Books
Garbage Man Turned Novelist Debuts Psychological Thriller “The Life That Wasn’t” at 53
Balle Balle Radio™ Entertainment Desk
Damian Bednar has published his first novel, "The Life That Wasn’t: A Damon Brenner Story," a psychological thriller built around a man leading a double life: devoted father by day, and by night, host to a violent alter ego who fantasizes about killing the people who stress him out. Newman Springs Publishing released the book, and Studio CarryOnHarry received the announcement this week.
The novel centers on Damon Brenner, a family man weighed down by work, bills and domestic obligation, whose coping mechanism is an imagined second self: a psychopathic killer who exists only in his mind as an outlet. The narrative examines the central question of psychological fragmentation: when one version of yourself becomes dominant, do the two halves merge, does one cease to exist, or did a boundary between them ever truly exist?
Bednar is 53 and a divorced father of two daughters, raising them alone since 2010. He wrote the book, his debut, in the hours he could carve out around a full-time job as a garbage man, pursuing a long-standing ambition to write professionally. In comments distributed with the release, Bednar said the novel grew out of his own observations of the gap between the self people present publicly and the self that surfaces in private, and that he wanted to push that tension toward a breaking point most people avoid examining in themselves.
The book is categorized under psychology-themed fiction and is available through Newman Springs Publishing’s site as well as Amazon, Apple Books, Google Play and Barnes & Noble, according to the announcement.
Studio CarryOnHarry is drawn to the premise less for its shock value than for the biography behind it: a debut novelist writing his first book at 53, between shifts, about exactly the kind of pressure he’s lived with directly as a single parent for over a decade. That’s a more interesting story than the thriller trope alone.
Read more People’s Choice stories on Studio CarryOnHarry. Reporting via Live News Vault.
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A new book built around the rediscovered memoir of Adelaide Herrmann, the Victorian-era performer billed as "the Queen of Magic," launches November 2 at Lincoln Center, according to the announcement.
Herrmann, who lived from 1853 to 1932, rose to prominence as a magician following her husband Alexander Herrmann’s unexpected passing, a famed illusionist known onstage as Herrmann the Great. She took over his show and built her own career as a headlining act in American vaudeville at a time when the stage was overwhelmingly dominated by men, performing for decades afterward. Her memoir, titled "Sixty-Five Years of Magic," had been lost for decades before researcher and performer BOOMSKY uncovered and published it in 2011, restoring a firsthand account of Herrmann’s career in her own words.
The November 2 event described in the announcement is billed as a livestreamed launch party built around the book, framed as a tribute to Herrmann’s career. The venue and date follow a related program earlier this year: a separate tribute billed as "Homage to Adelaide Herrmann" was staged April 17 at Lincoln Center’s Bruno Walter Auditorium at the New York Public Library, suggesting sustained interest in her story from within the magic community over the course of 2026.
Herrmann’s resurfacing in print also arrives alongside renewed attention to her husband’s legacy — a 2026 biography, "Herrmann the Great: A Journey through Media" by Michael Cantor, examines Alexander Herrmann’s stage persona and cultural influence through period newsprint coverage, though it is a separate project from the Adelaide Herrmann book.
Studio CarryOnHarry finds the real story here less about the launch event than about the memoir itself: a firsthand account from one of the first women to headline American vaudeville, lost for nearly 80 years before it saw print. That’s worth more attention than a single launch date.
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Books
Economist Who Converted to Christianity at 84 Publishes Book Applying Analytical Rigor to Faith
Balle Balle Radio™ Entertainment Desk
An economics professor who taught for thirty-three years and experienced a conversion to Christianity at 84 has released his new work, "Christianity Today," via Christian Faith Publishing.
According to the announcement, the book applies the kind of analytical framework Orr used in his academic career to questions of modern faith, examining Christianity’s strengths and what the announcement describes as its shortcomings, while also addressing Judaism and Islam for comparative context. The announcement states Orr maintains an assessment of Jesus Christ consistent with biblical teaching throughout.
Orr holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in economics from the University of Toronto and the University of Wisconsin. Born in Canada, he taught at three universities over his career: two years in Canada, five in Florida, and twenty-six in California, according to the announcement. His conversion to Christianity came late in life, at 84, a turning point the announcement says redirected his focus toward writing about faith.
The book’s major themes, per the announcement, include fear, doubt, sexuality, discrimination, political engagement, challenges facing church institutions, and eschatology. The publisher describes Orr’s approach as applying a form of cost-benefit analysis to the question of Christian commitment itself, covering what the announcement calls candid discussion of institutional failures within churches alongside doctrinal questions.
"After spending my entire career analyzing economic systems," Orr said in the announcement, "I recognized that faith itself deserves the same rigorous, honest scrutiny. This book represents my attempt to examine Christianity with both intellectual integrity and genuine reverence for its transformative power."
"Christianity Today" is available through bookstores, the Apple iTunes Store, Amazon, Google Play, and Barnes and Noble.
Studio CarryOnHarry finds the more interesting story here less the book itself than the author: a career spent in economics departments, followed by a conversion in his mid-80s that produced a full-length theological work. That’s an unusual arc worth noting on its own terms.
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