milherst publishing

Ventrella Makes the Mistakes

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This is a press release from Gray Rabbit Publications’ Milherst Publishing:

Making the Mistakes So You Don’t Have to

He’s written more than a dozen books, including the highly acclaimed Terin Ostler/Fortannis fantasy series, the Teddy Roosevelt/steampunk adventure Big Stick, and the horrifically funny Bloodsuckers. He’s also edited a slew of great books, including the Fantastic Books anthologies Release the Virgins and Three Time Travelers Walk Into…, and he co-edited Across the Universe and two volumes of alternate Sherlock Holmes stories in the Baker Street Irregulars series… and that’s just his fiction output. All of that means he’s made—and learned from—the mistakes beginning writers usually make. And now, in Learn From My Mistakes, Michael A. Ventrella saves you the time of making those mistakes yet again for yourself.

This collection of essays—written over several years, usually as he was making the mistake he talks about—give a wonderful overview of the entire process, from idea to writing, editing to publishing, and selling the book and building a career. Told in an accessible style, Ventrella is someone you want to have a conversation with, to pick his brain. And this book offers just those suggestions.

Recommended for beginning writers and those who want to level up their writing game.

Learn From My Mistakes!: (Writing advice from someone who knows better)
by Michael A. Ventrella
trade paperback: 186 pages, $13.99
ebook: $4.99

Available from all the major retailers.

Publishing Today: The New Americans #2

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The New Americans: A Saga of Immigration and Family

After being forced to kill in order to protect their widowed mother, three brothers escape Mafia-controlled Sicily to the New World.

Life for immigrants in America during the second decade of the 1900s is difficult and often harrowing, but that’s the reality into which Peter, John, and Angelu Donatello are thrust when their ship docks in Philadelphia. As Peter tries to make his way in this new land through honest hard work, John’s talents—many learned fighting in the Great War—lead him to the seamier, but potentially more profitable, underworld. And all the while, Angelu, the youngest brother and a true innocent, struggles to just find a place for himself in a world he can never truly understand.

Prohibition may make criminals of honest men, but it also allows poor immigrants to mingle with the upper classes; the Donatellos among them. Yet, despite war and crime, marriage and loneliness, honor and betrayal, the brothers, each in their own way, cling to their creed of Supra tuttu la famigghia: Family is all.

Eventually, everything will lead them back to Sicily, to a confrontation with the forces that have shaped their lives, and to a heart-wrenching reconciliation.

Reminiscent of John Jakes’ Bicentennial series, The New Americans by Tony and Ty Drago is a wonderfully moving saga. The genesis of the story is itself a tale: in his final weeks, Tony Drago tape-recorded what his son Ty thought were simple reminiscences. It was only in the years following Tony’s death, after Ty became an established novelist, that he listened to the tapes and realized his father had left him, not a family history, but rather an emotional novel of immigration, rebirth, and growth. Milherst Publishing is honored to bring this story to the world.

The New Americans, by Tony & Ty Drago, will be released in six monthly installments, as both trade paperbacks and ebooks.

1: Fuggitivi. $10.99, 182 pages, ISBN 978-1-5154-5842-5. Ebook also available.
2: Strangers in Paradiso. 186 pages, ISBN 978-1-5154-5843-2. Ebook also available.
3: The Pursuit of Felicita. April 7, 2026.
4: The Philly Crew. May 5, 2026.
5: A Leaf in the Turning. June 2, 2026.
6: The Prodigal Sons. July 7, 2025.

Book #2: Strangers in Paradiso:

In Philadelphia, as the Great War approaches, the Donatello brothers grow up, each in his own way.

While Peter begins learning English and works hard to provide for his brothers, good-natured Angelu struggles to fit in. At the same time, John goes his own way, taking what menial jobs he can get while forever looking for more promising opportunities. When a friend’s draft notice arrives, John eagerly takes his place. On the French front lines, however, John witnesses first-hand the horror and reality of war. At the same time, he develops skills that will stand him in good stead in the coming years: skirting the law, making deals, and shooting whatever he’s aiming at.

Publishing Today: The New Americans

~ ianrandalstrock ~ Leave a comment

The New Americans: A Saga of Immigration and Family

After being forced to kill in order to protect their widowed mother, three brothers escape Mafia-controlled Sicily to the New World.

Life for immigrants in America during the second decade of the 1900s is difficult and often harrowing, but that’s the reality into which Peter, John, and Angelu Donatello are thrust when their ship docks in Philadelphia. As Peter tries to make his way in this new land through honest hard work, John’s talents—many learned fighting in the Great War—lead him to the seamier, but potentially more profitable, underworld. And all the while, Angelu, the youngest brother and a true innocent, struggles to just find a place for himself in a world he can never truly understand.

Prohibition may make criminals of honest men, but it also allows poor immigrants to mingle with the upper classes; the Donatellos among them. Yet, despite war and crime, marriage and loneliness, honor and betrayal, the brothers, each in their own way, cling to their creed of Supra tuttu la famigghia: Family is all.

Eventually, everything will lead them back to Sicily, to a confrontation with the forces that have shaped their lives, and to a heart-wrenching reconciliation.

Reminiscent of John Jakes’ Bicentennial series, The New Americans by Tony and Ty Drago is a wonderfully moving saga. The genesis of the story is itself a tale: in his final weeks, Tony Drago tape-recorded what his son Ty thought were simple reminiscences. It was only in the years following Tony’s death, after Ty became an established novelist, that he listened to the tapes and realized his father had left him, not a family history, but rather an emotional novel of immigration, rebirth, and growth. Milherst Publishing is honored to bring this story to the world.

The New Americans, by Tony & Ty Drago, will be released in six monthly installments, as both trade paperbacks and ebooks.

Book #1 begins in Sicily in 1915. When his middle brother kills the son of the local Mafia don while defending their mother, Petru Donatello and his younger brothers, Juvanni and Angelu, are forced to flee their homeland. This takes them on a harrowing voyage in the bilges of a transatlantic ship teeming with Sicilian and Italian immigrants just like them, a multitude hoping for a better life in America. Along the way, they make both friends and enemies as the Donatello brothers struggle to prepare themselves for their new life in a world beyond their understanding.

Milherst is a division of Gray Rabbit Publications/Fantastic Books. All Milherst Books are distributed via Ingram. Review copies are available upon request.