MSI Press Blog

  Honoring Chanukah – A Personal Reflection   (This is the sermon on Chanukah that Steven Steven Greenebaum gave on December 17 th at the Living Interfaith Sanctuary) Chanukah may not be the most pivotal of Jewish holy days but is likely the most universally known. It lasts 8 nights, with an additional candle added every night. In Judaism, the traditional menorah (Jewish candelabra) has 7 candles, but there’s a special menorah just for Chanukah – with room for 8 candles plus the Shamash, the special candle used to light the others. Chanukah also has a hero, Judah the Maccabee, the military leader about whom Fredrick Handel wrote an oratorio, right after writing his world-famous Messiah . That said, what is Chanukah truly about? I take Chanukah seriously, light candles, ponder the holiday, and offer prayers all 8 nights. But it wasn’t always that way. In truth, in my 74 years and counting, Chanukah for me has never seemed to stand still. How I see it keeps changing. This morni...

  Chanukah  is an eight-day Jewish celebration commemorating the rededication of the second temple by the Maccabees in Jerusalem in the second century B.C.  While there is so much more to learn about the Maccabees and the events at the time, why we celebrate Chanukah, is the result of the miracle they experienced.  Under the cruel leadership of Seleucids King Antiochus IV, the Jews, at the time, were not allowed to practice their own religion openly.  In fact, in their own country, they were faced with slavery and their religion was being eradicated. The Maccabees organized a successful rebellion against Antiochus and were trying to reestablish the temple in Jerusalem by sanctifying it while they were still under siege.    To sanctify the temple, the Maccabees were going to light a menorah lamp. They, however, only had enough oil for one day. But while they were only a small group of rebels, they a...

  It is Tuesday. 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 a topic that is important at this time of year and one that is often a bane for publishers: holiday books and holiday book orders. Holiday books Scheduling is very important when it comes to publishing holiday books. Books for Christmas (or Chanukah), for example, should have been completed in ARC form no later than early May. That gives time to get the pre-publication reviews before the holiday (given the typical 6 months advance time needed for reviewers, a May ARC allows for a book to be on pre-order over the summer and released in early November, allowing time for ordering for Christmas (when mailing services...

  As a Chanukah gift from MSI Press to you, take a 40% discount on the book by using coupon code ad40 at www.msipress.com/shop. Read Rev. Greenebuam's Chanukah reflections HERE . Read more posts about Rev. Greenebaum and his books 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. 

  As a Chanukah gift from MSI Press to you, take a 40% discount on the book by using coupon code ad40 at www.msipress.com/shop. Read Shannon's Chanukah reflections  HERE . Read more posts about Shannon and her book n  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. 

  MSI Press LLC wishes everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy Chanukah! Are you an author concerned about a load of phishing and scams that come your way and might be legitimate offers? Or conversely, do you want to make sure a legitimate offer is actually legitimate and good? Join the free  MSI Press discussion group  on January 11, 2025 as we examine how to tell the difference and explore how to respond in various situations.  Registration required .   Sign up for the MSI Press LLC monthly newsletter (recent releases, sales/discounts, awards, reviews, Amazon top 100 list, author advice, and more -- stay up to date) Read current/previous issues of the newsletter  here .   Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC?  We help writers become award-winning published authors. One writer at a time. We are a family, not a factory. Do you have a future with us? Turned awa...

  For your listening/watching pleasure, here is a link to a story about a Chanukah miracle and a cancer survivor: Click HERE for video. Read more 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 and updated weekly. As part of this effort, each week, on Monday, this blog will carry an informative, cancer-related story -- and be open to guest posts:  Cancer Diary .   Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twit...

  As a Chanukah gift to our readers, we are offering a 40% discount on A Movie Lover's Search for Romance . Use coupon code ad40 at our  webstore  to get the discount. For more information about  A Movie Lover's Search for Romance , including posts by and about the author and all her books, 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. 

  As a Chanukah gift to our readers, we are offering a 40% discount on Good Blood . Use coupon code ad40 at our webstore to get the discount. For more information about Good Blood , including posts by and about the author, 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. 

  winter solstice at Old Mission San Juan Bautista Thanks to Arthur Yavelberg, author of A Theology for the Rest of Us , for this post: Religion has a bad rap these days for all kinds of reasons--many of which are more than fair. Unfortunately, what often gets lost in these issues is the basic nature of true faith and spirituality--hope.   After all, the alternative is bleak--an uncaring, arbitrary universe in which everything has arisen by accident and will eventually dissolve just as randomly.  As the Psalmist writes, our lives are as so many blades of grass and, once we are gone, our footsteps will disappear and it will be as if we never were. Compare that with the fundamental message of the spirit: there is not only design in our universe, but a divine purpose that, while perhaps mysterious, exists nevertheless.  Our lives may be limited, but we can sense the infinite--both in terms of time and the love and compassion that are the essence of what it means to...