Charles Plymell Critiques Henderson’s Poetry

Charley Plymell Critiques the Poetry of Kristen Henderson’s Drum Machine http://ping.fm/s22Et

Alva’s on a Role; Drum Machine Due; McNally Interview Soon

Last Friday Alva gave Chelsea and me another heads up. She says spring is in the air and she is feeling more hopeful–especially since Congress extended long-term unemployment benefits and provided a 2 percent per paycheck tax cut for 160 million workers. She says that’s about a $1,000 savings per worker per year. Except just as Chelsea and I were catching the spirit, at the height of her enthusiasm Alva blurted out something about better weather being a real plus for the Occupy movement.

So I guess if we are not likely to get much out of Alva the Indie here in the office over the next month or two, so we might as well get what we can now–before she packs her backpack and fades silently out into the 99%!

As for Chelsea and the love of her life are off to Walt Disney World for the week–promising to bring back pictures for possible use on a book that should be out sometime later this year but currently in its final rewrite/editing stage. Nonetheless she has said she will distribute the ALVA Press Newsletter remotely from WDW. Meantime, however, who knows what Alva will be doing? Luckily her PR work hours remain flexible and I keep her on because she is simply great with people!

As for me, I’m on pins and needles waiting for the release of Kristen Henderson’s long awaited book of poetry, Drum Machine, at http://alvapressinc.com. We think it will be ready next week–as soon as Kristen and I have a chance to peruse it and approve it in final form–in both ePub (Nook) and ePDF (Kindle). However if you’re one among us who still prefers the feel of paper and the chance for an author-autographed copy, ALVA is also planning the release of Drum Machine in book form, probably paperback, in the near future.

Norothian Cycle Author Michael Edward McNally

Meantime, do watch for my interview with Michael Edward McNally, the in demand author of the Norothian Cycle and Eddie’s Shorts at

The Sable City by M. Edward McNally http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004PLNNLS http://sablecity.wordpress.com/

Roberta in Po-Town, Cookin’

Jolt: a rural noir Midwest Book Review’s Mystery/Suspense Shelf

         Roberta M Roy is the internationally recognized award winning author of
Jolt: a rural noir,the passionate love story of Natalie and Thaw as they struggle
for survival in a tiny mountainside village in an imaginary part of the Northern
USA overrun by forced emigrants fleeing terrorism and a nuclear meltdown, year 2020.

Roy blogs at:   http://alvapressinc.com,    http://alvapressinc.com/robertamroy,  and
http://alvapressinc.com/robertamroyonnuclearsurvival.

Roy is the recipient of a 2011 Jenkins Living Now Award for Inspirational Fiction.

Alva’s in a Deep Funk

Can’t seem to get Alva out of her deep funk. It all started yesterday when she heard that the Democrats had agreed to speed up consideration of that pipeline for oil which, if approved, would run from Canada to Texas. Also she understood that the House conservatives want to cut back unemployment benefits some forty weeks–from 99 to 59 weeks. But what really got her boiling was when today she read how Speaker Boehner and the House isn’t willing to extend the payroll tax cut for even just another two months.

So all Alva’s been doing all day is muttering around the office about how what the House is doing will probably mean a thousand dollar tax increase for just about every worker in America next year.

Yup. Alva’s so put out by it all I think that if she could spit nickles she would.

Meantime, my concern is that ALVA Press has got to get those newsletters out about Kristen Henderson’s book of poetry, Drum Machine before January its release date!

Still Alva Press, Inc., is determined. So this afternoon I took matters into my own hands and called up Chelsea and she’s coming in tomorrow and together we’ll see what we can do.

Except neither of us can hold a candle to the work of Alva the Indie–when she’s on. I just hope tomorrow she wakes up on the other side of the bed.

Roberta in Po-Town, Bothered

Alva Not Coming Home; Not Yet

Last night Alva called. She’s still in Albany. Went on about how if all the millionaires have not left the state now while they still have a tax on them, they are certainly not going to leave the state if the Legislature and Andrew Cuomo decide to extend it. Says the State needs it. The people need it. The millionaires’ don’t. Tried to at least get her to come back home. Told her she could use my cell to call the governor. No good. She wasn’t coming.

Next I tried to explain that we really need her here at ALVA Press, Inc. I told her how we were trying to navigate the social media and get the word out about Jolt: a rural noir–now an eBook, and Kristen Henderson’s soon-to-be-released book of poems, Drum Machine. All to no avail. She would have nothing of it.

All I could do at best was to get her to agree to follow my posts here and at http://alvapressinc.com and to return home if the snow flies–although this latter promise I can’t say is to be relied upon as it was offered so grudgingly. Mumbled something like, saving her energy for the spring.

Meantime, here at Alva Press, she’s left everything to Chelsea and me. If you recall, it had been Alva who was in charge of newsletter distribution. And newspaper contacts. Now how are we to improve Jolt: a rural noir sales without Alva here? So we just keep our fingers crossed that Alva’ll be back in time to help with the PR for the Henderson book. But who knows?

Also hoping my friends will give us a boost in the interim. Maybe they’ll just post lots of comments about Jolt on GoodReads.com–and give it five stars.

In other, if you haven’t picked up a copy yet of Jolt: a rural noir, do order it though http://alvapressinc.com. where with sending costs included, for $11.95 you can order copy of Jolt: a rural noir as an eBook. (Traditional formats are a bit more expensive and do include shipping.)

Roberta in Po-Town, Still Missing Alva