After a brief hiatus, the literary journal Conclave returns under new editorial management. Conclave celebrates the power of literature. Each issue features exceptional fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and photography.   The focus for this issue is "Writing for Change," reminding us that literature matters and words can change the world for the better. “Literature and writers have always been at the forefront of positive change,” says Editor-in-Chief Lara Bernhardt. "Conclave wants to create a meeting place where writers and words can, to quote Joseph Conrad, 'teach us how to see.'" Change is an inevitable force in people’s lives, ideally though not certainly a force for progress and growth. This issue celebrates a positive view of the future and, as always, shows writers leading the way.

Conclave (Spring 2016): Writing for Change

Literature & Fiction

Bernhardt, Lara

Literary

Babylon Books

In this issue, Conclave celebrates “Voices from the Edge,” the writers and photographers whose work is not easily categorized or pigeonholed. This issue disregards genre and marketplace and instead focuses on originality and insight, artists fearlessly creating work of the highest caliber.As Editor-in-Chief Lara Bernhardt writes, “Fear holds us back. Fear prevents us from taking chances and reaching for our goals. Fear causes us to hide. Fear of failure. Fear of ridicule. Fear of someone seeing us as we truly are.” This, then, is the No Fear issue of Conclave, the no-holds-barred highway whose only toll is vision and talent.We live in troubling times, and many feel isolated, despondent, and worried about the future. In this issue, writers confront our common challenges with courage and optimism, because the greater good lies in unity, not division, including “…[t]hose who feel sidelined, ostracized, and silenced. Those who aren’t afraid to speak their truth, share their experiences, and offer a glimpse of something we may fear.”

Conclave (Spring 2017): Voices from the Edge

Balkan Press

She sees dead people. He's sure they don't exist.Psychic Kimberly Wantland investigates paranormal disturbances. Her television show, The Wantland Files, catapulted her from private paranormal investigator to media sensation. She receives thousands of requests for help every day, but the desperate pleas of a distraught mother terrorized by a ghost touch something deep inside her. Her producer invites Sterling Wakefield, a renowned illusionist and confirmed skeptic, to join the investigation. Despite his mesmerizing eyes and playful smirk, Kimberly instantly dislikes Sterling. Her investigation leads her to a conclusion she never expected—the mother’s children are in grave danger. Pushing all her powers to the limit, Kimberly must repel the spirit before it possesses the children—even though it requires enlisting Sterling’s help and putting her own life at risk.

The Wantland Files

Genre Fiction

Admission Press

Kimberly Wantland never needed anyone, especially not Sterling Wakefield, the arrogant if charming debunker of all things supernatural. Now he's her cohost and she's forced to adapt as The Wantland Files crew investigates The Crescent Hotel, the Most Haunted Hotel in America. The Crescent always teemed with spirits, but a new presence is terrorizing the guests. He says only one word: Revenge.Kimberly must determine what the malevolent spirit wants and exorcise it from the hotel. Determined to use her gifts to help those who have nowhere else to turn, Kimberly refuses to give up whatever the cost. Only one thing is certain-Kimberly is running out of time to purge this nightmarish fury. That is, unless she's ready to join the ghosts of Crescent Hotel.

The Haunting of Crescent Hotel (The Wantland Files)

Hannibal, Missouri. Pulsing with history.And a 150-year-old unsolved disappearance. Kimberly Wantland and her paranormal investigation team travel to Hannibal, Missouri for their Halloween episode to investigate The Old Catholic Church. Owner Jillian Olson is sure she knows who haunts the building and why he's antagonizing her. But Kimberly hears whispers of far more than the reported ghostly phenomenon. A dark figure implores her to help. But help who? An empty grave and a disturbing experience inside a cave further confound the case. And as she struggles to piece together the mystery, Kimberly's psychic abilities fail her. Her psychic senses out of control, Kimberly sees only two possible causes-Sterling's presence...or a dangerous force unlike any she's faced before. Kimberly fears this investigation may just be all trick and no treat. A spooky Halloween must-read to add to your treat bucket!

Halloween in Hannibal (The Wantland Files)

In the grim, seedy brothels of India, countless poverty-stricken women are trapped in a brutal system that thrives on their abuse. Escape is impossible--until one woman takes a stand for one little girl. Leslie Matthews travels to India with her husband and risks everything--money, her marriage, even her life--to save Raveena, a twelve-year-old girl she first sees at the New Delhi Zoo, where her handler forces her to dance seductively for money. Haunted by her own dark past, Leslie follows the girl, hoping to help, and is drawn into a bitter world of systemic sexual slavery. She learns the girl will soon be forced into prostitution and resolves to get her out of the brothel she lives in before that happens. The police can't help her. The embassy can't help her. Her husband refuses to help her. Though she has no experience with this world, she resolves to rescue Raveena from the brutal and sordid underworld, whatever the cost...

Shadow of the Taj

Contemporary

Black Opal Books

Red Rain

Christmas Spirit (The Wantland Files)

How much would you risk to save one child?Leslie Matthews travels to India with her husband on a business trip, never expecting it will turn her life upside-down. During a trip to the zoo, she meets Raveena, an orphan desperate for someone to save her from a harrowing fate. Leslie tries to rescue Raveena from a sordid, exploitative underworld, but powerful and brutal men hold the girl and don't intend to let anyone take her. Leslie tumbles into a terrifying underworld of systemic abuse she knows nothing about. But she won't stop until Raveena is safe, regardless of the cost. In a battle against impossible odds, Leslie wagers everything she has-including her life-to free Raveena. Shadow of the Taj is a deeply moving, inspirational novel that will stay with you long after you finish reading it. A must read!

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Bernhardt, Lara. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Bernhardt, Lara

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Bernhardt, Lara. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Conclave (Spring 2016): Writing for Change

Conclave (Spring 2017): Voices from the Edge

The Wantland Files

The Haunting of Crescent Hotel (The Wantland Files)

Halloween in Hannibal (The Wantland Files)

Shadow of the Taj

Red Rain

Red Rain

Christmas Spirit (The Wantland Files)

Shadow of the Taj