MSI Press Blog

Precerpt (excerpt prior to publication) from Grandma's Ninja Training Diary (Leaver): Back in the day—when I wore combat boots and carried an M-16—building strength and endurance felt as simple as a math equation: work out hard, rest overnight, get stronger. A + B = C. Just keep adding another push-up, another mile, another rep. Linear progress. Predictable. Efficient. But now, as a septuagenarian chasing strength and stamina with the same stubbornness that once got me through Army PT tests, I’ve come to a tough realization: this isn’t algebra. Not linear. Not even remotely additive in the way I once believed. Progress at 70+ has its own rhythm, its own rules—and they do not obey my old formulas. The first time I tried to follow the “add one rep every day” mindset, I hit a wall so fast it felt like I'd body-slammed reality. Muscles stiffened, joints ached, and instead of growing stronger, I just grew cranky. I wasn’t failing in discipline; I was failing in strategy. The ne...

Bobolink in one of his comfort places, where he could see others but be "hidden" from them. Percept (pre-publication excerpt from Raising Happy Cat Families by Luna Norwood) I left the initiative to Bobolink. He could join the rest of the family when he was ready and was not forced to do so before he was ready. Bobolink’s cubby on the cat tree was there as his protective fortress; I did not disturb him there—did not feed him there, did not try to pet him there, removed him from there only once a day for his socialization opportunity. The cat tree was in the cat room, and that room became Bobolink’s alone while he was being introduced to the family. This kind of respect for a cat’s boundaries is not just kind—it’s essential. Trust is the foundation of successful integration in a multi-cat household. When a new cat feels pressured, cornered, or overwhelmed, it can lead to defensive behaviors that may slow the entire process and cause unnecessary stress for all involved. But w...

  Coming Soon! Available now on pre-order!  Nothing So Broken  - war, memoir, more. Today we provide a precerpt (an excerpt from a book not yet published) -  -nemesis-   Most of my childhood mornings were marked by my father’s absence. Running five miles every day, he said. Just something he needed to do, he said. So, on weekdays before school, I’d wait at the kitchen window—teeth brushed, Space 1999 lunch box in hand—and watch the royal blue AMC wagon puff smoke from its exhaust in the Bott family’s driveway two houses away. My mother would run final checks with me—coat? gloves? hat?—from my brother’s bedroom because “Defiant Bryant” loathed mornings. He started each day looking like he’d slept through a cyclone. Dressing him for kindergarten was like Greco-Roman wrestling with a grumpy squid. When the old AMC wagon finally putted its way up the road, I’d book-it out of the house and wait at the end of our sidewalk. Mrs. Bott’s smile through the window served a...