MSI Press Blog

  Healing after loss is not a return to what was—it’s the slow emergence of life from the shadow of absence. Loss reshapes the landscape of the soul; it carves valleys where once there were plains, and in those valleys, new growth begins. 1. The Shadow as Teacher The shadow of loss is not merely darkness—it is depth. It forces us to see what we once overlooked: the fragility of love, the impermanence of joy, the miracle of connection. In grief, we learn that pain is not the opposite of love but its echo. The shadow teaches us tenderness, empathy, and humility—the qualities that make healing possible. 2. The Work of Allowing Healing does not begin with forgetting; it begins with allowing. Allowing the ache to speak. Allowing the silence to stretch. Allowing the memory to remain. When we stop resisting the shadow, it softens. What once felt unbearable becomes a kind of sacred ground—a place where we meet ourselves honestly. 3. Transformation, Not Restoration Loss changes us. Healing ...

  Quebec On our way back home to Pittsburgh from Maine on one visit when the kids were little, we came pretty close to South Hero Island in Vermont. (That story will be told in another volume because there was a story that took place on South Hero Island.) Once on that island, we were intrigued by the chain of islands in Lake Champlain that separated Vermont from New York. The islands felt almost like stepping‑stones laid across the lake—long, low stretches of farmland and shoreline, connected by narrow causeways that skimmed just above the water. Each island had its own quiet personality: a cluster of houses here, a field of grazing cows there, a glimpse of blue water widening on both sides. It was the kind of landscape that pulls you forward without your noticing, island after island, as though the lake itself were guiding you north. That chain, island after island, pulled us straight up to Canada. Once again, we were in Canada, unplanned. The crossing itself was so undrama...

  There’s a rhythm to a lobster boat that you don’t learn from a summer on the water—you earn it. The day starts before the sun thinks about rising, when the harbor is still half-asleep and the gulls haven’t begun their arguments. You step aboard with coffee that’s already gone cold, boots that never quite dry, and a quiet understanding that the ocean will decide what kind of day you’re about to have. Out on the bay, the world shrinks to the boat, the traps, and the line of buoys you know as well as your own handwriting. Hauling traps isn’t glamorous. The winch groans, the rope burns a little through your gloves, and the bait—herring, pogies, whatever you’ve got—clings to your hands no matter how many times you rinse them in seawater. But there’s satisfaction in the work: the trap comes up, heavy or light, and you see what the ocean has decided to give you. Some days you pull mostly lobsters. Other days it’s crabs, sea stars, or the occasional surprise—proof that the ocean has its ...

  Mainiac (J Ladd Zorn Jr) is now available for pre-order, e-book format. Stand by for paperback announcement. Book Description: An aimless alcoholic leaves his father’s home in Los Angeles to follow the one woman who has shown him kindness after she relocates to Maine. His cross‑country trip includes encounters with old friends, fleeting romances, and culturally revealing detours that force him to confront his own failures. In the coastal town of Camden, he finds work on a lobster boat and becomes part of a small community of locals. As he struggles with addiction and self‑doubt, he tries to find the courage to tell the woman he loves how he feels, uncertain whether he deserves her or a better life. CONTACT editor@msipress.com FOR A REVIEW COPY MSI Press, a veteran-owned publishing house based in California , United States best known for turning new writers into award-winning authors, has gained mass recognition for releasing highly acclaimed books of varying genres that are di...

  CANADA I grew up in Maine, which meant that Canada was just always there. Although things have changed a bit, or perhaps more than a bit, over the years, when I was a kid, Canadian and American coins were interchangeable. A Canadian nickel and a US nickel, penny, or dime were treated the same by merchants. Radio shows might come from Maine or from Canada and might be in French or English. Cereal boxes might be in French or English and might come from Canada or the US. So, as I said, Canada was just there, like another state. No one truly thought of it as another country. Actually, though, I did travel to Canada three times, all of them either by accident or “along the way.” And it was an “on the way” stopover for NASA flights I was on (when NASA had its own commercial airplanes) from Houston to Moscow. Labrador NASA planes enroute from Houston to Moscow stopped over in Labrador (and Iceland) to refuel. We all had to get off the plane and crowd into the small airport. Typically, o...