Sharon C. Pennington's Blog, page 6

LIBERTY . . .

The liberty of speaking and writing guards our other liberties.

~ Thomas Jefferson

 

Where are ye, fair Dixie Chicks? My radio doth sit silent more often than not.

REVIEW: A Plague of Sinners by Paul Lawrence

It's 1665 as A Plague of Sinners opens, and a venomous plague ravages the townships outside the walls of London. As if avoiding deadly pestilence isn't enough adversity, the Earl of St. Albans has been murdered. Clerk Harry Lytle, some eighteen months into his acceptance by the intelligence service, is charged with solving the crime - much to the dismay of his housekeeper, Jane, a fiery redhead not known for holding her tongue. Jane would much prefer fleeing in advance of the plague as so...

Welcome 2010!

2010, a new year and good things abound. From December 7 through December 21, I participated in Goodreads.com's book giveaway. Four hundred seventy-four readers put their names in for one of three copies of my latest novel, Mangroves and Monsters, and already I'm hearing from the winners. (BTW, kudos to the U.S. postal service for getting the books to their destinations so fast amidst the Christmas package-sending deluge.)

 

Two winners gave the novel four out of five stars, and I look...

Finally, Mangroves and Monsters!

Publication is  moving so fast on the new novel, Mangroves and Monsters, now. Edits are finally done, and we have a cover! And I feel every ounce the excitement I did with my debut novel, Hoodoo Money. I believe I've woven a pretty decent tale of rekindled love and island adventure. And I hope those who purchase a copy will relish the read as much as I enjoyed the writing of this sequel. Looking for a release date in November.

 

Hopefully, I'll be able to post the official excerpt soon...

MY MOM WOULD WANT ME TO . . .

 

In a time when our adult children are purportedly raising a generation of spoiled me-me-mine-mine offspring, I find myself climbing on my soapbox and disputing this claim by heartwarming example.

 

Protocol at my eight-year-old granddaughter's school is such that if a student forgets his, or her, lunch money or hasn't sufficient funds remaining on their lunch account, that child is served the dreaded "cheese sandwich" and a carton of milk. Wholesome, yes. 

 

Of course, spotting this "bare...

GREAT NEWS!

Mangroves and Monsters, my sequel to Hoodoo Money, has been picked up by Draumr Publishing (Maryland) and, hopefully, will see the light of day early next year. Oh, I wish by the holidays, but if wishes were . . . Well, you know - we'd all have bestsellers.


HERE THE TEASER: Charlie Cooper, reluctant teacher by day and broken-hearted wanderer by night, is a man desperately in love with a dead woman.


But is Angeline St. Cyr really dead?


The supermodel fell victim to an auto-pedestrian accident in New Orleans. Police reports and medical records substantiate the severity of her injuries. Cosmetics mogul Mathieu Fournier, her former boss, orchestrated a cremation and memorial service. The paparazzi swarmed celebrity attendees. Fans mourned.


Call it gut instinct; call it what you will, Cooper is convinced Angeline's death was an elaborate scheme devised by the Frenchman. A sophisticated lie Fournier sold to the world. He isn't buying it, nor is his heart.


A tenuous lead draws him to the Caribbean island of Jacqueme Dominique. Only Cooper isn?t alone in his quest. By chasing his dream, he is embroiled in murder, treachery and abduction at the hands of his old nemesis Willem Voorhees - a merciless killer.


For five long years Cooper's love survived while he searched for Angeline. Will finding her cost him his life?

Conference Cancellation

PLEASE BE ADVISED . . . Due to unforeseen circumstances, the WCOP (Writers Club of Pasadena) 1st Annual Fall Conference & Writers Extravaganza to be held on October 17, 2009 in the Kaleidoscope Room at San Jacinto College-Central Campus in Pasadena, Texas has been cancelled. Unfortunately, this cancellation also applies to the Fiction Contest. For more information, please visit http://www.writersclubofpasadenatx.4t.com/index.html

 

GREAT NEWS!

Mangroves and Monsters, my sequel to Hoodoo Money, has been picked up by Draumr Publishing (Maryland) and, hopefully, will see the light of day early next year. Oh, I wish by the holidays, but if wishes were . . .  Well, you know - we'd all have bestsellers.

~ ~ ~

HERE THE TEASER: Charlie Cooper, reluctant teacher by day and broken-hearted wanderer by night, is a man desperately in love with a dead woman. But is Angeline St. Cyr really dead? The supermodel fell victim to an auto-pedestrian...

REVIEW: The Mayan Magician and Other Stories by Jim Musgrave

In a short story collection of Musgrave's caliber, the dilemma becomes which tale to review from The Mayan Magician and Other Stories (2009, CIC Publishers, ISBN 0-9776503-8-3).

With "The Mayan Magician," this compilation's lead story and namesake, Musgrave weaves a mystical tale of love, courage and resolute faith in the great Mayan Warrior God, Kukulkan. Musgrave's story revolves around a contemporary young Mayan woman, Isabel Velasquez, or "Dipsie Izzie," as she wows baseball fans and wins ov

A SNIPPET OF MELANCHOLY

I'm straying from the subjects of reading and writing and critiquing this morning. Please indulge me these few nostalgic moments as I've thought about my grandmother often of late. I don't know whether it's because I'm in my sixties now and the grandmother of five, or because my body's changing. Yet again. Specifically, my hair. Although it still hangs well below my shoulders, the texture is coarser now, and my hair lacks the auburn highlights and sheen that drew praise from strangers when I was