Two new books by local authors are getting good reviews — and some honors.
“Far Eastern Overexposure,” by Paul Tweiten (Trafford Publishing) received this glowing review by Barbara Mims Deming in The U.S. Review of Books:
“In July 1995, Paul Tweiten accepts a managerial position with a start-up Russian-American joint venture for logging in a remote area of the Russian Far East. He soon learns its one thing to have the expertise to create a plan to upgrade the production and increase clients and contracts, but quite another to get the Russians to agree with him on anything. From the very beginning, it is a contest to see who will be in control. And who will remain sober enough to get the job done.
“Fascinated by the primitive beauty of the area, learning to enjoy camp life, and growing to appreciate the majority of hardworking men (and women) on the project, Tweiten struggles to build friendships as well as establish a profitable plan. There are slow-downs, stark reminders of differences in knowledge between East and West, drunken brawls, jealousies, and continued threats of being fired by Russian officials. The furloughs home to Seattle seem like paradise. Still, he is drawn back to the people and the location.”
According to Deming, Tweiten paints “a realistic image of the culture and lifestyle of this unfamiliar part of the world,” offering insight only someone who has lived it can offer. “Hopefully, he will continue to write about his intriguing adventures in Far East Russia,” she writes.
Tweiten earned a bachelor’s degree in forest management from the University of Washington. He was involved in the forest products industry in Russia for more than 15 years, and is now president of Pacific Forest Products Inc., a company he started in 2003. He lives in Poulsbo.
ONLINE: http://bookstore.trafford.com/
“Monochrome,” a self-published book by H.M. Jones of Little Boston, is an IndieBrag medallion book (www.bragmedallion.com/medallion-honorees).
“Monochrome” was influenced by Jones’ own struggle with postpartum depression after the birth of her first daughter.
In “Monochrome,” a young mother battles postpartum depression, marital troubles and addiction.
“Her weary mind plagued with horrible thoughts not her own, she decides to end it all,” according to the overview on Jones’ website.
“Suddenly, her mind and heart begin to race, her vision blurs and goes black. She awakes in a strange, dull, monochromatic blue world. Here, she comes face-to-face with the most beautiful and ugliest moments of her life, choosing those that she will lose forever, and those that are too precious to let go.”
The young mother must decide whether to choose a living death — succumbing to her ugliest urges and letting her sweetest memories disappear into the blue — or fight her way back to the beautiful life she left behind.
Without giving up the ending, Jones said this dark story “ends up a lot lighter. She sees she has a beautiful life, which she couldn’t see because of the depression.”
That’s what she hopes readers get from her book: That postpartum depression isn’t a character flaw or a weakness, it’s a complication of giving birth. And prompt treatment can help you get past the darkness of depression and see the beauty in your life.
According to the Mayo Clinic, postpartum depression may be caused by a dramatic drop in hormones, lack of sleep, and lifestyle influences such as financial problems. The Mayo Clinic recommends seeing a doctor if symptoms don’t fade after two weeks or get worse.
Jones earned a bachelor’s degree in English language and literature at Western Washington University and a master’s in English literature at University of Missouri, St. Louis.
She taught college composition and rhetoric at a St. Louis community college. Her poetry has been compiled into four books: “Attempting to Define: Love”; “Attempting to Define: Mourning”; “Attempting to Define: Motherhood”; and “Attempting to Define: Relations.”
Jones is a busy writer. She is working on a young adult novel that mixes fantasy, adolescence, and young heroics. She started an online website for indie and self-published authors called Elite Indie Reads (www.eliteindiereads.weebly.com). And she blogs at www.hmjones.net.
See the trailer for “Monochrome” at http://youtu.be/SVDO8fSWeco.
