Happy New Year

What are you going to do next year?

Johnny Says - Happy New Year

What does, womanizer, sex maniac, prophet, charlatan, and genius have in common—they all aptly describe Johnny Oops, the lead character in a fantasy novel by the same name. If you don’t believe me, ask Inney, a one-foot tall albino with pink eyes dressed up in a boy scout uniform who is Johnny’s inner self. Johnny spends his time veering from one reality to another as he travels different worlds and experiences numerous second comings, and tries to fathom whether he is being controlled by a game master in a virtual reality game or is actually in the service of God.

Where In The World Is Johnny OOPS?

What happened to Johnny? Where did he go? Somehow over this last Christmas holiday he got lost or traveled to a different reality. I am confident we will find him again. After all, he is a symbol of your imagination.

Where else but in your imagination would you find a fictional character in a novel who helps write his own promotional articles. I know sometimes its hard to conceive of, but then our friend Johnny lives in a reality all his own. Does that sound familiar?

Johnny has been able to do something we could all benefit from. He has been able to get rid of his inhibitions so that he can use his imagination to create the type of world many of us dream of; a world where we have lots of fun and do what we want and believe as we choose.

We could all take a lesson from Johnny, but sometimes its hard to get the hang of using our imagination so that we can become true individuals, and use God’s gift to us of making us thinking human beings who can make our own choices.

Have you been thinking recently of what you are going to do with the rest of your life? The holidays have come, and this is a good time to resolve to make the most of what you have and be the best that you can for the New Year.

You can do this. All you need is to have faith in yourself and in God. All you need to do is to shake off your inhibitions and use your imagination to discover a bright new future. You can do this. You can find your new friend Johnny Oops at the same time. He is always off on a new adventure, but if you use your imagination you can find him and what you are looking for at the same time. You can find out where Johnny has gone. You can find your imagination.

When you get rid of your inhibitions and start to use your imagination to discover who you really are, you are going to discover a wonderful person. You are going to discover someone who cares about others, has a good sense of humor, and has the capability to do almost anything he or she wants to do. You will discover your better half, and then you will be whole. You will discover that this wonderful new you has been there all the time. Happy New Year.
*****



Arthur Levine is the author of the novel Johnny Oops. To read more about Johnny please access: http://johnnyoops.blogspot.com or http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0041KL52M

Happy Holiday, Merry Christmas

Hope everyone has a happy holiday and a Merry Christmas. Johnny plans to sit home in front of the fireplace and watch the world go by.

My Best,

Arthur

Featured on Indie Spotlight - Johnny Oops

My novel - Johnny Oops - is featured on the Indie Spotlight today. Please check it out. http://www.theindiespotlight.com/

Did God Need A Literary Agent When He Published The Bible?

I know that the bible was published after God became known to us, but the thoughts are supposed to be His, aren’t they? How did the good book get published?

My own thinking on the matter is that God didn’t really need an agent to get His good book published. All He had to do was to rely on word of mouth and His own words of caring and kindness. I don’t mean to be lacking in humility, but I hope the same can be said of me one day—I mean about the word of mouth part.

It is difficult, however, to believe in that which is beyond our powers of reason to see or understand. But that is why God is God I think. And that is why believing in Him requires an element of faith.

If we humans were indeed fashioned in his image, then we should find the faith to believe in ourselves as well. Sometimes that proves difficult.

I am an unknown writer who has to rely on word of mouth to make my words known. Not that I am comparing myself to God, but I too find myself little understood and almost invisible.

I need recognition. Someone that will recognize as one agent said, “that I am a gifted writer who has an unbelievable imagination. Sometimes I think I am surreal like some of the characters in my seven novels.

So if there is an Angel up there that would like to guide me to a horde of new readers, I will be eternally grateful since I’m self publishing.

I would ask you to read Johnny Oops to start with—a teenage genius who turns into a Sex Maniac, Charlatan, Prophet, or Guru when he grows up depending on your point of view. Only 99 cents in Kindle and $14.95 in print on Amazon.com. Did you know you can download Kindle to your computer?

Perhaps he or she could take a look at the others when they are published like Voyeur about a suitcase bomb that is detonated in the middle New York City for a dose of reality.

Maybe The Magic Pill, which features a young couple who invent a faith-based magic pill that cures cancer, would provide comic relief to many as a distraction from the troubles of our time.

Futures/Past wouldn’t do that, it has a really catastrophic black ending, but Husband Hunting might lighten up every ones mood. I think it is a new genre that might be called husband light.

Last and possibly not least might be the Wasn’t Man, which is a mystery about insider trading, or was it?

Oh, I almost forgot my most recent novel – Sequin Boy and Cindy. It’s a love story about a young American Indian who sheds his facial ornamentation for the love of his life.

Just a final thought, these novels are definitely not autobiographical or else I have a seriously split personality.

Perhaps that is why I am searching for God and some more readers, at the same time.
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Take A Virtual Reality Trip With Johnny Oops

Join Johnny Oops as he charges across the country acting as if he were a prophet, sinning like a charlatan, and in his own way attempting to spread the word of God by touching other people. Travel with him as he survives a plane crash in Venezuela, drowning in France, and a stabbing at his home in California. Enjoy yourself with Johnny as he discovers his inner self—a one-foot tall albino with pink eyes dressed in a Boy Scout uniform. Suffer with him as his scandalous affairs are revealed. Have fun trying to predict what Johnny will do and say next in his self appointed role as a guru. Question with Johnny whether everything that is happening is real.

Johnny Oops, available for only $0.99 on Kindle and in print on Amazon.com at $14.95.

Christmas And The Troubled Little Geese

One little Goose turned to another as they sat near the edge of a golf course that was covered in a half an inch of fresh snow and said, “My friend we should have gone south before it became so cold. I’m afraid our wings will freeze up if we try and make the trip now.”

The other little Goose responded, “And do you expect a less icy reception in the South. Everybody hates us. We are welcome nowhere.”

“Why is that asked Goose number 1?”

“I think it is because there are so many of us, and we create a mess wherever our Gaggle goes. Besides people think of us as just Geese who don’t count for much—something to end up on their Christmas dining room table I’m afraid,” answered Goose number 2.

“But I thought that in the spirit of Christmas people would be more willing to look kindly on the least amongst us?”

“I know, I know, but life is not always what it is supposed to be. We will have to learn to accept our circumstance with grace and good will to all at this holiday season.”

“I find it hard to accept our lot in life as is. I don’t believe that this is the way God would want things to be. He is full of kindness and mercy. Perhaps if we pray to Him he will hear our prayers and help others to understand our plight.”

“I hope so my friend. My tail feathers are starting to freeze. I’m afraid of what will happen to us in the future. We have no food. There is no one who wants to help us. We disturb their celebrating, impose on their happy times and impinge on their holiday spirit.”

“I believe it won’t always be thus my friend. One day people will be full of the goodness that God designed them to have. Then even little Geese like us will have a place in this society. Then even we will be able to find some happiness for our families and some sense of security. Then even us poor little Geese will not be discriminated against especially at this time of giving and kindness that represents the true spirit of Christmas.”

“Are there other groups such as us that are discriminated against even at Christmas time”?

“Yes there are, but most of them are human.”

“Do you think people will ever understand that we too have feelings?”

“I think they will soon. I think that as soon as the spirit of Christmas spreads its wings of joy over all of God’s people and animals that they will begin to recognize that even little Geese or any other minority group have their place in God’s Kingdom, for in caring about them we can become more than we were. We can become what God intended us to be.
***

Have a very happy Christmas Holiday, and please don’t forget all the
little Geese amongst us; they come in so many different types and
shapes that sometimes it is hard to remember that they have feelings.

The Little Christmas Tree That Could

Johnny Jr. was pursuing a quest to find his faith in God. He bought a tiny little Christmas tree to celebrate the holidays. It was all that he could afford at the time.
His wife and little children were very disappointed that the tree was so small. They didn't say anything, but Johnny Jr. knew it, and was upset that they were not happy. He wished and prayed that the tree was larger and more magnificent.

The night before Christmas when he went to put his few meager presents under the tree, he was startled to notice that the Christmas tree had grown much larger. It was taller by more than three feet and wider and its branches seemed to sparkle. The few tiny ornaments and lights that Johnny Jr. and his wife had managed to put up also appeared to have multiplied, and now their glow lit up the whole room.

Johnny Jr. called his wife and little children over to witness this miracle of the little Christmas tree that could grow. He had been praying that things would get better for him and his family, but he never dreamed that his prayers would be answered in this manner.

Johnny and his family were convinced that it was their faith in God that gave them the miracle of the little tree that could grow.

Do you have something happening in your life that can help make your faith grow stronger? Has something happened to you that you feel is a miracle at this wonderful time of the year? Think about it. Sometimes it’s the little acts of faith in our lives that can help make miracles happen. Sometimes our prayers do get answered if we truly believe.

I believe that each of us has a special thought in our mind’s eye that could grow into a miracle if you just have enough faith that it could. Miracles do happen. I pray that at this marvelous time of the year that the miracle of your dreams coming true for you. I think it could. I think it could. I think it could.

If you have something that has happened to you that you feel is a miracle at this wonderful time of year, please share with us in the comment section.

Merry Christmas

Learning To Be Irish

Just finished reading a great book. Here is my review. It's available at the Kindle store or on Smashwords.

Learning To Be Irish – Review *****


Have you ever read about a place that you’ve never been to and felt that you knew it intimately because the home and the people were so well described? I could practically smell the fire in the fireplace and hear the Irish brogue of the town gossip. That’s how I felt when I read Learning To Be Irish, and that’s how I felt about the main characters, the strong willed Daire, and the man she came to love, Padraic. I felt I knew them both and was a part of their lives. This is a place where a homespun instant wedding takes place, a child is conceived and a grand father’s fondest wish comes true in a land of Leprechauns and faeries.

Learning To Be Irish is about finding love and happiness. It’s a beautiful tale of a simpler time and a lush small village in Ireland where true virtue was really important, the simplest gesture could easily be misinterpreted, the community of gossip prone towns people worked together to help a stranger, and a tinge of mystery and strange goings on was always in the air. This is a wonderful place where people can walk around so enjoying life that they feel like they have a pocket full of emeralds. Charmingly told and heart warming—you will laugh and cry. This novel deserves five stars.

Johnny Didn't Drown

How Did Johnny Save Himself From Drowning? Find out in the novel Johnny Oops only 99 cents.

What Happened To Johnny?

Why was Johnny found tied up in his hotel room? Who did this to him? Find out by reading the novel Johnny Oops only 99 cents on Kindle.