A VIEW TO DIE FOR
by Richard Houston
Kindle Edition
File Size: 452 KB
Print Length: 223 pages
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Language: English
Amazon Link
Synopsis:
When the phone rings at two-thirty in the morning, it is one of three things: someone is in jail, someone has died, or in the hospital. When my phone rang that fateful Sunday, it was all of the above.
A View to Die For is a mystery novel of a divorced, over-forty, outsourced software engineer, Jacob Martin and his dog, Fred, who leave their Colorado retreat to help out family. His sister has been arrested for the black-widow murder of her fourth dead husband and his father is on life-support. Jacob tries to solve who really killed his sister's husband, but not after hunting for a stash of gold coins buried by Jesse James, and a brief love affair with a beautiful nurse.
This is the first book in a series with Jacob Martin. It's not a police or hard-crime series, but more in line with the Burglar series of Lawerence Block, or Sue Grafton's Kinsie Millhone – there is no graphic sex or violence. Readers say it makes them laugh and cry while trying to figure out who-done-it.
Excerpt
The cave itself looked more like an Anasazi cliff dwelling than the dark hole I had envisioned. It was simply a very large, deep depression in the limestone bluff. Fred had managed to make it to the cave before me – several times before me, in fact. He would run ahead, turn around and look at me as if to say, “Are you coming slowpoke?” then come back to see what was taking me so long.
That’s when I saw the footprints. A cold chill came over me and stopped me dead in my own tracks. We were not alone. The prints had to be fresh because they were as deep and visible as mine and Fred’s. There were none of the tell-tale marks of boots or tennis shoes. The stranger must be wearing street or dress shoes or the prints would have left grooves like my hiking boots. Fred stood at my side panting while I tried to listen for the intruder. “Quiet, boy,” I whispered. It did no good. I couldn’t hear anything besides Fred’s panting. Whoever had been here before us was gone now.
I followed the foot-prints to the cave. Other than a still damp spot next to the wall of the cliff where someone had recently relieved himself, there wasn’t much else to see. There were no signs of digging or anything – just the spot on the wall and ground. I went up to the wall and made my own contribution; not so much to mark my territory, but to gauge the height of the intruder. I figured he had to be less than six feet tall because his spot was several inches below mine. Of course, he could have been much more endowed than I, in which case all bets on height assessment were off.
It's still hard to accept to this day, but in retrospect, getting arrested on June 13, 1998 very well may have been a blessing in disguise.
If this is indeed true, then writing my book, Jew in Jail, served to be even more therapeutic to deal with my disease of addiction - alcohol, drugs, and compulsive gambling - than I could ever had imagined, not to mention the low self-esteem and self-confidence I was toiling around with for years too.
I experienced a normal childhood. My parents provided everything I ever wanted. I had a top-notch education, was an excellent athlete, popular with the girls, funny, and seemingly without a care in the world.
Little did I know or realize at the time, but I felt inferior to those around me, although I never displayed any outward signs of it.
Rather, I began to dabble with alcohol and drugs, all the while continuing to excel in school and later in the business world.
It wasn't until I started working at CBS Sports in the early 1980's and "took up" gambling that my world slowly came crashing down on me.
I figured I found something that I thought I could use my brain to succeed at where so many others before me had tried and failed.
Between my alcohol and drug use, and time spent studying statistics and trends in sports and horse racing, I quickly became consumed and lost all interest in work and women.
I went from job to job - CBS TV to NBC TV, and other media companies - until the only place I went to in June of 1998 for nearly six years was straight to jail for robbery.
My addiction had caused me to do the unthinkable: robbing some unsuspecting, hardworking people in order to pay off my gambling debts.
While incarcerated, I did the usual stuff inmates do on a daily basis, like working out, going to the law library, hanging out in the yard, and making pennies on the dollar holding a prison job!
However, I did one thing that practically NOBODY else does while behind bars. I wrote a book, namely Jew in Jail, which details all of the trials and tribulations I experienced as a minority behind bars while fending for myself and attempting to recover from my past addictions.
By physically writing my book as I was doing my time (under the most difficult conditions imaginable), instead of waiting until I was home a free man, it served to be very therapeutic as far as allowing me to become introspective and come to grips with why I had become an underachiever and was living with such low self-esteem.
These days, I not only promote Jew in Jail, both in person around the country, as well as via my radio interviews and guest blog posts, but also deliver motivational & inspirational speeches on recovery from addiction to help others who are either still sick and suffering from this terrible disease, or young and possibly heading down this same destructive path themselves.
It seems so silly now to think back to how I was when I didn't have much self-esteem, especially considering how I was able to land such great jobs and climb the corporate ladder with those prominent companies that I worked for in the first place.
But that is all in the past, and what I know now is that I - like everyone reading this right now - possess greatness, and can do anything I put my mind to.
My passion these days is helping others, and it gives me more satisfaction than mere words could ever describe.
So whether you spend your time writing, selling cars, keeping house, being an accountant, fashion designer, chef, secretary, or any other profession in the world, the fact remains there is nothing you cannot do either, as long as you are healthy and happy in your own skin.
A $100 bill starts out crispy when it is produced at the mint, and over time, becomes crumpled, gets stepped on, dirty, and changes hands - but NEVER, EVER loses its value.
We, as human beings, are the same way. Throughout life, we may be bumped, bruised, stepped on, pushed around, or even locked up.
However, no matter what, we are all still valuable, unique individuals who are loved and have so much to offer society.
Therefore, always remember that there will never be another person exactly like you in this world.
It's time to be that shining star you were born to be!
JEW IN JAIL
by Gary Goldstein
CreateSpace
Pages: 719
Amazon Link
Synopsis:
JEW IN JAIL is the true story of the nearly six years that I spent incarcerated in various correctional facilities throughout the state of New York. It deals with my attempts at recovery from past addictions to alcohol, drugs and gambling, as well as my efforts to turn my life around in hopes of becoming a solid citizen and successful member of society upon my release. In addition, my book also provides insight into how I, as a minority in prison, was forced to fend for myself against all of the mistreatment at the hands of the powers that be from the Department Of Correctional Services in this "world within the real world," as well as the daily grind of doing time with hardened criminals, many of whom I felt no close connection to, all the while continuing to fight for the true justice I strongly felt I wasn't afforded during my lower court proceedings.
Follow Gary Goldstein:
http://www.jewinjail.com/
http://www.facebook.com/jewinjail
http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/4314781
http://twitter.com/gary_goldstein
http://www.linkedin.com/profile/edit?trk=hb_tab_pro_top
http://pinterest.com/gman18nyc/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE4DFCbXRF4&feature=plcp
2013 Your New Astrology? Horoscopes - Chinese And Western Predictions: The Water Snake Year Monthly Forecasts For All 24 Zodiac Signs
Author: Suzanne White
Paperback: 358 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (January 22, 2013)
Amazon Link
Kindle Edition
File Size: 1105 KB
Print Length: 359 pages
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1481895508
Publisher: SUZANNE WHITE (November 21, 2012)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Amazon Link
About the book:
Once again, Suzanne White brings us her ingenious “New Astrology” Predictions for the next 12 months. This exciting new book is offers lengthy, detailed, month-by-month horoscopes for every sign (Western and Chinese).
We each have two signs – AN ANIMAL YEAR SIGN AND A WESTERN SUN SIGN. Suzanne White’s brilliant NEW ASTROLOGY™ is the fusion of both. With this amazing book, a Leo born in an Ox year will know what will happen to her all throughout 2013 as well as what will be going on in the life of her Scorpio born Goat sweetheart and for her kids, her boss, her family, her friends and her enemies.
Suzanne White is the world renowned high priestess of Chinese and Western astrologies. She is always fun to read. And… she is uncannily accurate. This dazzling book offers readers over 100,000 words of crucial information about and forecasts for each and every astrological sign both Chinese and Western. Find out what’s in store for you and yours in the sultry, highly charged and charming WATER SNAKE YEAR 2013.
Purchase your copy:
AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | SMASHWORDS
About the author:
Hi, I'm Suzanne White, an American author. I live in France. Every summer I travel and write books in someone else's house. I swap my place in Provence for houses in California or Ireland or Italy or Prague or Buenos Aires or Beijing or Bangalore. I have been a college professor, a fashion model, a journalist, an interpreter, a novelist, a fireworks salesperson, director of a Parisian Couture boutique, an elevator operator, a shoe salesperson, a single mother and a simultaneous translator. Best thing I ever did was write books. My readers have dubbed me "The High Priestess" of Chinese and Western Astrologies. I am flattered. No. I am overjoyed. And proud.
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