Saturday, March 27, 2010

LIES AND PERCEPTION


JUST RELEASED BY ATTMPRESS, LIES AND PERCEPTION Authored by John Hayden

SEX, MONEY & POWER...just ways to keep score in the Garbage Game, a Bloodsport where LIES are expected, cheating is routine, and violence is a matter of PERCEPTION.
Gordon Palmer operates a huge landfill. Illegal is OK: Cash only. Jim Stevens, environmental inspector, discovers lethal waste, and stumbles between right and wrong.
Southern States Garbage is minting money. A teenage girl is only one of their victims.
Governor Clifford Elias needs to maintain his environmentalist image.
Bobby Kuchefski is County Leader of Holt County. He wants to be Governor.
Daniel Snyder builds incinerators. Alliances with the devil do not concern him.
Monsignor Robert Szathmary thinks he knows the risks that accompany his environmental terrorism.
Monika Frantangelis is heir apparent to a paper recycling empire. Beautiful and wealthy is not enough.
Attorney Phillip Spazutta is Guru of Garbage. Spazutta has unwritten rules...not found in law books.
Curtis 'Weasel' Weiss wants to win a Pulitzer...a little too much.

About the author:
John Hayden spent his career in the engineering and construction businesses, advising politicians and high ranking officials across the USA, Europe, and the Middle East. Having worked jobs on both ends of the spectrum, from equipment operator and laborer to executive and CEO, he has met the best and worst of people; often they've been involved in a stew of corruption and crime. It is such characters that populate the universe of his novels.
John admires mysteries and thrillers driven by characters readers can recognize as real, and frequently flawed. His own books reflect such lives, intervened upon by unexpected disasters. Lies and Perception, John's second novel, examines how the best and worst among us can be warped; particularly in the Garbage Game where bad things happen, usually as a result of greed, jealousy, lust, anger or fear-and sometimes all of the above.
John earned a Ph.D. in engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. He is married with three adult children. A lifetime New Englander, John and his wife Janet, along with Fergus the Red Setter, now split their time between Cape Cod and the Palm Beaches.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

MOTHERLESS SOUL



Motherless Soul, by Steve Lindahl is the story of Emily Vinson, a woman whose entire life was impacted by the loss of her mother when she was 2 years old. At 82 Emily contacts a hypnotist hoping to draw out hidden memories and to discover as much as possible about the short time she spent with the woman who gave her life. Glen Wiley, the hypnotist, teaches her more about herself than she had expected. He helps her bring out memories of many past lives, including an experience that took place on a smoke filled battlefield. All of Emily's lives have had the same tragic outcome, the loss of her mother at a young age. Her soul is caught in what Glen calls circularity, meaning that the tragedy will occur again and again unless she can break the pattern. She and Glen must revisit her past lives and use what they learn to find the other souls who are part of the circle. They must use the past to change the future. Emily's stubborn desire to know her mother is realized in intricate and unsettling ways no one could have imagined possible.

Excerpt (from Chapter Four)

Glen asked her to count backwards from one hundred. When she passed fifty-nine he started to guide her saying, “Go back, back further to a time before you were Emily Vinson. Keep going back.” His words seemed to run right through her body, like a shot of whiskey. Glen seemed to be growing distant, although she knew he was right next to her. She kept counting toward zero, even as he spoke.

Emily lost track of the counting. She was certain she’d repeated some numbers, but she tried to keep them coming. She knew she had to do what Glen told her to do. She closed her eyes. Shortly after that the dim light she could make out through her lids faded into absolute darkness.

“You’re slipping through time and space into a place that’s been buried in your heart for ages upon ages. Something important happened to you in this place. You’re starting to remember what it was like: the smells, the sounds, the texture of the world around you.”

Her eyes started to burn. Memories were flowing into her head after a period of nothingness and those sensations were different from what she’d experienced the day before. This time it was as if she were two people. The person she had been before the session began, the old woman nearing the end of her life, was now watching someone else from inside that other person’s body. The other person was very young, but in trouble.

“Talk to me, Emily. Let me know what you’re feeling.”

Emily started to cry. She wasn’t able to hold back. Her cry was the loud wail of a hungry baby. But Emily knew what she felt wasn’t only hunger. Something was very wrong.

Review: Jen Knox (Author of Musical Chairs)

This is a profound work about the cyclic nature of pain and one woman's desire to confront it and move on. The story begins with Emily's search to demystify the mother she never knew, the figure whom she believes to hold the secret that will break a cycle of discontent. Where this leads her is on a journey of self-discovery that begins with a trip to a hypnotist and introduces Emily to generations past. Emily's journey is filled with realizations that grow exponentially, and ultimately lead to a philosophical and spiritual awakening. This book is phenomenal. The chapters are short and engaging, and the writing is fantastic.

For a video reading of an excerpt go to - Motherless Soul

For more information about Steve Lindahl go to - http://www.stevelindahl.blogspot.com/ or http://www.stevelindahl.com/

To purchase Motherless Soul go to - Amazon, All Things That Matter Press, or Barnes and Noble

ON AMAZON AT: http://www.amazon.com/Motherless-Soul-Steve-Lindahl/dp/0984098496/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268954921&sr=1-1

OTHER REVIEWS ON AMAZON:



By Steven C. Harrison Jr. "Steven H" (Greensboro, NC)
Being that I have always been fascinated with reincarnation, I am constantly on the look out for good fiction that captures this concept. I struck gold when I purchased this novel by Steve Lindahl. He incorporates the hypnotist's power to open doors to the past with several knowledgeable and well written accounts of the events that took place. The novel carries us as far back as the Civil War where one page turning event after another lead this circle of characters towards their goal of a profound self awareness. I highly recommend this novel to anyone with an interest in the realm of mystical possibilities.


Steve Lindahl writes with a rare mix of compassion, imagination, intelligence and maturity. Publication of his first novel is cause for celebration, and anticipation of more to come.
-- Bob Shar

"Lindahl has a remarkable way of exploring many different ideas within the context of his story, layering his work with rich texture that pulls the reader in and keeps the pages turning."

Joni Carter, freelance columnist for the News and Record
--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Emily Vinson's entire life was impacted by the loss of her mother when she was 2years old. At 82 Emily contacts a hypnotist hoping to draw out hidden memories and discover as much as possible about the short time she spent with the woman who gave her life. Glen Wiley, the hypnotist, teaches her more about herself than she had expected. He helps her bring out memories of many past lives, including an experience that took place on a smoke filled battlefield. All of Emily's lives have had the same tragic outcome, the loss of her mother at a young age. Her soul is caught in what Glen calls circularity, meaning that the tragedy will occur again and again unless she can break the pattern. She and Glen must revisit her past lives and use what they learn to find the other souls who are part of the circle. They must use the past to change the future. Emily's stubborn desire to know her mother is realized in intricate and unsettling ways no one could have imagined possible.

Being that I have always been fascinated with reincarnation, I am constantly on the look out for good fiction that captures this concept. I struck gold when I purchased this novel by Steve Lindahl. He incorporates the hypnotist's power to open doors to the past with several knowledgeable and well written accounts of the events that took place. The novel carries us as far back as the Civil War where one page turning event after another lead this circle of characters towards their goal of a profound self awareness. I highly recommend this novel to anyone with an interest in the realm of mystical possibilities.


By Dennis McKay (Chevy Chase, Maryland United States)
This is a story about reincarnation with an evolving mystery. Emily Vinson lost her mother at age two and was raised by a disinterested father, leaving a gnawing void in her life. The story begins with 82-year-old Emily with an overwhelming desire to learn about her mother who she has only imagined memories through old photographs. She contacts a hypnotist, Glen Wiley, and with his assistance she begins her journey into the past.
Steve Lindahl takes the reader on a fascinating and mystical exploration not only into Emily's past with her mother, but other past lives she led as far back as the 19th century. Motherless Soul keeps the readers interest as the plot has twists and turns and interesting characters along the way.
A good read that leaves you wondering about the many levels of time, especially the possibility of the time's circularity. Dennis McKay author of Fallow's Field and Once Upon Wisconsin.

By Kenneth A. Weene (Scottsdale, AZ)
Motherless Soul by Steve Lindahl is a mystery of a very unusual kind. Based on Lindahl's excellent knowledge of hypnotic past-lives regression and of history, particularly the Civil War Era, the author draws us into the characters' lives as they intertwine both in modern times and in those past.

The interesting premise of Motherless Soul is that souls can exist across time bound together in a recurring nexus in which certain central relationships and events repeat over and over again. In this book, the event is the death of a mother at the very beginning of her daughter's life. In the present time that death is attributed to accident. However, the daughter, Emily, now an older woman, tries to learn more about her mother. Through hypnosis, it is revealed that the death had actually been a murder.

Emily and Glen, the hypnotherapist, begin a journey to identify the interconnected souls as they exist in the here and now and to prevent the next murder. Their search brings the reader into contact with a variety of characters as they are living in the present and as they have lived in the past. Most particularly, we meet them in their Civil War Era existences.

The resulting story is one of love and jealousy, madness and determination, and ultimately of mystery. Not only does Lindahl tell a gripping tale but also he makes the reader give serious thought to the nature of past lives. (Kenneth Weene, author of Widow's Walk)

Monday, March 15, 2010

THE GREER AGENCY


I was never a reader of the crime/mystery genre. When Harris Tobias sent us his ms, I was a bit leery, but decided to give it a read. I'm glad I did-it is great. I love the protagonist and all of his escapades. The story is a series of plots that meld together to create a great, cohesive book. You'll love it.

The Greer Agency is a gritty detective fiction presented in 15 separate, but connected stories. The reader follows the development of private detective Mike Greer, the only PI in the Altoona, PA phone book. It's tough to make a living in a decaying old railroad town, but with the help of an anonymous benefactor, Greer lands some interesting cases-cases that he solves with guts and determination. Throughout the stories, his budding romance with Susan grows. Eventually, they realize they are right for each other.
Readers will find Mike Greer an accessible everyman with luck, pluck, smarts and a host of interesting friends. He finds his way into and out of problems large and small. Greer narrates the stories in a refreshing and original voice. Each story has its own plot and can stand on its own, but as the book progresses, the mysteries pile up and the plots get more complex until the explosive last story.


About the author:
Harris Tobias lives and writes in Charlottesville, Virginia. He is the author of several unpublished novels and hundreds of short stories. His fiction has appeared in Ray Gun Revival, The Calliope Nerve, Literal Translations and other obscure publications. You can find links to his fiction at: http://harristobias.blogspot.com/

Saturday, March 13, 2010

REVIEWS OF MUSICAL CHAIRS


WHAT FOLLOWS ARE JUST 3 REVIEWS OF MUSICAL CHAIRS by JEN KNOX as posted on Amazon.com. They all same the same.

Courageous Writing, November 2, 2009
By Kenneth A. Weene (Scottsdale, AZ)
"Musical Chairs" is Jen Knox's gutsy autobiographical story. It is also the weaving together of four generations of family pain and coping into a tapestry rich in that most elusive quality - the truly human.

This is a no-holds-barred book. Knox is painfully honest about herself, her past, and her battles with anxiety, restlessness, and booze. She doesn't offer rationalizations, psychobabble, or excuses. Instead, she looks for and finds the strength that comes from facing life with honesty and acceptance.

If, at times, the reader is reminded of Camus at his best, it is because Knox too finds meaning within the helpless, repetitive pointlessness which is the human condition. And, if at times, the reader feels like the author's pain and struggle are reminiscent of Kafka, it is because "Musical Chairs" is told with an attention to detail that make every moment burn itself into consciousness.

I would recommend this book to every reader. I would particularly urge it for every young woman who feels ready to take responsibility for her own life. And, if it were in my power, I would make sure it was given to every teenaged girl who attends or should be attending AlaTeen or ALANON; for this is a book which offers much to those who would choose to learn. (Kenneth Weene, PhD, author and psychologist)

Musical Chairs: One of the Most Intelligent Memoirs in Years, December 17, 2009
By Marilyn Kallet
This is a gripping, well-paced and clearly written coming-of-age story, in which a young woman finds her voice, her balance, her connectedness with her grandmother--but to get to the point of self-confidence and voice, she must go through her own personal hell. The narrator was a teenage runaway who worked as a stripper for a short time. Her intelligent self-awareness during that phase of her life is inspiring, and yes, very sensual,

This book reminds me of Catcher in the Rye, though the book in hand is creative nonfiction. It's about time we had a heroine who's smart, sassy, brave, ready to deal with adversity from within her own mind and from the external world. I'm also reminded of Jeannette Walls's The Glass Castle, which features another spunky articulate female narrator. Wall's book is a best-seller, and Jen Knox's book should be too.

I wish my sister had had this book when my niece began to experience a long series of troubles. No one in the convoluted health care system had much to offer. Luckily my niece was able to clean up and to survive dangerous streets. She is a painter and has landed on her feet with her visionary art.

For the narrator in Musical Chairs, words are the angels, hard-won.

Profoundly Honest & Deeply Moving Journey into Adulthood, December 11, 2009
By STUART MCCALLUM "Stuart / Beyond my Control" (Melbourne, Australia)
Jen Knox is an exceptionally gifted storyteller, and her memoir Musical Chairs is a captivating, emotionally charged page turner.

Soon after her parents' divorce, young Jen is riddled with teenage angst, and in desperate need to find her place in the world. Aged fifteen she leaves home and enters an adult world where some (are only too eager) to take advantage of her vulnerability. Jen grows up quick.

There is a tragic irony to Jen's story; she battles with booze which many in her family have struggled with and mental illness. I applaud Jen for facing her demons head on, and managing to restore her life while having many adversities to contend with.

I strongly believe Musical Chairs should be part of every school curriculum as the lessons in life are invaluable.

I highly recommend Jen's story as a must read for all.

ON AMAZON, http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0984259422/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1BNAWS4MXTZXV4987XXH&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846