Review of Bank Notes by a Missouri House of Representatives Member

Another outstanding review for Please Say Kaddish For Me by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields!

If one wants to read a story of family, faith, and the human spirit, author Rochelle Wisoff-Fields transports her readers to the late 1800s as if they’ve ridden a time machine and debarked to witness one of the Jewish peoples’ darkest times in Russian history.

With well-rounded characters and exquisite imagery, Havah Cohen’s survival through not just one but two pogroms takes the reader on an emotional ride of loss, despair, love, hope, and the fight for survival in the novel Please Say Kaddish for Me.

Havah’s journey knots the reader’s heartstrings in empathy from the very first pages when the loss of her family leaves her orphaned and wandering alone. The courage and determination found in such a young girl reminds us how buoyant one can be in the face of hardship and obstacles, how faith carries one through so many tribulations, and how no one is really alone. With the help of strangers, and even a Christian household who harbors Havah, the story delves into compassion, friendship, and the dangers in befriending anyone of the Jewish faith.

This book will keep the reader lost in a time warp that he will perhaps want to exit, but at the same time, stay. The characters are real, the descriptions vivid, the dialogue relevant to the era and often witty, and the historical setting accurate. So many times in the story it makes one wonder if the author had lived another life! This book will give the reader pause.

• Linda Kasten, author and literary agent

Jeanne Skartsiaris, author of Dance Like You Mean It, on The Writer’s Block LA Talk Radio

http://latalkradio.com/content/writer-090816%20#audio_play

                       dead wood

the hurricane blew through last Friday,

shook things up.

more hype than harm

unless

it was your house

the oak tree chose.

Hermine, male or female?

unisex? 

its identity

compliant

with vain egalitarian edicts.

yesterday’s debris, once projectiles,

now harmless

fodder for compost,

saturday’s chore:

rake it

now.

stems, sticks, straw, once significant,

lie lifeless in irrelevance,

litter the lawn, layer the Zoysia.

dead wood,

life’s last statement.

the Rake,

methodical and impersonal

like time,

slowly sweeps clean,

performs last rites,

no tears.

the Past, Yesterday’s life,

lies strewn about in random stacks,

still and silent.

i lean on the rake, wipe off the sweat,

and look up.

from lofty heights above,

the oaks and pines

observe with indifference

the wake below,

being burdened less

by extra weight.

the wind, wild and wanton,

blew through, will blow again,

not if, but when.

something will be lost

something will remain.

everything…

tenuous

like

Life.

~ Bud Hearn

September 9, 2016, St. Simons Island, Georgia

Rochelle Wisoff-Fields has three outstanding reviews, one for each of her novels!

I highly recommend it–you won’t be able to put it down – Please Say Kaddish For Me

Rochelle Wisoff-Fields absolutely captivates the reader from the first few pages of Please Say Kaddish For Me until the last, leaving the reader wanting more! Once beginning to read this book, one becomes so entwined in the stories of persecution of Jews, the historically-accurate graphic details of the setting, and detailed character development that it feels as though you are living and breathing the story alongside Havah and her family. Please Say Kaddish For Me reflects obvious passion for the story development by the author, as well as detailed historical research and the creative unfolding of each individual character and his/her life. I highly recommend it–you won’t be able to put it down!

~ Jackie M.

It did NOT disappoint! The author’s voice and the authentic descriptive depth – From Silt and Ashes: Sequel to Please Say Kaddish For Me

After reading Rochelle’s first book, Please Say Kaddish for Me, I couldn’t wait to dig into this sequel. It did NOT disappoint! The author’s voice and the authentic descriptive depth of her writing immerses the reader in the setting and the story line with Havah and her family, actually taking one on a journey back in time to the anti-Semitism and persecution of the Jewish people that posed insurmountable challenges in everyday life. Her detailed character development is amazing! Now waiting with anticipation for the release of her next book, As One Must, One Can to follow Havah and her family even further!

~ Jackie M.

In As One Must, One Can, the third book in the Havah Gitterman series, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields once again takes readers on a historical and cultural journey, creating a world as seen through the eyes of her characters. Best of all, this story of love, joy, conflict, and fear kept me turning the pages and taught me many things about Jewish culture I might not have known otherwise.

~Jan Morrill, author of The Red Kimono

Sedona Art and Book Festival!     

Sedona is as beautiful as remembered and the people just as nice.

Friday evening was so incredibly awesome, starting with Einstein’s Missing Sons , who opened for Kofi Baker’s Cream Experience By: Mary Pallais, Executive Producer I have never, and I have been to many a concert, experienced a three-piece band perform so well. Kofi Baker, Fran Banish, and Dennis Johnson were UNREAL. I highly recommend going to their concerts. I felt like a teenager again. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/kofi-bakers-cream-experience-concert-tickets-26961506592#

Einstein’s Missing Sons     Kofi Baker’s Cream Experience 

Kofi Baker (percussionist extraordinaire), Mary Pallais (producer and Sedona Art and Book Festival Director), Fran Banish (lead guitarist), and Dennis Johnson (bass playing genius) 

Fran Banish, Jeanie Loiacono, Dennis Johnson and Kofi Baker

Jeanie Loiacono, Dennis Johnson, and Robert Loiacono

The conference was well-attended and had over sixty vendors. Cool, unique arts and crafts, authors and books, and lots of holistic exhibits.

Credit should be given where due. Mary Pallais personally funded the whole event, unbeknownst to all. What a most generous and selfless gift to all. I only hope and pray that there will be a next year, and that there will be sponsors to handle the cost. Such an endeavor should never fall upon one set of shoulders. To help her were numerous volunteers, without whom the events would not have taken place.

I will be forever grateful to Mary for asking Loiacono Literary Agency to participate. I met some budding authors as well as those who have already had several published books. I look forward to reading the submissions as they come in.

Sedona will be a destination retreat for LLA in the near future. Big thanks to the Hyatt at Pinion Point for the excellent accommodations, Yavapai College for hosting the event, Sedona Red Rock High School for hosting the concert, Mary Pallais and her crew, and Robert Loiacono, who made LLA’s trip possible.

Ginny Fite’s sequel to Cromwell’s Folly in the Sam Lagarde Mystery Series, No Good Deed Left Undone HAS BEEN RELEASED!

When Grant Wodehouse went to the barn that fine morning, he had no idea what good, bad, or ugly would take place—saddle a couple of horses, a little S&M with his neighbor, and a pitchfork through his chest, pinning him to the wall, is what.

Who would not want him dead? Having bedded every female he’d ever laid eyes on, swindled anyone he had ever had business dealings with, and ignored and ostracized his children, one person said it was time to meet his maker…but who?

The second in the Sam Lagarde Mystery Series leads us on another blood trail with twists and turns never anticipated.

Ginny Fite is an award-winning journalist who has covered crime, politics, government, healthcare, art, and all things human. She has been a spokesperson for a governor, member of Congress, a few colleges and universities, and a robotics R&D company. She has degrees from Rutgers University and Johns Hopkins University and studied at the School for Women Healers and the Maryland Poetry Therapy Institute. She is the author of I Should Be Dead by Now, a collection of humorous lamentations about aging, three books of poetry, The Last Thousand Years, The Pearl Fisher, Throwing Caution, and a short story collection, What Goes Around.  Cromwell’s Folly is the first novel in the Sam Lagarde mystery series. The third, No End of Bad, is in review and expected out next year. She resides in Harpers Ferry, WV.  www.ginnyfite.com Published by www.blackopalbooks.com  Represented by Loiacono Literary Agency www.loiaconoliteraryagency.com

Readings & Signings for Ginny Fite:

Four Seasons Books, Oct. 2, 2 p.m.

116 W. German Street, Shepherdstown, WV

Free and open to the public

100 Thousand Poets for Change, Sept. 24, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.

The Timber Frame Folly, 301 Big Oak Drive, Shepherdstown, WV

Free and open to the public

Charles Town Library, Oct. 13, 5 p.m.

Washington St. Charles Town, WV

Free and open to the public

St. Andrews Mountain Community Center Library, Oct. 15, 11 a.m.

58 Mission Road, Harpers Ferry

The Christmas Marketplace, Nov. 26, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

100 Washington St. Charles Town, WV

Free and open to the public

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Coffeetown Announces the February Release of From the Devil’s Farm: A Ritual Sacrifice on the Isle of Sifnos

Seattle, WA.—On February 1, 2017, Coffeetown Press will release From the Devil’s Farm ($14.95, 208 pp, 6×9 Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-60381-244-3), the third book in Leta Serafim’s Greek Islands Mystery series. The discovery of a murdered child on Sifnos saddens Chief Officer Patronas and his colleagues, who are at a loss for a viable suspect among the migrants that crowd the island or the Greek nationals who resent their presence.

The first two books of the series have received high praise from both critics and readers. The Devil Takes Half was a finalist in the mystery category of the Eric Hoffer Awards.

When the Devil’s Idle: (Starred Review) “Excellent sequel to The Devil Takes Half.” —Publishers Weekly

4 Stars: “Serafim expertly creates the beauty of Greece. However, the real draws of this book are the fully developed, complex characters, and the facts on Greek culture and history. Book two in the Greek Islands Mystery series is sure to satisfy.” —RT Magazine

The Devil Takes Half: (Starred Review–Featured as a Best Summer Debut) “Serafim’s dense prose is perfect for lovers of literary and scholarly mysteries. Her plotting is methodical and traditional, with subtle nods to Sherlock Holmes, Greek mythology, and historical events.” —Library Journal

“[An] impressive debut …. Serafim has a good eye for people and places, and sheds light on the centuries of violent passion that have created an oppressive atmosphere hanging over the sunny Greek landscape.” —Publishers Weekly

A GGreek-American tourist, Lydia Pappas, stumbles upon a child’s body in the ruins of an ancient temple, well-hidden on the top of a cliff. The boy has been bled dry, though no blood is in evidence, leading the Greek police investigator, Yiannis Patronas, to believe the killer must have collected it. Greece’s financial crisis has reduced the police force on Sifnos to one officer, Petros Nikolaidis, so Patronas has been summoned from his home base of Chios to aid in the case. Accompanying him are his colleagues, Giorgos Tembelos and Evangelos Demos, as well as Papa Michalis, an ancient Orthodox priest with a vast knowledge of detective fiction and an uncanny ability to ferret out the truth. Though eccentric and often irritating, Michalis has been an asset to Patronas over the years in a land where homicide was, until recently, a rare occurrence. But Greece is changing daily, with a tide of migrants straining the country’s already diminished resources and occasionally bringing out the worst in her people.

The child appears to have been sacrificed according to the rules of a pagan religious ritual. Is someone on Sifnos reviving the old ways? Or is there a thrill killer loose on the island? Is the culprit a Greek national or one of the many foreign migrants crowding its refugee camps?

Says the author, “When I first visited Sifnos years ago, I was struck by the almost ethereal beauty of the island, the purity of its whitewashed villages and the lives of its residents, whose days were taken up with family and the rituals of the Orthodox Church. Sadly Sifnos, like the rest of Greece, is no longer the utopia I remember and has entered the modern age with all its attendant problems. I wrote From the Devil’s Farm in part to explore the dichotomy between the two—the idyllic past and the island’s troubled and uncertain future.”

Leta Serafim is also the author of the historical novel, To Look on Death No More. She has visited over twenty-five islands in Greece and continues to divide her time between Boston and Greece. You can find her online at www.letaserafim.com.

From the Devil’s Farm is currently available for presale on Amazon.com. After February 1, it will also be for sale in eBook and 6×9 trade paperback editions on BN.com, the European Amazons, and Amazon Japan. Wholesale orders can be placed through info@coffeetownpress.com, Ingram, or Baker & Taylor. Libraries can also purchase books through Brodart Company. Other electronic versions will be available from Kobo and iBooks.

 ABOUT Coffeetown Press—Based in Seattle, Washington, Coffeetown Press has been publishing the finest fiction and nonfiction since 2005.

CONTACT:

Catherine Treadgold, Publisher, Coffeetown Press, PO Box 70515, Seattle, WA 98127 206-414-7673 catherine@coffeetownpress.com www.coffeetownpress.com

Represented by Loiacono Literary Agency www.loiaconoliteraryagency.com

H. W. “Buzz” Bernard will be making two appearances on the Oregon coast in support of his newest novel, Cascadia.

The appearance will be in Manzanita, the setting for much of Cascadia. Bernard will be there in conjunction with the Emergency Volunteer Corps of Nehalem Bay. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 7 p.m., The Hoffman Center for the Arts, 594 Laneda Ave., Manzanita (503) 368-3846 http://hoffmanblog.org/

The second event will be in Seaside, the setting of CASCADIA’s prologue.  He’ll be part of a conversation with Bonnie Henderson, author of The Next Tsunami. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 7 p.m., Beach Books, 616 Broadway St., Seaside (503) 738-3500 http://www.beachbooks37.com/

Imagining a worst-case tsunami scenario on the Oregon coast, Buzz Bernard’s Cascadia!

The Big Wave cafe in Manzanita gets a cameo in the new disaster novel Cascadia, about an earthquake and tsunami on the Oregon Coast.  http://www.oregonlive.com/books/index.ssf/2016/09/mega-quake_tsunami_devastate_o.html If and when the Really Big One hits, say goodbye to the Oregon coast as you know it. That’s the premise of H.W. “Buzz” Bernard’s latest eco-disaster novel, Cascadia.

Manzanita coastline and the main strip