Maya Angelou dies aged 86

Maya Angelou died yesterday at the age 86 of. Maya Angelou was the epitome of grace, strength, and dignity and showed everyone that they could overcome their circumstances and find a way to make a stand.

Although her achievements were vast, Maya Angelou was perhaps best known for her writing and  poetry. Her autobiography, "I know why the Caged birds sings" gave us a glimpse into her life and her poems such as "Still I Rise" gave us words that we can  all gain strength from.

In a press release issued by the University of Carolina, poet and UofSC Lecturer Nikky Finney said:

“Miss Maya led us with her brilliance for half a century. She didn't suffer fools lightly. She studied us human beings and the English language passionately. She never let us off the hook with our many modern excuses. She was a walking encyclopedia of who we were and who we needed to be. She could tell and sing a story in the same sweet dazzling breath. It didn't matter who or what you were when she walked in the room even the silverware got quiet. She was a queen. She was majestic. She was our great humanitarian. She taught me so many things about surviving, struggling, and the resilience of the human heart. In this moment of stunning loss it feels like a great human library has burned to the ground.”

And a statement from Wake Forest University said:

Today members of the Wake Forest University community mourn the loss of beloved poet, author, actress, civil rights activist and professor Dr. Maya Angelou.

Dr. Angelou was a national treasure whose life and teachings inspired millions around the world, including countless students, faculty, and staff at Wake Forest, where she served as Reynolds Professor of American Studies since 1982.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Dr. Angelou’s family and friends during this difficult time.

"Maya Angelou has been a towering figure at Wake Forest and in American culture," said Nathan O. Hatch, president of Wake Forest University. "She had a profound influence in
civil rights and racial reconciliation. We will miss profoundly her lyrical voice and always keen insights."

Details about a campus memorial service may be shared at a later date."

Corey Lynn Fayman discusses App edition of Border Field Blues

Corey Lynn Fayman is an award-winning San Diego musician, multimedia designer, and mystery author. He has recently released App Edition of Border Field Blues, the second novel in his Rolly Waters crime series. The series has been a success, and Corey has been offered a publishing deal by Severn House Publishers for his next book.

Here, Corey Lynn Fayman answers some frequently asked questions about his new book.

Border Field Blues – App Edition

by Corey Lynn Fayman

AISN: B00JUEUXFY

Granada Pacific Publishing, April 2014

$4.99

www.borderfieldblues.com/app-edition/

www.amazon.com

www.itunes.com

                      

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What inspired you to create an interactive edition of Border Field Blues?

I did a lot of research for this book, visiting Border Field Park and reading books (both fiction and non-fiction) that related to the Tijuana River Valley and the San Diego/Tijuana border. I’d seen some interesting interactive books developed for non-fiction titles, but they often involved what I’ll call “gadgetry” within the text, such as interactive graphics, charts, and videos. The fiction books I read were more like games, with text section as part of the game world. I felt like those kinds of things interrupt your reading, which may be okay in non-fiction since those features are often used to illuminate a key concept. But with fiction, you don’t want to interrupt the flow of the text. The author has worked hard to make it flow and capture the reader’s imagination. I wondered if I could include of those interactive technologies, while still keeping the traditional qualities that make a book a good read.

2. What’s included in this new App Edition?

First, there are my author’s notes and photos on how I came up with plot, locations and characters, as well as some background information on some of the social and political issues touched on in the book. There are also related videos from YouTube and Google Map presentations for each of the locations in the book. Additionally, the app allows users to add their own comments to each chapter, which other readers will be able to read. Readers can also email me directly from the app or share the information on Facebook. And it’s very non-intrusive. There’s just one button at the bottom of the page that provides access to all of the features.

3. What role do you see technology playing in the book/publishing realm?

I think books will remain books. They’re a proven technology, that’s lasted in basically the same form for over five hundred years. They’re still the most direct form of communication between one person’s focused thinking and another person’s focused processing of those thoughts. But I do think ebooks can expand the world of any particular book, so that readers can more easily follow up on ideas, themes, and topics touched on in the book. In a sense, the app edition of Border Field Blues is like the longest, most complete book club presentation I’ve ever given, but readers can choose how much of it they want to listen to. They don’t have to hear me talk for ten hours. And the additional material is updatable, so I can add to it as readers communicate with me. I think that’s the greatest value of this technology. Also, readers can email me immediately if a passage in the book was so wonderful they just had to let me know, or if it made them so angry they just had to let off some steam. Hmm, maybe that email function wasn’t such a good idea.

4. Can you describe what was involved in creating this App Edition?

I started this project as part of a twelve-week sabbatical I received from the Art Institute of California, San Diego a few years ago. I was teaching Web Design there full-time and working on the text for Border Field Blues in my spare hours. Apple’s iPad had come out recently, and along with it the iBooks store. I knew from my background in web design that HTML5 and web technologies were part of the epub specification, but that most apps were built in specialized programming environments, like Xcode. Part of my sabbatical assignment was to investigate new technologies, so I could make an assessment of what we should teach in future classes. As usual, each system had its pros and cons, but I ended up working with Apple’s iBooks Author program and combining it with my skills in HTML5, CSS and Javascript. This is still pretty new stuff, so you kind of invent it as you go along. I’d think of a feature and try to figure it out. I didn’t get every thing I wanted, but that’s the software business. I’m pretty happy with how it finally turned out.

5. What are readers saying about this new, interactive version?

The one thing I’ve heard the most is that readers really liked it when they found something in the app section that explained something they didn’t quite understand in the text, maybe a name or place that I referenced. They didn’t access the app for every chapter, but liked having it there when they weren’t sure about a reference or just wondered what each the locations was really like. Some people said the photos and videos from Border Field Park helped them picture the environment there better. Also, since my protagonist is a guitar player, there are a lot of musical terms and musicians mentioned in the text that your average reader might not know. For instance, Rolly Waters, my protagonist, visits a guitar store where he talks to the owner about the “Three Kings” of electric blues guitar. Most people know B.B. King, but not everybody has heard of Freddie or Albert King. So in the app section, I include some concert footage of them both. Readers will enjoy the story just as well without hearing them, but it does expand their appreciation of the characters’ world to see the videos and hear their music.

6. Do you think other authors will embrace the idea of multimedia books? And will these types of books play a big role in the future of publishing?

I think that will really depend on the author. I think it works well for authors who have a lot of research behind their book. I think it would work great for historical fiction, so authors could provide some additional background. Now authors can include all that stuff their editors made them leave out! I have to say, it’s quite a bit of work putting together the additional material. I had lots of notes, and photos, and some videos, but I couldn’t just plop it in there. It’s still got to be in some kind of form the reader will be able to access easily and appreciate. It’s probably not for everybody. Writing a book is a big enough job all by itself!

As far as the future of publishing, I’m sure there will be more titles like this, but it’s still kind of an experiment for publishers now. It’s not their area of expertise, but most publishers know they need to be looking into this. When an interactive edition of a book outsells the standard edition, that’s when they’ll really take off.

Review: Steering the Mothership Lisa Cherry

Steering the Mothership by Lisa Cherry sets out to examine the often complex relationships that we have with our mothers. Relationships are complex by their nature, and the relationship between mother and daughter is perhaps the most complicated of them all, and this book makes that very clear.

Many books paint motherhood as a beautiful thing, and of course it is, however, the author of “Steering the Mothership” isn’t scared to point out that the relationship with our mothers are often imperfect, rather than create a false impression of reality.

There was one thing in particular that struck me about this book. It is not like some of the books on motherhood that often end up making women feel inferior if they aren’t the “perfect” mother of they didn’t have a good relationship with their mother. Instead, through the authors own story and case studies, Lisa Cherry isn’t scared to highlight just what a challenge being a mother can be and the author makes plain her own struggles with motherhood.

The author goes into great detail about her own upbringing and the relationship with her own mother. I was pleased that the author was so willing to share so much detail about the relationship with her mother, and I feel this would be helpful for anyone that struggles to come to terms with their own relationships. I found it inspiring how the author was eventually able to come to terms with her own relationship with her mother, and this is an important part of a book for anyone that has ever felt at odds with their family.

For me, this book is not just about motherhood, it is also about relationships and I would suggest this as a suitable book for anyone that wants to come to terms with past relationships and move forward with their lives rather than dwelling on relationships of the past.

I would recommend this book for anyone that is struggling to come to terms with their own relationships, It is not just about motherhood; it is a book about healing and surviving, no matter what life throws at you.

New Memoir Sheds Light on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

New Memoir Sheds Light on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (via PRWeb)

Author Jacqueline Buckley shares experience with, strategies for healing stress disorder symptoms. A chronology of the events leading up to – and following – the 1998 Swissair Flight 111 tragedy in Nova Scotia. Strathmore, Alberta (PRWEB) May 12…

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