Sage Nestler's Blog, page 16

Death is always a wild adventure, that can’t be ignored. With The Doomsday clock slowly but surely clicking away, our world getting ever more polluted, our weapons of destruction ever deadlier.

Read my book if you want to meet some quirky characters and unusual storylines, with a mix of horror, science fiction, but with elements of wit.

Set in a different time in a variety of settings and time periods, the past, the present, and the future, the book explores the inevitable unknown that lies before us all “death”. Death can arrive in a multitude of forms. Each part of the book explores different themes. There are characters who following their demises have to face up to their lurid pasts. There some who face annihilation and others who are in a crazy pursuit of world destruction. The book aims to contain some ironic twists. Even as young children we build up nightmare visions of what death involves. The reader is often left to distinguish between what is real and what is not, as stories reside within stories and the storytellers can never be fully trusted. Not all the book is doom and gloom, there are Elsa Grun’s bizarre encounters with men and Shellys’ hapless husband Arnie.

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Author Bio

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Born in 1961, in Reading, England Francis H Powell attended Art Schools, receiving a degree in painting and an MA in printmaking. In 1995, Powell moved to Austria, teaching English as a foreign language while pursuing his varied artistic interests adding music and writing. He currently lives in Brittany, teaching English and history while writing both prose and poetry. Powell has published short stories in the magazine, “Rat Mort” and other works on the internet site “Multi-dimensions.” His first was called “Flight of Destiny” while his most recent is called “Adventures of Death, Reincarnation and Annihilation.”

An Interview with Francis H. Powell

What are your favorite genres to write?

I suppose dark fiction, however, I can also write in other genres, children’s stories (which are also a bit dark) Comedy/Satire as well as Fantasy and Science Fiction. I am not sure romance would quite be my thing, but at a push, I could do it.

How many books have you published?

Two. However, I have work in some poetry anthologies and short stories in magazines.

What are you currently working on?

A children’s book, for my son.

Who is your favorite author?

Rupert Thompson

What is your favorite book?

Any book by the above author.

How long does it take you to write a book?

This is hard to say. Last year I was not very productive, this year (so far) I am very productive.

Which of your characters was the most fun to write?

The Master in my latest book “Adventures of Death, Reincarnation, and Annihilation. He is a character, who evolves and by the end of the book, we don’t know if he exists at all, or is just in somebody’s wild imagination.

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

I tried to write a novel, in Austria, while I was living there, it was a disaster, While living in Paris, I started to write short stories, and things began to develop.

Where do you get ideas for your books?

As my books are often stories within stories, it is hard to say. With my latest book, I have always been fascinated by death. Reading newspapers that are always predicting the end of the world perhaps got to me. Films can spark the imagination. Strange everyday occurrences could present ideas.

What do you like to do when you aren’t writing?

I look after my son, walk the dog, I like to see films. I can sometimes be found in the garden.

Keep Up with Francis

https://francishpowellauthor.weebly.com/

https://www.facebook.com/francis.powell.90

Tweets by Dreamheadz

https://www.linkedin.com/in/francis-powell-5b09a517/

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Published on February 21, 2020 16:51

Treat Yourself with My Top 5 Subscription Boxes

Happy Sunday, Everyone!

I hope you are all having a lovely weekend. Valentine’s Day (or Galentine’s Day) was this past week, and I personally love using this day to show myself some self-love and affection. I strongly encourage you to do the same! You, more than anyone, deserve your love and affection.

In the spirit of self-love, I wanted to share with you my Top 5 Subscription Boxes that are perfect for treating yourself. Also, they are 25% TODAY ONLY!

Use the code BEMINE25 on any of these subscriptions to snag your discount

I hope that you enjoy learning about these subscription boxes as much as I enjoy sharing them with you! Each of these boxes are designed to help you practice self-love while spoiling yourself just a little bit. I am sending lots of love your way!

Happy Shopping!

Ashley

My Top 5 Subscription Boxes

1) The Go Love Yourself Box

For the self-help loving, personal growth devoted woman on a mission to be the best damn version of herself she can be.

Receive a thoughtfully curated experience that helps you to reconnect with who you are and live life on purpose. Join our community, women’s circles, and receive a one-on-one coaching session each month! Made by womxn, for womxn.

Beautifully and thoughtfully created – makes the perfect gift!
(1) Smart personal growth book
(2) resources to help the strategies from the book stick, such as workbooks, journals, and webinars
(3-5) self-care items that bring the ideas to life, such as eye-masks to help you sleep, tea to help you relax and practice mindfulness,
access to our incredibly vulnerable online community with webinars, Women’s Circles, interviews, and a 30-minutes one-on-one coaching call with featured coaches each month to get you un-stuck.

This box is my personal favorite! I love its emphasis on self-care and living life on purpose. It is a complete experience in a box!

2) Sweet Escape
Our Concept is Simple: Relax, Unwind & Experience

Sweet Escape is a monthly subscription of assorted spa products designed to help you experience a relaxing getaway for your mind and body. Let us send you 5-6 handcrafted, full-size, lavish bath products, comforting teas, and a relaxing novel designed to take you away from day to day stress. It makes a perfect gift for anyone who loves to relax.

Mini Sweet Escape includes 2-3 handmade, full-size luxurious bath and skin care products
Deluxe Sweet Escape includes 5-6 handmade, full-size amazing bath and skin care products
Both boxes include a novel (you choose the genre during checkout), relaxing teas, and a recipe card to make a rejuvenating beverage to go along with your themed bath experience.
Our hand crafted products include an assortment of luxurious cold-processed soaps, rich body butters, emulsified sugar and salt scrubs, bath teas, luffa soaps, soothing lotions and balms, milk baths, large bath bombs, clay masks, aroma beads, candles and so much more. We continuously search for today’s exciting trends in bath care to create new products to make your bath time delightful.
We use natural oils in all of our soaps and skin care products

I personally love to read while I’m taking a bath, and this box gives you everything you need to unwind and chill with aromatherapy and a good book. This box is the ultimate self-care box for bibliophiles!

3) Salty & Lit
Story Boxes – The Next Chapter Awaits…

Introducing our monthly Story Box series! Each month, we will offer a new candle box that tells the next part of the story of some of your favorite fandoms

Boxes will also include one or two extra little surprises each month! Choose between Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and Outlander inspired boxes!

Limited Edition Candles in every box!
Only all-natural, plant-based waxes used in our candles
Collectible Story Box Cards help tell the next part of the story
One or two extra little goodies included every month!

This box is super fun because it provides you with unique candles that are designed to go with some of your favorite stories! I love burning these candles when I read to add to the atmosphere.

4 ) The Body Love Box
The body-positive monthly goodie box

The Body Love Box is the friendly, fat-positive, body-positive, intersectional and LGBTQIAP+-affirming monthly subscription box that improves your body image and pays a living wage to marginalized artists who contribute their work to the box. Your monthly goodie and resource kit includes 5-7 full-size items each month like pins, zines,

Improve your body image and learn more about body acceptance and liberation
Get exclusive Body Love Box-only artwork and products
Support a living wage for fat and marginalized artists with every box
Explore Health at Every Size and intuitive eating
5-7 full-size items each month

Can I just say how much I ADORE this box?! It is all about loving yourself and your body while fighting weight stigma and supporting artists.

5) Smartass and Sass
Themed shirts and boxes with hilarious products.

Smartass & Sass is a gift and subscription service for snarky individuals and cynical a**holes. We hand-select products from artists and small businesses and work with manufacturers to produce brand-new items that are sure to make you giggle. Subscribers also help us decide on items and have access to a secret sale shop. Join our community today!

3 subscription options: shirt, box, or shirt & box
5-7 items per box
Items include: mugs, bags, notebooks, apparel, and more!
Shirts are soft-blend unisex and printed locally (size chart image above)
Ships internationally to Canada, Mexico, the UK, and Australia

Need some more sass in your life? Then this is the perfect subscription for you! It provides you with everyday products that have a sassy flair. I love how outrageous their items are!

Let me know in the comments if you are going to try any of these subscriptions or have tried them in the past! I’d love to hear about your experience.

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Published on February 16, 2020 10:48

Writing Exercise: Antique Photos

Happy Monday, Everyone!

I hope you are having a lovely start to your week. For the past several months I have been dealing with some mental health issues, but I am excited to finally be able to get back into my blog more consistently. I have also started writing again, and am looking to re-release my novel “Behind Broken Glass Walls” soon as I have been working with an editor to fine-tune its story and fix some errors that passed through the first editing process. I am also working on re-writing and releasing my novel “Into The Fog” with character art that I had commissioned. I am expanding the novel and fine-tuning its fantasy world as it becomes a full-on, epic fantasy novel, and I am super excited to keep you updated on this process. For so long I have dealt with mental health issues that kept me from being able to write, and it feels so freeing to be able to find myself again as a writer.

With that being said, I have decided to begin posting writing exercises on a weekly basis to help you get your creative juices flowing and expand your writing skills! Having a weekly prompt is a great way to fight through writer’s block. I hope that my writing exercises will help you to have some fun with yourself as a writer. Whether you identify as a writer or not, I challenge you to take on these weekly writing exercises as a form of self-care through creativity.

Writing Exercise Week One

One of my favorite things to do is go to antique stores and find old photographs of people from various time periods. Most of the characters in my novels I based off of antique photos that I found at antique stores. Putting a name and personality to these portraits of real people is an excellent way for you to tap into your imagination and test your writing skills. By creating a story from an old photograph, you can play with character and world-building while connecting to a beautiful history.

Image result for antique photos

My challenge is for you is to go to Google and type in “antique photos”.
Click on the “images” tab and pick the first antique photo that calls out to you.
Pull out a journal and write down what you observe in the photograph, and what you imagine the characteristics of the individuals in the photo to possess.

After doing this, begin to write a story based on the characters you created from the photograph.

When you are done, share with me in the comments about how this exercise went for you! I’d love to hear your feedback.

Happy writing!

Ashley

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Published on February 10, 2020 07:38

New Release: Daring Journey – A teenager’s guide to being unapologetically you by Jenna Lee

Happy Friday, Everyone!

I hope that you are having a lovely day and are looking forward to the weekend! Today I am excited to share with you a book for young adults that has just been released. Daring Journey is a passionate, empathetic collection of short stories that is designed to help readers struggling with the tumultuous events that are often present in our teenage years. Check out more about the book below and be sure to pick up a copy for yourself, or someone you love!

Much love,

Ashley

Life as a teenager is difficult even under the best circumstances.

Academic stress, social anxiety, and peer pressure are tough enough, but sometimes those challenges can be so overwhelming that they lead to self-destructive behaviour that can snowball until it can be hard to see a way out of all this heartache. Daring Journey is a collection of short stories written specifically for this time in your life. Each story ends with a love letter to your teenage self from someone who’s endured similar difficulties.

Join Jenna Lee as she guides you down the path of self-discovery while offering tips and advice on how to overcome your challenges. And most of all, the understanding that you’re not alone. If you’re ready to embrace your unique self, Daring Journey will show you the way.

This book includes:

+ Short stories based around an issue that a teen is going through

+ Practical, fun worksheets, advice and actionable steps based around these issues

+ Inspiring quotes

+ ‘Love letters to my teenage self’ from contributors who have gone through similar struggles

This book is filled with real-life stories, practical learning, and prompted activities that let you discover who you are.

+ Daring Journey does cover some heavy topics that may cause trigger warnings if you are or have gone through something similar. It’s recommended for ages 16+

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Published on February 07, 2020 15:44

FREE BOOK ALERT: The Imposter’s Trail (The Sean Kruger Series Book 3) by J.C. Fields

Happy Thursday, Bibliophiles!

Over the past two days, I have introduced you to books one and two of The Sean Kruger Series by J.C. Fields. Today, J.C. Fields has made the suspenseful third book in the series, The Imposter’s Trail, FREE in ebook format on Amazon! Be sure to check out more info about the book below and snag your free copy before it expires.

Much love,

Ashley

FBI PROFILER SEAN KRUGER IS BACK AND ON THE TRAIL OF A VICIOUS SERIAL KILLER

Over the Indian Ocean a Malaysia Airline jumbo jet drops from radar. Three hundred twenty-seven souls disappear with it; a woman in Rockford, Illinois is brutally murdered. Unrelated news events? Retired FBI agent Sean Kruger doesn’t think so. He suspects it’s the work of serial killer Randolph Bishop.

˃˃˃ The Only Killer To Ever Escape Him Is Back

Now a college professor, Kruger has tried to live with the mistake he made while investigating Bishop six years earlier. It looks as though the only man to elude him, in his twenty-five year tenure with the FBI, has returned to seek vengeance on those who forced the man to flee the country. With his family in danger, Kruger comes out of retirement to find Bishop’s trail. A trail that leads Sean to question his own humanity.

˃˃˃ Randolph Bishop joins the ranks of fictional serial killers such as Hannibal Lecter, Patrick Bateman and Anton Chigurh in this tale of revenge and justice. The Impostor’s Trail will keep you turning pages late into the night.

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Published on February 06, 2020 09:12

Book Review: The Spell Book for New Witches by Ambrosia Hawthorn

Rating: 5/5
Format: Paperback
Quick Take

The Spell Book for New Witches is an excellent introduction into witchcraft that debunks the myths surrounding this spiritual practice. Like all books on this subject, the information presented should be taken with a grain of salt as everybody’s practice is different.

Tell Me More

I have been a spiritual practitioner of witchcraft for some time, and I am extremely passionate about sharing the beauty of this spiritual practice with others. Witchcraft has often been seen as a “bad word” because some religions have defined it as evil; but in reality, witchcraft is the practice of connecting with the natural world and acknowledging and utilizing the energies that all living things bring into existence.

The Spell Book for New Witches is a beautiful first reader on the subject because Ambrosia Hawthorn explains some of the histories of this practice while providing a plethora of example spells that one can use to become acquainted with the practice. She also explains many of the different objects that witches use, and why they are important, without telling the reader exactly what they must do to be considered a “witch”. I wish that I had found this book when I was first exploring witchcraft because it makes the reader feel well informed and welcomed. So many other texts make the reader feel as though they have to earn the right to be considered a “witch”, but Hawthorn presents love and acceptance through her writing that creates a lovely learning and reading experience.

Whether you are interested in learning about witchcraft or are a seasoned practitioner, The Spell Book for New Witches will bring you new insight while debunking the myths surrounding this beautiful spiritual practice. I have increased my knowledge base of spells while learning new things about witchcraft through reading this book. I passionately recommend The Spell Book for New Witches to help you begin or expand your spiritual practice. It is a must-read for anyone interested in the beauty of witchcraft!

*I received a copy of this book from Callisto Publisher’s Club in exchange for an honest review.

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Published on February 06, 2020 08:18

FREE BOOK ALERT: The Assassin’s Trail (The Sean Kruger Series Book 2) by J.C. Fields

Happy Wednesday, Bibliophiles!

Yesterday I introduced you to The Sean Kruger Series by J.C. Fields with the first book in the series, The Fugitive’s Trail. Today I am excited to share with you the second book in the series, The Assassin’s Trail! J.C. Fields is offering the ebook of The Assassin’s Trail for FREE today only. Be sure to check out more about the book below and pick up your free copy!

Much love,

Ashley

Two Assassinations That Appear To Be Linked

Homicide Detective Ryan Clark has a problem. A prominent businessman has been assassinated by a drive-by shooting. Two weeks earlier another man, in the same industry, was shot and killed. He suspects the assassinations are related and calls an old friend with the FBI. When FBI profiler Special Agent Sean Kruger arrives at the scene of the second murder, he agrees with Clark but is hesitant to get involved. After twenty-five years with the FBI, he is tired of the bureaucracy and politics of the job. His constant traveling has kept him away from the woman he loves and he is contemplating retiring to start a new life with her.

˃˃˃ The Assassin Strikes Close To Home

A week later, while home in Kansas City, the assassin strikes again, this time close to where he lives, making things personal. With the help of JR Diminski, the computer genius from The Fugitive’s Trail, Kruger identifies a suspect and travels to Alabama for the arrest.

˃˃˃ When Things Go From Bad To Worse

Politics and micromanaging complicate the situation. Kruger is ordered to wait but disobeys and proceeds with the arrest. When everything goes horribly wrong, he is suspended by the Director of the FBI. Now outside the protection of the agency, he must decide whether to walk away from his career or put his new marriage and life in danger by pursuing the assassin. An assassin whose ultimate goal is an attack in the center of the United States, an attack that will result in more innocent casualties than 9/11.

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Published on February 05, 2020 08:58

Book Review: Find Her by Lisa Gardner

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Published on February 04, 2020 11:43

FREE BOOK ALERT: The Fugitive’s Trail (The Sean Kruger Series Book 1) by J.C. Fields

Happy Tuesday, Bibliophiles!

Today I am excited to share with you a suspense novel that is FREE for a limited time! The Fugitive’s Trail is the first in The Sean Kruger Series by J.C. Fields and is a must-read for fans of the suspense genre. Read more about the book below and be sure to snag your free e-book copy!

Much love,

Ashley

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Published on February 04, 2020 08:47

Book Review: Before I Go To Sleep by S.J. Watson

Rating: 4/5
Format: Hardback
Quick Take

Before I Go to Sleep is an emotionally painful, gripping thriller that swallows the reader whole.

Tell Me More

Before picking up Before I Go to Sleep, I had not heard of the novel before, let alone the movie that is based on it. This created a blind reading experience for me, which intensified my enjoyment of the novel. Before I Go to Sleep is one of those novels that you have to be very wary of spoilers, which can be difficult when it is a bestseller and book discussion is easily accessible when going online. However, if you don’t know very much about Before I Go to Sleep, or have never heard of it, then, by all means, go pick it up now and allow it to swallow you whole the way that it did me. But if you have heard various reviews of the novel or know of its twists and turns, then it may not be worth reading for you.

Before I Go to Sleep is a novel about a woman named Christine who has amnesia. Each morning when she wakes up, she forgets the events of the day before and the memory of who she is. However, with the help of a psychiatrist, she keeps a journal that she rediscovers each day so that when she wakes up she can read it and gain some remembrance of her life. She lives with her husband, Ben, who shares with her that she was hit by a car and lost her memory through the accident. Ben takes care of Christine and reminds her of the events of her life, but as the novel continues, Christine begins to realize that Ben is keeping secrets from her. She begins to remember certain elements of her accident, and as she gains more of her memory back, Ben begins to show his true colors.

Christine is an unreliable narrator, and each chapter begins the next time she wakes up. The novel is slow at times due to the repetitive event of Christine waking up and reading through her journal in each chapter, but S.J. Watson shortens the event over time which increases the reading value. Towards the end of the novel, I began to predict the ending of the story, but Watson writes in a way that makes you question the events when new information arises so you aren’t 100% sure of what is going to happen.

Before I Go to Sleep is a quick, thrilling read that is emotionally gripping and triggering at the same time. While the story was not exactly realistic, it was entertaining, and I found it to be a valuable addition to the thriller genre.