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TEARS OF STONE

In a deeply personal and honest memoir, Angeleno Estherleon Schwartz lays bare an ultimately jubilant life shadowed by the tragedy of the Holocaust and an emotionally destructive mother.

Using a unique literary style that interlaces journaling with original poetry, Tears of Stone and my Deal with God weaves the story of Estherleon's life journey, beginning with a harrowing escape from the Nazis in 1944 and immigration to America as a poor refugee in 1948, and ending with understanding, insight, and compassion.

Throughout, Estherleon has remembered her father's plea to God as he threw her over the barbed wire fence at the border into the arms of the Swiss Guard, "Save my daughter and she will always serve you." Estherleon's nakedly honest musings on deep-seated feelings of anger and abandonment, coupled with reflections on her faith and her love for the people in her life, make Tears of Stone a moving and exceptional read.

"This personal journey has taken me through many difficult stages in my life of 67 years, and I am happy I can say I have addressed so many necessary demons. In spite of everything and when all is said and done, with a brave heart I sang my way through it all."

Cantor Estherleon Schwartz

Estherleon has pledged one dollar for every book sale to Feed the Children, a non-profit relief organization that delivers food, water, medicine and hope to children worldwide.

Tears of Stone and my Deal with God is available at http://www.estherleon.com and http://www.amazon.com .

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If you want to land a major publisher like Random House, it's virtually impossible to get a book deal on your own. You need an agent. Publishers rely on agents because they receive too many unsolicited manuscripts from the public. When an agent submits your work to a publisher, it's considered "pre-screened" and given far more serious consideration than when you submit it on your own. Agents get paid 15 percent of your book income, but they help you get a better deal from your publisher. Plus they sell foreign rights, movie rights and book excerpts to magazines and newspapers.

How do you land an agent for a non-fiction book? You write a book proposal - a document that is a cross between a business plan and a synopsis of your book. Here's what to include:

• First, create an overview, a one- to three-page mini version of your proposal.
• Next, talk about the audience for your book, showing specifically who is interested in your topic.
• Follow that with an analysis of competing books and how your's stands out from the pack.
• Next up is your bio, which shows why you're an expert on your topic, and your marketing plan.

Now it's time to explore your book idea. You have to prove your concept is worth a full-length book, as opposed to a magazine article - and show that you know how to write. Start with your proposed table of contents, then add a detailed outline with half a page or more per chapter. Finally, add about twenty pages of a chapter or two from your book.

That's your book proposal. (For a more detailed explanation and four examples of book proposals, refer to my book, Write a Book Without Lifting a Finger.)

Add a cover letter, referred to as a "query letter," and send it with your proposal to agents who specialize in books with the same topic as yours. You can download a free list of agents and their specialties at www.GetAnAgentNow.com.

Develop a strong enough book proposal and you could get paid an advance to write your book. It may seem like the odds are against you, but as literary agent and author Peter Rubie says, "If you have a polished and well-written book idea, you're in competition, not with all the others who submit, but with the five to 10 percent whose material cries out to be taken seriously by editors and agents."

- Mahesh Grossman

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STALKED

Former Bodyguard to the Stars Tino Struckmann - His New Book on Women's Personal Security

Tino Struckmann, a former bodyguard to the stars, who has recently done some starring roles of his own, authors his new book on stalking and women's personal security.

Already popular in Europe, the book serves as a guide with top of the line professional advice on how to deal with one's own safety and enhance personal security.

The book contains accounts from actual stalking victims as well as case studies from the author's own experiences. The book is a great resource for women living in an increasingly dangerous world.

Struckmann, an expert in the field of security, has been an advisory figure on TV and film projects. Most recently he has been seen on E!- Entertainment News, CNBC and CNN.

As an actor he has been a guest star on numerous television shows and has had notable roles in a myriad of feature films. He has also just produced and starred in his first feature film, Brothers War that will be released in the US on DVD this spring. (See FILM & VIDEO Section)

$13.50 (includes shipping)

Watch for his monthly column on personal security for Inside Magazine's website inmag.com.

More about this book at: www.StalkingBook.com

More about Struckmann at: www.AlmightyDog.com

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Avoiding the Next Economic Depression:

Not a Stimulus, a Revolution

- Kellen Merrill

Our economy is now unarguably in a recession; the bail out for the banks, and now a proposed second stimulus package are clear evidence of how we are in need of some extreme help. Instead of enlarging the debt, which all of this assistance has done and will continue to do, Jonathon Brown has a solution that will permanently solve our problems: the V-Tax.

Like the guy with the bomb deactivation codes in an action movie, Brown believes he has the answer and is trying to get it to the right people to save us from the impending doom.

The V-Tax starts with understanding the economy as it really is; the economy is not only the GDP, to which most will point when regarding it. The key to Brown's plan is this fact: 80% of our economy is "Wall Street", 15% is business to business or industrial and only 5% is the GDP, or "Main Street." While Main Street is the smallest contributor, it pays 90% of taxes. The rest is from business to business. Wall Street pays $0 in taxes. That's right; zero taxes are collected from Wall Street.

Brown asks the obvious question: "why?" If Wall Street paid 1/5 of 1% or 1 penny out of every 5 dollars from its transactions, we could raise 1.6 trillion dollars in one year's time. That's ten times the amount of the second stimulus package.

What is included in this Wall Street definition? Basically, the exchange of stocks, bonds, currency, and the banking system; they are the 80% of our economy operating tax free. A concern you might have when considering taxing Wall Street is the effect it may have on interest rates. Brown estimates a maximum rise of 1% as a reaction to the V-Tax. The positives far outweigh the possibility of this relatively miniscule increase.

Remember, the V-Tax can provide a stimulus package 10 times larger than what is proposed right now. According to Brown, if we passed the V-Tax, taxing the velocity (movement of money) in Wall Street would eliminate the need for income tax for working Americans earning less than $50,000 a year. Those earning above this would still pay taxes, but on a much smaller scale than now.

Social Security could also be funded through the V-Tax. This would alleviate your paying and your employer's matching your payments into Social Security. Business in America would save money, while also enjoying the increased spending that would result from the V-Tax. If the average American did not have to pay federal taxes, Brown estimates half of the money would be invested and the other spent. It would revitalize the economy using our money saved, not more money borrowed by the government.

Why hasn't someone else brought this up? The reality of how our economy breaks down and where our taxes are coming from is generally misunderstood. Brown has put fifteen years of research into economics before solidifying his ideas. To help illustrate the economy with Brown's favorite example: if you picture a building with a hundred floors making up our economic system, the first five floors would be Main Street, or the GDP, the next 15 floors would be the business to business or whole sale market; the remaining 80 floors are Wall Street.

The V-Tax is like taking a small drop out of a bucket. Wall Street is many buckets (80% of all of America's buckets) moving around, sharing water, and to date, untaxed. If we adopt the V-Tax, the benefits felt on Main Street would trickle up to Wall Street, benefiting everyone, and heal the economy for good. Brown has written a book to get this plan for economic salvation to the powers that be. Originally meant to for publication, like Brown's first book, which had an untimely release of a week before nine eleven, his current work is available via download from his website: www.v4victorytax.com. Brown has made it available this way in an effort to get the word out to as many people and as quickly as he possibly can.

According to Brown, The V-Tax is the answer to our failing economy, and it doesn't require enlarging the already massive national-debt. It would eliminate income tax for 50% of working Americans, and fund Social Security. The V-Tax sounding too good to be true is an obstacle Brown has to overcome. Jonathon Brown is the underdog protagonist trying to save the day in this action/suspense turned horror movie that is our economy. Only it's not a movie; it's real. Does he have the answer? Download Brown's book to see for yourself.

Find out more at: www.v4victorytax.com; help spark the revolution.

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The Chic Mom's Guide To Feeling Fabulous

With the recent celebrity baby boom, it seems that everywhere one looks there are images of gorgeous actresses rebounding quickly and easily from their pregnancies. Nina Sutton, author of the new book, The Chic Mom's Guide To Feeling Fabulous: Easy tips for an Amazing Life After the Stork has Arrived and Beyond, stresses that rebounding from a pregnancy and adapting to becoming a new mom is much more difficult for average women who don't have an entourage to help them make such a major life transition appear effortless.

Nina, the mother of two young boys, wrote The Chic Mom's Guide in order to provide real women with helpful advice and time saving tips to adjust to new motherhood while still looking and feeling stylish and beautiful.

With 15 years of experience in the fashion and beauty industries, Nina Sutton has worked with companies such as Sebastian International and the Christal Corporation to create and launch beauty products and marketing campaigns. She also has experience in online marketing - working with companies such as Nestlé and ConAgra on their online promotions and coupons. Additionally, she is somewhat of an expert in the world of samples sales, after launching a series of designer sample sales in the Los Angeles area.

After giving birth to her first child, this busy career woman suddenly found herself with new challenges, and less time to devote to personal style. In an effort to create a community of new mothers like herself, Nina started a "Mommy and me" class with women from the Hermosa Beach, CA area. In the class, she found that some of the mothers were not only more stylish, but also seemed happier than others. Curious to know their secrets, Nina engaged these mothers in a series of discussions that helped inspire her book.

In The Chic Mom's Guide, Nina stresses the importance of assembling a team of experts, much in the same way that celebrity moms do. Therefore, every chapter in her book features an interview with an expert in a different field. These chapters reflect different aspects of a woman's life such as beauty, fashion, fitness, cooking, relationships (with one's child and one's spouse), and finances.

In addition to writing The Chic Mom's Guide, Nina is also the founder of the website www.dealsfordivas.com. She launched the site in September 2006 after giving birth to her first child, in order to provide deals and discounts to women on beauty, fashion and lifestyle products. The site also features Nina's weekly blog, which includes information about sample sales around the country as well as online.

Nina asserts that the time saving tips in her book can be useful for almost anyone, including moms with older children or busy professional women without children. According to Nina, her goal in writing The Chic Mom's Guide was to empower women from all walks of life "to feel fabulous."

The Chic Mom's Guide is available on www.Amazon.com and www.iuniverse.com/bookstore .

- Sarah Kelly

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THE PRIEST AND THE NAZI
By John LeConte

Interview by Kelly Boler
Photo courtesy of David Roberson

The relationship between the Catholic Church and the Nazi Party during World War II and its aftermath is a complex and sometimes disturbing one. In the new book The Priest and the Nazi, author John LeConte uses fiction to investigate one of the murkier aspects of this relationship, as well as the unlikely nature of redemption, in the story of a Bavarian priest and a Nazi officer who make a deal for the Nazi's passage to South America, and his soul. In an interview, LeConte talks about his challenging subject.

In your story, the priest collaborates, but not all priests in the Catholic church did so, in fact, were cruelly persecuted for their opposition to the Nazis, and many also aided Jews in hiding.
Yes, individual Catholics saved many and should indeed be praised for that. But many didn't, and many of the powerful bishops and cardinals of the church in the thirties and forties did not protest. And yes the pope did do some good things behind the scenes, but the pope set the tone: he did not want the church to be destroyed as it surely would have been if they did speak out. The Church did not speak out publicly in a campaign of protest, the institution was not out front acting as a counter moral force against Hitler. They knew, as did all in Europe that Hitler was not bluffing, he would destroy the Church. They were afraid, like all men would be. But that is what courage is about, acting in the face of danger.

You have created an allegory about good and evil, yet your priest is hardly wholly good, and the Nazi soldier hungers for redemption. Why the ambiguity?
No one is entirely good or evil. The priest is human. The Nazi is human. One of the things we have done with both Hitler and with Christ is that, based on their deeds, we have assigned them an inhuman status. Hitler was a human being and that's the thing that is the most scary about him. He was a human being who did unbelievable things that can never be adequately explained, much less justified in any way. Christ was a human being who did good things that we all should emulate, so we are all capable of doing those good things as well. What I was trying to do with the priest was not to make him a pristine good guy but to show his fallibility even though he was connected with the church. The Nazi was not to be the all encompassing bad guy. He was human and did evil, but he had human qualities as well. In the end they each reverted to their essential souls.

Who are your favorite philosophers and why?
One I like is Eric Hoffer, the working man's philosopher of the 1950s. He theorizes on the heart and soul of the working man and woman and the challenges they encounter when faced with powerful forces that they can't control. Shakespeare is a philosopher to me. His insight into the human condition is astounding and he told it in most beautiful and dramatic ways.

- Kelly Boler

www.johnleconte.com

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ALISON JAMES

CHIC LIT'S RELATIONSHOP GURU
By Emily Jebson

Who hasn't had a tough breakup? We all have. We also all know they're not so easy to get over. So how do you recover? According to author and relationship expert Alison James, with humor. Alison's breakup survival guide "I Used to Miss Him...But My Aim is Improving," helps women laugh through this often-devastating experience. Her book does everything from outlining early warning signs that the relationship may be in trouble to advising ways to channel anger into positive outlets.

Alison guides women through their painful post breakup up days by embracing the joys of shopping and makeup and helps women reenter single life with the confidence of lessons learned. Her humor and honesty show the bright side of the breakup experience by helping women laugh in even their most desperate moments. Most importantly, "I Used to Miss Him...But My Aim is Improving" helps women gain and retain their post-breakup self-respect.

Alison has been featured in Maxim, Complete Woman, Woman's Own, Daily Mirror (UK), Ladies Home Journal Online, as well as on 120 radio shows. She is a graduate from Princeton and The London School of Economics. She uses her unique and practical outlook to mentor young women on life and love.

Her next book, The 10 Women You'll Be Before You're Thirty, which is due out in late Spring, explores the different phases a woman goes through in young adulthood. The book addresses all the persona's women take on in order to please family, friends, and society. It encourages women to laugh at their various personalities, while helping them rejoice in and embrace their true unique selves. For more information: visit www.10women.com

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Spin to Win: The Essential P.R. Guide For Business & Career Success
by Anthony Mora

Spin to Win puts the power of the information age in your hands. Using the techniques outlined in the book, you'll no longer simply watch the news - you'll be the news!

Spin to Win gives you insider media tips to successfully utilize the most powerful form of marketing available. How can you place your story in the local and national media? What do editors and producers look for? How do you effectively pitch stories to the media? Spin to Win answers those questions and more.

Featuring interviews with top journalists from such media as USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, The BBC, Entrepreneur, The View, Readers Digest, and Self, Spin to Win teaches you the insider secrets of how to place yourself, your business, or your product in top national and regional media. Whether you're a business owner, physician, attorney, artist, entertainer, entrepreneur, or author, only media relations can reach your target market and offer you and your business credibility, authenticity, prominence, influence, and results.

Spin to Win is a step-by-step guide on how to define goals and utilize the power of the media to achieve success in any field. Practical and user-friendly, Spin to Win can be utilized by heads of major corporations, small business owners, entrepreneurs, and artists.

A former journalist and magazine editor, Anthony Mora is the President and CEO of Anthony Mora Communications, Inc. As a media and public relations expert, Anthony has been featured in USA Today, The New York Times, Newsweek, The Los Angeles Times, as well as on CNN, FOX News, MSNBC, and other media. Spin to Win is his third book.

Hawk Publishing ($15.95)

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THE PERFECT PITCH
How to Sell Yourself and Your Movie Idea to Hollywood
by Ken Boccop
as told to James K. Shea

This is an important book for anyone who has a script or business project you want to sell to the people with money. It will teach you:

• How to pitch your story in two minutes or less
• How to connect to Hollywood's top mover and shakers
• How to think and react "on your feet" during a sales pitch
• How to communicate through a memorable and passionate pitch that will make you and your story a winner

Michael Weise Productions $16.95

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THE BEST OF YOUR LIFE FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE
By Devra Z. Hill, Ph.D.

This is a different kind of health book! It's about new supplements but also about the physical and emotional aspects of good health.

Devra's motto is: "Lighten Up, Cut the Drama, and Enjoy the Visit."

• Read how to survive the 21st Century's insanities
• Learn the latest health info and...
• How to look younger and feel great!

This is a must read for everyone...no matter how old you are!
(LULUZ Publications, 168 pages, $18.95)

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inmag.com P.O. Box 709 Hollywood 90078 323-874-5726 info@inmag.com

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