Silent Thunder is the new instrumental single by Omer B. Photo: Google
Omer B is an independent musician, guitarist, and amateur race driver. He frequently works together with other musicians and singers and always welcomes new collaborators. His music varies between rock, pop, blues, gospel, funk, and jazz. His new instrumental single is Silent Thunder. (Omer B, 2023)
Silent Thunder is dedicated to all those around us who are silent, but on the other hand, the most talented and influential. Omer B perfectly proves this statement through the use of graceful vocals accompanied by an impressive guitar solo. He has always been passionate about music since a young age and has gained many friends and idols who have inspired him such as Cory Wong and Yossi Fine, who has worked with David Bowie and others.
‘The House at the End of the World’ is the new suspense thriller from Dean Koontz. Photo: Amazon
My favorite suspense author is Dean Koontzand I am so excited that he has a new suspense thriller out. International bestselling author Dean Koontz was only a senior in college when he won an Atlantic Monthly fiction competition. He has never stopped writing since. Koontz is the author of “The Big Dark Sky,” “Quicksilver,” “The Other Emily,” “Elsewhere,” “Devoted,” and seventy-nine New York Times bestsellers, fourteen of which were #1, including “One Door Away from Heaven,” “From the Corner of His Eye,” “Midnight,” “Cold Fire,” among others. He has been hailed by Rolling Stone as “America’s most popular suspense novelist,” and his books have been published in thirty-eight languages and have sold over five hundred million copies worldwide. In “The House at the End of the World,” soon no one on Earth will have a place to hide. It is the new novel about fears known and unknown by #1 New York Times bestselling master of suspense. (Amazon, 2023)
“The House at the End of the World”– In retreat from a devastating loss and crushing injustice, Katie lives alone in a fortress like stone house on Jacob’s Ladder island. Once a rising star in the art world, she finds refuge in her painting. The neighboring island of Ringrock houses a secret: a government research facility. Now two agents have arrived on Jacob’s Ladder in search of someone―or something―they refuse to identify. Although an air of menace hangs over these men, an infinitely greater threat has arrived, one so strange even the island animals are in a state of high alarm. Katie soon finds herself in an epic and terrifying battle with a mysterious enemy. But Katie is not alone after all: a brave young girl appears out of the violent squall. As Katie and her companion struggle across a dark and eerie landscape, against them is an omnipresent terror that could bring about the end of the world.
Masqued Emotions is the debut album by Masque. Photo: Google
Masque is a gay singer/songwriter who began making songs in 2020. A student of classical piano since a young age, he has long written original compositions for the keyboard. Once he took the plunge into singing, he began writing songs as well, with several dozen songs currently under his belt. He typically performs in a signature ‘masque,’ using a variety of hats and wigs in his ensemble, and uses these outfits when vocally promoting lgbt+ rights on social media. (Masque, 2023)
‘Masqued Emotions’ is the debut album by Masque – an exploration of hope and struggles in the modern world through the use of rock, pop and alternative sounds.
‘Shadow Eyes’ is the first book in the Shadow Eyes series by Tanya Hilson. Photo: This That Production, used with permission.
***** Update *****
“Shadow Eyes” is also available on audible. Check out some reviews for this title.
Tanya Hilson loves the joy of storytelling and writing. Her passion for writing started at a young age and has stayed with her throughout her life. Being dyslexic, she never thought in a million years that she would be writing screenplays, stage plays, or children’s books. She likes to write because it humbles her within, it is therapeutic, and sharing her stories with others brings her joy. A passionate humanitarian, she also runs a nonprofit organization called WeLiveOn2, which supports low-income families by teaching them computer literacy and job readiness skills, as well as helping those who have been previously incarcerated obtain employment. She has written several books, including “Back Porch Neighbors,” “Back Porch Secrets,” “Ruby’s Diner,” “Human Collateral,” “Shadow Eyes,” “Shadow Eyes 2: Where’s My Child,” “John’s Hidden Truth,” and “My Cousin Sue.” She received an accolade for “Human Collateral” from Coverfly. The Shadow Eyes series includes “Shadow Eyes” and “Shadow Eyes 2: Where’s My Child” (Tanya Hilson, 2023)
“Never give up on a DREAM, for others cannot DREAM for you.” – Tanya Hilson
“Shadow Eyes”– A young detective and her partner must solve a murder case involving the Mayor of Los Angeles’ daughter, a high-profile actress. But when Heaven’s wild, newly divorced twin sister Nevaeh moves in with her, a world of sex, secrets, and deceit will be exposed to solving this case.
Detective Heaven Chambers wants to relax with a bath and a bottle of wine, but that is immediately interrupted by a phone call from her wild twin sister going through a tumultuous divorce. Heaven offers her sister a room; however, after hanging up and receiving another call about a high-profile case, she immediately regrets inviting her. Heaven and her partner, Detective Garrick, are put on the case as leads but quickly find out that this case will not be solved easily due to the victim’s hidden, dark, naughty secrets. Feeling the heat from the Chief of Police, the media, and the grieving Mayor, the Detectives search for witnesses as they stumble on missing evidence hidden by the Mayor himself. Heaven’s twin sister has secrets of her own that will infiltrate a world of sex, deceit, and murder. Will Heaven and Garrick open Pandora’s Box or will cheek’s be turned?
“Shadow Eyes 2: Where’s My Child” – When a cult escapee approaches private detectives Heaven and Garrick to find a long-lost missing child, they must keep romantic entanglements aside and infiltrate a prostitution ring run by ruthless extremists. Genre: Urban Crime Drama
After solving the case involving the murder of the actress Lauren Jenkins, Heaven and Garrick started a private investigation business and mutually agreed to keep their previous romantic relationship strictly professional. One morning, Brook Ambers, a well-known rich widower, enters their office. After some hesitation and skepticism, Brook begins to tell Heaven and Garrick about her heart-breaking childhood. Brook goes on to explain how she gave birth to a baby at the age of 13 that was taken straight from her womb at birth and how she did not know the gender of the child. Heaven and Garrick agree to the task of finding this child, who would now be an adult. While surveilling a polygamy compound, Garrick is shocked to see a former colleague, LAPD Detective Gwen Pratt, entering the premises. Unsure of why Detective Pratt is there, Heaven and Garrick both agree to go talk with her. When speaking with Detective Pratt, Heaven and Garrick are surprised to find out that Pratt was a runaway from the same extremist group when she was young. Heaven, Garrick, Pratt, and an FBI agent team up to infiltrate the compound by going undercover to bring down this extremist underground prostitution operation while reuniting Brook with her son.
Photo: This That Production, used with permission.
Miriam Toews’ ‘Women Talking’ is now a major motion picture and is playing in theaters everywhere. Photo: Amazon
Miriam Toews is the author of the bestselling novels “All My Puny Sorrows,” “Summer of My Amazing Luck,” “A Boy of Good Breeding,” “A Complicated Kindness,” “The Flying Troutmans,” “Irma Voth, Fight Night,” and one work of nonfiction, “Swing Low: A Life.” She is winner of the Governor General’s Award for Fiction, the Libris Award for Fiction Book of the Year, the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, and the Writers’ Trust Engel/Findley Award. Her book “Women Talking” is the basis of the Oscar-nominated filmfrom writer/director Sarah Polley, starring Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, with Ben Whishaw, and Frances McDormand. The movie adaptation is now playing in theaters everywhere. (Amazon, 2023)
“Women Talking” – One evening, eight Mennonite women climb into a hay loft to conduct a secret meeting. For the past two years, each of these women, and more than a hundred other girls in their colony, has been repeatedly violated in the night by demons coming to punish them for their sins. Now that the women have learned they were in fact drugged and attacked by a group of men from their own community, they are determined to protect themselves and their daughters from future harm. While the men of the colony are off in the city, attempting to raise enough money to bail out the rapists and bring them home, these women―all illiterate, without any knowledge of the world outside their community and unable even to speak the language of the country they live in―have very little time to make a choice: Should they stay in the only world they have ever known or should they dare to escape?
Based on real events and told through the “minutes” of the women’s all-female symposium, Toews’s masterful novel uses wry, politically engaged humor to relate this tale of women claiming their own power to decide.
Alive will be available on digital platforms starting January 31, 2023. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
Beware the infection this January! In movie news: in the tradition of 28 Days Later and Cabin Fever comes the new zombie horror movie Alive. It will premiere on digital platforms on January 31 from Gravitas Ventures. From writer/director David Marantz, and featuring an electric cast headed up by Ellen Hillman, Kian Pritchard, and Neil Scheffield.
Alive – Helen navigates a ravaged world with her boyfriend Kevin and her little brother Barney. Desperate to find help after Barney’s infection slowly turns him into a zombie, they come upon a house where Dan lives; he is a man harboring a heavy secret.
Alive, 2022 Horror/Mystery/Thriller – 1h 33m
Forest zombies in Alive. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
Teddy Bear Stories 2 will be out February 14, 2023. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
If you are a fan of R&B and hip hop then do I have big news for you. Prince Casanova is an artist from Long Beach, California. He is also a singer, rapper, talented music producer, recording and mixing engineer, and writer in the genres of hip hop, rap, pop, country, rock, and R&B. He has a new album coming up next month: Teddy Bear Stories 2, an extended project from Teddy Bear Stories 1. (Prince Casanova, 2023)
Prince Casanova was once a part of a label called Upncomingrecords. He was a producer at the time while attending a Los Angeles film school later graduating and obtaining his Associates of Science Degree in Recording Arts; he was one of the top students in his class. He later started composing his own music and now has released 6 albums and 11 singles. His new album titled Teddy Bear Stories 2 will be released February 14, 2023.
Artist Name : JstLszn (Just-Listen) aka Prince Casanova Teddy Bear Stories 2 9 tracks
After an advanced screening of the new album I can say that overall the new music has a sharp, crisp, and grooving feel that will please fans of the genre. The artist’s hard work and dedication comes through in each song and I commended him for sharing his craft with music fans. If you enjoy hip hop and R&B, this album should be on your to buy list. It should be noted that it contains adult themes and language.
Mile Twelve’s new album Close Enough to Hear will be out February 3, 2023. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
Mile Twelve, Boston’s modern string band, is back in motion. From the first manic downbeat of their virtuosic new record, CloseEnough to Hear, you will discover a band that is ready to explode from a restless pandemic-induced hiatus. You will hear the same warmth and innovation that earned the band IBMA’s 2019 Album of the Year nomination and 2020 New Artist of the Year Award, which has gained them an international reputation as one of the most dynamic bands in contemporary acoustic music. Heard as a whole, Close Enough to Hear displays the vast creative potential of the bluegrass quintet—banjo (BB Bowness), mandolin (Korey Brodsky), fiddle (Ella Jordan), acoustic guitar (Evan Murphy), and upright bass (Nate Sabat)—in the hands of world-class musicians. (Mile Twelve, 2023)
Fans of Mile Twelve will notice the presence of two new members on Close Enough to Hear: fiddler and vocalist Ella Jordan and mandolinist Korey Brodsky. Take note of the new dimension they add to the band and their ability to lock in with founding members Evan Murphy, Catherine Bowness, and Nate Sabat. These are not session players; this album captures the formation of a new coherent unit.
Both of the bands’ previous full-length albums, as well as their guest star-packed EP, were recorded in Nashville but the new challenges of traveling and dodging positive Covid tests kept the band closer to home. They chose Sam Kassirer’s legendary Great North Sounds in the woods of Parsonsfield, Maine, a studio that has played host to a murderer’s row of Americana acts and has become a fixture of the New England recording scene. Leading up to the making of their new album, Mile Twelve—a flourishing act whose output has helped push the envelope of New England’s progressive bluegrass and string-band scene—learned a whole new level of perseverance, patience, and performance.
Fans can watch the music video for “Close Enough to Hear” and pre-order or pre-saveClose Enough to Hear ahead of its February3 release.
This is a band looking forward—simultaneously shoring up their bluegrass foundations (in the transfixing acapella opening of “If Only,” for example) while also pushing their musical boundaries and driving into new territory. You will detect flavors of jazz (“Red Grapes on the Vine”), acoustic pop (“Take Me As I Am”), and trance music (“Light of Angels”). Heard as a whole, CloseEnough to Hear displays the vast potential of acoustic string band music in the hands of capable players.
Close Enough to Hear track list: Romulus Johnny Oklahoma Close Enough To Hear Red Grapes on the Vine Light of Angels Hopping Around Telluride Waiting Anywhere Town Take Me As I Am If Only
Ken Lindner is the founder of Positive Life Choice Psychology™ and the Positive Life Choice Psychology Lifestyle™. His calling is to envision what can be in people and to craft the steps that turn their great potential into a highly positive and productive reality. Ken Lindner graduated from Harvard University (magna cum laude) and from Cornell Law School. In “Aspire Higher: How to Find the Love, Positivity, and Purpose to Elevate Your Life and the World!,” he encourages you to truly love yourself, lead your very best and highest life, and spread that love to the world around you. (Ken Lindner, 2023)
“Aspire Higher” – The COVID-19 pandemic has wrought global devastation along with rampant violence, vitriol, racism, distrust, and anger. The world is in serious need of love, repair, and healing and so are all of us as individuals. There has never been a better time than right now to seize the life you truly crave, be your greatest self, and share that positivity with others in order to make the world a more loving and positive place. Most of us want love and peace in our hearts and in the world, but in this book, Ken Lindner, author, renowned celebrity career coach, and founder of Positive Life Choice Psychology, shows you how to actually achieve that goal through clear, actionable steps and strategies. He teaches you how to develop true, empowering inner love and organically share it with others, raise your feelings of self-esteem and self-worth, embrace positive emotions, and help create a far more respectful, civil, and empathetic country and world. It is divided into four parts: Part 1: Your Heart-of-Hearts, Part 2: How toMake Cognitively Clear Choices That Reflect Your Highest Values and Highest Self,Part 3: Know What Your Highest Values and Goals Are, and Part 4: The PLCP Philosophies, Aspirations, Ideals, and Words That Will Fill Your Heart-of-Hearts with Love. In the Author’s Note, he explains that the foundation of the book is Positive Life Choice Psychology,™ or “PLCP.” It is “a set of clear, logical, and accomplishable steps and strategies that will equip, enable, and – in the true sense of the word – empower you to make positive choices throughout your life.” The Appendix includes exercises to get the reader to further explore their own personal goals and accomplishments.
In these modern challenging times, we all need some positive and encouraging words to help us put our best foot forward. “Aspire Higher” is a positive, inspiring, and motivational book that gives step by step advice on achieving a more positive outlook and sharing it with others. The language is simple and easy to understand and the layout makes the information easier to take in visually. The exercises at the end are helpful and insightful. His tone is compassionate without coming across as condescending. Since the chapters are short, it is easy to read a chapter and contemplate on the topic afterwards. Highlights include Part 1, Chapter1: The Negativity Bias where he explains that we tend to focus more on negative experiences, that they have more lasting effects and cause trauma, and that they are more contagious than positive experiences; and Part 2, Chapter 13: Correction Day where he reiterates that when you make a mistake, it is best to identify it, figure out how you can make better choices going forward, and the importance of not repeating the same mistake. Most importantly, he states that we should practice ‘selective amnesia:’ learning from our mistakes and carrying them with us into the future. His philosophies and advice come from a positive place and are intended to help readers improve their lives. “Aspire Higher” is an empowering book for the times and is recommended for readers interested in self help and motivational books.
“There are things in life that you can’t control, but you can control your choices, values, attitudes, perceptions, actions, and who and what you choose to include in your life.”
*The author received a copy of this book for an honest review. The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to her.
‘Lucy and the Lake Monster’ is the story of a nine-year old orphan named Lucy searching for the sea serpent Champ. Photo: Amazon
Co-written by Academy-Award-considered filmmaker Richard Rossi and retired school teacher Kelly Tabor, “Lucy and the Lake Monster” is a children’s series and soon-to-be feature film that masterfully illustrates how to overcome mental health challenges like worry, depression, and anxiety with childlike faith. It is currently being adapted into a major motion picture. (Richard Rossi/Kelly Ann Tabor, 2023)
“Lucy and the Lake Monster” – Lucy Lago is a nine year-old orphan. She believes that Champ, the Lake Champlain Sea Serpent, lives and lurks in the lake by her cabin in Crown Point. She lives there with her grandpa, who she calls “Papa.” Despite mockery and mercenary forces opposing them, Lucy and Papa determine to venture out on their rickety rowboat and bring awareness of America’s Loch Ness Monster to the world.
“For me, growing up in Crown Point was magical. Hearing stories of our legendary Champ, captivated my interest as I swam and explored the shorelines and waters of Lake Champlain. As a teacher, I later took those stories and experiences I had with me into the classroom and shared them with hundreds of students over the years, piquing their interest.” – Kelly Tabor, Co-Writer
“Champ, the sea serpent, is an allegory for God. The pure in heart, like Lucy, see Champ as good. Others teach Champ is a monster for mercenary purposes, the way manipulative ministers scare people today.”- Richard Rossi, Academy-Award Considered Filmmaker, and Co-Writer
SA Examiner 