About Beyond
The Precipice by Eva A. Blaskovic:
A young man with a dark secret must choose between his family and the girl he loves.
For six
years Bret Killeen is trapped by the wishes of his dead father, blackmailed by
his brother, and rejected by his uncle. Meanwhile, he watches his mother
descend into the depths of poverty.
As Bret
wrestles with guilt over the death of his father, he is helped by Nicole, a
young cello player with big dreams. She stirs the embers of his longing both
for music and for her - and ignites a fire he can't extinguish.
But can he
brave his past in order to seize his future?
The award-worthy debut novel by Eva
A. Blaskovic is a riveting blend of suspense, dark humor, and compelling
inter-personal drama. Once you engage this roller coaster read you won't be
able to stop.
Purchase The Book:
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Precipice-Eva-Blaskovic-ebook/dp/B00C3NZAU2/
Paperback:
http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-The-Precipice-Eva-Blaskovic/dp/0988163810/
Ashby-BP Publishing:
https://ashby-bp.com/product/beyond-the-precipice/
KOBO: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/beyond-the-precipice
Guest
Blog:
In the Eye of the Beholder
by Eva Blaskovic
I grew up believing that you present your attributes to the
world, get evaluated objectively, and, based on that evaluation, get assigned
the lifestyle you have earned (a.k.a.
deserve).
Instead, this wisdom should be applied: Do not present
yourself to the world to be evaluated. Assign yourself a value and then present
yourself to the world.
When you allow the world to evaluate you, you are empowering
other mortals to assess you, with the assumption that they will be objective
and have your best interests in mind. In reality, your judges are subjective
people with a sphere of life experiences that may be vastly different from your
own, are emotional, and have their own interests, problems, prejudices, values,
and beliefs through which their perception of you is filtered.
Evaluation is what happens in school, for example. If the
subject is math, which isn't subjective and can’t be contested, you’ll likely
get an objective assessment in the form of a grade. Tests are capable of
evaluating some knowledge, but it is well known today that they do not asses a person’s
multiple intelligences accurately. In high school English and social
studies, you have to utilize talents and attributes—if you’re lucky to already
have them—to the tune of insight, maturity, worldly knowledge, inference,
persuasion, written language ability, and the ability to read your teacher and
understand the rubric, in addition to knowing essay structure and textbook
facts, to get your good marks. It doesn't stop there. Students are evaluated,
assessed, and have their futures determined in arts (including music and
theatre), athletics, and sciences. People are also evaluated later in life
through careers and activities.
But here’s
the thing. How do you explain all those who, at some point in their lives
(usually early on) had been written off, and yet today they are well-known
names—people respected for their abilities, insights, inventions, or other
contributions to society?
Thomas Edison: assessed by an elementary schoolteacher as “
addled,” when he was, in fact, partially deaf. Thankfully, his mother knew
better, homeschooled him, and gave him the chance to reach his potential, which
was to become the greatest inventor of the twentieth century, opening a series
of companies, some of which are still in existence today.
Lucille Ball: “Too shy.”
The Beatles: “Their guitar music is on the way out.”
Michael Jordan: Cut from the school’s basketball team.
Walt Disney: “No original ideas.”
Thus, the whole
rationale many of us live by is backwards.
Why does the
reverse work? One thing I've noticed to be ubiquitous—whether in the playground
or throughout incidences in history—is that people always respond to
confidence. Confidence translates as knowledge and ability, which translates as
desirable leadership and good decision-making.
History and the schoolyard have, however, shown us
that this is not always true. Confident people do not always have the best
answers and frequently muddle things up worse than the non-confident, too shy
to speak up but more knowledgeable people. Yet confident people who are good
leaders continue to draw willing followers because they are convincing. Since
people insist on responding in this way, we can work with it.
If you track successful people, whether they became
successful at a young age or have taken a lifetime to figure it out, they all
have something in common that they've applied and that works. They evaluate
themselves first (or a significant adult believes in them), which makes them
confident, gives them purpose, and makes them feel that they have something to
offer the world (which they do). Because they have made their own evaluation
first, they do not indiscriminately accept everyone else’s judgment along the
way, are not as easily discouraged or sidetracked, and thus are not shaken from
their cause—or their course—which is to make a living on their own terms. This
living is simply an exchange of goods and/or services: they offer something to
others that is considered valuable, and others reward them in a way that gives
them a satisfying lifestyle.
The more they believe in themselves and persevere,
the more others believe in them. When others believe in them, they find their
income niche, creating that satisfying lifestyle—on their terms—doing things they
want to do, which simultaneously allow them to make a living and thrive. They
have convinced others of their value, and hence others have valued (and paid)
them.
Thus, the more you believe you can—the more you know
you can—the more others believe you can, until it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
And that is why you have to assign yourself a value first and then present yourself to the world.
AUTHOR BIO
Eva
Blaskovic was born in the Czech Republic, grew up in Ontario, Canada, and moved
to Alberta in 1988, where she raised four children. Eva has worked in science
labs and has taught literacy, writing, math, and science. She is both an
accomplished writer and editor of non-fiction articles on business, education,
how-to, parenting, and travel. She is also an author of short fiction. Beyond
the Precipice is Eva Blaskovic's first full length novel, but it has already
received rave reviews from literary professionals and aficionados the world
over. When Eva hasn't buried herself in writing or editing, she may be found
taking her teenagers to Taekwondo, exploring the Farmers' Market, listening to
Celtic music, or sipping a latte.
Website: http://www.siriusword.com/ebblog/beyond-the-precipice
BLURB
He devoted his life to seeking justice. But would she get any for him?
It was an ordinary day for police officer Barry Weir. It was the end of shift, he was tired, and he just wanted to get home to his wife and kids. But someone had other plans for him, shooting him down and forcing him to make the ultimate sacrifice.
When news of Weir’s murder reaches the department, it leaves Detective Madison Knight and every cop in the Stiles PD itching for revenge. It cuts Madison’s boyfriend, colleague, and Weir’s childhood friend, Troy Matthews, deepest of all, driving him away from everyone he loves just when they need one another the most.
With evidence pointing to a gang-related drive-by, Madison and her team investigate the town’s seedy underbelly in search of justice for their fallen brother. But the deeper they dig, the more convoluted the case becomes. Now they need to figure out if this was a random shooting as part of a gang initiation, a straight-up hate crime, or a targeted kill. But with members of the Stiles PD under attack, they have to do it fast…before more officers pay with their lives.
