MSI Press Blog

  MSI Press books have won national and international awards every year since 2012, when we first began submitting books to competitions. MSI Press authors’ books have won gold, silver, and bronze medals, honorable mention, best new voice, and legacy awards in more than 30 regional, national, and international book competitions. Check our awards section. A number of our books have been among the top 100 Amazon hot new releases, including several that have achieved #1 status. Every month, a number of our books can be found in the top 100 bestsellers in their various categories. Follow our blog and watch for “publisher’s pride” or sign up for our newsletter, where we announce these great books. Want to read a great book? Check out our  catalogue . Have a great book that needs to have some TLC? Nearly everyone has a story. Not every publisher will hold your hand until it materializes as an award-winning book and pay you generous royalties when it does. We will. Tell us about your...

    Today's excerpt comes from  A Woman's Guide to Self-Nurturing  by Joanna Romer. What is Self-Nurturing? On a tray in the middle of your bed sits a pretty teapot, milk and sugar, a flowered teacup and, the  piece de resistance , a frothy cream puff on a matching flowered plate. No, you’re not sick, and there is no one invited to this little tea party but you. You have gone out of your way to create a tempting display of yummy food and fine china solely for the purpose of pleasing yourself. “A waste of time,” I can hear you saying—but is it? Gazing at the tea tray and the cream puff, some inner part of your being is unaccountably soothed. It is the side of you that is, undeniably, female. Yes, men and women are equal, but sometimes their needs differ. Even Sheryl Sandberg, author of  Lean In,  the most feminist book in decades, declares, “…there are differences between men and women both in their behavior and the way their behavior is perceived” (San...

  Minsk Minsk in the early 1990s felt like a place suspended between two eras. The Soviet Union had technically dissolved, but the city still looked and functioned like the USSR. Wide, monumental avenues built after the city’s near-total destruction in WWII had little traffic. It would take some time before cars became a “thing.”   Concrete apartment blocks with identical stairwells and the faint smell of boiled cabbage dominated the city landscape. Trolleybuses and trams rattled but ran on time. Kiosks continued to sell cigarettes, newspapers, and necessities, but collapsing supply chains often meant that shelves were empty. People lined up in long queues outside shops, even when no one was sure what was being sold. A sense of order without resources, structure without certainty pervaded. People were polite but cautious; the habits of Soviet public life didn’t vanish overnight. Television was full of debates, new political parties, and the shock of Western advertising. ...

  For years, alcohol carried a kind of health halo — especially red wine. But modern cancer research has stripped away the romance and left us with a clear, uncomfortable truth: alcohol is a carcinogen , full stop. Not just hard liquor. Not just “heavy drinking.” Any drink containing ethanol — beer, wine, cocktails — increases cancer risk. Why alcohol raises cancer risk When the body breaks down alcohol, it produces acetaldehyde , a toxic compound that: damages DNA interferes with DNA repair promotes inflammation disrupts hormone regulation (especially estrogen) Over time, these changes increase the likelihood that damaged cells will become cancerous. Which cancers are linked to alcohol? The list is longer than most people realize. Strong evidence connects alcohol to: Breast cancer (even at low levels) Colorectal cancer Liver cancer Esophageal cancer Head and neck cancers Stomach cancer (emerging evidence) There is no safe threshold . Even one drink a day nudges...