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Looking for passion,conceit,bravery,mystery? Look no further than Linda Firestone’s unique collection of stories, Dancing with Gods: A Collection of Women’s Short Stories.

These tales guide the reader through worlds populated by extraordinary female characters. Their visions, journeys and travails are guaranteed to delight and entertain readers. They will leave you wanting more.

Excerpts

The Light Bearer
How long she would last was of no consequence; she was not afraid. Her life had been rewarding. A sense of calm swept over her. Now at the end, she knew her path had been perfect. Long ago, unable to find any comfort she had craved death. But that was long ago. Long before she came to know what it meant to be a light-bearer. In these last fading hours of being, she basked comfortably in the warmth of the sun and her garden; she was grateful.

Streetwalkers
She untangled the scarf from her head and threw it to the floor. Her body was tired and achy and her head felt heavy. “Maria, you’re such a fool.” Continue reading »

Grady Harp is an Amazon Top 10 Reviewer

E. Everett McFall offers his own tragedies and illness and gradual recovery from the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, the result of giving medical aid to the living and the dead during his tour of duty in Vietnam, 1966/1967.

Responding to a therapist’s advice to commit the unspeakable experiences to a written journal was the impetus to launch his slow and terrifying road to recovery, a journey that in his own words persists to this day. The results of that initial journal are here in this collection of thoughts, reflections and poems he has appropriately titled I Can Still Hear Their Cries, Even In My Sleep: A Journey Into PTSD.

It is a book that would be well for all of us to read and experience as, despite the horrendous accounts of war’s disabling effects on the human mind, it is also one of the books that will be considered a retrospective first in the exploration of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - a ‘new’ disease state dramatically brought to light by the experiences of Vietnam Vets.

McFall may not be trained as a poet, but he is more than sophisticated as a communicator. Continue reading »

Move over all you comedic writers, because a new force has entered the genre. Amber Kizer, a Washington state author, has blasted into the realms of excellence with her hilarious first novel, Gert Garibaldi’s Rants and Raves: One Butt Cheek at a Time.

Kizer’s book follows Gert Garibaldi (a hated name, given to her by her ancient parents) through a portion of her sophomore year in high school. Her experiences run the gamut (as do ALL sophomore girls) from the bliss of first love to the horror of getting your period at the same instant you have to stand in front of the class and give a presentation.

I found Gert’s interaction with her (slightly daft) parents dead-on; after all what do these oldsters know about the angst of teen life? Later, a visit to Victoria’s Secret changes part of that concept! I also loved the dynamics (and honesty) of Gert’s friendship with Adam, her gay best friend. Pals since forever, Gert and Adam share their fears and hopes about first dates and first kisses, while following the challenges to their friendship when a third party comes onto the scene.

From beginning to end, Kizer paints a picture a high school we can all imagine, including a sexy sex-ed teacher, a driver’s ed instructor who has to bring a portable oxygen tank along on the rides, and a princi-PAL! who wants to grade students on how much they weigh! I loved, too, Kizer’s side-splitting humor; if anyone can capture a teenage girl’s inner thoughts, this author can! There were several spots in the book that had me in stitches, including the title of Gert’s English paper that compares and contrasts Edgar Allan Poe and Ernest Hemingway: The Crackhead and the Suicidal Alkie.
Was high school ever like this? Absolutely!

Kudos to Amber Kizer’s first novel–and the first in a Gert Garibaldi series. Keep ‘em coming!

Read an in-depth interview with Amber Kizer.

Historical fiction author Bob O’Connor explores the story of a man who might have saved a nation from post-Civil War division, in his novel, The Virginian Who Might Have Saved Lincoln.

President Lincoln’s trusted friend, former law partner and heavily armed bodyguard, Ward Hill Lamon, is the subject of this new historical novel. Lamon snuck Lincoln into Washington prior to the Inauguration when detective Allan Pinkerton uncovered a plot to assassinate Lincoln when his train passed through Baltimore.

Lamon was in charge of the dedication of the national cemetery at Gettysburg on November 19, 1863. Many nights he slept on the floor outside the Lincoln bedroom in the White House to protect the president.

Unfortunately, Lamon was not at Ford’s Theater on April 14, 1865, the night the president was shot by John Wilkes Booth. If Lamon had been present, would Lincoln have been saved?

About the Author
Bob O’Connor lives in Charles Town, West Virginia, close to most of the sites of his books. O’Connor has always collected books on two historical characters — John Wilkes Booth and John Brown. As he says “Imagine my surprise when I ended up living in Charles Town, West Virginia — a place they both had visited in late 1859. Thus, the inspiration for the first novel “The Perfect Steel Trap Harpers Ferry 1859”. The book has been named a Finalist in the 2006 Best Book Awards by USA Book News.”

The inspiration for O’Connor’s second novel “The Virginian Who Might Have Saved Lincoln” was the intrigue of finding a man, Ward Hill Lamon, who was so close to Abraham Lincoln, yet most people he talked to had never heard about him. In fact, he is mentioned in most non-fiction books about Lincoln (there are 44,781 listed on Amazon.com), but no book has ever been written about him.”

O’Connor’s next book will most likely be called “Catesby-Eye Witness to the Civil War.” It is about an African American blacksmith who was captured by John Brown and released when Brown was captured at Harpers Ferry. The book follows his struggle to become a free man, as he witnesses events at Antietam Creek, Gettysburg, the Battle of Olustee (FL) and Andersonville Prison.

Learn more at Bob O’Connor Books

Grady Harp is Amazon #7 Top Reviewer

Norm Yip continues to substantiate his growing reputation as a fine art photographer with the publication of 2.Am: The Asian Male. The suggestions of superior craftsmanship and sensitivity as a portrait artist were evident in his first publication THE ASIAN MALE: 1.AM and with that book now in wide circulation his reputation has grown as has the respect from not only an appreciative audience, but also from art critics and peers alike.

The images within this book are both black and white and color, and for the aficionados Yip carefully explains the technical aspects of his craft. What is unique about this collection is that it celebrates Asian men and in doing so further substantiates Yip as the leader in this niche of photography.

Historically the Asian models, both female and male, have been modest in facing the camera unclothed: skin without the benefit of costume or secretive modes of stance has been somewhat of a taboo. Continue reading »

It was with great sadness that I read about the September 6, passing of Madeleine L’Engle, award-winning author of the Newberry Award winner A Wrinkle in Time. L’Engle, who was 88 years old, authored over 60 books.

L’Engle made an impact on me years ago, when I first picked up A Wrinkle in Time, and from there I traveled with her to her other Time Trilogy novels, A Wind in the Door, and A Swiftly Tilting Planet.

Something about her books touched me in a way few books do; although fiction, there was a sense of absolute truth and an open heartedness I’ve rarely experienced in other authors.

Do you know that the only letter I’ve ever written to an author was to her? And she answered, a hand-written note on stationery stamped from her summer home, Crosswicks, in Connecticut. I still treasure her note.

Although L’Engle’s “adult” works are Christian in nature, she was often criticized by not being Christian enough; some camps thought her too esoteric, others too New Age. It’s hard for me to make sense of those critical essays, because anyone who knows her work knows that love is always the element that overshadows all else.

I pulled out my 30-year-old copy of A Wrinkle in Time tonight . . . . what better way to say goodbye to a great soul than to let her words sing again.

Grady Harp is an Amazon Top 10 Reviewer

Review of Love Without: Stories. Jerry Stahl is a unique writer, one that will shock your socks off, make you feel as though you should put brown paper over the cover of the book so that no one will know you’re reading it, and definitely reserve participating in his stories in secret private places. BUT, the man can write short stories more original in content and craftsmanship than most anyone around.

This collection of eleven stories covers a large span of his career and when grouped together in the manner in which his publisher has placed them, they shock, entertain, tickle, horrify, and in general provide come of the strangest exploration of human borderline behavior ever written!

Meet Miss Chatty Cheeks, a woman of advanced years who abuses cocaine through an ‘original’ portal; Doris (an older woman) and early teen virgin Bob and the physical encounter they share in their assigned seats while flying across America; Continue reading »

Grady Harp is an Amazon Top 10 Reviewer

Borderline is a book that works on so many levels that it is almost unclassifiable. It is a genuinely warm, tender, humorous coming of age story while at the same time being a novel that is smart, informative and illuminating in the fields of genetics, autism as an increasingly proliferating condition, fast food and obesity as national crises, and the overemphasis of pill-popping for invented childhood and adult disorders.

Sounds like too much information to compress into one book? Not in the deft hands of author Bonnie Rozanski! For all of the intelligent and interesting information the book contains, the story itself is an amazingly fresh novel, written with great style and sensitivity, a novel than will appeal to just about everyone no matter the age group.

Guy Ritter is a twelve-year-old son of a geneticist father, an activist mother, and Guy happens to have a five-year-old brother Austin who is an autistic child. Guy feels extraneous in this family whose focus is on controlling autistic Austin, he has little tolerance for school, and finds some consolation in his obese best friend Matt. Continue reading »

BloggingAuthors had the opportunity to sit down with Amazon Top 10 Reviewer Grady Harp and discuss the art of the book review.

Grady, what inspired you to become a book reviewer?
I see reviewing a book as bringing closure to the event of reading a book. If I can immediately sit down and write my response, it feels like I have committed to the author – a response, if you like, that feels like a communication with the writer. Reviewing completes the circle, for me.

Did you have a goal of becoming an Amazon Top 10 reviewer?
No, I never aimed to become a Top 10 Reviewer. I just wrote reviews and enjoyed seeing people’s responses.

Actually there is a down side to being a Top 10 Reviewer – many people feel the need to put you down, criticizing the reviewer and not the review. There are circle of fairly vicious people who seem to fill their days spouting venom at those of us who have been reviewing for such a long time that we are in the Top 10.

What advice would you give to those who want to become a book reviewer?
Just do it. The first couple of reviews feel embarrassing and self indulgent, but then you just learn that everyone has a right to an opinion and the pressure to ‘perform’ is off. The joy is when authors write to you and thank you for your insight! Continue reading »

Dance On His Grave by Sylvia Dickey Smith. When Sidra Smart, the fifty-year-old ex-wife of a fundamentalist preacher, inherits her brother’s detective agency, she learns that a lifetime spent on a pedestal before her husband’s congregation has left her ill prepared to face the dark world of criminal investigation.

But when Jewell Stone bursts in with vague flashbacks of a grisly 30-year-old murder committed by her father, Roy Manly, Sid plunges into a surreal world where passion burns as hot as the memories of child abuse, arson and murder.

As if murder isn’t enough to occupy Sid’s every waking thought, she must also deal with her own internal conflicts as she comes face to face with the real world now that she’s stepped down off her pedestal of ‘the preacher’s wife’.

Intrigued by Jewell’s memories, but clueless as to procedure, Sid visits veteran private investigator George Leger, and this Cajun-speaking, rot-gut drinking man soon enchants her.

After he offers to supervise Sid until she gains state licensure, she travels to the Caribbean in search of Jewell’s sister, Emma Barfield, hoping she can refute the macabre memories. Instead, Emma reinforces them, saying, “When my father dies, I swear, I will drink tequila and dance on his grave.” Continue reading »