Blog Archives
Peace, Love, and Spiritual Revolution
Trippy Hippy follows a young man in 1967, the Summer of Love, who moves to San Francisco and goes on a journey of self-discovery. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
The so-called “Summer of Love” was an especially vibrant period in San Francisco instigated by drugs and rock music. It brought young people from all over the country to descend upon San Francisco along with ideals of peace, love, and spiritual evolution. It was a particularly exciting period to use as a setting for my novel.
Was there anything from your own life that you put into the characters in your novel?
The character Arnie/Gator was based on my own transition from bookkeeper to full-on participant in the lifestyle of the times, but once that transition is made the events that Gator participates in are wholly from my imagination.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
The themes that I think were important are embodied by the slogan “Make Love; Not War.” The use of drugs to attain enlightenment plays a huge role in the book as well as the daily life and interactions of the characters. The idea of “free love” is introduced early in the story when Nola gives Gator a welcome to the Ashram blow job with no accompanying drama. Gator’s love and loss of Eddy brings out the pain that comes with living on the edge. Music, too, plays an important part in the lives of the characters as Gator and Wabash form a band to not only make money but to express their ideals.
What is the next book that you’re working on, and when can your fans expect it?
I’ve written the first draft of a historical novel about two boys growing up in pre-civil war West Virginia. I’m not sure when I’ll go back to it. Right now I’m working on a sort of wild boys story set in the early 1950s in Houston where I was raised. It’s called The Road to Hell, and it’s both humorous and potentially tragic as the young gang members pull off pranks that become increasingly serious in nature. I’m also considering writing a second draft of a story I wrote years ago about a drive through Mexico in an old car with a hole in the radiator called A Hundred Years of Cilantro.
Author Links: GoodReads | Amazon
Trippy Hippy peels back the facade of Adler’s Ashram to expose the daily lives of its occupants. Wabash Jones, musician and future rock star, Nola and Victor Granola, apartment managers and social magnets, Jeepster Joe, adventurer, and teen boy seducer, and Gracie Fontana, Wabash’s doll-like sweetheart. This acid-splashed tell-all by Gator lays bare the hippy lifestyle during that remarkable year known as The Summer of Love.
This or Something Better
While tracking the rural environment of Placerville, Sacramento, Glenn Ellen, and California’s rural foothills, This or Something Better by Elisa Stancil Levine presents an alternate shift from childhood reminiscence to dark, intense memories laced with perseverance and adaptability. The memoir begins in 2017, with a fire scorching acres of land in Sonoma Country, including the residential area of the author. It then shifts back and forth between adolescence and maturity, following the author’s frantic journey from self-containment to the never-ending pursuit of truth.
When the decorative artist leaves the fire land without informing any of her neighbors, the firestorm not only causes havoc with the natural animals and property but also prompts a series of introspective questions in her mind. Her story of estrangement and persistence takes readers on a journey through her eventful and incredible life. Having grown up in a reproachable neighborhood, lost her first child as a teenage mother, and having been labeled a murderer by her grandmother, the author takes readers on a roller-coaster journey through her past and present. It is at the end of the story that she discovers how to forgive herself for many of her self-proclaimed acts of accusation and discover the ultimate question that nudges her curiously from childhood- ‘what it means to be a human?’
The narrative is full of genuine viewpoints and a critical analysis of the numerous issues that plague a child’s head after experiencing sexual abuse, as well as their parents’ disapproval of their dreams and viewpoints. In addition to the spiritual inquiry, the fact that nature has a vital hold on the human psyche manifests itself in the reflections of the author, a nature girl. This or Something Better takes readers on a spiritual quest that comes with the inevitable questioning of who we are as human beings.
Beginning in 1953 in Northern California’s Sierra Nevada foothills, every memory and experience from childhood is dusted off the memory attic in the memoir, complete with nostalgia, anguish, and ambition. It’s a terrific prescription for women of the times, as it aids in the healing of wounds created by uncertain relationships, child loss, adolescent parenthood, and the relentless efforts to silence the passionate and compelling voice of an assertive and insistent woman. It’s also a motivational read, with the uplifting message at the end of each chapter: “It’s your reaction to adversity, not adversity itself that determines how your life’s story will develop.” – Dieter F. Uchtdorf
This or Something Better: A Memoir of Resilience takes readers on an introspective journey as they listen to the author’s stories. Sometimes, a biography is just the history of one person’s life; this is more, it is a book of hope, perseverance, and healing.
Pages: 253 | ASIN : B09CYPNNP2
When to Run, Born Scared
When to Run, Born Scared by Stephanie King is a book about a young Canadian girl who suffers through an abusive childhood. She struggles to find a way to survive her horrific home life and tries to escape several times. But she ends up back in the same terrible place again and again. In a bid to finally be free from her father’s control, she finds herself in a situation that is just as bad as the one she was so desperate to leave behind. Will she ever be able to put the past behind her and make a good life for herself at last?
The theme of this story was finding a way to survive somehow. Reading about the things Stephanie had to endure in her life, like childhood abuse, rape, drug and alcohol addiction, eating disorders, anxiety, depression, domestic assault, and medical issues that required multiple surgeries and a long recovery, it was amazing that she was able to survive. In addition, she had the strength to persevere after going through so many terrible things. I was surprised that she continued to put her trust in people after her own family had shown her the true evil that could be found in the hearts of people. Sometimes she had to trust other people because she had no other choice. However, Stephanie proved that she was a survivor. No matter how many times she stumbled along the way, she never gave up and kept fighting to survive. Stephanie’s story continues in Book Two, Among the Guilty, Under Attack.
The first chapter of the story jumps around, talking about Stephanie’s father’s childhood and mentioning him fighting in the war, then relaying experiences that happened during Stephanie’s own childhood, then going back to before her father left to fight in the war. This is how memories work sometimes. They don’t always follow a logical path but are connected in one way or another.
I felt that it wasn’t always clear how old Stephanie was during certain incidents that happened throughout the book, and I would have liked a clearer picture of the timeline. The inclusion of the graphic descriptions of sexual abuse of a child was hard to read through, but it also allowed me to connect with Stephanie and understand the depth of suffering she endured.
When to Run, Born Scared is a deeply personal memoir of what one woman had to do to survive the life she was dealt. Readers looking for a personal account of hope and survival will appreciate Stephanie’s story.
Pages: 245 | ASIN : B08TH74KR9
