The Jersey Jackals who found themselves in big-league lodgings. The rile-the-spirit revival meetings that caused an uproar. The cop who traded in his police garb to run a B&B in the Shenandoah Valley. The estates that became film sets for the likes of Robert DeNiro and Billy Crystal. Come along for the journey through Montclair & Environs in this second volume of stories as seen through the eyes of a journalist who trekked the streets of the “chic and hip” New York suburb.

The second volume of Phil Read’s “Montclair & Environs, 21st Century Chronicles” is available on amazon.com and at local bookstores, as is Vol. I.

Philip M. Read. a graduate of Boston University, is a longtime New Jersey journalist who for many years toted a reporter’s pad and pen for the state’s largest newspaper, The Star-Ledger.

Visit the author’s webpage at

http://outskirtspress.com/montclairenvirons

for more information

Biographer and critic Dan Cryer will speak on “Is Your Life Worth Dying For? The Legacy of Forrest Church” at the Montclair Unitarian Church (67 Church St.) at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. on Feb. 19. Cryer’s talk is based on his “Being Alive and Having to Die: The Spiritual Odyssey of Forrest Church” (St. Martin’s), a biography of the Unitarian leader who championed liberalism and opposed the religious right. Church overcame alcoholism and a sex scandal at his church only to succumb to cancer at age 61. The New York Times called “Being Alive and Having to Die” “inspirational,” and Booklist named it one of its Top Ten Books for 2011 on Religion and Spirituality. Cryer, former book critic at Newsday, has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and vice president of the National Book Critics Circle.

Montclair Mewsies Virginia Cornue and Linda Lombri have published their first e-book, The Mystery of the Ming Connection – which they initially “cooked up” over coffee at the Char-Broil eatery in Upper Montclair 14 months ago. Now, Book One of the SANDRA TROUX MYSTERIES is out on Kindle, iPad, Nook and Sony eReader.

A Nancy Drew-inspired Baby Boomer e-novel, The Mystery of the Ming Connection follows the adventures of lifelong friends Sandy Troux, Bobbi Power and Lizbet Sheridan as they plunge into a thrilling new life of sleuthing that pits them against international villains and crimes of the worst sort. In the debut mystery, the trio track art thieves and sex traffickers from New York to Seoul to Beijing and Xian, foiling a diabolical plot by Taiping Rebellion and Nazi descendents to take over China and ultimately the world. This fast paced tale, created under the pen name Crystal Sharpe, is full of suspense and danger tempered with wit, humor and a hint of romance — set within an accurate historic and cultural backdrop of South Korea and China.

Virginia is the author of The Dragon’s Daughters Return and Draw on Culture: China, and she teaches cultural anthropology part time at Rutgers University. Linda is a marketing communications consultant and is currently editing a Vegan cookbook. The co-authors are busily at work on the second book in the Sandra Troux series – Masquerade on the Net.

David Henry Sterry, author of Chicken, and The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published, has had his first novella published. It’s called Confessions of a Sex Maniac.

A Henry Miller Award Finalist, Confessions of a Sex Maniac is a tribute to Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammet, James Elroy and all those hard-boiled, tender-hearted noir writers Sterry holds near and dear to his heart, brain and other essential organs.

Katrina on Stage: Five Plays (2011), edited by MEWS member Suzanne M. Trauth and Lisa S. Brenner, and published by Northwestern University Press, is now available at:

http://www.nupress.northwestern.edu/ContactUs/OrderingInformation/tabid/77/Default.aspx

This anthology of five plays gives artistic expression to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, particularly at the level of individual lives forever altered, and tells the kinds of stories the news media could not. It explores the deeply rooted problems plaguing New Orleans and illuminates many social, political, and environmental issues central to American life.

Are you passionate about something in Montclair? Contact us! Whether it’s food, family, schools, government, business, social issues, exercise, fashion or business—if it’s your thing, we’d like you to consider blogging for Patch. Anyone may apply.

I am specifically interested in talking with:

* Musicians, Live Music Fans, Audiophiles and Artists
* Parents, High School Students, Teachers and Professors
* Fashion Experts, Stylists and Crafters
* Volunteers and Nonprofit Workers
* Health and Fitness Experts
* Local Sports Fans

Don’t be shy! Montclair Patch is on a mission to recruit fresh voices, and this is a great opportunity to make your voice heard. We want to hear what you have to say.

Patch bloggers are not paid and will own their blogs, so if you are already blogging and want to share with our readers, too, let us know. This is a chance to share your expertise and opinions with a fast-growing and wider audience!

Contact editor Shelley Emling at Shelley@patch.com if you are interested in being a part of the conversation.

It all begins May 4—when Montclair Patch will be making room for local bloggers on the site.

MEWSie BOB TULIPAN announces his new book, Rockin’ in the New World.  Published by Sterling (Barnes & Noble) to be released July 5, 2011 and available now for pre-order at BN.com, Amazon and other sites. This book is the ultimate resource for bands trying to make it today. Part field guide, part artistic coaching session, with contributions from today’s industry experts, this rockin’ book explains the ins and outs of the music industry. Bob Tulipan-who has produced hundreds of shows around the world with major artists and managed such bands as The Psychedelic Furs, PiL and The Only Ones-shares his expertise to help musicians protect their art and their interests. Filled with anecdotes, interviews, sample templates for budgets and contracts, it addresses the hurdles every band faces.

There is also an accompanying interactive website, rockininthenewworld.com featuring news, tips, free music downloads, resources, and much more. RNW is already sponsoring events and showcases for unsigned bands at South by Southwest SXSW and around the country. “It’s More than Just a Book, It’s a Movement”

Mewsie Allison Gilbert invites all members of MEWS to celebrate the publication of her latest book Parentless Parents: How the Loss of Our Mothers and Fathers Impacts the Way We Raise Our Children at Watchung Booksellers this coming Thursday, March 3, from 7pm-8pm.

Since its release this month, Parentless Parents has been featured on CNN, CBS, NBC, and the nationally syndicated television show EXTRA. Allison’s also been written about in Reader’s Digest, and in Lisa Belkin’s New York Times Motherlode blog. You can learn more about Allison and the growing parentless parents community by visiting her website www.allisongilbert.com You can also watch her book trailer on YouTube here:

***Wine and Cheese will be served***