Maria Hammarblad's Blog, page 12

Cover art for The Sorcerer

My next book will be released by Desert Breeze Publishing in July. I found inspiration for it when I started working for a Germany company and researched old German castles. All the images sent my imagination into overdrive. I wouldn't have known where to start making a cover for the story, luckily, talented Gwen Phifer was on top of it. I love it!




Blurb: 

When Anne accepts a job in a German boarding school for gifted children, her main concern is surviving without California’s sunshine and beaches. She doesn’t anticipate anything more dangerous than getting lost in an unfamiliar place. Nowhere does her work description mention three men betting on who will get her into bed first, or being rescued by the reclusive math teacher David Lindeman, a man her new friends claim is evil incarnate.

The old castle houses many secrets, and as days go by Anne finds it increasingly difficult to separate reality and superstition. She becomes a reluctant participant in an ancient battle between good and evil, and to survive, she must channel a power from deep within herself she could never have imagined. Who can she trust in a world where myths become real and nothing is what it seems?

Florida doesn't do anything small

The title of this post may puzzle you if you haven't spent a lot of time in Florida. Everything here is an extreme. I needed a couple of years before I realized the extent of Florida's extremes.

If it looks like a nice, sunshiny day, odds are it's 99 F (37 C). After a while here, you start thinking that 86 F (30 C) is nice and cool.

When I grew up, my mom always emphasized the importance of being outside in the sun and enjoying sunny days. In Florida that way of thinking will get you a heatstroke and possibly skin cancer.

If it's cold, it's probably not all that cold on the thermometer, but the combination of high humidity and being used to 99F makes 45 feel like the coldest it has been anywhere. Ever.



If it rains, you think investing in a car might have been a mistake - clearly you should have bought a boat. Or, built an ark. My current workplace would be understanding if weather prevented me from appearing on time, but I have had an employer who said, "It's just a tornado."



A windy day somewhere else might be an inconvenience. A windy day in Florida will blow the roof off your house.



Plants that barely survive potted in a greenhouse in other places become trees in Florida.

Big trees.



Bugs in other places are small and can be annoying. Bugs in Florida grow to the size of small birds. Or, there's a billion of them. Not joking. A billion.

Since I'm afraid of bugs I'll do everyone a favor and not include a picture of that.

Love bug season sounds cute. It is not.

Snowbird season also sounds cute. It is not. It's hard to find crowds like tourist season in Florida.

Do you have extremes where you live? What's the worst?

My fur kids

I talk a lot about my fur-kids, because they are the center of my life. =) Here are some photos of my babies. =)
Bonnie, my princess. She has a heart problem, but I'm hoping she'll hang in and stay with me for a long time yet. 

Topper's full name is Topper Goodbye, because he's such a good boy.

Boo Bear snuggle-bug

Ellie, beautiful girl and explosion of energy

Koda, handsomest kitty anywhere if you ask me

Bathroom-craze

If you're in the USA, you can't have missed the current bathroom debate. If you're outside the USA, let it suffice to say, people have gone insane.  The big insanity is all about who should use which bathroom. Like, if you're a transgender fifteen year old girl, should you use the men's room or the ladies room. Or, if you're a buff 45-year old transgender man with muscles and beard, which bathroom should you go to?
To me, it seems really easy. Go where you feel comfortable and fit in.
Americans are going bonkers trying to make the girl use the men's room and the man the ladies' room, because that's the way they were born.  Makes perfect sense, right?
First of all, I never thought so many Americans would openly discuss the toilet.
Second, I think the debate stems from people fearing change. Any change. Suddenly the world doesn't conform to their ideas of what it should be, and this makes them uncomfortable. 
A question that arises in my mind is, how will you know? Are you going to lift people's skirts and check what's under them? Force a transgender man to pull down his pants to see what kind of body parts might be hiding there?
I don't care who pees in the stall next to me. I generally don't interact with the person in the stall next to me. I guess I might if there was a real bad toilet paper emergency, in which case I truly wouldn't care about the body of the person who took pity on me and helped me out. 
I do care that a female trapped in a man's body might not want to go to the men's restroom to use a urinoir, because what woman would want to do that? If you had been cursed with a different nether region than the one you have, would you want to do that? 
If it were me, I would find it humiliating and horrifying. 
And then there's the matter of a man born in a woman's body. Do you want these men to go back to using the ladies' room? Think about this before you answer, because any laws regulating these things will go both ways. If you're uncomfortable with having a transgender woman in the stall next to you, how will you feel about having a transgender man there? 
Another thing I care about is moms bringing their little boys to the ladies' room and not looking after them, so there's suddenly a kid peeking up at you from under the stall. Not because I'm shy, but because it's annoying. Children, and moms with sons, and dads with daughters need to pee too, but please stay on your side of the divider. 
And, in the spirit of truth-telling and bathrooms, I have backed away from using a public restroom once. This was in Italy, and the toilet was a tiled hole in the ground with water pouring into it. I couldn't figure out how to use it.

Interesting perspective on things

Sometimes life can feel a little uphill, and it's good to put things in perspective. We live on the little dot there. Look how tiny it is. And the sun that looks so ginormous compared to the planet is really just a little speck compared to some of the giant suns out there.

Also, note how small Mars is.



I watched "The Marsian" the other day. Not a bad movie, but I kept getting hung up on problems with the science behind it all. Like, Mars is a small planet with a super-thin atmosphere. The entire premise of the movie stands on a dust storm giving the astronauts trouble, threatening to topple their craft over, and forcing them to leave prematurely.

While I think Mars has dust storms, I can't see how the wind could possibly be strong enough to cause such problems.

I must study up on this.

Yes, sometimes being a geek takes the fun out of things, but it adds a new layer of fun too, so it's all good. =)

Frontier, because it's like the wild west, or what's up with this mess?

Last fall I switched provider for Internet and TV from Brighthouse to Verizon. The main reason was that Brighthouse ticked me off through helping themselves to a large amount of money from my bank account and refusing to pay it back, but there were more factors involved in the decision.

Like, the Internet dropping out on a regular basis, Verizon tempting with a really good offer, and Verizon having a fantastic app that made the husband happy. He likes TV, and suddenly everything worked on his phone. (Brighthouse has an app too, but in our case it was more theoretical than functional, lol.) Since Mike spends so much time in different healthcare facilities, the app made a huge positive impact on his life.

I was very happy with being a Verizon customer.

Everything worked exactly as I wanted it to.

Then, they sent out the message of death: Florida customers would be transferred to Frontier.

I didn't think much about this at first. I actually forgot all about it until April 1st, when everything stopped working. We're now nine days into complete chaos. Frontier's customer service gives elusive answers like, "Everything will be solved by the ninth" - it is not - "We have to transfer millions of accounts" - not my problem - and "We don't know when the problems will be resolved, but we're working on it."

Great.

Because there aren't enough problems in the world without something like this?

Of course it takes time to transfer all these user accounts, but they must have known that before they started, right?

The only thing they seem really interested in is getting paid. I have several times gotten the reply, "But if you need to pay your bill, we can help you with that."

Yes, I'm sure customers are lining up to pay their bills for services that aren't functioning.

Who is your provider? Are you happy with them?

Topper and Koda

I always suspected Topper would be able to get along with a cat, and he and Koda have become quite good friends. In the beginning, Topper was afraid of the cat, but now he has figured out there's nothing to fear. 

Sometimes Koda tries to rub up against him and show love, this still freaks Topper out, but since he's a good boy he just walks away. My boys!

New book in the Embarkment 2577 saga: Interstellar Conflict

The main character in the Embarkment 2577 books - Alex - has had a rough few years. Brewing war does not make things better. Read all about it in the new installment in the Embarkment 2577 saga: Interstellar Conflict.

Blurb:

Running away rarely solves any problems, but that doesn’t prevent Alexandra from trying. Feeling sad and defeated, she doesn't care about the big picture with a galaxy on the brink of war, or about aliens taking over and controlling people’s minds. Her husband Adam hiding in a starship controlled by the enemy is a problem, but he went there willingly and she is determined not to care about that either.

Unfortunately, she may be able to run from home and family, but she can’t escape herself. And, turning her back to the world and its problems would be easier if her loved ones could refrain from throwing themselves in harm’s way.

Random photos

I took my camera out for a joyride the other day. Here are some of the results. =)

I'm normally afraid of insects, but these bees are quite friendly. And cute.




I'm also normally afraid of spiders, but these guys look like they have a smiley face on the back!

We have many different kinds of birds. They all enjoy the bird bath. Sometimes I think it's the only fresh water available for miles, because I need to refill it every other hour, lol!

Saw this squirrel on the beach, enjoying a nut. =)


I can fly!!!

I have a cat! =D

Koda on his first day at home,
enjoying the novelty of windows.When I started working at Cat Depot, it was very clear that I wouldn't get a cat. Four dogs and a sick husband was enough to take care of, thank you very much. 

Of course, I wanted a cat. I used to have a cat and miss her very much. When I moved to the US, leaving her with my ex in Sweden seemed like a reasonable decision - I didn't want her to have to suffer through the long flight here - but this was a mistake. I have often regretted not bringing her.

My parents had a cat when I was born. She was black and white, and named Sputnik. Unfortunately, Sputnik was the only one who ever attempted to defend me against the crazy in the family, and she was put down as a thank you for her efforts.

I was just a baby, I can't remember her, but my mom often told me about her. I wonder if that's when my passion for animals started. I can't thank her or give anything back, but I can help the ones who are here and in trouble now.

Anyway, I digress.

Every day at Cat Depot, I go check who was adopted the previous day. I then share this happy information with the world through our website and social media. Names of the adopted are posted on a board, and the other side of the corridor holds offices.

Offices with cats - and windows.

A white cat named Samson would meow me into the office for cuddles every day. He was my first Cat Depot crush, but being a white beauty, he was adopted quickly. When he left, Koda took over the meowing duty, tempting me in for head-boops and biscuit making.

I thought Koda would be adopted quickly as well, but no one seemed interested. I kept visiting him a few times every day, and he learned to know my footsteps, so he would run to the window of whatever room held him as soon as I approached.

Months went by, and Koda's Cat Depot anniversary came closer and closer. I did everything I could think of to find him a home. I made videos, posters, wrote about him all over social media, spotlighted him on the marquee outside the building, and so on.

Nothing worked.

Koda is on special food for a urinary tract problem, and when the Christmas holiday approached he was the only one in the building needing this special food. Thus, he was alone. I wanted to take him home and foster him for the holiday, so he wouldn't have to spend it all alone, but that message kind of got lost in the holiday chaos, and Christmas and New Years came and went.

In January, he passed his anniversary. I had promised him, promised he wouldn't have to spend a year at Cat Depot.

Had it been up to me, I would have taken him home long ago, but Mike did not want a cat. Being sick has mellowed him, given more empathy for others who are in trouble, and he finally agreed that I could take Koda home, if I kept him in my office in the back of the house.

A sound plan since Princess Bonnie is infamous for not liking cats. And I spend most of my time in the office anyway.

January 9th, Koda came to my house. I worried that he would be upset by hearing the dogs, but he couldn't have cared less. Oh the joy of seeing him explore, and being able to give him his very own cat trees and toys!

Today, he became officially mine. And you know what? I've seen Mike kiss the cat.