Featured
Authors &
their
Books
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Mary Doria
Russell
Doc
Thorndike, 2011. $30.99 (Hardcover)
Ballantine, 2012. $15 (Paperback)
The
year is 1878, peak of the Texas cattle trade.
The place is Dodge City, Kansas, a saloon-filled
cow town jammed with liquored-up adolescent
cowboys and young Irish hookers. Violence is
random and routine, but when the burned body of
a mixed-blood boy named Johnnie Sanders is
discovered, his death shocks a part-time
policeman named Wyatt Earp. And it is a matter
of strangely personal importance to Doc
Holliday, the frail twenty-six-year-old dentist
who has just opened an office at No. 24 Dodge
House.
Authentic, moving, and witty, Mary
Doria Russell’s fifth novel redefines these two
towering figures of the American West and brings
to life an extraordinary cast of historical
characters, including Holliday’s unforgettable
companion, Kate. First and last, however, Doc
is John Henry Holliday’s story, written with
compassion, humor, and respect by one of our
greatest contemporary storytellers.
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Dreamers of the Day
Ballantine, 2008. $15
A
forty-year-old schoolteacher from Ohio still
reeling from the tragedies of the Great War and
the influenza epidemic, Agnes has come into a
modest inheritance that allows her to take the
trip of a lifetime to Egypt and the Holy Land.
Arriving at the Semiramis Hotel just as the
Peace Conference convenes, Agnes, with her
plainspoken American opinions–and a small, noisy
dachshund named Rosie–enters into the company of
the historic luminaries who will, in the space
of a few days at a hotel in Cairo, invent the
nations of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and
Jordan.
Neither a pawn nor a participant at the
conference, Agnes is ostensibly insignificant,
and that makes her a welcome sounding board for
Churchill, Lawrence, and Bell. It also makes her
unexpectedly attractive to the charismatic
German spy Karl Weilbacher. As Agnes observes
the tumultuous inner workings of
nation-building, she is drawn more and more
deeply into geopolitical intrigue and toward a
personal awakening.
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A Thread of Grace
Ballantine, $15
Set
in Italy during the dramatic finale of World War
II, this new novel is the first in seven years
by the bestselling author of The Sparrow
and Children of God. It
is September 8, 1943, and fourteen-year-old
Claudette Blum is learning Italian with a
suitcase in her hand. She and her father are
among the thousands of Jewish refugees
scrambling over the Alps toward Italy, where
they hope to be safe at last, now that the
Italians have broken with Germany and made a
separate peace with the Allies. The Blums will
soon discover that Italy is anything but
peaceful, as it becomes overnight an open
battleground among the Nazis, the Allies,
resistance fighters, Jews in hiding, and
ordinary Italian civilians trying to survive.
Mary Doria Russell sets her first historical
novel against this dramatic background, tracing
the lives of a handful of fascinating
characters. Through them, she tells the
little-known but true story of the network of
Italian citizens who saved the lives of
forty-three thousand Jews during the war’s final
phase. The result of five years of meticulous
research, A Thread of Grace is an
ambitious, engrossing novel of ideas, history,
and marvelous characters that will please
Russell’s many fans and earn her even more.
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The Sparrow
Ballantine, $15
It
was predictable, in hindsight. Everything about
the history of the Society of Jesus bespoke deft
and efficient action, exploration and research.
During what Europeans were pleased to call the
Age of Discovery, Jesuit priests were never more
than a year or two behind the men who made
initial contact with previously unknown peoples;
indeed, Jesuits were often the vanguard of
exploration. The United Nations required years
to come to a decision that the Society of Jesus
reached in ten days. In New York, diplomats
debated long and hard, with many recesses and
tablings of the issue, whether and why human
resources should be expended in an attempt to
contact the world that would become known as
Rakhat when there were so many pressing needs on
Earth. In Rome, the questions were not whether
or why but how soon the mission could be
attempted and whom to send. The Society asked
leave of no temporal government. It acted on its
own principles, with its own assets, on Papal
authority. The mission to Rakhat was undertaken
not so much secretly as privately – a fine
distinction but one that the Society felt no
compulsion to explain or justify when the news
broke several years later. The Jesuit scientists
went to learn, not to proselytize. They went so
that they might come to know and love God’s
other children. They went for the reason Jesuits
have always gone to the furthest frontiers of
human exploration. They went ad majorem Dei
gloriam: for the greater glory of God. They
meant no harm
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Children of God
Ballantine, $15
Mary
Doria Russell's debut novel, The Sparrow,
took us on a journey to a distant planet and
into the center of the human soul. A critically
acclaimed bestseller, The Sparrow was
chosen as one of Entertainment Weekly's Ten Best
Books of the Year, a finalist for the
Book-of-the-Month Club's First Fiction Prize and
the winner of the James M. Tiptree Memorial
Award. Now, in Children of God, Russell further
establishes herself as one of the most
innovative, entertaining and philosophically
provocative novelists writing today. The only
member of the original mission to the planet
Rakhat to return to Earth, Father Emilio Sandoz
has barely begun to recover from his ordeal when
the Society of Jesus calls upon him for help in
preparing for another mission to Alpha Centauri.
Despite his objections and fear, he cannot
escape his past or the future. Old friends, new
discoveries and difficult questions await Emilio
as he struggles for inner peace and
understanding in a moral...
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Tom Acierno
A Whisper in
God's Ear
Arbor Books, 2008. HB $12, PB $7.
This book tells the story of the author's
spiritual journey from being a Catholic to asking
questions that take him outside of the church and
outside organized religion. It answers the complex
questions of life, karma, reincarnation, the
existence of God, and ultimately; what happens
after we die.
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Deanna R. Adams
Rock 'n' Roll
and the Cleveland Connection
Kent State University Press, 2002, $39.99
It’s no wonder Cleveland is home to the
internationally famous Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame—Cleveland disk jockey Alan Freed coined the
phrase for this new musical phenomenon nearly 50
years ago; Casey Kasem fine-tuned his long-running
broadcasting career in Cleveland; and Cleveland
witnessed the rise of such widely recognized
groups as the James Gang, the Outsiders, Damnation
of Adam Blessing, and the Raspberries. Nearby
Canton gave us the O’Jays, and Akron spawned Devo
and Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders. And the rock
concert was practically invented in Cleveland in
1952, when Alan Freed convened the first Moondog
Coronation Ball. By the 1970s Cleveland had become
a proving ground for superstars in the making.
"Rock ’n’ Roll and the Cleveland Connection" is
the first in-depth look at the people, venues, and
artists that made Cleveland the "Rock ’n’ Roll
Capital of the World." |
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Confessions of a
Not-So-Good Catholic Girl
Infinity Press, 2008, $19.99
Confessions of a Not-So-Good Catholic Girl
is a collection of true tales about growing up a
baby boomer in the Midwest. These coming-of-age
stories, wide ranging in subject matter, are
slices of life, experiences most of us
share: internal conflicts, personal
relationships, life-altering moments—whether you
grew up Catholic or not. Weave in historic events
and pop culture trends and you have a book of
nostalgic adventures that will evoke your own life
memories—with laughter, warmth, and fond
reflection. |
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Cleveland's Rock and
Roll Roots
Arcadia Publishing, 2010, $21.99
Ever since Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed first
called the records he was playing "rock and roll,"
northeast Ohio has been a driving force in this
musical phenomenon. From the disc jockeys who spun
the music to the musicians who played it, the
clubs that welcomed it and fans who encouraged it,
rock and roll has been as much a part of this
north coast as the lake that hugs it. It was those
early years, from the 1950s on, that led Cleveland
to becoming the "Rock and Roll Capital of the
World" and ultimately home to the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame and Museum. While the city spawned
several widely recognized names, such as the James
Gang (with Joe Walsh), the Raspberries (with Eric
Carmen), and Bobby Womack, it is the music itself
that will keep this town rocking on the shores of
Lake Erie, and beyond, for a long time to come. |
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Alice Baburek
Sinister
Secrets of Plum Island
$19.95
Plum Island: a remote island located near the
northeast coast of Long Island in the state of New
York. Known to most as a federal research facility
dedicated to the studies of animal diseases in the
United States. Or is it?
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The Magic Ring
$16.95
Come take an exciting journey with Mathew as he
discovers a magical ring inside a worn out trunk
hidden in the attic. The mysterious green gem
holds special powers as it transports him through
space back to his old bedroom, where he meets a
little girl, Caroline, who as moved into Mathew's
old house. She too discovers the magic of the ring
as she befriends Mathew.
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Stolen Memories
$24.95
What if one day you woke up with someone else's
memories? Remembering people's names and faces who
do not know you even exist. Unknown places never
visited before until now.
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Echo of Lies
PublishAmerica, 2009, $24.95
Echo of Lies
carries the reader away on a treacherous journey
inside the personal lives of three influential and
powerful women. It is through their intense
determination to seek out justice that forbidden
doors are opened and evil silently unfolds into a
nightmare filled with deceit and lies. |
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Beyond the Gates of
Nature
$24.95
What prompts an upstanding detective to
unexpectedly turn the other cheek to the call of
justice? Or a headstrong, devoted mother to
suddenly succumb to the evils of addiction? How
about a dedicated veterinarian, who devoted her
entire life to caring for animals, only to be
defeated and fall prey to a terminal illness?
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Daniel Bell
Nadir's Fire
Dog Ear Publishing, 2008. $14.95
Pilot Vincent Ten Ponies has no problems when he
is flying. But when he lands, his shady and
eccentric employer Clive MacLeod gives him all he
can handle, including two newly recruited college
dropouts, Jim and Macy. It falls to Vince to keep
Jim, the naive giant, alive; Macy, his
dysfunctional girlfriend, in check; and all of
them out of prison. In just a few months he can
afford his own plane and work for himself -- if
his boss and new coworkers don't get him killed
first.
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Gail Ghetia Bellamy
Cleveland Food
Memories
Gray & Co., 2003. $17.95
Remember when food was local?
. . . when Cleveland companies made it, and local
people sold it and ran the restaurants where we
ate it?
Food makes powerful memories. Just mention Hough
Bakeries and see how quickly we Clevelanders start
to drool over just the thought of those long-lost
white cakes. This book collects the fondest
memories of fellow Clevelanders who all share an
ache for treats from the past. There were Frostees
in Higbees’ basement. Popcorn balls at Euclid
Beach. Burgers at Manners or Mawby’s or Kenny
King’s. Entertainment-filled nights at Alpine
Village. Mustard at old Municipal Stadium . . .
and so much more. Look inside and rediscover some
of your own favorite local flavors!
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Crystal Budy
Echo of Silence
CreateSpace, 2012. $10
Special Agent Rob Karlton is brilliant,
dedicated, and tries hard at whatever he does.
He's also stubborn, sarcastic, and spends much
of his time pissing a lot of people off. A
tragic past has left him bitter and contemptuous
toward women and life in general and his
attitude doesn't rub well with a lot of people.
One of those people is his new boss, Lilah
Matthews. Rob is horrified that his new boss is
a woman and makes no bones about expressing that
opinion. Lilah has no problem taking none of his
crap and giving his attitude back to him
tenfold.When 13-year-old Cassie Phelps gets
swiped off the street on her way to school by
men in ski masks, Rob is placed on the task
force to help find her. When he discovers that
Cassie and her parents didn't exist before 2004,
he's dead-set determined to find out the story
behind it. What he uncovers goes much deeper
than anything he could have ever imagined.
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Echo of Darkness
CreateSpace, 2012. $10
Special Agent Stevie Winters has recently
transferred into the violent crimes unit of the
FBI's Cleveland division, a boys club where her
presence is not welcome with open arms. On her
second day, Stevie is thrown into her first
homicide investigation when a case from the past
comes back to haunt the unit and a serial killer
they never caught starts killing again. The switch
from cyber crimes to violent crimes will come as
more than just a culture shock as Stevie finds
herself in the crossfire between a crazed suspect
and the sociopathic murderer, catapulting her into
the undesirable position of becoming the next
victim.
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Kenneth Cash
Words of Wisdom
Seekers Publishing, 2010. $9.95
Words of Wisdom
is a collection of 157 potent, thought-provoking
assertions to assist in successfully navigating
life.
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Grammar and Spelling
Seekers Publishing, 2010. $11.95
This publication will clarify many grammatical and
mechanical usages and clear up the spelling of
plenty of confusing words to help you improve your
writing.
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Essay Writing
Seekers Publishing, 2008. $39.95
Essay Writing
is an exceedingly useful tool that assists
students by providing them with professionally
written model essays in nine modes with
accompanying outlines and brief, easy-to-follow
explanation plus much more valuable essay-related
information. |
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Charles Cassady
Cleveland Ghosts
Schiffer Books, 2008. $14.99
A ghost's work is never done in Cleveland, Ohio.
Within these pages abide tall tales and myths,
documented reports, and weird stories of the
unspeakable. Learn about Melonheads, Gore
Orphanage, and the curse of the Franklin Castle.
Visit a ghost that stops a train (repeatedly), a
phantom black dog that sinks ships, and a bloody,
clutching hand that terrorizes a family. For the
skeptic, the seeker, the storyteller, and the
weekend spook-hunter, learn why the "Best things
in death are right here in Cleveland."
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Paranormal Great
Lakes
Schiffer Books, 2009. $14.99
The first A-to-Z listing of extraordinary,
supernatural, paranormal, and Fortean/inexplicable
phenomena on the American Great Lakes. These five
majestic freshwater seas—Lakes Superior, Huron,
Erie, Michigan and Ontario—have hosted a
treasure-trove of fantastic sailors' tales,
mysteries, and legends. Here abide the
long-standing rumors, myths and lore about
mermaids, ghost ships, lake monsters, UFOs, USOs,
vortices and triangles, Flying Dutchmen, wendigos,
spook lights, haunted lighthouses, headless
apparitions, melancholy mist-maidens, curses,
talismans, thunderbirds, and sorcerers. Presented
for the traveler, folklorist, ghost-buster,
skeptic, cryptozoologist, or the just plain
curious.
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Paranormal
Mississippi River
Schiffer Books, 2011. $24.99
Tour the mighty Mississippi River with this first
A-Z encyclopedia-style listing of paranormal
phenomena along its winding length. Presented in a
convenient, cross-referenced format, these pages
are an indispensable guide of the supernatural for
the curious traveler, brave riverboat pilot,
ghost-folklore buff, aspiring vampire slayer, and
dedicated UFO chaser. Learn how to distinguish
hoodoo from Voodoo and examine posthumous
perambulations and visitations of the pirate Jean
Lafitte. Find out about the domain and habits of
devil babies and grunch, assess haunted
plantations and mansions, and chart prominent
water-monster hazards. Please note, though, that
the root work conjure-spells, blues-musician pacts
with the devil, loup-garou assemblies,
Bigfoot-trackings, Judas Eyes, and exorcism
rituals are offered for entertainment and
historical enlightenment only, and because
dangerous, should not be undertaken by amateurs.
So take a ride down the mighty Mississippi and
experience the paranormal for yourself!
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Cinda Williams
Chima
The Demon King
Hyperion, 2010. $9.99
One day Han Alister catches three young wizard
setting fire to the sacred mountain of Hanalea.
Han takes an amulet away from Micah Bayar, son of
the High Wizard, to ensure the boy won’t use it
against him. The amulet once belonged to the Demon
King, who nearly destroyed the world a millennium
ago. With a magical piece so powerful at stake,
Han knows that the Bayars will stop at nothing to
get it back. Meanwhile, Princess Raisa
ana’Marianna has her own battle to fight. She’s
just returned to court after three years of riding
and hunting with her father’s family. Raia aspires
to be like Hanalea, the legendary warrior queen
who killed the Demon King and saved the world. But
it seems that her mother has other plans for
her—plans that include a suitor who goes against
everything the Queendom stands for.
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The Exiled Queen
Hyperion, 2011. $9.99
Haunted by the loss of his mother and
sister, Han Alister journeys south to begin
his schooling at Mystwerk House in Oden’s
Ford. But leaving the Fells doesn’t
mean that danger isn’t far behind. Han is
hunted every step of the way by the Bayars, a
powerful wizarding family set on reclaiming the
amulet Han stole from them. And Mystwerk
House has dangers of its own.
There, Han meets Crow, a mysterious
wizard who agrees to tutor Han in the darker parts
of sorcery—but the bargain they make is one Han
may regret. Meanwhile, Princess Raisa ana’Marianna
runs from a forced marriage in the Fells,
accompanied by her friend Amon and his triple of
cadets. Now, the safest place for Raisa is
Wein House, the military academy at Oden's Ford.
If Raisa can pass as a regular student, Wein
House will offer both sanctuary and the education
Raisa needs to succeed as the next Gray Wolf
queen. Everything changes when Han and Raisa’s
paths cross, in this epic tale of uncertain
friendships, cut-throat politics, and the
irresistible power of attraction.
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The Gray Wolf Throne
Hyperion, 2011. $17.99
Han Alister thought he had already lost everyone
he loved. But when he finds his friend Rebecca
Morley near death in the Spirit Mountains, Han
knows that nothing matters more than saving her.
The costs of his efforts are steep, but nothing
can prepare him for what he soon discovers: the
beautiful, mysterious girl he knew as Rebecca is
none other than Raisa ana’Marianna,
heir to the Queendom of the Fells. Han is hurt and
betrayed. He knows he has no future with a
blueblood. And, as far as he’s concerned, the
princess’s family killed his own mother and
sister. But if Han is to fulfill his end of an old
bargain, he must do everything in his power to see
Raisa crowned queen. Meanwhile, some people will
stop at nothing to prevent Raisa from ascending.
With each attempt on her life, she wonders how
long it will be before her enemies succeed. Her
heart tells her that the thief-turned-wizard
Han Alister can be trusted. She wants to believe
it—he’s saved her life more than once. But with
danger coming at her from every direction, Raisa
can only rely on her wits and her
iron-hard will to survive—and even that might not
be enough. The Gray Wolf Throne is
an epic tale of fierce loyalty, unbearable
sacrifice, and the heartless hand of fate. |
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The Warrior Heir
Hyperion, 2007. $8.99
Before he knew about the Roses, 16-year-old Jack
lived an unremarkable life in the small Ohio town
of Trinity. Only the medicine he has to take
daily and the thick scar above his heart set him
apart from the other high-schoolers. Then
one day Jack skips his medicine. Suddenly,
he is stronger, fiercer, and more confident than
ever before. And it feels great—until he
loses control of his own strength and nearly kills
another player during soccer team tryouts. Soon,
Jack learns the startling truth about
himself: He is Weirlind; part of an
underground society of magical people who live
among us. At the head of this magical
society sit the feuding houses of the Red Rose and
the White Rose, whose power is determined by
playing The Game—a magical tournament in which
each house sponsors a warrior to fight to the
death. The winning house rules the Weir. As
if his bizarre magical heritage isn’t enough, Jack
finds out that he’s not just another member of
Weirlind—he’s one of the last of the warriors—at a
time when both houses are scouting for a player.
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The Wizard Heir
Hyperion, 2008. $8.99
Sixteen-year-old Seph McCauley has spent the past
three years getting kicked out of one exclusive
private school after another. And it's not his
attitude that’s the problem. It’s the trail
of magical accidents—lately, disasters—that follow
in his wake. Seph is a wizard, orphaned and
untrained--and his powers are escalating out of
control. After causing a tragic fire at an
after-hours party, Seph is sent to the Havens, a
secluded boys’ school on the coast of Maine. At
first, it seems like the answer to his prayers.
Gregory Leicester, the headmaster, promises to
train Seph in magic and initiate him into his
mysterious order of wizards. But Seph's
enthusiasm dampens when he learns that training
comes at a steep cost, and that Leicester plans to
use his students' powers to serve his
own dangerous agenda. In this companion novel
to the exciting fantasy The Warrior Heir,
everyone's got a secret to keep: Jason Haley, a
fellow student who’s been warned to keep
away from Seph; the enchanter Linda Downey,
who knew his parents; the rogue wizard Leander
Hastings, and the warriors Jack Swift and Ellen
Stephenson. This wizard war is one that Seph may
not have the strength to survive.
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The Dragon Heir
Hyperion, 2009. $9.99
The covenant that was meant to keep the
wizard wars at bay has been stolen, and Trinity
must prepare for attack. Everyone is doing
their part -- Seph is monitoring the Weirwalls;
Jack and Ellen are training their ghostly army;
even Anaweir Will and Fitch are setting booby
traps around the town's perimeter. But to
Jason Haley, it seems like everyone wants to
keep him out of the action. He may not be
the most powerful wizard in Trinity, but he's
prepared to fight for his friends. When
Jason finds a powerful talisman --a huge opal
called the Dragonheart--buried in a cave, his
role takes on new importance. The stone
seems to sing to Jason's very soul -- showing
him that he is meant for more than anyone
guessed. Trinity's guardians take the
stone away after they realize that it may be a
weapon powerful enough to save them all.
Without any significant power of his own, and
now without the stone, what can Jason possibly
do to help the people he cares about -- and to
prove his mettle? Madison Moss can feel the
beating heart of the opal, too. The desire
for it surges through her, drawing her to
it. But Maddie has other things besides
the Dragonheart on her mind. She has a
secret. Ever since absorbing the magical
blow that was meant to kill Seph, she's been
leaking dark powers. Although Maddie
herself is immune to magic, what would her
friends think if they knew what kind of evil lay
within her? Trinity's enemies are as
enthusiastic about her powers as she is
frightened. They think they can use her to
get to the Dragonheart -- and they'll use anyone
Maddie cares about to make her steal the stone
for them.
Moral compasses spin out of control as
a final battle storms through what was once a
sanctuary for the gifted. With so much to
lose, what will Jason and Maddie be willing to
fight for -- and what will they sacrifice?
Every man is for himself in this thrilling
conclusion to the Heir trilogy.
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Marlene S.
Englander and Hinda Zarkey Saul
My Dear
Hindalla, Remember Me: Letters from a Lost
World, May 1937-January 1940
Windjammer Adventure Publishing, 2012. $34.95.
What was everyday life like in the late 1930s
before World War II and the Holocaust? How did
friendships endure? Meet Hinda, a teenager trying
to adjust to her new life in Cleveland, and
Berman, her friend who remains in Lithuania,
hoping to come to America. Through his letters to
her, their friendship unfolds -- a friendship
based on shared values and hope for the future.
Their correspondence is a refuge from everyday
trouble and challenges as the comfortable life
they once knew is unraveling. This book is a
tribute to their friendship and a testament to the
rich heritage of a world that is lost but not
forgotten.
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Diane Vogel Ferri
The Desire Path
Ferritales Publishing, 2011. $10
The Desire Path is a story for anyone who has ever
felt like a misfit in the world. It is a story of
one mother's sacrificial love and another woman's
failure to love unconditionally. It explores the
themes of family versus biology, the damage of
estrangement, and ultimately, forgiveness and
reconciliation.
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Regina M. Geither
Island of Tory
Loconeal Publishing, 2012. $11.95
When sixteen year old Arella Cline's summer
vacation begins with the tragic death of her
parents, she is sent to live with her aunt to
being a new life on a remote island off the
western coast of Ireland. But there are strange
things happening on Tory Island -- shadow figures,
mysterious auras, and the haunting sound of her
deceased parents' voices.
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Michelle Gianetti
I Believe in
You: A Mother and Daughter's Special Journey
Tate Publishing, 2012. $15.99
As the veil of denial is slowly lifted, author
Michele Gianetti faces up to the fact that
something is terribly wrong with her beautiful
baby Elizabeth.She never once asks God why; rather
she trusts in Him to show her the way and give her
the strength to fight for little Elizabeth in
every way possible. Join her in I Believe In You
as she travels a road unfamiliar to most parents,
into Elizabeth's world, the world of dyspraxia and
sensory processing disorder, and meet the
wonderful group of individuals, both therapists
and friends, who help her on her journey. Her
devotion to Elizabeth proves there are some things
that withstand even the greatest challenge: a
mother's love and the words 'I believe in you.'
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Nina Gibans
Creative
Essence: Cleveland's Sense of Place
Kent State University Press, 2005. $29.95
Arising out of the Cleveland Artists Foundation's
Dialogue Series, a 22-hour-long collection of
forums held in cultural institutions and broadcast
on National Public Radio, Creative Essence
examines regional culture through an exploration
of the distinguished contributions Cleveland has
made to the visual arts and architecture. The
Dialogue Series brought together a variety of
people in the visual arts community to discuss the
development of the region's creative life and
environment, whether it be through architecture
and city planning or through the industrial and
fine arts. They shared their views and knowledge
about how regionalism has long influenced artistic
productivity. Their exchanges and ideas for the
future are provocative and thoughtful. Richly
illustrated with the work of well-known
Cleveland-area artists and architects, past and
present, Creative Essence explores the region's
tradition, beginning with the "Cleveland School"
of artists that was active and influential during
the first half of the twentieth century. It moves
on to examine the changes that occurred in the
last half of the century and the development of
the visual arts in northeast Ohio. Creative
Essence is an important resource for understanding
the significant role the visual arts play in our
cities and societies and how they contribute to
the region's quality of life. For those interested
in regional history and for students of art
history and the visual arts, this will be
especially valuable.
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Bonnie J. Gordon
Escape from
Goshen
Divine Voice Books, 2012. $9.99
In two weeks, Leah and Jacob will be slaves to
Pharaoh. Only a miracle can save them now. Two
more weeks of freedom. Two more weeks before they,
too, face the blazing sun and the taskmasters'
whips. But one night an old man with an odd name -
Moshe - comes to Goshen. Strange things start
happening. Has God remembered his people at last?
Or will Moshe be a washout as a redeemer, just
like all the others?
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John Gorman
The Buzzard: Inside the Glory Days of
WMMS and Cleveland Rock Radio
Gray & Co, 2008, $14.95
This rock and roll memoir takes you behind the
scenes at the nation's hottest station during FM's
heyday, from 1973 to 1986. Sex and drugs,
music and merchandising -- it was a wild time when
the FM airwaves were wide open for innovation.
John Gorman led a small band of true believers who
built Cleveland's WMMS from a neglected stepchild
into influential powerhouse. The station
earned high praise from musicians and even higher
rating from listeners. Gorman tells how WMMS
remade rock radio while Cleveland staked its claim
as the "Rock and Roll Capital" by breaking many
major international music acts. Filled with
juicy details, this fast-paced story will
entertain anyone who listened in during those
glory days when FM delivered excitement and the
Buzzard ruled the airwaves. |
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Cathy Jo Graves
Transitions:
Short Stories for a Rainy Day
Twisted Word Publishing, 2011. $12
This book is an adult book for people between the
ages of 18 and up. Meet some of the unforgettable
characters in this “must read” collection of short
stories: • Brianya Johnson is 353 pounds, in love
with a man who makes fun of her weight, and full
of Expectations. • Lonnie Parker, player
extraordinaire didn’t plan it, but he just got
Caught! Can he live with the consequences? • Would
you respond to a hot and steamy misdirected
e-mail? Rita Collier did in E-Male. • The
Innocence of a child is what makes four year-old
Shelby ask: “Mommy, what’s rape?” How would you
respond? • Some people think Arlise is Three Cards
Short of a Deck! What do you say? • Tamyla
Bradford has a history of dating losers. Will she
break the pattern and find a winner in
Transitions? • Ever think about what your life
could have been? In Reflections—In Memoriam that’s
just what the doctor orders • When she finds out
that her fiancé has been keeping deep, dark
secrets from her, Cashmere Masters just might have
to re-think her decision to marry Raymond Lesure
in Think Again. |
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Carolyn Rose Hart
Step Up Step
Out: Share Your Gifts and Be an Agent for Change
Spiritwise Publishing, 2012. $14.95
Carolyn sold her house in Cleveland to travel the
world as an adventurous spirit, however the
Universe had different plans for her. Connecting
with people and programs in Uganda, Bali, Brazil,
Ecuador, and many other places, she ultimately
peeled layers off the onion of the child abuse she
was suprressing. Through the clearing of the
negative energy preventing her from expressing
unique gifts, Carolyn has stepped up and stepped
out to make a difference for all life on this
planet. This is her wish for all survivors of
child abuse and she discusses the possibilities in
this new book about her journey.
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Robert D. Haag
Footpaths to
Ancient Campsites in Copley Township
Robert D. Haag, 2007. $24.95
Records this history of Indian trails and camps in
Copley Township and the environmental change
brought about by settlement. Contains pictures and
descriptions of many artifacts collected by local
farmers and collectors. The book includes four
previously unpublished color maps of Indian trails
surrounding Copley. Maps were created by Frank
Wilcox, author of Ohio Indian Trails (1933).
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Indian Relic
Collection: The Painter Creek Auctions,
1977-1988
Robert D. Haag, 2009. $40
The first in a three volume set, this book is a
must have reference for collectors of prehistoric
Indian art. Thousands of relics can be readily
identified from the pictures within the catalogs.
The sale catalogs also provide valuable
information on many specific relics, as well as
the evolution of the prehistoric Indian art market
from the early 1970s to the present.
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Auction of
Prehistoric Indian Artifacts: The Robert N.
Converse Auctions 1983-1994
Robert D. Haag, 2010. $40
The first in a three volume set, this book is a
must have reference for collectors of prehistoric
Indian art. Thousands of relics can be easily
identified from the pictures in the catalogs. The
sale catalogs also provide valuable information on
specific relics. There are 30 catalogs in this
collection including sale catalogs for John
Sarnovsky, Jack Hooks and many other notable
collectors.
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Unrestricted Indian
Relic Auction: The Garth's Auctions, 1972-1990
Robert D. Haag, 2011. $40
The third and final in a three volume set, this
volume contains the Garth's Auction catalogs,
1972-1990. There are 35 catalogs in this
collection including sale catalogs for the Meuser,
Shipley, Phillips, Ahlstrom and other notable
collector sales.
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Rosalynn N. Harrell
The Creative
Words and Thoughts of My Father
Xlibris Publishing, 2010. $19.99
A book of poetry, lyrics, and short stories which
were originally written by Harrell's father and
completed by Harrell after his unexpected passing.
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VaShawn Head
One Man's
Opinion
CreateSpace, 2011. $9.99
One Man's
Opinion is a collection of
thought-provoking and emotionally stirring stories
and poems that will encourage the reader think
outside the box.
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Michael Heaton
Truth and
Justice for Fun and Profit
Gray & Co., 2007
The first collection of feature-length reporting
from one of Cleveland's favorite print
journalists. (Foreword by Joe Eszterhas.) Michael
Heaton has reported on as wide a range of stories
as any active Cleveland journalist. On any given
day his byline might appear in any section of the
Plain Dealer, where he is a regular columnist and
reporter. To get the story he has put on boxing
gloves and entered the ring, and gone undercover
with the FBI and mob informants. He has
interviewed chefs and coroners, gypsies and
priests. This collection of 40 newspaper and
magazine stories shows Heaton's Cleveland to be a
crazy quilt of bold schemes, failed dreams, and
colorful characters. (Heaton is the brother of
actress Patricia Heaton and son of sportswriter
Chuck Heaton.)
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Bebe Weinberg Katz
Princess Claudia
and the Freckles
PublishAmerica, 2007. $10
When you are a seven-year-old girl, everything
your older sister says has the power to make or
ruin your day. That is exactly what happens to
Princess Claudia one Saturday morning, when her
older sister, Princess Elizabeth, makes fun of
Claudia’s freckles. This is the story of Claudia’s
attempt to get rid of the dreaded freckles.
Claudia enlists the aid of her Uncle Ouf, who is
the castle wizard. Together they try potions and
lotions and brown bag magic, all aimed at getting
rid of the freckles. Claudia learns that every
action has a consequence. She also discovers that
the magic that is inside of people is the
strongest of all. Along the way, she has wonderful
adventures with her family. And what happens to
her freckles? That is the surprise.
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A Best Friend for
Claudia
Publish America, 2008, $12
The summer that Princess Claudia turned eight
years old she discovered
that everyone who lived in the castle had a best
friend but her. Her
parents, her wizard uncle and even her sister,
Princess Elizabeth, had
best friends. How was this possible? Claudia was
old enough to know
that when you need to do something about something
there is only one
place to go and one person to see: the castle
wizard, Uncle Ouf. With
Ouf’s magic to assist and a bit of help from Peach
Fuzz, the cat,
Claudia sets out on a mission to find a best
friend. Claudia finds out
that friendships are not always perfect and
sometimes you have to be
patient to get what you want. She also learns that
if you listen,
follow directions and open up your heart, things
have a wonderful,
perhaps even magical, way of working out. |
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Jen McConnell
Welcome, Anybody
Press53, 2012. $14.95
A lonely woman imagines life with a dead cowboy; a
trucker drops out of life for a weekend; a
pregnant wife secretly employs feng shui to
forestall the impending chaos. The vivid and
sometimes heartbreaking stories in Welcome,
Anybody progress from a hushed and profound
despair to ones where hope, in some quiet form,
begins to rise again.
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Suzanne McGinness
My Bear Griz
Frances & Lincoln Ltd., $17.95
Billy has a bear called Griz. A Grizzly Bear. And
the two friends have all kinds of wonderful
adventures together. They go exploring, they play
hide and seek, they eat peanut butter and honey
sandwiches, share secrets and tell jokes. They
even go out at night to do some star-gazing - and
their favourite constellation is the Great Bear of
course. Griz is the best friend a boy could
possibly have. And is he a real Grizzly Bear or a
teddy bear? Well, that's for every reader to
decide, but there are definitely big bear
pawprints leading out of the book! This painterly
picture book, with its spare text, including
speech bubbles, and its wonderful full-page images
of a very real bear, is an exciting debut by an
American artist who studied illustration in the
UK. It's a book for reading aloud to young
children, but will be enjoyed equally by older
children and adults.
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Jim Mollenkopf
One Summer Day
in America
Lake of the Cat Publishing, 2010. $19.95
One Summer Day in America recalls a day in
Cleveland an the country, July 13, 1954, the day
the baseball All Star game was played in Cleveland
during the game's golden age. The field was rich
with legendary ballplayers destined for the Hall
of Fame and histories and anecdotes of them are
woven into a written replay of the contest.
Cleveland was also in its golden age and the book
examines events happening in both the city and the
nation through the eyes of newspapers, revisiting
the prosperity of the 1950s, optimism and fears of
communism, and Cleveland's most sensation murder.
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Marian J. Morton
Cleveland
Heights: The Making of an Urban Suburb
Arcadia Publishing, 2002. $24.99
Now a bustling city of more than 50,000 residents,
Cleveland Heights, situated just six miles from
Cleveland's Public Square, boasts a history that
begins well before its own incorporation. The
region was once home to Native American tribes
including the Erie and Seneca, and stalwart
pioneers established settlements in the area as
early as the late eighteenth century. In the
post-Civil War period, as Cleveland was becoming
an industrial metropolis, affluent residents began
moving to the newly developed "garden suburbs,"
anxious to live closer to nature and farther from
the smoky city and its increasingly diverse
population. Born of this same desire, Cleveland
Heights was founded in 1901. Here, in this
isolated countryside owned by substantial families
like the Silsbys, Minors, Comptons, and Taylors,
entrepreneurs and city officials envisioned a
clean and comfortable suburb for Cleveland's
elite. Officially designated a city in 1921,
Cleveland Heights quickly became not the
homogenized suburb envisioned by early developers,
but a community of widely divergent neighborhoods
and people. Newcomers belonged to varying class,
religious, ethnic, and racial backgrounds. A
century after its founding, Cleveland Heights has
become an "inner-ring urban suburb," boasting
gracious homes of architectural distinction and
attractive parks, but also facing the modern
challenges of a dwindling population and
commercial districts in need of economic
revitalization. This new volume illustrates, in
both word and image, the evolving life of
Cleveland Heights from its beginning as part of
East Cleveland Township, one of the region's first
suburbs, to the present day.
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Tali Nay
Schooled
Corner Chapter Press, 2012. $13.50
"Do you have to have sex to have a baby?" It's a
question that ten-year-old Tali Nay asked the
office assistant at her elementary school after
the woman had done her best to explain how it all
happened to a roomful of confused girls. Or maybe
Tali was the only one who was confused. It's
entirely possible, for if there's anything she
knew at this point in her schooling, it was that
she—without fail—was the last to know about
anything interesting. Take her first day of
kindergarten, where it turned out that every other
kid already knew which letters were the vowels.
Her first lesson as a student was consequently one
of humiliation, and her second—only slightly less
important—was that puking in a classroom tends to
start a chain reaction. A refreshingly honest
deep-dive into what we actually take away from a
public education, this hilarious and heartfelt
memoir captures the things we learn in school that
are never part of any lesson plan yet somehow have
the biggest impact upon the shaping of our
perceptions over the years we spend in a
classroom. Things like competition, failure,
scandal, popularity, disillusionment, triumph,
guilt, and, of course, throwing up in public. From
the glorious to the gloriously awkward, this
everyman tale is a story of growing up, one
semester at a time.
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Carolyn Nilson
How to Manage
Training
ASTD, $40.
Internationally recognized training expert Carolyn
Nilson will offer these books at special Author
Alley prices.
Already a classic in its field, this
thoroughly-updated edition of the training
manager's ultimate answer book gives readers
clear guidance and techniques for
accomplishing successful, cost-effective
training. Readers will learn the steps for
building and maintaining a training and
development program, including how to: *
assess the needs of participants * manage
workshops for teams * train for innovation *
monitor and evaluate the program How to
Manage Training now features material
on topics such as integrating e-learning
into existing programs, as well as a
comprehensive review of literature in the
field of workplace learning. It is an
immediately useful tool for anyone involved
in managing training. This field-proven
resource is packed with 200 easy-to-use
forms, checklists, figures, and charts.
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How to Start a
Training Program
ASTD, $20.
Discover a proven way to start successful
and cost-effective training programs that
produce tangible bottom line results Follow
along as you are guided through the steps
for creating a business plan, developing
standards and policies, and setting budgets.
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The Performance
Consulting Toolbook
McGraw-Hill, $20.
Due to the costs of running the average
training programme, trainers are being asked
to move towards "performance consulting",
advising clients on whether or not training
is the most cost-effective solution to the
problem. This text explores this shift from
training to performance consulting.
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More Team Games for
Trainers
McGraw-Hill, $15.
Finally--the next generation of team training
games is here! Now that teams have been around for
a few years, what have top training professionals
learned about facilitating teams? What causes
teams to fail, and how do you train to make sure
that your teams don't? How can you keep your
training exercises fresh, entertaining, and
engaging when working with advanced teams who
think they've ``seen it all''? You'll find out in
this long-awaited sequel to the bestselling
manual, Team Games for Trainers. Based on a
sophisticated new understanding of team dynamics
gleaned from nearly a decade of experience with
all sorts of workplace teams, this cutting-edge
collection of training games draws on all the
important changes and advances in the work teams
movement since the publication of the first book.
Here are 100 stimulating and easy-to-facilitate
games, activities, and exercises you can use to:
align individual and team goals; make diversity
work; turn learning into doing; unleash team
creativity and spark innovation; build teams that
cope well with change; and much more!
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Team Games for
Trainers
McGraw-Hill, $15.
Effective team building through training
games. Carolyn Nilson's Training Games
for Trainers reveals the fastest and
most effective techniques to meet the
demand for team-building in any
organization. Over 100 ready-to-use games,
exercises, and activities help you to
build, implement and maintain work teams.
Each game is self-containedwith
templates, answer sheets and explanations
of objectives and procedures. You'll find
games for: group/individual empowerment;
organizational change readiness; personal
skill building; work definition; role
fulfillment; task/process evaluation;
conflict resolution; much more.
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Training for
Non-Trainers
AMACOM, $10.
As a manager, you may find youself in a
new but uncomfortable role -- as a trainer
of employees. What skills and knowledge do
you need? How can you find time for training
while juggling other management tasks?
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Erin O'Brien
The Irish
Hungarian Guide to the Domestic Arts
Red Giant Books, 2012. $14
A misfit Irish-but-not-Catholic girl from
Cleveland's west side, O'Brien is funny and
sophisticated, projecting triumph through the lens
of the domicile without blinking when sorrow fills
the screen. The right measure of quirk and earthy
sex separate this book from the Erma Bombeck set,
while O'Brien's dry Midwest humor ties it all
together.
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J. Powell Ogden
The Guardian's
Playlist
Telemachus Press, 2012. $14.99
There's a new ghost in Cleveland! The Guardian's
Playlist is about a teen from suburban Fairview
Park who believes in angels, a ghost from the
wrong side of town who believes in nothing, and a
demon straight from hell intent on destroying them
both.
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Arabella Proffer
The National
Portrait Gallery of Kessa: The Art of Arabella
Proffer
Cooperative Press, 2011. $31.95
The National Portrait Gallery of Kessa: The
Art of Arabella Proffer is the first book
from Cooperative Press’ new art division. Taking
inspiration from artists of the Renaissance to
Rococo periods, contemporary artist Arabella
Proffer has re-imagined the mannerist portrait
with a pop surrealist twist. After researching
fashion history, heraldry, and peerage protocol,
she went on to create her own world parallel to
that of old world Europe. Concocting a family
legacy — ancestors that could belong to anyone –
it has become an impulse and a passion the artist
continues to explore, adding characters and
stories to her ever-growing private empire of
punks, goths, and nobility behaving badly.
Included are over 40 portraits created between
2000 and 2011, their stories, family trees, map
and more, as well as a foreword by Josh Geiser of
Creep Machine and Paper Devil.
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Janie Reinart
Love You More
Than You Know (co-authored with Mary Anne
Mayer)
Gray & Co., 2009. $14.95
In these stories, 45 mothers of U.S. service men
and women open their hearts and share what it
feels like when your son or daughter leaves home
to fight a war.Some were stunned to learn one
sunny afternoon that their baby had enlisted.
Others had long been familiar with military life.
But all of these mothers knew their world had just
changed the day their child called home and said,
Mom, I m being deployed . . . They discovered the
strange mix of pride and fear. The anxiety of not
knowing exactly where in Iraq or Afghanistan your
son is, whether your daughter is facing mortar
fire or enduring heat and boredom. Elation at the
arrival of the briefest postcard or email message.
The daily dread, when returning home from work or
a trip to the grocery store, of seeing a
government car in the driveway and two soldiers at
the door . . .Any parent who reads these stories
will feel their power--and will gain a greater
understanding of the sacrifice made by parents as
well as their children in our military.
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Nick and Laurel
Salupo
Shopping Cart
Filled with Love
Xlibris, 2012. $12.99
This work is a combination of hard work, grit,
creative inspiration and a lot of help from
friends and relatives who have encouraged,
motivated and kept inspiring us to forge ahead at
the most difficult times. This book is essentially
a tribute to a special lady who touched many
lives. It is also meant to be a special
recognition piece to all the mothers raising
children and secrificing every day to see that
their children are safe, well-nurtured, and are
moving along well on the difficult road to
maturity. This nonfictional autobiographical
account is dedicated to the loving memory of Ms.
Doris Jeanette Kelley Wessel who has our unending,
deepest respect and admiration.
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Mary Kaufman
Schwartz
Coming into
Focus: From an Amish Childhood to a Journey of
Many Choices
Tate Publishing, 2012. $10.99
Amongst the largest Amish settlement in the
world and a family of eight, you'll find Mary,
dreaming of leaving the culture she was born
into. Now Dr. Schwartz, she's written an open,
honest story about her childhood and
adolescence, revealing what inspired her to
leave the Amish lifestyle.
Taking with her the lessons learned from her
family and the support of her siblings, Mary
tries to make a place for herself in a culture
of which she knows so little. Experience the
pain of prejudice and the triumph of new
experiences through Mary's eyes in this
bittersweet, colorful tale.
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Sabrina Scott
Calling All
Parents
Ilumina Press, 2010. $8.95.
Calling All Parents is about bringing awareness to
the community regarding the importance of parent
involvement in their children's education. It's
about letting parents know that they should open
or keep communication open with the teachers and
schools.
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Lena Shane
Zoody
Bright Books Publishing, 2009. $15
From the stillness and solitude of the hot
pavement, Zoody's life unfolds into a series of
escapades. Zoody is a stone, so named by the woman
in whose lap he lands one day as he is kicked from
the sidewalk. Zoody has yet to discover his
character.
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Sharabi
Wit & Wisdom
of Anonymous Alcoholics
Alpine Lake Publishing, 2012. $29.95
Humor, psychology and spirituality come together
in this entertaining and extensive collection of
3300+ anecdotes and insights into life from more
than a thousand recovering alcoholics. Compiled
over 25 years, this book shows diverse viewpoints,
both reverential and rebellious, and provides an
intimate view into the rooms of modern sobriety.
It contains traditional faith-based perspectives
as well as non-theistic, self-awareness approaches
to 12 Step recovery. Appendices include
historically significant letters highlighting the
role of Carl Jung in the founding of AA,
discussions of AA Steps and Traditions, and three
insightful essays including, Do I need to believe
in God to be in AA? Sharabi is the pen-name of a
physicist-alcoholic forced into treatment by his
corporate employers in 1985. Successfully sober
since then, he has been exploring therapy and
other healing traditions while attending regular
AA meetings.
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Pam Spremulli
Letter Birds
PublishingWorks, 2010, $14
Enjoy learning the alphabet and the natural world
of birds via simple and colorful graphic
illustrations. Each letter has a corresponding
bird from the well-known C for Cardinal to the
more exotic L for Lapwing. Children and parents
will discover a wondrous array of birds from A to
Z (yes, including X and U!). |
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Woof!
Written by Neil Markey and Illustrated by Pam
Spremulli
PublishingWorks, 2011. $14
A delightful introduction to a group of furry
friends in a unique entertaining picture book.
Fun, rhyming verses accompany colorful,
graphically bold illustrations that give children
insight into the different personalities of each
breed of dog.
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Tricia Springstubb
What Happened on
Fox Street
Balzer & Bray, 2010. $15.99 hardcover; $5.99
paperback
Fox Street was a dead end. In Mo Wren's opinion,
this was only one of many wonderful,
distinguishing things about it. Mo lives on Fox
Street with her dad and little sister, the Wild
Child. Their house is in the middle of the
block—right where a heart would be, if the street
were a person. Fox Street has everything: a piano
player, a fix-it man, the city's best burrito
makers, a woman who cuts Mo's hair just right, not
to mention a certain boy who wants to teach her
how to skateboard. There's even a mean, spooky old
lady, if ringing doorbells and running away, or
leaving dead mice in mailboxes, is your idea of
fun. Summers are Mo's favorite time, because her
best friend, Mercedes, comes to stay. Most
important, though, Fox Street is where all Mo's
memories of her mother live. The idea of anything
changing on Fox Street is unimaginable—until it
isn't. This is the story of one unforgettable
summer—a summer of alarming letters, mysterious
errands, and surprising revelations—and how a tuft
of bright red fur gives Mo the courage she needs.
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Mo
Wren: Lost and Found
Balzer & Bray, 2011. $15.99
This is the story of what happened after
Fox Street. Mo Wren knew that eventually
she, her dad, and her sister, Wild Child
Dottie, would have to move from beloved
Fox Street. She just never expected it to
happen so soon. At the Wrens’ new place,
things are very different. The name of the
street—East 213th—has absolutely zero
magic. And there’s no Mrs. Petrone to cut
her hair, no Pi Baggott to teach her how
to skateboard, no Green Kingdom to
explore. She’s having trouble fitting in
at her new school and spending a lot of
time using the corner bus shelter for her
Thinking Spot. Worst of all, Mo discovers
that the ramshackle restaurant Mr. Wren
bought is cursed. Only Dottie,
with her new friends and pet lizard,
Handsome, is doing the dance of joy. For
the first time in her life, Mo feels lost
and out of place. It’s going to take a boy
who tells whoppers, a Laundromat with a
mysterious owner, a freak blizzard, and
some courage to help her find her way home
for good.
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Dennis M. Stanfield
By Way of
Cleveland
MarcMan Arts, 2010. $20
By Way of
Cleveland is a compilation book of these
four writers’ ideas and thoughts. The back drop is
the City of Cleveland, Ohio; or the 216. One way
or another, the city has impacted these writers’
lives and you’ll be able to see that through their
words. A strong sports town and well known
historically, Cleveland has a lot to say through
these artists. But it doesn’t stop there. This
book is dedicated to Cleveland, but Cleveland is
only where the journey begins…
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Vladimir Swirynsky
Church of the
Backyard Fire
Bottom Dog Press, 2010. $15
Here are Vladimir's mature poems of Cleveland and
the Midwest, of neighborhoods and the homeless, of
Vietnam veterans and poets seeking a voice. "Each
poem, it seems, more for the writer than the
reader/listener, is a challenge not so much to
comprehend the memory, the object, but to wrestle
it, not really into submission but into some sort
of cosmic draw, if you will, which is better than
any of us do with life. Vladimir is in for the
fight."-Dan Rourke
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Sitting on the
Concrete Ready to Saddle the Whirlwind
Bottom Dog Press, $9.95
Last Call to
Escape Planet Earth
Bottom Dog Press, $14.95
Korean War
Bottom Dog Press, $12.95
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Claudia J. Taller
Ohio's Lake Erie
Wineries
Arcadia, 2011. $21.99
Ohio’s Lake Erie wineries and vineyards are rooted
in tradition. European immigrants settled on the
Lake Erie islands and nearby shoreline in the
mid-1800s, and the grape industry flourished in
Ohio into the early 20th century.
Industrialization from Cleveland to Toledo
swallowed up prime growing property along the
lakeshore, but many farms continued to grow
grapes. During Prohibition, wine making went
underground. When it ended, restaurant owners
bottled their own fortified wines and some of the
wineries started mass producing wine with new
equipment. The wines of Ohio, like those all over
the eastern United States, were mostly sweet and
made from native labrusca grapes. In the 1960s,
Ohio’s serious winemakers learned how to cultivate
European-style vinifera grapes along Lake Erie’s
shore and on the islands. Chardonnay and cabernet
sauvignon grapes now grow alongside Concord and
Catawba. Today, more than 40 wineries stretch
across northern Ohio.
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Tama
Black Cow
Author House, 2012. $15
Alec Dewalt thinks he is done spending time in the
woods of northern Ohio when his summer job ends.
But after a strange car crash, a unique girl
enters his life and Alec is thrown into a mystery
that makes him question his father's job, his
grandfathers death and the woods around him.
Native American folklore and government secrets
combine when Alec explores the strange events that
unfold right in his own backyard. Ultimately, Alec
must decide the fate of ancient secrets that may
change everything...
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Jane Ann Turzillo
Wicked Women of
Northeast Ohio
The History Press, 2011. $19.99
In Wicked Women of Northeast Ohio, author
Jane Ann Turzillo recounts the misdeeds of ten
dark-hearted women who refused to play by the
rules. They unleashed their most base impulses
using axes, guns, poison and more. You'll meet
Perry's Velma West, a mere slip of a girl who was
unfortunately too near a hammer during an
argument. New Philadelphia's Ellen Athey--no lady
herself--had a similar problem with an axe. Ardell
Quinn, who operated the longest-running brothel in
Cleveland, would simply argue that she was a good
businesswoman. Grim? Often. Entertaining?
Deliciously so. |
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Laura Maylene Walter
Living
Arrangements
BkMk Press, 2011. $15.95
This collection of 13 stories feature characters,
especially young women, who redefine their sense
of belonging by reconciling with their pasts.
Whether it is a plain looking woman winning
ungainly notoriety as a lingerie window model, a
young figure skater being lured by a stalker, or a
daughter examining her mother's accidental death
at a horse farm, these stories' protagonists
surprise themselves and the reader by finding
their places in the world through unpredictable
turns. Living
Arrangements won the 2010 G.S. Sharat
Chandra Prize for Short Fiction and a 2012
National Gold Independent Publisher Book Award.
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Carlo Wolff
Cleveland Rock
& Roll Memories
Gray & Co., 2006. $19.95
Music fans who grew up with Rock and Roll in
Cleveland remember a golden age. We were young, so
was the music, and the sense of freedom and
excitement the Rock and Roll scene delivered was
electric. There were so many great clubs, like the
Agora, where every big band seemed to break in the
1970s. The trendsetting radio stations, from
A.M.'s WIXY 1260 to F.M.'s groundbreaking "Home of
the Buzzard", WMMS. And all those memorable shows.
The free Coffee Break Concerts--remember
Springsteen just when he hit it big? The gigantic
World Series of Rock. Nights on the lawn at
Blossom (including local favorites the Michael
Stanley Band and their record-setting sellout
streak).This book collects the favorite memories
of Clevelanders who made the scene: fans,
musicians, DJs, reporters, club owners, and more.
Includes rare photographs and other memorabilia
such as concert posters, bumper stickers, pins,
and ticket stubs. |
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Robert L. Wuench
Thorn of
Béxar (co-authored with Howard
Carman)
Reelfoot Publishing, 2012. $12.95
With Thomas Jefferson's purchase of the
Louisiana Territory from France and the American
defeat of the British in the War of 1812, the most
formidable obstacle to a growing United States
that could one day stretch "from sea to shining
sea" was Mexico. Almost inevitably between the War
of 1812 and the Civil War came the War for Texas
Independence and the Mexican-American War.
Volunteers from Tennessee, Georgia and other
states, immigrants and local militias, joined the
Texas fight for independence. Sam Houston, David
Crockett and Jim Bowie we recall as heros. General
Lopez de Santa Anna, pirates Jean and Pierre
Lafitte and their protégé Renato
Beluche are remembered as villains. None were
either as virtuous or as evil as their legends.
Into this turbulent period came one mixed-race
woman, largely ignored by historians, whose
audacity and resourcefulness, some say, changed
the course of Texas history. And her stunning
beauty perhaps was responsible for one of
America's most enduring folk melodies.
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