“Andrew Porter is a born storyteller . . . He makes his own space instantly and invites you in. Hats off!” —Barry Hannah From a commanding new voice in fiction comes a novel as perceptive as it is generous: a portrait of an American family trying to cope in our world today, a story of choices and doubts and transgressions.The Hardings are teetering on the brink. Elson—once one of Houston’s most promising architects, who never quite lived up to expectations—is recently divorced from his wife of thirty years, Cadence. Their grown son, Richard, is still living at home: driving his mother’s minivan, working at a local coffee shop, resisting the career as a writer that beckons him. But when Chloe Harding gets kicked out of her East Coast college, for reasons she can’t explain to either her parents or her older brother, the Hardings’ lives start to unravel. Chloe returns to Houston, but the dangers set in motion back at school prove inescapable. Told with piercing insight, taut psychological suspense, and the wisdom of a true master of character, this is a novel about the vagaries of love and family, about betrayal and forgiveness, about the possibility and impossibility of coming home.Review“In Between Days is a tightly wound novel of suspense, wrapped in the emotional trials of a family teetering on the edge of disaster. Andrew Porter has given us a fresh, modern, literary page-turner, exposing in turn the inner lives of father, mother, brother, and sister. Grown-ups go around behaving like children, while adult children refuse to grow up, until ultimately everyone is shaken from their sheltered lives and into a whole new world.” —Hannah Tinti, author of The Good Thief“Porter writes with intuitiveness about the complexities of family life and creates indelible characters . . . What makes In Between Days so compelling is the characters. Each is holding something back from the others, carrying a secret, telling only half the truth most of the time. By withholding vital information, Porter is able to develop a sense of unease as thick as Houston smog.” —San Antonio Express-News“[Gives] a real and moving sense of how families are composed of so many moments mutually and individually and collectively experienced . . . The author manages to make us care, to help us see how every move and each decision, however seemingly important or inconsequential, ravels and unravels a family’s life, as the fabric nonetheless somehow holds together . . . Eloquent.” —Minneapolis *Star-Tribune*“In Between Days confirms that Andrew Porter has arrived . . . A Jamesian examination of character that dances a quadrille with the points of view of the four Hardings, the novel sustains the taut suspense of crime fiction . . . The prose and pacing are nearly flawless.” —Texas Observer“This is Andrew Porter’s first novel and, as a portrait of a modern American nuclear family, it is a deft one. He weaves in the full tapestry of contemporary life and its complications: male menopause, desperate housewives, extended adolescence, and race relations in post-9/11 America.” —*Dallas Morning News“Porter’s debut novel grabs the reader and does not let go until the last line . . . The plot moves backward and forward in time, artfully revealing key details and maintaining a mesmerizing level of suspense . . . An examination of the development of identity as seen through the lens of the disintegration of family; highly recommended.” —*Library Journal“A stirring page-turner, part Chekhov and part Hitchcock.” —Houston *magazine“I was shaken by this cautionary tale of what can happen when a family’s secrets become larger than the love they share.” —Real Simple“In Between Days is as complex and sensitive in psychology as it is credible and compelling in narrative . . . [Porter] masterfully creates the context in which this quartet of characters display not just their vulnerabilities but their desperate comprehension.” —Baton Rouge Advocate “The story is told with great emotional and psychological insight. All of the four Hardings get to tell their pieces of the story in their distinct voices, creating a multilayered and suspenseful tale of love in all its varieties and family defined in different ways.” *—Booklist“A striking assemblage of generational disintegration and distress that will remind some readers of [the] Ingmar Bergman–inspired Woody Allen art house flick Interiors by way of Jeffrey Eugenides’s The Virgin Suicides . . . Porter has effortlessly and enviably, it seems, made the tough transition from best-kept literary secret to bestseller material.” —San Antonio magazine*“Porter’s absorbing debut novel chronicles the slow-motion fracture of an upper-middle-class Houston clan . . . The prose is smooth—practically frictionless, thanks to Porter’s realistic yet meaningful dialogue and his plainspoken, nonjudgmental descriptions . . . Porter wants to explore why we take such firm hold of some parts of our emotional lives but willfully neglect others, and his surprise ending suggests why it’s worth breaking free of others’ definitions of emotional attainment.” —*Kirkus Reviews“An exquisitely told dysfunctional family drama . . . One of the year’s stellar debut novels.” —Largehearted Boy blogPraise for Andrew Porter's *The Theory of Light and Matter “Andrew Porter’s fiction is thoughtful, lucid, and highly controlled . . . He has the kind of voice one can accept as universal—honest and grave, with transparency as its adornment.” —Marilynne Robinson“Luminous . . . In direct dialogue with the work of John Cheever and Raymond Carver . . . A memorable debut that honors the history of the short story form while blazing a new trajectory all its own.” —The Atlanta Journal-Constitution “An exquisite collection . . . with hard-won grit and imagination to spare.” —*Time Out New York“These beautiful stories feel safe and menacing at the same time. In bucolic suburbs and quiet college towns, the unspeakable happens.” —*The Boston Globe“Of all the things to love about Andrew Porter’s wonderful collection, my favorite is how tenderly his characters treat one another’s failings and vulnerabilities . . . Their sensitivity is just as stirring and their subtle moments of epiphany just as poignant [as] Raymond Carver’s characters’ . . . Porter is a master storyteller, a writer who whispers rather than screams his truths. We look forward to more from such an amazing talent.” —The Christian Science Monitor“A fantastic collection of short stories.” —Houston Chronicle “If you are anything like me, you will read The Theory of Light and Matter with the same feeling of simple gratitude that the first readers of Richard Ford’s Rock Springs must have experienced twenty years ago: here, you will think, is a true master of the short story, a writer of honesty and plainspoken poetry who knows the human soul in all its light and shadow and harnesses every sentence to the purpose of revealing it.” —Kevin Brockmeier“Stunning meditations on loss and remembrance . . . Porter crafts stories of disparate lives in an evocative, straightforward prose style reminiscent of Raymond Carver.” —The Daily Beast“Porter can achieve more in a handful of pages than most writers can in a hundred . . . My favorite book of the year.” —*San Antonio Express-News “A work of unadorned beauty [that] draws immediate comparison to the stories of Raymond Carver.” —Cleveland Plain Dealer “Moving, original, and unforgettable, this is a must-own collection.” —The StrandAbout the AuthorAndrew Porter is the author of the story collection The Theory of Light and Matter. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, he has received a Pushcart Prize, a James Michener/Copernicus Fellowship, and the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction. His work has appeared in One Story, The Threepenny Review, and on public radio’s Selected Shorts. Currently, he teaches fiction writing and directs the creative writing program at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. Views: 28
The biggest story of my life could be how it endsIt's my turn to run a Campus News crew, and I've put together a team that can break stories wide open. And Washington Irving High has a truly great one to cover, if only we can find a lead.A secret society has formed in our school. It announced its presence with pranks: underwear on the flagpole, a toilet in the hallway, cryptic notes. A circle of silence keeps the society a mystery. No one knows its members, agenda or initiation secrets--until a student lands in the hospital under strange circumstances.I will blow this story wide open and stop others from being hurt...or worse. And while my ex, Jagger, might want to help, I don't trust him yet. (And, no, not because of our past together. That is not important to this story.)But whether you find me, Valerie Gaines, reporting in front of the camera, or a victim in the top story of the... Views: 28
Funny, lighthearted monster stories that are perfect for young readers, brought to us by the esteemed Dr. Roach.Twins Sammy and Tammy love the quiet Boggy Marshes near their home. They're full of strange creatures and creepy plants. But a local business tycoon named Maximus Sneer has a plan to drain the marshes dry and cover them with houses, stores, and parking lots. When the twins hear about it, they quickly get to work protesting Sneer's scheme.But little does anyone know that two very big problems are growing in the marshes. All the pumping and draining awakens a pair of giant monsters who are both out for one thing. Revenge! Views: 28
A steampunk faerie tale with romance, danger, and a strong-willed heroineWhen spirited sixteen-year-old Noli Braddock and her best friend Steven “V” Darrow take a flying car out for a joyride, neither expects Noli to be sent to reform school to mend her hoyden ways. While at the dreadful school, Noli’s innocent mid-summer’s eve wish summons Kevighn, a mysterious man who takes Noli with him to the Realm of Faerie. At first Noli believes she has been rescued. But the sinister reason behind the handsome huntsman’s appearance quickly become clear—he wants to use Noli as a blood sacrifice to restore his dying world. V, who has secrets of his own, shows up to help Noli escape and return to the mortal realm—but first, they must navigate the dangerous intrigues of the Otherworld.If they are successful, Noli will live. But if Noli lives, the entire Otherworld civilization will die.About the AuthorSuzanne Lazear (Los Angeles) is a regular blogger at the Steampunk group blog, Steamed! She plays with swords, runs with bustles, and is currently trying to make a ray gun to match her ball gown. Innocent Darkness is her YA debut. Views: 28
Overdue bills and constant mother vs. mother-in-law battles at home are bad enough. But crafts editor Anastasia Pollack's stress level is maxed out when she and her fellow American Woman editors get roped into unpaid gigs for a revamped morning TV show. But before the glue is dry on Anastasia's mop dolls, daybreak TV turns crime drama when the producer is murdered. More sleaze than star quality, former co-hosts Vince and Monica are top suspects - and investigating lands Anastasia in the killer's unforgiving spotlight.Includes instructions for creating themed mop dolls. Views: 28
Homicide detective Steve Morgan is at Crane Lodge on forced sabbatical. Day one of fishing at the resort's lake has him casting his line straight into a crime scene, reeling in a dead woman from the murky bottom. Thinking the murderer must be a local, Steve offers the small town police help in the investigation. What he doesn't count on is the gorgeous housekeeper at the lodge resembling the victim in the lake and her survival becoming more important than finding the killer.Whitney McAllister is raising her daughter on her own, working long, grueling hours at the local resort cleaning guest cabins. The detective investigating a local murder may be just doing his job, but after their run-in, she intends to steer clear of him. Until someone breaks into her house and she's forced, for her daughter's sake, to seek Steve's protection. Her attraction is overpowering, yet she knows once the murder is solved, he'll be gone.When a string of similar unsolved murders is unearthed,... Views: 28
Journeying to King Arthur’s castle, wanting to be allowed to join the Round Table, Sir Randour meets Wynfarad, a young sorcerer. Attracted to each other, they soon join forces.
Randour wishes to learn the identity of the father he never knew and also learn just what are the powers of the magic amulet embedded in his chest.
Arthur, however, has a different challenge for the duo. To become one of Arthur’s knights, Randour must first dispatch the monstrous fire-breathing beast Gwylldahr, which has been killing people, and setting houses and livestock afire. Yet so many before Randour have failed.
When he and Wynfarad encounter the beast, and Gwylldahr turns on Wynfarad, Randour knows he must not fail if he wants to save his beloved’s life. By the book’s happy ending, Randour has learned the answers to his two questions, and the couple is looking forward to a happy future together in Camelot. Views: 28
A widow at 42, Abby Wells has poured her heart into the restoration of The Roses Inn, a historic Niagara-on-the Lake establishment reputedly haunted by a 19th-century ghost. In walks Jason Brinleigh, a gorgeous winery owner nine years Abby’s junior, intent on buying the place from her. The transaction falls by the wayside as Abby and Jason fall for each other. But the scars left by past loves run deep, challenging them both to surrender their hearts. When unexpected events threaten to tear them apart, will it take a little intervention from the spirit world to set things right? Views: 28
