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April Newsletter

4/5/2016

Terra Nova authors in the news

Barbara Gerber, author of Love and Death in a Perfect World, had a very nice piece written about her by Robert Nott in both the print and online editions of the Santa Fe New Mexican on April 4, 2016.

Laura Davis Hays, author of Incarnation, was interviewed March 26, 2016 on the radio show A Matter of the Mind. Click here to listen to the podcast.

Michael French will be discussing his latest novel, Once Upon A Lie, on two upcoming Albuquerque television shows. He will be on Morning Brew, Albuquerque Comcast channel 27, Thursday, April 28 from 6:30–8:00 a.m. and Good Day New Mexico on KOB, channel 4, May 11 from 11:00–11:30 a.m.

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December Newsletter

12/13/2015

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We are excited to announce two major new developments for Terra Nova Books, our authors, and our readers. (Drum roll, please ….)

SCB Distributors to the Trade

Starting in January 2016, Terra Nova's titles will be distributed in the U.S. by SCB Distributors. This means that our authors will automatically gain access to SCB's nationwide sales force, and their ongoing relationships with local, regional, and national booksellers.

As many self-published and newly published authors have learned, an Amazon book page and inclusion in the Ingram catalog are not enough to produce substantial sales.

Competition for reader eyeballs is fierce; authors nowadays need a dedicated, national sales force and an established publisher's marketing know-how to achieve the results they want.

To maximize this new distribution relationship, we have been busy over the last few months aligning our publication schedule with SCB's semiannual catalog releases. SCB (and now, TNB) publishes its catalog to the trade in January and August of each year, showcasing new releases, evergreens, and backlists for nearly 200 of the nation's most dynamic small publishers.

Terra Nova Books is proud and excited to announce that we will be publishing four new titles in the first part of 2016:

Once Upon A Lie, a new novel by Michael French;
Incarnation, a debut novel from Laura Davis Hays;
Jewish Rites of Death, by Richard A. Light, a wealth of information, beautiful images, and moving personal stories that illuminate an ancient tradition's role in strengthening spiritual life today;
Eat to Beat Alzheimer's, by Francie Healey, a book of great-tasting recipes based on the most up-to-date research into foods you can eat to ward off and minimize the scourge of dementia.

Booksellers can place advance orders for these new books now through the SCB database, and the company's sales reps will be starting in January to visit their retail accounts across the country on behalf of Terra Nova's titles.

If you are a reader, our new relationship with SCB will make it easier than ever to buy our books at your local bookstore. If the title you want is not in stock there, just tell the bookseller it's in the SCB database, and they will order the book and notify you when it's in.

Joanna V. Hill Joins Terra Nova

Terra Nova Books is proud to announce that Joanna V, Hill has joined the company. Joanna brings her passionate love of books and over forty years of publishing experience to TNB. Her strong desire to publish books that make a difference and her passion for the publishing industry are evident in everything she does.

Joanna began her career in the university press world, at The University of North Carolina, University of Texas, and Louisiana State University in production and design. She later worked at the Swedenborg Foundation and was founding publisher for Templeton Foundation Press, where she was director and oversaw acquisitions, contracts, rights, marketing, and finance. Most recently, she co-founded Rock Point Press.

Our authors will be pleased to learn that Joanna is no stranger to the challenges of being a writer. She is the author of Spiritual Law: The Essence of Swedenborg’s Divine Providence (published by Rock Point Press) and the co-author of three books: The Power of Prayer around the World; Words of Gratitude for Mind, Body, and Soul; and Tiffany’s Swedenborgian Angels: Stained Glass Windows Representing the Seven Churches from the Book of Revelation.

Welcome aboard, Joanna!

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July Newsletter

7/4/2015

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About this newsletter
Bookmark this link to stay up-to-date on the latest happenings at Terra Nova.
New releases, author events, and other exciting news will all be covered.

Love and Death in A Perfect World
races to the top of the charts!

Just kidding. But wouldn't it be great if Barbara Gerber's wonderful debut novel got the recognition and sales that it deserved? Yes! And you can do your part by telling your friends about it and posting reviews on Amazon and social media.

Love and Death in A Perfect World also makes a great gift. If you order directly from Terra Nova, we will give you 20% off orders of six or more books, and ship for free. Just click here to send us an email with your order info.

Also be sure to visit Barbara's social media:

Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Blog

"Robards evokes the open skies and spaces of the Southwest and the way light dramatically alters the landscape . . . Halus probes the edges of landscape and art"

Fishing the Desert was recently favorably reviewed in the Northampton, MA, Daily Hampshire Gazette. Brooks Robards' evocative poetry and Siegfried Halus' stunning photography took center stage in a June 19 review by Steve Pfarrar. The online review is available here.

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June Newsletter

6/8/2015

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About this newsletter
Bookmark this link to stay up-to-date on the latest happenings at Terra Nova.
New releases, author events, and other exciting news will all be covered.

Podcasts Are Coming!

Terra Nova Books is expanding the ways you can learn about our authors and their books. In the coming months we will be converting all of our author readings and interviews to podcasts for download. You will be able to listen to our amazing authors on your phone or music player whenever it's most convenient for you—in the car, while you're exercising, and anywhere else! Check back next month for an update on our progress.

Interview with author Barbara Gerber on Her Breakthrough Debut Novel,
Love and Death in A Perfect World

TNB: Tell us a little about you and your book.

Ms Gerber: I am a writer, a teacher, and a mom. I am someone who thinks and feels entirely too much--
I worry a lot about people and the world.

My first novel, Love and Death in a Perfect World, follows the arc of a woman’s life from the tender age of thirteen to the struggles of middle age and finally to a graceful and hopeful acceptance of the future. My novel paints an unsentimental portrait of Rosemary Ellis as she makes her way through life searching for that script we all wish we had. She works to create the perfect life she has always seen in her mind’s eye—the husband, the kid, the organic food, the house with the solar panels—everything that spells “right livelihood” in Santa Fe, New Mexico. But it’s harder than she expects to navigate the world amid births and deaths, economic disaster, a complicated child, and her stubborn belief that there is one “right” way to live. We watch her struggle as she blows it and learns.

It took me seven years to write this book, which seems to contain every thought I’ve ever had and every observation I’ve ever made about human nature. But the funny thing is, as people read it, I learn there’s more to it than I realized. It’s a deep, “inside” look into a collection of lives that seem hauntingly familiar to many.

TNB: What inspired you to write this first book?

Ms Gerber: I got my first glimpse of what would become Love and Death in a Perfect World during a family vacation at Joshua Tree National Park in March 2007. At one point during a week of hiking and camping, I was watching my 14-year-old son scramble up a steep, narrow outcropping of rock when he lost his footing. Although there were only a few moments of uncertainty before he righted himself, the close call took my breath away: What if he had fallen? What if he had been seriously injured? What if he died? All parents worry that their children will be put in harm’s way, but rather than shudder and put those scary thoughts out of my mind, I decided to explore that dark possibility. When I woke up the next morning, those “obsessive mom” worries began to take a different form. As I cooked breakfast and planned the day’s activities, I found myself inventing characters and scenarios. The troubles that young Dylan encounters in the book stem from that moment.

TNB: What is a message in your novel that you hope readers will grasp?

Ms Gerber: There’s so much I hope people will see, but I don’t want to be too heavy-handed, so I’ll just touch on two aspects. First, I hope they see themselves. I have always relished identifying with a well-developed character. It’s amazing, really, how readers carry the experiences of fictional characters in their hearts and minds. I believe that each character, every book, brings us that much closer to understanding humanity, like pieces in an infinitely complex puzzle. This is why we need novels, memoirs, and, really, all books—we need to understand ourselves and our world.

I also hope the book makes readers question why they think what they think and feel what they feel. I find it fascinating how our habits of mind are formed; from the unexamined kneejerk reaction to a full-blown system of belief, dogma looms everywhere. Which beliefs, tenets, and morals—which guideposts—are our own, and which are simply absorbed unconsciously from others?

TNB: What is your power word? Why this word? (A power word is a word that has great effect to the person hearing or reading it.)

Ms Gerber: My power word is AUTHENTIC. My book is authentic —sometimes gritty in its realness—and I think my readers appreciate that. I have no patience for books that seem clicked together like predictable composites of Lego bricks. Even literary fiction can be formulaic, which is a huge disservice to readers and writers alike.

TNB: Did you encounter any surprises or unexpected twists during the process of writing this book?

Ms Gerber: A funny thing is that since it took me so long to write the book, by the time I finished I identified more with the main character’s mother than Rosemary herself. I felt so much compassion for Martina as she ceases to be the center of her children’s lives, a development I have had to adjust to personally as my children grow up. (They are now 22 and 16.)

In addition, although I planned out the book and was clear on its “message” before I began to write, it turned out I had a whole lot more to say. I ended up focusing more than expected on how women, as exemplified by Rosemary, are expected to care so much—to care for their children, their partners, their parents, their co-workers, their neighbors—everyone in their lives, really, as well as often having jobs that require them to care for others. We’re so used to seeing this that it’s become invisible.

Ultimately, the book took on a life of its own—I ended up writing a better book than I’d planned!

TNB: Why should someone buy your book?

Ms Gerber: The book makes readers question what we’re all doing with this baffling gift of life, the mystery of love, and the burden of death. In addition, since it covers so many years in the life of Rosemary, her parents, her husband, and her son, a broad scope of readers can connect with it. (And it’s a page-turner!) If you’re the kind of reader who enjoys strong character development and a good story, but who also expects some depth in a book—a book that makes you think and wonder and remember and feel and laugh and cry—then Love and Death in a Perfect World fits the bill.

TNB: What marketing techniques are you using to sell your book?

Ms Gerber: The book will be officially released on July 1, so I’m just getting started with it all. So far I’m blogging and using social media. I’m also sending out advance reader copies and media kits to reviewers. I’ll begin holding book talks and reaching out to book groups this summer. My publisher is offering book groups of six or more 20 percent off retail price with free shipping. (Go to the Book Clubs page on their web site if you’re interested!)

TNB: What projects are you currently working on?

Ms Gerber: I’m enjoying blogging. After years of being a freelance journalist—having to pitch stories, please editors, and cringe when a story is hacked to pieces—it’s great to write what I want and publish it directly. I also love how blogging and other social media allow me to connect directly with readers, without a filter.

Apart from that, I’m planning a sequel to Love and Death in a Perfect World.

TNB: Do you have advice for other writers?

Ms Gerber: Keep the faith. It’s hard to devote thousands of hours to something that might never fully manifest, or might utterly fail. Let’s face it—when you’re writing a novel, you’re not making money, you’re not spending time with your family, you’re not exercising, you’re not…fill in the blank. It’s a huge leap of faith, and it’s hard to maintain that faith over a long period of time. And it changes—how you write, why you’re writing, the shape of the book, etc. I support writers in being devoted to the process, but flexible about the product. Let the book become what it needs to be.

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May Newsletter

5/14/2015

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About this newsletter
Bookmark this link to stay up-to-date on the latest happenings at Terra Nova.
New releases, author events, and other exciting news will all be covered.

Congratulations to Claudette Sutton, author of Farewell, Aleppo, for three recent awards from the New Mexico Press Women's Association:

Farewell, Aleppo earned a Second Place award in the category Nonfiction Books for Adult Readers—Biography or Autobiography .

The video trailer for Aleppo, created by Artotems, took First Place in the category Videos for Website: Special Interest

Claudettesutton.com, earned an Honorable Mention in the category Web Site Edited or Managed By Entrant—For-Profit.

Order Farewell, Aleppo online or at your local bookstore

The Terra Nova Spring/Summer 2015 Catalog is here!

From the introduction:

Welcome to our Spring/Summer 2015 Catalog!

It’s been an exciting three years for Terra Nova, bringing you a wealth of page-turning fiction, poetic and visual creativity, helpful guides, and moving personal stories.

Coming soon will be Rites of Death, an exploration of the moving spiritual experience modern Americans are finding in ancient Jewish burial customs; novelist Barbara Gerber’s vivid exploration of a modern woman’s journey through a world that assails her hopes and expectations even as it compels her to relearn the values she must live by; and the entrancing story of Milo, Terra Nova’s initial venture into the fascinating world of Young Adult literature.

We hope you’ll be as excited by these wonderful new books as we are. The great ride continues!

Click here to download.

Terra Nova authors on social media

Social media such as Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and their blogs are great ways to interact with our authors. They provide easy, effective ways to actually connect with authors whose books you've enjoyed.

Several of our authors are active on social media. They would love to hear from you!

Keen Butterworth, author of The Scourge
Goodreads
Facebook
Twitter

R. Douglas Clark, author of American Odyssey
Goodreads
Facebook
Twitter

Dave DeWitt, author of six Pepper Pantry books
Facebook
Twitter
Blog

Michael French, author of The Reconstruction of
Wilson Ryder
Goodreads
Facebook
Twitter

Barbara Gerber, author of Love and Death in
a Perfect World
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Blog

Laura Davis Hays, author of Incarnation
Facebook
Twitter

Claudette Sutton, author of Farewell, Aleppo
Goodreads
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Blog

We'll keep you updated as more of our authors take the social media plunge!

Advance Reader Copies

Reviewers, interviewers, and book club members, if you are interested in receiving advance reader copies of our upcoming books, send an email. We are currently sending out ARCs for Incarnation and Love and Death in a Perfect World.

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April Newsletter

3/31/2015

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About this newsletter
Bookmark this link to stay up-to-date on the latest happenings at Terra Nova.
New releases, author events, and other exciting news will all be covered.

Coming Soon

Rites of Death: The Beauty and
Power of Jewish Tradition

Richard A. Light

This newest book from Richard A. Light is an introduction to the inter-world space, the boundary where death and life meet, the “space between worlds” that we encounter when we deal with the dead. We enter into it through a series of extraordinary processes in which the physical actions, the prayers, and the kavanah involved in Jewish death rituals open a window for us to glimpse this unique boundary. We can feel the experience of helping souls move from this world to the next as the book explores the practices and rituals of the Jewish tradition in preparing the dead for burial. It is an invitation to touch the fine line separating realms of existence.

Advance Reader Copies

Reviewers, interviewers, and book club members, if you are interested in receiving advance reader copies of our upcoming books, send an email. We will soon be sending out ARCs for Incarnation and Love and Death in a Perfect World.

Incarnation

Laura Davis Hays

Kelsey Dupuis knows more is going on at BioVenture Enterprises, where she spends her days staring through powerful microscopes, than meets the eye. And there’s more going on within her as well, as Kelsey’s mind and soul are gripped by recurring visions of the life and people of Atlantis. Together, the two threads grow, wrapping her tighter and tighter in a knot she can only escape through ordeal, courage, and deep karmic understanding.

Love and Death in a Perfect World

Barbara Gerber

Rosemary Ellis has a vision for her perfect life—a loving husband, a cherished child, and a career built on the principles of right livelihood. So why won’t the world comply?

Amid the struggles of making even a good marriage work, the embattled belief that we control our own destinies, and the striving to find connection in a disconnected world, the Ellis family must survive.

With stark honesty, piercing insight, and wry humor, Love and Death in a Perfect World follows the arc of a woman’s life from tender adolescence to her hard-edged forties, exploring deep questions about human nature and modern life: How do we raise healthy children in fractured middle-class America? How do we navigate a world that refuses to behave as promised, especially when the stakes are so high? And where do we find the strength to rebuild when expectations are shattered and the wrong people win?

In Love and Death in a Perfect World, first-time novelist Barbara Gerber delivers a richly textured yet unsentimental portrait of a family that keeps on keeping on, and of a woman who expects to “live in the light” but instead must fight to find her own light in the darkness of everyday life.

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March Newsletter

2/25/2015

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About this newsletter
Bookmark this link to stay up-to-date on the latest happenings at Terra Nova.
New releases, author events, and other exciting news will all be covered.

New Releases
Terra Nova Books is excited to announce our new releases.

Fishing the Desert
Brooks Robards and Siegfried Halus

Fishing is a first-time collaboration between long-time friends Brooks Robards and Siegfried Halus.

New Mexico photographer Siegfried Halus and New England poet Brooks Robards have joined to produce a book celebrating the world of the Southwest and New Mexico in particular.

Robards employs her gift for lyrical language to evoke the rich life of New Mexico’s deserts as winter gives way to spring. Her poems explore the animals, vegetation, and weather that define the landscape and feed her imagination with imagery and narratives inspired by the desert.

Halus’s photographs bring to life the world of the Southwest, its people and terrain, in a fashion that only a deeply engaged artist can capture. The synergy generated by these two friends will keep the reader returning to Fishing the Desert to share an experience both spiritual and emotionally rewarding.

The Scourge
Keen Butterworth

Jake Battle is minding his own business, just fishing, when he follows the squawking of ravens and magpies to find the body of a beautiful woman, wife of a local ranch owner who is also one of the richest men in the country.

When the fatal slug is dug out of her, everyone in Clark City, Montana, knows there’s only one gun around that could have fired it, the rifle of Jake’s friend, Carlton Heavy-Eagle.

“Don’t get mixed up in this mess,” Jake’s girlfriend, Gwen, tells him. “You can’t tell what’s going on.” But Jake is too mixed up in it already. The path he follows to clear his friend leads to tales of gang violence, wanton sex, cocaine smuggling, and the mysterious Scourge—a man monstrous in size and ugliness.

In his debut novel, author Keen Butterworth has painted a vivid portrait of both man and nature as Jake—haunted by his past in Vietnam, soothed by the love he shares with Gwen—pursues a dangerous manhunt amid the rugged beauty of the northern Rockies.

Coming Soon

Rites of Death: The Beauty and Power of Jewish Tradition
Richard A. Light

This newest book from Richard A. Light is an introduction to the inter-world space, the boundary where death and life meet, the “space between worlds” that we encounter when we deal with the dead. We enter into it through a series of extraordinary processes in which the physical actions, the prayers, and the kavanah involved in Jewish death rituals open a window for us to glimpse this unique boundary. We can feel the experience of helping souls move from this world to the next as the book explores the practices and rituals of the Jewish tradition in preparing the dead for burial. It is an invitation to touch the fine line separating realms of existence.

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April Newsletter

Terra Nova authors in the news

December Newsletter

July Newsletter

Love and Death in A Perfect World races to the top of the charts!

"Robards evokes the open skies and spaces of the Southwest and the way light dramatically alters the landscape . . . Halus probes the edges of landscape and art"

June Newsletter﻿

Podcasts Are Coming!

Interview with author Barbara Gerber on Her Breakthrough Debut Novel, Love and Death in A Perfect World

May Newsletter

Terra Nova authors on social media

April Newsletter

March Newsletter

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Love and Death in A Perfect World
races to the top of the charts!

June Newsletter

Interview with author Barbara Gerber on Her Breakthrough Debut Novel,
Love and Death in A Perfect World