Each time a friend or acquaintance publishes a new book, I have to admit I have mixed feelings. First and foremost, there’s absolute admiration, typically followed by pride and excitement. 

Mixed in, however, is a benign cocktail of envy and self-loathing. I’ll get to that level someday, I tell myself.

Once again, a couple of authors already known to McKnight’s readers have spread their wings and produced publications worthy of your attention.

First up is long-time nurse executive Martie Moore, a blogger who dispenses wisdom and inspiration monthly at mcknights.com. She and co-author Jackie Medland, PhD, recently came out with “The Leadership Sandwich; BIte-Sized Lessons for Busy Leaders.”

Punctuated with clever illustrations, this playful yet insightful collection of 26 vignettes will give nurses — and anyone else who has been between forming strategic vision and tending to day-to-day tasks at work — something valuable to chew on.

Grouped into the subsections “Feed Yourself,” “Nourish Others” and “Fuel the Organization,” each short story offers coaching moments and ends with bulleted discussion points under a “DIgesting the Lesson” label. 

It’s hard for me to think of another book that so credibly offers whimsy (stories carry titles like “Go with the Flo,” “Like a cold fish,” “Einstein in the corner office” and “A fly in my soup”) and career-building wisdom. 

You’ll be better at whatever your job is, and a better person, for checking it out.

While some of the details and situations in the 176 pages are fictionalized, all of the stories within “The Leadership Sandwich” are inspired by true events, the authors note.

On the other hand, just a few true events and people make their way into the incredibly creative anthology “Big Air & Eight Smaller Fictions.”

Each of the unrelated chapters in this 146-page novelette takes the reader into a new dimension of human behavior as only public relations executive Stuart Greenbaum can. 

That’s the Stuart Greenbaum whom many long-term care readers may know as the vice president of public relations and brand management for Eskaton, and before that as the public relations director with LeadingAge California. The author of seven books, he’s also represented about a dozen aging-related organizations as the president of Greenbaum Public Relations. 

So he knows the aging scene. Just as importantly, he knows how to entertain by creating worlds that no one else has. 

In the headliner piece in “Big Air,” Greenbaum forecasts a future worth talking about, just not excessively (that’s an inside joke). Out-of-control blathering is depleting the world’s oxygen in this tale of Olivia and Mordecai, a young couple who take turns narrating the fall and rise of their relationship in this cautionary tale.

My personal favorite of these nine distinctly different peeks into human interaction is “Blue Opossum.” Trickery from a lovable conman fuels young love in some of the most unexpected ways at the fictional Fillmore Park Nursing Home.

“From longevity, morbidity and memory to curiosity and humility to road rage and propaganda, each story allows readers to inhabit, possibly even embrace, the slightly off-center fictional worlds,” is the way Greenbaum describes it in his spot-on liner notes.

While many of the stories might have a sci-fi or futuristic tinge within them, the collection actually ends in a retro-New York City setting, circa 1951. I defy you to withhold grins and outright chuckles as a public relations mastermind counsels Jesus over lunch at the famous Katz’s Deli on the worthiness of the messiah’s official Earthly return.

In the spirit of full disclosure, the author ran galleys of his stories by this editor’s eye before publication, so I became fascinated with his writing style early on. You will, too. Samples of his essays on cultural affairs and public relations can be found at humblesky.net.

I’m glad to report it’s not against life’s rules to read a book that makes you tilt your head with a wry grin, and nod in satisfied realization over and over. 

You can prove it, and have a little fun along the way, by picking up “Big Air” or “The Leadership Sandwich” — or both — at your next opportunity.

“Big Air & Eight Smaller Fictions” is available for purchase at greenbaum-pr.com/bigair.

“The Leadership Sandwich” is available on Amazon.

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James M. Berklan is McKnight’s Long-Term Care News’ Executive Editor and a Best Commentary award winner in the 2024 Neal Awards, which are given annually for the nation’s best specialized business journalism.

Opinions expressed in McKnight’s Long-Term Care News columns are not necessarily those of McKnight’s.