Saturday at the Library

Dear Gentle Readers,

I will have a few of each book available for sale at the Author Meet and Greet on Saturday, but I will also have postcard-sized bookmarks to sign for those of you who have previously purchased the kindle versions.

I will have a sign-up sheet to win paperbacks and kindle books set up in the Library, as well as
a few surprises, so if you are in the area, come on down.  I would love to see you.

Hugs,
Carol

Interview with Author Ogla Toprover

Olga Toprover

Long Beach, CA

Good morning, Olga, and welcome to Vision and Verse, the place for art and authors. It is my pleasure to have you here today. I am a big fan. Can you tell our readers what you've written?

·      “Seventeen Shades of Love”, a collection of short stories.

The stories range many genres from comedy to drama. They are nostalgic and dreamy but by no means they are fantasy or fairy tales. These stories center around ordinary people who are swept away by love and passion. It is all truth. Adventurous and glamorous things might happen to everyone. They happen to all of us although sometimes we just don't realize. 

·      “The President is No More”, a science fiction novella.

In a future where progress is accelerating beyond humanity’s ability to keep pace, the Humanists are trying to live in harmony with nature and avoid the advancing technology. One night, a fire destroys Kingstown – the Humanist settlement on the West Coast. As details of the tragedy emerge, outrage sweeps the Unites States, putting President Bill Freeman’s reelection prospects in doubt. 
Negotiator Mia Arc faces a challenge of a lifetime when she’s asked to defend Humanist rights in the face of growing controversy. As she investigates the tragedy, she finds more questions than answers. Who is responsible for the tragedy? Did robots have something to do with it? And is anybody really who they say they are in this cyber-enhanced, nano-technological, unnatural world? 
Mia doesn’t know if she can answer those questions. She is not influential. She is not powerful. She is just an ordinary woman… 

I have written a few more books in Russian: contemporary fiction/women’s fiction and science fiction. I am hoping to translate the books to English as well, it just takes time.

What is your favorite genre to write?

It is impossible to choose. I love both genres I work with. I like Women’s Fiction, because I am a woman too.

I also intend to continue writing science fiction books, because everything is possible in this genre. I hold Master degree in computer science and try to apply my background and knowledge while working on hard science fiction books. My goal is to create a world which is in fact possible, and may be, who knows, to predict the future.
 

Favorite food.

Salad, cheese.

Tea or coffee?

Black tea with strawberry flavor

Pizza or ice cream?

Depends. But in most cases it would be ice-cream.

Wine or beer?

Definitely, wine. Rose.

Where would you like to visit?

Just to come up with something more or less realistic, I have never been to Italy, want to go there some day. Based on Italian movies women are emotional there and men are passionate. I want to bring such characters into my romantic books and expand my imaginary geography. My stories are happening in different countries, but there is not Italy there yet.

I also want to visit Yellowstone National Park. I have seen pictures from there. They are so amazing, almost like views from another planet, so I believe I will come up with some ideas for a new science fiction books.

Go to Italy first, Olga. All the photos and movies and videos do not do it justice. It is fabulous. There is something in the air!

Favorite musical artist.  Do you listen to music when you write?  What?

When I write I need absolute silence, that’s why the best time of day for me is night. But of course I do listen to music in between. I love jazz. I found this kind of music relaxing, it brings me to good mood, forces me to believe in myself and in love. I need this feeling, can’t breeze without it. Just for illustration, read my short story, “A Happy Ending in the Big City”, where love and music are inseparable.

What makes you laugh?

Jokes, songs, movies, books, people – anything  at all.

Favorite work of art or sculpture.

My book, “Seventeen Shades of Love” was a team work with my friend, an artist, Larissa Makeeva.  I can say that her art is my favorite.

Here is a link to her website:
http://www.artwheel.com/

How old were you when you started writing?

When I was 10 years I was writing a science fiction novel in my yellow notebook, which I kept hidden from everyone. The main character was an alien, who was supposed to come to Earth and find a beautiful planet she never couldn’t imagine. So she wanted to stay and live here.  I never finished the book. I guess the alien girl’s planet turned out to be not so bad after all, so I felt like the girl would feel homesick anyway, despite on the beauty of Earth.

Next time I felt the urge to write in my thirties. I was working in Information Technology and felt like computers, software, hardware, and all that stuff are not enough for me to be happy. I needed a break, I needed an imaginary word where I can escape into, so I did find the world. I started with writing science fiction short stories, some of them have been published in Russian.  I still hope to translate those stories to English someday.

Describe your perfect evening.

My perfect evening is watching sunset on a beach. I love those bright, unrealistic colors, sun uses for the sky. I love those “after sunset” sentimental thoughts, I nourish them to come back home and write them down. 

Where do you get your inspiration?

I get it from everywhere: the nature, some random stories I hear from people, from subtle thoughts brought by music, from my happy and not so happy experience.

What do you do when you get a writer's block?

I stop writing and start reading and watch good movies. Then I come back to writing when I feel like I know what happens next in the story I work on.

Who is your favorite author?

In the women’s fiction genre I like a French novelist, Francoise Sagan. I love her mixture of happiness and sadness and admire her open endings.

Also I like Agatha Chrisite’s almost mathematical logic. I read most of her writing, including her autobiography and her books under the penname of Mary Westmacott.

I also admire Ursula LeGuin and her endless fantasy.  At the same time I love the classic hard science fiction by Isaac Asimov.

But if to talk of the literature which forces us to think and cry I would choose a French writer, Romain Gary.

Best book you ever read.

Two books by Romain Gary would share this prize from me:

“The Talent Scout” and “The Guilty Head”

Last book you read.

“The Lazy Project Manager: How to Be Twice As Productive and Still Leave the Office Early” by Peter Taylor.

Yes, sometimes I read this boring stuff J

What would you do for a living if you weren’t a writer?

I work as a project manager. Writing is my hobby, something that brings me joy.

Who is the one person who has influenced your personal life the most and why?

I believe many people had some influence on me, but I think it is me, who is responsible for my own personal life.

If you could sit down and have a conversation with ONE person, living or dead, real or fictional, who would it be and why?

It is a popular question, but for some reason I don’t like it. Probably, because my answer would be trivial. I would choose my mom, who passed away a few years ago. For no reason, just for a few more minutes to stay with her.

Oh, sweetie, moms are never trivial, especially if you had a good one. What advice would you give someone who aspired to be a writer?

Don’t listen to anyone who is saying  you are not talented. If you want to write do it, no matter what.

The Breathtaking Glass Sculpture by Dale Chihuly

Dear Gentle Readers,
When we were in Las Vegas in 2007, we were lucky enough to view the unusual and breathtaking glass sculpture of one very talented Dale Chihuly at the Bellagio.  Beautiful as a description just doesn't come close.  Once you have seen one of his creations, you are forever changed as to what you think is beautiful and what you believe is possible.  You can recognize one of his pieces wherever you seen it.  I believe Dale Chihuly invented the American Art category of "glass sculpture."

 My mother had a collection of depression glass, so we were aware at a young age the beauty and fragility of colored glass. But Dale Chihuly's work is jaw-dropping.  His pieces are no little footed candy dishes!

Dale Chihuly was born in Tacoma, Washington on September 20, 1941. Reports indicate Dale was not a stellar student. and after graduating Woodrow Wilson High School in 1959, he bounced around a few different colleges, but nothing ignited his fire, so he quit college and went to Florence to study art.
(Lucky for us!!!)

  

He began glassblowing in 1965 and found his true calling, becoming an internationally recognized glass sculptor.  He worked at the Murano Glass Factory near Venice.  We toured the facility, as that was something I always wanted to do. (Tour, not blow)

Dale's largest permanent collection can be viewed at the Oklahoma city Museum of Art, and visiting it is also on my bucket list.             

His work and reputation are more prominent in the West.  I was thrilled to see some of his work in Colorado the last time we were there, similar to these beautiful flower pods to the right, with vibrant opalescent two and three-toned contrasting colors.

During a visit to England in 1976, Dale was in a very serious auto accident, leaving him with no sight in his left eye and the loss of depth perception.  (That's why he wears an eye patch.)  He once said this disability caused him to move on to working on projects of a much larger scale.  

Many of Dale's prominent pieces were chandeliers.  His initial pieces, around 1992, were modest and lovely, but soon they blossomed into beautiful flowers, and breasts, and snakes, and  all kinds of wild glass creations one wouldn't expect on a chandelier, and it was fabulous.

 In the 1970s, Dale did a series of glass paintings based on Native American designs, aptly titles his Navajo Blanket series.


The documentary, Chihuly Over Venice, was a truly spectacular event, coordinating glass and color and water and timing.  



None of these photos are mine.  I claim nothing here.  Nothing is mine, except the memories.  I looked him up on Wikipedia and Facebook.  I simply wanted to share my limited knowledge of this fabulous glass artist/glass master so my readers would associate the name, Dale Chihuly with these magnificent glass creations.



Links to learn more about him:
www.chihuly.com/  
www.ocmoa.com
He is on Facebook and Wikipedia.

Nikida Bellezza's BIG BOYS - The Legacy, Sidechick Blues

Tales of the Brotherhood, June 26, 2015 By Carol Ann Kauffman Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Big Boys -The Legacy (Sidechick Blues Sequel) (Kindle Edition) This was the first urban fiction black brotherhood book I ever read and Nikida Bellezza wove a fabulous tale of brotherhood, internal politics, and danger. You soon grow to love the character Angel and fear for her life, as she becomes more independent and a force of her own to be reckoned with as she attempts to right the wrongs of the past. Murder, treachery, and jealousy are all part of the story. I enjoyed this book and recommend it to all who like stories of people in power.      Nikida Bellezza A Little About This Series: Big Boys -The Legacy by Nikida Bellezza is a fictional depiction of the rise of an elite, well respected and greatly feared black Brother known as The Big Boys.  The Big Boys and their significance was first introduced in the book Sidechick Blues -The Plot by Nikida Bellezza, when the main character, Angel Powers, met and fell in love with Marcus Jones, one of The Big Boys' current leaders.  Marcus is a married man who was baiting Angel into a trap that would lead to her demise. What Angel didn't know was that the plot against her was the same plot that lead to her being the last living Powers in her bloodline, and why. If it weren't for the interference of Deytwon Richards, the other current leader of The Big Boys, Angel may not have survived the Plot against her, or later learned that she was the missing heir to The Big Boy Dynasty. Eventually Deytwon and Angel fall in love and get married.  Big Boys -The Legacy picks up just over a year after Angel marries Deytwon. The two lovebirds, believing that the Plot against Angel is over, goes on to live in ignorant bliss, not considering that the Union of their powerful bloodlines will breed hybrid children, leaving the Jones' bloodline (Marucs' bloodline) feeling as though they'd be outranked.  The Legacy takes the readers on a journey through time from the early stages of the rise of ruthless Big Boy Brotherhood, through to its current ruthless leadership. Everything that the young current leaders have been taught, and everything that they've come to believe becomes unraveled as the truth about their legacy is revealed by a person whom the elders of the brotherhood thought they had done away with, decades ago.  This is not street fiction. This is Urban Legend with twists and turns you'll have to read to believe. Check it out and see the difference!  Follow Nikida: http://www.authornikidabellezza.com/

Local Author Meet and Greet on Saturday

Dear Gentle Readers,

I will have a few of each book available for sale at the Author Meet and Greet on Saturday, but I will also have postcard-sized bookmarks to sign for those of you who have previously purchased the kindle versions.

I will have a sign-up sheet to win paperbacks and kindle books set up in the Library, as well as
a few surprises, so if you are in the area, come on down.  I would love to see you.

Hugs,
Carol

JR Wirth's The Seers: Love and Terror on the Fourth of July

 Gave Me Goosebumps, June 28, 2015

By 

Carol Ann Kauffman

Verified Purchase(What's this?)

This review is from: The Seers: Love and Terror on the Fourth of July (Twisted Family Holiday Series Book 3) (Kindle Edition)

Every now and then, a book comes along that gives me goosebumps. JR Wirth has done that twice now, first with Good Friday, and now with the Fourth of July. Concise, riveting, with great characters, I highly recommend this book to anyone who loved the Twilight Zone.