November 2014
Welcome to Issue 48 of the SUPERIOR BOOK PRODUCTIONS newsletter!
Hello Everyone,
The holidays are upon us, and few gifts are better to give than books. A book is the equivalent of a vacation, an education, and a gift that keeps giving because it can be read over and over again.
As a result, we have several new books below to choose from on various topics, including reincarnation, poetry, historical fiction, inspiration, and wisdom.
And as always, I’ll be busy going to holiday events to promote my own books. Here are just a couple of the places you’ll be able to find me during the holidays:
Saturday, November 15: Bookworld, Escanaba, Michigan, 1-3 p.m. Join me and my fellow authors Robert Cook, aka “Mr. Happy,” author of A Child’s Journey, and Gretchen Preston, author of the Valley Cats children’s books series.
Friday-Sunday, December 5-7: TV6 Christmas Craft Show, Superior Dome, Marquette. The biggest holiday sale in Upper Michigan with over 200 vendors. Several other authors will also be present.
Happy Thanksgiving to you all! I hope like me that you have much to be thankful for, and you have a blessed holiday season.
Tyler
New Books
In A Dream of Shadows, Diana M. DeLuca offers a fascinating look at two men and their families in two different centuries—the twenty-first and sixteenth—whose existences are tied together through reincarnation.
In the novel’s opening chapter, we are introduced to Bill del Vecchio and his family. Bill is dying and his family has brought in hospice to care for him. We see the family dynamics of how his wife, son, a family friend, and his mother all deal with his end of life issues, while Bill finds himself recalling his past. As Bill lies in his bed, perhaps at times hallucinating, he finds himself moving through a tunnel and arriving in the sixteenth century, where he observes the life of the Italian philosopher Aonio Paleario and his family.
Aonio is a historical person who lived at the time of the Reformation. He was a noted scholar and author who corresponded with some of the greatest minds in Europe, including Erasmus. His philosophical questioning and search for truth caused the Catholic Church, and particularly the Pope, to view him as a threat.
To read more, visit A Dream of Shadows.
Goddess Heart Rising is a collection of poetry centered around different goddesses from history and myth who are used by author Roslyn McGrath to highlight various aspects of the “goddess” in all of us. The subtitle “Paintings, Poems & Meditations for Activating Your Divine Potential” reveals the book’s purpose.
Beyond the poetry itself, Roslyn offers her somewhat abstract but stunning paintings of the various goddesses included in the book. She has painted many of these on large wooden doors, and they are all quite striking—not always beautiful in a common way, but full of swirling energy, peace, passion, and vibrant colors, as suitable for the individual goddess depicted.
The goddesses themselves come from religious traditions around the world and include Cereidwen (Celtic), Isis (Egyptian), Eve (biblical), Aphrodite (Greek), Nogoshkwe (Native American), and several others, including Mo-Ray Angelica, who is also known as The Third Mary (see my previous review The Third Mary).
To read more, visit Goddess Heart Rising.
Lee Davis’ new book Soaring from Within made my heart and soul soar as I read it. I’ve read a lot of inspirational and self-help books over the years, but while they all have good advice, few have had such a calming effect upon me as this book did. Davis sees the big picture of life and the universe, and then he breaks it down for the reader into the simple ingredients that make up a joyful life and the journey that people must take through life. I can only compare his writing to Gary Zukav’s in terms of content and tone.
Davis refers to Soaring from Within as a recipe book, and he walks the reader through the twelve ingredients he covers, among which are Thankfulness, Imagination, Unconditional Love, Compassion, and Free Will. A chapter is devoted to each of these ingredients as well as chapters to other areas he calls “seasonings.” Together, they lead the reader toward seeing the big picture of life and its purpose.
To read more, visit Soaring from Within.
Australian author Bob Rich’s novel Ascending Spiral offers the reincarnation tale of Dr. Pip Lipkin, who experiences multiple lives and multiple life forms, which make for fascinating reading, keep the storyline moving forward, and result in some interesting connections between Pip’s various incarnations over his 12,000 years of existence.
The impetus behind Pip’s multiple lives is the concept of karma. Early in his existence, Pip makes a grievous error that requires him to work out his karmic debt—a debt, however, that is not so much a punishment as an opportunity to learn, grow, and use his experiences as a means to teach others how to heal their own pain and suffering.
Some of the more significant lives Pip experiences include being an Irishman in the late eighteenth century who fights against the British; being the wife of an Australian landowner in the nineteenth century, and being an intelligent walking plant on another planet.
To read more, visit Ascending Spiral.
Stephanie Michel’s new novel The Curse of Santa Cruz is inspired by a true story about the annihilation of the Ohlone Indian nation and a legendary curse bestowed upon the beautiful land where Santa Cruz, California today stands.
The novel begins when history teacher, Rowanna, seeks to educate her students about the history of their community. She does so by bringing in guest speakers to tell the story of Santa Cruz’s past. At first, some of the students are a bit belligerent and uninterested, but soon, they find themselves captivated by the history of their area, especially once they discover their own connections to the past, many of them being descended from major players in Santa Cruz’s history.
Michel uses a unique storytelling perspective in the novel through the way she allows the guest speakers to tell their tales as if the students are actually experiencing them.
To read more, visit The Curse of Santa Cruz.
Finally, Rob Whalley brings us back to the basics by reminding us of the Golden Rule and everything else we learned, or should have learned, in life, with his simple, straightforward, and poignant new book, In Life School. As the subtitle expresses, “Living Is Your Classroom, Experience Is Your Teacher, Loving Is Your Test.” Just because we graduate from high school or even earn a Ph.D., does not mean we ever stop learning. We are never going to be smart enough, educated enough, or even wise enough not to receive another life lesson.
Rob has spent his own life learning about life’s true purpose, and in the process, he has learned all the lessons he offers in this book. He has been an accomplished writer and performer of music, been married and divorced, made tons of money and nearly lost it all. He has known moments of great joy, and he has known moments of despair. In other words, he has learned his life lessons and learned them well. Now, in this book, he offers up many lifetimes of wisdom.
To read more, visit In Life School.
