Winedale Publishing, U.S. – förlag

Each of the flawed, fully human characters we meet in these twelve stories faces a moment of life-altering transformation. Most are newcomers to the scenic, rolling countryside of central Texas whose charms they romanticize, even as the troubles they hoped to leave behind persist.A young pianist struggles to keep her emotionally fragile boyfriend alive; a displaced New Yorker's ambivalence with guns results in two fractured families; an oil man gambles on his estranged daughter's integrity. The complicated history of this German-Czech region, where the stories are set, anchors the experience of two young artists who make a costly decision in 1862.In graceful and precise, often lyrical, prose, Fraser Hale immerses us in lives whose superficial privilege provides no real protection against the unexpected.

In this volume William Martin uses his own experience of combating prostate cancer as a vehicle for conveying medical information about the disease and its treatment. He shares the fear he faced as he contemplated the choices before him, and seeks to offer other men encouragement and guidance.

A New York Times Notable Book and one of USA Today's top books of the year when it was first published in 1992, After Great Pain remains both timely and of great use to others traumatized by disaster or grief. Diane Cole's method is to couple the findings of professional researchers and clinicians with the story of her own heartbreaking personal experience - coping with a multitude of family illnesses and the after effects of being held hostage by Muslim extremists. The result is a deeply affecting memoir of loss and renewal that provides guidance, consolation, and hope, as she presents the psychological strategies of survival and the shining example of her own transcendence.

In this remarkable book, Dee Howe, wife of the nation's leading lay expert on prostate cancer, offers a frank, witty and information-rich examination of her husband's and her experience with this frightening disease, from diagnosis all the way through successful treatment for post-surgical side effects. In clear and readable prose, she delineates the many new and effective treatment options available and offers details of the numerous resources existing to provide a couple with support in their fight. When caught early, prostate cancer is highly curable. Out of fear for the potential side effects of treatment, however, many men forego the simple PSA blood test that could indicate the disease in its most treatable stages. Howe argues persuasively against this head-in-the-sand approach by supplying facts that work to counter the fear. A prostate cancer diagnosis does not foretell a pleasant experience; but neither does it mean the end of a vigorous life for a couple. New techniques have made treatment, especially treatment of early stage cancer, less traumatic. New devices and drugs have markedly decreased the permanence of dreaded side effects such as incontinence and impotence. The process of diagnosis and therapy, however, is complex and confusing. Howe leads the reader through the maze with the latest information and helpful tips on coping gathered from her husband's and her experience, as well as that of others. With an irrepressible sense of humor coupled with a profound religious faith, Howe writes at a high level of technical competence, interweaving up to date information with her compelling human-interest story. Her extraordinary frankness about the difficulties she and her husband transcended is inspirational. Every wife, partner, or loved one of a man diagnosed with prostate cancer will derive tremendous insight, guidance, and hope from the Howes' story.

The habits of a lifetime ebb slowly, and so we have this honest, moving and amusing account of a retirement that began, in 2014, when beloved Texas writer Leon Hale was 93.In his inimitable voice, Hale reveals his personal joys and regrets as he traverses the territory of old age, travelling through time and place from his spot on the old front porch at Winedale.We're with him at the dinner party where he told an 11 PM story at 8:30; we learn why he doesn't like the ocean, but loves the shore. For the first time, he shares the World War II experience that haunts him still; and relates the sad drama of his first divorce. We watch turf battles between blue birds and chickadees, and observe his mother's long effort to teach a parakeet her favorite Bible verse.There are health challenges, yes, and the give and take that goes on in a happy marriage. Through it all, however, flows the unstoppable optimism that has sustained him through every crisis.For everyone who has wondered what it's like to approach their hundredth birthday, here is one inspiring and truthful answer, told with the special sheen of wit and human feeling that we have come to expect from this fine writer.

Natural wonders were Leon Hale’s lifetime subject matter. He looked for them wherever he went, and found them surprisingly often.  In the lives of plain people and eccentrics, in the brilliant smile of a tiny 100-year-old black lady, or the hi-jinks of his cousin C.T., in what happened on a dirt farm in 1930 or why he found value in chiseling brick, he revealed truths and wonders we might not have noticed on our own. When published in 1982, A Smile from Katie Hattan was Leon Hale’s first column collection after nearly thirty years of writing for The Houston Post. It was widely celebrated for presenting the delightful daily work of this writer, at last, to a wider audience. What is remarkable, now, forty years later, is how fresh and interesting the 155 columns remain, as we roam with the author through a Texas that remains as vivid and enjoyable as the day he wrote about it.

In this intimate rendering of a relationship we learn how deceptive surface impressions can be. Leon Hale, author of Bonney’s Place, was sixty years old, a “country boy” who wrote about rural Texans with humor and sensitivity in his popular column for The Houston Post and, later the Houston Chronicle. Babette Fraser at thirty-six was a child of privilege, a city girl educated abroad, struggling in her career while raising a young son. No one thought it could work. Even Hale himself held serious doubts. But it did endure. The interior congruencies they discovered through a long and turbulent courtship knit them tightly together for the rest of his life. And when he died during the Pandemic isolation period, searing levels of grief and doubt threatened Babette’s understanding of the partnership and marriage that had sustained her for forty years. Had he really been the person she thought he was? Had he kept secrets that would forever change her view of him? In candid, evocative prose, she explores the distorted perceptions that often follow the death of a cherished spouse, and the loving resolution that allows life to go on.

Cole Burnett, a Texas writer, needs to keep moving. At first, it's something in his blood pressing him, pushing him to write more, achieve more. Later, after the death threat, it becomes a way to stay alive.Burnett is the kind of man whose need for freedom should send lovers running in the opposite direction. But he has a lanky charisma and the gift of listening, a somewhat rare quality for a man in the 1980's.The women he encounters in Narcissi find his attention compelling, and they all get hurt, or cause hurt, to a greater or lesser degree. But hurt is never the whole story.Each woman brings her own complicated life into her time with Cole, conflicts with husbands, traumas survived, needs postponed, children. And children grow up.He rarely sees his own. They left home before he did.He understands that loneliness compels him toward the women he meets on his travels--whether in a tavern, like Amelia; or a street dance, like Stephanie; or a book-and-author event, like Lorna. And others he connects with while working, like Dolly, Elsa, Trish and Gladys.They all know something has to change.

Easy Going gives us Leon Hale where he is most at home, on the road.In a collection drawn from his longtime column for The Houston Post he takes us with him from the Grand Prairie to the Piney Woods to the Lower Rio Grande Valley to the "quiet, thoughtful" countryside of Washington County. This is Texas at its backroads best, a portrait of people and places that remains fresh and unique despite the passage of time.Hale is special. His view is clear and wide and his theme is happiness—the kind you come upon easily and naturally when you live with a relaxed openness, alert to the potential for joy in common day experience.His world is a place we can go to when our spirits need soothing. His voice and outlook are grounded and authentic, filled with humor, sentiment and timeless warmth.

This remarkable first novel, written in clean, vivid prose by David Theis, leads the reader through an exotic labyrinth as the protagonist, Daniel, attempts to understand the irrational acts that have shaped his life. Dan, a photographer, has traveled to a teaching job in Mexico with his beautiful mixed-race wife and young daughter, hoping to find a new life following her marital infidelity and his responding botched suicide attempt. Instead, he discovers a complex, secretive world of casual violence and moral insubstantiality. When his wife leaves him for the wealthy patron he's been working for, Dan is overwhelmed with anger and guilt. His subsequent quest to regain his family and redeem his life takes him deep into the heart of Mexico City, to an eccentric pension owned by a defrocked French priest that provides sanctuary for a group of international misfits. From the moment that Dan's caged hawk survives the onslaught of an eighteen-wheeler, we realize that this is no ordinary story of marital pain and attempted reconciliation. Interior symbolism that contributes to an occasionally dream-like landscape offers a cohesive resonance to the surface narrative. Dan's attempt to understand how the childhood experience of desertion by his father continues to threaten his own life is enriched with the vivid visual imagery of Mexico, from the aloof hawk whose beak and eyes evoke those of his lost parent to the recurrent presence of the Virgin of Guadalupe. As he pursues his quest, finally confronting el patron on his own turf, we are captivated by this compelling and ultimately unforgettable story of a young man's attempt to deserve happiness.

In this first novel of delicious wit and sharp observation, Austin playwright and professor Lynn C. Miller displays an unerring eye for the foibles of male-dominated departmental politics at fictional Austin University. When Fiona Hardison, a blocked Edith Wharton scholar, is passed over for promotion at the behest of her lover_memorably slimy departmental chairman Sigmund Froelich_she embarks on a journey toward self discovery with surprising consequences. Aided by insights provided in a perceptive Tarot reading, Fiona finds herself reevaluating her academic focus, her personal relationships, and her future prospects for happiness. As she examines her life, she discovers unexpected parallels with Edith Wharton's personal development. These present her with a fresh approach to her biography of this great American author, excerpts of which are interspersed throughout. With sure satiric pacing and much good humor, The Fool's Journey immerses us in a academic atmosphere rife with devious plots. Miller skewers pretensions with a certain hand while she portrays a memorable cast of supporting characters: goddess-y Bettina, wife of botanist Marvin, beloved by all sexes; Dean Darryl Hansen, lover to Fiona and Bettina; solid and supportive fellow Wharton enthusiast Miriam Held; and outrageous gad-fly Blake Burnois, whose mischievous publication of Fiona's biting satire in the Chronicle of Higher Education shatters everyone's status quo into tiny shards. Lovers of the work of Edith Wharton will take particular pleasure from the interweaving of her journey with that of the protagonist in this lively and entertaining tale.

From the beloved Houston columnist comes a new trade paper edition of his popular regional bestseller. These are wise, tolerant, funny narratives, told in the graceful conversational prose that has long been Hale's hallmark. Among the many pleasures to be enjoyed here are stories about Homer the Rat; the territorial controversy over a church pew back in the old hometown; and what his mother saved instead of money. All display Hale's eye for the telling detail and enlist us in the gentle laughter of self-recognition.