Books published by Parafine Press

In 1937, Helen Perry Curtis published Jean & Company, Unlimited. Chosen in 1938 as a Junior Literary Guild Selection of the Month, Jean is the charming account of an American girl's first encounter with Europe. In Helen Perry Curtis and the European Trip of a Lifetime, author Laura Gellott tells the story of the woman and the real-life events behind a beloved childhood book. She traces Helen's life from a Nebraska childhood to New York, New Jersey and across the European continent during the first decades of the twentieth century. Helen Perry Curtis worked as a museum curator and director; balanced marriage and motherhood with a career as a freelance writer, interior designer, and tour guide; and traveled throughout Europe with her daughters. The fictionalized account of those trips is Jean & Company, Unlimited.

In Ancestral Voices, the scholar and poet Barton R. Friedman (1935-2009) draws upon a lifetime of deeply felt experience to create this collection. Composed at various points throughout his seventy-four years, the poems animate chronic issues in American society--race, class, war--and also give voice to personal moments of triumph, tragedy, love, and loss. Published now by his wife Sheila, and including remembrances by his family, here is the fruit of a rich and original spirit.

On March 2, 1981, one of the more radical format changes in the history of Cleveland radio occurred: WZAK switched from time-brokered ethnic programming, featuring shows in fourteen different languages, to a sole focus on urban contemporary, a blend of R&B, smooth jazz, and pop. It was a move so outrageous that not many people gave it much of a chance. Yet, through more ups than downs, WZAK succeeded beyond everyone's expectations. When the station was finally sold in 1999 it was the number one radio station in Cleveland and had made its mark on the pop culture of a great American city.Change Is On the Air tells the story about how Xen Zapis, his daughter Maria, and his son Lee figured out a way to thrive in the competitive radio business. They did so by working hard and smart and by attracting and retaining a team of talented people who shared their vision of what urban contemporary radio could be. Their strategy rested on three pillars-programming, sales, and promotions-that together formed a blueprint for success that others can follow.