All For One: Love, War, & Ghosts is a tale of friendship, love, and youthful decisions that drive friends apart for decades. When the ghosts of Vietnam shove their way into the present, fear, uncertainty, and death follow.

 

Publishers Weekly Reviewer thanks to The BookLife Prize: "Written in a plainspoken, accessible tone, All For One is an easy read. The temporal shifts between the decades are smooth, thanks to a steady voice, providing continuity across the years and serving as a reminder of how a person’s past will bleed into the present. While her writing makes sparse use of metaphor or lyrical imagery, McGuinn’s words carry emotional resonance in the small details that serve to highlight the trauma of war, loss, and love without overstating these feelings."

Peg's Story: Detours starts with Peg looking back:

When I started high school in 1971, my plans for the future were not clear, but they included an exciting career that would take me all over the world, far from the boring small town of my parents. Instead, a series of detours became my life... It was easy to disappear for ten years.

 

Kirkus Reviews summarized the theme nicely: “In some ways, the novel is a brutal cautionary tale, showing how one mistake can spiral into a life-changing series of events. In another, however, it is a moving coming-of-age narrative about a girl who discovers herself amid extreme circumstances. A nuanced yet plainly told novel.”​

Running Away: Maggie's Story starts in Maggie's voice: "This is my last night in this house." By the time they realize she's gone, Maggie is in another state, about to run again from new dangers. When Peg realizes her daughter is not coming back, she knows she must find her quickly or they may never see each other again. Peg's missing journal from when she ran away as a teen is the only clue to Maggie's whereabouts.

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Originally published as Running Away, this novel won an Honorable Mention in the Writer’s Digest International Self-Published Book Awards.

Judge Commentary: “I could not put this book down.”

 

The movie Running Away has been shown in Europe and is streaming.​

Tough Times: Michael's beloved step-father died a year ago. Now his mother's gone too, with an empty pill bottle and a note saying to stay together. With help from the girl he likes, Michael starts a cross-country trip with his young siblings, hoping the grandparents they've never known will at least accept them, because "they're cute little white kids." While Michael navigates responsibility, grief, prejudice, fear, and his first romantic relationship, the police label his mother's death murder. They suspect Michael, but the killer is stalking the kids.

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One of five finalists in the YA division of Kindle Book Awards 2023.

Amazon Expert Reviewer: “The writing is good…the plot is gripping”

Publisher’s Weekly: “…issues of race and identity are nicely handled”

In Alice, thirteen-year-old Nina tells the story of her mother, a totally uptight, proper, responsible French teacher whose department has been eliminated. It's always been just the two of them. Then the hippie father ​Alice has never talked about drops into their lives and Nina's perfectly proper mother unravels - revealing secrets, surprises, and the fire that will make her the Rosa Parks of the Taxpayers Civil Rights Movement.

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Judge, 25th Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards: “Overall, one of the most interesting and useful novels I’ve seen.”

Amazon Reviewer: “I …found myself laughing, crying and getting totally sucked into the story. Yet…the ethical storyline is still sticking with me”​

For more than 200 years, The Saturday Evening Post has been publishing a Who’s Who of American authors — Ray Bradbury, F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, Louis L’Amour, Jack London, Joyce Carol Oates, Edgar Allan Poe, Anne Tyler, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Sinclair Lewis, among so many others. The Post continues to support the legacy of the storyteller.

 

This anthology includes 31 stories they consider the best from their 2016 Great American Fiction Contest, including Sheri McGuinn's "Maria Angelica's Baby." ​

 

Maria's always been a good girl. Now she has secrets she must keep hidden.

When Amazon moved print books from CreateSpace to KDP, I discontinued this book rather than continually updating it. However, the info on formatting and working with others in your school will still apply so I've left the eBook available for ninety-nine cents. 

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This guide can help you develop projects to  prepare students for the new workplace. You can publish: a body of work by one person, cookbooks or other fund-raisers, anthologies, affordable yearbooks - even if you're tech-challenged! One caveat - when we published a yearbook for $7, you could limit sales to the school and not publish for the world. Make sure that option is available whichever self-publishing platform you use.

This is the School Edition of Running Away. When Maggie runs away, she meets some rough characters who use realistic language. In this edition, words inappropriate for use in school were replaced with **.

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Also, this edition has the original entries from Peg's journal - before I wrote her story and found out she was trafficked - so those are also more appropriate for younger teens and use in school. 

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Unless you find a used copy, it is available only as a digital book at Amazon. If you really want a paperback, use the contact form below to let me know. I can special order what you need to be delivered directly.