"A bridge builder between East and West, following ancient archaeological findings, she often dives into historic settings more than 2,000 years back in time.

In her novel the 52-year-old author makes a bold swerve into less-travelled territory. She chooses for her protagonists Ama, an African priestess, living in China’s Macao in the 17th century; Ruben, a Portuguese Jesuit priest; and Fr Benedict, an Orthodox Christian.

The book explores the rapidly-growing Macao, its changing sights, sounds and smells from different perspectives, from that of a bat to a goddess to a spirit. Its miracle and its enigma are within the worlds of inner alchemy of the Age of Enlightenment.” A beautiful mind Nataša Pantović with Sunday Times https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/a-beautiful-mind.810384 

A-Ma Alchemy of Love Paperback Links I could find: 

https://www.amazon.fr/Ma-Ms-Natasa-Nuit-Pantovic/dp/9995754193

https://www.amazon.com/Ma-Ms-Natasa-Nuit-Pantovic/dp/9995754193

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ma-Ms-Natasa-Nuit-Pantovic/dp/9995754193

https://www.amazon.co.jp/Ma-Ms-Natasa-Nuit-Pantovic/dp/9995754193

https://www.amazon.nl/Ma-Ms-Natasa-Nuit-Pantovic/dp/9995754193

https://www.amazon.co.jp/Ma-Ms-Natasa-Nuit-Pantovic/dp/9995754193

https://www.amazon.es/Ma-Ms-Natasa-Nuit-Pantovic/dp/9995754193

https://www.amazon.it/Ma-Ms-Natasa-Nuit-Pantovic/dp/9995754193

https://www.amazon.com.au/Ma-Ms-Natasa-Nuit-Pantovic/dp/9995754193

https://www.amazon.ca/Ma-Ms-Natasa-Nuit-Pantovic/dp/9995754193

#bookworm #bookreview #readers #bookseries #bookish #books Amazon Kindle #kindlebooks #GreatReads #BookSpotlightShowcase #greatbooks #bookoholic #booksbooksbooks #writing #mustread #NatasaPantovic

by Colm Holland

This is a book unlike anything I've seen before. It is written by someone who was in the publishing industry when The Alchemist by Paul Coelho first came out in English translation. The introduction explains how the author was in charge of determining which new releases would fill the scarce shelves of the Australian book market and after reading the manuscript of Coelho's book, saw a bestseller and ordered an unprecedented number of copies.

But that isn't all. It goes on to tell how a meeting with Coelho led to a mystical experience and understanding of the book far beyond a story of a shepherd discovering his true will. That mystical revelation and subsequent changes to the author's life, from a fiction story, is what this book is all about.

At the time of writing this review I haven't read The Alchemist, though it's on my tbr. I wondered many times while reading, did Coelho intend to speak in allegory for deeper meanings or did Holland read his own mystical journey into what was intended only as a hero's journey story? I have no answer to that, but it apparently worked well for Holland and put his life on a satisfying track.

The explanation of the stages of spiritual Alchemy was worth the read alone. The "Dark night of the soul", enlightenment, then active phases might have come out of a book in the Mind, Body, Spirit section and perhaps that is where this one will be categorised. Much of it is personal to the author, yet the journey has similar stages to anyone following this spiritual path, whatever symbols they couch it in.

An interesting read and well-written so that it kept interest.

One of my long-time stress relief activities is playing computer games. My all-time favorite game right now (over 300 hours put into it since I bought it a few years ago) is Stardew Valley. It's relatively inexpensive, not very hard (for the most part, although there are workarounds for the harder aspects, like fishing and battling in the mines, until you get the hang of things), it has lots of repetitious activities I find soothing, and uncovering the NPC character stories is fun.

But after a while even I want to try something new. But similar! I've tried a few "similar to Stardew Valley" games and most of them have fallen short in some way. Or they simply haven't been finished yet - I'm learning to loathe Early Access on Steam. For example, I recently tried Fantasy Farming: Orange Season, and while it had potential, it has a long way to go before it can make it out of Early Access. Then there's stuff like World's Dawn, which is technically a finished game but has so many bugs I couldn't possibly recommend it to anyone.

At the moment, the closest thing I've found to "like Stardew Valley, but not" that's actually a finished game and hitting the right appeal factors for me is Alchemy Story. Your character is an alchemist who moves to a small town and discovers that most of the inhabitants have been transformed into cute animals, supposedly by a local witch. As you transform the villagers back, you gradually unlock other areas of the game. It's much more linear than Stardew Valley - it forces you to unlock things in a certain order, so I had to figure out how to get bluebells in order to unlock the forest, and I'm only just now being give the option to start unlocking the mines.

But it has cute animals, the characters have personalities (although they stay in one place and are less interesting than Stardew Valley's NPCs), and there don't seem to be any time limits for anything. You can befriend the NPCs and eventually marry them (choosing one is going to be so hard), buy cute pets and farm animals, and spend your days running around and collecting flowers and insects. I consider Stardew Valley to be pretty easy to play, but Alchemy Story is even easier - fishing literally just involves getting your hook somewhere near a fish and then clicking when the fish is caught, and all you have to do is make sure your energy never goes to zero. And hey, when you pet animals, their happiness increases your energy. How cute is that?

I doubt I'll end up putting as much time into this game as I have into Stardew Valley because it feels more limited in a lot of ways and doesn't seem to have as much replay value, but it still seems pretty decent so far. We'll see if my interest survives the Nintendo Switch I'm supposed to be getting in a few days.

Here's what some of the animals look like (screenshot taken from here). Look at those chubby cuties! The NPC designs are similarly cute, but it's a little weird looking considering that several of the guys have 5 o'clock shadows.

by Dr. Stephen Skinner; Dr. Rafal T. Prinke; Georgiana Hedesan; Joscelyn Godwin

The Splendor Solis was a 16th century Alchemical text. This is a modern new translation with commentaries by academics. Dr. Stephen Skinner is familiar to me in relation to esoteric material, so I found this very interesting.

It's very much an academic work, so of most interest to people with an interest either in ancient Alchemy or in the history of esoteric texts. It is, as one reviewer said, basically a biography of the book, but I would add a fascinating analysis of hidden meanings in the 22 color plates that were originally hand drawn. My advance review copy didn't show these plates, but I found them online as the British Library has a photographed copy.

A bit dry at times, but a very interesting and informative book.

Sidonie Frame is the manager one of Chicago’s buzziest small concert and event venues. When her sound manager goes AWOL along with essential equipment she has her assistant bring in another company to fill in temporarily.

Chris Hawkins is owner of Sound Alchemy and immediately he and Sidonie have a connection.

Author Lorraine Devon Wilke tells the story from two points of view and establishes her protagonists as equals in regards to education, income and aspirations. The only difference, other than gender, is Chris is black and Sidonie’s white.

Temporary work becomes permanent and friendship turns to love for Chris and Sid. The last thing they think about is the colour of each other’s skin, but that’s not the case for some friends and family members.

This is upsetting for Sidonie, but not surprising and she’s prepared to deal with it. What she isn’t prepared for or incapable of handling is the reality of a black man living in America.

Here’s how Wilke has her character, Sidonie, express it.

“What I didn’t know then is that by falling in love with you I would be stepping from my world into yours. Or maybe, more accurately, straddling both. I didn’t know that because I didn’t fully realize there were two worlds, two really distinct worlds with different sets of rules ...”

The Alchemy of Noise is an entertaining love story while at the same time a scathing commentary on race relations in America. The author’s take on inherent and systemic racism, something her characters are challenged with daily, sounds authentic and credible. In that regard, it is an important book that deserves a larger audience.

The book itself is a pleasure to read with believable dialogue, fully developed characters and exceptionally good diction, something that’s becoming increasingly rare. The plot is well-crafted and try as I might I couldn’t find one scene that didn’t develop character or advance the plot or both.