The Authors Show

This revised version of my first book offers readers an inspiring array of essays to read, poems to reflect on and questions to consider.

The book gives readers an adventure in consciousness, expanding their understandings, such as why we might forgive our past, embrace who we are and live into expansive versions of ourselves.

This book was a long time coming. God had to take me through a lifetime of learning to prepare me for writing this book. There are three areas that He impressed upon me to write about.

The first was to write about the life lessons that He has taught me. Things like how to be a better, more loving husband, how to take control of my life by planning for and accomplishing things, and how to use the gifts He has given me.

The second was to make apologetics understandable. Apologetics is rationally and credibly defending the faith. I’ve has a passion for this ever since I’ve been a believer. Christianity is not just subjectively true. It’s objectively true. It is factually true and can be proven so beyond a reasonable doubt.

The third was to highlight some of the lesser-known Christians and how God used them to make a difference in our world.

I hope the lessons contained in this book will bless you, as they have blessed me in learning them. But even more than that, I hope they will draw you closer to Jesus.

The Long Tale of Tears and Smiles chronicles an oncologist’s journey as an immigrant: from Damascus to ‎Aleppo to St Louis to New Orleans to NJ, and then NY; from a medical student to a trainee to a ‎practitioner caring for cancer patients and their families and watching the field of oncology ‎evolves throughout the years.

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The tale interweaves the author’s life stories with the stories of the patients she cared for. It reflects on ‎how bearing witness to their survival or death inspired her life and changed it and how their ‎anguish touched so closely on her own as she grieved the death of loved ones and watched the ‎devastation of destruction and loss caused by the civil war in Syria.

“Breaking Free from the Ego: A Course in Finding and Freeing Yourself” reveals the secret to happiness and fulfillment which can only be learned through personal experience. Fortunately, Trina Carroll-Houk has had that experience. She can teach you how to break free from what’s holding you back from living a life of inner peace. To live a rewarding life, we need to break free from our ego, and that doesn’t happen by accident. It happens with intention.

Learn how to discover your true identity and embrace your inner spirituality. All of life’s problems are created in the mind―yet the solutions are found beyond the mind! This book will teach you the evolutionary process of living in a higher dimension of consciousness.

A gentle family saga, spanning almost 100 years, from 1887 to 1974.

Set in Alabama, Harlem and London, it touches on some of the evils of society like poverty and racism, as well as some of the best that life has to offer….family, friendship and love.

The Smooth River is the remarkable story of how a well-known public relations expert and her husband met her stage 4 pancreatic cancer head-on. With vigor and strength, they deployed all they and medicine had to offer. But, in contrast to narrow conventional approaches, the couple developed a far more expansive view of what strength means in response to a crisis for which there are no medical cures. They called this the Smooth River.

This clear-eyed transcendent perspective was so vital that they wouldn’t let anything disrupt it-not cancer’s lethal march, not the strongest chemos and their failures to work, not the frequent episodes of severe pain, not how society expected them to think or act, not the process of dying itself.

The Smooth River demonstrates how to treat one’s life as bigger-and far more important- than any medical condition, any tragedy, any setback of any kind. With effusive warmth, refreshing candor and practical detail, it describes how to personalize Medical and Life Plans that affirm the value of a patient’s being and guide their loved ones. Its invaluable lessons show how to face the possibility of dying with sanctity and comfort, to view it as an opportunity for personal growth, finding inspiration and intense beauty in the experience-in life itself. There are lessons in the Smooth River approach for everyone.

Adrienne Wilson is a depressed, suicidal teenager—until the day she receives a diagnosis of stage IV liver cancer. Facing the fight of her life, Adrienne discovers how much she wants to live. In Better Off Bald: A Life in 147 Days, Andrea Wilson Woods chronicles her sister’s remarkable life from the time she was born to the day she dies at age fifteen. Written like a journal, Andrea takes the reader inside her and Adrienne’s journey explaining how she gained custody of Adrienne from their mother and how the sisters’ relationship evolved over time. Adrienne’s courageous spirit shines through as she squeezes more life into 147 days than most people do in a lifetime. From meeting Jay Leno to spending the day with Dave Navarro of Jane’s Addiction, Adrienne makes every moment count. As she lay dying, Adrienne teaches Andrea how to live.

Each and every day, we face choices.

It’s how we make those choices that determines the kind of leader we can be. In Tighten the Lug Nuts: The Principles of Balanced Leadership, Rocky Romanella uses his over forty years of experience in supply chain, logistics and transportation, retail, sales and operational management at UPS, and his CEO and Director roles, to explore the ways a true leader can add value as a trusted advisor, mentor, and visionary who uses a process approach to lead the organization and its people to new levels of success.

In an engaging, personal, and witty style, Rocky Romanella details how leaders must make their three major constituents equal priority by actively listening to their needs and building strong relationships. By following the steps Romanella lays out, you can truly learn the importance of Balanced Leadership.

Romanella believes the true measure of a great leader is someone who leaves things a little better than they found them. In Tighten the Lug Nuts, you’ll follow Joe Scafone as he demonstrates the importance of small acts of kindness, the power that comes with understanding your role, and the freedom that accepting responsibility affords. Learn how to tighten the lug nuts in your own life to keep from becoming overwhelmed and to take the steps to becoming a truly balanced and valuable leader.

Dr. Kendall E Williams argues that hypocrisy occurs when leaders fail to align their actions with company values, resulting in widespread disillusionment that taints the entire organization. He makes a bold and compelling case for authentic leadership as a legitimate and profitable business incentive, where values are ethically informed and pioneered by diligent leaders.

Now more than ever, companies have a duty, and an incentive to reverse the “profits before people” paradigm, focusing instead on a “people first” approach. Visions, Values, and Corporate Hypocrisy calls for greater transparency, accountability, and integrity within the business discourse, starting with leaders whose actions ultimately shape the culture and success of organizations.

A thriller. A love story. A cruel twist of fate. Sometimes six-feet under isn’t enough to bury someone.

Lanie Spenser endured a childhood of merry-go-round foster homes before suffering an abusive marriage to Dr. Stanley Greystone. After twenty years of suppression by her husband, she musters the courage to divorce and begin a new life. College, trauma counseling, and an exciting career strengthen Lanie into a confident and capable woman. Feeling empowered and restored, she begins a new relationship. Brock Burnham is everything that Stanley was not-kind, tender, and loving. Brock’s quest for adventure, sense of humor, and generous affection allow Lanie to feel hopeful about happy-ever-after’s for the first time in her life.

On the very day she meets Brock, she attends Stanley’s funeral. Her ex-husband’s death injects a bevy of baby mamas and discarded children into Lanie’s world. As the original wife, she inherits the bulk of his estate as well as a string of clues to piece together the labyrinth of Stanley’s lurid activities. His death exposes a tangled web of indiscretions, damaged women, and unspeakable acts of cruelty.

With every new grain of discovery, Stanley’s evil continues to reach from beyond the grave. Lanie’s life unravels as her past collides with her present and she uncovers the darkest of Stanley’s transgressions. Stanley’s pre-meditated attempts to implicate Lanie in his crimes takes one ugly turn after another and there seems to be no end to the depths of Stanley’s malevolence. Each twist of his manipulation plunges a blade deeper into her soul, not only threatening her cherished relationship with Brock, but also her mental stability.

After Lanie is compelled to recall every moment of her traumatized marriage, she retreats to a reclusive existence. Desperately holding on to happy memories of being with Brock, she prays reflection and self-forgiveness will keep her from tumbling down a dark and bottomless rabbit hole of despair. She eventually emerges from her self-imposed solitude to reclaim what has been there all along-the sunshine she needs. Loving herself. Loving life. Loving Brock. She hopes it’s not too late.