Originally from Nebraska, Phyl Manning is a widely traveled
long-time educator who started teaching at age sixteen in a one room school
house but did much of her 45-year service (classroom, curriculum, counseling,
administration) at international schools overseas. She has lived and/or
traveled extensively in the West Pacific, Southeast Asia (expanded to include
Nepal and Sri Lanka) and Southern Africa as well as Europe. Her long-time
experience/research/expertise/passion included international wildlife and the
traditional Inupiat (Arctic Inuit).
Here, There and Otherwhere, Vol. 1, recounts adventures as
an adult in overseas venues. Vol. 2 recovers adventures at various ages in
domestic (U.S.) life. These will be her fourth and fifth books to see print.
Phyl Manning has a married daughter and family in Chico, CA,
and a married son and family in San Diego.
Phyl has written a guest post for us on the importance of
book covers. At the end of her post, you
will find an excerpt from one of her novels, a blog tour Elephantology contest announcement, and the opportunity to enter a
giveaway for free copies of Phyl's books.
So without further ado, please join me in welcoming Phyl
Manning!
Why Book Covers Are So Important
"Don’t judge a book by its cover!" is something I
remember hearing even before I could read—but of course I judged books by their
covers! I was three years old, and that cover was my way to recognize my
favorite book (of the moment) whenever someone said he or she would (oh glory!)
read to me. AND the cover design also helped me decide which unknown book to
pick off a shelf.
In my own writing, I’m "lucky"—surrounded as I am
by talented family members and friends who are both artistic and generous. One
daughter Irene is a magician on the computer, so she and I together have the
final say. Her husband Steve carves big hunks of wood into "people"
heads and torsos . . . and he granted me an appropriate picture of one of his
carvings for Volume 1of Here, There & Otherwhere. Irene did the
rest—the design itself and the (very important!) back cover
which—artistically—had to contain certain specific information as well as
appeal. Irene’s older sister Carolyn is a sculptress, and one of her creations
graces the cover of Volume 2 in the two-volume series. An artist friend who
lives in Paradise (no kidding! It’s a town in the Sierra foothills of northern
California) has done the covers for two of my earlier books . . . exactly to my
specified vision, and I can’t complain. In fact, the children’s book of African
jungle animals he designed is a collector’s item.
Stephen King or Barbara Kingsolver, I’m not. I might be as
good, as might you. But we don’t have the promotional chops. Therefore, we can
be sure that much consideration by a potential purchaser is placed on our
books’ covers. . . and on the covers of books by any author who is not well
known.
Visit Phyl at http://phylsbooks.com or http://KalanaPress.com
About Here, There and Otherwhere
Volume 1 takes place at some time during forty years
overseas, mostly in settings such as the West Pacific islands, SE Asia, Nepal,
Sri Lanka, southern Africa and involving often unusual people in a usually
exotic settings along paths not often taken. Reader is allowed to accompany
author on a high porch in the Nepali jungle awaiting a tiger . . . to be
"mooned" by a herd of elephants . . . to find out what happens when a
customer so much as touches a piece of fruit at a green-grocery in Northern
Italy . . . to find out why we humans are prey as well as predators.
Volume 2 occurs mostly in the United States (two exceptions)
over a span of a century and a half. How exciting are "the facts of
life" when you are not yet five years old? Prone on low groundcover, can
you survive the tornado ripping through your ballfield? How does it feel to
continue living when the U.S. Government has pronounced you "dead"?
And what happens to a tiger no longer willing to be "a tiger in
[somebody’s] tank"?
Excerpt: 'Blood
Relations'
My favorite cousin Bill and I were both four years old this
summer, but I was more four than he, being nine months older. I was also a good
bit taller than he. And more substantially built, as well, a condition which
lost luster in subsequent years.
"You don’t like rutabaga," Bill told me.I couldn’t argue with that.
"Or even spinach," he continued.
I tried to keep my nose from wrinkling.
"And that’s why my rabbit Fred is going to beat your
Henry in the race."
I had no ready response because I was trying to figure out
how the speed of a rabbit was conditioned by the diet of its mistress. But I
stayed silent. After all, Bill was my smartest cousin.
"And because I eat lots of vegetables and fruit,"
Bill continued, "I’m going to grow taller and stronger than you." He
let that pronouncement sink in before adding, "And also older."
Was that even possible? I hadn’t lived enough years to know
the answer.
Blog Tour Contest: Elephants*Pachyderms*Elephantology
To find out more, visit Phyl's web site.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
