NONFICTION - RELATIONSHIPS/ADVICE
MY HEART GOT MARRIED AND I DIDN'T KNOW IT - Getting out of the 'Going Nowhere' Relationship by Lora Jobe, BSN and Barbara Prescott, PhD. All Rights Available.
Description: It's become standard practice for young American women to quickly become exclusive in their romantic relationships, to engage in sexual intimacy early (perhaps earlier than they really wanted to!), and to live together with a steady boyfriend as they figure out where their relationship is headed. This pattern has created a generation of women bogged down in 'going nowhere' relationships that are causing them pain as time drags on and either one or even both partners realize this relationship isn't going to end in marriage. Yet they're reluctant to leave. Any attempt to break up causes immense pain, so that means it's the wrong decision, right?
Wrong! As Dr. Prescott and Ms. Jobe portray, American women are jumping head-long into 'Heart Marriages'. They lack the ring and the commitment from their partners, but emotionally, the women are as bound to the relationship as if they were married. And it's an emotional disaster, one that keeps the women in relationships that aren't working, and keeping them from finding one that will!
MY HEART GOT MARRIED details the 'symptom's' of a Heart Marriage, allows the reader to determine if they're in this type of 'going nowhere' relationship or if there's real hope for their romance, and how to end a relationship that's really just not going to work. This project is research-based, including real world examples from case studies performed by the authors.
NONFICTION - MEMOIR
SOURTOE: A Father, a Son and a Journey of the Heart (and Toe) by Ron Franscell. Memoir/Parenting. All Rights Available.
Description: Ron Franscell, author of the critically-acclaimed true crime story, FALL, (released this month in paperback by St. Martin's Press as THE DARKEST NIGHT and already a bestseller in the true crime genre) where he recounted the impact of the murder of his childhood friends on their small town of Casper, Wyoming, reaches back once more into his past, and into his future, with his memoir of three generations of men (his father, himself and his own son) and his attempt to break the cycle of 'accidental bastards' and the abandonment that has plagued his family.
What started as a whimsical (but true) story Franscell told his son about a bar in the distant Yukon that serves a potent cocktail with a real mummified human toe as a garnish spun out into a roadtrip of a lifetime for both father and son, in search of themselves, each other, and a Sourtoe Cocktail.
Franscell is the managing editor of a Hearst newspaper, an award-winning former senior writer/columnist at the Denver Post and is an occasional commentator for NPR's All Things Considered. He is a popular blogger and book reviewer as well. He is also the author of ANGEL FIRE, listed as one of the 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century West, and THE DEADLINE, listed among Poisoned Pen's top 25 best crime fictions of 1999. His latest St. Martin's true crime, THE DARKEST NIGHT, recently won both the ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year and the IPPY top prize in true crime.
NONFICTION - RELIGION
MAKING YOUR BEST DEAL WITH GOD: The Story of Spiritual Pragmatism, by Rabbi Ben Kamin (called 'America's Rabbi by CNN). Religion/Spiritual. All Rights Available.
Millions of Americans are finding themselves detached from organized religion, but still yearning for a spiritual connection. Millions of others find themselves in interfaith marriages and families, and seek a way to reconcile their beliefs and live in harmony, free from guilt and conflict. Can a person truly define their own relationship with the Bible and with God? Can you be a deeply spiritual human being and yet reject traditional organized religion?
The answer, Rabbi Ben Kamin, shows, is definitely YES! Rabbi Kamin, founder of Reconciliation: The Synagogue Without Walls, offers searching readers a new way to find comfort, to build bridges between spirituality and practicality, and to truly make their very own BEST DEAL WITH GOD using Rabbi Kamin's philosophy of guilt-free, post-demoninational spirituality.
Ben Kamin has been quoted by Ann Landers, cited by the former Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, described by Psychology Today founder T. George Harris as 'the most unique and clear voice in America for secular spiritualism' and by CNN legal correspondant Avery Friedman as 'America's rabbi'. With his extensive media contacts and platform, Ben Kamin is a powerful force in contemporary American theology
Nonfiction: Parenting
RHYMED AND SEMI-RHYMED BABY NAMES; Thousands of Beautifully-Matched Names for Your Twins, Triplets, Sibs and More! by Eric Groves, Sr.
Description: Parents show a distinct preference for choosing baby names for their multiples or sibs that sound harmonious. Whether they choose perfectly rhyming names like Sheri and Keri or Jason and Mason, oblique rhymes like Josiah and Jonas or Emma and Ellen, or employ assonance (Ella and Helen) or masculine perfect rhyme like Emma and Dharma, there's a definite desire to find names that go well together. Eric Groves, Sr. has created the very first rhyming baby name collection, allowing parents to easily find groupings of names that go together. Whether expecting multiples right now, and wanting to find a name for baby that harmonizes with an older child's name, this guide is invaluable. Each name is listed with meanings and a pronunciation guide.
Other information: Eric Groves, Sr. is the author of Divine Baby Names, The Anti-War Quote Book, Butt Rot and Bottom Gas; A Glossary of Misunderstood Words, and The Everything Guide to Classroom Management.
NONFICTION - CAREER
THE CHICK'S GUIDE TO BEING THE BOSS by Brette Sember, JD and Terrence Sember. Business/Career. All Rights Available.
Description: The ultimate guide to effectively managing your workplace relationships for success, for both you and your business!The Chick's Guide to Being the Boss covers such issues as delegating responsibility, handling performance evaluations, personality conflicts, creating an atmosphere of respect while still having a friendly workplace, hiring the best people, team building and above all, leading to ensure business success.
Other information: Brette Sember is the author of over two dozen legal, business and health titles, and co-authored, The Supervisor's Handbook (Career Press 2007) with her husband, Terrence Sember.
NONFICTION - PARENTING
WHERE'S MY VILLAGE? by Meagan Francis Parenting/Relationships. All Rights Available.
Now more than ever, Americans are reporting a dearth of close relationships in their lives. Most reported having two or even just one friend (often their spouse) whom they felt close to and that they could rely on. Obviously, the pace of our lives and highly mobile nature of our society has wrecked havoc on much-needed social networks. At the same time, medical studies have proven the importance of a large, strong network of friends for good health and longevity. People with a healthy support system report lower stress, are less depressed and are better equipped to deal with problems and emergencies.
But how do you grow a circle of friends? What if you've moved, changed jobs, had a child or experienced another life change that often takes you away from your social circle? Moms with preschoolers, in particular, are often extremely isolated, at a time when they most need support, friendship, nuturing and 'mother mentors'. WHERE'S MY VILLAGE? teaches moms the skills necessary to reach out and make new friends.
Even if your social skills are rusty, or you have no idea how to make friends as an adult in a strange city, WHERE'S MY VILLAGE? will guide you, giving tips and info on where to look to create a new social network, how to approach new people, how to move relationships forward and how to develop the range of relationships, from casual acquaintances you can call for coffee, fellow moms you can swap babysitting with, and close girlfriends you can go to for advice and real emotional support.
Other information: Meagan Francis is the author of TABLE FOR EIGHT and the EVERYTHING GUIDE TO POSTPARTUM CARE.
NONFICTION - HEALTH
PLUS-SIZE FERTILITY, by Brette Sember and Dr. John Yeh. Health/Pregnancy. All rights available.
Following up on the newly-released, popular guide, Your Plus-Size Pregnancy, Brette Sember's latest work, Plus-Size Fertility, written with Dr. John Yeh, explores the special difficulties faced by plus-size women struggling with infertility. There are 6.1 women facing infertility in the US today, and weight plays a major role in a vast percentage of those cases, a factor overlooked by the non-plus-size population, but heartbreakingly real to anyone living through it. Overweight patients experience anovulation, infrequent cycles, increased risk of miscarriage and difficulty with IVF procedures. Brette Sember and Dr. Yeh present the problems, and possible treatments, with patience, caring and insight.
Written by a plus-size mom who has herself experienced fertility problems and miscarriage, Plus-Size Fertility addresses the whole woman, not just the physical challenges, but the emotional aspects, too. Supportive, positive, filled with quotes from other women in the same situation, Plus-Size Fertility is an absolutely unique title.Brette Sember is the author of more than twenty books, including Your Plus-Size Pregnancy, Your Practical Pregnancy Planner, and The Infertility Answer Book. She is a contributing writer for ePregnancy and AmaZe magazine, and her articles appear in such publications as Conceive, Pregnancy, Every Baby, American Baby and more. Her website www.YourPlusSizePregnancy.com was recently awarded the Size Wise Award for promoting positive self-image about plus-size women.
Dr. John Yeh is Chairman of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the State University of NY School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Buffalo, and has served on the faculty of Harvard and has headed National Institute of Science studies. He currently serves on the editorial board for the journal, Clinical Updates in Women's Health.
NONFICTION - BUSINESS/INVESTING
CA$HVERTISING: How to Use 50 Secrets of Ad-Agency Psychology to Make BIG MONEY Selling Anything to Anyone! by Drew Eric Whitman. Business. Translation/audio rights available. World English Rights to Career Press.
This comprehensive, entertaining guide would be invaluable to anyone from the part-time home-based entrepreneur to the owner of a mid-size business who wants to get more bang for his advertising buck. Written in a highly engaging, lively style, Whitman uses real-world (often amusing) examples to give an in-depth look into what makes advertising successful, and how to boost sales using the same techniques larger companies pay advertising executives big money to implement. This guide not only teaches what techniques to use, it explains why they work, so readers can easily apply their new knowledge to their own unique needs. With more new home-based businesses than ever before, and more than 23 million people in America starting new businesses or managing firms less than four years old, the market for this book is already huge, and growing every day.
Other information: Drew Eric Whitman, a.k.a. "Dr. Direct!"(trademarked), is an internationally renowned advertising trainer and consultant. He has created effective advertising for such clients as Texaco, American Automobile Association, Faber-Castell Corporation, Amoco, Panasonic, Staples, TV Guide, and many others. He's also the creator of the popular Advertising MAGIC! training program. His ezine, AdPOWER! Online, is read by thousands of subscribers worldwide, while many businesspeople also turn to his website AdSurgeon.com and his 3-hour live AdPOWER! Clinic training seminar to learn his techniques and strategies.
NONFICTION - WRITING REFERENCE
INCIPIO, by Marc Dettenrieder and Adam Hlawati. Language/Writing. All Rights Available.
A groundbreaking new writer's comprehensive handbook of more than 2,000 introductory phrases, clauses and transitional expressions. Incipio (Latin for 'to begin') is an easy to use guide of sentence starters that will elevate the presentation value of any written document or speech. Extremely useful for students, business professionals, speech writers, journalists, and public speakers. The absolutely unique format of Incipio makes it simple to quickly and efficiently find alternate phrases to keep your writing lively and engaging. Never fear a blank page again!
NONFICTION - EDUCATION, PARENTING
THE PORTABLE TUTOR, by Chris Balme and Erin O'Briant. Education/Parenting. All Rights Available.
Description: A comprehensive starting guide for anyone interested in helping students achieve their full potential, from parents to teachers to freelance professional tutors. The Portable Tutor introduces the fundamentals of building a positive tutoring relationship and helping students find motivation and relevance. With specific strategies for reading, writing and organization, it demonstrates how to help the student connect with academic material, and uses clever approaches to make tutoring fun and engaging for both the tutor and the student.
Tutoring, both informally and professionally, has become increasingly prevalent in schools, and there are currently 4.9 million teachers who meet with students on an individual basis. Additionally, there are 1.5-2 million homeschooled children in America whose parents or home teachers are looking for new ways to help their students.
Students are also facing more challenges and competition in school and after, making it more and more important for parents to learn the skills necessary to assist their children in a positive and encouraging atmosphere. The market for books like The Portable Tutor is huge and will only continue to grow as it becomes more and more necessary to give students an extra edge inside the classroom, and out.
Other information: Chris Balme is co-founded of Spark, a nonproject youth apprenticeship program, and co-founded Edge Tutors, a socially minded cooperative of independent tutors serving the S.F. Bay area. Chris is a graduate of UPenn and the Wharton School of Business.
Erin O'Briant holds an MFA from Emory University and spent two years in the Writing Success Project at City College of San Francisco.
NONFICTION - MUSIC BIOGRAPHY
ROBERT CRAY: From the Shadow of the Blues, by Chris Scott Wilson. Music/Biography. All Rights Available.
An intriguing, and seminal, biography of contemporary blues legend, Robert Cray, including lengthy interviews with Cray's manager, the producers who discovered and helmed Cray's career, and key members of the Mercury/Phonogram team who engineered Cray's international break-through. Also included is a complete discography.
NONFICTION - MIDDLE GRADE CHILDRENS
THEN AND NOW, by Susan M. Traugh, a biography series for reluctant readers 8-12. Middle Grade. All Rights Available.
This nonfiction series for ages 8-12 matches two significant people sharing common characteristics, one contemporary and one historical, in each book to make history come alive for reluctant readers. Each individual biography is short enough to be non-threatening to the reader, but combined together, create the 'bigger' book older kids prefer to be seen reading.
Written in a colorful, captivating manner, the author details the life of an historical figure, such as Edgar Allen Poe, and then separately, someone kids will know well, such as R.L. Stine, showing the amazing similarities in their lives and characteristics. Other paired figures are Barack Obama and Abraham Lincoln, C.S. Lewis and J.K. Rowlings, Nelson Mandela and George Washington, and Mark Twain and Oprah.
This is a truly fun and amazing series with a unique hook guaranteed to 'hook' readers into wanting more!
FICTION - HISTORICAL MYSTERY
THE BOOK KEEP by Tom Durwood. Historical mystery. First of a proposed series. All Rights Available.
Description: When a talented young Dutch bookkeeper, Matthias Sykes, is assigned to supervise the accounting for King James' epochal undertaking, the translation of the Bible in 1611, he quickly uncovers rampant embezzlement, political infighting, runaway egos, murder and treachery, and a historical mystery that dates back to the dawn of Christianity and threatens the very foundations of the Church.
Sister Beatrice, a shy and sheltered noviciate with the ability to read twelve languages, including ancient Aramaic, has been tasked with reconciling the proposed translations presented by conflicting companies of scholars. In her search for a fabled missing book of Paul, she becomes a target for forces bent on preventing the document from ever being revealed. Matthias and Sister Beatrice must elude assassins to track an ancient artifact that will reveal the location of the missing book of Paul, and uncover the shocking knowledge it contains.
FICTION - MYSTERY
LAST CALL, by Matt Nunes. Mystery/Suspense. All Rights Available.
Trouble has a way of stalking Paul Costa. But when the latest trouble comes in the form of a very dead Congressman with a knife in his ear, the same knife Paul was just using, the same Congressman Paul just neatly ejected from his bar, he knows trouble's not just passing through, it's come home to roost.
Paul had tried to retreat from life, and from pain, raising his young daughter, Marisol, alone after the death of his beloved wife. The former JAG attorney and Naval Officer needed roots, and time to heal, and his daughter needed a father who would be there for her, always, just as he promised her he would be. But being the prime suspect in a high-profile murder threatens to tear him from her. And that was something Paul Costa was not going to allow to happen, even if it means hunting down a killer whose already got Costa in his sights, and who knows the way to reach him is through Marisol.
FICTION - MYSTERY
THE LAW OF THE SPLINTERED PADDLE, An Ava Rome mystery, by Mark Troy. Mystery/Suspense. All Rights Available.
Hawaii may be known for its gorgeous beaches and technicolor sunsets, but to female M.P. turned P.I. Ava Rome, it's a place of dangerous family secrets and a past that's about to come back, armed and dangerous. The Law of the Splintered Paddle (a Hawaiian law dictating all citizens must protect the defenseless, whether innocent or not) immerses the reader in contemporary Hawaii, exposing both its beauty and its deadly side, where paradise is sometimes bought and sold in human flesh.
FICTION - MYSTERY
PEACE, LOVE AND MURDER: A Bo Forrester Mystery by N. L. Conner. Mass Market Rights Available. Hard Cover Rights to Five Star.
This first book in a debut mystery series introduces us to Bo Forrester, a cab driver who has recently moved to the small town of Rhodes, New York to reconcile with the hippie parents he has not spoken to since the joining the army at eighteen. Any hopes he'd had for a family reunion seem to be dashed, however, as the commune he was raised on is now a subdivision and his parents are long gone. With no other family or friends to attend to, and little direction in his life, Bo decides to stay in the quiet college town and return to a simpler way of life. Before long, the small-town calm is shattered when Bo is pulled over for a routine traffic stop, only to become the prime suspect in the biggest murder case Rhodes has ever seen. Nosy Deputy Trudy Hauser searches Bo's cab, convinced she can nab him for drug possession, but what she finds in the trunk is much more incriminating. Someone has murdered local philanthropist Fred Davies, and all clues seem to lead to Bo. Time is running out for Bo to track down the real killer and clear his name. As he races around town, following leads that only raise more questions and narrowly avoiding getting arrested or killed in the process, Bo must decide who he can trust with his life, even if it means befriending once-enemy Deputy Hauser or hiding from an entire town of friends and acquaintances.
FICTION - YOUNG ADULT
AGGIE OF RAVEN'S LAIR, by Louise Wynne-Franks. Young Adult Gothic Mystery. All Rights Available.
13-year-old Aggie Trevellyn gazed up at the foreboding estate of Ravens Lair, perched on a cliff at the edge of the windswept coast of Cornwall, England. The towering stone walls seemed to close in on her. Home, she thought. With her beloved parents gone forever, she had no choice but agree to accompany her Uncle here, to leave behind everything and everyone shed known and loved.
Aggie never felt more alone. But then a surprise encounter with a mysterious handsome boy named Nick gives Aggie hope that things arent quite so bleak. But why were Nicks hands so very cold, and why did he
smell of the sea?
She meets the mansions warm-hearted housekeeper, Rose Brown, and Aggies remarkable and wacky Great-Aunt Moth, and discovers that she has allies here in Ravens Lair, and shes about to embark on the
adventure of a lifetime. Could Moth really be serious when she tells Aggie she can teach the girl to travel outside her body, or is it all just the ramblings of an eccentric old woman?
Aggie soon realizes the walls of Ravens Lair echo with secrets, and she may be the only one able to be able to unlock them. A spirited raven, a haunted castle, a murder mystery and a queens ransom in jewels all await Aggie, who must conquer her fears and believe in herself to save everyone dear to her.
FICTION - YOUNG ADULT
HOW TO HIRE A SUPERHERO: A Beginner's Guide, by Rusty Fischer. Young Adult. All Rights Available.
When 15-year-old Gerber Templeton entered a contest to pick the next Gamma Man for the up-coming movie, he never imagined how much his life was going to change. The same obsession with Gamma Man trivia that seemed to have sentenced him to a lifetime of ridicule, also presented him with the opportunity of his dreams. Gerber went to the movie studio determined to prove his worth to anyone who cared to notice, but as he soon finds out, he had underestimated the power of a single, nerdy boy. Gerber does much more than just have the time of his life choosing the actor to play in a new, low-budget Gamma Man movie. He proves to the whole world that the underdog can prevail, and most importantly, he finally gains the respect of his successful, and highly critical, father.