Two funny, poignant novels you can sink your reading chops into.
Reuben Downes is a Mallard.
The kind that dominates the Co-Ed Fastpitch Softball League for Adults in Western Vermont, aka the Coleslaw League.
A newcomer to both the team and the town, Reuben is the oddball outsider to his teammates and the curious, often opinionated locals. So when he puts an “art” installation in in his backyard that sets off a firestorm in the community, people demand answers about what it means.
But Reuben, always more inclined to let others call the shots, keeps his motivations to himself. That is until his inaction raises an ominous threat to the people around him. And in the real world, when the bases are loaded and your teammates are counting on you, it’s time to step up to the plate — even if for Reuben, there’s a real possibility of striking out.
Written with sharp humor and a deep affection for small-town living, sports, and the cadence of the seasons, Ducks on the Pond is a timely novel about what it takes to fully engage in life.
In the 1990s American workplace, survival of the fittest is less about clawing your way to the top than developing good camouflage.
And Audrey Rohmer is doing her very best to blend in as an undistinguished middle manager. Uninspired by her job and uneasy about her father’s new marriage, Audrey coasts through the work week leaning on her “partner in apathy” – an admin assistant named Pooter – to keep her relationship with the married head of her department from becoming water cooler gossip.
But when an old family friend-turned-Hollywood-superstar crashes on her doorstep in the midst of a publicity crisis, Audrey’s under-the-radar status quo gets upended, and the writing may literally be on the bathroom wall that secrets will find a way out.
Equally acerbic and heartfelt, In Light of Recent Events is both an endlessly engaging piece of storytelling and a fascinating commentary on workplaces, families, and fame.
Check out some reviews.
Here’s what a couple great writers had to say about it…
“A fast, fun, emotionally engaging novel about friendship, family, and the day-to-day horrors of middle management. Amy Klinger gives us a delightful cast of characters to relate to, laugh with, and, ultimately, root for.”
— Matthew Norman, author of Domestic Violets
”Writing with a wit as precise as an edge of a carefully cut diamond, In Light of Recent Events navigates universal workplace intrigues in this thoughtful story about love, friendship, and growing up.”
— Jane Ward, author of In the Aftermath