MaryAnn Bernal's Blog, page 404
June 25, 2013
Amazon Review - The Juice and Other Stories by Bill Jones
Remarkable stories by a remarkable talent
June 23, 2013
By FPW
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Here we have a baker's dozen of stories as varied and delightful as any you'll find anywhere. Go along with "Mrs What's Her Name" as she searches for the woman she was before the brain injury. "Manhattan Transference" brings an intergalactic visitor to earth on an errand of utmost urgency for her home planet. In "Days of the Never Was" six people discover that sometimes everything wasn't quite what it seemed to be...it was better. "Set Fire To The Rain" is an excerpt from one of Mr Jones "Stream" novels and an excellent introduction to those books.
The collection is so well written that I was done with it before I was ready to be done with it. I wanted more. I still do. Hurry up, Mr Jones. Write another collection.
Meanwhile, I'll dive into The Stream Trilogy.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ADVLOFQ/ref=tsm_1_fb_lk
By FPW
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Here we have a baker's dozen of stories as varied and delightful as any you'll find anywhere. Go along with "Mrs What's Her Name" as she searches for the woman she was before the brain injury. "Manhattan Transference" brings an intergalactic visitor to earth on an errand of utmost urgency for her home planet. In "Days of the Never Was" six people discover that sometimes everything wasn't quite what it seemed to be...it was better. "Set Fire To The Rain" is an excerpt from one of Mr Jones "Stream" novels and an excellent introduction to those books.
The collection is so well written that I was done with it before I was ready to be done with it. I wanted more. I still do. Hurry up, Mr Jones. Write another collection.
Meanwhile, I'll dive into The Stream Trilogy.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ADVLOFQ/ref=tsm_1_fb_lk
Author Crystal Schall's Monday Splash - Carla by Mark Barry featured
http://www.crystalschall.com/monday-splash.html
Monday Splash for 6/24/201306/24/2013 0 Comments [image error] Mark Barry, author of “Hollywood Shakedown”, “Ultra Violence” and “Carla”, is a Psychologist and writer whose main interest focuses on relationships between people. He has been writing since he was twenty one, having his first piece published in 1986. He has written extensively on a variety of topics including, horse racing, football, personality disorders and human relationships. Influenced by the great playwrights and screenwriters, much of Mark’s work transpires in dialogue. He deplores exposition and, in his fiction, leaves the reader in a state of nervousness more than he probably should.
Mark has had an extensive career as a professional project designer and bid writer, having accrued over £20m for groups and organisations working with disadvantaged people. An ex-lecturer, Mark designed and delivered the UK’s first ever course in Criminal Psychology in 1997. Much of this work infils his fiction: Psychopathy and Borderline Personality Disorders are featured heavily in “Carla”, for example.
Currently, Mark is a full time fiction writer and freelance blogger. He has been interviewed on several Radio talk shows where he has given readings of his work. His work has been featured in The Sun and Daily Mail and he has also been interviewed on Television.
Mark resides in Southwell, Nottinghamshire with his teenage son.
An excerpt from Carla by Mark Barry:
Luckily, there was a rush. Ladies darts, a good mob of them from the Haywain with their heavy drinking partners and I knew that Carla would be busy from now until closing time. I sat there and suffered for an age, an absolute age, and then Carla came over to talk to me, telling me how much she enjoyed Sunday and asked me whether I’d like to go walking with her around Columbus Park this coming Sunday. I smiled at her and said that would be brilliant, even though it was only Tuesday and I would have all that time to suffer, but I didn’t ask her to go for dinner with me, or for a drink, I just smiled and she touched my hand oh so gently and said I’m so glad, and she had denim shorts on with ribbed tights and ankle boots and a woolly jumper and her hair was in a ponytail and she went back behind the bar and I never got the chance to speak to her again that night but Dino did and by the time it came for me to leave, I went through all the ways I could think of to murder Dino and to get away with it. I’d stalk him. Decapitate him. Bury his body in the Cherry Woods one night and no one would ever be the wiser, yet who would be the first person the Police speak to? You know: The released mental patient in the flat at the end of the road.
***
I was damned, dear reader.
I was truly damned.
***
That night, when I got home, Carla sent me a good night message with two kisses as usual. Afterwards, I stripped to my boxer shorts. Cut my armpit with the Airfix knife and watched the blood trickle like a tributary down my obliques onto my naked thighs.
Purchase Links:
UK
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Carla-Mr-Mark-Anthony-Barry/dp/1478194812/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1371422600&sr=8-1&keywords=Carla+by+Mark+Barry
US
http://www.amazon.com/Carla-Mr-Mark-Anthony-Barry/dp/1478194812/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1371422674&sr=8-1&keywords=Carla+by+Mark+Barry
Monday Splash for 6/24/201306/24/2013 0 Comments [image error] Mark Barry, author of “Hollywood Shakedown”, “Ultra Violence” and “Carla”, is a Psychologist and writer whose main interest focuses on relationships between people. He has been writing since he was twenty one, having his first piece published in 1986. He has written extensively on a variety of topics including, horse racing, football, personality disorders and human relationships. Influenced by the great playwrights and screenwriters, much of Mark’s work transpires in dialogue. He deplores exposition and, in his fiction, leaves the reader in a state of nervousness more than he probably should.
Mark has had an extensive career as a professional project designer and bid writer, having accrued over £20m for groups and organisations working with disadvantaged people. An ex-lecturer, Mark designed and delivered the UK’s first ever course in Criminal Psychology in 1997. Much of this work infils his fiction: Psychopathy and Borderline Personality Disorders are featured heavily in “Carla”, for example.
Currently, Mark is a full time fiction writer and freelance blogger. He has been interviewed on several Radio talk shows where he has given readings of his work. His work has been featured in The Sun and Daily Mail and he has also been interviewed on Television.
Mark resides in Southwell, Nottinghamshire with his teenage son.
An excerpt from Carla by Mark Barry:
Luckily, there was a rush. Ladies darts, a good mob of them from the Haywain with their heavy drinking partners and I knew that Carla would be busy from now until closing time. I sat there and suffered for an age, an absolute age, and then Carla came over to talk to me, telling me how much she enjoyed Sunday and asked me whether I’d like to go walking with her around Columbus Park this coming Sunday. I smiled at her and said that would be brilliant, even though it was only Tuesday and I would have all that time to suffer, but I didn’t ask her to go for dinner with me, or for a drink, I just smiled and she touched my hand oh so gently and said I’m so glad, and she had denim shorts on with ribbed tights and ankle boots and a woolly jumper and her hair was in a ponytail and she went back behind the bar and I never got the chance to speak to her again that night but Dino did and by the time it came for me to leave, I went through all the ways I could think of to murder Dino and to get away with it. I’d stalk him. Decapitate him. Bury his body in the Cherry Woods one night and no one would ever be the wiser, yet who would be the first person the Police speak to? You know: The released mental patient in the flat at the end of the road.
***
I was damned, dear reader.
I was truly damned.
***
That night, when I got home, Carla sent me a good night message with two kisses as usual. Afterwards, I stripped to my boxer shorts. Cut my armpit with the Airfix knife and watched the blood trickle like a tributary down my obliques onto my naked thighs.
Purchase Links:
UK
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Carla-Mr-Mark-Anthony-Barry/dp/1478194812/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1371422600&sr=8-1&keywords=Carla+by+Mark+Barry
US
http://www.amazon.com/Carla-Mr-Mark-Anthony-Barry/dp/1478194812/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1371422674&sr=8-1&keywords=Carla+by+Mark+Barry
History Trivia - Canterbury monks report explosion on the moon
June 25
253 Pope Cornelius died at Centumcellae where he was exiled during the Christian persecution under Trebonianus Gallus Augustus.
524 The Franks defeated the Burgundians in the Battle of Vézeronce.
841 In the Battle of Fontenay-en-Puisaye, forces led by Charles the Bald and Louis the German defeated the armies of Lothair I of Italy and Pepin II of Aquitaine.
1134 King Niels of Denmark died. 1
178 Five Canterbury monks reported something exploding on the Moon.
253 Pope Cornelius died at Centumcellae where he was exiled during the Christian persecution under Trebonianus Gallus Augustus.
524 The Franks defeated the Burgundians in the Battle of Vézeronce.
841 In the Battle of Fontenay-en-Puisaye, forces led by Charles the Bald and Louis the German defeated the armies of Lothair I of Italy and Pepin II of Aquitaine.
1134 King Niels of Denmark died. 1
178 Five Canterbury monks reported something exploding on the Moon.
June 24, 2013
The Phil Naessens Show 6-24-2013 Possible 2013 MLB Trade Deadline Moves
http://phillipnaessens.wordpress.com/2013/06/24/the-phil-naessens-show-6-24-2013-possible-2013-mlb-trade-deadline-moves/
Baseball Author and SB Nation MLB Editor Steven Goldman joins host Phil Naessens to discuss the New York Yankees, the AL East, Zack Wheeler, Wil Myers, David Wright and speculate on what catchers, first basemen and middle infielders might be traded and where they may be going to on this edition of The Phil Naessens Show.
Baseball Author and SB Nation MLB Editor Steven Goldman joins host Phil Naessens to discuss the New York Yankees, the AL East, Zack Wheeler, Wil Myers, David Wright and speculate on what catchers, first basemen and middle infielders might be traded and where they may be going to on this edition of The Phil Naessens Show.
History Trivia - Vikings destroy Nantes
June 24
109 The Aqua Traiana was inaugurated by Emperor Trajan, the aqueduct channeled water from Lake Bracciano, 25 miles north-west of Rome.
217 Hannibal defeated the Romans at Lago di Trasimeno in the Second Punic War. 4
51: 10th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet.
451 Attila the Hun raised his siege of Orleans, France in a prelude to his being pushed out of France by a combined army of Romans and barbarians.
803 Bishop Higbald of Lindisfarne died. In a communiqué to the scholar Alcuin of York (teacher at the Carolingian court at the invitation of Charlemagne), he described in graphic detail the Viking raid on Lindisfarne on 8 January 793 in which many of his monks were killed.
843 Vikings destroyed Nantes (western France).
1314 Robert the Bruce of Scotland defeated the English army under Edward II at Bannockburn, near Stirling.
1340 In the Hundred Years War, British fleet under the command of King Edward III destroyed the French at Sluys (Flanders).
1374 A sudden outbreak of St. John's Dance (Dancing Plague) caused people in the streets of Aachen, Germany, to experience hallucinations and begin to jump and twitch uncontrollably until they collapsed from exhaustion. One of the most prominent theories is that victims suffered from ergot (fungus) poisoning.
1441 King Henry VI of England founded Eton College.
1497 John Cabot landed in North America at Newfoundland leading the first European exploration of the region since the Vikings.
1497 Cornish rebels Michael An Gof and Thomas Flamank were executed at Tyburn, London.
1509 Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon were crowned King and Queen of England
1520: Mass at Field of Cloth of Gold where Henry VIII of England and Francis I of France met between Guînes and Ardres near Calais to discuss an alliance.
109 The Aqua Traiana was inaugurated by Emperor Trajan, the aqueduct channeled water from Lake Bracciano, 25 miles north-west of Rome.
217 Hannibal defeated the Romans at Lago di Trasimeno in the Second Punic War. 4
51: 10th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet.
451 Attila the Hun raised his siege of Orleans, France in a prelude to his being pushed out of France by a combined army of Romans and barbarians.
803 Bishop Higbald of Lindisfarne died. In a communiqué to the scholar Alcuin of York (teacher at the Carolingian court at the invitation of Charlemagne), he described in graphic detail the Viking raid on Lindisfarne on 8 January 793 in which many of his monks were killed.
843 Vikings destroyed Nantes (western France).
1314 Robert the Bruce of Scotland defeated the English army under Edward II at Bannockburn, near Stirling.
1340 In the Hundred Years War, British fleet under the command of King Edward III destroyed the French at Sluys (Flanders).
1374 A sudden outbreak of St. John's Dance (Dancing Plague) caused people in the streets of Aachen, Germany, to experience hallucinations and begin to jump and twitch uncontrollably until they collapsed from exhaustion. One of the most prominent theories is that victims suffered from ergot (fungus) poisoning.
1441 King Henry VI of England founded Eton College.
1497 John Cabot landed in North America at Newfoundland leading the first European exploration of the region since the Vikings.
1497 Cornish rebels Michael An Gof and Thomas Flamank were executed at Tyburn, London.
1509 Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon were crowned King and Queen of England
1520: Mass at Field of Cloth of Gold where Henry VIII of England and Francis I of France met between Guînes and Ardres near Calais to discuss an alliance.
June 23, 2013
The Book Rack - Mark Barry Featured Author
http://www.thebookracks.com/3/post/2013/06/author-spotlight-mark-barry.html#.UceIlWoo6M-
Author Spotlight: Mark Barry
06/23/2013
I would like to take a moment to thank Mary Ann Bernal, author, blogger, and all around world's bestest buddy for this wonderful guest post. I've been really busy lately and it was super nice of her to take time form her insanely busy schedule to interview Mark Barry and share it with us.
Tell us a little about yourself.
I’m a writer, first and foremost, and live in the Midlands of the UK, in the middle of Sherwood Forest. I love horse racing, Notts County FC, heavy metal and my family. I have a sixteen-year old-son, Matt. I’ve written six books. When I grow up, I want to be a pub singer called Mike Champagne.
When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
Definitely not when I was a kid! I was a reader then and didn’t even write a diary. Too busy playing. I wrote my first novel when I was twenty, to see whether I could do it - only for it to be totally panned by a friend of mine, so with the exception of several porn stories I sold to “Knave” magazine in 1986, I didn’t write again for another twenty three years.
What made you choose to write in the thriller genre and where did the ideas come from for The Ritual?
Massive horror novel fan when I was young. Wheatley, King, Straub, Herbert (RIP), Sharman, Campbell Tryon all those great writers monopolised my reading time. Then, I stopped, roughly about the time of Clive Barker’s “Books of Blood”. I read one of those and thought, nah, this is bollocks (I’m not a Barker fan at all), and stopped reading the genre.
I wrote The Ritual in a fit of nostalgia during the writing binge, which fuelled Green Wizard Publishing. I guess I was laying the ghosts of that first critically panned novel to rest, if we’re getting Jungian about things! I even included one of the characters from that first novel in The Ritual.
With regards to The Ritual, did you work with an outline, or just write?
Unless you count my 24-hour internal plot meetings (I become obsessed with a book), I’m the ultimate pantser. Never written a plot outline in my life. I also write things out of order, which some writers don’t understand. The Ritual, whose ending has pissed off many people, is based on a famous old horror film and that came first: I knew the ending before I knew the beginning.
Your company, Green Wizard Publishing, has recently published an anthology. What can you tell us about Reality Bites?
Reality Bites is twelve authors strutting their stuff on the subject of Hope from Despair. The writing is top notch and there are twelve top short stories. Death, recovery from domestic abuse, rape, grieving, child abuse and horrific food addiction are just some of the topics.
If you had to sum Reality Bites up in 30 or less words, what would you say?
Reality writing – fiction, “faction” and life representation – of the highest order written by some of the most talented independently published authors operating today.
Where can fans of Mark Barry find out more?
Author Database: http://www.authorsdb.com/authors-directory/1438-mark-barry
Green Wizard Publishing (Facebook)
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Green-Wizard-Publishing/351826461533731?ref=hl
Twitter Handle: @greenwizard62
Green Wizard Blog
http://greenwizardcarla.blogspot.co.uk/
Amazon Links:
US
http://www.amazon.com/Mark-Barry/e/B008479RWI/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1
UK
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mark-Barry/e/B008479RWI/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1
Author Spotlight: Mark Barry
06/23/2013
I would like to take a moment to thank Mary Ann Bernal, author, blogger, and all around world's bestest buddy for this wonderful guest post. I've been really busy lately and it was super nice of her to take time form her insanely busy schedule to interview Mark Barry and share it with us.Tell us a little about yourself.
I’m a writer, first and foremost, and live in the Midlands of the UK, in the middle of Sherwood Forest. I love horse racing, Notts County FC, heavy metal and my family. I have a sixteen-year old-son, Matt. I’ve written six books. When I grow up, I want to be a pub singer called Mike Champagne.
When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
Definitely not when I was a kid! I was a reader then and didn’t even write a diary. Too busy playing. I wrote my first novel when I was twenty, to see whether I could do it - only for it to be totally panned by a friend of mine, so with the exception of several porn stories I sold to “Knave” magazine in 1986, I didn’t write again for another twenty three years.
What made you choose to write in the thriller genre and where did the ideas come from for The Ritual?
Massive horror novel fan when I was young. Wheatley, King, Straub, Herbert (RIP), Sharman, Campbell Tryon all those great writers monopolised my reading time. Then, I stopped, roughly about the time of Clive Barker’s “Books of Blood”. I read one of those and thought, nah, this is bollocks (I’m not a Barker fan at all), and stopped reading the genre.
I wrote The Ritual in a fit of nostalgia during the writing binge, which fuelled Green Wizard Publishing. I guess I was laying the ghosts of that first critically panned novel to rest, if we’re getting Jungian about things! I even included one of the characters from that first novel in The Ritual.
With regards to The Ritual, did you work with an outline, or just write?
Unless you count my 24-hour internal plot meetings (I become obsessed with a book), I’m the ultimate pantser. Never written a plot outline in my life. I also write things out of order, which some writers don’t understand. The Ritual, whose ending has pissed off many people, is based on a famous old horror film and that came first: I knew the ending before I knew the beginning.
Your company, Green Wizard Publishing, has recently published an anthology. What can you tell us about Reality Bites?
Reality Bites is twelve authors strutting their stuff on the subject of Hope from Despair. The writing is top notch and there are twelve top short stories. Death, recovery from domestic abuse, rape, grieving, child abuse and horrific food addiction are just some of the topics.
If you had to sum Reality Bites up in 30 or less words, what would you say?
Reality writing – fiction, “faction” and life representation – of the highest order written by some of the most talented independently published authors operating today.
Where can fans of Mark Barry find out more?
Author Database: http://www.authorsdb.com/authors-directory/1438-mark-barry
Green Wizard Publishing (Facebook)
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Green-Wizard-Publishing/351826461533731?ref=hl
Twitter Handle: @greenwizard62
Green Wizard Blog
http://greenwizardcarla.blogspot.co.uk/
Amazon Links:
US
http://www.amazon.com/Mark-Barry/e/B008479RWI/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1
UK
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mark-Barry/e/B008479RWI/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1
Writers-Room members at the Writers Conference and Book fair - Winchester UK June 22, 2013
Writers Room members Ginny, Eve, Ron and Elisabeth met up at the Writers Conference and Book fair Winchester Hampshire UK 22nd June 2013
http://www.writers-room.org/
http://www.writers-room.org/
From the Desk of Nadia Kilrick: Brenda Perlin Visits The Desk - Red Face & Yellow ...
From the Desk of Nadia Kilrick: Brenda Perlin Visits The Desk - Red Face & Yellow ...: I'd like to welcome Brenda Perlin to the desk today. She is the author of The Home Wrecker Chronicles . Today, she'll share her mo...
History Trivia - Titus succeeds his father, Vespasian
June 23
79 Titus succeeded his father Vespasian as the tenth Roman Emperor.
930 The world's oldest parliament, the Iceland Parliament, was established.
1314 The Battle of Bannockburn. This significant battle helped the Scots regain independence from England and secured the throne of Scotland for Robert the Bruce.
1532 Henry VIII and François I signed a secret treaty against Emperor Charles V.
79 Titus succeeded his father Vespasian as the tenth Roman Emperor.
930 The world's oldest parliament, the Iceland Parliament, was established.
1314 The Battle of Bannockburn. This significant battle helped the Scots regain independence from England and secured the throne of Scotland for Robert the Bruce.
1532 Henry VIII and François I signed a secret treaty against Emperor Charles V.
