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Meet Peter Davies, author of Scatterlings of Africa. Born and raised in Africa, Peter Davies served as a territorial soldier in Rhodesia from 1963 to 1975. He saw action, and took part in captures and interrogation.

This gave him insight into terrorist minds, many of which were successfully encouraged to ‘turn’ and fight alongside Rhodesia’s soldiers against their former comrades.  Davies wrote his novel, “Scatterlings of Africa,” using his own recollections of how the war was fought, and how it affected Rhodesia and its people.

Interview posted with permission of ReaderViews.

Juanita:  Welcome to Reader Views Peter, and thanks for the opportunity to talk with you today about your new novel “Scatterlings of Africa.”  Your story takes place in 60’s-70’s Rhodesia.  Would you paint a picture of this area for readers, and tell us what was happening politically in the region?

Peter:  Well, thank you for inviting me, Juanita.  As you know; after almost fifteen years of war, Rhodesia fell under the grip of Marxist dictator Mugabe who changed its name to Zimbabwe in 1980.  But Scatterlings of Africa takes you back to December 1972 in Rhodesia’s Zambezi Valley.  At that time, the Valley was full of animals that were wild and free – it was what was known as a ‘protected hunting area’, not one of the relatively tame ‘game reserves’ that most people see.  I had many encounters with lions, elephants, buffalo and other big game in addition to all the usual smaller stuff like wart hogs, antelope, etc. in this beautiful but wild part of the Valley.  Scorpions, tsetse fly and other nasty insects abounded and there was abundant bird life. Continue reading »

Dog Years: A Memoir
by Mark Doty
Reviewed by Grady Harp, an Amazon Top 10 Reviewer

DOG YEARS is one of those memorable books that will find a place not on the library shelf of the home, but instead on the bedside table.

Mark Doty, one of America’s most sophisticated and endearing poets, shares his experiences of his time with his two dogs, Arden and Beau, times of trial, loss, grieving, joy and mutual dependency, and in doing so he offers one of the more sensitive memoirs written.

Doty relates the gradual passing of his beloved Wally who succumbed to AIDS and in doing so introduces us to the manner in which both Arden and Beau became integral parts of the household and indeed participated in the grieving process with Doty.

And then after a year’s passing Doty speaks of his new life with fellow writer Paul Lisicky and how the two animals integrated into the new family and ultimately died surrounded by the support and love of the two men.

If all of this seems like a rather placid or even maudlin story, then the reader has not had the joy of exploring the poetic and writing gifts of Mark Doty. He has a sly wit: ‘Me, dramatize? Just a little. I don’t mean that I display an overly emotive surface, not that sort of drama. Rather that I am prone to interpretation, and to reading the moment as cosmic evidence, quickly turning things into metaphor’. He understands the human condition:

‘Hope is leaven; it makes things rise without effort’. He has experienced grief and bolsters those who have shouldered such experiences; ‘Life without an element of despair in it would seem an empty enterprise, a shallow little song-and-dance on the surface of experience. Despair has about it a bracing sense of actuality….’. Continue reading »

Promises Made, Promises Not Kept
by Ron Standerfer, Author of The Eagles Last Flight

It was chilly that morning at Yucca Flat, Nevada. As I stood on the platform with the others, I stomped my feet to keep warm and gazed anxiously at the seven hundred foot tower before me. Suspended below was a nuclear device capable of a detonation more than two times the size of the bomb dropped on Nagasaki. The tower was eight miles away, but it looked much closer. The device was set to go off in ten minutes. When the final countdown began, I placed my hands over my eyes and stood facing it as instructed.

What happened next, was a flash of light so bright and  blinding that the bones of my hands were visible as  if by X-ray. I uncovered my eyes and saw a dark, dirty mushroom cloud ascending skyward, followed by a shock wave rolling across the desert, passing through me with a resounding thump. When it was over, they collected the dosimeter I was wearing, brushed me off with brooms to remove any radioactive fallout that might have clung to my uniform, and sent me back to my squadron.

To this day, I have no idea why I was sent to witness that atomic test. But back then, it didn’t matter. I was a first lieutenant in the United States Air Force and that’s what I was ordered to do. Besides, I was certain the government knew what it was doing, and would never put me in harm’s way. That’s the way it was in 1957.

Twenty years after the test, I received a letter from the Center of Disease Control in Atlanta. “Our records show that in 1957 you observed a highly classified nuclear test code named, Smokey,” it began. “It seems in that particular test, an exceptionally large amount of radiation had been released into the air, and in later years, a significant number of deaths from leukemia had occurred among the participants.”  After medical tests proved that I did not have leukemia, I put the letter away and went on with my life. I was one of the lucky ones. Others were not so lucky. Continue reading »

Through the Eyes of a Survivor
by Colette Waddell

The events leading up to and through World War II are so well known, particularly to the baby boomer generation, that people often tend to take for granted they know what went on. This book makes it evident that most have only glanced at the surface.

Through the Eyes of a Survivor is a brilliant synthesis of oral history and historical research. It pierces to the heart of the matter and transforms mere information into vibrant experience.

This book is a shining testament to the magnificence of the human spirit. It teaches us we have the ability to endure the unthinkable and emerge strengthened and somehow more whole…though forever changed.

Nina Morecki , (née Grust), was born into a wealthy merchant class family in Lvov, Poland, the youngest of three daughters. She lived a life of privilege until her teens, when her family was ripped asunder by the Nazi invasion of Poland. She never saw her loved ones again.

Nina became an educator in her mid 70’s after reluctantly telling her story to a high school English class. Its profound impact on her audience propelled her into this unlikely avocation. Colette Waddell, then a student at the University of California at Santa Barbara, heard Nina speak and thought the world should know her story, not as a memoir, but as a historical work.

Colette found in Nina a survivor who proves that people may pass from our physical lives, yet live on in our hearts. Nina’s story offers tolerance in place of forgiveness, and a point of view recognizing the brutal inhumanity that allowed the holocaust, and, more importantly, the human potential to endure it.   Continue reading »

This article is contributed by Lisa Silverman

With the tremendous success of such memoirs as Frank McCourt’s “Angela’s Ashes,” Mary Karr’s “The Liar’s Club,” and Dave Eggers’s “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius,” the 1990s and early 2000s saw an explosion in the genre.

The boom was seen in the number of memoirs acquired by publishers, the number of titles shelved in the memoir section in bookstores, and, as a result, the number of memoirs unfolding on writers’ computer screens across the country. But the brutal truth is that without a few crucial elements, your memoir will have no chance of finding a literary agent’s representation, never mind becoming a bestseller.

It might help to consider a question that’s always puzzled me: What’s the difference between a memoir and an autobiography? Webster’s defines a memoir as “a narrative composed from personal experience” and an autobiography as “the biography of a person narrated by himself or herself.” (The second definition of “memoir” is “autobiography,” indicating just how blurry the line is.) I think of a biography as a life story–a full life, that is, unofficial “biographies” of Paris Hilton or Justin Timberlake aside. Most memoirs, by contrast, don’t begin at the author’s birth and provide a thorough chronological history of a life now in its twilight years.

Memoirs are, of course, written by authors of all ages, and their narratives can encompass fifty years or one week of experience. The first element necessary to a successful memoir is that experience. Continue reading »

You are free to duplicate or distribute the following information to your blog, Web site, ezine, newsletter, or friends. We would appreciate a link back to BloggingAuthors.com. If you would you like to review this book for your site, blog, or ezine, email nancy at bloggingauthors dot com

Paul Holton, more commonly known as Chief Wiggles, has set up many humanitarian assistance and help organizations.  He offers an insider view and humanistic portrayal of life in Iraq.

He is adamant in his quest to inform the general public of the good in the people of Iraq. While serving the US Army as an Interrogator, he discovers the similarities among men and their families, rather than the brutal terrorists our media has reported them to be. Paul expands his mission to bring joy and goodwill to this impoverished country through Operation Give. Through his choice of giving he says he has received so much more in return. Through the sight of a small girl’s tears, an idea to bring smiles to a people who have known few was born. Continue reading »

Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views

By R. Dean Johnson

Author R. Dean Johnson gained a lot of insight into human behavior by always observing what was going on around him. He calls it “homegrown wisdom.” He shares his homegrown wisdom with us to teach us to look for these kinds of life lessons in everything. Johnson’s writings made me feel like he was someone that I wished I knew personally. He looks at life very basically and offers his musings with a touch of southern class. He offers a lot of common sense. In his book, he takes each chapter and muses about an experience he had and what he learned from it. He talks about the importance of having our basic needs be met. For example, if we have known true hunger, we learn to really appreciate food. If we haven’t known true hunger, then we need to appreciate this fact and be grateful for the abundance in our lives.
Continue reading »

Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (10/06)

By Karen Vanderlaan

“Show and Tell” is a story that will leave you quiet and contemplative. It is about the life of Karen Vanderlaan. She spent her early years on a family farm called “The Milky Way.” She and her siblings enjoyed the freedom that comes from having land to roam on, and they enjoyed their horses. Her true childhood ended the day that her mother left her father and took the children away from their farm.

Karen had to grow up quickly. She and her siblings were both physically and mentally abused by their mother and the mother’s friend named “Bunny.” They also had to live in poverty. Karen’s relationship with her horses was one way that she could escape from the pain. She didn’t always have them available and had to endure those hard times on her own.

Karen was always seeking what most abused children seek: love, affection and a sense of belonging. She could not get this from her parents. She also test drove several religions and could not find what she was looking for from the people involved in them. They were not practicing what they preached. This caused more disappointing experiences for her. She didn’t have too many people to turn to. Having to see her brother and sister abused was also a torment in itself. Nobody stepped in to help them.
Continue reading »

You are free to duplicate or distribute the following information to your blog, Web site, ezine, newsletter, or friends. We would appreciate a link back to BloggingAuthors.com.  If you would you like to review this book for your site, blog, or ezine, email nancy at bloggingauthors dot com

Me and My Father’s Shadow
by Dawn Williams

Both biography and autobiography, this book tells the story of Ted Lewis, The Jazz King who was the originator of The Big Bands.  Lewis was considered by many of his contemporaries as the highest paid bandleader, recording artist, entertainer, and movie/radio/television personality of the 20th century. This story is told by his daughter, whom he never knew.

Although this is a work of nonfiction, some portions are fictionalized since the alternative – not including them at all – would have detracted from the overall truth of the story: ! Some anecdotal narrations and dialog are reconstructions or speculations ! In the interest of privacy and anonymity, pseudonyms are used for persons whose names are not biographically significant. Names of Ted Lewis’s relatives and of public officials and celebrities are accurately recounted. Visit the author’s Website to learn more.

You are free to duplicate or distribute the following information to your blog, Web site, ezine, newsletter, or friends. We would appreciate a link back to BloggingAuthors.com.  If you would you like to review this book for your site, blog, or ezine, email nancy at bloggingauthors dot com

Slow Hope
by Anita Swanson

She knew it was over as soon as her second child was born. However, by that time she was barely able to complete a thought. Let alone organize a plan for getting out of her marriage. So she just let herself drift, until finally nothing seemed to matter very much at all.

She still went to church, of course. Sundays she sang at the Baptist church where her husband served as Minister of Music and Thursdays, even though her husband told her he didn’t approve, she attended a Presbyterian Bible Study for women.

And still she prayed. She prayed for guidance and understanding. She prayed for wisdom and forgiveness. She prayed for help and endurance. But mostly she simply prayed for deliverance. She wanted out. Out of the bonds of her fundamental marriage. Out of her feelings of oppression. And out of the black hole that now surrounded her with every breath she took.

~Excerpt from Slow Hope
by Anita Swanson

The easy questions come first. Have you ever lied about anything and suffered for it? Have you ever self medicated through pills or alcohol? Have you ever contemplated or gotten divorced? Have you ever contemplated or had an affair? Have you ever felt abandoned by the church? Have you ever contemplated leaving or left the church because you found it too judgmental or oppressive? Then author Anita Swanson says Slow Hope’s message of courage, restoration and forgiveness is for you.

The hard questions come later. How can you save a life gone haywire? Can anyone really heal from child abuse or do the effects lasts forever? What’s the church ever done for me anyway?

And the answers can be found in the often difficult journey she travels and the light that guides her path along the way.

Slow Hope is a multi-layered love story that focuses, among other themes, on child abuse, as well as the church and its initial resistance to Psychotherapy. Slow Hope does not attempt to convert anyone nor attempt to change the laws of leadership in the fundamental church. Slow Hope shows that as the author states “with ordinary courage and determination, oppression can be overcome and generational cycles of violence can be stopped.”

Slow Hope is for anyone who needs to be reassured that there really is power in prayer and simply hanging on. This impassioned narrative teaches that we can learn, we can change, we can be forgiven and finally, that our faith can be restored because if you can face your past, you can heal your past.

About Anita Swanson
As a writer Anita has studied at the UCLA Writers Program and attended numerous writing programs including the prestigious University of Iowa Writing Program. First Place Winner of fiction in the Taproot Literary Review she is a published author of essays as well as her first book, Slow Hope, an acclaimed narration of what it takes to heal from a childhood of abuse to live a life of triumph.

As an actor Anita has appeared in regional and national television commercials and through her membership in the prestigious West Coast Ensemble Theater Company she received outstanding reviews from the LA Times for her role in Susan Griffin’s, Voices.

As a parent Anita successfully raised two daughters as a single mother following her divorce from a high-profile Baptist Minister of music.

As a Christian she has assisted in the teaching of Bible Classes and sung in countless church choirs.

Now remarried and living on the lake in Lake County, CA, Anita continues to write, speak and enjoy her many grandchildren. She is happy to call First Baptist Church of Lakeport her home.