Robbie Cheadle's Blog, page 33

Robbie’s Inspiration – Voting for the Halloween Gingerbread Smackdown is open #halloween #gingerbread

voting for the Halloween gingerbread Smackdown is open. My entry is Biting ox-wagon. There are only 5 entries so voting is easy this time

https://www.gingerbreadbydesign.com/gingerbread-smackdown-voting/2023-halloween-gingerbread-smackdown?utm_campaign=01326c63-4536-4569-9131-80e88e1557d6&utm_source=so&utm_medium=mail&cid=0ca89277-39ad-4f7a-91ad-acd0f7c6c76d

Robbie’s Inspiration: W3 Prompt #78

Suzanne’s prompt guidelinesShare an emotion of yours in a  “Dectina Refrain”  poem.Dectina RefrainTen lines;Syllabic: 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10;The tenth line is comprised of the first four lines all together, as one stand alone line in quotation marks. (apparently the quotation marks are optional.)

The emotion I’m expressing in this poem is happiness.

Christmas cakes

Rich

Fruit cake

Delicious

Christmas fragrance

Smells of happiness

Family gatherings

Around tables laden with

Roast turkey and all the trimmings

Smiling faces, full glasses, good cheer

Rich fruit cake, delicious Christmas fragrance

In case you haven’t guessed, I baked my Christmas cakes this weekend.

I also hosted a Halloween lunch. We had Beef Wellington, a Greek baby potato and green olive salad, roasted vegetables, cauliflower cheese and garlic bread. I made chocolate brownies for dessert.

These are my Halloween flowers – Pincushion proteas:

Robbie’s Inspiration – My Halloween gingerbread burned ox wagon and a post by Teagan Geneviene #gingerbread #halloween #guestpost

I finally managed to finish my entry for this year’s Halloween Gingerbread challenge. It is a burning ox wagon with a ghost ‘Voortrekker’ with his pet hyena.

A voortrekker is a member of one of the groups of Dutch-speaking people who migrated by wagon from the Cape Colony into the interior of South Africa from 1836 onwards, in order to live beyond the borders of British rule.

I have been waiting for this creation to be finished in order to share Teagan Geneviene’s lovely post about Michael and my new book, Sir Chocolate and the Chinese Candy Dragon, and the new WordCrafter anthology, Midnight Roost, in which I have a short story. Thank you, Teagan, for this gorgeous showcasing of my new ‘Halloween’ books.

You can read Teagan’s post here: https://teagansbooks.com/2023/10/21/sir-chocolate-and-the-chinese-candy-dragon-robbie-cheadle/

Teagan also has two exciting Halloween novellas, the latest of which is A Peril in the Bayou.

You can read my reviews of both of Teagan’s Halloween novellas here: https://roberta-writes.com/2023/10/18/roberta-writes-halloween-book-festival-a-peril-in-ectoplasm-just-once-more-by-teagan-riordain-geneviene/

Robbie’s Inspiration – Tanka Tuesday, Jacaranda trees #poetry #poetry community

I am scrapping in with my post. It was a mad work week and we celebrated mom’s 85th birthday yesterday. She didn’t want a cake and lunch at home this year, so we went out instead. It was very nice and there were no dishes to wash afterwards – haha! She spent this afternoon giving me advice on my Halloween project which was proving to be more challenging than expected. Together, we made a plan …

From mid-October, Johannesburg explodes with purple as the Jacaranda trees come into bloom. This last for about three weeks and then the display is finished for another year. It is amazing while it lasts.

My kigo words for the following haiku and tanka is purple.

Purple explosion

Streets lined with petal litter

Splendid October

***

Purple on Grey

Purple against grey

Water absorber versus

Rain generator

Vibrancy of spring colours

Set off by dullness

***

The kigo words for my shadorma below is growing season.

First rain

Patchy sky

Grey threaded with white

Rain laden

Life giving

Promise of continuance

Of growing season

***

Lastly, a shadorma about my peaches and my loeries using unripe as a kigo word.

Patient loeries

Rosy globes

Flesh still unyielding

Appealing

Yet unripe

Loerie sentinels stand guard

Assessing progress

I had another go at water colour painting. It is a completely different technique to using pencil or charcoal. I’m learning to be looser and more fluid. This is a little more impressionism and I am used to realism so it takes getting used to. On the whole, I think I’m improving.

You can join in Tanka Tuesday here: https://tankatuesday.com/2023/10/17/24-seasons-syllabic-poetry-challenge-no-4-10-17-23/

Robbie’s Inspiration – Midnight Roost Anthology WordCrafter Book Blog Tour #readingcommunity #MidnightRoost

Giveaway

A chance to win a free digital copy of Midnight Roost at every stop. Just leave a comment to show your support for the tour, the anthology, and all of the fantastic authors.

Reading from “Night of Terror”

Reading from “Night of Terror” – YouTube

About Julie Jones

Julie Jones lives in northeast Oklahoma with her husband of over twenty years, their two children, and one very spoiled rescue dog named Zelda. Julie has co-written three anthologies and published her own book of linked short stories, CHAIN REACTION, which includes her 2020 OWFI winner for Best Horror Short Story, “Camelot”. Julie is currently plotting a fourth book with her cohort and writing a weird Western novel under a pen name, while editing a trunked novel and working full time. A reader of all genres, she especially loves sci-fi and fantasy and strives to craft tales that both entertain and spark thought in her readers. She can be found on Facebook and Twitter, as well as her website www.juliejones.net.

Julie’s story, “Tourist Trap” is featured in the 2022 Visions anthology from WordCrafter Press.

Inspiration for Teddy

Teddy’s inspiration drew from two distinct narratives, one purely imaginative and the other seemingly grounded in reality.

The first source of inspiration was a work of fiction, an episode from the renowned series “Star Trek: The Next Generation” entitled “The Inner Light.” In this captivating episode, Captain Picard experiences an extraordinary journey when an alien space probe renders him unconscious. Within the depths of his own mind, he lives out an entire lifetime as a citizen of an alien world, complete with its joys, sorrows, and milestones, until he grows old. The profound twist occurs when Picard awakens on the familiar bridge of the Enterprise, only to realize that the decades he’d spent in the alternate existence were a mere illusion, lasting a mere fifteen minutes in reality.

The second source of inspiration hails from the realms of non-fiction, recounting the harrowing tale of an unfortunate man who suffered a head injury during an accident. His unconscious state led him to dream an entire lifetime, so vivid and authentic that upon waking, the abrupt realization that it was all a figment of his imagination nearly drove him to madness.

Drawing from these poignant narratives, I wove a horror story around my protagonist, forcing him to confront a chilling conundrum: What constitutes true horror? Is it the monstrous apparition that haunted his mind, or the devastating revelation that his dream life was but a mirage, an ephemeral wisp of existence, never to be realized?

About Keith J. Hoskins

Keith J. Hoskins is a short story author, award-winning poet, and founding member of the Bel Air Creative Writer’s Society. He has four short stories in four anthologies as well as his own anthology, Beyond the Portal. Keith is currently working on his first novel: Kray and the Coveted Seer, a fantasy novel set in a magical world. Keith’s main genres of interest are fantasy, science fiction, and thrillers.

Keith’s stories, “The Cost of Magic” and “The Sight” are featured in the 2022 Refracted Reflections and the 2022 Visions anthologies, respectively, both from WordCrafter Press.

About the Book

20 authors bring your nightmares to life in 23 stories of ghosts, paranormal phenomenon, and the horror from the dark crevasses of their minds. Stories of stalkers, both human and supernatural, possession and occult rituals, alien visitations of the strange kind, and ghostly tales that will give you goosebumps. These are the tales that will make you fear the dark. Read them at the Midnight Roost… if you dare

Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/u/318L0l

Tour Schedule

Monday – October 16 – Opening Day – Isabele Grey (Interview & Reading) – Writing to be Read

Tuesday – October 17 – M J Mallon (Reading) & Christa Planko (Interview & Guest Post)– Undawnted

Wednesday – October 18 – Chris Barili (Guest Post) & Paul Kane (Guest Post) – Patty’s Worlds

Thursday – October 19 – Julie Jones & Keith Hoskins (Guest Post) – Robbie’s Inspiration

Friday – October 20 – Michaele Jordan (Reading) & Mario Acevedo (Guest Post) – Writing to be Read

Saturday – October 21 – Patty Fletcher (Guest Post) & DL Mullen (Guest Post & Video) – Roberta Writes

Sunday – October 22 – Sonia Pipkin (Guest Post) & Roberta Eaton Cheadle (Reading) – Kryosmagica Publishing

Monday – October 23 – Closing Post – Denise Aparo (Reading) & other stories – Writing to be Read

Treasuring Poetry – Meet the poet, Merril D. Smith, and a book review

My October Treasuring Poetry guest is poet, Merril D. Smith. Merril discusses her favourite poem and poetry in general. I’ve also included my review of Merril’s poetry collection. River Ghosts. Thanks for hosting Kaye Lynne Booth.

Treasuring Poetry – Meet the poet, Merril D Smith, and a book review #poetry #poetrycommunity #bookreview

Robbie’s Inspiration – Bad Moon Rising and MasticadoresUSA posts #BadMoonRising #MasticadoresUSA #childrensfiction

Michael and I have been fortunate enough to have received promotional coverage for two of our children’s books over the past two days.

Bad Moon Rising

Thank you to author, Teri Polen, for sharing about our new Halloween book for children called Sir Chocolate and the Chinese Candy Dragon as part of her Bad Moon Rising series. You can read her fun post here: https://teripolen.com/2023/10/17/badmoonrising-sir-chocolate-and-the-chinese-candy-dragon-by-robbie-and-michael-cheadle-childrensbook-halloween-cooking

You should read all the Bad Moon Rising posts as they are all very entertaining and you will find lots of amazing Halloween reads.

Teri has some great books which you will see on her blog. I reviewed her horror book, Sarah, as part of my Halloween Book Festival on my other blog, Roberta Writes. You can read that post here: https://roberta-writes.com/2023/10/11/roberta-writes-halloween-book-festival-sarah-by-teri-polen/

Haunted Halloween Holiday

Thank you to Barbara from MasticadoresUSA blog for featuring our book, Haunted Halloween Holiday, yesterday. You can read her lovely post here: https://masticadoresusa.wordpress.com/2023/10/16/haunted-halloween-holiday-by-robbie-and-michael-cheadle

About MasticadoresUSA

In 2019, Juan Re Crivello established Gobblers/ Masticadores. In 2021, he founded Masticadores USA. Gabriela Marie Milton became the first editor of the English edition based in the United States. Other editions of Masticadores are in Spanish, Italian, Romanian, French, English and Portuguese. Masticadores now has 16 publishers and 200 writers in 10 countries. In 2022, there were already 250,000 views. In November
2022, Barbara Leonhard became editor of Masticadores USA.

MasticadoresUSA publishes poetry, reviews, interviews, and short fiction. Various poetic forms, such as rhyming, free verse, prose poems, and so on are accepted for publication. You can find out more about publishing on MasticadoresUSA here: https://masticadoresusa.wordpress.com/2022/11/08/about-us-and-the-new-submission-guidelines/

Robbie’s Inspiration – Teagan’s Creativity Challenge: Haunted Halloween Safari #Halloween

Teagan from Teagan’s Books blog is hosting a writing and creativity Halloween challenge, as follows:

Using the chart below, take the first letter of your name (first name or last name), and use the hero and costume (the hero does not have to wear the costume) in the same row.  Or be a rebel and pick any of the three you choose.  However, you must use a Halloween thing, a hero from the table, and one of the costumes – in any order you choose.

Join in Teagan’s challenge here: https://teagansbooks.com/2023/10/07/halloween-game-creativity-challenge/

\I have created a Haunted Halloween Safari YouTube video for the challenge and I hope you will watch it. It includes my new fondant hyena creation and a great dress-up costume for Skelly.

From the Halloween Things list, I’ve featured bats, costumes (both swimming and the dress-up types), a ghost, a spiderweb, a skeleton (Skelly), a haunted house, and a party.

My hero is a gunslinger and the host of the Haunted Halloween Safari is a Wizard (Professor Smartie).

From the costumes list, I’ve incorporated a bear (Chocolate Fudge), a vampire (Count Sugular), a clown (Sir Chocolate), a fairy (Lady Sweet), a dinosaur (Caramel), and a witch (Witch Honey).

Robbie’s Inspiration – Book Review: Ever So Gently, A collection of poems by Lauren Scott #poetry #poetrycommunity #bookreview

What Amazon says

In Ever So Gently, Lauren Scott shares her strong link to nature, taking the reader on a tranquil walk through a redwood grove. You’ll find an invitation to sit quietly on a patio, captivated by the simple beauty of a hummingbird. She’ll entice you to revel on the shore of a freshwater lake, mesmerized by its stunning beauty.

Scott shares how love has shaped her life. From that first delicious kiss to celebrating decades of marriage through a love that deepens over time. How her heart melted when she became a mom, then ached when her children started their adult lives across country. And how her adorable canine companions found their way into her heart.

Scott underscores how life presents mysteries we struggle to solve. We can’t help but ponder the deeper meaning of a simple vision. She prompts you to reminisce and reflect on your past, present, and future. Through the ups and downs. what matters most is to love and live ever so gently.

My review

Ever So Gently: A collection of poems is a beautiful memoir of the poet’s life and experiences, mellowed by experience and understanding, and told through carefully selected words. The poems are a mixture of freestyle and syllabic and share some vivid and delightful imagery the celebrates important moments in the poet’s life.

For me, the emphasis with this collection is on the softening of the poet’s attitude towards, and views, on life gained through experience and living. This message, reflected in the title “Ever So Gently” and the beautiful and peaceful cover, is wonderful and absorbing. Its subtle repetition throughout this book is like slipping into a warm bubble bath. It evokes the same delightful sense of peace and calm. My words must not be misunderstood to mean that none of the poems demonstrate moments of anguish and angst, as that is not the case. Those moments, that are so catastrophic and devastating to the poet at the time of occurrence are there, but their harshness is lessened through acceptance and understanding gained over the passage of time.

A few verses that I particularly enjoyed:

“A lone sailboat glides by
pausing for the unfolding.
With hair the color of an egret,
an older man leans against a stump.”
From The Sun Knows

“raindrops vacillate
layers hold their own secrets
delicate delight”
From The Peach Rose

“Each purl stitch was interwoven with love
from her gentle touch.
She, the teacher, me, the student,
as our bodies sank into the sofa
checkered in a 70’s palette.
From The Old Afghan

The two poems that I related to the most were The Mess and Young Campers, both about the poets children. This book is a celebration of life, the good and the less good.

Amazon US purchase link for Ever So Gently, a collection of poems by Lauren Scott: https://www.amazon.com/Ever-So-Gently-Collection-Poems-ebook/dp/B0CB9H52ZT

Book trailer

Growing Bookworms – Great Halloween reads for children #Halloween #GrowingBookworms

Thank you to Kaye Lynne Booth for hosting my latest Growing Bookworms post about great Halloween reads for children.

Growing Bookworms – Great Halloween reads for children #Halloween #GrowingBookworms