A FREE Book, Intro to New Sci-Fi Series

The Greatest Force in the Universe

Author: Dr Bob Rich

Author's Web site: https://bobrich18.wordpress.com

Genre: Science fiction

No ISBN: this book is available free, and is the lead-in to a series.

Reviewed by Gary Clough

The Greatest Force in the Universe, reviewed by Gary Clough

I wish I had Bill Sutcliffe’s intelligence and abilities, but I wouldn’t want his job with it. Humanity is killing all complex life on Earth (this is actually true: we’re officially in the 6th great extinction event of our planet), and aliens have come to help us. They’ve been genetically modifying people to ease us onto a better path, but note an active force opposing them. Unlike with millions of other species they’ve helped, humans are racing toward extinction anyway. So, as an emergency measure, they choose the most gifted of their “children” to be the Doom Healer. That’s Bill, aged only 14 at the start of the story.

I’m used to Bob Rich’s humour from his other writings, and I wasn’t disappointed. In the middle of a discussion of really serious topics like the nature of reality, or action like setting drug-addict rapist kids on the right path, there is the unexpected twist, or a choice or words, that makes me laugh.

As I’m writing this review, I’m halfway through the second volume, You Can’t Escape Destiny, and let me tell you, you’ve got to read on. I find this series as gripping as any science fiction I’ve ever read, and at the same time it makes me think about the most serious issues.

MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr Bob Rich has a wonderful, eclectic newsletter with a section in it for writers at Bobbing Around http://wp.me/P3Xihq-1 Learn more about him at 

http://bobswriting.com. Find what he considers his best book at http://bobswriting.com/ascending.html

Commit random acts of kindness

Live simply so you may simply live

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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

The Best Kind of Valentine Gift--Early and Free

Title: Cherished Pulse
Subtitle: Unconventional Love Poetry
Genre: Poetry/holiday/Valentine's
By Carolyn Howard-Johnson and Magdalena Ball
Available FREE for Kindle or PC/Mac download
Available paperback
Poetry Chapbook o Valentine Greeting Card
ISBN: 9781449546052
Authors' Web sites: http://magdalenaball.com http://howtodoitfrugally.com/poetry_books.htm

 

Valentine’s Day may be the holiday best made for poetry. A rose, a poem and thou.  Trouble is, many that we find on the inside covers of commercial greeting cards may be just a little too-too for many of us. Multi award-winning poets Carolyn Howard-Johnson and Magdalena Ball to the rescue with Cherished Pulse, a chapbook of poetry just right for tucking into an envelope or sending off as an e-mail attachment to loved ones.

And right now, Cherished Pulse is available free with the KDP Select free e-book feature. All you do is go to http://bit.ly/Vs07hV

 on January 11, 12, 13, 14 and 14^th and click. And you don’t need to have a Kindle reader to benefit! It may be downloaded as a pdf to send to loved ones, or let Amazon do the work for you by sending directly from their site.

It takes only the click of a mouse!

 

And there is plenty of time for you to schedule delivery before February 14^th.

It's a mini gift and greeting card in one!

Cherished Pulse includes many of the science-inspired poems Magdalena is famous for as well as Carolyn’s nostalgic poetry. Chapbooks in the Celebration Series have won many awards including MWSA’s highest honor of gold and several from USA Book News.

 

It’s you who had me dreaming

lilacs, breathing April’s sweetest

tears…

 

Magdalena Ball runs the highly respected CompulsiveReader.com review site.  She is the author of the poetry book Repulsion Thrust, which was published to unanimous five-star reviews.  Her novel Sleep Before Evening was a Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist and she just released a new novel set in Australia. It is Black Cow.  

Carolyn Howard-Johnson's poetry appears frequently in review journals. She is listed in Poets & Writers and her chapbook of poetry, Tracings (   ), was given the Award of Excellence by the Military Writers Society of America. One of her poems recently won the Franklin Christoph Poetry Prize. She is also an award-winning novelist and short story writer and instructor for UCLA Extension Writers' Program.

For more information on the Celebration Series chapbooks, contact either author, or visit media rooms at http://howtodoitfrugally.com  or  http://magdalenaball.com.

Vicki Thomas contributed the watercolors used on the cover and interior. To see her selections of her work, go to http://www.vickithomasartist.com .

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Support material available electronically or by post on request.

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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

KDP Select Freebie for (Gasp!) Christmas Freebie?

Hi everyone, my poetry partner Magdalena Ball asks if KDP Select is good marketing or a gimmick. It is now up here:
http://www.writersonthemove.com/2012/12/kdp-select-good-marketing-or-gimmick.html

She's written about something she suspects will interest all writers and most reviewers and readers and finshed the post with a link to two books available free in KDP Select this month. I hope you'll all drop by and retweet (or tweet using one of my handy links below), and download the books even if you already have them. It would also be fun if reviewers who follow this blog would go back and leave a quick review!

 I'd love to hear your experiences - positive or negative and what you think of KDP. Jury is still out for me, but I'm giving it a whirl and will happily share my experiences with you.

Easy Tweet:

Great e-card idea! "Rational" Christmas chapbook available free. Go to http://amzn.to/BloomingRedKind on Dec. 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18. 

 

We encourage you to buy and then pass the pdf or e-copy around AS an e-greeting this season. There are many secular seasonal poems in it, too, for those who don't celebrate Christmas.

 

 

Happy holidays!

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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

Free Christmas E-Book for Thoughtful E-Greetings

Blooming Red
Subtitle: Christmas Poetry for the Rational
Authors: Magdalena Ball and Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Awards from USA Best Books and Military Writers Society of America
ISBN: 9781449948245
Free copy available at http://amzn.to/BloomingRedKindle
Dates Freebie is Available: Dec. 14, 15, 16, 17, 18.

 

 

Multi award-winning poets Carolyn Howard-Johnson and Magdalena Ball figure nothing is more meaningful at any holiday than a poem—a real poem, not sing-songy impersonal verse from the shelves of card shops. They also noticed that many folks remember many people they forgot when it may be too late.

 Ta Da! We have are offering you our "rational" Christmas chapbook to procrastinators free. Enter the KDP Select free e-book feature. All you do is go to http://amzn.to/BloomingRedKind on Dec. 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 and click.

 

Anyone can send it free to anyone they'd like to have a thoughtful—and fast—Christmas gift with a click of a mouse (no not the same mouse that's in "The Night Before Christmas" poem!). The booklet Blooming Red: Christmas Poetry for the Rational was honored by the Military Writers Society of America and USA Book News award.

 

It's a mini gift and greeting card in one!

 

Blooming Red includes Maggie’s science-inspired and Carolyn’s nostalgic poetry. It also includes some humorous poems for fair measure.

 

Magdalena Ball runs the highly respected CompulsiveReader.com review site.  She is the author of the poetry book Repulsion Thrust, which was published to unanimous 5-star reviews.  Her novel Sleep Before Evening was a Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist and she just released a new novel set in Australia. It is Black Cow.  

Carolyn Howard-Johnson's poetry appears frequently in review journals. She is listed in Poets & Writers and her chapbook of poetry, Tracings (www.budurl.com/CarolynsTracings ), was given the Award of Excellence by the Military Writers Society of America and She Wore Emerald Then won its highest honor of gold. One of her poems recently won the Franklin Christoph Poetry Prize. She is also an award-winning novelist and short story writer and instructor for UCLA Extension Writers' Program.

For more information on any of the chapbooks in the Celebration series, contact either of the authors, or visit media rooms at www.howtodoitfrugally.com or  www.magdalenaball.com. To learn more about artist Vicki Thomas and to see her selections of her work, go to http://www.vickithomasartist.com .

 

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Please pass this offer on to your friends. Support material available electronically or by post on request from Magdalena Ball maggieball@compulsivereader.com

 .

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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Site Offers Foreword Review FREE

There is a new free service that will benefit readers. The media release is below. Authors  seeding reviews will also find the information about Foreword Reviews magazine useful, I'm sure. ~ Carolyn Howard-Johnson 

ForeWord Reviews Offered FREE on Zinio!

Same resourceful literary magazine,
now available digitally online

TRAVERSE CITY, MI; Sept  20, 2011―ForeWord Reviews, the only book review magazine to feature independent publishers exclusively, is now available online free from Zinio, one of the world’s largest online magazine and newspaper sources!

In response to our readership’s expanded use of digital devices and online sources,
and evidencing a growing concern for the environment, ForeWord has
partnered with Zinio to deliver professional, independent book reviews online. Read ForeWord Reviews from your iPad, iPhone, Android device, desktop, or laptop—book reviews, peer opinion pieces, and author interviews accessible at a moment’s notice while still preserving the aesthetic of the magazine.

"For the first time, in addition to our regular print magazine, ForeWord’s readers can subscribe to a digital version for easy access—anytime, anywhere," said ForeWord Reviews Publisher Victoria Sutherland. "The digital version of ForeWord Reviews allows us to better serve readers by providing enriched content from advertisers, such as links and videos, and by giving free, immediate access to all the outstanding articles and reviews you’ve come to expect from ForeWord Reviews."

Benefits of ForeWord Online to librarians and booksellers:

• Timely and immediate access to ForeWord’s professionally written reviews
• Eliminate the hassle and clutter of storing hard copies
• Shop for books with one click, right from the magazine
• Bookmark articles and reviews for easy reference
• Instantly archived editions
• Easy to sync ForeWord Reviews with your computer and mobile devices
• Share a link electronically with colleagues
• Reduce your paper use!

Sign up for your free subscription! It’s easy, and it’s free. Receiving the digital version of ForeWord Reviews from
Zinio is easy.

1. Simply click on this Zinio link.
2. • Click on ForeWord Reviews if you’re a Zinio subscriber; or
   • Fill out the fields provided to create a Zinio account.
3. Enjoy reading ForeWord Reviews online at your convenience!

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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

No Review: E-Book Week Celebration Instead

Magdalena Ball and I are celebrating Read an E-book Week by giving e-book copies of our poetry to all comers from March 6 to 12.

Our chapbooks of poetry include Cherished Pulse (for anyone you love) with artwork from California artist Vicki Thomas, She Wore Emerald Then (for mothers on your gift list) with photographs by May Lattanzio, Imagining the Future (for Fathers), and Blooming Red, a Christmas chapbook. All are priced to compete with greeting cards at any time of year but this is a celebration of F r ^ ^ (and e-books!).

Chapbooks have been a tradition in the poetry world since Elizabethan times. The Celebration Series goes beyond the clichéd sentiments in most greeting cards—and does it for about the same price.

Now the full series is being offered for f r ^ ^ during Read an E-book Week from March 6 to 12 to help raise public awareness of electronic reading. Read an E-book Week’s Web site (http://www.ebookweek.com ) provides information on the latest e-book reading devices, different e-book stores, benefits of e-books, as well as the history and the future of e-books. Visitors will be able to download free reads from different major retailers, authors and publishers during the Read an E-book Week event period. The Celebration books can be read in over nine digital formats on any computer or portable reading device anywhere in the world. This is a revolution for both authors, both of whom started their writing careers when the latest technology was a typewriter and carbon paper for copies. To access the free books, visit:


http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/maggieball


Magdalena Ball runs the highly respected www.compulsivereader.com review site. She is the author of the poetry book Repulsion Thrust, published to unanimous 5-star reviews. Her novel Sleep Before Evening, published in 2007, was a Next Generation Indie Book Award finalist. You all probably know about my poetry except for the one published quite a while ago by Finishing Line Press, (www.budurl.com/CarolynsTracings ), which isn’t being offered f r ^^ by contractual agreement. For more information on any of the chapbooks in this poetry series, contact either of the authors or visit media rooms at http://www.howtodoitfrugally.com/

 or http://www.magdalenaball.com/

.Happy promoting, writing and poetry reading!

Your New Book Review blogger,
Carolyn Howard-Johnson

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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

New FREE Book for Writers Offfered to New Book Review Subscribers

It doesn't hurt to try something NEW on this New Book Review now and then. And get a little bonus for being a subscriber or regular reader. It's a FREE book from novelist K.M. Weiland called Crafting Unforgettable Characters: A Hands-On Introduction to Bringing Your Characters to Life.

Crafting Unforgettable Characters: A Hands-On Introduction to Bringing Your Characters to Life Features some of K. M. Weiland's most popular tips on character crafting. This pdf offers a good starting place for understanding the basics of character building, as well as some tips for troubleshooting. You’ll also discover inspiring quotes from successful authors, writing prompts, and creativity exercises. Of course, the discussion of character is far too vast a subject to be covered in a 50-page e-book, but this information will give you the tools you need to tackle your latest batch of characters.

You creceive your copy by signing up using the form in the top of the left-hand column on her blog Wordplay: Helping Writers Become Authors: http://wordplay-kmweiland.blogspot.com/2009/12/free-e-book-crafting-unforgettable.html.



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So, now, don't you want to subscribe so you don't miss a single offer like this? Use the subscription form in the left column of this blog.

The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.
And while you're at it, as a courtesy to the author, please retweet this post:

Free (and True!) Story Offered

Olga - A Daughter's Tale
By Marie-Thérèse Browne
Website: www.lulu.com/mariecampbell
Family saga
ISBN: 978-1-84753-047-9
Publisher: Lulu


Reviewed by Marie Campbell



Based on a true story a fascinating and moving book about an inspirational personal life, which has an epic feel about it from Jamaica to England amidst World War II. Olga - A Daughter's Tale is story of one woman's inspirational life.

Marie-Thérèse Browne, the author, realized as her mother lay seriously ill in hospital in Brighton, England in 1994 that had she died so too would Marie's chance of finding out about her mother's past, her family in Jamaica and, of particular importance to Marie, who her father was. All information her mother had resolutely refused to share with her. So she resolved to find out for herself.

Marie discovered her mother's real name was Olga Browney, born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica - one of eleven children from a close-knit, coloured Catholic family. A kind, naïve and gentle girl, Olga arrived in London in 1939 to stay with a malevolent, alcoholic aunt and intending to remain for only six months. However, world events, personal tragedy and malicious intent all combined to prevent her from returning home to Kingston .

Olga – A Daughter's Tale is about cruelty, revenge and jealousy inflicted on an innocent young woman and about her moral courage, dignity, resilience and, in particular, love. It is the story of a remarkable woman who, because of circumstances, made a choice, which resulted in her losing contact with her beloved family in Jamaica. That is, until nearly half a century later, when her past caught up her.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Marie-Thérèse Browne was born in London in 1943. At the age of five she was sent to a Catholic boarding school in Dartford, Kent. From there she moved to a Catholic day convent in Brighton where she lived on and off for the next fifty years, until she emigrated to Australia. Her book Olga – A Daughter's Tale was written as a tribute to her mother after Marie discovered the truth about her mother's past, and also as a record for future generations of her family. Olga – A Daughter's Tale is her first book and is available to buy on www.lulu.com/mariecampbell


For a limited time a PDF copy can be downloaded free from www.olga-a-daughters-tale.com


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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coalition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.

Speaking of Summer Reading! Mindy Lawrence Provides Us with Classics! For FREE!

This is a guest entry from Mindy Lawrence. I thought it so full of good resources on the classics, you'd want to see it. (-: Carolyn, co-blogger with Joyce Faulkner.

Dr. Dan Skelton, my client at MPL Creative Resources and my former English professor, sent me his reading list for the World Lit I class he is teaching this summer. I'd read all but two of the pieces (I haven’t read Seneca or Apuleius’ “The Golden Ass”). However, I looked for the main text that he recommended on Amazon and several other places. A new book was almost $70. I got the idea of finding all the works on the Internet where his students could access them if they couldn't afford the book. I found versions online of every work on his list. I've attached it here so you can see.

I was most enthusiastic about a paid site for Beowulf which I didn't include on my list because, well, it cost money. However, the program looked interesting and the graphics on the main page were beautifully done. See the rest of the freebie list below.

Would I like to be in Dr. Skelton’s class again, this time learning from the ancients to the Renaissance? You bet!

Mindy Lawrence
MPL Creative Resources
mplcreative1@aol.com


World Literature I – Reading List Online
Instructor: Dr. Dan Skelton

Gilgameshhttp://www.ancienttexts.org/library/mesopotamian/gilgamesh/tab1.htm

The Hebrew Bible
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/index.htm

The Iliad
http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/iliad.html

The Odyssey
http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/odyssey.html

Agamemnonhttp://classics.mit.edu/Aeschylus/agamemnon.html

Oedipus the King
http://classics.mit.edu/Sophocles/oedipus.html

Antigone
http://classics.mit.edu/Sophocles/antigone.html

Lysistrata
http://drama.eserver.org/plays/classical/aristophanes/lysistrata.txt

Seneca, “On Anger”
http://www.stoics.com/seneca_essays_book_1.html

Apuleius, “The Golden Ass”
http://manybooks.net/titles/apuleiusetext99gldns10.html

Augustine
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jod/augustine/textstrans.html

Beowulf
http://www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/~beowulf/main.html
In Old English and Modern English

The Canterbury Tales
http://www.librarius.com/cantales.htm

Everyman
http://www.luminarium.org/medlit/everyman.htm

Carpe Diem poems:

The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
http://www.bartleby.com/106/5.html

The Flea
http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/donne/flea.php

To the Virgins to Make Much of Time
http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/herrick/tovirgins.htm

Shakespeare, Hamlet
http://www.tk421.net/hamlet/hamlet.html

John Milton, X – Paradise Lost
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~milton/reading_room/pl/book_10/index.shtml




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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coalition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love--and that includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.