Blog Archives
Lived and Breathed the Game
The Mosquito Fleet takes readers through the golden years of the Carlton Football Club. Why was this an important book for you to write?
Football in the late seventies and early eighties was incredibly tribal. The game was yet to go national, so there were terrific suburban rivalries. In Melbourne, Victoria people lived and breathed the game, it was a religion. Matches were exclusively played on Saturday afternoons. The players were semi-professional, they all worked a normal 9-5 job and were able to relate and connect with the general public. I wanted to reconstruct those magical times again.
What was one of the fondest memories of that time?
Carlton had a team lacking height, just four players over 190cm. The Mosquito Fleet had the most gifted and talented group of small players in the competition that captured the football publics imagination with their breathtaking play. On Sunday nights the ABC had a weekly show The Winners that was must-see TV around Australia. It had the weekly results of matches; The goal of the day, Mark of the day, and Play of the Day, and Carlton seemed to feature nearly every week.
What were some of the ideas that were important to explore in this book?
Issues such as addiction to painkillers, depression and mental health were all important to uncover and explore. In the early eighties no one had the knowledge of stress and depression and ‘having a jab’ in an ankle or knee was commonplace. Mental health is a much stronger focus with professional sporting bodies today, but back then they just didn’t have the resources.
Concussion is another one. Several sportspeople have suffered post career with the affects of injuries to the brain.
When and where will you book be available?
The Mosquito Fleet is expected to be released in October this year and should be available in most bookstores and through Shawline Publishing. www.shawlinepublishing.com.au.
Author Link: Facebook
The Mosquito Fleet Book Review
The Mosquito Fleet
The Mosquito Fleet, by Lachlan Waterman, leads us through Carlton Football Club golden years, from Alex Jesaulenko “Jezza”’s strenuous training to the rivalry with Collingwood to their victories and defeats. We are introduced to every member of the team, from the players to the coaches to the rivals and brought into the world of Australian football. Many obstacles are on the way to the win and many advantages are waiting for the team as they train, fight, party and play unforgettable games. All events are precisely recorded with their own date and often characters’ quotes mark the narration pace.
Waterman writes in a surprisingly engaging way and makes the reader part of Carlton’s team. He focuses on small details concerning the characters’ lives making the story heart-warming and intriguing, so as we can feel what both the players and their rivals felt at a given moment.
As a reader keen on details, I appreciated the vivid descriptions accompanied by shreds of interviews and the much-detailed games. Reading those parts felt like watching the game first-hand and adds a sense of reality to the book. In addition to that, focusing on the players life after their career plays an important role in this book as it shows what not being in the spotlight anymore might feel like and what it might lead to.
While I thought the book was an engrossing read, I think the pace of the book was a bit slow at times, long descriptions slow down the book’s rhythm, but the pace quickly picks up again afterwards.
Another interesting aspect of the book is the fact that it takes us through the golden era of the team, but also gives us details on what concerns the players’ lives at the end of their career and during the contemporary pandemic. In the afterword by the author, we go “behind the scenes” of the book and are given interviews and words exchanged between the author and the protagonists.
The Mosquito Fleet by Lachlan Waterman, with its rich and detailed descriptions and extracts from interviews, is an exceptional book that lets the reader explore Australian Football at its finest. I would recommend this riveting book to sport lovers, football lovers and non-fiction readers in general.
Pages: 195
A Surreal Childhood
Surviving Chaos details your difficult childhood, the obstacles you faced, and how you came to terms with it all. Why was this an important book for you to write?
It was a surreal childhood that was full of failures, disappointments, and humiliations. I felt a need to share the stories as a way to gain victory over the demons that tormented me for such a long time. By telling my journey I hope to help others to relate, understand, and prevail against any obstacle or dysfunction.
I appreciated the candid nature with which you shared your story. What was the hardest thing for you to write about?
Losing my mom! I wanted give her more than I did so I had to swallow my sense of failure as I wrote above her.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
Schizophrenia, Parental neglect, and being a constant Outcast.
What do you hope is one thing readers take away from your book?
If you know of anyone with a mental condition do try to get them help.
Don’t overlook the effects it may have had on those around the person with the mental challenges especially the offspring’s. Next, even while I was mentally bound I found time to laugh. You can always find a way to turn lemons into lemonade if you just keep stirring.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
Surviving Chaos: How I Found Peace At A Beach Bar
Surviving Chaos: How I Found Peace at a Beach Bar by Harold Phifer is a profoundly personal autobiography that details the life of the author’s challenges from childhood to defining experiences and goals achieved throughout his life. The author is clear from the start: his upbringing was hard, and there was no easy escape or remedy until adulthood. He struggled with bullies, the impact of a parent’s mental health, and the emotional and physical scars of childhood abuse. The author focuses on his journey from disadvantaged youth to exploring all opportunities available from travel and working overseas in Afghanistan to discover new adventures in Thailand.
The recurring theme throughout the book is overcoming obstacles. From a young age, the cruel effects of abusive parenting, poverty, and lack of structure framed a life of determination for the author. He writes in short, animated chapters that highlight pivotal moments and experiences in life. His style is direct and easy to follow, with sharp, vibrant chapters that form part of a powerful, exciting story that displays courage and ambition.
Readers will enjoy the author’s informal approach and ability to smoothly switch from tales of the past with relevant events later in life. Each poignant recollection offers another part of his childhood and how it irreversibly shaped his future strategy for a better, more exciting life. The book is a definite page-turner and keeps the reader wanting more from the author. It’s a lively, energetic tale that reads like a conversation as if you’re hearing the story first-hand from a friend or acquaintance.
The book is heavy at times, frequently marked with tragic, complex events that illustrate the struggles of growing up in a difficult life. It’s an engaging read, though at times the stories feels anecdotal. This narration trend tends to drift from the story’s overall direction.
Surviving Chaos is a riveting and emotionally-charged book. As a reader who enjoys an exciting autobiography detailing a vivid personality, I found this book easy to get into. Surviving Chaos by Harold Phifer is a touching read written with honest intentions and a sense of adventure.
Pages: 250 | ASIN: B08WHNZJGG
Nine Lives Endless Dreams
![Nine Lives Endless Dreams by [Marlene Zaedyan]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41x1IyVr3vL.jpg)
Nine Lives: Endless Dreams, by Marlene Zaedyan, is the story of Zaedyan’s life and the three generations of perseverance and determination preceding it. She shares the heartbreaking story of her journey around the world as she sought freedom and solace from her war-torn homeland of Lebanon. While Zaedyan faces war in many forms, whether it be religious conflicts in her home country, struggles with her family members’ health, or the impending pandemic, she fights without losing hope and shares her harrowing tale.
With stunning, descriptive passages relating the history of her time in Lebanon and Palestine, Zaedyan shows us the horrors of war without losing joy. Her storytelling is cinematic; as readers are able to see the vivid picture she paints of her families’ lives and her experiences. The narrative avoids becoming too philosophical or dreamy with blunt reflections and genuine admissions of fear, numbness, and perseverance.
I found the story to have a great pace as we explored the lives of Marlene, her mother, and her grandmother. These generations of women each have different approaches to how they show care, and I appreciated the author’s honesty as she discussed the hardships she faced. She is understanding of the adults in her life and the decisions they had to make without creating excuses for them. She doesn’t place blame on one person or “side” in the war stories she tells; rather, she unpacks how suffering can affect an individual, and expresses compassion to those around her.
There were moments when I wished that we as readers heard more of Zaedyan’s personal reflections on the horrors happening in her daily life, rather than recounts of historical events. But as the book went on, the author shared more and more of her emotional responses to the dark situations around her, and I felt that we got to know her and her feelings better by the end of the book.
This is a book that shares a message of resilience, hope, joy, faith, and ambition. As a reader, it left me feeling inspired that a person can see so much suffering and terror and manage to still radiate love around their family and friends. It reminded me that it’s easy to fall prey to hopelessness or fear, and much harder to remain strong and hopeful. I think anyone who reads this book will come away from it with a deeper appreciation for life and its small joys.
Pages: 300 | ASIN: B08WKFDMKX
Perfect: A Path to Love, Forgiveness and Transformation
![Perfect: A Path to Love, Forgiveness and Transformation by [Judi Miller]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/517IFmlnhWL.jpg)
Perfect: A Path to Love, Forgiveness and Transformation by Judi Miller is a combination of memoir and a spiritual and motivational self-help book. The main focus is learning how to actually feel your emotions in your body rather than creating negative stories in your head about the events that caused the emotion. The author tells of her personal journey to overcome fear and find her purpose and the path that led her to become the person she was meant to be. The book is divided in to three parts and at the end of each section, Judi provides exercises to put the principles she describes into practice to benefit the reader. Additional resources at the back of the book include a list of her mentors and their websites.
I liked reading about the different people that helped Judi on her journey, especially her healer, Diana, and Spencer the dog. A few of the names that were mentioned were ones that many readers will recognize, since they are well known persons. But most of the names were new to me. I was inspired by the way that Judi kept working to process her feelings despite obstacles and setbacks. One example is how she had to accept that she might never learn all the answers about the secrets she discovered in her family’s past. I liked how she acknowledged that she still struggles at times, but she does not allow that to make her give up.
Judi hid so much from her family and friends and she never mentioned sharing any these things with them in the end, which I would have liked to see. She felt so close with her healer that she could talk about all this to Diana even though it was sometimes delayed. It was mentioned multiple times that Judi did not feel as though she could share the things she was going through with her family because of the fear that she would not be believed or they would not understand.
Perfect: A Path to Love, Forgiveness and Transformation is an uplifting memoir detailing an inspirational personal testimony that affected me greatly. Judi Miller’s impassioned book will take readers on a compelling and contemplative journey that will stay with them long after they are done reading.
Pages: 207 | ASIN: B08CWTLH78
Literary Titan Book Awards May 2021
The Literary Titan Book Awards are awarded to books that have astounded and amazed us with unique writing styles, vivid worlds, complex characters, and original ideas. These books deserve extraordinary praise and we are proud to acknowledge the hard work, dedication, and imagination of these talented authors.
Gold Award Winners
Silver Award Winners
Quick Quirks, A Quick Book by Benjamin Anderson
Visit the Literary Titan Book Awards page to see award information.
War of Strong Wills
The Unexpected Journey: Fire and Gold details the obstacles you faced trying to protect and provide for your daughter. Why was this an important book for you to write?
It was important for me to share our story because I encountered several parents over the past few years who’s children were victims of sexual assault and rampant bullying. Some of those parents did all that they could to protect their children only to lose them to suicide. Other parents followed a path similar to myself in going through all of the proper channels of authority only for the systems to fail them. Some of those children committed suicide too while others became addicted to drugs and alcohol in an effort to numb their pain. Another subset of parents simply didn’t know what to do and they desperately cried out for help. I helped as many of them as I could on a one to one basis but I found that it wasn’t effective enough. I truly needed to elevate my voice and expose Haelee and myself to help the most people.
Moving along, Haelee published a book entitled The Rules of a Big Boss: A book of self-love on June 25, 2020. That book is a self-help manual for young and adult women to maximize higher levels of self esteem. She was very transparent in it in recounting her issues with low self-esteem, sexual assault, etc and how she overcame it all. People that read it clamored for me to share the rest of the story from my perspective. I was reluctant to do so initially because I wanted to save everything for a future autobiography that she and I would write. COVID and being unemployed allowed a lot of free time hence I decided to share a portion of that future autobiography in the form of a memoir with hopes to help others in their journey particularly those that are struggling with anxiety and depression. I will be submitting that book for a Literary Titan Review within the coming weeks.
You wrote this book with your daughter. What was the writing collaboration process like?
The collaboration process involved a little bickering back and forth between us because I speak one way and she speaks another (Ref: Venus vs Mars). We resultantly had a few starts and stops so that cooler heads could prevail in our tug of war of strong wills. I’m happy that we went through it however because the entire writing experience actually bonded us closer than we were before.
What were some ideas that were important for you to explore in this book?
The most important idea was that Fire has three purposes. It can be used to cook, burn, or give light. Cooking is obvious so I won’t get into that. The burning process is important to note however because we all go through trials and tribulations in life. Those trials and tribulations will burn us if we lose sight of God in the experience. Fire will purify us and light our path however if we keep our eyes focused on Him. In so doing He will allow us to walk out of the fire as he did Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. We will come out as purified Gold when it’s all over. Given those sentiments we should never give up on the journey. We should fight forward knowing that our pain has a purpose. The end result of that purpose will be precious to behold.
I appreciated the candid nature with which you told your story. What was the hardest thing for you to write about?
My daughter is the one true gift that I have short of my salvation in Christ. With that being said, I felt like I was going to lose her every day to either suicide or murder. I thought that I had moved past the trauma but some of it still lingers. I literally burst into tears with each keystroke as I recounted the horrors of that portion of the story. I got stuck there and almost gave up the writing process because it was so painful. My friends Kiescha Cherry, Genesis Amaris Kemp, and my editor, Shanique MJ Davis helped me push that pain point however in reminding me that our story needed to be told so that it could help others.
Author Links: GoodReads | Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Facebook | Website
LITERARY TITAN 