Dream Big, Show Up, Be Present: Our First Eden Mills Writers’ Festival
On September 20th, Chicken House Press set up shop for the very first time at the Eden Mills Writers’ Festival. If you’ve never been, picture a pretty village tucked along the Eramosa River, filled with writers, readers, and people who love words. We were on Publisher’s Way, under a 10x10 white tent, with three six-foot tables stacked with books and magazines. On either side of us were the lovely folks from the Toronto Journal and The New Quarterly. I couldn’t have asked for better neighbours.
It was also the inaugural unfurling of our brand-new CHP banner, a moment that lasted roughly thirty seconds before a gust of wind knocked it flat. Thankfully, a hero emerged from the official festival book store tent. Someone from Guelph’s The Bookshelf came over with a roll of duct tape and helped us strap the banner to one of our tent legs. It held all day. Book people really do look out for each other.
The weather cooperated beautifully. We had sunshine and just enough cloud to keep us pulling our sweaters on and off all day. The mood in the village was warm and enthusiastic, the way it gets when a crowd of book people gathers in one place.
Our authors, in the flesh
Six CHP authors joined me throughout the day for signings:
Brian C. Austin, Where Eagles Never Fly series
Benjamin Rempel, the Feral Winter series
Cheryl Skory Suma, Habitan
John Van Rys, Milksop
Susan Cullen, The World Collective series
Marina L. Reed, Mr. Tuesday
My favourite part of the day had nothing to do with sales. For some of these authors, this was the first time we’d ever stood in the same space. We’ve built these books together over Zoom calls and email threads, through edits, cover drafts, and text messages. Finally getting to shake hands (and hug!) was such a gift. Between signings there was lots of good chatter, swapping of stories, and a warm exchange of ideas and experiences. That kind of community is exactly why this press exists.
I also met some wonderful readers, and a few upcoming authors with stories still finding their way into the world.
Brian C. Austin; Benjamin Rempel; Cheryl Skory Suma; John Van Rys; Susan Cullen; Marina L. Reed, Chris J. Meyer and Alanna Rusnak
Now, the honest part
I’m a hopeful optimist. It’s what keeps me going, and it’s part of what keeps this press running. So I’ll admit it: I had visions of books flying off our tables and into the hands of eager readers.
That’s not quite how it went.
Foot traffic was lighter than I’d hoped, and the day didn’t match the picture I had built in my head. I want to pull back the curtain a little, because I don’t think most readers know what it takes for a small press to show up at an event like this:
Booth rental: $170
White tent: $100 (purchased specifically for the festival as per admittance requirements)
New banner: $160
Inventory: $1,000 for about 200 books, many of them brought in especially for the day
Gas and food for a long day on the road
That’s $1,430 before we’d even filled the tank. And at the end of the day, we had sold nine books.
I’m not sharing this to complain. Eden Mills is a beloved festival run by people who care deeply about literature, and I’m grateful we were part of it. I’m sharing it because when you walk past a small press table at a festival, you’re seeing a lot of hope, planning, and money that it may not earn back.
A little wisdom from John
After the festival, John Van Rys (author of Milksop) and I traded debrief emails. I told him how disappointed I was, and he sent back something I’ve been holding onto ever since:
“Dream big and plan accordingly; show up and be present; be content with what the gods provide, whether large or small :-). I think even connecting with a few readers is deeply valuable, when you imagine them reading your words and being moved by them.”
He’s right. Nine books means nine readers who will sit with these stories. Some of them may be moved, changed, or comforted by them. That counts for a lot.
So here’s my gentle ask…
The next time you’re at a festival, a market, or a fair and you see a small press or an indie author behind a table, stop and say hello. Ask what they’re excited about. If something calls to you, take it home. Even if you don’t buy anything, your conversation matters more than you know.
And if you missed us at Eden Mills, we still have plenty of those festival books looking for homes. Visit this special INVENTORY CLEAR OUT page to save 25% on selected titles. An amazing way to stock up on gifts for the coming holidays and once they’re gone, they’re gone.
Thank you to the Eden Mills Writers’ Festival for having us, to our neighbours on Publisher’s Way, to Guelph’s The Bookshelf for the duct tape rescue, to everyone who stopped by the tent, and especially to Brian, Ben, Cheryl, John, Susan, and Marina for making the drive and sharing the day.
I’m not giving up on that hopeful optimism. It’s what drives me.
See you next time,
Alanna
Flip through to see what’s available in the sale:
A spicy romp by Marina L. Reed 🌶🌶🌶🌶
High heat | Dual POV | Second-Chance Romance | HFN
“A professional woman’s fantasy!” Lynn Brophy
“A spicy, page-turning romp built for group chats and girls’ nights. Reed delivers confident, irresistible heat.” Allison Bothley
“…incredibly sensual with high heat, but it never loses its emotional core.” Julie Paul
Valerie Pert has built a good life: a career as a producer, two daughters, a husband, a home. On paper, she has everything.
So what’s missing?
Passion! When Val has a steamy encounter with an old flame on a work trip, she feels herself coming back to life. She begins to remember what it feels like to be seen, to be daring, to tingle. She discovers that desire doesn’t fade with age. Valerie now faces a question she's been avoiding for years.
What does she actually want?
Will she return to a life where she felt lost and invisible or embrace who she wants and needs to be?
A sexy, sophisticated novel about rediscovering yourself and learning it’s never too late to want more; the kind of book readers won’t stop whispering about.
FERAL WINTER BOOK ONE
Nearing the end of a harsh winter, estranged half-brothers, Andrew and Xavier, flee into the dark woods isolating their town. Panicked, the young men seek refuge from a growing horde of feral townsfolk tracking them with unbridled violence.
Threatened by dwindling food supplies, rising tensions, and a troubled group of survivors, the brothers are thrust into bloody conflicts while desperately searching for their parents.
As their community unravels, Andrew and Xavier must uncover the terrifying truth about a virus ravaging their town if they are to survive one more night from the things that hunt them.
Hailed as “violent, mysterious, and powerfully empathetic,” INFECT explores human behaviour where nothing is sacred and survival is the highest priority.
Note: Amazon Prime shipping is fulfilled through an Amazon warehouse and may takes 2-3 weeks to arrive.
Paperback | 312 pages | Horror | Adult Fiction
FERAL WINTER BOOK TWO by Benjamin Rempel
“Sharp, visceral, with masterful tension, Rempel continues to be an exciting new voice in Canadian Horror.” —Blank Spaces
After months of inoculating virus-infected townsfolk, Andrew Stone resumes his studies overseas while half-brother, Xavier, and cousin, Evelyn, settle into a new normal. But evil lurks in the shadows. There are whispers the antidote is waning while a frightening mutation is spawning a breed stronger, smarter, and more violent than anything seen before.
Tracking this new terror, Xavier and Evelyn lead a hack team of cops to a remote barn. But the group is quickly overtaken, plunged into clashes of carnage and butchery. As casualties mount, the survivors take refuge in a deserted motel where old friends unite and new threats surface.
As Andrew and Xavier begin to lose hope in finding their parents, they learn a haunting secret about the virus that could lead to a final cure, once and for all.
Dripping with tension, horror novelist, Benjamin Rempel, ratchets up the stakes in this terrifying sequel.
RELEASED ON SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2025.
Note: Amazon Prime shipping is fulfilled through an Amazon warehouse and may takes 2-3 weeks to arrive.
Paperback | 331 pages | Horror | Adult Fiction |
BOOK ONE IN THE WORLD COLLECTIVE SERIES BY SUSAN CULLEN
WINNER OF THE 2023 WORD AWARD FOR BEST YA FICTION, SHORTLISTED FOR THE KOBO EMERGING WRITER AWARD FOR BEST DEBUT SPECULATIVE FICTION
When environmental disaster threatened to end all life on earth, humanity came together and created the World Collective. Using The Code, a computer program that tracks every detail, citizens live in harmony, each ensured a full life story with access to food, medicine, education, and meaningful work as part of the collective.
But what happens when The Code is hacked?
The last terrorist attack happened eight years ago. Ry was the only survivor. Now fourteen, she can’t help but notice everything is happening too fast, especially when she is activated for her vital role four years early.
A terrorist has tampered with the coding that controls vital roles and Ry has been assigned to the very team tasked with his capture. As Ry adapts to life as an adult in a new city and working to make new friends, she begins to see that more is at stake than a couple kids being forced to grow up too fast.
Because The Code controls every aspect of life…
And death.
BOOK TWO IN THE WORLD COLLECTIVE SERIES BY SUSAN CULLEN
The World Collective is crumbling. Change is stirring. It is time for the people to act, to come together as a United People.
Rygita did the impossible - she faced Thanatos and lived. Now, with the terrorist Tazib captured, life should be returning to normal.
Too bad things are never that simple.
Thanatos continues to kill and despite the World Collective’s efforts to keep the truth secret the increasing early deaths are taking a toll on the system. DATA needs more information if they hope to repair The Code. Ry is positive Tazib holds the answers but getting him to reveal them is a challenge.
With the world around her growing more and more complicated Ry must discern the truth from fantasy. The perfect music tells her there is a plan but how does that help her navigate her day-to-day life and relationships? And how do the United People factor in? Is the secret organization the key to ensuring a future for all?
BOOK THREE IN THE WORLD COLLECTIVE SERIES BY SUSAN CULLEN
All her life, Rygita was told it was impossible to live outside the World Collective, believing the rhetoric that there was nothing beyond the ordered cities except wasteland, chaos, and death. But this was a lie.
Hidden in the mountains, far away from the Code’s reach, Ry discovers the Uncounted. These multi-generational families have built a thriving community of free people, offering Ry, Tali, and Loren their first real chance at a normal life, and an opportunity to reclaim their childhood.
But time is running out. Thanatos remains unchecked, and the United People are closing in. Somewhere in Ry’s memory lies the key to everything, if only she can unlock it in time. With the future hanging in the balance, she’ll have to work with the one person she swore never to trust: Tazib.
From pulse-pounding pod chases to daring rescues, Ry will risk it all in this epic conclusion to The World Collective trilogy.
In a world where truth has been buried under layers of lies, perhaps the most powerful discovery is that hope’s song never truly fades — it just needs a willing heart to hear it.
Middle-grade fiction by Cheryl Skory Suma
Separated from their parents as infants, Melissa, Michael, and Annabelle share a special bond. When a mysterious event transports them away from their orphanage to Habitan—a magical realm where animals talk and powers of the mind and sorcery abound—they discover their connection runs deeper than friendship.
Guided by three magical animal companions, the children must confront the wicked sorceress Oskana while uncovering shocking truths about their heritage. As they develop unexpected powers, they face a stunning revelation: they might be Habitan’s only hope for salvation.
Can they master their gifts in time?
Who can they trust?
Will they ever reunite with their parents?
How does their adventure in Habitan affect the “Parallel Place” they left behind?
Inspired by bedtime stories the author told her children, this high-stakes, epic fantasy tale weaves Canadian landscapes and Indigenous Cree language into an adventure of courage, friendship, and discovering your true potential against impossible odds.
Forty years ago, on the night his mother died, Rajiv Montgomery Noah received a vision of fire that would consume the world. While others dismissed the growing signs of climate collapse, he devoted his life to an improbable task: building a sanctuary in the wilderness of northern Ontario—a dome erected over an abandoned mine, designed to shelter two hundred souls within the ancient forest.
Now, as the world teeters on the edge of catastrophe, Rajiv's dome stands as both monument and shelter—a testament to hope, hubris, and the weight of choosing who survives. But neither the dome's reinforced walls nor Rajiv's careful calculations can prepare its inhabitants for the moral complexity of being the chosen few, or shield them from the haunting question: what makes survival worthwhile when everything familiar has burned away?
When The Trees All Burned, the first novel in The Path That Takes Us Home series, is a meditation on grief, purpose, and human resilience in the face of environmental collapse. In the tradition of Station Eleven and The Road, it asks not just how we might survive a dying world, but who we become in the surviving.
Rajiv Montgomery Noah spent his life building a sanctuary for the worthy. He chose two hundred souls, wrote them a constitution, and sealed the gates against everything that burned. On paper, it was beautiful.
But a house built on a cracked foundation will always find its fault line. Inside Eden, a man with a borrowed name carries old world appetites into the new one. The batteries are draining as the sun refuses to show her face—and the only man who can see her is trapped four hundred kilometres above the earth, utterly beyond reach. And beneath the surface of Rajiv’s perfect system lies a catastrophic secret—one he buried before the fires came—that may render everything he built, every sacrifice, every soul he saved, meaningless.
Beyond the dome, the silence may not be as total as they feared. But even the fragile hope of other survivors only sharpens the questions Rajiv can no longer avoid:
What does it mean to save humanity if you have already broken the thing that makes it human?
There is only one answer. And it will cost him everything.
A novel about small time politics byJack Stilborn
“Jack Stilborn has written a very funny and thoughtful novel about people, politics, and the never ending quest to do the right thing. The narrator, Andrew Walmer, lurches from one crisis to the next doing his level best to keep his world from spinning right off its axis. I happily joined him for the joyride.” —Terry Fallis, two-time winner of the Leacock Medal for Humour
Political science lecturer Andrew Walmer thought he could help out by serving on his condominium board. Instead, he finds himself trapped in an endless saga of petty disputes, bizarre rules, and increasingly desperate attempts to escape - all while trying to repair his relationship with his estranged wife Francine, a passionate law professor fighting for social justice, and save his career following an offensive classroom joke that could end his teaching days.
When the board’s iron-fisted president launches a crusade against potted plants, Andrew sees his chance to finally break free. But in the dysfunctional world of condo politics, where every decision is made “in service to the community,” nothing is ever simple. As new crises emerge and board members start dropping like flies, Andrew discovers that getting off a condo board may be even harder than earning forgiveness from Francine - and that his deeper question haunts him still: if people can’t make small organizations work, what hope is there for the big ones?
Warm and witty, The Tyranny of Good Intentions captures central challenges of politics: it involves people, and the people need to agree about decisions. It’s a story about second chances, the complexities of democracy at its most grassroots level, and finding hope in life’s unexpected detours - even if that detour leads straight to the president’s chair.
“Pack this book with care, and don’t forget the “delicate and flammable” tag. These stories take you through burning woods, tattoos, and arsenic, before healing you with water, love, sex, and language as lush as poetry. Ace Baker is a male version of Shahrzad, a born storyteller whose survival is guaranteed with one tale a night.” —Niloufar-Lily Soltani, author of Zulaikha
A stunning second collection of short stories from Ace Baker
Fire fascinates. Fire destroys. Fire transforms.
In these thirteen stories, ordinary people discover the flames that define them—the slow burn of desire, the sudden flare of violence, the smouldering aftermath of loss. Some fires warm us. Others consume everything we thought we knew about love, loyalty, and survival.
With unflinching honesty and surprising tenderness, Bathing in Fire explores the moments when we’re forced to choose between safety and passion, between who we were and who we might become. These are stories about the heat that shapes us, the sparks that ignite us, and the ashes we rise from.
From quiet domestic kitchens to battlefields half a world away, from first love to final revenge, each tale illuminates the human condition at its most vulnerable and its most fierce.
Some flames burn everything to ash.
Others light the way home.
Dive into the wilds of a Farley Mowat adventure;
spin through the roaring excitement of a Jules Verne quest;
chase hope with the survivor instincts of a David Mamet thriller.
After losing everything, the idea of finding purpose seemed out of reach for young Roland Hadson. But in the depths of his sorrow, he builds a groundbreaking craft using off-the-shelf technology. Fuelled by grit and grief, Roland begins to find his place. Little does the world know, this craft will lead him to a hidden sanctuary where those facing prejudice and hatred can find safety.
For fans of adventure and self-discovery, this young man’s high-stakes journey offers a thrilling mix of classic tales that stand as testaments to the indomitable human spirit, the will to survive, and the courage to chase after a better future.
In a world filled with persecution and hostility, it’s up to the brave ones to soar where eagles never fly.
Note: Amazon Prime shipping is fulfilled through an Amazon warehouse and takes 2-3 weeks to arrive.
Paperback | 257 pages | Christian Fiction, Action and Adventure
Much of humanity’s technology has been crippled by a computer virus and the world Roland Hadson once knew has become more of a police state than a free country. Having learned to live alone, the desire to bring people into the subterranean shelter he has prepared, and the fear of bringing people in, create a strange internal conflict for him
The Old Order Mennonite community where he first seeks to help people is facing prejudice and hatred, in part because the loss of computer technology has had little impact on their lives.
With his sights set on peopling his cavern, Roland squares off against vile oppressors as he ignores his own survival instinct in order to secure the survival of others, learning that sometimes, violence is a necessary evil.
In a world filled with persecution and hostility, it’s up to the brave ones to soar where eagles never fly.
Paperback | 185 pages | Christian Fiction, Action and Adventure
Featuring a foreword by Marina L. Reed (author of On the Edge) and short fiction by Crystal Randall Barnett, Daryl Bruce, Finnian Burnett, Alyssa Bushell, Casey Fehr, Jennifer Moffatt, Noa Padawer-Blatt, and Karen Walker.
To be included in this anthology, writers had to make the decision to dive deep and explore zones of discomfort in order to captivate the reader; in order to bring characters to life; in order to make an impact.
Through eight short stories you will be reminded who you used to be when you yearned for who you wanted to become; you will cower as a child at the hand of an overzealous mother; you will mourn growing pains; you will return home; you will grieve lost loved ones and wrong choices; you will explore and you will be explored.
Don’t just read these stories because they are all Canadian, read them because you want a reprieve, read them because you want to explore a piece of yourself left hidden, read them because they are too good to miss.
Available for KINDLE, KOBO, and AMAZON PRIME.
Featuring a foreword by E. Yvonne Pelletier and short fiction by Nikki Berreth, Rose Camara, Andrea Marcelino, Cornelia Mars, E. J. Nash, Katrine Raymond, Tara Ross, and K. R. Wilson.
In this masterful collection of short fiction from some of Canada's brightest literary voices, eight stories explore the delicate intersection of trauma, healing, and the bonds that both break and save us. Sticks and Stones delves deep into the landscapes of loss and recovery, it threads together themes of inheritance—both genetic and emotional—and it offers stories to remind us that what breaks us can also reveal our true strength, and that sometimes, the heaviest stones we carry are the ones that build our path to healing.
Selected from a large pool of submissions, these eight stories showcase the depth and diversity of Canadian literary talent, each one a testament to the power of confronting our deepest fears and finding connection in our shared human experience.
Featuring a foreword by Benjamin Rempel and short fiction by Anne Baldo, Chris Fash, J. L. Genest, Lisa Jones, Debra Kennedy, Jamie Malina, Desiree Nippard, and Lisa Zeltzer.
In the depths of winter, in the shadows of memory, in the aftermath of transcendence—darkness takes many forms.
A father confronts a creature born from buried guilt in the Ontario wilderness. A teenager stands at the water's edge, hearing a boy’s voice call from the bridge above. A coastal town unravels after tasting something too beautiful to survive without. An elderly woman sits through a power outage beside the husband she never left, watching their marriage by firelight.
These eight stories from Canadian writers explore the landscapes we inhabit when light fails—both the darkness we endure and the darkness we create. From dystopian horrors to quiet domestic reckonings, from folk parables to urgent contemporary dramas, The Long Dark maps the territories of grief, obsession, guilt, and the stubborn human insistence on continuing even when we're not sure why.
Some darknesses last a single night. Others stretch across decades. All of them demand we find our way through.
191 pages | Literary Fiction
Welcome to Primrose Street, where neighbours share close interactions but know very little of each other. Only the maple trees that have lined the road for decades know their decisions, indiscretions, secrets, joys, and pains.
From fifty-year residents Charlie and Cora and their grandson Ronald, to newcomer Sofia and her son Nicolas, to best friends Tabitha and Dayna, the residents of Primrose Street go about their daily lives—shopping, attending school, meeting at cafés, smiling as they pass on the sidewalk—all the while remaining invisible to one another.
Only when an invitation arrives in their mailboxes must the residents of Primrose Street decide whether to allow authenticity into their lives and neighbourhood or remain limited in their relationships and in themselves.
Drawing comparisons to Maeve Binchy and Elizabeth Strout for its clear-eyed characterizations of everyday people, Marina L. Reed’s writing sheds light on questions that haunt us and exposes the poison of secrets. Primrose Street is everyone’s secret, where the ebb and flow of daily experiences bring people together and miracles are still possible.
Available for your KINDLE
After a messy divorce, Heather moves with her son to a developing country, hoping for a fresh start to her life and career. But nothing is as it seems and she begins to fear for her safety and that of her son. Feeling very alone, Heather is forced to confront her ghosts.
Lonely in Paradise takes you on a journey into yourself. Because the only way forward is to become your own hero.
[Purchase Lonely in Paradise and its stunning sequel, No, You Wouldn’t together and save 25%]
THE STUNNING SEQUEL TO LONELY IN PARADISE
Everything has to start somewhere.
After her divorce, parenting a teenage son, and starting a new job, Heather feels her life is finally coming together. Then her friend convinces her to get back into the game through online dating.
Heather is not prepared for the world she encounters, one with an appetite for secrets. Secrets that threaten to shatter Heather’s life and uncover truths that could endanger those she loves.
No, You Wouldn’t swirls around our need for love and connection and the lengths some will go to get it.
[sexual content 16+]
A middle-grady mystery by Teri Stevens
A mesmerizing story about the treasures we find, the secrets we keep, and learning when to let go.
For thirteen-year-old Makenzie Taylor, being a junior counsellor at Camp Baldwin means a whole summer of independence away from her overprotective parents. But when she discovers a mysterious ring at the bottom of Lake Tahoe, everything changes.
Though camp rules require turning in found items, Makenzie feels strangely compelled to keep the ring, despite its peculiar way of changing colours. She begins having vivid dreams of a young woman in vintage clothing, dreams that grow more unsettling with each passing night.
When an ethereal figure appears near the hundred-year-old Baldwin Manor and someone recognizes the ring, Makenzie realizes she has stumbled into a decades-old mystery —one that will force her to question everything she thought she knew about right and wrong.
An enchanting tale of summer friendship, hidden histories, and the magic that happens when past and present collide.
"This book is SO good. It's about friendship and change—the good and the bad! It made me feel so many things—excited, happy, sad, and everything all at once. It's really heartwarming, and shows that people can change even if at first it seems like they can't. It kept surprising me and every chapter was more exciting than the last and I just couldn't wait to see what was going to happen! I think everyone should read this book—girls, boys, young people and grown ups too. I LOVED IT!" –Everly Carganilla, actress in Yes Day and Spy Kids: Armageddon
Emmy Gold wants to be ordinary, but it’s hard when everything about her is so…extra.
Growing up on television and starring on the most popular sitcom has made her a household name, but it’s left her longing for a no pressure life in the New Jersey ‘burbs. When she’s fired from her role on Helping Hanna, everyone expects her to land another lead part, but Emmy’s got her bags packed to leave New York City for good.
Fitting back into the real world will be easy, right? Not so much when Emmy’s got a Mom-ager who spends most days plotting her comeback, and The Queen of Patterson Middle School who has an epic plan to destroy her. Luckily, BFF Jasmine is there for back-up, but will all the pressure of reality prove as complicated as the spotlight and send Emmy back to NYC?
For lovers of Jack Reacher, Jason Bourne, and R.E.D.
Meet Cole Buckman, MI6 agent. When Cole’s father, an internationally known federal prosecutor, is almost killed by a mercenary cell, Cole sets out to discover who is behind the attack. He has no idea the hornets nest he is stepping into and how far-reaching the operation goes.
He gathers his team: Doc, an undercover cop; Charlie Tuna, forensics specialist; 2Tall, weapons expert; Falcon, computer genius; and intelligence officer, Mac Gallo. Together they begin to unravel the mercenary cell, hired by government officials around the world, all part of a global initiative called Strike Force.
By setting out to save Cole’s dad, they end up saving the world instead.
Buckle up, you’re in for quite the ride.
Get ready for another adventure with Cole Buckman, MI6 agent, and his team of professionals. It all starts when Jim Morrison’s daughter goes missing. At first they think it is just a teen prank; but when days turn into nights, everyone gets worried, and Cole gets a call. That opens a Pandora’s box of corruption and intrigue; high speed car chases, secret rooms, deceit and deception in the government, bar room brawls, clandestine intelligence operations, and an elaborate wedding. And when Bill goes undercover as a transport truck driver, a human trafficking ring is exposed.
Now Cole and his team are under the gun: they need to rescue the girls, and figure out who is behind this crime syndicate.
Summertime used to be for bike rides, bubble gum, and baseball. Until it wasn’t.
For generations, humans have been mysteriously protected by Revernotas that live among us and one summer, Sammy and his best friend Howie begin to unravel the mystery around them.
When they decided to investigate their strange neighbour’s property they had no idea what they were stumbling into. Car chases, shapeshifting, secret rooms, bullies, and bad guys completely transform their summer break. Suddenly, the realms of the seemingly impossible collide into the lives of the two boys and a reluctant tag-along named Tommy, taking them on an adventure that will change them forever.
But can the three boys navigate the portals between worlds in time?
Revernota is the story of good and evil, the power of friendship, and of never giving up.
Set in the 90s, this is a story that will inspire imagination in children and nostalgia in adults who remember growing up without so much technology keeping us indoors.
Prefer to read on a Kindle device? Order your ebook HERE.
I took 2 big baskets of assorted writing craft books to Eden Mills, offering your choice for $5. Select your interest from the drop down menu below and I’ll ship you a surprise, doing my best to match your interest
Alanna Rusnak
With over eighteen years of design experience, powerful understanding of publishing technology, a passionate love for stories, and a desire to make dreams come true, Alanna Rusnak is your advocate, mentor, friend, cheerleader, and the owner/operator of Chicken House Press.
A coming-of-age novel by John Van Rys
The summer of 1979 should have been simple: two months on a dairy farm in rural Ontario to make up for a disastrous winter term. But for seventeen-year-old Evan Mulder—awkward, angsty, and armed only with a gift for running and numbers—nothing about the Logan farm proves simple.
Dumped in a dark laneway by his disappointed parents, Evan finds himself among strangers: the reserved Niall, warm-hearted Connie, their two young children, and one very judgmental farm dog. Between early morning milkings and mucking out stalls, Evan discovers that the Logans are caught between a rock and a hard place—mounting debt, a predatory neighbour circling their land, and farm records buried in desk drawers like secrets no one wants to face.
As Evan learns to navigate life beyond his suburban comfort zone, he also confronts the truth he’s been running from all year. In a summer of chickens and calculations, flower gardens and financial ledgers, he’ll find unexpected ways to belong—and discover that being small in a world of big egos might not be weakness, but wisdom.
A tender coming-of-age story set against the rhythms of rural life, Milksop is about the quiet courage it takes to show up, the healing power of honest work, and learning that sometimes the smallest acts of care matter most.