THE CAROLINA STORIES:

The World's All Nations
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00121SFOY
Michael Jasper

The World's All Nations is a historical novel about life, death, faith, and a mixed-race baseball team in the years before World War I. It's the spring of 1917, and Coach George Grunion is feeling old and tired. His Cherokee catcher is mostly blind. His Mexican first baseman thinks he's the Buddha. His star white pitcher is always getting beaned by colored pitchers, his colored rightfielder claims he's an Indian chief, and his female second basewoman may be a German spy. And George's strange, slightly sinister centerfielder Mack is always predicting the future -- though Mack fails to foretell the violent death of their white head coach. As the war in Europe threatens to engulf America, Mack insists that the team will be remembered as a trailblazer in race relations, but only if George, their new head coach can hold the team together and make people remember their endeavors.

'51 Rocks – Batboy on the Worst Team Ever
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00124COKW
Matt Musson

A fictionalized account of the true story of the 1951 Granite Falls Granite Rocks, the worst professional team in baseball history. Batboy Bobby McRainey tells of the day to day struggles of a losing ball club and confronts the moral challenges of white only baseball. But when the Rocks become the first Southern club to hire Negro Leaguers, Bobby learns that even a losing team has immortal moments.

Pinocchio is Punching You
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0011G9Y1I
Alex Wilson

After he got his wish to become a real boy, Pinocchio wanted what every real boy wanted: to be trained by ninjas.

Tuckasagee
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0011G9Y5E
Betty Cloer Wallace

After a failed uprising against England in 1745, Scots Highlander exiles emigrate to America where they operate a trading post and packhorse enterprise among Cherokee Indians. As Mairy MacNeill comes of age, she learns that the Cherokee are not unlike Scottish clans both culturally and spiritually, that war between the Cherokee and English is inevitable, that friendship and loyalty can cross cultural boundaries, and that loving a man, either trader's son Joe Buck Cheatham or Cherokee warrior Otter, can be elusive. Mairy's Cherokee friends Redwing and Standing Wolf find each other, but realize that unscrupulous traders and settlers coming into their homeland bring conflict that will forever change their lives and the future of the Cherokee Nation. Set in the heart of America's first frontier during the early years of the French and Indian War, TUCKASEEGEE is carefully researched for historical and cultural accuracy.

Casting Off
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00122I1O2
Nicole R. Dickson

Rebecca Moray has arrived on an Irish island at the invitation of her best friend. She's brought her daughter and has come to record the ancient and unique art form of the island: the intricate and beautiful patterns of the fisherman's sweater. Echoes and dreams of this place have been part of her life in America, drawing Rebecca to its rocky shores. Expecting to explore and work mostly among strangers, she finds her own history is woven into the fabric of the village there. Her research reveals patterns. Stitches become tales. Lives are knitted in wool and elaborate knots, born from the embers of hearth fires for centuries. As she learns to spin the wool herself, Rebecca discovers Sean Morahan, an old fisherman He weaves stories, too. Spirits from his past awaken a ghost from Rebecca's and as the banshee screams, a forty year gale blows across the island. Together, Sean and Rebecca must face their pasts. Alone, their souls are lost. Together, they may find new life.

The Sable Curtain
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0011G9XPK
K. F. Jones

The Sable Curtain examines the human rights struggles of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to the civil rights struggles of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries through the lives and times of a few individuals who risked all to help thousands, perhaps millions, of people they didn't even know.

Flight of the Fireflies
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00122I1J2
Lena Joy Rose

In Antebellum America, a feisty Cherokee maiden and a strong-willed runaway seek to find their place in an intolerant world but they must first overcome societal forces that deny their freedom. From the lofty Smoky Mountains, NC to the Seminole swamps in Florida then sweeping to post-emancipation Jamaica, the couple confronts jealousy, voodoo, murder charges and the personal demons that threaten their love.

Under the Mississippi
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0011ZCAVU
Lou Dischler

She's not just a pretty aberration who somehow climbed the cultural food chain; she's also a murderer who's left a trail of bodies on two continents. How did she manage this carnage, little thing that she is? Did she get her ferocious instincts from her father, the mysterious arbitrator of musical tastes known only as the Maestro, or from her husband, a small-time hood turned assassin who flips history on its head, or from yet another husband, the erudite but bitter artist who first encourages, then despises her? UNDER THE MISSISSIPPI is a quirky, fictional biography of Adele Beauregard, an Ozark mountain girl who stumbles into the New Orleans underworld on her way to becoming a celebrated Parisian artist.

The Wet Nurse's Tale
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0011G9XOQ
Erica Eisdorfer

This novel, which is set in England in 1847, is the story of Susan Rose, a street-smart wet nurse who manipulates her employer's foibles to get what she wants. What she wants most is her baby, who was adopted against her will by a wealthy, but unbalanced London lady. Susan, who has made herself a trusted servant, guides her mistress further into madness so that it becomes apparent to those in power, that the baby must go lest it fall into harm. Susan offers to take him, if they'll pay, and they do and she does. This is no bodice-buster, no romance, no saccharine historical novel. The well-researched The Wet Nurse's Tale boasts a smart, witty, unreliable narrator and is illuminated by 'between chapters' in which characters as diverse as a high class prostitute, a cheery matron and a dead girl tell their own short stories.


Wagner at Midnight
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00121WEJQ
Katherine Guckenberger

Bear Schlumber, mattress salesman, husband and father of two in Mid-City, Ohio, finds himself at a crossroads in life. His sister Glenn, the born-again guru of a Christian weight-loss sect, discovers his lifelong affair with his mother-in-law, and threatens blackmail. Bear, afraid of losing everything, plots to murder Glenn. Part family saga, part murder mystery, the novel goes beyond Bear's predicament, to reach broadly into the past. Bear weighs responsibility to parents, wife and sons, against larger passions. He is a simple, one might say average person, living the plot of a German opera. Bear's mother Kate has raised him on stories of his German forebears, embellishing where facts are thin, and re-creating situations, where necessary, through the eyes of her own experience. And it is this family history that frames and informs Bear's tale, and leads him haltingly to its conclusion.

The Prophecy
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00121WDWY
Mai Christy Thao

Antiquities specialist, Kate Madison, is close to proving the existence of a mystical land called Zenith. Then she learns her father has less than six months to live. When an ancient scroll catapults her into Zenith, it's a race against death to return to her father. But how does a modern-day girl prove to a warrior-dominated kingdom that she'll save them from certain doom if she can't save herself from falling in love with a man not of her time or place, and returning to her world first? King Warwyck Lyonn of Argun has vengeance on his mind and an ancient curse to end or a great evil will be unleashed. The last thing he needs is a strange woman from another time and place. But if the prophecy is to be believed, then saving his kingdom means enlisting Kate's help. When confronted with the choice between saving his kingdom or losing Kate, will he sacrifice the fate of the kingdom for love, or risk his heart to fulfill THE PROPHECY of Argun?

Girls, Girls, Out
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00124COYI
Lockie Hunter

Set on a barrier island off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina, Girls, Girls, Out examines the eccentric Slocum family. Told in rotating points of view between two strong but dissimilar "twin" sisters, this novel explores the tragedy of loss, the meaning of kinship, the cost of family secrets, and, ultimately, the sacrifices sometimes necessary to be true to oneself. A humorous but powerful novel, Girls, Girls, Out showcases the Lowcountry and its inhabitants, from unconventional island doctors and libertine brothers to "leftover" family members and evangelistic grandmothers. The novel follows the twin sisters, as one struggles with physical adversity and the other deals with the startling complexities of personal salvation and self-discovery.

Dragonmark
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001200BZG
Douglas A. Sanburn

John Striker has been a doormat his entire life. Even when his girlfriend decided to move out and take everything John owns with her, he didn't fight back. However, when he is magically yanked from his apartment things begin to change. Tholin, an acolyte in the magical world of Ellytheum, has accidentally summoned John to defeat his greatest enemy, a ten-year-old girl named Desdemona. Even though she is the daughter of a fearsome demon, how can John possibly kill a young girl? When Tholin accidentally casts another spell on him, John finds himself transported into an adventure he is unable to avoid. Guided by Brannigan, a powerful mage trapped inside a sword, he soon learns that he must reclaim the reigns and take control over his own life if he ever wants to get back home.

Stealing Fire
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00124CO4I
Susan Sloate

What happens when soulmates discover each other but can't find a way to be together? In the fall of 1982, Beau Kellogg, a brilliant librettist and lyricist from Broadway's golden era, is turning 60 and aching for just one last hit on Broadway -- a Broadway that is currently dominated by Andrew Lloyd Webber's glitzy productions and out of step with his own smaller, more book-driven shows. Amanda Harary, 25, is just beginning a career as a Broadway singer, following in her mother's footsteps, while supporting herself with a day job at a New York hotel. When the older man and younger woman meet in a late-night phone conversation over the hotel's switchboard, it is the beginning of something each has dreamed of but never found -- a perfect chemistry in an impossible situation that will bring them both miraculous joy and unbearable pain. It confirms what most of us believe but few of us ever truly know: That there IS someone perfect waiting out there for all of us.

ABOUT THE CAROLINA AUTHORS:

Mike Jasper is the author of four dozen published stories (various publishers), one short-story collection (Prime Books), and four novels (two from Five Star Books, two from Prime books). He grew up in the small town of Dyersville, Iowa, home of "The Field of Dreams," but now lives with his family in Wake Forest, North Carolina. My web page is at www.michaeljasper.net. Mike says he entered the contest "totally on a whim, after a tip from friend and fellow writer (and fellow semi-finalist) Alex Wilson. I thought it'd be fun to see how far my book could go in the contest."

Matt Musson, from Charlotte, NC is the proud father of four terrific kids who live in Surry County. He grew up in Texas, but now works as an IT contractor in the banks of Charlotte. He also works and volunteers at the Aldersgate retirement home where he is rewarded with wonderful tales and characters for his novels. Matt entered the contest hoping, as Batboy Bobby McRainy would say, "to see if he has the big league juice."

Betty Cloer Wallace, a farmer of native tree species near Asheville and a proponent of green living, says: "Entering TUCKASEEGEE in this global competition was a way to illuminate the mountain region during the early years of the French and Indian War, a time when Cherokee, Scots, and English came together in bloody conflict that resulted in a dynamic multicultural population surviving to this day."

Lena Joy Rose, a first time fiction writer, lives in Matthews, NC. She is a voracious reader who loves reading about multicultural protagonists in a historical context with lots of romance and adventure. When she exhausted the published books with those characteristics she decided to create her own-- hence the birth of 'Flight of the Fireflies'. Lena entered the Amazon contest "not only to get exposure but also to get valuable feedback that I can use to make the book even better."

Alex Wilson is a writer and actor in Carrboro, NC. His work in multiple genres has appeared/will appear in The Rambler, Asimov's Science Fiction, The Florida Review, and Weird Tales. He runs the audiobook project Telltale Weekly and updates his website ( WWW.ALEXWILSON.COM ) regularly. Alex says he "needed to set this novelette aside for a spell, so I could return and revise it with fresh eyes in 2008. This contest seemed like a good a place for it to sit as any."

K. F. Jones lives in North Carolina, but was born and raised in Louisiana. He has a degree in history and is a fulltime writer. The fictional town of St. Denise depicted in the novel "The Sable Curtain" is to Jones what Altamont was to Thomas Wolfe in "Look Homeward, Angel" -- complete with statue. K.F. Jones spent years of meticulous research, including the historical record found in three recent biographies of Denmark Vesey to accurately depict the life and times of real and fictional characters from the days of slavery to the modern civil rights era. Another book project, a biography, has been accepted for publication. Jones says "I entered the ABNA contest for the same reasons I am sending my work to a long list of agents and publishers; for the satisfaction of seeing a story come to light and to earn enough reward to justify writing more fiction."

Katherine Guckenberger was born in Charleston, SC, attended Ashley Hall (valedictorian), and Duke University (summa cum laude). She currently lives on Sullivan's Island, SC, and in Morris, CT. She has published stories in The South Carolina Review (Clemson University) and in A Duke Miscellany (Duke University Press). She is a fulltime writer, with four novels and a story collection ready to be published (Yes,I am looking for an agent!). She submitted Wagner at Midnight to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (General Fiction) in the hopes of winning, and is happy to find herself at the semi-finalist level--especially with fellow contestants from the Carolinas. She is a big fan of American Idol, Survivor, and now Amazon! She also loves Duke basketball and pets Galena (yellow lab), Punch (Amazon parrot), and Dora (cat).

Lou Dischler grew up amidst the rice fields of Louisiana, but has resided in both North and South Carolina for nearly three decades. A former senior scientist with more than one hundred patents worldwide, he began writing fiction several years ago. He soon discovered that it's easier to get a patent than a literary agent, and began entering contests as a way around that barrier. In January, Under the Mississippi was selected as a semifinalist in the Amazon/Penguin contest, and a few weeks before that, another novel was an editorial pick in a contest sponsored by truTV and Borders Books.

Susan Sloate is the published author of 16 young-adult books, both fiction and non-fiction, a screenwriter and playwright. Her 2003 alternate-history novel, FORWARD TO CAMELOT, co-authored with Kevin Finn, became a #6 Amazon bestseller and is currently under option to a Hollywood film production company. She lives outside Charleston, SC.

Lockie Hunter, a childhood resident of Appalachia, is a recent graduate of Emerson College's MFA program in Boston. Her fiction, poetry and essays have been published in print journals including Quarter After Eight, HipMama, and The Emerson Review and online in The Morning News, Opium and others. She has been anthologized in The Great American Poetry Show and in Leaf Book’s Microfiction Anthology, and was recently named as honorable mention in the New England Writers Frank Anthony creative nonfiction contest for her short Appalachian memoir. She now lives, and writes, in Asheville North Carolina. You may find more of her work at www.lockiehunter.com

Nicole R. Dickson has recently moved to Greensboro, North Carolina from the Great Pacific Northwest to experience new things - like the sun. When Nicole is not seeing to her other responsibilities, she can be found in some small corner of the library looking through history, racing the ghosts that inhabit the battleground, or discussing the clutter of leaves with the lightening bugs in the big woods behind her small house, which she shares with her daughter. Nicole entered the Amazon contest for one reason only: her brother called her from Seattle and said, "Get that book moving!" She was happy to have a venue in which to submit her work and have people read it. Having made it far enough to receive a Publisher’s Weekly review of her entire manuscript, Nicole is elated to have a professional opinion of her work. She is extremely grateful for both opportunities.


Filed under ABNA, Journal, Peers & Peerless, Prose and Poetry
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