Turning a Tuscany Trip Into a Tome

Chianti From a Tuscan Villa
By the R. Thomas Berners
100pp
Publisher: Coal Cracker Press
ISBN: 978-0-578-03123-1
Available at www.lulu.com.




The authors, both retired from the Pennsylvania State University, spent seven days on a modest group tour of the Chianti region of Tuscany, staying in a Tuscan villa and going on day trips around the area, to Castellina, Florence, Lucca, San Gimignano, Siena, Tavarnelle Val di Pesa, and Volterra.

On those day trips, they both photographed extensively with the idea of creating this book, a combination of Thomas’ photographs and Paulette’s paintings, to create our interpretation of the region that gave birth to the Renaissance and Chianti wine. On two spreads, the Berners play off each other, with a painting by Paulette of the same scene photographed by Thomas on facing pages. Otherwise, each photograph and painting is unique.

And although they visited places not on the tour, such as the Beaded Lily Glass Works in Florence, their plans for other sites did not always pan out. Thomas wanted to see the tomb of Elizabeth Barrett Browning in the English Cemetery in Florence, but the cemetery was closed for renovation work. He did manage to get some photos from a distance. (If you want to see Browning’s tomb, watch the movie Tea with Mussolini. The film opens at her tomb. The film also shows frescoes of Santa Fina in San Gimignano’s Collegiata. )

Alas, museums and churches, for the most part, did not allow photography, and if they did, it had to be without flash (no problem) and tripod (which made getting good photographs in low light a challenge). One church, Santa Lucia al Borghetto in Tavarnelle Val di Pesa (the town where the authors stayed), allowed photography and the use of a tripod, one of the few times indoor photographs could be taken at a slow speed.

The Berners call this 8.5-square-inch book a Pixels and Bristles™ production.
-----
R Thomas Berner is professor emeritus of journalism and American studies at the The Pennsylvania State University. He blogs at http://rtberner.blogspot.com/
and is an editorial consultant, freelance writer and photographer

-----
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.

Christian Book Marketing

Title: Your Guide to Marketing Books in the Christian Marketplace,
Second Edition
Author:Sarah Bolme
Website: www.marketingchristianbooks.com
Category: Nonfiction: Marketing
ISBN:978-0-9725546-8-8
Publisher: CREST Publications



Synopsis:

This book provides a blueprint for authors and publishers to promote their books in the Christian marketplace. The book covers three areas:

1) Launching Your Book including gathering endorsements, garnering reviews, and pursuing book awards;

2) Selling Your Books with information on reaching Christian retailers, connecting with churches, promoting to Christian consumers, and harnessing the Internet;

3) Special Markets for selling your books to the homeschool market, the Urban market, and e-books.

Review:

Reviewed by Mary Battle

Sarah Bolme has distinguished herself as a leading publisher and author in her latest book, Your Guide to Marketing Books in the Christian Marketplace, Second Edition. In her book, Bolme reveals the secret to successful marketing for authors and publishers alike. She unveils countless valuable tips, web resources, and easy to follow instructions on marketing in the Christian book industry. As an African-American author, I found the ‘Targeting Special Markets’ section a priceless gem. This book is an essential tool for all Christian authors and publishers.
-----


Sarah Bolme is an author and speaker. She blogs at http://marketingchristianbooks.wordpress.com
and tweets at http://www.twitter.com/SaraBlome
Buy the book at www.marketingchristianbooks.com



-----
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.

Lani Massey Brown Pens Thriller

A Margin of Error: Ballots of Straw
By Lani Massey Brown
Genre: Suspense/thriller/mystery
ISBN Paperback: 1439206813
AISN Kindle: B002EQ9S3I


Reviewed by Midewest Book Review's Small Press Bookwatch
A Five Star Book

Politics is a tough career, with more knives in backs than a backstabbing convention. ‘A Margin of Error: Ballots of Straw’ is a political thriller following Cady Palmer as she attempts to stand up for what she believes in the face of a corrupt governor and his deep reaching network. Not knowing who to trust, Cady submerges herself in the webs of deceit where her next mistake may be her last. ‘A Margin of Error’ is an exciting read.

Synopsis:



When lovely computer expert Cady Palmer discovers the governor’s plot, the governor wants her dead. The governor's spy simply wants her. And her stalker…

Cady fired Leonard months ago. Since then he’s stalked her, waiting for today, all the while executing the governor’s plan for today’s election. Tonight when Cady’s election crew tallies the votes, she’ll know something’s wrong. It’s her job to know. But there’s nothing she can do to stop it. Later when it’s over, Leonard will come for her. And if Cady’s beautiful assistant, Izzy Palacio gets in his way, he’ll grab her too.

Leonard’s not the only one on the governor’s private payroll. The governor sends his long-time confidante Neal Charles to observe Cady and her election crew, ostensibly to alert the governor if there’s need for early damage control. But the governor really wants a lookout should Leonard’s scheme unravel. The governor doesn’t count on Neal devising plans of his own.

Cady pegs Neal for the spy he is and warns the coquettish Izzy. Nonetheless when Izzy disappears and Cady’s stalker closes in, Neal wedges himself into Cady’s drama, not for the governor or Neal’s own plans, but for Cady and Izzy. At first, Cady and Neal balk at the attractions drawing them together. Then before long, the two join as one in their search for truth and for Izzy. Together they discover the silent coup marching across the country in the governor’s state-of-the-art voting machines. They risk losing it all for each other.


-----
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.

Sandy Lender Reviews Sutton's Women's Fiction

Title: The Ride
Author: Jane Kennedy Sutton
Jane's blog: http://janekennedysutton.blogspot.com/
Genre: Women's Fiction (Contemporary)
ISBN: (10)1-59507-193-8, (13) 978-159507-193-4
Reviewer's rating: 5 stars

Reviewed by Sandy Lender for Amazon

Going For a Literary Ride, April 9, 2009

What's a middle-aged gal to do when she realizes her disappointing marriage is truly over? Well, her best friend just took off on a cruise out of cell phone range and her aunt-actually-mother just passed away so she's kinda on her own to figure it out. Vulnerable, it would seem. This is how Author Jane Kennedy Sutton hands us the tormented Barbie in the contemporary fiction novel The Ride. Whether you've got a strong feminist streak that wants to scream at Barbie each time she takes a risk or you identify a little too well with her worries, Sutton has created a character that forces emotion from you. Mix in an obnoxious husband that too many women in today's society know, an inheritance that we need to hide from said husband, and a seductive stranger who reeks of self-assurance, and Sutton has a recipe for a coming-of-age story for a woman who's already come-of-age once.

I definitely recommend The Ride, not just because the author and editors obviously took time in refining it technically, but also because the story moves at a brisk pace, keeping the reader engrossed in the plot as it takes its twists. I was thoroughly impressed with Sutton's style and enjoyed her first offering in contemporary fiction. Hopefully we won't have to wait long for another adventure!

From Fantasy Author, Sandy Lender
"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."

-----
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.

Literary Novel Uses Internet as Enhancement

Book Title: Until the Deep Water Stills - An Internet-enhanced Novel
Author Name: Michael Robert Dyet
Novel Online Companion: www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog
Michael’s Blog: www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog2 (Metaphors of Life Journal AKA
Things That Make Me Go Hmmm)
Genre: Literary Fiction
ISBN: 978-0-9811995-0-4
Publication Date: March 2009
.

Reviewed by Marianne Paul, Author of Tending Memory, Twice in a Blue Moon
and Dead Girl Diaries


"Doomsday prophets who sound the death knell of this book shortchange the
artist and his abilities to find new ways to express himself.

In Until the Deep Water Stills, Michael Dyet offers a glimpse into the evolution of the novel, harnessing the new technologies to reveal layers of story in a way that can only be done in the electronic age. Dyet deftly uses the Internet
to create underlying strata, allowing the reader to slip away, if she wishes, from the third-person narrative of the novel to access the first-person intimacy of the blogs, diaries, letters, audio, and photo journals of the characters. When the reader returns to the main narrative, it is with deeper understanding, and sometimes astonishing new facts.

The story unfolds from a central event – the drug overdose death of a teenage girl at a rave. The aftershocks set out in ever-expanding circles, engulfing her parents, her aunt and uncle, and also a social worker using the death to promote her personal agenda of drug-free raves. Tragedy and misfortune rock the lives of the characters, but it is the emotional narrative beneath these events that is the epicenter of the novel. Secrets lie beneath the surface, as do fault lines beneath the earth. It is
private life to public life, subconscious mind to conscious mind, third person to first person - what we choose to reveal (or not) to those who are supposed to be our “intimates” – our spouses and partners.

Bryan speaks openly of his affair in his blog, telling strangers of his marital infidelity and his innermost thoughts, but not his politician wife, Grace. Jayce’s anger erupts so that he smashes a glass-top table in front of Katherine and their young daughter, but he can’t bring himself to share with his wife the one act of violence from his past that most plagues him. Katharine publicly communicates to her husband her desire to leave their marriage through the photographs she has chosen to display at the opening reception of her art show. Faith writes letters to the mother
who abandoned her at a young age, but doesn’t send them, choosing instead to view her mother from afar.

Marshall McLuhan said, "The medium is the message." He might have been peering into the future to see Dyet's novel, where the medium of the Internet enhances the story, certainly, but also, becomes the story,revelations offered to the reader in a way not possible in the hard-copy, print-static world of the past. The mode influences the telling."

~Marianne Paul
Author of Tending Memory, Twice in a Blue Moon and Dead Girl Diaries


-----
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.

A Time Travel Romance Is Also Dark Fiction

The Space Between
A novel by Erik Tomblin
Dark Fiction/Time Travel Romance
ISBN: 978-0-615-24536-2
Blue Fair Books
5 stars


Reviewed by Kelly Perry for Amazon


I adore books that can entertain me, but don't require my undivided attention to enjoy. I'm also infatuated with books that can make me laugh, maybe cry a little, and then give me the happily-ever-after ending I so want. But my biggest affection, my deepest love, is held for those books that grant me space in the author's world and offer transcendence.

I read Erik Tomblin's latest and was completely entranced. Like street lights that seem to grow closer until they soon begin to appear as stars that were made just for you, strung out along the streets like hushed party lights, The Space Between shakes free and transforms the world around you.

Now while I could go on and break the story down for you, I think the synopsis pretty much covers it. And sure, I could describe the intoxicating atmosphere, the fluid pace, the three-dimensional characters or even Tomblin's powerful, yet subtle style of writing, but seriously...how fun would that be to read? My point exactly. No, much like trying to describe to someone the utter deliciousness of funnel cake or getting a Prada bag at bargain price, some things just have to be experienced.

I promise, you won't be let down.

-----
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.