ADVANCE PRAISE FOR SOUL RETRIEVAL

“The model for this elevated, poignant, lacerating, romanticist vision of human longing is the Denis Johnson of the early period, the guy who wrote “Angels”, and perhaps, via Denis Johnson, the Isaac Babel of “Red Cavalry,” where the very worst human tendencies are somehow the long slow way, the very costly way to God.”

— Rick Moody, author of "The Ice Storm" and "Garden State"

“Shanna McNair writes with power, grace, originality, and vulnerability about old truths in a new era. We know that the world is a hard and wonderful place; but in McNair‘s work, we do more than just know it. We feel it, with the intensity such a realization or remembrance deserves. I’m grateful for this novel.”

— Rick Bass, author of "For a Little While" and "All the Land to Hold Us"

“Shanna McNair writes with an assured mastery. The characters in this novel are richly drawn and nuanced, the story here is intriguing and deeply imagined, and completely unexpected in its turns. Elegant language, humor, and wit, draw us into her words. This novel is a captivating must-read.”

— Chris Abani, author of "The Secret History of Las Vegas" and "GraceLand"

Soul Retrieval (Literary Fiction) is a novel about self-reclamation.

Mary Dixon’s soul retrieval came the hard way, through mires of drug addiction and abuse and a family steeped with mental illness. Soul Retrieval is voice-driven, with an innovative literary organization. The chapter headers of Soul Retrieval travel the topics of Kahlil Gibran's masterpiece, The Prophet, and tackles all of life's most profound themes, from Love all the way to Death. The shamanistic practice and ritual of soul-retrieval: to find those pieces one has lost along the way in life—find them and become whole again. Along the way, Mary learns to forgive and let go of her toxic past.

Delivered with the intimacy of a deeply contemplative and emotionally plastic first person, Soul Retrieval centers on one woman's self-reclamation.

Hardcover with dust jacket, 266 pages. ISBN: 978-1-962931-02-1. Soul Retrieval is forthcoming from High Frequency Press in 2025. Cover art is TBA.

Gif image credit: Michelle Harris.

PRAISE FOR SCOTT WOLVEN’S WRITING

“Scott Wolven’s “Barracuda” [defies] expectations at virtually every turn, as willfully shapeless as life…cuts from scene to scene with the nervous energy of a hand-held camera. Equally memorable stories by Wolven have appeared in the last several volumes* of The Best American Mystery Series, each an exploration of violence among men who have been marginalized, and thus as dangerous as rogue elephants, in an economically ravaged society that places little value on traditional masculinity. For Wolven’s men—loggers, tree poachers, corrupt cops—the impulse to do terrible damage to one another is as natural as watching pit bulls tear one another to pieces for sport.” —Joyce Carol Oates

“Controlled Burn is good. Very good. Remarkable, actually. Tough, gritty, and honest—reminiscent of Hemingway with a little bit of John Steinbeck. Scott Wolven writes about an America that few of us have ever seen—and he writes about it from firsthand experience.” —Nelson Demille

“Wolven has turned raw, unreconciled life into startling, evocative, and very good short stories. He draws on a New England different from Updike’s and even Dubus’s, but his fictive lives—no less than theirs—render the world newly, and full of important consequence.” —Richard Ford

“Scott Wolven’s tales are tough, unsentimental, and completely earned. This is the most exciting, authentic collectio of short stories I have read in years. —George Pelecanos

Scott Wolven’s short story collection, “Hundred Proof” is forthcoming from High Frequency Press in 2025. Case laminate hardcover, 261 pages. ISBN: 978-1-962931-11-3.

Photo credit: Will Wolven.

Laminate hardcover, gloss finish. Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-962931-09-0. Copyright © 2024 The New Guard. Published by High Frequency Press. Cover art: “Girl Without a Pearl Earring” ©Brendan Young, Kiring Young and Vanessa Battaglia (UK). Digital image (small size) 27” x 33”. This image appears by special permission of the artists. Special limited edition: 300 book run only.

Scott Wolven’s story “The Frogman of Ohio” is part of the featured fiction section, “The Frogman Double Feature”, in concert with writer Jeffrey Ford (“Cold Blooded”). Shanna McNair’s writing appears in the “Letters of Longing” section; a novel excerpt (partial chapter) entitled “Joy and Sorrow”. The Volume X featured poet is Marcia B. Loughran.