A Biker’s Story, Book 4 of the SeriesEdward Winterhalder & Marc Teatum  After serving ten years in prison for manslaughter, former Skuldmen motorcycle club president Landon Blues McKendry is released on parole. Instead of using violence to make his mark in the world, he is now armed with a university degree in architecture and a new guiding light Buddhist philosophy.The biker is on a mission to reunite with his fourteen-year-old daughter, Justine, the only surviving member of his family, but a restraining order and condition of parole prohibits Blues from seeing her. The restraining order, put in place by the maternal grandparents who have raised the girl since the death of her mother and brother, mandates that Blues will return to jail if he contacts the teenager.Appearing to lead an exemplary lifestyle, Blues has hardly become a model citizen. As he tries to rebuild his life, he crosses paths with bikers who have anything but his best interest at heart. The biker breaks parole by contacting his daughter, and learns in the process that she harbors a deep hatred for him, as he begins the long, hard journey to reconnect with the only family he has left. Buy on Amazon. Excerpts from The Moon Upstairs Prologue: "In September 2002, Landon "Blues" McKendry was the chapter president of the Skuldmen outlaw motorcycle club in Albany, New York. With fifty-nine chapters in North America and more than one hundred chapters in seventeen countries scattered around the world, the Skuldmen were one of the most feared and misunderstood outlaw motorcycle clubs in the world at the beginning of the twenty-first century." Excerpt: "The two men walked across the parking lot and around the corner, then swiftly up the street toward the front entrance to the bar. Arriving at the front door, they started to push past the two green prospects. When one of them attempted to slow the pair down, Blues drilled him in the gut. When the prospect started to curl up in agony, Blues drove the mans head into his knee. Skip took the easy way out, and simultaneously pistol-whipped the other prospect into unconsciousness. The two men then entered the bar." OCTOBER BABY “Thank you”, says Hannah “For what, replies her father “For wanting me”, she says. And the credits roll. Provident films released “October Baby” yesterday, a heartwarming story of lead character, Hannah's adoption and the quest to find her place in this world. After passing out on stage during a college play performance, she learns that her medical conditions are due to a premature birth and low birth weight. She also learns that she was adopted, and this blow leads her to go on a quest for her birth mother. She is asked by a helpful police officer “what will you say, if you find your mother”, and reminded “to be human is to be beautifully flawed”, “life isn't always black and white”, and “hate the crime, not the criminal”. She finds her mother in Mobile, AL and learns the details of her birth, which was after a failed abortion attempt at 28 weeks. She is angry and has feelings of hatred towards herself and others, including her adoptive parents and birth mother. They all kept secrets from her, which are revealed throughout the script, all of which she has to struggle with. A trip to St. Paul's Cathedral and an interaction with the Priest gives her new insight. She tells the Priest of her quest for her birth parents, and that she thought she would get answers that would make her feel different. Will the Priest be able to guide her thoughts and give her comfort? Will the Priest lead her to the ability to give forgiveness? Or, will she turn away from those who love her so much? The movie is worth watching to find these answers. It takes a difficult topic of abortion, and brings it to life, letting the viewer see the impact on all those affected by abortion. Grab a box of tissues before you sit down to watch. October Baby, starring Rachel Hendrix and Jason Burkey is playing at Regal Louisiana Boardwalk in Bossier City. Check here for show times. It is also playing at Cinemark Tinseltown USA - Shreveport 8400 Millicent Way, Shreveport, LA. Shovelhead Redemption, by Abby Clabough - Look for the review in the first issue of "Pinky's Motorcycle Passion" magazine, Feb 2012. Lois on the Loose, One Woman, One Motorcycle, 20,000 miles across the Americas
In her book Lois on the Loose, One Woman, One Motorcycle, 20,000 miles across the Americas, Lois Price starts off with this quote from Zen and the Art of Motorcycling "Traveling by car is like watching a movie, but traveling by motorcycle is like being in one." And, like writer, Julie Powell, inspiration for Julie & Julia, a top selling film, she should have her own movie. I often wonder why someone would set out on an adventure, alone on a motorcycle, across foreign lands. But, day after day, I run across stories of people doing just that. Like Paulo Roberto Vieira who rode 21,819 miles from Brazil to Washington D.C., Lois Prycerode 20,000 miles alone, across the Americas from Alaska to Argentina. Like Paulo, she, too, has trouble at border crossings, and has the problem of explaining to family and friends why she was taking this ride. Tired of her office job, and seeking something different, she and her bike, a Yamaha XT225 Serow, flew into Anchorage where the adventure began. The book is funny, scary at times, and engaging. It is easy reading, and so entertaining that I read it in one sitting. And, the good news is that although she doesn't have her own movie, Lois is the star of a new DVD release produced by Horizons Unlimited, "Ladies on the Loose", one of four titles in a series, and you can purchase it for just $24.99 on the Horizons Unlimited site. "Lois on the Loose: One Woman, One Motorcycle, 20,00 miles across the Americas"Amazon for as low as $15.25. can be purchased at Her newest book, "Red Tape and White Knuckles", a tale of her ride through Africa, is only available in the UK or on Amazon as an import for a whopping $75 used. I guess we Americans, will have to either wait for publishing in the United States or pay the price for what's sure to be a great read.
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If you don't read any other motorcycle book this year, this is the one to read. The Old Man and the Harley, a Last Ride Through Our Father's America, by John J. Newkirk is part historical novel, part autobiography, and a whole lot of fun. It's a page turner that the reader will find difficult to put down. The real characters in the book are more interesting and human than any fictional characters could ever be. In this three part book, you'll retrace the journey of a coast to coast ride with the Old Man, who at 19 years old, sets out to see both the New York and San Fransisco World Fairs. The year is 1939 and the world is on the verge of war, but for young Jack Newkirk nothing will stop him from completing the trip of a lifetime. Along the way you'll meet the friends and family that he encounters, read about his trials and tribulations, and share in his freedom of the road. What follows is an excerpt of the book as he views the Golden Gate Bridge for the first time. "The Golden Gate Bridge was the most magnificent structure they had ever beheld. Remnants of the morning fog clung to the bridge's surface and made its orange-vermillion paint look fresh. They had seen flat black and white versions of the Golden Gate in books, but this scene was in living color. The bridge had six auto lanes sixty feet wide with ten-foot sidewalks on either side. It hung 220 feet over the water with towers that reached 760 feet into the sky. It was the largest suspension bridge the world had ever known. Jack's jaw hung open and his eyes were round. It was Pete Pomeroy who broke their stunned silence." As if motorcycles are not thrilling enough, in Part II you'll read about Jack's cousin, Scarsdale Jack Newkirk, Commander of the legendary Flying Tigers, who after Pearl Harbor had been desecrated, flinging the United States into the war, fought for the freedoms of the people in China to protect them and the world from the terrible ire of the Japanese leaders. You'll read about the Tuskeege airmen and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt's flight with Chief Anderson, the first negro to earn a commercial pilot's license and the Chief Flight Instructor at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. There will be encounters with Glen Miller and Jane Fonda, but mostly you'll meet Jack's brothers, cousins, aunts and uncles, and friends that he makes along the way. Throughout the story, the biker's code; never leave a rider behind, and help out the next man along the road who needs your assistance, weaves the threads of a a common denominator. The story comes full circle in Part III as 70 years later, John J. Newkirk, son of Jack, retraces the epic journey from New York to San Fransisco, this time in reverse, and this time with his father on the back of the motorcycle for a good portion of the ride. And, throughout the story, you'll trace the path of the motorcycle at the center of the travels, the VL NO. 30V8229C, a 1930 Harley-Davidson VL Big Twin. The Old Man and the Harley documents a family history and the history of the American people through World War II. Buy it now at amazon.com. You can also read a large excerpt at google books and visit the official website for more information. ________________________ My son wrote a book when he was 15 years old and got it published by the Centenary Press when he was in college. It is now available on Amazon, and since I'm his mommy, I have to place the book link here! Click on the picture to purchase and read reviews. |
If you would like me to do a book, movie or product review, please email maric12@gmail.com Wicked Bitch By Amy Irene White Sweet Home Alabama, Steele Magnolias, Fried Green Tomatoes, and Wicked Bitch are all beautiful, at times funny, and are all heartwarming stories of strong southern women living life to the fullest whenever they can find the strength, and picking themselves up and moving forward whenever they can't. Not just another memoir, Wicked Bitch by Amy Irene White, recounts the small town, Baptist upbringing of a feisty, red headed, freckled faced little girl, who comes into her own as a larger than life, fiery personality in the biker world. From the beginning, one can walk barefooted with Amy as she runs through the Arkansas woods, and smell the magnolia flowers wafting their scent through the hot summer air, mingled with the always present odoriferous cow dung. Her Tomboy traits lead to countless fights and scraped knees and bruised fists are normal, temporary souvenirs of her raucous behavior. Readers can almost imagine being there as the little girl accompanied by her sister, climb up on paint thinner buckets to peer inside the workings of a garage where men, likely chewing tobacco and, with grease filled fingernails, twist wrenches on the behemoth motorcycles sitting lifeless atop jack stands awaiting the breath that will once again bring them to life. They can follow Amy as she in turn follows her Daddy around his paint and body shop, sniff the paint fumes as they burn their lungs, run their fingers alongside the long lines of a pick up truck awaiting the magic of the paint gun that will transform the classic Chevy into the beauty she once was. InWicked Bitch, read about and witness the transformation of the little girl as she comes of age and meets her first real loves. Follow her through a tumultuous marriage, where she Stands By her man as long as she can, and watch as she slips away to another man's arms; arms that will always safely and comfortingly engulf her soft, white skin, right up until the day that he slips away from this world and travels to the surely gates of heaven, with her at his side. Tears might fall on the pages of the book, as Amy's tears fell on the satin lined coffin while she said her final goodbyes to one of the great loves of her life. Readers will become enthralled with Amy as she rides to work 100 miles round trip every day on the back of a motorcycle, when she wrenches in a downpour on the side of the road, with tornadoes spinning around nearby and icy beads of rain pelting her body; all this while her husband is passed out on a recliner, the television blaring, and a nearly empty bottle of whiskey nearby. The smoke laden bars filled with burly bikers slovenly sipping bottles of beer and throwing back shots, occasionally swatting the rear end of a chap laden girl, and sometimes swapping fists with each other, are brought to life in Amy's memoir. Readers can follow Amy's heartbreak as her hearing deteriorates and she is diagnosed with lupus and various other autoimmune diseases, and she wonders if she isn't destined to bear these afflictions and pain somehow because of how she chooses to live her life. Their hearts will break when she holds the hand of a friend who slips away after a long battle with cancer, and they'll rejoice when one year later she marries the woman's widower, a man who sat with her and talked and reminisced, and sobbed real tears of agony with her as they watched the woman they both loved endure the ordeal. Through the memoirs, the reader will share her love of music, embroiled in the story of her life, and join her as she meets her idol, David Allan Coe, and she visits Elvis' Graceland just to be one of a few ever photographed with the King's collection of Harley-Davidson motorcycles. They'll travel on the back of the Harley with wind in their face and hair as she makes the 4,000 mile trek to Sturgis for the biggest motorcycle rally in the world, and they'll follow her literary career as she publishes articles in the likes of In the Wind, Biker and Easyriders magazines. With all these elements and a descriptive, easy reading style that pulls in the reader and spits her out at the end, one can't help but to pick up the book in anticipation of a journey like no other, and can't put it down until the last page is read. This story leaves one wondering what might transpire in the future for Amy as she settles into a new phase of the journey called life, and continues her literary career. Buy the book at Amazon.com Biker Chicz of North America I received a publisher's advance copy of the book, and downloaded the Kindle version prior to the recently released. Edward Winterhalder, who also Richard Larson), The Mirror (with James Richard Larson), Out in Bad Standings: Inside the Bandidos Motorcycle Club, The Assimilation: Rock Machine to Bandidos (with Wil De Clercq), and Biker Chicks: The Magnetic Attraction of Women to Bad Boys and Motorbikes, (with Arthur Veno and Wil De Clercq), once again in collaboration with Wil De Clercqu, has brought a unique view of 22 ordinary women who have become extraordinary in their lives through motorcycling. Published by Blockhead City Press, Owasso, OK, this book is one of the best compilations of true life stories of women in many cases overcoming adversity and rising to success, all as a result of their love for motorcycling. Each portrayal has motorcycling as the common denominator, and although each story is different, all are the same. There are stories of triumph over drugs and alcohol, overcoming bad relationships, pulling out of poverty, and finding spirituality. Each woman, in her own right, has contributed to the advancement and encouragement of lady riders. With leaders like them paving the way, it's no wonder women are the fastest growing segmentof the population riding and purchasing motorcycles. Some of the women ride or have ridden bikes other than the famed Harley-Davidson models, but all have a deep love for the roar of the Harley, and this book focuses on Harley riders in the United States and Canada. The riders featured in the book are: Cris Sommer Simmons, Mandy Rossmeyer Campbell, Lucky Belcamino, Gevin Fax, Sasha Mullins, Becky Brown, Betsy Huelskamp, Gina Woods, Laura Klock, Deborah DiMiceli, Vicki Roberts Sanfelipo, Pepper Massey, Lorrie Penteluke, JoAnn Begey Bortles, Lauralee "Freedom" Conklin, Meg McDonough, Marilyn Elmore Bragg, Catherine "Katmandu" Palmer, Gloria Tramontin Struck, Banshee "The Lost Soul" LaDucatti, Andrea Perrino, and Danni Stockley. There are models, movie stars, artists, racers, a museum curator, writers, a H-D dealership co-owner, and businesswomen, to name a few. Each individual story, although captured in a limited number of pages, is enthralling. |
