M AY 2019

Your guide to self-publishing

Why Authors Shouldn’t Crowdsource Book Cover Designs •
Ask the Editor • First Lines from BookLife Authors •
Indie Scouting Report • 95 New Titles Listed

Seeing
Double
An indie author explores
what happens when
the past collides
with the present

BY MATIA BURNETT

A
uthor Gurpreet Kaur Sidhu’s writerly
instincts developed when she was
quite young; in fact, she still has
the very first “book” that she wrote, in
seventh grade, to “remind myself of how
 ® INDIE SUCCESS

I was dead set on getting an agent

and having my work published through a big
publishing house. After getting rejected over
50 times, I decided that if I wanted the world to read
my work, I wasn’t going to wait around.

far I’ve come in my writing career.” She’s unable

to count the number of times that a teacher
caught her secretly writing stories in class.
Growing up, Sidhu was heavily influenced by
the Harry Potter books, but, as a self-confessed
romantic, she was also drawn to the love stories
of Nicholas Sparks. Her interest in thrillers
arose not so much through the page as through
the screen: “I love watching shows like Scandal
and How to Get Away with Murder.”
As Sidhu came of age and pursued a career in
business management—serving as assistant man-
ager at a Fortune 500 company—she continued to
find a haven from life’s stresses and disillusion-
ments through writing creatively. In her debut
novel, Storm, she takes an imaginative approach
to themes of truth and personal accountability.
Storm is a thriller focused on past lives, reincar-
nation, and doppelgängers.
“I believe in reincarnation and that karma
determines what kind of life we will lead in our
next life,” Sidhu says. “I wanted to mess with the
idea of creating a character who remembered
who he was in a previous life, but he wasn’t a
good person, to say the least.” She began to
wonder how characters might deal with the bur-
den of their malicious actions from previous
existences.
Sidhu says Storm takes a long look at the
multifaceted nature of human beings and their
capacity for treachery and duplicity. The book

38 B O O K L I F E , M AY 2 7 , 2 0 1 9
came about in the aftermath
of a personal betrayal and in
response to questions that Sidhu
found herself asking: “Was I
too trusting? Do I need to have
my guard up? Will this happen
again with a different person?
Now, having put those experi-
ences behind me, I wanted to
incorporate them into the story,
and creating a doppelgänger
was a way to do that.”
Sidhu set out to publish her
novel traditionally. “In the
very beginning, I was dead set
on getting an agent and hav-
ing my work published through
a big publishing house,” she
says. But she was pragmatic
in her approach, weighing the
pros and cons of traditional
publishing and self-publishing.
The latter won out.
“After getting rejected over
50 time s , I d e c i d e d t h a t i f I
wanted the world to read my
work, I wasn’t going to wait
around or be dead by the time
they discovered Storm,” Sidhu
says. She also recognized that
she’d need some expert advice
in order to effectively navigate
the world of self-publishing
and hired an editor and a
publicist—a move that she
strongly recommends for first-
time authors.
When it comes to balancing
her professional role with her
writing life, Sidhu is sure to
make deadlines for herself and
to adhere to tight schedules:
“It really comes down to creat-
ing a task list for each project
you’re working on and then
setting deadlines for each
duty.” She is hard at work on
the sequel to Storm, titled
Shadow, which she plans to
publish in 2020. 
Q&A SPONSORED
BookLife Talks with
Steven C. Brandt
Novelist and management writer Brandt
returns with an insightful poetry collection
about surviving his wife’s dementia.
What inspired you to start writing the
poems in The Golden Window: Poems,
Collection I 2015–2017 Self-Reliance to
Caregiving?
I wrote these poems to survive. My wife of 52
years was diagnosed with dementia in 2010
and died in 2016. I started creating small
books just for her before starting The Golden
Window. Why shift to poetry? Curiosity, I
guess. Fiction is typically expansive. Many
words are used to reach and hold a reader.
Poetry is contractive. The writer distills the
subject to a form and the fewest words pos-
sible to provoke thinking, meaning, and
feeling.
How is this volume organized? What criteria
did you use to determine whether a poem
belonged in this collection or elsewhere?
Over two years, I created over 300 poems on many subjects. I ended up
classifying them in six categories I named “Parts”: Self-Reliance, Living
Full, Nature, Joys, Sorrows, and Caregiving. Unlike my fiction, my poetry
tends to be independent of place, time, and, usually, gender.
You’re an avid reader. Which authors have influenced your thinking
the most?
Starting in grade school at PS 39 in Indianapolis, I loved reading and
hung out in local libraries. The formative writers for me have been
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Shakespeare, various
Japanese haiku poets, the New Testament writers, and Buddhist writ-
ers/teachers such as Jack Kornfield.
You seem to thrive on variety. You have written novels, management
and business books, and numerous columns and articles. How do you
know which genre is best for your ideas?
Writing is a craft of giving ideas and thoughts life, of making them
tangible for others. “An idea trapped in your head is the same as no
idea at all” is something I used to tell my graduate students at Stanford.
Writers’ building blocks in any genre are spoken words or other visual
symbols arranged in a language; symbols can be mathematical, scien-
tific, or even iconic. The idea dictates the form.
■ For the complete interview, visit booklife.com/brandtpoetry.
B O O K L I F E .C O M 39
 ® COVER ART

Cover Redesign
This month, Michelle Argyle at Melissa Williams Design
reimagines the cover of The Dreaming Road by Elizabeth
Moore, who praised the new cover, saying, “It perfectly
depicts someone walking away... to eternal life.”
To submit a book for a free cover redesign, email us at booklifeeditor@booklife.com. Original Cover

This cover
needs to convey
a sense of
heavenly grace
Adding a tagline and potential. A
to this cover beautiful ocean
really helps sunrise achieves
bring it together this. The font
and gets the for the word
reader asking Dreaming also
questions and gives the cover
wondering a more carefree
about the book. feel than the
original.

Adding a
The original spatter texture
cover is a great over the image
concept, but it’s of the woman on
a little confusing the beach gives
with the two the cover some
faces. I change more depth and
that by focusing ties into the
on a solitary starry texture in
figure. the title.

40 B O O K L I F E , M AY 2 7 , 2 0 1 9
 The Adventures of
Samba Rat & Friends
In Sherman the Last Dragon

Four woodland friends, Samba

Rat, Peter Porcupine, Squirrely,
a scout camp mascot and Cindy,
a ladybug, returning home from
a Spring picnic, are caught in a
storm and discover a large
mysterious egg hidden in an
ancient tree.

When it hatches into a baby

dragon, the four friends are set
upon an adventure to find the
little creature a home.

"Epic Fantasy"
"Fun to Read"
"Delightful Moral Fable"
ISBN 978-1-64298-980-9
ISBN 978-1-64298-979-3
Available:
 ® COVER DESIGN

Cover
Me
Authors should reconsider
asking the crowd about
book cover design

BY JANE FRIEDMAN Jane Friedman

I
t’s a beloved truism in publishing that the
cover is the key marketing tool for a book.
Even those outside of the industry know the
cliché, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” But, in
fact, we all make snap judgments about whether
we’d enjoy books based on looks alone. It’s not
so different from shopping for clothing or any-
thing with a distinct look and feel—some things
match one’s identity and others don’t.
That’s why it drives me a little nuts when authors
post their covers in progress on social media
groups full of other authors and ask for feedback.
This tends to happen for one of two reasons.
Either the author is unhappy with the cover she
received from her publisher—and seeks validation
or support in requesting a new design—or she’s
trying to decide between multiple cover options.
Those crowdsourced opinions have an approx-
imate value of zero in determining the best cover.
Here are three reasons why:
that is the case, it must be remedied before any
intelligent cover discussion can happen. At the
very least, an author needs a firm grasp on the
genre she’s attempting to fit into and what strong
sellers look like in that genre.
When I work with self-publishing clients, one
of the first things we do is assemble a cover brief.
This brief establishes the genre or categor y,
describes themes of the novel that might affect
the cover’s aesthetic, and points to other covers
with the aesthetic that we’re shooting for. That
gives us a very clear way to, first, choose an appro-
priate designer (someone with experience in
creating covers for the genre or who has the right
design sensibility) and, second, evaluate whether
the designer has achieved the goals of the cover.
How the book will be primarily marketed and

1. The crowd hasn’t been part of the book’s

big-picture marketing and packaging dis-
It drives me nuts
cussion. No meaningful cover discussion can
occur without an understanding of the initial
when authors post covers
cover direction and why that direction was estab-
lished. Unfortunately, this may lead to an uncom-
in progress on social media
fortable realization: the author doesn’t know what and ask for feedback.
the cover direction is or didn’t establish one. If

42 B O O K L I F E , M AY 2 7 , 2 0 1 9
COVER DESIGN ®

sold can also play into the cover design brief. For
example, commercial fiction or books heavily
marketed through Amazon will often feature clear,
crisp designs with high contrast. The names of
bestselling authors may outweigh the titles of the
books. Books marketed more to high-end read-
ers—take The Meaning of Life from the School of
Life as a recent example—have covers that are
downright unfriendly to online display. But School
of Life books are mainly marketed to those who
know the brand already, and they may be buying
direct.
2. T he author crowd doesn’t represent
readership. They will have their own aesthetic
judgments and biases, and they may have little
in common with the readers whom an author is
trying to reach. Worse still, an author may not
know the experiences or backgrounds of the
people offering opinions. That’s common when
surveying a large Facebook group consisting of
thousands of members.
Of course, there may be scenarios in which
surveying the crowd is a wise
decision, like when asking readers
for feedback. Even then, exercise
caution. If fans sense that an
author wants them to react in a
particular way, they will. Try to
ask open-ended questions such
as, “What feeling does this cover
evoke?”
3. Cover disagreements with
the publisher shouldn’t be
taken to the crowd for a verdict.
If authors are unhappy with the
covers from their publishers,
author groups are more likely
to offer support than contrary
opinions. But seeking validation
isn’t going to help an author
(Tip: preorder marketing or advertising campaigns
can be an early indicator if the cover is off.)
For my most recent book , The Business of
Being a Writer, I was not happy with the first
cover design from my publisher. It’s not that the
cover was bad, but I believed the aesthetic con-
veyed all the negative stereotypes that writers
have about business. I wrote to my editor explain-
ing my reservations and why I thought it was
sending the wrong message. Thankfully, the
second cover design better captured the essence
of the book.
Though there are many areas of writing and
publishing in which it can be helpful to brainstorm
and solicit feedback from within one’s social
circles, an author’s most important marketing
tool shouldn’t be left to a random vote. Smart
authors must remember to be intentional, focused,
and reader driven when making decisions. ■
Jane Friedman teaches digital media and
publishing at the University of Virginia and
is the former publisher of Writer’s Digest.
“A detailed book about an extraordinary
man and his belief that ‘only dialogue can
save humanity from the perils of war.’ ”
-Kirkus Reviews
AVA I L A B L E AT
and local bookstores

s e c u re a b e t te r c o v e r. Q u i te
honestly, publishers don’t care
what family, friends, or social
media circles think about a
book’s cover. But they do care
if the Barnes & Noble buyer is
unhappy with the cover—or if
t h ey believe the cover is not
ISBN: 9780578420318 (hardcover);
appealing to the target audience. Page count: 644
Publisher: Dr. Ghoulem Berrah Foundation
9780578460765 (paperback);
9780578420431 (ebook)

B O O K L I F E .C O M 43
 ® BOOKS TO WATCH

Scouting Report
In this month’s roundup of the best-reviewed BookLife titles,
we highlight an Ayurvedic cookbook, a guide to reducing
screen time while still staying connected, a thriller, and others.

★ The Laureate Thou Shall Not Kill

KEN TENTARELLI JOHN LEIFER

Synopsis: Set in Synopsis: This is Leifer’s

Renaissance Italy, third thriller featuring John
Tentarelli’s novel begins Hart, a former Navy SEAL
with the death of Cosimo and the president’s fixer.
de Medici, which creates a PW’s Takeaway: Readers
power vacuum in Florence. will appreciate Leifer’s
PW’s Takeaway: Tentarelli ingenuity in coupling
makes the setting accessible suspense with a believable
to neophytes in the service scenario.
of a page-turning and suspenseful plot. Readers Comparable Title: Tom Clancy’s Without
will eagerly await the sequel. Remorse
Comparable Title: Michael Ennis’s The Malice of Sample Line: “Having witnessed the near
Fortune annihilation of New York City following the
Sample Line: “Bartolomeo Scala chose an detonation of a 15-kiloton nuclear bomb, Hart
unusual place for our meeting. The monastery responded viscerally. He could taste the sickly
of San Salvi has been home to Benedictine sweet bile rise up in his gut in response to
monks for hundred of years.” Meir’s plea.”
Read the Review: Read the Review:
publishersweekly.com/9781795355186 publishersweekly.com/9780999565544

Log Off Turmeric & New Shoes

BLAKE SNOW Spice B.C. PALMER
Synopsis: Snow BINA MEHTA Synopsis: Palmer’s
realizes that Synopsis: Mehta debut stars
screen time is shares her knowl- sorcerer Adam
toxic and devel- edge in this wide- Saint, who was
ops a strategy for balance. ranging collection of Indian fare possessed by a
PW’s Takeaway: Snow’s for cooks of all skill levels. demon as a child.
warnings and strategies for PW’s Takeaway: Readers are PW’s Takeaway: A well-drawn
dealing with internet overuse certain to appreciate Mehta’s cast, terrific worldbuilding, and
will be a wake-up call for assortment of classic and con- snarky humor make this perfect
readers. temporary Indian recipes. for fans of Simon R. Green.
Comparable Title: Cal Newport’s Comparable Title: Sahara Rose Comparable Title: Stephen
Digital Minimalism Ketabi’s Eat Feel Fresh Blackmore’s Dead Things
Read the Review: publishers- Read the Review: publishers- Read the Review: publishers-
weekly.com/9781973543749 weekly.com/9781732891616 weekly.com/9781732445208

44 B O O K L I F E , M AY 2 7 , 2 0 1 9
FIRST LINES ®

First Lines
Our monthly look at some of the best
first lines by BookLife authors
This month we’ve got obits, the pall of death,
and solitary mornings. To submit a first line
email booklifeeditor@booklife.com.
A Candle for My Mother
PAMELA L. NEWTON
“Whether it is destiny or chance that
delivers us to the parents we inherit,
there can be no mistaking the impact a
parent has on our life, especially a mom.”
Deadly Circles
CLARK HABERMAN
“On this day the pall of death hangs
over two different valleys separated by
eighteen hundred miles.”

The Bellringer Dragon Dreams

WILLIAM TIMOTHY MURRAY DUSTY LYNN HOLLOWAY
“When is the beginning of any story?” “In my shadow you sleep, hungry for my
soul.”

Wildflowers
Bitten DELORES LOWE FRIEDMAN
MELINDA RUCKER HAYNES “Right after Ruby’s death, I started
“Waking up alone was no surprise.” reading the obituaries.”

You don’t need to be lucky, or a genius,

to create a successful invention. You
just need a clear process to spark ideas
and bring them to market.

Invent, Innovate, and Prosper is a practical

handbook for inventing based on Michael
Colburn’s decades of work as a successful
inventor. He shares his step-by-step system
for launching profitable inventions, along
with the surprising real-life lessons that
helped him thrive.

Available Now At

and bookstores everywhere from Ingram Distribution

Print 978-1733770804
eBook 978-1733770811
256 Pages
Publisher: Inventing Pathways Publishing, LLC www.inventingpathways.com

B O O K L I F E .C O M 45
 ® WRITING ADVICE

Ask childhood like? What did she

want to be when she grew up?
Does she have a somewhat
relaxed relationship with the

the
What does she look like? What truth? Flaws humanize your
kind of student was she? What characters and make them
is she most proud of? How does much more sympathetic.

Editer she feel about herself? What

makes her happy?
Once you have Charlotte down
A veteran editor pat, write a résumé for each of
your other main characters. Get
answers your writing to know them. Feel comfortable
questions with them. Understand their
motivations, their goals, and
BY BETTY KELLY SARGENT what influenced their personal-
ity development. You don’t have
to include all this information
Evelyn Waugh says, “All
fictional characters are flat.
A writer can give an illusion of
depth by giving an apparently
stereoscopic view of a character.”
I say, the more you know
about your characters, the more
believable they are likely to be.

H ow I can make my characters

more believable? —Daniel B.
in your novel of course, but it is
essential that you understand
everything you can about your Betty Kelly Sargent is the

W rite a detailed résumé for

each of your major charac-
ters. Let’s say your protagonist
characters.
The reader also wants to know
about your characters’ flaws.
founder and CEO of BookWorks.

If you have a question for the

is Charlotte. When and1where
BOOKWORKS_HALF_H_0715_Layout Does
7/24/15 10:12 AM Charlotte
Page 1 procrastinate too editor, please email Betty Sargent
was she born? What was her much? Is she afraid of flying? at booklifeeditor@booklife.com.

Calling all Indie Authors

What can BookWorks do for you:
● Help You Find Your Reader ● Chat With Our Experts
● Post Excerpts from Your Book ● Showcase and Sell Your Books With
for Peer Review Direct-to-Retailer Links
● Get a Featured Author Cover Medallion ● Find the Best Editors, Designers, Illustrators,
for Your Book Marketers, and Publicists in the Business
And that’s just for starters
Let us help you Prepare, Publish and Promote your books. We show you how to make
indie publishing easier and, yes it’s true —how to make it fun.

JOIN NOW!
bookworks.com
 PAID LISTINGS

PW SELECT LISTINGS ®

New Titles from

Self-Publishers
Booksellers, publishers, librarians, and agents are encouraged to look at the 95
self-published titles below. Each appears with a list of retailers that are selling the
book and a description provided by its author. Some of these writers are waiting to
be discovered; others have track records and followings and are doing it on their
own. If you are a self-published author interested in listing titles in this section,
please visit publishersweekly.com/pw-select for more information.
Fiction Amazon, Ingram The Flute Player from Urumqi
Bad Intentions R Deliberate River Thomas fights the 1950s racism of Jeffrey Carnett. Partridge.
Renee A. Xlibris. $19.99 Hopewell, Tex., and tries to successfully $21.45 paper (350p),
paper (200p), ISBN 978- navigate a maze of sexual, racial, gender, ISBN 978-1-5437-
1-5144-3116-0; $3.99 and work identities. 4562-7
e-book, ISBN 978-1- Amazon
5144-3115-3 The Entity: 2147 Aye Altay, a Turkic
Amazon David A. Collier. Muslim woman living
Readers follow AuthorHouse. $18.95 in far west China, has
Gretchen, who finds paper (270p), ISBN 978- a problem. She is single and pregnant,
out that beauty doesn’t matter in love, 1-5462-5872-8; $3.99 and the father of her child wants only to
and Brea, whose pain, rape, lies, and e-book, ISBN 978-1- destroy her and her people.
manipulation shatter her once-normal 5462-5871-1
world, on their respective journeys. Amazon Gold Digger:
With Earth ravaged by heat and flood, The Remarkable
Call Numbers an entity arrives offering a solution. The Baby Doe Tabor
Syntell Smith. Syntell promise of rescue is now within reach, Rebecca Rosenberg. Lion
Smith Publishing. $15.95 but humanity must overcome its greatest Heart Publishing. $15.99
paper (357p), ISBN 978- obstacle: itself. paper (318p), ISBN 978-
0-578-44052-1; $2.99 0-578-42779-9
e-book, ISBN 978-0- Farewell My Life: Buona Notte Vita Mia Ingram
578-46500-5 Cynthia Sally Haggard. Baby Doe travels west for a gold mine.
Amazon, Apple iBooks, Cynthia Sally Haggard. Abandoned and pregnant, she falls for
BN.com, IngramSpark, Kobo $23.99 paper (585p), an old, married prospector who strikes a
A workplace drama of a divided staff in ISBN 978-1-09- massive silver vein, while scandal and
a New York City library during 1994, 273075-4 ruin force her to make tough decisions.
where a new hire attempts to fit in Amazon
without taking sides. Containing not-so- The Haircut Who
charming princes who Would Be King:
Crowning Glory: inhabit the edgy setting of 1920s Berlin, A Political Fable
River’s Journey this tale revolves around a young woman Robert Trebor.
Taylor Thompson. Bright whose fabulous talent for the violin Palindrome Press.
Blacklight Publishing. promises a shimmering career. $14.95 paper (184p),
$15 paper (315p), ISBN ISBN 978-0-578-
978-0-9822400-4-5 47568-4; $8 e-book,

B O O K L I F E .C O M 47
 PAID LISTINGS

® PW SELECT LISTINGS
ISBN 978-0-578-47569-1 $8.99 e-book, ISBN 978- (226p), ISBN 978-0-
Amazon, BN.com, Kobo 1-942209-59-1 578-46449-7; $12.95
This novel charts the rise of Donald D. Amazon, BN.com paper (271p), ISBN 978-
Rump, from a dyspeptic nine-year-old Two orphans flee for 0-578-46073-4
to president of the United States. It their lives during the last Amazon, BN.com
alternates with the rise of Vladimir crusade of the French Amanda has a stable
Poutine, who ascends to lead Russia. against the Cathar job and great friends,
heretics in the Midi. and her life looks per-
The Invisible Moon fect—except she fights an uphill battle
J. Robert DiFulgo. The Lost Song of Goliath against her sick imagination while trying
iUniverse. $13.99 paper Ronald A. Lindsay. to keep her job and find love in N.Y.C.
(252p), ISBN 978-1- Nineteenth Street
5320-3427-5; $3.99 Publishers. $11.99 paper Myscal Taylor’s Civil War:
e-book, ASIN (298p), ISBN 978-1- Arise from the Dust
B07GRQ6V9Y 73373-380-9; Michol Polson. Kindle
Amazon $3.99 e-book, Direct Publishing. $11.25
After suffering from PTSD for 20 years, ASIN B07PG54FLN paper (298p), ISBN 978-
Bryan, a Vietnam vet, tries to put the Amazon 0-578-40581-0
pieces of his past together. It’s Goliath’s turn to be heard. Depicting Amazon
the absurdity of territorial conquest in In 1863, a Utah fron-
The Irish Clans, Book Three: Rising God’s name, this is the tale of David and tiersman steps off the
Stephen Finlay Archer. Goliath retold. train in Indiana. Fraudulently conscripted
Manzanita Writers Press. into the Union Army, he now must fight
$14.95 paper (368p), Marvin’s Garden for a nation that despises him and his
ISBN 978-0-9986910- Joseph Brisben. Toplink enigmatic faith.
0-8 Publishing. $11.99 paper
Stephenfinlayarcher.com, (120p), ISBN 978-1- The Naked Queen: A Tangential
Manzapress.com, 949804-69-0 Arthurian Legend
Amazon, SPD Amazon, BN.com Alan Hall. Xlibris. $19.99
Republicans fight for freedom against It’s a tale told by a paper (232p), ISBN 978-
overwhelming odds in the 1916 Easter dead woman who 1-984545-49-7; $3.99
Rising in Ireland, while McCarthy and the (when she was alive) wanted to kill her e-book, ISBN 978-1-
O’Donnells continue to search for one sadistic, greedy, gluttonous husband. 984545-48-0
another and their ancestors’ Clans Pact When she was alive, she failed, but her Amazon
treasures. spirit gets to see his comeuppance. Around 1120 CE in
the Scandinavian realm of Tabithia,
Just Out of Curiosity Matching Syrenya learns a terrible secret—one
John D. King. Xlibris. Configurations: that will take all her cunning and intelli-
$19.99 paper (148p), Quantum Roots III gence and the span of a quarter century
ISBN 978-1-984510- Kyle Keyes. Kyle Keyes. to put right.
02-0; $3.99 e-book, $9.95 paper (296p), ISBN
ISBN 978-1-984510- 978-0-9864374-3-4 One Time Winner:
03-7 kylekeyes.org The Empress
Amazon Each time Olan Emeritus Zinabar
The misadventures of a scientific wizard Chapman comes to life, his anti-quarks John R. Carden. Toplink
whose deceit and curiosity lead him into remain on the far side of the Time Wall. Publishing. $15.99 paper
a tangled web ameliorated for him only America’s hero vigilante who defends (358p), ISBN 978-1-
by a love affair. the weak and helpless victims of today’s 970066-67-8
society is back. Amazon, BN.com
Listen to the Wind The empress of a gigantic interstellar
(The Orphans of Tolosa #1) My Crazy (Sick) Love: A Delightful monarchy chooses to leave her home
Susanne Dunlap. Bellastoria Press. $17.95 Laugh-Out-Loud Romantic Comedy planet and resettle on a planet far, far
paper (388p), ISBN 978-1-942209-58-4; Drica Pinotti. Girls Can. $24.95 hardcover away from the empire. The planet she

48 B O O K L I F E , M AY 2 7 , 2 0 1 9
 PAID LISTINGS

PW SELECT LISTINGS ®

happens to choose is Earth. Mythics The Blood

Seth Masek. Seth Masek. Nancy Jackson. Nancy
Seeking Glory: A Novel $13.95 paper (214p), Jackson. $7.99 e-book,
About Relationships, ISBN 978-0-9998712- ISBN 978-1-386-
Loss and Finding Your 4-9; $3.99 e-book, 68440-4
Way Home ASIN B07PGTHVQB Nancyjacksonauthor.com,
Patricia Hamilton Shook. Amazon Amazon, Apple iBooks,
OutskirtsPress. $17.95 A collection of poetry BN.com
paper (264p), ISBN 978- that centers on love. Through verse, An intelligent and controlled killer
1-4787-9204-8 Masek moves from the longing for love leaves no trace for Oklahoma State
Amazon, BN.com, outskirtspress.com to mature and deep reverence. Bureau of Investigation agents Randy
Kate tries to solve the mystery of her Jeffries and Carrie Border. This case
young granddaughter’s origins. The Shooting of Dan McGrew will test them, while threads of their
Robert Service, illus. by personal lives threaten to entangle and
The Serpent, the Puma, and the Deran Wright. take them down first.
Condor: A Tale of Machu Picchu CreateSpace. $16 paper
Gayle Marie. Mnemosyne (58p), ISBN 978-1- Bloodline and Wine
Books. $24.99 hardcover 983953-85-9 Kelly Jones. Ninth Avenue
(356p), ISBN 978-1- Amazon Press. $16 paper (346p),
73267-810-1; $16.99 Service’s classic ISBN 978-0-9914468-
paper (356p), ISBN 978- adventure poem of the 2-7; $7.99 e-book,
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Cherie Burbach. Bonjour Publishing. $29.99

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Addicted to a drug that kills them for though they have
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Anthony. $9.99 paper Meegles’ plans. of Publishers Weekly
from Publishers Weekly
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Lenore, a former thief, assumes a new
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 ® REVIEWS
Fiction
Another Ocean to Cross
Ann Griffin. Georgic Publishing, $14.99 trade
paper (336p) ISBN 978-0-9997688-0-8
Griffin’s solid debut finds the personal
within a historical crisis and is highlighted
by atmospheric detail. At the outset,
Renata, a wealthy and talented 18-year-old
German Jewish artist, is forced to flee
Munich with her parents in 1938. Their
plans to escape to Palestine are quickly
derailed and they become separated, then
reunite in an Egyptian refugee camp. With
her father’s heart problems and her mother’s
inability to cope with their dire situation,
Renata must find a way to provide for her
family, and to simply survive. After the
family settles in Alexandria, Renata returns
to her art career, then takes her plans to
provide for her family to an extreme—yet
understandable—level when she meets
Ray, a Canadian who is in the Royal Navy.
Though stilted dialogue and frequent flash
forward segments interrupt the narrative
flow, the story provides insight into a dif-
ficult and tempestuous time in history.
This is a decent novel about overcoming
tragedy.
Brazen Desires
J. Saltwick. Christian Faith Publishing, $16.95
trade paper (282p) ISBN 978-1-64079-815-1
A woman tries to keep her family land
away from a developer, only to discover she
has a connection (and chemistry) with him,
in this enjoyable romance from Saltwick
(Winner Takes All). Thirty-four-year-old
Kate Clark doesn’t have much time for a
personal life, spending all her energy on the
Clark family ranch that she owns and oper-
ates. A fifth-generation rancher, Kate wants
to fulfill her dream of restoring the ranch to
its former glory by purchasing three proper-
ties, previously part of the ranch, that were
sold by her grandfather. Her plans are cut
short when a developer with a secret iden-
tity buys the properties and tries to push
her to sell parts of her land. After Kate
attends a business meeting with her largest
customer, a grocery chain, and meets its
owner, billionaire playboy Jarrett Sinclaire,
their instant attraction develops into a love
affair, despite his mysteriously manipula-
55a B O O K L I F E , M AY 2 7 , 2 0 1 9
tive behavior, such as having photos secretly
taken of her and organizing a sham business
event as a ploy to see her. When Kate dis-
covers that Jarrett is the developer trying to
buy her land, she is furious, but might
already be in love. While the plot is out-
landish, the chemistry between Kate and
Jarrett is fierce, leading to some truly stun-
ning twists. Although faith elements are
barely present, Saltwick’s tale will please
romance readers.
Christmas Future
Valerie Ipson. Riverside Park, $12 trade paper
(204p) ISBN 978-0-9864246-6-3
Ipson (Ideal High) switches from YA to
adult (but very teen-friendly) romance with
this modern retelling of Charles Dickens’s
A Christmas Carol, a charming sweet con-
temporary about a somewhat Scrooge-like
PR pro and a bighearted doctor. After
Scarlett Ambrose’s business partner cleans
out their joint business account for a lavish
honeymoon, Scarlett accepts a PR gig that
takes her from sunny Phoenix, Ariz., to
snowy Anchorage, Alaska, where she’s
assigned to advertise the Final Frontier as
being packed with Christmas spirit.
Compassionate physician Gil Pennington,
fresh off a stint serving the underprivileged
in Riverside, Calif., is in Alaska to clean out
the office of his late father, a professor and
Dickens expert. Both Gil and Scarlett are
engaged to others when they meet, but the
immediate spark between them leaves them
unsure of their previously planned futures.
Chaste text flirting ensues, as do innocent
embraces on the aptly named Mistletoe
Drive. Scarlett and Gil’s speedy romance is
devoid of explicit sex but loaded with
longing, sweet kisses, and hand-holding.
There’s also an extensive array of quirky
supporting characters. Readers who love
squeaky-clean romance will find this tale
irresistible.
A Girl’s Guide to Chicago
Kelly Russell. Kelly Russell, $17.95 trade pa-
per (232p) ISBN 978-1-73211-820-1
Chicago blogger Russell crafts a thinly
fictionalized version of her first year in the
Windy City in her middling debut. The
eponymous main character, intrigued by
the city as a child, gives up her job in the
suburbs in order to fulfill her somewhat
vague dream of living there. She quickly
finds a job as a receptionist for a digital
marketing agency and an apartment to
share with her homebody brother, but real-
izes that she’ll need to navigate public
transportation, revamp her wardrobe, and
revisit her expectations of urban life if she
wants to survive in the city. Though col-
leagues and friends make appearances, none
really makes an impression apart from Vin,
Kelly’s boss, who becomes an integral part
of her social life. The real star is Chicago
itself, with key landmarks and businesses
described frequently. The straightforward
prose lacks emotional resonance, but the
book lives up to its title through its loving
portrayal of a storied city.
Miss Etta
Deanna Lynn Sletten. Dianna Lynn Sletten,
$14.99 trade paper (350p) ISBN 978-1-
941212-38-7
Sletten (Maggie’s Turning) eloquently cap-
tures the mystery of Etta Place, lover of
Harry Longabaugh (aka the Sundance Kid)
and friend to Butch Cassidy. The story
opens in 1972 as 96-year-old Ethel Emily
Pleasants has a story to tell her grand-
daughter, reaching back to the year 1911,
the year she and her toddler son, Harry,
moved to the small town of Pine Creek,
Minn., where Emily will become the
schoolteacher. Emily is genteel, prim and
pretty, and gains the attention of Edward
Sheridan, a banker and school board/town
council member. Emily appreciates the
attention of the handsome Edward, and
wonders if she can settle in the town, but
reports about whether Sundance—the love
of her life—is dead have yet to be proved
or disproved. The story moves further back
to the late 1800s, the years of their court-
ship and love and outlaw days, and then
returns to Pine Creek in 1972 as Emily’s
granddaughter attempts to take it all in.
Etta’s small-town experiences in 1911 are
the highlights; at one point, the local
sheriff wonders how a schoolteacher can
thwart an attempted store robbery because
she’s “capable of shooting like a gun-
slinger.” The imagined personality of Etta
is endearing, and her story of restarting life
after love is as touching as her earlier life
was exciting.
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Murder on the Orion Express
Nate Streeper. Listic, $9.99 trade paper
(232p) ISBN 978-0-692-95663-2
Streeper’s first Alan Blades adventure, a
humorous and energetic murder mystery
aboard a space ship, delivers distinctive set-
tings and quick-thinking characters.
Frumpy private detective Blades and his
partner, Gina, were fired from the
GalactiCop force for botching an arrest of
Denreiker, crime lord of the Leviathan
Syndicate. Now they live on the backwater
planet of Fillion. Blades reluctantly agrees
to accompany his ex-wife’s sister, Alice, to
the prime world of New Gaia, and hops on
a freighter, planning to dock with the mile-
long Orion Express cruiser in space. After
the freighter’s security agent, Dave, is mur-
dered, Blades launches an investigation
with the help of his ditzy pocket computer,
Listic, and brainy Alice. The suspects
include unsavory actors Bertle and Donna;
creepy politician Mannigan and his toady
assistant, Loche; shifty trench coat–wearing
Ken; and sophisticated gentleman John
Smith, who has a briefcase handcuffed to his
wrist and is accompanied by his sexbot,
Bliss. Blades must solve the murder before
space pirates bent on plunder and enslave-
ment attack the Orion Express. After a
lengthy introduction establishing the
world and characters, the pace quickens as
Blades and Alice go into action. Streeper’s
fresh writing and flowing prose propel the
story, and fans will enjoy his homages to
science fiction and mystery classics.
Pistachio
Jeanie Doyle Singler. AuthorHouse, $20.99
trade paper (304p) ISBN 978-1-5246-8465-5
In Singler’s taut thriller, teenager Atlanta
Gabriel attends her first rock concert in
Spokane, Wash., in 1967. Atlanta is a
cousin of the lead singer of the featured
band, Pistachio. Her experience is indelibly
marred when the band’s female vocalist dies
offstage during the performance. The
author raises the suspense by revealing next
to nothing about the circumstances, apart
from an unsettling passage in which men
mop up blood from the floor of a ladies’
room. The band breaks up soon afterward.
Flash forward 45 years. Atlanta is forced to
revisit the past when she runs into two
members of Pistachio in a Tacoma, Wash.,
bookstore, and learns that Annmarie Erving
Hamilton, one of the group’s founders, has
died, supposedly from accidentally mixing
medications. An unexpected encounter
with Annmarie’s attorney nephew, Wharton
Forde, with whom Atlanta was once roman-
tically involved, leads to the two reuniting
to probe Annmarie’s death and those of sev-
eral other recently deceased members of
Pistachio. Singler keeps the reader guessing
throughout.
Temptation Rag
Elizabeth Hutchison Bernard. Belle Epoque,
$14.95 trade paper (410p) ISBN 978-0-
9984406-4-4
Bernard’s resonant novel is about the
birth and demise of ragtime and the white
players who fought for fame in the genre.
In 1895, a white piano player/composer
named Ben Harney claims to be “the origi-
nator of ragtime.” He is exceptionally tal-
ented, and black musicians unsuccessfully
try to assert that the style belongs to them.
After a quick lesson from Ben, a young,
white New York piano teacher named Mike
Bernard adopts the ragtime technique
despite his classical training, and when his
career begins to take off, he ends a brief love
affair with wealthy May Convrey. Mike’s
fame and fortune increases after he wins a
competition, earning him the title of
Ragtime King of the World. Meanwhile,
May has reluctantly married a man her
father chose for her, and she eventually pur-
sues her own interests as a poet. The paths
of May, Mike, and Ben occasionally cross as
the decades pass—historical conflicts such
as women’s suffrage stirring around them—
and, true to life, nothing turns out quite as
anyone had expected. The descriptions of
performances and environments are luxuri-
ously crafted, resulting in a lively tale in
which romance and creative passions
abound.
Thou Shall Not Kill
John Leifer. Earhart, $12.99 trade paper
(300p) ISBN 978-0-9995655-4-4
Leifer pulls out all the stops in his pulse-
pounding third thriller featuring Cmdr.
John Hart (after 2018’s 8 Seconds to
Midnight). A former Navy SEAL, Hart now
serves as President Jonathan Conner’s
“go-to person in emergencies.” During
®
Conner’s administration, the U.S. has
already been hit twice in major terror
attacks—by a bioweapon that killed thou-
sands and a nuke detonated in New York.
When a coalition including Syria, Iran,
Russia, Hamas, and Hezbollah launches
attacks on Israel, the Israeli government
fears that the coordinated assaults pose a
threat to their country’s existence and con-
siders the deployment of nuclear weapons
in response. Hart persuades the Israeli
prime minister that taking that extreme
step is premature, and works frantically to
devise a different strategy, one that places
him in harm’s way in Iran. Leifer makes the
behind-closed-doors discussions plausible
as the action builds to a nail-biter of a cliff-
hanger. Tom Clancy fans will appreciate
Leifer’s ingenuity in coupling suspense with
a believable near-future scenario.
The Ticket
Fred Shackelford. Black Opal, $25.99 (252p)
ISBN 978-1-64437-009-4
Fans of the film and TV series Fargo will
relish the wicked plot twists Shackelford
concocts in this winning thriller. Sleazy
Charlottesville, Va., attorney Channing
Booker, a compulsive gambler whose addic-
tion has devastated his assets, gets a chance
at a new start when he wins more than $200
million in the state lottery. With his mar-
riage to his wife, Susan, unraveling,
Channing plots to keep what her share of
the winnings would be from her. He intends
to give the winning ticket to a friend who
would cash it in and give the bulk of the
jackpot back to him after the divorce is
finalized. He conceals the ticket in one of
Susan’s books, but he’s later horrified to find
that the book, Susan, and all the rest of her
possessions have vanished from their home.
That development sets up a delicious cat-
and-mouse story line, as Susan attempts to
begin a new life away from Channing, who
becomes increasingly desperate to find her
and the book before the 180-day deadline
for coming forward with the lottery ticket
expires. Shackelford makes the most of his
intriguing premise.
Until the Last Star Fades
Jacquelyn Middleton. Kirkwall, $14.95 trade
paper (484p) ISBN 978-0-9952117-8-0
This ambitious, melancholy new adult
B O O K L I F E .C O M 55b
 ® REVIEWS
saga follows the life of a recent college grad-
uate who lingers on her tragedies and
glosses over her triumphs. Midway through
her last semester at NYU, Riley Hope
appears to be thriving, but it’s purely super-
ficial. Her long-distance boyfriend is
headed for the NHL, and she knows that
joining him after graduation means aban-
doning her own dreams and loved ones.
British actor Ben Fagan’s problems are
more obvious to other people: after failing
to find an acting job in L.A., he’s come to
New York for lack of anything better to
do. Riley and Ben strike up an unexpected
friendship that offers a respite from their
mundane concerns and soon presents the
potential for romance. Their struggles are
realistic and described evocatively; con-
versely, the occasional deus ex machina
solution feels unsatisfying. Readers
looking for a poignant, romantic coming-
of-age tale will appreciate this one, which
boasts strong characters and an appropri-
ately bustling New York City.
Nonfiction
The Elegant Warrior:
How to Win Life’s Trials
Without Losing Yourself
Heather Hansen. Page Two, $15.95 trade
paper (140p) ISBN 978-1-989025-26-0
Blogger and attorney Hansen’s slim
debut contains plenty of valuable, adapt-
able life lessons designed to help readers
through tricky situations. She defines being
an elegant warrior as someone who fights
adversity with grace and compassion and
doesn’t lose respect for themselves or those
they come into contact with when com-
peting for jobs or in academics. She then
lays out 27 lessons inspired by her law
career, including advice on finding men-
tors, speaking up at appropriate times,
maintaining intellectual curiosity, and
resting when necessary. She concludes each
lesson with a “prove it” section, which pres-
ents further reading and studies to back up
her assertions, and a “summary of the case,”
which includes each chapter’s takeaways.
Her most convincing lesson, “The Curse of
Knowledge,” implores readers to remember
that few people are experts on all matters,
and that using plain language to commu-
55c B O O K L I F E , M AY 2 7 , 2 0 1 9
nicate will often highlight what one doesn’t
know—and can then learn. Hansen offers
anecdotes from her legal career to illustrate
lessons, but her techniques and tools are
tailored to be applied to any business or
personal matter. This well-paced, sensible
volume will be helpful for any reader in
search of a template for achieving personal
and career goals.
Final Flight, Final Fight:
My Grandmother, the WASP,
and Arlington National Cemetery
Erin Miller. 4336, $25 (350p) ISBN 978-1-
73356-060-3
In this moving narrative, attorney Miller
recounts her resourceful family’s fight to
have her late grandmother, who was one of
the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or
WASP, during WWII, interred at
Arlington National Cemetery. Elaine
Harmon flew aircraft and trained male
pilots during the war; 30 years later, she
cochampioned efforts to obtain official vet-
eran status for the WASP. After Harmon’s
death in 2015, Miller and other members
of Harmon’s family kicked off a highly pub-
licized effort for legislation to ensure that
every WASP had the opportunity to be
interred at Arlington National Cemetery.
Miller describes how this fight immersed
her in her grandmother’s letters, diaries,
and friendships, allowing her to get to
know her “Gammy” as a fearless, funny
young woman who was passionate about
flying. Despite her legal background,
Miller was surprised at the extensive pro-
cedures that must be followed to move
prospective legislation forward. In the
process, Harmon’s descendants built a net-
work of congressional and media allies,
notably Air Force combat veteran and
Arizona Sen. Martha McSally. Although
Miller occasionally resorts to recon-
structing conversations from memory, she
wisely inserts revealing memories of her
grandmother and shares joyous meetings
with WASPs and their families between
chapters covering the tireless lobbying and
media efforts, which eventually succeeded.
This impassioned and hopeful look at the
WASP legacy and a bipartisan congres-
sional effort will both inform and entertain
readers. Photos.
High on God: There’s No High
Like The Most High
Matt Spinks. Fire House Projects Ministries,
$9.99 trade paper (206p) ISBN 978-1-68454-
153-9
In his overemotional debut, Spinks,
founder of Christian community outreach
nonprofit the Fire House Projects, describes
his spiritual inner life as an “intoxicating
bliss.” Wading through excessive exclama-
tion marks and entire words typed in capital
letters, readers will find claims of how
Spinks has experienced God’s presence in
majestic ways. For instance, Spinks tells
how he was once struck mute for six straight
hours by God’s overwhelming power and
how he witnessed the supernatural telepor-
tation of a car by the hand of God. While it
is difficult to get through the dense,
unwieldy prose, readers who persevere will
find solid advice about reinvigorating one’s
spiritual fervor, including a helpful chapter
on how channelling passions into work can
bring improvements to one’s spiritual life
as well. Spinks also describes the different
types of his “God highs” and provides bib-
lical examples of prophets feeling ecstasy.
Devout Christian readers will find plenty
to relate to in Spinks’s assertion that being
high on God is both possible and necessary:
“People are absolutely wasted, whacked,
jacked up, and thoroughly high on God...
Becoming aware that you have been
included in Christ causes you to experience
His reality now as yours.” Christian readers
who can handle Spinks’s messy prose will
be entranced by this ecstatic testament to
God’s presence.
Let My Legacy Be Love, a Story of
Discovery and Transformation: Trac-
ing Adult Issues to Childhood Hurts
Christina Beauchemin, with Carlene Nolan.
Balboa, $17.99 (236p) ISBN 978-1-982202-89-7
Beauchemin (Ready, Set, Live!), a motiva-
tional speaker and voice teacher, pries into
her childhood to better understand her
adult self in this tough, heartrending
memoir. Beauchemin felt like she needed
to better understand herself after her second
divorce. In doing so, she turns to what she
was taught and how she behaved as a child.
Emotional displays weren’t welcome in her
home, and she remembers being told she
was a “red-faced monkey” for crying. She
REVIEWS
loved school, and after she was told by her
third-grade teacher that she had potential,
she felt she’d finally found a “firm founda-
tion in which I flourished and began to
develop a sense of self-confidence and self-
worth.” Meanwhile, her mother’s hyper-
criticism taught her to “make demoralizing
conditions okay,” and she learned to cope
by numbing herself to pain by mentally
dissociating from her body—a defense
mechanism she has only been able to over-
come by accepting herself and living more
presently. I was “jumping to forgiveness
without first feeling the pain inflicted,” she
writes. After years of processing these errant
teachings, she discovered how to cry to
relieve stress, live more “fully present” by
stepping away from self-criticisms, and to
not shy away from tough emotions. After
each chapter, Beauchemin includes a rele-
vant Bible verse. By chronicling past dif-
ficulties and revealing “discoveries” that
came later, this impactful memoir will help
any reader struggling with self-confidence.
My Little Michigan Kitchen:
Recipes and Stories from a
Homemade Life Lived Well
Mandy McGovern. Kitchen Joy Press, $34
(260p) ISBN 978-0-578-44496-3
In this uneven, though enjoyable, debut,
Kitchen Joy blogger McGovern celebrates
the cuisine of her home state of Michigan.
She delivers on her promise of regional
cooking: pasties (a popular meat pie),
Detroit deep-dish pizza, hot cherry mustard
for pretzel-dipping, banket (a pastry of
almond paste brought by Dutch settlers to
the Midwest), and Mackinac Island fudge
with toffee all feature. The book, however,
contains a number of recipes of familiar
dishes found elsewhere in the country, such
as biscuits and sausage, chicken enchiladas,
roasted broccoli, grilled asparagus, and
breakfast burritos (which curiously calls for
mayonnaise in addition to sour cream and
hot sauce). There are, however, many gems
throughout: pumpkin doughnuts, chicken
purses (a mash-up of crab rangoon and
chicken salad that is baked and topped with
a cheddar cheese sauce), venison goulash,
and Mom’s Meatballs (formed from ground
chuck and oats in a tomato sauce with
Worcestershire sauce and brown sugar), a
quirky dish that gives the book its home-
®
spun feel. Though the culinary focus occa- garden and entreats readers to plant, tend,
sionally strays, this is nevertheless a harvest, and share their own soil in this fine
charming celebration of the food of debut. Explaining that he tries to live his
Michigan. life by the commandment of bal tashchit
(“do not waste or destroy”), Becker explores
Peacemakers: different aspects of gardening and how they
A Christian View of War and Peace relate to his own spiritual thinking. He
Peter Dixon. Cloudshill Press, $9.99 trade doles out tales of tending his garden,
paper (170p) ISBN 978-0-9935080-7-3 making peace with moles, slugs, and his
Dixon (Making Peace with Faith), former neighbors who feed the rabbits he is deter-
Royal Air Force pilot and CEO of conflict mined to eject from their burrow under his
resolution organization Concordis garden. In an age when one can feel tethered
International, argues that there is a to a phone and bombarded by information
Christian obligation to engage in “just” war and news, Becker argues that tending to a
and peace efforts in this strident study. The garden allows for “sanctified time.” For
first half of the book introduces the author Becker, troweling, watering, mulching, and
and the work of Concordis and briefly seeding provide time to relish life, and also
reviews Christian traditions around war and present opportunities for him to muse
peace. Dixon tracks Christian thinking on about the value of humility, how to divide
war from early pacifist writers, through chores in a marriage, and the ethics of
Augustine (who preached “the need for love hunting, among other topics. In uncompli-
as a motivation” for war), and ending in cated, clear prose, Becker pleasantly urges
modern arguments for just war, such as Ian readers—even those with just a balcony—
Durie’s Price for Peace. Rejecting the case to make a space where their home can be
for pacifism as unpersuasive, Dixon assesses “infused with the Divine Presence.” Green-
the War on Terror and the Syrian civil war thumbed spiritual readers will relish
and argues that in both cases lives were Becker’s welcoming memoir.
saved through intervention and that even
more could be done to prevent violence
before bad actors attack. He then turns to
peacemaking, detailing the Concordis
approach to mediating conflict and fos-
tering lasting peace through building rela-
tionships and reconciliation. Dixon’s film
and podcast suggestions, as well as an exten-
sive bibliography, add value for those inter-
ested in learning more about the history and
context of international conflict interven-
tion. Though much of the text reads like the
mission statement of his company, this
clear, instructive work will appeal to those
who share Dixon’s religious beliefs and also
be worthwhile for those seeking to under-
stand the role of NGOs in global conflict
intervention.
The Spiritual Gardener:
Insights from the Jewish Tradition
to Help Your Garden Grow
Andy Becker, illus. by Abigail Drapkin. Tree of
the Field, $16.95 trade paper (124p) ISBN 978-
1-7336698-0-1
With wry humor, earthy spirituality, and
practical advice, lawyer and amateur gar-
dener Becker tells the story of his own
B O O K L I F E .C O M 55d