Simon Palmer
Anna Pescardot
Michael Lamendola
Debbie Roxborough
Toney La Tripp
Vickie Johnstone
Robyn Porter
Jeremy Bates
Susan Bennett
John Zunski
Dannye Williamsen
Kristen Stone
Greta Burroughs
Simon Palmer
Simon Palmer wrote his memoir, Losing the Hate, as a means of self healing. The evolution of the book began in 2003, and found its completion during mid 2010. Simon never intended to make the work public; using it merely as a personal point to move on from. When he read Dave peltzer's, "A Child Called It," he chose to go public, hoping that Losing the Hate would help other child abuse victims. Simon lives in Cornwall, South West England, and is approaching his 43rd birthday. He has worked as a freelance journalist in the recent past. His current WIP's include "Bingo," a fictional story which confronts the effects child abuse can have on a family, (co-written with Claudia B. Modie).
Review for Losing the Hate
In Losing The Hate, Simon Palmer has done something remarkable. He's taken a harrowing, disturbing subject (the story of his abuse as a young child) and made it compulsively readable. He does this with a clear, engaging writing style that takes you back in time, sticks you straight in the middle of the story and allows you a glimpse of what was going on inside his head. By presenting the material in a straight-forward, lucid manner, he maximizes the impact without getting too graphic. The personal insights scattered throughout the book are of particular notice; by helping explain what he was thinking when these atrocities were occurring, it allows you to see things from his point of view, helping you understand what allowed this terrible situation to proceed in the manner in which it did and garnering quite a bit of empathy for others who may find themselves in the same situation. Hopefully, after reading this book, you will have a clear understanding of how these terrible things can happen, and more importantly, a clear understanding of how to keep them from happening in the future. The bottom line: Simon Palmer has written an important, meaningful book. He is clearly writing directly from the heart and what he has to say will break yours. The guts it took to put this all down on paper is remarkable and his self-analysis pulls no punches. Throughout the course of the book, he shows a clear awareness of his issues and what needs to be done to counteract them; here's hoping that telling his story to the world will help him sort through them.
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Anna Pescardot
I am an indie author who has written three chick-lit romantic comedies which are available at Smashwords and Amazon. My books are not your usual gushy romances; my lead characters are more sarcastic and bitchy than your usual "perfect" heroines. I have had many jobs over the years, which have all been great inspiration for my books, from fitness instructor and technical support assistant to my most recent job, which was tutoring children of all ages in English and Maths. I am currently working as a supply teacher but, as there is a serious shortage of assignments at the moment, I spend most of my days either writing, learning how to design websites or chatting on forums. I live in a small town, near Liverpool, with my fiance, our identical twin daughters and my jack russell terrier, Jack. When I'm not writing I enjoy reading, socialising with friends and family, keeping fit, walking my dog and performing my Ting Ting tribute act on the karaoke.
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Michael Lamendola
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Debbie Roxborough
First in the Shadows of the Mind Series, And Sew it Begins – The Intricate Pattern of Incest is a true story. Written to raise awareness and promote healing, the author takes us in and out of abusive relationships, alcohol and drug addiction landing on her own brand of healing. http://www.shadowsofthemind.webs.com/ Review by Dr. Aleta Edwards, Psy.D. http://www.aletaedwards.com/ Turning Emotional Pain Into Helping Others And Sew it Begins—The Intricate Pattern of Incest is author Debbie Roxborough’s personal story of surviving sexual abuse that offers guidance and encouragement to others who also suffered childhood abuse. Ms. Roxborough is an extremely compelling author, as she is open, non-judgmental, very intelligent, and yes, funny. She sees the irony of life and has learned to laugh at it. After telling about surviving extremely painful experiences, she tells of getting very angry with a person’s pettiness. I thought to myself, she has survived a war but is upset over a mosquito! She writes with her mind as well as her heart, and I believe that her sense of humor and her deep insights helped her tremendously in her own recovery.
Review
In reading the book, it becomes clear that Ms. Roxborough is a special person. She is extremely likeable and the reader is engaged right away. She is open about her own experience in making the point that childhood abuse causes dysfunction, something survivors often do not put together, because, after all, the only childhood one has is one’s own. She understands psychological principles and has compassion for herself and others. Perhaps what comes through in her writing is that her intelligence is no more important than her big heart. She does not spell everything out, but shows it in her writing, that she is not judgmental of herself (as she shouldn’t be but how many people can say that?) or others. A very ethical and loving person comes through, and in reading about events of her past, it is like watching a caterpillar emerge into a butterfly. She does not SAY that others can do what she did; she teaches by example self-respect, respect for others, and respect for the truth. Her stance of being truly non-judgemental is a lesson in mindfulness; she tells of her own dysfunctional behavior in the past in as neutral a tone as the outstanding things she does now, such as leading a support group for survivors. As a psychologist, I know that many people are helped and inspired by true accounts of others. I think of the many clients I have had who have asked me how they can be “normal” when they have done “crazy” things. I will from now on refer them to Ms. Roxborough’s book, and tell them that they can not only be normal, but pretty terrific. It is what she does not explain or spell out that teaches, encouraging the analytical ability of her readers. Ms. Roxborough just being herself is what she has shared with all in her book. The emotional courage and honesty in this book will inspire all who read it, and they will see that honesty, openness, humor, and dignity produce wonderful result.
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Toney La Tripp
L.A. Tripp lives with his wife and two of his kids in the Central Time Zone. The CTZ is where he calls home until he can land himself in the PTZ when he can write full time. He's currently got three books out, Money Talks/Woe to the Rich!, Monica, and The Dating Doctor Diaries. Still due out this year are Royce and All Jacked Up. More to come next year! If you're kind enough to give him a couple of hours to entertain you with his words, he loves to hear feedback! You can find his work on Amazon/Kindle, Barnes and Noble, and at www.tripp-author.weebly.com
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Vickie Johnstone
Vickie Johnstone lives in London and has a thing about fluffy cats, or rather fluffies in general. She has spent the last 16-odd years working as a sub-editor on business magazines, enjoying the delights of such things as insurance, pensions, girly stuff, computers, mining, money (though not how to make it, alas) and the environment. Her favourite things include reading, writing, films, the sea, taking photos, art, music, animals, nature, dancing like an eejit, travelling, birdsong, custard tarts, baileys, sleeping (if it was an Olympic sport, she’d be a contender) and gallons of tea. Vickie has written stories and poems since she was a kid, but only recently published her first books. So far there are three, but she is working on some more. Her dream would be to write for a living, dwell by the sea and never run out of Milky Bar chocolate.
‘Kaleidoscope’ is a collection of 119 poems, arranged under the following chapters: figures; nature; abstracts; love; haiku; darkwave; childhood; and creatures. So far there are two books in the Kiwi Series. The star is a little black cat called Kiwi, who takes her two young owners on a trip to her ‘real’ home, where they meet such characters as Inspector Furrball, Paws, Madame Purrfect, Whiskers and Moggie. Little do they know that, with a flick of her tail, Kiwi is going to lead them on the adventure of their lives to a land they never knew existed in their wildest dreams. In the blue-lit world of Cat City, they gain an understanding of what it’s really like to be a cat. The series is written for kids and teens aged 9+, although some adults have been enjoying them. The first book is called Kiwi in Cat City and the second is Kiwi and the missing Magic. The third one is on its way. Happy reading and writing - may the pen and the page be with you!
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Robyn Porter
Robyn wrote her first novel, Shadow of the Wolf, back in 2005, as a way to escape from a chaotic world. Though she never expected her writing to go anywhere, her first novel debuted through Wild Rose Press in 2007. Since then she has continued to write what she is drawn to. Whether it is a world where magic and shape-shifters exist or a place where vampires are ready overthrow the world of humans, her imagination weaves those places into stories.
Currently she finds herself writing as much as she can. With her first book to be re-released Oct 1st, she plans to have many more novels out in the coming months. From her Darkness Unleashed series to her Guardian's of Nature series, she will continue to bring forth new tales of mystery, magic and mayhem.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jeremy Bates
Jeremy Bates has spent the last ten years traveling the world, visiting more than thirty countries. He has lived in Canada, the United States, Australia, Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines. His debut suspense novel, White Lies, is set in a small village in the Cascade Mountain range of eastern Washington. http://www.jeremybatesbooks.com/ http://jeremybatesbooks.blogspot.com/
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Susan Bennett
Born in 1971, I am a third-generation native Arizonan. My grandfather’s family arrived here from Missouri in 1912, just after Arizona became a state. Thanks to his stories and those of my other family members, I know how Arizona used to be and how it is today. I have lived in and around Phoenix for most of my life, and I still wonder from time to time why anyone would choose to move here. Lately, though, I’ve looked around my hometown and realized that the most fascinating part of Phoenix is how willingly we adopt the strangers who, for one reason or another, choose to settle here. Surrounded by prickly saguaros, beaten down by the glaring sun, we gather here and choose our friends with no regard to their ethnic backgrounds or what neighborhood they grew up in. After years of working as an editor and a writer for local companies, I turned my attention to writing full time. As of September 2011, I have just completed the first draft of my seventh full-length novel.
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John was born and raised in suburban Philadelphia. In 2003, he sailed
across the United States in a U-haul and settled in the Bitterroot
Mountains of Montana. He is the Author of four novels. Cemetery Street is
his first. His second, Shangri-la Trailer Park will be published in the
fall of 2011. Dirty Bum for President - the story of a unique candidate
and Nightwatching - a ghost story, will be published in 2012. He is
currently working on Cemetery Street's sequel, Montana Rural.
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Dannye Williamsen
Using words to accomplish a goal has always been a part of my life, whether verbally as a manager, a technical analyst, or a coach or in written form as a nonfiction and fiction writer. Dealing with facts or helping people increase their knowledge base is rewarding, but I have to admit that it does not compare to the wild abandon that you can experience when letting your imagination loose!
My experience writing my novels was a mystical one. I became so enveloped by each character’s life that I cried, laughed, and suffered along with them to the point that I often had to walk away from the writing for short periods because my emotional state felt under siege by what was happening to my character!
Second Chances is my debut novel, and it is followed by the sequel The Threads That Bind. Because of my strong belief in our potential as humans to reach a level of expression that goes way beyond the physical, it was not surprising to me that my novels would delve into the metaphysical to weave a story of suspense. Nor was it a surprise that my protagonist in Second Chances would reach deep within herself to find a solution that was responsive to the circumstances and not arising out of fear or conditioning. It was gratifying to read Sylvia Massara’s remark in her review: “—in the end I came away feeling inspired and opening my heart to the fact that love truly does conquer all.”
My nonfiction works are about the process each of us has to experience as we seek to reach that potential I mentioned. Internal change leads to external change. In one of my books, I say this: "Your life is always under construction. It is your job to learn how to untangle the threads and weave a tapestry that matches your desires." Learning to do this is what all my nonfiction writing is about, whether it focuses on one’s business or personal life.
My novels, and most of my nonfiction works are available on Amazon.com. You can go to http://www.WilliamsenPublications.com to view and click to purchase all my books.
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I first fell in love with books when I was a teenager and read To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I can still remember where I was while reading the mesmerizing story and the affect it had on me. Since then I have read all different genres, concentrating on science fiction and fantasy.
My imagination was sparked through those stories but I never attempted to write anything on my own until 2006 when I created a series of children’s stories entitled Patchwork Dog and Calico Cat. Since then, Gerald and the Wee People and Heartaches and Miracles have been published in print and ebook formats.
I will never be in the ranks of great authors but hopefully my fantasy novel, Gerald and the Wee People will encourage readers to let their imagination roam free and enter another world such as Anne McCaffrey and Isaac Asimov did for me. Wee People was written for young adults but all ages seem to like the story.
Heartaches and Miracles is a nonfiction account of my experiences with an autoimmune blood disorder called ITP. This disease is the most common blood disorder but no one knows anything about it. The narrative was written to spread the word about ITP and to encourage my fellow ITPers to never give up hope.
My to do list includes getting Patchwork Dog and Calico Cat illustrated and published and to write a sequel to Wee People entitled House on Bo-Kay Lane. My love of reading will never diminish, nor will my love of writing. I just hope my work gives as much happiness to readers as I have received from my favorite authors.
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Kristen Stone
Profile
Kristen Stone is a mother
of one daughter and grandmother to three lovely children aged from 15 years to
2 years (roughly speaking). She lives in
the Midlands of England with her very supportive and hard working husband.
Kristen has wanted to be
an author from the age of 14, but was put off trying when told by her careers
teacher ‘You can’t just be a writer.’ So
she has drifted from one clerical job to another, not really having any real
interest in what she is doing, apart from mastering the latest word processing
package as each emerged.
Kristen works best in the
evening and as most office jobs require an early start she finally made the
decision to ‘go for it’. After several
attempts at getting an agent she has knuckled down to work and now her first
book has been published by Night Publishing, who specialize is publishing
struggling new authors.
Edge of Extinction
by Kristen Stone
Deep in the heart of the
Amazon jungle live an undiscovered tribe of Chachinka Indians. These people live a happy and contented
stoneage life, totally unaware of the world outside the jungle or of any other
Indians living in the jungle.
They are led by a man
they call Kianda Mala. In their language
this means Monkey Man. He was given this
name because he has a prehensile tail.
He was brought to the village as a baby by a girl who had been acting as
servant to an explorer. The village had
prospered since his arrival but after the villagers start treating him like a
living jungle god things start to go wrong.
People became ill and many die.
Then Kianda notices that all the fish in the river are dead and he sets
out to find out what is wrong.
His search leads him to a
mine that is polluting the river. He is
captured by one of the mine workers, Jon Matthews, who takes him to a local
female doctor, Hannah, for treatment on a persistent abscess that will not
heal. The doctor calls in an
anthropologist who brings with him his own servant who just happens to be from
the Chachinka tribe. This enables Kianda
to communicate with his captors and he tells them what is happening back at the
village. Shocked by what is happening
they agree to help the village
This story follows Kianda
from the stoneage into the 21st century, shows him learning new
things while clinging to his tribal beliefs and his determination to help his
adopted people.
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Greta Burroughs
Greta Burroughs, author of Gerald and the Wee People and Heartaches and Miracles.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Greta Burroughs
I first fell in love with books when I was a teenager and read To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I can still remember where I was while reading the mesmerizing story and the affect it had on me. Since then I have read all different genres, concentrating on science fiction and fantasy.
My imagination was sparked through those stories but I never attempted to write anything on my own until 2006 when I created a series of children’s stories entitled Patchwork Dog and Calico Cat. Since then, Gerald and the Wee People and Heartaches and Miracles have been published in print and ebook formats.
I will never be in the ranks of great authors but hopefully my fantasy novel, Gerald and the Wee People will encourage readers to let their imagination roam free and enter another world such as Anne McCaffrey and Isaac Asimov did for me. Wee People was written for young adults but all ages seem to like the story.
Heartaches and Miracles is a nonfiction account of my experiences with an autoimmune blood disorder called ITP. This disease is the most common blood disorder but no one knows anything about it. The narrative was written to spread the word about ITP and to encourage my fellow ITPers to never give up hope.
My to do list includes getting Patchwork Dog and Calico Cat illustrated and published and to write a sequel to Wee People entitled House on Bo-Kay Lane. My love of reading will never diminish, nor will my love of writing. I just hope my work gives as much happiness to readers as I have received from my favorite authors.
