Now Playing: For KIDS

NBA Star Ricky Pierce Bounces Into Children's Books With Release of

First Title

 

Sugar Land, TX, Feb 22, 2008 - Retired NBA star Ricky Pierce made a name for himself

as one of professional basketball's most reliable shooters. Now, Pierce, who was

named the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year in 1987 and 1990 and an All-Star in 1990, has

entered a different kind of court: the world of children's books.

 

Pierce's first entry, the beautiful full-color "Bouncing Billy: A Learning Adventure,"

combines Pierce's love for sports, children and reading and adds an important message of

acceptance. This is a charming story of a friendly basketball who learns a valuable lesson

with the help of some friends.

 

All the pieces of playground equipment are excited for the end of the rainy season, except

Bouncing Billy, a basketball with some unique-but unusual-spots on his side. He's

worried his different appearance will make him a benchwarmer when the recess bell

rings.

 

His pals in the equipment locker, however, are quick to point out that differences are

what make each of them specially suited to what they do, whether it's facilitating a game

of jump rope or football. That's when Bouncing Billy discovers his "spots" are actually

key finger-position markings, giving young basketball players a leg-up on shooting. As

sounds of "swoosh!" ring out again and again over the playground, Bouncing Billy finds

he's a slam-dunk just the way he is.

 

"Bouncing Billy: A Learning Adventure" marks a whole new ballgame for the Rice

University star, who also played for the Detroit Pistons, Milwaukee Bucks and Seattle

SuperSonics. But it continues an effort to positively impact the lives of youngsters first

began during his pro years, when Pierce would often read to grade-school age youth at

schools and hospitals. Having three children of his own, he says, only reinforced the

importance of reading to kids, spurring him on to his latest endeavor. "Books are

essential learning tools for emerging readers, and as a child I truly had limited access to

books in the home," says Pierce.

 

With artwork by renowned children's book illustrator Bobbi Switzer, "Bouncing Billy"

boasts a vibrant, colorful and fun cast of characters, with each one-from the grizzled

Fred the football to the bookish tennis ball called Ted-imbued with a unique

personality. Children are sure to connect with the recognizable playground setting and its

lovable inhabitants as they learn an important life lesson while improving their reading

skills.

 

About the book:

Bouncing Billy by Ricky Pierce

ISBN: 978-1432716967

Publisher: Outskirts Press

Date of publish: Feb 2008

Pages: 24

S.R.P.: $10.95

 

About the author:

Ricky Pierce retired from the National Basketball Association in 1998, where he scored a

total of 14,467 points. He boasts a shooting record of 49.3 percent from the floor and 88.5

percent from the foul line during his 16-year NBA career. Pierce was the NBA's Sixth

Man of the Year in 1987 and 1990 and an All-Star in 1990. He is the creator and inventor

of the AccUShot22 Basketball, which aids children and adults in ball-handling and

shooting skills. The Bouncing Billy Active Play Kit, for ages three to six, followed.

"Bouncing Billy: A Learning Adventure" is the first in a series of planned children's

books. Pierce lives in Texas with his wife, Joyce, formerly of the multi-Grammy award-

winning group, The Fifth Dimension, along with their three children, Christian, Rachel,

and Aron.

 

 

Note: Review copies of this book are available by replying to this e-mail.

Please include your mailing address.

Now Playing: Thriller!

KillRod: The Cross of Lorraine Murders

 

Northridge, CA, Feb 11, 2008 - Kelly Moran is Hollywood's most glamorous

and in-demand movie star, until her body is found with her skull crushed in the grand

bedroom of her home high in the hills of Bel Air. Vietnam war veteran, Hart St. James,

wakes up next to the corpse. His outrage drives him to track down the killer with or

without the help of the law.

 

Author and Hollywood insider Bill Ison takes readers along for the ride as St. James

attempts to flush out this mystery murderer in Killrod:The Cross of Lorraine Murders.

It's a quest that will take him across the country, as St. James attempts to answer an ever-

twisting series of questions: Why are the studio executives interested in Moran's

relationship with prominent politicians? What is the inexplicable connection between

himself and the mysterious French-born professional assassin he suspects of committing

the gruesome killings? Who hired the assassin? And how is it that the murder weapon

seems to be the same deadly device - dubbed Killrod - that St. James had secretly

created for his own personal use in Vietnam decades ago? The trail leads to the highest

echelons of government - if only he could stay alive long enough to follow the trail's

thread to its source.    

Through it all Ison weaves gripping plot lines with the arresting detail of a master

wordsmith set in large part against the backdrop of the Los Angeles multi-cultured

tapestry. Ison sheds light - as only a film industry veteran can - on a Hollywood studio

culture that's sure to fascinate anyone who ever had the slightest interest in the movies.

Killrod is a riveting psychological thriller with a look inside the development of a killer

and a romp through an unseen criminal underground.

 

About the book:

Killrod by Bill Ison

ISBN: 978-1-4327-1399-7

Publisher: Outskirts Press

Date of publish: Oct 2007

Pages: 388

S.R.P.: $15.95

 

About the author:

Bill Ison was raised in the green timber country of Northern Wisconsin just before the

Great Depression. He had his first jackknife by age seven and his first .22 single shot rifle

when he was eight. His solitary existence led him to learn wood carving and reading.

After spending years in the corporate world including a ten-year stint as part of Mattel's

marketing team, he turned to the Hollywood film studios where he became a sculptor

creating many of the set pieces seen by millions of moviegoers. He never attempted to

have any of his writings published although some of his short stories provided the story

background for advertising some of Mattel's toys. KillRod is his first novel.

 

 

Note: Review copies of this book are available by replying to this e-mail.

Please include your mailing address.

 

Now Playing: New request

Revolutionary War Heroine Rediscovered in In Search of Molly Pitcher

by Linda Grant De Pauw

 

Pasadena, MD, Feb 21, 2008 - Just in time for women's history month, In Search of

Molly Pitcher by prizewinning historian Linda Grant De Pauw is out in a paperback

edition. De Pauw has written a great deal about the Revolutionary War heroine Molly

Pitcher in books for both adult and young adult audiences, but students still ask her the

same questions that they asked thirty years ago. She wrote In Search of Molly Pitcher, as

a mystery story to answer all the questions while entertaining young readers.

 

"The 130^th anniversary of the Battle of Monmouth where Molly Pitcher displayed her

heroism is in June 2008, and I am so happy that my book is available now," says De

Pauw. "Molly Pitcher is the best known military woman in American History, and the

image of her patriotic service at a cannon has inspired generations of girls and women.

But the real facts surrounding the legend have been very hard to come by."

 

When Peggy McAllister learns about an eighth grade social studies award, she is

determined to win it. When she chooses Molly Pitcher, the legendary heroine of the

Revolutionary War Battle of Monmouth, as the subject for her research paper she runs

into difficulties. With the help of her Greatgramps, a retired private investigator, his lady

friend Mrs. Spinner, historian and author of historical romances, and Ms. Guelphstein, a

dedicated reference librarian, Peggy sorts through a maze of confusing and

contradictory evidence as she uncovers the true story of Molly Pitcher.

 

PRAISE FOR IN SEARCH OF MOLLY PITCHER

Alfred F. Young, author of Masquerade: The Life and Times of Deborah

Sampson, Continental Soldier says, "De Pauw is a skilled historian who takes us on an

exciting detective hunt for Molly Pitcher. What a wonderful way for young readers to

learn how to separate historical fact from fiction-and have a lot of fun doing it. I loved

this book."

Eric G. Grundset, Library Director of the National Society Daughters of the

American Revolution says: "Historical method and inquiry, verification of facts, and

sifting of information offer the reader useful instruction in the guise of a clever detective

story."

Historical interpreter Stacy F. Roth says: "In Search of Molly Pitcher deserves

three huzzahs!"

Barbara J. Crudale, President, Rhode Island School Counselor Association says:

"Should be on all middle school required reading lists. Students will identify with

the main character. Enjoyable reading for adults too!"

Beth Gilgun, historian in residence, Deerfield Teachers' Center says "Clearly

points out the difference between primary and secondary sources, clearly walks a student

through the process of researching a paper, and does it all in a very entertaining manner.

I enjoyed it so much that I read it straight through."

And Lucie McCormick, age 12, from Mohawk Middle School in Shelburne Falls,

Massachusetts says, "This book was really interesting, and it made me more interested in

history. Even for people who don't like learning, I think this would be a good book."

 

About the book:

In Search of Molly Pitcher by Linda Grant De Pauw

ISBN: 978-1435706071

Publisher: Lulu.com

Date of publish: Jan 2008

Pages: 164

S.R.P.: $12.00

 

About the author:

Linda Grant De Pauw is Professor Emeritus of History at the George Washington

University and president of The Minerva Center, a non-profit educational foundation

supporting the study of women and war. In addition to books for adult audiences

including Battle Cries and Lullabies: Women in War from Prehistory to the Present, De

Pauw is the author of two books for young adults: Founding Mothers and Seafaring

Women

 

 

Note: Review copies of this book are available by replying to this e-mail.

Please include your mailing address.

Now Playing: Kids' Book

Now Playing: New!

What Would You Give, What Would You Risk, to Find a World of Your

Own?

 

San Diego, CA, Feb 6, 2008 - In Land of the Créoles,the author Arlette Gaffrey tells of a

sweeping tale of love, marriage, and betrayal set in the romantic city of New Orleans in the

early years of the nineteenth century.

 

It is the story of André Raphael de Javon, who had escaped the French Revolution as a

child. Now a young man, Andre has come to New Orleans to start a new life and make his

fortune in a land that is ripe with opportunity-only recently had Napoleon sold the city to

the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase, and the Crescent City, as it was

affectionately known, was growing by leaps and bounds.

 

In due time, Andre has become one of the wealthiest plantation owners in the area and a

very eligible bachelor. Julie Marie, young daughter of Jean-Claude Charlevoix, friend and

mentor of Andre, falls in love with the handsome Frenchman. But Andre instead marries

Gabrielle Ste. Claire, who turns his life into a living hell. When Gabrielle dies, she leaves

Andre with her illegitimate son to raise. It is only then that Andre recognizes his true

feelings for Julie, now a beautiful young woman. But will Julie still have him-a man who

is more than ten years her senior and guardian to a bastard son-or is it too late to finally

find true love?

 

Land of the Créoles is an exciting tale from one of America's most romantic historic

periods. Told as only a New Orleans native could, it will tug at the heartstrings of the

reader, leaving one enthralled until the very last page. With appearances by some of the

era's most colorful characters-including General Andrew Jackson and the notorious pirate

Jean Lafitte-this is one adventure you won't soon forget.

 

About the book:

Land of the Créoles by Arlette Gaffrey

ISBN: 978-0-9788-8910-4

Publisher: Outskirts Press

Publish date: Nov 2006

Pages: 400

S.R.P.: $13.95

 

About the Author

Arlette Marie Gaffrey is of French-Spanish Créole descent. Many generations of her family were

born and raised in New Orleans, affectionately known as "The Big Easy," one of the oldest cities

in the United States. Arlette, who was married to a career naval officer, traveled a lot with their

children. A grandmother of six, she and her family currently live in San Diego.

 

 

Note: Review copies of this book are available by replying to this e-mail.

Please include your mailing address.

 

"Arlette Gaffrey" <ops@bostickcommunications.com>

Now Playing: New Book!

Fast-paced novel investigates police abuses in New York

 

 

Amelia Island, FL, Feb 7, 2008 - The Copper Indian turns the calendar back a half a

century to when the police used profiling and intuition, and had fun even when some of

their actions exceeded moral ambiguities.

 

The booking of a dead man, manipulating the press, and hiding a dead body, were not

bad enough, but giving a female junkie drugs to persuade her boyfriend to turn informant,

and submitting bogus expense accounts could be considered "crossing the line." These

are the type of situations that confronted Jim Utze, an idealistic Native American; first as

a patrolman and later as a narc. His values crashed into the storied culture of the NYPD

in the 1950s and '60s when he became a "copper."

 

As the erosion of his integrity accelerates, Detective Utze questions his continuing

acceptance of the system and he considers leaving for the FBI. Even his girlfriend, an

Israeli mystry woman, becomes an enigma, especially when Jim suspects she may have

played a part in the use of his personal weapon in an assassination of a Syrian agent.

 

About the book:

The Copper Indian by J.P. Morgan

ISBN: 978-1-60477-255-8

Publisher: Xulon Press

Date of publish: Dec 2007

Pages: 244

S.R.P.: $14.99

 

About the author:

Dr. Morgan has almost forty years of law enforcement experience; half on the front lines

at the municipal, state and federal level, and half in academia as a tenured Associate

Professor and Department Chairman at one university, and Director of the Police Science
Division at another.

 

"J.P. Morgan" <ops@bostickcommunications.com>

Now Playing: Book for review

Take the Stress Out of Managing Salespeople

Minneapolis, MN, Feb 7, 2008 - Author Tom Schaber is not only a veteran Road

Warrior, but brings a depth of knowledge from his 30 years experience in sales and sales

management. The Road Warrior's Guide to Sales Management: Taking the Stress

Out of Managing Salespeople is a straight forward look at the opportunities and pitfalls

of sales management and is designed to help the business owner or sales manager to

optimize their profits through an organized practical approach to the sales process.

Step-by-step guide includes:
.    When to hire sales people or expand a sales organization
.    How to find qualified sales professionals
.    Sure-fire methods to select just the right person for sales
.    Goal setting that really works
.    How to get results without long boring sales meetings
.    Mentoring and coaching the sales professional
.    Assigning accounts and creating sales territories
.    How to fire a non-performer - without being sued

The Road Warrior's Guide to Sales Management can be used as a business manual for

sales management, a trouble shooting guide, or a step-by-step planning tool for your sales

organization.

About the book:

The Road Warrior's Guide To Sales Management by Tom Schaber

ISBN: 1-159298-199-2

Publisher: Beaver's Pond Press

Date of publish: Jan 2008

Pages: 151

S.R.P.: $17.00

 

Available from Ingram, Amazon.com or Bookhouse Fulfillment

 

About the author:

Tom Schaber has worked with and for organizations ranging from Fortune 100

corporations to one-person start-ups and with industries ranging from high tech medical

devices to parts distributors. He spent twenty years in the medical device industry--first

as a sales person and later as a regional sales manager, national sales manager, and vice

president of sales. Tom owned his own sales training franchise for eight years and has

spent the last four years as a sales management consultant in Minneapolis and St. Paul,

Minnesota.

"Tom Schaber" <ops@bostickcommunications.com>

 

Now Playing: New Books!

New book:

Willie's Dad

Incarcerated dad struggles with his 

son's future

 

Kalamazoo, MI, Feb 8, 2008 - Michigan-based author Stanley Williams has taken

realistic children's fiction to an unusual and highly emotional location with his first

illustrated book, Willie's Dad.

 

The story takes places primarily in a prison visiting room, where a son is visiting his

incarcerated father. Willie's dad is in jail. He is worried that if something does not

change, Willie will not have a good chance in life. Willie's dad makes a hard decision,

based on unselfish love for his son.

 

Williams wrote the story of a father's unselfish love for his son with tasteful authenticity.

The illustrations by his teaching colleague, Najima Abdul- Haqq, expertly render

sympathetic visual realism to the story.

 

Mr. Williams was a correctional officer at a medium-security prison in Illinois for over

six years, during the 1980's. He has been an elementary school teacher for over eight

years, up to the present. Williams conceived the story early in his teaching career, and

spent several years creating the story, and refining it into the book it is today. He shared

his story with fellow teacher Naima Abdul- Haqq, who agreed to illustrate. Haqq is the

art teacher in the same elementary school as Williams.

 

Williams and Abdul-Haqq have been collaborating on this book for over two years.

Williams and Abdul-Haqq have pledged 10% of all net profits from the book be

contributed to a college fund for the Covert (Michigan) School District graduates. They

both work at Covert Elementary School. Williams has another children's book due out

later this year, illustrated by a different teacher from the same school. Willie's Dad

precedes another Williams-Haqq collaboration featuring Willie, Willie's Mom.

 

About the book:

Willie's Dad by Stanley Williams

ISBN: 978-0-6151-9121-8

Publisher: Williamspublishing

Date of publish: Jan 2008

Pages: 26

S.R.P.: $12.50

 

About the author:

Stanley Williams is an elementary school teacher and master's student at Western

Michigan University. Williams is a former U.S. Marine and State of Illinois correctional

officer. He is married and resides in Kalamazoo.

"Stanley Williams" <ops@bostickcommunications.com>

Now Playing: Adoption issue

Rapidly Changing Face of Adoption Creates New Challenges for Parents and

Professionals

New book offers placement and counseling professionals specific guidance for screening and preparing

parents and children and offering them appropriate therapy.

 

SEATTLE, Jan 9, 2008 - Perspectives Press, Inc., The Infertility and Adoption Publisher, has released

attachment therapist and trainer Deborah Gray's second guide for parents and professionals working with older

and post-institutionalized adopted children Nurturing Adoptions: Creating Resilience after Neglect and Trauma

(http://www.perspectivespress.com/nabos.html))

A follow-up to her highly praised Attaching in Adoption: Practical Strategies for Parents and Professionals,

Nurturing Adoptions is Gray's toolbox for professionals-social work, mental health, medical, etc.-whose

practices include fostered and adopted children (from both the US and abroad) who have experienced neglect,

abuse, and other traumas which impact their ability to experience normalcy in family life

 

Nurturing Adoptions: Creating Resilience after Neglect and Trauma explores changes which have resulted in

higher proportions of children being adopted from multiple foster care placements and from institutional care, at

older ages and after repeated exposures to neglect and trauma.

 

Nurturing Adoptions: Creating Resilience after Neglect and Trauma digests and presents important new brain

research which changes the way we understand how post-traumatic stress restructures the brain and then offers

practical strategies for helping children and their families

 

Nurturing Adoptions offers social workers and mental health professionals tools for:

·       Identifying and treating problems in traumatized children which will challenge family life

·       Assessing and preparing families for adoption

·       Matching children with families

·       Making careful moves in transitioning children

·       Helping children and parents to understand difficult pasts and prepare for a healthier future

·       Understanding and implementing the separate but equally important,t roles of social workers, mental health

workers and physicals in today's adoptive placements

·       Building professional practices networked for support and enhanced professional continuing education

 

As one advance reader, Julian Davies, MD, Co-Director of The Center for Adoption Medicine, University of

Washington, noted, "The 'required reading in adoption' list just got longer, and shorter. Nurturing Adoptions is

several long-awaited books in one: a deft overview of neglect and trauma's effects on children and families, a

collection of practical pearls for adoptive parents, a best practices primer for child welfare professionals, and a

lovely illustration for child therapists of Deborah Gray's state-of-the-art therapeutic approach."

 

About the book:
Nurturing Adoptions: Creating Resilience after Neglect and Trauma by Deborah Gray

ISBN: 978-0-944934-33-3

Publisher: Perspectives Press, Inc

Date of publish: Fall, 2007

S.R.P.: $26.95

 

Available for purchase at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, independent booksellers, a variety of on-line

adoption sites, and directly from Perspectives Press, Inc. (http://www.perspectivespress.com/nabos.html)

 

About the Author:

Deborah Gray is a Seattle-based therapist practicing exclusively with foster and adoptive families. A frequently

recommended trainer, she is noted for her rare ability to "think like a child" in formatting practical therapeutic

tools which will engage them.

 

Contact:

Pat Johnston , 317-872-3055 , patjohnston@perspectivespress.com

 

Now Playing: A mystery

New "Holy Grail Frequency" Marks Turning Point in Great Pyramid

Mystery

 

Staffordshire, UK, Jan 14, 2008 - Philip Gardiner, will show precisely what the purpose

of the Great Pyramid at Giza, and many other ancient monuments, truly was.

 

In his new Book, DVD and audio book, Gateways to the Otherworld, Gardiner unravels

the mystery using science, etymology and hard analysis to show that there is indeed a

special universal frequency that ancient man understood to be the true method of opening

up a gateway in the mind to what we now term, Otherworlds.

 

The discovery will be of profound interest to all those interested in ancient and sacred

sites as well as life-after-death investigators, ghost hunters and religious historians. The

key to unlocking the many mysteries surrounding these areas of investigation may well

now be here and involves the understanding of the very energy of the earth itself and our

connection to it. In fact it is the Holy Grail of the paranormal phenomena world, hence

the name given by one of the investigators who aided Gardiner in his work.

 

Philip Gardiner is the best selling author of The Ark, The Shroud and Mary, Gnosis: The

Secret of Solomon's Temple Revealed and Secret Societies: Gardiner's Forbidden

Knowledge. He has several DVD films out distributed by Real2Can.com and speaks

regularly at international venues from Australia to America. His website is

www.gardinersworld.com

 

About the book:

Gateways to the Otherworld by Philip Gardener

ISBN: 978-1-56414-925-1

Publisher: New Page Books

Publish date: Jan 2008

Pages: 263

S.R.P.: $17.99

 

About the author:

Philip Gardiner is the international best-selling author of several books, including Gnosis:

The Secret of Solomon's Temple Revealed, The Ark, The Shroud and Mary and Secret

Societies: Gardiner's Forbidden Knowledge. He has appeared on hundreds of radio and

television shows and has made several documentaries based upon his work, including

Freemasonry for the Discovery Channel. His website is www.gardinersworld.com

 

Contact: Paul Hughes , Real2Can Book Publicity , +44-1782265022 ,

paul@real2can.com