The Woza Books mission is to publish books that raise the spirits.
Welcome to the Woza Books website where you can find out more about Amy Wachspress and her creative projects. Amy’s most recent publication is the novel GUARDIANS OF WATER, available now from all the usual sources. Tell your local indie bookstore to order this book for you through Ingram.
Woza Books has published Amy’s fantasy adventures for children and young adults featuring Black protagonists. THE CALL TO SHAKABAZ (2007) demonstrates the fundamental principles of nonviolence as practiced by Dr. King and Gandhi in the context of a magical, edge-of-your-seat page-turner that’s a fun read-aloud for the whole family. CHANGING THE PROPHECY (2023) is the long-awaited sequel to THE CALL TO SHAKABAZ and brings back all the beloved characters and more for a new exciting adventure to save Faracadar from destruction. While CHANGING THE PROPHECY is available from all the usual source, THE CALL TO SHAKABAZ is best purchased directly from Woza Books and can be ordered by emailing amy@wozabooks.com.
Amy’s novel for adults, MEMORIES FROM CHERRY HARVEST, was published by Counterpoint Press in 2012.
Announcing the arrival of GUARDIANS OF WATER
Cover Art by Anjelica Colliard
Six diverse women friends meet for the weekend at a beach house to celebrate the year in which they all turn forty. Two weeks later, a petroleum-eating bacteria unleashed in the Gulf of Mexico to contain a spill goes rogue and devours all the raw petroleum products in the world. After the Systems Collapse, each of these women follows her own path to try to survive in a previously unimaginable altered life. From a Washington, DC suburb to a survivalist community in Kentucky, from Manhattan to a working class neighborhood in a town in upstate New York, from Oakland to a Native Rancheria in rural northern California, these women, their families, and their communities summon extraordinary ingenuity, resilience, and vision in the hopes of forging a viable future. A genre-bending work of speculative fiction, Guardians of Water is combination eco-fiction, humanistic sci-fi, and disaster fiction told from women’s perspectives.
WOZA BOOKS
We founded Woza Books in 2006 to publish Amy’s fantasy adventure The Call to Shakabaz, which was launched on King Day in 2007. We invite you to explore our website to find out more about Amy’s creative projects. The sequel, Changing the Prophecy, is now available wherever books are sold.
Woza Books is a small family business so please do not send us manuscripts or queries. Because agents and editors in the publishing industry are overwhelmed with submissions on a daily basis, it’s tough for a new author to get noticed and published, and even tougher to get the word out about a terrific new book. Amy suggests to unpublished authors that you explore your options and consider “going indie” and self-publishing if you are unable to get the attention of a publisher.– Amy Wachspress & Ron Reed
PRAISE FOR THE CALL TO SHAKABAZ
“The Call to Shakabaz is a children’s book that is important for everyone to know about. I suggest you buy it and read it together with the whole family.” — Bev Smith, nationally syndicated talk radio host
“This is a book about finding personal strength, in all different forms, and appreciating the talents of others, and the strength in uniting different people, and so much more! I want to buy a copy for everyone I know, regardless of age, race, or sex. It’s part fantasy, part history lesson, part real life—I can’t even describe it!” — Carrie Spellman, Teens Read Too
“This midgrade fantasy is perfect for a young reluctant reader. We ranked this excellent book five hearts.” — Bob Spear, Heartland Reviews
“First and foremost, The Call to Shakabaz is a highly readable, entertaining fantasy that anyone can enjoy. But beyond that, it fills some important holes in fantasy literature. The four children are African-American and many aspects of African-American culture are integrated into the story. It’s about time that a good fantasy came along featuring characters that African-American children can identify with.” — Sheila Ruth, Wands and Worlds
“When I was a child, no one ever wrote about Black children. We were still calling each other whenever a Black person was coming on TV, ‘Nat King Cole gonna be on TV tonight’. Now, 53 and grandmother to a host of children, to them I can read a tale about Black girls and boys who have adventures, rise above their fears, and so help me God, save the whole wide world! I had to wait 53 years before a Black girl could ride the white horse.” — Jessica Nelson, English teacher, University of San Francisco
“Do you want to read a good adventure book with a great storyline and no violence? If you do, you will want to check out this one. Amy Wachspress has a great imagination. I will definitely read this book again!” — Brianne Plach (age 9) for Readers Views
