On the Galápagos Islands, the lives of two women--a century apart--converge in the most startling ways in a historical novel of desperate love, secrets, and deception by the author of My Last Continent.
After ten years away to build a family, Mallory returns to Floreana Island in the Galápagos, and to Gavin, the mentor with whom she had a long-ago affair. Their project is to build nests to revive the vulnerable penguin population. But Mallory doesn't dare tell Gavin why she's really come back. Then she discovers old journals hidden in a lava cave--confessions of another woman who needed to disappear.
In 1929, Dore Strauch left the life she knew to create a new one with the man she loved. On remote Floreana they're beholden to no one but each other. Until the arrival of strangers, settlers in their paradise. Suddenly, Dore realizes that it's no longer the refuge she imagined. And that amid the island's fragile beauty, people can do the most terrible things.
A gripping reimagining of a true story, Floreana intertwines the emotional journeys of two women bound by dark secrets, the want of escape, and the lengths to which they'll go to find their place in the world.
On the Galápagos Islands, the lives of two women--a century apart--converge in the most startling ways in a historical novel of desperate love, secrets, and deception by the author of My Last Continent.
After ten years away to build a family, Mallory returns to Floreana Island in the Galápagos, and to Gavin, the mentor with whom she had a long-ago affair. Their project is to build nests to revive the vulnerable penguin population. But Mallory doesn't dare tell Gavin why she's really come back. Then she discovers old journals hidden in a lava cave--confessions of another woman who needed to disappear.
In 1929, Dore Strauch left the life she knew to create a new one with the man she loved. On remote Floreana they're beholden to no one but each other. Until the arrival of strangers, settlers in their paradise. Suddenly, Dore realizes that it's no longer the refuge she imagined. And that amid the island's fragile beauty, people can do the most terrible things.
A gripping reimagining of a true story, Floreana intertwines the emotional journeys of two women bound by dark secrets, the want of escape, and the lengths to which they'll go to find their place in the world.
Winner of the Spokane Prize for Short Fiction
In this new, expanded edition of her prize-winning collection, Midge Raymond stretches the boundaries of place as she explores the indelible imprint of home upon the self and the ways in which new frontiers both defy and confirm who we are. The characters who inhabit these stories travel for business or for pleasure, sometimes out of duty and sometimes in search of freedom, and each encounters the unexpected. From a biologist navigating the stark, icy moonscape of Antarctica to a businesswoman seeking refuge in the lonely islands of the South Pacific, the characters in these stories abandon their native landscapes--only to find that, once separated from the ordinary, they must confront new interpretations of who they really are, and who they're meant to be.
Raymond's prose often lights up the poetry-circuits of the brain, less because of lyrical language and more due to things that work as both literal and symbolic nouns: stolen rings, voice-mail messages gone astray; heavy-footed humans in the middle of fragile habitats...Parts of these polished stories, if read aloud, would sound like a smart patient describing a dream to a psychoanalyst.
-- The Seattle Times
All of her stories are heartbreakingly honest ... I wouldn't be surprised if she started getting compared to Alice Munro or Jhumpa Lahiri.
-- Seattle Books Examiner
Winner of the Spokane Prize for Short Fiction
In this new, expanded edition of her prize-winning collection, Midge Raymond stretches the boundaries of place as she explores the indelible imprint of home upon the self and the ways in which new frontiers both defy and confirm who we are. The characters who inhabit these stories travel for business or for pleasure, sometimes out of duty and sometimes in search of freedom, and each encounters the unexpected. From a biologist navigating the stark, icy moonscape of Antarctica to a businesswoman seeking refuge in the lonely islands of the South Pacific, the characters in these stories abandon their native landscapes--only to find that, once separated from the ordinary, they must confront new interpretations of who they really are, and who they're meant to be.
Raymond's prose often lights up the poetry-circuits of the brain, less because of lyrical language and more due to things that work as both literal and symbolic nouns: stolen rings, voice-mail messages gone astray; heavy-footed humans in the middle of fragile habitats...Parts of these polished stories, if read aloud, would sound like a smart patient describing a dream to a psychoanalyst. -- The Seattle Times
All of her stories are heartbreakingly honest ... I wouldn't be surprised if she started getting compared to Alice Munro or Jhumpa Lahiri. -- Seattle Books Examiner
Raymond has quiet, unrelenting control over the writing; each story is compelling and thrives because each detail and line of dialogue reveals just a little more about the characters and the evocative settings. -- The Rumpus
How to be a writer even when you can't write every day...
Writers are often told that in order to succeed, they must write every day-yet this isn't realistic or feasible for writers with families, day jobs, and other responsibilities that preclude a daily writing practice. Everyday Writing is about how to be a writer every day, even if you're unable to sit down to write every day. This book provides dozens of tips for busy writers, including how to create your ideal writing space, how to develop habits that work for you, and how to keep your projects moving forward even when you're short on time.
Everyday Writing also offers more than 150 prompts to fit into any writer's life, from five-minute prompts you can do in a grocery store line to lengthy prompts that are perfect for a writing retreat. Whether you'd like to generate new material, free yourself from writer's block, or start a revision, these writing exercises provide a way to engage immediately with your work.
Book publication is just the beginning...
Everyday Book Marketing is for the published author who is not only a writer but who also may have another career, a family, and any number of other obligations that require fitting book promotion into a budget where both hours and dollars may be hard to find. This book will guide you on the journey from Writer to Marketing Pro, offering essential marketing tools along the way-including such book promotion basics as how to schedule a book tour and how to make the most of social media to how to keep the buzz going long after your launch date.
Everyday Book Marketing is divided into easily accessible sections that cover not only what you'll need to handle before publication, such as establishing a blog and website, but what you can do during your book launch and beyond. It also offers tips and advice for how to keep the never-ending tasks of book promotion manageable, whether you have ten minutes a day or two hours a day.
Also included are Q&As with a range of authors and industry experts-from fiction authors and poets to librarians and event managers-who provide such invaluable tips as how to present yourself as an author, how to reach out to event coordinators, and how to find new readers both within your community and beyond.
Q&A contributors include...