In the fall of 2014, educators Eric and Rixa Freeze moved with their young family to Old Nice, a medieval town-within-a-city on the famed Cote d'Azur. They'd bought a 700-square-foot dive, an apartment in need of renovation just a couple blocks from the Mediterranean. They were a family with a plan: to live differently. No home in the suburbs with a two-car garage, no bedroom for every child, no 24-hour Walmart. Carefully researched and vividly written, French Dive chronicles the Freeze fa...

Enslaved by their own fears, the characters in this riveting collection are straining for redemption. Their choices reflect the well-worn patterns we carve for ourselves through our idiosyncrasies-our dominant traits. A basketball coach teaches moral ambiguity; a divorcee clutches at sanity; a mother struggles with her son's paternity; a childless man regrets his youthful onanism. Through their shared experiences these tangible characters undergo the sad, hilarious search for wholeness and...

A 2024 Choice Outstanding Academic TitleAgainst the backdrop of a hyper-competitive AAA industry and the perception that it is a world reserved for top programmers and hard-core 'gamers', Story Mode offers an accessible entry-point for all into writing and designing complex and emotionally affecting narrative video games. The first textbook to combine game design with creative writing techniques, this much-needed resource makes the skills necessary to cons...

The Book of Mormon prophet Nephi describes the journey to eternal life as going through a gate of ordinances and traveling a “straight and narrow path.” Twenty-three authors took that gospel roadmap passage as a prompt to write “a Mormon story.” They responded with a surprisingly wide range of realistic and fantastic tales. Many are human reactions to unexpected steps on the path: a lifetime of faith in a patriarchal blessing’s unfulfilled promise, a survivor of violence calling a divided ...

A collage-like mash-up of personal anecdote, popular culture, masculinity, sports, and parenting, Hemingway on a Bike takes readers through the many and varied twists and turns of the life and mind of its author, Eric Freeze. Delving into obsessions and experiences, Freeze’s essays display a keen intelligence with insights on topics as diverse as Mormonism and foosball, Angry Birds and professional wrestling, superheroes and freebirthing, Ernest Hemingway and Star Tre...

To make a friend is a joy. To make a friend in another country is a wonderment-a small miracle. Pardon My French follows the lives of an American couple who have embraced a daunting mission: Not to be spectators in France, but to be absorbed by France.Amidst the minefields of linguistic faux pas, the perplexities of French gestures, the exquisite and often exotic cuisine, and the splendor of Christmas on the Mediterranean-see what it is like for an occasionally gruff Ameri...

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A powerful, blazingly honest memoir: the story of an eleven-hundred-mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe—and built her back up again.At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother’s death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life. With no ...

Can Outlining Help You Write a Better Story?Writers often look upon outlines with fear and trembling. But when properly understood and correctly wielded, the outline is one of the most powerful weapons in a writer’s arsenal.Outlining Your Novel: Map Your Way to Success will:Help you choose the right type of outline for youGuide you in brainstorming plot ideasAid you in discovering your charactersShow you ...

Camping sounded like a great idea—until it wasn’t.In book fifteen of the #1 international bestselling series, the Heffleys hit the road and end up stuck in a flooded RV park.Are they in over their heads, or can they rescue their disastrous vacation?A great read for ages 8–12 who love wild outdoor adventures and the unexpected surprises of camp life.Collect all the books in the #1 bestselling Diary of a Wimpy Kid series: ...

2 Bestselling Guides Packed With Tips to Help You Brainstorm and Plan Your Best StoryFrom Award-Winning and Internationally Published Writing Mentor K.M. WeilandWith over 300 pages of step-by-step guidance, these two individual books have 440+ five star reviews on Amazon and have helped thousands of authors write better books.Can Outlining Help You Write a Better Story?These bestselling guides will help you choose the right type of outline to unleash your cr...

A beautiful story about Art; a living, breathing boy in all respects - who happens to be made of inflatable plastic. POP ART is an exceptional, must-read of a short story.Joe Hill is the New York Times bestselling author of NOS4A2, Horns, and Heart-Shaped Box, and the prize-winning story collection 20th Century Ghosts. He is also the co-author, with Stephen King, of In the Tall Grass.

The National Book Award finalist. " Limón's poems are like fires: charring the page, but leaving a smoke that remains past the close of the book." — The MillionsBright Dead Things examines the chaos that is life, the dangerous thrill of living in a world you know you have to leave one day, and the search to find something that is ultimately "disorderly, and marvelous, and ours."A book of bravado and introsp...