Uvi Poznansky's Blog, page 253

Love, Lies and Betrayal... Anything Apart From Love

Renee Pierce Williams is the author of the five-star rated, GCBA-nominated book, Buck the Good Doog. Born and raised in Georgia, she began her seventeen-year career at Aflac, where she held positions in both the Marketing and Legal Documentation divisions of the company. I simply love her review of my novel, Apart From Love:


5.0 out of 5 stars Love, Lies and Betrayal... Anything "Apart From Love", February 22, 2013By Renee Pierce Williams - See all my reviewsThis review is from: Apart From Love (Paperback)"Apart From Love" is the debut novel by the multi-talented Uvi Poznansky, a writer, poet, painter, sculptor, architect, software engineer, and teacher.

This book is a compelling story about an aging, aspiring writer named Lenny Kaminsky, his very talented ex-wife Natasha, who is in a nursing home with early-onset Alzheimer's disease, his new wife Anita, who is much younger than he and comes from the "school of hard knocks," and his estranged twenty-seven year old son, Ben.

Poznansky gives just enough detail as to not overwrite her characters but paints a very vivid picture of each one in your imagination. She allows the pertinent characters to tell their own account of this modern-day love triangle which keeps the reader totally engaged.

"Apart from Love" is so well written and relevant to the world we live in today... I feel an adapted screenplay may be on the horizon for this debut novelist.

A Captivating Tale

Christian Ashley is an author of Historical Romance, Paranormal Fiction, and Erotic Fantasy. You may have seen some of her books:  Rose of Gwynedd, In Daddy's Arms, and Dignity. I appreciate a story for its contrasts, which explains precisely why I enjoy her mixed-genre work. I am thrilled that she posted a ★★★★★ review for my ebook, A Favorite Son. 
Here is what she wrote:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Captivating Tale, February 21, 2013By Christian Ashley (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviewsAmazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)This review is from: A Favorite Son (Kindle Edition)I love how the author, Uvi Poznansky, can convincingly tell a story from a first person perspective, literally fold time, and simultaneously convey the emotions of all of the other characters as well. The way that Jacob tells his story is captivating, and I read it through from the beginning to the end. Jacob is also quite humorous as he often pulled something in from the present day to bring forth a chuckle. The "Yankle in the Box" actually made me laugh aloud. Bravo, Uvi! A Favorite Son, like Apart from Love, is brilliant!

Cover Reveal for the Audiobook Edition of Apart From Love

So, a variant of the cover for the print edition of Apart From Love--here it is! 

Putting together the title, author name, and narrator names, in a way that complements the underlying cover image. I had to adjust the brightness of the font glyphs, so that the name "Heather Jane Hogan" will stand out from its blue background by the same degree as "David Kudler" from its red background. It is all a question of balance... 

The peachy color of the author name is 'borrowed' from one of the highlights in the flesh of the figure. Also, I chose the Golden color of the book title so it will stand out the most over this image. I wanted to impart the feeling that light is caught by the text, more so at the top--Apart From Love--and less and less as it trickles farther and farther down. 

Cover Reveal for the Audiobook of A Favorite Son

Like the ebook cover of A Favorite Son, the cover of the audiobook edition is based on my own mixed media painting. The main difference between the two covers is the proportions (square instead of rectangle.) In the original art I floated various paints on the paper, letting them drizzle and mix, to create an intricate, fiery flow of color. Then when they dried out I came in with a black pen, and drew just a few lines to suggest the figure. 

To me, this is what this image means: looking directly at yourself, facing the pain and the ugly imperfections within, without any attempt to mask who you are—even if you find yourself on the verge of a meltdown. Which is the process the protagonist, Yankle, is going through in this story. He finds himself coming to terms with his core being, with how the tension between his emotions and needs has driven him over a lifetime. In a most profound sense, this is a story of crime and punishment.


As in my previous book cover designs for Apart From Love and Home, the  title and the author name cast a subtle shadow over the image. However, one detail is different here: two of the letters of the author name cast a shadow like all the other letters, but the two glyphs themselves—U and P--are intentionally missing. Why? For two reasons.

First, because often in my art I discover that the eye is drawn to the unexpected, and the brain rises to the challenge when there is a missing link to resolve. The observer, then, becomes engaged with the art, and in a sense, becomes its creator. And second, because this missing detail is a symbol, an indication of the flawed character in this story. 

As with the U and P, the narrator's name appears in shadow form only. This extends the graphical concept of the missing glyphs, and it is also symbolic, because the voice is a soul. It fills our mind and heart without having a visual, physical existence.

Drum roll please... My Announcement of the Day!

Drum roll please...: 
Here is my announcement of the day: 
A second one of my books is going into audio production! Here is a detail of the cover:


And here is the title of it:


    

Radio Interview at LA Sports and Life: Anita's Voice!

Cameron Datzker, a veteran of sports talk radio for over 20 years, asked me to come on his show, Sports and Life on LA Talk Radio, for the third time! My segment starts after 15 first minutes. I had a special surprise--the original voice audition for Anita's role, for the audiobook production of my novel, Apart From Love! 

Come now, you know you must listen:


    

Radio Interview with Cameron at LA Sports and Life

Cameron Datzker, a veteran of sports talk radio for over 20 years, asked me to come on his show, Sports and Life on LA Talk Radio, for the third time! My segment starts after 15 first minutes. I had a special surprise--the original voice audition for the audiobook production of my novel, Apart From Love! Come now, you know you must listen:


    

The Man Behind Ben's Voice

Today I would like to introduce the narrator behind the voice of my character, Ben. I first heard his voice narrating a wonderful book titled The Man and His God, which I had read and reviewed on Amazon. Listening to his voice, you feel like cuddling in bed with the book, or perhaps with the character he plays. Which is why I thought that his name was misspelled: David Kudler. So I was pleasantly surprised when he approached me and offered his audition for Apart From Love.And then, when I heard his voice, I knew I found the right voice. David is lyrical, intelligent, literate, and a real voice actor, capable of multiple accents and ages for the characters. So in my novel, he will become not only Ben (at the age of twenty-seven and at the age of twelve) but also his father Lenny, the bumbling lawyer, Mr. Bliss, and aunt Hadassa as well! 

David has been a voice and stage actor (AEA, SAG-AFTRA), a writer, and a book editor for over twenty years. Since 1999, he has been in charge of publications for the Joseph Campbell Foundation. Based on this experience, he added the titles of ebook designer and audio producer to his shingle. As a narrator, he has a warm, versatile voice, and a great ear for character and dialect. He loves bringing multiple characters to life at the same time. Here is what he says about himself:

"Though I'd done plenty of voice-over work, it wasn't until I was creating an ebook of my own children's story The Seven Gods of Luck and was producing a read-aloud track that it occurred to me: I've got all of the skills and facilities to create professional, high-quality audiobooks."

So in designing the cover for the audiobook, I have already added his name in the bottom right corner of the image. I chose the color of the font to be very similar to the hot red fabric in the background behind it--just a little bit brighter, so as to separate from it in a subtle way. 

Brilliant? Compelling? You Decide!

Two reviews for my ebook A Favorite Son coming in on the same day! Now that's a first...


5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant., February 14, 2013By Wendy Scott (New Zealand) - See all my reviewsAmazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)This review is from: A Favorite Son (Kindle Edition)I loved the descrptive writing, so flavourful it was almost as if I was inhaling and tasting the story. The story flowed well and the narrative voice rang true. Just wondeful!5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling., February 14, 2013By Sara Alexi - The Greek Village Series - See all my reviewsThis review is from: A Favorite Son (Kindle Edition)As the reviewer above says this is a modern retelling of the Bible story of Esau and Jacob and the rivalry between brothers and it does translate well into a modern context. Beside all stories have been written before, good against evil, a right of passage etc. What made me read on was the way it had been written, direct and compelling.

The Woman Behind Anita's Voice

So today I would like to introduce the narrator behind the voice of my character, Anita. By now we are beginning to lay out our plan for the dual-narration of Apart From Love. In this process we join our imagination and our creative forces, which is quite different from writing a novel, which takes place entirely in the author's mind.

To find her I listened to numerous auditions of talented narrators and actors. But when I heard her voice, I knew instantly that I need not look any further. What set Heather Jane Hogan apart was not only her sultry voice, not only Anita's Southern twang, and not only the heartfelt interpretation of the text, but most of all, this: she did not play Anita--she WAS Anita. 

So in designing the cover for the audiobook, I have already added her name in the bottom left corner of the image. Graphically, there is the 'busy factor' consideration: taken together, the book title, author name and the names of the narrators add up to a lot of text, but I wanted to avoid cluttering the image. 

This is why I chose the color of the font to be very similar to the cool turquoise background behind it--just a little bit brighter, so as to separate from it in a subtle way. You will also notice that the shadow cast down from the letters is soft and fuzzy, no hard edges, which helps separate the letters from the background over which they are floating. 


Here are a few quotes of what Heather says about herself:"I work as a Voiceover. In case you’re not sure what that is, Webster’s definition of a voiceover is, “the voice of an offscreen narrator, announcer, or the like.” For me, it was an easy transition from stage and film acting to voice. I love telling a good story, so voiceover has been a great fit for me.""In 1999, I went skydiving. I’ll never forget it. It wasn’t what I expected. I thought it would be exhilarating; that I would land and shout something like, “WOO HOO!!”… but… at least for me, it was more of an overwhelming experience. Afterwards, I just wanted to sit and contemplate my belly button.""In 2003 and 2004 I won the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), hosted by http://www.nanowrimo.org. They host a challenge every year during the month of November for you to write a novel. It doesn’t have to be good, no one reads it for proof (the contest is honor-based) – but you have to write 50,000 words in one month (the definition of a novel). It’s a great and challenging exercise, even if you’re not a writer.""I sing in the car. Loudly. I’m that woman you see on the highway, belting out tunes as if she were on stage somewhere and blissfully unconcerned that other people on the highway can see me." "I love roller coasters. The more twisty-turny-upside-down-back-and-forth-hair-raising, the better."