Click Above to hear Neal B’s Full Interview

Last week I had the pleasure of being a guest on the outstanding comedy show, “The Comedy Point with Soul Joel”!  I was able to spend a feew minutes with these geniuses of comedy!    Click the picture above to listen to the full interview!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAEu7N0fO4c

For more:
TheComedyPoint.com
WTBQ.com
The Comedy Point With Soul Joel” on Facebook

I recommend you check them out every Tuesday night starting at 6pm-8pm at streaming live at WTBQ.com from 6pm to 8pm!  If you are in the Northern NJ area you can hear them on the radio at: WTBQ 99.1 FM and 1110AM!

EXCERPT

 

And Chrislam is not mere theory. It is a burgeoning movement in various places around the world, and liberal denominations are already starting to lap it up. Richardson mentiones the story of Episcopal priestess Rev. Anne Holmes who announced in 2007 that she had become a Christian-Muslim. The story back then was reported this way:

“A Seattle priest has become a Muslim while also retaining her clergy status in the Episcopal Church. Her local bishop has described the development as ‘exciting.’ ‘I look through Jesus and I see Allah,’ explained the Rev. Ann Holmes Redding to the ‘Seattle Times,’ which reported that Redding puts on her Islamic headscarf on Fridays and her clerical collar on Sundays. … she still sees Jesus as her Savior, even if not divine, and plans to remain both a priest and an Episcopalian. Bishop Vincent Warner of the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia told the Seattle Times that Redding’s embrace of Islam has not been controversial in his diocese.”

 

Read full article here:

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2009/09/16/sorry-but-i-am-not-buying-into-chrislam/

Paperback Writer welcomes Joel Richardson as he continues on his virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book Promotion. Joel is the co-author of the non-fiction book, Why We Left Islam. Susan Crimp, his co-author is a respected journalist and author specializing in Middle East affairs and Joel Richardson is an expert in Jewish and Islamic theology. 

Why We Left Islam Synopsis:

The penalty for renouncing Islam is death, which makes the stories in Why We Left Islam — and the lives behind them — all the more remarkable.

Contained in these brutally honest personal accounts written by former Muslims is an urgent truth that the mainstream media and cowed politicians won’t admit — that far from being “a religion of peace,” Islam is instead barbaric and repressive, a nightmare for those living under it and those seeking to confront it.

Here are some of the voices from Why We Left Islam…

“I still remember my sister’s black eyes; she stared at the sky while she was dug into the ground. She was wrapped in white sheets and her hands were tied to her body. She was buried up to her waist. The rabid mob circled her with stones in their hands and started throwing them at her while the roars of ‘Allah-u-Akbar’ added to their frenzy…” — Yagmur

“As a Muslim man, the fact that my mother had only given birth to three girls made him really angry. He beat my mother very badly and the doctors were forced to remove her womb…When she awoke, my father was kind enough to tell her that he was divorcing her now that she could no longer have children, and being a man he needed a son.” — Shara

“The Koran is full of verses that teach the killing of unbelievers and how Allah would torture them after they die. There are no lessons on morality, justice, honesty or love…” — Ali

These shocking, real-life stories from those who have escaped the Muslim yoke make Why We Left Islam: Former Muslims Speak Out a powerful communique — and a warning — to the West.

Hi Joel Richardson

Welcome to Paperback Writer.

Would you share with us how you came up with the idea for your book? 

Actually the idea originated with my co-editor, Susan Crimp.  She and I were working on another project and she proposed the idea to me.  I believe that the idea was that she as a journalist and I as an expert on Islam would a perfect team to create such a project.

Was it a light bulb moment or something that you thought about for a very long time?

Light bulb.

How did you come up with the title?

I believe that the title was also Susan’s idea.  Initially the full title was going to be Why We Left Islam: Letters to America.  But then we decided that this was too limiting, as this is a global issue.

How did you find an agent and publisher?

Because Susan is a well-published author and a well known New York journalist, she had some friends in NYC.  We used the Mimi Strong Literary Agency.  And they ended up landing World Net Daily publishing (formerly World Ahead Publishing.   It seems to be a perfect fit.

Who reads your work in progress?

Susan and I each read it and did many exchanges back and forth.

Who made a difference in the book’s quality?

Synergy is always effective – assuming of course that the two working together are open to each others ideas etc. 

How long did it take you to complete the first draft?

About two months.

How long did it take from start to publication?

About seven months.

Do you have any advice for new authors?

Only write about what you are passionate about.  Don’t do something simply because you think it will sell. 

Thank you, Joel for stopping by Paperback Writer on your virtual book tour. I wish you continued success through the rest of you tour.

Thank You!

WHY WE LEFT ISLAM VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR ‘08 will officially begin on May 1, 2008 and will continue all month. If you would like to follow Susan and Joel’s tour in progress, visit http://www.virtualbooktours.wordpress.com/ in May. Leave a comment on their blog stops and become eligible to win a free copy at the end of her tour! One lucky winner will be announced on this tour page on May 31!

Joel Richardson is the author of Antichrist: Islam’s Awaited Messiah, a bestselling comparative analysis of Biblical and Islamic Eschatology and the co-author of God’s War Against Terror with Former Palestinian, Terrorist Walid Shoebat. Joel has lived and worked in three countries in the Middle East and has been involved in Christian Muslim interfaith dialogue since the mid 90s’. Due to his involvement in interfaith dialogue, Joel has received death threats to his life and to the life of his family. As such, Joel uses a pseudonym whenever writing or speaking on themes related to radical Islam. Besides writing, Joel also travels, giving lectures and seminars on issues such as the threat of radical Islam, Islamic apocalyptic belief and human rights. Joel is also a successful self-employed artist.

You can visit his publisher’s website at www.wnd.com.

Welcome to Beyond the Books, Joel. Can you tell us whether you are published for the first time or multi-published? Can you give us the title(s) of your book(s)?

Thanks you. My first book was published through a Print On Demand (Vanity) Publisher called Pleasant Word Books. Pleasant Word is an excellent publisher for Christian authors who have something that they wish to get out there but do not have any previously published books or the energy to self-publish. To my surprise, Antichrist: Islam’s Awaited Messiah sold over ten thousand copies in the first two years. For a Print on Demand book, this is virtually unheard of, particularly in light of the fact that I did almost no marketing or publicity apart from my blog an occasional radio interview, all of which sought me out. Why We Left Islam, my second book was a fairly easy project. It is a collection of two dozen stories from those who have left Islam and why they left. Because I am the co-editor and not the “author” per se, there was much less work involved in this book. My third book, God’s War on Terror is co-authored with Walid Shoebat, and was far and away the most involved project that I have yet worked on. The final result is just over 200,000 words, roughly 800 pages. I also have a few books that are partially written which I may or may not complete in the future.

For your first published book, how many rejections did you go through before you either found a mainstream publisher, self-published it, or paid a vanity press to publish it?

Antichrist was rejected by about five or six publishers before I went with a Vanity Publisher. Had I known about LuLu.com, I would have likely used them.

How did the rejections make you feel and what did you do to overcome the blows?

I expected the rejections for several reasons. Within the Christian market, books that are published are most often those that are authored and supported by a minister with a large public ministry and following. In the midst of my frustrations, I did some research and discovered that there are roughly twenty published books that are related to the subject of God and Golfing; gift books or meditations for Christian golfers etc. To me this said a lot about the market that I was trying to break into. As such, while I did give the various mainstream Christian publishers a chance, I was fairly well prepared to self-publish fro the get go. In retrospect, any publisher would have done well if they had taken my book. I knew that it was good and relevant and as such, the rejections didn’t particularly bother me.

When your first book was published, who published it and why did you choose them?

As I said, I wnet with Pleasant Word Books, because they offered all that I needed: Cover Production, copy editing, warehousing and they also offer book returns which makes it possible for bookstores to carry a POD book.

How did it make you feel to become published for the first time and how did you celebrate?

I was happy to be done and to have the book in my hands but I can’t say that I really celebrated. I think I took my wife and kids out to eat and we all celebrated that daddy wasn’t going to be on the computer so much anymore. I also started jogging to shed all of the “book weight” that I had put on.

What was the first thing you did as far as promotion when you were published for the first time?

Literally nothing. I started a blog and began posting articles. I made sure that the link to the blog was on the last page in large letters. Because the book took off so well, I soon had quite a gathering of regular readers. Today I have roughly eleven thousand visitors per month from all over the world.

If you had to do it over again, would you have chosen another route to be published?

I think I would have gone with Lulu.com. I f I had simply created my own cover and done my own editing, which I ended up doing anyway, I would have saved a few thousand dollars. I may not have sold quite as many books, but I would still have done better in terms of expenditures. In the end, nobody compares to Lulu in terms of economy production.

Looking back since the early days when you were trying to get published, what do you think you could have done differently to speed things up? What kind of mistakes could you have avoided?

I’ve learned a lot. The final stages of editing are always the most tedious, but the most crucial. I’ve learned a lot about self-publishing and all that goes into it and certainly some tricks. Having now worked with an agent and having been published by a mainstream publisher, I have also learned several lessons there as well. In the end, no matter which way one goes, I think that one should make every effort to produce a work that is perfect and rely as little as possible on anyoe else to “fix” your work. While the editors at World Net Daily did an excellent job, in the future, I will always avoid the mind-set that says, “Oh the editor will take care of that.” Its better I believe to go that extra mile and make your work perfect by your standards and then let the editor catch only those things that you may have missed.

If you could have chosen another profession, what would that profession be?

I did choose that other profession, which is an artist. I love painting and hate writing. But because I write about sisues that I am very passionate about, and feel are very important, I have the ability and drive to push through and get the work done. But I would always rather be painting.

Would you give up being an author for that profession or have you combined the best of both worlds?

I hope that I never have to give up my art. It will always be my first love.

How do you see yourself in ten years?

Ideally, I would love to see myself and my family freed up to travel and work with orphans and the persecuted Church in the third world.

Any final words for writers who dream of being published one day?

Some people say that one can either read or write. I disagree. I believe that if one wishes to write that they must also read. Read everything that there is to read about the entire process. I will not say to “never give up” or any other such platitudes. Instead, if you really dream of being published then make it happen and whatever your hands find to do, do it with all your might. Someone once said that if you do what you love, then you will never work one day in your life. I say nonsense. If you wish to do what you love, you must work to make that happen. And beyond that, I would also say that you should only write about that which you are passionate about. Write about things that matter and all of your efforts will be worth it.

CHAPTER ONE

MY SISTER

“She finally decided to protest the oppression of women by setting
herself on fire in a crowded square in northern Tehran on February 21, 1994. Her last cries were: ‘Death to tyranny! Long live liberty! Long live Iran!’”

ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2001, the world saw the seventh century mentality of fundamentalist Islam gain possession of twenty-first century technology. The results were catastrophic. The violent nature of Islam arrived on American soil—unforgettably and irrevocably. Many Americans, along with other Westerners, hadn’t thought much about Islam before then. September 11 changed all that, bringing Islam home to the twenty-first century Western world. Suddenly, Iran and Iraq didn’t seem so far away after all, and Westerners, especially we Americans, wanted to learn more about this faceless enemy who’d declared war on us in the most barbaric way imaginable. We found ourselves confronted with a deadly force that we’d thought lay half a world away and fourteen centuries in the past. Those terrorist bombings we’d heard of only on television had moved from a faraway Middle East to our own backyard. On September 11, what Islam represents became one of the most important questions facing the Western world, and our first experience with it left a bitter taste in many American mouths.

Parvin Darabi doesn’t just talk about the barbarity of radical Islam that Americans experienced that day—she’d lived it long before the Twin Towers fell. In this poignant and painful letter, she writes of her sister, Homa, who struggled mightily against the heavy hand of the Islamic government in Iran. Living as a woman carries a heavy price in Iran. Homa was willing to pay it. Now Parvin carries on, and she urges us all to ignore the peaceful rhetoric of Islam and focus instead on the violent reality of Islamic rule. What Homa Darabi experienced in Iran could one day come to the West if Islamofascist terrorism is not defeated. Homa’s story is a specific example of how an Islamic government works—and why it would never work in the West.

My Sister

My sister, Dr. Homa Darabi, was born in Tehran, Iran, in January 1940, two months premature, to Eshrat Dastyar, a child bride who at age thirteen had married Esmaeil Darabi. Homa was my older sister, my protector, and my role model. Homa had a life full of hope and promise that a tyrannical and fundamentalist Islamic system destroyed.

Indeed, my sister could never have imagined what lay ahead for her as she completed her elementary and high school education in Tehran. She then immediately entered the University of Tehran’s School of Medicine after passing the university’s entrance exam in 1959. It was a marvelous accomplishment and one that made our family proud. Homa was in the first 150 out of thousands of students who took the examination and became one of the three hundred who were accepted (the medical school’s capacity).

A feisty and spirited young woman, my sister became quite active in politics and hoped to bring human rights and equal status for women in Iran. Her dream was most evident during her days in high school and in her freshman year at the university. Yet her quest would not be easy. In 1960, as a result of her efforts, she was arrested and imprisoned for a while, during the students’ protests against the oppressive regime of the Shah. The regime was especially hostile towards students and youth who were beginning to demand more freedom of expression, assembly, and speech.

In 1963, my sister married her classmate, Manoochehr Keyhani, presently a prominent hematologist. Together they brought into this world two intelligent daughters.

Following the completion of her studies at the University of Tehran, Dr. Darabi practiced for two years in Bahmanier, a village in northern Iran, while her husband completed his military obligation as a physician in the Iranian health corps. In 1968, she and her husband passed the Education Council Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) examination and came to the United States to further their education. She took her residency in pediatrics and later specialized in psychiatry and then in child psychiatry and was licensed to practice medicine in the states of New Jersey, New York, and California. She became a naturalized citizen of the United States in the mid-1970s.

Due to pressures from her husband and family and her desire to give back to her native country, she returned to Iran in 1976 and was immediately accepted as a professor at the University of Tehran School of Medicine.

She was the first Iranian ever to pass the board in child psychiatry in the U.S. and was the driving force behind the establishment of the Psychiatric Clinic of Shahid Sahami in Tehran.

Although she was a strong supporter of the revolution, my sister opposed the establishment of an Islamic republic. Furthermore, when her party leader took advantage of the new Islamic guidelines and took a second wife, Homa was devastated and totally broke away from all politics. My sister then devoted her time to her profession as a medical doctor.

In 1990, due to her non-compliance with wearing the hijab (covering up of women), she was fired from her position as a professor at the School of Medicine.

Later, my sister was harassed in her practice for the same reason until finally, when life was made too difficult for her, she closed down her practice and became a full-time housewife for the first time in her life.

During her professional life my sister was under pressure from some parents of her younger patients to give the label of “mentally incapacitated” to many perfectly intelligent young girls so that they could be saved from the tortures of the zealots (150 strokes of a whip for things such as wearing makeup or lipstick). Having to label these young women truly broke my sister’s heart.

When a sixteen-year-old girl was shot to death in northern Tehran for wearing lipstick, my sister could no longer handle the guilt she felt about her former involvement in the Iranian Revolution. My sister felt Iran had been hijacked by the religious factions, and the way women were treated in Iran was unforgivable.… She wanted the world to know what was happening. She finally decided to protest the oppression of women by setting herself on fire in a crowded square in northern Tehran on February 21, 1994. Her last cries were:

Death to tyranny!
Long live liberty!
Long live Iran!

BUY THE BOOK

Join Joel Richardson, co-author of the nonfiction book Why We Left Islam: Former Muslims Speak Out (WND Books) as he virtually tours the blogosphere in May on their first virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book Promotion!

CHAPTER ONE

MY SISTER

“She finally decided to protest the oppression of women by setting
herself on fire in a crowded square in northern Tehran on February 21, 1994. Her last cries were: ‘Death to tyranny! Long live liberty! Long live Iran!’”

ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2001, the world saw the seventh century mentality of fundamentalist Islam gain possession of twenty-first century technology. The results were catastrophic. The violent nature of Islam arrived on American soil—unforgettably and irrevocably. Many Americans, along with other Westerners, hadn’t thought much about Islam before then. September 11 changed all that, bringing Islam home to the twenty-first century Western world. Suddenly, Iran and Iraq didn’t seem so far away after all, and Westerners, especially we Americans, wanted to learn more about this faceless enemy who’d declared war on us in the most barbaric way imaginable. We found ourselves confronted with a deadly force that we’d thought lay half a world away and fourteen centuries in the past. Those terrorist bombings we’d heard of only on television had moved from a faraway Middle East to our own backyard. On September 11, what Islam represents became one of the most important questions facing the Western world, and our first experience with it left a bitter taste in many American mouths.
Parvin Darabi doesn’t just talk about the barbarity of radical Islam that Americans experienced that day—she’d lived it long before the Twin Towers fell. In this poignant and painful letter, she writes of her sister, Homa, who struggled mightily against the heavy hand of the Islamic government in Iran. Living as a woman carries a heavy price in Iran. Homa was willing to pay it. Now Parvin carries on, and she urges us all to ignore the peaceful rhetoric of Islam and focus instead on the violent reality of Islamic rule. What Homa Darabi experienced in Iran could one day come to the West if Islamofascist terrorism is not defeated. Homa’s story is a specific example of how an Islamic government works—and why it would never work in the West.

My Sister

My sister, Dr. Homa Darabi, was born in Tehran, Iran, in January 1940, two months premature, to Eshrat Dastyar, a child bride who at age thirteen had married Esmaeil Darabi. Homa was my older sister, my protector, and my role model. Homa had a life full of hope and promise that a tyrannical and fundamentalist Islamic system destroyed.

Indeed, my sister could never have imagined what lay ahead for her as she completed her elementary and high school education in Tehran. She then immediately entered the University of Tehran’s School of Medicine after passing the university’s entrance exam in 1959. It was a marvelous accomplishment and one that made our family proud. Homa was in the first 150 out of thousands of students who took the examination and became one of the three hundred who were accepted (the medical school’s capacity).

A feisty and spirited young woman, my sister became quite active in politics and hoped to bring human rights and equal status for women in Iran. Her dream was most evident during her days in high school and in her freshman year at the university. Yet her quest would not be easy. In 1960, as a result of her efforts, she was arrested and imprisoned for a while, during the students’ protests against the oppressive regime of the Shah. The regime was especially hostile towards students and youth who were beginning to demand more freedom of expression, assembly, and speech.

In 1963, my sister married her classmate, Manoochehr Keyhani, presently a prominent hematologist. Together they brought into this world two intelligent daughters.

Following the completion of her studies at the University of Tehran, Dr. Darabi practiced for two years in Bahmanier, a village in northern Iran, while her husband completed his military obligation as a physician in the Iranian health corps. In 1968, she and her husband passed the Education Council Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) examination and came to the United States to further their education. She took her residency in pediatrics and later specialized in psychiatry and then in child psychiatry and was licensed to practice medicine in the states of New Jersey, New York, and California. She became a naturalized citizen of the United States in the mid-1970s.

Due to pressures from her husband and family and her desire to give back to her native country, she returned to Iran in 1976 and was immediately accepted as a professor at the University of Tehran School of Medicine.

She was the first Iranian ever to pass the board in child psychiatry in the U.S. and was the driving force behind the establishment of the Psychiatric Clinic of Shahid Sahami in Tehran.
Although she was a strong supporter of the revolution, my sister opposed the establishment of an Islamic republic. Furthermore, when her party leader took advantage of the new Islamic guidelines and took a second wife, Homa was devastated and totally broke away from all politics. My sister then devoted her time to her profession as a medical doctor.

In 1990, due to her non-compliance with wearing the hijab (covering up of women), she was fired from her position as a professor at the School of Medicine.

Later, my sister was harassed in her practice for the same reason until finally, when life was made too difficult for her, she closed down her practice and became a full-time housewife for the first time in her life.

During her professional life my sister was under pressure from some parents of her younger patients to give the label of “mentally incapacitated” to many perfectly intelligent young girls so that they could be saved from the tortures of the zealots (150 strokes of a whip for things such as wearing makeup or lipstick). Having to label these young women truly broke my sister’s heart.

When a sixteen-year-old girl was shot to death in northern Tehran for wearing lipstick, my sister could no longer handle the guilt she felt about her former involvement in the Iranian Revolution. My sister felt Iran had been hijacked by the religious factions, and the way women were treated in Iran was unforgivable.… She wanted the world to know what was happening. She finally decided to protest the oppression of women by setting herself on fire in a crowded square in northern Tehran on February 21, 1994. Her last cries were:

Death to tyranny!
Long live liberty!
Long live Iran!

*******

WHY WE LEFT ISLAM VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR ‘08 will officially begin on May 1, 2008 and will continue all month. If you would like to follow Joel’s tour in progress, visit http://www.virtualbooktours.wordpress.com/ in May. Leave a comment on his blog stops and become eligible to win a free copy at the end of her tour! One lucky winner will be announced on this tour page on May 31!
*******
Joel’s virtual book tour is brought to you by Pump Up Your Book Promotion Virtual Book Tours at http://www.pumpupyourbookpromotion.com/ and choreographed by Dorothy Thompson.