Monday, July 12, 2010
PIXELS OF YOUNG MUELLER
Authored by Jerry Schwartz
Klaus Mueller dreams of leaving tiny Southland someday to be a rock star. When he chooses stardom over college, however, he learns that his real education is only beginning. He endures a series of god-awful jobs while his music is repeatedly rejected, and he wonders how he will ever achieve success. After moving to the city, where he finds a career and becomes a father, he is torn between the great happiness he has found and the success he still craves. Klaus must reconcile his dreams with reality or spend the rest of his life lamenting what might have been.
Pixels of Young Mueller is the story of an artist's growth to maturity and of his revolt against his family's Christian values. The tale of Klaus Mueller, as told in this modern coming-of-age novel, provides new perspectives on classic themes when Klaus confronts the forces that threaten his existence. Readers can listen to Klaus' music online at www.itsthejerrys.com.
About the author:
Jerry Schwartz writes, plays, sings, and produces the music of The Jerrys, a British-influenced guitar-pop band. He lives in Chicago with his wife and their two children. Pixels of Young Mueller is Jerry Schwartz's debut novel. His website is www.itsjerryschwartz.com.family, values, growing-up
APPALACHIAN UPRISING
Authored by Shawn P. May
Appalachian Uprising chronicles the May Family through a decade of hardship and humor. The author weaves together a story of their triumphs and their losses told largely through the mischievous exploits of four boys. The story is told through the voice of the youngest brother, who both admires and mimics his older siblings. The family goes through many changes, such as their hardworking mother marrying a much younger man and moving from one home to another, but the real meat of the story is the hilarious exploits of four young boys left to their own devices in an Appalachian world of hills and hollers.
From their homemade flying machine, to hairspray flamethrowers and death-defying sleigh rides, the reader is led along a humorous odyssey of growing up that makes one not only long for childhood, but sometimes makes the reader wonder how we managed to survive...
About the author:
Shawn May was born and raised in Morgantown, West Virginia, and grew up in the surrounding area. He has three older brothers and a younger sister. He moved to Maryland for two decades and is now back in Morgantown, along with his wife of nineteen years Beth, his three sons, and his daughter. This book, Appalachian Uprising, was recognized in the 2009 West Virginia Writers, Inc. annual contest in both the Non-fiction and Emerging Writers categories.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Memoirs From The Asylum diagnoses 5 healthy stars.
http://www.basilandspice.com/journal/72010-book-review-memoirs-from-the-asylum-by-kenneth-weene.html
The reviewer – yours truly – would like to start off with a few bits of trivia that have absolutely nothing – and at the same time everything – to do with the book under discussion.
not the case. He maintains he is not insane. Rather, he is trying to make a point. And the point is this: the distinction between sanity and insanity is quite small.
This distinction is the subject of Kenneth Weene’s tragicomic novel Memoirs From The Asylum, which is a little like reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest as written by Joseph Heller, who was the author of Catch-22. Or, if that poor analogy doesn’t work for you, try this one: the Three Stooges meet Jack Nicholson in The Shining.
To put it simply, Weene has written a shockingly funny and funnily shocking novel about life in an asylum. It’s shocking because it exposes the abuse and mistreatment the patients suffer at the hands of the hospital’s staff. And it’s funny because – in the end – it’s hard to tell who’s crazier, the doctors and nurses or the patients.
The narrator of the story, who is a patient, is in the asylum due to fear, fear of everything. Many other of the patients are schizophrenics, which means they have lost touch with reality. They suffer hallucinations, delusions and disordered thinking processes. All of which leads to ‘abnormal behavior.’ One such patient is Marilyn. In one reality, which is supposedly the real reality, Marilyn lives on a bed in the hospital. She is catatonic and unresponsive. In another reality, Marilyn lives in a crack in the wall next to her bed. She lives there with her family – “the crack that is all truth.”
Marilyn’s doctor is Dr. Buford Abrose, who is a first-year resident in psychiatry. In reality, Dr. Abrose works in the asylum, treating patients. In another reality, Dr. Abrose lives inside his head with his wife, who is a status-seeking gold-digger, who doesn’t like the fact that her husband works in a mental hospital, when he could be working elsewhere, making big bucks.
The asylum is run by Orrin Parties, who is obsessed by paperwork. He lacks humanity. His ‘human touch’ has been misplaced. And most of his staff is composed of sado-masochists, who hate their jobs, themselves, and their patients.
The author of the book, Kenneth Weene, has not lost his ‘human touch,’ for he writes well and from the heart. For example, when describing Mitch, who is one of the patients: “Alzheimer’s has Mitch. Every now and then it gets him restless, and he blows like an old geyser that’s running out of steam. The rest of the time he wanders around talking to himself. They say he was once a college professor. So, it isn’t really that different; he’s just talking to himself in a new place. Guess what? Nobody cares.”
Memoirs From The Asylum is resplendent with such literary gems. Weene has a real knack for putting together world-class sentences. Humor and pathos drip from every page, along with compassion and kindness and insight. And his narrative abilities pack a wallop that thumps your chest hard.
Weene cares. Which is what makes the novel so good. Indeed, it ranks with One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Girl, Interrupted for sheer cathartic storytelling. In other words, it’s one of those novels you tell your friends about.
On the Read-O-Meter, which ranges from 1 star (sickly) to 5 stars (robust), Memoirs From The Asylum diagnoses 5 healthy stars.
Don’t miss this one!
Memoirs From The Asylum (All Things That Matter Press/2010) By Kenneth Weene
Randall Radic is a former Old Catholic priest. He is a graduate of the University of Arizona. He holds a Master of Theology, from Trinity Seminary, a Doctorate of Theology from Trinity Seminary,Th.D., and a Doctorate of Sacred Theology, S.T.D. from Agape Seminary.
After a midlife crisis, he spent time behind bars. Today, Radic has emerged a changed man. He is the author of Gone To Hell: True Crimes of America’s Clergy (ECW Press/ Oct 2009), and A Priest in Hell: Gangs, Murderers and Snitching in a California Jail. Radic is currently working on some unusual book projects, including one titled Raising The Dead. Visit Randall Radic Writer's Page.
The reviewer – yours truly – would like to start off with a few bits of trivia that have absolutely nothing – and at the same time everything – to do with the book under discussion.
- Varanus exanthematicus
not the case. He maintains he is not insane. Rather, he is trying to make a point. And the point is this: the distinction between sanity and insanity is quite small.
This distinction is the subject of Kenneth Weene’s tragicomic novel Memoirs From The Asylum, which is a little like reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest as written by Joseph Heller, who was the author of Catch-22. Or, if that poor analogy doesn’t work for you, try this one: the Three Stooges meet Jack Nicholson in The Shining.
To put it simply, Weene has written a shockingly funny and funnily shocking novel about life in an asylum. It’s shocking because it exposes the abuse and mistreatment the patients suffer at the hands of the hospital’s staff. And it’s funny because – in the end – it’s hard to tell who’s crazier, the doctors and nurses or the patients.
The narrator of the story, who is a patient, is in the asylum due to fear, fear of everything. Many other of the patients are schizophrenics, which means they have lost touch with reality. They suffer hallucinations, delusions and disordered thinking processes. All of which leads to ‘abnormal behavior.’ One such patient is Marilyn. In one reality, which is supposedly the real reality, Marilyn lives on a bed in the hospital. She is catatonic and unresponsive. In another reality, Marilyn lives in a crack in the wall next to her bed. She lives there with her family – “the crack that is all truth.”
Marilyn’s doctor is Dr. Buford Abrose, who is a first-year resident in psychiatry. In reality, Dr. Abrose works in the asylum, treating patients. In another reality, Dr. Abrose lives inside his head with his wife, who is a status-seeking gold-digger, who doesn’t like the fact that her husband works in a mental hospital, when he could be working elsewhere, making big bucks.
The asylum is run by Orrin Parties, who is obsessed by paperwork. He lacks humanity. His ‘human touch’ has been misplaced. And most of his staff is composed of sado-masochists, who hate their jobs, themselves, and their patients.
The author of the book, Kenneth Weene, has not lost his ‘human touch,’ for he writes well and from the heart. For example, when describing Mitch, who is one of the patients: “Alzheimer’s has Mitch. Every now and then it gets him restless, and he blows like an old geyser that’s running out of steam. The rest of the time he wanders around talking to himself. They say he was once a college professor. So, it isn’t really that different; he’s just talking to himself in a new place. Guess what? Nobody cares.”
Memoirs From The Asylum is resplendent with such literary gems. Weene has a real knack for putting together world-class sentences. Humor and pathos drip from every page, along with compassion and kindness and insight. And his narrative abilities pack a wallop that thumps your chest hard.
Weene cares. Which is what makes the novel so good. Indeed, it ranks with One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Girl, Interrupted for sheer cathartic storytelling. In other words, it’s one of those novels you tell your friends about.
On the Read-O-Meter, which ranges from 1 star (sickly) to 5 stars (robust), Memoirs From The Asylum diagnoses 5 healthy stars.
Don’t miss this one!
Memoirs From The Asylum (All Things That Matter Press/2010) By Kenneth Weene
Randall Radic is a former Old Catholic priest. He is a graduate of the University of Arizona. He holds a Master of Theology, from Trinity Seminary, a Doctorate of Theology from Trinity Seminary,Th.D., and a Doctorate of Sacred Theology, S.T.D. from Agape Seminary.
After a midlife crisis, he spent time behind bars. Today, Radic has emerged a changed man. He is the author of Gone To Hell: True Crimes of America’s Clergy (ECW Press/ Oct 2009), and A Priest in Hell: Gangs, Murderers and Snitching in a California Jail. Radic is currently working on some unusual book projects, including one titled Raising The Dead. Visit Randall Radic Writer's Page.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Friends write novel together
A NICE ARTICLE ABOUT HAMMON FALLS!
http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/article_48565e78-e57d-544a-81d9-e45063ac19b8.html
CEDAR FALLS --- Dave Hoing, 54, of Cedar Falls, and Roger Hileman, 53, of Iowa City, share a love for music, humor and the written word.
Friends since they walked the halls of Waterloo West High School, Hoing and Hileman are compelled to create. They count numerous individual and collaborative projects to their credit.
Hoing, a published short story writer, is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Hileman is a musician and enjoys writing plays.
Some joint undertakings were more or less for their own amusement, like a parody of "Star Trek" starring the Marx Brothers. Or, Hoing adds, an original musical about Napoleon and Venice.
They have a flair for the comedic, Hileman says.
Several years ago the friends decided to turn a screenplay by Hileman into a full-fledged work of historical fiction. All Things That Matter Press released the book last month.
"Hammon Falls," spanning 1893 through 2009, is Hoing's first published novel and Hileman's first novel.
Hileman can trace his family's history in Waterloo back to the 1890s. He used ancestors as a template for the book's main characters. The partners filled out key players using their imagination, old photographs, documents and wishful thinking. The tale also is loosely inspired by local history.
"The more I learned about my family in Waterloo, the more I got interested in Waterloo history," Hileman said.
Central to the novel is George Hammon, who, driven by a great personal loss and manipulative parents, flees small-town Iowa for the horrors of World War I. He returns years later to find a complicated entanglement of murder, suicide and surprises.
"It's this big, family battle," Hileman said.
In a book review, Carol Kean wrote: "With carefully crafted prose, the authors seamlessly transport us from character to character, across an ocean and 12 decades, into the present, when a new generation may at last rise above the sins of the fathers.
"This haunting, lyrical story will stay with you long after you turn the last page," Kean concludes.
The story is revealed out of sequence, using flashbacks and different vantage points.
Longtime residents of the Cedar Valley and history buffs who read "Hammon Falls" may identify familiar, if not entirely accurate references to real people, places and things. References to an Electrical Park, a railroad strike and the death of a gangster are based, to some degree, on local lore, as are tornadoes in Pomeroy and Parkersburg.
Hoing and Hileman said they took care to research dialogue of the day, modern conveniences, fashions and natural and historical events. But "Hammon Falls" is first and foremost a work of fiction, Hoing said. The men wanted the creative liberty to change dates, names and other details for the story's sake.
Likewise, Hoing and Hileman don't know the true nature of the scandalous relationship between the real-life George Hammon and his lover, Cora. So they did what fiction writers get to do: They filled in the gaps.
"We turned it into a love story because that's what it should have been," Hoing said.
Hoing is a longtime library associate at the University of Northern Iowa. Hileman is a test development associate for ACT.
"Hammon Falls" is available on amazon.com.
http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/article_48565e78-e57d-544a-81d9-e45063ac19b8.html
CEDAR FALLS --- Dave Hoing, 54, of Cedar Falls, and Roger Hileman, 53, of Iowa City, share a love for music, humor and the written word.
Friends since they walked the halls of Waterloo West High School, Hoing and Hileman are compelled to create. They count numerous individual and collaborative projects to their credit.
Hoing, a published short story writer, is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Hileman is a musician and enjoys writing plays.
Some joint undertakings were more or less for their own amusement, like a parody of "Star Trek" starring the Marx Brothers. Or, Hoing adds, an original musical about Napoleon and Venice.
They have a flair for the comedic, Hileman says.
Several years ago the friends decided to turn a screenplay by Hileman into a full-fledged work of historical fiction. All Things That Matter Press released the book last month.
"Hammon Falls," spanning 1893 through 2009, is Hoing's first published novel and Hileman's first novel.
Hileman can trace his family's history in Waterloo back to the 1890s. He used ancestors as a template for the book's main characters. The partners filled out key players using their imagination, old photographs, documents and wishful thinking. The tale also is loosely inspired by local history.
"The more I learned about my family in Waterloo, the more I got interested in Waterloo history," Hileman said.
Central to the novel is George Hammon, who, driven by a great personal loss and manipulative parents, flees small-town Iowa for the horrors of World War I. He returns years later to find a complicated entanglement of murder, suicide and surprises.
"It's this big, family battle," Hileman said.
In a book review, Carol Kean wrote: "With carefully crafted prose, the authors seamlessly transport us from character to character, across an ocean and 12 decades, into the present, when a new generation may at last rise above the sins of the fathers.
"This haunting, lyrical story will stay with you long after you turn the last page," Kean concludes.
The story is revealed out of sequence, using flashbacks and different vantage points.
Longtime residents of the Cedar Valley and history buffs who read "Hammon Falls" may identify familiar, if not entirely accurate references to real people, places and things. References to an Electrical Park, a railroad strike and the death of a gangster are based, to some degree, on local lore, as are tornadoes in Pomeroy and Parkersburg.
Hoing and Hileman said they took care to research dialogue of the day, modern conveniences, fashions and natural and historical events. But "Hammon Falls" is first and foremost a work of fiction, Hoing said. The men wanted the creative liberty to change dates, names and other details for the story's sake.
Likewise, Hoing and Hileman don't know the true nature of the scandalous relationship between the real-life George Hammon and his lover, Cora. So they did what fiction writers get to do: They filled in the gaps.
"We turned it into a love story because that's what it should have been," Hoing said.
Hoing is a longtime library associate at the University of Northern Iowa. Hileman is a test development associate for ACT.
"Hammon Falls" is available on amazon.com.
Monday, July 5, 2010
YOU'LL LOVE OUR BOOKS ON KINDLE!
NEW LOW PRICE SHOULD SHOW UP SOON!
All Things That Matter Press is so confident that you will love our authors and their books we lowered the price of all of our Kindle Editions and E-Books to just $3.99. Don’t have a Kindle? You can download a free PC, Mac, Iphone, BlackBerry, or IPad version from Amazon.com.
Want to see all of our Kindle titles? You can go to Amazon.com; under SEARCH, find Kindle; then, where it says GO, type in All Things That Matter Press. Or, click on the following!
ALL THINGS THAT MATTER PRESS KINDLES
Unlike big publishers who are trying to get the biggest buck for their Kindle editions, it is our hope to keep these prices down and more accessible. These are tough economic times and we want to ensure that you get the chance to read some of our great books, discover new authors and enjoy all of the multi-genre titles offered by ALL THINGS THAT MATTER PRESS.
All Things That Matter Press is so confident that you will love our authors and their books we lowered the price of all of our Kindle Editions and E-Books to just $3.99. Don’t have a Kindle? You can download a free PC, Mac, Iphone, BlackBerry, or IPad version from Amazon.com.
Want to see all of our Kindle titles? You can go to Amazon.com; under SEARCH, find Kindle; then, where it says GO, type in All Things That Matter Press. Or, click on the following!
ALL THINGS THAT MATTER PRESS KINDLES
Unlike big publishers who are trying to get the biggest buck for their Kindle editions, it is our hope to keep these prices down and more accessible. These are tough economic times and we want to ensure that you get the chance to read some of our great books, discover new authors and enjoy all of the multi-genre titles offered by ALL THINGS THAT MATTER PRESS.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MOTT
The Secret Life of Walter Mott
Authored by Kal WagenheimFreedom! Security! This serio-comic novel, set in 1959, dramatizes the conflict between two human yearnings. Walter Mott, a shy, lonesome bachelor, lives secretly in his office, in order to save money, retire early, and travel the world. But life gets complicated when he falls in love with a young coworker. Oh, and after a late-night fling with a striptease dancer, he winds up giving the crabs to hundreds of his coworkers!
About the author:
Kal Wagenheim (born in Newark, N.J.) is a journalist (formerly with The New York Times and currently editor of Caribbean UPDATE monthly newsletter), author and translator of eight books, and ten plays and screenplays. His biography of Babe Ruth was a Playboy Book Club selection and was adapted for an NBC-TV film. His biography of Roberto Clemente, published years ago, will be reissued in 2010 in an updated edition. His plays, "Bavarian Rage," "We Beat Whitey Ford", "Wegotdates.com" and "Coffee With God" have been produced off-off-Broadway. "Coffee With God" has been published by the Dramatic Publishing Co. and is being produced at festivals and schools nationwide. His poetry and fiction have been published in the online literary magazine www.jerseyworks.com. His nonfiction articles have been published in The Nation, and The New Republic. He has also taught creative writing at Columbia University and The State Prison in Trenton NJ. Member: PEN American Center and The Dramatists Guild of America. Film producers may access his screenplays on the website www.inktip.com. Further details on website: www.kalwagenheim.
Buy Now, http://allthingsthatmatterpress.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)