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Books - Entertainment Today, Los Angeles
Written by BRAD SCHREIBER
Thursday, June 05, 2008

Book Expo America: My Friends And Associates

You can learn about a person by what that person does and what that person says. But you can also learn a lot about a journalist by the company he keeps.

One of the great rewards in writing arts journalism, it seems, is to praise those who you admire with complimentary analysis. When the journalist has some kind of direct relationship with the subject, then it is obligatory to use the term, “full disclosure.”

While much of this column is generally reviewing, the time has come to simply honor good and talented friends and professional associates, so many of whom I ran into last weekend at the Book Expo America at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Then there is Brad Olsen (www.cccpublishing.com), publisher, author and the foremost expert on sacred sites around the world, who I in fact met years ago walking down a crowded BEA aisle. His second edition of Sacred Places North America: 108 Destinations is out and features not only his insights on little known places of pilgrimage and vision quests but his own photography and maps. Brad introduced me to another explorer of things both arcane and mystical, David Hatcher Childress whose World Explorers Club (www.wexclub.com) details his global journeys. Childress’ books can be found at Adventures Unlimited Press (www.adventuresunlimitedpress.com), along with books on everything from ancient science and conspiracy and history to UFOs and Tesla technology.

Gore Vidal said, “Every time a friend of mine succeeds, a little something inside of me dies.” I appreciate Vidal’s honesty and his work, but every time a friend of mine succeeds, without fostering a conflict of interest, I want to tell the world.

Click here to read an excerpt of Sacred Places Europe about the Boyne Valley on a popular sacred sites website.

Shortly after hearing news that the Chicago Field Museum and the J. Paul Getty Villa Museum bookstores began to carry titles from the Sacred Places: 108 Destinations series, author Karen Tate received news that the Joseph Campbell Foundation bookstore was also planning to carry her book. Below is their exuberant recommendation:

"I congratulate you on the concept, Karen, and on its execution. Pilgrimage is a neglected aspect of most contemporary Western religions; not only are you restoring that concept, but you've taken the Goddess out of the hallowed halls of academia, out of the abstract realms of the psyche, to locate Her in the physical world. Your book is well written, well-researched, and is a resource I'll be consulting on a regular basis. What's more, your work is a marvelous manifestation of what Joseph Campbell intends when he advises us to 'Follow your bliss.' Thank you for catching that spark and spreading the vision."

Metaphorically Yours,
Stephen Gerringer
Joseph Campbell Foundation

On the Sacred Places series: "Sacred Places (108 Destinations), published by the Consortium of Collective Consciousness in San Francisco, is part of a series of travel guides focusing on spiritual journeys. "People who frequently travel are looking for a little more in their journeys, rather than sitting around the pools sipping mai tais," said founder Brad Olsen. His market research showed that most travelers will buy 2.4 travel books per vacation: an overall travel guide and a book that focuses on art or history or some other niche. "That means they buy their 'Lonely Planet' or 'Let's Go' and then something else. That's who we're targeting," he said." —Los Angeles Times (Feb. 11th, 2006)