Böcker av Vincenzo Spiaggi

The Valentine Voice is a mess. This small-town weekly newspaper is suffering from listless reporting, lifeless news presentation, and dwindling advertising revenues, all a result of its inexperienced, inept, and feckless management, and lack of effective community awareness.Into the equation enters Johnny Skull, an itinerant newspaper editor who has made a career of revitalizing failing, small-town weeklies and turning them into successful entities by upgrading their writing, reporting, photojournalism, and community advocacy.Through his editorials, feature articles, and interaction with the locals, we learn about Johnny and how he transforms the woeful newspaper into an award winner in just one year.His efforts, and the efforts of his newly energized local staff, are woven into the events and fabric of the town and county, including a tornado, a successful high school sports year, a surprise visit to the town by a rock 'n' roll legend, a mystery woman who sends love letters to Johnny, a major fire, and a multiple-murder spree.

Is it possible that what we think is reality is only a fraction of what is really real? Does life, as we know it, have any direct relationship to reality? Is there more out there than we know? Is there more out there than we will ever know? Fourteen short stories and novellas explore the mysteries of the reality of life, death, relationships, revenge, spirituality, and enlightenment. Two college students are visited by their future selves. A young woman occasionally wakes up in strange places. A dying man wants to plan his next life before he passes on. A past-life-regression hypnotist learns about his ancestors through the past lives of a stranger. A middle-aged woman confronts her biological clock. A well-meaning, idealistic student deals with the apathy of a certain segment of society. A fashion model cannot break her addiction to junk food. A poet is visited by his own eternal spirits. A man and a woman meet in a dream. A young boy learns the truth about the afterworld. An ancient spirit touches the lives of several generations of a rural family. A medicine man exacts revenge for the poor judgement of his descendants. Three men and three women play expensive games at a mountain retreat. And, an author describes his reasons for writing a book about his experiences in an upscale mountain community. Vincenzo Spiaggi employs metaphysics, humor, poetry, politics, guilt, greed, and history as fictional tools to spin yarns about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.