Book Blast : Baseball’s Dynasties and the Players Who Built Them by Jonathan Weeks

We're happy to be hosting Jonathan Weeks' BASEBALL'S DYNASTIES AND THE PLAYERS WHO BUILT THEM Book Blast today!

About the Book:

Title:
Baseball’s Dynasties and the Players Who Built Them

Author: Jonathan Weeks

Publisher: Rowan and Littlefield

Pages: 408

Genre: Sports History

Baseball has had its fair share of one-and-out champions,
but few clubs have dominated the sport for any great length of time. Given the
level of competition and the expansive length of the season, it is a remarkable
accomplishment for a team to make multiple World Series appearances in a short
timespan. From the Baltimore Orioles of the 1800s who would go to any length to
win—including physically accosting opponents—to the 1934 Cardinals known as the
“Gashouse Gang” for their rough tactics and determination, and on to George
Steinbrenner’s dominant Yankees of the late twentieth century, baseball’s
greatest teams somehow found a way to win year after year.



Spanning three centuries of the game, Baseball’s Dynasties and the Players
Who Built Them examines twenty-two of baseball’s most iconic teams. Each
chapter not only chronicles the club’s era of supremacy, but also provides an
in-depth look at the players who helped make their teams great. Nearly two
hundred player profiles are included, featuring such well-known stars as Joe
DiMaggio, Jackie Robinson, Sandy Koufax, and Pete Rose, as well as players who
were perhaps overshadowed by their teammates but were nonetheless vital to
their team’s reign, such as Pepper Martin, Allie Reynolds, and George Foster.



With a concluding chapter that profiles the clubs that were on the cusp of
greatness, Baseball’s Dynasties and the Players Who Built Them is a
fascinating survey of what makes some teams dominate year after year while
others get only a small taste of glory before falling to the wayside. Written
in a lively style with amusing anecdotes and colorful quotes, this
comprehensive book will be of interest to all fans and historians of baseball.

For More
Information

• Baseball’s Dynasties and
  the Players Who Built Them is available at Amazon.
• Pick up your copy at Barnes & Noble.

Book Excerpt:

With a roster full of superstars, the Orioles captured three
straight pennants from 1894–1896. They followed with a pair of near misses,
placing second in 1897 and 1898. Along the way, they developed a reputation as one
of the nastiest teams in baseball. John Heydler, an umpire who would later
ascend to the NL presidency, described the Orioles of the 1890s as “mean,
vicious, ready at any time to maim a rival player or an umpire.” Infielder John
McGraw was proud of that distinction. “We’d go tearing into a bag with flying
spikes as though with murderous intent,” he boasted. “We were a cocky,
swashbuckling crew and wanted everybody to know it.”

Pirates great Honus Wagner manufactured a tall tale about a
harrowing trip around the bases against the Orioles. After driving a ball deep
into the outfield, he claimed to have been tripped at first base by Jack Doyle
and then knocked flat by Hughie Jennings at second. Climbing to his feet, he
lumbered toward third, only to find John McGraw holding a shotgun on him. “You
stop right there!” McGraw allegedly bellowed. Although Wagner’s story is
obviously apocryphal, numerous reliable accounts confirm the fact that the
Orioles resorted to underhanded tactics regularly. When they weren’t physically
accosting opponents, they were treating them to streams of verbal abuse. Baltimore
players were so free in their use of profanity that a resolution was adopted in
1898, imposing mandatory expulsions upon anyone using “villainously foul”
language.

Even the groundskeepers at Baltimore
were deceitful. Soap flakes were mixed with the soil around the pitcher’s mound
to make the hands of opposing hurlers slippery when they reached into the dirt.
 Orioles moundsmen knew to keep untainted soil in their pockets. The
infield was mixed with clay and rarely watered, creating a surface not unlike
cement. Baltimore players chopped down on the ball, creating dramatically high
hops that gave them a head start to first base (hence, the origin of the term
Baltimore chop). The outfield was ruddy and riddled with weeds. Outfielders
allegedly kept extra balls hidden out there in the event that the ones in play
eluded them.

About the Author

Weeks
spent most of his life in the Capital District area of New
York. He earned a degree in psychology from SUNY
Albany. In 2004, he migrated to Malone, NY.
He continues to gripe about the frigid winter temperatures to the present day.
A member of the Society for American Baseball Research, he writes about the
game because he lacked the skill to play it professionally. He still can't hit
a curve ball or lay off the high heat. Baseball’s Dynasties is his fourth
nonfiction work.

For More Information

• Visit Jonathan Weeks’ website.
• Connect with Jonathan on Facebook
  and Goodreads.

 

Author Guest Post: Children of the Knight Blog Tour by Michael Bowler

Arthur’s Camelot and Its Relevance to 21st Century America

The story of King Arthur and his Round Table of knights has great relevance to modern America in the 21st Century, especially within the context of my new novel, Children of the Knight.

First of all, the Britain of Arthur’s time was a fractured, divisive land with disparate groups of peoples like the Gauls, the Gales, the Normans and others vying for power and prestige. In America today, many in the public sector make their livelihood and base their political survival on pitting this group against that group or this race against that one and they never allow for real unity because with unity might come an end to said public person’s career and funding base. In simpler terms, divisiveness is profitable.

When Arthur became High King of Britain his first order of business was to unite all the distinct groups warring against him and each other, which he eventually did through numerous costly battles. However, once done, he had to keep the peace, so as he tells young Lance in Children of the Knight, “I gave them all a purpose in life other than hating oneanother.” He brings that same purpose to the warring gangs and unrelated street kids he recruits as his new Round Table in the newly released novel.

America of today has systematically failed her children in every area of life, from education to criminal justice to media influences. The one-size-must-fit-all-or-you-can-get-out approach to modern public education is disgusting and antithetical to human nature. Since we can never all be the same, what happens to those kids who just don’t “fit” that one size? They drop out, join gangs or crews, do drugs, make babies they can’t take care of, and engage in all manner of anti-social behaviors they have learned from adults.And what about the war adults have waged against gay youth with their preposterous notion that these kids willingly made a choice to love someone of the same gender and thus willingly chose the hate, mockery, bullying, and marginalization that go with being gay in America today. Let’s face it, there are a lot of stupid, selfish people in this country, and kids are paying the price.

In my book, Arthur returns from Avalon and finds all of this discarded and wasted “might” at his disposal, kids no one else wants, most of them boys with a lot of potential energy within them for good or ill. There are a lot of homegirls on the streets, as well, but most gangs are male-dominated because of the sense of empowerment these usually poor, ethnic, marginalized kids desperately seek. Before Arthur, all the combined might of these gangs and street youth has been directed toward the detriment of society because that’s all they’ve been taught by the adult world that raised them. They make war on each other and on the innocent. But Arthur comes along and teaches them discipline through mastery of swordplay and archery, and he convinces them, as he convinced the various factions all those centuries ago in Britain, to put aside their own petty rivalries and use their collected might for right in order to finally gain the power they hadpreviously sought through violence and mayhem.

Arthur’s objectiveis to win the approval and support of the voting public and use that support to take on the feckless, self-absorbed politicians who run Los Angeles. From LA the crusade will then move on to all of California and then to the country as a whole. Its ultimate goal: restoration of the right of children to be children, and human beings,and not the mere property of adults. Will he succeed? You have to read the book to find out.

Oh, and why did Arthur come to America rather than Britain? Since hispurpose is to save childhood it is also, by extension, to save this most promisingchild of Britain from itself. After all, a country that failsits childrenis ultimately doomed to assume a well-earned place on the scrap heap of history.



Children of the Knight
According to legend, King Arthur is supposed to return when Britain needs him most. So why does a man claiming to be the once and future king suddenly appear in Los Angeles?

This charismatic young Arthur creates a new Camelot within the City of Angels to lead a crusade of unwanted kids against an adult society that discards and ignores them. Under his banner of equality, every needy child is welcome, regardless of race, creed, sexual orientation, or gang affiliation.

With the help of his amazing First Knight, homeless fourteen-year-old Lance, Arthur transforms this ragtag band of rejected children and teens into a well-trained army—the Children of the Knight. Through his intervention, they win the hearts and minds of the populace at large, and gain a truer understanding of themselves and their worth to society. But seeking more rights for kids pits Arthur and the children squarely against the rich, the influential, and the self-satisfied politicians who want nothing more than to maintain the status quo.

Can right truly overcome might? Arthur’s hopeful young knights are about to find out, and the City of Angels will never be the same.

About the Author

Michael Bowler is an award-winning author who grew up in San Rafael, California.

He majored in English and Theatre at Santa Clara University and earned a master’s in film production and a second master’s in Special Education. He partnered with two friends as producer, writer, and/or director on several films, most notably “Fatal Images,” “Dead Girls,” “Hell Spa” (later re-edited and titled “Club Dead”), “Things” and “Things II.”

”A Boy and His Dragon, published in 2011, is an urban fantasy about a lonely boy in 1970 who discovers both a living dragon and his own true nature, a nature that makes him the most dangerous boy on earth.

“A Matter of Time,” a Silver Award winner from Reader’s Favorite, was published in 2012. It is a real-world-grounded story of an almost impossible loop in time that leads to undying love and unforgettable heartache.

He has also been a volunteer Big Brother to seven different boys over 29 years with the Catholic Big Brothers Big Sisters program and a volunteer within the juvenile justice system in Los Angeles for 28 years. He is a passionate advocate for the fair treatment of children and teens in California, something that is sorely lacking in this state.
“Children of the Knight,” his most current novel, is likely to be controversial in its themes and conclusions. Those children society tends to reject or ignore or abuse or marginalize, who come in all shapes and sizes – black and white and brown and Asian and Pacific Islander and gang affiliated and gay and straight and those who are confused about their sexuality – are the subject of this book, and the story depicts an adult society that tells these kids, in various ways, that they are of no real value.

You can visit Michael’s website at www.michaeljbowler.com

Author Guest Post :The Seventh Sorcerer and Rock Haulter by Stephen Hayes

The Story Behind The Magic Crystals Series by Stephen Hayes

The simple and rather dull truth was that the original reason why The Seventh Sorcerer (and therefore the entire Magic Crystals series) came about was because I had a Saturday night in which I needed to do something, and nothing but a brailler and about twenty sheets of braille paper to do it with.
Within a month of that night, I had written the first two books in that original series (each about twenty thousand words), and would eventually go on to write three more in the following two years.

The story was pointless, serving no purpose to entertain me and my sister, as it was based on the games we played as children, and yet it was good enough for me to want to re-write it, on my computer this time, in a way that I could perhaps share with other people—a way that would allow me to thicken the plot and close those holes which the first draft had left open. And so over the summer of 2002-2003, The Seventh Sorcerer began.

I have said elsewhere that the theme of The Magic Crystals is power, but while that is true, it wasn’t the original theme. In fact, far from power, the first six chapters of The Seventh Sorcerer centered around youth. Being only sixteen at the time, it was the sort of writing that came naturally to me, even if much of it had to be cleaned up or removed before publication.

Not only did the writing quickly become my favorite hobby, but as I was going through a difficult period of my life at the time, it also became therapeutically for me to step outside myself and into the lives of my characters, who despite having plenty of troubles of their own (the story would be rather boring if they didn’t), seemed preferable to my own.

I finished the first draft of The Seventh Sorcerer in June 2003, and from then until its publication in 2013, altered it so many times that probably less than half of the original text remains to this day. I would not have considered publishing it at all except that The Magic Crystals, the story which grew from the first book in the series, became one that had much more meaning than I had anticipated, and is now a story that many besides myself can enjoy.


About the Author
Stephen Hayes lives and writes in Melbourne, Australia. Having been born partially blind in 1986 and lost his limited vision in 2000, he started writing stories at the age of eight, winning the Harold Dickinson Memorial Australian Literary Competition for a short story about a haunted house at the age of eleven. He completed his first novella in Braille at fourteen and by sixteen, had completed the first draft of ‘The Seventh Sorcerer’.

Since 2002, Stephen has allowed his imagination to run wild with The Magic Crystals saga; sometimes pushing boundaries that today’s somewhat moral society deem to sweep under the carpet. Although classified as fantasy genre due mainly to the prominent magic component, Stephen’s writing also includes a good balance of drama, mystery, romance, humour, and he isn’t afraid to address controversial moral issues.

You can visit Stephen’s website at www.themagiccrystals.com.

Author Interview: Terminus by Joshua Graham

Describe your book in five words or less.
City of Angels Meets the Matrix (not counting “of” and “the”)

How did the ideas for your books come to you?
They’re often triggered by a thought, concept, character, or theme that has moved me deeply. But sometimes it’s something that fascinates me and compels me to explore it in the journey of a set of characters.

Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
There are many, but the most important ones are that there is so much more to our existence than the short lifetime we spend here in this mortal life. When put in that perspective, and knowing that there is an eternity to be lived afterwards, our priorities change. There is ultimately so much more hope, and equally so much more despair, when we know that this life is just so temporary and fleeting, like a dream. If there is truly an eternity to be lived this life, will that affect your attitudes, choices, and the way you live today? I hope so.

What is the hardest part of writing for you? What's the easiest?
The hardest part of writing is quite simply getting started. I’ve been at this for years now, and I still forget that I don’t need inspiration, I just need commitment. Things start to flow once I sit down. It’s usually the fear that what I write will be bad. But then, I remind myself that I can always edit and improve bad writing. But the only way to improve a blank page is to type.

The easiest part? When I’m in the flow, I can’t seem to type fast enough. This usually happens when I’m in the heads of my characters and they’re having a conflict. I love writing conflict dialogue.

What's next for you? Are you currently working on or have plans for future projects?
I have several books for which my readers are demanding sequels. I’m not certain which one will be first. But I have a feeling it might have something to do with a photographer. ;)

Why did you choose to write for specific genre?
I didn’t set out looking for the genre. The story came to me and later I figured out what genre it should be categorized as. The story is more important than which bookshelf it sits on.

What's it like hearing that readers are eagerly awaiting your book's release date?
Of course, it’s gratifying. But I face it with a bit of trepidation because I don’t only want to make sure not to disappoint them, but I really want them to feel that my latest book is the best one ever.

What is one question that you've always wanted to be asked in an interview? How would you answer that question?
Hmmm…right, well this is one question I wish to be asked: Are you a Christian Fiction writer or not?
My answer: I am a Christian, yes. But I am not exclusively a Christian Fiction author. By that, I mean to say that while I cannot help but to express some of my own faith in my stories, I’m not writing to convert anyone or preach at anyone. Some of my novels might be a bit too edgy for some very religious readers, and yet lacking gratuitous sex, language, and darkness, perhaps not down and dirty enough for other non-religious readers. But I think it’s only the small minority of readers at those opposite extremes who might not feel my books are for them.
For the most part, I’m happy to say that my non-religious readers find my writing to be like I am, myself. I am not ashamed of my faith, but I don’t use it to beat people over the head with it. I share it because it’s who I am, but only when I think someone might find it either interesting or beneficial. I’m fairly safe to be around. :)

What was your road to publications like?
Full of mercy and unmerited grace. I honestly feel like the steps were laid before more and all I had to do was write the books. I won’t minimize the hard work involved, the hours of reading, studying, and learning. But to me, that was fun, not toil and labor. But aside from all that, I’m fully appreciative of how difficult it is to receive rejection letter after rejection letter, to watch your indie book remain relatively unknown. The fact that I have been published by Simon & Schuster/Howard Books, and that my independent books have hit the top of several bestseller charts is something I can’t fathom completely. I can only say how grateful I am to God, and to my wonderful readers who made this all possible. I’m humbled at the privilege of this career, and hope to do it justice in the eyes of all.

How can readers learn more about, and contact you?
I absolutely love connecting with readers! I can be reached on my website’s contact form:
www.joshua-graham.com/contact
on Facebook: www.facebook.com/j0shgraham
on Twitter: www.twitter.com/j0shuagraham



ABOUT TERMINUS

How far must an angel fall to find his destiny?

Having witnessed one too many senseless deaths, Nikolai, a disillusioned Reaper 3rd Class, resigns his commission with the Angel Forces after a tedious century of gathering souls.

Immediately, another division recruits him with the promise of a more rewarding career, and issues his initial assignments: To bring down a few very dangerous threats to the human race. In the process, Nikolai falls in love with one of his targets—Hope Matheson, a woman who will lead thousands astray.

Caught between conflicting agendas, Nikolai chooses to “fall” from his celestial state and become mortal in order to circumvent angel law and be with her. But for angels and humans alike, things are not always as they appear. Still a target, the threat against Hope’s life intensifies.

Now, in order to save her, Nikolai must rally the last remnants of his failing supernatural abilities to prevent her assassination, as well as the destruction of an entire city by a nuclear terrorist strike.

But his time and power are running out…

Terminus is a perspective-altering saga that delves into ageless themes of redemption, destiny, and the eternal power of love.

Purchase your copy at:
AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE
ABOUT JOSHUA GRAHAM

WINNER OF the INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARDS (Beyond Justice),
#1 bestselling author Joshua Graham’s award-winning novel DARKROOM hit 3 bestseller lists on Amazon the night of its release.

CBS News described DARKROOM as a book with “action, political intrigue and well-rounded characters…a novel that thriller fans will devour.”

Many of Graham’s readers blame him for sleepless nights, arriving to work late, neglected dishes and family members, and not allowing them to put the book down.

Suspense Magazine listed BEYOND JUSTICE in its BEST OF 2010, alongside titles by Scott Turrow, Ted Dekker, Steven James and Brad Thor.

His short story THE DOOR’S OPEN won the HarperCollins Authonomy Competition (Christmas 2010.)
Publishers Weekly described BEYOND JUSTICE as: “A riveting legal thriller…breaking new ground with a vengeance…demonically entertaining and surprisingly inspiring.”

Joshua Graham grew up in Brooklyn, NY where he lived for the better part of 30 years. He holds a Bachelor and Master’s Degree and went on to earn his doctorate from Johns Hopkins University. During his time in Maryland, he taught as a professor at Shepherd College (WV), Western Maryland College, and Columbia Union College (MD).
Today he lives with his beautiful wife and children in Southern California. Several of Graham’s short fiction works have been published by Pocket Books and Dawn Treader Press.

Writing under the pen name Ian Alexander, Graham debuted with his first Epic Fantasy novel ONCE WE WERE KINGS, an Amazon #1 Bestseller in multiple categories and Award-Winning Finalist in the SciFi/Fantasy category of The USA “Best Books 2011″ Awards, as well as an Award-Winning Finalist in the Young Adult Fiction category of The USA “Best Books 2011″ Awards, and an Award Winner in the 2011 Forward National Literature Awards in the Teen/Young Adult category. ONCE WE WERE KINGS is available in ebook and hardcover editions.

And I hope everyone will subscribe to my occasional newsletter. All subscribers are automatically entered into all future contests and giveaways. Please sign up here: www.joshua-graham.com/newsletter

Author Interview/Giveaway: Grim by Joseph Spencer

Describe your book in five words or less.
Grim’s a moral about vigilantism.

How did the ideas for your books come to you?
I gained inspiration from Heath Ledger’s Joker character in The Dark Knight, Jeff Lindsay’s Dexter book series and working with police officers everyday in an emergency 9-1-1 communications center.

Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
My message is that anyone, no matter how pure of heart, might fall from grace given the right set of circumstances. It’s up to us to stay disciplined in our faith when dealing with personal tragedy.

What is the hardest part of writing for you? What's the easiest?
I work 50-60 hours per week because our center is understaffed, so the hardest part is making time to write every day. I get wrapped up in my characters’ stories and histories pretty easily, so I could write volumes of character sketches. I always have a true sense of each character, but sometimes fitting them all in a cohesive set of scenes to execute a plot is a little more difficult.

What's next for you? Are you currently working on or have plans for future projects?
I am picking up where Grim left off with my second book in the Sons of Darkness series, Wrage, which Damnation Books will release on June 1, 2013. Wrage delves deeper into the lives of supporting characters – Anna Duke, Jeff Wrage and Christopher Sinks – from Grim.

Why did you choose to write for specific genre?
I work in public safety and I’ve always enjoyed reading crime, thrillers and psychological horror, so I’ve tried to blend my experiences with my taste in entertainment. I talk with police officers on the radio each day, so I try to infuse some of the personalities I come across into my characters.

What's it like hearing that readers are eagerly awaiting your book's release date?
The greatest honor I can receive as an author is to get a favorable review or positive feedback from fans. It’s a feeling of accomplishment to know that I entertained readers.

What is one question that you've always wanted to be asked in an interview? How would you answer that question?
I’ve always wanted to be asked about what it’s like to see my novel being adapted into a movie. I’m a huge movie nut, and I’d probably cry tears of joy if I saw my work on a big screen.

What was your road to publications like?
When I finished my manuscript, I had Michael Garrett, Stephen King’s first editor, do the preliminary edits on Grim. I felt honored that he’d take me on. Then, I submitted to independent horror presses which accepted unsolicited manuscripts, and Damnation Books seemed as excited about my project as I was so it was a thrill to come to an agreement with them. They accepted my manuscript on March 15, 2012, a day after my wedding.

About the Book:


In a gritty town rife with organized crime, dirty cops and corrupt politicians, Detective Adam White stands alone as the people’s symbol of justice and hope for a brighter future. He’s cracked the biggest cases, and stood up to the crime families who’ve torn apart Prairieville with their power struggles. He’s gorgeous, humble and incorruptible; a crime fighter so pure that the locals nicknamed him the White Knight.

What the people don’t know is their reluctant hero is cracking before their eyes. Ten years have passed since a pack of bank robbers gunned down his wife in the street. He’s relentlessly worked every case he could get his hands on since that night with the hopes of finding some link to her killer, but every lead always winds up a dead end. He made a vow on her death bed that he wouldn’t stop looking or move on with his life, personal or otherwise, until her killer was either dead or behind bars.

His obsession is starting to affect his work, including a new set of murders which are eerily similar to cold cases in which a gangland legend called The Reaper is the main suspect. A routine canvas of the area in which the bodies were found led Detective White to Heath Grim, a reclusive millionaire with grisly facial scars and a past which doesn’t quite add up. There’s something about his story which makes Detective White curious to dig deeper into his background.

Just as Detective White closes in on his killer, the mob hatches an elaborate scheme which could cost him everything. In his moment of need, an unlikely ally presents a way out of the plot against him and information on his wife’s killer. However, it leaves Prairieville’s paragon of justice with a moral dilemma. Can he abandon all of the heroic ideals upon which he’s based his life and become the type of man he’s hunted for so long to settle a score with his wife’s killer?

AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE

About the Author:

As a boy, Joseph Spencer immersed himself in the deductive logic of Sherlock Holmes, the heroic crime fighting of Batman and Spider-Man, and a taste for the tragic with dramas from poets like Shakespeare and Homer.

Before Joseph took to spinning his own tales, he pursued a career in print sports journalism, graduating summa cum laude from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. He covered such events as NASCAR’s Subway 500 race in Martinsville, the NBA Draft Camp in Chicago, the Junior College World Series, and Minor League Baseball’s Midwest League All-Star Game during a ten-year career throughout the Midwest. Now, he works as an emergency telecommunications specialist with an Illinois police department. The combination of years of writing experience with a background working with law enforcement professionals gave rise to his writing aspirations.

Joseph was married Dr. Amy (Waggoner) Spencer, an accomplished veterinary doctor, on March 14, 2012. He received word his debut novel was accepted by his publisher, Damnation Books, the next day. Joseph and Amy look forward to their honeymoon in Paris in September 2012. Murphy, a 15-year-old orange tabby, is perhaps the most vocal member of the family. The Spencer family enjoys reading Charlaine Harris, George R.R. Martin, Mary Janice Davidson, and most paranormal stories. The Spencers also enjoy quoting movie lines from “The Princess Bride”, “Rain Man”, “Bridesmaids”, and “Office Space”.

His latest book is the paranormal crime thriller, Grim.

Visit his website at www.josephbspencer.com

Connect & Socialize with Joseph!

TWITTER | FACEBOOK | GOODREADS


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Author Interview: The Knights of Galaria: The Crystals of Power by O.S. Gill

Describe your book in five words or less.

Fantasy, Epic, Adventurous, Globe-Trotting, Fast-Paced

How did the ideas for your books come to you?

The overall idea for the novel just came to me one day. But the intricate details of the world and the characters came from months of planning and design and redesign.

Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?

Well there are three main themes, namely friendship, teamwork and good vs. evil.

What is the hardest part of writing for you? What's the easiest?

The hardest part is finding inspiration some days. On those days the idea well is just dry. The easiest is the polar opposite of that. Sometimes the ideas just come flooding in, and I spend that day writing pages on end.

What's next for you? Are you currently working on or have plans for future projects?

What’s next is the second book in this series (The Knights of Galaria). I am working on the structure of the second novel right now.

Why did you choose to write for specific genre?

I chose this genre because it is what I love. Since I was little, I was fixated with sci-fi and fantasy, so writing in this genre is a dream come true for me.

What's it like hearing that readers are eagerly awaiting your book's release date?

It gives a sense of accomplishment. Having just one person wanting to read what you wrote is an indescribable feeling.

What is one question that you've always wanted to be asked in an interview? How would you answer that question?

Well I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to be asked about any interest other than novels. I wouldn’t mind doing screenplays to be honest. I do have a couple of ideas for different sci-fi films that I think would make good movies. But we’ll see what the future holds.

What was your road to publications like?

It was as much work as one would expect self-publication to be. I did all the work myself, from formatting to finding a publicist. But at the end of the day I thoroughly enjoyed the path that I took with this novel, and will happily do it again.



The Knights of Galaria: The Crystals of Power
Virtual Book Tour May 6 - 31 310 pages



ABOUT THE KNIGHTS OF GALARIA: THE CRYSTALS OF POWER
For Kaz Silverwynd, graduation from the Galarian Knight Academy begins normally, but an the attempt on the life of Xul Xandu, the newly-appointed head of the Confederation of Nations, pushes Kaz and his team into an epic and dangerous adventure. The action ranges from the floating city of Civitas to the underwater empire of Aequoria to the moon colony of Ourea. Kaz leads his band of knights on a perilous journey to stop a madman from achieving his ultimate goal – the conquest of the world of Galaria. Added to the already volatile mix are the legendary Crystals of Power, a collection of beautiful but deadly jewels that could tip the scales of power toward good or evil.
“Knights is an engaging novel that should be the start of a long-running series. The book should make a great addition to any YA collection in a reader’s collection. The Knights of Galaria: The Crystals of Power takes readers on an unforgettable interstellar escapade.”
– Pacific Book Review
Pick up your copy!

AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE
About the Author:


O.S. Gill grew up on the Caribbean island of Barbados. He was educated at The Lodge School, a 300-year-old former British boarding school and the second oldest learning institution on the island. A certified information technology professional, he has worked for The Banks Holdings Limited, a local conglomerate that owns the local brewery (Banks Beer) and Coca-Cola manufacturing plant for fourteen years. A Systems Analyst, he has been positioned in various capacities, primarily dealing with sales and distribution, as well as the sourcing and implementation of new technologies to further business efficiency. He always had a passion for writing and published his first novel, THE KNIGHTS OF GALARIA: THE CRYSTALS OF POWER, in 2012.

You can visit the author's website at www.osgill.com

Author Guest Post: The Prophecy Collection: Prophecy Foretold by Ron Hartman

Guest Blog topic: A Character’s Perspective
For me Prophecy Chronicles: Prophecy Foretold was a labor of love. I could go on and on about the project, but I think I’ll let one of the characters speak for himself. Please let me introduce to you Soren, former captain of the Naphthalian Royal Guard and current leader of the Resistance:

Greetings—or if you prefer, Morning’s Blessings, as is often said in some parts of Enialé. Ron asked me to tell you a little about my world. Well, as I always say, sooner begun, sooner done, so here we go. I was once the captain of the guard for the last king of Naphthali, King Begnauld the Wanderer. Some call him the Fool…yes, well, history is written by the victors, isn’t it? He was murdered by Imperialists, but we didn’t know that until later, not until it was too late.

I know what you’re probably thinking: where was I, the captain of his guard? Believe me, if I could change the past I would. His death is a shame I must live with, as well as all that followed. Even the deaths of my own—no. Many apologies, Ron, but I can’t tell that tale.
Suffice it to say, Naphthali burned. Clan turned on clan, division destroying everything Begnauld and his forebears brought together. At times like that the strong devour the weak and we are all left that much smaller for the dark deeds. It shouldn’t be surprising that the Empire attacked when they did. After all, we knew they were watching, waiting…

Imperial armies overran what defense we had left before we even realized they were coming. The streets ran red, and before long an Imperial governor took Begnauld’s seat. He granted our lands to his lackeys and forced those of us that wouldn’t kneel into hiding. Now they rule us with an iron fist, their damned Rule of Ten controlling the people with fear.

I’m done hiding. My friend Thosten and I are making for the Iron Gate now. We hear the Bloody Horde, brave warriors of clan Durmeer, plan to stand and fight. I fear they don’t have the numbers to stand alone, but if we can’t turn them we will join them. I’ve been sharpening my Katareen blade and I’m ready to use it.

The Resistance needs a strong showing, or it may be over for all of us. What choice do we have? There is no Naphthalian that could reunite the clans, not now. The old healer, Westragen, would have us hold out hope for the Stranger…but I’ve heard that tired old Prophecy in a hundred different ports! Who’s to say it’s even meant for Naphthali? Just for argument’s sake, let’s say it is. If the Stranger means to save us, he damn well better get here soon, or there’ll be nothing left to save.

Many apologies, Ron, but I really must go. We fight for honor, for the glory or Naphthali, and we fight for justice!

Oh, sorry, I thought Soren was going to tell us a little more about Naphthali than that. Honor drives him to stand against the Empire, and he’d never abandon a friend as true as Thosten, not when he goes to battle with his kin. Anyway, I guess that does give you one perspective on Naphthali when Prophecy Foretold opens, just when Daniel Marten is drawn from our world into Soren’s. If you pick up the book, I hope you enjoy it! I know Soren would appreciate your support and well wishes. And I’d love to hear what you think! Please stop by www.prophecychronicles.com and drop me a line!


ABOUT THE PROPHECY CHRONICLES: PROPHECY FORETOLD

These are dark days for Naphthali. The king has been murdered, the land invaded by the Imperial Army. It will absorb Naphthali into an Empire that stretches across all of Enialé at any cost. The ravaged people cling to an ancient promise, an assurance that a Prophesied savior will come to set them free…

Daniel Martin is trapped in a life that hasn’t gone as expected. His pharmacy is struggling and he is losing all hope of making a difference in his patients’ lives. His family is the one shining light in his disenchanted life, but he is torn from them when an accident draws him to Naphthali. The people need him but Daniel is driven by his need to return to the family he loves. Is he the Prophesied One? Only time will tell as both the Empire and the Resistance battle for Daniel while the fate of Naphthali hangs in the balance…

AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE|ROGUE PHOENIX PRESS


ABOUT RON HARTMAN

Ron Hartman has had a life-long passion for the written word and is an avid reader. The Prophecy Chronicles are his first written works. Ron graduated from the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy in 2000 and lives in Ottumwa, Iowa with his wife and three children. Read more about Prophecy Foretold, as well as excerpts from the other books in The Prophecy Chronicles series, at www.prophecychronicles.com

His latest book is The Prophecy Chronicles.

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Author Interview/Giveaway: Grand Theft Magic'by Richard Blunt

Describe your book in five words or less.
Action paced, full of details.
How did the ideas for your books come to you?
That’s a good question actually. The idea has been in my head for more than a decade now. I don’t really know how it started.
Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
There are a lot of them. But the key one most likely is: Things are never as easy as they appear to be at first. Although in the end they normally have very easy to understand motivations…
What is the hardest part of writing for you? What's the easiest?
The hardest is to stay consistent. I tend to lose some of the details along the way and need to pick them up lateron. Easiest is actually the flow of the story. I know all my characters inside and out, so imagining what they would do in a situation always comes easy.
What's next for you? Are you currently working on or have plans for future projects?
This is a series of books, “Grand Theft Magic” being the third title of it. So next is the fourth. After that? We’ll see.
Why did you choose to write for specific genre?
There are two genres I like: Fantasy and Sci-Fi. So the choice was pretty narrow. And in the end the story chooses the writer. ;-)
What's it like hearing that readers are eagerly awaiting your book's release date?
Good feeling. Could only be topped if it were more readers.
What is one question that you've always wanted to be asked in an interview? How would you answer that question?
The one question I always miss is: How much money do you make with writing a book? I am not sure if I would want it to be asked though… Anyway, the answer is: In most cases publishing a book costs more than it gets you in return.
What was your road to publications like?
The road to hell would describe it pretty well, especially for the first book. Now for the third it was only a lot of work, but no longer a big problem. It’s like everything else: Experience makes all the difference…


About the Book:

After a field trip suddenly turns into a near catastrophe Lucas and the others shift into high gear to avenge their injured friend. But when an unexpected foe arrives at the scene they quickly find themselves in a life or death situation that not even their extraordinary skills can solve. Realizing that they have bitten off more than they can chew Lucas desperately starts looking for trustworthy allies, just to find out once again that things are never as easy as they appear at first.

Can they survive the battles at hand? Will they be able to tell friend from foe? Or will the epic quest they have stumbled into be too much for them to handle?

Follow Lucas Trent and his friends through an action-paced story of mysteries, secrets and deceptions and find out…


About the Author:
Publishing under a pen name to keep his personal life separate from his writing life, Richard Blunt was raised in the heart of Europe, in a nation where English is not the native language. Like his heroes, Richard blunt is nothing more than a shadow – a specter that whispers a story for everyone to hear.

His latest book is Lucas Trent 3: Grand Theft Magic.

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Author Interview :Spectra by Joanne Elder

Describe your book in five words or less.
Sci-Fi, Thriller, Murder, Mystery, Betrayal
How did the ideas for your books come to you?
Often science fiction plots involve extraterrestrials carrying out ruthless experiments on humans. With Spectra, I loved the idea of switching it up and stirring in some deadly consequences for those immoral enough to exploit a newly discovered, peaceful and intelligent life form.
In my writing, I like to explore the unknown and science fiction is the perfect avenue to do that with. Past experience has shown that today’s speculative fiction may become tomorrow’s scientific fact. A subplot in Spectra narrows in on the human soul and what it is. Scientifically speaking, if it exists, it has to be something. So does God for that matter. Perhaps I was inspired to explore this particular unknown after losing my father and questioning the scientific rational behind an ever-after.
Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
In Spectra, one man’s life crumbles as he struggles to stop the genocide of newly discovered energy-based life forms so unique they cause humans to acquire extraordinary intelligence for a brief period following exposure to them. Flirting with genius is too intoxicating for the chief antagonist in the story, and he decides to exploit the power of the entities with little regard for the fact that he’s killing them in the process. Spectra explores the fact that human greed doesn’t necessarily come with a dollar sign, but can be manifested as something entirely different. In this case, power and control come with extreme intellect.
What is the hardest part of writing for you? What's the easiest?
I write science fiction thrillers and, where possible, I like to back up elements of the plot with real science to make the story thought provoking. The challenge is to take the science and convey it in a completely non-technical manner so it will be merely entertaining for the reader. The easy part of writing comes with planning out the plot. I’m very imaginative and rarely get writer’s block.
What's next for you? Are you currently working on or have plans for future projects?
The sequel to Spectra, Entity, was just released by MuseItUp Publishing. Right now, I’m writing another science fiction thriller. I have yet to give the book a title, but it centers on a frightening misuse of nanobots, which are tiny machines injected into the body to treat disease.
Why did you choose to write for specific genre?
I’ve always been a science fiction fan, dating back to the first Star Trek series. Certainly, with my engineering background, it seems to be a natural genre for me. I love thrillers, so all my science fiction novels have a strong thriller component to them.
What's it like hearing that readers are eagerly awaiting your book's release date?
I have had several readers email me after they read Spectra asking when Entity would be released. I was happily able to respond to them a short time ago letting them know it is now available. It’s very rewarding when your reader’s take the time to contact you directly.
What do you feel is your biggest accomplishment as an author?
I submitted Spectra to RT Book Reviews Magazine for review. It earned their rating of TOP PICK, which they give to few books. I was very pleased.
What was your road to publications like?
No doubt all debut authors follow the same path I did. Once Spectra was complete, I queried literary agents and large presses to find a home for it. Although it’s not impossible for a debut author to land a contract in this manner, it’s very difficult and the waiting time for responses can be painstakingly long. After all, agents get bombarded with queries on mass. Ultimately, patience got the better of me and I started to submit the manuscript to smaller presses. For submissions, many smaller presses allow you to send in your entire manuscript rather than just a few chapters, which I feel serves to the author’s advantage. I very quickly signed a contract with MuseItUp Publishing and I’ve found them to be excellent.

About the Book:

SPECTRA, the thought-provoking and potent sci-fi thriller debut from Joanne Elder (BESc, MESc, PEng), dramatically explores the age-old question of the existence of the human soul, with cutting-edge science to back it. Set against a backdrop of mystery, murder, betrayal, and extra-terrestrial life, SPECTRA tackles a host of cosmic issues, such as the terrible dangers of mankind’s materialistic and intellectual greed; life forms beyond our current comprehension; the deadly consequences of tampering with the essence of life; and, if the soul exists, what exactly is it made of? When a mining exploration crew, light years from the earth, discovers intelligent life forms comprised entirely of energy so pure and unique they give unimaginable cognitive abilities to those exposed to them, their minds — and lives — are forever transformed. The fast-paced plot of SPECTRA takes its reader through a wild journey of deep space exploration, ruthless scientific experimentation, and the real possibilities of the physical manifestation of what we call the soul.“The underlying theme of SPECTRA is that if the human soul does exist, it has to be manifested as something in the physical universe. It can’t be nothing, nor can God, for that matter,” says Elder of her literary debut.




About the Author:

Joanne Elder is a member of the Professional Engineers of Ontario. She received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Engineering Science at the University of Western Ontario. During her professional career, she spent several years in the aeronautical and nuclear industries, published numerous technical papers in the field of Metallurgical Engineering and presented at international conferences. She now resides in King City, Ontario with her two teen-aged children and husband. Spectra, Elder’s debut novel, and the sequel, Entity, were published by MuseItUp Publishing.

You can visit Joanne Elder’s website


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Blog Tour : Heroes & Lovers by Wayne Zurl

Describe your book in five words or less.
A tooth-grinding police thriller

How did the ideas for your books come to you?
All my stories come from actual cases I investigated, supervised, or just knew a lot about. I take these New York stories and transplant them to east Tennessee.
In the case of HEROES & LOVERS, I’ve taken three incidents and composited them into one embellished piece of fiction. There is a basic sting operation, something done all the time, that eventually puts a main character into a bad position. Her abduction is based on an assault and attempted rape of someone I knew. And the poli8tical corruption angle is something we saw all too often. I gave that a particular local twist, which is not unique to this area, but clearly a possibility.

Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
The basic message doubles as more character development for my protagonist, Sam Jenkins. So far, he’s gotten into all kinds of hot water (especially with the local politicians) doing what he considers the right thing. And he won’t stop in this book. Political pressure is meaningless to him. He’s loyal to a fault and in this we see how he bends the constitution a bit to protect a victim.

Sam is not just another fictional cop—he’s an authentic detective who’s well versed in the law and knows how far he can go and not fall off the edge of the world.

What is the hardest part of writing for you? What's the easiest?
Mechanically, the toughest thing for me to learn about fiction was how not to make my stories sound like a police report. Initially, they were too detailed—something necessary in the world of law enforcement. If a report left out material facts, left a question in the reader’s mind, I failed. In fiction I have to leave lots to a reader’s imagination. I had to learn the “arrive late – leave early” theory. I had to change longwinded and blatant exposition-like conversations to snappy and clever, fast-paced dialogue. I’ve tried to embrace Robert B. parker’s theory of “Tell your story in the fewest possible words.”

The easiest part of the process is sitting down with a pen and lined pad and writing an idea that’s lodged in my head. Writing is fun and often, I can’t scribble fast enough and I’ll stay at it for hours. But that brings me to a secondary problem—reading my own handwriting.

What's next for you? Are you currently working on or have plans for future projects?
I’m currently working on revisions for a full-length novel called PIGEON RIVER BLUES. The cover summary explains the premise:
Winter in the Smokies can be a tranquil time of year—unless Sam Jenkins sticks his thumb into the sweet potato pie.

The ex-New York detective turned Tennessee police chief is minding his own business one quiet day in February when Mayor Ronnie Shields asks him to act as a bodyguard for a famous country and western star.

C.J. Profitt’s return to her hometown of Prospect receives lots of publicity . . . and threats from a rightwing group calling themselves The Coalition for American Family Values.

The beautiful, publicity seeking Ms. Proffit never fails to capitalize on her abrasive personality by flaunting her alternative lifestyle—a way of living the Coalition hates.

Reluctantly, Jenkins accepts the assignment of keeping C.J. safe while she performs at a charity benefit. But his job becomes more difficult when the object of his protection refuses to cooperate.

During this misadventure, Sam hires a down-on-his-luck ex-New York detective and finds himself thrown back in time with old Army acquaintances who factor into a complicated plot of attempted murder, the destruction of a Dollywood music hall, and other general insurrection on Sam’s “peaceful side of the Smokies.”
And I’m almost half finished with an untitled novelette destined for another one hour audio book. In this, Sam Jenkins assists the resident OSI agent from nearby McGhee-Tyson Air Base with a dodgy investigation. Of course, the Air Force detective is a beautiful woman.

Why did you choose to write for specific genre?
I followed the old author’s maxim of write what you know. After working for twenty years in an overcrowded and always busy area, I have oodles of war stories to tell. I wanted the writing to be fun and hours or months of research would be too much like work. It was natural for an ex-cop to write police fiction. But I keep saying someday I’d like to write a western. I know a lot about the old west.

What's it like hearing that readers are eagerly awaiting your book's release date?
Like my protagonist, Sam Jenkins, I’ve got a big ego. I usually say his is just slightly smaller than North Dakota. When I get honest, unsolicited glowing reviews or someone says, “I really liked this and I’ll read more of Zurl’s mysteries,” I’m on cloud nine. When I announce something on the coming soon list and people say they can’t wait, I feel like I’ve done my job.

As a writer you can attack your job two ways. 1- Write for yourself and just print a manuscript and stick it on the shelf only to be read every couple years. If you do that, you’ll never reach your potential and probably won’t really be very good. Or 2- Write what interests you with an eye on pleasing your target audience. I tend to be sharper when I think someone is watching. I hate to get caught with my pants down.

What is one question that you've always wanted to be asked in an interview? How would you answer that question?
What do you want to be when you grow up? No one asks a middle-aged guy that. But when I was a kid, everyone did. Like many boys growing up in the late ‘40s and early ‘50s, I wanted to be a soldier, policeman, or a cowboy. Obviously, movies and TV influenced me a lot. I never thought about UPS driver, advertising executive, or podiatrist.
The Vietnam War took care of being a soldier. I kind of liked that life and after separating from active duty stayed in the reserves. When the New York State Employment Service said I had no marketable civilian skills, I found a job as a cop because the paramilitary nature of a police department came close to the Army. Now in retirement, I’m still thinking about the cowboy thing. But at my age, my lower back might keep me from spending too much time in the saddle.

What was your road to publications like?
A frustrating and rocky one. I began peddling A NEW PROSPECT to agents the conventionally way. But being unschooled in the publishing business, I started out using a standard business letter and I committed the cardinal sin of making it a page and a half long. Okay, I learned the drill about queries, paid a professional to help me construct a proper query letter and started over. But after about a hundred rejections, most of them where the agent never read one page of my book, I felt like the guy shoveling sand against the tide. Then I decided to contact any traditional publisher—large or small—who would accept submissions directly from an author. That was in th4 days when most houses wanted hard copy manuscripts. So, it cost me lots in postage money. I promised myself I’d accept the first reasonable contract.

I began writing A NEW PROSPECT in the summer of 2006. The book was published in January 2011. The next two novels and fifteen novelettes were easier.

Every time I look at the four framed awards my first book won, I feel like sending a nasty letter to all the agents who sent back my query letter with a quickly scribbled note: “Sorry not for us.” But that would be unprofessional.



About the Author:

Wayne Zurl grew up on Long Island and retired after twenty years with the Suffolk County Police Department, one of the largest municipal law enforcement agencies in New York and the nation. For thirteen of those years he served as a section commander supervising investigators. He is a graduate of SUNY, Empire State College and served on active duty in the US Army during the Vietnam War and later in the reserves. Zurl left New York to live in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee with his wife, Barbara.

Fourteen (14) of his Sam Jenkins mysteries have been produced as audio books and simultaneously published as eBooks. His first full-length novel, A NEW PROSPECT, was named best mystery at the 2011 Indie Book Awards and First Runner-up from all commercial fiction at the 2012 Eric Hoffer Book Awards. A second novel, A LEPRECHAUN’S LAMENT, is available in print and eBook.

His latest book in the Sam Jenkins mystery series is Heroes & Lovers.

For more information on Wayne’s Sam Jenkins mystery series see www.waynezurlbooks.net. You can read excerpts, reviews and endorsements, interviews, coming events, and even see photos of the area where the stories take place.

Visit Wayne on Twitter

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Pick up your paperback copy of Heroes & Lovers at Amazon:

About the Book:

A stipulation of the Patriot Act gave Chief Sam Jenkins an easy job; investigate all the civilians working for the Prospect Police Department. But what looked like a routine chore to the gritty ex-New York detective, turned into a nightmare. Preliminary inquiries reveal a middle-aged employee didn’t exist prior to 1975.
Murray McGuire spent the second half of his life repairing office equipment for the small city of Prospect, Tennessee, but the police can’t find a trace of the first half.

After uncovering nothing but dead ends during the background investigation and frustrations running at flood level, Jenkins finds his subject lying face down in a Smoky Mountain creek bed—murdered assassination-style.

By calling in favors from old friends and new acquaintances, the chief enlists help from a local FBI agent, a deputy director of the CIA, British intelligence services, and the Irish Garda to learn the man’s real identity and uncover the trail of an international killer seeking revenge in the Great Smoky Mountains.

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Author Interview/Giveaway :Fast Food Vindication by Lisa Tillinger Johansen

Describe your book in five words or less.
Fast food isn’t the enemy.

How did the ideas for your books come to you?
Through my past experience in real estate management at McDonald’s Corporation and in my present role as a dietitian in the Health Education Department at Kaiser Permanente, I see first-hand how, when, where and why people eat. I deal with nutrition issues every day and see many patients who are obese and/or suffering the complications from carrying their excess weights. It’s very clear that there are many of us who don’t know how to eat healthy, nutritious meals wherever we eat. I knew that I could help people and that compelled me to write my book.

Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
Yes. Fast food is a positive force in our society and around the world. With regard to the food sold at these establishments, we can make good choices and less healthy choices wherever we eat. This includes all types of restaurants, home, schools, vending machines, sporting events and other venues. Personal responsibility plays a key role.

What is the hardest part of writing for you? What's the easiest?
As you see in the book, I tell a lot of personal stories and share experiences that I have had both in working in the fast food industry and in a healthcare setting. I find this very helpful to others when teaching nutrition classes and found it easy to do when writing my book. The hardest part for me was constructing the references section. I did a lot of research and wanted to make sure that I properly gave credit where credit was due!

What's next for you? Are you currently working on or have plans for future projects?
I have gotten so many ideas from the thousands of patients that I have taught and the new ones that I continue to see. I do have plans for two more books. The first one, Stop the Diet, I Want to Get Off!, addresses all of the different diets and diet aids out there and discusses the best way to eat for life. It’s very nutrition based. The second book, Diet and Disease: A Guide for What to Eat, No Matter What Ails You, does just that.

Why did you choose to write for specific genre?
I saw the very real need for my book and I have the unique qualifications of having worked in both the industries (nutrition and fast food) that I discuss. I truly am an expert with the subject matter.

What's it like hearing that readers are eagerly awaiting your book's release date?
It’s absolutely thrilling! I hope that everyone finds it entertaining, eye-opening and above all helpful.

What is one question that you've always wanted to be asked in an interview? How would you answer that question?
Since I haven’t had that many interviews, I guess it would be how I feel about actually being interviewed. My answer would be that I’m ecstatic and grateful for the opportunity.

What was your road to publications like?
I have to say it was a bit of a bumpy one, with more than a few potholes along the way. Originally I started with a literary agent in New York and was working with publishers. That to me is the ideal. But it became clear early on that my vision wasn’t as embraced by the publishers as I’d hoped, and while I didn’t mind editorial changes, the basic premise and tone of the book was very important to me. So, I did what probably many never do and I walked away and decided to self-publish my book. It was scary and a lot of work and I got knocked down a couple of times. But I kept getting back up and never gave up. It wasn’t always easy, but I did it and I’m very happy that I took the path that I did.


About the Author:

Lisa Tillinger Johansen is a registered dietitian and health educator who teaches a variety of classes on diabetes, pre-diabetes, hypertension, cholesterol, weight management, coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, and healthy eating for adults and teens. She holds a Master of Science degree in nutritional science, Coordinated Dietetics Program, from California State University, Los Angeles.

Her latest book is Fast Food Vindication.

Visit her website

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About the Book:

The fast-food industry has long been the whipping boy for all sorts of health ills. Obesity in children and adults? Blame it on fast food. Heart problems, diabetes, high cholesterol? Fast food is the culprit.

Not so, says Lisa Tillinger Johansen in her new book, FAST FOOD VINDICATION. Johansen, a Los Angeles-based registered dietitian, takes the bold position that “fast food is not the enemy, and it can be incorporated into a healthy lifestyle.” In fact, Johansen says, the media’s current wave of anti-fast-food sentiment may actually be detrimental to society’s health and well-being. “By focusing solely on the fast-food industry, the onus is all too often removed from more important factors: personal responsibility and smart choices.”

In FAST FOOD VINDICATION, Johansen takes a lively, informative, and realistic look at our eating habits, and, using her expertise and experience as a registered dietitian, seeks to educate readers on making smart dietary choices no matter where they eat.

“The book refutes the notion that fast food is an evil force in society,” Johansen says. “The laser focus on fast food being the cause of the obesity epidemic is not true, nor is it the complete picture. There’s so much press about how fast food is detrimental to us. In reality, that’s not the case. It’s about how we eat. We can eat poorly at home and at sit-down and fast-food restaurants, but we can also make healthier choices at all of these places. The majority of us don’t make great choices. We need to look at everywhere we eat and how we eat. Personal responsibility plays a big role.”

“Fast-food restaurants make big and easy targets,” Johansen maintains. “So many of us eat at them, and, unfortunately, so many of us are overweight or obese. But research has shown that we eat the majority of our meals at home, so restaurants of all types are just a part of the puzzle.”

“There are a lot of ways to make good choices at fast-food restaurants,” according to Johansen. “For example, a grilled chicken sandwich without mayo, coupled with a side salad with low-fat dressing on the side and apple dippers without the dip, is one good meal that you could put together. Most fast-food restaurants carry entrée salads, yogurt parfaits, oatmeal, and other, more nutritious foods.”

On the other side of the issue, Johansen notes that an unhealthy fast-food meal could include “fried foods of any type, regular sodas or anything that is double, triple, quadruple or more.”

With the publication of FAST FOOD VINDICATION, Johansen hopes to “present the side of an issue that hasn’t really been discussed much in the media. By doing so, it should ultimately help people to learn to look at the big picture and make appropriate changes to their diets as needed.”



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Author Guest Post:The IRA on Film and Television by Mark Connelly

Filmmakers Take on a Post Troubles Northern Ireland


Filmmakers found the IRA and the Troubles of Northern Ireland a rich source of stories and characters, from Carol Reed’s classic Odd Man Out to The Crying Game and In the Name of the Father. During the decade between the end of the Cold War and 9/11, the IRA provided heroes and villains for American action movies such as Patriot Games, Blown Away, and The Jackal.
Following the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, writers and directors began exploring a post-Troubles Northern Ireland. Oliver Hirschbiegel’s Five Minutes of Heaven (2009) focuses on the lasting impact of violence on its survivors. Liam Neeson portrays Alistair Little, a fifty year old peace activist haunted by the murder of a Catholic he committed as an eager seventeen year old Loyalist. A television program arranges for him to meet Joe Griffin (James Nesbitt), the younger brother of his victim, for an on-air reconciliation.
Unlike other films set in Northern Ireland that create a sense of claustrophobia with scenes of narrow streets, cramped row houses, checkpoints, and walls, Five Minutes of Heaven shows Alistair Little walking through large, open squares. Trains and jet planes appear in the distance, suggesting an openness to the outer world. Belfast is no longer depicted as an embattled warren of barricades and barbed wire but a busy European city populated by consumers and commuters.
While Little is prepared to seek forgiveness, Griffin, seething with resentment, wants revenge and plans to stab Little on television to earn his “five minutes of heaven.” The proposed broadcast never occurs. A knock-down drag-out fight leaves both men exhausted, with Little telling Griffin that he is not worth hating. After attending a group therapy session, Griffin calls Little and simply states, “We’re finished.” Little is left walking aimlessly in a large plaza. The Troubles have ended, but the survivors are left damaged and tormented.
Three films released in 2006 explore the inability of IRA veterans to cope in a post-Troubles world. In Johnny Was, Forty-Eight Angels, and I.R.A. King of Nothing disgruntled veterans, disillusioned by compromise and the loss of a cause to fight for, attempt one-man attacks “to get things going again.” In all three movies the malcontents are killed to maintain peace, suggesting that the Troubles have not ended but are merely suspended, with the IRA waiting in the wings for a fresh opportunity to strike.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Born in Philadelphia, Mark Connelly completed a masters degree in Creative Writing from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he received a Ph.D in English. His books include The Diminished Self: Orwell and the Loss of Freedom, Orwell and Gissing, Deadly Closets: The Fiction of Charles Jackson, and several college textbooks. He currently teaches literature and film in Milwaukee, where he is the Vice-President of the Irish Cultural and Heritage Center of Wisconsin.

His latest book is The IRA on Film and Television.

You can visit his website

To get your paperback copy of THE IRA ON FILM AND TELEVISION by Mark Connelly, visit Amazon

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Pick up your copy of THE IRA ON FILM AND TELEVISION by Mark Connelly at Barnes & Noble


ABOUT THE BOOK:

The Irish Republican Army (IRA) has for decades pursued the goal of unifying its homeland into a single sovereign nation, ending British rule in Northern Ireland. On film, the IRA has appeared in mainstream motion pictures such as The Quiet Man, action films like Blown Away, political dramas, dark comedies, and even a spaghetti Western, A Fistful of Dynamite. The IRA has been explored by major directors from three countries, including John Ford (The Informer), John Frankenheimer (Ronin), Carol Reed (Odd Man Out), David Lean (Ryan’s Daughter), Neil Jordan (Michael Collins), and Jim Sheridan (In the Name of the Father). IRA characters have been portrayed by international stars, such as Victor McLaglen, James Cagney, Anthony Hopkins, James Mason, Richard Gere, and Brad Pitt. Films about the Irish Republican Army range from realistic docudramas like Paul Greengrass’ Bloody Sunday, shot with handheld cameras and natural lighting to create the sensation of watching 1972 newsreel footage, to Joseph Merhi’s action farce Riot in which a British superhero battles IRA bikers in the streets of Los Angeles during a race riot.
Whether portrayed as a heroic patriot, ruthless terrorist, or troubled anti-hero, the Irish rebel has emerged as a universally recognized cinematic archetype. Over eighty motion pictures include IRA references, and IRA characters have appeared in iconic American television series such as Hawaii Five-O, Columbo, and Law and Order.
This illustrated history analyzes film depictions of the IRA from the 1916 Easter Rising to the peace process of the 1990s. Topics include America’s role in creating both the IRA and its cinematic image, the organization’s brief association with the Nazis, the changing depiction of women in IRA films, and critical reception of IRA films in Ireland, Britain, and the United States.

Book Trailer:
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