Now that I have your attention, this is not another morsel of Pahrump gossip, but a ploy to get you to visit the Author's Extravaganza at the Pahrump Community Library March 29. These are just a few of the topics that authors have chosen to write about for publication.

Dr. Barbara J. Harper is the author of "Abuse to Abundance" and speaks with authority on the subject because she has lived it, firsthand.

Harper shares the misfortunes of growing up in Baltimore, Md., and how she turned her life around. Abused and confused as a child, Harper stumbled through life making serious mistakes that led her down the wrong paths. Eventually she found the truth and learned how to make her own way in life, free from the vicious cycle of hurt, betrayals and mistakes of the past.

Harper received the 2007 IRWIN Award for Most Inspirational Campaign with her book, "Abuse to Abundance." She speaks to the heart by telling her story openly and honestly and asking her readers to look deeply into their own lives. She helps us see how we became who we are, and how we can change that.

This is a powerful book with a message to anyone who knows in their heart of hearts they are on the wrong path in life. This book is a tool that could help the many young women living lives of quiet desperation.

Using facts garnered from public statistics, Harper says there are an estimated 60 million American adults that are survivors of childhood sexual abuse. How does this abuse affect their future?

Thirty-one percent of women in prison state they have been abused as children. Approximately 95 percent of teenage prostitutes have been sexually abused.

Vivian Owen is another California transplant who is probably best known as "the lady with all the answers."

She is the reference librarian at the Pahrump Community Library. At the last Author's Extravaganza, Owens had a table but was without her book, which was being printed; this year she has an abundance of copies of her book, "The Picking Fields."

Owens was born and raised in California in the early 1940s to a family of 11 children and parents that were both Cherokee Indians. "The Picking Fields" is the story of Owen's childhood, and those who have read it say "the book is quite disturbing... that it took a lot of courage for Vivian to finally tell her story."

"The Picking Fields" is the journey of LeAnna and her brothers through an early childhood full of sex, violence and starvation. The picking field was one of their sources of food, and the account of their lives is a compelling story that will keep the reader captivated.

"The Picking Fields" consisted of garbage cans and living off the streets. The kids would spend their days walking around the street and the back roads, playing and looking for food. They didn't get their food from the dump, but they did get their clothes and some of their toys from there.

LeAnna was a child of grace, a savior for her two younger brothers from the sexual atrocities of their alcoholic brutal father, and from the agonies of starvation.

The kids are forced to leave Antwater, Calif., the only home they knew, and cross the desert with only a box of crackers and a can of sardines. Enter the world of fear, starvation and darkness through the eyes of the young LeAnna.

Both of these authors, through their writing, have brought closure to their own situations and are willing to share their insights into the depths of sexual depravity. They will be available for questions and will have copies of their books for sale and signing.

For those who suffer in silence, these two authors may have the answers to unleash the rage.