Diva Release!

Brought to Life by Dara England

Megan Hurst’s life has taken some unexpected turns: First she loses her heart to the dashing hero of a novel. And then she meets an amnesia victim who seems just like him.

The mysterious stranger needs her help to piece his past together, and the closer the two become, the more questions arise about his resemblance to a “fictional” character.

Megan’s romantic feelings and her bizarre suspicions bring her to an impossible question… Has she dreamed the Duke to life?

Find out more here!
Buy it here!

Thursday Thirteen: 13 things I should be doing…

My net fizzled so because I’m expecting it to be not alive when I get home, I’m at work, writing up a thursday thirteen about things I should be doing without the distractions of the net available at my fingertips. 

(ETA, net came back but I’m still going to use this)

13 things I should/could be doing:

13. Cooking and baking.  I’ve been craving poutines lately and sweet & sour (with a bit of honey garlic) stirfries (not together) so I could be making those for supper instead of KD or perogies.  I’ve also been wanting to make peach/blueberry cobbler or just plain fruit crisp.

12. Painting.  I owe my grandma a painting but I need to buy more acrylic paint and to do so, I must travel.  Excuses, excuses…

11. Clean the apartment.  But who wants to?

10. Go for a walk.  If it wasn’t for the fact that I already walk 15 mins home each day, I probably would.  I haven’t really explored my new neighbourhood yet.  I seem to just want to get home and stay in.

9. Exercise.  For me, this rates up there with cleaning.  It’s one of those ugh things. 

8. Build hedgie a new playpen.  Her cage isn’t all that big but she doesn’t seem bothered.  In fact, everytime she’s out, she heads straight for it again.  Prolly warmer in there with the heating pad.

7.  Do a few critiques/betas.  I’ve been doing this on the bus ride but only the way home it isn’t enough time to get anywhere really.

6. The art of letter writing has become lost through email.  I haven’t written a letter in awhile now.  I really owe some… especially to my grandma.

5. Re-learn french.  I used to be bilingual.  All the way up to University.  But six (seven?) years later and it’s gone now aside from a few sentences/words.  I also wanted to learn latin and be able to read hieroglyphs. 

4. Take pictures.  I used to love taking pics.  Of anything and everything.  I haven’t in awhile.  I could do a hedgie photoshoot… but last time she got grumpy. 

3. Research.  I have books that I need to go through.  Books that will make my brain happy.  I just haven’t gotten around to seriously cracking them open.  The geek in me is crying that this is the truth.

2.  Read.   

1. Write because I’m so behind.  I completely procrastinated on wed and wrote 0.  Someone, kick me.  I need to write.  I do.

Diva Release!

“The Scroll Thief” by R. F. Long

Genre: Fantasy-SciFi

ISBN: 978-1-60504-395-1

Length: Plus Novel

Price: 6.50

Publication Date: February 24, 2009

Cover art by Anne Cain

Love is the wiliest thief of all.

A Tale of Ithian

Malachy and his sister rely on his talents as a thief to survive the dangerous streets of Klathport, former capital of the once-great kingdom of Ithian. Stealing a few papers should have been a simple job. Instead, it nearly costs their lives and throws them into an improbable alliance with a shape-shifting official, a desert tribeswoman, and a healer of enchanting beauty.

Cerys is far more than a simple healer—and the roots of her mission go deeper into the past than anyone can know. She needs Malachy’s skills to recover a stolen scroll, one that can be used to rewrite history and, in the wrong hands, release the dark powers of the Demon Realm.

Her mission was supposed to atone for a dreadful, long-ago act. Instead, it unleashes a chain of events which sees them pursued through city and desert by the fearsome Dune Witch and a killer known only as His Lordship. Romance, tragedy, and adventure blend in a tale of a magical land on the brink of war, and five unlikely allies who, by putting their lives—and their hearts—on the line, have the opportunity to finally set things right.

But at a terrible cost.

Warning: Contains scenes of graphic violence and torture, captivating magic and beauty, two dashing heroes, three gutsy heroines, several love stories and a heartbreaking sacrifice.

Read An Excerpt Online

Buy from MBaM!

Diva Release!

Caught in the Act

by Kendal Corbitt

Genre: Contemporary
Rating: Sizzling
Book Length: Micro
Price: $1.49

It’s Lily Campbell’s five-year anniversary, and this year, she’s not getting her husband socks again. When her friend suggests Lily heat things up with role-playing, she’s not convinced. But the thought of being a naughty criminal to his sexy cop sends a jolt of heat through her. So, Lily goes to the department store where her husband manages security and attempts to get caught shoplifting.

Adam Campbell questions the sultry shoplifter, but is shocked when the criminal turns out to be his own wife dressed in disguise. When “Mrs. Smith” offers to strike a sexy deal to avoid pressing charges, Adam becomes lost in the role-playing fantasy of two strangers steaming up the interrogation room. He’s in for the hottest anniversary present ever…

Buy the book here.  You can also find an exciting interview with hero Adam Campbell here, so what are you waiting for?  Go buy the book!

Procrastination…

Don’t you love it when you find yourself struggling with words one moment, maybe all day, and then all of a sudden WHAM, it’s like you’re hit by the word fairy and all of a sudden you’re zipping through pages?  It’s been that kind of a day for me.  All day I struggled with a scene and whose POV it should be in and what should be happening.  If you know me, you know that I can’t plot.  I don’t plot things out before I write, that is.  I write as I go which can be difficult at times.  Today was one of those times.  So as I grew more and more frustrated, I procrastinated. I couldn’t say what finally clicked.  All I know is that I forced myself to write, to get those words down on paper because you can’t edit nothing and with the help of the word challenges in the RD chatroom, I managed to get over 1.5k words written within a couple of hours.  It’s a great feeling, to break that barrier, because doubts are a sticky tangled web.

Below is a little vid I found that I thought was amusing about procrastination because it rings a little too true for me.

Thursday Thirteen: 13 Beautiful Libraries

I used to love the atmosphere of a library- the silence, the being surrounded by so many books… it can be a writer’s/reader’s haven.  My thursday 13 is on some of the most beautiful libraries around the globe.

1. Abbey Library St. Gallen, Switzerland

2. Trinity College LIbrary, AKA, The Long Room, Dublin, Ireland

3. Melk Monastery Library, Melk, Austria

4. Jay Walker’s Private Library

5. Library of Parliament, Ottawa, Canada

6. Strahov Monastery – Theological Library, Prague, Czech Republic

7. Herzog August Library, Wolfenbüttel, Germany

8. Wiblingen Monastary Library, Ulm, Germany

9. Library of the Benedictine Monastery of Admont, Austria

10. George Peabody Library, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

11. National Library, Belarus

12. Sansovino Library, Rome, Italy

13. Old British Reading Room, British Museum, London, England

For more interesting libraries, these and others can be found here.

Happy Valentine’s Day

Love notes, cards, chocolates and flowers have been exchanged on February 14th for hundreds of years and the tradition is still celebrated around the world in honour of Saint Valentine.

 There are varying opinions as to the origin of Valentine’s Day. Some experts believe that it originated from St. Valentine, a Roman who was martyred for refusing to give up Christianity. He died on February 14, 269 A.D., the same day that had been devoted to love lotteries. Legend also says that St. Valentine left a farewell note for the jailer’s daughter, who had become his friend, and signed it “From Your Valentine”.

The story goes that eight hundred years, prior to the establishment of Valentine’s Day, the Romans held a celebration in mid-February commemorating a rite of passage to the god Lupercus which featured a lottery in which the young men would draw names of teenage girls from a box.  The girl assigned to each young man would be their sexual companion for the year.

This is the most romantic picture I've ever seen. The two skeletons were found recently within the last few years, bodies entwined, even in death.

Pope Gelasius wanted to take this away so instead, he ordered a change to the lottery and instead of the names of young women, the box containd the names of saints they had to emulate.  When this didn’t work, the church turned to Valentine, who in AD 269 had been beheaded by Emperor Claudius.

What is told, is that Claudius thought that married men made poor soldiers and because of it, he banned marriage.  In secret, Valentine would marry those who came to him.  When the truth came out, Claudius first tried to convert Valentine to paganism and hwen that failed, he was imprisoned.  While in jail, however, it is said that Valentine fell in love with the jailer’s daughter.  Some say that his love for her healed her from her blindness.  Before his death, he signed a farewell message: “From your Valentine”.  This phrase stuck.

And although the lottery for women was still banned by the church, mid-February was used to celebrate St.Valentine for Roman men to seek the affection of other women. In 1415, the first Valentine card was sent by Charles, duke of Orleans to his wife.  Later on, Cupid became associated with St. Valentine’s Day because of his parentage- son of Venus, the Roman god of love and beauty.

Thursday Thirteen: 13 Facts about Friday 13

1.  The fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskavedekatriaphobia. The fear of the number 13 is called triskaidekaphobia.

2. Every year has at least one and at most three Friday the13ths. The longest period that can occur without a Friday the 13th is fourteen months. This year, friday 13 falls in February, March and November.

3. The day Friday and the number 13 have been associated with bad luck for thousands of years, but it is only in recent history that the two have been put together.

4. The reason why this myth developed is because it is generally associated with the fate of Jesus as the 13th guest among his 12 apostles in the Biblical account of the Last Supper. The Bible tells us that one of the dinner guests – apostles – went on to betray Jesus Christ, setting the stage for the crucifixion of Jesus on the next day-a Friday! It was, for many years, designated the day for capital punishment and informally referred to as “hangman’s day.”

5. Friday is also believed to be the day that Adam and Eve is thought to have eaten the forbidden fruit, the same day of the week that the Noah’s Ark Great Flood started, Solomon’s temple fell, and Abel was murdered by his brother Cain

6.  The number 13 has also had negative connotations throughout the ages. According to Norse legend, 12 gods were invited to a banquet at Valhalla, the mythical hall of the glorious dead who were slain in battle. Loki, the evil god of mischief, crashed the party, bringing the total attendees to 13. He incited Hod, the blind god of winter to attack his brother Balder the Good, the favourite of the gods, with a spear of mistletoe, killing Balder instantly. And the Ancient Romans regarded the number 13 as a symbol of death, destruction and misfortune.

7. A baker’s dozen consists of 13 for a reason! So the story goes a witch near Albany, NY demanded 13 items every time she came in to a particular bakery, and one day the old baker could not afford her extra biscuit. She sneered some strange words at the man, and he suffered terrible luck from then on, until he brought her another 13 rolls.

8. The Turks so disliked the number 13 that it was practically expunged from their vocabulary (Brewer, 1894).

9. According to the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute, an estimated 17 to 21 million people in the US are affected by a fear of Friday the 13th. 10.

10. LEGEND HAS IT: Never change your bed on Friday; it will bring bad dreams. Don’t start a trip on Friday or you will have misfortune. If you cut your nails on Friday, you cut them for sorrow.

11. Black cats are often associated with Friday the 13th.  In French Lick Springs, Indiana, a law was once passed requiring all black cats to wear bells.

12. It is not that 13 is considered unlucky everywhere. In the Indian pantheon there are 13 Buddhas, 13 mystical discs surrounding the Indian and Chinese pagodas, 13 snake Gods of the Mexicans.

13. For those born on Friday 13, it is their lucky day according to myth. Some people win large amounts of money through the lottery or buy lucky lottery tickets on Friday 13. According to CNN.com, one British couple bought their winning ticket on Friday 13 shortly after a mirror at their home fell off the living room wall and smashed. The lucky couple won $17 million.

 

We’re all going to die

A little chuckle and thought for the day.  Posted on the Divas, I just had to pass it on.  It does make one think… We’re all going to die.

Diva Release!

Blurb:

Paige Jacobs lives the perfect life with her fiancé, Ryan, but the memory—or fantasy—of a gorgeous boy with silver eyes consumes her. Her sister Aimee, the only one who knows the dangerous secrets of her past, refuses to talk about them.

Feeling very much alone and obsessing over haunting memories, Paige decides to write a book in hope of finally dispelling the ghosts of her past so she can move on. Every chapter she writes brings her closer to the boy she’d loved so much in her youth. Then one morning in a coffee shop, she encounters a man with silver eyes.

Has she crossed the line between fantasy and reality?

Available Now from Freya’s Bower