For one reason or another, there are many women today who know little or nothing about how to handle money. Perhaps their parents never taught them the value of it, or hubby wants to shield them from the trials and tribulations of the financial world by saying that women shouldn’t get their hands dirty with money. This book aims to change that.

It’s natural to feel anxious and ashamed about your lack of money knowledge when everyone around you is financially on top of the world. Start with something simple like balancing the checkbook. Remember that hubby won’t be around forever, either through death or divorce, so becoming familiar with the family finances is a very good idea.

Tell a neighbor or best friend, someone you can confide in, your fears and fantasies about money. She may be in the same position as you, but afraid to admit it. Don’t be afraid to ask the “dumb” questions about money; perhaps together, you can find the answer. Listen to stories from other women about money; not how much they saved, but how they saved (investing, budgeting, etc).

The author leaves the more specific money-saving tips until the end, but her biggest recommendation is to get rid of your credit card debt. With interest rates at anywhere up to 20 percent, and with the average credit card debt at several thousand dollars per person, paying off that debt as fast as possible is the single best thing anyone can do to save money.

Acken knows something about women’s fears concerning money. Growing up in a Baltimore record store, she could make change from an early age, but never learned what money was all about. Years later, a divorced mother of two, she found herself with a PhD in psychology and a $50,000 student debt. She learned about money very quickly.

For those who get nervous and panicky in the personal finance section of the local chain bookstore, this book is for you. It’s written in a very down-to-earth style and is quite easy to read. It’s recommended for women of any socio-economic status. This isn’t rocket science; like the title says, It’s Only Money!

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The culprit could be nearly anyone. It could be someone with a grudge against a federal agency. It could be a fundamentalist religious group (of any religion). It could be a home-grown politically radical group (on either side of the political spectrum). For some, the object is to hit a target of symbolic value (like the World Trade Center), while, for others, the goal is to inflict the maximum number of casualties.

The author also looks at the various substances that might be used in such an attack. Nerve agents like sarin and VX make it impossible for nerve cells to transmit nerve impulses. Vesicants like mustard gas burn the eyes and skin and produce horrible blisters. Corrosive gases like chlorine inflame the lungs and airways. Also considered are possible bioweapons like anthrax, plague and ebola.

There is no such thing as 100 percent total protection in case of an attack. Gas masks do not provide their own air supply, they only filter outside air. Even the best air filters will not remove all toxic spores from the air; for some toxins, all it takes is one spore. Don’t forget the toxins absorbed through the skin. There are many things to do to reduce the possible risk during an attack. If you work in a big city skyscraper, consider looking for a job in the suburbs, preferably west of the city (winds generally blow west to east). If you live near a target, and moving is not possible, plan and rehearse what to do if the evacuation order comes. At minimum, have a bag of things (canned food, battery powered radio, prescription medicine, etc.) packed and ready to grab at a moment’s notice. At maximum, have a second house, fully stocked and livable, out in the country. Use secondary roads for your escape route; count on highway gridlock.

Those who want even a chance to survive a future attack of any kind would be well advised to read this book. The writing is sober, clear headed and free of hysterics.

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It covers a surprising number of subjects, all having to do with survival when help is a long way away. It doesn’t tell you how to prevent an accident from happening, but concentrates on what to do now that it has happened. Don’t Panic. Among the subjects explored are: how to build a shelter, starting a fire, finding and purifying water, edible and inedible plants and animals, waiting for rescue, traveling to safety on land or sea and navigation with and without a compass. There is also a large section on survival medicine, covering everything from CPR to spinal injuries to frostbite to infection to insect bites to seasickness. The author hasn’t forgotten psychological first aid, too. After a disaster has happened, psychological injuries can be worse than physical injuries.

I’m not sure if this is the book to bring on a trip, because you don’t want to be frantically reading the section on moving the seriously injured (for instance) when someone is lying on the ground in serious need of medical help. But, it is an excellent book to get familiar with before you leave.

Those who do a lot of traveling in remote areas need this book. Those whose traveling is limited to hiking trips in a national park or state forest also need this book. It presents things in a very clear, step-by-step way, with lots of illustrations. Even those of us whose traveling is limited to watching TV travel shows could really use this book. There’s no way to know when or where, but, one day, it will come in very handy.

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To say that they hate our freedom and diversity is overly simplistic. To say that they hate America’s one-sided support for Israel, or our support for regimes not democratically elected, like in Egypt and Saudi Arabia,is closer to the truth, but still an easy answer.

They hate the destruction of their economies through the American-controlled International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Before any money is loaned, a country must agree to a long list of changes to their economy. For instance, they must eliminate subsidies for domestic agriculture, eliminate tariffs on imports, sell state industries to the highest bidder, cut public spending and crush independent labor unions. To take one example, eliminating tariffs on agricultural imports will cause the country to be flooded with cheaper (usually American) agricultural products, driving local farmers out of business, and forcing them to the already overcrowded cities in search of work.

America talks a lot about “free trade” and “open markets,” but the trade is free in only one direction. While foreign markets are open to American products, sometimes by force, America can put up all the barriers it wants to prevent foreign products from reaching the domestic market.

They hate the destruction of their culture by Hollywood. American shows are dumped, in package deals, on other countries at very cheap prices. The production values make local TV look amateurish by comparison. Multi-national companies, like Coca-Cola or Philip Morris, are going to advertise on American shows, so those shows will be aired instead of locally produced shows. Hollywood movies flood other countries to the point where local productions have a hard time reaching the local public. When is the last time that any foreign movies or TV (except Britain) were widely available in America?

Among other things that they hate about America is that it thinks and acts like it’s the center of the universe, and that the average American makes absolutely no attempt to understand other cultures.

This book easily reaches the level of Wow. It’s very clearly written and even I learned a lot from it. Why do people hate America? This does an excellent job at answering that very question.

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The first thing a budding freelance writer should do is to get a copy of a book like the yearly Writer’s Market and read the submission guidelines for your intended target publication (novels, short stories, magazine non-fiction,etc). If your target is a specific magazine, read, and analyze, several issues of that magazine. Know it better than its editors, and find a niche that is not yet filled.

To call yourself a writer, it’s necessary to actually do some writing. The act of putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) is explored, along with what to do when the words just will not come out.

After your masterpiece comes into existence on paper, then comes dealing with the editor. How do you write a query letter (or should you)? Make sure you deal with the right editor, not just any editor. Some editors do business by phone or fax or email; adjust your approach accordingly. Don’t gush about how much you love the magazine; editors don’t want fan clubs. Get right to the point. The biggest mistake a freelance writer makes in dealing with an editor is laziness; not knowing the magazine inside and out.

Writing for the Internet is totally different than writing for print. Your average web surfer is not going to sit and read the equivalent of a long magazine article on a screen. It’s best to break up the text as much as possible with bullets, numbers, colored backgrounds, etc. Also provide lots of hyperlinks, so the web surfer can do more research on their own. The book also covers the legal end of things, inlcuding contracts, libel and ethics in general.

I learned a lot from this book. A copy belongs right next to the dictionary on the bookshelf of every freelance writer, and every would-be freelance writer, in America. It is packed full of useful information, and is money very well spent. I hope this also works for book reviewers...

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Once Brice practically forces himself onto the estate, he finds an eccentric family who have seen better days. Moorefield is the family patriarch, Wolf is his son and heir (along with being an arrogant you-know-what) and Maida is his daughter. Ainsley, another son, is a congenital imbecile. There are also a number of servants.

The police are not very helpful, because of the Cabel’s influence, but the coffins are dug up, only to find that they’re both empty. Brice begins to get the idea that Diane and Peter didn’t kill themselves. Suspicion falls on one of the servants, who is killed by Wolf just before he was going to confess. During a hunting trip, Wolf and several of his men attempt to kill Brice and make it look like an accident. He barely escapes by jumping into a nearby lake, where he finds the bodies of Peter and Diane. Suspicion then falls on Maida, who is being treated by a local doctor, who also happens to be a hypnotist. Not only is she being sexually assaulted while under hypnosis, but just enough of a post-hypnotic suggestion is planted in her mind to make Maida think that maybe she is actually guilty of murder. For a time, suspicion also falls on Ainsley. Brice also learns that Maida is holding a major secret over Wolf’s head concerning Ainsley. If Moorefield got even an inkling of this secret, Wolf would be disinherited so fast it would make his head spin. Just to make things more interesting, on more than one occasion, Brice sees Peter and Diane actually walking through the house. They aren’t some ghostly see-through apparition, but solid enough to reach out and touch. Through it all, Brice is drawn deeper and deeper into the depths of his own soul.

This book has it all. It’s got a mansion with secret passages and wings that have been closed for years, it’s got dark family secrets, several dead bodies, a bit of sex, strange goings-on and a really well done story. This fine piece of Victorian horror writing is very much worth reading.

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The first step for any person is to decide just what they want out of life. What is their heart’s desire? Is it better to be happy, or to have a closer relationship with the Creator? The come a series of things that anyone can do during the day to incorporate spirituality into their lives.

When you get up in the morning, take several deep breaths and some stretching exercises to get yourself ready for the day. Try singing, or yoga or color visualization. During the day, think before you speak. Pay attention to where you put your energy. At noontime, take a moment of silence or say noontime prayers. It sounds like a cliche, but on the way home from work, stop and smell the roses. Bless and appreciate your evening meal. Express your gratitude for the day just finished. At bedtime, send healing prayers to anyone who may need them. Write down things from the day for which you are grateful.

Included is a list of things that can be done at any time during the day. Take time to visualize your future. Replace meat products with natural alternatives. Stay clean. Try not to take on too much. Take the time to unclutter and reorganize. Remember where other people are coming from emotionally. Stop worrying. In short, make the most of every day.

Perhaps one of the reasons for all the strife and discord today is the decreasing importance of spirituality in people’s lives. This book doesn’t push any particular religion or conception of “God.” The suggestions included can be done by people of any religion. For anyone who wants to keep a spiritual connection in today’s society, or anyone wanting to fix a “broken” connection, this is a very good place to start. It’s a very quick read, and it says a lot.

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Finding himself in the royal court in Paris, Egar meets Pepin the Vain, nobleman and tutor to Prince Dagobert, son of King Clothar. Egar feels that his destiny is somehow tied to pepin. Clothar sends Dagobert to rule one of the outlying provinces, from a town called Metz. Dagobert is still a child, so Pepin is sent along as Mayor of the Palace (literally, the power behind the throne). Pepin does not have royal blood, but he wants the throne very, very much, and figures that this is his chance (he’s not called Pepin the Vain for nothing). Dagobert loves the pomp and ceremony of being King, but hates the day-to-day routine; Pepin is only too happy to oblige. On day, Egar, who has accompanied them to Metz, has a vision of a great king; Pepin thinks it’s him, but Egar isn’t sure.

Years later, Clothar dies, so Dagobert moves to Paris to become King of all Frankish territory. Pepin and Egar stay behind in Metz, which, without a monarch, pactically becomes a ghost town. They ride to Paris to convince Dagobert to spend part of the year in Metz. They are shocked to find that the Queen has been humiliated and forced into a convent, and the castle has become a place for all-night partying with lots of prostitutes. The day-to-day business of the kingdom is the farthest thing from Dagobert’s mind.

Pepin’s ambition gets the better of him on a later trip to Paris to convince Dagobert to clean up his act. Pepin is confined to the castle, and relieved of his position as Mayor of Metz. Egar, with help from a bit of sorcery, races back to Metz, to tell Pepin’s family to flee immediately, just minutes ahead of guards from Dagobert.

This one is really good. Pepin feels like a real person (he was a real person; the author can trace her family history back to him), the writing is very well done and shows a lot of research, and, overall, it’s well worth the reader’s time.

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Leaving her own unhappy marriage, Cindy tries her hand, and fails, as a phone sex operator. She later decides to start her own phone sex service. It struggles for a while, then suddenly takes off in popularity. Cindy and Zeke live together for a time, until Zeke decides that he has to keep running from the police, and that his destiny lies somewhere in the Aztec and Mayan lands of Mexico.

Cantarita is a Navajo prostitute living in an abandoned building with a man called The Preacher. He constantly prays for an honest man to come along, marry Cantarita and take her away. One day, Zeke shows up. The Preacher “marries” them, and Cantarita takes Zeke farther into the Native American world of the southwestern United States, closer to the explanation for Zeke’s visions.

This is a superb piece of writing. It’s just weird enough to be really good. But it also looks at things like unreasoning violence, and the commercialization of tragedy, so it’s quite plausible, and well worth reading.

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The uncle tells the story of his younger days as a political radical. He joined the Popular Syrian Party, which, in the 1940s, advocated a Greater Syria. What is now Lebanon was carved out of Syrian territory. He had plenty of ambition and energy, to the point where the party leaders had to tell him (to use a contemporary term) to chill out. In 1949, the party attempted a coup d’etat which failed. The uncle went into political exile instead of waiting to be arrested. While living with him, Zahra enters into a loveless marriage with Majed, another member of the Lebanese expatriate community.

According to Majed, one would think that all members of the expatriate community would stick together and help each other, being so far from home. The rich members are treated like royalty; the poorer members, like Majed, are treated like they are less than nothing. On their wedding night, Majed discovers that Zahra is not a virgin (in fact, she has had two abortions by another man). Things go downhill from there. Zahra eventually divorces him, and moves back to Beirut, right in the middle of the Lebanese Civil War.

Her parents are living in the south, away from the fighting. Ahmed, her brother, is one of the fighters, bringing items taken from other homes. Zahra lives alone in a world of fear and death, including from a sniper just down the street. She begins an affair with the sniper, in an attempt to divert him from his grisly task. Later, she goes to a doctor to be told that she is again pregnant, too far along for another abortion.

This is a quietly excellent piece of writing. Its portrayal of contemporary Lebanon from an Arab perspective, something about which few Americans are familiar, makes it an impressive, gripping story that is highly recommended.

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A person could quibble about the cover art or interior design, but that’s not why a person buys a fiction magazine. The stories inside are actually very good. These writers have learned to do lot with a comparatively small number of words. The names in this issue are not household names (for some, their first published fiction appears here); even Dashiell Hammett and Ed McBain had to start somewhere. They are names to remember for the future.

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Thus begins a harrowing journey for Rachel through the family justice system. Wes is able to play the court, and public opinion, like a violin, and have Rachel portrayed as some sort of hysterical witch. The physical, and emotional, changes to Ellie after her court-mandated, and unsupervised, visits with Wes are quite noticeable. But everyone involved with the case, including a seemingly endless number of social workers, seem to have concluded that Wes is some kind of saint and that Rachel has lost her mind.

The constant court appearances and meetings with her lawyer also take their toll at work. Even though she works for a major women’s magazine, her boss is not sympathetic. She is even fired, until the magazine is reminded bad publicity for the magazine would be terrible public relations.

Just before the hearing at which Wes is to get sole custody of Ellie, Rachel’s parents, who are retired and living in an RV, take Ellie and run. The less they tell Rachel, the less she has to tell the court. When Ellie can’t be provided for another unsupervised visit with her father, Rachel is sent to prison. If things were bad before, now they have gotten worse. But she does find some solidarity with her fellow inmates. It all comes down to the question: How far is a woman willing to go to protect her child?

This is not pleasant reading. For anyone involved in the family justice system (judges, lawyers, social workers), it is must reading. For everyon else, this is a gripping and plausible page-turner that is very highly recommended. The next time a woman makes an accusation of child sexual abuse, she may just be telling the truth.

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It was composed purely of volunteers from the best of the American military, including Army Special Forces and Navy SEALs. Their missions involved going behind enemy lines in Laos, Cambodia and North Vietnam, areas officially off limits to US ground troops. That’s why all of their missions were classified.

The North Vietnamese went to great lengths to keep the Ho Chi Minh Trail open at all times. Special military units, stationed from one end to the other, had the task of maintaining and defending a 20-30 mile stretch. If the US bombed a particular area one day, it would be fixed and open the very next day as if nothing happened.

The task of a SOG team could be practically anything, from prisoner snatching, to confirming something seen in aerial reconaissance to placing sensors on a road to give Intelligence an idea as to the traffic level. Every mission was meticulously planned and rehearsed. From the moment they were on the ground behind enemy lines, the team members could assume that the enemy was seconds, or minutes, away. A number of teams made it out safely (the only escape route was by air), but they had to shoot their way out. Some teams were never heard from again.

Since their missions were secret, nothing the soldiers wore or carried could be traced to America. There were no dogtags, no obviously American uniforms, and, in many cases, their weapons were foreign modified weapons.

This book also profiles the people who risked their lives day after day. To most people, they were just American soldiers who served in Vietnam, but, to those who were there, the following names are practically legend: Larry Thorne, Billy Waugh, Walter Shumate, Jerry “Mad Dog” Shriver and Dick Meadows.

When SOG was disbanded in 1972, all the photo files were ordered destroyed. The interesting thing about this book is that the several hundred photos here are not the “official” photos. The photos were taken by the men who were there and kept in trunks and shoeboxes for many years. The author also knows something about SOG, having been a three-tour veteran.

For military historians and those interested in special operations, this book is a requirement. For the rest of us, this is a fascinating look at an unknown part of the Vietnam War. It is highly recommended.

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