Uvi Poznansky's Blog, page 183

Join the king and me in the royal gardens

Friday night we have a dateCome right here to celebrateThis is when and where and whatYou may win prizes! Don’t miss out:
CelebrateFriday, 11/21 at 2:00 PM PST 

Love drinks and desserts? We'll indulge in them, compliments of the royal cook Are you a poet at heart? We’ll be stringing verses together in a game of creative collaboration Love winning? I’ll announce the lucky winners of these prizes:
2 audiobooks of A Peek at Bathsheba
2 audiobooks of  Rise to Power
1 ebook of A Peek at Bathsheba
1 ebook of Rise to Power

David is a character that has been fascinating me all my life. My trilogy is in his voice. It 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

This volume (to be published before Christmas) will start with the rape of his daughter Tamar, the execution of his son Amnon, the revolt of his son Absalom, the attempt to overthrow him by his son Adoniah, and the eventual peaceful transition of power into the hands of Solomon.

Kissing her I taste the salt of her tears. I smell the sweet fragrance of her milk

From there I go down to the women’s quarters, to see Bathsheba. The two of us continue to react in opposite ways to what has just happened. While I have regained my vigor, she has lost hers. I find her lying there, on the ground, utterly motionless. Meanwhile, my wives have gathered around her. Some of them are whispering amongst themselves, others—wiping a tear. In between them, light falls on her, catching her hand. By the glistening you can tell it is damp, because she is gripping her breasts, where the pain is the worst. Her milk is still welling up in them, still flowing. She is silent, but her body is still screaming for the child.The notion of giving her a voice, expressing her suffering, recording this moment for her in my own poetry, crosses my mind. I figure that if left unspoken, this grief—combined with the shortened mourning period for her husband, Uriah—will catch up with her later, and tear us apart.Then I try to forget all about it. I cannot write her pain. First and foremost I must find a way out of my own.I try to comfort her, but she seems to be far away, locked in her own grief. I raise her to her feet and carry her—all the way up the long, circular staircase—into my chamber. Kissing her I taste the salt of her tears. I smell the sweet fragrance of her milk. Then I make love to her. 
For me, this is the only way I know to fight off the presence of death. For her, at this moment, the fight is over. 
David in A Peek at Bathsheba

Take a listen to the beautiful narration by Justin Harmer:



My writing is always inspired by art. There are many other paintings that show passion, such as David and Bathsheba by Ernst Fuchs, where David is shown in all his oriental, ornamental majesty, filling most of the canvas, imposing himself on the woman he loves, and she responds to him. The painting I love is David Consoles Bathsheba by Ivan Schwebel. Here the two lovers are shown on the roof of his palace, which overlooks a cold, indifferent city scape, where one is lost in alienation. Against this background, David and Bathsheba cling together and become one, to celebrate life and passion in the face of death. 

David Consoles Bathsheba by Ivan Schwebel
David and Bathsheba by Ernst Fuchs

★ Love giving gifts? Give The David Chronicles ★Volume I of the trilogy: Rise to Power★ Audio ★ Ebook ★ Print ★
Volume II of the trilogy:
A Peek at Bathsheba
★ Audio ★ Ebook ★ Print ★

Volume III of the trilogy:The Edge of Revolt★ To be published Christmas day ★
"The miracle of Uvi Poznansky's writing is her uncanny ability to return to old stories and make them brilliantly fresh"-Grady Harp, Hall of Fame reviewer

Thanksgiving: It would make you dribble! Drive you to madness!

"When I sprinkle my secret blend of spices; here, take a sniff, can you smell it? When I chop these mouthwatering sun-dried tomatoes, add a few cloves of garlic for good measure, and let it all sizzle with lentils and meat—it becomes so scrumptious, so lip-smacking, finger-licking, melt-in-your-mouth good!
There is a certain ratio of flavors, a balance that creates a feast for the tongue and a delight for the mind; and having mastered that balance, with a pinch of imported cumin from the north of Persia, a dash of Saffron from the south of Egypt, I can tell you one thing: When the pot comes to a full bubbling point, and the aroma of the stew rises up in the air—it would make you dribble! Drive you to madness! For a single bite, you would sell your brother, if only you had one! "

Yankle in A Favorite Son

Modeled on the biblical story which is truly fascinating to me, this is a present-day twist. At this point in the story he is preparing a lentile stew for his brother, Esau, who comes home so hungry from a day of hunt, he is prepared to throw away up his birthright for a bite of that stew. 

Later in the story Yankle will resort to cheating his father, who is lying on his deathbed, to steal away the inheritance. Here is a ceramic sculpture of Jacob preparing to wear the hide of a kid on his arm, so that if his father will touch him, he will mistake Jacob for his hairy brother Esau. In this piece, I focus on the moment of contemplating the crime, rather than the moment of action. He is about to make a choice: is the inheritance truly worth the price of losing his honesty, his soul?

★ Love giving gifts? Give this book ★
A Favorite Son★ Audio ★ Ebook ★ Print ★
"There is so much I enjoyed about this book, that I do not quite know where to begin"

The jewel is "I Am What I AM" which follows the wife of Job through hell

Born in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, Linda Goodman learned the art of storytelling from her father. Her stories have appeared in Storytelling World, Chicken Soup for the Mother's Soul, Stories for the Family Heart, The Appalachian Quarterly, and in the Storytelling Youth Olympics 1997 Guidebook. This is what she says about my book, Twisted:

5.0 out of 5 stars " All of the short stories ("laden with shades of mystery and the macabre") in this slim book are good, but the jewel is "I Am W, November 16, 2014By Linda Goodman "Storyteller" (Richmond, Virginia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   Verified Purchase(What's this?)This review is from: Twisted (Kindle Edition) I recently read Uvi Poznansky's book "Twisted." All of the short stories ("laden with shades of mystery and the macabre") in this slim book are good, but the jewel is "I Am What I AM," which follows the wife of Job through hell to demand that the devil give her name back to her (it was stricken from "the book"). She is fierce, but she is no fool. Even she knows some dreams must be relinquished when their price proves to be too dear. This skillfully written and passionate story is worth at least twice the price of the book.

I am thrilled to come on for an interview on Clancy's Blog

Clancy Tucker writes young adult fiction for reluctant readers but has also achieved success as a poet and photographer.  I am thrilled to come on for an interview on his blog.
Check it out:

Uvi Poznansky -- Guest Author

Thanksgiving: I have a catch in my throat as I tell her, “I’m so glad you came.”

Wrapped in a long, flowing fabric that creates countless folds around her curves, she loosens just the top of it and lets it slide off her head—only to reveal a blush, and mischievous glint, shining in her eye. It is over that sparkle that I catch a sudden reflection, coming from the back window, of a full moon. Looking left, right, and down the staircase, to make sure no one is lurking outside my chamber door, I let her in. Then I lock it behind her, so no one may intrude upon us. In a manner of greeting I raise my goblet. It is a gift from my supplier, Hiram king of Tyre, and unlike the other goblets I have in my possession, this one is made of fine glass, with minute air bubbles floating in it. With a big splash I fill it up to the rim with red, aromatic wine. In it I dip a glistening, ruddy cherry, and offer it to her, with a flowery toast. “For you,” I say. “With my everlasting love!”Bathsheba takes the goblet from my hand, and raises it to her lips. “Love, everlasting?” she says, raising an eyebrow. “What does that mean, in this place?”I hesitate to ask, “What place is that?”“This court,” she says, with a slight curtsy, “where the signature feature is a harem, which is as big as the king is endowed with glory.”“Glory is a good thing,” say I, lowering my voice. “But sometimes it is better to meet in the shadows.”“Especially,” she says, matching her voice to mine, “when there are so many others.”“Here we are,” say I. “It’s just us.”“Really,” says Bathsheba, sipping her wine and ever so delightfully, licking her lips. “It must be a special night, then! Just you and me, and no one else, no one else at all.”Yet I cannot avoid feeling the presence of someone other than me in her thoughts, perhaps her husband, Uriah, who is one of my mighty soldiers and the most trusty of them. Earlier today he must have received his transfer orders to join the cavalry in the eastern hills, where he would be stationed outside the city of Rabbah. I refuse to imagine him pressing her to his heart, kissing her goodbye before a long departure. Am I merely a distraction? I wonder if she misses him already, if she thinks of the dangers he would face. I have a catch in my throat as I tell her, “I’m so glad you came.” Bathsheba lifts her eyes and looks straight at me. “Really,” she says, in her most velvety tone. “You mean, I had a choice in this matter?”Her question stumps me at first, because how can I admit that she  is right, so right in asking it? Instead I just shrug. “You do have a choice,” I say at last. “And I hope you’ll make it.”“I’m so glad to hear that,” says Bathsheba. “With that ape, I mean, that bodyguard of yours knocking so loudly, so rudely, and for such a long time at my door, I had my doubts about it.”“You can go, if you wish,” I stress, with a reluctant tone. “But I wish you wouldn’t. Stay with me, tonight.”Bathsheba picks the stem of the red cherry, and takes little bites out of it. In her pleasure she hums, and smacks her lips. Then she raises the goblet to my lips, letting me take in the aroma. I do, and then I take a long gulp.With a slight sway of her hips Bathsheba walks past me, knowing I cannot take my eyes off of her. She wanders about my chamber as if she were the one owning it. “You’ve been brought here by my order,” I whisper to her, across the space. “But I am the one held captive.”
David in A Peek at Bathsheba
✿(•̃̃‿•̃̃ ♡ ◦°˚ New! Check out the  Audio  edition! Click play and you'll hear the narration of this very passage.

★ Love giving gifts? Give the trilogy ★
Volume I of the trilogy: Rise to Power★ Audio ★ Ebook ★ Print ★
Volume II of the trilogy:
A Peek at Bathsheba
★ Audio ★ Ebook ★ Print ★

Volume III of the trilogy:The Edge of Revolt★ To be published Christmas day ★
"The miracle of Uvi Poznansky's writing is her uncanny ability to return to old stories and make them brilliantly fresh"
-Grady Harp, Hall of Fame reviewer

My announcement of the day is this: Yay!!!!!!! The #audiobook edition of A Peek at Bathsheba is here!

My announcement of the day is this: Yay!!!!!!!
The audiobook edition of A Peek at Bathsheba, narrated by Justin Harmer, has just gone live!!!! 

Take a listen, I promise you will love it:

Unique & Spellbinding!

Wow--I am thrilled to find this review, written by Dolores Ayotte, author of A Woman's Voice (and other self-help books) who is a great inspirational writer and one of the best reviewers on Amazon. This is what she said about the audiobook edition of Apart From Love:


FollowDolores AyotteWinnipeg, Manitoba11-14-14OverallPerformanceStory

"Unique & Spellbinding!"

Where does Apart from Love rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?Apart from Love, is only the second time that I have listened to an audio book. I have heard several people say what a wonderful experience it is to do so and now I can see the benefits for myself.
What does David Kudler and Heather Jane Hogan bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?Both David Kudler and Heather Jane Hogan bring the characters of Ben and Anita to life. Their voices, with the appropriate amounts of sadness, enthusiasm, voice intonations, soft or loud etc. depending on the situation, definitely add to this audio experience.
If you could take any character from Apart from Love out to dinner, who would it be and why?Anita...I would like to sit across the table from her to get a better picture of how such a young woman...the same age as Lenny's son Ben...could end up with such an older man for a husband. 
Any additional comments?Author Uvi Poznansky is an artist! There is no doubt about it. As I read "Apart from Love", I was drawn into a masterfully created piece of artwork. This is no ordinary novel. It richly depicts the product of a dysfunctional family and how they are drawn together, yet so repulsed by each other.

There is a quality so deep and raw in "Apart from Love" that it's almost impossible to put this book down. In my opinion, Uvi Poznansky writes like a painter. She starts with a clean canvas and dabs a little paint here and a little paint there as she develops her characters and creates her masterpiece. Her strokes then become broader, more passionate, more vivid and vibrant as she continues to let her characters' stories unfold. She draws you in to a deeper level than you might actually want to go as she ignites the fire to your own love, passions, and fears.

Ben, the 27 year old son grudgingly returns home many years after the divorce of his parents, Lenny and Natasha. He finds that there is a mutual attraction between his father's young wife Anita, and himself. Their stories, along with Lenny's are related in a narrative as each person has the opportunity to share his side of the events that take place. "Apart from Love" reminds me of a movie I enjoyed many years ago...Cat on a Hot Tin Roof because it is a well-written drama that could take place on a stage similar to this movie. In "Apart from Love" Ben states..."In our family, forgiveness is something you pray for, something you yearn to receive but so seldom do you give to others." There is definitely a great need for forgiveness both on the giving end as well as the receiving end in this novel.Similar to any other work of art, the artist leaves so much of themselves in their work. Author Uvi Poznansky has done just that! Kudos to her on a job well done!

Inspirational Author & Book Reviewer ~ Dolores Ayotte

Poznansky takes us along to enjoy David's escapades

Here is a lovely new review of my novel, Rise to Power:

5.0 out of 5 stars Poznansky takes us along to enjoy David's escapades and, November 13, 2014By Marianne Panetta - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   Verified Purchase(What's this?)This review is from: Rise to Power (The David Chronicles Book 1) (Kindle Edition) As I studied the compelling artwork on the cover of Ms. Pozansky's Volume 1 of the David Chronicles'- Rise to Power, I am intrigued by the expression on David's face. At once he appears willfull, petulant, and certainly immature. So this is a hint, then, of the personality of this Entertainer at Court, whose mission is to charm the King and his loyal followers, but who quickly becomes seduced himself by the power of King Saul, and eventually so ambitious of possessing the Crown himself, that he will become obsessed to seize the Crown. He will soon realize that the only way he can accomplish this goal is to slay his Patron, King Saul.

What follows is a delightful elaboration of the biblical story of David, as his plan to take over the Reign of King Saul evolves. There are exciting adventures as David seeks to prove his manhood, along with some irony, and occasional comedy, as he stumbles on his way to slaying Goliath, as he also sets out to prove that he can fell the Giant.

Ms. Poznansky takes us along to enjoy David's escapades and watch the young David will himself to maturity, such that he will become the King. We are thoroughly entertained by Ms. Poznansky as she imbues qualities of modern youthful arrogance of David, as she fleshes out David's modern personality traits, and even the language of an emerging Great Warrior.

You could be there, by her side, fighting to hold her back, away from the brink

“Indeed,” says my father. “She was only thirty-nine when I noticed it for the first time. I remember: she gave me a look as though she did not understand what I had just said. Then I noticed that from time to time, she had trouble saying the names of her students. She seemed unsure about names. A year later, she could not remember the word Piano. Can you imagine that, Ben?”I shrug, “Anyone can forget a word here and there.”But he would not let me deny it. “No,” he insists. “Not a woman with her musical gifts! The way she used to play, Natasha could have become world famous, one of the greatest concert pianists! How, how could that happen? Ben, how could your mom forget Piano?”At a loss for a better answer, I suggest, “Maybe she was under stress?” “She was terrified,” he says. “At first, they prescribed antidepressants. Then she took antibiotics for six months, to treat what doctors thought might be Lyme disease. The neurologist suggested an MRI scan, a scan of the brain. But then, when the results came in, they said that at this point, there was no way to tell whether there was anything wrong, or whether Natasha’s brain had always looked that way.”Now I feel I cannot absorb, cannot take much more of this—but there is no stopping him. The sentences keep pouring out, as if a dam has broken in him. “The most difficult aspect,” says my father, “was that we used to be a team—but now I had to start making the decisions on my own. All except one: she was determined to divorce me, which was my fault—but her mistake, because unfortunately, she deteriorated so much faster after that.” “Stop right there,” I tell him. “It makes no sense to me! Why would she want to leave you right then, at the turning point of her life, when you could be there, by her side, fighting to hold her back, away from the brink?”“This,” says my father, “is something I, too, do not understand. Up to that point Natasha has changed, quietly, and grown so much stronger than me, to the point that, no matter how hard I tried, there was no pleasing her. Then she got word, somehow, about my moment of weakness: my fling, this little, one-night thing—that was all it was, back then—with Anita.”I look at him as if to say, Who cares about your moment of weakness? So far it has lasted ten years. He looks away, saying, “Your mom, she was mad at me. She flared up in anger. It was painful. More painful than I had expected. Was she too proud to forgive me? Did she expect me to fight harder for her, so that she may take me back someday? There was no way to know. My God, she let me feel I was done, I was no longer needed.”“But, dad,” I say, “did she believe she could face it alone, whatever it was? Was she willing to risk everything, and for what? For no better reason than pride?”“God,” he says. “I wish I knew.”
Ben in Apart From Love

This dialog is the first time Ben learns that his mom is ill, and that it took years for the doctors to find out why she is forgetting things. The impact of early-onset Alzheimers on the family is complex in this case, because it adds blames and guilt to already strained father-son relationships.



★ Love giving gifts? Give this book ★
Apart From Love★ Audio ★ Ebook ★ Print ★"It's so refreshing to read a novel with lyrical beautiful writing"