The Lighthouse Press, LLC

Ian Howard

Simply put, Ian Howard’s biography, Gotta Live, is a testament of hope and inspiration. For Howard’s book is not just a story of victory over the trials of life, but rather it is a story of victory over death—three times.

Twice stricken with cancer and the deadly brain disease encephalitis, Ian Howard faced nearly insurmountable suffering during a painful struggle for life. Facing an illness that ravages its victims until death is a blessed relief, he looked for cures that were said to be impossible and his triumph was purchased with an ironclad determination to survive through exercise, nutrition and most importantly—positive attitude.

A true Champion, Ian Howard has turned adversity into advantage and almost certain defeat into victory. He is a Dannon Yogurt Fitness Award Winner, a World Record Holder in the Vertical Mile, been featured in , and was a published contributor to magazines such as Inside Kung Fu, Natural Muscle, Iron Man and Shotgun News.

Howard has also served as a Fitness Consultant to the Stars and was certified as a Personal Trainer through the National Endurance and Sports Trainers Association (NESTA). He managed in professional wrestling and throughout the 80s was a fitness model appearing in various publications.

As an actor, Ian Howard appeared (uncredited) in three episodes of the television series Miami Vice and in Johnny Depp’s second movie, Private Resorts. In addition he has been a contributor to numerous television news programs and newspaper/magazine articles.

Along with his wife Wendy and their two children, Ian Howard resides in Sarasota, Florida.

Reviews and Critial Acclaim

I am truly impressed with the way you have handled the adversity and trials in your life. Your positive attitude and determination to overcome are truly an inspiration.

—Roger Staubach
Former Dallas Cowboy football
quarterback corresponding with author

Ian...wow! I was blown away by your letter, what you have been through, and what you have accomplished & the book sounds like a real winner.

—Steve Levy
ESPN

I read with interest your thoughts on your forthcoming book, Mr. Howard. You have a remarkable story.

—Dick Clark
Producer

I was extremely impressed and touched by the manner in which you are handling the tragic consequences of your illness. You are obviously a remarkably brave person.

—Calvin Klein

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Gotta Live

Archived News

Rising Star Recounts Overcoming Dreaded Diseases Three Times
Fox News Interview

Clifford Pickover

After receiving his Ph.D. from Yale University’s Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry Clifford Pickover went on to author over thirty highly acclaimed books that have been translated in ten languages.

His areas of interests range far and wide, addressing computers, creativity, religion, art, mathematics, black holes, human behavior and intelligence, time travel, alien life and science fiction.

A prolific inventor with dozens of patents, Pickover is an IBM Research Staff Member as well as puzzle contributor to magazines geared to children and adults. Additionally he is either a contributor, associate editor or editorial board member for various journals, including: Discover Magazine (Brain-Boggler Columnist), Computers and Graphics (Associate Editor), Computers in Physics (Associate Editor), Theta—Math (Associate Editor), Odyssey (Editorial Board), Idealistic Studies—Philosophy (Editorial Board), Leonardo—Art and Technology (Editorial Board), Speculations in Science and Technology (Editorial Board) and YLEM—Artists using Science and Technology (Editorial Board).

Pickover’s recent books include The Paradox of God and the Science of Omniscience, The Loom of God, Surfing through Hyperspace, Time: A Traveler’s Guide, Dreaming the Future, Keys to Infinity, Wonders of Numbers, The Mathematics of Oz, and four science-fiction novels in a “Neoreality” series published by The Lighthouse Press, Inc., Liquid Earth, The Lobotomy Club, Sushi Never Sleeps, and Egg Drop Soup.

Reviews and Critial Acclaim

Pickover inspires a new generation of da Vincis to build unknown flying machines and create new Mona Lisas.

—Christian Science Monitor

I can’t imagine anybody whose mind won’t be stretched by Surfing through Hyperspace.

—Arthur C. Clarke

Pickover is van Leeuwenhoek’s 20th century equivalent.

—OMNI

Dr. Pickover has published nearly a book a year in which he stretches the limits of computers, art, and thought.

—Los Angeles Times

Bucky Fuller thought big, Arthur C. Clarke thinks big, but Cliff Pickover outdoes them both.

—WIRED

Add two doses of Isaac Asimov, and one dose each of Martin Gardner and Carl Sagan, and you get Clifford Pickover, one of the most entertaining and thought provoking writers of our time.

—Michael Shermer, Editor-in-Chief
Skeptic magazine

In recent years, Pickover has taken up the helm once worn by Isaac Asimov as the most compelling popular explainer of cutting-edge scientific ideas.

—In Pittsburgh

Run, leap, scurry and scoot to your nearest bookstore and get Pickover’s books. Every now and then, a book comes along that reminds us what computers are all about—not spreadsheets and databases, but expansion of the mind and soul.

—BYTE

Clifford Pickover is many things—scientist, scholar, author, editor, and visionary...

—GAMES

Pickover just seems to exist in more dimensions than the rest of us.

—Ian Stewart
Scientific American

A perpetual idea machine, Clifford Pickover is one of the most creative, original thinkers in the world today.

—Journal of Recreational Mathematics

The Lighthouse Press, Inc. Imprint

Liquid Earth
The Lobotomy Club
Sushi Never Sleeps
Egg Drop Soup

Mel Savoie

Unlike many of the mainstream espionage/crime and thriller authors, Mel Savoie did not seek out and interview military veterans, investigators or intelligence officers experienced in foreign countries. For that sort of insider information Savoie looked no further than his own mirror.

A twenty-year Air Force veteran, Savoie served in the United States, North Africa and Korea. As an officer in the USAF Office of Special Investigations, he was a Special Agent conducting criminal, counterintelligence, and security investigations at home and abroad. In his capacity as a Special Agent, Savoie wrote and edited literally hundreds of investigative reports and biographical sketches as well as contributed his expertise to numerous USAF publications.

His experience extended well beyond military service. Following his retirement from the Air Force, he was appointed as Chief of Security for the DC Public Library System and advanced to Security Chief for the Federal Reserve in DC.

Holding a B.A. with honors from the University of Maryland, he was married and the father of two sons.

Mel Savoie fought a lengthy bout with illness and completed four novels prior to his passing in 2005.

The Lighthouse Press, Inc. Imprint

Pieces of Sand
The Pracktal Affair
Nobody Goes to the Moon Anymore

Mary Thompson

Mary Thompson’s involvement in New York City public relations firms spurred her work on how words affect our thoughts, feelings, and actions. Under leading Semanticists S. I. Hayakawa and Neil Postman, Thompson did postgraduate work at New York University. She holds an M.A. in Creative Writing, a certification as a teacher of Secondary English, and completed course work in Administration in Higher Education—all with honors.

Through local elections and civic group volunteer work, Thompson experienced the “verbal trench warfare” of the academic and political battlefields. She is convinced of a wide-spread need for individual “word-survival self-defense” education that teaches “word functions.”

Believing that word-specific skills were of paramount importance, she taught at The New Lincoln School in New York City, and then at Dallas’ Southern Methodist University, where her efforts were recognized with numerous awards.

Word-survival skills, she found, not only helped students with their courses, but also proved invaluable to their personal lives, helping them negotiate, re-define terms, rid themselves of harmful labels, and cope with verbal abuse or misleading “razzle dazzle.”

Thompson holds that the absence of semantic know-how is an appalling failure of education. She cites as an example the lack of any reference to semantics as the important element in her own undergrad work when she was selected to read for honors in her major of psychology.

Mary Thompson has long focused on the very skills that everyone needs—whether signing contracts, entering marriage, rearing families or coping with coworkers. With the publication of B.S. Detecting, the benefit of how words affect choices, concerns and relationships is knowledge that she now readily shares.

The Lighthouse Press, Inc. Imprint

B.S. Detecting

Dionne Warwick

Simply put, Dionne Warwick is an international legend. With nearly sixty charted hits since 1962’s “Don’t Make Me Over,” she has amassed a worldwide audience who love her.

Receiving her first Grammy Award in 1968 (for the classic, “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?”) she was the first African-American solo female artist of her generation to win the prestigious award for Best Contemporary Female Vocal Performance. Until Warwick this honor had been bestowed upon only one other female African-American legend; Ella Fitzgerald.

Dionne Warwick preceded the mainstream success of some of her peers by becoming the first such artist to rack up a dozen consecutive Top 100 hit singles from 1963 to 1966.

Her performance at the Olympia Theater in Paris, during a 1963 concert starring the legendary Marlene Dietrich, rocketed her to international stardom. While establishing herself as a major force in American contemporary music, Warwick was also gaining popularity with European audiences. Hits like, “Anyone Who Had A Heart” and, “Walk On By” brought successively higher visibility and ultimately world-wide recognition. By 1968 she became the first African-American female performer to appear before the Queen of England in a Royal Command Performance. Since then, Warwick has performed before numerous kings, queens, presidents, and heads of state.

Her recordings of songs like, “A House Is Not A home,” “Alfie,” “(Theme From) The Valley of The Dolls,” and, “The April Fools” were pioneering in popularizing classic movie themes by female artists. In 1968 Warwick made her film debut in the movie, Slaves. Following Lena Horne, this was only the second time that a contemporary African-American female recording artist achieved such a goal.

In recent years, Warwick’s efforts have focused on leading the music industry in the fight against AIDS. Her Grammy-winning, chart topping, single, “That’s What Friends Are For,” lead the way by raising literally millions of dollars for AIDS research. Throughout the world, Warwick has devoted countless hours to a wide range of humanitarian causes, serving as the U.S. Ambassador for Health throughout the 80s. On October 16, 2002 she was named a global Ambassador for the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), based in Rome, Italy. Warwick has spearheaded the long overdue development and production of a history book that will detail African and African-American history for use in schools, libraries, and bookstores throughout the world. She continues her work as a socially conscious and concerned global citizen.

With a legacy of accomplishments and achievements, Dionne Warwick proudly celebrated her 40th year in the recording industry with the 2003 release of CD composed of duets entitled My Friends And Me. Warwick said that the album traces its roots to the very earliest years of her musical career.

That career began during her childhood years in East Orange, New Jersey, when singing in church. Occasionally she sang as a soloist and fill-in voice for the renowned Drinkard Singers, a group comprised of her mother Lee along with her aunts and uncles. During her teens, Warwick and sister Dee Dee started their own gospel group, The Gospelaires. It was while visiting the Drinkard Singers at the famed Apollo Theater in Harlem that Warwick was asked to sing backup during a session for saxophonist Sam “The Man” Taylor. In February 1998, The Apollo Theater paid tribute to Warwick in a special event highlighting her constant support for the venue and her work as a music trailblazer.

While attending The Hartt College Of Music in Hartford, Connecticut, Warwick began making trips to do regular session work in New York. She sang behind many of the biggest starts of the 1960’s including Dinah Washington, Brook Benton, Chuck Jackson, and Solomon Burke to name a few. Once Burt Bacharach, composer, arranger, and producer heard her singing during a session for The Drifters, he asked her to sing on demos of songs he was writing with new partner Hal David. In 1962, Bacharach & David presented one such demo to Scepter Records. The label President, Florence Greenberg, did not want the song; she did, however, want the voice and Dionne began a hit-filled, twelve-year, association with the New York label.

In all, Dionne, Burt, and Hal racked up thirty hit singles, and close to twenty best-selling albums during their first decade together. Songs like, “Do You Know The Way To San Jose,” “Message To Michael,” “This Girl’s In Love With You,” “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again,” and “Reach Out For Me,” established Dionne Warwick as a consummate artist and performer. Known as the artist who “bridged the gap,” Dionne’s soulful blend of pop, gospel and R&B music transcended race, culture, and musical boundaries.

In 1970, Warwick received her second Grammy Award for the best-selling album, I’ll Never Fall In Love Again and her second decade of hits began by her signing with Warner Brothers Records. Warwick recorded half-a-dozen albums, working with top producers like Thom Bell, Holland-Dozier-Holland, Jerry Ragavoy, Steve Barri, and Michael Omartian. In 1974 she hit the top of the charts for the first time with, “Then Came You,” a million-selling duet with The Spinners. Three years later, she teamed up with Isaac Hayes for the highly successful World Tour, A Man And A Woman.

In 1976, fresh from earning a Master’s Degree in Music from her alma mater (The Hartt College of Music), Warwick signed with Arista Records, beginning a third decade of hit-making. Label-mate Barry Manilow produced her first Platinum-selling album, Dionne. The album included these back-to-back hits; “I’ll Never Love This Way Again,” and “Déjà Vu.” Both recordings earned Grammy Awards, making her the first female artist to win the Best Female Pop, and Best Female R&B Performance awards. Hot on the heels of her phenomenal success, Warwick began her first stint as host for the highly successful television show, Solid Gold.

Further milestones marked Warwick’s tenure with Arista: Her 1982 album, Heartbreaker, co-produced by Barry Gibb and The Bee Gees, became an international chart-topper. In 1985, she reunited with producer Burt Bacharach, and longtime friends Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder, and Elton John to record the classic, “That’s What Friends Are For.” Profits from the sale of that song were donated to the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR). In 1990 she joined forces with a number of Arista label-mates to raise over $2.5 Million for various AIDS organizations during the star-studded, That’s What Friends Are For Benefit at New York’s Radio City Music Hall.

Warwick’s album, Friends, achieved Gold status. Throughout the 80s she collaborated with many of her musical peers, including Johnny Mathis, Smokey Robinson, Luther Vandross and others. Warwick worked with Stevie Wonder as music coordinator for the film and Academy Award winning soundtrack album, The Woman in Red. She was one of the key participants in the all-star charity single, “We Are The World,” and in 1984 she performed at Live Aid.

In addition to co-hosting and helping to launch, The Soul Train Music Awards, she also starred in her own show, Dionne And Friends. She was co-executive producer of, Celebrate The Soul Of American Music, which honored and recognized many of her fellow musical pioneers. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Warwick toured extensively with Burt Bacharach. The show won rave reviews from fans and press alike for reinforcing the timeless musical legacy of the Bacharach, David and Warwick team. Her recent musical achievements have included performances as part of the National Symphony With The Divas, and, in Tokyo, performances with The National Opera Company of Japan; Yes, Warwick even sings classical music.

Warwick’s most recent activities have included the creation of Carr/Todd/Warwick Production, Inc. The goal of the organization is to produce television and film projects. For the past fifteen years she has also worked tirelessly as the co-founder of the Dionne Warwick Design Group, Inc. With partner Bruce Garrick, Warwick has been responsible for designing numerous international projects ranging from private estates to world-class hotels which, she notes, are, “all affordable!” In 2002 Warwick was featured on a Home & Garden Network show highlighting the Palm Desert home designed by her and her partner Bruce.

Warwick now divides her time between Brazil and the United States, and has made the design of her Brazilian home a special project. (Her final album for Arista was the critically acclaimed, Aquarela Do Brasil (Watercolor of Brazil) that showcased her long-term love affair with the people and music of Brazil.)

Not content with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Warwick continues work with various organizations dedicated to empowering and inspiring others. In 1997 she was awarded the Luminary Award by the American Society of Young Musicians. That same year she joined General Colin Powell in celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Best Friends Program, an abstinence and character-building program for young women. Dionne’s East Orange New Jersey Elementary School, Lincoln Elementary, honored her by renaming it, “The Dionne Warwick Institute of Economics and Entrepreneurship.” Displaying her own business skills, Warwick reactivated her skin care regimen and fragrance in 2003.

In early 1998, the National Association of Record Merchandisers (NARM) gave Warwick the Chairman’s Award for Sustained Creative Achievement. In November 2001, the History Makers Organization of Chicago named her, “History Maker.” 2002 was a special year for Warwick; she was honored by the American Red Ribbon AIDS Foundation; in October she was named FAO Ambassador of the United Nations; in December she was honored by The Recording Academy with the 2002 New York Chapter’s Heroes Award and she appeared (for the fourth time) on the Vatican’s Christmas Concert. In 2003, she received a lifetime achievement award from the R&B Foundation, and she was selected as one of the 2003 Top Faces of Black History.

As she looks forward to another decade of great music, Dionne Warwick says that she still has some important personal goals; “As I’ve said over the years, I still want the Tony, Oscar, and Emmy!” Nothing seems impossible to Warwick, a woman who has inspired and empowered millions through her music, her performances and her work as a humanitarian. In a recent interview she reflected on the words imparted to her by her grandfather; “If you think it, you can do it!” With a life of accomplishment and achievement, Dionne Warwick can proudly say that she has always believed in and lived by those words of wisdom.

Dionne Warwick’s first book, My Point of View is a collection of, “pearls of wisdom” that she has gathered through the years. She provides her thoughts and wisdom on various subjects, all highlighted by personal and rare photographs of her journey.

The Lighthouse Press is pleased and honored to be the exclusive U.S. distributor for her book.

The Lighthouse Press, Inc. Distribution

My Point of View

Robin Westmiller

Robin C. Westmiller says she became interested in journalism when she realized that a press pass was carte blanche for learning first-hand what others experience only in second-hand sound bites. However, it was her love affair with the college radio station at the University of Missouri-Columbia that prompted a change in majors to broadcasting during her freshman year. She went on to Syracuse University and worked at numerous radio stations, including WELV in her hometown of Ellenville, New York.

Westmiller’s articles have appeared in newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times, Daily News and Ventura Star Press. Her work has been featured in magazines such as Healthy Living, The Writer’s Connection, Westlake Magazine, Conejo Valley Magazine and PEN. A frequent guest on KCLU’s broadcast of NPR’s syndicated radio program Beyond Words, Westmiller now concentrates on writing novels.

Writing under the pen name of Raven West, she drew upon her interest in journalism as well as her background in broadcasting to create her first novel, Red Wine For Breakfast. She has since written a second novel, First Class Male.

The Lighthouse Press, Inc. Imprint

Red Wine For Breakfast
First Class Male