Saturday, March 30, 2013

Wow! My Audiobook Has Come Out!

Wow! Just got this email about my audiobook: 

"Congratulations, A Favorite Son is now on sale at audible.com. And we plan to make it available on iTunes and Amazon.com within the next few days."


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"Masterful storytelling and rich, poetic prose that feeds all of the senses"

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Are You Jealous?

“Are you jealous?” I tease him. “I can’t believe it!”
To which he roars, “You do nothing, you! You cook, you hide. Coward! Aha, coward you!”
He takes one step forward; I take two back. The arrows slung over his shoulder clink against each other. It is a steely, menacing sound. With one blow of his hand, he smacks down the canvas; and, on the double, the entire tent is flattened into a lopsided mess, collapsing upon itself; its pegs flying clear out, bouncing over and over, over the soft sand. 
He gets in my face; we are standing nose to nose. The moment I have dreaded all my life is suddenly upon me, and there is no way to withdraw. I have to face him, which forces me to examine him closely. 

This excerpt is in Yankle's voice, and captures the beginning of a dialog between him and his twin brother Esav, who is coming back from a day of hunt utterly famished, and tested to the limit of his wits by the smell of the lentil stew. Here is this snippet in audio:


"A beautifully written book--a must read!"


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Monday, March 25, 2013

The Paperback Edition Of A Favorite Son Is Now Available!

Exciting news: First, the Kindle edition of A Favorite Son continues to climb the ranks. It is currently in 16th place in Biblical and in Biblical fiction categories! And who do I have to thank for it? You! You who read it, you who reviewed it, you who celebrated its launch with me, and you who is helping me spread the word!


Second, the paperback edition has just become available on Amazon, just in time to celebrate Passover and Easter! I am working on uploading the information for the Look Inside feature (which exists in the book page for the Kindle edition but not yet for the paperback edition.)


★ Love literary fiction? Treat yourself to a gift 

"A quick read that was entertaining and often funny"

Sunday, March 24, 2013

A Closeup of A Favorite Son

A closeup detail from the cover of my just-released audiobook:



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"Masterful storytelling and rich, poetic prose that feeds all of the senses"

Saturday, March 23, 2013

The Next Big Thing: A Favorite Son in Print and Audio

What is the Next Big Thing? It is a way to 'pass the baton', if you will, between the new writers of today, allowing each one of them in turn to give an insight about his or her upcoming work, then tag her fellow writers to do the same. This time I was tagged by my dear friend, the inspired writer Deborah Batterman. So here is a glimpse into my upcoming work:

What is the working title of your story?

The title of my story is A Favorite Son. Sounds familiar? Maybe because its Kindle edition has been published a couple of months ago. To my surprise, the story was received with great acclaim. So now there are two great developments which I would like to share with you: first, the story just about to come out as a paperback book! And the second--even better!--it is just about to come out as an audiobook!

Where did the idea come from for the story?

I have long been fascinated with the story of Jacob and Esav, which to me, captures several layers of emotions which we all go through in our families: a rivalry between brothers, the way a mother’s love, unevenly divided, can spur them to action, to crime, even; and how in time, even in the absence of regret, a punishment eventually ripens.  

What genre does your story fall under?

The best definition I can offer for a genre is this: it is a new-age-biblical-twist genre, set in the twenty-first century, in a primitive camp of tents at the frontier of the desert in Canaan, in what seems, at first, to be an innocent fable. 

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

I am going to change the question... Why, you ask? Because when your book is picked up for a major movie deal, this success--incredible as it may be--usually comes with a caveat: your work will be used by the screen writers merely as a suggestion, so it remains to be seen how much of the original text is retained in the final cut... However, when your book is picked up for narration, every sentence, every turn-of-a-phrase, every breath and pause in the original text is not only retained, but comes to life in the voice of the narrator.

So let me rephrase the question as follows: which actors would you choose to play your characters in a narrated rendition? Ah! What a great question! I would choose an actor with a great literary skill, one that can interpret the layers of meanings in my story, and one that has versatile voices in him. In short: David Kudler, and I had my heart set on him the moment I heard his audition. 

David has been a voice and stage actor, a writer, and a book editor for over twenty years. Since 1999, he has been in charge of publications for the Joseph Campbell Foundation. As you can see, he is a man for all seasons... As a narrator, he has a warm, versatile voice, and a great ear for character and dialect. For A Favorite Son, he plays Yankle, Esav (Yankle’s brother), Isaac (Yankle’s father), Becky (Yankle’s mother) and Eliezer (Becky’s butler.) For each one of these characters, there is a distinct voice!

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your story?

This is a present-day twist on the biblical story of Jacob and his mother Rebecca plotting together against the elderly father Isaac, who is lying on his deathbed, in order to get their hands on the inheritance, and on the power in the family.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

My book--in its paperback and ebook editions--will be self-published. I enjoy every aspect of the publishing process: the cover design most of all, as well as the interior design. Once my book is written and edited, I have an quick turnaround time to having it published--usually within a week. The audiobook edition, obviously, takes longer, because it involves a creative exchange of ideas between the narrator and me.  

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

Start to finish, this book took me six weeks. But it had been brewing in me for several years before that. Being an artist, I expressed it through sculpture. So here you can see Yankle and his mother Becky, plotting to cheat the father, and unable to look each other in the eye as they are doing so.


What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

The Red Tent. 

Who or What inspired you to write this story?

When I read the biblial story, the characters presented themselves before me. But beware: when reading my story, do not seek clear distinction between heroes and villains: no one is wholly sacred, because--like Yankle, the main character here--we are all made of lights and shadows, and most of all, doubt.

What else about your story might pique the reader’s interest?

Perhaps, an excerpt? Here is Yankle’s description of the last moments he has with Becky, his mother, which they spend plotting how to deceive Isaac, his father.

“By and by, a perfect calm comes upon me. I have no thought in my head, no clue that this is to be the last sunrise, the last morning that I spend with my mother; no premonition that our time together is running out, and that I should kiss her, and hug her, and bid her farewell. 
Yet for some reason, glancing around me, I commit to memory every aspect of this scene, every detail: The vivid pattern of the rug, spread across the dirt floor. The embroidered silk pillows, leaning against the woven headrest. The little blemish, barely visible in the corner of the blanket. The silver thread coming apart, at one point, at the bottom of the canvas. The jug of water, half hidden behind the curved leg of the bed... 
This hour is so intimate; so sweet, and it is fast coming to its bitter conclusion. 
And the only thing that disturbs me, the only thing that stands here between us, is not being able to look each other in the eyes, during the last moments that remain to us.”

Now it’s my turn to tag people. Please visit their blogs. They will be publishing their answers to the same questions next week.


And now, the small print: a message for the tagged authors and interested others: 

Rules of The Next Big Thing:
  • Use this format for your post 
  • Answer the ten questions about your current WIP (Work In Progress) 
  • Tag five other writers/bloggers and add their links so we can hop over and meet them.
Ten Interview Questions for The Next Big Thing:
  • What is the working title of your book?
  • Where did the idea come from for the book?
  • What genre does your book fall under?
  • Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
  • What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
  • Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
  • How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
  • What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
  • Who or What inspired you to write this book?
  • What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
  • Include the link of who tagged you and this explanation for the people you have tagged.
Be sure to line up your five people in advance.

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"A quick read that was entertaining and often funny"

Friday, March 22, 2013

And Then She Left him

"And then she left him.
He looks at the line. It is written in blue ink, pressed into the sheet of paper—vigorously here, faintly there—with his usual stroke, a stroke that drives through the spikes and valleys in the shapes of the letters at a steady slant. The line reaches the margin, where it is punctuated, unexpectedly, by a red stain. 
Blotting it is bound to leave fingerprints, and so Mr. Schriber  decides to leave it alone. He lifts the paper by its corner—and a drop bleeds down; he lays it down on the desk—and the stain goes on spreading. Going back to his writing, he applies too much pressure on the pen—and the pointed nib digs into the paper. Taking a deep breath, he tries to compose himself. The pen is his weapon. The simple act of pulling it over the soft, white surface has never failed to calm him down. Letter by letter, mark by mark, it will soon draw him into a different state of mind."

So starts a short story titled And Then She Left Him, in my book, Home. Mr. Schriber tries to sort out his life, and to understand the reason why his wife has left him, by writing about their relationship. This story is great opportunity for me to capture some of my own thoughts about the process of writing, and the art of it.



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"The poetry is heart touching, the stories fascinating"

Thursday, March 21, 2013

And We Started Our Dance Again...

"After a while I whispered, like, 'Just say something to me. Anything.' And I thought, Any other word apart from love, ‘cause that word is diluted, and no one knows what it really means, anyway. Then he kissed me—even without the ice cream—and said my name, like, he tasted it in his mouth, and rolled it on his tongue, which made me awful happy. And we started our dance again..."

I never use the word Love lightly; it appears only three times in my novel. Because of this scarcity, the word has a powerful effect once it is pronounced, so that the expression 'Apart From Love' becomes shaded with different meanings, all of which are explored. At times it means, except for love--other times it means, disjointed, yearning from afar for a connection, for a touch.

★ Love reading? Treat yourself to a family saga ★
  
"It's so refreshing to read a novel with lyrical beautiful writing"

Would You like Me to Bring You a Little Surprise

"And as soon as I hear me say, Don’t be stupid, I remember being six years old. I remember having the same sense of panic, and trying to calm myself in the exact same way, when mom went to the hospital, saying, “Be a good boy for daddy, and how would you like me to bring you something, a little surprise?” I remember then, that she came back empty-handed. I was careful—very careful—not to ask her where my surprise was, because I could tell that she had no answers. Mom laid in bed many days, with eyes red and swollen with tears. And later—when she finally got up, and by accident she saw the baby carriage, my old, crooked baby carriage which dad had fixed up and cleaned and polished, and from which he had removed all the rusty spots—then a shudder passed through her. And she turned away and went back to her bedroom. It was there, through the keyhole that I saw her, folded up on the bed, as if there was a great pain in her."

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"It's so refreshing to read a novel with lyrical beautiful writing"

Monday, March 18, 2013

How to Control Facebook Emails

If you are receiving a barrage of unwanted email notifications from facebook, here is what to do:
Just click the message at the bottom of these emails that says, "stop sending notifications about these kinds of emails." This works on a computer screen. On a hand-held device, this message would be too small to read.
You need to do this several times before all types of unwanted emails stop arriving.

You can also click 'Stop Notifications' from any particular post on the event page
(This option becomes available to you only once you like/comment under the post.)

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Creative and Entertaining

Tonight, to my surprise, I found a new review for my book, A Favorite Son. The review was written by Jerry Beller, an author who writes historical fiction. His work includes the "American Myth series", which covers American History from before the republic, up to the present. So I find it a true honor that he said this: 

5.0 out of 5 stars Creative and entertainingMarch 16, 2013
Amazon Verified Purchase

"A Favorite Son" by Uvi Poznansky is a skillful, creative modernization of the Biblical story of Isaac and Rebecca, and their twin sons, Jacob and Esau. Ms. Poznansky creates a story full of jealousy, spite and even hate, which competes with compassion, family ties and love. This is a quick read that was entertaining and often funny. The author appears to take turns respecting and mocking tradition, doing both in a delightful manner. One of the many lessons in this book is to be careful what you wish for, as is so brilliantly illustrated in the character Yankle, whose voice carries the story.

This is a real good book and I look forward to reading more of Uvi Poznansky's work.

Friday, March 15, 2013

Absolutely Stunning!

Here is a lovely new review for Home:


5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Stunning!March 14, 2013
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Home (Kindle Edition)
This book is mesmerizing. There are vignettes, streams of poetry, and scenes of such exquisite depth and beauty that I found myself taken aback at the skill of the writing and the power it had to touch my heart. There are many very touching tributes to her father, but also one scene in particular that examines a woman's reaction to old home movies played in reverse. It reminded me of the great literature of Kate Chopin's THE AWAKENING or A VOICE AND A VOCATION.

Hard to describe, but if you want a new literary fiction genius, you just found one in Uvi.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Away She Went, Taking Her Chances Elsewhere

"With that, she gave a slight nudge to the camel, turned it swiftly around and with a clip and a clop away she went, taking her chances elsewhere, into a rainy fog. 
Never again would I see her. Upon my return to this place, more than two decades later, I would learn that my brother never forgave her for loving me, loving me only..."

Yankle in A Favorite Son


This is a quick color sketch, using acrylic paint on paper, looking at a white-clad model, From another direction than the first sketch, here.

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"Her prose is beautiful; she paints intricate, emotionally resonant pictures with words"

Monday, March 11, 2013

The first time he saw her was the morning after

"She collected an array of translucent, sheer veils of fantastic rainbow colors, which she wore, I am told, on her wedding night. My father found it enchanting. The first time he had actually seen her face was, of course, the morning after. With the veil removed, she had fainted upon seeing him. It was not the excitement of first love. No—it must have been the corset; a tight undergarment contraption which, according to gossip, she had brought with her from the North, to keep her figure in shape.  
Everyone knew she was homesick. It was no secret she would have done anything, back then, for a trip back home; but this being the middle of nowhere, far away from the towns and the settlements, out there in the densely populated regions to the west of us, there was no bus to be found; and my father insisted that a plane ticket was out of the question."

Yankle about his mother Becky in A Favorite Son

This is my quick color sketch, using acrylic paint on paper, looking at a white-clad model, and trying to accentuate all the colors hinted in the shadows of the white... Quite a strange challenge...

★ Love literary fiction? Treat yourself to a gift 

"Her prose is beautiful; she paints intricate, emotionally resonant pictures with words"

Saturday, March 9, 2013

One Review After Another: Compelling!

I am amazed that reviews are pouring in for A Favorite son:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling.March 8, 2013
This review is from: A Favorite Son (Kindle Edition)
As the reviewer above says this is a modern retelling of the Bible story of Esau and Jacob and the rivalry between brothers and it does translate well into a modern context. Beside all stories have been written before, good against evil, a right of passage etc. What made me read on was the way it had been written, direct and compelling.


Treat yourself to a gift
A Favorite Son
★ Audiobook ★ Ebook ★ Print ★