LEFTOVER Books

Publishing books ignored by the mainstream

Our story

LEFTOVER Books is a small press based out of Rochester, NY. Founded in 2021 by fellow author and editor Patrick Trotti, the goal is to discover and share distinct voices of fiction. We want to build relationships with our authors that are based on mutual respect and an appreciation of the craft of storytelling.So why publish with us? Quality over quantity is our mindset, as we plan on releasing a handful of titles per year. This ensures that each book, and author, get the attention that they deserve.What we lack in money and institutional infrastructure, we make up for with a personalized relationship with our authors as well as competitive royalty rates, a 50/50 split. Our goal is to simplify the process of publishing and give the author, in consultation with our Editor, as much authority over their vision as possible. Everything is usually done in house, from design to editing, we are a one-stop shop where the author can entrust us with their work to make it as polished as possible.We’re now linked up with the largest distributor in the industry, Ingramspark, but still be prepared to get out of this process what you put in with regards to publicity and marketing.We’re looking for book-length literary fiction of the highest quality. The term literary, to us, is broad and can be executed in any number of ways.Please send one unpublished manuscript at a time. We want to simplify the process of publishing, so no need for a fancy cover letter or synopsis. If you have them, great, but let the work itself do most of the heavy lifting. Be patient and know that we’ll do our best to respond as soon as possible.

Dylan Quick is a Dairy Queen Don Quixote by Adam Van Winkle

(November 2, 2021)
ISBN: 979-8985107005

Purchase from Amazon here

"Told in three time periods, Dylan Quick’s late teen years, Dylan Quick’s late twenties to early thirties, and Dylan Quick’s mid-forties, we see a dream of owning a Dairy Queen franchise evolve from saving grace to damnable curse. Along the way, dark secrets emerge about the actions Dylan Quick has taken to realize his DQ franchise dream, and the people he’s hurt along the way, not the least of which is himself. The songs from the old DQ dining room jukebox provide the perfect classic country-rock soundtrack for these hard-luck smalltown folks."

A Quick Primer on Wallowing in Despair by Steve Gergley

(May 5, 2022)
ISBN: 979-8985107043

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"A death metal guitarist battles mind-controlling aliens to save her new girlfriend. Two desperate heroin addicts attempt to rob a CVS convenience store. An aspiring magician struggles to escape from the Church of Scientology after signing a billion-year contract. An alcoholic waitress begins a road trip to meet Lana Del Rey, who may or may not be her childhood best friend. A twenty-seven-year-old underachiever watches his body disappear, one piece at a time, the longer he lives with his parents. In this collection of dynamic and experimental short stories, these characters and others confront the despair, disillusionment, anxiety, and ennui that slumbers just below the surface of everyday life."

Interviews and Reviews for A Quick Primer on Wallowing in Despair:

“Alien to Every Situation: Steve Gergley interviewed by Rebecca Gransden” X-R-A-Y Literary Magazine, May 2022.

“A Quick Primer on Wallowing in Despair, Reviewed by Kassie Bohannon” Heavy Feather Review, May 2022

Advance Praise for A Quick Primer on Wallowing in Despair:

“A Quick Primer on Wallowing in Despair takes you through aliens, vanishing bodies and horseradish people and digs at what we keep buried inside of us. Steve Gergley is a master of combining seemingly disparate elements into a cohesive whole and accomplishes this brilliantly in his debut collection with its sentence level prose, individual story arcs and the way these different stories weave together into a single, almost absurdist yet also deeply human experience.”
– Lucy Zhang, fiction editor of Heavy Feather Review.

“A long-time fan of Steve Gergley’s work, I’m always impressed by his range: Gergley’s stories swing from gritty, sharp realism to speculative fantasy to wild, formal experimentalism. His desperado characters lurch through scenes both plausible (tweaking addicts botching a robbery) and bizarre (heroic guitarists staving off an alien invasion through head-banging). Despite their desperate straits, they never lose hope. These stories are unpredictable, macabre, deadpan, both hilarious and harrowing, by an author who is entirely original.”
– Kim Magowan, author of the short story collection How Far I’ve Come, forthcoming in 2022 from Gold Wake Press; the novel The Light Source (2019), published by 7.13 Books; and the short story collection Undoing (2018), which won the 2017 Moon City Press Fiction Award. She is the Editor-in-Chief and Fiction Editor of Pithead Chapel.

“Steve Gergley has managed to take my favorite kind of short stories and throw them into one fluid and fun collection. They are full of music and life. Each story has its own form of hidden bliss beneath the crushing blows that we are shackled to in real life. With each ebb and flow of despair, we are met with promise and adventure. Steve is a talented author with a flair for the abstract. Don’t sleep on this book. It’s something you’re going to love.”
– Mallory Smart, author of The Only Living Girl in Chicago, and Editor-in-Chief of Maudlin House.

“In prose both breathless and frank, Gergley tells the stories of the pathetic and ridiculous with such empathy and honesty that one can’t help but cheer for them, identify with them, and flip pages wondering what incredible thing will happen next. Each story in A Quick Primer on Wallowing in Despair is a surprise.”
– Meagan Lucas, author of the award-winning novel, Songbirds and Stray Dogs, and Editor-in-Chief of Reckon Review.

Sinners Plunged Beneath That Flood by GD Brown

ISBN: 979-8-9851070-2-9
(July 7, 2022)

Purchase the book here

"Sixteen-year-old Jenn is struggling to cope with her best friend’s disappearance and the deadly trailer fire that preceded it. When her only other close companion is thrust into the adult world without her, Jenn begins her own investigation into the strange happenings plaguing her small Oklahoma town. She crosses paths with Sheriff Douglas Taylor, a lawman trying to hush murmurs of a church deacon-turned-meth dealer motivated by ecstatic visions and a hunger for material power. Before long, mysterious threats force the sheriff to weigh his own reputation as a hero against his ideas of security, as the deacon’s wife, Charlotte, seeks solace in novelty and considers the ways the old man will haunt the county and consume its working poor. Charlotte, Sheriff Taylor, and Jenn each find themselves then beneath a flood of shadow in the autumn months of 1998, and it is only there that they begin to make sense of their changing worlds."

Praise for Sinners Plunged Beneath That Flood

"Sinners Plunged Beneath That Flood stands as a monumental achievement. . . . [G.D. Brown] has created a world from scratch and populated it with a large cast of characters who pulsate with desire and fear and dark energy. It’s a story with not only a thrilling plot but also a wrenching moral lesson, which it conveys by suggesting that Jim and his henchmen embody an evil that’s ineradicable yet must be fought. The prose is excellent throughout: limpid and direct."
-John McManus, recipient of the Whiting Award and the Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, author of Bitter Milk, Born On A Train, Stop Breakin Down, and Fox Tooth Heart

"Sinners Plunged Beneath That Flood is a bleak, soulful look at the ravages of the burgeoning meth trade in rural Oklahoma circa 1998. . . . [It is] finely told, with a deep rhythm of inevitability and autumnal regret . . . a satisfying, if sorrowful eulogy to the human heart behind the meth epidemic in middle America. . . . [Brown's] work here shows a thoughtful new voice from a section of the country too often ignored."
-Sherri L. Smith, award-winning author of Sparrow, Flygirl, Orleans, Pasadena, and The Blossom and the Firefly

"Milwaukee author G.D. Brown’s bleak yet gripping debut novel . . . swirls around a handful of broken souls in a small Oklahoma town ravaged by the meth trade. . . . The tense prose announces Brown as a Wisconsin writer on the rise."
-Isthmus Madison

"Sinners Plunged Beneath that Flood is not for the faint of heart, but the mere precision in story-telling and world-building make it a stellar and worthwhile read. It’s a novel great at creating questions and challenging readers' ideas of the preconceived good and bad. Much like Brown’s characters, readers will come out a different person from this novel than they were going in. As you read, you’ll ask questions you desperately need answers to; and once you're met with those answers, you’ll regret asking at all."
-Sean Wolff, Glassworks


"[The reviewer] set it aside and tried to read again, but just could not do so."
-Wisconsin Writers Association

The Penult : Stories and novellas by Colin Gee

Coming November 1, 2023

$20 Paperback ISBN: 979-8-9851070-5-0
$4.99 Ebook ISBN: 978-1-0881-5838-8
Buy the paperback here and hereBuy the ebook hereA man reaches for his earthquake helmet. A graduate student unleashes armageddon with a crystal. A woman breaks up with her shrinking boyfriend. My son disowned me for wearing a colorful jacket to his wedding. There is a problem with boyfriend.This is a tour of the grotesque and impossible, a collection of hysterical, absurdist stories capped with two cruel little novellas, experiments in high adventure on a strange parallel plane.

“Unlike anything I’ve read. I felt like a sinner on peyote bearing witness to sequences of events I don’t fully understand.”
- Sebastián Vice, Founder of Outcast Press

More information soon!

Amerikaland
Danny Goodman’s debut novel coming June 4, 2024 from LEFTOVER Books.Book launchPre-order Amerikaland at Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, Amazon at your local indie bookstore, or wherever you buy books.WHERE TO BUY AMERIKALAND“This book is a home run.”
Debutiful’s Most Anticipated Debut Books of 2024Kirkus Review“With echoes of so many favorites, from DeLillo’s Underworld to Watchmen to George Saunders and even Ralph Ellison, Danny Goodman has done something remarkable in this debut novel: crafted a voice and a world entirely his own. This is a wonderful novel, destined to become a cult classic.”
—Daniel Torday, author of BOOMER1 and two-time winner of the National Jewish Book Award


“Utterly absorbing and gorgeously written, Amerikaland is the best kind of story, one I found lingering in my mind at the end of the day as if it were real. I know that Sabine and Sandy and their heartbreaking world will stay with me for a long time to come. I loved this haunting and unforgettable novel.”
—Jillian Cantor, USA Today bestselling author of The Fiction Writer


“Amerikaland is a rare blend of unexpected elements: sports, adventure, terrorism, friendship. Its characters grapple with their own moral compasses even as they put their bodies on the line—as athletes and entertainers, but also as human beings trying to make the world a better place. A debut both thrilling and tender.”
—Ilana Masad, author of All My Mother’s Lovers


“Amerikaland swallows the past, clarifies the present, and projects a future that requires unbelievable courage to survive. An unforgettable, tightly plotted adventure, this novel is a glorious achievement, as epic as Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch and enchanting as Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.”
—Devin Murphy, national bestselling author of The Boat Runner


“With a page-turning plot, one that feels reminiscent of Philip Roth or Philip K. Dick, and a prescience and sensitivity that reflects the threat of today’s culture, Amerikaland is an accomplishment indeed.”
—Emily Nemens, author of The Cactus League


“In Amerikaland, Danny Goodman subtly unfolds a world that seems much like our own—until it isn’t. Lush and eerily prescient, Amerikaland is reminiscent of the works of Pynchon and DeLillo.”
—Rebecca Renner, author of Gator Country


“An elegant, ambitious examination of our world with beautifully woven interiors that enable a rare intimacy between the reader and the novel’s two protagonists.”
—Simon Van Booy, author of The Presence of Absence


“Equal parts tragedy and triumph, Amerikaland is a sweeping, absorbing story for the ages. It’s a feat to not only rebuild the world but also to reimagine it, and Danny Goodman does so with the heart of a poet and the eye of a sportscaster. Acutely felt and gorgeously crafted, Amerikaland soulfully explores the nuances of grief, hatred, humility, and love. You'll be cheering, even when it hurts—especially when it hurts.”
—Jiordan Castle, author of Disappearing Act


“Amerikaland, in its fidelity to beauty and daringness of invention in style, contributes something vital and lasting to the stories that help us make sense of our apocalyptic times.”
—Chantal James, author of None But the Righteous


“Danny Goodman’s wise and timely debut novel is as thrilling as a tie score final at-bat, with the future of humanity on the line. Yet for all its epic scope, this moving tale of family, friendship, and loyalty in the face of age-old hatreds resonates right from its parallel timeline into our equally troubled one.”
—Sarah Seltzer, author of The Singer Sisters


“Amerikaland is a reverent, haunting, and heartbreaking story of love, hate, regret, and resilience.
A masterful debut!”
—Catherine Adel West, author of The Two Lives of Sara


“This book is amazing, and I’ll never forget these characters. Sabine and Sandy live and breathe, I swear, and I’ll love them forever. Amerikaland delivers surprise after surprise—all in elegant, precise prose—and presents a rich and detailed reimagined present, more like our current-day world than we’d like to admit. Best of all, this book is a love story—the best kind—about close friends, ambition, vocation, and ethical passion in the face of true evil.”
—Miciah Bay Gault, author of Goodnight Stranger


“Like Kafka’s Amerika, Danny Goodman’s powerful and compelling Amerikaland brilliantly depicts a contemporary United States that’s both surreal and all too real. I’m not sure I’ve read another book that feels so timeless yet also torn from today’s headlines. I couldn’t put it down. It’s a novel with a huge heart, and it reminds us of the power—and responsibility—we have to build the kind of world we want to live in.”
—Andrew Ervin, author of Burning Down George Orwell’s House


“In his major literary debut, Danny Goodman establishes himself as a modern day sportswriting superhero with this vital, ferocious story of love and hate, privilege and persecution, family and chosen family, the fight for justice and the violence of silence, cloaked as a tribute to America’s beloved pastimes, in a cultural moment that could not feel more prescient or timely. Amerikaland is a gorgeous grand slam.”
—Sara Lippmann, author of Lech


“In supremely confident, sure-footed prose, gorgeous, wise, and urgent, Goodman delivers a terrifyingly real vision of a possible near-future in which the unshakeable power of friendship edges up against its shocking limits. Tense and deftly plotted, Amerikaland shows the fears and lessons and presentiments swirling in our air, all made flesh here, breaking at the doorstep in this heart-stopping debut.”
—Courtney Sender, author of In Other Lifetimes All I've Lost Comes Back to Me


“This marvel of a story offers a parallel reality that is all too familiar in its horrors and its violence, but also in the humble ways people find the strength to persist against hatred. With this novel, Danny Goodman shows us all what we might aspire to in sport, in love, in understanding, and in courage. What a beautiful, harrowing, and powerful book. Amerikaland is a story for our time and for the times to come.”
—Nicholas Mainieri, author of The Infinite


“Danny Goodman’s Amerikaland, with its pristine setting and brilliantly rendered characters, lulls you into a false sense of security. However, as you turn the pages, you start to understand you’re knee-deep in a thriller, and you question everything. Each scene is more breathless than the next until you are spinning, unsure if you should lean into hope or despair. This is a gripping read that won’t be easy to shake, nor should it be.”
—Stephanie Austin, author of Something I Might Say


“Goodman artfully warns us that our uniqueness can be the precise fodder for dangerous groupthink. That a game can take a swing at everything and everyone in proximity. And that there is a difference between wanting to be noticed and wanting to be found.”
—Claire Hopple, author of Echo Chamber


Danny Goodman’s writing has appeared in various publications, and he was the recipient of a writer-in-residence fellowship from Rivendell. He lives in New York’s Hudson Valley with his wife, a book editor, and their editorial cats. Currently at work on a new novel, he is badly in need of a nap.

Follow Danny on Twitter and Instagram, and visit him online at dannygoodman.me


$18 Paperback ISBN: 979-8-9851070-6-7
$5.99 Ebook ISBN: 979-8-9851070-7-4

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