This month we’ve got a guide to youth sports, a doomed ship, orcas, and much more. To submit a first line, email booklifeeditor@booklife.com.

Acting Up: Winning in Business and Life Using Down-Home Wisdom

Janice Bryant Howroyd

“I knew they had guns. But that didn’t dampen the festive evening. After all, being armed was their job.”


The Akseli

Dianne Duvall

“Simone swung her treasured katana with smooth precision, cutting down one opponent after another.”


As Time Goes By

W. Royce Adams

“Call me Old.”


Black Truffle & Spice

Mathis Bailey

“Butter marked Pierre’s black apron as he flirted with two hot men.”


Broken

T.G. Brown

“Forgiveness reveals itself in many forms, this was not one of them.”


The Bringer of Happiness

Karen Martin

“I should have assumed with parents known to the world as Mary Magdalene and Jesus Christ, I would be different.“


Danger to the Throne: Kopp Chronicles

Gregory Kopp

“Eugénie de Montijo, Empress of France, was trembling as she stood transfixed looking out the windows of the Emperor’s Salon.”


Love Dies Twice: A Cassandra Reilly Mystery

Barbara Wilson

“On my own I would never have decided, especially on a filthy wet afternoon in early February, to take the train to Southeast London and to dash through the rain to a college lecture hall to hear a topic like ‘Stella Terwicker and the Medieval Mystery.’”


On the Edge of Forever

J.D. Beedle

“If my chest were a cannon and my heart the hot lead ball, I’d still shoot.”


Orcas Forever

Marie-Paule Mahoney

“One Orca dives deep into the sea while another leaps out into the air under the twinkling stars.”


Secrets in the Mirror

Leslie Kain

“Gavin would always remember that weekend as the turning point, when day turned to night and the earth erupted, cleaving brothers apart.”


Water Ghosts

Linda Collison

“The doomed ship is set to sail at 10:00 a.m. and I am to be aboard.”


Youth Sports: How to Play the Game

Tim Cook

“To avoid hyperbole I should preface that the analogy of sports to war is one that always grinds my gears.”