Turtle Soup Is Enough: Laughing and Biking When Everything Falls Apart by Bestselling Author Margaret O'Connor

 

Turtle Soup is Enough

Did you know that the fluid in your spinal cord is the same color as lemonade? I sat and watched it drip from my little brother's limp body into a medical bag on his bedside, as one of his surgeons told us the news that nearly shredded my faith to chaff.

"This kid will never walk again."

These essays were written during the worst year of my life. I wrote them for one of my college classes, answering various prompts on the theme of place. I didn't know at the time that I was chronicling a fight for my existence.

My family and faith have never been about fitting in. We don’t believe in God because of what they say at church. We see him in the mud that cakes our jeans and the laughter we share around the campfire, drinking beer and listening to the grisly stories our dad brings home from the ER. Our faith in God has never been about propriety; it’s been about relationship.

How can you reconcile that kind of faith when it seems like God stands by as your whole world falls apart?

When my faith went up in flames, I found truth like I never had before. Sometimes God shatters you to shatter the lies you didn't know you believed, and there's nothing left to do but buck up and face what's right.

Faith is tested, hope victorious, and valuable lessons are learned along the way in this raw, wildly funny and inappropriate memoir.

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Meet Margaret O'Connor

Margaret O'Connor

Margaret O'Connor is a bestselling author and public speaker. Her works have been published in both literary and academic journals, and she was a finalist for the Annie Dillard Award for Creative Nonfiction with the Bellingham Review.

 

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FASCINATING TITLES BY JASON YACHANIN

 

The Mysterious Happenings on 

Hyde Avenue: The Lair of the Incubus 

There’s nowhere to hide.

In this heart-pounding, irreverent sequel to The Mysterious Happenings at 2 Morning view, high schooler Justin, his two best friends, and a cast of unforgettable offbeat characters desperately try to defeat a horrific supernatural being, close the portal to its demonic world, and save Justin’s family from eternal damnation.
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“Jason Yachanin’s The Mysterious Happenings at 2 Morning view, and sequel, The Mysterious Happenings on Hyde Avenue: The Lair of the Incubus, were both so entertaining I didn’t want to put them down once I started reading! If you are a fan of the supernatural, 90s nostalgia, and comedic mysteries, then I highly recommend Yachanin’s work. Did someone say a future TROMA film?”
– Lloyd Kaufman, President of TROMA Entertainment, Creator of The Toxic Avenger

“Yachanin authentically captured the nostalgia of the 90s in his first novel, and this sequel is even more thrilling and charming, taking the reader on a brand new and darker thrill-ride. A must read for any horror fan. We have a talented new author with a very promising career ahead. He deserves your attention.”
– Aaron Reid and Ben Allen, A&B Horror Movies

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The Mysterious Happenings at 

2 Morning view Paperback 

The Mysterious Happenings at 2 Morning view takes place in 1996, the sophomore year of high school for the main character, Justin. He's popular enough for your average punk-rock teen. He recently made the snare line in marching band, and he seems to have caught the attention of one the best-looking girls in school. There's only one problem: High school may be going great, but something's seriously wrong with Justin's family. Mysterious events have been occurring at Justin's house, and all signs point to extraterrestrial contact. Or so he thinks... Determined to get to the bottom of his family's strange behavior, Justin enlists the help of his best friend and soon-to-be girlfriend. (He hopes.) What begins as a simple search for answers will soon turn into something darker and more terrifying than the three of them could ever imagine.

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Jason Yachanin

Jason Yachanin is a professional actor, small business owner, and author. He is best known for his roles in the indie-horror anthology, V/H/S, the cult classic, Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead, and Blue Bloods. He resides on the Jersey Shore with his wife, daughter, dog, cockatiel, tortoise, and two parakeets.

New Book: Racism, Where Is Your Sting? A provocative look at the beginning and the end of racism by Eric Tangumonkem, Ph.D

Each time the issue of racism is mentioned, 

tensions immediately run high, reason is thrown out the window, and emotional outbursts run rampant. Even though a lot of effort has been done to fight it, the devastating consequences continue to this day.

The heart of this book is focused on the key elements that make racism possible and how to starve the lifeblood to these key elements and eradicate them from the root. Since racism is based on the faulty notion that one race is superior to another, you need somebody who believes that they are superior and another person who believes that they are inferior. When these two people interact, the outcome will reflect what they believe about themselves and their circumstances.

This may sound too simplistic, but it is one of the major drivers of racism. In addition to superiority and inferiority beliefs, acts of impunity and unforgiveness are the other drivers. You have those that believe they are superior, and in their zeal to impose their superiority, they harm those they are trying to keep in their inferior position. The individuals who are hurt “rightly” want to seek revenge and unfortunately fall into the unforgiveness pit, where they become trapped by hate and vengeance. I hope that the simple message of hope in this book will shed some much-needed light in the darkness of one of the darkest pages of human history. We are going to be affirming that there is one human race. In addition to one human family, none is superior to another, and none is inferior as well. We are all created in the image and likeness of God, and the amount of melanin in our skin does not and should never be used to define us. When we gain this understanding, believe, and start acting on it, it is only then that we can all ask the question, “Oh, racism, where is your sting?

 

MEET THE AUTHOR

Dr. Eric Tangumonkem is a geoscientist, author, speaker, 

coach, professor, and an entrepreneur. 

He was born and raised in Cameroon, Africa. 

As a young adult, he migrated to the United States of America. 

He has a Doctorate degree in Geosciences from the University of Texas at Dallas and is a professor at Missional University, 

Embry Riddle, and West Hills College.

As President of IEM Approach, a premier personal growth 

and leadership development company, Dr. Tangumonkem’s mission 

is to inspire, equip, and motivate people from all works of life to identify their God-given purpose, live it, and maximize their giftedness. To do this, the growth and development of the body, mind, 

and spirit MUST be in synergy. He has published several books 

and resources on personal growth and development. and conducts public workshops, coaching, and custom training programs for companies and organizations worldwide

Eric’s book is available on Amazon

 

                                                    

New Books for your Reading Pleasure

Never Give Up

Skylar L. Hill

Lily Pene had the same passion for dancing as her older sister, and was determined to prove to everyone that she had what it took to succeed. Every setback in her life just seemed to inspire her to strive harder, to be a better dancer than she was before, no matter the odds. Dancing was her dream, and she would never give up on that future.

  Never Give Up 

is available 

on Amazon

New Book: Judenrein, a Jewish Dystopian Thriller,

 Issues a Stark Warning of Rising American Anti-Semitism

The book uses suspense to convey a stark warning to American Jews, based on rising anti-Semitism. The story envisions the fate of America’s Jews after a white supremacist cabal seizes power in the federal government.

 

“The Jews have enjoyed a level of freedom and prosperity in the United States that they hadn’t experienced for the previous two thousand years, but there are warnings all over the place that it’s about to end,” said a spokesperson for the publisher, Intrados Publishing.

 

“Judenrein tries to imagine what the destruction of American Jewry might look like—and offers a suspenseful adventure and a compelling, if flawed hero who fights to save the day.”

 

The word “Judenrein” is German for “free of Jews.” The Nazis used it to describe their dream of liquidating Europe’s Jewish population. The author selected the word as a title because it reflects the clearly stated aims of America’s many large and increasingly influential white nationalist groups.

 

“Judenrein” is a work of Jewish fiction that tells the story of Zack Gurevitz, a man with a decidedly checker past: A Yeshiva boy, turned Green Beret, turned junkie, excommunicated by his one-time faith and now the potential saviour of people he doesn’t even like. With white supremacists in power, again the Jews are made out as scapegoats. Stripped of wealth and citizenship, they are made to live in 21^st century ghettos that hark back to a sinister and murky past that many had thought would never return.

 

But things are about to get much worse. With the revealing of a planned terror attack that will place the blame firmly at Jewish feet and condemn millions to death, Zack is contacted by Jewish leaders in Detroit, begging for his help. Reluctantly, he agrees and before long he is mired in a conspiracy that will have far reaching consequences for his country, the Jewish population and even his own sanity. As the clock ticks down, Zack tries to avert a looming disaster and uncover who is behind the mysterious plot.

 

 

Intrados Publishing is a boutique publisher that focuses on fiction and non-fiction works that are relevant to the American experience. Harold Benjamin is the pen name of a 50-something Jewish writer in the American Midwest.

Meet Harold Benjamin

Judenrein is available as an 

ebook and paperback on Amazon

Rosie 

The Pink Dragon 

Meets Abby and Maddie 

Karen Magnan

Rosie was visited by the Fairy Godmother, 

who brought her granddaughters along. 

The day showed how much fun 

magic could be, and how it could go wrong.

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The Ravine by Robert Pascuzzi: "A gripping, ultimately

 uplifting story about the power of Christian forgiveness." - Kirkus Review

Are you ready to explore your own views on faith, hope, forgiveness and the afterlife? On a weekday morning in a peaceful suburb of Akron, Ohio, the town awakens to discover that Rachel Turner and her son, Evan, have been brutally murdered during the night. A short while later, Danny Turner is found in his car at the bottom of a ravine, after having taken his own life. Any explanation as to why a loving father and husband would suddenly commit a series of such heinous crimes has gone to the grave with the accused. The mystery only deepens as the details of the murders emerge, and evidence of premeditation as well as Danny’s hidden past revealed. Through Joanna Larson, a fascinating woman who possesses extraordinary spiritual gifts, the truth about the events that took place the night of the murders is unveiled. 

Inspired by true events, *The Ravine* is a story of faith, forgiveness, and most of all, the restoration of hope- even for the most seemingly unredeemable among us.

Robert Pascuzzi is an entrepreneur, husband and father from the Midwest whose comfortable existence was shattered due to a horrendous crime that impacted him and his family. In the wake of that tragedy, he was led on a spiritual journey that challenged his core beliefs. Compelled to share what he learned, this book was born.

Meet Robert

 Pascuzzi

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Robert of FACEBOOK

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Robert on TWITTER

READ THE RAVINE ON AMAZON