allthingsJulie Ann Weinstein and Phil Harris Check in For All Things That Matter Press. I was anticipating new-age for some reason, (not that there’s anything wrong with that, ohm-ing, healing stones, etc), but was corrected: good fiction, nice humans. Guess I’ll have to learn to open my 4th Chakra on my own.

Q (Nicolle Elizabeth): Hi Julie! I see you are the administrator of a Group for ALL THINGS THAT MATTER PRESS here at Fictionaut. This is an interesting press to me and an interesting group because the press publishes “spiritual, self-growth, personal transformation, fiction and non-fiction books with a strong message” which I am intrigued about. Can you give us some info on the press and the sort of work it puts out as well as the Fictionaut group as a whole?

A: Phil as publisher/editor can answer this more specifically. I will answer it from my perspective as a reader. Each of the books from All Things That Matter Press that I’ve read so far including, Memoirs from the Asylum, Musical Chairs, The Turn of the Karmic Wheel, Ghost Runners, God’s Vacation and The Healings all have a distinct message. These are books that mix compelling characters and language with subtle social commentary. These are written by authors that look at the world around them and put something back out there that makes you think. These are books that contribute to the social consciousness. I think this is representative of the kinds of books All Things That Matter Press is publishing.

Q: Anything we can do to help the Group? We like it when everyone’s in a pleasant mood.

A: Yes, encourage people to join. Let’s have dialogue about things that matter…good stories, that make you think…

Q: This may be a Q for your Publisher Phil, but the press is the member of the Maine Writer’s Alliance. I heart advocacy groups. What’s that all about?

A: Oh me too… Let’s have Phil answer this one.

So Nicolle Asks Phil Harris. You guys know Phil. Q: Phil, the press is the member of the Maine Writer’s Alliance, and you guys are into social awareness stuff I think. I heart advocacy groups. What’s that all about?

A (Phil): The MWA is an alliance of writers and publishers that seek to promote Maine authors. There are many in-state conferences, books sharings, and author events. Since we are in Maine it only makes sense.

Q: So the press publishes many genres, just to be clear, here?

A (Phil): We are open to almost all genres because there are so many ways for writers to speak from their minds and hearts. As we say on our web site, if we like it, we will publish it. We love books with a strong message; this can happen in poetry, flash fiction, non-fiction, speculative fiction, and so many other ways. Sorry to say that the only genres we do not do are children’s books (maybe some day), and, generally speaking, although with exceptional exceptions, young adult.

Q: Do you have anything in like, holiday season stress relief?

A (Julie): The Healings by Oana.

Here you have the odd couple, except Oscar or maybe it’s Felix is a cat instead of a person. Together the narrator and the cat go on a journey with soothsayers, dust bunnies and every oddball healer you can imagine. The cat is everywhere with witticisms even when she’s hiding in the closet and is embarrassed by the extreme measures her significant other takes to get healthy from a blue to a green pill to trying on jobs like a pair of shoes that entails joining the small people’s society where the plan is to take a good person down and which doesn’t quite work as planned. And there are lottery winnings with some more vulgar tongue and cheek exploration including exotic travels and dining with cannibals. It’s one hilarious ride after the next.

Q: Please tell us more about you, your projects, anything you’d like to say here!

A Julie: Last week my new story collection, Flashes from the Other World received its 13th Five Star Review on Amazon: I’m very excited about what the reviewers are saying about my book. One Top Ten Amazon Reviewer likens writing to Serling and Emily Dickinson. “Reading Julie Ann Weinstein’s collection of brief ‘flash’ stories is like moving out, away from the center where most stories dwell, uncontrolled by the laws of gravity, picking up momentary fragments of reality and then spinning out of control to create a place where Weinstein can create a brilliant moment of her own brand of reality that floats along seducing the reader on every page to this collection.”

Another Reviewer says, “Stories are wild and wacky, scary and secretive, magical and free.” (Midwest Book Review)

(From the jacket copy:

Magic without the hocus pocus, these stories explore the ethereal blur between reality and not, between dream and sleep, between love and other than love. They present relationships with a tender wackiness. Tossed into the mix are mischievous ghosts, who give the talking plants and even the seductive and vocal grains of sand a run for their money. Quirky and offbeat, these stories will touch your heart, although they may tug at your funny bone first. )

I am currently working on a novel in stories. It’s a spin off from Flashes from the Other World and features a clairvoyant gal who interacts with ghosts from the time she’s eight to about twenty-five. It’s in the magic realism vein with a paranormal slant like my current book, Flashes from the Other World.

I have a forthcoming story in the San Antonio Current and a story in A Word With You Press’ Tight Right contest

You can learn more about my book and current projects on http://www.flashesfromtheotherworld.com and my website, http://www.julieweinstein.com.

Nicolle Elizabeth checks in with Fictionaut Groups every Friday.


  1. Salvatore Buttaci

    To say good things about Phil Harris and ATTMP is to say good things about all the good ATTMP authors! Thank you, Julie.

  1. 1 Fictionaut Interview | Flashes From The Other World

    […] in With All Things That Matter Press Here is a collaborative  interview with Nicolle Elizabeth at Fictionaut, myself and Phil Harris,  publisher of All Things That Matter Press. Share […]



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