The New Book Review

This blog, #TheNewBookReview, is "new" because it eschews #bookbigotry. It lets readers, reviewers, authors, and publishers expand the exposure of their favorite reviews, FREE. Info for submissions is in the "Send Me Your Fav Book Review" circle icon in the right column below. Find resources to help your career using the mini search engine below. #TheNewBookReview is a multi-award-winning blog including a MastersInEnglish.org recommendation.

Saturday, February 13, 2021

Poetry Chapbook Boxed Set for a "Porous" World

New-Generation African Poets

Subtitle: A chapbook Box Set

Edited by Kwame Dawes and Chris Abani

Illustrator/Book Cover Artist: Tariku Shiferaw

Publisher: Akashic Books

Paperback Chapbooks

ISBN: 9781617758164 (Full Box Set)

Limited Edition

Released September 8, 2020

Available on Amazon

$34.95 for boxed set of 12

 


 

Here is a lovely set of poetry chapbooks, beautifully illustrated, and thematically suited for this world, now more “global” than ever. Travel, immigration, the Internet and media as a whole have made it so. One of the editors of this project—for it is indeed a project, an annual project—calls it a “porous” world in his introduction. That indicates that though these chapbooks are by poets with African roots all, they are all part of Editor Kwame Dawes’ permeable world. Therefore, these are voices and viewpoints that should be read and appreciated across all borders including nationalities, religions, and races. 

 

Further, these poets speak from the heart, mostly in poetic language that could easily be mistaken for everyday prose. Well, maybe not “everyday.” Maybe that should be qualified as prose of the highest order. Easily understood. Intrinsically felt. 

 

Individual chapbooks by Michelle Angwenyi, Afua Ansong, Adedayo Agarau, Fatima Camara, Sadia Hassan, Safia Jama, Henneh Kyereh Skaku, Nadra Mabrouk, Nkateko Masinga, Jamila Osman, and Tryphena Yeboah. 

 

 

MORE ABOUT THE REVIEWER

 


Carolyn Howard-Johnson is the author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugallyseries of books for writers including her most recent How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically (http://bit.ly/GreatBkReviews ) that covers 325 jam-packed pages covering everything from Amazon vine to writing reviews for profit and promotion and a whole lot you didn't know including how to use blurbs from reviews to sell books to catalogs. Reviewers will have a special interest in the chapter on how to make reviewing pay, either as way to market their own books or as a career path--ethically! Learn more about her and her poetry at http://howtodoitfrugally.com.

 

 

Poetry Chapbook Boxed Set for a "Porous" World

Wednesday, February 10, 2021

Lois W. Stern's Stories to Tickle the Funny Bone Reviewed for The New Book Review


TITLE OF YOUR BOOK: Tales2Inspire ~ The Crystal Collection 


SUBTITLE OF YOUR BOOK: Stories that Tickle to Funny Bone


NAME (AUTHOR OF BOOK): Anthology of short stories written both by Lois W. Stern (Publisher) and the following winning authors of her annual contest: Jamie Sadler , Maurice Levenbron, Rod DiGruttolo, Joan Nadjari, James Osborne, Mort Laitner, Joe Satriano, Barry Nisman, Jeff Rimland, Cami Ann Hofstadter, Ph.D., Mark H. Newhouse, Micki Peluso, Nancy Kalikow Maxwell, Jan Hurst-Nicholson, Gerald A. Walford, Ph.D., Kenneth J. Stern, David Shwaiko, Frank D. Iannella, Alastair Henry


GENRE OR CATEGORY: Anthology of Non-fiction, humorous short stories


ISBN-10: 1518678790

ISBN-13: 978-1518678790

  • ASIN: B0184JSI7K
  • FORMATS: Paperback, Kindle, PDF


PAGE COUNT: 139  


AMAZON LINK:://www.amazon.com/Tales2Inspire-Diamond-Collection-IIIFeathers/dp/1695618165/ref=sr_1_8?keywords=Tales2Inspire+Collection&qid=1582728148&s=books&sr=1-8


CLICK TO BUY


AUTHOR/PUBLISHER BIO:

Lois W. Stern is a multi award-winning author whose work has been featured in The New York Times, on Local Access TV, and in live presentations in many varied venues. She has now published ten Tales2Inspire books of her contest winners' stories. Fans of Chicken Soup for the Soul are particularly enamored of Tales2Inspire books, because aside from their dynamic inspirational themes, they are filled with original photos to enhance the power of each story. Lois invites interested readers to get a FREE Tales2Inspire sampler book at: www.tales2inspire.com/gifts and to learn more about entering the next Tales2Inspire contest at: http://tales2inspire.com/enter-author-contest/. 

She is also a regular contributor to this blog. 


E-MAIL ADDRESS: tales2Inspire@optimum.net


FAVORITE LINKS: 

 http://www.tales2inspire.com,

 www.twitter.com/tales2inspire2

www.facebook.com/tales2inspire.com


BEST REVIEW:

Lois W. Stern, creator of ‘winning stories by talented authors from across the globe’, has outdone herself with her latest collection of stories; the first collection ever of strictly humorous stories. As author and publisher Stern admits, funny stories are more difficult to write, edit and judge since what strikes one person's funny bone might go right over the head of another. This is not the case with these unique stories encompassing all walks of life, and unusual situations — did I mention funny?

My personal favorite, the story about a ’chicken zombie’ is a laugh out loud story that is almost unbelievable. I know I'll never feel the same toward chicken again. In another story, leaving two little girls alone with gallons of different colors of paint makes one smile. One story proves with slapstick humor that machines can be extremely mean to young housewives.

“You can't spell ‘DON’T without ‘DO’” is proven in a hysterical short story about a young boy who cleverly beats the system, avoiding punishment. “Love in Bloom . . . Remembering When” is a sweet funny love story, a thoroughly satisfying read. Author Stern adds her own comical account of how a redhead proves she's a true redhead.

Each of the stories in this collection of humorous anecdotal tales is well-written, the authors are all contest winners and their work is edited to perfection. The lovely crystal on the book cover is perfect for these types of stories as some shine with brilliance, others are sharp and witty, and still others smooth and pleasant. But as the creator, Lois W. Stern writes, they are all ‘sparkling crystals of laughter.’

The type of stories in the Crystal collection is perfect reading while traveling or waiting for appointments. Just be careful where you chuckle or burst out laughing. Those enjoying this book in the Tales2 Inspire series will want to check out the other collections. I know I did.


REVIEWER’S BYLINE: Micki Peluso, Author and Journalist


MORE ABOUT THE REVIEWER: (in Micki's own words:)

 

“I have written since I learned to hold a pencil. But life interfered with serious writing until a tragedy struck my family. This time I took up the pen and wrote as a catharsis to my grief--where spoken words failed, written words helped heal my wounded soul. 


My first short story of the incident was published in Victimology:an International Journal, launching a career in journalism. When writing for newspapers there were no more rejections, a nice surprise. I became a staff freelance writer for a bi-weekly award winning newspaper and freelance slice of life writer for my local paper, serving a city of 600,000 people. The diversity of writing for newspapers let me experiment in many areas of writing from essays, commentaries, interviews, humor, pathos, analogy, and short fiction.


I have recently published my first non-fiction book, . . .AND THE WHIPPOORWILL SANG, dedicated to the one I lost. Published by LspDigital, it is a funny, poignant celebration of life rather than a eulogy of death. My newly released children's book, 'The Cat Who Wanted a Dog' is a coloring and illustrated book for ages from 4-9 years old. I love writing short stories, my favorite category, which has culminated into a collection of slice of life, humor, and multi-genre short fiction and non-fiction, called, 'Don't Pluck the Duck’"..


Twitter Talk: A Reality Check to Your Trepidations, Safety and Other Concerns


Twitter Talk


by Your Review Acquisition Coordinator

Lois W. Stern



The Twitter accounts of several prominent personalists including Elon Musk, Joe Biden, and Kim Kardashian, had been hacked in a Bitcoin scam setting off a wave of alarm about this platform’s security. The hackers obtained control of employee credentials and hijacked accounts of some influential people who appeared to be tweeting out for those account followers to send them Bitcoins. This hack led to a lot of concerns about the security of the social media platforms. Although #FreePress is an inalienable right in our democracy, #FreePress does not include freedom to spread false information or damage someone else through libel or incitement. 


You might have read about the accounts of other prominent personalities twitter has closed down for similar reasons, but since I am not an Elon Musk or other high profile personality, I’m not concerned about having my Twitter account hacked. But since this issue recently came up again when I suggested that authors whose books are listed as part of my TheNewBookReview free book review query service hop onto Twitter, I wanted to address it. 


Note that I used the word suggested. It is hardly a requirement that you join Twitter to have your book listed at http://bit.ly/FreeBookstoReadandReview It’s just that having a presence on Twitter is simply an effective way for us to help you get many more eyeballs focused on your book. So I will repeat those suggestions below, but first let’s address the security issue.


PART 1: 

How to protect your Twitter account from hackers


 



Although I have not done either of the following to safeguard my Twitter account, if you have concerns about your security, here are two things you can do to further protect your account: 


1. Turn on two-factor authentication. This feature adds a secondary layer for a hacker trying to crack into your account. For a hacker who does not have internal access, this is a very difficult layer to crack. Keep scrolling for my easy instructions on how to add this layer. *

 

2. Unfollow and Block: If you find that a user is stalking you or troubling you on your platform, you can either unfollow them to stop seeing their tweets or block them, to make them vanish from your Twitter feed and messages altogether. *


*(See footnote below for details on how to engage those features.)



PART 2: 

Here are the suggestions I already sent out to the authors whose books are listed at:  http://bit.ly/FreeBookstoReadandReview



If you’re not yet on Twitter, please try to establish your page now. Here is a super video I recommend - clear and very easy to follow.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwKwOyb62xs



My advice: Go slowly, you don’t have to learn Twitter all at once. 


Just follow the steps on this YouTube guide to set up your profile now, and learn more about other ways to use Twitter as time goes on. 


Whether you are a newbie or seasoned Twitter users, here is what I am suggesting you do: 

Once you have a Twitter account, go to the upper right corner of the screen and type in @tales2inspire2 to follow me and @FrugalbookPromo to follow Carolyn (the founder and owner of this blog).


Here’s why: Carolyn and I will begin tweeting about each genre of books listed at http://bit.ly/FreeBookstoReadandReview. Once you are following us, watch for our tweets relevant to your genre, because that’s your chance to jump in, retweet our tweets, and add a few tempting words to attract readers to your book. To do that you use the little icon underneath every tweet that looks like a comic dialogue bubble as pictured below.


Now suppose your book is listed in the MYSTERY genre. When you see Carolyn or me tweet about the this genre, grab that opportunity to expand on that tweet by clicking on it and adding a comment as 

“Nothing like a good mystery thriller! Check out (your mystery book title here). . . about  (. . .) by clicking on the MYSTERY icon at http://bit.ly/FreeBookstoReadandReview.” 


Don’t forget to click on the + sign next to the blue TWEET to add a picture of your book cover, because Twitter viewers love images.


We are hoping to make this a game changer for you and your book(s)! 


This is another free service from #TheNewBookReview. 


To jump on the bandwagon and have your book listed as well, follow the steps listed at: 

https://thenewbookreview.blogspot.com/p/ethical-free-reviews.html

________________________________________


Footnotes:


How to enable two factor authentication on twitter?

 a) Scan the left column of icons to select 




 b) Click on the gear icon 





c) Select Security and Account Access to make your selections. 



Lois runs an annual Tales2Inspire® contest for both talented newbies and seasoned authors alike. True to her 'Authors Helping Authors' philosophy, she charges no submission fee for folks to enter her contest. That's right folks, it's FREE to enter and winners get lots of free branding opportunities as well.  All submission details, including her 2021 theme, Turning The Page are explained in detail HERE. To date she has published 10 (ten) Tales2Inspire® anthologies filled with winners' stories, from winning authors coming from across the USA, Canada, Australia, South Africa and the United Kingdom.

Visit Lois at these Media Marketing sites to learn more about her and her Tales2Inspire® Authors Helping Authors project/contest at: 
http://www.tales2Inspire.com

Spend some media marketing time with Lois at: 


___________________________________________________________________________________



More About #TheNewBookReview Blog The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Authors, readers, publishers, and reviewers may republish their favorite reviews of books they want to share with others. 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 and love. Please see submission guidelines in a tab at the top of this blog's home page or go directly to the form at https://www.bit.ly/FinishedReviewSubmissions. Authors and publishers who do not yet have reviews or want more may use Lois W. Stern's "Authors Helping Authors" service for requesting reviews. Find her guidelines in a tab at the top of the home page, too. And know that Carolyn Wilhelm, our IT expert, award-winning author, and veteran educator, makes an award image especially for those who volunteer to write reviews from Lois's review-request list and post them in the spirit of her "Authors Helping Authors" project. Reviews, interviews, and articles on this blog are indexed by genre, reviewers' names, and review sites so #TheNewBookReview may be used as a resource for most anyone in the publishing industry. As an example, writers will find this blog's 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. #TheFrugalbookPromoter, #CarolynHowardJohnson, #TheNewBookReview, #TheFrugalEditor, #SharingwithWriters, #reading #BookReviews #GreatBkReviews #BookMarketing

Friday, February 5, 2021

LB Sedlacek Earns Prolific Poet Designation

Four New Books: Chuck Town, Suicide Pumpkin,
   The Blue Eyed Side, The Poet Protection Plan
Author: L. B. Sedlacek
Publishers: See author bio in this post.
Purchase URLs listed with each synopsis






NEW FROM POET AND AUTHOR, LB SEDLACEK




Head on down the cobblestone streets onto Rainbow Row in this Charleston, South Carolina 
themed poetry book from award winning poet, author and poem critic, LB Sedlacek. Visit Folly 
Beach, Murray's Lighthouse, Waterfront Park, the Battery, the USS Yorktown, Mt. Pleasant and 
more in this brand new collection.  





Mikeal is a kite surfer in North Carolina, raised by his grandparents.  After they are murdered, he 
rents the inherited cottage to Alexis, an actress.  Together this unlikely pair decides to investigate.  
Award winning poet, LB Sedlacek, takes you into a dark mountain tale in this new poem novel 
published by Cyberwit, “The Blue Eyed Side.”   Cover photo of Blue Ridge Parkway by LB Sedlacek. 
https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Eyed-Side-L-B-Sedlacek/dp/9388319303  





The suicide plans of a would-be actress in Hollywood fall apart when she meets her Prince Charming 
who comes complete with a white Porsche & a pumpkin. Get to know Jessica & Jeremy in this 
humorous but twisted Cinderella story.  






From the Publisher and Editor of the long time free resource for Poets, "The Poetry Market Ezine," 
comes a book on being a poet!  The essays or articles in this new book are about writing, or 
marketing yourself as a writer. Navigating your life as a writer or poet, may be difficult. Do you 
have another job besides writing? Even if you have a writing related job, you are probably doing 
that to supplement your writer life income. There’s hope! At least, that’s what these essays are 
all about, how you can gel your regular work life with your work as a writer.  


More About L.B. Sedlacek

L.B. Sedlacek's is the former editor of "The Poetry Market Ezine" and a prolific poet. She has written many poetry chapbooks, like Mars or Bust, many of them reviewed here on MyShelf.com and here on the #TheNewBookReview. (Use this blog's search engine to find them.)  Synopses of some of her latest books are included in this post. Recent books include  "The Blue Eyed Side" (Cyberwit), "Happy Little Clouds" (Guerilla Genesis Press), "The Poet Next Door" (Cyberwit), "The Architect of French Fries" (Presa Press) and "Words and Bones" (Finishing Line Press).  Her short story collection, "Four Thieves of Vinegar & Other Short Stories" is available from Alien Buddha Press.  

FIND OUT MORE:  
Facebook - @lbsedlacekpoet  @poetryinla
Twitter: @lbsedlacek   @frugalpoet
Instagram:  @lbsedlacek    @poetryinla



MORE ABOUT BLOGGER AND WAYS TO GET THE MOST FROM THIS BLOG

 The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Of particular interest to readers of this blog is her most recent How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically (http://bit.ly/GreatBkReviews ) that covers 325 jam-packed pages covering everithing from Amazon vine to writing reviews for profit and promotion. Reviewers will have a special interest in the chapter on how to make reviewing pay, either as way to market their own books or as a career path--ethically!

This blog 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.



Note: Participating authors and their publishers may request s social sharing images like the one in this post by Carolyn Wilhelm at no charge.  Please contact the designer at:  cwilhelm (at) thewiseowlfactory (dot) com. Provide the name of the book being reviewed and--if an image or headshot of the author --isn't already part of the badge, include it as an attachment. Wilhelm will send you the badge to use in your own Internet marketing. Give Wilhelm the link to this post, too!

 Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. #TheFrugalbookPromoter, #CarolynHowardJohnson, #TheNewBookReview, #TheFrugalEditor, #SharingwithWriters, #reading #BookReviews #GreatBkReviews #BookMarketing