Family Living

“Viral” by Kevin E. Ready 

(NAPSI)—A story of hope and the indomitable will of the human spirit. This is a popular fiction saga of a pandemic—written well before the COVID-19 virus was ever heard of—and the actions taken by people around the world to fight it. The story is told from the viewpoint of several key characters in various countries and walks of life. It includes realistic descriptions of the disease and heartfelt sub-stories of the characters as they deal with the pandemic.   

A woman of science must step up and become a leader and, hopefully, a savior. A first responder finds himself fighting for the lives of thousands. Valiant medical workers face near-impossible tasks while risking their very lives. Sounds only too real. Purchase at https://amzn.to/2AieoiT. 

“Original Politics: Making America Sacred Again” by Glenn Aparicio Parry 

To recreate a whole and sacred America, it is important to piece together the forgotten fragments of history currently keeping the country divided. Just as a traditional Native American potter begins a new pot with shards of old pots, “Original Politics” re-constellates the nation as a whole out of the seemingly disparate shards from its origins.  

Perhaps the most significant forgotten piece is the profound effect Native America had on the founding values of this nation. “Original Politics” demonstrates how the best aspects of America’s founding vision were inspired from Native American cultures: natural rights, liberty, and egalitarian justice. Native America has inspired bringing all the world’s peoples together on one soil in a harmonious cultural mosaic of unity and diversity. Purchase at https://amzn.to/3bgwsHe. 

“Stitching a Life: An Immigration Story” by Mary Helen Fein 

It’s 1900, and 16-year-old Helen comes alone across the Atlantic from a village in Lithuania, fleeing terrible anti-Semitism and persecution. She arrives at Ellis Island, and settles on the Lower East Side. She finds a job and devotes herself to bringing the rest of her family to the New World.  

A few at a time, Helen’s family members arrive. Each goes to work and contributes to bringing over their remaining beloved ones. Helen meanwhile, falls in love with a man who introduces her to a different New York—of wonder, beauty and possibility. From She Writes Press, purchase at https://amzn.to/3cs356h. 

“Final Flight” by Eric C. Anderson

On a clear, cold night high above East Asia, a China Air passenger jet disappears from radar with all aboard. It’s an anomaly, a fluke. And then a couple of hours later, it happens again.  

It’s 2023. Former Air Force maintenance officer Jason Montgomery and Rob “Ski” Kalawski have just landed the gig of their lives. China Air’s aging fleet of Boeing 777s desperately needs navigation hardware and software upgrades. It’s a multimillion-dollar contract, and they’re just the guys to do it. Right? Wrong. Jason’s just the middleman, but he finds himself trapped between yakuza gangsters, a tattooed dragon-lady sales exec and murderous Russian mobsters. Purchase at https://amzn.to/3ba9Qbc. 

BookBites is a continuing series bringing readers information and ideas for their next read. For more reading ideas, visit BookTrib.com and subscribe to the weekly newsletter.

 "BookBites brings readers ideas for their next read. Among its offerings: a book about a fictional pandemic that seems all too real. One on making America sacred again, the Native American way; an immigration story; and a look at disappearing jets.https://bit.ly/3e5nwGQ"  

(NAPSI)—Aspiring writers and artists can find inspiration and a forum and sci-fi/fantasy lovers a good time in the latest volume of L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers & Illustrators of the Future Contests and anthology.

About The Contest

Free to enter, open to all speculative fiction writers and artists, the two contests were created by famed author L. Ron Hubbard and funded by his estate. The judges, mostly professional writers, artists and educators, see only the story or artwork and a number, so every entry has the same chance of winning regardless of race, color, creed, nationality, sex or anything else. Entries have come from over 175 countries—but no other planet as far as is known.

About The Book

Volume 36 is now in bookstores in the U.S. and online globally. According to Gary Roen, senior reviewer of the Midwest Book Review, “‘Writers of the Future’ is the gold standard of emerging talent in the field of science fiction fantasy and has contributed more to the genre than any other source.” In this volume, he added, the lavish artwork spawned a short story by an established author instead of one of the newer writers and there are several tales by other famous authors, including Hubbard himself.

Learn More

For further facts or to enter the contests, visit www.writersofthefuture.com and www.galaxypress.com.

“Gravity Is Heartless” by Sarah Lahey 

(NAPSI)—The year is 2050. Automated cities, vehicles and homes are now standard; artificial intelligence, CRISPR gene editing and quantum computing have become a reality and climate change is in full swing. Climate scientist Quinn Buyers would rather be studying the clouds than getting ready for her wedding. 

But when a tragedy causes her to lose everything, including her famous scientist mother, her quest for answers takes her across the globe—and she uncovers friends, loss and love in the most unexpected of places. This bold, speculative fiction sheds light on the treatment of the planet as it offers a breathtaking sense of hope for the future. From She Writes Press, purchase at https://amzn.to/2RuvQXx. 

“No Rules: A Memoir” by Sharon Dukett 

It’s 1971 in Connecticut, and 16-year-old Sharon’s parents think she should become a clerical office worker and live at home until she marries. But Sharon wants to join the hippies, so she leaves home and heads to California. She is thrown into an adult world for which she is unprepared and she embarks on a precarious journey amid the 1970s counterculture.  

In this colorful memoir, Sharon shares moments of triumph, joy, love and awakening, and reflects upon the changes that reshaped her during the 1970s women’s movement and how they transformed society’s expectations for women. From She Writes Press, purchase at https://amzn.to/38qwrzh. 

“Sister Dear” by Hannah Mary McKinnon 

“She’s got it all. And it should have been mine.” When Eleanor Hardwicke’s beloved father dies, her world is shattered by a gut-wrenching secret: The man she’s grieving isn’t really her dad. Eleanor was the product of an affair and her biological father is still out there living blissfully with the family he chose. 

With her personal life spiraling, a desperate Eleanor seeks him out, leading her to uncover another branch on her family tree—an infuriatingly enviable half-sister. Perfectly perfect Victoria has everything Eleanor could ever dream of. Loving childhood, luxury home, devoted husband. All of it stolen from Eleanor, who plans to take it back. Purchase at https://amzn.to/2W9Ui2S. 

“ReNaturing Yourself” by Patricia Seymour 

The dictionary defines “renature” as “restoring something to its former, natural state.” This book does just that, providing 43 proven methods to rescue your natural, healthy self.  

If you are going to get a handle on how to beat the toxins and get back to living naturally, you’ve got to identify the general areas of concern first: air, food, water and your mind. By focusing on each of these currently unnatural areas in turn, this book shows you the very best methods you can use to protect you and your loved ones from the toxic chemical, digital and capitalistic onslaught of modern life. Purchase at https://amzn.to/3fw9b7x. 

BookBites is a continuing series bringing readers information and ideas for their next read. For more reading ideas, visit BookTrib.com and subscribe to the weekly newsletter.

“Time Is Irreverent” by Marty Essen

(NAPSI)—What if you could change history and eliminate the Spanish Inquisition, American slavery, World War II, global warming, and an egomaniacal U.S. president who thinks he can drop nuclear bombs without negative consequences? What if that change also makes the U.S. and five billion people go poof? 

When alien time travelers, the Krichards, learn of President Handley’s plan, they race to Earth. They will only proceed to change history if the human they deem best qualified to represent Earth agrees to make the change: Marty Mann, a travel writer who doesn’t take life too seriously. What could possibly go wrong?

A hilarious, thought-provoking satire. First in a three-book series and intended for a liberal audience. Purchase at https://amzn.to/3beMjWZ.

“Fractus Europa” edited by Eric C. Anderson and Adam Dunn

Take a thrill ride into the day after tomorrow through a Europe fractured by seismic change. An American journalist in Moscow uncovers a startling twist in American/Russian relations. A health care administrator struggles to keep medical services afloat amid a crumbling NHS in post-Brexit England. A Ukrainian soldier struggles to reconcile his pre- and post-war identities.

This collection of short stories and beautifully rendered maps takes readers where academics and think tank philosophers dare not tread. Written by journalists and experts in regions with geopolitical unrest, who have witnessed periods of great upheaval and threats both foreign and domestic, these fictionalized accounts depict the all-too-real failings of ideology and idealism in a Eurozone dystopia that has already arrived. Purchase at https://amzn.to/2zc4per.

“I’m So Glad You’re Here” by Pamela Gay

A poignant exploration of the idea that while the wounds we carry from fractured families stay with us, they do not have to control us. The memoir opens with Gay, age 18, witnessing her father being bound in a straitjacket and carried out of the house on a stretcher. Her trauma escalates when, after he has electroshock treatments at a state mental hospital, her parents leave her in college and move to Florida without her.

Decades later, when Gay and her siblings attend their father’s funeral, she witnesses her family’s inability to gather together. Eventually, she is diagnosed with PTSD of abandonment and treated—and finally begins to heal. Purchase at https://amzn.to/2UGAseJ.

“Little Tea”  by Claire Fullerton

For three reflective days at a lake house in Arkansas, three childhood friends—Renny, Ava and Celia—reunite and examine life, love, marriage, and the ties that bind, even though Celia’s personal story has yet to be healed. When the past arrives in the form of her old boyfriend, Celia must revisit the life she’d tried to outrun.

As her idyllic coming of age unfolds alongside her best friend, Little Tea, on her family’s grounds in bucolic Mississippi, Celia realizes there is no better place to accept her own story than in this circle of friends. As the racial divide in the Deep South evolves, Celia wonders if friendship can triumph over history. Purchase at
https://amzn.to/2UGz9wn.