Stories shape us.
They carry truth, memory, and meaning from one generation to the next.
Our mission at Ember & Vine is to publish stories—both fictional and true—that matter. We believe in the transformative power of narrative and in creating space for voices that might otherwise go unheard.
Through a limited publishing model, we partner with authors who value excellence, collaboration, and long-term impact. Together, we create books that are professionally produced, ethically published, and deeply human.
Traditionally Published Books
Ember & Vine Nonfiction
15 Award-Winning Short Essays
Julie Cantrell & Janyre Tromp, Gen. Eds.
Every transformation begins with a spark.
This nonfiction essay collection brings together award-winning voices reflecting on the moments that changed them—the ideas, convictions, wounds, and awakenings that began as embers and grew into something that reshaped their lives.
Edited by Julie Cantrell and Janyre Tromp, these essays span personal, cultural, and spiritual terrain, tracing how meaning takes root and grows over time. Honest, reflective, and deeply human, each piece examines not just what happened, but what endured—how a single spark became a vine, winding its way into identity, purpose, and hope.
This collection invites readers to pause, to remember their own embers, and to consider what might still be growing.
COMING September 2026
Ember & Vine Fiction
15 Award-Winning Short Stories
Julie Cantrell & Janyre Tromp, Gen. Eds.
From a single spark, a story takes hold.
This short story collection gathers award-winning fiction shaped around moments of ignition—the quiet ember of longing, courage, defiance, or hope that begins small but refuses to go out. Each story explores what happens when that spark is given air: when it grows, entangles, and transforms the lives it touches.
Curated and edited by Julie Cantrell and Janyre Tromp, these stories reflect a wide range of voices and settings, united by their attention to craft and their belief in the power of narrative to reveal truth. Some stories smolder. Others climb. All of them linger.
Together, they form a tapestry of beginnings—proof that even the smallest ember can give rise to something living, reaching, and enduring.
COMING September 2026
Guardian of the Red Desert
Threads of the Lost Myth, Book 1.5
Janyre Tromp
Casablanca meets Death on the Nile—with a mythic twist
WWII espionage in the North African desert.
A deadly alliance between myth and war.
And an American army nurse whose only weapon is the mercy of chaos.
Burning the Raven Tree
Threads of the Lost Myth, Book 2
Janyre Tromp
A 1960s Gothic Historical Thriller in the Tradition of Rebecca
A survivor accused of a decade-old murder.
A disgraced lawyer with everything to prove.
And an ancient oak that has borne witness for a millennium.
In 1960s northern Michigan, a town haunted by legend whispers of the raven witch and child killer. But when Marcus Lenarsic arrives, he finds not a monster, but a broken woman bound by secrets. Burning the Raven Tree is a gothic historical thriller of ghosts, justice, and memory—perfect for fans of Kate Morton, Simone St. James, William Kent Krueger, and the classic film Rebecca.
COMING September 2026
Shadow and Sound
Poetry for Survivors
A. E. Abbington
COMING Summer 2027
For a Mother’s Heart
Words of Joy, Love, and Strength
Literary Quotes to Encourage & Inspire
Ember & Vine
A beautifully curated collection of quotes that honor the quiet courage, deep love, and everyday grace of motherhood.
Within these pages are words meant to be lingered over—gentle reminders of a mother’s worth, her resilience, and the love she pours out often without recognition. Perfect for moments of reflection, encouragement, or simple rest, this gift book offers language for what so many hearts feel but struggle to say.
Whether given on Mother’s Day, tucked beside a bedside table, or opened during a quiet pause in the day, For a Mother’s Heart is a keepsake—a way to say you are seen, you are cherished, and you matter deeply.
COMING Spring 2027
Self-Published Titles with Ember & Vine Services
Grace for Grief
A Mother’s Journey of Love and Loss
Pam Kirk McCarty
There is no right way to grieve the loss of a child. And no timetable for when the pain should ease. In the raw, disorienting days after loss, many parents are left asking the same question: How do I keep going when my heart is shattered?
Written by a mother who has walked this road, this memoir offers an honest, empathetic companion for the early years of grief. With candor and tenderness, Pam McCarty shares what it looks like to survive unimaginable loss—one breath, one memory, one fragile moment of hope at a time. Through personal stories, intimate mother-daughter moments, and poignant reflections shaped by lived experience, she reminds grieving parents that their pain is real, their grief matters, and healing is not a betrayal of love.
This book does not offer quick fixes or unrealistic solutions. Nor does it deliver academic opinions on how to grieve. Instead, it offers something far more sustaining: heartfelt understanding. It shows how love endures, how a child’s presence can continue to shape a family’s life, and how joy—unexpected and hard-won—can return without erasing loss.
Before We Were Women
Sunita Reddy
Three women. Three secrets. One summer that changes everything.
Anita Kumar was fifteen when shame stole her voice. Pregnant and afraid to disappoint her successful parents, she allowed others to decide her future—and her daughter’s. Years later, she buries her grief beneath competence, scanning every child’s face for the one she lost.
Born into wealth but raised in fear, Ashley Spady escapes a violent home only to find herself trapped in a cycle she doesn’t know how to break—until an unexpected diagnosis forces her to confront the truth about herself.
Adopted and blessed with an extraordinary memory, Robin Zymanski dreams of becoming a writer. But as questions about her origins deepen and her vision begins to fade, she must decide who she is when the future she imagined slips from view.
When their lives converge in the summer of 2009, the three women form an unlikely bond that reshapes their understanding of identity, forgiveness, and belonging.Darling Daughters is a moving novel of resilience and sisterhood—about confronting the past, reclaiming your voice, and discovering that family can be found in the most unexpected places.