“Clare” will be available in paperback sometime next week. At that time, the special introductory price on the ebook (both at Kindle and Smashwords) will go away, and the regular price will be $4.99. If you’ve been putting off buying the ebook, now is the time!
The Readers Favorite Award results for 2011 were just announced, and “Clare” is among the finalists. The winners will be announced on September 1.
Western Herbs for Martial Artists and Contact Athletes
is now available on Kindle. Save more than half off the cover price.
Kage: The Shadow A Connor Burke Martial Arts Thriller by John Donohue
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I don’t read a lot of thrillers, but I’ve read all four of Donohue’s novels. Donohue’s characters don’t just wade in with guns blazing; they live with the consequences of their actions. His main character, Burke, a scholar and advanced martial artist, can deal with a tough situation–Donohue writes a good fight scene. Burke has the sardonic humor characteristic of the genre. He’s also a fully formed character with a family, a social life, a profession, and a fully developed range of opinions and quirks. But most importantly for me, he’s reflective. He brings not just his martial skill to a fight, but his martial philosophy and mind-body training. In other words, Donohue’s work has depth and texture.
In terms of depth and texture, “Kage” is probably Donohue’s best work yet. I finished the book in two days, recommended to everyone at my dojo, and am thinking about reading it again. It’s a really good read, and it’s much more than a really good read.
View all my reviews
Yet another reason to choose real food over simulated, food-like substances: A recent study out of Purdue shows that eating Olestra, a synthetic fat substitute, can actually put weight on you. Read my report on the study on Natural News.
A Wretched Man – A Novel of Paul the Apostle by RW Holmen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
As someone who’s self-published a novel, I know that self-published books have to work twice as hard to prove their worth. When I pick something up on Smashwords, I assume it will be bad until it proves that it’s worth reading. I came to “A Wretched Man” in that spirit. Within the first dozen pages, I knew that the author could write. It wasn’t long after that that I figured out that he also had something worthwhile to say.
“A Wretched Man” is not only a good read, it’s thought provoking and solidly researched. It’s not just a regurgitation of the Acts of the Apostles. In fact, in a couple of places there are slight inconsistencies between the two. But the two authors are doing two very different things with their text, so the differences didn’t bother me much. “A Wretched Man” wonders out loud, “What was Paul really like?” “Why did he seem to be such an extremist in certain areas of doctrine and practice?” The book will probably tick some people off, but then so did Paul.
View all my reviews
Do you realize that not too long ago, “organic” food was just “food”? It’s only been about 60 years since the Green Revolution decided it could do Mother Nature one better, introducing large-scale monoculture, pesticides, herbicides and eventually genetically engineered plants and animals. What used to be simply a tomato is now a designer food, or a political decision, or basic self defense.
Organic food is about much more than just pesticide residue. Take a look at my latest article with Natural News, “Consider Four More Reasons to Buy Organic” for a look at the global implications of your food choices.
If you are interested in how to train safely in the sun, I’ve just written an article for YMAA on sunburn prevention and herbal treatment. You’ll find it here.
Western Herbs is now available for the Nook, Barnes and Noble’s e-reader. You can find it for sale on the BN site.
Western Herbs for Martial Artists and Contact Athletes was just named the first runner-up in the Health category of the Eric Hoffer Awards. The Hoffer awards are given each year to outstanding books published by independent publishers (academic, independent, small press, and self-published authors). The award comes with a review in the US Review of Books.
