Containing items of historical interest for military enthusiasts as well as bits of nostalgia that will appeal to general readers of Americana, Leatherneck Sea Stories is an informal collection of profiles of Marines and memories of serving in the Corps during and after the Korean conflict of the 1950s, all culled straight from the heartfelt experiences of author Dave Easton.

As a member of the “old breed,” Easton might bristle at being labeled a literary artist, but the reader of Leatherneck Sea Stories will quickly discern a clever turn of the phrase to go along with his eloquent demonstration of the fine art of storytelling.

Doug Hoekstra has long-been recognized as an extraordinary singer-songwriter with a decidedly literary bent. Fans and music critics alike are quick to suggest favorable comparisons to such musical poets as Leonard Cohen and Lou Reed, but ultimately the comparisons give way to recognition that he is indeed a unique artist with a distinctive identity. Integral to that identity are his talents as a prose stylist—talents which are triumphantly borne out in Bothering the Coffee Drinkers, a collection of short stories (and two essays) culled from his experiences as a musical troubadour rolling down the highways and playing gigs at dozens of the world’s most renown music clubs and hundreds upon hundreds of gigs at neighborhood pubs and coffee houses. But the setting is ultimately inconsequential: For Doug Hoekstra, everyone is a story and everything a storyline, and if you spend some time listening to his music and reading Bothering the Coffee Drinkers, you’ll realize that the songs are stories and the stories are songs and it will all blend together like pure cream poured into a fresh cup of gourmet coffee.

Bothering the Coffee Drinkers is, above all else, a testament to good, solid writing—a collection of prose stylings which fall under the grand heading of fine literature.

In The View from My Ridge, Charles E. Rice creates short, wonderfully perceptive, lyrical vignettes in the rich story telling tradition of Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street.

Sometimes profound, always moving, these essays by Rice are beautifully crafted. Their intricate designs, almost always completed on one page, reveal the skill of an extraordinary writer. Here is a memoir whose form and style, plus the profundity of its meaning, make it a worthwhile and important read. --Mary Sue Koeppel

Between the Bones is a structured and unified gathering of poems, poems that speak of fresh wounds and ancient healing, of emptiness and fulfillment. From the opening lines of “Getting the Angels to Talk” to the concluding words of the wonderfully apt “How to Say Good-bye Indestructibly,” the reader is embraced by a voice simultaneously innocent and experienced moving along a path of sensual awakenings. This is a journey of shared solitude, patiently navigated by a poet skilled in traversing the harsh earth with a compassionate and boundless spirit. Between the Bones is a book of enduring breath deserving of a thousand reads—and more.

Guts from the Urn is an anthology of writing from various issues of Canopic Jar, from the first print issue in 1986 to online issue #13 in 2004. The eclectic mix of writers include Carroll Dale Short, Utahna Faith, David Greenberger, Carver Adams, P.A. Merrill, and Warren Denney/

"Say what you will, but it ain't like nothing else you got on your shelf." —Ivester Jones, composer of "Shufflin' Boogie Blues."

"This Guts has a lot of heart." — Will Kern, author of Hellcab and Shakespeare Kung Fu