MSI Press Blog

  Christmas in Nebraska, 2022   …also known as “fly-over country.” I have lived, most recently, in Germany and that is the starting point for my Christmas journey each year to Nebraska. If you want to find the real “spirit of Christmas,” remaining in Germany would be self-evident. For many weeks ahead, each town, each city, opens the town square every weekend for Christmas markets. More than anything, it’s a chance for local artisans to fill the charming booths with their wares and for the church and secular choirs to provide music. People wander around, sipping on Glühwein, munching on cookies, greeting each other, and adding to an overall atmosphere of gemütlichkeit —conviviality, comfort, and friendliness that is almost impossible to replicate in any other setting. My work as a professor means that I must finish my work before I leave for Nebraska, missing some of the biggest, busiest, most beautiful markets.   I’ve spent Christmas in many places: once in the Hagia Sophia of Istanb

  Dr. Susan Lewis, JD, author of From Deep Within , was recently interviewed as an expert on Court TV about the Waffle House case and the meaning of an insanity defense. See what she had to say  HERE . For more posts by about Dr. Lewis and her book, click HERE . Get From Deep Within on deep discount at the MSI Press webstore; use coupon code FF25 for 25% off. Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com. Want an  author-signed copy  of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrently send a written request to orders@msipress.com.

  Preface “Philosophy is dead,” declared Stephen Hawking in agreement with many others. “As philosophers have not kept up with science, their art is dated” (Warman, 2011). However, if we refer to the history of how humans peruse knowledge, we will not find that different disciplines replaced one another in sequence. It is not that the wilt of religion gave rise to philosophy, or that the denouement of philosophy set the stage for science—nor is the world segmented into discrete, incompatible disciplinary fields. A biological reaction can be expanded to millions of chemical reactions or trillions of interactions between physical particles; likewise, the emergence of “social behaviors” among neural networks as they grow and that of “tacit agreement” from quantum entanglement have implied the possibility of adopting a sociological language to explain phenomena previously deemed as lifeless and strictly adherent to the laws of physics. Every discipline is a language capable of encompassing

  (At Christmas, Sula was in her element -- and in every creche and nativity scene.)  Watch  two endearing videos  of the late Sula , author of seven books and parish cat at O ld Mission San Juan Bautista for a warm 2022 memory. (Sula crossed the rainbow bridge in August.) For more posts about Sula and her books, including trailers and exceprts, click HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com. Want an  author-signed copy  of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrently send a written request to orders@msipress.com.

  Nanette Hucknall, author of How to Live from Your Heart and co-author of The Rose and the Sword . provokes some timely thinking on the topic of change as the year turns from 2022 to 2023 in a blog post earlier this year, "Overcoming difficulties that come with change." As a therapist, she says, she encounters the greatest difficulties among her clients not in a willingness to make a change or a recognition for the need for change but in the implementation of change, Read all of what she says HERE . For more posts about Nanette and her books, click HERE . For more posts on the topic of change, click  HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com

  Arthur Yavelberg, author of A Theology for the Rest of Us , has penned an article for the Daily Star in Tucson, Arizona on making sense of the non-material. Read it below: To read more posts by and about Arthur and his book, click HERE . For more books on spirituality, click HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com. Want an  author-signed copy  of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrently send a written request to orders@msipress.com. 

  Excerpt from Puertas a la Eternidad by Fernando Ustman.  Tercera Puerta: Perdonar   El arte de renacer. Cuando perdonamos a nuestro niño interior, también nos perdonamos a nosotros mismos, pues él es parte de nuestra vida. Este perdón implica curación, y a partir de él se liberan nuevas energías que antes estaban represadas. Frank Cardelle   Son las 4:00 a.m. de un f resco, hermoso y silencioso amanecer; estoy leyendo en un curso de milagros “Ay criatura de Dios, si supieras lo que Dios dispone para ti, tu gozo sería absoluto”. De pronto un pequeño ruido en la puerta de mi cuarto me transporta inmediatamente a aquellas competencias en los despertares de mi niñez, corría la temprana edad de 6 años en mi vida.   Recuerdo como de repente se presentaba mi padre en mi habitación a despertarme a punta de correa. Si yo me levantaba primero, me salvaba de la paliza, por eso digo competencia. Casi siempre me orinaba en la cama, razón por la cual tenía que correr con ese colchón pesado de pa

                                                   MAKING CHRISTMAS PERSONAL   A teenager in our little country church many years ago had a self-image problem. So convinced was he of his “unworthiness” he refused to take Holy Communion. Nothing we or the minister said could convince him otherwise. I shall never forget the sadness of seeing him sitting alone and forlorn in one of the rear pews as the rest of us joined together in joyful Christmas communion. Sadly, many still struggle with the idea that we are not “good enough” to please God. Maybe that’s why the Holy Spirit gave the prophet Isaiah this all-inclusive vision some 700 years before the birth of Jesus:                “Unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. And the government will be on his shoulders.                And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. “                                                                                                  

  In this Psychology Today column, Susan Lews (From Deep Within) explains what it means to be fit to stand trial. Read the article HERE . For more posts by and about Susan and her book, click HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com. Want an  author-signed copy  of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrently send a written request to orders@msipress.com. 

  (Anne LaForge, left, in discussion with MSI Press managing editor, Betty Lou Leaver) Today is the funeral of one of my best friends and a long-term MSI Press volunteer, Anne LaForge. She helped out in The Literary Center, the press's outreach to the community until covid closed outreach options in 2020. She came to know those MSI Press authors who journeyed to San Juan Bautista, California to make presentations or do book launches--and she interviewed each of them. (Her voice can be heard in the podcasts on our web page.) And she helped out with all sorts of book-related activities, including, as a former literature teacher, providing feedback on books. She is definitely going to be missed in this community and at MSI Press LLC. Coincidentally, Anne's vault is in the same columbarium as that of Carl Leaver, deceased MSI Press typesetter. May they spend eternity together in peace as friends. Anne is survived by three children, two grandchildren, and absolutely scores of friend