Playback's Blogs

Artificial Intelligence....it’s on the tip of everybody’s tongue, but what if A.I. got into the wrong hands? Mark Greaney delves into the world of uber-technology to stop whoever is killing the world’s leading A.I. experts…in his latest thriller THE CHAOS AGENT. Instead of forecasting the future of A.I…the latest Gray Man (who was played by Ryan Gossling in the Netflix his with Chris Evans and Ana De Armas) thriller incorporates A.I. that’s available in today’s world…Right now…making Greaney’s latest even more attached to our everyday lives. THE CHAOS AGENT by Mark Greaney #1 New York Times bestselling author Mark Greaney is back with his next high-octane Gray Man thriller THE CHAOS AGENT (Berkley Hardcover; February 20, 2024) which again demonstrates why he is currently one of the most widely respected thriller writers working today. In THE CHAOS AGENT, someone is killing the world’s leading experts on robotics and artificial intelligence. Is it a tech company trying to eliminate the competition or is it something even more sinister? It’s an irresistible lure for most, but not for the Gray Man. His quest for a quiet life has led him to Central America where he and his lover, Zoya Zakharova, have assumed new identities. With a list of enemies that includes billionaires, terrorists, and governments, they need to keep a low profile, but the world’s deadliest assassin can’t expect to hide out forever. When flight’s no longer possible, fight is the only option left, and no one fights dirtier than the Gray Man. After his collaborations with Tom Clancy and carrying the mantle of the Jack Ryan stories and even the success of the film adaptation of The Gray Man, Mark continues to push himself and his novels. He always keeps his finger on the pulse of military and geopolitical activities, almost to a point of being prescient about them. And now, Mark has taken something fascinated by some and feared by others into his latest action-packed thriller—artificial intelligence—and crafted what some in-house are calling his most chilling and visceral novel yet. With THE CHAOS AGENT, Greaney says he “wanted to write a very grounded book about AI. Something not science fiction or overly speculative, but rather something using technology that is available today.” THE CHAOS AGENT cements why Mark has earned his place in the pantheon of the great thriller writers such as Brad Thor, Daniel Silva, Vince Flynn, Lee Child, and, of course, Tom Clancy. We encourage you to read THE CHAOS AGENT and give it special review or feature consideration. If you would like to see any of the previous novels in the series, we are more than happy to send them to you. Mark’s debut international thriller, THE GRAY MAN, was published in 2009 and became a national bestseller and a highly sought-after Hollywood property. Netflix released the film version of THE GRAY MAN, starring Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, and Ana de Armas, in 2022. TALKING POINTS FOR MARK GREANEY · Tom Clancy: Mark was last writer to work directly with male thriller pioneer Clancy before his death in 2013, and this year will mark the 10-year anniversary of Clancy’s passing. Prophetically, during his early adult years Greaney and his father—a local TV news director in Memphis before retirement—also had a tradition of exchanging Tom Clancy books as holiday gifts. · “Boots on the ground” research: Greaney has traveled to over 30 countries to extensively research each novel’s location(s). He’s also has gotten firsthand experience in firearms training, scuba diving, stunt driving (such a cool story), SWAT training, Navy fighter plane flying, field medical training, and more. For THE CHAOS AGENT, Greaney extensively researched artificial intelligence. · AI and the fear/fascination of it: Mark has taken something fascinating to some and feared by others—artificial intelligence—and crafted what his editor is calling his most chilling and visceral novel yet. With THE CHAOS AGENT, Greaney says he “wanted to write a very grounded book about AI. Something not science fiction or overly speculative, but rather something using technology that is available today.” · The real-life inspiration for The Gray Man: Greaney can discuss how, while in Guatemala studying Spanish, stumbling upon a mysteriously intriguing man in a run-down bar in El Salvador sparked his New York Times bestselling series. · Incorporating nonfiction into fiction: Greaney keeps an eye on the geopolitical stage—what’s going on now and what’s brewing—and his stories are rooted in real world events and an understanding of current events. Greaney can discuss how he integrates today’s world into his novels to tell stories that are timely as well as entertaining. · Family Ties: His father, Ed Greaney, worked his way up from cameraman to managing editor at WMC-TV (Memphis, Tennessee’s NBC affiliate). In fact, the newsroom at the station is named after him. Each day’s news was the Greaney family dinner table conversation. Mark Greaney can discuss his relationship with his father, and how their conversations around current events/books influenced his writing. · His new “insta-family”: During the height of Covid, Mark went from a 52-year-old bachelor with no kids to a 53-year-old husband with three stepchildren and four dogs, while simultaneously managing writing deadlines that didn’t care if he was stuck at a swim meet all morning or the pediatric orthodontist all afternoon. · Long-running, bestselling series: THE CHAOS AGENT is the 13 th novel in the Gray Man series. Mark can talk about how he keeps such a long-running series fresh, without running out of ideas or phoning in the story. About the author: Mark Greaney has a degree in international relations and political science. In his research for the Gray Man novels, including Sierra Six, Relentless, One Minute Out, Mission Critical, Agent in Place, Gunmetal Gray, Back Blast, Dead Eye, Ballistic, On Target, and The Gray Man, he traveled to more than thirty-five countries and trained alongside military and law enforcement in the use of firearms, battlefield medicine, and close-range combative tactics. With Marine LtCol Rip Rawlings, he wrote the New York Times bestseller, Red Metal. He is also the author of the New York Times bestsellers Tom Clancy Support and Defend, Tom Clancy Full Force and Effect, Tom Clancy Commander in Chief, and Tom Clancy True Faith and Allegiance. With Tom Clancy, he coauthored Locked On, Threat Vector, and Command Authority. Visit him online at www.markgreaneybooks.com .

Artificial Intelligence....it’s on the tip of everybody’s tongue, but what if A.I. got into the wrong hands? Mark Greaney delves into the world of uber-technology to stop whoever is killing the world’s leading A.I. experts…in his latest thriller THE CHAOS AGENT. Instead of forecasting the future of A.I…the latest Gray Man (who was played by Ryan Gossling in the Netflix his with Chris Evans and Ana De Armas) thriller incorporates A.I. that’s available in today’s world…Right now…making Greaney’s latest even more attached to our everyday lives.

March 8 th is International Women’s Day – and with February marking Black History Month…what better way to blend the two by learning how to help lead Black Girls! The International Women's Day 2024 campaign theme is “Inspire Inclusion.” When we inspire others to understand and value women's inclusion, we forge a better world. And when women themselves are inspired to be included, there's a sense of belonging, relevance, and empowerment. I AM, I CAN, I WILL is a beautifully illustrated guided journal...gives young Black women the opportunity for self-discovery, to feel empowered, and to take an active role in building their self-confidence. Pulling from profiles of strong, successful women like Oprah Winfrey, Harriet Tubman, and Venus Williams…the book teaches young Black girls what it takes to set their own path to success! I AM, I CAN, I WILL A GUIDED JOURNAL OF SELF-DISCOVERY FOR BLACK GIRLS Ensuring young children have self-confidence is essential for their sense of worth. And it is especially vital for young Black girls who will experience – or have already experienced – the negative stigmas both the Black community and women face; two marginalized groups that have historically faced oppression and continue to face that oppression today. Written and illustrated by Dr. Cynthia Jacobs Carter and Ruth Chamblee, I AM, I CAN, I WILL: A GUIDED JOURNAL OF SELF-DISCOVERY FOR BLACK GIRLS (Workman Publishing; January 16, 2024; Hardcover; $16.99) gives young Black women the opportunity to feel empowered and take an active role in building their self-confidence. Some suggested talking points include: • The importance of Black History Month, and the significance of Black women throughout history • Inspiration behind creating the book • Favorite stories of women featured throughout the book and why • Advice you’d give young girls today that you wish you had when you were younger Filled with powerful mantras meant to enlighten, engage, and empower young Black girls, I AM, I CAN, I WILL encourages them to embrace their connection to a long, unbroken line of historical and contemporary Black women who have inspired people through the centuries and across continents, and to find themselves reflected in these foremothers. The journal is divided into three “signposts” meant to guide the reader in who they are, what they’re capable of, and what they’ll do: Signpost #1: I Am – In this section, you will think about what unique qualities, beliefs, knowledge, and experiences make you YOU. Signpost #2: I Can – In this section, think about what challenges you will take on and what you expect from the world. Signpost #3: I Will – In this section, think about what dreams, goals, and promises you will fulfill for yourself and for others. Featuring the stories of both historical and present Black foremothers, impressionable young readers will connect with these inspiring trailblazers as they learn self-confidence is the root of their own power, and leaders of the world are needed in every generation – including their own. Some of the stories featured from influential Black women include: Harriet Tubman (CA. 1820 – 1913) Angela Davis (B. 1944) Amanda Gorman (B. 1998) Michelle Obama (B. 1964) Oprah Winfrey (B. 1954) Kamala Devi Harris (B. 1964) Venus Williams (B. 1980)  I AM, I CAN, I WILL: A GUIDED JOURNAL OF SELF-DISCOVERY FOR BLACK GIRLS shows young Black girls their voices, thoughts, and actions are a valuable contribution to the world---and perhaps most importantly, avital tool in the practice of self-discovery and love. Some suggested questions include: • What inspired you to share the stories of these women through a guided journal? • Why did you make this journal specifically for young girls? • What does each section of the book represent? • What do you hope little girls will gain from this? TO BOOK AN INTERVIEW CONTACT PETER at peter@playbackproducers.com or reply to this email ABOUT THE AUTHORS Ruth Chamblee is a publishing and marketing professional who leads the Content Marketing Strategy & Promotion team for National Geographic Kids Books. Her early career included brand management marketing at Richardson-Vicks, a division of Procter and Gamble, and membership marketing for the Smithsonian Institution Books and Recordings divisions. For more than three decades she has designed and carried out multifaceted strategic marketing initiatives for countless National Geographic books, and her guidance has helped bring new voices to and fill key niches in the children’s book market. She is a board member of the Children’s Book Council and Chairman of the Board for Every Child a Reader. Her vision for I Am, I Can, I Will arose from her realization that knowing and honoring our ancestors can contribute to self-awareness, self-empowerment, and self-love for her, her daughter, and all little Black girls. Dr. Cynthia Jacobs Carter works in philanthropy at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. She is the author of the National Geographic books Africana Woman: Her Story Through Time and Freedom in My Heart: Voices from the National Slavery Museum, which was nominated by the NAACP Image Awards for Best Literary Work. Cynthia’s gift for storytelling brings alive the Black female experience for women of all ages. Having six granddaughters helps inspire her to celebrate young women. Holding a doctorate in educational leadership and a master’s degree in international education from George Washington University, Cynthia has connected especially with young women as an instructor and lecturer in Africana Women’s studies at GW and Georgetown Universities. While working in philanthropy at Howard University, she was curator for the exhibition “Women of the African Diaspora,” which toured the White House, the World Bank, and George Washington and Georgetown Universities. Cynthia serves with several local and national organizations and their boards, including The Links, Incorporated. As a development officer she has grown philanthropic programs at Africare, the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, and at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, where she founded the Harriet Tubman Legacy Society. TO BOOK AN INTERVIEW CONTACT PETER at peter@playbackproducers.com or reply to this email

A HISTORY OF BASKETBALL IN FIFTEEN SNEAKERS by Russ Bengtson, Forward by Bobbito Garcia “If you ever want to get a good look at the history of basketball, just go to a sneaker store. Most of it will be right up there on the walls.” So begins expert sneakerhead Russ Bengtson’s expansive chronology of one of the world’s most popular sports: A HISTORY OF BASKETBALL IN FIFTEEN SNEAKERS (Workman Publishing; on sale Oct 10, 2023; $35). A compelling narrative that charts the history of the sport from Chuck Taylors to the Back to The Futureinspired Nike Adapt BB, this is a basketball book sure to please the most diehard of hoops fans and sneaker aficionados alike. The former editor in chief of SLAM magazine and Complex’s first sneaker editor, Bengtson’s unparalleled expertise shines as he explores the tangled history of shoes and hoops, both multibillion-dollar industries that grew together and built each other. Beginning as simply a part of the uniform, sneakers are now the primary means of individual expression for players. Hugely influential in marketing pro ball before the leagues even knew how to market themselves, they enhanced and even helped create true basketball superstardom, with players’ signature shoes catapulting hoopers a step beyond mere All-Star status and into cultural zeitgeist territory. In A HISTORY OF BASKETBALL IN FIFTEEN SNEAKERS, readers will discover the history of iconic shoes like: • The humble Chuck Taylor All-Star— a basic sneaker with little arch or ankle support that is virtually unchanged since it came on the market in 1917 —and which happens to the be shoes that Hall of Famers like Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain wore when they set so many unbeatable records. • The Puma Clyde, named after Knicks legend Walt Frazier—the first link forged between the world of basketball and the world of fashion. • Nike Air Swoopes—Sheryl Swoopes’ signature shoe, on the market before there was even a major league for women players. This shoe and the Hall of Famer wearing it helped launch the WNBA, a huge turning point in the sport. A HISTORY OF BASKETBALL IN FIFTEEN SNEAKERS features a foreword by author and sneaker expert Bobbito Garcia, plus stunning photography and diagrams of the iconic shoes profiled, showing readers why the evolution of the game and the evolution of the shoes are so intertwined – for example, how a kid called Michael Jordan changed the way college players are recruited to how Steph Curry’s explosive three-point shooting called for revolutionizing the structure of the shoes themselves.  ABOUT THE AUTHOR Russ Bengtson is the former editor in chief of SLAM magazine and was the longtime sneaker editor at Complex. He wrote a monthly column at Mass Appeal and conducted one-on-one interviews with most of the NBA superstars of the 1990s and 2000s, including Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson, Kevin Garnett, Tracy McGrady, Kobe Bryant, Charles Barkley, and Shaquille O’Neal. He was also a contributor for the books Agents of Change: The Story of DC Shoes and Its Athletes, SLAM KICKS: Basketball Sneakers That Changed the Game, and Nike SB: The Dunk Book.

Champagne pools, heart-shaped tubs, spacey suites, and clamshell beds….these are just some of the items to look forward to if you’re considering a romantic stay at a themed hotel this Valentine’s Day! In their newly released book, HOTEL KITSCH – married couple Margaret and Corey Bienart have done all the testing and traveling for you…and then some! They have spent the last five years on A Pretty Cool Hotel Tour , sharing fantastic themed hotels with their 2 million followers on TikTok and Instagram. HOTEL KITSCH A Pretty Cool Tour of America’s Fantasy Getaways By Margaret and Corey Bienert A visual celebration of the best fantasy suites and honeymoon hotels across America and beyond, from the creators of A Pretty Cool Hotel Tour Thanks to married couple Margaret and Corey Bienert, a new generation of travelers and design enthusiasts are discovering the romance of themed hotels and getaways, and their debut book HOTEL KITSCH (October 10, 2023, $35, Artisan), captures all the vintage magic of this resurgence. Featuring unique destinations across the world, this photographic celebration is the ultimate guide for readers looking to plan a memorable romantic getaway with champagne pools, heart-shaped tubs, spacey suites, and clamshell beds. Beautiful photographs of special stays: · Discover, in the middle of Iowa, a jungle room with fake trees and foliage surrounding the bed as if it had taken its cue from Where the Wild Things Are. · Swim at Jules’ Undersea Lodge in Key Largo, where the rooms are reached by scuba diving. · Dig deep into an Arctic Cave room at a hotel in Kentucky with its carved blue walls and not a window to be found. · And on the California coast, splurge at the the iconic Madonna Inn, featuring 110 rooms, each themed and no two alike. HOTEL KITSCH celebrates dozens of one-of-a-kind hotels—ALL STILL OPEN FOR BUSINESS! Readers can marvel at these rooms, or seek them out for themselves, breathing new life into these often remote, overlooked businesses. HOTEL KITSCH is a colorful guide to dozens of creative and nostalgic hotels that span the United States from coast to coast and abroad! Attention: road-trippers, adventurers, design lovers, and romantics interested in the whimsical and wonderful world of themed hotels. Also, Margaret and Corey break down the essential decor of a great themed hotel room, including: 1) unconventional beds 2) mirrors on mirrors on mirrors 3) in-room swimming pools 4) full suits of armor 5) fiber-optic star ceilings. They profile design greats like: · Morris Wilkins, inventor of the heart-shaped tub and champagne whirlpool; · Carleton Varney, of the legendary design firm Dorothy Draper & Company and designer of the new Grand Hotel; · and the industry’s best-kept secret, Gary Strobusch and his manufacturing company Rainbow Nights Inc. Romantic inspiration: Married young and from religious families in the Midwest, Margaret and Corey are forthcoming about how their travels to very untraditional, adults-only hotels have broadened their horizons and strengthened their relationship. “The getaways we discovered were often overlooked and widely misunderstood, both a little sleazy and hopelessly romantic—something we could relate to,” they write. Featuring the elaborate erotic furniture at Mon Chalet, or sunset views from the mile-high motel Love Cloud, HOTEL KITSCH will inspire honeymooners at any stage in their relationship. ABOUT THE AUTHORS: MARGARET AND COREY BIENERT are the couple behind A Pretty Cool Hotel Tour, a viral travel series exploring themed rooms and adults-only hotels across the United States and abroad. Since starting the project in 2018, they have been featured in major media outlets including Condé Nast Traveler, Architectural Digest, Elle, New York Post, Vogue Australia, VICE, House Beautiful, Refinery29, GQ, and HuffPost. Through their production company, Marginal Creative, they have worked with high-profile brands such as Marc Jacobs, Fred Segal, Warby Parker, and Twitter. When they’re not on the road, Margaret and Corey split their time between Los Angeles, California, and southwest Michigan. Find them on Instagram and TikTok at @aprettycoolhoteltour and at www.aprettycoolhoteltour.com Q&A With the Authors Q: How did you start A Pretty Cool Hotel Tour? Our passion for photography connected us in college, and we started a production company together as newlyweds. While on a work trip in 2018, we decided to stay at Cove Haven Resort in the Poconos. Once we arrived, we couldn’t believe what a perfect time capsule the entire resort turned out to be. We were completely taken by the romantic atmosphere and couples-only summer camp feeling. The rooms were nostalgic, sexy, and reminiscent of the Doris Day movies Margaret had been aesthetically drawn to since childhood. After that trip, we dove into researching where to find other hotels that had a vintage or fantastical style and stumbled into the world of theme hotels. We had been wanting to embark on a personal project whereby we could join forces and create something together, and these rooms were the perfect subject. We started road-tripping as often as we could, cataloging our favorite designs along the way. Q: Most hotel rooms are simply considered a place to sleep. What makes kitschy rooms worthy tourist destinations in and of themselves? These rooms offer an experience, not just a service. These hotels are made to be a destination. Sure, you can stay in one and still go sightseeing and explore the nearby area, but they’re also meant to be enjoyed. Whether you’re there with friends and you turn the visit into a fun photoshoot or you’re there with a romantic partner for a fantasy experience, or both, these rooms give you a brief escape from reality which we could all use from time to time. Q: What advice can you give to travelers who are looking for a unique hotel experience? First, figure out what style of unique you’re looking for! There are classic theme hotels that offer fantasies like under the sea or outer space, vintage resorts with original heart-shaped tubs, and even ultra sexy adults-only getaways with erotic furniture and mirrors everywhere. Once you know what style speaks to you, find the right companion to bring who’s enthusiastic about really leaning into the experience. Don’t be afraid to pack on-theme outfits. Next, look locally because you never know what quirky bed-and-breakfast or family-owned theme motel might be hiding in your state. Q: Many of the destinations in Hotel Kitsch are hidden gems in rural areas. What impact do you hope Hotel Kitsch will have on these small businesses? When we first started exploring retro theme hotels, we heard people refer to them as “dying resorts,” but they were so fun and new to us. We kept asking ourselves if they were really dying or if maybe they’d just been forgotten. This entire project is centered around the belief that these kitschy, themed getaways are still needed today. People want escapism and joy and romance, and these hotels are ready to provide that experience. These rooms are works of art and are often a labor of love by artists who want people to experience their creations. From the very beginning of this photo series, we made it a priority to give people information about each location. Our deepest hope is that this project has introduced a new audience to these boutique hotels that offer experiences and imaginative fun along with their services and amenities. Q: In your afterword, you describe the interpersonal insights your travels have offered, including establishing and respecting your partner’s boundaries. How has creating Hotel Kitsch changed your relationship? It’s always a little nerve-racking to take on an opportunity together that requires stepping into new roles. There’s the anticipation of waiting to see if we have what it takes and if we still like each other afterward! To finish making Hotel Kitsch, we went on an intense road trip for two months. All that time, we’re editing and writing and researching and really stretching ourselves to a new limit. It was exhausting, but we were both so deeply invested in the outcome that it felt worth it. Seeing the results come together has certainly deepened our relationship by giving us a sense of shared excitement and pride, and there’s a new level of trust in our capabilities. Q: As you write on the future of theme hotels, “There is a cycle to every industry, and in the last decade, a new generation has come to embrace the creativity and fun of kitschy, fantastical getaways” (256). What is it about these designs that appeal to a modern-day audience? While the original audience of theme hotels in the ‘70s and ’80s was mostly locals who couldn’t really afford a far-off destination vacation, today’s patrons come from far and wide. We think the two main reasons for this are the unique approach to escapism, and the internet. There are lots of fun, imagination-expanding experiences in the US, but most of them are catered toward children. The hotels we visit tend to be adults-only which gives them a more grown-up and exclusive feel, but what it really does is invite adults into these dream worlds and fantasies for themselves. The second reason is the internet, and more specifically, social media. Is Instagram making you jealous that you can’t make it to Europe this summer? No problem. Go book a Venetian-themed room and sleep in a gondola, or stay in a Parisian-themed room and shower under a replica of the Eiffel Tower!

 STRESS RESETS : HOW TO SOOTHE YOUR BODY AND MIND IN MINUTES by Jennifer L. Taitz, PsyD, ABPP Here’s a promise that could not be timelier: learn how to dial down stress in minutes, with no ponderous meditations, medications, or martinis required. There are many books out there that purport to help with stress management, but they often offer too much about the why and too little about how to effectively reduce it. A book about stress shouldn’t feel stressful to absorb! Enter clinical psychologist Jenny Taitz, PsyD and her book STRESS RESETS: How To Soothe Your Body and Mind in Minutes (Workman Publishing; December 19, 2023; Trade Paperback; $18.99). Based on Taitz’s viral New York Times article on managing stress in the pandemic, it’s designed to be used as a recipe book for well-being. Easily readable with clear instructions, it’s full of 75 scientifically based techniques and exercises to help dial down ruminating and panic in ways that work, quickly. A sampling includes tips like: • Has an upsetting event become all-consuming, and need a dose of perspective? Make a pie chart of your life. • Unable to calm an overthinking mind? Try singing your thoughts. • Feeling extremely emotionally overwhelmed and verging on panic? Try a sensory reset by dipping your face in a large bowl of ice water. • Can’t turn your mind off at night? Progressive muscle relaxation will likely help. • Find yourself focusing on the negative, or feeling hopeless about your life or the state of the world? Build a hope kit. Alongside all these strategies are meaningful research, expert interviews, and relatable anecdotes that encourage readers to learn adaptive self-soothing. Broken down into three parts—how to make sense of and understand stress; quick exercises for moments of high stress; and resets for the long term— STRESS RESETS is the type of book that’s meant to be dog-eared and creased-up with a cracked spine and handwriting in the margins. And whether you want the big picture as well as the help or are just looking for exercises to keep in your back pocket, STRESS RESETS says it clearly: You have the power to improve how you feel. All it takes is a few minutes. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jenny Taitz is a clinical psychologist and an assistant clinical professor in psychiatry at University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Taitz completed her fellowships at Yale University School of Medicine and achieved board certification in cognitive behavioral therapy and dialectical behavior therapy. Passionate about spreading proven tools to a wider audience, she wrote STRESS RESETS to offer practical ways to find hope in moments when your emotions feel overwhelming. In addition to working with clients in her practice, LA CBT DBT, she frequently writes for the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. For more information, please visit: https://www.mitchellsjackson.com/, or follow Mitchell on Twitter here and Instagram here.

Meet 8 Cheeses from MADAME FROMAGE’S ADVENTURES IN CHEESE by TENAYA DARLINGTON 1. Fresh Cheeses: Fresh Cow’s Milk Cheese (mascarpone, labneh, or fromage blanc) If you crave creaminess, try decadent Mascarpone from Italy, velvety Lebanese Labneh, or moussey Fromage Blanc – France’s version of cream cheese. Cow’s milk doesn’t have the tang of goat’s milk or the herby notes often found in sheep’s milk. It’s like the foam on a latte. For a transportive bite, slather this cheese on crusty bread and top it with a ribbon of salty prosciutto, a slice of tart peach, and a basil leaf. 2. Soft Ripened Cheeses: Triple Crème (Délice de Bourgogne, Crémeux des Citeaux, Kunik) Consider Délice the ultimate party cheese. It looks like a cheesecake, and it has a whipped consistency that makes grown men swoon. Trust me, you will purr. 3. Stinky Cheeses: Mildly Whiffy (Port Salut, Taleggio, Nababbo) The real classic here is Taleggio from Italy’s Lombardy region, a thick square that is springy like focaccia and with the same bread doughy appeal. Look at the rind of a traditional Taleggio DOP and you’ll see it bears a stamp of four circles; with its terra-cotta coloring, it looks like the tile of a church floor. Locals love to eat this cheese with mostarda, a mustard-oil-laced fruit condiment that’s worth seeking out. 4. Cheddars: New American Clothbound (Cabot Clothbound, Flory’s Truckle, Bleu Mont Dairy Bandaged Cheddar) Bleu Mont Dairy from Wisconsin is a mythical creature – hard to find but so worth it (try ordering it online). Willi Lehner hand-makes this clothbound Cheddar in small batches and ages it behind his house in a beautiful hobbit cave he built himself. 5. Alpine Cheeses: Tete De Moine or Alp Blossom (‘flower cheeses”) Flower-coated Alp Blossom from Austria’s first cheese school, Sennerei Huban, is designed to draw attention to the variety of herbs and wildflowers growing in the Bregenzerwald meadows where the local cows graze to produce the milk for this cheese. Rose petals, marigold, lavender, and chervil make this kaleidoscopic cheese one of the most memorable you’ll ever see, and the coating contributes a wonderful floral and herbaceous taste. 6. Aged Cheeses: Aged Sheep’s Milk Cheese (Pecorino Sardo, Pecorino Toscano, Manchego) If you’ve never tried Pecorino Sardo (aka Fiore Sardo), then do yourself a favor and try this smoky, salty sheep cheese from Sardinia that predates the Romans. Shepherds smoke it over balsam wood in mountain huts called pinnette – it’s deeply traditional and should be experienced, especially with honey. 7. Flavored Cheeses: Smoked (Up in Smoke, Campo, Idiazábal) A cheese monger favorite is Rivers Edge Up in Smoke, a tender chèvre wrapped in a bourbon-misted maple leaf, then smoked over alder and hickory chips. This beauty from Oregon’s central coast is produced by Pat Morford and her daughters at their farmstead creamery, Rivers Edge Chèvre. 8. Blue Cheeses: Booze-Infused (Rogue River, Negroni Blue, BirbaBlu) Negroni Blue, from Italy, is just like it sounds: a creamy blue soaked in a Negroni cocktail and topped with candied orange slices. It’s a showstopper.

For writer and sociologist Clayton J. Szczech and tequila, it was love at first sip. Since moving to Mexico in 2006, he’s become a passionate advocate for North America’s oldest distilled spirit, studying the craft, quality, and tradition of Mexico’s alcoholic beverages. In 2008 he founded Experience Agave, a groundbreaking educational tour company, collaborating with local distilleries to share this passion and expertise.

One out of four school-age children either wears or needs glasses! But for many kids, getting used to sporting new spectacles is challenging! Now, Barney Saltzberg…a beloved author of nearly 50 popular children’s books..is here to show these kids just how lucky they are! ARLO NEEDS GLASSES Barney Saltzberg Going from two eyes to four isn't a bummer! In fact, it's a rich adventure. Just ask Arlo, a shaggy, free-spirited dog who loves to play catch – until one day, he can’t see the ball anymore. He needs glasses! Created by the bespectacled bestselling author of Beautiful Oops!, Arlo Needs Glasses (Publication Date: January 2, 2024, $12.99) shows kids the amazing powers of glasses in this treasure of a book. Inspired by Salzberg’s own canine companion, every child in glasses will know just how Arlo feels and will feel better because of it. Readers will follow along with Arlo as he does all the big firsts involved in getting glasses—visit a doctor, get tested on an eye chart, look through the phoropter. And then the fun part—choosing frames! What should Arlo get? Movie star glasses? Superhero glasses? Classic frames that never go out of style? Originally published in 2012, Arlo Needs Glasses is as necessary and inspiring as ever: Arlo puts on his new glasses and look–now he can catch again. Glasses rock! Saltzberg charms young readers (and their parents!) with a perfect light touch and joyful spirit as they interact with Arlo as he rediscovers how to be the best ball-catcher in the neighborhood and picks up a new favorite pastime along the way: reading! About the Author: BARNEY SALTZBERG (www.barneysaltzberg.com) is the author-illustrator of Beautiful Oops!, the successful Kisses series, Peekaboo, Crazy Hair Day, and Good Egg, as well as many other beloved children's books. Also a singer-songwriter, he has written tunes for the PBS show "Arthur" and continues to perform music for children. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and dog.

One of America’s most beloved spiritual leaders and the New York Times bestselling author of The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything and Learning to Pray examines one of the most intriguing events in the New Testament—the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead—and explains its significance for us today. COME FORTH The Promise of Jesus’s Greatest Miracle By James Martin COME FORTH (HarperOne; September 5, 2023; $32.99; 9780062694386) combines compelling analysis of the biblical text, insights about the historical setting of the story, spiritual lessons for today’s readers, meditations on Lazarus in art and the larger culture, as well as stories from Martin’s travels through the Holy Land. As he explores these strands in depth, Martin helps us let go of the limiting beliefs that prevent us from experiencing God’s presence in our lives. Meditatively and carefully, Father Martin leads us verse by verse, offering profound reflections on Jesus’s lessons on love, family, sadness, frustration, fear, anger, freedom, and joy. Come Forth teaches us that we need only to open ourselves to the transformative story of Lazarus and trust that God can use it to free us to experience, like Lazarus, new life. “James Martin—arguably our greatest writer priest—has penned a genius meditation on the Raising of Lazarus. It’s a travel story and a spiritual manual to renewing one’s faith. I read it in one sitting and came away with a renewed hope that grace alone can call me out of whatever tomb I’ve buried myself in. Destined to be read and reread forever. Bravo!”— Mary Karr, author of The Liar’s Club and Lit: A Memoir "One of life’s joys is to read a 'page turner.' Readers of Come Forth will discover one of life’s joys! Father Martin packs his newest book with erudite scholarship, scriptural intimacy, a love of the Holy Land and his own experience as he opens up Jesus’s greatest miracle.” —Archbishop John C. Wester, Archbishop of Santa Fe In this wise and compassionate book, Father James Martin, SJ, explores the story of Jesus’s greatest miracle—the raising of Lazarus from the dead—and what Jesus means when he calls each of us to “come forth.” Here is a Q&A by the National Catholic Reporter (September 5, 2023) QUESTION: There are many fascinating characters and narratives in the Gospels you could have chosen as a theme for a new book. What was it about the story of Lazarus that felt most compelling to you? Martin: When I was a teenager in the 1970s, I saw Franco Zeffirelli's mini-series " Jesus of Nazareth " on TV, and of all the scenes, it was the raising of Lazarus that most captivated me. Basically, seeing Jesus call a dead man from his tomb fascinated me, terrified me and, most of all, made me want to know more about what happened all those years ago. More recently, in the last few years since I've started leading pilgrimages to the Holy Land, I've seen how powerful it is for pilgrims to visit Lazarus' tomb in Al-Eizariya , current-day Bethany, now in Palestinian territory. I always invite them to think of letting something "die" in the tomb, and it almost always proves a powerful experience. This all led to this new book. QUESTION: In what ways might Lazarus' story be particularly relevant in our current day and age? At first glance, the story of Jesus raising someone from the dead (one of three times he does this in the Gospels, by the way) might seem to have little relevance to our daily lives. Yet this story can speak to all of us, since all of us have things that keep us bound or unfree. The book's overarching theme is how God calls each of us to let certain things "die" (perhaps an old resentment, an overweening ego, a desire always to be right) in order to follow God more closely. At various points in our lives, God calls us out of our "tombs" and into new life. QUESTION: You do a lot of advocacy for the full inclusion of LGBTQ+ Catholics in church life. Do you find that this Gospel story speaks to the liberation of marginalized peoples? Absolutely! In fact, the actual words that Jesus uses at Lazarus' tomb in Bethany, translated in the simplest way from the Greek, are "Come out!" (I told my publisher that if that was the title people would misinterpret it!) But the invitation to "come out" and embrace who you are, celebrate your gifts and accept how God loves you, is something that many marginalized people will understand. Of course we're all called to conversion and to look at our sinful patterns, but the deeper invitation is to accept God's love as you are. QUESTION: What is something that surprised you when researching or writing Come Forth? Many things, but most prominently the possibility that Lazarus could be the beloved disciple in John's Gospel, a figure whose identity scholars still debate. In the book, I explore the reasons that some New Testament scholars believe this. For example, when Martha and Mary send word to Jesus that their brother is ill they call him "he whom you love." After this incident, the beloved disciple begins to appear in the Gospel, as if that were his introduction into the narrative. Later, in John 21, at the breakfast by the sea, when the risen Christ has a long dialogue with Peter, there is another hint. At the end of their dialogue, Jesus says to Peter about the beloved disciple, "If it is my will that he remains until I come, what is that to you?" Then John writes that the rumor arose that this disciple would not die. Now, why would they believe that about, say, a Galilean fisherman? Only Lazarus, the man raised from the dead, makes sense in this context. In any event, the book sifts through all the "proofs" for Lazarus as what scholars call the "BD." QUESTION: Lazarus is a familiar figure in our culture, often serving as metaphor or point of reference, even among non-Christians. Did you find inspiration in art, music, poetry, or any other medium that might be considered unlikely? A good portion of the book looks at just that. Lazarus as he has been portrayed in culture throughout the centuries, in all the genres you mentioned. Ironically, one recurring theme of Lazarus' story in poetry and plays is that he doesn't want to come back from the dead! But I think that the most powerful artistic influences on me were two novels, Lazarus is Dead by Richard Beard and The Gospel According to Lazarus by Richard Zimler, both of which try to recreate the world of first-century Bethany and give Lazarus a bit of a backstory. Of course nearly all of this is imaginative, but we need to remember that Lazarus, as well as his sisters Martha and Mary, were not fictional characters but real people with real stories in a real place. Part of my book aims to reconstruct these histories and answer the question, "What can we know about them?" QUESTION: What do you hope the reader takes away from this book? That even though we're not Lazarus and shut away in our tombs in Bethany 2,000 years ago, there are parts of us that need to "die" or be "left behind in the tomb" in order to experience new life. And that at key moments in our lives God offers us new life and new possibilities, saying to us, as Jesus did to Lazarus, "Come forth!" ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Rev. James Martin, SJ, is a Jesuit priest, editor at large of America magazine, consultor to the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, and author of the New York Times bestsellers Learning to Pray, Jesus: A Pilgrimage, and The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything. Father Martin is a frequent commentator in the national and international media, having appeared on all the major networks and outlets like: The Colbert Report, NPR’s Fresh Air, the New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. MORE PRAISE FOR JAMES MARTIN: “The genius of this book—evident in both its content and its style—is that it speaks, simultaneously, to beginners in prayer and to those experienced in the way of the Spirit. Fr. Martin is a winsome guide to all those who want to deepen their friendship with the Lord.” — Bishop Robert Barron, author of Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith on Learning to Pray “This book deserves to be widely read by believers, skeptics and even unbelievers, if for no other reason than to broaden one's horizon. Just prepare to be changed, full-on believer or not, as you read.” — National Catholic Reporter on Learning to Pray "Who else but Father Martin can combine the illuminating insights from spiritual giants like St. John Damascene with the likes of Monty Python? A humble, humorous step-by-step guide on the lofty subject of talking to and listening for the Living God.” — Helen Prejean, CSJ, author of Dead Man Walking on Learning to Pray

An estimated 6 million children in the United States will experience the death of a parent or sibling by age 18 - that’s about 1 in 12 children! The Grief Rock - a new children’s book by therapist Natasha Daniels - takes a refreshingly honest look at the experience of grief…to help the drastic surge in grieving kids

Cassidy Hutchinson’s desk was mere steps from the most controversial president in recent American history. With ENOUGH (on sale September 26, 2023 from Simon & Schuster) she provides a riveting account of her extraordinary experiences as an idealistic young woman thrust into the middle of a national crisis, where she risked everything to tell the truth about some of the most powerful people in Washington. ENOUGH Cassidy Hutchinson Simon & Schuster | On Sale September 26, 2023 Ever since a childhood visit to Washington, DC, Cassidy Hutchinson aspired to serve her country in government. Raised in a working-class family with a military background, she was the first in her immediate family to graduate from college. Despite having no ties to Washington, Hutchinson landed a vital position at the center of the Trump White House. Her life took a dramatic turn on January 6th, 2021, when, at twenty-four, she found herself in one of the most extraordinary and unprecedented calamities in modern political history. Hutchinson was faced with a choice between loyalty to the Trump administration or loyalty to the country by revealing what she saw and heard in the attempt to overthrow a democratic election. She bravely came forward to become the pivotal witness in the House January 6 investigations, as her testimony transfixed and stunned the nation. In her memoir, Hutchinson reveals the struggle between the pressures she confronted to toe the party line and the demands of the oath she swore to defend American democracy. ENOUGH reaches far beyond the typical insider political account. It’s the saga of a woman whose fierce determination helped her overcome childhood challenges to get her dream job, only to face a crisis of conscience—one that more senior White House aides tried to evade—and, in the process, find her voice and herself. This is a portrait of how the courage of one person can change the course of history. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Cassidy Hutchinson is a former special assistant to President Donald Trump and his chief of staff, Mark Meadows. She received national attention after being a key witness in the hearings led by the United States House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. Hutchinson previously worked for the White House Office of Legislative Affairs and interned for Republican leaders Steve Scalise and Ted Cruz. She was born and raised in Pennington, New Jersey. Enough is her first book. “[Cassidy Hutchinson’s] superiors—men many years older—a number of them are hiding behind executive privilege, anonymity, and intimidation. But her bravery and patriotism . . . were awesome to behold. Little girls all across this great nation are seeing what it really means to love this country and what it really means to be a patriot.” —LIZ CHENEY, former US representative “Here [Cassidy Hutchinson] was, all by herself, twenty-five years old, in front of the whole country. In the scheme of things, she’s nobody. And yet such people can upend empires. She showed a lot more guts than the men of that White House.” —PEGGY NOONAN, The Wall Street Journal “Hutchinson was the perfect witness to testify to the dereliction of duty she observed in the final days of the Trump White House, a Trump believer turned reluctant informant…An American heroine.” —RUTH MARCUS, The Washington Post “In this age of political cowardice and self-dealing, it can be easy to forget that public service is supposed to be a noble calling. . . . Cassidy Hutchinson reminded us what that looks like.” —MICHELLE COTTLE, The New York Times “Few outside of Trump world had ever heard of Cassidy Hutchinson. But few who witnessed the young woman’s extraordinary two hours before the House select committee on January 6th will ever forget her.” —DANA MILBANK, The Washington Post “Courage can be inspirational, even across generations. Hutchinson realized that, like [Alexander] Butterfield, she had to tell the whole truth.” —Salon “Despite pressure, intimidation, and right-wing media attacks, Hutchinson stepped forward to do her duty and testify under oath. . . . She was the perfect witness—not prone to exaggeration or self-congratulation. Her vivid recollections, punctuated by memorable details such as her catatonic boss staring at his phone on his couch, provided a gripping account of the coup that Donald Trump and his senior officials attempted.” —JENNIFER RUBIN, The Washington Post

The impacts of childhood trauma have long-lasting effects well into adulthood. Underwater Daughter is about getting lost in the beauty of trauma, the longing for love… and the potential healing path out of suffering. It details the bittersweetness of holding on to abusive dynamics in relationships and finding the grace to move beyond those patterns and eventually finding forgiveness in the hardest places. For readers who loved Your Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou…author Antonia Deignan explores timeless themes and universal issues such as abuse, healing, and forgiveness. Underwater Daughter: A Memoir of Surviving and Healing By Antonia Deignan Tuni Deignan spent most of her life using a whole host of coping mechanisms to avoid facing the trauma of her childhood: a sexually abusive father and a mother who seemed helpless to stop him. But when a bike accident rendered her immobile and independent on narcotics at age of fifty-five, she finally sat down to unwind and understand the circus of her life; a journey that led her to a place of understanding, peace, and even joy. Underwater Daughter follows how Tuni grappled with her relationship with her parents, the aftermath of her rape, an eating disorder, drug and alcohol excesses, and shame as she came of age and began to build a life. In order to not lose her inner innocence, in order to protect herself, in order to believe in love, she began early on to create imaginary worlds into which she could escape—to use dreams to transport her away from her fears. By early adulthood, she was well practiced at slapping lipstick (pink, frosty, kiss-me, gloss-over, perfect lipstick) over whatever darkness might be bubbling beneath. Hired by a dance company right out of high school, she found success as a dancer in Chicago and New York, but in her personal and emotional life, she continued to struggle. Ultimately, it took her decades of dancing, hiding, faking, having sex, costuming, implanting, dissociating, marrying, divorcing, and purging—all while staying silent about her past trauma—before a bike accident at age fifty-five forced her to stop and truly take stock of her life. As she did, she came to a resting place, finally, in regard to her father; and developed the loving relationship she’d always wanted with her mother; finally understanding that, in the end, love is all anyone wants—or needs. About the Author: Antonia Deignan is a mother of five children by choice, a dancer by calling, and a writer by necessity. She was born on the East Coast but spent most of her life in the Midwest, where she danced with multiple dance companies and raised her children. She opened her own dance studio and directed a pre-professional dance company before a bike accident wish-boned her path, and her identity. Her work has been published in print magazines and online. Now retired, she resides in a beloved island home in Martha’s Vineyard, where she continues to be inspired and write. This is her first book. https://antoniadeignan.com Q&A WITH ANTONIA: Q: What would you like reader's to "walk away with" from the book? A: I believe there are many thought provoking prompts embedded in the storyline, the obvious being the long-term consequences of sexual trauma in childhood and asking the reader to take on that specific kind of trauma is a big ask, it begs to be paid attention to. I think another takeaway for the reader could be a new awareness that most (if not all) people in one way or another have a degree of suffering or critical experiences or extreme disappointments that can be traumatic and almost insist on being readdressed or acknowledged or reckoned with at some point during their lives which can result in a new beginning, a reinvention. This may not be something that someone acts on, and I think if not, it remains in the least a subliminal or subconscious challenge, an underlying itch that resurfaces when someone may or may not expect it. By re-lensing ourselves and refocusing our perceptions away from blame or fear to compassion, we can transform suffering into self-discovery and ultimately forgiveness (forgiving oneself, forgiving the details of one’s past in order to cherish the gifts right in front of us). I think everyone can choose to unpack their childhood and rediscover the treasures there, a self that existed before the transition into self-awareness, and self-consciousness. Honoring the young soul, the open hearted non-judgmental young person is like having a Wendell Berry poem in your back pocket. (Be joyful though you have considered all the facts… Love someone who does not deserve it… Be like the fox who makes more tracks than necessary, some in the wrong direction… Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front by Wendell Berry ) To reunite with a childlike way of seeing things is more glorious; life and beauty and faith affirming. Q: Could you tell me a bit about the title? Underwater imagery, including the opening of the book as well as in other dreams, keeps coming up I see. A: First, the words of the title, Underwater Daughter flow like water, they have a detectable rhythm when spoken in sequence just like the cadence of an ocean wave, which I love. As you mention, there are a lot of ocean and water metaphors within Underwater Daughter’s pages, foremost because the sea was (and is) solace not only for me, but for my parents and my siblings. While I am not certain my family would all express it in the same way, or to what level its importance played or still plays, we had years and years of time together on the beach, long hot summer days seated in front of its aquatic requiem, and certainly, what felt like centuries spent diving, riding, and swimming in its icy deep. For me, it was an escape, reward, legend, ancient memory, and divine sacrament – I would even go as far as to say, a shared ancestry, so consequently, over and over again, a reliable salvation was provided by the sea. Q: Is there anything that surprised you in writing the book? A: Well, the fact that I ended up publishing was initially a big surprise, because when I began to write, it was not with that intent. But I think another significant surprise is how the bell curve of discovery continues to rise during these months that have followed my finished manuscript. Each time I prepare to answer questions such as these, I find myself becoming aware of fresh insights, and cognizant of new understandings of my present behaviors. I am in awe of how the sheer act of writing brings forth new realizations, new ideas to wonder about, ponder. I didn’t realize I could become increasingly less reactive to all of it, and more appreciative of the frailty or delicate nature of how we all find our way through struggles, or challenges, or shames or fears Ease, lays right there beside those things, beauty goes hand in hand with all of it. And now I feel as though I go deeper into my loyalty toward friendships, and animals, and nature, and words, and ideas and most importantly, toward how I am choosing to live in the world. I think that goes back to your first question, which is that I hope the reader walks away from Underwater Daughter, with more questions than answers and the desire to look more deeply at how they choose to show up and live in the world. Q: You mention, your bike accident spurred you to write this memoir. Why? What led you to feel writing would help? A: Prior to my bike accident, my DAILY creative outlet, my deeply personal connection to why I am alive, my connection to source of life, was manifested primarily through movement MY MOVEMENT – my interiority which connected me to the external world was fed by the ways in which I escaped into private movement. When that was fully removed from my existence, and I couldn’t forecast its return (as in when healing from previous injuries or pregnancies, my healing process was very straight forward and logical to me) writing my way through the despair of my situation felt like the only alternative to giving up. As the writing unfolded, my creative needs were being met differently and it subsequently drew out of me years of silence, years of stories I’d never told anyone and ultimately an opportunity to bring a new perspective to the challenges I experienced in my youth. Q: As a dancer and yoga teacher, do you feel you gained any skills for writing during your career? A: YES. Because of the quiet, solo discipline of training to be a professional dancer, I grew up deferring to my art and craft which was fused to my identity, as a way to navigate my story. I trust the lens I am looking through which translates for me onto the page. The discipline of producing words excites me, just as the discipline of training as a dancer did. And the method of bringing my interior life into my physical nature (dance/yoga) has become the same method I employ when writing. Q: The timing of this release coincides with the continued support of the #MeToo movement. How do you feel your book speaks to other women with similar circumstances? Is part of your mission to help others? A: Our society has thrived on misogynistic dynamics, from physical oppression and assault to discrepancies in professional opportunities, to expectations in romantic partnerships to the ways we raise and play with our children. I am one voice among the millions (#MeToo). And what my voice is saying most of all, is that each one of us, has the power to change the narrative, to speak up, to empower ourselves and empower whoever else is willing to stand up for themselves too, to own the narrative instead of scold and punish. Yes, predators should be held accountable 100 percent. But ultimately finger pointing will not change system wide prejudices, nor will it heal our wounds. Evolving the narrative through self-care, acknowledging our own worth in a way that uplifts all women is what I hope my memoir brings forward, and a trust or knowing that, yes, humans are flawed, but that WE CAN rise up beyond that. As far as helping others, I try to do that every day of my life. Q: Can you give us a breakdown of where you’ve lived and your ties to local markets that may be most relevant to the book (Martha’s Vineyard, Indiana Chicago, etc.) A: I grew up in the Twin Cities, MN, primarily Minneapolis. There is a wide theater and dance community there I am still known to. There has been a lot of publicity in the past regarding the pedophilic ring at the Children’s Theater. The conversation sadly is still relevant, survivors of that period have only recently settled litigation. In Chicago, my professional dance career spanned nearly two decades. I was based in Evanston IL as well as the near north side which would be Chicago proper. I have many connections there. I also raised my five children in Woodstock IL (8 years) and we were a very well-known family in that community as well as the Jewish community there. (local papers etc) When we moved to Cleveland Ohio (Chagrin Falls) we steered three of my kids seven years through the small public school. I taught dance and barre there and opened my own studio and became very active in the arts community in Cleveland with my pre-professional dance company. I had a very impactful and large presence there, choreographing for local businesses, senior communities, the Cleveland Opera, the Cleveland Ballet, and I toured my pre-professional company to New York and Atlanta. Martha’s Vineyard has been my heart home all of my life. I have a strong band of women friends there as well as island connections. And I am a homeowner. My parents are buried there. I have participated in the BLM activism community and have ties there as well. In Indianapolis, because of my accident happening right when I moved here, my ability to integrate into the community was slow. Because the injuries I sustained encompassed my whole upper body, I eventually decided to pick up the sport of tennis and have now begun to enjoy a very strong community around the tennis. There are members of the fitness community here in Indiana that know of me and would be a receptive community as well. I have also begun to garner a loyal and creative following on the Revel Platform ( all women) who join me in a writing circle/meditation format. Q: Please list at least 3 recent titles you think are similar to yours (ideally that have published in the last few years) and provide a brief explanation about what makes them similar to yours, and what differentiates your book. A: First, I would mention The Chronology of Water. What is similar is Lidia Yuknavitch’s unique writing style, she is a raw, uncensored complicated writer. While my skills are not to her caliber, I feel there is a thread of similar writing aesthetic and introspective desire. The Chronology is a stream of consciousness memoir. Second, I would mention Whip Smart. Melissa Febos is unafraid to showcase the more complicated (and sexual) aspects of her twenties. She reads unapologetic and fiercely honest. Third, I would mention Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jaouad, because of her having to adapt to physical circumstances that radically altered the path she thought she was taking. Fourth, I just read Ten Minutes Thirty Eight Seconds in this Strange World by Turkish writer Elif Shafak, which follows the story of a Turkish sex worker, her background, her path in overcoming an abusive Uncle and finding love (of self and true romantic love) There is a lot of similarity in the author’s use of dream scape and interesting coincidence of metaphors (water). Finally, the non-fiction book by Bessel Van Der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score, was a life affirming read for me, showing me, proving to me that my work as a movement practitioner, a dancing human was and continues to be the primary tool in my healing, my surviving and my thriving. Q: What do you think makes your book unique to the market? A: It’s viscerally authentic, it’s hopeful, it’s poetic and capable of inspiration. Q: What 5 adjectives would you use to describe your book? A: I guess I would repeat the answers from question 6 and adding ultimately, it’s loving. So, VISCERAL, AUTHENTIC, HOPEFUL, POETIC, INSPIRATIONAL & LOVING Q: Oftentimes it’s useful to know how an author identifies, especially if relevant to their book, so that we can target niche media outlets (BIPOC, LGBTQ+, spiritual or religious affiliations or preferences, etc.) – if comfortable answering, how would you identify yourself? A: HUMAN Advance Praise: · “Written in rich, insightful prose, Underwater Daughter showcases hard-won self-knowledge and wisdom, while inviting readers to feel Deignan’s wounds and joys. Though bitingly descriptive of the traumas that Deignan endured, the story also movingly recounts Deignan’s rebirth…” — Publisher’s Weekly BookLife - Editor’s Pick · “A must read for anyone who has ever suffered abuse at the hands of someone they love—or loved someone who has.” — Julie Cantrell, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Perennials · “Underwater Daughter starts with disjointed pieces of prose and poetry violently breaking across the page like smashed glass. As you compulsively turn its pages, the writing gradually becomes more lyrical and coherent, the jagged shards subtly glued together to produce a beautiful and colorful mosaic out of all the broken bits. It is a writing style that perfectly suits its underlying subject. This is the story of an abused child, running from her terrors as an adult, finally made whole through self-reflection and a searing honesty. A brave, moving, and compelling work.” — Richard C. Morais, author of The Hundred-Foot Journey · “Underwater Daughter is a poem, an anthem, a polished crystal, and one of the most profound books I’ve ever read. Antonia Deignan writes of family, dysfunction, and forgiveness beyond our human experience, revealing the exquisite beauty of life in all its pain and joy. Her voice is like the wind: fierce, restorative, and new.” — Debra Landwehr Engle, author of The Only Little Prayer You Need · “Antonia Deignan’s Underwater Daughter is a spellbinding memoir. At once a lyrical portrait of a young woman’s coming of age and of a mother’s coming into herself, it is a beautiful, gripping memoir of love and art, and of overcoming damage through both. Underwater Daughter is an odyssey of coming home to oneself by laying claim to one’s body and desires—as a dancer, lover, mother, teacher. Wise, moving, instructive, gorgeous.” — E.J. Levy, author of The Cape Doctor

“Here’s Johnny!” “Nooooo Wire Hangers!” “I love the smell of Napalm in the Morning.” “Tell me about it…stud.” “If you build it…they will come.” These are just a handful of the quotes Brian Abrams has compiled to talk to you and your listeners about the greatest movie quotes of all time! “YOU TALKIN’ TO ME?”: The Definitive Guide to Iconic Movie Quotes by Brian Abrams Iconic movie lines have long dominated pop culture — a simple line in a film can turn into its own entity, almost outliving the film itself! Brian Abrams explores this phenomenon in “You Talkin’ to Me?”: The Definitive Guide to Iconic Movie Quotes (Workman Publishing; September 26, 2023; Paperback; $19.99), an endlessly fascinating look at classic Hollywood movie quotes from Casablanca to Dirty Harry and The Godfather to Mean Girls. “You Talkin’ To Me?” is an exploration of how dialogue can transcend context and impact culture, define actors’ careers, and become cemented in the modern lexicon. Beginning with the 1920’s with the first feature length film with sound, The Jazz Singer which introduced the likes of “Wait a minute! Wait a minute! You ain’t heard nothin’ yet”, “You Talkin’ to Me?” dives into each era of film thereafter, granting readers an intimate look into films we love, films we forgot, or films we’ve never seen yet have somehow heard time and time again. Some familiar quotes explored include: • “Magic mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?” —Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) • “That’ll be the day.”—The Searchers (1956) • “They call me Mister Tibbs!”—In the Heat of the Night (1967) • “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”—Jaws (1975) • “May the Force be with you.”—Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) • “Here’s Johnny!”—The Shining (1980) • “Bye, Felisha.” —Friday (1995) • “As if!”—Clueless (1995) • “I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.”—Taken (2008) • “Look at me, I’m the captain now.”—Captain Phillips (2013) • “Wakanda forever.”—Black Panther (2018) Packed with film stills, sidebars, lists, and other fun detours throughout movie history, the book covers all genres and a diverse range of directors, writers, and audiences. “You Talkin’ to Me?" is a fascinating, and exhaustively reported look at all the iconic Hollywood movie quotes we know and love and the ultimate treat for movie buffs, pop culture mavens, and appreciators of eccentric history. In the words of Will Hunting from the 1997 film Good Will Hunting, “How do you like them apples?” ABOUT THE AUTHOR Brian Abrams is the author of many best-selling oral histories, tackling the subjects of Late Night with David Letterman, Gawker, Die Hard, and the Obama presidency. He was dubbed “the Ken Burns of presidential alcoholism” upon publication of his first book, Party Like a President: True Tales of Inebriation, Lechery, and Mischief from the Oval Office. TO BOOK AN INTERVIEW CONTACT PETER at peter@playbackproducers.com "A movie buff's treat, curated by a real movie buff!" —Illeana Douglas, actor and author of I Blame Dennis Hopper and Connecticut in the Movies "A richly entertaining and deeply researched book about the movie lines that live in our collective unconscious, infiltrate our speech, guide our actions, and shape our perceptions." —Dave Kehr, critic and curator "Brian Abrams has put together a fascinating compendium of absorbing information on the films and stars who uttered the most memorable one-liners heard 'round the world. Wait 'til you discover what 'Rosebud' really refers to!" —Josiah Howard, author of Blaxploitation Cinema: The Essential Reference Guide

In 2022, about 60,000 children in the United States under the age of six lived with a single widowed mother, nearly three times the number of children living with a widowed father. Yet our society still shies away from open discussion about death and its aftermath, normalizing the tragedy and ignoring the pain. In 1987, Annie Gudger lost her husband when she was six months pregnant with their first child. THE FIFTH CHAMBER chronicles how loss turns to grief…but also how she found beauty on the other side. Now, Annie and her daughter, Maria Gibson, also have a podcast - Coffee, Grief, and Gratitude. THE FIFTH CHAMBER Annie Gudger I got it. Annie Gudger uttered those words when she had to do all the hard things, by herself, after her husband – the love of her life – died in an accident when she was six months pregnant with their first child. Now she must navigate the trials of single motherhood, mourning, and learning to love again. A mantra of sorts to family, friends, co-workers, neighbors…and mostly herself. ‘I got it’ helped her breathe, helped her get from here to there. Fascinated with the heart and its fifth chamber that holds more love, that holds shadows, Annie poetically chronicles her passage through grief and the beauty she found on the other side in her debut memoir, The Fifth Chamber (On sale: September 9, 2023; Jaded Ibis Press; paperback; ISBN: 9781938841217; $17.99). In 2022, about 60,000 children in the United States under the age of six lived with a single widowed mother, nearly three times the number of children living with a widowed father. Yet our society still shies away from open discussion about death and its aftermath, normalizing the tragedy and ignoring the pain. Crafted with lightning bolts of joy and sorrow, The Fifth Chamber is a tender and lyrical memoir about the dance of loss and life, and how grief can make the heart beat stronger than ever before. Annie and her daughter Maria Gibson have a podcast - Coffee, Grief, and Gratitude. For Annie, writing about love and loss has been her life’s work, publishing works in The Rumpus, Real Simple, Tupelo Quarterly, Atticus Review, Sweet Lit, Cutthroat, Cutbank, Columbia Journal, and many more. About the Author Anne Gudger is an autobiographical essayist who writes hard and loves harder. She’s been published in Real Simple, Cutbank, Cutthroat, The Los Angeles Review, The Normal School, The Rumpus, and the Columbia Journal, among others, and has been a Best of the Net nominee twice. She is also the co-founder of Coffee and Grief, a reading series that’s been thriving since March 2020 and hosts five curated readers every month reading on grief. Anne lives in Banks, Oregon with her beloved husband. The Fifth Chamber is her first book. TO BOOK AN INTERVIEW CONTACT PETER at peter@playbackproducers.com PRAISE FOR ANNE GUDGER AND THE FIFTH CHAMBER “There’s no one, and I mean no one, who writes like Anne Gudger. A balm to the heart and a hug and an ‘It’s so good, I wish I wrote that’ kind of beautiful.” —Jennifer Pastiloff, bestselling author of On Being Human Anne Gudger's The Fifth Chamber is a book with a pulse that will remind you how the dance of grief and love lives in us all. As she weaves her way through life, death, love and longing, those struggles that threaten to overwhelm us are brought so close to the edge of beauty that they kiss. A shivering triumph. A brilliant heartsong. - Lidia Yuknavitch, author of Thrust and Chronology of Water. Anne Gudger's Fifth Chamber is an absolute revelation on every page. Her story of surviving widowhood while six months pregnant with her son takes readers on the jagged path from all-consuming grief to the new life forged from tears, rage, gnashing, and ultimately, acceptance. Readers will cheer Gudger as she claws herself back from the brink of dizzying loss, both for herself and for the young son she delivered just months after burying her husband. When she falls in love again, I felt my own heart burst open with joy watching her and her young son get a second chance at the family she'd thought was gone forever. And best of all, Gudger's language is a singular, pure delight—no one constructs a sentence quite like Gudger, and readers will be transformed when they are plunged into her lyrical prose, which brims with color, light, and raw sensation. —Christie Tate, author of NYT bestseller Group and BFF

This is the first book on Bob Dylan to offer a direct window into his work and life from the perspective of the people who have worked with him.

Inspired by events in his own life, the author takes us inside the heart and mind of a gay, physically misshapen boy struggling to find his way in a conservative family and community, ultimately finding acceptance and love in unexpected ways and in unexpected places. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of Red Clay Suzie will go to support the important work of two organizations dedicated to helping at-risk youth: the Born This Way Foundation (bornthisway.foundation), founded by Lady Gaga and her mother Cynthia Germanotta, and The Trevor Project (thetrevorproject.org), the world’s largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ young people. RED CLAY SUZIE JEFFREY DALE LOFTON JeffreyDLofton.com Red Clay Suzie (Post Hill Press; On Sale is the come-of-age story of Philbet who—fueled by tomato sandwiches and green milkshakes and obsessed with cars—struggles to figure out how he fits into a family and community that seems intent on marginalizing him for his effeminacy and his skeletal deformity. Taunted and bullied at school and by members of his own extended family, Philbet finds refuge in the long rows of his beloved Grandaddy’s vegetable garden, digging potatoes and carving out paths for his fleet of Matchbox cars. It is in this garden that we see Grandaddy share life lessons that will sustain Philbet as he comes to terms with both his half-sunken chest, which makes taking off his shirt in public unthinkable, and the fact that he fancies not the girls in his life, but the boys. Chistopher Castellani, author of Leading Men calls Red Clay Suzie an “arresting debut . . . a vivid depiction of a unique childhood that feels universal in its longing.” James Hart, author of Lucky Jim says this about Lofton’s novel: “From a new, pitch-perfect, Southern voice, a story so close to the heart you can almost hear it beating.” Willee Lewis, of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation describes Lofton as “a writer’s writer, whose strong, authorial voice captures your imagination with an unshakable grip.” Set in Alvaton and Warm Springs, Georgia in the 1960s, ‘70s, and ‘80s, Red Clay Suzie is a descriptive tour de force; the author creates Philbet’s world with a nuanced, deeply-felt understanding of the limitations, ignorance, spoken and unspoken prejudices and, at times, the grace and wisdom that shape people’s lives. Our hero’s journey takes us from his relatively carefree early childhood through a series of events that crush his innocence and sense of security—all against the backdrop of a small, insular world where every norm, every implicit understanding, convinces Philbet that he’s not fit to be loved by Knox, the older boy he idolizes to distraction. Red Clay Suzie includes a foreword by Lindy Woodhead, author of War Paint and Shopping, Seduction & Mr. Selfridge. Alice Leccese Powers, writer and editor of the best-selling In Mind series, says that “Red Clay Suzie’s Philbet joins Scout (To Kill a Mockingbird) and Frankie (The Member of the Wedding) in Southern literature’s pantheon of outsider children. We have a new literary hero.” POSSIBLE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS · Just underneath the title Red Clay Suzie, I see “a novel inspired by true events.” Is this book a thinly disguised memoir of growing up gay in the Deep South? · Are you obsessed with cars like Philbet? And if so, how did that start? · I’ve read that you wrote Red Clay Suzie in a surprising way. Will you tell us about that? · The Author’s Note in the book addresses bullying and body-shaming, and you list some resources that young people can use if they’re struggling living life on the fringes, as you call it. Is Red Clay Suzie a message of hope to young adults who feel marginalized? · Philbet’s best friend James is a wonderfully drawn character, one of many unforgettable characters. Tell us about him and their friendship. · Is there a scene or chapter that was particularly difficult to write? · What gave you the courage to write such a deeply personal and revealing novel? · How have your family and friends reacted to Red Clay Suzie? · You are donating a portion of your proceeds from Red Clay Suzie to two organizations that help at-risk youth. Would you tell us about that? · If any young people watching/listening today are struggling for whatever reason with life as outsiders, what closing words do you have for them? About the Author: JEFFREY DALE LOFTON hails from Warm Springs, Georgia, best known as the home of Roosevelt’s Little White House. He calls the nation’s capital home now and has for over three decades. During those early years he spent many a night trodding the boards of the DC’s theaters and performing arts centers, including the Kennedy Center, Studio Theatre, Woolly Mammoth, and Signature Theatre. He even scored a few television screen appearances, including a residuals-rich Super Bowl halftime commercial, which his accountant quipped “is the finest work of your career.” His years telling the stories of playwrights and script writers taught him the pull of a powerful story arc, the splendor of language well used. Today, he is a senior advisor at the Library of Congress, surrounded by books and people who love books—in short, paradise.

Part of the Sapphire Cove series…SAPPHIRE STORM is the third book in an extremely bingeable series…oozing White Lotus vibes! As the author’s note at the beginning makes clear, during the writing of Sapphire Storm, Christopher lost his mother, famed vampire chronicler, Anne Rice to complications related to a stroke. She was more than a parent — she was also his close friend, colleague and frequent collaborator. Her loss echoes through the pages of Sapphire Storm by way of the character of Roman Walker, who is also struggling with the loss of his mother. Is it possible to tell a sweet story with a happily ever after while feeling such loss? Christopher thinks so. SAPPHIRE STORM C. Travis Rice (Christopher Rice) For More Information: http://www.christopherricebooks.com/book/sapphire-storm/ A gorgeous young fitness celebrity seeking revenge finds himself embroiled in a sinister plot. When his target becomes his ally, it ignites a fiery and forbidden attraction that might just consume them in flames. Ethan Blake has dedicated his life to satisfying other people’s appetites. At forty-three, he’s finally landed his dream job—head pastry chef at the exclusive Sapphire Cove resort. Now he’s got a jet-setting career that’s taken him to romantic locations all over the world. But years before, after his parents threw him out for being gay, Ethan supported himself in a manner he’d rather keep under the covers today. Roman Walker is a twenty-five-year-old fitness celebrity awash in thirsty followers. But when he walks through the doors of Sapphire Cove, it’s not just to oversee the menu for his celebrity client’s wedding. Decades ago, Roman and Ethan crossed paths on a New York street corner during a terrible, life-changing moment that scarred them both. Now Roman’s back for revenge. But when his plan goes wildly off the rails, Roman suddenly finds himself at the center of an even stranger and darker scenario concocted by his most famous client. Well-versed in the ways of the wealthy and the entitled, Roman’s former target offers to be his strongest partner during a moment that might derail the young man’s newfound career. But the experienced older man’s offer also alights an enticing and off-limits attraction that both find irresistible, even as it exposes old secrets and incurs the fury of the powerful and the famous. With the drama and desire of a Jackie Collins novel, the Sapphire Cove series is destined to be a favorite for queer romance readers. About the Author: Christopher Rice is the recipient of the Lambda Literary Award and is the Amazon Charts and New York Times bestselling author of A Density of Souls ; Bone Music , Blood Echo , and Blood Victory in the Burning Girl series; and Bram Stoker Award finalists The Heavens Rise and The Vines . An executive producer for television, he also penned two novels with his mother, Anne Rice, Ramses the Damned: The Passion of Cleopatra and Ramses The Damned: The Reign of Osiris . Together with his best friend and producing partner, New York Times bestselling novelist Eric Shaw Quinn, Christopher runs the production company Dinner Partners. Among other projects, they produce the podcast and video network TDPS, which can be found at www.TheDinnerPartyShow.com . He lives in West Hollywood, California, and writes tales of romance between men under the pseudonym C. Travis Rice. The Sapphire Cove Series (can be read as a standalone) Book 1: Sapphire Sunset Book 2: Sapphire Spring Book 3: Sapphire Storm

Legacy journaling differs from regular journaling in that in legacy journaling one writes for someone else. The writing of a legacy journal can be extracted from one’s journals and contains one’s life lessons, reflections, values and beliefs, and messages one chooses to share. It can also be a journal written specifically for someone. For example, Merle began keeping journals for each of her granddaughters on the day they were born! LIVING AND LEAVING MY LEGACY (Vol II) MERLE R. SAFERSTEIN https://merlersaferstein.com/ Imagine having a written record of your life—your thoughts, feelings, lessons learned, conversations, encounters, memories, dreams, travel adventures, and more. In Living and Leaving My Legacy, Vol II, Merle R. Saferstein shares carefully curated excerpts from her journals. Each is a sampling of her life: friendship and relationships; death and dying; travel; Holocaust stories of survival; major news events; writing an ethical will and more. At the end of each chapter, she includes reflections and journal prompts that can inspire readers and deepen their own life journey. As a legacy educator, Saferstein also offers suggestions to help the reader think about their legacy and instructions for ways to embark on a legacy project. About the Author: As the director of educational outreach at the Holocaust Documentation and Education Center for twenty-six years, Merle Saferstein worked closely with hundreds of Holocaust survivors helping them to pass along their Legacy of Remembrance to hundreds of thousands of students and teachers. Upon retiring from the Holocaust Center, she developed a course entitled Living and Leaving Your Legacy® and teaches and speaks to audiences locally, nationally, and internationally. She trains hospice staff and volunteers to help patients leave their legacies and works closely with the patients at the end of their lives doing sacred legacy work. For many years, she has volunteered at a camp for children who experienced the death of a family member, while also facilitating a writing for wellness group at Gilda’s Club for women who have been impacted by cancer and working with Wisdom of the Century, a project that interviews individuals ninety years old and older. Merle is a council member of the International Association for Journal Writing, is the author of Room 732, a short story collection which pays homage to the historic Hollywood Beach Hotel and a B.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree, and is a contributor to the Huffington Post, Medium, Authority Magazine, Women Writers, Women’s Books, and Thrive Global. Merle was chosen as the 2019 Greater Miami Jewish Federation Volunteer of the Year. HERE IS A Q&A WITH THE AUTHOR What is legacy journaling? Legacy journaling differs from regular journaling in that in legacy journaling one writes for someone else. The writing of a legacy journal can be extracted from one’s journals and contains one’s life lessons, reflections, values and beliefs, and messages one chooses to share. It can also be a journal written specifically for someone. In my case, I began keeping journals for each of my granddaughters on the day they were born. Legacy journaling enriches our lives by providing: · An opportunity to impart wisdom. · New insights into a specific moment in time. · Deeper understanding of important people in our lives. · Historical documentation that can be passed on to future generations. · Preservation of important times and places. · Clarification and sharing of life lessons, values and beliefs, and hopes and dreams. · Sharing family history. · Keeping records of time spent with family members. · A basis for an ethical will. Legacy journaling also: · Helps you appreciate what you’ve accomplished. · Helps you determine what matters to you. · Helps you to reflect on your life. · Captures one’s essence. · Records thoughts, feelings, accomplishments, challenges, gratitude, heritage, treasured moments, and advice. · Brings meaning and purpose. · Reinforces the important parts of one’s life. · Provides the family with something concrete to cherish after you are gone. · Is a gift you give to yourself. And you teach legacy classes, tell us more about this. I began teaching legacy classes in October 2013. At the time, the classes were eight-week sessions and have since been eight, six, and four-week sessions. I have taught a total of 68 classes to date. The main objective of these classes is to help the participants look at their lives and how they are living them. We examine the following questions and more: · What life lessons have I learned? · What do I want to pass along? · What do I hope people will remember about me and am I living my life so they will? · What gives my life meaning? Together we explore the answers to these questions and many more. The premise of this legacy work is to examine one's life as we live it and determine what matters most and what we hope to leave behind for our loved ones. By the end of this interactive class, the participants are on their way to putting their priceless legacy into an ethical will, a legacy letter, a video interview, an annotated recipe book, a scrapbook, and/or more. My first exercise in class is to have everyone list things that bring them joy. Then I ask a series of questions including when the last time these things were part of their life? The question to the participants is always are you doing what brings you joy? If not, why not? Who might be interested in legacy journaling/or a legacy class? Those interested in the legacy class vary. I have had classes and done workshops for the following: · Grandparents · Men and women from the ages of 38–92 · Hospice staffs—particularly social workers, music and art therapists, and nurses · Those who enroll in the classes are willing to look at their lives and how they live them. Some want to leave a tangible legacy, like an ethical will or another legacy project. · Those who might tackle legacy journaling are individuals who journal and realize they might have something of value to pass along to their loved ones. In one case, I had a woman in one of my classes who had cancer. I suggested she journal, which she did. When her cancer metastasized and she was close to dying, she asked if she could send her journals to me to go through them and condense them for her five-year-old daughter to have someday. That is the epitome of a legacy journal. It was one of the most sacred acts I have performed. You have an author’s quote, “How you live your life becomes your legacy.” What does it mean to you? I believe it’s not what we say but what we do, the example we set, that people remember most. Our families and friends watch us and learn from how we are living and how we act. While creating a legacy project to leave behind is lovely, people will remember us by how we showed up in our world. Recently, a 47-year-old man I know suddenly passed away. He was in his prime and certainly had been expecting to live a long life. It never occurred to him to do any type of legacy work. Yet, when he died, who he had been in his life, the people he touched, the work he did, and the way he helped others became his legacy. For me, this was a perfect illustration of my quote. What have you included in the book that might help a reader with a legacy project? How can the average reader benefit from reading about legacy work? In the chapter entitled Living and Leaving Your Legacy®, I wrote about a variety of exercises that I have done in my classes. This gives the reader a starting point to do some kind of legacy project. At the end of the book, I have included a listing with explanations of many legacy projects. Also, I have a list of projects for children who have lost loved ones to do in memory of that special person who had been in their lives. In addition to these, I include a two-page step-by-step guide to writing an ethical will. I’ve added a poem entitled Live Your Dash, which reminds the reader of the importance of living life in the moment and making our days matter. I hope that when readers read Living and Leaving My Legacy, Vol. ll, they will look at my life as a mirror into their own. My goal is to help people live their best lives. Socrates said, “An unexamined life is not worth living.” Legacy work often requires introspection. By reading about legacy work and hopefully embarking on doing a legacy project, the readers will benefit by deciding what matters, what life lessons, values and beliefs, and hopes and dreams they might want to pass along in some form of legacy work. What I have learned is that while we think we are doing this for others, the true gift is the one we give ourselves by doing this work. You’re known for your work with Holocaust survivors and have documented select stories in your book Living and Leaving My Legacy, Vol. l. How did you feel about hearing their stories? And why are they important to tell? My job as the director of educational outreach at the Holocaust Documentation and Education Center was to help the survivors pass along their stories to students and teachers. Over the twenty-six years I was there, I had the privilege of working with hundreds of Holocaust survivors. Most important to them was the opportunity to share what they endured so this and future generations would remember and learn so as not to repeat another Holocaust. It was difficult to listen to the horrific stories of torture, loss, and dehumanization. Yet, I knew it was my responsibility to pass along their messages. I often would sit with a survivor in my office committing to memory what they shared with me. At night, I would write in my journal to process everything I heard. When I worked on my journal project, one of the topics I chose was Holocaust survivors. I did so because of the promise I made to the survivors to share their stories. That chapter is probably the most significant writing I will ever do. While it is difficult to read and absorb the cruelty these individuals experienced, I hope readers will learn and better understand what took place during the Holocaust. In my work at the Holocaust Center, we interviewed Holocaust survivors beginning in 1980. Our center trained the people from Steven Spielberg’s Shoah project when they decided to interview survivors. The interviews were a legacy project, one of Legacy of Remembrance. Tell us about your journaling experience – how did it start and why? As a young teen, I wrote in diaries, but somehow those got lost in our family move. In 1974 as I was turning thirty, I began to journal. I liked to write and putting down my thoughts, feelings, experiences, and more felt right to me. My children were young, and I wanted to record that time in their lives as well as my experiences as a mother. I also had moved away from my hometown and didn’t have many friends for the first few years. My journals became my companions. In September 1981, my closest friend divorced and had little time for me. At the same time, football season began, and my husband was engrossed in watching games every weekend. Suddenly, I had many hours without anyone around. That’s when my serious journaling began. From 1982 on, I journaled daily and sometimes multiple times a day. I currently have 380+ journals that I have filled over the past 48 years. In 2000, I decided I couldn’t leave my journals to my children since I wrote them only for my eyes. It took me two years before I embarked on my journal project when I read every journal and took excerpts from them based on seventy subjects. That process took a total of fourteen years to complete. The topics had anywhere from 75–450 single-spaced, typewritten pages. It took another five years to whittle them down to twenty-two chapters with approximately thirty pages in each. The completed project is comprised of two volumes of Living and Leaving My Legacy. Did you learn anything about yourself you didn’t know before reading your journals? Above all else, I learned that who I am hasn’t changed. Some of my behaviors have but in reading my journals, I saw that I am the same person I have always been. After reading my journals, I realized that because I had committed so much to paper, it helped me remember more than most people probably do. For example, in all my journals, there were only three incidents I wrote about that were not exactly the way I remembered them to be. I couldn’t recall memories of some people I had put in my journals, but that was rare. I knew I was strongly determined, but I hadn’t realized to what extent that is true. Once I looked back on the project and saw how focused I had been on accomplishing it, I became aware of what a driven soul I am. Before the summer of 2016 when I spent seventy-seven solitary days working on my journal project, if someone were to have asked me what percentage of my life experiences were positive and what percentage were negative, my answer would have been drastically different from today. Then I might well have said 91% positive—9% negative. That’s truly how I looked at my life. After this experience, if someone were to ask me, my answer would be closer to 50-50. What I learned from that was that as I read the journals covering the periods from June 1999 until August 2012, I experienced many painful days, weeks, months, and even years dealing with a variety of difficult and heartbreaking issues. While I hadn’t forgotten any of them, how I processed them and what my attitude was throughout has made the difference in the lens through which I have viewed my life. From this vantage point, I could sit back and observe how I pulled myself up—how my resilient nature has been a gift throughout my life. What are the biggest lessons you’ve learned from journal writing? Long ago I was in therapy for a short period. When I finished the sessions, my therapist told me she had never had a client who knows herself as well as I do. She attributed it to my journaling. It is where I integrate my entire being. I’ve learned that: · Journaling has helped me live in the moment. · Life ebbs and flows and nothing stays the same. · I can best understand my past, discover joy in the present, and create my future through writing. · By journaling, I clarify my goals. · There is great value of putting my thoughts and feelings down on paper. · It is a place where I can problem-solve and come up with solutions. · I have given myself a gift by recording my thoughts, feelings, experiences, and more. The majority of people I’ve spoken to about keeping journals have said they write mostly when experiencing difficult times. Many have told me they’d never want to go back and read about those painful experiences. Some who have ventured to that place are quick to destroy their journals after knowing they have no desire to hold onto those unpleasant memories, and for sure, they would never want anyone else to see them. On the other hand, I treasure my journals and am grateful to have them regardless of what they contain. What led you to do hospice work? Why did you choose death and dying as a topic in your book? When Hurricane Andrew hit Miami, someone who lost her business told me the best thing she did was begin to volunteer in a homeless shelter. She suggested that as bad as she had it, others were struggling more. That planted a seed for me. After that, when I was going through a difficult time in my life, I decided that I would volunteer. I saw an ad in the newspaper for a hospice volunteer training. I attended the training and became an active volunteer visiting patients in their homes. For years, I sat with dying individuals. People would ask me why I was doing that, and my answer was always the same—because I can. When I retired from the Holocaust Center, I learned that one of the hospice organizations in Miami was beginning to organize Camp Kangaroo, a weekend camp for children who lost people in their lives. Since I had been the director of a summer camp for children, I was able to help in many ways. I instituted journaling with the children ages five to eighteen. For several years, I have also facilitated the all-day session with the campers’ parents. The legacy projects I did with those dying were among the most profound work of anything I’ve done. It led me to do legacy training workshops for hospice staffs including nurses, social workers, music and art therapists, and volunteers. I recently participated in a bereavement initiative training for the South Florida community. Our goal is to create greater support for those who are grieving. I chose to include a chapter on death and dying because it has become a subject I am most interested in. I believe many lessons can be learned from those who are dying, and working with hospice patients has brought great meaning to my life. Above all, I have learned that we all want to know we matter.

Antibiotics! Our food supply is under siege! With the summer BBQ and grilling season underway, it’s more important than ever to know how your food is being treated before you give it to your family and friends! The overuse of antibiotics in industrial animal agriculture is creating deadly superbugs. Everyone is at risk — even people who don’t eat meat. Here’s a chance to talk to Madeleine Kleven about the Safe & Healthy Food Program at FACT (Food Animal Concerns Trust). ANTIBOTICS AND OUR FOOD FOOD ANIMAL CONCERNS TRUST (FACT) Madeleine Klevin Safe & Healthy Food Program Associate at FACT https://www.foodanimalconcernstrust.org/ While everyone can get an antibiotic resistant infection, cancer patients, young children, women and those who are immunocompromised are disproportionately impacted by antibiotic resistance. As a consumer you can choose to purchase meat raised without the routine use of antibiotics and push the market to change. Currently two-thirds of the antibiotics shared between people and animals are used for use in farming, not to treat sick people. Without significant reductions in the amount of antibiotics used in industrial agriculture as well as human medicine, we can’t preserve these medicines for those in our communities who need them most. TALKING POINTS: · The preventive/routine use of antibiotics in farming leads to dangerous—and sometimes untreatable and deadly—infections in humans. · Antibiotics are typically used as a treatment for infection in humans, not for the prevention of infection. Responsible antibiotic stewardship dictates the same approach for animals. · Farmers are successfully producing healthy food without the misuse of antibiotics and cancer-causing drugs in the raising of livestock. Support humane farmers by becoming an informed consumer. · The FDA has the power and obligation to act on and protect Americans from consuming animal products that pose serious health risks, including antibiotic-resistant infections and cancer. Yet, the FDA is slow to act when it comes to protecting public health but quick to act when it comes to protecting the regulated industry. · The FDA should prohibit the use of antibiotics in animals when there is no diagnosed illness or injury requiring use. · Industrial livestock operations claim that using antibiotics is critical to increasing production, but the current system is producing more meat than we need. There is no risk that ending the misuse of antibiotics in food animals will lead to scarcity here or around the world. · Partnering with and investing in humane farmers is one of the best ways to make a difference in the lives of food-producing animals and in reducing antibiotic overuse. ABOUT THE TALENT: Madeleine Kleven, MPH Safe & Healthy Food Program Associate Before joining FACT, Madeleine worked in a laboratory setting, researching infectious organisms and their impacts on public health. She completed her graduate degree in public health at UC Berkeley with an emphasis in infectious diseases and vaccinology. Madeleine is a cancer survivor and new mom. Outside of work, she enjoys dancing, being outdoors, playing volleyball, and being with her family.

June 14th is Flag Day - a day that commemorates the adoption of the Stars and Stripes as the official flag of the United States. It’s also a day to reflect on what it means to be an American citizen and how we honor those who serve! Some questions for reflection on this patriotic day include: · Why are America’s wars widely seen as an ultimate form of patriotism? · What do we owe the fallen and their families? · Why is patriotism so often connected to war? · How do the media portray the meaning of patriotism? · The New York Times called American Sniper the most influential movie of the last decade — what does that tell us about popular conceptions of patriotism? · Is there anything wrong with “flag-waving”? Here’s a chance to talk to Norman Solomon who contests that the so-called ‘war on terror’ has spawned an endless and secretive program of foreign interventions…. and how media outlets have been coopted into producing what is essentially war propaganda, with government officials routinely silencing journalists who seek the truth. And this comes as the Washington Post reported on May 15th…that Post-9/11 wars have contributed to some 4.5 million deaths! WAR MADE INVISIBLE: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine Norman Solomon What we see on television, as well as what we read in newspapers, watch on YouTube, and hear on the radio, routinely glorifies the military, obscures the real costs of war, and dehumanizes people the U.S. government has deemed dangerous or expendable. In War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine (Hardcover; $27.99; 978-1-62097-791-0; On sale 6/13/2023) acclaimed journalist and political analyst Norman Solomon takes American media and political leaders to task for selectively concealing tragic consequences of war. From Iraq through Afghanistan and Syria and on to little-known deployments in a range of countries around the globe, the United States has been at perpetual war for at least the past two decades. Yet many of these forays remain still off the radar of average Americans. Additionally, the increased use of high technology, airpower, and remote drones has put distance between soldiers and the civilians who die. And back at home, the cloak of invisibility masks massive Pentagon budgets that receive bipartisan approval even as policymakers struggle to fund the domestic agenda. War Made Invisible is essential reading, as emphasized by the comments below from renowned journalists and activists. In an interview, Norman can discuss: · Unknown American Wars – What are the ongoing wars today that the American public is unaware of? · Media Boundaries Limit Our Understanding - Very few of us have firsthand experience with current events overseas. We rely on media accounts to inform us, but all too often we’re misinformed or don’t even know about military actions being carried out worldwide! · Make War Visible — and End It - When the true human impacts of war remain hidden, wars are more likely to continue. Civil society can make the difference between evasion and compassion. · All of War’s Victims Deserve Attention - Selective empathy is a corrosive factor in perpetuating wars. Civic activism can illuminate our shared humanity. · A Single Standard of Human Rights Means a Single Standard on War Crimes - The people of the world are yearning for true justice as a deterrent to impunity as wars take tremendous human tolls. Individual, social, and political engagement will be necessary to bring governments into line with humanitarian values. · Despite Joe Biden’s Claim to the Contrary, the USA Remains at War - In the early fall of 2021, President Biden declared during a speech at the United Nations that the U.S. had “turned the page” and was “not at war.” The claim was false then and is false now. · We Routinely Speak of “Defense Spending” and a “Defense Budget.” That’s Highly Misleading - Much of the Pentagon budget has nothing to do with the genuine defense of the United States or its allies. But such spending, now well over $2 billion a day, has a lot to do with massive profits for huge contractors. · There Is a Racial Component of the “War on Terror” That We Virtually Never Hear Discussed in Media or Politics - For more than two decades, the U.S. government has been engaged in continuous warfare, and almost every person killed by American firepower during that time has been a person of color. Is it realistic to believe that a country so affected by racism in domestic policies is unaffected by racism in foreign policies? · Propaganda Is Part of Warfare - “In war, truth is the first casualty” – an observation attributed to the ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus – remains fully relevant in our time. The real truth about military conflicts is under siege in 2023. · Nuclear War Is Being Made More Likely by the War in Ukraine – and a Major Reason Is the Existence of ICBMs - Our security is being threatened rather than protected by the 400 intercontinental ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads now on hair-trigger alert in underground silos in five U.S. states. Russia also has ICBMs that are on launch-on-warning alert. Surprisingly, if either side would close down their ICBMs unilaterally, everyone in the world would be safer. · There’s Hope in the Midst of War - Understandably, many people feel discouraged and frightened by endless war. But history tells us that a well-informed and active citizenry can make the difference between life and death. Here are some recent articles on the subject: Post-9/11 wars have contributed to some 4.5 million deaths, report suggests - The Washington Post - May 15, 2023 'Death Outlives War': Analysis Estimates Post-9/11 US Conflicts Killed Over 4.5 Million ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Norman Solomon is the author of more than a dozen books on media, politics, and foreign policy. He’s the founder of the Institute for Public Accuracy and national director of the online organization RootsAction. For 17 years, he wrote the weekly syndicated column “Media Beat,” which appeared in major newspapers across the country. Norman has written for the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Nation and many other newspapers and magazines. His new book, "War Made Invisible,” is receiving widespread praise. In a starred review, Kirkus Reviews called it “a powerful, necessary indictment of efforts to disguise the human toll of American foreign policy.”

Passionate about uniting readers with their next favorite read, the editors spend countless hours discussing and debating new releases across various categories…sharing books they couldn’t stop thinking about, raving about, or recommending! 2023’S BEST BOOKS SO FAR! TALENT: SENIOR EDITORS AL WOODWORTH & LINDSAY POWERS After reading titles released from January through June 2023, Amazon Books Editors select THE 20 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR SO FAR, as well as the TOP 20 in popular categories like literary fiction, mystery and thrillers, romance, history, biographies and memoirs, cookbooks, and children’s books. Across these lists, you’re sure to find your next summer read from this list! Many of the editorial picks for the annual list are customer favorites and bestsellers, but the Editors strive to spotlight the best books readers might not otherwise hear about too across categories including literature & fiction, mystery and thrillers, science fiction & fantasy, biography, children’s, young adult, and more. The editors will reveal: · The Top 20 books of the Year So Far · The Top 20 books in popular categories and genres · How to find a book that fits your interests and needs · The methodology behind the Amazon editorial team’s selections · What features make a book a top book Throughout the year, Amazon Books Editors pore over thousands of pages and hundreds of books to determine: 1) THE BEST BOOKS OF THE MONTH, 2) THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR SO FAR and 3) THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR! About the Talent: AL WOODWORTH (she/her) is a Senior Editor on the Amazon Books Editorial team, specializing in literary fiction and biography and memoir. She has been in the book industry for more than 13 years, and got her start as a book publicist at Henry Holt. Al also manages Amazon Literary Partnership, which provides grant funding to non-profits that support writers. She lives in Brooklyn and some of her favorite books include Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Deacon King Kong, Crying in H-Mart, Empire of Pain, Pachinko, The Heart’s Invisible Furies, among many others. LINDSAY POWERS is a Senior Editor on the Amazon Books Editorial team, specializing in nonfiction, culture, and history. She has been a writer for more than 15 years, with bylines appearing in The New York Times, The Washington Post, New York magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, Us Weekly, Cosmopolitan, the New York Post, and more; and with media appearances on Good Morning America, the Today show, CBS Mornings, CNN, MSNBC, LinkedIn Live, and more. She was the editor in chief of Yahoo Parenting, a Webby honoree, where she co-founded the #NoShameParenting movement, which reached 170 million people across social media and inspired her first book, You Can’t F*ck Up Your Kids. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two sons. Some of her favorite books include Untamed, Invisible Child, The Dutch House, Stolen Focus, Caste, and Lessons in Chemistry.

More than 500 Great Grilling Recipes from Around the World CELEBRATES 25 YEARS By: Steven Raichlen 

THE NOEL DIARY starring Justin Hartley was the #1 show on Netflix over the Thanksgiving weekend! Now, Richard Paul Evans – author of THE CHRISTMAS BOX and THE NOEL LETTERS is out with his most personal novel yet! In A CHRISTMAS MEMORY – he explores the true meaning of the holiday season. A CHRISTMAS MEMORY Richard Paul Evans RichardPaulEvans.com This holiday season, the “King of Christmas” (The New York Times) and #1 New York Times bestselling author Richard Paul Evans returns with A CHRISTMAS MEMORY (Gallery Books; on-sale November 22, 2022), a poignant, deeply felt novel about loss, grief, the healing power of forgiveness, and the true meaning of the holiday season. In A CHRISTMAS MEMORY, Richard Paul Evans delves deep into his childhood memories to take readers back to an age when his world felt like it was falling apart, reminding us that even in the darkest of times, the light of hope can still shine. It’s 1967, and for young Richard it’s a time of heartbreak and turmoil. Over the span of a few months, his brother, Mark, is killed in Vietnam; his father loses his job and moves the family from California to his grandmother’s abandoned home in Utah; and his parents make the painful decision to separate. With uncertainty rattling every corner of his life, Richard does his best to remain strong—but when he’s run down by bullies at his new school, he meets Mr. Foster, an elderly neighbor who chases off the bullies and invites Richard in for a cup of cocoa. Richard becomes fast friends with the wise, solitary man who inspires Richard’s love for books and whose dog, Gollum, becomes his closest companion. As the holidays approach, the joy and light of Christmas seem unlikely to permeate the Evans home as things take a grim turn for the worse. And just when it seems like he has nothing left to lose, Richard is confronted by a startling revelation. But with Mr. Foster’s wisdom and kindness, he learns for the first time what truly matters about the spirit of the season: that forgiveness can heal even the deepest wounds, and love endures long after the pain of loss subsides. Some talking points: · The parallels between his childhood and the story told in A CHRISTMAS MEMORY (story description below). · The experience of his books being turned into movies and working with actors ranging from James Earle Jones to Rob Lowe to Naomi Watts. · The impetus and on-going work of The Christmas Box International. · His #1 NYT Young Adult Series, Michael Vey. · The new Netflix movie based on his novel The Noel Diary. · The experience of being an unknown author having his debut novel, The Christmas Box, become a phenomenon with over 8 million copies in print and at its peak, being on both the hardcover and paperback NYT bestseller lists. About the author: Richard Paul Evans is the #1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of more than forty novels. There are currently more than thirty-five million copies of his books in print worldwide, translated into more than twenty-four languages. Richard is the recipient of numerous awards, including two first place Storytelling World Awards, the Romantic Times Best Women’s Novel of the Year Award, and is a five-time recipient of the Religion Communicators Council’s Wilbur Awards. Seven of Richard’s books have been produced as television movies. His first feature film, The Noel Diary, starring Justin Hartley (This Is Us) and acclaimed film director, Charles Shyer (Private Benjamin, Father of the Bride), will debut in 2022. In 2011 Richard began writing Michael Vey, a #1 New York Times bestselling young adult series which has won more than a dozen awards. Richard is the founder of The Christmas Box International, an organization devoted to maintaining emergency children’s shelters and providing services and resources for abused, neglected, or homeless children and young adults. To date, more than 125,000 youths have been helped by the charity. For his humanitarian work, Richard has received the Washington Times Humanitarian of the Century Award and the Volunteers of America National Empathy Award. Richard lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, with his wife, Keri, and their five children and two grandchildren. You can learn more about Richard on his website RichardPaulEvans.com

Starring Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans…it’s currently the fourth most-watched original film in Netflix history! The movie was an instant audience favorite, and the Gray Man franchise will continue with a sequel and spinoff already getting the greenlight! The latest Gray Man novel from #1 New York Times bestseller Mark Greaney  FOR MORE INFORMATION: www.markgreaneybooks.com And now Mark is out with his latest thriller – sure to be added Grey Man movie universe – BURNER. Greaney has given the filmmakers plenty of story to pull from, and series protagonist Court Gentry returns this February in the twelfth Gray Man novel: BURNER (Berkley Hardcover; on sale February 21, 2023). Mark is one of the most prolific and widely respected thriller writers working today. And it’s no wonder why. Storytelling legacy Mark comes by storytelling naturally. His father, Ed Greaney, worked his way up from cameraman to managing editor at WMC-TV, Memphis, Tennessee’s NBC affiliate. In fact, the newsroom at the station is named after him. Each day’s news was the Greaney family dinner table conversation. Mark and Ed also shared a love of reading—they were both fans of Tom Clancy’s novels and would exchange his books as holiday gifts. Those shared books were prophetic. Full circle After the publication of BALLISTIC, the third Gray Man novel, another writer came calling. The legendary Tom Clancy was looking to bring on co-writers, and Mark was a natural fit to work with one of the most successful authors in modern history. Mark was last writer to work directly with Clancy before his death and co-wrote Clancy’s final four novels. He carried the torch after Clancy’s death in 2013, writing another four books in the popular Jack Ryan series. Mark learned from Clancy to write stories with a broader scope, globe-spanning novels that were deeper than he’d previously written. Globetrotting and gunslinging research Post-Clancy, Mark began taking a closer look at the why behind the action in his novels—something that fit perfectly with Mark’s studies in international relations. Part of including that greater geopolitical backdrop involves keeping an eye on current world politics as well as getting distinct, vivid, “boots on the ground” information. Mark has traveled to more than 30 countries to extensively to research each novel’s multiple locations. He’s also gathered firsthand experience in firearms training, scuba diving, stunt driving, SWAT training, Navy fighter plane flying, field medical training, and more. All this background, research, and Mark’s profound curiosity and knack for storytelling inform his latest page-turning Gray Man novel, BURNER. In it, Court Gentry is tasked with retrieving stolen records from a disgruntled Swiss bank employee. But the CIA isn’t the only one looking for the records, setting a collision course of different groups hunting down the valuable information. This pits Court against his one-time lover (and fan favorite character) Zoya Zakharova, who is on her own mission. BURNER is further proof that Mark has solidified his place in the pantheon of the great thriller writers such as Brad Thor, Daniel Silva, Vince Flynn, Lee Child, and, of course, Tom Clancy. About the author Mark Greaney has a degree in international relations and political science. In his research for the Gray Man novels, including Sierra Six, Relentless, One Minute Out, Mission Critical, Agent in Place, Gunmetal Gray, Back Blast, Dead Eye, Ballistic, On Target, and The Gray Man, he traveled to more than thirty-five countries and trained alongside military and law enforcement in the use of firearms, battlefield medicine, and close-range combative tactics. With Marine LtCol Rip Rawlings, he wrote the New York Times bestseller, Red Metal. He is also the author of the New York Times bestsellers Tom Clancy Support and Defend, Tom Clancy Full Force and Effect, Tom Clancy Commander in Chief, and Tom Clancy True Faith and Allegiance. With Tom Clancy, he coauthored Locked On, Threat Vector, and Command Authority. A CONVERSATION WITH MARK GREANEY Q: Describe BURNER in one short sentence. Mark Greaney: BURNER finds The Gray Man and former Russian foreign intelligence officer Zoya Zakharova on opposite sides as a Swiss banker’s stolen secrets threaten to disrupt intelligence operations around the world and killers close in. Q: Who is the Gray Man—and what’s he up to when BURNER opens? MG: The Gray Man is Court Gentry, a former CIA officer and asset who now spends his days in the private sector working principally as an assassin with a strict code of conduct. As the novel opens he is working for a Ukrainian oligarch sabotaging Russian-owned mega yachts around the world, but then the CIA reaches out to him for help. Q: Where did the initial idea for THE GRAY MAN come from? MG: I was travelling in Central America and saw a quiet, unassuming American man in a bar. I made up an entire back story for him then and there; he was former CIA, living off grid because the Agency was after him, taking jobs along the way. I started writing about The Gray Man soon after. Q: How would you describe your protagonist, Court Gentry? How would your wife describe him? MG: He is a man with incredible training and tradecraft who is trying to use these tools to do what he thinks is right. My wife would say he’s a good and extremely capable man who also has some vulnerabilities. Q: For people who have seen The Gray Man movie but not read the books, what’s one thing they’d be surprised to know about Court? MG: The books really get into Court’s head in a way no movie can. You see why he does what he does, and the thinking through of his options in difficult situations. He’s rarely sure of himself, and he does screw up from time to time. Q: What, if anything, did you learn about your series from watching The Gray Man movie? MG: I don’t know that I learned anything new about the novels, per se, because I see the books and films as two different worlds. Having said that, I was so pleased by the way they represented Court Gentry- they captured him perfectly in my opinion. Q: What do you hope to see in future Gray Man movies? MG: I’d like to see some other characters from the series appear, like Zoya Zakharova, Zack Hightower, Matt Hanley, and Chris Travers. Q: You worked with legendary novelist Tom Clancy on his final four books. How did that collaboration come about and what did it mean to you? MG: Tom and I had the same editor, Tom Colgan. When Clancy was looking for a new coauthor, Tom thought of me. I had been a massive Jack Ryan fan for decades so it turned out to be a great fit. I felt out of my league, for sure, but I worked hard and reached out to men and women in the military for help learning details for the novels. Q: How did working with Clancy inform the Gray Man books you wrote after? MG: My Gray Man books became longer and more detailed, with a new emphasis on the geopolitical reasons behind the actions of the hero and villains in the books. I’d also say that working with Clancy and the Jack Ryan books has been a valuable calling card when I am reaching out for expert advice- it definitely opens a lot of doors. Q: What can fans look forward to in BURNER, the 12th novel in the Gray Man series? MG: BURNER is an intense globe-trotting thrill ride with strong geopolitical underpinnings and a lot of personal stakes for the lead characters. Q: What makes BURNER a good entry point for new readers? MG: I think all my books can be read by themselves- Early in each novel you learn who the characters are and what is at stake. I always tell people they can read them in any order that’s convenient. Q: For new readers out there, tell us a little bit about yourself. MG: I was first published in 2009 after a career in the international business sector. In 2011 I started writing with Tom Clancy, and after his death I continued the Jack Ryan series for several years. I’ve published 23 books in all, and I live in Memphis with my wife Allison, my three stepchildren, and our four dogs. Q: You’ve traveled to Algeria, Prague, Mexico, and beyond and gone through SWAT training and scuba certification as research for your novels. What were the most interesting aspects of your research for BURNER? MG: For BURNER I traveled to the Island of Saint Lucia, as well as New York, Italy, and Switzerland to get the location details accurate. I’d have to say the trip to Europe was the most beneficial for the story because some intricate action scenes take place there and I really needed to see the areas for myself. Q: What was the most surprising or unexpected discovery you made while researching any of your novels? MG: I think every time I am involved with the US military while doing research I learn so much new. I’ve been on a destroyer, in the back of an F-18, at the Pentagon, and spent time at Army, Navy, and Air Force bases. I always am so impressed by the men and women who defend our nation. Q: Who are some of your favorite authors? What do you think Court Gentry’s desert island reading would be (no more than 3 books allowed)? MG: I love Tom Clancy, Jean le Carré, Jason Matthews, Ralph Peters, and Daniel Silva. Court is a very practical guy—if he were on a desert island he’d want to read The SAS Survival Handbook, The Special Forces Survival Guide, and some sort of book on building a rudimentary boat.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Would you be able to do a short phone interview to air as a PSA on Wednesday, May 17 th or Thursday, May 18th to air on your station regarding FARM AID launching a Spanish language hotline for Farmers? Below is a bit more information about this potentially life-saving health initiative aimed at helping farmers in distress! In partnership with Migrant Clinicians Network (MCN), and with funding from the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network – Northeast (led by Cultivemos), Farm Aid will be providing Spanish-language hotline support through the organization’s new Spanish-speaking hotline operator, Elizabeth Gonzalez-Ibarra. Gonzalez-Ibarra grew up in a Spanish-speaking household in a farming community and graduated from Texas State University with a B.A. in Spanish and a minor in public health. She currently answers MCN’s hotline and will now be supporting calls on Farm Aid’s Hotline from Spanish-speaking farmers and farmworkers, Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET. Gonzalez-Ibarra hopes to make a difference within the Latinx community and has a passion for helping those in need, which has led her to where she is today. “Migrant Clinicians Network is thrilled to partner with Farm Aid on this important initiative,” said Renee AboAshe, program manager at MCN. “Making the Farm Aid Hotline’s resources available to the Spanish-speaking farming community is one step toward dismantling entrenched inequities experienced by this community and can encourage people to seek assistance through mental health services.” Beginning and established farmers and farmworkers are encouraged to call the Farmer Hotline. Farm Aid’s hotline operators are familiar with agriculture and with resources for farmers around the country; they work with hotline callers to find the best resources for their individual situation, whether they are looking for assistance with farm stress, financial issues, legal questions or business-related questions. The Farm Aid Hotline Staff has an existing database of Spanish resources and they are working to expand this database even further. “This is a historic moment for Farm Aid; it’s the first time in 37 years that we have been able to offer our farmer hotline services in Spanish,” said Farm Aid’s Hotline Program Manager Caitlin Arnold Stephano. “We are excited to collaborate with Migrant Clinicians Network on this important and timely effort and hope to better help Spanish-speaking farmers and farmworkers in need across the country.” Through the Farm Aid hotline and email service, Farm Aid’s Hotline Staff refers farmers to an extensive network of family farm and rural support organizations across the country. All farmers can call the hotline at 1-800-FARM-AID (1-800-327-6243). It’s well documented that the suicide rate has been higher for farmers than for the general population for decades. And a December 2017 front page story in The Guardian brought to America’s attention a harsh reality about its farmers: people working in agriculture in the U.S. — including farmers, farm laborers, ranchers, fishers and lumber harvesters — take their lives at a rate higher than any other occupation. The article highlighted a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which found that the suicide rate for farmers and ag workers is nearly five times higher than that of the general population. Today, mental health support services — both professional and church- and community-based — are less available and accessible in rural areas than they were in the 1980s, due to factors such as fewer people attending church, fewer community-building events in which people can interact/establish relationships in rural areas, and a decrease in overall population among rural areas. In general, rural residents have higher rates of depression, substance abuse and completed suicide. However, farmers face additional challenges to maintaining their mental health. Mental health professionals point to the nature of farming as one likely cause — it is a business largely influenced by factors that are beyond farmers’ control, including weather, disease, pests, prices and interest rates, and which can come and go without warning. Farmers can be isolated, geographically and socially, since they often work alone. They are self-reliant, independent and can be unlikely to ask for help. Many come from a tradition of not sharing their challenges, choosing instead to tough them out on their own. They work long, hard days and may deprioritize their own health and well-being to get the job done. Stress as a concept may often be seen by farmers as something that urban office dwellers experience. Farming itself is unique, and many clinicians don’t “get it.” Farmers cannot be advised to take a vacation or search for a less stressful job. Farmers feel a tremendous weight at the possible loss of their land, the possibility that they could be the one to lose something that has been in their family for generations. Their role as a farmer is at the root of their identity; it’s their culture, not just a job. Due to the nature of their work, farmers often lack health insurance coverage, or have minimal coverage that covers catastrophic injury only, rather than comprehensive care. If they do have insurance, behavioral health services may be considered “out of pocket.” As people who often keep their personal struggles to themselves, farmers worry about their privacy; it can be a challenge to seek care and maintain anonymity in small, rural communities. To further complicate matters, farmers and rural Americans face barriers to accessing mental health care. Ninety million people live in designated Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas, per the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and a majority of those areas (61 percent in 2011) are in non-metropolitan areas. About 4,000 to 6,000 new mental health professionals are needed to fill that gap nationwide. A dramatic illustration of this shortage can be seen in the state of Iowa, where there are 123 psychiatrists, 122 nurse practitioners and 33 physician assistants that specialize in psychiatry, statewide. That equates to one trained professional for every 11,151 Iowans. Right now, as farmers struggle with a 50 percent decrease in net farm income since 2013, the incidence of farmer stress is reaching a high point. In 2018, the predicted median net farm income is a loss of $1,300, and prices are not expected to rise in the near future. Meanwhile, production expenses and interest rates are increasing, putting family farmers in a vise that is forcing many to call it quits, or consider worse. Please let me know if you can please help spread the word about this new initiative by speaking with one of the spokespeople about some of the following in an interview: About Farm Aid: Farm Aid’s mission is to build a vibrant, family farm-centered system of agriculture in America. Farm Aid artists and board members Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews and Margo Price host an annual festival to raise funds to support Farm Aid’s work with family farmers and to inspire people to choose family farm food. For more than 35 years, Farm Aid, with the support of the artists who contribute their performances each year, has raised more than $64 million to support programs that help farmers thrive, expand the reach of the Good Food Movement, take action to change the dominant system of industrial agriculture and promote food from family farms. Learn more at www.farmaid.org . About Migrant Clinicians Network: Migrant Clinicians Network is a national 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that provides support, technical assistance and professional development to clinicians in community health centers, health departments and other health care delivery sites. Through online seminars and learning collaboratives, on-the-ground trainings, resource development and advocacy, MCN enables clinicians to provide quality health care, increase health care access and reduce disparities for people who need ongoing care but are experiencing outside forces that exacerbate their vulnerability. Learn more at www.migrantclinician.org . THE SPOKESPEOPLE Caitlin Arnold Stephano grew up riding the tractor at her Grandfather’s cherry and apple farm in Eastern Washington state, and has been working in agriculture, farmer organizing, and advocacy since 2006. Caitlin holds a Masters in Sustainable Food Systems with a focus on farmer mental health. She currently lives in Southern Maine with her family, and loves exploring the coastal nooks and crannies, walking in the woods, and growing her garden. Lori Mercer comes to Farm Aid after a three-decade career in private practice audiology, the urgency of climate change prompted a need to change vocations in order to participate more directly in contributing to a solution. She returned to graduate school via Washington State University and emerged in 2019 with an MS in Agriculture with a focus in food systems and agroecology. Since then, she’s worked directly with local family farmers in the agriculturally rich valleys surrounding the Seattle area. Directly supporting farmers and ranchers, especially in this era of great upheaval, is an honor and responsibility she embraces.

Vegan nutritionist Sharon Palmer, also known as The Plant-Powered Dietitian, brings her decades of experience in plant-based cuisine with The Plant-Powered Plan to Beat Diabetes (May 2, 2023, 9781454945109) — a 100% plant-based cookbook that can help manage diabetes, prevent complications, and promote optimal health that includes 100 easy vegan recipes that are both inventive and delicious. The Plant-Powered Plan to Beat Diabetes A Guide for Prevention and Management - By Sharon Palmer, MSFS, RDN FOR MORE INFORMATION: https://sharonpalmer.com/plant-powered-plan-to-beat-diabetes-book/ In the United States, nearly 12% of the population has diabetes, with an additional 38% of adults experiencing prediabetes. Research shows that plant-based diets offer lasting benefits for people living with diabetes or prediabetes. And while there are numerous cookbooks that cater to those with diabetes, vegan options are scarce. Some Questions Answered in the Book: 1. Is it really true that eating a plant-based diet is good for diabetes--even given these foods have carbs? Why? 2. What does the research say about eating a plant-based diet on diabetes prevention and management? 3. What types of plant-based diets are good for diabetes? 4. Are there different strategies for eating when you look at the various types of diabetes? 5. What are the key elements of a plant-based diet that seems to be good for helping to prevent and manage diabetes? 6. What is the overall goal of a healthy diet for diabetes prevention and management? 7. What are some of the key foods that are part of a diabetes-fighting diet? 8. What does a day of eating look like for someone fighting diabetes? 9. What information do you provide to readers in your book, The Plant-Powered Plan to Beat Diabetes, that can help them prevent diabetes or treat it? How can it help them? 10. What kinds of recipes are available in your book? Which are your favorites? ABOUT THE AUTHOR : Sharon Palmer, MSFS, RDN, aka, The Plant-Powered Dietitian, is an editor, writer, and speaker, and one of the most recognized nutrition and vegan food experts nationally and internationally. She’s the author of three previous vegan cookbooks: The Plant-Powered Diet: The Lifelong Eating Plan for Achieving Optimal Health, Beginning Today (The Experiment, July 2012), Plant-Powered for Life: Eat Your Way to Lasting Health with 52 Simple Steps & 125 Delicious Recipes (2014), and California Vegan: Inspiration and Recipes from the People and Places of the Golden State (2021). Palmer has authored more than a thousand articles in a variety of publications, including Better Homes and Gardens, Oprah Magazine, Prevention, and the Los Angeles Times. A registered dietitian nutritionist, with a master’s degree in Sustainable Food Systems, Palmer is associate faculty in the Master of Science Sustainable Food Systems program at Prescott College. She lives in Ojai, California.

Whether it’s sugar or shopping, voyeuring or vaping, social media posts or sex, we all engage in behaviors we wish we didn’t do or to an extent….we regret. As we approach the New Year with resolutions in mind...Dr. Anna Lembke will teach your listeners the tools they need to prevent the tendency of making bad habits of cheap pleasures…including practical solutions for how to manage overconsumption, including dopamine fasting, self-binding, and radical honesty – and the lasting advantage to making these practices a part of everyday life. DOPAMINE NATION Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence - By Anna Lembke, MD https://www.annalembke.com/ DOPAMINE NATION is a book about pleasure. It’s also about pain. Most importantly, it’s about the relationship between the two and how understanding that relationship is essential for a life well-lived. Why? Because the world has transformed from a place of scarcity to a place of overwhelming abundance: drugs, food, news, shopping, gambling, social media, and the list goes on and on. Today, we’re all vulnerable to the problem of addiction. In DOPAMINE NATION, Anna Lembke, MD, medical director of Stanford Addiction Medicine, explores exciting new scientific discoveries that explain why the relentless pursuit of pleasure leads to pain, combined with the true stories of her patients falling prey to addiction and finding their way out again. Dr. Lembke has decades of experience in clinical practice and neuroscientific research and in DOPAMINE NATION, readers will learn: The Internet promotes compulsive overconsumption not merely by providing increased access to drugs old and new, but also by suggesting behaviors that otherwise may never have occurred to us. Videos don’t just “go viral.” They’re literally contagious, hence the advent of the meme. Rates of addiction are rising the world over. The disease burden attributed to alcohol and illicit drug addiction is 1.5% globally, and more than 5% in the United States. These data exclude tobacco consumption. Drug of choice varies by country. The US is dominated by illicit drugs, Russia and Eastern Europe by alcohol addiction. Our compulsive overconsumption risks not just our demise but also that of our planet. The world’s natural resources are rapidly diminishing. Economists estimate that in 2040 the world’s natural capital will be 21% less in high-income countries and 17% less in poorer countries. Meanwhile, carbon emissions will grow by 7% in high-income countries and 44% in the rest of the world. When researchers asked the following question to people in thirty countries around the world – “During the past four weeks, how often have you had bodily aches or pain? Never; seldom; sometimes; often; or very often?” – they found that Americans reported more pain than any other country. Dopamine is not the only neurotransmitter involved in reward processing, but most neuroscientist agree it is among the most important. Dopamine may play a bigger role in the motivation to get a reward than the pleasure of the reward itself. Exercise increases many of the neurotransmitters involved in positive mood regulation: dopamine, serotonin, and endorphins. Exercise contributes to the birth of new neurons and even reduces the likelihood of using and getting addicted to drugs. Strategies to manage overconsumption, including Dopamine fasting, self-binding, and radical honesty. The neuroscience of pleasure and pain using easy-to-understand metaphors and real-life examples. Her experiences treating patients with addiction and why she sees them as “modern day prophets” in a dopamine-rich world. Practical solutions for how to manage overconsumption, including dopamine fasting, self-binding, and radical honesty – and the lasting advantage to making these practices a part of everyday life. Her own struggles with compulsive overconsumption and how she has taken the lessons learned from her patients and applied them to her own life, including parenting her children About the Author: Anna Lembke is Medical Director and Professor of Stanford Addiction Medicine, program director for the Stanford Addiction Medicine Fellowship, and chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic. She is the recipient of numerous awards for outstanding research in mental illness, for excellence in teaching, and for clinical innovation in treatment. A clinician scholar, she has published more than a hundred peer-reviewed papers, book chapters, and commentaries in prestigious outlets such as The New England Journal of Medicine and JAMA. She sits on the board of several state and national addiction-focused organizations, has testified before various committees in the United States House of Representatives and Senate, keeps an active speaking calendar, and maintains a thriving clinical practice. “Anna Lembke deeply understands an experience I hear about often in the therapy room at the nexus between our modern addictions and our primal brains. Her stories of guiding people to find a healthy balance between pleasure and pain have the power to transform your life.” —Lori Gottlieb, “Dear Therapist” columnist at The Atlantic, New York Times bestselling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone “In an era of overconsumption and instant gratification, Dopamine Nation explains the personal and societal price of being ruled by the next fix—and how to manage it. No matter what you might find yourself over-indulging in—from the internet to food to work to sex—you’ll find this book riveting, scary, cogent, and cleverly argued. Lembke weaves patient stories with research, in a voice that’s as empathetic as it is clear-eyed.” —Beth Macy, author of Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company That Addicted America “We all desire a break from our routines and those parts of life that upset us. What if, instead of trying to escape these things, we learn to turn toward them, to reach a peaceful harmony with ourselves and the people we share our lives with? Lembke has written a book that radically changes the way we think about mental illness, pleasure, pain, reward, and stress. ” —Daniel J. Levitin, New York Times bestselling author of The Organized Mind and Successful Aging