Steve Alten Newsletter
July 2010
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Readers

Want to be a character in my next projected novel -- number 12 (after GRIM REAPER in October and PHOBOS next summer)? Read below. In addition to being a guest on The Jim Bohannon Show on Monday, July 5th between 11:00 PM ET -12:00 AM ET (midnight), I will also be at THRILLER FEST July 9th to 10th. This issue also contains a personal update involving my response to a new treatment for Parkinsons.

Again, thank you for all your kindness and support.

Steve Alten to appear at Thriller Fest in NYC
 

I am honored to be among some amazing thriller authors (Clive Cussler, James Rollins, and many more) who will be at the annual THRILLER FEST, July 9 through July 11th at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. I will be a panel speaker on Saturday at 2PM in Ballroom One and would love to meet any of my readers attending this event. Any YES, I will sign everything except contracts and body parts. For details and a complete list of authors go to the below link.


GRIM REAPER: Sneak Peek #3
 

The next free chapter of my upcoming novel, GRIM REAPER: End of Days is now available at www.SteveAlten.com You can read the Prologue and the first two chapters from the unedited Advanced Reader Copy FREE. First edition hardbacks can be preordered at Amazon or through your local bookstores. I PROMISE they will be collector items. Go to my website click on books and Grim Reaper.


Parkinsons Update: Steve Alten in Phase II of experimental treatment
 

As most of you know by now, I was diagnosed with stage one Parkinsons 3 years ago. Through an answered prayer and a gift from a bone marrow specialist, I was given an opportunity to undergo a new stem cell process that can potentially remove the symptoms of this degenerative disease and possible be a cure. Dr. Dipnari Maharaj is the Medical Director at the South Florida Bone Marrow Clinic in Boynton Beach. I'd list his education and resume, but the newsletter would be too long. He is incredibly caring, confident, yet quite conservative. His approach defines methodological. There are three phases of the treatment, covering six weeks. Each phase consists of seven days of blood work in the AM, followed by two injections in the afternoon, then seven days off, with blood drawn every other day to ensure the white cell count is returning to normal.

To quote my brilliant physician, "The method I am using is to pulse release the stem cells from the bone marrow into the blood. I use a stem cell releasing factor which I have used since 1986 and which is FDA approved for releasing stem cells in patients with cancer. We are releasing from the bone marrow large numbers of very small early stem cells which have the ability to differentiate into other tissues such as nerve tissue and can cross the blood brain barrier because they are very small. The difference in our method is that there is no collection or direct injection of the stem cells into the brain or spinal cord but an enhancement of what the body normally does to regenerate damaged tissues and we are overcoming the blocking signals which occur in disease processes such as Parkinsons. In our animal model of Parkinsons we were able to show by direct measurement that there was an increase in Dopamine levels in the animals brain after the release of the stem cells using this method."

MY UPDATE:

This week I began Phase II, the phase where improvements were registered by other patients. As I pen this newsletter I am in Day 4 and something good is happening! Having PD is like having liquid lead for blood. Today I woke up and some of the heaviness and edginess was gone. Dr. Maharaj just smiles knowingly, but I am giddy and teary-eyed. It's just the beginning (don't want to jinx it) but wow. By the next newsletter I will know for sure. MOST IMPORTANT: This is NOT about me. If this really works, then my role is to draw attention to a non-invasive, medically sound and effective treatment for debilitating diseases, one of which is Parkinsons. Big update in August!


PHOBOS update
 

I am 340 pages into an anticipated 450 page novel, and I have to honestly say I LOVE THIS FREAKIN' BOOK. The fear is REAL, the threat is FRIGHTENING, and the story reveals many things about the real Julius Gabriel and the nefarious things taking place at Groom Lake, a.k.a. Area 51. I hope to finish the book in time for a Summer 2011 release. Stay tuned!


MEGALODON-like whale discovered!
 

Thanks to those kind readers who sent me the link. I appreciate it!


CHARACTER CONTEST - This is a BIG ONE!
 

CONTEST BEGINS: August 1st thru October 31st.

CONTEST RULES: To be announced in the August newsletter.

CONTEST OBJECTIVE: To make viral an amazing GRIM REAPER video.

VIDEO: The upload will appear in the August newsletter.

WINNERS: Forty winners, determined by the number of cumulative views on youtube, facebook, twitter, etc. Winners will provide their names, descriptions, and bios to be used in Steve Alten's 12th novel, to be announced in August.

WHAT CAN YOU DO NOW? Formulate a game plan on how to spread the link. Build your facebook and twitter and myspace friends lists. The video is so cool that people will naturally spread it around for you.


LIVING TIPS: Store fruit VS Organic
 

Since being diagnosed with Parkinsons, I have learned a lot about the amount of pesticides applied to the fruit we buy in stores, and many of these are cancer-causing agents. Bananas are picked green, then "treated" in a warehouse with chemicals to bring them thousands of miles to the grocery store. Oranges are doused with pesticides here in Florida every day. Lychees arrive from China, tiny and leached with chemicals. Same with every other fruit. Ever wonder why neurological disease is more prevalent today in this age of modern medicine? We are what we eat. One alternative is to buy organic. But an even better solution is to grow your own fruit trees. What is surprising is that you don't need a lot of room. BILL MEE may be the most knowledgeable organic fruit tree grower in Florida. Bill ships small Lychee fruit trees across the USA and the fruit is amazing, nothing like the chemical-doused shriveled fruit from China. With very little investment, you can soon have fresh fruit trees without the cancer-causing pesticides. And NOTHING in grocery stores tastes as good! Bill can be reached by his website at the below link.

*IF YOU HAVE A LIVING TIP YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE, please e-mail to me at [email protected] Put LIVING TIP in the subject line.


EDIBLE ORGANIC YARD
 

by tropical fruit expert Bill Mee

My article for this month discusses reasons for switching to organics and the use of microbial inoculants (good ones). Click below to read this article.


Joke of the Month
 

A woman gets on a bus with her baby. The bus driver says: "That's the ugliest baby that I've ever seen. Ugh!" The woman goes to the rear of the bus and sits down, fuming. She says to a man next to her: "The driver just insulted me!" The man says: "You go right up there and tell him off - go ahead, I'll hold your monkey for you."

*IF YOU HAVE A JOKE YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE, please e-mail to me at [email protected] Put JOKE in the subject line.


Recommended reading if you like humor
 

Jeff Klima enrolled in the WRITING COACH program for his first book, which he set aside to write his second, and first published novel, THE DEAD JANITORS CLUB. So there is no confusion, I did not mentor Jeff on this book so I am not in any way crediting the program, but I support all of my students and I find the book perversely funny. Simply put, if Maya Angelou and Robin Williams had a baby, and the baby was dropped on its head as an infant - that baby would be Jeff Klima. He describes the read as follows:

"From the messed-up mind of Jeff Klima, comes The Dead Janitors Club, a book about cleaning up the messed-up minds of others. Literally. Jeff spent a few dirty years as a crime scene cleaner down in Orange County, California where the rich are very rich, and the poor are armed and jealous. From getting brain in his eye to cleaning up a dead man at Dodger Stadium, Jeff soaked all the bloody details into one hilariously compelling memoir about life in the death game. Definitely not for the squeamish, The Dead Janitors Club thrusts you past the police tape and into the gruesome reality of a world that most don't even know exists. A must-read for those fascinated by death-- just pray you don't die laughing though it might just be Jeff who comes to clean you up."


RECIPE of the Month: Oreo Balls by Mindy Murphy
 

INGREDIENTS: 1 PKG Oreos, 1 PKG Cream Cheese, 1 PKG Almond Bark White Chocolate. Take the Oreos and remove the cream filling, then take the cookie and crush it up in to little crumbs, then add the room temperature cream cheese and mix well. Take parchment paper and lay down over cookie sheets and then make little balls with your Oreo - cream cheese mixture. Freeze for 1 to 2 hrs until frozen. Melt your chocolate, then dip in white chocolate and let it set up. Then eat and enjoy !

IF YOU HAVE A RECIPE YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE, please e-mail to me at [email protected] Put RECIPE in the subject line.



That's all for now. Stay well, stay safe and know this author appreciates you very much.

Sincerely,


Steve Alten
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