d. ellis phelps's Blog, page 23
December 31, 2015
blue woods
#widget56871f5d16769-container.shopify-widget {
padding: 0px;
border: #ffffff 1px solid;
background: #ffffff;
}
#widget56871f5d16769-container.shopify-widget .widget-buttons input[type='submit'] {
background: #222222;
color: #ffffff;
}
#widget56871f5d16769-container.shopify-widget.centered {
color: #00000;
}
#widget56871f5d16769-container.shopify-widget.simple .widget-price {
color: #00000;
}
November 7, 2015
July 16, 2015
Eve Ensler on Bill Cosby: Let the Mythical Daddy Die
I agree wholeheartedly with Ms. Ensler’s eloquent indictment of our culture as willing to allow violence to carry on and support her call to action: tell the truth and hold everyone, regardless of social status or gender, to the same simple standard–do no harm.
Originally posted on TIME:
No one believed my father was a battering sex abuser. He was handsome, a corporate president. He was successful, charming, a man’s man. He wore tailored suits. He played golf. He drank martinis. He was celebrated at country clubs and knew the first names of head maitre d’s at the fanciest exclusive restaurants. He was arrogant and smug the way Bill Cosby is arrogant and smug. He had an air of superiority and contempt for those who he perceived to be weak or incapable of rising the way he had risen. He set himself up as the chief moral arbiter of right and wrong in the same way that Cosby asserted himself as public moralist on issues of family values and crime. He was righteous, particularly about honesty. He was obsessed with honesty. There were many times when he would beat my head against a wall or whip me with…
View original 1,014 more words
July 13, 2015
2015 Bermuda Triangle Prize for Poetry
One of my poems is a winner of the Poet’s Billow
2015 Bermuda Triangle Prize. Click the link to read all
if the winning poems and finalists.
I am very proud.
June 30, 2015
New 5 star Review for Making Room for George!
Adding this review makes nineteen 5 star reviews on Amazon.
So proud. Very proud!
According to my marketing rep, when I reach twenty five, Amazon will begin to recommend Making Room for George alongside other reads of the same genre in their “others who looked at this book also looked at” category.
Most reviewers say they read the book in one or two sittings which makes it an “I couldn’t put this down” book and perfect summer reading.
Please like and share this post to help me get to the magic twenty-five reviews.
I only need SIX more!
May 11, 2015
May 4, 2015
book reveiw submission guidelines
First, let me say, that if you have written a book, you have really done something. I honor your effort and persistence. Reviewing a book is my way of honoring quality writing that moves me.
I review books by independent and traditionally published authors pre or post publication on this blog at no charge and with no obligation to the author.
I read non-fiction, memoir, women’s fiction, spirituality, poetry, self-help, and literary or general fiction with an empowered or courageous female protagonist. Think To Kill a Mockingbird, The Secret Life of Bees, and Care of the Soul (non-fiction). I will consider non-violent psychological thrillers and paranormal. I do not read vampire stories, crime drama, romance, erotica or any other writing that denigrates women or promotes violence against them. I like books that make me think, that make me feel good or cry for happy. I enjoy strong characterization and vivid detail. I love books that are not in a hurry. (Those are rare.) I love to be taken away, back in time or to foreign lands, especially those that exist outside of physical reality. I read only a few books a year, so I am very particular about what I choose to read.
Send me a link to your book with a “look inside” if it’s published or, if not, send me a short synopsis via email to dellisphelps@gmail.com requesting a review. If your book interests me, I’ll let you know within a few days, requesting the entire manuscript. Feel free to prompt me once after a week or so. We all get too busy or check out sometimes.
Once I have requested your book and if you have an electronic version of your book, you can gift a copy to me via Amazon. If you have only hard copies of your book, you can send me a copy via snail mail. I will provide an address when I contact you.
Once I have read your book, I will not review it if I cannot give it a four or five star rating and I will notify you if this is true, otherwise, I will send you a link to your review when I have posted it.
Click below to read two examples of my reviews:
Corvus Rising
Just Because You’re Dead Doesn’t Mean You’re Gone
book review: Texas native and #indieauthor, Sandy Foster Morrison
Just Because You’re Dead Doesn’t Mean You’re Gone by Sandy Foster Morrison
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
If you’re not “from here,” then you might think you know something about East Texas from having watched the recent movie “Bernie.” Frankly, the movie is spot on at revealing the snippy, elitist, prejudiced thinking prevalent there (and the horrific twang of speech!).
But this author: grew up there. Her memoir of that experience will make you cringe and groan if you are from here and it will make you exclaim in disbelief if you’re not. But I can tell you from my own Piney Woods roots that her account of “how it was (is)” is all true.
Ms. Foster-Morrison has a breezy tone that sets the reader at ease right away. She is fiercely honest, a laudable act of courage, given her ancestry. I commend her for this.
Her story, a black comedy with tragic moments, is the story of “every-woman”: how marriage, child-rearing, society and family influence and rule our becoming and if we are tenacious to a fault, as this author, having the will to become who she herself determines to be in spite of overwhelming odds against her, how we survive.
Personally, I deeply identified with the main premise: that those who have left their fleshly bodies have not “died,” but in fact carry on communicating with us from beyond, especially when our relationships on this plane have unfinished business.
If you are looking to fantasize and be carried away, this is not the book for you. If you are looking for a meaty story, full of unexpected turns and raw emotion, one that will make you laugh and cry, and leave you deep in thought, read this book.
I dare you.
May 2, 2015
the #art of repetition
for everything there is a season…
Ecclesiastes 3:1
twelve studies in sacred geometry from my studio walls going into a show tomorrow that hangs through August:
3×3, 6×6, & 12×12″ mixed media collage with repurposed beads, threads, wire & pins.
details:
all original, mixed media $28 US ea plus shipping and handling. Contact me here with interest.
d ellis phelps is the author of Making Room for George, a love story
April 2, 2015
loose woman: #art & #life
image: sketch from a couple of days ago in my journal
This loose woman and many others like her have peppered the pages of my journals for years like sirens, luring me into the dangerous waters of artistic transformation.
Some have become manifest in more rigid forms, morphed into spirit guides bringing messages, heralds of truth.
But these images are more abstract, less full of words, more pure imagining, fanciful, and fun!
I wonder: what would this life, this art look like? How would it change me..
Can I let go of what I have known, ask the “Little Baptist Girl” shadow to rest, release her Puritainistic, patriarchal hold on my psyche and let this wild, loose woman have her way with me?
Can I trust that SHE too is holy? Can I allow Her sensuous vulnerability to pull me into the dark waters of the unknown?
