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Norman Spatz Author
Novel: Challenger Confidential
The three-year hiatus in shuttle development activities at NASA following the Challenger disaster beginning in 1986 provides an interesting point of departure for this novel. Russian aerospace companies were being paid, notably by American pharmaceutical interests, to conduct research in space.
While laboratories in the USA were out of bounds, could Russian agents have approached personnel at the Johnson Space Center and other locations to lease facilities and personnel to secretly continue advancing the American space effort?
Could the rapid progress made by NASA to relaunch the Shuttle Program after the pause in activities following the Challenger disaster have been partially due to confidential offshore research and cooperation? ‘Challenger Confidential’ charts the fictional exploits of Noah Schwartz, a researcher in human nutrition and elimination, at the Johnson Space Center and Sammy Greenbaum, a Russian immigrant, stock trader at Lehman Brothers and president of Energo, the American division of Energia, a major producer of Russian spacecraft to imagine an intriguing answer to these questions.
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Novel: Passing through Prince Street
Prince Street in Newark, New Jersey embodied the roiling melting pot that was America at the turn of the Twentieth Century. The street's pushcarts and stores bustled with recent immigrants from Europe, building new lives alongside Blacks from the South, participants in the Great Migration north to an illusory freedom. Passing through Prince Street is the story of two families who grew together living their lives against the background of de facto segregation and cultural assimilation.
"Prince Street sells cheap, out of pushcarts,
out of open barrels, along the sidewalk,
and across seamy counters.
Lentils, dried peas and lima beans, mountain nuts,
coffee, tea and peanuts are sold out of bins..."
Impression of a field worker for the
Federal Writers Project's New Jersey Ethnic Survey,
1939-41
This book available at:
Kidlink Books and Toys
5604 Monkland, Montreal
Novel: Greed and Opportunity
Hidden in the dull gray pages of deeds of sale registered in the Province of Quebec’s Registre foncier, a story of great greed motivating dreams of grandeur emerges. Herbert Holt, onetime president of the Royal Bank of Canada, and his cronies, officers in Monklands Limited, carve out a preserve for the rich, nestled into the slopes of Mount Royal. Their first attempt to permanently leave a trace of their passage on the landscape of the City of Montreal succeeds, and encouraged by the success of their efforts, many of the same people move on to form the Town of Hampstead.
Ironically, in their rush to create Hampstead, its founders created a number of bizarre incongruities. The first building code of the town allowed only the construction of single-family homes. The municipality could not even build its own fire station. As well, irregularities in city limits created odd bits of unattached territory within the neighbouring municipality of Côte Saint-Luc. A Polish refugee from the Second World War saw the potential of these spaces and created a real-estate empire founded on the high-rises constructed in stark contrast to the exclusive low-rise profile of the Town of Hampstead.
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This book available at
Librairie Phoenix
5928 Sherbrooke West
Montreal, Quebec, H4A 1X7
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Novel: Shul for Scandal
Congregation B’nai Israel in Montreal is a reflection of the people who are active members, clergy and employees. They all contribute to the synagogue’s polished corporate image. But underneath the quiet respectable facade, there are those who see the religious organization as a vehicle for their own personal power as well as a conduit to achieve inappropriate goals for such a religious community organization.
And then comes the time of Covid. The shell of normalcy in the functioning of the shul, the synagogue, dissolves as the newly hired rabbi catches the plague and dies. He leaves the congregation afloat. Various personalities in the congregation, members and employees, jockey for power. Some among them see the synagogue as a conduit for a nefarious scheme that could border on treason. Others fight to gain control of the situation and steer the shul through the panic to a successful future.
Who will triumph?
Novel: Training for Trust
When Alex, a young man of great physical potential, walks through the door of the Domenico Gym, Joey Domenico feels that he has been granted one last chance to realize greatness in the world of bodybuilding fame. Now, merely a trainer as most of the story takes place, Joey is anchored to his gym, even though he is no longer its owner. It is the scene of his greatest triumphs. Surrounded by the glories of his past, he works to build the futures of the men and women whom he trains.
Training for Trust brings Joey to life along with an interesting group of his clients and their friends. Joey’s story intertwines among other voyages of personal development. The locations in the story fly from Iceland to Hawaii but almost everyone winds up pushing their physical limits at the former Domenico Gym in Montreal, Canada. Young and old, all face their physical challenges, and at the same time, must learn to deal with issues of confidence, of loyalty, of morality and ultimately of trust.
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