Home / Issues / Books by UU authors, Spring 2009
Books by UU authors, Spring 2009
A selection of books written by Unitarian Universalists.
Non-fiction
Unlocking the Healing Code: Discover the 7 Keys to Unlimited Healing Power. Bruce Forciea. Llewellyn Publications, 2007; $14.95. Forciea, who has a doctorate in chiropractic, explores the mysterious field of energy that enables healing using traditional and alternative medicines. He describes seven ways to tap into and use this energy. Forciea is a member of Lake Country UU Church in Hartland, Wisc.
The Unitarian Life: Voices from the Past and Present. Edited by Stephen Lingwood. The Lindsey Press, 2008; £9.99. Lingwood serves as the chaplain to the British Isles Unitarian Young Adult Network. He has written a basic handbook explaining Unitarianism for a largely British audience. Sections deal with Unitarian principles and values, Unitarian perspectives, and living “Unitarianly.”
Uncommon Community: One Congregation’s Work with Prisoners. John Speer. Skinner House, 2008; $14. Speer, a lifelong community activist, describes three transformational projects that his church, the Henry David Thoreau UU Congregation of Fort Bend County, Tex., set up with area prisons, including a letter-writing program, a writing workshop program, and a writing mentor project in which prisoners do the mentoring.
Fiction
Leslie. Richard Matturro. Livingston Press, Univ. of West Alabama, 2008; $15.95. Leslie is 43, unmarried, and going through a midlife crisis. She takes a leave of absence from her job as a librarian and decides to look up an old boyfriend, beginning a cross-country odyssey that teaches her as much about herself as it does about the man she is seeking. One of the novel’s characters is a Unitarian minister. Matturro teaches in the English department at the State University of New York in Albany. He is a member of First UU Society of Albany.
Harvest of Changelings. Warren Rochelle. Golden Gryphon Press, 2007; $24.95. When Malachi turns 10, he discovers that he is half human, half fairy. His father must get him through the gate to Faerie before Malachi’s half-formed powers kill him. Rochelle is a novelist and short-story writer, and the author of Communities of the Heart: The Rhetoric of Myth in the Fiction of Ursula K. Le Guin. He is a member of the UU Fellowship of Frederick, Md.
A Good Woman. Dorothy Weil. Plain View Press, 2008; $14.95. Mary Lou Friedman, 85, reminisces about her past as she tends her terminally ill husband. When neighborhood teens start harassing her, she decides to protect herself and buys a gun. Weil, author of three novels, a collection of poetry, and a memoir, is a member of the First Unitarian Church of Cincinnati.
For children
Earth Day: An Alphabet Book. Gary Kowalski. Illus. by Rocco Baviera. Skinner House Books, 2009; $12. The Rev. Gary Kowalski’s popular prayer of gratitude “for the alphabet of wonderful things” gives thanks for everything from alligators to zucchini. Published in several anthologies, the prayer is now being issued in April as an illustrated children’s book. Kowalski is minister of the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Burlington, Vermont, and the author of many books. Canadian artist Rocco Baviera also illustrated A Child’s Book of Blessings and Prayers for Skinner House Books. [Christopher L. Walton]
I Froze My Mother: And Other Seriously Funny Family Poems. Ted Scheu with photographs by Peter Lourie. Cold Tree Press, 2004; $12.95. Fighting with siblings, going to bed, and asking for a kitten are all subjects of these simple and funny poems dealing with family life. The collection is intended for kids 6 to 11. Scheu, a member of the Champlain Valley UU Society in Middlebury, Vt., is a children’s writer and teacher who presents poetry workshops at schools. He also wrote I Tickled My Teachers: 62 Hilariously Heartful School Poems.Madeleine Claire and the Dinosaur. Jerald Pope. Brave Ulysses Books, 2006; $16. A charmingly illustrated book about how young Madeleine Claire wanted a dinosaur as a pet—and got one! The last pages of the book have illustrations for children to color. Pope is a member of the UU Congregation of Swannanoa, N.C.
Submissions for Books by UU Authors may be sent to UU World, 25 Beacon Street, Boston MA 02108. Indicate publisher, date, price, and the author’s UU affiliation. We cannot include every title and cannot return books. Preference will be given to books of general interest; self-published books will be included selectively.
