M.A Grace's Blog, page 10

Quest Post and Contest by Pavarti K. Tyler

 Real Life 'Magic' By: Pavarti K. Tyler

Halloween is full of fun stories, creepy, scary, otherworldly stories that catch the imagination and force us to look at the darker side of ourselves. But what is Halloween really? Through all the traditions I can find, from The Roman Catholic All Hallow's Eve to the Roman Parentaliaand even to the Celtic Samuin, the connective tissue of these events is the idea that the wall between reality and a spiritual world is thinner on the night of October 31st.
Ghouls and Goblins run the streets in search of bags of candy, Moms and Dads watch The Nightmare Before Christmas with their progeny, and teens and singles alike dress in ever increasingly evocative clothing in the name of Halloween. Do you think of horror movies or naked wiccans dancing in the woods that night? I don't.
I think of my first true love and the possibility that a little bit of magic kept him alive.
While I've never been much of a religious person in the traditional sense I've always believed in a world within worlds, one which connects us all and can give us power and insight into things that defy definition. The story I have to tell you isn't a scary one, but it's one about a time when the curtain of reality parted slightly, just enough for me to peek through and see something I would have never been able to stop otherwise.
During my senior year of high school I was in the drama filled throws of looming graduation, love, self-discovery, and self-sabotage. So basically I was exactly like everyone reading this. An emotional roller-coaster on many levels, I never seemed to be able to get myself set straight or figure out what I was doing. Words had a tendency to fall from my lips before I'd even completed the thought behind them and any day I didn't cry I considered a success. Oh to be sixteen again.
It was Halloween and I had a costume, a crowd to wander the streets with and a general feeling that things might actually be okay for me. What could go wrong? Like everyday before, my fella and I met between classes, walked to our lockers with goofy looks on our faces, pretending we knew what it meant to be in love. That day I remember quite vividly, it was after AP Government and he met me as usual, but something was wrong.
"I'm gonna go home, I don't feel good," he told me.
"Do you want me to drive you?" I asked, not liking the shading of his already pale skin.
"No, I'm just gonna sleep."  He'd just recovered from a sinus infection or something, I don't remember what now, but him not feeling well wasn't unreasonable.  I remember a certain dullness in his eyes though.
He left and I spent the next two classes worried. I knew, I just knew there was something wrong. Something deep inside me screamed out that he needed me. It wasn't hormones or some other desire to skip school; I had plenty of opportunities to exploit both of those. It was definitely something deeper.
I considered going to the principle and asking someone to check on him, but the conversation in my mind wasn't one that I could see being well received.
You see, I just have this feeling there's something wrong and maybe someone should go over there - you know, see if he's still breathing?
What were they going to do? My mother and his parents worked so I knew they wouldn't go check. I called the house between classes and no one answered. There was no one left but me. I knew where the spare key to his house was and I had my own car.
In a fit of rare disobedience I wrote a note during French II (a class I failed twice by the way) to leave early. I signed my mother's name and as per usual I completely fucked it up. I dated it September 31st. Guest what day Halloween is. Yeah, I'm just that smart.
None-the-less I drove over to the house of my infirmed boyfriend, dread and concern mounting the closer I got.  I had visions of finding him passed out in the kitchen or worse.  Something demanded I get to him and I drove faster.
I rounded into his neighborhood too fast, pulling my ridiculous little car up the steep hill of his driveway.  Inside the garage against one wall was a magnetic box holding the spare key.  I grabbed it and let myself in.
I called out.
There was no answer.
I called up the stairs and then I heard his weak voice coming from the living room.
"Where are you?" I asked.
"In the bathroom, don't come in." Was all he said.  I started to calm down, he was alive, he was just sick.  I'd been foolish to rush over here and worry.  There wasn't anything wrong.  I'd make him some lunch and go back to school and it would all fade away.  Another moment of over-reaction in my hyperbolic life had been survived.
I heard a retch from behind the door, and then another.
"Are you okay?"
"no…"
I haven't told you much about the fella I was dating at the time.  You know, protecting the innocent and all.  What I can tell you is he is still a dear friend and not one to admit weakness lightly.  Always working to over come the next obstacle either internal or external, "I can't" or "I'm not alright" are things he rarely says.  So I knew he had to be really sick.
My mind kicked into overdrive.  He wouldn't let me in the bathroom; he was still vomiting but hadn't eaten anything.  The sound of his retching got worse and worse until I had no idea what to do. 
"I'm calling your Mom."
This time he didn't reply.
When his mother heard my voice on the other end of the phone I could feel the panic rushing through the phone lines.  There was something very wrong.
She was home soon and we piled him into the back of her van, a bucket next to him.  I sat in the very back, his head in my lap, despite his protests.  He was just too weak to pretend to be okay. That vision I'd had of him passed out was coming true, but now, instead of alone in his kitchen he was with me and his mother, on our way to the hospital.
Four hours later I was allowed to see him.  He'd had a severe allergic reaction to the erythromycin he'd been taking.  The reaction had been so swift and violent there was a possibility that he wouldn't have survived it, but thanks to whatever sense, or intuition or touch of magic that had told me something was wrong, he was alive.
Now this isn't the same as seeing a ghost or believing in fairies.  This isn't a blurry picture of a moving Bigfoot or and bright light skittering across the sky at an impossible speed.  What this is is just a moment in time, a small thing really from the outside.  But to me, this was a moment when something outside of myself forced me to act.  When the forces at work in the spiritual world around us crossed over and whispered for me to do something.
Because I listened, or maybe because it was Halloween and the thinning of reality made it easier to hear, my friend is still around.  He is as difficult and stubborn as always, but I wouldn't have survived losing him and the world would have been a much darker place without him in it.
Seventeen years ago, on Halloween, I was grounded for lying, forging a note, and skipping school.  I was almost suspended but instead was given detention because both my mother and his asked the principle for leniency.  The adults around me claimed I should have done something else, told someone, anything but what I did. 
That Halloween I didn't go trick-or-treating.  I was grounded. 
And I couldn't have been happier.





Learn More about Pavarti K. Tyler

Facebook
Website
Twitter
Amazon


Pavarti K Tyler is an artist, wife, mother and number cruncher. She graduated Smith College in 1999 with a degree in Theatre. After graduation, she moved to New York, where she worked as a Dramaturge, Assistant Director and Production Manager on productions both on and off Broadway.
Later, Pavarti went to work in the finance industry as a freelance accountant for several international law firms. She now operates her own accounting firm in the Washington DC area, where she lives with her husband, two daughters and two terrible dogs. When not preparing taxes, she is busy penning her next novel.
Author of many short stories, Pavarti spans genres from Horror and Erotica all the way to Fantasy. Currently Pavarti is hard at work preparing for the release of her upcoming novel Shadow on the Wall, a Muslim Superhero Literary Fiction.





WIN AN EBOOK COPY!! You could win an Ebook of Pavarti K. Tyler's book "Consumed By Love"


Consumed by Love is the story of a couple who must face one partner's supernatural transformation. This short piece is written in the style of a classic horror story with a dark take on the addictive nature of love.







Entering is easy! Just leave a comment on this blog post answering the question below and that is it!


Question: Have you ever had a feeling that turned out you were right about something even though you can't explain how you knew or where the feeling came from? 

Fall Cleaning

We all know about the joys of spring cleaning. Winter is over and you have to dust off everything and air it out from being closed up for a few months. You may not know about Fall Cleaning which is preparing to go from Summer fun to Winter cold. That is what I am doing this week. Sometimes I couldn't find strength to even load a dishwasher and then others I want to change the whole way the house looks. Well this week I am cleaning and reorganizing and possibly if I get in the mood I'll redecorate and rearrange as well. But probably won't last much longer. OR maybe I've just gotten bored to the point I would rather clean then stare mindlessly at facebook...hmm.. Anyway here is a list of Fall Cleaning task to keep in mind. 
This list was taken from RealSimple.com


Fall Cleaning Checklist
Inside Your HouseWash all windows.Use glass cleaner, or one squirt of dishwashing liquid in a spray bottle filled with water, and wipe down with a microfiber cloth. Pick a cloudy day so you can better see any streaks.Vacuum dusty canvas, cotton, and treated fabric blinds.Use a low setting with a brush attachment. Vinyl shades can be wiped down with a dampened microfiber cloth if they need a little more attention.Moderately dirty window treatments need a two-step approach.Start by dusting or vacuuming the valance and frame, then vacuum from top to bottom using the upholstery attachment for drapes, and the brush attachment for blinds. Or submerge blinds or shades in a few inches of cool water and two teaspoons of dishwashing liquid (check labels first to make sure this is safe). Take out the metal weights first; they can rust.If your window coverings are very dirty, check labels for cleaning instructions.Some cotton, polyester, rayon, and wool drapes can be machine washed on delicate. Always send lace, linen, satin, and silk drapes and shades to a professional cleaner.Clean the walls.Dust, wash, rinse, and dry painted or wood-paneled walls.Clean ceiling-mounted light fixtures.Vacuum and spot-clean upholstered furniture and cushions.Deep-clean if necessary.Wipe down the kitchen cupboards.Empty them, wash them down, replace liners (if you use them), declutter, and reorganize.Dust off the refrigerator condenser coil.Use your vacuum’s brush attachment and gently vacuum it.Do the carpets.Have carpets professionally cleaned if needed.Evaluate any wooden floors.Have scratched or dull wood floors professionally scuff-sanded and recoated, or completely refinished.Spruce up your computer.Dust the CPU, clean and wipe down the keyboard, and dust off the monitor with a microfiber cloth.Straighten the closets.Declutter and reorganize.Test smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.Or install them, if you haven’t yet.Replace the furnace filter.If you haven’t changed your furnace filter within the past three months, do so now.Sweep the chimneys.Have the wood-burning fireplace and stove flues and chimneys professionally inspected and swept.Declutter and clean out the attic.Outside Your HouseCheck weather stripping and caulking around doors and windows.Repair or replace as needed.Check and clean the gutters.Do the downspouts, too.Clean the patio furniture.Then store away.Drain and store garden hoses.Check the exterior paint.Touch up as needed.Drain the pool, if applicable.Close it up for the year.

Blog Tour: Forbidden Mind

49% of Americans believe their government officials are honest. I don't know these officials, or their supporters, but I know their secrets, and 49% of Americans are wrong. 
My employers pay me well to be right, to know things others can't. But I don't know why they brought that boy in, strapped to a stretcher, barely conscious. He asked me for help when I could give none.
I'm a wealthy spy, a talented artist, a martial arts black belt, and a prisoner. They tell me that on my eighteenth birthday, I will be released, free to go to the college of my dreams. It's my eighteenth birthday, and a man in black is at my door. I know he's not here to free me.
I know, because I can read minds.
My name is Sam, and this is my story.
So begins the tale of Sam and Drake--from the time they link minds, forging a bond that leads to an unconventional romance--to their fight for survival against the corrupt, twisted organization known as 'Rent-A-Kid.'  
"...a thrilling, dark and deeply romantic read that had me sitting on the edge of my seat and eagerly awaiting the next installment." ~ Refracted Light Young Adult Book Reviews
"The plot is very ALIAS and DARK ANGEL-like with X-MEN as its backdrop (awesome combo!). Forbidden Mind BLEW my mind!" ~Sour Skittles Book Blog
Winner of 2011 Forward National Literature Award









• Website http://KimberlyKinrade.com • Twitter: @KimberlyKinrade • IPI Twitter: @IPIAcademy • Facebook: /KimberlyKinrade  • IPI Facebook: /IPIAcademy





NOTE: Kimberly's married name is Karpov-Kinrade, but my books are published as just Kinrade



Kimberly Kinrade was born with ink in her veins and magic in her heart. She writes fantasy and paranormal stories for children, YA and adults and still believes in magic worlds. Check out her YA paranormal novels Forbidden Mind and Forbidden Fire and her illustrated children's fantasy chapter books Lexie World, and Bella World, all on Amazon. 
She lives with her three little girls who think they're ninja princesses with super powers, her two dogs who think they're humans and her husband, also known as the sexy Russian Prince, who is the love of her life and writing partner. 



*~*~*~ MY REVIEW!!!~*~*~*
It probably can be bumped up to a 3.5 rating to be honest...
Forbidden Mind is a slight twist on the X-Men. Growing up on the X-Men and watching as new mutants came in and the story unfolds I can wait to have my multiple questions I have from this first book in the series to be answered. The story line is a mix of originality and copy cat as I have seen it before but Kimberly does a lovely job to add small alterations to add it as her own. She has lovely characters that sometimes fall flat in a few random places but for the most part they are great and really help pull you into the story. I can't wait to read book 2 and see how many questions are answered and how many new questions arise. A very lovely read that is between short and medium length.

Relieved At Thanksgiving...

[image error]


In autumn, so that trees shed each year’s leaves, the wind is strong.  Last year, it caught up a huge sheet up plastic from an unidentified yard and twirled it high into a tree.  It was attached so tightly, that it was only freed this week!  The Friday it went up, before Thanksgiving in October last year, the wind was like a gale.  I gave up on yard-trimming, brought in the cats, and rolled the wheelbarrow back at a run.  Somewhere, a grass fire started several towns away but I didn’t know.  After my fiancé was home and the sun set, we settled into TV when our neighbor came to the door.  She brought the eeriest news I had ever heard...

To Read More Head over to C. Riedel's Blog and enter her contest. Oh and make sure to wish her a Happy Thanksgiving!!! 
C. Riedel's Blog 

Her Contest Post

Sunday Morning Wake Ups.

Sundays are great for Football Games, Nascar Races, Church, and waking up next to a stranger while your head throbs and you try to piece together the night before.

Well to cure your inability to produce a clear thought let me offer this great ebook to you! 


Resilient and practical, Kara Barton has continually strived to live a respectable life. She went to college, embarked on a promising career as an attorney, married a great guy, and always appeared to be the perfect wife and mother. But all is not what it seems, and the troubling past Kara has been running from her entire life is about to catch up with her. Urged on by her insecurities about growing older, and desperately wanting to feel one more night of passion, Kara agrees to share a tryst in a hotel room with a sexy business associate, Scott Ellsworth. But Scott wants more than one night together, and Kara quickly discovers it is impossible to resist him. Soon Kara finds herself transformed into the kind of woman she vowed never to become, and the secure world she has struggled all her life to build begins to fall apart. Kara Barton is about to find out how a one-night stand can change everything.



  Alexandrea Weis
 FacebookTwitterBlogWebsite
  Alexandrea Weis is a registered nurse from New Orleans who has been writing novels and screenplays for over twenty years. Her first novel, To My Senses, was a finalist for commercial fiction in Eric Hofer Book Awards, a finalist for romance in the Foreword Magazine Book of the Year awards, and a finalist for romance in the USA Book Awards. Her second novel, Recovery, was ranked #1 on the Amazon top rated for romantic suspense in kindle books. Buyer Group International, an independent production company in Austin, has optioned the motion picture rights for Recovery. Ms. Weis is also a permitted wildlife rehabber with the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries and when she is not writing, Ms. Weis is rescuing orphaned and injured wildlife. She lives outside of New Orleans with her husband and a menagerie of pets.  



CONTEST Have you ever had a one night stand? Did it turn into something more? If you have not had a one night stand, have you thought about it before? 


The Winner will get an Ebook copy of Alexandrea Weis book Diary of a one-night stand. 


But others can buy her book on Amazon by clicking the link below: Click Here

Saturdays are for relaxing...in Fashion

We all enjoy the weekend. A time to just lay back and enjoy not having to be in 40 places at one time. But we also want to relax in fashion and I got something to help push you over the edge and make any outfit classy... Well at least make your hand look classy with any outfit... 
 
GORGEOUS!!!!
This ring is inspired by the Embrace Series by  Charlotte Blackwell! 
What outfit wouldn't benefit from this beautiful ring? 
And if that isn't enough a second place winner will get their choice of one of the Embrace Books to receive in Ebook format!!

Here is how you enter.... 
The Embrace books are about Vampires, Witches, Demons, Shapeshifters and mortals. Oh and High School of course.  To enter to win one of these two awesome gifts you need to leave a comment about how would you feel going to a high school where you could be sitting next to, dating, or best friends with someone with powers? Would you help protect them or would you abandon them?

MLB Wild Card 2012!

The Atlanta Braves


Vs
The St. Louis Cardinals


One of these two teams will get the honor of going into the playoffs for the World Series title. St. Louis is looking to defend their title from last years amazing games while Atlanta is looking to throw Chipper Jones a big celebration for his last year before retiring. 




At 5:00 P.M. EST The one and only wild card game will begin and one of these two teams will at the end of the night be walking off to a shot at the World Series title while the other will walk away without a victory and start to prepare for next year. 

In honor of This game (Because I am an Atlanta Braves fan and my Husband is a St Louis Cardinals Fan) I am doing a special give away. Here is what is included!!! 
1 Polymer Clay Baseball Bat Charm1 Baseball ribbon clip1 Crochet hat in either dark blue & Red (Atlanta) or Red & white (St. Louis)1 Crochet Baseball 


And here is how you enter. I want you to leave a comment with who you think will win and what you think the score will be. The person closest to the actual outcome wins. It really is that simple!!!

I, Monster guest post by Hunter Shea

I, Monster By Hunter Shea 
“It’s just the beast under your bed. In your closet, in your head.” 
That’s always been one of my favorite Metallica lines. It stresses that the monsters lurking in your mind are just as sinister as the phantom creatures lying in wait in your darkened room. 
I’m a monster junkie. I admit it. I’ve been addicted to monsters for almost 40 years now. I hope to go 40 more. When I was a kid, I was fascinated by the Loch Ness Monster, that Jurassic leftover swimming the Scottish depths. Forget whales, Nessie was queen. Then came Bigfoot and the famous Patterson film showing the missing link striding through a dry riverbed. From there, the floodgates opened wide. 
In TV shows, movies and comics, I found monsters everywhere. From Satan’s baby to swamp creatures, zombies to hockey-masked killing machines, I was in my glory. I soaked up the Universal monsters like a dry sponge; Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, all crammed their way into my brain, carving out a special home for themselves. 
 I see monsters wherever I go, because they are always snarling and shambling in my head. As a horror writer, I get to let them run free for a bit every now and then, but they always come back home when they’re done terrorizing the town. In the past year alone, I’ve unleashed the ghosts (Forest of Shadows), demons (Evil Eternal) and monsters (Swamp Monster Massacre) from my mind’s cages. I’ve scared a few folks in the process. 
 Maybe, just maybe, I’ve become the monster. 
Time to howl. 


 Author Bio I’m the product of a childhood weened on The Night Stalker, The Twilight Zone and In Search Of. Luckily, I’ve managed to make a love of all things ghostly and beastly into a career. It’s nice not to have to write for free anymore.
I’ve published several books and a slew of horror short stories over the years in magazines like Dark Moon Digest, Morpheus Tales, The Harrow, Tabard Inn, Deadline  & Ethereal Tales, just to name a few. My latest novel, Forest of Shadows, is available through  Samhain Publishing  and their new horror line. Evil Eternal, what’s been desribed as Gran Guignol at its best and bloodiest, will be available in May 2012.
I’m also proud to be be one half of the Monster Men podcast, where my partner in crime Jack Campisi and I talk about all things horror with our own, sarcastic twist. All horror and no humor makes Hunter and Jack dull boys.
Feel free to contact me any time at huntershea1@gmail.com. Writing is lonely work.

Hunter Shea's Website
Click Here

Blog Tour: Toxic Relationship

*Disclosure of Material Connection: I am a member of Reading Addiction Blog Tours and a copy of this book was provided to me by the author. Although payment may have been received by Reading Addiction Blog Tours, no payment was received by me in exchange for this review. There was no obligation to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are entirely my own and may not necessarily agree with those of the author, publisher, publicist, or readers of this review. This disclosure is in accordance with the Federal Trade Commision’s 16 CFR, Part 255, Guides Concerning Use of Endorcements and Testimonials in Advertising*





Purchase Links
 Amazon Kobo Champagne Books 


[image error]    Suspense/Mystery Date Published: 8/6/12 Publisher:Champagne Books 

After a murdered partner, a cheating wife and a lost job in Houston, Nick Sibelius sets up a private investigation business in a small Texas town hoping to find some peace and maybe, himself. When a couple disappears and a bass fisherman turns up dead, he finds himself drawn into a web of toxic relationships: MaryLou, a beautiful woman with a mysterious past; Junior, a failed farmer whose best intentions seem to always result in a dead body; Barry, a sociopathic dentist turned illegal toxic waste entrepreneur with visions of grandeur. When the felon who killed his partner in Houston joins forces with Barry, Nick must not only stop the toxic waste dumping while finding his client’s missing daughter, but keep from being killed in the process. In the end, MaryLou’s dark secret will either save him or kill him -- whichever comes first. 



“Tight suspense with wonderful laugh out loud moments. Richard Hacker is a master storyteller." Pam Binder, Pacific Northwest Writers Association President and author of the NY Times Best Selling anthology,A Season in the Highlands 
"Many times I found myself getting strange looks because I was laughing out loud...Highly entertaining and sure to be enjoyed by fans of mysteries with humor. I highly recommend it and hope that there will be more stories to follow."Paige Lovitt for Reader Views






 MEET THE AUTHOR  
 

CONTACT RICHARD
Facebook Twitter: @Richard_Hacker  Website 





Richard Hacker’s novel, TOXIC RELATIONSHIP, released August, 2012 by Champagne was a 2011 Writer’s League of Texas (WLT) finalist, where in addition, SHAPER EMERGENCE won best novel in the Science Fiction category.  He is a member of both the Writers’ League of Texas and the Pacific Northwest Writers Association. After living many years in Texas where he worked as a leadership coach, public speaker and management trainer, he moved with his high school sweetheart to Seattle.  While he misses the big skies of Texas, Richard has grown pretty fond of the Pacific Northwest.  Along with his wife, Sidney, they hike, kayak and have adventures on his Vespa scooter.  His writing partner is a springer spaniel named Jazz, who helps with proofreading and ball fetching. DIRTY WATER, the next novel in the Nick Sibelius series after TOXIC RELATIONSHIP, will be released June, 2013.  He is currently working on the third book in the series, as well as a young adult fantasy entitled INKER WARS: THE FIVE PENS OF JOHANN.



MY REVIEW   Don't give up on this book. The first good amount of the book is needed to build up the story and to give you insight into the land and lifestyle. But it gets better. Just keep reading. This is a great book to spend a lazy afternoon reading. It has just enough light humor to keep you light hearted and keep reading. The Mystery and suspense keeps you guessing and the characters will have you feeling like one of the story.

Fun Halloween Treats!!! Yummy!

Original Location

White Chocolate Skulls with bitter sweet inside and walnut brain. I want to the try this so much because it looks so tempting.


Everyone loves to get the creepy crawlers out of the closet and start putting things up for Halloween and the chance to scare your neighbors with popping up ghost and vampires. And as a young child you associate yummy treats and candy with Halloween. So here is a chance to win a free recipe book for Halloween to give you new ideas. Great taste. and to help blow your friends, family and party guest out of the water with how cool your food is to eat and look at. 

Here are some free Recipe Downloads for Kindle...