Calling all lovers of first-rate literature!

We’re raising funds to support publication of The Blue Door, an extraordinary new novel by Janice Deal.

Donations are tax-deductible, and on this page you’ll find some lovely incentives for contributing to the cause.

“Why act now?” you may ask. Here’s why:

A super-generous, anonymous donor has promised to match every dollar we raise toward our goal. Every contribution gets doubled!

But what makes this project more valuable than other items you might spend money on, such as a Pecan Crunch Oatmilk Latte?

The Blue Door asks a deeply poignant and difficult question: How much responsibility and guilt can a mother bear for a child who has done wrong? Or, to put it simply: How can you relate to your kid who's been convicted of murder?

Our catalog page has a detailed description of the book. The plot is simple in outline: the mother, Flo, takes a long walk, meeting odd characters along the way. Yet this simple journey becomes an odyssey of the soul, a metaphysical search for meaning.

Flo’s odyssey expands on two powerful tales from Janice Deal’s Strange Attractors, which we published in 2023. That collection of linked stories received glowing reviews, and the author has been compared to Chekhov and Flannery O’Connor. In its latest accolade, Strange Attractors was named a finalist for the Chicago Writers Association Book of the Year award.

We know you’ll find The Blue Door a radical adventure, both compulsively readable and meditative—a rare combination. And with your help, we hope to keep the book’s list price under $20, despite the rise in printing and shipping costs.

A note about the series: This book will be the second in our WalkAbout series. After the astonishing reception for Ways of Walking, the essay collection we published in 2022, we realized that the topic of walking deserves more attention in both fiction and creative nonfiction. WalkAbout will honor every kind of journey on foot—the epic and the everyday, the flight and the return, the perilous and the steady—as paths to encounters, discovery, and surprise.

All funds raised will be used strictly to meet out-of-pocket expenses, not to compensate the principals of New Door Books.

Note that all of the donation levels include an autographed copy of The Blue Door. Donors will also be recognized on our website, unless you request to remain anonymous.

When you reach the screen that asks for your billing address, note the "Donation Message" field where you can enter any extra information we'll need. For instance, if the book is a gift for someone else, tell us how to autograph it.

We hope you can chip in—and remember, your contribution will be doubled! If you have questions, comments, or suggestions, please send them via our Contact page. We’d love to hear from you.