MSI Press Blog

  We have learned that one of our authors, Dr. Syed Arshad Husain, passed into eternal rest last fall. According to his official biography,  Dr. Syed Arshad Husain M.D. , former Chief and Director of Training of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Missouri and the Senior Vice President/Medical Director of Psychiatry Services of Compass Health, died peacefully the morning of September 24th, 2022 at his home in Columbia, Missouri with his wife of over 50 years, Jennifer Devine Husain, at his side. He was 84 years old. A titan in the field of Child Psychiatry and a foremost expert in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Dr. Husain’s greatest impact was the result of his decades-long worldwide humanitarian work serving the most vulnerable as they coped with the grief and trauma in the aftermath of the unimaginable destruction of both natural disasters and human created war zones. To read the rest of the obituary, click HERE . Dr. Husain was co-author (with his s...

Yes, we are entering our 20th year of service to authors and the book industry. For our history, take a look at our entry in Wikitia . Unfortunately, we do not enter our 20th year with everyone who started with us or all of those who joined us along the way. Death has claimed her share--more than her fair share, it seems to us.  And so, we remember the following authors and staff with sadness for their loss and gratitude for their gifts which linger with us still. Alfred Stites (author and nonagenarian from Costa Rica)  Anne LaForge (volunteer podcast interviewer and literary advisor from San Juan Bautista, CA) Boris Shekhtman (author from Maryland and co-founder of the Coalition of Distinguished Language Center, which spawned MSI Press)  Carl Leaver (typesetter and MSI Press co-founder) Ekaterina Filatova , Ph.D. (author, professor at Leningrad/St. Petersburg State University, and founder of the socionics movement in Russia) Evgeniy (Zhenya)Yanovich (illustrator and ...

  (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...

  It is with sorrow that MSI announces the death of affiliated author, Jim Ostdick. Jim lived in San Juan Bautista and interacted with MSI Press staff and participated in activities of The Literary Center, a local outreach arm of MSI Press. He was especially close to Carl Leaver, MSI Press typesetter from 2003-2021. They both are missed. HERE is the biographic information published in the Hollister Freelance , the local paper.  For more posts on Jim and his 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 co...

  Cancer knows no pity and has no boundaries as to whom it will attack. (We do a little bit about genetic markers, but cancer does not limit itself just to those who are genetically marked.) The latest victim is Kirstie Alley, who has died of colon cancer. Information about her relatively secret struggle with cancer is available HERE . For more posts about colon cancer, click HERE . Read more about Cancer Diary posts  HERE . Check out colon cancer at  Carl's Cancer Compendium  (the cancers are listed alphabetically). Blog editor's note: As a memorial to Carl, and simply because it is truly needed, MSI Press is now hosting a web page,  Carl's Cancer Compendium , as a one-stop starting point for all things cancer, to make it easier for those with cancer to find answers to questions that can otherwise take hours to track down on the Internet and/or from professionals. The web page is in its infancy but expected to expand into robustness. To that end, it is expanded...

  IN MEMORIAM On August 24, 2022, Sula, the beloved parish cat at Old Mission San Juan Bautista, passed away quietly in her carrier as she prepared to spend her last working day at the Mission. For about 15 years, based on the estimates of parishioners who have known her since she appeared at the Mission as a kitten, she has spent her time at Masses, exploring the gardens, and in the Gift Shop where she lived until recently, moving in with parishioners, her godparents, when covid struck and spending Sundays on duty at the Mission. She brought excitement to scores of visiting children, peace to parishioners during Mass, and healing to the hurting. As a survivor of multiple forms of cancer, including skin cancer that took her ears years ago, she served as a role model to cancer patients. Visitors came not only to visit the Mission but also to meet Sula. On her Face Book page, she had over 1000 followers, including fans from more than a dozen states and many countries. Sula, a “divine...

  1948-2021 It is with great sadness that MSI Press notes the death of Carl Leaver, CEO of the Press and typesetter and graphic designer par excellence . Many authors have expressed not only condolences but also a sense of legacy from covers he designed that they love.  Here is his obituary: On August 16, 2021, Carl Don Leaver of San Juan Bautista passed into eternal rest. A forester with the US Forest Service in Idaho and Montana, he turned to nature photography while working in the Bitterroot National Forest. His photographs graced national magazine covers and on a weekly basis the local paper of Hamilton, MT, the Ravalli Republican. He later worked on photography projects for the US Army (AFEES) and taught photography at the New York Institute of Technology in Amman, Jordan. His final career change led him to computer graphics and publishing as co-owner of MSI Press LLC; his many typeset books and book covers have helped MSI Press authors win a large number of awards over t...

  We regret to announce that on March 18, 2017, Boris Shekhtman passed into eternal rest after a long battle with cancer. His colleague and friend, Natalia Lord, wrote the following commentary on his obituary page: I have known Boris since 1982 as a colleague and friend. He was a genuine trailblazer in foreign language teaching, caring not only about what bits of language his students had acquired, but also focusing on how to help them effectively use their language in face t o face communication with native speakers. His belief that an instructor is responsible a student's proficiency, spurred him to come up with his Rules of Communication and eventually his own method of teaching. He continued to learn from his student's challenges and pass along the findings to the broader foreign language teaching community through his writings. The full significance of his contribution to the field probably won't be understood for quite some time because he was so far ahead of most of ...