Dani Pettrey Interview

Today, I'm pleased to share with you my recent interview with Dani Pettrey who just released her newest book Cold Shot (which is the debut book of the Chesapeake Valor series).

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1) Dani, your last series was based in Alaska while Chesapeake Valor is set across the country, what is the biggest difference that you've noticed in the two regions?

Well, the Chesapeake Bay area is home for me so the biggest difference I’ve noticed is the great ability to fully research all the areas I’m sharing with my readers. While Alaska is a really well known area based on reader email and discussions I’ve had with readers—so many people have visited Alaska, the Chesapeake region seems to be a little-known area, but it’s a gorgeous area with such a vibrant history and rich maritime heritage. I love getting to share my backyard with readers.

2) In just one to three words how would you describe the following characters: 

Griffin: steadfast, wry sense of humor and passionate. 

Declan: hard-working, loyal, and serious.

Parker: intelligent, playful, and gorgeous.

Finley: brilliant, tenacious, and joyful.

Avery: strong, brave, and vulnerable.

Tanner: caring, persistent and compassionate. 

Kate: determined, creative, and loving.

3) Of the characters you've written about whose life would you want to live if you had to choose?

Great question. It took me quite a while of thinking on this one. I’m going to say Finley’s. I love teaching. I homeschooled my girls while they were growing up and taught at homeschool co-ops, and Finley is an adjunct professor at Towson University in Forensic Anthropology. She travels the world for investigations and pleasure, and I adore travel. Plus, she gets to be with a man very much like my husband—steadfast, wry sense of humor, and passionate. :)

4) How many books do you plan on having in this series?

There will be four books in the series. I’ve just finished the rough draft on the second book, which is Parker’s story. Next, I’ll be starting the third book, which is Declan’s story. It’s been so fun writing about such interesting men and women.

5) Which would you choose coffee, tea, or cocoa?

Coffee mixed with cocoa :) 

Dani, thank you for taking time from your schedule for this interview. 

Thank you so much for hosting me! Really, fun and interesting questions. 

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Want to learn more about Cold Shot? 

Visit Dani's website and check-out my review of this suspenseful and intriguing book 

If you are so inclined to purchase Cold Shot for yourself or as a gift (books make great gifts) I've included various links to retailers who are offering Dani's book :

Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Indiebound
Books-a-Million
Christianbook

Burning Proof ~ Review and Author Q and A

Burning Proof
Cold Case Justice #2
Janice Cantore

Abby Hart has decided to put the murders of her parents behind her.  The last hope she had for getting answers died the same day as her old partner.  But Asa Foster's dying words won't let Luke Murphy rest.  What did Asa mean when he said "There is proof"?  Luke and Woody are determined to follow up on Asa's words but not wanting to give Abby false hope of a resolution they keep their personal investigation quiet.  

But Abby's decision to leave the past behind makes an abrupt 360 degree turn when an arrest goes wrong.  Suddenly dealing with the ghosts of the past and the failures of the present becomes very important.  Abby has some decisions to make regarding her future - police officer, wife, missionary? Where will her heart lead her?

Ten years ago a young woman barely escaped from her abductor.  He was never caught.  This case has come to the attention of Luke and Woody and they are determined to help this victim find closure and peace.  But this case needs more than what they can bring to it - it needs Abby.

Burning Proof is the sequel to Drawing Fire where we are introduced to the characters.  This continues the story but we are given glimpses of someone behind the scenes who is determined to keep the Triple Seven murders unsolved.  And this unknown person will do anything to hide the truth forever.

Burning Proof is an exciting addition from the pen of Janice Cantore.  Delving into the mind of a officer who is suffering from doubts about her split second decision.  One gets a unique perspective of the law enforcement from Janice's own experiences as an officer.

Some questions are answered while new ones are raised.  Some sequels are just not up to the quality of the first book but there is no letdown in this second offering in the Cold Case Justice series.  If you like suspense in your fiction you need to read this book.

I was provided a complementary copy of this book by Tyndale House Publishers in exchange for my honest review.

Something like a sob and a groan escaped his lips. 

He raised his gun and fired. 

So did Abby. 

                                      ~from page 5

About the Book:

After months of investigating the brutal homicide of a young girl, Detective Abby Hart finally has the evidence she needs. But when the arrest goes terribly wrong, Abby begins to doubt her future as a police officer. As she wrestles with conflicting emotions, old questions about the fire that took her parents’ lives come back to haunt her.

“There is proof.” PI Luke Murphy can’t stop thinking about what Abby’s former partner, Asa Foster, mumbled just before he died. When he uncovers a clue to the murder of Abby’s parents and his uncle, he’s reluctant to tell Abby, despite his growing feelings for the beautiful detective.

A decade-old abduction case brings Luke and Abby together, but will his secret tear them apart?

Author Interview:

1) Tell us what spurred you on to became a writer after you retired from 22 years as a Long Beach Police Officer. 

  ~ I’ve always wanted to write. When I was a kid I wrote horse stories. I took a creative wiring class in college and my teacher really wasn’t very encouraging so I just put the desire on the shelf. It wasn’t until I’d been an officer for a few years and experienced the Rodney King riots that the desire to write took hold again. I tired writing stories about the riots, trying to convey all the emotions I felt at the time. Those stories never went anywhere, but I realized that I had a lot of stories in me and began writing, going to conferences and really working on the craft.

2) How did you come up with the idea for your Cold Case Justice series, Drawing Fire and Burning Proof? 

  ~ I love the program Castle, that was where the idea came from. I tweaked it, developed Luke and Abby, and went from there.

3) Are either of your characters Abby or Luke modeled after anyone you encountered during your days at the LBPD?

  ~ Not really. They are at most composites of people I worked with or came across.

4) As you reveal in Burning Proof…there are many struggles and stresses that come with being a police officer. You have certainly seen what a fatal event can do to the psyche of an officer, can you share what often goes on from an insider’s point of view? 

  ~ Tragedy can become routine. There needs to be a way to separate yourself from the situation, do your job, and not let the tragedy take you with it. I remember once, I was working the information desk at the downtown station so I didn’t personally handle the call, but officers responded to a horrible call, a man had drowned his two young children in the tub and then tossed their bodies into the dumpster behind his residence. It was a huge deal and I fielded many calls from news agencies. At the information desk I was tasked with giving out what ever public information we had to the press, or anyone who inquired. This meant I had to talk about the event over and over an it began to get aggravating. The press wanted details we couldn’t give and they just kept calling. At one point the press officer, who’d been working many hours overtime, came to the front desk to ask me about the calls and to get some help with the press release. In police work DB means ‘dead body’ and it’s a commonly used abbreviation. Well, the bodies had been recovered from a dumpster, so they became dumpster babies, the abbreviation DB hit us right between the eyes and we began to laugh about the initials, the kind of punch drunk laughing that happens when you’re too tired and too stressed. It was not a funny situation, but sometimes you got so close to bad stuff that laughter was the only way to relieve the pressure. The pressure does need to be relieved, too many officers commit suicide because they internalize all the negative.

Q&A with Jody Hedlund and Giveaway

To celebrate the release of Hope Undaunted by Jody Hedlund we are having a short Question and Answer session with her and a giveaway for one copy of Hope Undaunted.

1. How did you come up with the idea for Undaunted Hope?

For this third book in my Michigan lighthouse series, I wanted to pick a location that was different than the other books. The first two books, Love Unexpected and Hearts Made Whole, are set in the "Mitten" of Michigan. So to add variety to the series, I decided to place Undaunted Hope in the Upper Peninsula on Lake Superior.

In doing my research of Michigan lighthouses, I learned that there are lighthouses dotted all over the coast of Lake Superior since it was such a treacherous lake to traverse and an important place for steamers due to the rich natural resources that were available. As I studied the various lighthouses, I finally landed upon Eagle Harbor Lighthouse in the Keweenau Peninsula because not only was the area rich in resources, but it was rich in history and the makings of a really great story! 

2. What special research did you do in writing Undaunted Hope?

As I wrote this third book in the Beacon's of Hope Lighthouse Series, I had the wonderful privilege of visiting Eagle Harbor and the lighthouse that serves as the setting for this book. In fact, I was able to stay for a whole week in the assistant keeper's cottage that now sits next to the lighthouse.

The large covered front porch of the assistant keeper's house overlooked Eagle Harbor and Lake Superior, so it was a gorgeous view! Every morning I woke up to the sound of the crashing waves and every evening I watched the sunset. It was one of the most beautiful, peaceful places I've ever stayed.

Not only did I get to do in-depth research on the lighthouse (and walk around inside it as many times as I wanted!), but I also was able to research the entire area taking lots of pictures of the lake, flowers, wildlife, and the numerous waterfalls throughout the peninsula. It's a remote wilderness area of Michigan, sparsely populated, and cold! I visited at the end of June and brought short sleeve shirts. I had to wear sweatshirts almost every day instead. 

3. The location of Undaunted Hope is in the Keweenaw Peninsula of upper Michigan. Tell us a little bit about what makes this setting unique.

The Keweenaw Peninsula is known as "Copper County" because it has a rich vein of copper running down the center of the peninsula. In the 1800's early explorers to the region discovered the copper. And by the mid 1800's miners and their families were flocking to the numerous towns that formed around the mines.

Due to the decline of the copper mining industry in England at approximately the same time as the mining boom in Michigan's UP, many Cornish immigrants came to the Keweenau Peninsula to continue mining. To this day, the Cornish have left a heritage in the area including homemade famous "Pasties" that can be found at most local restaurants. These were the hot meat pies that miners would carry in their pockets down into the mines to eat for their midday meals.

The bustling copper mining community was a rough and wild area that resembled the Old West. If the danger from the mines wasn't enough, the residents also faced incredibly harsh winters where they were cut off from supplies from the lower part of Michigan.

Nowadays, except for a few tourist towns, the area is a graveyard of ghost towns and abandoned mines. During my research trip, I was able to walk deep underground in one of those old mines and get a firsthand look at just how dark, damp, and dangerous the mining life was.

This is an interesting bit of history about the area, Jody- I'm particularly intrigued as my great-grandmother was from Calumet, about 20 miles away, and her father was a copper miner. 

4. In your other lighthouse books, the heroines are inspired by real women keepers. Did you use a real light keeper as part of the inspiration for the heroine in Undaunted Hope?

Most of us gravitate toward the stories that glamorize lighthouse life and honor the women who served in them. That's only natural. And I hope in my other two books in this series, I give those women the laud due to them.

However, I didn't want to neglect the women who served in lighthouses whose experiences weren't quite as glamorous, who served even though they disliked the duty. One woman in particular inspired this book. Her name was Cecelia Carlson McLean who was married to keeper Alexander McLean who served at various lighthouses around Lake Superior. When she was interviewed later in her life, Cecelia was very forthright in stating that she hated lighthouses, that they were lonely places, and that she'd had to sacrifice a great deal to live in them. She claimed that if she had to do it over, she wouldn't choose life in a lighthouse.

Of course her story made me think about the many hardships that light keeping entailed, especially for women–the extreme isolation, the lack of luxury, and the constant threat of danger. So out of Cecelia's hardships, I created Tessa and tried to imagine the underlying motivations for what might cause someone to hate lighthouses. Although I had Tessa work through some of her fears and dislike of lighthouses, I'm sure most women like Cecelia took their resentment of lighthouses with them to the grave.

5. What have you enjoyed most in writing this lighthouse series?

Over the past couple of years of writing this series, I've thoroughly enjoyed getting to visit numerous lighthouses throughout the state. Not only have I attempted to visit the lighthouses that are used as settings for the books, but I've also been inspired to visit many others. Every time I do, I learn a little bit more about how lighthouses were operated and have come to realize that they're all so unique.

During the past summer of 2015 I toured several lighthouses including: Tawas Point Lighthouse, St. Joseph Lighthouses, and Mackinac City Lighthouse.

Each time I climb a tower, reach the top, and gaze out at the spectacular view, I'm always amazed by the beauty. I never tire of the experience and can completely understand the fascination so many people have with lighthouses. I think I caught the "lighthouse bug" and will forever be visiting them! 

6. You have a busy publication schedule in 2016! In addition to Undaunted Hope, can you tell us what other books we have to look forward to?

My second young adult novel, A Daring Sacrifice, releases in March. I'm super excited about this reverse twist on the Robin Hood story set during medieval times.

In June, Forever Safe releases. This is a fourth lighthouse book that involves a very special character. While the first three books are set at all Michigan lighthouses, this fourth book moves to the East Coast to Race Point Lighthouse on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Finally in October, my second historical will release. Following in the same vein as my Luther and Katharina book, I will be bringing to life another historical couple. I hope to reveal the couple, title, and cover in the next few months!

7. Do you have any parting words?

I love hearing from readers! Make sure you stop by one of these places and say hello!

I hang out on Facebook here: Author Jody Hedlund

I also love to chat on Twitter: @JodyHedlund

My home base is at my website: jodyhedlund.com

Find me on Instagram: instagram.com/jodyhedlund/

Come pin with me on Pinterest: pinterest.com/jodyhedlund/pins/

~ Now the Giveaway ~

1 (one) blessed reader will win a copy of Jody Hedlund's

newest book Hope Undaunted!

Open to US residents only.

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The Travel Adventures of PJ Mouse ~ 2 Book Reviews, Author Interview, and Giveaway

The Travel Adventures of PJ Mouse series

By Gwyneth Jane Page

Illustrated by Megan Elizabeth

In Canada

PJ Mouse's adventure begins with a tumble from a bag and laying beneath a bench getting dirty and wet.  Luckily Emily finds PJ and brings him home and the two are about to embark on their first adventure to the Rocky Mountains and the length of Canada.

With Emily and her family PJ will travel across Canada discovering the vast and varying beauty found within each providence.  In the Rockies PJ discovers glaciers and the hidden beauty within a crevasse.  Saskatchewan was flat prairies with a salt lake.  Niagara Falls was actually three falls that combined into one large one.  Much to PJ's surprise people in Quebec speak French saying "Bonjour" and "Merci". 

But traveling across Canada is just the beginning of Pj's exciting and adventurous new life...

Traveling adventures with PJ Mouse introduces young readers to new worlds through a funny story with delightful illustrations that children will love.  The illustrations are simple with the appearance of  using either crayon, pastels, or color pencils.  

This book is broken down into chapters so one could read a chapter at night before bed making this an 8 night reading experience.  A perfect group present for the entire family to share and enjoy together. 

I was provided a copy of this book by the author through iRead Book Tours in exchange for my honest review and tour participation.

Book Description for The Travel Adventures of PJ Mouse in Canada (Book One):

PJ Mouse, an adorable little stuffed animal, was lost and alone until young Emily heard his cries for help. Now, along with his new family, PJ gets to travel the world-discovering exciting new places and people along the way!

Come join PJ on his first adventure across Canada as he hikes on a glacier in the Rockies, finds a salt lake in the prairies, and walks on the ocean floor in Nova Scotia.

Buy the book:

Author's Website, Amazon, Amazon.ca , Barnes and Noble

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In Queensland

PJ is about to go on his second major adventure with Emily and her family.  This time PJ's adventure is taking him to Australia and he is going by airplane! And even more amazing he's leaving Canada in winter and arriving in Australia in summer.  

Australia is an amazing land - there is a something called the Great Barrier Reef.  Clear turquoise water filled unusual fish of different sizes and shapes.  And PJ discovers the dangers of a rip tide.  On land he explores Mt. Tamborine - a rain-forest filled with tall trees and colourful birds.

Traveling adventures with PJ Mouse introduce young readers to new worlds through a funny story with delightful illustrations that children will love.  The illustrations are simple with the appearance of  using either crayon, pastels, or color pencils.  

This book is broken down into chapters so one could read a chapter at night before bed making this an 8 night reading experience.  A perfect group present for the entire family to share and enjoy together. 

I was provided a copy of this book by the author through iRead Book Tours in exchange for my honest review and tour participation.

Book Description for The Travel Adventures of PJ Mouse in Queensland (Book Two):

PJ Mouse, an adorable little stuffed animal, was lost and alone until young Emily heard his cries for help. Now, along with his new family, PJ gets to travel the world - discovering exciting new places, people, and animals along the way!

​Come join PJ on this, his second adventure, along the coast of Queensland, as he snorkels at the Great Barrier Reef, chats with a Loggerhead turtle in the midst of a great undertaking, and explores the tropical rainforest- until he has to be rescued by one of the local friendly wildlife.

Buy the book:   Author's Website - Amazon - Amazon.ca - Barnes and Noble

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Brand Products: PJ Mouse Stuffed Toy, Customized Stickers, Passport

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Author's Bio:

Gwyneth Jane Page (Jane), who holds an MBA from Simon Fraser University, has called many countries home. She grew up in such places as England, Peru, the USA, and the Caribbean, and has

also lived in Australia and Canada. She now resides in Victoria, BC with her husband and four children. The PJ Mouse books are based on Jane's family trips with the real stuffed animal, PJ, who was found by Emily, Jane's youngest daughter.

Megan Elizabeth, Jane's second oldest daughter, has lived in Canada and Australia and travelled extensively with her family-and PJ. Having been artistic since she was a little girl, illustrating the PJ Mouse books has enabled her to combine her love of travel with her love of art. Megan completed her studies at VanArts and is now building her career as a professional photographer as well as an illustrator. She currently resides in Victoria, BC with her family.

Connect with the author:  Website   Twitter   Facebook

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Author Interview:

Do you have a day job?

I do not have a day job anymore, I gave that up when I started writing, but I do have 4 kids. That alone could almost be considered a full time job I would think. I also have all the normal daily things that most of us have to cope with such as cooking and cleaning, etc.

How do you find time to write?

I have times where I write and then times where I do not write for a bit. It is the promotion of the book that takes up a lot of time.

I have Facebook, my own website www.pjmouse.com, Etsy, Amazon, Instagram and have to keep all these updated. I also have to keep in touch with stores to see if they need more stock.

Not only have I written the books, but I have also had PJ Mouse toy created along with his passport and stickers. I recently started having PJ's pajamas made. It took a while to create all these things. The idea: to make it appealing for kids to want to curl up with a book and read.

So I go in cycles, doing what is necessary at the time. Sometimes it is the writing and then, once a book has just come out, it is the promotion.

What is your favorite thing about the writing process?

I think I like creating the characters. I like PJ, he is so adorable. I also like the slight friendly rivalry between PJ and Star Bear. I also like trying to make things funny and entertaining for kids. I want kids to learn from the books but to have a good time as they do.

What is your next project?

My next book is on England 'The Travel Adventures of PJ Mouse - In a Small Corner of England'. It will be available in November. The next one is on New Zealand. The first draft of the manuscript is complete but Megan has not yet started the artwork for the book. I expect it will be published some time in the middle of 2016. The 5th book in the series will most likely be on Italy. I have just started writing the manuscript.

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Giveaway:​

Prizes: ​

Win 
Book One (Canada) of The Adventures of PJ Mouse 
+ PJ Mouse Stuffed Toy

+ Passport Sticker Book (Open to USA and Canada)

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Bach, Casals & The Six Suites for 'Cello Solo: Volumes 1-4 by Steven Hancoff Spotlight and Interview with CD Review

ENTER THE CREATIVE WORLD OF J.S. BACH IN INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED GUITARIST STEVEN HANCOFF’S GROUNDBREAKING FOUR-VOLUME E-BOOK

Book Details:

Book Title: Bach, Casals and; The Six Suites for 'Cello Solo: Volumes 1-4 by Steven Hancoff
Category: Adult non-fiction, 1189 pages
Genre: Biography / Music
Publisher: iTunes
Release date: June 2015
Tour dates: Nov 30 - Dec 18, 2015
Content Rating: G

Book Description:

FROM TRAGEDY TO TRANSCENDENCE

A Totally Immersive Multimedia Experience

Richly Detailed Text Embedded with More Than 1,000 Illustrations Illuminating Bach’s Masterpiece, from Its Creation to Its Legacy

Bach, Casals and the Six Suites for ’Cello Solo and 3-CD set Audio Recording of ’Cello Suites to be Released June 23rd

Exclusively on iTunes and CD Baby

Includes Hancoff’s Complete Recording Of His Acoustic Guitar Transcription of Bach’s ’Cello Suites

From tragedy to transcendence is the theme that embodies the essence of the life and work of Johann Sebastian Bach. “This man, ‘the miracle of Bach,’ as Pablo Casals once put it, led a life of unfathomable creativity and giftedness on the one hand and neglect and immense tragedy on the other,” says Hancoff.

Bach’s life was rife with hardship and tragedy from the start. By the time he was nine years old, he had witnessed the deaths of three siblings and then, within a year, his father and mother also passed away.

For all his education and talent, however, his first job was serving as a lackey for a drunkard duke. Subsequently, he spent the next fifteen years in the employ of Weimar’s harshly ascetic Duke Wilhelm Ernst, who cared little for music. When he was twenty-two, he married the love of his live, his distant cousin, Maria Barbara Bach. During the thirteen years they were married, she bore him seven children, three of whom died at birth.

In 1717, Prince Leopold of Cöthen offered Bach a position as the musical director for Cöthen. Bach jumped at the chance. The officials of Weimar, however, threw him in jail for “the crime” of daring to resign his present position. Still, Bach was on the verge of a career breakthrough.

Three years into his happy and contented tenure in Cothen, Prince Leopold and Bach visited the spa town of Carlsbad for a month of vacationing and music-making. Unfortunately, upon his return Bach learned of the death of his wife and then only when he entered into his home. Imagine the shock, the impact. He never even discovered the cause of death.

Yet this tragic setback in Bach’s life was a major turning point because he came to grips with his personal tragedy by unleashing a flood of masterpieces for which he is and will be forever revered. First came the Six Violin Sonatas and Partitas for Violin Solo and then the Six Suites for ’Cello Solo.

In the ’Cello Suites we hear Bach expressing his own seeking, yearning, love, loss, sorrow, grief and determination and their overtones of surrender, resolution affirmation and transcendence. He aspired to articulate an ultimate personal confession, a revelation, entirely unique, entirely sublime, as an ultimate act of artistic and creative testimony, a heavenly statement about his own life and even of life itself—as a final gift and an enduring, heavenly send-off for his beloved wife.

Bach, Casals and the Six Suites for ’Cello Solo invites readers and music lovers into a unique experience, contained in an immersive four-volume e-book from Steven Hancoff – a virtuoso musician’s restless, passionate, multimedia exploration of a musical masterpiece that only grows in stature almost three centuries after it was written.

The many fascinating and inspiring aspects of the book include:

• How Bach struggled and overcame adversity and the lessons his example offer us today.

• The ultimate meaning of the Six Suites for ’Cello.

• How almost all of Bach’s works would have nearly sunk into oblivion were it not for the extraordinary efforts of Sara Levy, the great aunt of Felix Mendelssohn, to rescue them.

• How Felix Mendelssohn single-handedly created with the performance of the St. Matthew Passion a Bach renaissance and a legacy that continues to be enjoyed to the present day.

• The miraculous discovery of the six ’Cello Suites by Pablo Casals in a Barcelona thrift shop and why he studied them for twelve years before performing them in public.

• What Pablo Casals meant when he spoke of “the miracle of Bach.” Bach, Casals and the Six Suites for ’Cello Solo promises to be an adventure for anyone fascinated by the enduring power of music, art and why they matter.

Buy the music and ebooks: iTunes

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Meet the author:

Steve Hancoff began playing guitar when he was 13 years old, captivated by the folk music craze of the 1960s. Within a year he was performing in coffeehouses around Baltimore and Washington, D.C.

For nearly 15 years, he toured the world—about 50 countries—as an official Artistic Ambassador representing the United States of America. His recordings include Steel String Guitar, New Orleans Guitar Solos, Duke Ellington for Solo Guitar, and The Single Petal of A Rose. He is also the author of Acoustic Masters: Duke Ellington for Fingerstyle Guitar and New Orleans Jazz for Fingerstyle Guitar. He is a graduate of St. John’s College, home of the “100 Great Books of the Western World” program and has a Masters degree in clinical social work. He is a psychotherapist, a Rolfer, and a practitioner of Tai Chi. An avid hiker, he is also a member of the Grand Canyon River Guides Associations.

Connect with the author: Website   ~  Twitter  ~   Facebook

Subscribe to Steven's Hancoff's work on YouTube

Enter the Giveaway!

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Interview with Steven Hancoff

Is there a message in your book that you want readers to grasp?

Yes: Life is a gift. No matter the adversity, the damage, the obstacles, feel gratitude for having been given life… the opportunity to experience the wonder and magnitude of all that which is. Maybe in the end, that’s really what writers are trying to express.

Contribute to the world so that by virtue of your participation in it, you leave the world a better place. Make the most of the time you have here. Let what you do and how you live, glorify not yourself, but life itself and whatever you imagine the source to that life to be. Dig deeper and more honestly, forthrightly and open-eyedly.

How much of the book is realistic?

All of it, even though none of us possess the inherent gifts of Bach, and few of us the inherent gifts of Pablo Casals.

Are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life?

All based on what I can fathom of the lives of Bach and Casals.

What books have most influenced your life most?

Believe it or not, Euclid’s Elements; Homer’s Odyssey; Shakespeare, especially Othello and King Lear; Darwin: On the Origin of Species; Dante’s Inferno; Tolstoy’s War and Peace; Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Rolfing and Ida Rolf Talks about Rolfing and Physical Reality.

If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?

Ida P. Rolf, without doubt.

What book are you reading now?

“Reading through” Bach’s Violin Sonatas and Partitas; and The Loves of Judith by Meir Shalev (who seems to me to be a great genius). I tend to haunt second-hand bookstore. I also love anything by John Updike. I used to always be reading a novel. Nowadays, I wish I had more time to be reading novels.

Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest?

Meir Shalev, and Etgar Keret

What are your current projects?

I am creating a concert length, multi-media presentation of the story. The first performances are in Seattle, Vancouver and Victoria at the end of November. I am calling it: From Tragedy to Transcendence –Bach, Casals and the Six Suites for Cello Solo. I notice now that when I tell some people about it, I like to say: “It’s real adult entertainment for real adults!”

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I have not read the book that was spotlighted but I have listened to the 3 CD music set.  The music is beautiful and lovely background accompaniment to dinner or an evening of quiet reading.

Prepare for close to 3 hours of music that will touch you.  Though  written for cello the transition to guitar is delightful.  Those who have a fondness for guitars will fall in love with the instrument again.

I also found the accompanying booklet to enlightening as it described the means by which many of Bach's pieces were saved so that we could and can rediscover them though this presentation by Steven Hancoff.

I was gifted a copy of this CD set but no expectation of a review was expected and these expressed thoughts pertaining to this 3 CD set are my own.