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Off the Press Newsletter
July 2006
Inside Off the Press |
15 New Reviews Posted What's New in our Book Store Meet the Author Interview with Judy Azar LeBlanc In the Forum, Our Members Are Talking Fourteen New Book GiveAway Contests for July |
Newly Posted Reviews |
More Memoirs of a Papillon: Diary of a Mad Dog |
More Memoirs of a Papillon: Diary of a Mad Dog Dennis Fried Genre: Humor/Satire Reviewer: Dennis Higgs Not having read the first set of memoirs from a Papillon, I quite honestly was not looking forward to reading this "Diary". Although a firm lover of dogs myself, it bothers me when people put voice to dogs and make them little sentinels of human activity. This rather curmudgeonly trend of mine is further exacerbated when the dog in question is some overly cute little kick dog, as is the case with Genevieve, the Papillon [Read Entire Review Now] |
The Good I Stand On |
The Good I Stand On David Tucholski Genre: Action/Adventure Reviewer: Gina Kaysen Fernandes The Virginia back county offers endless hours of entertainment for Ben Grogan and his younger brother, Christopher. The boys have big plans for summer break, discovering the most remote and mysterious areas in their small home town of Venice. Their bossy neighborhood friend, Martin also joins in the daily adventures. [Read Entire Review Now] |
The Diet Code |
The Diet Code Stephen Lanzalotta Genre: Non-Fiction: Health & Beauty Reviewer: Carla Wakeman The Diet Code shamelessly tags on to the coat tails of The Da Vinci Code, and asks the question, "What would Leonardo eat?" Like everyone else of his time, Da Vinci ate fresh, organic, simply prepared meals that were tasty and nutritious. No chips and ice cream for the Renaissance man (or woman). [Read Entire Review Now] |
The Monsters: Mary Shelley & The Curse of Frankenstein |
The Monsters: Mary Shelley & The Curse of Frankenstein Dorothy Hoobler, Thomas Hoobler Genre: Historical Fiction Reviewer: Shauna Leavitt THE MONSTERS is a gripping, in-depth study of Mary Shelley and the four writers who were with her the night Frankenstein was born. [Read Entire Review Now] |
Blackout |
Blackout Annie Solomon Genre: Romantic Suspense Reviewer: Monica Poling In BLACKOUT, Annie Solomon continues to firmly define her place as one of today’s top romantic suspense novelists. The book opens as Margo Scott wakes up with no memory of the past month, and only shadowy perceptions of her life prior to this moment. She fast learns that even the things she believes to be true are in fact mostly false. [Read Entire Review Now] |
The Quiet Canadians |
The Quiet Canadians Warren Thompson Genre: General Fiction Reviewer: Daniel Cassler THE QUIET CANADIANS is the story of a Canadian special services “super” agent who has been targeted for assassination by his own government. After escaping two attempts on his life, Jim Bains, code name T8, becomes determined to find the reason behind the double-cross. [Read Entire Review Now] |
Belly |
Belly Lisa Selin Davis Genre: General Fiction Reviewer: M.E. Wood It's August 2001 in Saratoga Springs, Florida. It's hot and fifty-nine-year-old Belly O'Leary is being released from prison. He was sentenced six years for illegal gambling in his establishment, The War Bar; but got off early after four years for good behaviour. [Read Entire Review Now] |
How to Set his Thighs on Fire |
How to Set his Thighs on Fire Kate White Genre: Health/Self-Help Reviewer: Monica Poling I admit that I do read Cosmo magazine from time to time. While I don’t subscribe, the headlines telling me how I can improve a) my life, b) my sex life or c) my hair style are generally too hard for me to resist. [Read Entire Review Now] |
Kitty and the Midnight Hour |
Kitty and the Midnight Hour Carrie Vaughn Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy Reviewer: Keith May Despite the cheesy title and cheesier cover art of “Kitty and the Midnight Hour” by Carrie Vaughn, it was well worth the trouble. (I learned years ago after reading “Burning Water” by Mercedes Lackey, that you literally cannot judge a book by it’s cover. That book was quite good, but the cover was awful.) [Read Entire Review Now] |
The Reflexology Atlas |
The Reflexology Atlas Bernard Kolster, Astrid Waskowiak Genre: Health/Self-Help Reviewer: Monica Poling When you hurt yourself, whether through a fall or by bumping against something, you instinctively, as a reflex, rub and massage the part of the body that hurts.” [Read Entire Review Now] |
Out of the Night |
Out of the Night Robin T. Popp Paranormal Romance Reviewer: Keith May I was a bit dubious about reading Robin T. Popp’s Paranormal Romance OUT OF THE NIGHT because I’ve experimented with a few titles before and been sorely disappointed. They were basically Bodice Rippers where the vixen was pining for another neck-bite, in hopes of eventually being “turned” so they can “live” happily ever after now that she’s found her True Love. Uninteresting, to say the least. [Read Entire Review Now] |
Soul Matters |
Soul Matters Yolonda Tonette Sanders Genre: Fiction: African American Fiction Reviewer: Gina Kaysen Fernandes From the outside looking in, Wendy Phillips has it all. She’s blessed with an attractive, successful husband, a meaningful career as a teacher and a baby on the way. Wendy shares a close relationship with her tight-knit family who she can always lean on for support. [Read Entire Review Now] |
The General and the Jaguar |
The General and the Jaguar Eileen Welsome Genre: History Reviewer: Dennis Higgs From the subtitle, I expected "The General and the Jaguar" to be a blow-by-blow account of attacks and counterattacks as the American general chased the wily bandito through the deserts and mountains of the US-Mexico border. [Read Entire Review Now] |
My Lucky Star |
My Lucky Star Joe Keenan Genre: Gay & Lesbian Reviewer: Ruston Harker An American mathematician coined the term “Butterfly Effect,” which means something small and seemingly insignificant as the beating of a butterfly’s wings can grow into a much larger disturbance elsewhere. MY LUCKY STAR is full of trivial occurrences, a small un-truth or bad timing, which grows into riotous storms of conflict, scandal and gossip. [Read Entire Review Now] |
The Untelling |
The Untelling Tayari Jones Genre: General Fiction Reviewer: Monica Poling There’s a certain beauty in watching a raindrop trickle along a window pain. There’s an almost Zen-like satisfaction in watching it spatter, then slide slowly down the window till it no longer exists. Reading THE UNTELLING, the second book written by Tayari Jones, produces a similar type of Zen feeling. [Read Entire Review Now] |
What's New in |
Weekends, Lindy Hudis When a sprawling, dysfunctional family meets for a reunion at an opulent resort in a sleepy California coastal town, everyone is looking forward to a quiet weekend of rest, recreation and catching up. What follows instead is three days of unbridled sex, suspense, and murder that will forever change the families involved.
Read an excerpt from Weekends now. A Thin Line, Suzannah Safi  Alvairo, the handsome Spanish doctor, and Alaina, the wildly beautiful Australian, share a love-hate relationship. He is an adopted son, and she is the estranged natural daughter of his father. Between them, they share a deep secret from her past that threatens the life of Alvairo's father as it blights their own relationship. They also share a savage and irresistible attraction that veers between torture and love.Read an excerpt from A Thin Line now. Colored Snow Flakes, Helen Downey  A young girl in the sixties is out of touch with the Vietnam War, she is having those growing pains and struggles with parental rules so she writes. Through her poetry we get a glimpse of what it was like to be afraid of the unknown entities of war then while coping with life and death situations. She also gives you an unfolding picture of a young girl trying to deal with life, falling in love, and leaving home to face more facets of life around her. Her poetry continues to unfold before you while her life blossoms from a young girl to a mature woman. Through her work you will be able to relate at any age the struggles of a young person to understand life and to find love. Read an excerpt from Colored Snow Flakes now. Camille Claudel, A Novel, Alma Bond  Camille Claudel, an old lady confined to the Asylum for the Insane in Montdevergues, France, reviews her life. She says, “I hope my memoir will illustrate the heights of passion Rodin and I reached, and unravel the mystery of why they were transformed into vinegar and ashes.” The tragedy is not only hers, she adds, but that of many female artists who found it impossible to achieve the success of men artists of lesser ability. The book illuminates her childhood and the rise of her career in the setting of her ecstatic life with Rodin. Their ten years of bliss are followed by the disintegration of her love for him, and its evolution into hatred and psychosis. The last third of the book describes the horrors of Claudel’s life in the asylum, ending with the highly original manner in which she comes to terms psychologically with Rodin and the other important figures in her life.
Read an excerpt from Camille Claudel, A Novel now. Many Faces to Many Places, Judy Azar LeBlanc  Happiness, fear, loneliness and love are all parts of a state of being that every person experiences in their lifetime. Many Faces to Many Places is a spell-binding three-part animated story of a courageous spirit who, with her unique gift of communicating with nature, takes an extraordinary journey through a world of timeless knowledge.
Read an excerpt from Many Faces to Many Places now. Past Imperfect, Present Progressive, Kerry Wood  Wood traces his childhood in the last Depression and WWII to adulthood and seniority through finding humor in such unlikely realms as Shakespearean tragedy, grammar, prosody, spelling bees, and service in the lowest ranks of the U.S. Army. Moments of melancholy punctuate a lifetime of exuberant playfulness for a four-year-old in a military boarding school, an awkward adolescent, a Yale undergraduate, a 37-year high-school teacher, and a survivor of stroke and cancer.Read an excerpt from Past Imperfect, Present Progressive now. My Land Is Your Land, Debra Fulton White  After a six-year split, former college sweethearts Eric Jordan and Sarah Knowles reunite in the most unexpected of places—the dark recesses of a broken-down elevator in an abandoned office building. Passion reignites Eric’s spirit, making him determined to win back the affections of both God and Sarah. But current trials and tribulations in their hometown of Oaktown, California, severely test the couple’s renewed commitment to each other. Read an excerpt from My Land Is Your Land now. Death to Fool Boys Incorporated, Kenner Bisch  A string of serial FBI killings occur in the 'dog eat dog' environment of the global War on Terrorism. Covert military and CIA operations against terrorists are ongoing while the FBI tries to capture the person or group responsible for the 'Geronimo-like killings.' As the story unfolds, the plot thickens and the onslaught of torturous, brutal, and bloody murders of FBI Agents intensifies into an all out attack on the FBI. Clues point in all directions as to who is responsible for the serial FBI killings.Read an excerpt from Death to Fool Boys Incorporated now. Three Weeks Last Spring, Victoria Howard  Skye Dunbar needs to put a disastrous affair behind her, but when she rents a small cabin in Washington State, she never expects to be accused of computer hacking. Marine biologist Jedediah Walker must investigate the large number of dead marine life washing up on the island beaches. And he has another problem – an unexpected, beautiful and suspicious new tenant renting his cabin. Walker suspects that chemicals are being deliberately dumped in Puget Sound, and later, when someone hacks into his computer, he realises it is no coincidence and sets out to find out more about his mysterious new tenant.Read an excerpt from Three Weeks Last Spring now. Kwatee: Secret of the USS Kwatee, R. Allen Downey  Set sail for suspense when a supernatural ship goes on an evil mission. The suspense thriller "Kwatee" shadows the ship from the Far East to the Middle East to Europe—wherever the Kwatee sails, plagues, earthquakes, wars and destruction ransack the earth. What is the deadly secret of this devilish ship? And can the Kwatee be stopped before it destroys again? Those are just some of the questions in "Kwatee."Read an excerpt from Kwatee: Secret of the USS Kwatee now. Liquid Kisses, Mocha Sistah  Lyrical ectasy as put forth by the pen of Mocha Sistah captures your mind, body and sensual spirit with lovely poems that excite and crawl through your being. This collection is not for the faint, or the shy, it is designed for mature adults with a taste of fine literary erotic short stories and poetry that will awaken the passions within you.Read an excerpt from Liquid Kisses now. Sea Changes: A Novel, Bill Branley  A novel about grief, hurricanes, hiking, Pablo Neruda, Ella Fitzgerald, and two Northwest baby boomers who refuse to give up on love. They meet on the Seattle ferry. Peggy is passionate about the environment; Raoul is a lawyer who defends industrial polluters. The chemistry is irresistable.Read an excerpt from Sea Changes: A Novel now. The Ride of Our Lives: Roadside Lessons of an American Family, Mike Leonard  NBC Today Show correspondent,
Mike Leonard's cross-country family trip in a laugh-out-loud look at a transcontinental tour
intended to give his parents one last glimpse of the places that meant the most to them
over the years plus a few they had never been to before. What lies at the heart of this memoir
and the journey it describes (something that Leonard discovered en route) is the recognition that
families may be missing out on their own legacies—the stories that reside in each of us, especially
our parents, that explain who we are, where we come from and where we might be heading.Read an excerpt from The Ride of Our Lives: Roadside Lessons of an American Family now. Better Days Ahead, Charlie Valentine  It is America in the 1950s. Four different families play out their individual lives in different parts of the country. Circumstances will draw the families to California, where no one can predict the high-stakes drama and devastating results that ensue when their lives intersect. This tale, the first in a trilogy, follows the families as they struggle with their lives, loves, and longings. It is ultimately a story of possibilities and hope ... of BETTER DAYS AHEAD ...
Read an excerpt from Better Days Ahead now. The Looming Fog, Rosemary Esehagu  THE LOOMING FOG is about life in rural Nigeria as seen through the eyes of an abandoned intersexed child—a child with both male and female parts. As the child struggles to establish its identity and role in the village, the stories of other villagers and their struggles to fit into, or break free of, their assigned roles are revealed.It is a heartbreaking story of poverty, powerlessness, and a search for a voice. Read an excerpt from The Looming Fog now. What If?, Gunnar Jensen  Where do we come from? Who are we? Where are we going? It is important to understand our role in the universe and the purpose of our lives. We also want to live our lives being happy, healthy and prosperous. We want peace, love and harmony as well as action, challenges and fun. This book is a series of questions and thoughts regarding existential and personal issues. Hopefully you will find some inspiration to contemplate your own answers.Read an excerpt from What If? now. The Magic & the Mundane: A Guide for the Writer's Journey, P. June Diehl  The writer’s world is both magical, the art of writing-and mundane, the craft. Journey with your guide, Esumera, muse extraordinaire, and her feline companion, Mystique, as they inspire you to explore the magic of writing and elevate the mundane. Bonus! Included is a Writer’s Book of Days, which includes over 350 unique and inspiring writing prompts. Become the writer you’re meant to be!Read an excerpt from The Magic & the Mundane: A Guide for the Writer's Journey now. No Woman is Allergic to Diamonds, Macabee Dean  One-liners, wisdoms, proverbs, quotable quotes--more than creative writing; they are a form of "creative thinking". They come natural to most persons whose brains have not been stunted by too much brain-washing called education; they can be learned by anybody willing to tap and develop their dormant thoughts.Each one offers a penetrating insight into the foibles of the people and society that surround you. If you study one a day, even briefly, you will gain the equivalent of a doctorate in wisdom. Read an excerpt from No Woman is Allergic to Diamonds now. Psycho Psychic, Betsy Gallup 
Eva knows all your secrets. She can tell the future, but she can't stop the string of murders following her.When a minor accident draws Kate Libson and Lily Banks into Eva's world, Kate tries desperately to free her friend from Eva's deadly grasp before it's too late. Read an excerpt from Psycho Psychic now. 13 Days, Raven W. Night 
Sometimes revenge is carried out beyond the grave. Two men, John Savior and Colonel Justice, are searching for a serial killer that never leaves behind a clue and that nobody has ever seen. The killer is ghostlike and the murders are gruesome. The twist resides in the sanity of the men chasing the killer. One of them has a troubled past and the other has a more devious secret. In this tainted tale, nightmares become doorways to possible realities and each reality has its own set of rules. Col. Justice, who works for an organization known as the Service, has spent the past two years searching for this serial killer and mourning the abrupt loss of his wife. A researcher, she discovered a way to cross dimensions, but when she came back shewas not alone. Something came back with her: something determined to destroy lives.
Read an excerpt from 13 Days now. |
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Meet the Author |
Judy Azar LeBlanc--I Said I'd Never Write Again When I was in the "career" time of my life, I used to
write proposals for the US Government Defense Agency. It was so much pressure that I
said when I retire, I am going to throw away my "red" pen and computer, and NEVER WRITE
AGAIN! Well, that lasted about 10 years.Meet Judy Azar LeBlanc now View a complete list of all our Meet the Author interviews now. |
Our Favorite |
TOM HOWARD / JOHN H. REID POETRY CONTEST
Postmark deadline: September 30$3,500 in prizes, including a top prize of $1,000. Winning entries will be published. Submit poems in any style or genre. You may submit work that has been published or won prizes elsewhere, as long as you own the anthology and online publication rights. Unpublished work is also welcome. Entry fee is $6 for every 25 lines, payable to Winning Writers. Judges: J.H. Reid, D.C. Konrad. Submit online or mail to Winning Writers, Attn: Tom Howard Poetry Contest, 351 Pleasant Street, PMB 222, Northampton, MA 01060. Winning Writers is one of the "101 Best Web Sites for Writers" (Writer's Digest, 2005 & 2006). More information: www.winningwriters.com/tompoetry Gather.com & Amazon to Promote Unpublished Writers 
It's your time to be discovered! Gather.com's latest writing contest is a short-form
competition that's enabling unpublished authors to sell their work on Amazon.com for the first
time. Email your previously unpublished entry (fiction, nonfiction or poetry - 2,000 to 10,000 words)
to Gather's Amazon Shorts Group. It will be published online for two weeks while Gather.com members
judge which winning entries will be sold on Amazon.com/Shorts. This is a rare opportunity to get
your work and your name in front of Gather's literate membership and Amazon's devoted readership.
For full contest details visit
http://amazonshorts.gather.com/index.jsp?ref=sa19 today! |
OnceWritten.com Writing Contest Deadlines |
Writing Prompt Contest Prize: $100 Fee: $5 Deadline: July 31, 2006 For complete information, visit the OnceWritten.com Writing Prompt Contest page now. Midnight Hour Halloween Fiction Contest Prize: $500 Fee: $15 Deadline: August 31, 2006 For complete information, visit the OnceWritten.com Midnight Hour Contest page now. |
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This Week We're Talking About. . . What are your favorite books about writing? www.oncewritten.com/Community/viewtopic.php?t=122 |
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or bloggers can use on their website completely free of charge. Instant Writing Prompt Generator To give your users cool writing prompts, visit our Instant Writing Prompt Generator at www.oncewritten.com/FreeWebsiteContent.php Writing Contest Graph To keep a regularly updated list of upcoming contest deadlines on your website, visit our Writing Contest Graph page at www.oncewritten.com/FreeWebsiteContent.php |
Resources for Writers |
FUNDSFORWRITERS C. Hope Clark of The Shy Writer and FundsforWriters fame has a reputation for tempting ebooks reference books for writers. See why they sell fast! GRANTS FOR THE SERIOUS WRITER, THE NO FEE CONTEST BOOK, SHORT & SWEET: Markets for Fillers, JUST HIT SEND, and many more! Writer's Digest selected FundsforWriters as one of its 101 Best Web Sites for Writers - six years in a row! Come see why 18,000 readers love us. www.fundsforwriters.com |
Enter to Win Free Books |
We've got a whole new set of books for our July book giveaways, so check them out now.
To enter to win a copy of any or all of these books, visit
www.oncewritten.com/EnterToWinFreeBooks.php now. (Remember you may enter
each book giveaway, but to win, you must enter each contest separately).
Want to See Your Book Listed Here? Each book giveaway contest generates more than 1,000 page views per month. Promote your book to more than 7,000 avid book lovers around the world. Listings start at just $15 for a lifetime spot at OnceWritten.com. Find out how you can Promote Your Book now. |
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