Today is a day full of goodies! First there is the book I am presenting: Lost in a Looking Glass, Book One in the Irv’s Odyssey series by Irving H. Podolsky. Additionally – there is an interview with Irving, and a giveaway. You can enter to win one of 2 copies of To the Light and Beyond in eBook form, and every entrant will be entered in the final grand prize drawing for 1 eBook copy of the Irv’s Odyssey trilogy which contains Lost in a Looking Glass, To the Light and Beyond and Seeking the Way Home. Entry instructions and link are at the end of the post.
But first, let me welcome Irving H. Podolsky to the Blog….
Thanks for being here today – how about you tell us about the revelations when writing the series, or those you had come to on the journey to being Irv? And you can read the answer HERE
And now – the Book!
To the Light and Beyond
Irving H. Podolsky
Irv’s Odyssey: Book Two
Mill City Press
ISBN: 978-1936780440
Paperback and eBook
Purchase Now: Amazon § Barnes & Noble
Stars: 4
About the Book:
Irv’s still employed at the mental hospital, a place where all the people who don’t “fit in” get jobs behind locked doors. It’s a crazy circus and Irv’s life is far from settling down. A free-loading porn stud and con man moves into our lad’s apartment, and the jerk won’t leave! It gets worse. Irv discovers the place where humanity hides it’s most shameful secret. And it’s not in the Buckhead Steak ‘n Brew where Irv becomes a salad boy/dishwasher. And it’s not at the Cloisters Restaurant where Irv get pushed into bussing tables while tripping on acid. And it’s not in Europe where he meets three people who change his life in ways he only read about in Sc-Fi novels and mystical books. Actually that “shameful secret” is no secret at all, yet only Irv wants to know it. Will our friend ever find his way back to Normal? Not yet.
Book Review:
Picking up where the first book left off, we find Irv in the middle of a dead end job, with a basic demeanor of the unfulfilled human. Of course, when you are still learning who you will be, and finding your way, the tolerance for monotony and unfulfilling jobs is incredibly low. Irv finds himself moving from one dead end job to the next, with the humor and self-awareness that punctuates his narrative keeping the reader entertained. A houseguest from hell, and the only potential for change leads Irv to plan a trip to Europe, a grand tour reminiscent of those in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for the upper classes.
This book was far more introspective and loaded with a level of self-doubt alternating with grandiose proclamations that are expected from the young. While he is more decisive in many ways, he is still very much lost and searching for some sort of guidepost that will help him to define his view of the world. Liberally laced with experiences and memories that may be influenced or caused by his many acid trips, this story has more bite, as Irv confronts many of his own personal demons with the help of his friendship with a couple he met in his travels.
Yet again, he returns to the food service industry and starts waiting tables, another dead end job that feels more stopgap than progression with the bits of new insight he has gained. A good fit into the series, this gives a hint of the issues that Irv struggles with, and further delves into the changes that he is experiencing with an injection of humor that keeps the deeper and darker revelations just this side of morose.
I received an eBook copy from the author for purpose of honest review as a part of the Indie Authors Rock promotion at I am, Indeed. I was not compensated for this review, and all conclusions are my own responsibility.
About the Author:
Who’s Irving H. Podolsky? He’s a young man who hates his name, and he thinks his parents unfairly gave it to him. They didn’t. This author did. You see, outside the trilogy of 
Irv’s Odyssey and also Irving’s blog, there is no Irving H. Podolsky. Irv doesn’t know that though, and it’s best for all that we keep the secret to ourselves.
If you searched this author’s true identity, you’d find him laced through 23 consecutive pages of Google. That’s because he has earned nineteen film nominations and awards, including two Emmys. He is also a member of the Executive Board within his category branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and he has worked on every studio lot in Los Angeles in television and feature films.
The author’s personal life? He resides in an old house in a quaint neighborhood in Southern California. He loves vintage drums and antiques. Consequently, he has many. His wife collects and sells them. (Not drums, furniture.) He also enjoys fast sports cars so he owns two. The second is on its way to becoming vintage, which you might apply to this writer. But like Peter Pan, this writer refuses to grow old, and accordingly, Irv won’t either. Irving is perpetually twenty-five. So when the lad needs advice, he asks his alter ego, the creator of his thoughts.
Other than birthing Irv’s soul, this author leaves his character pretty much alone. Irving now has his own friends and Google links. You can contact Irv at IrvsOdyssey.com. Or check out his blog: IrvsOdysseyBlog.com. He will be happy to hear from you and respond as best as he can.
And now – what can you win? Well, for entering this Rafflecopter here, you can be one of 2 lucky winners of an eBook copy of To the Light and Beyond AND be entered into the grand prize drawing to win the one eBook copy of the trilogy. Pretty groovy – huh?
I am, Indeed 
Intrigued.