An Outstanding Debut

A STEAMY WOMEN'S FICTION 

A psychological exposé on love, vengeance, and a heart-wrenching secret

Paige Lyman, an accomplished psychiatrist, is on the verge of madness but she doesn’t know it yet. The madness begins when she gets it into her head to write her memoirs. As her brilliant mind assembles bits and pieces of her life for the book, ugly skeletons, long forgotten in the closet, begin to rear their heads.

It had all begun with a simple act of love. And love, for her, was a blond-haired Irish boy named Bill, so when Bill abandoned her for priesthood the world around her collapsed. Seized by a different passion—vengeance—she seeks her proverbial pound of flesh in the beds of various priests.

… Until she meets Stern W, who sweeps into her life like a hurricane and marries her. It is not until he dies in a helicopter crash that she discovers the startling truth about who he really was. And now, transformed from psychiatrist to patient, Paige is plagued with damning memories she must decipher in order to be free.

Take Back the Memory is the saga of her compelling backward journey through her own life on a psychotherapist’s couch.

"An intellectual & emotional look into a broken mind." - Readers' Favorite

                      "Like the cheery whisper of an admirer after a heartbreak." 

- Grady Harp - Hall of Fame | Vine Voice | Top 100 Reviewer

Character Profile

Paige Lyman is a gorgeous redhead. She's over fifty and now in semi-retirement, and is still an object of fascination to her daughter, Diane. She possesses the loveliest pair of legs on Riverside Drive, and when she wears skirts, which she does often, even young men from nearby Columbia University turn to stare. Diane is amazed that her mother's wonderful head of hair still causes whispers in elevators. What she doesn't know is that Paige had a very unusual childhood that is about to catch up with her. But neither of them are prepared for it ... 

 Critics Viewpoint - Take Back the Memory        

"Often in the prologues of fine novels, the author introduces not only pertinent subject matter but also offers an aperitif of writing style that acts as an overture to the music that will follow. Such is the case with Augustine's Prologue - pay attention to the language... And that is all you need to know to embrace this new writer whose talent is immense. Poet and storyteller blend seamlessly in a  drama that explores the human psyche and that thin line between living and experiencing life. Highly recommended." 

- Grady Harp (Top 100 Reviewer)

   

What others say: 

"This book is well written. The plot-line is easy to follow and the characters are well developed. While there are parts of the story that are sad and /or troubling, there is also happiness within. I loved the surprising twist at the end."  

                                                    -    Stephanie Lasley    

Top 1000 Reviewer

"This was an absolutely fascinating story. The writing is excellent and filled with wonderful imagery from Paige's memories. The story opens with Paige's daughter concerned for her mother's mental state. She convinces her to see someone and the complicated, beautiful story is unraveled for the reader. This book is suspenseful, heart-wrenching and an emotional roller coaster."

                                                   -         P. Benson  [Top 1000 Reviewer]  

Norm Goldman

“What makes this erotically charged tale an outstanding debut is readers can actually feel the protagonist leaping off the page and sitting in their living rooms describing the messy complications of her life. In addition, Sam's superb storytelling talent runs the spectrum from crafting a candid psychological exposé with tantalizing illicit sex scenes to a grim depiction of a scorned troubled woman who has suffered from long-term hurt. Another plus about this novel which makes it a pleasure to read is the ease, fluidity, the economy and tight structure, as well as the precision of Sam's prose which has a deft accuracy in its tone and execution. I would surmise that his outstanding poetic skills had a great deal to do with his ability to effortlessly spin quite a yarn.” 

  -         Norm Goldman, Publisher Book Pleasures

A Blogger's Visual Perception of a Character

                            

"Psychological Suspense at its best" 

- Trang Tran (Book blogger) 

"The story is about Paige, a famous psychiatrist who turns to a psychologist to seek help and identify the source of her trauma. The novel is spiced with a lot of Freud's notion of psychoanalysis including how events in childhood can determine someone's behavior, sexual desire and so on. This is very interesting to me as I am involved with psychology. It is an absolute gift to read an author who smartly inserts some psychology notions at the right moment into the story. Awesome read, great writing and the "coup" at the end is absolutely genius!"   

       

                                         

                             

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Little Things Blog Hop

Amazing Giveaway!!!

This is just one of 117 stops on the Little Things Blog Hop! 

Make sure you visit each stop and enter the posted giveaway. 

Keep an eye on the big one - A rafflecopter with a $50 Amazon gift card grand prize and a ton of other prizes! 

Who doesn't like winning cool prizes?

Click on the book image below to get in.

Next you will want to click on this link and visit Author Maryann Jordan! 

Maryann Jordan-author (sweet & steamy romance)

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Nudity: Beyond the Controversy

Kim: "When you're like I have nothing to wear LOL" 

Probing the blurred lines between female empowerment,

naked protests & sheer exhibitionism 

Last week, as the world marked the International Women’s Day, a bizarre cycle of ‘creative’ ferment rocked social media over Kim Kardashian’s naked selfie Instagram post, which, in a way, was surprising since it was not the first time the reality star “broke the internet.”

Nevertheless, it got television personality, Wendy Williams wondering if Kanye West had hijacked his wife’s phone. It also prompted former CNN presenter, Piers Morgan to offer, derisively, to buy her clothes in response to the puckishly captioned post, “When you’re like I have nothing to wear LOL.”

Bette Midler, who actually set the tone for the ferment, wrote the hilarious tweet, “If Kim wants us to see a part of her we’ve never seen, she’s gonna have to swallow the camera.”

Moms share nude snaps following Kim's internet offering 

And Kim, in a rather uncharacteristic reaction to the hoopla, did what some called ‘pulling a Kanye’ (which seems to be another way of saying ‘taking the bait’ especially if it involves engaging in a twitter feud). She said afterwards, “I am empowered by my body. I am empowered by my sexuality. I am empowered by feeling comfortable in my skin. I am empowered by showing the world my flaws and not being afraid of what anyone is going to say about me. And I hope that through this platform I have been given, I can encourage the same empowerment for girls and women all over the world.”

She did, in fact, ‘encourage’ some British mothers to feel empowered enough to strip for the camera. This week, the London-based Sun Newspaper published nude photos of five new moms who stripped off to show, according to the paper, what REAL post-pregnancy women look like naked.

But beyond the utterly pointless controversy over Kim’s nude selfie, many now see the line between naked protests aimed at female empowerment and the sexy stereotypes that feminists scorn becoming steadily blurred. And the question they are asking is, does nudity really prove the point?

Protesters at the Pamplona bull run

In a Vice Media blog post, Bertie Brandes wonders if “It’s time for women to rethink naked protests.” Analyzing the adventures of Heather Varley, a 22-year-old British student, who traveled to Spain last year to participate in a PETA-inspired protest against animal cruelty during the Pamplona bull run, Bertie offered interesting insights. While other protesters sprayed red paint on their bodies, Heather chose instead to protest topless. “I’ve got an inkling,” Bertie wrote. “Just an inkling—largely due to the total disregard of the equally nearly-naked male protester next to Heather in the story—that yes, yes! Heather’s nipples might have been what got this protest into the news.”

FEMEN protest against EURO 2012

The truth, though, is that over the years, nudity has been effectively employed in protests to attract public attention to a cause. But nudity, according to Bertie, might not have much to do with animal rights, all the same, Heather understood that the only way to get attention was to strip because of the power still carried by the image of a woman’s naked body. Further, Bertie observed that nude protests had worked for FEMEN (a group of Ukrainian topless female activities) up to a point. “The problem is that their argument was entirely undermined when it turned out that these beautiful women who risked their lives to campaign against stifling sexism had apparently been auditioned on the basis of their attractiveness.” Her verdict? “Exploiting other women’s confidence and trust on that level is pretty depressing.”

Mollie King

In fact, many pundits hold the opinion that a line should be drawn between nudity as a form of protest for a specific cause and nudity for the sheer purpose of exhibitionism. 

Last November, the British newspaper columnists, Jan Moir, in her piece in the Daily Mail captioned, “Why these X-rated red carpet dresses betray women,” went as far as saying that those ‘guilty of this indecent exposure’ were deluding themselves and demeaning their sex.

“Down on the red carpet and up on the stage, a new frontier in feminism is being established,” she wrote. 

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley

“Battle lines have been drawn in a crusade where she-celebrities seem to be competing to see who can wear the least the best, all in the name of emancipation and fashion forward self-expression. Who dares to bare wins? Everyone loves a bit of sexy glamour, but stars are stepping out in ever more terrifying outfits: barely there frocks that seem to get skimpier, tighter, more outrageous and revealing than before. First there was actress Salma Hayek in eye-popping ruffled plunge, showing more breast than a 10lb turkey. Then there was Marks & Spencer model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley in the kind of navel-grazing sequins that might give Jessica Rabbit pause for thought. Pop singer Mollie King wore a dress slit to the navel - from both directions - which was so revealing we could all see she had dutifully kept her waxing appointments…That is why it is rather depressing to see that, within the Tinseltown confines of show business, so many of them seem to be content to reduce themselves to the kind of sexy stereotypes worshiped by men.”

Salma Hayek

As with other aspects of feminism, the talk about women’s freedom to express themselves through nudity and fashion is an ongoing debate.

In this context, Angelina Chapin, the Blog editor of the Huffington Post said that “Some of the most important moments in modern feminism have been the result of tensions between feminists.” 

In her opinion piece in the Ottawa Citizen entitled, “Why Feminists Should Argue Over Kim Kardashian’s Selfie,” she asserted that “We should also ask questions older feminists did not, such as why Serena Williams’ body is shamed while Maria Sharapova’s is celebrated and why a white woman’s assault matters more than an Aboriginal woman’s murder.”

Caitlyn Stasey

It probably doesn’t come as a surprise that the argument, inevitably, touches yet again on the body issue, which the Australian actress, Caitlyn Stasey had a rather unusual response to early last year. 

Caitlyn, according to a report in the Mail Online, in a bold move to show her dissatisfaction with the way women were being presented across all forms of media, launched what she called a female-empowerment website complete with a series of full-frontal photographs. 

While the initiative was positively received, pundits are still struggling to find a convincing answer to the all-important question, does nudity really prove the point?

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Q&A with Hartford Books Examiner

Direct examination: 

Augustine Sam 

on 

'The Conspiracy of Silence'

Today, Hartford Books Examiner welcomes Augustine Sam.

From AuthorSuite Books

Sam is the author of “The Conspiracy of Silence” (AuthorSuiteBooks). A bilingual Italian journalist and an award winning poet, he is also a member of the U.K. Chartered Institute of Journalists. Sam was formerly Special Desk editor at THISDAY newspapers, an authoritative Third World daily first published in collaboration with the Financial Times of London. He later became correspondent for central Europe. His poems have been published in two international anthologies: “The Sounds of Silence” and “Measures of the Heart.” One of his poems, Anguish & Passion, was the winner of the Editors’ Choice Awards in the North America Open Poetry contest, USA. Augustine’s debut novel, “Take Back the Memory,” a contemporary Women’s fiction, received a Readers’ Favorite 5-star medal. His second book, “Flashes of Emotion,” a collection of poems, was the 2015 International Book Award Finalist. Sam lives and works in Venice.

“The Conspiracy of Silence” was published last September. Tracy Edingfield, lawyer and author of “The Law Firm of Psycho & Satan,” praised: “This fire-cracker female lead is a force of nature who drives her powerful enemies to their knees. She’s smart, she’s brave. She’s sexy as hell. Sam’s tale of the mob’s tenacious grip on American politics is bared in some of the best courtroom scenes ever written.” Further, TFLReader (Top 500 Reviewer) noted “This is definitely one wild ride from start to finish …”

From the publisher:

SEX SCANDALS IN HIGH PLACES ...

An exposé on the murky world of high-stakes politics...a depiction of the life-and-death struggle of a young female lawyer who goes to great lengths to outwit a diabolical trio in order to save her lover from a murder rap.

The conscience of a town steeped in sexism, vanity and hypocrisy is pricked by the brutal murder of a mysterious woman in an LA park. But the shock is transformed into a steamy, seductive scandal when the corpse turns out to be Susan Whitaker, the flamboyant wife of the governor of California.

A secret lover/blackmailer theory leads to the indictment of Hollywood's most influential black celebrity. It is only the beginning, for Susan Whitaker, in fact, did not exist.

Little does anyone realize that this colossal fraud is a mere curtain raiser to a chilling world of ugly skeletons dating back to the assassination of a U.S. senator in a Washington hotel sauna, skeletons connected to riveting sex scandals in high places, skeletons the FBI and political kingmakers will kill for...

THE CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE

Now, Augustine Sam offers up his testimony in the matter of “The Conspiracy of Silence” …

John Valeri: What inspired you to write “The Conspiracy of Silence” – and how did you find the process to compare to that of writing your first novel?

Augustine Sam: Actually, “The Conspiracy of Silence” was motivated by a play I wrote for broadcast many years ago—a 30-minute radio play about a musician accused of a murder he did not commit. His sister, it turned out, was the only person alive who knew he was innocent though the evidence pointed to his culpability; her desperation to prove his innocence, of course, was the core of the play. When it was aired, I felt that it was too short to convey the kind of emotion that should naturally accompany a tense plot such as that, so I decided to write a novel about it with all the powerful ingredients that were missing in the play.

My first novel, “Take Back the Memory” on the other hand, was a different ball game. It involved the creation of a flawed character whose struggles with her inner demons had the sole purpose of helping us, as literature often does, to understand ourselves as humans. It was a kind of psychological exploration of the human mind, in this case, a woman's mind; a woman unable to fall out of love with her childhood sweetheart who had abandoned her for priesthood. She decided to embark on a very curious kind of vendetta.

In a way, the process of writing both books was similar in that I delved into what some might call political incorrectness.

JV: Your protagonist, Rita Spencer, is a defense attorney. How did you endeavor to get into her head – and where did you draw the line between authenticity and creative license in terms of depicting her profession?

AS: Rita Spencer is thrust into the limelight she dreads by a murder of which her lover is accused. It is important to note two things: (1) she happens to be a good investigator whose strength lies in the kind of dirt she's able to dig up in any given case, and (2) like any woman in love, she is desperate to save her lover from the murder rap. Based on that premise, the writer in me undertook the pleasurable task of getting into her head through what I would call a normal creative process. The line between authenticity and my creative license in depicting her profession is not drawn but designed to blend with reality. In the evolution of the story, her conduct as a person (or what you might call behind-the-scene maneuver) is distinct from the tricks she pulls in the courtroom, the process of which is presented in as authentic a manner as it is in real life. In fact, one former practicing lawyer describes the legal process portrayed in the book as "some of the best courtroom scenes ever written." Of course, I am honored by the compliment.

JV: In your opinion, how does setting enhance narrative – and in what ways have your own international experiences informed this work?

AS: The setting of any novel is imperative to the narrative. It highlights the story, makes the characters real and identifiable, gives a greater understanding of the plot, and puts the events in their proper environmental perspective. It is true for all genres including thrillers, which, in addition to the setting, have the advantage of a fast-paced trait that helps the author simulate the mood of his readers by providing that sudden rush of excitement, and exhilaration that eventually drive the narrative.

In answer to the other question, well, the only way I see my international experiences as informing this work is in my ability to free myself from being pigeonholed with a single idea or perspective; it goes a long way to inspire open-mindedness, which I consider healthy for creativity.

JV: Though fiction, your story resonates as timely and topical. How do you see this work as being relevant to the current political climate – and in what ways can fiction be a particularly effective vehicle for illuminating real-life issues?

AS: Literature must be relevant to its times. It must be both timely and timeless. It must resonate with the people and the period in which it is set, and contribute to the discourse, political or otherwise, as well as put events in their proper historical and social contexts. To that extent, I'm glad that this work comes across as topical. I would say it is relevant to the current social and political climate in that it doesn't shy away from exploring same. Fiction, used properly, can be a very effective vehicle for expounding on real-life issues because it can, by its nature, get away with many things. And it doesn't necessarily have to be politically correct.

JV: You have a background in journalism and poetry. How do these disciplines influence one another – and what appeals to you about alternating between them?

AS: Though my background in journalism definitely helps in terms of research etc., I generally try not to think as a journalist when engaged in literary writing. Journalists, as someone noted, can be a pretty soul-less bunch at times, and while they are great at communicating hard facts they are often less adept at expressing their feelings and their sensitivities. So, it's difficult to approach poetry, for example, with the mind-set of a journalist because sometimes with poetry you really must bare your soul. But poetry appeals to me because it brings out thoughts and expressions in ways that other genres suffer deficits. However, it is important to say that my background in both fields does not create any kind of contradiction, in fact, in a curious sort of way, it creates a mental balance for me.

JV: Leave us with a teaser: What comes next?

AS: A new book, of course; I am currently working on the first part of a trilogy that's a blend of Literary and Romantic Suspense.

***

               _____________________________________________________ 

John Valeri

John Valeri was an independent contractor for Examiner.com from 2009 to 2016. His Hartford Books Examiner column consistently ranked in the top ten percent of all Hartford, National Books and National Arts & Entertainment Examiners. His reviews have been excerpted in more than fifty titles written by popular authors ranging from Wally Lamb and Debbie Macomber to James Patterson and Marcia Clark. John regularly moderates author interviews and book discussions at bookstores, conferences, and libraries throughout Connecticut; he has also appeared on television and radio. John will make his fiction debut in Tricks and Treats, a Halloween-themed anthology due out from Books & Boos Press this fall. John currently contributes to CriminalElement.com, The News and Times, The National Book Review, Suspense Magazine, and The Strand.

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