The House on Prytania, by Pat Carr

Watch for the new short story collection by Pat Carr.

The House on Prytania's release date is March 25, 2014.

Pat's stories are hauntingly beautiful, and written with a pen that only she possesses. We guarantee you won't be able to put this one down. It will be available in bookstores and on Amazon or you can  order directly through High Hill. Check out Pat's website to find her schedule and see titles for her other books. One of our favorites is an award winning collection of Civil War stories titled

Death of a Confederate Colonel.

 

 

 

 Below is an excerpt from the title story in this wonderful collection, The House on Prytania.

 

The House on Prytania

Mrs. Parrish wasn’t my mother, and that was probably why I could see it and Lily couldn’t.

Or so I thought at the time.

It was only later I understood that perhaps Lily had been aware and that even Mr. Parrish may have pretended he hadn’t noticed. He always made conventional—stiff and meaningless—remarks, beaming, as if it was entirely logical to come home at two in the afternoon to find us, Lily and me and Mrs. Parrish in the kitchen around the big oak table, laughing and joking with Armond.

I’d known, even at eleven, that my mother wouldn’t have sat in any room with Armond. Not that she was prejudiced. She always pointedly showed her Garden District listings to black professionals when other agents in her office refused or feigned too busy a schedule. It was just that she couldn’t have thought of anything to say to her gardener- carpenter after she’d decided what shade of maroon she wanted the gutters painted or where she wanted the flat of peonies bedded. She hired workmen for competent jobs, and if Armond had been her handyman, she’d have expected him to change the light fixtures and caulk the tub before she got home. I couldn’t imagine her hovering at the foot of a ladder, bracing the toolbox or dispensing screw-drivers as he needed them.

Which may have been what gave me the first, not-quite-conscious clue.

“You’ve been working here how long?” I asked him one afternoon. I wouldn’t have been that brash with any other adult, but this was Armond, and we were sitting at the table while Mrs. Parrish fried beignets for the four of us.

“Let’s see, how long, Eva?” He looked at Mrs. Parrish. “Since I was seventeen or eighteen I guess. Since Lily must’ve been about two.”

He seemed older than twenty-six, with silver coiling like fine sterling wire through his black sideburns and an incisor replaced and glinting old-man-gold when he laughed.

 

Watch for more after March 25th.

Exciting 2014

After a winter of slowing down to take care of family obligations, High Hill is again running full steam ahead. At the end of 2013 we completed several projects we're very proud of. We released the third book in Dusty Richards' Frank Brothers Series, Brackeen's Law.

 

But before the ink was even dry on this wonderful novel, Dusty finished the fourth book from this series, Texas. Watch for it soon, its official release date is April 25th, but we have a feeling we'll have some of these available even sooner.

Below is a rough proof of the cover, a neat design by Casey Cowan.

 

High Hill Press also made a decision this year to change the format for books in our children's  division, SkyHigh Tales. Last November we released this larger version of Brenda Brinkley's popular book, Albert's Happy Thanksgiving. We're also reformatting Brenda's second book, Cleveland Turns Green, and we'll have a brand new Brinkley book, Frank Meets Friday, out by mid-summer of 2014. Brenda is a busy author.

 

Between High Hill and Cactus Country, we have ten books coming out over the next eight months. Dusty's Texas, as well as Thom Nicholson's haunting book, Revenge of the Soiled Dove. We also have a wonderful drama detailing the gray clouds that formed over two families living in the Tennessee Valley before and during the Civil War by David Kirkland, and a book by a new author we met last year, Scott Amsbaugh. Scott has written a beautiful traditional western so full of action and wonderfully written prose, we're sure it will become a best seller. We have two memoirs, a short story collection, a neat little paranormal novel, another great mystery, a book about two rascal poodles, titled Poodlums, and an interesting fantasy novel, titled Final Gate, by a young author, Alda Yuan. We're especially thrilled about Alda's book because it has been translated to Chinese and is already a big hit in China.

In December of 2013, we finished a short story collection, gathered and edited by Brett Cogburn, titled Rough Country. This book contains stories from the best writers working in the western genre today.

 

That's enough for now, but within the next few days we'll list other titles and covers we have recently finished or have in the works. We're planning interviews with authors, author photos so you can see what your favorite writer looks like, and will post some interesting Q&As we've been working on. And later this month we're starting a weekly column here on the blog with writing tips. We are pleased with what we accomplished in 2013, and are excited about what we expect to be a banner year in 2014. And as always, thanks for supporting us.