Kindle Edition Amazon Taking It With You Taking it With You Category:  Inspirational Publisher: Continuum Australia ISBN-10:  0980828848 Type: Fiction Pages: 204 Copyright: Nov 21, 2012 ISBN-13: 9780980828849 A prophecy that promises a free Tibet and a dying woman who vows to leave her vast fortune to herself, to her reincarnation. My latest book is 'Taking it With You' - it has been inspired by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people and it has taken 12 years to bring it to print. It is a delightful west tries to buy east story. Integral to the plot is a prophecy that promises a Free Tibet: 'When the incarnation of the Dakini marked by the tear of the dragon is found by her mirror the chains of the dragon will melt from the land of snows." 23 out of 23 five star ratings on Amazon. I hope you enjoy it. Excerpt "After all, it is no more surprising to be born twice, than it is to be born once.” ~ Voltaire Chapter 1 The sound of the clock steals into Faith McCormack’s awareness, robbing focus from the numbers that cascade across an impressive bank of computer screens. Concentration broken, Faith promptly assumes the exhausted posture that she knows too well. Bracing her elbows on the polished mahogany of the desk she slumps forward. The palms of her hands support her head. Without thinking she rubs her palms into her tired eyes. Suddenly she snaps upright. Bugger! Bugger! Bugger! She stares at the smudged make-up on her hands. The exorbitantly expensive cosmetics no longer conceal the unwelcome black bags that lurk below her green irises. Double bugger! The damage already done, she resumes her position. Faith takes a precious moment, to just stare into the nothingness behind her eyelids. The only sound is the clock, TICK, TICK, TICK, TICK, slow and steady, relentless. “Every tick is a tiny debit against one’s lifespan, correction, my lifespan.” God, how morbid. Where did that come from? Faith has no time for this kind of thinking and the full irony of that is not wasted. “When did I ever have time?” she wonders. When Faith lifts her head she sees the clock, her clock, her trophy. It was the pièce de résistance of an office that looked down on the glass ceiling. No other woman had reached the rarified heights that Faith McCormack had. The clock is an exact replica of the clock that dominates the largest open outcry trading floor in the world. Just as the clock dominates the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, so Faith dominates commodity trading in currencies, oil and of course her shiny favorite, gold. The second hand moves brazenly towards the twelve, unaware of the chaos, semi-organized chaos, that it is about to unleash many floors below. The first chime sends Faith back 18 years earlier. On the trading floor a young Faith stops trying to adjust the bright silk jacket that is too tight and looks up at the chiming clock. Raven-sized carnivorous butterflies peck at the lining of her stomach but she is ready to start making her fortune, more than ready. She would grasp this opportunity with both hands, her feet and any other part of her anatomy that was required. Faith had vowed that she would never, ever, be poor again, never. Faith would die before going back to the streets. Being destitute in America was soul destroying and, in Chicago, it was also freezing. In Faith’s darkest and almost final hour she had seen the light, had been blinded by it, temporarily. To this day she did not know why she had looked up from the poised pile of sleeping pills held in her icy hand. As she lifted her eyes, the sun had burst through the clouds. The polished glass of the Mercantile reflected and magnified the golden rays searing Faith’s being. The flash of light broke the spell of suicide woven by the ghosts of a painful past. A deep rage was sparked within her and Faith was transformed from victim to predator. The market had called her and she had responded. She could not explain it and had never tried. Before the echo of the last chime fades Faith looks eagerly, and somewhat naively, around for trading opportunities. Of course, as a newbie, she starts at the bottom of the pit, the quietest part of the pit, the part of the pit furthest from easy action. Trading pits are aptly named. They are a cesspool of testosterone, cigarette smoke, foul BO and fouler language. The gold pit is the largest pit at the Mercantile, holding over 200 traders, but it is not buzzing that fateful morning. Desperate to start her career, Faith hustles and shouts tirelessly in a vain attempt to make her first trade, two whole contracts. “God, what a joke”, she thinks. Nervous about two contracts, but it was a lot back then and she hadn’t eaten for days. Faith was hungrier than anyone else in the pit. Being new is always difficult. In this environment, populated by a pack of part hyena alpha males, it is also meant to be humiliating. There was no need for a glass ceiling on the trading floors back then. Few females were brave or stupid enough to walk through that revolving entrance door and those that did left so quickly that they didn’t have to push on the way out; it was still spinning from the way in. Faith is studiously ignored by the other traders. Well, that is not strictly true; her tits were not being ignored nor was her ass or the front of her ass. There were more comments being swapped about Faith than contracts being traded. The remarks were loud, crass and made mainly for the benefit of fellow buffoons. Faith had heard worse, or equal anyway, so it didn’t fuss her too much, but she was getting pissed off with the fact that with their eyes glued to her chest they wouldn’t meet her eyes to make a trade. “Just one lousy trade to get started for Christ’s sake,” she thought. Big Fat Bob did Faith a big fat favor that morning. Bob was the pit’s prize smart ass. He was so fat he probably hadn’t seen his dick in 20 years but that didn’t stop it thinking for him. Seeing a woman, an attractive woman, OK, a very attractive woman, in the pit was just too much for Big Fat Bob. Bob’s comments were easily the loudest and though the competition for the crudest, stupidest thing to say was fierce, Bob won it easily. If only the men’s comments could have been taped and played back for the enjoyment of their wives and children, perhaps their local pastor? When a stupid man is surrounded and egged on by men of equal or greater ignorance he has the opportunity to actually reach the pinnacle of his personal stupidity. Big Fat Bob peaked that morning. Maybe Bob thought that because Faith had tits she didn’t have eyes or ears? It’s possible. Somehow it never dawned on him that Faith had not got lost and just wandered into the gold pit for his personal entertainment. Faith knew it was going to be tough and that she would handle it. She could survive anything. Whilst there was lots of jostling, the men nearest Faith wisely gave her some space. They didn’t trade with her, but they didn’t try to grab a piece of her either. From the corner of her eye, Faith sees Bob making suggestive gestures with his hips, much to the delight of his simple- minded comrades. He then begins a mad pantomime of putting a latex glove on his big fat right hand, preparing himself to give Faith an “examination.” As the fat ‘Doctor’ begins to lumber down towards the bottom of the pit, Faith moves as if oblivious to her pending appointment. In fact, Faith positions herself and her derrière in such a way that Bob arrives on the pit tier directly above her. Doc Bob pauses, partly to savor the moment, partly to draw further attention to him but mostly to gulp air into his heaving chest. Faith tenses, forcing herself to breathe deeply, all senses on high alert. The anticipatory snickering of the cronies tells Faith that Bob hopes to entertain the troops. As Big Fat Bob bends down, Faith twists and uses his momentum to pull him forward, off balance. As he falls forward, Faith brings her knee up into his big fat nose, smashing it. Faith is careful to ensure that she is not trapped beneath the shocked, bleeding behemoth. There is a collective intake of breath, the snickering cut off mid snick and, for a moment, all breathing stops. Big Fat Bob lands badly and rolls onto his back, whimpering pathetically. His hands fly up to his shattered nose trying, too late, to protect it. Faith does not look at Bob, he is vanquished. She looks hard into the faces of the other traders in the pit. None of them hold her gaze. Tap, Tap, Tap. As Faith glares around the pit, she puts her hand out in front of her, palm up. Slowly, Faith curls her long, shiny, red nails inwards. Unable to break away, all eyes watch her, entranced. When Faith’s talons finally touch, she pulls her hand down swiftly. The enchantment is broken and there is an involuntary wince from every pair of testicles in the pit as gonads try desperately to retreat upward into the safety of their owners’ body cavity. Knock, knock, knock .Faith looks up to where Big Fat Bob had stood only moments before. There is no longer a space. Behind her Bob is moaning and trying to stand; no one helps him. Faith climbs the pit and like the Red Sea parting for Moses, a gap appears and Faith takes Big Fat Bob’s place. The traders around her are careful not to accidentally bump her. In the dog-eat-dog world of commodity trading, Faith had just lifted her leg on the pit and marked it as her own. The other dogs would never be Faith’s friends, but they would wag their tails respectfully. She did not belong to this pack and never would. To be successful, Faith wanted to be both feared and respected and, thanks to Big Fat Bob, she had achieved that in one morning. Big Fat Bob never returned to trading. KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK The banging on the door brings Faith back to the present. Faith’s hand is curled on her desk. She looks at her hand, nails still long, sharp, red, but the hand itself no longer has the vitality or vibrancy of youth. Where had all the years gone? Faith’s hand shakes and she frowns at it, but the knocking demands her attention.

Intoxicatingly delicious, inspirational read
Intoxicatingly delicious, inspirational read. I found this book hard to put down and go to sleep at night. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think there is a little Faith McCornack and Tenzin in everyone. Highly recommend. Panda1602

Fantastic concept!
This book grabbed me from the start, I couldn't put it down. A fantastic idea, I'm sure I am not the only reader who wishes they thought of it! I laughed a lot and cried too, great characters and even a little Bowie-esk! T.Minter

I was surprised
"I was surprised. I started reading and then I started seeing the scenes and then I started feeling!
I was surprised at how Taking it With You grabbed me and took me on an emotional trip that ended in tears......and hope...........hope for another possibility and another way of being....and tears about how it is.
I was surprised because I thought it was going to be corny or schmaultzy (is this how you spell that feeling when you watch a Hollywood movie and feel good inside but dont want to admit it?) and it wasnt....well maybe just a little....but I read this book and loved it! I hope others read it and get to feel some of the things I felt......you know I reckon it will make the World a better place.
Now I\'m feeling schm.....corny." F.Taylor