Title: The Sage Age: Blending Science with Intuitive Wisdom
Author: MaAnna Stephenson
Publisher: Nightengale Pres
ISBN: 978-1933449630
356 Pages
$19.99
Paperback - 8 x 10
Available at Amazon.com
Combining the knowledge of physics with intuitive practice is no small task. The two disciplines often use the same words to mean entirely different things. Written for the seeker with more than a casual interest, The Sage Age – Blending Science with Intuitive Wisdom demystifies complex ideas with intelligent analogies and examples designed to appeal to both the scientist and the natural intuitive.
Four years in the writing, this expansive new work combines knowledge from the physical sciences and the intuitive arts to present a visionary perspective that harmonizes these diverse disciplines into one body of knowledge.
With a well-researched approach to its subjects, The Sage Age covers a broad range of material from ancient to modern thought, frontier science and current intuitive practice to deliver a depth and breadth of understanding that culminates in a holistic perspective for our time.
Living up to its mantra of "new models for new thought," The Sage Age is certain to be a catalyst for dialogue and is destined to be a major work in its field.
Technorati Tags:
The Sage Age: Blending Science with Intuitive Wisdom, McAnna Stephenson, physics, intuitive,
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coalition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
Monday, 6 October 2008
Friday, 3 October 2008
Liz Cosline Shares Life/Death Experience
Transcendental Sojourn
By Liz Cosline
http://www.lizcosline.com/index.htm
Nonfiction
ISBN13 Hardcover 978-1-4363-3715-1
ISBN13 Softcover 978-1-4363-3714-4
Reviewed by Lisa E. Ruedemann, ruedester@gmail.com
Let me tell you about Liz Cosline's new book Transcendental Sojourn. It is thought provoking…on to my thoughts……When we get older…yes older …we start reflecting on the lives we've led. It is a human thing to reflect upon our life and the place we have in the grand scheme of things. The wonder if we have contributed anything worthwhile or major to this world or at least to our small part of it. Our lives seem so short when you think of it really and over all too soon for most of us. Each of us with a personal view of what death will be and how that fits into the grand scheme of life. A few people have had the opportunity to gain insight into death that the rest of us can only conceptualize as we get closer to the reality. There are a rare few who have actually faced death and have lived to share the experience with us. Liz Cosline is one of those people who faced death and was willing to share her thoughts and views with us on the experience.
Ms. Cosline suffered a brain aneurysm one Easter out hunting eggs. An almost always fatal occurrence, however, she was one of the 1% who miraculously recovered from such a traumatizing event. She expresses her views on how her life has changed and how she now views her life and life's choices. I have read Ms Cosline's other books ( One Voice, Unexpected Knowing and Notice for Arrival - a trilogy about near death experience) and wish to share some of the insights I gathered from her journey to the brink of death, through almost death and then the life after near death. I find that her most recent book is her journey into life's meaning. She writes with a new light on life and gave me much to think about in regards to my own mortality, dreams and aspirations and where I will be after death. The book is such an easy read. Just an account of her philosophy of what life could be like living in harmony and peace, her questions to God , views on God and the place God holds in her life. The changed values and the new way she sees what is important in life. She did not tell me how to think or feel, did not preach a system of belief upon me. She just spoke in her words about her journey through life changes since nearly dying and how she now views living.
Like I said, it is seemingly simple easy reading...every time I have read it. And yes I have read it several times and each time I read it I take something different away some new thought…..a new insight to ponder. Reading this book has me reflecting on my own life, values and what life means to me...and what my death may bring...and how do I live the rest of my time here on this earth. Yes so simple yet thought provoking. Definitely a worth wile choice of must read books.~ Lisa E. Ruedemann, MS HSA
Technorati Tags:
Lisa E. Ruedemann, liz cosline, transcendental sojourn, aneurysm, traumatizing events, after death, life philosophy
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coalition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
By Liz Cosline
http://www.lizcosline.com/index.htm
Nonfiction
ISBN13 Hardcover 978-1-4363-3715-1
ISBN13 Softcover 978-1-4363-3714-4
Reviewed by Lisa E. Ruedemann, ruedester@gmail.com
Let me tell you about Liz Cosline's new book Transcendental Sojourn. It is thought provoking…on to my thoughts……When we get older…yes older …we start reflecting on the lives we've led. It is a human thing to reflect upon our life and the place we have in the grand scheme of things. The wonder if we have contributed anything worthwhile or major to this world or at least to our small part of it. Our lives seem so short when you think of it really and over all too soon for most of us. Each of us with a personal view of what death will be and how that fits into the grand scheme of life. A few people have had the opportunity to gain insight into death that the rest of us can only conceptualize as we get closer to the reality. There are a rare few who have actually faced death and have lived to share the experience with us. Liz Cosline is one of those people who faced death and was willing to share her thoughts and views with us on the experience.
Ms. Cosline suffered a brain aneurysm one Easter out hunting eggs. An almost always fatal occurrence, however, she was one of the 1% who miraculously recovered from such a traumatizing event. She expresses her views on how her life has changed and how she now views her life and life's choices. I have read Ms Cosline's other books ( One Voice, Unexpected Knowing and Notice for Arrival - a trilogy about near death experience) and wish to share some of the insights I gathered from her journey to the brink of death, through almost death and then the life after near death. I find that her most recent book is her journey into life's meaning. She writes with a new light on life and gave me much to think about in regards to my own mortality, dreams and aspirations and where I will be after death. The book is such an easy read. Just an account of her philosophy of what life could be like living in harmony and peace, her questions to God , views on God and the place God holds in her life. The changed values and the new way she sees what is important in life. She did not tell me how to think or feel, did not preach a system of belief upon me. She just spoke in her words about her journey through life changes since nearly dying and how she now views living.
Like I said, it is seemingly simple easy reading...every time I have read it. And yes I have read it several times and each time I read it I take something different away some new thought…..a new insight to ponder. Reading this book has me reflecting on my own life, values and what life means to me...and what my death may bring...and how do I live the rest of my time here on this earth. Yes so simple yet thought provoking. Definitely a worth wile choice of must read books.~ Lisa E. Ruedemann, MS HSA
Technorati Tags:
Lisa E. Ruedemann, liz cosline, transcendental sojourn, aneurysm, traumatizing events, after death, life philosophy
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coalition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
Friday, 12 September 2008
The Lowdown on E-mail Marketing and How You've Been Lead Astray
Email Marketing for Complex Sales Cycles
Subtitle: Proven Ways to Produce a Continuous Flow of Prospects and Profits with
Effective, Spam-Free Email Systems
By Winton Churchill
Foreword by Ron Richards, President, ResultsLab
Morgan - James, 2008
ISBN 9781600374210
Nonfiction/Business
Author's Site: www.churchillmethod.com/
Contact Reviewer: HoJoNews@aol.com
Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, award-winning author of three books of fiction and poetry and The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success
Remember when we were advised, "Don't believe everything you read?" That's probably even more true in the Internet age than it was back in the days when I first heard it. That's one of the reasons I was glad to see the release of Email Marketing for Complex Sales Cycles by Winton Churchill.
See, I've always been vaguely aware that people get unnecessarily up in arms about SPAM. I see them let others censor the material they get delivered in their e-mail boxes all in the interest of kill, kill, killing the Dearly Beloved messages. I've seen them give up an old e-mail address to curtail the flow of SPAM, even though they are also giving up all kinds of networking contacts when they do so. I've seen them rant and rave about SPAM that was really only a query from someone who had found them doing a search on Google. I mean, that's why we have websites, so people can find us.
So when a real expert like Churchill tells it like it is, well . . . that is a wonderful, affirming experience for me. Churchill is a master marketer who has been quoted in the likes of The Wall Street Journal and Inc. Magazine. He also happens to know a good deal about e-marketing and he shares what he knows in this helpful marketing book.
Email Marketing is written primarily for big business people with large marketing budgets and big staffs. I would like to have seen Churchill specifically address how little guys might put his method to use on a smaller scale and a lot more frugally. But then I am the author behind the HowToDoItFrugally series of book for writers. With an emphasis on the word frugal.
That doesn't mean this author's methods can't be adapted to small business people, right down to small publishers—even individual authors. I found that many of his theories fit very well into the basics of great PR (things like building relationships rather than use the big four-letter word SELL). And that many of them can be adapted to less ambitious online processes like forging trust and making great contact lists.
It is also comforting to know that in my own marketing I have already been practicing much of what he preaches but on a much, much smaller scale. He almost has me convinced to take a jump into something bigger. But if I don't, I can use some of his techniques to hone the processes I'm already using.
Technorati Tags:
winton churchill, ron richards, resultslab, marketing books, email marketing, complex sales cycles, spam free, spam, the new book review
-------------
Carolyn Howard-Johnson is an instructor for UCLA Extension's Writers’ Program. She is the author of two award-winning books, This Is the Place and Harkening. Her how-to book for writers, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won't, is the winner of USA Book News' Best Professional Book and the Irwin Award. The second in the HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers, The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success, is also a USA Book News award winner and a Reader Views Literary award winner. She won the 2008 New Generation Award for Marketing. Learn more at www.HowToDoItFrugally.com.
Subtitle: Proven Ways to Produce a Continuous Flow of Prospects and Profits with
Effective, Spam-Free Email Systems
By Winton Churchill
Foreword by Ron Richards, President, ResultsLab
Morgan - James, 2008
ISBN 9781600374210
Nonfiction/Business
Author's Site: www.churchillmethod.com/
Contact Reviewer: HoJoNews@aol.com
Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, award-winning author of three books of fiction and poetry and The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success
Remember when we were advised, "Don't believe everything you read?" That's probably even more true in the Internet age than it was back in the days when I first heard it. That's one of the reasons I was glad to see the release of Email Marketing for Complex Sales Cycles by Winton Churchill.
See, I've always been vaguely aware that people get unnecessarily up in arms about SPAM. I see them let others censor the material they get delivered in their e-mail boxes all in the interest of kill, kill, killing the Dearly Beloved messages. I've seen them give up an old e-mail address to curtail the flow of SPAM, even though they are also giving up all kinds of networking contacts when they do so. I've seen them rant and rave about SPAM that was really only a query from someone who had found them doing a search on Google. I mean, that's why we have websites, so people can find us.
So when a real expert like Churchill tells it like it is, well . . . that is a wonderful, affirming experience for me. Churchill is a master marketer who has been quoted in the likes of The Wall Street Journal and Inc. Magazine. He also happens to know a good deal about e-marketing and he shares what he knows in this helpful marketing book.
Email Marketing is written primarily for big business people with large marketing budgets and big staffs. I would like to have seen Churchill specifically address how little guys might put his method to use on a smaller scale and a lot more frugally. But then I am the author behind the HowToDoItFrugally series of book for writers. With an emphasis on the word frugal.
That doesn't mean this author's methods can't be adapted to small business people, right down to small publishers—even individual authors. I found that many of his theories fit very well into the basics of great PR (things like building relationships rather than use the big four-letter word SELL). And that many of them can be adapted to less ambitious online processes like forging trust and making great contact lists.
It is also comforting to know that in my own marketing I have already been practicing much of what he preaches but on a much, much smaller scale. He almost has me convinced to take a jump into something bigger. But if I don't, I can use some of his techniques to hone the processes I'm already using.
Technorati Tags:
winton churchill, ron richards, resultslab, marketing books, email marketing, complex sales cycles, spam free, spam, the new book review
-------------
Carolyn Howard-Johnson is an instructor for UCLA Extension's Writers’ Program. She is the author of two award-winning books, This Is the Place and Harkening. Her how-to book for writers, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won't, is the winner of USA Book News' Best Professional Book and the Irwin Award. The second in the HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers, The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success, is also a USA Book News award winner and a Reader Views Literary award winner. She won the 2008 New Generation Award for Marketing. Learn more at www.HowToDoItFrugally.com.
Thursday, 11 September 2008
The Smoking Poet Reviews Linda Merlino's New Novel
Belly of the Whale
Linda Merlino, author
"A riveting story, both powerful
and poignant in its telling." H.Roughan,
NYTimes Bestselling Author
Reviewed by Zinta Aistars for The Smoking Poet, Summer 2008 issue
If you are a lover of fine literature, you know that sweet moment of discovery. This is why you read. This is why you open book cover after book cover, anticipating that golden moment. It happens when a newly opened book reaches from the printed page and into your mind, into your heart, and captures cleanly both imagination and resonant emotion. Opening Belly of the Whale, by first-time author, Linda Merlino, is such a golden moment.
I may never have picked this book up in any of my bookstore wanderings and treasure hunts. The dark cover with flashes of neon light, a tiny gunman, and a teary bald woman may have had me turn away. Don't judge. Not like that. For this book, arriving instead in my mailbox awaiting review in The Smoking Poet literary e-zine, may have begun as something of an editorial job ... but concluded with a new fan for writer Linda Merlino.
The story begins at the end.
"I fear that the dead are gathered here in this corner of Whales Market, that the sums of several lives are laid out on gurneys like me, and that yesterday I thought the worst thing happening was my breast cancer."
Hudson Catalina—"Hudson like the car, Catalina like the island, Hudson Catalina, I love you," her husband Jack whispers to her in their marriage-long game—is on the brink of giving up. Her mother has died of cancer, as has her grandmother. Now, after a double mastectomy, as she battles for life, or is it that she battles against the torments of medicine, chemo and radiation, 38-year-old Hudson wishes only to be done. Done. With all of this. Despite her four lovely babies, her ever patient and devoted husband, Hudson is beyond tired of the fight. It is Tuesday, and she throws some delicate treasure against the mirror, breaks all, feels broken herself, and has no patience left. Not even for the love of her family and closest friend. What's the point?
You know how that happens. You reach the end, what feels like the end, and when you think you have encountered the worst life can shovel on you, you encounter something even darker. Here is the belly of the whale, and Hudson is swallowed into it. Dragging herself out into a storm to go to a small grocery for a few items in preparation for her daughter's birthday, surely the last one she will share, Hudson becomes hostage to a young man gone mad with his own devastated heart and broken spirit. Here begins a nightmarish night of being held hostage, handcuffed to the dead and dying, hope threaded to another boy who is mentally incapacitated. Pressed that hard and so harshly against yet another wall in her waning life, Hudson Catalina makes some discoveries about herself and about where hope begins ... somewhere beyond the point where you think you lost it.
I am keeping my eye closely trained on this new author. Learning that Merlino wrote much of this book in longhand, scribbling notes throughout a busy mom's day, I understand the drive and motivation that could produce such a worthwhile read. In a day and age of a struggling publishing industry, just when you are about to lose hope in the literati, this kind of writing makes you find new hope yet again.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coalition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
Linda Merlino, author
"A riveting story, both powerful
and poignant in its telling." H.Roughan,
NYTimes Bestselling Author
Reviewed by Zinta Aistars for The Smoking Poet, Summer 2008 issue
If you are a lover of fine literature, you know that sweet moment of discovery. This is why you read. This is why you open book cover after book cover, anticipating that golden moment. It happens when a newly opened book reaches from the printed page and into your mind, into your heart, and captures cleanly both imagination and resonant emotion. Opening Belly of the Whale, by first-time author, Linda Merlino, is such a golden moment.
I may never have picked this book up in any of my bookstore wanderings and treasure hunts. The dark cover with flashes of neon light, a tiny gunman, and a teary bald woman may have had me turn away. Don't judge. Not like that. For this book, arriving instead in my mailbox awaiting review in The Smoking Poet literary e-zine, may have begun as something of an editorial job ... but concluded with a new fan for writer Linda Merlino.
The story begins at the end.
"I fear that the dead are gathered here in this corner of Whales Market, that the sums of several lives are laid out on gurneys like me, and that yesterday I thought the worst thing happening was my breast cancer."
Hudson Catalina—"Hudson like the car, Catalina like the island, Hudson Catalina, I love you," her husband Jack whispers to her in their marriage-long game—is on the brink of giving up. Her mother has died of cancer, as has her grandmother. Now, after a double mastectomy, as she battles for life, or is it that she battles against the torments of medicine, chemo and radiation, 38-year-old Hudson wishes only to be done. Done. With all of this. Despite her four lovely babies, her ever patient and devoted husband, Hudson is beyond tired of the fight. It is Tuesday, and she throws some delicate treasure against the mirror, breaks all, feels broken herself, and has no patience left. Not even for the love of her family and closest friend. What's the point?
You know how that happens. You reach the end, what feels like the end, and when you think you have encountered the worst life can shovel on you, you encounter something even darker. Here is the belly of the whale, and Hudson is swallowed into it. Dragging herself out into a storm to go to a small grocery for a few items in preparation for her daughter's birthday, surely the last one she will share, Hudson becomes hostage to a young man gone mad with his own devastated heart and broken spirit. Here begins a nightmarish night of being held hostage, handcuffed to the dead and dying, hope threaded to another boy who is mentally incapacitated. Pressed that hard and so harshly against yet another wall in her waning life, Hudson Catalina makes some discoveries about herself and about where hope begins ... somewhere beyond the point where you think you lost it.
I am keeping my eye closely trained on this new author. Learning that Merlino wrote much of this book in longhand, scribbling notes throughout a busy mom's day, I understand the drive and motivation that could produce such a worthwhile read. In a day and age of a struggling publishing industry, just when you are about to lose hope in the literati, this kind of writing makes you find new hope yet again.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coalition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
Tuesday, 9 September 2008
David Brailovsky Reviews Intrigue in the House of Wong
Title: Intrigue in the House of Wong
Author: Amy S. Kwei
Publisher: Tats Publishing, PO Box 425478, Cambridge, MA 02142
Date published: 6/1/2008
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 978-0-9815499-0-3
202pp
$13.99
Available at Amazon.com and Tatspublishing.com
Reviewed by David Brailovsky
I enjoyed very much reading Amy Kwei’s “ Intrigue in the house of Wong”. She succeeded in an interesting and effortless way to explain Chinese culture, values and traditions.
A better understanding between East and West is a major concern of the book. The “House of Wong” is a great way for the younger generation to do away with stereotypes and prejudices. The plot makes it fun reading.
I recommend it highly.
===================
Reviewer David Brailovsky is the author of "A Covenant in Shanghai". Available at Amazon.com
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coalition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
Author: Amy S. Kwei
Publisher: Tats Publishing, PO Box 425478, Cambridge, MA 02142
Date published: 6/1/2008
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 978-0-9815499-0-3
202pp
$13.99
Available at Amazon.com and Tatspublishing.com
Reviewed by David Brailovsky
I enjoyed very much reading Amy Kwei’s “ Intrigue in the house of Wong”. She succeeded in an interesting and effortless way to explain Chinese culture, values and traditions.
A better understanding between East and West is a major concern of the book. The “House of Wong” is a great way for the younger generation to do away with stereotypes and prejudices. The plot makes it fun reading.
I recommend it highly.
===================
Reviewer David Brailovsky is the author of "A Covenant in Shanghai". Available at Amazon.com
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coalition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
Tuesday, 2 September 2008
Melissa Meeks Reviews "One Wild Ride"
Title: The Call
Series: Time Masters Book One
By Geralyn Beauchamp
Cold Tree Press (October 8, 2007)
Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy
ISBN 9781583851982
588pp
$18.95
Reviewed by Melissa Meeks
See more reviews at Bibliophile’s Retreat
Rating: 5/5
Describing this book is an interesting endeavor. Rather than ask the usual questions it actually makes more sense to ask what Time Masters isn't. In this case the answer is … Nothing!!! Beauchamp has managed to intertwine all genres in a coherent manner that I have yet to find elsewhere. At the same time she’s also managed to work in all the elements of a good story with a superb quality of writing.
The hero - Dallan - is not only a hunk, but he's got the Romance factor going on big-time. If Shona hadn’t already claimed him and he was for real, I'd certainly be first in line to do so myself. I’ve read quite a pile of books before and since first picking up Time Masters and still have to say over a year later that I've not seen much out there to rival the writing of this debut author. She’s crafted an excellent plot and characters that leap off the page into the reader's imagination as if real and remain vivid even after putting the book down.
You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll even be frightened at times. As the cover says this is One Wild Ride. If you just have to find the best roller-coasters – this one delivers and you can even experience it from your favorite reading nook. So hop on and enjoy as the story goes from a "comedy sketch" due to characters being out of their accustomed environment on one page to fight scenes with action, adventure and suspense on the next. These fluctuations come at you often and fast in this book, as full of emotional power as a minefield of explosives. Of course the intense emotion is part of what makes the book so riveting. I could have stayed up all night reading just to find out what would happen on the next page, in the next chapter or even how the book would end. I have rarely found another author who can evoke such intense responses with the written word.
This book is one that I can’t bear to lend out and risk losing as it’s worth rereading many times. I had to buy an extra copy just for sharing so I could horde one to get my fix of satisfying reading anytime. Geralyn has put so much meat into her story that with every read I still find new details and thoughts popping up. Before it was even released, I quit trying to count my “reads” and still hope to squeeze in time to read it again and again. I am so glad this is only the first in a series and am already chomping at the bit for Time Masters Book Two: The Prophecy.
-------
Reach the reviewer at forest_rose@yahoo.com.
She blogs at Bibliophile's Retreat
Technorati Tags:
melissa meeks, bibliophile's retreat, geralynbeauchamp, time masters, the call, science fiction, cold tree press
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coalition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
Series: Time Masters Book One
By Geralyn Beauchamp
Cold Tree Press (October 8, 2007)
Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy
ISBN 9781583851982
588pp
$18.95
Reviewed by Melissa Meeks
See more reviews at Bibliophile’s Retreat
Rating: 5/5
Describing this book is an interesting endeavor. Rather than ask the usual questions it actually makes more sense to ask what Time Masters isn't. In this case the answer is … Nothing!!! Beauchamp has managed to intertwine all genres in a coherent manner that I have yet to find elsewhere. At the same time she’s also managed to work in all the elements of a good story with a superb quality of writing.
The hero - Dallan - is not only a hunk, but he's got the Romance factor going on big-time. If Shona hadn’t already claimed him and he was for real, I'd certainly be first in line to do so myself. I’ve read quite a pile of books before and since first picking up Time Masters and still have to say over a year later that I've not seen much out there to rival the writing of this debut author. She’s crafted an excellent plot and characters that leap off the page into the reader's imagination as if real and remain vivid even after putting the book down.
You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll even be frightened at times. As the cover says this is One Wild Ride. If you just have to find the best roller-coasters – this one delivers and you can even experience it from your favorite reading nook. So hop on and enjoy as the story goes from a "comedy sketch" due to characters being out of their accustomed environment on one page to fight scenes with action, adventure and suspense on the next. These fluctuations come at you often and fast in this book, as full of emotional power as a minefield of explosives. Of course the intense emotion is part of what makes the book so riveting. I could have stayed up all night reading just to find out what would happen on the next page, in the next chapter or even how the book would end. I have rarely found another author who can evoke such intense responses with the written word.
This book is one that I can’t bear to lend out and risk losing as it’s worth rereading many times. I had to buy an extra copy just for sharing so I could horde one to get my fix of satisfying reading anytime. Geralyn has put so much meat into her story that with every read I still find new details and thoughts popping up. Before it was even released, I quit trying to count my “reads” and still hope to squeeze in time to read it again and again. I am so glad this is only the first in a series and am already chomping at the bit for Time Masters Book Two: The Prophecy.
-------
Reach the reviewer at forest_rose@yahoo.com.
She blogs at Bibliophile's Retreat
Technorati Tags:
melissa meeks, bibliophile's retreat, geralynbeauchamp, time masters, the call, science fiction, cold tree press
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coalition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
Sunday, 31 August 2008
Endings a Tragedy for Thinking Readers
Title: Endings
Author: Barbara Bergin
Fiction
ISBN: ISBN: 978-0-86534-519-5
268 pp.
$28.95
Available: Sunstone Press, Amazon
Publisher: SUNSTONE PRESS
Box 2321, Santa Fe,
NM 87504-2321
(800) 243-5644
Reviewed by Connie Gotsch
Endings by Barbara Bergin, published by Sunstone Press, appears to chronicle the responses people make to life altering situations somewhat beyond their control, but to which they have also somewhat contributed. Then again, maybe the story deals with the fabrications people spin to rationalize the life choices they make.
Stunned by the loss of her husband and two children in a freak automobile accident, Dr. Leslie Cohen has sold her medical practice, abandoned friends, hit the road as a locum tenens orthopedic physician, and stopped forming long term relationships.
Through a series of flashbacks triggered by events, characters and plot points, the reader learns, or seems to learn, why love terrifies Leslie. She was tailgating her husband, Chris, as they headed for a family holiday. The driver ahead of him slammed on his brakes, Chris hit his, and Leslie plowed into him, killing him and her children. Guilt and consumes her, especially since she had Chris had hit a difficult point in their marriage.
Many books on the theme of carelessness at the worst moment resulting in painful loss, would lead Leslie into a nice, comfy small town, where friendly people would wrap her in warmth. Next Leslie would go through personal growth and transformation. She would find herself in the company of a handsome man with whom she shares much, but would fight her growing love for him. His patience would win her over. She would work through her grief, forgive herself for her part in the accident, marry the hero, and go into practice with the doctor whom she has come to relieve as a locum tenens.
Endings sets up that possibility. Leslie heads to Abilene, Texas, to substitute for Doc Hal Hawley who is preparing to have serious cancer surgery. Then almost to town, she slides into a fishtailing horse trailer driven by Reagan, the man who ends up her love interest. That could set ‘Endings’ on the predictable course, love marriage, more children, happily ever after. But using this twist and many others, Barbara Bergin slowly turns the story’s plot to a very different kind of growth and closure for Leslie.
So cleverly does the author disguise this arc in the predictable moonlit nights and kind souls one would expect to try to help Leslie, that the tale ends with a surprise that leaves the reader shaken and wondering just what Leslie’s part in her own tragedy was, or just what happened on the road that day tailgating Chris, and what transpired afterward, considering the state of their marriage.
Barbara Bergin supplements her clever plot line with elegant character development and description of locale. An orthopedic surgeon herself and a horse woman, she takes the reader both into the operating room and the rodeo area with equal vividness. Her medical descriptions never turn gory. Her description of love has just the right amount of steam.
‘Endings’ is not a book that will give the satisfaction of a happy conclusion, but it will leave the reader considering just genuine people really are, and what they might or might not control in their lives.
----
Reviewer Connie Gotsch is the author of "A Mouth Full of Shell" and "Snap Me a Future" published by Dlsijpress. She is featured in "The Complete Writer's Journal" Also available at Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/s/ or
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_a?url=search-alias%3Dapparel&field-keywords=a+mouth+full+of+shell&x=0&y=0
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coalition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
Technorati Tags:
connie gotsch, endings, barbar bergin, tragedy, book reviews, sunstone press, abilene TX, carolyn howard-johnson,
Author: Barbara Bergin
Fiction
ISBN: ISBN: 978-0-86534-519-5
268 pp.
$28.95
Available: Sunstone Press, Amazon
Publisher: SUNSTONE PRESS
Box 2321, Santa Fe,
NM 87504-2321
(800) 243-5644
Reviewed by Connie Gotsch
Endings by Barbara Bergin, published by Sunstone Press, appears to chronicle the responses people make to life altering situations somewhat beyond their control, but to which they have also somewhat contributed. Then again, maybe the story deals with the fabrications people spin to rationalize the life choices they make.
Stunned by the loss of her husband and two children in a freak automobile accident, Dr. Leslie Cohen has sold her medical practice, abandoned friends, hit the road as a locum tenens orthopedic physician, and stopped forming long term relationships.
Through a series of flashbacks triggered by events, characters and plot points, the reader learns, or seems to learn, why love terrifies Leslie. She was tailgating her husband, Chris, as they headed for a family holiday. The driver ahead of him slammed on his brakes, Chris hit his, and Leslie plowed into him, killing him and her children. Guilt and consumes her, especially since she had Chris had hit a difficult point in their marriage.
Many books on the theme of carelessness at the worst moment resulting in painful loss, would lead Leslie into a nice, comfy small town, where friendly people would wrap her in warmth. Next Leslie would go through personal growth and transformation. She would find herself in the company of a handsome man with whom she shares much, but would fight her growing love for him. His patience would win her over. She would work through her grief, forgive herself for her part in the accident, marry the hero, and go into practice with the doctor whom she has come to relieve as a locum tenens.
Endings sets up that possibility. Leslie heads to Abilene, Texas, to substitute for Doc Hal Hawley who is preparing to have serious cancer surgery. Then almost to town, she slides into a fishtailing horse trailer driven by Reagan, the man who ends up her love interest. That could set ‘Endings’ on the predictable course, love marriage, more children, happily ever after. But using this twist and many others, Barbara Bergin slowly turns the story’s plot to a very different kind of growth and closure for Leslie.
So cleverly does the author disguise this arc in the predictable moonlit nights and kind souls one would expect to try to help Leslie, that the tale ends with a surprise that leaves the reader shaken and wondering just what Leslie’s part in her own tragedy was, or just what happened on the road that day tailgating Chris, and what transpired afterward, considering the state of their marriage.
Barbara Bergin supplements her clever plot line with elegant character development and description of locale. An orthopedic surgeon herself and a horse woman, she takes the reader both into the operating room and the rodeo area with equal vividness. Her medical descriptions never turn gory. Her description of love has just the right amount of steam.
‘Endings’ is not a book that will give the satisfaction of a happy conclusion, but it will leave the reader considering just genuine people really are, and what they might or might not control in their lives.
----
Reviewer Connie Gotsch is the author of "A Mouth Full of Shell" and "Snap Me a Future" published by Dlsijpress. She is featured in "The Complete Writer's Journal" Also available at Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/s/ or
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_a?url=search-alias%3Dapparel&field-keywords=a+mouth+full+of+shell&x=0&y=0
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coalition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
Technorati Tags:
connie gotsch, endings, barbar bergin, tragedy, book reviews, sunstone press, abilene TX, carolyn howard-johnson,
Tuesday, 26 August 2008
The New Book Review Is Now Brilliant! (-:
My The New Book Review, www.thenewbookreview.blogspot.com was named a Brilliante WebBlog Premio 2008 award. Nikki Leigh at www.nikkisreviews.blogspot.com nominated it because it features "reviews for all sorts of authors, not just big name authors." She also noted that the instructions for submitting are clear.
The Brilliante is a sassy little award, a recognition that lets peers award peers. One of the benefits of being so named is that authors may nominate blogs, too. So here are mine in no particular order:
Nicole Williams for her Step of Faith blogspot for meticulous blog-keeping and lovely writing. I'm encouraging to use her writing skills in other areas. http://stepofaith.blogspot.com
Kathe Gogolewski for a combination personal blog and professional blog that works!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/blog/A21V32M89BJ4ZD/ref=cm_blog_blog
Joyce Faulkner for a bit of humor in For Shrieking Out Loud, a blog named after her book of humor. You'll love her funny bone. http://www.forshriekingoutloud.blogspot.com
Allyn Evans for her Happily Ever After Today blog about blog about epiphanies, spilled milk, and finding happiness. It is inspiration without preachiness. www.happilyeveraftertoday.blogspot.com.
Here are the suggestions for those nominated, so they can pass on the joy:
Rules for next recipients of the Brilliante Weblog Premio:
1. The award may be displayed on a winner's blog.
2. Add a link to the person you received the award from.
3. Nominate up to seven other blogs.
4. Add their links to your blog.
5. Add a message to each person that you have passed the award on in the comments section of their blog.
And there you have it. Congratulations!
PS: For an idea of how authors might use this award idea to promote, go to www.sharingwithwriters.blogspot.com
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coalition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
Tuesday, 19 August 2008
Making Your New Book Review a Favorite
I am trying to find more authors to utilize this great Authors' Coalition service! This is the place where you can recycle your favorite review. Whether you're a reader, an author or a reviewer! Won't you help me pass the word by clicking on the Technorati button to make it this blog one of your favorites. It's on the left! (-:
Technorati Profile
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coalition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
Technorati Profile
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coalition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
Monday, 18 August 2008
A Book to Transform Your LIfe
Mindfulness and The Art of Choice: Transform Your Life
By Dr. Karen Sherman
www.ChoiceRelationships.com
Self-help
ISBN: 978-1-932690-51-4
Reviewed by Tina Avon for Front Street Reviews
4/5 stars
I am a believer that the best healers are those who have have been through their own nightmares and have come out stronger.
This certainly describes Karen Sherman, who by her own admission, grew up in a highly dysfunctional home only to become a very discontented and restless adult. However, one day, she made the conscious choice of changing her life and became a much happier and well-rounded person and she has written this book in the hopes that she can pass along some of the experiences she has lived over the years both as a therapist, but more imporantly as a person who has 'been there'.
Sherman's basic theory is that we are all a product of our own environment and that most of who we are today was created in our childhood. In fact, she argues that this is where most of our emotions, thoughts and coping patterns are established and that we will continue to return to these sources again and again when we need to unless we can reprogram these negative patterns. As a matter of fact we will become so good at it that it will become second nature to us (she calls it auto-pilot). However, what once served us as children, may no longer be helpful to us as adults and may, in fact, be the major cause of much of our discontent.
One of the important aspects of this particular book and what sets it apart from many others is the term that Sherman uses - Art of Choice. The author believes that we all have a choice in how we live our lives and that we can choose to change something if we wish to. Of course, its not quite as simple as that and Sherman explains, in practical and helpful chapters, the step by step process that we must be willing to go through to get to a much healthier and happier place.
I liked this book. It was quite short, but extremely well written and informative. Sherman does not speak down to us and neither does she use lots of scientific and technical terms to explain the processes. At the end of each chapter, we find specific exercises that we are encouraged to complete.
This type of book needs to be read over and over again as I believe I will pick up some new information everytime I read it.
I was extremely encouraged by this book - I like the concept that we can change our patterns, that we can re-program our way of thinking, feeling and reacting in order to find a what we are looking for.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coalition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
By Dr. Karen Sherman
www.ChoiceRelationships.com
Self-help
ISBN: 978-1-932690-51-4
Reviewed by Tina Avon for Front Street Reviews
4/5 stars
I am a believer that the best healers are those who have have been through their own nightmares and have come out stronger.
This certainly describes Karen Sherman, who by her own admission, grew up in a highly dysfunctional home only to become a very discontented and restless adult. However, one day, she made the conscious choice of changing her life and became a much happier and well-rounded person and she has written this book in the hopes that she can pass along some of the experiences she has lived over the years both as a therapist, but more imporantly as a person who has 'been there'.
Sherman's basic theory is that we are all a product of our own environment and that most of who we are today was created in our childhood. In fact, she argues that this is where most of our emotions, thoughts and coping patterns are established and that we will continue to return to these sources again and again when we need to unless we can reprogram these negative patterns. As a matter of fact we will become so good at it that it will become second nature to us (she calls it auto-pilot). However, what once served us as children, may no longer be helpful to us as adults and may, in fact, be the major cause of much of our discontent.
One of the important aspects of this particular book and what sets it apart from many others is the term that Sherman uses - Art of Choice. The author believes that we all have a choice in how we live our lives and that we can choose to change something if we wish to. Of course, its not quite as simple as that and Sherman explains, in practical and helpful chapters, the step by step process that we must be willing to go through to get to a much healthier and happier place.
I liked this book. It was quite short, but extremely well written and informative. Sherman does not speak down to us and neither does she use lots of scientific and technical terms to explain the processes. At the end of each chapter, we find specific exercises that we are encouraged to complete.
This type of book needs to be read over and over again as I believe I will pick up some new information everytime I read it.
I was extremely encouraged by this book - I like the concept that we can change our patterns, that we can re-program our way of thinking, feeling and reacting in order to find a what we are looking for.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coalition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
Tuesday, 29 July 2008
Jill Lublin Shares Expertise for Businesses: Books are Business, Too
Get Noticed . . . Get Referrals
By Jill Lublin with Mark Steisel
Subtitle: Build Your Client Base and Your Business by Making a Name for Yourself
McGraw Hill, 2008
ISBN 9780071508278
Nonfiction/Business/Promotion
Contact Reviewer: HoJoNews@aol.com
Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, award-winning author of three books of fiction and poetry and The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success
Advice.
Even good advice is often not believable. And writers are especially immune. Many of us tend not to believe in ourselves, anyway. As writers, we get more advice than we need— well intended perhaps— but mostly uninspired. When to write, how to write, how to query editors, how to punctuate.
The beauty of Jill Lublin's Get Noticed . . . Get Referrals is that what she tells us about promotion and the business world (and, yes, it translates directly to the book biz) comes from her expertise. It also comes from her heart.
That kind of personal involvement is a motivator for anyone and is intended to be. There is way too much talk out there about "self-promotion," a term that reeks of misguided give me this and gimme that tactics. This book is about true public relations.
The word "relations" is the tipoff. Good promotion and the profession of PR is all about relationships and though most of us think we know how to form those, there is lots we may not know. Especially in the business world—whatever business we may be in. Good business relationships don't just happen, they need to be worked like a good marriage. (Come to think of it, some of Jill's approaches to getting noticed and getting referrals might help some marriages out there!)
Then there's the word "public." For those of us who write books, it is an essential word, the word that lets people know enough about us and our books so that we can share what we write with others. That's the whole idea, isn't it?
My favorite chapter is Number Ten (p. 128), "Build on Your Passions." Most writers are passionate about the business of writing—of telling a story or sharing expertise. Much of what is in this chapter is not new but it is reaffirming. Further, it may help writers understand that to be successful their passion must extend beyond the writing of something to the getting of that something into the public consciousness. One of the hints I liked was for people who are having trouble doing it. Lublin says, "Fake it . . . at least initially." Psychologists ascribe to the same theory. You simply "act as if" and you find your life (and your career and maybe even your book sales!) improving.
I am a person who thinks tips and anecdotes are among the best ways to reach people. They give people what they need or want in little easily-read and easily-related to pieces. Jill knows that, too. Her book is scatted with small shaded areas that clip the best and the most pithy stuff from her book and make it easy for you to internalize them in a few seconds.
-------------
The reviewer is an instructor for UCLA Extension's Writers’ Program. She is the author of two award-winning books, THIS IS THE PLACE and HARKENING. TRACINGS, an award-winning chapbook of poetry, is available at www.finishinglinepress.com. Her how-to book for writers, THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER: HOW TO DO WHAT YOUR PUBLISHER WON’T, is the winner of USA Book News' Best Professional Book of 2004 and the Irwin Award and her new book THE FRUGAL EDITOR: PUT YOUR BEST BOOK FORWARD TO AVOID HUMILIATION AND ENSURE SUCCESS is also a USA Book News Best Book and a winner of Reader Views Literary Award.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coalition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
By Jill Lublin with Mark Steisel
Subtitle: Build Your Client Base and Your Business by Making a Name for Yourself
McGraw Hill, 2008
ISBN 9780071508278
Nonfiction/Business/Promotion
Contact Reviewer: HoJoNews@aol.com
Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, award-winning author of three books of fiction and poetry and The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success
Advice.
Even good advice is often not believable. And writers are especially immune. Many of us tend not to believe in ourselves, anyway. As writers, we get more advice than we need— well intended perhaps— but mostly uninspired. When to write, how to write, how to query editors, how to punctuate.
The beauty of Jill Lublin's Get Noticed . . . Get Referrals is that what she tells us about promotion and the business world (and, yes, it translates directly to the book biz) comes from her expertise. It also comes from her heart.
That kind of personal involvement is a motivator for anyone and is intended to be. There is way too much talk out there about "self-promotion," a term that reeks of misguided give me this and gimme that tactics. This book is about true public relations.
The word "relations" is the tipoff. Good promotion and the profession of PR is all about relationships and though most of us think we know how to form those, there is lots we may not know. Especially in the business world—whatever business we may be in. Good business relationships don't just happen, they need to be worked like a good marriage. (Come to think of it, some of Jill's approaches to getting noticed and getting referrals might help some marriages out there!)
Then there's the word "public." For those of us who write books, it is an essential word, the word that lets people know enough about us and our books so that we can share what we write with others. That's the whole idea, isn't it?
My favorite chapter is Number Ten (p. 128), "Build on Your Passions." Most writers are passionate about the business of writing—of telling a story or sharing expertise. Much of what is in this chapter is not new but it is reaffirming. Further, it may help writers understand that to be successful their passion must extend beyond the writing of something to the getting of that something into the public consciousness. One of the hints I liked was for people who are having trouble doing it. Lublin says, "Fake it . . . at least initially." Psychologists ascribe to the same theory. You simply "act as if" and you find your life (and your career and maybe even your book sales!) improving.
I am a person who thinks tips and anecdotes are among the best ways to reach people. They give people what they need or want in little easily-read and easily-related to pieces. Jill knows that, too. Her book is scatted with small shaded areas that clip the best and the most pithy stuff from her book and make it easy for you to internalize them in a few seconds.
-------------
The reviewer is an instructor for UCLA Extension's Writers’ Program. She is the author of two award-winning books, THIS IS THE PLACE and HARKENING. TRACINGS, an award-winning chapbook of poetry, is available at www.finishinglinepress.com. Her how-to book for writers, THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER: HOW TO DO WHAT YOUR PUBLISHER WON’T, is the winner of USA Book News' Best Professional Book of 2004 and the Irwin Award and her new book THE FRUGAL EDITOR: PUT YOUR BEST BOOK FORWARD TO AVOID HUMILIATION AND ENSURE SUCCESS is also a USA Book News Best Book and a winner of Reader Views Literary Award.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coalition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
Saturday, 26 July 2008
Free (and True!) Story Offered
Olga - A Daughter's Tale
By Marie-Thérèse Browne
Website: www.lulu.com/mariecampbell
Family saga
ISBN: 978-1-84753-047-9
Publisher: Lulu
Reviewed by Marie Campbell
Based on a true story a fascinating and moving book about an inspirational personal life, which has an epic feel about it from Jamaica to England amidst World War II. Olga - A Daughter's Tale is story of one woman's inspirational life.
Marie-Thérèse Browne, the author, realized as her mother lay seriously ill in hospital in Brighton, England in 1994 that had she died so too would Marie's chance of finding out about her mother's past, her family in Jamaica and, of particular importance to Marie, who her father was. All information her mother had resolutely refused to share with her. So she resolved to find out for herself.
Marie discovered her mother's real name was Olga Browney, born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica - one of eleven children from a close-knit, coloured Catholic family. A kind, naïve and gentle girl, Olga arrived in London in 1939 to stay with a malevolent, alcoholic aunt and intending to remain for only six months. However, world events, personal tragedy and malicious intent all combined to prevent her from returning home to Kingston .
Olga – A Daughter's Tale is about cruelty, revenge and jealousy inflicted on an innocent young woman and about her moral courage, dignity, resilience and, in particular, love. It is the story of a remarkable woman who, because of circumstances, made a choice, which resulted in her losing contact with her beloved family in Jamaica. That is, until nearly half a century later, when her past caught up her.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marie-Th̩r̬se Browne was born in London in 1943. At the age of five she was sent to a Catholic boarding school in Dartford, Kent. From there she moved to a Catholic day convent in Brighton where she lived on and off for the next fifty years, until she emigrated to Australia. Her book Olga РA Daughter's Tale was written as a tribute to her mother after Marie discovered the truth about her mother's past, and also as a record for future generations of her family. Olga РA Daughter's Tale is her first book and is available to buy on www.lulu.com/mariecampbell
For a limited time a PDF copy can be downloaded free from www.olga-a-daughters-tale.com
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coalition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
By Marie-Thérèse Browne
Website: www.lulu.com/mariecampbell
Family saga
ISBN: 978-1-84753-047-9
Publisher: Lulu
Reviewed by Marie Campbell
Based on a true story a fascinating and moving book about an inspirational personal life, which has an epic feel about it from Jamaica to England amidst World War II. Olga - A Daughter's Tale is story of one woman's inspirational life.
Marie-Thérèse Browne, the author, realized as her mother lay seriously ill in hospital in Brighton, England in 1994 that had she died so too would Marie's chance of finding out about her mother's past, her family in Jamaica and, of particular importance to Marie, who her father was. All information her mother had resolutely refused to share with her. So she resolved to find out for herself.
Marie discovered her mother's real name was Olga Browney, born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica - one of eleven children from a close-knit, coloured Catholic family. A kind, naïve and gentle girl, Olga arrived in London in 1939 to stay with a malevolent, alcoholic aunt and intending to remain for only six months. However, world events, personal tragedy and malicious intent all combined to prevent her from returning home to Kingston .
Olga – A Daughter's Tale is about cruelty, revenge and jealousy inflicted on an innocent young woman and about her moral courage, dignity, resilience and, in particular, love. It is the story of a remarkable woman who, because of circumstances, made a choice, which resulted in her losing contact with her beloved family in Jamaica. That is, until nearly half a century later, when her past caught up her.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marie-Th̩r̬se Browne was born in London in 1943. At the age of five she was sent to a Catholic boarding school in Dartford, Kent. From there she moved to a Catholic day convent in Brighton where she lived on and off for the next fifty years, until she emigrated to Australia. Her book Olga РA Daughter's Tale was written as a tribute to her mother after Marie discovered the truth about her mother's past, and also as a record for future generations of her family. Olga РA Daughter's Tale is her first book and is available to buy on www.lulu.com/mariecampbell
For a limited time a PDF copy can be downloaded free from www.olga-a-daughters-tale.com
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coalition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
Thursday, 24 July 2008
A Book On Spelling? There's Nothing Like It Except Maybe Library Edition Dictionaries...
...and most of us--even those of us who love etyomology--aren't that crazy about reading dictionaries. That is part of it. The other is the getting of the history of words with a dictionary is haphazard at best.
Along comes Righting the Mother Tongue: From Olde English to Email, the Tangled Story of English Spelling. I know of no other book quite like it. I love June Casagrande's Mortal Syntax: 101 Language Choices That Will Get You Clobbered by the Grammar Snobs--Even If You're Right and Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies: A Guide to Language for Fun and Spite and even Lynn Truss's British hardass take on punctuation, Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. I remember reading a book on the origins of the alphabet back in the early 60s. This, however, is the only one I know that capsulates the history of spelling (more or less).
I found it funny and disturbing. (I don't suppose one expects a book on spelling to be disturbing.) But take the word "e-mail." As an editor I've been fighting to keep the hyphen because the word is short for electronic mail and the hyphen preserves that origin. There! There on the cover is "e-mail" spelled "email." Guess I'm fighting a losing battle. Which, after all, is the point of this book.
Don't let the fact that you now know the point keep you from reading it. If you love words and history, you'll be entertained.
Thank you, David Wolman.
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Reviewed for Amazon by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the award-winning Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success.
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coalition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
Along comes Righting the Mother Tongue: From Olde English to Email, the Tangled Story of English Spelling. I know of no other book quite like it. I love June Casagrande's Mortal Syntax: 101 Language Choices That Will Get You Clobbered by the Grammar Snobs--Even If You're Right and Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies: A Guide to Language for Fun and Spite and even Lynn Truss's British hardass take on punctuation, Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. I remember reading a book on the origins of the alphabet back in the early 60s. This, however, is the only one I know that capsulates the history of spelling (more or less).
I found it funny and disturbing. (I don't suppose one expects a book on spelling to be disturbing.) But take the word "e-mail." As an editor I've been fighting to keep the hyphen because the word is short for electronic mail and the hyphen preserves that origin. There! There on the cover is "e-mail" spelled "email." Guess I'm fighting a losing battle. Which, after all, is the point of this book.
Don't let the fact that you now know the point keep you from reading it. If you love words and history, you'll be entertained.
Thank you, David Wolman.
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Reviewed for Amazon by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the award-winning Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success.
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coalition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
Monday, 21 July 2008
Early Bird Special for LA Times Festival of Books
Dear Subscribers and Authors' Coalition Members:
Join us now as a signing author at the Authors' Coalition booth at the LA Times Festival of Books on the beautiful UCLA campus and get a substantial discount. It is the last weekend of April 2009. The book-signing portion of the fair requires that you attend but other value-added promotions do not. You'll hear more about those later.
Authors' Coalition will again be sponsoring a booth at the LA Times/UCLA Festival of Books on April 2009. We focus on making a humdrum fair into a sizzling success; we make changes every year based on what we learned the year before and the year before that.
Register before August 15th and receive an early bird discount for the signing slots. One hour signing segments (50 minutes to allow set up) cost $100 for the first and $80 for a second hour. After August 15, the fee will return to its regular $150 for the first and $100 for the second day. The fee includes display or your book, your order forms and your bookmark or business card and a poster for the full two days, Those who are not members of Authors' Coalition will be asked to join at the Silver Membership level. The regular cost is $25, but will be discounted to $20 for those signing. Participants whose memberships from last year come due in April can join for only $10 in addition to the signing fee.
Last year we had our booth televised on the Internet. Rey Ybarra from Best Selling Author Television was there to cover the event. He conducted short three-minute interviews with the several authors. The program proved to be a great success. Rey will be there with his crew again this year. (To see the 2008 video made by Rey Ybarra, go to Best Selling Author Television site at : http://www.veoh.com/channels/BSATV)
The advantages of our LA Times Booth:
1. Ongoing education on PR and promotion for participants during the planning of the booth.
2. Value-added promotions designed to draw readers to our booth (more to come on these later.)
3. Cross promotion benefits of many participating authors rather than of only a few.
4. Excellent location at the fair for a fraction of the cost of an individual booth.
5. Association with a recognized name and with other authors with recognized names.
6. A stable, high trafficked booth location and a booth with an established history among return visitors to the fair.
7. A booth with double the usual frontage of most (The booth size is subject to the number participating).
8. Assorted ways to participate, some available to authors who don't live in the area (more on those later).
9. A limited number of books and authors accepted to increase visibility.
10. Display of the books of signing authors for the full two days of the fair.
11. Display of your poster for the full two days of the fair.
12. Exposure of your name and book's title on Authors' Coalition blogs.
13. Your book listed on an Amazon Listmania.
14. The credibility of being associated with a well-planned booth sponsored by a professional organization.
15. Associated value-added promotion like our catalog for booksellers, our video special, our tote program, our slide show and our gift with purchase help attract interest in the booth, help encourage sales, and help us keep cross-promotional efforts going long after the fair.
16. You participation in signing and display, includes an ad on the Authors' Coalition website for one month at no additional charge.
17. An opportunity to have your favorite review posted at The New Book Review (www.newbookreview.blogspot.com).
Here's What's NEW In 2009
Poetry reading
Story time for kids
Promotional Tote Bags
We are planning to have a poetry-reading hour and a children's story reading hour in the afternoon slots. The cost will be approximately $25.00 for a 15 minutes-reading time. This is new and details will be provided in the subsequent issues. Please let me (Christine Alexanians) know of your interest and I'll put you on the list. I am not taking deposits at this time. Imagine, saying you read from your work at this prestigious fair!
DISPLAY:
Books on display will be shown on a bookstand, not tossed into a bin with hundreds of others. There is room near each participant's book to have a flier 4 x 5 3/4 and, to give away bookmarks or business cards--any two of the three. Each author may also supply laminated signs with grommets to be hung around the perimeter of the booth. Note: We are not offering display to anyone not signing this year. All books on display will be those of signing authors.
SALES
No books will be sold out of the booth except by signing authors at the time of their signing. Books will be displayed with order forms when they are not signing. (See above.).
BLOG
Our Authors' Coalition fair-focused blog is open to all. It further exposes our participants' books. We use the blog as a kind of journal of our experiences and the blog comments as a way to share promotion ideas and ask questions. It is an ideal way to keep a record but also to share with other writers who might be planning a fair booth elsewhere.
We also offer a free review blog (www.TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com) where participants can have their favorite reviews (with permission from the reviewer) posted.
SIGNING SEGMENTS AT THE FAIR
Local authors or authors willing to travel may purchase one hour segments of signing time. Signings will be posted in the booth (Sorry, but the LA Times Festival of Books administration does not provide a way to list multiple authors in the brochures, etc. that the LA Times sends out.) Thus signing authors will be responsible for their own promotions including media releases and invitations to drive traffic to their signing. In fact, for everyone to benefit we will ask for a pledge that each of them will do so.)
One hour (50 minutes to allow set up) signing segments cost $150 for the first and $100 for a second hour. We offer a discounted cost of $100 and $80 for authors signing before August 15th, 2008. The fee includes display in the booth for the full two days. If you choose to sign, we strongly recommend that participants consider the stands and banners we tested last year to make their signing times a standout. (Information on these amazingly-effective stands to come and at www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com )
All signing positions are available on a first-come, first-served basis. We have had authors with books traditionally published as well as subsidy--and self-published. We only ask that no one with pornographic material apply because we are located near the children's section and sometimes have children's authors as signers. Those who are not members of Authors' Coalition will be asked to join at the Silver Membership level. The regular cost is $25, but will be discounted to $20 for those signing or reading. Participants whose memberships come due in April can join for only $10 in addition to the signing fee.
Training:
It is our policy to supply ideas, templates and resources for book fair promotion. We begin early which is one reason to take advantage of this early bird special. Many find this an educational experience equivalent to taking an expensive class in promotion.
Disposal of Fair Materials and Limitations:
Books and promotion materials will not be returned. Display books will be donated to a library after the fair.
Other terms: Because of the training process and because we must pay our expenses early, fees must be paid upon signing and cannot be refunded. There are also no refunds for natural or unnatural disasters and, yes, that includes rain. An author must participate in the signing segment to actually sell books. They sell their own books in our booth only during their signing time and handle their own sales (or bring an assistant to do that for them.)
PAYMENT
To participate send an e-mail to Christine Alexanians at chalexwrite@yahoo.com. She can invoice you for PayPal or give you an address to send a check. Please put "LA Times Fair" in the subject line and please let her know the programs you would like to participate in so she will know how to bill you. (As an example, you should tell her if you are already a CURRENT paid member of AC or if you need to be billed for your membership.) She will then send you details for participation and answer other questions regarding this show. The fair booth is under the auspices of Authors' Coalition and booth promotion will be handled by Christine and Carolyn Howard-Johnson.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coalition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
Join us now as a signing author at the Authors' Coalition booth at the LA Times Festival of Books on the beautiful UCLA campus and get a substantial discount. It is the last weekend of April 2009. The book-signing portion of the fair requires that you attend but other value-added promotions do not. You'll hear more about those later.
Authors' Coalition will again be sponsoring a booth at the LA Times/UCLA Festival of Books on April 2009. We focus on making a humdrum fair into a sizzling success; we make changes every year based on what we learned the year before and the year before that.
Register before August 15th and receive an early bird discount for the signing slots. One hour signing segments (50 minutes to allow set up) cost $100 for the first and $80 for a second hour. After August 15, the fee will return to its regular $150 for the first and $100 for the second day. The fee includes display or your book, your order forms and your bookmark or business card and a poster for the full two days, Those who are not members of Authors' Coalition will be asked to join at the Silver Membership level. The regular cost is $25, but will be discounted to $20 for those signing. Participants whose memberships from last year come due in April can join for only $10 in addition to the signing fee.
Last year we had our booth televised on the Internet. Rey Ybarra from Best Selling Author Television was there to cover the event. He conducted short three-minute interviews with the several authors. The program proved to be a great success. Rey will be there with his crew again this year. (To see the 2008 video made by Rey Ybarra, go to Best Selling Author Television site at : http://www.veoh.com/channels/BSATV)
The advantages of our LA Times Booth:
1. Ongoing education on PR and promotion for participants during the planning of the booth.
2. Value-added promotions designed to draw readers to our booth (more to come on these later.)
3. Cross promotion benefits of many participating authors rather than of only a few.
4. Excellent location at the fair for a fraction of the cost of an individual booth.
5. Association with a recognized name and with other authors with recognized names.
6. A stable, high trafficked booth location and a booth with an established history among return visitors to the fair.
7. A booth with double the usual frontage of most (The booth size is subject to the number participating).
8. Assorted ways to participate, some available to authors who don't live in the area (more on those later).
9. A limited number of books and authors accepted to increase visibility.
10. Display of the books of signing authors for the full two days of the fair.
11. Display of your poster for the full two days of the fair.
12. Exposure of your name and book's title on Authors' Coalition blogs.
13. Your book listed on an Amazon Listmania.
14. The credibility of being associated with a well-planned booth sponsored by a professional organization.
15. Associated value-added promotion like our catalog for booksellers, our video special, our tote program, our slide show and our gift with purchase help attract interest in the booth, help encourage sales, and help us keep cross-promotional efforts going long after the fair.
16. You participation in signing and display, includes an ad on the Authors' Coalition website for one month at no additional charge.
17. An opportunity to have your favorite review posted at The New Book Review (www.newbookreview.blogspot.com).
Here's What's NEW In 2009
Poetry reading
Story time for kids
Promotional Tote Bags
We are planning to have a poetry-reading hour and a children's story reading hour in the afternoon slots. The cost will be approximately $25.00 for a 15 minutes-reading time. This is new and details will be provided in the subsequent issues. Please let me (Christine Alexanians) know of your interest and I'll put you on the list. I am not taking deposits at this time. Imagine, saying you read from your work at this prestigious fair!
DISPLAY:
Books on display will be shown on a bookstand, not tossed into a bin with hundreds of others. There is room near each participant's book to have a flier 4 x 5 3/4 and, to give away bookmarks or business cards--any two of the three. Each author may also supply laminated signs with grommets to be hung around the perimeter of the booth. Note: We are not offering display to anyone not signing this year. All books on display will be those of signing authors.
SALES
No books will be sold out of the booth except by signing authors at the time of their signing. Books will be displayed with order forms when they are not signing. (See above.).
BLOG
Our Authors' Coalition fair-focused blog is open to all. It further exposes our participants' books. We use the blog as a kind of journal of our experiences and the blog comments as a way to share promotion ideas and ask questions. It is an ideal way to keep a record but also to share with other writers who might be planning a fair booth elsewhere.
We also offer a free review blog (www.TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com) where participants can have their favorite reviews (with permission from the reviewer) posted.
SIGNING SEGMENTS AT THE FAIR
Local authors or authors willing to travel may purchase one hour segments of signing time. Signings will be posted in the booth (Sorry, but the LA Times Festival of Books administration does not provide a way to list multiple authors in the brochures, etc. that the LA Times sends out.) Thus signing authors will be responsible for their own promotions including media releases and invitations to drive traffic to their signing. In fact, for everyone to benefit we will ask for a pledge that each of them will do so.)
One hour (50 minutes to allow set up) signing segments cost $150 for the first and $100 for a second hour. We offer a discounted cost of $100 and $80 for authors signing before August 15th, 2008. The fee includes display in the booth for the full two days. If you choose to sign, we strongly recommend that participants consider the stands and banners we tested last year to make their signing times a standout. (Information on these amazingly-effective stands to come and at www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com )
All signing positions are available on a first-come, first-served basis. We have had authors with books traditionally published as well as subsidy--and self-published. We only ask that no one with pornographic material apply because we are located near the children's section and sometimes have children's authors as signers. Those who are not members of Authors' Coalition will be asked to join at the Silver Membership level. The regular cost is $25, but will be discounted to $20 for those signing or reading. Participants whose memberships come due in April can join for only $10 in addition to the signing fee.
Training:
It is our policy to supply ideas, templates and resources for book fair promotion. We begin early which is one reason to take advantage of this early bird special. Many find this an educational experience equivalent to taking an expensive class in promotion.
Disposal of Fair Materials and Limitations:
Books and promotion materials will not be returned. Display books will be donated to a library after the fair.
Other terms: Because of the training process and because we must pay our expenses early, fees must be paid upon signing and cannot be refunded. There are also no refunds for natural or unnatural disasters and, yes, that includes rain. An author must participate in the signing segment to actually sell books. They sell their own books in our booth only during their signing time and handle their own sales (or bring an assistant to do that for them.)
PAYMENT
To participate send an e-mail to Christine Alexanians at chalexwrite@yahoo.com. She can invoice you for PayPal or give you an address to send a check. Please put "LA Times Fair" in the subject line and please let her know the programs you would like to participate in so she will know how to bill you. (As an example, you should tell her if you are already a CURRENT paid member of AC or if you need to be billed for your membership.) She will then send you details for participation and answer other questions regarding this show. The fair booth is under the auspices of Authors' Coalition and booth promotion will be handled by Christine and Carolyn Howard-Johnson.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coalition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
Saturday, 19 July 2008
Author Fictionalizes History of Hawaii
Wai-nani High Chiefess of Hawaii-Her Epic Journey
By Linda Ballou
Historical Fiction
ISBN:10:1-932993-88-2
ISBN:13:978-1-932993-88-2
Reviewer Paul Wagner
www.AboutTeens
Reviewed by Paul Wagner for About Teens
This is an historical novel couched in magical realism set against the backdrop of Hawai’i’s most dynamic period between 1740 and 1820. Wai-nani’s character is inspired by Ka’ahumanu, the favorite wife of Kamehameha the Great, who was responsible for ending the 2,000-year-old Polynesian “kapu system.” The turbulent romance of these Hawaiian icons and the events that changed an ancient culture forever is told by the author with passion and authenticity.
Wai-nani’s relationship with the ocean and a family of dolphins offers her uncomplicated freedom and expression, while her experiences with her people demand that she struggle physically, emotionally and spiritually against her traditional “place of standing.”
Author Ballou delivers a generous slice of Hawaiian history with details of land and sea as vivid as being there. It is an inspiring and absorbing read.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coalition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
By Linda Ballou
Historical Fiction
ISBN:10:1-932993-88-2
ISBN:13:978-1-932993-88-2
Reviewer Paul Wagner
www.AboutTeens
Reviewed by Paul Wagner for About Teens
This is an historical novel couched in magical realism set against the backdrop of Hawai’i’s most dynamic period between 1740 and 1820. Wai-nani’s character is inspired by Ka’ahumanu, the favorite wife of Kamehameha the Great, who was responsible for ending the 2,000-year-old Polynesian “kapu system.” The turbulent romance of these Hawaiian icons and the events that changed an ancient culture forever is told by the author with passion and authenticity.
Wai-nani’s relationship with the ocean and a family of dolphins offers her uncomplicated freedom and expression, while her experiences with her people demand that she struggle physically, emotionally and spiritually against her traditional “place of standing.”
Author Ballou delivers a generous slice of Hawaiian history with details of land and sea as vivid as being there. It is an inspiring and absorbing read.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coalition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
