Altus Times Managing Editor Michael Bush has written a book which was published and released last month by PublishAmerica.

“Down the Mountain” is currently available through most major retailers including Hastings, Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com, Books-A-Million and others.

A book signing is being held for Bush at Hastings of Altus on Sunday, Nov. 29 from 1 to 4 p.m.

The Altus Public Library is also hosting an Author Reception and book signing for Bush on Saturday, Dec. 5 from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Refreshments will be served.

The following is book review of “Down the Mountain” by Rose Fischer:

Through the ages, God has spoken to his people in diverse ways, including dreams. During separate night visions in vivid color, Michael Bush has received glimpses of Heaven, showing an existence far different from his preconceived ideas of life beyond the veil.

In his recently published book, “Down the Mountain,” Bush uses the dreams as the setting for a fictitious character that finds himself walking down a mountain trail, enjoying the magnificent scenery. As he reaches the bottom of the mountain, he realizes that he is in Heaven but cannot remember dying.

The first-person narrative relates the character's many questions: Where are the pearly gates? Where is St. Peter standing behind a podium with the Book of Life open to the page with my name on it? Where are the streets of gold and where is Jesus?

The author uses incidents in his own life-such as the death of a beloved grandmother, the devastating loss of a newborn son and choice of careers as the basis for his character's encounters as he walks along a dirt path in Heaven. As the sequence of events unfolds, the author weaves into the story many Christian principles (salvation, forgiveness, love) while relating his character's deep emotions during joyful reunions with his grandmother and other loved ones, accompanied by healings of the grief and pain that lingered after losing them on Earth.

As the character transitions from existence on Earth to life in Heaven, the answers to one question after another about Heaven fall into place -- such as how people in Heaven communicate; however, more and more questions arise. His grandmother tells him, "Before you can know where you are and where you are going, you have to know where you've been and where you came from."

The author shows how seeking money can divert a person from God's plan for his life. He also addresses the question that often arises after "big-moment" decisions: What if I had made the other choice? The character meets people he would have known on Earth if he had made different choices and sees the unfavorable endings that would have resulted. He gains peace by seeing the positive impact (previously hidden to him) that his right choices made in the lives of others.

One person he met said, "Work doesn't always have to be work; you can find enjoyment in all parts of your life. I wish more people realized that before they got here."

The character eventually accepted God's plan for his life: "After walking my road and coming to peace with what had happened to me, after overcoming various forms of grief--seeing how my life could have turned out and how it actually turned out, I was finally okay with it all. I stopped worrying about all of the 'what ifs' and realized I was where I was supposed to be, with people I loved; and things could go on without me on Earth."

After noticing that his dirt path had become the street of gold that he first expected, an angel appeared to urge him onward.

His meeting with Jesus and his existence in Heaven was "everything he had hoped for and more."