At a time when American identity is increasingly fractured, LaRue Cook explores a deeply personal journey through love, loss, and self-discovery, using the lens of a physical journey across the United States, and abroad, by a former corporate sports-editor-turned-Uber driver. ? Part voyeuristic, part inspirational, sometimes hilarious, always thoughtful and probing, Man in the (Rearview) Mirror is a book about learning how to love yourself (and others) at a time in America when it is often too easy to hate. With compassion for his passengers and himself, Cook carefully navigates us to a place of forgiveness, patience, and, hopefully, peace.

"How to Take Your Second First Step is a collection of thirteen stories set in the Southeastern United States that range from full-length (four) to short-shorts (six) to flash fiction (three). The stories are meant to stand alone, but a reader could certainly find commonality in the overall themes of loss, discovery, and self-realization--all the satisfying, yet oftentimes debilitating emotions that come with enduring life-altering events. More than half of the stories are told in the first-person point of view, primarily to evoke a Southerner's dialect and sensibilities, but also to establish a direct, albeit complicated relationship with the reader. who must discern the reliability of each narrator based almost solely on his or her thoughts and intercations with other characters. But this thesis doss include some experimentation with secopn-person POV and limited third-person omniscience, aswell as erxpolore.

"Embracing Shadows" is a 2017 Scars Publications poetry and prose book with material from assorted writers and artists, as the June 2017 issue release of the literary magazine "Down in the Dirt" (http://scars.tv/dirt). Since 2014 "Down in the Dirt" magazine is released every other month (and sometimes with bonus issues) as a 6"x9" perfect-bound paperback book, with not only it's usual ISSN# (print ISSN# 1554-9623 and Internet ISSN# 1554-9666), but also an ISBN#. Because of ISBN# releases, all issues now carry a title to accompany the new format, reflecting the writing inside the book as well as the cover design. Writers and artists included in this Scars Publications perfect-bound 6" x 9" ISBN# paperback book include Alexander Smith, Anita G. Gorma, ayaz daryl nielsen, Barry Zabell, Carl Papa Palmer, David Sapp, D. Harrington Miller, Denny E. Marshall, Donal Mahoney, Drew Marshall, Duff Allen, Edward Michael O'Durr Supranowicz, Eleanor Bennett, Fabrice Poussin, Greg Moglia, Gregg Dotoli, J.G. Walker, Julia Bravo, Kalen Rice, Karon Johnson, Keren Green, Kim Buck, Kraig Gander , Kristyl Gravina, Kyle Hemmings, LaRue Cook , Mandie Hines, Manuel Alex Moya, Marc Carver, Marc McMahon, Marsha Foss, Michelle Stumph, Patricia Ljutic, Perri Bryan, Richard Schnap, BAM, Steven Hicks, Tony Ransom, Wayne Franklin, Westley Heine and Zachary Harris.