Mogollon: A Tale of Mysticism & Mayhem (Bloodsong Series 2) by @SandyONathan #Fantasy

INTRODUCTION: GRANDFATHER’S INVOCATION

He stood in the deepest place. He stood in a place that was closest to the core. He stood in the sacred place and held the eagle feather. He raised the feather to the sky people, to the guardians of the world above.

“I pray to you, people of the sky, be with us this week. Stay with us and keep us safe.” The shaman spoke in the old language, his voice rising and falling. It was neither querulous nor weak. No one hearing it would guess his age.

Hundreds of warriors watched silently, sitting in the deepest place. Grandfather turned to the four directions, one by one.

“I pray to you, guardians of the North, for the strength to overcome the cold time, to get us through the hard time. Let the People come to this last Meeting. Let them come with clear eyes to see what is here. Let them see the Great One, behind and beyond and through all places and directions.”

Let them give up their strife and fault finding, the old man prayed silently. Let them stop picking each word I say apart. Let them see you, O Great One, and stop fighting me. I am your tool and your soldier, nothing more.

Grandfather swayed on his feet, feeling the Presence of the One. O Great One! You who fills all the earth, and the stars; the things that we can see, and the things that we cannot see. I love you! I praise you! I worship you!

“Let the People feel the river of love this week. Let each of them learn what he came here to learn. Let each learn what she came to learn. Take away the darkness, O Lord, and bring us your light.”

He turned to the East. “I praise you, guardians of the East. Give us your power, the power of new life, the power of spring over winter, of awakening. Watch over us and give us victory.”

Give us victory over the intruders from the outside, and over the intruders from the inside, he prayed within his heart. Free us from our poisonous thoughts and feelings, from the desire to see only small things and differences. Let us see that we are the same. As you are the One, so we are one.

Bud Creeman stood next to Grandfather, circulating the smoke with his feather fan. He let out a piercing cry. “I see you, Great One! I see you!” He raised his hands high.

The old man turned and held the eagle feather over his head. “I praise you, great Southern warriors. I praise you with great love. Thank you for your peace, your serenity. Your plenty, the plenty of summer and the good harvest. Be with us this week, show us your bounty.”

Let us accept your bounty with graciousness and love, he prayed. Let us recognize a great gift when it may appear small, or not what we wanted, or not a gift at all.

Then Grandfather turned to the Western gate, the passage between this world and the other side. “Watcher of the Gate, let us die and die again, the little deaths that mean growth and change. Let the parts of us that need to die go, and the parts that need to live stay. May we pass through your doorway in glory when the last dying comes!”

And may our visitors from the great corporation get what they need this week. May they have the love and courage they need; may they have the will to die and be reborn.

He sang in the old language, his voice rising over the Bowl. He stood in the deepest part—in the amphitheater they called the Pit—where the meteor struck long before the dawn of days. Grandfather knew that the meteor did not give the Power. The Power was there before anything. The Power made everything.

“I love you, I worship you, I praise your name and glory. Be with me all of my days. Protect us, O Great One, from our enemies inside and outside.”

He sat cross-legged on the earth. The warriors were around. Rapture overcame him, followed by tears of joy as they rose from the bliss inside. Like a sun, came the Great One; like the sun of suns, splitting his heart in two, tearing him in pieces until the bliss was so great that the universe broke open and he dropped, a shining pearl, a brilliant diamond, dropped into the nothing that exists beneath all that is.

He heard no more until the sun was high.

The Long Awaited Sequel to NUMENON: A TALE OF MYSTICISM & MONEY

WILL WE HAVE PEACE OR OUR DARKEST NIGHTMARES?

Will Duane owns the tech revolution. It's 1997; Will's been the richest man on the planet for twenty years. He can sway governments and ruin lives. Will's latest mission brings him into conflict with all that's holy.

He and his corporate hot shots reach their destination, a Native American spiritual retreat. Their luxurious motor homes enter the Mogollon Bowl, a geophysical anomaly where anything can happen. Now Will can spring his trap.

Grandfather, the powerful shaman leading the retreat, seeks a world where love is king, a world of peace and harmony. This vision has haunted him all his life. His corporate guest is the key to making his vision real. Grandfather knows exactly what Will Duane wants.

A malicious force steps into the action. Both men's hopes are dashed, as a sacred place becomes the playground of evil. A malevolent power tries to claim their lives and souls.

You won't forget this modern day fable, a high-speed, high stakes fantasy with visionary roots.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre - Visionary Fantasy

Rating – R

More details about the author

Connect with Sandy Nathan through Facebook & Twitter

Website http://sandynathan.com/

7 Questions with #Author Maria Elena Sandovici @SandoviciME #DogsWithBagels #Women

 1. Tell us a bit about your family.

I grew up in Bucharest and Craiova (my grandparents’ city in Southern Romania), with long stints in NYC. I am an only child, but grew up being very close to two of my cousins. They are like siblings to me, to this day, and for that, I am very grateful. My parents are fun, worldly, and eccentric people who love reading, travel, food, and socializing. They brought me up very much in that spirit, and, although they encouraged me to embrace a more practical (read: safe and solvent) career, they also always made it possible for me to travel, and daydream in all sorts of ways. My grandparents on my mother’s side, and my grandma’s sister, were also very involved in my education. They were merchants, living with a lot of Southern flair, in a small city in Southern Romania, where time still has a pace of its very own, sweeter, and with more of a melody. My grandparents on my father’s side lived in Sibiu, one of Europe’s coolest cities to date, and my grandma was an English teacher. She greatly influenced my reading as a child and young adult. She was quite progressive, and she was not opposed to sharing a bodice-ripper with me, especially if it was in English. I think she helped my fondness for both fiction and the English language.

2. How do you work through self-doubt and fear?

Oy. This took years, and I am still working through my doubts and fears, though I have made great progress. I am also an artist. I paint. For many years, I did not do this at all, because I feared my paintings would be silly, and I would just waste expensive supplies. But I was always drawn to other artists, and in time, being around them helped me work up the courage to start painting again.

Writing, in a way, was easier, because it did not cost money, nor did it require studio space, or making a mess. Of course, my first attempts were clumsy, and I knew it. But I could write and re-write secretly, without showing anyone (except two friends, who luckily were better at pointing out the fun ideas than the clumsiness), for years. I also took to reading books about writing, and making small improvements over time.

What helped, is that at the beginning (while, of course, I dreamed of being published one day), I wrote mostly for myself, my story almost brain-candy formed of fantasy episodes that gave me the kind of thrills I enjoyed finding in the books I read.

3. What makes you happiest?

Little things. Painting a little bit each day. Writing a little bit. Rubbing my dog’s belly. Talking to my dad. Watering my garden and seeing a new bloom or a cute little ladybug on one of my roses. Walking on the beach. Sandal weather. A good lunch. Stuff like that. I think the key to a happy life is to enjoy the little pleasures.

4. What books did you love growing up?

As a kid, my favorite stuff were the stories my grandma told me. She made those up, flying by the seat of her pants. She has awesome imagination, and I loved getting carried away. Then, I started liking a particular Bambi book (which I was also, paradoxically, fond of ripping to shreds). I was briefly obsessed with the story of the three little pigs, and I must say, the illustrations in the book helped greatly. I hated a famous Romanian folk tale about never-ending youth, because it ends with death hiding in a trunk, and slapping the main character in the face when he opens it. Frankly, I still find that frightening now.

Then I became obsessed with the Three Musketeers. I read that over and

over again. I designed costumes for my rubber ducks (they were my favorite

toys – don’t judge!), and played elaborate games in which these were ladies at the French court. Some of my parents’ friends thought I was a weird child, but my mom was thoroughly amused. I guess my family understood early on that I’m creative, and that I might do some odd things.

When I was twelve, I became obsessed with a Young Adult German novel called “When Julia Turns Twelve.” I read it over and over again, and my mom became a bit concerned. She said I needed to try new things, not read the same book so many times over. She was definitely onto something, but to this day, I am a repeat reader. In fact, as soon as I get to Bucharest, I’ll look for “When Julia Turns Twelve” on my shelf. I’m not too old to read it!

5. Why do you write?

Because I would get really bored if I didn’t. As a kid, I entertained myself by daydreaming, thus making up all sorts of stories and scenarios. I still do this as an adult. Writing these down, and letting them develop, and play out on the page is so much fun!

6. Location and life experiences can really influence writing, tell us where you grew up, and where you now live?

I grew up in Romania, and my early childhood was divided between Bucharest, where my parents live, and Craiova, the small Southern town of my grandparents. Both these places have their own special flavor and rhythm. I love both, and was influenced by both.

My upbringing had a strong U.S. influence very early on. My mother’s brother had immigrated to New York, and as my mom was very close to him, she wanted to foster that connection and also for me to enjoy a childhood shared with my cousins, my uncle’s kids. They came to visit us in Romania for long summers, and I also got to go to New York quite a bit. It was a very interesting transatlantic childhood my parents offered me. New York City very early on started playing an important role in the constellation of places that felt like home to me. Later, I went to the U.S. for college, and stayed on for a Ph.D. in Political Science in upstate New York. For many years, living around the New York area, I considered my aunt and uncle’s place in the city a home-base of sorts. I never felt like I wanted to stay there (the longer I put up with never-ending winters upstate, the more determined I got to apply for jobs in the South), but the city made such a strong impression that it features prominently in all my writing so far. Nine years ago, I got my degree, and took an academic job in Texas. Life here is fun, sunny, and has its own unique flavor. But I’ve yet to write a Texas novel. I’m still not done processing my New York years.

7. Where do you get your inspiration from? 

Mostly from my own daydreaming. Sometimes I like to imagine myself being different than who I am, or my life playing out differently. In a fictional scenario, you can give yourself the freedom to do things you would not do in real life, and see how these could possibly play out. One of my big fantasies is leaving. I have commitment issues, so, I always like to imagine myself quitting things, and just kind of bailing out. In fact, I have only quit three things in my life: yoga teacher training, doggie obedience school (It was boring! And my indomitable dog kept biting another dog’s tail, embarrassing me.), and a job as a tourist guide in Barcelona. Mostly, these are things that I could afford to take lightly, as I didn’t really need them. I already had a successful career and did not really need to be a yoga teacher, or a summer-time tourist guide. My dog and I were able to negotiate a happy modus vivendi without the training. But I always wonder what it would feel like to quit the things of real consequence, to just abandon one’s life and start a new one. Would it be as thrilling as my inner commitment-phobe imagines it might be, or would it be paralyzing and laden with regrets?

Liliana is the disappointing daughter of hardworking immigrant parents. She is a girl looking to be rescued from her own insecurities and bad decisions. Unable to afford rent in New York City proper, she is craving a life of luxury that isn’t hers, while subsisting on bagels and coffee. In desperate need of support - emotional and otherwise -, she clings to potential saviors, never bothering to question if the attachments she forms really fit her.

In a parallel storyline, her mother, Maria, is trying to reject all offers of help, especially those of her estranged husband, whose unexpected generosity forces her to revisit past mistakes she hasn't come to terms with. Enmeshed in her own drama, she doesn’t notice her daughter’s troubles until it’s too late. Desperate to keep Liliana from making a mistake that will alter the course of her life, Maria reveals her best-kept secret, a story so shocking it might have the power to jerk Liliana back to reality. It could, on the other hand, alienate her forever.

DOGS WITH BAGELS is a story about the American dream gone bad. It is also a story about mothers and daughters, about female friendships, the struggle to survive in one of the world’s most expensive cities, and women’s secret desire to have wild passionate sex with their exes. A cross between Bridgett Jones’ Diary and Sex and the City - with an accent! -, DOGS WITH BAGELS is as addictive as a trashy tabloid you can't seem to put down.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre - Contemporary Women's Fiction

Rating – R

More details about the author

Connect with Maria Elena Sandovici through Facebook & Twitter

Website http://havewatercolorswilltravel.blogspot.com/

7 Questions with Gary Troia @GaryTroia #Fiction #ShortStories #AmReading

 Tell us a bit about your family.

I live with my girlfriend Marina, and her son Jamie. Marina does all of my marketing, publishing, and runs my web site, leaving me free to write!

How do you work through self-doubts and fear?

Like all writers I have doubts that what I’m writing is not good enough. The writing doesn’t flow…the list is endless. But I continue writing and do my best to ignore the inner fear. I think it was Stephen King who said, write faster than your doubts, or something similar.

What scares you the most?

Not being able to write anymore. It has been my lifelong dream to write, I am now living my dream. For me now, not writing would be living a nightmare!

What makes you happiest?

Living the life that I want to live, which is writing.

What books did you love growing up?

I was a late-comer to reading. I found my love of reading after I left school, the first book that I ever read was the Bible. 

How closely are your books based on your own experiences?

Almost completely. The reason I decided they should be labelled as fiction is that I didn't want to be going crazy because I couldn't remember things accurately. Also, since I may write more of them, I wanted the freedom to play around with reality to make the stories what I want them to be.

From its opening line—“Song thrushes and black birds’ eggs are the easiest to start your collection with,” said Reggie. - I expected the book to be more like a collection of stories about childhood antics in the countryside, but the majority of the stories are about adulthood. Is that partly to communicate the idea that a sense of place is really about identity?

The first few stories are from childhood and are setting the scene for incidents that happen in subsequent stories once Ray Dennis is older. The person we become as an adult is shaped by childhood experiences, so I suppose these first few stories are about identity. The next line of that story is: “In my South-east London School, Reggie Boniface was a little unusual. He didn’t do drugs. Never mentioned girls he fancied. Avoided violence, didn’t like sport, and studied hard. He was someone who I never dealt with, but he used to fascinate me nonetheless.” So I am really interested in how a person is shaped by experience. 

When you look at Ray in the book, how much of him is still with you? 

A little too much for my liking. I don't feel like I grew up very effectively. I didn’t grow up with any constant role models, so I found out about life the hard way, making unnecessary mistakes. I drifted from country to country, place to place, and job to job, always feeling like an outsider, looking for something. However, unlike Ray I do not drink or smoke anymore.

For the first time ever, this collection of short stories by Gary Troia brings together, in chronological order stories and memoirs from Spanish Yarns and Beyond, English Yarns and Beyond and A Bricklayer’s Tales into one complete volume.

"Excellent! A collection of short stories about depression, alcoholism and drug use. Very compelling reading. I read this short story collection all in one go." (Maria, Goodreads.)

A Bricklayer's Tales is the ultimate "I hate this job" story, written as a collection of short stories and memoirs, each one revealing a snapshot in the life of Ray. Troia captures the tedium of working in a low paid, menial job and living hand to mouth. This book of short stories is sad and questions the reader to ask questions about their own life. This book achieves clarity without trying.

Ray has three expensive hobbies: drinking, drugs, and running away. Without the income that Bricklaying provides, he would not be able to maintain his chosen lifestyle, so he compromises his principles and continues with his trade.

A collection of short stories and memoirs that include:

The Cuckoo's Egg. Boyhood antics lead to tragedy.

My Grandfather's Shed. The making of an English key

No Comb on the Cock. Gypsies, champion fighting cocks, and career choices.

What I Did In My Summer Holidays In 1000 Words. Could having an idea ever be considered a criminal act?

My Best Mate’s Head. Did a weekend of boozing save Ray from certain death?

The Shetland Isles. A trip to sunny Benidorm, a chance meeting with some Glaswegians, and a cold, miserable job in Lerwick.

Pointing a House in Islington. Too much alcohol and cocaine don't mix well on building sites!

Angel Dust. The peculiar story of a man whose new life in America leads to conversations with Ancient Greek philosophers

Peyote. Hippies, LSD and an idyllic refuge

Return Ticket. Handcuffed and ready for deportation. A sad departure from the States

When I Joined a Cult. Sober dating as Ray discovers religion.

Bilbao. How very, very English!

Teaching Other People. The grass is always greener-the escape from bricklaying.

A Week in the Life of Ray Dennis. With the prospect of no money for food or alcohol this Christmas, Ray has to find work quickly.

Catania. A meeting with a Sicilian fox, some Neapolitans, and a man with a camel haired coat.

Advert In The Art Shop Window. Will a new building job in Spain be the start of a new life?

Gaudi. A flight to Barcelona for a kebab, and a look at the Sagrada Familia.

The Day My Soul Left Me. "To be or not to be? That is the question"

How Not to Travel to The Alhambra. Hung-over, the wrong fuel, the car breaks down. Will they ever make it to Granada?

The Road To Ronda. A terrifying drive to Ronda, was it worth it?

Poking A Carob Tree. A new home and new neighbours, just in time for Christmas.

Spain Reborn.No more commuting to London. Lets celebrate!

Home From Home. A parallel world where the Spanish have taken over Weymouth.

Three Common Carp.An epic battle with a whale and marlin it is not.

Mrs. McClintock. An absurd farce in which a Glaswegian couple retire to Spain

Steak, Egg and Intensive Care. A harmless dinner leads to hospitalisation.

The Unchangeable Chameleon. Can a leopard change it's spots?

A Bricklayer's Tale. The story of a disillusioned, alcoholic bricklayer

A collection short stories and memoirs of British dark humour.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre - Fiction, Short Stories

Rating – PG-16

More details about the author

Connect with Gary Troia through Facebook & Twitter

Website https://www.garytroia.com

7 Questions with #Author Richard Parry @TactualRain #Thriller #Fantasy

1. Tell us a bit about your family.

My family?  They’re awesome.  I guess there’s a few circles of family — the ones you’re born with, the ones you get for free, and the ones you choose.

The ones I was born with are cool.  My brother is also a writer, banging out his dreams a page at a time in Melbourne, Australia.  I know that the eighth wonder of the world is a New Zealander with a return ticket, and he fits that bill.  He’s easily the most insightful of us kids on my mother’s side.  My sister is brilliant and terrifying in equal measure.  She has a brain the size of a planet, a job as a lawyer, and lives in New York wrangling kids and a husband.  I feel for those guys, you know?

That leaves my mother and father — both divorced form each other, both better for it, but in a good way.  They’re both heroes of mine in different ways — not in some sort of trite I-read-that-on-the-back-of-a-book way, but in tangible ways.  When my folks split I got to watch my mother taking care of me through the eyes of a child, and learned a lot about sacrifice, and the value of honesty and integrity even — or especially — when it’s hard.  My father was US Navy, a Captain, a real man’s man, and he showed me that it’s okay to be funny and caring and strong at the same time.

My father remarried, and had kids from a previous marriage — my brothers and sisters on his side are Legion.  I’ll admit to my loss that I don’t know them at all well, and I guess that’s one of the hard parts of split nuclear families where half of each atom lives in a different continent.  These are the family you get for free, which just goes to show that free things are sometimes worth a lot more than you paid for them.  It’s funny, on my mother’s side I’m the eldest, but on my father’s side it’s the opposite.  It’s weird seeing the world as the prototype model as well as the polished product, you know?

The family you choose is the best.  My fiancé and I live with a cat and a dog, or they live with us, I don’t really know.  We have a turn of the century cottage nestled against a river, where it’s often sunny and almost never windy.  We work, and live, and laugh, and play.

2. How do you work through self-doubts and fear?

Me, I’m kind of a blunt instrument: I just go head-on.  My view is that a fear confronted is a fear torn apart, but it can be really hard despite that.

As an allegorical example, I find that I get myself into situations I’m not fully qualified for.  Or situations that hurt — physically.  Something more concrete?  Okay.  I have a fear of getting hit and getting into fights.  I don’t think this is especially atypical, but it’s there.  To resolve this, I decided it’d be useful to get some skills, so I went and took up a full-contact martial arts style.  It pushes the needle to 11, but it also gets the job done.  I still don’t like the idea of fights, because that’d be crazy, but I now know I’ve been bashed around by some huge units, so how bad can it be?

Despite this, some stuff is always scary — like writing a book.  Marcus Romer (@MarcusRomer) had a great comment on Twitter last year about the Creative Process™ (https://twitter.com/MarcusRomer/status/393094184652902402).  He said:

“The Creative Process

1. This is awesome

2. This is tricky

3. This is shit

4. I am shit

5. This might be okay

1.  This is awesome”

I find no matter how much I face the self-doubts of writing, it’s still pretty true.  I’m about 2/3 through writing my next book, Upgrade, and I’m firmly stuck somewhere between 3 and 4 at this point.  I’m hoping I’ll get to 5 by the time I do my third draft.  Sometimes you’ve just got to be uncomfortable to make better art — I don’t think I’ll ever get over self-doubt, and maybe that’s a good thing.  Self-doubt makes me question everything, to try and make the product better.

3. What scares you the most?

Having to live in a world where there’s no individuality, creativity, or freedom.

It’d be easier to say, “spiders,” but I don’t think that’s really true — spiders can be kind of cool, as long as they’re not on your face or in your hair, right?

The thing is, the world seems to be pulled towards this future state where we all make decisions together, and have long, soul-destroying meetings.  Maybe it’s just my few through the lens of working for the G-Men, but this consensus-based approach seems to me to be the best way to reduce creativity and innovation.

For someone who fancies himself as a bit of a storyteller, that’s a terrifying future.  You know — there’s that old meme kicking around, I don’t know if it’s entirely true, but it’s like this:

1. Five people wrote “Baby” by Justin Beiber.

2. Five people wrote “We Can’t Stop” by Wrecking Ball, I mean, Miley Cyrus.

3. Nine people wrote “Imma Stop” by The Black Eyed Peas.

4. One person — Freddie Mercury — wrote “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

There’s a lesson in there somewhere.  I don’t think you need to like or hate any of those pieces of music to understand what I’m talking about — consensus is a poor substitute for creativity or innovation.  The end product feels dilute, less than it could be with a strong single voice.

Maybe I feel that we want to tell our own stories.

4. What makes you happiest?

Good time, quiet time, either inside my head or with My Person*.

* Grey’s Anatomy fans unite!

I really like being able to sit down and chew through thoughts and ideas.  Sometimes it’s my characters talking to each other — I do a lot of dialogue in my head when I’m on the train, or listening to music, or whatever.  But it can also be chewing through great content made by other people — the latest novel I’ve grabbed and love, or a TED talk that blows my mind.

Being with My Person is awesome.  It seems we can talk for hours, and hours, and never run out of things to talk about.  Sometimes we’re crazy fun, sometimes we’re serious, it doesn’t much matter.  Where, or when, isn’t as important as who

5. What’s your greatest character strength?

Wow, this question sounds like one of those ones you get at a job interview.  “Tell us your awesome superpower.”

Maybe it’s courage.  I’m no X-Man, but I’d like to think that I’d be on the front lines when the aliens invade, or standing there with a crowbar at the ready when the zombie apocalypse arrives.  Until I get the chance to test those theories, I tend to face things that look really hard, despite being scared of them.  I tell you, you haven’t faced hope and fear in quite the same way until you put your first book out there and wait for the reviews — but if you have courage, if you believe in yourself a little, you’ll do it anyway.

6. What’s your weakest character trait?

I can be a bit of an asshole.

I don’t mean to be.  I don’t get up in the morning thinking, “Hey, it’s Tuesday: I’m going to be an asshole today.”  It’s just that sometimes I get carried away in myself, or what I’m doing, and can sort of forget that there are other people who are part of the equation.

I hate myself a little when I do that.  It’s never at the time — it’s afterwards, and I think, “Man, I made that person’s day a little more shit than it was.”

7. Why do you write?

Stories.  I want to tell stories.  Have for a long, long time — since before I was ten years old, easily.

It probably started with play acting with toys as a kid, and telling the stories about how the Evil Hairbrush was going to take over Couch Land.  We lived between feast and famine from a finance perspective when I was a kid, so sometimes I had Lego scattered everywhere, and sometimes I was making up stories between heroes made of cardboard or whatever.  You’ve never really breathed life into something until you’ve used a fork as a starship.

Those stories were interesting — even at a young age, they had some common themes, where there might be a group of people, and they’re trying to overcome something or someone.

I have this idea that — just maybe — I can tell exciting, interesting stories that people want to read that will also tell them a little bit about people.  I don’t get why stories about being a human being have to be told in the context of dying from cancer or whatever.  That’s just hard going.  Wouldn’t it be cool if stories could be fun, and exciting, and still explore the human condition?

Valentine’s an ordinary guy with ordinary problems. His boss is an asshole. He’s an alcoholic. And he’s getting that middle age spread just a bit too early. One night — the one night he can’t remember — changes everything. What happened at the popular downtown bar, The Elephant Blues? Why is Biomne, the largest pharmaceutical company in the world, so interested in him — and the virus he carries? How is he getting stronger, faster, and more fit? And what’s the connection between Valentine and the criminally insane Russian, Volk?

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Action, Thriller, Urban Fantasy

Rating – R16

More details about the author

 Connect with Richard Parry on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://www.rage.net.nz

#BookReview - Closing The Gap by Yvonne Jones #Military #ReviewShare

Closing The Gap: Understanding Your Service(wo)man by Yvonne Jones
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Strangely enough the timing we finished the book coincided with a world event. Military personnel from at least 20 countries were out looking for a 'missing' plane. While most news outlets concentrated on the disaster itself, this book made me think of the military personnel and their families.

Such missions are mild compared to deployments to Afghanistan or Iraq. What I truly appreciate about this book is the level-headedness Yvonne Jones has written with. She points out directly how difficult it can be but not at all in a self-pitying manner.

Given that the language is simple and she also uses charts to get her point through, schools should make this book available for their students to get a better understanding of military families.

Would I recommend this read? If you have a member in the military or you want to understand military lifestyle better, this is the book for you.

Overall assessment:
Content: 4.5/5
Editing: 4.5/5
Formatting: 4.5/5
Pacing: 4.5/5
Offensive content?: None at all and I think if the book is read as a family unit it would give children a better understanding of the sacrifices made by military personnel and their families.

Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book from the author via Orangeberry Book Tours. I did not receive any payment in exchange for this review nor was I obliged to write a positive one.(less)

View all my reviews