"Wise Men &amp; Other Stories: Lessons from the Holidays on Santa, God, Heaven, Death &amp; More Fun Stuff from Someone Who Still Has a Lot to Learn" is a collection of holiday-related essays that blend humor and poignancy in the tradition of Robert Fulghum, Dave Barry, Bill Bryson, P.J. O'Rourke and other great American humorists. "This collection started with 'Wise Men,'" says O'Mary. "It was a story from my childhood about a poor kid from my old neighborhood and the lesson I learned when we were both cast as wise men in the school play." That story was published in newspapers across the nation and broadcast on National Public Radio's "Morning Edition" program, and so began a tradition of holiday essays from Mike O'Mary. Over the years, the essays in this collection were read as part of "Morning Edition" on Northern Illinois Public Radio, and published in the Sunday magazines of the Chicago Tribune, Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News, Baltimore Sun, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Detroit Free Press and elsewhere. Along the way, O'Mary developed a cult following for his holiday stories. "O'Mary has a gift for simple, frank exposition of life's most poignant moments," says author Stephen Parrish (The Tavernier Stones). In Wise Men and Other Stories, O'Mary shares that gift with all of us. Enjoy this priceless collection of humorous and thoughtful stories this holiday season -- and for many holidays to come.

Wise Men and Other Stories

Literature & Fiction

O'Mary, Mike

Essays & Correspondence

Dream of Things

As Rember notes in his introduction, “MFA in a Box is not a How to Write Book. It’s a Why to Write Book.” By exploring the relationships between the writer and love, grief, place, family, race and violence, Rember helps writers dive deep into their own writing. He tells them how they can breathe down there and how they can get back. “A big part of writing involves grappling with the terrors and discouragements that come when you have writing skills but can’t project yourself or your work into the future,” says Rember. “My hope is that MFA in a Box will help writers balance the despair of writing with the joy of writing. It’s a book designed to help you to find the courage to put truth into words and to understand that writing is a life-and-death endeavor—but that nothing about a life-and-death endeavor keeps it from being laugh-out-loud funny.”

MFA in a Box: A Why to Write Book

Self-Help

Rember, John

Creativity

Everything I Never Wanted to Be by Dina Kucera is the true story of a family's battle with alcoholism and drug addiction. Dina's grandparents were alcoholics, her father was an alcoholic, she is an alcoholic and pill addict, and all three of her daughters struggle with alcohol and drug addiction--including her youngest daughter, who started using heroin at age fourteen. Dina's household also includes her husband and his unemployed identical twin; a mother who has Parkinson's Disease; a grandson who has cerebral palsy; and other people who drift in and out of the household depending on their employment situation or rehab status. On top of all that, Dina is trying to make it as a stand-up comic and author so she can quit her crumby job as a grocery store clerk. Through it all, Dina does her best to hold her family together, keep her faith, and maintain her sense of humor. As you might imagine, a story filled with alcoholics and drug addicts includes a number of horrific events. But in the end, Everything I Never Wanted to Be is an uplifting story that contains valuable lessons for parents and teens alike, and a strong message about the need to address the epidemic of teen drug addiction in our nation. It's a book that can change behavior and save lives--and make you laugh along the way.

Everything I Never Wanted to Be: A Memoir of Alcoholism and Addiction, Faith and Family, Hope and Humor

Biographies & Memoirs

Kucera, Dina

Arts & Literature

Saying Goodbye is a collection of true stories about saying goodbye to the people, places, and things in our lives. The stories are universal. They are incredibly powerful and moving. And they are surprisingly uplifting and cathartic. "The stories are about love, really, not sadness," says one critic. "Despite all the sadness and grief that come with saying goodbye, there is love and joy and comedy on the Other Side." Says another: "If you have ever had to deal with loss, read this book. It will make you feel better." These stories show that there is sadness in goodbyes, but there is also irony and humor. We cry about the sad stories, we laugh at the funny ones, and along the way, we learn valuable lessons about how we say goodbye -- sometimes under the most difficult of circumstances. We learn because the contributors are unflinchingly open and honest when it comes to sharing very personal stories about how they and their loved ones say goodbye. Taken together, these stories serve as amazing examples of how to say goodbye with grace, dignity, and good humor. Saying Goodbye is the first anthology in a new series from Dream of Things intended to fill the gap between popular anthologies of stories that are "short and sweet" and the Best American Essays series, which are longer form. Dream of Things anthologies are collections of quality stories between 500 and 2,500 words. Instead of short and sweet, these stories are short and deep.

Saying Goodbye: to the people, places, and things in our lives

A Dream of Things Anthology

Death & Grief

"A moving read of tragedy, trying to prevent it, and coping with life after." - Midwest Book Review "Moving, intimate and very inspiring." - Mark Shelmerdine, CEO, Jeffers Press "Poetically visceral, emotionally honest. I will be a better, more empathic psychiatrist, and a better person and friend after reading this extraordinary memoir." - Irvin D. Godofsky, M.D. Leaving the Hall Light On: A Mother's Memoir of Living with Her Son's Bipolar Disorder and Surviving His Suicide charts the near-destruction of one middle-class family whose son committed suicide after a seven-year struggle with bipolar disorder. Madeline Sharples, author, poet and web journalist, goes deep into her own well of grief to describe her anger, frustration and guilt. She describes many attempts -- some successful, some not -- to have her son committed to hospital and to keep him on his medication. The book also charts her and her family's redemption, how she considered suicide herself, and ultimately, her decision live and take care of herself as a woman, wife, mother and writer. A note from the author: I encourage you to read my book if you have been touched by bipolar disorder or suicide. And even if you have not, my book will inspire you to survive your own tragedies. As author Jessica Bell says: Leaving the Hall Light On is "a remarkable book and it SHOULD be read." - Madeline Sharples

Leaving the Hall Light On: A Mother's Memoir of Living with Her Son's Bipolar Disorder and Surviving His Suicide

SHARPLES, MADELINE

Community & Culture

Be There Now is a collection of true travel stories featuring twenty-two contributors who share adventures and escapades from around the world. The stories include the tale of an amateurish kidnapping in Nicaragua that could have been told by Woody Allen, and a David Sedaris-esque tale of two ships passing in a Paris art supply store. Existential stories from a man lost on the flooded Amazon River at night, and from a woman who encounters a grizzly--in the same area where her father and stepmother were killed by a bear. Insightful stories about a woman's spiritual journey in Peru (complete with hallucinogens!), and about a female journalist's friendship with an Iraqi translator in Syria. And stories about endangered species in exotic locales, including helping a sea turtle lay its eggs on a Costa Rican beach, and taking a blind man to visit the mountain gorillas in Rwanda. Be There Now is travel writing at its most authentic--real people sharing real stories of awe and insight, fear and laughter, humility and humanity as they explore the world around us and seek footholds on their own inner journeys. In a world that often demands that we "be here now," it is nice to take a break, daydream, and "be there now" with thoughtful people who take us with them on journeys that lead to inspiration, insight, humor, and deeper meaning. Be There Now is part of a series of anthologies of creative nonfiction on various topics from Dream of Things, which strives to publish anthologies that fill the gap between popular collections that can be regarded as "short and sweet," and the Best American Essays series, which tend to be longer-form. The goal for Dream of Things anthologies is to be not short and sweet, but short and deep.

Be There Now: travel stories from around the world

In the tradition of Frank McCourt and "Angela's Ashes," Donald Dempsey chronicles one boy's ordeals with poverty, religion, and physical and mental abuse as he attempts to come of age with only his street smarts and sense of humor to guide him. Twelve-year-old Donny is a real-life cross between Huckleberry Finn and Holden Caulfield. Donny is doing his best to navigate the world he shares with his cruel and neglectful mother, his mother's abusive boyfriends, churchgoers who want to save Donny's soul, and a best friend who wants Donny to go to work for a dangerous local thug doing petty theft and dealing drugs. Donny does everything he can to take care of himself and his younger brothers, but with each new development, the present becomes more fraught with peril--and the future more uncertain. "Heartrending and humorous. In scene after vivid scene, Dempsey presents his inspiring true story with accomplished style. Dempsey's discipline as a writer lends the real-life tale the feel of a fictional page-turner." Kirkus Reviews "This memoir is for everyone who has ever known someone abandoned, someone unloved, someone with barriers that seem impenetrable. With wit and delicacy, Dempsey exposes wounds that we would prefer to ignore, without ever pushing the reader away with any sense of melodrama. A truly unforgettable memoir." San Francisco Book Review

Betty's Child

Dempsey, Donald R.

Motivational

Daughters of Absence is a collection of twelve essays written by daughters of Holocaust survivors. Each chapter is a contribution from a female author, poet, artist, musician, filmmaker, comedienne, playwright, etc. The authors not only tell about their own personal experiences as daughters of Holocaust survivors, but many essays also include accounts from their parents of horrific experiences during the Holocaust.Despite the unique pressures of being the daughters of "survivors," the contributors have thrived and made the most of their lives, but not in stereotypical ways. Instead, they chose ways that combine compassion with courage, and success with celebration. The result is an uplifting and very inspiring book from a group of very inspiring women.The contributors include editor Mindy Weisel, an artist whose works are on display at museums around the world; Helen Epstein, author of Children of the Holocaust; Aviva Kempner, producer of the films The Partisans of Vilna and The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg; Lily Brett, the only writer who has won Australia's highest awards for fiction and poetry; photographer Vera Loeffler; poet Miram Morsel Nathan; and Hadassah Lieberman, wife of Senator Joe Lieberman. The introduction is by Eva Fogelman, author of Conscience & Courage: Rescuers of Jews during the Holocaust. This book has been used in the classroom and at seminars and conferences. Previously available only in a hard cover edition, it is now available in trade paperback and e-book editions. Highly recommended because of its unique perspective on the Holocaust and because each chapter demonstrates the strength of the human spirit.

Daughters of Absence: Transforming a Legacy of Loss

History

Weisel, Mindy

Military

Swimming with Maya demonstrates the remarkable process of healing after the traumatic death of a loved one. At age 19, Maya mounts a horse bareback as a dare and in a crushing cantilever fall, is left in a coma from which she will never recover. Author Eleanor Vincent’s life is turned upside down as she struggles to make the painful decision about Maya’s fate. Ultimately Eleanor chooses to donate Maya’s organs. Years later, she is able to hear Maya’s heart beat in the chest of the heart recipient. Along the way, Eleanor re-examines her relationship with her daughter, as well as Eleanor’s traumatic life as a child and young woman. In a story that has been called “heartbreaking and heart-healing,” Eleanor Vincent illuminates the kind of courage, creativity, faith, and sheer tenacity it takes to find one’s balance after unthinkable tragedy.

Swimming with Maya: A Mother's Story

Vincent, Eleanor

Parenting & Relationships

On the surface, her childhood seemed normal—even idyllic. Linda grew up in the iconic immigrant community of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, with her parents and a gifted older brother. But she spent her days at home alone with a mother who suffered major bouts of depression. At such times, young Linda was told, "Your mother…she’s not herself today." Those words did little to help Linda understand what she was witnessing. Instead, she experienced the anxiety and hyper-vigilance that often take root when secrecy and shame surround a family member who is ill. She’s Not Herself is a journey to make sense of the effects of multi-generational traumas. Shapiro is ultimately able to forgive (without forgetting) those who left her to fend for herself—and to provide readers with the wisdom of a seasoned psychotherapist who has examined human vulnerability in its many disguises and has moved through it all with dignity and hope. The result is a memoir of love, loss, loyalty, and healing.

She's Not Herself: A psychotherapist's journey into and beyond her mother's mental illness

Shapiro, Linda Appleman

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