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Born To Return The Gift

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Gifts for Readers with Inquiring Minds

Born To Return The Gift (BTRTG) and End All To Be All (EATBA) are novels which realistically address ALL the headlines in the side bar of this site.
  • Depression
  • PTSD 
  • Alcohol & Drug Abuse / Recovery
  • Domestic Violence
  • Discrimination / Racial & Sexual Profiling
  • Faith & Spiritual Awakening

Both books would make perfect gifts for readers with inquiring minds.  
* Not recommended for those under seventeen.

Nyima's world crumbles as she is diagnosed with clinical depression and post traumatic stress disorder. How can that be? She's never been to war or combat, she confides to psychiatrists. Warped in denial of a fragmented history selectively chosen for dismissal, she believes she's just burnt out from overwork and sleep deprivation . . . until the constant previews of a nightmare that's been haunting her for five years unfolds to reveal a childhood incident that has perpetuated her imprisonment to the past. Will the revelations free her to make a change for her future?

Michael's addiction to alcohol and pain pills lands him on skid row. After detox and checking into a male only safe house, he becomes involved in the development of a coed residential recovery facility. As the Program Director for End All To Be All, he has a new lease on life until the founder  secretly begins frauding the court system for easy money. Despite the deceit and daily drama, Michael  keeps things moving in the right direction until his estranged father passes away. As he tries to purge their resurrected history from his mind with alcohol, will he be able to drop kick his own demons while dealing with the demonic activity surrounding him?

Use the following discount codes when ordering paperback books from this site:

2WK9GR57   =   $3.00 off single purchase
4NYQPRUE   =  15% off bulk orders.

Links to purchase ebooks:
Amazon.com:                    BTRTG | EATBA
Barnes & Noble:       BTRTG | EATBA
Smashwords.com:             BTRTG | EATBA

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Turning The Tide

5.0 out of 5 stars Turning The Tide?, September 30, 2013
This review is from: Born To Return The Gift (Paperback)
Born To Return The Gift by Catherine Johnson is a compelling, incisive novel focusing on a series of episodes in the life of a middle-aged mulatto woman facing the crossroads of her journey. The strains of Irish blood in her veins prove as difficult to redeem as her college education as she seems trapped in the ghetto existence she struggles desperately to transcend. The temptation of substance abuse lurks on every corner, threatening to engulf her at any given time, but the power of her spirit resonates with the message of Scripture as the author takes us along this rocky road of redemption.

Nyima Robbins finds herself trying to free herself from the mire represented by the Oasis Hotel in California, her place of refuge from the chaos of the Oakland suburbs. She is enrolled at City College where she finds difficulty in relating to students half her age, fighting battles over which she long prevailed. Her spirit is exhausted by watching the next generation wading through issues of race and class, though it seems that she is being forced to walk that road over and again. She ends up taking a job at Platinum Financial, a check-cashing company that caters to the type of clientele that she needs desperately to avoid. Johnson provides us with a vivid account of how someone with the maturity, education and best intentions can still be trapped beneath the glass ceiling in a clinging, suppressive environment.

The author's work is reminiscent of Toni Morrison in bringing us into the black experience of ghetto life with an authentic narrative. Nyima's relations with Steffon, a philandering manipulator, demonstrate a need for companionship and to establish a social network. Yet she realizes that it is her dark side that is attracting the kind of people who dragged her into this very quagmire. The storyline eventually brings us into a segue towards the ontological discussion as Nyima experiences an epiphany during a nightmare sequence. A demonic figure appears to her, using the very `hunh hunh' idiosyncracy of speech that we find throughout Steffon's dialogues with Nyima. The demon tells her there is no way out, that the negative energy of her life serves to enhance the ontology of the ghetto experience. She is suddenly able to see the `lines formulating between the dots of her life', and how the events of her life have led her to this time of reckoning with the dark forces absorbing her very spirit.

Johnson's work is an essential piece of black literature that may well act as a guidepost for the next generation of African-Americans struggling with racial and economic issues in finding their own place in today's society. This glimpse into a visceral environment and the story of one woman's battle to transcend it is both uplifting and inspirational. Born To Return The Gift by Catherine Johnson is a modern-day parable you won't soon forget.

An Insightful Work of Christian Fiction

5 Stars out of 5 Stars

‘End All To Be All‘ by Catherine E. Johnson is an insightful work of Christian fiction providing a revealing look into the world of substance abuse and the rehabilitation process. Unlike most of works within the genre, Johnson takes a realistic approach in ripping away the insulation that often compromises the validity of such novels. We are left with an unblinking look at the lives of patients in the Antoine Reed Alcohol and Drug Foundation, and their personal conflicts in navigating along that crossroad in their lives.
Michael, the major protagonist, is a college-educated upwardly mobile black man whose life is turned upside down after a car accident that results in a car wreck that costs the life of his girlfriend. He is sent to the facility at the behest of Turk, a close associate realizing that Michael is in need of help. It is discovered that Michael has developed an addiction to Demerol over the years after an old neck injury grew aggravated over time. Michael, like a significant percentage of the population, is in denial but soon realizes there is a problem that must be resolved.
The author’s insertion of Scripture at the beginning of chapters is a clever reminder that the answers to our problem is often in plain sight. It would be very interesting to conduct an exit poll to see how many readers in her audience are skipping over the passages, just like the characters in the novel. Most Scripture is based on common sense and Divine logic, and we often circumvent the argument to rationalize our actions and justify our mistakes. Michael meets Antoine and Jerry, two fellow shooters who personify the internal conflict facing him. Antoine is reassessing the value of the connections being brought in off the street, while Jerry remains dedicated to slamming the front door on them. Michael eventually turns to Jerry in rejecting his past, and Jerry becomes a beacon of hope in helping Michael find a way out of the abyss.
Johnson’s story winds along a rocky road of hard knocks as Michael eventually begins a relationship with Nyima, a borderline alcoholic. She realizes that the success of their friendship will depend largely on their ability to slay the dragons in their life. When she learns of the circumstances surrounding the death of Michael’s fiancee in the fatal car crash, it helps forge a bond of trust that helps them find resolution over a three-year struggle.
The themes of perseverance and redemption resonate throughout the novel, and End All To Be All reminds us that God is always there to pick up those who are willing to get back on their feet.
by John R. Dizon (Author of ‘The Standard‘)

Monday, September 22, 2014

BACK IN THE SADDLE

I have learned quite a bit since I published my first book, and even more since the second. I thank those who have helped me with information and opinions, especially when I was so defensively protecting my right to a different opinion. Now, I hope my query about the men on the cover of 'End All To Be All' isn't taken out of context. I changed the cover of my first book after too many people commented that they thought it was a horror tale. ~ lol

Recently I was asked why I chose to put split faces on the cover of 'End All To Be All'.  After acknowledging that I realize some people are of the notion that cover design should be left to the 'professionals', I commented that as a child I always enjoyed book covers that seemed to tell a story and liked the suspense of reading to discover if my perception was on point. I understand this is not a quality everyone appreciates, so I'm curious. ~ What was your first reaction to seeing the cover of 'End All to Be All'? Did you think one side was the face of a Black man, and the other the face of a White man?

Anyway, after more commentary I gave this explanation. "The split face is actually facets of the same man. On the left his face is beaten by addiction and his heart is filled with darkness. On the other side he is clean, groomed and healthy. His heart is a lighter shade to depict the peace that comes with restoration."

I didn't bother to offer more, but for the sake of this conversation with you, although this story is about an African American male, ~ Spoiler alert ~ he is a product of Black parents who posed and passed as Caucasian while he was growing up. BUT the story doesn't revolve around this per se. It revolves around life circumstances - love, pain, economic struggle, and the how and why some people succumb to addiction. The focal point of the story is how despite every negative aspect of life, people can and do pick themselves up to start again.

This person's next comment raked my nerves and I realized I'm still not ready for a book signing or interview. She snootily said, "Don't you think the title is somewhat too preachy?"  I countered with what she perceived as belligerence. "Perception is not always reality, and sometimes comprehension is even further from it. Although 'End All To Be All' doesn't fit the paradigm of someone thinking they are the 'end all to be all' in a given situation, in order to be all one can be, sometimes one has to end all that one is doing. When I wrote the book the name seemed to fit the billing for a residential recovery facility filled with drug addicts."

Hopefully my public etiquette  will be improved by the time I release my third novel, 'Sienna'. ~ lol

In the meantime, you can help. Both novels - Born To Return The Gift and End All To Be All  are available for free through Amazon's Kindle Prime Program. Check them out and voice your opinions with a review. I can stand the heat. ~ Thank You!

Friday, April 25, 2014

My priorities have been temporarily shifted, but today this article was brought to my attention and I thought it was so interesting that I copied and pasted hoping to generate some comments.

first men in china were blackBy Daphne R
China is apparently finding out now what Black historians have been reporting for many years, the first inhabitants of China were in fact black.
H. Imbert, a French anthropologist said in his book, “Les Negritos de la Chine”,”The Negroid races peopled at some time all the South of India, Indo-China and China. The South of Indo-China actually has now pure Negritos as the Semangs and mixed as the Malays and the Sakais.”
Another author and professor, Chang Hsing-Lang, revealed similar information in writing “The Importation of Negro Slaves to China under the Tang Dynasty”, “Even the sacred Manchu dynasty shows this Negro strain. The lower part of the face of the Emperor Pu-yi of Manchukuo, direct descendant of the Manchu rulers of China, is most distinctly Negroid.”
These professors through their research and studies have reason to believe that a Negro Empire actually existed at the dawn of the country’s history citing evidence of substantial populations of Blacks in early China, including finding reports of a major kingdom ruled by Blacks being frequently mentioned in historical Chinese history documents. And, Chinese chroniclers report that a Negro Empire existed in the South of China at the dawn of that country’s history
The notion that blacks were the original inhabitants of China has been thwarted by white scientists and even some blacks as the result of a sweeping message of white superiority and inferiority of black Africans and their descendants spreading worldwide.
In 2005, DNA testing proved that the first inhabitants of China were black Africans. The study was conducted by a Chinese DNA specialist named Jin Li and a team of Chinese and other scientists. Li admits that he wasn’t trying to prove this fact, instead he initially wanted to prove that the Chinese evolved from hοmo erectus independently of all humans. After collecting more than 12000 DNA samples from 165 different ethnic groups, Li and his team found that early humans belonged to different species but modern humans had descended from the East African species.
One scientist on the team, Li Hui, said that 100,000 years ago humans began migrating through South and Southeast Asia into China from Africa. Their testing showed that 65 branches of Chinese all carry similar DNA mutations as the people of Southeast Asia.

When asked how he felt about these findings, he responded, “after I saw the evidence generated in my laboratory. I think we should all be happy with that. Because after all, modern humans from different parts of the world are not so different from each other and we are very close relatives.”Another scientist on the team, Jin Li had this to say about their findings, “we did not see even one single individual that could be considered as a descendant of the hοmo erectus in China, rather, everybody was a descendant of our ancestors from Africa.”
The team of scientists participating in the 5 year study of geographic and genealogical routes tracing the spread of settlements of ancient and modern humans were from China, Russia, India, Brazil and other nations.
Richard Leaky, a well-known, Kenyan-born Paleoanthropologist who has dedicated his life to studying fossils and the past believes that we must study the past if we are to have a future. He had this to say, “If you get to the stage where you can persuade people on the evidence, that it’s solid, that we are all African, that color is superficial, that stages of development of culture are all interactive, then I think we have a chance of a world that will respond better to global challenges.”
Wow, so it appears that Africa truly is the cradle of all civilization after all.

Do you believe this or at least think there is a possibility that this finding can be true? 

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Interesting Stuff for Trivia Seekers ~ the chase is on!

Check this out all you trivia seekers. 
Very interesting stuff y'all.

Mind Blowing!!!!!

Have a history teacher explain this if they can.

Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846.

John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.

Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860.

John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.

Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.

Both wives lost a child while living in the White House.

Both Presidents were shot on a Friday.

Both Presidents were shot in the head.

Now it gets really weird.

Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy.

Kennedy's Secretary was named Lincoln.

Both were assassinated by Southerners.

Both were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson.

Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808.

Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908.

John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was born in 1839.

Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939.

Both assassins were known by their three names.

Both names are composed of fifteen letters.

Now hang on to your seat.

Lincoln was shot at the theater named "Ford."

Kennedy was shot in a car called "Lincoln" made by "Ford."

Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials.

And here's the "kicker":

A week before Lincoln was shot, he was in Monroe, Maryland.

A week before Kennedy was shot, he was with Marilyn Monroe.

AND...................:

Lincoln was shot in a theater and the assassin ran to a warehouse...

Kennedy was shot from a warehouse and the assassin ran to a theater...
I saw this had to share just in case anyone did not know.

Monday, January 20, 2014

Tuesday, December 31, 2013


May there be a blessing for others 
with each effort we make to enrich our own life. 




Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Season Greetings




May the love, joy, and peace of Christmas Day leave a sense of gratefulness with you and your families that transcends into hope for a healthy, prosperous, and Happy New Year. 
 Feliz Navidad: Joyeux Noël : Joyeux Noël : Joyeux Noël : 聖誕快樂 :Joyeux Noël : 메리 크리스마스 : Linksmų Kalėdų : Sarbatori fericite : Весели Коледни празници : God Jul : Счастливого Рождества : स य़९समस : รื่นเริงวันคริสต์มาส : Riang Gembira Krismas : Joyeux Noël : Frohe Weihnachten : Na Vianoce : Buon Natale : Joyeux Noël : Giáng sinh vui vẻ : Καλά Χριστούγεννα : Nafay Ciida Kristmaska : メリークリスマス : Veselé vánoce : З Різдвом Христовим : i may have missed some of you in language, but I wish all of you, my brothers & sisters around the world, a  Merry  Chirstmas ! :)





Thursday, December 19, 2013


This was the trailer that didn't go over well, but if at first you don't succeed, try and try again I will.