Has Medicine Lost Its Soul? Here is a View by Dr. Sherman A. Katz

NY Weekly Staff on September 10, 2026

If you get a chance to walk into almost any hospital today, you will notice the dominance of glowing screens and high-tech tiers at a quick glance. You will see doctors standing at mobile workstations furiously typing into electronic charts, while the nurses glance at buzzing digital monitors. There is no doubt that the care is fast, precise, and technologically advanced beyond what previous generations could have imagined…But does it really have a benefit?

Dr. Sherman A. Katz is here to argue on this subject with his memoir, A Chance to Cut is a Chance to Cure: A Surgical Swan Song. By reflecting on a career spent as a vascular surgeon, a specialty where a fraction of a millimeter can mean the difference between saving a limb and losing a life, and having served humanity and experienced the highs and lows of medicine, his book offers a grounded reality check for us to see the real difference. It offers a personal look at what it used to mean to practice medicine and why the human connection between doctor and patient is currently under threat…by the increasing use of AI and technology…to say the least.

Katz did not come from a family of privilege or medical royalty. Growing up in a working-class neighborhood, his childhood was defined by obsessive curiosity about how the physical world worked. He spent his free time tinkering with home chemistry sets and peering through a cheap microscope. He was captivated by a hidden world he could barely see and saw science as a sense of wonder.

But there came a moment that changed his understanding of science from inside his own home. When his Polish grandmother underwent a surgical procedure that went wrong, leaving her with permanent facial paralysis, Katz’s grandmother took a very different path. She harbored zero legal resentment or hostility toward her doctors and instead chose to carry her condition with quiet grace and dignity.

“You don’t sue doctors,” his Polish immigrant grandmother said, recalling how one of those doctors accidentally severed her facial nerve during a mastoid surgery, leaving her with a permanently paralyzed left side of her face at just 28. Yet, the unchecked greed they spoke of has undoubtedly been overshadowed by even more oppressive forces that wanted to regulate the medical profession and supposedly curb their greed.

Watching her handle that setback taught the young Katz a lesson that patients are not just biological cases or clinical outcomes. They are vulnerable human beings placing complete trust in another person’s hands, which needs no compromise…ever. That early realization gave him a moral compass that stayed with him throughout his entire career.

Nothing about Katz’s entry into the medical field was handed to him on a silver platter, as you can guess. From putting in his every effort and penny to learning and getting the knowledge and education to earn himself an opportunity to work in medicine, he had to work constantly. By day, he managed a local Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop, and by night, he worked as an orderly in hospital operating rooms, which turned out to be an unexpected education in human nature.

As an orderly, Katz was not making surgical incisions; he was mopping floors, clearing trash, and wheeling nervous patients down cold corridors. He saw healthcare from the bottom up and noticed the raw fear in a patient’s eyes right before they went under anesthesia, and he saw how much a simple, kind word from an orderly or a nurse could calm a racing pulse. By the time he actually got to medical school, he already understood that the operating room was an ecosystem built entirely around keeping a vulnerable person safe.

When Katz entered the Ohio State University College of Medicine during the Vietnam War era, medical education looked vastly different from what it does today. For example, there were no high-resolution MRI scans available, and doctors had to rely heavily on physical diagnosis. They often listened carefully to a heart through a stethoscope, felt an abdomen for subtle tightness, and paid close attention to a patient’s own words.

Katz recalls attending famous surgical grand rounds led by legendary figures like Dr. Robert Zollinger, who was known for his sharp intellect, fierce demeanor, and zero tolerance for sloppy thinking. Standing up in front of an auditorium full of peers to present a patient case under Zollinger’s gaze was a trial by fire. But that atmosphere built absolute accountability. It taught Katz that when you accept responsibility for a human life, close enough is never good enough.

Inside the High-Stakes World of Vascular Surgery

After medical school, Katz matched at Case Western Reserve University for his surgical residency. He eventually specialized in vascular surgery. Vascular work is uniquely unforgiving, as a surgeon works with fragile, blood-filled vessels. He had to stitch them together with thread thinner than a strand of human hair and be very proactive and cautious in his actions and choices. If a suture leaks or a vessel closes, the consequences are immediate and could lead to possible demise.

The surgery demands intense focus, sharp instinct, and often a healthy dose of gallows humor, which had a psychological valve for people who spent their days making high-stakes decisions under intense pressure. Katz describes the tight-knit camaraderie formed among surgical teams

who spent grueling hours together, bound by a shared sense of duty to the person lying under the drapes. Over the course of his decades on the front lines, Katz watched surgery undergo a massive technological shift. He saw how the traditional open operations gave way to laparoscopic procedures, tiny stents inserted through blood vessels, and robotic instruments controlled from a console.

Katz does not dismiss these tools. He readily acknowledges that modern techniques have saved lives, reduced pain, and shortened hospital stays dramatically. But he also witnessed the unintended cost of this rapid evolution. For instance, as technology advanced, the physical distance between doctor and patient began to grow, and insurance companies, corporate hospital groups, and regulatory bodies began asserting tight control over daily medical practice. As a result, physicians were gradually pushed into the role of “worker bees.” They were forced to meet productivity targets, fill out endless administrative checklists, and keep up with tight scheduling metrics.

Doctors found themselves glued to computer keyboards instead of sitting at the bedside of a patient, listening to his or her fears and answering his or her questions. They began to reduce living, breathing patients to standardized line items on a computer screen, just for the sake of meeting targets and getting the job done.

Rediscovering the Heart of Healthcare

Dr. Sherman Katz’s memoir is here to change this aspect. By reflecting on his life and jotting down his experience of working as a vascular surgeon, he beautifully recounts his life and helps us realize the meaning behind the medicine. He shows us that no matter how advanced our machines become, medicine is fundamentally a human interaction and needs humans and emotions to work well and, in contrast, for the betterment of the patients. A robotic arm can execute a precise maneuver and a computer program can analyze diagnostic data, but neither can offer the genuine empathy that patients need to relax and find comfort, even in the emergency room. Therefore, it asks that medical professionals listen to a patient’s quiet anxieties or offer a reassuring hand in a terrifying moment.

A must-read for aspiring physicians, healthcare professionals, and anyone who values the art of medicine, A Chance to Cut is a Chance to Cure is a call to preserve compassion in modern healthcare, teaching medical professionals to always put patients first…

Head to Amazon to purchase your copy: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1968615334

Sherman A. Katz MD FACS

Dr. Sherman A. Katz, MD, FACS, is a vascular surgeon celebrating his fiftieth year in surgery and is now partially retired. He has experienced many changes in the practice of surgery in his fifty years, going from doing operations that had not changed for 100 years to the new technologies of surgery involving lasers, instruments with electronic chips, and remote presence with robots.

Book Details:

Book Name: A Chance to Cut Is a Chance to Cure: A Surgical Swan Song

Author Name: Dr. Sherman A. Katz, MD, FACS

ISBN Number: 978-1968615338

Ebook Version: Click Here

Hardcover Version: Click Here

Paperback Version: Click Here

Why the ‘Gizmo Goes’ Children’s Book Series Belongs on Every Child’s Bookshelf

NY Weekly Staff on September 10, 2026

When Heidi Heisel rescued Gizmo from a lethal accident on the highway, little did she know that this adorable dog would be changing her life forever. Gizmo is an adorable little pet dog who becomes Heidi’s travel companion as she travels the world. And to share her amazing travel diaries with us all, Heidi is here to present her travel series featuring Gizmo, with the Gizmo Goes children’s book series.

The books are written in catchy, flowing rhyme. These books are brought to life through a beautiful blend of whimsical illustrations and real-world photography. Each of the books in the series is unique and features new places and adventures that capture the unpredictable beauty of the world around us.

So, read these books and join Gizmo and Heidi as they explore the rolling green hills of Ireland, navigate the strict lockdowns of a global pandemic, learn the rules of America’s favourite pastime, and head on a quest to find Gizmo a perfect tail. Did you know that Gizmo does not have a tail? In one of his most meaningful adventures, he travels to Yellowstone hoping to find the perfect tail for himself, and with help from deer, buffalo, antelope, wolves, birds, bunnies, and even a scary grizzly bear, Gizmo discovers the importance of self-acceptance. But the greatest surprise comes when he realizes that the grizzly bear doesn’t have a tail either, showing young readers that our differences are often what make us special.

As a professional photographer, Heidi’s work required her to travel constantly. But instead of leaving her newly rescued best friend behind, Gizmo became her permanent co-pilot. As you read these books, you will see that Gizmo has flown across oceans, explored massive public lands, and stayed in busy cities, which capture the innocent, enthusiastic, and often deeply funny inner voice of a canine traveler.

A Quick Tour of Gizmo’s Travel Logs

The beauty of this series is its sheer variety, as Gizmo doesn’t just stick to his home state of Texas; his passport is seriously impressive.

Turning Lockdowns into Landmarks

In Gizmo Goes on a Road Trip, the story starts in a place our kids remember all too well: the restlessness of being stuck at home. During the 2020 lockdowns, Gizmo is cooped up inside, growing bored and visibly worried about putting on extra weight because he can’t run and play like usual. As the second restrictions ease, he packs his bags for a massive, 17-day, 6,192- mile highway adventure across six states. From the steaming geysers of Yellowstone to majestic mountain passes, the book transforms a stressful period of isolation into a sweeping love letter to the great outdoors.

Crossing the Atlantic

In Gizmo Goes to Ireland, Gizmo’s journey is sparked by a funny moment: he sees a four-leaf clover on a cereal box and decides he needs to find a real one to boost his luck! This story stands out because it focuses so heavily on the joy of hospitality and hospitality workers. Based on a real trip Heidi took with Gizmo and her mother in 2019, the book introduces kids to an amazing bus driver and a local chef who treat the furry traveler like a king, highlighting how the people you meet are often the best part of any destination.

Conquering Classroom Nerves

In Gizmo Goes to Germany, the series tackles a major childhood milestone: school anxiety and accountability. Gizmo is attending Service Dog School but is struggling hard with staying focused and showing up on time. His strict German Shepherd instructor, Fritz, gives him one final chance to pass his exams, but it involves a trip to Germany! There, young readers are treated to rich historical castles, local holiday traditions, and the folklore of the Brothers Grimm, all while Gizmo learns the value of discipline and self-control.

If you ask a seven-year-old why they love these books, they will tell you it’s because Gizmo is funny, gets into silly situations, and speaks in fun rhymes. However, ask a parent or educator, and they’ll likely mention “stealth” learning, since these books skillfully incorporate real-world data and history into the text without seeming like a dry textbook.

For example, during his road trip, Gizmo visits five National Parks in six different states, and he sees lots of animals and learns some funny and interesting history along the way. He learns about the “crazy” discovery of Yellowstone, the melting glaciers in Montana, Bigfoot, Lewis and Clark, and their very brave guide dog named Seaman. Gizmo wants to be brave like Seaman, but when it’s time to face his own fears, Gizmo doesn’t feel very brave at all. As parents and educators read aloud this book to them, they can share the story of how Gizmo overcomes his fear and make his road trip more fun.

And when Gizmo climbs high into the mountain regions, he experiences genuine fear of the heights. By following Gizmo as he travels and hops into different adventures and situations, finding his courage and pushing through them, children can learn more about emotional resilience, stepping outside their comfort zones, and handling their everyday anxieties.

A Must-Have for the Modern Bookshelf

When children are experiencing more screen time and an unrealistic schedule filled with tablets, screens, and fast-paced digital media, the Gizmo Goes series can help them divert from such a routine. Through engaging narrative, illustrations, real-life photos, and so much more, these books encourage curiosity, natural beauty, and the profound, unbreakable bond between humans and animals.

The illustrations are created by River Wilson, Heidi’s grandson, who began illustrating the series when he was only ten years old. River has continued developing his artistic talent throughout the years and is now graduating from college. His long connection with Gizmo

allows him to capture the dog’s personality, humor, curiosity, and adventurous spirit in every illustration.

Whether you are trying to get a reluctant child excited about a family trip, wanting to introduce them to global cultures, or simply looking for a sweet, meaningful bedtime story about an incredibly lucky rescue dog, this series checks every single box.

To explore the full collection of titles, check out real photos from their travels, or grab your own print or eBook copies, visit the official hub at GizmoGoes.com or find them on Amazon.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is the recommended reading level for the Gizmo Goes books?

The series is tailored for children aged 3 to 9. The lyrical, rhyming rhythm makes them exceptional read-aloud books for toddlers and preschoolers. The clear text layout and vocabulary are excellent for early elementary students (grades K-3) who are starting to read independently.

Are the facts and historical tidbits in the books accurate?

Absolutely. Even though the story is told from a dog’s perspective, all the historical context, geographical routes, and cultural references are real and authentic, taken from Gizmo and Heidi’s travels and adventures. Be it Lewis and Clark or regional European landmarks, all of these stories and locations are thoroughly researched and entirely accurate.

How many books are currently in the series?

The series features several unique adventures, including Gizmo Goes on a Road Trip, Gizmo Goes to Ireland, Gizmo Goes to Germany, Gizmo Goes to a Baseball Game, and Gizmo Goes on the Christmas Express. Each book covers a completely different theme and location for children to read and experience.

Where can I purchase copies of these books?

You can find the entire catalog available in both print and eBook formats on Amazon. On the other hand, you can visit their official home website at GizmoGoes.com for direct links, updates, and more behind-the-scenes travel photos, and more.

Cat Buchanan’s Girl in Flight Maps a Childhood of Privilege, Motion and Finding Home

NY Weekly Staff on September 9, 2026

From Manhattan apartments and famous restaurants to Playland, Belmont Park and the Hamptons, Buchanan’s memoir follows a childhood in which extraordinary privilege could not answer the simplest question: where did she belong?

Cat Buchanan remembers Manhattan in Girl in Flight not as a distant skyline but at street level, walking her standard poodle Charlie around East 64th Street while summer heat and steam rose from restaurants, subway vents and the pavement.

It is characteristic of Buchanan’s memoir. Grand places may frame the story, but the memories that remain are intimate, funny, and often painful.

After becoming bicoastal, Buchanan spent her childhood moving between Brentwood and Manhattan, separated by a three-hour time difference and 3,000 miles. The New York side of that life included wealth on a cinematic scale: East Side apartments, valuable art, private clubs, country weekends, and restaurants whose names belonged to an older Manhattan social world.

At Beekman Place, Buchanan describes her great aunt’s home as a private museum filled with Chippendale furniture, Renaissance art, French Impressionist paintings, Persian rugs, jade and silver. The Metropolitan and Manhattan clubs appear in the same family history, reinforcing a world where membership and status mattered.

A Personal Map of the East Coast

· East 64th Street: Buchanan’s Manhattan base and the setting for city adventures with her dog Charlie.

· Playland: The Dragon Coaster provided repeated bursts of adrenaline, including a 128-foot descent that Buchanan turns into the backdrop for childhood conflict with a girl she was forced to spend time with.

· Westchester and Rye: Country-club summers brought swimming, sports and social gatherings. Westchester Country Club facilitated activities during her father’s second divorce and expulsion from a former circle of close friends.

· Belmont Park: Horses became leverage in a much larger negotiation when Buchanan recalls her father offering to bribe her with the purchase of any two horses if she agreed to move East permanently.

· The Hamptons: An elegant setting in which Buchanan eventually becomes friends with someone she could understand, when heartbreak changes the dynamic between them.

· Lake Placid Club: The Adirondacks provide family tension when her father’s faulty values are exposed, along with hideous behavior exhibited by a cruel East Coast grandmother who resented her for having been adopted. Social observation and comedy are juxtaposed, including a memorable collision between her dog Charlie and a skunk.

Restaurants form another set of coordinates.

A Manhattan return is celebrated at Luchow’s, surrounded by Tiffany glass, marble and mahogany. At P.J. Clarke’s, Buchanan’s priorities are refreshingly straightforward: a Cadillac cheeseburger in preference for the fare on offer at Regency Whist Club.

After Charlie dies, her father suggests Benihana on West 56th Street, using dinner as an attempted antidote to grief. The Rainbow Room and Stork Club add still more old-Manhattan texture.

These famous names matter because of the contrast they create.

Girl in Flight places extraordinary material privilege beside the emotional uncertainty Buchanan experienced as a child. Belmont Park captures that contradiction particularly well. For a horse-obsessed girl, an offer of two thoroughbreds sounds almost irresistible. Yet the real question is whether possessions can determine where someone belongs and where real loyalty lies.

Buchanan’s answer unfolds gradually.

This is not a misery memoir. Difficult memories are repeatedly punctuated by roller coasters, dogs, horses, restaurants, and a delightful mix of early remembrance and adult wit used to expose a comic interpretation of adult behavior. Trauma may provide tension, but humor and momentum define the narrative.

That gives Girl in Flight a visual, fast-moving quality. Manhattan apartments cut to racetracks, country clubs to airports, roller coasters to restaurant tables, and New York summers back to California.

The final destination is emotional rather than geographic.

Buchanan’s later search for connection eventually leads to a reunion with her half-sister. She describes it as a “happy Hollywood ending”, an ending based not on recovering the past but on discovering that something meaningful could still come from it.

With its rapid shifts between Manhattan apartments, racetracks, restaurants, country clubs and cross-country flights, the memoir has a visceral cinematic quality that’s ripe for screen adaptation.

Published by Woodbridge Publishers, Girl in Flight is available in Kindle, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook formats. Buchanan narrates the audiobook herself.

View Girl in Flight on Amazon

What It Feels Like to Read The Fifth Plane: A Reader’s Journey Through Fear, Flight, and Fate

NY Weekly Staff on September 9, 2026

By: Elowen Gray

Some novels tell you a story. Others place you inside it. The Fifth Plane by Val Walker does something rarer: it makes you feel responsible for what’s happening. As a reader, you are not just observing events unfold; you are bracing for impact, anticipating failure, and hoping, sometimes irrationally, that control will hold.

That immersive quality is what places it firmly among the best psychological thriller books. It does not rely on shock value. Instead, it builds a sustained emotional pressure that refuses to let go.

Reading Like You’re in the Cockpit

From the very first sequence, the experience is immediate. You’re not watching a plane fight turbulence, you’re in the cockpit, feeling every violent shift, every forced decision, every second ticking closer to disaster.

For readers who gravitate toward best books to read thriller mystery, this is where the novel separates itself. The tension is not created after the fact. It happens in real time. You read faster, not because you want to finish, but because you need to know if survival is even possible.

This is the kind of storytelling often associated with the best thriller authors, where pacing and precision replace artificial suspense.

The Quiet Build of Psychological Pressure

What makes the reading experience even more compelling is how the story shifts between visible danger and invisible intention. While pilots struggle in the air, something far more calculated is unfolding elsewhere.

As the second volume expands the narrative, readers are drawn into a different kind of tension, one built on planning, ideology, and inevitability.

This dual perspective is what elevates the book into the realm of top psychological thriller books. It’s not just about what happens; it’s about what is being set in motion long before it happens.

That slow, deliberate escalation is what keeps readers mentally engaged long after they’ve paused reading.

Why Val Walker Stands Out

Readers familiar with the work of best psychological thriller authors will recognize something distinct here: restraint. Val Walker does not over-explain or over-dramatize. She allows situations to unfold naturally, trusting the reader to feel the weight of each moment.

That confidence in storytelling creates a different kind of engagement. You’re not being guided; you’re being placed inside a system where every choice matters.

It’s a reading experience that feels earned rather than engineered.

When Aviation Becomes the Story Itself

Many thrillers use aviation as a setting. This novel turns it into the core of the experience. Every maneuver, every decision, every system failure carries narrative weight.

For readers interested in aviation thriller books, this level of detail creates a sense of authenticity that is difficult to replicate. The aircraft is not just a backdrop; it is part of the conflict.

This also aligns it with commercial aviation books and books about commercial aviation, where technical realism enhances rather than interrupts the story. Even readers new to aviation will find themselves understanding the stakes intuitively.

A Different Kind of Protagonist

At the center of this experience is a pilot who does not fit into predictable molds. Kelly Hunter is not written for effect; she is written for credibility. Her presence shapes the story in ways that feel grounded and necessary.

For those exploring books about female pilots, this is a refreshing shift. Her strength is not symbolic; it is functional. She exists within the story as someone who must perform under pressure, not simply represent it.

This perspective strengthens the novel’s place among aviation fiction books and even the best aviation fiction books, where character and environment work together rather than compete.

Photo Courtesy: Valerie Walker

The Tension That Lingers After You Stop Reading

What stays with you after reading is not just the action, it’s the awareness of how fragile everything feels. The systems, the routines, the assumptions, they all seem stable until they aren’t.

This is what distinguishes the novel from many popular thrillers books. Instead of delivering quick thrills, it creates a lingering sense of unease. You carry the tension with you, even when the book is closed.

That emotional residue is what defines the best aviation thriller books, stories that do not end when the last page does.

A Complete Experience in Modern Thriller Writing

As a whole, The Fifth Plane fits comfortably within the space of thriller novel books, but it also stretches beyond it. It offers action, psychological depth, technical precision, and emotional realism, all without feeling excessive.

For readers exploring aviation thriller books or simply searching for something that feels different from formula-driven fiction, this novel delivers a complete experience.

It doesn’t just tell you what fear looks like. It shows you how it builds, how it spreads, and how close it always is, even when everything seems under control.

Connect with Val Walker: Website | TikTok | Facebook | Instagram

A Story About Grief, Isolation, and Trying to Keep Going

NY Weekly Staff on September 8, 2026

Some fantasy books feel like they’re trying really hard to prove how big and important they are. Massive lore dumps. Endless action. Characters giving speeches every few pages. The Valley of the Shadows honestly feels quieter than that, and weirdly, that’s what makes it hit harder.

The book follows Aki moving through this place called the Shadows, and the whole world feels off in a way that’s difficult to explain properly. Fog everywhere. Silence that feels uncomfortable. Memories slipping around in his head like he can’t fully hold onto them. Nothing ever feels stable for long. Even peaceful moments feel temporary.

And honestly, Aki feels exhausted from the beginning. Not a dramatic movie exhausted either. Just…drained. Mentally tired. The kind where even thinking becomes work after a while. That part felt very real while reading it because the story doesn’t pretend he’s some fearless hero all the time. Half the journey feels like him trying to stop himself from emotionally shutting down completely.

There’s a lot of walking in the novel too, which normally sounds boring when you describe it out loud, but somehow those scenes became some of the strongest parts. Aki wandering through valleys or climbing mountains while getting trapped inside his own thoughts honestly says more about him than giant action scenes probably could.

Shei also keeps the story grounded emotionally. Their relationship never feels overly written or forced into becoming some dramatic fantasy romance. Most of the connection comes through small moments. Sitting together. Talking quietly. Staying beside each other when things start falling apart around them. It feels natural in a way that a lot of fantasy relationships honestly don’t anymore.

Ekati is probably the character that will stay in your head for a long time. He doesn’t even need to do much sometimes. He just appears, says a few things, and suddenly the entire mood changes. He feels less like a villain and more like anxiety taking physical form. Like the voice in somebody’s head that keeps pushing them toward hopelessness, little by little.

The atmosphere carries a lot of the story, too. The valleys are beautiful, but feel dangerous underneath. The mountains feel isolating. Even the moments where Aki gets rest feel uncomfortable because there’s always this feeling that peace won’t last long in this world.

What’s inspiring is how the book handles hope. It never turns overly inspirational or suddenly pretends everything is okay. Even during the calmer scenes, there’s still this emotional heaviness sitting underneath everything. But somehow the story keeps finding tiny moments worth holding onto anyway. A conversation beside a fire. Somebody staying when they could’ve left. A quiet walk through the valley after everything already feels ruined. Those small moments honestly end up meaning more than the fantasy elements themselves because they feel painfully human.

One line repeats through the novel over and over: “Every foot I travel is one more. I never have to retreat.” After a while, it stops sounding motivational. It starts sounding like somebody trying to survive one difficult day at a time.

Something else that makes the book feel personal is learning a little about John Kauffman himself. The manuscript mentions how his love for writing grew through music after dealing with a speech impediment growing up. You can honestly feel that emotional side inside the book because the writing never feels overly polished or emotionally distant. Some moments feel messy in a good way. Real, basically.

By the end, The Valley of the Shadows doesn’t really feel like a story about defeating evil. It feels more like somebody trying not to disappear inside their own exhaustion and grief. And that feeling stays with you longer than the fantasy parts do.

The Forestry Degree Eric Crook Earned Almost Fifty Years Ago Became a Key Credential for an Authentic Wilderness Adventure Novel

NY Weekly Staff on September 8, 2026

By: Fabiana Barbery

There is a quality of environmental pathos in Between a Rock . . . that announces itself on the very first page and never lets go, an empathy that comes not from research trips or careful description but from the kind of heart-felt love of the natural world that only comes from having studied it, worked in it, lived in it, and thought seriously about its relevance to the human condition. Mr. Crook holds a bachelor’s degree in forest management, a master’s in city and regional planning, and a distinguished career that he brings to bear on a thriller set in the Adirondacks with a precision and a verisimilitude that makes every cliff face and every trail and every interaction between the land and the people responsible for managing it feel completely real. His stated commitment to verisimilitude, to stories that sound like the truth, is not simply an authorial philosophy. It comes from knowing the world he is writing about both inside and out.

When a breathless hiker arrives at the Marcy Dam Interior Outpost and informs Stacy, the first woman to be named crew chief in the Adirondacks, that someone has fallen from the cliffs above Avalanche Lake, Wayne, a newly recruited forester from Montana, is sent to investigate and uncovers evidence that a murder has taken place. With state police far from the scene, the Department of Environmental Conservation’s resources are stretched thin as a manhunt takes place amidst news of a bank robbery connected to the murder. This setup is both gripping and immediately engaging in ways most crime fiction never manages. The institutional context, the DEC’s stretched resources, the particular challenges of law enforcement in remote wilderness terrain, give the procedural elements of this thriller a grounding that feels genuinely true rather than generically contrived.

What Crook does with that grounding is the measure of his talent as a novelist. The Adirondacks are not simply depicted as the backdrop against which a crime is being investigated. They are an active participant in the story, creating the specific conditions and challenges that make the manhunt exceedingly difficult and dangerous, and the coordination between foresters and police consequential. Avalanche Lake and the cliffs above it are rendered with the specificity of someone who knows exactly what that terrain demands of the people moving through it, and that specificity gives every scene set in the wilderness an authority and a physical immediacy that keeps the reader oriented, engaged, and genuinely tense about what outcomes the environment itself dictates to the characters before the criminals get their chance.

Human dynamics are handled with verve and intelligence. As the foresters try to set their competitive natures aside and learn to work together, the ensuing flurry of press coverage strains these relationships, and personalities and motivations collide in ways that feel true to how people function inside institutional hierarchies under pressure. Stacy’s position as the crew chief gives the team dynamics an additional layer of complexity that Crook handles with the care of someone who understands that interactions between men and women in the workplace, even when that office is a cabin in the woods, are not just a plot point but a lived reality with specific professional, interpersonal, and romantic implications. Wayne’s status as a newcomer from Montana gives the reader a natural departure point: someone from out west adjusting to living in the east, where his role is yet to be determined. This enables the reader to experience the Adirondacks and the team for the first time alongside Wayne, without the contrivance of a disengaged protagonist who needs things explained to them.

Between a Rock . . . is a thrilling adventure with an emerging romance that earns its accolades through its detailed rendering of a world that its author genuinely knows. The Gansted Trilogy it launches promises to explore both the territory and the characters with the same authority, compassion, and commitment to truth that this opening volume so thoroughly demonstrates. This is arguably the most engaging novel set in the Adirondacks since James Fenimore Cooper wrote The Last of the Mohicans in 1826.

If you have been looking for a wilderness thriller that earns its stripes through genuine expertise and builds its tension from the specific physical and institutional reality of managing a hot pursuit in one of America’s most demanding wilderness environments, Between a Rock . . . by K. Eric Crook is the book you need. The novel is now available on Amazon.

Dorothy Smith Reclaims Later-Life Love in Late Life Romance

NY Weekly Staff on September 8, 2026

Dorothy Smith’s Late Life Romance arrives with a title that is simple on the surface and quietly bold underneath. In four words, it names a kind of story that mainstream romance has not always made room for: a love story shaped by age, experience, longing, and the courage to begin again.

Smith does not write about romance as if it belongs only to the young. She writes about it as something deeply human, something that can stir after years of silence and still carry the force of a first awakening. That perspective gives the book its emotional distinction.

What makes Late Life Romance compelling is not just the possibility of love, but the inner life that surrounds it. Smith is attentive to doubt. She understands hesitation. She gives weight to the private questions people ask when something unexpected enters their life.

Is this real?

Is it safe?

Is it too late?

Am I still worthy of being chosen?

These questions give the book its heartbeat.

Rather than revealing the story through dramatic summaries, the better way to understand Late Life Romance is through its emotional promise. It is a book about being seen after feeling overlooked. It is about the fragile return of confidence. It is about the strange, almost unsettling power of connection when it arrives outside the timing a person imagined for themselves.

Smith brings a rare sincerity to the page. Her writing is not overly polished into distance. It feels close, reflective, and personal. That closeness allows readers to feel the tension of small moments: a look that lingers, a comment that unsettles, a silence that says more than conversation. In this book, emotion often lives in the details.

That is one reason the story may appeal strongly to readers of mature romance and inspirational women’s fiction. Smith is not only writing about romance. She is writing about dignity, self-perception, and the ways love can challenge the stories people have told themselves for years.

The book also carries a meaningful spiritual undertone. Faith, reflection, and inner searching are part of Smith’s voice. She does not use them as decoration. They help shape the emotional world of the book and deepen the sense that love, timing, and personal growth are connected in ways people do not always understand at first. This gives Dorothy Smith’s work a distinctive identity.

Late Life Romance is not built for readers seeking a shallow escape. It is for readers who want feeling with substance. It is for those who understand that the heart can be both hopeful and guarded. It is for anyone who has reached a certain point in life and wondered whether the most intimate chapters are already behind them. Smith’s answer is gentle but powerful: not necessarily.

The book matters because it expands the image of who gets to be at the center of a romance. It gives room to a woman with memory, faith, insecurity, humor, and emotional hunger. It allows her to be complex. It allows her to desire and be desired. It allows later life to hold surprise. That is a story worth paying attention to.

Dorothy Smith has written a book that feels personal without becoming narrow, romantic without becoming unrealistic, and hopeful without ignoring the scars people carry. Late Life Romance invites readers to consider that love may not always arrive when expected, but it can still arrive with meaning.

For readers who believe the heart remains alive beyond youth, this book offers a tender and thoughtful reminder: time may change the body, the routine, and the expectations, but it does not have to close the door on wonder.

After A Lifetime Of Giving To Others, Donna LeClair Reminds The World That Every Life Holds A Story Worth Sharing

NY Weekly Staff on September 3, 2026

For many people, aging brings unexpected questions.

After years of building families, creating careers, supporting loved ones, and navigating life’s challenges, some begin to wonder where they fit in the world.

They quietly ask themselves:

“Am I still important?”
 “Does anyone notice me?”
 “Do I still have something meaningful to contribute?”

Author Donna LeClair knows these questions well.

At 73, she has turned those feelings of uncertainty and invisibility into a message of encouragement for people everywhere, reminding them that their value does not disappear with time.

Instead, she believes the later chapters of life often contain the greatest stories waiting to be told.

That belief became the foundation for her first book, Tiptoeing Into The Light; Awakening Value, Peace, Faith and Love Beyond Fifty-Five.

The book speaks directly to individuals who find themselves searching for renewed purpose after decades of responsibility and service.

Donna’s message is not about accepting limitations. It is about discovering possibilities.

She believes people do not become less valuable as they age. Too often, they simply forget how much they have already accomplished and how much wisdom they carry.

Her writing comes from a place of connection rather than instruction. She understands what it feels like to search for meaning, to reflect on the past, and to wonder what the future can still hold.

Through her words, she encourages readers to embrace every part of their journey, including the difficult moments that helped shape who they are today.

But Donna soon realized her message reached beyond personal reflection.

Many people wanted to share their own stories but felt unsure about where to begin.

During her Writing Your Legacy workshop, she saw the powerful desire people had to preserve their memories. Thirty-eight individuals attended the session, while others expressed interest in participating in future workshops.

That moment revealed something important.

People were not simply looking for inspiration.

They were looking for a way to be remembered.

They wanted their experiences, lessons, and stories to live beyond them.

This realization inspired Donna’s second book, Tiptoeing Beyond The Light: Transforming Value, Peace, Faith, and Love Into an Authored Legacy.

The short but meaningful guide helps people over 55 begin creating their personal legacy by documenting the moments, memories, and lessons that shaped their lives.

Donna believes everyone has a legacy.

It does not need to be displayed on a building or written in history books.

Sometimes a legacy is a grandmother’s advice shared with a grandchild.

Sometimes it is a story about overcoming hardship.

Sometimes it is a simple memory that allows future generations to understand where they came from.

The greatest challenge, Donna believes, is that many people underestimate the importance of their own experiences.

They assume their stories are ordinary.

They do not realize that ordinary lives are filled with extraordinary moments.

Her mission is to help people recognize that every journey has meaning.

Through her books, Donna hopes to create stronger connections between generations. She believes storytelling allows families to see their loved ones not just as names in a family tree, but as real people with dreams, challenges, humor, courage, and wisdom.

At a time when many people feel disconnected, Donna’s message is one of belonging.

It is a reminder that every person has something valuable to share.

At 73, she is not looking back at what has ended.

She is looking forward at what is still possible.

Her journey proves that creativity, purpose, and transformation do not have an expiration date.

Donna encourages everyone who has spent years caring for others to finally take time to recognize themselves.

To remember their achievements.

To celebrate their experiences.

To share their voice.

Because every person carries a story.

And every story deserves a place in the light.

Donna also embraces the role of modern technology in helping people capture those stories. Artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT and Claude can support writers by organizing ideas, improving structure, and helping transform memories into words, without replacing the unique voice of the person telling the story.

The pen is still yours.

The memories are still yours.

The legacy is still yours.

Now is the time to write it.

Documenting Love and Loss: How Personal Writing Keeps Memory Alive

NY Weekly Staff on September 2, 2026

By: Jay Kt

Letters to Tommi is, at its heart, a story about love, memory, and the unexpected ways in which the people we lose remain part of our lives. Written by British author Ryan Tate, the memoir began not as a book, but as a private collection of letters addressed to his late fiancé, Tuomas “Tommi.” Writing was initially suggested during counselling as a way for Ryan to express thoughts and emotions following Tommi’s sudden death in December 2025. What began as a personal exercise gradually became something more: a record of a relationship, a life shared, and a love that continued to have meaning beyond loss.

Rather than presenting grief as a straightforward journey from sorrow to recovery, Letters to Tommi captures something more human. Its letters move between sadness and humour, ordinary memories and extraordinary moments, allowing the personality of the man at their centre to remain present throughout.

A Love Story Across Borders

Ryan and Tommi’s story began unexpectedly during a holiday. Ryan was from the United Kingdom and Tommi from Finland, but what started as a chance meeting quickly developed into a relationship neither had anticipated.

Their connection crossed more than geographical borders. From the excitement of their earliest days together came the practical reality of creating a shared life in England while navigating the complications that can accompany an international relationship.

Those challenges became part of their story rather than its definition.

The couple built their relationship through the routines that make a partnership a life: travelling together, sharing a home, making plans, disagreeing over small things, laughing at each other’s habits and gradually becoming part of one another’s families.

Their future was taking shape too. Ryan and Tommi became engaged and planned to marry in Finland. Beyond marriage, they talked about eventually moving together to Italy, another chapter in a life they expected to continue writing side by side.

Those plans were never realised. Tommi died suddenly in December 2025, leaving Ryan facing not only the loss of the person he loved, but also the future they had imagined together.

Remembering The Person Behind The Loss

One of the most affecting qualities of Letters to Tommi is its attention to seemingly insignificant details. Tommi is remembered not simply as someone who died, but as someone who lived.

The letters recall the notes left in pockets, familiar clothes, glasses used for reading, private expressions, moments of affection, minor arguments, and the distinctive habits that become deeply familiar when two people share their lives.

These details give the memoir much of its warmth.

Grief can turn a person into a collection of dates and major events, but memory often works differently. It preserves a gesture, an expression, a joke, an item of clothing, or something once said in passing.

Through his letters, Ryan records those fragments before time has the opportunity to soften their edges.

The result is a portrait built from ordinary life. Tommi emerges through the pages not as an abstract symbol of loss, but as a partner with humour, habits, imperfections and a personality that shaped the relationship around him. It is within those details that Letters to Tommi becomes as much a book about love as it is about bereavement.

From Private Letters To A Shared Story

The letters were originally written without an audience in mind. That private beginning gives the book much of its directness. Ryan was not initially attempting to explain grief to other people or provide instructions for navigating it. He was writing to Tommi.

The letters therefore capture emotions as they appeared rather than arranging them into a neat sequence. Some revisit the earliest days of their relationship. Others reflect on their engagement, shared travels, domestic routines and plans for the future. There are moments of isolation and sadness, but also affection, humour and gratitude for the time they had together.

That movement reflects the unpredictable nature of memory itself. A difficult day can unexpectedly produce a happy recollection, while an ordinary object can suddenly bring back an entire moment.

Over time, the letters became a way of preserving not only what had been lost, but what had existed.

Writing As A Way Of Continuing The Conversation

The idea of writing to someone who is no longer physically present may seem unusual, yet personal writing can create a space in which thoughts that have nowhere else to go can still be expressed.

For Ryan, the letters became an ongoing conversation.

They allowed him to record memories as they surfaced, revisit moments from their relationship, and put into words emotions that could be difficult to express elsewhere.

There is no suggestion within Letters to Tommi that grief follows a timetable or that writing provides a simple route out of it. Instead, the memoir presents writing as one way of living alongside loss while protecting the memories that existed before it.

That distinction is important.

The story is not about leaving Tommi behind. It is about discovering how a life can continue while the person who helped shape it remains part of its emotional landscape.

Love Beyond Loss

The later letters increasingly consider what it means to carry memories forward.

Acceptance within the book does not require forgetting, nor does continuing with life diminish the importance of what came before. Instead, the letters suggest that love can change its form without losing its significance.

For readers who have experienced bereavement, that idea may be one of the book’s most hopeful qualities. Loss inevitably changes a life, but it cannot rewrite the life that preceded it. The holidays happened. The laughter happened. The arguments, reconciliations, plans, and quiet moments happened. The love happened.

Writing them down ensures those moments have somewhere to remain.

What began as one man writing privately to the person he missed therefore became something capable of speaking to a much wider audience. Not because every experience of grief is the same, but because the instinct to remember someone we love is deeply human.

Letters to Tommi ultimately preserves more than the experience of losing Tommi. It preserves the story of knowing him.

And within its pages, the relationship remains what it was before grief entered the story: a love between two people who met unexpectedly, built a life together, and believed they had much more of it still ahead.

About The Author

Ryan Tate is the British author of Letters to Tommi: A Journal of Letters Written from the Heart to a Heart. The book grew from private letters written following the sudden death of his fiancé, Tuomas “Tommi,” and explores love, memory, bereavement, and the enduring place that those we have loved can continue to hold in our lives.

Website: letterstotommi.com

“They’re Trying to Make Us Slaves Again…”: Attorney Henry E. Reaves, III, Esq. Issues a Call for Awareness, Unity and Action

NY Weekly Staff on August 31, 2026

By: Lennard James

The title alone is designed to make readers stop and think.

“They’re Trying to Make Us Slaves Again… And This Is How We Stop Them.” by Attorney Henry E. Reaves, III, Esq. is not presented as a quiet observation of American life. It is a provocative call to examine freedom, power, economics, education, justice, and the systems that continue to influence Black communities’ generations after the end of legal slavery.

With the image of a broken chain dominating its cover, the book immediately establishes its central metaphor: freedom must not only be achieved but protected. Attorney Reaves challenges readers to consider whether modern forms of dependency, inequality, economic vulnerability, and institutional disadvantage can restrict people without the physical chains associated with America’s past.

At the center of the book is a fundamental question: What does freedom truly mean in modern America?

For Attorney Reaves, freedom cannot be measured solely by the absence of legal bondage. Genuine freedom involves understanding the systems around you, making informed decisions, protecting your family, participating economically, knowing your legal rights, and building something that can be passed to future generations.

That distinction gives the book its urgency.

From Historical Chains to Modern Systems

The institution of American slavery formally ended more than 160 years ago, but its economic and social consequences did not disappear overnight. Reconstruction, segregation, discriminatory laws and practices, unequal access to education, housing discrimination, and other barriers became part of the complicated history that followed emancipation.

Attorney Henry E. Reaves, III, Esq. uses that historical backdrop to encourage readers to examine the present.

Rather than simply asking what happened in the past, the book pushes toward another question: What must we do now?

That is where the second half of the title becomes especially important.

“…And This Is How We Stop Them.”

The message is not merely about identifying problems. It is about developing solutions.

The book encourages readers to become more knowledgeable about the institutions affecting their lives. Understanding the law, finances, business, education, property ownership, government and civic participation can become a form of protection. Knowledge allows individuals to recognize opportunities, question unfairness, make stronger decisions, and advocate effectively for themselves and their communities.

In that sense, education becomes more than academic achievement. It becomes a tool of independence.

Economic Independence as a Form of Freedom

Another important theme the book raises is the relationship between economic power and personal freedom.

Attorney Reaves asks readers to think beyond earning enough money to survive. He directs attention toward ownership, entrepreneurship, property, financial literacy, and generational planning.

The distinction between simply earning and actually owning is significant.

A paycheck can support a household today. Ownership can create something that survives beyond one generation. A business, home, property, intellectual property, professional practice, or other productive asset can become part of a family’s foundation.

The broader message is straightforward: communities seeking lasting independence must understand how economic systems work.

For younger readers especially, the book presents an alternative way of thinking about success. Education, professional development, entrepreneurship, civic engagement, and ownership are not separate ideas. Together, they can form a strategy for greater independence.

Knowing Your Rights

As an attorney, Reaves brings a legal perspective to the discussion of freedom.

Rights have their greatest practical value when people understand them.

Many Americans interact with complicated systems involving employment, contracts, credit, housing, courts, government agencies and law enforcement. Individuals who do not understand those systems can find themselves at a disadvantage before they realize a problem exists.

The book therefore encourages awareness rather than complacency.

Its message is not that every unfavorable outcome represents oppression. Instead, the larger challenge is for readers to become informed enough to distinguish between lawful processes, institutional barriers, individual responsibility, and genuine injustice.

That level of knowledge creates stronger citizens.

A Message About Responsibility and the Next Generation

Perhaps one of the book’s most consequential ideas concerns what one generation leaves behind for the next.

Freedom cannot be treated solely as an inheritance from previous generations. Each generation has a responsibility to preserve and expand the opportunities available to those who follow.

That means teaching young people history while also preparing them for the future.

Children need to understand reading, mathematics, technology, business, law, government, communication, and financial responsibility. They also need to understand the sacrifices that made their opportunities possible.

Attorney Henry E. Reaves, III, Esq. ultimately uses a deliberately provocative title to begin a much larger conversation.

“They’re Trying to Make Us Slaves Again… And This Is How We Stop Them.” asks readers to examine whether they are truly exercising the freedoms available to them, and whether they are building the knowledge, institutions, businesses, and family legacies necessary to preserve those freedoms.

The broken chain on the cover represents more than history.

It represents a challenge.

Breaking a chain is one act.

Making certain it is never rebuilt is another.

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