Ingrid Hall's Blog, page 14
March 20, 2015
Tynemouth Priory: A History of Violence
I plan on turning my dad’s blog into a definitive local history guide for the North East of England, in memory of him. Please follow!
Originally posted on Johns blog:
Tynemouth Priory: A History of Violence�� ��
These days, Tynemouth Priory is a tourist attraction ��� an English Heritage site welcoming visitors from around the world throughout the year. But what many of these visitors don���t realise is that they are stepping into a building with a long and bloody history, which spans various kings and queens, as well as some significant conflicts.
The Priory was even associated with violence almost from its inception, when Oswin, King of Deira, was murdered. He was then buried in Tynemouth ��� as were two other kings, both of whom were also murdered or killed in battle. The last of these was Malcolm 111, who was buried here in 1093. Meaning that just 400 years after it was built, the Priory already held three dead kings and a reputation for being at the centre of a violent country.[1]
This violent reputation was further���
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March 13, 2015
Review of Crisis on Stardust Station by John Taloni
John Taloni lives in Southern California with his wife and daughter. Three of their four cats share suspicious similarities with the main characters of “Crisis on Stardust Station.” John’s daughter also swears one of the cats can teleport, a trait you just might see in the sequel. “Shadow on the Moon” the second book in the Cats of Space series, which is now available on Kindle.
John has also written a short story called “Trolls Invade My Middle School!” about a small group of students who are just a little different. Like Katie, who is part Ogre, or her best friend, a sorceress.
��Crisis on Stardust Station is a whimsical piece of writing by author John Taloni, who dedicates the book to one of his daughters. It’s a warm-hearted tale of mutant cats on an orbiting space station with four astronauts. The narrative begins with Mrrowl stalking a mouse���which he catches, but doesn’t kill���it’s a PG book, after all���in the space station’s forest habitat. He finishes his hunt, then pads back to the habitat doorway, where he rubs up against an astronaut named John Aldrin.
��Yes, you’re way ahead of me���he’s the great-great grandson of astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who was one of the first men on the moon. But that’s not important now.
��What’s important is that Stardust Station is suddenly hit with a massive solar flare, which renders most of its telescoped arrays useless. And, since in this future time, the station’s array supplies most of the solar power to Earth���don’t ask me how, exactly, but as you read on, it starts making scientific sense, somehow���billions Down Below are facing a rapid return to the Dark Ages���or at least the era before electricity.
��Things look grim, indeed, before Mrrowl and his furry friends, who have attained sentience, pitch in to help save the station and Earth from its terrible fate.
Author Taloni, writing with a deft hand, is good at making the reader suspend belief long enough to stay immersed in the mostly plausible story line. Taloni weaves scientific jargon with skillful characterization, making the cats���who call themselves Shadow, Sharpclaw and Grayfur, to name a few���come alive as major players in the rapidly unfolding drama.
The cats converse with each other and the Highwalkers���as the humans are known in the feline world���by Pathing, a kitty kind of very powerful telepathy. More than once, they’re called upon to commune telepathically with the astronauts to iron out details of a complicated plan to get the array back up and running. There is even one cat whose telekinetic skills play a huge role in the book’s final outcome.
��I like good science fiction, and this story has solid scientific roots on which to grow. The fact that the main protagonists are mutated cats who fly around in kitty ships (I’m not making that phrase up), does not diminish the book’s enjoyability.��
I can recommend Crisis on Stardust Station without reservation���especially if you happen to be a cat lover. Meow, and pass the saucer of milk over here.
��
March 9, 2015
Freelance writers urgently wanted!
Morning everyone.
Exciting times! I am in the process of expanding my business, and I am now looking for freelance writers who are available to start work immediately and work as and when required. I have just acquired��two large projects that I need help with, and I am anticipating a lot more work.
Volume of work and pay will vary from project to project.
I am looking for people that I can build a long term relationship with. Reliability is essential. I don’t mind if you are unavailable for work, but I will mind if you say that you will do something and fail to deliver!
I have openings regardless of experience and background. The ability��to write in good, clear English (Either American or Standard English) is essential. All work must be 100% original and able to pass various plagiarism checkers. (I have to cover my back!) I will also be asking Freelancers in due course to sign an agreement confirming that their work is 100% original and their own.
Interested, please fill out the contact form!
[contact-form]
March 7, 2015
Review of Wanderer’s Escape by Simon Goodson
This story is a fabulous escape into space travel and adventure. It follows Jess, a teenage boy who has been born into slavery but is offered an absolutely miraculous opportunity to escape his life of servitude. The opportunity comes in the form of an amazing spaceship, the likes of which neither Jess nor his masters have ever seen before. Jess makes his getaway from the only home he has ever known, taking with him two older slaves, Sal and Matt.
Many adventures follow. It isn���t long before Jess forms a very special bond with the ship, and the three ex-slaves pick up other passengers. However, in this world no-one is who they seem and Jess must separate the trustworthy from the untrustworthy.
There were many aspects of this story which I enjoyed. I thought that the action scenes ��� of which there were many ��� were well written and fast paced. The author���s ideas are interesting, innovative and fantastical ��� just what you would want from a space opera. There is no end to what the ship is capable of, and really does qualify for a very likeable and wonderful character in its own right.
There were some issues I had with the book. One is the intended audience. I felt that young teenagers who enjoy science fiction would like this book, but the adults giving Jess advice about relationships and sex made me feel uncomfortable. I also wondered if the climax wasn���t climactic enough ��� simply because the kind of space fight which the ship was involved in for the climax was very similar to those it had been involved in previously. And lastly I felt there was too much moralising and decision-making done in dialogue. I understand that it needed to take place, but I didn���t feel it was necessary to hear every word.
��
March 5, 2015
Contact
Hi,
This is just a quick update about keeping in touch with me.�� I have a lot of things planned for the coming months and to ensure that you don’t miss out on anything please sign up for email updates at http://www.luv2write.net
You have the option over there of choosing��the kind of information that you want to receive – so that you don’t end being informed about services/books that you have��no interest in! Remember, there is�� more to me than my blogs. Just because you are following me here on this blog, doesn’t mean to say that you are getting all of my updates.�� The only way that you can be sure that you are not missing out is to sign up to my email list!
I am also in the process of switching email addresses, so please remember to send ALL enquiries to ingrid@luv2write.net from now on.
Exciting times ahead!
Love
Ingrid xx
March 4, 2015
Review of Amazing Grace by James Hellvig
James Hellvig is a freelance writer who writes for many online publications . He is a member of The Writers Center and co-authored KKR Kenpo with professor Steven Patton. His published short works include, A Season Remembered and The Obedient. Born in the Midwest, he currently resides in middle Tennessee. with his family and soul mate.
This story chronicles the exploits of airborne special forces officer-turned inner-city pastor Major Tammy Fuller, or MT as she is called. The book opens with MT contemplating suicide. She is in the throes of remorse at the memory of a military action in which she had to kill a child in order to eradicate a terrorist. She is saved when another child���a six-year-old neighbor girl from across the hall��� knocks on her door and pleads for her help in saving her grandmother, who has fallen down some stairs.
The child, whose name is Anna, brings a new mission of motherhood to MT, who also decides she will enter the ministry and help the disadvantaged. Her former team mates from the Army aid her on her unlikely journey through a New York City underworld of crime and homelessness.
All goes well for a while: MT is teaching many of her run-down neighborhood���s gang-hardened youth that there is a better path of honor, discipline and respect���through a military-style self-defense training course��� when she runs afoul of crime boss Demonis Alumno, who wants her taken out. The villain���s reasons become all too clear as an all-out, no-holds-barred program of intimidation against MT and her pals is begun.
Kidnappings and missing nuclear weapons begin falling into the plot line as MT gamely tries to track down Alumno, who also happens to be a woman. Thus, we have two strong female characters pitted against each other in a fast-moving, unpredictable whirl of violence and espionage / police work.
I have to admit, I liked this story on many levels, despite the many clich�� passages that included tears rolling down cheeks and about twelve instances of eye-rolling. This may be a personal problem on my part, but the action and highly detailed fight scenes gradually won me over. Either the author is a former special forces operator himself who knows intimately the ins and out of close-in martial arts fighting, or he reads a lot of Tom Clancy, whose characters seem to react in much the same way to the many physical threats against them. It���s a kick-ass and take-names kind of book, and if that���s your style, you���ll love it.
Having two strong female leads���one as the heroine and the other as the bad guy, er, girl���adds an interesting dimension to the book. Throw in the fact that MT, a very believable hard-bitten ex-soldier with a heart of gold and fists of steel, dominates the action while ostensibly carrying out her duties as a pastor, and you have a very unusual storyline. The second half of the book is better than the first, with more action, less stilted dialogue, and fewer instances of eye-rolling.
Amazing Grace is an ambitious first novel, and I hope we���ll see more of MT in sequels. I recommend the book to anyone who likes fast-paced, action-filled crime stories.
March 2, 2015
Who tells you what to Read?
Originally posted on thegiantsquill:
Are we conditioned at an early age to appreciate some literature over others? Some of my earliest memories of childhood reading occurred in the school library during the first grade. We were called alphabetically to choose a book to bring home and read for the week. Although there were at least four small shelves full of colourful, and probably exciting, picture books, everyone in the class desired the ���Arthur��� series. Unfortunately there were only a few ever in the library and they would be snatched up long before my name was called. There was a sense of pride attached to obtaining an Arthur book, and a disappointment if you missed the opportunity. I felt this disappointment often, while having to reluctantly settle on something else. Why is it, at such a young age, we find ourselves influenced to read certain books, to place them in a hierarchy? Of course, in���
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Review of The Sisters: A Tale of Good and Evil by Don Sloan
About Don Sloan:
Don is a former police reporter for a large metropolitan daily newspaper and therefore no stranger to scenes of carnage and strange phenomena. He fervently believes in ghosts and other spiritual guides, both friendly and unfriendly. His goal with the Dark Forces Series is to present readers with a new and exciting horror and suspense thriller experience. The Sisters is the first book in his Dark Forces series. The next book, The Horror Hunters: A Tale of Mystery and Adventure, is due out later this month.
About The Sisters:
This book very quickly bewitched me. I defy anyone who reads the first eight chapters to put it down after that.
Very briefly, the outline is thus: Fourteen Victorian houses along the coast stand cold and empty every winter. This is when they share their stories; kindling to keep them warm when they lie vacant and unloved.
Their stories are violent and terrible. Children murdered in the attic. Satan worship in the basement. A ship-hold of slaves killed within sight of shore. A young woman ground to mince while all the neighbours take no notice. Secret staircases and gaming rooms. A lot of blood, guts and gore.
Just old ladies gossiping about times gone by? Their memories not once what they were? The histories of the row of houses are terrible indeed, but finally it looks as though an ancient curse may be bringing events to a head. The houses might be silenced once and for all.
Two visitors arrive to stay at the houses during winter. Nathan and Sarah haven���t met yet, but they have a lot in common. They have each inherited one of the ���Sisters���, neither are particular believers in paranormal events, they are both a little lonely and looking for love, and both are about to experience the strangest series of dreams they���ve ever had.
I liked Nathan and Sarah. Their characters were flawed and human, whilst still being curious enough to keep the story rolling. Neither really wanted to drop the mystery of the Sisters once they had begun to unravel it. Their romance, although unnecessary, was believable and added an extra enjoyable strand to the story.
The strength in this book is during the first half. The set-up is expertly done. I was fascinated and intrigued, drawn in immediately into this world where houses chat to each other and terrible histories are hinted at. Sloan ties together the strands of the houses��� stories very well, so that over generations his reader is able to slowly build up a picture of death and destruction which comes together beautifully in the form of the most recent owners.
I couldn���t wait to know how or why or who��� the mystery was deliciously absorbing.
The final part of the book falls a little short on its delivery. Sloan spent so long weaving the threads of the paranormal aspects of his book ��� the African statues with the shadow god, Tipton and Moira and Satanic rituals ��� and it all became so interesting. I was looking forward to seeing how it all played out. In the end though Moira���s hundred-year old spell and Stella���s reappearance felt like a bit of a cop-out. I know that the paranormal element of the book makes anything possible, but this felt like a little bit of a stretch.
The book is expertly written and edited. Apart from a tiny mix-up with the modern-day dates, there were no flaws. The writing flowed beautifully, and I loved hearing the voices of the houses. I have to admit that the first time I heard them I thought my e-reader had done something odd with the formatting, but it was no error, and I soon realised this. The houses were just wonderful. I never worked out which house was the odd-one-out, or whether I was supposed to, or whether it was important that one voice was different from the others, but this didn���t seem to matter.
The book was great. I enjoyed the first 2/3 more than the last third, when it became too far-fetched for me (even within the bounds of the paranormal) but it was great. So enjoyable.
February 27, 2015
Review of Rat House by David W. Friedman
We have a NEW book reviewer. I am very excited to introduce Don Sloan to you all. I suspect that Don is going to give the lovely Joanne Armstrong a run for her money in terms of the number of books he reviews. He has already chomped his way through three books this week. Here is his first review!
Review: Rat House by David W.��Friedman
Four Stars
REVIEW BY DON SLOAN
��David Friedman is a short story author, novelist, screenwriter, musician, and film editor.�� He studied Creative Writing at the University of Washington under author and Pulitzer Prize nominated poet Jana Harris.�� David also has a Master of Fine Arts in screenwriting from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts.
���Unfortunately, poverty stalks the artist like a wolf, its prey, and the artist embraces poverty like a lover.��� So observes Will, the lead guitarist in a Seattle grunge band called One Hand Clapping. Author David Friedman tells this story of an ill-fated musical group in search of rock stardom, and tells it very well.
This book���loaded with wonderful turns of phrase���chronicles the journey of the five-man band and its search for popular acclaim. It examines the dysfunctional family-like relationship the young men share while memorably describing the drummer: ���He was a clumsy, awkward child in a man���s body.��� The group plays seedy venue after venue before finally going on an ambitious tour of Northwest nightclubs in search of a lucrative recording deal. They want to be ���discovered��� in the worst way, and nothing���not van breakdowns, terrible sound technicians, or their deplorable living conditions in the Rat House���can stand in their way.
���We flourished in our incompetence, nurturing our strengths and hiding what we couldn���t accomplish.��� Binge drinking, ingestion of everything from coke to mushrooms fuel the band���s quest, while ultimately dooming them to watch from the sidelines as other bands get the breaks that achingly elude them.
If you are a musician, or ever had dreams of becoming a rock star, this book will bring it all back for you. However, if you only have an appreciation for grunge music, played by One Hand Clapping���s more successful rivals Alice In Chains and Nirvana, you���ll get a rare and painstakingly accurate look into a musician���s mind and skills as he pursues his dream.
If you weren���t a fan of the music genre in the Nineties, then this book may not be for you. Still, it is a well-written story, with beautiful and thought-provoking passages on man���s relationship to a sometimes- indifferent God: ���How many people struggle each day against fate and destiny? Why do they feel that the universe, in that instance, is conspiring against them? You can���t beat fortune���s wheel.���
And, in another insightful moment, Will observes: ���The tires swished along in time to the tape that was playing, Eno���s Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy). It was all making sense, my life was falling into place as the psychedelic forced connections to the world ordinarily imperceptible.���
Will gamely fights his own demons every day to play his music, eschewing gainful employment and near-constant conflict with his band mates. Oh, but he does find love along the way, with his number one fan Paula. But even this bright spot can���t bring him the acclaim he seeks. He glories in his music nonetheless: ���With my hand I was the voice of God. I was the master of causation. I could make the earth tremble with the sounds I produced. I accepted this responsibility somberly, but with joy.���
Play on, you aspiring garage bands! You just might make it some day.
February 26, 2015
Review of Dangerous Vows by Ava Parker
I am incredibly busy right now with a�� whole range of other projects, and Jo Armstrong has been handling 99.9% of the reviews for the past few months. It is��credit to the author that I actually stuck with this book from beginning to end and that it has made it to review.���� (I have started a LOT of books and not got beyond the first few pages lately…)
Dangerous Vows is a romantic thriller.�� Lucy Walker quits her job as an undercover cop after her deep cover is blown, and her partner is killed. She returns to her hometown to heal, and is reunited with her best friend.�� It seems like Lucy is not the only one to have been busy in recent years, as her friend Caroline has some secrets of her own.�� When it becomes apparent that Caroline’s life is in danger, Lucy steps in to save her friend with the help of Gabriel Black, a private security consultant and sex on legs.
This kind of book is exactly what I need when I am��shattered, and just need a light read that is not going to challenge me but will keep me entertained.�� It is also a curious book in many ways because while the chemistry between Caroline and Gabriel is hot, and her friendship with Caroline is genuine and sincere.�� The Thriller aspect, well, wasn’t very thrilling.�� The author has sent me two different versions, I read half of the first version before switching and reading half of the second version.�� Both versions are technically well written with no major grammatical errors or glitches.�� I just think that the story-telling is light and needs some work.
There is a chapter around a quarter of the way in (and I went back and checked that it is the same in the new version) where the author just dumps a big reveal about the bad guy on the reader. There is no build up. No letting the reader work things out for themselves. No mystery, no suspense, just a spew.�� This character is so pantomime that he seriously pulls the book down several notches.�� Likewise, the mob, well, they were pussycats and not remotely scary and dangerous.�� I don’t think Lucy and Gabriel needed their weapons, they could have taken them down with a frying pan…or handbag.
I am sure that there are��huge fans of light, fluffy thrillers out there. People who don’t need their characters to be realistic or chilling and like I say, I was compelled to read it from beginning to end.�� You just need to be aware that it is not hard core…
