Read Furiously has the pleasure of publishing some of the most talented up and coming writers out there. Below are a few backlist titles we know you'll enjoy!
NON-FICTION
I Feel Love: Notes on Queer Joy
edited by Samantha Mann
Featured in Manhattan Book Review’s Pride Month Roundup and Lambda Literary’s June’s Most Anticipated LGBTQIA+ Literature.
Told in multi-faceted layers of memoir, creative nonfiction, and poetry, every story shares a priceless event or moment where queer joy is found. I Feel Love: Notes on Queer Joy honors queer voices through the delightful pleasure in everyday occurrences featuring an anthology of talented voices within the LGBTQIA+ community and edited by Samantha Mann, author of Putting Out: Essays on Otherness. Her work has also been featured in Elle, Romper, BUST, Miss Representation, and The Audacity.
Joy is a form of resistance. Celebrate adoration and exhilaration.
The mission of this anthology is to be inclusive among its participants, establishing a series of experiences that will have the LGBTQIA+ community and its allies delighting in the beauty that is queer love.
The message in I Feel Love: Notes on Queer Joy is clear: being who you are meant to be is a precious gift we all deserve.
Nerd Traveler
Travel Essays by Margaret Montet
It's time to pack a bag and ask, “what if?”
Combining relevant history, biography, and the culture of each city with her own experience and revelations, Nerd Traveler is a perfect voyage of mindful traveling for explorers of all generations.
For travelers who want to learn more about their destination through history and culture, Nerd Traveler is the perfect journey for intellectual curiosity. Librarian and professor Margaret Montet writes about her experiences throughout the United States and around the globe in a collection of essays that seek out “nerdy” experiences. Nerds definitely travel better.
More seasoned than a tourist or a sightseer, join Margaret as she sets off across the United States and around the globe on a journey of music, art, and literature.
We don't do "just okay" anymore
Essays by Susan Padron
2022 Feathered Quill Silver Medalist
Personal Style Discovery
Spiritual Memoir
Practical Style Guide
Susan Padron is more than a personal stylist. She is your spiritual cheerleader, an intuitive guide, and a fashion-forward sage. She makes it her mission to usher others beyond "just okay" and embrace all the possibilities that lay ahead.
Intuitive stylist Susan Padron has created a timeless style guide and spiritual memoir that details her entrepreneurial journey and her diagnosis and struggle with endometriosis. We don’t do “just okay” anymore is filled with fashion, family, styling tips, and crystal magic to create a compelling story infused with humor and insight on every page.
Sharing tips from her years as a personal stylist and her own experiences, Susan Padron infuses her spirituality, intelligence, and compassion throughout every page. With Susan's words and expertise, your own personal style discovery is about to begin.
Putting Out: Essays on Otherness
by Samantha Mann
A candid search for self that is humorous and heartbreaking
In her debut collection of essays, Samantha Mann explores the highs and lows of loving yourself and others. Each essay is born out of recognizing one’s trauma and being cognizant and grateful for the person we become, as told through stories of adventurous musings and awkward missteps. As we watch Mann grow from observant teenager to an expressive, creative adult, nothing is off limits - and we are all the better for it.
Samantha Mann explores the stigma that accompanies mental health and the brave choice to seek therapy. She stresses the importance of living as your authentic self as she falls in love with her sorority sister, who will later become her wife.
As an entire collection, Putting Out: Essays on Otherness offers a thoughtful conversation on the power of female sexuality and owning one’s true identity. Samantha Mann has proven that we can appreciate who we once were in order to celebrate the happy ending of who we are now.
Cars, Castles, Cows, and Chaos
by Midge Guerrera
Raise your cup of caffè and shout La Dolce Vita!
The road to change is paved with many adventures. In this case, it began with a tree. As a New Jersey native, Midge Guerrera knows she can handle whatever is thrown her way. But set against the idyllic Italian countryside, Midge never expected car trouble, terrifyingly winding roads, vespa gangs, and crowds of loud soccer fans.
With her Fiat ready to go, Midge sets out to explore the beauty of her new home in Pontelandolfo, journey through the Italian landscape, and take the many detours that leave her driven to distraction.
Hop in and join Midge as she shares the sights of Italy with her signature candor and humor in this memoir meets tour guide, all with unexpected results.
FICTION
Chasing Harmony
by Melanie Bell
A refreshing YA debut from Canadian author Melanie Bell, perfect for fans of Rainbow Rowell, Becky Albertalli, and Nina LaCour.
Piano prodigy Anna Stern is used to having all eyes on her. As she becomes a teenager, Anna struggles to find her identity without the soundtrack of sonatas and concertos. There’s also the worry that comes with the crushing expectations of her musical gift and her parents’ imploding marriage.
Anna finds refuge in her best friend, Liss, who is full of magic and escape plans. However, now their relationship is changing and Anna is starting to fall for her. Adding to the complicated status is new kid Darien, who is always vying for Anna's attention.
Working Through This
by Matt Lydon
Another Day, Another Dollar. Another Job, Another Story.
Whether he's a teenager taking shifts at the local bingo hall, or navigating the literal sharks of the corporate world, Matt Lydon puts the term previous work experience required to task. Working Through This offers a fun and insightful perspective on what it means to show up and work, even under the most interesting of circumstances.
Ditch the fruitless job search and find a new career with Working Through This, the book for anyone who's been stuck in a rut for too long.
GRAPHIC NOVELS
In The Fallout
Story by Adam Wilson
Art by Jeff Chin
A young woman tries to rebuild her life after the apocalypse in this slim volume of glowing images featuring monsters both real and imagined. In the Fallout is a story of survival and strength told in a series of episodic moments that all lead to an unexpected reveal.
Believing she's the last person left on earth, the unnamed protagonist tries to navigate life in the desert. And while it may become apparent that she is not as alone as she may think, the events leading up to the tragedy that left her stranded are something she will have no choice but to face.
A little volume with a big message, In the Fallout is a tale of loss and grief - and the hope that exists among the missing pieces.
Pursuit: A Collection of Art
by Lianne Cruz
2020 International Book Awards Finalist for Art
It is said you need 10,000 hours to master a skill…
For an artist, that can mean countless sketches, drawings, scribbles on the sides of restaurant napkins as you fine tune your style and discover your creative voice.
In Pursuit, animator Lianne Cruz (V1 Interactive, Sucker Punch Productions, Bethesda Game Studios) pulls back the curtain on the hours and the inspirations that have helped shape her into the artist she is today. Celebrate the pursuit of art within these pages.
Family traditions, creative rituals, travelogue, and (many) dinosaurs all make an appearance in this gorgeously illustrated collection.
Brian & Bobbi
Story by Adam Wilson
Art by Franco Viglino
A superhero story. An unlikely duo. And a story very much not about superheroes.
Perfect for YA readers, Brian & Bobbi takes all of the best components of a superhero story and connects them to an unlikely duo. Both want recognition from their families and working together is the best way to get what they want. The real fun is watching Brian and Bobbi discover that what they want isn’t exactly what they need.
Brian & Bobbi is a story for those who feel ignored on a daily basis. Brian has gone completely unnoticed all his life, despite being born with amazing superpowers. Bobbi is the illegitimate daughter of a superhero who can't seem to convince anyone she's just a regular kid.
By chance, the two meet and what results is a coming-of-age tale set upon a larger than life superhero backdrop. It's a graphic novel where the super villains, the powers, and the incredible fight scenes are really just the catalyst to tell the much deeper story of two people who couldn't be any more different -- or any more alike.
Northwood Meadows: Lifestyle
by Andy Chang
A comic that takes a walk on the funny side for fans of The Far Side and Garfield
Northwood Meadows: Lifestyle are slice of life comics as illustrated through a colorful cast of witty animals to be told in three panel comic strips.
In the beautiful place of Northwood Meadows, you will meet an entertaining crew of animals (and one extraterrestrial):
Join our favorite citizens as they navigate society, politics, and the ongoing pandemic with refreshing humor. Take a moment to detach from stress as this collection fills you with warmth, inspiration and hope.
In Northwood Meadows, common sense and humor are all part of the lifestyle
POETRY
All These Little Stars
by Nicole Zamlout
What you hold in your hands is a celebration of celestial activity.
“Writers can be cruel
gods some days”
– from “Shower Thoughts”
The stars hang in solitude amidst the black of the night sky. For centuries we’ve mapped and charted their patterns, using this array of heavenly bodies as a way to connect with each other.
All These Little Stars explores a dynamic narrative of genres longing to answer the questions of the universe. From the longer pieces of literary realism to the free verse, constellation poetry of fantastical proportions, this is a story of finding one’s place against the backdrop of the swirling universe. The unconventionality of each tale asks us to take another look at the mysteries surrounding us.
Join us as we journey into Nicole Zamlout’s dreamlike and introspective world. This is the work of a storyteller who seeks to understand the truly infinite possibilities of the night sky.
Dear Terror
by Christopher Bursk
A metaphorical and mythical exploration of a talented poet’s life and career.
The late Christopher Bursk has given us a lasting gift of shared moments, both of terror and of peace. Told as a recollection of experiences, both real and imagined, Dear Terror reminds us that life must be forgiven in order to be lived.
“Famous poet, before you
take a nap
while I wait in the lobby for you to be done dreaming
ask me just one question.
That'd be enough."
– from “Delivering the Famous Poet to His Hotel”
The poems in this collection acknowledge that fear and anger must exist alongside comfort and longing for a life well-lived and a life thoroughly examined. This book is for those who search for moments alone and moments shared. For those who understand terror as an instrument of desire and of uncertainty.
With a career spanning decades, Christopher Bursk was a beloved father, grandfather, friend, professor, and poet. He was a champion of all literary causes and a great friend to Read Furiously. We are honored to publish this title.
Whatever You Thought, Think Again
by Jo Freehand
A collection of poetry that redefines the poetry landscape.
Playing with space and creative form, Whatever You Thought, Think Again illustrates a creative agility that showcases the depth of Jo Freehand’s talent.
“... how could I not
walk into the outstretched arms
of that big bosom of a mother drum
inviting me to rest my head on her smooth,
warmed, pulsating flesh.”
-from “Walking Toward Djembe”
Passion and desire are welcome companions as Jo Freehand honors her queer identity through the celebration of the sacred life. With Jo Freehand as our fairytale guide, we are taken on a journey through the hidden forests of trauma, PTSD, and isolation and reach the other side to find beauty and longing.
As a minimalist poet, Jo Freehand plays with different structures - there are long-form poems, confessions, dreamscapes, a Tripadvisor post, and an application for the International Fairytale Princess Society. This mix of poems embodies a memory of healing and survival, reminding us to face our present - monsters and all.