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By Elaine Allison

The Velvet Hammer challenges women leaders to explore why and how they must lead differently than men. Using real life stories, examples and assessments, this fascinating book shows women how to be decisive and diplomatic, confident and compassionate, strong and supportive in any leadership role.

The Velvet Hammer is a women leader who can manage with grace and eloquence and still get things done. She has given up trying what might work for her male counterpart… and has found her own unique way to lead other’s. The Velvet Hammer not only offers great tips in a book distinctly for women on leadership, but also offers unique “Velvet Hammer” gifts for the women who got the promotion or just needs to be recognized. They are a great way to say thank you to the many women in your life who deserves some recognition after a long project, a year on a board or committee or after a challenging time.
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By E. Bernard Jordan

Bishop Jordan has written a stellar work that is guaranteed to free the mentally enslaved, acquit the wrongfully charged, and bring healing to the sick.

The Laws of Thinking is not a work for the shallow-minded person. It is demanding and challenging. It is neither intended to be used as the basis for unmerited criticism nor as sermon material for the minister having difficulty receiving a fresh work from the Lord. It was written with a very clear aim: to provoke spiritual thought. Bill Gates’ Microsoft, Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Productions, Stephen Spielberg’s DreamWorks, and even his own Zoe Ministries all began with a thought.
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Thanks to the Kentroversy Papers for this review. 

The Myth America Pageant is the first book from new author Robert Wickes, who shows he understands what the politicos do not, which is how to fix the mess in which we in America find ourselves.

WHERE IS THE AMERICA I WAS TOLD EXISTED WHEN I WAS A CHILD?

In a world filled with political punditry and self-appointed authorities on all manner of subjects; it is refreshing to read a book written by an Ordinary Joe that tells the bold truth concerning the way in which the American system really works. ‘The Myth America Pageant’ is the first-ever book written by Robert Wickes, who is a self-described ‘Ordinary Joe.’ Subtitled ‘How Government & Politics REALLY Affect the Ordinary Joe,’ it is a look into the rabbit hole of the Federal government, and how patently unfair it is to those of us who comprise the so-called Middle Class, a population that is quickly falling into bankruptcy. Continue reading »

A Time Before Me
Michael Holloway Perronne
iUniverse (2006)
ISBN 9781583484630
Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (1/07)

Thanks to ReaderViews for allowing BloggingAuthors to post this review.

Mason is a gay teen growing up in rural Mississippi . Not only does he have to deal with all of the normal issues that teens deal with, like deciding his future, but he also has to deal with his secret of being gay. Neither the town, nor his family, is receptive to people with alternative lifestyles. Rather than accept a scholarship to his local college or work with his father in a factory, Mason wants to spread his wings and fly. His best friend and lifelong crush, Billy, has run away to live in New York City.

Billy is also gay, but he and Mason never talked about this aspect of their lives. Mason meets an out of town visitor that shows him where the secret gay night life is. He gets to meet other people like himself. It is a relief to be able to be out in the open, even if it is only with this group. Continue reading »

Can you believe that it’s 2007 already?? I’m still in shock but my entire world’s currently a bit upside down right now anyway. We’ve moved back to the states after seven wonderful years in Germany…and I’m already missing Europe. I can’t complain, though - the Army’s allowed us to stay overseas for seven years, which is incredibly long for a military tour. I went from ‘never traveled’ to ‘can’t get enough’, visited a whopping 45 countries throughout Europe and Africa, and published a book.

Of course, I don’t plan on staying stateside for long…my husband’s here for a normal three-year tour but I’m already planning vacations back! And we are talking about another overseas tour after this one!

So, now’s the time of year when everyone’s working hard to keep their New Year’s resolutions. What’s on your list? Continue reading »

Thanks to Juanita at ReaderViews.com for allowing us to post this interview with Vicki Landes, author of Europe for the Senses.

Juanita:  Thanks for talking with us today Vicki.  We are interested to hear more about you, and your beautiful photography book “Europe for the Senses: A Photographic Journal.”  Would your start off by telling us what your book is about, and what you are trying to convey through the photos?

Vicki:  “Europe for the Senses – A Photographic Journal” is a travel/photography book meant to do more than just display European destinations.  It’s a collection of photography and creative writing meant to transport the reader to each respective destination with stimulating sensory imagery. Experience the sights, smells, sounds, tastes, and touch that make Europe a remarkable compilation of uniquely beautiful countries. Whether a novice or a seasoned traveler, EFTS hopes to invoke a craving for Europe – not only for the major attractions that attract so many but the small, much overlooked details waiting to be discovered. 

Juanita:   Vicki, where were you born, and where are you living now? 

Vicki:  I was born in St. Charles, Missouri and stayed there until I left for college.  My family hardly traveled so I never considered exploring other places.  My husband and I had been living in Kansas City, Missouri for a couple years when he received military orders to Stuttgart, Germany.  I was livid – I’d just graduated college, we’d just bought a house and I’d just had a baby so I went to Germany literally kicking and screaming.  After about six months, though, I really got into seeing new places and we’ve been living in Stuttgart for seven years now!  Since my husband is active duty Army, he had to extend a couple of times (tours are normally three years) and he did so only because I loved it here so much.    Continue reading »

Reviewed by Jill Wing, Reporter for The Saratogian

At the Helm of the Muffin

Valerie Perez, who grew up in Saratoga Springs, New York has penned a rollicking, rolling memoir that crests the wave of adventure during an unforgettable sail across the open Pacific. The captain is a seafarer who runs his ship like Ahab — a sometimes lovable, gentle, obstinate and stubborn “man-the-lifeboats” Ahab.

Her new memoir, The Last Voyage of the Cosmic Muffin, puts the reader at the helm of the 40-floot sailboat on an epic journey of discovery, madness, romance, sickness, hunger, loneliness and an awakening that has helped forge her path to the future. Muffin is required reading for all women approaching the age of no return, and for men to float their dreams of adventure past their significant others, they just might take the bait.

When Perez turned 50, she decided to join the Peace Corps, taking a leave of absence as managing partner with Design Management Alliance in Bean Station, Tenn. She was sent to Micronesia, where she met Shepard Harris “Shep,” captain of the Cosmic Muffin. Harris was on the last leg of a round-trip sail from California to Australia. The landlubber and seafarer found some common ground in their lives of adventure and Harris asked Perez to crew on the last leg. It was a two-person gig — Perez and Harris. The self-confessed clueless sailor was the crew. The landlubber and the sailor gave in to their passions and struck out together on an extended voyage to Hawaii and, ultimately, to Shep’s home in Moss Landing, Calif. Continue reading »

The Old Sergeant 

Author:  Steven J. Newton 
Publisher:  Publish America 
Reviewer: W. H. McDonald – President of MWSA 

Short stories of war and people - through the eyes of an old sergeant 

Author Steven Newton gives us a book of short stories that all hang together for one much bigger story as seen and told through the eyes and emotions of “The Old Sergeant.”  His brilliant writing style is a cross between Ernie Pyle and O’Henry and is a wonderfully insightful (and at times touching) look at war and people.  It is thought provoking and will give readers something to chew on long after they finished the stories. 

Newton does not take the easy and expected twists and turns in his stories. He allows us to see a more human and emotional side of him as expressed through his lead character the Old Sergeant.  This is a totally different kind of book of war short stories that makes for an easy read.  The author obliviously has writing talent.  These stories capture all that energy in a finely written 187 page book that is an entertaining read. 

This is certainly one of the best collections of military related short stories published in the past five years.  Put this book on your buy list!  It will make a great gift book for all veterans.  Continue reading »

Grady Harp is an Amazon Top 10 Reviewer

‘One man’s trash is another man’s treasure’ might be a apt conclusion after spending the significant amount of time required to digest Umberto Eco’s semiotic approach to ‘ugly’.

Eco’s brilliance as an author is well accepted, yet his informed academic investigation (upon which many of his own novels are based) is only now being appreciated. It is difficult to read On Ugliness as a treatise, so lush and provocative is his prose style.

Rizzoli International spared no expense on supplying Eco with images and design of this art treasure, and the result is a volume about art history and our manifold perceptions of the signs and symbols that through time have defined ‘ugly’ versus ‘beauty.’

Eco wisely uses the chronological approach to his discourse on the semiotics of ugliness. After a superb Introduction in which he suggests the response of an alien visiting our planet, trying to determine Continue reading »