AWOL: absent without leave; absent from one’s post or duty without official permission but without intending to desert. Originally a military term, it gradually entered the vernacular for when someone goes missing unexpectedly. Jennifer Barclay and Amy Logan thought it fit well with the kind of travel pieces they wanted to publish -- irreverent but thoughtful, emotionally honest and opinionated, bold and provocative. AWOL: Tales for Travel-Inspired Mindswould be dedicated to the perspectives we gain when away from our regular circumstances. They were tired of opening newspaper travel sections to accounts of five-star hotels or hip restaurants, package holidays and cruises, or extreme, death-defying feats. The tales that excited them were more personal. They wanted to bring back a sense of wonder about the world out there. “Rejecting the consumerist attitude of always wanting something better, which seems to go hand in hand with the concept of extreme travel, we wanted to show that there are different kinds of adventures -- the ones that are more by-the-seat-of-your-pants and that all of us can afford. It’s about slowing down the way we travel, learning to observe and to relish all the moments.” Inviting authors to contribute, they stressed they weren’t looking for detached reportage, but unpublished true tales of pleasure or pain or hilarity that would move and inspire. “Travel has become an important aspect of our lives, and we felt it was important to explore what we get out of it: Whether it makes us better citizens of the planet or enriches our lives. How discovering the world can be about discovering yourself, or help you see life afresh.” They wanted writing that was exciting and creative, that fired the imagination, dazzled with language, captured something emblematic or unique. The stories are full of telling details and do not shirk from emotion. The trips range from a short break close to home, to years living on the other side of the world. When Rick Maddocks leaves for Mexico, his father says “I hope you find what you’re searching for.” But you don’t always find what you expect. “What was I expecting…?” asks Andrew Pyper on arriving in Brazil. Karen Connelly tries to switch off the chattering of her brain in Burma, so she can just “shut up and see.” After a year in China, Rui Umezawa is utterly disoriented: “The world as I’d known it no longer existed. Neither did the man I believed myself to be.” However far or near you travel, an AWOL destination is a place where, says Brad Smith, “the usual rules don’t apply.” Myrna Kostash muses, roaming through Greece, “I cannot be further away from the rest of my life.” But when Camilla Gibb comes home from Ethiopia, her own culture seems bleak, “devoid of all colour, all meaning.” The authors in AWOLhave collectively won or been nominated for practically every literary prize in Canada, making it an extraordinary collection of original writing. The editors also decided to add another dimension to the book, a sense of fun and accessibility, by pasting in trip memorabilia -- tickets, snaps, sketches and odd mementoes -- to divide up the text and draw the reader into the stories. They wanted AWOLto feel a bit like a magazine: a reader-friendly paperback with big pages and great design, something to read on the bus for inspiration and escape, or to amble through at the cottage. The Toronto Star called AWOLa “decidedly quirky collection that follows no obvious theme or point of departure -- except the delicious need to go away.” If travel is about broadening the mind and having fun, AWOL is to get us through the rest of the year. The Winnipeg Free Press called it “an all-encompassing armchair travel experience … the kind of collection that, once read, will beckon from the bookshelf to fill a particular longing when it strikes.” For those who dream of having no fixed address, and those happy simply to read about it, AWOLis filled with entertaining, enriching and edifying stories of people getting away from the familiar.

AWOL: Tales for Travel-Inspired Minds

Logan, Amy

Barclay, Jennifer

Biographies & Memoirs

Vintage Canada

“...an eye-opening adventure that touched me deeply...this powerful story continues to resonate in my heart long after the last page was turned.” —New York Times #1 best-selling author Cheryl Richardson The Seven Perfumes of Sacrifice, Amy Logan’s controversial debut novel – over a decade in the making – is a women’s thriller about the search for the divine feminine and the ancient lost origins of “honor killing” in the Middle East. In this post-9/11 cautionary tale, an American writer struggles to “civilize” a tiny Arab village of Israel; her intercession leads to tragedy beyond anyone’s calculation…and revelations that could heal what seems hopeless. American freelance journalist Fereby McCullough Jones is struggling to sell stories from Israel when she befriends Leila, a young artist in a village on Mt. Carmel. Leila is a Druze – a secretive, Arabic-speaking, thousand-year-old offshoot of Islam – and shares her double life with Fereby: Painting nudes, lovers and goddesses – taboo subjects in her culture – and selling them in Tel Aviv. When Leila becomes the possible victim of an “honor killing” – the murder of a female by her family for violating cultural gender norms – Fereby witnesses the village celebration, her family’s silence and police indifference. Enraged, Fereby launches an investigation that is decidedly unwelcome. With her oddball translator, Moshe, she struggles to unearth Leila’s traumatic life story, facing a conspiracy of silence, police and government corruption, a forbidden connection with Leila’s brother, Fadi, and danger and backlash she never anticipated. After a shocking turn of events, Fereby is forced to come to terms with her own painful past that’s fueling her search. Then, Leila’s last series of paintings prompts Fereby and Moshe to make a surprising discovery: The ancient, lost origins of honor killing, which have been suppressed for millennia, and hold some volatile secrets. A mysterious prediction leads Fereby to Leila’s killer, but it turns into her worst nightmare: To get justice for Leila’s death, will Fereby have to sacrifice something even greater? What price are human rights worth fighting for? Seven Perfumes’ author Amy Logan discovered that just trying to discuss the issue of honor killing openly, let alone fight against it, was taboo in the cultures where it occurs. She realized that must be why this violent practice has continued unabated in some places for several thousand years. To try to understand and expose the mysterious underpinnings of honor killing, Logan landed rare homestays with the Druze in Israel and spent a decade researching and building a theory of the ancient lost origins of the practice. As she gradually uncovered a vast and true deception from the birth of honor killing, The Seven Perfumes of Sacrifice began to tell her its story... “An important book with a powerful story that places the words ‘divine’ and ‘feminine’ back where they belong: Together.” — Sherry Jones, best-selling author of The Jewel of Medina, The Sword of Medina and the forthcoming Four Sisters, All Queens "...an un-put-downable literary thriller ...The book is Logan’s debut, but it surely won’t be her last." — Joy Tipping, Dallas Morning News’ Book Reviewer

The Seven Perfumes of Sacrifice

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Thrillers & Suspense

Priya Press

This book is more than just a children's book. It's a book that validates and empowers all those who read it. It's a book that teaches the power of our everyday kindnesses. It's a book that everyone needs. Did you ever feel that you just didn't matter; that no matter how hard you searched for ways, you felt you were not and could not make a difference? I think that thought goes through so many minds these days, and I am here to tell you:\nStop searching. Start doing. Do something kind for someone each day. Leave a trail of kindnesses everywhere you go. Use your words to lift people up...and teach your kids, the world's kids, to do the same. This world won't change without you. You are a superhero, whether you believe it or not. YOU are someone's environment (thanks, Eileen). And YOU are necessary to make the world better. Join our C.A.P.E. Campaign starting with this book. Spread its message and help Create A Positive Environment by Creating Action with Positive Encouragement; by doing. Put your cape on every day and know that your mission is to do good in this world. The world is counting on you.

A Girl With A Cape: The true story about the superhero in all of us

Children's Books

Literature & Fiction

Full Heart Publishing

This is the story about the spending quality time with people and compassion. A Girl With A Cape wants to go out and play with her friends. However, "mom just received a call from her friend who's a nurse; the neighbor who's sick had just gotten worse." Prompted by mom, A Girl With A Cape decides to make a treat for the neighbor and ends up spending the entire afternoon with her playing games and just enjoying themselves. It's a sweet story about how precious time is and a reminder to: "Always remember and never forget that what we do matters, no time for regret. Our time here is short, and we grow up so fast... It's when we spread kindness, our legacy lasts" *This book is a tribute to the author's sister who passed away in 2014 because of breast cancer. A portion of the profits from each of this book sold goes to several local non-profit organizations who give back to people in our own communities.

A Girl With A Pink Cape

Poetry

The Girl In The Mirror is not a children's picture book that you're used to seeing from this author. It's an inspirational book and journal about how there is no such thing as perfection, and if that's what we continue to seek, we will "never stop seeking because it doesn't exist." It's a story that tells us the truth: that the media plays on our fears and self-doubts, causing us to fall deeper and deeper into that deadly comparison trap. The world beats us up enough already, so why join in? Get the book that will make you fall in love with the girl in the mirror, and make you see how truly amazing she really is.

The Girl In The Mirror

Self-Help

Self-Esteem

The Could Shelf

Growing Up & Facts of Life

The Best Book Ever

Classics

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

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