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James, Alice, Andrea on Crete, August 2016

Join us for an online Author Chat with Alice Joyner Irby, author of South Toward Home

Mark your calendars on Wednesday, August 12, 2020, at 7 pm EST for a fascinating hour and a half with Alice and friends.

Register below

Cover of South Toward Home

Publisher’s Note

When I first met Alice Joyner Irby, I knew she had an extraordinary story to tell about her life, her family, and the people who crossed her path.

As she finished each chapter over a little less than a year, I knew her extraordinary book was being created. And now it is here as South Toward Home.

Why Alice wrote this book.

“I want others to get to know the characters in my stories, for they are among the good-hearted, strong, independent people who helped make the 20th century the American century.”

Here is a brief synopsis of South Toward Home.

Catch the marvelous imagery in the reading of South Toward Home. Find yourself carried into bygone eras. You will actually encounter stories that span more than eight decades. Experience those remembrances if you have lived through some of these times!

Travel with author Alice Joyner Irby in her journey during periods of turbulent cultural and societal change. She reports her attempts to shatter glass ceilings confronting women in the workplace…her

Alice and Glenn Dickens - 2019

Alice and Glenn Dickens – 2019

role in integrating a university…her participation in the creation of the Job Corps in LBJ’s War on Poverty. Yet, Alice’s roots remain grounded in the South, where she was nurtured and raised in a loving community.

In her twenty-six stories, we come to know well this fun-loving young girl and those who shaped the woman she has become. A single mother with a daughter, the author expresses the bond between

the two. This is a relationship strengthened over time and deepened through their shared experiences. This book is a rare combination of intimate personal portraits coupled with a pragmatic look at the life surrounding them. 

It is a book written for family about family, blood or not. Crises and joys…stress and well-being…harsh realities and great kindnesses…above all, Hope!

We, as readers, are drawn into the stories. We have known the folks encountered on these pages, maybe not personally; but these accounts cause us to reminisce about those who have poured into us the life-giving renewal that enables us to meet challenges, to celebrate life with all it brings, and to look up in faithfulness that endures. – Mary W., reader

 

 

Cover of South Toward Home

The Not-so-Friendly Skies excerpt from South Toward Home

Publisher’s Note

When I first met Alice Joyner Irby, I knew she had an extraordinary story to tell about her life, her family and people who crossed her path.

As she finished each chapter over a little less than year, I knew her extraordinary book was being created. And now it is here as South Toward Home, available on Amazon and in fine bookstores everywhere.

The Not-So-Friendly Skies is one of 26 stories in the book where Alice shows her grit in her struggle for women’s equal rights in a world dominated by men in the early 1960s.

By Alice Joyner Irby

MIXING IT UP
The Not-so-Friendly Skies
In the early 1960s B.C.—before cocaine, cohabitation, and the crises of riots and protests—it was business as usual for the airlines. At United Airlines (UA), that included Executive flights, code name for “men only.”

Two colleagues, Dick Watkins and Dick Burns—both heavy-set, tall men—and I were working together on a college grade-prediction study for Educational Testing Service (ETS), where I was then employed. The study included all four-year colleges in Indiana, 19 of them. Its purpose was to study the relationship among students’ high-school grades, SAT scores, and first-year grades in college.

Alice Joyner Irby in The Sacred Valley, Peru

Alice Joyner Irby in The Sacred Valley, Peru – 2018

Our fieldwork included visiting each college, explaining the project to participating administrators, and collecting data on freshman classes for analysis back in Princeton at ETS. Over a period of three years, the three of us regularly flew together to Chicago and then to various cities in Indiana.

At least it started out that way. Then, one day, the two Dicks were booked on a flight different than the one on which I was ticketed. Pleased that she was able to offer an upgrade, the travel agent arranged for them to go on something called an Executive flight. I did not qualify and instead had to go on an earlier flight and wait for my colleagues in O’Hare Airport so that the three of us could take a puddle-jumper down to an Indiana city.

“This won’t do,” I thought—even though the Women’s Lib movement was only a gleam in Betty Friedan’s eye and did not get into full swing until the early 1970s. And, it wasn’t until the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VII, that federal legislation called for equal treatment in employment regardless of sex, race, color, religion, or national origin. Other legislation followed concerning housing, creditors and credit availability, and the well-known Title IX (1972). I was not an activist, but I expected to be treated fairly, and in this case, that meant being treated on a par with my peers.

For a while, I did nothing other than complain to myself and a few friends that every time I started out for Indiana, I got a little hot under the collar.

“Let’s see what we can do,” said Greg, a friend. At the time of our next scheduled trip, Greg and I decided to go to Newark airport to seek booking for me on the Executive flight scheduled to leave later that day. I already had a ticket on the earlier flight, knowing I would probably have to use it—but hoping an enlightened agent would rally to my cause.

“I am booked on Flight UA 323 to Chicago but want to change that to Flight UA 829 to be on the same plane as my colleagues.” I explained at the ticket counter. “My colleagues are Mr. Richard Watkins and Mr. Richard Burns,” I elaborated.
The United Airlines agent explained that the flight was not open to me.

“I know there are seats available, because I checked before I came,” I countered.
“It’s an Executive flight,” she stated.

Cover of South Toward Home“What does the term ‘executive’ mean? Is it a title?” Greg asked. “Or a level of education? Or size of desk or office? Or having supervisory authority? If so, Mrs. Irby has the same credentials as her two male colleagues.”

The ticket agent paused, somewhat taken aback, then was clearly unable to give us a definition of “Executive.” She fumbled her words, saying something like, “The men on these flights have to work while in the air, and it is very distracting for women with small children to be on the same flight. They need quiet. You have a seat on the plane that is waiting to take off now…,” the agent attempted to explain.

“You mean Flight 829 is for men only? Is that right?” I asked with an edge in my voice.

When we didn’t leave and continued to press the issue, the agent excused herself and disappeared behind the partition at the back of the counter. A second agent came out, another woman, who reiterated the first agent’s words: “The flight is for executive men who need a quiet atmosphere when working, and United Airlines wants to make the flight as conducive to work as possible.” She could not tell us how she determined which men were executives who needed to work while in flight.

“Is every male passenger an executive? It seems that any male qualifies as an executive and no female does. Is that correct?” I asked.
Greg asked to see the written policy. Then, she, too, disappeared behind the partition.

We were left standing at the counter while other customers were being helped by an agent several feet away from us. A few minutes passed and a third agent, this time a man, came out and told me the written policy was at United headquarters in Chicago and I would have to inquire there for a copy.

“And, Madam, if you don’t go ahead and board the plane for which you are ticketed, the flight will leave without you. We have already held the plane 45 minutes for you,” the agent spoke in a sharp voice. Not taking that flight meant that I would not be able to meet my col-leagues in Chicago later in the day.

“Well, I have to get to Chicago, but I do intend to inquire about the policy when I get there. After all, I will have two hours to wait until my colleagues meet me,” I spoke just as sharply.

Dutifully, I walked to the gate with Greg by my side. The tactic of protesting “victimhood” was not yet in vogue until the twenty-first century. This was a new situation for me; I was not combative nor given to protesting, and I didn’t know quite how to proceed. Greg and I discussed what I would say to the attendants, if anything, as I walked up the steps of the plane to board. We decided I would stay mum except to greet them cordially.

In the 1960s, passengers boarded planes by departing the waiting room at the gate, going outside, walking to the parked plane, and then mounting steps attached to the side door of the plane. I gave Greg a hug, leaving him in the waiting room, turned around, and walked to the plane. At the bottom of the stairs, I put on my best smile.

I was the only person with a smile. At the top of the stairs, the pilot, the co-pilot, and the stewardess stood in the doorway, staring at me with scowls. No one said, “Welcome aboard.” Instead, the attendant said, “Mrs. Irby, your seat is 8B and you need to seat yourself promptly because we are running quite late.” Her harsh tone was not lost on me.

No one helped me to my seat. Passengers stared at me as if I were an angry or an uppity, trouble-making woman. Apparently, word had spread that I was holding up the plane. I did get my free Coke—but mine came with a splash and a snippy word from the stewardess. I was grateful that my seat partner did not scorn me—outwardly, anyway. He was quiet.

United Airlines headquarters was on the second level of the Chicago O’Hare Airport. After I disembarked, I found my way to the United office. Again I faced another counter with a partition behind it, a place to hide! A male clerk was standing there, idle and seemingly approachable.

“I understand that United Airlines has an Executive flight, and I am interested in knowing the provisions of that policy,” I said pleasantly.

Alice-and-Andrea-in-Canada-2015-

Alice and her daughter, Andrea in Canada – 2015

Clerks there had been notified. They were ready. “I’m sorry, Ma’am,” answered the agent on duty. “It is filed away in another building. We will be glad to send it to you.”
Even though they had my name and could look up my address, I wrote down my name and address and handed it to the clerk. Most likely, that little piece of paper found its way directly into the trash can. I was not naïve enough to expect to receive the policy, which, of course, never showed up in my mailbox.

“What was so special about the Executive flight?” I inquired of my colleagues when we met in the O’Hare terminal.

“Oh,” Dick Watkins said, “its purpose is just to pamper men. Passengers are given socks to use if they take their shoes off, and pillows, free drinks, and snacks to go along with their cigarettes.”

“Nothing special,” Dick Burns chimed in. “United thinks that paying attention to men gives them a competitive advantage. And, as you know, most business travelers are men.”

Dick W and Dick B were not impressed with the perks and agreed with me that Executive flights did not make sense, especially since they were clearly discriminatory. Both of my colleagues were tall, large men and would have preferred more seat and leg room rather than the pampering.

What went unsaid was that the flight attendants, by United policy, were single women, very attractive and practiced in providing good service. I’m sure they were not flirts. Neither were the men, but doesn’t anyone like to be pampered?

Discrimination thrived inside the airline companies as well as in policies affecting their passengers: no men or married women were hired by the major airlines in that decade to serve as flight attendants. If a woman married, she had to resign her position.

I put the matter out of my mind and continued my work on the project with the two Dicks. Later that year, as I prepared to go to Washington to join the Johnson Administration for a year, the situation popped back into my awareness. I felt a twinge of resentment. Executive flights were not only discriminatory on their face but affected business arrangements and relationships as well. I deserved to be treated fairly, on a par with my colleagues. How could airlines get away with such policies? I was convinced they shouldn’t.

Maybe I was just sensitive to the winds of change as I prepared to go to Washington, on leave from ETS, to assist in establishing the Job Corps as part of President Johnson’s War on Poverty. Once there, I began working with a young lawyer, Stan Zimmerman, who was also on the Job Corps Director’s staff.

One afternoon, as we were idly chatting, I told him about my experience with United’s Executive flight.

“Let’s have some fun,” he said, upon hearing my story. We determined that the Executive flights were still in use. Using his law firm’s letterhead, Stan wrote to United Airlines, representing me as his client and raising the question of the legality of their practice. He insisted the airline cease such discriminatory flights, pointing to the proposed civil-rights legislation that President Johnson initiated and was beginning to move through Congress. Quite likely, United’s practice was not yet illegal, but that did not stop Stan and me from rattling our sabers.

United Airlines acknowledged receipt of the letter but that was all: no admission of anything. That’s what we expected. Life went on and, in fact, became all-encompassing at Job Corps headquarters as we worked feverishly to develop the infrastructure of the program.

To our surprise and pleasure, a couple of months later we determined that, quietly, the UA “Executive flight” had taken a nose dive into the dust: no widely distributed press announcement, not even a newspaper article. Nary a murmur from a traveling businessman that elimination of the Executive flight reduced his productivity—remember, they were supposed to be segregated from women so they could work!

The flight merely disappeared from the list of arrivals and departures at airports and was no longer listed in the airline guide used by travel agents.

After work that day, Stan and I raised our glasses with a toast: “A Hand Up for Women’s Rights, and a new nail in the coffin of Inequality!”

About the same time, another woman from Weldon High School stuck her neck out. Jean Satterthwaite moved to New York City after graduation from the Woman’s College, married a school counselor/writer and, when looking for work, realized that The New York Times’ classified employment ads were divided according to MEN and WOMEN. In other words, not only was employment policy discriminatory in many places, job descriptions and classifications were as well.

Occasionally, the policy disadvantaged men, as in the case of UA’s policy on flight attendants needing to be women, but, by far, its sword fell most punitively on opportunities and prospects for women. Jean and a few other women organized a protest of The Times’ classification system by gender, which had been copied, quite naturally, by every other major paper in the country. They wrote letters, made telephone calls, and brought the policy to the attention of civic clubs and business associations, urging them to write and call as well.

The women were successful. After some foot-dragging and flimsy excuses, The Times backed down, realizing it lacked a defensible business reason to continue the practice. Things changed—want ads were listed by job classification, not gender.

Eventually, other major newspapers followed its lead. Jean went on to be the first president of the NYC chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW).

Greg, who came to know both Jean and me, vowed there was something in the water we drank in Weldon or the food we ate in the dining halls of the Woman’s College. Where had the seeds of that independent, assertive, spunky spirit been planted?
Who knows?

Maybe the seeds were borne by the fast-flowing, powerful waters of the Roanoke River. Or by the toil of strong-willed, independent farmers and merchants, laboring without a government safety net to help them in hard times.

Maybe they were passed along in the discipline that Mr. Thomas, our school superintendent, enforced with his reliable sense of fair play.

Or maybe by the demeanor and actions of our role models, the women faculty at the Woman’s College, or the history and philosophy professors there who awakened dormant portions of our minds to show us new horizons. Or maybe the seeds germinated first in the rich black dirt of Eastern North Carolina that stuck to our feet and made us independent, adventurous Tar Heels.

September 2017

 

Bob Irelan, author of Angel's Truth

Book Clubs Offer an Effective Marketing Opportunity

By Bob Irelan, Outer Banks Publishing Group author of Angel’s Truth

Talking to book clubs about writing and about the book you’ve written is an effective but underutilized marketing tool.

The advantages include:

  • An audience that reads your book and is anxious to offer feedback
  • Face-to-face awareness of you as an author
  • Word of mouth communication to others about you and your book
  • Reviews by discerning readers
  • Typos caught – and readily correctible in today’s world of print on demand
  • Appreciation for your having taken the time and effort to talk to a relatively small but interested group
  • Additional speaking invitations resulting from members of one book club spreading the word to another club
  • The opportunity to sell and sign books. Readers love to give books as gifts.

Angel's Truth, a novelStart off by telling your audience that “everyone has a story to tell,” and encourage them to tell theirs. It need not be a novel. Maybe it is a memoir, a collection of recollections and experiences that were personally important and may be of interest or guidance to others. Maybe it is a chronological narrative; maybe just a collection of anecdotes.

Then talk about what motivates you to write, what you learn in the process, what ups and downs you experience, and the sense of accomplishment you feel when you finish the concluding sentence.

Comment on how the publishing business has changed . . . about how it has become more “author friendly.”

Having done all this, it’s time to read a key passage or two from your book.

Most important — leave plenty of time for questions. You will get them and they will provide insight into how people read and whether you succeeded in delivering your message.

Bottom line: You will enjoy the small group experience, your visibility as an author will be enhanced, and you will sell books.

 

 

 

Author Bob Irelan holding his second place book award

Bob Irelan’s Angel’s Truth wins second place

Outer Banks Publishing Group Author Bob Irelan recently won second place in the Northern California Publishers and Authors (NCPA) 25th annual book awards contest for his first novel, Angel’s Truth.

Bob Irelan Angel's Truth winning plaqueNCPA is an association of authors, indie publishers, and small presses based in Sacramento, CA with the goal to educate and encourage our members. The association is a regional affiliate of the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA).

The contest is open to members and nonmembers alike. Books are evaluated in a variety of categories and are awarded based not only on relative rank to the other entries, but on intrinsic quality standards. Each book is read by three judges, and the judges gather for face-to-face discussion of their decisions.

Visit www.norcalpa.org for more information about the association.

Read what inspired Bob to write Angel’s Truth and how it is extraordinarily relevant today.

Angel's Truth cover______________________

Order your copy at the publisher’s special discount of $11.99 – Save $4

USE THIS CODE – DISCOUNT40 – TO GET 40% OFF WHEN YOU CHECK OUT on your first purchase.

List Price:$15.99
5.5″ x 8.5″(13.97 x 21.59 cm)
Black & White Bleed on White paper
272 pages
Outer Banks Publishing Group
ISBN-13:978-0990679080
ISBN-10:099067908X
BISAC:Fiction / Crime
_____________________

Angel Gonzales is charged with heinous crimes that law enforcement, the media, and most folks in Richmond, Texas, and surrounding communities are certain he committed.

The crimes and trial dwarf anything that has happened in that part of the Lone Star state in anyone’s memory.
When, against all odds, the jury renders “not guilty” verdicts, shock escalates to anger.

In the minds of many, justice has failed, and a brutal criminal is being set free. For Angel and his court-appointed public defender, Marty Booker, being judged “not guilty” isn’t enough.

Together and with help from an unanticipated source, they attempt to prove Angel’s innocence.

In the process, they butt up against prejudice, deceit, and a sheriff and district attorney who put politics, ambition, expedience, and arrogance above responsibility to do their jobs.

It’s a story of horror, hatred, belief, and persistence – a story of a Mexican-American teenager who nearly loses his life on the way to becoming a man.

 

 

Ron Rhody's Sisters and Mom

Hemingway’s suicide haunt the narrative – San Francisco Book Review

Reviewed by Steven Felicelli

Our Own Little Fictions

According to Ron Rhody’s wife, he is not eligible for authoring a memoir. He hasn’t won an Oscar or an MVP or a Nobel prize. And yet Rhody has a story he wants, needs, to tell. His story. And so that’s how he will tell it to us: as one of Our Own Little Fictions.

Reminiscent of Sarah Polley’s documentary Stories We Tell, Rhody meanders through his memory and down the real roads he’s traveled all over the U.S., from his beloved Frankfort, Kentucky, to California and back (via Florida and Alabama) and then back out to California. Along this circuitous route through his youth, manhood, and ancestry, we encounter all sorts of colorful characters, historical events, family triumphs, and tragedies, which in large part amount to the man whose story we’re being told.

The place closest to Rhody’s heart is clearly Frankfort, Kentucky. It is there his father, a newspaperman, fought for civil rights and to put down roots for his forward-thinking family. Though a wanderlust would uproot the Rhodys and send them all over the U.S., Kentucky kept calling them back to the heart of the heart of their country. In Our Own Little Fictions, Frankfort is origin and refuge, and it serves as the Ithaca of the author’s Odyssey.These chronicles of Rhody contain all the joy and pain of an American life that spans the Cold War to the present.

We meet his parents, grandparents, wife and children, friends and mentors. From animated anecdotes of a hard-nosed football coach doling out life lessons to the memorial for a dear friend and author of “sixteen erudite books,” we witness a life pass in time-lapse frames of laconic, Hemingwayesque prose.

Hemingway and his suicide haunt the narrative beginning to end. On a road trip from California to Kentucky, Rhody and his son make a scheduled detour to Hemingway’s home in Idaho (where he’d put the shotgun in his mouth).
”It seemed wrong that Hemingway had killed himself. Nature should have gotten him. Or chance.”

Later in the narrative and earlier in time, news of Hemingway’s suicide reaches Rhody, and he reflects on the premature tragedy, as well as his own (missed?) calling. These two time periods intermingle, and Rhody leaves Idaho with “an answer to a question I hadn’t known I’d asked.” Authorship was an alternative path he’d bypassed only to embark upon late in life.

Later in the narrative and earlier in time, news of Hemingway’s suicide reaches Rhody, and he reflects on the premature tragedy, as well as his own (missed?) calling. These two time periods intermingle, and Rhody leaves Idaho with “an answer to a question I hadn’t known I’d asked.” Authorship was an alternative path he’d bypassed only to embark upon late in life.

Late in life, indeed. The long road approaches its end and the loss of loved ones is an inevitability. Each story has the same conclusion, alas, and many of the characters we encounter in this Appalachian saga pass on in heartrending deathbed scenes and austere funerals. The depiction of these tragedies is sentimental, even cliched, but anything less/more would not be true to life. It is the commonality of these cliches that arise in endless variations, like updates of Shakespeare.

No, Ron Rhody is no Prince Hamlet, nor was he meant to be, but his story of “becoming,” with its conduplicatio, terse punch-lines, and homespun wisdom, is one that will always be in need of telling and retelling.

The feature photo above from left, Ron Rhody’s sister, Ann, his mother and sister, Mary Lou.

Ron Rhody at the Branding Shed

If we don’t tell each other our stories, how will we know what life is about?

By Ron Rhody
I’ve a new book coming. I’m uneasy with it. I’ve never before written anything this personal knowing it will be public.


But I wanted to get the slice of time this book is about, and the place at its center, and the people who figure in it, on the record in the way only a book can do.

Our Own Little Fictions -Stories from the Road

Our Own Little Fictions So, I have done it. It’s an unconventional book. There is no obvious story line. There is one, but the reader will have to pay attention to uncover it. And the story jumps around in time — the way memories do. Again, the reader will have to pay attention. And the people who figure in it are presented mostly in cameo, but with enough portrayal to allow the reader to imagine them. And I’m asking the reader to pretend they are listening. Not reading. Listening.


Hopefully the writing will make that easy. This is asking a lot of the reader. But the book is novella size and won’t take a lot of time to get through. There is that. Watch for it.


Our Own Little Fictions Available November 1. List Price: $14.99 5.5″ x 8.5″ (13.97 x 21.59 cm) Black & White on White paper 86 pages Outer Banks Publishing Group ISBN-13: 978-1732045217 ISBN-10: 1732045216 BISAC: Biography & Autobiography / General


Read the stunning review by the San Francisco Book Review.

RON RHODY

Ron Rhody is one of our bestselling authors having published 8 books in both non-fiction and fiction. Our Own Little Fictions is his fourth non-fiction book.

Ron Rhody portrait
Author Ron Rhody

Visit his blog to learn more or read one of our posts below.

Heavenly Vision by Doriano Strologo

You only realize what has happened after you have finished the book!

Coming in late August, Dutch novelist Koos Verkaik’s Heavenly Vision, a novel

Nothing is what it seems, in this new, exciting Koos Verkaik novel – Heavenly Vision, undoubtedly one of his masterpieces!

Koos Verkaik holding the cover of Heavenly Vision

       

A book collector of limited means  comes across a 1745 Atlas of the Cape of Good Hope in a second-hand bookshop in Amsterdam. Once his historian friend examines the manuscript found inside, he becomes very excited and life for Jan Glas is never the same again.

         


“Allart Vroom climbed down from the ship, and we stood ready to catch him,” wrote Captain Adriaen Kalf. “His clothes, his flesh, his bones pulverized in our hands. He formed a small heap of powder at our feet. Please, believe me—it is not, like someone suggested, the contents of broken hourglasses.”

Glas, an Amsterdam publicist, later reads about a machine that could cause the end of the world! Of course, he wants to find the truth about the machine and the remarkable manuscript!

His curiosity takes him takes him to England and the USA. In Florida, a peculiar man crosses his path – Wesley Dunn, a Raso Preacher at the Center of the Heavenly Vision in Franks Knight, Florida.

This man says that the world will be destroyed by “The Machine of Colton”, which is also mentioned in the manuscript that Jan found in the atlas! Only a few people will survive – the true followers of the odd Mr. Wesley Dunn, and those who follow the Raso way of life!

Murder, mystery and intrigue will keep the reader guessing as to what is going on. Is the world coming to an end, and if so, who will survive?

To learn more about Heavenly Vision and Koos Verkaik read his latest interview with Deborah Kalb, Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb.

What the reviewers say about Heavenly Vision

A cast of likable, unlikable and quirky characters, along with a very original and interesting story makes for a fantastic read. I liked the writing style, going back to the past and present, and the characters, all unique in their own way.
I recommend Heavenly Vision to those who like adventure , drama and excitement. I also recommend The Nibelung Gold also by Koos Verkaik.

By the end the author had impressed me so much that I was not sure whether to applaud the brilliance of the character in the story or the creator of that character that is the author. The twist or final pull was that good of a brilliance charm.

As usual Koos Verkaik brings a mélange of quirky characters to life. The good, the bad, but never the indifferent. He then weaves them into a mystical tale that moves between the present and the past of a strange machine that kills at will and a prophecy of doom. His unique writing style holds the reader’s interest from beginning to an end of the world scenario, as he builds the tension during a well plotted fantastical journey full of intrigue and mysteries.

This is another MUST for readers of strange and unique tales from the undisputed master with one of his whacky covers that I love…

If you like books that bounce back and forth between the past 1700s, and the present then this is the book for you. It makes it a little confusing, but if you are willing to hang in there it all becomes clear in the end. In the past we have an old manuscript, in the present we have a machine that is said to be able to end the world. What are the connections if any between these two? The author has taken these two events and woven them into a story that will have you reading cover to cover just to find that connections. Once again this author has created a book that grabs you and forces you to read to find the answer to all of those questions you had at the beginning. I applaud him for this ability.

About the author

Koos Verkaik was born in Holland, near Rotterdam. He worked as a copywriter for a short time. His first comics (three pages each week) were published in the magazine Sjors when he was only 16 years old. He wrote his first novel (sci-fi) in a weekend at the age of 18 and it was published immediately. During his long career as a novelist and author, he wrote hundreds of comic scripts and published over 60 books, both children’s books and urban fantasy novels. Koos writes (novels) every day and has translated books from English and German into Dutch.

Summer Beach-reading - 2-book sale

Buy Angel’s Truth and get The Mansfield Killings FREE!

Get our two bestselling crime novels for the price of one!
ANGEL’S TRUTH & THE MANSFIELD KILLINGS

BUY BOTH for $12.99

List Price: $15.99
5.5″ x 8.5″ (13.97 x 21.59 cm)
Black & White on White paper
268 pages
Outer Banks Publishing Group
ISBN-13: 978-0990679080
ISBN-10: 099067908X
BISAC: Fiction / Crime

Angel Gonzales is charged with heinous crimes that law enforcement, the media, and most folks in Richmond, Texas, and surrounding communities are certain he committed.

The crimes and trial dwarf anything that has happened in that part of the Lone Star state in anyone’s memory.
When, against all odds, the jury renders “not guilty” verdicts, shock escalates to anger.

In the minds of many, justice has failed, and a brutal criminal is being set free. For Angel and his court-appointed public defender, Marty Booker, being judged “not guilty” isn’t enough.

Together and with help from an unanticipated source, they attempt to prove Angel’s innocence.

In the process, they butt up against prejudice, deceit, and a sheriff and district attorney who put politics, ambition, expedience, and arrogance above responsibility to do their jobs.

It’s a story of horror, hatred, belief, and persistence – a story of a Mexican-American teenager who nearly loses his life on the way to becoming a man.

 

BASED ON TRUE EVENTS
SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE in 2019

Price: $14.99
5.5″ x 8.5″ (13.97 x 21.59 cm)
Black & White on Cream paper
280 pages
ISBN 10 – 0982993137
ISBN 13 – 978-0-9829931-3-2
Binding Type: US Trade Paper
Language: English

On the night of July 21, 1948, Robert Daniels and John West entered John and Nolena Niebel’s house with loaded guns. They forced the family including the Niebel’s 21-year-old daughter, Phyllis, into their car and drove them to a cornfield just off Fleming Falls Road in Mansfield. The two men instructed the Niebels to remove all of their clothing, and then Robert Daniels shot each of them in the head.

What followed was the worst two-week killing spree in the history of Ohio.

 

New Amazon Book store

How to get more book reviews on Amazon

Here is an excellent video by Michael D. Butler on how to get more reviews for your book on Amazon. You can find more information on his blog, Beyond Publishing.

Only 65% of the world’s books are purchased through Amazon according to Forbes but that is still a big enough number to smartly utilize their platform.

In this video Michael D. Butler, Best-Selling Author, Publisher and Book Launch Expert shows new and veteran authors HOW to get MORE verified reviews on Amazon without getting slapped and shows what is the tipping point to get Amazon to push your book out to the wold.

On this video we talk about:

  • What makes a review verified?
  • How can I my reviews actually show up on Amazon
  • How can I avoid getting “slapped by Google and Amazon”?
  • What is the MAGIC number for getting Amazon to push my book out to the world?
  • How many book sales on Amazon translate into an Amazon Best-Seller?

Getting Reviews on Amazon is not easy but it is very important if you want Amazon to push you out.

 

 

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