Natalee P. Starkes is a wife, mother, educator, school leader, content creator, and first-time author from South Carolina. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Education from Winthrop University and a Master of Education in Educational Administration from the University of South Carolina.
The Leap from Good Draft to Great Book. At Atmosphere Press, developmental editing (DE) is a genuine collaboration between our editors and each author — built around your book’s fullest
Kim Bainbridge, born as Kim van Rossum, I grew up in the small Dutch town of Megen in the Netherlands. After serving for ten years in the Royal Dutch Army, I have spent the next twelve years travelling through nearly eighty countries across Asia, Central America, Australia, and beyond.
Born in Turin, Italy, in 1954, John A. Carollo was adopted by second-generation Italians and raised in Pennsylvania. A lifelong musician, he sang in a Catholic choir and began composing for piano in 1986. After earning a master’s degree in psychology from SDSU, he worked as a mental-health counsellor in Honolulu before devoting himself to music full-time.
Benjamin Ingram Jr., who began writing at just seventeen, introduces his debut children’s book Quentin and the New Friend, a heartfelt story inspired by real-life experiences that highlights kindness, friendship, inclusion, and emotional growth.
Jennifer Nelson is a New Mexico–based trauma therapist and private practice owner with a degree in social work, specializing in PTSD, dissociative identity disorder (DID), and abuse recovery. A mother of two sons, she has long been drawn to the emotional terrain of survival, identity, and the ways trauma shapes the inner lives of individuals. Her clinical work informs her fiction, offering a nuanced understanding of fear, resilience, and the fragile architecture of trust.
Now retired from her thirty-six-year career as a marketing communications professional, Suzanne Groves is a published author of three books, as well as an editor, amateur angler, kitchen wizard, genealogist, world traveler, animal lover, artist, and gardening fanatic. She is an off-the-charts extrovert who can (and will) talk to anyone and everyone about anything and everything.
Sarah Veall is an author, transformational coach, inner-child practitioner, and Reiki practitioner. Her work explores healing, self-trust, and the connection between emotional awareness and physical wellbeing.
Micah Briarmoon is a true Renaissance man: educator, entertainer, musician, world traveler, and author. After many years entertaining crowds around the country, he pursued his teaching degree, going on to teach both locally and internationally.
In the sweltering Bicentennial summer of 1976, fourteen-year-old Vinny Perino is the new kid on Nebraska Avenue. Trading Brooklyn’s concrete for the suburbs of Long Island, he finds an unexpected brotherhood among a crew of wisecracking Newsday paperboys.
But the easy rhythm of morning routes and Fourth of July mischief doesn’t last. When a string of burglaries hits homes along Vinny’s route, suspicion lands on the boys—and a local cop with a long memory is more than willing to make it stick.
With no one else on their side, the crew sets out to prove the truth themselves—following the only lead they have and risking more than they bargained for in the process.
The news is only for a day. The legend of Nebraska Avenue is for a lifetime.
In Hard Things, Marc Hopkins takes readers on a journey through the grueling Bigfoot 200-mile ultramarathon and, more importantly, through the uncharted terrain of his inner landscape. What begins as a personal challenge to prove his worth becomes a profound odyssey of self-discovery as he navigates the punishing trails of the Cascade Mountains and the deeply ingrained patterns that have shaped his life. From scorching desert to freezing river crossings, from hallucinations to moments of startling clarity, Marc’s physical journey mirrors his emotional one.
As he pushes his body beyond what seems humanly possible, Marc confronts the truth about why he runs—not merely to demonstrate endurance, but to escape the anxiety that has chased him since childhood. With each punishing mile, he unravels the complex relationship dynamics, family patterns, and personal struggles he’s spent a lifetime avoiding, revealing the strength he’s always projected as both his greatest asset and his heaviest burden.
Hard Things is a powerful memoir about what it means to be authentically strong, vulnerable, and worthy of love. For anyone who has ever doubted themselves, it offers a gripping, inspiring testament to perseverance, self-discovery, and the truth that the hardest trails aren’t always measured in miles.
A mysterious transformation sweeps the globe overnight. A shared dream awakens humanity into a world of light, love, and unity. Fear vanishes. Conflict dissolves. Hunger, grief, and despair are no longer part of the human condition. Society reorganizes itself around peace, purpose, and effortless cooperation.
But some are left behind—trapped in their old selves while the rest of humanity moves forward without them. They endure pain, isolation, and quiet erasure under the guise of enlightenment. When a small group of the Unawakened escapes a brutal confinement, rebellion and scientific inquiry begin to peel back the dream’s surface, pointing to the possibility that its source is anything but divine.
As the truth emerges, peace reveals its price. Moral certainty collides with survival. The Great Awakening confronts readers with a haunting question: if an entrancing paradise ends human suffering, but quietly decides who belongs—and who doesn’t—would you let it continue, or would you dare to wake the world?
Rita Jo Norvoteny is a dark fiction author and creator of The Reformed Killers Universe, a series that blends psychological horror, dark humor, and morally complex characters. Her work explores themes of trauma, survival, and the uneasy line between redemption and destruction.
Did you grow up in a family of extreme narcissists and their enablers, or have you ever wondered what it’s like to live in that kind of fishbowl environment? If so, The Jezebel Tracks is for you.
Gardner Landry’s essays feature both overt and covert histrionic narcissists—at least one of whom likely qualifies as a psychopath—while also exploring the bizarre psychodynamics of his family. Along the way, he reflects on Houston and New Orleans, and the curious ways these cities relate to one another.
You’ll meet Landry’s dramatic, buffoonish father, his chillingly psychopathic side, and a maternal grandmother who is outwardly sweet yet privately manipulative—the queen bee of the family. Topsy-turvy gender roles, financial charades, and spiritual dimensions of abuse reveal themselves, as Landry examines what he believes to be the spiritual roots of these disorders, culminating in an unexpected journey toward redemption. Buckle up for the ride.
“Gardner expertly weaves deeply personal stories with biblical truth…to stand in solidarity with those who suffer as victims of covert Christian narcissists. However, Gardner doesn’t leave us merely with the problem. In just about every essay, he makes it clear that the solution is a sincere belief in and an intimate relationship with the unique Son of God, the only One of his kind, and the One who triumphed over powers and principalities (including Jezebel): Jesus Christ.”
– Alex Tarasiuk, Pastor, Iglesia Conexión Vertical, Querétaro, México
Eliezer Sobel, 73, is the author of The Silver Lining of Alzheimer’s: One Son’s Journey Into The Mystery, a joyful memoir of caring for his mother, Manya, whose ordeal with Alzheimer’s lasted twenty years, until she finally passed away at 95. His story shines an unusual light on what has become an epidemic of dementia around the world, which most accounts largely tend to depict as purely tragic. Instead, Eliezer discovered that as his mother’s memories as a Holocaust survivor began to vanish, what emerged was the innocent, radiant, and loving young girl she had once been.
Robert Callaway was born in Hollywood, California, and moved with his parents and sister to Utah when he was six. He grew up in the Orem-Provo area.
From the silence of a Turin Institute for Infants to the unfolding symphonies of a life in music, The Unknown Composer is a deeply personal memoir of identity, transformation, and creative devotion.
John A. Carollo—born Giovanni Baudino—was adopted from Italy and raised in Pennsylvania, a child caught between languages, cultures, and selves. Through music and poetry, he forged a life of meaning beyond abandonment, beyond acclaim. With candor and lyricism, he traces his evolution from a solitary child to a prolific composer whose works span piano, orchestra, choir, verse, and chamber music.
This memoir is a meditation on the metaphysics of sound, the necessity of solitude, and the healing power of artistic truth. Through reflections, poetic interludes, and hard-won wisdom, Carollo offers a testament to the unseen lives behind the music we rarely hear, and the courage it takes to remain faithful to one’s inner voice.
For anyone drawn to the creative process, the mysteries of identity, or the soul’s search for expression, The Unknown Composer is both map and mirror. John A. Carollo, the story of a composer who turned silence into art, and art into lasting sound.
How to Write a Romance Novel: A Step-by-Step Guide for Aspiring Authors Writing a romance novel requires more than bringing two characters together. At its core, romance is about emotional
As writers immersed in the world of dark fiction, it’s easy to be drawn to the intricate dance between light and shadow within the human psyche. Exploring moral dilemmas in storytelling is like embarking on a thrilling journey through the labyrinth of ethical ambiguity. It’s a terrain where characters grapple with their inner demons, and as a creator, an opportunity to guide them through this tumultuous landscape.
J. Claire, known as the ‘Poet of the Wild,’ is a multi-award-winning author and poet whose debut collection Revelry earned numerous honors between 2025 and 2026, including two American Fiction Awards in Narrative and Nature Poetry, finalist recognition in Contemporary and General Poetry, finalist in Contemporary and Nature Poetry from the 2025 American BookFest Best Book Awards, the International Impact Book Award in Poetry: Personal and Confessional Poetry, the NYC Big Book Award for Distinguished Favorite in Poetry: Journeys, Memory, and the Self, finalist recognition in the 2025 Positive Impact Book Awards, finalist placements in Contemporary, General, and Narrative Poetry from the American Writing Awards, and the 2026 Independent Press Award for Distinguished Favorite in Poetry: Human Identity & Connection.
Atmosphere Press is reading for potential publication in all genres, with no restrictive submission guidelines. You’ll be invited to schedule your pitch call with an Acquisitions Editor right away.