September 2014
Welcome to Issue 47 of the SUPERIOR BOOK PRODUCTIONS newsletter!
Hello Everyone,
I hope you’re all enjoying a beautiful fall. The autumn colors here in Upper Michigan are just about to peak.
I’m happy to say that my first play Willpower was an enormous success...at least, that’s what the audiences told me, so I’m going to take their word for it.
But we can’t rest on our laurels. I’ve been busy helping to organize the 2nd Annual U.P. Authors Day, which will be held Saturday, October 4 from Noon to 6 p.m. at the Westwood Mall. So far, over a dozen authors plan to attend to sign and share their books with the public. The Upper Peninsula Authors participating will be:
Nancy Barr Larry Buege Robert Cook Julie Covert Corey M. LaBissioniere James M. Jackson |
Mary T. Kremer Sonny Longtine Robert Martin April MacDougall G. Nykanen Diana Oman |
Gretchen Preston Charles B. Smith Richard P. Smith Tyler R. Tichelaar Dean Weiger Allen Wright |
These authors write a wide range of books from U.P. history and children’s books to animal stories, humor, memoirs, and mysteries. If you can’t find at least one book at U.P. Authors Day to read and fall in love with, I don’t know where you will.
Please come out to support your local authors and celebrate with us the literature of Upper Michigan. After all, we live in a rich area full of interesting characters and places that deserve to be in books. I for one am grateful that we Yoopers now have a literature of our own.
Of course, there are wonderful authors writing books all over this world, and below are some of those authors offering a wide range of fascinating topics and information. Be sure to check them out.
New Books
In Finding Your Inner Truth, Nicole Gabriel shares her amazing and surprising story of how her life changed unexpectedly and the answers about life that she discovered as a result. She also guides readers in becoming prepared for changes in their own lives, as well as accepting when the Universe is pushing them in a direction they can’t understand because ultimately it’s for their own good.
Nicole’s personal journey began with the loss of her beloved Shar Pei dog, Tia. This devastating event triggered her desire to understand the how and why of the loss she had experienced and, most of all, to know where Tia’s soul went and that she was safe. Her journey had countless twists and turns, ranging from being a massage therapist to a yoga teacher, from being married to divorced to dating again, and from exploring shamanism, participating in mystical ceremonies, traveling to Peru, and communicating with ghosts. She even discovered a portal inside her home and may have had contact with benevolent extraterrestrials. Many of these adventures are documented in the stunningly beautiful colored photos she includes.
To read more, visit Finding Your Inner Truth.
In The Third Mary, Roslyn McGrath offers 55 messages from the Mother of Mary Magdalene (known for the sake of differentiation as The Third Mary). These messages Roslyn received by transcribing words that the Third Mary channeled through her. First, let me say that anyone who says she can channel messages from someone long dead makes me skeptical. That said, I do believe channeling is possible and there are some who legitimately do so, Esther Hicks being one of them. I have had the honor of knowing Roslyn McGrath for roughly a decade now and I believe in her integrity, her intuitive abilities, and her honesty in providing these messages that initially surprised her as well.
For me, long being a student of the Bible and of history, but also being open to new interpretations of it, I was very interested in hearing what the Third Mary had to say. Readers who believe Mary Magdalene was the wife of Jesus will be especially interested in this book. However, for me, the most stunning revelation is what the Third Mary says about Judas.
To read more, visit The Third Mary.
Michael Bluemling, Jr., an abuse survivor, has written a heartfelt and practical book about how people who have experienced abuse can move beyond it, healing their pasts so they can go on to experience fulfilled and purposeful lives.
While a lot of books about abuse and recovery exist, Turning the Page: Overcoming Abuse to Reach Life’s Fulfillment really stands out. Michael tells his own story in these pages, but this is far from another abuse memoir filled with one shocking and heartbreaking abuse story after another. Nor is it a clinical book about the effects of abuse upon a person’s psychology, digging deeply into dysfunctional behaviors, their causes, and their repercussions. Instead, the book’s real focus is on how to recover and begin to live a life free of abuse and filled with self-confidence and purpose. Perhaps most surprising of all is that Michael does not rely on any previous books or programs for his discussion.
To read more, visit Turning the Page.
Any parent, or even adults who spend time around children, will do well to read Barbara C. Murray’s new book Taking Back Parenting. In concise and thoughtful discussions, Barbara covers a wide range of topics that parents need to be concerned about with their children from how to teach and communicate with your children to creating a safe environment for them, how to maintain your relationship with your spouse, and even how to discuss difficult topics with your children such as sexuality and pornography.
From the first page of this book, I realized Barbara was a real parent. Yes, she has a degree and is a clinical social worker, but she is obviously a parent first. What I loved most about this book is that Barbara makes parents aware of certain issues they need to focus on with their children. She asks parents what they have actually taught their children and explains where there has been a communication breakdown.
To read more, visit Taking Back Parenting.
Until I read this book, I had no idea what a fascinating person Bruce Lee was—not only was he a great athlete, but an incredible artist and philosopher. In fact, “artist” better defines him than “athlete,” in my opinion, because as Tommy Gong shows in Bruce Lee: The Evolution of a Martial Artist, Bruce Lee was devoted to his art, constantly studying form and learning how to improve it, seeking to make it the formless form that could never become stagnant by making it adhere to hard principles.
Gong retells Bruce Lee’s life story by focusing on his development of his own form, Jeet Kune Do. Gong explores the three primary periods of Lee’s development and teaching while living in Oakland, Seattle, and Los Angeles at different times in his life. By interviewing Lee’s former students, Gong found significant differences in what they were taught. The result is a new understanding of Lee’s methods and the evolution of his formless form of Jeet Kune Do, and a close look at the philosophical beliefs Lee held about martial arts and about life itself.
To read more, visit Bruce Lee: The Evolution of a Martial Artist.
The hardest part of being an entrepreneur is simply talking to people. If you don’t know what to say to people, or you don’t know how to say it well, you can’t make the sale, get a client, or share information about your company. In short, being able to speak about your business is the only way you’re going to get business or stay in business.
Michelle Mazur, a longtime speaking coach with a Ph.D. in communication, makes public speaking easy—okay, not easy, but easier and less painful than doing nothing. You’ll become a much better speaker simply by following her practical advice and suggestions in her new book Speak Up for Your Business: The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Transformational Presentations that Tell, Sell, and Compel.
Nor is this your average “how to” book on public speaking. It’s more like a Toastmasters Manual on steroids.
To read more, visit Speak Up for Your Business.
