Milltown Author Releases Lost Inside the Happy Noise
Climbing through the ruins of the Berlin Wall

Milltown, NJ, March 2, 2005— Jim Lukach, published by iUniverse, Inc., the leading provider of publishing technology solutions for authors, announced the release of Lost Inside the Happy Noise.
Pushed into action by Jane Pauley's voice and a television image of a pack of cigarettes being handed through a hole in the Berlin Wall, author Jim Lukach set off for Eastern Europe. Lost Inside the Happy Noise is a collection of essays that capture the heady days of post-revolution in a small city in western Slovakia, days measured out in half-liter beer glasses and startling self-discovery. Holding a mirror to the past--wild boar hunting safaris, a Slovak television appearance, autograph sessions after teaching a successful English class--Lukach reflects on how something as simple as dancing the polka can reach far into the future, and questions whether life could ever feel so full again.
In Lost Inside the Happy Noise, Lukach evokes with the realism of a dream the atmosphere of a time that passed too quickly by, days outside the norm spent tramping through Slovakia or watching his train leave seven times without boarding. But most of all, it is about the small moments teaching English and discoveries made in the most surprising places.
“When I came home after almost five years in Slovakia, I figured that I had three options,” said Lukach. “Two were impractical: one because Vaudeville was dead and second because I didn’t have enough money to run for U.S. senate. So I chose the third and wrote a book. I had some definite goals in mind when I started writing. I wanted people to know that Slovakia is not in the former Yugoslavia and about the richness of the experience of teaching there, but most of all I wanted it to be one big song of love and devotion.”
“Lost Inside the Happy Noise is a book of connections—connecting to my Slovak heritage, connecting the past to the present and making that essential connection of what it feels like to be truly alive.”
Jim Lukach grew up in Milltown, NJ and played right field for the Milltown Fire Department Tigers. He attended Our Lady of Lourdes School and St. Peter’s High School in New Brunswick. After graduating from Rutgers University, he attended graduate school at The Wichita State University in Kansas where he dropped out and went to teach English in Senica, Slovakia. He is currently working on his second book about his recent return trip to Senica.Lost Inside the

Happy Noise
By Jim Lukach
Trade Paperback
ISBN: 0-595-33136-X
98 pages

Available from Ingram Book Group, Baker & Taylor, iUniverse, Inc, Barnes & Noble.com and Amazon.com.About iUniverse
iUniverse provides individuals a simple, fast and affordable way to publish, market, and sell fiction and non-fiction books. The company is one of the largest book publishing companies in the United States. iUniverse eliminates the necessity of massive print runs, dramatically shortens time-to-market, and gives authors control over when and how their works are published. iUniverse publishing programs are endorsed by industry leading author organizations, including the Authors Guild, ASJA, and Mystery Writers of America. iUniverse is a proud member of the Association of American Publishers, Publishers Marketing Association, and Small Publishers Association of North America. The company's major investors include Warburg Pincus and Barnes & Noble.

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