Piker Press Merchandise

Tam Lin
Alexandra Queen

Deep in the heart of soulless Fae, where no one dies and no one who has tasted its pleasure may ever leave, someone has been murdered with cold iron. Now Michelle and the knight whose sins have denied him heaven but whose faith remains pure must find the source of the cold iron and remove the otherworldly taint from the timeless realm of Fae.

Ella's Paradise
Amanda Summerbell

When Leigh Carrington's uncle Jack, a well-known author at the peak of good health, mysteriously collapses, she inherits his stately Victorian hilltop home in sleepy Hallstead, Virginia. She packs up and moves in, but it isn't long before Leigh suspects that something's not quite right in the house they call "Ella's Paradise." Why have so many of its inhabitants died unexpectedly? Who is leaving bouquets of fresh flowers in the ballroom? Could it really be the ghost of little Ella Mabry she hears giggling in the middle of the night? When a dark stranger with a story to tell helps Leigh make some sense of the bizarre goings-on, she is faced with a decision: Can she trust him? Or will she succumb to the danger lurking within her own walls?

It Walked Among Us
Amanda Summerbell

Detective Frank Milsner is tortured by the long-unsolved mutilation of his niece, Maggie. James Wilkerson is an alcoholic bearing scars of his upbringing by his brilliant but volatile surgeon father, Evan. These two men from opposite worlds are drawn together by a mystery that has haunted the local area of Fairvale, VA, for decades.

When Frank is called to the scene of a mutilated dog whose injuries mimic those inflicted upon Maggie, he is convinced that he is closer than ever to finding her killer, a substantive theory upon meeting James, who bears evidence connecting his father to the dead girl.

Now the men are drawn into a web of secrets originating in the early 1950's, a journey into the mind of a madman and an enigmatic woman who may hold all the answers.

Eden's Revenge
Barry Kirwan

After eighteen years, the quarantine that has protected humanity's survivors on the planet Esperia is about to end. Mankind won't stand a chance without external help. Yet in the middle of a galactic war, who is concerned about one small planet when worlds fall every day? Eden's Revenge is the heart-stopping third episode in the Eden Saga.

Eden's Trial
Barry Kirwan

First contact did not go well. Survivors are fleeing Earth, into a hostile galaxy where alien intelligence and weaponry rule. Can a deserted planet offer refuge? Or will the genetically engineered Alicians finish the job started on Eden? While Blake fends off attacks, Micah seeks allies, but his plan backfires, and humanity finds itself on trial for its very right to exist.

The Eden Paradox
Barry Kirwan

A murder...a new planet mankind desperately needs...a thousand-year old conspiracy...What really awaits us on Eden? In a world beset by political turmoil, environmental collapse, and a predatory new religion, a recently discovered planet, Eden, is our last hope. But two missions have already failed to return. Blake and his crew lead the final attempt to bring back good news. Meanwhile back on Earth, Eden Mission analyst Micah Sanderson evades assassins, and tries to work out who he can trust, as he struggles in a race against time to unravel the Eden Paradox.

Bernie's Shorts: An Anthology of Short Fiction
Bernie Pilarski

What do you say to an old lover who calls on the phone, or to an estranged father who is dying? What do you do when arousal addles the senses? In these short stories of both the sober and the silly, the quest for love and understanding is examined.

Stained Glass
Bernie Pilarski

What place does religion have in lives convoluted by divorce, hate, and sexuality? Is there any reality at all in trying to integrate "God" and "faith" into a marginalized existence? Stained Glass is a tale of the tortured paths Paul and Margaret must travel to find peace.

The Missionary
Bernie Pilarski

In this collection of light-hearted stories that mix sci-fi and religion, Jean LeCoeur, a diocesan priest from Weirton, West Virginia reluctantly takes on the assignment of trying to assess the spiritual needs of the people of the planet Drooghohl, a planet that has been long forgotten by the institutions of Earth. What he finds is a Terran Diaspora, with some individuals clinging to the customs (and prejudices) of Earth, and some individuals who see Earth, and Jean LeCoeur, as alien.

The Dark Jar
Bruce Memblatt
A collection of 17 short stories by Bruce Memblatt that are so smart, so daring, so clever, so scary and so much fun that you will never put them down!

20 Stories of Drifters, Drunkards and Dreamers
Chris Miller

Edited by Chris Miller, this short story collection contains samples of fiction from some of the best underground writers in the world today, including Delphine Lecompte, Calvin Liu and Chris Millis.

A Journey Through the Afterlife
Dan Mulhollen

Eliot Mason lives a secluded life, much to his preference. His seclusion is forever shattered by an unexpected visitor. This leads to a journey between Hell and Heaven in which Eliot learns more about his life and the nature of the universe than he might have wanted.

A Strange and Bewildering People
Dan Mulhollen

Michael Lawson, a 21 year old American student/railyard worker is arrested for a crime he did not commit. Fleeing his homeland, he flees to his grandmother's native land, the tiny Communist country of North Moravia, a land with an odd history and equally eccentric inhabitants. Equally drawn and repelled by the curious sensibilities of this land, he slowly acclimates himself to his new home. Meanwhile, tremors from Moscow haunt this strangely happy micro-nation. Communism is crumbling, much like the ailing Leonid Brezhnev. Both Poland and Czechoslovakia desire their halves of North Moravia. Only ancient legends and a mysterious tower deep in the woods hold the keys to the country's survival.

Experimentation, Personal Tendencies, and Controversy
Dan Mulhollen

This collection includes "In a Different World," an experiment in second person, a few stories about forgetfulness, "Booth Babes," a business satire some readers took way too seriously, "The Beachcombers," a science fiction tale showing the difficulties another sentient species would have sharing a world with humans, and "A Night With a Witch" a suggestion that while terribly creepy, this supernatural might not be particularly malevolent.

Moonlit Nights and Overcast Days
Dan Mulhollen

Dan Mulhollen joined the Piker Press in 2006 and this collection represents the works published by them over the next two years. It includes the psychological fantasy story "To The Ultimate Reaches" dating back to the late 1980s; the bittersweet Valentine's Day story, "Rendezvous at Ernie's;" and some off-kilter looks at tradition, isolation, and holidays.

Near the Forest's Edge
Dan Mulhollen

2010 was both one of the most traumatic years of my life. It was also one of the most productive as a writer. From the whimsical "An Amazing Bar of Soap," to the nostalgic "A Second Chance," and the satiric "The Last Sad Man In America," this collection of 11 short stories contains a variety of moods and genres.

Pilgrimage and Protest
Dan Mulhollen

From the nostalgic, autumnal "Pilgrimage" to the blatantly non-conformist "Avalon Springs," plus a couple fairy tale homages, a little paranoia, and "A Towel and Me" -- my take on Xenophon's "Anabasis" without Greeks fighting Persians, just one woman fighting exposing herself.

Seeing Through the Fog
Dan Mulhollen

Collection of short stories written between January 2011 and January 2013. Included are "I Am But the Sequel," a look at a still obsolete but intact (in Ohio) law, "Good Morning :)" or how clumsiness can lead to great things, and "Uncle Mort's Funeral," what can happen at a family event involving a very large family.

Sludgeball
Dan Mulhollen

An asteroid on the edge of the solar system threatens interplanetary war between the Earth and the alien world of Keruvah. Other alien worlds have their own reasons for involving themselves in the war. Meanwhile an intelligent, a sentient virus waits for just the right conditions deep within the asteroid for a pandemic to occur.

Dark Vegetables
Eric Suhem

45 absurd short fiction stories, some involving vegetables, fruit and legumes. Surreal and nutritious!

For the Sake of Soul
Frederick Foote

Frederick Foote's stories chart the geography of the African-American experience of his generation, tracing the uprootedness of the Black migration and the groundedness of characters who stake their claims. His protagonists are buffeted by the currents of Jim Crow, war, and discrimination, but these men and women retain their personhood and amazingly, thankfully, their sense of humor.

Nano-Uncertainty
Gary Durbin

Nano-Uncertainty brings to life the strange world of high-tech in the Bay Area while presenting the real danger of an unconstrained artificial intelligence. Software super geek James Forrest becomes unexpectedly embroiled in a murder case when he is hired to investigate the software at Distributed Nanotech Inc., a Berkeley supercomputer software company.

Wings of Hope
Hillary E. Peak

The bond of a father and daughter is special. When Jules' father asks her to come stay with him because he's terminally ill, she goes for the remarkable opportunity to really know her father. She never dreamed he had liberated a concentration camp, dealt cards to Bugsy Siegel, or saved the life of a Black Panther. Wings of Hope takes you on a road trip through the memories of a man making peace with his life through his conversations with his daughter...eaching her that death is sometimes the most heartbreakingly beautiful part of life.

Hope is the last gift of a father to his daughter -- the power to reach for her dreams.

40 Slices of Pizza
Jerry Guarino

Sometimes you just want a slice of pizza, not a big meal. That was the inspiration for the title "40 Slices of Pizza." The book includes 40 critically acclaimed stories that have been previously published in magazines in the U.S., Canada, Australia and Great Britain.

50 Italian Pastries
Jerry Guarino

The book now includes 50 critically acclaimed stories that have been previously published in magazines in the U.S., Canada, Australia and Great Britain.

Trilogies
Jerry Guarino

Trilogies is a unique collection of 54 stories. Each set of 3 stories is based on a similar theme, making it easy to find the type of story you like. All the stories have been previously published in magazines around the world. I consider this my best book to date.

Beckoning Eternity
John Paulits

The inhabitants of Guardon, a planet singular in its religious devotion, believe their God to be merciful and loving, eager to usher them into an eternal world of heavenly bliss. With the literalness of this belief at their religion's core, there are strict rules concerning when each believer is required to report to a Heavenly Departure Point, request a draft of Wogazol, a painless poison, and go to God.

The glorbot, a movement which believes that the planet's religion is merely organized murder, fights a life and death struggle for the soul of a planet as they battle to overcome centuries of inertia and change forever the planet's misguided culture.

Hobson's Planet
John Paulits

When Culp arrives on Hobson's Planet, he steps into a whirlwind of controversy and political upheaval. Against his will, Culp finds himself the designated savior to another planet. Having failed on Earth, he wants no part of another such quest. Now he must decide where his duty and his heart lie.

Lanyon For Hire
John Paulits

Lanyon wore out his welcome on both Hobson's Planet and Catonia, the first two planets discovered by Earth. Now on Malcosia, he confronts Gornish, the Tellurian space pirate and kidnapper. On the planet Guardon he is hired by both sides in a struggle for the soul of a planet. Finally, Lanyon signs on with fellow soldier of fortune to resolve a planetary communications disruption emanating from Terbania, the wildest, most desolate planet in the system.

Nemesis (Lanyon for Hire)
John Paulits

Lanyon runs into trouble when he tries to keep a crucial memory disc out of the hands of a ruthless band of blackmailers. If that isn't bad enough, Jophena, an eleven-year-old Selenian girl and Lanyon's traveling companion, turns what Lanyon expects to be a simple chore into an all-out war. Just when he thinks everything might turn out all right, the Vermenian blackmailers return to exact a vicious revenge on Lanyon.

Oliver Muncing, Exorcist
John Paulits

After a catastrophic invasion of elementals from "the other side" kills his grandfather and leaves him crippled, Oliver Muncing vows to follow in his grandfather's footsteps and dedicates his life to investigating other-worldly phenomena.

Our Lady of Perpetual Vexation
John Paulits

It's 1964 and Smitty, Mouse, and Kelso are in their last semester of high school with one thing on their minds -- girls. In their never-ending pursuit of this most elusive quarry, they manage to land themselves in some ridiculous, bizarre, and hilarious situations. Whether it's the parish dance, a friend's funeral, a wedding reception, or a first sexual encounter, these are engaging, entertaining and sometimes ribald slices of life that will strike a chord or two.

The Director
John Paulits

The Director invites nine-year-old Tommy Whitaker to be a character in a book set in 1957. The trouble begins in the Regal movie theatre, where after the Saturday matinee, Elwood Wambo, the strange caretaker of the movie theatre, hires Tommy and his 1957 best friend, Mouse, to stay behind on future Saturdays to clean the theatre when the movie is over.

The boys later learn that Wambo and his partner Jeremy are part of a gang of thieves. When their friend Smitty's bike is stolen and when Smitty himself mysteriously disappears, Tommy and his two friends Mouse and Royal vow to solve the mysteries of their missing friend, his missing bike...and a murder.

The Mystery of Charles Dickens
John Paulits

History records that on June 9, 1870, Charles Dickens died of a cerebral haemorrhage. History, however, is wrong. June 9, 1870, is the day on which Emile de la Rue murdered Charles Dickens. During a stay in Genoa in 1844-45, Charles Dickens, an accomplished mesmerist, used his mesmeric abilities to treat a young Englishwoman, Augusta de la Rue, attempting to cure a years' long malady of hers that included facial spasms and phantom-filled dreams. During her trances she revealed to Dickens a truth she had long suppressed-the knowledge that her husband murdered a rival so he could have her for himself. Dickens, at that time, was helpless to act on the devastating admission, but twenty-five years later Emile de la Rue shows up in London, and Dickens finally seeks justice. De La Rue cannot let this happen and stops at nothing to keep Dickens from revealing his secret.

The Rest Is Silence
John Paulits

The director of the AWB Theatre Company, Lawrence Mickelman, has alienated everyone in sight with his tyrannical manner. When his body is found in the locked theatre, a sword from Hamlet in his chest, the troupe's owner asks Mark Louis, one of the actors, to dig a little deeper than she thinks the police will. The police investigation points toward Don Lovett, the play's Hamlet, but Mark's suspicions turn elsewhere. As the police prepare to arrest Don, Mark must bring the murderer out into the open before the killer strikes again.

Toby's Trek
John Paulits

Toby Manders is a bored sixteen-year-old Earth immigrant to Hobson's Planet who is tired of living the quiet life of a farmer. After running away from his father and home, he becomes close friends with Jar Kensch, a native Walber boy. He and Jar, who has family troubles of his own, get themselves entangled in the feud going on between the Earth immigrants and the Catonians, conquerors of Hobson's Planet.

Can Toby resolve the trouble he and Jar get into, resolve his estrangement from his father and avoid the boring life he left behind?

Teen Volunteer Service in Libraries
Kellie Gillespie

Aimed at both experienced and new volunteer managers, this guide offers practical advice about starting and maintaining effective teen volunteer programs in school and public libraries. With sensitivity for teens' special needs and their lack of experience in the workplace, it covers the basics of interviewing, training, and supervising.

Only Africa Knows
KK Brown

Why did the beer bottle break as the 'Smaller Man' drove past the advertising billboard depicting the girl in a skimpy bikini? ... Was 'Lucky Anton' really so lucky? Was he murdered, did he commit suicide' or was his death an accident? ... Why was 'The Headman' so worried? ... Did the colour of the blow-up doll really matter, considering that it was such 'Disgraceful Behaviour'? ... Why did the Chiefs not make 'Themba Chivuli' return the stolen goats? ... How did Jannie - from Johannesburg - manage to get the policemen in Capetown to dig his 'Grandfather's garden' for him? All these questions are answered in KK Brown's delightful book of short stories Only Africa Knows.

To Feed the Sparrowhawks
KK Brown

It is 1976, and Rhodesia has exploded into full-scale civil war. The white settlers are fighting a vicious rearguard campaign in the vast Tribal Trust Lands and on remote and isolated border farms, against an ever more determined Black Nationalist foe. Unwillingly sucked into this conflict, farmer Jumbo McQueen meets the girl of his dreams and hopes to build a future with her on his farm. Caring nothing for politics, McQueen is drawn by a single wartime incident -- and by his connections with members of the Security Forces -- into the spiral of violence.

Affirm Yourself As a Writer
Mary Klaebel

A well written, concise manual on using Affirmations as a way to jump start a writer on the path to being a successful writer. It includes many affirmations that you can use to start yourself on this path as well as instructions for creating your own affirmations. The book also includes exercises to help one through the process of using affirmations. A must for the fledgling writer or even for the experienced writer who often suffers from writer's block.

A Face in the Moon
Mitchell Waldman

Jack Lohman is an inexperienced twenty-two-year old who was recently dumped by his first real girlfriend, and is soon to leave graduate school. Enter Loni, a bright-eyed, free-spirited seventeen-year old who has had more than her share of experience.

A Face in the Moon is a story about these two young lovers struggling to find each other and their ways in the world. When a series of events keeps them apart longer than expected, it becomes the story of whether their new love can survive the pressures of separation and emotional disturbance.

Petty Offenses and Crimes of the Heart
Mitchell Waldman

Stories of ordinary people engaged in ordinary lives until betrayals, accidents, and misfortune put the puzzles of their weak choices and unfair chance into stark relief, leaving them with a kind of clarity they may have been happier not to have. Threads of danger and emotional trauma run through the stories in this collection. In crime, love, marriage, or friendship, it's the little things that matter most. It's the small betrayals or mistakes that often result in our downfall. Among the fourteen stories in this collection is the 2013 Pushcart Prize nominated story, "The Duke of Broad Street."

Notes on Nam
Phillip Donnelly

More by default than by design, the author finds himself on a six-month contract in a remote part of northern Vietnam. As the year ends, he travels south, through a land that refuses to conform to the cliché the world has built around myopic Hollywood war movies. In attempting to understand the country, he is forced to try to understand himself; and looking inward as much as outwards, he seeks an epiphany in each of the book's nineteen chapters; questioning, for example, the relationship between journey and destination in 'Ode to a Sleeper Bus;' the loss of youth in 'China Beach;' and the nature of risk in 'Rules of the Road.' Humorous, insightful and literary, Notes on Nam operates on many levels.

Our Patch
Phillip Larrea
Phillip Larrea has a need to be on the record. His viewpoint in poetry is off the beaten track. He writes for the reader first, then for himself. With his original poetic form "Tri-Cubes" Larrea assures the reader there is a method to his madness.

We the People
Phillip Larrea

This is the second collection of Phillip Larrea's poetry, one which suggests that we gaze upon "the quietly desperate" among us, and recognize that they are not other, "They are us."

Earth Angel
R.W. Webb

Told through carefully braided character-driven vignettes, this gripping novella recounts the story of Maggie Milford as it unfolds during the final days of her father's life. The bright-eyed victim of abuse, Maggie becomes one of the most powerful voices for handicapped children in recent years.

As each new character adds another aspect to the puzzles surrounding Maggie, we start to witness the true horrors going on and cringe all the way to the nail-biting, gut-wrenching conclusion.

A masterpiece of hope, grace and redemption -- "Earth Angel" is a stellar adventure from one of America's newest voices in contemporary fiction.

The Man Clothed in Linen
Robert Earle

The Man Clothed in Linen presents the grandeur of royal power before focusing on humbler kings and queens in dusty sandals. It explores the mysteries of the New Testament with the authenticity of history and the details of a realistic novel, easy to read and yet eerie in its echoes. Here, like the proverbial mustard seed, the smallest incident grows into the largest, world-changing event.

The Way Home
Robert Earle

When Max Kelly's grandfather dies, his parents' marriage breaks apart as well. Max, Dan, and Alicia then set out on solitary journeys of self-discovery in which the children sometimes are more mature than the adults. Dan's mistake comes with sex. Alicia's comes with probing too deeply into her family's past. Max's comes with volunteering at an old age home where the medical director is a drug abuser.

Booklist called The Way Home, "A compelling debut." The Baltimore Sun called it "impressive" and "disturbing."

Tuppence Reviews
Robert Earle

Robert Earle's new Kindle volume, Tuppence Reviews, compiles over ninety book reviews he has written in recent years. Half of the books reviewed are contemporary and classic fiction; the other half range through literary criticism, history, and public affairs. These quick-moving reviews highlight a book's main themes, draw comparisons to similar books by the same or different authors, and reflect Earle's wide-ranging taste and interests.

The Martian Patriarch
Robert Vella

A reluctant hero finds himself entrapped between a dystopian Earth, its rebellious Martian colony, and an enigmatic alien presence haunting his soul. There is no way out except to fulfill his incredible destiny

This is the story of Marc Bolton, a man who unknowingly becomes the critical focal point in the history of three very different worlds. From 2075 to 2095, his journey marks the past, present, and future evolution of Man. Caught in the middle of an interplanetary struggle, he is torn between the opposing forces that form the essence of his being. The difficult ordeal he must endure is filled with uncertainty and anguish. The profound fate that befalls him was born in the heart of a distant star. And, the lives of millions lay in the balance. Can one man bear such a burden and discover himself at the same time?

Dawn Drums
Robert Walton

May of 1864 was perhaps the Civil War's most terrible month. Dawn Drums begins at this crucial time and its action coincides closely with the sesquicentennial of the events it depicts. Told by the voices of Abraham Lincoln, Clara Barton, Almira Martin, General Grant, and an assorted host of other Civil War participants, including a small group of black "contrabands," Robert Walton's narrative offers an utterly unique and riveting view of the Civil War's last year. Dawn Drums will enable readers to clearly understand the appalling war that divided a nation. Despite the Civil War's horror and savagery, the main characters of this truly gripping, historical novel emerge as heroes who, even today, remain inspirational and noble.

Look to Mountains, Look to Sea
Ron Singer

Look to Mountains, Look to Sea chronicles Ron Singer's summer sojourns in Maine since 1969. The thirty-one poems are set in two very different milieux; Deer Isle, on Penobscot Bay, and Weld, in the western mountains. The reader will enjoy Singer's vivid sense of place and his mimicry of Maine's acerbic, funny voices.

The Rented Pet
Ron Singer

The Rented Pet is a bittersweet 14,000-word story about two dogs and the humans in their constellation. Set in a specific neighborhood in 1970's Brooklyn, New York, the story chronicles social change: specifically, gentrification. In so doing, it serves as an elegy for a passing world.

Winter Songs
Ronald Paxton

Ronald Paxton's debut novel, Winter Songs, takes the reader into the world of the Howard family of southern Virginia. The engaging narrative captures the lives of John "Cowboy" Howard and his family as they struggle to save their ranch while overcoming a series of hostile acts from outside forces.

Mr. Paxton has drawn heavily from his experiences growing up in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia to create a contemporary mainstream work that will inspire and resonate with people of all ages.

Winter Songs is an emotionally intense story that explores themes of race, prejudice, friendship, and family. The efforts by the atypical cast of characters to handle situations and adversity will cause the reader to reflect and re-examine certain stereotypes.

The Shame of What We Are
Sam Gridley

The American 1950s -- a simpler, more innocent age? Not for an awkward, nerdy kid like Art Dennison. As Art grows up with a father who can explode at any time and a mother who just doesn't fit the required role, his life sometimes feels surreal. The "pieces" of this slyly humorous, compassionate novel reflect Art's fragmentary experience in a family always on the move -- from one temporary home to another, from East Coast to West, always seeking the elusive American dream.

My Son Writes a Report on the Warsaw Ghetto
Steve Klepetar

"This group of poems commemorates my paternal grandparents and maternal grandmother, who perished at Auschwitz, and my mother, who survived." -Steve Klepetar

Speaking to the Field Mice
Steve Klepetar

Speaking to the Field Mice clusters around stories, the act of storytelling and the power of narrative. Many poems in the collection work with memories, both real and surreal; folk tales; myth; tales invented for each day of the week; narratives about magical women and girls; even a hapless man who loses his girlfriend because he is incapable of making anything up -- which turns out to be quite a story in itself.

The Curse Under the Freckles
Terry Petersen

Chase was born with the sign of the Star League. League members live magical lives, but his sign has been cursed. His mother never told him because the Malefics, the League's enemies are dangerous -- deadly dangerous. By the time Chase learns about his sign he has a broken leg and has lost every helpful person or thing. Or at least he thinks he has.

Thirty Years Without A Real Job
Wayne Faust

So who is Wayne Faust, and why should you want to hear what he has to say? Wayne has made a very good living as a performer for over 30 years, supporting his family strictly on the income from his shows. This is the story of how he made that happen. He's also included a wealth of advice for aspiring entertainers at the end of each chapter.

Non-performers will enjoy the ride as well. There are lots of great stories about things that happened to Wayne along the way, and how he struggled to balance his family life with his chosen career.