Middle-schoolers investigate haunting in their Pueblo, Colorado school

PUEBLO, Colo. — Sunbury Press has released Patricia Santos Marcantonio’s latest young adult paranormal novelThe Ghost Sisters and the Girl in Hallway B.

About the Book:
Meet the Ghost Sisters: Kat and Marie Bench.

They love anything to do with ghosts and the supernatural. When their divorced mom moves them to her hometown in Colorado, the sisters discover a real ghost haunts their school—that of a young girl who cries, slams lockers, and leaves mysterious messages as floors writhe, walls weep, and a terrible accident is replayed. Armed with resourcefulness and ghost-hunting tricks they picked up from books and TV, the sisters set out to find the identity of the student apparition. Meanwhile, one of their friends is being bullied. Kat and Marie will need bravery and determination to help their friend and solve the mystery of the girl in Hallway B.

Excerpt:
Mr. Castanza stomped to the north end of Hallway B, glanced both ways, and down the stairs. Then he walked to the other end. Nothing. He tried a few classroom doors, but remembered he had locked them all earlier in his shift.

“This place is showing its age again—moaning and creaking. Ain’t nobody here.” He hoped he was right. He briefly wondered if a cat or squirrel had sneaked inside.

With a rumble, his stomach signaled dinner and time for the turkey and provolone sandwich his wife had packed for him. Unplugging the waxer, the janitor felt the temperature drop within seconds.

“The air conditioning must be acting up again,” Mr. Castanza muttered. He didn’t mind talking to himself because night cleaning could be a lonely job. “Middle of the summer, and I can see my breath.” When he blew out air, a white cloud formed and crystallized.

He shivered. “Sure doesn’t feel like air conditioning.” A chill hugged his bones and surrounded his spirit with gloom. Mr. Castanza glanced up at the ceiling. No air conditioning duct was anywhere around. His nose wrinkled. The frigid air smelled like a giant wad of fruity bubble gum that had been chewed by a hundred different kids, all with bad breath.

“What in the blazes?”

A girl stood in front of Room 214. About the size of a seventh-grader, she had straight shoulder-length red hair with bangs. She wore big wire-framed glasses over a thin face. Dressed in a white blouse, red plaid skirt, and blue sweater, the girl held a blue notebook in one hand. Her other hand covered her eyes. Her body shook with heavy sobs, although she made no sound.

“The school is closed, honey,” Mr. Castanza said gently. “We need to call your parents to take you home.”

The girl didn’t answer and continued her silent crying.

The Ghost Sisters and the Girl in Hallway B
Authored by Patricia Santos Marcantonio
List Price: $14.95
5″ x 8″ (12.7 x 20.32 cm)
Black & White on White paper
182 pages
Sunbury Press, Inc.
ISBN-13: 978-1620064733
ISBN-10: 1620064731
BISAC: Juvenile Fiction / Paranormal

Also available on Kindle

For more information, please see:
http://www.sunburypressstore.com/The-Ghost-Sisters-and-th…

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Serial killer on the loose in the Cumberland Valley

CARLISLE, Pa. — Sunbury Press has released J. M. West’s first novel in the Carlisle Crime Cases series, Dying for Vengeance: A Christopher Snow & Erin McCoy Mystery.

About the Book:
Carlisle Homicide Detective Erin McCoy battles the jitters as the first woman in Homicide partnered with Senior Detective Christopher Snow. On their first case, they track a serial killer who’s stalking family members embroiled in an inheritance dispute. The perp dispatches his victims with toxic chemicals. As the detectives chase clues and connect the related victims, their mutual attraction blooms while she nurses him after a shooting incident. But sparks fly when FBI Special Agent Howard offers McCoy a job if she’ll train at Quantico. McCoy returns to Carlisle when she learns she has a rival for Snow’s affections.

Snow’s former partner, Reese Savage, returns to the CPD from Middle-East deployments expecting to resume their bachelor ways. Savage’s ire results in a PTSD spike while he’s tailing a suspect. In the interim, Chief March reassigns McCoy to the K9 Unit. When Mac becomes a target, she learns that she needs Chris to shove and shock her into life.

 

Carlisle Crime Cases series

Dying for Vengeance is Jody McGibney West’s first murder mystery/romance featuring Detectives Christopher Snow and Erin McCoy in The Carlisle Crime Cases Series. Interested reader may wish to backtrack and meet the Flowers family in her debut novel,Glory in the Flower.

Excerpt:
Relieved to be finished testifying in a local Domestic Violence case, Detective Erin “Mac” McCoy navigated the courthouse stairs. Clambering down concrete steps, wearing spike heels and a bulky quilted jacket while lugging a purse and briefcase, she longed to change into sweats and chill. The defendant and a few suits were clustered near the famed, charismatic defense attorney Antony Karagianis. His dark, wavy hair and distinctive silver sideburns framed telegenic blue eyes. She skirted the staged tableau. Karagianis nodded as she passed but turned to the cameras to explain why his client had been acquitted, despite slashing his wife and threatening his two kids. At the bottom of the steps, a reporter cornered the defense attorney for a sound bite, sticking the microphone in his face.

“I feel like Sisyphus,” Erin muttered, anger surging at the uphill battle with DV; usually the perp was acquitted—or not even tried because the victim refused to press charges. Hiking to her silver Honda Accord a block down West High, Erin fished for her keys and unlocked the door. A woman across the street, with wavy chestnut hair and oversized sunglasses, stood by a mud-brown Dodge Charger parked at the curb, her hands hidden behind her back.

The acquitted sauntered toward them. A thin navy suit, white shirt, and tie failed to hide the dragon tat on his neck. His long dark hair had been washed and gelled back off his face, his mustache and soul patch shaved for the trial. Seeing the woman wiped the satisfied smirk off his face. He rushed to confront her. “You bitch, you filed charges against me! I warned you!” His meaty hands latched onto her neck, squeezing; his body pinned hers against the vehicle. Before Erin could cross the street to intervene, the woman’s right hand came between the couple. A loud pop, then blood and matter spurted from the exit wound. Cordite filled the air. The dead man kept his balance for a few seconds, and then crumpled to the ground, shot through the heart. The gun clattered to the macadam.

About the Author:
Dying for Vengeance is the first in the Carlisle Crime Cases series of murder/mysteries featuring Homicide detectives Christopher Snow and Erin McCoy by Jody McGibney West, pseudonym for Joan M. West, Professor Emerita of English Studies at Harrisburg Area Community College, The Gettysburg Campus. She also taught at Messiah College and Shippensburg University as an adjunct and served as Assistant Director of the Learning Center (SU). She has previously published poetry and Glory in the Flower, her debut novel. It depicts four coeds who meet during the turbulent sixties.

She and her husband live near Carlisle, Pennsylvania. They have two sons and two grandsons. In her spare time, West volunteers at the Bookery—Bosler Memorial Library’s used bookstore, participates in the Litwits Book group, and reads voraciously.

Dying for Vengeance: A Christopher Snow & Erin McCoy Mystery
Authored by J. M. West
List Price: $19.95
6″ x 9″ (15.24 x 22.86 cm)
Black & White on White paper
394 pages
Sunbury Press, Inc.
ISBN-13: 978-1620064825
ISBN-10: 1620064820
BISAC: Fiction / Mystery & Detective / Police Procedural

Also available on Kindle

For more information, please see:
http://www.sunburypressstore.com/Dying-for-Vengeance-9781…

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BIGFOOT ATTACKS CAMPERS! Ape Man runs off with bestselling novel!

Fort Bragg, CA — Residents near this northern California town were stunned to hear the tale of four young campers who had been hiking in the nearby redwood forest.  About 12 miles east of town, they had settled in for the evening, playing guitars, reading and smoking a little medicinal marijuana, when they were attacked by a large hairy ape-like man who ransacked their camp.

“Yeah man,” said Derek Mendocino, one of the campers, “we were just chillin’ in the trees, you know, just hangin’ out, when this nasty dude came stompin’ out of the woods, running right at us.”

“Ewwwww, like, yuck!” exclaimed Skye Tyler, Derek’s girlfriend. “He smelled like, you know, like a dog that rolled in his own diarrhea, or something, you know, NASTY!”

“Dude was howlin’ like a banshee, man,” said Malcolm Nighthawk, their native American friend. “Definitely was a sasquatch — one of our ancient brothers.”

“I said … Whoa!  Dude!  Like slow down, man!” said Derek, explaining his interaction with the man beast. “I was so stunned, I swallowed my blunt!”

“He ripped up my tent and stole the novel I was reading right out of my hands!” cried Penelope Douglas, an aspiring young actress and student at UCLA. “It was my special hard cover first edition of The Cursed Man by Keith Rommel.  There are only 500 of these, you know. It’s going to be a movie with Brahm Gallagher!”

“Ahhh Brahm — he’s dreamy,” said Skye. Fortunately, she was able to snap a photo of the creature with her iPhone as it was running off with the novel.

According to Sunbury Press publisher Lawrence Knorr, the beast was estimated at ninety inches tall.

Close up of the Bigfoot near Fort Bragg California that stole a novel.

“The special edition Keith Rommel The Cursed Man is a hardcover with dust jacket six by nine inches. Comparing the book’s length to the height of the beast, it is likely about ten books tall, fully erect. That would put him at close to ninety inches — over eight feet tall!”

Knorr was kind enough to offer the young lady another copy and invited her to the Sunbury Press 10th anniversary party in Mechanicsburg, PA on September 5th at 6 PM. “Keith Rommel and Brahm will both be there to sign books,” said Knorr. “We’ll be sure to replace the young lady’s copy.”

The question that remains is why did the beast attack? And why on earth did he steal a copy of The Cursed Man by Keith Rommel when he could have nabbed food or more practical items.

According to George Grossfuss of the Bigfoot Research Center in Yakima, Washington, this was not the only instance of literary theft by these large simians.

“In 2005, a women had her copy of The DaVinci Code snapped up from her picnic blanket while camping in southern Idaho.  More recently, all three volumes of the Fifty Shades of Gray series were grabbed off of a back porch near Mokelumne Hill, California.”

Oddly enough, all were bestselling books about to become movies!

“The MO has been the same in all reports,” offered Grossfuss. “Squatch uncharacteristically makes a lot of noise and charges the site, tears up stuff, scares people, but then runs off with the bestsellers.”

“Thankfully they still like print books,” said Knorr. “I can’t imagine what they would do with a Kindle!”

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NOSTRADAMUS PREDICTED CURSED MAN SUCCESS

PARIS — An obscure quatrain by the great seer Michel de Nostradame, aka Nostradamus, had been a mystery to researchers for hundreds of years. With the recent rise in popularity of Keith Rommel’s psycho-thrillers, including “The Cursed Man,” which is presently being made into a movie in Hollywood, the meaning of the ever-puzzling 653rd quatrain now comes to light:

A great book by the scion of the House of the Dry Fox
All will marvel at its clever plot and suspenseful narrative
A son of Germany, he will rise in the new land
Though cursed, many will flock to hear his tale

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Review of “What To Do About Mama?: A Guide To Caring for Aging Family Members”

By Fairy C. Hayes-Scott, Ph.D., MarketingNewAuthors.com

The authors, Barbara G. Matthews and Barbara Tranin Blank, have presented a comprehensive work that will benefit every person who is in the position of being a caregiver.

The authors provide key information for all caregivers in every situation that can occur. Their work discusses the caregivers’ various responsibilities, the care receivers’ different reactions to their care, the wide support that hospice gives beyond moribund preparation, and the challenges posed by family members not providing the care. There are caregivers’ different narratives that clearly illustrate the situations that any caregiver will face. These narratives provide solid advice in a personal style that will maintain the reader’s interest.

An especially effective method is the personal sharing by each author. They have very different experiences, one providing within her home and one providing care from a distance. Their narratives that are interspersed throughout the work add to the authenticity of the work. Although personal, both authors do their best to maintain objectivity; they do not present information in a cold manner or overly subjective manner. Their sharing of personal experiences is quite effective.

Since this reviewer has been a caregiver with three family members, I know these authors’ experiences and the sharing by different individuals are very real. And the information they give will benefit every person who is a caregiver or a care receiver.

The culmination of the book is the chapter that provides clear recommendations for every caregiver. This chapter alone is well worth the purchase of the work. And as one who has been a caregiver, What To Do About Mama I know that this book is a must-read for every individual who wants to be a prepared and effective caregiver and a cooperative and more understanding care receiver.

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Man saved from death by a mysterious supernatural stranger

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Sunbury Press has released Ken Newman’s latest novel The Voice in my Ear, about a man who is saved from death by a supernatural woman who then involves herself in his life.

About the Book:
Mere moments from a gruesome death, Zack Cole makes a deal with a mysterious stranger. To live, Zack reluctantly becomes the guardian of Layla, an exotic woman struggling under a terrible curse.

Despite a rocky start, Layla discovers an intimacy and passion with the cocky, womanizing Zack that transcends her dreadful curse. Determined that Zack will be hers, Layla uses her vast power to help him solve the mysteries surrounding his attempted murder, unaware that Zack is the target of a vicious band of outcasts on a deadly mission for God.

Excerpt:
Without warning, the passenger-side door opened and a thoroughly soaked man plopped down on the seat.

“Who the hell do you think you are!” screamed the professor as his composure shattered. “Get out of my car before I have you arrested!”

Dressed in a pea coat and jeans, the slim, dark haired stranger gave the irate professor a warm smile and closed the door.

“Good weather for ducks. This thing have a heater?”

“Get out!”

Snarling, the old man balled up a pair of boney, liver-spotted fists, which had not seen combat since a humiliating defeat at the hands of a bully named Rebecca back in 1951.

The show of force made the stranger smile.

“Calm down, Professor Somerton, before you have a heart attack or something. I don’t want to get into a throw down with you; I merely want a smidgen of your time.”

“If you are one of my students trying to appeal a poor grade, you have just picked one hell of a wrong time! Congratulations, moron, you have just failed my class. In fact, I will have you expelled!”

“Not a student. Just a huge fan of your work.”

“A fan … of my work?” The professor slowly dropped his guard.

“You betcha. I read all five of your books from, THEY LIVE AMONG US, to WAS HITLER AN ALIEN?”

Irritated at the intrusion and not in the mood for a conversation, Professor Somerton nonetheless managed a small smile.

“You read my books, young man?”

“From cover to cover.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch the name.”

“Sorry, Professor. My name is Rex Brock.”

“While it is nice to meet someone who appreciates my work, you will have to excuse me. I am late to a very important meeting. Stop by my office tomorrow, and I will be happy to sign an autograph or pose for a photograph. Good day, Mr. Clock.”

“That’s Brock.”

“My apologies. Now if you will excuse me.”

“I am not here for a silly autograph or picture, Professor.”

About the Author:
Ken Newman has loved stories of the supernatural since listening to his grandmother’s tales of witches, haints, boogers, and catawamps when he was a child. Author of urban fantasy novels, The Paladin,The Ark, and now The Voice in My Ear, his fiction reflects his Tennessee roots. His speculative fiction will appear in upcoming editions ofHavok and Splickety magazines. A member of the Authors Guild of Tennessee, Ken lives in East Tennessee with his wife Christian and their three zany daughters.

The Voice in my Ear
Authored by Ken Newman
List Price: $16.95
6″ x 9″ (15.24 x 22.86 cm)
Black & White on White paper
280 pages
Sunbury Press, Inc.
ISBN-13: 978-1620064665
ISBN-10: 1620064669
BISAC: Fiction / Occult & Supernatural

Also available on Kindle and Nook

For more information, please see:
http://www.sunburypressstore.com/The-Voice-in-My-Ear-9781…

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So you want to sell your idea to Hollywood? Grab this book!

HOLLYWOOD — Sunbury Press has released Keith Rommel and Lawrence Knorr’s “How I Got Into Hollywood,” providing the author’s and publisher’s perspectives about becoming a published author and being noticed by Hollywood.

About the Book:
Keith Rommel shares his story of how he got the attention of a publisher and movie producer for his novel The Cursed Man, soon to be a major motion picture. While Keith shares the writers perspective, Lawrence Knorr of Sunbury Press, Keith’s publisher, shares the publisher’s perspective. Together, prospective authors receive advice from both sides of the process. Also included is the opening chapter ofThe Cursed Man.

About the Authors:
Keith Rommel is the author of the psychological thriller series “Thanatology” of which “The Cursed Man” is the first volume. He has also written “The Lurking Man” and “The Sinful Man” as part of this series. “The Silent Woman” is due out in 2015.Keith has also written a murder mystery “You Killed My Brother” and a supernatural thriller “Among the People.”The movie “The Cursed Man” is expected out in early 2015.

Lawrence Knorr is the President/CEO of Sunbury Press, Inc. of Mechanicsburg, PA. Sunbury Press is a publisher of trade paperback, hard cover and ebooks in a variety of categories. Sunbury Press is a traditional royalty-paying publisher and does not charge authors for services.

How I Got into Hollywood
Authored by Keith Rommel & Lawrence Knorr
List Price: $9.99
5″ x 8″ (12.7 x 20.32 cm)
Black & White on White paper
52 pages
Sunbury Press, Inc.
ISBN-13: 978-1620064719
ISBN-10: 1620064715
BISAC: Performing Arts / Screenplays

Also available on Kindle

For more information, please see:
http://www.sunburypressstore.com/How-I-Got-into-Hollywood…

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KING KONG WANTS HIS SPECIAL EDITION BOOKS SIGNED!

“Blimey! I know this is him! I see the posters and — whoah Mary Queen of Scots! The bloke has a Cursed Man curtain … now where are those …. schaaaaawinnnnggg! Why I never! She is one hot little number!” said Kong. “Screw the damn books — I want her!”

NEW YORK, NY — Movie star and stunt man King Kong was seen climbing an apartment building in the Hell’s Kitchen section of Manhattan this evening. The native of Madagascar had traveled to the Big Apple to have his personal copies of Keith Rommel’s Thanatology series — the first three hardcover volumes: The Cursed Man, The Lurking Man and The Sinful Man — signed by Brahm Gallagher, the lead actor in The Cursed Man movie. Brahm had taken the copies from Kong at the front entrance and promised to sign them, but was now having second thoughts and really just wanted to spend some time with his lady friend.

“I’d really appreciate if the chap would just oblige, really,” said Mr. Kong in an interview before he began scaling the 35 story tower. “I mean it’s not like he’s a superstar yet like Leo (DiCaprio) or Sly (Stallone) or Arnie (Schwarzenegger).”

Gallagher continued to maintain his privacy in his 17th floor suite, enjoying the company of movie star girlfriend Fay Wray.

“I don’t want to see that damn ape,” Brahm was heard saying behind closed doors.

“Oh Brahmy dear — just sign the big boy’s books — and then we’ll have a little nooky wooky … smooch honey bunch!” urged the starlet.

“No! I won’t do it! His breath stinks and he smells like a sasquatch!”
exclaimed the rising star. “I’m becoming big …. you know … and I — I — should be able to make my own decisions — who is he anyway?”

“Oh Brahmy dear — just sign the big boy’s books — and then we’ll have a little nooky wooky … smooch honey bunch!” urged the starlet.

“Yes you are becoming big deary — real big! Oooh I can’t wait until you burst onto the scene!” exclaimed Fay.

Meanwhile, losing patience, the 30 foot tall, 4 ton stunt man scaled the 17 stories with ease and looked in an open window ….

“Blimey! I know this is him! I see the posters and — whoah Mary Queen of Scots! The bloke has a Cursed Man curtain … now where are those …. schaaaaawinnnnggg! Why I never! She is one hot little number!” said Kong. “Screw the damn books — I want her!”

(to be continued)

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Elderly woman with Alzheimer’s accused of murdering her caregiver

PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. — Sunbury Press has released Sharon Marchisello’s murder mystery novel Going Home, about a daughter’s quest to help her mother who is suffering from Alzeimer’s and is accused of murder.

About the Book:
Michelle DePalma expected to jet into Two Wells, Texas, check on her elderly mother, and hurry back to her orderly life in Atlanta, where she has a happy marriage and satisfying career. Instead, she finds her mother, Lola Hanson, hovered over the bludgeoned body of her caregiver, Brittany Landers.

Since the events of 9/11, one month earlier, Lola’s memory loss has amplified, and the family suspects Alzheimer’s. Now Lola can’t tell anyone what happened to Brittany.

The agency that provides home care for Lola promptly withdraws its services. Michelle is stuck in her home town longer than planned as she cares for a mother with whom she has never been close and tries to prove her innocence. The police officers who investigate the crime are old antagonists from grade school. A secret thought to be long buried—that Michelle bore a son out of wedlock and gave him up for adoption—surfaces when a surprise daughter-in-law and granddaughter show up, distracting Michelle from her quest to solve the murder. And then she stumbles upon a motive which makes Lola look even more guilty.

Going Home was inspired by the author’s mother’s battle with Alzheimer’s and explores the challenge of solving a murder mystery when a potential witness cannot rely on her memory. Written from the perspective of a baby boomer forced to reverse roles with her parents, it crosses into the mainstream genre of women’s fiction and touches increasingly common issues such as elder abuse and end-of-life decisions.

Excerpt:
My mother never left the front door wide open—no way would she “heat the whole neighborhood.”

I jumped out of my rental car and hurried up the walkway. This was my first visit in over a month—since before the awful events of September 11—and although I had spoken to my elderly mother over the phone several times a week, I was not sure what to expect.

“Mom, what—?”

A smile illuminated my mother’s face as if someone had twisted a dimmer switch. “Michelle! It’s so nice to see you!” She took a step toward me, right through the puddle of blood.

On the tile floor a young woman was sprawled, her blond hair caked with blood. I knelt at her side. No pulse. No breath. Blue-gray pallor. It had been years since I’d been proficient in CPR, and it wasn’t coming back to me. How many compressions? “Have you called 9-1-1?” My voice shook as I uttered those numbers.

“What’s wrong with Brittany?” My mother squatted beside me as if we were playing a game.

“Mom, what happened?” I cried. What if this woman—Brittany—was dead? Ants gathered at a stream of coagulated blood from her nostrils. “Did you call 9-1-1?”

Mom’s blank stare confirmed she had not. Unlike most of my friends, I had no cell phone, so I dashed to the black wall phone in the kitchen.

“What is your emergency?” The female voice was pleasant but businesslike, with an East Texas twang.

I gave my name and our address. “My mother’s caregiver is unconscious, maybe even dead. I just got here, so I can’t say for sure what happened, but it looks like a blow to the head.”

“I’ll send paramedics right away.” She confirmed the address I had given her. “Is the victim breathing?”

“No.”

“Is there a pulse?”

“I couldn’t find one.” My own heart pounded.

“Has anyone started CPR?”

“Not yet. I called you first.” Had I made a fatal mistake?

“Is anyone else in danger?”

“In danger? What do you mean?”

“Is the person who did this still there? Is he trying to hurt anyone else?”

“No … I mean, I don’t think so. I didn’t see what happened.”

“Are you alone?”

“My mother’s here. But she’s seventy seven years old and …”

“The emergency crew should arrive momentarily. I’ll stay on the line until they get there, so leave the phone off the hook. Do you know CPR?”

“I was a flight attendant for ten years. We reviewed CPR every spring in recurrent training, but I never used it for real. And it’s been nine years since I left In-Flight …”

The woman politely cut off my blathering with brief instructions to refresh my memory and told me to start CPR.

“Lord!” The voice of Karen Jackson, another of my mother’s caregivers, boomed from the entryway.

“Don’t do this, Britt!” Karen was bent over Brittany’s body when I returned from making the call. Mouth wide open, eyes popping like peeled grapes, Karen looked up as I approached.

I knelt beside her and began chest compressions as Karen tried to blow air into Brittany’s lungs.

About the Author:
Sharon Marchisello is the author of The Ghost on Timber Way, part of a short story anthology featuring fellow Sisters in Crime members. She has published a personal finance e-book entitled Live Cheaply, Be Happy, Grow Wealthy, as well as numerous travel articles and corporate training manuals. Sharon grew up in Tyler, Texas, and earned her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Houston in French and English. She studied for a year in Tours, France, on a Rotary scholarship and then moved to Los Angeles to pursue her Masters in Professional Writing at the University of Southern California. Now she lives in Peachtree City, Georgia, with her husband and cat. Retired from a 27-year career with Delta Air Lines, she does volunteer work for the Fayette Humane Society.

Going Home
Authored by Sharon Marchisello
List Price: $16.95
5.5″ x 8.5″ (13.97 x 21.59 cm)
Black & White on White paper
284 pages
Sunbury Press, Inc.
ISBN-13: 978-1620064382
ISBN-10: 1620064383
BISAC: Fiction / Mystery & Detective / General

Also available on Kindle and Nook

For more information, please see:

http://www.sunburypressstore.com/Going-Home-9781620064382…

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“Tweener” girl stumbles upon Native American history in a quiet corner of Pennsylvania

SCRANTON, Pa. — Sunbury Press has released Jim Remsen’s YA historical novel Visions of Teaoga, about an adolescent girl who stumbles upon local Native American history.

About the Book:
The year is 1790 and Queen Esther, a notorious American Indian matriarch, travels under cover to observe a U.S.-Iroquois summit at the ancient Teaoga treaty grounds. Will she be able to pass on her wisdom – and warnings – to the Indian villagers before the hostile settlers discover her in their midst? Will troubled native girl Sisketung awaken to Esther’s truths and see how wrong-headed the brash settler girl Sarah was?

Moving two centuries forward, restless tweener Maddy Winter also visits Teaoga, now a quiet riverfront town on the Pennsylvania-New York border. She tunes in to the region’s dramatic lost history and soon encounters spirits in the wind. As she gains in wisdom, Maddy longs to take on Esther’s mantle of the “peace woman,” but will she find the courage to do right in her own life?

Drawing richly from the historical record, Visions of Teaogacaptures a world in upheaval. Readers sit at a native story circle and learn of the tensions and treachery besetting the Eastern frontier. As Maddy and her modern-day compatriots enter the story, they ponder how our history was recorded and by whom. The book is a perfect companion for middle-school history classes, with discussion questions and other supplemental materials provided on the author’s website, www.jimremsen.com.

Excerpt:
“Sheshequin, Madd. Yo, how’s that for a name?”

Maddy jerked awake. “Wuh. Wha-where?”

“We just passed the turnoff to Sheshequin,” her father smiled. “Sorry, girl, you were conked out for a few minutes.”

Maddy righted herself and peered around. “Sheshequin?” It sounded like another Indian word. Earlier on the drive, he’d had her pronounce the names of other spots as they passed: Tunkhannock, Meshoppen, Wyalusing, Towanda. The big river, she knew that one already: Susquehanna. All were place names left over from the original native inhabitants. And all whispered not Texas.

Mr. Winter found an oldies station on the radio and began wah-waahing along to a love ballad. Maddy listened lightly, still too groggy to join in. Once her eyes would stay open and focused, she turned to look outside. They were traveling down on the valley floor now. Not a single cottonwood tree in sight, but those frilly white wildflowers were everywhere. Lots of noisy trucks, too.

Soon something told Maddy to look to the right. Her gaze caught a big slab of rock just ahead. It was sunk in the ground along her side of the road. As they shot past, words flashed by her window: Tea-something. Queen-E-something. Whoa, that was a monument. To a queen? I love queens!

“Wait!” she cried. “Stop!”

About the Author:
Jim Remsen is a professional writer and editor in Philadelphia, where he had a successful career at The Philadelphia Inquirer. Prior to retirement, he was newspaper’s awarding-winning Religion Editor. He also is co-author of The Intermarriage Handbook: A Guide for Jews and Christians (HarperCollins), a widely used bible for mixed-faith couples.

Jim, an avid student of history, stumbled onto the story of Queen Esther and the Bloody Rock while on a road trip. Deciding to bring the poignant saga to life for the young reader, he spent nearly two years researching and writing Visions of Teaoga. He is a member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the McNeil Center for Early American Studies, and the Authors Guild. To learn more about Jim, and to access educational materials about Queen Esther’s world, visit his website at http://www.jimremsen.com.

Visions of Teaoga
Authored by Jim Remsen
List Price: $14.95
7″ x 10″ (17.78 x 25.4 cm)
Black & White on White paper
178 pages
Sunbury Press, Inc.
ISBN-13: 978-1620064511
ISBN-10: 1620064510
BISAC: Juvenile Fiction / Historical / United States / Colonial & Revolutionary Periods

Also available on Kindle and Nook

For more information, please see:

http://www.sunburypressstore.com/Visions-of-Teaoga-978162…

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