverman, author of How to Survive Death and Other Inconveniences

★★★★★ “Offers readers a compelling tale of unexpected commitment alongside unconventional nonfiction exploration.” ~Dinty W. Moore, author of Between Panic & Desire

★★★★★ “International marriage, different levels of religious observance, and raising children in both the USA and Israel amidst ongoing conflict...the recipe for gripping, surprising reading.” ~Patrick Madden, author of Disparates

★★★★★ “A poetic, playful and sometimes painful story of marriage, perseverance, commitment, and most of all love—for our families, our partners and finally—ourselves.” ~Corie Adjmi, award-winning author of The Marriage Box and Life and Other Shortcomings

★★★★★ “A fascinating exploration of how to juxtapose one's own happiness with the sacrifices needed to please the other.” ~Evan Fallenberg, author of The Parting Gift

★★★★★ “A smart and compelling narrative about the twists and turns of a relationship when religion, identity, and a sense of place are focal points...this mesmerizing love story is irresistible.” ~Chelsey Clammer, author of Human Heartbeat Detected