MSI Press Blog

  Franki Bagdade, author of I Love My Kids But I Don't Always Like Them recently contributed an advice column to Metro Parent magazine on the topic: "5 Ways to Fix a Child's Challenging Behavior."  Read the article for enlightenment. Read more posts about Franki and her book HERE .                                     Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter                           Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .

  Excerpt from Easter at the Mission Zhenya with his daughter, Julie Photograph by his wife, Alla Yanovich MEMORIAL TO EVGENIY YANOVICH I want to dedicate this book to Evgeniy (Zhenya) Yanovich, the illustrator of my Christmas book. Even more, I want to share his exceptional story. Zhenya was born in Akademgorodok, a tiny town like San Juan Bautista, outside the large city of Novosibirsk in Siberia. Akademgorodok, situated on the Ob River, is home to the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, which is about all that is there, but that is enough. The Academy of Sciences is a special institute of some of the most talented scientists and researchers in Russia. Zhenya was born with spina bifida. In 1979, Siberia had no access to antibiotics or the special treatments available to spina bifida children in some other parts of the world. Doctors held out no hope for Zhenya’s survival, but he lived. As he grew up, everyone in his town noticed his artwork and the immense talent...

  Omar Imady, who started out his publishing career with MSI Press and still has two books with us, has done some remarkable work over the past decade -- a couple of "gospels" with Villa Magna ( The Gospel of Damascus in four languages was a Book of the Year finalist for the English version; and The Gospel of Bethany ) and now, a new book, When Her Hand Moves , also with Villa Magna. Here is a summary of the new book: When Her Hand Moves  combines the sensual and the sacred, the intellectual and the imaginary, the divine and the dangerous in two stories that examine, interrogate, and challenge our understanding of universal truths and spirituality. A Syrian history professor escapes Damascus only to find himself in another surreal and dangerous setting, uncovering a conspiracy that places his life in even greater peril. And an Oxford professor and an eccentric journalist embark on an adventure through Portugal and Spain seeking to decipher an ancient manuscript and uncov...

  Excerpt from  Divorced! Survival Techniques for Those over Forty   Fear   The most common fear for the newly divorced person is an unsettling feeling that you will never find anyone else—ever. The thought of being alone for the rest of your life brings a sort of panic to your chest; it’s hard to breathe, and your heart seems to race uncontrollably. You, who used to be so independent, are suddenly at the point of combing through all of your acquaintances trying to find someone—anyone—with whom you might spark a relationship. It’s odd because you weren’t like this before your marriage. My goodness, you were the gal (or guy) who could take it or leave it when it came to relationships; you had to be wooed, courted, played up to—but now look at you. Fear has made a basket case out of you: fear of being alone, fear of never having that special someone to share things with, make love with, and go places with. What can you do?      First, try and r...

  As the title states, VioceAmerica rated Arthur Yavelberg's appearance on the Patricia Raskin Show as the show's top guest. Check it out HERE . Follow up by checking out our post on that pocast HERE . Arhtur's book, A Theology for the Rest of Us , is an award winner: Best Indie Book Award Literary Titan, Silver Award For more posts about Arthur and his book, click HERE .                                         Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter                           Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .

Excerpt from Diary of an RVer during Quarantine: Day 7 (Tuesday) Today, I decide to figure out why the front burner of our propane stove is not lighting with the clicker switch (Finally, a real purpose for getting out of bed!).  Have you ever taken the top cover off your stove?  Me neither!  Not once in the six years we’ve owned this rig!  Underneath were scattered pieces of dried spaghetti, macaroni, and rice that would have provided dinner for four.  The instructions on how to light and shut down the stove are posted under the cover, but I had to remove grease with dish detergent before I could read them.  A pleasant surprise!  They are in three languages, which provided an opportunity to see if my weekly Spanish classes in Arizona paid off … they didn’t!  However, I was able to understand ONE word (highlighted) in the first sentence: “Abra el suministro principal de gas a la estufa.”   Well, look there … the ignition tube to the fro...

  It is Tuesday. Time to tall turkey. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side. Today's topic addresses contracts -- what is a good one, what is a bad one, and what do the specialized terms actually mean? I will answer these questions in a series of posts, using, to start, our contracts, and will go through them paragraph by paragraph. Then, I will look at some other publishers' contracts for differing content. Last week we looked at the introductory paragraphs, mostly general information, including who is the author, what is the title, what rights are being offered. Paragraph 1 states what rights you are offering -- specifically and in detail. The next three sections spell out related under...

  Excerpt from D í a de Muertos: ¿ Cómo se prepara la ofrenda para el Día de los Muertos? Una ofrenda es una colección de objetos colocados en una exposición ritual durante la celebración anual y tradicionalmente mexicana del Día de Muertos. En general Generalmente, cada ofrenda también suele incluir los cuatro elementos: ·        agua, ·        viento, ·        tierra y ·        fuego. Se deja agua en una jarra para que los espíritus puedan calmar su sed. Papel picado, o pancartas de papel tradicionales, representan el viento. La tierra está representada por la comida, especialmente el pan. El fuego está presente en las velas que a menudo se colocan en la ofrenda. Las velas a menudo se dejan en forma de cruz para representar las direcciones cardinales, para que los espíritus puedan encontrar su camino. La ofrenda, o altar, está compuesta de recuerdos, fotografí...

  The final conversation had with Carl's oncologist was what we needed in our first conversation but did not get. Not quite two weeks before Carl died, at which time he was in a subacute facility, having fallen the week before, been admitted to the hospital, then shifted to the care facility, the oncologist called us with the results of the latest scans. "Not good at all," he said, and he gave us three options: let nature take its course -- Carl could move to in-hospital hospice or in-home hospice (we chose the latter, and while we had a very bad experience with the initial hospice , it was still the best choice) try out another chemical compound - He told us he had given us the most appropriate and strongest ("the best") that he had, but if we wanted to try another mixture, he would look at other options take part in a clinical trial - He did not of any for Cancer of Unknown Primary and would have to do some research; there might not be any, and there might no...