Featured Titles for Adults: The Stowaway in First Class & A Short Stay in Hell
The Stowaway in First Class by Anthony DeSantis
Published by Flagship Press (Girl Friday Books)
World Rights Available
A family's legacy is forever changed in this true story of ransom notes, stowaways, and mobsters.
Paris, 1929. Gaetano "Guy" DeSantis is an Italian emigrant with a good life: a stable construction job, a comfortable place to live, and a blossoming relationship with a young waitress, Marie. But Guy dreams of making a future in America, alongside his cousin Frank who immigrated a few years earlier.
So when a mysterious stranger shows up at Guy's door saying that Frank has paid for a boat ride across the Atlantic, how could Guy refuse? But there's a catch--he must leave immediately, with no bags and no goodbyes.
With a heart of gold--and the suspense of a classic crime novel--this true story memorializes one man's split-second decision to chart a new course for generations to come, proving that courage and honor do have the power to make a better life.
⭐ Reviews
"Tender love and deep loyalty for family and country with a risky decision to take a chance for a better life grip you in this well-told immigrant story. Both heart and mind follow Guy’s fascinating journey from rural poverty in Italy to young love in Paris and a daring stowaway adventure that opens the possibility to live the American dream." —Christina Holloway, award-winning author of Whispers Across a Sea: A Novel of Victorian Ireland
"[A] lovingly told account of an Italian father’s 1929 immigration and American life." —BookLife Reviews
"DeSantis not only lifts up his father’s unique story but offers a valuable contribution to the Europe-to-America immigrant experience." —BookLife Reviews
Anthony DeSantis—known as Tony to his family and friends—grew up in the Italian section of a very ethnic town outside of Boston. Most of his neighbors were immigrant families and many of his friends in school were first- or second-generation Italian Americans just like him. He grew up surrounded by the food, culture, and values of his parents and grandparents. Although they struggled financially, his was a wonderful childhood. His family instilled in him a strong work ethic and great pride that he was an American. However, his Italian roots were strengthened by his father’s stories of life in Italy before he became an American and were cemented into reality when he visited Italy and lived with his father’s family for two months when he was only 12 years old.
A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck
Published by Strange Violin Editions
Rights Sold: Italian, Polish, Arabic, Thai, Spanish, Turkish
With elements of The Good Place, Dante’s Inferno, and Sartre’s No Exit, A Short Stay in Hell is a thoughtful examination of the horrors of eternity and the essential nature of hope.
An ordinary family man, geologist, and Mormon, Soren Johansson has always believed he'll be reunited with his loved ones after death in an eternal hereafter. Then, he dies. Soren wakes to find himself cast by a God he has never heard of into a Hell whose dimensions he can barely grasp: a vast library he can only escape from by finding the book that contains the story of his life.
In this haunting existential novella, author, philosopher, and ecologist Steven L. Peck explores a subversive vision of eternity, taking the reader on a journey through the afterlife of a world where everything everyone believed in turns out to be wrong.
⭐ Reviews
"Religious texts going back to ancient Babylon and Egypt have tried to answer the central mystery of life and death: "What is eternity like?" But most have failed to grapple with what is potentially the most salient fact about eternity: that, by definition, it's really, really long. A Short Stay in Hell begins when a man dies of cancer and discovers in the afterlife that, having failed to embrace the one true religion (Zoroastrianism, it turns out), he will be thrust down to hell. But because the protagonist was a bookish sort, his soul is assigned to a near-infinite realm inspired by Jorge Luis Borges's classic story The Library of Babel. The mathematical reality of infinity is revealed to be a yawning existential nightmare as scary as the sewer clown or tentacled Cthulhu in any horror novel. Steven L. Peck, an evolutionary biologist, applies a scientist's rigor to the rules of this unusual afterlife and pulls off a remarkable trick: a slim novella that can be read in an hour or two, but contains a vastness that will linger in the imagination." — Jeopardy host and author Ken Jennings for the Wall Street Journal
"Profound and disturbing, A Short Stay In Hell is a perfect blend of science fiction, theology, and horror. A terrifying meditation on faith, human nature, and the relentless scope of eternity. It will haunt you, fittingly, for a very, very long time." — Dan Wells, author of I Am Not a Serial Killer
"An irresistible invention. Peck has somehow squeezed all of human experience, not to mention near-infinite expanses of space and time, into one miraculously slim novella. You won't be able to stop thinking about this book.” — Ken Jennings, author of Brainiac and Maphead
Steven L. Peck is an American evolutionary biologist, poet, and novelist. His literary work is influential in Mormon literature circles. He is a professor of biology at Brigham Young University (BYU). He grew up in Moab, Utah and lives in Pleasant Grove, Utah.
After studying at BYU and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Peck received his PhD from North Carolina State University in biomathematics and entomology. He has taught bioethics and philosophy of biology in addition to other biology classes, and teaches that evolution is not at odds with religious faith.
Peck's fiction often defies genre conventions and discusses philosophical themes. Critics have praised his unusual stories for their emotional power and their analytical approach to Mormon themes.
Indie Spotlight from Our Marketplace
The Aurora Revelations
By Michael F. Walker
WINNER 2025 Page Turner Awards—Best Paranormal & Supernatural Novel
2025 Next Generation Indie Book Awards (NGIBA) Finalist—Paranormal Category
In April 1897, a strange airship crashed in Aurora, Texas and the "unearthly" pilot was buried in the local cemetery. Today, the pilot finally awakened. God help us all.
In July 2015, supernatural sleuth Kevin Starkly disappeared mysteriously in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. What secrets did he uncover about the Aurora UFO crash, and has he paid a terrible price for his curiosity?
Four twenty-something paranormal investigators, a self-styled "Nerd Legion," ―Tony Fermia (a psychic who talks to ghosts in his dreams), John Walters (an art curator), Rich Harrigan (a skeptical science teacher), and Angel McQueen (an alien abductee and Tony's high-school crush)―travel across a haunted America searching for their old friend Starkly. The group soon find themselves entangled in a terrifying conspiracy to resurrect the alien pilot―a plot that brings them face-to-face with a ghastly enemy and has them fighting for their lives and for the future of humanity.
Like a grown-up Stranger Things on a cursed road trip, or The X-Files with no FBI boss and no filter, the harrowing exploits in The Aurora Revelations will captivate readers of Paul Tremblay, Dan Simmons, Edgar Cantero, or any fans of paranormal thrills, mystery, and supernatural suspense.
⭐ Reviews
"Walker pulls an amazing aggregation of borderline satire and surreal terror into a coherent and spooky whole...A supernaturally effective oddity odyssey." — Kirkus Reviews
"The paranormal intrigue is infused with humor, true science, and literary and pop culture references for a playful and suspenseful adventure. Fans of The X-Files will feel right at home. — Booklife Reviews (Editors' Pick)
“Not only is The Aurora Revelations a perfect blend of The Fourth Kind and Stephen King's IT, but the immersive storytelling through articles and interviews keeps you on your toes the entire time. Thought-provoking." — Boris Bacic, horror author
Michael F. Walker is a lover of the strange and macabre. The Aurora Revelations is his debut novel. Walker promoted the curators and curiosities, relics and specimens at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City for 20 years. He lives with his wife and daughter in a ramshackle old house in Brooklyn, NY that looks haunted but (probably) isn’t.
