without anything? ALL OF IT…

what would I be worth if it were all

just stripped away leaving me just

with me and I had to be just who I am?

Page 531

Someone once told me that reading poems was like looking into the poet’s soul.  Luke Benoit’s All Storms Pass: The Anti-Meditations consists of meditations that inspire, challenge, and guide the reader to look into their own soul and to find his or her true self.  Benoit is a Certified Life Coach and a Certified Professional NLP Hypnotist.  He assists people to cultivate healthy change, confront problems, and to seek joy within.  His book is a compilation of meditations that he uses when helping people work through their issues.  The poems help the reader to see that one of the biggest stumbling blocks that people encounter on their path to peace and happiness is themselves.

For those familiar with meditation books, Benoit’s meditations might surprise you.  There are some that may seem familiar and hopeful.  Many of them offer thoughts that hard times give us strength and make us stronger.  Some raise interesting issues, such as how one person can be toxic for us and consume our thoughts.

Why is it we can be in a room of 100 people

and be surrounded 99 who love us and one

who doesn’t… and then all my attention goes to that

one?

Page 515

One of my favorite lines was “I need to be my Earth and not your moon.”  This line speaks volumes and demonstrates Benoit’s ability to use poems to empower the reader to embrace their uniqueness and self and not let other’s diminish their self-worth or worse, take over their lives and extinguish their light.

The author occasionally breaks away from the traditional meditation and provides some that are dark.  For example, in one titled “The Fairy Tale of 9 Fingers” he writes of a woman who was wronged by her husband.   The wife didn’t leave him.  Instead she asked a witch to cut off his finger, which she put in a jar, for his punishment.

And in time, the finger on the shelf in the jar

turned into a heart of lust and the heart of lust

turned into a heart full of pain and then

the husband’s

9 remaining fingers began to fall off all on their own

one by one and with no cutting.

Page 527

Not all of the meditations are dark.  There are riddles that challenge the reader to take a good look at their own actions and to ask who is responsible for their troubles: a spouse, a friend, a relative, a boss, or themselves.  As he explains on many occasions, we have the power to choose happiness or self-destruction.  The only person you can control in life is yourself.  And he challenges you to seek peace of mind and to understand that difficulties will pass.  How you tackle these difficulties shape who you are.

Benoit includes quotes from people of all walks of life.  They range from Alanis Morrisette to Dr. Phil. Also, he has meditations for holidays, birthdays, difficult days, and days when you want to look inside yourself and find ways to improve.   This book would be a great companion for anyone searching for self-help tips and it would be especially helpful to those dealing with addictions, recovery, and relationship issues.  While I read his meditations, I thought it would be useful to read one of the meditations each day and to challenge myself to assess my life and more importantly, me.  I give Benoit’s book 4 out of 5 stars.

Links

Amazon

www.lukebenoit.com

Still, as a published novelist and produced playwright, I adore both forms, so I plunged in, starting with the novella; The Queue is absolutely brilliant.

The Queue takes place sometime in the future, perhaps not that far off, where our world is under guidance of a leader whom people call Leader. With resources starting to become short, the Leader has decreed that the state will confiscate the homes of “citizens of advanced age,” people eighty and older. They all have to report to a specific spot, a queue of people that extends to the horizon. What will happen to the elderly citizens, arranged by age, oldest first, when they get to the front of the line? No one knows.

The story is told by a middle-aged man who has helped his two parents to the line, and he stays with them. Author Michael Hager pours out the truths of the human condition in an existentialist tone reminiscent of No Exit by John-Paul Sartre. The story is not just about aging, but of many aspects of the human condition.

For instance, some people in line including the narrator’s parents take solace from their religion. How can faith exist when it seems so clear there is no higher power, no sense, no fairness? Yet when the narrator runs into a group of elderly nuns, he is awed by their strength.

The narrator experiences a mixture of the Stanford prison experiment and the surreal. Guards abuse older people and shoot or hang them if they’re the least bit surly, yet the old folks patiently stand and worry, moving sometimes only meters a day, wondering what will happen to them. Maybe it’ll be good.

What adds to the strength of this book are the contradictions, such as the upbeat nature of some of the people in line when so much is horrible or how a pleasant scent of the soldiers’ coffee leads to a positive memory.

As one elderly gentleman tells the narrator in the harshness of the line with a smile, “To age well, one must accept suffering and death, not only as inevitable but as something natural and good—whether it comes in a battlefield or in a hospital bed.”

The format of the book is unusual, a dance between standard design and indented sections in italics that jump into the protagonist’s memory. Expositive by design, they nonetheless reveal a lot. For instance, he remembers a day he was deeply in love and was about to propose to his girlfriend when she “had something to say. She’d met someone. This would be our last time together.” Such juxtapositions lead the reader to nod at life’s inherent unfairness and absurdity while remain fascinated by the moments of beauty.

Hager’s three one-act plays, in contrast, lack the truth and lyricism of The Queue. The first play, “Warriors,” takes place in the Limbo Home for the Elderly. The young people who work in the home cannot stand the people they have to help. For instance, Nan, who is described as attractive, in her twenties, and sexy in her short-skirted uniform, says “I’m tired of wasting good food on these old geezers. They’ve all outlived their time on this earth. Now they’re just old parasites, feeding on the rest of us.”

Neither Nan nor the other young people realize they’d be out of work without the residents. There is no subtext or subtlety.

Of the three plays, this one is the most didactic. The five old people of the play complain a lot, and a few are convinced the government is out to get them. They get draft notices, and, despite their ill health, are drafted and sent to the front. What happens is not a surprise.

The second play, “Paradise,” takes place at the Paradise Retirement Resort, and while it runs the same themes, the characters are slightly less cartoonish and more positive. The story centers on a woman in her late seventies designated as “Newcomer,” who just buried her husband and needs a room for the night. The young manager, Eve (of
course her name is Eve), shows her around. The older woman meets some active and energetic seniors who try to convince the woman to stay in Paradise. There are not a lot of surprises.

The third play, “Home,” revolves around an 85-year-old man of comfortable means who tells his servant, a young woman, that he never wants to leave his home. Enter his daughter and husband in their forties who have called a government agency to whisk grandfather away. After a surprise, the play has nowhere else to go yet continues on for several more pages.

Perhaps Hager was aiming for the absurdity of something by Samuel Beckett, yet Beckett has richness and delightful ambiguity. These plays lack depth and irony or even
the contrast and questions of The Queue.

In sum, The Queue is so outstanding, it should be sold separately without the plays.

While all four pieces focus on old people in society, The Queue is a symphony and the plays are battering rams. Amateur groups of older actors might find amusement in trying one or two of them, but the best actors need stories with life beneath the surface. Where The Queue has mystery, the plays are on-the-nose. There are no hidden levels to them. However, The Queue will keep you thinking. Get it.

Links

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

www.thequeueandwarriors.com

The River Secrets centers on two lovers: Anthony and Francis.  Anthony is a nun living in a convent in rural Illinois.  Francis is a Father in the Catholic Church.  Even though their love is forbidden by their vows, they cannot ignore their passion and carnal desires.  At first, their love does not seem wrong to either one of them.  Sister Louise, another nun in the convent, declares to Anthony that she feels doubt and she thought that when she became a nun she “would feel the love of God grow in me every day. That I would feel at each moment I was serving Him and His people, and that His love would grow with each action I took.”  When Louise asks Anthony if she ever feels doubt, her answer to Louise is enigmatic.  “I found my way to the mystery of God through love. And through love, truth and mercy, I’ll carry out my role in His world.”  Before Louise can question her further as to her meaning they are interrupted leaving the reader to decide if Anthony is talking about her love of God or her love for Father Francis.

One night their bliss is shattered by the appearance of Bishop Burns.  The bishop has a reputation that is widespread.  He has been accused of inappropriate sexual relations, including the molestation of two young boys.  However, these rumors do not stick.  He is a charming, smooth talker who can convince people to see things his way.  When news arrives at the convent that the bishop will be staying there for a few weeks to rest, many eyebrows are raised.

After a lover’s tryst by the river during the night, Anthony and Francis witness a man rushing by with a bundle.  The man looks raving mad.  After further investigation, the lovers discover that Bishop Burns is attempting to bury a body.  Both are horrified.  The crazed bishop blackmails the two to help him dispose of the body.  If they don’t help, he will expose their affair.  He states, “Yes, you two are going to help me bury this body. To save your own souls. You see there’s no crueler judgment than that of fellow man. No crueler hell than this earth.”  Francis realizes that he has no choice.  Burns has people who have bailed him out of trouble before and would probably do so again.  Francis has no such power.  Helping with the cover-up not only threatens both their souls, but their lives.  Anthony wonders if this is her punishment for her sin.

Dunning’s tale twists and turns to the bitter end.  I knew no good would come of this fateful night, however, I did not expect the ending.  It was shocking and will make you question if there is any goodness in people.

While her story revolves around sin, her prose is beautiful.  She conjures up descriptions that take you inside the story and the characters’ minds.  The following describes Anthony’s thoughts and feelings while out on a walk during the early morning hours.

“The sun’s first rays swept up in the east, casting a clean light across the corn stalks that covered the land as far as the eye could see. It was on mornings like these she most strongly felt God’s presence. He was there with her. He cognizant of her and she cognizant of Him. She could feel His breath in the cool morning breeze as it shook the fabric of her clothes, caressed her face and swam through  her fingers as she held up her hand. She could see His hand stroke the silky yellow tops of the corn stalks as the plants swayed with the sweeping gusts of wind.”

Diane Dunning has been writing professionally for the past 20 years.  She lives in the Monterey Bay area in California.  Her blog, “Backing Down the Driveway” features her short stories.  Her ebook, The River Secrets, is 19,000 words and even though it is small she packs a lot of punch into this gritty tale about love, passion, religion, murder, and sin.   The story is driven by the plot.  If there was more character development I would have given the story 5 out of 5 stars.   Instead, I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

Links

Amazon

Backing Down the Driveway

Like Dr. Kildare, Dr. Christopher Seacrest, the main character in The Keeper, a first novel from R.L. Mosz, is young, handsome, debonair, and works with an older doctor he looks up to. Chris Seacrest, however, is not an intern; rather, he is chief of staff at a world-famous medical center, an accomplished neurosurgeon at the age of 34. As the book opens, we find Chris is quite the workaholic:

After tapping his shirt pocket to ensure his signature pen was clipped in place, he expertly swerved his Lamborghini in and out of morning traffic, scheduled surgeries on his cell phone with his personal assistant, Gwen, sipped a cherry almond latte, activated his iPod, and checked the time. He had arisen at his customary 5:30 a.m. and so far the day was right on schedule.

Naturally, this day is going to be different and everything will change. When the elderly Dr. Harlan Melrose can’t make it to work, Chris Seacrest fills in for him. Waiting in room 7 is Caitlin Rosenberry, who at the young age of 24 is recovering from a stroke. She politely refuses to follow Dr. Seacrest’s advice. The doctor is taken aback by Caitlin’s firm rejection of a new medication and runs to Dr. Melrose to object to his patient’s behavior.

In the first television episode of Dr. Kildare, Dr. Gillespie tells Kildare, “Our job is to keep people alive, not to tell them how to live.” Our Dr. Seacrest has two problems: why a patient would refuse a medication, and his inexplicable attraction to her:

…Her brown eyes had an unusual shape about them, succeeding in making her expressions simultaneously humorous and inquisitive.

Caitlin likewise feels a twinge or two for the dashing surgeon, but she worries about the fact that he’s rich (she lives paycheck-to-paycheck) and, understandably, wonders what’s up with that “special pen” thing.

Chris’ best friend Danny, who happens to be his boss at the medical center, has been harboring a secret affection for Caitlin, who works as a server at an organic restaurant Danny frequents. He persuades Chris and another doctor to have lunch with him at The Backyard Plot. Chris, who is still annoyed that Dr. Melrose is unconcerned about Caitlin’s refusal to try a new medication, reluctantly comes along.

This sets up the first time Chris and Caitlin run into each other “accidentally.” While Chris is taking care of the lunch tab, he drops his special pen and in the distraction of Caitlin’s presence, forgets to pick it up. Later, back at the hospital:

“Never mind, I’ve got it.” Reaching into his shirt pocket he felt for his pen. It was gone. He tapped the pocket again in disbelief. His pen was gone!

Danny offers to retrieve the pen for Chris as this gives Danny another “excuse” to see Caitlin and perhaps ask her out on a date. But Chris can’t trust Danny to come through with such an important mission. Upon finding Caitlin has the day off at the restaurant, Chris zooms out in his Lamborghini to Caitlin’s country farmhouse to get his pen.

Danny finds this action to be a personal betrayal:

Danny remained unconvinced, “I can’t believe you drove all he way out there just to get your pen.”

“It was a gift from my grandfather for my twelfth birthday,” Chris attempted to explain. “What did you think … that I was trying to take her away from you or something?” He smiled bemusedly, checking the time.

The plot thickens when Danny starts to watch Chris suspiciously, eyeing his every move in the boardroom:

From time to time, when a colleague disagreed with what he was proposing, Chris’ hand crept up to his shirt pocket and touched the pen. Once, with Chad Lowe on his left side and Meagan Flanders on his right, when both began to protest at his suggestion, Chris actually removed the prized object from his pocket altogether, and began rolling it between his fingers, all the while encouraging his colleagues to see things his way.

Thereafter, Chris goes shopping for pottery at an outdoor market, dragging along his girlfriend Buffy (whom he’s rather lukewarm toward) when who should he spot but Caitlin, working a booth with fellow herb-growers Denver and Clarisse. Caitlin worries about the dirt on her hands and Chris worries about being glad to see her. Meanwhile Danny is still running after Caitlin on his lunch hours and soon sniffs out his unlikely competitor:

“She said she saw you at the farmer’s market,” Danny admitted, studying him curiously. “I guess you neglected to say anything about that earlier because it’s some kind of secret. Why is that? I mean, do you have some objection to my pursuing this girl?”

Adding a touch of humor are the descriptions of Caitlin’s “free-spirited” friends from the all-natural world:

“Hey, sorry about the other day, he remarked suddenly, as if just remembering. “I meant to call, but something really important came up and there wasn’t a phone around.” Denver was morally opposed to cell phones, claiming they were decimating the bee population.

Despite the differences in lifestyle and mounting disapproval from friends, Chris asks Caitlin to attend a medical lecture with him and she accepts. But Caitlin, who’s never had a serious relationship before, has qualms right away. She considers breaking off their first date:

Now she could legitimately tell him no without seeming either unfriendly or apprehensive. Deep within her, however, was a faint sense of dissatisfaction with herself, as if because of her insecurities centered around her past health problems, she now had to turn her back on life. She was, in a sense, suffering from a secondary disability, now that the initial one was virtually mended.

She shakes off her personal insecurities, keeps the date, and listens to Denver complain:

“No problem. I love being out in those fields; it renews my spirit. Listen, have you heard from Clarisse lately?”

“No, not lately.” Apparently Clarisse had gone AWOL again, not an unusual occurrence for her. Caitlin sensed that it was not Clarisse that was really worrying him, however, and braced herself for the onslaught.

“Yeah, well. I’m getting a little worried about her.”

“I wouldn’t lose any sleep. She’s probably just chasing after that boyfriend of hers again.” Caitlin could never remember his name.

“I suppose.” There was a long pause before he continued. “You still planning to go out with the nobility Friday night?”

Sitting in the Lamborghini on the way to the medical lecture, Caitlin reviews her choice:

She thought for a moment of Denver, strumming his guitar up in the mountains, with his usual entourage of friends, including the Somalian missionaries. He’d wanted her to join them, but was cautious to always include her strictly in group activities. His subtle protestations to her actually going out on a real date continued to irritate her.

We are now at the half-way point of the novel, Caitlin and Chris stubbornly forging ahead with their budding romance regardless of the social pressure from all sides. Caitlin takes Chris along to a group dinner at Denver’s house. Chris tries to be a good sport but:

Approaching the address, he realized he was close by one of the universities, and reasoned that Denver was most likely a graduate student. Finally, he pulled up in front of a large, rundown party house, where weeds were running wild all over the property. Reggae music blasted out into the street, and glancing around the student ghetto, he locked his car and carefully set the state-of-the-art alarm system he’d had installed after purchasing it.

Caitlin agrees to go to a Seacrest family barbeque:

Frowning in surprise, she set her cup down. He was inviting her to meet his parents. She was stunned. It certainly didn’t appear as though he was planning to throw her aside when he lost interest, as Denver and Clarisse had inferred.

At the Seacrest mansion over the 4th of July weekend, Caitlin fully recognizes what she’s up against:

…The luxury of the place was positively staggering. Leading her along a spacious passageway into a large living room filled with European furniture, set beneath spectacular Hudson Valley landscape paintings and majestic portraits, she saw Chris’ parents.

“Mom, Dad, this is Caitlin,” he introduced simply, after accepting a light embrace from his mother. “Caitlin, these are my parents, Lucille and Walter.”

“So pleased to meet you,” was their polite response, though their expressions remained somewhat stationary.

The presence of Chris’ ex-girlfriend doesn’t help:

Chris’ eyes traveled across the way, over to the pool where he quickly spotted his sister, conversing with Buffy and her father. His expression was immediately transformed; he appeared strained and irate.

When Chris is called away on an emergency call to the hospital Caitlin literally escapes the situation at the mansion and bolts. The next day, by way of a phone message, Caitlin breaks up with Chris.

Chris is desperate to win Caitlin back, but she has temporarily left town. Things get serious when Harlan Melrose dies of a heart attack. The once powerhouse surgeon is now on the verge of a collapse.

Chapter 14 lifts us a bit out of the soap opera dimensions of this plot. During the funeral for Dr. Melrose, Mosz takes us around the church using various POVs to excellent effect. Everyone is a wreck.

The plot twist in the third act is Chris’ breakthrough about a suppressed childhood trauma (yes, it’s related to the “special pen”). Chris takes a leave of absence from his position as chief of staff and seeks treatment. Caitlin comes back to town and seeks to console Chris but he won’t answer his phone.

Our story is told in a simple, third person voice without judgmental exposition. Mosz does a good job with her details, and inserts another nod to the Dr. Kildare legacy by mentioning the double glass doors at the medical center seven times.

The character POVs are consistent and their personality details telling: Harlan’s love of birds, Chris’ special pen, Caitlin’s grungy truck-driving neighbor at the farm, Denver’s friends sitting on the floor to eat their vegetarian dinner, Danny’s outrage at Chris not attending an important meeting.

Dialogue and scenes are used in all the right places. The medical complex, the country farm, the organic restaurant, the manor, even the open-air market are all described very nicely. Location is somewhere on the East Coast but this is not emphasized and the story could have taken place anywhere.

In many scenes, Mosz lets the setting enhance the mood, as we see with Danny at the funeral:

Having been raised an unbeliever, religious traditions of all kinds spooked him. The wind whipped at his face and he burrowed his hands deep into his coat pockets, squinting forlornly into the crowd entering the church.

Mosz is also good at having the characters act in ways that reflect how they feel about their surroundings:

“Well, you probably should have tried that new import store uptown,” Buffy declared doubtfully. She really didn’t care for all the riff-raff down on the waterfront peddling their goods like medieval farmers…

However, the settings don’t slow down the action. Mosz is good at choosing the right places to either move ahead or flash back, the flashbacks brief and staying well within in the scene.

Two large themes emerge from this story, one of which is culture clash, first introduced with the inset of a “Private Property” sign on front cover: superficial judgments and attempted protection of ego-identifiers come at Chris and Caitlin in the form of their friends’ objections to their dating. On a modern note, Caitlin struggles with not having health insurance and can’t pay her bills from the “world-renowned” medical center.

Appended to this theme is the issue of medical ethics, illustrated in this exchange:

She placed the medication safely in the cabinet. “It’s none of your business.”

That was his answer. The pills were from the moneyed doctor/boyfriend, despite not being her actually physician. It was a peculiar situation to say the least, her dating a prominent surgeon who also functioned as some sort of adjunct medical consultant to her regular physician.

“Well, did he advise you to get your liver tested, somewhere down the line?”

“I’m not going to be on them that long.”

“I still think you’d be better off seeing a good…”

“No, Denver. And that’s final.” She glared at him warningly.

With the third act we begin to see a larger issue: trauma and violence treatment. This theme is inserted into the story with a light touch as the story builds and by the time Chris has his breakthrough we realize the signs were there all along.

The ending is not lengthy and is plausible but left me a bit unsatisfied. I wanted more exploration of what Caitlin went through when she went off to California after the break-up (there was only a brief mention that she had obtained some sort of closure—how?). Also, Chris’ therapy took only two months in a lovely Vermont setting, probably at great financial expense. After 22 years of repressing his trauma, surely Chris has more healing to go through. And what of folks who can’t afford therapy? Consider this passage:

Jack frowned slightly, pausing to examine a particularly exquisite blossom. “Actually Caitlin, this is only one of the Seacrest domiciles. They own five.”

Five! Five places like this one! It was too much for her. When she occasionally worked until 8:00 p.m. at The Backyard Plot, the surrounding streets were littered with bedraggled human beings, slumped over grates for warmth, wrapped around with filthy pieces of cardboard.

With the external challenges of different lifestyles and the need for further internal adjustments (couples therapy, perhaps?), the ending invites a sequel.

The much larger challenge for this novel is the lack of a professional edit. Equal attention must be paid to the craft of writing as to the creation of an involving plot and modern themes worthy of discussion. I’m not talking about typos— in fact I had to search for them—and there are only a few instances where tenses are mixed: (“his tight fitting breakneck pace suddenly threatened to crumble” should be “threatening to crumble”). Here are examples of the larger writing problems:

Dangling participles: “Goodnight,” Harlan responded, shaking his head and turning to an article with an approving smile, that proclaimed feeding the birds improved one’s immune system.

Modifiers: Too many adjectives and adverbs (some of the adjectives have adjectives) and too many commas: The entire, fanatically busy afternoon, was all a blur.

Attributions with run-on phrases attached: “You seem a million miles away tonight,” Buffy related to him, five hours later over dinner at the country club, not unkindly. (Side note: We had already been told six pages earlier that Chris was meeting Buffy at the club for dinner.)

Word repetitions:  The words suddenly, logicality, threatened/threatening, equably, immediately are overused and there is too much shaking of heads and sighing.

As to the book’s physical presentation, the front cover has a beautiful shot of country road winding through a lovely canopy of trees; the title font is complementary; the inset of a “Private Property” sign in lower right-hand corner adds intrigue; and I was happy I didn’t find the words “A Novel.” The back cover has another pretty picture along with a blurb, the text of which is sufficiently true to the contents.

The text format could use a little tweaking. The double-spaced pages should be single-spaced. On the Contents page the “p.” is not needed before a page number and the title “Contents” should be added at the top of the page. No page number is required on an Acknowledgements page. Page numbers of the main text should begin with 3, not 1. On the footer and header, a smaller font is needed with more space before and after the text. Hyphenation is not overused, but unnecessary.

To recap, plot and character development are great, themes are pertinent to modern times, descriptive details are often entertaining, dialogue is fine, setting and pacing are well done, the various POVs are handled nicely, and the narrative voice is consistent. If these were the only things that mattered, and since I appreciate the subtle nods to Dr. Kildare, I’d give The Keeper 4 stars. But the writing has major craft problems and I can only give it 3 stars. Even with the satisfactory larger elements, the manuscript must have a professional edit so the read becomes smoother and the story flows unobstructed.

With its relevant modern themes, this novel has potential. And don’t forget, the Dr. Kildare comic strip by Ken Bald ran for 21 years.

About the Author

R. L. Mosz wrote The Keeper in sympathy for victims of trauma. She lives in southwestern Montana, and enjoys gardening, hiking, and birdwatching.

Links

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Basic Options Trading: Options Strategies For Beginners

Pendola’s approach to what many people find complicated is to breakdown explanations into simple and manageable illustrations.  If the thought of trying to figure out the square root of 9 freaks you out, don’t worry, most of his examples involve basic, simple math.  Put away your calculator.  His overarching goal is to make understanding options uncomplicated.  Have you ever wanted to know the terms: buy to open, sell to close, sell to open, buy to close, out-of-the-money, in-the-money, and at-the-money.  If you answered yes, this is the book for you.

The book is divided into five sections. Each section builds upon the information you learned in the previous.  The first section provides the reader definitions and concepts of basic options.  Complicated options are not discussed.  Remember, this book is for beginners, those somewhat familiar with the terms and who want to learn more to build up their comfort level.  Second, he explores his belief that options should be considered as an investment.   He writes, “It’s little more than a misnomer that options have no place in the portfolios of new, ardent buy-and-hold or even conservative investors. In fact, I argue that you hold yourself back by not using options in a variety of, albeit, relatively basic ways.”  The following three sections discuss covered calls, long calls and puts, and cash-secured puts respectively.

As I read this book, one thing that I found comforting was that the author frequently warns his readers not to do too much.  In today’s world, many people are leery with claims that risk will pay out as long as you have a lot of money in the game.  He feels the opposite.  “Simply put, many humans have an aversion to the notion of doing more with less, while failing to acknowledge the potential pitfalls of trying to do more with more.”  Pendola is cognizant to warn readers that caution and knowledge will get you results.  He also advises to only risk an amount of money in which you can afford to lose.  He believes the best type of investor, is a disciplined one who is informed, patient, and knows his or her limits –“(m)ost investors, namely relatively small ones, should never venture beyond the most basic options strategies.”

Rocco Pendola is a contributor to the website Seeking Alpha.  If you would like to sample his writing before buying this eBook, I recommend that you check out his articles.  I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.  It is a simple, yet informative read.

Links

Amazon

Rocco Pendola’s Instablog

Spiritual Alchemy: The Fall, The Cure, The Jesus Prayer

In 1984, Atwood was arrested in Texas by the FBI for kidnap and murder.  These crimes were allegedly committed in Arizona.  To this day, Atwood states that these charges were false and that he was wrongfully convicted.  However, he now lives on death row in Arizona.  While in prison, Atwood acquired a couple of Associates of Arts from Central Arizona College and from Ohio University.  In addition, Atwood has received a Bachelors and Masters degree from Ohio University.  And most recently, he has started a three year Masters program in theology.  He converted to Greek Orthodox Christianity.  In 2000, Atwood was baptized and received his name Anthony.  He added “of the Desert” to remind himself of sin.

His background intrigued me.  I am amazed by his resolve not to quit living or to become obsessed with vengeance, especially given his claims that he’s been unjustly accused and condemned to death.  This would break the spirit of many people.  Instead, he turned to religion to deal with an overwhelming situation. 

Given Anthony’s story, it is fitting that his book, Spiritual Alchemy, discusses sin. He divides his book into three parts.  The first part discusses the Fall, when Eve bit into the apple and the consequences for humans since that event.  The next component outlines the cure. This section delves into ways to bring a person back to his or her sole purpose, which is to reunite with God.  Lastly, Anthony discusses the Jesus Prayer and how it is “the ultimate cure for all infections from the Fall and as the quintessential vehicle for deification.”

As I read the book, I sensed the amount of research that the author utilized to present a clear and concise thesis.  Each section builds upon the other to aid the reader from point to point.  I found his historical research to be informative, albeit the sources are solely religious texts.  This book would be helpful to those who are on this path and would like to learn more about the healing benefits of the Jesus Prayer and the historical background.

Given the author’s personal history, I was somewhat surprised that he does not let you into his own personal struggles and salvation by introducing the Jesus Prayer into his own battle with sin.  It would move this work away from feeling like a term paper and into a thought provoking work demonstrating the rewards of accepting that humans are sinful and that utilizing the Jesus Prayer can bring people closer to God.

Furthermore, it would behoove the author to take more time editing his work.  Certain words and phrases are repeatedly used to emphasize his point.  I lost count of how many times the writer used the words thus, perceive, perception, and the phrase, in other words.

Overall, this work would be a helpful aid to people seeking to learn more about the Jesus Prayer.  I give Spiritual Alchemy three out of five stars.

Links

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

www.churchfathertheology.com

Sector C

In this episode of The Indie Book Podcast, we review Sector C, a science fiction eco-thriller
that gave us an intimate look at the ranching community of the Great
Plains. We also interview Charles M. Pulsipher about his novel, The
Crystal Bridge, and about how your own characters can surprise you.

A minister, believing he was on a mission from God, identified a local teacher as a homosexual. The ‘outing’ led to the teacher’s murder. The states attorney decided the minister had put the teacher’s life in jeopardy by singling him out for only one reason; the teacher was a homosexual. The states attorney charged the minister with a hate crime reasoning you cannot use the Bible to justify homophobic behavior. Like a rock thrown into a pool, many persons in the community are touched by the teacher’s murder, the police investigation, the trial, and the jury proceedings.

When I reach for a novel, I’m looking for a good, tight story involving memorable characters told in a consistent narrative voice. In “God Hates Fags,” author Joe Wellman presents a core theme with a story packed around it from the outside, the characters are presented as sociological case studies, and the narrative voice is lost amidst lengthy flashbacks and repetitive, flat phrasing.

The question as to which comes first, the theme or the story, is essential. A theme should arise organically from within a well-told story. This book’s theme, overtly announced in the last sentence of the jacket copy quoted above, is overemphasized in the book’s epigraph: “No event is merely a rock thrown into a pond. The ripples touch the lives of many.”

But there is no focus on the event in question. Flashbacks are presented for 14 different characters, taking up approximately 105 pages (about one-third of the novel) and are spread throughout the book beginning in chapter 2. Each time I start to become involved in the basic story (a murder and hate crime trial), I have to stop and wade through an extensive explanation of why a particular character behaves the way they do. In chapter 12’s flashback, Paul is having a conversation with Sean; Sean then goes into a three-page flashback of his own during the first flashback conversation. This is very distracting.

Although the book is labeled “Suspense” on the back jacket, lack of surprise is another result of the flashbacks. In chapter 13 there are seven pages describing the horrid conditions of Sarah’s childhood; as we snap back to the present, Sarah attempts suicide. As a reader, I don’t need a graphic history of child abuse to precede a suicide attempt as it not only removes any surprise I might feel over Sarah’s drastic step, it also prevents me from using my imagination. This is particularly true of the character Runt. Given his nickname and wonderfully detailed physical description, I can guess what his childhood must have been like.

In an obvious attempt to make up for this pacing deficiency, chapter 21 (half-way point of the novel) is presented from eight different points of view with only two switches separated by extra space on the page. Unfortunately this becomes a trend: chapter 22 is a five-page flashback, chapter 23 is more flitting about between POVs; chapter 24 is a seven-page flashback, chapter 25 is two POVs with no space break between them; chapter 26 is a nine-page flashback, with chapter 27 then giving us more POV switches.

Chapter 28 describes an extramarital rendezvous that results in a scorned wife throwing her cheating husband out of the house – possibly the most non-surprising conclusion of a scene in the entire book.

In what would otherwise have been a great way to end the second act, chapter 29 is titled “The Riot,” giving away in advance what is about to happen in front of the courthouse on the eve of trial. After the dramatic riot scene we are given a rather unfortunate segue: “Across Westfield at Dottie’s house, she, Mike and Sarah were sharing a pizza.”

Mr. Wellman’s narrative style is inconsistent in other ways. Sometimes the dialogue is sharp, other times laden with exposition. Physical descriptions of characters are flat, consisting of height, age, hair color, marital status, and, if female, breast size. Many phrases are repeated within the same sentence or paragraph (as in the jacket copy, which mentions “states attorney” twice). In chapter 31, we are told for the third time that Shari is Gene’s assistant. It is in this chapter, titled “The Trial Begins,” that plot really kicks in. But what happens at the trial gives no surprises whatsoever due the previous flashbacks.

Chapter 33, “The Jury Deliberates,” is the best chapter in the novel. However, in chapter 34 we have POV switches again, followed by yet another flashback in chapter 35. This four-page flashback involves Jonathan, one of the jurors; in the next chapter, Jonathan has a conversation with another juror in which his resentments from the past are revealed in just a few short lines of dialogue, negating the need for the flashback in chapter 35.

Chapter 36, “More Jury Deliberations,” again presents good action and tight dialogue, but the final two chapters, titled “Four Weeks Later” and “One Year Later,” tie up the story way too neatly.

On the whole, the book’s pacing problem needs to be addressed (by using flashbacks briefly and only when germane to the plot) and a thorough copy edit performed (the states attorney says in his opening statement: “Hate crime legislation seeks to protect specific groups from undo victimization”). The narrative voice would be clearer if repetitive phrases were eliminated (starting with eight or nine instances of “guess we’ll find out” in the first few chapters), cliché word choices replaced (“The touch of his bare skin against her bare skin was more than exciting for Teri”), and the typos cleaned up (“You’re going to get a lot of flack”). There is a story in this book that would be interesting if it were allowed to breathe and executed on the basis of plot rather than theme. I give the book as-is a rating of two stars out of five.

Links

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

www.godhatesfags-anovel.com

We follow our detectives on three homicide cases: a strange shooting and theft, a dead body in the water with a pocket full of mystery and a very unique contract killer. The plots twist, turn and very much end with a surprise bang.

Not being one to spoil a good story, this book is a great crime drama. I liked the characters, as they were well developed and, as I said, unique. McGovern is a very likeable detective, has a personality that is charming but sharp and makes a good central character. Goreman, his partner, is aloof enough to be his partner and does not present herself as a potential love interest, which makes the working relationship solid. They have their methods down pat and they work well together.

There are two back up cops, Landry and Higgins. They are your typical detectives, doing the legwork involved in the case. They are developed enough to make them essential to the case and they are likeable figures. Sargent Mike Johns is the likeable but explosive boss of this unit, and he has all the attributes of a fiery Desk Sargent with upper management issues. I have to say I found all the main characters interesting and essential to the plot and each had their place and purpose. Very well thought out and executed.

The story is a plot within plots and is well developed and implemented. We have a murder in a garage, where a man is shot, his briefcase is stolen and his wife is left alive to tell the tale. We have a drowned man with some interesting pocket contents that leads to an intricate Ponzi scheme, and then we have a contract killer with a unique way of getting rid of his marks. The plot ties all these stories together and I was impressed with the way the story was woven, and all the little twists in the stories within the story.  Mr. Thompson’s first book is amazingly interesting and well done. I was impressed with his story telling skills and his character development. In other words, I really liked the story and for a first time out, the author did very well.

What was very noticeable was the lack of proofreading and editing. The spelling errors, the misuse of words, such as his use of there when he meant their, and the formatting issues made this a little hard on the eyes for the reader. About 3/4′s of the way through the book, it seems like the author gave up proofing the book altogether. The paragraphs dissolve into run-on thoughts, like someone writing a police report. There is no structure in many stretches of the story; missing periods, commas and capitalization at the start of new sentences. The formatting also gets jumbled at the end and it was very distracting from the story itself, especially where the author wraps up the story.

I also felt the introduction was giving away too much story, and there were inconsistencies presented. Case in point – the contents of the briefcase. The introduction says the case contained a million dollars, but the story itself speculated on the contents as possibly money, at one point it was thought it was half a million, but it was never really confirmed. Just minor details, but these can be essential to the reader, and would present a more professionally-finished product if corrected.

This book would benefit from a good proofing and editing and some better formatting for the Kindle. As a first class story, this would “finish” the book and make it a first rate book all around. 3 Stars for this particular Kindle version with 5 stars for the story itself.

Links

Amazon

theresalwaysanothercase.com

I just completed a study of twenty newly released ebooks just to see how far the art of ebook publishing has advanced in the last year. I choose ebooks from well-known authors, from self-publishing authors, some novels, some technical books. I wanted a variety for my study. I would like to share my observations and suggestions for their improvement.

My contention is that REAL ebooks should be a different product than their paper counterparts. They should be formatted differently; sections arranged differently and in some cases they should have different covers. In short, to be a REAL ebook, they should not be just a copy of the traditional book version.

The following is a list of certain areas that I feel need improvement; areas that you must consider when you create your ebook.

REAL ebooks Links
Rendering your ebook with links is a major step in the right direction in creating a REAL book. What items MUST have links?

1. The Table of Contents must have links to the chapter headings. Most are doing this now.
2. Author’s References – the ebook must include links to the author’s website, email address, blogs, online profiles and social networking connections (Facebook/Twitter). You need this to get your reader/audience involved.
3. Author’s Other Books – there should be links to the buy pages for other books created by the author. Why miss this marketing opportunity.

For example, in my study two of the ebooks were written by top 10 authors and published by traditional publishers. Both had a list of their other titles, provided credits for the book creation and the usual publisher information. Neither used links to assist the reader in buying other titles or helping their co-developers secure new business. One did have a link to the publisher’s web site. There was no links to the author’s website, blog, email address or social network information.

4. In book Links – the REAL ebook should have links in the content to footnotes (held in appendix), to word and term definitions and to references. For example, one project I recently worked on was a pictorial about Omaha Beach with over 50 original pictures inserted in the content. With the picture, its title and the picture credits, the content became very difficult to read. The solution was to have a link from the picture title to the picture’s credits in the back of the ebook. If the reader wanted to check out the source they could follow the link and then hit the back key on the ebook device. If the reader didn’t, they could ignore the link and continue without interrupting the reading experience.

Another example in my survey was a technical book about the publishing industry. It was a well written book with lots of good information and references. But there were no links. None! It contained lots of hard coded website addresses and email contact information. All I had to do was re-enter the URL into my web browser and I could find the source.

Actually this is a missed opportunity. One of the problems that traditional books have that REAL ebooks can solve is the maintenance of links in the books. As we know we live in an ever changing world. Web and email addresses change on a daily basis, it seems. So there I am with a link to some interesting information and the link is no good. A broken link, if you will

If the REAL ebook is managed properly, you can avoid or limit this problem. You can create an online directory of links for your ebook. Then you setup a link monitoring process and a link maintenance routine and maintain a valid list of links in the directory. I call this the Goodlinks concept. Just include a link to the online directory in your ebook and you won’t lose your audience.

In fact you can draw the reader to your site and market other products and services. Of course, the beauty of the REAL ebook is you can republish it at any time with the updated links and information.

I believe the REAL ebook can help solve the read-back problems that all readers are faced with at one time or another. I watched a reader the other day try to deal with a novel that was riddled with acronyms and abbreviations. It was getting to be such a problem that half way through the ebook, she actually started writing them down on a separate piece of paper to reference later. Here is an example. “He called USAMRIID for advice.” I give up.

Other Considerations to Ponder
Covers
Sometimes the traditional book cover doesn’t work for the ebook. In this case, size does matter. That great book cover that you had designed is going to go small. On-line distributors try to catch the eye of would-be readers with thumbnail covers. The problem is that sometimes colors get in the way, the type size and face doesn’t look good small and the art gets distorted. A professional designer can solve this problem. You need one that can make the cover work in both environments. Check with our host for this site, Joel Friedlander.

One of the other cover issues is with the effort to get the prospective reader to view a sample of the ebook; some distributors will put a label over the right hand corner of the thumbnail which obscures that portion of the cover. A good designed cover will keep important information viewable like the author’s name or even the title of the book. I saw that in my study.

Copyright
REAL ebooks should include, with their copyright notice, the page number source document for the ebook, especially if the book has various editions. This is relatively a new process but it helps readers coordinate content between the paper version and ebook. This is increasingly important in the educational environment. Students using both hardbound and the ebook versions need a reference point sometimes.

Samples
One of the current ebook marketing strategies is to allow the prospective reader to read a sample of the ebook before buying. All distributors seem to go at this sample process differently but at the end of the day they want to provide the prospective buyer with something that can help with the buying decision. Most of them use a percentage basis.

The REAL ebook concept can help with this process but there has to be a rearranging of the book’s sections if the process is automated like most of them are.

Let me start with an example. I reviewed the buy page on Amazon for each book in my study. I choose one ebook in my study and downloaded the sample, comparing it to the full length version. Here’s what I found.

The ebook sample was in the same section sequence as the paper version. I know there is a traditional way to setup a book. This sample was no exception. It started with the cover followed by the title page, the table of contents, the dedication, the copyright page and a list of the writer’s other works.

So you ask what’s wrong with this. If this sample was going to help sell my ebook, it probably failed. The sample was 80 device pages long but the viewer had to page through 24 pages before they could start reading the book to make a decision.

I believe if you are going to use the sample as a sales tool, there are some slight changes you can make. I would include the cover and the title page with an abbreviated TOC up front along with the author’s other books with buy links. Also I would include upfront the author’s website and contact information. Move the copyright page, dedications and credits to the end of the ebook.

If you get to setup your own sample, keep this in mind. REAL ebooks and their samples should give the prospect what they need to make a decision and only that. A sample doesn’t need a complete table of content. This ebook had 80 chapters which took up four complete device pages and the kicker was; the links to the last 76 chapters were no good. Make the sample simple. Get the reader to your content as quickly as possible.

Bring on the REAL ebook
In most cases, ebooks are still just copies of the paper version but there is a huge opportunity to improve the ebook reading experience. Creative book design and digital links can help us move the ebook experience forward in acceptance.

Currently we have a problem. Let’s face it. Until traditional publishers start to treat ebooks as separate products with different properties and requirements, we have not taken advantage of the digital product. Their approach is simple but self-serving. Get it out the door. Get the copy into an ebook format, charge a higher price than needed and watch the money fall to their bottom line.

The advantage should go to the self-publisher because they control the process. They have the ability to correct the problems easily and make something really special.

Seek a professional to help you through the process if you’re really serious about marketing your ebook.

What do you think about the REAL ebook concept? Is adding links to an already completed product just too much work or would it move your book to the leading edge of ebook world and improve the readers enjoyment?

View my website: HBSystems Publications
Specializing in the ebook experience
Or EMAIL at: jrm@hbspub.com
Or go to my blog: The eBook Author’s Corner
LinkedIn Profile: James Moushon
Author: Call Off The Dogs, a rendered eBook

This blog was first published at the The Book Designer by Joel Friedlander.

Joel Friedlander is a self-published author and book designer who blogs about book design, self-publishing and the indie publishing life at TheBookDesigner.com. He’s also the proprietor of Marin Bookworks, where he helps publishers and authors who decide to publish get to market on time and on budget with books that are both properly constructed and beautiful to read.

It was posted again on the Passive Voice blog hosted by the Passive Guy.
Together the two have generated over 100 comments.