Uvi Poznansky's Blog, page 196

What to expect when a train is coming

Hi everyone! Can't wait for the Grand Finale... Can you?Here is what to expect:
Friday, July 25 at 4:00pm PDT  Sunday, July 27, 2014 3:00 PDT We will give you a glimpse into our series of storesEach one of us authors has a train ticketHave you joined the event? If so, your name is already punched on itWant to increase your chances to win? Then like, comment, or share the posts for the stories that catch your fancy
Sunday, July 27, 2014 4:00 PDTCome to the station, hop upon the trainWe will open our travel suitcase, packed with our books Check our train ticketAnd announce who won them

Haven't joined us yet? What are you waiting for? 
Hop upon a train of stories We're going to be rocking!

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I'm blessed for the pleasure, blessed for the agony

Poem by my fatherTranslated by me
 I'm blessed for the pleasure, blessed for the agonyBlessed for the fear, the pain of it allIn which I was steeped, in this realityAnd granted the chance to endure or to fall 
I'm blessed for the hardship, and blessed for the hurtBlessed for the crevices, obstacles and allIn the heart of the storm, my journey I chartTo leap over the inferno, and turn back to recall
I'm blessed to have lived, in honor and courageBlessed I could take a deep plunge, then soarBlessed for the vinegar, and blessed for the honeyBlessed to be counted with the few at the foreThat somehow did reach their big destiny.
Listen to Kathy Bell Denton, the voice artist for Home, read this poem:

If your browser wouldn't play it, try this 

Creation of the World (oil painting by my father)
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Home★ Audiobook ★ Ebook ★ Print ★"Poetry that's never been placed before the public until now" 

I beg you: show me you still care. Read the scroll.

Later, when I start awakening from my slumber, the first thing I sense is her touch. Or is it the memory of her touch? I fumble, I reach for it, rolling into the dent in the mattress, which is where she used to lie. I wonder where she is, and why her absence screams at me so crisply, even as I curl myself into the crimson bedspread. Alas, reality is such a fluid, fleeting thing when you find yourself as old as I am.Bathsheba is gone, but her voice still echoes in my head. It is still resonating around me in the chamber, whispering softly, “I beg you: show me you still care. Read the scroll. Do it now, David, because this you must realize: my life, and the life of our son, are both in grave danger.”The scroll has been hanging by a thread from Goliath’s sword up there over my head, but now it has fallen next to my pillow. With some effort I break the seal. Even so I do not care to read it, or to deal with danger, at my age. She should know that. At his point, the present is such a boring thing for me. Not so the past: I ask myself, over and again, what happened? How in heaven’s name did it come to this? Was it not just yesterday when I was standing there, in my court, beaming a wide smile at the sight of my handsome, mischievous little boys as they came running to me, as they pushed each other aside, simply to cling to my hand? And didn’t Bathsheba raise the baby, then—ever so gently—from his little crib, and let me cradle him in my arms, for the first time? Was it all a dream, nothing more than a yearning for a new beginning?
David in A Peek at Bathsheba
My novel is greatly inspired by art. Here is an oil painting by Govert Flinck, Bathsheba makes an appeal to David. It depicts a scene similar to the excerpt above, perhaps a scene that happened just an hour earlier, when an aging Bathsheba pleads before David. Here, he pays her full attention, to the point of pushing the young Abishag, who takes care of him, away.

Just released! Volume II of the trilogy:A Peek at Bathsheba★ Audio ★ Ebook ★ Print ★"The richness of her descriptive language, to me, evokes a sense of majesty that seems, well, biblical."

Superb actions, incredible suspense, dazzling imagery

It doesn't get any shorter or sweeter than this review for A Peek at Bathsheba:

5.0 out of 5 stars Do Yourself A Favor. Read This Book!!!, July 19, 2014By Keith Greenberg - See all my reviewsVerified Purchase(What's this?)This review is from: A Peek at Bathsheba (The David Chronicles Book 2) (Kindle Edition) This book was fantastic! Filled with superb actions, incredible suspense, dazzling imagery! I was delighted to have had the luxury to read it.

The minute our eyes met, I knew what to do

"The minute our eyes met, I knew what to do: so I stopped in the middle of what I was doing, which was dusting off the glass shield over the ice cream buckets, and stacking up waffle cones here and sugar cones there. From the counter I grabbed a bunch of paper tissues, and bent all the way down, like, to pick something from the floor. Then with a swift, discrete shove, I stuffed the tissues into one side of my bra, then the other, ‘cause I truly believe in having them two scoops—if you know what I mean—roundly and firmly in place. Having a small chest is no good: men seem to like girls with boobs that bulge out. It seems to make an awful lot of difference, especially at first sight, which you can always tell by them customers, drooling. I straightened up real fast, and it didn’t take no time for him to come in. I was still serving another customer, some obnoxious woman with, like, three chins. She couldn’t make up her mind if she wanted hot fudge on top or just candy sprinkles, and what kind, what flavor would you say goes well with pistachio nut, and how about them slivered almonds, because they do seem to be such a healthy choice, now really, don’t they. He came in and stood in line, real patient, right behind her. So now I noted his eyes, which was brown, and his high forehead and the crease, the faint crease right there, in the middle of it, which reminded me all of a sudden of my pa, who left us for good when I was only five, and I never saw him again—but still, from time to time, I think about him and I miss him so.I could feel Lenny—whose name I didn’t know yet—like, staring at me. It made me hot all over. For a minute there, I could swear he was gonna to ask me how old I was—but he didn’t." 
Anita in Apart From Love (depicted here in my quick paper collage.)
Take a listen to her voice--just the last two sentences:

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My narrator for the voice of Anita is, in a word, wonderful. Heather Jane Hogan brings the words to life, and she does it in a natural way, without overstating them. You can read more about her in my introduction of her, The Woman Behind Anita's Voice.


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Apart From Love★ Audio ★ Ebook ★ Print ★"Unique & Spellbinding!!" "a masterfully created piece of artwork"

The characters transcend religion and politics

John Holland is a poet, writing about life and the question of where we fit into an uncertain universe. He has a lovely blog featuring his poetry and authors he enjoys. I am thrilled to find his review of my novel, A Peek at Bathsheba:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ms Poznansky has a wonderful writing style and a rapport with the characters who ...,July 19, 2014By John Holland - See all my reviewsThis review is from: A Peek at Bathsheba (The David Chronicles Book 2) (Kindle Edition) A Peek at Bathsheba continues Uvi Poznansky’s Chronicles of David. Once more she has penned a gem. She brings these biblical characters to life in a way we can relate to them in the modern world. Ms Poznansky has a wonderful writing style and a rapport with the characters who populate her work.

For this reader the thing that really stands out in this book is the way she has humanized the legendary figures of David and others like Bathsheeba. David is shown as a complex human being. He has all the strengths and failings we all share.

I recommend readers also read book one of The David Chronicles, Rise to Power. You won’t be disappointed. You don’t have to have an interest in biblical figures to enjoy these books. They transcend religion and politics.

I’m really looking forward to reading book three!

Apart from Love weaves a dual spell

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"Apart from Love weaves a dual spell"

Would you listen to Apart from Love again? Why?I'll listen to Apart from Love again because I so enjoyed the interplay between Heather Jane Hogan and David Kudler, the two narrators.
Who was your favorite character and why?Ben was my favorite character. David Kudler brings Ben to life with sensitivity and grace, subsuming his narration in the story and letting the character come forth. Ben's story is at times heart-rending, and would be easily over done but a narrator of lesser skill.
What does David Kudler and Heather Jane Hogan bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?The combination of Kudler's Ben and Hogan's Anita makes the tension of the book crackle with life; Anita's southern accent and Ben's underlying musicality (even to sometimes singing his lines), are unique to the narrators' interpretation of this sometimes tragic story.
If you could take any character from Apart from Love out to dinner, who would it be and why?Definitely Ben, for his view of life as a melody with white keys and black.
Any additional comments?A deep and complex tale, well worth hearing more than once.

Absolutely amazing. A must listen. #audiobooks #audible

Wanda "Panda" Hartzenberg is a top rated reviewer, and the author of The Struggle of Me. She ranks #11 best reviewers , #1 top reviewers on Goodreads. I am thrilled that she posted this review for the audiobook edition of Apart From Love:

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"Add to or amplify, audio adds."

Here is the review I did on the book after I read it.
Literary fiction at it's best.
This is not an easy read, nor a fast one. The reader is immersed in the life and love of a complicated family. The plot is complicated. The theme is one of perspective and in this lies part of the beauty of this novel. The readers perception is formed from multiple point of views. As soon as one perception is formed another take on the reality that is displayed is introduced.

The above is nice extra topping on literally poetry in motion. The authors ability to economically use words in a fluid descriptive manner is akin to see a master painter start a work of genius on a blank canvas. By the end of the process the observer is left stunned and awed.

I know this for this is the effect this book had on me. With almost every known emotion exploited and turned topsy- turvy, I stand in awe.

Now on to the narrators, David Kudler as Ben and Bens' dad did a masterful job in bringing to the fore, for me, what a pathetic man Ben really is. At 27 he never had a job. He blames his folks for everything. He drifts around like a hobo and assumes it is his right that his father keeps looking after him for he is his son.

Anita came to life with Heather Jane Hogan. She may not be well educated or even brought up well but she has smarts. The real type, the deep type that gives her insight into the human state of being that is actually kind of chilling. The two narrators added so much to the story, amplified it. Made it sharper, made the contrasts that more deep. I absolutely adored this book after I was a bit hesitant to start on it since I could still recall the book pretty well after reading it not that long ago. Absolutely amazing. A must listen.

WaAr.

The Commoner who became King

Wow--I am so glad for 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 A Peek at Bathsheba:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Commoner who became King..., July 15, 2014By Dolores Ayotte (Winnipeg, Manitoba) - See all my reviewsVerified Purchase(What's this?)This review is from: A Peek at Bathsheba (The David Chronicles Book 2) (Kindle Edition) A Peek at Bathsheba (The David Chronicles Book 2) by Author Uvi Poznansky

She's done it again! Author Uvi Poznansky has succeeded in taking a somewhat familiar Bible story and turning it into a present day masterpiece.

"A Peek at Bathsheba" is the second novel in the trilogy series Rise to Power (The David Chronicles Book 1). In the Prologue, Kind David is an old man who has experienced great passion with his numerous wives. However, none compare to his love for Bathsheba. So smitten was he for Bathsheba that he sank so low as to steal her from his most loyal soldier, Uriah. Setting no moral boundaries for his lust, he sends Uriah into harm's way to make sure that he does not return from battle. King David does not only succeed in stealing his wife...he also succeeds in having Uriah slain in the prime of his life. A king capable of such betrayal...

In Ms. Poznansky's portrayal of King David, the reader gets a glimpse of his all-too-human side. His alleged weaknesses hang out like a sore thumb and make it difficult to admire him as King of the House of David who reigns over the tribe of Judea. He has every ambition to influence the other eleven tribes and perhaps rule the nation. Although King David craves a peaceful resolution, his chief general Joav chooses
disastrous triumphs" in his effort to accomplish victory in "his ill-advised civil war against the eleven tribes of Israel". With the untimely death of Joav's younger brother Asahel in one such battle, King David is advised to no longer trust Joav in what appears to be his own quest for power. King David himself is already having his own doubts and fears about Joav but now one of his spiritual advisors has confirmed his very thoughts. But soon it appears that Joav is not his only concern...

King David with his many wives, materialistic cravings, and perceived desire for power are only surpassed by his covetous nature in his pursuit of Bathsheba. He is obviously not above adultery and although Bathsheba does little to ward off his advances...how could she possibly refuse a King?

Although Biblical in its origin, in my opinion..."A Peek at Bathsheba" is a finely penned work of fiction whereby Author Uvi Poznansky has expertly used her creative abilities to explore any or all possible facets of the personalities that she is effectively describing. She is a gifted writer and artist capitalizing on what she does best...crafting and honing her skill with the talent that has been given to her. No more....no less. One must take into consideration that in similar artistic works, as an audience we do not all envision the artist's intent nor fully realize exactly what they hope to project. To utilize a common cliché...beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder. Isn't that what true artistic talent is all about? We, as individuals, have the inherent right to choose to appreciate and value the creative abilities presented by an artist regardless of how others may view any particular piece of work. Individual taste and interpretation is merely the flip side of the same coin in any creative endeavor.

In "A Peek at Bathsheba" as in Rise to Power (The David Chronicles Book 1), the reading audience has once again been expertly drawn into the head of King David in order to get a bird's eye view of how he might have thought...a rare opportunity to assess the possible impetus behind his decision making...and to better know him in the 21st century! What's next in store for King David? I am sure in the third and final book of this trilogy, we are about to find out!

Inspirational Author & Book Reviewer ~ Dolores Ayotte
Up The "Down" Ladder

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