I had the great pleasure this year of publishing author Jean Ryan’s second short story collection, Lovers and Loners. It’s only the third book besides my own that I’ve put out on the MadeMark Publishing imprint, something I reserve only for a few books, given how much a labor of love publishing is.

I recognized Jean’s gift a few years ago when she submitted a story for the anthology I was co-editing, Outer Voices Inner Lives. When the chance came to publish her second collection, I jumped.

And now I’m very happy to share that Lover and Loners was met with praise by the Summerset Review. It’s well deserved by an author who gives meaning to the term literary fiction.

Love a short story? Be sure to check out all the excellent ones at this Instafreebie literary fiction giveaway, hosted by Lincoln Cole and running September 10 – 30.

Authors include: Katie O’Rourke, Karen Paradon, Martin Crosbie, Holly James, and many more. Life is short … and so is great fiction. And yes, I’m there too, with the collection ‘5 of a Kind.’ “The human condition in five uneasy pieces.”

Now available for your (free) reading pleasure on Book Funnel and Instafreebie.

The human condition in five uneasy pieces … ‘5 of a Kind’ picks up where ‘An Unobstructed View’ left off, offering five unique perspectives on the human experience.

About ‘5 of a Kind’

5 of a Kind is a collection of short stories that explore the human condition in all its folly, joy, despair and hope. From a woman whose small son is there one moment and gone the next, to a man who has spent his life peering out at the world from behind a curtain, to teenagers on an Indiana back road encountering the impossible. Each story and its characters express the inner voices of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. Some survive, though in what way and in what state they had never imagined.

Already an email subscriber? Stay tuned, I have a preview of ‘Murder at the Paisley Parrot’ coming soon exclusive for your first look!

Hello to all 1,400 of my newest friends! I hope everyone enjoyed the Instafreebies. There are more on the way, exclusively for you.

I’m in Provincetown for the first time, staying in a time share with my husband Frank and enjoying this amazing place. I’m also hard at work on two (that’s right, two!) novels I expect to have out in the coming months: Murder at the Paisley Parrot: A Marshall James Novel, and Black Cat White Paws: A Maggie Dahl Mystery. Each book is very different from the other. Murder at the Paisley Parrot tells the story of Marshall James, now 58 and living in New York City, as he decides to reveal a series of murders he was involved in back in Hollywood, circa 1983. He was a young bartender then, caught between a serial killer, the mob, and a homicide detective named Mac he falls in love with. What could go wrong?

I knew Jean Ryan’s ‘Strange Company’ nature essay collection was special when I first read it. Published under my MadeMark Publishing imprint, each essay is a look at the human condition, through a loving, meticulous look at the natural world we live in.

Death by Pride: A Kyle Callahan Mystery marked the conclusion of the Pride Trilogy. As one reader said, ” … this book creeped me out. It was supposed to. McNease has a way with creating suspense even while not actually hiding anything. The transparency of the tale does nothing to lessen the anxiety that builds as it unfolds.” – Ulysses Dietz

For the next three days, Death by Pride is available for just .99 cents at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Kobo. And you can still get Last Room at the Cliff’s Edge as an Instafreebie! Sign up, download, and take a ride on the mystery train.