Angels Among Us

Here's another excerpt from one of my recent books. It's a full-color, hardback book, rich with wonderful photographs of angels taken by real people who've had personal contacts with these divine beings. Available in the US through Amazon.com, and through bookstores in the UK.

Angels Among Us

We seem to have an innate need to believe in benevolent beings and a mystical realm beyond what we experience in our everyday lives here on earth. For thousands of years, people around the globe, from myriad cultures and belief systems, have sought and received assistance from heavenly helpers. Today, when so much of our world seems baffling, overwhelming, or totally out of control, perhaps it’s no coincidence that angels seem to be showing up in large numbers to guide us on life’s perilous journey.

In 2008, the Washington Post conducted a poll of 36,000 adults from various religious and nonreligious backgrounds. It found that most Americans think angels actively participate in our lives, and more than 80 percent believe miracles occur.

Many people say they experience the presence of angels during life-threatening situations or periods of hopelessness and despair. Russian artist Marc Chagall, for example, was shaken by self-doubt and ready to give up his profession when one bleak night a rustling of wings woke him from a sound sleep. A brilliant blue light illuminated his bedroom and a beautiful winged creature hovered above him. Chagall believed the angel had appeared to inspire and encourage him. For the rest of his life he continued to paint angels, which he considered manifestations of the highest form of love.

Angels frequently help us resolve earthly conundrums. Some of the world’s greatest geniuses, including Leonardo da Vinci and Albert Einstein, admitted receiving insight and guidance from higher sources. Often these insights come to us in the form of epiphanies––“aha” moments––as if the sun suddenly emerged from behind a cloud and chased away the shadows in our minds. Other times awarenesses present themselves in dreams, meaningful events and “coincidences,” or through people who seem to have been sent to us at just the right moment, precisely for that purpose.

Medical personnel and Hospice workers often witness beings of light nearby when someone dies. It’s as if celestial tour guides show up, ready to shepherd the newly released soul into the wondrous world on the other side. People who have had near-death experiences regularly recount tales of being warmly greeted by luminous entities who resonate with love, peace, and joy.

After Jay Bailey of Kerrville, Texas died in an automobile accident, he found himself in a place permeated by radiant light. He recognized his mother and father standing nearby, as well as a powerful being dressed in a translucent ivory-colored suit that glowed, whom he refers to as the Brilliant One. Bailey felt safe, secure, and completely accepted. As he describes it, “The atmosphere is love; we feel such joy in togetherness.” The Brilliant One gave Bailey a choice: to stay in this other realm or return to earth. When he chose to return, he says, “I saw the Brilliant One pick me up and proceed into my body, head first. Liquid life-fluid flows into my body.” He awoke in the hospital after lying comatose for two weeks.

In his book The Evolution Angel, Todd Michael, O.D., an emergency and trauma physician who witnessed more than five hundred deaths, explains there really aren’t any angels, per se. What we interpret as angels are emanations of an omnipresent, loving, divine energy that pervades our universe. “The ‘angels,’ the ‘messengers,’ are just [God’s] way of showing himself in such a way that we can actually handle it.”

In this book, you’ll read stories from people of all ages, nationalities, and walks of life who reveal their stories of encounters with angels. Many of them believe that during their darkest hours angels visited them to provide protection, bring messages of hope, or offer miraculous healing. Some of their experiences are very personal; others are shared by large numbers of people. But these stories are more than mere recollections––they are accompanied by photos of the angels themselves. 

Mermaids: The Myths, Legends, & Lore

Here's an excerpt from my new book Mermaids: The Myths, Legends, and Lore. It's a beautifully illustrated collection of stories, sightings, and oddities about mermaids throughout history and from around the world. Enjoy!

Mysterious, magical, and mesmerizingly beautiful, mermaids have enchanted humanity for thousands of years. No matter where you go on Planet Earth, you’ll hear stories of these elusive and evocative sea creatures who are sometimes benevolent, sometimes destructive, but always alluring. They swim in the seven seas; splash about in rivers, lakes, and streams; and even frolic in fountains and wells.

Some researchers theorize that we’re drawn to the dichotomy of light and dark that mermaids embody. These lovely ladies are simultaneously desirable and dangerous. They can bring good luck or disaster. Seafarers have long swapped stories about mermaids charming sailors with their heavenly singing, then smashing their ships and drowning the hapless seamen. Mermaid myths usually depict these sensuous sirens with a dual nature—they can be benevolent or malevolent, depending on what mood they’re in at any given time. Like women, it’s a mermaid’s prerogative to change her mind—and when she does, watch out!

Sunday Sample

Below you'll find another "Sunday Sample"––I hope you enjoy it. This excerpt comes from my mystery novel Hidden Agenda, which won the Kiss of Death Award for best book of romantic suspense. You can read the entire book on your Kindle or other device for just 99¢ from Amazon. If you prefer a physical, paperback version, you can purchase signed first editions through my website for $9.95. I'll be eager to hear feedback if you care to share your thoughts. Thanks for reading.

Hidden Agenda

The half-ton pickup bumped them again. Taylor rolled down his window and motioned the truck to pass him. Instead it pulled alongside and rammed them again, this time hard enough to knock the Camaro off the road and onto the narrow shoulder. A mere strand of cable strung between posts served as a guardrail; beyond loomed a drop of several hundred rocky feet.

Taylor jerked the steering wheel hard and pulled the car back onto the road. The pickup bore down on them again and collided with the Camaro's back left fender. Taylor downshifted and accelerated. The powerful car shot forward, its tires squealing. Charlotte was thrown back in her seat, then against the door as they slid around a curve. When they slowed to take a tight V-turn, the truck gathered speed and pulled into the oncoming lane beside the car. Its front fender slammed into the driver's side of the Camaro, sending it into a sideways skid toward the edge of the cliff. Taylor cut the wheel hard and the car skimmed the guardrail, snapping it instantly. They careened off a boulder and bounced back onto the pavement.

"That sonuvabitch is tryin' to kill us!" he shouted as he struggled to bring the car under control.

He jammed the gas pedal to the floor and the Camaro lurched forward. Tires screamed. The engine howled. Trees, rocks, and telephone poles flashed by. The black band of pavement whizzed beneath them. The Camaro devoured the few straight stretches and screeched around the curves, sometimes skidding broadside down the middle of the road. Miraculously no cars were coming the other way. Taylor spurred the Camaro on like a jockey riding a racehorse down the home stretch.

Trying to keep up with the faster car, the truck swerved out of control. It fishtailed and spun around twice before crashing into the rocky mountainside.

Taylor slowed the Camaro and pulled off the road. When he turned to face Charlotte she noticed his cheeks were flushed beneath his tan and his blue eyes flashed with excitement.

"You all right?" he asked.

Charlotte nodded. "Do you think he was trying to kill you or me?"

Another Sunday Story Sample

Following in Twitter's footsteps, on Sundays I'm going to post extracts from my own and other authors' books to try and tempt you. You can read the rest of my mystery story "Midnight at the 11th Hour Cowboy Bar"––and dozens of other great tales––in the anthology Windchill, published by Level Best Books (www.levelbestbooks.com). Or, if you prefer, choose an erotic version of the same story, published by Ravenous Romance in The Green Love Anthology (www.ravenousromance.com). Enjoy!

Midnight at the 11th Hour Cowboy Bar

The rusty thermometer nailed to the wall outside the 11^th Hour Cowboy Bar read 106 degrees when I strolled in. It wasn’t a whole lot cooler inside. Jolene McBride, the wizened bottle-blonde proprietor, glanced up from the romance novel she was reading and smiled at me. “Hey, hon,” she said.

Some things never change; the 11^th Hour Cowboy Bar is one of them. The mounted deer heads with their sad glass eyes look like they’ve been here since LBJ was President. So does Jolene. She still teases her caution-sign yellow hair into a bouffant mound big enough for a quail to nest in and the last record she loaded into the joint’s juke box was Hank William’s “Cold, Cold Heart.”

She handed me a beer as I bellied up to the bar. When you weigh only a little more than the thermometer reads, “bellied up” is merely a figure of speech.

“You hear about that big game hunter?” she asked, wiping her hands on her too-tight jeans with the Lone Star stitched on the butt pockets.

For as long as I can remember Jolene and I have had this “one-ups-womanship” thing going to see who’s first with the latest news. I’m a reporter, so I’ve got a vested interest in staying on top of things. But the local paper only comes out once a week and the Cowboy Bar is open every day except Sunday, so Jolene has the advantage.

“I heard about Brisbee Cole, if that’s who you mean,” I volleyed back.

Just about every guy in Easy, Texas considers himself a hunter. Brisbee Cole, though, made the rest of them look like kids in a penny arcade. If you’d ever sat beside him at one of the local watering holes for more than fifteen minutes you’d have heard about the leopard he shot in Tanzania and the grizzly he bagged in Alaska. I attributed his Hemingway complex to his stature. I’m only average height for a woman, but even in his cowboy boots with their two-inch heels he barely came up to my chin.

“Dwight Moseley was down here at lunchtime,” Jolene went on, “telling me how he found Cole’s body on the doorstep of his taxidermy shop this morning with a note pinned on his shirt that said ‘Stuff This!’ ”

I chuckled. “What seems weird to me is he didn’t get shot.”

Sample Sunday

Excerpt from my novel Confessions of an Aging American Playboy for "Sample Sunday"

I landed in Rockport again shortly before 9/11. After eighteen years in Hawaii, I’d had my fill of isolation, surfers, Japanese greed, and native hostility. I returned to Massachusetts with a woman I’d lived with for five years but didn’t love to take a job I hated. Shortly after we arrived, she dumped me––for a woman. Just goes to show I’ll never understand chicks.

It didn’t take me long to locate Dee Dee. One evening after work I climbed three flights of narrow steps to her garret studio with its paint-splattered floors, exposed beams, and precious north-facing view of the ocean. Frames of all sizes and paintings in various stages of completion cluttered the small room. An old baker’s rack held pads of paper, canvases, baskets overflowing with tubes of paint, and jars stuffed with brushes. Even though it was still a couple hours until sunset, a spotlight illuminated a small platform in one corner of the studio.

Dee Dee was cleaning brushes in the sink with her back to me when I entered. Without turning around she ordered, “Strip and take the stand.”

I chuckled. “I’m afraid my modeling days are over.”

She spun around and stared at me a while before she spoke. “Well, it’s about time. I’ve been waiting twenty-nine years for you.”

Her short blonde hair stuck up in spikes, like a sunburst around her head. Her blue eyes were still too big for her face. She wore a man’s white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows and a pair of ragged jeans, both of them so covered with paint it looked like she’d had a run-in with Jackson Pollock. Yellow and orange splotches dappled her left cheek. Her fingernails were green. She looked adorable.

“You don’t seem glad to see me,” I said. “You’re not still mad at me after all this time, are you?”

Dee Dee sighed and wiped her hands on her jeans. She opened a cabinet above the sink, took out a bottle of cheap Chianti and two glasses, and handed them to me. While she cleared a place for us to sit, I poured the wine.

“I’d hoped when you came back you’d be fat and bald,” she said uncharitably.

“Yeah, well, I’ve put on a few pounds and my golden locks have gone completely white, as you can see.”

“Damn it, Max, you’re still the handsomest man I’ve ever known.” She didn’t make it sound like a compliment.

I flashed her one of my best smiles. “You turned out pretty cute yourself, Squirt.”

“Oh please. I’m forty years old, for chrissake. Don’t call me Squirt.”

“Whoops. Sorry. I guess you are all grown up at that.” I winked and she blushed.

She gulped her wine and held out her glass for a refill. “What brings you to our fair isle again after all this time?”

“Work. I got transferred to the New England office.”

“Still keeping the skies safe?”

I nodded. “I’m not in the tower anymore, though, I’m the boss man now. Between you and me, it sucks. I’d rather be back on the radar scope directing planes––at least I’d feel I was doing something constructive.”

“So fill me in on your life.”

“You want the complete version or the abridged one?”

“High-concept it for me,” she said. “Otherwise we’ll be here for another twenty-nine years.”

“San Francisco, Honolulu. No wife, no kids.”

“And your brother?”

“He died. Fourteen years ago.”

“I’m sorry. He lived a lot longer than you expected, though.”

“Yeah.” I shrugged. Even after all this time, I still hadn’t come to grips with his death. “How ’bout you?”

“Three marriages, three divorces. No kids either––at least I got that part right.”

“This part looks pretty good too.” I gestured at the artwork on the walls of the studio. “You’ve got talent.”

“I guess. It keeps me alive anyway.”

I thought she meant she earned a living painting. Later I came to understand that she meant it literally. Art was her solace and her salvation, the only reason she hadn’t killed herself a dozen times in the past dozen years.

How Can Feng Shui Help You?

If you happen to be in the Kerrville, TX area on Wednesday, March 22, 2012, and want to learn more about feng shui, please stop by Unity Church on Lois Street at noon. I'll be talking about the ancient art of feng shui and how it can help you.

When the entertainment giant Disney built a 310-acre, $3.5 billion theme park in Hong Kong, they consulted with a feng shui master to make sure everything from the opening date to the positions of the park’s doorways were correct. Designed to be “the most harmonious place on earth,” Hong Kong Disneyland is even sited in a location that’s considered fortunate according to feng shui.

Feng shui’s principles were a consideration for internationally renowned architect I. M. Pei, too, when he designed the Bank of China’s tower in Hong Kong. Real estate tycoon Donald Trump says he uses feng shui “because it makes me money.”

In recent years, many celebrities including Oprah and Spielberg, have discovered the benefits of feng shui. So have some of the world’s largest corporations––Coca-Cola, Sony, Shell, Proctor and Gamble among them––who used it to boost profits, reduce employee turnover, and increase harmony within their companies.

If some of the richest and most famous people on the planet are turning to this ancient philosophy to enhance their success, there must be something to it. Shouldn’t you find out if feng shui can help you, too?

What, Exactly, Is Feng Shui Anyway?

Feng shui (pronounced fung shway) has been practiced in the East for more than two thousand years. Rooted in the Chinese spiritual tradition Taoism and the teachings of Confucius, it literally means “wind” and “water.” The goal is to direct chi––the vital energy that the Chinese believe animates all life on earth––through your environment so that its movement resembles a gently flowing stream or a pleasant breeze.

That’s a very simple explanation for a complex and multi-layered system, which contains many diverse schools of thought and a wide range of practices, both practical and mystical. But underlying all of feng shui is a single, fundamental objective: to create harmony and balance in our environments and, by extension, in our lives. Properly utilized, feng shui lets us attract what the Chinese call the Three Great Blessings: health, wealth, and happiness.

Also known as the art of placement, feng shui gives us a formula for designing, arranging, organizing, and maintaining our homes and workplaces so they nurture us. Few environments are inherently ideal, but virtually all can be improved. Feng shui practitioners accomplish this by applying a variety of physical and psychological “cures,” which I’ll discuss more fully in chapter 3 and in Part Two. (In my earlier books 10-Minute Feng Shui, 10-Minute Clutter Control, and 10-Minute Clutter Control Room by Room, I also offer hundreds of simple feng shui cures you can do yourself to improve every area of your life.)

You don’t have to be a master in this ancient art to experience its effects. To begin, all you need to do is pay attention to your feelings when you enter a space you’ve never been in before. A building that has “good feng shui” will make you feel welcome, comfortable, safe, at peace. One with “bad feng shui” will stir up all sorts of unpleasant feelings––uneasiness, agitation, lethargy, apprehension, or discomfort.

As you learn more about feng shui, you’ll start to notice even subtle disturbances in the homes, offices, and retail environments you frequent. You’ll also start to see how to rectify those problems. “Once you begin to apply feng shui principles, you’ll be able to flow smoothly with the river of life, rather than having to swim against the current,” says New York feng shui consultant Benjamin Huntington.

Why Feng Shui Works

If you’ve ever studied the psychology of dreams, you know that the house is a symbol for your life. It’s no surprise, then, that your physical home speaks volumes about you and serves as a mirror that reflects back images of the many facets of your daily existence. A feng shui master can look at your home and immediately see which parts of your life are operating smoothly as well as those that are causing you problems.

The Chinese believe that all life is interconnected––our environments influence us and we influence our environments. It’s easy to understand how our environments affect us. We’ve all experienced the sense of serenity that comes from walking in a peaceful park or along the ocean. And, we’ve all witnessed the impact humans have had on our natural landscapes. Feng shui, however, looks more closely at this interplay by examining every detail of our living and work spaces and their relationship to our daily lives.

Each section of your home or workplace represents a part of your life. The condition of the various sectors, as well as the colors, furnishings, architectural elements, even what’s in the closets will influence your health, career, relationships, family interactions, etc. In chapter 2, I’ll discuss this in more detail and show you how to analyze the different parts of your immediate, personal environment.

Although the practice of feng shui involves ancient Chinese spirituality and some esoteric concepts, much of it is simply good, practical interior design. Long before most Westerners had even heard about feng shui, many successful designers were already using it subconsciously––because it makes sense. Here’s an example. If you walked into an office and the person you’d come to see was sitting at her desk with her back to you, both of you could experience discomfort. You might feel unwelcome and the person at the desk might be startled by your presence. Feng shui recommends positioning a desk so that the person seated at it faces the entrance.

Feng shui also incorporates such fields as aromatherapy and the psychology of color––all with the intention of creating harmony and balance. As this ancient art continues to expand in the West, its practitioners will undoubtedly bring other ideas, philosophies, and disciplines into the mix and increase feng shui’s effectiveness in our modern world.

(Excerpted from my book 10-Minute Feng Shui Room by Room)