East County News Service

January 30, 2017 (La Mesa) – When La Mesa’s old police station was torn down and a new one built on the site of the aging County library that was torn down, a modest new library was built that was intended to be temporary, with a larger, new library proposed to be built on the site of the old police station. But a decade after efforts to build a new library began, the interim library building remains, with no plans yet submitted for a replacement—much to the consternation of library patrons advocating for a more spacious facility to meet modern needs.

Book review by Joe Gandelman, Editor in Chief, The Moderate Voice

Reprinted with permission from The Moderate Voice, a member of the San Diego Online News Network

January 22, 2017 (San Diego's East County) - A Clear and Present Danger: Narcissim in the Era of Donald Trump was written before the election — but boy is it needed to be read now.

It’s a thoughtful volume comprised of contributions by psychiatrists, doctors, psychologists– and a notable storyteller-author-clinical-psychologist that’ll be read for many years and deserves to be read and studied. Because there is a history of narcissism in world history and politics. And in world history, leaders who fit the definition of having narcissistic personality disorder often don’t often fare well — and their countries may fare worse. One thing they do: they backhand societal and political norms, often get away with it and can change their societies, often little by little, sometimes abruptly — and often legally.

East County News Service

January 13, 2017 (San Diego) – Assemblywoman Shirley Weber (D-San Diego) invites you to join her in honoring Martin Luther King Jr. Day by participating in a Day of Reading Around the Region on Monday, January 16. This is a program championed by the national sorority of Phi Delta Kappa, Inc., an organization of educators that I have been a member of for four decades.

Ray & Joan: The Man Who Made the McDonald’s Fortune and the Woman Who Gave It All Away, by Lisa Napoli (Dutton, New York, NY, 2016, 353 pages).

Book Review by Dennis Moore

January 3, 2017 (San Diego) - Virtually everyone in the world has had and tasted a McDonald’s hamburger at some time or another. In my case I have actually had thousands, and as a matter of fact, my first job at the age of 19 was preparing burgers and fries at a McDonald’s in Kansas City. Ray & Joan: The Man Who Made the McDonald’s Fortune and the Woman Who Gave It All Away, is an intriguing book about fame and fortune, and how it all began.

Copyright 2017 by Sam Warren, Editor

Contributor: Laura Roberts, Editor, The Writer’s Life, SDW/EG

January 2, 2017 (San Diego) — This week’s edition includes a newsflash about a popular local bookstore closing its doors, appearances by prominent authors, classes and a local writer’s conference.

Update:   Hear our interview with Amanda Matti, author of A Foreign Affair, (originally aired on KNSJ radio) by clicking the audio link here.

A Foreign Affair, by Amanda Matti (W & B Publishers, Kernersville, NC, 2016, 343 pages).

Book Review by Dennis Moore

December 1, 2016 (San Diego) - Amanda Matti, an El Cajon (San Diego) resident who served six years in the United States Navy, including a 2005 deployment to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, has written a riveting true story of romance and war; A Foreign Affair. Matti provides graphic details of her experience in a war that many in this country felt never should have been.

East County News Service

Photo: Peter Sokoloski

November 15, 2016 (San Diego) – The San Diego Press Club will host its inaugural “Spelling Bee for Grownups” starting at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, November 16, at the San Diego Central Library, Neil Morgan Auditorium, 330 Park Blvd., Downtown San Diego. The public is invited to attend. Cost to compete as a speller is $10 per person. There is no cost to attend and watch.

A Foreign Affair: A True Story of Love and War, by Amanda Matti (Available at Amazon.com, 2016, 354 pages).

Preview by Dennis Moore

October 19, 2016 (San Diego) - I can’t wait to get my hands on this book, as the author, an El Cajon resident has indicated to me just today that she will be mailing it out to me for my review in the East County Magazine. She will also appear on our “East County Magazine Live!” radio show to be interviewed with all the salacious details of this book. A Foreign Affair has all the ingredients of true love and intrigue in a foreign country, which the author describes as “love at first sight” between herself, as a U.S. Navy Analyst, and her Iraqi translator Fahdi, in war-torn Iraq.

By Miriam Raftery

October 15,2016 (Borrego)—We sat down for an interview with Mark Jorgensen,  former  Superintendent of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and author of the award-winning book, Desert Bighorn Sheep,  Wilderness Icon. 

He spoke about the progress made to protect these  magnificent animals,  as well as threats to their survival and challenges that remain.  

Listen now by clicking the link to our interview, which originally aired on the East County Magazine Show on KNSJ 89.1 FM Radio.

East County News Service

September 20, 2016 (El Cajon) - The Grossmont College English Department's Creative Writing Program is presenting the Fall 2016 Reading Series, Thursday, Sept. 29 – Monday, Dec. 5.

East County News Service

September 16, 2016 (La Mesa) -- Local author and La Mesa Historical Society President James Newland will make a presentation based on his book "Around Mt. Helix" at the La Mesa branch of the county library (8047 Allison Ave.) in La Mesa on Saturday, September 17 at 10:30 a.m.

Edited by Sam Warren. Please send all notices to: SDWriteWay@gmail.com

August 29, 2016 (San Diego) – Upcoming literary events including open Shakespeare readings, author book signings, book discussions, writing workshops, confessions of a writing coach, and a Star Trek anniversary celebration.

Answering your questions about writing, publishing, and marketing books

By Sarka-Jonae Miller, author of the free book Between Boyfriends

August 19, 2016 (San Diego's East County) - One of my favorite local authors, Jan Moran, is helping me to talk about romance and writing. Jan and I “met” on Goodreads.com when I reached out to her because she had recently moved to San Diego and my Between Boyfriends protagonist is named Jan as well. We've since done two local author events together and I've found her to be as smart about publishing as she is talented at writing. We also happen to each have a book included in the Finding Love in All the Right Places romance bundle, 12 novels for 99 cents.

How do you think the romance genre has grown? Is it overwhelmed, growing, dying, or in need of a face lift? – Annelle Willard, author of Frosted Sweets

Then No One Can Have Her, by Caitlin Rother (Kensington Publishing Corp., New York, NY, 2015, 435 pages).

Book Review by Dennis Moore

August 8, 2016 (San Diego) - New York Times Bestselling author Caitlin Rother has done it again! Following on the heels of Lost Girls and I’ll Take Care Of You, two true crime novels that this writer had the distinct pleasure and honor of writing reviews of for the East County Magazine in San Diego, is this riveting and brutal novel that examines the personification of evil and depravity; Then No One Can Have Her.

A is Not Only for Apple: English Alphabet Rhymed and Illustrated, by C.K. Thomas Tseng (NOOK Book, 2016, 38 pages).

Illustrated by Anat Tour

Book Review by Dennis Moore

July 19, 2016 (San Diego’s East County) - A classic case of “When East Meets West” is this book written by author C.K. Thomas Tseng of Taiwan; A is Not Only for Apple: English Alphabet Rhymed and Illustrated, and illustrated by San Diego’s East County’s own Anat Tour, an established author in her own right. Combining two familiar literary figures of speech – alliteration and end rhyme – A is Not Only for Apple: English Alphabet Rhymed and Illustrated helps very young learners of English obtain their early sensitivity to the sounds of the English alphabet in a natural and linguistic way. This collaboration on the part of Tseng and Tour seems to be the perfect marriage of cultures, East and West.