2010 August

Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household

I don’t remember how I came to buy a copy of “Rogue Male” but there it was – a slim paperback, half hidden among a number of books in a carton I call my Someday Box. Only 224 pages I thought it would make a quick beach read and I threw it in my book bag with several others. When I finally pulled it out and started reading I literally could not put it down. Every accolade on the back cover is true.

The unnamed protagonist is a British gentleman who hunts big game. Bored, he attempts to penetrate the compound of a dictator, also unnamed. His rifle is aimed at the man, who we are left to presume is Adolf Hitler. Still he tells himself that he doesn’t really intend to pull the trigger; he just wants to see if it can be done. His motives don’t matter when he’s caught by the guards, tortured and left for dead. Somehow he manages a harrowing escape and stows away on a boat bound for England. But his pursuers will not give up. Now he’s the prey, and only his strong instincts for self preservation will keep him alive.

This is the story of a man who is hunted like an animal and what he has to do to survive. The plot is simple and yet incredibly suspenseful. There are few characters and little dialogue. Some readers may find the writing style dated. And yet the spare narrative is very effective at portraying the thrilling chase. The tension grows right up to the conclusion. An extraordinary adventure on one level, it’s also interesting on a moral level as the protagonist explores his real motives and decisions.

Geoffrey Household, the author, was born in Bristol in 1900, he died in 1988. “Rogue Male” was published in 1939 and it’s justifiably a classic, as exciting today as it was then. A sequel, “Rogue Justice,” was published in 1982.

Publisher: NYRB Classics (November 6, 2007)

ISBN: 978-1590172438

Pages: 224

Price: $14.00

Interview with Paul L. Hall – Author of "Places the Dead Call Home"

Interview with Paul Hall
author of Places the Dead Call Home
iUniverse (2006)
ISBN 0595410715
Reviewed by Richard R. Blake for Reader Views (4/07)

Today, Juanita Watson, Assistant Editor of Reader Views talks with author/writer Paul L. Hall about his latest book 揚laces the Dead Call Home” winner of Bronze, West-Mountain – Best Regional Fiction in the 2007 Independent Publisher Book Awards.

Paul L. Hall is the author of the award-winning 揙ur Father?and its sequel, 揟he Big Island.? He is also a prolific business writer, public relations counselor and writing instructor, and has published poems, stories, and articles in a variety of publications including The Paris Review, The Sun, Reader抯 Digest, and numerous trades. He lives in Troy, Michigan, but spends much of his time in the American Southwest (the setting for 揚laces the Dead Call Home? and Rome, Italy.

Juanita: Welcome to Reader Views Paul, and thanks for the opportunity to talk with you about your new mystery novel 揚laces the Dead Call Home.?This is your third book, how long was it in the works?

Paul: I wrote the first draft of the book quickly梚n perhaps six weeks. The research actually came after the writing of the first draft. Then the revisions. Six weeks stretched into two years.

Juanita: Paul, you have had a long history of writing in many genres. Would you give us a little background? What drew you to this industry, and what keeps you going after all these years?

Paul: I won my first writing contest as a six-year-old in grade school. I continued to win contests like that right through college, where I won writing awards both as an undergraduate and as a graduate student. After college, I was drafted into the army (among the last to benefit from that quaint ritual) where, with logic that rarely prevailed in the military when it comes to assigning occupations based upon aptitudes, I was trained as a journalist. That evolved into a job promoting the All-Volunteer Army. After my discharge, I stayed it the media/public relations/advertising field (with several excursions into academia as a teacher and Ph.D. student in English). I stay with it because it抯 interesting and it抯 what I make a living at (although not as much of a living as I抎 like).

Juanita: Is there a common theme that weaves its way through your work?

Paul: The limitations of human comprehension.

Juanita: Hmm, what does that mean exactly?….;-)

Paul: Nominally, I write mystery stories, but they抮e not exactly conventional. They aren抰 neatly resolved at the end. The tension that I see in my books is between the human need to have things explained and the recalcitrance of the world in satisfying that need. It抯 not a 揼ood against evil?thing. It抯 more about how human beings delude themselves into thinking that eventually everything will be revealed.

Juanita: Paul, it appears that you like to set your novels in places you抳e lived or visited. Would you comment on your use of familiar settings and how important you feel it is to bring this element of reality into a novel?

Paul: I am simply unable to write about places that I have not actually set foot in. I抳e tried it, and it hasn抰 worked. It feels fraudulent even as I抦 writing it.

Juanita: What happens in 揚laces the Dead Call Home?

Paul: On a summer night in 1958, bullets tear through the body of a young man on a lonely Oklahoma highway. Nineteen years later, a soldier lies in the pool of his own blood on an army base in Virginia. Josh Kincaid is a common link to both events. In 2002, when Kincaid抯 cousin proposes an urgent trip to the Anasazi ruins of Mesa Verde to resolve the riddle of one of these deaths, Kincaid reluctantly agrees. Soon, he and a van full of misfits are on the way to the cliff dwellings of the 揳ncestral enemies,?where more contemporary enemies await them among the ruins.

Josh Kincaid is happy with life in Phoenix where he manages a bar and sells a few drugs on the side. His serenity is soon shattered, however, by a call from his cousin, Frankie McKnight, who claims to know why Josh抯 father died far from his Detroit home in the parking lot of a gas station in Oklahoma City.

General Herman Endicott is looking for Josh, too. The highlight of his military life was winning the Silver Star for bravery in Vietnam, followed a few years later by his promotion to General. But between those events, the death of a friend and the betrayal of an old comrade have brought disgrace to a bereaved widow and her unborn child. This secret could destroy the General, and Josh Kincaid may know that secret.

General Endicott hires Tommy Three Hands, an Indian living in the Phoenix area, to kill Josh and Frankie, along with a reporter named Jeffrey Bonus and his traveling companion, Jeanette Koskos, who have also shown up with questions about the death of Bonus抯 father. Tommy is an ex-con who distrusts and hates whites, enjoys a reputation for violence and betrayal and has a cruel streak when it comes to women. He also has a grudge against Josh and his cousin Frankie.

All of these characters converge on Mesa Verde, where the secret of the mysterious梐nd perhaps violent梔isappearance of the Anasazi still seems to inhabit the ruins. As Josh and Frankie seek the answer to Jimmy Kincaid抯 destiny in the park抯 mythic heritage and Bonus hopes to learn the true fate of his father, Tommy and the General are making plans of their own to ensure that the dead stay where they belong梩he places they call home.

Juanita: The mystical setting of the American Southwest ?Four Corners region ?backdrops this story. Would you elaborate on your connection with this region and how it plays into the mystery?

Paul: I have a preference for the area based on many trips I抳e made over the past 20 years or so. I think that a sense of place is important and this area of the country does evoke for me a timelessness and continuity with the past that I find somehow comforting or reassuring (although no doubt illusory). I wanted that kind of environment to tell this story.

Juanita: Would you tell us about your main characters?

Paul: Two of them, Josh Kinkaid and Frank McKnight, are related. Kincaid is a transplant to the Phoenix area, but his life, like his choice of locales, is random. He抯 an orphan who has essentially never outgrown his orphan status. His cousin Frank is a former Detroit cop with a hero/quest mentality encumbered by an overdeveloped sense of responsibility. Jeffrey Bonus is a young reporter who wants to find out how or why his father, a career military officer, committed suicide while Bonus was still in his mother抯 womb. Jeanette Koskos is a failed model, a vagabond, a former drug addict/prostitute and a life force. Now that I think about it, this book is an orphan抯 crusade, because each of these characters has either physically or psychically lost his or her parents.

Juanita: Paul, your novel provides much back-story into the lives of your characters. Would you comment on this facet of your writing style and the character-driven aspect of this novel?

Paul: For me, everything starts with the characters. I try to see them as fully as I can and let them loose in the narrative. In the case of 揚laces the Dead Call Home?the first character that I had was that of Jimmy Kincaid, the father of Josh, who died in a robbery attempt in 1958. At the time, Jimmy抯 girlfriend, Gretchen, was pregnant with his only son. She actually suffers a fatal wound at the robbery site as well, but she continues to exist in a comatose state until Josh抯 birth. So, from there, I wanted to see how this 搈iracle child?would turn out. His cousin, Frank McKnight, had worshipped the older Jimmy Kincaid as a child and was perhaps more motivated to find out what drove Jimmy on what turned out to be a suicide run from Detroit to the Southwest.

To sort of balance this story, I introduced General Endicott and his lackey, Gary Grote (who had been a military policeman with Josh in an earlier life). In the novel, that fact that Josh and Grote knew each other, if only on the most casual of terms, is pivotal to the plot. Another 揷ouple?in the book is Jeffrey Bonus and Jeanette Koskos. Bonus also has lost-father issues (he had died before Bonus was born, just as Josh抯 father had) and Jeanette is the wild card in the group. As a defense mechanism, her identity is always provisional. She gives the narrative much of its vitality. Finally, I saw in Tommy Three Hands, the overt villain in the book, as playing against type. He抯 an Indian, but at least in his mind he抯 a victimizer rather than a victim and there is not much noble about him.

Juanita: Jeanette Koskos is the only female in 揚laces the Dead Call Home.? How does she offset your predominantly male cast, and what was it like to write through the voice of a woman?

Paul: Jeanette Koskos is perhaps the most important character in the book, as opposed to the 搈ain?character. She抯 quirky (at least from the point of view of her male co-characters), but incisive. The male characters tend to behave conventionally, that is, the way even they expect themselves to behave. She provides spontaneity, intelligence, and danger. She makes everything happen. I envisioned a character who had to be both wary and risk-tolerant, idealistic, but practical. My sense is that women are more psychologically agile than men. I have now idea how true that is, but that抯 the 搗oice?I had in my head for Jeanette.

Juanita: The intertwining stories of your characters and the various murders all come together in Mesa Verde, CO. What can you tell us about this convergence?

Paul: I can tell you that I didn抰 work it out beforehand. The 搑evelation?at Mesa Verde just came to me at that point in the writing of the book.

Juanita: Is there significance in the travel theme or 搈oving towards the truth?as played out in this story?

Paul: Yes. I saw this from the beginning as a road book. I wanted a sense of nomadic temperament among the characters. They are restless for the truth and that truth is endlessly elusive.

Juanita: What is the underlying message of 揚laces the Dead Call Home?

Paul: I guess I would prefer that readers determine that for themselves; however, I wanted to say something about the ultimate futility of trying to reconcile or justify history.

Juanita: Any plans for a sequel? Do you have any other projects in the works?

Paul: Nothing has stirred me in that direction of a sequel yet. I have finished the third in a series of books that began with Our Father and continued with The Big Island. All three of these books involve a reluctant 揹etective?named Stephen Fargo. I抦 also at work on novel about a writer whose almost universally ignored works have inspired a violent underground society, much to his dismay.

Juanita: What did you enjoy most about writing this story?

Paul: This book was a lot of fun to write. Since I had no idea how it was going to end, I was writing it and reading it at the same time, if that makes any sense.

Juanita: How was the experience of writing your first mystery novel? Did you encounter any notable aspects unique to this genre?

Paul: Whereas mystery is involved in my books, I never see them as conventional mysteries like whodunits or detective stories. My books are never plot-driven. I just like to see how things play out when I put the characters I抳e developed into a certain situation.

Juanita: Do you feel that you抳e grown as a novelist through the progression of each of your books?

Paul: I try not to make the same mistakes, with varying success. I think you do get more confident, not necessarily that you抮e becoming a better writer, but that things will work out. The nightmare for most novelists, I would think, is that a book will just go on forever, and will never resolve itself.

Juanita: How can readers find out more about you and your endeavors?

Paul: They can visit the book抯 website at http://www.placesthedeadcallhome.com.

Juanita: Paul, it has been great talking with you today, thanks for the opportunity to interview you for your new book 揚laces the Dead Call Home.? We certainly recommend readers look for all of your books at local and online bookstores. Before we depart, do you have any final thought for your readers?

Paul: As I think about how I describe Places, and all my books, for that matter, I always think that what抯 missing is the humor in them. Of course, it抯 always dangerous to announce what抯 funny梱ou don抰 hear comedians alerting their audiences that they should prepare to laugh梑ut I always shoot for humor among the tales of woe that I produce. Thanks for the opportunity to make that point and for this chance to talk about my work.

DEWEY Not Such a Small Town Library Cat Anymore – A Review

Dewey would best be called a biography because it is the story of the life of one Dewey Readmore Books, a cat. A cat whose story started out as an abandoned kitten but who went on to lead a most remarkable life. A life filled with love, inspiration, and world-wide fame! If you have not heard of Dewey, it is hard to believe but let me catch you up. Dewey was just a tiny abandoned kitten someone had stuffed into the library drop box at the Spencer Public Library in Spencer, Iowa. He was discovered when Vicki Myron, the librarian, heard a noise coming from the metal night book drop box when she opened the library one morning in 1988 when the weather outside was below zero. Dewey, who had no name at the time, was a teeny, disheveled, half frozen kitten who beat the odds and survived the night in the box.

Spencer, Iowa, the setting of this tail, oops, tale, was a depressed farm town in crisis due to economy and the farm failures, and it was the wonderful strong people of this town who gave Dewey his name. Obviously, he was named after Melvil Dewey where libraries got the book classification system of numbers we can all remember having to learn in school. Dewey quickly made himself at home and as he grew, so did his popularity and his fame. He especially liked to watch the tap-tap-tap of the typewriter and to hide amongst the boxes.

He was Dewey, the library cat and he touched the world with his adorable ways and loving touch. When library patrons would sit to read, there was Dewey. As you searched for books in the stacks, who would suddenly peep out at you and help you pick out just the right book but Dewey. Dewey loved story hour when Librarian Vicki would read to the young children and Vicki especially loved Dewey. He became her cat officially although he belonged to the world.

Vicki Myron tells her own story intertwined with Dewey’s. She was a struggling single mom who lived a hard life having lost her family farm and been in a marriage with an abusive husband. She went back to school and became a librarian as well as laying claim to being her family’s first college graduate. She went on to become the director of the Spencer Public Library and it was there she lived and worked for the people of Spencer and there that she met Dewey. Dewey lived in the library and was loved as the book chronicles by people all over the world. Whether it was the man in the wheel chair who Dewey would comfort as he hopped into his lap so the man could pet Dewey as he read, or visitors from afar who came just to see and film Dewey, he was still Vicki’s cat. When Dewey became ill the town rallied around but this was one fight that Dewey would not win. The stomach tumor Dewey had would eventually take his life. In 2006, at the age of 19, Dewey died while Vicki Myron was holding him so the vet could put him down peacefully. A tribute to Dewey stands outside the library today. Dewey will live on in the hearts of many. This is a wonderful book and will grab on to you and not let go, even after you finish reading it.

Submitted Originally to BOOKIN’ WITH BINGO by Karen Haney, May, 2009

Charmed Thirds by Megan Mccafferty

Charmed Thirds portrays the hopes, struggles, and heartbreaks of college life. As a coming of age story with the marvelously saucy language of its heroine and the lively writing style of its author, the book leaves a permanent impression on its readers.

Jessica Darling, who has just graduated from high school, attends Columbia University in New York city with psychology as her major. At the same time, she takes a prestigious internship job at True Blue, a hip teen magazine, and her lover from high school–Marcus Flutie, a bad boy turned serious–goes off to California to attend a Buddhist college. Although several of Jessica’s old friends and schoolmates reappear periodically, Jessica manages to make or lose new friends, also. While in college, Jessica’s heart stays with Marcus, even if she finds herself in wild situations that help her to grow and discover herself at the end.

Jessica and Marcus’s relationship is one of a kind, and even though so much comes in between them, they manage to connect repeatedly. The uncertainty of Jessica’s life and the way she overcomes her difficulties and outgrows anything negative in her life is the main theme in the story.

The characters in the story are fully developed with humor, insight, and originality. From a literary point of view, the novel should be required reading for novice writers who want to learn about voice. Jessica’s witty, smart, hilarious voice with its teensy jargon is a delight and the intelligent weaving of the plot makes the reader stay with the story to the end.

After I closed the last page of this book, I wished I were young enough to grow up reading Megan Mccafferty. Unfortunately, in my time, most writers had descended from Charles Dickens, at best.

Megan Mccafferty, the author, is a former editor for Cosmopolitan, YM, and Fitness magazines. She wrote in Glamour, CosmoGIRL!, Maxim, Details, and other national publications. She also created a fiction serial, “You Think Your Life Is Crazy,” for teens on Twistmag.com.

Mccafferty’s books are: Sixteen, a short story anthology; the Jessica Darling series with Sloppy Firsts; Second Helpings; Charmed Thirds; and Fourth Comings.

Mccafferty lives and writes in New Jersey.

Charmed Thirds is in paperback with 368 pages and ISBN-10: 1400080428 and ISBN-13: 978-1400080427.

Kudos to the skill of the author, I enjoyed this book thoroughly, even though I had not read the two previous books. In addition, the ending of Charmed Thirds did not disappoint at all. I recommend this book to any reader, young and old.

Day Job Killer – Amazing Secrets

The Day Job Killer is an e-book written by Chris Mcneeny. This e-book is catered to affiliate marketers who have a decent level of knowledge on Google AdWords. It is a step by step guide that will teach users the secrets of affiliate programs. The Day Job Killer will teach the users not just the common techniques used in Google AdWords but also new techniques to generate more revenue.

It was launched in 2007. Therefore, this e-book is said to have the most recent techniques used in affiliate marketing. One of the most important techniques discussed in the Day Job Killer is how to find keywords that will convert more than others. Others consider Chris Mcneeny’s approach to be brutal and wrong, but his method is very effective and profitable. The e-book encourages users to advertise products thru direct linking.

Other people are skeptical to use his method because they consider his method to be dead, it might have worked in the past but now it does not. However, the author revitalizes the method with a new and modern twist. This e-book caters to affiliate marketers who do not know HTML and who have no idea how to cloak links. Users of this e-book do not need to create landing pages. However, before deciding to use this program, users should keep in mind that this method needs patience and money. The ratio of successful campaign to a failure is 1:2. This method’s approach is very aggressive and brutal, some might find it very forceful. Another thing to keep in mind is that this method focuses on real time money making than creating websites that will give you income for an extended time. It focuses on making quick money and building quality lists.

eBusiness Workplace – Internet Marketing Book Review

If you feel challenged when trying to understand B2B sales strategies, eCommerce or eBusiness planning to help you implement a large scale Internet Marketing and Intranet computer system for your company, then boy do I have the right book for you:

“The eBusiness Workplace – Discovering the Power of Enterprise Portals“ by SAP AG and PriceWaterHouseCoopers, LLC; Published by John Wiley and Son’s; Hoboken, NJ; (2001). ISBN: 0-471-41830-7.

This is just a fabulous book and it ties in the corporate Intranet system with Internet eCommerce solutions to streamline your business, increase your bottom line, and maintain the communication with your vendor teams, customers and employees.

Just so you have an overview, I’d recommend reading Bill Gates’ book “The Road Ahead” first, before diving into this book. This will help you put it all into perspective. I’d also recommend that you view the CD ROM that comes with this book first, before reading this book, as not only will it get you excited about the material, it will blow your mind with all the possibilities.

SAP has put this book together and they offer many of the solutions to achieving all that this book suggests, so in a way it is both an educational enlightenment for business executives, as well as a sales tool, but that is okay, you will not feel pressured in anyway. It could also be used by Oracle Sales reps that offer similar technologies.

Want to build a web, within the web connecting all aspects of your business? Then this is the book for you. You will learn how to use the Internet to build communication with your vendors, customers, employee teams, and business units. You will find chapters on enhancing revenue using e-business strategies, B2B sales, content management, and really taking control of your company.

Since this book was written in 2001, before wide use of corporate blogs, and such, you’ll also wish to brush up on those aspects along with this book. I highly recommend it for your Internet eBusiness library.

Gray’s Anatomy – The Text Book

One way to start making your body fit and ready for action is to educate yourself about it. When you learn about things like your skeletal structure and your muscular structure, you are learning about your body in a very basic way. This will make it easier for you to shape it and mold it in a way that suits you. There are many places to start learning about your body, but one tool that is invaluable in this progress is Gray’s Anatomy.

Gray’s Anatomy is a textbook that is considered the definitive classic on human anatomy. This is a text that is used not only by medical students, but also by a wide variety of people. Art students use it when studying how to put together a picture or a sculpture and many illustrators who work with textbooks will use the color plates and clear, concise explanations for reference for their own work. This book was written because Dr. Henry Gray felt that there was a need for a comprehensive text on the human body, and, indeed, the newest editions continue to be found in the offices of doctors who feel that a visual aid is necessary when talking to their patients.

This invaluable textbook was originally called Gray’s Anatomy: Descriptive and Surgical, and it was published in the United states in 1859, a year after it was was published in Great Britain. Ever since then, Gray’s Anatomy has been published in many editions, each one adding more knowledge and information to an already extensive book. If you are getting a copy for any reason beyond curiosity, it is important to realize that the number of the edition, as well as whether it is a North American or a Great Britain publication will be important, as there are many differences between each.

At this point, Gray’s Anatomy is an enormous book, but luckily, there are other options! One way to get all of that important knowledge into one place is to get the CD-ROM version, which is available in both Great Britain and the United States. Similarly, there is another work known as Gray’s Anatomy for Students, which takes its title from the classic, and while not derived from the original, serves a similar purpose.

Just by sitting down with a Gray’s Anatomy, you can learn more about your body than you ever have before. It is one thing to read about things like your glutes and your biceps and triceps, but quite another to actually see them and see how they connect and what they do. When you go to work out, you’ll have a much more intimate knowledge of your body and you’ll know what exactly it is you’re working. Similarly, if you end up injuring yourself, a knowledge of your own anatomy can help you figure out what exactly got hurt and how you can fix it.

A little bit of knowledge goes a long way, and with Grays Anatomy by your side or in your bookshelf, you can learn a lot, not only about your workout and training regimen, but also about yourself!

Uniqueness Vs Standing Out

All of us really want to feel important. We want to be noticed. We want people to care about us and think about us when we are not around. Teens especially have a desire to be unique. You are at an age of development when you are finding their identity. During this time, some teens girls will turn to crazy hairstyles, clothing, and piercings. They draw attention by standing out. Other girls attract attention by wearing revealing clothes. Others act obnoxiously to get attention.

There is a great book out there called Packaging Girlhood by Sharon Lamb and Lyn Mikel Brown. They make the point that although girls want to be unique and express their individuality, they have limited choices of how they can choose to do that. The media and retailers only give girls a few different options of how they can express themselves. I highly recommend the book to those who would love to recognize how marketers are shaping the way teen girls express themselves.

The point that I want to make in this post is that each of you are already unique. There really is not a need to ’stand out’ or to fall into media driven stereotypes. Each person has unique gifts, talents, and abilities. Each person has had unique experiences that have shaped their lives. Everyone has incredible unique value to offer the world. Search within yourself to find inner parts of yourself that make you, you. There is only one you. Share that version of yourself with the world and you will attract people into your life that value and appreciate you.

The Leanin’ Dog By KA Nuzum

K. A. Nuzum’s new book, The Leanin’ Dog, tells a first person narrative story about a young girl named Dessa Dean who is eleven years old. The story takes place during the winter in Colorado in the 1930s just before Christmas. Dessa is a lonely child who desperately needs a friend, especially since her mother died. She thinks she will never be happy again. Dessa is trapped. She is a victim of her own mind’s fear, the fear of leaving her home, known as agoraphobia. To make it harder, Dessa doesn’t want her father to know about this fear. He has enough to deal with.

While Father tries to keep things at home going by keeping the wood pile for the stove for food and warmth, he also tries to help Dessa with her school work. Along with that, he tries really hard to kill some animal for their dinner so that Christmas can be special. As father struggles with these things, Dessa still tries to stop what she calls the daymares and tries to keep Father from finding out about them. When Dessa’s ears starts to ache, she knows a period of “losing Mama pain” is beginning. Her ears hurt as her memory takes her back to when her mother died and Dessa’s ears had been frostbitten. She was holding her mother in the snow waiting for someone to find them even though their footprints were blotted away by the snowstorm. That horrible time when her mother died in her arms is something Dessa can’t forget and therefore, she continues to have these nightmares (daymares) and can’t force herself outside the house.

What helps Dessa to deal with the pain and tragedy in her life comes in the form of a canine friend. A stray dog comes into Dessa’s life and gives her someone to love again. The dog is just what she needs–a friend. Here is someone to tell her troubles to and share her secrets with as well as her heart. Dessa finds in the dog a friend who can help her deal with her paralyzing fear of leaving the house. Oddly enough, the dog has a fear as well. He doesn’t like to be closed up in small places. When she finally coaxes him into the house and goes to close the door, he is upset and she realizes she must leave the door partly open as this dog also has a fear of something-a fear of being in small, enclosed spaces known as claustrophobia. In order to ease his fear, the open door adds to Dessa’s problems as it causes the piled up wood to burn quicker and invites marauders to the home.

Slowly, with each friend allowing for the other’s fear to be gently guarded, Dessa begins to find the happiness she has lost and this helps her with her father as well. Together, the three of them help each other to get through the tragedy of losing Dessa’s mother and the joy of the holiday season.

Submitted originally to Harper Collins Kids by Karen Haney

CPA Arbitrage by Chris Cobb, Ebook Overview

CPA Arbitrage is an ebook written by Chris Cobb. It is in PDF format and available for download immediately after the purchase.

While somewhat marketed as a money making product with the promise of wealth permeating the sales page, the product itself is much deeper than that.

It shows in detail how to make money off of CPA advertisers, without having to sell a product to get paid for the action of the customer. Let’s face it, actually making a sale is the biggest problem for most affiliates.

It is far easier for the average guy to entice someone to enter an email address or fill out a form than it is to convince someone to pull out a credit card. If that doesn’t make the future bright for CPA then I don’t know what does.

Chris Cobb has done a good job of presenting the information so you will be able to apply it using just the knowledge you currently have. If there is a way to speed up the profits it is to remove or shorten the learning curve. He has succeeded in doing that.

If you have been left on the outside looking in with affiliate sales, you would be taking a wise step to learn the methods of Cost Per Action. You will lose the sales angle and promote a free action.

Oddly enough, losing the habit of trying to make a sale is also the best way to increase your affiliate sales. Once you have your CPA campaigns making some money, you can take the new approach of non-selling successfully into the affiliate sales arena.

If you have ever imagined a money making program that actually did what it said, this is probably it. You will not get rich quick, but you will build a new stream of income that will continue to grow.

And, even more importantly to me, you will quit trying to sell customers a product and instead lead them to action. That’s the same thing you must do as an affiliate to make the sale.

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