A Surgeon’s Odyssey by Richard Moss

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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Humpty Trumpty Hit a Brick Wall by David Finkle

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

April 20th, 2017
Twitter, twitter, twitter, twitter—
Donald Trump’s a heavy hitter.
When he’s feeling crossed and bitter,
He dispenses all that litter.
Twitter, twitter, twitter, twitter
Goes that clearly nutty critter,
Causing all of us to titter,
“He just needs a baby-sitter.”
Add this to the Trump con list:
Making cash hand over fist,
Like that big DC hotel.
Tax returns? So far, no tell.

HUMPTY TRUMPTY HIT A BRICK WALL
Donald J. Trump’s First White House Year in Verse
By David Finkle
Illustrated by Roberta Granzen

Depressed and defeated, facing the inauguration day of a new U.S. President he calls “flabbergastingly unfit for office,” David Finkle, author of People Tell Me Things and The Man With the Overcoat, put thought and pen to the internet and posted a series of opinion-driven quatrains on Facebook. He decided to post daily until he had exactly a year and a day of Donald Trump’s first year in office.

Now, just in time for tax return season (Trump’s tax returns? So far, no tell), these humorous poems are available in a new book HUMPTY TRUMPTY HIT A BRICK WALL: Donald J. Trump’s First White House Year in Verse (Plum Bay Publishing; April 2018; ISBN 9780998861753), with illustrations by Roberta Granzen. Readers will recognize “Humpty Trumpty” along with satirical characters familiar to us in the form of nursery rhymes like Ivanka Trump as Little Miss Muffet and Steve Bannon as a troll.

In a world where the inflammatory nature of day-to-day politics has put people on edge, readers will find a reprieve while they laugh, grin, and occasionally weep their way through Finkle’s engaging rhymes that recall these characters’ ups-and-downs from the past year.

Heads-of-state, chiefs-of-staff, senators, the FBI, and more are rifled with original and humorous illustrations in HUMPTY TRUMPTY HIT A BRICK WALL, headlining each month’s collection, from Inauguration Day 2017 until January 20th, 2018.

HUMPTY TRUMPTY HIT A BRICK WALL | Donald J. Trump’s First White House Year in Verse
By David Finkle | Illustrated by Roberta Granzen | Plum Bay Publishing | Publication Date April 2018
ISBN 9780998861753 | Paperback | $11.95 | 144 Pages

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Asshole Attorney by Douglas J. Wood

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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The Slave by Anand Dilvar

Already a publishing phenomenon, having had rights sold in 28 countries and selling 1.8 million copies so far, THE SLAVE: A spiritual manifesto for a better way of life by Anand Dílvar is about to be released in the U.S. on January 7, 2018.  From Goodreads to blogs to print publications, early readers and reviewers are touting the profound nature of Dilvar’s story and the importance of its meaning:

From Foreword Magazine:

“THE SLAVE by Anand Dílvar deftly combines a fictional narrative with inspiring philosophy and advice, resulting in a spiritual self-help book that delivers uplifting wisdom…The book frankly spells out the meaning of life in the vein of The Alchemist. Expansive ideas, including individuality, superficiality, love, and the afterlife, are dealt with in a way that is simple yet persuasive.”

From Amy of Novel Gossip:

“This book is way out of my comfort zone and not at all like anything I would normally read, but when I was approached about receiving a copy I was intrigued. It’s a short read, but it packs an almighty punch and definitely forces you to think on a deep level.” 

From Sveta of Sveta’s Reads and Views:

“I’ve rarely read such a profound and beautiful book about humanity and how we should take responsibilities for our actions. The book is short, the writing style is simple yet beautiful, and the story could be read in a day or so, although understanding it is another matter.” 

THE SLAVE is the story of a nameless narrator who is trapped in a vegetative state following a terrible accident that has paralyzed his whole body. Unable to communicate with friends and family, he begins an inner conversation with his spiritual guide, which leads him onto an emotional and raw journey of self-realization.

About the Author

Anand Dílvar’s lifelong fascination with the techniques for human growth has led him to more than eighteen countries, where he has visited and met many spiritual teachers. He is founder of the Vision Quest Center in Valle Bravo, Mexico, a Meditation Center, where for over fifteen years he has run conferences, retreats and seminars. In Mexico, he is regularly invited to appear on radio and TV to share his approach to what he calls the Revolution in Consciousness.

The Slave
By Anand Dílvar
Shelter Harbor Press
January 2018
ISBN 9781627951043
Paperback with jacket
$16.95
128 Pages

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Second Story Man by Charles Salzberg

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

“Salzberg has perfected the existential crime novel.”
—Hank Phillippi Ryan, Anthony, Agatha, and Mary Higgins Clark Award-Winning Author

“From one absorbing character to another, this is a gripping and totally rewarding read.”
—David Swinson, author of The Second Girl and Crime Song

“Salzberg is a superb wordsmith, with an honest ear for dialogue, and a delight in plot twists. If you’re not already a Salzberg fan, read this book; you will become one.”
—Michael Sears, Edgar Award Nominee and Shamus Award Winner for Black Friday

SECOND STORY MAN
By Charles Salzberg

Is a serial criminal good at his job? Are the detectives who hunt him determined to win? How different are these three calculating personalities or is the only thing that sets them apart whether they operate inside or outside of the law?

In Charles Salzberg’s critically-acclaimed literary thriller Devil in the Hole, detective Charlie Floyd was obsessed with catching an abominable murderer. Now not-so comfortably settled into being recently retired, he is abruptly drawn back into the game by Cuban-born Miami police detective Manny Perez, who is on a mission to catch a notoriously elusive thief. Knowing how attached Floyd can become to a suspect, Perez is going to enjoy watching him work in Salzberg’s new crime novel, SECOND STORY MAN (March 26th, 2018; Down & Out Books; $17.95; ISBN 978-1-946502-55-1) due out in Spring 2018.

“I am a thief. Not just a run-of-the-mill, knock you over the head and steal your wallet thief, but the best damn thief in the whole goddamn world,” is how the infamous Francis Hoyt describes himself. He doesn’t leave a trail—paper or otherwise—and he always thinks ten steps ahead of the authorities and his sketchy business associates. He smirks in the face of apprehension, taking on more intricate and dangerous jobs just to prove how great he is at his work.

To Catch a Thief

Working together as an unlikely team, Perez and Floyd act on a rumor that Hoyt is about to depart the wealthy homes of Florida to begin a string of robberies in the northeast. Confident they are hot on their prey’s trail, the two detectives embark on their quest only to have Hoyt elude their grasp time and time again.

“When we find him…who’s going to be good cop and who’s going to be bad cop?”

“With Francis Hoyt, we will both have to be bad.”

Hoyt, realizing he is being pursued, deftly plans a scheme that pinpoints his location in several places at once, but never his actual whereabouts. As Floyd and Perez sniff around Hoyt’s shady friends and associates, Hoyt’s manic pride is fueled by his success at eluding capture.

Will his overfed ego and pride be the end of his story? Does a man so consumed by power still have friends who can save him from himself? Or is he too far gone for help?

SECOND STORY MAN is the perfect complement to a competitive culture where success is everything and the ends always seem to justify the means. With humor, suspense, intrigue, and while looking through a window into the human psyche, Charles Salzberg delivers a gripping cat-and-mouse tale. His contemporary noir-style makes SECOND STORY MAN a crime novel that fans of the genre will be eager to read.

About the Publisher
Founded in 2011, Down & Out Books is an independent publisher of award-winning literary and crime fiction based in Tampa, Florida.

About the Author
Charles Salzberg is a novelist, journalist, and acclaimed writing instructor. He is the author of the Henry Swann detective series, including Swann’s Last Song which was nominated for a Shamus Award for Best First PI Novel and Devil in the Hole, which was named one of the best crime novels of 2013 by Suspense magazine. He has taught writing at Sarah Lawrence College, Hunter College, the Writer’s Voice, and the New York Writers Workshop, where he is a Founding Member. His writing has appeared in the New York Times Book Review, Los Angeles Times, Esquire, New York Magazine, and GQ. He lives in New York City.

SECOND-STORY MAN | By Charles Salzberg | Published by Down & Out Books
Release Date: March 26, 2018 | ISBN 978-1-946502-55-1
Trade Paperback $17.95 | E-Book $7.99 | 284 Pages

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