FrontRow Lit

Front Row Lit offers professional insight on writing tips and tricks to make your next project better. By Ralph Fletcher I’m not a big believer in “story starters”. I believe that the best ideas are living inside you. Your challenge is to dig them out. Do the writing only you can do. But every writer [...]

The year was 2004. During the spring and summer the Iraqi nation was overwhelmed with violence. The nation’s Shiites and Sunnis headlined the sectarian fighting. The Army of Iraq had been disbanded by the United States Proconsul. The results of his actions were infusing a large number of angry young men into the streets of [...]

By Jen Schiffer   He tapped his yellowed fingernails on the table by his bed And he looked stronger and more purposeful with every word he said. He told me age crept up on him, and how it caught him by surprise And I took his warning straight to heart as he stared into my [...]

  New York City, 1945. Marjorie Jacobson and her best friend, Marty Garrett, arrive fresh from the Kappa house at the University of Iowa hoping to find summer positions as shopgirls. Turned away from the top department stores, they miraculously find jobs as pages at Tiffany & Co., becoming the first women to ever work [...]

By Allison O’Connor The youngest of four daughters in an old, celebrated St. Louis family of prominent journalists and politicians on one side, debutante balls and equestrian trophies on the other, Jeanne Darst grew up hearing stories of past grandeur. And as a young girl, the message she internalized was clear: while things might be [...]

Nealla seethes at life: it’s unlivable. Never is she far from the screams in her mind which needs relief from images of carelessness. Everything in her life requires change, even the stone wall within reach at her right. Unfinished, her father’s best effort at building only inspires contempt from her. It tries to enclose the [...]

The Sweet Dreams Series is a projected six-volume collection of the life and times of Aki Sato.  The series is young adult/multicultural fiction, with elements of Japanese anime and an examination of music.  The subtitle of the first book of the SDS is entitled, Searching for Roy Buchanan.  The story begins with the introduction of [...]

In 1967, while millions in China are unfairly persecuted because of their livelihood or heritage, others join the Cultural Revolution to pledge allegiance to a leader who is considered a legend to some and a tyrant to others. Mao’s revolution is sweeping across the country, leaving many competing to show their loyalty with actions that [...]

The Pacific Heights Moms & Tots Club is the most exclusive children’s playgroup in all of San Francisco. For the city’s ultra-competitive elite, the club’s ten annual spots are the ultimate parenting prize. Founder Bettina Connaught Cross’ rules are simple: Moms only. No single parents or working mothers allowed. Membership is a commitment. And there’s [...]

    KWS Publishers announces their new Astor Place Genre Fiction series, a re-introduction of forgotten classics of mystery, romance, science fiction, and the western published since 1945.  To introduce the series, KWS presents three works by romance writer Elaine Gordon: Intimate Terms (1988); The Possession (1998); and her latest work, The Pygmalion Complex, published [...]