R. Harrison's Blog, page 41
November 28, 2015
FREE November 28-29: GRAND MASTER’S PAWN
To celebrate the release of Book 3 in the Grand Master’s Trilogy, Book 1 will be FREE the weekend of November 28-29.
GRAND MASTER’s PAWN
One young woman challenges the super psychics ruling the galaxy, and finds an impossible love.
Young empath, Violet Hunter, achieves her dream of exploring planets by becoming the pawn of one of the twelve Grand Masters, despite her forbidden psychic talent. She believes her secret is safe because the Grand Masters never appear in public and communicate through avatars.
When life-threatening cracks in the vast web of interplanetary portals disrupt civilization, Violet agrees to investigate the cause. At the same time, her trusted tutor, Mother Tingu, explains that her father’s death twenty years ago was no accident. Tingu suspects the perpetrator of both crimes comes from within the ranks of the Twelve, perhaps even Violet’s own obnoxious Grand Master. Violet must penetrate their curtain of secrecy to identify the culprit. Her challenges escalate when she meets the enigmatic man behind the griffin avatar. Armed with only her erratic powers and a mishmash of allies, she must challenge the most powerful beings in the galaxy.
Buy Link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TP1N5PM
Excerpt:
The raft shot towards the top of the waterfall. Taranis stood, balanced on his toes, and stared ahead from the vantage of his full height. He glanced back at Violet, and shouted above the crash of the water, “The drop is too steep. We must abandon the raft!”
Violet staggered to her feet and stared at the rocky shore. Dubious, she shook her head, “How? The current is too fierce to swim to the river bank, and I can’t jump that distance.”
Taranis stepped carefully across the raft, took the pack from her grasp, and tossed it onto the rocks at the edge of the water. “Get ready! I will throw you onto the land.”
She gulped, wide eyed in alarm. How was she supposed to prepare?
Without further warning, he caught her round the waist and flung her from the raft. Violet shrieked. She flew over the water, twisting with cat-like agility to land on her hands and feet. Her hands stung from the impact, but she was safe on the shore. She turned to watch Taranis.
He ran with the pole in his hands to the edge of the raft, stuck the pole into the water and vaulted to the rocks. He staggered on a slippery stone, and Violet grabbed his wrist and tugged to prevent him from falling. Instead, she slammed against his body with her face pressed against his bare chest, tingling with psychic power. Immediately, she felt foolish.
She lifted her head to break the sizzling contact. They stepped apart, and he stared down at her from those unreadable black eyes in his solemn face. “Sorry!” she muttered. She lowered her eyes and reddened with embarrassment. Was this athletic man really her Grand Master? The one she had taunted as too decrepit to participate in a mission.
He patted her on the back. “It was a wild ride. You are fearless!”
The Grand Master’s Trilogy comprises:
Book 1, Grand Master’s Pawn: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TP1N5PM
Book 2, Grand Master’s Game: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0104OFJJ8
Book 3, Grand Master’s Mate: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B018EHAA7S
What reviewers say about this Trilogy:
“Exciting and vivid sci fi/fantasy/adventure, grounded in real emotions and fully realized characters…”
“..a complex and extraordinarily powerful story with masterful battles and constant dangers for our two main characters…”
Bio:
My career in science involves plenty of writing facts for research articles. But, I’ve imagined exciting adventures in weird worlds for as long as I can remember. For many years, life intervened. Now, I have achieved my life-long ambition to publish novels. My published works include science fiction and fantasy with romance and a sprinkle of humor. I was born in the UK and live in Atlanta with my husband, a dog and two cats to sit on my laptop. My hobbies, besides reading and writing, include outdoor activities like watching wildlife, hiking and canoeing.
Media links:
Blog: http://AuroraSpringerNovels.blogspot.com/
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Aurora-Springer/e/B00K2C4NL8
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Aurora-Springer/885945434752937
Twitter: http://twitter.com/AuroraSpringer
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/101087717415198221200/posts
November 27, 2015
Pumpkin Pie
I make a wicked pumpkin pie, and the basic recipe works well with sweet potato or any similar filling.
Pumpkin pie is basically a vegetable and spice flavoured custard in a pie crust. You bake it in a moderate oven (375 F, 205 C) until it sets. Then you eat it (at least if you can get there before your family’s pie monster finishes it).
I’m going to give my recipe in the order that is easiest to do, which means start with the crust, make the custard, roll out the crust, put the custard in the pie and bake it.
Pie crust step 1
2 cups plain flour
1 stick margarine (1/4 pound or so)
1 tablespoon sugar (for a sweet pie, omit for meat pies)
1 teaspoon salt
Work the margarine into the flour, sugar and salt. I use a mixer, but forks and pastry knives are almost as easy. It should be coarse – sort of like corn meal- possibly with a few small chunks of the margarine left.
Put it in a bowl in the freezer to chill and rest.
The filling
This is basically the same as most cans of pumpkin have on the back, but with a minor twist.
1 can pumpkin (1 lb per pie, don’t bother with the “pie filling”) The equivalent is about 1 1/2 cups mashed cooked pumpkin or sweet potato.
3 eggs
1 can condensed milk (about 1 cup)
1 tablespoon corn starch – this helps the custard to set. You won’t find this on the standard recipe.
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
Mix the eggs, sugar, salt, corn starch and spices. It should be a creamy yellowish mixture. Add the condensed milk and mix thoroughly. Finally add the pumpkin and mix. Set aside.
November 26, 2015
The Churning, Justin Edison
BLOG TOUR
THE CHURNING
By Justin Edison
AVAILABLE ON AMAZON NOW!
Synopsis
In Justin Edison’s second novel, Persian-American soccer star Arman Hessabi wakes in chains in a house of enemies. Driven in part by an abusive older brother, the hero feels his life is complete with the glory, women and riches afforded by a Premier League striker’s lifestyle. But he meets his match in Fat Man, Captain, Huck and Kay—men who hold him in thrall somewhere in Europe. Through trials, Hessabi comes to question his own ego and position in life. But is it too late for a soccer star with no apparent power over his own fate?
Author Bio
Justin A. Edison has been writing fiction and stories for twenty-odd years. A graduate of the Evansville and Hamline writing programs, he counts among his adventures a rocking semester at Harlaxton (in the British Midlands) and a tour of the Czech Republic. His pursuits include hiking, Web site design, trying to fix the world (in too many ways) and playing soccer (rather poorly). He lives in the Seattle area with his wife, two energetic kids and a vocal cat.
The Churning is his second novel.
Author Links
To contact the author: edisonchurning@gmail.com
www.jedisonwriting.wordpress.com
https://www.facebook.com/ChurningBook?ref=hl
@jedisonbooks
BLOGGERS: REVIEW COPIES ARE AVAILABLE. PLEASE CONTACT THE AUTHOR.
Interlude
Edith Sitwell
Amid this hot green glowing gloom
A word falls with a raindrop’s boom…
Like baskets of ripe fruit in air
The bird-songs seem, suspended where
Those goldfinches—the ripe warm lights
Peck slyly at them—take quick flights.
My feet are feathered like a bird
Among the shadows scarcely heard;
I bring you branches green with dew
And fruits that you may crown anew
Your whirring waspish-gilded hair
Amid this cornucopia—
Until your warm lips bear the stains
And bird-blood leap within your veins.
November 25, 2015
Forbearance
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Hast thou named all the birds without a gun?
Loved the wood-rose, and left it on its stalk?
At rich men’s tables eaten bread and pulse?
Unarmed, faced danger with a heart of trust?
And loved so well a high behavior,
In man or maid, that thou from speech refrained,
Nobility more nobly to repay?
O, be my friend, and teach me to be thine!
November 24, 2015
Fall Birds
I wanted to try an inexpensive mirror lens with a 2x extender for nature photography. It’s not bad, but not great either. The acuity is not as good as I’d like, and the depth of focus is paper thin. But when it works it’s pretty good.
These seagulls were hunting shad on the far side of the lake, about 700 meters away.
The flat field of focus can be really nice. I like this back-lit grass and weeds.
all photographs (c) 2015 Robert W. Harrison
She Walks in Beauty
George Gordon Byron
I.
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
II.
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o’er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling place.
III.
And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!
(c) 2014 Robert W Harrison
To my favorite walking partner, seen above in the beauty of the New Mexico dessert.
November 23, 2015
Mist
Henry David Thoreau
Low-anchored cloud,
Newfoundland air,
Fountain-head and source of rivers,
Dew-cloth, dream-drapery,
And napkin spread by fays;
Drifting meadow of the air,
Where bloom the daisied banks and violets,
And in whose fenny labyrinth
The bittern booms and heron wades;
Spirit of lakes and seas and rivers,—
Bear only perfumes and the scent
Of healing herbs to just men’s fields.
My campsite for the night
Fog in Henry Coe State Park,
a wild place barely 20 miles from San Jose.
(c) 2010 Robert W Harrison
November 22, 2015
How to pretend you know how to draw.
These sketches make it look like I’m one heck of an artist, don’t they?
Ha! There’s a very good reason I write books. These were done using a bamboo pad and photographs (albeit ones I took). The images are from the UK, on various trips, and other than Jess (the dog) are what you find on footpaths.
I drew on top of the originals, in a separate layer. Neat.
By the way, beware of the cows.
November 21, 2015
FrankenKitty 6 #wewriwar #amwriting #weareparis
Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors. This is a sample from my work in progress, “Frankenkitty”, and I hope you enjoy it. It started out as a young-adult superhero book, and well, you’ll see. Last week they met Mrs. Jones, nee von Volkstein. Despite the premature reports of her death, Mrs. Jones was still alive. This week they start in on making the surprisingly powerful “pink solution.”
Amber, Mary and Jennifer spent an enjoyable afternoon reading the recipe. It was written on an enormous scale, starting with a hogshead of distilled or clean rainwater.
“That will never work,” Amber said, “We’ll have to scale it down.”
Some of the ingredients were easy to find, but many were decidedly oddball, and it took several passes through search engines to find modern names.
Jennifer scowled, “Red Cinnabar? Eight Drachms, what the heck’s a Drachm?”
Mary laughed, “Mercury sulfide, Amber, is your dad going to let us play with that? It’s poisonous.”
Amber pulled a dusty bottle from a shelf, “It was Grandpa’s; a Drachm is an old measure of weight; Look it up.”
Jennifer’s fingers were the fastest on her phone, “3.8879346 grams,” she laughed, “It says that’s three scruples.”
This is a work in progress. In other news, I’ve become a booktrope author, but more on that latter. It has meant a change in pen-name. Last Weeks is here and you can read the whole last chapter if you’d rather.
I’m also looking for reviewers for my nearly ready book “The Curious Profession of Dr. Craven”
