Cinderella's Magical Wheelchair

Major accidents, injuries, and illnesses in early life, all have the debilitating potential to run rings of fear

around a child and imprison them in a cage of low-self-esteem and negative self-image. Here is one book for children that liberates them from fear and brings them the message of hope and confidence.

Winner of the silver medal for the Mom’s Choice Awards 2013 in the category “Children's Picture Books: Inspirational/Motivational, Cinderella's Magical Wheelchair: An Empowering Fairy Tale (Loving Healing Press, 2011) by Jewel Kats is a modern version of the timeless fairy tale Cinderella in which children meet a young Cinderella who is physically bound to a wheelchair. However, her beauty and creative talent are boundless. As her relatives make fun of her wish to meet the Prince at the up-and-coming royal costume party, her destiny turns out to be beautiful and true.

Taking a character with a physical disability and making her as lovable and strong as anyone is easier said than done; but Jewel Kats has done it perfectly. Her Cinderella on a wheelchair makes a model character for children who have suffered any kind of trauma or injury and its related psychological toll. Cinderella in Kat’s book lovingly goes about her jewelry-making work and remaining very positive and patient against the negative attitude of her family.

Cinderella's Magical Wheelchair also breaks with social stereotypes. Beauty for the Prince in this story does not mean looks; the Prince is moved when he sees Cinderella’s caring heart as she has made a get-well-soon card for her ill father, the King. Then, at the dance session, neither the Prince nor Cinderella is kept from dancing together by her wheelchair. It is a unique dance made possible by mutual love, respect, and care. Later in the story, Cinderella becomes an independent character, renting her own place and actualizing her artistic talent to earn her own living. She proves by example that one’s inner strength, the strength and beauty of one’s spirit is superior to physical abilities.

Like all empowering books, Cinderella's Magical Wheelchair is full of hope and encouragement for children. And it is also fun to read with the special fairy character Monique coming as a surprise and an amusing presence in Cinderella’s life. Written tightly with a touch of good humor and adorned with Richa Kinra’s eye-catching illustrations, this is one uplifting book for every child with any kind of physical disability, or any lingering effect of trauma, illness, or injury.

ISBN: 978-1615991129

Amazon Page: http://www.amazon.com/Cinderellas-Magical-Wheelchair-Empowering-Fairy/dp/1615991123

Author Website: http://www.jewelkats.com

Lucky

Denise Carey-Costa writes empowering, uplifting stories for children. Her stories teach compassion for Lucky (Robertson Publishing, 2011) is one such heart-warming story about the life of a homeless cat, named Lucky, who is lucky enough to survive on the street against accidents and people’s neglect.

animals, particularly for animals with a disability or physical limitation that makes them less attractive at first sight.

In the story, Lucky is a character that calls for compassion, being himself a model of love and care as he befriends a lonely boy with a disability. The two find each other as best friends but Lucky is not accepted by the boy’s mother. How he ultimately fins her place in the boy’s home is the inspiring tale of Lucky that will entertain children while also teaching an invaluable lesson in care and love. 

The book is written in an interesting style with a good deal of suspense that keeps the reader turning page after page to learn what happens to Lucky as he hopes for having a family while facing rejection due to his ugly appearance. The story’s illustrations have been provided by Nicole Sjostrom and Jonathan Iseminger and they visually complement the story well.

Lucky will touch hearts and amuse kids and make a great read for kids in school and at home. 

ISBN: 978-1611700350

Amazon Page: http://www.amazon.com/Lucky-Denise-Carey-Costa/dp/1611700353

Girl in Translation

Jean Kwok literally brings her characters to life in her debut novel Girl in Translation (Riverhead Books,

2010). The book traces the life journey of a Chinese girl Kim who moves along with her mother from Hong Kong to New York as an immigrant and takes on the challenges of poverty, underpaid labor, and cultural adjustments – her strength being the “talent of learning”.

    

Of the challenges Kim faces as a young Chinese immigrant in her new place, she specifically struggles with language. To her, learning English is at once the problem and the solution to her difficult situation. Given her gift of learning, Kim gradually takes control of her life and by the time she steps into adulthood, she has achieved what would make her and her mother proud. A tale of challenges and the courage to face them with patience, this novel has immense inspirational and motivational value, particularly for the newly immigrated people who have to grapple with issues of culture and identity in a foreign country.

Kwok’s voice is compelling, her talent of expressing character situations extraordinary. Far from trying to raise her protagonist to an inflated model of courage, the author lets Kim’s character come of age realistically, showing various shades of her person – the fear, the innocence, and the spirit driving her forward. The author’s approach is direct, her characterization anything but lofty so that the reader gets a sense of immediacy about the characters and their situations. By the end of the novel, the reader is most likely to be already in love with it.

Girl in Translation is one of the more refined works of contemporary fiction in English language. Whether immigrants or natives, this book makes an enjoyable and moving read of solid literary merit for all readers. 

ISBN: ISBN: 978-1594485152

Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/Girl-Translation-Jean-Kwok/dp/1594485151/ 

Angelina’s Angel

Angelina’s Angel (Robertson Publishing, 2011) is about a nine-year old girl Angelina who feels sad after her mom tells her they won’t be able to buy all the items Angelina wants for Christmas.

But when Angelina visits her Uncle Marty’s workshop, her feelings change to happiness and excitement. What gifts she sees there and how they cheer her up switch the mood of this story to sweetness and pure joy.  

Authors Marilynn Carey and Denise Carey-Costa have dedicated this very special Christmas story to ‘Great’ Uncle Marty. A life well lived is never forgotten, says the dedication page of this book. The story of Angelina and her uncle make the perfect example of what makes life really good.

Angelina’s Angel shows kids what is most valuable in life. It’s a book for all kids and makes an excellent Christmas gift, since the story takes place at Christmas time when happiness and hope fill the air all around us.   

ISBN: 978-1611700480

Amazon Page: http://www.amazon.com/Angelinas-Angel-Marilynn-Carey/dp/1611700485

Edwin’s Flight

Interesting, inspirational, and uplifting – Edwin’s Flight (Trafford Publishing, 2010) by Denise Carey-Costa

is an important book for children and for parents – particularly those having children with any kind of disabilities. It tells and shows the story of a baby bird named Edwin, born with a disability and unable to fly at first due to his physical limitation. However, with determination and personal effort, Edwin overcomes his weakness and flies high as any other birds of his kind and age.

The story is touching and written in an easy-to-understand language so that children who are just starting school can read and learn from it. Edwin’s change in his situation from a depressed bird to a confident flying one has an empowering potential for many children with special needs who will readily identify with Edwin’s character. Nicole Sjostrom and Jonathan Iseminger have beautifully illustrated this book with colored drawings of scenes from the story.

Edwin’s Flight can be of great value to for parents and educators who live or work with children having special needs and are vulnerable to low self-esteem and/or lack of participation in activities due to their special needs. 

ISBN: 978-1426922176

Amazon Page: http://www.amazon.com/Edwins-Flight-Denise-Carey-Costa/dp/1426922175

Not Becoming My Mother

One of the most interesting aspects of literature is the ease with which it bridges the gap between relationships that define generations, particularly when the relationships are gender-specific. Tracing traits among a line of descent provides a measure of the progress and/or decline in various parameters of life. Ruth Reichl’s Not Becoming My Mother (Penguin Press, 2009) draws a perceptible line of circumstances and individual choices from the time her mother grew up in a conservative American society of the 1920s to her own life in a more emancipated status.

Reichl tells the story of how she finally decided to pen her mother’s diaries on the day of what would have been her mom’s 100^th birthday, and she found bits of her own self strewn through the lines in the pages her mom wrote. Growing up in Cleveland, her mom had to choose between becoming a good wife or fulfill her potential as a person in the way she liked. As she opted for becoming what society expected of her, the woman left unfulfilled inside her chose to record her life’s gaps in words that would later fill the spaces discovered by her daughter in her own life.

Not Becoming My Mother is a book of deeply personal and highly valued relationships – that of a mother and child, and that of a person with themselves. It is a tribute to womanhood for all what this gender has been and how it has continued to come out of the haze of social standards set particularly for her. Aside from the exceptionally illustrative title cover, Reichl’s style of writing has a feel of immediacy and depth that goes to the core of her subject. It is a book for people who want to know their mothers’ lives and their own.

Amazon Page: http://www.amazon.com/Not-Becoming-My-Mother-Things/dp/1594202168

Author Website: http://www.ruthreichl.com/

Stricken Yet Crowned

Suffering rape at the age of 12 was the beginning of Michell Spoden’s eventful life as Spoden tells her life story in Stricken Yet Crowned (Sakura Publishing, 2010). Physical rape, as the author shows through her story, is only one of several forms of abuse besides various factors facilitating abuse of women even in societies where they have more civil rights than the rest of the world.

Michell Spoden’s book outlines the abuse of women in multiple forms and at various stages in life – physical rape, emotional deceit and manipulation by intended immigrants, and administrative denial to help pursue the truth and bring the culprits to justice – all laced in the same thread of womanhood. Readers will find it inspiring and motivating how something greater within the author never gave up on life. Making her past the path to her liberation, Spoden shows us that the spirit of healing never fails us if we commit not let ourselves down. That is how she learnt to be in the presence of the Holy Spirit and save her inner self from life-long possession by trauma and abuse.

The style of narration in Spoden’s book is interesting, fairly unusual as we read it like a documentary with an omniscient voice introducing various phases in the author’s life followed by her first-person account of the details of those stages in her life. It is the straightforwardness, the unaffectedness of her voice that feels as the most striking quality of her story. There is no drama in her book, no sentimentalism or appeal to any sort of trite gender-based victimization. The author’s account as well as questioning of attitudes and procedures is clear, to-the-point, and grasping.    

Now involved in helping the affected, traumatized, and suffering, Michell Spoden is starting to reach out to women in places where they suffer abuse regularly but have no voice to raise against it. By her own example, as detailed in Stricken Yet Crowned, she affirms that oppression is to be taken no more by the victims; that it “really is time for change”.

ISBN: 978-1463546304

Amazon Page: http://www.amazon.com/Stricken-Yet-Crowned-Michell-Spoden/dp/1463546300/

Tony’s Tale: Tragedy in Arizona

June 18, 2012 was one of the darkest days in the recent history of Arizona since the terrifying series of victimization of a harmless pet dog, named Tony, reached its peak that day. Tony was put to death by the animal control in Clifton, AZ, following judicial orders that ignored the international outcry for a fair trial of the dog accused of fatally injuring a smaller dog in the neighborhood while no physical evidence or solid testimony supported the accusation.

Tony’s Tale: Tragedy in Arizona (Robertson Publishing, 2012) is a short book, authored by animal rights advocate and spokesperson Denise Carey-Costa, telling Tony’s story from birth to execution and beyond. The book shows glimpses of memorable phases in Tony’s life as a beloved member of the owner Michelle Dozier’s family – Dozier’s acknowledgement to supporters being part of the book.

This book is important to read as it gives voice to the question of victimization by authorities, including a judge, which impose orders despotically on civilians and are not accountable to the people despite getting paid by the money raised from their taxes. A true story full of love, belongingness, and pain, Tony’s Tale is the voice of not a single person but everyone who believes in justice, family, and love. 

Note: A portion of the proceeds the book gets from sales will be donated to The Lexus Project, a legal defense fund for all dog breeds.

ISBN: 9781611700992

Amazon page: http://www.amazon.com/Tonys-Tragedy-Arizona-Denise-Carey-Costa/dp/161170099X

Writers on the Edge

Once in a while we come across books which broaden our view of problems, delivering insight that makes the foundation for finding effective solutions. Writers on the Edge (Modern History Press, 2012), edited by Diana M. Raab and James Brown, is such a book dealing with the widely prevalent problems of addiction and dependency. In this anthology, twenty-two writers speak about addiction and its impact on personal – physical and psychological – as well as social life of people.  

Jerry Stahl in his foreword to the book explains the often confused meaning of the “edge”, saying that the “edge” actually is in the middle—i.e., when you are in the middle of turmoil, it is the stage often mistakenly, or for sake of verbal fashion, termed as the “edge”. This point is illustrated by the mostly poignant voices of the authors included in Writers on the Edge. Their memoirs, essays, and poems open to readers the journey through addiction, showing the gradual, often semi-intentional slipping into dependency on a substance, habit, or lifestyle that would ultimately stifle their growth as a person—sometimes leading to active suicide attempts. Unlike blaming it all on the object of addiction, the self-conscious writings here attempt to show the crevices in one’s own personality and integrity through which the desperate need for clinging to something oozes inside one’s being.

Individual pieces of writing in this book are brilliant and complete. Many of these writings are painfully honest and more than a few get the reader to a point of tenderness where the story of the writer, with all its power, replaces the reader’s surroundings. The insights vary from the angle(s) the writers take to explore the problem of addiction and dependency – ranging from Chase Twichell’s cuttingly thoughtful “eyes behind the eyes” element of one’s self to Frederick and Steven Barthelme’s grasping picture of the psychology of gambling, and Anna David’s dreaded “beep” of failure in creative expression leading to self-destructiveness.   

Writers on the Edge is ultimately a book of hope, showing how people losing themselves to the shady grounds of addiction do always have the choice to take control and switch their direction to arrive at healthy, positive living. This is not a “how to” guide on taking a U-turn from a difficult situation but a personal journey of people who made it away from the “edge” by existential choice and self-realization; so why not anyone else?          

ISBN: 978-1615991082

Amazon Page: http://www.amazon.com/Writers-Edge-Speak-Addiction-Dependency/dp/1615991085

Black Cow

Admit it or not, modern urban life has stresses that keep piling up on the middle class workers till life reaches a breaking point. One big, visible indicator of such a situation is loss of peace and relationships getting vulnerable to the point of breaking down. Australian author Magdalena Ball explores this issue in her latest novel Black Cow (Bewrite Books, 2012) through the story of a James and Freya, a married couple living in Sydney and increasingly feeling the pressure of work and home responsibilities hammering on their marriage and sanity.

While Magdalena Ball’s earlier novel Sleep beforeEvening was focused more on personal journey of a teenager through the trials of growing up, Black Cow is more about a conscious revision of values and improvement of lifestyle by letting go of the choices – place, work, and living – dragged along for meeting the demands of urban living, and returning instead to a simpler life in a rural community where surviving takes different tools and happiness has a more satisfying meaning.   

Perhaps the greatest significance of this book lies in showing the true nature of success – something that has been so pervasively confused with and thrust under earning more and keeping people pleased at the cost of one’s own happiness. Against the rampant consumerism, the protagonists of the novel decide to try life in sustainable terms, to be satisfied with what they got. In one of the chapters near the end of the novel, Freya makes the point expressly – “where you live doesn’t have to determine how you live.”

Black Cow is a novel which has food for thought for all people whose lives and relationships are stressed. This book can show them where their problem lies and how to solve it best.

Amazon page: http://www.amazon.com/Black-Cow-Magdalena-Ball/dp/1927086469

ISBN: 978-1927086469

Out of Darkness: From Turmoil to Transformation

If you are one of those searching for the true meaning of happiness, one book you must not miss reading is Steve Taylor’s Out of the Darkness (Hay House, 2011). This book brings clarity and understanding to our otherwise misunderstood ideal of happiness, looking at the concept of happiness from a psycho-spiritual angle.

Taylor, a psychology lecturer in Britain and author of the best-selling book Waking from Sleep, has included in his book true studies of people, some of them widely known for their excellent work or achievements, showing their transformation to a state of peace and positivity after experiencing trauma or turmoil in their lives. These “shifters”—as termed in the book—changed for good, no more taking life for granted but valuing each moment of it as a joy in itself. Whether it was some terrifying physical accident, intense emotional crisis, or a close encounter with death, the trial in life paradoxically worked wonders for the shifters, whose entire perception of everyday life and personal involvement in its activities derived new meaning—a state of deep satisfaction and harmony with all that is there.

What precisely could cause such bliss is explained by the author in terms of our psychological structure. The book explores the role of ego in human perception and attitude. Ego is held at the core of the quest for doing more, going for the mundane, and to have more than is there already—leading us to unfulfilling, presumed points of happiness. But after the sufferings or coming face to face with death, the ego is beaten down and its shell of possession around our mind is broken, liberating the inner self to true happiness and fresh appreciation of life.

Out of the Darkness has many important lessons for its readers and answers to many important questions, including but not limited to:

 Difference between religious conversion and spiritual transformation
 Breaking attachments for attaining happiness
 Psychotic states versus higher states of consciousness
 Spirituality after substance abuse
 Work, relationships, and spirituality
 Freedom and happiness

Steve Taylor’s book is inspirational, informative, and full of hope. In our times when each day comes to millions as a challenge to make more, Out of the Darkness shows what it really means to make the most of our lives each moment. This book is without question a must-read for everyone.

Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/Out-Darkness-Turmoil-Transformation-Taylor/dp/1848502540

Author website: http://www.steventaylor.talktalk.net/

F.N.G

Donald Bodey’s war novel F.N.G (new revised edition from Modern History Press, 2008) tells a story of a Vietnam War veteran in his words. The book depicts the psychological impact of traumatic war experiences on a young soldier, or F.N.G—the military slang for ‘Fucking New Guy’.

The protagonist of the novel Gabriel Sauers, after accidentally shooting his grandson in the foot while hunting in the wild, remembers his arrival in Vietnam as a draftee. Through his eyes, the readers see the miserable living condition of the soldiers in a land that is far from home in every sense. With time, the uncertainty of life in the war zone accumulates as Sauers witnesses many a trauma including the death of his fellow soldiers and the ugliness of the world’s most dangerous and senseless situation—kill or be killed.

The narration is raw and imparts the closeness of the misery, physical and psychological, that a newcomer experienced fighting in Nam. Bodey’s writing skill is concentrated in the imagery of the places, people, and situations that constituted the frightening experiences of its leading character. In this book, you not only read about the Vietnam War, but you see the war, smell the rotting life affected by it, and hear the silent cries of the souls thrown into a pit of horror. And by the time you get to the novel’s end, the suspicion of whether Sauers really shot his grandson accidentally makes you think twice about the deepest scars war leaves on those who “fight” it.

There’s quite a bit of military slang in F.N.G, reflected in the title, and the author has made available an online glossary on his website. While may not be an enjoyable book for many female audiences, for all people interested in serious war fiction, this novel is worth reading.

ISBN: 978-1932690590

Availability: http://www.amazon.com/F-N-G-Revised-Donald-Bodey/dp/193269059X

Author Website: http://donbodey.com/

American Elegies

“Hype over substance” is the new American motto as readers are told in the prolegomenon of American Elegies (World Audience Publishers, 2008). The poet, Louis Phillips, has mourned this degradation in a unique, America-centric verse.

Phillips’ view takes for its reference Johnny Inkslinger (Paul Bunyan’s smart chef), implying a sharp eye and good consideration for the subject adopted into verse. Johnny Inkslinger engages in virtual travels, rendezvous, and memories of people, places, things, and events—all American—that left a mark on American thought. Battles, Native American land and animals, Hollywood, sports, politics, art and literature, and more—Johnny Inkslinger makes sure not to miss on anything.

The mood of these poems is mostly contemplative, and not plaintive in the more traditional, classic elegiac style. Some poems read much more critically, a few even getting satirical. But the imagery, mostly from memories of past American events, things, and places, dilutes the mood sufficiently to impart the feel of an adventurous, slightly nostalgic travel in what America has been; in what it has seen.

What makes it difficult for an average, and in particular non-American, reader is that these poems are full of allusions (not unexpectedly) to American history, icons, culture, and literature. A well-read reader, however, with sound knowledge of Americana will surely find it a treasure of thoughts connecting America’s past and its present. The ending of the books is more overtly plaintive: disappointment in America’s lack of morals.

ISBN: 0982054009

Availability: http://www.amazon.com/American-Elegies-Louis-Phillips/dp/0982054009

Wisdom to Wellness

The traditional medical system treats only the symptoms of our health issues and for this, we spend a lot of our income/savings, without getting to the root cause of the problem and fixing it for good. In this book, alternative-holistic therapist Maureen Minnehan Jones shares with her readers the essence of her successful healing techniques as well as the theoretical framework for addressing the root cause of disease. Jones educates readers on the often-ignored side of all disease—our emotional self and its deep relation with our life energy, which manifest in our physical condition.

Maureen Jones’ work shows that disease is not something reducible to an external biological agent (the generally believed germ theory of disease); rather it is an expression of the deeper inner needs which have been left unattended and, quite often, suppressed. We often fail to nurture our souls with the love and trust we require each moment, leading our bodies as well as minds to a condition where they lose their natural, healthy state. How to get them in order with simple, yet vital attitude and practices is what Jones’ book achieves.

In separate chapters, Wisdom to Wellness explains the nature of a number of the most common and dreaded diseases—cancer, heart disease, HIV/AIDS, arthritis, Alzheimer’s, and Hepatitis etc—and what needs to be done to prevent and/or treat them. Each chapter on disease has one or more case studies giving an account of what it means to suffer from that condition and what it takes to get over it. The author’s writing is very organized and smooth, and it involves the reader deeply in the book’s chapters. Each chapter starts with a memorable, wise quote. The effect of the book is uplifting and its message is assuring, i.e. we can be take control of our lives if we want.

Wisdom to Wellness deserves recommendation for anyone who cares about their health, wellbeing, and quality of life.

Availability: http://www.amazon.com/Wisdom-Wellness-Emotional-Sufferings-Physical/dp/184694399X

Ideas and Jellyfish

Professor Askin Ozcan has named this collection of his stories and reflections Ideas and Jellyfish (Prakash Books, 2011), after one of the creative nonfiction pieces in the book—the comparison being that ideas are elusive, just like jellyfish, slipping away the moment you touch them.

The items in this book are full of wit, humor, and adventure, though not all chapters are equally exciting; some are rich in creativity and thought; some are rather plain, like usual observations. Many stories are based on the author’s adventures in different countries and cultures (Professor Ozcan being a widely-traveled person). Interesting coincidences also make some of the real-life stories more attractive. At the end of the book are some fresh jokes.

The best story, which is also the longest in the book, is undoubtedly Please, No Serious Business! Full of humor, fantasy, and gentle satire, it describes the formation of a political party consisting of comedians, who win the national elections while sticking to their motto of making people laugh. In imagination, humor, and mood, it emulates the author’s previous gem The Second Venice. This story alone makes good reason for all lovers of amusing fiction to get the book and see how far the author’s imagination can take them.

Call it the work of wit, Professor Ozcan’s amusing ideas presented in this collection aren’t so shy as jellyfish. They are likely to remain with the readers for quite a while after they have finished reading the book.

ISBN-13: 9788172343736

Availability: http://www.egully.com/products/Ideas-%26-Jellyfish-by-Askin-Ozcan.html

Skive: The Short Story Quarterly—December 2006

Skive magazine by the Mockfrog Design Press (Australia) was a quarterly of short fiction presenting the work of writers from around the world. The second issue of the print version, published December 2006, includes 28 short stories from as many writers. The anthology covers a broad range of themes, styles, and moods, making a kind of a literary map of the world’s voices in storytelling.

Most of the stories in this collection are quite interesting—some, like Pankaj Challa’s Padma, inspiring compassion; some sketching a case of critique of art (e.g. The Finished Symphony: A Fable); while a few, like Hidden Monsters by Donna Johnson, showing the not-so-invisible dreads of human life that are not scary, to surprise all. There is some great, refined humor in a few stories, J. R. Salling’s Bird is the Word being the best of them. Of course, there are quite a few outright crazy ones too, like M. Wilkinson’s The Eclipse.

This Skive anthology is lovable for its diversity, literary taste, and storytelling skills in various genres. The magazine has been publishing online, and later in print, for a number of years. This issue is available online at Lulu. Editor Matthew Ward is now starting a new unique magazine called No Printer Zone wherein he means to include hand-written work—stories, poems, and visual art.

ISBN: 978-1-934209-13-4

Availability: http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/skive-magazine-quarterly---issue-2-december-2006/604629

The Death of Pan

Our existence in the world as humans having bodies and minds is defined by a perpetual quest for making sense of life—through expressing and concealing, as well as interacting with various elements, both internally and outwardly. More than anything else, we are instinctively drawn to defend our ‘self’—that which is considered and felt as the valuable and, in a more metaphysical sense, the sacred. Tom Petsinis’ The Death of Pan (Penguin Books Australia, 2001) engages readers in 16 compelling tales of the characteristic human anxiety, which makes the base of the continuum connecting the biological instinct of self-preservation with the learned aspects of living in society.

These stories grab your attention since the very first page of the book in that the author takes you, the reader, as his protagonist—the tales all narrated in second person. The nameless main character “you” becomes an everyman in different geographical and social settings and experiencing various situations with a heightened consciousness, mostly getting increasingly anxious as the veneers around the protected self peel one by one with the unfolding of the events in each story. Comparing the human sense, or spirit, of protection with the Greek god Pan, Petsinis subtly strips his readers of their illusion of the human being the advanced species—traditionally perceived as reflecting the image of god—with a touch of irony. Man’s story starts out well, with hope and passion, but not for long. The illusion dies, as does Pan (the only Greek god who really dies, as the mythology goes), and what follows is beyond description—just the end of the story, as in Petsinis’ tales.

Though Petsinis’ themes and characters are more generic, his characters—or “you”—are men with a passion for the artistic, intellectual, the exceptional; they are mostly aspiring geniuses and masters of a craft or skill—individuals more than willing to shoulder the heavens. Whether they are really up to it and how they will soon worry about saving themselves from the fierce force of life make the element of interest in the plot of each narrative. In some of these stories, Anorexia for example, the causal or thematic connection between events is rather obscure; in others, it shows in each line. Stories like The Ultimate Prime and The Lion Tamer are sharply focused gems of meaningful narrative wherein readers are taken right on to the thin line between achievement and doom. One story, The Predator, instantiates the art of good story-telling and the value it holds for the storyteller—literarily and commercially.

The only thing that may bother the reader of The Death of Pan is the monotonous narration in second person. A voice, not yours, telling that you did this and went through that feels imposing at times. On the whole, however, Petsinis’ stories are not to be missed. It is a literary treasure, timeless and invaluable.

ISBN: 014100424X

Dark Side of the Universe

The origin and evolution of the universe has been the subject of many a publication since Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time became a bestseller. For the most part, these books—written for the general educated reader—have remained informative on popular concepts discussed in Hawking’s book: elementary particles, black holes, expansion of the universe, and fate of the universe etc. But few have zoomed in on the invisible, or dark, components of the universe and the kind of research being conducted to discover its nature. Here is a book that takes its readers on an interesting trip around the hidden side of the universe—Iain Nicolson’s Dark Side of the Universe (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007).

The author of the book starts with basic concepts of cosmology—like stars, elementary particles, black holes, and the basic physical forces of nature—and then skillfully moves on, deeper and deeper into discussing the less known realms of the universe. Each chapter details important research studies and experiments, answering questions that arise naturally from the discussion while new questions surface for the following chapters. The most important and interesting of the topics is that of dark energy. We learn from the book that, just like dark matter, the new standard cosmological model of the universe also includes dark energy as a major component of the universe. In fact, it is now considered the largest component, followed by dark matter, and finally the visibly matter and luminous energy.

Since the ultimate fate of the universe depends on the relative abundance of its various components, Ian Nicholson’s discussion of dark energy is relevant to the big question of why our universe will end one way or the other. This aside, detail of the scientific method applied in research on cosmological concepts is a prominent and attractive quality of this book, which informs us on what significant research projects are currently underway and what kind of knowledge they are expected to bring in the coming years. Nicholson remembers to trace various developments to their discoverers or key researchers.

And of course, the glossy print and high-quality, colored illustrations make the book an eye charmer.

For any reader interested in science, particularly cosmology and physics, Dark Side of the Universe is highly recommended.

ISBN: 978-0801885921

Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Side-Universe-Matter-Energy/dp/0801885922/

Whose Cries are Not Music

Nature, emotions, and life – all define Linda Benninghoff’s poetry, which has the immediacy of observation as well as constant invitation to thought and consideration. Of her latest poetry collection Whose Cries are Not Music (Lummox Press, California, 2011), Jim Knowles writes so aptly in his introduction to the book: “Linda is direct and earnest with her entertainment of the natural world to speak for her life.” This book of poems has more to say than her earlier, shorter works, like Departures wherein she has been more thematic.

Benninghoff’s involvement with nature shows in almost every poem of hers, even if she is showing us a scene from human life in the city. Whether it’s an animal or a tree, a sound or a ray of light, for this poet of nature, it’s a mirror reflecting our lives, making us conscious of it. We see barren and cold grounds in The Poem (p. 66) trodden by deer that are full of life, their energies stirring the inner, dormant music in our spirit. In The Sea (p. 70), nature comes as a living and life-hosting whole. In yet other poems, like The Seal (p. 32) and This Cat (p. 77), we learn valuable lessons in independence and endurance from animals smaller and weaker than us in the physical sense.

Memories are a key component of Benninghoff’s poetry, more so in this book, which is laden with nostalgic scenes relived in the poet’s verse. Memories of friends, family members, natural scenes, and dreams – things that meant in and for life – all render the poet’s scenes of emotional experiences come alive with the sense of a living self, still moving through time consciously, albeit precariously. Some of the memories are depressing, of dying and/or dead friends and family members. But the special quality of memory is that each one is distinct – having an identity of its own within the mind bearing it.

The eponymous poem Whose Cries are Not Music (p. 51) is one the most painful poems in this collection. Pain born with life has been depicted in a gloomy mood by the poet, conveyed in the cries of geese that have traveled miles and can make only one sound, like “a child who has no words and will cry without stopping”. Constant motion through life and nonstop change make life less certain, but, paradoxically, give it the meaning it has.

The final section of the book, called “After Death”, combines nature, life, and dreams poetically in a rather metaphysical mood. It is here that the staring look of a deer gives us a glimpse of life’s frailty. The poem Dance (p. 99) literally equates death with the attempt to reach a dream that is no longer here (on earth). The last poem In Dying (p. 100) goes on to ask, “Don’t we reveal in dying who we are?”, including the remarkable analogy of husk coming from seed.

Throughout her poetry, Linda Benninghoff maintains the sense of life and our neglected treasure of consciousness of nature. Her imagist portrayal of life’s wild and tame aspects neatly assimilate the spirit of romanticism without losing the stark realism of the modern times that presses itself poignantly on the minds of writers who value life and stand for peace. Whose Cries are Not Music is the book for lovers of poetry of, and for, life.


ISBN: 978-1929878956

Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/Whose-Cries-Are-Not-Music/dp/1929878958

Harmony – Celebrate Age (February 2011)

By good chance, I happened to search for Tina Ambhani, former Bollywood star (known as Tina Munim then), and found this wonderful magazine she has been editing. Titled Harmony: Celebrate Age, it is all-things-silver, a complete gift for the senior citizens and those interested in issues relating seniors – or ‘silvers’ as they are called.

The February 2011 issue of Harmony includes many inspiring stories about the great work silvers in Indian have been doing ranging from art and green living to activism and humanitarian initiatives. The content is diverse and engaging, and it does away with the ingrained stereotype of aging as something that takes the life out of you; through these stories, you realize what potential silvers enjoy in living positively and harmoniously with the gift of life.

Beside the feature stories, the magazine includes news, reviews, tips, and essays that are informative and practically helpful. Even the ads look fresh and purposeful (one in this issue tells silvers of a hip cell phone customized toward silvers’ special needs). Here we have a complete silver potpourri that is perfectly capable of emulating any high-quality international publication. A must read for any and everyone!

Browse the magazine’s issues at http://www.harmonyindia.org/.