Books published by Down & Out Books II, LLC

Dya is a girl from the deepest end of the ocean. Though likely nearing one hundred years old, she nonetheless looks to be-and for all intents and purposes is-a sixteen-year-old girl. Once, while very young, Dya ventured too close to land and found herself on a pebble beach off the coast of Maine where she came face to face with another young girl named Mary Louise. Though from completely different worlds, Dya and Mary Louise became very close (and secret) friends. Dya returned often over the years to visit Mary Louise, each time spending more and more time on land, and wanting less and less to return to her home in the deep. However, it was starting to become clear to Dya that she could not keep splitting her time between the two worlds, as it was literally, physically, tearing her apart. Soon she would have to decide-will she give up the sea once and for all and live out the reminder of her now shortened life in a world in which she'll never truly belong...or will she remain in the deep and pine forever for the life she truly wanted? Back home beneath the sea, Dya is torn about what to do. For as much as she loves and misses her friend on land, and has fallen madly in love with the land itself, she's afraid to leave the ocean world. This is not only because it is all she has ever known, but because her people are feral and aggressive folk by nature (particularly the men), besides being ferociously secretive and isolationist. They will not take kindly to having one of their own abandon the deep for the land, and there may very well be brutal and devastating consequences. The world of her people is an ancient culture, largely unchanged for thousands of years. And like any young immigrant caught between the modern world and that of her people, she fears what could happen if these very different worlds were to collide. Finally she decides to make the commitment once and for all, come what may. And with that, she makes the journey upward, and casts her fate to the whims of the coastal winds... Praise for THE SONG IN THE SQUALL: "The Song in the Squall is a unique and musically-charged tale of wanderlust, growing pains, and bonds that run deeper than the sea." -Jessica McHugh, author of Rabbits in the Garden and the Darla Decker Series "Great young adult literature often explores the power of friendship. Add a component of magic, and the quest to find out what is really important in life, and you have the basic elements of a great story. Add a sharp, focused writing style and you have Nathan Singer's The Song in the Squall. Original and compelling-do not miss it!" -Carolyn Haines, USA Today bestselling author of the Sarah Booth Delaney and Pluto's Snitch mystery series. "Nathan Singer's The Song in the Squall is a glorious book, redolent with the taste of the salt sea and the sharp odor of an approaching thunderstorm. Dya is a young girl making the difficult transition from the depths of the sea to the land, finding friendship as well as conflict along the way. Dya, Molly, Malik, Mary Louise, and the other characters are drawn with emotion and an unflinching honesty that grips the reader's heart and refuses to release it until the final, bittersweet conclusion. Open this book and follow the shimmering footsteps in the sands. You won't regret the journey!" -Stephen Leigh, author of Crow of Connemara and A Fading Sun

Six years after his Flight of the Fox ordeal that dubbed him the American Prometheus, humble math professor Sam Teagarden becomes embroiled in another mission involving decoding a secret document provoking tragic reactions around the world. Unearthed in northern Israel, the ancient parchment is called the Q Document, for the German word quelle, meaning: source. Biblical scholars believe it may be the original source for the two Gospels: Matthew and Luke. If decoded, it could shed light on the creation of the world's most widely observed religious faith.

A reluctant assassin is born. A con man tries to sell the Grand Central clock. A superhero is dying to lose her powers. In thirteen fast-moving stories, the author of Hipster Death Rattle explores the tragic world of noir fiction with a wide range of Latinx characters. These stories define noir as tales of people who fall not from great heights but from the stoop and the sidewalk. A follow-up to the author's Roachkiller and Other Stories, which received the Spinetingler Award for Best Anthology/Short Story Collection, this contains a sequel to that anthology's eponymous story. Praise for NOIRYORICAN: "It strikes an authentic tone that rings true to my seasoned ear. The array of characters encompasses the Nuyorican experience devoid of sentiment or artifice. Score one for the home team." -Edwin Torres, author of Carlito's Way "With considerable style, poise, and humor, Richie Narvaez's Noiryorican unpacks a world of grifters, street punks and hangers-on just trying to get by in the big city when the odds are stacked against them. At his street poet best Narvaez gives Jonathan Lethem and Junot Diaz a run for their money. I loved this collection."-Adrian McKinty, bestselling author of The Chain "In this eclectic collection of noir stories, Narvaez takes the reader across the boroughs of New York City, Puerto Rico, LA, and Texas. Open this book and take this ride through the mazes of Narvaez's imagination."-Ivelisse Rodriguez, author of Love War Stories

The day she turns fifteen Zoë ditches high school in Chandler, Arizona, and is picked up by an elderly man driving a step van turned into a laboratory. He promises to teach her all he knows if she trusts him to take her where she is fated to go. On their way to Illinois, they find themselves in the middle of an animal rights activists' liberation of the creatures in Topeka's Zoomorphological Wonders of the World and take aboard two companions from an infamous bestiary. From Topeka they travel to an abandoned movie theater in Pittsfield, where war-horse and inventor Skelton builds a miniature version of the CERN particle accelerator. From there they go to Paris and from Paris they drive south to Lacoste, where the story culminates with a confederacy of the wealthiest men in the world gathered in the garden courtyard of Marquis de Sade's castle to sell Zoë into sex slavery to the highest bidder, while Zoë's step-father, half-crazed with grief, is bidden by guilt to drive to the Chandler Fashion Center and confess to the bewildered employees of Victoria's Secret his unsuccessful attempts to molest his step-daughter, and to absolve his sins with V-strings and thong underwear knotted into a noose. At turns absurd, poignant, and comic, Zoë is a quicksilver phantasmagoria and enchanted road trip unlike any other, where travel is spectral and the traveling companions, if not real, are temporary visitors from imaginary worlds sent to show a girl lost in the moronic inferno of 21st century America the best way to her brightest possible future.

This second issue of Goliad Review contains work by award winning authors, critics, and poets. It features new poetry from American poet Cynthia Cruz; an essay on the state of literary criticism by William Logan; an excerpt from working-class fiction author Patrick Michael Finn's new novel. Plus, new work from Jesse Graves, George Singleton, and much more.

Richard Burgin is the five-time Pushcart Prize-winning author of 20 books, including the novels Rivers Last Longer (2010) and Ghost Quartet (1999), and nine story collections including most recently Don't Think (2017) and Shadow Traffic (2011). He is the founding editor of the internationally acclaimed literary journal Boulevard. "Darkly captivating stories…Burgin deftly explores his characters' most sacredly held fears with a tenderness that makes the reader exalt in their small triumphs. Burgin shows admirable range in this collection, which is hugely varied in both style and form, and while there are clear standouts, there's not a single throwaway." -Publishers Weekly "Richard Burgin's writing is the most lucid and daring of any writer writing today." -Stephen Dixon "Richard Burgin's tales capture the strangeness of a world that is simultaneously frightening and reassuring, and in the contemporary American short story nothing quite resembles his singular voice." -The Boston Globe