Diva, a small yet brave dog, and Flea, a curious streetwise cat, develop an unexpected friendship in this unforgettable tale of discovery. For as long as she could remember, Diva lived at 11 avenue Le Play in Paris, France. For as long as he could remember, Flea also lived in Paris, France-but at no fixed address. When Flea passed Diva's courtyard one day, their lives were forever changed. Together, Diva and Flea explore and share their very different worlds, as only true friends can do.
“A startlingly frank look at the life of one of our generation’s most prominent operatic stars.”—Associated Press In Call Me Debbie, internationally renowned opera singer Deborah Voigt describes her journey to become one of the world’s most celebrated artists and also discusses her private battles with addictions to food and alcohol, and a myriad of other self-destructive tendencies that nearly destroyed her. Voigt reveals here the troubling sequence of addictive behavior that led to her being fired from a London opera production for being too large to fit into the “little black dress” demanded by the role, and her subsequent gastric bypass surgery and its dramatic aftermath. She speaks openly of the “cross-addiction” that led to severe alcoholism, frightening all-night blackouts, and suicide attempts. Here, too, is the story of how she achieved complete sobriety, thanks to a twelve-step program and a recommitment to her Christian faith. Highlighting hilarious anecdotes and juicy gossip about what really goes on backstage, Voigt talks candidly about the impresarios, singers, and conductors with whom she’s worked and offers fascinating insight into the roles she has played and the characters she loves. Complete with eight pages of color photographs, Call Me Debbie is an inspirational story that offers a unique look into the life of an incredible artist.
FIRST IN THE DOMESTIC DIVA MYSTERY SERIES! Domestic diva Sophie Winston is about to learn that some dishes are best served cold... Few can compete with local celebrity Natasha Smith when it comes to entertaining, but Sophie Winston is determined to try. Her childhood rival may have stolen the spotlight—and her husband—but this Thanksgiving Sophie is determined to rob Natasha of the prize for Alexandria, Virginia's Stupendous Stuffing Shakedown. She just needs the right ingredient. But Sophie's search for the perfect turkey takes a basting when she stumbles across a corpse. And when the police find her name and photo inside the victim's car, Sophie will have to set her trussing aside to solve the murder—or she'll be serving up prison grub... Includes delicious recipes and entertaining tips!
Throughout her career, Carole Pope has blazed a trail for the diva and anti-diva in all of us, and here she offers a no-holds-barred look at her adventures in the music scene – on the concert stage, in the recording studio, and in the bedroom. Known for ushering Canada from the punk movement of the 1970s to the new wave sound of the 1980s with Rough Trade, she candidly shares her thoughts on AIDS, sexuality and sexual politics, and the new breed of music divas that dominates the charts today.
Michelle Visage is not your average diva. Powerful, positive, and polished, this diva's not only glamorous, she's a savvy businesswoman with serious credentials who works her tail off. From her days vogueing in the downtown Manhattan clubs in the '90s to her successful career in radio and her ultimate cult status as a judge on RuPaul's Drag Race, Michelle has achieved her dreams and then some! In The Diva Rules, Visage shares her rules and advice for living life to the fullest and finding success no matter the hand you're dealt. With her no-nonsense style and super sassy voice, Michelle tells readers to Keep Your Shit Together
Diva of Darkness (volume II) is the 2nd chapbook in The Diva Series, and contains 28 non traditional poems dedicated to the beauty of darkness. All poems featured are dark themed and push the boundaries between eroticism, violence and religion thus making this second volume in The Diva Series a unique and controversial read.
BEING MELVIN The Thin Line between Fiction and Reality Synopsis Parents, school, friends, feelings, commitments trace a path along which Melvin, a young landowner of Sicilian origins, tries hard to venture. He has been in conflict with his family’s aspirations and projections since childhood. The use of his imagination, odd braggadocio, and lies seems to be an escape from a reality perceived as unsustainable. However, it merely drags him slowly into a dimension where the real world constantly slips into the imaginary one, producing relentlessly irreconcilable contrasts in personality development and emotional relationships with women despite being constantly surrounded by them. The virtual rites of the web and digital communications lead him to obsessively participate in a forum dedicated to the starlet of a television drama, the Diva. A genuine feeling grows between the two of them, only to magnify Melvin’s crisis, consequently creating a split personality and an increasingly dramatic, psychotic and self-destructive drift. He is forced to undergo a mandatory medical treatment. Melvin asks for help from the Gleam, a unique but lucid psychiatrist, to whom he runs when the weight of memories and the feeling of guilt for betraying someone’s trust will be unbearable, to the point of further restricting the already narrow margins of his psychic survival. His memory, having suddenly reappeared after prolonged amnesia, allows him to retrieve incidents and situations – which he calls files - and to explain them, with great detail, to his therapist. The result is a discussion between doctor and patient, in many ways fruitful and enlightening, but not at all a prelude, as one might expect, to a predictable and comforting ending. That is because we are not facing fiction, but an intensely experienced story on a person’s own skin and at the risk of his own life. Therefore, no invention, no artifice, no hypocritical censorship, no qualms to strip. It offers the reader testimony that a conformist reserve would prefer to bury in the basement of removal and modesty. Melvin is a true story. For real.
There is a ruby mine hidden in the heart of the mountains near a remote little city of Central Asia, unknown to European travellers; and the secret of the treasure belongs to the two chief families of the place, and has been carefully guarded for many generations, handed down through the men from father to son; and often the children of these two families have married, yet none of the women ever learned the way to the mine from their fathers, or their brothers, or their husbands, none excepting one only, and her name was Baraka, which may perhaps mean 'Blessed'; but no blessing came to her when she was born. She was much whiter and much more beautiful than the other girls of the little Tartar city; her face was oval like an ostrich egg, her skin was as the cream that rises on sheep's milk at evening, and her eyes were like the Pools of Peace in the Valley of Dark Moons; her waist also was a slender pillar of ivory, and round her ankle she could make her thumb meet her second finger; as for her feet, they were small and quick and silent as young mice. But she was not blessed. When she was in her seventeenth year a traveller came to the little city, who was not like her own people; he was goodly to see, and her eyes were troubled by the sight of him, as the Pools of Peace are darkened when the clouds lie on the mountain-tops and sleep all day; for the stranger was tall and very fair, and his beard was like spun gold, and he feared neither man nor evil spirit, going about alone by day and night. Furthermore, he was a great physician, and possessed a small book, about the size of a man's hand, in which was contained all the knowledge of the world. By means of this book, and three small buttons that tasted of mingled salt and sugar, he cured Baraka's father of a mighty pain in the midriff which had tormented him a whole week. He brought with him also a written letter from a holy man to the chiefs of the town; therefore they did not kill him, though he had a good Mauser revolver with ammunition, worth much money, and other things useful to believers.
