Cynthia A. Morgan's Blog, page 114
May 10, 2018
This Silence
[image error]
I have been quiet this week due to having just moved to my new home in Alexandria Virginia. I have been settling in as well as tackling the daunting task of learning a new job. I hope that you are all enjoying a fabulous May. Please know that I shall return as soon as possible, but as we are preparing to move again to a new condo across town at the end of May my return may be sporadic until we are completely resettled.
Thank you for keeping me in your thoughts and continuing to visit BnV for any of the guest bloggers I have scheduled during my hiatus. As ever I wish you all the best blessings and happiness.
~Morgan~
May 7, 2018
The Heartbeat – An #Insight to #Poetry
[image error]
Poetry is music, a song without instrumentation; a symphony of rhythm, meter, timing, flow and magic. It is a conundrum. The expression of an emotion through the use of language that seeks to instill emotion, but how does one create a concerto of syllables and verbs, adjectives, nouns and pronouns in order to adequately convey something that is often intangible.
Take love for example. How does anyone truly express such an inexpressible concept? A sensation so powerful it overrules all logical thought, yet so delicate it can be whispered in the softest tones and still be understood? It is exceedingly blissful and agonizingly painful; a tempest of temptation temptingly tempestuous.
Some poets are born to spin emotion into lyrical gold. Shakespeare, Poe, Blake, Dunn; they all had a unique style that reached hearts and minds within mere measures of words and are even today, hundreds of years after their lives, evoking emotion through the power of words. We, as contemporary poets, all seek to emulate, in our own way, magic similar to theirs; we all strive to convey emotion in an enduring and poignant manner.
Poetry is music. A Heartbeat; a pulse; a tempo to which the heart and mind dance. For some, creating that music is easy; for others a struggle. For me, it is magic that is indescribable; a romance between my hands that form the words and my spirit that feels them. I write with my eyes closed, waiting. Heart quiet in restful calm or pounding in passionate inspiration, and Spirit open, willing, questing, seeking, listening, as the words and images come tumbling down. Down from Heaven.
Down from the Sweet, sparkling heavens;
Down from the clouds of thundering rain,
Down from the Starlight of glittering Refrain,
Down from the Breathless moon that Sighs,
Down from the Whispers of Silken skies.
I am there, an open vessel while my Spirit sings the Sweetest tune I have ever heard. Though I cannot physically hear it, though I cannot listen to the manifestation of music like I do when I connect to my playlists, I hear the serenade as clearly as that faltering music. The melody comes down.
Down from Heaven,
Down from the sweet, sparkling heavens,
Down from the clouds of Glittering glow,
Down from the bastion o’er the rushing flow.
Down like a Heralding triumphant horn,
Down from the Endless expanse of morn.
Eyes closed, waiting. Heart Quiet, listening. Spirit Willing, Questing. All for the lyrical Beauty that spills like an endlessly cascading fall of sparkling water from that inestimably breathtaking Source. I write, write as fast as I am able, unconcerned about spelling, punctuation, context, verbiage. I sit in Humble wonder as the Blessed words pour Down.
Down from Heaven.
Down from the Sweet, Sparkling heavens.
Down from the rainbow of Jubilant Praise,
Down like a star falling in radiant blaze,
Down like symphonies of ethereal balm
Down like thunderous, calamitous calm!
.
~Morgan~
.
.
.
Beautiful Original Artwork: heartbeat_by_moonbeam1212
Save
Save
May 6, 2018
#GuestBloggers – How to #Edit #Fiction by Kathryn Wells
[image error]
.
Knowing what to do after you’ve *finally* finished the first draft of your manuscript and have mopped up all the blood, sweat and tears that went into it can be a bit of a mystery if you’re new to the game. You know editing comes into it, and you may have heard about beta readers, but what comes first, and more importantly, how do you go get started?
To help with the cacophony of questions littering your head, I’ve made a general guide to help you get going. This is very much based off my own experience, and is not an exhaustive list:
After you’ve written that last word on your manuscript, put the whole thing away somewhere and leave it for a good amount of time (I personally leave it for about three months, but others leave it for longer) and get on with other things. Start a new project; finish any others lurking around; if you’re thinking about publication, research which avenue might be best for you and what that entails; basically, anything to keep your mind stimulated but doesn’t involve that first draft. This is to make sure that when you do eventually go back to it, you can view it with fresh eyes – meaning that plot holes, weak characters or lack of world building will jump out at you and therefore be easier to fix.
Don’t focus on spelling or wording on this initial edit. Look at the big picture instead. Are there any holes in your plot? Do your characters feel flat or serve no purpose? Does the story start in the right place, or are the first few chapters unnecessary? What scenes work, and what don’t? If you’re finding it hard to tell if certain points of the story are unnecessary, try removing them and see if it affects the overall plot. If the plot still flows, then those scenes (however beautifully written they are/despite how much you personally love them) have to go. Nothing ruins a good book more that scenes that jar the pacing by adding nothing.
Once you’ve fixed the big issues with your manuscript, you can either put it away again, or continue on to the next stage. Again, I personally leave it for a bit because I know I get far too close to my work.
Now it’s time to really focus on your characters and world building. Your characters need to feel like real people – give goals and dreams, flaws and bad habits, and don’t hole them up into stereotypes. If they’re from very different backgrounds/circumstances to you, make sure you do your research – not only to make them realistic, but to avoid being insensitive to readers. (If you’re worried about your representation of people from different walks of life to you, you can always hire a sensitivity reader at a later stage.) When working on world building, think about the social structure of each place, use all five senses to describe things and make sure you don’t fall into the pit of info dumping. Also, in dialogues scenes, look out for ‘white room syndrome’, when no description about where or when the scene takes place is included.
Next, we get in to the more technical aspects of writing. Tense, point of view and grammar. (If you feel your manuscript is shaping up nicely, you can start looking at spelling, over-use of words and continuity, but I would leave that until last.) It doesn’t matter what point of view you use, or what tense, as long as you keep them consistent throughout the manuscript – unless you have a very good reason not to, like an intentional stylistic change to illustrate a certain point. If you struggle with grammar, there are a lot of helpful books and forums, as well as YouTube guides. (I have a book on grammar that’s actually written for kids, but the language and examples are so clear that it’s the one I go to most.)
The stages of editing can get a bit murky here – some writers have to repeat steps until they’re happy and end up with a good number of drafts, others breeze right through and end up with relatively few. However, whether you’ve done a lot of back and forth on your work or not, this part is important. Read your work aloud. I’ll say it again: READ YOUR WORK ALOUD. From start to finish, until you’re sick of the sound of your own voice. This is so you can clearly see problems with sentence structure, missing words, typos, continuity, repetitive description and all that jazz (as readers we’re always pleased to spot others’ mistakes, but are far less pleased as writers if someone kindly points them out in our own work).
Finally, when you are happy with your manuscript and can’t find anything else to work on, it’s time to send your work to beta readers. These can be other writers, friends, family or simply people you know love to read. What is important to note, however, is that it’s far more helpful to send your work to readers who readily consume books in that genre than ones who have never read/rarely read within your genre, as the feedback you receive will be more relevant. When you do receive feedback, look for trends in what people are saying. If eight people say a scene isn’t working, then it’s probably wise to take another look and see if it truly does need revising. If one beta reader hates a character but the others love them/make no comment, then perhaps that’s just their personal taste. Consider all feedback, but remember that it is still your work, so you have the final decision on what to change.
So there you have it. Where you take your work from there is completely up to you. Whether you opt for traditional publishing, self-publishing or somewhere in-between (be absolutely sure you don’t head down the path of vanity publishing – an old but good rule on how to tell a vanity publisher from a real one is that money should always flow to the author, not away) make sure you do your research.
Kathryn is a children’s and YA author, and currently has her fantasy trilogy, Half-Wizard Thordric, published with Creativia Publishing. Her YA speculative fiction novel, The Origin Stone, will be published in March 2019 by Nuff Said Publishing.
An avid reader, she also writes poetry, book reviews and short stories. She loves animals and is a slave to a parrot and budgie, and currently lives on the Isle of Wight with her husband, a curious and eccentric being who never fails to provide her with inspiration. You can find her on twitter @KaptainKat90, or go directly to her website www.kathrynwells.co.uk.
.
~Kathryn Wells~
.
If you’d like to be a Guest Blogger on Booknvolume
May 5, 2018
#GuestBloggers – Grandpappy’s Cows – Mary Deal
[image error]
Grandpappy’s Cows by Mary Deal
Grammy and Grandpappy had fifteen youngins of their own, so I had a mess o’ cousins. Most of the boys looked the same, with straggly dirty blonde hair and mean squinty eyes. We girls was better. We looked different from one another by our hair color and sizes of our bosoms.
Grandpappy moved lots of us to a run-down trailer park near the railroad tracks. Him and Grammy lived in a doublewide next to the meadow ’cause they kept a milk cow. As neighbors moved out, more of our kin moved in. No matter the trailers was abandoned ’cause they was old, we was a family that stuck together. Pretty soon our kin took over every useable trailer in that danged weed-infested field. The poor folk thought we was rich.
Everyone who visited asked to go see the rest of them empty trailers. I sneaked and seen ’em already and they was empty, except for some mattresses the hobos left behind. When I asked why my uncles always brought their girlfriends around to inspect those old trailers when they went out on dates, Grandpappy said, “They just want to bless our new home.” Then he’d slap his knee and bellow till his eyes watered and he started to coughin’. He never let me go see with the other people and got downright nasty when I tried. “You stay put, li’l girlie,” he said. “There’s time enough to learn about life.”
My daddy was a jack-of-all-trades and him and Grandpappy joined some of them trailers so’s you could walk from one to another without goin’ outside. When friends come over for some honky-tonkin’, those old trailers would rock and once the rotted tires exploded on one of ’em.
Effie May was my closest cousin. She was older ’n me. The boys said she was built like a cow. Sometimes when they headed off to the trailers, they said they was gonna go milk the cows. Like it was a dirty joke or somethin’. Effie May hung out with the boys a lot. She said they was her kissin’ cousins.
One day, Effie May whispered to me, “They calm my yearnins, ya’ know?”
I didn’t know. I saw her and cousin Wilma Lou, who my momma told me to stay away from, go in and out of them abandoned trailers on the other side of the park with a bunch of boys time and again. Effie May was awful smart, said she knew how to be of service to folks. She always had money. But me? I didn’t want to be nobody’s servant. Me and my momma was close. I was blonde-headed like the rest of my kin, but my hair picked up some of my momma’s red. I liked her the most, better ’n Effie May, ’cause Momma explained things to me.
As we kids was growin’ up, I guess Grandpappy thought he still had to feed the whole brood. One day after Grammy gave away the old cow that dried up, he come home with another.
“I’m tired of sittin’ around all day shaking the cream to the top of that jar just to make butter,” Grammy said.
“Well, we cain’t afford the store-bought stuff yet either,” Grandpappy said.
Johnny Jeb was one cousin always up to no good. He used to squeeze the cow’s udder so we could drink when we got thirsty while we was playin’. He’d squirt us just to be mean. We was lucky Grandpappy never knowed what the soggy stains was on our clothes and why leaves stuck in our hair ’cause sometimes after getting pushed in, we swam in the creek with our clothes on and he couldn’t tell the difference.
“You grandkids are dirtier ’n my own ever was,” he would say. “And to think you live better off today.”
Some of my aunts and uncles took a broom to their kids for coming home dirty. My momma just smiled and poured water into the old tin tub, throwed me a bar of Grammy’s lye soap, and said, “You soak good now, Darlin’.”
Grandpappy couldn’t figure out why the cow didn’t give much milk. He was attached to Bossie, his latest cow, and instead of getting rid of her, he brung home another.
Johnny Jeb loved that. He taught cousin Bobby Zeke to squirt and they had milk fights in the meadow. When the rest of us got to laughin’, we all learned to squirt.
Grandpa got a third cow just so’s he could get enough milk together for all our families every day. Anyway, between the three, they kept the weeds down real good. But it stunk some and the boys was put to scrapin’ up the cow-pies and tossin’ ’em into an empty field. Us girls stayed away from them dung fights.
Later on, when I started thinkin’ about boys, I looked in the mirror to see what they was a-winkin’ at. My bosoms finally growed like Effie May’s. My kin said I wasn’t bad looking and my hair always shined like sunlight.
“Why’d you s’pose that is?” I asked my momma one day.
“Musta’ been all that fresh cream you got in your hair when you was a kid,” she said.
I never knew she knowed. I have a right smart image of my momma now that I know she let us kids enjoy the fun we had back then. I looked at her real hard ’cause I admired her more all of a sudden. Her brassy hair was so shiny.
My daddy said I matured real nice. He always paced around lookin’ at me like I was the chunk of gold that was gonna make him rich or somethin’. I wondered if him and Momma would let me go honky-tonkin’. Effie May said she could tell me how to take care of my yearnins.
* * * * *
Find this hilarious story and others among myriad explanatory articles about writing, including examples, in Write It Right – Tips for Authors – The Big Book on Amazon. Here: https://tinyurl.com/y8m7fkkr
* * * * *
Mary Deal is an Amazon best-selling and award-winning author of suspense/thrillers, a short story collection, writers’ references, and self-help. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee, Artist and Photographer, and former newspaper columnist and magazine editor. She is currently writing the third story in her Sara Mason Mystery Series. A long romance novel, which is a new genre for her is presently in process for publication.
She has traveled a great deal and has a lifetime of diverse experiences, all of which remain in memory as fodder for her fiction. A native of California’s Sacramento River Delta, where some of her stories are set, she has also lived in England, the Caribbean, Hawaii, and now resides in Scottsdale, Arizona. She is also an oil painter and photographer. Her art is used to create gorgeous personal and household products from her online galleries.
Find Her Online
Her Website: https://www.marydeal.com
Amazon Author Page: https://tinyurl.com/3z8pm31
Barnes & Noble: https://tinyurl.com/o7keqf7
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/mdeal
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Mary_Deal
Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marydeal
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/105175192934570097998
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/MaryDeal
Her Art Galleries
Mary Deal Fine Art – https://www.marydealfineart.com
Island Image Gallery – https://www.islandimagegallery.com
Mary Deal Fine Art and Photography – https://www.facebook.com/MDealArt
LocalMe – https://www.redbubble.com/people/localme
Pinterest – https://www.pinterest.com/1deal
.
~Mary Deal~
.
May 4, 2018
#FridayFantasy – Creating Positive Change with #EpicFantasy
[image error]
A Fellow blogger and avid reader recently asked me about my Epic YA Fantasy Dark Fey, posing some thought -provoking questions that really got me thinking about the WHY behind the Fey. It being Friday Fantasy day, I thought I’d share some of the insights I uncovered through our conversation…
Is it possible to draw attention to the plight of child soldiers by writing an Epic Young Adult Fantasy?
Can Fiction create any measure of Positive Change?
Perhaps. Inspiration doesn’t always come to fruition in reality, and Hope alone cannot make a difference, but sometimes we just have to Trust and Act.
This is precisely what I did with Dark Fey, my Epic YA Fantasy Trilogy that not only relates an entertaining story of magic and mystery, but touches on realities in our own world. Yes, the plight of child soldiers and the horrors they face is part of the basis for my series, because, although I love to write, I’ve always tried to instill some purpose to the creations my mind weaves.
[image error]
Dark Fey The Reviled begins gently enough. It’s a story about a young shefey discovering who she is and how to incorporate her unique gifts into everyday life. Like most teens, she’s uncertain and, because she is inexperienced, she’s a bit fragile; nevertheless, through the course of the tale she finds an inner strength she doesn’t realize she possesses. It’s also about a young malefey who has endured tragedy in his life on an unparalleled scale. He has lived through the horrors of abduction, abuse, neglect and has been forced to commit terrible acts of violence. His life mirrors those of child soldiers who face very similar atrocities, not in the pages of a fictional story, but in the reality they must bear each day.
[image error]
Dark Fey Standing in Shadows focuses more greatly on the growing friendships between characters and how those relationships build bonds strong enough to face previously unthinkable possibilities, but, as in real life, strong relationships are built upon foundations that have been tested. The story invites the reader to experience how disagreements are the doorway to understanding, and how trials that challenge can motivate decisions to create Positive Change. It also begins to reveal the ugly truth behind the accepted norm. Expressed through scenes that left me crying after I wrote them, readers start to understand what The Reviled (our child soldiers) have suffered and continue to endure.
[image error]
Dark Fey Breaking Into The Light asks the questions, can we truly understand another’s misery without knowing the extent to which they suffer? Would we willingly risk our lives for someone without experiencing some measure of their pain, despair, or anger? Like any good fantasy, this final saga of the trilogy sets the stage with dramatic events that test boundaries and push characters to their limits. Readers learn what it’s like to be one of the Reviled through descriptions that are darker and more intense than either of the previous books, but with good reason. I hope to elicit a reaction in the reader similar to those the Fey of the Light experience by showing them firsthand what the Reviled (our child soldiers) have suffered. I also pose the most important concept of the trilogy: The only way the achieve Peace is by becoming Peace. Through this thought-provoking concept, I open the door to an unexpected and powerful conclusion.
Fantasy is an escape, to be sure, and it is often filled with mystery, magic, and mayhem, where romance blossoms hand in hand with desperation we can scare imagine, amidst violence that both shocks us and irrevocably draws us into the story. Swords clash, dragons devour, lives are shattered, but inevitably the message of (most) fantasy tales is to Create Positive Change, against all odds and however possible. Dark Fey is no different in that respect, and yet, hopefully, new and different enough to entice readers into the realms of Jyndari to discover the magic and mayhem for themselves.
.
~Morgan~
Save
Save
May 3, 2018
Whispers of Eternity – #Meditative #Poetry
[image error]
.
Silence
Sweet and still
Soft and Ethereal
Whispers Harmony
to the Spirit
Guiding with Tranquility
Speaking of Eternity
If we pause to Hear it.
.
~Morgan~
.
.
.
Beautiful Photograph found on Pinterest. Credit Gratefully Acknowledged to the Original Photographer. Thank You~
May 2, 2018
#GuestBloggers – 5 Interesting Facts #BehindTheScenes of a #Psychological #Dystopian #Thriller
[image error]
5 interesting facts about psychological dystopian thriller The Phoenix Project by D.M. Cain
Most of The Phoenix Project was written by hand, whilst listening to music. I have shelves full of handwritten notebooks containing the first draft of The Phoenix Project. I always listen to epic, instrumental music when writing such as Two Steps from Hell and Immediate Music. [image error] [image error][image error]
The protagonist of The Phoenix Project, Raven Kennedy, is on a glorified death row within Salverford prison for the terrible crime he committed. In the original idea he was innocent and had been framed and that’s why he was in prison. (As soon as I began writing it, I realised it worked better if he was actually guilty!)
The horrifying ‘dark room’ in The Phoenix Project (a pitch-black sensory deprivation cell) was inspired by a visit to the Terror Haza in Budapest—a museum dedicated to the fascistic and communistic regimes that operated from the building. In the cellar of the Terror Haza are the old cells used to imprison and torture inmates. For research purposes, I crawled inside a very low cell and shut the door, casting myself into total darkness. It was terrifying and claustrophobic, and I only lasted five minutes in there, but it gave me an idea of what it would be like to be in one of those cells.
[image error]
Raven Kennedy from The Phoenix Project actually started life as the same character as Vincent Wilder from A Chronicle of Chaos (even though Raven is a good guy and Vincent is the mega-villain of my Light and Shadow Chronicles series!). The first book I started to write had a character called Vincent (he wasn’t quite the same character as his later incarnation) and I developed his character in two ways – drawing upon his negative traits to create the later Vincent, and his redeeming characteristics to create Raven.
There is a scene in the book where Raven and a few other characters take part in a high-pressure televised interview. In order to prepare for this and make it seem natural, my husband and I acted it out and recorded the interview! I played Raven and my husband played the other characters, and I then played the tape (yes, tape!) back and used it to write the scene. I still have that tape in my collection of books etc!
The book is available to buy from Amazon:
http://mybook.to/thephoenixproject
[image error]
D.M. Cain Biography
D.M. Cain is a dystopian and fantasy author working for Creativia Publishing. The Light and Shadow Chronicles series features a range of books which can be read in any order. The series instalments to date include A Chronicle of Chaos and The Shield of Soren. D.M. Cain is working on the next novel in the Light and Shadow Chronicles series, The Sins of Silas, as well as two complementary novellas entitled Genesis of Light and Origin of Shadow.
Cain has released one stand-alone novel: The Phoenix Project, a psychological thriller set in a dystopian future. The Phoenix Project was the winner of the 2016 Kindle Book Review Best Sci-Fi novel Award.
D.M. Cain is also a member of the International Thriller Writers and one of the creators and administrators of the online author group #Awethors. Her short story The End was published in Awethology Dark: an anthology by the #Awethors.
Cain lives in Leicestershire, UK with her husband and two young children, and spends her time reading, writing, reviewing and indulging in geek culture (Marvel, GoT, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Final Fantasy).
Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DMCainauthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DMCain84
Amazon: Author.to/DMCain84
Mailing List: http://eepurl.com/XevZH
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/d-m-cain-809538a0/
Website: www.dmcain84.com
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+DMCain/posts
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/DMCain
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/c/DMCain
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/dmcain84/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/d.m.cain/
Creativia: http://www.creativia.org/a-talented-new-arrival-among-british-fantasy-authors-dm-cain.html
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/d-m-cain
.
~DM Cain~
May 1, 2018
#GuestBloggers – The Ghost Killer Series by Margaret Millmore
[image error]
There are ghosts and demons that wander among the living; they do not haunt in the traditional sense. Instead, they plague mankind with diseases and physical deformities, and once a ghost finds its victim it will haunt them for a lifetime.
What Haunts Me (Ghost Killer Book 1)
A mild illness brought on the dreams, which triggered the suppressed memories, which in turn allowed George to see ghosts. Along with this new sight into a realm unknown to most, George also discovered he could kill the ghosts and save their victims, and his life changed from ordinary to extraordinary.
George’s confusion spurs him to call his father and inquire about these memories in the hope that he will give him a reasonable explanation. Instead his father is evasive and George suspects that he is lying—something he has never done, at least not to George. Although he still has no idea why this is happening to him, he accepts it, and by his own definition, he is a ghost killer.
His acceptance of this newfound ability becomes an obsession so powerful that he has little regard for the cause or the impossibility of it all, and that disregard is destroying his life and threatening his sanity. When his livelihood is endangered, George knows he must find out why this is happening to him. He seeks out a local paranormal expert, who briefly explains what a ghost killer is, tells him about a worldly organization called the “Watchers,” and warns him about a man, Frederick Vokkel, who has deep connections to the supernatural world, and seeks out powerful ghost killers in an effort to harness their abilities for nefarious purposes. Phil is vague, but promises to connect George with the Watchers so that he can learn more about what he has become and learn how to protect himself from his unknown enemies.
Soon after George’s meeting with Phil, he encounters Billy, a young woman with an unlikeable personality, who is the niece of his much loved grandmotherly neighbor, Justine. Through his new association with Billy, who is also a ghost killer, he discovers that there are different levels of ghosts and demons, varying from dangerous to extremely deadly, but there are also different levels of ghost killers, and George is of the most powerful.
He also discovers that his mother and Billy’s grandmother were connected; they too were powerful ghost killers. George’s mother and Billy’s grandmother, met at a school in Switzerland, a school run by none other than Frederick Vokkel. George is frustrated and confused; the coincidences are piling up and he can’t help but wonder if his decision to move to San Francisco and subsequently become Justine’s neighbor was somehow directed by the hand of fate or destiny. One thing he does know: Justine and perhaps even his father knew what he was, and until Billy’s arrival, both had kept it from him, leaving George feeling betrayed.
With the help of Phil and Billy, George is introduced to Aris, a high-ranking member of the Watchers. Aris explains George’s ancestry—he comes from a long line of powerful ghost killers, some of the most powerful ever—and like him, Billy shares a similar heritage. Aris also warns George that Frederick Vokkel has learned about a previously unknown powerful ghost killer, one that is capable of prolonging Vokkel’s life, but can also merge a powerful demon back into a human, giving the monster renewed physical form. And Aris believes that George is that ghost killer.
When Vokkel’s efforts to sway George into a meeting fail, he resorts to kidnapping George’s father, but he also uses his connections with the demons to summon a surge of ghosts that will descend on the city and cause the rapid deaths of hundreds of people. George has no choice but to do as Vokkel asks or risk not only his father’s death, but the loss of many innocent lives.
He teams up with Aris, Phil, Billy and several other ghost killers to devise a plan that will save not only his father, but also prevent the surge of ghosts from causing irreparable harm.
The Edge of the Cemetery (Ghost Killer Book 2)
[image error]
George has embraced his life as a ghost killer and now works alongside his new friends, Billy Wilkinson and Phil James. Together they assist the Watchers in an ongoing battle to maintain the balance between the living and the dead.
When San Francisco and the surrounding area are suddenly plagued by rogue groups of ghosts and demons, who appeared to have a leader of sorts, a seventeenth century musketeer demon, the Watchers know it isn’t random, nor was it the usual form in which ghosts and demons prefer to haunt. These monsters were also possessing their victims and forcing them to hurt others, and once the ghost killers arrived, the demons directed their human weapons on them. The question was, who was this musketeer demon and why was he directing these attacks?
As George, Billy, Phil and the Watchers investigate, they discover the seventeenth century demon is teamed up with a teenage boy, who they come to realize is a powerful ghost killer himself and more importantly, they believe he is being controlled by the demon. Their search for the teenager and his demon lead them to the discovery of an enemy from their past and a mysterious prophecy. As they decipher the true meaning of the prophecy, they uncover a plot for murderous revenge involving a secret vault containing numerous malevolent souls and a plan to return those wicked dead to human form as directed by Satan himself. Unfortunately, they also discover the true purpose of the demon musketeer’s involvement, which is to become one with the powerful teenage ghost killer, creating a monster that cannot be defeated. With the clock ticking against them, they must find the vault and destroy it before it can be opened and kill the demon and his teenage host.
What Haunts Me (Ghost Killer Book 1) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GSE7E7S/
The Edge of the Cemetery (Ghost Killer Book 2) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GSE7E7S/
What Hunts Me (Ghost Killer – Book 3)
[image error]
The year was 1915, Alexander Graham Bell completed the first transcontinental telephone call between New York City and San Francisco, the Ford Model-T and silent motion pictures were all the rage. Raggedy Ann, aspirin in tablet form and processed cheese, as well as the milk carton were invented. America was steadily growing in population and that population was on the move. In San Francisco, the Panama-Pacific International Exposition opened in February, an event that introduced many wonders to the United States and the world at large. The Lincoln Highway (also known as Highway 30) opened as America’s first transcontinental automobile road. In the small town of Houtzdale, Pennsylvania, a train pulled into the station with ten people on board…all but three were dead.
A hundred years later, in the attic of the large Edwardian house in San Francisco owned by the Watchers, a box is discovered, containing various documents from ghost killers dating back more than ninety years. Among those missives are letters, some photographs, and a diary dated in 1915, belonging to eighteen year old George Sinclair of Houtzdale, Pennsylvania. The letters chronicle an epic journey from Pennsylvania to San Francisco along the route of the newly opened Lincoln Highway. However, the diary also indicates something more sinister might have transpired. It contains strange drawings and nonsensical writings, but the final entry is loud and clear; George is a ghost killer and he is being hunted. Equally important, there was a good chance that 1915 George might be the key to modern-day ghost killer, George Sinclair’s, unknown paternal heritage.
George, with the help of his good friend Phil James, travels to Houtzdale, PA in search of more information on the man who bears his name, and just might be his great-grandfather. Their investigation leads them to 1915 George’s last remaining relative, only to discover she had died recently, and circumstances indicate supernatural forces were involved. As they delve deeper, they learn about a deadly 1915 train incident. Its survivors consisted of two passengers and the engineer, and although none of them could recall what transpired, the engineer was believed to be the killer and his guilt was so immense, he took his own life. The weeks and months that followed were wrought with tragedy for the small town, and illness and disease plagued the citizenry—Houtzdale was being haunted, and 1915 George Sinclair could see these ghosts and demons, and he could kill them. But more importantly, he knew who and what unleashed them—the two remaining train survivors, monsters capable of commanding the ghouls, and with great pleasure they used them to torment the sleepy Pennsylvania town. George had no choice but to kill the two survivors before they could continue their murderous rampage. He hunted one down, killed and buried it, then chased the other west, via the Lincoln Highway, and dealt him the same fate; or so he thought.
As George and Phil investigate further they discover someone else is looking into the events that took place in 1915, and more specifically young George Sinclair. They soon discover that someone is a dead ringer for one of the 1915 train survivors, who young George had admitted to killing and burying. If this person is the monster 1915 George believed him to be, Phil and George need to find him fast. Their only clues as to where and what this resurrected being wanted were in the letters and diary. George and Phil determine the monster is tracing his great-grandfather’s path west, via the Lincoln Highway, in search of his partner, who he believes 1915 George also killed and buried somewhere along the way. With each town mentioned in the letters (and visited by the monster), Phil and George discover droves of ghosts and demons, who have been tormenting these locals for a century.
When Phil is called home, Billy joins George to continue the hunt, and they find themselves embroiled in a hundred year old mystery, which grows beyond a reanimated monstrous creature. Mysterious supernatural forces are in play, and the discovery of very dangerous stones and an even more dangerous artifact propel the ghost killers into a fight for their lives.
What Haunts Me – Ghost Killer Book 1: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B019EAN2K6/
The Edge of the Cemetery – Ghost Killer Book 2: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GSE7E7S/
What Hunts Me – Ghost Killer Book 3 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BK73XDV/
[image error]
Margaret Millmore lives on a quaint island in the Puget Sound, Washington with her husband and two cantankerous alarm clocks (better known as cats, who are apparently starving to death at 5 a.m. every single darn morning…).
Her first published works were flash fiction, which were featured on Bay Area artist, Kenny Mencher’s blog, The Welcome Home and Untitled – Luke N. Goode.
In 2011 she published her first full length novel, since then she’s published a three book series, another novel and her current series (via Creativia Publishing) What Haunts Me (Ghost Killer Book 1) and The Edge of the Cemetery (Ghost Killer Book 2), which was awarded the August 2016 Book of the Month award by Long and Short Reviews, and What Hunts Me (Ghost Killer Book 3), which incorporates an epic journey taken by her grandfather in 1915. The majority of her books are set in San Francisco where she lived—previous to island life—for over 26 years.
Margaret’s preferred writing genre is supernatural fiction, with the exception of her time-travel novel, The Dragonfly Door.
http://www.margaretmillmore.com/
http://www.amazon.com/Margaret-Millmore/e/B005ME8QTQ
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Margaret-A-Millmore/228435017205214
Tweets by MMillmore
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5157106.Margaret_A_Millmore
http://author.to/MargaretMillmore
.
~Margaret Millmore~
April 30, 2018
#GuestBloggers – Post-Grad Depression…Wait, that’s a Thing?
[image error]
Hi! I am really excited to be guest writing for Morgan’s blog! I am nowhere near as talented as she is but I thought I would share a piece that is already currently on my blog and something that I have been dealing with recently.
A little about me, my name is Amberlyn and my blog is called Lovely Dysfunction. I cover a little bit of everything over there. From hikes, to mental health, to makeup; I cover it all! I’m not the best writer but I feel like I get a little better with each post. I just moved from Georgia to Colorado for a new career in Marketing and that transition has definitely thrown me through a loop. The short essay below is about what I have been going through recently. If it resonates with you at all, please let me know. Thanks!
Post-Grad Depression…wait, that’s a thing?
A modernly renovated and beautifully decorated 2 bedroom apartment. It’s not the penthouse but spacious and affordable. It’s in the perfect location where I can walk to my favorite cafe and I’m only a block away from the subway stop. My job is so much fun, I am pretty damn good at it, and I get paid more than the average fresh graduate. I have loads of open-minded new friends and even an attractive and friendly stranger who I encountered at a bookstore one weekend that may be interested. I have started working out more and getting healthy. Life is beautiful and I am happy.
That is how I envisioned post-grad life for the entirety of my senior year. It’s probably one of the sole things that kept me motivated and marching toward that cap and gown. Don’t get me wrong, post-grad life is wonderful for many reasons but my vision was also terribly misleading.
At first, I was too busy to notice it. My parents were helping me unpack, I was meeting my coworkers, starting my initial work training, decorating my apartment, and so on. Then my Dad left and I felt a twinge of something, but I sucked it up and moved on. I am an adult now, right? My mom stayed a little longer. We are both control freaks so we butted heads quite a bit in that time period. To the point, that I found myself counting down the days until her departure. Then she left. I was fine for about a week. Drunk with new-found freedom that was literally like nothing I had ever experienced. I was self-sufficient, in a state hundreds of miles away from home, in my OWN apartment with an amazing job.
However, I had a ton of time by myself. I have my dog, who I am incredibly thankful for, but I had no one to talk to when I got home. This was especially damaging after a bad day. Yes, I could have called someone and I did some days but I slowly stopped this practice. It was easier to direct my energy to self-loathing and hiding in my bed than calling my mom. I was beating myself up over the smallest mistakes and overanalyzing every critique my manager gave me. I was miserable.
On top of this, all my closest friends were still in college, living happily in the comfortable bubble that I had left behind. They would send photos to me of them hanging out together and it would hurt because I knew I had no one like that in my new home…and because I missed them, obviously.
I went from being an extremely motivated individual to one who didn’t even want to get out of bed in the morning to go to work. I went from being so excited to hike every inch of Colorado to deciding to stay in and watch YouTube videos.
I feel bad even writing about this because I am incredibly blessed. I was blessed with the opportunity to go to and graduate college, I am blessed with a well-paid job with what I consider to be a very caring company. I have an apartment that fits my needs, and I have a family and friends that keep in touch despite our distance. However, I still feel sad. Some days are better than others and some days are really, really bad. Leaving the bubble of school and the world you create there is difficult. I’m sure some struggle with it more than I do and I am sure some people don’t struggle at all. I thought it would be a breeze. I thought I had it all figured out.
There are several reasons I think post-grad depression is a thing:
Leaving your comfort zone
Most of us have been in school for 17 years (+-). School is what we are good at; it’s what we know how to do. Leaving that comfort zone filled with friends, a routine, and a purpose is hard.
College is about personal development, the real world often isn’t
In school, we have a definite purpose. No matter how miserable that one professor is you know it’s temporary and you are doing it to ultimately make yourself a better human. After college, most of what you do is to better your employer. You may be inadvertently bettering yourself but that’s often not your main purpose in your day-to-day life unless you make time for it.
Dealing with adult things
Let me tell you, electing my benefits was one of the most stressful things I have done. I understand how incredibly blessed I am to be offered benefits but the amount of money that leaves my paycheck every other week should be criminal. In addition to benefits, I have had to deal with taxes, apartment hunting, driving a U-Haul 1600 miles, appliances breaking, emergency vet trips, credit bureau security breaches, and bills on bills on BILLS.
Life not aligned with passions
College was a pain in my butt at times but a lot of it was focused on learning about topics I enjoyed. In fact, college is really about what you want. While my job is in marketing, my major, I can admit it isn’t the type of marketing I ever really wanted to do. There are other positions in the company that align better with my passions but I’m not there yet. I am here. It’s hard waking up to do something every day that you may not necessarily love but I am smart enough to understand that not everyone gets their dream job straight out of the gate and I am willing to work hard to get there one day.
I still deal with this ‘depression’ every day. A lot of this post was written in past tense but it’s still very much an issue. This post wasn’t meant to discourage any current college students. I love being independent and not having to worry about finals or buying books. However, I do wish someone had warned me. I don’t know if there is really a way to prepare but take it as reassurance.
Post-grad life may not be everything you dreamed it to be, but life is about adjusting and overcoming and you will.
I will.
Thanks for reading!
Link to my blog: https://lovelydysfunction.wordpress.com
Link to my ‘About me’ page: https://lovelydysfunction.wordpress.com/about/
Link to this post: https://lovelydysfunction.wordpress.com/2017/10/20/post-grad-depression-wait-thats-a-thing/
.
~Amberlyn ~
.
April 29, 2018
The River of Time – #Inspirational #Poetry
.
Silence comes in Shadows and Rocky Pools
Where Light Reflects the Glimmering facets
Of Hope and Faith,
Courage Shimmering on the surface of the waters,
Even beneath the canopy of Overhanging fear;
Ever Shifting,
Ever Rushing onward
In the ‘plash of the River of Time.
.
~Morgan~
.
.
.
Beautiful photograph found at: hqwide.come
![[image error]](https://booknvolume.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/the-river-of-time.jpg){kind=link}