An Exciting Thing has Happened – Yippee!

   

I bet you will never ever guess………

Brandon Sanderson and Robert Jordan (in spirit)  will be coming to our local library to talk about their new book - The Gathering Storm.  How cool is that!

This coming Monday evening JD and I will have dinner out and then go and listen to an author’s talk and get a couple of signed books. Fun! Fun! Fun!

What is even more fun is that I will be purchasing at least one signed copy of their book for giveaway here on Layers of Thought. Soon I will have a  post with hopefully some pictures of Sanderson and maybe a wisp of Jordan with myself/John for you all to see. 

This will be of particular interest to a few of our readers here. Krista, Logan and David come to mind.

So dear readers stay tuned, our good fortune and fun is yours as well.

Preview: The Manufactured Identity by Heath Sommer

 

Book Stats:

• Paperback: 308 pages
• Publisher: Tate Publishing & Enterprises (June 23, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1606965506
• ISBN-13: 978-1606965504
• Genre: Fiction – Suspense
  

Synopsis:

Months after his mysterious disappearance from a routine fishing trip, no one really expects over-the-hill Texas housewife Lory Latchley to find her missing husband—especially her husband. The Manufactured Identity is clinical psychologist Heath Sommer's ever-escalating immersion into the world of unlikely friends who each awaken to find their faithful companions missing without warning or reason. Desperate to find meaning in their pain, they are thrust by the auspices of fate into a common thread of mystery and human frailty. In the end, the fate of all may reside in the unstable hands of rookie pastor John Joe, but ultimately Lory and her newfound partners will uncover a truth so unnerving it makes even infidelity look palatable.

Author Bio:

 
Doctor Heath Sommer earned his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Idaho State University and holds an additional degree in Marriage, Family, and Human Development. A native of Sacramento, California, he has enjoyed many opportunities for public speaking and regularly conducts workshops/gives lectures on psychologically related as well as theologically related domains. In addition to his literary interests, Dr. Sommer specializes in the assessment and treatment of trauma, anxiety, and marriage, family, and child development.

For more information and to contact the author - link here to the Manufactured Identity website – which includes the first chapter of the book, Heath’s website, his Goodreads account, and for a YouTube trailer.

This book was sent to Layers of Thought by the author for review. Thank you Heath!

Amazon purchasing links are as follows US/UK/Canada, and in Euros from The Book Depository.

Review coming soon!

Preview: The Cost of Dreams by Gary Stelzer

Book Stats:

Paperback: 296 pages

Publisher: Decent Hearts Press (October 1, 2009)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1936073005

ISBN-13: 978-1936073009

Genre: Thriller

About the Book:

Flora, a Mayan teenager, has escaped Talapa, her civil war-torn Central American village where her parents have been slain - and where even being seen in native wear could result in summary execution.

Following her dream with nearly superhuman determination, she makes her way to San Diego, and against all odds, becomes a wife, mother and teacher. By hard work and shrewdness, she even obtains legal U.S. status. But her life takes a horrific turn when she's shot by her drug-dealing brother in-law.  As she lays unconscious and bleeding in front of her house, Mexican immigrants traveling on a freight train kidnap and claim her as their daughter, caring for her on a long, grueling cross-country flight.

Nearly a year later, still gravely wounded and disfigured, a freed Flora arrives at the Lake Michigan home of Kate Bowman, an American aide worker who had previously befriended Flora in Talapa.  Kate's nephew had vanished on that mission, leaving Kate devastated and overwhelmed with guilt for permitting him to remain in a civil war ravaged Central America while she returned home.

Now Flora, eager to heal her injuries and desperate to restore what remains of her family, reignites in Kate a fire to learn the fate of her long lost nephew. The two women embark on a harrowing journey that takes them to the ancient caves of northwestern Mexico in the Barrancas del Cobre, an exceedingly vast abyss of canyons, in search of a storied Indian healer. The cost of healing borders on the unendurable.

With breathtaking suspense, pulse-pounding action and authentic Indian culture, THE COST OF DREAMS is peopled by fully realized characters facing overwhelming obstacles and moral dilemmas. In short, it's a riveting and believable first-rate thriller.

The First Book in a Series of Novels Dramatizing the Struggle of the Downtrodden.

Set against the vivid backdrop of a Central American country in turmoil and a desolate Mexican wilderness, THE COST OF DREAMS introduces a masterful new writer of fiction. Gary Stelzer, a retired Midwest physician, draws upon an ordeal of one of his most memorable patients for a novel that's both a powerful, compelling page-turner and a poignant illumination of a woman's-and a people's-struggle to survive.

"Years ago," recalls Stelzer, "a foreign-born woman appeared at the ER of my small city hospital dreadfully injured by her drug-dealing brother-in-law. She had been shot at her family's home in the southwestern U.S. and her husband had driven her and their two small children to this northern Midwest locale. There I cared for her and directed her protracted rehab. Then the husband abandoned them all.

"She drifted away in the years following. But I always recalled how badly I felt for her and her children. Then one day in southwestern New Mexico, I watched as dozens of freight trains passed by and I began asking myself, 'what if...?'"

Thus the indomitable Flora Enriquez came to life.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Gary Stelzer wrote THE COST OF DREAMS while working full-time as a doctor. Now retired, he lives with his wife in the northern Midwest. The native Texan has studied Spanish and traveled to his novel's sites in Central America and Mexico and the USA. His intention in writing THE COST OF DREAMS, he says, was "to lend a voice to the struggle that the downtrodden of this earth make for a dignified and decent survival." His next several novels will adhere to this theme.
*Photo Credit: Barb Ray

Author’s web site - Here

This book was sent to Layers of Thought for review by Robyn Schechter from Carol Fass Publicity & Public Relations, Inc. Thank you Robyn!

Amazon purchasing information for US/UK/Canada

Review coming soon!

Preview: Dirty Little Angels by Chris Tusa

Book Stats:

Paperback: 147 pages

Publisher: Livingston Press (AL) (March 30, 2009)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1604890304

ISBN-13: 978-1604890303

Genre: Fiction – Southern Gothic

Book Info:

Set in the slums of New Orleans, among clusters of crack houses and abandoned buildings, Dirty Little Angels is the story of sixteen year old Hailey Trosclair. When the Trosclair family suffers a string of financial hardships and a miscarriage, Hailey finds herself looking to God to save her family. When her prayers go unanswered, Hailey puts her faith in Moses Watkins, a failed preacher and ex-con. Fascinated by Moses’s lopsided view of religion, Hailey, and her brother Cyrus, begin spending time down at an abandoned bank that Moses plans to convert into a drive-through church. Gradually, though, Moses’s twisted religious beliefs become increasingly more violent, and Hailey and Cyrus soon find themselves trapped in a world of danger and fear from which there may be no escape.

Author Bio:

Chris Tusa was born and raised in New Orleans. He holds a B.A. in English, an M.A in English, and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Florida. Aside from teaching in the English Department at LSU, he also acts as Managing Editor for Poetry Southeast. With the help of a grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, he was able to complete his first chapbook of poetry, Inventing an End. His debut collection of poems, Haunted Bones, was published by Louisiana Literature Press in 2006. His work has appeared in Connecticut Review, Texas Review, Prairie Schooner, The New Delta Review, South Dakota Review, Southeast Review, Passages North, Spoon River, New York Quarterly, Louisiana Literature, Tar River, StorySouth, and others. He has studied under a number of notable writers, including Tim Gautreaux, Sidney Wade, and Debora Gregor. His debut novel, Dirty Little Angels, was released by The University of West Alabama in March of 2009.

Tusa’s stories are, in effect, Southern-fried Greek tragedies. In his work, the backwoods Southern Gothicism of Faulkner and O’Connor intersects with a more contemporary, more urban depiction of the South. Typical themes include mental illness as well as the ways in which the contemporary, celebrity-driven American culture has managed to alter the landscape of the traditional Christ-haunted South.

To find out more about Dirty Little Angels and Chris Tusa link to his web site.

A copy of Dirty Little Angels was sent to Layers of Thought for review by the author. Thank you Chris!

Amazon purchasing links for US/UK/Canada and in Euros at The Book Depository.

Review Coming Soon!

Which Genre are you?

Found this fun quiz at Book Chick City

Here are my (Shellie’s) results:

You Are Fantasy / Sci Fi

You have an amazing imagination, and in your mind, all things are possible. You are open minded, and you find the future exciting. You crave novelty and progress. Compared to most people, you are quirky and even a bit eccentric. You have some wacky ideas. And while you may be a bit off the wall, there's no denying how insightful and creative you are.

 

Wow – she’s even got my glasses!

 

Click here to see what kind of book you are.