The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group discussion
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Amy Shojai
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Hello:Welcome to the group and...Have a Great Day!!!
The "Creature"
Thanks so much "Creature." Looking forward to sniffing out some great book recommendations.
Welcome to the group. Will look forward to seeing your book. I'm an animal person myself and one of my 'pet peeves' are authors who include animals as a part of the storyline but get it wrong.I'm not generally a fan of 'talking animals' ... Rita Mae Brown's "Hunt Club" series is the only one that I really do enjoy ... but animals as part of the story are a definite hook for me.
Thanks for the lovely welcome, Sharon and Hayes. Sharon, I'm not a fan of talking animals, either--they don't "think" the same as we do, or see/smell/behave the same. My thriller includes a viewpoint dog (service dog in training) partnered with an autistic child. The dog doesn't "talk" (except as any dog would communicate with body language, calming signals and the like). And as dogs do, he understands only a handful of people words. He's not the main character but is a major supporting character--and my editor did say the dog "stole every scene he's in." So that made me wag my virtual tail! *s*
BTW Sharon, your horse avatar is lovely. What breed? I'm in Texas, paint horse country--glorious creatures!
(edited) Just saw you're in KY! We used to live in Lexington and then Louisville, delivered papers out to all the horse farms.
Amy wrote: "I'm not a fan of talking animals, either--they don't "think" the same as we do, or see/smell/behave the same. "Definitely. Many of my favorite books that I keep to re-read have animals as major characters ... I re-read "The Blue Sword" by Robin McKinley often and still covet her warhorse!
The avatar photo is of my Connemara stallion. I love the breed, always wanted a pony as a child and had to ride 'horses' but finally bought my ponies when I retired! I'm actually a MT native but moved to KY 12 years ago ... and my favorite place to visit in KY is, naturally, the Kentucky Horse Park.
Hi Amy! Welcome to the group. Congrats on the book :)
Ooooooh, the horse park. *sigh....*Hi Deb, greetings and salutations! *s*
Amy wrote: "Ooooooh, the horse park. *sigh....*I always wanted to event, from the time I read National Velvet as a child (didn't really know the difference between steeplechase and cross country at the time". When I actually stood next to some of those cross country jumps, looking up at them ... waaaay up ... when I was 60 ... I decided maybe it was a good thing I had not had the opportunity when I was still young enough to believe I was 10 feet tall and bulletproof instead of knowing I was 5 feet tall and would break!
However ... I have bred several horses and ponies that have gone on to compete in eventing ... which will have to be my claim to fame in that sport, I'm afraid.
I always wanted to event, from the time I read National Velvet as a child (didn't really know the difference between steeplechase and cross country ..."Me, too. That and Black Beauty, and Smokey-the Cow Poney, and and and...
I went through my library and read every horse, dog, cat, animal book I could find. Good for you re: the competition ponies! It takes a lot of effort and know-how to breed well and wisely, with success. We have 13 acres and always intended to get horses--but we're getting a bit too (ahem) mature at this late date so I just drool from afar.
I actually have a copy of the first book I can remember getting as a gift as a child ... "Crazy Quilt the Circus Pony" written and illustrated by Paul Brown. If I wasn't reading this, I was learning to draw horses using it as an instruction book.I'm still riding (occasionally, though definitely not over fences) at 70 ... and have a photo of my grandfather on one of the ranch horses when he was 80, so guess it runs in the family.
My husband and I took some riding lessons about 10 years ago. I rode bunches when I was a kid but he'd never done this--and I lucked into an Arabian mount that had dressage background. Sweet! Yep, I truly believe the "pet gene" runs in families. It helps to socialize kids early to pets, just like you would socialize the pups and kittens et al. *s*
I've been a member of GoodReads for a while but haven't taken the time to figure out how to navigate/find folks/etc so please forgive any missed paw-steps. I don't want to hiss anyone off. *s*