D.G. Kaye's Blog, page 66

Sunday Book Review – Smokey Eyes : Cold Cream Murders by Barbara Silkstone

My Sunday Book Review is for Barbara Silkstone’s – Smokey Eyes – Book 2 in the Cold Cream Murders. I was hooked on this series from book one, and despite these books being standalone capers, I plan on reading them all. And most likely, in order. This series is a fun and witty romp with Olive Peroni who sells magical face cream made from her Nonna Peroni’s secret recipe – the beloved by all the beautiful women in Starfish Cove, Florida, fountain of youth cream she left as her legacy to Olive. Lizzie is Olive’s best friend, turned business partner and it seems wherever these two go they stumble into a murder. Silkstone’s witty choice of words. descriptions and fun names for her characters, add a colorful element  to this mini whodunit.     Blurb: SMOKEY EYES – Book 2 COLD CREAM MURDERS Olive and Lizzy’s Cold Cream shop on the beach is jumping—business couldn’t be better. But when land shark mogul Brent Toast is found floating in the Starfish Cove marina, with his sneer-side up and a knife in his chest, the prime suspect—among his many enemies—is his brassy daughter-in-law. Can Olive & Lizzy save their friend or will this be the end of the Loud Mouth of the South? Contains a recipe for Olive & Lizzy’s Smokey Eye Shadow ~~~ A series of quirky murders plague Olive Peroni and her Cold Cream shop partner. A psychologist by training and a miracle cold cream designer by luck, Olive leaves her family practice to start a new life in Starfish Cove, Florida. The gals make designer creams for ladies who spend far too much time at the beach. Business is brisk and life is good until bodies start popping and dropping—and Olive must rely on her people skills to separate the killers from their victims.   My 5 Star Review: Olive isn’t a cop, but once again finds herself involved in a case that Chief Officer, Kal ‘Miranda’ is overseeing, and somehow inserts herself once again, as part of the investigation. With such colorful, painted characters and quick-witted dialogue, and just keeping up with Olive, this book is what I consider one of my great escape reads, offering a fun-paced story with interesting and humorously named characters, this book just takes you in to Olive’s sporadic life and keeps you engaged til the very end when only then we’ll learn who the killer is. Olive has a compulsive need to help solve the crimes she stumbles into at Starfish Cove. Her people skills from being a psychotherapist come in awfully handy when it comes to analyzing suspects. The story begins with the disembarking of passengers off Nancy’s boat, The Very Crabby, where Olive and Lizzie were attending a get-together with a few friends and unsuspecting characters. Lizzie is afraid of water, she doesn’t like getting her face wet, and sure enough in the kerfuffle with the boat next door with some other friends, turns out the boat owner Brent was just murdered and thrown in the water by someone on Nancy’s boat. Maybe? In the midst of it all, Olive gets thrown overboard and comes face-to-face with the killer underwater – only when it comes to identifying him, all she could see were a pair of smokey eyes in a foggy mist. Now, Olive is concerned that maybe the killer may not be done with her – and he’s not! Olive persists to snoop out who she thinks may have motive for killing Brent and discovers a few reasons why a few people may have wanted Brent dead. And besides being stalked by an unknown killer, Olive has to contend with other problems going on in her beauty business, like the gigolo chasing after her old Aunt Tillie who is really on a mission to steal Nonna’s secret magical cream recipe. Never a dull moment in Olive’s life between the other little subplots in this book and the interesting and clever characters Silkstone bring to life in this witty little fun and cozy mystery. A bevy of suspects will keep you guessing whodunit til the end in this boat party gone wrong.     ©DGKaye2020      

Q & A with D.G. Kaye, Featuring #AuthorChat with Amy Reade -New Release – Cape Menace

Welcome to the first of my July Q & A #AuthorChats, featuring Cozy Mystery/Thriller, fiction author Amy Reade. Amy is not only a fantastic writer, but loves to share some of her favorite recipes on her blog too. Today Amy features her newest release – Cape Menace.       About Amy: Amy M. Reade is a recovering attorney who discovered, quite by accident, a passion for fiction writing. She has penned twelve mysteries and is working on several others. She writes in the Gothic, contemporary, historical, and cozy mystery subgenres and also loves to read, cook, and travel.  She is the USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Secrets of Hallstead House, The Ghosts of Peppernell Manor, House of the Hanging Jade, the Malice series, the Juniper Junction Holiday Mystery series, the Libraries of the World Mystery series, and the Cape May Historical Mystery Collection.     Blurb: The year is 1714. Two years have passed since Ruth Hanover vanished into the wilderness of the New Jersey colony without a trace, leaving behind her husband, William, and their daughter, Sarah. Though William and Sarah have never stopped hoping that Ruth will return, as time goes by it becomes less and less likely they will ever see her again. Now William is acting strangely. He won’t tell Sarah why he’s conducting business with a mysterious stranger in the middle of the night, he won’t explain the sudden increase in his income, and he won’t share with her what people in town are saying about her mother’s disappearance. When the time comes for Sarah to face her father’s secrets and figure out why her mother never came home that December day in 1712, what she learns will shock her tiny community on the New Jersey cape and leave her fighting for her life.     Welcome to my blog Amy, I’m delighted to have you over and introduce you and your writing to my readers and friends.

Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – D. G. Kaye Explores the Realms of Relationships – June 2020 -June 2020 – Empaths and Spiritual Communication through Energy | Smorgasbord Blog Magazine

I’m over at Sally Cronin​’s Smorgasbord Blog Magazine with my June edition of Realms of Relationships column. In this issue I’m talking about communication through intuitive knowing – #Empathy.   Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – D. G. Kaye Explores the Realms of Relationships – June 2020 – Empaths and Spiritual     Welcome to the June edition of the Realms of Relationships. Today, I’m writing off course about a different kind of communication – through energy. Perhaps it’s these crazy times we’re all living in, but for people who are Highly Sensitive Persons, also known as HSPs, and for those of us who are empaths with similar traits, I’ve found these last few months, and in particular these last few weeks of world-wide protests for justice, weighing me down with a heavier than usual load to carry, emotionally. For us sensitives, we are uber sensitive to the energies emitted when the hurt in the world becomes insurmountable. For empaths and HSPs, we don’t necessarily have to be directly in front of one person to pick up energies. We can also take in the collective. And I can tell you, absorbing too much of the negativity going on in the world can be very affecting. Empaths are ultra-compassionate people, and it’s no surprise that we are feeling way too much in this time of the world. You may be thinking I’ve gone off the beaten path here, talking about empaths today, but I tagged this column Realms of Relationships because in order for any relationship to flourish and thrive, there must be good communication. And when it comes to communication, an empath – receiver of messages through alternate methods of communication, has good experience understanding communication.     The question has often been asked – what is an empath, and what makes empathy different from sympathy? So today I’m going to break it down. Empaths can literally feel the emotions of another. An inner-knowing through a feeling of invisibly transmitted energy, is how I’d explain it. I suspect every empath has their own unique abilities how they receive messages, just as many sensitive people, including psychics and mediums, feel spirit with one particular sense. For example, I can sense when spirits are around me by a sudden drop in my body temperature to downright shivering, no matter the degrees it is in the room. I also sense spirit by scent. I don’t see or hear ghosts, but I sense their presence when the room I’m in suddenly begins to feel very chilly to the point that my teeth chatter as the rest of me shivers. I can smell a distinct odor of Export A cigarette smoke just as I always did when my father entered a room and when he now visits me from ‘the other side’. I get the same feeling when a mysterious waft of a certain sweet scent of perfume fills the air when my Aunty Sherry pays me a visit. Not surprisingly, I’m the only one who can smell these visitors if I’m not alone. But I digress, I was talking about receiving empathic messages before I got lost on the ghostly messages, lol. My superpower? I like to say, I read souls. I can read and feel emotions – yes, goodness, anger, sadness, evil and every emotion in between. It’s not always a good thing, that’s for sure, but it does come in handy for sizing up situations. How to explain?     How does an empath absorb the emotions of others?  I can only speak from my own experience, and the best way I can explain it is – In person, it only takes a few minutes for me to sense emotions from looking through the eyes – beyond the eyes, into the soul, so to speak. Body language and words also transmit energy. Certainly, we’ve all heard some of the old clichés like – ‘the air was so thick you could cut it with a knife’. That example of thickened air is a good indicator of what an empath picks up on whenever encountering negative energy. Empaths can feel the emotions given off by others. Like I previously mentioned, I would describe it as an energy transmission – communication through absorbed energy. I am like a sponge or a Bounty paper towel, and have therefore, learned through the years, where to keep myself away from to avoid absorbing certain energies from attracting to me. Again, hard to explain, but I’m sure almost everyone has had a superstitious moment in life where we’re convinced there is a black cloud hanging over us, or have once felt that someone has cast an evil spell on us or maybe we just plain feel like bad luck is surrounding us. These examples are what an empath feels when we pick up negative energies about a person. And that person doesn’t have to be physically in our presence for energies to bounce off us. And not to mislead anyone, empaths pick up both good and bad energies – no discrimination. It’s just that attracting the negative energies are harder to repel. And it’s no surprise when an empath is accused of being ‘moody’ that an energy can certainly have us changing our minds like the wind – just ask my husband! A good example of picking up collective energies is when we’re watching the news. There really is no good news on the news and by watching too much sadness, our energies become ‘empathetic’ to the pain and sadness of others. My heart gets heavy and my concentration is shot as my heart prefers to lead my mood. Just as when we’re around a celebration and our hearts are full, we’re going to feel joyful because that is what surrounds us. And those good energies are like refueling from being drained from other bad energies. It’s a cycle for an empath, but there are ways to help deter attracting those energies by learning how to shield. Empathy is different from sympathy in that having sympathy is more of an offering of condolence as we may feel sorry for someone because of their loss, but we do not feel that person’s actual grief as an empath can by taking in the griever’s actual feelings and emotions. Our own bodies can feel the pain of others – walking precisely in their shoes. Some may think it must be so cool to have this ability, but honestly, I’d rather not have it. Being an empath isn’t something we typically train to become, but rather, it’s an inherent or unconscious developed trait. Psychics, spiritualists, witches, and earth angels are more notoriously known for having empathic abilities, but one doesn’t have to be any one of these in order to be an empath. Being an empath is sometimes referred to as ‘a gift’, but it’s not always a gift. Many people are empathic. And many more may be but are not aware of their ‘gift’, and some are often hindered by it. It’s been asked many times, does one just become an empath? Is it inherited? Is it learned? Well, I’ve heard various takes on the subject, but one thought of interest stuck out to me: Some empaths don’t realize that their desire to help others sometimes stems from a lack of nurturing as a child, resulting in an unconscious need to help others. I think that’s just one possible method of how a person can be transformed into an empath subconsciously, and despite there being a ‘how to’ for almost anything available, my personal feeling is that teaching someone to be empathic would be like trying to teach someone to become a psychic. We can read all we want about the subject and watch Youtube videos, and gain lots of insight from doing so, but one cannot simply just ‘become’ an empath or a psychic. Dr. Judith Orloff, Psychiatrist at Psychology.com explains how genetics and trauma can aid in playng a part in becoming an empath, in her article where she explains this a little further What’s it like being an empath? Well, let’s say you’re watching a depressing movie or reading a sad part of a book and your feelings are touched by what you’re reading and/or watching. You may be feeling anger, disgust, elation or any other emotion from that movie or book. The writer of the story has done a great job of painting a story and bringing the characters to life when they can evoke these emotions and the reader is drawn in and can almost feel what the character is experiencing. For an empath, we don’t require someone to narrate their feelings to us, we sense and feel the emotion. Sure, if someone shares something affecting that happened to them, I can immediately take in how they’re feeling as a result of that incident, often no words are required. It’s a vibe and energy someone gives off and that energy is transmitted into their personal space. An empath only has to look into someone’s eyes to pick up on emotion – unspoken emotions. There is definitely more than meets the eye, to quote an old cliché – ‘the eyes are the windows of the soul’, because they definitely are. An empath is a receptor for the energy. Someone not as sensitive to these energies wouldn’t be an empath, and subsequently, wouldn’t even be able to take notice of someone around them with a hidden emotional issue unless they were informed. And sadly, it’s sometimes difficult for an empath to shield or shutdown so as not to absorb these energies. Shielding is a protective measure that is learned, it’s the virtual putting up of an invisible wall to repel the energies to keep them from penetrating into us. With that I’ll add that one doesn’t have to be an empath to learn how to shield themselves. Empaths are usually open targets for  energy vampires (suckers) because we take in other people’s energies. Our compassion can sometimes exhaust us when we encounter too much needy energy at one time. Needy doesn’t necessarily always mean the vampire is intentionally reaching out to us, but, because we are susceptible to other people’s energies and feelings – means we can sense the needy energies. We receive the feelings through energy. This is the reason I refer to these types of people as vampires – because they suck out and overwhelm our own energies as we begin feeling their pain or sadness.     Don’t forget, an empath can experience happy emotions too, not just the bad and the sad, but experiencing happy and good emotions do not drain us. In fact, they can be quite uplifting. That’s why happy people are so good for the soul. And negative people drain our souls. There are good parts of being an empath – despite an empath’s ability to attract others’ negative energy, sometimes having that uncanny ability of reading a person’s soul through looking into their eyes, can also come in handy for staying safe and sensing oncoming trouble ahead. Just as a fine- tuned intuition will save us from making many wrong moves, an ability to be able to learn people’s intentions through looking in their eyes can help us avoid – or at least, prepare us to avoid danger. My internal alert system flashes before me if I’m in close proximity to something scary. If I’m out in public and find myself in a situation among undesirable people, or feeling a little too close for comfort, I have an early chance of escape. I’ll observe people when they aren’t watching and look into their eyes at an opportune moment. If there’s an exchange of words, I’ll check if a smile is genuine (an empath knows). Eyes speak, so does an ominous silence – like a smile without matching smiling eyes. But I would have to say my finest tuned skill as an empath is attracting people’s sadness. My empathy is my Achille’s Heel. It may not be that someone is intentionally in my energy space, but...

Sunday Book Review – A Kiss for the Worthy by Frank Prem #Poetry

Welcome to my Sunday Book Review. Today I’m reviewing the second book in Frank Prem’s love trilogy – A Kiss for the Worthy.  Frank has taken a piece of writing from Walt Whitman – Leaves of Grass, and transformed it into a newfound form of poetry by rewriting Whitman’s lines, expanding and incorporating into his own new poetry.       Blurb: Houses and rooms are full of perfumes, the shelves are crowded with perfumes, I breathe the fragrance myself and know it and like it, The distillation would intoxicate me also, but I shall not let it.. . . from Leaves of Grass Drawing on the phrasing of Walt Whitman’s great late 19th century poem Leaves of Grass (above) Frank Prem has produced a collection of expansive and outward looking love poetry written, as always, in the unique style that allows every reader to relate. Prem’s interpretations breathe new life into contemporary exploration of themes of love in poetry, and utilise Whitman’s original phrases to inspire a contemplation of the self in the context of landscape and the wider world: and as they open I realise they are filled with sweet perfumes golden glory wafted aroma from a house filled (with the sensual) a kiss for the worthy is the second of three collections that together comprise A Love Poetry Trilogy, with each revisiting outstanding work by stellar poets of the past to produce vibrant new collections. The first collection, walk away silver heart, draws on Amy Lowell’s deeply personal Madonna of the Evening Flowers, while the third, rescue and redemption, derives from T.S Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. This is a new kind of poetry that tells stories, draws pictures and elicits emotional responses from readers. Just as the best poetry should.   My 5 Star Review: This is the second book in Prem’s Love Trilogy. Prem has taken from Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass and once again, transforms his own version of thoughts and feelings putting his own creative spin on Whitman’s poetry by taking in and evoking the simple joys of life, love and nature. Three of these poems stood out to me: – Clean (This soil, my air), transformed from ‘From this soil, this air’, Prem goes deeper – ‘A bootprint in the sand, breathing my own air – a cleansing’. And he takes the poignant line from  ‘Born Here (an immigrant son)’, transformed into – ‘Born here of parents born here from parents of the same, and their parents the same …’, the author shares his own lineage on this controversial and au current topic. He continues – “Sing me a song of an immigrant, on the road – sing me the song of a traveller, I will join you in the chorus, for I carry, that same dusty weight.”.’No to Espresso’ gives us a stunning conversion into the realms of addiction to the coveted java – which Prem expands on in stanza, elaborating on how caffeine affects. Prem leaves us much to both savor and contemplate with his altered perspective on Whitman’s work. A mixture of emotion and perspective, cleverly re-wrapped into engaging bite-sized stories with robust meaning.   ©DGKaye2020        

#WATWB – World Unity Week: Celebrating the Shift From “Me” to “We”

Welcome to this month’s #WATWB – We are the World Blogfest, where writers join in on the last Friday of every month to share good deeds going on around the world to deflect from some of the negativity going on in the world and shine a light on good things going on. This month I’m sharing World Unity Week, which celebrates the ‘shift’ from ‘Me’ to ‘We’, and it falls perfectly into this week!   Watch this beautiful two-minute video and see how the world collectively comes together with kindness and moving past the ‘me’, evolving into ‘we’.   What unusual thing have you done during the global “pause” of the pandemic when faced with “the new normal”? Some people have tried to learn a new language, others have immersed themselves in DIY, home baking, YouTube workouts or have just got better at working remotely. But in parallel, many people around the world have been reflecting on the tangible sense of togetherness and interconnection that is uniting us at this time. It has become clear, even when we’re separated, just how connected we all are. There’s a tangible empathy for essential workers, and also our fellow humans in general. Most of us can sense a kindness vibe that’s getting us all through this current pandemic as communities rediscover their abilities to find local solutions to bigger challenges. This sees strangers turning into real neighbors and reaching out to the most vulnerable, for instance.  In parallel, many people have downgraded their interests in material consumption and embarked on a more self-aware spiritual quest to relate differently to others, reaching out and feeling a deeper connection with other people in the world around them. . . continue reading   Source: World Unity Week: Celebrating the Shift From “Me” to “We” – Goodnet   This month’s hosts for the WATWB are: Sylvia McGrath, Susan Scott Shilpa Garg, Damyanti Biswas, and Belinda Witzenhausen.   If you’d like to join in with adding a post on something good going on in your community or across the world, you can add your post link on our group Facebook page.   ©DGKaye2020  

You Write Like? – I Write Like? #Blogging Fun for Writers

What a fun thing to do for writers. My friend Vashti Q had tagged me in a tweet to join in the fun on Twitter and click on a link to an app – ‘I Write Like’, where you then paste a paragraph of your writing in the app and it tell’s you who your writing is like by analyzing word choice and writing style.     So cool! I told Vashti, I’d done this once before a few years ago in another app and it said I write like David Foster Wallace ( I have it on one of my side widgets). So, I hopped on again out of curiosity. Then for good measure, I did it again with another piece of writing. Below is what I got and have also added proudly to my sidebar. And if you’re wondering what Vashti got – H.G. Wells!   I write like Margaret Atwood About Margaret Atwood | Analyze your text Source: You write like Margaret Atwood   I write like Arthur Conan Doyle About Arthur Conan Doyle | Analyze your text Source: You write like Arthur Conan Doyle – I Write Like   So what do you think about these two depictions of my writing? Do you think there’s any kind of a melding between these 2 famous writers? I mean, let’s face it, in this world now, we’d be talking about a monumental task for Sherlock Holmes if he were tasked with solving the crimes of The Handmaid’s Tale with their takeover of America by its own government by changing the occupied parts into the new Gilead. Sounds ominous. That would be a great book, if it weren’t so close to reality. But other than that I don’t get the connection.   Have any of you tried this yet while you were here? Try it, I Write Like and share in comments!   ©DGKaye  

Sunday Book Review with D.G. Kaye, Featuring – The Memory by Judith Barrow

Welcome to my Sunday Book Review. Today I’m thrilled to be reviewing Judith Barrow’s engrossing #FamilySaga – The Memory. This is the story about Irene, growing up in a dysfunctional family with a horrible mother, Lilian, and the bond Irene carries for her little sister Rose who was born with Down Syndrome, and how that bond dictated the choices Irene made in her life decisions. Familial conflict and a mother/daughter story of complexity.       Blurb:  I wait by the bed. I move into her line of vision and it’s as though we’re watching one another, my mother and me; two women – trapped. Today has been a long time coming. Irene sits at her mother’s side waiting for the right moment, for the point at which she will know she is doing the right thing by Rose. Rose was Irene’s little sister, an unwanted embarrassment to their mother Lilian but a treasure to Irene. Rose died thirty years ago, when she was eight, and nobody has talked about the circumstances of her death since. But Irene knows what she saw. Over the course of 24 hours their moving and tragic story is revealed – a story of love and duty, betrayal and loss – as Irene rediscovers the past and finds hope for the future. “…A book that is both powerful and moving, exquisitely penetrating. I am drawn in, empathising so intensely with Irene that I feel every twinge of her frustration, resentment, utter weariness and abiding love.” Thorne Moore “Judith Barrow’s greatest strength is her understanding of her characters and the times in which they live; The Memory is a poignant tale of love and hate in which you will feel every emotion experienced by Irene.” Terry Tyler The new novel from the bestselling author of the Howarth family saga     My 5 Star Review: Barrow paints a complex emotional story written in first person where Irene tells her story in two time-frames. One is in present 2002, depicted in a 24 hour time-frame, and the past in flashbacks about what transpired in her life and lead to that one day. Three women under one roof – Irene, her mother Lilian, and her Nanna, and Sam, Irene’s ever faithful and compassionate boyfriend, are the central characters, as well as little sister Rose, born with Down Syndrome, who dies at the age of 8 years old, and the secrets about her death that keep Irene connected to the house they grew up in together. The burning secret Irene carries will take a monumental twist near the end of this book. Rose is an embarrassment to her rotten mother Lilian, and Irene and Nanna are the ones who look after Rose. Rose’s death creates a bigger distance between Irene and Lilian, spurring Irene’s anticipation to finally move away from home and finish her schooling for her dream to become a teacher. Only, there are obstacles at every milestone for Irene from her demanding, needy and lacking of compassion mother. Lilian is a complicated, moody, miserable bitch, whose husband has left her, leaving Irene to put up with Lilian’s antics on a daily basis – seemingly no matter how far Irene flees does not stop Lilian and her demands. Thank goodness for Sam. Sam knows Lilian well and knows how she gets under Irene’s skin and staunchly supports Irene’s decisions, despite them often leaving Sam in second place to Irene’s worries concerning her mother and the indelible bond that remains between Rose and Irene even after her death. Irene is the designated carer for everyone in this book – first Rose, then her Nanna, then Sam’s sick father, then her sick father, then her sick (in more ways than one, mother) – a modern day Florence Nightingale. Sam is the ideal boyfriend and then husband who adores Irene. He’s been through a lot with Irene and her family woes, causing delays for them to make a life together. When they finally do make their life complete, once again ‘mother’ calls in her neediness. The mother who never had the time of day for Irene makes her a lucrative offer, which once again turns into a bad deal and should have had Irene running like a dog on fire. But instead, she flees back to her mother leaving Sam disappointed and dumbfounded. The twist at the end focuses on the painful secret Irene has carried with her since Rose’s death. A lot of drama ensues between Irene and her terrible, ungrateful, undeserving mother as Irene once again sacrifices her happiness with Sam in order to pacify her mother. Irene is a great character of strength who takes on all the family problems in her selfless good and compassionate nature, even risking losing the love of her life, but does she? You’ll have to read to find out!   ©DGKaye2020  

Twelve Questions #Blogshare From Stevie Turner – Join in the Fun!

I came across this fun post from Stevie Turner’s blog where she came across this quiz on a bloghop inviting writers to answer 12 interesting questions. Below are the questions and my answers:   How spontaneous are you? Hmm, I’d like to say I’ve been spontaneous most of my life, but I’d also say by the time I turned 50 I learned how to put the brakes on and have become a lot more investigative and skeptical before diving into anything. Anything.   How flirtatious would you say you are? If that is not the word you would use, then try the alternatives of ‘teasing’ or ‘playful’.  How much are you of this? Another toughie. I think the word ‘flirtatious’ is loaded. I’m a passionate person and you will find when speaking with me in person that I can be very animated when I speak. My outgoing personality has often been misconstrued for flirting.   How serious are you as a person? When I’m serious, I’m serious. ‘Nuff said.   Do you think the older we become, then certain emotions are easier to handle, say as an example ‘grief’? No. I should think grief is painful at any age, it’s just a matter of how we deal with it. Perhaps maturity helps with the way we display our grief, but that in no way changes the way we feel when we are grieving.   What is the most adventurous thing you have done to date? I think I did a lot of courageous things when I was younger. Taking a sabbatical from life and a 3 month leave of absence from work to travel to Greece for 3 months – alone in my early 20s- turned out to be a very brave move – something I wouldn’t have the courage to do now.   What’s the craziest or riskiest thing you have ever done and simply got away with it or got caught doing it? Lol, I can’t think of anything at the moment. Let’s just leave it at – I’ve done and gotten away. I’ll add, nothing criminal.

#AuthorChat Q & A With D.G. Kaye is Featuring Claire Fullerton and Little Tea

Welcome to the second of my June interviews at my #AuthorChat – Q & A with D.G. Kaye. Today I’m excited to be featuring author Claire Fullerton with her new release, Little Tea.  Claire writes beautiful women’s fiction with a touch of southern charm, and I’m thrilled to have here with us today to talk about her new book, which I can’t wait to sink my eyes into!     About Claire: Claire Fullerton hails from Memphis, TN. and now lives in Malibu, CA. with her husband and 3 German shepherds. She is the author of Little Tea, the August selection of The Pulpwood Queens Book Club. Claire is the author of 5-time award winning, Mourning Dove; Dancing to an Irish Reel; and A Portal in Time. Her novella, Through an Autumn Window, is included in the book, A Southern Season. Her work has appeared in Celtic Life International, Southern Writers Magazine, The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature, and others. She is represented by Julie Gwinn of the Seymour Literary Agency.     Blurb: One phone call from Renny to come home and “see about” the capricious Ava and Celia Wakefield decides to overlook her distressful past in the name of friendship. For three reflective days at Renny’s lake house in Heber Springs, Arkansas, the three childhood friends reunite and examine life, love, marriage, and the ties that bind, even though Celia’s personal story has yet to be healed. When the past arrives at the lake house door in the form of her old boyfriend, Celia must revisit the life she’d tried to outrun. As her idyllic coming of age alongside her best friend, Little Tea, on her family’s ancestral grounds in bucolic Como, Mississippi unfolds, Celia realizes there is no better place to accept her own story than in this circle of friends who have remained beside her throughout the years. Theirs is a friendship that can talk any life sorrow into a comic tragedy, and now that the racial divide in the Deep South has evolved, Celia wonders if friendship can triumph over history.   So let’s get into some Q & A and get to know more about Claire and what fuels her writing!     How many books have you written? Do you have a favorite of your books and if so, why? I have written four published novels and one novella, all traditionally published. I have recently completed a manuscript, which I will revisit soon. D.G. – Wow Claire, you are on fire girl!   Who is your favorite author and why? I have a few! I’ll mention Ron Rash, for his spare, poetic use of regional language; Billy O’Callaghan for his stream of consciousness sentences, and Pat Conroy for his fearlessness, stellar vocabulary, and lyrical sentences. D.G. – Now, Pat Conroy, oh ya – The Prince of Tides

“#Fiction in A Flash Challenge!” – NonFiction #Photoprompt with Suzanne Burke

Suzanne (Soooz) Burke is running a fun weekly writing challenge at her blog. This week it’s a PhotoPrompt #FictionInAFlash. We’re invited to write in any genre, 750 word count max. When I came across Soooz’s challenge in my blog roamings, once I saw the prompt, hundreds of memories flashed by me. So 750 word cap is going to be a challenge!     Hello everyone and welcome to week #4 of my  “Fiction in A Flash Challenge!” Each week I’ll be featuring an image and inviting you to write a Flash Fiction piece inspired by that image in any form and genre of your choosing.  Maximum word count: 750 words.   “Fiction in A Flash Challenge!” Week #4. Image Prompt: Join in, have fun, and let loose your creative muse.#FictionInAFlash @pursoot @IARTG #ASMSG #WritingCommunity.     From the first time I ever visited Las Vegas, I felt an inexplicable energy through me, an unfamiliar state of feeling that I should be living on the west coast. This feeling had nothing to do with the fact that Vegas is like a Disneyland Mecca playground for adults but more about the atmosphere – desert, climate and just being in the southwest. It must have been my colorful childhood education from some of the shady characters I’d met in my mother’s circles that began my fascination of mobster stories. After my first Vegas experiences there were plenty more visits there, sometimes 2 and 3 times per year. After so many years of going to Vegas, and one helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon, I had an instant feeling that I needed to relocate our vacations to Arizona, more evidence to myself that it was the southwest calling me, more than the casino attractions in Las Vegas. The first time I landed in Phoenix Sky Harbor airport, I remember strolling the carry-on through the airport with hub, on our way to grab a taxi, when I stopped myself in my tracks and took a pause when this incredible feeling of something inexplicable came over me and told me this was where I needed to be. A familiarity ran through me as though I were home, like I was familiar with a place I’d never before been other than in a helicopter landing in a canyon. My long fascination with everything southwest, from the climate to the beauty to the rich history of the various Native tribes and cultures, felt familiar and I’d always had this longing to drive Route 66, pretty much inspired by Thelma and Louise. I’d flown over the spot where the movie ends and their car goes off the cliff, while in the helicopter, the tour guide made it a point to announce. Our first trip to Phoenix was fantabulous. My husband loved all the cowboy stores, venues and paraphernalia, and me, well, I couldn’t get enough of the views, and of course, shopping anything southwest. Don’t even get me started on beautiful Sedona, but those are other stories for another time. Suffice it to say, I wasn’t going home without something ‘Route 66’ and it seemed only fitting when I spotted a set of luggage on discount while I was in the market for a new bag to return home with since what I’d come with was already overflowing. The luggage was colorful with Route 66 plastered all over. And along with some other goodies I found at a flea market when our new friends had taken us to in Mesa, I picked up this sign.     Here I am living living in the east living still in the dream of being a southwest coast girl someday. Who knows what will come when the new world opens up. Never stop dreaming!   ©DGKaye2020   If you’d like to hop on Soooz’s challenge, click on the link below. Source: “Fiction in A Flash Challenge!” Week #4. Image Prompt: Join in, have fun, and let loose your creative muse.#FictionInAFlash @pursoot @IARTG #ASMSG #WritingCommunity. – Welcome to the World of Suzanne Burke.