The Lodestarre: Finding Emmaus

The Ghosts of Lunacy

2011-08-14T14:06:00.009-04:00

Please join us when John Forster, Host of “Haunted Cornwall” interviews author, historian and social advocate, Pamela S. K. Glasner when they talk about .....

The Ghosts of Lunacy

Sunday, August 21st, at 3:00PM, New York City time

“Except when extermination or subjugation was the intended goal (think: Inquisition, Nazis, and slavery), never was any segment of society so deliberately and with such callousness and malicious forethought, treated so abominably. And this continued, essentially unchecked, for 600 years. So if there are ghosts who still linger near the decomposing remnants of institutions like “Bedlam”, is it any wonder??”
~ ~ Pamela S. K. Glasner ~ ~

Website address:
http://hauntedcornwallfm.com/chat-listen-live/

Please visit the Haunted Cornwall Radio website (address above)and register in advance so you can participate in the discussion!

Visit Pamela on Facebook @ http://tinyurl.com/2cn8bpo

E-BOOK -- FINDING EMMAUS

2011-07-23T08:00:00.006-04:00

My publisher and I are now in talks about converting Finding Emmaus to an e-book, for the following: Amazon/Kindle, Apple iBookstore, Barnes & Noble Nook, Google Editions, Kobo, OverDrive, and Sony Reader. I think it sounds like a good idea, and I've gotten a lot of positive feedback from friends and associates. So far, it looks as though I'm going to go for it.

Finding Emmaus on Facebook

2011-07-22T19:46:00.004-04:00

Finding Emmaus now has a Facebook page, and I invite all my fans to come visit and post something about the story itself, its characters, the collusion between the pharmaceutical industry and the US FDA, what it's like to be an Empath, what life was like in 1600's America, what it's like to be a woman coming into her own --- essentially any of the many varied topics broached in the book.

The link is: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Finding-Emmaus/238292639525022

I look foward to hearing from you!!

Last Will and Embezzlement

2011-07-22T08:17:00.003-04:00

As of this afternoon, Pamela S. K. Glasner and Deborah Louise Robinson (the two partners of Starjack Entertainment) are proud as peacocks and excited as all get-out to announce ......

“Last Will and Embezzlement”

...... the first of our slate of film projects to be green-lighted!

This documentary, which examines the exploitation and victimization of the elderly, will be going into production this August.

If You Have No Voice, You Have No Power

2011-07-10T23:59:00.016-04:00

My dear friend Roxy Lopez, host of the well-known radio show The Truth Denied, just sent me the following note regarding Friday’s interview about my novel, Finding Emmaus:

“Pamela, I am getting MANY e-mails as to your interview, and many are buying your book! This is wonderful news! So many people wrote in and said you just helped them to “make sense” of their lives, and that they had never heard of EMPATHY.”

Here is the link to my July 8th interview with radio host Roxy Lopez:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiuEOTyBWgk&feature=share

Red Carpet Interview

2011-07-10T23:38:00.011-04:00

I recently attended the New York City premiere screening of "The Cover Up" (June 10th, 2011), a new cable TV crime drama, and was interviewed on the red carpet. Here is that interview.

2011-04-17T23:43:00.005-04:00

There is a new drug on the market just for women. It's called “DAMNITOL”

Take 2 and the rest of the world can go to hell for up to 8 full hours.

Author turned psycho-killer!

2011-04-12T09:17:00.011-04:00

Saturday evening, April 9th, I attended an event billed as “The Manchester Arts Association Murder Mystery Dinner With a Twist.”

SOME twist!!

Cast from left to right: John Gorham, Jaki Valensi-Lauper, Angela Campion, Michael Moss, Pamela Glasner

I played a psycho-killing lunatic who, in the process of trying to murder Angela (the lady in the tiara) and in the space of 90 minutes, poisoned one woman, shot one man and then stabbed another — killing everyone but my intended target. Then — icing on the cake — topped off this genteel evening with a cat-fight (with Angela) in the center of a posh restaurant’s dance floor.

Fortunately for the rest of the world, I harbor no secret desire to be an actor. Missed a few cues and messed up a few lines — BUT — I had a GREAT time!

Nothing like a little psychopathic murdering spree to help you unwind at the end of a busy week.

Soprano Christine Reber

2011-04-02T16:31:00.004-04:00

Christine Reber, the amazingly talented soprano whom Deborah Louise Robinson and I met when she performed at Couture Fashion Week at The Waldorf Astoria in NYC last month, sent me this photo of the three of us. She is such a sweet woman with an even sweeter voice. It’s been a pleasure getting to know her!

Vagina Monologues' Eve Ensler

2011-03-23T12:11:00.011-04:00

Vagina Monologues' Eve Ensler was in NY City last night, at the Russian Tea Room, and I got to spend some time getting to know this amazing woman. Gracious, intelligent, absolutely genuine, well-informed, passionate, and entertaining, she commanded the room the instant she entered. It was indeed an honor to meet her.

The Art and Faith of Giving - my latest Huffington Post article

2010-12-26T11:58:00.003-05:00

“People who hate you don’t really hate you; they really love what you are but can’t seem to figure out how to get there. ... Consciously or unconsciously, they want to ‘absorb’ some of what (you) have. It’s not about envy ... it’s about emptiness and a desire to fill a void."

(to read the rest of the article, click on the link above)

A Most Beautiful Christmas Gift

2010-12-22T12:13:00.008-05:00

Not too long ago I did a presentation/book signing at the Aurora Art and Design Center in Aurora, New York, along with my dear friend, Dr. Peter Breggin. Shortly thereafter, a customer of the Center picked my book up off the shelf, read it, and then sent this lovely note to Jacci Farlow, the owner:

From: “K. Ann Johnson”
Date: December 22, 2010 5:22:15 AM EST
To: “Jacqueline Farlow”
Subject: Finding Emmaus

Hi Jacci,

Finished the book a couple of days ago. I am assuming this author is a friend of yours. I hope you will let her know that I loved it. I thought it was a well thought out approach addressing interests and concerns relating to the paranormal and paranormal psychology. The characters draw you in and the whole work flows nicely (a very easy read) - some you like, others you think you can love, and of course, those that you just can't wait to abhor in the sequel. Pamela cleverly included obvious concerns about the pharmaceutical industry and mental health diagnosis that are all too often deceptive and far from being emphatically uplifting. A nice tie in with Dr. Breggin's issues on "psychiatry as spiritual profiling" and reform psychiatry (I did a little research there). All are interests near and dear to my heart - especially empaths.

Glasner's book is written in the same vain as my all time favorite The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson (amazing book cover) - two time lines that merge, paranormal activity, psychological thriller. Over 500 riveting pages that I finished in 3 days - couldn't put it down. I know you said you don't have time to read but I think you would really like this one.

I am glad we found the Aurora Art and Design Center. And I am equally glad I spied the book on your bookshelf. Thanks for being there.

Hope the holiday season is treating you well!

Blessings,
Annie

Pamela Glasner Blogging on the Huffington Post

2010-10-14T10:44:00.005-04:00

I am LIVE on the Huffington Post!!!

Please visit my blog — I just posted my first article!! — and I'd absolutely love it if you'd become a "fan" of mine (there's a link for that to the right of my photo).

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pamela-glasner/you-had-a-feeling-oh-good_b_761264.html

Please note: if "fan" does not work, you can also click on "Get Email Alerts From This Blogger" and it will bring you to the same dialogue box. Thanks!!

Me — on the Huffington Post?? Oh, my goodness!

2010-10-04T15:35:00.005-04:00

The most amazing woman in the world, creator of what has been called the most successful and widely-read news source on the planet, sent me an e-mail last night.

I had the opportunity to hear her speak in NY City this past Tuesday, September 28th, and was able, after the show, to spend some time speaking with her.

I told her about “Finding Emmaus”, its message and mission. Well, she must have liked it because I came home last night to an e-mail from Arianna inviting me to have my own blog on The Huffington Post. What an honor!

One last thing: if you are ever presented with the opportunity to hear her speak in person, DO IT! She’s fascinating, compelling, humorous, knowledgeable, gracious — and just about every other complimentary adjective I can imagine!

Midwest Book Review Endorses and Praises Finding Emmaus

2010-09-20T07:31:00.005-04:00

Each year, the Midwest Book Review receives approximately 18,000 submissions.

I am thrilled to be able to tell you that on September 8th I received notification from James A. Cox, its editor-in-chief, that my debut novel, “Finding Emmaus” was just chosen to be reviewed and enthusiastically endorsed by this prestigious organization.

This is what they had to say:

Empathy is within us all, but some feel it stronger than others. “Finding Emmaus” is the first book for the Lodestarre series, a historical fantasy telling a story of two Empaths who live three hundred years apart whose talents are written off as mental illness. Through this gap, the two Empaths seek to understand their talents and what they mean, even when society snubs them.

“Finding Emmaus” is a thoughtful and fascinating read and take on society through fantasy. Highly recommended.

Their publication, known as Book Watch will feature “Finding Emmaus” in their 2010 issue. Additionally, “Finding Emmaus” will also appear in the Cengage Learning, Gale interactive CD-ROM series "Book Review Index" (published four times yearly for academic, corporate and public library systems), as well as the book review databases LexisNexis and Goliath.

They will also be posting their review on Amazon.com.

This is just such an honor — I’m over the moon about it!!

A Woman With More Backbone Than You Can Shake a Stick At!

2010-09-15T22:23:00.005-04:00

Harper Lee, one-hit-wonder author of the Pulitzer Prizewinning “To Kill A Mockingbird” displayed the kind of gusty, gritty fearlessness which makes me proud of my gender (stick those fingers in your suspenders, jut your chin out and throw those shoulders back!!) and all those who share it.

Early in the 1960’s, Virginia area school board attempted to ban “To Kill A Mockingbird” from their school, calling it “immoral literature”. My first reaction when I read that was, WTF?????

Well, it must have been Ms. Lee’s as well, because, amazing writer that she is, she penned, back in 1966, a clear, concise, cuttingly beautiful letter to the nincompoops which was, in my opinion, a thing of beauty — and this is what she said:

“Recently I have received echoes down this way of the Hanover County School Board’s activities, and what I’ve heard makes me wonder if any of its members can read.

Surely it is plain to the simplest intelligence that “To Kill a Mockingbird” spells out in words of seldom more than two syllables a code of honor and conduct, Christian in its ethic, that is the heritage of all Southerners. To hear that the novel is "immoral" has made me count the years between now and 1984, for I have yet to come across a better example of doublethink.

I feel, however, that the problem is one of illiteracy, not Marxism. Therefore I enclose a small contribution to the Beadle Bumble Fund that I hope will be used to enroll the Hanover County School Board in any first grade of its choice.”

Bravo for Ms. Lee!! You have always had my respect and admiration. This makes me want to buy you a beer, slap you on the back and give you a hug!!

Copyright by Pamela S. K. Glasner © 2010, All Rights Reserved

Interview With Para Explorers Radio

2010-09-08T03:23:00.016-04:00

Sandra and Russ Wells of Para Explorers Radio focus on paranormal & historical research.

On September 7th 2010 they spoke with Ms. Glasner about her writing in general, “Finding Emmaus” in particular, her research methods, her commitment to historical and factual accuracy, and her characters’ roles as social advocates.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/para-explorers-radio/2010/09/08/pamela-glasner--author--finding-emmaus

" ... an intimate listening of our inner voices, deepest yearnings and even blind spots to our egoic sabbateurs ..."

2010-09-06T10:56:00.007-04:00

Kelly Welles, President and CEO of Welles Financial Services in New York City, recently had this to say about Finding Emmaus:

“I've been reading Finding Emmaus and enjoying it immensely. What a gifted writer you are. What an intimate listening of our inner voices, deepest yearnings and even blind spots to our egoic saboteurs and authentic yearnings to connect with our source and fullness. What an observer of detail and history. Grand merci for the enchanting journey!

I predict you will build a growing and enduring following among those who resonate with your skillful, wise and lyrical story-telling .... lyrical because it suggests a tone poem with epic overtones. A superb work of art by a most gifted storyteller.”

Film Industry Mixer ........ and OMG!!!

2010-08-29T10:24:00.003-04:00

(The following was written Saturday night, 28 August, after I got home, just before midnight)

I just got home from the Film Industry Mixer at Young Studio in Hartford and OMG, I had the best time!!

The evening began with a walk down the red carpet as I entered, with photos being snapped and flashbulbs going off — it was fun and I loved it. Then I got to spend the rest of the night surrounded by (and speaking with) producers, directors, assistant directors, journalists, radio and TV hosts, news anchors, cinematographers, photographers, actors, writers … I ran into old friends (lots of them!) and made several new ones. I was in HEAVEN!

I also got to spend time chatting (and laughing!) with some of my favorite radio and TV personalities: Ann Nyberg, Mary Jones and Colin McEnroe.

There were 600 people at this event but it didn’t seem like a zoo, at least not to me. Oh, it was crowded, but it was warm and friendly and there was electricity in the air, no matter which room I was in. I kept running into people I knew and people who knew me and who knew my book. In fact, I am to call a TV host who has a local show in the New Haven area and wants to interview me about my book and my upcoming national tour.

One of the interviews I especially enjoyed was Melissa Mackenzie’s. She is the Senior VP of Maverick Entertainment Group and they specialize in marketing and distribution, two things I know absolutely nothing about. She was fascinating to listen to — a vital segment of the industry but one I’d never even thought of. What a treat!

My car was parked about 2 blocks away and on my way to it, I saw a man getting on a HUGE motorcycle, so of course I just HAD to say something to him: “Wow — your ride is a lot nicer than mine!” and we wound up speaking for about 20 minutes. It turned to be Assistant Director Stephen "Lucky" Luckingham. Wonderful man, and so knowledgeable. It was a warm night and the street was quiet and it was just such a pleasure to speak with a professional about something he was so obviously passionate about.

I’m SO glad I volunteered to work at this event, because not only did it make it POSSIBLE for me to meet all those amazing people, it made it EASY!

It was a beautiful, magical night and I am so delighted to have been a part of it.

Copyright © 2010, All Rights Reserved

Dr. Peter Breggin Interviews Novelist Pamela Glasner

2010-08-24T00:47:00.009-04:00

Psychiatrist Peter R Breggin MD is interviewing novelist Pamela Glasner about her book, Finding Emmaus, first in a fictional series. Ms. Glasner explores mental illness, corporate greed, political conspiracies and human differences....

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Aug 23, 2010 – Novelist Pamela Glasner is Dr. Peter Breggin's guest this week on his Tuesday night internet radio show "Live Like An American!" Ms. Glasner is the author of “Finding Emmaus”, the first in a fictional series called the Lodestarre series. “Finding Emmaus”, which takes place in the 17th and 21st centuries, is about mental illness, corporate greed, political conspiracies and society’s unfortunate inclination to treat people who are “different” as damaged goods.

Ms. Glasner is a Registered Reader at both the Royal Society of London and the British Library, where she did a significant amount of the research for “Finding Emmaus”, as well as a member of the Connecticut Historical Society and the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films.

Tune in Tuesday, August 24th, 9 PM, EST at http://www.windowstoliberty.com/ and click on the radio bar to listen live!

# # #
Peter R. Breggin, MD, has been opposing the overuse of biopsychiatric treatments and promoting empathic therapy for decades. His new reform organization is located at http://www.empathictherapy.org/, his professional site is http://www.breggin.com/.

The Many Hats an Author Must Wear - Book Signing & Presentation

2010-08-23T10:23:00.006-04:00

Please join Pamela S. K. Glasner this coming Thursday evening as she talks about how she created her story and its characters, what draws her to the subjects about which she writes, the many hats an author must wear, how she has combined the art of being a writer with the business of being an author, and the research behind and the future plans for her historical novel, Finding Emmaus.

This book’s got a little something for everyone: historical research, ghosts and spirits, mental illness, overcoming the most profound obstacles in order to become all you were meant to be, and living a life that matters.

This promises to be a fascinating evening — you won’t want to miss it!

Borders – Commack
68 Veterans Memorial Highway
Commack, NY 11725, USA

Thursday, 26th August, 2010 @ 6:00pm - 8:30pm

For questions, directions or other information:
631-462-0569

Books will be available for purchase and for signing.

Reservations are not required but would be appreciated by the staff at Borders.

An Explosive Trip to the Moravian Book Shop!

2010-08-22T09:55:00.006-04:00

So there we were, driving along on Route 78 West, a limited access highway with three lanes of traffic going in each direction, on our way to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. We were in the middle lane, moving along at about 70 MPH, overtaking a tri-axle truck. Just as we pulled up next to him, just as his rear wheels were right outside my side window (I was the passenger), his tire exploded!

I mean, REALLY exploded!

I’ve never seen or heard anything like it. Bluish-grey smoke burst out of the tire, black shrapnel showered our windshield and sprayed the side of our car, and the tread from his tire simply disintegrated right before my eyes. And the sound! OMG — even with the windows closed, the air conditioning on and the music playing, it was deafening. Scared the you-know-what out me.

No-one was hurt, thank goodness. We pulled off the road and onto the shoulder at the first safe place, and the truck driver pulled over immediately behind us. I got out and inspected my side of the car and, amazingly, there was no damage whatsoever. I called to the driver, “Are you alright?” and he smiled and waved.

Everyone was OK. And just like that, it was over. Of course, my heart didn’t stop trying to pound its way out of my chest for another 15 miles.

Way to get your blood flowing, that’s for sure!

Moravian’s, by the way, is a beautiful shop in a town so charming, you can’t help but feel as though you’ve just stepped into a Currier and Ives painting. My hosts were lovely people, and some old friends, Pennsylvania natives, whom I’d not seen in several years, were able to attend, so it was a nice afternoon, all around.

Pills & Politics: The Devil's Bargain -- and a Fun Afternoon!

2010-08-18T20:11:00.011-04:00

Authors Pamela S. K. Glasner and Dr. Peter Breggin pooled their resources and their creativity and the result was fabulous!

On Saturday, July 17th, 2010, they spoke together at the Ithaca Barnes & Noble Bookstore about their books, their experiences and, each in their own way, their personal -- and very passionate -- commitments to rectify a troubling situation which literally effects everyone from every walk of life.

The event was well-attended, the questions from the audience were excellent and, as you can see J, a good time was had by all!

Ms. Glasner & Dr. Breggin extend their thanks to all those who attended, plus a special thanks to Liz Hudson, the Community Relations Manager of Barnes & Noble Ithaca, for all her hard work on their behalf.

My Granddaughter's First Brithday!

2010-08-10T11:16:00.005-04:00

My granddaughter (my little Empath!) turns ONE in exactly 21 days!

I can't believe a whole year has gone by.

There's going to be party at Mom and Dad's and we're all going to watch Mia smash her very first birthday cake!
(Honey, get your camera ready.........)

“Finding Emmaus” takes a giant leap forward!

2010-08-01T08:38:00.007-04:00

VERY exciting news!

Listen in as Syl Kacapyr, host of Morning Newswatch WHCU-AM, ‘mentions’ the latest buzz about “Finding Emmaus” — it’s all very exciting and I’d love for you to share with me.

This interview was on Saturday, July 17, 2010, the morning of the Barnes and Noble author event called “Pills and Politics — The Devil’s Bargain”

Enjoy!

Click here: Pamela Glasner interview with Syl Kacapyr - July 17, 2010

The Lodestarre gets a YouTube page!

2010-07-27T08:23:00.005-04:00

Hey -- Look at me -- I'm on YouTube!!!

Or, more accurately, "Finding Emmaus" is.

Ladies and gentlemen, Pamela Glasner has entered th 21st century, albeit kicking and screaming :-)

I'd love it if you'd check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCOKQe1pF7o

"Finding Emmaus" new book trailer

2010-07-24T12:50:00.003-04:00

This video is a gift from a good friend of mine, Natalie Walker, from Lincolnshire, UK. Hope you enjoy it.

Moravian Book Shop in Historic Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Presents "Finding Emmaus"

2010-07-14T13:39:00.008-04:00

Author PAMELA GLASNER invites you to join her at Moravian Book Shop, the oldest bookstore in America, as she discusses how she created the story and its characters, her unlikely sources of inspiration, and how she intertwined Puritanism, the birth and growth of new nation, the myths and misconceptions of mental illness, true historical figures and aspects of the daily lives from the early 1600’s so that the lives and loves and experiences of her characters actually come to life.

“Finding Emmaus by Pamela S. K. Glasner is one of the most fascinating novels I have read this year. Honestly, this book had me from the opening paragraph and didn’t let go even after the book ended.”
~~Five-Star Review by April M. Hanson, San Jose, CA; ReviewTheBook.com~~

Books will be available for purchase, and Ms. Glasner will be available for signing them after the presentation.

Location: Moravian Book Shop — Historic Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
428 Main Street, Bethlehem, PA, 18018

Date: Saturday, August 21st, 2010
Time: Beginning @ 1:00PM, New York City time

You aren't required to make reservations, but if you'd like to let them know you're coming or if you have any questions, call Christine Hower at 610-866-5481

Finding Emmaus’ Great Success!

2010-05-06T16:29:00.009-04:00

“It was an honor and a pleasure,” said author Pamela Glasner, when she spoke of her remarkable opportunity to present her new novel, Finding Emmaus, at the prestigious Barnes & Noble at Lincoln Center in New York City.

“The year is 2008. I am, as I have been for the past two hundred and fifty-one years, ninety-eight years old.”

Those are the opening lines of Finding Emmaus, book one of The Lodestarre Series, and that, in part, is what Ms. Glasner shared with her audience on Monday evening, April 26th 2010, in their beautiful Event Room on the third floor.

Despite the day’s persistent downpours, the event was well-attended and both Ms. Glasner and her book were well-received. After a fifteen-minute presentation, which included the reading of two short excerpts, the floor was opened to the audience to ask questions if they wished. And ask questions they did … for 20 minutes.

“I've so much to be grateful for, so much to look forward to, and wonderful people in my life to depend on and celebrate with. And all I can say is Thank God.

“There’s no reason for any of this to have happened,” says Glasner of her new career. “Outside of my degree, which says I’m an English teacher, I've no formal training to be a writer. I had no résumé with which to wow a potential agent or publisher, nor did I have an office wall-papered with rejection slips or a bookshelf full of unwanted manuscripts.

“All I did was spend three days in a monastery at a silent retreat and, in the absence of external noise, I dug deep down inside myself and found the voice that’s apparently been clamoring for my attention for fifty-something years.”

Review of 'FINDING EMMAUS' by filmmaker and author Peter Thomas Senese

2010-05-05T10:45:00.006-04:00

A Timeless Masterpiece of Writing

Pamela Glasner’s ‘Finding Emmaus’ is an extraordinarily thoughtful, provocative, and brilliantly written futuristic novel built on deep historical information and insight that readers will unquestionably delight in both the story’s depths and spires. As an author and avid reader, I have become particularly discriminating when reviewing other writer’s written works and have purposefully not publicly written a review in two years. However, I thought that Pamela Glasner’s masterfully written story was worth breaking my current trend since I was so enraptured with the subject matter and Ms. Glasner’s writing style, and I think many will benefit from reading this story the way I have.

‘Finding Emmaus’ is in fact one of the most enjoyable and fascinating novels I have EVER read, and I simply cannot recommend or endorse enough Pamela Glasner’s delightfully marvelously written story of the human spirit, the pharmaceutical industry, and what appears to be dead-on accuracy about how we, as a society, have chosen not to celebrate our differences, but have tried to classify individualism as peculiar traits that must be brought into line.

In ‘Finding Emmaus’, which I want to point out is a clever title because biblically, ‘Emmaus’ is an alleged ‘home’ town of a biblical figure during the time of Christ, yet there is no historical data that demonstrates the town ‘Emmaus’ ever existed. However, Pamela Glasner’s metaphor of ‘Finding Emmaus’ or “Finding Home” is one I think mankind continues to search for. Regardless of one’s religious or philosophical beliefs, attaining an enlightened state is what we all seek, isn’t it? But what is ‘home’? Could it possibly be a peaceful celebration of our unique honesties and perspectives? Brilliant!

The story’s two main characters are Empaths possessing what society considers to be abnormal personality traits. Francis Nettleton and Katherine Spencer live three hundred years apart, yet their stories intertwine in this groundbreaking novel as they uncover a multibillion dollar conspiracy in which millions of Americans are being misdiagnosed and drugged so that the capitalistic engines greased by greed and narcissism that is the pharmaceutical industry will continue to earn fortunes.

Finding Emmaus, book one of The Lodestarre series, is writing at its best, and I believe we have amongst us in Pamela Glasner a rare author possessing dynamic insight into society’s complex social complacency matched by this literary maestro’s ability to weave a complex and complicated story built on brilliant character development and impeccable research. ‘Finding Emmaus’ is a story that needs to be heard as it is a call-to-arms against mankind’s tendency for complacency and desire for uniformity as much as it is a soaring endorsement of the celebrations found in the individualism of the human spirit.

After reading ‘Finding Emmaus’, for several days I sat and thought about the messages and storyline in Pamela Glasner’s sharply written story. At times I found myself thinking about ‘The Jungle’, about ‘The Brave New World’, and even some films that address the issue of conformity. In Pamela Glasner’s ‘Finding Emmaus’, readers everywhere have been given a rarity: a wonderful, can’t-put-down story so light and so heavy, so joyful yet so sad, so celebratory yet so frustrating, so current yet a call of what may be. Pamela Glasner’s ‘Finding Emmaus’ is a very special book that readers everywhere will delight in. I cannot endorse ‘Finding Emmaus’ enough, and I look forward to reading the next book in The Lodestarre series. This is writing at its best!

And, of course, please don’t forget to visit my website to read the previews of ‘Finding Emmaus’, book one of The Lodestarre Series.

Manure, Money and Mental Health - The Essentials of Life

2010-02-04T22:04:00.003-05:00

Saturday, February 20th, 2010

All are invited to an exhilarating afternoon of humor and seriousness as three dynamic women speak about three completely different yet surprisingly interrelated — and vitally important — aspects of life.

The event will take place at the Acton Library on Saturday, February 20th, at 2:00PM (That's New York City time)

The library is located at 60 Old Boston Post Road, Old Saybrook, Connecticut (USA). Please call 860-395-3184 for additional information.

Manure:
Maureen Haseley-Jones, aka The English Lady, is a much sought-after and highly respected lecturer, writer and radio gardening expert. In her talk entitled “Garden Earth”, she will speak to us about creating a beautiful organic garden without using the harmful chemicals that pollute the air, water, plants and indeed, our lives. Healing our planet, one garden at a time.

Money:
Diana Melville, CLU, ChFC, veteran financial planner and investment advisor with the Barnum Financial Group, lectures on a regular basis throughout the state of Connecticut. She sits on several boards and is currently president of the Old Saybrook Chamber of Commerce. Ms. Melville will speak on "The 10 Most Common Money Mistakes." This is must-hear information due to the very serious financial environment we are in today.

Mental Health:
Author and social advocate, Pamela S. K. Glasner will discuss her newly-published dark historical 350-year fictional yet factually-based journey through the history of treatment for the mentally ill and the intolerances of society for anything that is perceived as different, the disturbing contemporary trend of misdiagnosis and overmedication, spirituality and the ardent desire to lead a life that matters, and the indisputable human right of free will.

Copyright © 2010, All Rights Reserved

"...written with an assurance and style that seem like the product of years of published writing experience"

2009-12-06T07:50:00.011-05:00

“I find it hard to believe that this is Glasner’s first novel; it’s written with an assurance and style that seem like the product of years of published writing experience–far removed from so many first novels.”

~~A Review of Finding Emmaus by Hugh Ashton, December 5th, 2009~~

A book review that started through Twitter. A fellow-tweeter and author (who happens to live only two stations up the line from me here in Japan), Christopher Belton, wrote a review of a first novel by Pamela Glasner that piqued my curiosity and, thanks to his review, I ordered it from Amazon. He has since interviewed Glasner, who talks more about the book here.

Described as a “dark historic fantasy” on the book’s Web site, Finding Emmaus is far removed from the “sword and sorcery” type genre (Glasner complains that she is often asked if her books are “like Harry Potter”. They’re not.). It actually tells the stories of two lives, running in parallel, but separated by several hundred years. Francis (”Frank”) Nettleton, scion of a wealthy 17th-century Colonial family, discovers the truth about his fits of seeming depression (his “dark days”) which, as he finds out more, turns out also to be the truth about a surprising number of people, who go about their lives in a state of terror–the terror that comes from the results of being diagnosed as insane or possessed by the devil; torture or death at the hands of the self-appointed cleansers of society.

Katherine Spencer, a 21st-century property developer, finds herself troubled by the many of the same fears as Frank, and finds herself being drawn closer and closer to him as she flees from the 21st century’s equivalent of Bedlam–the psychotropic drugs overprescribed by doctors in an attempt to cure what is seen by the medical industry as mental illness.

As the story progresses, the results of Frank’s life work, his Lodestarre (guide) to aid those who are cursed or blessed with the special gift of Empathy, becomes a near-obsession with Katherine and those around her as she settles into the house where Frank lived and worked centuries before.

The plot twists and turns through the lives of Katherine and those around her, taking in the lives and passions of her friends, the bombshell she explodes under the US pharmaceutical industry, and the diagnosis and treatment of mental patients. Since Glasner has described Finding Emmaus as the first of a trilogy, I did discover that the end of the book leaves a number of loose ends untied (good – it makes me want to read the rest of the series) but rushes somewhat to tie up others, compared with the more leisurely pace of the rest of the book.

When I first started reading, I found the style a little difficult to get into – not that it’s self-consciously literary, but it’s very much more concerned with characters’ interior thoughts and feelings than my usual reading fare. On reading further, it’s obvious why this is so–the plot is so concerned with characters’ interior lives that the story had to be told from the inside.

Although I do understand why this has to be the case, I found Frank’s 17th-century persona to be too 21st-century, and his language to be too close to our own present-day dialect for my taste, at least. Although it’s hard to read, and harder to write, in a style similar to (say) Pepys or Defoe for extended periods, Frank’s language, as well as his 21st-century sensibilities and reactions, jarred at times with the little I know of that period of American history and society.

One writer’s works with which I might compare Finding Emmaus are those of Robertson Davies; in its historical sweep, involving a broad cast of characters spanning different periods, and with an emphasis on the spiritual, books such as Murther and Walking Spirits come to mind. I find it hard to believe that this is Glasner’s first novel; it’s written with an assurance and style that seem like the product of years of published writing experience–far removed from so many first novels.

The physical book itself caught my eye as an example of the bookmaker’s art. Glasner apparently chose many of the design features herself; for example, the chapter headings are backed by a faint underprinting of a 17th-century manuscript. The typeface is clear and adds a classic feeling without being self-consciously Olde Worlde (and the dreaded fake deckle edge has been avoided). Maybe book design doesn’t mean that much when ebooks seem poised to take over the world, but for those of us who grew up with sliced dead trees, this is a good example of what can and should be done to match the physical book with the contents.

So, my main question now is: when are the next two volumes coming out? I know that Glasner has another project bubbling away, but I hope that Katherine and Frank aren’t being pushed too far onto the back burner. I’m looking forward to finding out what happens next (and isn’t that the ultimate test of what makes a good book?).

~~Hugh Ashton, author of Beneath Gray Skies~~

Pamela's words are what Computer Graphic Imaging is to the movies!

2009-12-02T22:45:00.005-05:00

What an amazing book. Pamela explains in ‘Author’s Notes’ on how the story is a figment of her imagination, but she utilizes historical characters from America’s past, making her story more intriguing and even more fascinating.

This is a book that you just can’t put down. You will be right on the edge of your seat as she mentions various towns that are descriptive of real American towns on the East Coast. Pamela knows how to pull on America’s heart strings via her readers.

The heroes of this book are Francis Nettleton and Katherine Spencer, both empaths. Here is the doozy that will have you hooked: both empaths live three hundred years apart, but yet their lives are interconnected. Right in the beginning of this book, you can feel your adrenalin rush as Katherine is terrified after hearing the front door opening and slamming repeatedly, the motor for the lift starts and the lift keeps ascending, loud footsteps are heard, sounds of breaking glass and Katherine mustering up all of her strength as she yells out … “there’s no such thing as ghosts!”

As the story proceeds along at an exhilarating pace, you will learn about a character named Gilbert Bond that is Empathic, but the doctors misdiagnosed poor Gilbert. Gilbert is finally forcibly escorted to the Bethlem Royal Hospital. Gilbert starts a diary and when you read the diary, you will learn about the atrocities that were placed upon him. How he faced torture and humiliation. How pitch is thrown upon his body, how he screams in excruciating pain. How three brutish men shave his hair off and cut into his scalp repeatedly. The tortures continue and the reader is left with vivid images in their mind.

Pamela definitely knows how to play this story out as if it were a blockbuster motion picture! Pamela’s words are what CGI (Computer Graphic Imaging) is to the movies! This story is filled with references to not only historical characters, but even to sayings from movies like The Confession.

There is a mystery around every corner and it will even have you front and center with a government agency like the Center for Disease Control.

Yep! When I say this book is intriguing …I am dead serious! Finding Emmaus is not only a good read, but it also leaves strong images in my mind that will linger with me for a long time afterwards!
~~By Paul Dale Roberts, December 2nd, 2009~~
Reviewer and President of Jazma Online

Another 5-Star Review: "A Book You Can't Put Down"

2009-11-08T21:08:00.003-05:00

A book you can't put down..., November 8, 2009
By Debra A. Killian "The Mortgage Lady" (Connecticut)

Finding Emmaus is an exceptional read. I want to know everything about how this story came about. How did Ms. Glasner decide on these incredible characters? Has she met any Empaths? How could she so brilliantly write about their world?

While a work of fiction, I couldn't help but think about the reality of prescription drugs and the effect on our society. Her message is consistently articulated throughout the events she creates. I wanted to read ahead, instead I savored every word. How did she know these people from so long ago? Who were the inspirations for her characters?

This book kept me on a good edge, made me question my own emotions and believe that woven into this fiction, are traits, thoughts and experiences every reader can identify with. I loved her descriptiveness and choice of words; her creative concept that life altering events can happen "in between heartbeats."

Pamela Glasner's first book is without a doubt a must read and I look forward to the next in the series.

Of course, please don’t forget to visit my website to read the previews of Finding Emmaus, book one of The Lodestarre Series.

Copyright © 2009, All Rights Reserved

Finding Emmaus - an inspiring saga of which Michael Crichton would have been proud

2009-11-05T10:12:00.006-05:00

“Finding Emmaus”
By Pamela S.K. Glasner
ISBN: 978-1-934572-33-7

Review by Christopher Belton
Reviewer and Author of more than 40 fiction and non-fiction books

The promotional blurb for Finding Emmaus touts it as being a ‘dark fantasy,’ but this, in my opinion, does it a disservice, for it is much, much more. It is an inspiring saga of history, adventure, religion, politics, suspense, mystery and romance, all neatly wrapped up in a compelling conspiracy of which Michael Crichton would have been proud to have conceived. Admittedly, the plotline does touch upon certain aspects that could be considered paranormal in substance, but the overall effect of the book does not leave the reader with an aftertaste of ‘fantasy,’ but rather of having been introduced to a disturbing reality that will generate a slight sense of inadequacy for not having been aware of the problem before.

Finding Emmaus is a story about empaths; people who are naturally gifted—or cursed—with the ability to feel the emotions of others as acutely as if they were experiencing them themselves. Although encased within a single volume, the reader is in fact treated to two separate tales that evolve three and a half centuries apart, but which are intricately woven together with a common thread that is empathy. The plot examines the lives of two people—Francis (Frank) Nettleton and Katherine Spencer—who have both been troubled since birth by the gift/curse of empathy, albeit in different ways. Frank is a product of the seventeenth century, during which any form of eccentricity was diagnosed as madness or devil-worship and dealt with severely. Katherine, on the other hand, is a product of the more enlightened twentieth century, yet the lack of any clinical method to diagnose empathy has resulted in her being treated as a manic depressive and poisoned with expensive drugs that have no hope of providing her with solace or a cure. The tragedy of the empaths induces Frank to do something about it, and in order to complete his life’s work, he reaches across the centuries and recruits Katherine to his cause.

Ms. Glasner is an exceedingly capable writer who has managed to consistently incorporate two distinct styles of writing within the same book; a feat that would be beyond the reach of most authors. Frank’s story is written in the first person, and when this is put together with Katherine’s story, which is written in the third person, the reader is left with the impression that the book has been co-authored by Ms. Glasner and Frank himself. The historical atmosphere of the early settler days of Connecticut rings especially true, and the warmth that the prose exudes speaks volumes about the author’s love of her subject.

One point that I found particularly impressive—and of which I write with envy—is the way in which the book starts. Ms. Glasner has attained the Holy Grail of fiction by writing an opening that is so compelling that I defy anybody to read it and then put the book aside; as follows:
The year is 2008. I am, as I have been for the past two
hundred and fifty-one years, ninety-eight years old.

If pressed to criticize the book, I would have to say that I was a tad disappointed that the conspiracy concerning pharmaceutical companies was not developed further as the book drew to a conclusion, but if I were to be honest with myself, I would probably put this down to the fact that I just didn’t want the book to end. It was a great read and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Finding Emmaus is Ms. Glasner’s first novel, yet it contains all of the elements that could be expected of a much more experienced author. I am sure that I will not be the sole reader who is deeply thankful that it represents only the first book in the Lodestarre Series.

And, of course, please don’t forget to visit my website to read the previews of Finding Emmaus, book one of The Lodestarre Series.

Copyright © 2009, All Rights Reserved

Sharing 'Finding Emmaus' in Essex, Connecticut & Webster, Massachusetts

2009-10-30T20:31:00.006-04:00

Author Pamela Glasner talks about her new novel, Empathic personalities, madness and the indisputable human right of free will

The psychiatric community has confused Empathic personality traits with mental illness with tragic results. This unsettling historical fantasy, Finding Emmaus, takes the reader on a harrowing 350-year fictional yet factual journey through the history of treatment for the mentally ill, eventually exposing a multi-billion dollar conspiracy in which millions of Americans are being misdiagnosed and drugged for no other reason than the enormous income they generate.

Author Pamela Glasner will discuss the present and historical treatment of the mentally ill, what it means to be an Empath, the stranglehold the pharmaceutical industry has on the American population and how all of that came together in this dark, unsettling book.

Saturday, November 14th from 1:00PM to 3:00PM
Booklover's Gourmet
55 East Main Street
Webster, MA, 01570
Debra Horan - owner
508-949-6232 – phone

Sunday, November 15th from 3:00PM – 4:00PM
Essex Books2 Essex SquareHistoric Essex VillageEssex, CT 06426
Sue McCann - owner
860-767-1707 - phone
I would very much like you to be there if at all possible — it’s so much better when I can enjoy this with people I know and care about!

A special thank you goes out to Debra Horan of Booklover’s Gourmet and Sue McCann of Essex books in advance for their interest, generosity and hard work – both of these promise to be a great events!

And, of course, please don’t forget to visit my website to read the previews of Finding Emmaus, book one of The Lodestarre Series.

Copyright © 2009, All Rights Reserved

Authors and Arachnids

2009-10-23T10:05:00.013-04:00

I’m thinking about doing a series of blogs on all the sleazy predators out there who have no particular talent themselves beyond the ability to zero in on their preferred victim: an up-and-coming hopeful with wishes and dreams, someone who possesses a sacred, God-given gift to write or paint or sing or act, but more importantly, possesses a wallet. I've heard those predators referred to as sharks, snakes, vultures, leaches, creatures lower than whale dung, but in my mind’s eye, I see a being whose body is dominated by one simple body part: the open hand. And who’s got more hands than a spider?

If you think about it, the arachnid really does conjure up the perfect image. It can sit down beside you, cross its legs and still have six appendages available to dangle carrots, rifle your belongings, stroke your ego and feel around in your pockets all at the same time — and still have two hands left-over: one proffering the pen with which to sign on the dotted line, the other covering its mouth so it can simultaneously hide the drool and the gluttonous smile.

And where’s the harm? After all, it’s not asking you for all of your life savings, just a portion of it — in advance, please. But it’s okay, it croons, as it begins spewing platitudes and sugar-coated venom, it’s such a pittance in comparison with the jewels I will one day lay at your feet: ten minutes on Oprah, sixteen column inches in the New York Times, a Hollywood contract, the Nobel Peace Prize and, on your way to the Pearly Gates, nothing short of canonization.

Now I want to ask you a question: has the following ever happened to you?

You go to the dentist and he informs you that you need a lengthy, expensive, invasive procedure known as a root canal. You’re in pain so, obviously, you agree to go ahead with it, but you’re apprehensive. You’ve never had one, you don’t know what it’s going to be like, you don’t know what you’re going to feel like. Of course you’re going to do it, you’re just nervous. And then it happens.

Every Tom, Dick and Harry, every butcher, baker and candlestick maker in your life and dozens of them who are not in your life are suddenly in your face telling you that they, too, had a similar experience. When you got out of bed that morning, you didn’t know anyone who’d ever had a root canal but by suppertime dental patients were crawling out of the woodwork.

You know what I mean. Even if it’s not about the dentist, it’s still happened to you, right? An insurance claim, a car accident, a delayed flight, a bad meal at a good restaurant. Whatever the circumstances, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. We’ve all experienced the same phenomenon: If it’s happened to you, it’s happened to a dozen others who never once thought to mentioned it before, but suddenly have an overwhelming need to tell you all about it now.

That’s how I know I’m not alone when I say I spend a good portion of my time dodging the sharks and the snakes and the vultures. In fact, I’m in very good company. “Everywhere you turn,” sings Sarah McLachlan, “there's vultures and thieves at your back.” Wannabe’s — people who wannabe nothing more than in my checkbook.

And it really is a shame. It’s a sad commentary on humanity that no matter how much we evolve, we will always be divided up between the predator and the prey; we will always have to contend with shallow, hollow, miserable leaches who have nothing to give and therefore nothing to lose and therefore no problem devastating the dreams of the talented, the dedicated, the idealistic — as long as they get to line their pockets.

I've been up most of the night thinking about one such predator in particular, a person working overtime to ooze their way into my life with brazen demands of unfettered access and dubious promises of silver and gold and riches beyond imagining. I’m grateful I've been blessed with this gift worth coveting, and I’m equally grateful I've been blessed with the wherewithal to recognize a well-disguised arachnid when I see one, and I know that I will, along with the rest of us who have something of value to offer the world, spend the rest of my life en guard. I just can’t help but sigh in frustration when I think about it. Such a waste of good energy.

Oh, one final thing: Yes, I know — the way an arachnid’s body is structured, it cannot actually sit like humans do, but it makes a heck of a good image, doesn’t it?

Copyright © 2009, All Rights Reserved

Finding Gratitude – Celebrating the Birth of Finding Emmaus

2009-10-19T01:49:00.009-04:00

I love talking about my book. Can’t help it — no point in dissembling or trying to deny it. Anyone who knows anything about me, or has spoken with me for even five minutes, will tell you that. I also love addressing a crowd — as long as I’m passionate about the subject matter. So, when October 8th rolled around, I was absolutely in all my glory. After all, what could I possibly be more passionate about than my new ‘baby’, my novel, Finding Emmaus?

It’s funny: I expected the day to be somehow different. Not sure how, just different. Perhaps everything outside would look clearer, more sharply defined. Perhaps the air would feel crisper or the sun would shine brighter or my bagel would taste better. I read once, a long time ago, that life-altering events “come in on cat’s paws” and I know that to be true. I don’t tend to walk around blinded by rose-colored glasses, but still … I couldn’t help but think, deep in that little girl’s heart of mine, that it might have been nice for the universe to stand up, even for a moment, and take just a little more notice … if only enough so that maybe walking the dog would take on some new, prophetic meaning.

But the universe did not cooperate … and, frankly, neither did the dog.

No matter. It was a lovely day and by the time the evening rolled around, I was excited but relaxed and confident and above all, deeply grateful for all I've been blessed with.

There’s no reason for any of this to have happened. Outside of my degree, which says I’m a high school English teacher, I've no formal training to be a writer. I had no résumé with which to wow a potential agent or publisher; I did not have an office wall papered with rejections or a bookshelf full of unwanted manuscripts and I certainly was not living the life of a starving artist. All I did was spend three days in a monastery at a silent retreat and, in the absence of external noise, I dug deep down inside myself and found the voice that’s apparently been clambering for my attention for nearly fifty-six years.

They say things come in threes and I think maybe that’s so, for I now celebrate three births: my new granddaughter, my new book, and this miraculous but strange new woman I have become. I love her, I’m just spending a little extra time in the “sizing her up” stage of our relationship.

Coincidentally (and I don’t believe it coincidences!) it looks as though The Lodestarre Series will be a trilogy.

The Book Launch Celebration was a great success. Friends I’d spoken with but had not actually seen in thirty-eight years drove in from New Jersey and Washington DC just to be with me. Beth Devlin, the events coordinator for the Wallingford Public Library, outdid herself. The publicity was excellent, the room was beautiful, and Beth herself was cool as a cucumber and the consummate professional. She managed everything so smoothly, the evening just couldn’t have been better.

I've a lot to be grateful for. And a lot to look forward to. And wonderful people in my life to depend on and celebrate with. And all I can think to say is “Thank God.”

You can read a preview of my book, the first three chapters, here.

Finding Emmaus is now available in the UK through Amazon, as well as in the US in these fine independent bookstores: Burgundy Books, Essex Books, Powell’s Books.

Copyright © 2009, All Rights Reserved

Author Event Coming This Week

2009-10-13T01:02:00.003-04:00

On Thursday, October 15, 2009 at Burgundy Books in East Haddam, Connecticut, at 6:30 PM, I will be introducing my new book, Finding Emmaus and talking about my writing experiences and how Finding Emmaus came to print. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing at the conclusion of the program.

Burgundy Books is owned and run by Linda Williams and is located at:
4 Norwich Road
East Haddam, CT 06423.

The phone number is 860 873-9312. If possible, if you could register in advance, that would be great.I'd love to see you there – especially if you were unable to make the Book Launch in Wallingford. http://www.burgundybooks.net/Pamela_Glasner.html

Please feel free to invite a friend with you or pass this invitation along to anyone whom you think might have an interest in books about historical fantasy, the paranormal, Empaths, ghosts or the conspiracy between Big Pharma and the US-FDA.

And, of course, please don’t forget to visit my website to read the previews of Finding Emmaus, book one of The Lodestarre Series.

Copyright © 2009, All Rights Reserved

Unique Subject, Uniquely Written - A Five-Star Review by Karen Pio

2009-10-09T01:32:00.003-04:00

Unique Subject!! Uniquely Written!!, October 8, 2009
A Five-Star Review By Karen Pio "Distinguishing Reader" (Southington, CT USA)

Spectacular beginning! Whoa!! I had to quiet myself down, cut off all noise and take everything else out of my head and put it on a shelf when I first read the first line of "Finding Emmaus." Thus I was able to finally concentrate on my third reading of the beginning paragraph. "Did I read that right?" I pondered... What?? WOW!! Who would have thought of such a GREAT "pull-in" to a book? Glasner. Who else? With that, Once I got my head around it, I couldn't put the book down for some time.

Unfortunately, real life stepped in (a big move) and I had to leave the world that Francis and Katherine were living ... and into the one before us. It was bad... concentrating on my work when this magnetic book pulled on my heart strings to return.

Glasner didn't just get my immediate attention. She has kept that attention and sense of renewal learning more and more about Empaths and the psychiatric community. It has shaken me into being more aware of my surroundings, doctors, medicines for myself and family.

When is the next Lodestarre?

As a new author, one might wonder how Glasner came upon this subject and how she sought out information, history. Her research is impeccable and her bibliography exemplary. Hmmm, maybe it begins as a novel but it isn't long before you can reach out and touch these people - people who actually lived and died and were misunderstood in the worst way simply because others chose not to pay attention to something, someone other than themselves and their own pocketbooks. Pharmaceutical companies, Be Damned!

Open-mindedness and new worlds explored - THIS is what I'm talking about.

Don't miss your opportunity to read an amazing offering from Glasner - and an opportunity to widen your horizons!

Finding Emmaus is available in the US and the UK through many fine outlets including:
Amazon.com http://shrvl.com/m351C
Amazon.co.UK http://bit.ly/Iaz4a
Powell’s http://shrvl.com/PHI3V
Borders.com http://shrvl.com/kC6Na
Barnes & Noble http://shrvl.com/hp5y1
Burgundy Books, East Haddam, CT http://www.burgundybooks.net/
The Book Depository, UK: http://shrvl.com/cFQ0W
Booklover’s Gourmet http://www.er3.com/book/

Copyright © 2009, All Rights Reserved

A Reader's Most Agonizing Predicament

2009-10-04T22:59:00.007-04:00

I just received the most amazing compliment about my book, "Finding Emmaus". It was sent to me by Burt Kempner, a filmmaker from Florida. He wrote:

Dear Pamela,

My deepest apologies for not getting back sooner. I was notified late Friday that I have to report to Paris on Wednesday and on top of all that my computer crashed (I'm on a borrowed one now). But I did manage to finish "Finding Emmaus" this afternoon.

What a glorious thing you have birthed, Pamela. The characters, the plot, the pacing -- all right on the money. You presented me with a reader's most agonizing predicament: torn between reading each page carefully for the nuggets your research disclosed and wanted to gallop ahead to find out what happens next. That is the storyteller's mission since we gathered around fires to keep sabre-tooth tigers at bay.

A work can be exquisitely written, fraught with symbolic meaning, and if I don't care what happens to the characters, it's a failure. Based on that yardstick, "Finding Emmaus" is a resounding success. You've done fantastically well, and set a very high bar for yourself.

OK, enough flowery tributes. Now get back to work!

Love,
Burt

(Burt Kempner, Filmmaker, Gainesville, Florida)

And, of course, please don’t forget to visit my website to read the previews of Finding Emmaus, book one of The Lodestarre Series.

Finding Emmaus is available in the US and the UK through many fine outlets including:
Amazon.com http://shrvl.com/m351C
Amazon.co.UK http://bit.ly/Iaz4a
Powell’s http://shrvl.com/PHI3V
Borders.com http://shrvl.com/kC6Na
Barnes & Noble http://shrvl.com/hp5y1
Burgundy Books, East Haddam, CT http://www.burgundybooks.net/
The Book Depository, UK: http://shrvl.com/cFQ0W

Copyright © 2009, All Rights Reserved

"Finding Emmaus": an incredible read from the very first page!

2009-09-28T21:29:00.011-04:00

Reader Views - Carol Hoyer, PhD
7101 Hwy 71 W #200; Austin, Texas 78735
512-288-8555
http://www.readerviews.com/
admin@readerviews.com

Finding Emmaus (The Lodestarre, Book One)
Pamela S. K. Glasner
Emerald Book Company (2009)
ISBN 9781934572337
Reviewed by Carol Hoyer, PhD, for Reader Views (9/09)

"Finding Emmaus" is such an incredible read from the very first page! If you have ever thought about unique individuals you have come across in your life, then the story involving Katherine and Frank will certainly give you food for thought.

For centuries many individuals have been labeled as being mentally ill and have been treated with experimental drugs, inappropriate treatment and torture. Today, even with all the modern science, we still treat individuals with special talents with lack of concern or interest. The pharmaceutical companies own us- they make millions of dollars off of us and really don’t care if their medications are causing harm.

Francis Nettleton and Katherine Spencer are two such special people who lived over three-hundred years apart, but both were considered to be crazy or lunatics. Neither knew what special talents they had; their mood swings and dark days consumed them and the medical field misdiagnosed them. Each went on a lifelong search to find out why they received the ability to feel others emotions and if there were others like them. Francis had the help and guidance of many in the “special community,” but it took him until he was on his deathbed to finally come to terms with what he had learned and how to help others like him.

Katherine knew there was something different about her, but she couldn’t figure out what it was until a close friend suggested she might not really be mentally ill, but an Empaths. Empaths are individuals who through no choice of their own can tune into others thoughts and feelings in the present and past. Being an Empath is not learned, it is inherited. These individuals like Francis and Katherine are caring, compassionate people. They have the ability to tell if someone is lying or not. Much like Indigo children, these individuals have a purpose on earth.

The author has given readers a wild journey to take with Francis and Katherine. She provides historical data, romance, mystery and an insight into how we as a society now, and in the past, truly view those individuals who have been labeled with mental illness. As readers go on this journey they will learn many things and will come to be saddened and angered at how “unique” individuals are treated. The vivid descriptions of characters, time and place and events will keep readers up all night reading. This reading will certainly make you re-look at your previous thoughts about life and society in general. After reading this one will look at friends, family and acquaintances in a different life and maybe even question if they are an Empath. Very powerful reading and I can’t wait to read the second book.

Pamela Glasner has a unique talent and insight and through her writing shares her knowledge with readers in “Finding Emmaus.”

And, of course, please don’t forget to visit my website to read the previews of Finding Emmaus, book one of The Lodestarre Series.

Copyright © 2009, All Rights Reserved

World of Prospective Meets Empaths

2009-09-25T19:08:00.002-04:00

World-of-Prospective-radio.com will be interviewing me LIVE this coming Tuesday, September 29th @ 6:00PM Pacific Time / 9:00PM Eastern Standard Time / 2:00AM British Summer Time.

We will be talking about Finding Emmaus, Empaths, determining whether the intense emotions you’re experiencing are yours or someone else's - in other words, whether or not your are having an Empathic event.

We will also be discussing ghosts and spirits, mental illness, abuse of human rights, and BigPharma’s collusion with the FDA. You can just listen or you can chat live. If you’d like to chat, you will need to sign up in advance. Follow this link to hear all the pertinent information: http://shrvl.com/8O1Yo

I hope you can join me!

And, of course, please don’t forget to visit my website to read the previews of Finding Emmaus, book one of The Lodestarre Series.

Copyright © 2009, All Rights Reserved

It’s Party Time!

2009-09-22T10:47:00.005-04:00

The official release of Finding Emmaus, book one of The Lodestarre Series, will be celebrated at a Book Launch Party on October 8th at the Wallingford Public Library from 6:30PM to 8:00PM in the Community Room.

As written on the home page of the Wallingford Library’s website:

Author Event: Pamela Glasner
Thursday, October 8th at 6:30 p.m. in the Community Room.

Connecticut author Pamela Glasner's first novel, Finding Emmaus: the Lodestarre Book One has just been published. This is your chance to hear about her writing experiences and how Finding Emmaus came to print. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing at the conclusion of the program.

Please register in person, online, or by phone at (203)265-6754.

I would very much like for all my friends to be there if at all possible to help me celebrate one of the most exciting events of my life.

I would especially like to thank the staff at the Wallingford Library in advance for their interest, generosity and hard work - this promises to be a great night!

And, of course, please don’t forget to visit my website to read the previews of Finding Emmaus, book one of The Lodestarre Series.

Copyright © 2009, All Rights Reserved

Now That’s Weird! Glastonbury Radio - Reprise

2009-09-20T22:50:00.013-04:00

It was my great pleasure to be interviewed by world-renowned radio presenter, Ross Hemsworth, this past Friday night, on his show, Now That’s Weird. The topic was my book Finding Emmaus, the unsettling historical fantasy. Our conversation ranged from Empaths to mental illness to the collusion between the US FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and the out-of-control pharmaceutical industry.

I even got to answer some questions from our listeners, which I loved! The show aired at Friday night, September 18th at 6:00PM EST (that was 6:PM New York City time) and 11:00PM BST (London time). To those who were able to listen to us live, thank you very much. For those who could not, sorry you missed it - it was loads of fun!

The interview in its entirety is here:
http://www.nowthatsweird.co.uk/index1.php (at least, for the time being, until I can figure out a better way to get it onto my blog - I am SO technologically pathetic!!)

(NOTE: If you wish to bypass the intro and the music and get right into the heart of the interview, then fast forward the file to 7:54 minutes into the hour)

And, of course, please don’t forget to visit my website to read the previews of Finding Emmaus, book one of The Lodestarre Series.

Copyright © 2009, All Rights Reserved

Press Release - Sept 17th, 2009

2009-09-17T22:25:00.019-04:00

For immediate release
Contact: Publicist, Deborah Riley-Magnus
(310) 637-1424

DARK HISTORICAL FANTASY
AUTHOR PAMELA GLASNER
SPEAKS TO THE MEDIA

September 17, 2009, Hartford, CT – Connecticut author, Pamela Glasner, speaks in several media venues to promote her first novel, Finding Emmaus, book one of the Lodestarre series. Finding Emmaus, to be released October 1, is a dark fantasy which exposes the contemporary pharmaceutical industry conspiracy, a subject about which she is passionate.

The psychiatric community has confused Empathic personality traits with mental illness with tragic results, leading two Empaths – Francis Nettleton and Katherine Spencer – who live three hundred years apart, on personal journeys to learn the true nature of Empathy. Transcending time and death to right a centuries-old wrong, they inadvertently uncover a multi-billion dollar conspiracy in which millions of Americans are being misdiagnosed and drugged for no other reason than the enormous income they generate.

Finding Emmaus, is a complex, dark, historic fantasy about human frailties and courage. It is an intricate, meticulously researched, deeply disturbing, suspenseful tale of love and sacrifice, obsession and the abuse of power and the indisputable right of free will. It is a story with an intriguing cast of characters who will keep you guessing as to what they will do and what choices they will make as they weave in and out of the story and each other’s lives.

Ms Glasner’s author events and media exposure currently include:

EVENTS
10/1 - Release of Finding Emmaus, book one of The Lodestarre Series
10/8 - Book Launch party, Wallingford Library, CT
10/13 - Wethersfield-Rocky Hill Rotary Club, Rocky Hill, CT
10/15 - Burgundy Books, East Haddam, CT
11/15 – Essex Books, East Haddam, CT

MEDIA INTERVIEWS
9/13 - Workers Radio Sydney, 88.9FM, Australia
9/18 - "Now That's Weird" Radio Show Interview with Ross Hemsworth, Glastonbury Radio, Glastonbury, England
9/29 - "World of Perspective" Radio Show Interview with Elizabeth Alraune
10/2 – “So Many Books” Television Show with Toni Andrews, CPTV, airing in seven states

ONLINE PROMOTION
Healing Our World http://shrvl.com/5ymb3
Xanga Blog – Monday Book Promo http://shrvl.com/5wO0x
Reflection’s Edge - Online Magazine http://shrvl.com/99414
Whispers of the Muse http://shrvl.com/vB0kP
Twitter http://twitter.com/PamelaGlasner
Facebook http://shrvl.com/58b3n
Finding Emmaus Website http://www.lodestarre.com/index.html
The Lodestarre: Finding Emmaus Blog http://lodestarre.blogspot.com/

ONLINE BOOK SALES VENUES
Amazon.com http://shrvl.com/m351C
Amazon.co.UK http://bit.ly/Iaz4a
Powell’s http://shrvl.com/PHI3V
Borders.com http://shrvl.com/kC6Na
Barnes & Noble http://shrvl.com/hp5y1
Burgundy Books, East Haddam, CT http://www.burgundybooks.net/

Ms. Glasner is managed by Publicist, Deborah Riley-Magnus. Finding Emmaus is published by Emerald Book Company, an imprint of Greenleaf Book Group. It is scheduled for release on October 1, 2009, and can be ordered now at the above-noted online book sales venues.

For more information, or to schedule an interview or speaking engagement with the author, please contact, Ms. Magnus at (310) 637-1424. Attachment, book cover.

###

Please don’t forget to see the previews of my book, Finding Emmaus, book one of The Lodestarre Series.

Copyright © 2009, All Rights Reserved

Now That’s Weird, Glastonbury Radio

2009-09-16T14:29:00.005-04:00

I am so delighted that I’m going to be Ross Hemsworth’s guest on his radio show Now That’s Weird this coming Friday evening. We will be talking about my book Finding Emmaus, the dark unsettling historical fantasy about empaths, mental illness and the collusion between the US FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and the out-of-control pharmaceutical industry.

The show airs at 6:00PM EST (that’s New York City time) and 11:00PM BST (that’s London time). If you want to listen to us live, then please go the show’s website which is located at http://shrvl.com/9430U

Please don’t forget to see the previews of my book, Finding Emmaus, book one of The Lodestarre Series.

Finding Emmaus has arrived!

2009-09-13T08:45:00.006-04:00

If anyone had ever told me I’d consider a UPS truck to be the most the beautiful vehicle in the world, I’d have thought they were nuts. But there I was, standing in my doorway, with a smile on my face that began at the right side of my mouth and wrapped around my head three times before it ended at the left, gazing upon this dark brown truck as if it was about to deliver the Pearly Gates themselves.

Finding Emmaus has finally arrived.

It doesn’t matter that this whole thing began on a frigid wintry morning at a secluded monastery in upstate New York more than a year ago, not any more than it matters that I knew, all during the five months it took me research and write Finding Emmaus, that this moment would come. I’d been promised an October launch by my publisher and I’d been given a tracking number a week in advance and I’d had ample warning my books were on their way and when the truck was opened and the cases were lifted out, none of that mattered one bit. Nothing - and I mean NOTHING - had prepared me for what it would feel like when I held my book in my hands for the first time.

The psychiatric community has confused Empathic personality traits with mental illness with tragic results, leading two Empaths—Francis Nettleton and Katherine Spencer—who live three hundred years apart, on personal journeys to learn the true nature of Empathy. Finding Emmaus is a meticulously researched, deeply disturbing, suspenseful tale about love and sacrifice, the abuse of power, a multi-billion dollar conspiracy and two ordinary people willing to risk everything to save millions of people who’ve been ostracized from society and victimized because they are mistakenly labeled mentally ill.

You can read a preview of my book, the first three chapters, here.

Finding Emmaus is now available in the UK through Amazon, as well as in the US in these fine independent bookstores: Burgundy Books, Essex Books, Powell’s Books.

Copyright © 2009, All Rights Reserved

Healing Our World

2009-09-08T07:05:00.007-04:00

I am so deeply touched I hardly know what to say - and that’s probably the wrong thing for a writer to say, isn’t it? After all, am I not supposed to be The Woman With The Words? But this one actually - and quite literally - rendered me speechless. Fortunately, not for very long.

On Monday, Sept 7th, my fellow tweeter - yes, ladies and gentlemen, a friendship born of the virtual world of Twitter! - took it upon herself to honor me with a post on her wonderful blog, Healing Our World.

But this is not just any blog post - this one has heart. And soul. And it moved me deeply. Because she believed that the message of Finding Emmaus was worthy of inclusion in a website dedicated solely to healing humanity. Beautifully formatted in her exceptionally professional-looking blog and with lovely words of her own, Dee Braun, humanitarian, visionary, healer, tweeter, mom, and writer in her own right, told the world about Finding Emmaus.

I've said it before: I'd never really seen myself as an agent for social change, but through Finding Emmaus, wonder of wonders, ready or not, I have become one. And what’s even more stunning to me is that, since the April 3rd, when I posted my very first tweet, I have been graced with introductions to a plethora of amazing women who, like Dee (and, I suppose, like me), passionately want to make this world a better place.

So, while this post of mine is partially meant as a heartfelt thank-you to this remarkable woman, it is also meant as a means to get you to check out her site, her mission, and maybe even spur you to action.

Copyright © 2009, All Rights Reserved

My Deepest Gratitude to The British Library

2009-09-04T08:08:00.003-04:00

To the incomparable staff at the British Library:

I am an American author who wrote an unsettling, meticulously-researched story exposing the conspiracy between the pharmaceutical industry and the US Food and Drug Administration … the latter’s abysmal failure to protect the public at large from the former’s greed and callous disregard for the sanctity of human life.

This blasé attitude is nothing new. The omnipotent have a long, inglorious history of blithely victimizing and marginalizing the one segment of society which most desperately needs help and is the least able to fight for it.

Finding Emmaus travels 350 years back in time to illustrate how we as a society historically and routinely trample the rights of the mentally ill. I never expected to uncover a conspiracy. Rather, I fully intended to illustrate how the mentally ill are disregarded and mistreated, but out of fear and ignorance, not out of malice. Imagine my surprise!

My greatest challenge was locating historic records dating back to the early 1600’s. In the grand scheme of things, US history is relatively young. Early settlers lived day-to-day knowing their survival tomorrow quite literally depended upon every minute they spent today. If they couldn’t make it or grow it or trade with the local tribes for it, they did without it.

That meant they had little time for such discretionary pastimes as writing their memoirs - and of course there no newspapers. So written accounts of the settlers’ lives, their beliefs and values and pre-conceived notions are rare … HERE. But in London, within the extraordinary archives of the British Library, I was able to find scores of books, letters, essays and diaries without which, though my book could certainly have been written, would not be nearly as rich.

Finding Emmaus is a deeply disturbing story about human frailties, the abuse of power and the indisputable human right of free will. The British Library played a significant part in the development of this book and for that I am deeply grateful.

Copyright © 2009 by Pamela S. K. Glasner, All Rights Reserved

A Study in Contradictions and Normal as Apple Pie

2009-09-03T22:51:00.007-04:00

At 55 years of age, I’m still searching around, trying to figure out just who and what I am and what I’m doing here. All this stuff’s been bouncing around in my head and I’m trying to sort it out, so I thought, “Maybe if you get it down on paper, Pamela, you can make some sense of it.” Maybe …

First and foremost, I love writing. It fills my heart. I’d rather write than do anything else. It’s the greatest gift God has ever given me, only I had no clue ‘til I was 54.

I go to church every week. Makes perfect sense to me: After all the incredible gifts I’ve been given, wouldn’t it just be the height of arrogance and ingratitude to not be willing to give up even one hour out of my life each week to say thanks?

"Finding Emmaus" is a fantasy, but it addresses some very real social issues, nationally and globally. Of course, like any author, I have fantasies of my book flying off the shelves and then having red carpets and rose petals beneath my feet. But what I REALLY want is to be able to look back on my life and know that the fact that I've lived and breathed amounted to something more than simply being here, taking up space and natural resources. If my writing opens the eyes of even a few people long enough to start some serious debate about these critical social issues, then I've succeeded.

Can just one person make a difference? That’s what I’m banking on …

Beyond that, I have the patience of a saint with a canvass and a paintbrush, or paper and pen, but do not suffer fools, gladly or otherwise. I am a deadly negotiator, a no-bullshit business woman who just happens to cry at Harry Potter movies and even G.E. commercials. Anyone who rapes a woman or molests a child should be shot on sight … after being gelded. And yet I believe that people CAN change, that as long as there is breath in someone’s lungs, salvation IS possible. Still haven’t figured out how to reconcile those two…

I love Frank Sinatra and ZZ Top, Vivaldi and Patsy Cline, wintry afternoons in my ‘jammies’ and evenings at the theater, Harry Potter and Humphrey Bogart. Blue flowers make me stop in my tracks and oil paintings of seascapes mesmerize me. “How The Grinch Stole Christmas” is an annual must-see and I never, ever pass up an opportunity to watch “Goodfellas”. I adore cooking for a crowd and serving my guests fine red wine … and when I’m alone in the house, watching an old movie with my cat Maxi curled up around my toes, I just love eating macaroni and cheese.

What I think I've concluded is that, though I know I am a unique being unto myself, the very fact at I am a study in contradictions makes me as normal as apple pie! Whew - thank goodness!

Copyright © 2009 by Pamela S. K. Glasner, All Rights Reserved

Conspiracies and Social Networking

2009-09-02T07:46:00.002-04:00

On Friday, August 21st, I had the privilege of being interviewed by Shennandoah Diaz, newly-appointed editor of Reflection’s Edge, an online magazine “for thoughtful readers and writers”, which houses fiction and posts articles to “help writers improve their writing.”

Here is that interview: http://shrvl.com/99414

The Arrival of Mia Rose

2009-08-31T22:29:00.001-04:00

May I present my granddaughter, Mia Rose, just an hour old - my future little empath!

CONNECTICUT AUTHOR’S DARK HISTORIC FANTASY EXPOSES CONTEMPORARY PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY CONSPIRACY

2009-08-27T15:32:00.006-04:00

.
For immediate release...

August 27, 2009, Hartford, CT – Connecticut author, Pamela Glasner, is proud to announce today that the release of her first novel Finding Emmaus, book one of The Lodestarre Series, is confirmed for October 1, 2009. The novel has been a heart wrenching journey of love for Ms. Glasner, culminating in this triumphant release.

“The only thing worse than having an incomprehensible, incurable illness is having an incomprehensible, incurable illness in isolation”
~ Francis Nettleton, 1739 ~

The psychiatric community has confused Empathic personality traits with mental illness with tragic results, leading two Empaths – Francis Nettleton and Katherine Spencer – who live three hundred years apart, on personal journeys to learn the true nature of Empathy. Transcending time and death to right a centuries-old wrong, they inadvertently uncover a multi-billion dollar conspiracy in which millions of Americans are being misdiagnosed and drugged for no other reason than the enormous income they generate.

Finding Emmaus, book one of the Lodestarre series, is a complex, dark, historic fantasy about human frailties and courage. It is an intricate, meticulously researched, deeply disturbing, suspenseful tale of love and sacrifice, obsession and the abuse of power and the indisputable right of free will. It is a story with an intriguing cast of characters who will keep you guessing as to what they will do and what choices they will make as they weave in and out of the story and each other’s lives.

Ms. Glasner is managed by Publicist, Deborah Riley-Magnus. Finding Emmaus is published by Emerald Book Company, an imprint of Greenleaf Book Group. It is scheduled for release on October 1, 2009, and can be preordered now through Amazon, http://shrvl.com/I35n1.

For more information, or to schedule an interview or speaking engagement with the author, please contact, Ms. Magnus at (310) 637-1424. Attachment: Finding Emmaus cover pdf.

###

For more information and updates on the status of Finding Emmaus, which is due out October 1st, please visit http://www.lodestarre.com/FindingEmmaus.html

Trying To Turn On The Lights - with Tony Serve and Kevin P Miller

2009-08-21T21:31:00.005-04:00

On August 19, 2009, it was my honor and privilege to be interviewed once again by Tony Serve of Perth, Australia, but this time with renowned film producer/director Kevin P. Miller. The audio is entitled: “Big Pharma’s huge profits from human suffering featured in brilliant documentary and awesome new novel, listen to Producer Kevin Miller and author Pamela Glasner”.

I had a wonderful time speaking with these two dedicated and gifted men; they were both brilliant!

I hope you enjoy listening to it.

http://shrvl.com/0UV8I

.

Can’t Have A New Life ‘Til You Let Go Of The Old

2009-08-11T11:17:00.002-04:00

I cleaned my office this weekend - not vacuuming and dusting, but going through each and every little scrap of paper that was on my desk and, piece by piece, discarding it or filing it. Usually that task would feel arduous, but this time it was easy, almost enjoyable.

Why, I wondered, when I was done? Why did I enjoy it? Why was this time different from any other time?

Was it, I wondered, indicative of what’s to come, of what my life is about to be? Was it symbolic? Was I making room for new “stuff” by letting go of the old?

I was thinking about flying this weekend, how birds do it. I was on my way out to the orchard when a sparrow flew passed me, just above my head, not three feet away, close enough so I could hear the fluttering of his wings and his movement through the air and I remembered that birds have hollow bones, that they have to in order to lift themselves off the ground.

It’s an odd feeling I have as a result of this past weekend’s cleaning, as though I weigh less. I’m not referring to body weight, I’m talking about my heart and soul. I’m talking about a shedding of ‘mass’, a slow and steady casting off, link-by-link, of the Jacob Marley chain I've forged over the course of a lifetime and have hauled around with me since time began.

I don’t know if clearing the clutter out of my house is the reason for this feeling or if this feeling is what precipitated the clearing. Classic chicken and egg. All I know is, I’m getting ready to fly.

I’m not sure if that flying is a spiritual thing or if it’s just something as mundane as getting from point A to point B on a 747 during my upcoming book tour. Perhaps it’s both.

Whatever it is, I find myself embracing it, welcoming it. And that’s a huge change for me (there goes another link from that chain!) because “change” and the “unknown” used to scare the pants off of me. And now here I am, looking forward to it.

I am no longer terrified of it - rather, now I await it’s arrival like a child at a snowy evening windowsill, on the watch for reindeer.

Copyright © 2009, All Rights Reserved

Surviving Cancer Isn’t JUST About Your Body - Not For Me, Anyway

2009-08-10T09:26:00.013-04:00

I've been thinking about 17 years ago - imagine that, a full 17 years since I had cancer - when I was in that support group at the Woman’s Health Center in Vernon. The American Cancer Society had sponsored a 16-week class for patients and survivors and their friends and families - anyone, really…

They'd bring in presenters on all kinds of topics: the proper way to walk with a cane, how to use makeup and wigs while going through treatment, planning for death in terms of money and funeral arrangements - you name it, they talked about it. Nothing was off limits.

Occasionally the speaker would be one of us, one of the survivors. And on one particular evening, this one particular woman spoke and now, 17 years later, I can still see her face - her beautiful, healthy, vibrant face, framed by thick, wavy brown hair which she laughingly assured us she had NONE of just two years prior. And I can hear her voice as if it was yesterday.

She’d gone through skin cancer and was telling us about the very first symptom she was aware of: her skin itched. A lot. She told us, “Don’t get nervous, ladies, I’m not talking about the kind of itch you get from a little bit of dry skin. I’m talking about an itch that you couldn’t scratch with a crowbar!” And I remember thinking, in the midst of my fear and my grief and my pain, “Wow, what a great description - sure wish I'd have said something like that.”

And then I scolded myself for thinking that. I mean, here’s this woman standing before us - and there were a lot of us - opening herself up, sharing her innermost feelings about the worst thing that ever happened to her, about one of the worst things that could ever happen to anybody, and I’m sitting there being envious because I’m supposed to be the woman with the words!

Sheesh!!

And then I just imagined this huge hand coming down from the Heavens giving me a “shoulda hadda V-8” slap upside the head, reminding me: it’s OK, Pamela.

When you come that close to facing your own mortality, believe me, you get it: when it comes right down to it, there’s really not all that much that isn't okay.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

2009-08-03T20:32:00.008-04:00

DARK HISTORIC FANTASY EXPOSES
CONTEMPORARY PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY CONSPIRACY

August 3, 2009, Hartford, CT – Connecticut author, Pamela Glasner, who originally hails from New York City, announced today that the release of her first novel Finding Emmaus, book one of The Lodestarre Series, is scheduled for October 1, 2009.

“The only thing worse than having an incomprehensible, incurable illness is having an incomprehensible, incurable illness in isolation”
~ Francis Nettleton, 1739 ~

The psychiatric community has confused Empathic personality traits with mental illness with tragic results, leading two Empaths – Francis Nettleton and Katherine Spencer – who live three hundred years apart, on personal journeys to learn the true nature of Empathy. Transcending time and death to right a centuries-old wrong, they inadvertently uncover a multi-billion dollar conspiracy in which millions of Americans are being misdiagnosed and drugged for no other reason than the enormous income they generate.

Finding Emmaus, book one of The Lodestarre Series, is a complex, dark, historic fantasy about human frailties and courage. It is an intricate, meticulously researched, deeply disturbing, suspenseful tale of love and sacrifice, obsession and the abuse of power and the indisputable right of free will. It is a story with a cast of characters who will keep you guessing as to what they will do and what choices they will make as they weave in and out of the story and each other’s lives.

Ms. Glasner is managed by Publicist, Deborah Riley-Magnus, (310) 637-1424. Finding Emmaus is published by Emerald Book Company, an imprint of Greenleaf Book Group. It is scheduled for release on October 1, 2009, and can be preordered now through Ms. Glasner’s blog at http://lodestarre.blogspot.com/.

Finding Emmaus will also be available for preorder in mid-September through Amazon.

For more information, or to schedule an interview or speaking engagement, please contact the author, Ms. Glasner at 860-533-9665.

Finding Emmaus - The Video

2009-07-28T14:23:00.006-04:00

Twice in this month, I had the pleasure of speaking with Tony Serve of Perth, Australia, a presenter at Radio 6pr (6pr.com). I am awed by Tony’s commitment to the rights and dignity of all those who have been (and are still being) victimized by drug companies - a multinational industry which callously pumps tons of toxic waste into millions of unsuspecting citizens.

Unfortunately, the inappropriately drugged “mentally ill” are not the only victims in this ongoing conflict. For every person who is being misdiagnosed and over-medicated, there are parents and husbands and wives who love them and children who desperately need them, there are sisters and brothers who miss them, there are bosses and co-workers who must deal with lost productivity, there are mounting debts that ordinary citizens wind up paying through increased insurance rates or increased taxes or increased medical charges. One way or another, everybody loses - except the pharmaceutical industry.

In an economic environment where layoffs and firings and downsizings and closings have become the norm, this one industry - with its billion-dollar budget to spread around Washington DC - has increased its bottom line from $12 billion $69 billion in four short years!

The following video is the result of those two conversations I had with Tony:

http://tinyurl.com/mhuyfw

Copyright © 2009 by Pamela S. K. Glasner, All Rights Reserved

The Inalienable Human Right: The Right to BE

2009-07-28T08:13:00.009-04:00

Katherine Spencer, Empath, on Patients’ Rights
(an excerpt from Finding Emmaus)

“Maybe, just maybe, it’s time to err in favor of patients’ rights a bit. I don’t know how much you know about the history of mental patient care, but most of what I’ve learned and all of what I’ve experienced would be enough to keep Hollywood up to their ears in horror films for a decade.

“Second only to the very young and the very old, there’s no easier target for abuse than the mentally ill. They have very few defenses and fewer advocates. Many times, particularly when they’re medicated, they have no way to express what’s happening to them, so they can’t even say something as simple as ‘Doctor, I’m having terrible side effects’ or ‘this isn’t working for me’.

Are you aware that as recently as twenty-eight ago, twenty-seven states in this country - our country! - were actively forcing surgical sterilization on Americans who were diagnosed as mentally ill?

And keep in mind: there’s no definitive test for mental illnesses like bipolar disorder. It’s all your doctor’s best guess based on the information available and accepted medical norms at the time. So, what if they were wrong? How many people were sterilized ‘accidentally’?

“Worse than that, a few of the governors of those states, though they have apologized, claim there’s no need to even consider compensation because the victims are mostly dead and, of course, there wouldn’t be any offspring to compensate! They actually said that - using the tragic results of their abuse as a means to evade responsibility. It’s despicable.

“The pendulum will probably swing way too far to this side for a while, but maybe that’s what’s needed - not to endanger anyone - even one more lost life would be a tragedy - but it’s got to stop.”

Copyright © 2009 by Pamela S. K. Glasner, All Rights Reserved

Helping Others to Find Human Dignity ... and Shelter From The Storm

2009-07-23T15:14:00.004-04:00

I had the pleasure of speaking with Tony Serve a second time regarding "Finding Emmaus', Empathy, Big Pharma and human dignity.

It's all here: http://ow.ly/i0Yw

I can't begin to say how grateful I am that Tony and I have become friends. I just love how passionate he is about my book and the message it's meant to convey.

We spoke of many things: what it's like to be an Empath, what it's like to be erroneously labeled mentally ill, what it's like to be the victim of a political and industrial machine so large and so well-funded that fighting it seems like a lost cause even before you get started.

"Finding Emmaus" is a multi-faceted story with twists and turns and many circuitous paths, but in the end it’s about one thing and one thing only: seeking - and helping others to find - shelter from the storm.

To learn more about Tony and his personal commitment, visit his blog at http://tonyserve.wordpress.com/ or follow him on Twitter @perthtones.

"Finding Emmaus" will be in the bookstores on October 1st and on Amazon.com in mid-September. You can reserve a signed first edition by clicking on the red link to the right.

Talking About Big Pharma w/ Tony Serve

2009-07-13T08:13:00.003-04:00

On Saturday, July 11th, I had the pleasure of speaking with Tony Serve of Perth, Australia, a presenter at Radio 6pr (6pr.com).

We discussed my upcoming book, Finding Emmaus, the pharmaceutical industry’s terrible abuse of those who are tragically labeled mentally ill and governmental agencies which so miserably fail to protect anyone.

I am so very impressed with Tony’s stand on the subject and his commitment to shine a spotlight on this vitally important issue which literally effects millions the world over.

Please follow the link http://tonyserve.wordpress.com then scroll down to Pamela Glasner talks about her new book Finding Emmaus, Empaths, Big Pharma and bi-polar and click on that.

Tony ROCKS!

Copyright © 2009, All Rights Reserved

Funny thing happened on my way to becoming an author, part one

2009-07-03T05:01:00.008-04:00

I was recently asked the question: Aren’t you giving up an intimate part of you when you write?

My answer? Yes and no.

OK … OK … I know … that’s no answer and it sounds like a cop-out. But the truth is, it is yes and no. Maybe I am giving something up. But then again, maybe I’m not.

It doesn’t feel as though I’m losing anything.

To my way of thinking, it’s feels more like digging way down deep inside and accessing it. Certainly, once my words are published, they will be shared with the multitudes - and, God willing, the multitudes will keep up their end of the bargain (my bargain, anyway!) and partake of the sharing - but I never think about that when I'm writing. I never think about what’s going to happen to my words later on.

I think if I gave that part of the process - what it might mean once my readers have my words in their hands and then in their minds and eventually in their discussions with each other … if I stop to consider my audience … I might be inhibited. My writing might be inhibited.

Oh, mercy, I hope that doesn’t sound self-aggrandizing! It’s not meant to. It’s just that I write from a place inside me which is so primal and profound, it’s honestly still a mystery to me.

When I write, I don’t really think about anything. In truth, I've learned that I do my best writing when I get out of my own way, mind my own business and just let it happen … in other words, when I don’t spend too much time thinking about it. When I just let it flow, the story and the characters seem to create themselves. And those seem to be the phrases or the paragraphs or the chapters of the story which move me the most - even when I go back to them several months later.

So, am I losing some intimate part of me? Am I giving something up? I don’t believe so. It never feels like “giving”. It feels more like praying.

Copyright © 2009, All Rights Reserved

Rocks, Walls and Epiphanies

2009-06-15T08:45:00.005-04:00

A friend of mine, a film producer, recently asked me in an e-mail what was going through my mind when I wrote “Finding Emmaus”. He said, “I meet so many people who confidently tell me that their book or play or film is going to change the world. Invariably their works are boring and pedantic. My take is that we need to tell the best story we possibly can. If, after being exposed to our work, people are inspired to make positive changes in themselves or their communities, great. But that's a happy by-product. Story matters above all.”

People who know me now but did not know me just a few years back may be surprised by this but, prior to this huge ‘epiphany’ of mine nearly two years ago, I was about as unemotional a person as one could get. I didn’t cry at tear-jerker movies and I CERTAINLY never cried in front of anyone - ever. I used to be envious of my friends who COULD cry on their way out of the movie theater, friends who could then tearfully, joyfully, tell the people waiting in line what a wonderful film it was and how much they’d enjoy it.

These same high school friends, and then, later on, my co-workers, firmly believed I was hard as a rock and twice as strong and everyone loved to lean on me ‘cause I never shed a tear. I was the one to go to. I was Wonder Woman, Underdog and The Rock of Gibraltar all rolled into one. I resented, BTW, that everyone automatically assumed I was so strong that I never needed arms around me, but I kept my mouth shut because I was like that.

I clearly recall a time in my late 20’s when an incredulous friend said, “…YOU need help? But Pamela, you’re so strong. It never occurred to me you’d be weak.” One of those memories which pops up occasionally in living color and brings with it anger and resentment in waves.

I was NOT a rock, I was behind a wall. But I had no idea and neither, apparently, did anyone else…

Something changed one day - August 8th 2007 - and I don’t know why. I can remember the exact moment, where I was, what I was doing, and the photograph I was staring at which is now indelibly etched into my brain as the foundation - and the starting point - of this “Dream Quest” I’m on, this path of mine which I am now certain ‘has a heart’ (thank you Don Juan and Carlos Casteneda!).

From that moment on, I've become a different human being. At first, and for a long time thereafter, I thought I was losing my mind. ALL I could do was cry - over anything. A GE commercial could reduce me to a quivering bowl of Jell-O. I still cry easily, but at least now I’m not afraid it’s a sign of impending insanity.

That said, I can now answer Burt’s question.

The only thing on my mind when I created the town and the people of Duncaster / Weavers Bridge, CT, and then the story and then the book “Finding Emmaus” was an almost frenzied need to write it with everything I had in me.

That’s all I knew: just tell the story.

And the way I knew I had written a phrase or a sentence or a paragraph or a chapter just right, the way I knew I had ‘nailed it’, was my emotional response to it as I wrote. If I didn’t cry, I put what I had written aside and started again. And I’m not just talking about the sad or emotional parts of the story - I mean EVERYTHING. If it didn’t touch my heart, even if was only a paragraph to describe how the early Puritans identified which plants they could use to dye their cloth blue, it got rewritten.

I didn’t write “Finding Emmaus” to be famous or change the world or to impress anyone. I wrote it because I HAD to. Seven hundred and fifty pages came pouring out of a part of me I did not know existed and still have yet to locate.

Copyright © 2009, All Rights Reserved

What A Piece Of Work Is Man

2009-06-09T05:03:00.004-04:00

The process of writing my novel, “Finding Emmāus”, of creating and then developing each and every one of its characters, made me think deeply about what I write, about what is vitally important in my stories, made me truly evaluate what goes on in the deepest, most secretive parts of human personalities, the differences and the nuances from one human to another. Their actions, reactions and interactions with other characters within the story had to be consistent with their personalities throughout the book. I had to learn to really look at what makes people ‘tick’.

And in the process, I learned as much about me as I did about them - perhaps more…

I've always known that life is precious, just as I've always believed human beings to be resilient creatures. But life is also a fragile thing and prior to this time (prior to writing “Finding Emmāus”) I never truly appreciated just how fragile.

I never really thought about what went on inside the walls of a hideous place like Bethlem Royal Hospital in the 17th century, or what the original settlers of this country went through when they lived day to day knowing their survival tomorrow quite literally depended upon every minute they spent today - - if they couldn’t make it or grow it or trade with the Native Americans for it, they did without it.

But I also know this: life, even in its most profoundly tragic moments, gives us a break - as in the way we humans will fondly recount an amusing story about a recently-lost loved one, even at a funeral.

Fragile and resilient, heroic and terrible, determined and pitiable - Hamlet had it right when he said “What a piece of work is man!”

Copyright © 2009, All Rights Reserved

In Search of a Glimpse of Light at the End of This Tunnel

2009-06-07T07:22:00.007-04:00

I lately find myself wanting to let all my friends and family know that, while I've been largely incommunicado within both of those communities - neglecting social engagements and phone calls and e-mails - I've not forgotten about anyone at all, even though it may look like that.

I’m having to divide my time and energy between writing my next book (which, in and of itself, can be a full-time job!), working with the publisher to bring “Finding Emmāus” to market, composing posts for this blog, managing my real estate holdings which I had on the market but, because of this lousy economy, never did sell, and Twitter (yes, Heaven help me, I’m a Tweeter!), which my literary agent was all but adamant I join and honestly, has become a huge boon for me and my future as an author.

Add that to church and elderly parents and a husband and a home and a son and a brother and a cat and a dog … (*takes a deep breath*) … and I'm seriously considering having myself cloned!!!

The majority of my communication/connection with the outside world, other than the occasional e-mail which invariably begins with “Dear So-and-So, sorry it’s taken me so long to get back to you…” seems to be via these blog postings - at least they keep me feeling connected to humanity in some small way.

So I plod my way through this new, suddenly and dramatically reinvented life of mine, learning - one itty-bitty baby step at a time - how to balance it all, desperately hoping everyone understands or, at the very least, tolerates and forgives!

I've never been a published author before and I'm still trying to feel my way. And right now I spend lots of time feeling as though I'm in one of those absolutely lightless fun-houses… I love it but I'm not sure where I'm headed or when I'll catch a glimpse of light at the end of this very unsettling but absolutely trilling tunnel.

Copyright © 2009, All Rights Reserved

Finding Emmāus - The Very Human Need To Fit

2009-06-05T03:02:00.004-04:00

I’m not sure just how much of children copying the styles of other children is peer pressure (something which is external) or how much of it stems from the innate human need for community (something which I see as internal). I think humans have universal needs - needs which would not be “universal” if they originated from an external source. Among those are the need for acceptance and community.

Humans are not solitary beings. We’re not like bumble bees. We’re social creatures, preferring the herd. Are there exceptions? Of course. Some of us live out our lives in seclusion, others want the comfort of knowing friends and family are near but still require “alone time” on a regular basis.

But in general, most of us want to feel as though we are a part of something bigger than ourselves: a family, a place of worship, a social network, a neighborhood…

So, back to my earlier statement about children mimicking the behavior of other children. I’m not all that convinced it’s a learned response. I think it’s more likely an internal - and very primal - need for attention, for security, for love. The youngest of infants have those needs. No way that’s born of societal pressure.

Children learn very quickly that the road to attention, security and love is paved with approval, beginning with Mom and never truly ending.

If I buy a dress like yours or move into the same neighborhood as you or start listening to the same music you listen to or start following the same sporting events you follow, I have just made a public declaration that what you have or what you are or what you like or what you do is worthy of imitation - the sincerest form of flattery, right? And if you, in return, give me the approval (aka love) I crave, then I have just become a part of something outside of me, a part of you, a part of a community and I am therefore no longer alone.

Conversely, without that, there’s a huge hole in me - sometimes big enough to drive a truck through.

If I’m different - if I’m an Empath or if I’m bipolar or if I’m a witch- then I don’t get to have that acceptance, that feeling of belonging, that security, because people will go out of their way to avoid me. I will become isolated. People shun me because they’re afraid or they don’t understand or they just don’t know how to handle my “different-ness”, my uniqueness.

When you get right down to it, no-one really wants other people to be that different from themselves. I think people would prefer that others fall in line with what they consider to be the norm because that’s their comfort level.

This is the foundation of “Finding Emmāus”: two Empaths in two different centuries dedicating their lives to the celebration of those differences and to putting an end to the isolation.

Copyright © 2009, All Rights Reserved

"Finding Emmāus" goes live!

2009-05-28T12:32:00.004-04:00

I truly enjoyed Tuesday night's interview with Cori Brackett at www.SweetRemedyRadio.com

I was quite nervous in the beginning because it was my first live interview, but Cori is such a splendid host, she put me at ease very quickly.

We discuss several different aspects of the story: empathy, early Puritan history, psychotherapeutic drugs, the collusion between the pharma industry and the FDA, advocating for those who've been ostracized from society, what it was like for me to write the book.

I'd be honored if you'd take the time to listen. It's located at: http://tinyurl.com/p3xjlw

I hope you'll find it interesting.

Say Yes to Gratitude!

2009-05-13T11:54:00.002-04:00

In a recent article, Dr. Gloria Burgess, author, coach and spiritual leader said, "Say yes to gratitude. Research confirms that when we feel thankful, our body chemistry actually changes."

Well, I can personally attest to that. I am an author with a new novel being published this October.

When asked how I feel about everything that is happening, all the writing, the research, the meetings and conference calls, the time away from my family and their blessed flexibility, the planning and marketing and promoting, choosing fonts and colors and jacket designs and countless other details, the one constant since the very first day I picked up my pen and put it to the paper has been a seemingly boundless feeling of gratitude.

I may have occasionally fantasized about it, but I never believed I had a novel in me. And I certainly never guessed there’d be a way to get it out of me! Whatever it was that lead me to create “Finding Emmaus” (and I do have some private notions!), I will be grateful for the rest of my life.

Thank you, Dr. Burgess, for so eloquently putting my feelings into words. I honestly do pray that others get to experience what I’m feeling and what you’ve so beautifully expressed.

Please follow this link (http://www.gloriaburgess.com/) and get to know Dr. Gloria Burgess, a woman whom, as she so delightfully states it, dares to wear her soul on the OUTSIDE!

Copyright © 2008, All Rights Reserved

Pamela Glasner is Interviewed by Antubert on "Live Test Radio"

2009-05-08T22:32:00.003-04:00

My 'Live Test Show' Interview about my upcoming book, “Finding Emmaus”. The show was recorded at the end of April.

Here is the link: http://tinyurl.com/ra7bx9

You'll need to advance the control to 14.30 minutes into the show to where my part begins...

Enjoy!

What is of ultimate value?

2009-05-06T11:00:00.015-04:00

I recently read an article by Tom V. Morris, PhD, present-day philosopher, author and founder of The Morris Institute. In it he asks the question, ‘What is of ultimate value?’

The article is exactly what I have come to expect from Tom: thoughtful introspection on issues of vital importance stated in hauntingly beautiful prose the likes of which could not be improved upon regardless of which author might make the attempt (myself humbly included).

His question, ‘What is of ultimate value?’ touched me deeply. It is something I've lately paid closer attention to than anything else in life. The process of writing my novel made me truly evaluate what goes on in the deepest, most secretive parts of human personalities, the differences and the nuances from one human to another.

I've always known life is precious, just as I've always believed humans to be resilient creatures.

But life is also a fragile thing and prior to this time (prior to writing “Finding Emmaus”) I never truly appreciated just how fragile.

I never really thought about what went on inside the walls of a hideous place like Bethlem Royal Hospital in the 17th century, or what the original settlers of this country went through when they lived day to day knowing their survival tomorrow quite literally depended upon every minute they spent today - - if they couldn’t make it or grow it or trade with the Native Americans for it, they did without it.

What is of ultimate value?

I suppose that’s different for each of us -- and I would not presume to foist my opinion on anyone else.

But it truly touches me to see that the question has been posed, that the question itself has value.

You might want to click on the following link http://tiny.cc/rp1Sx and read Tom's article, "The End of Philosophy?" in its entirety - he's an absolute delight.

Copyright © 2008, All Rights Reserved

The Dreaded Synopsis!

2009-05-03T16:00:00.006-04:00

After stringing 170,000 words together into a coherent document and calling it a novel which, believe me, was no easy task, I found myself in the unenviable position of having to create - OH NO!!!! - The Dreaded Synopsis!

Of course, I’m no expert. I can only speak from my own experience. But I’d be willing to bet that if you ask any author who’s ever had to write one, particularly their first one, the reactions you get will all be pretty similar: something akin to a shudder.

But I think I figured it out. At least, I figured out what worked for me. So I thought I’d share it.

After struggling with it for what felt like ages, it turned out that the best way to tackle it was to shorten it to just one sentence and work from there. Believe it or not. I’ll tell you how it came about:

My agent had instructed me to come up with an elevator pitch - a one-sentence, 20 or 30 second description of my book. I freaked out! 750 pages boiled down to one sentence? I thought, you’re nuts!

Of course, I didn’t say that - I just said, “Yes, Yoda, you teach, I will follow”

I was going to a premiere screening of a friend’s movie at a film festival and media types were expected to be there and Pamela (my agent is also Pamela - makes for very interesting conference calls) told me I needed to be able to pitch the book to them for future interviews - and I’d only have 20 seconds to do so.

So I agonized and scribbled and typed and edited and swore (Tsk, Tsk - New York City girl that I am!) and typed some more but eventually - in about 2 days - came up with one perfect sentence. From there the rest was a piece of cake.

What I learned from that exercise is that it’s so much easier to start with something tiny and expand on it, then to start with something huge (like my outrageously long novel) and shrink it.

Once I had the one sentence, Pamela said, “OK, now you need a 100 word synopsis. You’ll need that for newspaper announcements as we get closer to the launch date.”

That only took about an hour to write and perfect, though I admit I tweaked it a few times over the next few days.

Then she said, “OK, now you’ll need one with 200 words, 500 words and 750 words - to send to the media when they want to interview you, to post on your website, to start requesting endorsements, and so on.”

Which was fine with me because once I had the 100 words, the rest came VERY easily.

Copyright © 2009, All Rights Reserved

What "Finding Emmaus" Is All About

2009-04-27T20:52:00.004-04:00

“Finding Emmaus”, book one of The Lodestarre series, is a complex, dark historic fantasy about love and loss, obsession and the abuse of power, human frailties and a determination to live a life that matters.

The psychiatric community has confused Empathic personality traits with mental illness with tragic results, leading two Empaths, living three hundred years apart, on personal journeys to learn the true nature of Empathy. Transcending time and death to right a centuries-old wrong, they inadvertently uncover a multi-billion dollar conspiracy in which millions of Americans are being misdiagnosed and drugged for no other reason than the enormous income they generate.

Francis Nettleton, 17th century Empath, grew into adulthood believing himself to be insane. Eminently moral but the product of a society steeped in myths and misconceptions, he makes some less-than-prudent decisions which set in motion a murder for which he cannot forgive himself, a murder which will reverberate through four families and three centuries.

Three hundred years later, enter Katherine Spencer. After years of being hospitalized and drugged, she is given a rare opportunity: a second chance at life. At fifty-four, after being told that, rather than being insane, she’s more than likely Empathic, she sets out to find Francis and the legendary Lodestarre, both 300 years gone, in the hopes she can finally learn to live.

In the process of finding herself and mastering her newly-discovered abilities, Katherine unwittingly becomes the champion for the voiceless millions who are being victimized by a corporate machine of such omnipotent political power that she literally puts her life on the line when she challenges the all-but-unstoppable pharmaceutical industry, America’s most powerful and affluent lobby.

Then, into Katherine’s life comes Sally Cavanaugh, powerful - though novice - Empath with a secret infatuation which eventually transforms into a full-blown obsession. Overshadowing her ability to discern right from wrong, this obsession just might jeopardize every good thing in her life and everyone else’s - just to get what she wants.

In Wiccan tradition, there is the Book of Shadows; in Christianity, the Bible; even the secular world has its encyclopedias. But for Empaths, there was nothing of the sort until Francis Nettleton sacrificed everything and made it his life’s mission to create one authoritative body of knowledge, one central set of guiding principles - and he named it The Lodestarre. This manuscript is nothing less than the lifelong, selfless passion of one man’s profound desire to put an end to the relentless persecution and needless suffering of anyone who did not - or could not - fit the societal mold.

“Finding Emmaus” is an intricate, meticulously-researched, deeply disturbing, suspenseful tale of love and sacrifice, brutality and greed, courage and politics and madness and faith. It is a story with a huge cast of characters who will keep you guessing what will happen, what they will do and what choices they will make from one minute to the next as they weave in and out of the story and each others’ lives.

Copyright © 2009, All Rights Reserved

Inspiration, Alan Rickman Style

2009-04-15T18:32:00.007-04:00

Part-way into writing “Finding Emmaus”, I came across an Alan Rickman interview on YouTube. The topic was “Snow Cake”, a very moving film which I adore.

The interviewer (whom I cannot remember) had asked Mr. Rickman a question about finding a balance between sorrow and humor in a movie such as this, which intertwines several stories simultaneously, all of which are profoundly sad. Mr. Rickman’s response was, “All good writing has humor in it.”

Naturally, my brain leapt directly into its databanks, searching the already-written portions of my book for instances of humor, in fear that my readers might, after turning the final page, sink into months of depression, wishing they’d never heard of a bookstore. But then he said something which really blew me away. I mean really. The long-range effect of his next two words - yes, just two words, nine letters - was a permanent shift in the way I write.

He said, “Even Ibsen.”

Several things happened in rapid succession:

The camera never left Mr. Rickman’s face, so I never actually witnessed the interviewer’s reaction to those words. However, based on Mr. Rickman’s subsequent reaction, I got the distinct impression those two words went completely over the interviewer’s head. Not only didn’t he see it coming, he never saw it as it flew on by and departed.

Meanwhile, I was thinking, “Ibsen? Humor?? Hmmm. Hmmm? Nah…” I remember Ibsen from school and I don’t recall a whole lot of giggling in the classroom.

Then I thought, “Well, maybe he was joking.” Except he didn’t look like he was. So then I thought, “OK, this is an educated man, probably well-read, maybe there’s another Ibsen I’m not aware of.”

So I Googled the name and of course I came up with the one and only. I got my hands on copies of “A Doll’s House”, “An Enemy of the People” and “Ghosts”, bound and determined to find the humor that Mr. Rickman, a man I very much respect and admire, had said would be there.

All this happened right about the same time “Creditors” opened in London - a play Mr. Rickman was directing. In the hopes that I’d see it, I decided I needed to read that play as well, just so I’d know what to expect once I got to the theater. I’d read lots of reviews, most of them good, all of them claiming this play to be ‘darkly comic’.

So there I was, pouring through Ibsen and Strindberg, becoming increasingly agitated as the pages went by. Something was wrong. I wasn’t laughing. But I kept reading. I’m sorry, it wasn’t funny to me, just pathetic. I never even cracked a smile.

And then my dream was realized, I made it to London and got to see “Creditors”. And I LOVED IT! Not only did I smile, I roared.

And so I was forced to come to a very sad conclusion: obviously something is missing in me, some internal mechanism which would otherwise allow me to comprehend and appreciate a play with the same depth of emotion with which I understand the rolling narrative of the novel. Must be a some defect in my DNA. I’m missing that gene. Just as some folks will never wiggle their ears and others will never roll up their tongues to resemble a bakery pastry, I just don’t read plays right (*sigh*).

But I also get to live with something else, something I will cherish and hold dear for the rest of my life. Those two words, “Even Ibsen”, inspired me to think deeply about what I write, about what is vitally important in my stories. Life, even in its most profoundly tragic moments, gives us a break - as in the way we humans will fondly recount an amusing story about a recently-lost loved one, even at a funeral.

Mr. Rickman’s words changed the way I write, but more than that, they forever altered the way I observe when I read.

Maybe one day I’ll get the opportunity to thank him in person.

Copyright © 2008, All Rights Reserved

Seeing Is Part Of Believing - Musings of an Author

2009-04-14T20:27:00.005-04:00

One of the things I went out of my way to avoid while I was writing "Finding Emmaus" was physical descriptions of my characters. With few exceptions, I kept them very superficial:
- Frank is tall and, at 60-something years old, has grey hair
- Hannah Moreland is petite and hyperactive, much like an arachnid
- Alice Bond is tall and stately, very slender, moving through her home and her life like a wraith
- Katherine is short with long hair and Sally has a figure to die for
But that’s about as detailed as I got in most cases and that was deliberate.

As readers become more and more involved in a book, I think they ‘see’ what’s going on inside their heads and, as part of that, ‘see’ images of the people who play out the story, and imagine the people in a way that makes the story more meaningful to them.

My feeling was that I would detract from that individual, highly personal experience if I superimposed some arbitrary physical description of a character which might be contrary to what the reader needed to see in order to believe in it.

And that would benefit neither the reader nor the writer - and do the story itself a great injustice.

New Family Member Introduces Herself

2009-04-11T07:48:00.003-04:00

OK - so this is nothing about the book, but it's exciting news nevertheless and needs to be announced:

My son and daughter-in-law called me yesterday afternoon to tell me that they just had their latest sonogram and the baby is girl! Her name is going to be Mia Rose. What a trip!

Maybe she'll be fascinated by Empaths and want to write a book about all things Empathic, just like her Grandma .....

I'm beside myself with excitement. I never had a little girl so I never got to buy all those sweet dresses and hair bows and all the things I wanted to buy. And, of course, now I'm Grandma, so it's my moral obligation to buy all that stuff and spoil her ROTTEN, right???

Of course, if she's anything at all like me, she'll be a tomboy (just like I was) and be so busy beating up all the boys and playing football and wading into the pond to catch frogs and proving she's not afraid to jump off the roof of the garage that I'll never get to buy any of those adorable little dresses!

Have a blessed Easter everyone!

Update from the publisher - I guess they like Empaths, too!

2009-04-06T18:45:00.006-04:00

Finding Emmaus is a dark historic fantasy, two concurrent stories, one set in the 17th century and the other in the 21st - a story about Empaths and ghosts, ignorance, victimization and obsession, a story in which each of the two principle characters, Frank in the 1600’s and Katherine in present day, has a quest which neither can complete on their own.

Tomorrow I have the conference call with the publisher and, in advance of that, my contact person there sent me the production plan and the pre-production comments. I wanted to share with you what the editorial staff wrote in their report about my book:
'The Lodestarre' is a richly described historical fantasy that weaves elements of the fantastic with actual facts and figures. Alternating viewpoints in different eras maintain a strong pace for the story, reveal intimate truths about Frank and Katherine, and strengthen their intertwined tales. The text is engaging and well-written with few errors.

Talk about feeling gratitude! I've written a novel that a group of professionals call 'rich', 'strong', 'engaging 'and 'well-written'. A first-time author, the only agent I ever approached, the only publisher we submitted to and now this. If that’s not God at work, I cannot imagine what is.

From "The Lodestarre": Katherine's Musings on Faith and Being Empathic

2009-04-05T14:57:00.004-04:00

Being an Empath is not easy. Some call it a gift, some call it a curse. Whichever it is, Empaths have two choices: hide away and suffer through it the best you can until death finally brings relief, or learn to live with it - and live.

And I believe that starts with faith. But faith can be a tricky thing.

Some people use ‘faith’ as a weapon, something with which to punish themselves, thinking (wrongly) if it’s not strong enough or consistent enough or blind enough then they must be doing it wrong. And if they don’t get a particular result they want, that self-flagellation suddenly seems justified (You see? Had I done it better…).

But I don’t believe that’s the way it works. I don’t believe God is some vindictive son-of-a-$#@%$ sitting up there on a cloud just waiting for me to screw up so he can deny me my heart’s desire.

I struggled with the question of faith for a long time. Oh, I've no doubt that God exists, that He’s all around me, that I’m His daughter and therefore He loves me, that He listens to me with infinite patience, even when I ask the same things over and over again (and does not roll His eyes no matter how many times I come back for reassurance!). I believe He wants me to have my heart’s desire and I know He answers my prayers with astounding regularity.

But none of that ever interfered with my ability to riddle myself with doubts and then beat myself up because surely faith requires the absence of doubt, does it not?? (the answer is, ‘Of course not!’)

I've never prayed for my Empathic abilities to go away, although I suppose others have, and I can understand why. It’s a hard thing we live with. But I think ‘understanding’ changes everything.

Empathy will never be something we carry lightly. We will still feel the pain. But with understanding - and faith - we can step out of the dark.

Copyright © 2008 by Pamela S. K. Glasner, All Rights Reserved

From "The Lodestarre": Katherine's Musings on What It Is Like To Be An Untrained Empath

2009-04-03T23:23:00.003-04:00

Empathy is based 100% on feelings, sometimes physical, but primarily emotional. There are no words or pictures, no past or future; it's all about feelings and sensations, and time has no relevance. An Empath can be psychic or telepathic, but those are completely separate phenomena.

Empathic events involve other people's feelings, not the Empath’s, but an untrained Empath has no way to know this. An untrained Empath does not have the necessary tools to distinguish between their own feelings and the sensory output of others.

The biggest problem for the uneducated Empath is it’s hard to identify.

No-one is supposed to hear voices or see hallucinations, but everyone is supposed to have feelings, so there's nothing concrete to describe as being unusual or out of the ordinary, which is why it's so hard to differentiate between being an Empath and not. What would the Empath say? ‘I’m having a feeling” ??

But just try to imagine what it must be like; imagine experiencing other people's feelings. And, of course, it would only be the most powerful ones. Being glad you're about to eat a tuna sandwich at your favorite restaurant might make you glad, but is not likely to elicit a whole lot of passion.

So - pretend you are an Empath but you don’t know it, and pretend you are walking down the street. As you walk, you cross paths with of a very angry man. Empathic events are not always about proximity, but we’ll use proximity for this example. You’re walking along and you’re feeling fine and then suddenly, for not reason, for just those few moments as you and the angry man pass each other, you feel absolutely furious. The anger comes on like a tidal wave.

Then the man is gone and it's over. And your anger slowly fades. And you’re slowly starting to feel like yourself again, except that now you approach a woman who is desperately sad. And as she passes, your mood swings from fading fury to intense grief. Suddenly all you want to do is double over and sob, but in reality, there's nothing for you to cry about. Then she's gone and just as equilibrium is starting to return, along comes a man who just got the job of his dreams and he's ecstatic - and before you’ve really had a chance to recover from the rage and the tears, your ragged emotions slingshot abruptly from anguish to euphoria.

Can you imagine what it must be like? How confusing and frightening?

Now try doing that in the mall at Christmas time…

Or at Chicago O’Hare Airport in the midst of a sudden snow squall…

Copyright © 2008 by Pamela S. K. Glasner, All Rights Reserved

Continuing the Creation of a Dark Historic Fantasy About Empaths

2009-04-03T09:34:00.002-04:00

From “Finding Emmaus”:

Empath Katherine Shares Her Feelings About Being Empathic

I'm experiencing that same feeling I get when something bad is about to happen. No, that's wrong. I’m not Prescient, I’m Empathic, which means it's the same feeling I get when something IS happening or HAS happened and someone is reacting to it and I, in turn, am reacting to them. It's almost as though I can sense some shift in the universe, some energy that's emitted, even as the event occurs.

Concurrent with that is the knowledge that I cannot prevent it or in any way assist the person it's happening to because I'm in the dark: I've no idea what it is or to whom it's happening.

But what if I did? What then? Would Paul have listened last year if I’d told him his partner was having a heart attack? Would Michael's wife have believed me, or thanked me, for telling her he was being murdered across town as we sat there in the laundromat? Could I have done anything to prepare Toni's family for the pain headed their way? Of course not.

This is not TV and I'm not Alison Dubois and I'm not going to neatly solve the world's problems or save the day in 60 minutes. Even if my abilities were more predictable, more psychic or telepathic than Empathic, I'd still have be very judicious or face ridicule and condemnation at every turn - and more isolation than I already experience. No-one would thank me. No-one wants anyone to be paranormal.

I hate that word. It reeks of bigotry. Maybe supernatural is a better word. But what I do is not super. It's commonplace. But don’t tell anyone that. They don’t like it.

I was watching ‘Practical Magic’ the other day and towards the end of the movie, one woman recalls a time she "heard" her daughter across town crying from a nightmare. The Aunt's reaction is, "There's a little witch in all of us." But that's not about being a Witch - it's about being Empathic.

I’m being Empathic when I ‘know’ someone is reacting emotionally to something that’s happened, or is in the process of happening. I’m being Empathic when I ‘know’ I’m being lied to. I’m being Empathic when (and I really love this one!) I know a character in a movie is lying because I can feel the ‘lie energy’ which emanates from the actor who knows his character is lying! How’s that for a trip???

But that said, I’m still not some deviation from humanity. And I’m not all that unique. I’m a boringly normal woman who has a working knowledge of an ability common to millions of people in this world.

I’m just not too blind or frightened or narrow-minded to see it or to say out loud.

The reason behind the name of ‘Finding Emmaus’

2009-03-29T06:13:00.004-04:00

I have been asked on many occasions why my book, a story about ghosts and Empaths and an industry with a powerful political lobby gone mad, is entitled “Finding Emmaus.” I’ll try to explain. I realize this entry is a bit long-winded, and I apologize for that, but hopefully, by the time you reach the end, you will also find it inspiring…

‘Emmaus’ is a biblical reference, part of the Gospel of Luke. No, my book is not about religion, though religion certainly does come into play, as half the story takes place in 17th century Puritan America.

Francis Nettleton, one of the two principal characters, was ostracized and victimized because he was different. He was an Empath, though he did not know it for quite some time.

In his day, Empathy looked to those around him like lunacy or demonic possession or witchcraft - all of which were believed to be hazardous to the community at large and were generally ‘treated’ by torture and/or death. Francis managed to avoid the executioner’s noose because he was born into the wealthiest family in town.

So he survived, but he did not escape persecution - nor he could escape the bewildering, frightening, sometimes paralyzing manifestations of Empathy. But at 32 years old, he embarks on a pilgrimage which will not only change his life, it may very well change the world.

Katherine, also an Empath and the other principal character in the book, was born in the 1950’s, had no clue as to her true nature and therefore then spent a good part of her life believing herself to be mentally ill - and enduring all that one would expect would be reasonably associated with that: doctors and hospitals and endless, useless therapy sessions and toxic drugs.

Finally, at 54, she is given a rare opportunity: a second chance at life. She is told she is extraordinary, not crazy, that she’s an Empath and not mentally ill. And she is sent off on a trip to find Francis and, through him, the truth about herself.

And that’s where the 24th chapter of the Gospel according to St. Luke comes in: The Road To Emmaus.

The story of Emmaus begins on the third day after Jesus was entombed. Jesus appeared before two men, followers of his, although he did not allow them to see who he really was. To them he was just another traveler. They were on their way out of Jerusalem, going back home, they told him, to the village of Emmaus. Scholars have debated furiously over the village’s exact location but no-one’s ever found any irrefutable evidence of the village’s location or even of its existence. Nothing, not one artifact, not one grain of sand, not in 2000 years.

And that, in my humble opinion, is because the scholars have missed the boat completely. They will never find Emmaus because it never existed in the first place.

Think back to another bible story, one which is probably more familiar: the parable of the ‘sower of seeds’ in the thirteenth chapter of Matthew. Some of the man’s seeds end up on the road, some amongst the rocks, still others amongst the weeds, and the only ones that grow are those that land on fertile soil. Is it a story about some knucklehead farmer who had nothing better to do than waste his time, energy and produce tossing seeds about into places where he already knew they’d never grow? Of course not. It’s a story about what goes on inside the hearts and minds of human beings.

And so it is with the story of Emmaus. The two men who were on their way out of Jerusalem had adored Jesus, had hung on His every word and so were devastated when He was killed, particularly in such a horrific manner, and even more so because the good citizens of Jerusalem had turned it into a circus.

They had expected Jesus to come back; they had expected Him to be their savior and after three days of waiting, when they thought maybe He wasn’t coming back, they simply couldn’t endure one more moment of the grief and anguish. So they were headed out of Dodge.

After having watched the world go mad, they needed to be someplace where they could be reassured that love and peace and sanity still exist, that there was still some place on earth they could count on to be a refuge from the atrocities of men.

So where do you go? When everything else in the world becomes absolutely unendurable, where do you go? Back home, of course. Back to family and friends, back to the one place you always know you’ll find comfort and consolation and recuperation.

Francis and Katherine both have journeys to take. They must come to terms with what they are and why they have been granted this precious gift, how to live with it, how they can master it, how they can put to some good use and eventually - hopefully - make some sense of their shattered lives.

That’s what Emmaus is all about - and it’s where the scholars went wrong: Emmaus was never about geography - it’s about shelter from the storm.

The Genesis of an Historic Fantasy About Empaths & The Abuse of Power

2009-03-26T07:44:00.005-04:00

The underlying concept was not difficult to come by - I knew I wanted to write a book about an Empath. The story itself, however, was a bit more problematic. I had my two principal characters, or so I thought, but everything I came up with seemed forced and artificial. I had, in fact, already written several chapters, when ‘it’ happened.

I was standing in front of my dresser, over which hangs a wonderful black and white pencil drawing by Marita Parisi, an incredibly talented artist. She had exhibited in Hartford, CT, about 20 years ago at a Christmas Craft show in early December. It was at that show that I met her and purchased one of her drawings, The Basketmaker. Frank, the 90-something-year-old maker of willow baskets and the subject of this particular drawing, has held a place of honor in my home - and in my heart - since that day. And in the spring of last year he became the inspiration for my novel which is to be released later this year.

I kept staring at the picture, feeling somehow, that there was an answer in all those beautiful, intricate lines. And, in fact, there was.

Frank - or, more accurately, his predecessor who would live three centuries ago - became my new principal character and the first chapters I’d written were set aside for possible use some time in the future. Fifteen minutes later, I had the name of the town in which the story would take place, who the Empaths would be, how Empathy would be ‘discovered’ and studied and documented, how Empaths would be singled out, isolated and victimized - sometimes inadvertently, sometimes intentionally - and the time-period over which the story would take place.

More to follow...

2009-03-13T14:43:00.004-04:00

Author Pamela Glasner will soon be formally announcing "Finding Emmaus"(© All Rights Reserved), a complex, dark historic fantasy about love and loss, obsession and the abuse of power, Empaths and ghosts, victimization and obsession, ignorance and its tragic results, a multi-billion dollar conspiracy, life and the afterlife, human frailties and a determination to live a life that matters. I've read an advance copy and it's fabulous. At 740-something pages, it truly does get the reader involved! It promises to be quite a success in its final incarnation.

The launch of the first book is scheduled for October of this year.

Stay posted for additional information and updates.
- Joanne Ravonni -

My Review of The Creditors - Directed by Alan Rickman - Seen on Wednesday, October 29th 2008

2009-03-08T07:40:00.007-04:00

Seeing the play Creditors at the Donmar in London was my birthday present to myself and Alan Rickman was directing, so my expectations were high. And, I am happy to report, they were met. In fact, met and exceeded - beginning with the first moment I walked into the building.

First, a foreword: I restore vintage buildings for a living, so for me the experience began upon entering the front door. Charm and atmosphere to spare. Then you walk into the theater itself and the pleasure continues. It's small and the seats are extremely comfortable - long, upholstered benches which you share with people to your left and right, so you truly do get a feeling of intimacy - and there is not a bad seat in the house. Personally, I think a play, because it is so public an activity, is enhanced when it is shared with others. At this theater, known as the Donmar Warehouse, because of the way the seats are constructed (mind you, this was my first trip to England, so if this is a common occurrence, please forgive my ignorance), you get to meet - and laugh with and gasp with - your neighbors. A perfect, delightful venue for a play with a topic so intimate.

I had heard about the water trough but could not imagine it until I actually saw it. For anyone who's not been there, it is indeed a trough - conveniently painted black so you're nearly guaranteed to not see it if you're checking the seat backs for you letter and number! - about 30 inches wide and probably just as high, which surrounds the stage on three sides - so it is between the audience and the stage. I had a second row seat so I was not effected by it, just a bit perplexed. I mean, I understand the significance of it - if I'm remembering correctly, I believe I've read it's supposed to be a reminder that one is not far from the water. But GB's not all that ghastly huge and, after all, it IS an island, so why anyone would NEED reminding . . . . well, anyway, it added to the fun and surprise of the evening.

Upon entering the theater, a recorded voice admonishes you to turn off your cell phone and mind the water trough. Safely in my seat, one of my neighboring seat-mates asked me how anyone could possibly fall into it, as it really is not in the way. No sooner had the words left his mouth when a patron directly in front of us lost his footing and doused not only himself but another patron who was sitting in the front row, reading his program, minding his own business. Everyone - and I do mean everyone, remember, there's not a bad seat in the house - got a good look at it and a good laugh.

Regarding the play itself, there has been so much written to date that I would only parrot 99% of what's already out there, so let me say simply that I honestly felt as though I was part of the drama which unfolded between these three amazing actors - and it was intense drama. There were lots of laughs, to be sure, Owen Teale's character garnering the lions' share of them. Lies slid so smoothly off of Gustav's tongue that even the most appalling ones were appreciated. In fact, the more appalling they were (such as sex being the cause of Epilepsy and 12 months of complete celibacy Adolph's only hope at survival!), the more I loved to hate Gustav.

If I had to pick which of the three actors was the most powerful, the most memorable, I would definitely have to say Mr. Teale. He shifted from duplicity to disgust to callousness to passion to rage and back again with such ease and silky smoothness, he was a human version of a Stradivarius. I would have enjoyed the opportunity to shake his hand and tell him so, and would have enjoyed the opportunity to do the same with the illustrious director, Mr. Alan Rickman, but alas, that was not to be.

For anyone who has never seen anything directed by Alan Rickman or has never seen Owen Teale in action, do yourself a HUGE favor and GO OUT OF YOUR WAY TO DO JUST THAT! Creditors was everything I'd hoped it would be - and a fabulous way to celebrate by birthday.

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