The Fantasy Hive - A U.K. Wonderland
A hub for all things fantasy (plus some SF). Book reviews, games, author interviews, features, serial fiction- you name it. The Fantasy Hive is a collaborative site formed of unique personalities who just want to celebrate fantasy. Btw, the SFF novel to the left by one of our members, Warwick Gleeson, was a "Top 150 Best Books" Kirkus pick in 2019.
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Happy Monday to everyone! I’m D.P. Woolliscroft (or just Dave to most folks) and I’m really excited to be here today to reveal the cover for Volume 3 of the Wildfire Cycle, Ajiwiak, and to share some other goodies from inside the book. The Wildfire Cycle For those of you who aren’t familiar with The Wildfire Cycle, it begins with Kingshold (a SPFBO semi-finalist) and is the focused story of a realm transitioning from a monarchy to a proto-democracy via a magically enabled election. A down on his luck bard, the daughter of the ancient wizard who founded the country, a high-end thief and a palace servant girl eventually come together to try to sway the election to an outco…
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Content warnings: ableism (including internalised); human trafficking including of children; discussions of abusive family relationships. I did not choose this fate. But I will not walk away from it. Children have been disappearing from across Menaiya for longer than Amraeya ni Ansarim can remember. When her friend’s sister is snatched, Rae knows she can’t look away any longer—even if that means seeking answers from the royal court, where her country upbringing and clubfoot will only invite ridicule. Yet the court holds its share of surprises. There she discovers an ally in the foreign princess, who recruits her as an attendant. Armed with the princess’s support, R…
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Today we have a special guest post from Alex Thomson author of Spidertouch which is out 14th December from Angry Robot. We’re also bringing you a special discount on this title which can be used on Angry Robot’s brand new website, where you can now purchase physical copies as well as ebooks and audiobooks. Just use code ”fantasyhive” for 25% off until 4th Dec. Below is a glimpse into how Alex created his language within the book: Speaking with your fingers: How I constructed a fictional touch language There are three basic techniques for creating languages in fiction. The first is what you might call the kitchen-sink approach, favoured by Tolkien, which sees an …
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Please note this review may contain spoilers for the first two books and mild spoilers for The Hod King. “The Tower did not care if a man was righteous or vile. The Tower ruined the just and the unjust with equal appetite.” The Hod King by Josiah Bancroft is the third instalment in the Books of Babel quartet and once again I was transported to the surreal, bizarre, whimsical and cruel world within the Tower of Babel. With the looming threat of a Hod uprising Senlin and his friends are all sent on separate assignments at the bidding of the Sphinx, this time the crew find themselves travelling to the lavish ringdom of Pelphia. Under the disguise of Cyril Pinfield, Se…
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Hail to you peasants and pedants, tis I, Ulesorin, returned to you once more in all of my glory. Take a look at the verdant forest green of my accoutrements. Marvel at their richness. Neither the blandness of blue nor the putridity of yellow, but a far finer vestment than either, now that my rightful colours have been returned to me following the ultimate gruesome end of the dread dragon divorce dealings. They are the only thing that I still have from my old home in the free kingdoms. Them and the kobold lawyers on retainer, constantly chittering and whining at me that answering letters from pathetic reprobates on other planes of existence is a term of my public service f…
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“Hron’s a country, I guess,” Sorros said, “in that we’re a collection of people with a somewhat-shared culture who commonly defend certain rough borders and principles. But we’re not a country like Vorronia or Borolia or even the Floating Isles. We don’t have a king of a parliament or a council or a royal priesthood or trade barons or capitalists or really any of the vestiges of power at all. We’re a country, but we’re an anarchist country.” “What does that mean?” I asked. “It means that everyone in Hron is the master of their own destiny,” Sorros said. “It means that there are no laws here, no prisons.” Dory chimed in. “The free Confederation of Hron is a voluntary as…
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Content warnings: Death of parents and children, and grief; spousal abuse in all forms; drug use; pregnancy complications and intense postpartum depression. Welcome to the Winter Garden. Open only at 13 o’clock. You are invited to enter an unusual competition. I am looking for the most magical, spectacular, remarkable pleasure garden this world has to offer. On the night her mother dies, 8-year-old Beatrice receives an invitation to the mysterious Winter Garden. A place of wonder and magic, filled with all manner of strange and spectacular flora and fauna, the garden is her solace every night for seven days. But when the garden disappears, and no one believes h…
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Nils and I received copies of Once upon a Winter from MacFarlane Lantern Publishing, a collection of folk and fairy tales with a winter theme. Fellow reviewer Asha, writing as Adie Hart, has a story in the anthology that we couldn’t wait to read – A Pea Ever After. I do intend to read the rest of the anthology and review it as a whole, but this is just a mini review of A Pea Ever After, as Nils and I read it together. Well ish. Nils read it in one sitting! Nils: I did, didn’t I?! Sorry about that, Once I started though it was pretty hard to put down. Like you, I intend to read the other stories too but having never read any of Hart’s stories before I was eager to begin…
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S.K. Marlay is an Irish fantasy author. She’s been a fruit picker, a maths teacher, a factory worker, a touring singer and a boat hand, not to mention a bunch of other jobs not worth mentioning. Before writing her first novel she was a songwriter. She thinks the discipline of having to distil a song’s story down to sixty words or less really stands to you when writing a book, though she does miss being able to just repeat the chorus when stuck. She still doesn’t quite believe writers are real people; this is likely to trigger something of an existential crisis when her own first book is published. Welcome to the Hive, Stella. Let’s start with the basics: dazzle us wit…
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Musicians, Vampires, & More
Love at First Love at First by Kate Clayborn is $2.99! Clayborn is an autobuy author for some of the Bitchery. Catherine gave this one a B: Love at First is a beautiful book and worth the painful beginnings – but if you’re feeling fragile, too, maybe proceed with caution. A sparkling and tender novel from the acclaimed author of Love Lettering, full of bickering neighbors, surprise reunions, and the mysterious power of love that fans of Christina Lauren, Sarah Hogle, and Emily Henry will adore. Sixteen years ago, a teenaged Will Sterling saw—or rather, heard—the girl of his dreams. Standing beneath an apartment building balcony, he shared a perfect moment with a lovely, warm-voiced stranger. It’s a memory that’s never faded, though he’s put so much of his past behind him. Now an unexpected inheritance has brought Will back to that same address, where he plans to offload his new property and get back to his regular life as an overworked doctor. Instead, he encounters a woman, two balconies above, who’s uncannily familiar . . . No matter how surprised Nora Clarke is by her reaction to handsome, curious Will, or the whispered pre-dawn conversations they share, she won’t let his plans ruin her quirky, close-knit building. Bound by her loyalty to her adored grandmother, she sets out to foil his efforts with a little light sabotage. But beneath the surface of their feud is an undeniable connection. A balcony, a star-crossed couple, a fateful meeting—maybe it’s the kind of story that can’t work out in the end. Or maybe, it’s the perfect second chance . . . Add to Goodreads To-Read List → You can find ordering info for this book here. Loud is How I Love You Loud is How I Love You by Mercy Brown is $2.99! This is a musician romance set in the 90s and I feel like a lot of authors I follow loved this one. Christina Lauren immediately comes to mind. However, I’m not big on romances featuring musicians. Have you read this one? One girl’s heart gets rocked to the core in the first novel in this sexy New Adult series. Twenty-one-year-old front girl Emmylou knows that getting her band noticed in the ‘90s indie rock scene will be no easy task. She definitely knows better than to break the number one rule of the band: Don’t sleep with your bandmates! But after she ends up having the best sex of her life with her guitarist, Travis, she finds following that rule is a lot harder than it sounds. When the band gets the gig of their dreams, making it big seems just within reach. But Emmy’s inability to keep her hands off Travis threatens everything they’ve worked for. Can Emmy find a way to break the rules and not blow the chance of a lifetime? Add to Goodreads To-Read List → You can find ordering info for this book here. Good Guy Good Guy by Kate Meader is FREE! This is book one in her Rookie Rebels hockey series and a few are on sale at $3 or less. The hero is a veteran and hockey player (I’m getting Sandra Hill Viking vampire angel vibes). The heroine is the widow of his best friend. LOTS OF PINING! He’s a Special Forces veteran making his pro hockey debut. She’s a dogged sports reporter determined to get a scoop. She’s also his best friend’s widow… Fans can’t get enough of Levi Hunt, the Special Forces veteran who put his NHL career on hold to serve his country and fight the bad guys. So when his new Chicago Rebels bosses tell him to cooperate with the press on a profile, he’s ready to do his duty. Until he finds out who he has to work with: flame-haired, freckle-splashed, impossibly perky Jordan Cooke. The woman he should not have kissed the night she buried her husband, Levi’s best friend in the service. Hockey-stick-up-his-butt-serious Levi Hunt might despise Jordan for reasons she can’t fathom—okay, it’s to do with kissing—but her future in the cutthroat world of sports reporting hangs on delivering the goods on the league’s hottest, grumpiest rookie. So what if he’s not interested in having his life plated up for public consumption. Too bad. Jordan will have to play dirty to get her scoop and even dirtier to get her man. Only in winning the story, she might just lose her heart… Add to Goodreads To-Read List → You can find ordering info for this book here. The Dark Protectors Boxed Set The Dark Protectors Boxed Set by Rebecca Zanetti is $2.99! If you’ve ever been tempted to try this series, this is a pretty good deal that includes three full-length books and a novella. Are there any fans of the series in the Bitchery? Every time we feature one of the books on sale, I’m always really curious about them. Don’t miss the first four volumes of the unforgettable Dark Protectors series: Fated, Claimed, Tempted, Hunted Driven by prophecy, the Dark Protectors are male vampires, fearless and born to mate with human females—for eternity. Talen Kayrs is on a mission, and once Cara Paulsen takes him as her mate, nothing can stop the force of his desire… Vampire king Dage Kayrs knows that when he encounters the brilliant geneticist Emma Paulsen, the power of their coming together will never be decoded… When bodyguard Max Petrovsky is sent to rescue Sarah Pringle from the evil Kurjans chasing her, he’s willing to go far beyond the call of duty… It’s taken over a century for ultimate soldier Connor Kayrs to consummate his union with the powerful witch Moira Dunne, but the time has come… Add to Goodreads To-Read List → You can find ordering info for this book here. View the full article -
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Normal People: Deconstructing a Phenomenon
Any book with this much buzz deserves your attention! Love her or hate her, Sally Rooney is one of the most famous authors of our time. Hailing from Ireland, she came out of nowhere in 2017 with her surprise hit, Conversations With Friends. Blending elements of literary and women's fiction, the book was well-received and widely read, leading a splashy deal for her next book. Which was Normal People. You'd have to be living under a boulder in Croatia to have missed the massive media storm that was Normal People. It spawned a BBC adaptation, sold literally millions of copies, won tons of awards, and probably showed up in your mom's book group. Everyone was reading it. Everyone was talking about it. Which is exactly why we should here. On its surface, Normal People is a pretty straightforward story. It's the painful and frustrating tale of two people who seem well-suited for each other but, for a variety of reasons, keep crossing signals romantically. Marianne and Connell are from different economic strata, which creates tension in their ongoing relationship/friendship. But really, they're both flawed and selfish and tragically bad at communication. But also deeply, deeply compelling. When I first started Normal People I didn't think I was going to finish. The writing was simple to the point of boring, the formatting odd, and the dialogue cringe-worthy (I still go back and forth on whether or not Rooney intended it that way). However, the more I read the more I realized that these two fully-realized characters were getting under my skin. I found myself caring about the self-hating Marianne and the socially awkward Connell. They were almost too real, devoid of the shiny polish that most modern entertainment gives its characters. They were people you might meet at parties, friends you might complain about because they were so stupid. But that was what made them addictive. It was the romance trope of miscommunication done in a hyper-realist way that slipped under my skin and stayed with me, even a year after reading it. I'm not sure I'll read Rooney's next book, but I think the appeal of her writing is the raw humanity that she never shies away from, no matter how uncomfortable. She's unflinching in her portrayal of people as disastrous messes, ever wounding each other because of the issues they can't escape. It might not exactly be pleasant to read about, but it's real and believable and you find yourself praying the whole time that these two unlikable, compelling people can find happiness that, in the real world, they likely wouldn't. So think about your story. How can you bring more authentic honesty into your characters? How can you make them feel so real that the reader can't look away? It doesn't matter what genre you're writing in; every story must have a person at its heart, and the more real you can make them, the more real their story (and the drama by extension) will feel. If you can make them as evocative as the main duo of Normal People, then even the most mundane story can become a page-turner. -
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AJIWIAK by D. P. Woolliscroft (COVER REVEAL)
Happy Monday to everyone! I’m D.P. Woolliscroft (or just Dave to most folks) and I’m really excited to be here today to reveal the cover for Volume 3 of the Wildfire Cycle, Ajiwiak, and to share some other goodies from inside the book. The Wildfire Cycle For those of you who aren’t familiar with The Wildfire Cycle, it begins with Kingshold (a SPFBO semi-finalist) and is the focused story of a realm transitioning from a monarchy to a proto-democracy via a magically enabled election. A down on his luck bard, the daughter of the ancient wizard who founded the country, a high-end thief and a palace servant girl eventually come together to try to sway the election to an outcome that would be good for the common people. But of course, there are assassins, pirates, immense magical creatures and their own naivety as obstacles along the way. What starts out as a small contained story based in one city, expands in Book 2, Ioth, of which I will say little for fear of spoiling it if you haven’t read it (though if you have, then you probably have some scars). There is a book of short stories, or Tales, that follows each of my novels, now lovingly combined with the novels into individual, gorgeous volumes (which were revealed at Fantasy Book Critic last week) Ajiwiak Now we’re onto book 3, and before I reveal the cover, how about I show you the blurb, though I have redacted one sentence for spoilers. ALL IT TAKES, IS A SINGLE SPARK Llewdon, ageless elf and Emperor of Pyrfew, has his sights set on becoming a god, and only the collective sacrifice of thousands of Alfjarun from Alfaria, the Wild Continent, can carry him there. Kingshold is —– and Ioth —–; his plans are proceeding exactly as intended. But Neenahwi and Motega of the decimated Wolfclaw clan have returned to Alfaria with the heroes of Kingshold as their companions. Can they navigate a homeland that has changed much since they were children to bring the clans together to resist Pyrfew? And what role will the fabled city of Ajiwiak, home of the first of their people have to play in their liberation? Continuing the acclaimed Wildfire Cycle, this third volume includes Ajiwiak, The Mother Tree (Book 3) and Tales of Ajiwiak (Book 3.5). And now here is the cover… I’m super happy with how Jeff Brown has captured my vision for Ajiwiak, and it may be my favorite cover so far. By the way, Ajiwiak is the name to both the city built in the mountain and the name of the Mother Tree that perches atop it. Brag Bergman has done the design for the cover and I love how the detail around the title of Ajiwiak captures the feel of the people of the city. As usual for the the Wildfire Cycle, the cover image is but one part of a greater landscape image that was done by Jeff. Two of my favorite things from this image; the landship sailing through the farmland in the valley at the foot of the mountain range and a little surprise peaking out from the branches of the Tree. I hope you love the covers as much as I do. Ajiwiak is released on December 17th and pre-orders are live HERE. Bonus Content! Ajiwiak is set in a place referred to as the Wild Continent and there is an in-story reference to a book called “Flora and Fauna of the Wild Continent”, written by an explorer. I have included some excerpts from that fictional book in the Tales of Ajiwiak portion of Ajiwiak which I would like to give you a little sneak peek. But first, a little context as to what was the inspiration. At the Morgan Library in New York, there are a series of painting and descriptions of the plant, animal and human life of the Caribbean late in the sixteenth century collectively known as Histoire Naturelle des Indes or the Drake Manuscripts (as they were created during Sir Francis Drake’s expeditions to the region). They are definitely somewhat of a colonialist relic, but if you would like to check them out then you can see them here. It was really fun for me to draw pictures of a similar style for the wildlife of the Wild Continent, or Alfaria as it should actually be known. Here are a few of my favorites. Thanks again to the Fantasy Hive for having me here today. If you’d like to catch up on the Wildfire Cycle then the boxset of the first half of the series is available HERE. Born in Derby in England, on the day before mid-summers day, David Peter Woolliscroft was very nearly magical. If only his dear old mum could have held on for another day. But magic called out to him over the years, with a many a book being devoured for its arcane properties. David studied Accounting at Cardiff University where numbers weaved their own kind of magic and he has since been a successful business leader in the intervening twenty years. Adventures have been had. More books devoured and then one day, David had read enough where the ideas he had kept bottled up needed a release valve. And thus, rising out of the self doubt like a phoenix at a clicky keyboard, a writer was born. Kingshold is David’s debut novel and Tales of Kingshold, companion short stories to the novel, are flooding onto the page as fast as David can write them. He is married to his wife Haneen and has a daughter Liberty, who all live with their mini golden doodle Rosie in Princeton NJ. David is one of the few crabs to escape the crab pot. The post AJIWIAK by D. P. Woolliscroft (COVER REVEAL) appeared first on The Fantasy Hive. View the full article -
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A Gift Guide For the Writer in Your Life
image by Anders Ljungberg ‘Tis the time of year when gift guides abound. And while the writer in your life might well be jonesing for a Moleskine notebook or a fancy pen, there are lots of other gifts that are both harder and easier to come by. The gifts on the list below are mostly light on the wallet, but at the same time, they’re priceless. Without further ado: Give your writer the gift of time. If you’re co-parenting with a writer, for example, this one’s a biggie. And it may or may not have financial value assigned. But one of the things writers struggle with, especially if we have full-time jobs or parenting responsibilities or both, is setting aside time to dedicate to our writing. Some writers can function well grabbing 10 or 20 minutes at a time, but most of us prefer chunks of time upwards of an hour — which, again, are harder to find the more other responsibilities we have piled on our plates. So help your writer set aside times, either on a recurring or one-off basis, where everything else is swept off their plates and they can focus 100% on the writing they want to do. Give your writer the gift of support. Again, this could be financial, but it doesn’t have to be. Whether the writer in question is your romantic partner, best friend, co-worker, or just an acquaintance, we could all use more support in our writing careers. People who aren’t writers themselves often have very little knowledge about writing and publishing, and that leads to questions that writers might struggle with answering or don’t want to answer, like “How many books have you sold?” or “Didn’t you sell that book months ago, why isn’t it published yet?” Whether or not their personal level of achievement squares with what you think the best yardsticks are for commercial success, the writer in your life probably wants and needs your emotional support. If they tell you things aren’t going well, you can sympathize; if they have a great achievement they want to share with you, you can help them celebrate. Which leads to… Give your writer the gift of listening. By “listening,” I don’t mean that you should give your writer free rein to talk your ear off for hours about every single detail of their work. You can do that if you want to, of course, but it’s not the only form of listening that writers find helpful. I mean that in conversations with your writer about their writing, meet them where they are. Don’t tell a writer who has decided to self-publish all the reasons that traditional publishing is a better choice; don’t tell a writer of Westerns all the reasons you think Westerns as a genre are trash. Get to know what your writer’s goals are for their writing. The more you know, the more helpful you can be as a source of emotional support, and the closer you’ll get to a true understanding of your writer’s writing life. I promise you, that’s a gift. Q: As writers, what other gifts would you enjoy getting from friends and family, this holiday season and beyond? About Greer MacallisterRaised in the Midwest, Greer Macallister earned her MFA in creative writing from American University. Her historical novels have been named Book of the Month, Indie Next, LibraryReads, Target Book Club, and Amazon Best Book of the Month picks and optioned for film and television. Her upcoming book, SCORPICA (as G.R. Macallister), is the first in the Five Queendoms series and her epic fantasy debut. A regular contributor to Writer Unboxed and the Chicago Review of Books, she lives with her family in Washington, DC. www.greermacallister.com Web | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | More Posts http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/WriterUnboxed?d=yIl2AUoC8zA http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/WriterUnboxed?d=qj6IDK7rITs http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/WriterUnboxed?i=1YOn-2Hl3zI:TQ_IpxDt43o:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/WriterUnboxed?i=1YOn-2Hl3zI:TQ_IpxDt43o:D7DqB2pKExk [url={url}]View the full article[/url] -
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Cover Awe: Patterns, Cutouts, & More
Let’s look at covers that have caught our eye! http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/WP/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/image-86.png Cover design by James T. Egan & Bookfly Design From Pam: Do y’all accept suggestions for Cover Awe? Because the following cover just grabbed my eyeballs and won’t let them go. Elyse: Oh that is lovely Sarah: This use of cutouts and shadow is a brilliant design. http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/WP/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Image-from-iOS-47-672x1024.jpg Cover art and design by Will Staehle Elyse: These are all of my favorite colors Sneezy: Ooooh that PATTERN! And I love how it’s woven through the words and interacting with the silhouettes! Catherine: That top one is like a William Morris design. Amanda: It reminds me of those fancy wallpapers – I want to say Victorian but I have no knowledge of history and design. http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/WP/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Image-from-iOS-48-663x1024.jpg Cover design by Kerri Resnick Elyse: I used to work in a bookstore and I hated it when customers came in and were like “I’m looking for the book with the blue cover I saw last week” but if someone said “I’m looking for the book with the woman whose dress formed a human heart” I would definitely remember. Amanda: I love this one so much! Lots of Gothic vibes. http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/WP/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/FireBecomesHer_FINAL1-683x1024.jpeg Cover design by Jacey Digital Sarah: Holy crapping hot damn Carrie: Stunning in the true sense of the word. So creative, so different, and what a powerful visual and emotional impact. Tara: Right? That was a “whoaaa” from me. Sneezy: WOW!!!!! (Also, I would love if a Eurovision contestant wore this dress) View the full article -
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Can You or Can't You?
Hello December! As a musician, farmer, and mother of six, the month of December is filled with concerts, appointments, schedule changes, and lots of busy-ness. It is also a time of great reflection and anticipation of the new year. This month in particular seems to fly by (which reminds me, I need to order a planner for 2022 for my desk at work). Today I'm reflecting on the challenges 2021 brought for our children. One child in particular comes to mind as she started her freshman year of highschool in September. During a recent parent teacher conference, her teacher mentioned "she needs to be kinder and gentler to herself and stop saying she is stupid". I of course agreed, yet how often in my own life have I spoken negatively to myself? I think we all have a tendency to use negative self talk and be incredibly hard on ourselves. I mentioned to my daughter that her swimming coach had mentioned something similar in context of her swimming mentality. She would say: "today probably isn't going to be my best day for breast stroke" instead of cheering herself on with positive affirmations and thoughts of setting a new personal record. I've requested my daughter pick up a copy of the audible book I'm currently enjoying titled: The High Five Habit . We had a great conversation about being our own cheerleaders but how we are blessed with a large family and the opportunity to not only cheer ourselves on, but to cheer on our siblings as well! Connecting with a teenage daughter (at least in my experience) is somewhat hit or miss. We ended the conversation on a high note and went on with our days. This morning on my way between jobs our youngest was watching the movie Boss Baby in the vehicle while I was driving (and before you gasp ... I had once thought 'I'll never be the mom who lets kids watch a movie in the car - I want to talk to the little angels and not have them engrossed in television'... 6 children later and my parenting approach is much different...gasp and judge away). If you aren't familiar with the movie, it's fine because I haven't actually seen it, but I can hear the audio while driving and something caught my ear as I heard an old Henry Ford quote: Once I got the youngest dropped off by my mom and settled in at the office, I sent my freshman daughter a text: This begs the question - and yes, now I'm talking to you dear reader: As we approach the new year, where is your thinking going to be? Can you finish that novel? Can you get a publishing deal? Can you make time for self care? Can you commit to being your biggest cheerleader? Can you commit to writing in your journal 5 out of 7 days a week? Make a list of goals you want to accomplish for 2022 and make sure there are items on there about positive thinking! I'm going to go order that planner before I forget, and your job is to leave a comment with one of the following: - share your favorite quote that you refer to often in your day to day - share a book that you think others will benefit from reading in the new year - share how positive thinking has influenced your life - share what your current self would say if given an opportunity to chat with a younger version of YOU Cheers and Hugs Ya'all! xoxox Crystal Today's blogger is Crystal J. Casavant-Otto who is a hot mess of a momma and dairy farmer enjoying her little corner of the cornfield in frigid Wisconsin this winter! (C) Copyright wow-womenonwriting.com Visit WOW! Women On Writing for lively interviews and how-tos. Check out WOW!'s Classroom and learn something new. Enter the Quarterly Writing Contests. Open Now![url={url}]View the full article[/url] -
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Elyse Watches The Bachelorette–S18 E7: The Final Four
http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/WP/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/ElyseBachelorette-300x251.pngIt’s time for this week’s Bachelorette. A friend of mine said she had it on at her house and it was so boring she didn’t look up at the TV, so I have even lower expectations than usual. This week the final four guys will bring their families to Minneapolis to meet Michelle. First up is Brandon, who is from Portland. He takes her to an indoor skate park because everyone in his family skateboards. He gets nervous and falls a lot. He says he’s fine on his own, but in front of Michelle his “legs don’t work.” http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/WP/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/51185969-10261105-image-a-43_1638344453453-e1638665339967.jpg That night she meet’s Brandon’s mom, Carmen, his dad, David, and brother Noah. Noah asks to talk to Michelle. He says that Brandon may act smooth but that he’s got a big heart and has been hurt in relationships in the past. He asks what sets Brandon apart from the other guys. “I’ve just never had to question his feelings,” she says. When he asks if she can see herself making a life with Brandon, Michelle says, “100% yes.” Overall Michelle clicks with the family. http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/WP/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/d6da7da0-524f-11ec-8176-7b52c8fbadbd_800_420-e1638666062308.png Later Michelle tells Brandon she’s falling for him. Next up is Rodney. He tells Michelle there’s an apple only grown in Minnesota called First Kiss, so they’re going to pick some. Rodney tells the camera he’s ready to propose to her. That night she meets Rodney’s mom and stepdad. His mom, Carrie, says she and Rodney are best friends…which feels a little odd to me. Like, does Rodney feel that way? Or is she going to be competitive with Michelle? Carrie talks to Michelle right away and asks what sets Rodney apart from the other guys. Michelle says Rodney makes her laugh more than anyone. Then Carrie asks if she could really create a life with her son, and Michelle says yes. Carrie tells the camera that she has anxiety because Michelle is dating four men. Rodney’s stepdad asks if his feelings are really that strong in such a short amount of time, and Rodney assures him that it’s real. When Carrie talks to Rodney alone she tells him it scares her that he might be broken hearted at the end of the show. He tells her, “I look at Michelle and she’s worth the risk.” When he tells his mom he’s falling in love with Michelle, Carrie starts crying. Okay... via GIPHY Next up is Joe, who is also from Minnesota. They go to Joe’s old high school where they recreate prom. In her poem she read in an earlier episode, Michelle talked about being the last person asked to prom so the date means a lot to her. http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/WP/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/sddefault-e1638667814289.jpg Later Michelle meets Joe’s mom, dad, brother and sister-in-law. There’s a lot of awkward silence, to the extent that you can hear a clock ticking in the background. Michelle asks his mom if she can see a difference in Joe now that they’re dating, and she says, “I can see how excited he is to sit next to you.” This woman is from Minnesota and says that in the perfect Midwest-nice voice, so let me translate. She has zero good things to say about Joe and Michelle. That was definitely a cut. It was a “beautiful gowns” moment. In a proper Midwest get together, Michelle would follow this up with a comment about his mom’s cooking along the lines of “What kind of cream based soup did you put in this casserole? It’s just so different!” in a really perky voice. Then the next time they all get together, his mom would deliberately not ask what side dish to bring, which is hugely insulting. The rule is you ask, and insist 3 to 4 times when the hostess declines, then, when she says to bring a salad which is largely made with whipped topping, you bring the salad largely made with whipped topping. The cold war has thus begun and will be waged with passive aggressive compliments and un-returned Pyrex dishes for the next decade or more. Joe tells his sister-in-law, Hannah, that he’s falling for Michelle and is ready to propose. Hannah says, “I hope this works out because we will see her in the grocery store.” Don't worry Joe via GIPHY Lastly it’s Nayte’s turn. He and Michelle go paddle boarding in a lake. Nayte tells her his family isn’t very touchy-feely and doesn’t talk about emotions. She meets his mom and stepdad, and Nayte’s mom gives her candy for her students. She says she used to be a teacher and that candy was the way to her students’ hearts. Later his mom asks Michelle, “Is your end goal to leave here with an engagement.” Michelle hedges and says, “I’m…just going to do what feels right.” His mom says she doesn’t want Nayte to feel pressured. “He’s never been in a relationship where it’s like I want to make this a forever deal.” She says she worries he’s been “swept up in the process.” Nayte tells his mom he’s not ready to propose to Michelle. Then, in even more concerning moments, Nayte’s stepdad tells Michelle Nayte has never been in love before and that he doesn’t know the difference between being in love and being married. You mean their relationship might not last after the show? via GIPHY “I don’t know if he can handle this. I don’t know if he’s going to get to that point [engagement],” his stepdad continues. Nayte tells his stepdad everything feels so new. “If it’s so new, how do you know it’s real?” his stepdad asks. “Charles, why you gotta do this to me?” Nayte asks. I’m kinda Team Charles all the way. He’s not here for the bullshit. Nayte points out that he and his stepdad don’t talk about this stuff, and his stepdad agrees. “I don’t say it a lot, I don’t hug a lot, but never, ever doubt that I’m proud of you and I love you,” he says. Nayte tells Charles he loves him for the first time ever. After they leave his parents talk about how Michelle is more mature than Nayte, and that he’s not at the point where he could get engaged. So that’s great. The next day Michelle says she’s nauseous because she’s not sure Nayte is ready to get engaged and “tonight is going to be the toughest rose ceremony yet.” There’s no cocktail party, instead we go STRAIGHT TO ROSE. Straight to rose, people! via GIPHY Michelle says it feels like someone is standing on her chest. That’s a heart attack, Michelle. You need to go to the hospital. In the end Rodney goes home, leaving Nayte, Joe and Brandon as her final three. Are you watching? http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/WP/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/167152_5642-e1638670948100.jpg View the full article -
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Minerva Spencer, Historical Mysterious, & More
An Improper Arrangement An Improper Arrangement by Kasey Michaels is $1.99! This is the first book in The Little Season series and features a romance between an American heiress and her chaperone in London. Readers warn that the book starts slowly, but many loved the banter between the hero and heroine. Experience the drama of the Little Season in the first of a new series by USA TODAY bestselling author Kasey Michaels, in which three dashing war heroes have finally met their matches… Gabriel Sinclair has returned from battle as reluctant heir to a dukedom. As if his new responsibilities weren’t enough, Gabriel’s aunt enlists him to sponsor a young heiress through London’s Little Season. Yet Miss Thea Neville is hardly the tedious obligation he expected. She’s exotic and enchanting—and utterly unaware of the secret poised to destroy her family’s reputation. After ten years in America, Thea is ready to do her duty and marry well. Deportment lessons, modistes, balls—the ton is a minefield she could scarcely navigate without Gabriel’s help. By rights, she should accept the first bachelor who offers for her. Instead, she’s succumbing to a dangerous attraction to her wickedly handsome chaperone—one that could unhinge her plans in the most delicious way. Add to Goodreads To-Read List → You can find ordering info for this book here. Outrageous Outrageous by Minerva Spencer is $1.99! This is book two in the Rebels of the Ton series and wow those covers are milquetoast. This is a Kindle Daily Deal and book three is also on sale for $2.99. I’m unsure how these historical romances compare to Spencer’s more Old Skool vibes one. Have you read this series? Bridgerton fans and readers of Grace Burrowes, Sophie Jordan, and Alexa Aston won’t want to miss this clever and exciting new love story from the acclaimed author of Notorious. When Eva de Courtney kidnaps Godric Fleming, her only plan is to stop the irritating earl from persecuting her beloved brother. But once she has the intriguing rogue in the confines of her carriage, she longs to taste the passion she senses simmering beneath his rugged exterior. Her forbidden plan is foiled, however, when Godric turns the tables, taking her hostage instead—and demanding they marry at once… The last thing Godric wants to do is make the fiery, impulsive Eva his wife, despite her delectable mouth and alluring innocence. He knows from experience that nothing is forever, not even love. But honor demands he do right by the lady, no matter how stubbornly Eva tries to hold on to her independence. And while the road to the Scottish border is beset with danger, Godric’s greatest challenge is to keep his hands—and his heart—from his captivating bride-to-be… Add to Goodreads To-Read List → You can find ordering info for this book here. A Peculiar Combination A Peculiar Combination by Ashley Weaver is $2.99! This is another Kindle Daily Deal. If you’re looking for a new historical mystery to start with a hint of romance, this might be one worth adding to the TBR pile. The first in the Electra McDonnell series from Edgar-nominated author Ashley Weaver, set in England during World War II, A Peculiar Combination is a delightful mystery filled with spies, murder, romance, and the author’s signature wit. “Filled with wry humor, tight suspense, and a delightful cast of characters.”—Alyssa Maxwell, author of the Gilded Newport mysteries FIRST RULE: DON’T LOSE YOUR CONCENTRATION. Electra McDonnell and her family earn their living outside the law. Breaking into the homes of the rich and picking the locks on their safes may not be condoned by British law enforcement, but with World War II in full swing, Uncle Mick’s locksmith business just can’t pay the bills anymore. SECOND RULE: DON’T MAKE MISTAKES. So when Uncle Mick receives a tip about a safe full of jewels in an empty house, he and Ellie can’t resist. All is going as planned—until the pair is caught red-handed. But instead of arresting them, government official Major Ramsey has an offer: either Ellie agrees to help him break into a safe and retrieve blueprints crucial to the British war effort, or he turns her over to the police. THIRD RULE: DON’T GET CAUGHT. Ellie doesn’t care for the major’s imperious manner, but she has no choice. However, when they break into the house, they find the safe open and empty, and a German spy dead on the floor. Soon, Ellie and Major Ramsey are forced to put aside their differences to unmask the double agent, and stop Allied plans from falling into enemy hands. Add to Goodreads To-Read List → You can find ordering info for this book here. Sunset in Central Park Sunset in Central Park by Sarah Morgan is $1.88! This is the second book in the Sleepless in Manhattan series. Readers loved the heroine, Frankie, who is a garden designer and “flower genius.” However, some found the chemistry between the hero and heroine to be lacking. In the chaos of New York, true love can be hard to find, even when it’s been right under your nose all along… Love has never been a priority for garden designer Frankie Fisher. After witnessing the fallout of her parents’ divorce, she’s seen the devastation an overload of emotion can cause. The only man she feels comfortable with is her friend Matt—but that’s strictly platonic. If only she found it easier to ignore the way he makes her heart race… Matt Walker has loved Frankie for years but, sensing how fragile she is beneath her feisty exterior, has always played it cool. But then he uncovers new depths to the girl he’s known forever, and doesn’t want to wait a moment longer. He knows Frankie has secrets and has buried them deep, but can Matt persuade her to trust him with her heart and kiss him under the Manhattan sunset? Add to Goodreads To-Read List → You can find ordering info for this book here. View the full article -
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Interview with Christina Rauh Fishburne Runner Up in the 2021 Quarter 3 Creating Non-Fiction Essay Contest
Congratulations to Christna Rauh Fishburne and Snow White and all the winners of our 2021 Quarter 4 Creative Non-Fiction Essay Contest! Christina’s Bio: Christina Rauh Fishburne is a writer and artist currently living in England where her family is stationed with the US Army. She has an MFA from the University of Alabama and an obsession with the Brontes. An enthusiastic collaborator, Christina frequently works with her brother, musician Charlie Rauh, and recently illustrated The Crow Emporium Press edition of Jane Eyre. Currently, she’s working with Icelandic musician Inga Björk to introduce a children’s picture book with original soundtrack, and is querying her dual-timeline historical novel as well. Kattywompus Press will publish her forthcoming chapbook, Bird, which will include “Snow White” first published by Perhappened Mag Issue 6, Fairy Tale. Christina has three kids, blogs instead of going to therapy, and eats a lot of cake. She is very tired. Find her at www.christinarauhfishburne.com. And if you can also find her other vintage-style Audrey Hepburn hoop earring, that would be amazing. If you haven't done so already, check out Christina's talent in writing with the touching story Snow White and then return here for a chat with this talented author. WOW: Congratulations Christina and thank you so much for sharing your time and talents with us! Let's get down to it, shall we? What is the take-away you’d like readers to gain from Snow White? Christina: There is nothing more motivating than a comeback. Watching the owl walk to the hedge and lay down was so sweet and intimately adorable. I felt tricked and ashamed I’d spent all day keeping watch over a dead bird, expecting it to live. I think we often do that—attend the dead, the hopeless, the pointless, the small underdog desire and expect it to just get up, dust off, flex its muscles, and go on to conquering glory under its own power. Someone told me once during a very bleak time, “Sometimes there has to be a death for there to be a resurrection.” Sometimes I just can’t have what I want, what I believe I need. The fairy tale Snow White was tricked into poisoning herself but brought back to life by love. Jesus said Talitha cumi to a child who had died and she was brought back. It means “Little girl, arise.” For every time I’ve tricked myself into believing I was unjustly denied my desire, I’ve been brought back to life in unexpected ways. There’s always hope; it just never looks the way we expect it to. WOW: There certainly is always hope - isn't there? Seems that's something I appreciate more as an older woman than I did as a hopeless teen. Speaking of which, do you have advice for your younger self when it comes to making decisions, believing in yourself, and/or writing? What would your current self say to the younger you? Christina: I’d tell her it doesn’t matter old you are. I went straight into my MFA after graduation. I felt silly around the older, cooler students who were coming from corporate jobs, were married or had been married, and who lived in houses with actual furniture. I was also more than a little impressed with myself that I so clearly knew what I wanted to do… while so young, as if that meant anything. Youth is celebrated on the same level with talent sometimes and that sticks in my craw. I would tell my Younger Self: You don’t have to win all the contests, publish your Civil War Saga novel, and master the wise yet humble smile for your author photo by the time you graduate high school. If you have a baby, take a minute. Take 8 years. Everything may feel like a big race, but it’s not. Youth is just an adjective in author bios; it’s not the key to their success. It’s not because they’re young that their book is amazing, it’s because they’re talented. I’m ok being jealous of talent. We’ve all been young. We haven’t all been geniuses. I’m proud of the stories I wrote when I was 22 and knew jack-crap about life, but I’m also the first to say I’m a better writer now at 42. If I’m 62 when my novel is finally published, that will be ok. I shall now pause in expectation of a time-travelling, advice-dispensing, 62-year-old Christina. … Rats. WOW: Well, time travel or cloning ones self would certainly help during the toddler years - let's work on that! What’s your secret to juggling a career and family and eating all that cake without ruining your figure? Christina: Let’s just say, I was quite happy to oblige you with a picture from the “shoulders, up”. Young Christina could move overseas every 3 years, have babies, be a single mom for a year at a time, learn to drive all over again, and eat half a sheet cake for dinner without serious consequences. She’d write in her journal or rework an old story for no reason then put it in a drawer. For fun. She’d stay flexible. But Current Christina needs some low-impact Youtube workouts for the middle-aged… It’s no longer about “fitness goals”—the only goal is to Not Get Worse. Sacrifices are made, but nothing too crazy. If I’m offered cake, I produce a fork. If there’s no cake present, I make it. Cake is Joy and writing is Oxygen. Too long without either and I don’t feel well. Also, I am extremely fortunate to have a husband who works very hard so I can stay home. For 12 years “staying home” looked very different from what it is now. When the kids were small and the laundry was eternal, I’d write for myself just to remind myself I was still there. Today all three kids are toilet trained, in school full time, and entertain each other when they’re home, so I’ve been able to really write, and when it’s good, it’s good like cake. Unfortunately, the cake effect gets more visibility… WOW: Who doesn't like cake? I just gained a stone thinking about it...writing is much better for my waistline too! How did you get started blogging and what are your feelings about it now? In what ways do you feel it’s been helpful for you as a mother? Christina: So there I was: living in a hotel on a tiny island, recently divested of my most valuable jewelry by the movers, getting over a miscarriage and about to have another, and in a super dark mood. I’d kept a journal since I was 8 and the entries were getting to be a real drag. I wasn’t feeling better after I wrote. I began SmileWhenYouSayThat as a project to if not find the good in whatever nightmare I faced, then to at least find the hope in it. We move often, so I don’t have any family or close friends to immediately rely on in a crisis, but I have God and even when He’s not doing what I’d like, I know things aren’t out of control. There’s an old Daffy Duck cartoon where he’s a cowboy about to get punched in face off screen and you hear him say “Whad’you mean, ‘smile when I say that’?” It’s always made me laugh. If I’m about to get punched in the face, I want to be able to laugh about it someday. Being a mother is a lot of pressure, being an Army wife is stressful, and I don’t like talking about my feelings. Writing about them—where I know someone else will see them—is where God talks to me, where I can start to see what He’s doing and how I’m going to be ok. There are times I can’t smile by myself. There are limits to what even cake can do. WOW: Well, I absolutely love everything about your blog, your story, and this interview - but all good things (like cake) must come to an end! So, from one lemons to lemonade writer to another, what’s next for you? What are your writing goals for the remainder of 2021 and beyond? Christina: My first chapbook, Bird, will come out with Kattywompus Press. For 3 years I focused on writing a novel, which I finished in January, and I’ve been studying the swirling vortex of misery that is Agent Querying ever since. There are so many rules, known and unknown, and so many opportunities to screw yourself by accident while meaning to promote what you’ve always understood to be your strengths. Charlotte Bronte’s famous line in Jane Eyre, “I am no bird; and no net ensnares me” struck me strangely one day. Was I a bird, just not ensnared? A strange bird—a weirdo, his bird—old British slang for girlfriend, the bird—a big fat middle finger to disappointment … Bird is a series of micro and flash fictions linked by an ongoing dialog between an actress Seagull and her audience. As a writer and artist, I want my creative journey to come about naturally and organically but have to achieve certain artificial-feeling levels to be seen as "successful." I feel the same about being a woman. I’m so pleased this little book is the first to come to light “officially.” It encourages me that my others will find their way in time. Look me up when I’m 62. WOW: Thank you ever so much for sharing your essay, and your time with us today! We look forward to more from you in the future! Interviewed by Crystal Otto who just keeps on keeping on! Check out the latest Contests:http://www.wow-womenonwriting.com/contest.php(C) Copyright wow-womenonwriting.com Visit WOW! Women On Writing for lively interviews and how-tos. Check out WOW!'s Classroom and learn something new. Enter the Quarterly Writing Contests. Open Now![url={url}]View the full article[/url] -
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SBTB Hanukkah Celebration 2021 – Night Eight Giveaway!
http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/WP/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Hanukkah2021.jpg Happy Eighth Night of Hanukkah! We made it! The smoke alarm is giving me the side-eye treatment and it’s rather warm in here, but gosh is it beautiful. Ready for our final night of Hanukkah giveaway? I hope so! Today’s prize is: a Kate Spade Mulberry Street Lise in Dusty Blue! http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/WP/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-10-at-10.10.16-AM-300x283.png http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/WP/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-10-at-10.10.37-AM-250x300.png I love this color so much. And the compartments! Want some specs? The bag measures approximately 7.8″h x 11.5″w x 4.5″d The strap length is 22″ It has a zip closure across the top of the satchel It also has front and back slide pockets with snap closures Want to enter? I hope so! Just leave a comment and tell us what you are most looking forward to in 2022 – book, film, event, celebration, trip, another book? We want to know! Standard disclaimers apply: I am not being compensated for this giveaway. Void where prohibited. Open to international residents where permitted by applicable law. Must be over 18 and ready to look forward into the future. Not responsible for sensations of optimism. Comments will close 5 December 2021 at or near 12pm ET, and winner will be announced shortly afterward. Good luck, Happy Hanukkah, and thank you for being part of Smart Bitches! Thanks for celebrating with us this year! View the full article -
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Nonfiction, Historical Fiction, & More
The Beautiful RECOMMENDED: The Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh is $2.99 and a KDD! Kiki gave this one a B+: Many readers WILL be enthralled with the emotion of Bastien and Celine and for them the final sections of the book will be as thrilling as they were surely meant to be. Think that might be you? Go out and get yourself some Victorian era New Orleans vampires. New York Times bestselling author Renée Ahdieh returns with a sumptuous, sultry and romantic new series set in 19th century New Orleans where vampires hide in plain sight. In 1872, New Orleans is a city ruled by the dead. But to seventeen-year-old Celine Rousseau, New Orleans provides her a refuge after she’s forced to flee her life as a dressmaker in Paris. Taken in by the sisters of the Ursuline convent along with six other girls, Celine quickly becomes enamored with the vibrant city from the music to the food to the soirées and—especially—to the danger. She soon becomes embroiled in the city’s glitzy underworld, known as Le Cour des Lions, after catching the eye of the group’s leader, the enigmatic Sèbastien Saint Germain. When the body of one of the girls from the convent is found in the lair of Le Cour des Lions, Celine battles her attraction to him and suspicions about Sèbastien’s guilt along with the shame of her own horrible secret. When more bodies are discovered, each crime more gruesome than the last, Celine and New Orleans become gripped by the terror of a serial killer on the loose—one Celine is sure has set her in his sights . . . and who may even be the young man who has stolen her heart. As the murders continue to go unsolved, Celine takes matters into her own hands and soon uncovers something even more shocking: an age-old feud from the darkest creatures of the underworld reveals a truth about Celine she always suspected simmered just beneath the surface. At once a sultry romance and a thrilling murder mystery, master storyteller Renée Ahdieh embarks on her most potent fantasy series yet: The Beautiful. Add to Goodreads To-Read List → You can find ordering info for this book here. Wild Women and the Blues Wild Women and the Blues by Denny S. Bryce is $1.99! This historical fiction was mentioned on a previous Hide Your Wallet, and look at that beautiful cover! There’s also a dual timeline element here. Have you read this one? In a stirring and impeccably researched novel of Jazz-age Chicago in all its vibrant life, two stories intertwine nearly a hundred years apart, as a chorus girl and a film student deal with loss, forgiveness, and love…in all its joy, sadness, and imperfections. “Why would I talk to you about my life? I don’t know you, and even if I did, I don’t tell my story to just any boy with long hair, who probably smokes weed.You wanna hear about me. You gotta tell me something about you. To make this worth my while.” 1925: Chicago is the jazz capital of the world, and the Dreamland Café is the ritziest black-and-tan club in town. Honoree Dalcour is a sharecropper’s daughter, willing to work hard and dance every night on her way to the top. Dreamland offers a path to the good life, socializing with celebrities like Louis Armstrong and filmmaker Oscar Micheaux. But Chicago is also awash in bootleg whiskey, gambling, and gangsters. And a young woman driven by ambition might risk more than she can stand to lose. 2015: Film student Sawyer Hayes arrives at the bedside of 110-year-old Honoree Dalcour, still reeling from a devastating loss that has taken him right to the brink. Sawyer has rested all his hope on this frail but formidable woman, the only living link to the legendary Oscar Micheaux. If he’s right—if she can fill in the blanks in his research, perhaps he can complete his thesis and begin a new chapter in his life. But the links Honoree makes are not ones he’s expecting . . . Piece by piece, Honoree reveals her past and her secrets, while Sawyer fights tooth and nail to keep his. It’s a story of courage and ambition, hot jazz and illicit passions. And as past meets present, for Honoree, it’s a final chance to be truly heard and seen before it’s too late. No matter the cost . . . Add to Goodreads To-Read List → You can find ordering info for this book here. Paradise Paradise by Lizzie Johnson is $2.99! I mentioned this one on my new column Get Rec’d, where I talk about other books I’ve recommended to people throughout the week. It’s some great journalistic nonfiction. The definitive firsthand account of California’s Camp Fire–the nation’s deadliest wildfire in a century–and a riveting examination of what went wrong and how to avert future tragedies as the climate crisis unfolds On November 8, 2018, the people of Paradise, California, awoke to a mottled gray sky and gusty winds. Soon the Camp Fire was upon them, gobbling an acre a second. Less than two hours after it ignited, residents were trapped in flames, cremated in their homes and cars. By the next morning, eighty-five people were dead. San Francisco Chronicle reporter Lizzie Johnson was there as the town of Paradise burned. She saw the smoldering rubble of a historic covered bridge and the beloved Black Bear Diner, and she stayed long afterward, visiting shelters, hotels, and makeshift camps. Drawing on years of on-the-ground reporting and reams of public records, including 911 calls and testimony from a grand jury investigation, Johnson provides a minute-by-minute account of the Camp Fire, following residents and first responders as they fight to save themselves and their town. We see a young mother fleeing with her newborn; a school bus full of children in search of an escape route; and a group of paramedics, patients, and nurses trapped in a cul-de-sac, fending off the fire with rakes and hoses. Johnson documents the unfolding tragedy with empathy and nuance. But she also investigates the root causes, from runaway climate change to a deeply flawed alert system to Pacific Gas and Electric’s decades-long neglect of critical infrastructure. A cautionary tale for a new era of megafires, Paradise is the gripping story of a town wiped off the map and the determination of its people to rise again. Add to Goodreads To-Read List → You can find ordering info for this book here. An Earl, the Girl, and a Toddler An Earl, the Girl, and a Toddler by Vanessa Riley is $1.99! This one released earlier in April and is the second book in a series. I believe it’s fine as a standalone and maybe people have said that this entire series is much darker than they thought it’d be. A witty and moving story from the acclaimed author of A Duke, the Lady, and a Baby, about the lengths to which a woman will go for the love of her child…and the love of a man who knows her worth. Breaking with traditional Regency rules and customs, Vanessa Riley pens an unforgettable story perfect for fans of Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton, Evie Dunmore, and Eloisa James looking for something fresh and stirring! Masterminded by the ton’s most clever countess, the secret society The Widow’s Grace helps ill-treated widows regain their reputations, their families, and even find true love again–or perhaps for the very first time… Surviving a shipwreck en route to London from Jamaica was just the start of personal maid Jemina St. Maur’s nightmare. Suffering from amnesia, she was separated from anyone who might know her and imprisoned in Bedlam. She was freed only because barrister Daniel Thackery, Lord Ashbrook, was convinced to betray the one thing he holds dear: the law. Desperate to unearth her true identity, Jemina’s only option is to work outside the law–which means staying steps ahead of the formidable Daniel, no matter how strongly she is drawn to him… Married only by proxy, now widowed by shipwreck, Daniel is determined to protect his little stepdaughter, Charlotte, from his family’s scandalous reputation. That’s why he has dedicated himself not just to the law, but to remaining as proper and upstanding–and boring–as can be. But the closer he becomes to the mysterious, alluring Jemina, the more Daniel is tempted to break the very rules to which he’s dedicated his life. As ruthless adversaries close in, will the truth require him and Jemina to sacrifice their one chance at happiness? Add to Goodreads To-Read List → You can find ordering info for this book here. View the full article -
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Tessa’s Guide to Writing with Kids — AKA Hack Your Routines!
Please welcome Tessa Barbosa to Writer Unboxed today! Tessa’s debut YA Fantasy novel–not yet titled–will be published by Entangled Teen in 2023! Tessa is a pro-juggler, not only surviving but thriving through the chaos of family life, working a day job, and nurturing a young writing career. How does she do it? She’s here today to share some tips with us. You can learn more about Tessa at tessabarbosa.com and by following her on Twitter and Instagram (@HiTessaBarbosa). Tessa’s Guide to Writing with Kids — AKA Hack Your Routines! When I had my first child, I worried I’d never have time to write again. Instead, two young children, a full-time dayjob, and a book deal later, I’ve been writing more than I ever did before. Sometimes my friends ask me how I manage to do it all, and the honest answer is: I don’t. Often the family or day job takes priority, but writing is important to me too. I’ve found ways to get words down, however I can and whenever I can. Juggling everything isn’t easy, but it’s not impossible! Here are some tips for fitting in writing when life is busy: Do Your Writing Prep Away from the Computer Doing as much prep as you can when you’re away from a computer means less time wasted when you sit down to it. Daydreaming scenes while the kids play at the park, plotting chapters while loading dishes, taking notes on the bus: all of these are ways to sneak in writing prep time. I used to carry around a little notebook, but these days I add notes to my phone. As a bonus, if your hands aren’t free, you can dictate to your phone too. Skip the Rituals There’s no time to wait for the perfect writing conditions. That favorite music, hot cup of tea, scented candle, perfectly clean room, special pen… these rituals can help get you in the zone, but when you’re pressed for time, they can eat up what little you have. It’s best to just jump right in. Strip down your writing routine to only the essentials, so that whenever you find any bit of free time, you can maximize the amount of time you have for getting words down. Write in Short Sprints When it’s hard to find a long stretch of free time to write, short sprints can be just as effective. The pomodoro technique works well, but if you have kids, you don’t even need a timer. Let your kids be the timer! How long do you have before you have to break up a fight or someone asks for a snack? Break up that fight, or deliver that snack, and start your next sprint. Even 10 minutes at a time adds up. Trick Your Brain This can involve a lot of trial and error, but that’s fine! If something doesn’t work for you, don’t force it and try something else. You need to understand how your brain works best. Here are some tricks and experiments I’ve tried and that have worked for me: Set a timer and see if you tend to get more words down in the morning or the evening. I need to at least write a few words before work to get my brain in story mode. That way, even if I’m interrupted throughout the day, it feels easier to get back into the right frame of mind later on. You might be more productive when you’re relaxed and the kids are asleep. If hitting daily word count goals stresses you out, set a goal that’s lower than what you can normally accomplish. I mark my calendar for every day that I write anything at all, with no minimum word count. That way I never feel like it’s impossible, and I feel really good when I blow past it. Reward yourself. Some writers like sticker charts. Other writers set up bullet journals with blocks they fill in to track chunks of time (20 mins), or even chunks of words. I know one writer who wraps small presents to give herself for milestones like finishing the first draft. I like color coding my calendar. Whatever works for you! If you find a blank page intimidating, try to stop writing in the middle of a scene or a sentence, so you know what’s coming when you sit down next. This is also when writing prep really comes in handy. Even if you just jot down three things that need to happen in the next scene, or what image you’ll start with, it helps take the pressure off of starting from nothing. Sometimes getting started is the hardest part! If you have trouble finishing a draft because you always get stuck on research or character names, just skip that. You can use brackets [add place name], [research this] or [insert fight scene] for bits that need to be filled in during the next draft. Bonus: if you know what you actually need to research, you can spend less time doing it. Take as much time off as you need Writing everyday isn’t likely to happen, and when you’ve got multiple responsibilities, it’s easy to get burned out. The key is figuring out what writing pace you can consistently maintain without burning out. If you are mentally burned out, or exhausted, it can be too difficult to write, and the only solution is resting and refilling your creative bucket, however long it takes. Attempting to prevent burnout will save you more time in the long run. I sometimes take weeks or months off writing, to rest and refuel my creativity. I schedule weekends off, even when I’m on a deadline, because I know my kids will be home. Kids already take so much energy. Dayjob stress takes energy. You don’t have to write every day unless that’s what works best for you, and even if you do write everyday, YOU’RE in charge of how much is the right amount for your life. Forgive yourself Daniel Jose Older’s essay On Forgiveness is one I always go back to. Your mental and physical health comes first. Kids and family needs also come first. If you need to take a writing break, for days, months or years, take one. There’s no expiry date to your writing dream. If you’re trying your best, that’s enough. Living your life means you have a whole lot more to draw from in your writing. Does writing make your life better? If your answer is yes, I know you’ll find ways to write, or get back to it when you finally have the time. One day, the words you saved will come pouring out of you. These hard years won’t last forever. Happy writing, Tessa http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/WriterUnboxed?d=yIl2AUoC8zA http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/WriterUnboxed?d=qj6IDK7rITs http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/WriterUnboxed?i=l3ARMWrVrGU:yLPjY34D6EY:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/WriterUnboxed?i=l3ARMWrVrGU:yLPjY34D6EY:D7DqB2pKExk [url={url}]View the full article[/url] -
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Taking on a New Revision Approach (And Not Giving Up)
When I got a fresh round of rejections on a few of my short stories, I asked myself the question - do I really have it in my anymore to submit anymore? I couldn't tell myself that it wasn't just about finding the right fit for my stories. It was more than that. Something was wrong with them. I had to face that fact. Before I could get any more defeated than I already felt, I was got a book to review on my writing blog called Now Write! Fiction edited by Sherrie Ellis. In this book, there are various exercises that inspire you to write, help you think deeply about your characters, and so much more. I flipped to the end about revisions and that changed my whole perspective about the revision process. In one of the sections (photographed above), one of the authors said that Raymond Carver wrote up to 30 drafts of his short story "Cathedral." And I looked it up and was confirmed that yes, this author was known to complete up to 10 to 30 drafts of a story before considering it done. Suddenly, I didn't feel so bad about going back to the drawing board on my stories. In fact, for my stories, I'm sure I didn't get anywhere near the 30 counts of my drafts. Back to the drawing board I went. I decided to take the approach that I picked up from this section and approached each read of the draft by focusing one element at a time. My first approach was examining my main character and I highlighted all the parts that portrayed the character. I even added to it. So, I then read it for the conflict. And barely found it at all. At least, not as clearly as I thought. So I dove right back in, examining the conflict I wanted to have shown in the story, making sure it happened earlier, and adding more internal conflict thanks to my stronger character development. Now my story looks far better than it ever did. I'm not quite at the submission stage yet but I feel better now that I've taken a second look at this story. It's hard to face rejection and I didn't come to the decision to take my story back to the drawing board lightly. I fought the urge to ditch this story completely and assume I had nothing else to give it but I would have been wrong to do that. Today, if you are struggling with rejections, don't be afraid to take another look at your story. Consider a new approach in your revision process like the approach I took and maybe you'll find in your newest draft, whether it's number 30 or 100. (C) Copyright wow-womenonwriting.com Visit WOW! Women On Writing for lively interviews and how-tos. Check out WOW!'s Classroom and learn something new. Enter the Quarterly Writing Contests. Open Now![url={url}]View the full article[/url] -
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The Curse of Englishness: Why Every British Thriller Is Also a Black Comedy
‘There’s no market for it over here,’ said my New York agent. ‘I thought you were delivering a thriller but what I got was a very English black comedy.’ He was turning down ‘Hot Water’, my latest crime novel. My agent is a piece of work; ruthlessly honest, charismatic and usually right. ‘I got halfway through and stopped reading.’ This time he was talking about ‘The Foot on the Crown’, the epic that has taken me ten years to write. ‘It’s too earthy, too eeeuw for delicate US editors.’ ‘Things must be pretty bad when your own agent fires you,’ my friend Deborah said. ‘Why don’t you write to their market?’ I considered the idea. ‘I’m not sure I know what their market is anymore.’ ‘Maybe they expect you to be less English.’ ‘But I’m not especially English,’ I lied. ‘I’m a European. Or at least I would be if Brexit hadn’t happened.’ ‘You,’ she tapped me on the wrist with a spoon, ‘are the most English person I know.’ I first became aware of the curse when I heard the teacups. To be precise, their endless tinkling. Whenever I listened to an English radio play as a child the sound effects included a spoon endlessly circling bone china. English characters were always going out and coming in, but mostly they stayed inside and drank tea, even in the grisliest true-life murder dramatizations. Our plots unfolded in small rooms. It’s an English thing; neat little houses, inclement weather. Agatha Christie was particularly obsessed with egress. ‘It was a fine old library with the only other door leading out to the pristine tennis courts.’ And as we tended not to point guns at each other, our fictional killers generally dismissed firearms in favour of doctored pots of chutney, electrified bathtubs and poisoned trifles. They escaped without leaving footprints and relocked doors with the aid of string. When so much time is spent inside it’s hardly surprising that we start thinking about elaborate ways of killing someone. Our crime novels may be domestic but are definitely not ‘cozies’. Endings are bleak, murderers admirable, victims deserving of their fate. We specialise in a specific kind of English malice based on class and distorted moral rectitude. You’ll find it in the novels of Martin Amis and Jonathan Coe, whose ‘What A Carve Up!’ is a revenge tragedy that doesn’t so much dissect fin de siècle Britain as blow it sky high. It’s there in the bitter, deadpan prose of Beryl Bainbridge and in Kate Atkinson’s characters, who speak as if biting thread from a needle. It fills the entire oeuvre of Mo Hayder, whose crime novels take you into claustrophobic, inescapable darkness. There has always been a gap in our shared language. One reader in Texas gave up on my Bryant & May novels because they were ‘written in deep English’. It’s not something I can excise from my writing. I’m technically a Cockney, born (just) within the sound of London’s Bow Bells, and the last of them now that there is no maternity ward within that perimeter. In two centuries my family failed to move more than five hundred yards from where they’d started out. We are an island race whose isolated literary development has led to peculiar ways of thinking, yet our nation is so close to France that when I’m at the coast my phone switches to a French provider. For those of you who have just joined us through the accident of late birth, here follows a three-point history of Cursed Englishness. (1) It starts with the Normans, of course. French became the language of the monarchy, through which we gained about 10,000 words, while English peasants only managed to come up with simple onomatopoeic nouns like ‘cow’. A two-tier language was bound to cause trouble. Words were power, weaponised by Shakespeare. If you find Shakespeare challenging try ‘Gawain and the Green Knight’. One of Britain’s oldest tales is made ludicrously complex because its text is not just filled with Sondheim-like internal rhymes but is also in Middle English in an untranslatable short-lived Midlands dialect. (2) By the start of the eighteenth century, the satirist James Gillray was happily ridiculing the British Prime Minister in print without reprisal. We satirised our social mores with the smug self-confidence of ruthless colonialists. Our authors had already learned to play jokes on readers, as anyone who has climbed the Everest of Sterne’s ‘Tristram Shandy’ can testify. British literature honed its sharpness in the Great War and emerging with new elements of irony, ridicule and gallows humour. The novels of Evelyn Waugh are cruelly funny but beneath the wit is a howling darkness that in ‘Black Mischief’ ends with the perfectly logical act of cannibalism. Killing becomes a social faux-pas on a par with grammatical errors. (3) After WWII, death lurked at the edges of even the most conservative English novels. As secularism took hold it became commonplace to explore risqué subjects and say the unsayable. In the 1950s a family film could be made about a British girls’ school whose sexualised pupils are sold off to Arab sheiks. Its writers included D B Wyndham-Lewis, the Poet Laureate Cecil Day-Lewis and Bertolt Brecht. It’s still popular today. Englishness sold well. The combination of grisly slaughter and dry humour proved irresistible. In 1930 a group of British mystery writers had formed the Detection Club, members of which included Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers and Baroness Orczy. I recently joined their esteemed ranks in a ceremony that involved swearing on a skull in candlelit gloom. And through that we arrive at the present day, when a tinkling teaspoon is liable to end up in someone’s eye. The curse of Englishness is that we cannot stop being so very English. Those judging glances and snooty comebacks are still supplied by the upper classes, who are entirely blind to their lowered position in the world. Every time we open our mouths the curse reawakens. It’s true that hardly anyone ever called an umbrella a ‘bumbershoot’, but our language is so peppered with peculiarities that only Lee Child ever managed to write like an American. In theory, publishing on either side of the Atlantic should be the same but we don’t think the same. The faultline was exposed by the AJ Finn affair; US editors hire staff after a forensic examination of their credentials and background. We pat the back of a chair and say, ‘I have a good feeling about you.’ The accidental/reluctant hero is a traditional British character, accepted in the wrong places at the wrong time. Barely remembered authors like Pamela Branch and Edmund Crispin allowed ingenuity and sarcasm to take preference over the forwarding of the action. Branch’s ‘The Wooden Overcoat’ is 190 pages long and stuffed with deviations, flights of fancy and nonsense conversations. Crispin’s detective actually forgets what he’s investigating. Our fictional heroes are emotionally strangulated. Embarrassment, snobbery and shame are common motives for murder. It’s surprising that Basil Fawlty never became a serial killer. While many American crime novels could survive perfectly well without dialogue—I instinctively think of Cormac McCarthy here—English characters rarely shut up. When it comes to crime we prefer argument over engagement, which is why the British never made a decent action movie. If British spy novels consisted of middle-aged men arguing in ugly offices, our mystery novels favoured the drawing room over the jail cell, the village high street over the back-alley stand-off. In many the action, such as it is, comes to a grinding halt so that the investigators can potter about discussing entirely irrelevant subjects. In this way the mystery itself becomes a carriage for many other bits of baggage. This must be deeply frustrating for American critics. If it doesn’t further the action the scene shouldn’t be there, but biffing and chasing is boring to write and dull to read. Better a duel of wits than weapons. If a novel deviates from its subject, does it matter so long as we enjoy it? Margery Allingham was unreadable to Edmund Wilson, not because she was a bad writer but because her books needed to have their Englishness carefully unpacked. We lovingly stuff our prose with secrets. And why not, when a book becomes your companion? The misunderstandings between your country and mine occur somewhere in the Atlantic. American crime heroes are far more proactive and driven. They endure terrible hardship before redemption, reminding us of Joel and Ethan Cohen’s crime rules; the innocent must suffer, the guilty must be punished and You Must Taste Blood To Be A Man. The British equivalent is to suffer, be mildly annoyed and make another cup of tea. *** View the full article -
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SBTB Hanukkah Celebration 2021 – Night Seven Giveaway!
http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/WP/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Hanukkah2021.jpg Happy Seventh Night of Hanukkah! We’re almost done! There’s wax everywhere over here. Everywhere. Ready for our seventh night of Hanukkah giveaway before I have to go clean the menorot? Let’s do this! Today’s prize is: a Kate Spade Chelsea Large Tote in Cranberry Cocktail! http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/WP/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-10-at-10.06.12-AM-218x300.png http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/WP/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-10-at-10.06.37-AM-225x300.png I love this color – deep ruby reds are so lovely. Want some specs? The bag measures approximately 12″h x 17″w x 6.5″d The handle drop is 12″ – you can carry literally anything It has a zip closure across the top It has so many interior pockets including an elastic one for a water bottle Want to enter? I hope so! Just leave a comment and tell us what book you discovered here at SBTB that you most loved! Standard disclaimers apply: I am not being compensated for this giveaway. Void where prohibited. Open to international residents where permitted by applicable law. Must be over 18 and ready to carry the essentials and enjoy the greatest snacks any time. Not responsible for sensation of effortless glee. Comments will close 5 December 2021 at or near 12pm ET, and winner will be announced shortly afterward. Good luck, Happy Hanukkah, and thank you for being part of Smart Bitches! Thanks for celebrating with us this year! View the full article
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