Interview with Mary Brooks, author of Mary Lives: A story of Anorexia Nervosa & Bipolar Disorder

Publication Date: March 5, 2014
Publisher: XlibrisAU
Formats: Ebook
Pages: 396
Genre: Mental Health
Tour Dates: July 24th-August 4th

     

In this chaotic, desperate storm the brain tries hard to gather its fragmented parts, and anchor down the guy lines. To weather out this hopelessness, this turmoil and this pain, -prevent disintegration until the calm returns and clear skies come again.In this chaotic, desperate storm the brain tries hard to gather its fragmented parts, and anchor down the guy lines. To weather out this hopelessness, this turmoil and this pain, -prevent disintegration until the calm returns and clear skies come again.

Can you please tell us about your book and why you wrote it? 

This book is my life’s story and the battles through the decades of Anorexia Nervosa and Bipolar Affective Disorder. I wrote it at the time where I became hopeful that the eating disorder had lost a lot of its influence on me, and when I felt hopeful about the future. 

What were some of the biggest challenges you faced writing it? 

The biggest challenge has been wondering what other people would think about it, I would still appreciate feedback. marybrooks1@optusnet.com.au 

Do you plan subsequent books? 

I have written 12 books of short stories 

When and why did you begin writing? 

Several years ago, when manic, I wrote lots of poetry, which I have included in the book. I also found myself writing to my psychologist or to myself, to try and work things out in my head. 

What is your greatest strength as an author? 

The book is honest and forthright, and I this is a great strength. 

Did writing this book teach you anything? 

Yes, I learned to put a lot of the past behind me, and open up to the wonderful prospects that the future holds, especially with being a grandmother.

Mary is a General Practitioner, a Family Doctor, and became anorexic and depressed at age 12. She writes of the chaos and pain of her life, through her abnormal adolescence and adult years, to the equilibrium of the current day. It is an enlightening and inspiring story of Anorexia Nervosa and Bipolar Affective Disorder or Manic Depression.

Book Feature: My Brain Is Out of Control by Dr. Patrick Mbaya

Publication Date: September 2016
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Formats: Ebook
Pages: 76
Genre: Biography/Autobiography
Tour Dates: August 14-August 25

     

Although Dr. Patrick Mbaya’s illness caused a lot distress and nearly took his life, the emotional symptoms of the depression he developed helped him understand and empathize with patients and how they feel when they become ill. In My Brain is Out of Control, Mbaya, fifty-five and at the peak of his career, shares a personal story of how he suffered from a brain infection in 2010 that caused loss of speech, right-sided weakness, and subsequent depression. He tells how he also dealt with the antibiotics complications of low white cell count and hepatitis. He narrates his experiences as a patient, the neurological and psychiatric complications he encountered, how he coped, and his journey to recovery. Presenting a personal perspective of Mbaya’s illness from the other side of the bed, My Brain is Out of Control, offers profound insight into battling a serious illness.

Dr. Patrick Mbaya is a medical doctor specializing in psychiatry. He is a consultant psychiatrist and honorary clinical lecturer in psychiatry at the University of Manchester, United Kingdom. He has a special interest in mood and addiction disorders.

In the Spotlight: Bite Thy Neighbor by Esmae Browder

Title: BITE THY NEIGHBOR
Author: Esmae Browder
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Pages: 300
Genre: Erotic Paranormal Romance

Some neighbors suck...literally.

Quirky Maisy Harker spends her time daydreaming about her sexy husband, Jensen Helsing. Though their marriage is one of convenience, Maisy wishes the sparks of heat she feels around him were reciprocated. Sexually starved, she also lusts after her mysterious neighbor, Adam. True, his incisors do look a bit sharp, and he never seems to drink or eat anything—but hey, maybe that’s how he keeps that yummy, drool-worthy physique!

Yet Maisy knows something’s not quite right, and it isn’t long before she learns Adam is a centuries-old vampire embroiled in a gypsy curse placed on the women of her family. All her female ancestors have been drawn to the vampire and bound by his desires, experiencing a terrible side effect of the curse and resulting in death.

It's up to Maisy to find a way to break the curse once and for all before she, too, falls under his spell.

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You’re the one I’ve been waiting for,” Adam whispered. “And I’ve waited a long time.”

I was unable to fight being aroused by this sexy man with the fierce, dark eyes. His lips were a pale red, and as I looked at them, my mind instantly pictured us in a heated lip lock, our tongues ravishing each other. All my senses jumped to high alert.

“I don’t know what you mean,” I whispered back, unable to keep the shake out of my voice. “You don’t know me. And…and I’m a married woman.”

“Married?” he scoffed and grabbed my hand, kissing it lightly. “That doesn’t matter when it comes to destiny.”

Damn. His lips on my skin set my heart skipping. I started to feel a little tingle between my legs.

“Destiny?” I asked, shifting slightly.

“Don’t play dumb with me, my sweet Maisy.” Adam smiled and then stood in front of me so quickly I didn’t see the actual movement. “You can’t deny the passion you feel for me,” he said, going to his knees. “I’ve been in your dreams. I know your desires.”

He put a hand on my bare leg, sliding it up to my thigh as light as a feather.

“That’s not possible.” I shivered, wondering if he would slip that hand higher and discover how vulnerable I was without panties. “You’re teasing me.”

“Am I?”

Esmae Browder is an ex-catholic school girl who loves romance and vodka tonics. When not reading a spicy novel, she enjoys creating them by combining elements of well-known tales and updating them for our modern world. She is the author of the Naughty Shakespeare series, as well as, the paranormal romance Bite Thy Neighbor—a sexy Dracula meets Wisteria Lane style novel.

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Book Feature: Evolution Now by David Penny

Publication Date: March 27, 2017
Publisher: XLibrisNZ
Formats: Ebook
Pages: 229
Genre: Science
Tour Dates: August 14-25

     

This is a very Popperian approach to evolutionary study. Karl Popper was a philosopher of science, who took science very seriously, and had a profound influence on the chemists and zoologists where I did my undergraduate degree. The book starts from about 1600, when people accepted that life continued to arise “naturally,” and then moves to the pre-evolutionary concept of the fixity of species. Darwin started as a geologist in the Hutton-Lyell tradition and quickly became convinced that current causes were sufficient to explain geology, and he then moved to biology. I gave an account of his theory in some detail. However, there is also an update on what we have learned since Darwin. This is followed by a chapter on human evolution, especially human speech and the Out of Africa theory. This is followed by two chapters on beliefs that maybe incorrect (one of which is the extinction of dinosaurs from the extraterrestrial impact at the K-Pg boundary—maybe incorrect). The other is the direction of change between eukaryotes (which have a true nucleus) and akaryotes (without a true nucleus). The book finishes with a section on what is left for the future. In good Popperian style, there is a lot left for us to discover!

David Penny is a 'Distinguished Professor' at a New Zealand University, and has a PhD from Yale University. He is a New Zealander by birth.

In the Spotlight: Dreamers, Take Action! by Nikkie Pryce

Title: DREAMERS, TAKE ACTION!

Author: Nikkie Pryce

Publisher: Opportune Publishing

Pages: 118

Genre: Self-help / Self-improvement / Self-motivation

I remember going through stages in my life where I had no money; I was broken in spirit and mind.

One day I realized in order to make more money and live the life I wanted, I had to start with myself.

I started reading tons of self-help books, prayed more and did affirmation exercises to lift my self-esteem. It was time to see growth.

If you are ready to challenge yourself and start seeing better results from your creative ideas, then this book is for you.

Dreamers, Take Action! is an actionable blueprint for creating the life you want.

This book is equipped with steps and daily challenges that I’ve taken to change a few needed things. 

I've joined new networks with successful people, I’m finishing projects that I’ve started, and I am walking through open doors of lucrative opportunities, all by following one simple step.

That step is taking action.

Follow me into this journey as I vulnerably explain the road I took to get to where I am.

Hopefully, you’ll be inspired to work diligently to finish what you’ve started.

I trust that you’re ready to take that leap of faith.

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"Don’t give up. Finish what you've started."

That’s so hard to say, especially coming from a person like me. I’ve rarely ever finished anything that I’ve pursued in my life.

However, this time it is different.

I finished this assignment to create a life for the both of us. “Us” being the dreamers who have so much inside of our mind, body and soul, but were barely taught to manifest it to completion.

On my journey of being a dreamer, I realized that one thing was wrong: I was too busy dreaming, starting amazing ideas but not finishing the things I dreamt about.

Today, I pass down what I've learned. I pass down what I’ve encountered during this journey in hopes that you will use this book as a tool to not make the same mistakes that I made. Instead, use it to learn and reroute yourself onto the path to your success. I trust your ability just like I trust mine. Take this journey with me and let’s conquer together. We owe it to ourselves, and we only can imagine where it will take us.

The goal is to not get distracted for any reason. Focus on your dream and vision 1000%. Most importantly, don’t give up. Finish what you’ve started, just like I’ve finished this book! It took some time, prayer and focus, but we are here.

Let me show you how I did it. After this, pay it forward. Share your journey with all around you so each of us can learn from each other and not make the same mistakes

twice.

 

 

Nikkie Pryce is focused on inspiring and motivating people to put action behind their dreams.

Being in the media industry and working directly with the public, she has experience pushing people past their own created limitations.

She has earned the title of "self-love influencer" through her organization, The I AM Community.

The community is comprised of dreamers who encourage self-love and self-awareness, starting with “I AM” affirmations.

What all started as a simple journey to finding her own self-love became a phenomenon of connections and solid relationships.

A highly-recommended motivational speaker, Nikkie speaks publicly at corporate conferences, non-profit organizations, women’s retreats, youth girl groups, schools, and church functions.

Her latest book is the self-help, Dreamers, Take Action!

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:

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Book Feature: An Unconventional Lifetime Journey: My 269 Daily E-mail Stories by Bill Faulhaber

Publication Date: August 2016
Publisher: iUniverse
Formats: Ebook
Pages: 724
Genre: Biography/Autobiography
Tour Dates: August 14-25

     

An Unconventional Lifetime Journey: My 269 Daily E-mail Stories collates and presents hundreds of short stories that provide humorous, touching, memorable, and insightful glimpses into the life of William Faulhaber. Retired after a long career in the sporting goods business, he began to e-mail reminiscences to a list of his friends. Hearing encouragement to keep writing, he wrote about a surprisingly wide array of topics: America’s bicentennial, golf-club shafts, plow horses, vacuum cleaner sales, pontoon boats, bingo, and miracles. To truly appreciate the reach of these stories, one must dive into the collection and explore its vast wealth. Many histories take as their topics the great and cataclysmic events: wars, the rise and fall of nations, discoveries that change the direction of human evolution. If you enjoy history, you may find room on your shelf for a book that takes the time to look at the little comings and goings that make up the life of one person among many who live in the world shaped by those big events. If that is the case, then An Unconventional Lifetime Journey: My 269 Daily E-mail Stories promises to give you that fine-grain detail that brings one man’s story to life.

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William Faulhaber had a long successful career in sales and management of sporting goods, focusing mostly on the golf market. Now retired from Spalding Equipment, he and his wife, Delores, are enjoying their seventh decade of marriage and are in the midst of their fifth decade living in North Palm Beach, Florida.

In the Spotlight: San Francisco Nights by Greg Messel - Win Books!

Title: SAN FRANCISCO NIGHTS
Author: Greg Messel
Publisher: Sunbreaks Publishing
Pages: 232
Genre: Mystery / Suspense

The wife of a wealthy San Francisco shipping magnate leads a secret life but someone is threatening to expose her.  Private eye Sam Slater and his wife and partner, Amelia, meet a mysterious woman in a large red hat during a train trip. The woman approaches him pleading for help because she‘s receiving anonymous notes quoting Bible verses which are becoming more and more ominous with each passing day. Her secrets have been discovered but by whom? What really happens behind closed doors in Room 505 in a swanky downtown hotel?

Sam is willing to take the case but Amelia warns that this woman is nothing but trouble. What does the woman really want? She’s been watching Sam for months and has a scheme to pull him into her world. 

Find out in the latest Sam Slater Mystery “San Francisco Nights” set in the fall of 1959. It’s the seventh book in the series but is a heart pounding stand alone whodunit. 

Watch the book trailer at YouTube.

ORDER YOUR COPY AT AMAZON

The neon lights of the slumbering city gave the streets an eerie blue and purple glow in contrast to the dark store fronts. The three story brick office building was abandoned and the normally bustling street at the entrance to San Francisco’s Chinatown was quiet with only an occasional dark solitary figure walking by. The ancient black metal fire escapes seemed to cling to the facade of the building like an alien spider web. 

The interior of the building was dark except in the private eye’s office on the top floor where a single desk lamp provided the only circle of illumination against the thick blackness of the night. The lamp provided just enough light to brighten the frosted glass on the door with the name “Amelia Slater” on it. 

Amelia sat at her desk in the dimly lit office shuffling through some papers, but she was unnerved and having trouble concentrating.  She took a drag on her cigarette before placing it on the rim of the ash tray. The rising smoke appeared blue as it swirled lazily into the air. 

She suddenly stopped, thinking she heard a sound. After intently listening for a few moments, Amelia concluded her imagination was playing tricks on her. She turned her attention back to the items on her desk but was interrupted again by a prolonged squeak of the outer office door opening. 

Then Amelia heard the outer door softly closing, followed by the sound of quiet footsteps on the hardwood floor. The sound seemed to stop just outside the door to her office. 

Amelia could see the intruder’s silhouette through the frosted glass window. Her eyes were riveted on the door as the door knob to her office began to slowly turn.

Greg Messel has spent most of his adult life interested in writing, including a career in the newspaper business. He won a Wyoming Press Association Award as a columnist and has contributed articles to various magazines. Greg lives in Edmonds, Washington on Puget Sound with his wife Jean DeFond.

Greg has written ten novels. His latest is "San Francisco Nights" which is the seventh in a series of mysteries set in 1959 San Francisco. "Shadows In The Fog," "Fog City Strangler," "San Francisco Secrets," "Deadly Plunge" are sequels to the first book in the series "Last of the Seals." His other three novels are "Sunbreaks," "Expiation" and "The Illusion of Certainty." For a more detailed summary of Greg's novels go to www.gregmessel.com 

Greg is currently working on his eleventh novel "Dreams That Never Were" which is not part of the mystery series.

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:

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Greg Messel is giving away three of his books!!

Terms & Conditions:

• By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.
• Winners will be chosen via Rafflecopter.
• This giveaway ends midnight September 29.
• Winner will be contacted via email on September 30.
• Winner has 48 hours to reply.

Good luck everyone!

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