⭐Pump Up Your Book Virtual Book Tour Kick Off⭐Being Present by Keith Sykes #Memoir

 

Being Present is the story of my life - the good times, the not-so-good-times, the trials, tribulations, and triumphs…

Title: Being Present: The Gift of Experiencing Life As It Happens
Author: Keith Sykes
Publisher: Chosen Pen Publishing
Pages: 104
Genre: Memoir

Being Present details my life growing up in New Orleans, Louisiana, the youngest of 8 children. It gives the reader an intimate look at the relationship between me, my parents, and my siblings. It discusses life and death, joy and pain, and strength and perseverance. The book talks about love and loss and is an optimistic look at overcoming the obstacles of life.

Being Present talks about how I dealt with life after my parent’s death and how joining the military completely changed my life. It gives a glimpse into how the military inspired my love for travel and the many places that I was able to visit as a result. Read about my life after the military and the challenges I faced that shaped the man I am today. Lastly, the book will provide samples of my photography and discuss how it was inspired by my travel.

Release Date: ‎ January 5, 2023 

Publisher: Chosen Pen Publishing

Kindle: ASIN: ‎ B0BRT7CRWH; eBook $1.99 

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3jWFLpw

Book Excerpt  

One evening, while visiting my mother, her physician pulled me aside to ask what my short and long-term plans were, and I told her I wasn’t sure. I let her know that I was in college, but other than that, I had no plans beyond school. She insisted that I make a firm plan because she didn’t expect my mother to be around much longer, and she said if I needed anything, let her know. I remember sitting in the room that night, and when it was time to go, I didn’t want to leave because I always had this thought in the back of my mind- how long is not much longer? It was tough sitting at my mother’s bedside, knowing that my time with her was coming to an end. She was my everything. What would I do now? I had no clue. I didn’t think that far beyond my sophomore year, and now I had the rest of my life staring me in the face in one night.

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About the Author

Keith Sykes grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana with his 7 siblings; he is the youngest of 8. Keith attended Xavier University of Louisiana where he studied Computer Information Systems and Graphic Design. He lost both parents by the age of 20 and joined the United States Army in 1990 where he completed 20 years of active military service. He continues to serve as a Department of Defense civilian where he works as a Health Systems Specialist at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He is a freelance writer, photographer and event planner and is heavily involved in the community. Keith is a cancer survivor as of February 2022 and attributes his positive attitude in dealing with the condition to his mother Violet who succumbed to cancer in January 1990. He loves exploring nature and traveling. Some of his most memorable trips have been to Egypt, Belize, and Cuba.

You can visit his website at https://kasykes.com/ or connect with him at Facebook at www.facebook.com/ikreate4u.

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⭐Pump Up Your Book Virtual Book Tour Kick Off⭐I Sang That by Sally Stevens #Memoir @sallytwitshere

 

A personal story of growing up in a "his, hers and theirs" family in the forties and fifties, and how a shy little girl became a second-generation singer in the ever-evolving music business of Hollywood…

By Sally Stevens

Book Blurb

This book is a personal journey behind the scenes into the world of music-makers who created the film scores, television music, sound recordings, commercials and concert evenings over the last sixty years.

 It’s about a long singing career that began in 1960 with concert tours – Ray Conniff, Nat King Cole, and later, solo work in concert with Burt Bacharach – to thirty years of vocals and main titles for The Simpsons, vocals for Family Guy…vocals on hundreds of film & television scores & sound recordings, plus twenty-two years as Choral Director for the Oscars. It’s also the personal story of growing up in a “his, hers and theirs” family in the forties and fifties, and how a shy little girl became a second-generation singer in the ever-evolving music business of Hollywood.

Release Date: October 25, 2022

Publisher: Atmosphere Press

Soft Cover: 978-1639885510; 390 pages

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3GmcBJD

Book Excerpt  

INTRODUCTION 

One day, during the period of the coronavirus pandemic that hit the world early in 2020 and brought activities to a screeching halt, I came across a box of sheet music I’d stored away—scribbled lead sheets of songs I had written back in the late sixties and seventies. Some of them were completed and I had actually recorded demos of them. Some were almost complete, but had a few missing bars of lyrics, or the pencil scribblings were so faded that I couldn’t quite make them out. 

I’ve spent hours during this last year sitting at the piano playing through those songs, trying to remember what person or what heartbreak inspired each one. I’ve gotten mad at myself for not working harder at them, for not believing more in myself and my ability to do that. 

There’s a little framed art piece hanging on the entryway hall of my house next to my front door. In black letters, painted artistically on a background that looks like it’s made of sackcloth, are the words of its thought-provoking message: “I am lost. I have gone to look for myself. If I should return before I get back, please ask me to wait. Thanks.” 

I see that little sign every time I leave my house, and I ponder upon its meaning. Why did I feel that message was so clearly for me? Was it a moment of clarity? Did I somehow lose myself along the way? Did I end up on the path I had not intended to travel? I spotted that little sign maybe ten years ago, when I was shopping in a neighborhood gift shop. It struck home immediately but I wasn’t sure exactly why. I just knew I had to buy it. Maybe writing these pages will help me figure it all out. 

The songwriting began for me decades ago when I was still in junior high school. It was partly self-expression and partly a conscious creative endeavor. That was when I began to think seriously about wanting to make a living in the music business. Though I’d sung with a little band of guys from my high school who performed for dances at the Elks Lodge, my first real professional audition happened one day in 1957 during my last year in high school. It was through the kindness of a lighting man who had been on the road with my father when he was road manager for Holiday on Ice that I got a chance to audition for one of the afternoon TV talk shows produced in Los Angeles. The lighting man had remembered my father talking about his daughter who wanted to be a singer, and he was now working at CBS TV on the afternoon show. The band was looking for a singer, and my dad had successfully convinced the lighting man that I was pretty good, so he somehow managed to get me involved in the auditions. 

I couldn’t believe this really was happening. At that point I was still pretty shy, so I lived somewhere between adequate self-confidence and total fear and paranoia. Part of me must have thought that I might somehow, at seventeen years of age, be good enough to get hired on a network TV show. The other part of me was scared to death I wouldn’t be able to pull it off. 

I wish I could tell you the name of the show, but it has long escaped my memory, along with the name of the song I sang. I was terribly nervous, and on top of just being nervous about the singing, I had never driven into “the city” from the little town of Tujunga where we lived. 

CBS Studio was, and still is, at the corner of Fairfax Boulevard and Beverly Boulevard, sort of on the west edge of Hollywood. Tujunga is in the low hills at the far north end of the San Fernando Valley. There was no Siri in those days to tell you where to turn, nor any Google Maps on the dashboard. So my mother wrote out careful instructions for me, and I tried to follow them. I don’t think she was terribly happy about this audition that my father had helped arrange. Cautionary lights were blinking on and off in my mother’s mind. 

I pulled up to the guard gate at the CBS lot and told the guard I was there for an audition. He had my name on his list, and eventually I found my way through the hallways to the right studio. The musical director of the show was standing down at the front of the auditorium. I made my way through the empty aisles and he waved me over to the bandstand. “What are you singing for us?” he asked. I handed him my music. He handed the music to the piano player as I walked up onto the little stage into position in front of the standing mic. The piano player started the intro, and I sang my song, nervous but still persevering. 

When I finished, the musical director walked over to me, handed me back my sheet music, and said, “Honey, why don’t you find a nice boy and get married?” 

The drive home was painful in a different way than the drive into town had been. I was no longer nervous, just disappointed, depressed, and pretty discouraged. 

But here’s the thing. I did eventually find three “nice boys,” and I married them all, sequentially of course. And somehow along the way I stumbled into working successfully in the music business as a singer, vocal contractor, and lyricist for film and TV scoring, sound recordings, concerts, and commercials—with and for some of the best people in the business—for the next sixty years. I’ve been blessed to sing on so many projects over these years, as either soloist or as part of a choir or small vocal group. You’ve heard many of them, I suspect, but they were for the most part uncredited, which is the custom for us “session singers” here in Hollywood. I’ll share some of those specifics with you as we travel together through these pages. 

The journey through all those years, between the tragic events of that day at CBS and today, has been a fascinating and blessed one. Perhaps I should dedicate this book to those three sequential husbands I mentioned earlier, and to that unknown music director at CBS who unwittingly provided the initial challenge to do it all.

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About the Author

Sally Stevens is a singer/lyricist/choral director who has worked in film, television, concert, commercials and sound recording in Hollywood since 1960. She sings the main titles for The Simpsons and Family Guy and her voice can be heard on hundreds of film and television scores.  She has put together choirs for John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, Elmer Bernstein, and many others for film scores, and was choral director for The Oscars for 22 years. In the earlier years she toured with Ray Conniff, Nat King Cole and Burt Bachrach, and she has also written lyrics for Burt Bacharach, Don Ellis, Dominic Frontiere, Dave Grusin, and others.

Her short fiction, poetry and essays have been included in Mockingheart Review, The OffBeat, Raven’s Perch, Hermeneutic Chaos Literary Journal, Los Angeles Press, The Voices Project, and Between the Lines Anthology: Fairy Tales & Folklore Re-imagined.

Along with singing and writing, her other passion is photography, and her black & white photographs of film composers have been included in exhibitions at the Association of Motion Picture & Television Producers headquarters in Los Angeles, and at Cite de la Musique in Paris, France.

Website:  https://www.sallystevenswriter.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sallytwitshere

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/sally.stevens.14

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⭐Pump Up Your Book Virtual Book Tour Kick Off⭐Christmas in Newfoundland by Mike Martin #Christmas #Mystery @mike54martin

 

From the author of the Award-winning Sgt. Windflower Mysteries including Christmas in Newfoundland: Memories and Mysteries Book 1, comes another welcome addition to the Sgt. Windflower family of books…

By Mike Martin

Book Blurb

From the author of the Award-winning Sgt. Windflower Mysteries including Christmas in Newfoundland: Memories and Mysteries Book 1, comes another welcome addition to the Sgt. Windflower family of books.

Come sit by the fire of the woodstove in the kitchen and listen to stories of Christmas long ago in Grand Bank and Ramea and tales of great adventure and Christmas magic in St. John’s in the 1960s and onward. Have Christmas dinner with Sgt. Windflower and Sheila and their two little girls. Then wait and see if any special visitors show up to entertain them.

Sing along with the choir or have a drink with old friends to celebrate Tibb’s Eve. Follow along as Eddie Tizzard has a special mission in the middle of a snowstorm and Herb Stoodley becomes an unlikely Christmas hero.

Christmas in Newfoundland is always a time for good food, good friends, and good cheer. And there’s always another chair at the table.

Release Date: September 26, 2022

Publisher: Ottawa Press and Publishing

Soft Cover: 978-1990896033; 141 pages; $16.95; eBook $4.99

Amazon: https://amzon.to/3fSJoL

 

Book Excerpt

  

Christmas Memories

It was their very first Christmas together and while it was so exciting to be in love and together during this magical season, it was also a little bit awkward as they tried to develop their own holiday traditions.

Their memories and celebrations of Christmas had been very different growing up. Windflower’s holidays in Pink Lake, his northern Alberta birthplace had been full of love but also tinged with sadness and a healthy dash of chaos. His parents had given him everything they had, which meant he got all the most favourite toys that they could order from the Sears catalogue.

His parents were no longer with him and that made him sad sometimes this time of year. He missed his mother especially. She had been so kind to him and everyone around him. He missed his dad, too, but not in the same way. His dad had worked as a logger most of his life and that meant he was away a lot, clearing brush and hauling raw lumber down to Edmonton.

Christmas Eve was his favourite time when he was little. Maybe the same even today. He loved the feeling of expectation. That something really good was going to happen. He always got new pajamas and slippers on the night before Christmas and there was a special meal of venison stew and bannock with dark fruitcake for dessert. Santa didn’t play a big role in a Pink Lake Christmas, everyone knew their parents were bringing the gifts. But that did nothing to dampen their enthusiasm. Certainly not Windflower’s.

He liked Christmas Eve, too, because that was the one night before the parties began. Before the drinking began. Everything really was calm and bright and full of hope. The next day some of his relatives would arrive with their Christmas stash and over the following days his father’s friends would also pop by. It was great fun at the beginning but as the night and the drinks wore on, it became louder and a little frightening for a little boy. Sometimes his mother would take him to be with Auntie Marie and Uncle Frank. He liked that and loved his aunt who would make him special treats and tell him stories of the old days and their Christmas around a large community fire. 

Sometimes his father would go away with his friends and he and his mom would be left waiting for his return. It could be later that evening or a few days but eventually he would come home, most often drunk, and spend the next day recovering. Windflower knew to be very quiet around those times. His mother had warned him not to wake the sleeping bear.

Those were all but passing memories for Windflower now and he was looking forward to spending time and celebrating Christmas with Sheila, the light and love of his life.

Sheila loved, loved, loved Christmas. Everything about Christmas. She had taken out all the old ornaments weeks before Christmas so she could look at them and pressured Windflower to go out early in December to get their tree. The first Sunday in the month they drove to the woods on the outskirts of town and walked in to get their tree. They didn’t have far to go. About five minutes in, Sheila found the tall balsam fir she was looking for. 

“Perfect,” she announced.

“Okay,” said Windflower and he sawed the tree near the bottom and tied it to the top of her car. They drove home and while he made them hot chocolate, Sheila laid out all the decorations that she wanted to use.

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About the Author

Mike Martin was born in St. John’s, NL on the east coast of Canada and now lives and works in Ottawa, Ontario. He is a long-time freelance writer and his articles and essays have appeared in newspapers, magazines and online across Canada as well as in the United States and New Zealand.

He is the author of the award-winning Sgt. Windflower Mystery series set in beautiful Grand Bank. There are now 12 books in this light mystery series with the publication of Dangerous Waters. A Tangled Web was shortlisted in 2017 for the best light mystery of the year, and Darkest Before the Dawn won the 2019 Bony Blithe Light Mystery Award. Mike has also published Christmas in Newfoundland: Memories and Mysteries, a Sgt. Windflower Book of Christmas past and present. And now Christmas in Newfoundland: Memories and Mysteries 2.

Mike is Past Chair of the Board of Crime Writers of Canada, a national organization promoting Canadian crime and mystery writers and a member of the Newfoundland Writers’ Guild and Ottawa Independent Writers and Capital Crime Writers.

You can follow the Sgt. Windflower Mysteries on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TheWalkerOnTheCapeReviewsAndMore/

Website: www.sgtwindflowermysteries.com

Twitter: @mike54martin

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