Uvi Poznansky's Blog, page 172

Unlike me, he’s never fought for what he has

Seeing how exhausted I am Abishag takes the feather, ever so gently, from my fingers, careful not to touch the tip, and withdraws from me. Washing the ink off at the other end of the chamber, she bends over the windowsill, glancing at the lush trees swaying down there, in the royal gardens. Without words, she hums a little tune under her breath, and her voice is so sad, so melodious, that it tells me how desperately she misses her faraway village, from where she was taken to the palace. She must have been eager, at first, to meet the notoriously dashing young hero, the slayer of Goliath, the idol drawn so perfectly out of legends that belong to a dying generation. Only now does she realize that I belong nowhere else but in her aging mother’s dreams. I tell her, “Listen, daughter, and pay careful attention. Forget your people and your father’s house. Let the king be enthralled by your beauty. Honor him, for he is your lord.”And at once I wonder, why do I take this fatherly tone with her, all of a sudden? And why do I speak of myself as if I were not here?Abishag cannot help but yawn, which I happen to understand, because the lecture I have aimed at her bores me, too. “So many young men, out there,” she whispers.“So much noise,” I complain, over her excitement.“If it’s disturbing to you, your majesty, I can go down,” she offers. “I can ask them to keep things more quiet, for you.”“No,” say I. “Stay with me.”“Are you cold? Shall I close the curtains?” “No. Keep them open.”Then, with slight hesitation, “Your son,” she says. “What does he want? Why did he come?”“He loves me so,” I say, hoping she would not catch the irony in my voice. “Once in a long while he comes up here, to check if I’m still breathing.”Abishag says nothing in reply. After a long pause she asks, “Did he invite you to the festivities? I would love to escort you—”“Festivities?” say I. “No one tells me anything these days, which is why I am becoming so pitifully suspicious.”“I see him down there,” she says. “His guests are arriving now, gathering around to greet him. They’re laughing. He’s not.”At that I wave my hand. “Adoniah must be tired. He’s utterly weary of life here, in my palace. Luxury can be such a boring thing when you’re born into it.”She glances back at me, her eyes wide with disbelief. “Is it, really?” “It must be,” say I. “Unlike me, he’s never fought for what he has." 
David in The David Chronicles

Three novels in one set On an incredible $0.99 sale today! Get it now:  The David Chronicles

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The Edge of Revolt 
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The David Chronicles: three books in oneA story of a lifetime, spun
From youth to death, with ancient lore
Filled with drama, through love and war

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The David Chronicles
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Book Description:Here is the story of David as you have never heard it before: from the king himself, telling the unofficial version, the one he never allowed his court scribes to recount. In his mind, history is written to praise the victorious—but at the last stretch of his illustrious life, he feels an irresistible urge to tell the truth. In the first volume, Rise to Power, David gives you a fascinating account of his early years, culminating with a tribal coronation. Rooted in ancient lore, his is a surprisingly modern memoir. 

Volume I: Rise to Power
This volume starts at his coming to Saul's court, to play before king Saul, and ends with his coronation to become king of a single tribe. How does David see himself, during this first phase of his life? With his hands stained with blood, can he find an inner balance between conflicting drives: his ambition for the crown, his determination to survive the conflict with Saul, and his longing for purity, for a touch of the divine, as expressed so lyrically in his psalms and music?

In an era of cruelty, when destroying the enemy is deemed a sacred directive, the slayer of Goliath finds a way to become larger than life. His search for a path to power leads him in ways that are, at times, scandalous. Notorious for his contradictions, David is seen by others as a gifted court entertainer, a successful captain in Saul’s army, a cunning fugitive, a traitor leading a gang of felons, and a ruthless raider of neighboring towns who leaves no witnesses behind. 

Volume II: A Peek at Bathsheba
This volume starts at the civil war between the tribes, his eventual coronation over the whole nation of Israel, and his affair with Bathsheba. Against the backdrop of wars, raging within the land and without, David is growing into the mantle of leadership. Between his anointment as a tribal king and his anointment as the king of all of Israel, he uses wisdom, cunning, and his own understanding of the forces of history, aiming for high ideals: stopping the bloodshed, uniting the nation, and bringing about healing and peace.

But then, having reached his peak, David falters. He makes a serious error that threatens to undo his political success, and cost him not only the adoration of his people—but also the sense of being sustained by a divine power. That error is the most torrid tale of passion ever told: his deliciously forbidden love for Bathsheba, followed by his attempt to cover up the ensuing scandal by sending her husband—who serves him faithfully in his army—to his death. 
Volume III:  The Edge of Revolt

Struggling to find the right balance between loving his sons and upholding justice, David is silent when Amnon rapes his daughter, Tamar, and when Absalom lures Amnon to his death. These crimes go punished, because a mysterious change has come upon the king, which his court scribes note even before he does. In the past he had to explain his actions, such as the affair with Bathsheba, to them. Now, they want to understand the opposite thing: his lack of action.In families other than his, such matters may be a mere matter of gossip. Yet when assault, incest, and murder occur in the king’s family, they affect matters of the state. David is toppled from his throne and must escape from the son he adores, Absalom.Even as he finds a way to quell the revolt and come back to the City of David, the road ahead seems unclear. How will he find the right successor amongst his remaining sons, the one who will connect to him and continue his legacy?
This is volume III of the trilogy The David Chronicles, told candidly by the king himself. David uses modern language, indicating that this is no fairytale. Rather, it is a story that is happening here and now. 

The complete trilogy:The David Chronicles (Boxed Set) Ebook: Kindle
Volume I of the trilogy: Rise to PowerEbook: Kindle Paperback: Amazon ★ Barnes&NobleAudiobook: iTunes ★ Amazon ★ Audible
Volume II of the trilogy:A Peek at BathshebaEbook: KindlePaperback: Amazon ★ Barnes&Noble, Audiobook: iTunes ★ Amazon ★ Audible
Volume III of the trilogy:The Edge of RevoltEbook: KindlePaperback Amazon ★ Barnes&Noble

A powerful read about King David

Born in Potsdam, Germany, Gisela Sedimayer has a love for the written word. Having moved to New Zealand and then to Austria, and having fought her cancer with the best weapon--creativity--she is the author of the Talon series, bringing the story and the characters to life over the course of several years. I am thrilled to find her review of my novel, A Peek at Bathsheba:

 A powerful read about King David, February 16, 2015By Gisela H. Sedlmayer "wonderful"Verified Purchase(What's this?)This review is from: A Peek at Bathsheba (The David Chronicles Book 2) (Kindle Edition) The first and the second book in the chronicle of Kind David by Uvi Poznansky are just amazing. She really is taking herself into the mind of King David.

I really wonder how Uvi can put herself, discernment, into the shoes of King David and write such amazing books about him. All the things he is thinking and not doing or doing as King or should do. Like should he take his beloved Bathsheba or not. He really was thinking hard about taking her. He knew it was wrong, but he couldn’t help himself.

Something that really spoke to me: David Said in the eyes of Uvi: "That which has been is what will be.”

And: “This has been an adventurous journey, and a long one. In my exhaustion I can barely move my lips, heal, a time to tear down and a time to build. How fortunate it is for me to find myself back here. I am a father. I am the keeper of my people. What a moment this is, the perfect moment to usher in a new era.”

Uvi has said it perfectly in the eyes of King David.

A great book and everyone should read and enjoy it.

5 stars for sure

Yet I can see that it is only herself, in the end, that she embraces

Intoxicated, I marvel in her plan, and in my mind I shout: My God, this is so clever! So deceitful! This costume, I think, is so much fun! Designed for the pleasure, so to speak, of a blind man... Ha! What does he know! That damn blessing may yet be mine, after all.In my excitement I stumble across a thought, which is so outlandish that immediately, it makes me sober up. “What if he suspects something,” I ask, in a whisper. I hate to admit it, but it is not love for my father, nor respect for his age, that drive me to such hesitation. Rather, it is fear: The fear to be found out.She lowers her eyes, thinking intensely, searching for an answer.So I press on: “What if he touches me? He will guess, perhaps, that I am not the son I pretend to be. And so, instead of a blessing, I will end up, God forbid, being cursed!” What can she say, I wonder. True, my mother is close to me. We could always think alike. But for the life of me, I cannot understand her right now. She is the mother of twins, so in my mind, she should love us both, in fairly equal measures. In the years to come I would often wonder: Why would a woman do this, why would she pit one son against another?From the time of her wedding it took her, I am told, twenty years to conceive us. Twenty years of trying, desperately, to become pregnant, because in this place, and for this tribe, of what value is a childless woman? So for a long time, she may have resented her social standing here. Her mind became pickled in its own juices, and she ended up being bitter inside, and so utterly devious. But I think, it is one thing for me to cheat my brother. It is another thing altogether, for her to do it to her son. After a while, she stirs. Her hand hangs, for a moment, in midair, a motion designed to reach out to me, and hug me, perhaps, in her own manner. Yet I can see that it is only herself, in the end, that she embraces. “On me your sin,” she smiles sweetly, placing a hand on her breast, where the heart can be found. “Let your curse be on me.”
Yankle in A Favorite Son

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"There is so much I enjoyed about this book, that I do not quite know where to begin"

She knows there is no point in hiding from me

With the single exception of the main door, which is locked, there is no door here I cannot push open. She knows it. She knows there is no point in hiding from me. I glance at the window. Between the smudges and through the layers of dust, fragments of murky sky are getting darker. I curl up beside her, rub against her skin for warmth and, with my eyes nearly closed, I rock my head to and fro with a long, sweeping motion. These days, there is nothing I like better than licking myself.She shrinks away, while at the same time making pronounced efforts to ignore me. With every instinct in me I know one thing for sure: despite her silence, which is an insult to my pride; despite her looking away in every possible direction, at this corner then the other; and despite the failing light, she can still see me—or at least my eye, the good one, shining at her from the darkness. So at the end of an unbearably drawn out, tense second, here it is: she gives a jerk—a sharp one, mind you! And with a click, she brings in a host of shadows by turning on the twisted lamp by her side. What do I care? I am busy, trying to imagine sun. Curling around myself, eyes half-open, I pass my tongue around my fangs. Here, it is coming to me: a radiant, blood-red sun. Sky—ground—birds—flap, flap, leap!—throats—I feel her looking at me, trying, perhaps, to decipher the sudden flash in my slit pupils. I flick her with my tail. The shadows—small and large, sharp and fuzzy—all flick their tails at her. I am the master of this place! I am the one who never leaves. She will be gone before this day is over. Then I will be cold. I will be alone once more. Locked. Helpless. Choked to tears by something quite inexplicable. Perhaps that stale perfume. Or else, the fading of that stale perfume. And I know: in vain will I resist staring at that immensely heavy key, hanging way out of reach, up there on that rusty nail, by the main door.But never will I meow.
Excerpt from Twisted


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"A sensitive melding of poetry, prose, and art" 
Grady Harp, Hall of Fame Amazon reviewer

Fascinatingly Entertaining

Dennis Waller, filmmaker and author of several books, is recognized as an expert on spiritual experience, self-discovery, and exploring the human consciousness. He is also a Top 500 Amazon Reviewer, which is an amazing rank. I am honored that he posted this review for my novel, Rise to Power:

5 Fascinatingly EntertainingByDennis WallerTOP 500 REVIEWERon February 15, 2015Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase
Rise to Power by Uvi Poznansky is an interesting twist on historical fiction that I found to be fascinating and entertaining. Wonderfully written, this is a great read with depth and emotion. While based on the biblical David, I would suggest remembering this is fictional tale using biblical history as the backdrop. I like how the author brings to life such an iconic figure like David with depth, making him human, almost in the sense that this is someone we might see in other people or someone we can relate to on some level. The focus of the book is in portraying David's rise from the shadows to power with the events and people along the way. Richly descriptive, it's an enthralling read as you immerse yourself into the story. Reading the works of Uvi Poznansky is an enjoyable experience and consider her to be in the top echelon of writers today. Overall, historical fiction at its finest.

Uniquely Original

Just found this lovely review for Apart From Love:

5 Uniquely OriginalByCynthia B. Bergstromon January 12, 2015Format: Kindle Edition Apart From Love is a superbly written novel about an inherently dysfunctional family. Ben, now a young man of 27, is asked to return home after his father, Lenny, is injured in a rather bizarre accident at his own wedding. Having angrily left home at the age of 17, Ben has misconceptions about the reasons for his parents’ divorce and the current status of his mother, Natasha, primarily because his father has lied to him. While Ben believes his mother, a brilliant pianist, is performing on a world tour, she is actually in an assisted living facility due the early onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Lenny’s new wife, Anita, is more Ben’s contemporary than Lenny’s, and an inevitable attraction develops between Ben and Anita.

Uvi Pozansky skillfully develops the story through the voices of her characters which helps the reader cultivate a more rounded picture of their separate perspectives. Some scenes open in a faintly surreal manner, and we are left wondering whether or not this is a scene in the character’s reality or their imagination until it is later revealed. This gives her writing a bit of a paintbrush on canvas effect.

With Apart From Love, Uvi Pozansky has certainly earned five stars, and any reader will savor getting lost in this uniquely original novel.

A wonderfully vivid portrait of a very real human being

I am thrilled to find a five-star review for my novel, The Edge of Revolt, written by top Amazon reviewer and author Sheila Deeth. In addition to her novel, Divide by Zero, she has written The Five Minute Bible Story Series, and other books. With a Masters in mathematics from Cambridge University, England, she is a a top reviewer for Amazon, Goodreads, Gather and other reading sites. This is what she says:

5 A wonderfully vivid portrait of a very real human beingBySheila Deeth "Sheila Deeth"VINE VOICEon February 10, 2015Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase Uvi Poznanski’s The Edge of Revolt completes her chronicles of the Biblical King David, offering a clash of swords, cultures and dreams as the aging monarch faces his end. The story follows on where the previous volume left off, but can equally well be read alone. It depicts a very human king, writ large on the pages of scripture and history, and draws a convincing background to his battles and family. Trapped in that eternal triangle of loyalty, love and duty, he watches his children fall into wounded adulthood and can’t protect or direct them. He’s dragged into war, as surely as he has dragged women to his bed. Betraying, betrayed, scheming and schemed against, he’s grown convincingly old, and he mourns what he’s lost. But perhaps, in the end, he’s also offered the chance to find what he needs amongst all the things he thought he wanted.

I love this series for its convincing depiction of real people in ancient times, for its unflinching honesty, and for its vividly real characters. This David is no cardboard cutout to be filled in with bright crayoned colors. This Bathsheba is no plaything. And women will stand on the stage of history, will have their voice, and will cry out for love and hate and hope.
Echoing with phrases from the psalms, singing with a lonely king’s “hope for redemption... when prayers go unanswered,” and filled with real characters who have “learn[ed] their lessons—not from ... psalms, but from ... deeds,” this novel brings the Bible to life, takes readers deep into David’s mind, and leaves us knowing the characters of the past, or even of the Bible, weren’t so different from people today after all.

I love the series, and I love the novel; highly recommended.

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