Category: Non-Fiction

Leonardo’s Science Workshop by Heidi Olinger

Posted on by Keely Flanagan

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

LEONARDO’S SCIENCE WORKSHOP
Invent, Create, and Make STEAM Projects Like a Genius 

Leonardo da Vinci was a jack of all trades. He loved to learn, and, as a result, left behind a legacy of contributions to both the arts and sciences. Inspired by his versatility, LEONARDO’S SCIENCE WORKSHOP (Quarto Publishing, January 2019, Original Trade Paperback, 978-1-63159-524-0, $29.99) by Heidi Olinger offers a fun-filled assortment of exciting science experiments that stimulate the minds of students, parents and teachers alike.

This book proudly champions all things STEAM—science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics—while simultaneously incorporating elements of design.

As the founder of Pretty Brainy, a nonprofit organization focused on STEAM service learning, Olinger boldly proves that there is no boundary between practicality and creativity.

“What’s important is that Leonardo did not think of art as separate from science or science as separate from engineering. His investigations as scientist and engineer strengthened his art because he understood anatomy, physics, nature, and geometry.”

Covering topics like physics, molecules, gravity, graphic design, and even recycling, LEONARDO’S SCIENCE WORKSHOP provides approachable explanations coupled with step-by-step experiment instructions anyone can perform at home or in the classroom. Whether you’re learning the logistics behind a bird in flight or designing wearable plastic fabrics, readers are guaranteed to glean a lesson in science and originality.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Heidi Olinger is a writer and founder of Pretty Brainy, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that creates STEAM service learning to inspire and prepare girls to innovate, problem-solve, and lead in the 21st century. Heidi has taught at the University of Colorado at Boulder where she focused on experimental pedagogy and practices that prioritized students and their learning. She currently lives in Colorado with her rescue dog, Patches. Visit her at www.prettybrainy.com or www.heidiolinger.com.

Where the Angels Lived by Margaret McMullan

Posted on by CMPR

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

“Someone should write a book,” my mother says, sipping iced coffee. “Not about the drama of that time, during the war, but about what it does to the person who’s left with all of it, the person who feels it but doesn’t quite know it all.”

Where The Angels Lived
One Family’s Story of Exile, Loss, and Return

By Margaret McMullan

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The moment she discovers the existence of Richard, a long-lost relative, at Israel’s Holocaust Museum, Margaret McMullan begins an unexpected journey of revelation and connectivity as she tirelessly researches the history of her ancestors, the Engel de Jánosis. Propelled by a Fulbright cultural exchange that sends her to teach at a Hungarian University, Margaret, her husband and teenage son all eagerly travel to Pécs, the land of her mother’s Jewish lineage. After reaching Pécs, a Hungarian town both small and primarily Christian, Margaret realizes right then and there how difficult hergoing to be. Heart-wrenching, passionate and insightful, WHERE THE ANGELS LIVED (Calypso Editions, 13: 978-1-944593-08-7, $17.95, Original Trade Paperback) by Margaret McMullan beautifully documents the relentless determination of a woman picking up the pieces of her family’s fragmented history throughout the Hungarian Holocaust.

“The destruction of the Jews in the country districts of Hungary was a simple business. The Germans made good use of their experience gained annihilating between three to four million Polish, German and Austrian Jews.”

In WHERE THE ANGELS LIVED, Margaret quickly discovers just how distinguished and influential her relatives appear to have been before the Holocaust. However, no one seems to recall the man whose name she saw that day in Israel: Richard Engel de Jánosi. With the help of students, strangers, and long-lost relatives, Margaret slowly pieces together bits of information about Richard’s past she never would have found without venturing to her family’s homeland.

While Margaret’s research starts to reap its own rewards, the road to discovery still comes at a price.  Back in the United States, Margaret’s father is sick and her mother is looking frailer every time they Skype. Despite her parents’ deteriorating health, there is much more work to be done abroad.

 “Remembering the dead, especially family members is important. I know this.”

As Margaret struggles to discover why Richard’s existence is wiped from Pécs history, her journey soon becomes her mother’s journey, a nation’s journey, and even perhaps, all of our journeys to reconnect with an inexplicable past.

“Sitting there in the pew carved of Moravian oak, I start to shake. I curse every last Hungarian who deported or murdered my family. See? Look at me. My mother got out and she had me and I had a son. You didn’t end us.”

Historical, authentic and family-oriented, WHERE THE ANGELS LIVED tells the tale of a somewhat parallel universe that exists even in the 21st century—dealings with Soviet-style bureaucracy; skepticism; anti-Semitism; and ironically the same sort of isolation and rejection Margaret’s Jewish Hungarian family experienced in 1944 before they were forced into concentration camps. Straddling memoir and reportage, past and present, this story reminds us all that we can escape a country, but we can never escape history.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Margaret McMullan is the author of eight award-winning books including the novel, In My Mother’s House and the anthology, Every Father’s Daughter. Her work has appeared in USA Today, The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, among others. She received a NEA Fellowship and a Fulbright in Hungary to research her new book, Where The Angels Lived: One Family’s Story of Loss, Exile, and Return.

 

Alice and Gerald: A Homicidal Love Story by Ron Franscell

Posted on by CMPR

“Alice & Gerald: A Homicidal Love Story” is going to be the best true crime book you’ll read this year, or in just about any other year. Author Ron Franscell combines exhaustive research and plenty of literary talent to deliver the classic saga of four brutal murders and the decades-long efforts of dogged investigators to bring the married perpetrators to justice. In the process, he reminds the rest of us who write in this genre how it ought to be done.”

—JEFF GUINN, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Manson and The Road to Jonestown

“Compulsively readable. Imminently astonishing. Only Ron Franscell, one of America’s most talented and thoughtful crime writers, could render this story of a deadly and monstrous relationship with both lightning-paced prose and a keen awareness of the psychopathology of his subjects. Bound to be a bestseller.”

—GREGG OLSEN, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Starvation Heights and The Last Thing She Ever Did

“When you read about the dark, murderous secrets of Gerald and Alice Uden, you will think you are reading something Shakespearean. You will also think the story has got to be made up. But it’s all true. Ron Franscell has pulled off an amazing job of research and writing.”

—Skip Hollandsworth, author of The Midnight Assassin: Panic, Scandal and the Hunt for America’s First Serial Killer

“Ron Franscell never disappoints. A disturbing yet mesmerizing read, ‘Alice & Gerald’ kept me turning pages, not wanting to close the book. Meticulously researched and skillfully written, this gripping true crime account of two twisted killers weaves together the threads of four cold-blooded murders committed in the name of a depraved love.”

—Kathryn Casey, bestselling author of In Plain Sight

 

“Wyoming is a place where one can hide and never be found.”

ALICE & GERALD

A Homicidal Love Story

“There are more places to hide dead people than live people will ever find.” That’s partly why Gerald Uden liked Wyoming so much. It was a spot where he could find himself, maybe a job, a place to shoot his guns, but most importantly: a wife. To no one’s surprise, “Gerald Uden liked girls who liked guns.” Even more, he longed for someone who needed him. He longed for companionship. He longed for a family. But three ex-wives and two adopted stepsons later, Gerald continued to strike out with women. By 1976, all he was left with were child support bills issued by his third wife, Virginia…until he met Alice.

Alice Prunty also had terrible luck when it came to marriage. She was married twice before meeting Gerald…or so she originally claimed was only twice. However, unlike Gerald, she didn’t long for someone who needed her. She didn’t long for companionship. She longed for control. And that was exactly what Gerald loved most about her.

 “Alice was an aggressive leader in need of a submissive follower, and Gerald was a cowardly follower who needed a bold leader.”

ALICE & GERALD (Prometheus Books, 978-1633885127, $18.00, Original Trade Paperback) by Ron Franscell tells the riveting true story of the murders, secrets, and lies behind the disappearance of Virginia Uden and her two sons, Richard and Reagan. Nonetheless, a sunny September afternoon and a plan to meet Gerald at “the corner” didn’t seem out of the ordinary to Virginia. When she drove off in her mother’s station wagon that day, she had no idea it would be the last time anyone would ever lay eyes on her or her young sons.

“Just like that, he erased his last connection to Virginia and the boys. In fact, he felt kind of virtuous. Sure, he felt guilty about killing three people who’d once (and in the boys’ case, still) loved him, but they’d become nuisances and he had a new family to raise.”

Enticing, suspenseful and incredibly well-written by award-winning true crime writer Ron Franscell, ALICE & GERALD leaves readers on the edge of their seats as they delve deep into secrecy, uncover vital clues, and learn more about Alice and Gerald’s past relationships in the hopes of uncovering the truth about the murders of Virginia, Richard, and Reagan Uden. While all signs pointed authorities to Gerald, there was no solid evidence to support or deny that he was their killer. What about Alice? What part did she play? After previous hostile threats back and forth with Virginia, it was clear “Alice’s agenda, before, during, and after her crimes, was control.” Franscell paints an astoundingly vivid picture of just how and why the mystery went unsolved for nearly 40 years. So how does it end? Well, just when you thought there was a break in the case, another captivating turn leaves you clinging on to what could be the next telling clue.

“Maybe Gerald and Alice did something so literally unspeakable to the bodies that they don’t dare reveal it. Burned them piece by piece in a trash barrel? Chopped them up and fed them to the pigs?”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: A veteran journalist, Ron Franscell is the author of 17 books, including the Edgar-nominated “Morgue: A Life in Death” and international bestseller “The Darkest Night.”

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A Surgeon’s Odyssey by Richard Moss

Posted on by CMPR

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

“[A SURGEON’S ODYSSEY] belongs on the bookshelf as a modern tale next to the Iliad, the Odyssey, Ulysses, and the biblical Exodus.”
—John F.X. Ryan Jr., Former Managing Director, Sovran Limited and Pac West Distributing Inc., Executive Assistant, Lieutenant Governor, Indiana

“Dr. Moss gives the reader a glimpse of his three-year expedition into an exotic world, a true-life quest that is inspiring, uplifting, and tragic.”
—Danny J. Barrett, Director, International Agreements, Commander, US Naval Forces, Japan

“A fantastic journey through third world Asian medicine, culture, and spirituality. Dr. Moss’s odyssey exposes the reader to people and worlds that would otherwise remain hidden. A must-read for the adventurous!”
—Diane Larson, RN, Charge Nurse of Endoscopy Services, Memorial Hospital Outpatient Surgery Center

“Moss is a captivating storyteller who from the first page masterfully pulls the reader into the world of his life as a young head and neck surgeon…Readers will be swept away in this incredible journey.”
—Kimberly Wagner, Featured Writer at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum and children’s book author

A SURGEON’S ODYSSEY
A Memoir
By Dr. Richard Moss

“Do not forsake your dreams for material security.” This wisdom, inscribed on a fortune cookie in a downtown Manhattan Chinese restaurant, was the catalyst a newly-licensed Dr. Richard Moss needed to book a ticket to Asia and start the next chapter in his life healing people overseas. In his exploratory and moving new memoir, A SURGEON’S ODYSSEY (Archway Books; May 2018), Dr. Moss tells his story of entering the medical field by helping those in need and going on the adventure of a lifetime.

As a 33-year-old surgeon, fresh out of his residency training in Manhattan for Otolaryngology (Ear Nose and Throat), Dr. Moss dedicated 14 years of his life to becoming a doctor and was finally at the point where he could start a practice and earn money. But when a letter from the hospital at Chiang Mai University in Thailand arrived, asking to put his experience to work in their Otolaryngology department, Dr. Moss was at a crossroads…Until fortune stepped in and made him realize what he wanted to do all along.

In A SURGEON’S ODYSSEY, Dr. Moss takes readers along his exciting journey as a young doctor learning to navigate the medical field on a foreign continent, far from his humble beginnings in the Bronx. He shares how, as a cancer surgeon of Jewish faith living in the exotic landscapes of Thailand, Nepal, India, and Bangladesh, he had to teach himself to view situations from different cultural and religious perspectives.

Dr. Moss juggles his responsibility to heal with his bizarre and otherworldly wanderings through Asia, including: Meeting his wife Ying, a Buddhist Thai nurse he married in the context of unexpected and powerful Thai cultural imperatives; encountering the enigmatic Jewish-American Buddhist monk Uttamo living in the jungle at the Thai-Malaysia border; operating on a man by candlelight in Bangladesh when the power cut out in the hospital during a monsoon; motorcycling with Ying through the Himalayas and nearly getting rammed off a cliff by a mother Yak protecting her calf; practicing walking meditation in a forest temple in southern Thailand; surviving one of the worst typhoons and mudslides in modern history; getting shot at by a Burmese soldier when trying to cross the border; pounding a drum all night to ward off evil spirits at a Buddhist ceremony; receiving a prize chicken and newborn goat from a poor family as a token of their gratitude for a surgery performed on a loved one; and getting robbed on a train in India, only for Ying to jump on the thief’s back and successfully retrieve his stolen wallet.

Forgoing comfort and financial security to find himself in a strange but beautiful world, A SURGEON’S ODYSSEY is the unique and inspiring journey of a cancer surgeon who, against conventional wisdom, embarks on a pilgrimage of healing, working under daunting circumstances among some of the most fascinating cultures in the world.

About the Author
RICHARD MOSS, M.D., is a board-certified head and neck surgeon with a private practice in Jasper, Indiana, where he has lived for over 25 years with his wife and four children. Dr. Moss earned his Doctor of Medicine degree at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis.  He is a columnist, a local businessman, and has sought political office. He is also the author of Matilda’s Triumph: A Memoir.

About the Publisher
Simon & Schuster, a company with nearly 90 years of publishing experience, has teamed up with Author Solutions, the leading self-publishing company worldwide, to create Archway Publishing. With unique resources to support books of all kinds, Archway Publishing offers a specialized approach to help every author reach his or her desired audience.

A SURGEON’S ODYSSEY: A Memoir | Dr. Richard Moss
Archway Publishing from Simon & Schuster | May 2018

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Asshole Attorney by Douglas J. Wood

Posted on by CMPR

Asshole Attorney Cover
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

ASSHOLE ATTORNEY
Musings, Memories, and Missteps in a 40 Year Career
By Douglas J. Wood

“Doug, I been practicin’ law for fifty years. And I learned a long time ago, there ain’t no such word as ‘attorney’ or ‘lawyer’. It’s ‘asshole attorney’ or ‘fuckin’ lawyer.’”

Author and entertainment attorney Douglas J. Wood heard this statement from a southern lawyer nearly forty years ago—and it was these words that provided him with the inspiration to write ASSHOLE ATTORNEY: Musings, Memories, and Missteps in a 40 Year Career (June 26th, 2018; Plum Bay Publishing House; ISBN 9780998861722).

ASSHOLE ATTORNEY takes readers on a journey from Wood’s younger years when he was a self-proclaimed “Army Brat,” having moved to eight different homes throughout his childhood. One particularly devastating move for young Doug was when his family relocated from the beautiful beaches of Hawaii to Rutherford, NJ, where he developed his hatred for snow and faced the reality that the “green water in the Passaic River was no comparison to the gin clear waters of Oahu.”

Later, after a college career which included a car accident, a fake ID, and a sympathetic cop, Wood admits he is lucky to be alive and glad that he was able to pursue his legal career with “twenty-four law school rejections under my belt.” Despite that string of rejections and an average GPA in college, Wood tested extremely high on the LSATs.
As luck would have it a brand-new law school opened – the twenty-fifth he applied to – and accepted him on the spot during a phone interview.

“I was a college student who really screwed up, but God and an angel were on my shoulder…I was given a second chance. Most people are not.”

Doug’s madcap journey includes his many insane stories working with out-of-control rock stars; dealing with international crises in the dark alleys of Eastern Europe; life-threatening adventures with businessmen; evading Paris authorities; surviving helicopter crashes; leaping on business opportunities that were unheard of at the time; and a partnership in one of the world’s leading law firms. Throughout the memoir, Wood balances his “asshole attorney” adventures with fond stories about his parents, siblings, wife, children, friends and colleagues.

Readers will be charmed by Wood’s candor and humor and will laugh aloud at his sharp, witty commentary in ASSHOLE ATTORNEY as he navigates the pathways of his life and the jungles of his 40-year profession.

About Plum Bay Publishing House
Plum Bay Publishing is an independent publishing house and hybrid self-publisher. Their goal is to publish titles that will have a positive impact in the world, and provide information and knowledge for all audiences, large and small.

About the Author
Douglas J. Wood is the author of the award-winning Samantha Harrison political trilogy – Presidential Intentions, Presidential Declarations, and Presidential Conclusions. His non-fiction books include the popular text Please Be Ad-Vised: A Legal Reference Guide for the Advertising Executive, now in its seventh edition, and 101 Things I Want to Say…the Collection, a book of fatherly advice to his children. A partner at Reed Smith LLP, he has over 40 years of experience practicing entertainment and media law. He works in New York, lives in New Jersey with his wife of 44 plus years, and is currently working on a new novel about cyberwar and financial terrorism scheduled to be published in 2019. For more information, visit his website www.douglasjwood.com.

ASSHOLE ATTORNEY | Musings, Memories, and Missteps in a 40-Year Career
By Douglas J. Wood | Plum Bay Publishing House | Publication Date June 26th, 2018
ISBN 9780998861722 | Hardcover, Paperback and E-Book | Price $22.99, $14.99, $9.99 | 240 Pages

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