Cynthia Robinson — Birds of Wonder

Set among the hills and lakes of upstate New York and told in six vibrantly distinct voices, this complex and original narrative chronicles the rippling effects of a young girl’s death through a densely intertwined community. By turns funny, fierce, lyrical and horrifying, Birds of Wonder probes family ties, the stresses that break them, and the pasts that never really let us go.

About the author:
Cynthia Robinson is a writer and art historian based in Ithaca, New York. Her short fiction has been published by The Arkansas Review, Epoch, The Missouri Review, Slice, and others. She is Mary Donlon Alger Professor of Medieval and Islamic Art at Cornell University and has recently, following a very long hiatus, returned to fiction with her first novel, Birds of Wonder.

To learn more visit cynthiarobinsonbooks.com and connect with Robinson on Goodreads and Instagram.

The Boys You Don’t Take Home — Alexander Atlas

Alexander Atlas — a man who was used to winning — knows how the dating game works. He played it himself for years before settling down, and watched woman after woman fall for the same tricks.

In his new, brazenly honest dating guide, The Boys You Don’t Take Home: Game Secrets, Atlas takes women inside the male mind and shares his past, one-sided relationship perspective. Using colorful, lesson-packed anecdotes, he introduces readers to the “mama’s boy,” the “bad boy,” the “player” and the “scrub” and shares his tips for spotting their deceitful tricks and traps.

Atlas covers a wide range of topics that include:
• How to identify “Mr. Wrong”
• How to move on from heartache and heartbreak
• The telltale signs of cheating
• Dealing with rejection
• How to use your relationship as inspiration for personal success
• Understanding the signs of emotional abuse
• How to stop wasting your time on unworthy men

Readers may recognize some of their own dating mistakes and disasters between the covers of The Boys You Don’t Take Home, and that’s the point! Atlas wants to help women everywhere make better relationship choices.

Alexander Atlas writes both fiction and nonfiction. In addition to The Boys You Don’t Take Home: Game Secrets, Atlas is also the author of the companion piece, The Girls You Don’t Take Home to Mama (published in 2016). He is also working on two novels: Napoleon’s Way and From Prey 2 Predator as well as his third self-help installment, The Girls You Don’t Take Home: Pandemonium and Chaos. A father of two daughters as well as a motivational fitness trainer, Alexander Atlas incorporates self-improvement into all facets of his life.

Tom Murray Discusses Fathers, Sons, and the Holy Ghosts of Baseball

Time often slows and frequently even stops in the small town of Cottage Park, Iowa. In fact, time is best measured not by the hands of a clock but by the innings of a baseball game. Praying and playing baseball are two of the town’s primary activities. Actually, they are one in the same in a town where baseball is a religion. Still, time does eventually flow on. Much like the Des Moines River just outside Cottage Park, time leads to the site of the 1974 Iowa high school baseball tournament. Cottage Park’s Holy Trinity High School has never won the Finals, as they are known. The team’s three elderly coaches vow to at last anoint themselves Finals champions before they retire in their final season. For the players, the road to the Finals is a confirmation by fire–a rite of passage before they must face adulthood looming before them. Fathers, sons, and the holy ghosts of baseball join together in the quest for the Finals. Along this journey, young and old alike ultimately learn you must sacrifice before you can gain and sometimes you must lose before you can win.

Connect with the author:
https://www.facebook.com/baseballisareligion/