Romance for a married woman with children?  by accidental author Meredith Cagen

Comedic Biting NYC Social Commentary Novel:  Size Eight in a Size Zero World

Love or Loyalty?  Lust or Loneliness?

Life seemed perfect until she met him in the elevator of her Upper East Side luxury high rise building.  She affectionately refers to him as “The Man Upstairs.” Like many females, Lindsay Chandler has everything she thought she ever wanted:  Handsome attorney husband, two healthy children, job with flexibility, beautiful New York City home, and friends.

Imagine after 10 years of marriage, this multi-tasking phenom starts to revolt against her status quo.  Fed up being surrounded by double processed pampered size zero Manhattan socialites at her children’s schools and ignored by her husband. This disgruntled working wife and mother develops s romantic crush on The Man Upstairs.  He is the perfect man.  Ah, if only that was true.

Can a girl who enjoy cheeseburgers with fries find happiness in a fulfilling relationship?

In the tradition of Sex and the City, Bridget Jones’s Diary, The Ivy Chronicles, and The Devil Wears Prada, Size Eight in a Size Zero World, is a modern-day story of a good girl who is trying to do the right thing while remaining true to herself.

About The Author

“This is a fictional story but based in my reality as an Upper East Side working wife and mother. Living in Manhattan I am surrounded by seemingly picture perfect double-processed blonde women in designer clothes with honor roll children, indulgent husbands leading extraordinary lives. These days the pressure on women to be perfect, comes from all directions.  No one fat is ever photographed seriously for Page Six. Does having it all mean you give up your uniqueness?”

www.sizezeroworld.com

Media Contact

To arrange an interview, or request additional information

Meredith Cagen 212 289-2880

212 860-9005

mcagen@gmail.com

sizezeroworld@gmail.com

March 15, 2009 – Fort Worth, Texas – With the controversy surrounding American immigration policy and the continuing violence and chaos brought on by the Mexican drug trade, Jeffrey Osburn has written a novel that could very well have been written in today’s headlines.

Under the Fifth Sun (StoneGarden Publishing, 1-60076-128-3) began years ago, with Osburn’s interest in Mexican history and contemporary culture. Having studied both pre- and post-Colombian history and the cultural anthropology of Latin America, he searched for a way to dramatize the historical and current issues that make Mexico the source of fascination it has always been for Osburn.

The book is populated by a Customs and Border Protection agent caught up in international intrigue, the colorful directors of an up-and-coming defense contractor, two cousins who illegally enter the U.S. seeking jobs, the ambitious and nefarious leader of the Sonora Drug Cartel, and a newly elected Mexican president embroiled in a bitter political rivalry, all intersecting in a fast-paced plot feeding off today’s issues.

The author and business executive leverages his personal and professional experience to create realistic fiction that is both engaging and enlightening. His novels use contemporary hot-button topics to challenge and inform readers about the mutual interests at stake in the Americas including border security, immigration reform, drug and human trafficking and the emergence of popular socialism. Osburn wrote most of Under the Fifth Sun in two to three hour blocks each night over the course of a year. Fortunately, he was able to coax out of retirement an experienced copy editor—his mother—for a few days to put the final touches on the galleys before printing.

Jeffrey Osburn is a member of the Writers League of Texas and lives in Fort Worth, Texas, with his wife Rosalinda, their daughter Ashley and son Travis. Under the Fifth Sun can be ordered online at Amazon.com and Stonegarden.net.

Review copies and interviews upon request.

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A first-time author whose  novel had still not appeared two months after the promised launch date is now celebrating double publishing success.

When his book Tasting the Wind failed to appear at Christmas, Allan Mayer, 48, contacted his publisher YouWriteOn to find that difficulties with reproducing the book’s cover were jeopardising its publication.

‘I was really disappointed,’ said Allan, ‘as my wife and I had designed the cover ourselves. I was offered another one, but I wasn’t very impressed with it. It was also starting to get embarrassing, as people who had seen earlier press releases had started to go into W.H. Smiths only to be told that the book wasn’t on their system.’

In the meantime Allan, who manages a day service for people with severe learning disabilities, began to submit articles to an online ‘collaborative fiction’ experiment called Greyling Bay.

‘I wasn’t too optimistic about getting my work accepted there,’ said the writer. ‘Many of the contributors are well established novelists with a string of published works.’

But in an upturn of fortunes, Allan received an e-mail saying that his work had been accepted – the same week that he found that Tasting the Wind had surfaced on the Amazon book selling site. And thanks to the painstaking work of YouWriteOn director, Edward Smith, the book now displays the original cover.

Tasting the Wind is available on Amazon.co.uk, and can be ordered from W.H. Smiths and Waterstone’s bookshops. 50% of the author’s royalties will be donated to Derian House Children’s Hospice, Chorley.

For further details please visit www.allanmayer.com

Ex-Pantomime baddie, Allan Mayer, has pledged to give 50% of the royalties from his new novel to Lancashire Children’s Hospice, Derian House.

Allan, 47, took part in nine successive pantomimes in his home town of Chorley, in roles such as the Millennium Bug, Abanazzer, and the Sheriff of Nottingham, for which he won a NODA award. When he was an Ugly Sister in Cinderella he also raised money for Derian House through a sponsored beard shave.

Allan has lived in Chorley with his wife, Alison, who is a full-time foster carer, for over twenty years.

His novel, ‘Tasting the Wind,’ published by ‘Legend Press’ features several major characters who have severe learning disabilities. This is familiar territory for the writer, who has worked in the caring profession for twenty-two years, and is currently a manager with Brothers of Charity Services.

‘It was my intention,’ said Allan, ‘to include disabled characters not as passive bystanders, but as central to the plot.’

The novel is about what happens when a nurse in a 1970’s ‘Mental Handicap Hospital’ kills a patient, and the only two witnesses are unable to communicate what they have seen. Ten years later they leave the hospital for ‘Care in the Community,’ only to find that the same nurse is now manager in their new home. How will they alert someone to her true nature before one of them becomes her next victim?

Despite the serious nature of the subject matter, the story is one of hope, and is not without humour.

The process of writing and attempting to find a publisher for ‘Tasting the Wind’ has taken Allan over ten years.

‘I had revised the manuscript so many times,’ said Allan, ‘and received so many rejections from agents and publishers that I thought my novel would never find its way into print. Then I came across the YouWriteOn website, which is committed to giving chances to new writers, and now all of my hard work is coming to fruition.’

But the hard work doesn’t stop there. Because ‘Legend’ is a small press, they do not have the marketing ability of their larger rivals, so the writers have to do most of the promotion work for their novels themselves. Allan has been busy writing a blog, setting up a website, and adding chapters of ‘Tasting the Wind’ as an audiobook on ‘YouTube.’

‘I am keen to get my story out there,’ said Allan ‘and in doing so raise money for Derian House.’

‘Tasting the Wind’ will be available through Amazon, or can be ordered at W.H. Smiths and Waterstones. For more information visit www.allanmayer.com