Harmony Kent's Blog, page 132
June 21, 2016
Homicide in the House
Hello and welcome to my place today. Hold on tight to your coffee ‘cos there’s Homicide in the House today! Ya’ll can blame author Colleen J Shogan and her cozy mystery novel for that, lol. For more murder and mayhem, please click on the banner above, which will take you to Colleen’s other tour stops at Goddess Fish. If you indulge in a wee bit of internet stalking, you’ll have more chances to enter her Rafflecopter giveaway, which will be awarding a $50 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. 
During a government shutdown, Kit’s congresswoman boss is found standing over the dead body of a top staffer she tangled with in front of the press. The police are about to name her as the prime suspect. The weapon was the Speaker’s gavel, an item entrusted to the congresswoman the previous night. The killer knows Kit is on the case. Can she solve the mystery in time to save her job and her life?
Excerpt:Absent the big commuter crowds to slow the boarding of trains, I arrived at Capitol South twenty-five minutes later. Maeve hadn’t replied. Perhaps the “trouble” had already blown over. Just in case she still needed help, I headed directly to the Cannon rotunda without stopping at the office. Reporters usually camped out inside the rotunda to shoot live cable television hits from Capitol Hill. It wasn’t as grandiose as the Capitol rotunda, but its Corinthian architecture with imposing columns did provide a stately backdrop for the camera.
I exited the elevator and walked past the famous Cannon Caucus Room, which hosted the House Un-American Committee hearings decades ago. Hearing Maeve’s voice in the distance, I followed the narrow hallway circling the rotunda. After rounding the bend, I found my boss. She wasn’t alone. Next to her was Detective O’Halloran of the Capitol Hill Police. Jack Drysdale was between them, but the Speaker’s top aide wasn’t looking so handsome this morning. Blood flowed from his head onto the pristine marble floor. If he’d generated Clarence’s Capitol Canine votes, there wouldn’t be any more favors coming my way. Jack Drysdale was dead.
Some thoughts on Character Building from Colleen:
Writing an ongoing series with no pre-determined end can be a writer’s dream. After all, a successful series is a goldmine for publishers. Readers get hooked, and as the popularity of the books grow, there’s a reduced need for publicity splashes when new installments are issued. The advantage of “growing a series” is that the author doesn’t need to reinvent his or her audience each time a new book hits the stands.
One of the challenges of writing a series is character development. This can be particularly thorny within the traditional amateur sleuth genre, sometimes known as “cozy” mysteries. There is a certain degree of predictability in the characters within a cozy. Perhaps the main character consistently struggles with her diet or she can’t stand a meddlesome neighbor. Readers take delight in the consistency of these details. That’s part of why serial reading is so popular, particularly within the mystery and romance genres. Readers get to know popular characters and hopefully want to read more stories featuring their escapades.
The challenge is the flipside of the same coin. Personally, I stop reading a series when the main characters become stale. Yes, consistency is important. But that doesn’t mean the characters shouldn’t develop in important ways. New conflicts have to emerge and lingering struggles should be resolved. Otherwise, a series can start to resemble Bill Murray in “Groundhog Day.” The details around the edges may vary from book to book, but the predictability becomes boring rather than comforting.
It’s a fine line for a series author. Although my books are classified as “cozies,” they take place in an urban setting, namely Washington, D.C. Our nation’s capital is not a predictable place. As an author, I’ve consciously decided to provide a little more change in my characters than the typical series. Significant life events happen to them, and their choices alter how they interact with each other. In short, life happens – even within the world of a cozy mystery.
As its core premise, an amateur sleuth mystery series require a leap of faith. Hopefully no one encounters multiple murders on a regular basis! Even so, the supporting details, including character development, should make an honest attempt to mimic real life.
About the Author:
Colleen J. Shogan has been reading mysteries since the age of six. She writes the Washington Whodunit series published by Camel Press. A political scientist by training, Colleen has taught American politics at Yale, George Mason University, Georgetown, and Penn. She previously worked on Capitol Hill as a legislative staffer in the United States Senate and as the Deputy Director of the Congressional Research Service. She is currently a senior executive at the Library of Congress. Colleen lives in Arlington, Virginia with her husband Rob and their beagle mutt Conan.
Twitter: @cshogan276
Website: www.colleenshogan.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/washingtonwhodunit/
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Homicide-House-Colleen-J-Shogan/dp/1603813330/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1269678.Colleen_J_Shogan
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June 20, 2016
A Seal’s Vow
Hello everyone! We have a treat for you today; I mean, just look at the book cover! Please, help me give a warm welcome to author Cora Seton and her Contemporary Romance, A Seal’s Vow.
Cora will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour! You can find her other tour stops by clicking on the banner above. Please do be sure to comment and visit her other stops for more chances to win her awesome Rafflecopter Giveaway
A Seal’s Vow
After fifteen long, dangerous years in the service, Navy SEAL Clay Pickett is ready for his new mission: build a model sustainable community and show the world an exciting alternative to a consumption-based life. If that means he’s got a deadline to find a wife in order to win the reality TV show that’s filming his sustainable adventure, so be it. He’s got just the woman for the job in mind: beautiful, dedicated Nora Ridgeway.
When Nora left her job as a school teacher in Baltimore to live a simpler, Jane Austen style life in Montana with her friends, she was relieved to escape the escalating threats of violence from an unknown student stalker, but she can’t help feeling she’s abandoned the other high schoolers who put their faith in her. She’s torn about Clay’s advances, too. On the one hand she’s never met anyone like the strong, sexy SEAL. On the other hand, life’s taught her to take relationships slow—and Clay’s on a deadline.
When arson strikes and Nora disappears, Clay knows he’ll need every trick he learned in his time with the SEALs to track her down and save her life.
Can two people caught by their pasts have a chance at a future?
Excerpt:
When Clay looked at her like that she thought she could handle anything, but Nora figured it wouldn’t do to let him know the effect he had on her. She was glad that with the big crowd gathering around the empty firepit, the cameras had too much to focus on to be filming them. “We’ve got a lot of work to do before we can think about that,” she warned him.
“Yes, ma’am.”
She bit back a smile. “Why do I get the feeling you were a handful back in school?”
“What makes you think I’m not a handful now?”
Her gaze dropped below his belt buckle. “Several handfuls, from what I’ve seen.” Nora swallowed. Maybe Clay hadn’t heard that.
“Did you seriously just say that out loud?” Clay asked her.
“I think I did.” Nora giggled, tried to cover it up and snorted instead. A laugh escaped her tightly compressed lips. She never said things like that. And she never snorted. Another unladylike sound slipped out.
“Handfuls?” he repeated. He set his plate down. “Handfuls.”
“Several.” Nora giggled again.
“Were you drinking the cooking sherry again?”
“I think Kai slipped me something.” He must have, because suddenly, perched on a log next to Clay, eating solar-cooked stew, she felt—relaxed.
Clay leaned in and kissed her neck. “We can measure those handfuls later if you like.”
“No sex. You’re not supposed to distract me from my work, remember,” she whispered back, his lips sending shivers down her spine.
“I never agreed to any of that.” he agreed. “We can at least cop a lot of feels while you’re writing, right?”
Nora laughed out loud and several heads turned their way. Clay kissed her neck again. “Can we go to your tent right now?” he whispered in her ear.
“No.”
About the Author:
NYT and USA Today bestselling author Cora Seton loves cowboys, country life, gardening, bike-riding, and lazing around with a good book. Mother of four, wife to a computer programmer/environmentalist, she ditched her California lifestyle and moved north to laid-back Vancouver Island. Like the characters in her Chance Creek series, Cora enjoys old-fashioned pursuits and modern technology, and is never happier than when planting flowers or creating her next Chance Creek novel. Visit www.coraseton.com to read about new releases, contests and other cool events!
Blog: www.coraseton.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/coraseton
Twitter: www.twitter.com/coraseton
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June 19, 2016
26 Hours in Paris
Hello and welcome to Harmony’s place. Please give a huge, warm welcom to author Demi Alex with her Erotic Romance novel, 26 Hours in Paris. Demi will be awarding a digital copy of 26 Hours in Paris to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. For her other tour stops, please click on the banner above!
One day to see the sights.
One night to change your life. . .
Magazine writer Kathryn Taylor is traveling from New York to Paris for work. But the flirtatious Frenchman she left long ago is waiting at the airport–and he wants to play. . .
No one can guide Kat through the sensual city’s delights like Marko Renard. He let her get away once, and now he’s determined to make her stay–even if he has to tie her down. He will wrap her in cashmere, tease her tongue with chocolate, and take her to the peak of the Eiffel Tower . . . But can he convince the bohemian beauty she belongs with him, in his luxuriously decadent world? In business, he’s the master–but it’s Kat’s body and soul he truly longs to rule. He has just enough time to show her the pleasures of the boulevards, the boulangeries–and the bedroom. To finally get her to just say oui, he’ll have to seize the day–and the night. . .
Excerpt:“Why do I need to go to Paris?” Kathryn asked, rubbing her temple with more force. “I’ll be looking over my shoulder for him at every turn. What if I bump into him? What happens then?”
“You mean, how do you research the perfect place to find love when love finds you?” Paul folded his muscled arms over his chest and leaned back in his seat. “You could even have a true Parisian show you around all the hot spots. Why is that so bad, Kittykat?”
“Because Marko is not an option. He’s loaded, cultured, and out of my league.” Even worse, he’d insist on introducing her to his family like he had that Christmas years ago. “I’ve worked real hard to establish myself as a competent professional. It would kill me to have the mighty Renards look down on me.”
“Why would they look down on you?” Paul asked. “You’re being ridiculous.”
“You could never understand, Paul. You’re rich and entitled, cut from the same cloth as Marko. I’m a girl from Long Island that had to take online classes for eighteen months to finish my last semester and get my degree, all while keeping my dad’s aluminum-siding business afloat to save my childhood home. Could you picture a woman in Marko’s family with chipped nail polish and callouses on her palms?”
“Marko stayed by your side. You were the one that ran away from him.” Paul’s jaw was set, but his gaze was full of compassion. He’d seen what her father’s passing had done to her and her mother, and he’d also been there for her in that difficult time. She hadn’t turned away from him. The difference was that Paul was her friend. Marko was her soul mate.
About the Author:
Demi Alex writes steamy romances, blending emotional fulfillments of the heart and carnal desires in her work. Born in Athens, Greece, and raised in her own version of a big fat Greek life in New York, Demi was infected with book and travel bugs early, and currently admits the only therapy for this condition is to combine the two in fictional stories that allow her characters to let loose and experience all they crave. She attended SUNY at Stony Brook, and after changing her major numerous times, graduated with a degree in Public Policy and International Studies. Her characters are loosely based on people she encounters while she travels or during the time she spends matching homes to owners as a Realtor. She simply has a passion for matchmaking that can’t be put to rest.
https://twitter.com/demialex2u
https://www.facebook.com/demialexletsloose
Buy links:
amazonkindle: http://www.amazon.com/s/?field-keywords=9781601835994
Apple: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/isbn9781601835994
Google: https://play.google.com/store/search?q=9781601835994&c=books
Kobo: http://www.kobobooks.com/search/search.html?q=9781601835994
Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/9781601835994
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Monday Musings Part Four: Mirror of Our Lives
Mirror of Our Lives
When I first came across the teaching that if somebody judges me, it is their problem not mine, I thought: What on Earth? In some indignation, I spluttered, ‘Of course, it’s my problem!!’ After all, it’s about me, isn’t it?
Wrong. It’s about them. Any time we judge a thing or another being, we actually show more about ourselves. Our judgements hold up a huge mirror in front of us and show us exactly who we are.
More often than not, we project our perception onto the external situation. We make up a story about an event or person. The particular slant we put on it shows who we are at our core.
This ties in to last week’s Monday Musing, Let it Go. If we can accept something for what it is, we can see more clearly what’s going on, instead of only being able to see the stories we tell ourselves—the judgements we put on it.
Actually, today’s reflection (if you’ll pardon the pun) ties in to all of the Monday Musings so far. It’s about being in this moment right now, exactly as it is, without dressing it up or colouring it with memories or future projections. Without making up a story. With no position to defend. Anything else just coats our mirror in dust, and all we can see is the grime, not what’s actually there beneath the muck.
I don’t know about you, but I want the mirror of my life to be as clean as possible. That way, I see as clearly as I can and am able to make better choices as a result. Also, I suffer less. When we see things just as they are, it’s so much easier to just accept them as they are.
I can’t get away from my mirror. It comes with me wherever I go. So, I may as well use it. If it’s full of rubbish, it won’t do me much good. If I have to lug it around with me, I have enough baggage without adding yet more. What would be the point in obscuring the reflection? What good would that do anyone?
Life is what we make it. Our mirror just shows us what we’re making. In the wise words of Zen:
‘Life is like a mirror. Smile at it, and it smiles back at you.’
If you’ve missed my previous Monday Musings, you can find the links below:
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June 16, 2016
Falling for Sarah
Hello and welcome Harmony Kent Online! Please, give a big warm welcome to Cate Beauman and her Romantic Suspense novel, Falling for Sarah!
Cate will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
To see her other tour stops, please click on the banner above; do leave comments for more chances to win!
Widow Sarah Johnson struggled to pick up the pieces after her life was ripped apart. After two years of grieving, she’s found contentment in her thriving business as photographer to Hollywood’s A-list and in raising her angel-faced daughter, Kylee… until bodyguard and long-time friend Ethan Cooke changes everything with a searing moonlight kiss.
Sarah’s world turns upside down as she struggles with her unexpected attraction to Ethan and the guilt of betraying her husband’s memory. But when blue roses and disturbing notes start appearing on her doorstep, she has no choice but to lean on Ethan as he fights to save her from a stalker that won’t stop until he has what he prizes most.
Excerpt:
Ethan’s gaze roamed over the guests crowding the elegant function room. A massive buffet ran the length of one wall where people busily helped themselves to a variety of top-notch dishes. He spotted Sarah and Kylee sitting alone at a small table in the corner, watching Kylee take a bite of her grilled cheese, followed by a heaping spoonful of applesauce while Sarah pushed salmon and rice around on her plate. He studied her as she set down her fork and wiped a glob of apple from Kylee’s cheek puzzled by her behavior. In all the years they’d known each other, she’d never looked at him with such disdain as she did earlier, and she’d never spoken to him with such heat. He caught her eye in the dim, candlelit room and started toward her just as Nicolette made her way back from the ladies’ room. He watched Sarah’s gaze wander to his date before she turned her attention back to her daughter.
“Let’s get something to eat, darling.”
He glanced at Sarah once more then focused on Nicolette’s stunning face. He would have to talk to Sarah later. “Good idea. I’m starving.” He sat down to lobster tail and filet mignon while Nicolette nibbled on her miserly salad and talked to one of Morgan’s friends from DC. Ethan looked over his shoulder, surprised to see the corner table empty. Sarah had to pass him to get to her suite, unless she left through the door leading to the shore. She knew better than to walk the beach alone after dark. Staying at a luxury hotel didn’t negate the possibility of the criminal element lurking in the shadows along the water.
Uneasy with the situation, he took his napkin from his lap. “I’ll be back in a minute,” he said to Nicolette, who barely paid him any attention. He moved to the picture windows overlooking the beach and spotted Sarah’s blonde hair whipping in the wind as she walked toward the waves with Kylee. “Damn it. What is she doing?” He cut through the crowd and headed for the stairwell, taking the steps two at a time to the first floor.
About the Author:
International bestselling author Cate Beauman is known for her full-length, action-packed romantic suspense series, The Bodyguards of L.A. County. Her novels have been nominated for the National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award, National Indie Excellence Award, Golden Quill Award, Writers Touch Award, and have been named Readers Favorite Five Star books. In 2015, JUSTICE FOR ABBY was selected as the Readers’ Favorite International Book Award Gold Medalist, while SAVING SOPHIE took the Silver Medal. SAVING SOPHIE was also selected as the 2015 Readers Crown Award winner for Romantic Suspense and FALLING FOR SARAH received the silver medal for the 2014 Readers’ Favorite Awards.
Cate makes her home in North Carolina with her husband, two boys, and their St. Bernards, Bear and Jack. Currently Cate is working on Deceiving Bella, the eleventh novel in her popular Bodyguards series.
For information on Cate’s new releases, monthly giveaways, and upcoming events, sign up for her newsletter at: http://www.catebeauman.com/author/home.html#!newsletter-sign-up/c9td
Cate can be reached at www.catebeauman.com and www.facebook.com/catebeauman.
You can follow Cate on Twitter @CateBeauman
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Cate-Beauman/e/B00A05KHVM/
Buy Now Links:
Amazon: http://bit.ly/FallingForSarahTourAMZ
Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/FallingForSarahTourBN
iBooks: http://bit.ly/FallingForSarahTouriBooks
Kobo: http://bit.ly/FallingForSarahTourKobo
Paperback: http://bit.ly/FallingForSarahTourPaperback
My review can be found on Goodreads and Amazon.
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June 15, 2016
Outcast
Hi folks! It gives me great pleasure today to welcome Dianne Noble, author of Outcast. For her other tour stops, please click on the banner above.
Dianne Noble will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. For more chances to win, leave a comment!
Women’s FictionRose leaves her Cornwall café to search for her daughter in the sweltering slums of Kolkata, India.
In the daily struggle for survival, she is often brought to her knees, but finds strength to overcome the poverty and disease, grows to love the Dalit community she helps.
But then there are deaths, and she fears for her own safety.
Her café at home is at risk of being torched, and finally, she has to make the terrible choice between her daughter and the Indian children.
Excerpt:
Kolkata, India. Dec 2014
A fierce white light burning her eyes. A silent wind tearing at her skin, ripping her clothes, pitching her forward. A moment as long as infinity when gravity deserted the world and the air was sucked away. And then the terrible thunder of the explosion shaking the streets, vibrating the ground beneath her.
She raised her head to see the hotel being sucked inwards on itself with a roar, a whirlpool of glass and steel. Her tongue moved over her dust coated lips. The metallic taste of blood. Felt her vital organs shrivel with fear.
Kishan. Oh my God, Kishan.
She struggled to her feet, broken glass crunching beneath her flip flops. Felt the warm trickle of blood down her face, saw the lacerations on her hands and arms. Looked through the black smoke at the hotel, at the raging fire.
Kishan is in there.
Started forward but there was no hotel, only a burning crater. Bodies and pieces of bodies. Blood, already glossy with flies, running down the street. Within a minute the sirens were screaming.
‘Go, go.’ The policeman waved his arms and those who could stand began to stagger away. ‘Quick, quick.’
Is it another bomb?
Frantic, she followed the others. A woman wailing. A child silent with shock. An old man whose clothes hung in shreds, a white faced pregnant woman. She stepped on a dismembered leg, blood and mush at one end, a gold sandal at the other. Doubled over and vomited. As she straightened, wiping her mouth on the back of her hand a small girl in pink knickers clutched on to her arm. Rose looked at her blankly for a moment then remembered.
About the Author:
I was brought up as a Service child in Singapore and Cyprus which ensured itchy feet forever! Journals kept on a lifetime of travelling in far flung places are now providing rich material for my writing. Readers will be transported to exotic and atmospheric settings in the company of women responding to enormous challenges.
I am currently writing a novel set in Cairo about a forced marriage, and re-editing an earlier manuscript about an English woman trying to help the street children of Kolkata, India.
Website – http://www.dianneanoble.site
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/dianneanoble
Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/dianneanoble1
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianne-noble-183a143a
Tirgearr Publishing – http://www.tirgearrpublishing.com/authors/Noble_Dianne
My review can be found on Goodreads and Amazon.
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Who knew Pork could be so scary?!?!
Okay, folks, I’ve stopped trembling enough to write this post, lol! As well as hosting today, I’ve been asked to give a review, which you’ll find at the bottom of the page. Just the book cover is enough to give me goosebumps. Right, well, ahem, on with the post … 
June 14, 2016
Descended from Dragons
Hey there! Come into my lair today if you dare, but beware, for dragons be there! Please, help me give a warm welcome to Tricia Owens and her Urban Fantasy novel, Descended from Dragons.
Tricia Owens will be awarding a $75 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
To see Tricia’s other tour stops, please click on the banner above, which will take you to her tour page on Goddess Fish Promotions’ website; and do leave comments for more chances to in her Rafflecopter draw!
Beneath the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas lies another city. A secret city in plain sight, full of warlocks and demons, shape-shifters and golems. A city that feeds off the chance magick that is generated by gamblers and which is ruled by mysterious beings called the Oddsmakers.
It is in this strange underbelly of the occult that Anne Moody runs a cursed pawn shop for the desperate, the curious, and the magickally inclined. Though the job is boring, it keeps her under the radar. None of her customers have any inkling that she is a dragon sorceress with a power that’s been feared throughout history. However dragons are no help when a stone statue ends up in her shop that is more than it appears. The statue is a gargoyle named Vale, who is shrouded in mystery and secrets. When she learns that Vale is possessed, and that the person responsible for cursing him plans to take over Las Vegas with a horde of demons from Hell, Anne realizes it is up to her to defy the Oddsmakers and save the city, and possibly the world.
Excerpt:
A shift of the eyes to the left. I followed Orlaton’s line of sight to a riveted metal trunk that sat on the floor at the base of one of the bookshelves. Like a pirate’s chest, it was sealed closed by a large, ancient padlock. The padlock was probably only window dressing. The real locks were magickal, and they would hurt you if you tried to break them, if not outright kill you.
“I’ve made my mistake. I will never make it again,” Orlaton murmured.
His cheeks were white. His shoulders had hunched. As I looked at him, dread crawled up my spine like a spider. There had been horror in his voice. A wretched sort of anguish. Anguish still bound up in fear.
I looked at the chest again. It didn’t look so simple anymore. Now it looked like someone’s nightmare.
“What’s inside it?” I asked, reluctant to hear the answer.
His eyes shimmered behind their lenses. “Do you really want to know?”
Orlaton had taken this somewhere darker than I’d intended this conversation to go. I wanted to back away from the haunted knowledge in his eyes even as a part of me wanted to defend him. Orlaton was no wounded bird, but something in that trunk had hurt him. Badly. I couldn’t begin to imagine how terrible—how wickedly devious—it must have been to have slipped beneath his guard.
I couldn’t begin to imagine what it had done to him before he had managed to stop it.
“I suggest you don’t do what I did,” he warned in a voice that trembled. He aimed a meaningful look at the gargoyle statue. “Some magicks…linger. Some magicks destroy you when you least expect them to.”
“I’ll get help,” I promised him. A name came to mind, one I hadn’t thought of in years.
His mouth thinned into the smile of a ghost. “I’d wish you luck, but it won’t help you.”
About the Author:
Tricia Owens wants you to know that Las Vegas is actually a pretty cool place and you won’t be eaten by a troll there. Probably. A former casino games dealer and cruise ship editor, Tricia has traveled extensively, visiting over 70 countries. She writes full time in several genres including urban fantasy and romance. Her favorite setting is her home town, the city of sin.
Website: http://www.triciaowensbooks.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Tricia-Owens-Author-348774068467200/
Amazon author page: http://www.amazon.com/Tricia-Owens/e/B009HBB3FY
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June 12, 2016
Monday Musings Part Three: Let it Go
Let it Go
When we hold onto things, we suffer. This includes our beliefs and wants. Sometimes, the way things are match the way we want things to be. Most of the time, though, that doesn’t happen. It’s when we wish for things to be other than reality that we suffer.
In life, we can only depend upon two things: change and death. Nothing else comes with a guarantee. There isn’t a way out of this. No quick cheat that will save us. The only thing that works for sure is to give up.
I don’t mean give up in the sense of no longer caring. I mean it in the sense of offering it up. To just let it go.
Clinging brings suffering.
This does have its positive side, too. It implies that the bad stuff will change as surely as the good. So, if you’re in the deep dark depths of despair, take heart—it will change eventually. Nothing lasts forever.
What does this tell us? The way to a happy life is to live in the moment with what is. To wish ourselves someplace or some time else is pointless and only brings pain, or at the very least, discomfort. Whatever is going on, let it go.
Only when we stop wasting energy on wishing things were different, or holding onto a bit of our life that we don’t want to lose, can we more effectively channel that energy into changing the things we can change.
One of the seven stages of grief is denial. This is something we each bring to our everyday existence. When we desperately wish something wasn’t, we all (in one way or another) go through some form of denial. The same too with all the other stages, which includes anger and despair.
The good news is that, actually, we don’t have to go through all those stages before we reach acceptance. We do have a choice. All we have to do at any point is to accept it and let it go. Any time we suffer, we make the choice to suffer.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying that we have to like everything that we meet. For sure, I didn’t like losing my leg. If I’d had the choice, I would have changed things. What happens when we don’t have the ability to change things, though? My choice wasn’t between keeping the leg and my old life and losing both. Rather, I had the choice to go with the flow, accept the changes, and make the best of it. Had I resisted, I would have suffered more.
In the wise words of Zen:
‘This too will change.’
If you missed the first two Monday Musings, you can find the links below:
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June 11, 2016
She Dies at the End
Hello ya’ll, and welcome to my place. It gives me great pleasure to host author A M Manay today on her 4 Wills Book Boost Tour! To find her other awesome tour stops, please click on the banner above. Okay, take it away, Anne Margaret!
Sometimes I like to play around with my supporting characters. Here is the result of one of those experiments, followed by a blurb and excerpt from my short story collection She Sees in Her Sleep. You can read more about my protagonist November Snow, and all her friends and enemies, in the novels She Dies at the End and She Lights Up the Dark, as well as in the short story collection She Sees in Her Sleep, which features the encounter between Lilje and Ilyn mentioned below. Enjoy!
This excerpt comes from the journal of Lilje, a fairy monarch once known as “The Ice Queen.” It was written shortly before her assassination approximately 1000 years ago and has been translated into modern English. It was intended as a message for November Snow, one of her future incarnations, whom she had seen in vision but whose name she did not know. The journal was entrusted to her husband Gul, who brought it with him to the New World.
It isn’t always easy, dear girl, knowing the end is coming soon. You’ll learn that lesson again, probably more than once. At least in my case, I’ve had plenty of time in this life. I’m nearly 2000 years old. I’ve ridden into battle. I’ve know victory and defeat. I’ve married and borne children. I’ve ruled in times of plenty and in times of want. You, though . . . death will come early for you, early and bloody. It seems unjust that I, for all my sins, have had so much time, and that you, in your comparative innocence, will have so little.
In my case, my death will be in retaliation for my work for peace between vampire and fairy. I imagine you might have a similar mission. Perhaps you will help us to reconcile with the humans, or the lycanthropes, as hard as that is to picture. In your case, though, I suspect that your death will be an integral part of your mission rather than an unfortunate consequence.
I do hope, for your sake, that future Ilyn proves worthy of your friendship. It was quite a surprise, seeing the two of you together. Or, should I say, the two of us? I was more than a bit worried for you until I met him again, the night we signed the treaty. Heretofore, I had only seen him on the battlefield. He was more charming than anyone called “The Scourge” has a right to be. Though I suppose the same could be said for me. “The Ice Queen” is not exactly a term of endearment.
I don’t mean to saddle you with too much information or too many expectations. You will have enough to carry without the weight of all of my burdens. I will tell you that Gul and Raina, Queen Marisha’s daughter, will be of help to you on your journey. Of that, I am certain. Good luck.
Scribbled in the margin:
Gul, after I’m gone, I know that you will read my words in the midst of your grief. I need you to remember to keep your eyes open for this girl. I don’t know her name, but she will have my eyes. She will be dark-haired, fair-skinned, and slight, with the scar from a fairy blade on her arm. You may find her in human or in vampire form, depending on the timing. She will need your help, yours and Raina’s, both. Be her friend, for my sake. All my love, L
Book Blurb for She Sees in Her Sleep: Three November Snow Shorts
These three short stories are set in the universe of A.M. Manay’s paranormal novel, She Dies at the End (November Snow Book 1). These stories have been previously released either via the author’s website or through her mailing list. This is the first time they are available as a collection and in the Kindle format.
“She Forges a Peace” provides a glimpse into the formation of the alliance between fairies and vampires as well as insight into one of the primary characters in the series. “He Worships his Queen” delves into the painful childhood of vampire Luka, the primary villain in She Dies at the End. “She Fears the Dark” focuses on the popular fairy characters Pine and Zinnia as they take a trip to Disneyland that turns into an unexpectedly dangerous adventure.
Short Excerpt from She Sees in Her Sleep: Three November Snow Shorts
She was sanguine. She knew this peace would hold for centuries and more. She’d had glimpses of the future, a future in which vampire and fairy fortunes were interwoven, a future in which the old wars would be, if not exactly forgotten, put aside in the pursuit of prosperity as well as safety from the lycanthropes.
In truth, it was the fairy who needed the peace more urgently, which fact they had taken great pains to conceal. It was easy to make new vampires. A single sire could make a dozen in one night if he wished. Not that that would be wise, but it could be done. Fairies took time to grow, far too much time at the rate they had been dying of late.
Weakened though they were, they did have much to offer the vampires. Daytime protection would be a boon, especially in those lands rife with wolves and human witch-hunters. Fairy magic was their other currency. Some vampires had abilities, of course. Queen Marisha was a gifted empath, and the Scourge could all but move mountains without raising more than an eyebrow.
But gifts were rare among their people, and abundant among Lilje’s. Every fairy could do something amazing. And some fairies . . . some fairies could cast spells affecting hundreds, or thousands . . . or maybe just one very crucial person at a very crucial moment. Her husband, Gul, could hide whole armies. That gift, along with her own clairvoyance, was the only thing that had allowed them to hold out long enough to broker this accord, which promised peace in most of Europe, the Middle East, and Northern Africa. Lilje had seen that the rest of the world would follow their lead, once they saw these lands bloom with the prosperity that would come with peace.
It helped that Marisha was a reasonable creature, herself weary of constant warfare. Lilje wondered how the vampire queen had convinced her husband. The Scourge seemed to thrive on leading men and women to their doom. Perhaps that was an act, meant to sow fear in his enemies. Either way, Ilyn’s reputation was such that Lilje felt a little shiver of apprehension as he pulled back the fabric and entered the tent from the opposite side.
“Ilyn,” she greeted him with squinting eyes. His sprinkling of silver hair amidst the black glittered in the candlelight as he bent to offer her a shallow bow. The scar across his cheek twitched as he unfolded back to his full, imposing height. She had heard a number of tales of how that mark had been made. The only commonality between the legends was that a fairy had been the culprit.
“Lilje,” he replied blandly. It had been some decades since he had seen the fairy queen in person, but she remained a strangely fascinating creature. Her short, silver hair stuck out wildly in all directions, her similarly pale eyes glowing in the half light. She was dressed like a man of action, as was her habit, in rich leather breeches the color of pine needles and a well-padded vest covered with intricate iron mail. A delicate gold chain crowned her hair, the only concession her attire made to her queenhood.
They simultaneously took their seats and began silently looking over the documents one last time. The table was set simply: two copies of the treaty, two quills, two pots of ink, two candelabras of solid gold. The table was a scarred veteran of many a campaign. It had traveled many miles in the backs of wagons bouncing over ruts or mired in springtime mud. Lilje could see phantom maps scattered across its surface, pins and goblets and fallen wax, elbows of generals long dead but not forgotten. Perhaps it could be retired now to a less martial use.
About the author:
In addition to her work as an indie author of paranormal fantasy, A.M. Manay is a former inner-city chemistry teacher, a singer, a yoga enthusiast, a Clerk of Session in the Presbyterian Church (USA), and a mother through domestic open adoption. She has a passion for increasing diversity in popular culture and for strong heroines who stand up for themselves, make their own decisions, and don’t depend on romance as their reason for being.
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She Dies at the End: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0112S00KI
She Sees in Her Sleep: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B019EG1NWE
She Lights Up the Dark: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01BQGGBMW
Website: www.ammanay.net
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