Barbara Venkataraman's Blog: A Trip on the Mobius Strip, page 15
February 19, 2017
Let's Get Cozy! :-)
Mystery Thriller Week continues and I have a new guest post on the wonderful blog. "Writing Pearls". Check out my post "Let's Get Cozy" right here: http://writingpearls.com/
Thanks, Jessica! :-)
Thanks, Jessica! :-)
February 18, 2017
Is Today My Birthday? :-)
Wow! Check out this amazing review/spotlight/interview and giveaway
of me and my Jamie Quinn Collection in the wonderful Kings River Life Magazine. Today really must be my birthday! Thanks, Kathleen. xoxo
http://kingsriverlife.com/02/18/jamie...
of me and my Jamie Quinn Collection in the wonderful Kings River Life Magazine. Today really must be my birthday! Thanks, Kathleen. xoxo
http://kingsriverlife.com/02/18/jamie...
February 16, 2017
A New Guest Post as Mystery Thriller Week Continues :-)
Mystery Thriller Week continues and I'm excited to have my guest post featured on the wonderful blog, "Novel Gossip". Many thanks, Amy, for the hospitality! Check it out here:
https://novelgossip.com/2017/02/16/gu...
https://novelgossip.com/2017/02/16/gu...
February 14, 2017
Q & A in the U.K.! And a Giveaway for Mystery Thriller Week :-)
Check out the Q & A with yours truly on Jo's Book Blog and enter the giveaway for the "Jamie Quinn Mystery Collection: Box Set Books 1-3". If you're feeling literary, check out Jo's progress in the "Man Booker Prize Challenge". Go, Jo!
https://josbookblog.co.uk/
https://josbookblog.co.uk/
Cozy Up with Kathy during Mystery Thriller Week!
Mystery Thriller Week continues and it's so much fun! My latest guest post appeared in "Cozy Up with Kathy", a fantastic blog dedicated to the cozy mystery. My guest post is titled "Everyone is a Character". You can check it out here:
https://cozyupwithkathy.blogspot.com/...
https://cozyupwithkathy.blogspot.com/...
February 12, 2017
Mystery Thriller Week Begins! :-)
Mystery Thriller Week started today and I am happy to say my books are featured not once, but twice on opening day!
In the wonderful "Keeper of Pages" blog, which features crime, mystery & thriller book reviews, I have a guest post AND a giveaway, check it out here:
https://keeperofpages.wordpress.com/2...
The second wonderful blog of the day is "Quiet Fury Books" and features an interview with me. It was a lot of fun! Check it out here:
http://quietfurybooks.com/blog/get-to...
Thanks Janel and Darcia!
In the wonderful "Keeper of Pages" blog, which features crime, mystery & thriller book reviews, I have a guest post AND a giveaway, check it out here:
https://keeperofpages.wordpress.com/2...
The second wonderful blog of the day is "Quiet Fury Books" and features an interview with me. It was a lot of fun! Check it out here:
http://quietfurybooks.com/blog/get-to...
Thanks Janel and Darcia!
February 11, 2017
Mystery Thriller Week!
I'm very excited to be a participating author in this year's Mystery Thriller Week, 2/12-2/22, a fun-filled event for every mystery lover with lots of book reviews, guest posts, interviews and giveaways.
Here is the calendar of events:
https://mysterythrillerweek.com/onlin...
Join the ranks of the mystery and thriller readers that are becoming fans of the Mystery Thriller Week event as well as fans of over 200 amazing authors participating in Mystery Thriller Week. Get your full passport to fun by joining today. What do you get by joining?Meet some of these award-winning and best-selling writers. Ask them questions, get tips and see what they are up to now. Find your new favorite author.
You will receive access to all the events scheduled. You will be invited to meet some of these award-winning and best-selling writers on various digital platforms. Ask them questions, get tips and see what they are up to now. Find your new favorite author.
You will also have free passes to giveaways, Facebook chats, free books, interview links and more. All these treats will be provided to super fans like yourself. As a super fan, you will also be a step ahead when next year’s event is announced. Now is the time to save your spot for all the excitement.
Once the event goes live you will get updates on what’s happening each day. You will have the opportunity to enter contests and drawings for special prizes, enter author giveaways and drawings during the live event February 12 – 22, 2017. Join below to stay on top of all announcements, contests and major prize drawings. The MTW event’s team has worked to bring fun contests, enjoyable activities and plenty of entertainment. What are you waiting for? Sign up here:
https://mysterythrillerweek.com/fans-...
Here is the calendar of events:
https://mysterythrillerweek.com/onlin...
Join the ranks of the mystery and thriller readers that are becoming fans of the Mystery Thriller Week event as well as fans of over 200 amazing authors participating in Mystery Thriller Week. Get your full passport to fun by joining today. What do you get by joining?Meet some of these award-winning and best-selling writers. Ask them questions, get tips and see what they are up to now. Find your new favorite author.
You will receive access to all the events scheduled. You will be invited to meet some of these award-winning and best-selling writers on various digital platforms. Ask them questions, get tips and see what they are up to now. Find your new favorite author.
You will also have free passes to giveaways, Facebook chats, free books, interview links and more. All these treats will be provided to super fans like yourself. As a super fan, you will also be a step ahead when next year’s event is announced. Now is the time to save your spot for all the excitement.
Once the event goes live you will get updates on what’s happening each day. You will have the opportunity to enter contests and drawings for special prizes, enter author giveaways and drawings during the live event February 12 – 22, 2017. Join below to stay on top of all announcements, contests and major prize drawings. The MTW event’s team has worked to bring fun contests, enjoyable activities and plenty of entertainment. What are you waiting for? Sign up here:
https://mysterythrillerweek.com/fans-...
February 6, 2017
More Misophonia --Why Certain Sounds Drive You Nuts!
My recent blog-post, "A Smidge of Crazy", about the strange disorder known as Misophonia, struck a nerve with a lot of people. Readers shared the everyday sounds that made them crazy and so I shared some of mine, which are truly bizarre and might change your opinion of me. The sound of my dog licking her paw or the floor (or anything else) drives me absolutely bonkers, as does the sound of a fork scraping a plate. But the worst one is a song by Ten CC called, "I'm Not in Love". I can't explain it, but when the singer whispers Big Boys Don't Cry, it is pure torture and makes me want to jump out of a moving car.
Now you know that you're not so weird after all. You're welcome!
And here's the explanation you've been looking for:
Misophonia: Scientists crack why eating sounds can make people angry
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-38842561
Now you know that you're not so weird after all. You're welcome!
And here's the explanation you've been looking for:
Misophonia: Scientists crack why eating sounds can make people angry
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-38842561
January 23, 2017
"Engaged in Danger" is now a Short-listed Semi-Finalist, woo hoo!
Here's exciting news--my 4th Jamie Quinn Cozy Mystery, "Engaged in Danger" is now a Short-listed semi-finalist in the International Chanticleer Murder & Mayhem Mystery Novel Writing Contest! What an honor! The winners will be chosen April 1st and I'll keep you posted. :-)
https://www.chantireviews.com/2017/01...
https://www.chantireviews.com/2017/01...
January 17, 2017
Better Late than Never! Overdue Book Passed Down 4 Generations :-)
SF library book returned, 100 years overdue
By Steve Rubenstein
Updated 6:53 pm, Friday, January 13, 2017
·
Webb Johnson of Fairfield returned a San Francisco library book Friday, 100 years late.
There was no fine.
“Whew,” Johnson said.
The book, a collection of short stories published in 1909, had been checked out by his great-grandmother Phoebe Webb in 1917 from the old Fillmore branch which, like his great-grandmother, is no longer around.
Head City Librarian Luis Herrera welcomed the book back and said the library was very glad to get it, finally. At the 2017 rate of 10 cents a day, the overdue fine would have come to $3,650. Fortunately for Johnson, fines on overdue books are now capped at $5. And under the library’s current amnesty program for overdue books, there’s no fine at all.
The amnesty program has gotten 2,000 overdue books back onto library shelves since it began Jan. 3. About 1,400 delinquent borrowers have had their library privileges restored. An additional 54,000 patrons with accumulated fines of $10 or more are still walking around with suspended library cards. Under the amnesty program, they have until Feb. 14 to turn in their books with no penalty.
Amnesty programs — which San Francisco also offered in 2009, 2004 and 1998 — are somewhat controversial in the generally noncontroversial world of libraries. Some say that when libraries are known to forgive and forget every few years, it offers little incentive to return overdue books at other times. But Herrera said it was all about getting books back in the library where they belong, not about collecting a dime or two or 36,500.
Johnson said a check of family history showed that his great-grandma had died one week before the book was due. The timing suggests that Webb may have had more pressing business to attend to at the time than returning the book, he said.
The amnesty came in handy because Johnson said he had discovered the overdue book in 1996 and had hung onto it ever since. That means “Forty Minutes Late” has been unintentionally late for 79 years and deliberately late for 21 years.
“We figured it was ours now,” Johnson said. “I’m guilty. I know it. Guilty, guilty, guilty.”
The book is by F. Hopkinson Smith, an author, artist and engineer who designed the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. The first story in Smith’s collection is about a cranky man who nearly misses a speaking engagement because of a late train. The author, in the story, suggests there are worst sins than being late, such as being cranky — a notion that Johnson says he fully endorses.
Conscience, along with the amnesty program, persuaded him to bring the book back. Another reason he brought it back is his cousin Judy Wells wanted to check it out.
She showed up at the Park Branch Library on Page Street on Friday along with Johnson. After Johnson handed the overdue book back to the library, Wells stepped up to the circulation desk and applied for a library card. She figured she could go right home with “Forty Minutes Late” again, for three weeks or 100 years, whichever comes first.
But Herrera, perhaps reluctant to entrust the volume to the extended Webb-Wells-Johnson family for another century, said “Forty Minutes Late” would be temporarily unavailable until it could be properly re-cataloged and evaluated by library historians.
“I can wait,” Wells said.
Steve Rubenstein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: srubenstein@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SteveRubeSF
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article...
By Steve Rubenstein
Updated 6:53 pm, Friday, January 13, 2017
·
Webb Johnson of Fairfield returned a San Francisco library book Friday, 100 years late.
There was no fine.
“Whew,” Johnson said.
The book, a collection of short stories published in 1909, had been checked out by his great-grandmother Phoebe Webb in 1917 from the old Fillmore branch which, like his great-grandmother, is no longer around.
Head City Librarian Luis Herrera welcomed the book back and said the library was very glad to get it, finally. At the 2017 rate of 10 cents a day, the overdue fine would have come to $3,650. Fortunately for Johnson, fines on overdue books are now capped at $5. And under the library’s current amnesty program for overdue books, there’s no fine at all.
The amnesty program has gotten 2,000 overdue books back onto library shelves since it began Jan. 3. About 1,400 delinquent borrowers have had their library privileges restored. An additional 54,000 patrons with accumulated fines of $10 or more are still walking around with suspended library cards. Under the amnesty program, they have until Feb. 14 to turn in their books with no penalty.
Amnesty programs — which San Francisco also offered in 2009, 2004 and 1998 — are somewhat controversial in the generally noncontroversial world of libraries. Some say that when libraries are known to forgive and forget every few years, it offers little incentive to return overdue books at other times. But Herrera said it was all about getting books back in the library where they belong, not about collecting a dime or two or 36,500.
Johnson said a check of family history showed that his great-grandma had died one week before the book was due. The timing suggests that Webb may have had more pressing business to attend to at the time than returning the book, he said.
The amnesty came in handy because Johnson said he had discovered the overdue book in 1996 and had hung onto it ever since. That means “Forty Minutes Late” has been unintentionally late for 79 years and deliberately late for 21 years.
“We figured it was ours now,” Johnson said. “I’m guilty. I know it. Guilty, guilty, guilty.”
The book is by F. Hopkinson Smith, an author, artist and engineer who designed the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. The first story in Smith’s collection is about a cranky man who nearly misses a speaking engagement because of a late train. The author, in the story, suggests there are worst sins than being late, such as being cranky — a notion that Johnson says he fully endorses.
Conscience, along with the amnesty program, persuaded him to bring the book back. Another reason he brought it back is his cousin Judy Wells wanted to check it out.
She showed up at the Park Branch Library on Page Street on Friday along with Johnson. After Johnson handed the overdue book back to the library, Wells stepped up to the circulation desk and applied for a library card. She figured she could go right home with “Forty Minutes Late” again, for three weeks or 100 years, whichever comes first.
But Herrera, perhaps reluctant to entrust the volume to the extended Webb-Wells-Johnson family for another century, said “Forty Minutes Late” would be temporarily unavailable until it could be properly re-cataloged and evaluated by library historians.
“I can wait,” Wells said.
Steve Rubenstein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: srubenstein@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SteveRubeSF
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article...
A Trip on the Mobius Strip
Whenever I see something funny or weird that you can relate to, I will share it. Anything that will make you smile, or shake your head, or wiggle your ears. I'd like to see that, by the way...
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