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Outskirts Press Voted #1 in Self-Publishing by Top Consumer Reviews — 10 Years in a Row
For the tenth consecutive year, independent review site Top Consumer Reviews has ranked Outskirts Press #1 among self-publishing services.
The recognition reflects Outskirts Press' comprehensive publishing services, personalized author support, flexible publishing options, and author-friendly approach to professional self-publishing.
For authors deciding how and where to publish, a decade at the top of an independent review site's rankings offers another reason to consider Outskirts Press for bringing a book to market.
What if prayer became more than words? What if it became a life-changing conversation with God?
A Conversation: Prose & Prayers is an inspiring collection of devotional prose, heartfelt prayers, and reflective poetry designed to encourage believers to move beyond routine religion and cultivate a genuine, life-changing relationship with the Creator.
Written from a place of personal spiritual searching, this uplifting collection explores the joys, struggles, victories, doubts, and quiet moments that shape every believer’s walk of faith. Each devotional reflection invites readers to pause, examine their hearts, seek God’s wisdom, and embrace His grace with renewed purpose. Through scripture-inspired meditations, honest conversations with Yahweh, and deeply personal prayers, author Silas Jefferson encourages readers to pursue a faith that is lived daily rather than simply practiced on Sundays.
Whether you are experiencing spiritual burnout, seeking renewed hope, longing for a deeper prayer life, or searching for greater intimacy with God, A Conversation: Prose & Prayers offers encouragement, biblical reflection, and practical inspiration for every stage of your spiritual journey. Themes of forgiveness, obedience, humility, grace, worship, perseverance, healing, repentance, and unconditional love are woven throughout each chapter, reminding readers that God continually calls His children into a closer relationship with Him.
Perfect for individual devotion, Bible study, prayer groups, or quiet daily reflection, this inspiring collection serves as both a companion for personal worship and a source of encouragement during life’s greatest challenges. Every page invites readers to slow down, listen for God’s voice, strengthen their faith, and discover the peace that comes through wholehearted surrender to His will.
If you appreciate the devotional depth of classic Christian writers, the reflective nature of inspirational prayer books, and the heartfelt honesty of faith-filled poetry, A Conversation: Prose & Prayers will encourage you to deepen your relationship with God and walk each day with renewed purpose, hope, and spiritual confidence.
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Meet the Author Harold Hovel is a retired scientist whose wide-ranging interests in science, history, animals, and storytelling have shaped an eclectic writing career. He has written six other books, including a textbook on solar energy and two previous books with Outskirts Press: a fiction novel about fighting pirates in the seventeenth century and a nonfiction book exploring how helping domestic and wild animals ultimately benefits people. Hovel lives in Katonah, New York, with his wife, Andrea, and a host of cats and dogs.
About the Book Conversations with Monsters is an imaginative fantasy adventure that asks an irresistible question: if you could speak directly with the monsters of fiction and the monsters of history, what would you ask them? Dr. Holmes, the story’s curious and fearless hero, gets that chance. His travels bring him face-to-face with Dracula, Frankenstein’s creation, Medusa, a werewolf, ancient Egyptian mummies, a witch, and the Grim Reaper. But the book expands the idea of a “monster” beyond the supernatural as Holmes descends into Hades to confront notorious historical figures including Leopold II, Stalin, and Hitler. Along the way, he also enjoys more congenial conversations with Napoleon Bonaparte, Elizabeth I, Henry VIII and his wives, Blackbeard, Isaac Newton, Galileo, and Albert Einstein.
The result is a playful blend of fantasy, history, science, adventure, and humor. Some encounters lead to surprising transformations: Dracula becomes a librarian, Frankenstein’s creation finds a new path in public life, werewolves become crime fighters, and Medusa is given a chance at an ordinary life. Other figures, particularly history’s most brutal tyrants, receive a far less forgiving examination.
Inspiration Behind the Book The inspiration behind the story is built directly into Dr. Holmes’s own background. A retired scientist with a lifelong fascination for how things work, Holmes also spent years captivated by horror films and the legends behind vampires, werewolves, witches, ghosts, and other frightening figures. Eventually, those familiar monsters stopped being frightening and became almost comic, but the curiosity remained: where did these stories come from, and why did people continue to believe them?
That curiosity becomes the engine of the novel. What begins with a visit to Dracula’s castle in Transylvania grows into a globe-spanning series of encounters with mythology, folklore, history, and science. Holmes’s ability to question the dead opens an even larger possibility: instead of relying only on history books, what if he could ask famous people themselves what happened, why they acted as they did, or how they made their discoveries?
Why Readers Love It Readers who enjoy genre-bending stories will find plenty to explore in Conversations with Monsters. The book moves easily from comic exchanges with legendary creatures to adventures in Hades, historical debates, and conversations about scientific discovery. Holmes approaches even the strangest situations with the mind of a scientist, often testing supernatural claims with logic while remaining open to the extraordinary things happening around him.
The conversations also give the book its distinctive appeal. Familiar characters are reimagined in unexpected ways, while historical figures are questioned about their choices, achievements, and legacies. That combination allows the story to be funny, adventurous, educational, and thought-provoking at the same time, with the word “monster” taking on very different meanings depending on whom Holmes encounters.
Who Should Read It Conversations with Monsters will appeal to readers who enjoy fantasy with a strong dose of history, science, mythology, and humor. Fans of classic monsters such as Dracula, Frankenstein, Medusa, werewolves, witches, and mummies will enjoy seeing familiar figures placed in completely new situations.
It is also a natural fit for readers fascinated by history’s larger-than-life personalities. Holmes’s encounters range from kings, queens, pirates, and military leaders to scientists and dictators, creating a story that continually shifts between imaginative adventure and conversations about real events, ideas, and discoveries.
Looking Ahead Conversations with Monsters turns an unusual premise into a broad exploration of curiosity, redemption, responsibility, and the difference between reputation and reality. Some supposed monsters prove capable of change or reveal themselves to be victims of legend and circumstance. Others demonstrate that the most frightening monsters may be entirely human.
Through Dr. Holmes’s travels, Harold Hovel invites readers to look again at stories they think they know, ask questions of the past, and imagine what might happen if history, mythology, science, and fantasy could all sit down for a conversation.
Where to Find It Conversations with Monsters by Harold Hovel is a fantasy novel from Outskirts Press. Readers looking for an unconventional journey through classic horror, mythology, science, and history can follow Dr. Holmes from Dracula’s castle to the Underworld and beyond.
For anyone who has ever wondered what they would say if given the chance to question a legendary monster, a notorious ruler, or one of history’s greatest scientific minds, Conversations with Monsters offers an imaginative answer.
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National Memoir Writing Month gives authors a reason to return to the experiences, family stories, recipes, photographs, and turning points they have been meaning to preserve. A memoir does not need to cover an entire life. It needs a clear focus, an honest narrative voice, and a structure that helps readers understand why these particular memories belong together.
For some projects, words alone are not the whole story. Family photographs, documents, artwork, maps, and recipes can provide texture and evidence. Cookbooks with personal essays can also function as culinary memoirs, preserving both the food and the people, places, and traditions connected to it. A full-color publishing plan can help those visual elements carry their intended meaning.
Choose the Story the Memoir Will Tell A life contains too much material for one book. Begin with a central question, period, relationship, place, or transformation. A focused memoir may explore immigration, caregiving, military service, recovery, creative work, a family business, or the role of food across generations. The theme helps the author select scenes and resist the urge to include every remembered event.
Write a short statement that explains what changed over the course of the book. Then list the scenes that best show that change. Memoir becomes compelling when readers experience events through specific moments rather than receiving only a summary of what happened.
Write Memory With Care Memory is personal and incomplete. Keep notes about what you remember directly, what you learned from records or other people, and what remains uncertain. Verify dates, locations, spellings, and public facts when possible. If accounts differ, the memoir can acknowledge that difference instead of presenting an uncertain detail as settled fact.
Writing about living people requires judgment. Consider privacy, relevance, and the potential effect of sensitive disclosures. Change identifying details only with care and never in a way that makes the narrative misleading. For complex legal or privacy questions, seek qualified advice before publication.
Use Images to Add Meaning Every visual should earn its place. A photograph may reveal a relationship, a recipe card may preserve a relative’s handwriting, and a map may help readers follow a journey. Captions should identify people, place, date, and significance when that information is known. Avoid inserting a large group of images without explaining how they connect to the narrative.
Gather the best available originals and scan them at appropriate resolution. Confirm who owns each image and obtain permission where needed. Organize files with clear names that correspond to chapters or captions. This preparation reduces errors during design and helps the layout team create a consistent visual rhythm.
Treat a Cookbook as a Story Collection A memoir cookbook can preserve more than instructions. Headnotes can explain who made a dish, when it appeared, how ingredients changed across places or generations, and what the recipe means to the family. These short narratives give readers a reason to linger and make the collection distinct from a general recipe book. Test recipes as carefully as you revise prose. Standardize measurements, temperatures, timing, yields, and ingredient order. Ask another person to cook from the written instructions without verbal help. Their questions will reveal gaps that familiarity can hide.
Consider a Full-Color One Click Package Photo-rich memoirs and cookbooks require close coordination among editing, image preparation, cover design, interior layout, printing, and marketing. Authors who want those services organized within one path can explore Outskirts Press publishing and marketing suites for visually rich adult books.
The One Click full-color publishing options for cookbooks and memoirs are built around books in which color presentation is an important part of the reading experience. Review the current suite details, available formats, image requirements, and included support with a publishing consultant so the package matches the scope of your project.
Before production begins, prepare a complete manuscript and a working image list. Note where visuals are essential, where the designer has flexibility, and which captions are final. A well-organized submission allows the professional team to focus on presentation instead of chasing missing pieces.
Preserve a Story Readers Can Enter Use National Memoir Writing Month to establish a steady practice rather than demand a finished book in a few weeks. Set a manageable schedule for drafting scenes, verifying details, interviewing relatives, testing recipes, or organizing images. Consistent progress gives the story room to deepen.
A professionally prepared memoir or cookbook can strengthen connections among generations and introduce a personal history to readers who have never met the people on its pages. With a focused narrative, careful documentation, and a publishing format suited to the material, independent authors can preserve memory in a book designed to last.
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