Take a fascinating look inside the old Ohio Penitentiary as you follow a group of inmates who meet weekly under the tutelage of a lifer named Zeno in a group called the Epictetus Club. The inmates study the teachings of this Greek philosopher, and with the help of his ancient wisdom they meet the daily challenges of their lives. Learning to think outside the limits of their own literal walls as they struggle to redeem themselves, the club members show us how to think beyond our own self-imposed limitations and comfort zones.

The Epictetus Club

Literature & Fiction

Traylor, Jeff

Contemporary

Drinian Press

McGowan's Call

Davis McGowan could not have anticipated how his career would isolate him in his private life. After ordination, he finds himself an alien in a world of human need. This fictional account of a young pastor's rise and fall is based on the secret reality faced by the ordinary people who have sensed a "call" to one of the helping professions. Never quite accepted as a local, he navigates the path of conscience through the pitfalls of personal loneliness. McGowan's Call is a collection of short stories and a novella that chronicles Davis' path from the river town of Hatteras, Ohio to the suburbs of Dayton. This work of fiction provides a rare insight to pastoral ministry outside the scandals that regularly make headlines. It is an honest exposé of the real crisis that afflicts those who live in the public eye. Rob Smith is the author of two novels including Night Voices. Ann Joslin of A Sandusky Bay Journal describes Night Voices as "an exciting novel of adventure." In McGowan's Call, this talented writer explores the inner landscape of those who find themselves inserted in the personal crises of others. Rob Smith's short stories have appeared nationally in Writer's Journal and other literary magazines. In 2006, he received the Robert Frost Poetry Award for his poem Catbird. He currently resides on Ohio's north coast and sails the waters of Lake Erie on a sloop that he and his wife are restoring.

Smith PhD, Rob

United States

This little book is a think-piece for adult readers who grew up with (or have been captured by) the fantasy worlds of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and J. K. Rowling. Rob Smith points out general themes in the work of these three authors and matches them to the ancient motifs of the biblical writings. The result is a discussion about the way in which we look at time, place, and the meaning of being human. The focus is less an explanation of the stories than a jumping off place to discuss our presuppositions about these important life matters. Rob Smith is an ordained Presbyterian minister who served thirty-one years in congregations before accepting a full time position teaching religion and philosophy at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. There he taught a course entitled The Life, Religion, and Fiction of C.S. Lewis. His familiarity with Lewis, Tolkien, and the other Inklings gives him a unique insight to this literature. His background in biblical studies also brings credibility to this work.

Hogwarts, Narnia, and Middle Earth: Places Upon a Time

Rob-Smith

History & Criticism

Passing Through is a stand-alone novel that completes the trilogy begun with Passing Off and Passing On. Former pro basketball player, tour guide, and memoirist, Michael Keever is recruited to teach Creative Non-Fiction at Queen City College. Having faked his qualifications, Keever at-tempts to deceive his family, students, colleagues, admin-istrators, and friends with increasingly comic schemes. When he receives anonymous emails that accuse him of fictionalizing his earlier autobiographies, Keever needs to discover the author of the emails. His absurd detection boomerangs and his troubles multiply, ultimately forcing him into a plot of imposture that takes him to Algeria and puts both his new life as an academic and his life itself in jeopardy. Passing Through resembles a Rabbit novel rewritten by the Richard Russo of Straight Man or the Don DeLillo of White Noise. "No game, no gain" is Keever's motto. Le-Clair fools with academic protocols, plays with conventions of travel writing and autobiography, and ultimately plays against the academically trained reader with unreliable stories nested within probable fabrications within possible inventions. Humorous in its bumbling hero and fumbled plots, Passing Through also has a satiric edge in its presentation of a private college as a drive-through business.

Passing Through: A Novel

LeClair, Tom

Genre Fiction

Some girls grow up with Barbie dolls and E-Z Bake ov-ens, but not Martha. She has Scorpion Tail, Beelzebub, and the seven battles of the Apocalypse to deal with in addition to a mother who reads nightly from Fox's Book of Martyrs. Martha lives in working class Arkansas of the late sixties and early seventies. Her father is a proud and brutal man who can't always get enough work to keep pinto beans on the ta-ble. Her mother, Pixie, in the most creative moment of her life, slips into her wedding dress, marches to the local store-front fundamentalist church and marries Jesus. The only re-deeming thing about the church for Martha is that the middle Spoon daughter is also forced to attend, and she's the tough-est outlaw girl in town. Martha finds temporary respite through her friendship with Spoon and her strong, independ-ent grandmother. Girlfriends, however, get boyfriends and grandmothers get old, but the holdouts survive. An adult novel told in a child's voice, readers will increas-ingly identify with Martha in her search for self. The story resonates with the universal struggle of growing up and find-ing a place in the world.

The Holdouts

Clements, Sherry

Martha and Nina are under-employed, over-educated slackers who are wasting their twenty-something lives while serving drinks at a dive bar in Cleveland. Martha's escapes are smoking too much, drinking, and reading classic literature. Nina's distractions come in the form of married men. In a shared moment of self-realization, they quit their jobs and set out on a road trip. Their journey in time takes a literary turn that blurs fantasy and reality. Nina's destiny is guided by Cervantes' Don Quixote while Martha, with less grandiose aspirations, finds herself in the footsteps of Jane Austen's Emma Woodhouse. A Body at Rest was a competition semi-finalist in the 2008 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award.

A Body at Rest

Petrone, Susan

Literary

McGowan's Call is a collection of short stories and a novella that chronicles Davis' path from the river town of Hatteras, Ohio to the suburbs of Dayton. This work of fiction provides a rare insight to pastoral ministry outside the scandals that regularly make headlines. It is an honest exposé of the real crisis that afflicts those who live in the public eye. Here is what was said of McGowan's Call in Heartlands Magazine: "The stories take us through Davis McGowan's years of ministry and his struggles and rewards in dealing with parishioners' illnesses, aging, deaths, doubts, and even a homicide in the suspenseful novella "False Witness." One could compare the book to Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio collection of Midwest portraits from a small town; only these are contemporary tales. A wide variety of townsfolk are shown, but the focus is squarely on McGowan as he matures into his job." -Larry Smith, editor

McGowan's Retreat

The evening news is rife with reports of corporate excess. Public outrage is of little consequence, however, since in-competence and greed might be considered moral failings, but not criminal offenses. Shelly Martin is beginning to suspect otherwise.     It is not that she's becoming paranoid, but because the parade of CEO's announcing bonuses and bankruptcy are not just talking-heads for her. They are, or were, her personal friends. More precisely, they were her church parishioners in a small South Dakota town that is also home to the Elkhorn Institute, a financial "think-tank." When Shelly disappears, Davis McGowan tries to follow a twisted path of evidence that seems to be evaporating before his eyes.    McGowan's Retreat is a timely, fictional account of people who live just outside the spotlight of the media. It moves quietly at a deadly pace, and will give pause to those who wonder about the link between the present economic crisis, corporate ideology, and personal choice.    The Lake Erie Islands and Dayton, Ohio are the setting for this fictional account of the financial meltdown which began in the fall of 2008. McGowan discovers how a market strategy spawns a series of unintended consequences and shattered lives.

McGowan's Retreat is a timely, fictional account of people who live just outside the spotlight of the media. It gives pause to those who wonder about the link between the present economic crisis, corporate ideology, and personal choice.

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Thrillers & Suspense

The Doaker's Story charts the career of Billy Doakes from champion schoolboy athlete to TV news reporter and his destruction by the cynical forces of the sports/media establishment. He's a tragic hero of our times. The story of William T. Doakes is told from the point of view of his friend and confidant, Mark Simons, a videographer who has followed the Doaker through his transition from athlete to reporter. As the drama unfolds, Simons unwittingly becomes the chronicler of the events that haunt the Doaker in a final quest for justice. It is a pursuit which gets trampled by an industry whose need for celebrity competitors violates his sense of self. Author Neil Isaacs is Professor of English Emeritus at the University of Maryland, College Park and a retired therapist. Besides two prior novels, his books include clinical studies (pathological gambling, couples counseling), sports history and analysis, cultural studies, and literary studies.

The Doaker's Story

Isaacs, Neil D.

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Books by Drinian Press

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

The Epictetus Club

McGowan's Call

Hogwarts, Narnia, and Middle Earth: Places Upon a Time

Passing Through: A Novel

The Holdouts

A Body at Rest

McGowan's Call

McGowan's Retreat

McGowan's Retreat

The Doaker's Story