Fun Without Dick and Jane: Your Guide to a Delightfully Empty Nest

Author: Christie Mellor
Publisher: Chronicle Books

Is $200 an hour too much to spend for exam tutoring? Is moving to an apartment near my daughter’s campus a valid option? If I don’t send a care package, does it mean I don’t care? How can I get my son to stay in touch without resorting to begging?!

These questions are on every parent’s mind as they face the moment they’ve been preparing for since pre-school enrollment: sending their little darling off to college. Luckily for them, Christie Mellor—bestselling author of The Three-Martini Playdate—has bestowed her trademark wit and wisdom with her new book, FUN WITHOUT DICK AND JANE: Your Guide to a Delightfully Empty Nest.

Christie Mellor came to us for a full book publicity campaign which  includes radio, TV, online and print. Our radio team was able to secure interviews for Christie on numerous networks and stations including:

• Lifestyle Radio Network
• Radio America
• WZLX-FM/Boston MA
• WMJI-FM/Cleveland OH
• Northeast Public Radio

and many more.

Newman’s National Team was able to secure many blogs for our author as well as The Huffington Post and an appearance on The Today Show.

Mellor understands that letting go is not an easy thing to do, however she believes that an empty nest can equal a newly fulfilled life. In FUN WITH DICK AND JANE, she provides wise council on how to:

• Deal with the house being too clean and too quiet
• Admit the things you may not miss about your little angel
• Rediscover your lost interests and find new goals
• Rekindle the romantic flame with your partner
• Step back out into social circles
• Say sayonara to “Mrs. Minivan”
• Run away from home
• Figure out what to do when the children come home to roost. Because they will, for holidays, breaks, and possibly for years after graduation.

Even if parents spent some quality time considering what life will be like once the darlings have left, they should still expect a bit of an adjustment period when the child actually does fly the coop. But when that time comes, FUN WITHOUT DICK AND JANE encourages readers to be so thrilled about what they are doing with their own lives that the thought of their children moving on to a next chapter will only be a source of joy, pride, and excitement about the great adventure that awaits.

Celebrate the jubilation. Be ready to honor the grief. And then move on—happily—to the next part of life.

About the Author:

While pursuing a happy life that includes an interesting husband and two almost-always pleasant children, Christie became a vociferous cheerleader for the “other kind of parenthood,” the anti-perfection, you-deserve-a-life kind. Her first book, The Three-Martini Playdate was a harbinger of a new trend for today’s beleaguered parents, helping them to withstand the unceasing and overbearing good advice and pressure to raise perfect, highly enriched offspring, She continued the thread with The Three-Martini Family Vacation, also with Chronicle Books. Raised by Wolves: Clues to the Mysteries of Adulthood, (Harper/Collins) was a book designed for the adult child whose parents did not read The Three Martini Playdate. Next came You Look Fine, Really, a book celebrating women over a “certain age.” Fun Without Dick and Jane – Your Guide to a Delightfully Empty Nest, is her latest helpful guide for parents, a bookend to the “Three-Martini” books.

Christie’s rants have been published in Great Britain in The Guardian, Junior Magazine, and the Sunday Express; in Australia’s Sunday Life Magazine, and on the Huffington Post. She’s been heard on Britain’s BBC radio and American Public Radio’s Marketplace, in addition to being reviewed, interviewed, and quoted in Newsweek, Playboy, Us Magazine, The New York Times, People, and other publications. She also can be heard singing her bitter little heart out each week at the historic Culver Hotel in Los Angeles, where she and her band Doozy play Depression-era music and vintage originals. Please visit her colorful website, at christiemellor.com.

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Colbert’s America: Satire and Democracy

Author: Sophia McClennen
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Colbert’s America
Sophia McClennen

Newman Communications client, Sophia McClennen and her new book, Colbert’s America: Satire and Democracy (Palgrave Macmillan) have been causing quite the media buzz.

Professor at Penn State, McClennen examines how the comedy of Stephen Colbert packs enough political punch to change the way a nation thinks.

COLBERT’S AMERICA covers the various themes and features of his satire and gives readers insight into the powerful ways that Colbert’s comedy challenges the cult of ignorance that has been threatening meaningful public debate since 9/11.

McClennen suggests that Colbert does more than mock pundits and politicians: he actually has helped influence a new generation of actively involved citizens. Satire offers the public a medium through which to express resistance to reigning political policies and social attitudes.  But Colbert’s satire goes even further, offering viewers myriad ways to engage with society.

Paul Farhi’s Washington Post article sparked the debate of whether or not Colbert should a worthy topic for academia.  His article has received more than 500 comments and been picked up across the country.

The Atlantic Wire and Newsbusters have both chimed into the debate as well.  McClennen has taken to The Huffington Post to share her thoughts on the debate and spoke with TVNewser.com.

McClennen argues that Colbert is a “new kind of public intellectual-satirist,” much like Mark Twain, Ben Franklin and Jonathan Swift and therefore worthy of our attention.

Newman Communications asks:   Should Colbert be studied in college?

Discuss.

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The Trust

Author:  Norb Vonnegut
Publisher:  Minotaur Books

The Trust
Norb Vonnegut

Norb Vonnegut returns to Newman Communications for his third novel, THE TRUST (Minotaur Books, July 2012). Having worked with Vonnegut for book publicity and promotion on THE GODS OF GREENWICH , Newman Communications is pleased to have him back with his much anticipated newest release.

Every one of Vonnegut’s novels has a big idea grounded in reality.  THE TRUST shows how some financial criminals hide behind the First Amendment–specifically freedom of religion. The idea for the story traces back to an incident when Pablo Escobar’s first cousin tried to open an account with Vonnegut’s PWM team at Morgan Stanley.

Having worked on Wall Street for twenty years, Vonnegut (cousin of the late Kurt) is more than qualified to tell the tale. He combines his wealth management expertise and intuitive, darkly humorous writing into a fast-talking, suspense thriller that burrows inside the world of big-money philanthropy.

Continue Reading »

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S.E.T. Culture: What Every Organization Needs to Know Before Crises Occur

Author: Dr. Ken J. Brumfield

S.E.T Culture
Dr. Ken J. Brumfield

Here at Newman Communications, we constantly have one ear tuned to the latest breaking news. While a book is the primary focus of any book promotion campaign, we also pride ourselves in thinking outside the box (or the book page!) and angling our authors as the topical experts they already are. Therefore, we are often hearing about the various and persistent crises and thinking: how did they let it get this far?

Dr. Ken J. Brumfield’s new book, “S.E.T. Culture: What Every Organization Needs to Know Before Crises Occur” seeks to solve that problem before it even arises, by is suggesting something different than most crisis analysts: lets look at the Senior Executive Team’s (S.E.T.’s) Culture and how it effects middle managers’ decision making during crises. Dr. Brumfield’s research and tactics are both timely and evergreen, and can be applied to breaking news such as the Penn State Trial or your local up-and-coming small business. The unique take is starting to make an impact with the media.

About the Book:

S.E.T. Culture is useful for all business types, including businesses operating in corporate America, governmental agencies, religious organizations, colleges and universities, and other nonprofit organizations. It will assist individuals with making critical decisions and acting decisively in a crisis, especially when there is the potential for loss of life or property. For any business or organization looking to successfully rebound from a current or imminent crisis, S.E.T. Culture is an insightful resource that provides all stakeholders with the tools to implement change successfully.

 About the Author:

Dr. Brumfield has a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Arts in Counseling degree from Xavier University and an Executive Master of Business Administration degree from the University of New Orleans. He completed a Doctor of Management degree at the University of Maryland. Dr. Brumfield is a senior management consultant and management professor having worked with such organizations as MDRC, Columbia University’s National Center for Postsecondary Research, Bizlink and other organizations

His expertise helps executives, mid-level managers, and front-line workers identify organizational behaviors, threats, and opportunities that will help their companies and organizations successfully endure and rebound from a crisis.

“LIKE” S.E.T. Culture on Facebook for the latest updates.

Additional information about S.E.T Culture can also be found by visiting the Amazon page.

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Autopsy of War: A personal History

Author: John A. Parrish,M.D.
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press

Autopsy of War
John A Parish

As a book publicity firm, we see lots of books cross our desks here at Newman Communications and some make a strong statement to those of us working them.  This book is no exception, and in fact, it prompted me to make a donation to the USO and tell my friends and colleagues about it. How does a man or woman return from war and resume a “normal” life. How do you deal with the horrors that you have seen during war and transform back to everyday life?  John Parrish’s book, Autopsy of War, shows that it is not an easy task for our returning warriors.  Even with a very successful medical career, Parrish couldn’t shake the PTSD that haunted his every move.  John Parrish came to us for a full book publicity campaign in the hopes that his experience  will reach those most in need of his message, the many soldiers that think they are alone with their anguish. Whether they have lost limbs or the damage is unseen to the eye, the struggle that our returning heroes face is gigantic.

Navy physician John Parrish served in Vietnam, an experience that seared him to the bone.  In the ensuing four decades, Parrish became recognized as one of the most innovative physicians in his field, yet he was tortured by PTSD.  Now, in AUTOPSY OF WAR: A Personal History, Parrish presents a profound and unflinching memoir of a physician’s wartime work in Vietnam and his forty-year struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder.

John’s struggle was highlighted in The Boston Globe interview for their G Section and our radio publicity campaign has garnered many hits including:

• Clearchannel Network & SiriusXM
• Premiere Radio Network – national
• Lifestyle Radio Network – national
  and local radio stations nationwide

When he first arrived in Vietnam, Parrish was a triage doctor, treating as many as thirty patients a day with wounds more destructive and life-altering than anything he had ever encountered.  He did his best but never felt like it was enough.  Dismembered limbs and other body parts flowed through his hands for hours on end, and these tragic triage scenes were not something his mind would ever  forget.  When not working on wounded servicemen, Parrish also tended to patients at a tuberculosis hospital in Hue, which was run by Vietnamese Catholic nuns.  He felt he was doing some good there, until the Tet Offensive brought the Viet Cong to Hue, where they executed the patients because they had been treated by an American doctor, and also killed the nuns for working with Parrish. Parrish would also spend time in the field, which was a particularly difficult time for him, since it was then, says Parrish, that “I felt a duty to find meaning in the war so I could convince myself the dead had not died in vain.”

Although happy to return home to the States, Parrish left Vietnam feeling guilty about leaving behind so much suffering.  He also returned home a different person. He found himself physically and emotionally unavailable to his wife and children, developed an obsession with war books and movies, and over the ensuing years, would suffer harrowing flashbacks.  Fighting the mental devastation of war, Parrish lived virtually homeless at times, visited veterans’ shelters and fled his family while reliving his Vietnam experience over and over again.  Despite the fact that he managed to establish a prominent medical career, few knew how his inner demons took over the rest of his life.  “I found myself increasingly restless, tortured, and lonely,” says Parrish, “never more so than at social events or professional meetings where my peers assumed I was in control.”  The present continued to mingle with the past as haunting images of Vietnam lingered in his mind, until the door to recovery finally opened after years of pain and struggle.

AUTOPSY OF WAR is a soul-searching and intensely personal journey through the world of war and recovery. An honest, moving, and intimate view of one man’s courageous battle to overcome PTSD, it is a highly relevant story today as soldiers return to the U.S. from abroad with challenges to face.  “I accept that there will always be war,” says Parrish, “but I need to believe more can be done to help its victims, specifically the warriors who have left the battlefield but not their personal war.  This book is witness to the power of time, acceptance, self-discovery, hard work, and love in belatedly diminishing one man’s psychic war.”

About the Author:

JOHN A PARRISH, M.D., is the CEO of the Center for the Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology (CIMIT); the CEO of the Red Sox Foundation-Massachusetts General Hospital Home Base Program (an outreach program to help veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars with PTSD and traumatic brain injury); and Distinguished Professor of Dermatology and former department head at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital.  He is the author of 12, 20 & 5: A Doctor’s Year in Vietnam.

To learn more about Autopsy of War please visit:  http://autopsyofwar.com/

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