Category: Print Book

North of Ordinary: Short Stories That Live in the Quiet Between Things

A Midwestern atmospheric literary fiction collection rooted in place, season, and complicated lives

Some towns don’t change. They just learn how to hide it better.
In the northern Midwest, ordinary lives bend quietly, until they don’t.

In the quiet towns and backroads of the northern Midwest, nothing stays buried forever.

Set against apple orchards, corn mazes, gravel roads, and wind-cut fields, North of Ordinary is a literary short story collection that traces the

Blending contemporary literary fiction with the textures of rural America, this collection captures the quiet drama of people caught between obligation and desire, memory and reinvention. Each story is grounded in Midwestern landscapes—where the air carries cider, dust, and something unsaid—and where even the smallest decision can echo.

Perfect for readers who love:

  • character-driven fiction and emotionally resonant storytelling
  • small town drama and layered relationships
  • atmospheric literary fiction with a strong sense of place
  • coming-of-age themes, family tension, and quiet unravelings
  • the work of Elizabeth Strout, Annie Proulx, and Raymond Carver

North of Ordinary is a collection about what lingers—
in towns that remember,
in families that fracture and hold,
and in the long, quiet moment before a life changes course.

Thrillers of survival. Dark fairytales of resilience.

Welcome. I’m Angela Ellen Grey — author, artist, and a believer in the kind of stories that make you feel your pulse.

 

I write for the girls who stayed awake.
For the ones who walked home alone.
For the dreamers who step through the wrong doorway and discover they’re stronger than anyone expected.

Every story is a doorway.
Some we hesitate to open.
Some we run through screaming.
Some are carved inside us —
until we become the threshold.

🔪 The Dakota Killer Thrillers

Everything she survived made her dangerous.
The kind of girl who lives through one killer doesn’t run from the next.

Meet Laci O’Neil — survivor, sister, reluctant fighter. She doesn’t go looking for trouble…, but in the Dakotas, trouble finds girls like her. Each book uncovers a new predator hiding behind the quiet of small towns and wide-open land. Different killers. Same silence. Laci refuses to look away.

If you love:

  • Missing girls who get found because someone refuses to stop searching
  • Rural noir with teeth
  • Survivors who aren’t done fighting

This is your next obsession.

📚 Start with: Long Since Buried
➡️ Continue the hunt in Since You’ve Been Gone
🩸 Forthcoming: Ghosted Buried Gone + Long Since Drowned

🌙 The Dreamcatcher Dark Fantasy Series

What if your nightmares were looking back?

Dash never meant to touch the dreamcatcher her grandmother made — but once she falls into Baumwelt, a dark, enchanted world stitched from fear and forgotten tales, nothing will ever be safe again.
Not in the dreams.
Not in the waking.

Because some dreams protect you.
Others hunt you.

If you crave:

  • Creepy forests and whispered warnings
  • Indigenous-inspired magic realism
  • Fairytales with bite

Let me show you the stairway through the clouds.

📚 Begin with: Dreamcatcher: A Hidden World Fairy Tale Fantasy

✨ Why I Write These Stories

My worlds are shaped by the land — the plains, the rivers, the woods that hold secrets older than we are, by the whispers of the ancestors. By the too-real fears we try to outgrow, by the ordinary girls who choose to fight back anyway.

Whether the monster is a man
or a shadow made of teeth —
My characters rise.

Because survival isn’t just making it out alive.
It’s refusing to stay silent afterward.

🔗 Join the Journey

Be the first to know when the next body is found —
or the next portal opens.

📬 Join my newsletter for exclusive bonus stories, case files, and dream-lore.
🎤 Book clubs and libraries — I’d love to visit.

Thanks for stepping into the dark with me.
Let’s leave the lights off a little longer. 🌑✨

“Whimsy and Bliss” by Angela Grey

 

Shady Oak Press (2025)
ISBN: 978-1961841468
Reviewed by Stephanie Elizabeth Long for Reader Views (09/2025)

Abigail Whimsy and Lainey Bliss have been best friends since the second grade. Like yin and yang, their opposites somehow fit together like errant puzzle pieces. Whimsy exists in a world of vibrant dreams and imagination, while Lainey is pragmatic and even-keeled, which anchors Abigail. Because nothing good can last forever, the girls have one final summer together before Lainey goes off to a fancy college, leaving Abigail behind.

Before Lainey leaves, Abigail has devised a plan. They will create a map (complete with a detailed legend) and explore all the mysteries of their town—dismantle the “thin” places, using her late grandmother’s journal (chaotic musings) as a guide.

As they delve deeper into the journey, Abigail’s reality becomes skewed, and Lainey’s attempts to keep her friend’s sanity in check become more difficult. The places they visit awaken a humming within Abigail, and the more they add to the map, the louder the hum becomes.

Whimsy and Bliss is a coming-of-age literary masterpiece. Angela Gray’s writing is known for its vivid imagery and deep metaphors, and this novel is no exception. Readers will quickly be immersed in Abigail’s world of wanderlust, where magic and realism become blurred. Beyond that, the character-driven story explores themes of friendship, self-discovery, and bridging the transition from childhood to young adulthood.

Sometimes it can be hard to decipher the difference between imagination and illness. The author has done an excellent job of illustrating Abigail’s unraveling—the whispering of nature, the ebb and flow of the hum, and the excitement turned obsession. With every place Abigail and Lainey traversed, I fell more in tune with Abigail’s frequency, at times questioning what was real and what was fictitious—this is the type of story that makes you see the world differently.

Whimsy and Bliss certainly highlights the plight of mental illness, particularly hypomania. Still, at its core, the novel’s overarching message is one of connection and trust—it’s the impenetrable sisterhood between two young women on the cusp of adulthood. In a world that is often stuck in the me-versus-you mentality, the solidarity between friends is refreshing, teaching us that we don’t have to suffer alone; we can lean on others for support.

For readers who love young adult books about friendship and adventure with a focus on mental health, this literary gem will appeal to you. Angela Gray’s exquisite prose is unmatched, and the multilayered characters are memorable. Abigail and Lainey’s map of thin places will forever hold a special place in my heart.

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Of Laughter & Heartbreak book trailer

This is the summer of locked doors, fragile rituals, and the ghosts that keep count.

I’m Stevie Matthews—almost sixteen, the kind of girl people whisper about. “Bat-shit crazy,” they say. Maybe they’re right. This summer, the order cracks. Obsessive thoughts tighten like barbed wire, rituals multiply, and the only way forward is a hospital stay I never asked for.

Behind those doors, I meet strangers who feel both broken and familiar, each carrying their own secret galaxies of fear and hope. Together, we make a kind of map—messy, jagged, stitched with laughter, unraveling with heartbreak.

This is the story of how I learn that friendship can be born from accident, that healing isn’t neat or pretty, and that sometimes the bravest thing is to stay.

This book is a tender, unflinching portrait of adolescence, OCD, and the fragile alchemy of survival—equal parts bruised and luminous, like a diary written in ink and ghost light.

anxiety bipolar disorder book review chronic mental illness cognitive behavioral therapy compulsory thoughts delusions depression grandiosity grief group therapy hallucinations healing how to write a memoir how to write a novel intrusive thoughts Journaling meditation memoir writing tips mental health mental illness mindfulness Obsessive Compulsive Disorder OCD psychosis psychotherapy PTSD schizophrenia self-actualizatoin self-harm social anxiety disorder social withdrawal stress reduction suicide support group work writing writing for healing writing for mental health writing suggestions writing therapy YA fiction YA fiction about mental illness YA novel YA novel about mental illness YA romance

Secret Whispers book trailer

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Déjà vu book trailer

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Secret Whispers available on 04/11/21

A beautiful family hiding dysfunction.

A house full of secrets.

An intelligent, creative, and schizophrenic girl.

An awkward, awesome, zealous boy.

Noxious peers. Worse high school. Embarrassing moments.

Danger lurks. Young love.  Reality?

What befalls one on an unraveling journey? And what is it like to question one’s own sanity? Adria is a high school junior with a penchant for painting and a clear goal: to hide the changes from anyone and everyone. In reality, she’s just developing schizophrenia. Genes are not in Adria’s corner. With an uncle as well as an older brother with paranoid schizophrenia, she’s got the family ties that make her life a challenge. Not that she needs any more stress. As the primary caregiver to her younger siblings, Adria’s life couldn’t be anything less than jam-packed and ready to implode. Adria must choose whether to risk everything, including her sanity and a first love, in a desperate attempt to save her family from the evil that stalks them.

Then there’s Ben, an awkward average teen but totally in awe at what he sees in Adria: a curious, quirky, and calm-natured dream that just applied for a job at the same store. He can’t help but be magnetically drawn to everything that is Adria, whom he meets when the odds are against her: in school, at their part-time job, and at home, especially. Little does he know her outward deficiencies are only the tip of the iceberg. Will he save the girl of his dreams, or is she destined to falter and pull him under with her when her mental health condition triggers.

Angela Grey, a writer with paranoid schizophrenia,, OCD, PTSD, and social anxiety, whom herself spent time in a psychiatric hospital, has created a memorable moving tale about the sometimes unexpected and challenging road to first love.

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls

BookBrushImage-Coming Soon MMIWG

“Just because a woman dresses provocatively doesn’t mean she should be assaulted, raped, or murdered. Talk about judging a book by its frickin’ cover.” Native American Tribal Detective Seargent Jessica Stone counters FBI Special Agent Casey Borgreve while they sit in his FBI SUV on a stakeout of The Copper Mule bar and grill.
“I’m just saying the missing person photos we show would be more effective if she’s dressed a bit more modestly.” Casey chokes on his words, realizing how old-fashioned he sounds as he hears himself speak. “You know what, you’re right. I’m sorry. It must just be my small town, WASP upbringing.”
“And while we’re at it, just because a woman accepts a few drinks doesn’t make her available to assault, rape, or murder, either.” Stone admonishes Borgreve. “And white anglo-Saxon protestant isn’t an excuse either. I know WASP’s without such restrictive beliefs, you ass.”