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Let's Meet Author Sara Jayne Townsend!

10/25/2015

2 Comments

 
​In the spirit of Halloween, I would like to introduce author Sara Jayne Townsend on the blog today! Sara writes super spooky stories, including her latest horror novel, The Whispering Death. Welcome, Sara! 
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Sara’s Bio:
 
Sara Jayne Townsend is a UK-based writer of crime and horror, and someone tends to die a horrible death in all of her stories.  She was born in Cheshire in 1969, but spent most of the 1980s living in Canada after her family emigrated there.  She now lives in Surrey with two cats and her guitarist husband Chris.  She co-founded the T Party Writers’ Group in 1994, and remains Chair Person.
 
She decided she was going to be a published novelist when she was 10 years old and finished her first novel a year later.  It took 30 years of submitting, however, to fulfil that dream.
 
Her latest horror novel, THE WHISPERING DEATH, about a group of live action roleplayers who unwittingly release an ancient evil during a game, has recently been released by Kensington Gore Publishing.
 
Learn more about Sara and her writing at her website (http://sarajaynetownsend.weebly.com) and her blog (http://sayssara.wordpress.com). You can also follow her on Twitter (https://twitter.com/sarajtownsend) and Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3500282.Sara_Jayne_Townsend) or join her Facebook Group, “Imaginary Friends” (https://www.facebook.com/groups/301037281383). 
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​THE WHISPERING DEATH BLURB
 
When a group of live action role-players perform a ritual as part of a game, they unwittingly unleash an ancient evil that tears their world apart.  The reanimated corpse of a long-dead magic user, corrupted by powerful dark magic, offers a promise of unlimited power, but at a terrible price.  Having helped open this Pandora’s box, Mark and Elizabeth must race against time to close it again – before it’s too late.
​A LIFELONG LOVE AFFAIR
By Sara Jayne Townsend
 
Like many writers, I have always loved reading. I don’t remember a time I wasn’t reading, like I don’t remember a time I wasn’t making up stories. Growing up in the North of England in the 1970s, our family did not buy many books, but we took frequent trips to the local library. I remember the children’s library being a smaller room off the main library. My mother used to park us in that room and go off to choose her own books, returning for us later when it was time to check out our choices.
 
Books were not categorised by age back then quite as rigidly as they are now. I have a memory that the picture books, for very young children, were in a bin at the front of the room. The other books may have been vaguely ordered in age, with the books for older children at the back of the room. But I’m trying to reach back nearly 40 years for that memory, and if they were I didn’t pay much attention, because I used to browse all the books and pick out anything that looked interesting.
 
As a child having a story read to me before bed was part of the nightly ritual, and my mother used to read my library choices to me. If I’d picked a book that was rather too old for me, and she decided the content was rather violent, she used to skip sections. But I was following along, and if she did that I’d pick up on it and point out that she’d missed a bit. Eventually we agreed that if the section of the book was so nasty she refused to read it aloud, I’d read it silently to myself and when I was done she could pick up the story again.
 
We’d be at the library every two or three weeks, returning the books we’d read and checking out new ones. It was always a thrill for me to discover new books, but for the first twenty or so years of my life my reading experience was generally library books – both through my school and through the local library. I was happy with that, because I could devour far more books that way than I could ever afford to buy.
 
The situation changed when I got a full time job in a book shop. Suddenly buying books became far more appealing – not only was I surrounded by books all day, but I was earning money with which to buy them, and on top of that, I got a staff discount.
 
That was the point at which I started buying books instead of borrowing them. I loved the fact that I didn’t have to give them back, I could keep these treasures and surround myself with them at home. Second hand books have also always had an appeal – not only are they cheaper than new books, there’s a mystery about their history that is attractive. Who else has read this book other than you? Did they enjoy it just as much?
 
For the last 30 years or so, I have been collecting books. So has my husband, which for much of our life together has caused a storage problem. In every home we’ve owned together, we’ve had to build book shelves, double stack our books on them and still stow quite a lot of them in the attic because there’s not enough space and neither of us can bear letting books go. When we moved into our current home – a four bedroomed house – three years ago, for the first time we had enough space to create a library and we had enough room to display all of our books. Well, mostly. They are still double stacked.
 
The advent of the e-reader changed my reading habits again. Since I do most of my reading on the train to and from work, I find that my Kindle is invaluable. It saves space, and if I finish a book on the journey to work, I can start the next one without having to lug an extra book around with me. And buying Kindle books is so easy. I browse the Kindle store as I used to browse book stores, often giving new authors a try because I like the sound of the blurb, or the cover catches my eye. And the big bonus is that no storage space is necessary, since all of my books are in cyber-space.
 
This doesn’t mean that I’ve stopped buying paper books. But generally I buy them at conventions and launches these days, and I find I browse book stores a lot less than I used to, which in some ways makes me sad. On the other hand, the books I do buy are often from small presses, which are often not available in chain book stores and reflect another way in which the publishing world is changing.
 
Throughout the evolution of my reading habits, one thing has not changed – I still devour books and get through at least one a week. As a child I was never bored as long as I had a book to read, and that’s still the same as an adult. Wherever I go, I always have a book or my Kindle with me. You never know when you might have five minutes’ spare to bury your nose in a book.
 
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Author Mindy Mymudes and The Magical Drool Mysteries

9/21/2015

4 Comments

 
Oh, happy day on the blog! Today my guests are Mindy Mymudes and the magical basset hound, George. Mindy is the author of the middle grade Magical Drool Mysteries. Welcome, Mindy and George!

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Iva: Mindy, I hear that you run with the Muddy Paws Pack up north. What’s it like being a packmate?

Mindy: It means I get to hunt for food while the rest of the pack naps. Actually, I am a top ranked obedience trainer, owner, handler, and a rally judge. The dogs keep me on my toes and we have a lot of fun together.

Iva: That is most excellent! I bet your packmates just love you! What gave you the idea for the Magical Drool Mysteries? Can you tell us about the books and characters?

Mindy: The Magical Drool Mysteries are based on real events of a real dog and his boy. George is an egotistical magical basset hound familiar. Between him, his Girlpup, a 12-year-old witch in training, Karly, and their Auntie Heather, they solve mysteries. Along the way they show the importance of taking care of the Earth.

Iva: Are the books similar to Nancy Drool books?

Mindy: I don’t think so. This isn’t gender specific, and the mysteries are paranormal. Not too many dragons in the Nancy Drew mysteries. It is a nice play on words.

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Iva: Please tell us a bit about Tillie’s Tale, your most recent mystery.

Mindy: Once again, George has to find an answer. Tillie, the puppygirl his packsibling Joey was given in “George Knows” attracts a ghost who haunts her. George has to find a way to make the ghost disappear. During his hunt for the answer, Auntie Heather and Karly, his Girlpup, witch-in-training, learn about some forgotten American History.

Iva: What do you like to do for fun when you’re not writing?

Mindy: I’m basically a soccer mom for dogs. Due to a disability, I can’t do as much as I used to, so a friend trains and runs my dogs in agility. The oldest, an obedience trial champion, is almost 15 and does nosework. We go to obedience lessons and I teach at a couple clubs. My life went to the dogs.

Iva: A life with the dogs is a fabulous thing! George has been waiting patiently here for his turn with some questions, keeping himself busy with some smelltasting and such.

Hi, George! What’s it like being a witch’s familiar? Please tell us what a regular day for you looks like!


George: What’s it like being a Peep? If Packmom or Karly remember to feed me, I have breakfast. Then I nap. If I have to move because the sun isn’t where I left it, I will wiggle over and catch it. Since that’s a lot of work, I take another snooze. When Karly gets home, she takes me to check out my pee mail and do my thing. After she cleans up after me, we head home and I have to remind her to feed me. Usually, she does her homework and I sleep at her feet. When she’s finished, we’ll head over to Aunt Heather’s and teach Karly spells. Things like healing broken animals and Peeps, what herbs do what, is that a RABBIT! RABBITRABBITRABBIT… oh. False alarm, just a stuffed squeaky. Is that for me?

Iva : YES! It is a stuffed rabbit squeaky! Here you go. Just a little thank you for being on my blog today.

So, I noticed you do a lot of smelltasting. What’s your favorite smelltaste?

George: It truly depends on the moment. It’s like you Peeps, sometimes you want cake and other times you want steak. Although the earthy dungflygrasssweet of rabbit droppings are always a favorite.

Iva: Oh, yes, rabbit droppings. I heard that flavor was becoming super popular. It might be nice in a candle scent for sure!

What do you like best about solving mysteries, George?

George: Getting the hamburger at the end. You Peeps don’t know about the best part because the lady with the hands, my secret-ary stops writing before the good part!

Iva: Of course, the hamburger! Oh, wait a second… we’re having some commotion here. Oh… it’s Lupo! The non-magical Belgian Shepalingo. He’s part Belgian Malinois, German Shepherd, Malamute, and Dingo. He’s just busted down the door because he’s so excited to meet you.
What's that, Lupo? Oh, I think he has a few questions for you too, George.
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Lupo: What's it like being magical? Do you get better treats and toys?
I love my purple dinosaur.

George: The pay is bad. It's a lot of work, and it's far easier just to be a pet. However, there are times where magical drool is useful. It's fun to see my Boypup skid across the floor.

Iva: I can tell Lupo really wishes he had magic drool, too! His tail is  wagging a lot right now.

Lupo: Do you have any advice for a non-magical dog?

George: Sniff a lot, eat when you can, pee when you can, and make sure you turn three times before going to sleep. It keeps the ghosts from haunting or possessing your body.

Iva: Great advice, George! Mindy and George, where can readers find you on the ever-so-amazing internet?

http://mindymymudes.weebly.com/blog

https://www.facebook.com/Author-Mindy-Mymudes-486126501426333/timeline/

https://twitter.com/GeorgeBasset

Iva: A big thank you once again to Mindy and George for visiting the blog today. For Peeps and all dogs big and small, please feel free to comment below!
 


4 Comments

Let's Meet Author Suzanne de Montigny!

4/1/2015

6 Comments

 
Today my guest on the blog is author Suzanne de Montigny! Her new book is The Shadow of the Unicorn II: The Deception. Welcome, Suzanne! Please tell us a little bit about yourself.


Well, here are some interesting facts about me:
1.     I talk to my bichon frisé like he’s a normal human being. And yes, Buddy does answer back. (Funny how my mouth moves while he talks!)
2.     When my son took up skate boarding, I thought I’d be the cool mom and learn it too. Unfortunately, I ended up on my back and paying a visit to emergency.
3.     My two boys and I fiddle. (But they’re way better than me!)
4.     My favourite season is autumn so I can kick the leaves when no one’s looking.
5.     My husband says I snore so loud it wakes him up.

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I talk to my dog, Lupo, all the time! Lupo does a lot of complaining about things. What is your favorite place in the world?

Well…I like a few places best: Paris; Sydney, Australia; and Quebec City.

All those places sound fabulous! I've only been to Paris but I'm hoping to visit the rest! What is your favorite song?

Of course, it changes all the time, but right now it’s Lennie Gallant’s Peter’s Dream.

When and why did you begin writing?

I loved writing as a child and wrote my first unicorn novella when I was in grade six. It was six chapters long and ended tragically. But I truly became serious about writing after my father died eight years ago. I secretly like to think he put me up to it because at the funeral reception, I found myself telling everyone I felt like writing a book and couldn’t understand why. I finally did the following spring and haven’t stopped since.

What influences your writing?

Things that happen to me in everyday life. For example, my unpublished teen fiddling mystery, A Town Bewitched, grew exponentially from our first experience in fiddling camp. We were so crazy about fiddling. Then one day, I thought, what if that craze happened to an entire town, only there was something really wrong with the fiddler…

A lot of the plot in my second unicorn novel came from an experience as a child when I wasn’t allowed to play with a native girl (this was back in the sixties). It haunted me most of my life, but I’m glad to say, I found her on FB and apologized after nearly 50 years. She never responded, but at least I reached out to her. We were both victims of the times.

What do you do when you’re not writing?

Why, fiddling, of course. That and snowboarding.

Those both sound like a ton of fun! What do you look for in a book when you sit down to read for fun?

I like good, clean fun. No swearing or bodily functions. I love to read mysteries, ghost stories, historical novels, that sort of thing. And I hate to admit this, but I love the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. Nothing makes me laugh harder.

If you could meet anyone in the world, dead or alive, who would it be and what would you say to them?

My dad, I guess. I’d ask him, “Do I do you proud?”


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Tell us about the current book you’re promoting.

I thought you’d never ask. It’s an awesome tween fantasy novel, entitled, The Shadow of the Unicorn II: The Deception. Of course, it’s the sequel to The Shadow of the Unicorn: The Legacy. And, BTW, I’m writing the final of the trilogy. Anyway, here’s the book trailer:http://youtu.be/xZgQSBowrFE

And it’s on for only $2.99 on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Unicorn-Deception-Book-ebook/dp/B00TVTPB50/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1424798163&sr=1-1&keywords=the+shadow+of+the+unicorn+II%3A+The+Deception

Woo hoo! I love unicorns! How can we find you? Website, Facebook, blog, etc?

www.suzannedemontigny.com

https://www.facebook.com/unicorngirl52?ref=hl

https://twitter.com/sfierymountain

http://suzannesthoughtsfortheday/blogspot.ca


Is there anything else you’d like to share?

Yes, most important of all. I give half of the proceeds of all my unicorn novels to the Third World Eye Care Society, a group of eye specialists who travel to third world countries delivering thousands of pairs of used eyeglasses and performing eye surgery for free. 

Wow! That is amazing, Suzanne! Thanks for supporting such a great cause. It was really great to have you on the blog today! I can't wait to read your new book… it looks awesome!

Readers, please feel free to comment and ask questions for Suzanne!
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Conda Douglas and The Mall Fairies

2/24/2015

8 Comments

 
Today I've got author Conda Douglas in for a visit. Welcome, Conda! 

Hi all, I'm Conda, author of all sorts of things. It's great being on Iva's blog, thank you Iva! And I have a couple of things for you all, a short story and a recipe from my Mall Fairies series. And right now the first and second novels in my series, plus a stand alone short story are in a book bundle for only $1.99 here! Scroll down for the short story and recipe. And please, ask me anything in the comments. I may not have the answer, but I sure love the questions.


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In The Mall Fairies: Exile Swoop the fairy lives in the attic of a shopping mall and loves it. She’s terrified of Outside, where fairies can die. But when Swoop finds her best friend One Wing in the company of a human, she determines she’ll do anything to save him from being exiled Outside.

In The Mall Fairies: War: Once, the fairies lived hidden, safe in the attic of a shopping mall. No longer. Now the fairies must become warriors to get a necessary potion from the troll-like pixies. Now teenage fairy Swoop must discover a way to save her fairy clan from death. Can she stop a war? 


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(Conda's note: this is a story and recipe from my cookbook The Mall Fairies Sweet Tooth Cookbook. It's about the pixies that are introduced in the second in my Mall Fairies' trilogy, The Mall Fairies: War. Enjoy meeting Flit and the rest of the pixies!)

FLIT AND THE PUMPKIN BREAD AND BARS AND...

"What, in the Big Digger's name, are we going to do with an entire pumpkin?" Cheer, the leader of the pixie clan glared at Flit. Cheer sat straight on her rock—okay, throne, as she insisted it be called—and leaned forward.

Flit fingered the hem of her mouse skin cloak. She'd thought that Cheer would be pleased with what Flit and her friends had managed to find tucked away in a human's garden and haul home. There were times when she hated her part time job of scavenger—Dumpster diver--provider of foodstuffs for the pixie clan. She gestured at the human's fist-sized pumpkin. "It's a tiny pumpkin."

"For human's maybe, not for five-inch-tall pixies. For pixies, it's big enough for all of us to live on for a week."

Flit nodded. "Exactly."

Cheer slumped on her rock. "My fault for sending a healer out instead of a hunter."

"Pumpkin is very good for you," Flit the healer said.

Cheer sighed. "Right, but I'm sending all the complaints your way."

… Three days later …

"Roast pumpkin, pumpkin soup, cold pumpkin soup—no more!" Digger, Flit's best friend, stood in front of a large group of angry pixies confronting Flit.

"But—" Flit looked over at the pile of cooked pumpkin, the rather large pile of remaining cooked pumpkin.

Digger saw her looking. "Yeah, I hate to waste food too, especially food I helped you drag home and then cook, but we're making an exception this time." The other pixies nodded in agreement.

"But—" Flit cast her gaze around as she tried to think of a way to use up the pumpkin—her gaze fell on the stack of honeycomb freshly stolen from a hive. Aha.

"What if we had it for dessert instead?" Flit asked.

"Dessert?"

"You know, make up some pumpkin bread or bars with acorn flour and the honey—"

"Yeah, yeah, that sounds—delicious," Digger said. The other pixies nodded again.

"And it's healthy too," Flit had to add.

PUMPKIN BARS
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves (can be omitted, but why?)
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 eggs
1 and 2/3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil (I use canola)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large can (15oz) pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)

Sift dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, salt & soda) and set aside. In a large bowl, combine eggs, sugar, oil, vanilla and pumpkin until light and fluffy. Add the dry ingredients, gradually. Mix well.

Spread batter in a greased 15x10x1 baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 – 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool completely.

For a richer dessert, frost with one of Grandma MacDougall's frostings (recipes follows Molasses Cake recipe in The Mall Fairies Sweet Tooth Cookbook).

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Conda grew up in the ski resort of Sun Valley, Idaho, in her folk’s funky art gallery. She’s traveled the world and her own tiny office, writing all the while. She delights in writing her popular tween fantasy Mall Fairies series and getting fairy Swoop, pixie Flit, and their human companion, Grace, into magical and fantastical trouble. The inspiration for her Mall Fairies came from the sparrows living in the shopping mall Towne Square Mall in Boise, Idaho. Next up, trouble with trolls in the last of the trilogy: The Mall Fairies: Destiny.

For more about Conda visit:

Blog: http://condascreativecenter.blogspot.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/conda.v.douglas

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/condadouglas/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Conda_V



Conda, thanks so much for coming by today. I can't wait to read The Mall Fairies series! I'm SUPER excited to try out the Pumpkin Bars recipe…yum!
 

            


8 Comments

The Wickware Sagas

9/15/2014

2 Comments

 
Today I have Penny Estelle in for a visit to talk about her book series, The Wickware Sagas. Welcome, Penny!
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Good morning, Iva.  I am so excited to be on your blog today to talk about my series, The Wickware Sagas and … dum da dum dum...Time Travel!

The Wickware Sagas, in a nutshell, is about a 7th/8th grade history teacher, Miss Wickware, and the assignment of an oral report due on the historical subject or event that is drawn from a box.

Somehow...some way, a few of her students have found themselves back in time, up close and personal, meeting his/her drawn subject.  The million dollar question is how do these kids go from 21st Century back to the 14th, 17th, or 18th Century?  The students are pretty close-mouthed on the subject.



Story on the street points to Miss Wickware, herself.  Lights flicker, her eyes flash, electricity runs down her arms, sparking at her finger nails.  Nobody sees these strange phenomenons except the chosen student!

Does Miss Wickware possess magical powers?  Is she a witch?  From another planet?  Maybe just a teacher who is passionate about history and has a few tricks up her sleeves.  Who knows....   Maybe those students ate something that didn't agree with them and they all had nightmares.  Doesn't sound too likely.

As I said before – nobody's talking!




I am very thankful to MuseItUp Publishing for taking a chance with The Wickware Sagas. There are five stories in all.  Billy Cooper's Awesome Nightmare, Book 1 - Ride of a Lifetime, Book 2, Flash to the Past, Book 3, Bumped Back In Time, Book 4 and Riches to Rags, Book 5.  All five stories are also available in the printed version of The Wickware Sagas.

http://museituppublishing.com/bookstore/index.php/our-authors/55-our-authors/authors-e/146-author-19

http://www.amazon.com/The-Wickware-Sagas-Penny-Estelle/dp/1499179502

I also have two other middle grade stories out, Hike Up Devil’s Mountain and A Float Down the Canal. I also have stories out there for the…”young at heart”.  More about me and my stories can be found....

http://www.amazon.com/Penny-Estelle/e/B006S62XBY

www.pennystales.com

www.pennyestelle.blogspot.com

https://twitter.com/Pennystales

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5820078.Penny_Estelle

http://pinterest.com/pennyestelle/pennystales/

I would love to offer a PDF copy of my stories in The Wickware Sagas to somebody that leaves a comment.

Thanks again, Iva, for having me today!





Thanks so much for the visit today, Penny! Great to have you on the blog!

2 Comments

Let's Meet Bryan Fields!

9/12/2014

0 Comments

 
Today I've got Bryan Fields in for a chat. Bryan writes amazing books about Dragonesses! For those of you that know me well, you know I am a huge fan of all things dragon-related. Welcome, Bryan!

Please tell us about yourself!


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I’m 50 and live in Denver.  Noelle and I have been married just over twenty years and have one daughter, Alissa. She’s totally unimpressed with anything I write because it doesn’t have any Pokemon in it.  I was born in Las Vegas but grew up in Denver, so this is home.  I've been writing since grade school, but only started getting paid for it about seven years ago as part of the design team for an online game called Istaria.

Odd facts: I spent three years as a volunteer victim advocate for a local police department, helping people cope with the aftermath of violent crimes.  It was a great experience, and a valuable resource as a writer, but I’ll skip the details.  Noelle and I had a chance to work for Wizards of the Coast on an internal Forgotten Realms reference project and I worked as a mapper on the Realms Atlas.  That led to a night out with the WoTC design team during GenCon that year.  Things get strange when a dozen amazingly creative people get hammered and the boss isn’t around.    


Denver is a fabulous city. What is your favorite place in the world?
Home.  Favorite place to visit would have to be Las Vegas.   It’s so quintessentially American – money, privilege, bread and circuses.  An entire city built on false hope and poor math skills.  Every building—every brick—in the city, every one, is all that remains of someone’s dreams of wealth and success, and people still come.  Millions of them, every year, year after year, because hope is stronger than reason and logic and math and reality itself.  How can you not admire that? 


What is your favorite song?
Too many to narrow down, But Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man is one of the top ones.


(Taking a quick moment to listen to the song online.) Ah ha! YES! I know this song. Very inspirational! So now, please tell us… when and why did you begin writing?
In grade school, right after I finished my first 1,000 word short story.  It was a piece of Pern fan fiction and to date I’ve been successful in making sure no one but my mother ever reads it.


What influences your writing?
Music, coffee, world events, games… anything can serve as inspiration under the right circumstances.  

Coffee is my very good friend as well! So delicious and motivational. What do you do when you're not writing?
That would be when I’m sleeping, so I’m probably dreaming, flouncing around, snoring, and fighting with the dog over the covers. 


I live with a very large German Shepard mix. He would love to fight me for the covers if he got a chance! Thankfully, he now has his very own, super comfy, orthopedic dog bed. What do you look for when you sit down to read for fun?
Memorable characters, an inspiring vision, command of the language, and an involving story.  You don’t need epic storylines, mass slaughter, or indecipherable intrigue to tell a story people will remember all their lives; Dr. Seuss did it with nothing more than, “A person is a person, no matter how small”. 
Of course, Dr. Seuss was the greatest writer in the history of the English language,  so your results may vary.



If you could meet anyone in the world, dead or alive, who would it be and what would you say to them?
There was a guy named John Gillespie Magee, Jr., an American aviator who died in 1941 while serving in the Royal Canadian Air Force.  He wrote this little poem called High Flight…
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air....

Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace.
Where never lark, or even eagle flew --
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
- Put out my hand, and touched the face of God."
  
He was nineteen when he wrote that, and he did it in the cockpit of a Spitfire flying over Wales.  I don’t know what I could say to him that would mean anything, but, as long as we’re dreaming, I’d love to see what he comes up with after a ride in an SR-71 and a couple of days looking out the windows of the International Space Station.

Tell us about the current book you’re promoting.
The Land Beyond all Dreams is the sequel to Life With a Fire-Breathing Girlfriend.  Our narrator, David Fraser has a world of trouble on his hands. Well, more like three worlds of trouble…
His mother is dying of lung cancer. His employer’s experimental weight-loss drug is turning people into flesh-eating psychopaths. And Ingrim Thain, an undead necromancer, has murdered the program’s research director and taken over his body. If all that weren’t enough, a cat with working thumbs just moved into David’s house.

Thain doesn’t even want to be enemies—he offers David wealth and power beyond anything he’s ever known. He even offers to cure David’s mother and spare those he loves from the coming war. All Thain wants is for David to stay quiet about the drug’s side effects.
Do the right thing and his mother dies. Do the wrong thing, and his mother lives while billions of others die.
For David, the solution is simple. Thain’s appetite for conquest endangers not only Earth, but Rose’s world and every other world Thain learns about. Thain must be stopped.

But how is he going to kill someone whose will has already proven stronger than death itself?



 

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Woo hoo! I can't wait to read the new book! How can we find you? Website, Facebook, blog, etc?
https://www.facebook.com/BryanFieldsAuthor

http://laughingotterslair.blogspot.com/


Okay, now for an excerpt from "The Land Beyond All Dreams":

The vet tech’s name tag said, ‘Robin’.  She took her stethoscope out of her ears and said, “Mr. Fraser, this cat shouldn’t be alive.” 

“Oh, good,” I said.  “If he’s dead, I don’t have to pay for shots, right?”   I gave her the most obnoxious used-car-salesman smile I could muster.  “Do you think a zombie cat would be enough to get me on Letterman?”

“He’s not actually dead,” Robin replied.  “Not completely, anyway.”

“So he’s only mostly dead.”  I shrugged.  “Well, that’s good, because otherwise I’d be stuck with going through his pockets for loose change, and he doesn’t have any pockets.”

The tech put her stethoscope away and backed out the staff door to the exam room.  “Please stay here,” she said.  “I’ll get Dr. Byers to come in and talk to you.”  She pulled the door closed behind her, leaving Rose and I alone with our temporary (and only mostly-dead) cat.  For his part, Thirteen folded his paws under himself and began doing a great impression of a meatloaf.

“Why are you teasing that poor child?” Rose asked.  “She’s already terrified of Thirteen.”

“I don’t like doctors who think they know everything,” I said.  “I had to deal with people like that over and over again when Mom first got her diagnosis.  All these doctors telling her what she was doing wrong and how long she was going to live, talking about treatment protocols as though she were a small variable in a huge, static equation.  It took her a year to get the team she has now together.  It may just be for pain management, but they treat her like a person instead of a case number.  They don’t agree with her decision, but they respect it and take care of her.”

A middle-aged woman wearing Hawaiian scrubs with a red bow tie and mismatched suspenders festooned with buttons came through the staff door.  She smiled and said, “Hello.  I’m the Doctor.  I hear we have a zombie cat today.  That’s just fab, I’ve got to see this.”

I smiled-for real, this time-and asked, “Just, ‘the Doctor’?”

“The one, the only, and the best,” she replied.  “At least until Dr. Warren gets here at noon.  Then I’m the best but not the only.  So, let’s see this big fella.”  She coaxed Thirteen into a sitting position and listened to his chest.  She pressed on his hips, shoulders, and stomach, looked at his teeth, and waved a light in his eyes.  She did a double take looking at his paws and pulled one up to get a better look.  Thirteen grabbed her finger, but she didn’t jump or pull away.  She got a closer look and shook her head.  “I hope your friend here is fixed, because we are in for a world of pain if his physical characteristics enter the general feline population.”


That got a response.  Thirteen backed away from Dr. Byers, making a wailing, full-throated battle cry.  His claws came out with an audible ‘snickt’, poised and ready for slashing.

Rose snickered.  “I think that’s a ‘no’ on becoming a eunuch.  Can’t say I blame him.”

“Doc, I doubt your liability insurance is up to the damage he’ll do to this place if we try to have him snipped.  How about a general wellness check and nothing else?”  I looked at Thirteen and asked, “Will that work for you?”

He retracted his claws and settled down, but his tail was still lashing and his eyes were locked on the doctor’s hands.


Dr. Byers held her hands up in surrender.  “We don’t do anything without the customer’s consent.  Just a wellness check it is.  Let’s start by checking for a microchip.”  She took a hand-held scanner out of a drawer and passed it over Thirteen’s back.  She paused, tapped a few buttons, and shook her head before smacking the side of the scanner.

I said, “You know, Doc, percussive maintenance is something best left to tech support professionals.  You have an IT person around somewhere?”

“No, but we have Lisa.”  Dr. Byers opened the staff door and called out, “Lisa, could you come here a minute?  The chip scanner is on strike again.”


A redhead with sleek, narrow-framed glasses and more hair than Rose and I combined leaned into the room.  “Are you using the AVID or the Trovan?  The AVID has issues with the old Home Again chips.”

“The Trovan, and that’s not the issue.  I’m getting a signal.  Have a look.”  Byers handed the reader to Lisa and stood back.

“Hmm…”  Lisa flipped a few switches, tapped a button, and said, “I think I’ve got it.  The chip may just be really slow to power up.  Let’s see what we’ve got.”  She studied the readout for a few seconds more before shaking her head.  “The coil is powered up, but the chip itself is fried.  All I’m getting off of it is garbage.”

Byers asked, “What would cause that?”

“Physical damage to the integrated circuit, but anything that could damage the chip would leave scars on the animal.”  Lisa set the scanner down and donned latex gloves.  “Let’s see if we can find anything.”

She reached for Thirteen and a small key fob dangling from her watch started shrieking.  Lisa pulled her hand back, muttering, “That’s not good.”  She took her watch off and pulled a leather case out of one of the pockets on her lab coat.

“Angry cat detector?”  I asked.   

“No,” she replied.  “Personal radiation detector.”  She took a device the size of a box of breath mints out of the case and plugged it into her phone.  “And this is an analyzer/dosimeter that came out in Japan after the Fukushima release.  Yeah, there’s an app for that.”

Lisa placed the detector next to Thirteen and the radiation graph on her phone display started spiking up.  She watched it until it settled down to a steady range and tapped the median line.  “Your friend is giving off about two millisieverts an hour.  That’s about as much as getting a mammogram every fifteen minutes.” 

“No wonder he felt odd,” Rose muttered.  She cleared her throat and asked, “Is that level dangerous to us?”

“The annual safety limit for people who work with radioactive materials on a daily basis is five hundred millisieverts.  A year living with him will put you over three times that.  If you want him as a pet, I suggest you buy some lead underwear.” 


Picture
Thank you, Bryan, for coming to visit the blog! It was a pleasure having you! And to finish up, here we have Thirteen, the amazing radioactive zombie-cat. 

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    Iva Valentino

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    Iva is an author, dancer, & lover of books. 

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