As writers, we can often get so wrapped up in a project that we forget to take care of ourselves. When burnout is on the horizon it’s important to manage it proactively. Structure your writing life in a way that keeps your passion for the craft burning bright.
Success In the Press: The Codger and the Sparrow by Scott Semegran
2024 Writers’ League of Texas Discovery Prize Winner
★
2024 Writers’ League of Texas Discovery Prize Winner ★
From the Author: Hank O'Sullivan, a sixty-five-year-old widower, lives a routine life, nursing his loneliness with cocktails at his favorite local bar in Austin, Texas. After a parking lot brawl lands him in jail, a judge sentences Hank to community service, picking up trash along the highway alongside a sixteen-year-old troublemaker, Luis Delgado. Luis has remarkable artistic abilities, but his penchant for sneaking out late at night and trespassing onto rooftops lands him on the same road crew as Hank. These loners form an unlikely friendship, and when Hank tells Luis about his desire to drive to Houston to reconnect with an old flame, Luis asks to tag along. Luis's estranged mother lives in Houston, and he has been dreaming of a reunion. Hank agrees to take Luis with him, setting in motion a raucous trip in a hot pink 1970 Plymouth Barracuda. With humor and a bit of grace, The Codger and the Sparrow is a touching story about an unusual friendship that stretches across generations.
Our Take: Scott Semegran delivers a heartfelt and funny road story that pairs the wisdom (and stubbornness) of age with the reckless spark of youth. The Codger and the Sparrow is less about the miles covered between Austin and Houston, and more about the unexpected bond forged between two loners who discover they need each other more than they realize. With his trademark wit and warmth, Semegran turns a hot pink Barracuda into a vessel of redemption, friendship, and second chances. Perfect for readers who love character-driven tales of unlikely companions, this novel reminds us that it’s never too late—or too early—to find connection, laughter, and meaning in the journey.
““Scott Semegran’s The Codger and the Sparrow is a wondrous novel of the road, where two unlikely people seek out the larger world, and in their uncertainty, help each other navigate the way toward something like home. Told with such an abundance of both humor and tenderness, this is a novel of discovery, of searching for answers, and I could not think of two people I’d rather ride alongside than Hank and Luis.””
Rave Reviews:
"The Codger and The Sparrow is delicious fun. A story told with an abundance of surprise and humor; I loved the characters, the snappy dialogue, and hitting the road in the pink Barracuda. Scott Semegran is one hell of a writer, and this is a terrific novel."
- Annie Hartnett, author of Rabbit Cake and Unlikely Animals
"Semegran deftly blends humor with heart in a road trip romp that crosses generational divides. A coming-of-age for one, a coming-to-terms for the other, Semegran's characters are deeply drawn in a way that envelops readers from the start of their journey to its unexpected end. The Codger and the Sparrow is a fun, fresh meditation on friendship, loss, and new beginnings."
- James Wade, Spur Award-winning author of All Things Left Wild and River, Sing Out
"Scott Semegran's characters capture the essential human contradiction: that deep flaws and bad decisions exist right alongside our beautiful capacity for kindness and compassion. With equal parts heart and humor, The Codger and the Sparrow is an ode to the strange, messy, and transformative power of friendship."
- Stacey Swann, author of Olympus, Texas
"The Codger and the Sparrow marks a leap forward in Scott Semegran's already impressive narrative artistry. Semegran brings to mind Hemingway's dictum that we are stronger in our broken places, as he brings us inside two very different characters—an aging, irascible widower and an artistically gifted orphan—and shows them coming together in a compelling story of grief and renewal."
- Thomas H. McNeely, award-winning author of Pictures of the Shark and Ghost Horse
Success In the Press: Follow the Dragon by John Daniel
"Well paced and skillfully plotted." -Kirkus Reviews
✹
"Well paced and skillfully plotted." -Kirkus Reviews ✹
From the Author: In 1980 Jake Salter returns to Hong Kong for his father's funeral and vows to unearth a problem cryptically hinted at in their last phone call. Jake finds secret WWII journals with his dad's personal wartime history: the British SOE's Operation Remorse and the British Army Aid Group ― the BAAG. The enlightening entries include saving the life of Commander M.T. Kwan.
Kwan, now an elderly billionaire called the Dragon, convinces Jake to step in for his deceased father to help confront an existential threat, resulting in Jake risking his life on an outlying island during a typhoon and facing a dogged Royal Hong Kong Police Inspector's related investigation. Jake and Kwan realize their family names and fortunes may encounter monumental disaster as his dad's cryptic problem is revealed.
““Daniel delivers a first-rate adventure and mystery that’s well paced and skillfully plotted.””
Our Take: Part historical mystery, part family reckoning, Follow the Dragon moves between the shadows of World War II and the shifting political landscape of 1980s Hong Kong. Through secret journals, buried alliances, and a powerful figure known as the Dragon, the novel weaves real wartime operations into a suspenseful search for truth and legacy. With a strong sense of place and rising tension, this is a great pick for readers who love historical fiction grounded in espionage, intrigue, and the complicated ties between past and present.
From a Reader: “A well-written and engaging story providing a glimpse of the tangled web of intrigue, loyalty and tradition in the Hong Kong culture.”
All About Atmosphere: Surrealism
Let’s not leave all of the wacky randomness to fantasy and sci-fi! Any surrealist book can travel through time or trip its characters down rabbit holes. Take a gander at this latest All About Atmosphere post to learn more about how randomness can teach us the most in literature by serving up the unexpected.
Success In the Press: What Awaits by Ernie Gammage
American BookFest 2022 Book of the Year Finalist
★
American BookFest 2022 Book of the Year Finalist ★
From the Author: Relationships are tough. Present or future, crazed or loving, they’re tough. Full of the “what ifs” that define speculative short fiction, some stories are an easy read, heartwarming even; others…not so much. In some there’s peace, love, and epiphany, in others revenge, horror, and death. From Mexico to Titan, Memphis to the foothills of the Himalayas, the unpredictable and the unexpected await in this exploration of the predicament that is the human condition.
This Room of Gold – Across time and space, Myla stumbles into what might be her best future. Is it?
Tattooed – Laird gladly loses himself in Nita’s tattoo, but how is he going to find his way back? And if he doesn’t…?
In The Black Wood – Efram wades into the Black Wood and finds more than he anticipated. Have he and his friends unleashed the End Times?
The Reader – Channeling gifts from a long family line, Lysette becomes a clairvoyant. When the role becomes too much for her, can she find a way to escape its grip?
Stockyards – Angie has the perfect marriage until the old woman gives her a frightening gift, one that will change her life forever. Now what?
For fans of Neil Gaiman, Margaret Atwood, Kurt Vonnegut, Haruki Murakami, and George Saunders. For Adult and New Adult readers. Not appropriate for children.
Our Take: A bold, cerebral collection that moves through genres, geographies, and timelines—but always lands on the messy complexity of being human. Each literary tale is surprising and deeply varied: some intimate and unsettling, others cosmic and tender, all with twists that linger long after the last page. From the eerie to the uplifting, this collection invites you to consider the paths we take—and the strange, beautiful, or terrifying possibilities that lie just beyond them. A smart, genre-crossing read for fans of literary weirdness and emotional depth, What Awaits is great for readers seeking contemplative fiction.
From a Reader: “[…] a collection of short stories that will leave you bewildered and intrigued. Each story has a twist, an understood assumption, or at times the author lets you fill in the ending with your own imagination.”