History of Pretzels
A compilation of lively vignettes, anecdotes, and musings by a former Australian diplomat who resided, studied, and worked professionally in Western Australia, Hong Kong, and Tokyo. His world travels intermingle memorable impressions, stories of interesting people, and details of strange and wonderful encounters.
A Traveller's Tales
By Michael John Walker
ABOUT THE BOOK:
A Traveller’s Tales is a compilation of lively vignettes, anecdotes, and musings by a former Australian diplomat who resided, studied, and worked professionally in Western Australia, Hong Kong, and Tokyo. His world travels intermingle memorable impressions, stories of interesting people, and details of strange and wonderful encounters. His humor, wit, sense of history, and philosophical memoirs about everything from the Japanese language (in which he is fluent) to adventures down under will entertain any reader—especially those who love to travel.
Read More About The Charity
CHARITY
A portion of sales from A Traveller’s Tales benefit the author’s chosen 501(c)(3) charity, Shofuso Japanese House and Garden, Japan American Society of Greater Philadelphia, Lansdowne and Horticultural Drives, West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, PA USA.
Learn more here.
He ... Used to Notice Such Things
By Anonymous
ABOUT THE BOOK:
He ... Used to Notice Such Things is Part I in a trilogy filled with day-to-day reflections of work life at an American high school, coupled with home life and a loving marriage. This insider’s look from a dedicated educator’s vantage point is an honest, straightforward, thoughtful writing journey, which the author readily admits was a practice he used to overcome worry and cope with unexpected challenges. Interpersonal interactions and absurd happenings, from the mundane to the explosive, unfold in lively, philosophical, engaging ways.
Cerebral moments become juxtaposed against funny, silly, and downright maddening adventures. Overall, tenacity, persistence, and acceptance are key themes beneath the struggles, the surprises, the colleagues, administrators, the kids, their parents, and the people in this teacher's life.
The Arlington Club
& Other Short Stories
By Anthony Maize
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Anthony Maize's first anthology of short stories leads readers to encounter themes of justice, love, lust, labor, redemption, retribution, fear, ghosts, and the spirit world. Some of Maize’s characters exist in interiority, in solitude, as in “The Cave,” interacting only with nature, memories, and a dog named Sue. Others meet in what can only be described as serendipitous good fortune, like the vagabond Bosco Jones and the elderly Miz Thibodaux (Maisy) who gives Bosco shelter, food, and clothing.
With a photographer’s keen eye and a writer’s love affair with words, Maize paints compelling portraits of human interactions and relationships, powerfully brushed by rich descriptions of the natural world.
Read More About The Author & His Charity
AUTHOR BIO:
Anthony Maize began writing fiction for his own amusement while still in high school. His short stories “Bosco Jones” and “Patty and Gert” were previously published in Evening Street Review. A member of the original Bold Writers group in Reading, PA, he has been a featured author in public readings, including at Albright College. Maize was born in Plainfield, NJ, but has lived most of his life in southeastern Pennsylvania. Read full bio.
CHARITY:
The Arlington Club & Other Short Stories supports the Salvation Army of Reading at 301 S. 5th Street. The author reveals: “I support The Salvation Army based upon the story a coworker told me of the care and support he received from them when wounded in the Korean War. He could not speak more highly of them. In addition, within 72 hours of Hurricane Katrina making landfall, the Salvation Army was serving 20,000 meals a day to survivors and rescue personnel while FEMA was still looking for its keys.”
100 Amulets
By Susan Ball Faeder
ABOUT THE BOOK:
100 Amulets by Susan Ball Faeder features 100 unique, hand-quilted amulets, each one small enough to fit in the palm of your hand.
"THANK YOU, ANGELS AND PATRONS...
for supporting the publication of the book, 100 Amulets. Generous help came from such Angels as Timothy Williamson and Michael J. Walker, as well as wonderful Patrons like Diana J. Gilpatrick, Kachina Leigh, Cathy Perlmutter, and Janice Rodriguez. Pretzel City Press especially honors the memory of Kachina's mother, the artist and teacher Connie Heller Horacek" - pictured here:
Read More About The Author & Her Charity
AUTHOR BIO:
Under her business umbrella of Quilters Express to Japan, Susan Ball Faeder conducted 30 tours to Japan focusing on Japanese quilt art. A quilter since 1983, Susan’s artwork has been widely exhibited, both in the USA and around the world. Now able to devote full-time to the path of art, Susan's latest work was recently on display at the Milton Art Bank, in an exhibit titled "BLUE". Read full bio.
Visit Susan Ball Faeder's website, Quilters Express to Japan.
CHARITY:
100 Amulets supports the work of Together Rising, a non-profit organization. Author Susan Ball Faeder says, “Glennon Doyle, author of the New York Times bestseller Untamed (among others), founded Together Rising ‘as an expression of her belief that the surest way to lift a family or community is to lift one woman at a time—that when a woman rises, she brings her people up with her.’ I concur.” Read more about the charity.
It's Always My Fault
& Other Short Stories
By L.D. Zane
ABOUT THE BOOK:
The 14 short stories in this anthology by veteran L.D. Zane are culled from the DMZ of life. Alternately fearless and fearful, ever ruthlessly honest, Zane's characters emerge from the American landscape he’s intimately familiar with—from the family home and city streets of Pennsylvania, to the anguished rivers of Vietnam. These stories pull the reader into real-life skirmishes and battles, joys and revelations, embedded in human relationships.
Read More About The Author & His Charity
AUTHOR BIO:
L.D. Zane served in the Navy for 7 years, spending much of his time aboard fast attack submarines and one combat tour in Vietnam. L.D.’s life is quieter now, and he has become devoted to writing. Read his full bio here and learn more about the author and his anthology through a recent interview with L.D. Zane here.
Visit L.D. Zane's website and follow his Facebook page.
CHARITY:
L.D. Zane's anthology supports the work of Veterans Making a Difference, a nonprofit founded by Doug and Liz Graybill, which benefits Berks County veterans. A percentage of profits from each book is donated to this organization.
It's Always My Fault
By Marian Frances Wolbers
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Pennsylvania Powwow is the story of a heartbroken woman, Leora, who leaves Atlanta and her young family, and drives nonstop, traveling back to Pennsylvania where she spent her formative years. Through the aid of a longtime friend, Leora accepts a job watching over a farmhouse and barn while its owner is in a nursing / rehabilitation facility
At the same time, her brother, Paul, is dying of AIDS at their maternal family home on a large farmstead in New Hampshire. Unbeknownst to her, Paul has written her and their sibling Salome, asking which one of them would like to inherit the Ardmore estate. The farmhouse where Leora sleeps is imbued with historical currents that hark back to a former healer who'd lived there, a braucherei (powwower). Leora has always suspected that she possesses an inexplicable healing gift, and her interactions with nursing home residents prove that she is indeed a healer. Sal and Leora are competing separately to inherit the land in New England, and a devastating rift develops between them. When Leora is nicknamed Powwow by the elderly residents at the home, she finds herself the target of discrimination and heads north. There, the Ardmore siblings all meet and the future of the land is decided.
Read More About The Author & Her Charity
AUTHOR BIO:
Marian Wolbers is the principal operator / publisher of Pretzel City Press. She likes people, nature, honesty, spiritual questing, books, libraries, writers, readers, pretzels, and all kinds of food from grits to sushi. Visit Marian Frances Wolbers' website.
CHARITY:
Pa. German Cultural Heritage Society - Kutztown University I chose this nonprofit organization to receive $1-a-book proceeds from sales of Pennsylvania Powwow because of the deep and important research the Center conducts year-round. They provided me with everything from information on the so-called "devil's door" painted on some barns, to writings and videos about the uniquely Pennsylvania Dutch (Deutsch) tradition of healing called powwowing, or braucherei. The cover image on my novel comes from a photograph by Site Director Patrick Donmoyer, painted by artist Heidi Derstler Eckman.
