Category Archives: Non-Fiction

Book Blast: Pieces of Me by Daron Kenneth

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PiecesofMe-PUYB

About the Book, Pieces of Me

Pieces of Me

Pieces of Me is Daron Kenneth’s newest offering of poetry that takes the reader on the real, and often surreal, ride through the mindscape of the author’s soul. Pieces of Me is an electric journey into some of life’s richest and most memorable moments.

Buy a Copy from AuthorHouse

Pieces of Me at AuthorHouse

About the author, Daron Kenneth

Daron Kenneth, a teacher, writer, play wright and poet gives us his current collection of poetry and insightful observations about the things that mean the most: life, love, friendships and relationships.

Enter to Win a $25 Gift Card from Daron Kenneth and Pump Up Your Book

Terms and Conditions

  • By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.
  • One winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter to receive one $25 Amazon Gift Certificate.
  • This giveaway begins January 7 and ends on January 21.
  • Winners will be contacted via email on January 22, 2014.
  • Winner has 48 hours to reply.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Guest Post by William Buisch, author of The Ark’s Cargo

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About the book, The Ark’s Cargo

The Ark's Cargo by William Buisch

This memoir describes the challenges a young man faces in achieving his dream of becoming a veterinarian. Even a period of homelessness and limited resources do not interfere with his commitment to achieve success. And this is only the beginning! Soon he is faced with the challenges of working in the jungles of Panama, facing the ravages of a roaming black jaguar and the defenses of a native village against the entrance of man or beast.

Then, how about Haiti, where the Tonton Macoute militias believe in instant justice, rarely valuing life, or Columbia, where the drug lords have absolute rule. As if that isn’t enough, consider working in the African continent, along the tales surrounding the first shipment of Charolais cattle to the United States or the many facets of working with the wild mustangs in Colorado. Each exciting adventure is told with suspense, drama, and humor! Enjoy!

Buy a copy of your own!

The Ark’s Cargo at Trafford Publishing

About the author, William Buisch

Inspired by biblical passages and teachings, the author cherished his work as an international veterinarian. His passion for improving the health and welfare of domesticated and wild animals is most noteworthy. Working within diverse cultures, he observed vast health improvements in animals and, as a result, in people living nearby.

Guest Post from William Buisch

If you like romance, love, excitement, drama, adventure, exotic tales/tails and situational comedy, I have just the right book for you! And then with the ever present animalistic behavior and the discussion of male prowess while being, a bit bullish at times I am sure you will appreciate and love this collection of real life stories. Don’t be sheepish or cackle at the story line! But rather, enjoy the horsing around and the descriptions of unusual harems and the sexuality of a semen collection facility. All of this and more is included in the award winning book entitled, The Ark’s Cargo: For the Love of Animals!

The memoir is about an International Veterinarian who worked in poverty stricken areas of the world including that of working in Haiti, the jungles of Panama, in Colombia in areas under the control of drug lords, in Mali, along the road to Timbuktu and in Kenya where the Maasi believe they own all of the cattle in the world.

The stories include efforts to improve the health and welfare of both wild and domesticated animals in order to improve the well being of the human populations living near by. While the episodes may get a little wild at times, each adventure doesn’t necessarily achieve the success hoped for. Nevertheless, the lessons learned and the relationships developed established long lasting effects of international trust and respect that will last for years to come!

Having worked with the Wild Mustangs in Colorado and Nevada may be the highlight for some. But facing the terror of a black jaguar, or being “attacked” by a Battalion of Troops, or facing a native with a shield and spear aimed at one’s heart; will often attract the attention of others. And then there is the matter of the ever “screwing” Screwworm Fly; the experience of shipping cattle in a school bus; or the experience of being an unseasoned seaman in the North Atlantic. All I can say is; this is only the beginning! And as such, do enjoy!!!

Review: The Blind Masseuse, by Alden Jones

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About the book, The Blind Masseuse: A Traveler’s Memoir from Costa Rica to Cambodia

The Blind Masseuse

The Blind Masseuse: A Traveler’s Memoir from Costa Rica to Cambodia is both an eloquent memoir of the author’s journeys through Central America, Southeast Asia and Egypt and a thought-provoking exploration of the role travelers play as outsiders in cultures they inhabit temporarily.

What, asks Jones, distinguishes between a traveler and a tourist? Is it acceptable to “consume” another culture as a means of entertainment? Especially if doing so helps support an oppressive government?

Woven into a suspenseful narrative about the author’s own coming of age amid a defining wanderlust and a gender-neutral approach to romance, The Blind Masseuse gives an addictive, transporting look at the many aspects of life, civilization and travel that are neither black nor white.

Buy a copy from Amazon.

About the author, Alden Jones

Alden Jones

Alden Jones is an award-winning writer and faculty member at Emerson College’s department of Writing, Literature and Publishing. Since 1995 she’s combined teaching and writing with extensive travel to destinations such as Cuba and Costa Rica, where she lived for extended periods, and France, Italy, Japan, Cambodia, Burma and Egypt.

Her awards include the latest New American Fiction Prize for her forthcoming short story collection Unaccompanied Minors. Her short stories and travel essays have appeared in numerous publications including The Iowa Review, Prairie Schooner and The Best American Travel Writing.

Connect with Alden

Twitter: @jones_alden
Goodreads: Alden Jones

My Thoughts:

Whenever I read travel memoirs, it’s with mixed feelings. Part of me is excited to live vicariously through the author’s experience. Another part of me is envious of that experience. Reading The Blind Masseuse, both of those parts were actively engaged.

Alden Jones writes a vivid story. You could feel the heat, and taste the lard, in Costa Rica, feel the motion of a cruise ship full of students, and taste the cold Coke in Nicaragua (not necessarily in that order).

Likewise, her personal journey from blissful single life toward a more committed one, and eventual marriage, were written with candor and enough detail for the reader to feel like Alden was a good friend, without that story competing with the travelogue.

At one point in The Blind Masseuse Jones mentions that it was Spaulding Gray’s monologue Swimming to Cambodia that sparked her interest in Cambodia in the first place. I, too, am a big fan of that monologue, and Gray’s search for the perfect moment. (To this day, I have his line, “He won’t drown; he’s from South Africa!” in my head whenever I hear about water accidents.) That commonality really helped me connect to the author, and to her story.

I also really responded to the author’s distinction between travelers and tourists. As someone who began as a tourist and would like to be a traveler, I really appreciated the nuances she demonstrated, though I had to chuckle when she found herself in a decidedly “touristy” role.

If you want a travel memoir that just tells you where to go and what to see, this book is probably not for you. If, on the other hand, you want to feel as if you’re traveling with Alden Jones, you will love The Blind Masseuse.

Goes well with An ice cold coke and a bean and cheese burrito.

Spotlight On: Through the Withering Storm, by Leif Gregersen

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About the book, Through the Withering Storm:

Through the Withering Storm

Mental illness is something that is a great deal more common than many think. Statistics show that 1 in 5 North Americans will require treatment for a major disorder at some point in their lives. This means either you or a family member or friend close to you are very likely to be stricken down by a failure of our most essential and complicated organ in our bodies.

When I was first treated for a mental health issue there was so much stigma and misunderstanding about mental illness that I completely denied I had a problem. Despite that mental health issues ran in my family, no one talked about them, everyone shunned those who were different, and as a result I wasted years of my life not understanding that there was help available and that I didn’t just have to ‘tough things out’. My denial and pain was so bad at one point I tried to join the military during the first Gulf War just to find a way out of life, I thought I would either gain the discipline needed to overcome my illness or die trying. I needed neither.

Some find my story funny, some find it sad, but it is a story that is being played out among more people than you may think right now, right around all of us.

Depression, Schizophrenia, Anxiety, Addiction. It‘s something we can no longer avoid, especially with America now deploying and redeploying troops en masse to combat zones where even the strongest among us can succumb to the pressure of such a situation. It is my hope that those who read this book can walk away from it having had a look inside the mind of someone who lost his mind and one day regained it, but not without first going through incredible pain and suffering. This suffering doesn‘t have to happen. What has to happen is that attitudes and knowledge have to improve.

Buy a copy from Amazon.

About the author, Leif Gregersen:

Through the Withering Storm

From a young age I showed promise in writing and poetry, and did well in school. Even in grade five I used to draw and write stories for my own comic books and post them on the bulletin board in class. When I got to high school, I began to read voraciously, and though I failed my first academic English course, I took continually more advanced courses and got higher and higher grades in them.

I was hopeful to attend University and study English, but before I finished school I was stricken with a severe breakdown and had to be hospitalized where I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. From that point, family and friend relationships broke down and I ended up sort of drifting until I signed up for Flying School in Vancouver, BC.
In the middle of this training, I took off for the US with a friend and tried to join the US Army as a helicopter pilot.

All of these adventures are detailed in my memoir, which covers my life from the age of 13 to 21 which was the point at which I decided I had to stay in one place (I had returned to Edmonton near my home town and where my parents lived) and I took treatment for my disorder and began to write seriously.

I spent some years just studying and writing poetry and then moved on to short stories, and my book, Through The Withering Storm is actually partially short stories I wrote and collected at that time. Now, since I turned 30 I have been living in an assisted-living house for males with Psychiatric Disorders and life has gone quite well.

I landed a great job doing labour work/stage hand/security work for the stage and screen Union, IATSE. I have seen many concerts, worked closely with some big stars, and made enough money to continue writing and self-publishing my books, which have already paid for themselves in sales for the most part.

Watch the trailer for Through the Withering Storm, by Leif Gregersen:

Enter to win:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Spotlight on Hopefully Ever After by Linda Barrett

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About the Book, Hopefully Ever After

Hopefully-Ever-After-200x300

Linda Barrett could be any one of us. She’s an ordinary woman living a wonderfully ordinary life – husband, kids, teaching, writing – totally unprepared for Murphy’s Law on steroids. In February 2001, everything goes wrong. She discovers her breast cancer exactly when she starts a brand new teaching job which is exactly the same time as the release of her very first published novel. Secrets must be kept to protect her fledging career as a writer. No secrets in the classroom however. Her adult students, preparing for the GED exam, out her in five minutes when they spot her wig!

Nine years later, Linda is fully recovered from her lumpectomy, chemo and radiation when breast cancer hits a second time. She is no longer a random one-in-eight woman who develops this disease. Blood tests show she’s a target of faulty genes, a carrier of the BRCA 1 gene mutation. Without drastic measures, she’d be susceptible to a third or fourth cancer hit. Murphy’s Law once again comes into play. This second time around coincides with a thousand mile relocation from Houston to Tampa. Putting a house on the market while handling a double mastectomy, implant prep, and six rounds of chemo is not for the faint of heart. Linda’s heart is not faint as she implores: “Do house hunters think we’re part of HGTV? Real homes aren’t perfect!”

At the heart of this memoir, however, is a love story. Cancer is merely the vehicle that exposes a mature marriage in full bloom. With her Knight-in-Shining-Tinfoil at her side, Linda and Michael Barrett meet the challenge of two enemies: cancer and fear. Their fight is hard won, but with cancer now in their rearview mirror, they are relaxed and laughing again. As Linda says, “Life is good. After all the turmoil, we’ve landed in a soft place. Friends and family are all around, and I expect to live out a natural lifespan however long that may be.”

Everyone deserves a Hopfully Ever After, and that’s what you’ll find here.

Buy the book from Amazon.

About the Author, Linda Barrett

Linda-Barrett

Linda Barrett is the author of 13 novels of contemporary romance. She’s earned many industry awards through Romance Writers of America, including the Holt Medallion, The Award of Excellence and the Write Touch Reader’s award. Family Interrupted is her first women’s fiction story. A graduate of Hunter College, Linda now lives in the Tampa area with her husband. They have three grown sons and the most adorable, intelligent, super-duper grandchildren ever!

Connect with Linda Barrett:

Website: Linda-Barrett.com
Facebook: Linda Barrett

In their Words: Guest Post from Tami Goldstein

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Tami Goldstein’s book Coming Through the Fog may be about her daughter’s journey through autism, but it’s she who wrote the story. She was kind enough to write a guest post for me:

The Story Behind the Story

I have no training as a writer and the story Coming Through the Fog was an emotional, all consuming, financially training account that played out over a 13 year process from diagnosis to Functioning Recovery and independent living. I have 3 storage containers with information, medical, psychological, educational and the training that I took to understand the disability and how my daughter presented. Heather’s Occupational Therapist, Sue Kratz, continued for years to encourage me to write Heather’s story and I had many failed attempts.

In the spring of 2012 a good friend of mine, Cheryl “Smitty” Smith a 30 year retired school teacher familiar with Heather’s story and my inability to get it on paper, gave me a cassette tape recorder with a bunch of tapes and said, “Tell me Heather’s story. Nine months later, Coming Through the Fog was published.

Though it is Heather’s story, we walked this journey together. She understands how difficult the journey was and feels as strongly as I do about the need to reach out and help other families.

Reading Coming Through the Fog will make it easier for others to navigate the world of autism spectrum disorders and provide tools inspiration and hope for their journey.

About Coming Through the Fog

Coming Through the Fog
A mother tells the journey of her daughter’s recovery from Autism and Sensory Processing Disorder to Functioning Recovery and independent living, giving tips to parents on how to navigate the medical and educational domain. This story is an example of the unique obstacles facing a parent raising a child with Autism. The challenges they face getting supports. What is Sensory Processing Disorder, CranioSacral Therapy and Bio-Medical Therapy, and what roles they play on the road to Functioning Recovery and independent living? See actual projective trials pertaining to sensory supports. Is educational discrimination the reason there is difficulty getting help in school? As this story unfolds it provides useful tips to other parents to help them on their journey with their child. This story is notable because this mother’s daughter was successful overcoming numerous obstacles while providing useful tools, inspiration and hope to others.

Purchase:

AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE

pump-divider-general

About Tami Goldstein:

Tami Goldstein

This journey begins with a mother’s love for her daughter. After learning her daughter was on the Autism Spectrum Tami began to tirelessly educate herself in the sciences of: Behavioral Health, Child Psychology, Human Anatomy, Occupational Health, Pharmacology and Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork and has been a parent advocate for her daughter since 1997.

In 2002, as her knowledge and passion grew, Tami began reaching out to other families in need of help. In 2005, Tami founded the Rock County Autism Support Group and she is the community resource liaison for the SPD (Sensory Processing Disorders) Parent Connections Support Group of Rock County and the surrounding areas. Since 2005, Tami has been State and National Certified in Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork and in 2013 she certified in CranioSacral Therapy with the Upledger Institute in Florida.

Tami currently has two offices where she facilitates CranioSacral Therapy. Approximately 38% of her clientele are children, teenagers and young adults on the Autism Spectrum or with other neuro-developmental delays. When asked to lecture, Tami uses her personal experience, extensive knowledge, and dedication to help others learn about and understand the medical and educational aspects of Autism, Autism Spectrum Disorders and SPD.

You can view her website at http://www.comingthroughthefog.com.

Tami’s latest book is the autism awareness book, Coming Through the Fog.

Connect with Tami:

FACEBOOK

Spotlight on Coming Through the Fog by Tami Goldstein

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About Coming Through the Fog

Coming Through the Fog
A mother tells the journey of her daughter’s recovery from Autism and Sensory Processing Disorder to Functioning Recovery and independent living, giving tips to parents on how to navigate the medical and educational domain. This story is an example of the unique obstacles facing a parent raising a child with Autism. The challenges they face getting supports. What is Sensory Processing Disorder, CranioSacral Therapy and Bio-Medical Therapy, and what roles they play on the road to Functioning Recovery and independent living? See actual projective trials pertaining to sensory supports. Is educational discrimination the reason there is difficulty getting help in school? As this story unfolds it provides useful tips to other parents to help them on their journey with their child. This story is notable because this mother’s daughter was successful overcoming numerous obstacles while providing useful tools, inspiration and hope to others.

Purchase:

AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE

pump-divider-general

About Tami Goldstein:

Tami Goldstein

This journey begins with a mother’s love for her daughter. After learning her daughter was on the Autism Spectrum Tami began to tirelessly educate herself in the sciences of: Behavioral Health, Child Psychology, Human Anatomy, Occupational Health, Pharmacology and Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork and has been a parent advocate for her daughter since 1997.

In 2002, as her knowledge and passion grew, Tami began reaching out to other families in need of help. In 2005, Tami founded the Rock County Autism Support Group and she is the community resource liaison for the SPD (Sensory Processing Disorders) Parent Connections Support Group of Rock County and the surrounding areas. Since 2005, Tami has been State and National Certified in Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork and in 2013 she certified in CranioSacral Therapy with the Upledger Institute in Florida.

Tami currently has two offices where she facilitates CranioSacral Therapy. Approximately 38% of her clientele are children, teenagers and young adults on the Autism Spectrum or with other neuro-developmental delays. When asked to lecture, Tami uses her personal experience, extensive knowledge, and dedication to help others learn about and understand the medical and educational aspects of Autism, Autism Spectrum Disorders and SPD.

You can view her website at http://www.comingthroughthefog.com.

Tami’s latest book is the autism awareness book, Coming Through the Fog.

Connect with Tami:

FACEBOOK

Review: Superior Vocal Health by David Katz (with Giveaway)

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Superior Vocal Health ABOUT SUPERIOR VOCAL HEALTH

What you can expect from this book:

* Comprehensive A-Z list of healing herbs for the Voice Professional

* What herbs to use when and how to prepare each herb for use

* Specific Formulas for specific vocal issues such as tired and over used voice, mucus, sinus congestion, sore throat, and more…

* What drugs negatively affect the voice and natural alternatives to those drugs

* Foods to eat the affect the voice and vocal mechanism

* Sinus Care with cleansing guide and herbs

* What to do when natural solutions for the most pressing Performance and Presentation issues such as performance anxiety, clogged sinuses, chest congestion, mental clarity, and more

Whether you are a professional singer, speaker, teacher, lawyer, DJ, clergy, auctioneer, tour guide or sales person, caring for your voice is THE MOST IMPORTANT thing you can do in your life.

This book is your complete and one stop guide to take care of your voice naturally without drugs.

Purchase Here

Superior Vocal Health

Add to Goodreads:

goodreads

pump-divider-general

My Thoughts:

As a voice actor, podcaster, and singer, I was really excited when the folks at Pump Up Your Book offered me a copy of Superior Vocal Health: Herbs for the Voice and Throat, to review. After all, cider vinegar hot toddies and Throat Coat tea will only take you so far.

At just over 100 pages, you might think this book was too slim to matter. You might even start leafing through it and think any old herbal would give you the same information. On both counts, you would be mistaken.

First, David Aaron Katz has collected a comprehensive list of herbs meant not only to keep the throat in optimum condition, but also to boost energy, fend off illness, and generally improve your well-being. Second, he has included a selection of “recipes” for different herbal infusions meant to target specific issues. Third, he offers a list of “quick fix” suggestions, for when you wake up essentially voiceless and filled with phlegm.

Any ONE of those things would make Superior Vocal Health worth buying and reading, but having them all in once place makes this book an invaluable resource for anyone who uses their voice for more than just talking.

Even better, however, is that Katz presents this information in the friendly tone of someone who knows first-hand the things that singers, professional speakers, and actors go through – because he is one – rather than a dry, dull textbook-y style.

While this is NOT the kind of book one would typically read from cover to cover, it IS a well-written, well-researched resource, and one I’m happy to have learned from.

Goes well with a plate of fruit, and a mug of mint tea with honey and lemon.

Pump Up Your Book and David Aaron Katz are teaming up to give you a chance to win a some great prizes!

Here’s how it works:

Each person will enter this giveaway by liking, following, subscribing and tweeting about this giveaway through the Rafflecopter form placed on blogs throughout the tour. If your blog isn’t set up to accept the form, we offer another way for you to participate by having people comment on your blog then directing them to where they can fill out the form to gain more entries.

This promotion will run from August 5 – October 31. The winner will be chosen randomly by Rafflecopter, contacted by email and announced on November 1, 2013.

Everyone who participates in the Superior Vocal Health virtual book tour is eligible to enter and win.

Visit each blog stop below to gain more entries as the Rafflecopter widget will be placed on each blog for the duration of the tour.

ENTER TO WIN!

Superior Vocal Health Virtual Book Publicity Tour Schedule

————————————————————

Wednesday, August 7 – Guest blogging at Icefairy’s Treasure Chest

Friday, August 9 – Interviewed at Review From Here

Monday, August 12 – Book featured at Plug Your Book

Tuesday, August 13 – Interviewed at Broowaha

Wednesday, August 14 – Book featured at Book Marketing Buzz

Friday, August 16 – Guest blogging at The Writer’s Life

Tuesday, August 20 – Guest blogging at Between the Covers

Wednesday, August 21 – Guest blogging at As the Pages Turn

Friday, August 23 – Guest blogging at Literal Exposure

Monday, August 26 – Interviewed at Straight from the Author’s Mouth

Tuesday, August 27 – Guest blogging at Litearily Speaking

Wednesday, August 28 – Interviewed at Beyond the Books

Thursday, August 29 – Guest blogging at The Story Behind the Book

Friday, August 30 – Interviewed at Pump Up Your Book

Wednesday, September 4 – Book reviewed at Book Him Danno

Monday, September 9 – Interviewed at As the Pages Turn

Friday, September 13 – Interviewed at Examiner

Wednesday, September 18 – Interviewed at Book Marketing Buzz

Friday, September 20 – Interviewed at Review From Here

Tuesday, September 24 – Guest blogging at Redroom

Thursday, September 26 – Interviewed at The Writer’s Life

Friday, September 27 – Book featured at Bibliotica

Monday, September 30 – Book reviewed at Bibliotica

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Pump Up Your Book

Spotlight with Giveaway: Superior Vocal Health by David Aaron Katz

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Superior Vocal Health ABOUT SUPERIOR VOCAL HEALTH

What you can expect from this book:

* Comprehensive A-Z list of healing herbs for the Voice Professional

* What herbs to use when and how to prepare each herb for use

* Specific Formulas for specific vocal issues such as tired and over used voice, mucus, sinus congestion, sore throat, and more…

* What drugs negatively affect the voice and natural alternatives to those drugs

* Foods to eat the affect the voice and vocal mechanism

* Sinus Care with cleansing guide and herbs

* What to do when natural solutions for the most pressing Performance and Presentation issues such as performance anxiety, clogged sinuses, chest congestion, mental clarity, and more

Whether you are a professional singer, speaker, teacher, lawyer, DJ, clergy, auctioneer, tour guide or sales person, caring for your voice is THE MOST IMPORTANT thing you can do in your life.

This book is your complete and one stop guide to take care of your voice naturally without drugs.

Purchase Here

Superior Vocal Health

Add to Goodreads:

goodreads

pump-divider-general

David KatzABOUT DAVID AARON KATZ

David Aaron Katz is a professional Opera singer, Cantor, Nutritional Consultant, Herbalist, Head of the Vocal Faculty for the Bronx Defenders Training Academy and CEO of Superior Vocal Health.com. His life mission is to help Voice Professionals from around the world to learn how to heal, maintain and strengthen their voices naturally without chemical or drugs.

To find out more visit him at http://www.superiorvocalhealth.com

pump-divider-general

Pump Up Your Book and David Aaron Katz are teaming up to give you a chance to win a some great prizes!

Here’s how it works:

Each person will enter this giveaway by liking, following, subscribing and tweeting about this giveaway through the Rafflecopter form placed on blogs throughout the tour. If your blog isn’t set up to accept the form, we offer another way for you to participate by having people comment on your blog then directing them to where they can fill out the form to gain more entries.

This promotion will run from August 5 – October 31. The winner will be chosen randomly by Rafflecopter, contacted by email and announced on November 1, 2013.

Everyone who participates in the Superior Vocal Health virtual book tour is eligible to enter and win.

Visit each blog stop below to gain more entries as the Rafflecopter widget will be placed on each blog for the duration of the tour.

ENTER TO WIN!

Superior Vocal Health Virtual Book Publicity Tour Schedule

————————————————————

Wednesday, August 7 – Guest blogging at Icefairy’s Treasure Chest

Friday, August 9 – Interviewed at Review From Here

Monday, August 12 – Book featured at Plug Your Book

Tuesday, August 13 – Interviewed at Broowaha

Wednesday, August 14 – Book featured at Book Marketing Buzz

Friday, August 16 – Guest blogging at The Writer’s Life

Tuesday, August 20 – Guest blogging at Between the Covers

Wednesday, August 21 – Guest blogging at As the Pages Turn

Friday, August 23 – Guest blogging at Literal Exposure

Monday, August 26 – Interviewed at Straight from the Author’s Mouth

Tuesday, August 27 – Guest blogging at Litearily Speaking

Wednesday, August 28 – Interviewed at Beyond the Books

Thursday, August 29 – Guest blogging at The Story Behind the Book

Friday, August 30 – Interviewed at Pump Up Your Book

Wednesday, September 4 – Book reviewed at Book Him Danno

Monday, September 9 – Interviewed at As the Pages Turn

Friday, September 13 – Interviewed at Examiner

Wednesday, September 18 – Interviewed at Book Marketing Buzz

Friday, September 20 – Interviewed at Review From Here

Tuesday, September 24 – Guest blogging at Redroom

Thursday, September 26 – Interviewed at The Writer’s Life

Friday, September 27 – Book featured at Bibliotica

Monday, September 30 – Book reviewed at Bibliotica

————————————————————–

Pump Up Your Book

Review: Visiting Tom by Michael Perry

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VisitingTom_cover

Visting Tom
Michael Perry

Product Description (from Amazon.com):
Tuesdays with Morrie meets Bill Bryson in Visiting Tom, another witty, poignant, and stylish paean to living in New Auburn, Wisconsin, from Michael Perry. The author of Population: 485, Coop, and Truck: A Love Story, Perry takes us along on his uplifting visits with his octogenarian neighbor one valley over—and celebrates the wisdom, heart, and sass of a vanishing generation that embodies the indomitable spirit of small-town America.

My Thoughts:
I first encountered Michael Perry’s work sometime in 2009 when I picked up Population: 485 from a “new paperbacks” table at Barnes and Nobel (this was before most of my reading shifted to Kindle). For some reason I didn’t read it until February, 2010, but I loved it to bits. He’s got that truly American writing style that is shared by Stephen King (except Perry’s books never include killer clowns or radioactive spaceships, though one did involve a pig being butchered), and Garrisson Keillor. You can hear echoes of Twain and Hemingway in his prose, as well, but I digress.

When, earlier this summer, the lovely folks at TLC Book Tours offered me a copy of the newly released PAPERBACK version of Perry’s latest offering, in exchange for an honest review, I didn’t hesitate: I said YES.

Michael Perry’s book Visiting Tom: A Man, a Highway, and the Road to Roughneck Grace arrived at my door a couple of weeks later, and I chose to savor it, rather than devouring it in a matter of hours in my typical fashion.

I’m glad I made that choice, because reading Perry’s book, about a series of visits with an older neighbor who shares shopwork expertise, life experiences that cannot be matched, and a fetish for vintage artillery (i.e. canons), is a book meant to slow us down for a while. It’s the literary equivalent of staying seated at the kitchen table, talking and laughing, long after the meal has been finished, and the coffee has gone cold.

Like so much of Perry’s work, Visiting Tom tells two stories. The first, most obvious one, is that of Tom Hartwig, who has spent his entire 80-plus years in the same community – the same farm – the same HOUSE, even – in rural Wisconsin.

But the second story is Perry’s own, the one in which his farming is something he dabbles at along side his real job (writing and making music), and his relationship with his daughters and wife provides him another set of mirrors into the world.

This book, like all of Perry’s work, is – by turns, funny, sweet, alarming, and poignant. It’s that poignance that affected me most, because my husband’s family also hails from rural farming country, and in Tom, and in his story, I see, not only bits of my father-in-law, but also the very real truth: that family farms are disappearing, that most rural kids grow up and leave the farm (neither my husband nor his two siblings stayed in a rural environment, or, indeed, a related career, choosing instead to work with computers, or, in the case of my sister-in-law, to teach in public schools.)

But I’m digressing again.

Perry’s words let us feel as if we, too, have visited, not just with Tom and his wife and their dog, but with Michael Perry and his family as well.

And really, that’s how the best books SHOULD feel.

Goes well with: A glass of fresh milk and a slice of strawberry-rhubarb pie.

Connect with Michael Perry:
Website: Sneezing Cow

Buy the Book:
Amazon.com | Barnes and Noble

Watch the Trailer:

TLC Book Tours