The year is 1955. Experience the joy of a carefree Saturday and the blistering pain of feeling not quite good enough as you hop on a bike and ride into town with two delightful young boys who find adventure at every turn. Shawn and Willie Daniels live in the woods with no indoor water or plumbing. Dad spends most of his hard earned money on beer. Prejudice, class division, alcoholism, poverty, injustice, and a hint at bullying are cleverly woven into this 1950s adventure short. PURE TRASH is a prequel to the author's upcoming debut novel.

DOG BONE SOUP is not only the title of Bette A. Stevens's debut novel; it ranks high among the paltry meals that the book's protagonist, Shawn Daniels, wants to forget. Plodding through mounting snow and battling howling winds, Shawn is ready to leave it all behind-living in poverty, Dad's drinking, life in foster care, the divorce, the bullies....Shawn Daniels's father is the town drunk. Shawn and his brother Willie are in charge of handling everything that needs to be done around the ramshackle place they call home-lugging in water for cooking and cleaning, splitting and stacking...