New releases from Dagmar Miura
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But Is It the Bad Kind?: A Story About Uninvited Guests
by Dr. Rachel Orgel
Have you or someone you love been told they have a tumor, a mass, or cancer? After the initial shock of a diagnosis, there are often many questions. But Is It the Bad Kind? uses a child-friendly analogy of uninvited guests to tackle that uncertainty. Inspired by the author’s own journey battling cancer, this book is meant to answer questions, reduce anxiety, and offer hope
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The Landers Mystique
by Christopher Church
On a weekend break in the Mojave, psychic investigator Mason stumbles across the story of a bygone journalist, Geraldine, who expired in the desert on her way to one of the early flying saucer meet-ups. Unable to shake the pointlessness of the tragic tale, Mason trades a favor with his psychic-world mentor, Hanh, who sends him to the East Coast to attend a wedding where he doesn’t know anyone. Wracked with guilt about his role in disrupting the event, Mason grapples with the cost of intervening in Geraldine’s life, and gains new resolve to change the outcome.
With help from his mid-century friends Billy and Flattop, and with the unflagging support of his boyfriend, Ned, and their roommate, Peggy, Mason shifts to Geraldine’s era, and on a long road trip to Landers, manages to rearrange things enough to shake the foundations of his own timeline.
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“Every foray by Church’s wonderful psychic detective Mason Braithwaite is a truly suspenseful page-turner in the most unusual crime series ever, and certainly one that no aficionado of crime fiction should miss.”
The Psychic Vegan Cookbook
by Henrietta Flores
It has never been easier to cook vegan, and you don’t even need to be psychic to do it. This all-plant-based cookbook is a tie-in with the Mason Braithwaite paranormal mystery series and contains some of the plucky LA psychic’s favorite dishes.
The sixty recipes are straightforward and focus on everyday Southwestern cooking. Simple and whole foods are the rule, and few nonstandard ingredients are involved—and when they do appear, they’re explained in detail. You won’t need to make a special trip to esoteric grocery suppliers, however, as this book is ideal for cooks just diving into plant-based home cooking.
Whether your motivation is eating healthier or the welfare of other sentient creatures, Henrietta Flores guides you through some plant-based versions of familiar dishes as well as some that might be new. Many are sure to become household favorites.
“Thank you, Henrietta, for pulling together an amazing collection of vegan grub from Mason’s world. Bon appétit!”
Messages from Sam: A Daughter’s Insights on Our Lives Here – And Her Life in Heaven
by Beverly Holliday
What happens to our loved ones when they die? Can we communicate with them? How do they spend their time?
After her daughter, Sam, passed away, Beverly Holliday sought answers to these questions. Through divine guidance, she found professional mediums who helped her connect with her daughter on the other side. These dialogues comforted and healed Beverly while illuminating an existence beyond earthly life. She devoted several years to recording and transcribing her conversations with her daughter, with the mission of sharing Sam’s messages—to bring hope and comfort to others who are grieving or seeking guidance.
This true story offers a glimpse into Beverly’s life as the mother of a gentle, compassionate child who left this world unexpectedly. Throughout the book, Sam shares her insights about her time on earth and many fascinating and uplifting details about her life in heaven. These messages from Sam have dramatically changed Beverly’s view on life, the afterlife, and losing her child—transforming her grief into joy.
“This is an author and a story you can trust. A fascinating, moving, and inspiring memoir about love, faith, and courage. This book taught me a lot about life after death—which, in turn, changed my life for the better.”
Footprints of the Montford Point Marines: Strides in Overcoming Racial Disparities in the Marine Corps
by Eugene S. Mosley
The Footprints of the Montford Point Marines explores historic information about the Montford Point Marines and also my dad, Corporal Thomas Mosley, while serving with the first group of African American Marines in the United States. This is the story of a brief period of his life, from Montford Point Camp to the Pacific in World War II, and seventy years later being awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by Congress.
These men came from all parts of the United States to the South to train at a segregated facility called Montford Point Camp, adjacent to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, the largest all-purpose Marine base in the world. It had the best equipment for all types of military training, but these new black enlistees at the adjacent Montford Point Camp were not allowed to enter unless accompanied by a White officer—Camp Lejeune was exclusive to White Marines and their families only. With World War II looming, the government needed all hands on deck and created millions of new jobs in preparation but continued keeping Blacks out of the job market and housing.
With the pressure imposed by groups such as the NAACP, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had to rethink these exclusions, at least in the federal workplace, and through negotiations with many groups, led by A. Philip Randolph, Executive Order 8802 was issued by President Roosevelt on June 25, 1941, to counter racial discrimination. The U.S. Marine Corps was part of the defense industry, and as a result had to open their ranks to African Americans who wished to serve. The Montford Point Marines became giants in the Asiatic Pacific and were some of the greatest heroes this country has ever known.
Through swamps, hills, and worse terrain, under heavy enemy gunfire, they were able to supply ammunition, fuel, food, and medical supplies to troops on the front lines where most others had failed. They were also charged with removing the dead and wounded back to the safety of the ships waiting offshore. Eventually they were called to the front lines and fought in every major battle in the Pacific islands.
Some seventy years later, on June 27, 2012, approximately four hundred of these brave men, mostly in their eighties and nineties, finally received their just recognition by receiving Congressional Gold Medals. Other families received the medal posthumously. From 1942 to 1949, the 19,168 Montford Point Marines paid the price so others could follow in their footprints to continue the legacy of the few, the proud, the Marines: Semper Fidelis (Always Faithful). They were also known as “The Chosen Few.”
“Eugene Mosley’s Footprints of the Montford Point Marines is much more than a moving tribute from a son to his father. Told largely through the eyes of Thomas Mosley, one of the nation’s first African American Marines, who trained at Montford Point, a portion of Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina, it also contains additional research on the White officers and Black noncommissioned officers who trained them and accompanied them into battle in World War II’s Pacific theater. Mosley’s work, easily accessible, is a valuable contribution to the literature on the gradual, and often grudging, acceptance of African Americans into the American military.”
Words to Lift By
by Bob Gold
Amid the disruption of the pandemic shutdown, Bob Gold sought a way to connect with people amidst the separation, isolation, and growing uncertainty. Teaming up with poet Ryan Ashley, the duo created a series of poems to celebrate family and friends. The works in Words to Lift By capture the spirit of its subjects in poignant and heartfelt language.
With artwork by Bonnie Lee Holland and photographs by Marcia Gold, Words to Lift By transcends the dysfunction of our era. Take a moment to explore this volume and savor the power of uplifting words.
“A delightful project in what is definitely a strange time. Ashley’s poems … manage to capture the best qualities of their subjects, and a close read through this tome definitely … lifts one’s spirits.”
From a Desert Playa
by George Bixley
Trying to sort out the cause of shipping delays at a mine in a remote part of Nevada, Slater grills the driver Bender and the armed guard Vitale, responsible for trucking the shipments to the city, and ferrets out some of their secrets. Not sure whether the enigmatic Hernán is a birthright airhead or an exquisitely talented con artist, against his better judgment Slater winds up in the sack with him. Finally heading to the mining camp in a cargo plane, Slater and his operative Etta meet more of the players and see some strange things in the vast empty desert. The trip back to LA takes an unexpected turn, leaving Slater with a dilemma that threatens his very survival.
Don’t mess with the hothead—or he might just mess with you. Slater Ibáñez is only interested in two kinds of guys: the ones he wants to punch, and the ones he sleeps with. Things get interesting when they start to overlap. A freelance investigator, Slater trolls the dark side of Los Angeles, rooting out insurance fraud, not afraid to use whatever means necessary to get things done, and not about to hold back with his fists. A queer antihero for a new age, Slater walks the line between ordinary life and the frayed fringes of society, keeping his balance with the back-channel support he gets from his idiot cop ex-boyfriend, Conrad, and regular squeeze Andy.
Connect with George Bixley online
“I am hooked on reading about Slater Ibáñez. I read the last two as fast as they arrived. He scares me and entices me all at the same time!”
Jessica and the Golden Swan Feather
by David Osborn
Using a medieval wishing charm to escape from a big city museum where she is mistakenly locked in for the night, Jessica, along with Annie-Mae, a homeless Rag Doll, ends up not at home but in OR, where the country’s evil Great Leader holds the charm hostage until brought a feather from a deified Golden Swan in Hoppitland, country of the Stick people. With a brief welcoming respite among friendly rats in their the canyon country of Rodentia, then a perilous trip across a great man-eating Vine Forest, Jessica brings a golden feather back to OR where, after Annie-Mae chooses to return to Rodentia, she uses the medieval charm, first in a heads-on defiant showdown with the all-powerful Great Leader of OR, then to wish herself safely back home.
“Watch out Dorothy, here comes Jessica …”
Lili l’Abeille
by C. M. Potter
Lili aimerait te raconter sa vie dans la ruche. C’est une très vaillante petite abeille qui habite avec sa maman et ses milliers de sœurs et frères. La vie n’est pas facile pour Lili et sa famille. Elle se demande ce que leur réserve le futur. Sa maman lui a dit qu’ils partiront en vacances mais elle ne sait ni quand ni comment. La seule chose qu’elle a entendu dire par deux vieilles abeilles c’est qu’il y aurait un essaim en effervescence. Tu découvras la vie de Lili l’Abeille et de sa famille au fil des saisons dans l’attente des vacances.
“L’histoire est charmante ! Elle nous fait découvrir la vie de nos amies les abeilles. Lili l’Abeille est un livre qui est non seulement un vrai plaisir pour les enfants mais aussi c’est aussi un livre éducatif qui permet de mieux comprendre qui elles sont. Que l’on soit jeune ou moins jeune, il est important que nous soutenions ces petites créatures exceptionnelles.”
Raph’s Tale
by Dan Shapiro, MD
Raph and Hawk are two birds of a different feather. Raph can’t fly. Hawk soars high. Together, they build a boat and journey up-river. Raph comes ashore and meets two new friends, Dog and Turtle. Dog runs too fast. Turtle moves too slow. Raph, balancing in between, rides a unicycle. They set off on an excursion. But a mountain blocks their path. For the love of Tambalacoque fruit, what to do? Follow the tails of Raph, Hawk, Dog, and Turtle as they learn important lessons about diversity, friendship, and resilience.
The author and illustrator are also two birds of a different feather. Dr. Dan is a developmental-behavioral pediatrician. John Watkins-Chow is a math teacher–artist. Combining stories from their first two books, Raph’s Tale is an inspiring and richly illustrated adventure.
Bonus: Make your own coloring book! The last two pages of the book provide black-and-white pictures for children to fill in as they like. Go to ParentChildJourney.com/raphcolors to download all the original drawings and create your own Raph’s Tale Coloring Book.
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The Somersville Bodies
by David Osborn
When the bodies of a retired couple in a small town are discovered six months after their deaths, the local police chief, his lead detective, and the county coroner all rule the couple a shared suicide. One young woman police officer, however, suspects murder. Her dogged pursuit of the killer or killers against orders to desist eventually leads her to evidence that the deceased couple were silenced to cover up a major scandal at the state capitol and to a terrifying shoot-out when she finally runs the killers to earth.
“A good tale of mystery and murder. Its plot twists and turns in and out of an intriguing whodunit that packs a punch at the end powerful enough to floor one.”
Princess Smile
by Adele Royce
This is how it all started. Princess Smile is the prequel to Camera Ready, narrated by lovable but flawed Jane Mercer. Jane struggles with her self-image while reaching for the stars in the cutthroat world of Los Angeles advertising. As she claws her way up to the position of Director of Accounts at the ad agency, Warren Mitchell & Associates, her career goals force her into fierce competition with her colleagues. When Jane is coerced to comply with a client’s unreasonable and sordid requests, she frantically seeks an escape.
Enter the savagely handsome Craig Keller, managing partner of rival agency Keller Whitman Group. Jane has admired him from afar, and he’s taken a sudden interest in her, offering a prestigious high-paying position along with a long list of benefits that only existed in her wildest dreams. Jane is willingly lured into Craig’s professional and romantic web, quickly learning that his money, attention, and affection come with an even higher price—one she is not sure she can pay.
A high-stakes tale of ambition, friendship, secrets, brutality, and desire, Princess Smile is a must-read for the contemporary woman.
“Princess Smile is an engrossing read that keeps us cringing and cheering with Jane Mercer as she strives to make her mark in the advertising industry. Is she good enough? Is she pretty enough? Are the other women she encounters friends or competitors? Is advancement worth enduring harassment? Why is she more attracted to the dangerous bad boy than the nice guy? Women who have worked in the corporate world will see themselves in Jane and fall under the fast-paced spell of this novel”
Cryptic Paisley
by Chester Henry
When gallerist Celeste meets an old friend at an art show, the artist explains that someone has jacked one of her fashion designs, and soon Celeste’s bestie, Truman, is on the case, diving headlong into LA’s fashion industry to investigate. Truman and Celeste soon get entangled with a hinky company run by a trio of enigmatic lowlifes who produce a very unusual fashion line. Are they full-on grifters, or just not that competent? Truman goes undercover with an industry supplier, and Celeste agrees to work for the trashy fashion folks, digging deeper into their secrets and getting way too close to the blustery Flavio and his cryptocurrency scheme. As Truman tracks down other victims of the fashion scam, he finds himself drawn to a talented swimwear designer.
In this installment of the Truman and Celeste books, the duo uses their smarts and cunning to confront the crooks head-on, never hesitating to ask the next relevant question or to slam that cocktail.
“Truman is like that twinkie who slipped through your fingers that time—sweet and a little naive but whip-smart. And every man should have a reliable friend like Celeste. With these two booze hounds running around, the city promises to be a little wilder, and a whole lot more exciting.”