A Book and a Chat with Annie-Laurie Hunter

Sometimes a story just comes to you, almost as if the main character had been waiting there until you noticed them. Then once you do and open yourself up to their story it just flows from you. Such was the case with my guest on today’s “A Book and a Chat”.

Annie-Laurie Hunter heard the story from her main character Sarah and within five weeks had the story written.  As she explained during the show, it was like Sarah was sitting next to her, waiting patiently for Annie-Laurie to keep up with her narration as she told her story for all to read.

Annie-Laurie’s debut book “The Sarah Puzzle” is intended to for mature readers, it contains explicit sexual content and in many aspects it can be called disturbing, however as many reviewers have stated it is one that you just can’t put down.

About “The Sarah Puzzle” (Taken from Amazon) :

“Tony, we’ve got a kid up here.” So begins The Sarah Puzzle. Why is a tiny mute child sleeping in a condemned building in the Village? Where did she come from and how has she survived alone? As the community fits the puzzle pieces together a horrifying picture emerges of pedophilia, psychological abuse, and murder. Can Sarah integrate love, caring, and faith into her sense of self, which was formed in depravity? The Sarah Puzzle can only be solved by grownups who will not stand idly by in the face of evil. Are you willing to journey with Sarah to solve The Sarah Puzzle?

As one reviewer put it…

The Sarah Puzzle is an engaging primer for what the helping community can and should do for victims of sexual abuse. Sarah's journey from nameless, voiceless victim to a young girl who is well on her way to recovery, is engrossing, horrifying and hopeful, all at once. Though at times difficult to read, given the subject matter, the book is well-written, and the characters are brought to life in a really human way. Annie-Laurie Hunter has created and carefully crafted a wonderful main character, as well as those on Sarah's Team. It's a great example of the healing that can take place when sensitivity, caring, thoughtful intervention and compassion are at the heart of the helping community. This book should be required reading for anyone who works with victims of sexual abuse!

So listen now and share an interesting, and entertaining show as I chat with my special guest today on A Book and a Chat with Annie-Laurie Hunter

Barry

Direct link to the show
A Book and a Chat with Annie-Laurie Hunter

or you can download the mp3 file of the show from
"Annie-Laurie Hunter"

You can find out more about my guest and their books at:
"Annie-Laurie Hunter - The Sarah Puzzle"

Barry Eva (Storyheart)

My Blogs:

Book Information and Things UK - Across the Pond

Book and a Chat Radio Show Guests - A Book and a Chat

Funny, Weird Or Just Interesting News From Around the World - Laugh I Thought My Trousers Would Never dry

A Book and a Chat with Dilruba Z Ara

On Tuesdays show we had a guest calling in from Fiji discussing a book based in Canada and the Bahamas, today my guest Dilruba Z Ara called in from Sweden and we discussed a book based in Bangladesh.
While the story is set in Bangladesh it is one that can relate to woman around the world, and has proven so with its spread of popularity across many nations and it’s translation into many languages.

It is no surprise Dilruba has become an author of note, literature is in her blood through several generations.  Dilruba was nurtured on Greek mythology by her father, and her mother read her Indian fairytales as bedtime stories. Involved in literary activities throughout her childhood and adolescence, Dilruba had her first story published when she was eight years old.

Her novel “A List of Offences” first introduced in 2006 has been published in Bangladesh, Spain and Greece and is now available both in English and as an E-Book.

About “A List of Offences” (taken from Before It’s News blog):

In a lush Bengali village, a much-longed-for daughter is born with hair the color of sunlight on the river. The shock of the child’s silvery hair makes the midwife wet herself in the birthing room – an omen for village gossip. A life of misfortune is predicted for the baby girl Daria, who grows up not wholly unaffected by the rumors that circulate around her village every time she does anything unusual. The women in her family and in her village expect her to follow the cultural behavior in which women are taught from infancy to keep silent about things that may belittle their value in the marriage market.

Meanwhile, Mizan, an orphan boy, is stranded by the river after a flood. Daria’s parents shelter him, but off stage a servant of the family mistreats him. Because he can read and write, Mizan’s only recourse is to make a secret list of the mistreatments, which he titles “A List of Offences.”

However, Daria’s father, who also fears that village gossip will follow Daria to her future in-laws’ family, plans to save her from her inauspicious destiny by marrying her off with Mizan. But Daria falls in love with handsome lawyer Ali Baba and marries him. Leaving her village for the city and her husband’s home, she finds that his mother is obsessively bitter that he has married a country bumpkin. Daria forces herself to put up with her new family, for as a married woman she no longer belongs to her parental family. Both pride and fear of angering her own mother keep her silent for a long time, until she herself begins to make her own personal “List of Offences” and becomes a mother herself.

As Dilruba states…

“I think what inspired A LIST OF OFFENCES is that I have seen how girls are raised and treated. In Third World countries you can see a pattern where girls always have to fight for their rights – even within the family. They are told to keep quiet: you do not talk about things that might signal you out as an unsuitable girl in your social orbit; even if you’ve been raped you hide that. In the book, Daria’s story is only a micro version of the macro thing that has been happening within families… home has been the center of repression for girls for ages.”

So listen now and share an interesting, and entertaining show as I chat with my special guest today on A Book and a Chat with Dilruba Z Ara

Barry

Direct link to the show
A Book and a Chat with Dilruba Z Ara

or you can download the mp3 file of the show from
"Dilruba Z Ara"

You can find out more about my guest and their books at:
"Dilruba Z Ara - A List of Offences"

Barry Eva (Storyheart)

My Blogs:

Book Information and Things UK - Across the Pond

Book and a Chat Radio Show Guests - A Book and a Chat

Funny, Weird Or Just Interesting News From Around the World - Laugh I Thought My Trousers Would Never dry

A Book and a Chat with Barbara Everett Heintz

Every so often I come across a book on my show that I think people should read, not just for enjoyment but in many ways for education as well. While I have only been in America for twelve years thanks to a lot of knowledge picked up doing “A Book and a Chat” one could say I know more about the country and in many cases the people than many born and bred people in the USA.

Today’s guest award winning author Barbara Everett Heintz and her book “Pinkhoneysuckle” are cases in point. The book has already one several wards and shows life, being mostly a memoir in an area that many American’s just do not know about.

Barbara takes her  life story to describe the "Hidden People" of Appalachia, basically 3^rd world existence,

Where the poor whites and blacks discriminated against and segregated to the poorest mountainous regions of the Bible Belt, their strength and identity shaped by religious values and the virtue of living off the land.
Through her own upbringing she is able to provide a unique insight to the Appalachia in the mid-20th century, the class struggles and poverty, the family dynamics and rich cultural traditions.

The book takes the reader through the harshness of the Appalachian way of life that included abuse and incest, Barbara is able to portray the misery that she lived through.

As one reviewer put it…

The author brings us into her life in Appalachia in a time when most of America barely even knew they existed. She does not spare the painful details, yet comes to an understanding of the people she grew up with, family, friends and neighbors alike. She selflessly loves all as she matures, and her understanding of the human condition grows.

To my mind it is a must read book, perhaps a true masterpiece. It shares about how a poor family that lives in the hill country of the rural South. Written in unique style that it is a pleasure to read, and has the reader constantly what will be revealed next.


So listen now and share an interesting, and entertaining show as I chat with my special guest today on A Book and a Chat with Barbara Everett Heintz

Barry
Direct link to the show
A Book and a Chat with Barbara Everett Heintz

or you can download the mp3 file of the show from
"Barbara Everett Heintz"

You can find out more about my guest and their books at:
"Barbara Everett Heintz - Pinkhoneysuckle"

Barry Eva (Storyheart)

My Blogs:

Book Information and Things UK - Across the Pond

Book and a Chat Radio Show Guests - A Book and a Chat

Funny, Weird Or Just Interesting News From Around the World - Laugh I Thought My Trousers Would Never dry

A Book and a Chat with Corrine Jackson

Corrine Jackson and that is sounded “Cor-een” is one of the Class of 2K12 debut YA authors for this year, however in her case it’s not one book coming out this year but two.

Corrine wrote her first short story in second or third grade. Which she still has.. Oddly enough, it was about a girl whose best friend was being physically abused by her dad. That theme somehow made it into her first novel “Touched”, so maybe everything comes full circle?

She continued writing through her school year moving around a lot, she actually attended eleven different colleges, has earned bachelors and master’s degrees in English, and an MFA in Creative Writing. She is its lead to believe a dab hand in creating pies, cup cakes and the odd bowl of Mac and Cheese.

Along with a normal job and her educational studies Corinne now has produced two totally different books both of which are due to be launched in 2012.
“Touched” is the first book in a trilogy, the second already going through the editing stage with the third shortly to get underway.

About “Touched -Sense Thieves” (Taken from Corrine’s Web page)

Remy O’Malley heals people with touch—but every injury she cures becomes her own. Living in a household with an abusive stepfather, she has healed untold numbers of broken bones, burns,and bruises. And then one night her stepfather goes too far.

Being sent to live with her estranged father offers a clean start and she is eager to take it. Enter Asher Blackwell. Once a Protector of Healers, Asher sacrificed his senses to become immortal. Only by killing a Healer can a Protector recover their human senses. Falling in love is against the rules between these two enemies.

Because Remy has the power to make Protectors human again, and when they find out, they’ll becoming for her—if Asher doesn’t kill her first.

As stated this is the first of what is a trilogy; however in the mean time her she has a debut novel coming out next month which is totally different to Touched.
In a way “IF I LIE” has somewhat a similar theme to “Touched” where a girl keeps a secret at great cost to herself. It is however a deeper book that covers the gray space between truth and perception.

About “If I Lie” (taken from Amazon):

Cheater. Traitor. Slut.

Quinn’s done the unthinkable: she kissed a guy who is not Carey, her boyfriend. And she got caught. Shunned by everyone she knows, Quinn loses her friends, her reputation, and her identity. Because Carey’s not just any guy—he’s a Marine who’s serving overseas, and beloved by everyone in their small, military town.
But Quinn didn’t cheat. She could clear her name, but that would mean revealing secrets she’s vowed to keep—secrets that aren’t hers to share. So she stays silent, and waits for Carey to come home.

Then Carey goes MIA, and Quinn must decide how far she’ll go to protect her boyfriend…and her promise.



As one reviewer put it…

"If I Lie" is easily one of the better written contemporary debuts I've come across this year, if not the best. It is powerful, thought-provoking, and is beautifully written. While it touches upon a variety of subjects and something or the other is constantly happening throughout the novel, at its core, it is a character-driven story like no other. I guess if I had to, I’d describe If I Lie as a cross between The Scarlet Letter and Speechless, but really, it is a novel that manages to hold its head high and stand all on its own, for although it covers a similar subject matter, it also covers so much more. It is a novel not only about bearing burdens, facing a cold shoulder of shame, torn families, friendship, and the army; it is also a story about hope and perseverance and the ability to find strength and courage even in the darkest of times.

With two different styles yet the same creative talent, I can well see the name of Corrine Jackson being on many YA readers book shelves.

So listen now and share an interesting, and entertaining show as I chat with my special guest today on A Book and a Chat with Corrine Jackson

Barry

Direct link to the show
A Book and a Chat with Corrine Jackson

or you can download the mp3 file of the show from
"Corrine Jackson"

You can find out more about my guest at:
"Corrine Jackson - If I Lie"


Barry Eva (Storyheart)

My Blogs:

Book Information and Things UK Including my Olympic Blog - Across the Pond

Book and a Chat Radio Show Guests - A Book and a Chat

Funny, Weird Or Just Interesting News From Around the World - Laugh I Thought My Trousers Would Never dry

A Book and a Chat with Heidi Ann Smith

My guest today on “A Book and a Chat” is Heidi Ann Smith, she grew up in the Chicago area and began publishing poems as a child, winning various local and academic awards for her writing. Based on her writing abilities, she was awarded a scholarship to a private high school and attended college courses during her high school years.

Life and a family got in the way of her writing but she soon returned to complete a Bachelor of Arts from Eastern Illinois University. Heidi is currently a PhD student studying Creative Writing at Middlesex University in London, England, a location I know very well, being about five miles from my family home in England.

“THE CLARA ANN BURNS STORY” is her first novel.

As Heidi explained during the show...

“The story is based on some of my life experiences,” which included sexual abuse. “I needed to write this book–and I needed to have the right and the freedom to bring together different events.”

About "THE CLARA ANN BURNS STORY":

A woman who suffered child abuse looks back over her turbulent life as she approaches her fifties. Smith describes it as “a story of a young girl, Clara Ann Burns, who was tortured, abused and neglected by her family. When she was old enough to go out on her own, she got herself into situations that were not always the best. But in the end she raises her own family and holds onto the hope of healing and living without fear.

Heidi shared with us that she hopes that readers who can identify with THE CLARA ANN BURNS STORY will find some comfort in it.

“When I was a little girl I was very sick and I didn’t have a happy home life. I started reading poetry, and I felt some kind of resonance and a kindred spirit with the other writer’s work. I hope my work will reach someone and that they will also know that they are not alone.”

It is certainly that, and also a great work of literature.”

So listen now and share an interesting, and entertaining show as I chat with my special guest today on A Book and a Chat with Heidi Ann Smith

Barry

Direct link to the show
A Book and a Chat with Heidi Ann Smith

or you can download the mp3 file of the show from
"Heidi Ann Smith"

You can find out more about my guest and their books at:
"Heidi Ann Smith - The Clara Ann Burns Story"

Barry Eva (Storyheart)

My Blogs:

Book Information and Things UK - Across the Pond

Book and a Chat Radio Show Guests - A Book and a Chat

Funny, Weird Or Just Interesting News From Around the World - Laugh I Thought My Trousers Would Never dry

A Book and a Chat with Teresa Joyce

Some people write to tell a story, others to provide help, others again for healing, the book about the life of today’s guest Teresa Joyce provides all that and so much more.

Her book "There's a Fine Line" covers more than one issue; it’s a true story that ranges over a period of many years. It covers the first married years of my mother’s life, and the abuse she received from my now deceased father. The hardship she found within her life in so many ways, no one should have ever had to go through, but sadly it just seemed to follow her around.

Her motivation for writing the book to face and deal with her demons, as well to be able to reach out to others.

As Teres’a states… It’s easy to think that you are alone in your pain I know I did. You convince yourself, that you’re the only person in the world this could ever have happened to. That in some manner you’re a bad person, only receiving what you are due.

My dearest hope, that this book goes some way to dispelling that misconception. I also hope that in sharing my story, people with similar experiences may find some peace within its pages and courage to heal. I would like to think that my book somehow imparts to others, the hope it gave me on its conclusion. I still struggle to find some kind of insight as how to heal the child within me. But it’s long past time that I did so she has suffered enough.

Stories about how her life was ruined in so many ways, from shotguns to cutting off one of his fingers and posting it through her letter box. Her story resembles hell in so many ways but that is what her life was, suppressed or not once the box of memories was opened the past came flooding back, emotions she had to deal with.

Again as Teresa herself states…Understand that this book/memoir is just a little different to most other memoirs i.e. most are written by ghost writers. This was something I never even considered. To my mind I had to be the one to write this. I hoped and needed to be able to express my feelings within the pages, as no other person could. With the best outcome being, that you would feel like you were taking this journey with me.

Strangely I feel an amount of support, being able to think that you are out there. There is a fine line between sanity and insanity; I know this personally, through the experiences I have had to go through involving my stepfather. I also have a personal insight of my own, of a mind battling to stay on the right side of that line, because in truth, I came so very close to crossing over myself.

“There’s a Fine Line” is not only a book that will help many, but is one that people should read to understand as well as educate.

So listen to an interesting and hugely entertaining show as I spend thirty minutes sharing "A Book and a Chat with Teresa Joyce".

Barry

Direct link to the show
"A Book and a Chat with Teresa Joyce"

or you can download the mp3 file of the show from
"Teresa Joyce"

You can find out more about my guest and their books at:
"Teresa Joyce - There's a Fine Line"

Barry Eva (Storyheart)

My Blogs:

Book Information and Things UK - Across the Pond

Book and a Chat Radio Show Guests - A Book and a Chat

Funny, Weird Or Just Interesting News From Around the World - Laugh I Thought My Trousers Would Never dry

A Book and a Chat with Julie Anne Peters

My guest on today’s “A Book and a Chat” is YA and Children’s author Julie Anne Peters. In her YA she has tackled issues such as how to deal with your first same sex crush, growing up transgender, and what it's like when your two moms' relationship falls apart.

She originally aimed her career to be a teacher however one year of teaching fifth grade showed to both herself and the school (yes she got fired) that perhaps teaching was not quite the career for her. Several more exams and careers later, as she shared with us during the program, she was working on counting the number of parts in a car… the dreaded widgets… we she realized that there must be more to life than geeking out about 4GL and the number of widgets on a car. So there and then she decided to become a writer.

So started the long and bumpy road to being a published author.
Back in the 1990’s the YA literary explosion was still to happen, so she wrote books for younger readers from “The Stinky Sneakers Contest” to the wonderfully named “Love Me, Love My Broccoli” and including the "Snob Squad" series of books.

In 2000 she wrote a book which though aimed for the younger market, there not being a recognized one for the YA readers called “Devine Normal” which through word of mouth found its way to the cusp of the YA literary explosion. That was the start of Julie’s march through the ranks YA authors.

Along the way her editor asked her to write about a lesbian relationship, and though reluctant at the time, afraid to lose her existing readership, Julie’s book “Keeping You a Secret” broke new ground. Since then she has written books that cover many varied and sometimes “controversial” issues faced by children and teens regarding sexual identity, abuse, destructive relationships and problematic family dynamics.

Her book “By the time you read this I will be dead” for instance covered follows a suicidal high school student who has been the victim of peer bullying for years.

Her latest book is “She Loves You, She Loves You Not”

Dumped by her girlfriend and rejected by her family, Alyssa is sent across the country to live with the mother who abandoned her at birth. A mother who still doesn’t seem to have room in her heart for Alyssa. Hurt and alone, Alyssa is left to create a new life for herself. Can she ever get over her abandonment issues to trust again? Can she redefine “family?” And will she open herself to the possibility of new love?

Her books are always fresh, always looking at new subjects in a format enjoyed by all sexes, ages and human situations, and I’m sure that the number of he readers will just continue to grow.

So listen to an interesting and hugely entertaining show as I spend thirty minutes sharing "A Book and a Chat with Julie Anne Peters"

Barry

Direct link to the show
"A Book and a Chat with Julie Anne Peters".

or you can download the mp3 file of the show from
"Julie Anne Peters"

You can find out more about my guest and their books at:
"Julie Anne Peters - She loves you, she loves you not"

Barry Eva (Storyheart)

My Blogs:

Book Information and Things UK - Across the Pond

Book and a Chat Radio Show Guests - A Book and a Chat

Funny, Weird Or Just Interesting News From Around the World - Laugh I Thought My Trousers Would Never dry

A Book and a Chat with Jennie Helderman

Jennie Helderman makes a welcome return visit to A Book and a Chat today, to tell us more about herself and her wonderful book “As the Sycamore Grows” and what has gone on since she was last on the show.

Jennie was a “girl power” forerunner, when at the age of ten she became the first girl page in the Alabama State Legislature.

That surge of girl power wouldn’t be the last time she saw a need to put women’s issues at the forefront. Years later, after she helped set up a crisis-call center in an old house, a cry for help at the other end of the phone line resounded in her head. That call was the catalyst; eventually, the empty bedrooms upstairs served as the community’s first shelter for victims of domestic abuse.

Through years of helping champion women’s and children’s issues and working with child abuse victims Jennie put her own mark on the Alabama human rights issues.

Jennies reputation has been enhanced by her wonderful, and as we heard during the show now multi award winning book “As the Sycamore Grows”.

The book is the true story– real names–of a seventeen year abusive marriage; a Sleeping with the Enemy in the Tennessee backwoods, as told by Ginger, who escaped, and Mike, who abused and holds no remorse.

As the Midwest Book Review wrote about this interesting and thought provoking book…

“…a life-story of emancipation, personal fulfillment and escape—not only from a padlocked cabin in the woods, but from a backwards anti-feminist culture into the broader world of contemporary human rights that is America’s mainstream….”

This is a book, that as we heard, is appealing to men and woman alike and keeping Jennie busy being guest speaker at many locations and events, with the possibility of a film also now under discussion it’s always good to have this interesting lady as a guest on the show.

So listen to an interesting and entertaining show as I spend thirty minutes sharing "A Book and a Chat with Jennie Helderman"

Barry

Direct link to the show
"A Book and a Chat with Jennie Helderman".

or you can download the mp3 file of the show from
"Jennie Helderman"

You can find out more about my guest and their books at:
"Jennie Helderman - As the Sycamore Grows"

Barry Eva (Storyheart)

My Blogs:

Book Information and Things UK - Across the Pond

Book and a Chat Radio Show Guests - A Book and a Chat

Funny, Weird Or Just Interesting News From Around the World - Laugh I Thought My Trousers Would Never dry

A Book and a Chat with Jennie Helderman

My guest on today's A Book and a Chat is a lady who has been there, done it all and got the tee-shirt. Now Jennie Helderman is sharing with readers, a true story that will disturb, educate and hopefully heal.

From baiting fish hooks to telling stories there never seemed to be enough time for Jennie growing, up and even now her mind is full of stories she yet has to write. He life though has been more than interesting from her work with women’s issues and leadership, community development, public relations and communications, beginning in Gadsden, Alabama, and reaching to national levels. She has been a strong champion of women’s and children’s issues and additionally has worked with child abuse victims.

Along with that Jennie has travelled across five continents, made the pilgrimage of the Camino de Santiago de Compostella in Spain. In the summer of 2002, she worked as a photographer on an Earthwatch archaeology project at the Scavi in Pompeii, Italy. She’s hiked and rafted the Grand Canyon twice; visited 47 US states; climbed Mt. Vesuvius; photographed the Masai people and wild animals in Kenya and Tanzania; and recently toured China and Tibet. So as I said she has many stories yet to be produced.

After several award nominated short stories, two successful coauthored nonfiction books, “Christmas Trivia” and “Hanukkah Trivia”, Jennie has now produced “As the Sycamore Grows” a wonderful non-fiction story.

About “As the Sycamore Grows.”

Imagine sleeping with the enemy in the hills of Tennessee when the enemy totes a Bible and packs a .38. Mike shoved and slapped but his primary tools were isolation and economic abuse "until he discovered the power of the Lord”.

The journalist-narrator meets Ginger, who relates the harrowing tale of her escape from a lonely childhood and two abusive marriages. Her parents embraced a super-strict Christian doctrine which teaches that men lead, women follow and divorce is a sin. Ginger escaped from the first abusive marriage, but it meant leaving her baby boy behind. Her second husband virtually enslaved her in isolation, poverty and physical abuse. Once, on Mother’s Day, he viciously beat her and then demanded that she cut the grass—with scissors.

The story also deals with religious abuse of women. Ginger was brought up in a very strict Christian household, blindly following teachings that helped her attract a batterer. Ginger’s second husband, Mike, grew a Moses beard and learned how religion could be a tool for cruelty and control. “When churches tell women to submit and pray harder”.

Jennie comments…

“I stumbled on a great story with a happy ending. For me it was a journey of discovery. For Ginger it meant re-living black days and bad times, but she still held nothing back.”

With several more ideas bubbling away in Jennies mind and a historical novel yet to be completed I’m sure this will not be the last we will hear of today’s guest “Jennie Helderman”

Barry

Direct link to the show
"A Book and a Chat with Jennie Helderman "

or you can download the mp3 file of the show from
"Jennie Helderman "

You can find out more about my guest and their books at:
"Jennie Helderman - As the Sycamore Grows"

Barry Eva (Storyheart)

My Blogs:

Book Information and Things UK - Across the Pond

Book and a Chat Radio Show Guests - A Book and a Chat

Funny, Weird Or Just Interesting News From Around the World - Laugh I Thought My Trousers Would Never dry

A Book and a Chat with Jennie Helderman

My guest on today's A Book and a Chat is a woman to be hugely commended. Jennie Helderman was the first girl page in the Alabama State Legislature, she has made a huge contribution to helping out abused woman, by setting up her community’s first shelter for victims of domestic abuse.

From baiting fish hooks to telling stories there never seemed to be enough time for Jennie growing, up and even now her mind is full of stories she yet has to write. He life though has been more than interesting from her work with women’s issues and leadership, community development, public relations and communications, beginning in Gadsden, Alabama, and reaching to national levels. She has been a strong champion of women’s and children’s issues and additionally has worked with child abuse victims.

Along with that Jennie has travelled across five continents, made the pilgrimage of the Camino de Santiago de Compostella in Spain. In the summer of 2002, she worked as a photographer on an Earthwatch archaeology project at the Scavi in Pompeii, Italy. She’s hiked and rafted the Grand Canyon twice; visited 47 US states; climbed Mt. Vesuvius; photographed the Masai people and wild animals in Kenya and Tanzania; and recently toured China and Tibet. So as I said she has many stories yet to be produced.

After two successful coauthored nonfiction books, “Christmas Trivia” and “Hanukkah Trivia”. Jennie has now produced “As the Sycamore Grows.” a wonderful non-fiction story.

About “As the Sycamore Grows.”

Imagine sleeping with the enemy in the hills of Tennessee when the enemy totes a Bible and packs a .38. Mike shoved and slapped but his primary tools were isolation and economic abuseAE"until he discovered the power of the Lord. As the Sycamore Grows is a nonfiction narrative about ending the legacy of abuse. Ginger McNeil was brought up to pray and obey, but she escaped the padlocked cabin in the woods where she lived off the land with no electricity or telephone. Today she's a court advocate in the domestic court system. Her husband Mike admits the abuse, holds no remorse, and would do it all again. God made women to serve, he says. It's their job. Both Ginger and Mike speak, as do family, friends, ex-spouses, and others. Threading through the story is loss: the alienation of families, a spiritual void from betrayal by their church, and the death of the son Ginger had abandoned.

Jennie shared with us much about her life and the story behind her book, in a very interesting show.

So sit back and enjoy today's "Book and a Chat with Jennie Helderman ".

Barry

Direct link to the show
"A Book and a Chat with Jennie Helderman "

or you can download the mp3 file of the show from
"Jennie Helderman "

You can find out more about my guest and their books at:
"Jennie Helderman - As the Sycamore Grows"

Don't Forget November is MALE YA MONTH



Barry Eva (Storyheart)

My Blogs:

Book Information and Things UK - Across the Pond

Book and a Chat Radio Show Guests - A Book and a Chat

Funny, Weird Or Just Interesting News From Around the World - Laugh I Thought My Trousers Would Never dry

A Book and a Chat with J. Nicole Spencer

My guest today is Jamika Nicole Spencer, though she goes by her middle name of Nicole as that means “Victory” and “People”. This she feels is a mandate for her life, as Nicole who has always been a fighter, standing up for others, now uses her faith and belief to assist people in obtaining victory in their own lives.

Nicole’s first book “Sarah’s Secrets: Exposing the Fear of Submission” is the story of her own journey of learning Godly submission. a book that teaches women about biblical submission.

From a history of her own abusive marriage, this was a topic that she fought with for a long time, as do many women today. Submission is a topic that society has rejected time and time again, yet our Bible teaches it. In the book she reveals three simple but powerful secrets that will help women submit to God first then to godly authority in their lives. Sarah Abraham’s wife is our teacher and four women grow to learn how these secrets can benefit them.

Nicole has come a long way in a short time, starting a business with faith and three thousand dollars in the middle of a recession into a one that has grown 4 times over.

From Christian Touch Media in Forest Hill with a mission to provide multiple outlets of media and marketing for the Christian community, to Redeemed Platinum Wear, a Christian clothing line for men women and children. Along the way intruducing War Call Records to create God inspired music.

Nicole is also the host of “On the Spot” a local radio broadcast a weekly round table panel, recorded in front of a live studio audience, embarking on controversial topics rarely discussed amongst Christians.

So sit back and listen to an enjoyable thirty minutes on today’s A Book and a Chat with J. Nicole Spencer."

Barry

Direct link to the show
"A Book and a Chat with J. Nicole Spencer"

or you can download the mp3 file of the show from
"J. Nicole Spencer "

You can find out more about my guest and their book at:
"J. Nicole Spencer - Sarahs Secrets"

Barry Eva (Storyheart)

My Blogs:

Book Information and Things UK - Across the Pond

Book and a Chat Radio Show Guests - A Book and a Chat

Funny, Weird Or Just Interesting News From Around the World - Laugh I Thought My Trousers Would Never dry

A Book and a Chat with Swati Avasthi

Swati Avasthi was my guest of today's A Book and a Chat, one of the wonderful group of authors who have there debut novel in 2010.

Her novel “Split” is a powerful story, centering on a teenage victim of domestic violence, something, as we heard from Sawti, and discussed in some details she has some knowledge of. Not to her personally I might add, but from her days coordinating at a domestic violence legal clinic.

While there are specific incidents that inspired the story even shaped the way she conceived of the book. It also enabled her to put faces on what she felt was more like an abstract problem. Swati explained during the show, that working with such victims she’d found It was incredibly moving --- both inspiring and heartbreaking.
During the show we learned how Swati had from the age of five wanted to write, and how, after the birth of her first child she’d gone back to writing currently completing her MFA at the University of Minnesota.

As well as her book “Split” in a very entertaining sixty minute show, we also heard about her work along with Heather Bouwman in The Second Story Reading Series. This is a bi-monthly series giving voice to new young adult and middle grade authors, by pairing them with an established author at presentations.

From abuse to Hanna Montana, from emotional relationships to her new work "Bidden", the show covered all areas, as Swathi Avasthi was my guest on today’s thoroughly entertaining “A Book and a Chat”

Barry

Direct link to the show
"A Book and a Chat with Swati Avasthi"

or you can download the mp3 file of the show from
"Swati Avasthi"

You can find out more about Swati and her book at:
"Swati Avasthi - Split"

Barry Eva (Storyheart)

My Blogs:
Book Information and Things UK - Across the Pond
Book and a Chat Radio Show Guests - A Book and a Chat
Funny, Weird Or Just Interesting News From Around the World - Laugh I Thought My Trousers Would Never dry

A Book and a Chat with U.L. Harper

My guest on the show today has come a long way since teachers told him he could not be allowed to take a creative writing class. U.L. Harper has come a long way since those days. His current novel "The Flesh Statue" shows just how far.

U.L. went to college for journalism, getting literary feet wet at UCLA (University of Cypress Lincoln Avenue). His writing developed, as U.L shared with us, through the realms of a part time slam poet, moving around different cities cursing at the audience in the name of art and style. From there his writing continued as Editor in Chief for the Cypress Chronicle.


"The Flesh Statue" is a novel that touches many if life’s issues, many of which U.L shared with us during the show, from Alzheimer’s, which leaves the books main characters Langely’s Grandfather sitting like a statue made of flesh (hence the book title).

Subjects such as abortion, abuse, death, graffiti, neighborhood watch groups and the police fill the pages of this interesting, entertaining and poignant novel. As “The Flesh Statue” follows Langley on this search for answers, and the array of characters he meets along the way.

As U.L shared during the show, there is another novel in the pipe line and I’m sure we’ll hear pleny more about my guest on today’s “A Book and a Chat with U.L. Harper"

So why not sit back and listen to the show or else download it and share the broadcast at another time.

Barry

Direct link to the show
"A Book and a Chat with U.L. Harper"

or you can download the mp3 file of the show from
"U.L. Harper"

You can find out more about Kathi and her books at:
"U.L. Harper - The Flesh Statue"


Barry Eva (Storyheart)

My Blogs:
Book Information and Things UK - Across the Pond
Book and a Chat Radio Show Guests - A Book and a Chat
Funny, Weird Or Just Interesting News From Around the World - Laugh I Thought My Trousers Would Never dry

A Book and a Chat with "Lori Finnila"

One of the great things about running a radio show is the fact that not only do you have a chance to interact and learn from so many interesting people, you also get a chance to share and hopefully help listeners. My guest today on a book and a chat is one such fascinating person. Author, chat show host, and survivor Lori Finnila.

Though the show and scratched the surface of this fascinating lady, we were able to see in the items that she shared with us, what a life she had lead. From being an aspiring model and doing film work, through being abused in so many different ways, Lori has trodden a path through life that many would think only happen in films or on TV.

Being attacked while in hospital, which lead to her suffering a brain injury to perhaps hearing about the plot to kill JFK Jn, Lori's story is one of suffering a courage.

In her books as well as on her own radio show "Women Empowerment" Lori has with her honesty and courage, been able provide help and encouragement to many dealing in items from "domestic violence, and homelessness to brain injury's"

The show is a very interesting thirty minutes that all should listen to, just to see the strength and fortitude of this fascinating lady.

Direct link to the show is...

A Book and a Chat with Lori Finnila

or you can download the mp3 file of the show from

Lori Finn

To find out more about Lori visit her web site at:

Women Empowerment


Check out http://abookandachat.blogspot.com

Barry Eva (Storyheart)