tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74063980709018530532024-03-12T22:01:32.474-04:00High Class BooksQuality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.comBlogger934125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406398070901853053.post-58073493733714009062014-11-07T08:00:00.000-05:002014-11-30T11:59:09.459-05:00Gender Harmony - GLIMPSES OF HEAVEN ON EARTH by John E. Wade II #Relationships #AmReading<b>From the chapter on gender harmony, by co-author Charlotte L. Piotrowski:</b><br />
<br />
“In
heaven on earth, women will have the same access to education as men,
and the same job opportunities. They will enjoy the same right to voice
their opinions. They will not be fearful of the violence most often
perpetrated against women, such as: rape (including gang rape), acid
throwing, honor killing, and domestic violence (which is perpetrated
much more frequently against women). These evil gender-based acts will
not occur in a heaven on earth. Men must, and will, view women as their
equals.”<br />
<b><br />From the chapter on gender harmony, by co-author Charlotte L. Piotrowski:</b><br />
<br />
“Getting
to the point where men and women live in harmony will take time and
commitment. Gender apartheid, which is the practice of discriminating
against women economically and socially through the use of physical or
legal force, is most associated with Islamic cultures in the Middle East
and Northern Africa. However, it occurs worldwide and has been found
to exist in the context of all of the major religions of the world.
This may range from women’s struggles to gain leadership roles in
certain religions to the requirement of women to cover themselves
(veiling), when men have no such mandate. Removing these obstacles is
necessary. Where men and women are treated fairly, harmony can exist.”<br />
<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Glimpses-of-Heaven-on-Earth.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Glimpses-of-Heaven-on-Earth.jpg"><img alt="Glimpses of Heaven on Earth" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-42087" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Glimpses-of-Heaven-on-Earth.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Glimpses-of-Heaven-on-Earth.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Editor
and author John E. Wade II has compiled a spiritual guide of invaluable
insight for finding peace and meaning in life while making the world a
better place for all. Along with co-authors Charlotte Livingston
Piotrowski, Daniel Agatino, Michael Nagler, and Martin Rutte, this
collection of enlightening essays and inspirational quotes from renowned
thinkers and leade</span></span>rs throughout history provides the intellectual tools needed to live a more harmonious life.<br />
<br />
Buy <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/GLIMPSES-HEAVEN-EARTH-Quotations-Insightful-ebook/dp/B00LOYGN3O/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-1&qid=1405439205" href="http://www.amazon.com/GLIMPSES-HEAVEN-EARTH-Quotations-Insightful-ebook/dp/B00LOYGN3O/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-1&qid=1405439205" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre - Inspirational</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – G</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=John%20E.%20Wade%20II&search-alias=digital-text&sort=relevancerank" href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=John%20E.%20Wade%20II&search-alias=digital-text&sort=relevancerank" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: bold ! important;">Connect</b> with John E. Wade II on <a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/jwadeii?ref_type=bookmark" href="https://www.facebook.com/jwadeii?ref_type=bookmark" target="_blank">Facebook</a></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406398070901853053.post-79430063062578643882014-11-04T09:00:00.000-05:002014-11-19T02:53:20.944-05:00LUCIFER & THE INDIGO KIDS by Lord Ra Krishna El @Lord_Ra_Krishna #AmReading #Poetry #NonFiction <span style="background-color: white; font-size: small;"><b>Dolphins</b></span><br />
<br />
Soon I will be free...<br />
As free as the dolphin <br />
<br />
That swims in the Sea...<br />
As free as a feather <br />
<br />
That blows in the wind...<br />
Sitting on the beach <br />
<br />
Sipping coffee once again<br />
With long<br />
dread loc's...<br />
And new tattoo's...<br />
<br />
Smoking with Bob Marley<br />
As my words help heal the earth...<br />
My music playing around the world<br />
<br />
Performing in front of thousand's...<br />
Sharing my art with the planet<br />
<br />
And speaking in the language<br />
of the dolphins...<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-e7ohu8GS8NQ/VEZ099OgsPI/AAAAAAAADdI/JA7IU27mLuE/s1600/10543606_799244456762857_1951121046706555738_n.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-e7ohu8GS8NQ/VEZ099OgsPI/AAAAAAAADdI/JA7IU27mLuE/s1600/10543606_799244456762857_1951121046706555738_n.png" height="320" width="225" /></a></div>
<br />
"This
“new age” book of poetry reflects the diverse views and philosophies of
it’s author Ra Krishna EL. It’s an intimate, humorous and thought
provoking group of poems intended to evoke strong emotion. To quote the
German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, this style of poetry can be
called “Zukunfts poesie“ which translates into “Poetry of the future”,
where truly original ideas are presented thru poetry. Also known as post
Nietzschean poetry.<br />
<br />
It’s subjects include society, pop
culture, love, religious dogma, God and the new age of Aquarius. This
book was written and published during the false incarceration of its
author in Chicago’s notorious Cook County Jail, the largest jail in the
country."<br />
<br />
Bu<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">y Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Lucifer-indigo-kids-Last-Prophet-ebook/dp/B00L3VL7E8/ref=sr_1_1_title_1_kin?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1406567843&sr=1-1&keywords=lucifer+and+the+indigo+kids" href="http://www.amazon.com/Lucifer-indigo-kids-Last-Prophet-ebook/dp/B00L3VL7E8/ref=sr_1_1_title_1_kin?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1406567843&sr=1-1&keywords=lucifer+and+the+indigo+kids" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre - Poetry, Philosophy</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG-13</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Lord%20Ra%20Krishna%20EL&search-alias=books&sort=relevancerank" href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Lord%20Ra%20Krishna%20EL&search-alias=books&sort=relevancerank" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: bold ! important;">Connect</b> with Lord Ra Krishna EL on <a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lord-Ra-Krishna-El/729737850380185?ref=hl" href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lord-Ra-Krishna-El/729737850380185?ref=hl" target="_blank">Facebook</a> & <a data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/Lord_Ra_Krishna" href="https://twitter.com/Lord_Ra_Krishna" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406398070901853053.post-88358895686414354152014-10-28T11:30:00.000-04:002014-12-17T06:57:38.838-05:00WITNESS TO MY HEART by Loni Flowers @LoniFlowers #Excerpt #Contemporary #Romance<i>Note : Excerpt contains strong language </i><br />
<br />
Grabbing
my shoulders, Max pushed me against the wall. I sucked in a sharp
breath and tried to push him away from me, but couldn’t make him budge
an inch. “Get your hands off me,” I demanded.<br />
<br />
Stepping
closer, Max leaned in and the muscles of his chest flexed under my
palms. His stance was wide, each foot planted on the sides of mine. When
I peered down, I noticed the waist of his jeans hung below his hip
bones. Considering my position, and Max’s over-reactive, accusatory
tone, I did my best not to drool because I was supposed to be mad. I was
pissed, right?<br />
<br />
“Don’t play games with me, Abi.”<br />
<br />
Max
stared down, his gaze skimming over my chest as I stood there in one of
Caroline’s pretty, pink push-up bras. Having more than enough to fill
the small cups, I didn't require the extra lift. My chest rose up and
down with visible succession in every breath I took and I didn’t know if
it was because I was scared or possibly getting turned on.<br />
<br />
“I don’t play those types of games, Max.”<br />
<br />
Shit! Not the appropriate comeback in a situation like this.<br />
<br />
His grip hardened, “Now! Tell me why you covered for me?”<br />
<br />
“Ow, let me go! I was only doing you a favor.”<br />
<br />
“I didn’t ask for handouts when I came here. What the fuck did David say to you!?”<br />
<br />
“He
said you were a good guy and I shouldn’t kill you; but obviously, he
has you mixed up with someone else because you’re a fucking lunatic!”<br />
<br />
“Oh.”<br />
<br />
“Oh?
You man-handle me and all you can say is oh?” Forget shocked, I was
furious. “For your information, Charlie is a friend, like a father, and
he’s extremely protective over me. Sometimes, he does background checks
on the people in my life. If he had seen you here, he would have done
one on you and on your vehicle. I assumed you wouldn’t want him snooping
around. Plus, if he did find something he didn't approve of, he
wouldn’t let me…”<br />
<br />
I instantly paused and thought if he
didn't stop this line of interrogation, I could say something I
shouldn't. My record of zero slip-ups since being placed in the Witness
Protection Program might be broken this very day.<br />
<br />
“Wouldn’t let you… what?”<br />
<br />
“Nothing.
He wouldn't want me staying here. Excuse me for trying to be
proactive.” If he thought he could talk to me or handle me however he
wanted, he had another thing coming. I straightened up before I leaned
forward, letting my hands slide up his chest until my fingers curled
over the top of his shoulders. His brow rose with interest, but I
ignored it. Pulling Max’s chest forward, I pressed my chest against his
to whisper into his ear. “Didn’t I tell you not to underestimate me?”<br />
<br />
Max
pulled back, slightly squinting as if he suddenly recalled something.
His eyes gazed intently on me and I was momentarily frozen. His lips
parted, and a rushed breath escaped his mouth as his finger curled
around a lock of my hair. He gathered it in his hand and pulled it away
from my shoulders. His face twisted in confusion before amusement
sparkled in his eyes. My unexpected heavy breathing seemed to match his
own.<br />
<br />
“Darling, I never underestimate anyone, but you...”<br />
<br />
“What? You think you know me? Don’t pretend to assess me either.”<br />
<br />
“Tell me, do you act this way every time you get pissed off? Because I think I could get used to it.”<br />
<br />
“Who pushed whom against the wall in a fit of anger?” I countered.<br />
<br />
His
full, pink lips curved into a small grin as he pierced me with his
amber brown eyes, the color of a light brandy. Like a cognac that slid
down your throat until it found the right spot and scorched your
insides. God, why did he have to be so damn sexy?<br />
<br />
My
fingers swiped over the taut muscles in his neck and I might have
murmured an audible sigh. I wasn’t sure. When his grin spread wider, I
knew I was caught. It had been far too long since I'd been intimate with
a man, and standing that close to him, inhaling so much testosterone,
became too much for me to handle. He being a jackass didn't make much
difference at that moment.<br />
<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Witness-to-my-Heart.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Witness-to-my-Heart.jpg"><img alt="Witness to my Heart" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-41881" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Witness-to-my-Heart.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Witness-to-my-Heart.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
Keep
a low profile. That's what Abigale Peterson was supposed to do,
especially when the person she was being protected from was one of the
world's worst crime lords. After seven years in the Witness Protection
Program, she felt no safer now than she did when she was seventeen.
Revenge was rarely forgotten when it came to a professional criminal
like Zerilli.<br />
<br />
Low profiles meant no social life and definitely no love life.<br />
<br />
Paranoia
and lies became daily habits, going against everything Abigale believed
in, but they kept her safe. They kept everyone safe.<br />
<br />
Until
a house fire puts her out of that safety and into the arms of a
stranger. Max Smith is sexy, smart, and has major attitude. He’s the
only one who seems to get her. He calms her fears and comforts her from
her nightmares. But he also sees right through her lies.<br />
<br />
Before
Abigale can stop, she’s in too deep; confiding too much and breaking
the one rule she promised herself to uphold: Never fall in love.<br />
<br />
Bu<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">y Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Witness-my-Heart-Loni-Flowers-ebook/dp/B00MLN4IFW" href="http://www.amazon.com/Witness-my-Heart-Loni-Flowers-ebook/dp/B00MLN4IFW" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Contemporary Romance</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – R</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Loni-Flowers/e/B00JOF1XYO/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" href="http://www.amazon.com/Loni-Flowers/e/B00JOF1XYO/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Connect with Loni Flowers through<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/AuthorLoniFlowers" href="https://www.facebook.com/AuthorLoniFlowers" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>&<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/LoniFlowers" href="https://twitter.com/LoniFlowers" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406398070901853053.post-35436583905237574142014-10-25T09:30:00.000-04:002014-10-28T04:49:28.914-04:00@KirstenArcadio on a Different Version of Ourselves & Quantum Tectonics #BookClub #Thriller #AmReading<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<i><b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What if a quantum tectonic event split our reality?</span></span></b></i></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So
that different versions of ourselves appeared from an alternate
universe, to show us what our lives could have been had we made
different choices, or what we might become, should we change our
behaviour right now?</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As Werner Heisenberg said,</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘Atoms
or elementary particles themselves are not real; they form a world of
potentialities or possibilities rather than one of things or facts.’</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What
if our lives were made up of infinite possibilities, all of which were
happening simultaneously, until the observer – you – decided to pin one
down? One choice, one life.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In
my latest novel, Split Symmetry, I explore all of these questions – and
more – against the exciting backdrop of a mysterious Italian mountain
range. Find out what happens when Dr Elena Lewis and a group of her
friends become embroiled in the worst earthquake the region has known
mixed up with a quantum event that changes their lives for ever.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">How
do they escape? Can Elena save her friends? Can she save herself? And
when she crosses into a reality she cannot conceive of, what does she
make of it?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Set in the near future,</i><i> </i><i><b>Split Symmetry<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b></i><a data-mce-href="http://getbook.at/SplitSymmetry" href="http://getbook.at/SplitSymmetry">[getBook.at/SplitSymmetry</a>]<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>is
the story of what happens when a hike in the notorious Gran Sasso
mountain range in central Italy descends into chaos on the same night
that scientists decide to work on a clandestine experiment in a lab
beneath the mountain. Dr Elena Lewis must work around the clock to find
members of her group who have become lost on the mountain, but just as
she is close to finding them, the region is rocked by one of the worst
earthquakes central Italy has ever known.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/b8/08/e888579bda8b0a82390b79.L._V343502862_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/b8/08/e888579bda8b0a82390b79.L._V343502862_.jpg" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Author bio:</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Kirsten
Arcadio has written three novels, each with a different speculative
theme. Her first novel, Borderliners, was published in February of this
year with the second in the series, Split Symmetry, to be published in
July. The third, WorldCult, is due out just before Christmas. She’s also
a part-time poet, digital communications nerd and frazzled head of an
Anglo-Italian family.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">After
working for over fifteen years in digital communications, she returned
to her twin first loves, literature and philosophy, in 2011.
She’s passionate about the big questions in life and how these can be
explored using speculative fiction.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When
she’s not writing she’s obsessing about Sci Fi or Nordic noir.
She loves all things Italian, including her husband, and she once taught
English in the Italian senate.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Links:</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Split Symmetry, available on Amazon:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Split-Symmetry-Borderliners-Trilogy-Book-ebook/dp/B00L19T4QU/" href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Split-Symmetry-Borderliners-Trilogy-Book-ebook/dp/B00L19T4QU/">http://www.amazon.co.uk/Split-Symmetry-Borderliners-Trilogy-Book-ebook/dp/B00L19T4QU/</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Blog:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="http://www.kirstenarcadio.co.uk/" href="http://www.kirstenarcadio.co.uk/">http://www.kirstenarcadio.co.uk</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Facebook group:<a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/KHArcadio" href="https://www.facebook.com/KHArcadio">https://www.facebook.com/KHArcadio</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Twitter:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/kirstenarcadio" href="https://twitter.com/kirstenarcadio">https://twitter.com/kirstenarcadio</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Split-Symmetry.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Split-Symmetry.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Split Symmetry" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-41075" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Split-Symmetry.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Split-Symmetry.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><b>Lost</b></i><i> </i>meets <b><i>The Poseidon Adventure</i> </b>with a hint of <b><i>Sliding Doors</i></b>!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>It's 2015 in the notorious Gran Sasso mountain range of central Italy.</i><br /><i>Quantum physicists in a lab beneath the ground begin an illegal experiment. </i><br /><i>A landslide hits and a hiking group is stranded. </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Every decision, every step of the way...changes reality.</b> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Book #2 of the best-selling Borderliners series, this other-worldly adventure will keep you turning the pages to the very </span></span>end!<br />
<br />
<i><b>'A novel about what it is to survive and endure, what defi</b></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>nes us, how it
is to be ruled by fear, to be a slave to the terror of nature and what
it feels like to love.' Five star customer review. </i></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Split-Symmetry-Borderliners-Trilogy-Book-ebook/dp/B00L19T4QU/" href="http://www.amazon.com/Split-Symmetry-Borderliners-Trilogy-Book-ebook/dp/B00L19T4QU/">Amazon</a> & <a data-mce-href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/442559" href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/442559">Smashwords</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre - Speculative thriller</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Kirsten-Arcadio/e/B00IMCFACG/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" href="http://www.amazon.com/Kirsten-Arcadio/e/B00IMCFACG/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Connect</b> with Kirsten Arcadio through <a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/KHArcadio" href="https://www.facebook.com/KHArcadio">Facebook</a> &<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/kirstenarcadio" href="https://twitter.com/kirstenarcadio">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406398070901853053.post-58593827652320608882014-10-24T08:30:00.000-04:002014-12-29T03:10:50.336-05:00Cheryl Rice Opens Up About Her Grief & Writing a Book @RiceonLife #Memoir #MustRead #NonFiction <b>What Inspired Me to Write"Where Have I Been All My Life"</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
One life
changing event and three simultaneous inner urgings inspired me to write
my book, Where Have I Been All My Life? A Journey Toward Love and
Wholeness.<br />
<br />
The life altering event was the swift,
merciless death of my mother – who happened to also be my best friend –
when she was an otherwise robust and healthy 68 years old and I was 45. I
was completely unprepared for life without her. Her death broke me open
in unprecedented, yet ultimately life-affirming, ways.<br />
<br />
While
I was mired in grief, and playing all sorts of grief games in an effort
to stay connected with her, I also felt compelled to live more boldly,
authentically and vibrantly than I ever had before. Even though I had
always prided myself on living with intention and enjoyed setting and
reaching challenging goals, there were a few dreams, like writing a
book, that I had been too scared and overwhelmed to tackle. But in the
wake of my mom’s death there was no time for just thinking about
“tomorrow” or relegating my long buried dream to “someday.” My someday
was now.<br />
<br />
The second thing that inspired me to write my
book was a deep, intrinsic desire to produce something that would
outlive me. While I had two wonderful stepchildren and a puppy I treated
as my baby, I hadn’t yet truly offered the world something tangible
that would endure. And now I had a fierce longing to give creative birth
to something that would speak for me when I was gone – something that
would be part of my legacy.<br />
<br />
The third thread of
inspiration for my book came from a yearning to find and validate my own
voice. Ironically, as a professional leadership and life coach I was
comfortable and competent helping others, especially women, claim and
cultivate their own voice yet I had been remiss in doing the same for
myself. Coming from a family of writers (but never identifying as one
myself), I always knew that writing was a wonderful way of clarifying
and cleansing one’s thoughts, but beyond penning some bad adolescent
poetry and keeping journals episodically throughout my life, I never
took myself or my writing seriously. That changed once my mother died,
my heart broke, and my time and need for self-inquiry and validation
burst forth.<br />
<br />
Lastly, I had a strong desire to reach out
and connect with other people, women in particular, who were struggling
with similar issues. Issues like self-acceptance, using longing as a
substitute for loving, and overcoming the loss of a loved one. Reading
books, especially stories of personal resilience written by women, had
always been a comfort and balm to me. Through the brave and honest
stories of other women I found strength, companionship and validation.
My loneliness or isolation would lift, even for a bit, and my fortitude
and hopefulness would be reignited. Also, since I adore championing
women, writing a book felt like a natural and necessary vehicle to
connect with them on both a deeper and broader level and to inspire
those who are on a similar journey toward love and self-acceptance.<br />
<br />
<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Where-Have-I-Been-All-My-Life.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Where-Have-I-Been-All-My-Life.jpg"><img alt="Where Have I Been All My Life" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-41809" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Where-Have-I-Been-All-My-Life.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Where-Have-I-Been-All-My-Life.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
Where
Have I Been All My Life? is a compelling memoir recounting one woman’s
journey through grief and a profound feeling of unworthiness to
wholeness and healing. It begins with the chillingly sudden death of
Rice’s mother, and is followed by her foray into the center of
mourning. <br />
<br />
With wisdom, grace, and humor, Rice recounts
the grief games she plays in an effort to resurrect her mother; her
efforts to get her therapist, who
she falls desperately in love with, to run away with her; and the
transformation of her husband from fantasy man to ordinary guy to
superhero. In the process, she experiences aching revelations about her
family and her past—and realizes what she must leave behind, and what
she can carry forward with her.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
Bu<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">y Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Where-Have-Been-All-Life/dp/163152917X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405965204&sr=8-1&keywords=where+have+i+been+all+my+life%3F" href="http://www.amazon.com/Where-Have-Been-All-Life/dp/163152917X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405965204&sr=8-1&keywords=where+have+i+been+all+my+life%3F" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Memoir</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG-13</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Cheryl-Rice/e/B00J5OWIGQ/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1" href="http://www.amazon.com/Cheryl-Rice/e/B00J5OWIGQ/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Connect with Cheryl Rice through<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="%20https://www.facebook.com/yourvoiceyourvision " href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-admin/%20https://www.facebook.com/yourvoiceyourvision" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>&<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/RiceOnLife" href="https://twitter.com/RiceOnLife" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: bold ! important;">Website <a class="in-cell-link" data-mce-href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.yourvoiceyourvision.com&usd=2&usg=ALhdy2-KsIroKPbTLpqZOg7K5rhGXAchzg" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.yourvoiceyourvision.com&usd=2&usg=ALhdy2-KsIroKPbTLpqZOg7K5rhGXAchzg" target="_blank">www.yourvoiceyourvision.com</a></b></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406398070901853053.post-7522163957130692412014-10-22T12:00:00.000-04:002014-10-23T08:11:57.591-04:00Mike Hartner on His Crammed Room of Characters @MHartnerAuthor #HistFic #Romance #GoodReads<b>Inside the Mind of An Author</b><br />
<br />
In the Darkness
brought on by a closed room and narrow stairs, I slowly ascend to the
top and push the attic floorboard to the side. This stairwell,
conveniently hidden in a second floor wall, has been very dusty and full
of cobwebs. I’m really not sure what to expect when I go into the
attic. I have, however, heard strange noises.<br />
<br />
Climbing
up into the attic, into the mind of this author, I look around. The
walls are cluttered with post it notes, and most of them had small
symbols and some writing. There were papers that had fallen to the
floor, and the whole area looked like an old bomb shelter.<br />
<br />
I’m
immediately dodging the many different children who are running around.
The voices that each one uses to taunt the others are all different.<br />
<br />
I stop one of them. His name is James.<br />
<br />
“Are there any others around?”<br />
<br />
“Oh, there are plenty.”<br />
<br />
“Where are they?”<br />
<br />
“Sitting in a corner of the filing room in the back. They’re waiting for their opportunity to come join the fun.”<br />
<br />
“What are they waiting for?”<br />
<br />
“Why,
everyone knows that they’re waiting to be heard. Not all of us
characters can be heard at the same time. Sometimes, he listens to
three or four of us for a short time, and sometimes he listens to one of
us for a long time. But, we’re all here. Waiting for our chance to
be heard.”<br />
<br />
“So why are you three out here running around?”<br />
<br />
“We’ve
already been heard. He’s concentrating on us right now, and it’s our
chance to play and rest while he figures out what he wants us to do
next.”<br />
<br />
“How many are in the back room?”<br />
<br />
“The
last I checked, the room was crammed, and the waiting list was endless.
Lots of voices like us want to be heard. We want to tell our
stories.”<br />
<br />
James escaped from my vision and went back to running around.<br />
<br />
When
I saw them return, I also saw them carrying long sticks, using them as
play swords. I beat a hasty retreat from the mind of this author.<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/IJames.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/IJames.jpg"><img alt="IJames" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-41780" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/IJames.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/IJames.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">James Crofter was ripped from his family at age 11. <br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" />Within a year the prince was a pauper in a foreign land. <br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" />Is nature stronger than nurture? And even if it is, can James find the happiness he so richly desires? </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/I-James-Eternity-Book-2-ebook/dp/B00MQHIG0Q/ref=la_B009VJQBEA_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1409891856&sr=1-5" href="http://www.amazon.com/I-James-Eternity-Book-2-ebook/dp/B00MQHIG0Q/ref=la_B009VJQBEA_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1409891856&sr=1-5" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre - Historical Fiction, Romance</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Mike-Hartner/e/B009VJQBEA/" href="http://www.amazon.com/Mike-Hartner/e/B009VJQBEA/" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Connect</b> with Mike Hartner on <a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mike-Hartner-Author/368690356556759" href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mike-Hartner-Author/368690356556759" target="_blank">Facebook</a> & <a data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/MHartnerAuthor" href="https://twitter.com/MHartnerAuthor" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406398070901853053.post-42245611102969237492014-10-14T10:00:00.000-04:002014-10-14T11:41:47.328-04:00K S Ferguson on What Scares Her, Happiness and Why She Writes #AmReading #Fantasy #Fiction <br />
<b>Tell us a bit about your family.</b><br />
<br />
Grand-dad
was a horse thief. Grandpa on the other side was a bigamist. Writing
novels that involve crime and madness is in my blood.<br />
<b><br />How do you work through self-doubts and fear?</b><br />
<br />
"La-la-la-la-la." Did you ask something?<br />
<br />
<b>What scares you the most?</b><br />
<br />
Heights.
I'm the pits when it comes to putting on a new roof or standing on the
top of small, swaying buildings like the Space Needle.<br />
<br />
<b>What makes you happiest?</b><br />
<br />
Good
music, a stunning sunset, the ripe wheat waving in the autumn wind, the
hummingbirds outside my window on a summer morning. I'm easy.<br />
<b><br />What’s your greatest character strength?</b><br />
<br />
I shout and stand up for the underdog no matter the odds or the consequences.<br />
<b><br />What’s your weakest character trait?</b><br />
<br />
I shout and stand up for the underdog no matter the odds or the consequences, but sometimes confrontation isn't the answer.<br />
<br />
<b>Why do you write?</b><br />
<br />
When
I write, I get to go to amazing places and meet interesting people
doing important things. By writing, I get to share that experience with
others.<br />
<br />
<b>Have you always enjoyed writing?</b><br />
<br />
No. I started writing in fourth grade, but I couldn't spell half the words I wanted to use. Very frustrating.<br />
<br />
<b>What motivates you to write?</b><br />
<br />
There's
no drug that can compare to the feeling of getting the right words on
the page in the right order to convey what you meant to say, what you
want the reader to feel.<br />
<br />
<b>What writing are you most proud of?</b><br />
<br />
I
currently have three separate series on the go. My characters would
never forgive me if you made me choose just one. And pride goeth before
the fall, so I think maybe I should skate around this question.<br />
<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Touching-Madness.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Touching-Madness.jpg"><img alt="Touching Madness" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-41637" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Touching-Madness.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Touching-Madness.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Light
bulbs talk to River Madden; God doesn't. When the homeless
schizophrenic unintentionally fractures a dimensional barrier and
accidentally steals a gym bag containing a million dollars, everyone
from the multiverse police to the local crime boss—and an eight-foot
tall demon—are after him. Can he dodge them long enough to correct his
mistakes and prevent the destruction of three separate dimensions? If he
succeeds, will the light bulbs stop singing off-key?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007H9QPLA" href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007H9QPLA" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Contemporary, Urban fantasy</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – R</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=K%20S%20Ferguson&search-alias=digital-text&sort=relevancerank" href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=K%20S%20Ferguson&search-alias=digital-text&sort=relevancerank" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Website <a class="in-cell-link" data-mce-href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.ksferguson.net&usd=2&usg=ALhdy28uYLnWK2puPbkhz-G_C7dYRTpoBw" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.ksferguson.net&usd=2&usg=ALhdy28uYLnWK2puPbkhz-G_C7dYRTpoBw" target="_blank">http://www.ksferguson.net</a></b></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406398070901853053.post-81330103689344991722014-10-14T07:30:00.000-04:002014-10-29T09:49:58.271-04:00DARK CHEMISTRY #Excerpt by Kirsten Mortensen @KirstenWriter #AmReading #Romance #Suspense <i>This excerpt, from chapter 4 of Dark Chemistry, introduces
Donavon Todde, the man who destined to fall in love with the novel’s
protagonist, Haley Dubose. He actually encounters her in this scene,
although he doesn’t know who she is—the woman who’s about to assume
control over the company where he works; the woman who is now his boss.
Instead, as you’ll see, Donavon is wrapped up in a personal struggle
that consumes him with emotional pain and humiliation. When we meet him,
here, he’s flying home from a fruitless trip to Las Vegas . . .</i><br />
<br />
Donavon set his iPhone on the bar.<br />
<br />
What kind of a loser—<br />
<br />
Damn
it, damn bartender walked by again without looking over. What was that,
the third time? Because bartenders in airport bars don’t make eye
contact. Of course they don’t. They don’t believe they’ll ever see you
again. For them it’s just a shift, just get through the shift, they’ll
never see anyone in here again, if they get good tips they get good
tips, if they don’t, so what? It’s a job, hourly, benefits. It’s not
about relationships, like in a real bar ...<br />
<br />
Donavon waited, watching, for the guy to come back over to his end of the bar. Good, he’d turned, he was heading this way ...<br />
<br />
What kind of a loser does it take to—<br />
<br />
“Another Sam Adams, when you get a minute.”<br />
<br />
The bartender nodded at Donavon, but without smiling. It was a “yeah, I heard you” nod.<br />
<br />
Donavon checked his phone again.<br />
<br />
No messages.<br />
<br />
“Is this seat taken?”<br />
<br />
“No.”
Donavon smiled at the woman who had spoken to him, sizing her up.
Shoulder-length hair, no discernable gray, but a little crinkling around
her eyes as she smiled back at him. Forties, he’d say. Mid-forties.<br />
<br />
The
bartender returned with his beer. “Menu?” he said into the air between
them, and the woman said yes and asked him what sort of white wine he
had, and ordered a Pinot Grigio.<br />
<br />
“Lucky you got him,” said Donavon. “He’s a busy guy.”<br />
<br />
“Eh, he can take all the time he likes—my flight’s been delayed until at least 7:30, apparently.”<br />
<br />
“Yeah? Where you headed?”<br />
<br />
“Rochester, New York. You?”<br />
<br />
“Syracuse.”<br />
Of
course. They were in Concourse G, the spot where the little planes land
and take off, the planes headed to the little airports.<br />
<br />
Too bad she wasn’t flying to Syracuse. He could use a distraction ...<br />
<br />
The
woman was checking her phone now, sending a text message, but then when
she got her wine she put her phone away and turned slightly toward him.
Good—she was a friendly one. “Syracuse, eh?” she said. “So what do you
do?”<br />
<br />
“Sales.”<br />
<br />
“Oh yeah? What company?” Smiling at him.<br />
<br />
“RMB.”
He felt himself relax as he spoke. “We’re a small chemical
manufacturing plant nobody’s ever heard of, that makes stuff that other
companies—companies you have heard of—put into their products.”<br />
<br />
“What kind of products?”<br />
<br />
“Cosmetics mostly—shampoo, lip balm, that sort of thing.”<br />
<br />
“So is RMB based here in Chicago?” She sipped her wine, and he noticed her left hand.<br />
<br />
No wedding ring.<br />
<br />
Maybe he should date someone older. Maybe an older woman would be easier, less drama ...<br />
<br />
“Nope,”
he said. “It’s south of Syracuse. But as you know, if you fly to
Rochester a lot, there aren’t any direct flights. I spend half my life
in O’Hare. Is Rochester home for you?”<br />
<br />
“Yes. So where are you coming from, this trip?”<br />
<br />
“Vegas,” he said without thinking, and then wished he’d lied.<br />
<br />
“That’s a fun town. So did you win, or lose?”<br />
<br />
“Broke even, more or less,” he said. “Or anyway,” he struck a jovial note, “that’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it.”<br />
<br />
She
smiled again, then flagged the bartender and ordered a chopped salad
with chicken, and Donavon asked for his check, then watched out of the
corner of his eye as the woman fumbled through her purse, took out a
little bottle of Purell, opened it, and rubbed it into her hands.<br />
<br />
“How about you?” Donavon asked as she recapped the bottle and dropped it back into her purse. “What do you do?”<br />
<br />
“I’m a writer.”<br />
<br />
“No kidding. That’s interesting. What do you write? Books? Or ...”<br />
<br />
“A
little bit of everything. Stories, novels. But I pay the bills with
corporate contract work. Marketing brochures, that kind of thing.”<br />
<br />
A man’s voice came on over the terminal intercom and the woman paused, listening.<br />
<br />
“Syracuse,” she said. “Is that you?”<br />
<br />
Donavon nodded and pushed his stool back. “Yeah.”<br />
<br />
“Well, have a nice flight.”<br />
<br />
“I’m Don, by the way,” he said and held out his hand.<br />
<br />
“Christine,” she said.<br />
<br />
Her hand felt small and clean from the Purell.<br />
<br />
He slung his duffel bag strap over his shoulder. “Good luck on your flight.”<br />
<br />
“Bye.”<br />
<br />
Old
enough to be his mother, almost. But maybe that’s what he
needed—someone older, someone who had dealt with all her baggage, who
would be grateful for the attentions of a young stud. And she was
well-preserved. Trim, probably worked out. Pilates, probably, or
spinning ...<br />
<br />
So that’s it, Donnyboy?<br />
<br />
That’s how you’re going to cope? By hitting on anything that moves?<br />
<br />
He shook his head, trying to shake off the thought.<br />
<br />
You get dumped, so you hate yourself, and then you cope by becoming a person you’ll hate even more?<br />
<br />
He reached his gate and stepped into the plume of people waiting to board.<br />
<br />
He pulled his boarding pass out of his back pocket.<br />
<br />
There
was a blond just off to the side, a little ahead of him. Her back to
him. She was wearing those tight blue jean jeggings that show off every
curve, black leather boots up over her calves—he let his eyes move up
and down, lingering.<br />
<br />
Yeah, now that—that was a morsel. Had to be at least an 8 or 9 ...<br />
<br />
He
shifted forward to get a glimpse of her face, her profile. Fine, like a
porcelain doll. Easily a 9. Stupid, no doubt, but that was all the
better. Yeah, this was exactly what the doctor had ordered. He should
move in, now ... it would be easy. Let her know he had a job, strike the
right balance between suave and aloof, flirtatious and superior ...<br />
<br />
An
older couple stepped in front of him, blocking his view of the blond,
interrupting his thoughts, and his mind flashed back again to Vegas.<br />
<br />
How many times had he made that trip?<br />
<br />
And why?<br />
<br />
What
kind of a loser does it take to keep flying back out there? You know
you’re not going to just run into her. And even if you did—then what?
It’s done. She chose.<br />
<br />
They’re probably fucking married by now.<br />
<br />
What kind of loser does it take to keep chasing after a woman who is long fucking gone?<br />
<br />
Donavon
handed his boarding pass to the agent and waited as he scanned it. No
beep. The agent scanned it again, and again, and finally the scanner
beeped and Donavon took the ticket back and started up the jetway.<br />
<br />
Goddamn it, they’d better have beverage service on this flight.<br />
<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/darkChemistry.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/darkChemistry.jpg"><img alt="darkChemistry" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-41412" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/darkChemistry.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/darkChemistry.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
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<h1>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A woman's worst nightmare</span></span></h1>
<h2 data-mce-style="color: #cc6600;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Drugged by something...that makes her think she's fallen in love.</span></span></h2>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">All Haley Dubose has ever known is beaches and malls, clubs and cocktail dresses.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>But now her father is dead.</b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And if she wants to inherit her father's fortune, she has to leave sunny Southern California<br />for a backwater little town near Syracuse, New York. She has to run RMB, the multimillion dollar<br />chemical company her father founded. And she has to run it well.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Keep
RMB on track, and she'll be rich. Grow it, and she'll be even richer.
But mess it up, and her inheritance will shrink away before she gets a
chance to spend a dime.</span></span><br />
<h2 data-mce-style="color: #cc6600;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Donavon Todde is her true love. But is it too late?</span></span></h2>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He's RMB's head of sales – and the more Donavon sees of Haley, the more he's smitten.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sure,
she comes across at first as naïve and superficial. But Donavon knew
Haley's father. He can see the man's better qualities stirring to life
in her eyes. And Donavon senses something else: Haley's father left her a
legacy more important than money. He left her the chance to discover
her true self.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Donavon has demons of his own.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b> </b><br />He's
reeling from a heartbreak that's taking far too long to heal. But he's
captivated by this blond Californian, and not only because of her
beauty.<i> It's chemistry.</i> They're right for each other. But has
Donavon waited too long to woo this woman of his dreams? Because to his
horror, his beautiful Haley falls under another spell.<i> Gerad's spell.</i></span></span><br />
<h2 data-mce-style="color: #cc6600;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A web of evil.</span></span></h2>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Gerad
Picket was second-in-command at RMB when Haley's father was alive. And
with Haley on the scene, he's in charge of her training. But there are
things about RMB that Gerad doesn't want Haley to know.</span></span><br />
<h2 data-mce-style="color: #cc6600;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And he must control her. Any way he can.</span></span></h2>
<h1>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Romantic suspense for your Kindle</span></span></h1>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Will Haley realize that her feelings are not her TRUE feelings?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Does Donavon have the strength left to fight for the woman he loves?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Will the two of them uncover Gerad's plot to use RMB pheromones to enslave the world?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And even if they do – can they stop it?</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Chemistry-Kirsten-Mortensen-ebook/dp/B00KEYP3QI/" href="http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Chemistry-Kirsten-Mortensen-ebook/dp/B00KEYP3QI/" target="_blank">Amazon</a> &<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/422146" href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/422146" target="_blank">Smashwords</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Romantic suspense</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG-13</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Kirsten-Mortensen/e/B001JP7X50/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" href="http://www.amazon.com/Kirsten-Mortensen/e/B001JP7X50/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Connect</b> with Kirsten Mortensen through<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kirsten-Mortensen-Writer/195344590544496?ref=hl" href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kirsten-Mortensen-Writer/195344590544496?ref=hl" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>& <a data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/Kirstenwriter" href="https://twitter.com/Kirstenwriter" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Website <a class="in-cell-link" data-mce-href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://kirstenmortensen.com/&usd=2&usg=ALhdy29OlqrTvuWJGs0Xbb3RDK_7VviC8A" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://kirstenmortensen.com/&usd=2&usg=ALhdy29OlqrTvuWJGs0Xbb3RDK_7VviC8A" target="_blank">http://kirstenmortensen.com/</a></b></span></span></div>
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Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406398070901853053.post-16214955581398144222014-10-11T10:00:00.000-04:002014-10-13T12:18:32.927-04:00Madi Brown on Having a Writing Schedule & Social Media @Madithe1brown #AmWriting #WomensFic<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/42/96/b36af84f9a9f0a82390bd1.L._V345511265_SY470_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/42/96/b36af84f9a9f0a82390bd1.L._V345511265_SY470_.jpg" height="320" width="245" /></a></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Madi Brown is an ambitious relationship blogger (Madibrown.com) by
night, and a pencil-skirted, poplin-shirted, admin assistant by day. And
though this author finds her main character to be quite relatable, she
knows that having it all is a stretch. Duh. Success is self-defined.
This is her debut work of contemporary women's fiction.</span></span></i><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>If you could have a dinner party and invite anyone dead or alive, who would you ask?</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I’d
ask my Grandmother Emily, who is now deceased to attend. My novel is
dedicated to her love of reading, but I only know this because of what
my mother shared with me. I’d love to know what types of books she did
read. It very well could have been pornographic.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Do you have any tips on how writers can relax?</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Well,
there is this one app; I downloaded it for free on my Ipad. It’s called
Jumpstart Energize Me. It helps me to breathe. I totally decompress.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Do you have an organized process or tips for writing well?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b>Get rid of distractions---television, music, your ringing cell phone.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b> </b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Do you have a writing schedule?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b>Not
really,Writing on a schedule feels so forced to me. I’m still trying to
pin myself down to schedule my blog posts on Madibrown.com.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Sometimes it’s so hard to keep at it – What keeps you going?</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Knowing
how much work I’ve put into it so far. It would be crazy for me to walk
away and leave my book project unfinished at this point. Giving up
without trying my best just isn’t a part of my genetic makeup. Madi
Brown doesn’t want to be a Loser-girl.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What do you hope people will take away from your writing? How will your words make them feel?</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The take away will hopefully be that they’ve been entertained, followed by a need to read more of what I've written.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What’s your favorite meal?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b>That would be shrimp and grits. It’s life-changing.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What color represents your personality the most?</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Orange. It has to be just the right shade though, not too bright. It makes me feel happy---no make that euphoric.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What movie do you love to watch?</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Casino.
Sharon Stone’s wardrobe was so fab, and the film contained all of the
other components that I like in a story, romance, action, and intrigue.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>How do you feel about social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter?</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Are
they a good thing? Yep. Facebook and Twitter allow me to expand my
reach of potential readers, while I’m in my apartment scantily clad.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/truthaboutemily.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/truthaboutemily.jpg"><img alt="truthaboutemily" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-41632" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/truthaboutemily.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/truthaboutemily.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"If you LOVE New York, if you’re a
name-dropping, fashion fiend careerist; fed up with serial dating,
plagued with a thirst for sex, then you’ll totally stalk me for what
I've penned.” - Author, Madi Brown</span></span></h2>
<h3>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Description</i></span></span></h3>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">29-year-old
Emily Greene looks the part, but she’s still working on becoming a
modern-day woman. Not that she’s one to back down from a challenge, but
living as an eternal work-in-progress wasn't exactly the goal that she
had in mind. It’s a harsh but true realization---the idea that that time
isn't on her side, and the notion that wanting to have it all, doesn't
mean getting it. The verdict is in; with zero prospects for a
relationship and a stalled blogging career, Emily has every reason to
believe that she’s been living a life too humdrum for her own good.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Making
the change won’t be easy. She’ll have to do whatever it takes; start
dating like a man, become more selective about which RSVP's she accepts,
and work even harder at getting her dream job.The payoff’s huge; a
modern twist on a storybook ending, but gains don’t often come without
risks. In the here and now Emily just may be forced to choose...It’s got
to be one or the other----the profession that she’s always wanted, or
the love that she’s never had.</span></span><br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">˃˃˃ Praise for Madi Brown & her debut novel, The Truth About Emily</span></h3>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"The
added depth of character promises complexity but wraps everything in
the saucy cloak of Emily's evolving personality and newfound beliefs
about life, love, and the real nature of happiness. And this is where
The Truth About Emily outshines many competitors, making it a
recommended read for those seeking more than a standard romance novel." <i>- D. Donovan, eBook Reviewer, Midwest Book Reviews</i></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"This
book has just about anything a girl would love to read about. If
there's anything Emily Greene has is ISH and lots of it, oh the
ending... This book is a total keeper, just anything about fashion to
relationships to friends and family." <i>- Y. Sanchez, Goodreads</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Truth-About-Emily-Madi-Brown-ebook/dp/B00MNIL5TW" href="http://www.amazon.com/Truth-About-Emily-Madi-Brown-ebook/dp/B00MNIL5TW" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Contemporary Women's Fiction</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG18</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Madi-Brown/e/B00MNMD2ZS/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" href="http://www.amazon.com/Madi-Brown/e/B00MNMD2ZS/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Connect</b> with Madi Brown on <a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/Madibrown.combooksandblog" href="https://www.facebook.com/Madibrown.combooksandblog" target="_blank">Facebook</a> & <a data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/Madithe1brown" href="https://twitter.com/Madithe1brown" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
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<br />Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406398070901853053.post-70140079670791257102014-10-03T08:30:00.000-04:002014-10-13T12:33:01.827-04:00WHAT FREEDOM SMELLS LIKE: A #Memoir by Amy Lewis @AmyLewisAuthor #AmReading #Women <div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b></b>Every
single item that you buy in life, that outlives you, someone, some
person, has to deal with. Has to pack, has to decide what to do with: to
sell, to donate, to throw away? If you sell it you have to decide how
much to sell it for, maybe even research what similar items go for; you
have to advertise, you have to exchange money, maybe even make change.
If you donate you have to pack up, decide what charity or friend to give
it to, usually you have to bring it to them or arrange to be home when
they come by. You have to make sure it works because you don’t want to
donate something that is broken. If you throw it away you have to lug
it, schlep it to a waste bin and if it’s a lot of things to a dumpsite.
You don’t think about this when you have money in your pocket and want
things.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
Every item in our Vegas house had a memory
connected to it. Now I had to decide what to do with them all. I rented a
huge storage space close to my parent’s house. It was almost as big as
our first tiny slum apartment. All of our stuff had been deposited
there.<br />
<br />
The week after he died, I had gone into our
walk-in closet in Vegas and sniffed every item of his clothing, removing
those pieces that still had his scent and packaging them into gallon
size vacuum packed Ziploc bags. I imagined this was a new use for Ziploc
bags they probably never advertised: preserving the scent of the dead. I
would have taken his clothes in the dirty laundry basket, but my father
had washed them. I cried when I found him in the laundry room trying to
be helpful. I put the zip locked bags of clothes under my bed in my
parent’s guest bedroom.</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/whatFreedomSmellsLike.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/whatFreedomSmellsLike.jpg"><img alt="whatFreedomSmellsLike" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-41176" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/whatFreedomSmellsLike.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/whatFreedomSmellsLike.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Diagnosed
with Borderline Personality disorder, Amy struggled with depression and
an addiction to sharp objects. Even hospitalization didn't help to heal
her destructive tendencies. It took a tumultuous relationship with a
man named Truth to bring her back from the depths of her own self-made
hell.Amy's marriage to dark, intriguing Truth was both passionate and
stormy. She was a fair-skinned southern girl from New Orleans. He was a
charming black man with tribal tattoos, piercings, and a mysterious
past. They made an unlikely pair, but something clicked. During their
early marriage, they pulled themselves out of abject poverty into wealth
and financial security practically overnight. Then things began to fall
a</span></span>part.<br />
<br />
Passionate and protective, Truth also proved violent and abu<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">sive.
Amy’s own self-destructive tendencies created a powerful symmetry. His
sudden death left Amy with an intense and warring set of emotions: grief
for the loss of the man she loved, relief she was no longer a target
for his aggression.</span></span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Conflicted
and grieving, Amy found herself at a spiritual and emotional
crossroads, only to receive help from an unlikely source: Truth himself.
Feeling his otherworldly presence in her dreams, Amy seeks help from a
famous medium.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Her
spiritual encounters change Amy forever. Through Truth, she learns her
soul is eternal and indestructible, a knowledge that gives Amy the
courage to pursue her own dreams and transform herself both physically
and emotionally. Her supernatural encounters help Amy resolve the
internal anger and self-destructive tendencies standing between her and
happiness, culminating in a sense of spiritual fulfillment she never
dreamed possible.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">An amazing true story, What Freedom Smells Like is told with courage, honesty, and a devilishly dark sense of hu</span></span>mor.<br />
<br />
Bu<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">y Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/What-Freedom-Smells-Like-Memoir-ebook/dp/B00JTHDCSC/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=" href="http://www.amazon.com/What-Freedom-Smells-Like-Memoir-ebook/dp/B00JTHDCSC/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Memoir</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG-13</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Amy-Lewis/e/B00KERPYYQ/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" href="http://www.amazon.com/Amy-Lewis/e/B00KERPYYQ/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Connect</b> with Amy Lewis through <a data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/AmyLewisAuthor" href="https://twitter.com/AmyLewisAuthor" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Website <a class="in-cell-link" data-mce-href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.WhatFreedomSmellsLike.com&usd=2&usg=ALhdy2-u-DEq6B2o3ZSLOwj9JWZOYB9gHA" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.WhatFreedomSmellsLike.com&usd=2&usg=ALhdy2-u-DEq6B2o3ZSLOwj9JWZOYB9gHA" target="_blank">www.WhatFreedomSmellsLike.com</a></b></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406398070901853053.post-5977467533836640322014-10-02T07:00:00.000-04:002014-10-22T08:38:21.182-04:00Kimberly Shursen Shares an #Excerpt from HUSH by @KimberlyShursen #AmReading #Thriller<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><b>Minneapolis Court House</b></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><b>September 3, 9:00 a.m.</b></span></i></div>
<br />
Ben ran a hand down the lapel of his suit jacket. “I call Paige Werner to the stand.”<br />
<br />
Putting
a child on the witness stand to testify was the worst part of Ben’s
job. But if a child was over the age of ten, and sometimes even younger,
they were usually called to the stand. For many of these children their
lives would always be a living hell. They would go from foster home to
foster home until they were eighteen.<br />
<br />
Today, Ben was
representing twenty-nine-year-old Jeremy Werner. The Werner’s oldest
daughter Paige had just turned ten and the oldest of three siblings.
Recently divorced, both Rachel and Jeremy Werner wanted sole custody.<br />
<br />
When
Ben had deposed Rachel Werner, he’d seen through her. She wanted child
support—not her children. Oh, she’d put on the drama-queen act and cried
like a baby when Ben asked her questions. She’d ranted and raved
hysterically about how Jeremy Werner had never been there for her or his
children. But Ben had done his homework and found it had been Jeremy
who’d attended his children’s school conferences, had signed Paige up
for a dance classes, and enrolled his two younger boys in T-ball. It was
also Jeremy who’d attended dance recitals and baseball practices.
Rachel Werner had not only been a silent partner in this marriage, but
as a mother.<br />
<br />
Dressed in gray sweat pants, her ample
breasts bulged inside the blue-and-white striped tank top, Rachel sat at
the defense table, her right leg bouncing up and down rapidly. The
stringy, unkempt hair, the sallow complexion, Ben was well aware of the
signs of withdrawal. Most junkies tried to stay off dope long enough to
win a custody case, and then they’d be right back at it.<br />
<br />
The
door of the courtroom opened, and a diminutive Paige Werner appeared.
Wearing a navy cardigan, sundress, and sandals, she was small for her
age. Staring at her fingers weaving in and out of each other, her light
brown ponytail was tied with a white ribbon. Ben recognized the DHS
worker who walked beside her.<br />
<br />
“It’s okay, Paige,” Ben
soothed and opened the gate. A courtroom was overwhelming for an adult,
let alone a child; the judge donned in a black robe perching God-like on
the bench, the twelve empty jury seats and parents sitting at opposing
tables.<br />
<br />
Paige slowly walked to the witness stand,
picking up each foot as if it was too heavy to lift. Robot-like she
stopped when she reached the three steps that led up to the witness
stand, turned around, and faced the bailiff.<br />
<br />
“Please raise your right hand, miss,” the sober-faced bailiff said.<br />
<br />
Paige’s
dark, doe-like eyes looked so full of pain Ben didn’t know how much
more of this she could take. She raised her hand, her petite fingers
curled over slightly.<br />
<br />
“Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?” he asked the sad-looking child.<br />
<br />
Her blank gaze went to Ben, and he nodded.<br />
<br />
“Yes,” she said faintly.<br />
<br />
“Witness may take the stand.”<br />
<br />
Ben unbuttoned the middle button of his jacket. “Paige,” he said and took a few steps toward her, “do you know who I am?”<br />
<br />
“My daddy’s lawyer,” she said shyly.<br />
<br />
“That’s
right,” Ben said evenly. “And do you remember what I told you?” He
turned his head and briefly glanced at the defense table. “That your
mommy’s lawyer and I would be asking you some questions today?”<br />
<br />
“Uh huh.”<br />
<br />
“Please answer with a yes or a no,” a voice boomed.<br />
<br />
Paige jerked her head toward the judge, her eyes like saucers.<br />
<br />
“It’s
okay, Paige, you didn’t do anything wrong.” The judge nodded at the
court reporter. “We just have to have a yes or no, so we can write it
down.”<br />
<br />
“Okay,” the child said, barely audible.<br />
<br />
“Let
me ask this again.” Ben smiled warmly. “Do you remember I told you that
both Mr. Lansky and I would be asking you some questions today?”<br />
<br />
“Yes,” she said and looked down.<br />
<br />
“Do you know why you’re here today?” Ben took a couple of steps to his right, blocking Paige’s view of her mother.<br />
<br />
“Uh huh.” A panicked expression quickly came across her face. “I mean yes.”<br />
<br />
Ben
wanted to walk up the steps, wrap his arms around her, and tell her
everything would be alright. But everything wasn’t going to be alright
and hadn’t been since the day Paige was born.<br />
<br />
“And as you know, Paige, we’re here today to ask which parent you feel you would like to live with.”<br />
<br />
She wiggled anxiously in her seat. “I know.”<br />
<br />
“Do you remember I told you that we’d be asking you one very important question?”<br />
<br />
“’Bout whether I want to live with my mommy or daddy?” Her tone pleaded with Ben to say no.<br />
<br />
Ben nodded. “That’s right.”<br />
<br />
Her chin started to quiver. “But I don’t want anyone to get mad.” A crocodile tear rolled down a freckled cheek.<br />
<br />
“I
know.” Ben walked back to his table and picked up a carton of Kleenex.
“This is tough, but it’s important everyone knows how you feel.” He put
the box down on the ledge in front of her.<br />
<br />
Paige pulled out a tissue and wiped her cheek. She sat up straight, her eyes focused and clear. “I want to live with my daddy.”<br />
<br />
A high-pitched shriek of resounded through the courtroom.<br />
<br />
Ben
shot his head toward Rachel Werner, giving her an arresting look. He
turned quickly back around and faced the child. “I want you to pretend
it’s just you and me talking, okay?”<br />
<br />
“I’ll try.” She gnawed on her lower lip.<br />
<br />
“That’s
good enough for me.” Ben took a few steps to the side, blocking Paige’s
vision of her mother again. “Can you tell us why you would like to live
with your daddy?”<br />
<br />
“My mommy’s…” Paige paused. “She’s too tired.”<br />
<br />
“Can you tell us why you think your mommy’s tired?”<br />
<br />
“She…she…” Paige covered her face with her hands and shook her head.<br />
<br />
Rachel
Werner stood up so fast, her chair toppled backwards. “You’re a liar!”
She pointed a shaky finger at her daughter, her face balled in anger.<br />
<br />
Paige
cowered in her seat as Rachel Werner’s state appointed attorney stood
and put a hand on his client’s shoulder, but Rachel Werner shirked it
off. “Leave me the hell alone, asshole.” Angry spittle sprayed out her
mouth.<br />
<br />
“Mrs. Werner.” The sound of the gavel came down hard on the bench, and the judge’s face turned an angry crimson. “Sit down.”<br />
<br />
“Everyone
knows children should be with their mother,” Rachel Werner said
hysterically. “She’s a little liar and everybody,” she screamed and bent
over from the waist, “everybody knows it.” Her eyes glared fiercely at
Paige. “You hear me, you little liar!”<br />
<br />
“Counselor.” The judge shook his meaty jowls angrily. “Get your client under control, or I’ll throw her in jail for contempt.”<br />
<br />
The
fresh-faced attorney leaned over and whispered something into his
client’s ear. Reluctantly, the mother sat back down, her hands and legs
trembling in sync.<br />
<br />
“Mrs. Werner.” The judge looked over
the top of his glasses at her. “In this day and age, the parent who
will be awarded custody will be because of the best interest for the
child. The rights of both parents are equal. A mother has no more rights
than a father.”<br />
<br />
Rachel Werner bowed her head, her shoulders flinching with each muffled sob.<br />
<br />
Ben leaned over the witness stand and patted Paige’s hand. “It’s okay, honey. We’ll stop if you want.”<br />
<br />
“I knew she was gonna get mad,” Paige sniveled. “My brothers and I want to live with my daddy.”<br />
<br />
“And why is that?” Ben asked.<br />
<br />
“He makes us bunny pancakes and stuff.” Paige managed a slight grin.<br />
<br />
“So, you have breakfast before school when you stay with your daddy?”<br />
<br />
“Weekends
we get to choose what we want.” Paige changed positions and smiled at
her father. “Like eggs or pancakes and I get to help.”<br />
<br />
“And
what about dinner when you’re staying with your dad?” Ben locked his
hands behind his back. “What kinds of things do you eat?”<br />
<br />
“Daddy says we need to eat good stuff.” She wrinkled up her nose. “Like broccoli and carrots.”<br />
<br />
Ben smiled. “And when you’re with your mom what kinds of things do you have for dinner?”<br />
<br />
“Well.” Paige looked up pensively. “Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.” Her eyes lit up. “Sometimes pizza”<br />
<br />
“And your mom makes the pizza?” Ben probed.<br />
<br />
Paige slapped a hand over her chest. “I’m big enough to make pizza.”<br />
<br />
Ben swallowed a chuckle. “So, if there is one big reason why you would like to live with your daddy, what would it be?”<br />
<br />
“He
plays with us.” Paige put her hands out to the side. “Like we do dog
piles and all jump on top of him. And…hide-‘n-seek.” She shrugged her
shoulders. “Lots of stuff.”<br />
<br />
Ben raised an eyebrow. “So, he plays with you?”<br />
<br />
“Uh huh.” She stiffened. “I mean yes.”<br />
<br />
Even
though Ben wanted to ask her more questions, he knew when to stop.
Attention spans were short, and sometimes children became confused and
would answer the same question differently.<br />
<br />
“No further
questions.” Ben winked at Paige, walked back to his table, and sat
down. He put his hand over the French knot in his tie and moved it back
and forth a few times. Hopefully Paige would remember to focus on Ben
and not Rachel Werner when she was being questioned by her mother’s
attorney.<br />
<br />
The judge nodded at Rachel Werner’s attorney. “Counselor?”<br />
<br />
“Thank
you, Your Honor.” The slightly built attorney with black-rimmed glasses
perched on a pug nose stood and approached the witness stand.<br />
<br />
This
case was over. The lawyer would hound Paige until she cried, the judge
would recess, and by the end of next week, the father would have sole
custody. A mother who was a practicing addict as opposed to a father who
was clean and sober with a job that would support his children was a
no-brainer.<br />
<br />
Nothing enraged Ben more than children
being placed with a parent who hadn’t earned their title. Men’s rights
had come a long way. Two decades ago children were almost always awarded
to their mothers, no matter how bad of a parent they were.<br />
<br />
After the judge announced he would render his decision by the end of next week, the courtroom was adjourned.<br />
<br />
“Thanks.” Jeremy Werner’s face beamed as he shook Ben’s hand.<br />
<br />
“Just
take care of Paige.” Ben stared into the father’s tired, young eyes.
“Or I will guarantee you I’ll see you on the otherside of the
courtroom.”<br />
<br />
“I will, Mr. Grable.” Jeremy grinned. “I promise.”<br />
<br />
Ben
picked up his briefcase and took a fleeting glance at Mrs. Werner. Head
on the table sobbing, her right leg moving up and down rapidly, she was
a mess.<br />
<br />
He marched down the aisle and pushed the door
open at the back of the courtroom. As usual, the hallways were jammed.
Women in faded jeans and somber frowns sat on benches in hopes a judge
would issue a restraining order against an abusive husband; young women
held crying toddlers, trusting an absent father would be jailed for lack
of child support; and anxious, supportive fathers sat beside teenage
sons about to face their first DWI charge.<br />
<br />
He rode the
elevator to the skywalk level as it only took minutes for Ben to walk
from one building to the next. From eight until four, the above ground,
indoor walkways were always crowded with professionals carrying attaché
cases, as well as the homeless who wandered aimlessly through the maze
of heated, indoor paths. Meshed inside a faceless crowd seemed to calm
Ben down, especially after an intense courtroom session. He caught the
musky scent of leather when he passed Wilson’s, and next to it, the
sweet, succulent aroma of Godiva chocolate. With all the boutiques along
with a sundry of restaurants, the skyway was a city in itself.<br />
<br />
Ben
took an escalator up to the top floor. It was a little after eleven,
but people had already started to filter into the food court. His
stomach did a flip-flop when he spotted Ann at a table as she’d told him
she’d try to get away and meet him for lunch. Ben was already crazy
about her. It felt like they’d known each other a lot longer than two
weeks.<br />
<br />
“You made it.” He leaned over the table and gave Ann a quick hug. “You like Chinese?”<br />
<br />
“Love it.”<br />
<br />
“You sure? Because there’s everything from pizza to—”<br />
<br />
“I really, really, really want Chinese.” She flashed Ben a dimpled smile.<br />
<br />
He
snatched the Star and Tribune off another table and handed it to Ann.
“Hey, do me a favor and find the New York Stock Exchange. Search for the
cymbal DBS and let me know what it’s at.”<br />
<br />
“It’s at
thirty-five,” Ann informed Ben when he set a tray on the table. She
folded the paper and pushed it aside. “That smells wonderful.”<br />
<br />
“Great. Up a point.” He took the cartons off the tray and set a paper plate and plastic silverware in front of Ann.<br />
<br />
Ann opened one of the red-and-white checked boxes and leaned over the steaming carton. “Ginger chicken?”<br />
<br />
Ben grinned. “Ginger chicken.”<br />
<br />
“Iced
tea, too? Can you read my mind or what?” She scooped out a portion of
the chicken onto her paper plate and then served Ben an ample portion.
“What’s DBS?”<br />
<br />
“A research company I invested in a
couple of years ago.” Ben pulled out a chair across from her and sat
down. “The research center is trying to find a cure, or at least
diminish some of the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.”<br />
<br />
Ann took a sip of her drink. “Do you know someone with Parkinson’s?”<br />
<br />
Ben’s
expression turned somber. “My grandmother. Watched her suffer for years
before she passed. People shouldn’t have to live like that.”<br />
<br />
“Oh, Ben,” she said sympathetically, “I’m sorry.”<br />
<br />
They
chit-chatted about their morning as they ate, Ben sharing with Ann that
his heart broke every time a child had to testify in court, and Ann
telling him about the newest arrivals in the nursery.<br />
<br />
“How old are you?” Ann blurted. “Oh, sheesh”—she leaned back in her chair—“that came out of nowhere. Sorry.”<br />
<br />
Although
she had that wholesome girl-next-door look, she was beautiful, and Ben
caught himself staring at her. “Older than you. I know that.” Ben
scooped up the last of the chicken on his plate. “Twenty-eight.”<br />
<br />
“When’s you’re birthday?”<br />
<br />
Ben swiped over his mouth with a paper napkin. “Why? Wanna know what I want?”<br />
<br />
“Maybe,” she said flirtatiously.<br />
<br />
“You into signs and all that?”<br />
<br />
Ann rolled her eyes. “Not at all. My father would not be proud if I were.”<br />
<br />
“December twentieth,” Ben said. “Almost a Christmas baby. When’s yours?”<br />
<br />
Ann’s mouth dropped open. “You’re kidding, right?”<br />
<br />
“Why would someone lie about their birthday?” Ben closed the empty carton and put it back on the tray.<br />
<br />
She slapped a hand over her chest. “Mine’s December twenty-first.”<br />
<br />
“Okay, sock it to me. What year?” Ben eyed her. “Please don’t tell me I’m a cradle robber.”<br />
<br />
She cocked her head to the side. “Same year as yours, Mister.”<br />
<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/hush.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/hush.jpg"><img alt="hush" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-41080" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/hush.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/hush.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
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<div id="postBodyPS">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Soon
after Ann Ferguson and Ben Grable marry, and Ben unseals his adoption
papers, their perfect life together is torn apart, sending the couple to
opposite sides of the courtroom.</span></span></div>
<div id="postBodyPS">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />Representing
Ann, lawyer Michael J. McConaughey (Mac) feels this is the case that
could have far-reaching, judicial effects -- the one he's been waiting
for.</span></span></div>
<div id="postBodyPS">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />Opposing counsel knows this high profile case happens just once in a lifetime.</span></span></div>
<div id="postBodyPS">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />And
when the silent protest known as HUSH sweeps the nation, making
international news, the CEO of one of the top ten pharmaceutical
companies in the world plots to derail the trial that could cost his
company billions.</span></span></div>
<div id="postBodyPS">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />Critically
acclaimed literary thriller HUSH not only questions one of the most
controversial laws that has divided the nation for over four decades,
but captures a story of the far-reaching ties of family that surpasses
time and distance.</span></span></div>
<div id="postBodyPS">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>***
Hush does not have political or religious content. The story is built
around the emotions and thoughts of two people who differ in their
beliefs.</b></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
<b> </b>EDITORIAL
REVIEW: "Suspenseful and well-researched, this action-packed legal
thriller will take readers on a journey through the trials and
tribulations of one of the most controversial subjects in society
today." - Katie French author of "The Breeders," "The Believer's," and "Eyes Ever To The Sky."</span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Hush-Kimberly-Shursen-ebook/dp/B00HZKBGW4/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1404820465&sr=1-1&keywords=hush+and+kimberly+shursen" href="http://www.amazon.com/Hush-Kimberly-Shursen-ebook/dp/B00HZKBGW4/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1404820465&sr=1-1&keywords=hush+and+kimberly+shursen" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Thriller</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG-13</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Kimberly-Shursen/e/B00C7ZBTIS/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" href="http://www.amazon.com/Kimberly-Shursen/e/B00C7ZBTIS/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Connect</b> with Kimberly Shursen through <a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kimberly-Shursen-Author/286879094678995" href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kimberly-Shursen-Author/286879094678995" target="_blank">Facebook</a> and <a data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/kimberlyShursen" href="https://twitter.com/kimberlyShursen" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Website <a class="in-cell-link" data-mce-href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.kimberlyshursen.com/&usd=2&usg=ALhdy2-uex70LjIEkr9CbwWbuB4zDHIOKw" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.kimberlyshursen.com/&usd=2&usg=ALhdy2-uex70LjIEkr9CbwWbuB4zDHIOKw" target="_blank">http://www.kimberlyshursen.com/</a></b></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406398070901853053.post-55829333049716110072014-09-20T08:30:00.000-04:002014-09-20T08:30:00.047-04:00#Excerpt from Shadow Journey : A Mrs. Blackstone Story by S.D. O'Donnell @sdodonnell #GoodReads<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="color: #333333; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
The afternoon my husband, Ted, got the bad news, I asked our daughter to come over for dinner. Alice was 25, a single professional trying to make a name in the world of high finance. Whatever that meant. I taught botany at the local community college and Ted taught high school math, but according to her, we weren’t capable of grasping the ins and outs of investing money.<br /><br />I’d long ago stopped trying to understand the child I brought into this world.<br /><br />She usually demanded two weeks’ notice to schedule any kind of event, including dinner. I begged her to find time that night, and she finally agreed to stop by on her way home from a business engagement. She wouldn't guarantee a time.<br /><br />Ted paced the house all night, wanting the telling over with. Alice and I had never grown out of the daughter-versus-mother conflict usually restricted to a child’s teenage years. Ted, though, always doted on her.<br /><br />Eleven o'clock rolled around, and he was too exhausted to stay up. I eventually fell asleep on the couch, still waiting.<br /><br />A loud knocking startled me from a dreamless, uneasy stupor. I was grateful to wake up because I thought the dark feelings would fade. Instead, a knot twisted in my stomach.<br /><br />I caught a hint of dawn through the curtains. The clock showed 5:30 a.m. This was Alice on her way to work.<br /><br />When I opened the door, she pushed through. "Where's Dad?"<br /><br />"Still asleep. It's a bit early, don't you think?"<br /><br />She shrugged, pushed her jacket sleeve up to look at her watch. "You insisted on seeing me."<br /><br />“Would you like some tea? I've created a new mint blend with a hint of ginger that's guaranteed to perk you up."<br /><br />“You know how I feel about your teas.”<br /><br />"Coffee?”<br /><br />“Mom, please. I have about five minutes to spare. Could you just spit it out?”<br /><br />"Spit it out," I repeated slowly, then glanced at the closed door to our bedroom. Maybe it was best if Ted didn't have to deal with her initial reaction.<br /><br />"At least sit down." I gestured at the sofa.<br /><br />She sat and rested her hands on her lap, fingers interlocked as the thumbs danced a constant twirl around each other.<br /><br />I settled across from her, working hard not to grind my teeth. "You got my message about taking your dad to the ER?"<br /><br />"He was feeling faint or something, right?” she said, turning her head toward the digital clock sitting on the bookshelf across the room.<br /><br />I waited until she took the trouble to look my way. "We got some news about why. They said ...”<br /><br />I stumbled, unable to actually say the words out loud.<br /><br />Alice's thumbs stopped mid-circle. She put her palms against the cushion and perched forward on her seat. "What? What is it?"<br /><br />She looked like the little girl who fell asleep cuddled up with me at night on the sofa, afraid to go bed because she thought we’d disappear while she slept. I sat next to her, took her hand.<br /><br />"It's a brain tumor, honey."<br /><br />She knocked my hand away and jumped up, face pale.<br /><br />"Are you sure?"<br /><br />I nodded and stood, reached out, thinking I might hug her, but she was already running down the hall. She blasted the bedroom door open. I continued standing, waiting for her and Ted to come join me.<br /><br />A minute later, someone closed the bedroom door. I could hear Ted's hushed tone, full of reassurances.</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Shadow-Journey.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Shadow-Journey.jpg"><img alt="Shadow Journey" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-41874" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Shadow-Journey.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Shadow-Journey.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Love ... Loss ... Secrets</span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>A Haunting Psychological Read</i></span></span></h3>
<div style="text-align: center;">
She starts alone.<br />
<br />
"I
SIT IN THE GAZEBO, alone. No cup of tea. No neighborly conversation to
help fill the silence. Haunted by 85 years worth of musings, I watch the
sun set and feel my age."<br />
<br />
She ends alone.<br />
<br />
And exposes a closely-guarded secret of 35 years in between.</div>
<h3 data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="color: #333333; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">˃˃˃ Meet Mrs. Vera Blackstone</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">First
introduced in the thriller Deadly Memories, she quickly became a
well-loved character -- even though she isn't the main one. But you
don't have to read Deadly Memories before you enjoy this novella.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">˃˃˃ Warning</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This story will make you think a</span></span>nd stays with you long after the last word is read.<br />
<br />
Bu<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">y Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Journey-Mrs-Blackstone-Story-ebook/dp/B00M4MKAES" href="http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Journey-Mrs-Blackstone-Story-ebook/dp/B00M4MKAES">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Short Fiction</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG-13</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: bold ! important;">Connect</b> with S.D. O'Donnell on <a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/SD-ODonnell/251731921625102" href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/SD-ODonnell/251731921625102">Facebook</a> & <a data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/sdodonnell" href="https://twitter.com/sdodonnell" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: bold ! important;">Website <a class="in-cell-link" data-mce-href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.sdodonnell.com&usd=2&usg=ALhdy2942ymD6BzbR9nFaBC3N-JKFptdpg" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.sdodonnell.com&usd=2&usg=ALhdy2942ymD6BzbR9nFaBC3N-JKFptdpg" target="_blank">www.sdodonnell.com</a></b></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406398070901853053.post-16195566030780580652014-09-18T10:30:00.000-04:002014-10-15T09:59:21.784-04:00Craig Staufenberg on Not Setting Deadlines @YouMakeArtDumb #SelfPub #IndieAuthors #WriteTip<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>How to Meet Deadlines and Remain Sane</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
simplest strategy is to not set deadlines. This is very easy when
you’re writing the book for yourself and plan on self-publishing. It’s
hard to let a deadline drive you crazy when it’s not there in the first
place. Though then you may run into the creeping dread and anxiety that
comes from not having a clear idea of when the project will be done. Or
even if the project will be done. It’s easiest to not set deadlines when
you’re sure that you’re going to finish the thing—which you can only be
sure about if you have experience finishing projects in the past.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A
better model— you can set a longer hard-limit deadline for the end of
the project, and then avoid creating any little ones. For example, you
can say you want to have your book done in a year. When one year passes
after starting the project, you’re done, and you release the best
version of what you have. Then you just let the year proceed without a
lot of micromanaging of your schedule, or draft completion, or any other
smaller deadlines and milestones. Once again, this relies on some
understanding that you’re actually going to be able to finish the
project, and that you’ll work on it throughout that year. Not a huge
problem when you really love the project, the characters, the story, and
you feel compelled to make the thing. And then, as long as you have a
hard end to the project, you can float around inside that time and feel
certain it’ll get done.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This
is my preferred method. I don’t like rigid structures and tight
deadlines. Other people do. Other people perform great by managing
everything down to the week or day or hour. For me, over-managing the
creative process and setting too many deadlines for myself makes me tone
deaf to my natural working rhythms. I will trick myself with my set
schedule, and I will complete every deadline the night before it’s due.
Maybe if I didn’t have that schedule in place I would have completed
that phase of the project three days earlier. But that deadline sticks
in my head, so instead of following my drive to work on that phase
before it’s due, I tell myself “I have until Sunday” and then I swallow
my interest in working on the project then and there, and end up putting
it off till right before midnight on Sunday.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">All
of this is a fancy way of saying I like to work on my projects when it
feels right to work on them. As long as I keep the project top-of-mind
and continue to daydream about it—and journal a little bit on it
daily—then I’ll have an accurate feel when I’m ready to make a push and
when I’m not. But if I set a firm schedule, I end up working when the
schedule wants me to and not when I, and the project itself, want to put
in a few hours.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This
is a personal thing. A personality thing. If it sounds like mayhem to
you, then you should have a more ordered way of producing your work. And
if you’ve never finished a project before, then the external stressors
of timelines and deadlines and milestones could be very useful for you.
But if you, like me, don’t fit into that style of working, then know
this—it isn’t necessary. It’s a shame that most people who write books
and articles about how to “get things done” tend to be very organized,
disciplined, hardline, schedule-the-process-to-the-minute sort of
people. Not because they’re necessarily better at getting things done,
but because they’re much more likely to write a book on the subject.
This creates a bias where we think these people have all the answers for
everyone.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">They
don’t. Plenty of people get lots of things done while putting only the
lightest reins on themselves. And lots of us both prefer how that
freedom feels,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></i>work
much better without external or internally imposed restraint. By
accepting that about ourselves, we finish more projects, we produce
better work, and we enjoy our lives more, than we would if we tried to
fit a strict system. So I suppose the secret to not losing your mind
over all these deadlines is simple—know yourself, know how you get
things done, and honor that. More often than not that means being easier
on yourself, rather than forcing yourself into a tighter cage.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And
as a passing note—if you’re worried that you won’t finish your project
if you don’t have a jailer on your back, then I’d suggest you might not
like this project (or writing in general) as much as you think you do.
The easiest way to stay sane while completing a project in a reasonable
amount of time is only working on projects that you love, and working on
them doesn’t feel like a burden.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/The-Girl-Who-Came-Back-to-Life.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/The-Girl-Who-Came-Back-to-Life.jpg"><img alt="The Girl Who Came Back to Life" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-40597" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/The-Girl-Who-Came-Back-to-Life.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/The-Girl-Who-Came-Back-to-Life.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When
you die, your spirit wakes in the north, in the City of the Dead.
There, you wander the cold until one of your living loved ones finds
you, says "Goodbye," and Sends you to the next world. <br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" /><br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" />After
her parents die, 12-year-old Sophie refuses to release their spirits.
Instead, she resolves to travel to the City of the Dead to bring her
mother and father’s spirits back home with her. <br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" /><br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" />Taking
the long pilgrimage north with her gruff & distant grandmother—by
train, by foot, by boat; over ruined mountains and plains and
oceans—Sophie struggles to return what death stole from her. Yet the
journey offers her many hard, unexpected lessons—what to hold on to,
when to let go, and who she must truly bring back to life.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Girl-Who-Came-Back-Life-ebook/dp/B00JQRR0JM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1402517344&sr=8-1&keywords=craig+staufenberg" href="http://www.amazon.com/Girl-Who-Came-Back-Life-ebook/dp/B00JQRR0JM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1402517344&sr=8-1&keywords=craig+staufenberg" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Middle Grade</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG-13</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Craig-Staufenberg/e/B00J4CHMX8/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" href="http://www.amazon.com/Craig-Staufenberg/e/B00J4CHMX8/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Connect</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>with Craig Staufenberg through<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/YouMakeArtDumb?ref=hl" href="https://www.facebook.com/YouMakeArtDumb?ref=hl" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/YouMakeArtDumb" href="https://twitter.com/YouMakeArtDumb" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Website <a class="in-cell-link" data-mce-href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://craigstaufenberg.com/&usd=2&usg=ALhdy2-DrQ3iDj9YlxIz66ffrjCdBEDC8Q" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://craigstaufenberg.com/&usd=2&usg=ALhdy2-DrQ3iDj9YlxIz66ffrjCdBEDC8Q" target="_blank">http://craigstaufenberg.com/</a></b></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406398070901853053.post-91739996930805273742014-09-17T11:30:00.000-04:002014-09-19T00:10:48.040-04:00The Three Sisters by Bryan Taylor Share Their Favourite Movies #Humor #Politics #NowWatching<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1.3em; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">To
celebrate the release of the book, The Three Sisters, I asked each of
the three sisters to tell me what were their three favorite movies with
nuns in them were, and then which movie they jointly chose as their
favorite “nun” movie of all time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><b>Regina
Grant:</b></i> Since I like classic Hollywood films, I chose The Singing Nun
(1966), Come to the Stable (1949), and Heaven Knows Mr. Allison (1957).
The Singing Nun is my favorite of the three. It’s lots of fun in a
mindless way, and Debbie Reynolds as engaging as ever. You can’t help
but like the movie, even if it is pure fiction. The nun it was based
upon, Soeur Sourire, committed suicide 20 years after the film was made,
after a life of financial difficulties. Come to the Stable was written
by Clare Booth Luce who also wrote The Women. It’s an engaging film in
which some irreligious people help the sisters build a children’s
hospital showing the spiritual and secular can work together. Heaven
Knows Mr. Allison is set during World War II on an island in the
Pacific, and is about a castaway marine who falls for a stranded nun.
They work together to avoid the Japanese when they arrive on the
island. It is quite an engaging drama.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Theodora
Suora:</i></b> I prefer the more intellectually challenging films, so I chose
Doubt (2008), Black Narcissus (1947) and Dead Man Walking (1995). Doubt
is my favorite of the three. The first time you see it, you are
inclined to view it from Sister Aloysius Beauvier’s point of view, but
if you watch it from Father Brendan Flynn’s point of view, you’ll see
his view makes just as much sense as hers, whence the doubt. Black
Narcissus is about a community of nuns who try to establish a civilized
community in the Himalayas in the former bordello of a Rajah. It is
wonderfully photographed and each of the characters is finely drawn.
Dead Man Walking takes on the difficult subject of the death penalty and
handles it with poignancy. Both Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn give
wonderful performances.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1.3em; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Coito
Gott:</i></b> Since Theodora always tells me what a rebel I am, I didn’t want
to disappoint her, and I chose Viridiana (1961), La Religieuse (1966)
and Lilies of the Field (1963). Viridiana is Bunuel’s take on what
happens when an idealistic nuns meets the real world. With some
interesting twists and turns, she ends up helping the poor in ways she
never would have if she had stayed in the convent. La Religieuse is
based upon Diderot’s novel, perhaps a bit modernized, perhaps a bit
slow, but nicely done. Anna Karina is wonderful as always. Lilies of
the Field is fun as you watch the sisters manipulate Sidney Poitier to
get him to help them build a new chapel. After all, nuns are
irresistible, aren’t they?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And
which movie did we all choose as the best movie about nuns? The
Trouble With Angels, of course. There is a certain charm to this movie
that make it difficult to resist despite its silliness. It’s based upon
the novel, Life with Mother Superior by Jane Trahey, and has enough
rebellion and antics in it to keep you entertained. We’re sure anyone
who went through Catholic School could identify with the two “angels” in
the film. The sequel, Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows is fun, but
doesn’t work as well. You can tell it was more of a creation of
Hollywood to profit from the popularity of the first movie, but it is an
interesting reflection of its time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Of
course, there are many others that didn’t make our list, but deserve an
honorable mention. We decided not to include any nunsploitation films
or movies that are only tangentially related to nuns. The ones that
didn’t quite make our list included Sister Act (more Whoopi Goldberg
than nuns), The Bells of St. Mary’s (too saccharine), The Sound of Music
(more about Nazis than nuns), Change of Habit (Elvis meets Mary Tyler
Moore), The Nun’s Story (Audrey Hepburn is enjoyable, but the movie is
slow), Agnes of God (good cast, too somber), Nasty Habits (Nuns meet
Watergate, but lousy), The White Sister (entertaining but silent), The
Devils (Ken Russell meets nuns), and of course, The Flying Nun TV Show
(not a movie).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
one book which would make a really, really fabulous movie someday would
be The Three Sisters, but if you can’t wait for the movie to come out,
be sure and read the book.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/TheThreeSisters.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/TheThreeSisters.jpg"><img alt="TheThreeSisters" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-29844" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/TheThreeSisters.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/TheThreeSisters.jpg" height="200" style="border: 0px none; cursor: default;" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Nuns
just want to have fun! But when three former Catholic nuns have too
much fun and get in trouble with the law, they become nuns on the run.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Driving
back to Washington D.C. where they work at the Kennedy Center for the
Performing Parts, the three sisters are arrested in Tennessee. After
defeating the local deputy in strip poker, they escape from jail, and
are pursued by the zealous Detective Schmuck Hole, who has personally
offered a $10,000 reward for their capture on The 700 Club. Little do
they know that when the three sisters visit the Washington Monument,
their lives will change forever.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Set
in 1979, The Three Sisters is a sacrilegious satire that skewers not
only organized religion, but the government, the media, intellectuals,
corporate greed and every other part of the establishment. Maybe not the
greatest story ever told, but possibly the funniest.</span></span></div>
<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1.3em; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Three-Sisters-ebook/dp/B00E4Y6F4I/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1374713459&sr=1-1&tag=booaremag-20" href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Three-Sisters-ebook/dp/B00E4Y6F4I/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1374713459&sr=1-1&tag=booaremag-20">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Humor, Satire, Catholicism, Politics</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – R</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Bryan-Taylor/e/B00E65E8C6/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1" href="http://www.amazon.com/Bryan-Taylor/e/B00E65E8C6/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Connect</b> with Bryan Taylor on <a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/BryanTaylorAuthor" href="https://www.facebook.com/BryanTaylorAuthor" target="_blank">Facebook</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Website <a data-mce-href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.threesistersnovel.com&usd=2&usg=ALhdy29_7ty-sYYIf-cMT5co6t8zgz7B7A" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.threesistersnovel.com&usd=2&usg=ALhdy29_7ty-sYYIf-cMT5co6t8zgz7B7A" target="_blank">www.threesistersnovel.com</a></b></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406398070901853053.post-22417365956826722632014-09-17T09:30:00.000-04:002014-09-20T05:25:22.595-04:00@GaryTroia on Writing Quicker Than Your Doubts Can Form #AmWriting #IndieAuthors #SelfPub <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">1,
The first tip is essential and obvious. If you want to be a decent
writer: Read a lot and write a lot. If you want to be an athlete: Eat
well and train hard.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">2, Read excellent writers and classics. See how they go about the craft.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">3, Read poor writers for no other reason than to feel better about yourself.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">4, If you want to excel at anything, discipline is the key. Set achievable goals that can be reached every day.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">5,
There is no such thing as writers’ block. If you think you have it,
write about your day. I have never heard of bricklayer’s block, or
surgeon’s block, or…you get the point, don’t you?</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">6, Don’t force yourself to learn new words, you learn new words naturally by reading.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">7, Don’t try to write like you think a writer should write, just write like only you know how to write.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">8, Write quicker than your doubts can form.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">9, Write a first draft with freedom and without a critical eye. Add a critical eye on all subsequent drafts.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">10, The last tip is as important as the first. If you want to be a decent writer: Read a lot and write a lot.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Gary-Troia.jpg" /></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; text-align: center;">
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<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">For
the first time ever, this collection of short stories by Gary Troia
brings together, in chronological order stories and memoirs from Spanish
Yarns and Beyond, English Yarns and Beyond and A Bricklayer’s Tales
into one complete volume.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>“Excellent!</b> A
collection of short stories about depression, alcoholism and drug use.
Very compelling reading. I read this short story collection all in one
go.” (Maria, Goodreads.)</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>A Bricklayer’s Tales</i> is
the ultimate “I hate this job” story, written as a collection of short
stories and memoirs, each one revealing a snapshot in the life of Ray.
Troia captures the tedium of working in a low paid, menial job and
living hand to mouth. This book of short stories is sad and questions
the reader to ask questions about their own life. This book achieves
clarity without trying.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ray
has three expensive hobbies: drinking, drugs, and running away. Without
the income that Bricklaying provides, he would not be able to maintain
his chosen lifestyle, so he compromises his principles and continues
with his trade.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A collection of short stories and memoirs that include:</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>The Cuckoo’s Egg.</b> Boyhood antics lead to tragedy.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>My Grandfather’s Shed.</b> The making of an English key</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>No Comb on the Cock.</b> Gypsies, champion fighting cocks, and career choices.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What I Did In My Summer Holidays In 1000 Words.</b> Could having an idea ever be considered a criminal act?</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>My Best Mate’s Head.</b> Did a weekend of boozing save Ray from certain death?</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>The Shetland Isles.</b> A trip to sunny Benidorm, a chance meeting with some Glaswegians, and a cold, miserable job in Lerwick.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Pointing a House in Islington.</b> Too much alcohol and cocaine don’t mix well on building sites!</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Angel Dust. T</b>he peculiar story of a man whose new life in America leads to conversations with Ancient Greek philosophers</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Peyote.</b> Hippies, LSD and an idyllic refuge</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Return Ticket.</b> Handcuffed and ready for deportation. A sad departure from the States</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>When I Joined a Cult.</b> Sober dating as Ray discovers religion.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Bilbao</b>. How very, very English!</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Teaching Other People.</b> The grass is always greener-the escape from bricklaying.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>A Week in the Life of Ray Dennis.</b> With the prospect of no money for food or alcohol this Christmas, Ray has to find work quickly.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Catania. </b>A meeting with a Sicilian fox, some Neapolitans, and a man with a camel haired coat.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Advert In The Art Shop Window. </b>Will a new building job in Spain be the start of a new life?</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Gaudi. </b>A flight to Barcelona for a kebab, and a look at the <i>Sagrada Familia.</i></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>The Day My Soul Left Me. </b>“To be or not to be? That is the question”</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>How Not to Travel to The Alhambra<i>. </i></b>Hung-over, the wrong fuel, the car breaks down. Will they ever make it to Granada?</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>The Road To Ronda. </b>A terrifying drive to Ronda, was it worth it?</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Poking A Carob Tree</b>. A new home and new neighbours, just in time for Christmas.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Spain Reborn</b>.No more commuting to London. Lets celebrate!</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Home From Home</b><i>. </i>A parallel world where the Spanish have taken over Weymouth.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Three Common Carp</b>.An epic battle with a whale and marlin it is not.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Mrs. McClintock.</b> An absurd farce in which a Glaswegian couple retire to Spain</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Steak, Egg and Intensive Care. </b>A harmless dinner leads to hospitalisation.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>The Unchangeable Chameleon. </b>Can a leopard change it’s spots?</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>A Bricklayer’s Tale. </b>The story of a disillusioned, alcoholic bricklayer</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A collection short stories and memoirs of British dark humour.</span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="psGradient">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Buy Now @ </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Short-Stories-Gary-Troia-ebook/dp/B00IR1F9MI/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1397639934&sr=1-1&keywords=short+stories%2CB00IR1F9MI" style="line-height: 1.5em; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
</div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre - Fiction, Short Stories</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating - PG-16</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Gary-Troia/e/B00DXJC2OW/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Connect</b> with Gary Troia on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/garytroia1" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Facebook</a> & <a href="https://twitter.com/GaryTroia" style="text-decoration: none;">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406398070901853053.post-17032125702911702522014-09-16T08:00:00.000-04:002014-12-29T01:57:37.300-05:00SAGA OF THE NINE : Area 38 by Mikey D. B. @mikeydbii #SagaoftheNine #Area38 #Dystopian<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Good morning everybody, I am Professor Lisa Rodgers and this is Governmental Theory 3410.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Have you ever had her before?” Mica quietly asks Marian.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Nope,
but I heard she is really good. She’s not very popular among the
faculty, being more conservative than most. It’s why I signed up for
this class actually. I like having a different perspective on stuff
like this. Plus she’s my aunt.”</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“I’m assuming every one of you in here belong here. If not, please leave quietly.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">No one budges.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Good.
Let’s get started then. Does anyone know when the law stating that a
President of the United States could only serve two terms was
discontinued?” As she expects, nobody raises their hand. “It was in
2020. Okay. Let’s see if you know this piece of historical
information: Who here has heard of the electoral college?”</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Very few know the answer but no one raises their hand.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“That was not a rhetorical question.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Marian shoots her hand into the air.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Yes.” Still no expression, despite Marian’s enthusiasm.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Wasn’t it how we elected the president in the late 20<sup>th</sup><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>century?”</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Yes it was and it even lasted a few years in this century. Do you know how it worked by any chance?”</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Marian, impressed with herself, nudges Mica and nods her head like a boss.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Miss?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Marian.” Mica nudges her back and points to Professor Rodgers.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Sorry,” Marian begins to blush. “Can you repeat the question?”</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Despite the scattered chuckles, Rodgers masks her embarrassment for her niece. “How did the electoral college work?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Stumped, Marian shrugs her shoulders. “I don’t know, Professor.”</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Mica is the only one who reluctantly raises his hand.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“One person. That’s more than I expected. Yes, go ahead Mister…”</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Rouge. Mica Rouge.”</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Go on,” Professor Rodgers says.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Well
it’s kind of complicated,” he begins, “but I guess in a nutshell, every
state had a certain number of votes that went towards electing a
president.”</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“How many votes did each state get?” Professor Rodgers asks.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“It depended.”</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“On what? What determined the number of votes a state got?” She asks again, trying to get to the root of it all.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“The
number of Senators and members of The House of Representatives.” He
really wishes that somebody else knew this stuff. He looks to Marian
for some support but she just shrugs her shoulders again. As soon as
Mica turns back to Professor Rodgers, Marian smiles, charmed by the man
sitting beside her.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“And
how did a presidential nominee win the votes of a state?” Just a few
more questions and the Professor will get her point across.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Mica
picks his brain for this rarely used information. “Wasn’t it by a
popular vote of the people in that state? All the registered voters
voted and whichever candidate got the most votes won all of the state
votes? It was a winner take all system.”<br /> </span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Yes,
that is exactly how it worked. Well kind of. It was a winner take all
system in forty-eight of the fifty states. Maine and Nebraska were the
sole exceptions. Why did we have a system like this and not the system
we currently have?” She asks Mica, but the question is opened to the
class. </span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Doesn’t our system of Congress being the ones who elect a president work better?”</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Mica
doesn’t wait for someone to take the answer; he knows it and he knows
exactly where the professor is going with this. “It’s more efficient
yes, but less democratic.”</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Professor Rodgers is slightly impressed with this young man. Maybe Carter was right about him. </span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“How
so?” she asks. “We elect our Senators and Representatives. The idea
of a Republic is to elect officials who we think will put our ideas
forward and into action.”</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Yes,
but it comes down to checks and balances,” Mica argues, finally getting
to the point Professor Rodgers was aiming for. “If Congress is the one
to elect the president, they can skew the results, creating a lot more
room for corruption in the system. They are held less accountable by
us, the people.” Mumbles and silent gasps fill the room.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“He
has a point.” The Professor patiently waits for the class to calm
down. There are more and finer details to this law, she thinks, but
he’s brought the discussion to where she was directing it. “Senators
are now in office until they die, which wasn’t always the case. The
amendment that changed the way we elect a president also changed the way
we elect Congress. Before we turned to the election system that we
have, there were people trying to create a constitutional amendment
where when we the people voted, the person with the most votes won,
period, in what is called a ‘popular election.’ They wanted the voice
of the people to be heard from the people themselves, not Congress and
not from electoral votes.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“In
1824, 1876, 1888, and 2000 all those who lost the election won the
popular vote and had the most citizens voting for them. Seems pretty
unjust, huh? The Electoral College was like a popular vote mixed with a
congressional vote, but instead of being a democratic process it became
more of a game, some might say, to win the states and not the people.
But that’s politics for you.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Back
to what Mr. Rouge was saying about checks and balances and how a lack
of that can create corruption. There are some that argue that the idea
behind checks and balances is inefficient. It slows down progression.
Too many people’s opinions in the political ring,” Rodgers folds her
hands, “can cause the system to lock up.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“And that’s a problem because?” a student asks.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Because
the government can shutdown like it has, time and time again. So,”
Professor Rodgers continues, “people tried to simplify the election
process in hopes of simplifying the checks and balances, but they went
about it in the opposite way than most were hoping. Instead of having a
popular vote from the people, the voting changed to Congress, giving
more power to the Government and less to the people.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Why?” Marian asks herself.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Exactly.” Professor Rodgers says, overhearing Marian’s whispered question. “So why do I bring this all up?”</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Saga-of-the-Nine.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Saga-of-the-Nine.jpg"><img alt="Saga of the Nine" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-41059" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Saga-of-the-Nine.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Saga-of-the-Nine.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
<div data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" id="outer_postBodyPS" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<div id="postBodyPS">
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Change
affects everyone and it is no different for Jackson. Living in Area 38
for as long as he can remember, he knows of no better way to exist than
under the tyrannical rule of Christopher Stone, son of Stewart Stone
from The Nine of The United Governmental Areas, aka The UGA. This all
takes a dramatic turn when Jackson finds a red, metal box buried in his
yard, filled with illegal artifacts—journals, a Bible, CDs, etc.—that
are from a man of whom he has no recollection of: Mica Rouge.</span></span></div>
<div id="postBodyPS">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> The
year is 2036 and Mica, unlike Jackson, does know of a better way of
life but is torn apart as he sees his country, The United States of
America, crumbling from within by group known as The Political Mafia.
The Mafia has infiltrated levels upon levels of governmental resources
and it is up to Mica and a vigilante group known as The USA Division to
stop them and their dark Utopian vision. To their demise, and at the
country's expense, The Division fails and has no choice but to watch The
Constitution dissolve and transform into The UGA.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In
a final stand, having not given up hope, Mica and what is left of The
Division, give one final fight in Colorado, or better known as Area 38.
However, all is lost as The Division is betrayed by one of their own,
Stewart Stone. Mica is left with no choice but to hide in exile, leaving
what little history he can of himself and the great United States of
America, with his wife, long time friends, and newly born son in hopes
that they will one day finish what he could not.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jackson,
having found this legacy twenty-seven years later, decides to start the
war that will end The Nine, and he with an outcast group known as The
Raiders, begins his fight with Christopher Stone in Area 38. Filled with
betrayal, unity, despair, hope, hate and love Area 38 follows both Mica
and Jackson in their attempts to restore what they believe to be true
freedom, and where one fails, the other rises to the seemingly
impossible challenge.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Saga-Nine-Mikey-D-B-ebook/dp/B00I3I8R9W/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1391036693&sr=1-1&keywords=mikey+d.+b." href="http://www.amazon.com/Saga-Nine-Mikey-D-B-ebook/dp/B00I3I8R9W/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1391036693&sr=1-1&keywords=mikey+d.+b." target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Dystopian Thriller</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG13</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Mikey%20D.%20B.&search-alias=digital-text&sort=relevancerank" href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Mikey%20D.%20B.&search-alias=digital-text&sort=relevancerank" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Connect</b> with Mikey D. B. on <a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mikey-D-B/193122724228568?ref=hl" href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mikey-D-B/193122724228568?ref=hl" target="_blank">Facebook</a> &<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/mikeydbii" href="https://twitter.com/mikeydbii" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Website <a class="in-cell-link" data-mce-href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.mikeydb.com&usd=2&usg=ALhdy29rFXKoKCy5nHRPTeDOI1JD41dROQ" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.mikeydb.com&usd=2&usg=ALhdy29rFXKoKCy5nHRPTeDOI1JD41dROQ" target="_blank">www.mikeydb.com</a></b></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406398070901853053.post-20437093222708165712014-09-13T09:30:00.000-04:002014-09-17T21:06:18.289-04:00Erin Sands on Her Personal Life, Her Favourite Quote & More @TheDunesBook #NonFiction #TBR<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/dunesfinalSB.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/dunesfinalSB.jpg"><img alt="5DmkII_2226" class="aligncenter wp-image-40866" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/5DmkII_2226-198x300.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/5DmkII_2226-198x300.jpg" height="193" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="127" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Born
in Cincinnati, Ohio and raised in the Bay Area of Northern California,
Erin grew up with an innate love for dance, theatre and the written
word. A graduate of Loyola Marymount University, Erin began her career
in the arts as an actress and choreographer. After booking several
notable roles in television and film, Erin began to use her gift of
writing in blogs featuring political and social commentary, as well as
developing content for theatrical use.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Although<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Dunes</i>,
is a divine departure from Erin’s previous writings it is by far her
most cherished work to date. “I wrote The Dunes initially as self
therapy because I needed to release some painful experiences and
disappointments from my past. I had this thirst to walk in the complete
fullness of life with joy as my constant companion. I had no idea what
effect it would have on other people. But when I saw people read it and
be released from fears that had held them back for years…when I saw
people forgive and be able to walk in the freedom forgiveness
brings…when I saw people commit and serve and how those things opened up
new opportunities in their life, I was just humbled. Humbled by the
awesome power of God and humbled that I had been allowed to go along for
the ride”.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When asked<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>why</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>she
writes, Erin pauses and reflects on the truth of her heart. “I write
because although I am only now beginning to truly love the process, I
have always loved the outcome. Like a composer, words become my notes. I
string them together in song eliciting the response of my reader,
grafting a picture of my soul. Where besides the written word can you
effect change so utterly and so succinctly? What besides the written
word can pierce the universal collective mind? Everything begins with a
thought, but it isn’t until that thought is articulated in written word
and those words passed down can life changing movement happen. It must
be written, it must be expressed on tablet, and when it is, we all
become greater, whether the writing be genius or fatuity, it has evoked
thought and debate. Why wouldn’t I want to be apart of that phenomenon?
Why wouldn’t I want to share my story, give my testimony…add my paradigm
to the mix? Whether it is a novel, a poem, an essay or an article, it
is humanity visited. An insight into a new or sometimes shared truth.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b>In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b>And with that I live my life”.</span></span><br />
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>How do you work through self-doubts and fear?</b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It’s
funny but writing a book sharing your experiences and insights about
overcoming self-doubt and fear in no way exempts from moments of
self-doubts and fear in your own. I think it is something that on one
level or another, as long as you are growing and challenging yourself,
you will sometimes encounter. I do think the difference will be how you
deal with it. Hopefully with grace, class and a very introspective
insight into your triggers. Nowadays when those feelings come up for me I
face them head on. I take a minute to truly examine what it is that is
making me feel that way. Is it irrational? Is it motivated by an
experience from my past? Is it blocking me from fully experiencing life?
When I locate the source of my feelings, I pray about it and do it
anyway. I do “it” whatever “it” is in spite of any fear or trepidation.
If I am feeling insecure, I do it anyway. If I am feeling scared about
the outcome, I do it anyway. I determined long ago that although I may
not be able to control my feelings, I do however, have control over my
actions and I do “it” afraid.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="http://bit.ly/U9LRSz" href="http://bit.ly/U9LRSz">http://bit.ly/U9LRSz</a></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What scares you the most?</b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
thing that scares me the most is not doing all that I feel that God has
placed on my heart to do, like travelling and experiencing different
cultures and learning new languages. I have been to 4 different
countries and I am currently learning two different languages (Spanish
and Sign-language) but there is so much more I want to learn and there
is so much more I want to see. Not taking the opportunity in life to do
those things scares me. The idea of reaching the end of my life and to
not have fully explored the profound beauty of this earth would deeply
sadden me.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What motivates you to write?</b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I
am motivated by passion. If there is a topic that I feel passionate
about politically or socially I write about it. If a story pops into my
mind, I turn it into a script, a play or a short story. I am very
motivated by the “moment”. I initially wrote The Dunes because I was
journaling. I was going through a very tough time emotionally and I
decided to turn what I was feeling into an allegory. I had no idea if
what I wrote would resonate with readers or have any affect outside of
my personal life. I did know, however, that I was willing to put it to
the test. I put an ad on Craigslist asking for strangers to read my
book, answer the journal questions and do the challenges while I
chronicled their journey on film. The results amazed me! I witnessed
peoples lives literally transform. I knew that I had something very real
on my hands and I knew that I needed to get it published. That’s the
beauty of writing. To be able to share an experience or make someone
smile or laugh just because they can identify with what you have written
is motivating in and of itself.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="http://bit.ly/U9LRSz" href="http://bit.ly/U9LRSz">http://bit.ly/U9LRSz</a></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What are you most proud of in your personal life?</b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In
my personal life I am most proud of my relationships. I have been
blessed to exist in a community of family and friends that truly cherish
and appreciate each other. We celebrate life, God and each other. This
is by design. You have to seek people out of like mind and like
interests, who enjoy life, value peace and will challenge you to be
better. I have made an active choice to surround myself with those types
of people. My life is low on drama and high on fun, love, laughter and
enlightenment.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?</b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I
am a United States citizen and I reside in Southern California. I love
my country and my state so there is no place else I would rather live.
That said, I also LOVE to travel. I love learning about other cultures
and experiencing different traditions. This year I went to Mexico with
my husband and learned all about the Mayan culture and explored the
Mayan ruins. Those are the things that make life worthwhile to me.
Seeing other parts of the world and learning and experiencing the
history behind different civilizations and cultures.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>If you could study any subject at a university what would you pick?</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The book that I am reading right now is: Guns, Germs and Steel…<i>the fates of human societies</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>by
Jared Diamond. I love history. I love to read about political and the
history behind the cultural development of different people throughout
the world. I have a Bachelors degree in Dance and Theatre but I am
definitely going to pursue getting a second degree in history because I
find cultural archaeology extremely interesting.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What is your favorite quote, by whom, and why?</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As
I embarked on my self-publishing journey I also embarked on a journey
of inspired quotes. Before I published my book, I would literally just
take the time to meditate about life and write down my thoughts in the
form of quotes. I put my quotes on top of a picturesque background and
began posting them on Facebook and Twitter. The response has been out of
this world! So as of today, although I enjoy many quotes by the likes
of Maya Angelou and others, my favorite quotes are my own. One that
really struck a cord with people was:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>What has procrastination ever done for you that makes you remain so loyal to it</i>?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="http://bit.ly/1qWII4t" href="http://bit.ly/1qWII4t">http://bit.ly/1qWII4t</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Who designed the cover?</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Derek
Murphy of CreativIndie designed my book cover. The great thing about
Derek is that he is willing to work with you until you get your cover
design exactly the way you like it. The book cover is one of the most
important aspects of your book. It needs to say everything in a glance.
It gives the reader a glimpse into your story and your vision as well as
what you want to share with them. I am not going to lie; getting your
cover just right can be a challenging journey. Derek and I went through
several revisions before I was satisfied. The process really helps you
to become more acutely aware of what you are trying to deliver to your
reader. It is your first “hello” and it is important. I was very happy
with my cover design in the end. I think it is a perfect articulation of
the journey aspect of The Dunes as well as the beauty and the
transformative nature of that journey.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What was the hardest part about writing this book?</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
two most difficult parts of writing The Dunes were the allegory
sections in the first and second revelations and the Commentary section.
The allegory section of The Dunes tells the story of two characters:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The One</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Other</i>. Although, as the story unfolds the reader quickly learns that<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The One</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Other</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>represent
a man and a woman, I chose not to reveal which was which until the very
end of the second revelation. I did this because I did not want the
reader to identify with the character simply because they shared the
same gender identity. I wanted the reader to identify with the character
in which they shared the same fear paradigm. So for the first two
chapters you do not know which character is the woman and which
character is the man. You just know each of the characters challenges
and fears. Still…it is incredibly hard to write without pronouns. I was
relieved when I got to the third revelation and I could write more
freely. Writing the commentary section of The Dunes was challenging
because I had to be very transparent and share some very personal
experiences from my life. But I knew that there was no way that I could
ask readers to take this very introspective journey if I wasn’t willing
to do the same in return.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="http://bit.ly/1hxaOC1" href="http://bit.ly/1hxaOC1">http://bit.ly/1hxaOC1</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Dune.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Dune.jpg"><img alt="Dune" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-40719" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Dune.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Dune.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If there was a journey that could masterfully change your life in seven revelations...would you take it? <br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" /><br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" />In
life, sometimes the kernels of wisdom and the richness of revelation
can be found in the most innocent of stories; and so it is with The
Dunes. Join one man and one woman in an exquisitely simple yet
remarkably profound journey as you discover with them that the mountain
you must climb in order to live the abundant life of your dreams is
located squarely within your heart. <br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" /><br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" />Illuminated
in seven revelations; The Dunes carries the reader on a journey to not
only examine the obstacles that are holding them back in life but to
conquer and over come them as well. With each revelation The Dunes
intimately calls on the reader as the journey companion to face a
challenge…a dare if you will that requires an uncompromising commitment
to change. In the family of faith-based self help books, The Dunes
stands alone, simultaneously taking the reader from fiction to life and
back again, equipped with a tailor made journal for the readers inner
most secrets and reflections. The Dunes is part allegory, part testimony
and part journal, but the best part is the healing it offers your
heart. When you’re ready to step out of your comfort zone and step into
the miracle of your life…The Dunes awaits. <br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" /><br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" />CAUTION:
Readers of this book are subject to significant changes for the better.
Side effects may include frequent smiling and enjoying life in every
season.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Dunes-Release-Fears-Restore-Renew-ebook/dp/B00KO43L2Q/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-1&qid=1403131233" href="http://www.amazon.com/Dunes-Release-Fears-Restore-Renew-ebook/dp/B00KO43L2Q/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-1&qid=1403131233" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Non-fiction</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – G</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Erin-Sands/e/B00M5ZWIM6/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1" href="http://www.amazon.com/Erin-Sands/e/B00M5ZWIM6/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Connect</b> with Erin Sands on <a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/thedunesbook" href="https://www.facebook.com/thedunesbook" target="_blank">Facebook</a> &<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="http://www.twitter.com/thedunesbook" href="http://www.twitter.com/thedunesbook" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Website <a class="in-cell-link" data-mce-href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.thedunesbook.com&usd=2&usg=ALhdy29-Z7bqviUDISeSGG7sYWToCfcGIg" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.thedunesbook.com&usd=2&usg=ALhdy29-Z7bqviUDISeSGG7sYWToCfcGIg" target="_blank">www.thedunesbook.com</a></b></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406398070901853053.post-27862180933339071112014-09-04T11:00:00.000-04:002014-11-21T11:22:41.308-05:00Marilyn Holdsworth on Inspiration, Her First Book & More @m_holdsworth #WomensFic #HistFic #TBR <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/15/97/44078a95157c0ad8986cb6.L._V393916356_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/15/97/44078a95157c0ad8986cb6.L._V393916356_.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What inspired you to write your first book?</b><br />I
am very interested in saving the American mustangs and preventing
animal abuse especially exploitation of horses. That's why I wrote my
first book, Pegasus.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>How do you come up with titles for your books?</b><br />I
choose titles that will interest my readers and are symbolic to the
story. Making Wishes has several levels of meaning to the book.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Can you tell us about your main character?</b><br />My
main character in Making Wishes is Elloree Randall, a young creative
woman faced with making some life changing choices. She is torn between
her love for her work and her devotion to her sons.</span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Describe what it’s like to be an author in three words.</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Very hard work!</span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Is there a message in your novel you want readers to grasp?</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Yes.
I would say that in Making Wishes my message is: A quest for
self-discovery to find ones true values often comes at a high price.</span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">How much of the book is realistic?</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Although my characters are fictional they are realistic and the story is very believable.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>How important do you think villains are?</b><br />Very. Conflict created by a clash of good and evil keeps a story moving. Readers engaged in the plot want to see justice done.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Can we expect to see any more books from you?</b><br />Yes. I am currently working on my fourth novel.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Have you started another book?</b><br />Yes. I am well into writing my fourth novel, The Portrait of Lady J.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What do you do to unwind and relax?</b><br />I
like to take my dog for walks in the park. I also love to listen to
classical music. And for me walking on the beach at sunrise or sunset is
the ultimate relaxation.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Making-Wishes.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Making-Wishes.jpg"><img alt="Making Wishes" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-23817" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Making-Wishes.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Making-Wishes.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Elloree
Prince is an attractive, creative young woman who marries a wealthy
businessman, Tom Randall. After courting his bride with unrelenting
determination, Tom moves her into old-moneyed Oak View, where
generations of Randalls have lived for years. Outwardly, Elloree appears
to settle into raising their two sons within Oak View's stifling social
structure, but inwardly, she yearns for her artistic work. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">An
unexpected phone call from Mark Williams, her former employer, offers
her the career opportunity of a lifetime, and she must make a choice.
She is torn between her devotion to her sons and her love for her work.
Her decision to return to Wishes, Inc. brings dramatic life changes to
her and the people she loves.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Making-Wishes-Marilyn-Holdsworth/dp/1481707523/ref=sr_1_3_title_2_pap?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369262924&sr=1-3&keywords=Marilyn.+Holdsworth" href="http://www.amazon.com/Making-Wishes-Marilyn-Holdsworth/dp/1481707523/ref=sr_1_3_title_2_pap?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369262924&sr=1-3&keywords=Marilyn.+Holdsworth" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre - Women's fiction</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG-13</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/beautifulAmerican.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/beautifulAmerican.jpg"><img alt="beautifulAmerican" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-40292" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/beautifulAmerican.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/beautifulAmerican.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"Abby
Long is thrilled when she offers the winning bid for an antique desk at
an auction. With its intricately inlaid woods and elegant style, the
desk is perfect for Abby; it is the gift she promised herself to finally
celebrate her thriving antique business. She has no idea that the
antique desk holds a secret that will lead her on a fascinating,
life-changing journey back in time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When
Abby discovers a hidden diary stuffed inside a secret compartment in
the desk, she can hardly wait to read the spidery, faded script. As she
carefully turns the tattered pages, she reads the captivating story of
two remarkable women from opposite backgrounds who somehow manage to
form an unforgettable bond against the backdrop of a fledgling America
struggling to find its place in the world. Elizabeth Kortright Monroe,
the wife of James Monroe, and Jasmine, a young slave girl, develop an
extraordinary relationship as they are united by pivotal historic
events, political intrigues, and personal tragedies.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">From
a bucolic Virginia plantation to the bloodied, starving streets of
post-revolutionary Paris, this powerful tale follows the lives of two
courageous women from the past as they quietly influence—and inspire—a
woman of today’s world."</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Beautiful-American-Marilyn-Holdsworth-ebook/dp/B0080D41BI/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-4&qid=1402430694" href="http://www.amazon.com/Beautiful-American-Marilyn-Holdsworth-ebook/dp/B0080D41BI/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-4&qid=1402430694" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre - Historical fiction</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – G</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/pegasus.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/pegasus.jpg"><img alt="pegasus" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-40293" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/pegasus.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/pegasus.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Widowed
at thirty, Hannah Bradley is a successful journalist focusing on animal
abuse issues. An accidental meeting introduces her to lawyer, Winston
Caughfield III. Drawn to Hannah’s gentle beauty and fierce commitment to
her work, Win joins her in a fight to save wild mustangs from
slaughter. Together they rescue a badly injured horse with a mysterious
background. Hannah’s search to discover the animal’s true identity leads
them into a web of black marketeering and international intrigue. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Action
packed with crisp colorful dialogue the story propels the reader to a
race against time conclusion. Marilyn Holdsworth delivers a gripping
tale of mystery, adventure and romance guaranteed to hold the interest
and capture the heart. She brings true-life characters together with
real-life issues to create a fast-paced irresistible story.</span></span></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Pegasus-Marilyn-Holdsworth-ebook/dp/B004S2LVYA/ref=la_B006LTHMZK_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1405682556&sr=1-2" href="http://www.amazon.com/Pegasus-Marilyn-Holdsworth-ebook/dp/B004S2LVYA/ref=la_B006LTHMZK_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1405682556&sr=1-2" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre - Contemporary fiction</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Marilyn-Holdsworth/e/B006LTHMZK/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1" href="http://www.amazon.com/Marilyn-Holdsworth/e/B006LTHMZK/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <b>Connect</b> with Marilyn Holdsworth on <a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/marilyn.holdsworth.7" href="https://www.facebook.com/marilyn.holdsworth.7" target="_blank">Facebook</a> & <a data-mce-href="http://twitter.com/m_holdsworth" href="http://twitter.com/m_holdsworth" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><b>Website </b> </b><a data-mce-href="http://marilynholdsworth.com/" href="http://marilynholdsworth.com/" target="_blank">http://marilynholdsworth.com/</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Blog</b> <a data-mce-href="http://marilynholdsworth.com/blog/" href="http://marilynholdsworth.com/blog/" target="_blank">http://marilynholdsworth.com/blog/</a></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406398070901853053.post-18562210495164714542014-08-29T07:30:00.000-04:002014-09-20T01:50:33.946-04:00S.A. Snow on Writing & Her New Book "Across Worlds Collision" #AmWriting #AmReading #SciFi <div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Why do you write?</b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I
write solely for the fact that it is fun and entertaining to me. I
write it to challenge myself into worlds that have not yet been created
and for personal relaxation time. Across Worlds: Collision was written
as an adventure to see how far I could push my comfort zones and to see
how I could make it into an enjoyable process. I continue to write for
those same reasons: challenge and enjoyment.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What books did you love growing up?</b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>My favorite books growing up were<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></i>The Boxcar Children<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>by
Gertrude Chandler Warner. I could not get enough of those books, and I
used to read them out loud to the alpacas on my farm growing up. Those
were some of the best read alpacas around.</i></span></span></div>
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<b>What do you hope your obituary will say about you?</b></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>S.
A. Snow was a recluse that we had barely begun to know. She was just
coming out of her shell, into her own when tragedy struck. The alpaca’s
revolted, and well, it was bloody. There is nothing left of her body,
only blood. There has been conspiracies that S. A. is truly still alive
and living under a false identity in the remote villages of the Amazon,
but we assure you that is not true. S. A. has passed into the next
emanation from this one and continues to spin her tales and stories,
creating webs of creation in her path. We will sorely miss seeing the
product and what got caught in the web itself.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span> </div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<b>What is hardest – getting published, writing or marketing?</b></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Marketing,
hands down. Writing is something that comes naturally. Even when the
plot or characters aren’t cooperating, you know that it will. With
publishing, once you’ve found one, you’re done. Marketing is the job
that never ends. You always need to expand your audience, find new
people to buy the book, get it into a new store or onto a new blog.</i></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>How do you work through self-doubts and fear?</b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I
just stay true to the story. Writing this book was a risk. It’s not a
common theme, and it’s not a topic that’s often written about so there
are a lot of people out there who won’t like it or will think it’s too
weird and that’s okay. Realizing that and just letting the characters
tell their story helps with the doubt. It’s not my story. It’s theirs,
and I’m just the one who gets to tell it.</i></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Do you plan to publish more books?</b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I
absolutely plan on publishing more books. I’m planning out and working
on a werewolf dystopia with a few fantastical twists. My hope is to have
this novel finished by the end of this year. At least with the writing
of it.</i></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What marketing works for you?</b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>This
is always a matter of how you look at it. This is my debut novel, and
thus it is far more important that I look at marketing as a strategy.
For this particular book, I have set up only two social media sites.
This is due to limited time. I want to make sure writing is my focus and
not marketing. I also set up a cover reveal on June 14th, 6 weeks
before the release day. This is the earliest I would ever do it. I had
over 40 people sign up for the cover reveal!</i></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>For
future marketing, I have also set up a Goodreads account with the novel
already there. I’ve also set up a book blog tour a week or so before
the release, and this one the month of release. I used two separate tour
companies, in hopes to reach more bloggers and more readers. The goal
is get some reviews in before the release as well as reviews throughout
the month afterward.</i></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Reviews
are helpful, but they are not everything. I still have to make an
impact, still have to be seen. In order to do that, I must be present
online. Since I do not live in a location suitable to foot marketing,
online is the way to go.</i></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What other jobs have you had in your life?</b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I’ve
had a lot of random jobs here and there. A lot of online jobs that I
can do from home, a lot of schooling which involved many papers and much
travel. You wouldn’t believe the number of degrees I have. Anyway, I’ve
worked at the starter jobs too. Grocery stores, fast food joints,
clothing stores. If you name it, I’ve probably done something close to
it if not it itself.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Is there anyone you’d like to acknowledge and thank for their support?</b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Absolutely.
A. M. Leibowitz was there from the start of this project. She was
definitely a support while I tried to write, and the best support while I
tried to edit. She calmed me down when I thought the plot was going to
explode, and laughed at all the right places when I tried to tell a
funny. A. M. has honestly been the best support there could possibly be.</i></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Tell us about your new book? What’s it about and why did you write it?</b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>My
newest creation is about a CIA agent who is going on a very special
mission. This novel is definitely a blend of genre fiction and erotica.
Jane Butler is sent on a mission to an alien space station under the
ruse of being mated with Usnavi, a Xanthian. The Xanthians landed on
Earth nine months prior in search of ways to reproduce. Since the US is
advanced in reproduction technologies, they spent most of their time
there. An interesting fact about Xanthians is that they are all
genderless and sexless. They shift between being male and female at
will.</i></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I
wrote this story simply because I got drunk. This will teach me to
drink and write again. I was laughing at an editing mistake in a friends
WIP, where she had changed the sex of an alien and missed a few lines. I
was laughing so hard I must have hit my head in the process and decided
to write this lovely tale.</i></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/AcrossWorldsCollision.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/AcrossWorldsCollision.jpg"><img alt="AcrossWorldsCollision" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-40725" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/AcrossWorldsCollision.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/AcrossWorldsCollision.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jane expected six months undercover to be hard; she expected it to be lonely and bleak. She didn’t expect to find love. <br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" /><br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" />Jane
Butler, a CIA operative, is assigned the task of infiltrating the
Xanthians and determining if they’re a threat to humanity. Going
undercover as a Xanthian mate, she boards the transport ship and meets
Usnavi—her new mate. After spending six days traveling through space,
Jane is ecstatic to explore the Xanthian station and soon sets out to
complete her mission. The only problem? Usnavi—and the feelings she is
quickly developing. <br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" /><br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" />Fumbling
their way through varying sexual expectations, cooking catastrophes,
and cultural differences, they soon discover life together is never
boring. As Jane and Usnavi careen into a relationship neither of them
expected, Jane uncovers dark secrets about the Xanthians and realizes
she may no longer be safe. When it becomes clear she’s on her own, Jane
is forced to trust and rely on Usnavi. Simultaneously struggling with
her mission, her feelings for Usnavi, and homesickness, Jane faces
questions she never imagined she would have to answer.</span></span></div>
<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Across-Worlds-Collision-S-Snow-ebook/dp/B00MANJM2M" href="http://www.amazon.com/Across-Worlds-Collision-S-Snow-ebook/dp/B00MANJM2M" target="_blank">Amazon</a> &<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/435337" href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/435337" target="_blank">Smashwords</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Blended Science Fiction, Erotica</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – NC17</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/S.-A.-Snow/e/B00MARDKL2/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1" href="http://www.amazon.com/S.-A.-Snow/e/B00MARDKL2/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Connect</b> with S. A. Snow on <a data-mce-href="http://www.facebook.com/booksbysnow" href="http://www.facebook.com/booksbysnow" target="_blank">Facebook</a></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406398070901853053.post-50538131412530220242014-08-27T08:30:00.000-04:002014-12-08T10:57:03.607-05:00Pendelton Wallace on Happiness & Motivation #Mystery #Thriller #AmWriting<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Tell us a bit about your family. </b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I
have a rather unconventional family. My father is of Scottish heritage;
my mother’s parents came from Mexico. I grew up with a foot in both
worlds.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When
I was little, we interacted mainly with my mother’s family. I remember
my first day of kindergarten. There were all these kids with yellow
worms growing from their heads. I had never seen a blond before.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But
somehow, I’m not a Latino. My Spanish is poor, but I can make myself
understood. I stand out as a gringo in Mexico and fit into American
culture.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>How do you work through self-doubts and fear? </b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This is a really tough question because I rarely have self-doubts or fear. If you read my first book<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Blue Water & Me, Tall Tales of Adventures With My Father</i>, you will see that Papa exorcised fear and self-doubt from me at an early age.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I’m
kind of like the bumble bee. Scientist have proven mathematically that a
bumble bee can’t fly. Someone just forgot to tell it to the bumble bee.
I don’t know what I can’t do, so I just go ahead and do it.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What scares you the most? </b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Dogs.
I can honestly say that the only thing in the world that I have ever
been afraid of is dogs. When I was three years old I was attacked by two
German Sheppards. To this day, the sight of a German Sheppard makes my
blood run cold.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This
is particularly important since Dawn, my significant other, had two
Great Danes when I met her. Like everything else in my life, I swallowed
my fear and just plunged ahead.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What makes you happiest? </b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Wow!
There are so many things that make me happy it’s really hard to choose.
Sailing on a downwind reach off the coast of Baja California with just
Dawn on my boat was one of the best experiences of my life.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">How
could you ask for more? The temperatures were in the eighties, we had
about a fifteen knot wind on our quarter, there wasn’t a cloud in the
sky. Pods of dolphin and whale played with us for days. We were off
shore far enough that we couldn’t see land. We had the world to
ourselves.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What’s your greatest character strength? </b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Honesty.
I value honesty and loyalty above all other traits. When I meet a
person, I assume that they are honest. I give them the benefit of the
doubt until they prove otherwise. Once a person has been dishonest with
me, I can never trust them again.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I
have been told by employers that my honesty is a flaw. They said that I
was too honest for my own good. They wanted me to lie for them and I
wouldn’t. I also did not spend many more years at that job.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What’s your weakest character trait? </b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Self-control.
I know I have a problem with food. I’ve been fighting my weight most of
my life. For me, food is like a drug. I’m hooked. Even though I know I
shouldn’t be eating that greasy bacon for breakfast, if it is there, I
will take it.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Why do you write? </b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Because I have to. My mind is overflowing with stories. I just have to get them down on paper (or under glass).</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I
write character sketches and a fifteen to twenty page outline before I
begin writing the book. Then I sit down to write. By this time, my
sub-conscious knows the story and the characters and the words just flow
from my fingers. I almost never think about what I’m writing.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I’m as enrapt as any reader as I see the story unfold in front of me. Sometimes it surprises me.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Inside Passage</i>,
I thought that Meagan was a certain kind of person, but as the story
unfolded in front of me, she refused to be pigeon holed. She evolved and
changed into a whole different person by the end of the book.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Have you always enjoyed writing? </b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Yes.
When I was in the sixth grade the teacher gave us an assignment to
write “How I Spent My Summer Vacation.” I wrote thirty pages.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What motivates you to write? </b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ego. I have all of these stories that need to be told and I have enough ego to think that somebody might like to read them.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What writing are you most proud of? </b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I think that I am growing and improving as a writer with everything I write. I think that<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Hacker for Hire</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>is my best work yet, but I’m the most proud of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Blue Water & Me, Tall Tales of Adventures With My Father.</i></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Blue Water</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>is a tribute to my father and it may not be as polished as my later works, but it will probably always be my favorite.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/hacker.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/hacker.jpg"><img alt="hacker" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-40190" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/hacker.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/hacker.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If Clive Cussler had written Ugly Betty, it would be Hacker for Hire. <br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" /><br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" />Hacker
for Hire, a suspense novel about corporate greed and industrial
espionage, is the second book in a series about Latino computer security
analyst Ted Higuera and his best friend, para-legal Chris Hardwick. <br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" /><br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" />The
goofy, off-beat Ted Higuera, son of Mexican immigrants, grew up in East
LA. An unlikely football scholarship brought him to Seattle. <br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" /><br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" />Chris,
Ted’s college roommate, grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth. His
father is the head of one of Seattle’s most prestigious law firms. <br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" /><br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" />Ted’s
first job out of college leads him into the world of organized crime
where he faces a brutal beating. After being rescued by beautiful
private investigator Catrina Flaherty, Ted decides to go to work for
her. <br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" /><br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" />Catrina
is hired by a large computer corporation to find a leak in their
corporate boardroom when the previous consultant is found floating in
Elliot Bay. <br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" /><br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" />Ted
discovers that Chris’s firm has been retained by their prime suspect.
Now he and Chris are working opposite sides of the same case. <br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" /><br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" />Ted
and Catrina are led deep into Seattle’s Hi-Tech world as they stalk the
killer. But the killer is also hunting them. Can Ted find the killer
before the killer finds him? </span></span></div>
<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Hacker-Hire-Ted-Higuera-Book-ebook/dp/B00KH3Z53W/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1405401192&sr=1-1&keywords=Hacker+for+Hire" href="http://www.amazon.com/Hacker-Hire-Ted-Higuera-Book-ebook/dp/B00KH3Z53W/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1405401192&sr=1-1&keywords=Hacker+for+Hire" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Mystery, Thriller</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – R</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Pendelton%20Wallace&search-alias=digital-text&sort=relevancerank" href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Pendelton%20Wallace&search-alias=digital-text&sort=relevancerank" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Connect</b> with Pendelton Wallace on <a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/penn.wallace" href="https://www.facebook.com/penn.wallace" target="_blank">Facebook</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Website<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a class="in-cell-link" data-mce-href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.pennwallace.com&usd=2&usg=ALhdy2-lvi4hquGvTx3TTco7IMaVQe7wYA" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.pennwallace.com&usd=2&usg=ALhdy2-lvi4hquGvTx3TTco7IMaVQe7wYA" target="_blank">www.pennwallace.com</a></b></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406398070901853053.post-85406091004168921162014-08-26T08:00:00.000-04:002014-08-29T12:28:08.029-04:00The Lights - #Excerpt from Lights Over Emerald Creek Excerpt by @ShelleyDavidow #YA #SciFi <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h1 style="background-color: white; line-height: 40px; margin: 10px 0px; text-align: center; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
The Lights</span></span></h1>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">At
first it was almost imperceptible. She could have been listening to the
throbbing frogs and crickets. Beyond that, though, there was a
different sound. It was as deep as thunder, but consistent. It grew
louder, the pitch became elevated, until it was a clear tone, a hum that
drowned everything, even the rapidly increasing heart rate that she
felt pounding beneath her ribs.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Lucy
tipped her head to the left, and the sound decreased. She tipped her
head to the right and heard it more clearly this time. Softly,
hesitantly, she hummed the note. It sounded like an ‘A’, she thought. At
nine years old, she’d discovered she had almost perfect pitch. She
could sing a note and say what it was, and be at most a semitone off. As
she hummed, she was astonished to hear the sound grow more intense, and
go up two tones. She momentarily stopped humming, but the sound
continued. She began again, and held her tone. It harmonized with the
sound around her. Lucy scanned the sky from end to end, her eyes
enormous in the dark, her senses keen. She stopped humming and the sound
diminished. She had never been so awake in all her life. Her skin began
to tingle. She had pins and needles all the way up her arms and her
neck. Her face tingled. She even imagined, for one insane moment, that
she could feel her thighs tingling. But that was impossible.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Suddenly,
just in front of her, a blue-green light appeared. It was so bright it
dazzled her completely. It was as large as an open beach umbrella, and
it moved until it was right over her head, no more than an arm’s length
away. Around it, the night sky seemed consumed by the light. It looks
like a miniature sun, she thought. The humming began again. It seemed to
come from the light, but it was all around her at the same time.
Surround-sound, the thought. In C major. This time, she felt the
tingling right the way from the top of her head down to her waist.
Prickles of feeling seemed to shoot in small slivers down to her hips,
though she knew she had no sensation there. Lucy closed her eyes for a
moment. The light was too bright. As her heart raced, another sound
joined the first. And then another. And when she opened her eyes and
looked up, a white light hovered above the blue-green light, and beyond
that, slightly to the left of both lights, was a small orange light,
similar to one she’d seen before.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<div style="line-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
blue-green light pulsed brightly, and emitted C. The white light
followed, pulsing twice, emitting an A. Then softly, the orange light
flared, and the tone she heard was B. She threw her head back, aghast.
Was this something intelligent? When the sequence of pulses and tones
repeated itself twice, Lucy thought that there was no doubt. It was
music. It followed a pattern. What she was hearing, was a musical
sequence! Her hands, which gripped the chair tightly, were vibrating as
though she were on a bridge above a massive freight train. The
vibrations were intoxicating. ‘Oh. My. God. It’s real,’ she said
hoarsely to the night, to the lights.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<h1 class="page-title" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(203, 203, 203); line-height: 40px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding-bottom: 25px; text-align: center; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
Lights Over Emerald Creek by Shelley Davidow </span></span></h1>
<h1 class="page-title" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(203, 203, 203); line-height: 40px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding-bottom: 25px; text-align: center; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/LightsOverEmeraldCreek.jpg" /></span></span></h1>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Lucy
Wright, sixteen and a paraplegic after a recent car accident that took
her mother’s life, lives in Queensland on a 10,000 acre farm with her
father. When Lucy investigates strange lights over the creek at the
bottom of the property, she discovers a mystery that links the lights to
the science of cymatics and Scotland’s ancient Rosslyn Chapel.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But
beyond the chapel is an even larger mystery. One that links the music
the chapel contains to Norway’s mysterious Hessdalen lights, and beyond
that to Saturn and to the stars. Lucy’s discoveries catapult her into a
parallel universe connected to our own by means of resonance and sound,
where a newly emerging world trembles on the edge of disaster. As
realities divide, her mission in this new world is revealed and she
finds herself part of a love story that will span the galaxy.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IK4D2QW" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre - Young Adult SF</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating - PG</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Shelley%20Davidow&search-alias=digital-text&sort=relevancerank" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="line-height: 1.5em;">Connect</b><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> with Shelley Davidow on </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ShelleyDavidow" style="line-height: 1.5em; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Facebook</a> & <a href="https://twitter.com/shelleydavidow" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406398070901853053.post-24933112795998450482014-08-22T08:30:00.000-04:002014-09-23T19:28:19.490-04:00A LIFE LESS ORDINARY #Excerpt by Victoria Bernadine @VicBernadine #Contemporary #ChickLit <div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“All I ever wanted was a life less ordinary.”</i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Manny
lay flat on her back, eyes wide, staring at the ceiling while she
waited for her clock to hit 6:00. Another day of work, she thought.
Another day older and deeper in debt.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">She
had the alarm timed to the millisecond. The jarring noise had barely
begun when she clicked it off. She sighed then threw back the covers and
got out of bed.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">She
padded into the bathroom, glanced without interest in the full-length
mirror that doubled as her shower doors and took her morning inventory.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Plain face? Check.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Looking tired? Check.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Thirty pounds overweight? Check.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Dark circles under deer-caught-in-headlights eyes? Check and check.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">She shook her head at her limp, mousy hair and wondered when she’d gotten so old.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">She
sighed in resignation then conjured up her Perfect Fantasy Man–or
Harvey, as she liked to call him–to give her a morning lift. She cocked
her head to one side as she stared into the mirror and imagined him
standing behind her. She smiled at the handsome man, and he smiled back,
putting his hands on her shoulders. Everything about him was warm, in
stark contrast to the cold shades of grey in which she lived her life.
He had warm brown eyes, warm brown skin, and a warm smooth voice that
always reminded her of golden honey. Today his hair was black with
greying temples, and yes, even that seemed warm to her.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">He
was perfect, everything she considered ideal in a man–and
extra-perfect, of course, because he was a fantasy. Just the thought of
trying to establish a relationship with an actual man felt too much like
work.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">She sighed and Harvey disappeared.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“Instead I ended up in a rut–everything planned and executed to the minute.”</i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">She
finished her shower and padded out to the kitchen wrapped in a worn
terrycloth robe just as the coffee pot finished perking her morning
coffee. She pulled a white cup out of the cupboard, filled it and took
it with her to the bedroom, where she drank her coffee while she dressed
and pulled her hair into its habitual bun high on the back of her head.
At 6:45 sharp, she was back in the kitchen where she rinsed out the cup
and put it on the rack next to the other three cups from earlier in the
week; they marked the passage of time like scratches on a prison wall.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><img src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/ALifeLessOrdinary.jpg" /></span></div>
<div id="postBodyPS" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; text-align: center;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">For
the last fifteen years, Rose “Manny” Mankowski has been a very good
girl. She turned her back on her youthful fancies and focused on her
career. But now, at the age of 45, she’s questioning her choices and
feeling more and more disconnected from her own life. When she’s passed
over for promotion and her much younger new boss implies Manny’s life
will never change, something snaps. In the blink of an eye, she’s quit
her job, sold her house and cashed in her pension, and she’s leaving
town on a six month road trip.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">After
placing a personal ad for a travelling companion, she’s joined in her
mid-life crisis by Zeke Powell, the cynical, satirical, most-read – and
most controversial – blogger for the e-magazine, What Women Want. Zeke’s
true goal is to expose Manny’s journey as a pitiful and desperate
attempt to reclaim her lost youth – and increase his readership at the
same time. Leaving it all behind for six months is just an added bonus.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Now,
armed with a bagful of destinations, a fistful of maps, and an
out-spoken imaginary friend named Harvey, Manny’s on a quest to
rediscover herself – and taking Zeke along for the ride.</span></div>
</div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AMJBOSQ" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Amazon</a> & <a href="http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/299257" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Smashwords</a></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – ChickLit, Contemporary Fiction</i></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG-13</i></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Victoria-Bernadine/e/B00AN2VS5G/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> <b>Connect</b> with Victoria Bernadine on <a href="https://twitter.com/VicBernadine" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Blog <a class="in-cell-link" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://victoriabernadine.wordpress.com&usd=2&usg=ALhdy2_NZu0iup6n2vJwBd--NRvslbSPnw" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">victoriabernadine.wordpress.com</a></b></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406398070901853053.post-3727945755243604322014-08-19T11:30:00.000-04:002014-09-04T11:22:48.510-04:00John Smith: Last Known Survivor of the Microsoft Wars #Excerpt by Roland Hughes #Dystopian <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<i><b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">SK: Can we talk about the Microsoft Wars now?</span></span></b></i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">JS:
Orwell was right. Everyone was forced to read his book and yet, it
still happened. In reality, that is all anybody needs to know.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<i><b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">SK: Orwell?</span></span></b></i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">JS:
<sighs> Back in 1949, an author by the name of George Orwell
published a novel titled 1984. It was a look into the future and
basically created the concept in society of Big Brother. This Big
Brother was a government, any government really, which would watch over
you like a child. Your life would be monitored and controlled 24 hours
per day. The dictionary would not grow in size, but shrink, as words
and thoughts were continually restricted. Anyone who possessed a
thought against the government, system or the way things were being run
would be turned in by friends/family/neighbors as a thought criminal.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">One
by one, various ministries were set up to control every aspect of life,
all for the betterment of society, and most had some plausible excuse
bringing them into existence. There would be monitors installed
everywhere, so you were continually watched and controlled. It was one
of the best- selling and most widely talked-about books of all time.
Many movies were created showing various flavors of the book.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<i><b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">SK: Well, if everybody knew about it, then it surely didn’t happen.</span></span></b></i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">JS:
Not in 1984, no. The final vehicle for control wasn’t chosen until
the early 1990s and it took a while to roll out globally. Sometime
during 2010, the governments around the world achieved 95 percent of
what they wanted. The vast majority of citizens carried with them a
24-hour monitoring device, which could be accessed remotely and would,
via GPS, give a complete picture of their travels. Each one had a
unique ID. Best of all, the devices were marketed in such a way as to
make people think they were nothing unless they had one and kept it with
them at all times.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When
it became apparent that some portions of society simply couldn’t afford
the devices—yes, each citizen paid for their own, and gladly…they even
paid to customize them—most governments came up with some kind of
ministry or program to ensure each and every person falling into the
“cannot afford” category was issued one under some plausible story as
“medical need” or “neighborhood watch.” This removed the
poor-person-rejection-of-charity problem. Nobody felt insulted to
receive the devices, since the devices allowed them to communicate with
anyone at any time, as long as they knew the other person’s unique ID.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<i><b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">SK:
Do you honestly expect me to believe that everybody stood in line to
get a unique ID for the government to monitor them 24 hours per day,
seven days per week?</span></span></b></i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">JS:
No. They didn’t see it like that. They stood in line to get the latest
and greatest cellphone with video camera, GPS, speaker phone, Internet
access, and every other buzz phrase marketing could think of. If you
don’t know what any of that is, it doesn’t matter. All you need to know
is the more applications, called apps, it had, the more people wanted
it.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Each
phone had to have a phone number, which was globally unique so anyone
in the world could call anybody else in the world, no matter where they
were at the time. It was that “anywhere, anytime” communications
capability that was a major selling point. A system of assigning phone
numbers to allow for international calling had been in place for many
years due to the older land line system, so it was simply leveraged.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Everyone
proudly carried and used their government monitoring device. There
were even crime shows on television showing how law enforcement agencies
could track a cellphone as long as it was turned on. What they didn’t
tell you was that the phone would periodically report in even when
turned off, and if certain instructions were waiting, it would turn
itself back on, silently, so full monitoring could continue without the
owner being aware.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
only thing that could truly stop monitoring was to remove the battery,
then turn the cellphone on to drain the hidden reserve. When you did
that, however, the phone was of no use.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<i><b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">SK:
So let me get this straight—you’re saying that there was a
communications network that could monitor every person in the country?</span></span></b></i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">JS:
No. Before the middle of 2011, thanks to some production cost
reductions, it was every person on the planet living in any civilized
country and even many third world countries. A basic cellphone could be
manufactured and sold for under $20 retail, which put the actual
production cost at about $6. Those countries too poor or with terrain
too rough used the satellite phones, which cost a bit more, but
leveraged cellphone components to reduce costs. Both networks were
monitored by government agencies, even though commercial companies were
providing the services to the cellphone owners. Even children in third
world countries who didn’t have food to eat or a bank account in their
name had a phone so they could be tracked.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/johnSmith.jpg" /></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“John
Smith: Last Known Survivor of the Microsoft Wars” is one big interview.
It is a transcript of a dialogue between “John Smith” (who, as the
title of the book implies is the last known survivor of the Microsoft
wars) and the interviewer for a prominent news organization.</span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a href="http://www.amazon.com/John-Smith-Known-Survivor-Microsoft/dp/193973200X/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Amazon</a> & <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/john-smith-roland-hughes/1102176003?ean=9781939732002" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">B&N</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Dystopian Fiction</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1?ie=UTF8&field-author=Roland+Hughes&search-alias=books&text=Roland+Hughes&sort=relevancerank" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Website <a class="in-cell-link" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://johnsmith-book.com/&usd=2&usg=ALhdy2-70oxuHXvWgcvombsi9GJmpfL5eA" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://johnsmith-book.com/</a></b></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406398070901853053.post-65355982689262495392014-08-19T09:00:00.000-04:002014-09-19T23:40:34.173-04:00@TheSMBoyce on Research and Writing Your Story #WriteTip #SelfPub #Fantasy<div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
Heyo! I’m S. M. Boyce, author of <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lichgates-Book-Grimoire-Fantasy-Adventure-ebook/dp/B005W5L38G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1392610180&sr=8-1&keywords=Lichgates" style="text-decoration: none;"><i>Lichgates</i></a> and the rest of the books in the Grimoire Saga.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
Today
I’m going to give you some pointers on how to do research that is
crucial to your story. Without proper research, a story will lack what’s
called verisimilitude—the tidbits of real-life that make it all seem
real. These elements allow readers to suspend belief and fall headfirst
into your tale.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
While
it’s crucial to research and understand your world (be it a fantasy
land or modern Earth), how you approach research usually depends on your
writing style.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
The
writing process is different for everyone. Some people get an idea and
start writing instantly. Others, like me, outline the entire thing
before starting on the first paragraph. If you are the type that
outlines, research is going to be much easier for you and you’ll be able
to get most of it out of the way before you begin to write.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
For
many, research can be an arduous task, but for some it can actually be
an inspiration. So, for those of you who don’t outline, the research
might help you fill in the gaps of your story, effectively building an
impromptu outline in your head.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<b>Tip #1: Chunk it!</b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
When
you research, I suggest you lump topics together and work through them
one-by-one. So, if you are researching the rainforests of the world,
types of horses, and a foreign culture, work through each topic
separately so that you can keep your facts straight in your mind.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<b>Tip #2: Stay Organized</b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
Notes
are extremely important when doing research. Some prefer the notecard
method when taking notes; others prefer a big notebook or the freedom of
a word document. Whatever your method is, stick to it and stay as
organized as possible.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
Scrivener,
a program used for writing, actually lets you keep all your research
notes with your story. For those of you who don’t use this program, you
may want to look into it. Though it has a heck of a learning curve,
it’s incredibly useful once you get the hang of it. You can do just
about every step of the writing process from this one program.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<b>Stay focused, Boyce</b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
Back on the subject of researching. Sorry.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
It’s
important to save the locations of your resources so that you can refer
back to them. Most internet browsers will let you create a folder in
your bookmark tab. Do this and create one just for the links to research
sources for the book you are working on. If you are using non-digital
sources, keep a list of the materials you’ve used with your notes.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
As
you work through each resource, label the notes you take so that you
know where they came from. This will help later if you need to refresh
your memory on certain facts.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
Even
though you are doing most of your research before you write the book,
you will likely have to go back to it at some point during your writing.
Research is an important part of writing. Even if you are making up a
world of your own, you will need to research one thing or another. This
process is what helps bring our stories to life and it’s also what gives
our stories some amount of credibility in the reader’s mind.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
Let’s open the floor. What are some of your best researching tips?</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<img src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/lichgates.jpg" /></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<i>“The
writing is flawless. The kingdoms and surrounding landscapes
breathtaking. The Grimoire is a piece of imaginative genius that
bedazzles from the moment Kara falls into the land of Ourea. – Nikki
Jefford, author of the Spellbound Trilogy</i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<b>Spring 2013 Rankings</b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
#6 Kindle Store | #1 Science Fiction & Fantasy | #1 Epic Fantasy | #1 Sword & Sorcery | #1 Teens</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
Now an international Amazon bestseller. Fans of <i>The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, </i>and <i>Eragon</i> will enjoy this contemporary remix of the classic epic fantasy genre.</div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
—————-</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
Kara Magari is about to discover a beautiful world full of terrifying things: Ourea.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
Kara,
a college student still reeling from her mother’s recent death, has no
idea the hidden world of Ourea even exists until a freak storm traps her
in a sunken library. With nothing to do, she opens an ancient book of
magic called the Grimoire and unwittingly becomes its master, which
means Kara now wields the cursed book’s untamed power. Discovered by
Ourea’s royalty, she becomes an unwilling pawn in a generations-old
conflict – a war intensified by her arrival. In this world of chilling
creatures and betrayal, Kara shouldn’t trust anyone… but she’s being
hunted and can’t survive on her own. She drops her guard when Braeden, a
native soldier with a dark secret, vows to keep her safe. And though
she doesn’t know it, her growing attraction to him may just be her
undoing.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
For
twelve years, Braeden Drakonin has lived a lie. The Grimoire is his one
chance at redemption, and it lands in his lap when Kara Magari comes
into his life. Though he begins to care for this human girl, there is
something he wants more. He wants the Grimoire.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<b>Welcome to Ourea, where only the cunning survive.</b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
—————-</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<b>Novels in the Grimoire Saga:</b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<i>Lichgates </i>(#1)</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<i>Treason </i>(#2)</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<i>Heritage </i>(#3) – Available Fall 2013</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<i>Illusion </i>(#4) – Available Fall 2014</div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
Buy Now @ <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lichgates-Grimoire-Trilogy-paranormal-ebook/dp/B005W5L38G/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Amazon</a> & <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/206728" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Smashwords</a></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<i>Genre – Fantasy</i></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<i>Rating – PG13</i></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<i>More details about <a href="http://www.amazon.com/S.M.-Boyce/e/B005WL2N8O" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">the author</a></i></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<b>Connect</b> with SM Boyce on <span style="color: black;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/thesmboyce" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Facebook</a> & <a href="https://twitter.com/thesmboyce" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Twitter</a> & <a href="http://pinterest.com/thesmboyce/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406398070901853053.post-32854272370175371672014-08-14T09:30:00.001-04:002014-08-16T16:56:07.519-04:00How the English Establishment Framed Stephen Ward by @StephenWardBook #Espionage #Politics FBI director, J.Edgar Hoover, was convinced that British society was
riddled with whores, pimps, sex maniacs and Soviet agents. His
conviction was given a boost on Sunday, 16th June, when an article by
British solicitor, Michael Eddowes, appeared in the Journal-American. In
it Eddowes told of his meeting with Yevgeny Ivanov during the Cuban
missile crisis. Eddowes described Ivanov as highly aggressive and full
of blustering threats to wipe out England and to drop an atomic bomb in
the sea 60 miles off New York. According to Eddowes, Hoover immediately
‘instructed’ him to make further enquiries into the security aspects and
report back to him.<br />
<br />
Washington was now buzzing with as
many rumours as had swept London during the height of the scandal, so
what happened next was not entirely a surprise. The White House became
involved. The most likely explanation for President Kennedy’s sudden
interest in the affair is that his brother, Attorney-General Robert
Kennedy, told him of the long report from Hoover.<br />
<br />
There
were then both political and personal reasons for the President’s
interest. One was that the scandal could provide Kennedy’s opponents in
Congress with ammunition to attack his plans for a multi-nation NATO
nuclear force. If Britain was so leaky, why should the US share it’s
defence secrets? Another was a call in the Washington News for Kennedy
to cancel his scheduled visit to London because it would provide moral
support for the foundering Government of Harold Macmillan. ‘We can think
of no better time for an American President to stay as far as possible
away from England.’<br />
<br />
And a third reason, a personal one,
was that given Hoover’s animosity for the Kennedy family, the President
became concerned that Hoover would somehow use the scandal against
him….The only feasible reason for this widespread fascination is that
all these people feared that the President of the United States was
about to be dragged into the scandal, not on a political level, but on a
sexual one…..The reason was that Robert Kennedy was worried that
Christine or Mandy, or even both girls, might have slept with the
President during their recent visit to the United States and he needed
to know for certain so that he could protect the President from the
scandal that would follow if the girls blabbed. It would have been
simpler for Robert Kennedy to ask his brother if he had slept with
either of the girls. But, as we now know, John F. Kennedy’s sexual
appetite was so prodigious and so indiscriminate that he would not have
been able to remember.<br />
<br />
<div align="center">
<a href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/How-The-English-Establishment-Framed.jpg"><img alt="How The English Establishment Framed" border="0" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/How-The-English-Establishment-Framed.jpg" height="200" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" width="130" /></a></div>
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Buy Now @ <a href="http://www.amazon.com/English-Establishment-Framed-STEPHEN-WARD/dp/149093989X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387044556&sr=8-1&keywords=How+The+English+Establishment+Framed">Amazon</a> </div>
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<i>Genre – Politics, Espionage, Scandal</i> </div>
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<i>Rating – PG-16</i> </div>
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<i>More details about <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?ie=UTF8&field-author=Caroline+Kennedy&search-alias=books&text=Caroline+Kennedy&sort=relevancerank">the author</a> </i></div>
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<b>Connect</b> with Caroline Kennedy on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/WardVictimofHypocrisy">Facebook</a> & <a href="https://twitter.com/StephenWardBook">Twitter</a></div>
Reed - High Class Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06792819255100615145noreply@blogger.com0