Children's Titles

As we did recently with our poetry titles, we have removed Stephen Brooke's two children's chapter books, THE CONTRARY FAIRY and DAISY DAYS (together being the Periwinkle series) from distribution. They remain available directly from our site and, of course, the ebooks are still free. As with the poetry books, this allows us to charge about half the previous price.

The savings are somewhat less with larger books so we will continue to distribute our novels.

New Mouse Edition

The new and revised edition of Stephen Brooke's picture book, A MOUSE IS IN THE HOUSE, is up at the Arachis Press store: https://www.lulu.com/.../paperback/product-1v9qye8z.html

Most of the changes were improved typesetting. The story and pictures remain the same! We may soon upload PDF versions (both color and b/w) to our site for free (or pay what you will) download.

Updates on Releases

We have started the process of getting Sienna Santerre's 'One Summer in the Sun' into print and distribution. With everything slowed down the next month and more, we felt it best to get it going right now, although the official release date is Jan 15. It is likely to show up in our own store before then—we'll see! Less hurry on getting the ebooks (epub, pdf, kindle) out the door.

 

We are also releasing revised versions of some of our older titles. New print editions of Stephen Brooke's children's chapter books, 'The Contrary Fairy' and 'Daisy Days' will be out shortly. The ebook versions will also be updated and these will continue to be free downloads at our site. Brooke's second poetry collection, 'Dreamwinds,' will also appear in a new edition and it, too, will remain a free ebook download. Do expect the print prices of these three books to go up a tad.

 

More revised books should continue to roll out in the coming year. New ones too!

Daisy Days

 

A release date of November 28, 2020 (yes, that's 'Cyber Saturday') has been set for Stephen Brooke's DAISY DAYS. This is a children's title, a chapter book, and set in the same 'meadow' as his THE CONTRARY FAIRY. The book will be available in print at our store and retailers 'everywhere.'

It will not be released as an ebook (EPUB or Kindle) and the ebook edition of THE  CONTRARY FAIRY has been removed from publication. It does not seem a good format for books of this sort. We do  intend to make both both titles available as FREE PDF downloads for anyone who wants a copy. We also hope you'll buy the print version!

The fantasy novel CITY OF WIZARDRY remains set for an October 10 release, print and ebook. This assumes  a hurricane doesn't come through and knock us offline for nearly a month  like Michael did the year before last.

Children's Books

Kids on your Christmas shopping list? We have books for them!

Stephen Brooke's 'The Contrary Fairy' is a chapter book for young readers, telling of the sprite Peri's attempts to keep her thoughtless carefree friends safe. 'A Mouse is in the House' is a picture book in rhyme, featuring the author's illustrations. Both are available at our own store (http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/arachispress) and at most retailers.

New and Old

This Saturday, August 1, is the official release date for Stephen Brooke's collection of poems for young readers, AWFUL ALVIN AND OTHER PECULIAR POEMS. The book is already available in both print and electronic form at our own site, and the ebook version can now be found at various retailers around the internet. Give it a few weeks yet for print copies to show up everywhere (yes, Amazon included).

We will be releasing the contemporary novel, SHAPER, on September 1. Expect to  see it rolled out over this month---it may be available on our own site by the middle of August. More on SHAPER later!

It should be followed by another poetry collection, THE TOWER. Tentative release date is October 15. That might be moved a couple weeks either way.

We will also continue to get more of our older titles into wider print distribution. The next of these will be the children's chapter book, THE CONTRARY FAIRY, followed by Stephen Brooke's debut novel, the YA book THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. Expect both before the end of 2015. We can't guarantee more this year, but it might happen. All suitable titles will definitely be added before the end of next year.

Adult Material?

We were recently asked just how suitable our books might be for younger readers. Let me say right off that NONE of our titles contain graphic sex or violence. There is some violence in the adult novels, yes, much of it offstage. There are sexual situations and people make moral choices with which the reader might or might not take issue. There may be scatterings of strong language. They are novels and that is pretty much how novels are.

Of course, we do offer children's books, as well as one Young Adult title at this time (THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE), and these are completely 'G' rated. The other work? Maybe PG-13. Nothing more adult than that.

Notably, you are likely to find stronger and perhaps even offensive language in our poetry books. If you are a serious reader of poetry (or is that a reader of serious poetry?) you are not likely to be bothered.

Would we ever publish something more graphic? Something that actually needs a disclaimer? It is always possible but there is nothing in the pipeline at this moment. Though I am looking at some short-stories...

Upcoming for the Rest of 2015

August First marks the official release of Stephen Brooke's collection of poems for young readers, “Awful Alvin and Other Peculiar Poems,” but the book is now available in both print and digital form from our store. It will be appearing at retailers online and off over the next month or so.

We have more releases slated for the upcoming months. A new novel, “Shaper,” should come out on September 1, followed by another poetry collection, “The Tower,” in October. These release dates are tentative and could be pushed back up to a month. Both are for adult audiences

About Shaper:

Ted Carrol had found his 'last place.' A place where he could live quietly and build surfboards and where all the kids called him 'Shaper.'

His settled existence was not to last. Into Cully Beach swept Michelle and her daughter Charlie, two women escaping a dark past. How could Shaper have known he was going to fall in love?

Surf and suspense, smugglers and self-doubt, combine as Shaper must solve their mystery and that of his own future, in a tale both serious and funny, romantic yet real.

Shaper — a novel by Stephen Brooke

We are also working with author Branford Perry on a collection of short stories. Development may take a while and release will be next year, most likely.

Awful Alvin Announced

Arachis Press officially announces a release date of August 1, 2015 for the new book of poetry for children, AWFUL ALVIN AND OTHER PECULIAR POEMS. This volume of witty pieces for a younger audience includes 28 pen and ink illustrations by the author.

To be available both in print and ebook editions.

A Mouse Goes Everywhere

We have just given final approval to the revision of Stephen Brooke's children's picture book, A MOUSE IS IN THE HOUSE, for distribution to all booksellers (Amazon, B&N, your local bookstore). If all goes well (hey, it does sometimes), it will be available everywhere in six to eight weeks.

* * *

Also, this coming week the finalized versions of the new adventure novel, COAST OF SPEARS,  will be sent to the printer. Although the 'official' release date is July 1, the ebook versions  should be available directly almost immediately. It will take longer for it to show up elsewhere --- the print edition may not make it to places like Amazon for a couple months, alas!

The Mouse Runs Free

In keeping with our intention to eventually get most of our books into wider distribution, a new edition of Stephen Brooke's children's picture book, A MOUSE IS IN THE HOUSE, has been sent off to our printer and should soon show up at book retailers everywhere, including Amazon. Watch for it online or order from your local bookstore!

And, of course, it remains available directly from us at the Arachis Press. Next comes the release of COAST OF SPEARS, and then we'll see about getting more revised books out.