Book Review for THE PROMISE OF LIVING

Thank you Jamie Deacon for a terrific review of THE PROMISE OF LIVING. Jamie has a blog entitled "Boys on the Brink" where YA gay novels are discussed and celebrated! 

Part of the Review: 

The Promise of Living certainly isn’t a novel for the faint-hearted. It has more than its fair share of harrowing moments, and one twist in particular shocked me so much that I had to put the book down for a while before going back to it. For all the grimness, however, there are some tender scenes, and overall I found it incredibly inspirational.

In defiance of the tough hand fate deals him, Ryan somehow comes through his ordeal, not only stronger, but the kind of young man any parent would be proud of.

If you enjoy novels that combine the clairvoyant with harsh reality, and which don’t shy away from the more disturbing aspects of life, you may well want to give this one a go.

To read the full review, please click here! 
http://blogcritics.org/books/article/book-review-the-promise-of-living/

A book review for IN THE NICK OF TIME

Thank you Susan from her blog timetraveltimestwo where she wrote a review of my time travel novel. This was such a surprise and I was extremely flattered. Mahalo!

In The Nick of Time

Posted on December 10, 2012 

In the Nick of Time, J. Lee Graham (2008, 99 pages), is a straightforward time travel tale in which three 13-year-old kids–Andy, Roger, and Miranda–go to a plantation in Georgia in 1858 where slaves are used. The story is given added drama because Roger is African-American, and the other two are white, and so only Roger finds himself a slave. As in a YA time travel book I admired, Trapped Between the Lash and the Gun by Arvella Whitmore, the stakes are very high as the kids are stuck in slave times until they can figure out how to return to their present.

Andy’s aunt, with whom he was very close, dies at the beginning of the story. She was a mystical personality and believed she could communicate with the dead. She had been a world traveler and picked up spiritual souvenirs from all over the world. The time travel starts when Andy’s family is cleaning out her house and Andy finds some mysterious incense that had been hers. He lights it and is transported back to the scene of the Boston Massacre of 1770. This foray into the past is brief and is not really connected to the main time travel in the story. I think the only reason for this trip in the narrative is to show what is needed to return to the present. Andy is able to return home when he relights the incense stick.

Not knowing where it will take them, Andy invites Roger to go on an adventure via another incense stick. He figures they can just relight the incense to return home. But this time he drops the incense stick just as they are leaving his bedroom. They have lost their return ticket! Miranda wasn’t invited, but happens upon the scene and inhales some of the incense smoke, so is also whisked away. The three find themselves on the plantation.

Roger finds he is part of a family of slaves living in a shack, while Andy and Miranda live in the fancy house of the owners of the plantation. Roger must do the back-breaking work of picking crops and is treated horribly by the white overseer of the plantation. Meanwhile, Andy and Miranda come to believe if they can find the herb that smells like the incense and they burn it, they will be able to return home. They begin a desperate search to find the mystery herb.

I admire the author for taking on such an important topic as slavery. The storyline would be easy enough for younger middle grade readers to follow, but because Graham does not shy away from the ugliest aspects of slavery, including whippings and even a hanging, a teacher or parent would have to decide if their children were ready to emotionally deal with this subject matter even if they were able to read the book. Once the kids arrived at  the plantation, I appreciated that the story kept a clear focus on how awful and unfair slavery was. I also liked how the story was not merely a time travel adventure, but also a tale of friendship, and how much can be forgiven in friendship.

In the Nick of Time is not to be confused with Nick of Time by Ted Bell which is also a  time travel story, or with the numerous other books of the same title!

Radio Interview with WRPI

Thanks to Dr. Ray Werking and the great folks at WRPI for my radio interview last Sunday, November 11. It felt like I was coming home. It was a great pleasure, and the guys there in the station had a terrific sense of camaraderie as we discussed my Young Adult novel THE PROMISE OF LIVING. Dr. Ray was so insightful and warm and it was if we were traveling on the same wavelength. He saw what I am trying to say with this particular novel, and he delighted in its refreshing themes. A big MAHALO to Dr. Ray and his WRPI team! 

CHARIS BOOKSTORE SIGNING

I had a blast at Charis Bookstore in Atlanta, Georgia on November 3, 2012. Thanks Elizabeth and all the staff there for supporting my books, especially my latest novel THE PROMISE OF LIVING. 

THE PROMISE OF LIVING

Exciting news! My new novel, THE PROMISE OF LIVING is out! All the e-versions are available on www.smashwords.com and the paperback version is on Amazon. I am proud of this one, three years in the making! 
It's a different genre than the time travel series. This is a Young Adult novel, the coming of age of Ryan Colton in Wilson's Ferry, a small town in rural New Hampshire. 

The Promise of Living is a heart-rending coming of age novel of sixteen-year-old Ryan Colton and his quest for his own authenticity. Ryan's mother died when he was young, and he and his father carve out a tenuous but trusting relationship. Ryan works on Lee Hemmer’s farm with his best friend Dave in Wilson's Ferry, New Hampshire, a stifling, small town where, in 1975, everyone, it seems, has something to hide. Ryan has a mysterious series of premonitions and visions that reveal the darker secrets of the townspeople. His gift becomes overwhelming when he visions a murky murder at the high school and cannot prevent its occurrence.

Ryan seeks the help of a Boston transfer student and a famous psychic to not only focus his gifts to solve the murder but to finally accept his own personal feelings for Dave. Ryan struggles with his own power of being different in the world and knows that the true resolution lies within him.

Cape May, Atlantic Bookstore

I'm here in Cape May for the summer where Tony, the manager of the Atlantic Bookstore right in downtown Cape May, set up a special display for my two time travel novels: IN THE NICK OF TIME and THE TIME OF HIS LIFE. I visited the store yesterday, and it was fun to see my work: my sweat and blood and tears (ha!), alive, on the shelf, and prominently displayed in a local bookstore. 


Support your indie writers! Support your local businesses! Thanks Atlantic Bookstore! 

Summer Writing on Cape May

Spending the summer on Cape May, NJ where I have the serene, unique chance to work on my novels. I have a new Young Adult novel coming out in Mid-September and I currently am working on the third in the series of the Andy Mackpeace time travel adventures. This is a terrific opportunity. 
Thanks to the Atlantic Bookstore in downtown Cape May for carrying both of my novels: IN THE NICK OF TIME and THE TIME OF HIS LIFE. Support local bookstores!