We’re proud to be the publisher of these books (and cards) from Chenille Books!
Two Books by Andrea Fisher Rowland
Author, poet, playwright, and teacher Andrea Fisher Rowland spent her childhood years in New Zealand, and thereafter was a Virginia resident for most of her life. She graduated in English from James Madison University, where hers was the first student-written play – entitled “Fancies” – ever presented on the main stage of campus and for which she won the Norman Lear Award for Comedy Playwriting. She earned an MA from the University of Virginia with a concentration in Creative Writing, studying with John Casey and Greg Orr.
She went on to earn a PhD from the University as well, working with Karen Chase and Edgar Shannon. Her dissertation, The Supernatural Muse: Representations of the Creative Impulse in the Fiction of Emily Bronte, Charlotte Bronte, and Charles Dickens, examines the supernatural figures (ghosts, genii, etc.) appearing in those authors’ works.
She worked as an Assistant Dean and Director of Studies at the University of Virginia, taught composition and literature at Wake Forest University, and introduction to theater at James Madison University. She has directed readings and productions of Shakespeare and other early modern playwrights at Wake Forest and at the University of Virginia. Most recently she taught English at Renaissance School in Charlottesville.
Throughout the years, while raising her son Liam, she wrote poetry, plays, and fiction, notably her novel High Tide. In 2017, an excerpt from the novel was a finalist in the Virginia Festival of the Book Fiction Contest, and her poem, “These Same Fields,” won the Writer House / Jefferson Madison Regional Library Poetry Competition. Her poem, “Waikato,” was published in Artemis Journal in 2018.
Andrea Fisher Rowland’s novel, High Tide
Andrea Fisher Rowland’s novel, High Tide
At the Outer Banks, environmental scientist Marika Hansen stands in the ocean and contemplates, with grim satisfaction, the end of the world. As she muses, migrating swans arrive from the Arctic, only to find that their familiar salt marsh has become a hog wallow — where a confluence of muck, microbes, and chance create a powerful new life form that will invade the beach town of Jasper, North Carolina.
Andrea Fisher Rowland’s High Tide is a novel to be read, savored, and then read again, out loud. A poet, playwright, and novelist, the author combines words into poetic glimpses that linger in the imagination.
High Tide is all about love in its many forms,
and about the countless ways we take action to express our love.
When the pathogen claims its first human life, it strains the spirits of the survivors. It scares the townspeople into acknowledging their many interrelationships and brings them face to face with fear.
High Tide is the unexpected story of a small community in the Outer Banks of North Carolina whose members gradually absorb the impact and begin to uncover the cause of a mysterious ailment affecting its residents. The reader gets to know the key players gradually, as, one by one, they interact with one another and with the effects of the deadly pathogen in their midst.
“A superb integration of humanity and nature, Rowland’s book is articulate, poetic, and titillates the senses. After reading, I’m still feeling the pull of High Tide.” —Erica Arvold, Founder & CEO, Arvold
The Cast of Characters: Marika Hansen, a former marine biologist/epidemiologist originally from Denmark, has abandoned a career as a lab scientist and spends most of her time drinking, watching waves, and drawing mysterious maps of the migration of waterfowl and the spread of human diseases. We meet Father Don Cathcart, the disenchanted priest; Lynn Baker, once an aspiring writer, now living in her father Pete’s house and struggling to raise her young son; Lynn’s Aunt Jeanne, a masseuse and mystic; Lynn’s sister, Terry, the local doctor; Kenny Peterson, Lynn’s ex-husband, a car salesman who enjoys fishing and sleeping around; retired English professor Alan Hirsch, a New York City transplant; a bartender, a waitress, an innkeeper and his wife, the mayor, a stray cat, a visiting research scientist, and more. We learn about coastal ecology, migratory birds, pig farming, microbes, and weather patterns. Most of all, we remind ourselves of the power of love.
The author builds a world of images, sounds, smells, sentiments, waves of emotion, gestures both tiny and grand, puzzling science, missed signals, and deep connections, while maintaining the exquisite tension caused by the unseen force of nature that imperils the entire community. The reader simultaneously wants to keep turning the pages, and to pause to enjoy the moment.
High Tide is available online and from Baine’s Books in Scottsville and Appomattox, VA.
Andrea Fisher Rowland’s poetry collection, Family Album
Andrea Fisher Rowland’s poetry collection, Family Album
The book’s first section, Home Song, explores close relationships with loved ones. The second portion, Relativity, expands the view from the intimate to the universal, encompassing the poet’s first glimpse – with her sister – of a black swan in New Zealand and our collective dance to the music of the spheres.
Most impressive is the achieved quietness of the collection, one that maintains composure, dignity, and perspective in the face of many complexities.
– Stephen Cushman, author of Hothead: A Poem
Like a good friend, sharing her heart and hope.
Andrea’s poems sneak up on me with their clear-eyed, yet beautifully written way of seeing the world. From “something left to be free of” to maintaining “one’s social position when falling, however, slowly….” I know I’ll return again and again to this lovely collection.
—Mary Sloat, Amazon reviewer
A search for the meaning of our connections with each other – this human family – and our earth. Quiet, careful poems always reach the reader through their honesty.
—Amazon reviewer
A beautifully made book of poems that are authentic, showing the triumphs and tragedies of life.
—Amazon reviewer
Available online and from Baine’s Books in Scottsville and Appomattox, VA.
Book and Cards for Writers from A M Carley
A M Carley’s CARDS: FLOAT Cards for Writers
A M Carley’s FLOAT Cards for Writers
When you feel at a loss for words – or motivation – in your writing project, draw on your own inner resources, and the wisdom of many who’ve come before.
Draw a card, consider its meaning, and re-balance.
Any time you just need a boost, let FLOAT Cards for Writers provide thought-provoking, bite-sized sources of inspiration and intervention to get the creative juices flowing again.
In this accessible card deck with accompanying online guide, A M Carley, author of FLOAT • Becoming Unstuck for Writers, collects 52 ways you can revitalize your creative practice.
Pick a card! You’ll pick up your writing again with ease.
I purchased my deck at a book fair last November and keep them by my computer. It’s sometime tough to keep going as an author and the messages give me the inspiration to write for one more day…. and one more day… and one more day. Know an author or artist? FLOAT Cards are the perfect gift. Member of a book club? FLOAT Cards are a great party favor.
–Amazon reviewer
I have these on my desk and whenever I feel myself procrastinating, making excuses, or otherwise “dragging,” I pick one randomly and meditate on it for a few minutes. They help me stay focused and connected to my passion!
A free online guide with suggested ways to use the cards, alone and in classes, groups, and workshops, is included with purchase.
52 Cards in a permanent storage box measuring 3.75 x 5.75 x 1 inches. SELF-HELP / CREATIVITY $19.99 US
A M Carley’s BOOK: FLOAT • Becoming Unstuck for Writers
A M Carley’s book, FLOAT
Chenille Books founder A M Carley wrote a book rooted in what she’s learned as a creative coach for writers, and as a writer herself.
Called FLOAT • Becoming Unstuck for Writers, it’s available online as a paperback and in ebook formats for Kindle, iPad, and other devices. FLOAT is stocked locally in Central Virginia at a number of fine booksellers. Updated list here.
We think it’s a useful reference and source of day-to-day inspiration for writers of all stripes. Okay, we’re partial. Here’s what some reviewers said:
If you are a writer who has ever felt stalled in your project, this book is for you.
I just wish I’d had this book two years ago when I was writing my own book! I was getting ‘stuck’ all the time and couldn’t see my way forward! I’m glad I did it, but it was not an easy project. But even just glancing through FLOAT I see fun and inviting chapter headings…most of which would have been so helpful to me when I was stumbling my way through the writing process. I bought FLOAT because I’m thinking about writing again, but this time I’ll have it nearby as a calming, guiding and encouraging companion.
A must have for authors of all varieties. Actually for all artists, as well. Practical yet fun with real world steps to figuring out the next step in your project.
FLOAT teaches you to be gentle with yourself and learn where you set your limits, boundaries, fears. Then it helps you to push beyond all these blockages and improve your writing process, and with it your writing.
Included with purchase: Online guides, tools matrix, and audio guides to using the FLOAT Approach.
These books and cards from Chenille Books can brighten up the life of your favorite readers — and writers. Pick up your copies now.
