Uvi Poznansky's Blog, page 49

To see her more clearly I must squint

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Leaning over my chamber window to watch the sun rising I think I spot something new: a silhouette standing there, at the edge of the royal garden, where it falls into a deep ravine. Sunlight glows all around her. To see her more clearly I must squint. There she stands, facing away from me: a dark figure with a slender, long shadow fluttering over the field of flowers behind her. She reminds me of my daughter and of her self-imposed absence from my home. No longer does she consider it safe. Raising a thin arm, the figure waves a hand and releases something into the wind. It flaps once or twice between the ground-sweeping branches of the weeping willows. Then it flies higher, hovering for awhile, till at last it soars away.I follow it as it glides this way and that in the direction of a distant oak tree, on the other side of the ravine. Caught up there, at the tip of the highest limb, the thing flickers, its folds steaming in the air like the feathers of a wounded dove. Hours later, when the diplomats, advisors, generals, suppliers, architects, carpenters, contractors, lawyers, tax collectors and brick layers have all retired for the day, I find myself free to ride out there, beyond the edge the royal garden. On my way there, a magical mist hangs all around me, like tears, suspended. It must have rained earlier that day, because the soil is soft. It gives way under the hooves of my stallion. Sloshing around that oak tree I come to realize what it is, hanging down from its highest branch: a shred of Tamar’s garment, her coat of many colors. The fabric is aglow in the evening sun, releasing every reflection, every hue of the rainbow, up to the border of a large, irregular stain of browned blood.
David in The Edge of Revolt

★ Treat yourself to a true gift ★Historical Fiction with a Modern Twist... The Edge of Revolt Audible: US ★ UK ★ FR ★ DEAudiobook: Amazon US ★ Amazon UK ★ iTunesPaperback: Amazon ★ Barnes&Noble

"How Ms. Poznansky created such a vivid, detailed, true-to-life account leaves me awestruck. It's as if she peered inside the Bible, spoke with the characters and witnesses who were there, and then created a realistic and moving portrait of David's life."  - Aaron Paul Lazar, Author

Let me introduce you to my author friends

Let me introduce you to my author friends:They have joined forces with meTo bring you amazing storiesLooking for the perfect Mother's Day gift? Come listen to these audiobooks  You may win one of them!
Join us: Gift for Mom


Uvi Poznansky
"I paint with my pen, and write with my paintbrush"
@UviPoznanskyBlog Allen Kent
Award-wining author of the popular Unit 1 thrillers series and the Whitlock Trilogy.
"Each book takes you places you have never been in ways you will always remember."
BookBubwebsiteFacebook@AllenKent19 J.C. Fields
" "
@TheJCFields WebsiteFacebook Barbara Silkstone
"There is no second chance at first love."
@barbsilkstoneWebsite Ava Manello
“”
@avamanelloWebsite Colleen Mooney
"I live in a New Orleans where Mardi Gras Balls, festivals, parades, are always going on. The hardest part is to pick one thing to write about because there's no place like New Orleans to have a good crime!”
@Mooney_ColleenWebsite Linnea Tanner
“ ” @ linneatanner Website Libby Fischer Hellmann
“Author of compulsively readable thrillers”
@libbyhellmannWebsite Kathryn Knight
"”
@k_knightbooksWebsite Aaron Paul Lazar
"Addictive, award-winning fiction. You'll fall in love with the characters and love to hate the villains.”
@aplazarMurder by 4 Janna Yeshanova
“Close to home! Close to Heart!”
@NeverPastTense@JannaYeshanovaWebsite

Gift for Mom

Don't miss this opportunity! Join us as a GOING guest
For a chance to win a Gift for Mom Audiobok extravaganza 

A select group of authors has joined forces with meTo bring you amazing audiobooksJust in time for Mother's Day! 

Uvi Poznansky The Music of Us Overdose The  Edge of Revolt Marriage before Death Allen Kent Straits of the Between
J.C. Fields The Dark Trail A Lone Wolf Barbara Silkstone Miami Mummies Mister Darcy's Honeymoon My Fair Lizzy Mister Darcy's Secret Ava Manello Severed Angel Carnal Desire Strip Teaser
Colleen Mooney Rescued by a Kiss Dead and Breakfast Drive Thru Murder
Linnea Tanner Apollo’s Raven Dagger’s Destiny Amulet's Rapture
Libby Fischer Hellmann A Shot to Die For


Kathryn Knight The Haunting of Hillwood Farm

Amazing grace... How sweet the sound

Coming off the plane I noticed a group of three silent figures and by their deathly pale faces I recognized them: his mother, father, and pregnant wife. They stood together, strangely separated from the hustle bustle of the airport, waiting for me.They watched in solemn silence as I wheeled the casket toward them. It was a tense moment. No questions were asked, no tears shed. The mother, still reeling from the shock of losing her son, did not cry. Instead she bit her lips, hard. The father wrapped his arm around her for support, but he was the one that seemed closest to the verge of collapse. Then he steadied himself, somehow, and with a gentle motion, stroked the flag that wrapped the coffin. “So sorry for your loss,” I said, feeling awkward for using a phrase that was too weak and all too common to convey what I was feeling.He nodded his head to signal that he heard me, but neither he nor the mother could utter a single word. In their place, the soldier’s young wife came to me, holding something in her hand. Softly she said, "When Charlie came home on his last leave, he gave me the Marine Corps emblem off his hat. At first I refused it, knowing that without the emblem, he risked not being readmitted to the base.”I said, “Perhaps he had a premonition of what would come his way and wanted you to keep it.”“Yes,” she whispered, clutching it to her heart. “I still have it. It's a cherished memento.”Meanwhile, from out of nowhere, a lone bagpiper came by. In the midst of a busy airport he looked like an apparition from a different place and time, marching slowly towards us. As he strolled past the flag-draped casket I caught the music he was playing: it was an old song, written by an Englishman who in the early part of his life had been an outspoken atheist, libertine, and slave trader, only to find his faith after riding out a storm at sea.Amazing Grace.The sound of it was magical. It quelled the noise of people fussing, people walking all about, rushing to and fro with suitcases and stuff. At the same time it calmed the silence, the angry silence in my heart, opening it anew to sadness and to joy.It was then that the soldier’s wife took a step forward to the casket and placed the emblem on it, which for her meant the beginning of farewell, and for the fallen, the end of a long journey, the journey home. Her voice trembled as she started singing for him,
Amazing grace... How sweet the soundThat saved a wretch like meI once was lost, but now am foundWas blind, but now I see.
Her voice was so soft, so heartbreakingly delicate, and yet it made the hair rise on my head and the flesh quiver on my bones. I felt—oh, I can’t explain what I felt! It was not only grief for this man, who was a brother of mine even though I had never come to know him, but also pity for his family and for all us, civilians and soldiers, the fallen, the wounded, the loved ones back home, all the lives forever changed by this horrific war.In my childhood, my mother used to sing Amazing Grace to me in place of a lullaby, because it had always calmed me down before she tucked me in, before she said good night. 
Through many dangers, toils and snares,I have already come’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,And grace will lead me home.
The music made me think of Natasha. In a complete reversal of emotion I found myself overcoming my rage, my sense of betrayal. Suddenly I realized that whatever had caused the break between us should be set aside. It was time to accept and be accepted in return. I, too, was coming home. And I could not wait to see my father.

Excerpt from  The Music of Us


★ Love reading? Treat yourself to a love story ★The complete series: Still Life with Memories
Volume III:  The Music of Us Audible: US ★ UK ★ FR ★ DEAudiobook: Amazon US ★ Amazon UK ★  iTunesPaperback: Amazon ★ Barnes&Noble


"The Music of Us" is a wonderful love story from the first sentence until the very last. It touched my heart."  - Cary Allen Stone, Author

Stepping into a dead man’s shoes is a tricky thing

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“It must have been their way to bid him farewell,” I say. “Perhaps, you should be grateful to them—”“You’re right. I really should. Conveniently, they left no trace of him.”I try not to raise an eyebrow. “Conveniently?”“Once they were done with him, there was no way to exhume the body or find out the cause of death.”“That’s too bad.”“Physically, I resembled him, to the point that people would often mistake me for him. So, taking on his identity was effortless, at first.”I recall what he said to me on our first date. I find a delicious irony in the idea that an impostor can be better than the real thing.In the face of my silence, he presses on. “News of his accident—if you want to call it that—didn’t make it to the papers. After all, his overdose seemed self-inflicted, and there I was, a living proof that he’s managed, somehow, to recover.”“Oh, how fortunate for you.”“Still, I felt unsafe, perhaps because of a pang of guilt. I feared that at any moment, someone might point at me and say, ‘There goes a killer!’”He sighs into silence.So I ask, ever so gently, “I thought you were going to talk about your wife?”“Oh yes.” Now he presses both hands against his temples. “Back to her. At the time, she was in her late thirties. Not bad looking. Rich, bored, and desperately looking for a purpose in life. Having laid eyes on me, she found it. Grooming me for success—a brooding, destitute, dark man, who showed little interest in her—must have given her some sort of pleasure. And for a while, it served me well, too.”I raise an eyebrow. “How so?”“Well, stepping into a dead man’s shoes is a tricky thing. I couldn’t afford being recognized for the impostor I was. As Dr. Patel, I was already planning to resign from his job and start a new one elsewhere. Problem was, how to distance myself from his old buddies.”“Become a recluse?” “No, my solution was smarter than that.” He pours some wine into his glass and guzzles it down. His tone takes a cynical turn. “When she fell in love with me, I realized I should marry her. People seldom stay in the same circle of friends once they put a ring on their finger.”“So, Susan was your excuse not to keep in touch with them?”“That she was.”“And no one ever wondered?”
Excerpt from  Overdose

Overdose (Volume III of Ash Suspense Thrillers with a Dash of Romance)Audible: US ★ UK ★ FR ★ DEAudiobook: Amazon US ★ Amazon UK ★ iTunesPaperback: Amazon

Listen! Can you hear the hooves of horses, galloping?

Up until this moment I had entertained the hope that she might have had some secret plan to save me. My despair had compelled me to believe it. Coming here in disguise—with that new, flower-laden hat and its little veil that changed her looks so much—showed me that Rochelle was fearless, especially at a time when she was wanted dead-or-alive. To deserve such notoriety, she must have forged some connections with French Resistance fighters, right? If so, couldn’t she pull some strings with them? Did they follow her to this place? Were they waiting in the wings to get me out of here, out of the hands of my captors? I recalled old western movies, which I used to watch with my dad and Uncle Shmeel back in my childhood. Closing my eyes I could feel the warmth, sitting in-between them in the darkened movie theatre. I could just see the silver screen. Up there was the victim, his larger-than-life face utterly pale as the noose was beginning to tighten around his neck. At that very moment, my heart raced. Uncle Shmeel would put his arm around my shoulder. “Don’t you worry, Lenny boy!” he would whisper, trying not to disturb the spectators around us. “Listen! Can you hear the hooves of horses, galloping?” “Uncle Shmeel,” I would whisper back, “how can I hear anything? This is a silent movie!”“Oh, but you can hear it,” he would reply, “inside your mind, inside your heart.”And my dad would assure me, “Relief is on the way, Lenny boy! The cowboys are coming, any moment now!” With that glimmer of hope I imagined myself now, just like that actor, standing under the gallows, hoping for a miracle. The rescue scene, exploding with a blaze of bullets, was sure to come, because my dad and Uncle Shmeel had promised it, because the plot had demanded it, and because how would the story capture your heart without the must-have happy end? Yes. The moment was almost here. I had to believe it, then and now.
But as soon as Rochelle uttered the words Marriage before Death, my hope crumbled. 
Excerpt from Marriage before DeathNarrated by Don Warrick


Marriage before Death Audible: US ★ UK ★ FR ★ DEAudiobook: Amazon US ★ Amazon UK ★ iTunesPaperback: Amazon ★ Barnes&Noble

"The story of how they survived such horrors is extraordinary. Also extraordinary is the author's deep and gorgeous writing, interweaving desperation with descriptions of 'beautiful light streaming from high-arched, stained glass windows, rattling in the duel between the German artillery and ours.'"  -  J.A. Schneider, author of suspense and psychological thrillers

This author paints stories as beautifully as she paints canvas

Thrilled to find this in-depth review of  Virtually Lace :


Kindred Spirit5.0 out of 5 stars This author paints stories as beautifully as she paints canvasReviewed in the United States on March 18, 2020
Format: Kindle Edition Virtually Lace, book one in Uvi Poznansky’s High-Tech Crime Solvers series, snagged my attention in the first few sentences and never let go. This author paints a vivid picture on the canvas of the reader’s mind. Her richly drawn characters drive the story, and they drew me into her dramatic setting and creative plot so successfully, I could virtually see the story come alive. [See what I did there?]

The story opens into a dramatic scene, where Michael watches Lace drifting down the street against a panoramic view of Laguna Beach in an almost dream-like manner. With a slashing hook, the scene immediately set, and the dream-like mood lures the reader further into virtual reality. When Michael finds the body drifting on the tide, her throat slit, he realizes the police might think he’s a suspect.

A wonderful plot is born and the rollercoaster ride of twists and turns doesn’t disappoint. The romance between Michale and Ash, add just enough spark and the virtual reality Michael creates in an attempt to remember details steers this ride into an amazing tale.

I highly recommend Uvi Poznansky’s books. This is the third one I’ve read and I’ll definitely add more to my to-read list. I love this author’s ability to paint stories as beautifully as she paints canvas. She weaves emotion together with senses––visual, auditory, sensual and olfactory––creating a beautifully lyrical portrait with the written word.

Virtually Impossible: an edge-of-your-seat thriller

I'm thrilled to present the new multi-author series High-Tech Crime Solvers, and the new volume in it, written by Barbara Ebel...  


From USA Today Bestselling Author, Barbara Ebel, comes a gripping techno-thriller, part of a multi-author series tied together by an interlocking cast of characters, all centered around the fantastic new promise of high technology and the endless possibilities for crime that technology offers, in a world where getting away with murder can be not only plausible, but easy...if you just know how.

This volume presents Dr. Hook Hookie, a Molecular Genetic Pathologist, whose high-tech genetic analysis equipment is stolen from right under his nose. 

Concerted thievery abounds at Monument Medical Center in Atlanta!

Dr. Hook Hookie may have a prestigious educational and military background, but he now spends his days discovering the most intricate mysteries of the human genome. The elderly scientist also extrapolates genetic information that informs patients of their hereditary health risks--deadly or not.

But Dr. Hookie isn't the only one with a use for the high-tech genetic machinery - a villainess stalks the Medical Center, and she isn't interested in telling people if they're going to die from cancer.

Her thievery goes too far while the cat and mouse skullduggery mounts.

Maybe, just maybe, Dr. Hookie's expertise as a Genetic Pathologist will help solve the crimes!



Virtually Impossible (Volume VIII of High-Tech Crime Solvers)
★★★★★ "Ebel's on par with the best works of Robin Cook and Michael Crichton.               "Scroll up and grab Virtually Impossible today!

The David Chronicles: Embark on a journey

Here comes an epic historical fiction trilogy with a modern twist. Come along for the journey!
Volume I: Rise to Power
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. Rooted in ancient lore, his is a surprisingly modern memoir.Volume II: A Peek at BathshebaThe most torrid tale of passion ever told: David's forbidden love for Bathsheba, and his attempt to cover up the scandal. Will he muster the strength needed to protect her and save their son from danger?Volume III: The Edge of RevoltThe last thing David expects is that his beloved son will topple him from the throne. The betrayal threatens not only his life but also his legacy. Coming back to power will put Absalom in danger. Is David ready to counter his next move?
The David Chronicles: Trilogy Paperback: Amazon

★★★★★ "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

Prepare them mentally for the journey, before they take a plunge into virtual reality

With a wide sweep of his hand, Mr. Armstrong gestured toward the conference table. Inlaid into its rosewood and mahogany grain was the company’s logo: a shield with two crossed swords.Sitting down, Michael found himself swallowed up into an overstuffed leather armchair. His palms were clammy, which forced him to wipe them off on his pants under the table. In its burnished top, the president’s reflection slid across the surface, upside down. “I appreciate people who come into my office and give me their best advice, even if it makes them uncomfortable,” said Mr. Armstrong. “I thought you might be candid with me today.”“What d’you want me to tell you?”“Everything you know.” “Where, exactly, shall I start?”Mr. Armstrong slammed his fist on the table, until the shield and cross-swords seemed to clack. “Start with your partner. What’s her name, again?”“Ashley.”“She’s an industrial designer, is she not?”“The best! Our startup would not have been the success it was without Ash—”“Perhaps so. But at this point, do we need her?”“Excuse me, sir?”“Given the new direction here,” said Mr. Armstrong, in a slow, grumbling tone as if talking to a rebellious child, “she can contribute little from now on.”“I beg to differ,” said Michael, his muscles stiffening. “Given any direction, her role is vital. May I explain it to you, sir?”“Please do.”“For the customers of this company—say, military planners, or soldiers in training—virtual reality provides an uncanny sense of immersion. It tricks their brains into believing they are walking on that narrow beam high above an enemy city or riding an amphibious vehicle up the shore, anticipating an imminent attack. Ash did amazing work extending the immersive qualities and emotional impact of this experience, even before putting on the headset and long after taking it off.”“And how did she do that?”“By having participants step inside a physical environment, with props that were designed by her. It resembles a cross between an art installation and a minimalist stage production. Entering it prepares them mentally for the journey, before they take a plunge into virtual reality.”
Excerpt from  Virtually Lace


Virtually Lace (Volume I of High-Tech Crime Solvers)Audible: US ★ UK ★ FR ★ DEAudiobook: Amazon US ★ Amazon UK ★ iTunesPaperback: Amazon

Haunted by discovering the body of a beautiful dancer, Michael creates a virtual reality simulation of her murder. Can he bring the mystery to life? Can he solve it in time, before the killer turns on the woman he loves, Ash?