Mosquito Marketing Recommended for Authors

Mosquito Marketing
By Michelle Dunn
ISBN 1453605304
Self Published



I have a motto: "Reading one book on book promotion is never enough."
Thus, I recommend Michelle Dunn's Mosquito Marketing, a book full of book-marketing essentials. Though I seldom weigh in on this blog myself, here is the heartfelt recommendation I wrote to Michelle, complete with disclaimer:

Dear Michelle:

Congratulations on a job well done! In the writing. In the accumulation of knowledge. And in the production. I shall recommend Mosquito Marketing  to my UCLA students and my clients--every single one of them!

Yes, you may use that as an endorsement, though you may not want to because I am in the book. Thus I may appear biased. The thing is, I would have said the same thing even if I had no part in it! (-:
 
So, it's going up on my Web site (the Resources for Writers section) right now! And into my recommendation list for my students. Soon. (-: 
Thank you so much. Mosquito Marketing (ISBN 1453605304) will be a valued part of books I am part of--ones that I keep in a special reference (and brag!) library. Great work!

Best,
Carolyn Howard-Johnson

-----
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. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:

Meander Scar
By Lisa Lickel
Inspirational Romance/Contemporary
ISBN: 978-1-934912-23-2


Reviewed by Shawna K. Williams, originally for Amazon

I truly loved and appreciated this book. Every bit of it -- story, plot, writing, setting, and characters! I'll be honest, sometimes I get tired of reading another romance with a formulaic feel. (Boy meets girl, they hate each other for some reason, but they can't stop thinking about each other. They get together and everything is great for a while, but either boy or girl has some dark secret that threatens to tear them apart. It does, but then they work it out and everybody lives happily ever after.)

Okay, it's not that there's anything wrong with that. There are plenty of entertaining stories that are molded around that setup. But since I do read so many, when I come across a well written book, where the story is molded around characters and events on several different levels, I'm hooked. I'm not just hooked, I'm enamored.

And I'm enamored with Meander Scar.

Everything about it was unique. And I don't mean weird. The story had its own individual mold and that's because the pacing and drama was completely controlled by the characters. This gave it a true to life feel with plenty of depth, complexity, and total believability. And it took me on an emotional journey -- which was heart-wrenching in places -- but also moved me on a deep level.

From the very beginning Lisa Lickel gives the reader something to think about by introducing Ann's situation, where her life is in a state of limbo. From there, we get to chew on the controversy of romance and age difference. There are lessons in grief, lessons in letting go, lessons in closure and forgiveness - lessons in faith. I just loved this book!

One of the most touching parts in the story is near the end, when Mark discovers a diary of Ann's. It's a journey of her feelings and insecurities from the moment he came back into her life, and when he read it, I wanted to cry.

If any of you have read Nicholas Sparks', A walk to Remember, you may recall that it ends with a single, powerful line. There's some speculation as to what actually happens, but that line offers the reader tremendous hope. The ending to Meander Scar has a similar feel. I thought it was perfect.

Reviewer Biography:

Shawna K. Williams - Grace-Inspired Fiction
No Other, May, 2010. Desert Breeze Publishing
In All Things, Nov., 2010. Desert Breeze Publishing
Orphaned Hearts, Dec., 2010. Desert Breeze Publishing
http://shawnakwilliams.com/
http://shawnawilliams-oldsmobile.blogspot.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. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:

Entertainment Reviewer Talks about Book on Eric Clapton, George Harrison and More

Wonderful Tonight: George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Me
(Titled Wonderful Today for U.K. edition.)
By Patti Boyd and Penny Junor
Harmony Books, Aug. 2007



Reviewed by: Wesley Britton originally posted at Wesley Britton’s Entertainment Scrapbook



Rock muses are a unique breed of women, at least in terms of those who’ve been immortalized in the words and melodies of those they inspired. Perhaps the best sampling would be the most select of all rock and roll women’s clubs—Beatle wives. After all, they came from a wide range of backgrounds—a Japanese artist, New York photographer, a Liverpool-bred hairdresser . . . there was even Heather Mills, once a seemingly fairy-tale consolation for a grieving songster. Then, in a flash, she publicly devolved into a shrill gold-digger of epic proportions. Mills not only made Nicole Smith seem a rank amateur in the profession, her stint on Dancing With The Stars made it clear, if anyone needed further evidence, that the term “star” now has less meaning than many rocker’s vows of marital fidelity. But I digress.

Going back in time, there were the ballads of John and Yoko, Paul and Linda, and then the apparently mature unions of Ringo and Barbara, George and Olivia. Each of these are stories unto themselves, each as distinct as the couples involved. And before them were the ballads of the first Beatle wives—Cynthia, Maureen, Patti Boyd, and, more or less, Jane Asher. All their stories are as well known as any aspect of the Beatle myth and each shared something in common—being married to big-time rock stars meant dealing with young men enjoying sexual opportunities that were the envy of mere mortals like thee and me. In addition, these women lived with huge chunks of lonely time where their mates were out on the road or lost in their own worlds when they did come home. All this is on record, as it were, in multiple books and histories. So, what can another autobiography offer that pulls back the curtains and shed new light on the old legends?

In terms of who did what and when and with whom, Patti Boyd doesn’t have much new to share. How could she? Even before meeting George Harrison on the set of A Hard Day’s Night, she was becoming a “star” in her own right, a model with a growing list of impressive photographic credentials. As Cynthia Lennon observed in her own memoir, A Twist of Lennon (1978), this was one reason the Liverpool wives—Cyn and Maureen—had misgivings about the new Beatle lass. After all, they had been there from the beginning and George bringing a sexy model into the fold seemed a bit of showing off. No wonder that Patti’s memories don’t focus much on Cynthia, but Maureen turns out to be the picture of betrayal—first a seeming close friend, then the Beatle wife who jumped beds from the drummer to the guitarist, not only under Patti’s nose but in her own house.

Again, nothing new in these stories. They simply remind us that in this circle of friends, women were as disposable as pillowcases, and the male bonds of musicians trumped all else. How else could Ringo, George, and then Eric Clapton remain close collaborators for decades after their best mates stole their girls? Patti’s descriptions of life with George does shed some insight into this mindset largely because of her own perseverance and own repeated forgiveness of her men. After all, life with George did bring with it the highest of highs in every sense of the word. Patti’s travelogue of her adventures in the ‘60s is filled with some of the excitement of those days, especially the physical and spiritual journeys in India. The years of 1966 and 1967 were expansive for both the Harrisons, with Patti joining her husband in vegetarianism, TM, and Eastern mysticism. Well, it was actually Patti who introduced George to the idea of meeting the maharishi mahesh yogi which means she was the one to light the spark that became the “Year of the Guru” which, in turn, opened the doors for all things ultimately called New Age.

Then, as with all Beatle matters, things fell apart on the home front. Here, I did get the sense I was getting new glimpses into the psychology of George. What is clear is his obsessive nature that led him into taking hours to chant and meditate, then party to the hilt, then meditate and chant to the extreme, and so on. Patti understood the withdrawal she felt when George was apparently in a creative state, but saw herself shut out when, even sharing the same house, she didn’t have a husband to communicate with. Later, she blames herself for not putting her foot down and insisting on the pair working on their relationship. But there was this fella named Eric Clapton and a song called “Layla.”

In Patti’s account, and I doubt she intended this, EC comes across as even less sympathetic than he did in his own autobiography, which coincidently was published at the same time. (See my review posted here Nov. 24, 2009.) In Clapton’s own words, the ‘70s onward were all periods of addiction, first heroine, then alcohol. He admits that wooing Patti was torturous, but once he had her, he relegated her to being his domestic housekeeper for whom appreciation just wasn’t in him. Patti was in a position where the house gardener ignored her and her allowance was entirely dependent on Clapton’s management. For me, one moment said it all—when Clapton’s son Connor was born. For Eric, he was consumed with joy. For Patti, it was astonishing her husband would want her to share his feelings considering Connor was born to another woman with whom Eric still wanted to share time. Here was Patti, childless, seeking medical help for the miracle that would make her a mother. Here was Eric, trumpeting a birth that should have prompted Patti to send him packing.

That finally does happen, and here’s where the comparison with Heather Mills comes in. After years of Patti suffering with Eric’s nearly monthly brushes with death, Clapton and his manager, Roger Forrester, hung her out to dry with minimal support. To a degree, this ended up being to Patti’s betterment as she was forced to find a new career, and she found creative fulfillment switching from modeling to photography.

While she didn’t make this comparison herself, one of her final passages struck me. Patti described the difference between illusion and reality, that of being a model posing for pictures and being the woman who had to try to live up to the expectations people had of the faces they saw on magazine covers. In her later years, Patti had found contentment not trying to live the image. For me, this seemed a parallel for the woman called “Layla” created by EC and the woman he finally conquered. The image inside his creative heart inspired him—but the real Patti Boyd was just another needle in his arm. We listeners have a similar relationship with the musicians who gave us the songs that defined our lives. We have the imagery and sounds we treasure juxtaposed against the reality upon which the transcendent was based. For Patti and Eric, the song “Wonderful Tonight” had a power only those two can understand, joyous when things are good, painful when they weren’t. For most of us, the lady who looks wonderful tonight is someone in the here and now, at least hopefully so. For me, all these years “Something” was just one of George’s classic songs—now I hear it wondering how George Harrison could have neglected, ignored, and then lost this wonderful muse. Likewise, in the harsh light of day, do we listeners lose the creative mysteries immortalized in the songs we brought into our hearts?

Well, a survivor named Patti Boyd didn’t. The best thing about her book is that she is now her own muse. Not a bad place to end up.

---

Dr. Wesley Britton is co-host of online radio’s “Dave White Presents” which features interviews with a wide range of entertainers. Past programs are archived at www.audioentertainment.org/dwp. He is also author of four books on espionage and runs www.spywise.net. Wes teaches English at Harrisburg Area Community College.







-----
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. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:

Wesley Britton's Hot-Off-The-Press Review of "Beach Boys"

Endless Summer: My Life with the Beach Boys
By Jack Lloyd
Bear Manor Media
ISBN-10: 1-59393-xxx-x (alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 973-1-59393-xxx-x (alk. paper)
(Release scheduled for Late July 2010)


Reviewed by Wesley Britton originally for “Wesley Britton’s Entertainment Scrapbook"



Of all the rock memoirs I’ve read this year, Jack Lloyd’s slice of the ‘60s is one of my favorites. For one matter, Lloyd knows readers want to know about the subject of his book’s title, so Endless Summer isn’t a full-blown autobiography. Lloyd doesn’t bog the early chapters down with his upbringing and his book ends when his tenure with the Beach Boys was over. So readers will quickly realize Lloyd is acting as a narrator of what he saw during some important years in rock history with a minimum of details about his own personal life. As a result, Lloyd says his account is a “tell some,” not “all” book.

More importantly, Lloyd provides a perspective into the music of the ‘60s very different from the usual memories of musicians or their girlfriends or wives. His role was, depending on what hat he was wearing, as a personal manager/promoter/producer who got into the entertainment business selling programs, watching the box office, arranging concert dates, and sitting in the office writing publicity and paying bills. In his early days, he got to know folks involved with the Smothers Brothers before he began spending considerable time on the road. Lloyd’s duties expanded to keeping a careful eye on the Beach Boys in general and drummer Dennis Wilson in particular, especially in the after-hours bars and speakeasys. It was a life in planes, hotels, getting the boys to the gig on time and finding food when the show was over. It was a life with unusual lessons. For example, Lloyd learned it’s better to hire prostitutes on the road—professionals don’t blackmail or come back with paternity suits. Check ages on driver’s licenses before letting the girls in the room. Be wary of girls who sleep with rock stars or their entourage in hopes of getting a record contract. And be more careful still with the locals who don’t always want to pay their bills.

The Beach Boys weren’t the only band Lloyd worked with, and much of his book is anecdotes about Sonny and Cher, Jim Morrison, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Buffalo Springfield, and others. It’s the story of an era when road managers and producers had a viable role in entertainment. Often using the band’s own funds, they made money from percentages and selling souvenir books. They had to be creative when ticket sales were low and invent publicity on the spot. Lloyd had to put out fires like fighting Canadian tax collectors dogging the band for cuts of concert revenues. Some of all these stories can be skimmed—not every stopover, drunken evening, or sexual encounter is entertaining. As Lloyd was mainly involved with the Beach Boys on tour, he has little to say about Brian Wilson as his time was spent with Bruce Johnson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Carl Wilson and, again, the wild drummer, Dennis Wilson. So there are no studio insights nor discussions of song composition or production. As other books cover this ground, this isn’t a criticism—merely a clarification of Lloyd’s scope. He was the guy who traveled ahead of the band to make sure the gigs ran smoothly and hopefully lucratively and he was the man calling radio stations to fill in where the record label failed. Remember, there was a time when Beach Boys LPs weren’t selling and the late ‘60s was an era when the group seemed out of step with current trends. In short, Lloyd was the guy who looked after the band’s interests while they were engaged in orgies, binges, performing, or preparing for tours. Whether he became a friend of the group remains an open question. When he moved on to greener pastures, no one seemed to notice. That’s rock ‘n roll.

If all this sounds like stories for a select audience, Lloyd has an engaging style and keeps the anecdotes coming at a fast clip. There’s plenty of humor and surprising twists. Whether you’re a Beach Boys fan or not, Endless Summer offers a perspective into rock history new to me, at least. The Stones had fun with their “Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man”—Lloyd demonstrates such bands wouldn’t have gotten very far without him.

Details and ordering information.

~ Dr. Wesley Britton has written four books on espionage in the media and is co-host of online radio’s “Dave White Presents.” Many of his reviews are posted at www.spywise.net and his radio interviews are archived at www.audioentertainment.org/dwp.

-----
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. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:

Great Travel Reading for Women

Title: Serendipity House
Author: Joyce DeBacco
ISBN: 978-1-935013-98-3
Genre: women’s fiction w/romance
Publisher: Wild Child Publishing
Price: List $5.95 e-book only

Reviewed by Meg Kinsella of The Romance Studio

5 hearts out of 5

Sylvie Gardner is running from a controlling mother and a wedding she has discovered she doesn't want when she finds Serendipity House. Alexander Clemenceau is the private investigator hired by her ex-fiance to find her. Serendipity House is a bit rundown and full of unique seniors but Sylvie now has a place to find herself and perhaps the trust to love someone.

Joyce DeBacco has done a wonderful job of dealing with such deep emotional issue as mother-daughter conflicts. She does an excellent job in making you both see and feel with the heroine who feels she has never made her mom happy. We have all had the experiences she describes so accurately in the book. This book deals with all the different interpersonal relationships we have and we see Sylvie grow and become a stronger better person through these relationships. I really enjoyed this book even when I was cringing from reading some of the conversations between mothers and daughters. I felt a bit like I was sitting in the corner listening.

-----
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. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:

Sculpting the Heart's Poetry While Conversing With the Masters

Sculpting the Heart's Poetry While Conversing With the Masters
By Joyce White


Reviewed by Molly Martin for Amazon

Joyce White's Sculpting the Heart's Poetry While Conversing With the Masters offers first some thoughts regarding Feminist Mythology.

Setting the tone is the first poem entitled Women in which all nuances of women are introduced from the kisses and tears, to rivalry, Caffeine, Nicotine and Prozac to an understanding that women have too many dimensions to simply set down on paper.

Poet White explains in Bird of God how she goes about constructing her rhythmical pieces.

Interspersed among the poetic odes in the work Sculpting the Heart's Poetry is found artwork including pen and ink drawings, photography and artwork created by the Masters. I found one photograph in particular to be... More >be particularly compelling, entitled A Family's Hands we see a grouping of hands including one of a baby and continuing on to the veined and conceivably arthritic hand of perhaps the oldest member of the family.

What daughter, I ponder might not find something with which to agree or to enjoy while reading the words of the four stanzas entitled Turning Into Mom.

Birthdays, Happy Children, and Becoming a Poem are some of the gentle, well crafted odes comprising Chapter 1 Feminist Mythology.

In the second Chapter of the book is found a collection of writer White's conversations with the Masters. From Zeus, Hermes, Dionysus and the First New Year Baby to Saint Raphael, and Madonna and Jesus and angels; poet White talks of love and flowers, and feeling loved, the thousand artists eyes. She tells of Artists who write and paint and create.

White tells of Raphael who comes to heal, and of angels who bless with celestial knowledge and of Jesus and the melodic music of Mozart and how angels fly and, Hermes. Hermes, the keeper of the in between, is chosen to report, record, and transport the dead.

Picasso is discussed in Chapter 3. That Poet White harbors a good bit of interest, caring and perhaps love for this artiste is very evident as the reader undertakes the works included in this series.

Picasso was born in Spain, moved to France and enjoyed a reputation as a renowned theater designer, draftsman, and sculptor, and, he was likely the greatest printmaker of his era and beyond.

White tells how Picasso's paintings fill her head, she relates that the artist's favorite model was Olga, and tells us something of that woman from her 22 inch waist to her dancing to unheard melodies, and while she looks a little odd in her cubic form, HE, no doubt, thought her perfectly constructed.

And one of my favorite paint artists, Van Gogh, is addressed in Chapter 4 which is introduced with a Chagall collage presented in muted magenta and lavender and is created by versifier White herself.

'There is beauty and bravery and achievement in Van Gogh's Starry Night.' I must agree.

Aphrodite and Venus and Marilyn Monroe, and Botticelli all become part of what we females are, we are women.

Chapter 5 leads the reader to Drama, Drama, Drama and tears like polliwogs, I think that is one of my favorite lines in the this section, and maybe even the work as a whole. Tears like polliwogs, what visual portrayals fill the senses. That, and poet White's assertion that if it looks and sounds like a poem, it is cause a smile. There is hope for all of us then, isn't there?

Money, Grammar and Endless love and barking Yorkies and graying hair and lips that taste of chocolate, White weaves visions with words.

Only a bard would recognize so easily that moths live, work and die much as do humans. She watches a spider spinning a web, and plays what if with white on white.

White pigeons hide from white cats and white birds search for white worms, and, she asks the question could we learn if white chalk wrote on a white chalkboard. We CAN live without a good many things we think we just have to have, but, can we actually live without red, orange, yellow, green, blue, black and brown?

I have cats, I particularly enjoyed the Ballet of Cats, 'by day they sit and stare in unison. They achieve lift off, twitch tails, and maybe even hiss ad stew. They are, cats by day and tigers by night.'

And Chapter 6 is filled with The Circle of Life. Works include evocative narrative of An Alcoholic, the delicate lilt Blossoms Praying, and mischevious First Dirty Word summing up a youngster's growing up, a Cowboy's Moonlight Ride, Hermit Poets and Ribbons, Bows and Lace present a slice of life across generations, times, places and gender.

Who should live and Who should die is a thought provoking discussion especially for those of us who have had, or may have soldier fathers, brothers, husbands, or today moms and sisters.

Growing Love, and The glass Dancer complete the work.

Rhymster White has crafted an eclectic, balanced work trailing across a myriad of themes. The work is wordsmith in content, wordsmith in beauty. That White has come through sorrow, enjoyed beauty and finds worthwhile in much is evidenced in her odes, stanzas and poems.

Lyricist Joyce White has strengthened herself using spiritual standards directing the core values set down in use of art therapy for sculpting the heart and thus the emotional wellbeing of the self. White employs these values creatively as a way to promote healing and growth and self awareness.

Renewal of verve, optimism, self discovery, moving on following tragedy or even a happy life changing event are all recurrent themes running through her work. White's Sculpting the Heart's Poetry thrusts wellness and good heartedness to the forefront. Sharing pain, hurt and happiness is therapeutic, liberating and cathartic White fosters integrity and wellbeing through the curative acts of creativity.

God focused dreams, work and doing embracing a belief of duality, harmonizing radiance and dark through verse and conversing with our spiritual leader fills our essence with the healing, joy and motivation to move forward with renewed vigor and self awareness in the face of the upsets we all face in life.

Filled with a poignant, ethereal quality the written works offered by White are counter balanced nicely with various depictions of art work including sculpture, pictures of various medium and photographs, all in all she has taken an eclectic set of materials and woven them into an affirmation of women in whole and the individual woman who may be reading.

Happy to recommend Joyce White's Sculpting the Heart's Poetry while conversing with the Masters.

For review I received an ARC from the author.

-----
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. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:

Twenty Short Stories Let You Travel the World

Lost Angel Walkabout: One Traveler’s Tales
By Linda Ballou
ISBN: 978-1449971526
May 2010

Reviewed by Barbara Milbourn, a writer and editor in Nashville, Tennessee


In roughly twenty short stories, travel writer Linda Ballou takes us with her up active volcanoes in Costa Rica, down hundred-mile rivers in the Yukon Territory, over combination jumps and oxers in Ireland, beneath the Sea of Cortez, and along unforgettable jaunts through deserts, woods, peaks, and valleys in both hemispheres. Her tales span years of traveling—sometimes alone, occasionally with her mother or life partner, and often with others in search of soft adventure. Brimming with action, intelligence, regional history, funny mishaps or tight squeezes, each story is set against a backdrop of nature’s jaw-dropping beauty. Ballou aims to share her world view, and through her Eco-alerts make the reader care more deeply about our vanishing resources and places of wild beauty.

Living in greater Los Angeles among millions of other lost angels keeping pace in a hurried world, Linda Ballou makes no bones about her need to seek equilibrium, solitude, and salvation in the sublimity of nature. Forget thousand-thread count sheets at luxury hotels or shopping for the latest bling. Like the great figures liberally noted in her pieces—Robert Frost, Jack London, John Steinbeck, John Muir—Ballou prefers the great outdoors and is intimately acquainted with it. She is a naturalist, a thoughtful traveler, one caring toward the environment and sensitive to local populations both near and far. And, she is a meticulous researcher.

Lost Angel Walkabout is richly detailed and poetic. It gifts the reader with the depth of observation in the clear and careful naming of the world around us—places, peoples, plants, birds, mountain ranges, animals, and sea creatures. More satisfying than naming is storytelling the authentic connection made with the inhabitants of land, sea, and sky; ravens and great spirits, fin whales the size of city buses, or Native Americans forced to flee their land. Because the author has connected deeply, so does the reader. Something is gathered from every place visited, and it seems impossible not to connect with our own highest and best self through Ballou’s experiences—not to mention wanting to get up and go there.

Linda Ballou keeps good company too and includes interviews with renowned travel writer Tim Cahill and endurance rider Lari Shea. Like her travel writing hero Tim Cahill, Ballou sees humor in many of the predicaments she stumbles into, or out of, or overboard after.

Don’t be surprised to find her on the back of a galloping horse yelling “Yee Haw!” and let out a yell yourself.

Autographed copy with free shipping is available.

-----
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. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below: