Essay Online

Attitude books serve to be large tomes of indecipherable concepts, no doubt designed this through to limit readership to those already tangled in this ethereal endeavor at the scholarly level. To a great extent then a regulations comes along that breaks gone from from the norm, in 1971 R. D. Lang published his ground breaking feat Knots, a Laws that could be taken on sundry remarkable levels, and more importantly, enjoyed by a wide audience.

Although using a several cut Erik Quisling has produced a alike resemble contrive with Fables From The Mud. Using relatively simple concepts we are introduced to some very merciful conditions. Whereas Lang hardened the nursery wisdom Jack and Jill characters, Quisling uses a Clam, an Ant, and a garden Worm to research his theories. And as we come to grasp, these lowly creatures have the unaltered wants and needs as humans. Habitually our wants and needs are hard to interpret, and through modeling those concepts into the lifetime of creatures with a falsely simple lifestyle, those concepts can be boiled down to ideas and needs that can be eagerly understood.

Each paginate is adorned by a na‹ve outline drawing, it took me a while to hooker on. The starkness of the outline indeed enhances the message.

Our first be faced with is with an Exasperated Clam, he is angry because of his unfitness to change the world, what can a mollusk do? We watch as he moves through a variety of emotions, fashionable increasingly disillusioned with his life. Dialect mayhap manic is a communiqu‚ that we can effectively use. As with all three of these amusing stories, Erik Quisling has a barmy in the tale.

Next up is the Ant, a undeniable blue-collar worker, and an important fellow of society at the hand level, crestfallen collar through and through. Sooner than winsome a wrong fork in the street, he discovers the ‘stone garden’, a view talked hither in ‘Ant Hill’ mythology, a land of wonder. But is it really?

Lastly is the Worm, this aging warrior has seen it all! He has achieved capacious things in his memoirs, and we find him reflecting on his whilom battles. The adrenalin highs, the trace of overcoming, and the apprehension of campaigns splendidly conducted, still do not make up for the aching vacancy he right now feels. Residing in the right now in full decomposed skull of Imprecise Grant, the worm realizes that all the battles mean nothing. The achievements of the recent are no more than a fading away memory. He has unified matrix purpose in his warrior sustenance, but can he fulfill it?

Erik Quisling uses some deeply, exceptionally misty humor in Fables From The Mud. It may be a brilliant pore over, but it is a exceedingly contemplative produce, and individual that once you eat it, you wishes have a yen for to over on the stories. Minimalist it certainly is, but it is superbly worth the rate of admission. There is something throughout everybody in this book.

Fables representing the Dirt is slated due to the fact that an October disenthral and you can order a copy through individual online booksellers.

Landmark Status is a wonderfully funny book. Alan Rolnick uses Miami as the backdrop, and real estate as the weapon, to take the reader on a madcap journey that I can guarantee you will enjoy. When I put the put the book down and wrote the review, I just knew I wanted to talk to this guy. Anyone that can create the outlandish characters and amazingly funny scenes that I encountered in Landmark Status, has to be a pretty interesting person to chat with. Alan agreed to an interview.

Can you tell us a little about yourself?

I grew up in Newburgh, New York, a little city on the Hudson River. It was a beautiful place, old, proud and mostly unaware it had been rendered obsolete, cut loose from history’s moorings and set adrift by changing times. As a kid, I played in an abandoned brewery, took bus trips to Yankee Stadium and collected autographs from Hector Lopez and Moose Skowron (we never could get close enough to Mickey and Yogi). One time, a big kid sat on my hand for the entire bus ride, leaving corduroy-striped welts that lasted a week, but it really wasn’t his fault I couldn’t throw strikes.

In my teens, Beatlemania struck. My brother Paul and I decided to be rock stars, saving for guitars with car wash money, playing battles of the bands on the firemen’s picnic circuit. Paul was an outstanding guitarist and singer, destined to become an award-winning producer in New York. I wasn’t, but joined him there after graduating from Johns Hopkins with a major in Frisbee. Together, we made brilliant recordings that few heard, earned fifty bucks opening for Buffy St. Marie at Philharmonic Hall, and fortuitously took the equipment home instead of leaving it for next weekend’s gig at the Mercer Arts Center (which collapsed later that night).

Taking up journalism to put myself through my career, I became the guy at the New York Times who used computers to rank college and pro football teams. In 1983, the human pollsters awarded the Miami Hurricanes the National Championship, but my computer preferred Auburn. I’d been to Miami, fallen in love with the place, and decided it was time to go to law school (as my family had urged since I was six, usually with comments like, “he talks so much, he’s gonna be a lawyer”). The idea of living where balmy breezes caress you on the way out the door in December was particularly appealing.

Atoning for my computer’s mistake, I learned torts in locked classrooms and pulled all-nighters on the Law Review, winning induction into the Society of Wig and Robe (which, fortunately, required wearing neither). After twenty years of schooling, they put me on the day shift, working at one of Miami’s top legal sweatshops, representing robber barons in complex cases in federal court. Years later, I switched sides and began representing Davids against Goliaths in class actions.

Eventually, I decided it was time to throw a rope around the places I’d met and the people I’d been, and set out to write the kind of story I liked to read.

What is it with attorneys, are you all closet authors? In the past year I have read at least a dozen books by people in the profession, oh and they have all been very good. I have come to the conclusion that every lawyer must have a book in them.

Jeez, are there that many? Seriously, though, lawyers have to write to eat, and they’re trained to turn “fact patterns” into stories. Many of those stories are stranger than fiction, and they do make you yearn to come up with your own. Storytelling is crucial in litigation, where winning requires framing compelling themes, keeping witnesses in character, and distilling every legal argument to the pithiest possible paragraph. One classmate used to say he aimed for hearing the imagined words, “so, f___ you,” after every sentence of written argument. The unifying experience of all law students is fatigue, so I’m not surprised he’s forgotten he said it.

Where did the idea for Landmark Status come from?

Miami’s a frontier town, where outsiders easily become insiders, bellying up to the bar, tipping back a mojito and quickly learning there’s no secret handshake. I’d never been in such a place, and my legal training had dropped me off in its inner sanctum. There, I worked and tangled with kaleidoscopically colorful movers and shakers who were busy with Miami’s principal business, buying and selling the same dirt over and over again. I also got involved in litigating some of Miami’s more infamous Ponzi schemes. Having become a fan of Elmore Leonard, Carl Hiaasen and Dave Barry, I wanted to do my part to honor this unique, subtropical nuthouse. It just had to involve a mad scramble for a piece of property, set against a backdrop of investment fraud. And it had to have a lawyer in the middle, doing real lawyering, citing real cases.

How long did it take you to bring this project to fruition?

Five years. It just seems longer.

I was very impressed with Landmark Status, I love the dark humor. Are you happy with the way it turned out?

First of all, thank you for the kind words. It’s always hard to know if the material is working! And yes, I’m very happy with the way the book turned out. Dark humor seems to grow wild here, a place so bright and beautiful it takes your breath away, even when random catastrophe is poised to strike, well, randomly. Miami is a city built by people on the run, from the cold, from persecution or personal dead ends, for whom making it to (and in) this magic city tends to foster a sort of self-absorbed sunstroke. It’s a narcissistic sense of safety and triumph you can feel merely by turning your face to the sun, until reality’s sudden impact shatters your daydream. This happens a lot in Landmark Status, starting with the wrecking ball in the first scene.

As the characters careen around Miami, where most folks are from somewhere else and ethnic politics dominates, they also collide with more serious questions about the American Creed and what’s happened to it in our fractious times. Everyone’s immigrant story gets told, but Delia, and to a lesser extent, Benjy and Raj, are the only ones thinking about what it all means. I really didn’t set out to explore Miami’s own origin story, how it came to be, who built it, and who came here when or why. But, as it unfolded, the story became a little more like “Hawaii” and a little less like “Hawaii Five-O” (tire-squealing car chase through Opa-locka notwithstanding). Looking back, I think giving the historical perspective makes it a richer story. It also means I don’t have to do it again.

Most authors style their characters after real people, so how much Benjy comes from Alan?

Benjy’s a lot more mellow than I am, for one thing. I’d like to think we share the almost unspoken inner sense of right and wrong that propels him, even though he makes light of it. I’m proud of him for that, because swimming against the tide he’s in isn’t easy. He also tends to withhold judgment a lot longer than I would, and suffers fools much more gladly than I do. He hates to lose, though, and will do what’s necessary to win, and we’re very alike in that respect. I enjoy his easygoing tolerance of the shenanigans of the connivers all around him. I have no idea where he got that. And that trust fund thing? Completely made up. All donations will be gratefully accepted.

Are we going to see more Benjy adventures in your next book?

Benjy will definitely be back. Once I figure out how to do this whole web publishing thing, clues to his whereabouts will be provided at my website (Alan Rolnick).

I remarked in my review that Landmark Status would transition nicely onto the silver screen, what are your thoughts?

It’s great to hear you suggest that. From the beginning, I’ve thought Landmark Status would make a smashing film (with apologies to the Spanish Inquisition sketch). I see pictures when I set a scene, and I’m looking forward to rendering them in pixels as well as words. Of course, destroying all those cars costs money, so we won’t be doing this one on a shoestring. Somewhere on my desk, there’s a legal pad devoted to casting choices and music cues. If it were a few years ago, I’d be chasing Dustin Hoffman to play Benjy, but I hope he’ll be interested in playing Benjy’s father Bernard, the legendary zoning lawyer and dealmaker.

I understand that you are currently working on a film project, can you tell us a little about that?

I’m Executive Producer of the film “Canvas,” which is in theaters now and will be out on DVD early next year. Produced by Sharon Lane (a force of nature, to whom I’m privileged to be married), it stars Joe Pantoliano, Marcia Gay Harden and Devon Gearhart. The film has won a number of festival awards, as well as praise for its realistic portrayal of a family struggling to cope with mental illness. Sharon fought for years to overcome studio apathy toward this indie film and first-time Director Joe Greco. We ultimately raised the money and shot it ourselves in South Florida during the legendary hurricane season of 2005, which almost blew us all out to sea. Sharon has another drama in development that also plays to her expertise in managing and working with young actors. I’m onboard for business and legal affairs, and just might Exec Produce this one, too. I’m angling for a comedy after that.

You obviously are a multi faceted person, lawyer, movie maker, and now author. What do you do with all your ’spare’ time?

I honestly don’t have much spare time. I’m usually fighting to carve some out to keep up with our overbooked son, Max, who’s busy with school, piano lessons, soccer and baseball.

Alan, I want to thank you very much for taking the time to talk with me, and once again congratulations on creating a wonderful book, I hope that I see it on the NYT best seller list in the very near future.

Thanks, Simon. It was a pleasure.

Stolen Boy is billed as a work of fiction, however it actually explores a real event, and that event is still unfolding in the Southern California court system. Jessie James Hollywood faces the potential of the trip to lethal injection for his actions. So real is Michael Mehas’ book that he actually was subpoenaed twice as a witness in the trial, and forced to hand over his notes and tapes of interviews he had conducted.

With a background of Los Angeles, Stolen boy is about drugs, booze, fast cars, and young people. With that combination you will immediately think gangs. But gangs are not involved, the individuals are mostly from regular middle class, though, highly dysfunctional families.

Mickey Youngblood and Rick LeBlanc are young people that have set out on money making careers in the drug business, both have carved out lucrative existences, but a deal between them that went wrong has soured their relationship. So much so, that a $2000 outstanding debt, creates a verbal war, that in turn becomes a physical war of property damage, and threats towards families.

Mickey is to say the least a hot head, and when the windows of his house are smashed out in a late night raid, all rules of right and wrong exit through the empty frames. Revenge is a strong emotion and Mickey is hell bent on satisfying his hunger for it.

His first idea is to find Rick LeBlanc and have it out with him. $2000 after all is chump change in the drug world. In a sheer coincidence it is not Rick they see walking down the street, but his 15 year old younger brother Bobby. Once again though, Mickey lets his rage rule his brain, and persuades the kids with him to firstly beat the kid up “as a warning,” however second thoughts enter the sick and twisted mind, and instead they kidnap Bobby.

It is not the classic kidnap tale, in fact it is anything but classic. Bobby for the most part is free to leave at any time, but he prefers to ‘party’ with his captors, drugs and booze abound! Even stranger there is no attempt made to conceal the fact that Bobby is a hostage. In what has to have been the worst kept secret in the sieve that is the LA underbelly, the whole scheme starts to unravel as more and more people become involved.

Once again the demon Mickey makes poor choices, faced with the potential of exposure by Bobby he must now make a very hard decision. Does he believe Bobby when he says that there is no harm done, and that he will not talk to anyone about the kidnapping? Or is a different course of action needed?

This is a very powerful book, and one that deserves a spot on the coveted shelf space of your local bookstore. It has also cost author Michael Mehas a great deal to write this book, being so close to the factual case he finds himself in a ‘no win’ situation. The real Mickey faces the possibility of the death penalty. What Michael knows could spare him, or could seal his fate. In many ways, Michael has become Mickey, he holds the key to life or death. This is not a situation I would want to be in.

This is not your typical novel, even though the main characters are mere teenagers, they cover the entire gamut of today’s society, the good, the bad, and the very, very ugly!

Stolen Boy is available through Amazon, and Michael Mehas also has a very informative web site where you can learn more about this story that merges fact with fiction.

Before commencement of book review writing, you should distinguish between two terms: book report and book review. Many people use these terms in the same breath, however there are vital differences in the very essence of these notions.

Book Review and Book Report &ndash Is There a Difference?

A book report has a factual emphasize. It is a factual account of the subject matter of the book, which implies to be descriptive rather than persuasive and analytical. Its aim is to present the content and the structure of the book as objectively as possible. The book report includes a plot summary; it doesn’t look into deeper meanings of the book and doesn’t contain the identification of the symbolism.

Book report writing is a good way to structure and articulate the thoughts about the book you’ve just read. In a nutshell, it is simply a summary of the contents of the book.

A book review is a critical evaluation of the book that provides a thoughtful and in-depth analysis, and evaluation of the main idea, and purpose of the book. It is also a kind of reaction paper, which analyses the strengths and weaknesses of the book in terms of accepted historical and literary standards, supporting this evaluation with evidences from the text. In a word, it presents the assessment of the quality, meaning, and significance of the book.

What, in fact, sets book reviews apart from book reports is their personal character. Book reviews are highly personal and reflect the opinions of the reviewer on the given literary work. In the book review the reviewer clearly states his position and impressions regarding the book under consideration.

Structure of Book Review

The structure of book reviews resembles other types of academic writing. Book reviews usually comprise of a thesis statement, a supporting body paragraph, and a conclusion.

Typically, reviews are succinct, they rarely exceed 1000 words. Book reviews usually comprises of two elements: descriptive and evaluative. In the descriptive element you provide the essential information about the title, author, type of book, and general subject matters. While in the evaluative element you should present the assessment of the book, particularly of the perceived ideas and implied purposes, quoting exemplary passages from the text.

A good book review is well organized, and as well as the critical assessment and analysis it elucidates the essence of the literary work. Book reviews may vary in tone, style, and subject; however they share the common structure.

• Begin your Book Review with Introduction

Your introduction will bristle with factual and descriptive data, including the name of the author, some relevant details about his life and creative work, the title of the book, and the main theme of the given piece.

The second component of the introduction is the thesis of the book, which may be very perplexing to uncover since stories, novels, and plays don’t explicitly state the argument. Though, you should reveal this special angle and novelty of the piece that will actually become the ground for your further discussion and evaluation and allow you to make your book review original.

The introduction infers to be descriptive; however it should be catchy to seize the attention of the readers. So you should choose an interesting form of presenting your thoughts and ideas to make sure that the readers will keep on reading your book review up to the end. Many writers begin their book reviews with a quip or an anecdote that delivers their argument.

• Keep on Summarizing

Second, you should give your readers a concise summary of the literary work, where you state the author’s purpose of writing the book, provide its leading idea, compare and contrast main characters.

Here your aim is to plunge the readers into the atmosphere of the book, to make them interested in the ideas discussed in this literary piece, and to uncover them your understanding of the symbolism and implicit themes contained in the book. To reach this goal you should articulate your thoughts clearly, logically, and make your argument persuasive and sound.

In the course of making critical assessment of the literary work, you’ll have to back your arguments and assertions with concrete evidences from the text. Remember that critical assessment implies not only to analyze the literary piece under review, but also to tell your readers what struck you the most in this book, whether or not reading it was effective, persuasive, and exciting, and also your discussion on how it enhanced your understanding of the issue at hand.

Your analysis and evaluation should be organized into separate paragraphs that deal with particular aspects of your argument. You don’t necessarily should work chronologically through the book, though, you should make the structure of your summary logical and comprehensive for the readers.

• Draw a logic conclusion

Sum up and restate your thesis or make the final judgment regarding the book in the conclusion. Don’t introduce any new ideas and evidence for your argument, make up your conclusion copious with the ideas that extend the logic of your thesis statement.

Harnessing these simple and winning strategies of book review writing, you’ll surely turn your work into a writing marvel.

Yes folks, it’s the long awaited OJ Simpson confession book! Except that in OJ’s mind it was anything but, he claims it is a fictional account of how we would have done it, if he had done it! I have lots of problems with this book, not least of which is what was going through his sick and twisted mind to want to write the book in the first place. If you are innocent this book makes no sense. And if you are guilty, it makes even less sense, unless you are trying to confess and clear the air. But he plainly says, time and time again that it is fiction.

The good news is that through the intervention of Fred and Kim Goldman OJ Simpson will not see one dime of profits from its sale. The not so good news is that OJ did manage to get the almost $700,000 in advances before the project became public.

Really it is the story behind the book that makes better reading than the book itself. When the Goldman family heard that OJ Simpson was having a book written they moved into high gear to prevent its publication and his ability to profit from the misery. In the 13 years following the guilty verdict Simpson has paid exactly nothing of the money awarded to the Goldman’s. He relocated to Florida to avoid the pesky Californian judgment, and spends a happy life playing golf and who knows what else. The award was somewhere in the 18 million dollar range, with interest that now amount has more than doubled, one report puts it at 39 million dollars.

With ammunition like that the courts sided with the Goldman’s and gave them the rights to the book. Unfortunately there were strings attached, a bankruptcy was involved. And after much soul searching they realized that although they had won, the win came at the great price of now having to publish the book.

The end result, is a book that I am sure OJ hates! Yes his material is included in its unchanged entirety, however it it preceded by some commentary by Fred Goldman, and the actual Ghostwriter Pablo Fenjves. The book is ended by a chapter written by Dominick Dunne.

Let’s take these sections one by one. Fred Goldman explains at length the problems and frustrations his family felt when it became public knowledge that OJ Simpson was planning a tell all book. One article I read claimed that this section was ‘under edited,’ that might be true, but it is also written from the heart. And I will take that every time over the sterile grammatical style favored by many large publishing houses. It worked for me and set the scene well.

The most damning testimony to the guilt and obvious truth to the ‘hypothetical version of events’ comes from Ghostwriter Pablo Fenjves. In a matter of just 20 pages Pablo tells a very interesting side of OJ Simpson. Although I had no doubt of his guilt from the time of the actual 1993 events, Pablo makes a case that is so strong event Judge Ito and that half wit jury would have found OJ guilty.

Next up, is the OJ Simpson text. Pretty much it is a self serving and nauseating piece of garbage. He explains at great length what a nice guy he is, and what a bad person Nicole Brown was. The one chapter of interest is the one detailing the events of the fateful night. With the exception of the ’second man,’ it likely is one of the few factual parts of the entire manuscript.

The final chapter is written by Dominick Dunne. Dominick covered the original trial for Vanity Fair, and became a close friend of the Goldman’s as a result. His is an interesting story, he too lost a child at the hands of a murderer, his daughter was killed, and the killer walked free after only 2

This month, I read two books back to back: Soldier’s Heart by Elizabeth Samet and Punching In by Alex Frankel. Both of these works are an excellent introduction into entry-level corporate culture and leadership development.

Soldier’s Heart is a civilian English professor’s take on the leadership culture of West Point, based on her 10 years experience as a faculty member. Professor Samet is in a rare, but well qualified position to pen Soldier’s Heart. Only a fifth of the academy’s faculty is civilian instructors; the rest are military officers on rotation or “regular Army.” Samet’s academic interest also makes her special; she has studied the dynamic of command and obedience in American literature.

Soldier’s Heart is not the first work about West Point by a soldier or civilian, but it comes from the most interesting perspective: an outside working inside.

Soldier’s Heart has a balanced look at the military culture. Samet writes that no cadet wants to be, in one cadet’s words, a “non-thinking slasher,” someone who would kill for the glory of war, or the sake of killing.

West Point is, and has always been, a literate culture. Classical literature through Armed Forces Editions educates and entertains soldiers in battle, and reinforces American values. She writes of books as weapons to spread ideas, and counter actions meant to curtail freedom. But she also states that tales of war talk of motherhood or a woman’s love for soldiers &ndashbut not a woman’s love for soldiering. There is nothing about motherhood in the military culture, but there is the need to fight for mother.

The professor adds that today’s military culture has conflated military missions with spiritual missions; soldiers become instructed to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith. However, that might be necessary instruction to lead at a time when officers, enlisted and veterans are questioning our nation’s involvement in Iraq, a war that they believe to be unnecessary.

This faith extends to open displays of the Seven Army Values: Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity and Personal Courage. Soldiers tape the Values to their dog tags. Soldiers also display the Soldier’s Creed, officially posted in 2003:

I will always place the mission first

I will never accept defeat

I will never quit

I will never leave behind a fallen comrade.

The Values and the Creed are possible not only because of the culture, but also because our soldiers are professionals who have chosen to serve. Samet sites one Army study that mentions that professional soldiers still fight for each other, as they did, for example in World War II, but they also accept the responsibility that Army has entrusted to them.

The Army, as an institution, has had mottos and mission statements longer than most American businesses, and has a culture where everyone must live by them. Some of the most successful corporations have copied the military’s strengths&ndash and some of its imperfections. According to two online employment sites, GIJobs and CollegeGrad, 24 of the Top 50 Military Friendly Employers in 2007 also hired 100 or more college graduates for their entry-level positions. It is safe to say that these companies use the same values to develop and retain their entry-level and military transitional hires.

Which brings me to the next question: can those without the military orientation become as successful in these firms as those who have served with honor? The answer, according to Alex Frankel’s Punching In, is sometimes, if you can get along to go along.

Values, missions, attention to detail and duty are part of the dialogue in Punching In, another work where an outsider looks inside, and serves on the front lines of indoctrination into corporate culture.

Frankel worked in entry-level customer service positions at United Parcel Service (UPS), Enterprise Rent-A-Car, The Gap, Starbucks and The Apple Store, took online aptitude tests with two retailers: Best Buy and Home Depot and went through the lengthy interview processes at The Container Store and Whole Foods.

Like the Army, these corporations try to engage and turn their workers into fanatical and loyal employees. Interestingly enough, he refers to front-line workers as the Brand Army of these firms and called UPS the Other Army, because of the company’s esprit de coir and the spit and polish appearance of the front-line workers. Both the Army and UPS do not accept alteration, recreational display or desecration of their uniform.

Frankel respected UPS more than the other organizations, because their workers, especially the drivers, were the most trusted. He adds that this is necessary because UPS workers are all in the field. They can track their locations, but any problems must be solved on route. Each driver and their helper is like a platoon of soldiers; they must follow orders, but they have some lee way in how to execute them.

Frankel did not say the same about the other organizations. For example, he praised Enterprise’s efforts to motivate workers to believe that they can advance from desk clerks to regional managers &ndash though he adds that further advancement is less possible. The company hires approximately 8,000 entry-level employees, although the rest of the work force is no larger.

Frankel shows how Starbucks has become a “third place,” a neighborhood-meeting place away from home and work, but believes this will be a difficult strategy to maintain because of the standardized appearance of the thousands of stores and employees. He considers Apple Stores to be an excellent setting for those who are already fans of the technology; they need little indoctrination and training as well. And he shows The Gap to be little different from other retailers who are loathed by retail workers, a company bent on standards and policies that put store design first, product second, credit card sales third and the employees last.

Like the Army, these organizations have a uniform, policies and shared values, but unlike the Army, they can hire and fire at will. It was interesting that Frankel conveyed the most respect for the organization that was the most like the Army.

Given UPS’ success &ndash the company maintains 80 percent market share against several large competitors, including the U.S. Postal Services &ndash that’s quite a complement for our troops and the men and women who lead them.

A novel based around real estate in Miami, I was not convinced that I would enjoy it. I had thoughts of tawdry love affairs among realtor’s, and board room struggles between power brokers. But, instead I found a hugely entertaining, and side splittingly funny novel that makes me chuckle every time I see the cover. This is humor at its very apex. Humor is a hard genre to be successful in but this author definitely has ‘The Write Stuff.’

Alan Rolnick has created a vignette of life in Miami with Landmark Status that deserves a spot on the best seller list. The characters are wild, bent politicians, bent land developers, and even a Ponzi scheme thrown in for good measure, and what finer setting than Miami?

The hero in our story is attorney Steven Benjamin Bluestone, Benjy to his friends. Benjy is a delightful character, and as he explains early in the book, he became an attorney because his father was one, but he has little interest in wrangling and courtroom drama preferring the more sedate type of lawyering that involves smoking Cuban cigars and ogling young ladies! He avoids at all cost the world of Real Estate, ‘Dirt Lawyers’ is how he describes them.

Unfortunately for Benjy an old client returns, one who had used his services in a divorce (something else that Benjy doesn’t do), and persuades him to assist in a ‘dirt deal’. If Benjy has a fault it is not being able to say no, when ex client, and friend Walter, who also happens to own one of Benji’s favorite watering holes needs ‘dirt help’, he leaps, albeit reluctantly, into the ride of his life.

The rather decrepit Century Club that Walter owns has suddenly become a much sought after piece of dirt. And there are few lengths that an unscrupulous developer will not go to secure it’s ownership.

The characters that Alan Rolnick has created are wild. But they are so well crafted they take on a reality in the readers mind. From the accident prone Benjy, to the money hungry mayor Oscar Torres, the even money hungrier would be land developer Chuck Steinbeck and his slightly aging trophy wife Evelyn, they are all so well described I can guarantee you will love them. And these are just the beginning, we also have love interest from the Mayors niece Delia, we have Raj the Cigar Man, oh, and of course Rico the bungling bodyguard!

This is a riotous book, you are laughing on page one, and you are still laughing on the last page. There are cars wrecked, planes burned, Voodoo curses, even cemeteries desecrated, and this is all achieved with a dark humor that I find hard to believe comes from a first time author. This is also a book that would transition easily into a very very funny movie. And I did note that Alan Rolnick is not only an attorney, and an author, he is also a director, so come on Alan, make it happen!

I have no idea how many books are crammed onto bookshelves all about the subject of marketing, there must be many millions. It is a subject well understood, how do you make someone buy your Widget as opposed to the other guys Widget? Marketing is the answer, but, marketing comes at a price. How much can you afford?

I have a friend who is a retired BBDO exec, and in his mind, marketing that widget should cost the same as the national debt of a small country. Most small businesses can hardly manage to pay the rent and other expenses, never mind a TV spot on The Superbowl.

David Mason has done a very fine job of encapsulating the important aspects of marketing into a very short read. While I am not sure that he has introduced anything new, he has put it on paper that even the most book ‘resistant’ company owner could manage, at a scant 121 pages this should not scare even the skittish book reader.

Of course there is a downside with using such a short format, in a word ‘lists.’ My wife knows me very well, and she always has stuff for me to do. But she also knows that giving me a long ‘To Do’ list makes my eyes glaze over. If the list has less than than 5 items, the chances are good that I will at least attempt a few of them. David Mason prefers longer lists, I believe one was 16 items long! That I found a little of a turn-off, my wife knows better than to try a list that long on me!

On the plus side, he makes very convincing arguments. Arguments that make sense. It is important that every business has a ’slogan,’ David Mason calls it the USP (Unique Selling Proposition), but slogan or banner is what we are talking about.

How do you attract customers? You have your slogan, but if it only exists on your computer or in your head, who is going to hear the message? Many people have small companies, some sell niche products, some sell niche services, how do you sell your idea? Newspaper Ads might work, but only for the day, a Magazine might work for a month, radio and TV spots last for seconds! How about the internet?

David Mason explores all of the potentials, all of the advertising mediums have their up’s and down’s, cost, effectiveness, even the number of eyeballs that you get your message in front of are important considerations.

The last part of the book I found really helpful, he has included some samples of headlines and opening lines that the small business owner could use in his advertising campaign, and some simple worksheets to assist in customizing the slogans to your own specific needs.

Marketing You Small Business For Big Profits is small enough to be a quick and easy read, but large enough to contain the vital elements important to run an effective advertising program. The author also takes a very down to earth approach in offering advice on implementing the strategies. ‘You don’t have to do them all, just start with one and see what happens.’ In other words you don’t have to do everything, just do something.

Every once in a while a writer comes along that demands we take notice; one that avails just the right meter, tempo, and rhythm; one that can engulf us in a story and keep us glued throughout 200 pages; one that offers a style sure to be emulated by his aspiring peers, both of his generation and generations to come.

Nelson Pahl is just that writer.

With simultaneous debut releases, entitled Bee Balms & Burgundy and Two for Tuesday, Pahl flexes a literary muscle short in supply today&ndashone that whispers, “legend in the making.”

Although the hardcover version of Bee Balms & Burgundy won’t hit stores until March, I had the pleasure of reading the pre-release, limited edition eBook version, which is available at .NelsonPahl.com and .IndieMill.com. There, you can even read a sample chapter, to whet your appetite.

Bee Balms & Burgundy is a charming story of latent lifelong love and the quest to conquer all that stands in its way. Nick May is a successful thirty-two-year-old entrepreneur living in Vancouver. He breaks off an explosive, distrusting eleven-month live-in relationship just before he travels home to St. Paul to see his widowed mother. The relationship leaves him cynical about love, to say the least. Once in St. Paul, he discovers next-door neighbor and lifelong pal Mia Lawson, 30, has a couple secrets she’s been dying to share with him. One, unbeknownst to Nick, is that she’s now a post-mastectomy breast cancer survivor, still hoping to conquer her disease. The second secret levels Nick even more.

Pahl not only delves into the oft-taboo topic of breast cancer with literary vigor, but he also revels in it, astutely capturing the female emotions attached to such a dreadful experience. The chemistry between his two main characters borders on the divine, as we ride along upon an always charming but sometimes heartbreaking chariot through Nicky and Mia’s sensual and ethereal yet trying world.

While Indie Nation Magazine bills the book as “…the best love story you’ll read this year,” I beg to differ, slightly; I’ll argue that it might be the best love story you ever read. Bee Balms courageously delves into a subject today’s “socially conscious” novelists won’t go near, and it treats the topic with grace, dignity, depth, and, yes, even endearing sensuality.

Pahl is a wonderful example of why some of America’s best writers now insist on writing for independent presses: A major publishing house would only shackle his rich and witty writing style and subdue his “outside-the-box” storytelling.

Yet, Pahl’s strict and uncommon literary discipline&ndashalong with his hand for sensuous descriptive writing and well-crafted dialogue&ndashmake him one of the very best writers in today’s fiction scene, indie lit or mainstream. His concise and fluid prose grip the reader from the onset, and then move him or her through the story with liberating ease and optimum intrigue. Through his articulate and warm first-person narrative, we see, feel, hear, smell, and taste everything; we live inside his fictional world; we are the characters.

Nelson Pahl’s writing style single-handedly restores my faith in today’s literature. Consider Bee Balms & Burgundy an essential inclusion to any A-list catalogue.

And, do yourself a favor: Say you read him before the world knew about him&ndashor, before he wins a Pulitzer.

This is to say the least an interesting and entertaining read that covers far more ground than the title implies. Told with a huge amount of humor we follow Dodie on her sojourn to Thailand, where things do not work out as planned. As she ruefully reflects on in the final chapters, what seems like a great opportunity at the time, had enough flashing warning lights that she should have spotted early on.

The story opens with our heroine working a mundane office job during the day, and helping out part time at a local golf course in the evenings. Here she meets he husband to be, the club Pro Dick. Although not exactly swept off her feet in passion, they do eventually become lovers. It transpires that Dick prior to becoming a Golf Pro has had considerable experience in the construction world. Happenstance puts Dick and Dodie in a position where a two-year contract for a construction project in exotic Thailand is theirs for the taking. A free house, bags of tax free money, what more could you ask for? Of course there is one minor hitch, for Dick to get the full company benefits, he must be married.

Whats a fun loving, adventure seeking gal to do? Well if your name is Dodie Cross you of course get married, and start packing! Minor things like ‘love’ can be worked on later!

It doesn’t take our adventurous author long to discover that the ‘land of smiles’ may well be full of smiles, but the company compound where everyone must live is anything but Eden. A repressive management, or to be exact the manager’s wife, has created her own version of hell on Earth. Endless lists of rules and regulations, the company not only owns the employees, but their wives and families as well. Must-attend meetings, shopping trips, card games, and parties are all part of the social calendar.

None of this sits well with Dodie, and she of course decides to buck the system, even worse she discovers that Dick is a 60 year old sex maniac! Stress at home, stress from “the bosses,” all start to weigh heavily on Dodie, an unexpected medical problem also adds to her growing list of issues.

A Broad Abroad In Thailand is a great read, it is written in a very humorous style, I particularly enjoyed the Pigin English dialog with the local Thai people. That on its own makes this book a hit! Dodie, undaunted by minor and in some cases major setbacks,’bags and crashes’ her way through life. This is a must read book for anyone contemplating living and working in a foreign land, from marital to medical, the problems are so much greater than being at home.

About Dodie Cross: she is a freelance writer who has received numerous awards for her writing and poetry, among them the prestigious Southern California Writer’s Conference First Place Award for “Best Nonfiction,” as well as First Place in their inaugural Poetry Award. She has accrued first and second place prizes in her published articles. Dodie has traveled the world, writing about her life in foreign countries such as Iran and Thailand, as well as American locales such as New Orleans, Orange County, California and Lake Chelan, Washington. Look for her next book: One Strappy-Sandaled Foot Ahead of the Mullahs: An Expat’s Life in Iran Before and During the Revolution.