Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Sweep us into the night

In designing the cover for The Music of Us I had in mind a particular passage from the book, where Natasha is just about to perform, and her hand is raised over the keys in contemplation of the notes:

With that Natasha handed the microphone back to him and curtsied to the audience. A wavy, red strand of hair slinked from her headband, which was decorated with delicate flowers, and glided over her bare shoulder. Below that, the bodice of her dress glinted as she turned around. And again, for just a second, I thought I felt her eyes fluttering in my direction, meeting my gaze. Everyone around me must have imagined that, too.
Natasha lifted the long, silky skirt of her dress, so its folds fanned out from the seam that hugged her hips. As she sat down they draped, full and flowing, over the piano bench, responding playfully to the light from above with a cherry red shine. A reflection of it lit her chin from below and lined the underside of her slender arms, just a touch. With a slow, deliberate motion she lifted her hand, letting it hover, for what seemed like the span of a thought, over its shadow over the keys.
Her fingers started flitting across the keys, and at once I was taken by the solemn, dramatic sounds she made rise over us. They came pressing against the far reaches of the hall, gathering ominously just below the vaulted ceiling, as if in preparation to blow it away and sweep us into the night. 


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“Liberally salted with buttery smooth prose & fascinating insights”

Sunday, September 27, 2015

This will be the year end gift for the Littles

Short and sweet review for my children's book, Now I Am Paper:

product rating stars Great work!September 24, 2015
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This review is from: Now I Am Paper (Kindle Edition)
Both the poetry and illustrations in this book are exceptional. I believe this will be the year end gift I will share with the Littles - my great-nieces and great-nephews. I have not been so excited about a book for my Littles since Old Turtle. Great work!

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Say anything apart from love

Author of War Songs, Grady Harp describes himself as being ever on the alert for the new and promising geniuses of tomorrow. He is an artist representative, gallery owner, writer of essays and articles on figurative and all Representational art for museum catalogues and for traveling exhibitions, and an Amazon Hall of Fame Reviewer. I am honored that he has posted this five-star review for my novel, My Own Voice:

Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
Uvi Poznansky wears a coat of many colors. Originally from Israel where she studied Architecture and Town Planning then moving to the US where she studied Computer Science and became an expert in Software Engineering, Poznansky managed to combine the design elements of two studies into unique formats. And she has accomplished the same with the other side of her brain - making visual her ideas (she is an accomplished painter, drawer, and sculptor who has enjoyed exhibitions both in Israel and in California, her present base) and making words in poetry and in short stories and children's books. MY OWN VOICE was her first part of her novel APART FROM LOVE: Still Life with Memories and THE WHITE PIANO is the second part. Having read them together allows sharing the scope of what came before this book – and sharing that is important.

The synopsis of MY OWN VOICE (the cover of which is an excellent example of her compelling art) attempts to separate the two aspects of her this first installment: ‘Ten years ago, when she was seventeen, Anita started an affair with Lenny, in spite of knowing that he was a married man. Now married to him and carrying his child, she finds herself condemned to compete with Natasha’s shadow, the memory of her brilliance back in her prime, before she succumbed to early-onset Alzheimer’s. Despite Anita’s lack of education, her rough slang, and what happened to her in the past, Lenny tries to transform her. He wants her to become Natasha. Faced with his compelling wish, and the way he writes her as a character in his book, how can Anita find a voice of her own? And when his estranged son, Ben, comes back and lives in the same small apartment, can she keep the balance between the two men, whose desire for her is marred by guilt and blame?’

But for those who wish to see how parts one and two are joined, the following is offered: ‘The story of this elegantly designed novel is a dissection of a family life and the alterations that occur with the family framework both by intent and by happenstance. It weaves themes of disparate parents - an accomplished pianist Natasha married to the elderly Lenny who cares for Natasha as she descends into the darkness of Alzheimer's Disease and compensates by taking on a very young and uneducated, somewhat socially coarse redhead vixen named Anita - and the manner in which the couple's 27-year-old bright son Ben copes with the situation.'

Poznansky's unique way of unraveling this complex story is by making the `chapters' vary as told by Ben, as told by Anita, and as told by Lenny. She understands fully how to bring Ben's confusion about both his past life with his parents and the current situation with his mother's decline and his father's reactive compensation by bonding with a beautiful young, if raw, companion. Few authors would be able to pull off the manner in which the apparent polar opposites of Ben and Anita begin to bond and how Lenny integrates into their apparent clandestine relationship, but Poznansky has the visual and verbal and architectural skills to create this maze and guide us through it.

She capitalizes on the use of the chapters being related in the voices of the characters: Ben relates the situation as he remembers and experiences it in eloquent finely honed grammar while Anita speaks to us with the slang that at first can be grating but morphs into communication that allows the reader to experience the change that develops in her relationship to Ben. In other's hands this could become cloying as a technique, but with Poznansky's skill she uses it as an interface between evolving personalities that makes her story ring true.

So much more could be said about the manner in which the author brings understanding to the hierarchies of relationships - parental, couple, aging, developing, and ones influenced by disease, but that would be robbing the reader of the joy of discoveries that Poznanasky accomplishes in this profound novel. The title is so well chosen: the phrase of the title is the key that unlocks much of the fragile mystery that hovers here. Please read the entire novel to appreciate the beauty of Uvi’s gift. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, September 15

Wonderful and fascinating story

I'm thrilled to find this review of my novel, The White Piano:
By Mr R Cheal on September 3, 2015
Format: Kindle Edition
This book goes hand in hand with the author's "My own Voice" and the two work very well as a set.
The core of the story is Lenny's marriage to his second wife, Anita, a much younger version of his ex-wife Natasha, who has early onset Alzheimers. While one book follows the narrative of Anita, we now hear the story from Ben's side, who is Lenny's estranged son.
His observations cast a new light on the situation. His perspective, aided by letters from his mother, bring new revelations and peel further layers of the family. The author also uses tape recordings in the book, making this a very accomplished piece of story telling. While I don't often like 'clever' or constructed plot devices, here it works extremely well.
The author has a unique sharp and poignant writing style and with the change of perspectives she gives the characters further depth. Great writing, a fascinating premise and wonderful insight in human nature make this a read very worth your time.

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Take a listen to my chat with Barbara at Red River Radio

Host Barbara Ehrentreu welcomes Karl Waterbury, multi-published children's writer, and Uvi Poznansky, author of many genres. Anything goes! We're discussing almost anything that has to do with writing--or not.


Check Out Books Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with Red River Radio on BlogTalkRadio


What was the inspiration for The David Chronicles?

Here are some thoughts from a recent interview:

Tell us about your trilogy, The David Chronicles. What inspired you to write it?

The entire trilogy is greatly inspired by painting and sculpture throughout the history of art, depicting the story David, who is an exceptional historical figure with great gifts, facing great temptations in love and war. You can easily read each one of the three volumes as a standalone novel, yet the themes of power and love run through the entire trilogy, allowing you to witness the drastic change in the main character from youth to old age. I find this transformation fascinating and hope you will too.

As an artist and writer, I believe that my mission is to let the characters speak to you through me. David is flesh and blood, he lives in my mind, and so does Bathsheba. This story is happening here and now. I invite you to step into the skin of the characters, and look yourself in the mirror.

Here is the first time David lays eyes on Bathsheba in volume I of the trilogy, Rise to Power:

Then, on a whim, she plunges underwater nearly all the way, so all that remains above the foamy surface is the little embroidered towel wrapped around her head. 
After several evenings of watching her from afar I still have no idea if her hair is curled or straight, red or brown. I have painted her in my mind several different ways already, each time more beautiful than the other. By now it matters little to me. She is so sexy, she might as well be bald. 
When she comes back up, “What,” she says. “You still here?”
“What’s the point of going up there,” I say, hearing a slight tone of complaint in my voice. I hope she does not think me childish. That would be devastating. 
With a hint of a smile, she asks, “What does that mean, What’s the point?”
So I say, “You would seem too small from above.”
“Really,” says Bathsheba. “I thought I spotted you standing by your window, with your sword aimed at me.”
To which I explain, “I could not see a thing through the glass. It became cloudy, or something. At this time of day, even though it is only the beginning of summer, it’s much too steamy in the office.”
She rolls her eyes. “I’ve had it with men.”
I can find nothing to say, and perhaps there is no need to. She can tell, can’t she, how desperately I ache for her.
“My life is scandal-free at the moment,” she says. “It feels nice for a change.”

How did you treat the love scene in A Peek at Bathsheba?

David’s love affair with Bathsheba is, arguably, the most torrid love affair ever told, and the love scenes could not be less than arousing, yet they must be delivered with lyricism and be no more explicit than the biblical Song of Songs. Here, then, is an excerpt from A Peek at Bathsheba:

Separated from her by the thought of a kiss I sense her heat, and the gust of air scented by roses and by her flesh—but I cannot tell if the breath between us is hers or mine. Which is when I know, for one perfect moment, that she is part of my essence. 
I am part of hers.
Bathsheba holds me in a tender embrace as I lay her down. Scattered petals fly off, swirling in the air around her long, silky hair that starts cascading here, over the pillows and onto the tile floor. 
Accidentally the goblet, which she has set down next to her, tips over and some of the wine spills over her hip. I dip a finger in the red puddle beside her, and paint countless grapes around her waist. 
Intoxicated I murmur to her, “Your graceful legs are like jewels, the work of an artist’s hands. Your navel is a rounded goblet that never lacks blended wine.” 
I want to wait, wait for her to give herself to me—but in the end I cannot fight my passion any longer, and I take her. She sighs softly and arches herself against me, rising on the fervor of my caress, higher and higher into ecstasy.

Is love a theme that runs through all three volumes of the trilogy?

Yes it is! Despite the fact that David has a full harem of woman... Here is the way he thinks of Bathsheba towards the end of his life, in volume 3, The Edge of Revolt

Overhead, a cloud breaks off from the others and moves in a new direction. Its wooly, dim grays are drifting across. I squint, rub my eyes. Now, in a separate layer, another image starts floating past: the way she looked, right here on this roof, when we came out of these doors the very first time. 
I remember: scattered petals flew off, swirling in the glow around her long, silky hair that started cascading under her, onto the tile floor. In the background, a vine of roses twisted over the wooden lattice and into it. Between its diagonal slats I saw a diamond here, a diamond there of the heavens. I wondered then about the black void that was gaping upon us, dotted by a magical glint of starlight.
Separated from her by the thought of a kiss I sensed her heat, and the gust of air, which was sweetly scented by roses and by her flesh—but I could not tell if the breath between us was hers or mine. Which is when I knew, for the first time in my life, that she would always be part of my essence. I would be part of hers.
Accidentally the goblet, which she had set down next to her, tipped over and some of the wine spilled over her hip. The crisp sound of breaking glass rang in my ear. It marked the moment, from which I could not turn back. Never would I be able to put it out of my mind.
Yes, this was my fault: taking a woman that belonged to another. Soon after came the blunder: bringing her husband, Uriah, back from the front, that he may sleep with her, which would have explained her pregnancy ever so conveniently. 
And when that did not go as planned, then came another mistake, the worst of all: sending him back to the battlefield, with my sealed letter in hand, arranging for his death. 
All the while, my boys were learning their own lessons—not from my psalms but from my deeds. One error begets another, each one bringing a new calamity over me, over my family, and over this entire land. Sin followed by execution, followed by revolt, escape, execution, revolt...
Had I known back then the results of the results of my mistake, the curse looming over my life ever since that time, would I still choose to do it? 
Bathsheba tries to raise me to my feet. Her fragrance brings back to me the sunny, warm hues of spring. The fears, the doubts flee away when we are that close. I adore the way she calls my name, the way she sighs. With every sweet word I fall deeper into her eyes. 
How can love be a mistake? In my passion for her—then as now—what choice do I have?
I want to tell her, “Let me close my eyes. Let me remember.”


★ Love historical fiction? Treat yourself to a gift 
Historical Fiction with a Modern Twist...

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

So make it one for the heartbreak and one more for love

My new novel, The Music of Us, harkens back to WWII and its music. To write it I researched thousands of songs from that era, and chose about a dozen where the lyrics and the feel captured the mood at one point or another in my story. Then, just as I thought I had put the finishing touch on the book, no! A problem! Suddenly I realized that I can not quote the lyrics of famous songs, because of their copyrights. And it might become an expensive proposition to get permission from the copyright holders to use them. So? What do I do? The answer is simple: write my own lyrics!

See if this feels like something you know and love:


Midnight came and went
The place is empty, I’m so lonely and so spent
So fill my cup
And let me tell you, before my time’s up
It’s too late to give, she won’t take
Nothing more to talk of
So make it one for the heartbreak
And one more for love

Or, how about this:

If you are made of air
Upon your wing I’m taken
Away from fear, despair
To find myself forsaken

I can't wait to hear these lyrics set to music and sung by the narrator of the audiobook edition! The process is only starting... Can't wait!


★ Love reading? Treat yourself to a love story ★

“Liberally salted with buttery smooth prose & fascinating insights”

Friday, September 18, 2015

Cover reveal for the audiobook edition of My Own Voice

The image for the cover of My Own Voice is something I designed on a whim. I came up with this idea for the new cover last night:

Anita, my protagonist, sitting at the side of the piano, unable to play it. She is contemplating the fate of her husband's first wife, Natasha, whose presence continues to haunt her like a ghost (symbolized by the transparent scarf draping over the piano.) It is that presence that prevents Anita from coming into her own.


Click the image and then play the voice sample to hear the beautiful narration by Heather Jane Hogan.



★ Love reading? Treat yourself to a family saga ★

“Liberally salted with buttery smooth prose & fascinating insights”

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

A Watercolor of Words

What a beautiful review by Valerie for my children' book, Now I am paper:

 A Watercolor of Words, September 14, 2015
By 
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This review is from: Now I Am Paper (Kindle Edition)
And what an exquisite painting this story is. Not only are her words vividly drawn, but the book is richly enhanced by her own illustrations, breathtaking and elegant, yet simply expressive.

I rank her up there with Tomie dePaola, Eric Carle, and Shel Silverstein. High praise from one who grew up on, and passed forward Silverstein’s classic to all my progeny. Some could say this is a retelling of The Giving Tree, but I say this is so much more. Ms. Pozanski's eloquent prose and exquisite illustrations bring a new and uplifting twist. It becomes very much a circle-of-life tale. The message, the prose and glorious illustrations create a true celebration of life.

This book is the single best children's book I've read in years. As a mother of eight and grandmother of ten, I speak with authority. I applaud Ms. Pozanski's immeasurable talents and am ordering copies for my grandchildren for Christmas. What better gift than a celebration of life? Many thanks, Ms. Pozanski for giving us this tale of life, of hope and renewal.
MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to children of ALL ages.

Cover reveal for the audiobook edition of The White Piano

Designing the cover for the audiobook edition of The White Piano I pictured the viewer on the other side of a grand piano, watching Ben, reflected in the surface of the instrument, listening to the last reverberations of the musical notes, which evoke memories in him. His hands are lifted in awe, his eyes are closed to focus, to stay in touch with that inspiration. The wing of the piano is over him, slanting diagonally, framing him, creating a tunnel of vision for us.


★ Love reading? Treat yourself to a family saga ★
The complete series: 


“Liberally salted with buttery smooth prose & fascinating insights”

Sunday, September 13, 2015

I have always loved Uvi Poznansky’s work and ‘The White Piano’ begins on

Jaspreet Mann Kanwar is a poet, author, and storyteller. She is the author of The Road in the Sky (and other books.) I am thrilled to find her wonderful review of my novel, The White Piano:


on September 12, 2015

I have always loved Uvi Poznansky’s work and ‘The White Piano’ begins on a perfect note-“About a year ago I sifted through the contents of my suitcase, and was just about to discard a letter….” The reader is intrigued and sets on a beautiful impressionable journey filled with delightful stories. The beauty of this work lies in the fact that it can be read as a standalone novel or as a series of events that can be deciphered separately. Personally I really liked ‘She is looking out the window’. This particular piece has the intensity of a silent stream, as characters talk about trivial matters on the surface, but there is a storm brewing inside their hearts. It is very evident from the simple conversation that is tinged with so much that remains unsaid. ‘I think I can see that eye. It looks in, unblinking. It can read the signs of our silence. I want to speak— but find myself unable’. The unsaid is so powerful that it is like flicking light-switches with wet fingertips. As I delved deep into the pages, I got a vivid glimpse of people and characters that are not only human but also immensely lovable. They suffer from all the weaknesses that shroud most peoples’ lives and their joys and sorrows are something every reader can relate to. This novel is a unique mix of ordinary and the extraordinary. ‘The White Piano’ by Uvi Poznansky has the power to unravel situations that are complex as she brilliantly peeps into the minds of her characters in an attempt to disentangle all complexities. ‘There it is, that sound again. And again— just like last night— it is only a whisper...’ This book may be a gentle whisper, but it is enough to satisfy a hungry reader who loves to delve deep into the emotional psyche of people and live every moment of this gift.

Saturday, September 12, 2015

I’ve not been so captured for a long time

Susan Tarr is a gifted author who has been writing for 25 years, drawing on her international travels, work within the NZ tourism industry, and her work in various psychiatric hospitals within New Zealand. I am thrilled to find a new review, written by her, for my novel Rise to Power:


I’ve not been so captured for a long time.
on September 10, 2015
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I’ve not been so captured for a long time.
I am most impressed with Uvi Poznanski’s writing style, the finesse, the in-depth character drawing and…well, everything about this book. I’m scratching for words to further describe how engrossed I became with the author’s character of the boy, and then youth, David who would be king. I have known the
stories from childhood, but to have them teased out in a tangible way as this author has done has left me feeling blessed to have bought this ebook.

Powerful, Compelling and Unique

After a 30 year career in the telecommunications industry, Bill Cronin sold a telecommunications and business management consultancy in 2000 to pursue a writing career. He is the author of five novels. I am delighted to find his review for my novel, My Own Voice:


By Bill Cronin on September 11, 2015
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
Uvi Poznansky's, 'My Own Voice,' is a creative, gripping and deeply moving tale of a young girl coming of age in unfathomable emotional circumstances.

In Anita, Poznansky's has created character who lingers long after the final paragraph. She makes her live through masterful use of dialect, exquisite interior monologue and attention to detail.

This is the second novel I've read by this extremely talented author.

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Superb literary writing

Lovely new review for my novel, My Own Voice:


 Superb literary writing, September 3, 2015
By 
This review is from: My Own Voice (Still Life with Memories Book 1) (Kindle Edition)
17 year old Anita meets an older man, Lenny. In her simple way she decribes to the reader her love for the married man and slowly we learn about her past and the odd dynamic between the couple. The situation gets more complicated by the illness of Lenny's ex-wife and the arrival of his son Ben. The characters are drawn perfectly.
There is also a great supportive cast in form of aunt Hadassa and her sisters .
Poznansky's writing style is sharp and poignant as she uncovers the deeper layers of her characters with a superb literary quality. Casually analytical and close to the bone of truth, this is an excellent and accomplished portrayal of a fascinating and captivating family situation.