The Shout-Out

1 September 2026

Four indie books, each by an author featured for the first time. Every title links to its page here, and buying goes straight through the author's own retailer.

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  Hawthorn's Heart

  by Christina Gonzalez

  Romance

  After losing the people who raised her, Hawthorn Hernandez returns to her family’s small Georgia town carrying grief, old wounds, and the healing traditions her Nana left behind. When single father Sawyer Parker enters her life, Hawthorn must decide whether love, community, and the natural world can help her bloom again.

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  The Weapon and the Fruit: Four and Twenty Blackboards

  by L. E. Bendon

  Thriller/Mystery/Crime

  A locked-door murder. The victim: a Hammersmith primary school teacher admired by pupils, parents and her pet spaniel... or so she believed. Her recent erratic behaviour produced more than one enemy. Ciara Gallen, an appearance-obsessed newspaper columnist and mother of one of her pupils, used to being the one passing judgement. Colleagues with secrets. Neighbours with grudges of their own. A dog deserving a bit more attention. DI Esi Owusu and DS Pawel Krol, overwhelmed with the bizarre case of a gentle but paranoid teacher found locked inside her own home with a knife buried in her chest, call in good friend and eccentric associate, Private Detective Lance Pomegranate, to assist with the baffling mystery. But Australian Lance's unyielding preference to live barefoot and irreverence towards those who challenge him for it, elevate the prim and opinionated Ciara Gallen to more than just a suspect; now, she's a determined adversary, with the power of the press behind her. Ciara is all too willing to vilify Lance and his police allies in print, unless they can provide a more satisfying story for her ovine readers by solving the locked-room mystery and identifying the teacher's killer. To save their reputations and Lance's career, the investigating trio face both the clock and court of public opinion. Meanwhile, the killer lurks in their midst, watching.

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  The Acorn Stories

  by Duane Simolke

  Literary Fiction

  Humor and drama. A cat named Morgana Le Fay disrupts an elderly woman’s love life. Swimming laps in a pool makes a young man reflect on his odd encounters. A little boy wants to protect his mom and his brother. A teacher faces bigotry. “A lush tangle of small-town life branches out in this engrossing collection of short stories.” –Kirkus Reviews

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  Elias Wynn: The Witness

  by Sebastian A. Guzman

  Thriller/Mystery/Crime

  Elias Wynn was supposed to die. But after a miraculous recovery, sinister supernatural occurrences soon shatter his reality. As grace and deception blur, he faces a terrifying question: was he healed, or was he claimed?

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