Day: August 26, 2021

Weekly Wanderer podcast series based on ‘Wanderer: The Ultimate Hippy Trail Journey’ by F.T. Burke and Steve Reifman

On the golden anniversary of Steve Reifman’s adventure, the authors created a weekly podcast series to commemorate his year-long adventure. Photo: amazon

Author F.T. Burke is a lifelong resident of the state of Michigan. He enjoyed a prior career in the high-tech sector, serving as a systems engineer and project manager. Burke’s debut novel, “The Bohemian Adventure,” traces the journey of one who meets up with devoted “deadheads” who followed the psychedelic rock group, the Grateful Dead. “Wanderer – The Ultimate Hippy Trail Journey” by F.T. Burke and Steve Reifman is a book that tells the remarkable story of a young man’s year-long journey of discovery wandering across the globe in 1970-71. Steven W. Reifman is a practicing lawyer, activist and businessman. He took a journey similar in time and place to that of Wanderer’s main character, Woodstock. (F.T. Burke, 2021)

During the height of the pandemic while in quarantine, Steve Reifman, on whose travel the book is based, recorded the fictional book for posterity in his own home on a podcast type recorder. Then as the 50-year anniversary of the travel approached, Steve was inspired to commemorate his incredible journey of a lifetime by recording and publishing a week-by-week video relying heavily on his handwritten travel journals and readings from the book. Steve and co-author, F.T. Burke, enlisted the services of their media arts specialist, Xavier Vance, and they were “off to the races.” Each week, without fail, the trio have published, all the way to week 42 with the end in sight. As the authors issued their weeklies, the concept of a mini-series or other serial took shape with a chapter based on each week’s adventure.

Steve’s adventures, the inspiration for the book “Wanderer,” co-written with F.T. Burke, took him across four continents through 26 countries in 1970-71. Now on the Golden Anniversary of his own real-life adventure, Attorney Steve Reifman—or “Stevie Wander” as he likes to be called—-tells the true tales behind the story, as the weeks roll by towards his homecoming. The weekly adventures kicked off on September 30, 2020, and now they are in the 42nd week, closing in on the exciting homecoming of this prodigal son on his year-long adventure. The Weekly Wanderer series is available on YouTube.

“Wanderer: The Ultimate Hippy Trail Journey” – During the crazy latter days of the Vietnam War, many young travelers wandered about doing drugs, having sex, sleeping out, and back-packing through Europe, North Africa, and Asia. As a young man coming of age, just out of college, with no clear future and unable to pay rent, the bushy-red-haired Woodstock joins these revelers to wander the world, searching for his soul. Upon beating the Draft, he crosses the Atlantic to the Old World in October 1970 without any particular itinerary, no set time to come “home” and not much money. He finds God everywhere no matter how hard he tries to hide and look away. During his year-long journey, his spontaneous, free-wheeling adventures of raucous, hilarious incidents all weigh heavily against his need to come home and grow up. Come along for this unforgettable adventure of a lifetime. (amazon, 2021)

New book release: ‘Getaway’ by Zoje Stage

‘Getaway’ is the new thriller by Zoje Stage. Photo: amazon

Zoje Stage’s debut novel, “Baby Teeth,” was a USA Today and international bestseller. It was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel, and was optioned for film by Village Roadshow/Valparaiso Pictures. Her second “mind-bending” (NY Times) novel, “Wonderland,” was one of Book Riot’s Best Horror Books of 2020, and one of Overdrive’s Best Audio Books of 2020. Her third novel, “Getaway,” described as “stunning” in a starred review from Booklist, was released this month. In “Getaway,” three friends set off on a hike into the Grand Canyon—only to discover it is not so easy to leave the world behind. A former filmmaker with a penchant for the dark and suspenseful, Zoje Stage lives in Pittsburgh. (amazon, 2021)

“Getaway” – It was supposed to be the perfect week away. Imogen and Beck, two sisters who could not be more different, have been friends with Tilda since high school. Once inseparable, over two decades the women have grown apart. But after Imogen survives a traumatic attack, Beck suggests they all reunite to hike deep into the Grand Canyon’s backcountry. A week away, secluded in nature. Surely it is just what they need. But as the terrain grows tougher, tensions from their shared past bubble up. And when supplies begin to disappear, it becomes clear secrets are not the only thing they are being stalked by. As friendship and survival collide with an unspeakable evil, Getaway becomes another riveting thriller from a growing master of suspense and a “literary horror writer on the rise.” (BookPage)