As we lounged in the private patio, sitting under unfamiliar constellations of the southern hemisphere, and enjoying a warm breeze that played across the palm fronds, Greg regaled me with the story of his ayahuasca experience.

Ayahuasca, also known as caapi, is a psychotropic concoction brewed by indigenous people in the Amazonian regions. Under the guidance of a shaman, people imbibe (or sometimes inhale) ayahuasca in order to experience its hallucinogenic effects. The hallucinations caused by ayahuasca, and the plants that cause these hallucinations, are known as “plant teachers” because they supposedly impart spiritual guidance and knowledge.

Greg’s trip had, in his opinion, been a good one. He described to me seeing dozens of snakes and feeling that the snakes were benevolent. He had beckoned them to come and entwine themselves around him, and although this scenario would cause most people to break into a cold sweat, Greg enjoyed this bonding with his serpentine plant teachers. He valued the experience as something which had brought him closer to the natural and spiritual worlds, and he felt that he had attained a degree of enlightenment via the encounter.

I listened to Greg’s story with frank skepticism. I recalled a girlfriend who, years earlier, had also experimented with indigenous drugs while studying anthropology in Latin America. Her drug use had been followed by a manic outbreak and, ultimately, chronic bipolar disorder. While the two events, the drug use and the bipolar disorder, could not be causally correlated, I wondered. I knew that I would never try a hallucinogenic plant unless the infusion was forcefully shoved between my unwilling lips.

As Greg and I left the patio that evening and retired to our respective bungalows, I considered the possibility that an ayahuasca trip might speak to both ends of a spectrum. Suppose the “student” took away both positive and negative experiences from the hallucinogenic episode? Suppose the plant teachers did, indeed, impart wisdom, but there was a price that came with that wisdom?

Two years later, I found myself revisiting these questions as I typed, reflected, and plotted out the actions, choices, and destiny of one of the main characters in Plant Teacher, Martin Banzer. With the omnipotence of the fiction writer, I forced Martin to try ayahuasca, and then I watched where his experimentation took him. Now, I invite the reader to also follow Martin’s journey and, at the same time, to entertain the question, Does wisdom come at a price?

Author Bio:

Caroline Alethia is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in newspapers, magazines, on radio and in web outlets. Her words have reached audiences on six continents. She lived in Bolivia and was a witness to many of the events described inPlantTeacher.

You can visit her website atwww.plantteacherthebook.net.

About the Book:

Hailed by Huffington Post contributor Joel Hirst as a compelling and powerful story, Plant Teacher begins in 1972 when a hippie in Oakland, California flushes a syringe of LSD down a toilet. Thirty-five years later, the wayward drug paraphernalia has found its final resting place in Los Yungas, Bolivia, the umbilical cord between the Andes and Amazonia.

Enter into this picture two young Americans, Cheryl Lewis, trying to forge her future in La Paz and Martin Banzer, trying to come to terms with his past in the same city. The two form an unlikely friendship against the backdrop of a country teetering at the brink of dictatorship and revolution.

Bolivia sparks the taste for adventure in both young people and Martin finds himself experimenting with indigenous hallucinogenic plants while Cheryl flits from one personal relationship to another. Meanwhile, the syringe buried in the silt in a marsh in Los Yungas will shape their destinies more than either could anticipate or desire.

Plant Teacher takes its readers on a fast-paced tour from the hippie excesses of Oakland, to the great streams of the Pacific Ocean and to the countryside, cities, natural wonders and ancient ruins of Bolivia. It reveals­ the mundane and the magical, and, along the way, readers glimpse the lives of everyday Bolivians struggling to establish equanimity or merely eke out a living during drastic political crisis.

I am happy to explain. Some aspiring authors never find an agent willing to read their manuscripts, let alone represent them. I’ve had three. I won’t bore you with the sorry details of near-miss sales, including a full year spent doing rewrites for a senior editor at Putnam Penguin, who was fired in a downturn. My third and last agent belonged to one of the largest and most prestigious literary agencies in the world and represented a long list of famous authors. The day I received word that she loved Exceeding Expectations and my writing, and wanted to represent me, I literally danced around the room. Unfortunately, in 5 years under contract she sold nothing of mine. I don’t blame her for trying to stay afloat by concentrating all her time and energy on her A-list authors. The stories she shared, of desperate authors and long-negotiated contracts not signed at the last minute, are heartbreaking

As readers, you probably know that publishing isn’t the business it was twenty years ago. It isn’t the business it was three years ago. It’s changing so fast the principals don’t know how to react. At one time, recently demised Borders had 1,200 stores. Consider the impact of closing 1,200 major retail outlets on publishers. It’s been attacked on all sides, not only by the Great Recession but also by the continuing growth of its major competitor, Amazon. Perhaps the greatest blow came from eBooks, coupled with the unprecedented success of self-published eBooks. In March, 2011, almost 1 out of 3 of Amazon’s 50 top selling eBooks sold for less than $3.99 – the overwhelming percentage self-published. Apparently, price matters to buyers. With the ability to read the first 30 pages free before buying, and an easy return policy, readers no longer automatically dismiss self-published authors. That movement continues growing. I didn’t need a crystal ball. April 1, 2011 I severed my contract with my agent. July 1st, 2011, I joined the eBook revolution with Dangerous Lies. Exceeding Expectations officially launched Jan. 1, 2012.

Author Lisa April Smith lives with her husband, He-who-wishes-to-remain-anonymous, in Eternal Playland,Florida, a delightful spot just off I-95. Ms. Smith describes Eternal Playland as: “a little piece of level heaven with occasional dampness, where the bugs are plentiful but respectful, and even the smallest strip mall contains at least one pizza place and a nail salon.”

Before discovering a passion for writing, Ms. Smith sold plumbing and heating, antiques, taught ballroom dancing, tutored, modeled, designed software and managed projects for IBM and returned to college multiple times to study anthropology, sociology and computer science, in which she holds degrees, as well as psychology, archeology, literature, history and art. Combine those widely diverse interests with a love of travel and a gift for writing page-turners and it’s easy to understand one reviewer’s unbridled praise for Exceeding Expectations, “She (Ms. Smith) has a brilliance for conveying characters, and the intellectual capacity to place them in historical settings that sparkle with glamorous detail. . . that make it fun to read . . . ” But it takes much more than lush settings, an eye for detail and a love of history to write a page-turner. Read what another reviewer said about Exceeding Expectations: “Lisa April Smith . . . has woven an intriguingly rich tapestry of delightful well-developed characters into a perfectly balanced plot bursting with riveting mystery, crimes of the petty and the horrible sort, suspenseful twists, and romantic tension complete with love scenes that sizzle and pop.”

For more about the author, her books, and upcoming projects visit her website: http://www.LisaAprilSmith.com

About Exceeding Expectations

It’s 1961 and Palm Beach socialite, irresistible rascal and devoted father Jack Morgan encounters genuine danger while staging his suicide to shield his beloved daughters from disgrace. Next, meet his daughter Charlotte (Charlie), an over-indulged 23 year-old struggling to cope with the traumatizing loss of her beloved father, her sister’s resulting mental breakdown and the discovery that she’s suddenly penniless. Fortunately Raul, an admiring young attorney, appears to offer assistance. As terrified as she is about daily survival, Charlie soon realizes that she has to learn what drove her father to kill himself. With Raul’s much needed ego-bolstering, the drive of necessity and unforeseen determination, Charlie finds a practical use for her annoyingly lean 5’ 11” frame. In time, this career finances her hard-wrought independence, her sister’s costly treatment and an emotional eye-opening journey to Paris.

Jumping back in time to romantic pre-WWII Paris readers meet young Alan Fitzpatrick – aka Jack Morgan – lack-luster artist, expert lover, irresistible rascal, and the bewitching girl who will become the mother of his children. Not even Charlie’s relentless detective work will uncover all Jack’s secrets, but in a fireworks of surprise endings, she discovers all that she needs to know and more:  disturbing truths about her father, hew own unique talent, crimes great and small and a diabolical villain.

My friend Marilyn told me about a family-building exercise she performed years ago that was very helpful to her. She came from a family that squashed her sense of joy and self-esteem. As an adult, she had learned that she could create her own family through her friends. In addition, this exercise advised putting together an imaginary group of people she’d like to have in our family.

“That part of the exercise was fun for me,” Marilyn told me. “The second part was harder. I had to imagine what those new family members admired about me!”

Difficult though it was for her, the exercise was transformative for Marilyn, giving her a new way of seeing herself. Here’s who she chose and what she imagined them telling her about herself:

1. Morgaine le Fay (King Arthur’s half-sister and a powerful healer in the Arthurian legend):  “It’s difficult having a druid soul in a Christian world, isn’t it? I’m pleased that you’re seeking your true essence even though it may not be in step with the society around you. You have the makings of a priestess; you’re interested in healing, both psychic and physical, in natural ways, and have an abiding respect for the earth. Your reawakened interest in flowers and gardening will keep you grounded and centered, as will your love of cooking.”

2. Calamity Jane (an adventurous woman in the Old West who wore men’s clothing, performed trick shooting in the Wild West show, nursed victims of smallpox, and was a chronic alcoholic): “What I admire about you is that you were able to quit drinking and change your life as a result. I never managed it for myself so I appreciate the difficulty of the feat. Your independence and resourcefulness are just beginning to bloom. You are forging ahead, taking risks in a more civilized, socialized way than I did, but it’s pioneering nonetheless. I sure can identify with your shyness among strangers. It’s OK.”

3. Eleanor Roosevelt (First Lady of the U.S., who supported the New Deal policies of her husband, Franklin Roosevelt, and was an advocate for civil rights): “We’ve both suffered from being adult children of alcoholics and from not being what our partners needed from us. Your political, civic, social consciousness is strong. You’ve used your caring for the disenfranchised to protest inequality and work with your friends in feminism. Continue to use your caring for the betterment of the world. Learn from me to overcome stage fright and become more vocal in your involvement.”

4. Lassie (a fictional collie in the book Lassie Come Home and in a number of movies based on the book): “You have the makings of a good dog. You’re fiercely loyal to your friends. You’re intelligent enough to follow the good rules and to ignore or disobey the bad ones. You watch over your friends and try to protect them from harm. You speak up when someone threatens those you love. You dislike people who try to dominate others. Your instincts in such areas are good. You like to go for walks – and you always find your way back home.”

Marilyn still has the paper on which she created this family. She says she would probably pick the same people today with a couple of additions. She would add Buddhist teacher Pema Chodron, whose spiritual philosophy is closest to hers, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma for his creation of beautiful music, his graciousness toward his fellow musicians, his curiosity, and his humility. (And, she says, she needs at least one man in her family!)

Who would you like to have in your ideal family? Choose anyone – living or dead, someone real or a character from a book, TV, or the movies – whose qualities you appreciate and would like to emulate. For each one, write down a message from them to you. Have each one tell you what they value about you and why they’re glad to be in your family.

Keep your new family members in your mind to turn to when you want advice or comfort.  You can continue to add people throughout your life, making your family as big as you want.

Marilyn is one of over 30 people who tell their stories in my new book WAKING UP HAPPY: A HANDBOOK OF CHANGE WITH MEMOIRS OF RECOVERY AND HOPE  (WakingUpHappyBook.com). As each storyteller learns lessons in their life, I add exercises – like this one from Marilyn’s chapter – that you can do yourself to create those same changes in your own life. Give this exercise a try, and see if it provides new perspectives for you. Share your discoveries, ideas, and insights at my website WakingUpHappyBook.com.

I look forward to hearing all about your new family!

ABOUT JILL MUEHRCKE

Juliana (Jill) Muehrcke is the award-winning author of many books and articles. Founder and editor of the international magazine Nonprofit World (snpo.org), she has studied at the University of Colorado and the University of Michigan and has a BA degree, specializing in English and psychology, from the University of Washington. Jill is listed in Who’s Who (MarquisWhoswho.com). In her spare time, she enjoys teaching yoga and eating ethnic food. For many years, in several cities, including Seattle, Honolulu, and Madison, she has written restaurant reviews.

Her latest book is Waking Up Happy: A Handbook of Change with Memoirs of Recovery and Hope.

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

Listen to Jill on the Joy Cardin Show at http://wpr.org/search/ideas_program_search.cfm?StartYear=3&keyword=muehrcke&x=0&y=0.

By: Ashley Mackler-Paternostro

My whole life has been the process of digital evolution.  I can mark my years by the advancements I’ve seen.

I’m older than the internet. I can still remember when the go-to source for information was the Encyclopedia Britannic not Wikipedia.  I can recall the sound of a dial-up modem and when AOL ruled the world.  I’ve seen the creation and rise of the iPod at the expense of the CD, and the cassette tape before it. I witnessed the boom and fall of big box book stores while in tandem mourned the loss and cheered the revival of the independent book seller.  I have owned a tape player, a CD player, a VCR, a DVD player, a BluRay player and now, a subscription to Netflix.  I remember the fifteen pound camcorder my father used to hoist upon his shoulder and have bore witness to my husband fasten his GoPro to the strap of his book bag.  My life had been in an ever moving state of furtherance, but I have consistently always been one thing … a reader.  But, that too is changing.  The way books enter my life has seen a shift.  I am no longer a card holder at Barnes and Noble, Borders has gone the way of the dinosaur … and me, I’m a prime member with a Kindle Touch and Fire.

Growing up, my mother had a rule — while she may have said no to a toy or stuffed animal, she would never say no to a book. In the beginning, she forced books upon me … in the end, I sought them out.  It started when I was hooked on the Golden Books series with brightly illustrated pages and gold foil spine, eventually that trickled down into my love of all things R.L Stine and Fear Street, carrying right into Oprah’s Book Club and my discovery of Literary Fiction. I still remember the day I bought Catcher In The Rye at that second hand bookstore below Starbucks.

Reading was more than a hobby of mine, it was bonafide passion. My mother had cultured, with her rule, a garden.  Reading became a place where I could feel comfortable and safe; books were a escape, a refuge, a home, an adventure.  For me, a book store was a magical environment and the treasures kept inside were exceedingly exciting.  The smell, the quiet, the feeling of crisp book pages under finger tips — those distinct sensory feelings are nostalgic for me.  The way Carrie Bradshaw felt about shoes or the way some women feel about chocolate or the way men adore their muscle cars … that is the way I have always felt about books.

It wasn’t, however, until I became a writer that I truly understood the business of books.  That this world I loved so much held an entire industry behind the printed page.

To a reader, the business begins and ends with the product: the novel.  It’s all you really need to know of a world where deals are inked and dreams come true and stories are written and then printed in a series of runs.  The thick book you lift up off the shelf at Barnes and Noble or an independent book seller or spy from the comfort of your chair on Amazon, that is your understanding of the world of the written word.

But to a writer, the business of books is beginning a cautious, systematic slip towards a dauntless new future.

As a writer, I can tell you, some things will never change for us — authors will still be wordy, emotional, creative beings.  We will remain expressive and verbal, artistic folk.  But, our industry is changing and we will have to adapt to that.  Gone is Borders, in tandum gone is the day of large advances.  We are beginning to involve from the chrysalis of yesteryear in the dawn of the Independent Revolution.  We’re now asked to be versatile — to grab hold of our stories and the way we get them to the reader.

I am an Independent Author.  My decision to become so was not an easy one by any means. I never planned this path for myself, it was more or less decided for me by the atmosphere of legacy publishing in 2011.  But the new world of publishing is one that welcomes the brave willing to go it alone.

In the early fall of 2011 I began the tedious task of querying agents.  I made my lists and wrote my letters and attached the required excepts from my novel The Milestone Tapes.  I waited with baited breath for someone to find my novel charming and me exciting.

That validation never came.

Of course, I did have few full reads and a handful of partials, the experience wasn’t awful and I learned a lot by doing it.  But the replies were always nearly the same … Literary Fiction, in the market, is a hard sell.  My book was decidedly not about vampires or shape shifting werewolves, or love triangles and I certainly didn’t have a show on Bravo or MTV to help me along.  I was new author with no backstory, and the chance was just one no one was willing to take.

I then had to make a choice … to decide whether I’d let my book die on my laptop, waiting for however long it took to spark the interest that would push it into a first run … or, I could face the unknown with hope and try it for myself.  When you have pour everything into a book … when every single word of the 100,000 belongs to you, letting die is simply not a option.  So, I went Indie.

You may have heard the term “Indie” bounced about or spied the unknown names on Amazon with their ninety-nine cent novels.  And you may, on your own, have drawn conclusions about them.

“They’re not good enough to be really published.”

 “It’s a hobby  … they aren’t real writers.”

 “Their books can’t be any good if a publishing house didn’t pick them up.”

 Well, I don’t blame you for thinking or feeling that way, if in fact you do.  The truth is, even with my love of books — all books — I once felt that way as well.  And why? I had picked up a discount novel on my Kindle and three pages in had to abandon ship. I made the mistake of judging the sum by one of it’s parts. To be fair, not all independent novels are good … but, neither are all legacy published novels either. I’ve abandoned my fair share of legacy print novels as well.  In general terms, as carte blanche and universal truths, those statements are erroneous.  Some Indie novels are sheer brilliance, some unknown talents will blow you away.  The new face of publishing is the Independent writer who has the shrewdness to chase a dream despite or because of what others believe to be true.

An Independent writer is a tireless worker.  We take hold of our novels from conception to the finish line.  We have our hands in and on every step of the process.  We work two or sometimes three jobs to make our books rise up to meet your expectations.  We work long, long hours worrying everything from the prose a sentence to the cover art and indentation. We stress over pricing structure and algorithms.  We often are working on two or maybe more projects at a time.  We hire editors and artists and formatters and publicists. Our days begin early and end late, we become reclusive in our home offices and work on our vacations. We understand how badly we want it, and run after it at full steam.  We take ourselves very seriously, and we wear two hats while working in one business.

Why?

Because of you.  You’re the reason we write and you are the reason we don’t accept no for an answer when agents and publishers didn’t believe.  All along, all we want, is to reach a reader with our words and in that way, considering our traditional counterparts, we’re not so different.

This is an exciting time to be a reader.  That’s the truth.  We are all part of the digital revolution of the novel. This otherwise unchanged industry is getting a face lift.  We are in an era, a place in time, when you can have books delivered in sixty seconds to a micro-thin eReader on the tarmac of an airport from the comfort of your seat no matter where in the world you may find yourself.  You can hold an entire library in 7.5 ounces.  And you finally have the chance to meet the worlds of unknown talent, and decide for yourself what it means to read a good book.

I’m going to leave you now with a question … what are your feelings about the changes in publishing?  Do you take a chance on Indies?

ABOUT ASHLEY MACKLER-PATERNOSTRO

Ashley Mackler-Paternostro was born in Naperville, Illinois, where she still lives with her husband Mark and their three dogs.  A hairstylist by trade, Ashley will often say that some of the best stories she has ever heard were told to her while working behind the chair. A life long reader with an insatiable appetite for good books, she decided to merge her love of great stories — both told and written — into her own brand of story telling.

When she’s not being held captive in her home office by words, Ashley fancies herself a flea market hunter with a weakness for Japanese glass floats and repurposing vintage goods.

Her latest book is The Milestone Tapes.

Visit Ashley at www.ashleymacklerpaternostro.com.

ABOUT THE MILESTONE TAPES

Jenna Chamberland never wanted anything more than to be a wife and mother. That is, until she realized that her life was ending after a three-year battle against breast cancer. Now, all she really wants is more time.

With 4,320 hours left to live, Jenna worries for her loved ones and what she knows awaits them on the other side: Gabe will have to make the slip from husband to widower, left alone to raise their seven-year-old daughter; Mia will be forced to cope with life without her mother by her side. In a moment of reflection, Jenna decides to record a set of audiocassettes — The Milestone Tapes – leaving her voice behind as a legacy for her daughter.

Nine years later, Mia is a precocious sixteen-year-old and her life is changing all around, all she wants is her mother. Through the tapes, Jenna’s voice returns to teach Mia the magic of life, her words showing her daughter how to spread her wings and embrace the coming challenges with humor, grace and hope.

THE MILESTONE TAPES is the journey of love between a parent and child, and of the bonds that holds them when life no longer can.

~ ~ ~ GIVEAWAY ~ ~ ~

Ashley Mackler Paternostro will be giving away a humungous gift basket during her tour!  Stop off at all her blog stops during her tour for extra entries.  Giveaway begins April 2 and ends on May 25.  The winner will be announced on May 26.  These are the wonderful things that are included in the gift basket ($200  value!)

-1 Kindle (non-touch) wifi w/ special offers ($80.00)

-1 signed copy of The Milestone Tapes ($14.00)

-1 copy of Oh The Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss ($17.00)

-1 vial of lavender seeds ($6.00)

-1 bar of gardenia soap ($11.00)

-1 jar of Golden Raspberry Jam ($8.00)

-1 jar of dry ingredients & recipe of Jenna’s Blackberry Cobbler w/ recipe ($15.00)

-1 Japanese Glass fishing float ($20.00)

-1 set of note cards (6) with a “cassette tape” on front ($10.00)

-1 Amazon gift card ($10.00)

Everything in the gift basket, save for the Kindle, is direct from the book.

The basket will arrive to the winner shrink wrapped with a thank you note from Ashley for participating.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Details:

Synopsis:

Stressed out? There is plenty of real external stress, sure, and a serious stress epidemic going on. Then there is what we do on the inside, often without even realizing it. Conscious Calm focuses on the internal patterns of stress creation we may not even notice, and describes how to get free of these patterns for good to find lasting calm.

Integrating psychology and neuroscience, and combining practical wisdom from both East and West, Dr. Laura Maciuika explains the inner stress traps that so many of us fall into. She reveals 9 Stress Secrets that can keep us stuck in cycles of feeling more and stress, and describes 9 Keys to Conscious Calm and simple, step by step ways to use them for lasting stress relief, deeper calm, and greater happiness.

My thoughts:

I was so happy to have the opportunity to read this book. It came up at just the perfect time. There are always times when stress from work, family, etc. start to overwhelm us and we just wish we had a magic wand to make it all go away. Well, we’ll never have that, but this book will get you about as close as you can come. Conscious Calm gives you real, no-nonsense tools to deal with stress and worry. The explanations of how these tools and exercises work are great and enjoyed the anecdotes as well.

You definitely want to follow the advice Dr. Maciuika gives at the beginning of the book which is to actually DO the exercises. Don’t say, “Oh I’ll do that later.” Really take the time to do them. They’re very simple and easy to understand and as with anything, practice makes perfect.

I highly recommend this book!

About the Author:

Dr. Laura Maciuika is a clinical psychologist and transformation mentor who has been bridging realities her entire life. Raised by Lithuanian parents, she spoke mainly Lithuanian at home and English outside. Visiting Lithuania as a child, a student, and later as a psychologist and teacher, helped her learn how to move between world views, expanding her own as she supported other psychologists and teachers in broadening theirs. She began graduate school at the same time she started her training in mindfulness and meditation practices, and combined psychology training with studies in energy healing modalities. Her deep interest in transformation led to a dissertation on profound, transformative learning, and to ongoing study of inner healing and transformation practices from around the world.

Dr. Maciuika’s has worked in community mental health, schools, as a clinical supervisor and administrator, as a Lecturer and Adjunct professor, and as a workshop leader and speaker on topics including stress management, trauma and healing, and energy psychology including EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques). Dr. Maciuika continues to combine world views and modalities in her mission to provide practical information to people seeking freedom from stress and old internal patterns that no longer serve them. Dr. Maciuika sees individual clients in her Integrative Psychotherapy practice in northern California, and also writes and teaches about inner freedom and transforming your life to the next level of success and happiness.

Visit her website at http://lauramaciuika.com, and follow her blog at http://consciouscalm.com.

In the case of CEMETERY CLUB, a novel about supernatural creatures living beneath an abandoned mental hospital, I was able to base portions of the book on real events and places in my hometown.

From the early 1900s until the 1990s, there was a state-run facility in our town for individuals of all ages and sexes who suffered from a variety of mental and physical illnesses. Like a large number of similar facilities, it was originally designed to provide a positive residence for people who couldn’t be cared for at home or who didn’t have homes. Unfortunately, as so often happens, good intentions fell victim to overcrowding, poor planning, lack of funds, and greedy administrators. And, as we all know, when that happens, bad things follow.

In the case of this facility, that began in the 1930s and 1940s when some of the doctors decided to use patients as experimental subjects. At first, the experiments involved shock therapy and lobotomies. In the 1950s, the programs expanded to include the testing of polio vaccines. More than a few patients died or suffered horribly from these treatments.

In the 1970s, an expose revealed massive overcrowding, with children sleeping in the equivalent of office cubicles, 50 and 60 to a room. Abuse by sadistic or just plain uneducated orderlies was also rampant, and patients were often sprayed with fire hoses rather than bathed. Not to mention the beatings and tauntings and lack of care that also occurred. The expose led to public outcry for reform, and over the years things grew better, but ultimately the facility began to shut down buildings and relocate residents elsewhere. By the late 1990s, all the buildings were empty.

And that’s where the real story begins.

The buildings, which number more than fifty and encompass hundreds of acres, soon fell to ruin. Local youths broke windows and ransacked offices and treatment rooms, destroying or stealing anything of value. As with so many state facilities that close down, everything had been left behind – furniture, patient files, medical equipment, even personal belongings. At the same time, the once-magnificent stone block constructions quickly deteriorated. Trees and ivy grew around the walls, weeds and grass gave lawns a wild look, and animals took up residence inside.

Naturally, the decrepit buildings and lurid history soon led to rumors of ghosts. Urban explorers joined the delinquent contingency and began detailed, careful looting of the buildings, making off with priceless doors, mirrors, and chandeliers, some of them dating back to before 1920. By the time I got around to exploring these buildings, there wasn’t much left. However, I did see enough to get a feel for what the place. I laid inside the storage units in the old morgue. I stood in the room where the electroshock therapy occurred. I looked at dental records and visited the cramped quarters where residents once were confined for days or weeks at a time. I searched through boxes of yellowed patient files, reading descriptions of ‘feeble-minded idiots’ who were regularly raped and abused, both at home and at the facility, and I imagined how terrible their lives must have been.

I also explored the hidden tunnels that lead from one building to the next, maintenance access ways where plumbing and electrical work were done. I stood in the deep basements and peered through holes into walled off rooms, wondering why those rooms had been boarded up, and what terrible things might have taken place inside them. I imagined the screams and weeping that must have echoed through the hallways at night, and if there was any truth to the theory that buildings can soak in the misery of their inhabitants, then it was almost a certainty that the buildings I walked through were haunted, if only by memories.

It was during one of those visits that I got the idea for CEMETERY CLUB, an idea based on the negative energies of places like that taking on metaphysical form and gaining power. From that point, it was just a matter of researching the history of the place a little more and then adding in some historical ‘facts’ about the town itself, thereby creating a place steeped in darkness going back all the way to the first settlers.

BIO

JG Faherty has had a varied background that includes working as a laboratory manager, accident scene photographer, zoo keeper, research scientist, and resume writer. Growing up in the haunted Hudson Valley region of New York, some of his favorite playgrounds were abandoned houses and Revolutionary War cemeteries. His hobbies include urban exploring, photography, exotic animal rehabilitation, and playing the guitar. 2012 will see three new books published, CEMETERY CLUB, THE COLD SPOT, and HE WAITS. His past novels include CARNIVAL OF FEAR and GHOSTS OF CORONADO BAY.

You can find out more by visiting www.jgfaherty.com, www.facebook.com/jgfaherty, or www.twitter.com/jgfaherty.

EQUITY of EVIL – A Medical Thriller based on True Events 

True Events – Really?

I am often challenged about this bold statement “based on true events” when discussing and promoting my debut novel, EQUITY of EVIL. There are actual Author Notes at the end of the book that identify many (but not all) of the true events upon which this story is based. As an example, the Prologue is from my true experiences as an undergraduate pre-med student working in the Human Genetics Research Laboratory where we cultivated fetal organs from aborted fetuses obtained from the clinic the previous evening. We were eventually successful in growing fetal organs and tissues that included lung, heart, liver, kidney, and even brain. It was something that we were prohibited from discussing back then, and even now it requires a bit of explanation.

There are other components of the story that deal with human trafficking, the black market for organ transplants, and various new medical procedures not yet approved here in the U.S., that are also based on true events. For example, I know of an individual who was in need of a heart transplant, but was eventually taken off the waiting list here in the U.S. because he was trying to manage other organ complications. His prognosis was not very good. However, through the right connections, he was suddenly able to secure an appropriate heart donor in Southern Europe after writing a substantial size check. The donor was a healthy young male with the right tissue type who had died from a gun-shot wound in the emergency room of a major medical center. The American received his new heart, finished his vacation and returned to the U.S. about ten days later.

The Abortion Theme

I’ve been told that there are only about a dozen novels that have boldly included the business of abortion in the theme of their story. The original manuscript of EQUITY of EVIL initially carried the title “Harvest of the Unborn” since the writing of the first chapter over three years ago. It wasn’t until my Literary Agency told me that they were having some “difficulties” stimulating interest with top NY publishers because of the title; (forgetting the fact that I’m also a first-time author with no brand recognition)! I also had a reviewer from one of the major booksellers outright refuse to review my manuscript simply because of the title and what it implied.

This is a deeper story that touches on human behavior and reveals how powerful people tend to usurp the rights of others less fortunate or less strong, for the sake of their own personal pleasure or gain. Ironically, the reference to the “unborn” became a marketing concern and we decided to change the name in hopes this piece of literary fiction reaches a broader mainstream audience. My hope is that this debut novel becomes a politically compelling, suspenseful and reality-cutting medical thriller that will challenge the reader’s personal views on capitalism, ethics, and the basic morality of his fellow man. It will surely drag you through a dark and brutal new world where human life becomes the actual equity of evil.

Rudy A. Mazzocchi is best known as a medical device and biotechnology entrepreneur, inventor, and angel investor, with a history of starting new technology ventures throughout the U.S. and Europe. He’s been privileged to have the opportunity to see the newest innovations in healthcare and work with some of the most brilliant researchers, scientists and physicians in the industry.

Authoring more than 50 patents, he has helped pioneer new companies involved in cardiology, oncology, orthopedics, neurosurgery and even embryonic stem-cell development. Through these efforts, he has become the recipient of many technology and business awards, including the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in Healthcare and the Businessman of the Year Award.

Combining these experiences and opportunities, with thousands of hours of travel and long evenings in hotel rooms, he found the initiative to start writing a collection of medical thrillers based on true events, the first of which is entitled EQUITY of EVIL.

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

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ABOUT EQUITY OF EVIL

A Venture Capital Fund makes a risky investment to start a challenging new business that appears capable of reaching profitabililty with modest capital requirements. The real challenge: optimizing one of the most frequently performed surgical procedure in the World — Abortion.

Founding Partner, Roman Citrano, a successful entrepreneur turned venture capitalist, soon struggles with what he believes is his choice to establish the controversial new company. He soon realizes that he and others are but pawns on a massive, ugly chessboard being manipulated to benefit a far larger, illicit market in human organs for transplantation. Unknowingly, prime, hyper-enriched organs are spawned from the aborted fetuses and grown like hydroponic vegetables.

An unfolding world of deceit, rape, human trafficking and assassination becomes deeply personal as Roman’s sole love interest secretly uses one of his new abortion services to terminate her untimely pregnancy. When she disappears, his frantic search becomes a hellish nightmare that grows worse by the hour.

Based on true events, this bold novel involves some of the world’s oldest, most emotional and controversial issues. At the core of each matter is man’s predisposition to control and take ownership of the human spirit for the sake of profit and person gain… such is the dark and brutal new world where life becomes the equity of evil.

  There were a number of inspirations for my debut novel, The Canker Death.  On the factual plane, the inspiration came from the fact that an FTP server I was running on one of the old Unix systems in my basement got hacked.  I have a collection of unusual computers that run esoteric operating systems.  Where most people’s computer knowledge ends is where mine begins.  This fact alone gave me the idea for a main character who was based quite a bit on various facets of people I know – computer geeks, that is.  But, I didn’t want to write a novel that was only tailored for sci-fi lovers.  I wanted to write something that was accessible to everyone, so I worked hard to make sure that the technical stuff was accurate and true, but that understanding it in any detail was not at all required for enjoying the novel.  Additionally, as I was getting started, I made a number of decisions about where the book was going to go.  I had been a high school English teacher for about a decade, and, while my main area of expertise was the teaching of writing, specifically creative writing, I whole-heartedly enjoyed reading and teaching the classics: Melville, Shakespeare, Hemingway and the like.  I loved how classic authors could take an often simple story and layer it with allegory so that everything represented not only itself, but an entire higher plane of story that was comprised of allusions, themes and symbols.  So, I knew I wanted to write something that echoed back to those writers, something that I knew would take years and years to create.  Coupled with this, though, was my love of fun, fantastical literature.  Fast-paced stories with cool ideas really grab my attention and hold it.  I can usually read two or three such books to one classic novel.  Often times, these fast-paced, page-turners have nothing more to offer than a quick escape from reality.  They’re just entertaining stories.  So, the challenge of taking these two somewhat opposing styles of writing and blending them together was what really inspired me.  When I combined a main character I felt I knew well with the goal of writing a novel that combined these disparate genres, and then added all that to the beginnings of a plot I had stewing wherein a computer hacker, himself, gets hacked, I knew I had all the pieces I needed.

—–

 About the Author

 James R. Bottino is a self-admitted computer geek and a creative writing teacher rolled into one.  He earned a BS in English Education from Illinois State University and taught high school English in a suburb of Chicago for several years.  After teaching all day, he studied creative writing in graduate school at Northern Illinois University.  All the while, though, in the deep corners of the night, when no one was looking, he led a double life hacking and building computers and networks.  Eventually, unbeknownst to him, word of his activities leaked out, and employment offers started coming in.  In the end, he switched his hobby with his profession and became a senior computer / networking administrator for a scientific research laboratory.  Just six months into this position, however, tragedy struck when, at the age of 31, James was diagnosed with cancer.  Given ten to one odds of living out the year and knowing that his infant daughter would never remember him if he died, he began the fight of his life, enduring massive doses of chemotherapy that killed the cancer but nearly killed him as well.  After years of struggle, he survived, but only after enduring systemic nerve damage from the treatments that left him permanently photophobic, phonophobic and with frequent difficulty in using his hands.  These events focused his efforts and helped him to prevail in his dual goals: being a father to his daughter and completing his first novel, THE CANKER DEATH.  James currently lives in a suburb of Chicago, with his wife, daughter, two Australian cattle dogs and far, far too many books and abstruse computers.

James R. Bottino can be contacted at: “nokinis(at)thecankerdeath(dot)com”

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My husband Mario brought a blue bowl into the marriage. We called it a cereal bowl. Deep, you know, so you could stir the cereal, milk, and whatnot around with a flourish. When this blue bowl broke, I was desolate. Relative desolation, of course. American desolation. “Oh, my favorite TV program went off the air” kind of desolation. Still, I missed the old thing. It never chipped, you see. I have a thing about chipped dishes. They kind of make me shudder: It’s like seeing a chipped bone.

Seriously, though, I like my bowls. I don’t buy a lot of things. For instance, I have one pair of jeans. I have two pairs of shoes. Penny loafers, which really need replacing. And a pair of running shoes that I use for hiking. I don’t buy stuff. But I have many bowls. Forty-two, I believe, counting the mixing, serving, salad, soup, and cereal bowls. The plain bowls are my favorites. These bowls are beautiful in their simplicity.

Sometimes I open the cupboard and stare at the plain bowls. Piled on top of each other. Egg yellow, split pea, plum, blue, dusty cranberry. They’re like huge open flowers, each one spooning the next. Or bowling the next, I suppose. Almost nesting, but not quite. I like the colors. I want to take photographs of them the way I take photographs of rhododendrons: up close and personal.

Every time I make something that requires using one of these bowls, I smile. I reach for one bowl, deliberately, slowly, and take it off the pile. I look inside at the translucent white well to make certain nothing untoward has dropped inside.

When my friend Linda was ill, I asked her what she wanted to eat. She wanted pumpkin pudding. So I made it, and I used one of my big bowls. Into the bowl put in pumpkin, eggs, honey, cinnamon, and my love, and I wished for her healing. Afterward, I washed out the big bowl with reverence. What a wonderful thing it was to cradle that which nourishes us—even if it was only for a short while.

The following day, I took the pudding to Linda.

The day was blue like my blue bowl. Was the sky the color of the bowl or was the bowl the color of the sky?

Linda and I sat on weather-worn benches, the dark green grass at out ankles. Swallows swooped above us, singing their watery arias. A wren sat on a small willow tree near the large bird feeder and sang to us. Flowers grew along the fence lines, wild and brightly colored. Linda said, “I need to cut the grass and weed the flowers.” She ate the pudding as she sat sheltered by the bowl of the sky, with me alongside her.

Later that night, Linda was in so much pain that she called an ambulance. I didn’t learn about this until the next day when she called to tell me she went to the hospital. She called after she was home again. I didn’t fuss over her. She hated that. I just listened. When I got off the phone I went to the cupboards, opened the doors, and stared at the bowls. They were still beautiful. Full of memory. Potential. Color.

Then I pulled out two big mixing bowls. One was split pea colored, the other was chick yellow. Mario loved my blueberry muffins. Only they weren’t muffins. That was too much fuss to pour the mixture into a muffin tin. Too much bother to clean. So I made blueberry cake. I had the recipe memorized. First I measured out two cups of rice flour and put it in the split pea bowl. I should have sifted it, but I didn’t. I dropped in two teaspoons of baking soda, and then I stirred the dry mixture together.

In the yellow bowl, I put a teaspoon of vanilla extract, 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup maple syrup, and one egg. I whisked them all together, then added 3/4 cup water. I gently poured the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients.

I stirred everything together with a bamboo mixing spoon. Next, I dropped a cup (or more) of frozen blueberries into the bowl along with my love and affection. I folded the blueberries into the mixture carefully. Almost immediately the cake mixture turned blue. Not ordinary blue. But a blue-green. No, that wasn’t it. It was the color of blue that you’d imagine a mermaid’s tail would be. It was so deep and light and natural and perfect that I could only oooh and aaah. I showed it to Mario. If I were a painter, I thought, I would spend a lifetime trying to create this color. But then, why bother? Nature had already done it.

I oiled a Pyrex dish and then poured the blueberry mixture into it. I put it in the oven at 375° for about 30 minutes. I washed the mixing bowls carefully, reluctant to clean away the blueberry cosmos.

Later, I served my beloved blueberry cake. I watched Mario eating my love and affection for him along with the blueberries, egg, flour, and oil. I wondered what he would think if he knew he was eating the cosmos, too. He seemed happy as he ate.

I wished my pumpkin pudding could have made Linda happy—or eased her pain. Maybe it had for a few minutes.

Mario promised to make one of my favorite dishes on the following day: a kind of stir-fry with rice and tofu and veggies all mixed together. He would use the huge chick yellow bowl that we had not had an occasion to use yet. It would be a glorious sight, I was certain. A great feast.

“This is even better than usual,” Mario said as he ate the blueberry cake. “Did you do anything different?”

I smiled. “It’s the bowls, darlin’. It’s the bowls.”

copyright © 2012 by Kim Antieau. All rights reserved.

Kim Antieau has written many novels, short stories, poems, and essays. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, both in print and online, including The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Asimov’s SF, The Clinton Street Quarterly, The Journal of Mythic Arts, EarthFirst!, Alternet, Sage Woman, and Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. She was the founder, editor, and publisher of Daughters of Nyx: A Magazine of Goddess Stories, Mythmaking, and Fairy Tales. Her work has twice been short-listed for the Tiptree Award, and has appeared in many Best of the Year anthologies. Critics have admired her “literary fearlessness” and her vivid language and imagination. She has had nine novels published. Her first novel, The Jigsaw Woman, is a modern classic of feminist literature. Kim lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, writer Mario Milosevic.

Her latest book is Her Frozen Wild.

Learn more about Kim and her writing at www.kimantieau.com.

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About Her Frozen Wild

Scientists in the Altai in Siberia uncover the 2,500 year old frozen mummy of a tattooed priestess or shaman. This mummy has the same mtDNA (mitochondrial DNA) as American archaeologist Ursula Smith whose mother disappeared in Siberia 30 years earlier. Ursula travels from the U.S. to Siberia to unravel the mystery of the “lady” and meets Sergei Ivanovich Polyakov, a Russian doctor who graciously invites her into his home. After they become lovers, she discovers he has the same tattoos on his body as the tattooed lady. He tells a disbelieving Ursula that they have met before and she is destined to save the ancient People, considered as devils by some and shape-changing gods by others. A shaman takes Ursula to one of the sacred timeless caves where Ursula’s mother supposedly disappeared. When Ursula allows the shaman to tattoo her, she is thrown back in time where she must unlock the mystery of the People and their link to her past in order to save them and Sergei—even if it costs her her life.