Today Show Ignores Caldecott/Newbery Winners

For regular readers of this blog, you may remember I recently lamented the publication of books by celebrities, many of whom are not exactly known for their writing skills.  Case in point was a book by  "The Situation" of Jersey Shore fame.  But now the Today Show has overlooked winners of both the Caldecott and Newbery in favor of, are you ready?  Snooki from Jersey Shore!  Okay, this young lady can barely form a coherent sentence, now she's a writer?  And she's more important than winners of two very prestigious awards?  Puh-leeeese!!!!

Here's the article from Publishers Weekly:

Reprinted with permission of Publishers Weekly

No 'Today Show' for Vanderpool or Stead

By Claire Kirch

It’s become a tradition that, the day after the Youth Media awards are announced at ALA’s midwinter meeting, the Newbery and Caldecott Medal winners, along with an ALA representative, are interviewed live on the Today Show, at NBC’s studios in New York City. But this past Tuesday, those hoping to catch the first nationally televised interviews with Clare Vanderpool and Erin Stead were disappointed. For the first time in 11 years, there was no special coverage featuring the Newbery and Caldecott Medalists. 

With the national television news outlets providing wall-to-wall media coverage since Saturday of the tragedy in Tucson, it’s not surprising that two children’s book award winners would be overlooked during a week of breaking news. But, to some who tuned into the Today Show on Tuesday morning expecting to see the Newbery and Caldecott Medalists, insult seemed added to injury. The program did indeed take a break from its coverage of the shootings during the second hour to interview an author. But it was an author who's not likely to win a prestigious literary award any time soon: Nicole Polizzi, better known to the world as Snooki, the Jersey Shore star more famous for her trash talk and wild partying rather than her literary chops.

The eight-minute interview in no way could be mistaken for an interview with a typical author, with host Matt Lauer asking Polizzi such questions as whether she actually wrote the book herself, and the meanings of some of the slang words used in the text, such as “weenis” (part of elbow) and badonk” (a large posterior).

What happened? Did—as the January 12 headline on Monica Edinger’s blog post on the Huffington Post suggested—Snooki bump this year’s Newbery and Caldecott winners from the Today Show’s roster?

In response to the growing number of bloggers and Twitterers posting complaints and asking questions on Wednesday, ALA/YALSA communications specialist Stephanie Kuenn posted a statement Wednesday evening on the ALA’s YALSA blog, disclosing the ALA had pitched a segment featuring the Newbery and Caldecott Medal winners, together with YALSA president Sarah Debraski, and that they’d been turned down, because of a “lack of interest and scheduling problems.”

For their part, Megan Kopf, a Today Show spokesperson, explained that a segment could not be scheduled this year, because “the show was booked the entire week.”

In what perhaps was a subconscious effort to soothe the ruffled feathers of publishers and readers who might be annoyed with the Today Show’s passing up the Newbery and Caldecott Medalists in favor of Snooki, Kopf added that the show “does more book segments in a given year than any other television show,” and “supports the publishing industry with initiatives like Al’s Book Club for Kids and Read for the Record.”

Reaction to Today’s decision is mixed among book publishing industry publicists. One publicist, who wished to remain anonymous, told PW, “It makes me sick as a children’s book person, that the Newbery and Caldecott Medal winners segment was scrapped, and Snooki got on [instead]. But as a publicist, I understand — Snooki equals ratings.” Another pointed out, “The media love to write that people aren’t reading any more, but when they overlook Newbery and Caldecott winners and interview Snooki, what do they expect?”

It’s traditional that Newbery and Caldecott Medal winners travel to New York City immediately after the ALA’s announcement for media interviews and publisher celebrations; this year’s two winners were no exception. Vanderpool flew into New York City from her home in Wichita, Kans., and Stead from her home in Ann Arbor, Mich.; both expected to drop by the Today Show’s studios Tuesday morning.


“We were particularly anxious to make the travel arrangements because of the pending storm,” explained Liz Hartman, executive director of publicity and institutional marketing at Macmillan Children’s Publishing, who coordinated Stead's impromptu flight Monday. Although Stead didn’t get to be interviewed live on national television as her publisher and she had anticipated, Hartman said, “It all worked out great. “We had a special lunch for her, with a Champagne toast. And Erin did a lot of phone interviews.”

J.D. Salinger Estate, Swedish Author Settle Copyright Suit

Reprinted with permission of Publishers Weekly


By Andrew Albanese 

It appears that Holden Caulfield will remain under tight control of the Salinger estate—at least in North America. In early  December, the estate of J.D. Salinger and Swedish author and publisher Fredrik Colting entered into a consent agreement to end the copyright battle over Colting’s book 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye, the so-called “unauthorized sequel to The Catcher in the Rye," that would bar the book's publication the U.S.

According to a settlement agreement, seen by PW, Colting has agreed not to publish or otherwise distribute the book, e-book, or any other editions of 60 Years Later  in the U.S. or Canada until The Catcher in the Rye enters the public domain. Notably, however, Colting is free  to sell the book in other international territories without fear of interference, and a source has told PW  that book rights have already been sold in as many as a half-dozen territories, with the settlement documents included as proof that the Salinger Estate will not sue. In addition, the settlement agreement bars Colting from using the title “Coming through the Rye”; forbids him from dedicating the book to Salinger; and would prohibit Colting or any publisher of the book from referring to The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger, the book being “banned” by Salinger, or from using the litigation to promote the book. The agreement is final and terms are confidential. In a statement to PW, Colting said, "We've come to an agreement with the Salinger trust but I'm afraid I can't go into any specifics. Let's just say that the book will be published in a number of countries this year and I'm very pleased with that." 

The settlement comes after a win for Colting at the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, which, in September, 2009, vacated the injunction that barred publication of 60 Years Later in the U.S. (it has been published in the U.K. and Sweden), and ordered the case to proceed to trial. The case had attracted worldwide attention, not only from Salinger-watchers, but from copyright experts who noted the vacated District Court ruling was the first to extend copyright protection to a single literary character from a lone work, and from publishers and First Amendment groups, who protested the "book banning" nature of the preliminary injunction.

Salinger died in January, 2010, leaving his heirs to take over stewardship of his literary estate. Since its 1951 publication by Little, Brown, The Catcher in the Rye has sold more than 35 million copies, while the reclusive Salinger towered over his masterwork, spurning all television, stage and film adaptations, including overtures from Steven Spielberg, and refusing to license audio editions. 

Author Interview with Hannah Thomsen

Today we're talking with Hannah Thomsen, author of Hannah Reborn: Maturing and Healing the Soul Beyond Organized Religion 


FQ: You said that “We need to find our own voice and sing our own song.” Now that you have completed a long and arduous journey discovering your own “song,” can you briefly tell us how this journey brought peace and contentment into your life?

By being able to tell my story freely and truly is to fully accept my journey and embrace it.


FQ: At one point you even began to question the strict Mormon beliefs and their “one plan to salvation,” by asking yourself if it was “really fair that God would let 99% live in unbelief and lost.” Can you briefly describe that moment or moments when you decided to turn away from the LDS church?

That was properly what made the journey as hard as it was. There were moments when I had little flashes of insights when I realized that there were other truths outside the LDS faith. I felt I had been confined to one room all of my life and then suddenly I was allowed to peer out of a little window and see a whole world outside that revealed as much beauty and truth as the one I had been confined to and had been told was the only one that existed. But at the same time, those moments were usually followed by a tremendous fear of doing the wrong thing, following the wrong promptings or just going against God. This is what created the immense struggle that I tried to describe in the book.

FQ: This whole soul searching process was very difficult for both you and Ed, to say nothing of your children. Do they adhere to your beliefs or have they chosen to go in a different direction?


I don’t think it’s about whether they believe the same as me and Ed or even if they are going in the same direction, it actually has more to do with supporting and loving each other regardless of one's beliefs, goals and dreams. Our parenting has been more about allowing our kids to find their own truths and their own love for life. And I am very grateful that they have all grown to believe in themselves and their dreams. Whether or not they believe mine and Ed's story is irrelevant, they are living their own truths. They have their own journeys and I wouldn't have it any other way.

FQ: You stated that “Thinking that the Aesir were just my own mind made me feel very alone and lost.” Do you still feel that uncertainty or are you secure in feeling that they were indeed real? Do you still have encounters with your spirit guides?


Yes, I still have encounters. Yes, they feel more real than ever. I have learned so much more, and my next book will embrace this topic.

FQ: You very briefly touched on the philosophical concept of dualism, specifically in reference to “seeing evil and good instead of seeing different choices.” Perhaps you’d like to expound on this concept a bit, especially since you have received a calling to an interfaith ministry.

It is a very good question. This is a difficult topic to talk about, as I have tried to understand this better in my ministry. I do feel that evil can be represented by different choices and so it depends on how you look at it, but I also believe that there are opposite forces and when we experience an opposite energy to our own, it can be very damaging, and that's what makes us call it evil. I believe that the most important thing I can do is love and embrace what is; and shine my light even brighter. When each of us shines our light (or sings our song) we will not be affected by the opposite, or what we might call evil. There is much more to say on the topic, but it would take up another book.

FQ: Many people are interested in prophecy, a concept that was not specifically referred to in your book, but how do you feel about it? Is it something that meshes with your belief system or not?

I do believe in prophecy. I also believe that it has been misused and taken advantage of. I feel there is much controversy surrounding the topic in form of prophesies that have not come true. People have expectations when you deliver prophesies and I wanted to avoid that. I do believe in it and see it as a form of intuition that we are all capable of receiving in one way or another - like a mother who knows her child is in danger or a feeling of warning that might come over us not to go somewhere. I have had my own intuitions; many have come in forms of dreams and some have come as promptings not to do or to do something. However, I know Ed gets into the topic a bit in his appendix, and he is looking forward to expanding on that topic some more in a future book.

FQ: When you were trying to reason with the new concepts and ideas and thinking about separating from the LDS church, a church you were raised in, you said your “mind raced around in circles” and your “soul was tormented more and more.” How do you feel today now that you have gone through the process of separation?

Peace, bliss and a calm mind.

An earlier question was about the process of leaving the LDS church which was both insightful and very terrifying because of the belief that this was the only true church. When you are raised by the belief that there is only one truth, the pressure is immense to find that one truth and to be true to it. So letting my mind rationalize about the truth was hard because some things made sense and some didn’t. Some things I could actually find an answer to and others I couldn’t.

At some point I had to decide what it was I wanted and then actually change my thinking to bring peace. The process is what I try to explain in the book, the result that I have experienced is just without words. Now I don’t doubt that God wants us to have peace and love in our life. This is what propels me on to maintain the peace I have found. God is not confusion, pain or hardship. This has become my message: God is love and to follow God should only feel good.

FQ: The Thomsen marriage seems to have held up through all the crises and turmoil. In conclusion perhaps you’d like to talk about how this entire journey into the unknown has affected your relationship with one another. Has it strengthened it? Do you feel closer and stronger for having traveled though it together?


It has definitely strengthened us and it has also brought us much closer. It made us stronger because we chose to stand by each other. Our love has grown into something that is completely indescribable. No matter what happened, or how broken and depressed I would become, Ed would just listen. He would embrace me, and allow me to be who I was in that moment. And because of his love and goodness towards me I wanted to accept him for who he was. It has been a two way street of accepting each other, no matter how we reacted and who we were. Love has kept us going and it continues to strengthen us.

To learn more about Hannah Reborn: Maturing and Healing the Soul Beyond Organized Religion please visit our website and read the review at: Feathered Quill Book Reviews.

Layout 101

Your manuscript has just gone through the editing process and now it is ready for the next stage in pre-production: interior layout. There are three ways you can go with your layout.

1) Hire a professional who uses a program such as InDesign to create a finished, professional look.

2) If you know InDesign or are a quick learner of somewhat complicated design programs, do it yourself.

3) Do it yourself using Word or WordPerfect.

Hiring a professional is the best way to go as the finished product will have a great look, with headers, footers (if needed), fancy chapter headings (if desired), proper line spacing, hyphenation, and many other text styles that accompany books from the big publishers. However, a professional can be expensive and many self-publishers can't afford one. What should you do? Take the time to learn a design program?  Unless you're very comfortable with InDesign (or other programs used for book layout), it can be a daunting task that produces a less-than professional final product.  Many self-publishers, therefore, decide to use Word or WordPerfect. They work hard to create a nice look, save the manuscript as a pdf file and send it off to the printer. It can work, and the majority of customers may not notice the difference, although any book professional (and that includes book store buyers and reviewers) can pick out these books instantly.

Word is notorious for messing up headers, footers, and other text styles that are found in a long document. Other times, it may look great in Word but when you convert the file to a pdf, strange things can happen, text gets moved, headers go away, reappear pages later, etc. It can become quite frustrating. If you do decide to do the internal layout yourself, please avoid these pitfalls that we've seen in books we've reviewed:

DON'T:

Use a font that's so small most readers have to squint

Use a font that's so big it looks like the publisher is trying to cover up a short book with large text

Make your margins too small/too big

Use different fonts for dialog vs. narration

Use italics for a large portion of your text. We recently had a book in which the main character wrote frequently in a diary. Those entries were all in a tiny, italicized font. It was impossible to read.

If doing the layout yourself, go to a book store and study other books in your genre. Note what they do. Don't try to be so different/unique that you wind up ruining your book. There's a reason those books are fairly standardized - it's easier on the eyes.  We see so many self-published books where the author/publisher thought they'd be different and tried to create their own style.  There is a reason books are right justified. We had a book submitted that was left justified, the same as you'd see in a letter. It looked terrible. It was hard on the eyes, and it sure didn't make me want to read it. It was well-written, the plot was good, but it would have been a much more enjoyable book if it had been right justified.  A customer flipping through the book in a book store is more than likely to put the book back on the shelf.  It sounds like such a silly, small, detail, but the incorrect layout gave the book a very amateurish look. Add to that the enormous number of typos and I'm afraid that this particular book is destined to have lackluster sales.

You put so much time and effort into writing your book - don't ignore the final touches that will make a customer want to buy your book!

Reviewer's Tip - How NOT to Impress Reviewers, Part 3

More great suggestions from Feathered Quill's reviewers on what NOT to do...

• Overly small or large print is not appreciated.  I don't care to have to get out a print magnifier nor do I want print size that I would see in a primer.
• If you ask me to review your book I fully expect to see it in my mailbox within a couple of weeks.  If it is on back order and sent six months later I will not be able to review it until all my other current reviewing commitments are completed.  Likewise for unsolicited manuscripts, which are not much more appreciated than junk mail.
• Please do not expect me to read an ebook or PDF file sitting at my computer.  If you are a close friend I might consider it, but you need to appreciate the fact that it is physically difficult and extremely hard on the eyes.  I can't do your book justice if I'm sitting there resenting an intrusion on my comfort level.
• Dropping me an email every two days asking where the review is can be counterproductive.  I haven't forgotten you, but I also haven't forgotten that I have a job and a family that need my attention as well.  For many reviewing is a hobby.  Yes, I have your book, but I might also have the flu.
• Your cover artwork is important.  Many reviewers hesitate to even accept a book when they see a cover that looks like a Kindergartner created it for their fridge.  Please, if you can afford to have your book printed, try to find a good artist.  There are many of them who would love to have their artwork on the cover of a book.  Shop around, there are many good ones out there.  You can't judge a book by its cover, but many people do.
• If you approach me in an email, please be polite.  It is offensive if your subject line says:  Review My Book!  I also have a name and I'm more inclined to answer you if you've gone that extra mile and figured out what it is.
• Speaking of manners, once I've spent hours reading your book, kindly write and thank me.  A good reviewer does not skim, but rather pays close attention to your work of art.  Pay close attention to your manners and acknowledge that I went an extra mile for you, a total stranger. 

Author Interview with Tim Bickel

Today we're talking with Tim Bickel, author of Chronicle of the Ones


FQ: Are Shambala and the centers you speak about based on the Awake Living Center that is located in Erie, PA? And, in the same vein, is the character of Patrick based on you and your experiences?


Shambala is a concept to provide a space for a freer mind to play in, a 'place' to still exist in when the mind begins to trancend body identification. It helps to eliminate fear, like the 'heaven' of Christianity.


The ideal of the Center in the book has been with me a long time. In the book, it is expressed to the max. Here, the mind spaces I carry the characters in the book into, are partially expressed. I'm not sure a 'real' Center on Earth would be quite like the one in the book, though that would be very ok with me of course. But the still and powerful space of peace is real. We teach that 24/7 without exception. But it shows up a lot less dramatically. In fact, where the book meets many opposers and then peaces them out, we have found - opposition just doesn't show up. The story line of the book is there to capture the interest then take it to the place of peace in the mind of the reader. Similarly with healing. We don't much get sick any more. Linda and I haven't had health insurance for a long time - because we feel no need for it at all. The peace of knowing is beyond faith and belief. And I have experienced a lot of healing sessions with others where some pretty amazing things have happened. It is an easy thought in my mind to expect things like at the Center in the book, but not 'demand' them and lose the peace space for the demand. I can state with complete certainty that anyone who plugs in with us will get healed, though it may take a little longer. This applies to every condition, cancer, MS - I have seen a man eliminate the symptoms of AIDS, a woman eliminate the symptoms of MS - and more.


I feel we are just coming into an awake enough state that we could begin having a more dynamic center like the one in the book. Right now, we do our work through raising into peace awareness and its clarity ourselves, with other people. They then get their own experience of that in their mind. Then the adventure of undoing and continuing awakening follows for them. We live in a fast growing circle of friends in this who wake up happy everyday, and truely see life as an amazing adventure. That is the real center. The core of the 'center' energy which is as real here as in the story is: I can just decide to be truly happy and peaceful. Right now! Then actually experience that.


The Patrick character personality is loosely based on a bright and very awake person I knew who was just always happy and who flowed with joy in everything he did. The deeper character of Patrick as a healer and teacher is my ideal of what I, or anyone, may become with this awakening. At the time I wrote it, I was unable to put myself as first person, being that awake, even as an idea. In the sequel I am working on, the perspective shifts to my personal adventure in first person, along with Linda and darling daughter Cory and many others, where we have gained most of the abilities Patrick demonstrates - but also are definitely still learning.


FQ: Was this a concept that was taught to you at an early age, or was there a specific time in your life where your “rebirth” occurred?


Looking back, I can see there was a lot of awareness in me early on, but it was never identified and certainly not encouraged. When I was 29 I began working with the Edgar Cayce teachings and joined an A.R.E. study group, and the conscious adventure of awakening took off. I have been facilitating awakening groups since 1990, and we opened the center in 2004.


FQ: I noticed throughout the novel that many different “religions” are addressed such as the Tao, Christianity, and others; can I assume that the center offers all faithful – no matter the sect – a chance to learn and apply your Course?


We happily meet anyone from any tradition or path. It's not the path, but the fact that they are walking - moving - that interests and excites us. If they need to think it is their path that is doing it for them - for a while - that's ok with us. We just love Them. Paths, traditions, religions and beliefs are irrelevant. Awake awareness is a state of mind you can only experience right now, with no thought about it at all.


FQ: People are usually frightened of what they don't know or understand...have you come across that in your work?


Yes. That fear remains a significant thing I remain aware of. I am always mindfully asking how I can better bridge that fear with new comers. Once they have a true awake moment, that kind of fear just disappears. But until then, well, we lose a lot who start and then begin to have some weird mind experiences. It's funny but for a mind that is so used to being suspicious, if it receives a deep experience of peace and love - it becomes immediately more suspicious that something is now controlling their mind, and the good experience was just a bait to make them accept mind control. We all have to work through that one to rejoin the awareness of Oneness.


FQ: Kindness, faith, hope…awareness, are special gifts to be able to “see” and receive. Have you met some, however, who have had so much negative in their lives that they can never "see"?


Sadly, yes. Their fear and defense of self is so strong they can never relax to let awareness take over their mind with peace. However, that is always a temporary condition. I have seen some really tough ones suddenly come to awake awareness. Higher mind is always offering them the peace and love, and like Leonard Cohen said in Anthem 'There's a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in.' However, they still respond to the awake awareness in another. And literally cannot attack the light no matter how negative they are, if we hold in peace and loving them. And they will experience some peace and love while they are near us.


FQ: With the plot, as well as the dialogue, do you see this as a “Bible” of sorts for the Center?


No. It is a fun thing to stretch the mind. We do not use any 'bible' of any kind, though everyone has their favorites. I really like the A Course In Miracles but rarely even mention it anymore unless it is of interest to the other person.


The book gets me though. It's really rude sometimes. When I attempt to wallow in misery or desire to attack of some kind, some passage from my own book comes to mind - and how can I argue with myself - for continuing misery?


FQ: What types of courses/classes are available at the Awake Living Center?


We do not offer any structured classes. Awakening is very personal. We do have weekly groups at the center and in Erie with some teaching about recognizing or applying awake mind awareness. You can hear them on the Awake Living Center website - Audio Talks. The real effectiveness of the groups comes from sitting with other people who act as if this far out crazy stuff is real and right as rain. And there really is a high energy and power of awake awareness. Sitting in such a group is like putting your mind in a cosmic microwave - higher mind does the transformation and awakening just for your coming to sit in it and accept it. Our love helps people accept it. And the joy and fun we have in group, makes the sitting easy. Then you just watch their lives change, deeply, for the better.


We also work a lot with people plugging in one on one to work through difficult parts in their mind.


And as much as anything else, the Center is simply known as a place where it is always happy and peaceful, and it feels good and fun to just hang out there. In that, it also serves a mental reference for others 'Oh, if I was at the Center, I would feel at peace about this. Wait! I can do that right now, right here.' Everyone who has come here has commented on the peace and love they feel here. Even those who then say it was too weird for them and never come back, still acknowledge what good they felt here. That's a nice thing.


I most like to think of the Awake Living Center as a reference point for peace and love that gets established in anyone's mind who has come here. That is its most powerful activity. Then we all individually can go out, shining, and be further references that others can think of again - for an alternative of what and how life can be.

To learn more about Chronicle of the Ones please visit our website and read the review at: Feathered Quill Book Reviews.

Friday Finds

Friday Finds is hosted

by Should Be Reading

All Eyes: A Memoir of Deafness In Bainy Cyrus's All Eyes, she tells about her life growing up in both the deaf and the hearing world. Bainy first attended Clarke School for the Deaf in Northampton, MA, where she learned to speak and struggled with language development. It was typical for a deaf child to cope with delayed English language in the 1960s and 1970s. After seven years at Clarke, Bainy began to face difficulties in regular school but eventually overcame obstacles in the hearing world, at times with humor. She also relates the importance of her lifelong friendships with two girls Cheryl and Diane she met at Clarke, and how the different paths that they took influenced her as an adult.


Paradise Lost The highly anticipated sequel to This Side of Paradise-which Kirkus heralds as an "an entertaining, suspenseful thriller"-Paradise Lost delivers the same chilling scenarios and head-scratching secrets that fans expect from author Steven L. Layne. After a summer break, former wallflower Chase Maxfield returns to school with a new found confidence to match his sudden, yet classic, good looks. But Jack Barrett suspects something sinister is behind Chase's unexpected transformation, and his skepticism only grows as other eerie events occur. When Jack's grandmother is mysteriously poisoned, his brother disappears, and his girlfriend soon develops an interest in someone else, Jack becomes even more determined to discover the truth. Packed with action and off-the-wall incidents, this fast-paced novel invites readers on an adventure that builds momentum until the very last page.


Nocturne When Nicole Whitcomb's car runs off a Colorado mountain road during a blinding snowstorm, she is saved from death by a handsome, fascinating, and enigmatic stranger.
Snowbound with him for days in his beautiful home high in the Rockies, she finds herself powerfully attracted to him. But there are things about him that mystify her, filling her with apprehension.


Depression Cookies Abby needs some magic in her life, along with a white knight, respectful children, and an exciting career plan. Instead she is drowning in unfulfilled expectations, disappointments, and unmet needs. What she doesn't expect is to find the true essence of magic in the strength, friendship, power, and energy of the female spirit found in her mother and her mother's zany group of friends. Krista cannot believe it's happening again. Her father waltzes in and announces another move. And what does her mother do? Nothing. Don't they realize she's almost thirteen, and this could mean the end of her life? In the midst of teenage melodrama, she is determined to survive a new school, defeat the annoyances of two scene-stealing sisters, and deal with out-of-touch parents. Yet she quickly realizes the double-edged sword of growing up. Depression Cookies Two distinct voices, two stories interwoven within the walls of family and love.


Hana-Lani Only opening their hearts will keep them from plunging into the dark abyss. Old Nani-lei lives in Hana-lani, her family home in rural Hawaii. She looks after her grandson Henry, 52, and his daughter Lucy, 6, who have returned to Maui from Berkeley after the death of Maria, Henry's wife. Henry and Maria, both professors, had been working on A History of Ethics, and now the grieving Henry struggles to finish it. City girl Meredith Campbell, 36, fast-paced, self-centered, and beautiful, believes her body will ensure her happiness. After losing her job and finding her lover unfaithful, she flies to Maui, sure he will follow...but her plane crashes near Hana-lani. As their worlds collide in a natural world both beautiful and dangerous, Henry will be forced to act on his words, and Meredith will come face-to-face with her own life choices. A poignant journey that unravels T.S. Eliot's "permanent questions"- what is goodness, truth, and love? By the author of the thought-provoking trilogy Pilgrimage, Offerings, and Inheritance.


Finding Jack After losing his young family in a tragic accident, Fletcher Carson joins the flagging war effort in Vietnam. Deeply depressed, he plans to die in the war. But during one of his early missions, Fletcher rescues a critically wounded yellow Lab whom he nurses back to health and names Jack. As Fletcher and Jack patrol and survive the forests of Vietnam, Fletcher slowly regains the will to live. At the end of the war, the U.S. Government announces that due to the cost of withdrawal, all U.S. dogs serving in the war have been declared “surplus military equipment” and will not be transported home. For the hundreds of dog handlers throughout Vietnam, whose dogs had saved countless lives, the news is greeted with shock and disbelief. For Fletcher, he knows that if he abandons Jack, then he too will be lost. Ordered to leave Jack behind, he refuses—and so begins their journey. Based on the actual existence and abandonment of canine units in Vietnam, Gareth Crocker’s Finding Jack is a novel of friendship and love under desperate circumstances that will grab your heart and won’t let go.


Between A Rock and a Hot Place: Why Fifty is Not the New Thirty A funny, fearless, no-holds-barred look at aging—hormone replacement therapy, online dating, eye lifts, and all. As she approached her fiftieth birthday, Tracey Jackson found herself bombarded—at the gym, at parties, in conversations with friends—by a catchphrase on everyone's lips. "Fifty is the new thirty" and the endless magazine articles, photos, and T-shirts proclaiming the new aphorism had apparently bloomed out of a collective sense of denial, masking the true fears of a generation unwilling to relinquish their youth.


Spinning Dylan Hunter has it made. At 29, he has great friends, a huge job, all the women he can handle, and no commitments. A public relations executive, Dylan has dashed up the ladder of success by mastering the art of the spin – bending the truth to his and his clients’ needs. But when a former lover steps back into his life with a three-year-old girl by her side (no, she’s not his), Dylan suddenly finds himself in a place he can’t spin himself out of. And when Dylan unexpectedly becomes the child’s sole guardian, he finds himself to be like a circus performer trying to keep all of his spinning plates from crashing to the ground. In what seems like a blink of the eye, Dylan Hunter’s life has changed completely…whether he’s ready for it or not.