Song Of George: Portrait of an Unlikely Holy Man ~ Now Published ~

 

I’m very happy to announce that my novel, Song of George; Portrait of an Unlikely Holy Man is now published. It is currently available in trade paperback at: http://www.allthingsthatmatterpress.com/GEORGE.jpg and also on Kindle. The Kindle price is only $3.19 right now for those who would be interested in checking out the book for a very low price. Of course, the “real” book is so much better, and it will only set you back the price of dinner for one at a very modest restaurant. But it will stay with you a whole lot longer. (:<)>

The Greer Agency by Harris Tobias

It’s Friday – Time for another author feature in the exclusive All Things That Matter Press blog tour. It’s Harris Tobias’ turn. I haven’t read The Greer Agency yet but I’ve read a bit of Harris’ short sci-fi and that was thoroughly enjoyable. Harris has a great imagination and a quick wit. Can’t see how we could go wrong with this novel. 
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Oh, by the way, my own novel, Song of George/Portrait of an Unlikely Holy Man is getting very close to release now, God willing. Hope you’ll find that it was worth the wait.
As always, thanks for visiting my blog and checking out our tour of great reading alternatives.             jesse s. hanson

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THE GREER AGENCY

An exciting new approach to detective novels, 15 interconnected short stories involving a different kind of private eye.

The Greer Agency is 75k words of gritty detective fiction presented in 15 separate but connected stories. The reader follows the development of private detective Mike Greer, the only PI in the Altoona, PA phone book. It’s tough to make a living in a decaying old railroad town, but with the help of an anonymous benefactor, Greer lands some interesting cases—cases that he solves with guts and determination. Throughout the stories, his budding romance with Susan grows. Eventually they realize they are right for each other.

Readers will find Mike Greer an accessible everyman with luck, pluck, smarts and a host of interesting friends. He finds his way into and out of problems large and small. Greer narrates the stories in a refreshing and original voice. Each story has its own plot and can stand on its own but, as the book progresses, the mysteries pile up and the plots get more complex until the explosive last story.

Mike Greer is a protagonist with a low tolerance for bullshit and an easy touch for the emotional pleas of the downtrodden. He works alone and struggles against an uncaring world. But throw no pity party for the man, he will have none of it. His melancholy is tightly wrapped inside his tough guy exterior, and pity just bounces off as he walks away, down the dark sidewalks of Altoona into the next story.

Now available in print and e-book format from All Things That matter Press:

https://www.createspace.com/3437279

 or from from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Greer-Agency-Harris-Tobias/dp/098425949X

You can read what others are saying about The Greer Agency by clicking here.

To learn more about Harris Tobias, The Greer Agency and his other exciting novels, you can go here, here, or here.

2 Short Pieces in Print this month

I’m fortunate to have two pieces come out in print this month by a couple of exceptional publishers of short fiction and poetry: 

One is a selection of flash fiction that was accepted for the UK based Indigo Dreams Online anthology, Crab Lines Off the Pier. Indigo Dreams is at http://www.indigodreams.co.uk/  My piece is called “the pulse of life”.  The anthology can only be ordered in print.
Indigo Dreams Online is the home of three great magazines: Reach Poetry, The Dawntreader, and Sarasvati. Add to that, the anthologies and there’s something for everyone. The operation is headed up by Ronnie Goodyer and his partner Dawn Bauling, both exceptional writers themselves.

 The other selection is at Down in the Dirt  http://scars.tv/dirt-new-issue.htm which, as you know, is published in both print and online. I see I’m in good company here as both Tim and Sal from All Things That Matter Press are in the June issue as well. I sure enjoyed your stories, guys. Anyway, my selection is called The Ghost Poet’s Memorial. It’s an excerpt from my novel, Song of George/Portrait of an Unlikely Holy Man, modified to read as a short story.

As I’ve stated before, Down in the Dirt does a very nice job presenting a contributor’s work. They included my bio, previous credit on a poem that’s part of the piece, and a reference to my book and ATTMP. Full service.

As always, thanks for stopping by my blog.                  jesse

~ Spiritual Fiction ~ It’s not just for Christians – It’s also not necessarily New Age

~George and Toby~ as illustrated in Song of George?Portrait of an Unlikely Holy Man

~ Spiritual Fiction ~
It’s not just for Christians
It’s also not necessarily New Age

I like to walk into bookstores and check out what they have in the way of spiritual fiction, or spiritually inspired fiction. I write fiction like that so I like to see what’s happening in the industry… in that aspect of the industry. First I usually walk around myself for a bit, then daunted by lack of direction, I look for someone to ask.
“Do you have a Spiritual Fiction section?”
“Yes, it’s in the last aisle on your right in Religion”
“Okay.”
or
“Do you have a Spiritual Fiction section?”
“You mean New Age?”
“I guess.”

The last aisle on the right in Religion is almost always in the Christian section, which is usually about eighty percent of the Religion section. There’s a thriving market for Christian fiction, and the fiction is well marked as such. They have their rapidly expanding nook, separate, but connected to all the other Christian books. It’s not what I’m looking for, but don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a problem with, nor am I writing this as any kind of statement against Christian Literature.

The New Age section is also booming and so is the fiction therein. It’s a challenge though, picking out the fiction from the lot, since they’re all mixed in with the non-fiction. There may well be some things I’m interested in here, but it’s a lot to wade through if one doesn’t have something specific in mind.

The above scenario applies mostly to the large modern mainstream bookstores, but I think it also manifests to a great degree in the majority of small mom and pop or neighborhood bookstores. It’s just not as far to walk to be disappointed in these stores.

So… what, exactly, do I mean by disappointed?

Well… let me use an analogy. The Republican Party in the United States is not endowed with some special qualifications or authority to represent Christianity, though there is an ongoing source of propaganda perpetuated within that Party to convince everyone that they do. But thoughtful people, regardless of their political persuasions, know that there are millions of sincere, devoted Christians among the Democrats and the lesser-known Parties.

In the same way, Christian writers and publishers do not have some special authority to represent spiritual fiction, much less spirituality itself, though there is an ongoing source of propaganda perpetuated within the world of Christian writing and publishing to convince everyone that they do. More thoughtful Christians as well as others are not convinced.

I’m disappointed that the Christian spiritual fiction is so segregated from other non-Christian, but equally sincere and important spiritual fiction. Of course the book marketing institutions have every right to implement that segregation if they so choose.

~George moonlighting with the beholder~ as illustrated in Song of George/Portrait of an Unlikely Holy Man

I have essentially the same problem with New Age spiritual fiction, which seems to contain everything from Journey to Ixtlan to Wicked. People can and do write about all kinds of spiritually inspired subjects that are inspired by the old, the ancient, not something new; not New Age. I’m one of them. There! I said it. This article is all about me. But not really. New Age is not at all exclusively about the new anyway. It’s just a catch all for things that don’t fit easily into other places. However there is an ongoing source of propaganda… Just kidding. I’m not going to go there again.

The thing is that personally (remember I said personally) I don’t believe there can be anything new about spirituality. It’s old. It’s been around forever. I don’t believe the Creator, God, whatever name you wish to use didn’t give us bona fide spirituality all along. I know there are many people who have been unwittingly pigeonholed as being, “New Age” who would agree. Truth has gone by many names. It’s been presented in many ways. But the idea of a hodgepodge mixing of spiritual paths – take what you need and leave the rest – doesn’t appeal to me. I hope you remembered the personally part.

Ultimately the whole idea of having to label literature with a genre like Spiritual Fiction is distasteful to me. It seems to me that spirituality used to be the backdrop of almost all literature. Societies the world over were embedded in their religions and their particular visions of spirituality. People’s belief systems were the very color of, the very fabric of their lives. How could you write about people without writing about their spirituality, their morality, their spiritual integrity?

What would I like to see?

Since genres are the game now, I can’t fight City Hall on everything, I’d like to see a genre of Spiritual Fiction emerge. A genuine genre of Spiritual Fiction that would include novels by writers of many different cultures and belief systems, set in the backdrop of those belief systems, including Christian and the elusive New Age. Of course, in a physical bookstore, such books would naturally be organized into categories within the Spiritual Fiction section. Internet type bookstores are already beginning to recognize that such a genre is in fact emerging, but it is yet to be well defined.

I am just one of many writers, already working within the genre, hoping to see more light at the end of the tunnel, if you will excuse the irresistible pun. A well-defined genre will assist the customer in separating the spiritually inspired novels from all the rest of the fare. After all, hundreds of thousands of new books are being published each year. Large numbers of them are fiction. A comparatively small, but yet significant number of authors are spiritually inspired and are writing about their spirituality through the medium of fiction. And to this point, there is still no clear genre for spiritually inspired fiction.

~Of Saints in the Stairwell~ as illustrated in Song of George/Portrait of an Unlikely Holy Man

So I’ll say it again. “Do you have a Spiritual Fiction section?”

Illustrations by Christine Sherwood
email: kbkm108@yahoo.com

Song of George in Edit

     Just wanted to give an update here that my novel, Song of George/Portrait of an Unlikely Holy Man is now in the edit stage at All Things That Matter Press.
     As much as I’m enjoying the Blog Tour, I can’t deny that I am looking forward to the possibility of having my own work thrown into the arena, so to speak. 

     Meanwhile, I continue to work on my new novel in progress and also attempt to maintain some level of  proficiency as a musician and thereby keep The Primatives together (the other band members have shown remarkable loyalty and flexibility in allowing me to pursue my goals as a novelist and work with them).
     Then there’s my home recording studio:  BlueHome Recording. Currently recording what promises to be a wonderful little album of original local heritage songs by one of the finest young songwriters in the area, Jordan Umbach. I really think this is going to prove to be his best work yet. 
     Last but not least, there’s my day job that takes me to the far ends of Pittsburgh to the three local Ethan Allen Design Centers.

“Song of George/Portrait of an Unlikely Holy Man”

My first blog: if Momma could see me now

jesse s. hanson here. i’m a writer. Been writing all my life, mostly songs. Some of you might actually be familiar with some of those. No big success but i’d say i’m fortunate to have some respect that way, from those familiar with my work. Two self-released CD’s out there with The Primatives: “The Lovers of Kali Yuga” and “Primative Spirit”. Check em out. You can find em at CD baby. We’re on myspace at http://www.myspace.com/theprimativesrock .

But that’s not why i’m here blogging. Nope. The reason i’m here blogging is that i have written a novel. It’s called “Song of George/Portrait of an Unlikely Holy Man”. And it’s going to be published to boot. And by a very fine publisher, at that: All Things That Matter Press. They’re remarkable in that they focus on spiritually inspired work. You can find them at: allthingsthatmatterpress.com With a fine group of very talented authors and a smart forward thinking promotional scheme… well, just go to their website if you want to get some idea of how well they’re doing.

Regarding my novel, “Song of George/Portrait of an Unlikely Holy Man” is about a man with a severe form of mental illness and an addictive personality, who is somehow elevated to a very high spiritual status. He is subsequently saddled with responsibility for the unfortunate souls with which he is mutually incarcerated in the psychiatric unit of a modern Federal Prison.

Being new at the blog, i think i’ll stop here, for now. Best wishes to all in a troubled, yet awe inspiring world. jesse s. hanson