Katherine Pitts, of the wonderful blog site I wish I Lived in a Library, asked me to do a guest post. I wrote it before I went underground to finish my book and am just now acknowledging her. Mea culpa, Katherine. Katherine is a stay at home Mom with four (yes, four) children. She was previously a Systems Analyst dealing with computer security. In addition to reviewing books, she loves food and you’ll frequently find recipes on her blog along with movie and TV reviews. I encourage you to visit her blog – it’s always interesting and never, ever dull. Now, with regard to my post. It’s about what life was like on the Mayflower for the passengers. I think you’ll agree, once you’ve perused it, that we might not be able to handle the voyage. I, for one, might have jumped overboard at some point. Check it out at: http://iwishilivedinalibrary.blogspot.com/2016/02/guest-post-life-on-mayflower-from.html?showComment=1456243022572#c7042015503300567875 0 0
Elijah Moon is doing his darndest to keep me from finishing my last rewrite before the book goes to the editor! What I do when the eyes burn and I can’t manage to look at one more sentence in the book! 0 0
The author described her book as a cozy, chick lit mystery, and it does indeed fulfill all of those descriptors. Amy Wagner, a busy administrative assistant working in Houston, returns home to Seattle for her younger sister Gina’s funeral. Gina died in a fire in her apartment, and from the beginning, Amy believes the fire was not an accident. For one thing, the fire was apparently caused by Gina’s soap making, and Amy knows that Gina never cooked or baked anything that didn’t come from a box, let alone do something crafty like making soap. When Amy learns the laboratory where Gina worked burned down the week before her death, her suspicions deepen. Amy can’t convince her parents Gina may have been murdered, because although they divorced many years earlier, they are too busy sniping at each other and at Amy to pay attention. Gina was supposed to be a bridesmaid at her friend Sabrina ‘s wedding, and Amy makes an effort to get to know Sabrina and the other bridesmaids as a way to learn more about Gina and what she’d been doing prior to the wedding. Instead, she gets roped into replacing Gina in the wedding party. Amy also meets Dr. Trent Steinbeck, the head of Gina’s lab. Although initially put off by Trent’s social quirks, Amy discovers he also wants answers and comes to find him endearing during their search for the truth. The author does a commendable job detailing Trent’s research, and I was impressed at her knowledge of the various factors figuring into bringing a drug to market and the economic forces working against it. There are good red herrings along the way, and before the mystery can be solved, Trent may need to put his own life in danger. I thoroughly enjoyed the sarcasm and snark of the parents’ interactions and the travails of the bridesmaids as they dealt with a bridezilla. Ms. Bradeen writes with a good sense of humor. There is not a lot to complain about with this mystery, other than three characters who were a little over the top: Amy’s mother, Wendy, was a bit cartoonish in her desire to make Trent her daughter’s boyfriend and plying him with cookies – as if that would seal the relationship; Sabrina, as an extreme bridezilla, made the reader want to slap her; and I wondered whether, after so many years, Amy’s father would continue to verbally abuse her as a second class citizen in comparison to Gina and her scientific career. The author leads the reader on a merry chase from one suspect to the other, and all in all, this is a satisfying mystery in the classic cozy mode. 4 out of five stars. About the author (from her website): Marla Bradeen was born in 1977 and lives in Las Vegas, Nevada (USA). She previously worked as a software consultant and analyst. In 2012, she gave up a traditional job for no other reason than to have more time to pursue personal interests, such as sleeping in late and taking naps. Although she misses seeing regular deposits into her bank account, she hasn’t once regretted that decision. She didn’t initially intend to begin writing novels, but after several weeks of doing nothing, she realized sleeping all day isn’t as easy or enjoyable as her cats led her to believe. Over the ensuing months, she wrote Lethal Injection, which she self-published in 2013. Marla finished her first (and, before 2013, only) novel in 2004 and spent the next two years unsuccessfully querying literary agents. That experience combined with the advancement of self-publishing over the past few years drove her decision to pursue the self-publishing path. She has published several other chick lit mysteries: The Amicable Divorce, Lethal Injection, Lost Witness, Murder in White Sands You can find Marla at: marlabradeen@gmail.com Twitter (@marlabradeen) http://www.marlabradeen.com and Fatal Fire on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Marla-Bradeen/e/B00C3PAW3K 0 0
I am into the major overhaul of my third book, getting fat in the rear from all the sitting! My time to read blog posts is limited and my energy is drained by the end of the day, despite gallons of coffee. So please forgive my absence, but do look for some book reviews! 0 0
Time to recognize a group of people who have kindly chosen to follow my blog. Perhaps you will find some kindred souls among them! victoryarch at https://followingthegoldenquill.wordpress.com/ – This is a blog with book reviews, recipes and baking (I was suckered in by the macaroons) and poetry, in other words sort of like my blog! Lori Carlson – Promptly Written – at https://ionanerissa.wordpress.com/ Lori is multitalented, posting short stories, horror, poetry, flash fiction – all of it good and interesting. Her latest is Oh Goth! How I Miss You – intriguing. Rock Emmanuel at https://christian286.wordpress.com/ This is a blog about Christian marriage, with good advice for everyone. One recent topic was about whether couples should run a joint banking account – something I’ve discussed with my daughter. Cally – Some Special People – at https://somespecialpeople.wordpress.com/ Cally’s aim is to help make more people aware of people with special needs so they can be motivated and successful. She recently posted on the power of a smile! forsyria at https://forsyriaa.wordpress.com/2016/01/29/please-watch-and-video-sharing-support-to-syria-4/ This blog posts videos of what is happening in Syria, especially with the children. Greer at https://greercn.wordpress.com/ – For all of you movie lovers, this is the blog for you. The most recent post was about the movie Spotlight, and I hope you’ve all seen it. The story is true – about pedophelia in the Catholic Church in Boston – and the acting superb. Pam Wight at https://roughwighting.net/ Pam is one of my favorite people. She’s a prolific author and loves to post about the joy of writing. She also does reviews and recently posted on her early career: A Towering Tongue Twisting Career Turn. If that doesn’t draw you in, I don’t know what will! https://theuseofhormone.wordpress.com/about/ I unfortunately can’t read this but believe is it about hormones found in food and cosmetics Genel at https://newvideos31.wordpress.com Genel is a quirky blogger with a charitable streak . Check out her Crazy Babies video – and she has personally made donations of a thousand books, to encourage reading. Rachael Richey at http://rachaelritchey.com/ Her blog site is The Chronicles of the Twelve Realms, a series of young adult (YA) fantasy fiction – . magical realism set in a medieval-type era. She recently published The Beauty Thief and she also hosts a blog battle – accepting stories from followers on which her followers vote each week. Check her out! siddhidiksha at https://example636.wordpress.com/ – She is a thoughtful, lyrical and wonderful writer! Mark at https://fonzandcancer.wordpress.com/2016/01/24/ – Mark is fighting Hodgkin’s lymphoma and writes and incredibly inspirational blog. You need to visit him and give him your support. Fawad Hassan at https://fawadhassank.wordpress.com Check out his Post What Is LIfe? and his stories of life in Pakistan. Another great writer! Blynng 15 at http://ego-silencer.com She is a cancer survivor and writes about loving to learn and sharing everything about how to live happy and healthy by meditating. You will need your Word Press password to access her site. Suzanne at http://apuginthekitchen.com. She writes about food, shares her recipes (see a recent on on pepper and pencetta toriglioni, which will make your drool. Also guest posts on food – one recent one was by another favorite blogger of mine, Teagan Genevieve. The name of her post is from her pet pugs, who have passed over the rainbow bridge but live in her heart. https://getajewellery.wordpress.com/ This blog is all about jewelry with pictures to make you drool. One recent post was on Elizabeth Taylor’s collection. Some or all of these wonderful bloggers might interest you – check them out! 0 0
In August of 2014 I was asked to write a guest blog for A Woman’s Wisdom. I thought about what I might write and figured I’d be on safe ground talking about mysteries — my genre and my favorite books to read. But I also like food; in fact I’m rather a gourmand. No, not a gourmet – I just like food. It can be comforting, like a good mystery. It’s a wonder I don’t weigh 500 pounds. We are grilling a chicken this weekend, so the gourmand naturally thought of this post. Hope you don’t mind looking at it again! A good mystery begins with a whodunit, but one that should wrap around at least one other story, and maybe two. A good mystery, as Winston Churchill once said about Russia, “…is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key.” It sort of reminds me of a turducken, a deboned chicken into a deboned duck, which is in turn stuffed into a deboned turkey. Hence turducken. It was introduced to the world by football commentator and former coach John Madden, during a National Football League broadcast. Did I mention I like football, too? While announcing a game, he displayed the turducken and started to carve it up. In the United Kingdom, the Pure Meat Company offered a five-bird roast (a goose, a turkey, a chicken, a pheasant, and a pigeon, stuffed with sausage in 1989. Now that’s a royal roast! So what makes a good mystery? There are a plethora of to-do lists on the internet about writing mysteries, but here are some of mine. 1. An interesting locale. The locale itself can be a character in your story. 2. A compelling main character. This person can be you, if you wish, but bring in parts of other people to make him or her interesting and give them depth. 3. A hook to catch the reader. This is usually the first sentence, the first paragraph, or first chapter of the book, although occasionally a prologue does the trick. Think of the beginning of P.D. James’ Unnatural Causes, in which a famous crime writer’s body found handless and floating in a local vicar’s boat. 4. A strong main plot = the turkey. Hopefully not a turkey. I find inspiration for this in news stories and personal experiences. Make sure it involves a murder and a body – I know this should be obvious – but no one is going to want to read an entire book about a stolen watch. 5. A subplot = the duck. The subplot does not necessarily have to tie into the plot except through the main character, although it is nice if you can weave them together. A third subplot = the chicken. You are not limited in number with regard to subplots – so you can go for the five bird roast – but with too many the book becomes confusing. The flavors are lost! In my first book, Death in a Red Canvas Chair, the main plot concerns finding the killer of a young woman. The subplot involves college student prostitutes. Another subplot, although minor, was the purloining and selling of untreated body parts for transplantation. These tie to one another and ultimately to the young woman in the canvas chair. My protagonist’s marriage has a life of its own through the book, and it continues as a subplot in the second book, Death in a Dacron Sail. Being a gourmand, I had to have food running through both books; one reader told me I made him hungry! 6. Be sure that each subplot is populated by one or more distinct characters, whose personalities are well-drawn, likable or not. Tension is created by the unlikable. Sometimes it’s hard to create a nasty character, but once you’ve done it, you’ll find it’s fun! 7. The story needs to be believable. This might seem a bit obvious, but I’ve read some mysteries in which the plot is too fantastic or the protagonist superhuman. I like Clive Cussler’s books, for example – they’re entertaining beach reads, but the stories are wild and the main characters are, well, too perfect. 8. Research! For every scene in which something procedural takes place or there is a known locale, you need to do your research. This can be really enjoyable; I’ve met some incredible people with stories of their own to tell. I even spent a week in Maine in February to get a feel for winter there, as background for Death in a Dacron Sail. Experiencing temperatures below zero and amazing images of what feet of snow can do to the landscape made it an adventure. You might want to research where to find a turducken. 9. Read! Mystery is one of my favorite genres, so maybe that’s why I decided to write one or two or three… You learn a lot about what works and what doesn’t by reading other mystery writers. 10. Write! You need to write every day, even if it is only for your blog. If you don’t want to write a mystery, write what is comfortable for you. What’s your favorite genre? Maybe that’s where to start. Many thanks to A Woman’s Wisdom for the opportunity to write a guest pos! In case you’re wondering what I am doing for the A-Z Challenge, this year my subject(s) will be people and places from my books, including the third (Death by Pumpkin, out in April). 0 0
A recent post from Sue Vincent reminded me of how much I like spiders’ webs: their patterns, their beauty when limned with frost or dew, the delicacy with which they are spun. So I decided to learn about where them come from; here is what I found: Spider webs are made of proteinaceous silk extruded from the spider’s spinnerets. These glands are located on the tip of the spider’s abdomen. Many spiders have three pairs of spinnerets, each producing a silk thread with a different purpose: trailed safety lines, sticky silk for trapping and fine silk for wrapping their prey. Some spider can produce up to eight different kinds of silk threads. Spider webs have been around for a long time – at least 100 million years age—because they discovered in early Cretaceous amber in France, Burma and England. When spiders moved from water to the land in the Early Devonian period, their silk evolved initially to protect their bodies and eggs, then for hunting purposes. The silk threads were used as guide lines, then in webs on the ground and eventually as aerial webs. Spiders can be classified by the webs they weave: Spiral orb webs Funnel web Tubular webs which run up the bases of trees or along the ground Sheet webs People have found some uses for webs, too. Years ago, webs were packed into wounds to stop bleeding. They have been used as fishing line in Polynesia, were made into nets for transporting objects, and some tribes in New Guinea have used the webs as rain hats. During World War II, the threads of the black widow were used in their telescopic gun sights. Isn’t life amazing!? I have a healthy respect for spiders and generally leave them alone. If I find one inside, I trap it and dump it outside; if I encounter them in the pool, I scoop them out. I like what Pablo Picasso had to say about artists and spider webs. “The artist is a receptacle for the emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from theearth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider’s web.” 0 0
I read and reviewed this author’s first book in her Eyre Hall Trilogy, hesitant because I was not a fan of Jane Eyre and also because I had found reading adaptive continuations of fiction written during that era to be boring and a slog. I was pleasantly surprised! I liked All Hallows at Eyre Hall; it was meticulously researched and a worthy continuation of Jane Eyre’s story. With Twelfth Night, Ms. Gray gets further from the original, but also establishes herself as solid writer of historical romance. A little back story: In All Hallows, which begins twenty-two years after Jane’s marriage to Edward Rochester, Jane is coping with the imminent death of her bedridden husband, whose lifetime of infidelities has profoundly changed their relationship. Richard Mason, brother of Rochester’s mad first wife, returns from Jamaica, bringing with him Annette. Annette is unaware she is Rochester’s daughter by Mason’s sister. This vile man tells Annette that Jane – limned as the devil by Mason – will provide for her education and a dowry and find her a suitable husband. Mason believes Jane played a role in the death of his sister and plans vengeance on Jane. As a widow and chatelaine of the Rochester estate, Jane is truly a good person, concerned about her family, especially her son John, the welfare of the servants, and the poor children in the villages, Despite her wishes to be above reproach, Jane falls deeply and sensually in love with a most inappropriate man, Michael Kirkpatrick, many years her junior, and a valet to her husband before his death. In an effort to preserve Jane’s reputation, Michael leaves the estate and Jane is blackmailed into marrying the detestable Mason. In Twelfth Night, all of the main characters return, with the introduction of several new ones, including some who had hovered at the edges in the first book. Again, the story is told from several points of view, which normally might confuse a reader, but here provides depth and richness to the story. Jane is recovering from a long, unstated illness and Annette, who has come to appreciate Jane, has developed romantic feelings for Jane’s son, unaware he is her half-brother. Now a Navy lieutenant, Michael returns to discover Jane’s marriage to Mason. In addition, Jane is now a published author, under a male pseudonym. When Mason returns to the estate, he immediately resumes his sexual predation of the Hall’s younger female servants, unknown to Jane. This is just a brief introduction to the web of complex relationships among the people who will reside at the Hall during the holidays. Ms. Gray draws us into their lives and the social strata, with its attendant bigotry, greed, ignorance, repressed sexuality, and superstition – all of the little gems of a great Gothic novel. I was sufficiently captivated by the story to put the book down only when I absolutely had to. There are wonderful historical touches throughout the book, such as the introduction of a sin eater and the visit of Charles Dickens with Jane. The author has done her research well, which is what makes the book a rich treat. While some historical romances drown in detail and reading them is like plowing through mud, the pacing and descriptions in Twelfth Night at Eyre Hall is robust and full of twists and turns. And the cover is an eye-catcher! I strongly recommend Ms. Gray’s second outing with Jane Eyre and look forward to reading the third book in the Trilogy. I purchased this book for review. It can be found on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Twelfth-Night-Eyre-Hall-Trilogy-ebook/ and Goodreads: http://www.amazon.com/Twelfth-Night-Eyre-Hall-Trilogy-ebook/ About the author Luccia Gray was born in London and has a degree in Modern Foreign Languages. She now lives in southern Spain with her husband and dotes on her three children and three grandchildren. When she is not writing, she teaches English at an Adult Education Center and is an English Language tutor at the Spanish Distance University. She can be found at her blog, Rereading Jane Eyre: http://lucciagray.com/, Facebook and Twitter: @ LucciaGray 0 0
For some time, I have steadfastly held to being award-free on this blog, despite the row of awards listed alongside my blog (really!). I am so honored when someone gives me an award! These are fellow bloggers who have been role models, friends, and supporters and who enrich my life. I recently was given the Champions Award by Sue Vincent, an incredible lady with wondrous stories to tell, journeys to take us on, and a keen eye for beauty. Oh, and a dog with whom I’ve fallen in love. So I am making an exception in accepting this. Seumas Gallacher (http://seumasgallacher.com/, prolific Scot writer (have you seen him looking magnificent in his kilt?) created the award as a means of saying thank you to those readers and writer who go the extra mile in support of others. So this has wonderful meaning. There are no rules, just to pass this on to worthy people. So thank you to everyone who visits saylingaway with their thoughtful comments and support! Here are some bloggers whom I would like to honor in turn. If you have a no awards policy, no problem! Jemima Pett at jemimapett.com Katherine E. Pitts at http://iwishilivedinalibrary.blogspot.com/ Pamela Wight at http://roughwighting.net/ Barb Vitelli at https://bvitelli2002.wordpress.com/ D. Wallace Peach at http://mythsofthemirror.com/ Recipients, if you choose to accept and wish to propagate the CHAMPIONS AWARDS, please do the following: Post this Award Sticker on your blog, with the hashtag #CHAMPIONSAWARDS Acknowledge the sponsor of your Awards. Choose at least five of your own nominees and advise them accordingly, attaching these 5 guidelines. Keep it simple… no need for explanations for the Awards… we know how great these folks are. You are free to give out these Awards as frequently as you wish. 0 0
My son is a Staff Sergeant in the 101st Airborne, and I recently ran across this tribute to Darrell”Shifty” Powers, written by another true American hero, Chuck Yeager. Belatedly, by some years. Staff Sergeant Darrell C. “Shifty” Powers (13 March 1923 – 17 June 2009) was a non-commissioned officer with Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry in the 101st Airborne Division during WW II, a member of our Greatest Generation. The 101st Airborne played a large role in the liberation of Europe. Powers contributed to, and was portrayed in, the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers. We should not forget. “Shifty” By Chuck Yeager Shifty volunteered for the airborne in WWII and served with Easy Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of the 101st Airborne Infantry. If you’ve seen Band of Brothers on HBO or the History Channel, you know Shifty. His character appears in all 10 episodes, and Shifty himself is interviewed in several of them. I met Shifty in the Philadelphia airport several years ago. I didn’t know who he was at the time. I just saw an elderly gentleman having trouble reading his ticket. I offered to help, assured him that he was at the right gate, and noticed the “Screaming Eagle,” the symbol of the 101st Airborne, on his hat. Making conversation, I asked him if he’d been in the 101st Airborne or if his son was serving. He said quietly that he had been in the 101st. I thanked him for his service, then asked him when he served,and how many jumps he made. Quietly and humbly, he said “Well, I guess I signed up in 1941 or so, and was in until sometime in 1945 …” at which point my heart skipped. At that point, again, very humbly, he said “I made the 5 training jumps at Toccoa, and then jumped into Normandy . . . do you know where Normandy is?” At this point my heart stopped. I told him “yes, I know exactly where Normandy is, and I know what D-Day was.” At that point he said “I also made a second jump into Holland, into Arnhem .” I was standing with a genuine war hero … and then I realized that it was June, just after the anniversary of D-Day. I asked Shifty if he was on his way back from France , and he said “Yes… And it ‘s real sad because, these days, so few of the guys are left, and those that are, lots of them can’t make the trip.” My heart was in my throat and I didn’t know what to say. I helped Shifty get onto the plane and then realized he was back in coach while I was in First Class. I sent the flight attendant back to get him and said that I wanted to switch seats. When Shifty came forward, I got up out of the seat and told him I wanted him to have it, that I’d take his in coach. He said “No, son, you enjoy that seat. Just knowing that there are still some who remember what we did and who still care is enough to make an old man very happy.” His eyes were filling up as he said it. And mine are brimming up now as I write this. Shifty died on Jan. l7, 2009 after fighting cancer. There was no parade. No big event in Staples Center . No wall-to-wall, back-to-back 24×7 news coverage. No weeping fans on television. And that’s not right! Let’s give Shifty his own memorial service, on line, in our own quiet way. Please forward this email to everyone you know. Especially to the veterans. Rest in peace, Shifty. Chuck Yeager, Maj. General [ret.] 0 0
