Sunday, July 19, 2009

PRAISE FOR HAIKU SMILES


THE FOLLOWING IS THE LATEST BOOK REVIEW FOR "HAIKU SMILES"(ATTMPRESS) BY AWARD WINNING AUTHOR, NANCY LEE SHRADER.


At 157 pages, Nancy Lee Shrader’s Haiku Smiles makes for excellent reading because it succeeds in presenting haiku according to the way the ancient haiku poets meant them to be: galaxies of meaning packed in the space of a raindrop.

Haiku Smiles will delight readers in search of poetic entertainment that touches on so many topics and themes: brief 5-7-5 syllabic encounters that satisfy like lengthy visits offered by much longer poetry.

Nancy Lee Shrader’s pen is a mighty one! Obviously an attentive student of poetry, she has honed her craft insightfully well as indicated by the poems in this collection. Brilliantly observant, she has translated her awe of the world around her into the lines of her haiku with which readers can relate with their own wonder about nature’s beauty and power. With strong word choice and vivid imagery, Nancy is able to capture a sliver of the natural and preserve the moment in the form of a haiku. No easy task!

Here are two haiku from Haiku Smiles:

“Crimson”

Dances in crimson

Roses blush in the garden

Embarrassing spring

“Caustic”

Caustic rivers run

Deceitful rocks hide below

Corroding the shore

As a published poet myself, a conductor of poetry workshops, and a longtime judge of poetry contests, I can with much pleasure and assurance recommend Haiku Smiles to anyone in search of uplifting poetry. As expressed in Nancy Lee Shrader’s own words from her haiku “Kettles and Conversation”: “Dreams are voiced here.”

Salvatore Buttaci
--

Sunday, July 12, 2009

CAROLYN HOWARD JOHNSON OFFERS GREAT TIPS

Carolyn's newsletter for authors is always filled with useful information regarding book promotion. She also has several blogs that are very helpful.

Her newsletter can be found at:
http://www.AuthorsDen.com/adstorage/1713/SharingwithWriters_July_11_2009.pdf

You can get a less formal email version by contacting Carolyn at, Carolyn HowardJohnson"

http://www.SharingwithWriters.blogspot.com, a blog on all things
publishing
http://www.TheFrugalEditor.blogspot.com, all things grammatical and
ungrammatical
http://www.TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog focused on YOUR reviews
http://www.TheFrugalEditor.blogspot.com, a blog focused on editing,
formatting and craft

FROM HER JULY 12 NEWSLETTER-In the News: The number of members of the American Booksellers Association
(ABA) declined. Their funding has declined, too. Authors who are
emphasizing bookstore sales at the expense of online sales may be making a
big mistake.

Friday, July 3, 2009

"A HITCH IN TWILIGHT" Just Released




A Hitch In Twilight 20:
Tales of Warped Imagination

By Vic Fortezza


20 short stories in the tradition of The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock. Dreams, Nightmares, schemes, past lives, war, high-rolling and mayhem...tales that will have you on the edge of your seat.

About the author:

Vic Fortezza was born in Brooklyn in 1950to Sicilian immigrants. He has had 37 short stories published in small press magazines worldwide. He contributes articles to buzzle.com. He has two novels in print, Close to the Edge, and Adjustments. You may spot him on the streets of New York, hawking his work. Website:http://vicfortezza.homestead.com/

"WHERE YOU ARE" Just Released


Where You Are- By Michael Burns


"I can't take it anymore. Love, L" writes Paul Embry's wife of less than a year on the envelope of an electric bill. Thus begins the late summer and fall of Paul Embry's discontent as he struggles to come to grips with the ambivalence he feels about his marriage that this act offish young wife generates in him. In phone conversations with her,later, Paul learns that she has fled to San Francisco, California; he comes to discover that her motive is to catalyze a change in their lives, to induce him to pull up roots from the town where he was born and lived all his life, to begin a new life in a new city, far from the stultifying influence of the depressed New Hampshire mill town where they had married and were living.


About the author:

Michael Burns was born in St. Johnsbury,Vermont. His family moved to New Hampshire in 1950 where he attended high school, graduating in 1957. He deferred entrance to college to serve in the U.S. Navy for four years, seeing duty in Southeast Asia in the early days of the Vietnam War. After mustering out of the Navy,Burns returned to New Hampshire where he met and married his wife, and matriculated at the University of New Hampshire.



Encouraged by his freshman English teacher, Burns first became interested in writing fiction in 1963. He continued writing after being inspired by the late Thomas Williams, National Book Award-winning author and mentor to many young writers, among them John Irving.



In 1971, Burns joined the faculty of St. Paul's School, a college preparatory boarding school in Concord, New Hampshire. He retired from that school in 2004 after 33 years of teaching chemistry, life science,and creative writing. At present, Burns is living with his wife in rural New Hampshire where he is at work on his fourth novel. Gemini,his first novel, was published by Poncha Press in 2001. Where You Are is Burns' second novel.