Propertius Press

Publisher info

Provocative, engaging literature for the discerning reader who enjoys discourse. These are books you'll talk about, share, and read multiple times. Propertius prints for the ages... for the love of books.

Where to find Propertius Press online

Where to buy in print

West of Moonlight, East of Dawn
Price: $6.99 USD. Words: 15,210. Language: English. Published: October 11, 2022 by Propertius Press. Categories: Fiction » Children’s books » Fairy Tales & Folklore / Adaptations, Fiction » Fairy tales
Based on the classical folktale East of the Sun and West of the Moon, and beautifully illustrated by the author, this story uniquely draws in readers young and old, as they follow the adventures and tribulations of the young woman who agrees to live with a white bear, and care for him. When he disappears, she fearlessly follows in search of him, though despair and dangers bar the way.
Parade of Shades
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 95,670. Language: English. Published: September 20, 2022 by Propertius Press. Categories: Fiction » Coming of age, Fiction » African American fiction » Urban life
When her mother abandons the family, young Karen Baker is left to help raise younger siblings with a father who is absent even when he's at home. Feeling misunderstood in school and defensive in college, her failed romances with men of various ethnic groups lead her to depression. She learns to curtail internal judgment based on superficial characteristics, and to seek happiness authentically.
Draw Down the Moon
Price: $7.99 USD. Words: 170,570. Language: English. Published: August 22, 2022 by Propertius Press. Categories: Fiction » Anthologies » Short stories - multi-author, Fiction » Literary collections » American / General
DRAW DOWN THE MOON, which takes its title from a line in a poem by Sextus Propertius, is the third short story anthology by Propertius Press. Edited by Elizabeth Bridges and Lori Michelle Hawks, this ambitious collection of over forty tales evokes the mystery and tension of relationships, as the stories evolve along a theme of romantic love, in all its rawness, oddity, and power.
Mirrored Mirage
Price: $2.99 USD. Words: 11,070. Language: English. Published: August 8, 2022 by Propertius Press. Categories: Fiction » Young adult or teen » Drama, Fiction » Young adult or teen » Paranormal
A young girl happily begins a new relationship with an older boy. But soon, she starts to lose herself. Daydreams and nightmares show her the truth of what's happening, and what she's lost. In the dream world that appears behind the mirror in her bedroom, she reconnects with her former self, learns how to put the shattered pieces back together, and emerges into the sunlight among friends again.
The Prince of Infinite Space
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 75,320. Language: English. Published: August 2, 2022 by Propertius Press. Categories: Fiction » Young adult or teen » Urban, Fiction » Young adult or teen » Adventure
When his long-lost father shows up with a shady past and a half-baked scheme, Kirby Russo realizes his conformist days are over. Together, they embark on a cross-country road trip to connect with a family he never knew, and maybe even track down his old friend Izzy. Kirby soon realizes, however, that life's biggest lessons – the ones that really matter – never happen according to plan.
News!
Price: $7.99 USD. Words: 69,230. Language: English. Published: July 31, 2022 by Propertius Press. Categories: Fiction » Historical » USA, Fiction » Adventure » General
It is 1969 and young newspaper sportswriter Eb McCourry’s world is about to change. Pushed into emergency service by the newsroom when an airline crashes nearby, his first real news assignment is like a drug. Eb leaps enthusiastically to the front lines in the industry, which has gigantic challenges of its own. Based on real events and real people, this is a story as fresh as today’s headlines.
Narrow Girls on a Blue Profound Stage
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 72,930. Language: English. Published: April 15, 2022 by Propertius Press. Categories: Fiction » Urban, Fiction » LGBTQ+ » General
NARROW GIRLS ON A BLUE PROFOUND STAGE is a lyrical narrative about a young ballerina’s obsession for her art and for her unlikely lover. Focusing on three transformative coming-of-age years, this lovely and thoughtful yet gripping story traces the arc of awareness and wisdom gained through the hard knocks of performing life.
The Curious Odyssey of Rudolph Bloom
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 29,230. Language: English. Published: February 1, 2022 by Propertius Press. Categories: Fiction » Historical » Victorian, Fiction » Literature » Literary
Readers of James Joyce's novel ULYSSES will recognize the central character in this brief but provocative novel as the father of Leopold Bloom, but in their wildest dreams most will never suppose the reality behind his peripatetic history. Here we find Rudolph is a master tailor who manages a family project in Milan. In Italy, he discovers art, theater, and more importantly, the love of his life.
Cross Body Lead
Price: $7.99 USD. Words: 88,850. Language: English. Published: November 26, 2021 by Propertius Press. Categories: Fiction » Women's fiction » General, Fiction » Cultural & ethnic themes » Hispanic & Latino
Billie Ochoa teaches cold war politics and Cuban history at a small college. Charismatic, unapologetic, and resolute, she loves to practice salsa dancing in her down-time to relieve the stress of academic life. Inspired by her dead father’s love for his homeland, she is an advocate for the vulnerable. But when a student needs her help, Dr. Ochoa finds herself going beyond her comfort zone.
The Looking Glass
Price: $4.99 USD. Words: 28,660. Language: English. Published: October 8, 2021 by Propertius Press. Categories: Fiction » Historical » USA, Fiction » LGBTQ+ » Lesbian
A young member of 1930s New York society shocks everyone by pursuing art as a career, and her own inclinations. Told in three voices - Claire's, and that of James, an art dealer, and Kay, her niece, from Manhattan to Paris, galleries to artist colonies, from the 1930s to the 1970s, THE LOOKING GLASS is a story about women, art, and memory.
Cracked Reflections
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 90,810. Language: English. Published: September 24, 2021 by Propertius Press. Categories: Fiction » Historical » USA, Fiction » Young adult or teen » Historical
Set in a New England mill town during the real textile strikes of 1912, the Bread and Roses labor movement, this tale is particularly relevant in a time of conflicting news stories, high political passions, and concern about immigration. Skillfully weaves history with the imaginary, transporting readers to a time when the line between the laboring and privileged classes was stark and wide.
Sherlock Holmes and the Remaining Improbable
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 47,270. Language: English. Published: June 1, 2021 by Propertius Press. Categories: Fiction » Mystery & detective » Historical, Fiction » Mystery & detective » Traditional British
The aged and still cocaine-addicted Sherlock Holmes submits entry forms at a nearly defunct psychiatric clinic, naming a peculiar goal: “No more solutions, but true resolution,” and finds that his worst enemy has left him the key to his wish, if he can give everything in return.
Seeing Red
Price: $9.99 USD. Words: 50,200. Language: English. Published: May 3, 2021 by Propertius Press. Categories: Nonfiction » Science & Nature » Environment, Nonfiction » Politics & Current Affairs » Activism
Poet and activist Mara Eve Robbins tells the story of the personal, legal, and physical struggles to protect the mountain streams and watersheds, the precious wildlife—flora and fauna, and the homes and livelihoods of folk caught up in the path of a fracked gas pipeline crossing the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.
The Smallest Universe
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 31,830. Language: English. Published: April 12, 2021 by Propertius Press. Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary, Fiction » Visionary & metaphysical
Mary Cross's journal is a chronicle of experiences, struggles, and breakthroughs of a woman diagnosed with schizophrenia, traumatized by the most vivid of visions and voices. Her journey toward truth and overcoming her symptoms takes her far away, where she learns the rest of the story her visions and voices had always told her, from a past she did not know.
We Stay a Brief Telling
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 11,190. Language: English. Published: February 21, 2021 by Propertius Press. Categories: Poetry » Themes & motifs » Nature, Poetry » American poetry » General
A celebration of season, WE STAY A BRIEF TELLING begins, as Vivaldi, in the moment just before winter. We find there is much music in the seasons, much poetry, and many harvests. In this fine collection, the author particularly wishes to dwell on the music found in seasonal transition, standing open to the ineluctable beauty of moments offering nothing but themselves.
Late, Late in the Evening
Price: $6.99 USD. Words: 76,770. Language: English. Published: November 30, 2020 by Propertius Press. Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary, Fiction » Thriller & suspense » Psychological thriller
Imprisoned for his writings, Gabe is released into a life little better than slavery, serving a member of the ruling party and in constant danger from the merciless agents who guard the country estate where he now lives. As events in the wider world become ever more unstable, Gabe will have to decide where his ultimate loyalties lie and whether he will fight or run.
In Search of a Happy Ending
Price: $7.99 USD. Words: 95,580. Language: English. Published: November 17, 2020 by Propertius Press. Categories: Fiction » Mystery & detective » Cozy, Fiction » Literature » Literary
Six months in the life of a Vancouver writing group; each member has three stories: the one they are writing, the one they are living, and the one they are hiding. As members of the group discover each others’ past secrets and current crises, unexpected relationships develop that may save some of them, but lead to the death of others, and none of the stories will remain unaltered.
Until We're Fish
Price: $8.99 USD. Words: 100,790. Language: English. Published: October 6, 2020 by Propertius Press. Categories: Fiction » Coming of age, Fiction » Cultural & ethnic themes » Hispanic & Latino
An unforgettable coming-of-age story, Until We’re Fish blends the romance, violence, mood, and ethos of the Cuban Revolution with a young man’s hopeless and heroic first love. With the truth of experience and the lyricism of poetry, Rodríguez Drissi constructs an exquisite, gossamer tale of revolution and hearts set adrift.
Both Sides: The Classroom From Where I Stand
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 46,300. Language: American English. Published: August 5, 2020 by Propertius Press. Categories: Nonfiction » Biography » Teachers & educators, Nonfiction » Education & Study Guides » Careers in education
Rebecca Potter uses her experiences as a teacher to explore questions within education, such as: why does education matter for the ones who are presumably doomed to fail anyway, what does it mean to care about a student, why do teachers stay in the field with so much against them? This book explores the connected humanity between teacher and student, and implications of that connectedness.
When Marilyn Monroe Met Edith Sitwell
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 21,310. Language: English. Published: July 31, 2020 by Propertius Press. Categories: Poetry » American poetry » General, Poetry » Themes & motifs » General
A gently thought-provoking, highly readable collection of poetry by the poet Howard Winn, consisting of works gathered across the spectrum as well as new pieces. Winn captures the observations of the everyday with an economy of words that ring with the depth of an unusual brilliance and a grasp of true humor and feeling.
Spools of Red Twine
Price: $3.99 USD. Words: 26,210. Language: English. Published: May 9, 2020 by Propertius Press. Categories: Fiction » Themes & motifs » Psychological, Fiction » Humor & comedy » Satire
Narrated by a painfully frank young woman who finds herself working a soul-sucking job as a cashier at a health food store, this timely satire critiques society and the emptiness of being forced to continue on with the status quo. At times humorous, and at times frightening, this story about an individual’s rebellion against society and the harmful effects of capitalism does not disappoint.
Something Like My Name
Price: $3.99 USD. Words: 44,040. Language: American English. Published: January 20, 2020 by Propertius Press. Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary, Fiction » Coming of age
A habitual drifter and a college basketball star tell concurrent stories of how they are lost, alternately destroyed and hopeful, as they try to figure out what to do with themselves, what's the point of it all, and what if they never figure it out? Set in northern Idaho, the title of the book is from a James Tate poem, "Manna," which describes a moment of ineffable beauty and reassurance.
The Bottoms and Hills: Virginia Tales
Price: $5.49 USD. Words: 22,160. Language: English. Published: June 1, 2019 by Propertius Press. Categories: Fiction » African American fiction » Historical
A collection of tales hinged upon "a way of life" in Southside Virginia, the "Old Dominion," in the authentic language as heard by the author and originally written down in the late 1950s. This treasure is re-published posthumously in cooperation with the Arthenia J. Bates Literary Foundation, in celebration of the author's 99th birthday.
Simple Gratitudes
Price: $6.99 USD. Words: 69,940. Language: English. Published: March 27, 2019 by Propertius Press. Categories: Nonfiction » Religion & Spirituality » Judaism, Nonfiction » Religion & Spirituality » Judaism / Orthodox
With simple but clear-minded and visually rich descriptions, the author elevates normal everyday happenings to a spiritual plane that lies deep in everyone’s heart in a way that transcends religious creed, race, and time itself. No matter where you are or your pattern of belief, you will find these words resonate with gifts of a universal truth.
Eye Exams: A Book of Epigrams.
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 16,780. Language: English. Published: February 14, 2018 by Propertius Press. Categories: Nonfiction » Philosophy » Contemporary philosophy
Epigrams can be stabs at thought, sudden insights, or summations of a life. The fact that they don’t parade in the best dress gives freedom to all types of garb; even so, occasional nakedness is exposed. Ultimately writing epigrams exposes the reader as well as the writer, and by extension all human nature -- broadening our observations of the species. The sole object is understanding.
Acropolis
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 74,810. Language: English. Published: February 12, 2018 by Propertius Press. Categories: Fiction » Historical » USA, Fiction » Coming of age
A small group of soldiers enters Vassar College, courtesy of the GI Bill, and each attempts to settle into civilian life. A clash of cultures combined with readjustment battles amid the creative intellectual world of academics during the beginnings of the McCarthy era makes for an engaging story, as these good men are forced to examine long-held beliefs of freedom, patriotism, and service.
Lucky Southern Women
Price: $6.99 USD. Words: 121,000. Language: American English. Published: January 10, 2014 by Propertius Press. Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary, Fiction » Cultural & ethnic themes » Cultural interest, general
(5.00 from 1 review)
The rural landscape entwines around the lives and loves of two strong, yet troubled women, a beautiful contrast to the beliefs they absorbed as children. Only in moving beyond the past can they forge a way ahead not only for themselves, but for their loved ones. In so doing, each finds something vital that will give them the power and resilience they need to meet the greatest challenge of all.
The Blues, Mary
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 35,980. Language: British English. Published: August 5, 2012 by Propertius Press. Categories: Fiction » Urban
(4.75 from 4 reviews)
An aspiring yet disenchanted Northern Irish journalist finds himself in New York where he discovers the interdependency of creation, craft and audience. Through a reflective narrative circling his daily life, a relationship with a woman named Mary, and an assignment of interviews with a rock'n'roll band, he learns that the key to understanding himself is realising where he really wants to be.

Books

Whispers From the Universe
Price: $7.99 USD. Words: 132,540. Language: English. Published: June 30, 2020 . Categories: Fiction » Anthologies » Short stories - multi-author
The stories in Whispers from the Universe explore the connections between the real and unseen worlds. Where hidden miracles turn expectation on its head, and perception and reality collide with the unknowable. In this second short story anthology collected and edited by Propertius Press, twenty-one authors give their answers to life's questions, in surprising and uniquely talented ways.
Metamorphosis: A Collection of Stories
Price: $7.99 USD. Words: 191,580. Language: English. Published: July 21, 2019 . Categories: Fiction » Anthologies » Short stories - multi-author
In this collection, 21 stories chronicle deep metamorphosis, where by a lesson, a journey, discoveries, the confluence of ideas, an accident or some other more esoteric circumstances, we become more attuned to the connections - and distances - between the inner and outer worlds than perhaps we were at the beginning. We grow wings, take flight, and start all over again.

Propertius Press' tag cloud

1920    1930s    1950s america    1960s    1960s america    1980s    20th century    abortion    abuse    abuse and christianity    academia    activism    addiction    adultery    adultery and its consequences    advocacy    african american    afterlife    alabama    alternative history    american    anthology    art world    artist    artist colony    authoritarian regime    ballet    basketball    black author    black fiction    black holes    blue ridge mountains    bram stoker    britain    california    cancer    capitalism    change    chicago    childhood    children    choices    choices and sacrifices    christianity and conscience    christianity and relationships    classroom    cocaine    cold war politics    collection    college life    colorism    comedy    coming of age    conscience    contemporary    cosmopolitan    court cases    crime    cuba    cuba 1959    cuban history    culture of the south    dance    deception    deception and christianity    diary    directoire    discovering oneself    diversity    divorce    dreams    dreamworld    dublin    dystopia    edith sitwell    education    enchantment    environment    epigrams    essays    europe    european    expression    faith    fall    family    family relationships    fantasy    fast paced    fear and faith    fear and love    fear of water    fiction    fiction adult    first person    folk tales    fracking    freedom    french revolution    friendship    friendships    friendships between women    friendships changing    fundamentalist christians    gas pipeline    gay fiction    german    ghost stories    gratitude    great britain    group    gun violence    heros journey    high school    history    holmes watson    idaho    idaho setting    immigrants    industrial revolution    inequality    inner child    intellectual    intellectualism    investigation    israel    israeli writer    italian    james joyce    jewish character    jewish literature    journaling    journalism    journalist    journalist main character    joycean characters    kentucky    labor movement    legal challenge    lesbian    lgbtq    lgbtq fiction    life lessons    literary    literary fiction    loss    lost child    lost family    lost love    love    love after abuse    love and longing    love stories    love story    loveafterlife    madness    marcellus shale    marilyn monroe    marriage and adultery    marriage and religion    mccarthy era    memoir    memory    men    men women relationships    mental challenge    mental illness    military school    misfits    multiauthor    murder drama    music    music and entertainment    music scene    musician stories    mystery    mystery adult    mystery crime    narcissism    natural gas    nature    new york    newspapers    northern idaho    northern ireland    observations    oscar wilde    paris    peaceful protest    performance    philosophy    pittsburg    plane crash    poetry    political usa    popular sayings    prose    psychiatry    psychiatry fiction    psychological    psychology    ptsd after war    realism    recovery    redemption    relationships    religious    revolution    road trip    rock and roll music    romance    romance drama    romantic love    rural    rural life    salsa    satire    scandanavia    schizophrenia    scotland    search for love    seasons    self knowledge    sherlockholmes    short stories    single parent    small town    social history    soldiers    southern fiction    southern lit    southern literary suspense    southern literature    southern us    spring    stalking    stories    story    strike    strong female characters    strong women    survival    suspence    suspense and romance    suspense drama love family    sweden    tale of love    tales    teacher    teaching    theatre    thriller    trauma    twentieth century    twins    ulysses    universe    urban    urban contemporary fiction    urban fiction    vancouver    vassar college    virginia    vivaldi    wealth gap    white bear    winter    winter tale    women    women abuse    women abused    women and choices    women friendships    women issues    womens fiction    world war ii    writing    writing group    young adult    young love    youth   

Propertius Press' favorite authors on Smashwords