tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80436493645212274182024-03-22T00:30:30.744-07:001000 + Books to ReadMellihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07837692849980252395noreply@blogger.comBlogger266125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8043649364521227418.post-76909249078311686752013-05-16T13:53:00.000-07:002013-05-16T13:53:09.498-07:00Vlogging and Blogging.. oh my!Well... I'm around still everyone and will eventually get fully back into the Blogging/Vlogging I used to do!<br />
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Some of you are aware, some of you aren't.. my HOUSE was flooded. Yes, FLOODED. So my time and energy has been dedicated to the disaster that occurred and is still not completed. It's been at least a month since the damage happened and my house is still not put completely back together.<br />
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I'm still reading though! Game of Thrones to be exact!<br />
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Stay tuned my book friends! We'll be back soon, in the mean time come join us on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/1000plusbookstoread" target="_blank">Facebook</a> for some chit chat.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbeH3kY9Eq_ZBShezIhhtJkL9bJpi5YO8PnVDy-bjesgE22iZc_jI_F0slkNMXI2IfHrz-VSOGuaX-g0u7hmSuWXtgcnjCrHg8YZ0u02HsydjJ-97zA7pFw4WyRQP9xRr-nC5rF9Z2Bt8/s1600/melissa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbeH3kY9Eq_ZBShezIhhtJkL9bJpi5YO8PnVDy-bjesgE22iZc_jI_F0slkNMXI2IfHrz-VSOGuaX-g0u7hmSuWXtgcnjCrHg8YZ0u02HsydjJ-97zA7pFw4WyRQP9xRr-nC5rF9Z2Bt8/s1600/melissa.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373124683649976442noreply@blogger.com588tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8043649364521227418.post-10504322441227820402013-03-25T10:58:00.000-07:002013-03-26T21:28:27.954-07:00Blogging Apps<p>Does anyone use one for blogging from a tablet or mobile device?</p>
<p>I recently got a keyboard case for my iPad , recently being like now, and I bought it with the idea that it would make me blog more. Since I've had my iPad I pretty much don't use a computer when at home anymore. The iPad is full of great reading material so why in the world would I ever turn back on that big old computer.</p>
<p>Do any of you use an app for blogging? If so what do you use?</p>
<p>I broke down, after doing some research, and purchased the Blogsy app to use. I've been playing around with the Blogger app and while easy to use it didn't give a lot of options that are available on the web version.</p>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://cdn.appstorm.net/ipad.appstorm.net/files/2011/05/Screen-shot-2011-05-17-at-11.46.48.png" target="_blank" style=" "><img src="http://cdn.appstorm.net/ipad.appstorm.net/files/2011/05/Screen-shot-2011-05-17-at-11.46.48.png" id="blogsy-1364358494530.2773" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="200" height="200"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">http://blogsyapp.com/</td></tr></tbody></table>
<p>How do you normally blog/write your reviews?</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvn1-lytG2XnBnGyLGOVKvxRiZLohWDVyM__P4lQv50yN5YdCIOJoq90IMchsqVYSt_FMxTol_uH6nrsau92PgMUof44L0g_hzMcIYHRGsg9rfWM6GQmxqM57IP7knBkjZPup8yIZyuZw/s196/melissa.jpg" target="_blank" style=""><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvn1-lytG2XnBnGyLGOVKvxRiZLohWDVyM__P4lQv50yN5YdCIOJoq90IMchsqVYSt_FMxTol_uH6nrsau92PgMUof44L0g_hzMcIYHRGsg9rfWM6GQmxqM57IP7knBkjZPup8yIZyuZw/s196/melissa.jpg" id="blogsy-1364358494523.402" class="alignnone" alt="" width="196" height="49"></a></div>
<p> </p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="Posted with Blogsy" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />Posted with Blogsy</a></div>Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373124683649976442noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8043649364521227418.post-72814847478003847422013-02-26T12:49:00.000-08:002013-02-26T12:49:30.895-08:00My Super Awesome Charm Thingy! <br />
Over on our Facebook page we had a lovely discussion about Book Jewelry. It came up because I saw this beautiful necklace on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/teamtwilight" target="_blank">Team Twilight</a>'s page and I just <b><i>had</i></b> to have it. It got me wondering what others have.<br />
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I must say there are some incredible pieces out there that I didn't even know existed!<br />
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There are so many different charms and pieces of jewelry created based on the books we read (who knew?). One of the latest books I've read (and movie that I saw) had a piece of jewelry featured in the book/movie: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/3351078-what-does-lena-s-necklace-in-beautiful-creatures-look-like" target="_blank">Lena's charm necklace</a> from Beautiful Creatures.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9hrw1JbwkEVY3cz0ID5ZM6KdIW1MvR4HaiAZXS7cAzDcH24JMk2RIhusaBnZPTGKPWkl1BgKWn0_TxqRN2BxLEoTCQ3Heeh4AUBQakHCMwTC95abl4AR7w1xHtjoJurBD0lF5knFKW4Q/s1600/lenas+charm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9hrw1JbwkEVY3cz0ID5ZM6KdIW1MvR4HaiAZXS7cAzDcH24JMk2RIhusaBnZPTGKPWkl1BgKWn0_TxqRN2BxLEoTCQ3Heeh4AUBQakHCMwTC95abl4AR7w1xHtjoJurBD0lF5knFKW4Q/s320/lenas+charm.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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This inspired me to create my own charm thingy (thingy because I have no clue if it'll become a necklace, bracelet, key chain) based on the books I've read and loved. It's not even close to being done but I thought I'd share with you the pieces I've gotten so far. Can't you tell I'm excited? LOL<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Twilight:</span></b><br />
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<a href="http://www.shopteamtwilight.com/jewelry/bella-s-eternal-heart.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">Bella's Eternal Heart necklace</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSF7hmdW-RLG4aa79s4l-f00bYJdHgeCD9eNYbADIZyf43YdxH0h2ja9CbbMDhPztCg92WMMzTG5nv76kXfP0XRAgNLDF_Ug9BVKl6bRA4TV0lxkYWhMO-YmnzncJ4HH5j7FhP1LyL6EY/s1600/Twilight+heart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSF7hmdW-RLG4aa79s4l-f00bYJdHgeCD9eNYbADIZyf43YdxH0h2ja9CbbMDhPztCg92WMMzTG5nv76kXfP0XRAgNLDF_Ug9BVKl6bRA4TV0lxkYWhMO-YmnzncJ4HH5j7FhP1LyL6EY/s320/Twilight+heart.jpg" width="316" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.chubbychicocharms.com/" target="_blank">Twilight in Fancy Cursive charm</a> </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOwyPbMFrLmZe0GAYqS-PfIWZ7vocMwJrvjQARiU7x_sYKrmkooCaH8dMxl7xk0i9UWA5JmFK6oP5UPLm319v9AT2Fj_sVquQTEU1oe2dYiE_6gBMl2USgNg9E0HEiFrjsaTcUvizPEXA/s1600/twilight+cursive.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOwyPbMFrLmZe0GAYqS-PfIWZ7vocMwJrvjQARiU7x_sYKrmkooCaH8dMxl7xk0i9UWA5JmFK6oP5UPLm319v9AT2Fj_sVquQTEU1oe2dYiE_6gBMl2USgNg9E0HEiFrjsaTcUvizPEXA/s320/twilight+cursive.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I'm thinking about adding a Edward charm too cuz he's my Twilight boyfriend. Or maybe a wolf for Jacob. Or something Alice-ish. Hmm what is Alice-ish?<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>House of Night:</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://www.chubbychicocharms.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">Blessed Be charm</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyvQQHqL5laU6IKOdPlsBpuepJjavOOBDWuWAyK-C84epUHGt9f_Ip3HT8PzFb4C1ywcRb3b6vAmaFPjrcncDPXVNi9xC1KfRnwyyyb4f7leMwP-vDNn5M10-0Es7ROsszzNi8fnpTSOU/s1600/blessed+be.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyvQQHqL5laU6IKOdPlsBpuepJjavOOBDWuWAyK-C84epUHGt9f_Ip3HT8PzFb4C1ywcRb3b6vAmaFPjrcncDPXVNi9xC1KfRnwyyyb4f7leMwP-vDNn5M10-0Es7ROsszzNi8fnpTSOU/s320/blessed+be.jpg" width="282" /></a></div>
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Truly one of my favorite series, ever. As soon as I seen this charm it screamed House of Night and screamed <b>YOU MUST BUY ME!</b> Buy it, I did.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>True Blood:</b></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/VAMPIRE-FANGS-CAMEO-PENDANT-RED-Fang-RED-FRAME-Resin-amulet-Necklace-Gothic-/300865720585?" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">Fangtasia Charm</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjox-LL-MBrB0-_lBZzVLBeBCKvlF7Ox0R35_X6fjGUnjhPf7BSKn_GM9JQntzjblO0SQ9t7UjNK0B5MqjQ00u9LFxoOPB5P5pG7zs9LHjZpzMKp3sxrLWnRw4Xfd5rvwyl2LaGVhs7WK8/s1600/trueblood.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjox-LL-MBrB0-_lBZzVLBeBCKvlF7Ox0R35_X6fjGUnjhPf7BSKn_GM9JQntzjblO0SQ9t7UjNK0B5MqjQ00u9LFxoOPB5P5pG7zs9LHjZpzMKp3sxrLWnRw4Xfd5rvwyl2LaGVhs7WK8/s320/trueblood.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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It's not an official True Blood Fangtasia charm but it sure looks like it to me. Reminds me of Pam too. I'll have to find something to represent my hot viking Eric.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Vampire Academy/Bloodlines:</b></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.arcanevault.com/Vampire-Academy-Adrian-Dogtag-616-LM.htm" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">Adrian</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghp_FNxmkCF1KqErZ9QwcbXkJXtBCiO24HhMlouFil-w0Zqeo1h4ijCRTHKg1E5Tbo0fHxvoT_bn-yhkTY9X-xpBi-JO6UPHcqzPFCNyR-3ZxilpO2mk9YURgR3Neca1a5rs4eU34VWsg/s1600/adrian.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghp_FNxmkCF1KqErZ9QwcbXkJXtBCiO24HhMlouFil-w0Zqeo1h4ijCRTHKg1E5Tbo0fHxvoT_bn-yhkTY9X-xpBi-JO6UPHcqzPFCNyR-3ZxilpO2mk9YURgR3Neca1a5rs4eU34VWsg/s1600/adrian.png" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.arcanevault.com/Vampire-Academy-VA-Floral-Logo-Pin-560-LM.htm" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">Vampire Academy logo</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnxhapz_i2E8RiuDQ-mUJk6wbkvbnFOWaepL6gDvsfaHq45mshQDlrDYeVrJ9MF9sVRmHiS4ogyWmFXww4rv9UwOBpDwykrz3E9Qf4Ka4nia3PH80wNBkskAyIc5HBidLmt_AluxtXU9Q/s1600/VA.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnxhapz_i2E8RiuDQ-mUJk6wbkvbnFOWaepL6gDvsfaHq45mshQDlrDYeVrJ9MF9sVRmHiS4ogyWmFXww4rv9UwOBpDwykrz3E9Qf4Ka4nia3PH80wNBkskAyIc5HBidLmt_AluxtXU9Q/s320/VA.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.arcanevault.com/Vampire-Academy-Alchemist-Mini-Tag-626-LM.htm" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">The Alchemist's Golden Lily </span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjDxPsNlId-EVRKaHVeCvcErCEEQB8A2tnQ5Mdkp8AXUzlW7iqlpNTC7Iz8I9sYZBzXwthZBll6XyjScJZK4DQS0qOcBcpkqCQdOE9W6DXqXEH3Fg9g8SVIcA7kOwMEsMRGUjdFQxbY8Q/s1600/golden+lily.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjDxPsNlId-EVRKaHVeCvcErCEEQB8A2tnQ5Mdkp8AXUzlW7iqlpNTC7Iz8I9sYZBzXwthZBll6XyjScJZK4DQS0qOcBcpkqCQdOE9W6DXqXEH3Fg9g8SVIcA7kOwMEsMRGUjdFQxbY8Q/s320/golden+lily.png" width="170" /></a></div>
Another of my favorite series, well.. Bloodlines is. Adrian is another book boyfriend of mine who I adore so I had to get his charm. The Golden Lily is for Sydney, his girlfriend, or <i>our</i> girlfriend I should say.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Hunger Games:</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://www.chubbychicocharms.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">May the odds be ever in your favor</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrlnK1MQ-HbgsCGikUs60wPPyRL_jKIUuy0cSkoZMyXjKMS4U-XPT9USZ4fGp85lXFsa-3VzJITxAfy7yHlyXxWpnQBdOkRpP9diqzufpHfjZGroPerJFs6YO5BQY1KAHcHuh5NPnyFJI/s1600/odds+be.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrlnK1MQ-HbgsCGikUs60wPPyRL_jKIUuy0cSkoZMyXjKMS4U-XPT9USZ4fGp85lXFsa-3VzJITxAfy7yHlyXxWpnQBdOkRpP9diqzufpHfjZGroPerJFs6YO5BQY1KAHcHuh5NPnyFJI/s320/odds+be.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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One of the best quotes of any book so of course it had to be on the charm thingy. Even though I loved the books I don't know that I'll add much more. Maybe a mockingjay pin.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Random Cool items:</b></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.shopteamtwilight.com/jewelry/team-twilight-s-keys-to-many-hearts.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">Keys to Many Hearts</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIexJFffTbsYc1jg-MLDLRT5rsaT_ayYrhK1CVsJxVgKz3huMbxA3Jg9QxAqrjyIIvV7wgpxkBrrEQ7PooCrDMapqoiSw_4BqxkuOfL_pOTUBNfR8DHZsZQM7qk5jiC9SC7XGl2mAiBzs/s1600/keys.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIexJFffTbsYc1jg-MLDLRT5rsaT_ayYrhK1CVsJxVgKz3huMbxA3Jg9QxAqrjyIIvV7wgpxkBrrEQ7PooCrDMapqoiSw_4BqxkuOfL_pOTUBNfR8DHZsZQM7qk5jiC9SC7XGl2mAiBzs/s320/keys.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.chubbychicocharms.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">Potion bottle</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDjmr0ODjF1fKbE78vTDBcYiicuSAa2JyaYQqJASu59vEfzkf9748DVmFLI6hQXPWa07n1HoQmEog2NI4Bbcult3LLyJ1HmdR4bxSlODrkQeu0xCPLrUNcBvK0YxhI_PbSFyOsyg-Ua7A/s1600/bottle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDjmr0ODjF1fKbE78vTDBcYiicuSAa2JyaYQqJASu59vEfzkf9748DVmFLI6hQXPWa07n1HoQmEog2NI4Bbcult3LLyJ1HmdR4bxSlODrkQeu0xCPLrUNcBvK0YxhI_PbSFyOsyg-Ua7A/s1600/bottle.jpg" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pewter-Crystal-Ball-Fairy-Pendant-Wicca-Guardian-Fairy-Friend-Protect-Ritual-Kit-/130854063110?" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">One of the lovely Fae</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1PMGjcvUj435wn7bn2ZdaaIEy3F7DbIDll7d3DKK4WeO-qAI4MPymfqJKVFpNxBH342ZSZK_E4bpSairXcPHJu3xiaK-b94ltKipsZneD4SW75nMQnQ80q0GWDwl-YAdDgrKXZq6QLH0/s1600/fairy.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1PMGjcvUj435wn7bn2ZdaaIEy3F7DbIDll7d3DKK4WeO-qAI4MPymfqJKVFpNxBH342ZSZK_E4bpSairXcPHJu3xiaK-b94ltKipsZneD4SW75nMQnQ80q0GWDwl-YAdDgrKXZq6QLH0/s320/fairy.png" width="279" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/MYSTIC-EYE-PENDANT-AMULET-SILVER-Necklace-Glass-Cab-foresight-vision-magic-power-/300863558171?" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">Mystic eye</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Aj2-hp3W3QUmnK0Jv5eh4C7sjJ7rHgNAjYMST7BGsQurmJI9PTJkk_VCWOTOpZS__fF6UPlnoPPC-P0bVgM99ho_CXmCznfMTpt9gYSG1Ga4n-6s4jLz1PcxC_bFFC-S6btQqYxOurY/s1600/mystic+eye.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Aj2-hp3W3QUmnK0Jv5eh4C7sjJ7rHgNAjYMST7BGsQurmJI9PTJkk_VCWOTOpZS__fF6UPlnoPPC-P0bVgM99ho_CXmCznfMTpt9gYSG1Ga4n-6s4jLz1PcxC_bFFC-S6btQqYxOurY/s320/mystic+eye.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.chubbychicocharms.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">Love brings Fairy tales to life</span></a></div>
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I know I'm missing a <b>ton</b> of my favorite characters and books but my wallet wants me to wait a little bit before I add more. So far I'm in love with the few pieces I've got and can't wait til they all arrive so I can put together my charm thingy.<br />
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Do you have a charm thingy of your own? What would you add? Any cool jewelry you own? I'd love to see!<br />
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<br />Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373124683649976442noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8043649364521227418.post-41084472296029819822013-02-15T11:33:00.000-08:002013-02-17T21:00:41.862-08:00What would YOU do? So.. I'm sure you've all noticed we've kind of disappeared from the bloggy world for a bit.. off and on.. over the last couple of years. It's not something I'm happy about and yet its happened a couple of times. I'm going to ask for your advice, honesty and from there.. well, I guess we'll see.<br />
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The reason I created this blog was really simple: I <b><span style="color: red;">LOVE</span></b> books.. and I <b><span style="color: red;">LOVE</span></b> to talk about books. I had few to talk books with. My close friends aren't readers and those that are don't read what I do. That's how <b><i>1000 + Books to Read</i></b> was born.<br />
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And then it grew into something completely <i>different</i>. All of a sudden I was getting review requests like crazy and being so happy that someone actually wanted <b>ME</b> to read their book I accepted. Reviewed, accepted, reviewed, accepted. Then people started offering to give me books to give to my readers! <b><i><u>WHOA</u></i></b> talk about blown freakin away. Yes, yes, yes! Review, Giveaway, Review and Giveaway! Things got too much for me on my own so I enlisted the help of the amazing Jennifer aka Jenn aka blogger over at <a href="http://anightowlscorner.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">A Night Owls Corner</a> and between the two of us we Reviewed, Giveaway, Interviewed and Guest posted all over the place. Until I got overwhelmed and noticed... I wasn't TALKING to anyone.<br />
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Some how I got swept away in a lovely wave full of wonderful things that had nothing to do with the vision I had when I created this site. I lost focus on what MY purpose was and I stopped. Stopped blogging, stopped reviewing.. even stopped reading for a bit.<br />
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Now.. I'm back.. well not back back, but I'm back to reading again. I'm back to loving books and loving to talk about books. I love all the amazing Authors and Readers and Publicists that I've met.. that hasn't changed. What has changed is that I don't want to go back to what this became. I want to read and talk about the books and authors I love with the people who love them too. So my friends.. how does one go about that? I'm not so sure. I guess the first start is this.. telling you what happened, why it happened and where we are at now.<br />
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We are active on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/1000plusbookstoread" target="_blank">Facebook</a>. We get to TALK there and *<i style="font-weight: bold;">GASP</i>* you guys talk back! Here... here we don't talk to each other a lot. Even on Review posts of <b>fantastical</b> books.. we don't talk about it. We review it and.. and what? Well, nothing really.. but its there.<br />
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I want to change that. I want to TALK to you all about books and authors and books made into movies and actors who are playing our favorite characters in said movie.<br />
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What do you think? How do you become a blog that <b>TALKS</b> to people and people talk back instead of a Review/GuestPost/Giveaway/Interview media publicity media blog? If this were your blog and you felt this way.. what would you do? I'm looking for ideas, a fresh start. What makes you stop by a blog and talk to them?<br />
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<br />Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373124683649976442noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8043649364521227418.post-65890527589215184272013-02-13T10:00:00.000-08:002013-02-13T10:00:02.077-08:00Cover Reveal - Lia Fairchild: The Tech Guy<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just in time for <span style="color: red;">Valentines day</span> Lia Fairchild is releasing a <b>swoon worthy</b> new romance book: <b><i>The Tech Guy</i></b>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Emma Barton is a workaholic. Nothing is more important than becoming managing editor of the magazine she works for. And she has the perfect plan to achieve that goal. Then Guy Walker enters her office. Sexy, sweet, and super popular, the new tech guy takes the office by storm. Will he derail every strategy Emma has in place? If he discovers her secret, it could ruin Emma’s career and turn her life upside down.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Want more.. read on for a sneak peek of Chapter one! </b></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Chapter 1</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Check out that curly hair.” Jayne sat and stared through the glass window of my corner office, drool dripping from her chin like barbecue sauce at an all-you-can-eat wings night. “It reminds me of—”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Bozo the clown?” I interrupted, without looking up from my computer. Normally, I’d be up for Jayne’s amusing way of finding “hot” in every guy, but today I was too preoccupied to indulge her. In addition to everything else I had going on, the magazine redesign launch was a little more than a month away. Was I feeling the pressure since it was my idea to revamp the publication? Do supermodels eat salad? I had to stay on top of things to make sure everything turned out the way I’d envisioned it. The way I’d planned it from day one here at New You magazine. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“No, silly.” Jayne turned back to face me. Spring’s daylight shone from the unusually clear L.A. sky and played across her rosy cheeks. “You know, Emma, that sexy actor from the eighties. Now he’s in that hospital show.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Her stylish apricot skirt pulled tight against her thighs as she crossed and uncrossed her legs. Looked like our recent absences from the gym were showing. I reminded myself we keep those things to ourselves, even though she probably had tuned me out by then. When there was a man on Jayne’s radar, everyone else was simply background noise.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I knew exactly to whom Jayne was referring, but instead I said, “I really don’t have time for this right now. And you need to stop gawking at whomever Bill is meeting with and get back to work before he sees you.” Bill knew Jayne and I had recently grown close, and our inter-office water cooler sessions were becoming way too frequent. Jayne was a copy editor so technically I was her boss, but that didn’t interfere with our new-found friendship.</span></div>
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“<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Okay,” she said after a long pause. “But just take a quick look first and tell me that guy’s curls aren’t hot.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Someone talking about me?” Adam, tall and lanky, stood in the doorway patting his own coiled locks. He liked to describe himself as the gumbo of race. You name it, it was in his genes. He sort of reminded me of Snoop Dog, but I never told him that. His head was big enough already.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Not you, Fro-meo,” Jayne spouted. “The mystery man over there in Berkley’s office.” Jayne and Adam had a love-hate relationship. They both respected each other professionally, but they batted heads socially. The irony was they were both flirty, opposite-sex chasing, non-committal flakes when it came to relationships.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Hey, Adam,” I said, finally looking up. “I was just going to buzz you to ask if you finished the Links file. I need to get in there to make some changes.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Yeah, finished with that a while ago,” he said. Always in fashion and dressed to impress, he wore a dark grey suit with faint pinstripes and a deep purple tie.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Great, thanks for letting me know.” I tilted my head and stared blankly at him, hoping he would get my vibe.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“My bad,” he answered with a smile. I loved Adam, but he had a unique immunity to guilt. Things seemed to roll right off his back like he was lathered in grease. His relaxed attitude made some think he was lazy and unprofessional, but when it came to copy editing, there was no one better, or faster. That’s why I’d put up with him for almost two years. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Adam glanced across the hallway at the two men. Bill Berkley, editor in chief of New You magazine, was b</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ehind the desk facing our way. The other man was facing Bill, leaning forward in his chair, speaking and ne and I peered at each other with raised eyebrows, but different expressions. Jayne was always up for a pagesturing with his hands. Adam turned back to Jayne, who had resumed her spying position. He shook his head and laughed. “Anyway, I just came to tell you ladies I’m having a par-tay on Friday night.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Jayne and I peered at each other with raised eyebrows, but different expressions. Jayne was always up for a party; I could take it or leave it.</span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“When don’t you have a party on Friday night?” I asked.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Hey, they’re all for very specific events. This one just happens to be celebrating my girl, Tina’s new Chanel ad. You remember Tina, right, Jayne?” He glanced over at Jayne who cocked her head like a collie, adding a crooked smile.</span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Taking the hint, he said. “Tall, blonde? You met her at the party we had for Nikko’s graduation from ITT Tech?” He put his hands on his hips as if it was our duty to remember all his lady friends.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Oh yeah, right,” Jayne snapped. Her answer didn’t sound convincing. “Sweet girl.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“So y’all are invited. And Emma,” he said, pointing a finger gun at me. “Bring Howie this time.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Thanks, but we’re going to Bill’s for dinner.” As much as I didn’t want to go to Adam’s party, I didn’t want to go to Bill’s even more. With all the extra hours I’d been putting in for the launch, the last thing I wanted to do was spend more time with my Bill Murray–lookalike boss. Yes, a few inches taller and my boss could be a stunt double for his namesake.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Oh yeah, that should be exciting,” Adam said. “Well, I’m out.” He turned and started to walk back to his office when Jayne’s voice caught him. He stopped in the hallway.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“I’ve got my date picked out,” she said, smiling in the direction of Bill’s office. “I just have to figure out who he is first.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Adam gave a knowing grin from the hallway that rattled me. “Oh, I know who he is.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“He’s probably an intern or something.” I tried to sound casual, but the smug expression on Adam’s face made the tiny hairs on my arms stand up. And when he knew something I didn’t, well, let’s just say I’d been in better moods when Howard used my new scarf to clean his bike chain, or when he left the toilet clogged all day. But what was even worse was when Bill made big decisions without me. It wasn’t as if he was required to consult the managing editor on every detail of the magazine’s operations. But the head honcho always made such a big deal about me being his “right-hand woman,” a term I’ve learned to live with as well as use to my advantage.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Nope.” Adam stood in the doorway shaking his head, wearing a confident grin.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Jayne eagerly waited for more information. “Well?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“If you guys had been at Bill’s niece’s Quinceañera last month you would have known that that guy is—”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Just then I saw the men making their way towards us. I stood abruptly, swept my shoulder-length brown hair back, and clasped my hands behind my back. Adam sensed them walking up behind him so he turned around, taking a step back into my office.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Well, I’m glad you three are all together,” Bill said as the two entered. “I’d like you to meet the man that’s going to help take us to new levels and keep us running smoothly.” He slapped a hand on the other man’s shoulder. “This is Guy Walker, our new technical consultant.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I tried to cover my shock with an awkward smile I copied from Ronald McDonald. My eyes widened with forged hospitality. I’d gotten pretty adept at that lately. Like the first time Jayne showed up in the office with her boyfriend, Hank. Let’s just say if they decided to do another Star Wars movie, he could play Chewbacca. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But this was different. Bill and I had talked about bringing someone in to upgrade the equipment and get new software. And we had planned to develop a greater online presence, but as far as I knew, we hadn’t moved on it. I suddenly felt my inner thermometer start to climb.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Jayne, on the other hand, was grinning from ear to ear. She popped out of her chair like a Jayne-in-the-box and flicked her fiery red away from her face. “Hi, I’m Jayne.” Her words came out like molasses, sweet and slow. She plunged a claw forward, way too eagerly, to snare her prey.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Guy reached out and gave her hand a gentle shake accompanied with a closed-mouth smile. He might have been a head taller than Bill, at least six-one, probably taller. He should have towered over Jayne as well, but she covered her lack of height with her ever-present four-inch heels. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Great to meet you,” he said. Then he turned to Adam and shook his hand, but with greater firmness. “Hey, man, good to see you again.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Adam’s smile was triumphant when it was clear that Guy remembered him, and he proudly displayed it to Jayne and me as he replied to Guy. “Yeah, you too.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“And this,” Bill resounded with his arm outstretched to me as if I would magnetically float right into place, “is my right-hand woman, Emma Barton.” Jayne held back a smirk, while I reluctantly complied and walked to Bill’s side. I felt like a daughter being pawned off in an arranged marriage.</span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">From the beginning, Bill had seemed to take me under his wing. He saw real potential in me, and though he thought I was a talented writer, he knew I wanted more. He told me he was impressed with my ability to take charge and make things happen. After only a few months as a columnist, he was ready to give me more responsibility. He promoted me to copy editor, which eventually led to this. And of course that was exactly how I had planned it. When you got to know me, you saw that making plans is what I’m all about. It’s my way of controlling the chaos. Writing “Newlywed News” was merely a stepping stone for me. Right from the start, I knew I’d eventually work my way up in this company, even if it meant putting up with Bill’s archaic views of women.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“It’s nice to meet you, Guy.” I presented him with my Donald Trump handshake so he’d know whom he was dealing with. “Welcome to the team.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Thanks,” Guy responded. “I’m really looking forward to working with all of you.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There was a moment of uncomfortable silence, and then, as usual, Jayne opened her mouth without thinking. “Those are some pretty broad shoulders for a computer geek.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">An innocent chuckle escaped from Guy. “Well, I played a lot of water polo in high school and college. It was kind of a family thing. Mostly did it for my dad and brother.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Okay. Well, I guess we all should get back to work now,” I said, hoping that would clear my office. Adam and Jayne said their goodbyes and walked out, but Bill and Guy didn’t take the hint.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Emma, Guy and I have some paperwork to go over in my office, and then he has to go. But tomorrow, I’d like you to show him around the rest of the office. Introduce him to everyone.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I sat back down at my desk. “Of course.” I picked up a random piece of paper, signaling the end of the discussion and my obvious need to get back to work. A half-eaten muffin sat next to my computer, and I felt my cheeks blush when I glanced at it. As if I’m not allowed to eat? Heaven forbid a woman consume a muffin in the morning.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“That will give you two a chance to get to know each other, especially since you will be working so closely together.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That one caught me off guard. “Oh, uh ….” I squinted over the paper, fighting the sudden urge to cram the rest of that muffin in my mouth. I had some interaction with Marty, who had been taking care of all the tech issues up to now, but no more than anyone else. I should have realized that increasing our online presence would require a lot from me, as well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Didn’t we talk about this before?” Bill’s eyes lifted up toward his bushy eyebrows like he was searching his brain for the memory.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I sat back in my chair, waiting for him to drop the inevitable bomb. It seemed as though Guy sensed my annoyance. His happy expression faded, like the boy last picked for a baseball team.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Anyway,” Bill continued, “the point is that you will be Guy’s go-to person. He’ll answer to you, and the two of you will work out a schedule and priorities. And you’ll have to get him up to speed on the redesign launch.” Bill must have noticed the blank look on my face because he added, “Don’t worry, Em. We’ll work it all out. One thing at a time, right?” That was easy for him to say. He wasn’t a type A, compulsive planner who lived and died by her to-do list.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As Bill and Guy left my office, I tried to convince myself that this could be a good thing. We really did need a new tech person. Marty was one of our freelance writers who also provided tech support. Great writer, but unreliable when it came to time-sensitive problems. We had to bring in someone from the outside to save our asses more times than I could count. So, it did make sense to have someone dedicated to that part of the business, because our equipment was ancient and our software had more bugs than a Louisiana swamp. I only hoped that this Guy could handle what was ahead.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But something else still felt off. Like waking from a bad dream that you forget the instant you wake up, yet somehow you’re still left in a negative fog. Once I dreamt I was back in high school. I’d walked through the door to find my mother making me a prom dress. It was hideous, of course, but seeing her there when she had long since passed pleased me more than attending the clichéd ceremonial virginity auction. I awoke the next morning, tears still moist on my cheeks, trying to remember why I was so upset. The sadness followed me to the office. I racked my brain trying to remember the dream. Then, flipping through one of our fashion-focused issues, I spotted a dress that brought the whole dream back.</span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But this was different. This was real. And when it came to my future at the magazine, I didn’t like to take any chances. I’d worked my butt off to get where I was. I wasn’t going to let anything—or anyone—jeopardize my career. Plus, I couldn’t help but wonder why Bill didn’t consult me or even ask for my help in hiring someone. That wasn’t like him. After all, I was his right-hand woman. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Thank you Lia for sharing with us the hot new romance <i>The Tech Guy</i>.. coming to <i>YOUR</i> office this <span style="color: red;">Valentines day</span>. </b></span></div>
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<br />Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373124683649976442noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8043649364521227418.post-63528298639892857452012-11-20T07:30:00.000-08:002012-11-20T07:30:00.060-08:00Something Witchy by A.J. Myers<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFyJwrdNlXxZq6t8cti6aNvHs-sL7FPqJY6hBE062KQZCXi_gM8m_xnfQnTg-3JCFDmzZ18nnZpFETitYIqZcaBwodwmd5oTiC1he1PMNWYaUT2dlcg0PBQCd8Mn88wuIILvvWsCIQ7AM/s1600/witchy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFyJwrdNlXxZq6t8cti6aNvHs-sL7FPqJY6hBE062KQZCXi_gM8m_xnfQnTg-3JCFDmzZ18nnZpFETitYIqZcaBwodwmd5oTiC1he1PMNWYaUT2dlcg0PBQCd8Mn88wuIILvvWsCIQ7AM/s1600/witchy.jpg" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A737G2A/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00A737G2A&linkCode=as2&tag=1000books-20" target="_blank">Something Witchy</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My name is Ember Blaylock. Welcome to the World of Weird—better known as my life.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It wasn’t always like this. I was once a normal high school senior, just filling out college apps and trying to stay sane long enough to get out of Moonlight, Missouri. Preferably before I ended up in a straight-jacket out of sheer boredom.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At first, my only problems were my increasingly unwanted ability to see the dead and my desperation to remove the stalker known as my ex-boyfriend from my life. Somewhere along the line I must have pissed off the Bad Karma Fairy. Maybe I stepped on the wrong toadstool or peed in Loki’s personal swimming pool—I really don’t know. All I do know is I’m about to have the worst week of my life. Maybe the worst week of any teenager’s life. Ever.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All because of a dead guy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From the second pale, too-hot-to-be-real Nathan Ashley stepped out of the wreckage of his mangled sports car, my life spiraled into complete and utter chaos. One minute, I'm quasi-normal, the next I’m being kidnapped by a vampire, I’m having weird, creepy powers sprout up out of nowhere, and I’m running from a demon who wants to get more familiar with my anatomy…or kill me. Again. Yeah, did I mention he's done it before?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anybody know if those straight-jackets come in pink?</span><br />
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(Description by Author on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A737G2A/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00A737G2A&linkCode=as2&tag=1000books-20" target="_blank">Amazon</a>)<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1000 + Books to Read Rating:</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP_Rr7a3iE0GInFRxLTj3IdJhVxId_VZWaUvJk4JNr_rHaliCa8P-JMsgFaKJB4eafSgy1YEYTLQ0KN-67t1VvCsF-FkT87NTW0g9V2RUwWIvtNTy7Xyks-vNrYJXaJ33kwkswgywmJk8/s1600/four.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP_Rr7a3iE0GInFRxLTj3IdJhVxId_VZWaUvJk4JNr_rHaliCa8P-JMsgFaKJB4eafSgy1YEYTLQ0KN-67t1VvCsF-FkT87NTW0g9V2RUwWIvtNTy7Xyks-vNrYJXaJ33kwkswgywmJk8/s1600/four.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Lets Talk About It:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ember is a fiesty, fiesty character. Headstrong, stubborn and a bloodwitch. A very strong bloodwitch and she didn't even know she was one! Jealous of her own child Ember's mom refused to allow Ember to know what her heritage was and kept her away from her Grandma, the only person who could help her learn her powers. Talk about messed up!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Embers life ends up getting turned upside down when one of her bestfriends becomes her stalker and in an effort to get away from him she winds up being kidnapped by Nathan, a vampire. Of course Nathan is super hot and Ember's attracted to him like a moth to a flame but her temper and doubts rear their ugly head in their on again off again relationship. Of course Nathan is only trying to protect her from Jack, the demon who is inside of her friends body at the request of her Grandma. It's pretty obvious though that something is between Nathan and Ember.. something deeper than this meeting, this attraction.. this lifetime.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ember has to learn how to use her witchiness to get rid of the demon who is in love with her in super quick time which leads to some pretty hilarious moments. Imagine a sarcastic hot head attempting magic, failing and the outcome = Funny with a capital F. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pretty entertaining read that leaves you with plenty of questions and awaiting the next in the series for some answers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Where to Buy:</b></span><br />
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<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A737G2A/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00A737G2A&linkCode=as2&tag=1000books-20" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Amazon</span></a></li>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small; line-height: 21px;">Disclosure: I received the above book from the Author to facilitate my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review, only an honest one. The opinions I have expressed in the above post are strictly my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC's regulation 16 CFR, Part 255; "Guides concerning the use of endorsements and testimonials in advertising."</span></span></span></div>
Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373124683649976442noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8043649364521227418.post-73671180143347453222012-11-08T08:00:00.000-08:002012-11-08T10:02:15.191-08:00Interview with A.J. Myers, author of Something Witchy<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A.J. Myers, author of <i>Something Witchy</i>, agreed to allow me to annoy her with questions.. I mean <b>interview</b> her about her upcoming release, future books and.. well.. writing in general. Check out the awesome <a href="http://www.1000plusbookstoread.com/2012/11/giveaway-100-amazon-giftcard-something.html" target="_blank">Giveaway</a> celebrating the release of Something Witchy: $100 Amazon Giftcard, a black Something Witchy ceramic Norwegian-style mug and a purple stainless steel Mystics & Mayhem thermal mug! 7 winners in all! Click <b><a href="http://www.1000plusbookstoread.com/2012/11/giveaway-100-amazon-giftcard-something.html" target="_blank">HERE</a></b> to enter to win and enjoy the interview below!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Make sure to check out <i>Something Witchy</i> on it's official release date <b>November 15th!</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Me:</b> Something Witchy ended on a spectacular note and alludes to another book in the works, how many books are planned for this cast of characters? And when is the next book planned for release?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>A.J.:</b> There are currently five books planned in the Mystics & Mayhem series, the second of which <i>Something Wicked</i>, we hope to release in the next month or so.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Me:</b> Ember is a fiery character.. Was she based off of anyone you know?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>A.J.:</b> Yes, and no. Ember is a combination of every teenage girl I've ever known. And, my friends would say, me. Her personality has made her one of my favorite characters ever!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Me:</b> Out of all the characters in the book who was hardest to write? Easiest?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>A.J.:</b> The easiest to write was Ember, because I have so much inspiration for her character. The hardest was Grams. Not because her character was more complex than any of the others, but hard for me on a personal level. She reminds me a great deal of someone who was very special to me. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Me:</b> How did you come up with the idea for Something Witchy? What inspired you?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>A.J.:</b> A poem, actually, written by a friend of mine. It had the perfect combination of funny and sweet. The day after I read it, I sat down at my computer to work on a book I had in progress and found myself typing, All my problems started with a dead guy instead. I've been messing with our heroine ever since.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Me:</b> How long did it take for you to write Something Witchy?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>A.J.:</b> It only took me two months to write the first draft, but it's gone through quite a few rewrites since then. I'd say, all in all, about seven months, maybe a little longer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Me:</b> Were there any scenes that you wished survived the editing phase? If so, can you share a little of what we missed?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>A.J.:</b> I would, but I have plans for a lot of those little snippets and I'd hate the spoil the fun! :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Me:</b> Are there any other projects you are working on or ideas currently brewing that you can share with us?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>A.J.:</b> Other than the Mystics & Mayhem Series, I've kind-of-sort-of started work on a series I call Death, Inc. I just love the idea of death as a business :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Me:</b> The book industry has changed so much in the last 5 years for readers and authors alike.. If you could spare some advice to potential authors what would it be? Anything you would tell book lovers out there of what it's like to be an author in this changing industry?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>A.J.: </b>The publishing industry has never been an easy club to break into, but in recent years it's become almost impossible for a new author to get any recognition. My best advice, though, would be to polish and polish and polish your book some more. Then, throw it in a drawer and forget about it for six months and go back and start reading it again. That's when you find the uh-ohs that can make or break you. Post on sites like <a href="http://writing.com/">writing.com</a> and let other writers tell you what you're doing wrong. They will be the best teachers you will ever have.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As for that discerning reader out there, if you want to read something by an awesome new author, check out what the smaller fish in the pond are putting out. Sure, you may get a few nose-wrinkling bad novels--just remember, you get those with novels published by the big fish, too--but you might also find a diamond amongst the rocks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thank you again A.J. for stopping by and allowing me to pick your brain. <i>Something Witchy</i> is released on <b>November 15th</b> and I'll be reviewing it here on the blog on November 20th. In the meantime take a look at the cover, stalk A.J. on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/ajmyersnovel" target="_blank">Facebook</a> and her <a href="http://ajmyersnovel.com/" target="_blank">website</a>. </span><br />
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Mellihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07837692849980252395noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8043649364521227418.post-6338385642092991802012-11-08T06:00:00.000-08:002012-11-08T13:13:42.519-08:00GIVEAWAY: $100 Amazon Giftcard, Something Witchy and Mystics & Mayhem mugs by A.J. Myers! - Ends 11/21<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Super cool awesome SWAG and Gift card giveaway celebrating the release of <i>Something Witchy</i>, the first book in the <i>Mystics and Mayhem</i> series by A.J. Myers!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Check out A.J.'s interview <b><i><a href="http://www.1000plusbookstoread.com/2012/11/interview-with-aj-myers-author-of.html" target="_blank">here</a></i></b> and the book cover and description below.. then enter to win a <b>$100 Amazon Giftcard</b>, <b>a black <i>Something Witchy</i> ceramic Norwegian-style mug</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjankOR1oVbibSDZUw1lb7cvuArlntTUyN1pH8Q2Ob_iQF3oXGlsI0hMQelQonNjrJCoFimX8z5dnwsSwF2T3PJKGcd1oSahtgqJjCLSVMn911FyX1ZcNa2ciSmjHeDxwWK1nNxxFc-1ss/s1600/mug.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjankOR1oVbibSDZUw1lb7cvuArlntTUyN1pH8Q2Ob_iQF3oXGlsI0hMQelQonNjrJCoFimX8z5dnwsSwF2T3PJKGcd1oSahtgqJjCLSVMn911FyX1ZcNa2ciSmjHeDxwWK1nNxxFc-1ss/s320/mug.bmp" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and <b>a purple stainless steel <i>Mystics & Mayhem</i> thermal mug</b>. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIvSG4SO0EYveR-nixjq0YmiQ3GgpyV8ZnfKp8jbHeNAUpzX2d2dkl5MwwnZJHMA0eLlW9acTyIc8bG0n5WHRuubIcTa3spdRBqV8DyT4MqeFk93HmtjokomZOOrDec42Wvr2Qm_jE0AM/s1600/purple.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIvSG4SO0EYveR-nixjq0YmiQ3GgpyV8ZnfKp8jbHeNAUpzX2d2dkl5MwwnZJHMA0eLlW9acTyIc8bG0n5WHRuubIcTa3spdRBqV8DyT4MqeFk93HmtjokomZOOrDec42Wvr2Qm_jE0AM/s320/purple.bmp" width="151" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7 items up for grabs = <b>7 lucky winners!!</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">My name is Ember Blaylock. Welcome to the World of Weird—better known as my life.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">It wasn't always like this. I was once a normal high school senior, just filling out college apps and trying to stay sane long enough to get out of Moonlight, Missouri. Preferably before I ended up in a straight-jacket out of sheer boredom.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">At first, my only problems were my increasingly unwanted ability to see the dead and my desperation to remove the stalker known as my ex-boyfriend from my life. Somewhere along the line I must have pissed off the Bad Karma Fairy. Maybe I stepped on the wrong toadstool or peed in Loki’s personal swimming pool—I really don’t know. All I do know is I’m about to have the worst week of my life. Maybe the worst week of any teenager’s life. Ever.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">All because of a dead guy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">From the second pale, too-hot-to-be-real Nathan Ashley stepped out of the wreckage of his mangled sports car, my life spiraled into complete and utter chaos. One minute, I'm quasi-normal, the next I’m being kidnapped by a vampire, I’m having weird, creepy powers sprout up out of nowhere, and I’m running from a demon who wants to get more familiar with my anatomy…or kill me. Again. Yeah, did I mention he's done it before?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Anybody know if those straight-jackets come in pink?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Enter to <b>WIN</b> below!</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
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Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373124683649976442noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8043649364521227418.post-10936327963527887912012-11-05T10:57:00.001-08:002012-11-05T11:10:00.563-08:00The Delusion by Laura Gallier<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwrSOjNCNVibaPZSyUISXUia4gCgfdNUmbAZw9DDnIZoUZmFBQ-ZBhMDj_1dRHpdMJmJ9VvAoTR-qMrbVeUCYTyH0uxqAQh8mjff6oqnd-GuJ696LVKDr3RmZN9rfDtNZ2h52BCjKq2ps/s1600/The-Delusion-Book-Cover4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwrSOjNCNVibaPZSyUISXUia4gCgfdNUmbAZw9DDnIZoUZmFBQ-ZBhMDj_1dRHpdMJmJ9VvAoTR-qMrbVeUCYTyH0uxqAQh8mjff6oqnd-GuJ696LVKDr3RmZN9rfDtNZ2h52BCjKq2ps/s200/The-Delusion-Book-Cover4.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"Is there more to this life than meets the eye? In the young adult paranormal fiction The Delusion, author Laura Gallier takes readers on a thrilling, suspense-filled journey where the supernatural unseen world becomes visible. The eerie storyline entertains from start to finish and transcends mere fiction as readers must decide for themselves: Do unseen forces of good and evil actually exist?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">When Owen Edmonds begins experiencing horrifying hallucinations, he struggles to keep it together while frantically searching for a cure. His mission to reclaim his sanity takes a devastating turn for the worse, however, when his delusions become even more shocking and sinister.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Owen's relentless quest for logical answers leads him to a mind-bending conclusion — he's not merely imagining forces of evil at work; everyone else is blind to the evil that is.</span><br />
<br />
He has to warn others to find a way to rescue them despite their disbelief.<br />
<br />
Experience life through Owen Edmonds' eyes and decide for yourself: Is he deceived, or are we?"<br />
<br />
(Description by Author on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009Y7PUBO/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B009Y7PUBO&linkCode=as2&tag=1000books-20" target="_blank">Amazon</a></i>)<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1000 + Books to Read Rating: </b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP_Rr7a3iE0GInFRxLTj3IdJhVxId_VZWaUvJk4JNr_rHaliCa8P-JMsgFaKJB4eafSgy1YEYTLQ0KN-67t1VvCsF-FkT87NTW0g9V2RUwWIvtNTy7Xyks-vNrYJXaJ33kwkswgywmJk8/s1600/four.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP_Rr7a3iE0GInFRxLTj3IdJhVxId_VZWaUvJk4JNr_rHaliCa8P-JMsgFaKJB4eafSgy1YEYTLQ0KN-67t1VvCsF-FkT87NTW0g9V2RUwWIvtNTy7Xyks-vNrYJXaJ33kwkswgywmJk8/s1600/four.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Lets Talk About It:</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Delusion was an absolutely fantastic read. It follows the story of Owen, a high school student who wakes up one day, after drinking an unknown substance, and sees things. Chains around people's neck hanging down their back and cords protruding out of their head. Owen can't get anyone to believe him, not his mom, not his best friend and he's not even sure if he believes himself. That is until he spots Ray Anne chain free and she believes him. Together they try to figure out what is going on. </span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What an interesting concept. The chains that are wrapped around the neck have names associated with them and from what I can understand, what I believe these are meant to represent unresolved problems that the chained person has with the name on their chain. The cords protruding from the head held words like bitter, hopeless, misery, all things that can describe how person would feel. It's actually really deep when you started to think about it. Here are these chains, unresolved issues and cords, feelings, dragging you down. As you progress through the book it gets a little bit religious, not overly so and the message could be applied to anyone, religious or not. What I took away from the book not only that it was a fantastic SciFi / Paranormal read but that in order to live you need to free yourself from these chains and cords basically freeing yourself from the negative feelings about yourself, negative emotions and forgiving people so that these things don't drag you down or hold you back.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'd recommend anyone who enjoys sci-fi, paranormal and/or spiritual type books to give this one a try.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Where to Buy: </b></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009Y7PUBO/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B009Y7PUBO&linkCode=as2&tag=1000books-20" target="_blank">Amazon</a> </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-delusion-laura-gallier/1113636846?ean=9780988365803" target="_blank">Barnes & Noble</a> </span></li>
</ul>
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<a href="http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab13/jacquiblogger/1000plusbooks/signature.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab13/jacquiblogger/1000plusbooks/signature.png" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small; line-height: 21px;">Disclosure: I received the above book from the Author to facilitate my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review, only an honest one. The opinions I have expressed in the above post are strictly my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC's regulation 16 CFR, Part 255; "Guides concerning the use of endorsements and testimonials in advertising."</span></span></span></div>
Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373124683649976442noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8043649364521227418.post-20522612730574563182012-10-31T08:00:00.000-07:002012-11-05T11:03:49.711-08:00GIVEAWAY: The Delusion by Laura Gallier - Ends 11/13<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwrSOjNCNVibaPZSyUISXUia4gCgfdNUmbAZw9DDnIZoUZmFBQ-ZBhMDj_1dRHpdMJmJ9VvAoTR-qMrbVeUCYTyH0uxqAQh8mjff6oqnd-GuJ696LVKDr3RmZN9rfDtNZ2h52BCjKq2ps/s1600/The-Delusion-Book-Cover4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwrSOjNCNVibaPZSyUISXUia4gCgfdNUmbAZw9DDnIZoUZmFBQ-ZBhMDj_1dRHpdMJmJ9VvAoTR-qMrbVeUCYTyH0uxqAQh8mjff6oqnd-GuJ696LVKDr3RmZN9rfDtNZ2h52BCjKq2ps/s200/The-Delusion-Book-Cover4.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last week <a href="http://www.thedelusionbook.com/" target="_blank">Laura Gallier</a> stopped by to introduce us to her Paranormal Fiction book: <i><b><a href="http://www.thedelusionbook.com/" target="_blank">The Delusion</a></b></i>. <b><i><a href="http://www.thedelusionbook.com/" target="_blank">The Delusion</a></i></b> is being released right in time for Halloween and trust me it's the perfect time to turn down the lights (oooo sppppoooky!) and read this Paranormal thriller. Prepare to be haunted by the question.. do spiritual forces of evil actually exist, or is such thinking delusional?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"Is there more to this life than meets the eye? In the young adult paranormal fiction The Delusion, author Laura Gallier takes readers on a thrilling, suspense-filled journey where the supernatural unseen world becomes visible. The eerie storyline entertains from start to finish and transcends mere fiction as readers must decide for themselves: Do unseen forces of good and evil actually exist?</span><br />
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When Owen Edmonds begins experiencing horrifying hallucinations, he struggles to keep it together while frantically searching for a cure. His mission to reclaim his sanity takes a devastating turn for the worse, however, when his delusions become even more shocking and sinister.</span><br />
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Owen's relentless quest for logical answers leads him to a mind-bending conclusion — he's not merely imagining forces of evil at work; everyone else is blind to the evil that is.</span><br />
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">He has to warn others to find a way to rescue them despite their disbelief.</span><br />
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Experience life through Owen Edmonds' eyes and decide for yourself: Is he deceived, or are we?" <span style="font-size: x-small;">(Description provided by <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009Y7PUBO/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B009Y7PUBO&linkCode=as2&tag=1000books-20" target="_blank">Amazon</a>) </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lucky for us Laura was gracious enough to offer up a copy of The Delusion for one our lucky readers! Are you feeling lucky? Want to get your hands on this book? Enter the Giveaway below or order now on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009Y7PUBO/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B009Y7PUBO&linkCode=as2&tag=1000books-20" target="_blank">Amazon</a>! <span style="font-size: x-small;">Giveaway ends 11/13 11:59PM PST. See contest details for more info!</span></span><br />
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<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
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Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373124683649976442noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8043649364521227418.post-76342440823337773782012-10-25T08:00:00.000-07:002012-10-27T14:24:40.665-07:00Guest Post: Laura Gallier, Author of The Delusion<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hi guys! <a href="http://www.thedelusionbook.com/" target="_blank">Laura Gallier</a> here. Thanks for including me in your online community.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you would have told me one year ago I’d be releasing a fiction book, I would have laughed in your face. I’m the epitome of a non-fiction writer—or so I thought. I was getting ready to write my sixth non-fiction book when a seemingly preposterous idea hit me: you know, this concept would translate into a thrilling fictitious storyline.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After several days of wrestling with the idea—including the sinking reality that my publisher only features non-fiction—the plot developed in my mind to the point that I had to begin writing. And that’s when my love affair with fiction began. What a blast!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In what I’m told is record timing, I finished <i><a href="http://www.thedelusionbook.com/" target="_blank">The Delusion</a></i> in just six months. After a professional review, a series of heavy edits, and hours upon hours of re-reads and tweaks, my paranormal fiction is ready just in time—the week of Halloween. This holiday presents an ideal opportunity to ask a highly debated question: do spiritual forces of evil actually exist, or is such thinking delusional?</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvUv9HCBOr7GVM4fPNLJ35U4-MWQnym5XEN-YwMPkMMTH-v3Bwdn2_ertRe80d65RoL-e5O-y3hjRDNftLT0Z5q3e7gW8T4EaYXc5clZXTwXzPLcykLe2Iq4SUUoNHQzJ22OiGj4PIzXLC/s1600/The-Delusion-Book-Cover4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvUv9HCBOr7GVM4fPNLJ35U4-MWQnym5XEN-YwMPkMMTH-v3Bwdn2_ertRe80d65RoL-e5O-y3hjRDNftLT0Z5q3e7gW8T4EaYXc5clZXTwXzPLcykLe2Iq4SUUoNHQzJ22OiGj4PIzXLC/s320/The-Delusion-Book-Cover4.jpg" width="246" /></a></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">According to <i><a href="http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/12-faithspirituality/260-most-american-christians-do-not-believe-that-satan-or-the-holy-spirit-exis">Barna’s research</a></i>, even churchgoers are divided on the issue, with a slight majority concluding that satanic powers and demons are mere spiritual symbols as opposed to active unseen forces at work in and among humanity. No matter which side of the fence we personally occupy, one thing is certain: as it pertains to believers and skeptics, logic demands that one group is enlightened and the other, deceived. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And therein lies a very real life dilemma, one that confronts my protagonist Owen Edmonds when he suddenly becomes an eye-witness to forces of evil. All of humanity—including those dearest to him—are under attack, but he’s hard pressed to get anyone to believe him. As Owen’s sightings become more shocking and sinister, he must warn others and find a way to rescue them, all the while battling inner turmoil as he continually questions his sanity.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Experience life through Owen Edmonds’ eyes and decide for yourself: has he lost his mind . . . or have we?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Visit Laura on her sites:</span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.thedelusionbook.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Website</span></a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.lauragallier.com/blog/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Blog</span></a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Laura-Gallier/171563708551" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Facebook</span></a></li>
<li><a href="http://twitter.com/lauragallier" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Twitter</span></a></li>
</ul>
<br />Mellihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07837692849980252395noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8043649364521227418.post-58454073195481178422012-09-21T08:51:00.000-07:002012-09-21T09:12:15.474-07:00Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSD51HlNUyZykKYnAifeyrSNgsd6rVye9LNUdoIWUFMMEtCGEfA9GyIzDCM0oXu-MYl6WnUqoCxLJZSr7mJbDKN_B6T3LPzgHXNGyj61hrVRaSsEXWb7yuSAgDiuJwGhO-3_-hZextXuA/s1600/throne.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSD51HlNUyZykKYnAifeyrSNgsd6rVye9LNUdoIWUFMMEtCGEfA9GyIzDCM0oXu-MYl6WnUqoCxLJZSr7mJbDKN_B6T3LPzgHXNGyj61hrVRaSsEXWb7yuSAgDiuJwGhO-3_-hZextXuA/s200/throne.jpg" width="132" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1599906953/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1599906953&linkCode=as2&tag=1000books-20" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Throne of Glass</i></b></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.(Description by Author on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1599906953/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1599906953&linkCode=as2&tag=1000books-20" target="_blank">Amazon</a>)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1000 + Books to Read Rating:</b></span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lets Talk About It:</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was really excited when I saw that <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1599906953/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1599906953&linkCode=as2&tag=1000books-20" target="_blank">Throne of Glass</a> was on Net Galley available to read. I heard that it was going to be a lot like a YA version of Game of Thrones. Being a fan of Game of Thrones I couldn't wait to get my hands on it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There're things that I really enjoyed about Throne of Glass. I really enjoyed Celaena, the main character, but was also very confused by her. She's an assassin and yet during the book she didn't read as if she was a known and extremely deadly assassin. I had to keep reminding myself that she was a teen still. She's 18 and in some ways that excuses some of her behavior in other ways I felt a huge disconnect from who she was supposed to be and how she actually was. If she had such a hard life and hard upbringing as it was made to seem I don't understand how she ended up connecting with the other characters the way she did, so easily.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I also couldn't figure out what era the book was written and I don't recall it ever being stated. In some parts it read like it was old, obviously with kings and queens in the court, and yet in some instances it seems very modern.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There were also quite a few times where it felt very predictable. For instance the love triangle: very obvious and of course her fighting to become the champion: very obvious. I felt like this was more the beginning/intro than an actual book. Not to say that I didn't enjoy reading it however it felt as if it was a very small part of a big of a bigger picture.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm interested in finding out what happens next with these characters and in this world and will be picking up the next in the series when it comes out. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Quick Peek:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Where to Buy:</b></span><br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1599906953/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1599906953&linkCode=as2&tag=1000books-20" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Amazon</span></a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/throne-of-glass-sarah-j-maas/1108077808?ean=9781599906959" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Barnes & Noble</span></a></li>
</ul>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small; line-height: 21px;">Disclosure: I received the above book from the Author to facilitate my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review, only an honest one. The opinions I have expressed in the above post are strictly my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC's regulation 16 CFR, Part 255; "Guides concerning the use of endorsements and testimonials in advertising."</span></span></span></div>
Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373124683649976442noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8043649364521227418.post-4473760818887932722012-09-07T07:00:00.000-07:002012-09-07T07:00:03.049-07:00Steampunk Style - It's Everywhere! Guest Post by Lara Nance<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So what is steampunk anyway?</span></b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The culture of Steampunk originated during the 1980s and early 1990s and incorporates a</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">mixture of elements from science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, horror, and speculative</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">fiction. It involves a setting where steam is the power of the day—whether in an alternative</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">universe or actual Victorian times. There have also been elements used in an alternate U.S. Wild </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">West, or in post-apocalyptic times playing on this punk Victorian theme.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today, artists feature technology involving clockwork, or futuristic innovations as Victorians</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">might have imagined them. For instance, this technology includes such fictional machines as</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne. Take a look at this modern steampunk </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">style bathroom decor by San Francisco architect Andre Rothblatt and contractor Fredic Grasset </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">as an example:</span><br />
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<a href="http://bernalwood.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/steampunk-bathroom.jpg?w=640&h=630" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="314" src="http://bernalwood.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/steampunk-bathroom.jpg?w=640&h=630" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://bernalwood.wordpress.com/2012/08/16/bernal-architect-creates-whimsical-%20steampunk-bathroom" target="_blank">Link to steampunk-bathroom</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Steampunk has also infiltrated art, fashion, and design influenced by the aesthetics of steampunk </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">literature. Various modern utilitarian/industrial objects are used by artisans to form a pseudo- </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Victorian mechanical "steampunk" style. There are also visual and musical artists now described </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">as steampunk.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But in my opinion, nowhere has steampunk had more influence than in fashion. And never has </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">this been more prevalent than the fall couture collections of 2012. Designers from Gaultier to </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Prada to Chanel have incorporated elements of steampunk, or at the very least--19th century </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">fashion, to inspire their fall collections.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I couldn't pull my gaze from Jean Paul Gaultier's fall collection, full of top hats and tails,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">bustiers, and flowing capes. You can view the entire collection video at the following link. And</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">keep watching until the end for the fabulous steampunk style wedding dress as the finale!</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.jeanpaulgaultier.com/brand/en/hc/haute-couture-par-jean-paul-gaultier#page-brand/" target="_blank"><b>http://www.jeanpaulgaultier.com/brand/en/hc/haute-couture-par-jean-paul-gaultier#page-brand/</b></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For a full range of designers revealing their steampunk style this fall, here's an awesome</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">slide show for your viewing pleasure:</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.decimononic.com/blog/haute-couture-steampunk-fashion"><b>www.decimononic.com/blog/haute-couture-steampunk-fashion</b></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even America's Next Top Model TV show is getting in on the steampunk action. The</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">folks at <a href="http://www.clockworkcouture/"><b>www.clockworkcouture</b></a> recently wrote: "The wardrobe stylists from America's Next</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Top Model came and raided our store for items to incorporate into their high fashion shoot with </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Steampunk flair." Here's the place to view the slide show of their photos:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150961650975896.394603.116071105895&type=3"><b>www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150961650975896.394603.116071105895&type=3</b></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you want to find some steampunk outfits for yourself, there are a number of fine </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">internet companies who focus on steampunk fashion, such as:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.steampunkthreads.com/">www.steampunkthreads.com</a></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.clockworkcouture.com/">www.clockworkcouture.com</a></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.steampunkemporium.com/">www.steampunkemporium.com</a></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Steampunk conventions are popping up all over the world and are a great place to wear</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">your steampunk costumes and meet like-minded enthusiasts for tea and airship races. I'll be at </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Steamcon IV in October with my steampunk trilogy, Airship Adventure Chronicles. The first</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">book, <i><b>Revenge of the Mad Scientist</b></i>, is now for sale on Amazon and Barnes & Noble sites. It's a </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">romantic steampunk adventure in the style of Around the World in Eighty Days.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Give the book a look, and you might become a steampunk fan yourself! <b>Here's a chance</b></span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">to WIN a copy along with a steampunk style necklace so you'll be ready for the 2012 steampunk </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">fall. Leave a comment about your view of steampunk and you'll be entered to win the book and </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>necklace.</b> For more information on my books, visit me at: <b><a href="http://www.laranance.com/">www.laranance.com</a></b>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Enter to WIN below! </span><br />
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<script src="//d12vno17mo87cx.cloudfront.net/embed/rafl/cptr.js"></script>Mellihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07837692849980252395noreply@blogger.com81tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8043649364521227418.post-47544704006353980102012-08-20T07:00:00.000-07:002012-09-04T17:48:36.205-07:00Whispers in the Dark by Heather Beck excerpt and Giveaway!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLm8btajxU77XZHZbn3My9GY1EelHegERPx20clpSn4WH1hnP4yPzHJMKBytUlCVQuZlTDfCDvugOKCPl6ED1cp9Z314YUhvABrvmnojyzVN-k643eC8SIdCERO1e0FOofQqoxtZRDabr3/s1600/WITS+CA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLm8btajxU77XZHZbn3My9GY1EelHegERPx20clpSn4WH1hnP4yPzHJMKBytUlCVQuZlTDfCDvugOKCPl6ED1cp9Z314YUhvABrvmnojyzVN-k643eC8SIdCERO1e0FOofQqoxtZRDabr3/s320/WITS+CA.jpg" width="205" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1926990056/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1926990056&linkCode=as2&tag=1000plusdeals-20" target="_blank">Whispers in the Dark</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Excerpt “Where Feelings Go To Die” from Whispers In The Shadows</b></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During the daylight hours, when the sun glistens upon the water and the leaves on the trees</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">sway gently in the wind, one wonders why this serene setting bears the misleading name of Black </span></i><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Heart Lake.</span></i><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ashleigh hesitated before placing a period at the end of her sentence. She was uncertain</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">whether the words she’d written would meet the expectations of her finicky boss. The battle of</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">her mind, pen and properly structured sentences continued.</span><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, what is the origin of Black Heart Lake’s name? It began over two hundred years ago</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">when a jilted woman murdered another woman who was having an affair with her lover.</span></i><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ashleigh suddenly stopped writing and stared at what she’d written.</span><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Where the hell did that come from?</span></i><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Looking up at the bright sun, its blazing heat radiated upon her face. She squinted, wishing</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">she had her sunglasses. Unfortunately, they had been left in the cabin after unpacking this</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">morning.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now concentrating on her notepad, Ashleigh erased the sporadic burst of imaginative fiction.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She wrote what she’d meant to write.</span><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The origin of Black Heart Lake’s name lies within the fact that the moon, when rising or</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">setting behind the two large elm trees, casts a heart-like shape upon the dark lake.</span></i><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ashleigh suppressed the urge to add something like, <i>when two star-crossed lovers look upon</i></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the moon’s reflection, they decide to take their lives in the lake to forever be together.</span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ring. Ring</span>.</i><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ashleigh jumped at the unexpected noise, causing her notebook to fall towards the water. She </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">caught her ensemble of some hundred words just before it could topple off the dock. Notebook </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">safely in hand, she frantically searched for her ringing cell phone.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When the cell phone ceased to ring, a cold realization swept through Ashleigh’s body. She’d</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">left her cell phone in the cabin.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ashleigh swallowed hard as she rose to her feet. No one was anywhere near her vicinity, or</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">so she had thought.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Her body remained still, but her head turned ever so slightly. From the corner of her eye, she</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">scanned her surroundings. The extended dock led to nothing but her cabin and trees so dense </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">they created an eerie darkness.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A single breath caught in Ashleigh’s throat. Amongst the nearby trees she saw something, or</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">someone, move.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Spinning around to get a better look at the unidentified moving object, she thought she saw a</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">man.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Weirdo!</i> Ashleigh thought as she prepared to defend herself.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The trees were still and no sound could be heard. The only motion came from inside</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ashleigh’s chest as her heart pumped furiously.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The man had disappeared between the trees, but the mere thought of his presence sent chills </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">down her spine.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!</i> Ashleigh mentally beat herself up as she checked the locks on the</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">cabin’s windows and door. <i>Why the hell would I agree to this?</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It had seemed like such a good idea at the time. Being alone in a cabin; a twenty minute drive</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">away from any human contact; working on a somewhat fantastical yet informative journalistic</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">piece – it was meant to be sublime. Instead of experiencing a heightened sense of self and</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">purpose, Ashleigh was terrified.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ring. Ring.</span></i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>He’s inside!</i> Ashleigh thought with a shiver.</span><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ring. Ring.</span></i><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The ringing was so close.</span><br />
<i><br /></i>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>It’s my own phone</i>. Ashleigh sighed with relief. <i>Get a grip.</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Hello?” she finally answered.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“My beautiful darling, how are you?” a male voice cooed on the other end.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Upon hearing your voice, <i>darling</i>, I’m sick to my stomach.” Ashleigh disconnected and then</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">dropped the cell phone onto the bed. Hurt and disgusted, she stared at the phone.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How she hadn’t seen Drake for what he really was – a cheating, manipulative, self-centered</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">jerk – Ashleigh would never understand. She had been taken in by Drake’s savvy business-</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">man mannerisms. He wined and dined her, yet cheated on her in an attempt to improve</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">his “networking circle.” She had to give it to him, at least his excuse was original. Four months</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">into their so-called relationship, the unpleasant truth was revealed. The fact that she still felt hurt </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">was as much as, if not more of, a blow to Ashleigh’s self-esteem than actually losing Drake. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Although, in a strange way, she hadn’t lost him. He still called once a week in an attempt to win </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">her back. As to what Drake wanted, Ashleigh was oblivious. As a novice journalist for a small </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">regional magazine, she didn’t possess the money Drake so seemingly valued.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ashleigh began to undress in preparation for what she guessed would be a long, tense night.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Her body ran cold and then hot. She felt exposed, as if someone was watching her.</span><br />
<i><br /></i>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>I hope I’m not getting a fever</i>. Ashleigh touched her 98.6 degree forehead</span>.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In her sleepwear, she crept to the window and pushed the blinds aside. No one was there.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The moon was high in the sky, so the opportunity to see the heart in the lake was missed.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>The isolation is already getting to me</i>, Ashleigh thought, allowing the blinds to fall back into</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">place.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She crawled into the unfamiliar bed and lay awake for hours. Her senses were at an all-time</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">high; even the slightest sound seemed amplified.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the break of dawn, when Ashleigh had just fallen into a deep sleep, she awoke to the</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">sound of a painful cry. Her eyes shot open, wide and alert, but her body refused to move. The cry </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">drew closer and louder. The cries sounded as if they came from a woman.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Though slow and heavy-footed, compassion and concern drove Ashleigh. Putting on her</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">slippers, she proceeded out the door and through the woods.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dark clouds hid the rising sun, leaving everything dark and dreary. The chilly air paired with</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the unfamiliar woods sent unease throughout her body. Twigs cracked under Ashleigh’s white</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">fuzzy slippers, and crickets sang amongst the fighting.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“You’re a disgrace – nothing but a common whore!” a woman yelled.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ashleigh ran forward. The furious voice echoed in her mind. She broke through the trees and</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">onto the dock but saw no one.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“I didn’t know!” a desperate voice cried. “It’s not my fault!”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Liar!”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The two feuding female voices continued to echo around the fog-covered lake. Ashleigh</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">walked along the dock, keeping her gaze on her feet. The fog became so dense she could no </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">longer see the wooden boards.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Loud groans of women engaged in a physical fight sounded.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thinking a few yards of planks lay before her, Ashleigh took a step forward and fell into</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the water. The freezing water, much colder than it should be this time of year, drenched her</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">nightclothes. Her body sank deeper into the watery abyss. Paralyzed by fear, there seemed to be </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">no sandy floor and she couldn’t propel herself upwards.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>I’m going to drown</i>, Ashleigh thought in terror as she closed her eyes and waited to die.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When Ashleigh hit into something hard, she opened her eyes. At first, everything was dark</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and blurry. Ashleigh blinked, causing her eyelids to feel as heavy as bricks. Something slowly</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">appeared beneath her – a white vision, an angel, perhaps. It stopped her from falling deeper and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">most likely drowning.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The object came into full view. She opened her mouth to scream, but instead of a voice</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">coming out, water rushed in.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The dead body that lay under Ashleigh had the most awful blue skin and sunken eyes. A</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">tattered dress from the nineteenth century clung to the lifeless body.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Suddenly, strong arms pulled Ashleigh towards the surface. Her heart pounded as she felt</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">herself thrashing back and forth between the water and the body of her rescuer. When Ashleigh </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">broke through the surface, she gasped for the most delicious breath of air she had ever taken and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">then pulled herself onto the dock with a push from her rescuer.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Breathing hard and dripping wet, Ashleigh watched the man who had saved her life pull</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">himself onto the dock. The first thing she noticed was how weird he was dressed. The man wore </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">no shirt. Instead, a pair of worn-out overalls covered his body. His leather boots thudded loudly </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">as he stood up.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“My love,” the man moaned in a painful tone as he extended his arms towards Ashleigh.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Too scared to move, Ashleigh allowed the stranger to hug her. She hadn’t noticed it in the</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">water but the man’s touch was ice cold. Ashleigh jerked away.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Looking into the man’s eyes, she saw nothing but darkness. She screamed and ran towards</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the cabin, stumbling several times along the way. One of her slippers fell off, but the cold grass </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">against her foot didn’t stop her.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A few heart-thudding minutes of running later, Ashleigh made it to the cabin. Unsure</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">whether the man had followed her or not, she shut the door and leaned heavily against it.</span><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thump. Thump. Thump.</span></i><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ashleigh thought her heart would explode as the pounding on the cabin door vibrated</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">through her body.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Thump. Thump. Thump</i>.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ashleigh grabbed her cell phone and called 9-1-1</span>.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“You have dialed 9-1-1. What is your emergency?”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“There is a dead woman in the lake and a man is chasing me! Please, you have to help me.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m in cabin one at Black Heart Lake. It’s at the end of Rural Road 231.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“The police are being dispatched now. Are you injured or still in harm’s way?”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“I’m unharmed for now, but he’s right outside my door,” Ashleigh choked out.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Is there somewhere to hide until help arrives? Do you have anything you can use as a</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">weapon?”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“I...I don’t know.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Secure yourself in the cabin and wait for help.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ashleigh followed the dispatcher’s instructions. As she tensely waited for help, the thumping</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">continued non-stop and almost became white noise.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Suddenly, the thumping stopped and gave way to the sound of sirens. Then harsher thumping </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">upon the door began.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Police!” the man behind the door called.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>I hope it really is the police</i>, Ashleigh prayed.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Shakily, Ashleigh peered out the window and sighed with relief. She opened the door to a</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">uniformed police officer.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Did you call 9-1-1?”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She nodded.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“I have officers checking the premises for a male intruder. Can you provide me with a</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">detailed description?”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ashleigh nodded again, but no words came from her mouth.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Are you alright, Miss?”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before she could reply, the police officer’s walkie-talkie buzzed.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“There are no signs of a trespasser,” said a voice through the walkie-talkie. “The only</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">evidence of presence we found belongs to one female.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“No! Check outside the door. He was here!” Ashleigh pushed the police officer aside to show</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">him where the footprints should be.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“But…but…” Ashleigh stuttered in vain.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Can you tell us where you saw the female body?” The police officer’s tone of voice lacked</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">belief. If anything, he sounded very irritated.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Yes.” Determination to prove her words as true overpowered the terror.</span><br />
<br />
***<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Excerpt “Hot Egyptian Nights” from Whispers In The Shadows</span></b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hailey gasped for air. All she could think about was relieving her hot aching lungs.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Miss, are you alright?” an Egyptian male voice echoed in her ears.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hailey’s eyes became blurry. Weak, she fell to the ground. The sand felt like needles piercing</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">her sensitive skin.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Miss, say something.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hailey felt some comfort as a strong arm wrapped around her neck and lifted her head ever</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">so gently. A cold compress was applied to her forehead. Hailey opened her eyes. Slowly, her</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">vision returned to normal. The loud ringing in her ears was now replaced with a low buzzing</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">sound.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“You’ll be alright.” The man supported Hailey for several minutes as she closed her</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">eyes. “Try to sit up,” he finally advised.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hailey did as the man said. Her lips were met with the sensation of cool water. She</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">swallowed, relieving the scorching heat which was in her throat.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Thank you.” Now that the intensity of the illness had faded, Hailey felt rather embarrassed.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“I should take you outside.” The Egyptian man didn’t bother to ask if Hailey could walk.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Instead, he placed one arm under her shoulders and another under her knees. He lifted her gently </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">but also made sure that she was firmly supported.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The feeling of embarrassment began to dwindle. Hailey gave no heed to the gawking group</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">of tourists. She was far too busy memorizing the feel of the man’s strong and sweaty body.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unable to resist, Hailey looked at the Egyptian’s dark eyes and manly features. He caught her</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">looking at him and smiled. Hailey felt weak all over again, but this time it had nothing to do with </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the stale air and hot temperature.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The trek out of the pyramid was difficult, especially when one was carrying another person.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Egyptian man failed to complain. Instead, he kept a tight and protective grip on Hailey.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The mid-afternoon sun was burning Hailey. She closed her eyes as a harsh gust of wind blew</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">sand in her face. When Hailey opened her eyes, she was inside a white tent.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An Egyptian man dressed in traditional clothing hurried to her side. “What’s wrong with</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">her?”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“She collapsed in the pyramid.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Heat exhaustion.” The doctor administrated a salty liquid to Hailey and then took her</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">temperature. “You’ll be fine,” he reassured her a moment later. “But you must stay hydrated and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">keep out of the sun. Tourists like you aren’t built like us natives.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“I’m sorry for ruining your tour,” Hailey apologized, when the doctor had left.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“I’m the one who is sorry. I hate it when visitors fall ill.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“This happens a lot?”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Yes. The doctor was right, you’re not like us.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The man’s words, although innocent, stung Hailey. She studied his face and body, realizing</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">that he couldn’t be much older than her.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“What?” he asked, sensing her prying gaze.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“I’m Hailey.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“My name is Zade.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“What does it mean?”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“What?” Zade asked for the second time that day.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Your name.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Must it mean something?” Zade didn’t give Hailey a chance to respond. “What does Hailey</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">mean?”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“I don’t know.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“You tourists are all alike, expecting us Egyptians to be exotic and mysterious just for your</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">pleasure.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Ouch</i>. Now Hailey really was hurt.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The silence was tension-filled and awkward.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Let me escort you back to your hotel,” Zade finally offered.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“You Egyptians are all alike, expecting us tourists to stay in hotels. What makes you think</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m not residing in a pyramid?”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The expression of hurt on Zade’s face softened. He suppressed a laugh. “I’ll take you</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">wherever you need to go.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hailey raised an eyebrow at Zade. “The Great Hotel,” she finally admitted.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hailey and Zade laughed simultaneously.</span><br />
<br />
***<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hydrated and refreshed, Hailey combed her newly-washed hair. She looked in the mirror,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">admiring her blonde hair and crystal blue eyes. Modesty wasn’t Hailey’s finest trait.</span><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Knock. Knock. Knock.</span></i><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Startled and not expecting any guests, Hailey cautiously opened the door.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A hotel worker stood there with a small box in one hand and an envelope in the other. “Miss</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hailey?”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hailey nodded and then took the items offered to her. She was getting more than a little</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">annoyed at being called Miss.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Have a nice day, Miss.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Thanks,” Hailey said, her manners temporarily escaping her due to the surprise gift.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Who could it be from?</i> Hailey wondered, while settling onto her bed.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hailey opened the small brown box first. Nestled amongst a thin cotton cloth was a pendant.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lifting it up by the chain, Hailey examined it closely. Inside the amber oval was something that</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">looked like a snake’s eye. More curious than ever, Hailey tore into the envelope. A card, which </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">was decorated in hieroglyphics, was inside.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Hailey,” she read out loud. “My attitude isn’t usually so harsh. Please let me explain and</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">make it up to you. Meet me outside Sunrise Pyramid at seven o’clock tonight. I’ll be waiting.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Zade.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It had seemed like an eternity but seven o’clock finally came. Looking casual yet sexy,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hailey left for her date with Zade.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A hot breeze hit Hailey’s face as she walked towards Sunrise Pyramid. Her heart skipped a</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">beat as she saw Zade waiting for her.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“I’m so glad you came,” Zade greeted.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Of course I came,” Hailey replied, smiling as Zade placed his arm around her waist. “I had</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">to thank you for the beautiful gift, after all.” She cast Zade a playful smile, hoping he knew that </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the gift wasn’t the only reason for her presence.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Zade stared intensely at the pendant which hung around Hailey’s neck. “It looks beautiful on</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">you.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Does it have any significance?”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Huh?” Zade suddenly looked highly disturbed.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“The necklace – is that a snake’s eye inside? What does it symbolize?”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Oh, we’ll have plenty of time to talk about that. First, let me buy you a drink.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ten minutes later, Hailey and Zade were sitting in the air-conditioned café, sipping on a</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">traditional Egyptian beverage.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“It’s good,” Hailey commented, after swallowing the last of it.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Egypt has a lot to offer.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“I can see that.” Hailey had to use all her willpower to draw her eyes away from his muscular</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">arms and back to his face.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“How did you end up here?” Zade inquired.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“A crazy life led me to this vacation.” Hailey sighed.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Sounds intriguing.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“It’s more exhausting than intriguing. I just want to relax now.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“You’re not looking for an adventure?” Zade teased mysteriously. “This part of Egypt isn’t</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">exactly a day at the beach.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hailey realized that she was playing with her hair. She always did that when she was trying</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">to distract herself. However, upon looking into Zade’s sincere and caring eyes, she couldn’t hold </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">back any longer. “I just finished a degree in new media design. I was supposed to find a high-</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">paying job while living the good life.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Define the good life,” Zade challenged.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Big house, fancy car, a loyal husband.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“I believe that some Westerners may desire that, but what about you? What’s your</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">definition?”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“I’m not sure yet. I want to find the sacred. You know, something which transcends the</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ordinary and definitely redefines what society considers important.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Zade’s eyes sparkled with intense interest. “Why Egypt?”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“The pyramids. I’ve been in love with them ever since childhood, but I hardly know anything</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">about them. My parents said it was a waste to study Egyptology – what job would it ever lead</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">to?”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“I guess the new media job didn’t work out?”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Not even for a day. Although I stayed at the job for a few months, it killed me inside. I had</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">to get away and follow my dreams.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Zade leaned forward until his lips were only inches away from Hailey’s. “A life without</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">passion is a life not worth living.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Desire surged through Hailey’s body. She yearned for the feeling of Zade’s soft lips against</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">hers. “I couldn’t agree more.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Hurry, Hailey! Come on!” Zade called.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hailey laughed out loud as Zade guided her over a sand dune and towards a mirage-like</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">shack. Until this point, their date had been enlightening and exciting. But now, as they ran hand-</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">in-hand amongst the warm air and blowing sand, things had become purely exhilarating.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Hey! Have you got a camel for us?” Zade called, coming to an abrupt halt.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hailey giggled. “What are we doing?”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“You’re going to experience a new mode of transportation.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The owner of the camels took the Egyptian pound from Zade and then handed him a camel.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He said something repeatedly, but Hailey couldn’t understand him.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“What’s he saying?” Hailey whispered, before Zade helped her onto the camel.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“We’ve got one hour.” Zade sat in front of Hailey. “You can put your arms around me.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hailey didn’t need to be told twice. She slid her long, thin arms around Zade’s waist and</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">allowed her hands to rest low. As the camel began to stride through the sand, Zade’s shirt blew </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">in the wind. Hailey found that a few of her fingers were now inside Zade’s shirt. It felt natural as </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">she touched his stomach. It was firm, a sure sign of his hard-working nature.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Where are you taking me?” she murmured into his ear.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Do you want me to tell you or show you?” Zade’s voice was low but masculine.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“How about both?” Hailey replied, feeling as if she would crumble under her desire for him.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“I want to show you paradise.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“I might already be there.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For fifteen minutes, Hailey traveled over harsh sand dunes on a camel. She was in a place she </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">didn’t know and with a man she had just met. However, Hailey had never felt more secure.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Zade brought the camel to a stop seemingly in the middle of nowhere.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Zade, where are…?”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Shhh…” Zade helped Hailey off the camel. “Do you trust me?”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Should I?”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Yes.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Then I do.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Zade turned to the camel. “Stay.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Do camels speak English?” Hailey joked.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Zade didn’t reply. Instead, he took Hailey’s hand. He led her over a few feet of sand and then</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">stopped suddenly.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hailey let out a small gasp as she saw the hole in the sand. She kneeled down in an attempt to </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">get a better look. “It’s so dark. I can’t see a thing.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Zade wandered into the hole. Soon, Hailey could see a flickering light. His hand reached out</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">for hers. She took it.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Be careful where you step,” Zade advised Hailey.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hailey took the advice but tripped anyway. He caught her before she could fall to the ground.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">His torch swayed, creating creepy shadows.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“What is this place?” Hailey’s so-in-love feeling was beginning to give heed to caution.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“It’s the most beautiful place I know.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“This?” To Hailey, it looked like the inside of any other pyramid she had seen.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Follow me.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Zade, I really don’t want…” Hailey’s words failed her as a sparkling blue hue spilled from</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">behind a corner. “What’s that?”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“My paradise.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Behind the sharp turn was a pool of blue water. A light from underneath illuminated its</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">beauty and caused star-like shapes to glisten against the sandy walls.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hailey bent down and touched the cool water. “How is this possible?”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Zade sat down at the water’s edge, causing the light from the water to reflect upon his face.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hailey just stared at him, mesmerized by his exotic beauty.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“I don’t know,” Zade finally replied. “My parents showed me this place when I was a child.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He looked very emotional, causing Hailey to hold his hand.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“What happened to them? You can tell me.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“My mother was killed five years ago in a car accident. It was a hit and run by drunken</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">tourists.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hailey’s face reddened. She completely understood why Zade’s opinion of tourists was</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">jaded.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“I like to come here and think,” Zade continued. “Perhaps I’m looking for the sacred too.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Zade intertwined his fingers between Hailey’s. He held her tight, as if fighting an inner</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">battle.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“How can I help you?” Hailey blurted out, not completely certain she knew what she meant.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Zade failed to offer a verbal reply. Instead, he moved his body closer to hers. Zade reached</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">for Hailey’s face and then kissed her cheek. Totally smitten, Hailey allowed Zade to kiss her lips.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At first it was sweet and gentle, but it soon became passionate.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Mmmm…”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“What?” Zade whispered, allowing his breath to trickle down Hailey’s neck.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“I said I need to breathe.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Oh.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Okay, I think I’m recovered.” Hailey pressed her lips against Zade’s. She loved how soft</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and warm they felt. Suddenly, the comforting sensation stopped. Zade had backed away. Hailey </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">almost felt like crying. “Zade?”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“I have to tell you something.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hailey waited, not sure what to expect.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“When I saw you lined up for my tour of the pyramid, a part of me fell in love. Then, seeing</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">you sick and vulnerable, I wanted to take care of you. I can’t explain these feelings as anything </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">other than…Hailey, I’m a working man and you’re a Westerner who will return home soon. I </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">can’t feel this way. I’ve already experienced too much pain.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Slow down, Zade. Let’s see what these forthcoming weeks hold.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Zade nodded and then stood up. “I need to return the camel.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hailey laughed. “Next time I’ll drive.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That night, it took hours for Hailey to fall asleep. She kept replaying the kiss with Zade in her</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">mind.</span><br />
<br />
“<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hailey, Hailey,” a faint whisper startled her. “Come with me, Hailey. I need you.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She sat straight up in bed. Her heart raced with excitement and fear.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hailey had forgotten to close the window. A breeze blew the curtains open, allowing the</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">moonlight to stream in.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Zade stepped into the eerie glow. He wore traditional Egyptian clothing which seemed to</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">swirl and dance around his body.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Hailey, you have to come with me.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Zade, how did you get in here?” Hailey demanded as he walked towards her.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Shhh…” Zade placed his finger upon Hailey’s lips. “You mustn’t talk, my princess.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Zade stared into Hailey’s eyes. His gaze was hypnotic. Hailey felt overwhelmed by the urge</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">to let herself go. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. Hailey was asleep before she had a </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">chance to exhale.</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ENTER TO WIN:</span></b><br />
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<script src="//d12vno17mo87cx.cloudfront.net/embed/rafl/cptr.js"></script>Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373124683649976442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8043649364521227418.post-67865523798889506482012-08-16T07:00:00.000-07:002012-08-16T07:00:05.348-07:00Guest Post: Jaye Frances, Author of The Beach + GIVEAWAY!<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thank you, Melissa, for hosting me today on 1000 Plus Books to Read with my new sci-fi fantasy release, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008X76CD6/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B008X76CD6&linkCode=as2&tag=1000plusdeals-20" target="_blank"><b><i>The Beach</i></b></a>.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsudNmls4dmBAhQ2wyT2Kijpu-E4rBkALfyU6dXz37zlqs1ZDvDDBSIKg-OJzydGnaBPA3VFUtHZtsg4jX0FdcfcCQ1HGSielop5XvvfabPvT7Eo3qbVO6EyJCWEHvVtG-vPOuBeOtvE4/s1600/THE+BEACH+COVER.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsudNmls4dmBAhQ2wyT2Kijpu-E4rBkALfyU6dXz37zlqs1ZDvDDBSIKg-OJzydGnaBPA3VFUtHZtsg4jX0FdcfcCQ1HGSielop5XvvfabPvT7Eo3qbVO6EyJCWEHvVtG-vPOuBeOtvE4/s320/THE+BEACH+COVER.jpg" width="238" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of my favorite places to vacation is the beach. And I’m not alone. There’s something very special in just the right combination of sand, sun, and surf that makes the shoreline the perfect spot to spend a holiday—or in the case of Alan, the main character in <b><i>The Beach</i></b>, a lifetime.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I began to develop Alan’s personality, I realized he was not going to fit into the majority of beach-goers who made their annual summer pilgrimage to the shore to bake in the sun and play in the temperate waves. Alan was a loner, a staunch individualist who preferred the empty beaches of winter, favoring a jacket over sunscreen. As Alan matured, he quickly became more than the simple sum of his parts. True, he could be brash and defiant, and easily written off as a reclusive non-conformist. But he was also intelligent and perceptive, able to rationalize his antisocial attitude as a response to what he saw happening around him, a defense of last resort over a situation he was powerless to prevent.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Since <b><i>The Beach</i></b> is brand new, I’m curious to hear what readers will think of Alan, and if they recognize him as one of those people who often have something of great value to say, but when they find no one is listening, feel vindicated in making the means justify the end.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the following excerpt, Alan is preparing to hang and display a curious object he picked up from the shoreline the previous afternoon. After gathering the tools he needs from a storage shed, he heads back into his house, ready to secure a nail into one end of the item. But the unusual material is resistant, and as Alan wonders what the container’s purpose really is, some odd things begin to occur . . .</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Here’s an excerpt:</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next morning brought a clear blue sky and a warm breeze—the kind of weather that always drew people to the seashore. He didn’t want to think about it. Grabbing his light-bending novelty from the kitchen counter, Alan walked out the back door toward an old ramshackle storage shed. Providing minimal protection for a half-empty bag of potting soil and some replacement roof shingles, Alan also used it to store a few tools and some loose hardware.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He welcomed the opportunity to be outside, to be on the beach with purpose. Not to enjoy the tickle of the sun on his skin or to hear the soothing rhythm of the waves, but to revel in the sadistic pleasure of confrontation, to direct his pre-emptive arrogance at them, answering their questions before they could ask: <i>No, you can’t use the bathroom. No, I don’t have any water. No, you can’t use the hose to wash off the salt. And no, I don’t know what time it is.</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Somewhere under the bottom shelf . . .” he mumbled.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Peering into the rusted-out coffee can, he stirred the collection of loose hardware—mostly nuts, washers, and bolts—with his fingers. “It can’t be too big, might split the thing wide open.” Finally locating a few finishing nails, he dropped them into his shirt pocket.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Brushing aside a thick blanket of cobwebs, he began rummaging through an old plastic paint bucket, pulling out a plunger, paint roller, and a broken hacksaw before finding the hammer.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The lack of a decent working area forced Alan to return to his kitchen. He sprawled on the floor. <i>I’ll seat the nail an eighth of an inch or so before driving it deep with a full strike.</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Estimating the center of the cylinder’s flat end, he marked it with a pencil, set the nail, and gave it a light tap.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Instead of penetrating, the nail bounced off the surface.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>What the hell? Must be hardwood, maybe walnut or cherry.</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He brought it up for a closer inspection. Although the nail-point had failed to scratch the finish, the impact had definitely affected its integrity. He could hear a soft hissing, as if the interior had been under pressure and was now equalizing with the ambient altitude.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Probably been under water a long time. Got to let off some steam.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Re-positioning the nail, Alan swung the hammer again. This time the strike was solid, with plenty of force. The metallic ping of the nail ricocheting across the floor was suddenly lost to the sound of escaping air. Alan jumped to his feet, concerned the thing might explode, or that the rush of leaking gas might be filling the room with dangerous—even deadly—fumes.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Maybe it’s some kind of high-tech fire extinguisher, or a CO2 dispenser for making wine spritzers.” It was mere speculation and both possibilities were doubtful, especially since a puncture to either type of pressurized container would have sent the cylinder skittering across the floor.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With no reasonable explanation for its unusual behavior, Alan wanted it out of the house. Grabbing a broom he drew back, preparing to whack it—hockey style—through the open door. He focused on the target.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The sight made him lower his broom.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Here’s a brief synopsis:</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Alan loves the beach. More than a weekend respite, it is his home, his refuge, his sanctuary. And for most of the year, he strolls the sand in blissful solitude, letting nature—and no one else—touch him. But spring has given way to summer, and soon, the annual invasion of vacationers and tourists will subdivide the beach with blankets, umbrellas, and chairs, depriving Alan of his privacy and seclusion—the fundamental touchstones of his life.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Resigned to endure another seasonal onslaught of beach-goers, Alan believes there is nothing he can do but prepare for the worst.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But fate has other plans.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Delivered to him on the crest of a rogue wave, the strange object appears to have no purpose, no practical use—until Alan accidentally discovers what waits inside. Now he must attempt to unravel an ageless mystery, unaware that the final outcome will change his life, and the beach, forever.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the companion novella <i>Short Time</i>, you’ll meet a respectable but bored middle-class executive, who exchanges his future for six months of excess and extravagance, only to find out the price he must pay for his hedonistic indulgence is beyond anything he could have imagined.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Author Bio: </b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1d9VTZ060h-j7ObO0Pl0jEc3F0Zy2Xg_GKx_3AR-el829xnLQutq1yAziRCw5BBnn0RS5ePpgu_AwIWHF7HfecrFrdj8spGl09s10dvGQhIbRToQE-QM_C5G8FT0aexFKWh9ds_uZm_o/s1600/Jaye+Frances,+Author+Photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1d9VTZ060h-j7ObO0Pl0jEc3F0Zy2Xg_GKx_3AR-el829xnLQutq1yAziRCw5BBnn0RS5ePpgu_AwIWHF7HfecrFrdj8spGl09s10dvGQhIbRToQE-QM_C5G8FT0aexFKWh9ds_uZm_o/s200/Jaye+Frances,+Author+Photo.jpg" width="164" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jaye Frances is the author of <i>The Kure</i>, a paranormal-occult romance novel, <i>The Possibilities of Amy</i>, a coming-of-age romance, <i>The Cruise-All That Glitters</i>, a humorous adult satire about a single guy looking for love, or his version of it, and <i>The Beach</i>, a sci-fi fantasy about a man who is given the opportunity to receive his ultimate wish—and lives to regret it. She is also a featured columnist for the NUSA SUN magazine. Born in the Midwest, Jaye readily admits that her life’s destination has been the result of an open mind and a curiosity about all things irreverent. When she’s not consumed by her writing, Jaye enjoys cooking, traveling to all places tropical and “beachy” and taking pictures—lots of pictures—many of which find their way to her website. Jaye lives on the central gulf coast of Florida, sharing her home with one husband, six computers, four cameras, and several hundred pairs of shoes. For more information, visit Jaye’s website at <a href="http://www.jayefrances.com/">www.jayefrances.com</a>, or Jaye’s Blog at <a href="http://blog.jayefrances.com/">http://blog.jayefrances.com</a></span><br />
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Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373124683649976442noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8043649364521227418.post-60632477570874657042012-08-07T07:00:00.000-07:002012-08-07T07:00:01.337-07:00Guest Post: Rachel Carrington<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Calling All Readers</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I only read romance. That’s what I told myself years ago, and I swore I’d never</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">move from that genre. After all, it was what I wrote so I knew it and understood it. But</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">by stating so adamantly I wouldn’t read any other genre, I cut myself off from a wealth of</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">talent.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you ever think that way? You’re only going to read romantic suspense? No</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">paranormal for you, and there is no way you’d be caught dead reading young adult. After</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">all, it’s for kids, right? And what about that literary fiction stuff that everyone raves</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">about? That kind of fiction isn’t for you at all.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, that was me. I just closed a door on anything but romance, and even that was</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">limited to paranormal only. Then I started reading a book a friend of mine had left beside</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">her sofa, and I was halfway through it before I realized it wasn’t a romance.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, I’m catching up on all the great reads I missed out on including literary</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">fiction (Sarah’s Key, The Help, and more), non-fiction, young adult fiction (Have you</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">read a Peachville High book by Sarra Cannon or Wraith by Angel Lawson?), mystery</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">without romance, and so much more. And an entire new world has opened up for me.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Turns out, I just like great reads, and who cares if it it’s not what I normally read?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Who cares if someone else reads it and doesn’t like it? This is about what I want to read,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and now that I’m discovering all these fantastic writers, my Kindle is almost filled to</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">capacity.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So before you dismiss a book as “not your type”, you may want to give it a shot</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">because you might find another favorite writer in amongst the gems. Even if you’re</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">determined to only read paranormal romance, try different authors. There are so many</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">great storytellers, and had I not branched out, I would have missed out on some stories</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">that really left an impression. You might, too, and you’ll know by the first or second</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">chapter if the book is for you.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Happy reading!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">P.S. Oh, and don’t think you’ll like reading a story in the first person? Neither did</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I. Now, it’s my favorite point of view to both read and write.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rachel Carrington can be found on her website: <a href="http://www.dawnrachel.com/" target="_blank">www.dawnrachel.com</a>, Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/rachelcarringtonwrites" target="_blank">Rachel Carrington Writes - FB</a> and Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/rcarrington2004" target="_blank">@rcarrington2004</a></span><br />Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373124683649976442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8043649364521227418.post-30602757098521960472012-07-13T07:00:00.000-07:002012-07-13T07:00:13.820-07:00Guest Post: Elaine Russell<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I was growing up, I had an uncle who was a ship’s captain for Matson Shipping Lines and traveled <span style="background-color: white;">the world. Every time he came to visit us, he would bring my sister and me dolls from different </span><span style="background-color: white;">countries dressed in traditional clothes. I became fascinated with other cultures, their history and </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">traditions. In high school I devoured novels set in other countries--Pearl S. Buck’s books, Tolstoy’s<i> War </i></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>and Peace</i> and <i>Anna Karenina</i>, Alan Paton’s <i>Cry the Beloved Country</i>. This led me to a history major as </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">an undergraduate with an emphasis on China and Russia, along with classes on Chinese and Russian </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">literature.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is from this background that I came to write my new novel <i>Across the Mekong River</i> about a Hmong </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">family’s journey from Laos to the US. I first became interested in Hmong immigrants—quite a large </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">number settled in the Sacramento area where I live--when I met Hmong children in my son’s elementary </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">school. I was entranced by their beautiful dancing and clothes at the Spring Talent Show.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">About this time, the Sacramento Bee ran a series of articles about the Hmong, detailing their tragic past </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">fleeing Laos after the civil war and the difficult time they have had adjusting to the US. Most Hmong </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">were subsistence farmers high in the mountains of Laos. They could not read or write in their own </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">language, making it even more difficult to learn English and understand their new environment. Then </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">my book group read Anne Fadiman’s <i>The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down</i>, discussing the clash of </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the American medical community with the Hmong traditions of shamanism to cure the sick. I began </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">reading other materials about the war in Laos and the Hmong.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At first I envisioned a short story that would capture the Hmong journey with its struggles and sacrifices, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">an immigrant story unique to their rich cultural heritage. Everything I did kept pointing me in this </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">direction. A young Hmong woman, Lee Yang, came to work in my husband’s office. She shared her story </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">of her family’s escape, her marriage at the age of twelve and becoming a mother at age thirteen. She </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">introduced me to her friends who also shared their experiences. I soon realized I would be writing a </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">novel, and to do it properly would take a great deal of time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I immersed myself in the Hmong world, reading every book I could find on the Hmong–their life in Laos, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">customs, beliefs, and traditions. I studied the civil war in Laos, an extension of the American Vietnam </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">War. After the communists took over Laos in 1975, close to 300,000 Hmong and other Laotians, about </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">one third of the total population, fled their homeland. I read accounts of families’ escapes, the years in </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">refugee camps, and experiences on coming to America. I interviewed numerous Hmong I met through </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lee and other friends. I attended Hmong New Year’s celebrations in Sacramento, learning more about </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hmong music and dance, traditional dress, and other customs. Hmong associations working in the </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sacramento area and nationally provided me with additional materials. Meanwhile, I wrote and rewrote</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the novel, struggling with point of view and how expansive to make the story. I put it aside for long </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">stretches of time, but always came back, determined to get it right.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 2006, I traveled to Laos to gain a greater sense of place, of what had been left behind. I fell in love </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">with the people and landscape and have returned on four occasions. While there, I learned about </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the extensive problem of unexploded ordnance (UXO) left over from U.S. bombing campaigns over </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Laos during the war. Nearly fifty years later, there are close to 80 million unexploded cluster bombs </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">scattered throughout one third of the country. The bombs regularly kill and maim Laotians, many of </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">them children. I joined a U.S.-based non-profit, Legacies of War, which works to get additional funding </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">for UXO clearance. Through my association with Legacies, I met other Hmong and Laotians and learned </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">more about the war and its aftermath. I wrote several journal articles on the subject and presented a </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">paper at an international conference in Gutenberg, Sweden in 2010.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I continue my work with the Hmong and its culture and people by trying to encourage art through </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">adversity. I will be part of the Hmong-Lao Recognition Day on July 20th in Sacramento and hold a reading </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">as well at Avid Reader July 22nd in Sacramento.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Writing this book has been a long and rewarding journey for me. It will be released in August and I hope </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">readers will enjoy the story and find a new appreciation for the immigrant experience of Hmong and </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">other Laotian refugees, escaping war and persecution and struggling to adjust to life in the U.S. amid </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">poverty and prejudice. The story hold themes that are true for all new immigrants who come to the U.S. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">filled with hope, but often facing a harsh reality.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For more information about Elaine Russell and her books visit </span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.elainerussell.info/">http://www.elainerussell.info/</a></span></span><br />
<br />Mellihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07837692849980252395noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8043649364521227418.post-52395296191701986202012-07-03T07:00:00.000-07:002012-07-03T07:00:10.257-07:00Guest Post: Thaisa Frank, Author of Enchantment<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Writing </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Enchantment</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> has been an adventure because I returned from my </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">first novel (<i>Heidegger’s Glasses</i>) to the short story, the novella and flash fiction.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These were familiar forms, almost like old friends. And (of course!) completely </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">unfamiliar because I always feel I’m starting a new story from scratch.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the novel, I’d explored enchantment in all its forms: the legend, the <span style="background-color: white;">occult, the erotic, the elusive enchantment of objects--and spells cast by families, </span><span style="background-color: white;">governments, and cultural norms.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To my surprise, I continued this theme in<i> Enchantment</i>. In the title story, <span style="background-color: white;"><i>Enchantment</i>, a lonely photographer orders an enchanted man from a mail order </span><span style="background-color: white;">catalogue and has to hide him from her family. The situation drew from old fairy </span><span style="background-color: white;">tales; but the twist and turn of the ploy was a complete surprise to me. In <i>The </i></span><span style="background-color: white;"><i>Loneliness of the Midwestern Vampire</i>, a vampire must accommodate himself to </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">a solitary life in the heartlands--going to barn raisings, running an egg farm, and </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">weeping over unraveling clothes that once belonged to his bride. <i>In The White </i></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Coat</i> a woman visiting an unnamed country persuades another woman to wear a </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">coat that made fugitives invisible in WW II. <i>Night Visits</i> and <i>The Mapmaker</i> are </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">two novellas about the journey of a chaotic family: A daughter whose mother </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">tried to strangle her, frees herself from a spell cast by her mother-- partly through </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">finding letters in an antique writing chest. I also explored angel channelers, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">themes of disappearance, and the erotic resonance of velvet, camouflage and </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the circus.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The cover of <i>Enchantment</i>, which shows a woman at a circus leaning <span style="background-color: white;">over a booth, depicts the irony of enchantment: Because at some point the spell </span><span style="background-color: white;">is always broken. (Consider <i>Rumpelstilskin</i>, <i>Snow White</i> and classic fairy tales </span><span style="background-color: white;">about three wishes that become horrific and must be unwished.)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This break in a spell is partially a literal break because it creates a gap, a <span style="background-color: white;">transparency and a window--through which we see the absurd and miraculous </span><span style="background-color: white;">nature of the human world. If you think about figure and ground, in stories </span><span style="background-color: white;">about enchantment, magic becomes figure and the ordinary world is ground- </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-but only for a while. Then the ordinary world resumes its place as figure and </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">enchantment becomes a nearly-forgotten dream. This shift illuminates the human </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">tension between the world of imagination and the world of everyday.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Heidegger’s Glasses</i> has been described as a “fairy tale with <span style="background-color: white;">atrocities” and this description made me realize that my first elements of </span><span style="background-color: white;">inspiration were fairy tales, the first stories I ever heard. When I was little there </span><span style="background-color: white;">was nothing more exciting to me than the phrase “Once upon a time.” I had a </span><span style="background-color: white;">viewer where I could insert discs of fairy tales and I remember looking through </span><span style="background-color: white;">it to see Red Riding Hood in the woods wearing her red cape and holding a </span><span style="background-color: white;">basket. She was alone, surrounded by pine trees and I thought she was real-- </span><span style="background-color: white;">alive in some alternate universe. This gave me the sense of being under a spell, </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and opened the world of imagination. Now, when the writing is flowing, I often </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">feel drawn to the same kind of wonder I felt looking through the viewer as a child.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">People have asked me how I work. I’m sure that whatever I say about how <span style="background-color: white;">I work is like a fishing story because so much happens beneath the surface. But </span><span style="background-color: white;">here’s a glimpse:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Plot: I never know the plot when I begin a story. I start with a phrase, an <span style="background-color: white;">image, a situation, and usually a title. (Sometimes I know the last phrases of a </span><span style="background-color: white;">story without knowing the first sentence.) There’s always an exciting point in this </span><span style="background-color: white;">process---the point at which the story seems to be an independent entity, outside </span><span style="background-color: white;">my imagination. Then it begins to tell me what to do with it---what to take out, </span><span style="background-color: white;">what to emphasize. It’s like catching onto a math problem or a puzzle. For me, </span><span style="background-color: white;">this is on one of the most exciting parts of writing fiction.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Process: Flaubert said: <i>It’s not the pearls, it’s the way they’re strung </i><span style="background-color: white;"><i>together</i> and I work slowly, collecting the pearls, then write intensively until </span><span style="background-color: white;">they’re strung into a necklace. Short stories seem to resolve themselves on an </span><span style="background-color: white;">intuitive level. The pearls turn into something light, something that can be thrown </span><span style="background-color: white;">in the air and land in a pattern. In a novel, two-thirds of the way through, I have </span><span style="background-color: white;">to think about “what comes next.” </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Place: In the mulling-over phase I work in cafes. I like ambient noise, </span><span style="background-color: white;">music in the background, friends who stop to talk. In the printing phase, I work </span><span style="background-color: white;">alone in my studio--a quiet place with lots of papers. I’m compulsive about the </span><span style="background-color: white;">music and rhythm in my work, so I sometimes print a page many times, just to </span><span style="background-color: white;">see whether one work works. I turn into a crazed type A personality when I print </span><span style="background-color: white;">and I wouldn’t want anyone to see me!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Routines: In the process of writing I often have blank days, during which <span style="background-color: white;">I tell myself that the story is gestating and I’m not wasting time. (I’m never sure </span><span style="background-color: white;">of this until the story is finished!). But even though I don’t force myself to write </span><span style="background-color: white;">a certain number of words every day, I have one writing rule that’s consistent: I </span><span style="background-color: white;">don’t take a break until 4:30 on weekdays. This means that I don’t meet people </span><span style="background-color: white;">for lunch or schedule writing consultations with clients. I stay at my desk, or in </span><span style="background-color: white;">a café, even if all I’m doing is staring at my computer. It’s kind of like being a </span><span style="background-color: white;">shopkeeper. I may not have any customers that day but if I don’t show up, I won’t </span><span style="background-color: white;">sell anything.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Future Plans: I’m working on a novel, the title of which is secret because <span style="background-color: white;">if I talk about it, the whole thing will fall, like a soufflé that comes out of the oven </span><span style="background-color: white;">too soon.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As for the circus, it continues to be a compelling theme. Circuses are an <span style="background-color: white;">ancient form of entertainment, going far back in time, beyond the troubadours </span><span style="background-color: white;">and medieval miracle plays. It’s a willful, erotic and exhilarating form of alchemy.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In <i>Enchantment</i> I wrote about two circuses--the Traveling Mystery Circus <span style="background-color: white;">and The Circus of the Clock. These days I have a big encyclopedia about the </span><span style="background-color: white;">circus next to my bed. Every time I open it I see new forms of enchantment.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can visit with Thaisa on her website: </span><a href="http://thaisafrank.com/new/index.php">http://thaisafrank.com</a></div>Mellihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07837692849980252395noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8043649364521227418.post-89346186290714164962012-06-26T07:00:00.000-07:002012-06-26T07:00:08.535-07:00Guest Post: Author Llyod Poast<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7KQTesFiU28AyqhBoCmzPrFW2tsIu-nGrTg-a87YjTaD9gKJZko6QT3WrWmcckUhqUA6VsTc9QkhTmZRyRtkfGaQhW7Li0DkOU8o5J-tpa5gQTdWBmEIkMPgp-s_tHYcE_E7NUY3b_sc/s1600/blink+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7KQTesFiU28AyqhBoCmzPrFW2tsIu-nGrTg-a87YjTaD9gKJZko6QT3WrWmcckUhqUA6VsTc9QkhTmZRyRtkfGaQhW7Li0DkOU8o5J-tpa5gQTdWBmEIkMPgp-s_tHYcE_E7NUY3b_sc/s1600/blink+cover.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My debut novelette, Blink, was the third story I began writing after embarking on my writing journey </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">about five years ago, but it has seen many changes and taken me away on its own magical ride with </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">many more twists and turns than I first envisioned.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My first two stories were written in first person, and after reading several magazine guidelines that </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">preferred stories written in third person, I decided to get crazy and try a different tense. I had several </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ideas brewing and just needed the motivation to put them down on paper, and that motivation soon </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">took the form of a speculative magazine called Sybil’s Garage.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was always searching for hip magazines in the horror/fantasy genres to submit my stories to and one </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">that always caught my attention was Sybil’s Garage. One day when I was checking their guidelines, I </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">noticed that they were looking for more stories that were around 5,000 words. After seeing that I had </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">about two months until their submission deadline, I finally decided to call on my muses.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I worked on it pretty intensely for a while, but needless to say, the deadline came and went without a </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">final draft being anywhere near completion. A couple of months later, I decided to try and submit it to </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">another market….Bewildering Stories. They accepted it, but said that it needed some work and gave </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">me some time to make it better. About two months later, it was published, but it was still horribly </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">overwritten and I soon requested that it be removed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I continued to edit and improve the then approximately 4,500 word short story, making the occasional </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">submission and receiving the eventual rejection, until taking a two year sabbatical from writing. When </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the urge to put pen to paper hit me last winter, the first story I wanted to finally complete was Blink. I </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">was surprised by how much quicker the ideas flowed after the break, and I managed to finish it in about </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">a month. After browsing the Duotrope Digest listings, I soon submitted it to indie publishers, Books to Go </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, and they accepted it within two days.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Originally titled Shortcut, Blink was to be a full blown horror story that combined many of my child hood <span style="background-color: white;">fears and nightmares. I remember my childhood as this magical time where anything could happen and </span><span style="background-color: white;">sometimes my brother, sister, and I would end up scaring ourselves, especially when we got together </span><span style="background-color: white;">with our cousins. We loved to go ghost hunting and would search out anything that was remotely </span><span style="background-color: white;">paranormal or magical in the woods around our house.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Perhaps because of these adventures or maybe just the result of a typical childhood imagination, I </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">had many wild dreams back then and one of the most memorable was a very vivid and frightening </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">encounter with a man in a suit and top hat. When I finally saw his face, it was that of a cat. The first few </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">drafts of Blink actually had him as the villain. His name was Raylan and he never talked in the story. The </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">only thing anyone heard from him was a scream, which was also born from the whimsy of childhood </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">memories.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I was around nine or ten, I would often hear a cry that sounded much too exotic to be from the </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">woods behind our house, like a monkey or parrot, and I always wondered what it was. After all these </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">years, I still don’t know, but I haven’t heard it in a long time. Another example of real life influencing </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Blink is the bear shadow that begins to solidify. When I was about seven years old, I was walking in the </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">woods with my family and got a little ahead of everyone else. I reached a clearing and saw what looked </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">like the shadow of a bear that was as tall as the trees. I was terrified and quickly ran back to my parents, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">but we were unable to find what I imagined was the giant bear.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There were other ideas that never survived the final draft, but over time, the story just seemed to </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">transform from a horror story into a more lighthearted fantasy and I eventually replaced Raylan with the </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">more charismatic, Amaisia Moon.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Although Blink evolved from horror to fantasy and from speculative magazine wannabe to kindle book, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">many of the original elements remained – the scream, the bear shadow, the magical woods, and the </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">villain in the top hat. It’s been five years since I first had the idea for Blink, and the truth is that even </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">writers are often surprised by the ending to the story behind the story.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can find Author Llyod Poast on <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5768008.Lloyd_Poast" target="_blank">Goodreads</a> and Blink on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0084F57F6/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=1000books-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0084F57F6" target="_blank">Amazon</a>!</span></div>Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373124683649976442noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8043649364521227418.post-45362720771985309282012-06-22T07:00:00.000-07:002012-06-22T07:00:08.412-07:00Guest Post: Robert Downs<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Book Marketing Ratio</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you’ve never marketed a book before, then get ready for a ride more thrilling and scarier than </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cedar Point’s Millennium Force. It’ll leave you nervous, breathless, and at times it’ll feel like </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">you’re fighting for your very survival. And in some ways, that’s exactly what you’re doing. I had </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">no idea what I was in for when I started the book marketing process, and at times it still feels like </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have no idea, but my confidence, like my book sales, continues to improve with time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What have I learned? It’s a lot harder to market a book than it is to publish one. Why is that?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because you only have to convince one publisher to love it, although it’s great when you can</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">convince more than one. But you have to find and convince a multitude of readers to stand up </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">for your book, and you hope, love it as much as you do, otherwise your only book sales will </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">be to your mom, grandma, friends, and family. If you thought it was difficult to write a book, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">just spend a bit of time marketing it. It’ll blow your mind on how much you don’t know about </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">marketing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So what helped me? I had a publisher that stood behind me every step of the way; I had this blind </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ignorance about the entire process; and I decided very early on that darn it, I was going to make</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> it work, even if I had to give it everything I had. The naïve part of me thought I had already </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">completed that task during the writing phase, but what I quickly realized was that the process had </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">only just begun.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What it really boils down to is what I like to call the book marketing ratio. For every hour that</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">you spent writing your masterpiece, you need to spend at least five hours marketing it. Why?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Publishing a book is easier than getting a book noticed by the reading public. It takes persistence, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">courage, creativity, and hard work on a larger scale than what it took to actually get your </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">book published. If you have an average book, marketed to the right audience, you can create </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">a bestseller, or a steady seller. If you have a great book, but it’s poorly marketed, you might </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">not find much of an audience at all. So if you want to become a successful author, the book </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">marketing ratio should become your new mantra. As my dad has told me, if you put in the work, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">you’ll find success.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Robert Downs is the author of</i> <a href="http://www.robertdowns.net/">Falling Immortality: Casey Holden, Private Investigator</a>. <i>A sample </i></span><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">chapter of his MANfiction mystery debut, as well as other interesting information about the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">author, or his main character, can be located at his website.</span></i><br />Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373124683649976442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8043649364521227418.post-23668601644877340412012-06-19T07:00:00.000-07:002012-06-19T07:00:04.116-07:00Guest Post & Giveaway with Belinda Frisch<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>The Hospice waiting room is overflowing. Family and friends have been there for hours, some</i></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">for days. They haven’t had much to eat or drink and they don’t talk, or they speak in whispers, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">because they’re waiting for the inevitable. A young girl scampers around them, too young to </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">know that her mother, only in her early 20’s, is dying in the next room of a rare form of brain </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">cancer. Her father hands her a rose. She climbs up on the bedside footstool and sets it on her </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">mother’s chest. “Goodbye, Mommy,” she says and there isn’t a dry eye around.</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The greatest stories come from the writer’s heart and when I think of cancer, I remember</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">being in that waiting room over ten years ago. A girl I went to high school with died, leaving</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">behind her family. As a young mother, myself, the reality hit me hard. Cancer was a cruelty</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I couldn’t fathom. One I never attributed to young people. It happens too often and it </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">has influenced my writing. From my short stories <i>The Fence</i> and <i>The Deal</i>, to my novel, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>CURE</i>, cancer has become a recurring theme. Part of <i>CURE</i> was written from the oncology </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">unit of our regional hospital because, all of these years later, I’m touched by it again. My </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">grandfather is terminal, Mesothelioma, and I spent hours with him while he received his </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">chemotherapy. I watched the families come and go-- the patients all different ages, one who</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">was even pregnant--and I know what it feels like to be hurt and afraid, waiting for someone</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">you care about to take their last breath.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Knowing their pain, I did what writers do and I took control of it. At least in fiction. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My novel, <i>CURE</i>, deals with an experimental cancer treatment derived from the virus </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">responsible for the zombie infection. Two of my characters, Allison and her husband Zach, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">are at the mercy of a mad scientist whose research is the only hope for Allison’s survival. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dr. Howard Nixon uses the deadly virus as a tool to manipulate everyone around him. I use </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">my personal experience and fifteen years in the medical field to bring the human aspect to </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">life.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While firmly a horror tale, <i>CURE</i> is a graphic medical thriller and an emotional tale about</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">how disease touches the lives of everyone around it. <i>CURE</i> is the first in the Strandville</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">zombie series with <i>AFTERBIRTH</i>, its sequel, coming down the line.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Welcome to the Nixon Healing and Research Center, refuge for the indigent sick and</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">playground for the maniacal Dr. Howard Nixon whose cancer research has him dabbling in</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the undead. His human-zombie breeding program is falling apart and only Miranda Penton</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">can save it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Miranda gave up her budding military career to marry a fellow soldier but when their first</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">child is stillborn, it's more tragedy than their new marriage can handle. One year later and</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">in the midst of a painful divorce, Miranda accepts an unexpected job offer to join Nixon’s</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">security team and quickly becomes one of his captives.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nixon impregnates Miranda with a zombie fetus, but her imprisonment at the center </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">is short-lived. A rescue team led by Scott, her estranged husband, releases her and the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">infected on the unsuspecting hospital population.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The virus is spreading and must be contained. The center is going into lock-down. The </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">group's escape is threatened by a homicidal security guard and a raging storm. The town of</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Strandville is ground zero for the zombie apocalypse and Miranda must escape because the</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">fate of humanity lies with her unborn child.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’d like to take a minute to thank Jennifer and Melissa for graciously hosting me on 1000+</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Books to Read. Authors live and die by their reviews and by their connection to readers so</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">thank you, both, for the work you do promoting and supporting our work.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As a thank you to the readers out there, I offer you a chance to join my street team and win</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">a signed print or Kindle copy of CURE. Your choice. The winner will be selected at random</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and if you follow my blog, there will be many more chances to win. U.S. only, please.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here’s how:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. “Like” my Facebook author page (<a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Belinda-Frisch/141198302620359">https://www.facebook.com/pages/Belinda-Frisch/</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Belinda-Frisch/141198302620359">141198302620359</a>) and leave a comment indicating that the 1000+ Books to Read blog sent</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">you. While you’re there, click the drop down arrow next to the message button and SHARE</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">my page with your friends.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. Follow me on Twitter and tweet the following:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">NEW RELEASE ALERT! @B_Frisch CURE http://www.amazon.com/dp/</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">B0088QHDCQ #Zombies #Horror Please RT #LAUNCHCURE1000</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’ll be tracking promotions and will announce a winner on July 1st on my blog. I will also</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">send the winner to Melissa and Jennifer. Stay tuned to provide your contact information.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thanks and happy reading!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Amazon link: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0088QHDCQ">http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0088QHDCQ</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Blog: <a href="http://belindaf.blogspot.com/">http://belindaf.blogspot.com/</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">FB Fan page: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Belinda-Frisch/141198302620359">https://www.facebook.com/pages/Belinda-Frisch/141198302620359</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Twitter: @B_Frisch</span><br />Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373124683649976442noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8043649364521227418.post-49319342296896091122012-06-12T07:00:00.000-07:002012-06-12T07:00:07.792-07:00Guest Post: Author Alex Clermont<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Living and Writing from a Different Perspective”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sometime ago, during a writing workshop I regularly attended, someone brought in a short and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">uninteresting autobiographical short story about being a college student. In the main character’s </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">creative writing professor told him that his writing was bad because he lacked experience. For example, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">he had never met a black person so their black character was named “Jamal.” Though my criticisms his </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">bad writing lay somewhere else, his fictionalized professor had made a valid point. This is it: if a writer’s </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">life hasn't shown them anything they’ll write crummy and boring stories.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This became even more apparent to me as I was writing the stories for my book “Eating Kimchi and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nodding Politely.” It’s a collection of stories about my two years, and some odd months, living in South </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Korea.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Although this collection is the newest thing I’ve written, it’s certainly not the first. I’d been writing ever since I first noticed girls. But for years I wrote stories by digging out gold from the same emotional vein. Stories that treaded over the emotions I felt from two or three impactful events in my life. After years of mining those golden experiences though, my writing became stagnant. Like everything else – your job, your relationships, precious metals – life can become dull if you don’t look at it from a different angle, and dull is the best word to describe what my golden life had become when I first left America to live in another country.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What changed was that I began eating rotten, fermented cabbage with my dinner.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While living in another country I made new friends, I ate strange foods, and I was the odd one out in </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">almost any given crowd. I was experiencing things that were totally foreign to me. It was an adventure </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">filled with new smells and sights, and I was looking again at the little wonders that make life and writing, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">well, the opposite of crummy and boring.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because of this jolt in my life I was also able to take notice of the things that were always available for </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">to see, though I never did. I could see the beauty in a sunset. I could truly notice the wonder in a child’s </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">face. I fell in love, and I felt the heartbreak that is universal to everyone on this gorgeous blue planet. I </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">wrote stories about those new things, but also these old things that I was able to see again from a new </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">angle. Thankfully, everyone who’s read the collection seems to like it a lot.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The purpose of writing, to me at least, is to express a unique way of the looking at the world. It makes </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">for good writing when you take that perspective, but the same could be said about living your life in </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">general. My book is titled “Eating Kimchi and Nodding Politely” because most of what I did in South </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Korea was eat and quietly appreciate all that was going on around me. It’s an approach that helped me </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">as a writer, but, writer or not, I think it’s one that everyone should take more often. It makes for great </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">stories, but it can also make for great living.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bio:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Alex Clermont is a writer born and raised in New York City. He has been a contributing writer to Beyond Race Magazine, covering and interviewing independent creative artists in New York. Alex has been published in several publications such as, Out of Place – an anthology featuring authors from around the globe. He also regularly posts short fiction pieces on his website <a href="http://alexclermontwrites.com/">AlexClermontWrites.com</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Alex’s first book, available now and titled "Eating Kimchi and Nodding Politely," is a collection of </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">narratives about his time living in in South Korea.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He also smiles a whole lot. Say “Hi” if you get the chance. :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can find Alex on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AlexClermontWrites" target="_blank">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/AlexClermont" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/12461-alex-clermont" target="_blank">Goodreads</a> and his <a href="http://www.alexclermontwrites.com/" target="_blank">Website</a>.</span><br />
<br />Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373124683649976442noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8043649364521227418.post-70292839609576878452012-06-05T07:00:00.000-07:002012-06-05T07:00:07.665-07:00Guest Post: Jennifer Brown<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If I were asked to describe my new suspense novel in one sentence, it would be </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">this.</span> <i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Barnes think they have seen tragedy, but nothing could prepare them for the </span></i><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">harsh reality they are about to experience.</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That harsh reality is the alter personality of Jennifer Barnes, being introduced to </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the world, and used against her oldest brother Jacob as he attempts to run for mayor, after </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">raising both she and her other brother Justin when their parents were killed in a car crash </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">over ten years before.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It all started back in 1999, when I decided to place characters based off of myself and a few other friends in a storyline. But as I began writing the first story, there were other characters that seemed to steal the scene a little more.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When the Barnes siblings first appeared, Jacob ran an engraving shop in the mall, Justin was still somewhat of a troublemaker, and Jennifer was a writer, about to embark on a co-ownership of a movie theater that was being renovated and reopened…only to discover a cult had beat them to it, and didn’t want to give up their “hangout”. Justin ended up killed in this first storyline, with Jennifer’s best friend left carrying his child. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ten years later, after I stopped writing the series, something told me to give it </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">another shot. The original storyline went horribly wrong, it was like my muse had a </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">stroke. I decided to bring the characters back under a different storyline. The new </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">storyline included Jacob running for mayor, and I killed off the parents, forcing Jacob to </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">become a guardian of his two siblings at 22. Long story short, I fell in love with the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">characters I had created ten years ago and believed they deserved a second chance. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Besides, it wasn’t their fault they had a misguided muse.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I got more into what would eventually be titled In Jen’s Words, I was very </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">surprised to discover Jennifer Barnes turned out to have DID (Dissociative Identity </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Disorder) in this storyline. Midway through writing it, I had to stop to do some research </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">on the disorder. I found that it interested me very much, and the possibilities seemed </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">endless with potential storylines for a series.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Below is an excerpt you will not find on my website:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After speaking his sister’s name several times into the receiver, with no response, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jacob hung up. He tried calling back, but got a busy signal.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He hadn’t talked to Danny for more than five minutes. She couldn’t have gotten tired </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">of waiting for him.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He sat down on an armchair nearby, trying to tell himself this was nothing. But ever </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">since Scott had shown up at the store earlier, he felt a little on edge. Scott was the last </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">person either of them needed to see at this time. Just seeing him brought back all the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">anger he felt back then.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He could still remember that night. He was at work, trying to close up for the evening. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He had been running late because Dan had gone home sick and he had gotten swamped </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">with computers needing repaired.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Justin had been the one to reach him. He had been home and got the call from the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">police. Their sister had been raped. They needed Jacob to come to the hospital. He had </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">been so upset, he nearly forgot to lock up the store when he left.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The moment he laid eyes on Jen, he could have crumbled. She had a few cuts and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">bruises on her arms and face, but she said she had done that on some bushes trying to get </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">away from Scott. The police had said the cuts were consistent with those of a thorn bush.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But it didn’t matter to Jacob. He had been responsible for her, and he screwed up. Even </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">though she was of age, and she was no longer his responsibility, he still felt every bit that </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">she was.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What would ensue from that moment on, was months of tension and emotional </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">turmoil. The case went to court, and the argument went back and forth. His sister said she </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">told him no, she passed out and he did it anyway. She woke up to find him pulling out of </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">her. Scott said she seemed to become a totally different person and gave in to him, was </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">willing. He never forced anything on her, even though he did admit to being drunk. His </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">arrest report said his blood alcohol level was .12, while his sister’s barely made it to .08. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It seemed to be a sure thing he would go down for the crime, until one of the jurors </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">posted a blog about the trial. As a consequence, Adams’ lawyer got the judge to declare a </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">mistrial.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jacob willed himself to stop thinking about it. Just because Scott was in his store </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">didn’t mean something had happened to his sister. Shaking inside, he got up, grabbed his </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">keys and went out the door.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even though I may share the same name as my main character, our only similarity </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">is our love for writing. Jen Barnes is a writer, as is her alter-personality Tammy. That can </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">also make for some good plot line developments, as you will see in the book.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To keep up to date with news, reviews, and more stop by </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.jenniferbrownauthor.weebly.com/">www.jenniferbrownauthor.weebly.com</a>. You can also follow me on twitter </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.twitter.com/jenbrownauthor">www.twitter.com/jenbrownauthor</a>, and like In Jen’s Words at <a href="http://www.facebook.com/injenswords">www.facebook.com/</a></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/injenswords" target="_blank">InJensWords</a>.</span>Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373124683649976442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8043649364521227418.post-8511883511998655812012-05-31T07:00:00.000-07:002012-05-31T07:00:10.901-07:00Stained Series Blog Tour! Interview with Author Ella James!!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm sooooooooooo excited to be a part of this super awesome Stained Series Blog Tour and I thought there would be no better way to share this than with an interview with the very own Ella James, Author OF the series! So Jenn and I put on our thinking caps and came up with some super cool (we hope) questions! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Make sure to check out all the awesome links towards the bottom with the Series info and Author info. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ENJOY!! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>#1 - Stained, the first book in the Stained series, has gotten a lot of Internet buzz since it's release. Is it more than you expected? Tell me how it felt when you got your very first review in of Stained?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-Honestly, I think any amount of buzz was more than I expected! It's just not possible (for me) to imagine ANY number of people being intensely interested in something *I* wrote. This is heightened by the fact that I have written for years with basically no readers except my immediate family...so I guess I got used to not getting very much feedback on the books. It was so much fun to find that people liked Stained, especially since it was my very first book and was written years ago.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>#2 - YA, Paranormal, Paranormal Romance, YA Paranormal Romance. All of these genres are filled with Authors and books. What makes yours stand apart from the rest?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-I try to go the extra mile with my characters - to make their histories interesting, to make their feelings sympathetic. I try to make it clear WHY the guy and girl/man and woman like each other... because I feel like that's not always done well enough in romance. Like, what does one of them have that the other one NEEDS. There needs to be *something,* ya know? I also like to think the writing is quality, especially in the later books like HERE and Before You Go. I'm not saying it's THE.BEST.WRITING.YOU.HAVE.EVER.READ.EVER. but I think I usually do okay. ;) I've been a writer professionally longer than I've written fiction, so I guess what I'm saying is I would think that shows some.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>#3 - Looking back on your books, are there any edits that you wish weren't made? Any scenes that you wish were in the finished product? If so, can you share?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-Hmmm... There are usually parts I wish had been written or edited *better* (so I sometimes revise things for a while after a book is out), but I rarely remove scenes. HOWEVER... Over The Moon has a few deleted scenes, and after that comes out I will be happy to share those! :) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>#4 - As a reader we tend to want the next book in the series.. like.. NOW, can you give us a little insight into the life of an Author and why we have to wait forever (not really) for the next book? What's going on behind the scenes?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-Hmm, well, there are several steps in the writing process that seem to be fairly universal, and added all up, even flying through them at breakneck speed, they seem to take between two and six months, depending on the writer. For me... I can write a first draft in two weeks or so, depending on what's going on with my family. My husband is my editor, and he insists on reading everything TWICE, which constantly drives me insane but makes the books better. So that takes maybe three weeks, because he is not flying through the books - he's trying to be sure everything makes sense. Then I read it again, a cover has to be designed, PR has to be done... Usually, though my two weeks turn into three or four because I have a baby and am busier than I would like to be with other things in life (dishes, grocery trips, baby food making, etc.), and my husband's three weeks are more like a month because he works a 9-5 job... so you get the point. ;) My goal, though, is to get better and better, faster and faster. I once heard a rumor that Janet Dailey could write a book in a weekend, and I've always wanted to get there. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>#5 - U-Plot-It.. totally unique and interesting project. Where'd it come from? What made you decide to make this interactive book?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-The idea came to me at random, but I think it was sparked by me having realized earlier, the same day, that writing has gotten waaaaay less difficult for me than it once was. Or, rather, plotting has. Writing has honestly never been hard - it's a matter of time, which is sometimes tedious - but my mind is, sadly, not very structured, so plotting used to be pretty difficult for me. Then one day, probably during one of the seventeen million drafts of my adult romance, the TBR Over The Moon (of which I wrote FOUR totally-different-from-start-to-finish drafts), I just "got it," and it wasn't hard anymore. That's not to say I always do it perfectly, but I understand it now. And honestly, writing books became slightly less exciting. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm someone who really, really, really loves a challenge...so I started thinking, how could I make it harder again? And I realized if other people were telling me what to write it would be more difficult to tie together loose ends, to make a plot where all the pieces conveniently fit, where the book was about a certain thing and had a particular vibe. I'm also really picky about my characters... I HAVE to love them, or the books just don't work, and I thought if I didn't come up with them or their histories, maybe it would be harder to love them and the book would be harder to write. And, yeah, I thought it might be fun for other people, too. ;) I definitely believe anyone can write a book if they want to - that plotting can be easy if you take it step-by-step... I'm constantly trying to talk my family and friends into writing books, I guess because I know how fun it is, so I thought if none of my friends would write their own book, I could let them play with one of mine! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>#6 - Out of all of your babies, I mean books, which book:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-I'd probably have to say Over The Moon. Like I said before, I think I taught myself how to plot using that book (not recently - two or three years ago when I originally started messing around with it), and it has tons of characters I love. Watch for a preview of Over The Moon soon, btw... Like maybe on the free list. ;) (P.S. It features Logan and Margo from Before You Go, my YA contemporary romance that's out right now - only they may not be named Logan and Margo; when BYG was Part I of Over The Moon {which it originally was, though with a slightly different ending}, they had different names, and I can't decide if OTM will be published with their BYG names or their original OTM names. Is that enough acronyms to boggle your brain?)</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">was the hardest to write?</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-Gah! They all are. :) Stolen was pretty hard, for whatever reason. I had a really tough time getting to know Nick in HERE. Since his backstory is so radical, I just clammed up. Finally in the middle of the book I figured Nick out and realized he's not that different from...say, anybody. :) And it got better. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>has your favorite character?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-Probably Over The Moon. I really do love all my characters, just like a mama loves all her children, but I spent almost three years working with Logan in Before You Go/Over The Moon (where his name was Ander), and I came to love him. :) There's another character in that same series named Vincent that I really love, too.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>#7 - So tell us.. whats next? What are you working on and when will we know about it? Sharing is caring you know! :o)</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-I'm almost finished with Chosen, which I hope will be released in early June. That's the third book in my YA paranormal romance Stained Series. Next up is book two in the HERE series, which I still haven't quite named. That one's going to be really fun; I mean, things get totally INSANE. If you've read HERE, you'll understand. And do read HERE! Over The Moon will probably be released this month. After HERE Book Two I'm either going to write the U-PLOT-IT shifter story, a YA sci-fi romance called Azalea & The Makers of Zen, or an adult christian romance that will probably be called Saved. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thanks so much for interviewing me! It was so much fun. xx Ella</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Make sure to stop by Ella's website: <a href="http://ellajamesbooks.blogspot.com/">http://ellajamesbooks.blogspot.com</a></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and facebook: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/ellajamesbooks">http://www.facebook.com/ellajamesbooks</a> to say HI! </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVanuxsnEH-AaLkvwJbj8D0Q8EUeOi7sMVWuva1Sj_oCREEmjdpwRb-W-5ffTeUQb5aryC7BP40bzRjbP5HsQn-eMKU29FjyEwcgC3KED_ohjGZRGi7mHKcDR0ojIgkbZn4fEdEr5n52w/s1600/Stained+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="129" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVanuxsnEH-AaLkvwJbj8D0Q8EUeOi7sMVWuva1Sj_oCREEmjdpwRb-W-5ffTeUQb5aryC7BP40bzRjbP5HsQn-eMKU29FjyEwcgC3KED_ohjGZRGi7mHKcDR0ojIgkbZn4fEdEr5n52w/s400/Stained+cover.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can pick up a copy of all Ella's books on Amazon! See links below:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Stained-Paranormal-Romance-Series-ebook/dp/B005NAUQRY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336273615&sr=8-1" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stained</span></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Stolen-Paranormal-Romance-Stained-ebook/dp/B007RMHRMS/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1336273662&sr=1-1" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stolen</span></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/HERE-Sci-Fi-Romance-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B007A0I86Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1336273695&sr=1-1" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">HERE</span></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Before-You-Go-Romance-ebook/dp/B006P9DHEG/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1336273727&sr=1-1" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before You Go</span></a></div>
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<br />Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373124683649976442noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8043649364521227418.post-4703564898213353912012-05-30T08:00:00.000-07:002012-05-30T08:10:08.833-07:00Queen of the Sylphs by L.J. McDonald<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNG74aiA2OPXknldFHP2IJ82CKRVOjm1LpnAN98uGTGPqFDcsLsFzFip2rsHup-64TMNHJFQoAsQ8W2mgRjkcIBJ0H72qzWJhf740Y-PLSLWDz8zRSyEvem2K4QbFNKcNe2WVSiMvVdx4/s1600/queen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNG74aiA2OPXknldFHP2IJ82CKRVOjm1LpnAN98uGTGPqFDcsLsFzFip2rsHup-64TMNHJFQoAsQ8W2mgRjkcIBJ0H72qzWJhf740Y-PLSLWDz8zRSyEvem2K4QbFNKcNe2WVSiMvVdx4/s320/queen.jpg" width="197" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Queen-of-the-Sylphs-ebook/dp/B005LJEW2M/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&qid=1338328602&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Queen of the Sylphs</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Win a copy <b><a href="http://www.1000plusbookstoread.com/2012/05/sylph-series-wednesday-giveaway-queen.html" target="_blank">HERE</a></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was a dream come true. Solie had her own battler, a creature of almost infinite magic who could vaporize legions in the blink of an eye and would willingly suffer a thousand bloody deaths to protect her. She was his love. More simply, she was his queen.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many others feel the same. The new-built settlement is a haven for all. Erected by sylphs of earth and fire, air and water, the Valley is Solie’s dominion. But, lovers without peer or killers without mercy, the very nature of their battler protectors means peril. It is not in any sylph’s nature to disobey, and while some are hers to command, others are the slaves of Solie’s enemies—the jealous, the cruel. Those who guard her must not fail. Their peasant-born ruler is not yet safe as…QUEEN OF THE SYLPHS</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> </span>(Description by Author on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Queen-of-the-Sylphs-ebook/dp/B005LJEW2M/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&qid=1338328602&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Amazon</a>)<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1000 + Books to Read Rating:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Lets Talk About It:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This series just gets better and better, however, the second book is still my favorite. This one is a close second. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We are back with Solie in her land and a lot has gone on. Solie is wanting to have a baby. Heyou is unable to give her one. The land has prospered and grown bringing people from all over in to do trades and see the land. Some end up staying and all are welcome.. although some shouldn't be. Some one is trying to kill Solie.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The only part I didn't like about this book is it was pretty easy to see who was the one controlling everything. In fact, I remember vividly, saying 'You dumba$$! Take back that command!'. And I was right. Though it was really interesting to see how it all ended up playing out. Jealousy rears it ugly head in this story. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I really recommend this series as a whole. If you haven't read it, you should! I can't wait until the next book comes out. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you'd like to </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">WIN</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> a copy of Queen of the Sylph click </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.1000plusbookstoread.com/2012/05/sylph-series-wednesday-giveaway-queen.html" target="_blank">HERE</a></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Quick Peek:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Where to Buy:</b></span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Amazon: </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Queen-Sylphs-Sylph-Series-McDonald/dp/1428512160/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1338328602&sr=1-1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Paperback</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Queen-of-the-Sylphs-ebook/dp/B005LJEW2M/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&qid=1338328602&sr=1-1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Kindle</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></li>
<li><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/queen-of-the-sylphs-l-j-mcdonald/1102340849?ean=9781428512160" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Barnes & Noble</span></a></li>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small; line-height: 21px;">Disclosure: I received the above book from the Author to facilitate my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review, only an honest one. The opinions I have expressed in the above post are strictly my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC's regulation 16 CFR, Part 255; "Guides concerning the use of endorsements and testimonials in advertising."</span></span></span></div>Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373124683649976442noreply@blogger.com1