In the Spotlight: ‘A Despicable Profession’ by John Knoerle

Author: John Knoerle
Title: A Despicable Profession
Paperback: 310 pages
Publisher: Blue Steel Press (July 13, 2010)
ISBN-10: 0982090307
ISBN-13: 978-0982090305

May, 1946. America is basking in hard-won peace and prosperity. The OSS has been disbanded, CIA does not yet exist. Rumors swirl about the Red Army massing tanks along the Elbe in East Germany.

Former OSS agent Hal Schroeder gets an offer from Global Commerce LTD to be a trade rep in Berlin. He flies to New York to meet his new boss. Hal’s jaw drops when former OSS Chief Wild Bill Donovan strides in. Schroeder, who survived perilous duty behind German lines, says he is no longer interested in being a spy. General Donovan assures him that’s not part of his job description.

Hal comes to doubt that when he meets his immediate superior in Berlin. It’s Victor Jacobson, the case officer who sent him on repeated suicide missions in WWII.

This is the exciting premise of John Kneorle’s newest spy fiction, A Despicable Profession: Book Two of the American Spy Trilogy (Blue Steel Press).

Here’s an excerpt:

“Sir, my special kind of cunning is real simple,” I said to my case officer. “I was doing a decent job in Freiburg and Ulm and Karlsruhe logging troop movements and transmitting weather reports for bomber runs. I figured if I was dead my effectiveness might suffer. And why get croaked carrying out suicide missions dictated by some asshole Case Officer who was snug as a bug in Bern drinking Allen Dulles’ wine cellar dry?”
“I wasn’t,” said Jacobson, “but please continue.”
Please continue? They were shorthanded.
“I have only one job requirement sir. Survival.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” said Jacobson, drier than my swollen tongue.

Knoerle was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1949 and migrated to California with his family in the 1960s. He has worked as a stand-up comic, a voiceover actor and a radio reporter. He wrote the screenplay for “Quiet Fire,” which starred Karen Black and Lawrence Hilton Jacobs, and the stage play “The He-Man Woman Hater’s Club,” an LA Time’s Critics Choice. John also worked as a writer for Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion.”

Knoerle’s first novel, Crystal Meth Cowboys, published in 2003, was optioned by Fox TV. His second novel, The Violin Player,won the Mayhaven Award for Fiction. Knoerle is currently at work on The American Spy Trilogy. Book One, A Pure Double Cross, came out in 2008. Book Two, A Despicable Profession, was published in August of 2010.

John Knoerle currently lives in Chicago with his wife, Judie.

You can visit his website at www.bluesteelpress.com.

Take charge of your life with Glenda Hatchett’s new book ‘Dare to Take Charge’

For nearly ten years, Judge Glenda Hatchett has delighted TV audiences with a brand of justice that turns the everyday into something eminently watchable.

Her message can be distilled into the following two words: Dare Yourself. Whatever obstacles or fears one faces, Judge Hatchett´s prescription implores readers to write their own story in this life. With care and conviction, Judge Hatchett uses real life stories from the courtroom and her personal life to counsel readers. Shows them how to find their true purpose and gifts, to be real about their reality and its potential outside of challenging circumstances, and to always be true to themselves.

This is the premise of TV personality and author Judge Glenda Hatchett, author of the new self-help book, Dare to Take Charge: How to Live Your Life on Purpose (Center Street).

Interactive as well as inspirational, DARE TO TAKE CHARGE challenges the reader to ask self-reflective questions that lead to moments of self-discovery and a defined pathway to healing. Daring her audience to study the positive with the same interest and intensity that they study the negative, Judge Hatchett uncovers the potential for grace and success in lives that are now punctuated with despair and unfaithfulness.

Good Morning America says, “Glenda does a wonderful job of blending her own inspirational journey with the stories of those who have appeared in her courtroom. Clear, practical, and daring suggestions. Exactly what we need right now.”

Essence Magazine says, “Glenda Hatchett has done it again! Energizing and potent, DARE TO TAKE CHARGE is a treasury of inspiring stories, insight and wisdom that helps us get unstuck and navigate the journey to emotional growth and joy. The Judge´s ready guide is worth a hundred times the price.”

Oxygen Media says, “Judge Hatchett´s book, DARE TO TAKE CHARGE, is a primer of common sense loaded with inspirational stories and cautionary tales aimed at folks interested in changing patterns in their lives.”

After graduating from Emory University School of Law and completing a coveted clerkship in the U.S. Federal Courts, Glenda Hatchett accepted a position at Delta Air Lines, as the company´s highest-ranking African-American woman. She served in dual roles as a senior attorney for Delta, litigating cases in federal courts throughout the country, and Manager of Public Relations, supervising global crisis management, and media relations for all of Europe, Asia and the United States. In fact, her outstanding contributions were recognized by Ebony Magazine, which named Glenda Hatchett one of the “100 Best and Brightest Women in Corporate America.” She made the difficult decision to leave Delta Air Lines in order to accept an appointment as Chief Presiding Judge of the Fulton County, Georgia Juvenile Court.

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Upon accepting the position, Glenda Hatchett became Georgia´s first African-American Chief Presiding Judge of a state court and the department head of one of the largest juvenile court systems in the country. Glenda Hatchett is a graduate of Mt. Holyoke College and has been recognized as a distinguished alumni and awarded an honorary degree by the college. She also attended Emory University School of Law and because of her commitment to excellence and service within the community, Glenda was awarded the Emory Medal, the highest award given to an alum by the university. Currently, Glenda Hatchett presides over the syndicated show, “Judge Hatchett” currently in its 8th season (Sony Pictures Television), and is author of the national best-seller, “Say What You Mean, Mean What You Say” (HarperCollins). She has previously served on the Board of Directors of Gap, Inc. the Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), and The Service Master Company.

Presently, Glenda Hatchett is a board member of the Atlanta Falcons Football Organization and serves on the Board of Advisors for Play Pumps International. She also serves on the Boys and Girls Clubs of America National Board of Governors and she resides in Atlanta, Georgia with her two sons.

You can visit her website at www.glendahatchett.com.

Beyond the Books Shines the Spotlight on Renee Wiggins

Renee Wiggins has mentored, trained and changed lives in the health and wellness industry for more than 20 years. A strong believer and encourager in living an authentic, healthy lifestyle, Renee specializes in designing customized lifestyle programs that are tailored to the clients needs, goals and habits. Renee Wiggins is a registered dietitian, and a certified massage therapist. She is the author of several books, “Can I Exercise Sitting Down?” and “ Stress Down and Lift Up”.

You can visit Renees’ website atwww.resultsbyrenee.com.

About Transformations: Give Up the Struggle

We all have had our ups and downs in our lives, some more than others. But, how we end up in the end, determines how we actually see the storms. .In fact, these storms makes us stronger, better and a wiser person.

Resisting change can make the obstacles, the hindrances and the storms become even more unbearable. However, if we choose to view them in a different light, change can moves us into a more rewarding position.

Renee shows how our life should follow our words. These words/affirmations presented in this book can be a turning point in your life. These affirmations helps us to break the chains of negative thinking and help us to release the past and move forward.

A Day in the Life of ‘Seven Year Switch’ Claire Cook

A Day in the Life of  ‘Seven Year Switch’ Claire Cook

by Claire Cook

I wrote my first novel at 5 AM in my minivan outside my daughter’s swim practice, and while I’m thrilled to have moved inside to a home office, I’ve kept the early morning writing habit.

I wake up and spread some whole wheat toast with almond butter while the coffee is brewing, then I head up to my office with a big mug of coffee and get to work. I like to start my day’s writing before I’m fully awake, before the doubt and procrastination set in. Before the rest of the world is awake.

I write two pages a day, seven days a week. This keeps me almost living in the book, following the characters, nudging the story forward.

I start by rereading and polishing the pages from the day before, which helps me find the rhythm again. I try not to go back much farther than that. If I did, I might still be working on the first chapter of my first novel instead of my eighth!

Sometimes my two pages take only a few hours. Sometimes I wrestle well into the night. My deal with myself is that I’m not allowed to go to bed until I’ve finished my daily quota. Books are fun to start and triumphant to finish, but all those pesky pages in between can really get you into trouble. So this works for me. No matter what else happens in my life, I can finish two pages.

And two pages become four, then six, then eight, and one miraculous day I have the first draft of a novel. And then the revising begins!

For more writing tips, and to win a beach bag filled with all 7 of Claire’s novels, plus a beach towel, go to http://ClaireCook.com.

Learn how to live the life you want with Terry M. Drake’s ‘Live Happily, Ever After…Now!’

Live Happily, Ever After… Now! uses age old, time tested secrets (found in NLP, Law of Attraction, Positive Psychology, and Hypnosis) to teach you how to create the life you want! Ask yourself: Are you in control of what you think, act and feel? Are you living the life you want? Would you like to be happy and successful in everything you do? The key is learning how much control you have over your life, your beliefs and attitudes about yourself, others and the world you live in. Once you understand that you are in control (and you will), then you can use the 9 simple steps to begin living the life you want.

This is the exciting premise of Terry M. Drake’s new self-help book, Live Happily, Ever After…Now! (Lake House Publishing).

Read the excerpt:

The formula for Happiness

What is the formula for happiness? As if there is a secret formula, which you could mix up a batch of in the lab. Well, actually it isn’t even that complicated. You don’t need the lab, you don’t need to mix any solutions, and that wouldn’t result in real happiness. As funny as this notion seems, our society has jumped on board with this idea. You are told a medication will help with all your problems. You are bombarded with advertisements about how much better life would be with a cold beer or how you will be happy once you buy that new car.

I can confidently tell you that without a change in your beliefs you will not find true happiness. Medications, relaxing moments, alcohol, and material things can help you enjoy your life, but alone they will never bring you true happiness. Permanent success and happiness will only come from within and only by making changes to the way you think about yourself and others.

Now, there is a simple formula for happiness and the best part about it is that it is already within you. Not only is it within you, it is under your control. It is also much easier than you think to lead a happy and successful lifestyle. Most of you don’t realize or fully understand this and that is okay. The most interesting fact is that you already use the formula, you just don’t understand it yet and that results in your continued unhappiness.

Terry M. Drake is a Licensed Social Worker, National Board Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist, Certified Trainer of Ericksonian Hypnosis and NLP. He has spent the last 15 years learning about himself and others, through his academic studies resulting in his MSW and his professional studies, as a family therapist, clinical supervisor and vast training and research into hypnosis, neuro-linguistic programming, the law of attraction and positive psychology. Terry is currently a Director of mental and behavioral health programs and a Life Coach, Hypnotherapist in private practice. He is also ready to put his skills to use as an author, speaker, consultant and coach. Terry lives in Wellsboro, Pa with his wife and children.

His latest book is Live Happily, Ever After…Now!

You can visit his website at www.livehappilyeverafter-now.com.

Terry will be on virtual book tour June 1 – July 30 ’10. Visit his official tour page at Pump Up Your Book to find out more about his new self-help book, Live Happily, Ever After…Now!

Amazon is the best way to obtain your copy, although it will be available to order in most local bookstores.

Book Spotlight: ‘Full Moon at Noontide’ by Ann Putnam

This is the story of my mother and father and my dashing, bachelor uncle, my father’s identical twin, and how they lived together with their courage and their stumblings, as they made their way into old age and then into death. And it’s the story of the journey from one twin’s death to the other, of what happened along the way, of what it means to lose the other who is also oneself.

My story takes the reader through the journey of the end of life: selling the family home, re-location at a retirement community, doctor’s visits, ER visits, specialists, hospitalizations, ICU, nursing homes, Hospice. It takes the reader through the gauntlet of the health care system with all the attendant comedy and sorrows, joys and terrors of such things. Finally it asks: what consolation is there in growing old, in such loss? What abides beyond the telling of my own tale? Wisdom carried from the end of the journey to readers who are perhaps only beginning theirs. Still, what interest in reading of this inevitable journey taken by such ordinary people? Turned to the light just so, the beauty and laughter of the telling transcend the darkness of the tale.

During the final revisions of this book, my husband was dying of cancer, and he died before I could finish it. What I know so far is this: how pure love becomes when it is distilled through such suffering and loss–a blue flame that flickers and pulses in the deepest heart.

As I finish this book he is gone three months.

These are the words of Ann Putnam, author of the heart-wrenching memoir, Full Moon at Noontide: A Daughter’s Last Goodbye (Southern Methodist University Press).

Here’s an excerpt:

Writing this now in a rainy light after loss upon loss, a memory comes to me. When I was a teenager, I took voice lessons from Ruth Havstad Almandinger, who gave me exercises and songs I hardly ever practiced. I have wondered why this memory has so suddenly come to me now, and why this, the only song I remember, comes back to me whole and complete:

“Oh! my lover is a fisherman/ and sails on the bright blue river
In his little boat with the crimson sail/ sets he out on the dawn each morning
With his net so strong/ he fishes all the day long
And many are the fish he gathers
Oh! My lover is a fisherman
And he’ll come for me very soon!”

If only I’d known then that my true love would be a fisherman, I might have practiced that song harder and sung it with more feeling, which was what Ruth Havstad Almandinger was always trying to get me to do. If only I’d had a grown up glimpse of my true love when I was sixteen, I would have sung that song so well. If only I’d known he would have cancer and go to the lake for healing the summer after the radiation treatments were done. If only I’d known that I would be his fishing partner that miracle summer of the sockeye come into the lake from the sea. If only I’d known that the cancer would return and that I would do everything I could to save him, knowing all along that he could not be saved, and that my heart would break beyond breaking, then break again. If only I’d seen the sun coming up over the mountains and the sky shift from gray to purple and the pale smudge of light against the mountains turn gold just above the crest. If only I’d seen the sun glinting off those sunslept waters as my love lets down the fishing lines, and off in the distance a salmon leaps—a silver flashing in the sky as if to split the heart of the sun—before it disappears into a soundless splash, in this all too brief and luminous season, to spawn and to die—oh, how I would have sung that song.

Ann teaches creative writing and women’s studies at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. She has published short fiction, personal essays, literary criticism, and book reviews in various anthologies such as Hemingway and Women: Female Critics and the Female Voice and in journals, including the Hemingway Review, Western American Literature, and the South Dakota Review. Her recent release is Full Moon at Noontide: A Daughter’s Last Goodbye. You can visit her website at http://www.annputnam.com.

Ann will be on virtual book tour June 1 – July 30 ’10. Visit her official tour page at Pump Up Your Book to find out more about her new memoir, Full Moon at Noontide: A Daughter’s Last Goodbye.

Amazon or Barnes & Noble are the best way to obtain your copies, although it will be available to order in most local bookstores.

Henry David Thoreau featured in debut author Kenny Luck’s ‘Thumbing Through Thoreau’

On July 4, 1845, when Henry David Thoreau moved into his cabin on the shores of Walden Pond, he was probably unaware that his abode in the woods, and the impact and influence of that endeavor, would forever echo through time. Thoreau was an uncompromising idealist; an ardent maverick who criticized his fellow man. He urged that men and women ought to live more simply, and more deliberately. “The mass of men,” he famously wrote, “lead lives of quite desperation.” Yet the scope of Thoreau’s message is much wider than social criticism. He speaks of spiritual transcendence in Nature and the unbounded potential of the individual. Thoreau is a dreamer and he speaks to dreamers. In a word, shun dogmatism and demagoguery; see beyond the immediate conventional religious explanations to reap a higher understanding. In our commodified contemporary American society, with the rise of religious intolerance and fundamentalism, materialism and mass consumerism, Thoreau’s message is needed now more than ever. Author Kenny Luck has thumbed through Thoreau’s voluminous journals, correspondences and other publications to make this the most comprehensive collection of Thoreau aphorisms available.

This is the exciting premise of Kenny Luck’s new inspirational coffee table book, Thumbing Through Thoreau – A Book of Quotations by Henry David Thoreau (Tribute Books).

Kenny Luck is a graduate student at Marywood University in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in History/Political Science from the same institution. He writes for The Weekender – an arts and entertainment weekly – and is currently working on his second book. He enjoys recording music, book browsing, and travel. You can visit his website at www.thumbingthroughthoreau.com.

Thumbing Through Thoreau is his debut book.

Kenny will be on virtual book tour June 1 – 25 ’10. Visit his official tour page at Pump Up Your Book to find out more about his new inspirational coffee table book, Thumbing Through Thoreau.

Amazon or Barnes & Noble are the best way to obtain your copies, although it will be available to order in most bookstores.

The road to recovery begins with Excuse Me, Your Life is Waiting!

Title: Excuse Me, Your Life is Waiting!
Author: Robert Boich
Paperback: 152 pages
Publisher: iUniverse
Language: English
ISBN-1440121079
ISBN-13: 978-1440121074

Making a resolution to address an alcohol or substance abuse issue is only the beginning. The real work begins when the alcoholic or addict acknowledges that something has to be done. As one counselor put it, “An addict only has to change one thing: everything.” More than mere abstinence or simply eliminating certain people and places from one’s daily routine, a successful recovery requires a brand-new approach in dealing with life. In this compelling, intimate narrative, Boich shares his struggles, and insights encountered during his first six months in recovery.

Excerpt

One of the first things I learned was that I was looking at things backwards; fix my substance abuse problems, and my life would fix itself. It seemed to make sense at the time. It goes back to the abstinence versus sobriety issue I mentioned earlier. It’s true, abstinence, definitely improved my life. I could see a difference in myself after a couple of weeks. The problem with this approach is that I was still the same person. I had to look at the bigger picture. One of my new friends explained it to me like this. “The man I was drank. The man I was will drink again. I have to change the man.” That statement echoed the sentiments of one of my counselors, the same one who encouraged me to write this book. He told me that in order to stay sober, I only had to change one thing. Everything!

Excuse Me, Your Life is Waiting! is available to order at Amazon. To find out more about Robert, visit his website at www.rwboich.com. Robert is available for interviews. Email Dorothy Thompson at thewriterslife(at)yahoo.com to inquire.

Returning Injury: empowering women is suspense author Becky Due’s focus

Rebecca’s life just keeps getting better. With Jack away on business, she’s looking forward to four days alone to work on her new client’s PR campaign to help women take back their lives. But her past intrudes. Roy, the man who stalked and assaulted her years before, has been released from prison. Home alone in her big, beautiful house out in the country, Rebecca has to learn to take back her own life while facing her fears and regaining her strength. But will she be strong enough when she faces the ultimate test?

This is the premise of suspense author Becky Due’s new book, Returning Injury: A Suspense Celebrating Women’s Strength (Due Publications).

Becky, like the main characters of her novels, spent many years running from herself, looking for love, crying a little and laughing a lot along the journey of finding herself. Through writing, Due found her passion. She is the author of several books and is currently working on her next novel.

She has been a guest on national radio programs and has been the subject of numerous newspaper and national magazine articles for empowering women through her novels. She has served as a guest speaker at Women’s Resource Centers, Shelters, Colleges and High Schools within the United States. Becky has had extensive training at Victim Services, worked the 24-Hour Sexual Assault Crisis-Line and was a Victim’s Advocate where she offered one-on-one assistance and support to rape victims. In 2007, Becky started, Women Going Forward, the first national women’s telephone support group, which ran for almost two years. After receiving much recognition for her novels, Becky’s focus turned back to her writing and empowering women through her novels.

Becky will be on virtual book tour May 3 – June 25.  Visit her official tour page at Pump Up Your Book to find out more about her exciting new release, Returning Injury: A Suspense Celebrating Women’s Strength.

Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble.com are the best way to obtain your copies, although it will be available to order in bookstores soon. You can visit Becky’s website at www.BeckyDue.com for more information about the book.

Cherie Burbach’s 21 Simple Things You Can Do to Help Someone With Diabetes- a must have!

Why should non-diabetics get informed? Because as much as we know about diabetes treatment today, the support from our family and friends still plays a part in how healthy we are. An understanding approach from someone who cares means everything to us. Your diabetic friend or relative counts on you to be the person in their life that “gets it” when no one else does. This book will tell you what you can do to help. Things like what you should (and shouldn’t) say, what you should learn to truly be supportive, and even how you can help in the fight for a cure. 21 Things You Can Do To Help Someone With Diabetes by Cherie Burbach will point you in the right direction so you can truly support your diabetic friend. If you know someone diabetic, you need to pick up a copy of this book.

Here’s an excerpt:

When I first became diabetic, I was amazed at how many times someone around me would hand me a sugar-free soda when my blood sugar was low, or investigate the food I had on my plate, or tell me I got the disease from eating too much sugar. Everyone, it seemed, had an opinion or thought they wanted to share. The trouble was, very few people had good information about diabetes.

Diabetics deal with the fear of complications, burden of maintenance costs, and wear and tear on our bodies from organs that are overworked. Some of us deal with multiple needle injections. We deal with so much more than you would think.

Diabetes isn’t just about “not eating sugar.” Our blood sugars can change with stress and exercise and illness.

Your diabetic friend or relative counts on you to be the person in their life that “gets it” when no one else does. This book will tell you what you can do to help. Things like what you should (and shouldn’t) say, what you should learn to truly be supportive, and even how you can help in the fight for a cure.

My hope with this book is to get you the information you need to be the very best friend to your diabetic pal.

This book is:
• a source of encouragement
• a prompt for education
• a starting guide to diabetic etiquette.

This book is not:
• a medical reference book
• a substitute for a nurse, doctor, or other medical professional.

In other words, this book won’t give you medical information. It will, however, give you a starting point so you can find out what you should. The rest is up to you.

21 Things You Can Do To Help Someone With Diabetes will point you in the right direction so you can truly support your diabetic friend.

Here’s what critics have to say:

This little book packs an informative punch to those who know little to nothing about diabetes. I highly recommend it…

–Barbara Milbourn

If you know someone with diabetes, or have just been diagnosed yourself, this is a helpful primer that offers reassurance and hope…

–Feathered Quill

Its a great book I highly recommend it…

–Chow and Cheddar

Cherie Burbach is an author, blogger, poet, crocheter, and geek. She loves football and is obsessed with anything having to do with the Green Bay Packers or Tudor history.

A passionate diabetes advocate, Cherie has written the book, 21 Simple Things You Can Do To Help Someone With Diabetes.

Cherie used her experience with meeting her husband online to pen At the Coffee Shop, a humorous look at the world of Internet dating. Cherie went on over 60 coffee dates in just six months. She met lots of great people and one of those turned out to be the guy she would marry just one year later. Cherie’s new dating book, Internet Dating is Not Like Ordering a Pizza is available now.

She is a staff writer for b5media, and also the author of three poetry books, including A New Dish and The Difference Now. Her latest, Father’s Eyes, has received the 2008 Editor’s Choice Award by Allbooks Review.

Readers have resonated with Cherie’s honest and inspirational ”This I Believe” essay, which is the second-most popular out of over 40,000 entries on the NPR website. For more information, please visit Cherie’s website, www.cherieburbach.com, her personal blogs, or follow her on Twitter: http://twitter.com/brrbach.