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Free PDF or EPub Review Copies of “The Battle for Democracy” Available during Pre-ReleaseThe Battle for Democracy
Email the author/illustrator, Dr. Anna Faktorovich, to request a free review copy of the historical novel, “The Battle for Democracy,” at director@anaphoraliterary.com. Specify your email address and a preference for an epub, if you’d rather receive an epub vs. the standard pdf version. Faktorovich is also available for interviews and to answer any other media or public queries.
The Battle for Democracy: ($20, 236pp, 6X9″, 16 illustrations, reader’s guide, Print ISBN: 978-1-68114-223-4, EBook: $2.99: ISBN: 978-1-68114-224-1, LCCN: 2015917681, Release: May 2, 2016): The events depicted incorporate historical incidents to create an alternate history of a violent anti-corruption rebellion in the fictional town of Sparta, Tennessee, in the aftermath of World War II. It is based in part on the rebellion by veterans against the Mayor’s office in Athens, Tennessee, as well as on the Chicago Haymarket Riot. In Sparta, thousands of veterans return to the States from the War, and are confronted by crippling corruption, as they attempt to drink away the trauma of the War. Faced with bribes and a heap of misdemeanor tickets, the GIs try to retaliate by aggressively supporting the Democratic ticket, but soon discover that elections are not won by voters in Sparta. The Sheriff and his army of untrained deputies go on a killing spree, as they work to steal the election, until the Democrats are compelled to pick up arms to defend their lives and their civil rights.
“A riveting account of corruption in politics from the interesting mindset of disgruntled post-war veterans. A combination that will intrigue readers throughout the story.” —David Walpuck, Administrator for the National Registry of Food Safety Professionals
“Naive, impressionable, patriotic young men from Anna Faktorovich’s fictitious Sparta, Tennessee joined the fight against Fascism during World War II. They confronted death, cruelty, deprivation and returned home not as heroes but outsiders. Sparta had no use for them—no jobs, no place in society, only bars and the local jail. Finally enough became too much. Outrage triggered rebellion and a new war began. Like the one the returned G.I.s had left in Europe and Asia this one also was for freedom from oppression.
“The novel is based on events that occurred in southern Tennessee in 1946. Faktorovich populates The Battle for Democracy with variety of characters—rich, poor, white, African-American—and glimpses of shantytown life, Southern mansions, trips to Hawaii. Among the most fascinating personalities are the members of a Cherokee family that migrated to Sparta after their Oklahoma house was razed to make room for a military installation. Another is Giorgio, whose wilder instincts are tamed by his relationship with the sensible and attractive Haley. Less agreeable are the Ku Klux Klansmen the author describes, the opulence of the town mayor reigning over his miniature fiefdom, the bartender turned cop with an eye for profit at whatever cost. The novel is told with journalistic veracity and with vivid descriptions of places and events. Reading it one believes in what is taking place and participates along with the characters and their struggles to achieve equality and justice.” —Robert Joe Stout, winner of national journalism awards for news writing, author of Hidden Dangers: Mexico on the Brink of Disaster
“An intriguing and often funny depiction of widespread governmental corruption in a mid-1940s southern city and the political efforts of a band of World War II veterans and their allies to address it.” —Jere Krakoff, retired civil rights attorney with the ACLU National Prison Project in Washington, D.C.
“The Battle for Democracy, Anna Faktorovich’s second historical novel, focuses on events that transpired in Athens, Tennessee, in the wake of World War II, when returning veterans revolted against a corrupt city government. Athens becomes the mythical town of Sparta in Faktorovich’s riveting narrative. She takes a number of liberties with historical fact, reflecting her intent, as she puts it in her provocative introduction to the novel, to ‘step away from historical accuracy and into symbolic truth.’ In doing so she explores the frontier of historical fiction and the critical issue of how far an author can stretch or embroider historical truth in order to create a more artistic and meaningful story. Her characters, especially the returning veterans, are vividly rendered and her style in general is inventive and engaging. As the title indicates, The Battle for Democracy is representative of all those points on the historical timeline when democratic forces have battled greed and corruption, while also speaking directly and forcefully to our world today.” —Lucas Carpenter, C.H. Candler Professor Emeritus of English, Oxford College of Emory University
“Anna Faktorovich’s historical novel The Battle for Democracy illuminates a little-known but highly representative incident in American labor history—the battle of returning World War II veterans against the corrupt political machinery of Athens, Tennessee. A timely reminder that the greatest threats to democracy come not from abroad but from our homegrown ideologues and zealots, whether of party, creed, or avarice.” —Robert Begiebing, founding director of the Low-Residency MFA in Fiction and Nonfiction, and Professor of English Emeritus at Southern New Hampshire University
“…Veterans of World War II returned from the front and were caught in a storm of wild corruption at home. Two conflicting morals cannot coexist. As a result, they stage a revolt of front-line soldiers against the corrupt Mayor and Sheriff. Social conflict heats up until they are forced to use weapons, and people are killed and injured. The President of the United States and the Governor of the State do not intervene because it is a battle for democracy. The insurgency is victorious. The novel is brilliant and enlightening.” –Vasyl Baziv, organizer of the Ukrainian National Democratic movement (1989- 1990), professor at the “Ukraine” International University, and ambassador
Anna Faktorovich is the Director and Founder of the Anaphora Literary Press. She taught college English for three years before focusing entirely on publishing. She has a PhD in English Literature. She published two scholarly books: Rebellion as Genre in the Novels of Scott, Dickens and Stevenson (McFarland, 2013) and The Formulas of Popular Fiction: Elements of Fantasy, Science Fiction, Romance, Religious and Mystery Novels (McFarland, 2014). She completed two other scholarly books: Gender Bias in Mystery and Romance Novel Publishing: Mimicking Masculinity and Femininity and Wendell Berry’s New Agrarianism and Beyond, for which she received a Kentucky Historical Society fellowship. She also published two poetry collections Improvisational Arguments (Fomite Press, 2011) and Battle for Athens (Anaphora, 2012), an illustrated children’s book, The Sloths and I (Anaphora, 2013) and a novella, The Great Love of Queen Margaret, the Vampire (Grim’s Labyrinth Publishing).
A cautionary tail of our civil liberties and how we need to fight for them. http://www.amazon.com/Fire-War-T-T-Mi...
FYI I have a new coming of age fantasy novel out on Kindle Unlimited, Horse Feathers. It's PG, but written for a broad audience.http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019...
Phillip is a young boy bored by his routine life at a unicorn stables. He dreams of adventure and owning a pegasus but must rely on the stories of passing travelers. That is until one day when his father makes an announcement that changes Phillip's life forever.
It's brand new out, as in midnight last night, so no reviews yet. Hoping Kindle Unlimited will allow it to puck up a new audience.
Authors are invited to promote their work on my FB page now thru Tuesday, January 5th. All fiction genres, poetry, and non-fiction are welcome. This is a monthly event that I host.www.facebook.com/ronald.paxton.3
"...I loved the imagination and vocabulary in this book...the author's ability (and talent) to describe the scenery, smells, lighting and everything else about the Shenandoah Valley is remarkable."http://lnkd.in/b7ePUVw
"...the twists that Ronald Paxton used to confuse the reader as to the person committing the murders were devious and well executed."http://tinyurl.com/p5au9s3#thriller
Happy New Year to me:My first two Time Traveling Epic Fables have some wonderful reviews but this outstanding review, received January 1st, is the first for my latest book: https://marcha2014.wordpress.com/2016...
"...The clouds are building in Shenandoah County, but Salem Matthews loves a good storm!"http://tinyurl.com/nmty5zs
I would like to introduce the upcoming novel, Wolf Code: A Sheltering Wilderness by Goodreads author, Chandler Brett. If you enjoy fables, part animal adventure and part human adventure, I urge you to click on the link below. The book comes out January 9, 2016. http://www.amazon.com/Wolf-Code-A-She...
"...I have never read a book with a Monopoly playing dog. Henry, I think you stole center stage a time or two!"http://tinyurl.com/p5au9s3#thriller
New short story up in the current issue of Kings River Life. Read it here: http://kingsriverlife.com/01/09/open-...
"...the characters spring to life as the story unfolds. And how it unfolds!"http://tinyurl.com/nmty5zs
"Looking for Lydia; Looking for God" tells the story of a journey--individual, historical, spiritual--through the post-Civil War South and the Bible studies that weave together the lives of a group of women at the Lydia H. Roper Home of Norfolk, Virginia. The result is an unusual and affecting tale of aging, community and personal obsession." Adam Sachs, Editor in Chief of "Saveur" magazine."It is a Wednesday morning in April of 2014, and I am looking out my windows, old casements in a 1928 building in an urban neighborhood in Norfolk, Virginia, waiting for a door-to-door car service provided by the area's public bus company. If I'm paying attention and see her coming, my driver will pull up just as I walk out my front door, and we'll begin the fifteen-minute drive to another ninety-year-old building, which, since its construction in 1920, has been a home for elderly women. . .
{this} is the story of a miracle, although not one of those miracles where statues weep and holy faces appear in tacos. It is not a study of the Bible, nor a story about the study of the Bible; it is not a story about a small group of women; it is not a story about an unusual assisted living facility; not a history of the man who built it nor a portrait of his wife, who inspired it. It is not my own story. This is the tale of what happened when all those stories converged in the late Winter of 2013 in the residents' living room, in a large Colonial Revival building, in a bustling port city on the coast of southern Virginia.
Everything begins with the women: Kate and Neal; Inez, Evelyn and Terry; Lucille and Nan; Catherine and Wilma and Cora Mae. On two Wednesdays Carmen was with us. Eventually, there would be Lydia" (From The Prologue, 7-8).
Looking for Lydia; Looking for God
"...a feel good and thriller all in one book...it made me happy, sad, mad, cry..."http://tiny.cc/odmn7x
"I loved the imagination and vocabulary in this book...the author's ability (and talent) to describe the scenery, smells, lighting, and everything else about the Shenandoah Valley is remarkable."http://lnkd.in/b7ePUVw
I'm excited to announce that my latest novel, "Tears at Sunrise," is scheduled for publication by Indigo Sea Press in May 2016!
Here is an idea that I found most helpful. My next novel in the Johnnie King series is centered in New York. Where my first novel "Blood Death and Salt" was set in a fictional town in WV.You can't makeup things about NYC. What I found to be a big help, believe it or not, are the police precincts in Manhattan. They not only took the time to answer my questions on procedure, they also provided tidbits that I might find useful in the story line.
I have always found the police to be helpful, which is why I dedicated "Blood Death and Salt" to law enforcement.
Funnybones: The Collected Works of Humorist R. J. Parise 5.0 out of 5 stars RARE FIND...TRUE WIT AND HUMOR!!
By Richard S. Friedman "Goodreads"
Format: Kindle Edition
These days. when humor is often defined by the infantile exploits of "reality show actors" it is nice to know that true wit and humor still thrives..if you search for it..search no further than R.J. Parise!
Link: http://amzn.com/1481997270
Inside this collection are six comical books by humorist R.J.Parise. The titles include, My Husband's On Facebook!, Thoughts At Three, Five and Seven, Facebook Zombies, Hemingway House, The Rhymes and Ramblings of Cantankerous Creatures and Dietina's Diary.
My Husband's On Facebook! is a satirical account of babyboomer couples venturing into the world of social networking.
In Thoughts at Three, Five and Seven, children express their thoughts about life. From moms to grammas, from daycare to holidays, these cute little philosophers hold nothing back. For older parents and grandparents, it's a journey down memory lane. For younger parents, it's a pleasant reminder of those earlier wonder years.
New 5 star review for Silent Waltz!"Just when you think the bucolic resort community in Shenandoah County has settled into normalcy, author Ronald Paxton's new novel, Silent Waltz, picks up where his Soul Man leaves off...with a new set of scheming and murderous villains..."
http://tinyurl.com/nmty5zs
I am honored to be a guest of author Tierney James on her website. You'll find me at Inside Scoop under Speed Dating. Find out more about me and my writing, and get a sneak peek at "Tears at Sunrise," scheduled for release by Indigo Press in May 2016. While you're there be sure to sign up for Tierney's new blog.http://www.tierneyjames.com
"A dark and moody read." Something So Divine gets another five-star review: http://www.amazon.com/Something-So-Di...
"...a classic whodunit...with a new set of scheming and murderous villains..."http://tinyurl.com/nmty5zs
I have just installed a button for "Subscribe" on my blog and would really appreciate it if anyone willing would do that. You all know how that works: you get an email showing the title of every blog post I publish and you can click on it if it's of interest, delete if it's not. There is such a wide variety of topics that I honestly think even your cat could find one to read occasionally--classic movie reviews, book reviews (great ideas for your next book), guest blogs, introduction of artists, lots and lots about writing and about reading. The website itself is all about my book, "Looking for Lydia; Looking for God."The direct link to the main blog page, where you can subscribe, is
http://pdrobertson.com/blog/. I publish something every Sunday. If you read, please please comment.. And thanks.
Authors are invited to promote their work on my FB page from today through Friday, February 5th. This is a monthly event that I host. All fiction genres, poetry, and non-fiction are welcome.www.facebook.com/ronald.paxton.3
"A feel good and thriller all in one book...it made me happy, sad, mad, cry..."http://tiny.cc/odmn7x
My first Detectvie Al Warner suspense, DEATH'S ANGEL, got a great review from Midwest Book Review, published in their Jan/Feb online mag.."A masterfully crafted suspense thriller from beginning to end, "Death's Angel" is a terrifically absorbing read and very highly recommended for community library Mystery/Suspense collections. For personal reading lists it should be noted that "Death's Angel" is also available in a Kindle edition"Death's Angel: A Detective Al Warner Suspense
My 2nd Detective Al Warner Suspense, BORN TO DIE, is going on Kindle Countdown starting of Feb 12 at just $0.99. The price goes up $1.00 every 26 hours. A graet chance to get this 5-Star rated novel about a detectiove often likened to Patterson's Alex Cross.Born To Die: A Detective Al Warner Suspense
Ronald, Every writer has got to move to his own beat. We call it "voice." However, I disagree that a lot can't be learned in classes about writing. Not all are workshops. One of the best lessons I learned was at a Donald Maass seminar: "What's the worse thing that can happen to your protagonist?" followed by, "What can be even worse that that?" followed by, "Even worse than that??" I work with critique groups and often see scenes of stress or danger written in 2 or 3 lines, when they should be paragraphs or even pages of building trauma.I'm constantly amazed at how many think they are writers who have no real idea of how to create a great story. And of course, the great editior you suiggest is something too many writers eschew. My wife went to some classes with me and suddenly found that much of the books and movies she loved were really badly done. It actually ruined a lot of potential enjoyment for her, but she's become my most unrelenting primary editor.
George a Bernstein
Ronald, If you had difficulty guessing the bad guy in that novel, you should read my first Detective Al Warner suspense, DEATH'S ANGEL No one guess the ending. Midwest Book Review called it "A masterfully crafted suspense thriller from beginning to end, "Death's Angel" is a terrifically absorbing read and very highly recommended." Death's Angel: A Detective Al Warner Suspense.
On February 11, a Kindle Countdown starts at 99c for my "Miranda's Demons", a futuristic epic, a sort of war and peace. Set on five planetary systems in our solar system, four different sorts of aliens, several romances, it is a tale of honour, corruption, power, and desperation.
Mod
http://www.amazon.com/Stuff-Collecion...
The Stuff Series Collecion
For those who love humor as well as fast-paced mysteries, the “Stuff” series seven book collection has it all. Combining the stumbling shenanigans of James Lessor and Skip More, two twenty-something ne’er-do-wells trying to succeed as crime solvers produces laugh-...
amazon.com ·
Extract from my book 'Dayream Believers'
http://www.amazon.com/Corpalism-II-Be...
Something in the wind 4
For what shall it prophet a man
if he gain the whole world
and suffer the loss of his soul
Jesus Christ
This time the tickets had sold without much effort; they were still too cheap for Barry's liking but that would come later, as word got around. There was a buzz around the auditorium, some of the audience had heard him speak before and they were ready for more.
The Preacher walked to the back of the stage, took a sip of water from the bottle on the table and then returned, launching an immediate attack on his transfixed audience, "I bet you all support the Wars on Terror, even though we are witnessing the mass murder of the Arab peoples."
There was the odd shake of the head here and there. Barry was immediately absorbed, he'd forgotten he was supposed to be critiquing; he was simply listening. His man was beginning to look the part; dishevelled though not dirty, wild-eyed but not mad, he’d lost weight and his clothes hung off him. If you’d been asked to draw an Old Testament prophet you might have drawn him; long hair, the same disregard of person, the same almost manic focus.
"Why is that?" he demanded, "Why do we support the war on terror even though we know it to be a fiction, a total fabrication. Is it because we can't do anything about it? Have you tried to protest against the illegal wars?" He was pointing at various individuals, "Do you realise that it is now treason to criticise Governments in time of war? That means they can do anything as long as we are at war and if anyone criticises them they can be imprisoned indefinitely, even executed if they are in the military." He waited for this to sink in, "How can it be treason to criticise the Government? The Government is NOT the country...the Government is elected by the people, it's just a political party representing specific interested parties."
There were a few nods and murmurs of assent. Barry was impressed; he knew the topics were unrehearsed and were all the more powerful for that.
"If we're fighting a war that's not in the interests of the people, then in whose interests are we fighting? For the world's corporations so they can get their hands on key oil reserves? For the share holders, the company directors, the nouveau riche so they can retain their status, their wealth, their positions of power over us? Are we in the Middle East to enable the spread of commercialism? Are we there so the new high priests, the economists can spread their holy sacrament of greed? To allow their clergy, the shoddy salesmen, to spread the belief that everyone is allowed to want whatever it is they want, regardless of how or where it is produced, regardless of how many people have suffered in misery to bring it to them? Is this the extent of our new religion? The desire to own more, the lust for whatever we can get our hands on? Is this what we have become now that we have lost God and Jesus?"
The diatribe was met by silence. Barry took careful note of the expressions of those around him, they weren't hostile, just confused.
"I want to ask you a question, all those of you who claim to believe in God yet spend your time shopping for goods made cheaply in the third world where children are abused as economic slaves, how do you reconcile your greed with the preaching of Jesus?" He waited but no-one volunteered an answer, "You reconcile it because you don't believe there is a God or that Jesus ever existed. I know that's what you do because I used to be like you. I no longer believed in Jesus and God, only the words of the advertising men penetrated my debauched state. I worked in the City, I earned lots of money, I used to spend obscene amounts on whatever took my fancy and I never cared about anyone else. But I still went to church and said my amens because that's how I'd been brought up. What I didn't realise was that I had replaced Jesus' doctrine with the creed of avarice, selfishness and indifference."
Barry was riveted, the pain in the Preacher's voice was clear to all; he held nothing back.
"But the thing is, even though I was able to laugh at others who still believed in God I didn't find my new found freedom liberating. It led to despair, to sullen darkness that overwhelmed me and possessed every corner of my soul until all I could do was think of getting the next cool gadget the minute it hit the shops, to be first in line for the latest iPhone or Playstation." He tilted his head slightly, "Then of course there were the parties, the women, the drink and drugs, the regular betrayal of my wife, of my family," he wandered along the front of the stage, "you probably don't realise it but the brokers in the City are all doped with drugs and free sex, the perks of the positions held, it is a real Sodom and Gomorrah."
He paused in the centre of the stage, "But then it occurred to me, I didn't believe in Jesus because I don't believe in magic, but, what is magic?" he stretched out his hands, "It's only magic because the events that occur before our eyes are inexplicable, but that doesn't make it magic, that just means I don't understand how it was done. In earlier times TV, PCs and mobiles would seem like magic. Ergo, any references to magic in the Bible were misunderstandings at best or at worst an insidious attempt by the Roman Catholic church to control and manipulate the masses by fear." He raised his palms, "Strangely that made sense to me; I didn't have to believe in silly miracles to justify the words of Jesus." He walked to his left, "But that still left God. What could I do with that? Well there doesn't have to be a God to justify the words of Jesus either, actually."
"But Jesus was the Son of God," called out someone.
"Well timed, thank you." He turned to his left, "I can see where you're coming from, Jesus said he was the Son of God, it's in the bible. But who wrote the bible?" He waited, then answered his own question, "The Romans, and they put in what they wanted and left out what they didn't like." He moved on a bit, "So who was it told the Romans that Jesus claimed to be the son of God? The Pharisees. Excuse my cynicism but how convenient. Jesus was preaching a load of stuff the Pharisees didn't like when suddenly he says something sacrilegious; 'I'm the son of God'."
He paused, raised his palms and shoulders, "But, what if he didn't actually say that, what if all he did was to go around saying that we should live together as one in peace and harmony? That would actually make Jesus the world's first hippy."
Some people laughed in spite of themselves, Barry grinned and started to make notes on how further to promote his boy's message; and of course to report back to Blackmore.
"That's when it dawned on me, I didn't have to believe in God to love my neighbour or help those in need. I didn't have to think that Jesus was the Son of God to take his words to heart. He had laudable ideas and the code he offered was well worth living by. I did not have to follow this or that religion to understand Jesus' teachings and I did not have to force my neighbour to believe in the same fashion as myself because it wasn't about religion or types of faith or dogma," he shouted out the last word, "because that creates division and that's exactly what every religion has brought to the world, and it's not what Jesus meant and he did not say he was the son of God, just that he was the son of man." He moved to the centre of the stage, "And that's what saved me, the sudden understanding that Jesus could've been just a man and it didn't devalue any of his teachings, any of his words, they are all of great significance and I didn't have to join any religion in order to believe in him."
His whole demeanour had changed with these last words as if he was feeling again the liberation that had brought him, "I was suddenly free of my corruptions, of my despair, of my self-loathing, of my soul destroying addictions; if there is no God and if Jesus could just be a man then I could follow his teachings and not live under the self imposed delusion of heaven and hell but in the open, in the enlightened belief of good and honesty and love and peace simply because it's right, simply because it's the right thing to do, the right way to be, the right way to behave and when I had reached that point I knew that evil was striding across England and I had to make my stand."
He clenched his fists and leant forwards, "We have been seduced by greed, lust and selfishness and we must work to shake off their deadly influence and help others to free themselves of the mind numbing addictions that have rendered them comatose."
With that he left the stage. There was a shocked silence, then a short burst of clapping. It petered out and a few started to talk amongst themselves, others made for the exits but some made their way forwards to see if they could ask questions. Barry was grinning, really smiling in a way he hadn't for years.
"...gives the "Who Done It"...a shot of twisted adrenaline that will have readers hanging onto each line...""...will keep you enthralled as pirates invade Shenandoah Mountain Lake."
http://tinyurl.com/p5au9s3#thriller
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THE JAMES MASON COMMUNITY BOOK CLUB
Books mentioned in this topic
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