Book Blast: "The Secret on the Island"

Title: The Secret on the Island
Author: Dorcas Mladenka
Publisher: iUniverse
Genre: Mystery/Suspense
Pages: 166

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As a research assistant for a Texas detective agency, Maggie Haslo has a knack for connecting the dots. She can see that the facts don’t add up in the suspicious death of her friend Mando. A history professor at the local university, Mando was killed in what the police are calling a drive-by shooting—but Maggie’s not buying it.

Before his death, Mando had invited Maggie to the diving site of a sunken Spanish galleon off the Gulf coast; when her friend, Sister Clare, asks her to come investigate suspicious circumstances at her convent on nearby Mustang Island, Maggie decides to combine trips. A few days later, a nun is murdered, and Maggie makes a shocking discovery: the deaths of Mando and the nun are related.

As she drives back and forth between the city and the island with her faithful German shepherd, Zoe, Maggie must put aside her sadness for the friends she has lost in order to be strong for friends that are still living. In the process, she meets more trouble than she could have imagined, but also a blue-eyed detective—who turns out to be trouble of different kind.

Maggie’s detective skills are about to be put to the ultimate test. Can she crack the case before another dead body shows up?

About the Author:

Dorcas Mladenka is a retired university professor who has spent a lifetime writing in personal journals, in workbooks for her students, and numerous unfinished collections of poetry and short stories. With retirement, she has finally completed her first novel. She currently lives in Texas. 

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Book Blast: "Becoming Alice"

Title: Becoming Alice
Author: Alice Rene
Publisher: iUniverse
Genre: Memoir
Pages: 284

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“Strongly recommended a deftly written memoir that will hold the reader’s rapt attention from beginning to end.”
-Midwest Book Review

“Her ability to authentically capture the bewilderment and pain of dislocation through a child’s eyes – including the disharmony in her immediate family – makes for engaging reading that will resonate with young adults everywhere.”
-Beth B. Cohen, Ph.D., author of Case Closed: Holocaust Survivors in America, 1946-1954

Six-year-old Ilse watches Nazi soldiers march down her street in Vienna, Austria. It is the beginning of an odyssey that will take her to Riga, Latvia, and finally to Portland, Oregon. Becoming Alice chronicles her Jewish family’s harrowing escape and struggle as immigrants to fit into the American landscape. The added problems of growing up within a troubled family cloud her childhood and adolescence.

Ilse changes her name to Alice. Not until she moves into a boarding house in Berkeley, surrounded by girls from a patchwork of cultures, does she make peace with her true identity. Becoming Alice brilliantly showcases Rene’s triumph over adversity, identity crisis, and the sometimes debilitating power of family ties.

About the Author:

Alice Rene holds a master’s degree in social welfare. She lives with her husband in Southern California.

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Book Blast: "My Father and Albert Einstein"

Title: My Father and Albert Einstein
Author: Joan Rothman Brill
Publisher: iUniverse
Genre: Biography
Pages: 160

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Joan Rothman Brill presents the life story and 1918 marriage diary of her parents, David and Ruth Samuel Rothman. David Rothman was forced to leave school after the eighth grade in order to help support his family. However his thirst for knowledge and self-study led to his friendship with an icon who changed man’s concept of the universe. David Rothman relates, through taped reminiscences, his word-for-word intellectual discussions and musical evenings with Dr. Albert Einstein.

About the Author:

Joan Brill is uniquely qualified to present David Rothman’s tape-recorded description of his friendship with Albert Einstein, since David Rothman is Ms. Brill’s father. Ms. Brill met Dr. Einstein, and was present at many of the events that are described in the narrative. Joan Brill is also a Juilliard-trained pianist-harpsichordist, with degrees from Long Island University and SUNY at Stony Brook.

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Book Blast: "Soul Prints"

Title: Soul Prints
Author: Norman Hines
Publisher: iUniverse
Genre: Mystical
Pages: 148

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Set within the backdrop of a mystical battle between good and evil, the lives of two young people unknowingly struggle to complete their soul prints on earth. The local high school has taken on the onerous task of mounting the musical MAN OF LA MANCHA. Infiltrating the lives of the members of the production is a force that threatens to exert a mind boggling influence on the cast. Nuri Lemuel, a girl with a sweet soprano voice, and chosen to play Aldonza, the tragic lead of the play, has always longed to touch the heart of her unavailable father. Nathaniel is a fellow student with whom she is ill-fated for involvement. Unknown to her, he is a lost soul from the world beyond. So much of his life and memory is an unsolved mystery. Their efforts to fulfill the demanding reason for existence take them into a fearful world of the unknown.

Soul Prints is a poetic tale of grief, enlightenment and an underlying hope for peace.

About the Author:

Norman Hines is a graduate of Acadia University and the Nova Scotia Teacher’s College and has worked as a high school counselor and director of school and community theatre. Norman is one of the founders of the NOSCO Academy of Theatre Arts and is the recipient of awards for his work with children and community service. He currently lives in Truro, Nova Scotia.

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Book Blast: "Mommy Couldn't Find Her Eyelashes"

Title: Mommy Couldn’t Find Her Eyelashes
Author: Mary Jane Fizer
Publisher: iUniverse
Genre: Biography/Memoir
Pages: 110

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No one knows how unpredictable first graders can be better than a first-grade teacher. In Mommy Couldn’t Find Her Eyelashes, retired elementary educator Mary Jane Fizer shares excerpts from written papers and some of her favorite amusing and poignant conversations with her first-grade students, providing an unforgettable glimpse into the innocent, often uncensored minds and imaginations of children.

Fizer relies on more than forty years of experience in a classroom environment to offer a diverse compilation of funny sayings and heartfelt moments she experienced with her students. From the student who said he wanted to be both the President of the United States and a forklift operator to the boy who announced that he needed to see the nurse because he thought he had head lights, Fizer recalls the unpredictable moments of every day she spent in front of a classroom serving not only as a teacher, but also as a role model, stand-in mother, and a source of information who had to somehow find a creative answer to every creative question.

Mommy Couldn’t Find Her Eyelashes is a delightful collection of quotes from children that encourages all of us to find the pure happiness in every day—even when we are all grown up.

About the Author:

Mary Jane Fizer earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Concord College in Athens, West Virginia, and a master’s degree in elementary education from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. She spent the last forty years of her teaching career in Prince William County Schools in Woodbridge, Virginia, where she still resides today.

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Book Spotlight: "Obsession"

Title: Obsession
Author: Selina Elliot
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Genre: Literary Fiction
Pages: 586

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Tessa knew that she deserved the fate that had befallen her. The decision to run away from a father who hated her and a marriage she wanted no part of was entirely hers. Certainly the outcome was her responsibility. So why did she keep trying to escape her life? Had she not learned that her master’s control was absolute? Escape would never be possible. And yet, when a trip across the ocean presented an unlikely opportunity, she didn’t hesitate. But was Tessa reaching too far? Was redemption impossible? Even as a child Trey understood that there was no law to protect a slave against the whims of a white man. So there would be no justice for his family unless he took matters into his own hands. As an adult Trey swore that there would be nothing that would keep Baron Henley safe from his revenge. But even well laid plans could go awry. Particularly when his attention was diverted to the bewildering, raven-haired beauty he impulsively abducted.

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Book Spotlight: "Tara's Cross"

Title: Tara’s Cross
Author: G.J. Bachman
Publisher: iUniverse
Genre: Memoir
Pages: 176

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Rescuers pulled George Bachmann, a New York City firefighter from Ten House, from beneath the rubble of the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001. He survived the terrorist attacks, but somehow, his memory had been temporarily left behind. As Bachmann recuperated, he knew he needed to remember what had happened and he needed to confront his dreams, which was not an easy task. His mind was privy to an unknown piece of history that drove him to the brink.

In this memoir, Tara’s Cross, Bachmann describes the unimaginable events at Ground Zero. He tells not only of his physical recovery, but also shares the return of his memory through a series of dreams. He reveals the details of the magnificent sighting on West Street where he witnessed the two highest ranking NYC officers saluting each other at the foot of the North Tower before they perished on 9/11.

A tale of survival and salvation, Tara’s Cross is a testament to how the mind and soul heal themselves and how the spirits of the honored dead guide them home. This love story, set against the backdrop of the attacks on the World Trade Center, is also one of courage and recovery.