Jonathan Bennett

Bennetts artistry lies in his ability to create poems that shatter complacency with bricks of loaded language. Quill & Quire on Civil and Civic How are you doing, happinesswise? This is the unifying thread, the casual-sounding but slant and penetrating question posed by these poems as they interrogate what we tell ourselves about happiness, about its opposite, and about ourselves in the process. Happinesswise is both cacophony and chorus: it's the...

A doctor and a nurse, Paris and Helen, are doing humanitarian work in a nation on the brink of civil war. They have also fallen in love with each other-and Helen is pregnant with their child. Then, a confrontation breaks out and they are swept up by rebel forces and separated. One is imprisoned while the other escapes, and in The Colonial Hotel-which recasts a classic story of ancient Greece into a modern setting-we learn of their fates, in a brutally...

Boundaries between private sectors and public realms are questioned in this medley of contemporary poems from an established Canadian voice. Themes of medicine, the military, science, public relations, social justice, media, business, and the environmental movement are examined, illustrating the unintended effects of transparency versus obligation. Exploring the happy accidents that can occur when irreconcilable spheres of influence collide, Jonathan...

Memorial Day, 1993. When 13-year-old Kyle Vogel discovers the World War II footlocker belonging to his grandfather, Bud, everyone tells Kyle to put it back. Luckily, he ignores them. Although Bud has never talked about the war, he finds himself striking a

The highest peak in the eastern United States, Mount Mitchell towers 6,684 feet over its home in Yancey County, North Carolina. It has borne silent witness to great scientific and personal achievements, tragic loss of life, heated debates, and a host of controversies both great and small. Once considered forbidding and remote, it claimed the life of its namesake, Elisha Mitchell, when he fell to his death in an attempt to firmly establish the mountain's...

The Mitchell brothers unexpectedly get roped into a Christmas House decorating reality TV show and compete to see who can create the better Christmas House.

Working through some difficult decisions, a mother and father summon their two grown sons home for the holidays. It is their hope that bringing the family together to recreate the Christmas House, will help them find resolution and make a memorable holiday for the entire family and community. Brandon and his husband Jake make the trip home although they are waiting to hear about their impending adoption; TV star Mike reconnects with his high school...

Marry Go Round: Abby is a successful executive moving to Paris and planning to marry Edward. Life is perfect until she learns her divorce from high school sweetheart Luke is not exactly official. Wedding of a Lifetime: A recently separated couple rekindles their romance when they are inadvertently entered into a nationally televised contest competing for an all-expenses-paid wedding.

When a young girl who has lived in Africa and been homeschooled moves to New York, she must enter a public high school. Survival of the fittest takes on a whole new meaning when she falls for the ex-boyfriend of the most popular girl in school.

When a handsome stranger leaves his phone on the train, Mary Landers' attempt to return the phone leads her on a journey of self-discovery & she learns that love means opening your heart to any possibility, no matter how unexpected.