Today's Featured Books
We Are Alpha Dogs by Doug Bowers
Spotlight on NBA All-Time Greats Vol 2 from Press Box Books
NBA All-Time Greats, Set 2
$71.60 Set of Eight Paperback
From $7.49 each (For individual books, click on the book covers, below.)
From the pioneers of the 1950s to the global superstars of today, the NBA has always been home to supremely talented players. Get to know the best of the best from your favorite teams through the years. This compelling series is sure to hook readers from the start. The NBA All-Time Greats series is written for children ages 7-10. The eight books in NBA All-Time Greats, Set 2, include books about the Atlanta Hawks, Brooklyn Nets, Cleveland Cavaliers, Denver Nuggets, Miami Heat, New York Knicks, Phoenix Suns, and Utah Jazz.
Also available: NBA All-Time Greats, Set 1, which includes books about the Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks, Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers, Portland Trailblazers, San Antonio Spurs, and Toronto Raptors.
Coming soon: NBA All-Time Greats, Set 3, which will cover the Charlotte Hornets, Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers, Memphis Grizzlies, Minnesota Timberwolves, New Orleans Pelicans, Oklahoma City Thunder, Orlando Magic, Sacramento Kings, and Washington Wizards.
Spotlight on I'm Never Fine by Joseph Lezza
Congratulations to Joseph Lezza and Vine Leaves Press on the release of I'm Never Fine, "a beautiful tribute, full of raw and honest humanity, that makes the reader feel a little less alone.” ~Stephanie Wittels Wachs, author of Everything Is Horrible and Wonderful.
I'm Never Fine by Joseph Lezza
NEW RELEASE: February 21, 2023From $6.49
In I'm Never Fine, a collage memoir of essays and poetry, Joseph Lezza shouts in the dark from the backseat of a stranger’s car, a ditch on the Italian coast, a forest outside the arctic, and from the bottom of a shaving cream can.When Joseph caught himself wishing necrotizing skin infections upon unhurried retirees in the self-checkout lane, and fantasized about loud-talking commuters making quick friends with the underside of a steamroller, he began to wonder if he was fine.
Of all the things Joseph Lezza could have been, he certainly wasn't fine.
The “fine” he’d adopted watching his father succumb to cancer was beginning to wane. It could no longer be used as a shield to melt the face off of anyone who dared inquire. All the “fines” prophesized in every article, every book, and every inspirational meme—courtesy of every armchair expert with a pulse and internet connection—had lost their value.
When Joseph realized he was facing a future that would find him standing over the carcass of an overzealous Costco greeter, one thing became clear: moving on required looking back.
This memoir is an autopsy of perceived missteps, a conclusion to unfinished conversations, and a reframing of flawed judgments through the eyes of a young man in search of a feeling. Search for that feeling with Joseph Lezza in I'm Never Fine.
Praise for I'm Never Fine
“Lezza’s debut memoir is a riot...a tender, hysterical, sharply-rendered and often surprising portrait of love and grief from a talented new voice. Joseph Lezza is a writer to watch.” ~Edgar Gomez, author of High Risk Homosexual
“A standout piece of work. This is tough and true and so well considered. A magnificent achievement.” ~Russell T. Davies, award-winning writer and creator of Queer as Folk and Doctor Who
“Adeptly managing to weave humor and banality into nearly every page, the reader is immersed into a world that feels so familiar...a beautiful tribute, full of raw and honest humanity, that makes the reader feel a little less alone.” ~Stephanie Wittels Wachs, author of Everything Is Horrible and Wonderful: A Tragicomic Memoir of Genius, Heroin, Love and Loss
“A deft blend of tragedy and comedy, these striking lyric essays are essential reading.” ~Rolli, award-winning cartoonist and author of Plumstuff
About the Author
Joseph Lezza is a writer in New York, NY. He is a graduate of Rutgers University and received his MFA from The University of Texas at El Paso. Between degrees, he spent several years as a character in one of the longest-running stories ever told, skippering the rivers of the Jungle Cruise or off-roading truckloads of tourists across the most realistic African savannahs $170-a-day could buy. His work in television has been seen on such networks as VH1, Lifetime, and NBC. His writing has been featured in, among others, Santa Fe Writers Project, West Trade Review, Stoneboat Literary Journal, Still: The Journal, and his essay for The Hopper was a 2020 nominee for the Best of the Net anthology. When he’s not writing, he spends his time worrying about why he’s not writing. Visit Joseph at josephlezza.com. You can also find him on the socials @lezzdoothis.About the Publisher
Vine Leaves Press likes to blur the line between commercial and experimental works. They publish book-length vignette collections, writing reference books, short story collections, memoir/autobiography, and character-driven novels with a literary bent. Subscribe to the Vine Leaves Press newsletter to receive FREE advanced review copies of upcoming new releases, news about their authors and subscribers, and/or to read the monthly opinion column, SPILL IT! or a daily dose of 50-word stories. Learn more at vineleavespress.com.
Free online tonight: Celebrate Presidents Day with Rogue Reads!
It's Presidents Day in the United States, a national holiday. And what better way to celebrate than with Rogue Reads, a free online literary event? Authors Deborah Crombie, Sean Doolittle, Carlene O’Connor, and E. A. Aymar will read from their brand-new mysteries, answer questions, and divulge their writing secrets. Monday, February 20, 7 p.m. EST.
"Don't join the book burners. Don't be afraid to go in your library and read every book." ~Dwight Eisenhower
FREE - Time's Plague by C. David Belt
FREE - Ripped Off! by Gilbert Simon
The Sawtooth Job by Vince Milam
Mystery Thriller Crime and Horror
“At the top of the heap of thriller/action genre authors.” The stakes couldn’t be higher. A mysterious discovery that changes the global balance of power. Two scientists become the world’s hottest commodity–one is captured, the other on the run. Enter Case Lee, with lethal spy agencies in hot pursuit. They quickly discover they’re messing with the wrong guy. “Easily ranks up there with Lee Child and Vince Flynn.” 4.6 stars, 2500+ ratings. From $0.99 SHOP NOW /
The Little Woods by A.G. Mock
Mystery Thriller Crime and Horror
"Scariest book I've read since The Exorcist." A group of boyhood friends in 1977. An annual rite of passage. The channeling of a malevolent Presence. And a childhood game about to go terribly, terribly wrong... Amazon Charts International #1 Occult Bestseller; Winner: Best Occult Horror & Best Supernatural Horror, American Fiction Awards 2022; Bram Stoker Awards Reading List 2021. "Nothing scares me…but this did." 4.3 stars, 1400+ ratings. From $1.99 SHOP NOW /
The Art Of Self-Learning by Thinknetic
Dr. Trouble by Jenna Gunn
I didn't expect to fall for the patient that had murder in her eyes. She didn't expect to need to trust me. Neither of us was ready for the lightning that set our world on fire. A chance at a future with her is worth any risk I have to take. Because one gunshot is all it took to intertwine our lives forever. She might have taken the bullet, but I took one straight to the heart. Dr. Trouble is a steamy military, medical, suspense romance with explosive heat, exciting action, plot twists, and a big HEA. A standalone novel in the Agile Security & Rescue series. 4.6 stars, 400+ ratings. From $2.99 SHOP NOW /
Royal Daddy by K.C. Crowne
The Night Owl by Bob R Creel
Mystery Thriller Crime and Horror
The Night Owl begins with an empty grave. The main character, both an author and detective, forms a team to solve this mystery and more. This story entails vengeance, crime, murder, and mystery. From $7.99 SHOP NOW /
FREE - Building Your First Website by John Rhea
Beth Gibbs Book Giveaway: Win signed copies + $25 gift card!
Beth has more than 20 years of experience teaching and mentoring yoga students, teachers, and therapists from all over the world to implement the five-layer model of self-awareness in their professional work and personal practice. Read on to learn more about her books (including a new release coming February 28) and her work, but first...
Be sure to enter the Beth Gibbs Book Giveaway for a chance to win books signed by the author and a $25 coffee shop gift card. Enter by March 4, 2023.
Enlighten Up!: Finding Clarity, Contentment and Resilience in a Complicated World
4.8 stars on Amazon
Want to find more clarity, contentment, and resilience in this complicated world we all live in?Cultivating self-awareness on a practical everyday down-to-earth level is the first step. When we lack self-awareness, it gets in the way of navigating life’s ups and downs.
Enlighten Up! presents a contemporary view of the five layers of self-awareness based on a 3,000-year-old model that provides a broader foundation for self-exploration than the more well-known mind/body model.
Author Beth Gibbs uses humor and stories to teach you to recognize the influence these five layers have on your life.
- Your physical body and environment.
- Your breath and energy, which makes up your life force.
- Your thoughts, beliefs, and emotions.
- Your intuition, which acts with compassionate, nonjudgmental wisdom.
- Your connection to something larger than yourself.
"A fun, interesting, engaging read." ~Goodreads Reviewer
"Great book on using self-awareness to build a balanced life." ~Amazon Reviewer
Soul Food: Life-Affirming Stories Served with Side Dishes and Just Desserts
New release coming February 28!
In these heartwarming and uplifting tales that celebrate the human spirit, we’re offered a glimpse into the lives of a diverse group of characters as they search for clarity, contentment, and resilience in a complicated world. From dealing with heartbreak and loss to fighting for their dreams and standing up for themselves, we see them face their struggles with humor, self-reflection, and tenacity.This standalone companion to Beth Gibbs’s Enlighten Up! expands the ideas from Enlighten Up! in fictional and often humorous ways, as stories, laughter, and entertainment are nonthreatening ways to learn new skills. Great for light reading, self-reflection, and book clubs. Discussion questions included!
"Written with heart, thought, and wit that will make you think, laugh, and learn; a delightful read." ~Nancy Slonim Aronie, Writing from the Heart
Coming soon! Check your inbox on February 28 for news from LitNuts about purchasing Soul Food in additional formats and from additional book retailers.
About the Author
Beth Gibbs holds a master’s degree in yoga therapy and mind/body health from Lesley University and is certified as a yoga therapist through the International Association of Yoga Therapists. She is a member of the faculty at the Kripalu School of Integrative Yoga Therapy and is guest faculty at The Graduate Institute.Beth established The Garnett Gibbs Family Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving in memory of her parents. The purpose of the fund is to support yoga and other healthy living programs in the greater Hartford, CT, region for at-risk populations and people of all ages, especially programs for children in public schools and community settings. Her published writing includes newsletters, magazines, and blog articles on the benefits of yoga, mindfulness, and self-awareness. Learn more about Beth and her work at BethGibbs.com.
Interested in having Beth speak to your group or in interviewing her for your following? Contact her via Emerald Lake Books.
About the Publisher
Emerald Lake Books is a boutique publisher that offers a personalized publishing service to its authors. Every book published by Emerald Lake Books is carefully edited with the author’s message and the reader’s enjoyment in mind. Learn more and browse their catalogue at the Emerald Lake Books website. Random Acts of Kindness + Two Giveaways for $250 in Prizes!
Today is Random Acts of Kindness Day, an occasion intended to help make kindness the norm at school, home, and work. Here are 50 fun ideas for sharing kindness.
We would also like to "kindly" remind you to get in on two great giveaways:
- LitNuts Deals Giveaway: Enter for a chance to win $100 in books. Deadline February 24.
- Reader Central Giveaway (cosponsored by LitNuts): Enter for a chance to win a $150 Amazon.com gift card. Deadline February 28.
"Kindness extended, received, or observed beneficially impacts the physical health and feelings of everyone involved." ~Dr. Wayne Dyer
The Best is Yet to Come by Tara Alemany
The Broken Bridge by Iris March
Mystery Thriller Crime and Horror
"Great cast of characters and two of my favorite hobbies – running and gardening. This mystery makes me want to explore the trails in Ohio, while also providing great tips for my garden." -Amazon review. An abandoned backpack. A damaged walking stick. A broken bridge. What happened on the Buckeye Trail? This charming cozy mystery is set at a garden center with the Buckeye Trail running behind it. When a hiker goes missing, the garden center manager gets involved. 4.4 stars, 56 ratings. From $3.99 SHOP NOW /
The Repayment by J.C. Moore
Mystery Thriller Crime and Horror
Sarah's world goes haywire when her abusive husband abandons her for another woman. She's left with nothing but a decrepit farm with a guest house teeming with secrets. But, as she delves further into the murky darkness of the house, she uncovers something sinister lurking in its depths, a force so powerful and so relentless that it surpasses her darkest fears. With her life spiraling entirely out of control, Sarah discovers the ultimate horror within the home, as grotesque and unsettling a truth as one could imagine. From $0.99 SHOP NOW /
Lucas by Emily Jane Trent
Being Alice: (In a world lost in the looking glass) by Michèle Olson
Being Wendy: (In a world afraid to grow up) by Michèle Olson
While celebrating her 50th birthday at a party in Los Angeles, all Wendy T. Bell feels is betrayal...wondering if someone in the room is behind the threats that could end her glamorous life as a best-selling author, not to mention her engagement to a wealthy English Baron. To get away from it all, Wendy travels incognito to a tiny Midwest island she learned about from an old boarding school chum. But when her blackmailer begins to slip notes under her door, Wendy is terrified. Who found her, and why are they bent on ruining her life? Wendy wonders if it’s too late to find genuine happiness, friendship, and love. 4.9 stars on Amazon. Free via Kindle Unlimited. From $0.99 SHOP NOW /
Spotlight on Houdini's Fabulous Magic - new edition!
Congratulations to Music, Magic, and More and Vine Leaves Press on the release of Houdini's Fabulous Magic, a new edition of the biography of one of the most intriguing and influential figures of the 20th century.
“I have loved this book for sixty years." ~Teller of Penn & Teller
Houdini's Fabulous Magic
NEW EDITION!by Walter B. Gibson and Morris N. Young
Foreword by Gabe Fajuri
From $5.99
Incredible escapes, fantastic sleight-of-hand—Houdini's most challenging performances are dramatically portrayed in Houdini's Fabulous Magic. Walter Gibson, co-author, was in close touch with Harry Houdini for a number of years before his death and worked with the master magician in preparing material for the book. It is with the aid of Houdini's own scrapbooks and notes that this book was written.The spectacular highlights of Houdini's career are described and explained, including his famous escapes...from a padlocked milk can filled with water, from locked jail cells, from a water-filled Chinese torture cell while suspended upside down, and from packing cases weighted under water. Houdini also walks through a brick wall, vanishes a 10,000-pound elephant, is buried alive, and exchanges places with his wife in a locked trunk—in three seconds!
And Houdini the man is not ignored. His impact on the world in the early years of the 20th century was enormous. He was a public hero who, in his own way, helped sweep out the cobwebs of 19th-century thinking. While doing so, he distinguished himself as a patriot, writer, collector of magic, aviator, movie idol, philanthropist, and crusader against fraudulent spiritualistic practices.
This is a technical manual for magicians, complete with illustrations and diagrams, but it is also an astute analysis of the best of Houdini's magic and a readable biography of a man who turned himself into a legend. It is a book for would-be conjurers, for professional necromancers, and for those curious about the methods and means of one of the most enchanting men of our time.
Praise for Houdini's Fabulous Magic
★★★★★ “I have loved this book for sixty years. Four pieces of the Penn & Teller repertoire were directly inspired by Houdini's Fabulous Magic.” ~Teller of Penn & TellerAbout the Authors
W
alter B. Gibson (1897-1985), a graduate of Colgate University, was a prolific writer, including The Shadow novels under his pen name Maxwell Grant. For a time he was Houdini's personal secretary. Following Houdini's death, the attorney for the estate permitted Walter to examine many of Houdini's private scrapbooks and notes from which Gibson wrote Houdini's Magic and Houdini's Escapes. Houdini's scrapbooks, papers, and other documents form the background for Houdini's Fabulous Magic. Also a magician, Walter toured with and wrote for magicians such as Blackstone (Sr.), Thurston, and Raymond. He was a member of the Mystery Writers of America, the American Society for Psychical Research, the Magician's Guild of America, and the Magician's Club of London.
Morris N. Young, M.D. (1909-2002), a graduate of M.I.T., Harvard, and Columbia University, was Director of Ophthalmology at Beekman Downtown Hospital in New York City. Aside from his numerous professional memberships, he was a member of the Society of American Magicians (to which Houdini had helped him join as a young man), the International Brotherhood of Magicians, and a member of the Inner Circle of the Magic Circle (London). He was a founder of the Magic Collectors Association including their publication MAGICOL. Along with his wife, Chesley, he established the largest private holdings on memory and mnemonics which now resides at the University of San Marino. Along with his friend John McManus, in 1955 they established the McManus-Young Collections at the Library of Congress, The University of Texas, Austin, and the University of California in Berkeley. Morris' other book publications include Hobby Magic, Houdini on Magic (with Walter Gibson), Presto Prestige, Bibliography of Memory, How To Develop An Exceptional Memory (with Walter Gibson), The Complete Guide to Science Fair Competition (with John Stolzfus), and Radio Music Live (with John Stolzfus).
Free online lit festival in process...now through 2/17!
A friendly reminder...that one of the best free online literary festivals of the year is currently in process...now through Friday, February 17. The University of California - Riverside (UCR) Writers Week Festival brings together the most celebrated authors and the best up-and-coming writers in America. It's free. It's online. And it's open to the public!
"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” ~J.R.R. Tolkein
FREE - See/Saw by Terrence Kuch
Mystery Thriller Crime and Horror
The School Mistress by Tess Thompson
