Jewish Book Carnival discussion
Authors Announcing Their Books
He Does Not Die A Death of ShameHi.
For those of you who found my previous submission of interest, I have published a few excerpts of my novel on my blog.
Best wishes.
"The Meyersons of Meryton" The Meyersons of Merytonhas received the Jane Austen Readers' Award! The judging panel had this to say:"Flurry and panic of an imminent double wedding at the Bennet household is apparent throughout this novel. Essentially it's a “mid-themed” Pride & Prejudice Variation. While the Bennet family, Mr Charles Bingley, and Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy provide a familial feel to this novel, Rabbi Meyerson and his family bring to light a Jewish community within Meryton. Mrs Bennet and her daughters unfamiliar with the Jewish faith are as intrigued as they are baffled by it. With alacrity Miss Mary Bennet embraces the mayhem all around, rather pleased her many seeming faults are less noticeable.
In the meanwhile Mr Bennet discovers he and the Rabbi have a deal in common. Their covert observations, however, are not without risk. Unfortunately the pickle the two elders fall into requires an intrepid hero. Mr Darcy is therefore the man of the moment, and Mr Wickham is involved in the dark mix.
The novel has amusing asides and a literary touch to the prose. For the uninitiated there is a great deal of enlightenment to the Jewish faith in all its facets, and the Jane Austen Award is hereby granted to Mirta Ines Trupp for "The Meyersons of Meryton."
http://janeaustenreadersaward.blogspo...
I am excited to report that I received the following email from Kirkus Reviews:Susan, I am writing to let you know that OF BITTER HERBS AND SWEET CONFECTIONS has been selected by our Indie editors to be included in the 8/15 issue of Kirkus Reviews. Congratulations on the feature! Less than 10% of Indie authors are selected for this. Your review will be included as 1 of 35 reviews in the Indie section of the magazine which goes out to industry professionals (literary agents, librarians, publishers, book sellers, film executives, etc.).
The review:
In Shalev’s debut novel, Tanya Anglische is “born and raised in Nowy Sącz” in southeastern Poland. Her father owns a candy factory, and her Jewish family is comfortably upper middle class. Tanya is a young teenager and has just completed elementary school when, on Sept. 1, 1939, the Germans invade Poland. Within a few days, she, her parents, and her two younger brothers (8-year-old Jozef and 4-year-old Dovid) must leave everything behind as they race to flee the Nazi occupation. “Just before dawn,” they leave on foot and make their way over the bridge spanning the Dunajec River minutes before it is blown up. They plod on, part of a mass of refugees, as German planes fly overhead strafing the road. For a while, relative safety is found in Khodoriv, Poland, where they scrape by, hiding from German soldiers. But when the nonaggression pact between Germany and Russia gives this section to the latter, Tanya and her family face a new threat. A Russian soldier knocks on the door and tells them to pack up. The Jews remaining in Khodoriv are herded to the railroad station and put on a freight train for a three-week journey to a frigid northern Russian work camp in Siberia. A year later, the family escapes, continuing its wandering exile. This is a remarkable story of courage, adaptability, and determination to survive, vividly narrated by Tanya, the fictional stand-in for the author’s mother-in-law, Tamar Englander Shalev. Tanya describes, in equal measure, scenes of horror and moments of unexpected beauty. Here, she emerges from a ditch following a German air attack: “The road, which, until a few moments ago, heaved with fleeing families, is now littered with dead and wounded.” And here she witnesses the aurora borealis: “The most spectacular lights and swirls and rays fill the sky….I’m stunned by the grandeur.” Although most American readers will not recognize many of the locations traversed by the Anglische family, a rough map and historical endnotes help supply context.
An illuminating contribution to Holocaust literature and a riveting family drama.
Mazel tov! That is wonderful. I can't wait to read it.
My contemporary YA novel "Sentenced to Shakespeare," which deals with bullying, juvenile justice and Shakespeare, has been released in Kindle. It's only $3.99 (a bargain) and a great late summer read. The teen protagonist Leah is Jewish, a product of a Conservative Jewish upbringing (like me) and raised in Northern NJ (like me, too). I was also bullied when I was a young teen but that's the extent of commonalities between me and Leah. Here's the link to the Amazon Kindle page in case anyone would like to check it out over the long holiday weekend: https://www.amazon.com/Sentenced-Shak...
Thanks for making this forum available. I'm a travel and culture journalist who spent 20 years going around the world to experience how other cultures deal with the greatest mystery of the living: death, and what lies beyond. My new book, HOW TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE DEAD...and How Cultures Do It Around the World, uses a Jewish technique to talk to the dead, and reveals how Jews believe in reincarnation, an afterlife, re-animation of the dead, and asking the dead to intervene on their behalf. Prepare to be surprised and, I hope, entertained.Besides being a unique, eye-popping voyage into cultural practices around the world that open to the afterlife, the book reveals a way anyone who is interested or even curious can communicate with their dead.
The book takes you to a Brazilian island where ancestors come back to visit the living on the Day of the Dead, and to a Maya cemetery where the living save and talk to the bones of their dearly departed. You come with me into a cave in North Africa, to tombs in Israel, to intensive training in death and rebirth with a Japanese master…and much more.
In 20 years of travels, I discovered that talking to the dead is a healing balm for anyone dealing with grief and loss, and provides a way for all of us to find resolution and direct answers to questions about those who have departed. The book may make you question the on the perceived finality of death. And it is a great comfort to learn how those you leave behind can communicate with you.
The book is available in paperback and kindle format on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/How-Communicat...
Yes, thanks for the forum. I am happy to announce that my book, The Kosher Capones: A History of Chicago's Jewish Gangsters, is out in the next couple weeks from Northern Illinois UP/Cornell UP.It's the product of thirty years of research, and it tells the story of gangsters who have been overshadowed in Chicago by the notorious Capone Gang/Syndicate and in other cities by the greater national prominence of the likes of Arnold Rothstein, Meyer Lansky, Longy Zwillman, and Mickey Cohen.
It's out in hardcover, audiobook, and Kindle. If you're interested, please take a look at thekoshercapones.com or go straight to Amazon.
I'm fortunate to have some readings and signings lined up, but I'm looking for more. If you know of synagogues, JCC's, or other organizations that might be interested, I'd be grateful for the word.
Hirsch Street Press is proud to announce a debut novel by Scott M. Neuman (author of the Nazi, the Princess, and the Shoemaker).Agent of Vengeance (currently on pre-order, will be available on October 3, 2019)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
NSA agent Ronald Fletcher's life is turned upside down after a terrorist attack on a beach in Israel, and he won't stop until he brings those responsible to justice. But is he prepared to face the dark secrets he'll uncover?
• The ultraviolent terrorist group known as "the Plague"
• An underground Nazi city, birthplace of the Fourth Reich
• Mysterious cylinders containing the ultimate weapon of mass destruction
• The world's most notorious assassin, stalking his every move
In this international game of intrigue, the stakes are high, the gloves are off, and all the players have the same motivation: cold, hard vengeance.
I'm pleased to announce the publication of my fourth novel No Entry with Stormbird Press Australia. Broken-hearted after losing her only brother in a terrorist attack, 17-year-old Yael Amar seeks solace on an elephant conservation program in South Africa's Kruger National Park. She is soon catapulted into a world harmonious with nature where she can heal and devote herself to the wildlife that is so important for the continued existence of all mankind. She is dazzled by her new best friend, reunites with her devoted boyfriend, and is fascinated by a local ranger who peels back another layer of meaning in her surroundings with each lesson. Then, on a drive through the safari, she sees something shocking. Soon her haven on earth is seething with blood and betrayal and she is warned that she is no match for the evil that lurks in the men's hearts around her. Now she has a secret she must keep from the people she loves the most if she is to stand against the murderous forces that threaten Kruger, her new friends, and her own life. But will taking a stand do more harm than good?'Equal parts suspenseful page-turner and gorgeous meditation, No Entry kept me reading late into the night. No Entry grapples with the complexity of poaching as a social problem and presents it in a way that's believable coming from a teenage girl without being overly naive.--Amy P. Knight, Lost, Almost
'Some books serve as a call to action, an ignition of activism, a form of education; No Entry is one those.'--Kate on Conservation
https://www.amazon.com/No-Entry-Gila-...
Hi, I'm pleased to announce release of my new book.
Resilience: One Family’s Story of Hope and Triumph over Evil, is the story of my family, from village life in rural Hungary in the pre-antibiotic era (which had a profound impact), through the Holocaust, and on to their rebuilding their lives and families in the U.S.
Resilience is not "just another Holocaust book." It is unique in several ways:
It is also a personal memoir of my journey to learn, reconcile with, and share their stories, many of which were previously hidden from me.
Resilience also calls attention to the parallels between what happened in Europe in the 1930s and the current rise in nationalism and antisemitism in our country. In doing so, I am fulfilling the promise I made to my mother to share our family’s experiences and to honor their memories.
The book is based on my interviews with nine family survivors and eight of their children. My relatives had a breadth of experiences. I also show them not solely as victims, but as multi-dimensional, strong people with rich lives before and after the Holocaust.
In both my writing and speaking now, I also am trying to help people gain an appreciation of how hope, kindness, connection, gratitude, and small gestures helped those who suffered; and understand the lessons we need to learn so that history will not repeat itself.
The response to the book has been very positive. You can see reviews on drjudystone.com
I hope you will take a look and share with friends. Thank you.
Dear friends,I'm delighted to share my recently-published memoir, Sing This at My Funeral: A Memoir of Fathers and Sons, published by Wayne State University Press. Here's a description:
In 1978, Jakub Slucki passed away peacefully in his sleep at the age of seventy-seven. A Holocaust survivor whose first wife and two sons had been murdered at the Nazi death camp in Chelmno, Poland, Jakub had lived a turbulent life. Just over thirty-seven years later, his son Charles died of a heart attack. David Slucki’s Sing This at My Funeral: A Memoir of Fathers and Sons tells the story of his father and his grandfather, and the grave legacy that they each passed on to him. This is a story about the Holocaust and its aftermath, about absence and the scars that never heal, and about fathers and sons and what it means to raise young men.
If you enter the discount code 'SING' at this link, you can find it for 20% off: https://www.wsupress.wayne.edu/books/...
Here's me discussing it on ABC Radio in Australia: https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/...
He Does Not Die A Death of ShameI have previously taken the liberty of introducing my Jewish South African novel dealing with anti-Semitism and apartheid on this feed.
I would now like to inform the group that the book has received excellent reviews on Amazon and Goodreads as well as in both The Jerusalem Post and The Jerusalem Report.
The Jerusalem Post review can be read here:
https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Book-re...
The other reviews can be read on my Goodreads blog.
The book is now also available on Kindle.
Thank you.
Hi!This group is great.
I recently published a book of short stories: #ShidduchCrisis
Shidduch dating: an Orthodox Jewish method of dating in which singles are introduced for the purpose of marriage. Also, an intense and short period of time in which said singles are expected to make a life-altering decision.
These short stories highlight some repercussions that may arise. A humorous, uncensored, thought-provoking perspective.
It's a really easy read, entertaining and fun, yet also relatable and serious.
The book is available in Paperback and Kindle:
https://amzn.to/30t9Kq6
And more about the book:
https://sites.google.com/view/shidduc...
My own Chelm for the Holidays --an original Chelm story for each holiday--is just out and a PJ Our Way book. A different post I'd like to make is that there's some cool Goodreads lists to add books to in order to spread knowledge of awesome Jewish books: HOlidays: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1... and SF and F: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1... :) I'm also writing a giant examination of Jewish scifi fantasy and appreciate knowing about titles I haven't encountered. There's an excellent list on this at https://www.sfsite.com/~silverag/jewi...
I am please to announce the release of my first mystery novel, THE HOUSE ON MAPLE STREET, is now available. Excited for a fresh new start, Hillary Altman is about to begin her first semester of graduate school at small New England college. Ever the procrastinator, Hillary waits to the last minute to find housing. But fate smiles upon her, when she takes a room in a picturesque Victorian home, run as a boarding house. But Hillary quickly finds, that all is not as it seems at The House on Maple Street…
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
Thank you for reading!
I have been reviewing Jewish and Holocaust-related books for the New York Journal of Books for many years. It's well over a hundred reviews of new or recently-published books requested by their publishers. You may examine the list here: https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/revi.... I hope that you will find some interesting books to read.
Thanks for the word and for the work. Continued good luck.
Charles wrote: "I have been reviewing Jewish and Holocaust-related books for the New York Journal of Books for many years. It's well over a hundred reviews of new or recently-published books requested by their pub..."Some friends in one of my book groups wanted to attribute the success of a particular piece of Holocaust fiction -- one I didn't care for -- to the fact that it's fiction. They were oblivious to the many, many (and many much better) books in this genre. Now I'll have somewhere to direct them, Charles. Thanks!
Still time to enter my giveaway: https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...Pride and Prejudice reimagined, Jewish historical fiction, Regency Jews.
Charles wrote: "I have been reviewing Jewish and Holocaust-related books for the New York Journal of Books for many years. It's well over a hundred reviews of new or recently-published books requested by their pub..."One of the most frustrating things about self-publishing is the impossibility of getting your book reviewed in journals and newspapers, despite garnering very good reader reviews. If you have any suggestions they would be greatly appreciated. My book Of Bitter Herbs and Sweet Confectionsis Jewish and Holocaust-related, but quite different from the currently "popular" ones.
The group might be interested in this review of my book:https://www.politicsweb.co.za/opinion...He Does Not Die A Death of Shame
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to share our new releases.Mine is fresh of the press-Thorns For Raisel. mybook.to/Raisel
Here's the blurb:
Four gunshots, a dead woman, and a frantic crowd. Veronica Simon watched the chaos unfold around her, unable to grasp how this nightmare started...It was supposed to be a glorious day. The grand event Veronica had diligently planned over the last year was finally here. Dame Salva, the legendary nonagenarian, the champion of women's rights, was set to deliver her last public address before a hall filled to capacity. But the excitement turned to panic when Raisel Wisnik - an old hat maker, gunned down the famed activist. The police tried in vain to get her to talk, but Raisel would only speak to one person-- Veronica Simon. As Raisel tells Veronica her story, she is swept back seventy years to a shtetl in 1922, Poland. It is there that Veronica discovers Raisel, at only fourteen years of age, was sold as sex slave to the notorious Jewish Polish mafia, the Zwi Migdal, and shipped to South America. The details of Raisel's tragic journey cross paths with the Dame's, making it hard for Veronica to distinguish fact from delusion or one woman from the other. Now, with conflicting facts in her hands, Veronica is left with the choice of either walking away from it all and labeling Raisel a deranged old woman or giving a voice to a macabre story that lay buried for over seven decades.
This opportunity to introduce my book is highly appreciated.The title is "Under My Bubbe's Wings", by Iser Flaum. It is a tribute to my parents' heroic tenacity enduring years slaving for the Nazi's. This follows brutal ethnic cleansing migrations, ghetto confinement, and serial concentration camps. It is written in the first person voice of my father immersing the reader into his predicament. He and my mother finally meet in a DP camp, both sole survivors of their birth families, to renew family and life.
A theme throughout, is his perception that his late Bubbe stood guard over him, enwrapping him in her angelic wings, providing continual protection in one close-call after another. This feeling of luck conforms with the promise in a vision experienced at the outset of his ordeals.
Besides the expected stories of brutality and hardships, there are interesting expositions of the nature of the ruling tyrants showing surprising complexities of their personalities and motivations.
This book is our memorial light to all who we lost. It is also a tribute to those with no surviving family heirs, whose lineages have been cut off to extinction. Writing it was a sacred duty and honor.
Sandra wrote: "Thank you for giving us the opportunity to share our new releases.Mine is fresh of the press-Thorns For Raisel. mybook.to/Raisel
Here's the blurb:
Four gunshots, a dead woman, and a frantic crowd...."
Sandra, I am looking forward to reading your book. The synopsis on Amazon is quite intriguing to me, as well as the topics you address.
Stacey wrote: "Sandra wrote: "Thank you for giving us the opportunity to share our new releases.Mine is fresh of the press-Thorns For Raisel. mybook.to/Raisel
Here's the blurb:
Four gunshots, a dead woman, and a..."
Stacey wrote: "Sandra wrote: "Thank you for giving us the opportunity to share our new releases.
Mine is fresh of the press-Thorns For Raisel. mybook.to/Raisel
Here's the blurb:
Four gunshots, a dead woman, and a..."
Thank you, Stacey!
Iser wrote: "This opportunity to introduce my book is highly appreciated.The title is "Under My Bubbe's Wings", by Iser Flaum. It is a tribute to my parents' heroic tenacity enduring years slaving for the Naz..."
Good luck with your book
My Chanukah/Christmas Gift to you In the spirit of the upcoming festive season I am giving away a chapter from my book Of Bitter Herbs and Sweet Confections – a fictionalized holocaust-era memoir, described by Kirkus Reviews as "An illuminating contribution to Holocaust literature and a riveting family drama." Reviews average 4.5 stars on Amazon and Goodreads.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1729756050
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
If you would like to receive this free chapter please email me at: shalevsusan19@gmail.com.
Happy Holidays!
Hello all, and happy Chanukah to those who celebrate! I received a lovely little present from the Jerusalem Post/Jerusalem Report - a review of my debut book,
. It's the story of my family's finding a wooden crate hidden underneath our cottage on a lake in Canada. Its contents were grisly. My parents were traumatized; the crate dredged up their memories of surviving the Holocaust. Here's a link, and thanks for your interest!
https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Book-re...
Proud and happy to announce the pre-release sale of my book The Coat.Seth Feinberg, in spite of being an atheist, has always seen life through a Jewish lens. Inheriting a Nazi officer’s full- length leather coat from his Holocaust-survivor grandfather motivates him to research and write fictional stories about his grandparents’ and the coat’s possible history. These stories follow the history of the Jews from just before the end of The Holocaust up until just before the founding of Israel. Ultimately, he is able to define his personal relationship with the coat, his Judaism, and the world.
There's even a 15% discount for those who preorder through my publisher. Here's the link:
https://www.blackrosewriting.com/hist...
Thanks!
Never Again - International Holocaust Memorial DayTo mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz I am offering my ebook Of Bitter Herbs and Sweet Confections for free from tomorrow (Sat 25th) for the next few days. It is also on Kindle Unlimited. This fictionalized memoir, based on real-life experiences presents the story of Tanya, a Jewish teenager, as it unfolds over a ten-year period from 1939 to 1949. Tanya's exile, far away from the death camps of Europe, is a Holocaust novel with a difference, which opens a unique window on to a lesser known facet of this horrific chapter in history.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1729756050
Excerpt:
Chapter 16: Return to Poland
We are on the last leg of our journey home, and my emotions helter-skelter between excitement and trepidation. Will everything be as I left it, or will Tsanz be unrecognizable? I begin to make mental lists of all the things I will do once we are home. First, I will shut myself in my old bedroom, absorb the sights and smells of my private sanctuary, and go one by one through all my possessions. Of course, now that I’m older I will probably discard some of them; perhaps Dovid would like to have the childish toys and books.
None of my old clothes will fit, so Mama and I will have to go into town and purchase a whole new wardrobe. I won’t linger too long in the apartment, because I can’t wait to see Erna. We have so much to talk about. I hope our friendship won’t change now that we are young women, no longer little girls. But perhaps she is already married and has moved away. I refuse to dwell on unhappy scenarios.
I am deep in thought as our train crosses into the Ukraine. My musings are disturbed by quite a hubbub which erupts in the carriage. I look out of the window to see what the pointing and fuss is all about, and become an involuntary witness to the ravages of war; the countryside is littered with gutted houses, the charred remains of trucks and tanks, and rusty barbed wire. Death and destruction shroud the fields and villages, and I almost wish I was back in the closed cattle truck, from which I would not be able to see the sad scene through which we are passing.
And then the rumors of atrocities begin. We can’t comprehend the scope of what has happened, until we are finally repatriated on Polish soil, and are confronted by some Poles.
‘What are you doing here, Jews? We thought the Nazis had succeeded in murdering the lot of you. This is our country and we won’t let you back in.’
Their voices drip with malice, their faces screwed up in disgust. The hatefulness of their words and grimaces hits me like a physical blow.
We have not heard anything from our family in Poland these past years. As we begin to grasp the enormity of the murder and destruction, we fear that the worst has befallen our nearest and dearest, and that we won’t find anyone left alive.
‘We will go to Tarnów first,’ says Papa. ‘Surely the family will have gathered there.’
Before we reach Tarnów, the train pulls in to the station of Ozwiecim. We ask where we are, and a railway worker points out a site in the distance.
‘See that over there? That’s the camp known as Auschwitz-Birkenau. The Nazis murdered millions of your people there.’
I think I must have misheard the man, or that he must be deranged to make such a ridiculously exaggerated statement. What can he mean by millions? I join a group of young fellow travelers who decide to go and see for themselves.
Climbing down from the train, I tell Mama and Papa not to worry about me.
‘I’ll meet up with you at the next station.’
My companions and I walk alongside a railway branch line through some fields for about twenty minutes, until we reach a gate, above which a decorative banner fashioned in wrought iron proclaims Arbeit Macht Frei (Work Makes You Free). The place is enormous, with row upon row of barracks, surrounded by layer upon layer of barbed wire fences and sinister watchtowers. At first glance it reminds me of the ‘magical castle’ we discovered in the taiga, and I give an involuntary shiver. We continue on a little further, and suddenly a most awful smell hits us.
‘Cover your noses and mouths,’ a worker shouts at us, ‘to block out the scent of death. The smell and ash from the ovens still linger in the air.’
I am perplexed. ‘Ovens?’
He comes over to us.
‘First the bastards gassed the poor prisoners, and then cremated them.’
I feel physically sick, and put my hand over my mouth, fighting the urge to retch. I can see that my companions are reacting in the same way. One girl actually vomits, and another swoons.
We start to walk around the compound. The empty barracks bear witness to the suffering of those who had been incarcerated in them. Names and dates are scratched on the walls next to the tiers of wooden pallets, which are the only items of furniture. A stove stands alone in the center of the large space, and pieces of bloody rag and stains on the floor testify to violence, and unhygienic conditions.
We continue on to the far side of one of the barracks and peer inside what appears to be a storeroom. We stop dead in our tracks, as we are greeted by piles and piles of shoes; men’s, women’s and children’s, in all sizes, styles and colors. In another storeroom there are piles of eyeglasses in every shape and form. There are mountains of battered suitcases with their owners’ names chalked hopefully on the side, and heaps of human hair. Horror upon horror bombard us, much more than a young mind can absorb or process. It’s incomprehensible. Surely no one is capable of doing this to other human beings.
I tremble in shock and anger, overwhelmed by what I am seeing. But the worst is yet to come. We make our way to one of the crematoria, a square brick building, whose tall chimney unremorsefully advertises its macabre function. With such an enormous task to complete, the workers have not yet managed to finish cleaning out the deep brick ovens. Some still contain skeletons, and the floor is scattered with bones. Tears course down my cheeks and sobs shake my whole body. I close my eyes and pray that none of my family or friends have met their death here.
Arm in arm, dumbstruck and horrified, lending each other support, my companions and I make our way back in grim silence to the train station. I climb on to the next available train to continue my journey.
How will I tell Papa what I have seen and heard? I don’t believe there can be any Jews left alive in Poland. Perhaps ‘millions’ was no exaggeration at all. Other passengers are sharing the stories they have heard. How whole communities have been wiped out; ghettos, labor camps, forest massacres; more and more gruesome accounts.
Imagine the horror that was Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest and most lethal of the six Nazi annihilation camps.Imagine it 1944 and a prisoner uprising at this terrible place, the rebels blowing up one crematorium, damaging another, and killing many of their SS masters.
Imagine it Jews leading this revolt, a people those same SS thought incapable of fighting.
Now imagine one of those leaders a 22-year-old girl, arguably the fieriest Jewish heroine to come out of the Holocaust.
Finally, imagine her and three other young female inmates arrested by the Gestapo during the investigation that followed the rebellion and savagely tortured for weeks without giving up a single fellow conspirator.
Imagine all that and more and you have The Trumpets of Jericho (2nd Edition), the only novel to tell this extraordinary, true-life story in its entirety.
"As moving as SCHINDLER'S LIST, horrific as SON OF SAUL, heroic as DEFIANCE... an adventure of a book destined itself for Hollywood." --Raja Rao Literary Endowment
For more information, visit www.jmichaeldolan.net.
Hello everyone. I released this Jewish based thought book a few years ago but just discovered this group. The Golden Prayer: A Path to SalvationDescription: In The Golden Prayer, bestselling author Edward Weiss takes readers on a journey where God is always present and we find what we've been searching for - the constant joy of knowing our place. Based on ancient Jewish wisdom, the promise of The Golden Prayer is simple: to take you from someone in need, to someone who knows all needs are met in God.
Thanks,
Edward Weiss
Huge heartfelt thank you to all who took advantage of my free promotion of my book Of Bitter Herbs and Sweet Confections. I hope you will read and enjoy it. I would be eternally grateful for reviews.
OOOH! I'm excited to introduce a memoir about becoming a female cantor! Catbird: The Ballad of Barbi Prim We female cantors are in the majority (in liberal congregations!), so read all about it! (And about me, Barbara OstfeldBarbara J. Ostfeld!)
Isabella is the Jewish heroine of Hecate's Moon, a historical novel by Carol Anne Dobson, set in England and France in the 18th century. She meets Armand de Delacroix who has fled from the French Revolution to North Devon; their lives coincide against a background of treachery and witchcraft where women are disappearing and two men have been killed. Isabella has been befriended by Esther Cerfbeer, a 'wise woman' who personifies traditions such as the tree witch in Jewish folklore, and who influences the course of events with her knowledge of potions and herbs. Hecate's Moon is strongly descriptive of the Devon countryside in the 18th century and is a sequel to Storks in a Blue Sky, winner of the 2009 David St John Thomas Fiction Award.
I'll be doing a virtual book launch for my novel, The Coat, on Facebook Live tomorrow evening, May 4, starting at 5 p.m. Central Time. I'll be reading excerpts from the book and taking your questions.Join me!
April wrote: "I'll be doing a virtual book launch for my novel, The Coat, on Facebook Live tomorrow evening, May 4, starting at 5 p.m. Central Time. I'll be reading excerpts from the book and taking your questio..."Best of luck, April. What is your novel about? Have never heard of Facebook Live. Is it only in the US? Will look it up. Sounds interesting.
Carol wrote: "What is your novel about? Have never heard of Facebook Live. Is it only in the US? Will look it up. Sounds interesting."Hi Carol,
The book is about a young man, a Jewish atheist, who has inherited a Nazi officer's leather coat from his Holocaust-survivor grandfather. The coat causes him to examine his relationship with Judaism and the Holocaust. Writing stories about how it might have come into his family helps him along his path.
Looking forward to possibly seeing you during my live cast! Cheers!
Thanks also for this thread!Just published the 1930s family story, Newark Minutemen, with my 94-year-old Mom who feels like a star at Leisure World handing them out. The best part has been getting to know every single detail of her life from the not-conducive-to-Pandemic size apartments stuffed with family to how the local Jewish mob took care of the neighborhood to German Nazis marching down 5th Ave and training Nazi youth in 25 Youth Camps across America.
Based on a true 1930s story, Newark Minutemen tells an unforgettable tale about forbidden love, intrigue and a courageous man’s search for avenge….
During the heart of the Great Depression, Yael Newman fatefully meets Krista Brecht, daughter of the German-American Nazi high command. When his affections turn real, his friends warn him against crossing the line. When Krista leaves for American Nazi summer camp in Long Island, New York, he swears to rescue her. But his mission becomes much more when he’s recruited by the Jewish mob and FBI to go undercover and fight the German-American Nazis who are taking over America.
CaledoniaAnna Issac's choices are bleak - suicide or marrying the revolting Frenchman her spiteful brother has chosen for her. The only other option is to beg a man she barely knows, a Highlander, to help her run away. Escape would be a challenge for any fifteen-year-old, but it is particularly difficult for a Jewess living in 17th century Scotland.
Anna's tale would have remained a secret, except three centuries later the death of Hanna Duncan's father on 9/11 unleashes a chain of events that leads her to an ancient key with a peculiar etching. Once deciphered, the clue points Hanna toward a safe deposit box in Edinburgh where Hanna uncovers Anna's role in the creation of Scotland's only colony.
Caledonia promised to be the trading hub of the New World, but starvation, ship's fever, and incompetent leadership dogged the 1,200 colonists from the moment they left Scotland. More than half would be buried at sea or in the colony's muddy cemetery, and Anna would not be immune from the dreadful conditions. The outpost was deserted in less than a year.
CALEDONIA is a tale of these two strong women separated by time but bound by mysterious circumstances. 21st century Hanna keeps uncovering evidence linking her to 17th century Anna. Both women experience romance, adventure, and tragedy as the reader witnesses them becoming more and more connected.
The Lucky One: A Memoir of Life, Loss and Survival in Eastern EuropeIta was born in the wrong place at the wrong time. The place was the former Pale of Settlement which was a large swath of land in western Russia where Jews were forced to live for centuries.
The year was 1918 and Russia was in the midst of two revolutions. The first occurred with the abdication of the last tsar of Russia culminating in his execution. The second was the bloody civil war that ensued for control of the country.
Ita was caught in the middle during this time of great political and social upheaval. Wave after wave of murderous anti-Jewish riots, or pogroms, descended upon Jewish shtetls, and the only chance for her survival was to escape. Escape was not easy. In fact, it could be deadly. In Ita's own words, along with her daughter's (Sherry V. Ostroff) historical and cultural background information, she describes her privileged life in Russia, the bloody pogroms, and her harrowing escape. Ita faces each roadblock with resolve, including a new country that doesn't want her, and proves why she is, indeed, the lucky one.
Happy to announce that my book Of Bitter Herbs and Sweet Confections> is now available on Smashwords.com https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...Barnes and Noble, Apple iBooks and more at a reduced price of $1.99.
An uplifting tale of survival which puts COVID-19 lockdown into proportion. Stay safe and well.
R.L. wrote: "R.L. wrote: "Hi, I'm a new member with a forthcoming collection of short stories, WE LOVE ANDERSON COOPER (Celadon Books/Macmillan). One of the stories, "The Infidelity of Judah Maccabee," aired on..."Ebooks of We Love Anderson Cooper are now on sale for $2.99. They come with a sneak peak at my forthcoming novel (July 14), Other People's Pets.
My apologies if this is (slightly) outside the usual scope of this list. A writer I know is seeking suggestions for publishers or agents for her memoir. Anat describes her manuscript as:
"Where the Night Train Ends" is my coming of age survival story - set in the 1960's in the backwater towns of the Ukraine, then Moscow, then Vilnius - that explores the significant sacrifices made for my freedom and education. In Ukraine, I dealt with anti-Semitism, in Moscow, I struggled with life's hardships to study piano at one of Russia's best schools, and in Vilnius, together with my father, a leader in the Refusenik movement, I fought the KGB. Complicating my family's desire to move to Israel was my four-year love story with Natan Sharansky, who later because the Deputy Prime Minister of Israel. The decision to choose freedom and family over my first love was forced on me when I was only twenty. My non-fiction book will interest a cross-section of readers. Students of history will be drawn to the exploration of crucial events such as the death of Stalin and the post-Stalinist era, the Moscow Summit, and the human rights and Refusenik movements of the 1960's and 1970's. Young people, especially those vulnerable to bullying, will be drawn to the resilience and perseverance shown in the face of Soviet oppression. Musicians and music lovers will be curious to learn about the "Yellow Brick Road" of the Russian Piano School's method, as well as the rigorous training and discipline needed to become a serious musician."
Please post any publishing suggestions (presses, agents, self or hybrid publishing) you may have and I will forward them to Anat. Thank you! (And, my apologies if this is too "off topic." I'll remove the post at the moderator's request, if so.)
Adrienne wrote: "My apologies if this is (slightly) outside the usual scope of this list. A writer I know is seeking suggestions for publishers or agents for her memoir. Anat describes her manuscript as:
"Where ..."
Congratulations to your friend on finishing a book.
Finding a agent is as easy as searching on google. Just type in literary agents and many will pop as well as sites that have lists and the genres they will accept. Each literary agency has their own rules and what they want. Some will request the first chapter and a bio; others will want a synopsis and a bio. Follow the requests exactly. But almost all will want a query. You can get query help online. That's the easy part.
The hard part is getting an agent to sign your friend up. They are not enthusiastic about taking on debut authors or having to work too hard on the manuscript. Then you have to hope they can find an editor/publisher for you. Your friend may have to query 100 or more agents until they find someone. J.K. Rowling had the to do that.
The other route is self-publishing. My books have been published through KDPublishing which is owned by Amazon. It's free. You will get an ISBN number for free. For my first book I used their free cover. For my second book, I had a professional create the cover. Big difference, and worth the money. My first book, I did the ebook and it was free. The second time, I hired someone to do it for me. Worth the money. What I love about KDP is I can order books on demand. If I need 3 dozen books for a book talk, I get them at cost. At any time I can order 1-999 books. If you go through KDP, your book can be listed in the Kindle Unlimited program. My books are and someone is always reading my books.
There are other publishing houses out there that will self-publish your book. They may offer editing services as well. I can't help you with that because I never used them, but beware of vanity presses. They will ask for lots of money up front.
I hope this helps. If you have any more questions, let me know.
Sherry
Sherry wrote: "Adrienne wrote: "My apologies if this is (slightly) outside the usual scope of this list. Thanks Sherry. Good advice, and I’ll send her your suggestions.
Adrienne
Sherry wrote: "Adrienne wrote: "My apologies if this is (slightly) outside the usual scope of this list. A writer I know is seeking suggestions for publishers or agents for her memoir. Anat describes her manusc..."
I've lived through this dilemma and I write about it in my blog (cweinblatt.wordpress.com).
Charles wrote: "Sherry wrote: "Adrienne wrote: "My apologies if this is (slightly) outside the usual scope of this list. A writer I know is seeking suggestions for publishers or agents for her memoir. Anat descr..."
Charles, So have I. I'm glad I tried to the agent route, but don't need to do it again. They're loss because my books are doing fairly well.
Jewish Book Carnival
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I ADORED your book, which I got via NetGalley."
Thank you so much, Susan! So nice to hear.