A wannabe criminal who could when he chose draw like an angel, Stéphane Mandelbaum (1961–1986) was the child of two artists, bequeathed at birth the heritage of two genocides. Relatives of his Polish Jewish grandfather were murdered during World War II; relatives of his mother, of Armenian descent, were massacred during the ethnic cleansing of […]
Original source: https://www.nybooks.com/online/2024/02/25/kish-mir-in-tuchus-mandelbaum/
The day before Super Bowl LVIII, as I made my way to Las Vegas’s Mandalay Bay Convention Center for the “Super Bowl Experience,” a Toyota-sponsored sprawl of activities and exhibitions celebrating professional football, I was pleased to have finally encountered an intersection where pedestrians might conceivably cross the street. Along the Las Vegas Strip, I’d […]
Original source: https://www.nybooks.com/online/2024/02/25/imperial-era-super-bowl-las-vegas/
The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted here @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead. Join in weekly, bi-weekly or for a monthly wrap up. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme
I am horribly behind on everything not work related. It’s frustrating, mostly because I cannot shake the fatigue. I filed our taxes, so at least that chore is done. Our weather was very spring like this week and rumor has it we will hit the 70s on Monday before cold temps and snow swoops in on Wednesday. Guess mother nature is gearing up for March to rear its head like a lion. Stay Caffeinated.
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Original source: https://caffeinatedbookreviewer.com/2024/02/sunday-post-616-behind.html
Multi-Billion-Dollar Pet Food Fraud: Hiding in Plain Sight provides pet owners with valuable information based on extensive research that could save the lives of their pets. Why was this an important book for you to write?
In the early 1990s, I drew attention to the environmental footprint of the pet food industry/vet alliance; blew the whistle on the alliance’s animal cruelty and consumer fraud, and, noting the importance of a raw meaty bones diet, suggested a new scientific hypothesis of health and disease. New concepts with greater explanatory and predictive powers merit debate and dissemination. However, the simple, self-evident truths with immense implications were not enough to ‘shift the dial.’
So began a decades-long struggle with the pet food industry, the veterinary profession, media, politicians, and regulatory bodies. Book writers, internet pundits, and opportunists created further layers of propaganda and misinformation. Rather than extol the essential benefits of a raw meaty bones diet and campaign against the industrial pet food makers, they created niche markets for their vegetable and minced meat concoctions. Contrasted with industrial junk, their pronouncements and products appeared deceptively superior. Unfortunately, pets and their owners were further hoodwinked and held to ransom.
Concerned at the cacophony of competing voices and the need for change, in 2001, I published Raw Meaty Bones: Promote Health. But it was not enough, and in 2005 I published Work Wonders: Feed Your Dog Raw Meaty Bones in the hope that good sense, at least in respect to feeding dogs, would prevail.
As one last effort, I felt compelled to write Multi-Billion-Dollar Pet Food Fraud and thereby complete the Raw Meaty Bones Trilogy with two interlocking objectives:
i.) Provide comprehensive educational resources for pet owners, vets, and the community.
ii.) Provide context and structure for the struggle against animal cruelty and consumer fraud.
STOP PRESS
The future arrived early. Lessons of the book are due to play out in a Kansas courtroom.
In February 2024, Keto Natural Pet Foods filed a $2.6 billion class action lawsuit against Hill’s Science Diet and their vet conspirators. In 124 pages the suit describes a ‘civil conspiracy’ that reflects overlapping themes in the book. Hill’s are depicted as villains who cherry-pick the evidence. However, Keto (un) Natural and small manufacturers make bogus claims too. Can the court decide whose lies are the more credible? Time will tell.
How much research did you undertake for this book, and how much time did it take to put it all together?
The book was written in 2021. It was edited, proofread, illustrated, designed, and typeset in 2022. The book launch, promotion, and marketing took place in 2023. The writing was the easy part. Having campaigned, lived, and breathed the wonders of feeding raw meaty bones for the previous 30 years, I did not need to do much more research. Here and there, I needed references which, in the current day, are easily obtained through internet searches.
What were some ideas that were important for you to share in this book?
A wise medical educator told his students that 50% of what the medical profession believed was true, and the other 50% was untrue. But, he said, they did not know which 50% was which! That’s the style of healthy scepticism I hoped to engender with the series of parables in the book enabling the reader to develop a better understanding of pet care and veterinary services. I wanted the lessons of the book to be transported into other aspects of readers’ lives; to arm and protect them against propagandists everywhere.
I wanted to reveal the pet food industry business model that commenced in the 1860s. Dogs, modified wolves, are promoted as little more than furry toys with daily needs met by products conveniently arranged on the supermarket shelf. Unfortunately, both pets and their owners become habituated to products and practices with adverse health effects for the pets and financial burdens for their owners.
However, rather than rescue the pets and their owners from a cruel fate, the business model of the veterinary profession is to welcome a vast population of ‘fur babies’ suffering a range of diet-induced diseases. As a quid pro quo, vets extol the alleged benefits of industrial junk whilst simultaneously denigrating the nutritional and medicinal benefits of a natural diet. Assisted by the fake animal welfare groups, vets provide a protective cordon around the pet food industry. Besides the obvious revenue benefits for vets, the pet food industry buys allegiance with grants and sponsorships to vet schools, associations, and conferences. Welfare and rescue groups take hush money, and all is quiet on every front—just the way the industrial pet food makers like it.
What is one thing that you hope readers take away from Multi-Billion-Dollar Pet Food Fraud: Hiding in Plain Sight?
I hope readers will be glad that they read the book, return to it in their thoughts, and refer to it often.
Author Links: Goodreads | Linkedin | Amazon
From tartar-encrusted teeth and stinking breath to weakened immunity and a host of diseases, our pets are being harmed by the highly processed ‘junk pet food’ we place in their bowls.
Manufacturers and vets selectively disregard scientific facts, pushing money-making products and services that cost us billions and, ultimately, our pets their lives.
It’s a fraud of epic proportions.
Based on decades of rigorous research and astute observation, Multi-Billion-Dollar Pet Food Fraud by whistleblower vet and natural feeding advocate Dr Tom Lonsdale provides the tools and guidance to help you keep your pets healthy and happy.
It explains why raw meaty bones are both nutritious and nature’s medicine, supported by a wealth of case studies and testimonials from grateful pet owners.
And it exposes the shameful failings of pet food manufacturers, veterinary practices, and veterinary schools intent on keeping us in the dark.
It’s time to blow away the smokescreen for your pet’s and wallet’s sake. Are you ready?
Original source: https://literarytitan.com/2024/02/25/a-decades-long-struggle/
Nurse Florence, What is Multiple Sclerosis? follows a young girl with a cousin who has MS and goes to her favorite school nurse to learn more about the condition. Why was this an important topic for you to write on?
The Nurse Florence® series will address all diseases, so this was eventually going to be written. The illustrator said MS affects her family, so we decided to go ahead and do this book with Angel. I try to assign topics to illustrators which affect them personally so that there is more motivation and inspiration for them while completing the illustrations.
Your book offers a comprehensive yet accessible exploration of multiple sclerosis, covering its definition, impact, and symptoms. What is the most important thing you want young readers to know about living with Multiple Sclerosis?
We attempt to be very thorough with every disease book in the Nurse Florence series so that the disease book will be the only needed book by a family to purchase in order to inform and educate all family members. With every book I write, I also get educated about something I did not know. From my research, I found out that an increase in body temperature can trigger an MS episode. Also, people with low levels of vitamin D have an increased risk to develop the disease, so this stresses the importance of people eating a balanced diet so that they get all of their vitamins and minerals they need for a healthy life.
As an author, what has been your favorite memory or experience in sharing the Nurse Florence® series with children?
At the Tucson Festival of Books in March 2023, we had our first fan come up to the table. The mom walked over with her child and told her, “Look there’s Nurse Florence!” After talking with them, they have been checking out every Nurse Florence® title they could get from the local library. We hope to inspire a whole new generation of kids into the health science professions.
Who has been the biggest supporter of your writing?
My wife, Perla. She believes completely in the project and has allowed me to get the family into some debt to help launch the series. She is also the Latin American Spanish translator for the series. I could not do this without her love and support. I’m a lucky man!
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Website | YouTube | Harvard Bookstore | Amazon
Original source: https://literarytitan.com/2024/02/25/inspire-a-whole-new-generation/
Finding Poetry, Finding Me explores through poetry and art the world around you and the relationships you have with yourselves and others. What inspired this collection of poetry for you and why was it important to share with the world?
This collection of poetry was inspired by a drive to create. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, I had the privilege to support approximately 35 authors on their book publishing journeys and realized through this process that I, too, had a story to share. I tossed and turned for months on end about what I wanted to work on and what I wanted my contribution to the literary space to be. Concurrently, I was spending time weekly with a writing group working on honing my craft, and in this space, I was often working on prose or poetry. Ultimately, a large amount of the poems in this collection were written during NANOWRIMO 2022 or just after. I see this collection as the product of a myriad of my life experiences to this point. I truly believe that at the core, we all have a story to share, and I really felt compelled to share mine in the hopes that it would empower someone else to share theirs.
What were some ideas that were important for you to share in this collection of poetry?
One of the most important things I have learned while learning about the power of poetry is to stop and use my five senses. A lot of my work revolves around the fact that I often struggle to stay present in the moment and stopping to realize that was actually incredibly empowering. It allowed me to be able to write about moments of my life, both positive and negative, with a lens of realism and truth. I hope to convey to readers that they are not alone, that despite horrible things that are going on in our world there is still beauty, and that sometimes just picking up a pen and writing can be the answer that our brain, body, and soul are crying out for.
The artwork and poetry appear to be harmoniously integrated with each other. I am curious to know if the artwork was specifically created to complement the poetry or if it was a natural fit. Would you be able to elaborate on the relationship between the artwork and poetry, and about their creation process?
I decided I wanted to add simple visuals to some of the poems to add another entrance point for my readers and to enhance the way we think about and respond to poetry. My publisher and I worked together over several months to find illustrators and illustrations that worked with certain poems. I couldn’t be happier with how it all turned out.
What is the next book you are working on, and when can your fans expect it to be out?
Currently, I am still writing poetry as often as I can, but I have also been working on some playwriting since the publishing of Finding Poetry, Finding Me. I hope to publish a second poetry collection, but it likely won’t be before 2025 as I spend the next year focused on marketing, supporting, and speaking about this current collection. I love writing poetry and writing in general, and I hope I have the privilege to work on another book soon.
Author Links: GoodReads | Instagram | RebeccaPaigeEditor | Linktree | Amazon
In Finding Poetry, Finding Me, author Rebecca P. Bruckenstein explores the world around her and the relationships we have with ourselves and each other. She allows the musicality of poetry to infuse the way she walks in the world, stepping in and out of the past, present, and future. Through her work, she hopes readers will turn inward to discover a roadmap to finding their own personal connection to poetry. The poems in this collection range from childhood memories to the residual effects felt after the global COVID-19 pandemic, telling the story of life, friendship, pain, and self-discovery. This illustrated poetry book showcases that poetry can be found everywhere around us.
Original source: https://literarytitan.com/2024/02/25/a-myriad-of-my-life-experiences/
Into the BeanStalk is the story of a woman determined to save her family from debt who finds herself working alongside an infamous hacker as they set out to uncover secrets of the city’s upper class. Where did the idea for this novel come from?
I have to call it “spontaneous synergy.” I was actually working on a heroic fantasy novel when the idea for Into the BeanStalk struck out of nowhere. And the seed was entirely a play on words — the idea of some hacker “jacking into” something called The BeanStalk.
From there, hundreds of latent ideas in my head started to attach themselves to the story. Even though I wasn’t planning to write science fiction, I enjoy studying emerging science. After spending hundreds of hours reading about everything from cybernetics to biohacking to theoretical physics, I’d banked away tons of narrative growth medium without even realizing it.
My own ideas about the future of government and the trajectory of society were, of course, already locked and loaded in the forefront of my mind. Interjecting these ideas was not only simple but cathartic.
What I’ve learned is that science fiction and futurism are a great way to play out scenarios and theories that have taken root in my head over decades. Along with the third Jack book, I’m also working on a novel that takes place in the Hope Megacity that is entirely focused on my research and beliefs regarding the Simulation Hypothesis, for example. This is a deep — and deeply misunderstood — subject that I’ve tried to write about unsuccessfully many times. But by wrapping it in an engaging fiction, I’ve learned how to express these unusual ideas in a compelling and accessible way.
What were some challenges you felt were important to defining your characters in this story?
I didn’t want to write “typical” cyberpunk. I won’t claim to be a genre expert by any means, but I’ve found that many modern cyberpunk stories are centered around fairly abrasive characters. They’re often aggressive, reactive, obscene, and generally no fun for me to read about.
While it’s true that cyberpunk is often summarized as “high tech, low life,” I think some writers take that too literally. I’m someone who has spent considerable time in the “low life” reaches of reality, and I’ve never had a hard time finding decent, intelligent people who have been marginalized.
In fact, I find that distinction to be key to highlighting the class struggle and societal issues that cyberpunk seeks to critique. Of course, drug-dealing gangers are marginalized — but what about the latent genius who was bored by the corporate advancement trajectory? Or the musician? Or the people who simply want to live by their own rules not because they’re degenerates, but because they’re unique and inspired?
If cyberpunk is to serve as a warning for where we’re headed, it’s important to show that corruption and control are omnivores. They don’t just feed on criminals and outcasts — they devour everyone.
The writing in your story is very artful and creative. Was it a conscious effort to create a story in this fashion, or is this style of writing reflective of your writing style in general?
First of all, thank you. I think at this point my writing style has solidified into something that just happens naturally. That said, I do have a little dial in my head that I’m able to turn up or down at will. I suppose you could call it a “purple prose” dial.
Depending on the story, I may write more or less descriptively. Shorter stories, thrillers, and action scenes have less room for metaphor and flowery prose, and I try to adjust accordingly.
The trick is that brevity can’t be an excuse for poor writing. When I get compliments about detail and description on something where I’ve tried to keep the prose spare, I know I’m doing something right.
What is the next book you are working on, and when will it be available?
I’m working on several, actually. The most likely to hit the shelves first is The Game State, which is the aforementioned novel set in Jack’s universe. This one is really important to me because I have some very strong opinions on the Simulation Hypothesis that have been brewing for years. I know that it’s the right time for these ideas to be released into the wild. That said, I’m doing a lot more rewriting and polishing on it than I did with Jack’s first two books, simply because it’s such a passion project. I’m hoping to have it published within the next three months.
I’m also working on Jack’s third book, the final in this trilogy arc. It’s about twenty-five percent written and ninety percent outlined. I will give one spoiler — this trilogy will not be the end of some of these characters’ journeys.
Lastly, I have a couple of side projects that came about when I started exploring LitRPG. One is a novel set inside a fantasy MMO game, and the other is an action episodic series set inside an online looter/shooter. Not gonna lie — I found it really fun writing about people trapped inside video games!
Author Links: GoodReads | Website | Amazon
A corrupt megacity. A broken world. A girl who can no longer afford to hide from her past.
Jack is a techie and long-time shut-in, driven to save her father from corporate servitude. That means getting her hands on scrip, and lots of it. Going into debt with the most violent bikers in Hope Megacity will get her the cybernetic limbs she needs to overcome her disabilities, but that’s only the beginning.
A vicious betrayal, a lethal cyberattack, and some broken neural hardware has Jack seeing things — namely a huge column of light climbing all the way to the Global Corporations’ city in the clouds. She’ll need to join up with the city’s most notorious hacker to find out what the elite are hiding from the millions of people living under their feet.
Action, suspense, and wit, presented in an accessible take on the genre. If you like complex worlds of near-future tech, dystopian struggle, and memorable characters, you’ll love Into the BeanStalk!
Original source: https://literarytitan.com/2024/02/25/corruption-and-control-are-omnivores/
Formosan Vampire, by Amadeus Rockefeller, offers a riveting narrative that interweaves the lives of two markedly different characters. Seth, a centuries-old vampire, languishes in prison, haunted by a past rich in conquests, conflicts, and losses. Known previously as the formidable leader of the Dark Order, he finds himself on death row, reflecting on a life marked by horror and regret.
In stark contrast is Eunice, a 26-year-old paralegal, whose experience with racism and derogatory treatment in her youth fuels her ambition in the legal field. Her path crosses with Seth’s when she interviews him, uncovering tales of ancient vampire kingdoms and Seth’s former glory. Their interaction unveils a history marred by the fall of civilizations and governmental corruption, and an unexpected bond forms between them amidst Seth’s psychological ploys.
Rockefeller’s novel is characterized by its sophisticated characters and a plethora of themes that add depth to the narrative. While the book’s length may initially seem intimidating, it quickly draws the reader into its complex world. The narrative, while occasionally pausing in its suspense, is enriched by vivid descriptions and a deep exploration of vampire lore, which together weave a captivating and immersive world. The story is particularly appealing to those with a penchant for horror, offering just enough gore to maintain a gripping atmosphere. The fusion of historical elements with the vampire theme adds an intriguing layer to the story.
Formosan Vampire is a compelling read for anyone fascinated by the lore of vampires and complex character dynamics. Those interested in a novel that blends horror, history, and intricate character studies will find this book a noteworthy addition to their reading list.
Pages: 548 | ASIN : B0CQVYMZHJ
Original source: https://literarytitan.com/2024/02/25/formosan-vampire/