Poetry. With the kiss of a knuckleballer and a heart of gravy, Nate Logan's full-length poetry debut is sweet to its friends and squinting at the clouds. Ready to feel any which way besides a haunted lumberyard, beelining toward the finger sandwiches of Midwestern self-reflection. The sky needs a good lint-rolling. On the ostrich festival gates is a note that reads: I'M SORRY.

As Kurt Vonnegut, Indiana's most famous writer, once remarked, "Wherever you go, there is always a Hoosier doing something important there." A Flame Called Indiana features 65 writers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry who have all had the pleasure of being Hoosiers at one time or another. Curated by the Indiana University Bloomington creative writing department, this diverse anthology features everything from the immigrant experience to the Indianapolis 500 to science fiction. Altogether, the work stands testament to the vibrancy and creativity of this Midwest state. An excellent gift for your favorite reader and an important resource for creative writers, A Flame Called Indiana serves as both a chronicle of where Indiana's writing is today and a beacon to those who'll take it where it's going next.

Although we may come from different worlds, we have a lot in common. We hate the Sins of this World and strive to improve. We want to love, for this World is ruled by Love, unprejudiced by discipline, knowledge, adroit rhetoric and Hollywood ectoplasm. I encompass multitudes, as I too am Walt's child. My Heart is large, my Mind carries centuries. I muse and meditate and stand by you in your daily struggle. You may not want to read the dead poet; you may not want to peruse a stale, insipid saga; you may not want - but peace and quiet for the Soul... Come with me then and we shall fly on a morrow chirp, we shall dissolve with dew inside a rosebud stretching its arms - reaching for You and I... The I, which is a part of You.

How can a nerdy, young dad hope to attract his hunky new neighbor? And if he can get his attention, does he have any hope of making it last? Kyle only recently became an adoptive father to a vulnerable little girl. He's a devoted dad, and Viv is a spirited and loving five-year-old. With the help of his little dog, Kyle worked hard to gain Viv's love and trust in record time. Now they are a family. That doesn't mean he has no room for a man in his life. Luke has been working in a string of nightclubs for most of his adult life. It was an exciting life, but Luke had enough of it. A recent loss sends Luke into suburbia in search of a more peaceful life. The loss of his brother is still fresh, but spending time with Kyle and Viv brings him so much joy. In the past, Kyle hasn't been lucky in love. He always goes for the wrong kind of guy. But with Viv in his life, he can't afford those kinds of mistakes. When Luke moves into the neighborhood, Kyle ends up with two wounded souls on his hands. Good thing he has room in his heart for both of them. If Kyle can get past his fears, he might just get everything he has always dreamed of.

In the true story Those Golden Days, a ten-year-old kid living in South Central Los Angeles grows up in a secluded and poverty-ridden area of The Hood, where gangs, dope, and dope dealers dwell on the streets. To make a bad situation into a good situation, and to gain experience, the street kids of One Hundred and First, and Vermont and Century, reinvented the wheel to make the best life that could ever be imagined. With friends like Donald R. Golden, who went beyond the barriers of The Hood to seek out new horizons, the author’s fifty-five-year friendship is to this day still filled with adventures and challenges. From when the two kids first meet at the age of ten, and on into their seventies, these lifelong friends are still “Living the Dream” in California. Growing up in the inner city in the 1960s was not easy. Michael J. Manley calls himself happy to have survived all those years of “living large,” and knowing that he and Donald are Best Friends forever.