EMERGE - New Authors - Jennifer Prado

Friday, November 16, 2007

Shout Out from Julie Ann Shapiro - (Julie was previously interviewed by EMERGE - New Authors in September 2006 )

Jen-Zen and The One Shoe Diaries - Modern Cinderella Novel is Getting Stellar Reviews
Paperback Pre-orders Now Available

Encinitas, California – Award winning fiction author, Julie Ann Shapiro announces the publication of her novel, Jen-Zen and The One Shoe Diaries from SynergeBooks.com and the advance reviews.

In the novel a successful photographer is haunted by the memory of a girlfriend he lost and the connection he feels to her while photographing shoes. Jen-Zen and the One Shoe Diaries is a modern Cinderella story filled with love, lost shoes and whimsy.

When given an advance copy of the novel the Executive Director of the Southern California Writers Conference, Michael Steven Gregory stated, “Haunting and hypnotic, Shapiro's debut novel will long linger in the reader's mind. JEN-ZEN illuminates the beauty to be found in the dark vacuum of unfathomable personal loss, and inspires. “

In an upcoming review which will be published in the December issue of New Myths editor, Scott Barnes stated that,” This a singular book, original in voice, thoughtful in tone and that the shoes seem to be telling Brad something. Jen-Zen has had an accident and is trying to communicate from somewhere beyond. Can Brad use his photographer’s art to rescue his true love?”

Synerge Books is now taking pre-orders for Jen-Zen and the One Shoe Diaries trade paperback which will be available in December. The ebook and CD-Rom version of the novel are now available from Synergebooks.com.

About Julie Ann Shapiro Julie Ann Shapiro is a freelance writer, novelist and short story author. Her fiction is best described as literary, quirky and in the magic realism vein. Julie is the winner of the 2006 Best Little Christmas Story Contest and received recognition as a Million Writers Award Notable Stories of 2004. She has over fifty published short stories.

For more information about the novel, Jen-Zen and The One Shoe Diaries visit Synergebooks.com http://www.synergebooks.com/ebook_oneshoediaries.html.

Contact Information
Contact Julie Ann Shapiro at julie@julieannshapiro.com, or at
http://www.julieannshapiro.com/.

Congratulations, Julie! Best wishes.

1 comments:

Julie Ann Shapiro said...: Hi Jennifer,
Thanks so much for featuring my novel . Your book sounds really cool. I can't wait to read it.

Julie; 5:05 PM

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The Making of "Becoming Brazilian"

I always like the story behind the story.

Here's mine.

When You Realize the Dog is Your Master
By Jennifer Prado

When I bravely left a stable job and life in New York City to pursue what I hoped would be a peaceful and productive writing sabbatical in South America, my typical day had a simple agenda.

Get up in the morning in the cabin I had rented in a surfers' paradise, walk down the mountain barefoot, inhale the distinct scent of seawater coming from the direction of the pristine, sandy beach, and most importantly, GET PAST THE PIT BULL NAMED MUHAMMAD ALI.

“Ali,” as his owners liked to call him, had issues. To start, they were his second or possibly third owners. I had already learned that parrots will bite the hand that feeds them. Now, I was learning that pit bulls can have deep-seated emotional problems, as well as, trauma from past abuse. Unfortunately, I didn’t look like a therapist who could help. Most likely, I looked like a tasty dog biscuit.

Ali had the classic, flat head and narrow eyes of the breed and a smile that gaped open widely and was full of large and threatening teeth. I had never met a dog who didn’t wag his tail at me. Eerily, this massive pit bull kept his tail apparatus entirely still, so that I couldn’t guess his feelings towards me, and grinned like a Muttley gone mad.

Ali was always sneaky in his attacks. He was supposed to be on the end of a long rope in the garden just before the gate to the glorious beach. There were days when I tiptoed past, eying the rope cautiously, trembling and praying silently, only to have an unleashed Ali come up from behind and jump at me unexpectedly. Sometimes he tore the sleeves of my long beach shirts or, for kicks, he'd clamp his mouth onto my arm and clench it just enough to leave teeth marks on my tanned skin. Other times, he merely tugged and slobbered on my sarong, like a perverse advertisement for Coppertone.

During these encounters, my entire body would shudder in fear, and I envisioned headlines like “Unknown American Novelist Mauled by Pit Bull on Brazilian Beach.” I don’t know which part of the imaginary headline was more painful; the “mauling part” or the “unknown part.”

Finally, out of desperation, I initiated human-to-dog conversation, trying to project whatever inner power remained from my last New York City, Kundalini yoga class. Or maybe, I thought, in the interest of self preservation, it was better to channel Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer?

“Oh, Ali," I said in baby talk. "You scare me when you do that.“

He he he. I know dat, the pit bull answered.

(I swear, it was a magical realism moment.)

“Why’d you go and rip my shirt? I liked this shirt!”

Coz I could. He he he.

“Do you think your OWNER would like that?” I said his owner’s name several times, to establish that I was a known entity on this property.

Like I care, who you are? Dis my lawn.

“I know and respect that this is your lawn. I’m merely trying to get to the beach.”

Dats your problem. Dis my house. My owner told me, guard my lawn. How I know you?

“Ali, be reasonable. Don’t I come through here every day?”

So. I don’ know you.

"Here. Smell my hand. I have a good smell. Will you remember me later? Let the girl with the good smell go through, OK?"

Why shoulda 'member you? You don’ feed me. You don’drow dings for me to jase. You don’ pat me an' say, ‘Good Ali. You’da gray-dest!’

“Do you want me to do that now?”

Dats a good start.

“Muhammad Ali,” I said, cautiously placing my hand on his side and patting him. “You are the greatest pit bull there ever was. Good, good dog. You are the best.”

Dats nice. You can go now.

I made my way to the beach, removed my long shirt, bundled it into a ball and threw it into the wind,letting it be carried away. I dove into the water, and let the ocean revive me.

The pit bull named Muhammad Ali was no longer my master.

Hopefully, if I find a publisher for my novel, "Becoming Brazilian," I will even be ready for critics with murder on their muzzles.

http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/members/JenniferPrado