HER GODMOTHER by Cate Cavanagh: “As a spiritualist my mission is to heal but as the scriptures teach, I had to heal myself first.”

Her Godmother is the story of a young girl named Allie whose father is an alcoholic. His disease becomes so problematic that Allie’s mother decides to leave him. While she is planning to relocate with Allie, she sends Allie to stay with her unusual godmother, Brigid.

I am the adult child of an alcoholic and, the echoes of growing up with that disease impacted on life choices, my self esteem and feelings of worth. Like Allie, I adored my father and although a child I always felt responsible for his inability to stop drinking. After much self evaluation I reached a point in my life where I was able to connect the dots and realize how much growing up in an environment with this disease and all the dysfunction it entails affected where I was in my life and personally. I began intensive work on healing.

One very thing that is very unique to children growing up with an addicted parent is the misplaced sense that the parent is to be protected and so begins the secret. It becomes very important for others and peers to believe there are no problems in the family. So ingrained was this secret keeping within me I did not even share my father was an alcoholic until I was in my thirties.

As a spiritualist my mission is to heal but as the scriptures teach, I had to heal myself first. This was a painful journey for me. As I began my journey I realized that growing up as I did I suffered an intense feeling of loneliness and isolation because I did not know how to share what I was going through. I did not know how to express how I felt. As an adult I came in touch with how I felt as a child, how many of those feelings I still had and how to replace them with a healthier self image that was free from blame. My only ally was an elderly aunt, who also happened to be my godmother. Through her I experienced the unconditional love and acceptance I could not receive from my father. Whatever was within me that wanted to be a healthy person I know came from that very important relationship.

When I first began writing as a youngster I decided I wanted to write so that those people who might feel alone would not feel alone by reading my work. It all came together one night when the title of the book became the only phrase of the first page and remained so for over a year.

During that time I continued writing articles on healing and spirituality, founded Quantum Spirituality, The Science Of Change which teaches how to create a mind shift away from all the damaged self perceptions we carry with us from various causes.

It was during this period I realized I was ready to address the issue of alcoholism and the impact it has on children. This was to become a story from my heart because in order to write the story I had to recall and connect with the pain, feelings and thoughts I used to experience and did not know how painful it would be for me to express them. But, I knew it was a story that had to be told so children could hopefully be guided into seeing they hold no fault whatsoever and also for adults who had an alcoholic parent to experience a catharsis as well. Most importantly, this story holds within it tools for healing that helped me such as the teachings of Alcoholics Anonymous which helped me better understand the disease itself and real magic, as I have experienced it, that uplifted my heart and soul and taught me how to, despite heartache, to see and embrace everyday magic and joy.

As a Witch, the magical principles that are part of this mystical are genuine. As an adult child of alcoholic there is authenticity to what Allie feels and faces and, as the god daughter of a wonderful lady that was my life line, Allie’s godmother is endowed with her qualities.

Healing from a family dysfunction, such as having an addiction destroy a family is so difficult for so many they carry the scars for a lifetime. I felt an authentic and honest tale addressing this issue and the healing of the main character might be uplifting to those still walking with the shadow of sorrow hovering over them.

I wrote this book to offer an entertaining way in which to address a very serious issue that also offers insight in the start of the healing process.

Her Godmother receives great reviews and is available through all bookstores, including Barnes and Noble, barnesandnoble.com and amazon.com.

Cate Cavanagh is the author of HER GODMOTHER.  You can visit her website at www.quantumspirituality.tripod.com.

A FULL HOUSE – BUT EMPTY by Angus Munro: “…I decided to write my story…growing up in the Great Depression.”

After completing thirty-nine years in hospital administration (in both California and Alaska) in 2003, I decided to retire. As a divorced man and having been a workaholic most of my life, I wondered what the prospects would be of having to throw in the towel devoid of further plans or goals. In pondering this (in limbo) situation, I decided to write a story regarding my growing up years during the Great Depression in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

I had an interesting but somewhat hectic childhood. However, during the difficult Depression from the age of seven-years-old through eleven, I ironically experienced the most wonderful part of my life. Prior to my retirement, to assist their working parents, I had been very actively involved in helping to take care of my two great nephews, Kyle, age eleven and Grant, age eight. These lads were so close in age to my happy growing up life span. I definitely decided to share those years with them.

When I completed this draft, my nephew, Paul – the lads’ father stated that I needed to continue to write my total life experiences. He firmly stated that I had had an interesting and successful life worthwhile reviewing and telling others. As a somewhat rather private person, who had actually, apart from those years, experienced a rather hectic and unorthodox background, I wasn’t certain I wanted to expose myself by uncovering those events. However, beyond the sad memories, as a mature adult, I decided it would be both constructive and feasibly cathartic to continue the story.

Waiving the childhood chaotic events, at age three, I was raised by my father, along with my sister, Laura, age 6 and Marjorie, an infant. Referring to those four happy years, we had united with the Inglehart family, a father with five children, whose marital status and circumstances were similar to those of my father. Both fathers came from farming families. After WW II started in Canada in 1939 our families parted when I reached age eleven. At age fourteen, after repeating the seventh grade twice – due to an unfortunate incident, I dropped out of school.

At seventeen, I was working in a sawmill, tossing lumber ends from a conveyor belt. At home, my father who was an outside foreman for a large oil and coal company, was a great partygoer. Our home was like a mini Grand Central Station with either parties or poker games weekly and in both cases lasting all night.

One evening, a theological student from the University of British Columbia (UBC) joined a group at my father’s pub club – who all thereafter arrived it our home for a party. The student, George started to attend our parties regularly. Apart from his university studies, he was also very active and president of the largest teen town center in Vancouver. He stopped by one evening and delivered a Dutch uncle speech to me. He informed this grade-school dropout and complete failure to get off of my ass and get moving. He suggested that I enroll in a local high school and take evening classes in both accounting and typing to acquire some basic skills. Further, to seek a white-collar entrance position in a company that would offer future promotional considerations. I countered by saying what a failure I had been and that I had no basic skills and nothing to offer. He quickly responded that he was certain I had above average intelligence with a great potential and to stop dwelling on circumstances. I immediately started taking evening classes as he suggested and started working for the T. Eaton Company in an entrance position.

My story continues moving up the ladder starting from the lowest rung. I became very success, despite my very limited beginnings. I spent nine years in the petroleum business and I was scheduled for a junior executive position in their home office. I decided to change careers and entered into hospital administration. I was very successful and spent thirty-nine years in healthcare as a director with staffing complements ranging from fifty-five to seventy employees.

I was so grateful to my theological student friend, George, who opened the door for me. Apart from George, the crux of my story, is the wonderful knowledge and goodness that I received from my somewhat rebellious father who taught me by example his wonderful attributes and basic people skills. He always said, “Do the right thing, regardless of the circumstances!” And further to those sagacious and profound thoughts, my motto has been, “Whatever you do, follow through!”

DEAR GOD LET ME LOSE FAT, AMEN by Dr. J.R. Paine & Professor S.N. Gupta Ph.D.: “The only alternative and solution was for us to use mega brainpower…”

The seeds for the book were sown over a decade ago when Dr. Paine’s baby sister lost her husband to obesity and obesity associated Type II Diabetes. She had been married for about ten years. At the time of her husband’s untimely death at the age of 40, she was a tender 32 years old. She was the mother of an 8-year-old boy and a 6-year old girl.

What a waste of 4 precious lives, not even counting his and her parents and family. And, for what? A lack of knowledge and a mindset that said “take my life, not my fatty, sugary, salty, cholesterol loaded, acid/ash, killer calorie loaded foods”. My sister carries the anguish of his loss to this day and never remarried.

Then her son began to emulate his late father’s eating habits. I knew that losing her son the same way as her husband is more pain than I could ever bear to see my baby sister suffer. That is when serious research started and here we are with the first book published and others to follow. We promised ourselves that we will write a book the likes of which has never been written before in the history of weight loss. We promised to innovate a Zero Obesity system that will begin to end the health and obesity mega crisis and be available to each and every person for just a dime. Mission impossible, said the pessimists, doubters, never say yes gloom and doom experts.

But, our desire to help was solid like a rock. A Zero Obesity System was urgently needed by a 100 million desperate dieters. A 100 million Americans, as we write this story, who are suffering the agony of obesity not knowing what to do, how to stop it and how to gain health and lose excess weight need such a book and a fail-proof Zero Obesity System.

We knew that 30 million plus books, diet companies, diet plans, drugs, surgical procedures, hormonal injections and more already existed. We asked ourselves, “why did this huge mass of “advise” on how to lose weight turned a trickle of obesity in 1950 into a Tsunami of obesity in 1999?

The answer was a shocker. The reason is clueless advice by fat loss pundits, “experts”, scammers and people’s fear of the words “science and physics”. Add to this pure simple lack of knowledge about the scientific makeup of the body, the universal natural laws that make it work and in plain and simple words, misunderstood science.

The only alternative and solution was for us to use mega brainpower, ours and that of one thousand great minds throughout human history, to innovate a virtual 21^st century solution to obesity and her twin brother Health Failure.

The question on your mind right this minute is, “how is ‘Dear God, Let Me Lose Fat, Amen’ different from 30 million other books

As you read our story, you will realize that no book on the most relevant issue, health, has a science grounded, biologically compatible, nature guaranteed roadmap to winning health and defeating obesity/overweight/ disease without using the mouth, surgical knife or needle, swallowing risky diet pills, starvation, food deprivation, hormonal injections. liposuction, surgical procedures, botox injections, punishing workouts, recipes, despair, pain, anger, and frustration exists anywhere in the world with which to compare the Dear God book and the astonishing innovation to be discovered between its covers.

Not one book exists that has have taken a thousand years of knowledge and wisdom produced by great minds of history, condensed it into 150 fast delivery, fast facts nuggets of knowledge nutrition for the brain and put the best of it to work for 330 million Americans and billions around the world through AutoSlim, AutoTutors who stay with you 24/7/365 for a dime a day.

No book provides 40 Zero Obesity 24/7 Health Info-Experts Pinups to ensure that everyone who owns a human body is able to benefit from Nature’s enormous healing power through counter-attack fast delivery, fast facts nuggets of knowledge nutrition for the BRAIN served by a team of FORTY 24/7/365 virtual Info-Therapists, Personal Trainers, Tutors, Coaches, Nutrition Bodyguards and other health Info-Experts. It is a fact that while for nearly five decades, we have had easy access to fast delivery, fast foods and fluids loaded with acid/ash and killer calories to feed the mouth, we have had zero, zip access to fast delivery, fast knowledge to feed essential knowledge nutrition to the brain.

Scientists, scholars, sages and saints have known the truth about the connection between Nature, physics and human life for millenniums. The vitally important scientific facts recited below are not a secret to scholars and scientists. Now, with “Dear God, Let Me Lose Fat, Amen”, each and every person can profit from this invaluable knowledge. Each and every person can afford it at just a dime a day.

We all know it but conveniently forget when hunger and cravings cell launch their attack that by nature, we are creatures of habit. Habits are formed in the brain based on information we get from the eyes, ears and mouth. The brain’s job is to protect the body, but to protect trillions of cells, the brain needs knowledge. Knowledge is nutrition for the brain. “Dear God, Let Me Lose Fat, Amen” virtual team of info-tutors, personal trainers and nutritional bodyguards serve tasty nuggets of FAST knowledge to the brain 24/7 that enable it to work at full capacity to keep you slim and healthy effortlessly. Health becomes a HABIT and your SECOND NATURE that lasts a lifetime. We enjoy this daily and it is now easy to control the cravings for FAST foods. We welcome you to join us in the Zero Obesity Zone.

In the absence of knowledge nutrition, the brain has no stored data upon which to base its decisions to grant or deny excessive signals for an overdose of foods from the hunger and cravings cells.

The first Virtual team of 40 of these amazing health info-experts is housed in the “Dear God, Let Me Lose Fat, Amen” book for your convenience. The full-color, ready to clip, frame and display health info-experts, AutoSlim, virtual AutoTutor Pinups are waiting to help you start gaining health and losing weight on Nature’s timetable (remember nature takes none months to make a baby and 18 years for humans to move from childhood to adulthood). Losing an ounce of fat a day equals losing 30 pounds of weight in fat and fluids in one year. Your Health Info-Experts, AutoSlim, virtual AutoTutors take care of you 24/7. They:

*Stand on duty 24/7 on your refrigerator door with a magnetic clip
*Sit on the dinner table 24/7 in a frame
*Sit on the kitchen counters in a frame 24/7
*Sit on the office desk in a frame 24/7
*Sit on the family TV set in a frame
*Sit on the bedside table in a frame

The story has a happy ending for everyone who wants to regain health and lose excess fat. Our story culminated in the fulfillment of our promise of proving dieters with the easiest, safest, fail-proof way in the world to protect and defend their health and body against obesity/overweight and 32 obesity related diseases. They will make exciting new ways to save time, save money and best of all save their health. Some adventures that await the bloggers are:

· They will learn how to use in a jiffy the huge supply of healing powers programmed into their body and being by Nature.

· They will be thrilled to know how to lose 150-200 calories in just 30 seconds. All they need do is look at Pages 28 and 31 of the “Dear God, Let Me Lose Fat, Amen” book.

· They will be know how to naturally boost their metabolism by feeding their body the foods it must have to be healthy and limiting the foods that carry acid/ash, killer/calorie, disease inducing foods. To own a list of “Foods to Eat and Love” and “Foods to Fear”, just see pages 47 and 48 in the “Dear God, Let Me Lose Fat, Amen” book.

· They will never ever gain weight again.

· They will never ever worry about gaining weight. It is a fantastic feeling. We enjoy it every single day.

· The Fast Delivery, Fast Facts, Fast Knowledge AutoSlim AutoTutors keep the brain receptors awake and never let them forget that you want to stay slim and healthy.

· Your team of 24/7 Health Info-Experts helps you to automatically reach your own MUST CHANGE moment, which is the start signal to launch your
own personal health and ideal body weight journey.

· Your team of 24/7 Health Info-Experts keeps the roadmap to success in
health, weight and personal life at the forefront of your thoughts.

· Your AutoSlim Pinups team helps you set and reach health and weight goals.

· Your AutoSlim team provides the 24/7 support and know-how for your health and nutrition needs.

· Your AutoSlim AutoTutor Pinup team focuses you better to more quickly talk to your body in its own language.

· Your AutoSlim AutoTutor Pinup team makes you feel sure and secure at all times.

· Your Info-Expert Pinup team envisions and implements a healthier life and steady roadmap.

· Your virtual team stays focused on your health and weight 24/7 with non-stop reminders. They never let you forget how to help your body stay in health.

· Best of all, the strong desire for 100% health and Zero Obesity becomes a loved habit and hobby. You treasure this habit for the rest of your life.

· High Tech scientists estimate that by the year 2017, one billion people would have moved into the virtual world. You are among the very first to move in and to claim a place of your own in the amazing, exciting, wonderful new virtual world.

Enjoy “Dear God, Let Me Lose Fat, Amen< and live happily ever after.

Dr. J.R. Paine is the co-author of DEAR GOD, LET ME LOSE FAT, AMEN. You can visit her blog at www.deargoddiet.wordpress.com.

THE LOST DIARY OF DON JUAN by Douglas Carlton Abrams: “…what could we learn from him about the nature of passion?”

One night I went to bed asking myself a question that I believe every married man or woman asks eventually: how could I stay happily and passionately married for the rest of my life?

The next morning I awoke as if I had been shaken. It was then that I first thought of Don Juan, the universal symbol of passion. I wondered what if he had kept a diary. What secrets would it contain? What could we learn from him about the nature of passion? And ultimately, what might cause the world’s greatest seducer to forsake all women for one woman? I left my wife’s warm sleeping body, walked past our three sleeping children, and sat down at the dining room table. It was as if a voice was whispering the story in my ear.

This is how I decided to write an historical diary exploring Don Juan’s life, his passionate relationships, and his eventual fall into the madness of love. I spent over four years reconstructing the world of 16^th century Sevilla, including several trips to Seville itself. The book, which began as an inquiry into the nature of love and lust, took on a life of its own and led me on thrilling adventure into the rich and dangerous world of Golden Age Spain.

So what, you may ask, is the secret to lasting passion and devotion? In the novel, Don Juan finds his answer. I hope that within its pages you will find yours.

Douglas Carlton Abrams is the author of the historical romance novel, The Lost Diary of Don Juan.  You can visit his website at www.lostdiaryofdonjuan.com.

THE SITTING SWING by Irene Watson: “…it shows how we can re-write the life scripts that have been passed down for generations.”

The Sitting Swing: Finding Wisdom to Know the Difference is a story of a portion of my own life I had to tell so that others could find hope and freedom, and knowing they too can heal their own lives, regardless of how shattered they feel they are. At first, I didn’t know what direction I would take the book into or even what I would write about, but like most people, I knew I had a book inside me and my story had to be told.

So…I started writing. I started in a chronological order and reflecting on my life from birth. I am gifted with a memory that goes back as early as 2 years old. My experiences are very vivid and clear. (And, confirmed by my mother.) As I started writing a lot of “stuff” came up for me; mostly memories of the emotional, and sometimes physical, abuse I received growing up. But, I kept on writing, and writing, and writing…. It was very cathartic for me. And, I got a lot of aha moments.

Once I completed writing about the distinct parts that I felt influenced the dysfunction in my own life, I started looking at the “why” I reacted as I did, or how those same experiences influence my own thoughts and actions. Again, cathartic.

I had already been at the recovery center in Quebec and was able to deal with much of the trauma I experienced, but re-visiting the experiences seemed to solidify and allow me to even move more forward in my life than I had before. The 28-days in the recovery center is what saved my life and gave me the understanding of why I behaved as I did, and why I accumulated the addictions I did. Of course, the experience at the center had to be part of my story. It shows how I rebelled against anything they were telling me – ohhhh, did I have an attitude! However, it was where I got the explanations to my questions of “why?” It was my turning point.

However, The Sitting Swing: Finding Wisdom to Know the Difference isn’t just about my story. It is full of explanations of the “why” we behave as we do, “why” we act and react the way we do, and there is a lot about finding our spiritual self – the authentic place we all have. In the end, it shows how we can re-write the life scripts that have been passed down for generations. We no longer need to be prisoners of someone else’s visions and thoughts, we can actually create our own lives. That’s the bottom-line message of the book. And, it works, because I know – I’ve been there.

Irene Watson is the author of the spellbinding memoir, The Sitting Swing.  You can visit her website at www.irenewatson.com.

A WORTHY MUSLIM by Amir Makin: “…it should become clearer to the reader as to how true patriotism should be defined.”

I began writing this book in an effort to begin a serious conversation and develop solutions to handling the issue of oppression in which some Muslims are reluctantly timid if not outright afraid and even terrified to seriously deal with. In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Muslims were strongly encouraged and even directed to focus on issues designed to remove the collective responsibility the Islamic community has to handle tragedies which arise out of different acts of oppression throughout the world. Many began to openly condemn anything and anyone they were told to in order to prove they were not evil terrorists. In the haste to do such, real issues of terrorism that have produced serious injustices as a result of things such as racism, or the greed of capitalism were ignored and denounced as unpatriotic conversation.

I began to see the motivation of some individuals well placed in the Muslim world shift from living for the way of life called Al Islam, to profiting by hiding the obligation that all Muslims are required to stand against injustice and oppression regardless of who its victims are. I realized that while some may have had great knowledge of Islamic science or memorization of the Qur’an, very few were willing to teach its application of standing against oppression such as the few examples I named above. I believe this is a direct result of their unwillingness to struggle against the very forces that benefit from the many instances of oppression. After growing exhausted hoping that some of those charged with leadership would lead effectively on this issue, I accepted the responsibility and recognized it became my duty to shed light on this topic where some of their efforts have fallen drastically short.

This book is first about gaining an understanding that true oppression and criminal behavior is defined in the Qur’an itself, and not solely by any member of Allah’s creation. It is about analyzing what all oppressive governments, dictators and their supporters have in common and how to deal with and rise above them all through the applications detailed in the Qur’an. I provide detailed explanations listing the strategies that all oppressors use in order to gain total control of the masses. Once this is understood, it should become clearer to the reader as to how true patriotism should be defined.

I then provide real time examples which establish the verification of the Quranic applications based on current events. The reader will definitely leave this book with a jolt of mental consciousness designed to challenge the position of comfort that may allow them to turn a blind eye toward certain injustices which they feel do not concern them. This book is not for Muslims alone, it is for anyone that wishes to understand “how” the Qur’an actually addresses what some sadly are afraid to speak on. This is written in very easy to understand language in which all terms used are defined within context and supported with a detailed vocabulary listing in the back. If you are not a Muslim, this provides a pass to enter a new world, if you are a Muslim this should serve as a compass to help find a direction that some have tragically lost.

Amir Makin is the author of A WORTHY MUSLIM: QURANIC TOOLS NEEDED TO OVERCOME OPPRESSION AND IMPERIALISM IN ORDER TO INSTITUTE JUSTICE. You can visit his website at www.unworthymuslim.com.