Tag Archives: memoir

by Jennifer Reed/ bookjunkiez | August 27, 2020 · 5:00 am

Counting Hope Tour

Follow Up to Hopey: From Commune to Corner Office.

Memoir, Business

Publisher: Hunter Street Press

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If you thought Hopey: From Commune to Corner Office was compelling, then Counting Hope will further inspire and challenge you.

In her memoir sequel, we follow Hope Mueller’s journey into adulthood as she unwittingly recreates the dark, chaotic world she was attempting to escape. As Hope finishes college, she digs herself out of drug addiction and abusive relationships to ensure her survival. She charges forward to build a better life for herself and her two daughters. Hope reveals the most intimate and painful events of her life while illustrating an unwavering motivation to improve her circumstances and discover her true worth.

Ultimately, Hope’s story shows how small, daily steps towards confidence propel us forward, even beyond our darkest hours, to a place of more joy, more purpose, more fulfillment. Written in heart-pounding flashbacks and encouraging looks forward, Counting Hope is an epic journey of liberation, empowerment, and eventual success.

About the Author

Hope Mueller is an author, inspirational speaker, and a successful executive. Hope lives in northern Illinois with her husband and actively parents her four daughters and grandson. She sits on multiple non-for-profit boards, and has launched a local scholarship fund. She is the chairman and president of a charitable organization being developed in 2019. Hope’s passions are found in promoting and developing leaders, youth STEM activities, and in-need community support and investment. Her early years were marked by her experiences within a hippie commune that shaped her approach and interaction with the world, and allows her to create order out of chaos.

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by Jennifer Reed/ bookjunkiez | April 14, 2020 · 5:00 am

GenderQueer Tour

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Non-Fiction / Memoir / LGBTQ Coming-of-Age / Coming-out Story

Release Date: 3/16/2020

Publisher: Sunstone Press

Derek is a girl. He wasn’t one of the boys as a kid. He admired, befriended, and socialized with the girls and always knew he was one of them, despite being male. That wasn’t always accepted or understood, but he didn’t care–he knew who he was. Now he’s a teenager and boys and girls are flirting and dating and his identity has become a lot more complicated: he’s attracted to the girls. The other girls. The female ones. This is Derek’s story, the story of a different kind of male hero–a genderqueer person’s tale. It follows Derek from his debut as an eighth grader in Los Alamos, New Mexico until his unorthodox coming out at the age of twenty-one on the University of New Mexico campus in Albuquerque. This century’s first decade saw many LGBT centers and services rebranding themselves as LGBTQ. The ”Q” in LGBTQ is a new addition. It represents other forms of ”queer” in an inclusive wave-of-the hand toward folks claiming to vary from conventional gender and orientation, such as genderqueer people. People who are affirmatively tolerant on gay, lesbian and transgender issues still ask ”Why do we need to add another letter to the acronym? Isn’t anyone who isn’t mainstream already covered by ‘gay’ or ‘lesbian’ or ‘bisexual’ or ‘trans’? I’m all in favor of people having the right to call themselves whatever they want, but seriously, do we need this term?” Derek’s tale testifies to the real-life relevance of that ”Q.” This is a genderqueer story before genderqueer was trending.

Excerpt

I was in the house by myself and heard the doorbell chime. Denise Spears. “Umm, Jan isn’t here at the moment, but do you want to hang out for a while?” I asked, hoping she’d say yes.

“That’s okay because I actually came over to see you,” she explained, smiling at me. She came in and I closed the door, which latched with a resonant chunk in the quiet room. I was feeling pretty tongue-tied; I couldn’t think of anything clever to say. Denise looked a little nervous herself.

“I’m glad you came over. I like it when you’re here.” We hugged. After a couple moments I realized I should be acting like a host. Or at least not just staring happily at her and not saying anything. “Do you want anything, like to drink?”

“Not unless you want,” she replied.

Denise was smiling shyly, eyes down. She was wearing snug jeans shorts, with the legs rolled up to make cute little leg bands. I thought about how nice it would be to get my fingers inside that denim. This was maybe my big chance, if that’s what she had in mind. I wondered if she’d known that we’d have the place to ourselves when she’d decided to come over.

Maybe she did.

“I’ve been thinking about you and that hay ride,” she said, then blushed, “and, umm, you know.”

“I think about you too. And yeah…”

It wasn’t like how it was with Terri, who was always sort of challenging me to do stuff. I totally trusted Denise and I knew there was no risk that she was trying to set me up for embarrassment or humiliation. But somehow it felt serious and not like playing around the way it had been on the hayride or in Jan’s bedroom. “It was funny when Jan caught us on the floor that day,” I said, just to have something to say.

Denise chuckled. “I know, right? Like she couldn’t decide who to be mad at.”

I gestured to the living room couch, and we sat there, our backs to the big window.

Denise seemed fragile and somehow younger today and I was a lot more conscious of the age difference. It felt wrong somehow to try to start making out. As if she wanted me to like her and would therefore let me do things whether she wanted to or not. It hadn’t felt that way before, and maybe she was actually impatient for things to happen. But how it seemed was like we were both uncertain about what to do.

We kissed and held hands and talked on the couch for a half hour, then she said she’d better be heading home.

About the Author

Allan Hunter grew up partly in Valdosta GA and partly in Los Alamos NM and first attempted to come out as genderqueer in 1980, an endeavor made difficult by the fact that there was no such term for it in 1980. He has used many words and phrases over the intervening years, including “sissy” and “coed feminist” and “straightbackwards”, but currently identifies as a “gender invert” which is a subtype of genderqueer, and colloquially refers to himself as a “male girl”.

He has lived in the greater New York City / Long Island region since 1984. He came to the area in order to major in women’s studies and to discuss gender and related topics, and is the author of “Same Door, Different Closet: A Heterosexual Sissy’s Coming-Out Party” (published in the academic journal FEMINISM and PSYCHOLOGY in 1992).

“Same Door Different Closet” was reprinted twice in subsequent anthologies (Fem & Psych’s own special reader HETEROSEXUALITY in 1993, and Heasley & Crane’s SEXUAL LIVES: A READER ON THE THEORIES AND REALITIES OF HUMAN SEXUALITIES, McGraw-Hill 2002). A second theory paper, “The Feminist Perspective in (and/or On) the Field of Sociology” was made available for credited distribution and was included in a compendium, READINGS IN FEMINIST THEORY, Ed. S. M. Channa, Cosmo Publications.

GenderQueer is his first serious attempt to write for the market outside of the academic journal environment.

He is active in local and regional organizations where he speaks to small groups about gender issues. He has addressed college women’s studies groups, alternative-lifestyle social groups, and given talks at LGBT centers.

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by Jennifer Reed/ bookjunkiez | October 15, 2019 · 5:00 am

EMERGING BUTTERFLY by Constance G. Jones – Cover Reveal

EMERGING BUTTERFLY

by Constance G. Jones
Publication Date: January 30, 2020
Genres: Adult, Memoir, Family Trauma, Infertility, Dating and Relationships

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SYNOPSIS

On January 30, 2020 Constance G. Jones will release her memoir Emerging Butterfly detailing her childhood growing up in San Diego as one of 9 children battling the three demons in her household: alcohol, abuse, and absence. She survives the heartbreak of infertility, depression, and bad relationships to become an influential philanthropist, advocate and loving wife.

Survive the darkness of the cocoon and you will emerge into the light of day.

. . .

Raised in San Diego in the 1980s, Constance was born to be a Californian dreamer. The fourth of nine children in a poor, dysfunctional family, she grew up with three demons in her household: alcohol, abuse, and absence. She buried her dreams in the dark cocoon of her childhood. As a teenager, an accident upended her world and cursed her with epilepsy for the rest of her life.

Entering adulthood, Constance hoped she’d left the worst behind her. Instead, toxic relationships, misguided spiritual teachings, and close calls with death nearly broke her.
Constance discovered curses can hide blessings in their inner layers. Instead of breaking, she chose to break free, realizing her heart could sprout wings to take her in the direction of her wildest dreams…

In a mesmerizing memoir that is by turns heartbreaking and heartwarming, writer and philanthropist Constance Grays Jones retraces her precarious journey towards truth, love, community, and self-discovery. Tackling issues of epilepsy, depression, infertility, and family drama with refreshing sass, humor, and compassion, she reminds us that we are products of our past but also the creators of our purpose. Her inspiring story is a wakeup call for the soul, showcasing the tenacity of the human spirit, the pockets of sunlight in the darkest corners, and the transformational power of belief and love.

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ABOUT CONTANCE G. JONES

Constance G. Jones is a San Diego native, an avid reader, and a storyteller. She earned her Bachelor’s in Management and Organizational Communications from Point Loma Nazarene University and has since worked in administration, public relations, and career services; most recently, she serves as a site manager at Walmart Global eCommerce. In 2016, Constance founded Elevate Foundation with her husband Claude, driven by their personal mission to make an impact in their local community and inspire others to do the same. Emerging Butterfly: A Memoir is Constance’s debut book.

Dawn Michelle Hardy
Publicist | Literary Agent | Book Consultant
IG @TheLiteraryLobbyist

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by Jennifer Reed/ bookjunkiez | January 19, 2017 · 5:00 am

A BRONX BOY’S TALE – BLITZ

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Family, Relationships, memoir

A Bronx Boy’s Tale details the life of the author as he witnessed the major historical events on the 1960’s and 1970’s. Although it was a time of social upheaval and strife, Jimmy’s family, friends and the Beautiful Bronx all made the experience glorious.

It is a lesson to us in modern times who despair about the state of things. Family, friends, and having a strong community in which to thrive can supersede any perceived threat from a world thought to be mad.

About the Author

A Bronx Boy’s Tale AuthorJimmy Newell has a degree in law as well as a Masters in History. But, more than that, Jimmy grew up in the Bronx and wishes to share that with you and to make you see that you probably had a similar experience wherever you may have come of age.

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