Rajah and the Big Blue Ball by Mosetta Penick Phillips-Cermak

Rajah, the big black dog, likes to play in his big back yard. He chases the leaves. He sniffs the air every day. It is his favorite place. One day a strange thing happens. Something hits Rajah on the head. It scares him. A blue ball is up in the sky. Where did the ball come from? Did it do it on purpose? Did it want to make him afraid? Rajah has to find the courage to take back his own world. Written by the author of The Wishing Flower and The Magic of Laven-Rock, Rajah and the Big Blue Ball looks into the face of the unknown.

Available from: Barnes and Noble Online
Note: She is donating $1.00 of each sale to the Cleveland Animal Protective League.

Interview with Dr. Mosetta:

1. Why did you write this book?

It was originally written for one of my favorite group of children, in my favorite classroom. The classroom was in a model school for the District. Although the school first opened its doors eighty-four years ago (in 1924), it was the first year that this school had been K-8. As such, most of the 65 teachers were new to the school. I was new to the school.

Located in the middle of what is still considered a particularly dangerous inner-city neighborhood of a large metropolitan city, all of our students were considered disadvantaged. The families in our school were at or slightly above poverty level.

Most of the children came from single parent families, or were living with foster or adoptive families, but many have extensive support systems through a lattice of extended family within the same household, or within walking distance of the school.
There were no discipline problems even though two children were under psychiatric care. One student had seizures, and one student had severe asthma.

Of the 21 students, two were African-American, one was Asian Indian, five students were Hispanic, one was of mixed black/white ethnicity, and the remaining 13 students were white.

It was for these children that I wrote "Rajah and the Big Blue Ball". It was from their "Tell Me a Story" time that this book evolved.

Some students in the classroom were the subject of custody battles by their parents, and another student watched as one of his cousins was shot in the head by a drive-by shooter. The child was so traumatized by the sight of blood and neural material splattered all over him, that he did not speak for six months. But when he did, he asked me to tell him a story. And the story I told was "Rajah and the Big Blue Ball".

2. What was most fun about writing this book?

I think that the most fun part of writing this book came when the students asked me every Monday to read the new part of the story that I had written over the weekend.

We had an agreement. I set aside the last period of the day, every Monday, just to read the new parts of the story. They were so patient. They would ask me "what's going to happen next"? I would answer "Rajah hasn't told me, yet".

3. What was most difficult?

The most difficult part was the editing. It was often heart wrenching to let go of parts of the story that were great for oral story telling, but were not so great from a publishing standpoint.

4. Who should read this book?

This book was written for students in the second grade, but I believe that it is a wonderful story to read to children as young as kindergarten. In fact, one of neighbors reads Rajah and the Big Blue Ball to his four year old. She loves the story and asks for it by name. I have even had some students as old as middle school who have read it and seemed to enjoy it.

5. What's next for you?

I am under contract for six more "Rajah" books. I am also editing a middle grade chapter book, and a Young Adult title.

In addition, I have three new stories that I am trying to hone. These three stories are related to things we, as parents, want to teach or children. And, I hope to start an adult horror that I outlined. Finally, I have been working on a parenting book. I hope that after rearing successful children, who have also reared successful children, that I may have something to offer related to this concept.

CSFF Presents Vanish by Tom Pawlik

Three strangers each encounter the same mysterious storm and awake the next day to find that everyone else has vanished. There's Conner Hayden, a successful but unscrupulous trial lawyer who has forsaken his family for his career; Helen Krause, a middle-aged model struggling to come to grips with her fading beauty; and Mitch Kent, an enterprising young mechanic unable to escape a past that still haunts him. Afraid and desperate for answers, their paths eventually cross and they discover they are being watched. Elusive and obscured in shadows, the "observers" are apparently forcing them to relive vivid hallucinations of events from their past. They discover a mute homeless boy in tattered clothing and believe he may hold the key to the mystery, but the "observers" soon become aggressive and the four are forced to flee. When the boy disappears, the four decide to head from Chicago to Washington, D.C., in search of answers...and more survivors. Winner of the 2006 operation first novel contest, Vanish is a nonstop suspense thriller in the vein of Ted Dekker.




Tom Pawlik’s Web site - http://www.tompawlik.com/
Tom Pawlik’s blog - http://www.tompawlik.com/blog.htm

*Participants’ Links:

Brandon Barr
Justin Boyer
Keanan Brand
Grace Bridges
Karri Compton
Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Alex Field
Beth Goddard
Todd Michael Greene
Ryan Heart
Christopher Hopper
Joleen Howell
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Julie
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Margaret
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Eve Nielsen
Nissa
John W. Otte
John Ottinger
Donita K. Paul
Epic Rat
Steve Rice
Crista Richey
Hanna Sandvig
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Speculative Faith
Rachel Starr Thomson
Robert Treskillard
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Phyllis Wheeler

Jumble Pie by Melanie Lynne Hauser

JUMBLE PIE is the story of the elusive nature of friendship, sometimes clinging, other times liberating; a story for any woman who has ever lied to her best friend just to make her feel better - and who has been brave enough to tell the truth, even when it hurts. And of course, it's a story about the remarkable healing power of pie.

"IN THE BEGINNING, there was the pie. The pie was without form and texture (and any manner of identifiable filling), and darkness was upon the face of the Home Ec Teacher…"

So begins the story of two women, a friendship, and a pie. JUMBLE PIE, to be exact. A Home Ec project gone very wrong, except for the fact that it brings together two very different young girls and helps them form a friendship that lasts through bad haircuts, unrequited love, endless incarnations of Madonna, and their own evolving dreams... Until New Year's Eve, 1999, when another pie comes along, resulting in a pre-party blow-up that sets Juliet and Emily, women now, to remembering how it all got started.



More about Melanie Lynne Hauser

Review:

Get ready to laugh, cry and find yourself totally involved in the lives of Emily and Juliet as they share a friendship that begins, ends and begins anew with pie.

"Girlfriend lit" isn't usually my thing, but I get drawn into the quirky yet very real characters right off. Hauser has a knack for creating unique characters that are nonetheless very familiar. Emily reminded me a little of myself (brainy and thinking that guaranteed success) and my best friend, who can be clueless and impulsive. I thought her passion for big words was a little overdone in the chapters of their childhood, but not enough to make me put down the book--and believe me, I have low tolerance. Juliet really captured my heart. Not incredibly gifted, coming from a broken family, she blossoms in college and learns how to capitalize on her strengths.

I really enjoyed that aspect of the book--that you make the most of what God gives you. Emily, while brilliant, didn't understand that smarts are not enough--you need to work on your skills. Life does not guarantee you success. This is a theme I am constantly hammering home to my own children; I'll be giving Amber a copy of this book when she's older.

I definitely recommend this book!

Jesse’s Girl by Gary Morgenstein

How much should a parent sacrifice for a troubled child? In Gary Morgenstein’s taut new thriller, Jesse’s Girl, the answer is – anything. Anchored around a floundering father-son relationship, finding roots and re-uniting vanished bonds, the timely novel about teen addiction and adoption follows a desperate father’s search for his son, who has run away from a wilderness program to find his biological sister in Kentucky.

Jesse’s Girl opens as a jarring phone wakes lifelong Brooklynite Teddy Mentor well after midnight. It’s the Montana wilderness program saying that his 16-year-old adopted son has vanished – and they haven’t a clue where he’s gone. Only two weeks ago, Jesse had been taken to the program by escorts to deal with substance abuse problems.

Jeopardizing his flagging PR job in New York, Mentor rushes across the country to find Jesse, who is off on his own quest: to find Theresa, the sister he’s never known. When Teddy finally discovers Jesse at a bus stop in Illinois, he is torn between sending him back or joining his son on a journey to find this girl in Kentucky. He decides to go. They become embroiled in a grisly crime when Theresa’s abusive husband Beau attacks her – Jesse stabs the big beast of a man, leaving him for dead.

Given Jesse’s misdemeanor criminal record, Teddy can’t go to the authorities without risking his son’s arrest. However, Beau is not dead, merely wounded, and he hunts them down, thirsty for revenge. Teddy, Jesse and Theresa flee across the Bluegrass State with Beau in hot pursuit. Seeking safety but finding trouble, their story leads them to an ultimately shattering question: is Theresa really Jesse’s sister or has he been scammed?

Gary Morgenstein’s previous novels are Take Me Out to the Ballgame and The Man Who Wanted to Play Center Field for the New York Yankees. His latest novel Loving Rabbi Thalia Kleinman, a romantic triangle about a divorced middle-aged man who falls in love with a beautiful rabbi, was just published on Amazon.com. His play Ponzi Man played to sell-out crowds at a recent New York Fringe Festival.



Interview with Gary Morgenstein:

1. Why did you write this book?

Along with “Loving Rabbi Thalia Kleinman,” this comprises both sides of my Baby Boomer head and soul and heart: Love and parenthood. In "Jesse's Girl," I wrote from the perspective of a father of a teenager, which is fairly rare. Since we’ve lived in the caves, generation after generation it has been the duty of teenagers to torture their parents. As an adoptive Dad, I wanted to find a story that would weave in a father and son’s floundering relationship besieged by troubling issues on both sides -- a teen struggling with addiction and a father who feels he has failed as a parent. Then let all hell break loose over them and send them into a cauldron of a thriller, pursued both by the police and a deranged killer.

2. What was your favorite part of writing this?

My old and very dear friend who is my brother, John Balchunas, inspired the character of Klaus Weber. I had such fun writing Klaus and seeing what was sort of like him, but wasn’t entirely. Some things I wrote about Klaus, I said to John, that is how it really happened isn’t it, and he said no, and I said, well, I like my version better, more dramatic, feel free to use that for your life story. That is a very slippery mental slope to start on....Anyway, John, who lives in Madisonville, Kentucky (where several climactic scenes in the novel are based), was my unofficial “Bluegrass State” advisor. I’d worked in Kentucky for the now defunct Kentucky Post. Over the years I’d visit John, who’d lived in various parts of the state pretty much since we graduated college. But that’s not quite the same as living there. I’d be writing a passage and I’d email him, okay, if the characters are heading west from here, what road would they take…?

3. Where did you get the idea for this book?

I’ve never written about being a father. Maybe because it’s the hardest thing to write about since parenting is such a bewildering and painful confluence of emotions. In the novel (yes it is arrogant to quote yourself but bear with me), the protagonist, Teddy Mentor, talks about how when we marry we recite the vow “‘til death do us part.” Which is nonsense, as someone who is no longer married can attest. Or as the divorce rate can attest for that matter. But that vow really applies to being a parent. Take all the intense life-changing love and loyalty and feelings you have for your child, the way it changes when they become teens and aren’t your little doting boy anymore. Then blend in the anger and resentment and bristling rage that the parent of a teen battling the illness of addiction feels. Like could you please become an astronaut and blast off into space and leave me alone? Any parent who says they haven’t felt that -- or even said it -- are simply lying. This novel is my way of talking to all those parents and saying, you are not crazy. Hang in there. It will get better.

4. Are you a father? Were parts of it hard to write, emotionally, because of that?

Oh, there were times when I brought myself to tears. There’s nothing so nakedly raw as writing a difficult scene depicting the relationship with your child, because it is always layered with the emotional footprints of reality. Sometimes I’d have to break off because it was so agonizing. Then again, you can write scenes where your child actually listens to you and shows you respect, so how is that for the miracle of writing?

5. What's next for you?

My novel "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" will be published by Amazon in June. It's a political baseball novel, taking the economic turmoil and fear of contemporary America and combining it with the fanaticism of a baseball town. In my novel, Buffalo, New York goes mad over their Cinderella team, the National League Buffalo Matadors, driven by a ruthless owner, devious spinmeister, fading journalist – and one fan who really believes the rival team is the enemy.

Italian for Tourists by Jo Linsdell

Italian For Tourists: Pocket Edition a phrasebook published through the online content marketplace Lulu.com is a basic guide to the Italian language covering phrases and words most needed by tourists. It includes all the words and phrases a tourist is likely to need during their stay in Italy as well as a pronunciation guide and a map of Italy.

The phrasebook is divided into 17 chapters including; Emergency, The basics, Common expressions, Learning Italian, Greetings and introducing yourself, Transport, Hotel, Sightseeing, Asking and giving directions, Food and drink, Health, Shopping, Offices and bureaucracy and Signs and notices and more.

Jo Linsdell came to Italy from the UK in June 2001 and now lives in Rome working as a freelance writer. She wrote the book drawing on her own experience. She explains “A tourist doesn’t need to know everything about Italian grammar or the in’s and out’s of buying an apartment. They want to have an easy to use reference book of the language they will need to use and understand during their stay”.

Jo Linsdell is a freelance writer who lives in Rome with her Italian husband and their baby son. She is also the creator and manager of the award winning site http://writersandauthors.blogspot.com and founder and organiser of PROMO DAY (http://jolinsdell.tripod.com/promoday), an online event for people in the writing industry.



A Peek Into the Book (My apologies, but formatting was lost putting it into the blog; however, it gives you a good idea of the information it contains.)


Contents

About the author: 11
Preface: 13
Pronunciation guide: 15
Personal pronouns: 17
Emergency: 19
The basics : 21
Common expressions: 31
Questions: 33
Learning Italian: 35
Greetings and introducing yourself: 37
Transport (public, car, train, Airport) : 39
Hotel: 49
Sightseeing: 51
Asking and giving directions: 53
Food and drink: 55
Health: 61
Shopping : 69
Offices and bureaucracy: 73
Signs and notices: 77
Map of Italy: 79
Useful Websites: 81
Notes: 83


Preface

Of all the countries in the world, there is none more magical than Italy, a traveller's dream destination. Millions of tourists come here every year from all over the world; be it for the fashion shows in Milan, the art in Florence, the history in Rome or the beautiful beaches of Sicily.

This book contains all the important vocabulary and phrases a tourist is likely to need when visiting Italy. It is divided into 17 sections to help you find what you are looking for in the shortest possible time. This is a really handy guide to have and refer to whenever you need to.

Italian words have been migrating to English over the course of many centuries, so you’ll be happy to discover you already know quite a bit of Italian (mafia, paparazzi, graffiti, ghetto, pianoforte, lasagne…to name a few). Many English words have also been adopted in Italian (club, flirt, shopping…).
Happy travelling!

Emergency

Emergency: Emergenza
HELP!: AIUTO!
DANGER: PERICOLO
FIRE!: FUOCO!
LOOK OUT!: ATTENZIONE!
Quick: presto

Get help quickly: chiami aiuto, presto
Get a Doctor: chiami un medico
There’s been an accident: c’é stato un incidente
I’m ill: sto male/ mi sento male
Call the police: chiami la polizia!
Police headquarters: questura
Thief!: Ladro!
My….has been stolen: mi hanno rubato...
I’ve lost my...: Ho perso...
Handbag: la mia borsetta
Passport: il mio passaporto
Wallett: il mio portafoglio
Documents: i documenti
Money: soldi
I’m lost: mi sono perso/a
Go away: Se ne vada
Leave me alone: mi lasci in pace
Poison: veleno

Loving Rabbi Thalia Kleinman by Gary Morgenstein

What happens when a hopelessly romantic divorced man falls madly in love with a beautiful woman rabbi -- but he's not yet over his ex-wife? In other words, why are relationships always so difficult? Especially when you’re starting over again with all that baggage…

Welcome to Gary Morgenstein’s new novel, Loving Rabbi Thalia Kleinman, a look at love in the 21st Century from a man’s perspective: good, bad and everything in between.

As this poignant romantic triangle opens, women’s cable network publicist Joss Katz crashes a bat-mitzvah and becomes smitten with the enigmatic Rabbi Kleinman. Desperate to meet her, Joss contrives a wild excuse about needing spiritual guidance and they begin a roller-coaster relationship.

But Kleinman has a past shadowed by terrorism. She manipulates Joss into mentoring her younger brother Bobby. Brilliant and troubled, Bobby is embroiled with Meir Schlom, who has a dangerous and controversial scheme for confronting surging world-wide anti-Semitism.

Besides pursuing Thalia and his kooky former spouse Ellen, Joss deals with his curmudgeonly roommate and best friend, Mandelbaum. Embittered by his messy divorce, Mandy creates an organization dedicated to a life free of entanglements with women called Straight and Happy Without Them.

Gary Morgenstein’s previous novels are Take Me Out to the Ballgame and The Man Who Wanted to Play Center Field for the New York Yankees. His latest novel Jesse’s Girl, about a widowed Brooklyn father’s desperate search for his adopted teenage son who has run away from a wilderness treatment program, is also available on Amazon.com. His play Ponzi Man played to sell-out crowds at a recent New York Fringe Festival.



Interview with Gary Morgenstein:

1. Why did you write this book?

A few years ago I was dragged to a synagogue for a friend's daughter's bat mitzvah. Now while I’m very spiritual, I don't fare too well in organized religion. So I'm sitting there pretty bored and then onto the dais walks the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. My knees buckled -- and I was sitting down. I nudge this guy who is praying and whisper, "who is that woman?" and he mumbles, "the rabbi." Holy smokes. The rabbis I knew as a kid reeked of gefilte fish and were 130-year-old men. So I thought, what if a guy like me, completely secular, fell in love with a gorgeous woman rabbi? I brought in what it's like to be middle-aged and divorced, yet you're still a hopeless romantic and you want to believe in love but experience tells you, maybe not. Is love possible again after a certain age when you’re no longer looking to breed?

2. Do you read a lot of romances? How does a romance by a female author differ from one by a male author, do you think?

While my reading ranges from history to sci-fi and fantasy, with little romances in between (well there is Uhura and Spock now…), men and women view relationships fundamentally different. Big surprise, Venus, Mars…It grows more pronounced over the years as we add on baggage and suspicions. But we’re all lonely and all looking for someone who would care if we fell down an elevator shaft. We all want to hold hands and snuggle and whatever…In this novel, I want women to see what guys want, how we feel, and I do mean feel (and not just lust), our perspectives about love and romance and sex or the lack thereof. How we are emotional and sensitive and can cry and hurt, too. And guess what, we’re not perfect! My protagonist Joss Katz is about as imperfect as they come, cute, okay, but he is constantly messing up. Guys require a great deal of patience and understanding, we ain’t cactuses, but, for the most part, our hearts are in the right place.

3. What was the most difficult part of writing this book?

As an SFM (someone formerly married) I needed to separate that emotional baggage and turn it into fiction and not a rant. Taking what happened and using that as a foundation for entirely new, fictitious characters was at times very hard because it’s easy to use reality as a crutch, but I’m proud that some 95% of the novel never ever happened. I must confess those two online dates in the novel were pretty close to reality, though. OMG, people post pictures from the second Reagan Administration and then get angry when you don’t recognize them. And sure, guys do it, too.

4. What was the most fun?

Other than finishing, you mean, and not being obsessed 24/7 with the characters and story and whether I misused a semi-colon? Other than once again resembling a semi-normal human being, as much as a writer ever can? I think writing the wacky and passionately loyal friendship between Joss and his best friend Mandy, spanning more than 35 years of love; two guys who would do anything for each other. It was and is a very special relationship to me

5. What do you hope readers will take away from your book?

Never give up on love. That’s a difficult mantra since the preponderance of relationships/marriages fail and, if superficially alive, are as often as not merely convenient shells for financial needs or the kids. Yeah, because children never suspect their parents aren’t happy, I mean come on…But love can still happen. I wouldn’t say it’s all that likely and you might be disappointed and your heart might be broken again but you know, so what? Better to have loved and lost…

Daniel's Den by Brandt Dodson

In this fast–paced thriller by popular author Brandt Dodson, a young government accountant learns to trust God when his life begins to fall apart and unseen enemies pursue him with relentless zeal.

Daniel Borden is a thirty–year–old government accountant who lives a quiet life and plays by the rules. But when events transpire that shatter his orderly world and a team of assassins mark him for death, Daniel must flee for his life.

While on the run, Daniel encounters Laura Sky. Carefree and easygoing, Laura is everything that Daniel isn’t. But when the killers assigned to eliminate Daniel find him at Laura’s bed–and–breakfast, gunfire erupts and the two set out on the run once again.

As they try to unravel the mystery that confronts them, they discover how tenuous life can be and how their very existence depends on the God who will never abandon them.

A perfect suspense tale for readers who love Dee Henderson, James Scott Bell, Brandilyn Collins, and James Patterson.



Interview with Brandt Dodson:

1. What do you love most about this book?

I’m a big believer that books – whether they are fiction or non-fiction – should convey an element of truth. It’s my personal opinion that fiction can do this in a way that biographies, essays, or other works of non-fiction never could. Story is powerful. It puts us in the character’s place and lets us feel their emotions as they confront the challenges that are common to us all.

In Daniel’s Den, I wanted to take two very different people and put them against the same obstacle. On the one hand we have Daniel Borden, a wealthy and secure individual who has yielded to the temptation of relying on his material wealth while he surrenders his dream of having a family to the dustbin of hopelessness.
On the other hand, we have Laura Traynor who has surrendered her own dreams of being a writer as she tries to fulfill her late husband’s dream of running a bed-and-breakfast.

Daniel is relying on his wealth, Laura is relying on her own efforts, but neither is relying on the God who has been with them all along – if they had just been willing to surrender their dreams to Him. My favorite part of the books is when Laura realizes that God was in the valley (figuratively and literally) all along. Symbolism and setting play heavily in nearly everything I write, but more so with Daniel’s Den.

2. What was the most challenging part to write?

I knew from the beginning that this book was going to center on the financial industry. My greatest challenge was going to be how I could portray a world of numbers, profit, and greed in an entertaining yet realistic way. If I lose my readers early in the book, I lose them for good. So trying to illustrate just how corrupt and greedy some – and I want to stress some – of Wall street’s power brokers can be was going to take a great deal of effort. At the time Daniel’s Den was written, the goings-on of Wall Street and the CEO world were not making the news the way they are now.

3. What do you want folks to get from reading this book?

I write because I have something to say. That being said, however, it is important that the reader comes away from the book having been entertained. But beyond that, it is my hope that the reader comes away with the same realization as Laura Traynor. “God was there all along. But my bitterness clouded my view of Him.”
There is a scene (no spoiler alert needed) in a hotel when Laura is expressing her anger toward God. As she does, she is looking out the window across the lake that lies beyond the building. A storm is brewing and lightning is flashing and she says that God is, “not going to come walking across the water on this night.” But in fact, that is exactly what happens – even if only in a figurative sense.

4. Why an investment analyst?

There are very few things that we rely on more than money. If the bank account is full, we are happy. If it’s not, we become fearful. Not only does this apply to individuals, but nations as well.

I think we as a church have failed the un-churched and the un-saved in this regard. We tell them that money doesn’t buy happiness, but the fact is – it does, even if it’s only temporary.

Think not? If your child is in dire need of an antibiotic and has a very painful, raging ear infection you will become quite happy if the money to buy the antibiotic suddenly becomes available. And none of us will turn down a pay raise.
But money doesn’t buy lasting happiness. In fact, it can often cloud our view of the only true source of happiness.

I chose an investment analyst for the protagonist of this story because I wanted to illustrate that Daniel Borden is a man that has gone beyond the level to which most of us will go. He isn’t content working at a great paying job or living within his means. He wants it all. He is chasing the dollar because that is the perceived source of his happiness – lasting happiness, in his case.

But of course, he is dead wrong.

5. What’s next for you?

I’m returning to my roots. I’m happiest when writing fast-paced crime thrillers.

Sons of God by Rebecca Ellen Kurtz

Sons of God is a mythic thriller that tells the tale of a 3,000 year old nephelim, half-human, half-angelic female warrior, disguised as a treasure hunter for mythic items. Raechev-el roams the world hunting down her fallen brethren until now, in the present, some mysterious murders occur at the archaeological dig at Nineveh and forces her to face her worst mistake.

This is a work of fiction that explores some controversial areas that some believe reveals the truth about what is in the Bible. Kurtz’s research in this book also presents an alternate theory on vampires based on ancient religions and civilizations, making it a great read for anyone interested in religion or the supernatural.




Interview with Rebecca Ellen Kurtz:

1. Where did you get the idea for this book?

I was heavily immersed within the darkest spiritual struggle of my life and needed an outlet. Sons of God provided a healing balm as I was forced to understand the hows and whys of my suffering. It began with a very supernatural event that I could not deny yet opposed religious teachings I had been taught. Signs continued to support the supernatural event which led to continuing confusion and anger as I stumbled blindly in pain and isolation searching for an answer. But for the first time in my life, God was silent and my anger towards God grew. The writing of Sons of God gave me peace again and healed that breach. Now, I see the beauty and wisdom in God’s silence.

The breakthrough to my healing came after watching the film The Exorcism of Emily Rose which tells of a Catholic priest who was accused of negligence when a girl died from some failed exorcist attempts. It made me begin reflecting over my past experiences. I have been physically assaulted by demons like she had, but I was able to cast them away from me before anything bad could happen. When I began connecting those experiences to the supernatural events that occurred, my eyes were opened. What I had thought were signs from God were not; they were supernatural signs from demons to destroy my relationship with God. What had been foretold along with supporting signs did not come true, and distance grew between me and God, and I finally understood demonic deception.

This led to an enormous amount of research for me to be better prepared in the future from ever being fooled (demonically deceived) like I had been before. Within this research, I came across the N’filim and their terrestial spirits (entities separate from fallen angels) which gave me a greater understanding to both the Old and New Testaments. I pieced everything together and created a mythic thriller.

2. Can you explain the vampire theory you explore in your book?

Historically and literally, vampire means “blood drinker.” If you follow the genealogical descendants of the Nephelim in the Old Testament, you will see where we get our myths of vampires. The descendants of the Nephelim, post Flood, were described as having unnaturally long lives, were nine to twelve feet tall, and were much paler than mortals. If you know your history, you would also know that these giants were known to drink blood from skulls, flay people alive, and sacrifice babies to demons - these were common practices of the descendants of the Nephelim. So, here we have pale, unnaturally long-lived, paranormal creatures who drank blood recorded by both ancient civilizations and religious texts. The whole undead aspect became popular by Bram Stroker in the 1880s.

3. What was the hardest part of writing the book? The most fun?

The most difficult part of writing this book was re-living the violent, physical demonic assaults that I had suffered through. I went into as much detail as possible in the novel. The most enjoyable aspect was when I felt God healing me as I wrote and came to an understanding on why I had suffered through what I had and hoped that my suffering would be able to help someone else.

4. What do you hope readers get from your book?

I hope their intellect is intrigued, their hearts are touched, and their souls are healed. So many people like I, knowingly and unknowingly, have become bitter and angry at God while continuing to go to Church. Bad things in our life happen, and we blame God. Oftentimes, we think we are given signs from God that do not work out and we’re left confused and questioning. But I want to present an example of demonic deception so that those suffering may see if they have fallen victim to the same thing I had.

I also hope to give a greater understanding and knowledge of the occult since so many youth are being ensnared. As a teacher and coach, I cannot count how many teenagers came to me scared out of their wits because they had tried a seance or played with a ouiji board like they had seen on television or read in books. The world makes demons and evil spirits out to be imaginary, and now children are getting hurt.

5. What's next for you?

I’ve already finished the next two books in the Sons of God series which are being edited right now and am doing research for the fourth and fifth novels. One of my film scripts, 1636, is currently in script competitions and will hopefully find funding within the next year or two. Sons of God was originally a film script, so there are plans to begin development in March 2010.

The Third Floor Window by Colleen Spiro

The Third Floor Window is the story of Colleen’s journey of healing from child sexual abuse. After years of trying to forget her past, Colleen thought she had dealt with her past once and for all. Then the clergy sexual abuse crisis in her beloved Catholic Church hit the newsstands. Colleen was devastated by the memories and buried emotions bubbling up to the surface.

Feeling driven to help other survivors, Colleen decided to share her own story. So she set out to teach the world about the long term effects of child sexual abuse. What she found along the way was healing and hope.

Now the third floor window is more than a symbol of pain and fear. It is a symbol of Colleen’s journey from darkness to light.

A Message from the Author About the Book:



I was inspired to write this book during the clergy sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church. I was so tired of hearing the same old question - why did it take so long for the victims to tell? I knew I needed to write about the long term effects of sexual abuse. I felt the need to educate, to inform and to encourage other survivors. The hardest part was digging deep for those painful memories from my childhood, but I love the hope and encouragement that my book gives to other survivors.

I am working on putting together some of my published articles into another book. The articles are about how I have seen God in my everyday life.