Monthly Archives: October 2009

A marvelous article in the Hunterdon Review, written by Liz Parker, reviews the Dog Ear Publishing book by nonagenarian Henry Hoyt. At 93 Hoyt began his publishing journey with Dog Ear. Now 95, and after several revisions to the book, he has begun promoting his nearly through lectures and presentations in his native New Jersey. The work has been a decades-long labor of love – he started the book in 1960.


The article brings to light not just the work of Henry Hoyt – but of two fellow authors  from New Jersey, the youngest of the trio being 80… Self publishing isn’t just a ‘young man’s sport’ – publishing can be enjoyed (and successfully done) at any age!

If you could live any sort of life you wanted, what would you wish for? Ten friends are given just that opportunity in Dog Ear Publishing author James Press’ Wish Fulfillment. When these friends gather together for a twenty- year high school reunion innear Sacramento, California, they are entertained by a mysterious African woman named Senegala. Believing the woman to be capable of magic, they approach her and ask her to meet with them privately the next night.

Senegala agrees and tells them she will give each of them a special pill that will enable them to live out their secret fantasies in a dream state. She cautions them about several hazards of the game, but they all agree to continue. In their dream state, some will change their sex, others their profession or their race. Some friends will become lovers while in the dream state and most will wake up and be changed forever.


After ten years have passed, the friends decide to find Senegala and repeat the dream experience. This second time, one will become a famous actor, another Einstien’s long lost granddaughter and another will travel to Jupiter as a renowned astronaut. The sky is the limit when playing Senegala’s fantasy game. But proceed with caution, for experiencing your wish fulfillment is very likely to change the course of your life.

Wish Fulfillment
James Press
Dog Ear Publishing
ISBN: 978-160844-082-5      276 pages      US

In Our Quiet Village, by Dog Ear Publishing author Mary Lou Chayes, tells the story of ninety-year old Minna and her daughter Julie who have a strained relationship. Julie has stored up resentments from her past; having been sent off to a boarding school as a young girl and estranged from her family, she has kept much of her life secret from her mother.

Minna, too has not been entirely truthful about her own past. When she visits Julie, Minna decides to unburden herself from the painful secrets of her childhood. When Minna was sixteen years old, her father shot at his second wife, then turned the gun on himself and committed suicide. This violent incident created a shameful scandal in the quiet village in New York’s Mohawk valley, and it changed the course of Minna’s life forever.

In Our Quiet Village is the true story of Minna’s family, beginning at the turn of the last century when her mother and father, both German immigrants, meet and fall in love. Karl and Susanna have two children, Hans and Minna and a third child who dies in infancy. The story of Minna’s family begins like that of many other families of that time, with happiness and hardship going hand in hand. However, Susanna’s life is tragically cut short by pneumonia, leaving Karl a widower with two children to care for. When Karl’s distant cousin, Herta writes from Germany to apply for the job of housekeeper, he believes he has found the solution to the family’s problems. After he marries her, she is revealed to be mentally unstable, full of anger and self-loathing. Life becomes a living hell.

In Our Quiet Village is a family saga that spans three generations. This love story turned tragedy plays out against a backdrop of a historically significant time in U.S. history, tracing the rise of the labor movement and the struggle for women’s suffrage. Chayes includes actual photographs of the family as well as the headline article from the local newspaper that reported the fateful incident.

In Our Quiet Village

Mary Lou Chayes
Dog Ear Publishing
ISBN: 978-160844-024-5      332 pages             US

Destiny’s Faces, written by Irene Ayo Asuen and published by Dog Ear Publishing,  begins with a striking foreigner, Aburion, as he leaves his native Nigeria to study in the United States. Aburion is an intelligent and thoughtful young man whose only weakness is women. After his arrival in the United States, Aburion will encounter Penny and his life will change completely. Something terrible will happen to him, leaving him scarred forever.

Elsewhere in New York City, Tristan faces an uncertain adolescence with a violent father and a drug-addict mother. Streetwise but capable of making good choices, Tristan is determined to gain independence from his deadbeat parents and succeed in the world.

Meanwhile, in yet another part of the city, Kelly becomes engaged to Daniel, the man she loves, and alienates her best friend, Dave. Dave’s jealousy and heartbreak will lead him to commit a heinous act leaving Kelly broken in mind and spirit. Years later, when the main characters in Destiny’s Faces connect, Tristan will find himself in an interracial relationship with a girl named Chance. Their roommate, Kelly, will also meet Aburion and the two broken lives will come together to rebuild and discover love again.

Destiny’s Faces by author Irene Ayo Asuen tells the human story of love, heartbreak and recovery. Her characters go through many changes and readers will find themselves turning the pages to learn what happens next. In her novel, Asuen explores the complexity of interracial couples, different classes and different cultures in a world that is not always accepting.

For more information, visit the author’s website at destinysfaces.com

In Gentle Warrior, published by Dog Ear Publishing, author and life coach Mary Ann Bailey draws from her own experience to show you how to step outside your safety zone and live a life of courage.

When Mary Ann reflects on her own childhood, she remembers the confident four-year old girl who was a “fearless combination of Wonder Woman, Superman and the Lone Ranger.” Yet somehow as she grew older, life became less about adventure and more about conforming to the rules and doing what was expected of her. After surviving breast cancer, Mary Ann came to realize that in order to be happy she needed to make major changes in her life. But first she had to defeat the fears that kept her from finding her true calling.

In Gentle Warrior, Mary Ann encourages us to step off the beaten path and follow the adventurous four-year old spirit that resides within us all. Her book describes how to recognize the obstacles that are holding you back, how to make decisions, and how to make the important distinction between “should” and “could.” In sharing her personal story, she hopes to show you the way to harness your courage and achieve your dreams!

In her work as a life coach, Mary Ann helps women facing midlife transitions, and she defines herself as a “courage coach.” Her professional background includes extensive experience in education, counseling, program management, and nonprofit administration. She is the author of two books on career transitions and the owner of a successful coaching business. Mary Ann holds a BA in Psychology and a Masters in Counseling and is a graduate of New Ventures West’s Integral Coaching Program.


Gentle Warrior
Mary Ann Bailey
Dog Ear Publishing
ISBN: 978-160844-088-7 116 pages US

In John H. Vibber’s Shadow on Cant Dog Hill, published by Dog Ear Publishing, the year is 1982 and the place is a remote village in Vermont.

One cold, snowy morning, Reilly, a middle-aged school teacher goes out rabbit hunting and discovers his ex-wife Klarissa’s body. She’s been brutally shot and her face nearly destroyed. Reilly realizes that he has both the weapon and the motive, for he and Klarissa have long been involved in a custody battle over their daughter Amy. Here in this small town, good friends will pull together to help Reilly escape from what appears to be a very well executed set-up. Reilly’s girlfriend Adele, a widow and single mother herself, decides to do a bit of sleuthing to figure out who is responsible for the murder.

Shadow on Cant Dog Hill is a thriller that will keep you guessing from the first page. Reilly must try to keep the news of Klarissa’s death from his daughter until the body can be officially identified. Luckily, Amy is away visiting relatives. But is she safe?

Shadow on Cant Dog Hill

In My Sweet Wild Dance, Dog Ear Publishing author Mikaya Heart takes a searingly honest approach to telling the true story of one Scotswoman who dared to live by her own rules. 
Chris grew up in the impoverished aristocracy of post-war Scotland. The black sheep of her family, she struggled against the confines of class and gender, all the while searching for truth in an atmosphere where lies were the norm. As soon as she was old enough to escape her parents’ stranglehold, she tried on many different personas, experimenting with drugs, free love, and anti-establishment politics.

Always on the cutting edge of radical thought, Chris was active around environmental issues decades before they were common knowledge. She turned to Nature for solace and moved to rural California, where she worked as a jill-of-all-trades, came out as a lesbian, and engaged in healing work centered around her sexuality. Facing her fears and finding love, she experienced many varied, riveting, and mind-expanding adventures that brought her to a place of deep compassion and forgiveness. Eventually, satisfied with nothing short of absolute freedom, she sold everything and took to the road, becoming the woman who follows the wind.

Mikaya Heart knows how to dance her own sweet, wild dance, and she offers us a compelling picture of the agony and the ecstasy that come with choosing one’s personal truth. The path she has forged through life is an inspiration to anyone who is looking for the true meaning of love in our changing world.

My Sweet Wild Dance

Mikaya Heart

Dog Ear Publishing

ISBN: 978-160844-070-2 252 pages US

Written by Kelli Nielsen, illustrated by Kelly Benham, and published by Dog Ear Publishing,You Will Always be My Son, shows children, young and old, how much they are loved and cherished by their moms.

Sometimes in the midst of our busy lives we forget to sit down with our children and tell them how special they are to us. Now there is a great book for mothers to show their boys how much they are loved. Author Kelli Nielsen, a mother of two boys herself, speaks for all mothers in her heartfelt book You Will Always be My Son…

This bright children’s book is told straight from the heart of a mother as she watches her baby grow from a small baby boy to a young man. Parents and children alike will enjoy this sentimental and inspiring story that can be shared with your son. The playful and bright illustrations created by Kelly Benham, depicting the child during his various stages in life, bring this story to life.

You Will Always be My Son makes a great gift for your son at any age. It is also an ideal baby shower gift for a new mom expecting a boy. There is a space for a personal dedication from mother to son at the beginning of the book. What better way to illustrate the bond between mother and son than a story that kids young and old alike and moms can both relate to?

For move informations, visit the authors’ website at kelliandkellybooks.com.

You Will Always be My Son

Kelli Nielsen and Kelly Benham

Dog Ear Publishing

ISBN: 978-160844-018-4 36 pages US

Written by Golden Eight and published by Dog Ear Publishing, Fibica chronicles one woman’s fight against a terrible injustice while maintaining a perspective of love.

When as a young girl, Ella experiences the heavenly vision of a majestic and magical being called Fibica, she is forever blessed. As Ella beholds this celestial bird-like creature she begins to understand that her purpose in life is to love and help others. Years later, Ella meets the man who will become the love of her life. Together Ella and Zeri share 25 years of love and matrimony and are blessed with two children.

Life changes abruptly for Ella when Zeri slips on the ice and falls. After a few days in the hospital, Zeri suddenly dies from head trauma. Ella is devastated. Left alone with two teenage children and facing the rest of her life without Zeri, she must confront the injustice of the corporate world that would deny her any life insurance.

Through prayer and meditation, Ella is not only able to defeat her demons, but she also learns how to awake each day with joy in her heart. In writing this book Golden Eight hopes to reach out to all other women who are widowed and left in similar circumstances and to let them know that they are and always will be unequivocally loved.

Fibica
Golden Eight
Dog Ear Publishing
ISBN: 978-160844-129-7 144 pages US

Available at Ingram, Baker&Taylor, Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble, Borders and fine bookstores everywhere.

In Bank of Last Resort, written by Bill Diffenderffer and published by Dog Ear Publishing, politics and the free market collide against the backdrop of an economic depression. A new president has taken office and his aggressive new administration plans to turn the economy around by using federal money to bail out the largest banks in the country.

Jace Orren, CEO of one such bank, refuses to accept the bailout as he believes his bank doesn’t need it. This use of taxpayer money goes against his capitalist beliefs. Things get interesting for Orren when the White House refuses to take no for an answer. Under the guidance of the president’s Machiavellian advisor, McMillan, the administration tries to force Orren to go along with the president’s plans. In Bank of Last Resort, the banking, automobile and airline industries all become involved in a struggle with an intrusive, controlling government that is endangering free-market capitalism.

The events in this book take place in the first six months of 2009 and similarities to the actual events of that tumultuous period are not accidental. The novel was written from the Wall Street Journal headlines.

Bank of Last Resort is author Bill Diffenderffer’s second book. His first book The Samurai Leader: Winning Business Battles with the Wisdom, Honor and Courage of the Samurai Code, is being sold worldwide and has been translated into eight other languages.

Bank of Last Resort

Bill Diffenderffer

Dog Ear Publishing

ISBN: 978-160844-098-6 264 pages US

Available at Ingram, Baker&Taylor, Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble, Borders and fine bookstores everywhere.