This Changes My Family and My Life Forever, by Sally Ember

BLURB  

Vol. II, This Changes My Family and My Life Forever: 

This Changes My Family and My Life Forever is the story of the first five years After Public Contact with the Many Worlds Collective (2013-2018), "The Transition" to full membership for

Earth. Many of the changes, reactions, struggles and circumstances accompanying these years are related from the points of view of the main character, Dr. Clara Branon's, adult son and his cousins as well as some of those cousins' children. One of Clara's nephews in particular, Moran Ackerman, who becomes Chief of the Psi-Warriors and all OverSeers, tells of his experiences and training in assuming those roles for Earth after having been a Rabbi and teacher of middle school. TCMF&MLF's content is edited/curated and also partly narrated by Esperanza Enlaces, Clara's Chief Media Contact, a contemporary of Clara's son, so some of Espe's story and many parts of Clara's are included as well.

Available on Smashwords!

Review:

Clara Ackerman Branon is back, and earth's transition continues.

I actually read Vol I and Vol II back to back, so for me lit was like I'm reading one continuous book. I think though that one would need to read Vol I really to fully understand what is going to happen. 

In this volume, we get introduces more to Clara's family (they are a large family!) who all get interviewed about how they experienced Clara's first contact with the aliens and earth's transition (when the news first broke, what changed for them, any difficulties, what are they planning for the future). One of the main narrator is Clara's nephew Moran, a Rabbi before transition, who will now become the Chief in the fight against those who resist and fight the transition. There is also more info about Clara, snippets about her life from young woman to past transition, we learn about her jobs, relationships with both man and woman and in communes, what does she listen to, read etc. Though I'm still confused about her relationship with her lover / not lover Epifanio - but hey, more volumes are to come. 

One thing I like very much about the Spanners Series is the message that we can all live together in peace, learn from each other, be there for each other. All differences (religious, racial, gender, and even between species and inhabitants of other planets) are overcome. I mean, how cool would that be to be able to communicate with animals - and not in a jokey, Eddie Murphy Dr Dolitle kind of way, but accept them and their needs / interests as equal to humans. And those people who resist change (yes, there will always be those, even if it is clear that the change is for the better) will not be eliminated, but gently persuaded to recognise at what is best for them. 

Another thing I really like is the cover artwork and I hope the author doesn't change the cover art throughout the series, that would be a shame. It's pretty , imaginative. once you read the first few chapters and about the first encounter with 'The Band', have a look at the cover again and you will go 'ahhhh'.

 I very much enjoyed this series and the somewhat unusual structure of the book with interview. It is blurring the lines between fiction and non-fiction. One of the great pluses for me was that abbreviations or foreign language used (one of the main characters is Hispanic) are always explained in brackets straight away. Because of the non-fiction style, it does not halt the flow of the story at all, but is in fact very helpful. On the minus side, as there are several of Clara's relatives are interviewed, it can sometimes be a bit 'samey' at some stage. But the writing is easy to read, so it is not a big deal and I found myself skipping over a few pages. 

A satisfying continuation from Volume I - let's see what's coming up in the next volume. ~ Peggy Farooqi

 

For more on Sally Ember:

Sally Ember has been passionate about writing since she

was nine years old. She’s won prizes for her poetry, stories, 

songs and plays. She began meditation in her teens. Now, 

Sally delights fans of paranormal and romance by blurring 

the lines between fact and fiction in a multiverse of multiple

 timelines, often including exciting elements of utopian 

science fiction and Buddhism. Born Jewish on the cusp of 

Leo and Virgo, Sally's life has been infused with change. 

Currently, she lives alone and meditates, writes, swims, 

reads and plays piano in northern California.