JUST WHO IS OANA ANYWAY?

Healing through laughter is not a dream, but a recipe for survival

If you were to read a book about Oana's life, you might easily decide it was a work of fiction. 

Born in Bucharest, Romania, Oana lived twenty years under the grotesque dictatorial regime of Ceausescu. After the fall of communism in 1989 she studied languages at the University in Bucharest, then received her Master’s degree at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. English is her third language.

She has worn many hats, working as a translator, as a teacher, and eventually caring for animals both domestic and wild.Volunteering in both the U.S. and Canada, she worked for wildlife rescue and rehabilitation centers.

Currently residing in Arizona, Oana continues to dedicate most of her time to her animals and to writing.  

Her first book, The Healings, debuted in November 2010. It is a hard-to-put-down, laugh-out-loud series of adventures of an eccentric duo: a man and his feline partner walking from ‘healer’ to ‘healer’ and hoping to achieve awareness.

Oana’s take on depression is simple and effective: witticism and laughter coupled with the understanding of the frailty of human nature help us heal. An animal companion, real or imaginary, can be very therapeutic as well.

Many a reader – depressed or not -- will recognize the insanity of most of our daily routines and the elusiveness of Truth.

Oana’s current projects include a memoir titled, Romanian Rhapsody, a children’s book, Dr.Schnauzer and Nurse Lhassa, as well as other stories, all written in the same witty humorous style.      

She is also an active member of Central Phoenix Writing Workshop http://www.paloverdepages.com/ and a co-host of Two Unsychronized Souls Radio Show  http://www.blogtalkradio.com/monicabrinkmanandoana 

To learn more about Oana, visit her author’s website www.thehealings.net  

To read excerpts from The Healings go to http://www.thehealings.net/excerpts-from-the-healings.html

The Healings is available in paperback on Amazon  http://www.amazon.com/Healings-Oana/dp/0984615482/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1289455146&sr=1-1

In Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/The-Healings-ebook/dp/B004BSH0RI/ref=tmm_kin_title_0/192-1862715-7132302?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&qid=1289455146&sr=1-1 

and Nook format

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-healings-oana/1029789781?ean=2940012775313&itm=1&usri=oana#

Abe March: AUTHOR IN THE SPOTLIGHT

The full name is Abraham Firestone March.  My mother, a very religious person and prayer warrior, took the name Abraham from the Bible. She gave me her maiden name Firestone as my middle name. 

My name Abraham has been a blessing and a curse, depending on where I happened to be. When I worked in New York, it was a blessing. In some areas, it was not a plus and I began using only the nickname Abe, as in Abe Lincoln. 

My feet have trodden the earth in more than 30 countries. I have seen the sun rise over the Persian Gulf and the sun set in the Canadian Rockies. I sunbathed by the Mediterranean, roasted in Riyadh and dined in Damascus. I was beggar-beseeched in Baghdad, short-changed in Saudi Arabia and saw blood shed in Beirut.

I have been called Mister, Monsieur, Herr, Sayyidi, Kirios, Signor, Sir and other names.

I have eaten with Bedouins and dined with Royalty. I have also been rich and I have been poor. I like to think that I have a world view on many subjects and that I have a certain amount of wisdom. My experiences are reflected in my writing. 

At ATTMP, my book, They Plotted Revenge Against America was inspired by America’s invasion of Iraq.  My book, Journey Into The Past was inspired by my love of hiking and exploring ancient castles in Germany.

Just Who Is Vic Fortezza, Anyway?

   I grew up speaking English and Sicilian dialect. Don’t know which came first. At St. Mary’s I was “the boy in the third row staring into space,” tuning out the Principal, who was visiting our class. I would sleepwalk through my first 30 years, baffled by the bittersweet mystery of life. Heck, I still may be sleepwalking. At Lafayette High School I was #72, right guard on the ‘66 team, the weakest link on a fine squad. At Western Michigan University I faked my way to a degree in Education. I hid behind the persona of football coach for six years, until a November night when I began a novel, Five Cents, imagining the plight of an average Vietnam veteran, not the psycho Hollywood version. That began a 20-year jag that produced nine novels, two screenplays, two plays and about 60 short stories, more than 50 of which have been published. I am fascinated by the theme of man struggling to live a good life in a world where temptation beckons at every turn. For four years I was a teacher’s aide at John Dewey High School, where I met a woman I still think about each day. I tended bar for a year, then worked at the Commodity Exchange for nearly 25 years, a square peg learning not to be afraid of the world amidst the screaming of traders out to score big. It was there that I met the one who got away. In 2000 I self-published Close to the Edge - ever wonder what makes someone go off the deep end? In 2008 Adjustments, which chronicles my football experiences, was published by my literary angel, Victoria Valentine, of Water Forest Press. In 2009 A Hitch in Twilight, inspired by my fascination with the work of Rod Serling and Alfred Hitchcock, was published by All Things That Matter Press. These days I promote/sell my books on the streets of Brooklyn, and continue to submit manuscripts.

Vic's Website: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/

Vic's Short Story Collection: http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb

Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/6b86st6

Vic's 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/94t5h

Vic's Word Press blog:  http://vicfortezza.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.php

Just Who Is TIMOTHY N. STELLY, SR. Anyway?

Timothy N. Stelly is a poet, novelist and screenwriter from northern California whose 2008 novel, HUMAN TRIAL (All Things That Matter Press), is the first part of a sci-fi trilogy that tells the story of an alien attack that decimates nearly all human, animal and plant life on earth, and explores the human dynamics that unfold as America attempts to rise from the ashes. 

Timothy N. Stelly, Sr. is a unique poet/novelists whose writing interlaces various genres, and mixes in pinches of romance, politics, psychology and satire. In 2009 the first part of his scifi trilogy, Human Trial (All Things That Matter Press) was nominated as a SORMag (Shades Of Romance Magazine) Book of the Year. 

The story focuses on the pressures faced by a small group of every day Americans who are forced to cooperate after an alien attack that elevates the earth’s temperature to lethal levels and decimates the population and food supply. The central characters, Daron and Regina Turner, hold together a ragtag group of survivors, while trying to raise a child born from unusual circumstances. 

“Human Trial raises the question what is the bigger threat to man, a foreign invader or man himself? It deals with tribalism and the flaws of the individual—such as greed, racism and the sometimes insatiable thirst for power. At the same time it is a story of hope, love and the American spirit as families, cities and the country attempts to rebuild, all the while struggling to hold on psychologically as they worry about threats real and imagined.” 

His second book, HUMAN TRIAL II: ADAM’S WAR is a tale of romance, revolution and rebirth as Adam Turner leads an outgunned contingent of everyday Americans into battle against their alien nemesis.  

“I never saw myself as a cookie-cutter fiction writer,” Stelly says. “There is too much repetition, and as an author, I seek to distinguish myself from the pack. I write because I like to provoike thought and come from an angle that others might seem a bit timid to express. First, I define myself as a social satirist—part Richard Pryor, part Richard Wright. I know those are big shoes to fill, but I think I’m up to the task.” 

The unique quality that sets Stelly apart from others is his ability to segue from a tenor heavy with urban gravitas, but provokes mainstream sensibilities. He can produce searing “keeping it real” social commentary punctuated with satirical dialogue or narrative; or he’ll capture the essence of romance set against a backdrop of individualism and revolution, as he did in the Human Trial trilogy. 

The third part of this unique scifi triumvirate is HUMAN TRIAL II: THE FINAL CONFLICT, due in 2012. This story blends scifi, warfare and romance set against the backdrop of a rebuilding, but fragile America. 

The war-weary Adam Turner is set to enjoy life with his family until  U.S. President Thaddeus Lord summons him to train the country’s fledgling armed forces. The person sent to convince Adam is Colonel Tawanna Chenier, a brilliant military strategist in her own right. After the President is assassinated, Adam and Tawanna learn that a South American warlord possesses a nuclear weapon and is seeking the means to wage war against America. Moreover, he has built a hybrid population that he uses as slaves and frontline soldiers against any potential attack. 

With the country facing a nuclear strike, Adam and Tawanna lead a battalion of 200 raw recruits into the jungles of South America. Despite the toils of war, the attraction between Adam and Tawanna builds, but their focus is on their duty, as they arrive e in South America for what shapes up to be the western hemisphere’s most important battle for survival. 

Where to purchase the HUMAN TRIAL trilogy: 

In HUMAN TRIAL author Timothy Stelly’s story of survivors who battle aliens who have heated earth’s climate to lethal levels.http://tinyurl.com/3fnzn3w 

HUMAN TRIAL II: ADAM’S WAR the story of desperate Americans battling to survive and rebuild in a post-apocalyptic world. The first three chapters of HUMAN TRIAL II: ADAM'S WAR are posted at http://www.chapterpreview.com/uploads/HT2_20_percent.pdf
To purchase click here: http://tinyurl.com/3rczwyo Coming soon:

HUMAN TRIAL III: NATIONAL SECURITY—The final chapter in the Turner family saga. Amazon.com author's page:  http://tinyurl.com/5utbfkj

JUST WHO IS ROBERT J. RUBENSTEIN ANYWAY?

I am the author of Ghost Runners, and The White Bridge, soon to be published by All Things That Matter Press—but not for everyone. A trilogy, finishing next year with a treatise on Howdy Doody and the nuclear bomb is sure to raise eyebrows, but not book sales unless you are also compelled to make sense of the time that had the greatest influence on our lives. In the White Bridge, my flapper gal reporter, Ginger Lee Smythe concludes that truth is nothing, and nothing is truth. My uncle, Jack Ruby, is given a play as a street tough in old Chicago. Buy my books because he was my uncle and I, his nephew? I don’t think so. Maybe I am lying about that, you say. Well, maybe I am.

 Most of my life anyway I was told to hide that truth—that’s why you will not see my middle name, Jack, on my books. But Uncle Jack did have a point. My first reaction when I heard Lee Oswald was shot dead was,”thank you, uncle jack, it’s good for the bastard.”

I grew up with television and learned to write history from Crusader Rabbit, Rocky and his Friends, and Fractured Fairy Tales. I believed in Dudley Do Right and Mighty Mouse. When I was three years old, I crawled onto the tenement fire escape and spread my arms to the heavens. “I want to fly like Superman,” I told my mother.

You see, now you are getting closer to why you should buy my books. I believed in fairy tales. I hid under my mother’s skirts when I saw the infamous “Bambi,” in the movie theater. I was shot dead with three – D. Hondo’s rocks that came hurdling out of the celluloid screen to put a dent in my head. I was attacked by King Kong and Godzilla. I am in therapy to this day because they shot John Lennon.

I grew dizzy in the fifties, and I have seen Nazis ever since. Every man should be required to say his prayers about what he has witnessed and what was the cost of the history he bears. I am fortunate to be entering the twilight years, a little wiser and not yet suffering from Alzheimer.

I know I was lied to, and was traumatized by the country I never left, and fought to change, though I heard voices during the hearing test and was deferred from serving our nation. I said, “boo hoo,” that I did not kill or maim anyone in Viet Nam. But I sure wish I could wear a cool hat to say I was a war protestor.

The Olympics are coming—seventy-five years since an outrage occurred. Ghost Runners is about American anti-Semitism and sports. It is about the heart that can conquer hate. It is the same thing with The White Bridge. Why should you buy me?

I am, as old as I am, representative of a new breed of writers that sell our wares by way of a small independent family of authors who are quite good and avante -garde. I have seen that the rest of our little group can pack a mean, competitive pen.

I believe my parodies are vital to the understanding of racism and history; they are, though fractured, but vital about knowing who we are, and where we are going. There is no living room conversation with smart – sets about the Olympics without Ghost Runners. There is not a complete understanding about racist America without The White Bridge. Taken together, you will be inoculated forever.

Buy me because it took me a lifetime to get to this declaration. There is sometimes a great notion as Ken Kesey said. If its warped history you seek—horror, hysterical and uproarious—I think I may be worth the price of admission. If you don’t like my books, I’ll pay you back … someday.

Can’t wait to begin the last book of the series with your support … “in a red – bricked classroom, a little five year old boy crawls under a desk filled with inkwells, trying to protect his little head from the shards of glass of the window that he was told not to view. If I were a good boy, and kissed my dog tag that would survive me, I would go to heaven, the teacher cried, when the nuclear bomb came. This is a drill now, she said, but you willbe dead very soon, anyway.”

The Boy Who Looked Through  A Crack In The Window ends my trilogy. Why should you buy my book? Because you are the future, and I would like to scare you a little—you see, I still see clearly because I have studied the past through Howdy Doody’s eyes.

Robert Rubenstein

http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Runners-Robert-Rubenstein/dp/0984621652/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317343885&sr=1-1

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