Thursday, March 30, 2017

Interview with Edward Rubin, author of The Heatstroke Line



Edward Rubin is University Professor of Law and Political Science at Vanderbilt University.  He specializes in administrative law, constitutional law and legal theory. He is the author of Soul, Self and Society:  The New Morality and the Modern State (Oxford, 2015); Beyond Camelot:  Rethinking Politics and Law for the Modern State (Princeton, 2005) and two books with Malcolm Feeley, Federalism:  Political Identity and Tragic Compromise (Michigan, 2011) and Judicial Policy Making and the Modern State:  How the Courts Reformed America's Prisons (Cambridge, 1998).  In addition, he is the author of two casebooks, The Regulatory State (with Lisa Bressman and Kevin Stack) (2nd ed., 2013); The Payments System (with Robert Cooter) (West, 1990), three edited volumes (one forthcoming) and The Heatstroke Line (Sunbury, 2015) a science fiction novel about the fate of the United States if climate change is not brought under control. Professor Rubin joined Vanderbilt Law School as Dean and the first John Wade–Kent Syverud Professor of Law in July 2005, serving a four-year term that ended in June 2009. Previously, he taught at the University of Pennsylvania Law School from 1998 to 2005, and at the Berkeley School of Law from 1982 to 1998, where he served as an associate dean. Professor Rubin has been chair of the Association of American Law Schools' sections on Administrative Law and Socioeconomics and of its Committee on the Curriculum. He has served as a consultant to the People's Republic of China on administrative law and to the Russian Federation on payments law. He received his undergraduate degree from Princeton and his law degree from Yale.
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He has published four books, three edited volumes, two casebooks, and more than one hundred articles about various aspects of law and political theory. The Heatstroke Line is his first novel.

Website & Social Links:

WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK


About the Book:

Title: THE HEATSTROKE LINE
Author: Edward L. Rubin
Publisher: Sunbury Press
Pages: 223
Genre: Scifi/Cli-Fi (Climate Change Science Fiction)

Nothing has been done to prevent climate change, and the United States has spun into decline.   Storm surges have made coastal cities uninhabitable, blistering heat waves afflict the interior and, in the South (below the Heatstroke Line), life is barely possible.  Under the stress of these events and an ensuing civil war, the nation has broken up into three smaller successor states and tens of tiny principalities.  When the flesh-eating bugs that inhabit the South show up in one of the successor states, Daniel Danten is assigned to venture below the Heatstroke Line and investigate the source of the invasion.  The bizarre and brutal people he encounters, and the disasters that they trigger, reveal the real horror climate change has inflicted on America.  
BUYING INFORMATION:

Amazon | Sunbury Press  | Walmart | B&N


Thanks for this interview, Ed.  Can we begin by having you tell us about yourself from a writer’s standpoint?

            I’m a university professor of law and political science at Vanderbilt University.   I grew up in Brooklyn, New York, went to Princeton and then Yale Law School.  After practicing entertainment law for a few years, I joined the law faculty at Berkeley and I’ve been an academic ever since.  I came to Vanderbilt to be dean of the Law School, but now I’m back on the faculty, teaching and writing.  I write mainly about modern government, but also about its historical development.  My most recent book is Soul, Self, and Society:  The New Morality and the Modern State (Oxford University Press, 2015).  It argues that a new morality is emerging, one that is different, but no less demanding, than the previous morality, and I link this change to our changing ideas about government.  My other books are about American federalism, the prison reform process, and the concepts that we use to describe modern regulatory government.

            I’ve been a science fiction fan my whole life.   I’ve read most of the classics, and try to keep up with the contemporary work in the field.  I teach a political science course to undergraduates called “Visions of the Future in Science Fiction” and joined with several of my colleagues to organize a science fiction reading club at the Law School. So when I thought about writing a novel, science fiction was the natural genre for me.


When not writing, what do you like to do for relaxation and/or fun?

            Pretty much what one might expect:  I read, listen to music, go the movies, and travel.  I used to watch sports on TV, but I find that I don’t have the time now, and that it not as much since the Yankees haven’t been winning. 

Congratulations on your new book! Can you give us the very first page of your book so that we can get a glimpse inside?

            Daniel Danten didn’t really want to have a family. What he wanted was to be a scientist, to teach at a university and produce original research. But this seemed so unlikely, given the state of things in Mountain America, that he decided to hedge his bets or he’d have nothing to show for his life. So he married a woman he convinced himself he was in love with and had three children. As it turned out, somewhat to his own surprise, he achieved his original goal, probably because he switched fields from astronomy to entomology, a subject of enormous practical concern these days. And now, with a secure position at one of Mountain America’s leading universities, his own lab, and a substantial list of publications to his credit, he spent most of his time worrying about his family. His wife, Garenika, was depressed, his ten year old son Michael was suffering from one of the many mysterious ailments that were appearing without warning or explanation, and his fourteen year old daughter Senly was hooked on Phantasie and running wild. Worst of all, his sixteen year old, Joshua, who had always been such a reliable, level-headed and generally gratifying son, had become an American Patriot.
        On a blazing, early September afternoon, with the outdoor temperature spiking at 130 degrees Fahrenheit, he was sitting with Garenika in the waiting room at Denver Diagnostic Clinic while Michael was being examined by still one more doctor. Garenika thought they would get some sort of answer this time, but Dan was convinced that the doctor would come out of the examining room and say that she really couldn’t tell them what the problem is. Senly was spending a rare evening at home and Joshua was just returning from his field trip to the Enamel, an expedition that, Dan felt sure, was designed to make the participants angry, rather than providing them with information. The doctor appeared and Garenika jumped to her feet.


Would you say it’s been a rocky road for you in regards to getting your book written and published or pretty much smooth sailing?  Can you tell us about your journey?

      I was talking to a colleague at Vanderbilt Law School who is one of the leading legal experts in the U.S. about climate change and its potential consequences.  Frustrated by the failure of Congress and the American public to listen to experts and take the issue seriously, he suddenly exclaimed: “I wonder if a work of fiction would be more convincing than academic articles of the sort I’m writing.”    That evening, when I was working at my computer, I remembered what he said and started sketching out the situation for a novel about climate change.  I worked on it off and on for a few days, not knowing whether I would continue, and then, all of a sudden, the situation and the characters came to life for me. The rest of it just flowed.

     Shortly after I finished the book, and while I was still uncertain about what to do with it, I wrote a blog piece for Salon about climate change and the unwillingness of the American public confront what Al Gore has correctly called “an inconvenient truth.”  In the blog, I noted that the current public seems to have an enormous appetite for disaster stories -- books like Earth Abides, Oryx and Crake, The Road, and Station Eleven, or movies such as Max Mad, The Postman, Planet of the Apes, and Waterworld.  Why then, I asked, are we so averse to thinking about the real disaster that awaits us.  My speculation was that these post-apocalyptic books and movies, good as many of them are, use the disaster they envision to clear away the government control and technological complexity of the modern world so they can tell an adventure story with long journeys by foot and hand to hand combat.  They don’t deal with the reality of a disaster like climate change that will degrade our lives and destroy our hopes without freeing us from the intricacies of modern existence.  A few days after the blog appeared, I received an email from Dan Bloom, who invented the term “cli-fi” and runs a blog about the subject.  “Why don’t you write a novel of the kind you tell us isn’t being written,” Dan wrote.  I wrote back and said “I have” and Dan wrote back and said “Send it to me.”  He read it, liked it a lot, and got it published two weeks later with Sunbury Press.



If you had to summarize your book in one sentence, what would that be?

The Heatstroke Line is a science fiction adventure story that is set in a not-too-distant future when the United States has shattered into a number of small, impoverished principalities due to the rising temperatures from uncontrolled global warming and the biological, social and political stresses that result from this climatic change.

What makes your book stand out from the rest?

While it belongs to the genre of post-apocalyptic science fiction, and more particularly to Dan’s Bloom’s sub-genre of cli-fi, it is, as far as I know, the first such book to portray a negative future resulting from the actual threat that climate change creates, which is increasing temperatures.  More significantly still, it differs from other post-apocalyptic novels in not using the envisioned disaster to clear away the modern world.  In The Heatstroke Line, there are still governments, still cars and factories, and still all the mundane details of modern existence.  It’s simply that life has become much worse for nearly all Americans.  In other words, this is a realistic picture of what life might look like in our country if we allow global warming to continue unabated.

If your book was put in the holiday section of the store, what holiday would that be and why?

As you can see from the summary, it is not exactly a holiday-type book.  One scene takes place on Christmas Day, but it is set in the most severely affected part of the U.S. (the South) and the people there have abandoned religion and resorted to a maniacal and futile patriotism instead.   So what they are celebrating is the American victory in the Battle of the Bulge, not Christmas.  The most relevant holiday that I can think of would be Earth Day. I’m not sure that this really counts as a holiday (it should) or that there is a section of most bookstores devoted to it (there should be), but it is certainly the annual event most closely connected to my book.

Would you consider turning your book into a series or has that already been done?

I don’t think so.  I think it says what I wanted to say and ends on with the mixture of despair and hope that I wanted to convey. 


What’s next for you?

I’m writing another science fiction novel, which will also be published by Sunbury.  The main character is a man who runs a French restaurant in a human settlement on a distant planet, and whose sister happens to have become the dictator of a newer settlement on a neighboring planet. The action also centers on people’s response to an environmental disaster, although in this case it’s something other than global warming.  For my day job, I’m writing a book about the theory of democracy and a treatise on administrative law for Oxford University Press.

Monday, March 27, 2017

First Chapter Review: Sealed Up: The Course of Fate: Book One by Steve Dunn Hanson


FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Amazon


Is that a fantastic cover or what? I wanted to review this but because of time restraints I am going to post a first chapter review.

BLURB:

The Da Vinci Code unsettles. SEALED UP shakes to the core! UCLA anthropologist Nathan Hill, in a funk since his young wife’s death, learns of staggering millennia-old chronicles sealed up somewhere in a Mesoamerica cliff. This bombshell rocks him out of his gloom, and he leads a clandestine expedition to uncover them. What are they? Who put them there? No one knows. But, self-absorbed televangelist Brother Luke, who funds the expedition, thinks he does. If he’s right, his power-hunger will have off-the-charts gratification.

 

Striking Audra Chang joins Nathan in his pursuit and brings her own shocking secret. As they struggle through a literal jungle of puzzles and dead ends, she finds herself falling in love with Nathan. Her secret, though, may make that a non-starter.
When a shaman with a thirst for human sacrifice, and a murderous Mexican drug lord with a mysterious connection to Brother Luke emerge, the expedition appears doomed. Yet Nathan is convinced that fate—or something—demands these inscrutable chronicles be unearthed.
And if they are . . . what shattering disruption will they unleash?
Intricately layered and remarkably researched, this enthralling suspense-driven and thought provoking tour de force begs a startling question: Could it happen?

BOOK COVER:

As I mentioned above, this cover is strikingly attractive and matches the theme of the book. I just love it.

FIRST CHAPTER:

We start out with Nacom dying. He motions for Kish to reach for the key around Nacom's neck to open a special box. Kish turns the key and opens it. There are two cloth-covered objects.  Kish goes to open the one on the bottom and Nacom stops him, telling him to close the box. And then Nacom dies.

KEEP READING?:

The imagery with this first chapter is amazing. The author uses descriptive verbiage that helps you to visualize the story happening. Hanson is a great wordsmith. So what's up with the box? And why did Nacom say the word "priest" to Kish?

I will definitely keep reading!


About the Author

I've lived in places that grew me . . . from a small Idaho farm town, a run-down neighborhood in St. Louis, and a middle-class southern California community, to Sydney, Australia, and Bucharest, Romania. My experiences are as varied as the places I've lived. I have a hopper full of "reality" including being a volunteer jail chaplain and flying with a U.S. presidential candidate in his small plane when an engine conked out. And all of this is fodder for my writing.

My latest book is the action/adventure/suspense novel, Sealed Up.

Website & Social Links

WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK

I give this first chapter 5 book trees!


Friday, March 17, 2017

In the Spotlight: The Lord of the Infield Flies by Steve Reilly



Title: THE LORD OF THE INFIELD FLIES
Author: Steve Reilly
Publisher: Strong Books
Pages: 126
Genre: Sports Memoir

The Lord of the Infield Flies will thrill readers with Coach Steve Reilly’s harrowing, challenging, and adventuresome baseball team’s trek from Connecticut to play in Maine. As a prequel to his award winning memoir, The Fat Lady Never Sings, Reilly, a high school baseball coach, narrates the true story from the beginning of his coaching career at the age of 20. In summer 1977, Reilly plans to take his high-school-age team on a weekend trip to the baseball mecca on Cape Cod to play a Massachusetts all-star team. When plans go awry, he jumps at an offer to take the players instead to the serene surroundings of southern Maine to play that state’s all-star team. Most of the team’s starters decline; their hearts had been set on “The Cape.” Determined to go through with his commitment, Reilly gathers ten players to make the four-hour trip in a cabin truck and his car on a Friday night. Will the team arrive in time to battle Maine’s best the following morning?

After his legal alcohol-age players convince him to stop at a package store on the way to buy just a “few beers” for the idyllic cabin they will be staying at in the resort area of Old Orchard Beach, they exit the package store with hand trucks filled with cases of beer. Chaos reigns. The cabin truck with its inebriated players gets separated from Reilly’s vehicle, losing half the team traveling in the opposite direction in Massachusetts! Will the team ever get to Maine? Will the team play Maine’s all-stars? And, will the players make it back to Connecticut?  

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Amazon


Book Excerpt:

March 25, 2005

T
HE PEARL WHITE DOOR opened before me. A gaunt man wearing a gray pin-striped suit and goatee held the door open with his left hand and gestured with his right hand for me to enter. As I passed through the door, nervousness came over me. The strong scent of roses reminded me where I was. A pedestal sign directed me to go left. After an elderly couple crossed my path with their heads down, another pedestal sign directed me to the right down a narrow hallway. To my surprise, the hallway was empty. At the end of the hallway stood a wooden pedestal with a gold banker’s lamp lit above an open book. I grasped the pen from the slot carved in the pedestal and signed the book like a schoolboy as I made sure my penmanship was within the lines. I picked up a small card from a slot in back of the pedestal and put it in the pocket of my dress shirt; there would be plenty of time to read the poem later. With no one in front of me, I stood alongside the doorway as if waiting for permission to enter, but none was needed. As I stood in the doorway about to enter the quiet room, I thought about the summer of 1977 and my Senior Babe Ruth baseball team’s trip to Maine the last weekend of July.


About the Author

Since 1976, Steve Reilly, a practicing attorney, has coached high school baseball in Connecticut’s Lower Naugatuck Valley. He has spent the last thirty years assisting other high school coaches and is currently in his seventeenth season at Seymour High. Reilly and his wife, Suzanne, live in Seymour, Connecticut.

His latest book is the sports memoir, The Lord of the Infield Flies.     

Website & Social Links:

Monday, March 13, 2017

Author Interview: Michael Holloway Perronne



Michael Holloway Perronne is the author of eight books including: "A Time Before Me," "Falling Into Me", "A Time Before Us, Men Can Do Romance"  "Gardens of Hope," and"Embrace the Rain."  His debut novel, "A Time Before Me" won the BronzeAward, Foreword Magazine's Book of the Year Award in the Gay/Lesbian fiction category.  

Michael was born and raised in Mississippi.  He received a BA in Film from the University of Southern Mississippi and a MFA in Drama and Communications from the University of New Orleans.  
 
He currently resides in Southern California and is working on his next novel, "The Other Side of Happy."

His recent release is Gardens of Hope.

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:

WEBSITE | GOODREADS | FACEBOOK



About the Book:

On the surface, Jack appears to have all a man in World War II era 1941 could want with his solid middle-class background, upcoming college graduation, and the perfect, devoted fiancee. But one
night when he accidentally stumbles upon a shadow life of men who desire other men in a Downtown Los Angeles park, he begins to realize exactly what has always left him with a feeling of emptiness.
Despite the constant danger of being arrested by vice cops, Jack continues to visit the park every chance he has to feel a connection, no matter how fleeting, with another man. One night he meets a handsome and charismatic Japanese-American, Hiro, who appears to want more than a quick encounter, and Jack surprises himself by starting to truly fall in love for the first time.

However, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt issues Executive Order 9066 and orders the mandatory relocation of over 100,000 Japanese-Americans, who have never been charged with a crime, to far flung internment camps sites. Jack and Hiro suddenly find themselves torn apart before their secret, fledgling romance can blossom. Desperate to find and reconnect with Hiro, Jack accepts a high school teaching position at an internment camp in the California desert, Manzanar. There, surrounded by armed guard towers and a prison-like environment, Jack begins to fully realize the injustices being faced by Japanese-Americans during one of the most controversial times of United States history and shifts his world view- forever.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble



Thanks for this interview, Michael.  Can we begin by having you tell us about yourself from a writer’s standpoint?

When not writing, what do you like to do for relaxation and/or fun?  I love travel.  I believe it’s such an enriching experience to be exposed to new cultures and expand your worldview.  It also reminds you that despite our differences all over the world, we’re all much more alike than we are different.  Unfortunately, it’s those differences we tend to focus on at times.

Congratulations on your new book! Can you give us the very first page of your book so that we can get a glimpse inside? 

Prologue- April 2004

I couldn’t tell you what I had for lunch the day before, but with complete and total clarity I can remember the smile on Hiro’s face the first time we met back in 1941. I had startled at the sight of him sitting on the bench across from me with the moonlight providing the only illumination. Something shifted inside me when we made eye contact. What seemed impossible before, more than a quick, hushed encounter with another man, suddenly became attainable. That chance meeting was so different than the ones I had had before which consisted of fumblings and quick moments of physical intimacy. With Hiro, mutual tender touches and words of affection opened a whole new world to me even though we both realized the strict limitations of what society would allow us to have at the time.
Don’t get me wrong. I loved Howard, the love of my life I met many years later. We spent twenty-eight good years together. Sure, we had our challenges like any couple, including watching so many of our friends pass away in the 1980s that funerals frighteningly became as common as a trip to the grocery store.
 I met Howard in 1972 at the Twin Peaks bar in the Castro area of San Francisco right after it became the first gay bar to have actual windows where the patrons could see outside and vice versa. He stood out to me with his fit build and thick silver hair. Just a few weeks earlier, I had turned fifty-three. I had long given up on love at that point, but in this case love seemed to find me and not the other way around. We bonded that night over our dislike for the loud music the bars were so fond of blasting. At the time, there weren’t many other options for meeting men like us, so hanging out at a bar was the default for socializing. We both made our way outside to smoke cigarettes and continue our conversation. Six weeks later he moved in with me and our lives gradually merged, and four years ago a stroke, quickly and without any warning, took him away from me.
Still, I kept his reading glasses on the end table next to the sofa as if he might walk into the room at any moment and ask, “Did you see where the hell I put my glasses this time?”
Many, many years before, I had told Howard about Hiro not long after we met one night over dinner at a coffee shop close to Nob Hill.
“Who was your first love?” Howard asked, over a corned beef sandwich.
“You,” I said, giving him my best mischievous grin.
“Don’t bullshit me,” he said smiling and cocking an eyebrow.
 Howard always got right to the point.
I told him about Hiro, Pershing Square Park, the Japanese evacuation from Little Tokyo in Los Angeles, and my surprise reunion with Hiro in a place that would change me and shake my worldview for the rest of my life.
After I told him the whole story, he looked like he was on the verge of tears. Howard, the man whose emotions were made of proverbial steel, began to choke up a little.
“You don’t know what happened…” he started to say.
“No, I don’t,” I said, cutting him off. “I try not to think about some of the possible outcomes, either.”


Would you say it’s been a rocky road for you in regards to getting your book written and published or pretty much smooth sailing?  Can you tell us about your journey?  

Gardens of Hope was my first historical novel, and I was very nervous at first to even attempt writing it.  The forced relocation and imprisonment of over 100,000 Japanese-Americans during World War II is a topic we as country do not like to speak about.  It’s hard to imagine that we did something so “un-American.”  Yet, it happened.  And it’s a reminder of what happens when we let irrational fear overtake our hearts.

If you had to summarize your book in one sentence, what would that be?  

Can two men from the same city but segregated worlds maintain a connection during a time in US history that not only brands one of them as the enemy but denies that a love such as theirs exists?

What makes your book stand out from the rest?

I hope that Gardens of Hope inspires readers to learn more about both Japanese-American internment and the early gay rights movement.

If your book was put in the holiday section of the store, what holiday would that be and why?  

 I would have to say Independence Day, July 4th, as the story is a reminder that we, as a nation, need to stand up for the rights of all of our fellow Americans and not just be moved to action we when feel something impacts us directly.

What’s next for you?

Currently, I am working on a new novel, The Other Side of Happy, that focuses on a divorced couple that is faced with their own prejudices when their teenager comes out as transgender.  I’m hoping that it’s another story that will maybe help start a dialogue on an issue that needs more awareness.


Friday, March 10, 2017

Talking Books with Alba Lewis, author of Relationship Maintenance 4 Men



Alba is an author, comedy podcaster, strategist in the not for profit center, a certified de bono effective thinker and many other things.  Curious about choices and life situations Alba’s books offer the reader a chance to enter fictional and her factional worlds to have fun, encounter themselves, and perhaps even recognise the chances to change.

Her latest book is the self-help book, Relationship Maintenance 4 Men.

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:

WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK


About the Book:

A practical guide to support men who love their women with 21 tasks, one each week. 

Written a ‘just do’ guide and based on a survey conducted with over 100 women, the book aims to give actionable tasks that will create better relationships.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Amazon



Thanks for this interview, Alba.  
When not writing, what do you like to do for relaxation and/or fun?

OK.  Over the last decade I have realised that to not become frightened I need to push boundaries, and when I do this I have a lot of fun because I like questioning why can’t I do this or that.  

When I was younger it used to be more physical, but I don’t really want to bungee jump or parachute out of plane, so it’s more mental boundaries now a days for extreme things.

Things like Stand Up Comedy – I did a course recently and ended up doing a 3 minutes set at Komedia, Brighton’s biggest comedy venue.  It was a 12 week course and it pushed every single button inside me, but I did it, and that feeling of being proud for being so brave has never left me.  I still join classes in improv comedy.  I love the few hours of a group of stranger together just letting what’s inside out.  No questions of what you do, where you live or any of the boring stuff, just stepping out and saying one line and waiting for the unknown line of a stranger.  I think this has supported my writing quite considerably.  Learning to be free with thought.

But that’s not strictly relaxing!  I like being with friends with music and dancing, I like meeting strangers – I love meeting strangers, and slow it all down I practice my tai chi which I learned in the garage of a chinese master for 13 years and I teach it. 

I love laughing.  Yes,  more than anything I love laughing.


Congratulations on your new book! Can you give us something specific from your book?

Yes, here’s the action for Week 1 of the 21 week action plan.

WEEK ONE



         This week you take home ONE flower. The aim is to make this flower have significance to her and you need to be able to explain that significance to her. It must NOT be a red rose.
         Example 1: “I picked up this white/pink/purple flower on the way home. For some reason it reminded me of the day I first saw you (because of what you were wearing, because you're pretty, because it's small and bright like you, etc.)”.
         Example 2: “I walked past the flower shop and I saw this pink flower. You remember the dress you wore when we went to........ The colour just reminded me of that dress. You looked so beautiful.”




Notes: (describe how you went about getting the flower and if you got a specific one. Note what you said in giving the flower. Note reaction. Note what you thought about the reaction.  Use this space if you like.

Would you say it’s been a rocky road for you in regards to getting your book written and published or pretty much smooth sailing?  Can you tell us about your journey?

It’s less rocky now because this is my 7th book.  Though all are very different the process, the internal process and the marketing processes are the same, so I am less ‘undone’ by them, I am more kind to myself.

I was offered an opportunity to meet with an agent many years ago with my first novel and though I got some good feedback and though generally she was positive, she wanted me to change too much of what I was trying to write.  And though I am sure commercially she was probably right, I didn’t want to dilute my voice, especially as I was just starting out, and especially because writing was about my voice. In all its imperfections and I didn’t want to be manipulated somewhere.

So once I had decided that, and once I decided to self publish, and once I decide to learn the technology of getting books on line – something which has become super simple over the last 5 years even – I write and I get them out there.

Also self publishing means you can write about anything, whilst what tends to happen is if you go mainstream you tend to have to fit into a certain genre and keep doing that if it works.  My aim is to write about whatever I want, or see, or feel.  From cookery books, to self-help, from memoirs to sad novellas.  It’s me splurging what is inside out, and forgetting the outcome – as much as possible!

If you had to summarize your book in one sentence, what would that be?

It’s for straight men who love their woman

What makes your book stand out from the rest?

It’s concise, it’s practical and it will help men who love their woman to have better relationships. It has no psychobabble and I will give people their money back if it doesn’t make things better for them!

If your book was put in the holiday section of the store, what holiday would that be and why?

That’s an extrememly hard question to answer, because this book relies on the man not telling the woman he is reading this, so it would have to be any holiday where he is either on his own.  So there would need to be a holiday section called “Fast guides to read on holiday for a better life”.  Something like that!

Would you consider turning your book into a series or has that already been done?

It would be easy to extend this into a series of actions as they are limitless. It also lends itself to an email ‘course’ that is available for those who do not want to read a book but just want the action sent to them to their email.

What’s next for you?

My next project is a fiction book about a female killer!  I’m interested in most of our murders being men and want to explore what a female murder would like and what her background could be that would end up with her in that scenario.  The first part of the book sets her character up by going through the things that happen to her as a child, which then lead into the second part which is in the present day. It’s called Fatal Façade.

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Book Feature: The Dilution of America by Louis C. Gilde & Lawrence C. Gambone



Inside the Book:


Title: The Dilution of America
Author: Louis C. Gilde with Lawrence C. Gambone
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Genre: Biography
Format: Ebook

The Dilution of America

America, American society and American industry have all become diluted. What this means is that the country’s political-social-economic situation no longer reflects the design and purpose our founding fathers intended. Many factors play into this problem; and Lou Gilde and Larry Gambone have successfully teamed up in an attempt to cite most of them:

The failure of the “Greatest Generation” to prevent the insidious creep  of socialism;

 The paradigm change from business/government cooperation to  anti-business sentiment;

 The failure of our inner-city programs, to include industry incentives  and schools;

 The curtailing of religious expression and moral behavior;

 The eroding of true representative governance by a bloated, unwieldy,  and unaccountable bureaucracy;

 The demise of a true free enterprise system resulting from over  regulation; and

 The movement from capitalism to socialism by ever-increasing  entitlement (socialistic) programs.

We have reached an important turning point with the economy, the environment, and with the many socio-political issues facing our great nation. Unless the average voter realizes that government is handcuffing our economy, we will suffer economic malaise and worse. Our present approach to governance must be reversed if we are to remain an economic powerhouse in the 21st century.

To do this, we need an educated electorate who will vote wisely in the coming elections in order to resolve the many Governmental problems that have occurred in the past. Until the American voters recognize the fact that Government is its own worst enemy -- and is unintentionally becoming an enemy of the people, the environment, and the economy -- we will continue down the path to ruin. Walt Kelly, in the comic strip, Pogo, said it best: “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

About the Author

Mr. Gilde's life experiences provide an interesting perspective challenging the concept of America's "Greatest Generation." He volunteered for World War II service in November of 1942 and spent twenty months overseas in the European Theater.

His entire professional career was spent as an industrial environmentalist with unique involvement in cooperative efforts with federal researchers prior to the creation of USEPA. This activity based on innovative waste water treatment resulted in over twenty presentations in the U.S. and overseas.

Because of the early research work, he collaborated with USEPA as an advisor in the preparation of its field manual on "Overland Flow Treatment of Waste Waters" and was awarded in 1979 by Region II EPA Certificate of Appreciation. During the 1970's he testified before Congress concerning rule makings in the environmental area that created unnecessary costs for business resulting in increased costs for citizens. Mr. Gilde also obtained two patents in the environmental field.

During retirement Mr. Gilde did volunteer work for the World Environment Center, a non-profit spinoff from the United Nations assisting U.S. Aide from the State Department on environmental projects incorporate in U.S. Aide programs. He consulted in over a half dozen projects for different countries and was sent to Egypt and Romania to conduct studies.

Mr. Gilde witnessed environmental matters from an unusual perspective in relation to business, government and the economy including the location of numerous new plant sites vs. older plants in distressed areas. He sets forth recommendations for a less confrontational future to foster a more dynamic economy where most of the federal bureaucracy is eliminated and the states are free to soar even higher than Texas and other pro-economy states. A section of the book is devoted to the revitalization of the City of Camden, NJ as a national demonstration for urban America.

Giveaway

Louis is giving away a $25 Gift Card!

 
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  • By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.
  • One winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter to receive one $25 Gift Certificate to the e-retailer of your choice
  • This giveaway begins February 27 and ends on March 10.
  • Winners will be contacted via email on March 11.
  • Winner has 48 hours to reply.
Good luck everyone!

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Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Book Feature: Pauli the Musical Pumpkin by Pamela O. Guidry



Inside the Book:


Title: Pauli the Musical Pumpkin
Author: Pamela O. Guidry
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Format: Ebook

This is an inspiring story of a family whose characters depend on each other's unique personality traits to see them through life's little journeys. With Luis, the strength and leadership is dominant, and Erin's motherly love is profound. The two boys are very different both in looks and in spirit. Dominic is adventuresome, and the outdoors is his passion, whereas Donovan's love for beauty and music is his motivation. Pauli, different from any of his family, is talented and musical and brings forth a feeling of magic when he plays his beautiful music. In the end, the family is reunited and reassured. Each of us is special in our own way. As long as we have each other, anything is possible.

Meet the Author:
Pamela O. Guidry was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1960. My parents were the most loving and wonderful parents. I grew up in a family of six children. With three sisters and two brothers, an adventure was always just around the corner. Because family is the most fundamental purpose in life, the experiences we have shared have shaped my life. At an early age, I developed a passion for music, as well as a love for art and creativity. As an adult, I further pursued the imagination and use of colors and textures in my work as a decorator. And now, my passion is to travel the world so that I may experience the beauty of nature and the people I meet along the way.

Giveaway

Pamela is giving away a $25 Gift Card!

 
Terms & Conditions:
  • By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.
  • One winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter to receive one $25 Gift Certificate to the e-retailer of your choice
  • This giveaway begins February 27 and ends on March 10.
  • Winners will be contacted via email on March 11.
  • Winner has 48 hours to reply.
Good luck everyone!

ENTER TO WIN!

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Book Feature: Party Girl Nurse's Journey by Victoria Godwin



Inside the Book:


Title: Party Girl Nurse's Journey
Author: Victoria Godwin
Publisher: Xlibris
Genre: General Fiction
Format: Ebook

She was born with a silver spoon in her mouth, with a perfect family and childhood. Then gradually she found herself in a foreign world learning a foreign language-the drug world. Her whole life changed, and so did the lives of those around her whom she loved

Meet the Author:
She is an author who is passionate about helping others cope with the changing world that we are now living in. We are not alone, and she presents this all throughout her book

Giveaway

Victoria is giving away a $25 Gift Card!

 
Terms & Conditions:
  • By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.
  • One winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter to receive one $25 Gift Certificate to the e-retailer of your choice
  • This giveaway begins February 27 and ends on March 10.
  • Winners will be contacted via email on March 11.
  • Winner has 48 hours to reply.
Good luck everyone!

ENTER TO WIN!

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Book Blast: The Shadow Crucible by Tamara Lakomy #bookblast


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We invite you to Tamara Lakomy's THE SHADOW CRUCIBLE: THE BLIND GOD Book Blast at The Literary Nook! Please leave a comment to let Tamara know you stopped by or share this page through your social networks!
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Title: THE SHADOW CRUCIBLE: THE BLIND GOD
Author: T.M. Lakomy
Publisher: Select Books
Pages: 400
Genre: Dark Fantasy

In a world where angels, demons, and gods fight over the possession of mortal souls, two conflicted pawns are ensnared in a cruel game. The enigmatic seer Estella finds herself thrown together with Count Mikhail, a dogmatic Templar dedicated to subjugating her kind. But when a corrupted cardinal and puppet king begin a systematic genocide of her people, the two become unlikely allies.
Taking humanity back to their primordial beliefs and fears, Estella confronts Mikhail’s faith by revealing the true horror of the lucrative trade in human souls. All organized religions are shops orchestrated to consume mankind. Every deity, religion, and spiritual guide has been corrupted, and each claims to have the monopoly on truth and salvation.

In a perilous game where the truth is distorted and meddling ancient deities converge to partake of the unseen battle, Estella unwittingly finds herself hunted by Lucifer. Traversing the edge of hell’s precipice, Estella and Mikhail are reduced to mere instruments. Their only means to overcome is through courting the Threefold Death, the ancient ritual of apotheosis—of man becoming God.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

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Book Excerpt:

He seethed with indignation as he confronted his reflection. Rasping with rage and flexing his fingers impotently, he took in his bruised and broken face. This mirror was the only vanity he was allowed, and now it only offered him the stark knowledge of his ugliness and weakness. Livid, he smote the mirror with his fist. It shattered as he let out an incensed cry, the fragments flying across the floor, glittering sharply in the dimming lights. He looked down at the collage of broken glass and paused, numb with anger.

The shards of the mirror glittered and vibrated, reflecting numerous eyes. Then they slowly began to levitate, all the tiny fragments splintered across the room gathering together and reforming. Swiftly they became whole again, and the mirror floated in the air eerily toward the cardinal. Within the reflection he no longer saw himself, but another being gazing back at him. Lost for breath, he gaped in bewilderment, unable to form words. The being had the fairest of all faces. Beautiful, with an aura of inexorable grace, it had resplendent, shimmering wings—pair upon pair of them in varied iridescent hues. The countenance observed him with a soft smile, measuring him with his intoxicating, lucent blue eyes. “Do you know who I am, old man?” the mirror asked him blithely. The cardinal was immediately enraptured, but could feel the cross burning on his neck. “Take it off and it will not sear your skin,” the angel remarked mildly, his limpid blue eyes gazing lovingly upon the cardinal. The cardinal, like a man too deeply drunken to think, brought his hand to his neck and ripped the cross thoughtlessly off and cast it away. “That is better now, isn’t it? Always bearing the cross. Well, he carried his cross and now he wants the whole world to carry it with him . . . how truly selfish.” The voice, though laced with reproach, was heartrendingly sweet and full of understanding and promise. It rang like silver bells. The cardinal’s mouth hung open indecorously, and he found himself nodding his head in agreement with the angel’s words as his fear began to dissipate. “I do not want you to carry this cross, this heavy burden of debt,” the angel continued. “This false salvation you were peddled is a lie. I, on the contrary, want you to be free, liberated from your thralldom. The earth is your inheritance to rule over as a god, like you were promised. And yet they have deprived you of your freedom. My heart grieves for you,” the angel sympathized, his voice laden with unquenchable sorrow. As the angel spoke, the mirror began to ripple like molten silver, and he emerged from it, as though pushing through a translucent shroud. Robed in white flowing garments, he grasped a long spear in his left hand pointing it downwards, the bitter tip glistening coldly. Standing before the cardinal revealed in his full glory, he smiled fully—but the warmth never reached his detached, frosted gaze. “I want to liberate you from your thralldom,” he said. “I have watched over you all, my tender flock. I am Lucifer, the morning star, the first to greet you with my love into this life, and the last to claim you on my dark stallion of death. I have come to free you.” His persuasive voice was soothing and nurturing, like a gentle river rippling mildly over soft bedrock. The cardinal found himself in a daze of awe, and within him woke his longing for power and lust for dominion. “Come to me, let me free you, and we shall destroy the Twilit world that has robbed you of the gifts that you so deserved.” The fatherly voice of the angel was indignant yet gentle, and he beamed at the cardinal who nodded back eagerly. “Let me into your heart, then. Lead me into your house, in this false edifice erected in the name of God, and let us together find the lost sheep in the house of God. I am his true son, after all, prince of the world.” He glided towards the cardinal, his numerous nacre wings extending into the chamber. They shed their own pearly light, and it seemed he floated like a silver vision. The angel knelt beside the cardinal, gazing into his watery eyes. “Let me into his house.” The voice was slightly more pressing now. The cardinal, dazed, nodded in agreement. With a satisfied smile, the angel touched the cardinal’s chest with a slender finger, right at his heart, and breathed over him. The cardinal groaned, falling instantly asleep. The angel then shifted like a blurring image, colors melting and running, twisting like molten glass into a murky mess of shadow and dirt-colored fumes. The gleaming wings fell to the ground, losing their feathers and rotting instantly. Now instead of the radiant angel, there stood a hooded and cloaked figure, emanating death. Like a black hole, it sucked in all the light around him, exerting a fearsome pull. The light from the candles swirled and were drawn into him, as though he were a gasping sinkhole.

The lights that weren’t drowned out flared in his presence, then guttered as he walked towards the discarded cross lying dully on the ground. With his foot he trampled it into the ground. Then the lights went out and laughter resounded. It echoed through the abbey walls, shaking it to its foundations until all the lights within went out, and all the icons fell to the ground, dashed down by something far more sinister than the raging gale outside.

About the Author


Tamara Lakomy is British born but grew up in North Africa during troubled times. She resides in London.

She studied archaeology and became enamoured with the shamanistic practices of indigenous people.

She is an author and poet who seeks to challenge our notions of reality, and see life with a different perspective.

She works in East Africa with indigenous tribes studying the origins of mankind and the salient golden thread in the tapestry of humanity's beliefs.

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