JULY, 2020: New Book from Tell-Tale Chapbooks

The Collapsed Bookshelf (2020)
by Chad Parenteau
"Chad Parenteau questions where we fit into modern society and what legacy modern society will leave behind. Are we a single man going nuclear (or nuclear family)? Are we driving through automated tolls without a pass just to be pictured and be remembered? When Mr. Parenteau suggests our flailing with Evel Knievel riding a 10-speed, or Eminem reciting Orwell, we (society) have been put in our rightful place."
--Timothy Gager, author of Spreading Like Wild Flowers and thirteen other books of poetry and fiction
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cover image: edward s. gault © 2017
FROM THE BACK COVER:
Chad Parenteau hosts the Stone Soup Poetry series. The poems in "The Collapsed Bookshelf" reveal the cross sections of Parenteau’s personal life and his reflections on the longest-running weekly poetry series in Massachusetts. The poems are derived from his online “Stone Soup Croutons” weekly poetry column. The collection has an avant-garde tone, but somehow the poet blends his stream of consciousness, social observations, and uniquely non-lecturing political commentary into a narrative of connected maybes.
Ramshackled...and 26 other New England women's small tales (2016) by Mignon Ariel King Ramshackled is a novelette about Allie, an emotionally troubled African-American woman who has been damaged by a lifetime of loss. Allie works her way back to her community with the help of her Great Aunt Nina's spirit and an old house that is in need of some TLC. Rosebud... is a collection of 26 microfictions about 26 very different New England women who are all restructuring their inner and outer lives. This is TTC Publisher Mignon Ariel King's first collection of stories. The setting of all 27 stories is King's beloved ancestral home, New England. PURCHASE IT HERE Cover Art: "Girls Night Out" © 2011 by Anthony R. Falbo Used by permission. All rights reserved. |

A Letter to the World
poems by Jason Wright
Jason Wright is the editor and founder of Oddball Magazine. He has been published in the Somerville Scout, Fox Chase Review, Wilderness House Literary Review, Stone's Throw, Somerville Times, and other publications. In 2014 was selected to read "Strong as the Boston Skyline" at Boston City Hall's tribute to survivors of the Boston Marathon bombing. Oddball Magazine was featured at the Massachusetts Poetry Festival in 2014, and Wright has read at the Cambridge River Festival for four consecutive years. He was given a Certificate of Achievement from former Poet Populist of Cambridge Toni Bee and the English Department Award of Achievement from Bunker Hill Community College.
Wright studied under Lloyd Schwartz at UMass Boston as well as Joe Torra. He earned a Literary Publishing Certificate in 2010 from Gian Lombardo, Editor/Founder of Quale Press. He is a regular at the Stone Soup Poetry Series in Cambridge and can also be found every Tuesday in his column "Jagged Thoughts" at www.oddballmagazine.com.
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(Currently unavailable. Check back September, 2020)
A Concrete Wish... (novella)
by Mignon Ariel King
a coming-of-middle-age modern fable.
Creative and intellectual social misfits come together to form an alternative multicultural community in Massachusetts after two of them fall in love in this historical faction novella. The book is King's first work of fiction, loosely based on what might have been.
The old-fashioned yet free-spirited Beantownie Emmie may have found her prince. Too bad she wasn't looking for him! Tech wizard and visual artist Mark Moon grew up surfing beaches in California while yearning for a traditional relationship. Did fate bring this odd couple together years after a brief but intense friendship? You decide.
cover image: c. 2009 aminah jones
"Mignon Ariel King’s 'faction' novella, A Concrete Wish is colorful in its descriptions and rich in its
language. The main character, Emmie, is both rocker chick and intellectual. She is a native Bostonian
whose outlook on life is a delight to read. The story is basically a love story, where the protagonist
has no plans or dreams for a relationship, but finds herself in one after all, which enriches her life,
as she does the same for those around her. It is also a coming-of-age narrative, where a group of
friends matures through their relationships and tribulations. The story touches on issues of cultural
diversity and sexuality, art and technology. Boston is also a character in this book, placing the story
firmly within its history and culture. However, I think the strong suit in this book is its depth as it
involves the reader in relationships, those of lovers and of friends, through poetically-written, rich
and colorful imagery."
--Lori Desrosiers, author of The Philosopher's Daughter
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