America's Film Vault: A Reference to READ

Below is a special review in a new series I'll be doing to honor those books that won the Military Writers Society of America's Silver award. I have a special place in my heart for them because my Tracings (Finishing Line Press) won that same award. So this is just a way to pass it forward, especiall for my fellows. (-:

AMERICA'S FILM VAULT: A Reference Guide to the Motion Pictures Held by the U.S. National Archives
ISBN 978-0-9793243-0-7
$39.95, trade paper, pms press, 2009
Series: Third book in The Historic Footage Project
By Phil Stewart


Reviewed by Ron Standerfer for Reader Views in April 09

Whatever happened to all those news reels we used to watch in the movie theaters when we were kids? Or those training films they made us watch when we were drafted or enlisted in the military? How about those carefully crafted films depicting life in America during the Twentieth Century; some dating back to early 1900s? I’m sure many of us would like to see them again just to see what life was like in those days. The good news is that many of those films are alive and well, tucked safely away in the care of the federal government. The bad news is that finding a specific film can be a difficult and frustrating task. Until now.

In one fell swoop, America’s Film Vault: A Reference Guide to the Motion Pictures Held by the U.S. National Archives, by award-winning author and film-sleuth Phillip W. Stewart has leveled the playing field for historians, film buffs, and curiosity seekers. How significant is his new book? Consider this: for the first time ever, the whereabouts of over 360,000 film reels that document a century of American and world history have been assembled in book form. As a matter of fact, it is safe to say that some of the best kept history secrets are buried deep within Stewart’s book.

Considering the scope of America’s Film Vault I expected the review copy to arrive on a hand truck bearing a book somewhere in size between the Manhattan telephone directory and the oldfashion dictionaries that sit perched on large walnut stands in the libraries. To my surprise, it was quite modest in size; about 280 pages. But what it lacks in size, it more than makes up for it in sheer volume of information it contains between the covers.

Finding a specific title amongst the 360,000 or so films listed is relatively simple. For ease of search, the book is divided into five sections: Civilian Films; Military Films, Donated Films, Title Index, and Subject Index. Each film section begins with an overview which provides general information concerning what type of films the searcher can expect to find there. Of the three film sections I found the Donated Film section to be the most fascinating, mainly because it contains a treasure trove of newsreels. The subjects of these newsreels vary from the mundane to stories of epic proportions. Here’s an example of the former that was filmed by Universal Newspaper Newsreel: “Runaway Train Plunges Down Mountain: New Castle, PA - 210,000 tons of coal spilled, 32 cars wrecked, but nobody is hurt. Some of the derailed cars hung on the edge of a steep embankment.”
Can’t you just picture this?

So far American Film Vault has been warmly received by those in the know. For example, according to William T. Murphy, former Chief of the Motion Picture, Sound, and Video Branch of the National Archives, America’s Film Vault is, “...a convenient overview of National Archives and Records Administration's motion picture holdings, one difficult to obtain from any other source.”

American Film Vault is the third book Phillip Stewart has written as part of The Historic Footage Project. You can learn more about this project by visiting his website. Meanwhile, I am prepared to accept the challenge he laid down on the cover of his book; namely, “If you’re ready to play detective, take a crack at the combination, and investigate the bowels of the vault, you need a guide map...and this is it! Discover “reel” treasures with “America’s Film Vault.” I can’t wait to get started.
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Phillip is also author of:
BATTLEFILM: U.S. Army Signal Corps Motion Pictures of the Great War
WAR WINGS: Films of the First Air War
PROJECTED HISTORY: A Catalog of the U.S. National Stories Released by Universal Newsreel, Volume One, 1929-1930
AMERICA'S FILM VAULT: A Reference Guide to the Motion Pictures Held Within the U.S. National Archives
PROJECTED HISTORY: A Catalog of the U.S. National Stories Released by Universal Newsreel, Volume Two, 1931-1932

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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 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.

Ping Li's Program for Making the Universal Law of Attraction Work for You

Awakening: Fulfilling Your Soul's Purpose on Earth
By Ping Li
Publisher: Trafford Publishing; First Edition(August 15, 2009)
ISBN-10: 1425180558
ISBN-13: 978-1425180553

Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson

Ping Li's newest book, Awakening: Fulfilling Your Soul’s Purpose On Earth, is an amazing guidebook to uncovering, exploring, and achieving your higher purpose in life, and the nourishment your soul needs. (And, in the process, achieving all your heart’s other desires!) What Ping Li has laid out in such easy-to follow fashion, is a 22-day process of daily mental exercises, journaling, and meditative journeys. Each day, you explore another aspect of spiritual development together…

As you progress through Li's simple steps, you can feel your spirit lifting, your daily burden lightening, confusion and depression dissipating, and nature’s Universal Laws of Attraction, Giving & Receiving, and Manifestation beginning to work in your favor to create the life you dream of.

You may want to visit Li's Web site, at: www.awakeningbooklaunch.com/bookpromo.html where you’ll find many glowing reports other readers have shared.

Ping’s own story, her transformation, has been both remarkable and inspiring. And the process she followed to turn her life around is precisely what she shares with you now in AWAKENING: Fulfilling Your Soul’s Purpose On Earth.

You may be able to tell that I believe in the principles that Li espouses in her book. They work for me and I believe they will work for everyone who opens their hearts and minds to them.

Book Launch Special

Just in case a 22-day program to put you on the fast track to attracting the best in life isn't enough to encourage you to take this leap, Li's friends and colleagues have banded together to make the official launch of her book a hugely over-the-top success for her AND for you by offering over $7500 in bonus gifts just for buying the book!

Or visit Li's page at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Awakening-Fulfilling-souls-purpose-earth/dp/1425180558/


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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 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.

Paranormal Romance Just Released by Victoria Roder

The Dream House Visions And Nightmares
Victoria Roder
Paranormal Romance
ISBN 978-1-934337-64-6
Asylett Press
4 bricks out of 5

Reviewed by Bea Ware for Writers Wall, Valerie J. Patterson forhttp://valeriejpatterson.wordpress.com:80/

When I sat down to read Dream House—Visions and Nightmares, the debut novel by Victoria Roder, I expected a book full of ghosts and attempts at spine-tingling scenes. What Roder actually delivers is a taut story with an ending only the most attentive of readers will figure out prior to reading the final chapters.

Roder strategically introduces characters, allowing the reader to gradually learn their significance. This prevents information overload, but also affords Roder the opportunity to develop multifaceted characters the reader comes to either care about or despise. Every good book has a villain, but Roder offers up more than one—and they all have their place artfully etched out in the plot.

The book opens with Hope Graham fighting off sleep and losing the battle. Nightmares plague her. Horrible, unsettling nightmares. The lack of sleep and plentiful nightmares begin to intrude on Hope’s waking hours, causing her boss at the resource center where she works to issue the ultimatum: Get it together or get out. After one nightmare too many, Hope calls her sister, Samantha and, at 3 in the morning, decides she’s going back home to Sheboygan where her sister still lives and where the house of her dreams can be found.

Hope begins to unravel the purpose of the haunting nightmares by investigating the house those nightmares center around. With a little bit of help from her sister and a lot of help from the locals, Hope not only uncovers history about the house, but she unearths secrets that force her to dig deep into her own past and confront the very real nightmare she lived through as a child.

The sunshine in the darkness of the plot comes in the form of very sexy bakery owner, Brock Cooper. Brock offers Hope all the things her ex-husband couldn’t: romance, friendship, support, encouragement, tenderness, understanding, and love. He’s her sounding board, her confidant, and her romance when she needs a break from the intense mystery surrounding her dream house. Roder holds back and successfully allows the romance to slowly blossom between these two, which is refreshing given the fact this is not a romance, but rather a paranormal thriller that serves up a happily ever after in spite of the odds against it happening.

Hope also finds an ally in the elderly busybody living across the road from the dream house. Ida is full of knowledge, but is not as forthcoming as Hope—or this reader—wants her to be. Instead, Ida has a foresight most people wished they had, and there’s a purpose for disclosing information slowly. Hope’s on a voyage of self-discovery and too much information too soon not only makes for a short book, but would defeat what Roder obviously worked so hard to combine into one exciting, unpredictable plot.

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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 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.

Rebecca Foust Pens Poetry of the Midwest

Mom’s Canoe
By Rebecca Foust
Poetry
Texas Review Press
ISBN-13 Number: 9781933896274
ISBN-10 Number: 1933896272

Rebecca Foust’s award-winning chapbook, Mom’s Canoe, is concerned largely with the rural landscape and the poet’s family’s place in that landscape and its history. Indeed, one of the book’s later poems, “Altoona to Anywhere,” seems to echo the sentiments of the titular poem in Cottle’s book: that one can never erase one’s history.

Go ahead, aspire to transcend
Your hardscrabble roots, bootstrap
The life you dream on,
Escape the small-minded tyranny
Of your small-minded Midwestern
Coalmining town.

But when you’ve left it behind you
May find it still there, in your dreams,
Your syntax, the smell of your hair,
Its real smell, under the shampoo.
Beware DNA; it will out or be outed
And you’ll find yourself back
Where you started…

The Midwest is in Foust’s DNA, and the long shadows of this large and varied region infuse all of the poems in her deceptively slim chapbook, whether they discuss the people of Altoona, Iowa (including members of Foust’s family) or the beautiful, often mysterious landscape. Mom’s Canoe is a celebration of this region as well as a history of Foust’s family and the region in which they dwell.

In many ways, Foust works like an archaeologist to excavate her region and her place within it. She does so somewhat literally in “Fossil Record,” in which she moves from discussing trilobites and ammonites resting in layers of prehistoric soil to the fetus waiting inside a womb and the bones inside a woman beneath an x-ray.

In “Archeological Record” (here reproduced in full), she considers another cross-section: one replete with imagery of the Midwest as well as classical mythology. Like any good archaeologist, Foust then attempts to weave these elements into a story—an impressionistic one to be sure, but a story nonetheless that speaks of loss and hidden grief.

Scotch straight-up, thy neighbor’s
wife and Sunday Church
—Nobody’s talking

but one white glove is lost.
What was said, and not. Gaps
outline the years laid down

in stone, but each wedged-in bit
is rocking. Dreams, cookbook
notes, the dress a mother wore

to a father’s wake, or would
have worn—had she gone?
The shards meet to make

a pot you haven’t seen before.
The walls are half-effaced,
but Zeus is raping some girl

somewhere, you know that
much. It’s all here—battle,
faun, flash of dawn, grapes

twined into leafy crowns,
each loved thing lost, sieved
with bitter salt and ash.

Foust is not always so indirect in her “digging” into Midwestern life, however. In poems such as “The Dream,” “Books for the Blind,” “Kinship of Family” and, of course, the collection’s titular piece she writes about her family’s place in this land—her mother’s tears (of joy and apprehension) upon discovering a pregnancy; her grandmother’s blindness; her parents’ deaths; the distance between two sisters who were once very close. These are poems, at times, of “bitter salt and ash,” as is the case with “Backwoods,” in which Foust describes her mother’s return to an abusive second husband.

“How could you,” she asks

After he blackened
your eye,
dumb-bitched you
and wrecked your canoe?

You escaped from that place once,
his cottage collapsed
on the banks of that dirty, dredged ditch
he calls a river; all you needed was a car
where you could sleep, keep your things.

But of course, no region is all bitterness and bleakness, even the most hardscrabble one. In other poems, such as “Mom’s Canoe,” family and landscape meld together elegiacly, and even a memory of a mother’s death is transformed into something as beautiful and breathtaking as it is sad.

I still see you rising from water to sky,
paddle held high,
river drops limning its edge.
Brown diamonds catch the light as you lift, then dip.
Parting the current, you slip
silently through the evening shadows.
You, birdsong, watersong, slanting light,
following river bend, swallowed from sight.

Foust’s language and imagery, as the reader has probably by now divined, are as challenging as they are startling, and the reader who wants to follow her through her narratives would be well advised to consider and reconsider each poem, each phrase as an archaeologist reconsiders sand, bone and fragment. But patience is well-rewarded. Mom’s Canoe is a subtle and sometimes painful evocation of the Midwest, an example of a regional voice that transcends its boundaries, achieving universal apppeal.


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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 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.

Louisiana Alba Pens Cross Genre Novel Authors Will Find Familiar--And Not Familiar

UNCORRECTED PROOF a novel by Louisiana Alba
Genre: literary/thriller
Paperback: 312 pages
ISBN: 978-0-9558676-0-6 
B
ElephantEars Press, 9780955867606, 2008 UK

Originally Reviewed by Angela Meyer for LiteraryMinded


Can something be playfully and overtly postmodern and still be readable – driving you through a compelling plot? Louisiana Alba proves it can be done.

Uncorrected Proof is a postmodern novel that entertainingly riffs on form, style, character, tense, person – but with an overall thriller/quest type plot appropriation, it folds you into its delicious bizarro metascapes and humorous oft-satirical, oft-homagical visions.

Somehow Alba (if that’s who she really is… death of the author etc.) incorporates stylistic elements of hard-boiled fiction, screenplays, cookbooks, metafiction, the spy novel, cyberpunk, the literary novel, A Clockwork Orange, Gaelic, intertextuality, memoir, and so much more in a book that self-consciously satirises the entire book and publishing industry – authors, editors, publishers – literary
celebrity, literary delusions, literary snobbery, literary stupidity and so on.

So what’s this book about? Archie’s novel manuscript has been pilfered and plagiarized by Martyn Varginas, prolific mystery writer. Archie and his friend Cal plot a convoluted revenge through Archie getting work as an editor, and employing a re-plagiarisation of the book by a young hired-gun (or pen, as it were). What follows are kidnappings, political intrigues, sex, jaunts to New York and
Paris (from London), stake-outs, party crashings, a couple of book launches, boardroom drunkenness, author cameo appearances, mean streets, cop/spy banter, and a few disturbing murders.

I was completely absorbed in this book – somehow Alba makes it so easy to read, despite the switcheroos in style, and shifts in narrative drive and character motivation. The book’s title Uncorrected Proof displays irony – those not in bookselling or publishing may be unfamiliar with a ‘proof copy’ or ‘uncorrected proof’ – books that become available before release, oft-unedited versions of the
final with spacing, grammatical and typing errors. This ‘published’ book, has a few (tongue-in-cheek) placed throughout.

Alba has worked in publishing, and is actually avoiding traditional distribution methods for the book, keeping in the uber-hip underground spirit of the novel – with a well-handled guerilla internet and out-of-hand distribution system. I came across the author through Facebook.

This book proves to me that extraordinary talent can be represented through shunning traditional publishing methods. This book is inventive, imaginative, and inspiring. It is a unique publication. If you enjoy Italo Calvino or John Fowles, or if you also work or have worked in the book industry, even on the fringes, you would get a great kick out of this novel.

There’s an amazing offer at the moment on the ElephantEars Press website. Postage on Uncorrected Proof FREE to any destination!

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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 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.

Fearing Fear Itself: Jacqueline Wales Pens Self-Help Book

Title – The Fearless Factor
Author – Jacqueline Wales
Genre or category - Self help
ISBN - 978-0979859816

Overview

The Fearless Factor is a timely the new self-help book from in –demand speaker and entrepreneur Jacqueline Wales. This guide helps women move from “stuck in fear” to “moving forward” with practical and inspirational advice on seizing the life they want – and know they deserve!

Packed full of stories from the trenches, and insight from women around the world who have “been there, done that”, The Fearless Factor is a must-have for women who are ready to confront their fears and move on to the next stage of living.

Using the jungle of life as her framework, Wales takes readers through the process of facing their biggest fears, whether they be related to money, relationships, career, age or motherhood, and gives prescriptive ways to overcome those fears and succeed in life.

From learning how to dump emotional baggage that is useless and potentially dangerous to succeeding at stepping away from needing jobs or people to fill them up, readers can learn to detach, let go, and trust their own instincts for what is good for them.

Fear dominates headlines, drives decisions, and can prevent readers from achieving true happiness in everyday life. The Fearless Factor teaches them to face their fears head on and take control of their future.

About the Author:

What can you learn from a former alcoholic, mother of four, author, singer and global nomad who earned a black belt in karate at age 49, has performed in front of thousands of people, and developed a system to help people go beyond the fears, doubts and anxieties that hold their lives in limitation instead of abundance? - Plenty!

A lifelong adventurer, Wales began her motivational career on the tenement steps of her building at age 9 giving advice to the neighborhood children. After a few detours she began singing at age 40, writing at age 41(currently five books) and at 43 she took up martial arts. At 49 she had earned a red belt in Tai Kwon Do and a black belt in Shotokan karate. Who says life begins at 40!

She also sang in front of thousands of people as a lay-cantor for synagogues in Paris and Amsterdam, and recorded an album of original material. At 54, Jacqueline decided she wanted to go into business and began her first motivational company Fearless Fifties which later reinvented to The Fearless Factor which later became a best-selling book. Jacqueline has been a global nomad for over forty years and has lived on three continents and six cities including London, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Paris, Amsterdam, New York and Bali.

By applying the skills she learned in over thirty years of making change in her own life, Wales has gone on to achieve remarkable success after a lifetime of overcoming the odds and has successfully made the leap from author and mother to being an extraordinary force in the women’s self-help movement, dedicated to helping others achieve their goals. For more information on Jacqueline go to www.thefearlessfactor.com She presently lives in New York.

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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 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.

Religious Fiction from Kenneth Weene

Title: Widow's Walk
Author: Kenneth Weene
Genre: Religious Fiction, Romance
ISBN: ISBN 13: 978-0-9840984-2-2
ISBN: 0-9840984-2-9
Publisher: All Things That Matter Press



Widow’s Walk is a story of faith and its effects on already flawed characters. Set in Boston in the 1980s, it is the story of Mary Flanagan and her children, Sean and Kathleen. Mary’s husband, Sean, Sr., died at the wheel of his M.T.A. bus. Her son, Sean, Jr. is a quadriplegic, injured on his way to a brothel in Vietnam; Kathleen, divorced and unable to have children, works and lives at a hospice that primarily serves AIDS patients; there she lives a mechanistically faithful life, but one devoid of belief. This unhappy family structure is erected on the bedrock stoicism of Mary’s Irish Catholicism. It is that faith which is tested, changed, and strangely reaffirmed over the course of the tale.

Two events upend Mary’s world. The first is her friend’s, Lois’s, move to Florida. The second is Sean’s decision to seek rehabilitation in a center in Minnesota – a decision initiated by Jem, a home health aide whose own life reflects a faith of care and service.

Mary finds herself looking for new meaning and direction in her life. In the process she meets two unexpected people, Arnie Berger, a college professor, an agnostic or perhaps deistic Jew, and love interest, and Pat Michaels, a minister, whose view of a joyous faith is much at odds with Mary’s rigid theology. She also moves into a housing share and becomes friends with Amelia Callaghan, the misanthropic house owner.

Sean’s life, too, is dramatically changed because he falls in love with and marries one of the aides at the rehab center. He returns to Boston married, employed and expecting their first child.

Given the remarkable changes in her mother’s and brother’s lives and influenced by Max, one of her dying patients and a man whose story and faith are powerful and unique, Kathleen also seeks love. She meets Danny, a young man tied to his overprotective mother and unable to deal with his own feelings of inadequacy.

Sadly, Kathleen and Danny’s relationship ends in disaster, rape, and abuse. Danny flees. In her own way, Kathleen does too; she becomes catatonic and dependant.

Mary unable to come to terms with her sense of guilt and responsibility towards her daughter – is powerless to keep those feelings from coming between her and Arnie.

We will not share the end. You will want to know.

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Weene is offering a couple of giveaways to people who visit his stops along the tour route and leave comments. *The first is his poetry book which will go to a few different commenters. The second giveaway is a copy of his book Widow's Walk to one lucky commenter

Winners will be drawn at random from all those who leave comments along the tour.

For more specifics on the individual books, visit the full tour schedule for details: http://virtualblogtour.blogspot.com/2009/07/widows-walk-by-kenneth-weene-virtual.html


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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 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.