Tanmay Mehta Presents Ganesha: The Unyielding Child - Travel with me to Historical India...

 Visit her Site - Find her on YouTube

Trailers for two earlier books...

When you get a chance to learn more...do it! I often interact with authors online and get curious about their book(s). This is probably the first comic I've read since I visited the Chicago Book Fair over 20 years ago... Books were available and I picked up a couple of graphic novels... Me? I enjoy the words for my normal reading. But this book pulled me in purely by the graphics--a set of artistic pictures which are outstanding in their creation and also fully telling the story...

Her stories are about Hindu deities and mythical figures within India's past... This one shares the part of the story where Ganesha was "born..." just as man was, out of clay... I have included the book description for your information:

Ganesha: The Unyielding Child

An illustrated mythological tale by Art by Tanmay Mehta

He was born from clay and devotion. He stood firm at the gate. And he defied the gods themselves.

In this powerful retelling of one of Hindu mythology’s most iconic legends, Ganesha: The Unyielding Child brings to life the dramatic origin of Lord Ganesha — the elephant-headed god of wisdom, strength, and beginnings.

When Goddess Parvati creates a child from her own essence to guard her sanctum, no one foresees the storm to come. As the child stands boldly at the entrance, refusing even Lord Shiva himself, divine fury and maternal rage collide — and destiny is rewritten forever.

With breathtaking illustrations and emotional depth, Tanmay Mehta reimagines this epic tale of innocence, duty, and transformation. Experience the clash of cosmic forces, the pain of loss, and the birth of a god whose story still echoes through the ages.

Perfect for:

• Fans of Indian mythology and epics
• Readers who love origin stories of deities
• Comic enthusiasts of all ages
• Parents and educators introducing cultural tales to children

Discover the courage of a child who stood against the gods — and became one.

Some of you may already know that the Comic Book Genre has grown in stature and reputation... But, just in case some of you, like me, may not have been routinely exposed to the genre, I first offer what it is all about:

The comic book art form consists of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by text and dialogue in the way of text bubbles which is emblematic of the comics art form. Comic books are best known to feature superhero and supervillain stories.

This book offers all of the features as the comic style. It is in the graphics that Mehta has moved the form forward. The cover is just an example! Fortunately, there are videos which give the "flavor" but too quickly to absorb the fantastic character creations by this fantastic artist. For THIS book is a Work of Art, worthy to be displayed in any forum that shares mythological figures... even in comic form... I just checked--my last stats showed that my usual readers from India are visiting continuously. So to those from India,  though you may already be aware of Mehta, this particular book may not have reached you yet. I urge you to check out this artist! She represents your history in a truly magnificent way!

And to those who enjoy historical stories, while the narration and dialogue is a minor part of the book, you will soon find that the artwork actually tells the story! You will meet gods from India's history and can begin to appreciate how the past has been preserved through these stories, just as each country has done so since the beginning of time. Ganesha presents a "reimagined" version of the ancient tale... May I offer my appreciation and enjoyment of this version for your consideration...

This is a one-of-a-kind artistic book that should not be bypassed because of the genre. It ...is ...simply ...amazing! Without a picture to show of a typical scene, I offer the following video to talk about the god of water... Imagine if you would, a god of water being in the midst of this type of water display. In the portrait, the capture of the water is just as important as the character in this book... The scene presents to readers water at its most furious, with the water god and Ganesha in combat... the talent exhibited in the merge of water and waterman is excellent. Just as for the god of fire and more...

Highly recommended. Kudos to the creator of this world! A final note, I thoroughly enjoyed the male characters who created the entire war because Ganesha was just following his mother's orders... A bit of humor that should not be ignored... "Cause you won't want to meet his mother when she's mad!

GABixlerReviews

Walter Jack Savage, Artist, Author - Asks Just One Question! Whose America Is This?! Featuring Excerpts from The Big Truth!

https://wjacksavage.org/store.html

Two of Jack's paintings spoke to me today... So I'm spotlighting his fantastic art work, but also matching it with relevant words... By the way, the magazine cover of Jack is interesting...he submitted some work for publication, and all of a sudden makes the front cover! Cool, right! I have to add that, in my heart, I believe Jack's posting these two pieces today was at just the right time (God Incident) to allow me to share a little from The Big Truth:Upholding Democracy in the Age of The Big Lie  by Major Garrett and David Becker...

Whose America Is This?!

whose America is this?!

I don't think I've ever been more attuned to being a citizen in America than I have been during the last decade of my life... A little of that has been because I've had two major surgeries during the time period, and I have learned that I must spend time taking care of this temple that God has given me... Perhaps, more, though, I have lived sufficient years to see and respond to what Jack has asked all of us in his painting! 

Whose America is This?! 

For surely this is True... America has Never Before

Faced the loss of our

Basic Freedoms as has been seen and felt by ALL of Us

Yes, ALL of us have been ravaged by what has and is happening in America, even now...TODAY

WE CANNOT AFFORD TO LOSE SIGHT OF THAT KNOWLEDGE--THE AWARENESS, THAT AMERICA IS OURS!

AND WE MUST WORK TO KEEP IT SAFE FROM ALL WHO WILL TRY TO CHANGE IT IN DETRIMENTAL WAYS!

even from within the country

Men Without A Tree

I'd rather be a forest than a Tree...

When I think about the separation of man from nature, as surely displayed in Jack's painting, it is quite startling... I remember when the men from the power company who have a tower on my land, came in too far and cut down a beautiful pear tree that had been on this property for at least 100 years! I was devastated! The tree was gone and nothing could bring it back to bloom in the spring, or provide the pears for both animal and human consumption... 

Having it disappear by accident was bad enough, but consider those who destroy just because they want to make a profit... or they want the power that goes with being able to do anything they want to do, no matter the cost to the rest of us...

When we consider our freedom, shall we not also consider the basis upon which that freedom is guaranteed? When I look at Jack's beautiful painting, which I've made my screensaver, I realize that it is even more important to be a tree within a forest, as opposed to standing alone. The Declaration of Independence speaks clearly:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...

But during the last administration and culminating on January 6th, 2021, all of us were faced with a group of internal domestic terrorists--yes, terrorists, who were led by the past president... Many of you will see that this has not just incited the insurrection, but republicans are trying in any way possible, especially by lying, to continue this move toward authoritarian government! 

This IS NOT AMERICA AS WE KNOW IT! THE ONLY WAY TO PROTECT AMERICA IS TO VOTE OUT REPUBLICANS WHO DO NOTHING TO SUPPORT ALL AMERICANS... WE ALL KNOW THIS! LET US SPEAK OUT IN OUTRAGE AND GET OUT TO VOTE...!!!

The Big Truth is a book that stands as a counter-reference to all that is known about how The Big Lie is being used to scare Americans...

Election 2020 and the Truth 

The Big Truth: democracy is made up of millions of little truths, intimate and interlocking truths. Truths found in the votes cast by Americans in person or by mail. Truths found in the citizenry that voluntarily counts those votes and dutifully reports the results. Truths found in election officials who scrape together the means by which elections are held, public servants who create the voting precincts, buy the equipment to tally the votes, and manage the process of moving the votes along the line to be tallied and certified . . . so that they may be transparently confirmed and trusted. Truths found in this collaborative exercise of civic virtue are more obvious and verifiable than they have ever been in our history. The Big Truth is a variation of E Pluribus Unum—from many one. From millions of little truths we form a Big Truth, one we should celebrate, and almost always have before, but somehow now can’t, or that troubles us or feels less settled than it should. This book is about those little truths and The Big Truth. It is devoted to the people who make each little truth meaningful so that The Big Truth may flourish. 

Here is a truth that matters more than you might suspect. The 2020 election had more paper ballots than any national election in our history. Paper ballots are a hedge against hacking. You can’t hack paper. Paper ballots are the fingerprints, almost the DNA, of a verifiable election. All of the so-called disputed swing states used them. In fact, around 95 percent of the voters in our nation voted with them in 2020. And paper ballots are required for effective audits, confirming the results. Thanks to the pervasiveness of paper ballots in 2020, more states audited those ballots and confirmed the results than ever before, including all of the swing states. Another truth was vote counting had never been more visible or scrutinized. Despite what you may have read or heard, poll watchers and observers were present at all desired locations and in accordance with state or local laws. 

Anything different can only be attributed to one group! The republican party who continue to speak the Big Lie, even though it has been proven to be false!

Misdirection 

No one likes to be taken for a fool and no one likes to be told they’ve been taken for a fool. There are those who peddle The Big Lie who make money from it. There are those who use it to gain a momentary political advantage. Gaining wealth or power from subverting democracy and demeaning the Constitution is awful. Calling it patriotism bastardizes the word and insults those who truly love American democracy. 

These grifters occupy a narrow albeit influential range of the debate about the 2020 election. Many of them have written books on this subject. At various times, we will quote from them—not because we believe their varied arguments against Election 2020 are valid, but because none of the books actually agree on what happened. This strikes us as a kind of proof of concept of a con. Agreeing on what the con is makes it harder for many people to profit from it. By calling the con many things, lots of people can get in on the hustle. 

One book, by Patrick Byrne, contends “industrial scale vote flipping” stole the election from Trump. Another book, by Peter Navarro, says, flatly, that no vote flipping happened at all, but that the real culprit was “ballot box stuffing.” Another book, by Mollie Hemingway, dismisses both of those so-called explanations while contending the election wasn’t stolen so much as it was “rigged” by hostile media coverage, social media censorship, and Democrats who bent the rules. This tapestry of conflicting accounts conveniently keeps The Big Lie alive and tries to hide the fact that money has been made and appears certain to be made as long as that lie persists. We therefore have genuine concern and compassion for the millions of Americans over whom purveyors of these contradictory and self-canceling claims of a fraudulent election hold sway. Honestly, if the election had been stolen, don’t you think there would be a single explanation? There are not multiple ways a bank is robbed. There are not multiple ways someone is murdered or burglarized. There is one crime with one trail of evidence. That there is in the space of purported 2020 election fraud so many conflicting claims demonstrates that fiction is afoot, and for those beguiled by it we offer another explanation, one based on verifiable information, the truth. 

We believe most of the millions of Americans who express doubt about the 2020 election love America, cherish democracy, and believe in the rule of law. We don’t believe they have ill intent or seditious motives. They may feel alienated from cultural and demographic trends, they may have felt at some level left behind by the digital economy, and they may feel a kinship with Trump and fellow Trump supporters that, all other things being equal, makes them wonder what actually happened. It is to this wide and important swath of America we hope to speak. We especially seek to reach those who have donated money on behalf of “election integrity” or Stop the Steal appeals. 

First, we note that money has not been used for either purpose by Trump. Hundreds of millions of dollars were raised in November and December of 2020. Patrick Byrne, a Trump supporter and the former CEO of Overstock.com, claims in his book The Deep Rig that money raised to “Stop the Steal” was never used for that purpose. All available public financial records verify this fact. Let us quote Byrne: So I say to whatever Republican loyalists around the country coughed up those hundreds of millions, in donations of $10 and $20 . . . You were fleeced. It was a big joke: rank-and-file Republicans gave a pot of hundreds of millions of dollars to Republican Bigshots to unscramble what had happened on November 3, and from where I sat, nothing went to any activity related to doing so. It was all being stashedby people at the top, licking their chops...Trump spent little of what he raised. Other Republicans, seeing the same gold mine, began to mimic this tactic.

Let's look at two of the comments that were made by those who participated in the January 6th insurrection, planned for and incited by Donald Trump.

We didn’t see a coup in 2020. But we must be honest with ourselves about what we did see and, more importantly, what has been revealed since the riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. 

When the history of this noxious era is written, federal judges who ruled on post-riot litigation will be credited with helping us all see through the haze—sharpening our view through the unflinching lens of the Constitution. 

“I sort of think about it as though we, all of us, on January 6th, we all looked into the abyss,” Liz Cheney told us. “And responsible public servants and responsible elected officials have a duty to pull the country back from that. And Donald Trump instead is trying to drive us into the abyss for his own gain and his own purposes.” 

Cheney said she spent months trying to put Trump’s actions in another historical context. “I’ve tried to think about how to provide people with an example of how dangerous his actions were. 

And one way to think about it, because we have become numb to Trump in so many ways, is to imagine if (President) Dwight Eisenhower had mobilized an angry mob and sent them to march on the Supreme Court during the Brown versus Board of Education argument and sat by and watched while they attacked and did nothing. That is inconceivable. It is inconceivable that he would have done that. But that’s essentially what Trump did to prevent the counting of electoral votes.”

There are so many victims of this grotesque grift. Some invaded the Capitol to save the country from what they now see as the phantom danger of a stolen election. The true theft, they came to understand, was perpetrated by Trump, a president who stole their faith in the law, incited them to violent trespass, and jabbered on while their lives crumbled.

Robert Scott Palmer pled guilty to assaulting, resisting, and impeding officers using a dangerous weapon. He was sentenced to sixty-three months in prison, which, as of this writing, was the longest of any rioter charged. Palmer’s legal team said the following in court papers: Mr. Palmer went to the Capitol at the behest of the former president. Like many others who participated in the Capitol riot, Mr. Palmer blindly followed the many figures who falsely but persistently claimed that the election had been stolen from the president. Those voices, including the voice of the then-president himself, had convinced persons such as Mr. Palmer that the election was fraudulent and that they must take action to stop the transition of the presidency. 

It is relevant to consider that the riot almost surely would not have occurred but for the financing and organization that was conducted by persons unconnected to Mr. Palmer who will likely never be held responsible for their relevant conduct. 

In his letter to the presiding judge, Palmer wrote, in small, sometimes pinched cursive, the following: A lot if not most of the defendants I have been incarcerated with would object to me saying that we were rioting. To be quite honest your honor if asked about it when it first happened in January I would have been counted in that group. I have over the course of close to a year come to a different conclusion. Since then I realize that well-meaning Trump supporters were lied to by those that at the time had great power meaning the sitting president, as well as those acting on his behalf. They kept spitting out the false narrative about a stolen election and how it was “our duty” to stand up to tyranny. Little did I realize that they were the tyrannical ones desperate to hold on to power at any cost even by creating the chaos they knew would happen with such rhetoric. 

For listening to them your honor let me offer please and I can only hope and pray it is accepted by the honorable court my most sincere apologies. Palmer apologizes first to all police officers attacked by “the angry mob.” 

“They are the real heroes of the day. The emotional as well as physical scars that some will carry for the remainder of their lives is a great tragedy and I wish with every fiber of my being that I could change it but I am powerless to.” 

He then apologizes to lawmakers inside the Capitol “who were carrying out their constitutionally bound duties to certify what now turns out to be the legitimate will of the American people. That is one of the greatest and proudest traditions of our country the peaceful transition of power and I am truly ashamed that I was part of a group that tried to circumvent that transition.” 

Palmer’s letter was by no means an outlier. It is, in its own way, pitiable and profound. It hurts Palmer that so much had to go wrong for him to reconnect himself to American traditions—ones Trump so carelessly debased...

I was going to share more from those who are now serving time for their part in the insurrection. But in rereading Mr. Palmer's words, together with those from Liz Cheney, who not only was removed from her duties in the House, as well as losing her re-election to an election denier, I think these two illustrate the range of, and the breadth of the devastation wrought by the Trump presidency. I may change my mind as I continue to finish reading this book...

In my mind, we have only one option. All republicans must be voted out by voting against those who lie and use lies to gain power. 

In the last day or so, we have seen the shenanigans being played by, for instance, Ron DeSantis, who sent police out to pick up Black voters for illegal voting... while they were doing just what they had earlier been told, that a change had been made to lift the ability of former prisoners from voting...What kind of man is this who would use lies and worse, humiliation for those who thought they were returned an earlier right to vote and then to jail them in the process! Honestly, folks, this is getting so dreadful that it is hard to stomach this type of abuse of our citizens!

At this point, I am worried for my own state since the republicans have thrown millions out there to get Dr. Oz elected, by lying about John Fetterman who has a proven record in law enforcement. And, the candidate for government openly states that, he will control the election machines to get whatever results he wants! 

I get lies through the mail, through my cell phone, and on my land line which I don't answer! Can we afford to NOT see that Biden has done more in two years than anything that republicans have accomplished in decades! And I do not credit republicans for taking away the rights of women in doing so! Women have fought long and hard to be able to be "recognized" as equal in law and in freedom... WHO IN THE WORLD WOULD FORCE US BACKWARDS TO ALLOW OLD WHITE MEN TO CONTINUE TO MILK US FROM OUR RIGHTS AND INTEGRITY! VOTE DEMOCRAT ALL THE WAY...PLEASE LISTEN TO THE TRUTH!

A final thought about the men without a tree. It is my belief that if we cannot see that the man who speaks on behalf of our country does NOT speak lies, then we are rudderless--men without the stalwart tree of justice and truth to represent all that America is...

And, all that God expects America to be... 

GOD And His Followers 

MARCHES FOR TRUTH - NOT LIES!

Guest Blogger, Author, Artist, Elder...and Adopted Brother, Manny Moreno, Shares His Poetic Words of Change in America!

 On... Dreading the changes happening in the San Joaquin Valley of California

Grandpa Hawk perched in a tree

looked down at me on a stump

gazing at fields being primed

for the advancement of the times

and asked unassumingly:

What is in your heart?

And so I began to speak;

I dread this alien ratrace

mirrored in congested big city phlegm

manifest-destiny all over again

mixing into this country world

like oil with water

strangers with shark-like expressions

convoluting the landscape

in Hummers Volvos SUVs

along with their collective wannabes

I dread this transformation

 of new homes and buildings

expanding like popcorn

 no locals can afford

I dread this attack of the new-age Borg;

Resistance Is Futile-You Must Assimilate

I dread these pimps of poorly planned progress

for pathetic self-profit

I dread taking scenic drives in the country

thundering with traffic thick as bees on honey

being forced to find places away from

familiar places where technology

yet has targeted its thoughtless tentacles

and capitalist clowns have yet proclaimed

their arrogant game of eminent domain

places where open spaces still be free of idiot boxes

blasting gangster obscenities

where no yuppies have fenced off areas once always open and free

of eyes of steel and robotic gates and fortresses of concrete

high as prison walls

and grandpa Hawk looked at me 

with eyes of wisdom and said;

listen,

listen to us

winged ones

four leggeds

insects

trees

rivers

as we sing our death

songs,

then grandpa Hawk flew

 off into the blue,

and I rose from the stump

for a bulldozer was coming

and I could no longer stay.

See Review of Scared

I lived in my present home, surrounded by 13 acres of trees, and no other home in view, when I first started talking to Manny and reading his words... It has been my privilege to learn more about him each time we connect, mostly on Facebook... Now, as I reread this poem which speaks of change in the area where he lives, I cannot but help to wish that Manny could live in my area of the world, where deer roam into my yard, 'possum and 'coon come to eat along with my cats... and in the distance, sounds of farm animals are heard from the home place of a new, nearby neighbor who I have not even met... Still, we know we are nearby, and that we live in a country where quiet is supreme most of the time, until the winds come, the rain beats on our roofs... Nature surrounds each of the homes in the area--and we enjoy our beloved land. 

Manny, I know, has settled in a lone place, where nobody surrounds him as well... Two loners, perhaps, that still enjoy touching base from time to time over a computer that brings us closer than we could ever have been in life... 

Manny, it is good to have you share your words, once again, here at Book Readers Heaven! But, I had to laugh as I discovered still another reason we are connected. My brother, you, too, have met the Borg... and decided, we were not to be assimilated! LOL We are as free as we can be here in America! May we continue living in this democracy, free to be all that we can be... Let us Pray to God that we can see a far future of that freedom which is now threatened by those who want power over others... And allow it to continue until we meet our grandfathers/mothers...

Discussion with Uvi Poznansky - Come Join Us; You are Welcome!

Uvi! Always busy, I see! Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to visit Book Readers Heaven...It's a delight for me and I am sure it will be for all readers... 

Oh, it’s my pleasure, Glenda! I am so grateful to you for opening the discussion about The David Chronicles. This epic story stirs up a lot of ideas.

Indeed! The entire set of books is extraordinary in the continuity, the additional exploration of related works by leading artists and the movement out of the original Biblical story into a broader literary fictional tale of the total life of David.

Uvi, your creative talent is superior...artistic, writing...how does your background bring those to you? heritage?, perhaps, by certain family members? or was it from your personal interests and work to reach the place where you now are?

My creative drive, in poetry, story telling, and art, started early in life. Before I knew how to hold a pen in my hand, I would tell stories that my father (a poet, writer and artist himself) would write down for me. He would also ask me to help him rhyme his lines, which introduced me to the music of words and the intricacies of writing.

That's a delightful memory of your father asking you to help rhyme--what a wonderful start to your life's work...

After going through your Gallery, I was wondering if most artists work in various mediums as you do...that is, sculpture, watercolor and painting?

I believe that creativity expresses itself in many ways in each individual, and all of us go through phases of trying out different outlets for our imagination. This is true of most artists. You will find that Picasso has changed styles more that any of us changed shoes... But sometimes we tend to repeat a ‘formula’ that succeeds commercially. This is exactly what I try to avoid, because to stop exploring different ways to express what’s in my mind and heart would end up in me boring myself.

Escape to Higher Grounds I

Seeing the diversity of your work, it is hard for me to imagine you ever becoming bored...Here again, your breadth of topics are wide...your styles different as opposed to a steady vision such as those who do nature watercolors. Do you consider each choice or are you inspired and then move immediately into your latest vision?

I think that my signature style emerges from my entire body of work, so I don’t worry about it at all, quite the opposite: I strive to stretch the envelope of what I create. In art, I use different mediums, which enriches my designs: I sculpt (in bronze, clay, and paper); I draw in charcoal, ink, and pencils; I paint in watercolor and oils; and I create animations. Similarly, in my literary work I write in different genres, which enriches my thinking: My novel Apart From Love is contemporary fiction; my book Home is poetry; my book Twisted is fantasy; and my book A Favorite Son is historical fiction and biblical fiction.

Defiance

Most of my involvement with your work has been related to the David Chronicles. But, could you share more about those parts of your work that first, have been most fulfilling for you, and, second, those that have been the most popular as judged by your followers...

What I enjoy, particularly when writing historical fiction, is the combination of right and left brain: learning about the era in great detail through research, and then immersing in it with all my senses.

I collect every detail about the time and the setting. But then, I choose where to take my departure from the reference material. In this series, I chose to let the character speak in modern language. This is a design decision, meant to bring the reader into the realization that this is a universal story, happening here and now, rather than an old fairy tale.

It is essential to anchor fiction in the real setting of the plot. You can do it in a myriad  of ways: visit the place, read about it, and look at art and photographs that depict it. 

For example, in my novel Rise to Power, David described the Valley of Elah, where he will soon face his enemy. I had visited this place when I was a child, and at the time it surprised me that the valley is so shallow and well, boring. I imagined that perhaps it used to have dramatically sloped walls, as befits the scene of an iconic battle. I told myself that perhaps over the generations dust has settled over it and covered the rocky slopes, hiding the drama. 

Before writing the scene, I also looked at a lot of paintings in the history of art, Then I set it all aside, and wrote the scene from imagination:

“There, with their backs to me, they are: three silhouettes, drawn sharply against the gray, gloomy landscape. The horsemen in the center is the one I am watching with keen interest. He is tall, formidable, and cloaked. A ray of morning light reaches hesitantly for his crown, sets it afire, and then pulls back.

Ahead of him, the valley opens like a fresh cut. Thin, muddy streams are washing over its rocks, oozing in and out of its cracks, and bleeding into its soil. Layers upon layers of moist, fleshy earth are pouring from one end to another, then halting on a slant, about to slip off. And from down below, somewhere under the heavy mist that hides the bottom of the valley from sight, stir some unexpected sounds. 

I wish I could ignore them. For a moment I am tempted to stick my fingers in my ears—but to do so I would have to let go of my lyre. Let go I cannot, because its strings may tremble in the air. My music may betray me, I mean, it may betray the place of my hideout. 

So I go on cowering, trying to imagine silence—only to be startled once more: in place of the first birdsongs of the day, there rise the shrieks of vultures.”

Being an artist, I find my inspiration also by artwork depicting the story. In each era, the artists did not shy away from staging David in garments that belongs to their time, and surrounding him with a contemporary scene. I take my cues from them. Here, for example, is a modern painting by Chagall, depicting David and Bathsheba. Compare it to this excerpt from the book:

(See More on Uvi's Blog of this Topic)

“And the one image that keeps coming back to me is our reflection in the glass, where our faces melded into one. My eye, her eye, and around us, the outline of a new, fluid identity. A portrait of our love, rippling there, across the surface of the wine.”

You have a wide diversity in your writing. Do you prefer one genre more than others? What does it take; that is, what creates the spark for you to decide you want to write a specific book. And, once you've decided on the topic, how do you proceed?

I love historical fiction because I find it the most demanding of all the genres. You have to know a lot about the time and place, you cannot simply make stuff up. But what I bring with me from my poetry is something different: it is the attention to the music of words, the rhythms of our thoughts. 

The classification to genres is only one method available to you to discern the subject of a book. This method can be rigid. I trust that you use it in combination with reading the book description, and taking a peek at the first few pages, which gives you a true taste of the writing style.

I strive to stretch the envelope of what I create. In writing all of my books, I often break the confines of the particular genre, because life as we know it–and my art, which mirrors it– constantly changes from one genre to the next. One moment it is humorous; the next, it is erotic; then, it might be a tragedy.

Are there other writers, artists, who have inspired you more than others?

Surprisingly, I find poetry to be the greatest influence on my writing: I appreciate the nuances, the overloading of words, and the musical rhythms used in the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe, the sonnets by Shakespeare, and the lyrical descriptions of Virginia Wolfe, to name but a few. 

I love American authors as well as authors from around the world, for example The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky, and  Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, for their expressive use of ‘stream of consciousness’. 

Playwrights have a great impact on my writing., for example The Price by Arthur Miller, because they teach me to listen to dialog, and identify emotions and motives through the speech patterns of the characters.

Continued...Watch for Next Post!

Meet Uni Poznansky! Come See More of Her Artwork...

The Artist

INSPIRATION

Katrina formed on August 23 during the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season and caused devastation along much of the north-central Gulf Coast.

The figures at the bottom of the painting, struggling to survive this deluge, are caught up in a swirl of emotions: grief, disbelief, helplessness. One figure has ascended into the arms of Katrina and is being swept away. Is this a moment of salvation or, perhaps, of death?

When this painting is hung up on the wall, you are directly facing those hands, wrinkled by a prolonged wading through the muddy water.

TITLE:Katrina

http://uviart.com/home.html

Uvi (Ahuva) Poznansky is an Israeli-born, California-based artist, writer and

poet. Her versatile body of work includes bronze and ceramic sculptures, (such as Mother and Child, shown) oil and watercolor paintings, charcoal, pen and pencil drawings, and mixed media. She has a profound knowledge of the human form, and an equally profound compassion for the human story. Her interpretation is unique, personal and charged with emotion. She published a poetry book in Hebrew, Beyond the Window," and two children books, "Now I am Paper," and "Jess and Wiggle."

She wanted to write about her life, and tried to remember who she was, to whom she was writing, and for what purpose; but if she were to put down even one letter—even one mark—all her love, all her loneliness, and all that bitter disappointment that this was all life had to offer in the end, would come rushing out, and nothing in the world could hold her together any more.

In darkness take a leap
For trust is blind
Imagine me: I'll lift you, 
Caress you and possess you
Imagine us: 
In passion and in sweep
Our limbs entwined

Uvi earned her B. A. in Architecture and Town Planning from the Technion in Haifa, Israel. During her studies and in the years immediately following her graduation, she practiced with an innovative Architectural firm, taking a major part in the large-scale project, ‘Home for the Soldier’; a controversial design that sparked fierce public debate. 

At the age of 25 Uvi moved to Troy, N.Y. with her husband and two children. Before long, she received a Fellowship grant and a Teaching Assistantship from the Architecture department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where she guided teams in a variety of design projects; and where she earned her M.A. in Architecture. Then, taking a sharp turn in her education, she earned her M.S. degree in Computer Science from the University of Michigan.

During the years she spent in advancing her career—first as an architect, and later as a software engineer, software team leader, software manager and a software consultant (with an emphasis on user interface for medical instruments devices)—she painted constantly, and exhibited in Israel and California. In addition, she taught art appreciation classes.

Above all, Uvi devotes herself passionately to her artwork, creating evocative and compelling images that touch the heart and engage the mind.

Twisted! Uvi Poznansky Knocks Readers Over With Visions of...What's Not Seen...

And his wife said to him, Do you still hold to your integrity? Curse God and die! Job 2:9


A face has been given to her by many over the thousands of years that the story has been told, but...what was her name?
Don't take too long to try to remember, because she never was named! Job was certainly identified and even picked out by God to show that his faith was great! But what of his wife? Uvi Poznansky has created a collection of her shorter stories, Twisted, that will provide readers with a tale of horror for the woman who told Job to curse God... Whether or not it has any element of possible truth for this unnamed woman, it certainly points readers in a direction toward which they have never gone... Did she love Job? Feared for his life? Or was she concerned about financial support if her husband were to die? Or, perhaps, she may have been jealous of his devotion to God rather than to her and his family...  She forces each woman to consider--what would I have done???


Twisted

By Uni Poznansky

The cover of this book is so very intriguing that I find that I must begin right here. In her book she has a separate section on how her art is intertwined with her writing. This cover, to me, is a perfect example... She shares how she created it:

A few months ago, a pile of bones captured my fascination. Scattered across my desk, they were ashen, rather small, and of fanciful shapes. I was unable to identify the animals whose remains these were, nor could I name their skeletal parts. 

Which left me free to mine—out of these crumbling, fragile relics—an entirely new presence. Coming to life on brown paper with a few stokes of white, red, and brown pencils, there she was: my Bone Princess.

Set upon a patch of scorching desert sand, she casts a one-eyed look at you, which masks how vulnerable she really is. Her soft flesh is shielded— and in places, nearly crushed—by her armor of bones. She is damaged: no arms, no legs, yet she accepts her pain with pride, and with regal grace. Inside and out she carries a sense of morbidity.

As all creations, she became an independent spirit. As such she made me wonder what had happened to her. I imagined her turning to me, curving the elegant, elongated lines of her neck, to tell me her story. This was how my novella, the first one in this collection— I Am What I Am— came to be. Twisted.

I must say that reading the back story on the cover blew me away! It is very clear that Uni creates from her whole being--works, creativity imagination, artistic skills... I was enthralled already as I began to read  "I Am What I Am" which tells the story of a woman who had no name by which people would remember her. 

The story begins as we find the woman without a name in a cave, afraid, wondering what was to happen to her. Did she even remember what her name was? But then she hears a discussion, really an argument. It's about her! When it grows silent again, she begins to crawl slowly out of her hiding place... She crawls until she begins to see what appears to be familiar. It looks like where she had lived--Uz--and she remembers the people and places from her life at that time...

She could hear cries, some mournful, but even then, they, too, slipped away. She had not been mourned very long... Even Job had spent little time, spouting His usual words:

 Job stayed with me awhile. Again and again he mumbled, in his inexplicable, pious manner, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I depart.” Men! Always thinking of themselves! 
All the while there I was, flat on my back, in need of some attention , and some clothes, too! 
Finally he left the gravesite.  I waited, waited until the sound of his footfalls had shuffled away— oh, how well I knew this tortured gait of his!— until it too was gone. 
All was quiet now, deadly quiet. You had to put your ear close to me to hear the one thing, the only thing that screwed up this silence: the crinkly sound of my hair and nails, continuing to grow, somehow.

~~~

Readers will discover what happens as Job's wife roams through... Hell...





"The Hollow" comes next as a woman faces the death of her husband and lives in the nightmare of that loss.... Sometimes, I imagine, she even wants to accompany him--she feels so greatly. Even considering to go through a doorway, she imagines that there is no floor beyond the opening...

She closed the book, placed it on the table, and

 finally decided to walk through the door. By now

 her eyes could barely stay open, and yet she knew

, without having to look closely, that it wasn't a

 door really— only the opening for one. And over 

that threshold down there, she could somehow read

 the shape of the shadow. How it appeared

 suddenly, spilling out of nowhere, was quite

 beyond her, but she could tell, couldn’t she,

 that there was no floor.

~~~

She had tried to forget--the memories, their love, their life together. But that morning, she had found her diary. Opened... How had that happened?
And Why?


"I, Woman" quickly tells you more about the story, when a sub-title is added-- As told by a has-been slab of clay! 

You know, one of my immediate reactions was that it was a perfect description for... ME Do we reach a point in life when we consider ourselves as a has-been. Certainly we do... but when, and how... I thought, was the issue, don't you think?

Would the story reflect something from the old hymn that came to my mind...

I stand here before you, not knowing my name. The light in this place is so blinding, so intense, that as far back as I can remember, it has forced me to close my eyes. Now this is about to change. Coming out of a brilliant haze, here is her footfall. Here she is: my Creator. I am clay in her hands.
Let her do with me as she pleases; for what am I to do? Now listen, listen to that sound: the air is vibrating around her. I can feel her breast, it is heaving . I can hear her breathing in, breathing out... Yes, she is coming closer. Is she about to blow life into me? My skin starts shivering. Here, now, is her touch— She puts a mark on me, pressing the sharp end of a chisel until it stings, it pierces me right here, under my eyelid. I shriek ! I cry— but somehow no one can hear me. If I were not reduced to tears, I would pay more attention to this nagging sense, the sense of astonishment in me. Why, why can’t I be heard ? Have I lost the ability to make a sound? Then I wonder, did I ever have it? And even in this crinkling, crushing silence, can’t she sense my pain?

~~~

Yes, it seems like my first inclination might be true...but then...the story, as predicted, becomes twisted... 

The last piece, Dust, is more that a story and can only be appreciated by sharing at least one of the sculptures behind the words...

From dust you gather me

I beg you on my knee 

Look away—imagine me, 

The way I used to be

Now shadows spread upon me

Stain by stain 

I shiver. Touch me, heal me

Make me whole again

~~~

I move through Poznansky's words... Does she write of agape love, philia, or eros in portraying such beauty... I arrive at only one word to describe her feelings about her work. It is Passionate! And I find there is no other word than I can use to describe my response to what she has presented to us in Twisted.

This is a book that drains your emotions... There will be confusion, pain, dread and fear, but there is also warmth, understanding, contemplation, and so much love... Uvi has spoken to me in this book. It is the first book of hers I've had a chance to read. From this one, however, I feel I have known her, the total Uvi Poznansky. Many will know her online for the kind, gentle, thankful person we've learn to care for... But, this, this, has shared her heart with me--with her readers. Could we think of these things she has twisted for us to consider if Uvi had not first considered them herself? 

It is obvious in her work that she wants to share with women, but, then, in I, Woman, she speaks to man like no other may have ever spoke... I am held captive, pondering over and over what she may have wanted her readers to find in her work... As opposed to what I have found there. I find it doesn't matter. Uvi has touched me.  I am grateful...

GABixlerReviews

Uvi Poznansky is a California-based author, poet and artist.
She earned her B. A. in Architecture and Town Planning from the Technion in Haifa, Israel. During her studies and in the years immediately following her graduation, she practiced with an innovative Architectural firm, taking a major part in the large-scale project, 'Home for the Soldier'; a controversial design that sparked fierce public debate.
At the age of 25 Uvi moved to Troy, N.Y. with her husband and two children. Before long, she received a Fellowship grant and a Teaching Assistantship from the Architecture department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where she guided teams in a variety of design projects; and where she earned her M.A. in Architecture. Then, taking a sharp turn in her education, she earned her M.S. degree in Computer Science from the University of Michigan.
During the years she spent in advancing her career--first as an architect, and later as a software engineer, software team leader, software manager and a software consultant (with an emphasis on user interface for medical instruments devices)--she wrote and painted constantly, and exhibited in Israel and California. In addition, she taught art appreciation classes. Her versatile body of work can be seen online at uviart.com. It includes bronze and ceramic sculptures, oil and watercolor paintings, charcoal, pen and pencil drawings, and mixed media.
Uvi published two children books, Jess and Wiggle and Now I Am Paper. For each one of these books, she created an animation video (see Author Videos at the bottom of this page.) She won great acclaim for her novel, Apart From Love, and for her poetry book, Home (in tribute to her father. Her collection of dark tales, Twisted, and her Historical Fiction book, A Favorite Son, are both new age, biblically inspired books. Rise to Power (volume I) and A Peek at Bathsheba (volume II) of her trilogy The David Chronicles have just been published.

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