A Book and a Chat with Lauren Tarshis

Lauren Tarshis was introduced to me by my son Andrew who handed my one of her books one day and told me “Dad you need to get this lady on your show” and I am really glad I did.

Lauren  is described in Wikipedia as “an author of children's books, with several series of fiction and historical works found in thousands of libraries and translated into several languages” but she is so much more than that.

She the author of the critically acclaimed Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree, a Golden Kite honor book for fiction and Oprah book club pick, and the sequel Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell in Love. Books that are on many state lists and are often used by schools as part of anti-bully programs.

When not writing she is the  editorial director for language arts at Scholastic, and the editor of Storyworks magazine, an award-winning language arts magazine for children in grades 3-5 and also oversees Scope magazine, a language arts magazine for middle-schoolers. Circulation of these two magazines alone is over a million.

To my mind however the her greatest gift to young readers has been her “I Survived” series,  fast-paced historical fiction for kids of all ages each one focusing on a historical disaster from the perspective of a boy who lived to tell the tale.

And all this from a person who struggled with severe reading issues throughout  middle school.

There are so many books to share that Lauren has written it has been hard for me to find one for the”about this book” part of the blog but I have chosen my sons favorite.

About “I Survived the Attacks of September 11, 2001 (taken from authors web site)

Nothing is more important to Lucas than football, but when he gets his third concussion, his parents decide it’s too dangerous for him to keep playing his favorite game. He is sure his Uncle Benny will convince his parents to change their minds, and he skips school to find Benny at the firehouse where he works. But then a terrible attack happens in New York City, and Lucas is caught in the center of one of the most terrifying days in modern American history.

Lauren states she wrote this book after getting thousands of requests from readers, and it has become the most popular I Survived book yet.

With more books already under way including one that I believe to be very important (you will have to listen to the show to find out why) these books are a must for children of all 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 Lauren Tarshis

Barry

Direct link to the show
A Book and a Chat with Lauren Tarshis

or you can download the mp3 file of the show from
"Lauren Tarshis"

You can find out more about my guest and their books at:
"Lauren Tarshis - I Survived Series"

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 Robert Bonville

Throughout history or what we perceive as history there are many questions for which there are numerous answers, depending to who you speak. These questions and the fact that we never stop learning or even discovering the past is what has us all at one time of another watching the History channel on TV. Indeed it was one such program that set today’s guest Robert Bonville on a discovery of his own.

Robert was destined to travel, being the son of a coast guard that was in his veins and his own forte into Coast Guard service enable him to be part of “Operation Deepfreeze 62" aboard an ice breaker in the Antarctic. This allowed Robert to visit numerous islands in the South Pacific both going, and on his return voyage. While visiting these islands, the "Spirit of Aloha" returned to his senses, staying with him, and being reinforced when he visited Maui and Kaua'i in the late 90's.

It was though after watching a program on the History Channel entitled "Who Really Discovered America?", that the idea for his book “Voyages of Malolo" came to him

The belief is that the Polynesians had visited places in South America and the west coast of the US, long before Columbus visited our hemisphere in 1492.

These intrepid and heroic peoples of the South Seas, spread their migrations eastward and northward from their origins in Asia, allowed them to discover and populate most of the 20,000 islands considered to be one of the last and final frontiers of habitable earth.

After almost two years of research, the story began to take shape and a year later Voyages of Malolo: "The Secret of the Rongo" was released.

About “Voyages of Malolo: "The Secret of the Rongo" (Taken from “The Range”)

When young Auka’i discovers a piece of driftwood from the east containing mysterious hieroglyphics, the “Rongo”, he and his people believe it is a message from the gods directing them to discover its meaning and the secret it contains. The young adventurer and his crew of uniquely skilled men build a large, double-hulled deep sea sailing canoe and sail east across the Pacific to the coast of Ecuador, more than 8,000 kilometers (5000 miles) from their island home.

Their nearly 3-year voyage of exploration, which ranges up to Mexico and California before heading west to Hawaii, finds them facing many hardships and dangers before returning for a final surprising conflict at home.

This captivating book transports the reader to the South Seas nearly 1000 years ago, as one reviewer put it…

Voyages of Malolo is exciting, fun to read, and teaches the reader about primitive Polynesian culture its language and customs. I couldn't put it down, and feel as though I now personally know the characters of the island Taea, and particularly the crew of Malalo!

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 Robert Bonville

Barry

Direct link to the show
A Book and a Chat with Robert Bonville

or you can download the mp3 file of the show from
"Robert Bonville"

You can find out more about my guest and their books at:
"Robert Bonville - Voyages of Malolo: "The Secret of the Rongo""

Barry Eva (Storyheart)

STARTING JUNE 4th I AM ON MY VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR.
PLEASE STOP BY AND FIND OUT MORE ABOUT ME AND MY NEW BOOK



My Blogs:

Book Information and Things UK - Across the Pond

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A Book and a Chat with Steve Berry

I recently read a quote about the author on today’s “A Book and a Chat” that “If Ian Fleming and Doris Kearns Goodwin had a lovechild, it would be Steve Berry”, my guest on today’s show.

It is always a pleasure to have not just such a famous author on the show but also as Steve makes the so show enjoyable and we always learn something new.

As we have learned before from Steve it was not always success for him. Originally a practicing attorney, Steve went through twelve years from the day he started writing to the day he sold his first book. Twelve years and 85 rejections (over five different editions) before he finally sold a manuscript. It was more that the world changed during those years, and what perhaps was not the fashion suddenly came back into vogue.

From that start Steve has gone from strength to strength, he now has 14 million books in print, which have been translated into 40 languages and sold in 51 countries.

From his first book “The Amber Room” through his Cotton Malone series which include such bestselling titles as “The Templar Legacy” and “The Jefferson Key”.

As we learned last year, Cotton is taking a much needed break with Steve’s 2012 novel, though fear not, as we learned he’s back in 2013 with a fresh adventure to do with the Tudors and set in England…

While Cotton has taken his break, a new character has appeared in “The Columbus Affair” in the form of former Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Tom Sagan.

About “The Columbus Affair”: (Taken from Steve Web Site)

He was called by many names—Columb, Colom, Colón—but we know him as Christopher Columbus. Many questions about him exist. Where was he born, raised, and educated. Where he died. How he discovered the New World.

None have ever been properly answered.

And then there is the greatest secret of all.

Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Tom Sagan has written hard-hitting articles from hot spots around the world. But when a controversial report from a war-torn region is exposed as a fraud, his professional reputation crashes and burns. Now he lives in virtual exile—haunted by bad decisions and the shocking truth he can never prove: that his downfall was a deliberate act of sabotage by an unknown enemy. But before Sagan can end his torment with the squeeze of a trigger, fate intervenes in the form of an enigmatic stranger with a request that cannot be ignored.


Zachariah Simon has the look of a scholar, the soul of a scoundrel, and the zeal of a fanatic. He also has Tom Sagan’s estranged daughter at his mercy. Simon desperately wants something only Sagan can supply, the key to a 500 year-old mystery—a treasure with explosive political significance in the modern world. For both Simon and Sagan the stakes are high, the goal intensely personal, the consequences of opposing the other potentially catastrophic. On a perilous quest from Florida to Vienna to Prague and finally to the mountains of Jamaica, the two men square off in a dangerous game. Along the way, both of their lives will forever be altered---and everything we know about Christopher Columbus will change.

The book is a standalone thriller that is launched on May 15th however early reviews such as...

“There is great suspense, betrayal, lies, murders, and all of the other highlights that mark the Berry books.”

“if you like thrillers, particularly those with a historical background. The pace is fast, the history seems mostly factual, and the characters are well drawn.”

We also learned that not just next year’s book is written but the year after and even the one for 2014 are planned and underway.

Steve Berry is one of those authors who have readers counting the days down until his next book is released, and I count myself as one of those readers.

So listen now and share an interesting,and entertaining sixty minutes with my guest Steve Berry

If you have enjoyed the blog or the radio show, why not become a follower of the show?

Barry

Direct link to the show
A Book and a Chat with Steve Berry

or you can download the mp3 file of the show from
"Steve Berry"

You can find out more about my guest and their books at:"Steve Berry - The Columbus Affair."

My new E-Book is available to download, for all of 99 cents at
"The Bathroom Book of Romance - Book 1"

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 Traci L Slatton

• A month or two ago I had the pleasure to interview the great artist and sculptor Sabin Howard on “A Book and a Chat” re his wonderful book “The Art of Life”. One of the things I learned during that show was not only how much his wife had helped with the writing of the book, but that she was also a prize winning author in her own right. So of course I had to have her on show and today was that time when I presented “A Book and a Chat with Traci L Slatton".

Traci has written poetry from an early age, studying English and creative writing at Yale before fallowing a the path of a hands-on healer, Traci considered that her role as a healer was not to fix her clients, but to go with them on a journey of questioning old patterns, discovering blocks in the body's natural flow, and re-educating the consciousness in a more whole way of being.

Her love for English was never far away and she continued to write poems, short stories, and articles in magazines and literary journals. Her debut novel linked her love of the Italian Renaissance within in an historical novel a period when thinkers like Pico della Mirandola, Leonardo da Vinci, and Marsilio Ficino were engaged in questioning the nature and relationship of science, art, and the soul. This novel “Immortal” has since become a hit throughout the world and as we heard could soon become a film

This early success was followed by The Botticelli Affair is a romp through the art history byways of vampire lore. Where Laila Cambridge, in the world of art forgery was Queen. Her artwork seemed to come from the original artist (and, actually did, kind of) and NO ONE who didn’t know could tell hers from the original one. They sold for millions...

Her latest book "Fallen” has already won several awards being the first of a trilogy, it already has readers and reviewer’s clamoring for book two, wanting to know what happens next.

While it has been said that could be classed as a paranormal novel there is so much more about “Fallen”. It is also a love story set in a post-apocalyptic world, where people have been stripped of everything. They have to rely on each other for survival. New alliances and intimate relationships are formed.. A love story that might not have happened if the entire world hadn't changed.

As one reviewer put it…

Enter a post-apocalyptic world, similar to The Road. Traci Slatton approaches this hot topic in a thoughtful way, really delving into what is left of the human consciousness once stripped of society. Unlike the Road, Fallen paints a far less depressing picture of the human soul. Somehow love remains in a world pillaged by death, disease, and disarray. Emma's journey with her "family" is hopeful and inspiring. She is a woman who will do anything for the people she loves and more than anything I want her and Arthur to be together in the end. I can't wait for the sequel!

Well as we learned during the show, you will not have long to wait as the second book will be out very soon.

So listen now and share an interesting,and entertaining thirty minutes with my guest Traci L Slatton.

If you have enjoyed the blog or the radio show, why not become a follower of the show?

Barry

Direct link to the show
A Book and a Chat with Traci L Slatton

or you can download the mp3 file of the show from
"Traci L Slatton"

You can find out more about my guest and their books at:"Traci L Slatton - Fallen"

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. Anderson Coats

Today’s “A Book and a Chat” was another one hour special being that my guest was another of the great group of debut YA authors from the Class of 2K12. J. Anderson Coats author of the brilliant historical fiction novel “The Wicked and the Just”.

Jillian grow up surrounded by books as her mother was a librarian, sharing with her daughter the joy of the written word, her father being a geologist added the enquiring mind that questioned some of these books, also being the reason she was later able to travel a mile underground.

She started writing almost as soon as she could hold a crayon, and encourage by her parents created several stories featuring nothing but ponies, some of these early creations I’m pleased to say she still has.

At the age of thirteen Jillian finished her first novel. It was pretty bad, but fortunately no one told her that. By the time she graduated from high school, she’d written six other novels, including one massive 500,000-word doorstop book with a sweeping, complicated plot and way too many characters. None of these books was very good, but she loved every single one and learned something new with each.
Her literary education mixed with her love of history has now brought forth her debut novel “The Wicked and the Just”

About “The Wicked and the Just” (taken from Class of 2K12):

1293. North Wales. Ten years into English rule.

Cecily would give anything to leave Caernarvon and go home. Gwenhwyfar would give anything to see all the English leave.

Neither one is going to get her wish.

Behind the city walls, English burgesses govern with impunity. Outside the walls, the Welsh are confined by custom and bear the burden of taxation, and the burgesses plan to keep it that way.

Cecily can’t be bothered with boring things like the steep new tax or the military draft that requires Welshmen to serve in the king’s army overseas. She has her hands full trying to fit in with the town’s privileged elite, and they don’t want company.
Gwenhwyfar can’t avoid these things. She counts herself lucky to get through one more day, and service in Cecily’s house is just salt in the wound.

But the Welsh are not as conquered as they seem, and the suffering in the countryside is rapidly turning to discontent. The murmurs of revolt may be Gwenhwyfar’s only hope for survival – and the last thing Cecily ever hears.

During the show we learned much about the Welsh history and that is Wales the country, not that swims in the sea as one person we heard thought the book was about, including the reason for the mention of Caernarvon, rather than it being called Caernarfon.
The book has already received many rave reviews before its launch date in April.

As one blogger put it…

This book was filled with excellent characters, tons of actions, heaps of emotion and kept me up until way past my bed time. I’m really looking forward to see what Ms Coats writes next.

I for one agree with that statement, especially as we learned there is at least another if not two books in the pipeline about that period of Welsh history.

So listen now and share an interesting,and entertaining thirty minutes with my guest J. Anderson Coats .

If you have enjoyed the blog or the radio show, why not become a follower?

Barry

Direct link to the show
A Book and a Chat with J. Anderson Coats

or you can download the mp3 file of the show from
"J. Anderson Coats

You can find out more about my guest and their books at:"J. Anderson Coats - The Wicked and the Just"

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 M.M.Bennetts

M.M.Bennetts, historical author, accomplished pianist and cross country horse rider, is my guest on a fascinating “A Book and a Chat” today.

Not many people in the US realize that where as quite a few presidents have met an untimely end in America, only one British Prime Minister has been assassinated, and that was Prime Minister Perceval who was killed in 1812. A turbulent time in world history, with Napoleon sweeping across Europe, and all that was going on at the time in England.

After over 50 rejections “M” finally got her book “May 1812” published, closely followed by a second book “Of Honest Fame”. These are the first two of a quartet investigating and sharing knowledge which, some of which as we heard during the program has only recently been discovered or in some cases disclosed.

While “May 1812” takes you into the realms of politics and how England must have been with the shock of the Perceval’s assassination, it also shares much of what life was like during that time period, which is the theme throughout the second book and the two yet to be published.

The whole quartet looks at the world at that time from four different sides, and if “May1812” was the political scene, then “Of Honest Fame” is like a 19th century James Bond story. While we think that spying is a modern event, we learn from “M” writing how nearly every section of the government had its own set of spies from the navy and army to even the Bow Street Runners (early police force).

Just the snippets we learn on this dark cloak and dagger stuff would keep a reader turning the pages of this great pair of books. Add to that the knowledge one learns, the exiting plots, and view of a world that is still shrouded in mystery and you can see why not only are the first two books by M.M Bennett’s already proving hugely popular, but also why many are already asking for the view of that world in the next books.

As we learned from a truly interesting chat, we will be visiting and learning about the historical issues in Italy and Vienna in these next two eagerly awaited novels.

The name M.M. Bennetts might have taken a few rejections before it hit the book shelves, but I’m sure it will be a name that will soon spread around the historical fiction readers throughout the world.

So listen to an interesting and entertaining show as I spent thirty minutes sharing "A Book and a Chat with M.M.Bennetts"

Barry

Direct link to the show
"A Book and a Chat with M.M.Bennetts".

or you can download the mp3 file of the show from
"M.M.Bennetts"

You can find out more about my guests and their books at:

"M.M.Bennetts - Of Honest Fame"

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