25 Years in a Cult: Former Follower Draws Readers Into Disciple Mindset
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Radhia Gleis didn’t wake up one day and decide to join a cult. That’s not how it happens, she said.
“It has nothing to do with intelligence or education,” she explained in a recent interview. “It has to do with being in the right (or wrong) place at the wrong time when you’re in a state of searching for something, and someone comes along who meets that need.”
Her powerful new book, The Followers: “Holy Hell” and the Disciples of Narcissistic Leaders: How My Years in a Notorious Cult Parallel Today’s Cultural Mania, articulates the complexity of how she fell under the influence of the charismatic leader of the Buddha-field cult. The Holy Hell reference in the book’s title is a nod to the 2016 Buddha-field cult documentary, in which Gleis appears.
A nutritionist, biochemical analyst and educator, Gleis says her post-traumatic stress, forever entombed in her psyche, is repeatedly triggered by the characteristics of current political and cultural leaders, prompting her to explore her past decisions through a much broader lens that sheds light on the blind spots — and dangers — of groupthink.
The Followers lays the groundwork by skimming Gleis’ upbringing in Hollywood and tracing the steps of her life when, at age 14, she began to crave a deeper sense of spirituality. She spent the next 12 years searching for nirvana, and at age 26, she found what she thought she had been searching for. Gleis draws strong parallels between her devotion to a cult leader — an authority — whose damaging behavior and influence she willfully ignored, and the followers of other narcissistic authorities. She goes into detail about the characteristics of narcissists and explains the “feedback loop” that sustains the disciple-narcissist dynamic.
Gleis weaves together her personal experiences with reflections on a number of thought-provoking topics, including the search for a higher truth, cults, groupthink and mind control, authoritarian leaders, malignant narcissistic personality disorder and sociopathy, the American schism, and how an intelligent, well-educated person may find herself under the control of a narcissistic sociopath.
Author Radhia Gleis has been a Certified Clinical Nutritionist, CCN, MEd. biochemical analyst and educator for over 33 years. She has appeared as a featured guest on numerous radio and television shows including Fox News, Austin. She hosted The Health Revolution and Let’s Get Healthy on Talk 1370 AM, KLBJ, and The Wellness Connection podcast on Voice America. She was the host and executive producer of three YouTube series: Wake up America; How the Body Works; and The Natural Way. She was featured in the internationally viewed movie, Holy Hell, which was broadcast on CNN and named one of Sundance Film Festival’s and Netflix’s top 10 documentaries. It can now be viewed on Amazon Prime.
For more information, please visit www.radhiagleis.com, or follow the author on Twitter (@radhia_gleis).
The Followers: “Holy Hell” and the Disciples of Narcissistic Leaders: How My Years in a Notorious Cult Parallel Today’s Cultural Mania Publisher: Sage Card Publishing ISBN-10: 1737125803 ISBN-13: 978-1737125808 Available from Amazon.com, BN.com and Audible.com
Trish Stevens Kay Williams Ascot Media Group, Inc. Post Office Box 2394 Friendswood, TX 77549 [email protected] www.ascotmedia.com 281.333.3507 Phone
Understand the 7 Archetypes and Finally Meet Your Match
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“Commitment can’t be forced, scheduled, or altered. It either comes from the heart or it doesn’t.” — Dr. Carmen Harra
What does your dream relationship look like? Perhaps you’re looking for a fairy tale, or a lifetime of financial stability, or just the “perfect” partner to grow old with. You may have already created a “type” in your mind, and you’re looking for the person who checks all the boxes. But what if this approach to love is wrong?
Preconceived standards and expectations about relationships can be misleading at best and flat-out harmful at worst, explains world-renowned psychologist Carmen Harra.
Whether you’re entering the dating scene for the first time, starting over or hoping to strengthen a current relationship, Harra’s new book, Committed: Finding Love and Loyalty Through the Seven Archetypes, will prompt you to reevaluate the way you think about love — and ultimately make better choices.
“Before you can find a devoted partner, you have to unlearn other people’s versions of love and relearn your own,” she said.
In Committed, Harra and co-author and daughter Alexandra Harra, who is a certified relationship coach, explain the seven main archetypes we all encounter, the promises they hold and the challenges they pose to relationships.
The first part of Committed is devoted to the work we need to do on the inside, and readers will learn how to reexamine core beliefs they hold, clear karmic patterns, heal any emotional trauma, liberate themselves from people who no longer serve them and develop an unshakable sense of self-worth.
The second half of the book teaches readers how to identify archetypes in others and themselves, navigate the world of online dating, build emotional intimacy, mediate external influences and apply real-world solutions to resolve relationship problems.
Ultimately, Committed aims to help you find and keep the love you deserve: an authentic, impassioned relationship that fills you with excitement each morning and puts your mind at ease every night.
Carmen Harra is an intuitive psychologist, best-selling author, radio show host and relationship expert. In the past 25 years, she has helped over 40,000 people rediscover peace of mind, reclaim personal power and regain joy. Her clients come from all walks of life, from the lady next door to Hollywood celebrities and eminent politicians. She’s the author of international best-sellers like Everyday Karma, Decoding Your Destiny, The Eleven Eternal Principles, and Wholeliness, among others. Carmen has been featured in such publications as The New York Times, New York Post, and New York Daily News, and on shows like Good Morning America, The View, Good Day New York, the Today show, and Fox News. She currently hosts Miracle Guidance for Everyday Life every Tuesday on OMTimes Radio.
Alexandra Harra is a certified life and relationship coach and author, while also boasting commendable career accomplishments as a writer. She writes regularly for renowned publications such as The Huffington Post and proactively aids her mother’s mission to bring joy and love into people’s relationships.
For more information, visit www.CarmenHarra.com, or follow the author on Instagram (carmenharra) or Facebook (DrCarmenHarra).
Committed: Finding Love and Loyalty Through the Seven Archetypes Publisher: Newman Springs Publishing Inc. ISBN-10: 1638812586 ISBN-13: 978-1638812586 Available everywhere books are sold, including Amazon.com and BN.com
Trish Stevens Andrea Kiser Ascot Media Group, Inc. Post Office Box 2394 Friendswood, TX 77549 [email protected] www.ascotmedia.com 281.333.3507 Phone
Formerly Imprisoned American Peace Activist Shares His Captivating True Story
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In 2018, Dr. Frank Romano stood in front of an Israeli bulldozer that was preparing to destroy a Bedouin village — Al Khan al Ahmar in the Jericho Valley, West Bank. He was promptly arrested and imprisoned in Jerusalem.
His harrowing true story, Love and Terror in the Middle East (5th Edition), recounts this last voyage to the troubled Holy Land. It covers his arrest, his experiences in jail, his living underground in Palestine, and then his second arrest and subsequent deportation.
After his arrest in Jerusalem, he was thrown into a cell with four hardened Israeli criminals who immediately attacked him, striking and stabbing him with a sharp object. Bloodied and injured, he broke away from the onslaught and pounded on the door. After the guards saw the dripping blood, they pulled him from the cell and locked him in solitary confinement.
The following day, Romano was to stand trial in Jerusalem. The police, instead of taking him to court for the trial, drove him to the airport after an Israeli Military Court convicted him of a felony and ordered his deportation. When the judge became aware of the police duplicity, she ordered them to return Romano to Jerusalem to stand trial. After the trial, he was acquitted and released, but the court ordered him to leave Israel and Palestine.
Romano disobeyed a court order to leave Israel and Palestine. Preferring to continue his work in Palestine, he went underground in Palestine to avoid arrest.
While he was hiding from Israeli police, Romano worked with a team of lawyers in Ramallah, West Bank, preparing a case against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Secretary of Defense Avigdor Lieberman and American authorities, before the International Criminal Court for War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity and other serious international offenses. He filed that ICC brief in August 2021.
For a decade, through interfaith grassroots efforts, Frank Romano has brought Jews, Muslims and Christians together from all corners of the world in support of peace. The story he shares in Love and Terror in the Middle East was a voyage into a tense war zone, the first time defending Palestinian Bedouins, and it is a powerful story of courage, resilience and Romano’s dedication to world peace.
He presently lives and works teaching French in the Sabra and Chatilla Palestinian and Syrian refugee camps in Beirut, Lebanon.
Love and Terror in the Middle East Publisher: AB Film Publishing ISBN-10: 0990485234 ISBN-13: 978-0990485230 Available from BarnesAndNoble.com and Amazon.com
Trish Stevens Kelly Freeman Ascot Media Group, Inc. Post Office Box 2394 Friendswood, TX 77549 [email protected] www.ascotmedia.com 281.333.3507 Phone
Mother of Young Heroin Addict Opens Up and Says, ‘This is Us’
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Christine Naman understands all too well that those who struggle with mental illness and addiction are not faceless numbers. They are real people who are valued and cherished by their families, and she wants the world to know and understand her daughter, Natalie.
“People are silent in their shame,” Christine said in a recent interview. “They’re quiet about it. And when you reach out and say, ‘this is us,’ people are anxious to unload and say, ‘that’s us too.’”
Christine traces her daughter’s years-long battle with mental illness and addiction — and opens up about her own struggles with denial and the shame she carries for not recognizing the signs — in About Natalie, a gripping, cautionary tale of how a child can suddenly end up on the wrong path, meet the wrong people and get lost in the unthinkable.
“I did not know the signs or symptoms,” Christine said. “I didn’t know the looks of things or the smells of things. Often times, it was right in front of me. I just didn’t know what I was seeing.”
Natalie was just 15 years old when she became addicted to heroin. They were everyday people, living everyday lives, and then the floor dropped out.
About Natalie takes readers deep inside Christine’s emotional and mental turmoil as she grows into her new, unfortunate role as the parent of an addict. She steps on syringes left on the floor. She lives the nightmare of finding an unresponsive child on the floor and uses Narcan to revive her. She chases away a drug dealer and stays up all night waiting for her missing child to come home. She rejoices during periods of recovery and hope and is devastated during relapses. When her daughter suffers, Christine suffers right along with her.
Interwoven with Christine’s reflections are Natalie’s brilliant poems that share her personal pain and the unvarnished truth of her struggle.
Full of compassion, understanding and hope for those struggling with mental illness and addiction, About Natalie is a story of fighting for — and right alongside — the ones we love, no matter how difficult the circumstances. It is a story of keeping the faith, battling hard and never giving up.
Bestselling author Christine Pisera Naman is a wife to a beautiful man named Peter and a mother to three fantastic kids named Jason, Natalie and Trevor. In her free time, she enjoys crocheting, which she does poorly; painting, again poorly; and volunteering at her local hospital, which she hopes she does well. She is the author of the Faces of Hope series of books that are now housed in the 9/11 Memorial Museum in New York City. Her other works include Caterpillar Kisses, Christmas Lights, The Novena and The Believers. About Natalie is her heart poured onto paper.
She hopes that by sharing her family’s difficult story she can bring understanding and knowledge to those who do not know these problems firsthand as well as provide comfort to those who know the struggles of mental illness and addiction all too well.
How to Raise Resilient Children in Our Complex World
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Being a teenager in today’s “age of anxiety” is scary. Being a parent of a teenager is even scarier. Zoomers may seem more together, more confident and more independent than prior generations, but in fact, they are more anxious, lonely and emotionally fragile, and less resilient to stress, says psychoanalyst, clinical social worker and parenting expert Erica Komisar.
“We are asking children to handle more — more stress, more stimulation, more pressure, more choices and more decisions — without giving them a secure foundation of support, emotional security, and real and meaningful connections,” says Komisar.
Her important new book, Chicken Little the Sky Isn’t Falling: Raising Resilient Adolescents in the New Age of Anxiety, is a comprehensive guide filled with compassionate and practical advice to help parents guide, educate and connect with their children on a range of current topics, including gender and sexual identity, anxiety and depression, disordered eating, ADHD, vaping, social media and bullying, to name a few.
Chicken Little also contains valuable insights intended to help readers prevent, recognize and address mental health disorders, as well as help their teens navigate academic and social pressures, social media and technology usage, increased social isolation and family pressures. With Komisar’s guidance and support, parents will learn how to be beacons of hope and change, as well as how to raise emotionally healthy, resilient adolescents.
About the Author Erica Komisar, LCSW, is a clinical social worker, psychoanalyst and parent guidance expert who has been in private practice in New York City for over 30 years. As a psychological consultant, she brings parenting workshops to schools, clinics, corporations and childcare settings. She is also a contributing editor to the Institute for Family Studies. She is a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal, The New York Daily News, The Washington Post and The Huffington Post.
Erica lives in New York City with her husband and is the mother of three adolescent children.
Chicken Little, the Sky Isn’t Falling: Raising Resilient Adolescents in the New Age of Anxiety Publisher: HCI Books Release Date: November 2, 2021 ISBN-10: 0757324002 ISBN-13: 9780757324000 Trade Paperback, 288 pages Available for pre-order on Amazon.com
Trish Stevens Lindsey Mach Ascot Media Group, Inc. Post Office Box 2394 Friendswood, TX 77549 [email protected] www.ascotmedia.com 281.333.3507 Phone
World’s No. 1 STEAM Program Launches New STEM/STEAM Book Series
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New Challenge Island chapter book series perfect for fans of The Magic School Bus and Magic Tree House, but with a spectacular, hands-on STEM/STEAM twist!
With 120 franchise locations and a cumulative audience of 5 million children and thousands of schools, Challenge Island has been providing kids with award-winning STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) learning adventures through field trips, afterschool enrichment classes, summer camps, scout workshops and family nights for almost two decades. On National Stem Day (Nov. 8), the magic of the world’s No. 1 STEAM program will combine with the magic of reading to launch the first book in the Challenge Island STEAM book series.
The Bridge to Sharktooth Island: A Challenge Island STEAM Adventure (West Margin Press) is written by award-winning educator Sharon Duke Estroff M.A.T. (founder and CEO of Challenge Island and author of Can I Have a Cell Phone for Hanukkah?, Penguin Random House); and award-winning author Joel Ross (Alley and Rex, Simon & Schuster; Fog Diver, HarperCollins; Beast & Crown, HarperCollins); and illustrated by Monica de Rivas (The Grumbles, Hatchette; Hello, Future Me, Scholastic; Big Bad Wolfsville, HarperCollins).
The Bridge to Sharktooth Island artfully intertwines action-packed fantasy with real-life engineering as cautious Daniel, his brave cousin Joy and their studious new friend Kimani find themselves suddenly stranded on a mysterious island surrounded by sharks. The kids find clues hidden around the island and realize that if they want to escape, they’ll have to work together to build the strongest bridge they can to get to safety! The characters return in the back of the book, where they speak directly and intimately to the reader, sharing engineering tidbits learned during their adventure, cool shark facts from Kimani’s notebook, and fun STEAM activities kids can do at home, including building a bridge, mixing up a blue slime ocean and designing ferocious paper sharks.
Making the Challenge Island book series even more groundbreaking is the fact that readers can experience the same STEAM adventures as the characters in the story in real life, through one of Challenge Island’s 120 franchise locations. For example, on National STEM Day, Stephanie Edwards, owner of Challenge Island Gilbert, AZ, will be running a Bridge to Sharktooth Island book launch celebration and field trip for 350 6th grade students at the American Leadership Academy. Edwards worked closely with the charter school’s leadership to create an unforgettable engineering adventure complete with balloon arches in the gymnasium, a professional photographer and a copy of The Bridge to Sharktooth Island for every student.
“As an educator, an author, a mom, and the creator of the Challenge Island program and curriculum, the release of the first book in the Challenge Island book series is among the proudest moments of my entire career,” says Sharon Duke Estroff, founder and CEO of Challenge Island Global. “But more importantly, I truly believe that this is exactly what kids need in this moment in time. What better way to reignite a child’s love of learning than by turning a beloved STEAM enrichment program into a fantastical new book series? And — for the millions more children who will first come to know Challenge Island inside the pages of this book — to see that magical story come to life, not only in their imaginations, but in the real world!”
The Bridge to Sharktooth Island: A Challenge Island STEAM Adventure Release Date: November 2, 2021 Publisher: West Margin Press ISBN-10: 1513289535 ISBN-13: 978-1513289533 Available from Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Target.com, Walmart.com and everywhere books are sold
Trish Stevens Rebecca Brown Ascot Media Group, Inc. Post Office Box 2394 Friendswood, TX 77549 [email protected] www.ascotmedia.com 281.333.3507 Phone
Learn How to Not Only Survive but Thrive using Practical Tools in New Book, Thriving Life
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Have you been struggling to live your best life? Do you feel stuck? Professor and trained therapist Laura Berg is a trauma survivor who understands struggle and knows how to overcome it.
Berg’s new book, Thriving Life, shows you how to transform your life by learning how to not only survive but thrive. She created the methods in this book to help people everywhere when they need a boost, no matter what is going on in their lives.
“For most of my life I felt stuck, as though I was just trying to survive life one day at a time. I found it difficult to move beyond the traumas in my past to live the life I deserved. I wrote this book to share with others my experiences and the lessons I learned that helped me overcome the obstacles in my life that were holding me back. I’m hoping that these stories and the advice I share in this book will help the reader live a more joyful and thriving life,” Berg says.
Thriving Life serves as a reference, with each chapter discussing a specific issue that many people struggle with, such as defining your own happiness, dealing with rejection and setting limits in relationships. With practical tips and a step-by-step approach to help you find what makes you happy, Berg will teach readers how to stop victimizing themselves and find strength in asking for help.
About the Author Laura Berg is a professor, author, entrepreneur, trained therapist and award-winning parenting expert. Among her many accolades, she has been named one of the Top 10 Mom Entrepreneurs, Savvy Mom of the Year, and was awarded YouTube’s Silver Play Button.
Thriving Life: How to Live Your Best Life No Matter the Cards You’re Dealt Publisher: HCI Books Release Date: November 2, 2021 ISBN-10: 0757323960 ISBN-13: 978-0757323966 Trade Paperback, 256 pages Available for pre-order wherever books are sold
Trish Stevens Lindsey Mach Ascot Media Group, Inc. Post Office Box 2394 Friendswood, TX 77549 [email protected] www.ascotmedia.com 281.333.3507 Phone
