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Peggy Farooqi is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk.

25 May 2014



Title
This Changes Everything
Author
Sally Ember
Publisher
Amazon
Publication Date
18 Dec 2013
Pages
381
Genre
Sci-Fi, Alien



Blurb:  

Many Worlds Collective Chooses Dr. Clara Branon, Ph.D., as 1st Liaison!
Are You Ready for the Changes?
Sci-fi, Romance, Paranormal, Aliens, Multiverse, Utopian, Speculative ten-Volume Series for Adults, New and Young Adults: The Spanners, starts with This Changes Everything.
Find out how Earthers cope with becoming a member of the Many Worlds Collective. Read how multiverse timulter, Dr. Clara Branon, Earth's first Chief Communicator, deals with being with/not being with her on/off love, Epifanio Dang. Meet Esperanza Enlaces, her Chief Media Contact, Clara's son, Zephyr, and the rest of her family and friends to find out how they deal with the psi wars and psiskills training programs and the thousands of other changes in Volumes I - X of The Spanners Series, starting in late 2013 - 2018, with one new Volume every six months. 
My review:

Finally, a Sci-Fi Series that is not exclusively aimed at teenager. Don't get me wrong, there is a market and this book can be read by everyone. But it does challenge you mentally. What I like is that the main characters are not teenagers caught in some intergalactic wars. 


Dr Clara Ackerman Branon, a middle aged Ph.D. school teacher, narrates the book (in most parts). She gets contacted by aliens from the MWC = Many World Collective. Led, Mick, Ringo and Janis - Diana (as Clara names them *geddit?*) appear to Clara in her bedroom as holograms  and tell her that she is chosen to be earth's first Chief Communicator with the MWC. They have come to prepare earth for membership of the MWC. Clara is not too spooked by their appearance, as she had visions since childhood. For me, she is a very likeable character and I took to her straight away - she has a great sense of humour. 

These aliens are actually friendly, and want to help earth and all its inhabitants (and that incl human and all other life) to live peacefully together. Reference John Lennon and "Image" here! Being aware of everything that went on at earth, they feel now the time is right to come forward and help earth with its transition to a more peaceful future.

While the book in most parts is narrated by Clara, the chapters are also interlace with interviews, press conferences and diary entries written by others. This may sound confusing and it was at first when I read the contents pages. But the title of each chapter, whilst long, explains exactly what it is, so you will always now where and when you are. And there are a lot of ideas to take in, so a very helpful section at the end explains main phrases / concepts / abbreviations. But while it challenges your reading experience, it is not difficult to get your head around the ideas presented here. 

I found the idea that the MWC have been watching earth and are responsible for some of the disasters on earth (when things have gone wrong…) thought-provoking and absorbing. The concept of 'timulting' was more difficult for me to take in - Clara (and others) can see different timelines at any one stage. And than there is Clara's love interest Epifanio whom she is / isn't married to depending what timeline she is in and I struggled a bit with it. But I think I 'got' it at the end. I loved the idea of a 're-set' on your life where you can change an event once. For Clara, that was the fact that she had a car accident as a teenager which left her with a degree of disability, which than ruled her life. When she can 're-set' this event and watches how her life plays out without this disability in a different timeline, she realises that she would certainly be more outgoing, but the life of those around her (mostly her son) would also change significantly - at a price. Loved that. So, would you 're-set' if you could? 

This book is the foundation for the Spanners Series, and while I understand that the following books can be read independently, I really think one ought to read Vol I to get the main ideas and concepts on which the author can now build upon. There is certainly a lot of scope to develop the ideas introduced in Vol I. 

About the author:  

Biography

Sally Ember, Ed.D., author of sci-fi/ romance/ speculative fiction/paranormal/ multiverse/ utopian ebooks for Adult/New and Young Adult audiences, "The Spanners Series," has short stories and articles published in "Out of the Kitchen" and has co-written, edited, and proofread many nonfiction books and worked for several magazines.

"The Spanners Series" starts with Volume I, "This Changes Everything," released 12/19/13 worldwide. Volume II, "This Changes My Family and My Life Forever," pre-orders 4/18/14 @ $1.99 via Smashwords; release date 6/9/14 Amazon, everywhere @ $3.99. Volumes III - X are planned and in various draft stages.

Sally was raised Jewish and is a practicing Buddhist meditator. She is also an almost-daily swimmer, a mediocre singer/pianist, avid feminist, dreamer, and devoted mother/ sister/ aunt/ daughter/ cousin/ friend. Her website includes a blog that touches on these topics as well as reviews, interviews, guest blog posts, and excerpts from Volume I and soon to have excerpts from Volume II. Visit and comment, follow, "like," and share! http://www.sallyember.com/

In her "other" professional life, Sally has worked as an educator and upper-level, nonprofit manager in colleges, universities and private nonprofits for over thirty-five years in New England (every state), New Mexico and the San Francisco Bay Area (where she now lives). Sally has a BA in Elementary Education, a Master's (M.Ed.) and a doctorate in education (Ed.D.).