This Changes My Family and My Life Forever (Ember)

This Changes My Family and My Life Forever (Spanner Series, II)
Sally Ember, 2014
Smashwords
388 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781311724137 (Kindle)


Summary
How would YOU do with the changes after Public Contact is revealed? How does Dr. Clara Branon develop into the person selected by the Many Worlds Collective to be Earth's first Liaison late in 2012?

This Changes My Family and My Life Forever contains a few of the younger Earthers' stories of the first five years After Public Contact with the Many Worlds Collective (2013-2018) interspersed with "Snapshots" from Clara's earlier and current life and the first Chief of the Psi-Warriors' experiences. Clara relates stories from more than one timeline of the multiverse in which we all reside but which few can know through timulting the way Clara can.

Stories from "The Transition" to full membership for Earth. with its varied reactions, struggles and circumstances, are offered in TCMF&MLF from the points of view of Zephyr Branon, Dr. Clara Branon's adult son, Clara's nieces and nephews and their children. One of Clara's nephews, Moran Ackerman, becomes Chief of the Psi-Warriors and all species who train to become Earth's OverSeers. In his "Interludes," Moran shares experiences of the specialized psi training and some anecdotes from The Transition from his unique rabbinical and humorous perspectives.

Esperanza Enlaces, Clara's Chief Media Contact, a contemporary of Clara's son, edits, curates and partially narrates TCMF&MLF, allowing more of the on-again/off-again romances between Clara and Epifanio Dang and others to unfold in several timelines. Clara's grand-nephews and nieces also make appearances; a few continue to be featured due to their extraordinary psi talents in Volumes IV, VII and VIII of The Spanners Series by Sally Ember, Ed.D.

This is Vol. II of the Spanners Series. Vol. I is This Changes Everything (2013). Vol. III is This Is/Is Not the Way I Want Things to Change (2015).

Author Bio
• Birth—1954
• Where—Clayton (St. Louis), Missouri, USA
• Education—University of Massachusetts/Amherst, M.Ed. & Ed.D.
• Currently—Creve Coeur (St. Louis), Missouri


Sally Ember, Ed.D., has been passionate about writing since she was nine years old. She’s won prizes for her poetry, stories, songs and plays. She began meditation in her teens. Now, Sally delights fans of paranormal and romance by blurring the lines between fact and fiction in a multiverse of multiple timelines, often including exciting elements of utopian science fiction and Buddhism. Born Jewish on the cusp of Leo and Virgo, Sally's life has been infused with change.

In her "other" professional life, Sally has worked as an educator and upper-level, nonprofit manager in colleges, universities and private nonprofits in many parts of the USA before returning to live in St. Louis, Missouri, in August, 2014. Sally has a BA in Elementary Education, a Master's (M.Ed.) and a doctorate in education (Ed.D.).

Her sci-fi /romance/ speculative fiction/ paranormal/ multiverse/ utopian books for New Adult/adult/YA audiences, "The Spanners Series," are getting great reviews.
Vol I, "This Changes Everything," ebook is FREE everywhere, $17.99 paperback.
Vol II, "This Changes My Family and My Life Forever," ebook as $3.99 and paperback $19.99.
Vol III, "This Is/Is Not the Way I Want Things to Change," released @$3.99 as ebook and paperback $19.99 on 12/8/15. Look for Vol IV – X in 2016-2021. From Timult Books.

Currently, she meditates, writes, swims, reads and hosts her Google+ Hangout On Air (HOA) *CHANGES*, conversations with authors, LIVE almost every Wednesday, 10 - 11 AM Eastern USA (on hiatus until January, 2016).

Sally blogs regularly on wide-ranging topics and includes reviews, interviews, guest blog posts, and excerpts from her books. (From the author.)

Visit the author's website.
Follow Sally on Facebook.

Book Reviews
Clara Ackerman Branon is back, and earths transition continues.

I actually read Vol I and Vol II back to back, so for me it was like I'm reading one continuous book. I think though that one would need to read Vol I really to fully understand what is going to happen.

In this volume, we get introduced more to Clara's family (they are a large family!) who all get interviewed about how they experienced it all (when the news first broke, what changed for them, any difficulties, what are they planning for the future). One of the main narrator is Clara's nephew Moran, a Rabbi before transition, who will now become the Chief in the fight against those who resist and fight the transition. There is also more info about Clara, snippets about her life from young woman to past transition. We learn about her jobs, relationships with both man and woman and in communes, what does she listen to, read etc. Though I'm still confused about her relationship with her lover / not lover Epifanio - but hey, more volumes are to come.

One thing I like very much about the Spanners Series is the message that we can all live together in peace, learn from each other, be there for each other. All differences (religious, racial, gender, and even between species and inhabitants of other planets) are overcome. I mean, how cool would that be to be able to communicate with animals - and not in a jokey, Eddie Murphy Dr Dolittle kind of way, but accept them and their needs / interests as equal to humans. And those people who resist change (yes, there will always be those, even if it is clear that the change is for the better) will not be eliminated, but gently persuaded to recognize at what is best for them.

Another thing I really like is the cover artwork and I hope the author doesn't change the cover art throughout the series, that would be a shame. It's pretty and imaginative. Once you have read the first few chapters and read about the first encounter with 'The Band', have a look at the cover again and you will go 'ahhhh'.

I very much enjoyed this series and the somewhat unusual structure of the book with interviews and different narrators. It is blurring the lines between fiction and non-fiction. One of the great plus for me was that abbreviations or foreign language used (one of the main characters is Hispanic) are always explained in brackets straight away. Because of the non-fiction style, it does not halt the flow of the story at all, but is in fact very helpful. On the minus side, as there are several of Clara's relatives are interviewed, it can sometimes be a bit 'samey' at some stage. But the writing is easy to read, so it is not a big deal and I found myself skipping over a few pages.

A satisfying continuation from Volume I—let's see what's coming up in the next volume.
The Pegster Reads

Discussion Questions
1. If you have or know children or grandchildren any of the ages of Clara's son, nieces, nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews, how would you respond if they began to exhibit Excellent Skills the ways Clara's family did?

2. How would you resond and what would you say to people if you discovered that YOU have Excellent Skills and have been chosen to be trained further?

3. Consider your current job, home life, interests and neighborhood: how would these change or how would you change within them After Public Contact, during The Transition?

4. What parts of Clara's "Snapshots" most interested you and why?

5. What did you learn in Volume II that you were glad the author included and what do you wish had been depicted more?

6. The author is seeking collaborators in the teen/young adult-new adult age range for Vol VIII and older adults for Volume IX. How would you contribute if you were to join that effort?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)

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