Books published by iUniverse

The town was slowly recovering from the Great Depression, and the nation unaware of the crisis developing in Europe, when author James Lahiff was born. The death of his mother, when he was five years old, changed his life forever, however, guidance from his sister and brother (Some might call it browbeating.) aided him as he bounced from one crisis to another. Although he might not have excelled in the grade school band nor as a junior air raid warden, he persisted and went on to fail in an impressive variety of pursuits. Living near the center of town provided him with an ideal vantage point to observe and interact with its many characters, especially while doing his chores. His father's blacksmith shop was a popular gathering spot (during mild weather) to learn what was happening around town, and the author spent much time there.

Read This Book. It's a "e;Can't put this book down"e; kind of story.,Laugh, cry and be inspired by this husband and wife team. Understand how shrewd judgements, perseverance, forgiveness and their united efforts led them to entrepreneurial achievement. Feel their disappointments, love and accomplishments. Join Norm and Bonnie Walla Taylor as they let you peek behind the scenes at carnivals, fairs and festivals while they build the Taylor's Doughboy brand, their carnival concessionaire business. Success enables their hobbies of international conservation and hunting, horse training and competition, and family travel. Success also encourages complacency and dulls the reality of irreversible change. Discover how a "e;For Sale by Owner"e; sign led to writing this book.

Hold'em Ranges and Math is the crucial book to have to make better decisions against today's best players. In the early days of poker, players relied on catching cards and playing ABC poker. As time passed, players became more aggressive, bluffing was artistically being created, and decisions were made based on incomplete factors. The more recent "old school" of poker, players were even more aggressive, bluffing was more common, and everyone was putting their opponents on a few hands to assure they are making the right decision for instant success. But poker today is filled with very loose and aggressive players who do not rely on catching cards but rely on math and poker ranges. Today's player will put their opponent on a range of hands and the math behind that to help them make the correct decision based on how they play those certain hands in different situations, and the action that took place during the hand, for long-term success. In Hold'em Ranges and Math, you will learn what hand ranges to play, with mathematical strategies, to help you make those same successful decisions.

Like some of the characters in this book, Ennio has defeated prostate cancer and also survived a couple of warning strokes. Now in his mid-eighties, he is using many of the strategies described here in order to fight the onslaught of Parkinson's disease. Professionally, Ennio's eclectic and adventurous attitude helped him to succeed as a multinational executive, senior government official, international consultant, start-up entrepreneur, artist and musician, public speaker, college and university lecturer, columnist and author. At birth the media described him as an "e;International Baby"e; because he was born on a British ship off Australia of Italian-Russian parents. Ennio was educated in Argentina and England and at 20 emigrated to Canada. He then lived in Italy, France, Belgium, Brazil and the USA, eventually returning to Montreal where he now lives happily with Carole, his affectionate and inspiring muse of many years.

The hottest female nightclub star in 1930s Havana guards two secrets: She is a Polish-born American Jew, and she has a penis. Lola Flores, a musically gifted transgender woman, lives in constant fear of discovery while battling inner demons. Days before the 1929 Wall Street crash, 19-year-old pianist Albert Sobel fakes drowning in New York's East River. As Lola Torres, she rides the Havana Special to Key West only to be assaulted by the train's conductor. In politically unstable Havana, a Jewish nightclub proprietress tied to the American mob offers Lola a job. A transgender man, Fernando Fallon, designs her trademark floral hat and becomes her lifelong platonic companion. Lola is preyed on by the nightclub owner then a senior government official. The notorious gangster Ben "e;Bugsy"e; Siegel, unaware she is trans, takes her under his wing. In Nazi Berlin with bandleader Xavier Cugat, Lola meets the ill-fated transgender Danish woman Lili Elbe. Revolution in Cuba drives Lola back to New York. Depression-era Broadway brings a role in The Ziegfeld Follies of 1936, support by columnist Walter Winchell and spying in Havana for the FBI. World War Two Hollywood produces a glittering but brief film career, a tragic love affair and a hushed reunion with a sister. After Siegel's 1947 murder in Los Angeles, Lola and Fernando flee to San Francisco. There they meet Christine Jorgensen, the first woman to successfully undergo gender reassignment. In 1953, Lola confronts McCarthyism while defending friend Lucille Ball from charges of Communist activity. On the set of I Love Lucy in 1954, Lola collapses. Dying, she recalls arriving in New York Harbor at age two and her father's ironic words.

I hope that you enjoy this book. It's a true story about a dog I adopted from a Shopping Center in Florida. I fell in love with her the moment I saw her. She can do all the tricks described in this book and I hope you fall in love with her too!

This book of poetry is the seventh in the series from the artist Paul Zeppelin. The poetry in this book, embodies the the joy and pain of life and death; loyalty and betrayal, failures and successes, broken hearts and sunlit hopes of a long and well-lived life. The poetry is full of, at times, a sarcastic wit, veiled humor, and intellectual clarity. It shows both deep insight and intriguing, controversial views on individual and world issues.

For many of us, our desks occupy an enormous part of our lives because that is where we have created, shaped, and reimagined our careers. As a result, our desks often become our lives, and subsequently leave us lacking passion, ownership over our time, and work-life balance. Dr. Marcal Graham, a dedicated educator and student mentor, shares guidance intended to spark the desk-bound to reclaim their lives and space to break free of the mundane workday and seize opportunities to dance, a way he says creates free expression, ideas, innovation, happiness, and a roadmap to finding purpose and passion again. Interspersed within his shared personal experiences that illuminated his own vision and daily life before and during the global pandemic, Dr. Graham offers introspective questions and wisdom that lead those who feels trapped behind their desks to shun fears and negativity, and dance down a path forward to realize their true potential and best selves. Reclaim Your Career and Life offers guidance from a seasoned educator and career coach to help the desk-bound dance their way from the mundane to find joy, fulfillment, and purpose.

"e;Jerry proves that one can grow old gracefully and with great humor, while maturing not at all."e;- Dave Jaffe, author of "e;Sleeping Between Giants: Life, If You Can Call It That, With a Terrier"e;If age is just a number, then Jerry Zezima gets an A in creative math. In this, his sixth book, the syndicated humorist looks at life through rose-colored glasses - for which he doesn't even need a prescription. Whether he's acting silly with his grandchildren, clowning around at his fiftieth high school reunion, or bombarding his wife with stupid jokes, Jerry Zezima is a man for our time. "e;One for the Ageless: How to Stay Young and Immature Even If You're Really Old"e; is a merry romp through the golden years, a funny guide to surviving retirement, a heartwarming chronicle of long-overdue family reunions, and a book that will make you feel like a kid again.

Based upon six decades of professional experiences, this book is an autobiographical account. Invitations to teach Psychology, Peace and Justice Issues that most international societies find themselves struggling with by locally and globally. This involved experiences in several European nations, plus India, China, Japan, Nepal and Viet Nam. As an Ordained Minister and Licensed Psychologist, I address challenges of health, medicine, ethics that continue to arise for persons, civic organizations, governments that address local and global issues of peace and Justice. Obviously, my experiences are inter-disciplinary plus dialogues with persons of diverse citizenships, religions and political issues. As the author of ten books, in the past decade my writing in poetic form continues to be my preferred style. Readers are invited to engage in dialogical discussions on topics that are contemporary concerns. As an Air Force Veteran, I address a number of global issues that are controversial. My hope involves engaging people internationally so that they will expand their concerns that will improve the well-being of humanity.

In an arena built by love and supported by devotion, two couples, close friends, recent empty nesters are suddenly confronted by active sexual desire that had been just a pleasant thought for many years. Each wants the other's spouse. Self-serving contends with concern and compassion. They all like each other very much. The story takes place from late 1988 to early 1990. The "e;double standard"e; is indicted and brought to trial. Much is about Laura, a teacher who had capably followed society's syllabus, guided by the headmaster, her husband. She would have welcomed having tea with Ibsen's Nora. Circumstance affects her comfortable acquiescence. Others give significant testimony. Entwined triangles bring thrill and conflict. Vivid dissection of sexual relationship and friendship reveals the misconceptions from attitude and clouded communication that cause missteps and disappointment. And there is a clear, insightful depiction of a man's newly manifested sexual obsession beyond pleasure and affection. These are responsible people with typical aspirations and frailties. Although they are excessively self-serving at times, they care well for their families and contribute to the welfare of others. Eventually they become challenged by the price for their self-indulgence. Motivation is probed. Reader reaction will be diverse and controversial.

Praise for Champ Clark's Venetian Blonde... "e;A modern-day noir written in the terse style of Raymond Chandler and just as satisfying."e; "e;Hammett, Algren, and Spillane, all mixed together and brought to you with grit and humor into the 21st century."e;"e;If you picked up Holden Caulfield at the end of the Catcher in the Rye and spirited 30 years beyond, the individual you're looking at might very well be Venetian Blonde's Drake Haynes"e; "e;Venetian Blonde by Champ Clark is a must read! The writing is brilliant. The characters take you on a journey that you don't want to end!"e;"e;Equal parts gumshoe detective novel & Confederacy of Dunces."e; "e;It's been a long while since I've had this much fun with a book."e;"e;Taking an adventurous journey through the poetic, damaged, frequently hilarious lens of bitter, can't let it go, investigative journalist Drake Haynes, is about as entertaining as it gets."e;"e;What a fun, twisted, refreshingly captivating and truthful ride!"e;"e;Mr. Clark's writing is first rate."e;"e;Clark's prose is so punchy and vivid, his characters so alive that Venetian Blonde knocks stars into your head."e; "e;Flows beautifully and so much fun!"e;

All his life Malcom Doxon has only known fragility and sickness. Most days were spent on a hospital bed counting the hours go by day by day. One day his aliments got the better of him and he soon passed from our world. But through unexpected circumstances, he finds himself in a new world where he can start a new life without fear of his body breaking down.

In the beginning, Minor Jimenez, a promising young Latino, appears to be on the path of turning his life around after getting past a brush with the law a few years earlier. He has a good job and has been in an loving relationship with his girlfriend, but living on his own in East LA has its challenges. Shootings occur regularly, and in many cases, the police are on the lookout for gang members as the usual suspects. In this story, the tables are turned when two gang members who survive a shooting testify against Minor. His life has turned upside down as he and those closest to him struggle to defeat the rival street gangs.

McKenzie Cole is a private investigator with a Jersey attitude. When a dignified aging moralist hires him to reopen a forty-four-year-old unsolved murder case so she can nail the coffin shut on her estranged first husband, Cole is skeptical. But it's a paycheck. Soon the "e;Hair"e;-raising mystery that ensues has Cole changing his tune. Challenged by conspiratorial cops anxious to keep the dead buried, a hermitic psychic harboring private visions of the past, and an assertive journalist with family secrets of her own, Cole finds himself back in school, where he learns that modern forensics applied to cold-case homicides can spawn unexpected results. In this latest McKenzie Cole tale-inspired by a true event-justice remains elusive until murder is laid to rest!

The play is about the retribution of an ex-patient on his psychotherapist who he felt did not serve him well during his therapy because of countertransference on the part of the therapist. The play is written in the "e;law and order"e; format where the first act is police work and the second act is in the courtroom. The author has already published one book with iUniverse, "e;Masada Revisited"e;. This is a play about a famous incident in Jewish history which occurred in 73 A.D. at Masada, a place in Israel near the Dead Sea.

Eat No Evil brings together wildly diverse characters, some damaged, some not. We meet a failed priest struggling with his abandonment of the church, a high-end chef with a secret past both glorious and painful, a retired rock star, a psychiatrist and his wife and the people they encounter along their respective paths to wholeness. This is a story of pain and promise, of abandonment and salvation. Eat No Evil will most certainly invite you to look at those around you with different, more all-encompassing eyes.

A METAPHYSICAL PICARESQUE ADVENTURE INTO THE GEOMANTIC MYSTERIES OF THE EARTH WITH ANGELIC ACCOMPANIMENT In 2095, three Light grid engineers undertake a world restoration tour of the esoteric energy body of the planet to fine-tune an upgrade that started in 2020. Their "e;fixer-upper"e; itinerary takes them to England, Montenegro, South Africa, Ethiopia, Colombia, Armenia, Pakistan, South Korea, Finland-14 stops in all. The Earth has been birthing a landscape of Light and Truth out of itself since 2020, but it needs some professional tweaking and housecleaning to complete its transformation. Some "e;parties"e; vigorously oppose this upgrade and have to be dealt with; others heartily support it. It's been like that since the beginning of the Earth. Lars Jaanusson, a Boston book editor, narrates the fieldwork in a manner that is both whimsical and serious. "e;The tour was an immersion in mythopoesis. You find you're living and working inside the world's myths when you do this work. Much is at stake, but you have to stay light-hearted on the job,"e; he says. Lars and his two companions, Beatrice Goldoni from Italy and Bogdan Hazurov from Bulgaria, enjoy the technical assistance of two angelic orders. The Ofanim, jokey and amiable while brandishing huge swords of Light, and the Serafim, doing business as the fierce Valkyries of legend who take no prisoners among the enemies of the Earth. The planet's upgrade, just finishing up in 2095, was scheduled at its inception, in fact, as early as its design phase. Many of its problems and enemies go back to that beginning too. Not everyone was in favor of a world with this much Light and Truth and so elegant a geometric design or "e;grid"e; in Light. That's why much of the narrative recounts what it took to pull out the deep, resistant, dark-minded roots that have disturbed the Earth and humans for millennia. It's an altogether different take on the Apocalypse.

All of us at one time or another have heard a ghostly story and most of us have even experienced something out of the ordinary at one time or another . There are more people out there with strange stories then one knows, only most people for one reason or another never tell anyone. Some of these stories would frighten the toughest of us , yet some stories will only simply make us scratch our heads trying to figure them out. For years I went around asking people of some of their ghostly experiences and most are willing to tell you, they want to tell someone, but they want someone who will believe them and not be judgmental. Read these forty-seven stories that I have collected and decide for yourself if you believe them or not.

When the night comes, and the only thing left staring back at you is the moon some people tend to let their minds runaway with endless thoughts. The endless thoughts float threw our minds the way a river flows naturally. This book is about endless feelings, beliefs, and concepts of how individuals preoccupy their minds with Endless Thoughts. There are great inspirations, visions, and motivations as though you are living your life like a song. So, if you are feeling lonely and you look lovely take this book: and take each word and let it wrinkle your nose.

"e;This is a book I would readily recommend to any performer, teacher, student, or lover of the piano,"e; says pianist and composer John Musto. Pianist and professor Lisa Yui writes, "e;Donald Isler's collection of articles and interviews are delightful! They are written in the charming and breezy style of Huneker, Loesser, and Hough (three of the most esteemed writers on the piano and pianists), but underneath lies a depth of knowledge and experience. The interviews are informative and observant, the articles witty and self-reflective. Each is fascinating, informative, enlightening-in short, a wonderful read!"e;According to Jerome Lowenthal, professor at the Juilliard School and one of the most renowned pianists of his generation, "e;If there was a golden age of pianophilia, it is nobly continued today by pianist-journalists like Donald Isler."e;Author Donald Isler reflects on more than fifty years' experience teaching, attending concerts, and living a professional life dedicated to music. Though the responsibilities of being a true artist or a good teacher are taken seriously, there are also many lighthearted and amusing stories. The thirty-five essays that comprise Part I of the book include provocative titles, such as "e;Up from Mediocrity,"e; "e;In Praise of Rule Breakers,"e; "e;Do I Keep an Open Mind,"e; plus articles about great musicians Isler heard, knew personally, or studied with. The thirty-one interviews that make up Part II followed in-depth conversations with each subject. They reveal much about the lives and careers of great artists of the older generation, such as Gary Graffman and Ruth Slenczynska, several child prodigies and many distinguished musicians in-between, as well as two acclaimed radio personalities, one impresario who has devoted her life to developing the careers of many important musicians-and Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the sex therapist, who speaks about the music in her life!