Stealing Fatima's Hand - Carolyn Theriault - ISBN: 978-965-7504-00-0 - Available Now!

“ …Finally a grand taxi stopped and offered to take us to the train station for the unbelievably low fare of twenty dirham, so unbelievably low, that I was not a little disappointed when the driver didn’t rob us, slit our throats, and dump our bodies into the Strait of Gibraltar… “
Stealing Fatima’s Hand is an unforgettable collection of interconnected narratives presenting an alternative view of Morocco -- a country not of labyrinthine alleys, Kasbahs, and smoky tea rooms -- but a more madcap Morocco, one left to be discovered after all the coach tours depart.

Imagine the impossible: one finds oneself in a heady and mysterious locale on the edge of North Africa, a country replete with colourful characters, incomprehensible customs and taboos, a spoken language lacking an alphabet, often frustrating religious practices and, in spite of all this capital ‘E’ exoticism, one still don’t want to marry a local? Or turn a decrepit ryad into a boutique hotel? Or write for the travel page in the Sunday paper? Carolyn Thériault does more than imagine it.

After making a rather drunken New Year’s Resolution to toss aside their conventional lifestyle and pension plans, Carolyn, a somewhat cynical, snarky ex-pat and self-proclaimed square-peg, with her photographer husband Chris decide to walk away from their comfortable jobs in the Land of the Round Doorknobs (Canada) to travel the world. Because their long-suffering attempts at financial independence (weekly lottery tickets) have not borne any fruit, the only apparent means to rectify this situation they believe is to teach English overseas. And Morocco seems to fit the bill. But does it?

Unconventional and candid -- Stealing Fatima’s Hand stands out as an irreverent black sheep in the literary travel genre, succeeding in undoing for Morocco everything that Peter Mayle has done for Provence. The book spans two years of Carolyn’s experiences in Rabat, where with humor and honesty she struggles with Moroccan bureaucracy, sexual harassment, the threat of terrorism, devious students, randy co-teachers, and the temptation of having French pastries washed down with gin & tonics for every meal. All this in a country, where apart from her, the only vegetarians are the sheep and the goats.

Essayist, photographer and novelist, Carolyn Thériault currently resides in Turkey where she is at work upon her second book and a number of other print and other media projects. Visit Carolyn at: http://carolyntheriault.com

Pale and Other Post-Modern Bulgarian Stories - Zdravka Evtimova - ISBN: 978-965-7504-01-7 February 2010

Zdravka Evtimova’s short story collection “Pale and Other Postmodern Bulgarian Stories” consists of 23 short stories all of which have been published in leading literary magazines and short story anthologies in the USA, UK, Australia, Canada, France, Japan, Syria, Poland, Russia, Iran, South Africa Germany, and Denmark.The stories describe life in contemporary Bulgaria where the author was born. This short story collection is profoundly moving for it reveals with fine touches the sentiments and impressions which are a priori little palpable: the flow of time and its influence on strong and rough characters; sex, lies, loss of illusions; the transmission of essential values from generation to generation, disloyalty both to one’s country and to one’s family; love of a mother for her son and her sacrifice; betrayal as opposed to unity and love in the family and community; loyalty to a cause that makes man live on and survive despite vicissitudes of life; the supreme mystery of death and the strength to go on living and be human in spite of evil. And above all – the all pervasive and ennobling power of music.A bitter-sweet book, terribly funny at places and deeply sad at others, two of the shorts stories have attracted the attention of the film makers in Bulgaria, “Blood of a Mole” and “Vassil”, and another story, “The Twins”, has been transformed into a successful theatrical piece.

Zdravka Evtimova was born in Bulgaria, and lives and works as a translator from English and German. Her short stories have been published the U.S. and in Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Russia, Japan, India, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Denmark, New Zeland, Romania, Argentina, Turkey, Nepal, Macedonia and Serbia.

Largest Island in the Sea – From Jerusalem to Sicily and The Kingdom of Naples - Jeffrey M. Green

Europe merges with the Third World at Naples, an overactive city of nobility and squalor, sprawling in the menacing shadow of Vesuvius, and Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean. Battered by successive waves of war and conquest from the rivalry between the Phoenicians and the Greeks in the sixth century BCE, through the battles of World War II, The streets of Naples are lined with Africans and Asians selling sunglasses and watches, and young men from North Africa, seeking work, lounge in the streets of Sicily.Jeff Green had wanted to visit these places since his childhood in Greenwich Village, New York City, which, as much as it was the haven of poets, painters, bohemians, and intellectuals, was also the northern fringe of Little Italy. The faces he saw, the voices he heard, the stores he passed on MacDougal Street on his way to school, were Sicilian and Neapolitan. Hardly a month went by when he and his parents didn’t eat at least once in a family owned Italian restaurant. The fragrance of Italian food was the fragrance of his New York Jewish childhood. At the age of 60, in 2005, he finally got there, in the company of Judith his wife, and another couple. By the time he got to southern Italy, it meant much more to him than an echo of his Manhattan childhood, for he had been living in Israel since 1973, and he was now a citizen of Mediterranean civilization!

Jeffrey Green is an internationally renowned translator who lives in Jerusalem. Mr. Green, a professor and a graduate of Harvard, holds an advanced degree in Comparative Literature.

Alexandrias 40: In the Shade of the Lemon Tree - Stella Pierides

In these tales of love, loss, and survival, Pierides embroiders a tableau detailing the lives of a refugee family in Athens, circa 1957. The novel is set in the house of the family on Alexandrias Street, where they came to settle years after their flight from Smyrni, now Izmir, Turkey. Framed by this house – a concoction of tin, cement, wood and mud, a paradise, a refuge and a prison to those who nestle in it – they struggle to come to terms with their predicament, attempting to establish themselves in Greece. Without idealising its characters, the novel unfolds – a tragicomic story, full of ethnic colour, warm sensuality and psychological insight. The book encompasses the “Catastrophe” of Asia Minor, the Greek Civil War, accusations and blackmail, adoption and betrayal, as well as the refugees’ love and bitterness towards their country. The characters’ traumatic past and struggle for survival, in a country that is both home and hostile to them, requires their ability to tap into psychological resources of generosity, masochism, denial and ruthlessness – and above all – humour and forgiveness. In a quick-paced narrative straddling both the genres of novel and short story, Stella Pierides recreates a world within a world, miles apart from the well-trodden tourist trail to Greece.

Stella Pierides, born in Athens, divides her time between Bavaria and London. She writes prose and poetry. Her work has been included in various magazines and anthologies. She has also co-edited and contributed to Even Paranoids Have Enemies (Routledge) and Beyond Madness (JKP). She is a member of English PEN.

The Press is growing and we our seeking works by published authors for our Kindle division. We handle all file conversions and cover design at no cost and there is a 50/50 split between the author and the Press.

These are our new imprints: We are particularly interested in literary fiction and critical non-fiction for these imprints.

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Vox Humana Latino is interested in receiving already published work, which has not yet found electronic publication, documenting the latin-american experience .

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