David W Berner, "American Moon" with Kelli Christianson and Molly Sturdevant

ABOUT THE BOOKS: American Moon: Austen, broken by a turbulent past, sets out on a cross-country journey to California, seeking the faint promise of a new beginning. But early on, he encounters a troubling scene-- a baby left alone in a rundown roadside motel in a small Missouri town. The child's mother, Taylor, is on her own desperate journey, battling addiction and the crushing weight of poverty in a town gripped by the opioid crisis. In a fragile attempt at redemption, Austen and Taylor forge an unlikely companionship. Together, they navigate the ruins of their lives, seeking hope, healing, and a chance to reclaim what remains of the American Dream. American Moon is a haunting, tender exploration of survival, connection, and the resilience of the human spirit. After the End: On May 2, 1945, the gates of Wöbbelin concentration camp swing open. But for Sarah Morgenstern, liberation is not a celebration. It marks an emptiness she does not yet know how to fill. Clad in a ragged uniform and stripped of everything but her will to live, she is no longer a prisoner, yet she is far from free. Now labeled a “displaced person,” Sarah must navigate a fractured world of barbed wire and bureaucracy under the watchful eyes of her American liberators. From the crowded barracks of Feldafing to a desk as a translator for the U.S. Army, she begins a painful search for what remains of her family and the girl she once was. In the chaotic year that follows, Sarah confronts the shadows of her past while daring to imagine a future beyond them. After the End is a luminous story of survival after survival, of grief and resilience, and of the fragile, stubborn hope that makes a new beginning possible even after everything has been lost. The Sleepers: July 1893. In the lofty terrain of America’s highest silver-mining town, Congress’s sudden gold standard sends silver—and the lives tied to it—plummeting. Frances Byrne, a woman of fierce independence, labors in her print shop with the quiet conviction that steady work will secure her home, her family, and her place in an unraveling world. As her mostly Irish-immigrant neighborhood edges toward unionization, Frances keeps her head down, resisting the clamor of political action. When her home and shop fall under the watchful eyes of Pinkerton spies, her convictions are tested, and her attachment to the idea of rugged individualism begins to crack. When the conflicts plaguing Leadville come to a head, Fran is pushed to the forefront, navigating shifting loyalties, love, loss, and the transformation toward collective power. ABOUT THE AUTHORS: David W. Berner is the author of The Islander, winner of the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors Award for Literary Fiction, and the novel A Well-Respected Man, honored by the Society of Midland Authors. He is also the author of the award-winning memoirs Accidental Lessons and Daylight Saving Time and has been honored as the Writer-in-Residence at the Jack Kerouac Project and the Ernest Hemingway Birthplace Home and Museum. Kelli Christiansen has spent more than two decades in publishing, as a bookseller, an editor, a literary agent, and a writer. Over the years, Kelli has acquired, developed, edited, or ghosted hundreds of books, some of which have recognition from such publications as Booklist, Kirkus, Library Journal, The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and The Wall Street Journal. A writer herself, Kelli’s work has appeared in such media as Chicago Book Review; Chicago Life; Chicago Literati; Faith, Hope & Fiction; Midwest Book Review; Midwestern Gothic; and San Francisco Book Review. She earned a Master of Liberal Arts (MLA) from the University of Chicago. She is the author of After the End: A Postwar Novel (Sibylline Press, 2026). Molly Sturdevant’s poetry and prose have appeared in numerous places, including Orion Magazine, The Dark Mountain Project, Crab Creek Review, Poetry Northwest, After Hours Press, and Midwest Review. Nominated for Best of the Nets, Pushcarts, the Carol Shields Prize in Fiction, her work has also been a finalist for the Montana Prize in Fiction and Chicago's 'Mary Blinn Prize' in Poetry. Some might say her debut novel The Sleepers, (Regal House Publishing, September 2026) is a poem about machines. The humorous and at times brutal history brought to life in the novel was wrested from original Pinkerton spy reports on a miners' union in Leadville, Colorado in the 1890s. She is currently working on a second novel about the Labor Wars in Telluride, CO at the dawn of hydroelectric power, 1898-1915. Her work has been acclaimed for a deep sense of place, insights into the intersection of technology and economics, and a poet's sensibility for landscape and voice.