Sara C. Snider's Blog, page 24

Book Review: After Life Lessons

After Life Lessons

Laila Blake & L.C. Spoering

Published April 2014 by Lilt Literary

Book source: Received for free through The Masquerade Crew in exchange for an honest review.

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After Life Lessons is an interesting, dysfunctional kind of love story, and with zombies to boot. Sort of. Despite the zombie-apocalypse setting, the zombies themselves don’t play a particularly large roll. So if you’re looking for a book with a lot of zombie action, then this isn’t the book for you.

What I enjoyed...

The Liebster Award

The Liebster Award seems to be a blogging phenomenon that’s been going around since 2010. The “rules” attached to accepting the award seem to have changed over time, as has the picture. But one thing that’s stayed the same is the spirit of appreciating our fellow bloggers, especially the smaller ones, who need all the more love.

So, color me touched and amazed when I received not one, but two nominations. The first was from Michelle Stanely, the second from Lori L. MacLaughlin. I met both of t...

A is for Apocalypse Cover Reveal

I very nearly wasn’t going to post anything this month. After the madness of the A to Z Challenge, I was fully prepared to just post a picture of my cats and call it a month. But, during the very same challenge, I met Rhonda Parrish, and she was looking for folks interested in participating in a cover reveal. I thought the book sounded interesting, so I signed up. And while I am mildly disappointed not to be sharing a picture of my cats, I am very pleased to share the cover of this upcoming s...

Zhulong

I had to Google this one, due to a distinct lack of any Z related people or creatures in my books at home. Plus, my brain feels fried after writing about Yggdrasil. So we’re going to wrap up this challenge with a nice “easy” one.

“Zhulong” literally means “torch dragon” (or Zhuyin—“illuminating darkness”) and is a solar deity in Chinese lore. With the body of a serpent and the face of a human, Zhulong created night and day by opening and closing his eyes, and created the wind with his breath.

W...

Yggdrasil

I find Yggdrasil to be somewhat confounding, but maybe that’s because the Edda isn’t exactly the clearest of texts. But I’m going to try to patch it all together in a way that I understand and, hopefully, you will as well.

Simply put, Yggdrasil is the world tree in Norse mythology. The branches spread out across the sky and heavens. It has three great roots that extend great distances. One of these roots extends over Niflheim—a frozen realm of ice and mist. The dragon Nidhogg gnaws at the bott...

Xbalanque

Xbalanque and his twin brother, Hun-apu, are described as “hero-wizards, warriors and mischief-makers, both the pride and torment of Guatemala.” (Garner p. 16) In one story, Xbalanque and Hun-apu take on Vukub-Cakix—a troublesome creature in the form of a great bird. Vukub-Cakix was one to gobble up harvests, and his sons–Zipacna the Earthmaker, and Cabrakan the Earthshaker–would raise up mountains and then topple them.

One day, Hun-apu climbs into Vukub-Cakik’s nanze-tree and eats all the fru...

Wood Woman

The wood woman, or wood wife, is a fertility spirit that lives within forests. In Sweden, she is the skogsfru (or skogsrå)—a woman with a hollow back who couples with men and will sometimes bless their hunting endeavors. In Greece she is the hamadryad, and all the dryad nymphs for the various trees that follow.

It is said that men who couple with a wood woman will waste away, pining for her touch. Wood women will sometimes marry humans, though this usually ends poorly. They are feral spirits,...

Verdandi

Verdandi is a norn that is said to determine the fates of men. She is one of the three most important norns in Norse mythology: Weird (“happened”), Verdandi (“happening”), and Skuld (“future” or “debt”). What is interesting about norns is that they are said to be women from different origins, i.e. humans as well as elves and dwarves. Good norns of noble parentage will shape prosperous lives for men. Evil norns of lesser birth shape only misfortunate lives.

By Ludwig Burger (1825-1884). [Public...

Uncle Wolf

The story of Uncle Wolf begins with a greedy little girl who was upset when she didn’t get any pancakes at school because she fell asleep in the privy. She goes home to her mother and cries. Her mother, taking pity on her, says she will make her some pancakes. Unfortunately they don’t have a skillet, so the little girl is sent to Uncle Wolf’s house to fetch one.

Despite the rude knocking upon his door, Uncle Wolf gives the skillet to the girl, with the provision that she will return it togethe...

Tereshichka

The story of Tereshichka is a Russian tale of an old man and wife who mourned their childless existence. So they cut a block of wood, bundled it in swaddling clothes, put it in a cradle, and rocked it and sang lullabies to it. (Creepy…) Lucky for them, the little block of wood turned into a little boy, whom they named Tereshichka.

When he was a little older, Tereshichka would go out fishing on a boat his father had built for him. His mother would bring to him milk and cheese, calling him to sh...