Lawrence Fernandez, author of “Jackass Flats” will be at the Brownsville Public Library for a book signing event on August 24 and 26. Photo: amazon
Coming up this month at the Brownsville Public Library, there will be a book signing event with Lawrence Fernandez, author of the book “Jackass Flats: Tales of the Deltaland of the Rio Grande.” He will be at the Main Branch as well as the Southmost Branch location on August 24 and 26, 2021 from 7p.m to 8p.m. There will be copies of his book available for purchase on the day of the event. (Brownsville Public Library, 2021)
“Jackass Flats” (amazon, 2021) This book is a virtual fireside chat with the great storytellers of the delta region of the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. It is appropriately named “Jackass Flats,” paralleling it with the vanished prairie herds of wild horses and jackasses that inhabited a thin range of land in the Lower Nueces Strip. Just as these mythical beasts are now gone, so stands the feared endangerment of a species of “tellers of yarns” who kept the oral traditions alive, perpetuating a lifestyle that was colorfully filled with customs which were unique to South Texas colonization.
Four or five generations of close friendships, inter-marriages, business dealings, and even the occasional fights bring these accounts over the line, into being “personal stories.” You know it is personal when you open up your family cedar chests and discover a whole cross-section of photographs of non-family, and recognize them for the impact that each one gave to the community at large. You close your eyes and you can still vividly recall the scenes where the old chats were carried out; the chiseled features of the “old folks”, the smell of pipe tobacco, the salt spray of the gulf, mesquite wood campfires. You tried your darnedest to lap up all of the words of these tales.
Even though your grandmother sometimes altered the details with each presentation, you dare not correct her – that was part of the flavor. There will always be something special about reflecting back to what it was like in a bygone era. It is like going to a costume party and dressing out your fantasies. The storytellers are a strong example of reincarnation. They left a verbal, oral legacy that will live for as long as there are those who will light a fire to rekindle the message.
When: Main Branch – August 24, 2021 from 7p.m. to 8p.m. Southmost Branch – August 26, 2021 from 7p.m. to 8p.m.
Brownsville Public Library
Main Branch 2600 Central Blvd. Brownsville, TX 78520 (956) 548-1055
‘The Noise’ by James Patterson and J.D. Barker will be released on August 16, 2021. Photo: amazon
James Patterson is one of the best-known and biggest-selling writers of all time. His books have sold in excess of 375 million copies worldwide. He is the author of some of the most popular series of the past two decades – the Alex Cross, Women’s Murder Club, Detective Michael Bennett, and Private novels – and he has written many other number one bestsellers including romance novels and stand-alone thrillers. He also writes a range of books for young readers including the Middle School, I Funny, Treasure Hunters, Dog Diaries, and Max Einstein series. J. D. Barker is the international bestselling author of numerous books, including “Dracul” and “The Fourth Monkey.” His novels have been translated into two dozen languages and optioned for both film and television. Their new thriller book, “The Noise,” will be released on Monday, August 16, 2021. (amazon, 2021)
“The Noise” – If you hear it, it is too late. Can two sisters save us all? In the shadow of Mount Hood, sixteen-year-old Tennant is checking rabbit traps with her eight-year-old sister Sophie when the girls are suddenly overcome by a strange vibration rising out of the forest, building in intensity until it sounds like a deafening crescendo of screams. From out of nowhere, their father sweeps them up and drops them through a trapdoor into a storm cellar. But the sound only gets worse . . .
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‘The Star Trek Book New Edition’ is the updated edition of ‘The Star Trek Book.’ Photo: amazon
Paul Ruditis has written over 30 books based some of the best shows on TV, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Trek, The West Wing, Alias, and Prison Break. While he continues to work on these media tie-ins, he has also focused a great deal of attention on his own original fiction, including his teen series DRAMA! and the Simon Pulse Romantic Comedy Love, Hollywood Style. He currently lives in Los Angeles. His new book out today, “The Star Trek Book New Edition,” is the new edition of “The Star Trek Book and takes readers even further into one of the greatest science fiction universes ever created. (amazon, 2021)
This unique, insightful, and comprehensive examination of an enduring, much loved franchise features every era of Star Trek in one volume, from the pioneering 1960s TV series to the latest movies and streaming shows, including Star Trek: Beyond, Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, and Star Trek: Short Trek. Written by Star Trek experts, this book is packed with stunning film and TV stills, illuminating infographics, and incisive, specially curated essays that unlock the mysteries of the ever-expanding Star Trek Universe. From new and legendary heroes such as James T. Kirk, Jean-Luc Picard, and Michael Burnham to iconic villains like Khan, Q, and the Borg, to fascinating alien species like the Vulcans, Klingons, and Ferengi, this book explores the central characters, technology, civilizations, and events that have shaped the complex, epic story of Star Trek. Resistance is futile. This is the (star) trek of a lifetime you do not want to miss.
“The Pariah” by Anthony Ryan is set for release on August 24, 2021. Photo: amazon
A new month means new books on the horizon. These are some notable new releases for the month of August in my favorite categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, History and Biography, Mystery and Thriller, Science fiction, Historical fiction, and Fantasy. If I could pick just one this month, it would be “The Manningtree Witches” by A.K. Blakemore simply because I enjoy historical fiction, especially the time period of the witch hysteria. (amazon, Goodreads, 2021)
Fiction: “We Are the Brennans” by Tracey Lange Release date: August 3, 2021 When twenty-nine-year-old Sunday Brennan wakes up in a Los Angeles hospital, bruised and battered after a drunk driving accident she caused, she swallows her pride and goes home to her family in New York. But it is not easy. She deserted them all—and her high school sweetheart—five years before with little explanation, and they have questions. Sunday is determined to rebuild her life back on the east coast, even if it means tiptoeing around resentful brothers and an ex-fiancé. The longer she stays, however, the more she realizes they need her just as much as she needs them. When a dangerous man from her past brings her family’s pub business to the brink of financial ruin, the only way to protect them is to upend all their secrets—secrets that have damaged the family for generations and will threaten everything they know about their lives. In the aftermath, the Brennan family is forced to confront painful mistakes—and ultimately find a way forward, together.
Nonfiction “Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire” by Lizzie Johnson Release date: August 17, 2021 On November 8, 2018, the people of Paradise, California, awoke to a mottled gray sky and gusty winds. Soon the Camp Fire was upon them, gobbling an acre a second. Less than two hours after the fire ignited, the town was engulfed in flames, the residents trapped in their homes and cars. By the next morning, eighty-five people were dead. In “Paradise,” Johnson documents the unfolding tragedy with empathy and nuance. But she also investigates the root causes, from runaway climate change to a deeply flawed alert system to Pacific Gas and Electric’s decades-long neglect of critical infrastructure. A cautionary tale for a new era of megafires, “Paradise” is the gripping story of a town wiped off the map and the determination of its people to rise again.
History and Biography: “The Real Valkyrie: The Hidden History of Viking Warrior Women” by Nancy Marie Brown Release date: August 31, 2021 In 2017, DNA tests revealed to the collective shock of many scholars that a Viking warrior in a high-status grave in Birka, Sweden was actually a woman. “The Real Valkyrie” weaves together archaeology, history, and literature to imagine her life and times, showing that Viking women had more power and agency than historians have imagined. Nancy Marie Brown uses science to link the Birka warrior, whom she names Hervor, to Viking trading towns and to their great trade route east to Byzantium and beyond. She imagines her life intersecting with larger-than-life but real women, including Queen Gunnhild Mother-of-Kings, the Viking leader known as The Red Girl, and Queen Olga of Kyiv. Hervor’s short, dramatic life shows that much of what we have taken as truth about women in the Viking Age is based not on data, but on nineteenth-century Victorian biases. Rather than holding the household keys, Viking women in history, law, saga, poetry, and myth carry weapons.
Mystery and thriller “A Slow Fire Burning” by Paula Hawkins Release date: August 31, 2021 When a young man is found gruesomely murdered in a London houseboat, it triggers questions about three women who knew him. Laura is the troubled one-night-stand last seen in the victim’s home. Carla is his grief-stricken aunt, already mourning the recent death of yet another family member. And Miriam is the nosy neighbor clearly keeping secrets from the police. Three women with separate connections to the victim. Three women who are – for different reasons – simmering with resentment. Whether they know it or not, they are all burning to right the wrongs done to them. When it comes to revenge, even good people might be capable of terrible deeds. How far might any one of them go to find peace? How long can secrets smolder before they explode into flame?
Science fiction: “Light Chaser” by Peter F. Hamilton and Gareth L. Powell Release date: August 24, 2021 In Peter F. Hamilton and Gareth L. Powell’s action-packed sci-fi adventure “Light Chaser,” a love powerful enough to transcend death can bring down an entire empire. Amahle is a Light Chaser – one of a number of explorers, who travel the universe alone (except for their onboard AI), trading trinkets for life stories. But when she listens to the stories sent down through the ages she hears the same voice talking directly to her from different times and on different worlds. She comes to understand that something terrible is happening, and only she is in a position to do anything about it. And it will cost everything to put it right.
Historical fiction: “The Manningtree Witches” by A.K. Blakemore Release date: August 10, 2021 England, 1643. Puritanical fervor has gripped the nation. And in Manningtree, a town depleted of men since the wars began, the hot terror of damnation burns in the hearts of women left to their own devices. Rebecca West, fatherless and husbandless, chafes against the drudgery of her days, livened only occasionally by her infatuation with the handsome young clerk John Edes. But then a newcomer, who identifies himself as the Witchfinder General, arrives. A mysterious, pious figure dressed from head to toe in black, Matthew Hopkins takes over the Thorn Inn and begins to ask questions about what the women on the margins of this diminished community are up to. Dangerous rumors of covens, pacts, and bodily wants have begun to hang over women like Rebecca—and the future is as frightening as it is thrilling.
Fantasy: “The Pariah” (The Covenant of Steel #1) by Anthony Ryan Release date: August 24, 2021 Born into the troubled kingdom of Albermaine, Alwyn Scribe is raised as an outlaw. Quick of wit and deft with a blade, Alwyn is content with the freedom of the woods and the comradeship of his fellow thieves. But an act of betrayal sets him on a new path – one of blood and vengeance, which eventually leads him to a soldier’s life in the king’s army. Fighting under the command of Lady Evadine Courlain, a noblewoman beset by visions of a demonic apocalypse, Alwyn must survive war and the deadly intrigues of the nobility if he hopes to claim his vengeance. But as dark forces, both human and arcane, gather to oppose Evadine’s rise, Alwyn faces a choice: can he be a warrior, or will he always be an outlaw?
‘Act of Negligence’ is the fourth book of the Doc Brady mystery series by John Bishop. Photo: amazon
John Bishop M.D. is an orthopedic surgeon, keyboard musician, and author of the beloved Doc Brady mystery series. The series includes “Act of Murder,” “Act of Deception,” “Act of Revenge,” “Act of Negligence,” “Act of Fate,” and “Act of Atonement.” His 30 years as a practicing orthopedic surgeon give the reader a unique glimpse into the medical world with all its problems, intricacies, and complexities, while at the same time revealing the compassion and dedication of most health care professionals. Jim Bob Brady, the series protagonist, is an accomplished orthopedic surgeon with a talent for solving medical mysteries who also moonlights as a blues musician. In “Act of Negligence,” Dr. Jim Bob Brady finds himself investigating why dementia patients with orthopedic problems are dying after surgery. It is the fourth book in the Doc Brady mystery series.
“Act of Negligence” is now set in the year 2000, whereas the previous ones take place in the 1990s. The story begins as Dr. Brady is visiting Beatrice Adams, a nursing home patient with Alzheimer’s who was transferred to University Hospital. He was sent in as a consultant because she has a bad knee but at fifty-seven years old, she is too young to have Alzheimer’s. His friend and colleague Dr. James Morgenstern refers him a series of dementia patients with orthopedic problems from Pleasant View Nursing Home. Soon, they each die, not because of Dr. Brady’s treatments, but because of irregular heart rates. This shakes him up because as a surgeon, he is not used to so many of his patients dying. After Dr. Jeff Clarke, who performs the autopsies, finds unusual brain pathology in each patient, Dr. Brady begins investigating the nursing home and its owner and CEO, Dr. Theodore Frazier. His curiosity and tenacity have gotten him in serious trouble before, including kidnappings and beatings, but this time, his life is dangerously on the line, but thankfully, his resourceful wife Mary Louise always has his back and saves the day. Even though those he considered allies turn out to be anything but, Dr. Brady uncovers the unconscionable research that Dr. Frazier was doing on Alzheimer’s patients.
Being an orthopedic surgeon, John Bishop once again brings his knowledge of the medical field to another exciting Dr. Brady adventure. Despite being heavy in medical terminology and drama, the author makes it easy to follow along and readers end up learning more about a specific medical ailment. This time it is Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Frazier was experimenting on his patients in the hopes of curing Alzheimer’s and even though some died, there were others who improved. This brings about the controversial question ‘do the ends justify the means?’ The overall language is easy to understand and the action flows easily from page to page. With a first person narration, the reader has a front row seat when Dr. Brady is in trouble: “So, with an unconscious Jeff Clarke and a silent, concussed Cynthia Drummond, no brakes, a stuck carburetor, a speeding car, and no way to turn off the engine, I did the only thing I knew to do. I tried to steer the vehicle.” Highlights include Chapter 5 as one of the patients coded during surgery after the epidural needle slips and her heartrate grows erratic and Chapter 27 when Dr. Brady is drugged, nearly crashes a car and almost dies. In the series, even though the good guys always win, the plot twists at the end make for excellent storytelling. With compelling characters and nail-biting action, “Act of Negligence” by John Bishop is another must-read in the Doc Brady mystery series. It is comparable to works by Robin Cook and recommended for fans of medical dramas who are open to learning more about illnesses and appreciate that in ethical matters, there are always grey areas.
“I was interrupted by the rhythmic beeping of the pulse oximeter, showing the patient’s oxygen saturation had fallen below 50 percent. Tim Kelly and I quickly closed the skin with an unattractive continuous stitch and watched Fred Green frantically administer various drugs to increase the patient’s heart rate, and thereby increase her blood oxygen level. He had Loretta call for another anesthesiologist stat, which brought two more docs into the room.”
*The author received a copy of this book for an honest review. The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to her.
‘Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Treachery’ by Brian Freeman is the new novel in the Jason Bourne series. Photo: amazon
Brian Freeman is the bestselling author of more than twenty novels, including the Jonathan Stride and Frost Easton series. His Audible original, “The Deep, Deep Snow,” hit The New York Times audio bestseller list. His novels have won the International Thriller Writers Award and the Macavity Award and been finalists for the Gold Dagger, Edgar, Anthony, and Barry Awards. Robert Ludlum was the author of twenty-seven novels, each one a bestseller. There are more than 225 million of his books in print, and they have been translated into thirty-two languages. He was the author of “The Scarlatti Inheritance,” “The Chancellor Manuscript,” and the Jason Bourne series–among other novels. Ludlum passed away in March 2001 and Brian Freeman was named as the official author to continue Ludlum’s famous Jason Bourne franchise. The Jason Bourne series continues with “Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Treachery,” as the world’s most ruthlessly efficient assassin, Jason Bourne, is facing the one force he cannot defeat-his own past. It is a new release available today. Read an excerpt here. (amazon, 2021)
“Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Treachery” – Three years ago, Jason Bourne embarked on a mission in Estonia with his partner and lover, a fiery Treadstone agent code-named Nova. Their job was to rescue a Russian double agent who had been smuggled out of St. Petersburg in the midst of an FSB manhunt. They failed. The Russian died at the hands of a shadowy assassin known only by the nickname Lennon. Now everything has changed for Bourne. Nova is gone, killed in a mass shooting in Las Vegas. Bourne is a lone operative, working in the shadows for Treadstone, when he is called in for a new mission in London—to prevent another assassination masterminded by Lennon. Nothing about this mission is what it seems. As Bourne engages in a cat-and-mouse game with Lennon across the British countryside, he discovers that everything he thought he knew about the past was a lie. With the body count rising, he comes to an inevitable conclusion: Some secrets should stay buried.
List of 15 authors coming to the 2021 hybrid Texas Book Festival in October. Photo: google
The Texas Book Festival is excited to unveil fifteen authors joining the weeklong hybrid Festival this fall. The Festival will feature Pulitzer Prize–winning author Colson Whitehead, Michener Center for Writers instructor Elizabeth McCracken, bestselling novelist and 2016 Kirkus Prize finalist Amor Towles, National Medal of Arts recipient and 2005 Texas Writer Award recipient Sandra Cisneros, bestselling children’s author R. J. Palacio, and many more. (Texas Book Festival, 2021)
Starting October 25, the weeklong hybrid Festival will include a robust, diverse lineup of established, emerging, and debut literary talent for readers of all ages. TBF’s full lineup will be completed and revealed later this summer.
The full list of the fifteen sneak peek authors include: • Rumaan Alam, “Leave the World Behind” • Benjamin Alire Sáenz, “Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World” • Sandra Cisneros, “Martita, I Remember You / Martita, te recuerdo” • Mary Gaitskill, “The Devil’s Treasure” • Gabriela Garcia, “Of Women and Salt” • Elizabeth McCracken, “The Souvenir Museum” • Maggie Nelson, “On Freedom: Four Songs of Care and Constraint” • R. J. Palacio, “Pony” • Raj Patel, “Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice” • Don Tate, “Pigskins to Paintbrushes” • Amor Towles, “The Lincoln Highway” • Sergio Troncoso, “Nepantla Familias: An Anthology of Mexican American Literature on Families in Between Worlds” • Colson Whitehead, “Harlem Shuffle” • Lawrence Wright, “The Plague Year: America in the Time of Covid” • Cecily Wong, “Gastro Obscura: A Food Adventurer’s Guide”
With a vision to inspire Texans of all ages, the Texas Book Festival connects authors and readers through experiences that celebrate the culture of literacy, ideas, and imagination. Founded in 1995 by former First Lady Laura Bush, Mary Margaret Farabee, and a group of volunteers, the nonprofit Texas Book Festival promotes the joys of reading and writing through its annual Festival Weekend, the Texas Teen Book Festival, the Reading Rock Stars Title I elementary school program, the Real Reads Title I middle and high school program, grants to Texas libraries, and year-round literary programming. This year’s hybrid Texas Book Festival will take place from October 25 through October 31, with virtual events October 25 – 28 and the Festival Weekend taking place on the grounds of the Texas Capitol October 30 – 31, featuring renowned authors, panels, book signings, and children’s activities. Thanks to generous donors, sponsors, and volunteers, the Festival remains free and open to the public.
‘Red Deception’ by Ed Fuller and Gary Grossman. Photo: amazon
Masters of international intrigue Ed Fuller and Gary Grossman are back with their latest, timely geopolitical thriller, “Red Deception.” When terrorists bomb bridges across the country and threaten the Hoover Dam, the vulnerability of America’s infrastructure becomes a matter of national security. But Dan Reilly, a former U.S. Army intelligence officer, predicted the attacks in a secret State Department report written years earlier – a virtual blueprint for disaster, that was somehow leaked and is now in the hands of foreign operatives. (Gary Grossman, Ed Fuller, 2021)
With Washington distracted by domestic crises, Russian President Nicolai Gorshkov sends troops to the borders of Ukraine and Latvia, ready to reclaim what he feels is Russia’s rightful territory. Tensions in Europe threaten to boil over as a besieged American president balances multiple crises that threaten to upend the geopolitical order. With the U.S. at the mercy of an egomaniacal leader, and reporters and covert agents on his tail, Reilly may be the one man who can connect the dots before an even bigger catastrophe unfolds. Blending career insight with first-hand knowledge of global politics, Fuller and Grossman draw a chilling portrait of the fragile fault lines in Europe and the players poised to seize power.
Ed Fuller is CEO of Laguna Strategic Advisors, a global consortium providing business consulting services worldwide. He has served on business and charitable boards during his 40-year career with Marriott International where he was chief marketing officer followed by 22 years as president and managing director of Marriott International. His book, “You Can’t Lead with Your Feet on the Desk,” has been printed in English, Japanese and Chinese. Fuller served as captain in the U.S. Army, stationed in Germany and Vietnam and received the Bronze Star and the Army Commendation medals. He and Gary Grossman are co-authors of the Red Hotel series, including the 2018 thriller “Red Hotel,” “Red Deception,” and soon to be followed by “Red Chaos.”
Gary Grossman is a journalist, newspaper columnist, documentary television producer, reporter, media historian and the author of “Executive Actions,” “Executive Treason,” “Executive Command,” and “Executive Force.” In addition to the bestselling Executive series, Grossman wrote the international award-winning “Old Earth,” a geological thriller. With Ed Fuller, Grossman has collaborated on the globe-hopping Red Hotel series. He served as chair of the Government Affairs Committee for the Caucus for Producers, Writers and Directors, and is a member of the International Thriller Writers Association and Military Writers Society of America. Grossman has taught at Emerson College, Boston University, USC, and currently teaches at Loyola Marymount University.
“An in-depth and realistic ground-level view of the type of asymmetric Nation-state sponsored threats faced by the Agencies tasked with protecting the United States both domestically and abroad.”
Edward Bradstreet, Special Agent, Department of Homeland Security Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)
‘Where Do You Hang Your Hammock?’ by Bella Mahaya Carter. Photo: amazon
Bella Mahaya Carter is a creative writing teacher, empowerment coach, speaker, and author of an award-winning memoir, “Raw: My Journey from Anxiety to Joy,” and “Secrets of My Sex,” a collection of narrative poems. She has worked with hundreds of writers over the past eleven years and has degrees in literature, film production, and spiritual psychology. Her poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, articles, and interviews have appeared in Mind, Body, Green; The Sun; Lilith; Fearless Soul; Writer’s Bone; Women Writers, Women’s Books; Chic Vegan; Bad Yogi Magazine; Jane Friedman’s Blog; Pick The Brain; Spiritual Medial Blog; Literary Mama; several anthologies, and elsewhere. In her new book “Where Do You Hang Your Hammock?: Finding Peace of Mind While You Write, Publish, and Promote Your Book” she shows writers how to use their present circumstances as stepping-stones to a successful and meaningful writing life.
“Where Do You Hang Your Hammock?” begins with an Introduction where the author shares her personal experience about how a hammock she received from her husband and daughter for Mother’s Day helped her conclude that peace and happiness come from within. She thought she had placed it in the perfect spot in her backyard but when the neighbor cut down a tree that gave her shade, she was furious about it for a month. It was not until she gave in, relocated it and found another ‘perfect spot,’ that she found that the bliss was not in the hammock itself, but in the permission she “gave myself to let go and be completely present and alive there.” Her goal is that this book will “encourage readers to lean in to their work and their lives with greater freedom, curiosity, and celebration.” It is divided into five parts: Dream (Universal Doubt, Stories That Create Suffering), Nourish (Small Adjustments, Body Breaks), Write (Journal Writing Is Good For Your Writing, The Time It Takes), Publish (Why We Write, The Dream), and Promote (Author Expectations, Hiring a Publicist). Each part stands alone and some chapters end with writing prompts to help readers dig deeper into the subject as it pertains to their lives. Throughout, she also shares her seven major crossroads moments on her path to publication, known as MYHM (move your hammock moment). This must-read resource is meant to give writers inspiration and help authors overwhelmed by the publishing process.
Writing and getting published can be intimidating and there are more than enough books out there dealing with the subject. “Where Do You Hang Your Hammock?” is not only a how-to book, it is also meant to help readers be mentally prepared for the entire process by dealing with fears and feelings of inadequacies and giving them coping skills. The book is brilliantly divided into different stages so that readers can choose what to focus on depending on their needs or just read all the way through. The chapters are short and to the point, without unnecessary ramblings, and the language is easy to understand, true attributes of an educator. Highlights include chapter 38. Craft: Six Ways to Improve Your Writing where the author gives writing tips such as avoiding general terms and writing using your natural speaking voice; chapter 69. Marketing Versus Publicity (marketing is an ongoing process while publicity is a targeted media campaign), and chapter 81. How to Plan a Successful Book Tour. An interesting concept she shares is that “readers want to see their own lives reflected in what they read;” this is why we read and why we write, to connect with others, so we should not be afraid to write about our experiences. It is updated for the modern age with the inclusion of using social media, Facebook and Zoom. “Where Do You Hang Your Hammock?” by Bella Mahaya Carter is an extremely useful and inspiring guide designed to bring out an individual’s creativity. It is recommended for readers looking for ways to improve their writing and tips for how to handle what comes after a book is published.
“Perhaps one of the greatest skills I know in service to dreams is the understanding that growth takes place at the edges of one’s comfort zone.”
*The author received a copy of this book for an honest review. The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to her.
‘The Shadow’ is the new thriller by James Patterson and Brian Sitts. Photo: amazon
James Patterson is one of the best-known and biggest-selling writers of all time. His books have sold in excess of 375 million copies worldwide. He is the author of some of the most popular series of the past two decades – the Alex Cross, Women’s Murder Club, Detective Michael Bennett, and Private novels – and he has written many other number one bestsellers including romance novels and stand-alone thrillers. He also writes a range of books for young readers including the Middle School, I Funny, Treasure Hunters, Dog Diaries, and Max Einstein series. James has donated millions in grants to independent bookshops and has been the most borrowed author of adult fiction in UK libraries for the past eleven years in a row. In his new book with co-author Brian Sitts, “The Shadow,” he reimagines one of America’s iconic thriller heroes. Released today, it is now available everywhere books are sold. (amazon, 2021)
“The Shadow” – Only two people know that 1930s society man Lamont Cranston has a secret identity as the Shadow, a crusader for justice. One is his greatest love, Margo Lane, and the other is fiercest enemy, Shiwan Khan. When Khan ambushes the couple, they must risk everything for the slimmest chance of survival, in the future. A century and a half later, Lamont awakens in a world both unknown and disturbingly familiar. The first person he meets is Maddy Gomes, a teenager with her own mysterious secrets, including a knowledge of the legend of the Shadow. Most disturbing, Khan’s power continues to be felt over the city and its people. No one in this new world understands the dangers of stopping him better than Lamont Cranston. And only the Shadow knows that he is the one person who might succeed before more innocent lives are lost.
SA Examiner 