Memoirs

Second Row (published by Mary Celeste Press)

by M. Stefan Strozier

Second Row is a story of a man trying to become a writer and at the same time learning the complex sport of rugby. It's an in-depth analysis of the game of rugby, history of the game, and coverage of key American matches, including at the 2011 Rugby World Cup. This story is written in a clear way so that a person with no knowledge of rugby will finish reading understanding the sport. Second Row is a story of a team of men who are a family.

The Longest War

by Veterans of wars in Iraq & Afghanistan; including editor John F. Holmes

Stories from the Battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, told by those who lived it. Every war has a voice. Everyone in a war has a story.

My Life in Shoes

by Pamela Laskin

Shoes forever fascinate, beguile and draw women in with an almost irresistible allure. My Life in Shoes is Pamela L. Laskin's personal journey from childhood through adulthood, told in a series of first person narratives, all of which focus on her love, fascination and ambivalent relationship to shoes. There are many shoe memories: an awful pair of oxfords; her first pair of Mary Janes; forcing her feet into grown-up shoes, for the sake of beauty; her desire to discover the "right fit" for her personal identity. There is also the concept that perhaps we need to go "shoeless" in order to leave behind the gross-consumerism which daily haunts us.

The concept of "dressed" feet and the split between mothers and daughters addresses the age-old theme that we all have "ghosts" in our shoe closet. Laskin's memoir addresses her mother's schizophrenia and her desire to unearth beautiful slippers to take her far away from her mother. Shoes possess magic and it is the fairy tale metaphor of self-discovery which is at the heart and soul of My Life in Shoes. It is every woman's fantasy: to rub those ruby-red slippers and find, "there is no place like home."

"With her usual no holds-barred honesty Pamela Laskin brings her unique perspectives on being an outsider, mental illness, adolescence, love, loss, and survival within the framework of the different footwear she has loved and loathed. This is a smart and moving memoir written with poetic eloquence that pulls no punches and disarmingly explores a woman's heart through her relationship with shoes."

– Suzanne Weyn, author, Distant Waves

"You don't have to be a shoe-lover to be moved by Pam Laskin's My Life in Shoes. To remember each special pair is to unlock memories and mysteries – of growing up under difficult family circumstances, of striving to excel and be accepted in New York City, to ultimately creating belonging and love to call her own. Be them Mary Janes, Fred Brauns, or Crocs, the shoes lead the way to poignant storytelling."

– Stacy Parker Le Melle, author, Government Girl: Young and Female in the White House

Love and Terror in the Middle East

by Frank Romano, PhD

This 3rd EDITION includes a new chapter entitled “Return to Killing Fields.” It recounts the aftermath of the murder of Juliano Mer-Khamis, peace activist, in the Jenin Refugee Camp and the author’s recent return there to uncover the truth buried deep within the shrouds of his friend’s mysterious death.

“LOVE AND TERROR in the MIDDLE EAST” dramatically captures the author’s efforts to promote understanding and cooperation in the region between Jews, Muslims and Christians. It details Romano’s arduous journeys between Israel and the West Bank, discussing issues and organizing activities among religious and national groups. Traveling between these areas has been risky: he has been harassed/arrested by the Palestinian police, harassed by Israeli soldiers and attacked by Israeli settlers. Romano explains, “Most books on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are written by intellectuals or pundits hundreds of miles from the epicenter of conflict, and they tend to focus on such things as the history, politics and conflicting views of the situation held by various groups.” This is a memoir of an expert on the Middle East conflict as well as of a man working in the field, face to face with people from all kinds of factions, including extremists on both sides.

A Sloan Product

by Neil Selinger

In this often touching, sometimes hilarious, and always revealing memoir, Neil Selinger leads us deftly through the lives of a unique and unwieldy ensemble cast of characters connected by blood and an extended family business commandeered by the matriarch Olga. A Sloan Product is a powerful narrative of a long-gone era in its own right, but it is the unadorned, authentic voice of the writer-the lost boy Neil-that makes this book utterly memorable.

– Steven Lewis, author of Zen and the Art of Fatherhood and Fear and Loathing of Boca Raton

Swingman

by Alex Allred

A simple bike ride changed their lives! It was a bike ride that forever changed Captain Marshall Allen's life. Seven years later, a very similar bike ride would do the same for magazine editor Alexandra Allred. While many believed it was destiny that Alex would take a bike route that would lead her to tell Marshall's extraordinary story, it soon became clear that Marshall was also meant to help Alex. Marshall was a pioneer in the fire department, becoming the first black fire fighter in Salt Lake County. Alex was a pioneer in the sports world, becoming the first U.S. women's bobsled champion. But where Marshall was from very humble beginnings, once abused in the foster care system, Alex was the daughter of a U.S. Diplomat. They were worlds apart. Neither had any idea how much trouble was brewing ...

This is the story of an unlikely friendship between a quadriplegic fire fighter and a former national athlete turned writer and how they changed local and national policies, took on the good 'ol boy network and the "Big Boys" at the US Capitol. Swingman: What a Difference A Decade Makes is a fast-paced, laugh-out-loud book that chronicles the last ten years of their lives, their faith (or once lack thereof) and their own personal fires. If you believe in miracles, if you believe you can fight city hall, if you believe in overcoming insurmountable obstacles, this is the book for you! Prepare to be inspired by the indomitable spirit of both Captain Marshall Allen and his friend Alexandra Allred.

On the Strand

by Kevin Gray

"What we have here is an autobiography about growing up in Virginia, getting married, moving to Kansas that reads like a classic American novel. Gray really gets inside feelings and brings the reader adroitly into the heart of his own life. As classic as Catcher in the Rye and the basis of what could be great film."

– Dr. Hugh Fox

Was it fate or responsibility that brought me to the plains? Or an escape? And why Kansas? Certainly a girl was involved. Three for sure! The reason for heading west from my home in Virginia and making a new one in Kansas is long and complicated. Maybe this is why I always looked at myself as the silent observer, as well as the kid who continually questioned his actions. When I finished my original manuscript, a memoir called On the Strand for Antioch University, I asked an old friend, who happens to be a character in this story, how she remembered me from age 11, when we first met, to 21 the last time we talked in a favorite Richmond bar, until I tracked her down via the internet in 2001, and she wrote, "Kind, shy, quiet, and very loyal. You had a dry sense of humor and were 'on the wild side' and always ready for something different - always questioning things and authority: REBELLIOUS!!" She ended her memory with a telling statement: "You were hard on yourself and did not believe in Kevin." She pegged me alright! I began publishing my memories with Waking Up in the Studebaker (2009), which covers my childhood in Richmond, Virginia's suburbs, through entering high school. On the Strand (2010) carries my story forward through high school and leaving Virginia to give college a try in Kansas. What an East Coast attitude I took with me: "I'm here to get the bullshit classes out of the way and return to a good college in Virginia."

[ Read more & Buy the Book ]

I am a Jew

by Dr. Mel Waldman

Dr. Mel Waldman, PhD (New York State psychologist and a candidate in psychoanalysis), career author of numerous books whose work has been widely published in literary journals, has written a book that examines his Jewish identity through essays, stories, poetry and plays. World Audience is a fast-growing press in New York with 100 titles.

The Labyrinth - hard cover, 2nd edition, with new cover

by M. Stefan Strozier

The Labyrinth is the memoir of M. Stefan Strozier. It is a very inspiring story of a young man who lost his mind and was diagnosed a paranoid schizophrenic, who then went on to serve honorably as a sergeant in the US Army and fight in the Persian Gulf War. Then he became an Air Force officer with a Top Secret SCI clearance. Later, he founded a publishing company that led a revolution and became the greatest playwright in American history - and an excellent writer as well in other genres. Strozier is a modern-day, global Huck Finn. 2nd Edition! Revised, expanded, updated, edited by Kyle David Torke; and with a new cover; prefaced by Lee Stringer.

The Labyrinth - paperback, 2nd Edition

by M. Stefan Strozier

The Labyrinth is the memoir of M. Stefan Strozier. Strozier is a modern-day, global Huck Finn. 2nd Edition! Revised, expanded, updated, edited by Kyle David Torke; and with a new cover; prefaced by Lee Stringer.

Storm Over Morocco - Finding God in the Midst of Fanatics - 2nd Edition

by Frank Romano, Ph.D.

This edition includes an Epilogue on the author’s recent quest for spiritual peace among religions in the Middle East, notably highlighting interfaith activities in Israel and Palestine. He takes readers to the middle of the Jenin Refugee Camp where he spoke with many former prisoners of the Israeli government. The author believes that from the Jenin Refugee Camp, the heartthrob of the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis, will flow the river of peace that will reach the four corners of the world.

Storm Over Morocco, 3rd Edition

by Dr. Frank Romano

This 3rd Edition of Storm Over Morocco, a true story, includes a new chapter about the author’s childhood - after fighting his sometimes violent father and struggling as a counsellor for some of Northern California’s most dangerous young criminals - he turned to fighting for victims of world conflict by organizing interfaith peace projects in the Holy Land. The epilogue recounts a tense meeting in a West Bank refugee camp between the author and militant Palestinian Moslems to prepare for an interfaith peace march. Seeking a solution to conflict through interfaith peace, he set out for the Holy land from Paris in 1978. While traveling through Casablanca, Morocco, he was invited to study Islam in a mosque; it turned out to be controlled by an extremist Moslem sect which promptly imprisoned him. He was wrongly accused of being a Zionist spy. His search transformed into a desperate struggle for survival when he is accused of sabotaging the faith.

He was recently interviewed on several major national radio shows, including Savage Nation with Michael Savage and on Fox and NBC news programs. He also participated during a panel discussion concerning spiritual issues broadcasted live by a Houston Time Warner television station. Finally, He gave a power point presentation about his book and interfaith activities at the Mid-Manhattan Library in New York City. After world author tours in 2007 and 2008, in the United States, the UK, France, Israel and Palestine, covering 40 cities and 12 (US) states, he is presently scheduling author events for the 3rd Edition in 2009 covering several US states and the UK.

Storm Over Morocco, 4th Edition (hard cover)

by Dr. Frank Romano

Now in its 4th Edition . . . with a new chapter on an intense interfaith freedom march he organized in the West Bank City of Jenin, the place that offered the greatest resistance to Israeli soldiers during confrontations over the past 20 years. Seeking a solution to conflict through interfaith peace, he set out for the Holy land from Paris in 1978. While traveling through Casablanca, Morocco, he was invited to study Islam in a mosque; it turned out to be controlled by an extremist Moslem sect which promptly imprisoned him. He was wrongly accused of being a Zionist spy. His search transformed into a desperate struggle for survival when he is accused of sabotaging the faith. He was recently interviewed on several major national radio shows, including Savage Nation with Michael Savage and on Fox and NBC news programs. He also participated during a panel discussion concerning spiritual issues broadcast live by a Houston Time Warner television station. Finally, He gave a power point presentation about his book and interfaith activities at the Mid-Manhattan Library in New York City. After world author tours in 2007-2009, in the United States, the UK, France, Israel and Palestine, covering 45 cities and 15 (US) states, he is presently scheduling author events for the 4th Edition in several US states and the UK.

The Tonya Tapes

by Lynda D. Prouse

Based on the candid and sometimes startling conversations that YOU were never meant to hear, THE TONYA TAPES, written by award-winning author Lynda D. Prouse, chronicles the life of the world's most infamous female athlete - TONYA HARDING - revealing for the first time the whole truth of her difficult and amazing life on and off the ice. Based on actual, extensive interviews with Tonya Harding, and written with her collaboration, this is her story!

Waking Up in the Studebaker

by Kevin Gray

Starting with his earliest memories in the 1950s, Kevin Gray covers a lot of ground - including impressions about racism in the former Capital of the Confederacy. Teen music and rites from the late 1950s drew him in by age 10. He offers personal insights on Vietnam, music and the drug culture, and the turbulent times right into 1968. Gray admits, “I thought America the greatest place on the face of this earth to grow up in, but, then, I realized my color (white), my religion (Methodist) and my parents’ middle-class income helped. Then, I wasn’t so sure.” Asthma, extreme shyness when indoors, affected him, but an overriding act first think later attitude actually drove the boy. He also admits, “Life could be pretty boring and quite confusing for a suburban kid in those days. I didn’t live in New York or San Francisco or any of those exciting places. I had to make my own fun and my own life well away from places in the news. The 1960s really weren’t what they were cracked up to be in the media - that is for a kid stuck far from any “happening place.” At least we had the music! Yet, in so many ways, events in both the 1950s and the 1960s reached out and made an impact on people nationwide, even to a young boy growing up in Richmond.” Waking Up in the Studebaker is Gray’s very personal story set during changing times in America. “This is my story,” he said, “and, more than anything, I didn’t want help in whatever I did. I had to live my life my way, even if it gave me many bruises along the way.”

Of Those So Close Beside Me

by Dianna Skowera

After Abu Ghraib takes us inside the secretive world of detention operations in Iraq after the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal. Told by a female interrogator who was part of the first of four interrogation battalions created to renew the face of interrogation operations after Abu Ghraib, this tells the story of a group of interrogators that are like no other. From train-up, to boots on the ground, and home again, After Abu Ghraib covers the lives of a new and unique Army unit, their families, U.S. contractors, Iraqi soldiers, and detainees during a time in history that will be talked about for ages.

glimmerIQs

by Dr. Jack Kevorkian

This book was written by Dr. Jack Kevorkian while he was in prison. It is a memoir. It is an eclectic collection of songs, poems, essays, very striking and beautiful paintings, and much more. Dr. Kevorkian is an artist of the highest caliber. He has a one-of-a-kind worldview. glimmerIQs is one of the most entertaining books the reader will find.

glimmerIQs in full color

by Dr. Jack Kevorkian

glimmerIQs was written by Dr. Jack Kevorkian while he was in prison. It is a memoir. It is an eclectic collection of songs, poems, essays, very striking and beautiful paintings, and much more. Dr. Kevorkian is an artist of the highest caliber. He has a one-of-a-kind worldview. glimmerIQs is one of the most entertaining books the reader will find.

glimmerIQs in hard cover (with new material)

by Dr. Jack Kevorkian

This book was written by Dr. Jack Kevorkian while he was in prison. It is a memoir. It is an eclectic collection of songs, poems, essays, very striking and beautiful paintings, and much more. Dr. Kevorkian is an artist of the highest caliber. He has a one-of-a-kind worldview. glimmerIQs is one of the most entertaining books the reader will find.