Howdy Partners!!!  Do I have a huge treat for you!!!  And I mean HUGE!!!  Rein in your horses and tie them up to the posts because you are definitely going to want to stay for a while!!!  While on her blog tour, one of her stops is here, HERE today, taking time out of her very busy schedule. We have New York Times Best Selling Author, Linda Lael Miller!!!!!  I told you it was HUGE!!  So please help me give her a very warm western welcome to our blog!!!!

As the daughter of a town marshal, Linda has come home to the western lifestyle that gave birth to one of today’s most successful authors. With more than 80 novels to her credit, the self-confessed barn goddess left Washington years ago and pursued her wanderlust, living in Arizona and London and traveling the world. But now the “First Lady of the West” is glad to be back home, writing contemporary and historical novels that have earned her awards and placements on all the national bestsellers lists.

Linda traces the birth of her writing career to the day when a Northport teacher told her that the stories she was writing were good, that she just might have a future in writing. Later, when she decided to write novels, she endured her share of rejection before she sold Fletcher’s Woman in 1983 to Pocket Books. Since then, Linda has successfully published historicals, contemporaries, paranormals, and thrillers before coming home, in a literal sense, and concentrating on novels with a Western flavor. For her devotion to her craft, the Romance Writers of America awarded her their prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007.

Linda has come a long way since leaving Washington to experience the world. “But growing up in that time and place, in a family grounded in Western values, served me well,” she allows. “And I’m happy to be back home.”
To learn more about Linda, visit http://www.lindalaelmiller.com/. For a behind-the-scenes look at the sexy Creed cowboys, visit www.TakeACowboyHome.com.

Conner Creed knows exactly who he is: a hardworking rancher carrying on his uncle’s legacy in Lonesome Bend, Colorado. Maybe a small-town cowboy’s life isn’t his dream, but he owes the man who took him in as a kid. Until the identical twin brother he’s been estranged from for years reenters his life.

Conner struggles with identity issues as he gets to know his wilder brother. And then he meets Tricia McCall, a beautiful woman who knows a thing or two about living someone else’s dreams. Together, they just might find their own dreams right here in Lonesome Bend….

If you follow my blog, you know that my favorite genre is suspense and mystery, so when today’s author contacted me and asked if I would read and review her debut novel, I unfortunately had to say no because I am so far behind in my requested review TBR schedule.  However, that didn’t mean that I didn’t want to get to know about her or her book for the day when I am caught up and start reading from my personal TBR pile, which I have placed her book on.  I also wanted to share her and her book with you.  So please help me welcome Ms. Traci Hohenstein!!!

Over 2300 hundred people are reported missing every day. That thought stuck in my mind after watching a show about missing persons. I started looking into other disappearance cases that have left investigators just shaking their heads. What happened to these people? Where are they now?

Readers always ask me where I get my ideas from. Well, just watch any news show and you will have thousand of ideas for stories. Following the Natalie Holloway case was the beginning of an idea of a new suspense series featuring a woman who started a search and rescue organization – specifically for locating missing persons.

My main character, Rachel Scott, founded Florida Omni Search after the disappearance of her three year old daughter Mallory. Mallory disappeared while playing in the front yard of their Miami home and was never found. Rachel was frustrated at the lack of leads in the case and took matters into her own hands and
started Florida Omni Search.

I modeled Florida Omni Search after Texas Equuseach, which is the same company that assisted in the Natalie Holloway case as well as other high profile cases like Caylee Anthony. Texas Equusearch is one of the few specialized volunteer teams in the US that search for missing persons.

My first book written in the Rachel Scott series is Burn Out. Burn Out features Samantha Collins, who is a firefighter that vanishes during a warehouse fire.  Samantha leads her firefighter crew into a burning warehouse to locate the owner’s son. After he is pulled out, one of the crew members realizes that Samantha is missing. The warehouse roof collapses and she is presumed dead. Her helmet is found outside the rear parking lot but her body is never found. Samantha’s mother contacts Rachel and Florida Omni Search to help found out what happened to her missing daughter. The novel takes the reader through the investigation as Rachel starts putting the pieces of the puzzle together.

This book was fun to research and write. My husband is a firefighter and I relied heavily on his expertise when it came to questions about various firefighting techniques.

I’m currently working on the next book in the series where Rachel is called to the Bahamas to locate missing teenager, who is also the daughter Florida governor John Knowles. She disappeared while on a cruise to the Bahamas and this story is reminiscent of the Natalie Holloway case. This book, Asylum Harbor, will be out
Summer 2011.

Lt. Samantha (Sam) Collins, a firefighter, vanishes after a warehouse fire the week before she was to testify at her estranged husband’s trial for drug charges. The only clue to her disappearance is a firefighter helmet that was left behind at the scene.

Rachel Scott founded Florida Omni Search after her own daughter disappeared when she was four. She has worked with law enforcement agencies all over the United States in locating missing people. Sam’s mother calls Rachel for assistance in locating her daughter. However, the search for Sam takes her on a journey that
she never expected.

As she digs deeper into Sam’s past, she finds out more about the marijuana operation her husband Ken, a former police officer, was involved with.  In her desperate, terrifying search for Sam, Rachel also discovers clues about her own missing daughter, Mallory.

Will she locate Samantha in time and also find out what happened to her own daughter?

If you follow my blog, you know that my favorite genre is suspense and mystery, so when today’s author contacted me and asked if I would read and review her debut novel, I unfortunately had to say no because I am so far behind in my requested review TBR schedule.  However, that didn’t mean that I didn’t want to get to know about her or her book for the day when I am caught up and start reading from my personal TBR pile, which I have placed her book on.  I also wanted to share her and her book with you.  So please help me welcome Ms. Traci Hohenstein!!!

Over 2300 hundred people are reported missing every day. That thought stuck in my mind after watching a show about missing persons. I started looking into other disappearance cases that have left investigators just shaking their heads. What happened to these people? Where are they now?

Readers always ask me where I get my ideas from. Well, just watch any news show and you will have thousand of ideas for stories. Following the Natalie Holloway case was the beginning of an idea of a new suspense series featuring a woman who started a search and rescue organization – specifically for locating missing persons.

My main character, Rachel Scott, founded Florida Omni Search after the disappearance of her three year old daughter Mallory. Mallory disappeared while playing in the front yard of their Miami home and was never found. Rachel was frustrated at the lack of leads in the case and took matters into her own hands and
started Florida Omni Search.

I modeled Florida Omni Search after Texas Equuseach, which is the same company that assisted in the Natalie Holloway case as well as other high profile cases like Caylee Anthony. Texas Equusearch is one of the few specialized volunteer teams in the US that search for missing persons.

My first book written in the Rachel Scott series is Burn Out. Burn Out features Samantha Collins, who is a firefighter that vanishes during a warehouse fire.  Samantha leads her firefighter crew into a burning warehouse to locate the owner’s son. After he is pulled out, one of the crew members realizes that Samantha is missing. The warehouse roof collapses and she is presumed dead. Her helmet is found outside the rear parking lot but her body is never found. Samantha’s mother contacts Rachel and Florida Omni Search to help found out what happened to her missing daughter. The novel takes the reader through the investigation as Rachel starts putting the pieces of the puzzle together.

This book was fun to research and write. My husband is a firefighter and I relied heavily on his expertise when it came to questions about various firefighting techniques.

I’m currently working on the next book in the series where Rachel is called to the Bahamas to locate missing teenager, who is also the daughter Florida governor John Knowles. She disappeared while on a cruise to the Bahamas and this story is reminiscent of the Natalie Holloway case. This book, Asylum Harbor, will be out
Summer 2011.

Lt. Samantha (Sam) Collins, a firefighter, vanishes after a warehouse fire the week before she was to testify at her estranged husband’s trial for drug charges. The only clue to her disappearance is a firefighter helmet that was left behind at the scene.

Rachel Scott founded Florida Omni Search after her own daughter disappeared when she was four. She has worked with law enforcement agencies all over the United States in locating missing people. Sam’s mother calls Rachel for assistance in locating her daughter. However, the search for Sam takes her on a journey that
she never expected.

As she digs deeper into Sam’s past, she finds out more about the marijuana operation her husband Ken, a former police officer, was involved with.  In her desperate, terrifying search for Sam, Rachel also discovers clues about her own missing daughter, Mallory.

Will she locate Samantha in time and also find out what happened to her own daughter?

Rebecca from The Cadence Group, has once again, given me the opportunity and honor to introduce you all to an author of an inspirational and medical memoir.  Being a former nurse and a patient of varied specialty medical practices, I am very interested in reading this book and getting a honest peek behind the scenes of a doctor’s journey into the medical field.  So please help me welcome, Dr. Richard Sheff !!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Richard Sheff, MD is a family physician with over 30 years’ experience in medicine, including serving in hospital leadership and consulting with hospitals and physician organizations throughout the country on their most difficult challenges. Recognized as a “doctor’s doctor,” respected medical author, and nationally acclaimed speaker, Dr. Sheff has dedicated his life to healing patients and healing healthcare.

GUEST POST

Title: The Long Journey

May 1, 2011

From a young age, I had always been complimented on my writing. Those compliments, however, had been for expository pieces (essays, term papers, etc.), not narratives. I was told my writing had clarity, marshaled complex ideas into well crafted arguments, and was easy to follow. That’s why I was surprised to find it so hard to write the book that eventually became Doctor Confidential: Secrets Behind the Veil. By the time I completed my training in medical school and residency as a family physician, I had a fire in my belly to change the world. My weapon would be a book about that training, a piercing expose of all that was wrong with how we train physicians and take care of patients, as well as a celebration of the very best of medicine. But my first attempt to write the book I saw so clearly in my mind was sophomoric. It lacked a compelling writer’s voice. I set the project aside, thinking I would come back to it in six months and try again. The year was 1984.

After several more false starts, the book finally began to come together. I found my writer’s voice, and the words started to flow. The year was 2003. Much had happened in the intervening years. I had changed. The stories I had wanted to tell with such fierce polemical intent could now be told with a wisdom I had not known possible. I forced myself to write in a manner that fulfilled the dictum “show, don’t tell.” And I developed a much deeper appreciation for the writer’s craft. It took three years before a first draft of the book was done, and another five years for that draft to develop into the book that’s just become available May 1, 2011. Finally, finally, it is the book I had always wanted to write. It has been worth the wait.

ABOUT THE BOOK

In the hushed stillness of a late night hospital room, confronted with a dead patient and an ethical dilemma, Dr. Sheff wonders, “What’s love got to do with medicine?” The answer he finds for himself in that darkest of hours, and now shares with all of us in Doctor Confidential, is “Everything!”

From the unique perspective of a nationally respected, mature physician, Dr. Sheff reflects deeply on the formative experiences of medical school and residency, giving the reader unexpected insights into the heart and mind of doctors, the experience of patients and their families, and ultimately the connection between love, medical practice, and the healing we all seek.

The unique stories in Doctor Confidential speak directly to anyone in medical training or considering a career in medicine, but also to the patient in all of us. Pulling back the veil of secrecy that too often surrounds medicine, Doctor Confidential provides compassion, humor, and ultimately hope that, when sick and most vulnerable, each of us can be heard, understood, and deeply touched by our physician.

THANKS TO REBECCA AND THE SUPER

PEOPLE FROM THE CADENCE GROUP,

I HAVE ONE (1) BOOK TO GIVE AWAY.

CLICK HERE TO BRING YOU TO

THE GIVEAWAY ENTRY PAGE

DISCLAIMER

I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me,
in exchange for my honest review.
No items that I receive
are ever sold…they are kept by me,
or given to family and/or friends.

Rebecca from The Cadence Group, has once again, given me the opportunity and honor to introduce you all to an author of an inspirational and medical memoir.  Being a former nurse and a patient of varied specialty medical practices, I am very interested in reading this book and getting a honest peek behind the scenes of a doctor’s journey into the medical field.  So please help me welcome, Dr. Richard Sheff !!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Richard Sheff, MD is a family physician with over 30 years’ experience in medicine, including serving in hospital leadership and consulting with hospitals and physician organizations throughout the country on their most difficult challenges. Recognized as a “doctor’s doctor,” respected medical author, and nationally acclaimed speaker, Dr. Sheff has dedicated his life to healing patients and healing healthcare.

GUEST POST

Title: The Long Journey

May 1, 2011

From a young age, I had always been complimented on my writing. Those compliments, however, had been for expository pieces (essays, term papers, etc.), not narratives. I was told my writing had clarity, marshaled complex ideas into well crafted arguments, and was easy to follow. That’s why I was surprised to find it so hard to write the book that eventually became Doctor Confidential: Secrets Behind the Veil. By the time I completed my training in medical school and residency as a family physician, I had a fire in my belly to change the world. My weapon would be a book about that training, a piercing expose of all that was wrong with how we train physicians and take care of patients, as well as a celebration of the very best of medicine. But my first attempt to write the book I saw so clearly in my mind was sophomoric. It lacked a compelling writer’s voice. I set the project aside, thinking I would come back to it in six months and try again. The year was 1984.

After several more false starts, the book finally began to come together. I found my writer’s voice, and the words started to flow. The year was 2003. Much had happened in the intervening years. I had changed. The stories I had wanted to tell with such fierce polemical intent could now be told with a wisdom I had not known possible. I forced myself to write in a manner that fulfilled the dictum “show, don’t tell.” And I developed a much deeper appreciation for the writer’s craft. It took three years before a first draft of the book was done, and another five years for that draft to develop into the book that’s just become available May 1, 2011. Finally, finally, it is the book I had always wanted to write. It has been worth the wait.

ABOUT THE BOOK

In the hushed stillness of a late night hospital room, confronted with a dead patient and an ethical dilemma, Dr. Sheff wonders, “What’s love got to do with medicine?” The answer he finds for himself in that darkest of hours, and now shares with all of us in Doctor Confidential, is “Everything!”

From the unique perspective of a nationally respected, mature physician, Dr. Sheff reflects deeply on the formative experiences of medical school and residency, giving the reader unexpected insights into the heart and mind of doctors, the experience of patients and their families, and ultimately the connection between love, medical practice, and the healing we all seek.

The unique stories in Doctor Confidential speak directly to anyone in medical training or considering a career in medicine, but also to the patient in all of us. Pulling back the veil of secrecy that too often surrounds medicine, Doctor Confidential provides compassion, humor, and ultimately hope that, when sick and most vulnerable, each of us can be heard, understood, and deeply touched by our physician.

THANKS TO REBECCA AND THE SUPER

PEOPLE FROM THE CADENCE GROUP,

I HAVE ONE (1) BOOK TO GIVE AWAY.

CLICK HERE TO BRING YOU TO

THE GIVEAWAY ENTRY PAGE

DISCLAIMER

I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me,
in exchange for my honest review.
No items that I receive
are ever sold…they are kept by me,
or given to family and/or friends.

Lately I have had many requests from authors to stop by, visit and discuss their latest book with us.  And the reason must be that they have heard that here, at CMash, the visitors are fantastic and fabulous, but then I am a bit biased.  Today I have the honor and pleasure to introduce you to Mr. Tony McFadden!

This biography was provided by the author or their representative.
You can visit Mr. McFadden at his website:  http://www.tonymcfadden.net/

I had planned on recycling one of my older blog posts as a guest post, but it occurred to me that this is the perfect opportunity to review what has happened over the past eighteen month to get me to this partiularly exciting place in my writing life.

A year and a half ago, November 5, 2009, I read a tweet written by Richard Castle.  Obviously not the real Richard Castle, because there ain’t no such person.  It made a reference to some of his writing tips and how he hoped they would help all of those writers taking part in NaNoWrimo.

Understand that before this the best I could call myself was a wannabe writer.  I’d been working on a novel for over ten years and was perennially promising myself that this was the year that I’d buckle down and make a real stab at this writing thing, and see if I could make a career out of it.

Hollow, shameful promises, like those promising I make to myself on a weekly basis to stay away from KFC forever.

I did a quick search on the intertubes and discovered NaNoWriMo.  I was entranced.  50,000 words written in a month.  Unheard of.  I took a fairly quick look at my calendar and realised that the only way I would ever pull that off would be if I woke every morning at 4 and wrote for two hours, and completely abandoned all pretence of keeping the yard presentable until December.  To hell with the lawn.  If the neighbours didn’t like it, they could mow it themselves.

I sat down on November 6th and wrote the first line

‘Impressive damage.  The front is almost as bad as the back.’  Samantha Reeves, Miami’s   Chief Coroner, fitted a pair of latex gloves and gently lifted the head of the facedown victim.

I had no idea where I was going, no clue who killed the poor victim and not the foggiest how I -­‐or more

accurately, Detective Dan MacCready-­‐was going to solve the murder.

It was exhilarating.

And it resulted in an absolute pile of horse crap.

I made it to the end, put it down for a couple of months, because ‘that’s what you’re supposed to do’, promising myself to pick it up in February to start the edit process.

In that two months I did some research on writing, and story structure, character development, voice and few other things and vowed never to start writing before I knew what the end was, what the structure needed to be and, generally, what path I was going to take to get there.

‘Scary Barry’ (as I called that first NaNoWriMo effort) stayed in that bottom drawer.  I set a goal of writing self-­‐sufficiency in five years (one year and a bit down) and started putting what I learned to work.

Since then I’ve rebuilt/rewritten two works in progress and wrote a third (‘G’Day L.A.’ a give away on this site) and have finally taken that old Scary Barry out of the bottom drawer.  I’m re-­‐writing it completely.
The overall story/plot stays the same, none of the characters have changed, but I’m re-­‐building it from the ground up.

I’m wandering a bit here.

What I’m trying to say is that you can either take ten years to write a novel (Matt’s War-­‐that one I’d been plodding through) or less than a year (for G’Day L.A.).   In fact, the first draft of G’Day was written during NaNo2010.  All 92,000 words of it.  In less than a month.

The difference?  A good six weeks spent planning and detailing what the end game is.  Planning your story. Nutting out your plot.  defining in advance what your character arc is. from the middle of September 2010 to the end of October I planned.  And plotted, and schemed, and figured out exactly what my story should be. I wrote it in November.  Took December off and spent the last few months cleaning up the spelling, grammar, voice and voila.  Here we are.

Sure, it’s a bit of hard upfront work, but do you know what?  Once that’s done, there are virtually no more instances of writer’s block. You know the endgame and the general path and the words flow like wine.

Happy writing.
Tony

ABOUT THE BOOK

Ellie Bourke, alumni of “Home and Away”, one of Australia’s longest running TV shows and a leading character in Bart Sweeney’s cult-classic horror “Beast of Bondi” moved to Los Angeles to further her acting career almost a year ago.

Bart loved working with her in “Beast”, and encouraged her to make the move. He believed her to be talented enough to make it on the big stage.

A year later and she’s still finding that success elusive. She’s thinking of packing it in and heading back to Sydney when Joel, her roommate and best friend, is found dead in his tub, a case of suspected suicide.

That pushes her over the edge. She books flights and packs her bags and is ready for the airport when she learns that Joel didn’t kill himself – he was killed.

Can Ellie convince the police that Joel’s death wasn’t suicide? Or accidental?

Can she stay alive herself, now that the killer knows what Ellie knows?

And can she find a career in a city that cares more for what’s on the outside than on the inside?

THANKS TO THE GENEROSITY OF

THE AUTHOR, TONY MCFADDEN,

I HAVE FIVE (5) EBOOK EDITIONS TO GIVE AWAY.

CLICK HERE TO BRING YOU TO

THE GIVEAWAY ENTRY PAGE

DISCLAIMER

Giveaway copies are supplied and shipped to winners

via publisher, agent and/or author. This blog hosts

the giveaway on behalf of the above.



Lately I have had many requests from authors to stop by, visit and discuss their latest book with us.  And the reason must be that they have heard that here, at CMash, the visitors are fantastic and fabulous, but then I am a bit biased.  Today I have the honor and pleasure to introduce you to Mr. Tony McFadden!

This biography was provided by the author or their representative.
You can visit Mr. McFadden at his website:  http://www.tonymcfadden.net/

I had planned on recycling one of my older blog posts as a guest post, but it occurred to me that this is the perfect opportunity to review what has happened over the past eighteen month to get me to this partiularly exciting place in my writing life.

A year and a half ago, November 5, 2009, I read a tweet written by Richard Castle.  Obviously not the real Richard Castle, because there ain’t no such person.  It made a reference to some of his writing tips and how he hoped they would help all of those writers taking part in NaNoWrimo.

Understand that before this the best I could call myself was a wannabe writer.  I’d been working on a novel for over ten years and was perennially promising myself that this was the year that I’d buckle down and make a real stab at this writing thing, and see if I could make a career out of it.

Hollow, shameful promises, like those promising I make to myself on a weekly basis to stay away from KFC forever.

I did a quick search on the intertubes and discovered NaNoWriMo.  I was entranced.  50,000 words written in a month.  Unheard of.  I took a fairly quick look at my calendar and realised that the only way I would ever pull that off would be if I woke every morning at 4 and wrote for two hours, and completely abandoned all pretence of keeping the yard presentable until December.  To hell with the lawn.  If the neighbours didn’t like it, they could mow it themselves.

I sat down on November 6th and wrote the first line

‘Impressive damage.  The front is almost as bad as the back.’  Samantha Reeves, Miami’s   Chief Coroner, fitted a pair of latex gloves and gently lifted the head of the facedown victim.

I had no idea where I was going, no clue who killed the poor victim and not the foggiest how I -­‐or more

accurately, Detective Dan MacCready-­‐was going to solve the murder.

It was exhilarating.

And it resulted in an absolute pile of horse crap.

I made it to the end, put it down for a couple of months, because ‘that’s what you’re supposed to do’, promising myself to pick it up in February to start the edit process.

In that two months I did some research on writing, and story structure, character development, voice and few other things and vowed never to start writing before I knew what the end was, what the structure needed to be and, generally, what path I was going to take to get there.

‘Scary Barry’ (as I called that first NaNoWriMo effort) stayed in that bottom drawer.  I set a goal of writing self-­‐sufficiency in five years (one year and a bit down) and started putting what I learned to work.

Since then I’ve rebuilt/rewritten two works in progress and wrote a third (‘G’Day L.A.’ a give away on this site) and have finally taken that old Scary Barry out of the bottom drawer.  I’m re-­‐writing it completely.
The overall story/plot stays the same, none of the characters have changed, but I’m re-­‐building it from the ground up.

I’m wandering a bit here.

What I’m trying to say is that you can either take ten years to write a novel (Matt’s War-­‐that one I’d been plodding through) or less than a year (for G’Day L.A.).   In fact, the first draft of G’Day was written during NaNo2010.  All 92,000 words of it.  In less than a month.

The difference?  A good six weeks spent planning and detailing what the end game is.  Planning your story. Nutting out your plot.  defining in advance what your character arc is. from the middle of September 2010 to the end of October I planned.  And plotted, and schemed, and figured out exactly what my story should be. I wrote it in November.  Took December off and spent the last few months cleaning up the spelling, grammar, voice and voila.  Here we are.

Sure, it’s a bit of hard upfront work, but do you know what?  Once that’s done, there are virtually no more instances of writer’s block. You know the endgame and the general path and the words flow like wine.

Happy writing.
Tony

ABOUT THE BOOK

Ellie Bourke, alumni of “Home and Away”, one of Australia’s longest running TV shows and a leading character in Bart Sweeney’s cult-classic horror “Beast of Bondi” moved to Los Angeles to further her acting career almost a year ago.

Bart loved working with her in “Beast”, and encouraged her to make the move. He believed her to be talented enough to make it on the big stage.

A year later and she’s still finding that success elusive. She’s thinking of packing it in and heading back to Sydney when Joel, her roommate and best friend, is found dead in his tub, a case of suspected suicide.

That pushes her over the edge. She books flights and packs her bags and is ready for the airport when she learns that Joel didn’t kill himself – he was killed.

Can Ellie convince the police that Joel’s death wasn’t suicide? Or accidental?

Can she stay alive herself, now that the killer knows what Ellie knows?

And can she find a career in a city that cares more for what’s on the outside than on the inside?

THANKS TO THE GENEROSITY OF

THE AUTHOR, TONY MCFADDEN,

I HAVE FIVE (5) EBOOK EDITIONS TO GIVE AWAY.

CLICK HERE TO BRING YOU TO

THE GIVEAWAY ENTRY PAGE

DISCLAIMER

Giveaway copies are supplied and shipped to winners

via publisher, agent and/or author. This blog hosts

the giveaway on behalf of the above.



Visiting us today is a very distinguished, busy, talented and debut author who has recently received the Nautilus Silver Book Award for The Collectibles.  Please help me welcome The Honorable James Kaufman.

The Collectibles, his debut novel, draws heavily from his experiences in law, his dealings in the business world, and his interactions with people from widely different backgrounds. Kaufman lives in Wilmington, North Carolina with his wife, Patty. He is currently working on writing his second novel.

In addition to his writing, Kaufman is CEO of The Kaufman Group, Ltd, a company that assists financially troubled businesses across the United States through strategic turnarounds. Mr. Kaufman is also a member of the Board of Imaging The World (ITW), a not-for-profit health care company delivering ultrasound services to Uganda and other underserved populations, and in the process saving many lives.
You can visit his website at: http://www.jamesjkaufman.com/

Readers often tell me how much they appreciate the characters in my book. Many have said they have thought about the characters long after they finished the book. Some men have told me they would like to be more like Joe. Others have asked why did Joe befriend the people he did? Why did he pick those people as “Collectibles”? In one way or another, people who have read my book were moved by the characters.

The story starts with two central characters, Joe and Preston. We meet them as 15-year old boys from different worlds who make life defining promises. These pledges become the common thread intertwining their lives. Joe promised himself as an orphaned teenager, that he would be uncommon. Now in his 40’s, highly regarded for his professional achievements, Joe has reached a pinnacle. Then tragedy strikes.

A child of wealth and privilege from New York’s Upper East Side, Preston’s financial empire is falling apart. He finds himself in middle age, unable to keep his teenage vow to avoid the failures of his father. When Preston seeks an attorney who can save him, he finds Joe, who accepts the challenge but only after extracting a promise that Preston will fulfill an unspecified condition when called upon in the future.

Joe calls in his unconventional IOU. The self-absorbed Preston balks when Joe tells him he must meet, earn the trust of and care for several people, each of whom has a serious personal challenge and none of whom Preston would ever want to know. These “Collectibles” include Johnny, a mentally-challenged dishwasher, Tommy, a gambler, Missy, a battered wife Vegas showgirl, Corey, an elderly yacht maker suffering from Alzheimer’s, and Harry, a bi-polar photographer.

Can Preston meet the challenge? Who are the people that will influence Preston and will his relationship with them become the bridge leading to his self discovery and change? The “Collectibles” and other characters in the novel all play a part in Preston’s journey. In creating these characters, I drew upon my own experiences with a wide variety of people and a broad range of business and legal experience. I have come to know these characters well, in the court room, in the world of business, and throughout life.

A child of wealth and privilege from New York’s Upper East Side, Preston Wilson harbors a fear of financial failure. When that fear threatens to become reality, Preston tracks down the one attorney who might be able to save him. Joe reluctantly decides to help—but only after extracting a promise that Preston will fulfill an unspecified condition when called upon. Preston, desperate, agrees.

Too soon, Joe calls in his unconventional IOU. The self-absorbed Preston balks when Joe tells him he must meet, earn the trust of and care for several people. Each of Joe’s “collectibles” –none of whom Preston would ever want to know—has a serious personal challenge. Can Preston find the integrity to make good on his promise to Joe? Does he have a choice?