Month: May 2012

Video Trailer: Amira, Immortal Daughter from Penglai

Today we have the video trailer for author Lon Dee’s young adult fantasy novel, Amira, Immortal Daughter from Penglai:

Leaving a lonely existence on the mythical island of Penglai, young immortal Amira enters the mortal world and struggles to understand and trust others. Are they befriending her because they need her help, or because of her beauty, or do they truly care for her? Can she trust and love a young mortal man, or is he deceiving her? Caught in a battle between well-organized bandits and the residents of a peaceful valley, she ultimately must decide if she’s willing to risk her own destruction to save those who’ve befriended her.

Amira, Immortal Daughter from Penglai is available from Amazon.com.

Sneak Peek: The God Hater: Discovering Life After Death

Today we have a sneak peek from the book by Rebecca Dinsmore and Allison Althauser entitled, The God Hater: Discovering Life After Death:

The God HaterWhat do you do when the worst that can happen to you, happens?

Bekki Dinsmore was a passionate wife of thirty years, a loving mother of two sons, a gifted counselor and teacher, and a strong woman of faith. But when tragedy destroys life as she knows it, Bekki is forced onto a long road of brokenness and grief.

Experience firsthand her true story and compelling struggle of survival in the unknown, and the challenges of healing through suffering. Bekki embarks on a determined search for wholeness, while defying the source of her wound, only to find she has failed her way into surrender. As her foundational beliefs in God are shattered, she chooses to face the One who allowed her deep sorrow.

The God Hater is an uncensored glimpse into one woman’s journey toward discovering hope within despair, trust beyond betrayal, and ultimately – life after death.

The God Hater: Discovering Life After Death is available on Amazon.com for Kindle and in print at http://thegodhaterbook.com/buythebook/. Continue reading “Sneak Peek: The God Hater: Discovering Life After Death”

The Beauty of Book Clubs

“We should read to give our souls a chance to luxuriate.”  – Henry Miller

There is nothing so luxurious as curling up in a favorite chair with a good book. The ability to take the time to shut the world out, to lose oneself in the words and the vision of another human being is the height of indulgence. For many, a good book is nourishment, and depriving them of this sustenance is akin to starvation.

When I was working a crazy corporate job it was impossible to free read. Any reading I did was related to the telecommunications industry, and other books were reserved for the two weeks of vacation I took each year. When we relocated to Tampa I became a stay-at-home mom. I loved it.

I became close friends with my neighbor and we decided to form a book club. This was seventeen years ago, mind you, before the Oprah book club. I was diligent in the first five years or so in keeping track of the literature we devoured. Our taste is very eclectic, ranging from classics to “The Bridget Jones Diary.” Our club still exists, with five of the original members. Continue reading “The Beauty of Book Clubs”

Sorry, We Can’t Use Funny by Barry Parham

Author Barry Parham

Not long ago, I wrote a book. I didn’t mean to – I had to. Somehow, I had managed to snub a minor deity, and I had to set things right.

I knew I didn’t have what it takes to write a novel. I’m missing a few essentials: a plot, a plan, intimacy with a bunch of interesting characters, vocabulary, discipline, talent.

No, I wanted to write something less dramatic, something more useless, something that lets me get away with gross grammatical gaffes like, for example, the previous paragraph. I wanted to write a weekly commentary and then find some newspaper to carry it, so I could get out of the numbing habit of actually working.

And so, for a while, I tried writing stuff and contacting newspapers all across America. But the newspapers kept telling me to get out of the way so they could finish dying.

So it didn’t go well, and now I focus on writing other things: online columns, long parole violation rationalizations, extended grocery shopping lists. Continue reading “Sorry, We Can’t Use Funny by Barry Parham”