The Samaritan

Dale Sampson is a nobody. A small town geek who lives in the shadow of his best friend, the high school baseball star, it takes him years to even gather the courage to actually talk to a girl. It doesn't go well. Then, just when he thinks there's a glimmer of hope for his love life, he loses everything. When Dale runs into the twin sister of the girl he loved and lost, he finds his calling--he will become a samaritan. Determined to rescue her from a violent marriage, and redeem himself in the process, he decides to use the only "weapon" he has--besides a toaster. His weapon, the inexplicable ability to regenerate injured body parts, leads him to fame and fortune as the star of a blockbuster TV reality show where he learns that being The Samaritan is a heartbreaking affair. Especially when the one person you want to save doesn't want saving. The Samaritan is a brutally funny look at the dark side of human nature. It lays bare the raw emotions and disappointments of small town life and best friends, of school bullies and first loves, of ruthless profiteers and self-aggrandizing promoters and of having everything you know about human worth and frailty questioned under the harsh klieg lights of fame.

Literature & Fiction

Fred Venturini

Literary

Blank Slate Press

Dancing with Gravity

Painting an unforgettable portrait of the grand and petty motivations of the human heart, this poignant novel tells the story of Father Samuel Whiting, who simply exists, asleep in his own life, adrift in a loneliness of his own creation. When a circus comes to town and his self-imposed isolation is shattered, he gradually awakens to a world of possibility, embarking on a journey of discovery through the uncharted terrain of his own heart. Whiting’s tale is one of insecurity and false hopes, of self-absorption and self-denial, and of reaching out and falling short. Finally blinded by self-delusion and at the brink of despair, a challenge to serve will change everything he believes about the true cost of love.

Tressler, Anene

Contemporary

Set during the brink of the Civil War, this beautifully written novel traces James Turner, a charming, impulsive writer and lecturer; Charlotte, his down-to-earth bride; and Cabot, an idealistic Harvard-educated abolitionist as they are drawn together in a social experiment deep in the Missouri Ozarks. Inspired by utopian dreams of building a new society, Turner is given a tract of land to found the community of Daybreak: but not everyone involved in the project is a willing partner, and being the leader of a remote farming community isn't the life Turner envisioned. Charlotte, confronted with the hardships of rural life, must mature quickly to deal with the challenges of building the community while facing her husband's betrayals and her growing attraction to Cabot. In turn, Cabot struggles to reconcile his need to leave Daybreak and join the fight against slavery with his desire to stay near the woman he loves. As the war draws ever closer, the utopians try to remain neutral and friendly to all but soon find neutrality is not an option. Ultimately, each member of Daybreak must take a stand-both in their political and personal lives.

Slant of Light: A Novel of Utopian Dreams and Civil War (1) (The Daybreak Series)

Wiegenstein COLUMBIA, Steve

A gritty, Southern Gothic morality tale, this novel reveals that the high cost of hard living is brutally hard dying. Billy Keyhoe&rsquo;s luck just ran out: after beating his girl to a bloody pulp and being shot by the clerk at Earl&rsquo;s 66, he takes off in his daddy&rsquo;s beat-up &rsquo;65 Caddy, leaving all his troubles in the rearview. At a crossroads on the way toward West Texas from Georgia, he picks up Feather, a beautiful hitchhiker who seems to know more about Billy than he knows about himself. The farther they go, the more he is drawn to Feather; but he unfortunately discovers that even true love cannot save him and he may have gone too far to ever make it back.

Driving Alone: A Love Story

Helmick, Kevin Lynn

Kevin Killeen's debut novel, winner of a Silver Benjamin Franklin award from the Independent Book Publishers Association, is written with a keen sense of comic timing, and is a sweet, laugh-out-loud look at the innocence of childhood in the leafy Webster Groves suburbs of 1960s Saint Louis. From falling for a girl with no-good-for-sports stick arms and beautiful penmanship to jumping freight trains, smoking cigarettes, robbing the local Ben Franklin--and, in his spare time, trying to get to heaven--Patrick Cantwell is learning all about life at Mary Queen of Our Hearts parochial school. By the time Patrick graduates second grade he's practically a grown-up, complete with a broken heart, a police record, and memories of the Beatles at Busch Stadium.

Never Hug a Nun

Killeen, Kevin

Humor & Satire

In this memoir about having the courage to break free from thinking one’s life is predestined to be hard, sad, or screw up, Jean Ellen Whatley and her dog Libby set out from St. Louis and drive nearly 9,000 miles across America to revive her life. With a family history of secrets and betrayals, addiction and abuse, survivor solidarity and abiding love, Whatley frees herself from the traps of the past. Her ex-husband got out of prison just as she was getting her last kid through college, her mother and two brothers recently died, and she has another brother who she has never seen, but needs to find. What unfolds on her odyssey is nothing short of life-changing—aided and abetted by strangers on the highway, long-lost family members, and the ever-present comfort of Libby, who reminds her to always live in the moment.

Off the Leash: How My Dog Inspired Me to Quit My Job, Pack My Car, and Take a Road Trip Across America to Reclaim My Life

Biographies & Memoirs

Whatley, Jean Ellen

Community & Culture

The antics of Patrick Cantwell and his family, featured in the award-winning Never Hug a Nun, return as they head to Grand Haven, Michigan for summer vacation. After another boy reveals the facts of life--complete with pictures from the encyclopedia--Patrick's entire worldview changes and suddenly the idea of spending a week fishing and playing games with the family seems a lot less appealing. Patrick and his new friend decide to make a bet to see who can kiss a girl before the end of the week. As troublesome little sisters, biker gangs, and parents get in the way, Patrick wonders if he'll have a chance to even talk to a girl, let alone kiss one. With the same endearing humor and energy as Never Hug a Nun, readers will be sure to love Try to Kiss a Girl.

Try to Kiss a Girl

Caroline Marcum thought she'd escaped the great mistake of her life by leaving Wellfleet harbor, but is forced to face it when she returns, reluctantly, to care for her dying mother. Ridley Neal put his past-and his prison term-behind him to return home to take over his father's oyster and clam beds. Casual acquaintances long ago, when a nor'easter hits the coast, Rid and Caroline's lives intersect once again. When Rid and two other sea farmers are sued by the wealthy owners of vacation homes who want to shut them down, and Caroline accidentally meets the person she most wronged, they each must learn to trust-and love. Inspired by a 1996 lawsuit, A Matter of Mercy is a riveting novel about treasuring the traditional way of life in the shallows of beautiful Cape Cod bay by discovering where forgiveness ends and where it begins.

A Matter of Mercy

Hugo, Lynne

United States

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Books by Blank Slate Press

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

The Samaritan

The Samaritan

Dancing with Gravity

Dancing with Gravity

Slant of Light: A Novel of Utopian Dreams and Civil War (1) (The Daybreak Series)

Driving Alone: A Love Story

Never Hug a Nun

Off the Leash: How My Dog Inspired Me to Quit My Job, Pack My Car, and Take a Road Trip Across America to Reclaim My Life

Try to Kiss a Girl

A Matter of Mercy