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Showing posts from March, 2018

Stuff: The Fortunes, Foibles, and Fiascos of Those Who Sought to Understand Matter by George Graybill

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From Archimedes’s bathtub to Schrödinger’s cat, the reader follows the dramatic and humorous events in the history of the ongoing struggle to understand the basic nature of matter and, in the process, painlessly absorbs all the major concepts of middle school physical science. The structure of the book takes advantage of the fact that basic concepts about the nature of matter were discovered in roughly the same sequence they are taught. The book begins with the ancient Greeks, who first talked about atoms from a viewpoint that was more philosophical than scientific. The story of the next 2,000 years highlights the events and characters in the history of the study of matter. The book ends on the note that all the knowledge we have gained has led us back to asking philosophical questions such as, “Why does matter exist?” The tone is one of whimsy, weirdness, and irreverence. Although historical events are embellished or even completely fabricated for comic effect, it is always clear th

Author Interview: Chris Hannon

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Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from? I'm 34, married with a 6 month old son called Toby. We were living in Shoreham-by-Sea near Brighton but right now we're trying something a bit different; living on a small holding in Andalusia in Spain trying to be as self-sufficient as possible; (think solar panels, chickens, orchards, vegetable garden)! I write (fairly dark) short stories, but both my fiction novels have been predominantly for a Young Adult audience. I'd like to write for a novel for a broader audience at some stage. How long have you been writing?  I’ve always been an avid reader but I don’t think I wanted to be a ‘writer’ until my early 20s. It started as a hobby, a few short stories just for fun. I look back on them now and laugh and cringe at how terrible they were! When i moved on to writing novels, i kept getting stuck or abandoning them halfway through - i must have five or six half-finished novels on my laptop! I de

Author Khaled Talib discusses development of his newest thriller "Gun Kiss"

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Today we're welcoming author Khaled Talib to The Book Cove. He's the author of three novels -- the most recent titled Gun Kiss  was published December 2017 and has received rave reviews. TBC: Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from?  KT: I was born and raised in Singapore. I've been writing since I was a kid. Although I did attain some recognition, I never realized my full potential until much later. My little voice, once lost, kept pressing me on. To date, I've authored three novels. I am self-taught, never once having the opportunity to attend a workshop or a school to learn the craft. Along the route, I experienced agony and ecstasy. I ended up being a magazine writer before switching to the field of public relations. It also involved some form of writing though different from fiction. I find myself more interested in writing fiction as it allows my imagination to thrive in more ways than one. It's like baking a cake, you know; there are many

"Burying Leo" an international women's novel by Helga Gruendler-Schierloh

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Ingrid always loved to sing. Auditioning for a summer job after high school shattered her dreams. She fled Germany for Detroit where she married with the hopes of starting a family. When hope crumbled, she attempts to sing again. Will singing bring the life Ingrid always desired, or will her mutilated soul lose her everything? Purchase at Amazon Press Release Detroit, Mich., September 2017— Helga Gruendler-Schierloh’s “Burying Leo” explores one woman’s life after a haunting sexual assault. A young Ingrid desired to sing, but being a rape victim left her shattered. Years later, Ingrid finally found her voice and released the ghosts that plagued her. Gruendler-Schierloh says that “sexual assault is one of the worst things to happen to a female. Besides causing great physical pain, the crime cuts deeply into the very essence of a woman’s being, messes with her psyche, tarnishes her self-image, and mutilates her soul. Any punishment meted out to perpetrators cannot remedy

Cultural loses and identity are taken on in Linda Conzalez's memoir "The Cost of Our Lives"

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Sixteen year-old Linda González is shocked when her father’s son appears at the front door of her Southern California home all the way from México. Neither she nor her siblings knew their father had another child. Linda’s family portrait slowly shatters over the next couple of years as she discovers her father had a wife and two daughters as well. Linda realizes her very existence is because her father abandoned his first family. As family secrets quickly unfold amid Linda’s attempts to silence the echoes of her cultural losses with political work and a lesbian identity. Relationships are forged and dissolved, often through painful and illuminating encounters with family on both sides of the Rio Grande. Purchase at Amazon About the author Linda González is a storyteller and has published several essays in literary journals and anthologies. She received her MFA at Goddard College. González has a thriving practice as a life coach, assisting writers and others committed to discov

International suspense thriller "Jack Was Here" by Christopher Bardsley

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Hugh Fitzgerald is losing control. In the aftermath of a traumatic end to his military career, his life has disintegrated. Hugh is approaching the end of his tether when a desperate plea for help arrives from a most unexpected quarter. Nineteen-year-old Jack Kerr, halfway through a coming-of-age trip to Thailand, has disappeared. He has left few traces, little information, and absolutely no answers. As the days turn into weeks, his parents grow increasingly frantic. They approach Hugh with a simple request; do whatever it takes to find their son, and do whatever it takes to bring him home. It sounds easy enough. The money is right. More importantly, it’s something to do – something useful. But as soon as Hugh touches down in Thailand, the illusion of control begins to slip through his fingers. Jack’s warm trail is easy to find, but it leads somewhere unimaginable. Finally, as he closes in, Hugh is forced to resort to increasingly desperate measures. Jack Was Here is an intoxicating g

Anne Montgomery's "The Scent of Rain" takes on a thrilling escape from the FLDS

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Rose Madsen dreams of becoming a science teacher and will do anything to keep from being married off to one of the men in her Fundamentalist Mormon community, including enduring her mother's brutal beatings. Adan Reyes dreams of better days with his mother when he escapes the foster care system in Phoenix. When their fates become intertwined, Rose and Adan escape into the mountains, only to be hunted like animals. After they are discovered, they must decide if everyone they meet is determined to keep them locked in lives of abuse, or if some adults are worthy of their trust? Purchase at Amazon ,  Amphora Publishing ,  Barnes and Noble , and  Indie Bound About the author Anne Butler Montgomery has worked as a television sportscaster, newspaper and magazine writer, teacher, amateur baseball umpire, and high school football referee. Her first TV job came at WRBL-TV in Columbus, Georgia, and led to positions at WROC-TV in Rochester, New York, KTSP-TV in Phoenix, Arizona,

The humor of office life can be found in "The Branch Office" by Rook Winters

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There's a story in every cubicle. A novel that is part tribute and part lampoon of office life. You'll nosedive into absurd behavior, quirky personalities, Silicon Valley excess, 80s nostalgia, personal loss, frustration, unrequited infatuation, company softball, and, of course, doughnuts. Luke is young and stuck at the bottom of the career ladder but he doesn't intend to stay there. The grizzled programmer in the next cubicle has been working on the same software for decades and just wants to stay off the radar of the executives. Unfortunately, the corporate agenda is at odds with their hopes and dreams. Purchase at Amazon About the author Rook Winters has worked as a software developer, corporate trainer, and technical writer so he is well-acquainted with the ups and downs of spending day after day in an office. His first novel, The Branch Office, isn't autobiographical but it taps into the humor and despair of office life in a way that's only possible aft

Action packed young adult novel Orca Rising by Chris Hannon

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CREATE YOUR OWN FUTURE... 16-year-old Ocean Daley needs to get away from school, his seaside town and wasting his summer working for his mother’s irritating boyfriend. When his mysterious Uncle Frank offers him a place at a summer school for a select group of gifted teens, he jumps at it. But the school isn’t like any other, with classes in hacking, bike racing, psychological tricks and combat. Orca, the secretive organisation behind the school, needs fresh recruits…but for what? Ocean’s father co-founded Orca, and joining the organization feels like a way to honour his memory, as well as strengthen bonds with his strange uncle. Orca demands each teenager push themselves beyond the possible and in return each student gets an impressive salary, international travel and exhilarating field missions — a double life. There is one catch. Joining Orca is a life-binding commitment to support their ‘noble' cause. For Ocean, it’s the challenge in life he’s been looking for. Others migh

Whitbread First Novel nominated author Patrick Starnes' new release

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NEW RELEASE COMING APRIL 5th, 2018 We reap what we sow. A portrait of a modern family in crisis, a moving love story and a chilling narrative of revenge, A Perfect Sentence moves swiftly from London through Florence, the South of France and Morocco and ends dramatically in Barcelona's cosmopolitan Barri Gotic. Kier Buchan, a fifty-something Londoner who has recently been made redundant by the Open University, is disaffected and wryly bitter. He is the father of brainy Charlie who is heading for graduate school in America and of teenager Cat who is heading nowhere. His cool, sensible wife Fran feels his disquiet but cannot connect. Kier recounts his role in the break-up of his family and an entanglement in an inappropriate relationship with a much younger woman which he dares to hope will lead to an escape from his old self. Purchase at Amazon About the author I was born in Montreal and studied Philosophy and English Literature in Canada before doing a m

"Speedbump" a new contemporary romance by Charli Coty

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Getting broken wasn’t supposed to fix everything. Ezra Cook is sole caregiver to older brother Tray, who was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s in his forties. They live outside the small town of Drop, Oregon, on property Tray bought with his Microsoft settlement money. For years, Ezra has been going on and off low doses of testosterone to maintain a comfortable level of androgyny. Ezra spends most days juggling Tray’s needs and the work required to survive in rural Oregon on a small income, ignoring their own needs, especially companionship and sleep. Ellred “Red” Long escaped Drop at seventeen but returns to his hometown in disgrace after his band dumped him on the streets of LA. Coming back doesn't seem like such a dead end, though, after he sees a guy walking along the side of the road in the rain and gives him a lift. Ezra and Red’s chance meeting begins an uncomfortable friendship neither had expected, and both allow fear to keep it from escalating into a hookup, or

Romantic comedy new release In-laws and Outlaws by Kate Fulford

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Eve has an idiosyncratic relationship with the truth, is a borderline psychopath (according to her psychologist friend Claire), and has a rather colourful past. But her heart is in the right place. Having recently met Gideon everything seems, at last, to be working out rather well for her. Then he introduces her to his mother. Marjorie clearly believes that she knows what’s best for her son, and it’s definitely not Eve. Over the next few months Eve struggles as Marjorie seems hell-bent on undermining her relationship with Gideon at every opportunity. Then, a chance meeting with someone very close to Marjorie confirms Eve’s worst fears – there are literally no lengths to which Marjorie will not go to get Eve out of her son’s life. Using her own ingenuity, and with help from some very unexpected quarters, Eve finds herself caught up in a very high stakes game indeed, in which there can be only one winner. Purchase at Amazon About the author Kate has had a varied career that has

Sarah Scholefield debut novel Redferne Lane

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Ezra had it all when he died. A good job. A nice house. His loving wife, Grace. Grace doesn’t even realise she’s struggling to keep herself together. Until Torin turns up in Redferne Lane. It’s been nearly two years since Grace has seen Torin. Since Ezra’s funeral. Now Torin is back in her life, emotions from the past are resurfacing and Grace begins to realise elements of her life are going wrong. She’s not sure she can take control. But Grace isn’t the only one with problems in Redferne Lane. Josie has a husband and young family to contend with. Ada is facing the difficulties of old age. Jerome thinks he’s found the perfect girl. Eliza just wants to grow up. And Torin isn’t sure he should have what he wants. They all begin to turn to Grace for answers. Can Grace look beyond her own difficulties and help those around her, even while she’s trying to save herself? Purchase at Amazon About the author Sarah Scholefield initially trained as molecular biologist gaining a BSc

Hiding: A gripping psychological thriller with chilling twists

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'A real edge of your seat thriller!'  Lucas Milo, Top 1000 Reviewer 'I really loved this book, I liked the way it grabbed my attention from the very beginning and did not let me go until the very last words.'  Yvonne Bastion, Me and My Words 'Exceptional dialogue.'  The Book Owl Purchase at Amazon (UK) Purchase at Amazon (US) About the author: Jenny is a novelist, screenplay writer and playwright. After a series of 'proper jobs', she realised she was living someone else's life and escaped to Gascony to make gîtes. Knee deep in cement and pregnant, Jenny was happy. Then autism and a distracted spine surgeon wiped out the order. Returned to wonderful England, to write her socks off.  Jenny would like to see the Northern Lights but worries that’s the best bit and should be saved till last. Very happily, and gratefully, settled with family. She tries not to take herself too seriously.