Recommended Books & Publications
THE HUMAN CONDITION: SELECTED POETRY AND PROSE EDITED BY DEBRA AYIS
VALIANT SCRIBE LITERARY JOURNAL
Foreword by Elaine Ries
​
“...‘Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths,
Where the good way is, and walk in it;
Then you will find a resting place for your souls.’
But they [the people] said, ‘We will not walk in it.’”
— Jeremiah 6:16 (NASB) —
What is it to be human? What is it to feel the wild-wind rush of passion, the hurricane rains of despair, the warm sunbeams of peace? What is it to be beings of the present, yet so synchronously bent towards the future and conscious of the past?
Is being human to be one who stands seeking by the ways—or to behold the good paths and say, I will not set foot there?
Is it both?
This anthology grapples with what it means to be human. In these pages, contributors look for the ancient paths and reject the false ways. They brave the past and chase the future. They cry for justice, and for hope.
What is it to be human?
What is it to be you?
Price: US$9.99 (Kindle), US$19.99 (Paperback), US$35.00 (Hardcover). Available on Amazon
​
TOP OF THE ZINC ROOF
BY MITZY SKY
Mitzy Sky's debut collection of poetry takes the reader on a journey through her life—from her childhood growing up on the island of Jamaica, her tumultuous move to the United States, and her struggles and self-reflection as an adult and parent. Tackling universal experiences such as faith and body image, mental health and motherhood, racism and love, her collection of deeply revealing and emotional rhymed and freestyle verse will touch a place in every reader's heart.
​
Price: US$5.99 (Kindle), US$13.99 (Paperback)
Available on Amazon
​
BEGIN WITH A QUESTION
BY MARJORIE MADDOX
Begin with a Question explores how the life of faith is a continuous voyage, launched anew each bright day of the spirit or dark night of the soul. This is a book of contemplation and motion, a journey—often in stops and starts—toward the Divine, a pilgrimage paved with prayer, praise, pause, penitence, and (of course) questions. Urgent and universal, joyful or joyless, tinged with doubt or rinsed with hope, here are honest queries that probe, lift, and lead to discovery. Begin with a Question keeps us moving, seeking, reaching, lifting us out of ourselves to something beyond. Using a variety of fixed forms and free verse, the poet examines our relationship to the one who asks, “Who do you say that I am?” A book for seekers, doubters, and believers alike, these poems bring us face to face with anguish, anger, awe, and adoration. They give us permission not to demand answers, but to follow the questions that lead to the Alpha and Omega, to the I AM that keeps us spiraling along this twisting path toward God.
​
Price: US$9.99 (Kindle), US$20.00 (Paperback)
Available on Amazon and Paraclete Press
​
PEACE LIKE A RIVER
BY VALIANT SCRIBE LITERARY JOURNAL
Waking on Earth, Waking in Heaven
Stephanie Nikolopoulos (co-author of Burning Furiously Beautiful: The True Story of Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road.”) encourages readers and writers alike to “take a moment to find peace like a river. To breathe in and out, like the tide coming to and from the shore. To release the weight of the day, the anchors sitting on your shoulders. Find rest in Scripture; in God’s promises to you.”
In Isaiah 66:12, the Bible says that God “will extend peace to her like a river,” encouraging you to let go of your warring emotions and latch on to that which brings you peace.
A Navajo proverb says, “Be still, and the earth will speak to you.” In moments of stillness, we hear not only the earth but also the heavens. The world is loud and distracting at times. It is easy to carry the heavy lessons we learn on earth with us long after we should have set them down. But we must set them down. Each morning, we must awake to
a new start and welcome what new lessons the earth has for us. And if we are lucky, we also catch glimpses of the heavens in our days, if we pay attention and allow ourselves to see them.
​
The contributors to this anthology share their stories, their words, from the moments when they are most awake and in moments when they find peace. They are speaking of both heaven and earth. Will you be still enough to listen?
Editors: Debra Ayis and Jaime Grookett
​
Price: US$9.99 (Kindle), US$16.99 (Paperback)
Available on Amazon
​
LIFE IN THE TIME OF COVID
BY VALIANT SCRIBE LITERARY JOURNAL
In a span of a few months, life, as we knew it was upended as humanity tried to and continues to cope with the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic. In these times of economic, and medical upheaval, of quarantine, and self-isolation, of fear, and faith, the maiden issue of Valiant Scribe explores the experiences of people from around the world and from different walks of life.
The collection of essays, flash fiction, non-fiction, and poetry tell a compelling story of our shared humanity and how we have each made the best of this situation.
Themes of courage, strength, kindness, reinvention, become evident amidst moments of loss and grief. The importance of mental health can easily be surmised from the narrative of many of the authors as well as a profound hope for the future.
​
Price: US$24.99 (Paperback)
Available on Amazon
​
SANDPAPER TONGUE, PARCHMENT LIPS
BY MELANIE HYO-IN HAN.
Melanie Hyo-In Han's first poetry chapbook, Sandpaper Tongue, Parchment Lips, is a collection of poetry based on her experiences as a TCK (Third Culture Kid) growing up in East Africa and facing struggles around identity and racism, as well as cultural and linguistic barriers between her and her family.
​
-
​
As a TCK (Third Culture Kid), the inspiration behind her poetry comes from her own childhood experiences and an exploration of identity, belonging, and culture through the use of fragmented form and inclusion of multiple languages. She also writes nonfiction and does translation work between English, Spanish, and Korean. During her free time, Han enjoys visiting new countries and trying different ethnic foods with her husband.
​
​
​
Price: US$14.99 (Paperback)
Available on FinishingLinePress
​
SOD ’EM – AND TOMORROW
BY DES MANNAY.
Des Mannay’s debut poetry collection explodes with a ferociously tender no to a country managing cruelty and normalising a world where the poor and sick are genteelly disappeared. Mannay’s greatest poetry, like ‘And the Dead Shall Rise’, emerges through many histories deep to blast elegy through the mine-buried, torn up by fracking. This is the real right thing.
​
​
​
Price: GBP12.00 (Paperback)
Available on Waterloo Press
​
DANCING AROUND THE TRUTH
BY CHRISTINE JACOBSEN
In the winter of 2016, after sending her DNA to Ancestry.com to be tested, Christine Jacobsen confirmed the secret her mother had half-revealed fifty years earlier: The White man who had raised her was not her biological father. Christine was not of full Danish descent after all. Instead, she discovered that a quarter of the blood flowing through her veins is West African. Her sense of self immediately crumbled. Who was she? Who was her biological father? Did the father who raised her, now deceased, know about this? Her search for identity led her to a Black dancer from the Bahamas. In fact, it led her to two Black dancers – her father and grandfather. In Dancing Around the Truth, the author grapples with questions about race, her family, and a sense of belonging. It’s the story of her quest to find her ancestral roots. And it’s the story about a White woman’s reckoning with the Black part of herself.
​
Price: US$ 5.19 (Kindle), US$ 12.99 (Paperback)
Available on Amazon
​
HIGH TIDE
BY ED MEEK
On the one hand, high tide can mean “surf’s up” on a beautiful beach. You might be there with friends or family—waves big enough to ride, sun high in an azure sky.
On the other, there is Dylan’s sinister warning: “It’s bad out there. High waters everywhere.” Those waves that seemed friendly before can be dark, ominous—dangerous. And a memory of a family walk on the beach, of childhood days spent on the Outer Cape in August, can seem a bit scarier as the tide of time steadily crawls up the sandy banks. . .
Along with narrative poems of the poet’s past, this diverse collection contains poems of place about the Outer Cape, Wellfleet, Montana, and Somerville. Others address the changes to our environment, among them, the rising seas. Political poems recognize the chaos of our times, and try to divine order from this chaos. For what is poetry but a means to see the world through song and metaphor, a way to take a closer look at our lives and the world around us?
Price: US$3.99 (Kindle), US$21.69 (Paperback). Available on Amazon
​
CHIMERA
BY BRAD BUCHANAN
Few people have survived the nightmare of a stem cell transplant gone sideways. Fewer still have had the audacity to write poetry about the miraculous yet bewildering experience of becoming a genetic chimera.
Brad Buchanan breaks this taboo and offers us eloquent, surrealistic, and profoundly moving lyrics about his dramatic transformation and amazing recovery. The result is CHIMERA, one book of poetry you will never forget.
​
Price: US$19.99 (Paperback)
Available on Finishing Line Press
​
CROSS SECTIONS: A POETRY COLLECTION
BY MATT SCHUR
"Cross Sections is a powerful book of poetry-as-prayers weaving together Christian imagery, tradition, progressive theology, and fresh vision. For those of us familiar with scripture, especially, Schur's words challenge us to boldly and tenderly engage some of the verses and stories that are so familiar to us that they have otherwise gone stale in our hearts. Cross Sections gives space to all human emotions on both the individual and communal level, and reminds us of the holiness of our own experiences with lament, questions, rage, and doubt." - Elle Dowd (she/her), activist and ELCA candidate for ministry, author of Baptized in Tear Gas: From White Moderate to Abolitionist
​
Price: US$9.99 (Kindle), US$14.95 (Paperback)
Available on Amazon
Currently on sale for $5.60
​
POWDER NECKLACE: A NOVEL
BY NANA EKUA BREW-HAMMOND
To protect her daughter from the fast life and bad influences of London, her mother sent her to school in rural Ghana. The move was for the girl’s own good, in her mother’s mind, but for the daughter, the reality of being the new girl, the foreigner-among-your-own-people, was even worse than the idea.
​
During her time at school, she would learn that Ghana was much more complicated than her fellow ex-pats had ever told her, including how much a London-raised child takes something like water for granted. In Ghana, water “became a symbol of who had and who didn’t, who believed in God and who didn’t. If you didn’t have water to bathe, you were poor because no one had sent you some.”
​
Price: US$14.99 (Kindle), US$19.99 (Paperback)
Available on Amazon
​
VULTURES AND DOVES: SOCIAL ISSUES OF OUR TIME
BY VALIANT SCRIBE LITERARY JOURNAL
The collection explores the theme of vultures and doves from the contexts of war and peace, and despair and hope in a world filled with conflict, poverty, natural disasters, human rights violations, and other ills.
​
This issue presents poetry that encourages deep reflection on the condition of our world and evokes thoughts of hope, telling us there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
​
Price: US$9.99 (Kindle) US$16.99 (Paperback)
Available on Amazon
​
.jpg)
AWAITING DAWN: ECHOES OF A HAUNTED SOUL
BY DEBRA AYIS
A contemporary collection of poetry in question of our existence.
​
'Awaiting Dawn: Echoes of a Haunted Soul' is a mix of everything that keeps our hearts beating and our souls alive. It touches on existential issues that pervade society, from depression and loneliness to the joys of self-discovery and starting afresh. It looks at hope and contentment while challenging us to be unsatisfied with the status quo.
It tackles social justice issues briefly by investigating themes of education for girls (gender parity), sexual violence, migration, incarceration, disaster, and poverty while exploring the evolving landscape of women’s empowerment in today's world. It also seeks to explore our responsibility to mother earth and delve into our relationship with the creator.
​
Price: US$9.99
Available on Amazon
​
THOUGHTS AND MEMORIES: A COLLECTION OF POETRY
BY DEBRA AYIS
'Thoughts and Memories' is an eclectic collection of poems. The collection reflects the yearning of the Christian heart and the struggles a believer encounters on a day to day basis. These are poems of encouragement and poems as prayers. It calls to believers and non-believers alike to dive deeper into their relationship with the creator.
​
Though most of these poems were originally written for an African audience – Nigerian to be specific, nonetheless, this book has a poem for everyone; it crosses cultural barriers by bringing to life the realities we face every day and the circumstances constantly surrounding us as individuals.
​
Price: US$ 9.99
Available on Amazon
