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Monday, May 30, 2016

BOOK SPOTLIGHT: No Longer A Child of Promise By Amanda Farmer

No Longer A Child of Promise
By Amanda Farmer
Genre: Nonfiction, Family

Publisher: Archway Publisher


Book Description

This sequel to If You Leave This Farm chronicles the life adventures of this young Mennonite lady who, after choosing to walk away from her father’s farm at age 29, is now free to make her own choices as an adult. Amanda shares the joy of discovering the world away from the farm, of falling in love, and about her decision to eventually leave the Mennonite church. But that freedom and joy is tainted by the continuing intertwined and overpowering conflicts that result from unspoken and unresolved expectations in her family of origin.


With an engaging style, Amanda provides an honest glimpse into her roller coaster journey of hope and love alternating with pain, hurt and bitterness as a result of misplaced familial values, favoritism, and the effect of the ultimate rejection – disinheritance by her parents.
No Longer a Child of Promise vividly portrays the struggle in one woman’s heart to grasp the meaning of forgiveness, to experience triumph and acceptance in her personal journey, and to eventually release the all-consuming pain of rejection in her heart to God.


Excerpt
Pappy and Mama left yesterday. I groan when the alarm goes off. It has been a long time since I crawled out of bed at four o’clock in the morning. I have still been coming every other weekend or so to help milk and take care of the calves, but I don’t usually get up until six o’clock. I let Pappy, Paul, and whatever hired man they might have at the moment do the getting up early. The deliciousness of sleep has begun to erode my guilt-induced drive to continue to try to prove my worth as a good daughter and sister. Ultimately, the only reason I am here this week is that I still believe that the ticket to any acceptance in this family is based on my willingness to contribute to the workload.
The eastern sky is starting to lighten as I begin the milking chores. Just like old times. The smell of freshly mown hay hangs in the still morning air and touches my nostrils as I walk to the house after milking. I stir up the usual oatmeal breakfast for Paul. I’m not really sure why I even agreed to do this. Since the departures of both Joe and me from the farm, Paul pretty much ignores me. He acts like I am in the way. He talks to me in grunts and only when truly necessary. We eat breakfast in silence, and then he is gone. 
As I wash the dishes, I hear the tractor come roaring around by the garage. The baler is hooked behind and ready to go. Soon Paul’s tall, thin frame appears in the doorway. His green eyes are piercing, and his body is always in motion, radiating nervous energy.
“So are you going to drive the baler for me?” The words are thrown my way.
I am startled by his impromptu request, but I am here to help so I nod.
The sun beats upon my head as the tractor creeps along the disappearing row of sun-dried hay. I rock rhythmically back and forth as the machine gobbles up the fodder into its mouth and pounds it into little green bales. The baler then spits them out the back onto the ground. Paul speeds around behind me with the bale wagon, picking up the cow food for the winter and delivering it to the barn. Everything is still done at high speed. As we work, my thoughts wander. I wonder when he is going to get over being mad at me for leaving the farm. I wish we could just move on and be friends again. My face and arms turn a deep shade of brown from the mixture of sun and dirt. By one o’clock in the afternoon, we are both getting hungry so it is time to stop and make dinner.

Author Bio
Amanda Farmer was born in Pennsylvania and moved with her family to Minnesota at age 16. She lived and worked on the farm until age 29. Amanda earned a master's degree in Nurse Anesthesia in 2007 and currently works in that profession. She enjoys reading, writing, and most any outdoor activity. She and her husband of 24 years live on a hobby farm in southeastern Minnesota. They have one college-age daughter, 2 cats, a dog, a multitude of fish, and once spent all their profit on 2 horses. All the animals were obtained in response to 
"P-l-e-a-se Mom!"


Links:
On Goodreads: http://bit.ly/22u8MFM



Tuesday, May 24, 2016

BOOK SPOTLIGHT & REVIEW: Jonathan’s Shield By Channing Turner

Jonathan’s Shield
By Channing Turner
Genre: Biblical Historical


Beral's only goal is to serve loyally as Jonathan's shield bearer and protect his prince through whatever battles may come.  But Jonathan needs a friend as well, a man he can trust while navigating the precarious footing of his father's court. Being that friend puts Beral's life in danger and stretches his loyalty to the breaking point.  For what Jonathan wants is to do Yahweh's will, whether that be through defying his increasingly paranoid father, King Saul, or supporting the aspirations of young David, whom Jonathan believes is the rightful heir to the throne.
As he competes with David for the hand of the king's daughter, Beral struggles to hold true to his loyalties, even while he watches King Saul descend into madness.

If Yahweh withdraws his protective hand, Beral and his men will be all that stand before their gathering enemies.  Only one thing is certain: Beral's fate, as well as the future of Israel, is tied to the virtue of their king, and Saul's honor has long since fled.






My Review: 

Normally, just the thought of reading a book based on any biblical pretense is a huge red flag for me. But this book was recommended to me by someone who's opinion I highly value so I gave it a shot. I am not disappointed! Channing Turner has created a work of historical fiction with enough meat to it to transcend the dogma, and his character development and story-telling ability made Jonathan's Shield an exciting, fascinating, and thoroughly enjoyable read. I especially liked Beral, and felt that the other characters had a depth and realism that made me forget I was in a book. Always a plus for me. Intelligently crafted, well executed, and thought provoking. I would imagine beyond the scope of a great number of 'christian' fictions. Give this book a try, christian or not! You'll be glad you did. Five stars.



                                                             

Author Bio

A son of the South, Channing Turner grew up in Arkansas and Louisiana before graduating from Louisiana State University in Psychology. He did graduate work in marine biology and became an estuarine biologist along the Texas coast. After retiring from the petrochemical industry where he worked in Louisiana and Montana as a laboratory analyst, he managed the 2010 US Census in Montana and northern Wyoming. He now lives in eastern Washington with his wife, Barb.

Channing served in the army and was discharged as an Armor captain. Reading and writing are his sedentary pursuits, but he also enjoys riding his Tennessee Walker in the Blue Mountains of Washington and Oregon.







Links:

Website: www.channingtbooks.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/channingturnerbooks
On Red Adept: http://bit.ly/RAPJShield 
On Amazon: http://amzn.to/1WlCAo9 

Monday, May 23, 2016

COVER REVEAL: Harsh Gods By Michelle Belanger

Harsh Gods
By Michelle Belanger
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, Paranormal
Publisher: Titan Books

The last thing Zack Westland expects on a frigid night is to be summoned to an exorcism.

Demonic possession, however, proves the least of his problems. Father Frank, a veteran turned priest, knows Zack’s deepest secrets, recognizing him as Anakim—an angel of the hidden tribe. And Halley, the girl they’ve come to save, carries a secret that could unlock a centuries-old evil. She chants an eerie rhyme, and she isn’t alone…

“HANDS TO TAKE AND EYES TO SEE.
A MOUTH TO SPEAK. HE COMES FOR ME.”

As Zack's secrets spill out, far more than his life is at stake, for Halley is linked to an ancient conspiracy. Yet Zack can't help her unless he's willing to risk losing his immortality—and reigniting the Blood Wars.

Praise for Conspiracy of Angels:

“Horrors that will send a chill up your spine.” —The Absolute


“A singular reading experience.” —Laurell K. Hamilton, bestselling creator of Anita Blake, vampire hunter


Follow Michelle Belanger

On Twitter: @sethanikeem


Tuesday, May 17, 2016

COVER REVEAL: Murder in A-Minor By Janis Thomas

Murder in A-Minor
By Janis Thomas
Genre: Murder Mystery


Former detective Samantha Wedlock is having a bad year. After botching a huge case with the New York PD, Sam flees to her childhood home of Southern California and escapes her demons with the Internet and booze. Her career is over, her instincts have taken a vay-cay, and her music—the songs she composes in her head to help her solve puzzles and the challenges of her life—has abandoned her. When her old flame, sexy Lieutenant Jack Hudson, shows up on her doorstep to ask for her help with the case of two murdered college coeds, Sam refuses. But she can’t resist Jack, and she can’t resist the hunt, and soon becomes enmeshed in the investigation. The more involved she becomes, the more she sees the case as a means of rediscovering the things she’s lost: her purpose, her drive, and her hope for the future. With her music playing at full volume, Sam must re-sharpen her wits and learn to trust her instincts again in order to catch a cunning killer.








Links:


Friday, May 13, 2016

BOOK BLITZ: The Rebel Within By Lance Erlick

The Rebel Within
By Lance Erlick
Genre: YA science fiction

Sixteen-year-old Annabelle Scott lives under the iron rule of a female-dominated régime that forces males to fight to the death to train the military elite. When pressed into service as a mechanized warrior to capture escaped boys, Annabelle stays true to herself by helping some escape. Her defiance endangers everyone she loves and thrusts her to a place of impossible life and death decisions.








Author Bio

Lance Erlick writes action-packed, science fiction thrillers. In the Rebel series, Annabelle Scott faces a crisis of conscience when she is forced to become a warrior to enforce laws she believes are wrong. The Regina Shen series takes place after abrupt climate change leads to Collapse and a new society under the World Federation. As an outcast, Regina must fight to stay alive and help her family while she avoids being captured.

Links:





The author is hosting an ebook giveaway during his book blitz!






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Saturday, May 7, 2016

BOOK SPOTLIGHT: American Flowers Michael A. McLellan

American Flowers
Michael A. McLellan
Genre: Young Adult/New Adult Contemporary Drama/Thriller


Chris was in the second grade. His mom dropped the bowl of Fruit Loops in front of him splashing milk onto the sun-faded, oak table. "You know, I really wanted a baby," she said, poking one of her ever-present cigarettes into the corner of her mouth and lighting it with the Bic that she kept in her bathrobe. She drew in smoke, her cheeks sucking in momentarily while she did. Chris thought she looked like a fish whenever she did that. His dad didn't look like a fish when he smoked. She exhaled; it drifted upward to join the layer of smoke that always seemed to hover just below the ceiling in their house. "And then once I had one," she continued, "I found that I really didn't want one after all. But once you have a baby, you're stuck with it."
  A lump formed in Chris' throat and it was a real effort for him to swallow his bite of cereal.
 "You mean.... me, Mom?" he asked, his voice wavering and tears welling in his eyes. She picked up her vodka tumbler and drained it.
 "Of course I mean you. Now go to school."

Chris Shafer spent the next ten years trying to earn his parent's love—straight A student, baseball star....drug addict.
Enter Allie Laughton: smart, self-assured, and raised in a similar environment of indifference and neglect.

They hit it off immediately.

American Flowers follows the lives of Chris and Allie as they go from promising, young adults to the couple the media ignorantly begins calling a modern day Bonnie and Clyde. On the run from Chris' volatile-tempered drug dealer and manipulated by a psychotic ex-convict, Chris and Allie are caught in a dangerous game where there can be no winners.



Author Bio

Michael A. McLellan is a self-proclaimed blue-collar writer. His body of work includes the 2014 novel, After and Again, the 2015 novel, American Flowers and the shorts, Joe Price and Anywhere But Here.






Author Giveaway: (2) Signed copies of American Flowers, and (2) twenty-five dollar Amazon gift cards to (2) winners


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Monday, May 2, 2016

BOOK SPOTLIGHT: The Samsaric G.W. Lwin

The Samsaric
G.W. Lwin
Genre: Fantasy Horror

SAMSARA: "The cycle of birth, death and rebirth within the realms of existence ..." The plague of 1918 A.D. The mortal world is in a state of devastation. A woman wakes up in an abandoned temple of Kali, the goddess of darkness, in the ancient city of Gaya. She does not know where she is. She does not remember the events leading to this. She only hears the familiar voice of a tormented man who has haunted in her dreams. He tells her a story - of a time of souls and suffering, of immortality and gods, of life and death. This, he says, is Mesopotamia. The SAMSARIC is a fast-paced fantasy-horror novel full of history, horror and vampirism from an ancient era.


Author Bio

I love anything that comprises the old and the ancient full of rich history and spirituality. For me, reading and learning from our ancient past is truly a beautiful, unique and intriguing journey.
From a young age, I have felt that there were two versions of me: the old spiritual one and a young soul who still lives in his fantasy world.
However, both of these versions share one commonality - my interest in vampires from the ancient mythology and beliefs. I was mesmerised by their folklore since young.
The need to express is very strong within me. Writing, for me, provides this gateway and helps me to grow as a person. It is a life-long learning path that I gladly embark.
As a writer, I would like to improve each and every stage of writing, to possess the art of crafting words to communicate the emotions that arise from within to the readers ... a vision shared by many authors.


Links:

Website: www.greglwin.com



Sunday, May 1, 2016

origins of may day.


Most people living in the United States know little about the International Workers' Day of May Day. For many others there is an assumption that it is a holiday celebrated in state communist countries like Cuba or the former Soviet Union. Most Americans don't realize that May Day has its origins here in this country and is as "American" as baseball and apple pie, and stemmed from the pre-Christian holiday of Beltane, a celebration of rebirth and fertility. 

In the late nineteenth century, the working class was in constant struggle to gain the 8-hour work day. Working conditions were severe and it was quite common to work 10 to 16 hour days in unsafe conditions. Death and injury were commonplace at many work places and inspired such books as Upton Sinclair's The Jungle and Jack London's The Iron Heel. As early as the 1860's, working people agitated to shorten the workday without a cut in pay, but it wasn't until the late 1880's that organized labor was able to garner enough strength to declare the 8-hour workday. This proclamation was without consent of employers, yet demanded by many of the working class. 

At this time, socialism was a new and attractive idea to working people, many of whom were drawn to its ideology of working class control over the production and distribution of all goods and services. Workers had seen first-hand that Capitalism benefited only their bosses, trading workers' lives for profit. Thousands of men, women and children were dying needlessly every year in the workplace, with life expectancy as low as their early twenties in some industries, and little hope but death of rising out of their destitution. Socialism offered another option. 

A variety of socialist organizations sprung up throughout the later half of the 19th century, ranging from political parties to choir groups. In fact, many socialists were elected into governmental office by their constituency. But again, many of these socialists were ham-strung by the political process which was so evidently controlled by big business and the bi-partisan political machine. Tens of thousands of socialists broke ranks from their parties, rebuffed the entire political process, which was seen as nothing more than protection for the wealthy, and created anarchist groups throughout the country. Literally thousands of working people embraced the ideals of anarchism, which sought to put an end to all hierarchical structures (including government), emphasized worker controlled industry, and valued direct action over the bureaucratic political process. It is inaccurate to say that labor unions were "taken over" by anarchists and socialists, but rather anarchists and socialist made up the labor unions. 

At its national convention in Chicago, held in 1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions (which later became the American Federation of Labor), proclaimed that "eight hours shall constitute a legal day's labor from and after May 1, 1886." The following year, the FOTLU, backed by many Knights of Labor locals, reiterated their proclamation stating that it would be supported by strikes and demonstrations. At first, most radicals and anarchists regarded this demand as too reformist, failing to strike "at the root of the evil." A year before the Haymarket Massacre, Samuel Fielden pointed out in the anarchist newspaper, The Alarm, that "whether a man works eight hours a day or ten hours a day, he is still a slave." 

Despite the misgivings of many of the anarchists, an estimated quarter million workers in the Chicago area became directly involved in the crusade to implement the eight hour work day, including the Trades and Labor Assembly, the Socialistic Labor Party and local Knights of Labor. As more and more of the workforce mobilized against the employers, these radicals conceded to fight for the 8-hour day, realizing that "the tide of opinion and determination of most wage-workers was set in this direction." With the involvement of the anarchists, there seemed to be an infusion of greater issues than the 8-hour day. There grew a sense of a greater social revolution beyond the more immediate gains of shortened hours, but a drastic change in the economic structure of capitalism. 

In a proclamation printed just before May 1, 1886, one publisher appealed to working people with this plea: 

  • Workingmen to Arms!
  • War to the Palace, Peace to the Cottage, and Death to LUXURIOUS IDLENESS.
  • The wage system is the only cause of the World's misery. It is supported by the rich classes, and to destroy it, they must be either made to work or DIE.
  • One pound of DYNAMITE is better than a bushel of BALLOTS!
  • MAKE YOUR DEMAND FOR EIGHT HOURS with weapons in your hands to meet the capitalistic bloodhounds, police, and militia in proper manner.
  • Not surprisingly the entire city was prepared for mass bloodshed, reminiscent of the railroad strike a decade earlier when police and soldiers gunned down hundreds of striking workers. On May 1, 1886, more than 300,000 workers in 13,000 businesses across the United States walked off their jobs in the first May Day celebration in history. In Chicago, the epicenter for the 8-hour day agitators, 40,000 went out on strike with the anarchists in the forefront of the public's eye. With their fiery speeches and revolutionary ideology of direct action, anarchists and anarchism became respected and embraced by the working people and despised by the capitalists.
 

The names of many - Albert Parsons, Johann Most, August Spies and Louis Lingg - became household words in Chicago and throughout the country. Parades, bands and tens of thousands of demonstrators in the streets exemplified the workers' strength and unity, yet didn't become violent as the newspapers and authorities predicted. 

More and more workers continued to walk off their jobs until the numbers swelled to nearly 100,000, yet peace prevailed. It was not until two days later, May 3, 1886, that violence broke out at the McCormick Reaper Works between police and strikers. 

For six months, armed Pinkerton agents and the police harassed and beat locked-out steelworkers as they picketed. Most of these workers belonged to the "anarchist-dominated" Metal Workers' Union. During a speech near the McCormick plant, some two hundred demonstrators joined the steelworkers on the picket line. Beatings with police clubs escalated into rock throwing by the strikers which the police responded to with gunfire. At least two strikers were killed and an unknown number were wounded. 

Full of rage, a public meeting was called by some of the anarchists for the following day in Haymarket Square to discuss the police brutality. Due to bad weather and short notice, only about 3000 of the tens of thousands of people showed up from the day before. This affair included families with children and the mayor of Chicago himself. Later, the mayor would testify that the crowd remained calm and orderly and that speaker August Spies made "no suggestion... for immediate use of force or violence toward any person..." 

As the speech wound down, two detectives rushed to the main body of police, reporting that a speaker was using inflammatory language, inciting the police to march on the speakers' wagon. As the police began to disperse the already thinning crowd, a bomb was thrown into the police ranks. No one knows who threw the bomb, but speculations varied from blaming any one of the anarchists, to an agent provocateur working for the police. 

Enraged, the police fired into the crowd. The exact number of civilians killed or wounded was never determined, but an estimated seven or eight civilians died, and up to forty were wounded. One officer died immediately and another seven died in the following weeks. Later evidence indicated that only one of the police deaths could be attributed to the bomb and that all the other police fatalities had or could have had been due to their own indiscriminate gun fire. Aside from the bomb thrower, who was never identified, it was the police, not the anarchists, who perpetrated the violence. 

Eight anarchists - Albert Parsons, August Spies, Samuel Fielden, Oscar Neebe, Michael Schwab, George Engel, Adolph Fischer and Louis Lingg - were arrested and convicted of murder, though only three were even present at Haymarket and those three were in full view of all when the bombing occurred. The jury in their trial was comprised of business leaders in a gross mockery of justice similar to the Sacco-Vanzetti case thirty years later, or the trials of AIM and Black Panther members in the seventies. The entire world watched as these eight organizers were convicted, not for their actions, of which all of were innocent, but for their political and social beliefs. On November 11, 1887, after many failed appeals, Parsons, Spies, Engel and Fisher were hung to death. Louis Lingg, in his final protest of the state's claim of authority and punishment, took his own life the night before with an explosive device in his mouth. 

The remaining organizers, Fielden, Neebe and Schwab, were pardoned six years later by Governor Altgeld, who publicly lambasted the judge on a travesty of justice. Immediately after the Haymarket Massacre, big business and government conducted what some say was the very first "Red Scare" in this country. Spun by mainstream media, anarchism became synonymous with bomb throwing and socialism became un-American. The common image of an anarchist became a bearded, eastern European immigrant with a bomb in one hand and a dagger in the other. 

Today we see tens of thousands of activists embracing the ideals of the Haymarket Martyrs and those who established May Day as an International Workers' Day. Ironically, May Day is an official holiday in 66 countries and unofficially celebrated in many more, but rarely is it recognized in this country where it began. 

Over one hundred years have passed since that first May Day. In the earlier part of the 20th century, the US government tried to curb the celebration and further wipe it from the public's memory by establishing "Law and Order Day" on May 1. We can draw many parallels between the events of 1886 and today. We still have locked out steelworkers struggling for justice. We still have voices of freedom behind bars as in the cases of Mumia Abu Jamal and Leonard Peltier. We still had the ability to mobilize tens of thousands of people in the streets of a major city to proclaim "THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE!" at the WTO and FTAA demonstrations. 

Words stronger than any I could write are engraved on the Haymarket Monument: 

THE DAY WILL COME WHEN OUR SILENCE WILL BE MORE POWERFUL THAN THE VOICES YOU ARE THROTTLING TODAY.

Truly, history has a lot to teach us about the roots of our radicalism. When we remember that people were shot so we could have the 8-hour day; if we acknowledge that homes with families in them were burned to the ground so we could have Saturday as part of the weekend; when we recall 8-year old victims of industrial accidents who marched in the streets protesting working conditions and child labor only to be beat down by the police and company thugs, we understand that our current condition cannot be taken for granted - people fought for the rights and dignities we enjoy today, and there is still a lot more to fight for. The sacrifices of so many people can not be forgotten or we'll end up fighting for those same gains all over again. This is why we celebrate May Day.


By Eric Chase 1993


BOOK BLITZ: Psychopomp and Circumstance By Adrean Messmer

Psychopomp and Circumstance
By Adrean Messmer
Genre: Horror, New Adult
Publisher: A Murder of Storytellers

It starts on Facebook—an update that Nell doesn’t remember making. It’s bad enough that she’s dying and none of her friends know. Now, she’s pretty sure she’s going crazy. She sees the Sewercide Man everywhere she goes.

The bright, safe little town of Bandon is descending into darkness, dragging the inhabitants along for the ride. Death follows madness for those bound to the Sewercide Man’s will.
But the Sewercide Man is more than just a ghost or a monster. He is death without justice. He is destruction without remorse. He doesn’t have a plan.

He just wants to bring everyone home.

"A blend of gritty realism and dark supernatural, Psychopomp and Circumstance is Heathers meets It Follows, with a sprinkling of The Twilight Zone, all told with black humor, nihilist teen angst, and a buried need to be loved and accepted."—Richard Thomas, author of Tribulations







Author bio

Adrean Messmer is a horror writer living in Tulsa, Oklahoma with a tiny human she put together from some spare parts and a technowizard husband. She has a cat named after a Batman villain, and a dog who's really a magician.

When she was eight, she asked her mother to read Stephen King's It to her as a bedtime story and her mother actually did it. So, that probably explains a lot.