MSI Press Blog

  On October 18th, Steven Greenebaum, author of One Family: Indivisible   and Seeking Balance in an Unbalanced Time , spoke at the Parliament of the World’s Religions first virtual Parliament – with people tuning in virtually from all over the world. Steven’s topic was “Interfaith Congregations” and how coming together to celebrate each other’s spiritual paths might lead us to a more inclusive, respectful and compassionate future. This was the third consecutive Parliament where he was invited to speak about an aspect of Interfaith.  For more posts about Dr. Greenebaum and his book, click HERE .  

  No one could give a better introduction and summary of this podcast than Arthur himself, author of A Theology for the Rest of Us : For those of you who missed it--which is one way of saying "for those of you who have a life"--this is a recording of my radio interview with Patricia Raskin on VoiceAmerica. As I understand it, she found what I had to say compulsive....ummm...no...I believe "compelling" was the word she used. (Norm Crosby, where are you?) Also, if you listen closely, you can hear Frodo criticizing my analysis of Arjuna's existentialist dilemma in the Bhagavad Gita. That alone is worth the price admission...errr...which, at "free," is very reasonable... Here is the official description of the podcast episode: In his new book, Yavelberg tackles all types of questions in the hopes of providing some religious illumination in these uncertain times. By examining various religious' insights on topics like free will, the identity of the

  photo by Frank Perez It is Tuesday. Time to tall turkey. 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 returns to an earlier topic -- book tours -- with more detail. Some interesting posts and articles and research have come out since the earlier posts, so there seemed to be a need for an update.  Book tours are often imagined by new authors as exciting places publishers will send them to meet hordes of fans-to-be at almost-sycophant book stores. While at one point in time and even today for very famous authors, publishers did and do this, it is rare, and certainly a new author is not going to get this kind of red-carpet treatment from a publisher.  Book tours generally do not make mo

  Retired Chairman of the Join Chiefs of Staff and former Secretary of State, GEN Colin Powell , died today from the complications of Covid-19 and cancer. Both deadly. He was fully vaccinated; however, cancer made him vulnerable, especially the kind of cancer he had, multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that lowers immunity and thereby reduces the effectiveness of vaccines.* This death is particularly painful for my family though the Powell family has no idea of it. You see, with Carl Leaver, my husband, just dying of cancer, any cancer death is painful. However and moreover, years ago, when she was in high school, our daughter was a good friend of Anne-Marie Powell, the general's youngest daughter. All the kids gathered at the Powell house, always. Most of the kids were unaware of the stature of their friend's father because of his humility. He loved kids, and he welcomed them all -- as a father, not as a statesman or military officer. It spoke a lot about him. Likewise, when our

  The question arises form time to time from readers who come to this blog for the first time -- who is writing this blog? I suppose that is as one might expect because often I use the pronoun, "I," so it makes sense for a reader to want to know who "I" am. But first, the purpose of the blog -- to provide readers with information about our great authors and their wonderful books, most of which have won awards, and, according to reviews, have changed people's lives; we try to include some excerpts, over time, from all our books. Beyond that, the blog focuses on topics that can be useful to authors (ours and those who are not ours) and would-be authors. Finally, upon occasion one or another author offers an interesting, inspiring, or helpful post that they have published on their own website or that they offer specifically for this blog; in this way, you can get to know our authors a little more personally.  As for me, the "I" of the blog posts, I have b

Old Mission San Juan Bautista is famous -- in part, because it is beautiful; in part, because it is one of the oldest Missions preserved in its original conditions; and in part, because Alfred Hitchcock made it famous in the movie, Vertigo , considered by the American Film Institute as the 7th best movie of all time, and at times, considered the best movie ever. (You can even visit the Vertigo coffee shop and buy Vertigo coffee at the Windmill Market in San Juan Bautista, inspired by the movie, and in San Juan Bautista you can see most of the places in the movie today just as they were in 1957--and 1857.)  The Mission is indeed old, and it needs preservation. For preservation, it needs funds. That is why Sula, who serves as the Parish Cat at Old Mission writes books, ministers to parishioners, and has her own pew. (The picture above was taken from Sula's pew during a healing Mass; she does get a good view.) For a short video about the work of the preservation committee and the reas

Sensory Sensitivities: When Fun Becomes Painful Disney World is not always the happiest place on Earth. I know this is hard to imagine, but it’s true, and an “unfortunate” experience can happen to the best of us. The Bagdade family version went something like this: We quickly rubbed the sleep out of our eyes, poured the kids heaping bowls of Fruit Loops, and boarded a Disney shuttle bus. The kids, still too tired to talk, exchanged excited smiles with us as we wasted no time taking plenty of pictures. It wasn’t until we drove under the Magic Kingdom archway that the bus full of sleepy passengers erupted with excited chatter. We took more pictures by the welcome signs as we disembarked and were herded into line. Besides all the visual fantasy surrounding you, it’s easy to tell you are at Disney World because of the lines, the never-ending lines—for everything. We waited an hour before the park opened, just like all my meticulously researched blogs and Pinterest pins had told me