The Half Book.

He got the job. He got the girl. He got the diagnosis. Son of a…

Dan Duffy was twenty-nine when he heard the worst three words imaginable: “you have cancer.” Testicular. Stage three. His life became equal parts fear and anger, with a dash of stupidity for flavor. From systematically alienating everyone around him to embracing psychological and physical acts of acute masochism and loathing, cancer became the least of his worries. It was at his lowest point where Dan found salvation in common sense, and redemption in his ultimate purpose to give people the truth, and ultimately hope, while facing this disease.

Dan has often said, “Cancer is going to hit you like a truck. Period. You can either brace for impact, or get run over.” Dan’s story will make you laugh, make you think, and affirm that no one is alone in this fight.

 About Dan Duffy

Dan Duffy has been telling stories for over twenty years. After an award-winning radio career with the nationally syndicated Steve and DC Radio Show, he moved from audio to visual arts, graduating from the Vancouver Film School. He returned to his hometown of St. Louis, Missouri to hone his skills before moving to Los Angeles.

However, fate, a woman, and a diagnosis changed everything. Four months before making the jump to the West Coast, Dan met Stephanie, the woman he would marry. Four months after that meeting, he was diagnosed with stage-three testicular cancer. Six months later, Dan was cancer-free, but left with a myriad of questions with no answers.

It was in his quest for those answers when Dan realized that there may have been a personal reason for his diagnosis, and the more he learned, the more he knew that with his knowledge of not just the physical, but the psychological dynamic of this disease, he could warn others about many of the same pitfalls he, himself, was unable to avoid.

With a friend and colleague, Dan co-founded The Half Fund, an organization dedicated to spreading cancer education to patients, their providers and caregivers, and loved ones. The Half Fund board seeks out commercially viable artistic mediums to achieve this goal, from movies to music to books.

The first project of The Half Fund, The Half Book, was written by Dan to not only educate, but to help others see the glimpses of almost farcical humor that can and will occur during treatment. All net proceeds from this book will be split between the American Cancer Society and The Half Fund, where it will be given away to other artists to educate in new ways. These artists must also give away all net proceeds.

This married father of two boys has said that while he wouldn’t wish it on anyone, cancer was one of the best things that ever happened to him. It gave him a purpose and a mission to live his life for the betterment of others.

Read more about Dan Duffy and The Half Fund here.

The Buzz about the The Half Book

“When I read Half, I felt like I was on Dan’s journey with him. The good. The bad. The painful. The funny. I felt every moment of his journey. It really helps you realize that, while we all look different, live in different places, and have different life experiences, the human experiences of challenge and triumph is familiar to us all.”

Angela Hayes | Managing Director, Mission Support Communications

American Cancer Society
“I have always said that I am not grateful for having cancer, but I am grateful for the blessings it has brought. Dan is one of those blessings. He has many gifts, especially writing and storytelling. But he, himself, is a gift to everyone who is fortunate enough to know him. Thanks Dan, for all you give unconditionally.”

Teri Griege | Survivor, Triathlete, Founder and CEO
Powered By Hope Foundation
“Dan Duffy has endured struggles that most can’t imagine, and not only endured, but has thrived. In this remarkable, emotional, poignant and surprisingly funny book, he shares not only what he learned as he battled cancer, but what it means for all of us in the daily fights of life. There is reason for hope…and you’ll know why after you read this book!”

John O’Leary | International Speaker and Author

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Lucky Bat Books is excited to announce a new release just in time for the heated political season. In Unlocking the Schoolhouse Door: Essays on the Misunderstandings of Public Education, former educator and author Larry White takes readers inside the classroom to reveal what’s happening—and what should be happening—in public education today.

For anyone who’s ever rolled their eyes or expressed concern over the state of education in this country, or wondered about what reforms look like in the classroom, this book is for you.

From the book:

You wouldn’t go to your doctor’s office and advise him on running his practice, or propose reforms for how a CEO ought to run his company. Yet every day, your neighbors, politicians, and business owners complain about the failure of schools and call for change without ever setting foot in them. Criticism abounds regarding what schools are doing (and how they’re doing it wrong).

In Unlocking the Schoolhouse Door, author Larry White examines how repeated and misguided attempts at reform—testing, unfair expectations placed on teachers, and an overemphasis on content—are undermining schools’ efforts to prepare students for the future.

Whether you’re a teacher, an administrator, a parent, a politician, a business owner, or simply a citizen concerned about the state of education today, this book will shed light on what is—and what should be—occurring in classrooms today.

This collection of newspaper columns, culled from the author’s 34 years of experience as a high school teacher and mentor to both students and teachers, deals with such hot-button issues as teacher tenure, the role of parents, discipline and behavior management, grading and assessments, addressing special needs, and the real purpose of schools.

Filled with observations, anecdotes, and practical tips from the front lines, Unlocking the Schoolhouse Door will take you inside today’s schools to show you the realities of so-called reform, while pointing the way to a better future for America’s schools.

Unlocking the Schoolhouse Door is available in paperback and ebook.

Cover Design: Nuno Moreira

Managing Editor: Jessica Santina

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Lucky Bat Books is excited to announce the publication and distribution across multiple platforms of Susanna Solomon’s new collection of short stories featuring the wacky, funny and dear characters of More Point Reyes Sheriff’s Calls.  Using actual Sheriff’s Calls published in the Point Reyes Light as inspiration Solomon has created a collection of stories that weave together the bright fabric of this pacific coast cast of characters and strange Marin County behavior.  The book places these richly drawn characters in such a specific landscape that if you’ve been there the laughter bubbles up immediately in recognition, if you haven’t been lucky enough to see Point Reyes in person you’ll want to book a weekend just to walk around and take it all in.  Solomon creates folks we think we know places them in sometimes excruciatingly funny situations.  Meet this family of friends she has given life to and treat yourself by reading about their peculiar Point Reyes adventures.  Solomon’s been an invited presenter at Quiet Lightning, Why There Are Words, Aqus Café in Petaluma, Writing Without Walls, Lip Service West in Berkeley, Pints ‘N Prose, and other venues.  You can find out more about Susanna Solomon at her website: http://www.susannasolomon.com/

It’s 1965, and as America is increasing its military presence in Southeast Asia, the Cold War is heating up in Alaska. The Russians, desperate to stop the spread of democracy, send their Air Force MiGs to make incursions, testing the much-touted North American DEW Line and drawing their own line in the sand. U.S. jets have scrambled but are unable to catch them.

Now an unlikely band of Americans must work together in the remote Alaskan landscape to thwart the enemy and ensure the nation’s safety.

There’s Henry Mullen, a Native American who works alongside his German shepherd as a wilderness hunting and fishing guide and still suffers flashbacks from the Korean War…

Bill Grist is a wounded ex-soldier and now-unsuspecting geologist from Nevada whose return to Alaska brings back memories of a long-ago whirlwind affair with a local woman and the many secrets she’s kept from him…

Janet Cooper is a crack shot—an FBI agent with a pilot’s license and nursing degree who must prove herself a vital asset to her male counterparts while relying on her wits and training to survive here in the Alaskan wilds…

As their stories and those of their compatriots converge, the intrigue, romance, and nonstop action of Terry Katzer’s debut novel will keep you guessing until the unbelievable and gripping climax. Inspired by historical events, Arctic Under Attack is a fictional account of the heroic efforts of a motley crew of Americans who cleverly outwitted the Russian military and stopped their advance in its tracks.

Available in print and ebook on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Kobo, and iBooks.

Managing Editor: Jessica Santina

Cover Design: Brandon Swann

Author of Killing Penelope, A daughter’s memoir of failed rescues.

A hauntingly beautiful memoir of humor, grace, gratitude, and failed rescues

Killing Penelope is a true story about a girl’s devotion to her mother, Penelope, a wild and eccentric woman who never intended to have a child, and to her father, Gardiner, a Harvard-educated physician whom the child depended upon to be the steady, stable parent.

Penelope did not wear dresses and heels like other mothers of the 1960s. She wore Levi’s and men’s shirts, and she held a shotgun with more comfort than she held her baby girl. Penelope loved Gardiner but not enough to give up her Swiss lover, Helene. Kimball was eight when Penelope developed a life-threatening illness, which left her emaciated, drug-addicted, and mentally unstable.

When Gardiner abruptly left the family, Penelope gathered her strength and told Kimball they were going to start a new life. Kimball was twelve when they packed up the Porsche, dogs, parakeets, and bags of narcotics, and left the only home she had ever known. Kimball’s early teen years were frightening and unpredictable as she desperately tried to save Penelope, who succumbed to addiction, depression, and recurring bouts of illness.

In this memoir by Kimball Converse Pier, the author gives a beautiful portrayal of her experience of retrieving humor, grace, and gratitude from the rubble of despair and loss.

***

Kimball Converse Pier, Ph.D. is a depth psychologist and psychotherapist who lives and practices in Truckee, California.  She lives with her husband, Jon L. Weedn, and their two miniature Dachshunds, Penny and Ruthie. She has two grown children, a daughter who is a social worker, and a son who loves anything to do with a board (snow, surf or skate).

***

Killing Penelope, A daughter’s memoir of failed rescues by Kimball Converse Pier, published by Lucky Bat Books, edited by Jessica Santina, cover design by Nuno Moreira, interior print and ebook design and layout by Sarah Katreen Hoggatt. Managing editor Judith Harlan

Print ISBN: 978-1-943588-52-7

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-943588-53-4

From the moment we read the first chapter of Patti Doty’s Finding Home and met her plucky protagonish Quinn, we were hooked! We’re sure you will be too. Lucky Bat Books is excited to welcome author Patti Doty to our list of authors, and we’re even more excited to announce the long-awaited release of Finding Home, the follow-up to her first book in the series, Runaway.

Quinn DeMello has a long history of making bad decisions. Her problem-solving tactics—alcohol, sex, and running away—haven’t served her well. Now, in the days after 9/11, psychotherapist Quinn abandons her safe haven and her lover, Owen, to volunteer with the Red Cross. In the midst of trauma, the forty-three-year-old is determined to change her ways. Stunned by the destruction and in awe of the workers’ heroism at the Pentagon crash site, she puts aside her inner turmoil and applies her skills—her flute, her chanting, and her focused attention—to help these heroes keep going.

Enter Chris McLean, MD, nicknamed “Heartbreak Harry”: surgeon and rescue chief with a marked interest in his newest recruit. Meanwhile, Owen is determined to be Quinn’s knight in shining armor … whether she wants one or not. Heartbroken and confused, Quinn’s dangerous old ways are rearing their ugly head.

But when an unexpected event threatens her very existence, Quinn must make hard choices, and maybe, just maybe, she can keep herself alive.

Available in print and ebook.

Managing Editor: Jessica Santina

Cover Design: Nuno Moreira

If you haven’t read Erik Bundy’s paranormal mystery Crying Woman Road series from Lucky Bat Books, you’re in for a magical treat. The first book, Magic and Murder Among the Dwarves, has been reissued with a spiffy new cover, and the sequel, The Dwarf Assassin, is now available too.

A murderer. Supernatural evil. A psychic who doesn’t know the meaning of “quit”.

If you try to shun your gift, it will punish you. Recently widowed, Amanda Knight moves to the Blue Ridge Mountains to quietly grieve and build a normal life. But her neighbors, who never come above ground until after dark, ask her to find a missing baby and to solve a gruesome murder for them.

As she chases the brutal and clever killer, Amanda’s life becomes part of the deadly stakes.

And sometimes your worst enemy is inside you.

Then the dark side of Amanda’s psychic power turns against her. Now she faces an evil presence more sadistic and cunning than any murderer. She must face her fears and outwit an enemy who cannot die.

She is no longer fighting for a normal life but to stay alive . . . and death is no longer the worst thing that can happen to her.

Read more about Erik Bundy on his author page.

Lucky Bat Books is pleased to announce the publication of Ben Garrido’s wacky dystopian satire, The Potency! (And yes, that exclamation point is part of the title.)

In a world turned upside down by the God of Potency’s prancing dickishness – Queen Elizabeth II in orbit, the Dalai Lama partially digested – two heroes set out to restore natural order, overcome crippling dandruff and escape the pull of the Mongolian Illuminati.

Chul, a self-righteous South Korean salaryman, vows to find and consume the vaunted Twinkie of Destiny, achieve 15 minutes of earthly omnipotence, restore the honor of Korea and lay Japan low. He is joined by CJ, a vengeful American plumber who seeks to punish the God of Potency and strike at Islam to avenge the tragedy of 9/11.

Can anyone stop the God of Potency? Can our heroes find the Twinkie of Destiny before it’s too late? Will either CJ or Chul stop being an asshole? There’s only one way to find out!

Lucky Bat Books is proud to announce the publication of SNAPPED by acclaimed author Jacci Turner.

Ari Wren has a great life: Two best friends and a family she loves.

Cade Waters is by far the most popular guy at Sierra High School. Why then has he suddenly noticed Ari, a freshman nobody? Her friends are surprised by his attention and more than a little jealous. As Ari finds herself falling for Cade, his requests become more intimate and personal. Ari feels confused and unsure about what to do.

Follow Ari as she navigates budding romance, tough decisions, betrayal, and a trip to an island in this young adult story of growing up the hard way.

Lucky Bat Books is excited to announce the release of Another Night, a hilarious, touching new ebook from new author Dave Mulligan.

This memoir by Mulligan is told through a compilation of short stories, poems, and essays, all of which originally were Facebook posts written in the middle of the night during relentless bouts of insomnia. Another Night is an eclectic collection of memories and reflections ranging from profound and touching to outrageous and hilarious.

Cover Design: Charles Nemitz

Managing Editor: Jessica Santina