New Year Showcase of Indie Books
A very HAPPY NEW YEAR to all our members, and what better way to kick off 2013 than with a showcase of five fabulous Indie books, each one written by an INDIETRIBE member. I hope you follow the link to Amazon for each one and treat yourself to some great reading material
The Luck of the Weissensteiners by Christoph Fischer
Christoph Fischer was born in Germany in 1970 as the son of a Sudeten-German father and a Bavarian mother. Not a full local in the eyes and ears of his peers he developed an ambiguous sense of belonging and home in Bavaria. He moved to Hamburg in pursuit of his studies and to lead a life of literary indulgence. After a few years he moved on to the UK where he is still resident today. ‘The Luck of The Weissensteiners’ is his first published work. He has written several other novels which are in the later stages of editing and finalisation.
In the sleepy town of Bratislava in 1933 a romantic young woman falls for a bookseller from Berlin. Greta Weissensteiner, daughter of a Jewish weaver, slowly adapts to life with the Winkelmeiers, the German family of her bilbiophile husband, just as Hitler begins his campaign that will bring chaos, turmoil and tragedy to Europe and its people. The political climate in town is a complex set up with citizens from all parts and walks of life of the former Habsburg Empire remaining. This makes the country a multifaceted jigsaw puzzle of a slowly disintegrating society and a potential minefield. The inevitable changes affect relations between the couple and their families and test loyalties and family ties.
The story follows the dramatic journey of my characters through the war with its predictable twists and also its unexpected turns and the equally challenging times long after the fighting has ended.
This book is part of “The Three Nations Trilogy”. The novels all deal with similar themes of home, family and identity in three central European countries affected by war and political intrigue.
Beside it being a Holocaust story this is also a book about how we define ourselves and what each individual is made of.
Christoph Fischer’s The Luck of the Weissensteiners , was an epic and impressive read. The amount of research the author must have put into writing this story was evident by the well thought out and described times in time when geography was redirected by reigns of terror in Germany, in Russia, in the hearts of others that could watch nations of peoples, families torn apart and displaced. What starts out as a love story, a metaphor beginning in the spring of a young couple lives moves into the dark themes of our human shadow, where love turns to distrust and betrayal.
This is a story of intolerance at its worst, but is also a story of the strength of the human spirit to help and do good at great risk. While parts were too overly narrative for my taste the story and oppression of the time were never lost on the read, which kept me involved in this story, that by the time I was half way into the story I wanted to take time off to sit and finish it, to find out what happened to all the characters in their struggle to escape and survive. Sadly, like all of life there is much sorrow and loss, reality, but there is also survival and hope. I will not forget this read for a while to come.
A reviewer states: The Luck of the Weissensteiners by Christoph Fischer is a book I’d been anxious to read for some time now, and it actually took me a few days after I’d finished to get this review up. The book is about Greta, a romantically minded daughter of a Jewish weaver living in Bratislava 1933. From the date, city and religion alone you can immediately guess that this book isn’t going to be your typical curl up with a blanket on a rainy day romance.
Greta falls in love with a bookseller, and from there the story takes off in into what many of us have read about as an achingly painful history. Truthfully I don’t want to give any of the book away, so I’m keeping the description of the events short. It’s worth reading on so many levels, and I can only hope to impress that upon future readers of this work.
The depth of the characters is amazing, the writing tight and beautiful, the emotion behind the words makes you feel like you’re right there along with them, which is a testament to Fischer’s absolute skill with the written word.
I’m giving this book an amazing five of five stars, and I highly recommend that you pick this book up and give it a read. I expect we’re going to be seeing great things out of Fischer in the coming years, if this book is anything to go by. I can’t wait to see more of his works!
Buy The Luck of the Weissensteiners now at http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00AFQC4QC/?tag=funboo04-21 or
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AFQC4QC/?tag=wwwtheindietr-20
One Major Mistake by Starr Gardinier Reina
A paralegal by day, she’s an author by night. Apart from being an award winning author for her short story “Cut”, Reina has appeared in a blaze and made her mark on the literary world with her Ivanovich Series. The first is “In the Name of Revenge”, the second, “Deadly Decisions” and the third, “One Major Mistake” was released July 10, 2012. Having studied and obtained her Bachelor’s Degree in Literature/Creative Writing, she has found her unique style and is known for her works’ distinctive voice, making every character stand out.
Reina is the artistic creator of the Ivanovich series featuring Pavel Ivanovich. Flanking Ivanovich’s side in “Deadly Decisions” is Teresa Mancini, who vies with Ivanovich for readers’ attention. According to J.M. LeDuc, who was “raised in an Italian family”, Teresa “is perfect…like all your characters”. Reina is also the author of young adult novella “Cruel Whispers” and its sequel novel “Cruel Past”.
Reina is an executive editor for Suspense Magazine. She has been interviewed in the newspaper and on the radio with relation to her fiction work. She has been a co-host on Suspense Radio.
She has won three Best Speaker awards as well as Best Evaluator at the Voice Ambassadors chapter of Toastmasters. Reina is a member of Sisters in Crime, Los Angeles Chapter and nationally. She has always been active in events. As co-chair and main coordinator for the West Coast Author Premiere, she arranged the weekend-long event to help authors from all over network, learn and share their work with the public. Reina has also been instrumental in compiling authors and planning a local author event at Barnes and Noble in Ventura, California along with the store’s event manager.
One Major Mistake is the third and final novel in the Ivanovich series.
Despite having brought down two major crime families, Pavel’s life is still filled with problems. The two bright things in his world: Teresa Mancini, his fiancée, who, on a good day, has the ability to bring him to his knees and his daughter Rita Grace, a result of a whirlwind affair before he fell in love with Teresa.
Once again, murder is the prime evil propelling Pavel into his latest case. After the murder of his partner and friend Nick Haxton’s ex-wife Brenda, Pavel leads a team to dethrone Guillermo Diaz, the leader of a drug gang believed to be responsible for Brenda’s death. Detective Danni Stone joins the local agency. Stone knows Diaz on the most intimate of levels, and wants to be present at his demise.
During the investigations, not only does the team grieve with Nick over Brenda’s death, they also deal with the loss of their long-time Assistant Director in Charge Steven Lazlo, who was gunned down in their own backyard. Pavel has a particularly hard time dealing with Lazlo’s death and is determined to hold everyone involved responsible.
As if Pavel can take anymore, Teresa receives a substantially large check from an anonymous benefactor, and insists that Pavel deal with it while she decides how to spend it. But not before she uses her iron-willed determination to find out who the benefactor is even if it means breaking into her attorney’s office looking for answers. Being thrown in jail would stop any ordinary woman, but apparently not Teresa.
Join Pavel as he wades through harrowing situations, suspects aplenty and suspense in this third and final thrilling installment of the Ivanovich Series.
Buy One Major Mistake now at http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008J7MQQC/?tag=funboo04-21 or
One Major Mistake (Ivanovich Series)
