Is It Teen Angst or Is It Depression? by Deborah Serani, Psy.D.

Depression is the most common mental illness among adolescents. Research tells us that 11% of teenagers have a diagnosable depressive disorder, but that only 1 in 5 teenagers get the help they need. So, how do parents know if their child is just going through teenage angst or dealing with a serious mental illness?
 
While moodiness, irritability and isolation are often hallmarks of teenage growing pains, it can be hard to realize where the line begins for mood disorders. The rule of thumb when dealing with depression is to examine three areas in a teen’s life to gauge what’s truly going on.  

Symptoms of Depression in Teenagers

While some of the following can be considered behaviors of a teen moving through the angst of adolescence, other symptoms are indicative of a more serious issue going on.  The first thing is for parents to become familiar with these symptoms.

Anger, hostility, outbursts
Argumentativeness
Changes in eating and sleeping – either too much or too little
Difficulty concentrating
Fatigue or lack of energy
Feelings of guilt or underserving of love
Giving things away
Grooming issues
Helplessness
Hopelessness
Irritability
Isolation
Lack of enthusiasm and motivation
Loss of interest in school work and/or activities
Low self-esteem
Minimizing or masking symptoms
Missing school
Negative thinking
Not enjoying things that used to bring happiness
Physical aches and pains
Poor grades
Reliance on alcohol or drugs to self-medicate
Retreating kinds of behaviors
Restlessness
Risk-taking behavior
Sadness
Self-harming behaviors
Sensitive to criticism
Spending a lot of time alone
Thoughts of death or suicide
Withdrawal from friends and family

Areas of Concern

The next thing parents need to do is look at several aspects in their child’s life. The following three areas are what clinicians look at when diagnosing. They involve the Intensity of feelings and behaviors; the Duration of these experiences and finally the Domains in which they take place.

1)      Intensity: This involves the kind of thoughts and feelings a teenager is experiencing. Do they come and go – meaning they’re here one day and gone the next?  Are they mild, but chronic in their presentation? Are they moderate, interfering with school, home and social experiences? Are they so disruptive that you teen can’t get out of bed, is self-harming or suicidal thinking is being expressed? Measuring the intensity will help determine if the issues are a passing mood or symptoms of a mood disorder.

2)      Duration. This looks at the timeline of experiences. Does the moodiness present suddenly and is gone moments later? Is it followed by many good days in a row? Or is it more chronic, presenting for longer periods of time without any breaks? If the duration of symptoms is two weeks or longer, there is likely a depressive disorder operating.

3)      Domains. Teen angst tends to get the best of us parents and teachers, but adolescents can reel it in with their friends or with others. Psychological disorders, however, are often pervasive, meaning they tend to present in nearly all situations and circumstances and are not controlled by will. So, a depressed teenager will likely have difficulties functioning in school, at home, with peers, in social events as well as with their own sense of self. 

What to Do Next

If you think your child is struggling with something more than the expected growing pains of teenage years, take your concerns immediately to your child’s pediatrician or a mental health professional in your community. Diagnosing depression and receiving treatment early can derail the seriousness of the disorder. Upwards of 80% of teenagers who begin treatment for a mood disorder respond to treatment.

About Deborah Serani

Dr. Deborah Serani the author of the award-winning books “Living with Depression” and “Depression and Your Child: A Guide for Parents and Caregivers.” She is also a go-to media expert on a variety of psychological issues. Her interviews can be found in ABC News, Newsday, Women’s Health & Fitness, The Chicago Tribune, The Daily Beast, The Associated Press, and radio station programs at CBS and NPR, just to name a few. She writes for Psychology Today, helms the "Ask the Therapist" column for Esperanza Magazine and has worked as a technical advisor for the NBC television show Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. A psychologist in practice twenty five years, Dr. Serani is also a professor at Adelphi University.

You can connect with Deborah via: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

About Depression and Your Child: A Guide for Parents and Caregivers 

Seeing your child suffer in any way is a harrowing experience for any parent. Mental illness in children can be particularly draining due to the mystery surrounding it, and the issue of diagnosis at such a tender age. Depression and Your Child is an award-winning book that gives parents and caregivers a uniquely textured understanding of pediatric depression, its causes, its symptoms, and its treatments. Author Deborah Serani weaves her own personal experiences of being a depressed child along with her clinical experiences as a psychologist treating depressed children.

10 Things You Might Not Know About Janine A. Southard

Other than being the author of the freshly released novel, Cracked! A Magic iPhone Story, here are some interesting facts.

1. Janine was voted “Tyrannist for Life” of the Oxford Folklore and Fanfiction Society in 2005. Since leaving university, she hasn’t organized many meetings, possibly because she now resides in a different country. But maybe when she visits the UK this month…?
2. Janine got really serious about narrative writing as a career in 2010, after working a freelancing job crafting stories and dialogue for videogames. She realized, “I can get paid to write this all day!” and so it was.
3. She’s a semi-professional singer who’s performed Celtic folk-rock in auditoriums and classic rock hits in backyards.
4. Janine believes she will someday be fluent in another language. So far, she’s closest in Spanish, Japanese, and Welsh. By which, she means she can get through a level 1 podcast lesson.
5. Her all-time favorite TV show is the British classic Blake’s 7. If you’ve never heard of it, this show was the UK’s reply to Star Trek, so it’s full of space ships and bewildering alien cultures. Unlike its American counterpart, however, it’s super dark. You could call it Bleaks 7, if you wanted. As an example: the show improves after the eponymous character dies. No one is safe. (After this dark scifi classic, her next most beloved shows are currently Firefly, Gossip Girl season 2, and Yes, Minister.)
6. Her favorite color is green. Which goes nicely with her red hair.
7. Janine worked as an economic consultant before she became a writer. Her fiction always has an economic angle, even if she’s the only person who notices.
8. Janine has lived in three countries: the US, the UK, and Japan. She used college as an excuse to go far from home.
9. Janine’s favorite drink is Diet Caffeine-Free Coke. It just tastes the best.
10. All Janine’s novels so far have been possible because of crowdsourced funds via Kickstarter. She owes great thanks to her many patrons of the arts who love a good science fiction adventure and believe in her ability to make that happen.

About the Author

Janine A. Southard is the IPPY award-winning author of the Hive Queen Saga, as well as other science fiction and young adult novels and novellas.

The Hive Queen Saga books blend cultural experimentation with epic as they follow a formalized Hive of teenagers on a voyage to new lands and new cultures where their own ways seem very strange. The first novel in the saga, Queen & Commander, has been described as “like Joss Whedon’s Firefly but for teenagers” by the YA’s Nightstand. The second book, Hive & Heist, is a classic heist tale set on a space station.

Queen & Commander received an IPPY (Independent Book Publishers) Award for science fiction ebooks in 2013. Outside the Hive Queen Saga, the science fiction novella These Convergent Stars was selected as the short ebook recommendation of the week at Tungsten Hippo on 29 January 2014.

All Southard’s books so far have been possible because of crowdsourced funds via Kickstarter. She owes great thanks to her many patrons of the arts who love a good science fiction adventure and believe in her ability to make that happen.

From her home in Seattle, she is currently working on a half-contemporary, half-fantasy novel for adults, Cracked! A Magic iPhone Story, which releases in early 2015.

You can connect with Janine via:  Website | Twitter | Goodreads
 

About the Book

can your phone do for you?

This is the story of a girl and her iPhone. No, that’s not quite right. This is the story of a middle-aged statistician and her best friend. Though she didn’t consider herself middle-aged. And the best friend was more of a roommate-with-whom-she’d-developed-a-friendship. And this description completely ignores the 6,000-year-old elf with whom the woman and her best friend enjoyed story gaming.

So let’s try this again.

This is the story of a woman who wished to find love, but who would rather play story games than actively look for it. Especially in the wake of a horrid break-up six months before from a man who had never sent her a single gift.

Until this Valentine’s Day, when she received a brand new iPhone in a box with his name on it.

Between story gaming and succumbing to the phone’s insidious sleekness, she learns that friendship trumps romance.

In Cracked! A Magic iPhone Story, award-winning author Janine A. Southard (a Seattle denizen) shows you how the geeks of Seattle live, provides a running and often-hilarious social commentary on today’s world, and reminds you that, so long as you have friends, you are never alone.

What Is That Book About? by Kevin Patterson

Small, Dark, and Handsome is a romantic comedy about Ethan Anderson, a guy who desperately wants to find his soulmate. Historically, he hasn't had much luck with love, and at 5'6", he’s always felt that his height (or lack thereof) has limited his options. He knows that he doesn't want to end up like his friends who are obsessed with clubs and one-night stands, so Ethan takes a different path and tries his luck with online dating. Eventually, through a popular dating site, he connects with Anna Collins, a born-again Christian who just may be the woman he’s been looking for. But, when it's time for a commitment, Ethan has to decide if he can resist his misguided friends, abide by Anna’s celibate lifestyle, and look beyond her five-inch height advantage to see a future with her before she gives up and moves on.

I actually came up with this story way back when I used to hit the social scene and occasionally found myself spending more time observing guys in their often humorous attempts to pursue women, than focusing on my own pursuits. Throughout the years, I must have witnessed countless conversations between men and women of all shapes, sizes, and ethnicities in these environments, but I rarely saw any interactions between women and shorter men. When I started kicking around the idea about my novel with some female friends a few years ago, most of them were split about the importance of having a taller mate, but one thing was clear, a shorter guy was simply out of the question. I guess I took that as a direct challenge to create a compelling romantic comedy centered on a couple that deals with this unique height disparity, but must also overcome a host of other important issues that emerge throughout the story in order to find true happiness together.

So, that's "what this book is about." I sincerely hope that you get a chance to check it out, and if you're the try-before-I-buy type, I'd encourage you to read a free chapter or two at your favorite eBook store. Last thing - In case you're wondering, the story's not about me. I'm 5'10" and a half, although a friend of mine told me long ago that people who add the half inch to their height, usually have some issues in that area. :-)

About Kevin Patterson

Kevin D. Patterson is an experienced marketing writer and has developed communications for many of today's leading brands, including HP, American Express, Oracle, and Deloitte. After much encouragement from friends and family, he decided to pursue his passion for creative writing, and the end result was his debut fiction novel, Small, Dark, and Handsome. Kevin was born and raised in San Francisco, CA, and has also lived in Michigan, New York, and overseas in India. He currently lives in Plano, Texas with his wife and son. A graduate of the University of Michigan’s MBA program, Kevin is an avid sports fan and tennis player. You can keep up with Kevin and his upcoming projects at www.kevindpatterson.com 

You can reach via: Website | Facebook | Twitter

About the Book

Ethan Anderson desperately wants to find his soulmate and he’s convinced that his height of 5’6” is limiting his options. Not wanting to end up like his friends with shallow lives filled with clubs and one-night stands, Ethan turns to a popular dating website where he connects with Anna Collins, a born-again Christian who just may be the woman he’s been looking for. But, when she’s ready for a committed relationship, will Ethan be able to ignore his friends, abide by Anna’s celibate lifestyle, and look beyond her five-inch height advantage to see a future with her before she gives up and moves on? 

Why Our Mindset Is The Key To Success by Yvonne Ruke Akpoveta

Have you found yourself reading many ‘how-to’ books and articles and following ‘tried and true’ systems that seem to work for others but not for you? Or perhaps you have experienced some success with a system or process you are following but you find yourself unable to stay the course or maintain results? This could be simply because you are yet to tackle the root cause and foundation of the matter: your mindset. Our mindset has the ability to sabotage us by creating self-limiting beliefs that can stop us from taking the first step to pursue our dreams, desires or goals; and in some instances, when we start pursuing a specific goal, it can stop us from persevering and reaching our highest potential.

Research in the public domain has found that the conscious mind is responsible for between 1 and 10 percent of our actions, and that the unconscious/subconscious mind is responsible for 90 to 99 percent of our actions. Wow! That is significant!

What we think is what we attract, and this is often referred to as the Law of Attraction. If we constantly think, see and say the negative, then that is consistently what we will attract. Even when we are faced with opportunities that others might immediately jump on and experience significant results, all we see is the negative – why it will not work, why we are not the one to do it, etc. – because that is what our unconscious mind is feeding us.

Once we understand the power of mindset and begin to learn and practice how to take better control of our mind, we will then have the ability to harness the power of mindset to achieve the successes we desire.

About Yvonne Ruke Akpoveta

Yvonne is passionate about positive change. She works with individuals, entrepreneurs and organisations to help them implement change, drive results and achieve their goals. She enjoys working with them to identify solutions and determine the right course of actions that takes them from good to great.

She is an inspirational speaker, change management consultant, and certified John C. Maxwell coach & teacher on leadership principles.

You can reach Yvonne via: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Google +

About The Change You Want

Your mindset determines your attitude

• Your attitude determines your choices

• Your choices determine your life!

Do You Want To Change the Outcomes in Your Life? Our thoughts, beliefs and experiences are the building blocks that shape our mindset, and in turn determine our desired outcomes. Start to positively shape your mindset and you will take the outcomes in your life from good to great – whether in your personal life or your career or business.

This book will provide you with simple but powerful steps you can take each day to start shaping your mindset and experiencing the success and fulfilment you desire! “Set your mind on a definite goal and observe how quickly the world stands aside to let you pass.” – Napoleon Hill

When Writing Becomes Reality: Our Adoption Journey by Maura Weiler, author of Contrition

Oscar Wilde was spot on when he said that “life imitates art.” In my case, I wrote about adoption long before I knew I would become an adoptive parent. Having that writing published after I became an adoptive mother adds another layer of responsibility to my storytelling– one that I desperately hope I got right.

In my debut novel, Contrition, journalist and adoptee Dorie McKenna discovers at the age of 26 not only that her late birth father was a famous artist, but also that she has a twin sister, Catherine Wagner, who inherited his talent. While the story focuses on the sisters’ conflict around the meaning and purpose of art, Dorie’s feelings about her adoption influence all of her actions. In addition to her lifelong struggle with never meeting her birth father or the birth mother who died in childbirth, Dorie now grapples with the new information that her birth father chose to place her in an adoptive home while keeping and raising the twin she didn’t know she had.

I was single and had no children when I wrote the book. Today, I’m married and my husband, Chad, and I have adopted two girls ourselves. When the new Simon & Schuster imprint, Infinite Words, bought Contrition for publication in April 2015, my first reaction was jump-up-and-down joy over this dream come true. My second reaction was more muted. What will my daughters think when they’re old enough to read it? And how will our birth families feel about it?

Unlike my character Dorie’s closed situation, we have open adoptions. We visit our children’s respective birth families every year, send pictures, and consider them part of our extended family. Even though our daughters’ adoptions are open and Dorie’s issues center on the fact that her birth father never reached out to her in his lifetime, I still worried that Contrition might paint an inaccurate picture of adoption, or worse, offend someone I care about.

The purchase-to-publication cycle gave me the luxury of time to revise the book, and I was able to look at the adoption elements in Contrition with new eyes. My first instinct was to remove any uncomfortable plot points around adoption. After all, adoption enabled Chad and me to become parents and our daughters are the great joy of our lives. But after thinking about my own experience and talking to several adoptees, I realized that sharing both the positive and negative aspects of adoption was the right approach. Adoption, like life, can be messy, and ignoring that fact would be a discredit to adoptees, their birth families, and their adoptive parents. Enabling Dorie to work through her feelings about never knowing her birth parents strengthened her character, just as I know my and Chad’s difficult adoption journey ultimately helped us grow in empathy and gratitude.

Our road to parenthood got off to a rocky start. After two years of failed fertility treatments, we spent a year at an adoption agency that didn’t have any birth mothers coming through their doors. Next we found a busy, successful agency where we were quickly chosen by a birth family. The birth mother delivered a beautiful baby girl a couple of months later. Thrilled, we named her Gabrielle and took her home for a week, only to have the birth mother change her mind at the eleventh hour and take her back.

Stunned and physically ill with grief, we considered moving. We had been careful not to set up a nursery in advance or let anyone throw us a baby shower because of the risk of a reversed adoption, but once we’d taken Gabrielle home, we’d let our guard down a little and started nesting. Now we couldn’t bear looking at the exquisite mural Chad had painted for her on the nursery wall, the apple tree we’d planted with and for her, or the bassinet she’d slept in that has been in Chad’s family for generations. We had to stop going to our mailbox, which delivered a combination of congratulatory and condolence cards crossing in the mail for several days. The meals our church had organized to bring us as new parents continued to arrive, but now we needed them for an entirely different reason.

As painful as that loss was, it strengthened our resolve to become parents. A generous couple who had also suffered a reversed adoption with a baby girl counseled us, giving us hope while their subsequently successfully adopted son toddled nearby. Two months later, we successfully adopted our first daughter. Two years after that, we successfully adopted our second daughter. We kept the nursery mural, planted more fruit trees for the girls, and shook our heads in disbelief over how lucky we felt as we watched each of them sleep in the heirloom bassinet. In time, we ourselves became de facto counselors to other couples reeling from recently reversed adoptions.

While our struggles with adoption differed from my character Dorie’s, I was able to draw on them to infuse the story and paint what I hope is an accurate and respectful portrait of her closed adoption experience. Open adoption is relatively new, so we still don’t know what issues and feelings may emerge for us, our daughters, and their birth families in the future. I can say that our first visit back with each of our daughters’ birth parents produced a lot of anxiety for me. Would they approve of our parenting? Would I be able to convey how utterly grateful I am to them for choosing Chad and me to be their daughters’ adoptive parents? Or how my admiration for the courage they displayed and the sacrifice they made grows with every passing day?

My anxiety was quickly eclipsed by the wonder I felt upon seeing the birth mothers hug the girls, their deep love for them shining in their eyes, and the birth fathers joking and playing with them, creating an easy, instant rapport. It’s not about me or my anxiety. It never was. It’s about the gift of regular, open communication with our birth families so our girls can know all the people who cherish them. It’s about celebrating the fact that our daughters have extra family (who couldn’t use bonus grandmas?) and conveying the love they have for them even if we can’t see them every day. Whatever challenges being adopted brings, our daughters will always know that their birth parents love them and want the best for them, and for that, I am profoundly grateful.

That open communication also enabled me to tell our birth mothers about Contrition, its’ history, and explain that Dorie’s issues around her closed adoption are no reflection on them. When our daughters are old enough, I will tell them the same thing. We are no longer in contact with that initial birth family whose baby we had to return, but the pain of giving back Gabrielle after being her mother for a week actually helped me understand why her birth mother changed her mind and deepened my appreciation for every moment I have with the brilliant, funny, gorgeous daughters we have now (I can say that because I had nothing to do with their talented gene pools).

I’m not a perfect parent. But Chad and I promised our daughters’ birth parents to do our best, and we strive to do so every day. And that’s all I can expect of my writing too. If I’ve failed to portray an honest portrait of adoption in Contrition, it’s not for lack of conscious effort. Despite the challenges of adoption, nothing can surpass the shiver of awe, gratitude, responsibility, and love that pass through me whenever one of my daughters calls me “Mommy.”  And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll sign off to go make chocolate chip cookies with my little girls.

For more information, visit www.mauraweiler.com.

About the Author

Maura Weiler grew up in Connecticut and earned her BA and MA in English Literature from the University of Notre Dame and the University of Chicago, respectively. She is a former columnist for The Connecticut Post and a trash artist whose work has been featured on CBS Television and in galleries and shows across the country. As Director of Development at Blue Tulip Productions, she helped develop the screenplays for such films as Speed, Twister, The Paperboy, and The Minority Report. Contrition is her first novel.

You can reach Maura via: Website | Facebook | Twitter

About her book

In this sweeping, heart-wrenching, and inspiring tale, twin sisters separated at birth reconnect through art, faith, and a father who touched the world through his paintings.When journalist and adoptee Dorie McKenna learns that her biological father was a famous artist, it comes with another startling discovery: she has a twin sister, Catherine Wagner, who inherited their father’s talent. Dorie is eager to introduce her sister’s genius to the public, but Catherine is a cloistered nun with a vow of silence who adamantly refuses to show or sell the paintings she dedicates to God. Hoping to get to know her sister and research the potential story, Dorie poses as an aspiring nun at the convent where Catherine lives. Her growing relationship with Catherine helps Dorie come to terms with her adoption, but soon the sisters’ shared biological past and uncertain futures collide as they clash over the meaning and purpose of art. Will they remain side-by-side for the rest of their lives, or will their conflicts change the course of the future? Find out in this beautifully detailed story that takes you on a spellbinding journey of the heart.

Close to the Sun by Donald Michael Platt

“They are the knighthood of this war, without fear and without reproach; and they recall the legendary days of chivalry, not merely by their daring exploits but by the
nobility of their spirit.” — David Lloyd-George, Speech in House of Commons, October 29, 1917

My WWII historical novel Close to the Sun follows the lives of two Americans and a German from childhood through the end of WWII. As boys, they idealize the exploits of WWI fighter aces known as chivalrous Knights of the Skies. Hank Milroy from Wyoming learns his first flying lessons from observing falcons. Karl, Fürst von Pfalz-Teuffelreich, aspires to surpass his father’s 49 Luftsiegen accumulated during WWI. Seth Braham falls in love with flying during an air show at San Francisco’s Chrissy Field. The young men meet exceptional women. Texas tomboy Catherine “Winty” McCabe believes she is as good a flyer as any man. Princess Maria-Xenia, a stateless White Russian, works for the Abwehr, German intelligence. Elfriede “Elfi” Wohlmann is a frontline nurse. Mimi Kay sings with a big band.

Flying fighters over Europe, Hank, Karl, and Seth experience the exhilaration of aerial combat victories and acedom during the unromantic reality of combat losses, tedious bomber escort, strafing runs, and firebombing of entire cities. Callous political decisions and military mistakes add to their disillusion, especially one horrific tragedy at the end of the war.

Historically a Camaraderie developed within the fighter squadrons, and friendly rivalry also was common during competition to be the top ace. After the war, more friendships developed between Allied and Axis flyers who met at fighter pilot conventions and entertained each other in their homes. 

One interesting bond was that between the Jewish RAF hero of the Battle of Britain, Robert Roland Stanford “Lucky” Tuck, credited with 27.66 to 31 victories, and Luftwaffe General of All Fighters Adolf Galland who had 104 Luftsiegen. Galland entertained Tuck after the RAF ace had to bail out over German held territory in 1942. During Tuck’s interrogation by Galland, each was surprised to learn they had shot down the other’s wingman during the Battle of Britain, and a friendship began. Tuck later became godfather for Galland’s son born in 1966.

Hannes Scharff, a German living in South Africa and married to a daughter of a WWI Royal Flying Corps squadron leader, returned to Germany when the war began and became the interrogator of captured 8th and 9th Air Forces pilots. Charming and non-threatening, he learned more information than any harsh methods might have accomplished. Near the end of the war, imprisoned fighter pilots whom he had interrogated, broke out of their Stalg Luft prison as the Soviets came closer. They rescued Scharff to save him from execution by the Red army.

I saw the fighter ace camaraderie often first hand while researching for Close to the Sun. I was among the following guests at fighter ace Historian USAF Colonel ret. Raymond F. Toliver’s home one typical evening in the 1970s: Adolf Galland and Robert Roland Sanford Tuck; General Frank Kurz who flew the legendary B-17 Swoose Goose during WWII; Jim Brooks who had 13 victories against the Japanese and his wife “Liltin” Martha Tilton; Bud Mahuren who scored 20.75 ETO victories against the Luftwaffe plus 3.5 in Korea; and the above mentioned master interrogator Hannes Scharff, then living in the USA as a gifted artist in mosaics. 

Elapsed time seems to have restored the romanticized fighter ace ideal as chivalrous Knights of the Skies, which began in the Great War, and was memorialized in books and later films such as The Grand Illusion. 

About the Author

Author of four other novels, ROCAMORA, HOUSE OF ROCAMORA, A GATHERING OF VULTURES, and CLOSE TO THE SUN, Donald Michael Platt was born and raised in San Francisco. Donald graduated from Lowell High School and received his B.A. in History from the University of California at Berkeley. After two years in the Army, Donald attended graduate school at San Jose State where he won a batch of literary awards in the annual SENATOR PHELAN LITERARY CONTEST.

Donald moved to southern California to begin his professional writing career. He sold to the TV series, MR. NOVAK, ghosted for health food guru, Dan Dale Alexander, and wrote for and with diverse producers, among them as Harry Joe Brown, Sig Schlager, Albert J. Cohen, Al Ruddy plus Paul Stader Sr, Hollywood stuntman and stunt/2nd unit director. While in Hollywood, Donald taught Creative Writing and Advanced Placement European History at Fairfax High School where he was Social Studies Department Chairman.

After living in Florianópolis, Brazil, setting of his horror novel A GATHERING OF VULTURES, pub. 2007 & 2011, he moved to Florida where he wrote as a with: VITAMIN ENRICHED, pub.1999, for Carl DeSantis, founder of Rexall Sundown Vitamins; and THE COUPLE’S DISEASE, Finding a Cure for Your Lost “Love” Life, pub. 2002, for Lawrence S. Hakim, MD, FACS, Head of Sexual Dysfunction Unit at the Cleveland Clinic.

Currently, Donald resides in Winter Haven, Florida where he is polishing a dark novel and preparing to write a sequel to CLOSE TO THE SUN.

For more information please visit Donald Michael Platt’s website. You can also connect with him on Facebook and Twitter.

About the Book

Close to the Sun follows the lives of fighter pilots during the Second World War. As a boy, Hank Milroy from Wyoming idealized the gallant exploits of WWI fighter aces. Karl, Fürst von Pfalz-Teuffelreich, aspires to surpass his father’s 49 Luftsiegen. Seth Braham falls in love with flying during an air show at San Francisco’s Chrissy Field.

The young men encounter friends, rivals, and exceptional women. Braxton Mobley, the hotshot, wants to outscore every man in the air force. Texas tomboy Catherine “Winty” McCabe is as good a flyer as any man. Princess Maria-Xenia, a stateless White Russian, works for the Abwehr, German Intelligence. Elfriede Wohlman is a frontline nurse with a dangerous secret. Miriam Keramopoulos is the girl from Brooklyn with a voice that will take her places.

Once the United States enter the war, Hank, Brax, and Seth experience the exhilaration of aerial combat and acedom during the unromantic reality of combat losses, tedious bomber escort, strafing runs, and the firebombing of entire cities. As one of the hated aristocrats, Karl is in as much danger from Nazis as he is from enemy fighter pilots, as he and his colleagues desperately try to stem the overwhelming tide as the war turns against Germany. Callous political decisions, disastrous mistakes, and horrific atrocities they witness at the end of WWII put a dark spin on all their dreams of glory.

Publication Date: June 15, 2014
Fireship Press
eBook; 404p