About Missouri Breaks Press
Missouri Breaks Press is a boutique publisher owned and operated by Craig through the business he runs with Elisa Lorello, Lancarello Enterprises. After an earlier incarnation as a publisher of fine fiction and nonfiction of the West, it now exists solely as a publishing outlet for Craig's work. It doesn't accept outside submissions, and any manuscripts that are sent in will be discarded, unread. (There's a mission statement, of sorts, if you're interested in reading that.)
Titles through Missouri Breaks Press are offered to the trade at standard discounting terms (without returnability) and exist in hardcover, paperback, audio, and digital formats. Craig retains—and pays—copy editors, e-book designers, and audiobook narrators to assist with the production of these books, as well as relying on his extensive background as a publication editor and designer.
Titles through Missouri Breaks Press are offered to the trade at standard discounting terms (without returnability) and exist in hardcover, paperback, audio, and digital formats. Craig retains—and pays—copy editors, e-book designers, and audiobook narrators to assist with the production of these books, as well as relying on his extensive background as a publication editor and designer.
Fiction
NORTHWARD DREAMS (2024)

Available formats: Hardcover, paperback, audiobook, e-book
Synopsis: More than a decade into the 21st century, Nate Ray is down and in the final throes before he’s out for good. He has burned through jobs and the goodwill of others, including his son, Brandon. When Nate’s dad, Ronnie, summons him for a trip from Texas to Montana to bury Ronnie’s sister, Nate’s self-destruction is put on hold but new and long-simmering issues arise.
Forty years earlier, in Wyoming, Electra Ray plots an escape to an uncertain future, for herself and her five-year-old son. A new friend awaits on the other end, three states away, but first Electra must break cleanly away from the bonds of a neglectful present.
In 2002, recent high school graduate Cherie Bowden is helping her mother settle her grandma’s estate in Billings, Montana, and is already deferring her own dreams. She discovers information that makes her question everything she thinks she knows about the people she comes from.
And in early 1950s Montana, Ronnie Ray—sixteen years old, estranged from the father he barely knows, and on the run from an abusive home life—reaches faithfully toward a connection.
Synopsis: More than a decade into the 21st century, Nate Ray is down and in the final throes before he’s out for good. He has burned through jobs and the goodwill of others, including his son, Brandon. When Nate’s dad, Ronnie, summons him for a trip from Texas to Montana to bury Ronnie’s sister, Nate’s self-destruction is put on hold but new and long-simmering issues arise.
Forty years earlier, in Wyoming, Electra Ray plots an escape to an uncertain future, for herself and her five-year-old son. A new friend awaits on the other end, three states away, but first Electra must break cleanly away from the bonds of a neglectful present.
In 2002, recent high school graduate Cherie Bowden is helping her mother settle her grandma’s estate in Billings, Montana, and is already deferring her own dreams. She discovers information that makes her question everything she thinks she knows about the people she comes from.
And in early 1950s Montana, Ronnie Ray—sixteen years old, estranged from the father he barely knows, and on the run from an abusive home life—reaches faithfully toward a connection.
Save on the list price by ordering direct from the distributor!


JULEP STREET (2017)

Formats: Hardcover, paperback, audiobook, e-book
Synopsis: Carson McCullough has given his career to a singular pursuit—putting out a small daily newspaper that keeps his employees engaged and his hometown informed. But as time and technology conspire against him, Carson's Argus-Dispatch is shuttered by a new owner with a different view of its future.
Stung by the abrupt end of his career and burdened by regret and grudges, Carson and his one true companion, a yellow Lab named Hector, set out on a road trip. As the miles pile up and Carson erratically drives into the residue of past decisions and the consequences of current actions, he confronts questions of love, faith, self-worth, and, perhaps most pressing, whether he can redefine himself after his identity is stripped away.
In this novel, Craig Lancaster returns to the broad themes of his award-winning work and goes deeper yet, straight into the heart and mind of a good man who has lost his way and is struggling against himself to set things right.
Awards and honors: 2017 Best Book Awards finalist
Synopsis: Carson McCullough has given his career to a singular pursuit—putting out a small daily newspaper that keeps his employees engaged and his hometown informed. But as time and technology conspire against him, Carson's Argus-Dispatch is shuttered by a new owner with a different view of its future.
Stung by the abrupt end of his career and burdened by regret and grudges, Carson and his one true companion, a yellow Lab named Hector, set out on a road trip. As the miles pile up and Carson erratically drives into the residue of past decisions and the consequences of current actions, he confronts questions of love, faith, self-worth, and, perhaps most pressing, whether he can redefine himself after his identity is stripped away.
In this novel, Craig Lancaster returns to the broad themes of his award-winning work and goes deeper yet, straight into the heart and mind of a good man who has lost his way and is struggling against himself to set things right.
Awards and honors: 2017 Best Book Awards finalist
Save on the list price by ordering direct from the distributor!

EDWARD UNSPOOLED (2016)

Formats: Paperback, Kindle, audiobook.
Synopsis: This is the third book of Craig's trilogy (so far) of Edward Stanton novels.
Change keeps stalking Edward. He and his new wife, Sheila, have retreated to his small house in Montana after an unsuccessful attempt at operating a motel in Colorado. That failure has left wounds, especially for Sheila, and now they face a bigger challenge: pregnancy and impending parenthood.
Edward begins penning notes to the child (ever precise, he refers to the gestating being as "Cellular Stanton") as he navigates married life with Sheila, who is unhappy and unfulfilled in Montana; a work partnership with his friend Scott Shamwell, whose own life is teetering; and the emergence of a long-buried family secret and the effect of this revelation on his relationship with his overbearing mother.
Even as Edward's world expands, he must confront questions about whom to let in, how much to give, the very definition of family, the fragility of hope, and the expanses of love.
Awards and honors: 2017 Best Book Awards winner; 2017 International Book Awards finalist
Synopsis: This is the third book of Craig's trilogy (so far) of Edward Stanton novels.
Change keeps stalking Edward. He and his new wife, Sheila, have retreated to his small house in Montana after an unsuccessful attempt at operating a motel in Colorado. That failure has left wounds, especially for Sheila, and now they face a bigger challenge: pregnancy and impending parenthood.
Edward begins penning notes to the child (ever precise, he refers to the gestating being as "Cellular Stanton") as he navigates married life with Sheila, who is unhappy and unfulfilled in Montana; a work partnership with his friend Scott Shamwell, whose own life is teetering; and the emergence of a long-buried family secret and the effect of this revelation on his relationship with his overbearing mother.
Even as Edward's world expands, he must confront questions about whom to let in, how much to give, the very definition of family, the fragility of hope, and the expanses of love.
Awards and honors: 2017 Best Book Awards winner; 2017 International Book Awards finalist
THE SUMMER SON (2017)

Formats: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle, audiobook
Synopsis: Originally published by Lake Union Publishing in 2011, this book was reclaimed by Craig and released through Missouri Breaks Press.
Mitch Quillen’s marriage and career are failing, and his relationship with his father has been a disaster for decades. Approaching forty, Mitch doesn’t want to become a middle-aged statistic. When his estranged father, Jim, suddenly calls, Mitch’s wife urges him to respond. Mitch heads to Montana and a confrontation that will alter the course of his life.
Amid a backdrop of rugged peaks and valleys, the story unfolds: violence that triggered the rift, thirty years of miscommunication, and the possibility of misplaced blame.
In The Summer Son, award-winning author Craig Lancaster delivers a powerful novel that invites readers into a family where conflict and secrets prevail, and where hope for healing and redemption abides.
Awards and honors: 2010 Utah Book Award finalist
Synopsis: Originally published by Lake Union Publishing in 2011, this book was reclaimed by Craig and released through Missouri Breaks Press.
Mitch Quillen’s marriage and career are failing, and his relationship with his father has been a disaster for decades. Approaching forty, Mitch doesn’t want to become a middle-aged statistic. When his estranged father, Jim, suddenly calls, Mitch’s wife urges him to respond. Mitch heads to Montana and a confrontation that will alter the course of his life.
Amid a backdrop of rugged peaks and valleys, the story unfolds: violence that triggered the rift, thirty years of miscommunication, and the possibility of misplaced blame.
In The Summer Son, award-winning author Craig Lancaster delivers a powerful novel that invites readers into a family where conflict and secrets prevail, and where hope for healing and redemption abides.
Awards and honors: 2010 Utah Book Award finalist
Save on the list price by ordering direct from the distributor!

THE ART OF DEPARTURE (2016)

Formats: Paperback, Kindle
Synopsis: Originally published in 2011 as Quantum Physics and the Art of Departure, this collection of short stories—a gold medal winner in the Independent Publishers Book Awards—was re-released in 2016 with a truncated title, new stories, and a foreword by novelist David Abrams (Fobbit, Brave Deeds).
A basketball coach gets caught between his team, his family, and the expectations of a town with a thirst for winning. A traveling salesman, stranded far from home, explores the dark corners of his life on a late-night bus ride. A prison inmate clings to his dignity and self-righteousness in a place where everything else is stripped away. A teenage runaway finds unexpected shelter. Mismatched lovers flail away from each other.
Craig Lancaster’s debut collection of short fiction, originally released in 2011 to enthusiastic reviews, mined his home terrain of Montana and took on the notion of separation—from comfort, from ideas, from people, from security. This collection goes deep into farms, cities and suburbs, into love and despair, into what motivates us and what scares us, peeling back the layers of our humanity with every page.
Awards and honors: 2012 Independent Publisher Book Awards gold-medal winner; High Plains Book Award finalist
Synopsis: Originally published in 2011 as Quantum Physics and the Art of Departure, this collection of short stories—a gold medal winner in the Independent Publishers Book Awards—was re-released in 2016 with a truncated title, new stories, and a foreword by novelist David Abrams (Fobbit, Brave Deeds).
A basketball coach gets caught between his team, his family, and the expectations of a town with a thirst for winning. A traveling salesman, stranded far from home, explores the dark corners of his life on a late-night bus ride. A prison inmate clings to his dignity and self-righteousness in a place where everything else is stripped away. A teenage runaway finds unexpected shelter. Mismatched lovers flail away from each other.
Craig Lancaster’s debut collection of short fiction, originally released in 2011 to enthusiastic reviews, mined his home terrain of Montana and took on the notion of separation—from comfort, from ideas, from people, from security. This collection goes deep into farms, cities and suburbs, into love and despair, into what motivates us and what scares us, peeling back the layers of our humanity with every page.
Awards and honors: 2012 Independent Publisher Book Awards gold-medal winner; High Plains Book Award finalist
Plays
THE GARISH SUN (2024)

Format: Paperback
World premiere: November 2024, Yellowstone Repertory Theatre
Synopsis: Sonny Sturgis, Pulitzer Prize winner and the editor of a failing Montana newspaper, is tired and heartsick.
When the loathsome owner of the paper, Livingston Sloane, shows up one morning to say it’s the end of the line for the newspaper and for the editor’s career, Sonny faces a choice: Put out one last lame issue, as Livingston prescribes, or pull together his limited resources for a final blockbuster story.
With the help of his best reporter, Randi Hutch, and an unexpected newcomer, former football star and aspiring journalist Dexter Collins, Sonny decides he must unearth a story that demands to be told. To get it out to the people who need to read it, this ragtag crew must overcome corruption, the steadily ticking clock, and personal circumstances that have put Sonny on the sideline for too long.
World premiere: November 2024, Yellowstone Repertory Theatre
Synopsis: Sonny Sturgis, Pulitzer Prize winner and the editor of a failing Montana newspaper, is tired and heartsick.
When the loathsome owner of the paper, Livingston Sloane, shows up one morning to say it’s the end of the line for the newspaper and for the editor’s career, Sonny faces a choice: Put out one last lame issue, as Livingston prescribes, or pull together his limited resources for a final blockbuster story.
With the help of his best reporter, Randi Hutch, and an unexpected newcomer, former football star and aspiring journalist Dexter Collins, Sonny decides he must unearth a story that demands to be told. To get it out to the people who need to read it, this ragtag crew must overcome corruption, the steadily ticking clock, and personal circumstances that have put Sonny on the sideline for too long.
Save on the list price by ordering direct from the distributor!

STRAIGHT ON TO STARDUST (2023)

Format: Paperback
World premiere: October 2023, Yellowstone Repertory Theatre
Synopsis: Straight On To Stardust, the first full-length play by two-time High Plains Book Award winner Craig Lancaster, opens with a dead father, a son who made a promise to him, and an old dog who’s along for the ride.
As Clinton Cobb carries his dad’s body from Billings, Montana, to burial in Albuquerque, New Mexico, he must confront his memories, the steadily worsening weather, and the hopes and fears of his adult daughter and his ex-wife back home. As Clinton draws nearer to his destination, his past comes full circle and forces him to confront the pain he has buried deep and the details of his past he hasn’t shared with those who love him.
It’s an examination of love, loss, and longing, one that attempts to bridge the chasms that develop among family members who don’t know how to talk to each other.
World premiere: October 2023, Yellowstone Repertory Theatre
Synopsis: Straight On To Stardust, the first full-length play by two-time High Plains Book Award winner Craig Lancaster, opens with a dead father, a son who made a promise to him, and an old dog who’s along for the ride.
As Clinton Cobb carries his dad’s body from Billings, Montana, to burial in Albuquerque, New Mexico, he must confront his memories, the steadily worsening weather, and the hopes and fears of his adult daughter and his ex-wife back home. As Clinton draws nearer to his destination, his past comes full circle and forces him to confront the pain he has buried deep and the details of his past he hasn’t shared with those who love him.
It’s an examination of love, loss, and longing, one that attempts to bridge the chasms that develop among family members who don’t know how to talk to each other.
Save on the list price by ordering direct from the distributor!
