Helen B. Henderson's Blog, page 39
December 8, 2020
Hooked on Imprisoned, Turn's End - The Ladies, #mfrwhooks
In celebration of the winter solstice, a snippit from the dark fantasy, Imprisoned in Stone of the Turn's End celebration. To set the stage, like our New Year's Eve, Turn's End is time for reflection and celebrating new beginnings. It is also a time for parties and dances. Even in the backwoods glen of the fighting wizard, Tralin, they will celebrate. In this first post, we see Maerva and Tralin getting ready for the Turn's End dance. Even though there is only four people in the valley, they have still dressed in as formal--and fancy--outfits they have. For the night, Tralin has exchanged her pants and leathers for a gown and left her sword in her quarters.
Excerpt:
Maerva twisted the last ringlet of dark hair into place and pinned it into a knot at the nape of her neck. Deft movements interwove the midnight blue ribbons into place and laced up the deep jade green vest. Giving it a tug, she lifted her arms and twirled to make sure the garment did not impede her movement. The ankle-length skirt flowed in a gray shimmer reminiscent of storm-tossed waves. Tonight would be her first year-end celebration away from home as an adult, and she planned to dance the night away. For the first time, she would not have to share the evening with her cousins and older sisters. In fact, the dress she wore was the first new garment she had ever owned. Satisfied she was as ready as she would ever be, she gave one final glance in the mirror and headed downstairs to the kitchen.
Tralin looked up from the fireplace where steam escaped from a pair of covered pots. Light sparkled off the gold embroidery on the hem of her burgundy dress and the amber stone hung around her neck.
Next week will be the males' turn. But who will be Maerva's partner? Colwynn or Gareth? And how are they dressed?
* * * * HOLIDAY SPECIAL - $1.49 for the Kindle at Amazon * * *
Four paths--one destiny. With the power to bind souls and control all magic in the balance.
Imprisoned in Stone--available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo and elsewhere.
December 4, 2020
Diamond, Jewelry, or Food
Welcome to this week's post in the MFRW 52-week challenge. The topic is "What do you secretly wish for Christmas that you're pretty sure you won't get."
Let's see. Diamond jewelry, a new Dodge Caravan, steak or scallop dinners out every week. That's a good start.
Now back to the real world. Even before Covid hit, I didn't go out much. Especially places where you dressed to the nines. And with the swelling of my fingers this winter, the rings I already have no longer fit. So the answer is no diamond rings.
Next on the wish list a replacement for the 18-year-old, hand-me down car I'm driving. The model I drove for many years is no longer made so I would have to switch to the Chrysler "Grand." Disregarding the $$$, buying a car is not something my other half would do without consultation. The commercial of the new car in the driveway with a bow on it isn't something I can envision.
Which leaves eating out. The only two "seafood" restaurants where the fish is something other than catfish are about an hour away. And with COVID we're not eating in the restaurant, so it would have to be takeout. Cold reheated steak, shrimp and scallops isn't my idea of a good time. Especially when you're paying top dollar for it.
~till next time, happy holidays and may all your wishes come true. Helen
Be sure to see how the other authors answered the question. https://mfrw52week.blogspot.com/
November 26, 2020
Potatoes and an Iron Pan #mfrwauthor
Welcome to this week's post in the MFRW 52-week challenge. The topic is "Best Leftover Recipe."
With the holidays approaching and their corresponding dinner parties--and leftovers--this post should be easy. In reality I had trouble coming up with a recipee. I think the problem was the clarification of "leftover." So I decided to go with lokse, a potato tortilla from my Slovak heritage.
Traditionally, they were made with the end-of-the-season potatoes. In a way, they could be considered leftovers. The potatoes in the bottom of the bin had lost some of the moisture and were not appropriate for some other recipes. Lokse are also an appropriate recipe for this time of year as they are "fast-food" at holiday markets in Slovakia.
Lokse could also be made with left-over mashed potatoes (no cream, no butter, just smashing the potato enough so that there were no large chunks. As a result, the holidays weren't the only time we had lokse. Whenever Grammy B was coming to visit, we made sure to accidentally boil too many potatoes so we had a large bowl of "leftover" mashed potatoes awaiting her special touch. Grammy was the only one who had knew how much a pinch of salt was. Even more importantly, no matter how hard she tried to teach us we never mastered the art of rolling the potato pancakes to the proper thickness. If we got them thin, then we couldn't do the necessary flip into the cast-iron frying pan without them falling apart.
Illustrating how things can change, a few years ago, when I tried to find the recipe (before I found my mother's handwritten one,) I only found one site that actually had the instructions. When I did a little more research today I found a dozen. Mine can be found at an earlier post in the challenge.
~till next time, Helen
November 19, 2020
View of the world #mfrwauthor
Welcome to another week of the MFRW 52-week challenge. The topic is "Your characters: More fun to write idealists or pragmatists?"
First a brief definition of the two philosophies. Idealism is the belief that we should adopt moral principles, even if they have negative effects on our lives. Pragmatism, on the other hand, is a rejection of idealism. If the idealist's principles get in the way, the pragmatist does whatever is deemed as practical, with no concerns for morality.
Since this is a writer's post, it could be the difference between two characters. One a pragmatic, realistic person and the other an idealistic, visionary. As to whether one is the hero and the other the person he is in conflict with, that remains to be determined by the character. And it also depends on the scene. There is not necessarily a hard line between the philosophies.
I can't answer whether a pragmatist or a realist is more fun as I don't consciously think of it when I am writing. And fun might not necessarily be the correct word. Writing them would be more a level of of difficulty than of pleasure.
~till next time, Helen
November 14, 2020
Weekend Writing Warriors, Friends Lost, Windmaster , #WeWriWa, #SnippitSunday
#SnippetSunday authors for more great reads. ~till next time, Helen
November 12, 2020
Why Read Romance? by Guest Author Jacqueline Seewald
My guest blogger today is multiple award-winning author, Jacqueline Seewald.
Welcome, Jacqueline. Why do romance novels continue to attract readers?
There are a number of good reasons. In Dangerous Men and Adventurous Women, a nonfiction anthology edited by Jayne Ann Krentz, she observes: “With few exceptions, the women who write romance were romance readers first. They had already discovered that they enjoyed the novels before they tried to write them.”
I enjoy reading books I can feel passionate about which equates to main characters who are passionate people. I want to read a novel in which I truly care about those main characters. For me, that means romantic fiction.
Don’t get me wrong, I like many different kinds of fiction but enjoy most a novel with a happy ending. Part of the reason I read is to escape the hum-drum of everyday existence. I want to read a great love story with characters I can care about. I especially enjoy an exciting plot carried out against a lush or exotic setting.
My novel Highland Heart was just published by Luminosity on November 1st. I’d like to share some information about it:
HIGHLAND HEART - Love in the time of war.
Highland Heart is a sensual historical romance set in England and the Scottish Highlands in 1745 at the time of the second Jacobite Rebellion. (Think Tom Jones!) The romantic involvement is between a French aristocrat who is part Scottish and a British army officer who finds her as desirable as she finds him. Try as hard as they might, their overwhelming passion for each other cannot be denied. But people and events come between them nearly destroying their relationship since they are politically on opposite sides.
Excerpt:
“What will you do with him?” Madeleine asked, her face pale, lower lip trembling.
“He’ll be our prisoner until we’re well out of here. I’ll not be hung as a traitor by the English.”
Andrew turned to Gareth. “They say you’re a brave soldier and that your men respect you. We’ll do you no harm. Unlike your people, we’re not butchers.”
But Gareth wasn’t accepting what her cousin said. It took the same four men to subdue him, and finally, the giant, Fergus, rendered Gareth unconscious with a hard blow to the jaw.
“Is he all right?” she asked with a wavering voice.
“He’ll be fine, lassie,” Andrew reassured her.
“There was no other way to get the bonds on him,” Fergus said. “The mon has the strength of a demon.”
She remained in the cave, waiting for Gareth to regain consciousness, unable to bring herself to leave until she knew for certain that he would truly be all right. As he began to moan softly, she brought a cloth and some water to wash the blood from his face.
When his eyes opened, Gareth at first looked puzzled. Then a flicker of memory came into those glittering sapphire eyes and he seemed to recall the circumstances which brought him into his current situation.
“Untie me,” he demanded of her in a soft, urgent voice.
She shook her head. “I cannot do it. They won’t hurt you. Andrew promised.”
“The promise of a barbarian? And what’s that worth?” He sounded bitter and cynical.
“At least as much as yours,” she countered, pressing his bruised face a little too gingerly with the cloth. “My cousin is a man of honor.”
“Careful!” he said, squirming from the pain.
“You’ve nothing to fear.”
“As if I could trust you!” he spat out angrily.
She stared at him in surprise. “You think I betrayed you in some way?”
“Didn’t you? You knew I followed you here and you told them.”
“I did no such thing! I never dreamed you’d follow us. Why would I? And why did you follow us anyway?” She eyed him suspiciously.
“I thought you might be coming to your cousin.”
“How clever you are,” she said.
“Not near clever enough.”
Her heart hurt; she felt a deep sense of regret and disappointment. He obviously held a low opinion of her.
Andrew joined them at that moment. “Madeleine, I think we might try a bit of a ploy. Tell my mother what has happened. Ask her what she thinks about telling the English soldiers that we hold Eriksen. We could promise to return him if they leave here.”
“They have orders, MacCarnan. If I die, the next man in line will take command, and so forth. It will never end until you’re taken into custody or dead. I’m a worthless hostage to you.” Gareth’s voice was quiet and tightly controlled.
“We’ll see,” her cousin said.
Madeleine saw that Andrew’s face had grown paler and he looked very weak. Gently, she helped him to lie down. He pressed his cheek to hers and kissed her affectionately on the lips. She felt Gareth’s accusing eyes upon her and could hardly breathe as if a granite weight were pressed against her chest.
“Someday, there will be a time for us. I promise ye that, my bonnie lass.” Andrew’s smile was warm as the sun on a summer’s day.
“Rest now,” she said. “Grow strong that you may leave this place.”
His hand held hers until he finally slept. Turning away from Andrew, she saw Gareth’s eyes coldly watching her. His expression was so closed, she hardly knew what he was thinking. The extent of the control he could exercise over his emotions truly amazed her. It also frightened her. He gave away nothing.
“Come here,” he said in a voice that was deadly calm. His hooded eyes possessed her own the way a cobra would mesmerize its victim.
She did not want to move, yet her legs seemed to carry her of their own volition.
“Tell my men where I am,” he said quietly. “Help me escape from here.”
“I cannot do that and you know it!”
“I know nothing of the sort. If you care about me at all then you must help me escape.”
She shook her head. “I do care, but what you ask is impossible.”
“Talk softly. They are paying no attention to us at the moment, but if you raise your voice again, you’ll alert them.”
She pressed a compress against his face and then to his lips which were also badly battered. His lips kissed her fingertips, sending queer little quivers through her belly and heat through her blood.
“Help me,” he whispered. “You must.” He began sucking on her fingertips.
She quickly pulled her hand away.
*** End of Excerpt ***
Buy Links: Amazon / Google Store / Publisher's Site
*****
What sort of novels do you prefer to read? What constitutes a good book in your opinion? Who are some of your favorite authors? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
About Jacqueline Seewald
Jacqueline has taught creative, expository and technical writing at Rutgers University as well as high school English, and also worked as both an academic librarian and an educational media specialist. Twenty of her books of fiction have been published to critical praise including books for adults, teens and children. Her short stories, poems, essays, reviews and articles have appeared in hundreds of diverse publications and numerous anthologies. She enjoys painting landscapes and singing along to all kinds of music. Her website can be found at: http://jacquelineseewald.blogspot.com.
Find more of her books at: Amazon / Goodreads / Luminosity
November 10, 2020
The Sentry, #MFRWHook
Although my excerpts for the MFRW Book Hooks are usually romance, this week's book hook is a reprise of one taken from Hearth and Sand. Presented for your consideration are selected verses from the poem aptly titled, "The Sentry." Like the other stories in the collection that comprises Heart and Sand, "The Sentry" reflects a continuity of service from the past to the present. Although the poem pertains to a tomb of an unknown soldier, the inspiration for this piece did not come from the laying of a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia or the toss of a wreath into the sea. Instead it was from solemn commemorations held in a small town to mark the one-year anniversary of 9-11-2001. The image of a sentry was a solitary bagpiper atop a hill. The flag was not draping a casket but hoisted from the extended ladder of a firetruck. A line of helmets atop empty boots symbolized the cost of duty.
Excerpt:Eerie notes float across the field
A signal that day is done.
But not for me... not for me
I am the chosen one.
My task is simpleThe command understood.
To stand my post
Here at the edge of the woods.
From each generation one soul is drawn
From among the honored dead.
No name is known, no one can mourn
He is a chosen one, a sentry for the dead.
And now I join themAn American soldier known but to God.
We came from desert, jungle, and field.
I am the latest of the lost.
** END OF EXCERPT ***
For the rest of the poem, I hope you'll consider buying Hearth and Sand. Amazon Walmart More Ebook Sellers The tales in Hearth and Sand cross genre from contemporary to historical, and science fiction to poetry and are a collection of twelve tales of those who served on the front lines and the stories of loved ones left behind who preserved the home front. Set universes apart and separated by decades in time, the stories reflect a continuity of service from the past to the present and into the world of tomorrow. Although the events are fictional, the voices captured within these pages came from historical notes, veterans’ own words, letters left by their ancestors, or contemporary events. Pen was put to paper while watching fighter planes land in the Philippine Islands and in the shaded woods of a stateside farm.
Buy Links: Amazon Walmart More Ebook Sellers
This Veterans Day, thank a vet. For freedom isn't free. Thank you for your service.
November 9, 2020
Tuesday's Title - Mystic UnRealized by S. Peters-Davis
To save humankind from an apocalyptic Troll take-over, an unrealized Mystic and a brand-new Dragon changeling must bond and share their Magick.
Title: Mystic UnRealized
Author: S. Peters-DavisDate of Release: November 1, 2020
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: BWL Publishing, Inc.
Buy Links: Amazon / More buy links
Blurb:
To save humankind from an apocalyptic Troll take-over, Sky, an unrealized Mystic, and Rune, a brand-new Dragon changeling, must bond and share their Magick. An adult fantasy romance of a present-day tale with Mystics, Dragons, Fey, Trolls, and Magick, and the prophecy that draws them all together.
Behind the Scene:
Mystic UnRealized started as a young adult novel back in 2005. I stopped writing at 34,000 words, realizing the “legend,” most important for the “prophecy” and part of the “why” for both main characters, left me high and dry. I’d spent several weeks attempting to sketch it out so it became plausible to me.
Then some family issues arose and took my attention, and I stuck the unfinished novel on the back burner…until I noticed it the end of 2019. I pulled out the notebook, saw the drawing my grandchild had drawn for the dragon, and knew it would be my next New Adult novel.
I held some of the storyline, but all of it required deep revision to become a new adult novel, plus I had to come up with that “legend,” right? I plunged into it, taking days to plot out the solution needed, and then voila, I finally finished the novel. I hope you enjoy the story as much as I enjoyed writing it:)
Author Bio:
S. Peters-Davis writes multi-genre stories but loves penning a good page-turning suspense-thriller, especially when it’s a ghost story and a romance. Paranormal suspense-thriller romances are her favorites. When she’s not writing, editing, or reading, she’s hiking, RV’ing, fishing, playing with grandchildren, or enjoying time with her favorite muse (her husband) in Southwest Michigan.
Find buy links and more on her books including the Kendra Spark Novel Series, Ghost Guardians Series, and Amber Eyes Glow on the web at:
BWL Author Page | Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn
November 5, 2020
Support Your Local Business #mfrwauthor
Welcome to another post in the MFRW 52-week challenge. This week's topic is "Take Out: What do you carry home for dinner."
First off, let me say cooking is not always my favorite activity. After spending the day trying to write in between spurts of caregiving and managing the household, by dinner time I am more than ready for something quick and easy. Special diets make take-out a challenge.
Then there is the diversity of what is available. Since we live in the more populated part of the county, we do have a few of the standard burger places and the southern obligatory pulled pork barbeque stand. However, the majority of restaurants is in the next county over. When diet, salt, price, and availability are counted, pizza and Chinese are two fall-backs for "I'm Not Cooking Tonight."
Image by Rebecca Humann from Pixabay
But my favorite take-out was the local fishery even though it which was strictly take-out. It's menu was always on top in the folder of local restaurants. During our home renovation, fish, scallop or shrimp dinners were our staple. Even now when we visit our old stomping grounds, we try to stop and get a fish and scallop dinner and eat it at the waterfront watching the sunset over the bay and the last rays of sunshine turn the skyscrapers of lower Manhattan gold.
Now I'm hungry. Be sure to follow the links below to see how the other authors answered the question. https://mfrw52week.blogspot.com/
~till next time, Helen
November 3, 2020
Hooked on Golem. Vision in the Bowl, #MFRWhooks
Magic animated the golem. Can someone without powers stop them?
A snippit from Windmaster Golem. To set the stage, the last snippit held part of Kiasel's first hint of her stalker. Now we see who was on the other end of the ethereal cord.
Excerpt
“Tell me your name,” Relliq cooed. “I must know your name.”
In response, a sense of determination, then a clear rejection of the command came through the silver cord connecting him to the woman in the water. The image shifted. Even at the distance, Relliq could feel her gathering magic into a protective cloak.
Despite his demand for her to stay, the water returned to its natural state. Not even a ripple noted the passing of the ethereal connection.
“No,” he yelled. “I will have you.” His mind searched through the spells and incantations he knew. A quick search of the room and he realized he didn’t have the necessary materials for a spell. The image of the place of torment, the healer’s workroom, filled his mind. Containers of herbs lined the shelves and withies hung from pegs. “Ysbail’s shelves are full. She won’t miss a few things.
His feet took control and a heartbeat later he raced through the empty streets to the healer’s office. He barely slowed as he barrelled over the threshold and didn’t slow until he reached the back room. Rummaging through the wooden box in which she kept small items needed for the casting of magic, he palmed a spool of thread. A twist removed the cap from a finger-length wooden tube and he slid a needle out. “I just need one more thing.” A moment to center his thoughts and he cast his senses outward until he slipped into the Cyrcle of One. His hand hovered over the rolls of tubes containing maps of the known world.
“Powers that be, work through my hand, Show me the place so I can command.”
Where before the shaft of light coming through the window lit a small dot on the floor, now the beam slid across the stones and up the bookcase. It lingered at one spot until a tube glowed.~ * ~
Windmaster Golem Available At:
Paperback: Amazon / Barnes&Noble / Amazon UK /
Ebook: Amazon / Kobo / More ebook stores
