Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Second Printing!
Good news! We've just heard that Radical Gratitude is going into its second printing tomorrow--whoo hoo!!
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Chimpanzee Release and Rescue
Encourage your federal legislators to support new legislation that will prohibit:
-Invasive research on great apes
-Federal funding of such research both within and outside of the U.S.
-Transport of great apes for such research
-Federal breeding of great apes for such research
And require:
-Permanent retirement of all federally-owned great apes
It's time, don't you think?
-Invasive research on great apes
-Federal funding of such research both within and outside of the U.S.
-Transport of great apes for such research
-Federal breeding of great apes for such research
And require:
-Permanent retirement of all federally-owned great apes
It's time, don't you think?
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
INTO THE SUNSET by Donald Capone
Wayne Benson is tired of living a complicated life. His needs are pretty simple—quiet time to write, three square meals a day (preferably prepaid and prepared for him), and comfortable surroundings. But where to find all of these things in one place? Enter The Sunset—a retirement community he once toured with his parents, prior to their move to Florida. The only problem? He’s thirty-two years too young. Enter Wayne Senior, his alter ego and aged doppelganger, courtesy of a grey wig and stage makeup, complete with cane and a stooped, halting gait (he’ll learn not to run for the bus when late).
For a time, Wayne’s plan works great. But what he hadn’t planned on was the complications of falling for a sexy fellow resident (yes, sixty can be sexy!) and becoming friends with his cranky next-door neighbor. Add a suspicious landlady and a blackmailing security guard, and things soon get way more complicated than Wayne’s former young life had ever been.
Perhaps the best part of the book for me (and so much of it was great fun) was moving through Wayne’s emotional maturation as he goes from viewing his fellow residents as obstacles to insightful, interesting people. His initial, skeptical view is evidenced by this passage:
“Eventually, the van would arrive in front of the supermarket and park. The driver would stay inside with the engine running and the A/C downgraded from arctic blast to cold front. Slowly the seniors would stir and with the help of a couple of Sunset staffers begin to vacate the vehicle. The legs of walkers and the tips of canes would emerge first, like the tentacles of some strange space creatures trying to blend in with humanity, they would descend on the store, sporting wraparound sunglasses, shawls, light-weight summer sweaters, and fistfuls of double coupons. Aisles would be congested, workers berated, and cashiers interrogated.”
Into the Sunset is a lively, engaging, romp-of-a-read, and by the end of the book, Wayne’s attitude and understanding have greatly softened—a truly older, wiser and more sanguine Wayne has emerged for us, his readers, and we welcome his rebirth into old age.
Amazon
For a time, Wayne’s plan works great. But what he hadn’t planned on was the complications of falling for a sexy fellow resident (yes, sixty can be sexy!) and becoming friends with his cranky next-door neighbor. Add a suspicious landlady and a blackmailing security guard, and things soon get way more complicated than Wayne’s former young life had ever been.
Perhaps the best part of the book for me (and so much of it was great fun) was moving through Wayne’s emotional maturation as he goes from viewing his fellow residents as obstacles to insightful, interesting people. His initial, skeptical view is evidenced by this passage:
“Eventually, the van would arrive in front of the supermarket and park. The driver would stay inside with the engine running and the A/C downgraded from arctic blast to cold front. Slowly the seniors would stir and with the help of a couple of Sunset staffers begin to vacate the vehicle. The legs of walkers and the tips of canes would emerge first, like the tentacles of some strange space creatures trying to blend in with humanity, they would descend on the store, sporting wraparound sunglasses, shawls, light-weight summer sweaters, and fistfuls of double coupons. Aisles would be congested, workers berated, and cashiers interrogated.”
Into the Sunset is a lively, engaging, romp-of-a-read, and by the end of the book, Wayne’s attitude and understanding have greatly softened—a truly older, wiser and more sanguine Wayne has emerged for us, his readers, and we welcome his rebirth into old age.
Amazon
Monday, March 17, 2008
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Friday, February 15, 2008
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
The Money Factor
Kelly Spitzer gets feedback from a number of authors (including yours truly) over at her blog, Writers in Profile on the subject of submitting to paying vs. non-paying journals.
Monday, February 04, 2008
The Roycroft Campus Corporation
The RCC in East Aurora, NY has very graciously offered to host a luncheon and book launch for Radical Gratitude and other life lessons learned in Siberia.
The luncheon will be held at the Roycroft Inn on March 8th.
If you had asked me two years ago to dream big and tell you where I'd most like to celebrate a local book launch, I'd have answered, "At, the Roycroft, of course, as if that would ever happen..." Well, I can't believe it, but it's actually happening! Yay!!
And (by the way) if you'd ask me, nationally where I'd like to launch a US release of the book, I'd say, "Oprah, of course, as if that would ever happen..."
(Just putting that out there for the universe to mull over...)
The luncheon will be held at the Roycroft Inn on March 8th.
If you had asked me two years ago to dream big and tell you where I'd most like to celebrate a local book launch, I'd have answered, "At, the Roycroft, of course, as if that would ever happen..." Well, I can't believe it, but it's actually happening! Yay!!
And (by the way) if you'd ask me, nationally where I'd like to launch a US release of the book, I'd say, "Oprah, of course, as if that would ever happen..."
(Just putting that out there for the universe to mull over...)
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
The Liar's Diary
Today is the day that the blogosphere is celebrating and supporting and sending hope to Patry Francis, debut author of The Liar's Club. It's an amazing story--hers and her book's--and you simply must check it out at Susan Henderson's wonderful Lit Park.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
The Story of Stuff
If (like me) sustainability and consumerism have been on your mind lately, you simply must watch this video: The Story of Stuff.
Press release!!
In the tradition of Tuesdays with Morrie, this is the inspirational story of how one man learned life's greatest lessons in the face of incredible hardship.
RADICAL GRATITUDE
and other life lessons learned in Siberia
Andrew Bienkowski & Mary Akers
Published by Allen & Unwin on 7 March 2008
No article or review should appear before this date without prior permission
RRP: $22.95 * Format: Paperback * ISBN: 9781741754223
Andrew Bienkowski was five when, exiled with his immediate family, he watched his grandfather starve to death so they could survive.
Reminiscent of Viktor Frankel's great classic, Man's Search for Meaning, this extraordinary book melds the unfolding story of survival against the odds with the practical wisdom 5-year-old Andrew gained while coming to terms with his new home; with its dramatic landscape and endless challenges. In amongst the pain are moments of great beauty, breathtaking northern lights, the appearance of the first butterfly after the long months of winter, the unexpected kindness of strangers who risked everything to be kind. It was these experiences that inspired Andrew to become a psychotherapist, and to devote his life to helping others.
As Churchill famously said, "We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give."
Each chapter details powerful ways to achieve this with such concepts as radical gratitude (learning to be grateful even for the difficult experiences in life); who we can and cannot help; genuine being with others in need, and the remarkable changes that we can experience when we do.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Andrew Bienkowski has spent more than 40 years as a clinical therapist. After Siberia, the family spent a year in an Iranian refugee camp where Andrew nearly died from dysentery, malaria and malnutrition. Three years in Palestine and a year in England followed before he finally immigrated to America. There, he went on to earn a Masters in Clinical Psychology and to become a psychotherapist.
Mary Akers' work has appeared in literary journals, many related to health and healing. Her story, Wild, Wild Horses was a Notable Story of 2004, and she has been a three-time Bread Loaf work-study recipient.
For further information or to arrange an interview, please contact:
Kelly Doust * Publicity Manager * Allen & Unwin Book Publishers
Tel: 02 8425 0137 Email: kellyd@allenandunwin.com
Download 300dpi cover images from the Allen & Unwin website.
Friday, December 14, 2007
And...it's off!!
The book went to the printer Friday (Australia time, which was last night my time). Whoo hoo!! The design team decided to do a glossy overlay for the cover, too; it will have the matte picture of snow and reflected trees, and then that image will be covered with a gloss that has an embedded snowflake pattern that can only be seen at certain angles. Should be amazing.
I can honestly say that I haven't got a single reservation about this book. The editor and publisher have been amazing to work with and they kept me involved and updated every step of the way. I am surely spoiled for any future editor and publisher. :)
I can honestly say that I haven't got a single reservation about this book. The editor and publisher have been amazing to work with and they kept me involved and updated every step of the way. I am surely spoiled for any future editor and publisher. :)
Friday, December 07, 2007
Two approaches to a creative life
A fascinating article on creativity can be read at the Chicago Chronicle website.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
THE UNDERSTORY by Pamela Erens
Jack Gorse is a complicated man. The particularity of his nature is revealed in the book’s opening paragraph as he describes an episode of curdled cream in his self-serve coffee—an episode that led him forever after to drink his coffee black and obsessively double check each time he fills his cup.
We soon learn that he is also facing eviction from a rent-controlled apartment in New York City, an apartment he has illegally inhabited for years following the death of a similarly named uncle. The slow, cold war of attrition that ensues leaves Jack the only remaining tenant, and the architect hired to oversee the project his only human contact.
The ever unfolding layers of Jack’s personality reveal a man both intelligent and oddly naïve, shy and slyly voyeuristic, cunning and emotionally guileless. He is a fascinating man. He is also a quiet man, but even though this story is a first-person narrative, I would hesitate to label it a quiet book. The Understory crackles with the energy of compulsion and unrequited obsession that is slowly and meticulously revealed in a way that could be called meditative (for its gradually deepening understanding), except for the fact that Jack fails miserably at meditation. No, the true genius in the storytelling here is that Jack reveals his deepest self, without actually revealing his deepest self. He simply recounts, while we see what he cannot.
In fact, it’s this continual dichotomous tendency that serves up the book’s delicious tension. Gorse is beset by a stubborn ennui that plays against a dramatic narrative backdrop of eviction notices, narrowly escaped fires, and a culminating scene of violence that is as sudden and unexpected as it is dramatically right.
The Understory is a book that relentlessly and incrementally pulls you forward on intelligent tenterhooks till you slap against a conclusion that resonates long after the turning of the final page.
We soon learn that he is also facing eviction from a rent-controlled apartment in New York City, an apartment he has illegally inhabited for years following the death of a similarly named uncle. The slow, cold war of attrition that ensues leaves Jack the only remaining tenant, and the architect hired to oversee the project his only human contact.
The ever unfolding layers of Jack’s personality reveal a man both intelligent and oddly naïve, shy and slyly voyeuristic, cunning and emotionally guileless. He is a fascinating man. He is also a quiet man, but even though this story is a first-person narrative, I would hesitate to label it a quiet book. The Understory crackles with the energy of compulsion and unrequited obsession that is slowly and meticulously revealed in a way that could be called meditative (for its gradually deepening understanding), except for the fact that Jack fails miserably at meditation. No, the true genius in the storytelling here is that Jack reveals his deepest self, without actually revealing his deepest self. He simply recounts, while we see what he cannot.
In fact, it’s this continual dichotomous tendency that serves up the book’s delicious tension. Gorse is beset by a stubborn ennui that plays against a dramatic narrative backdrop of eviction notices, narrowly escaped fires, and a culminating scene of violence that is as sudden and unexpected as it is dramatically right.
The Understory is a book that relentlessly and incrementally pulls you forward on intelligent tenterhooks till you slap against a conclusion that resonates long after the turning of the final page.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
More amazing news!!
And, I've learned that a good friend and great writer, Jim Tomlinson, has just been awarded an NEA Fellowship for 2008!!! The news today keeps getting better and better!!!
Here's the list of prose fellowships, FYI.
Congratulations, Jim!!!
Here's the list of prose fellowships, FYI.
Congratulations, Jim!!!
Congratulations to Laura van den Berg
Laura has just been announced as the winner of the 2007 Dzanc Prize! You can read more about this at Katrina Denza's blog. Laura is a great writer and a fine human being--what excellent news!
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
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