Bonnie Vanak's Blog, page 25

Haiti

Been reports of aftershocks, but we haven't felt any. This week we visited a community in the Central Plateau that suffered earthquake damage. People are still living in tents as this area has received little attention.

There are several sand pits used to quarry sand for concrete. During the earthquake, there were slides and 9 men were buried alive.

We will be building houses in one community. The entire area has no water, except for the rainy season when they catch the water in barrels. They have to ride to the next town to purchase water for about $1 for five gallons. The area we visited where one family lives is covered in white salty dust. It looks like snow and creates this eerie vista of dry, ghostly shrubs and trees.

We also visited a reforestation project where they are growing moringa trees, great trees that are being cultivated globally to combat poverty and malnutrition. The leaves can be crushed into a powder and used for baking to increase the nutritional content of food, as they contain vitamins a,b,c and protein. The people maintaining the nursery are all volunteers who want to save their crops and homes from floods. They understand the importance of reforestation.

Today we are going about the town to do food and medical distributions. Saw the palace yesterday, it's still crumbled and leaning, a sad reminder that many things have not changed since the quake last year.

A plane of starving children in Haiti

Leaving for Haiti tomorrow. I have to get up at 3 a.m. to catch the early flight. Gulp.
One thing on the agenda, we are returning to the area in the Artibonite region where the cholera outbreak first began. This photo is a graveyard with unmarked graves of some of the cholera victims.
A relative asked me this weekend what good I have accomplished in my 17+ years of helping Haiti's poor? Why do I keep working at this day job? The country looks like it's getting worse and worse.
I honestly had no real concrete answers. It's a question that haunts me each time I return from a trip. All I could say was that I have to keep trying. For every starving child I meet who ends up dying soon after I leave, there is a another who IS saved.
Someone, I forget whom, put it this way... the amount of children in this world who die from hunger equals nearly 200 plane crashes per day. Can you imagine 200 plane crashes a day? The media would crawl all over the story. Yet each day, airplanes filled with starving children crash all over the world and they die in silent suffering. We can't save them all. But we can save some.
Even one is worth the effort, isn't it? If you were the mother of that child, I know what your answer would be.
Have a good week, all. Also, if you are in the Boca Raton area, be sure to check out a terrific booksigning by authors in my Florida Romance Writers chapter this Saturday, Feb. 12. Glades Road Branch Library, 20701 95th Avenue South, Boca Raton, FL. The event starts at 12:30 p.m.
Authors include Heather Graham, Allison Chase, Nancy Cohen, Linda Conrad, Marcia King-Gamble, Traci Hall, Karen Kendall, Michael Meeske, Aleka Nakis, Kathy Pickering, Sue Peek, Mary Ricksen, Mona Risk, Carol Stephenson, Cynthia Thomason, Jan Washburn, Patrice Wilton and Pearl Wolf.

For more information, click here.

The "Lost" manuscript

Finished with my deadline, woo hoo! Turned in all three Nocturne short stories yesterday. Three connected stories written in three months. Now I understand and empathize with authors who write back to back books.

I'm taking a writing break, and went through some computer files. I found an old manuscript of an Egyptian historical never published before. It's called The Lynx and the Lost Mummy. The hero is Lord Smithfield, Katherine's father from The Tiger & the Tomb. The heroine is a secondary character in The Tiger & the Tomb.

Reading over it now to make revisions and trying to decide what to do with it. I'll let you know when I do!

Help Egyptian author Olivia Gates

As you know, protests are taking place in Egypt and the government has shut down internet communication. Author Olivia Gates, who lives in Egypt, has a February 1 release by Harlequin Desire called To Tempt a Sheikh. We'd like to get out the word about her book since Olivia cannot.


Please help us by posting the information below on your blog, your Facebook page or by tweeting a link to Olivia's home page. Just copy and paste the text below and this cover by right clicking your mouse. Let's support an author who cannot access the internet to promote her book.


To Tempt a Sheikh by Olivia Gates



He rescued hostage Talia Burke from his royal family's rival tribe and swept her into his strong embrace. But Prince Harres Aal Shalaan soon discovered there was more to the brave beauty than he knew. Talia held information vital to protecting his beloved kingdom…and she had every reason not to trust him.

Marooned together at a desert oasis, Talia couldn't resist Harres. Yet even as his sizzling seduction entranced her, his loyalty to his family and country would always make them enemies. Falling for the sheikh would be her heart's greatest mistake…but she feared it was already too late….

In stores February 1!

Available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Borders, Books A Million and bookstores everywhere. Also available at eharlequin both in print and as an ebook.

To read a first chapter and visit Olivia's webpage, click here.

Quick update

My apologies for neglecting this blog. I'm on deadline with three new stories for Nocturne Bites, but these stories are much sexier and longer and may be slotted into the new Nocturne Cravings line. The heroes of these stories are a vampire, a werewolf and a jaguar. All three are Ancients, powerful warriors engaged in the fight against evil, who are assigned to mate three sisters who are half-demon, half-angel.

After I turn in these stories, I'm taking a break from writing for a little while and paying attention to various housekeeping issues, such as updating my website. Also, I plan to put THE TIGER AND THE TOMB, my second Egyptian historical, on Kindle.
That's it for now. Back to the writing!

Excerpt to THE FALCON AND THE DOVE

The Falcon and the Dove, copyright 2002 by Bonnie Vanak

Egypt, 1892

Across the flat plain she saw a distant bustle of activity at the dig site, like black ants crawling over white frosted cake. She frowned. Black ants? Workers usually wore white . . . not black . . . and the sounds coming from the site echoed with frantic screams, not the singsong rhythm of picks and axes.

What in the name of heaven was going on? At the dig's perimeter, Elizabeth jerked the reins, bringing her slow progress to a complete halt. Her jaw dropped at the chaos erupting before her. Dozens of indigo-robed men yelling blood-curdling cries trampled over the site.

Veils draped across their faces, they overturned wheelbarrows of dirt and tables holding artifacts. A paraffin lamp slid to the ground, splotching the tawny sand with oozing fuel. One warrior brandishing a long sword hacked at earthenware jars, sending precious quarts of fresh water gushing out. Stunned archaeologists scrambled out of their determined paths. Terrified diggers ran screaming from the fierce
desert warriors. "Run for your lives," one yelled. "The Khamsin!"

Her mouth went dry as she wildly surveyed the scene, looking for Uncle Nahid. Nervous fingers twisted stray locks that escaped the loosely pinned chignon at the nape of her neck. Earth flew up in miniature sand tornadoes, dogging her nostrils and making her sneeze. And then she saw it and her heart stilled. The palace floor.

The delicate plaster Flinders had preserved flew in a dusty cloud as a warrior pulverized it with his horse's flaying hooves. A shorter man watching from horseback twirled a long scimitar in the air, hooting with glee as he did the same.

This deliberate, malicious destruction infuriated her. How dare they? They were destroying history! Useless now to sketch it for nothing remained. The one chance she had to prove herself to Flinders disappeared under the pounding hooves. This last thought made her kick the donkey into action. It gave a protesting bray, but trotted toward the taller raider. Elizabeth stopped short of the pavement, sliding off the donkey and running up to the warrior with white-knuckled anger.

"Stop!" she screamed in Arabic "What in the name of Allah are you doing? You are destroying the pavement! Oh, stop!"

The indigo-robed man whirled his mount around to face her. Probably he never had anyone, let alone a woman, tell him what to do before. Good! It's about time someone did!

The indigo veil hid all but his eyes, black as the desert night. Elizabeth recoiled, flustered. She had never seen such intense, penetrating eyes before. For a minute she stared into them and felt as if she glimpsed a mirror into her own soul.

Then she saw the destroyed floor. Deep gouges scarred the beautiful design. Elizabeth sank to her knees with a loud wail. "Oh, look! It is all ruined! Ruined!" She sifted through the crumbled plaster.

The sword-wielding warrior leaned over his saddle, pointing, his long, wicked blade at her. "Jabari, what do you want with this woman? Shall I take her captive? Or at least gag her mouth shut?" The man sounded bewildered yet menacing.

"No, Nazim, leave her be." His deep, sensual tones caressed her.

Elizabeth shivered at the raw power and command in that husky voice. The leader. Which made him responsible for this barbaric act. Her temper sailed out of control.

"How can you do this? Stupid, senseless destruction! Weeks of work, ruined! Haven't you a brain in your head? Don't you realize this is your past?" Arabic tumbled out of her mouth in a steady stream.

Then with a loud curse, she broke Uncle Nahid's Rule Number Four. The leader's dark eyes widened. Finely arched black brows rose as if her words bemused him.

"Jabari, did she just call you a donkey?" the one called Nazim asked in a wondering voice.

"No, I called him an ass!" she said in English. Elizabeth recoiled as Jabari fixed her with a steely look. Several warriors rode up, surrounding her like wolves salivating for a fresh kill. Suddenly she felt very small and very alone.

Then she looked at the ruined floor. Elizabeth picked up fragments of plaster. Hot tears stung her eyes. "How could you do this? You have no right invade and destroy this find," she whispered, cradling the shards in her palms.

"No, my lady, you are wrong. We have every right, for this is our ancestors' sacred city. You are the invaders." Jabari stated with quiet dignity.

She looked up at him, frustrated grief mixing with a mystical sense of awe. There was something about the proud way he sat upon his horse, his long ebony hair spilling almost halfway down his back—as if he once ruled the sacred city with a firm hand. And the archaeological team was a horde picking everything clean like vultures tearing apart carrion. His erect posture reminded her of a powerful king capable of destroying enemies with one uttered command to his men.

Piqued by her odd reaction, Elizabeth stood and flung the plaster at him. It sprayed a white cloud over his blue robe. She lifted her chin skyward, daring him to react.
His piercing black eyes narrowed, but he snapped an order to his, men and they whirled their horses around, racing away. The leader's mount snorted and danced with impatience.

Elizabeth's courage wavered as he withdrew his sword. He twirled it gracefully, then lowered it to her. Sharp steel kissed the air near her face. She stood motionless, not daring to breathe as the blade's dull edge stroked her throat. Then he drew his sword back and rumbled in a low threat. "Beware. You have not seen the last of us. I, Jabari bin Tarik Hassid, sheikh of the great Khamsin warriors of the wind, leave you with this warning. Leave our holy city now, or you will suffer the consequences. This I promise."

Elizabeth watched him ride off into a cloud of dust, then vanish, like a hot, dry desert wind.

Click here to purchase The Falcon and the Dove on Kindle!

The Falcon and the Dove now available on KINDLE!

Success! The Falcon and the Dove is now for sale at the low price of $2.99 on Kindle. Click here.

This was a year-end goal to upload my first Egyptian historical onto Kindle and I'm so glad I accomplished it. Thanks to friends who helped out a great deal!

The process made me return and re-read some of those original Egyptian historicals I wrote, and I got a hankering to write ONE more... to wrap up the series. I always felt The Lady and the Libertine would not complete the series.

Instead, I wanted to write a love story between Nadia from The Sword and the Sheath , and Kareem from The Lady and the Libertine .

And that is my plan for 2011, after I finish with my latest Nocturne deadline. I'm going to write The Lover and the Legend , an Egyptian historical set in 1923 that surrounds a mysterious golden dagger, reincarnation of two tormented lovers, and Kareem the sheikh abducting Nadia, Jabari's beloved daughter and Tarik's sister.

The story revolves around the historic opening of King Tut's tomb... and the finding of a golden dagger that has not seen the light of day in thousands of years.

I'll keep you posted!

The Falcon & the Dove on Kindle!

Coming soon! Hopefully this week, when I upload THE FALCON AND THE DOVE to Kindle! Here is the cover.





Email me at bonnievanak@aol.com to let me know what you think. I wanted a sexy cover to show off Jabari's great bod. I think it works!

How to wrap a Shih Tzu

From our house to yours, Merry Christmas, happy holidays and all the best for a peaceful, healthy and joy-filled New Year!

The story of Lady the Christmas dog

She was cold. Thin. Hungry. Her fur was matted, and she'd spent the night on the street, in a manure-filled pasture in Davie, Florida, shivering and afraid. The nice warm home, the dog bowl with food, the toys were all gone. Once she'd had a litter of puppies. They were gone, too.

Somehow she made it to the parking lot of a store. Christmas was in one week and many people busy with last minute shopping passed by. She wagged her tail, hoping for a little food, a little warmth and kindness, but no one wanted to get near the dog covered with manure.


A man in the pickup truck saw her, tossed her in the bed of his truck. She was friendly, wagging her tail. She bounced up and down and then THENICELADY saw her and asked the man in the truck where he was taking her. The man said to a shelter known as a high kill shelter. The NICELADY said she would die there. The man shrugged and thrust the dog at her. "Then you take her. She stinks."

The NICELADY took her home, bathed her twice, tried to comb the mats out of her long, silky fur. Her tail was still a mess. She gave her food and hugs, a warm bed for two nights and called SOMEFRIENDS.

On Monday she went to the home of SOMEFRIENDS, women who rescued abandoned Yorkies. She settled in with the Yorkies, ran and played and listened to Christmas music and this pine tree that danced and sang when you barked at it.

Later, the BONNIEPERSON came and took her and brought her to the WARMHOUSE, which had a big Christmas tree and trains and lots of colorful decorations. She ran around the house, sniffed at the trains, and then the BONNIEPERSON opened a door and two Shih Tzu dogs, one bigger but with the same coloring, ran out. She sniffed them and ran away, afraid of COOKIE and DOLCE, and jumped into a rocking chair in the Florida room to get away.

When DOLCE came near, she growled at him. The BONNIEPERSON petted her and reassured her it would be okay. She snuggled into the BONNIEPERSON's lap, a little afraid of DOLCE. Then she paced through the house, sniffing and examining it. There was a nice, soft couch and chairs and the BONNIEPERSON let her jump up on all of them. Then the FRANKPERSON came home and petted her and scratched her and talked to her. She liked the FRANKPERSON.

It was dinnertime and the FRANKPERSON was making something delicious that smelled like tomato sauce as he and the BONNIEPERSON talked. The BONNIEPERSON got dog food out of a green container and fed it to COOKIE and DOLCE. She hung around the kitchen, looking hopeful. She knew the kitchen, knew about good things to eat. The BONNIEPERSON gave her a bowl, but she didn't like the smell and wouldn't eat. Then the FRANKPERSON got a different can and the BONNIEPERSON said, "This is good for your digestion."

It was good food and she gobbled it down. The BONNIEPERSON said, "You're so thin, but don't eat too much or you'll get sick."

After, the BONNIEPERSON went into a room and shut the door because of something called a NEWBOOKCONTRACT and a deadline. The FRANKPERSON cleaned up and gave her a dog biscuit. She buried it in the couch in the Florida room and came back into the living room.

DOLCE and COOKIE weren't as scary now. And there was a nice warm chair with a new red blanket to lie on.

The BONNIEPERSON said, "Tomorrow you're going to see the NICEVET to see how you are and if you have a microchip. You're such a sweet dog, you must belong to someone. Then we'll see about getting you groomed."

She spent the night in the nice, warm bed, her belly full, near COOKIE AND DOLCE, whom she realized was just curious and wouldn't bother her. The BONNIEPERSON said, "We have to give you a name. Let's call you Lady."

Lady the dog slept that night in the soft bed knowing she was warm and no one would hurt her or yell at her, make her shiver in the cold. As she fell asleep, her tail wagged. Christmas promised to be good.

At last, she was safe.