E-BOOK -- FINDING EMMAUS

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.

If You Have No Voice, You Have No Power

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

Interview With Para Explorers Radio

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

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

(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

Finding Emmaus’ Great Success!

“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.”

Copyright © 2010, All Rights Reserved

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

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.

Copyright © 2010, All Rights Reserved

Healing Our World

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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