Civil War Saga of Loss and Love Full of Spellbinding Turns

New Fast Paced Romantic Fiction Novel Chronicles Ravages of History and Life
NEW ORLEANS, Oct. 8 — In the Civil War days, a time of danger and death, the chances of surviving a wound was only 7 to 1. In the new fiction novel, “Katie Cameron” (published by iUniverse) by Fiona McDonald, a shy lass from Scotland is caught in a whirlwind of intrigue before she moves to Louisiana with her mother at the onset of the Civil War.

In 1861, Katie ventures from Scotland to America upon the death of her father to stay with her cousins on their Louisiana plantation. While at a party, she meets the dashing and handsome Captain Clark Boyd, a confederate officer canvassing for recruits. Captain Boyd and Katie are immediately smitten with each other but his duties lie with the war and he must report to the battlefield.

As the tensions of the war build, Katie and her mother move to the union army-occupied New Orleans in 1863. In a surprising occurrence, she comes across a disguised Captain Boyd spying for the confederate army in New Orleans. Katie then partakes in a dangerous act to collect union troop information and relay it to Captain Boyd. As Captain Boyd visits Katie in the night to receive her information, they’re swept up in a love affair. After a fatal battle in the outskirts of town, Katie is informed that Captain Boyd has been killed before she can tell him she’s with child. A series of heartbreaking events lead Katie to seek a new life by returning to her homeland of Scotland. McDonald writes:

“A figure was leaning against a post near the end of the road. He was dressed in old clothes with a battered straw hat pulled well down in the front as if he was shielding his eyes from the sun. The figure caught the attention of Katie and she gazed at him as the carriage passed by. He stared back, lifting his hat, showing a fair lock of hair, but keeping his gaze on her. She held his gaze and at once she thought she recognized him. It was him, she was sure, but what was he doing in New Orleans! It was Captain Clark Boyd.”

About the Author

Fiona McDonald was born in Nairobi, Kenya, East Africa and grew up in Ceylon, now Sri-Lanka. She attended various schools abroad in Ireland and Scotland and went on to study at the Academy of Ballet. McDonald owned a school of dance and later worked for the Scottish Legal Aid Board. She is currently retired in Scotland. “Katie Cameron” is her second novel; her first, “Gunfire,” was a western set in Texas.

Stress is Silent Killer

‘Thus I Became Stress Free, Oh Really?’: Systematically Manage and Optimize Stress to Improve Productivity, Happiness
GARDEN CITY, Mich., March 24, 2009 — Consider how these outlooks could free you from stress:

Things change if you change the way you look at them.
Problems, most of the times, are only are in our head.
“Thus I Became Stress Free, Oh Really?,” a new book by Balram Joshi (published by iUniverse), can improve your outlook and capability to manage your stress and improve your productivity and happiness. Written from the inspiration Joshi experienced from learning and practicing very simple things, his desire is to share simple techniques for solving a perceived complex problem. Joshi outlines how being stress-free is not a static state. Life is dynamic, and so is your state of mind. And stress is directly related to the state of mind. Joshi notes that the mind keeps getting affected day in and day out by numerous ongoing incidents. But with practice, you can continuously stay in a state of least stress.

Joshi wants to emphasize the importance of identifying if you are stressed as he terms stress as the silent killer. Joshi discusses how to identify if you are stressed, stress as the silent killer, how stress in small amounts is actually good for you, possible scenarios contributing to stress and probable solutions, stressors including family, materialism, ambition and expectations; stress-relievers, like faith and forgiveness, that are suitable for different personalities; and stress-relieving yoga. Read the first chapter at http://www.howibecamestressfree.com.

About the Author

Most of Balram Joshi’s career has been administrative and managerial, working for his own business, government and private companies. He has lived in 10 different states, in India and then in Africa. He is a U.S. citizen currently living in the U.S.A. Joshi holds a Ph.D in Coordination Chemistry which complements his capability to study, analyze and resolve a problem and then present its solution in an organized and effective manner.