Teen Seen

Something Awesome About Being a Teen Author

2010-08-17T10:43:00.002-04:00

On Long Beach Island, the beach my family has been going to as far back as I–and even my mom—can remember, there’s a free newspaper called the Sand Paper. (Ha. Yes. I get it.) This publication has a ton of coupons for awesome beachy places like the ice cream parlor one block from the beach house, Bay Village Pizza (the best pizza I’ve ever had), and the Chowda Hut, where my favorite New England Clam Chowda is made.

So when I got a call from someone who introduced himself as a reporter from the Sand Paper, I knew what he meant. He asked me some questions about my writing and my book and my upcoming visit at the LBI library. This was about a week before we left for the beach, and in the days leading up to it, I couldn’t find any article on the Sand Paper’s site that mentioned me, so I didn’t know if it had run. In fact, by the time we arrived on the island, I’d forgotten there was even the possibility of a story.

The second night we were in LBI, after the library talk Monday and a good day shopping Tuesday, my family was walking back from the beach (which is about one and a half blocks from the beach house. Love). My sister and I decided to go and get ice cream, like always, and my mom told us to get a Sand paper from the free bin beside us and see if they had a coupon.

I sat next to my mom on the nearby bench. She was flipping through it, and I was watching over her shoulder. All of a sudden I put out a hand to stop her from turning the page.

“You found it?” she asked.

“Um, no, but, was that me?” I pointed to the top square of the page. It was me. It was my READ poster from Bookfest PA, so I was staring back at myself from behind pink sunglasses. The pink sunglasses I happened to be wearing at that moment, which was, admittedly, very weird.

The picture was part of a short, really awesome article about me and my visit at the library, which hadn’t happened at the time of the publication. Needless to say, my mom got extra copies and kept them (but not after my sister and I tore out the ice cream coupons). That has to be one of the most bizarre, but also one of the most awesome experiences I’ve had as an author.

Clowns - Evil or Funny?

2010-08-02T00:05:00.000-04:00

The Magic Medallion (Book Two) of my 'Tween, time-travel series, Cynthia's Attic, has best friends, Cynthia and Gus, spending a lot of time at a 1914 circus. At first glance, they are thrilled to be there. What twelve-year-old wouldn't have fun at a circus?

Ah, but after the cotton candy, the circus acts and mid-way games, they run into an evil, bad-breathed (always has a cigar in his mouth) clown named Blackie who, apparently, missed the "Making People Laugh" session at clown-school. Seems it's his life's work to harrass, stalk and generally make everyone around him, miserable.

From my research, the polls are split about 50/50. You either love clowns or hate them. After The Magic Medallion was released, I ran into a reviewer who was deathly afraid of clowns and wrote a rather negative review about The Magic Medallion. I was given the choice to nix the review or use it, warts and all. I chose the former and have regretted it ever since.

Imagine the debate that could've started over my book! "Clowns-Love 'em or hate 'em."

Okay, so maybe it wouldn't stand up to current debates raging today, such as, does Lindsay Lohan deserve 90 days in jail, but I still regret that decision.

An early 1900's circus coming to town

So, where do you stand? Do you love clowns? Do you hate them or are you downright afraid of them? Before making your decision, read The Magic Medallion! I promise you won't be able to stay neutral. Not when it comes to Blackie.

I'm the author of the four-book (soon to be five!) 'Tween time-travel series, Cynthia's Attic.

Download the series on Kindle today!

Mary Cunningham Books
Amazon
Kindle
Fictionwise
Quake/Echelon Press

Girl Scout Camp

2010-07-31T19:37:00.002-04:00

I loved Girl Scout Camp so much that I devoted a whole chapter to it in my upcoming novel, Back to Bailey's Chase. The readers get to go to camp with Sparky and Grey Bailey for a week.

Trying my best to remember the camp activities, I conjured up a week of adventures, hoping my readers would enjoy the camp experience as much as I did.

Of course, no magic was involved when I went to camp, but Sparky and Grey have those super powers that come into play when needed. And they are needed....when the camp bully targets Lulu Thompson. I hope my readers will laugh as they read Chapter Seven and find out how the girls turn the table on the mean girl, Ellie.

If you haven't read the first book about Sparky and Grey, The Secret of Bailey's Chase, you can read the prologue on my web site: www.marlisday.com In this book, which is available as an eBook or at www.quakeme.com or on www.amazon.com the girls slip into the scout camp when it's locked for the winter. They have a harrowing adventure there with a bully and a vicious dog. It only seemed fitting to take them back during their summer vacation to enjoy a real fun-filled week of camp. If you check out my blog at http://wwwmarlisday.blogspot.com you can see the cover of the sequel, Back to Bailey's Chase, which should be available soon.

Excuse me, I have a sudden craving for a s'more!

Animal Cliches in Stories & Movies

2010-07-27T13:27:00.000-04:00

SUDDEN CAT! - These little critters just love to pop out of nowhere in horror movies, startling one of the characters (and giving the audience a cheap scare). This usually happens just before a psycho/alien/monster jumps out to kill the character.

THAT BELOVED DYING DOG - As Gordon Korman once wrote, “check any book in the library with a dog and an award sticker on the cover, trust me, that dog’s going down.” (Examples: Old Yeller, Where the Red Fern Grows, Marley & Me, Sounder)

THE IMPOSSIBLY SMART HORSE - A staple of westerns since the genre was created, these creatures have uncanny intelligence at least equal to the bad guys, and have some sort of sixth sense to always be where their owner needs them to be in a time of crisis. Bonus cliché: the closer the horse is to his master, the more likely he is to die.

MISUNDERSTOOD WOLF - Replacing the old cliché that all wolves are inherently evil, wolves in modern stories are now noble, maligned creatures, unfairly persecuted and hunted down by angry farmers.

SHARKS - No matter the story or film, when a shark appears, the animal has an insatiable taste for human blood and will eat far more people than it can physically stomach.

BEAUTY IS ONLY SKIN DEEP - If the animal is fuzzy, it is a loveable hero. If it isn’t, it’s a horrifying monster, bent on killing people, especially if it is a reptile or insect.

SPIDERS - In stories and movies, all spiders are aggressive and deadly. Even tarantulas, who in real life sleep for days at a time, are lightning quick and attack without provocation. Then again, who wants to read a story or see a movie about a friendly spider? (Exception: Charlotte’s Web).

AMOROUS CANINE - Telling a story and want a cheap laugh? Have a tiny dog hump a character’s leg.

CHOICE OF PETS - Heroes own dogs. Villains (especially evil geniuses) own cats.

MONKEYS - Almost always depicted as endearingly cute, especially when they ape (no pun intended) human activity. Hey, this things fling their poo when angry! Then again, if we actually did that to voice our displeasure over something, most arguments would end before they began.

MONKEYS, PART 2 - Actually, the image of a poo flinging monkey is a cliché, too.

YOU GONNA EAT THAT? - Whenever a character is lost (on an island, in the desert, in the mountains, etc), he or she will inevitably be forced to eating an animal most of us would call an exterminator to get rid of.

SUPER-VILLAIN FISH TANK - If a super villain owns a fish tank, it is filled with piranhas. If he owns a pond, it is also filled with piranhas, only this time he feeds them a henchman who failed or betrayed him.

CATS - Unless the story is about them, most cat characters are generally evil…and always hungry.

BEARS - Bears love to show up at campsites, especially if the campers are city folks not used to the great outdoors. Hilarity ensues.

INCREDIBLE JOURNEYS - No matter the animal or breed, when abandoned, they will set off on a trek to find their masters, and somehow always succeed. And, of course, even though the master left without any regard for their pets, cry tears of joy whenever old Rex appears over the horizon. The heart-wrenching exception to this cliché is Richard Adams’ The Plague Dogs.

GENETICALLY ENHANCED SUPER BEAST - Scientists love to inject a normally docile animal with some weird concoction which turns it into a killing machine. What science stems to gain from such an experiment is not really understood.

D.M. Anderson
http://dmanderson.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/frandavea

Candy

2010-07-25T21:53:00.002-04:00

I remember being five. Six. Seven. And eight and nine and ten. And candy was such a treat to have. Usually it had to have chocolate because fruity candies and me? Yeah. It was not love at first sight.

I so looked forward to eating my twix. Because those were love at first sight.

And even though the years have gone by and my love for candy has dwindled, I still look forward to eating a few types of candy - twix being one of them. Because even as an adult, I still love biting into the crunchy goodness.

~~Alyssa
http://www.beaconstreetbooks.com

The Candy Thief

2010-07-22T01:45:00.002-04:00

Candy made me a thief.

Seriously.

I must have been seven or eight. I was in a Ben Franklin Five and Dime ... Why, I don't know, I didn't have any money.

And then my eyes spied it.

A York Peppermint Pattie.

Dark chocolately goodness melted around a gooey peppermint center.

Nirvana!

But my pockets were empty.

Well, not empty. I had my lucky rock ... not worth money... not that I would have bartered it anyway. I had my pet pillbug (tied to a string) and probably some other small trinkets I picked up off the ground, but valued like rare jewels.

The York Peppermint Pattie whispered my name.

"Norm. Noorrrmmmmm.... Eat me!"

"But, Pattie," I replied. "I don't have any money."

"No one's looking. Just take me!"

"I couldn't do that. That's stealing!"

"But I'm yours. I belong to you. You would just be taking what is yours."

The sugary voice was just so compelling. So I did it. With Pattie keeping watch for me, I reached out, put my trembling sugar-anticipatory hands on her sweet roundness.

And in a flash, she was in my pocket.

With nerves atrembly, I stole out of the store with my beloved, hopped on my bike, and pedaled furiously away to find a secluded spot to rendezvous with my secret dark lover.

I found a woody area, devoid of people, and settled onto a leafy spot behind a big tree. Pattie came from my pocket, her allure almost too tempting. But anticipation is part of the joy of this relationship, so with nervous restraint, I gently unfolded her tinfoily wrapper, and allowed myself the first swaying of desire at the flash of her tasty skin.

My mouth watered as I ...

... gobbled down the sweet confection.

Nope, I just couldn't savor this over time. Like the owl in the Tootsie Roll Pop commercial, I just can't let saliva do the work. My love of candy is a frenzied, drool-and-chomp-it-down affair - not a take your time and let it melt in your mouth insanity.

Anyway, it's good to get this dark secret out in the open.

I feel better.

And, now that I'm older, I usually have enough money for candy.

That's a good thing.

(No,Norm, don't do it)

Shut up, cavities!

Norm

www.normcowie.com

(where you can read The Guy'd Book for free! And three short stories! And excerpts of my other three books! Do you hear me! Free stuff!)

Yum...

2010-07-20T23:49:00.003-04:00

Candy through the ages...hmm. I know that I've lived in two different decades, centuries, and millennia, but really, the only thing coming to mind right now about candy through the ages is that I remember a time when there were just regular Reece's cups, and Reece's buddies Dark Chocolate, Inside Out, Big Cup, and Pieces hadn't been announced to the public yet.

Oh, one other candy that I do remember from my days as a kindergardener is the candy necklace. You know, the one with the sugary beads that you gnaw on until one breaks off in your mouth and coats your tongue and by the time you're done with half of the beads, the necklace itself is so slobbery and fuzz-covered that your mom makes you throw it away?

Well, I haven't seen many of those around lately. But I figure that it's probably not the candy that's aged out of style, it's me that's aged out of the urge to tug on my mom's arm and beg for a candy necklace while she's consumed with comparing pasta sauces.

Not that the thought doesn't cross my mind once in a while...

Kieryn
www.kierynnicolas.com
www.kierynnicolas.blogspot.com

Sweet tooths & Sour gummy worms

2010-07-20T02:13:00.000-04:00

I've always had a sweet tooth.

I like chocolate. I like Jolly Ranchers. I like bubble gum (the bubble gum flavored kind), ice cream, jelly beans, licorice (the fruit flavored kind), peppermints....

But my favorite?

Sour gummy worms.
(Cue heavenly music)

I don't know what it is about them, but I *love* sour gummy worms. I love the fruity colors they come in, I love how the sour crystals linger on my tongue, leaving a strange sort of 'freshness' to everything for a while after. They're just... gooooood.

What's your favorite type of candy?

~*~

Heather S. Ingemar has loved to play with words since she was little, and it wasn’t long until she started writing her own stories. Termed “a little odd” by her peers, she took great delight in exploring tales with a gothic flair, and to this day, Edgar Allan Poe continues to be her literary hero. To learn more, please visit: http://ingemarwrites.wordpress.com/ or follow her on Twitter: http://twitter.com/heatheringemar

Buy a story (or two or three): http://amzn.to/dlAKwt

Jules Verne: Unbelievable True Prophecies

2010-07-17T00:05:00.022-04:00

Photos taken from Wikipedia

Jules Verne's novels are still read and studied today. But I've always been interested in the fact that his stories are prophetic in describing modern times. Paris in the 20th Century is an often cited example of this describing air conditioning, automobiles, electricity, television, even the Internet!

Another example is From the Earth to the Moon, which, apart from using a space gun instead of a rocket, is very similar to the Apollo Program, as three astronauts are launched from the Florida peninsula and recovered through a splash landing. In the book, the spacecraft is launched from "Tampa Town." Although Tampa isn't the NASA launch site, Tampa, Florida is approximately 130 miles from Cape Canaveral.

In other works, Verne predicted the inventions of helicopters, submarines, projectors, jukeboxes, and other later devices.

He also predicted the existence of underwater hydrothermal vents that were not discovered until years after he wrote about them.

In the Mysterious Island Verne predicts the development of Hydrogen engines. A group of castaways discuss what will happen when the world's coal reserves are used up, when one of them exclaims, "Water [will replace coal]. Water broken down into its component elements by electricity. . . the hydrogen and oxygen of which it is constituted will be used to furnish an inexhaustible source of heat and light. One day, the holds of steamships and the tenders of locomotives will be filled with those two compressed gases, powering their engines with an incalculable calorific force."

Wish he'd predicted the use of other renewable energies like solar power and wind power to replace our dependence on oil! Hmmm...maybe he did.

To read more about this fascinating author, visit Jules Verne Wikipedia page.

Other novels by Jules Verne:

Around the World In Eighty Days

Journey To the Center of the Earth

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

Off On A Comet

I'm the author of the 'Tween time-travel series, Cynthia's Attic.

Download the series on Kindle today!

Mary Cunningham Books
Amazon
Kindle
Fictionwise
Quake/Echelon Press

Will Hobbs and Me

2010-07-15T13:55:00.003-04:00

As a 7th grade reading teacher, I required my students to do regular book reports each semester. Many of the boys chose Will Hobbs's books. Although I had never read him, I heard many reports on Bearstone, Beardream, Beardance, Jason's Gold, The Big Wander, Downriver, The Maze, and Ghost Canoe. Boys identified with his characters and loved the outdoor adventure stories.

Imagine my surprise when I found that Will Hobbs was only a few tables away from me when I signed books at the Indiana State Reading Conference in Indianapolis in March. I decided to buy some books for my grandsons, too young for them now, but a wonderful gift for later.

When I spoke with Will, I found that he also had been a 7th grade reading teacher before he gave it up for a writing career. He shared that he had always loved books and grew up as a middle-child in an air-force family. They lived all over the place. He told me that he fell in love with the mountains as a boy and dreamed of adventures there. His dreams turned into award-winning books. He said half of his ideas come from life's experiences and half from his reading. He has 17 novels in print and makes his home in Durango, Colorado, where some of his stories are set.

I hope when Dylan and Jackson are old enough to enjoy his books, I can share this photo and say, "Look, Gram met Will Hobbs and he was a very nice man."

You may check my other blog at http://wwwmarlisday.blogspot.com or my website
www.marlisday.com (The prologue of my new book is there!)

Goat! Er, Goal...Oh, Whatever.

2010-07-12T18:45:00.000-04:00

It's a cliche for a reason; truth really is stranger than fiction. And one place where this is especially true is the wonderful world of sports.
Before I hit the grand finale, the mother of all weird sports, here are a few choice competitions to whet your whistle, compliments of Inventorspot.com:

Wife carrying: A sport where a man carries his wife across a steeplechase-esque course, popular in Nordic countries, such as Finland. The winner usually comes away with his wife's weight in beer. Just think how much fun we could have if we introduced this sport in countries where polygamy is still legal!

Toe Wrestling: So much more hard-core than thumb-wrestling. You can't win simply by pinning your opponent's digits down. No, you must lock toes with them and throw them to the ground! Rawr!

Cheese Rolling: This must have been invented by a five-year-old. Roll a large cheese down a hill. Roll yourself down the hill. If you beat the cheese, you win. (Do you win the cheese? I can't seem to find out. And I'm interested, because I like cheese.)

And....drum roll, please...

Buzkashi: National sport of Afghanistan. The object--wrestle a calf or goat carcass from your teammates while on horseback and carry it through goal-postie type things at the opposite end of the field. The rules--well, there aren't any, really. You're not supposed to hit your opponent or use rope to trip his horse, but those rules aren't necessarily enforced. Fall off your horse? Grab someone else's. Boundaries--nah. You can use a whip to beat off the opposing team's horses and riders, too. This is also one sport which can end up being more dangerous to the spectators than the players, due to the lack of aforementioned boundaries.
Standard team sizes can range from a dozen to an angry mob.

And I thought rugby was weird.

Jacquelyn Sylvan is the author of Surviving Serendipity, a fantasy novel where damsels in distress are so last season. Click the link to buy on Amazon!

1776 ... and other stuff

2010-07-06T01:39:00.001-04:00

200 years after our nation declared its independence, I graduated.

Yeah, I'm that old.

Worse, before that happened, I had to speak in front of the entire school about what 1976 meant to me. At the time, I was an angry teen (as opposed to being an angry old fart now), but I was one of the top ranked kids in the school, so they felt they had to let me speak (probably holding their breath the whole time).

Either that, or they didn't know I was an angry teen. You see, I was one of the most shy people in my graduating class. So maybe they had no clue I was so angry because it got hidden behind my red face any time anyone paid any kind of attention to me.

Or, even more insidious, they knew I was angry, and they decided on the ultimate punishment of making me speak in front of EVERYONE.

So I wrote up a speech where I basically said I was sick of the Bi-Centennial (which was basically being celebrated on every show, commercial, print ad, article), and how we were spending all that time looking to the past, when we should have been looking to the future.

It wasn't a bad speech overall, and I think I did it okay. I don't remember scorching anyone in the front row with my burning face, though I would have if I could have figure out how to do it ... angry teen, remember?

Nowadays, I still use whatever podium I can get to rant. I believe our nation is the best nation in the world. I'm thrilled I get to live here, and enjoy its freedoms.

But it is still so incredibly flawed. Look at the leaders we've suffered over the last few years, stuffing their pockets and their pockets of their friends with money from lobbyists. Whatever happened to altruistic leaders? Ones who made decisions based on what's good for the people?

We try to help people be insured from health related losses ... it becomes a political issue ... we want to drive to the store without putting smog and other pollutants into the air ... another political issue ... we want to put our children through school and prepare them for the future .. more politics.

I read once that the people who most want to lead are those least suited to lead.

Yeah, I get that now, more than I did in 1976.

Norm

www.normcowie.com
(read excerpts of my books! and there's free stuff, too!)

The Breakup Letter

2010-07-05T11:39:00.005-04:00

So, with a theme of 1776, it only seems obvious that I sit down and write a short but thoughtful post about the Declaration of Independence and how it has affected our country and many others as well.

Huh. Good thing I don't go for the obvious.

Instead I want to write about what "1776" brings to mind. And the first thing it brings to mind for me is fifth grade history.

In fifth grade in my school district, students have their first full year of learning American History. (The next year is eighth grade, I'll get to that.) For me, fifth was my favorite. Not only because I had the most awesome teacher ever (see the acknowledgments of my book) but because I honestly liked learning US history.

Therefore, I had pretty good base knowledge on the topic when we got to eighth grade. I expected my social studies teacher, the awesome/fearsome/manly Mr. Stout, to start out the lesson with a "and so the British were being mean and taxing our tea and yada yada wrote the Declaration."

But no. One day we came into class and Mr. Stout was pacing at the front of the room, holding a piece of paper. He frowned at us, told us to take our seats, and then said, "I found a very disturbing note in the hallway today." He paused, then said, "Honestly, do you guys not know how to write a breakup letter?"

I remember sharing a look with Katie, trying to figure out if he was serious. Mr. Stout was the kind of teacher that could look dead serious discussing the ways to off someone on the original 8-bit "Oregon Trail" game, but joking as he told someone off.

"I mean, this is atrocious," he went on. "Listen. 'I hate you. You're mean and ugly and I can't stand your presence and I have to break up with you. It's over. PS you smell.'"

He glowered at us. "Get out a piece of paper. We're going to learn how to do this the proper way."

We all scrambled to get out pieces of paper. Mr. Stout launched into how the proper way to do a break-up letter was to state the problem, tell the breakup-ee how he/she could improve, offer suggestions as to a compromise, and "for goodness sakes don't use the line "it's not you, it's me."

He had us write out own--"FAKE"--breakup letters. By this point we still had no idea if he was kidding or not. Only after he made a few of us read ours out loud did he casually mention that this breakup letter format was the same format used in writing the Declaration of Independence.

"The Declaration was essentially a breakup letter," Mr. Stout told us as we gaped at him. "The colonies were breaking up with England."

So that's the second thing I think of when I see "1776." Breakup letters.

Kieryn
www.kierynnicolas.com
www.kierynnicolas.blogspot.com

Marble Freedoms

2010-07-04T01:54:00.001-04:00

Seeing the state capitol for the first time was unforgettable.

Every piece of stone dripped with artistrty and careful craftsmanship. Every detail -- the bronze fixtures, the frosted glass, the Tiffany lighting, the paint -- had been planned and thought out with the utmost attention to the final product. It was blatantly obvious: beautiful work like this comes only out of love.

The craftsmen who labored for years on this beautiful building did it because they believed in the principles of our great nation. They believed in honor, freedom, and justice for all. They believed in the basic tenets of life, liberty, free speech, freedom to defend one's self and property, and the pursuit of one's own destiny. And they believed in our country and what it could be, so much that they built this vast monument so future generations would not forget what our forefathers gave their lives to create.

I strongly urge you; if you have the chance, visit your state capitol. Read the constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Internalize the Declaration of Independence. Remember where you come from. Understand how we got here. Treasure what you have.

Hold it close and give it up for no one.

~*~

Buy a story (or two or three): http://amzn.to/dlAKwt

Up In The Air Junior Birdmen - Girl Scout Camp

2010-07-01T00:05:00.021-04:00

After many decades, I still have fond memories looking back on my scout camp experience. I was probably 10 or 11—at that vulnerable age just shy of the terrible teenage years.

I went to camp two years in a row and the first year was, by far, the best. Although, the 2nd year taught me much more about life and relationships.

The first year, four of us friends who grew up together, went to school together and played sports together, resided for two weeks in a three-sided Gypsy Camp cabin. While there was some mild bickering amongst our quartet, we remained fiercely loyal to each other and pretty much stuck together. As I remember, we came in 2nd in the end-of-camp talent contest performing a skit to the tune of Junior Birdmen.

This is the way I remember it:

Up in the air Junior Birdmen
Up in the air upside down
Up in the air Junior Birdmen
Keep your noses off the ground

When you hear the doorbell ringing
And you have your badge of tin
Then you know, Junior Birdmen
That you sent your box tops in.

(If you have another version, please post it!)

The 2nd year wasn't quite as much fun. We graduated to the next level; a full-size cabin with 8 scouts, one of which was the daughter of the head counselor. "Lynn" (not her real name - I'm afraid she'll find me and beat me up, again) was a real, uh...snot. It was either done her way or she ran to her mother to squeal on how mean we were being to her. Like the four of us who grew up together, "Lynn" had 3 life-long friends in the cabin with her. Only difference was, they couldn't stand her either.

As stressful as that was, I learned some valuable lessons:

1) Those in charge are not always kind to the masses.
2) Life is not always fair.
3) I'm never going to be able to get along with everyone.
4) I can rise above injustice and have fun in spite of disagreeable people.

So, to all you Junior Birdmen out there..."Keep your noses off the ground!"

I have no idea what that means, but it seems like a good way to end this blog post.

I'm the author of the 'Tween time-travel series, Cynthia's Attic.

Download the series on Kindle today!

Mary Cunningham Books
Amazon
Kindle
Fictionwise
Quake/Echelon Press

NEW BOOK COVER!

2010-06-29T15:30:00.000-04:00

My publisher just sent me a copy of the book cover for my upcoming tween novel, Back to Bailey's Chase. It is the sequel to The Secret of Bailey's Chase. In case you haven't read it, it's about the adventures of two pre-teen cousins with super powers. Sparky and Grey Bailey live in Bailey's Chase, a town named for their great-great-great grandmother. It is her special gifts the girls have inherited, but they didn't realize it until tragedy brings them together.

The girls love to play detective and solve crimes and having magic at their disposal certainly helps. In the new book, the girls are a year older and their powers have grown with them. Now they find they have the ability to travel into other dimensions.

By the way, one of the main characters is a boy, Newt, a boy genius/scientist. He doesn't have special powers, but he goes along on their adventures with them.

Hopefully, the book will be available soon in paperback or an an E-Book. Kindle anyone?

You may visit me at http://www.marlisday.com/ or check out my blog at http://wwwmarlisday.blogspot.com/

or order my books at http://www.quakeme.com/

Music to Get You In...The Mood

2010-06-26T11:53:00.000-04:00

Usually, I'm either writing in a notebook between patients, or dropping into my desk chair at night after a long day at work. Either way, I can't just flip a switch in my brain to put it into writing mode. Usually it only takes reading the last page or so of what I've written, but sometimes my mind is just a little too buzzy, and won't settle down.

In those cases, I have a backup plan. For most books I write, I make a soundtrack of songs that specifically remind me of the emotional climate of the book. I found out I wasn't the only one it worked on when I shared the soundtrack of a work in progress with a friend, who was pregnant at the time. The soundtrack, which was full of breakup and "goodbye, I still love you," types of songs, left my friend, in her vulnerable hormonal state, crying for 45 minutes afterward. Oops.

Other days, I sit down to write with no distractions but the ones I end up creating. That's when I love using soundtrack music. There are actually albums exclusively made up of driving, emotionally exciting soundtrack music, the best of the best, and I can tell you, this stuff is pretty much perfect for any project you're working on. Kerry Muzzey and Corner Stone Cues are some of the best of these, in my opinion.

Well, now you know all my secrets--make sure to check out the soundtrack music, you won't be sorry!

Jacquelyn Sylvan is the author of Surviving Serendipity, a YA fantasy containing absolutely NO damsels in distress. Click the link to buy on Amazon!

Proper Care of Your Peeves

2010-06-20T01:22:00.001-04:00

We're going to pet our peeves, today!

Yay!

(clap, clap)

Where to start? There are so many things. I might hurt myself.

So here we go...

We'll start off with the word ... 'myself.'

I hate the word, 'myself,' myself. Because so many people just screw it up, leaving me grinding my molars into chalk. Worse, people who know better obviously don't know better. I can't tell you how many times I've heard a teacher, an announcer, a politician say something like, "my friend and myself went to the store..."

Grrr....

My family has learned to duck if we're watching a show and someone uses it improperly. I explode, frothing at the mouth (as opposed as frothing anywhere else), and they just cringe, knowing I just have to rant and rave every time.

Of course, that's what a peeve is all about.

And I gots lots of them.

Here's another one.

How about someone who races you for the merge, and when you let him go ahead, he slows down below the speed limit?

And more.

How about supposed BA's wearing knit caps in the middle of the summer? Yeah, maybe you are tough after all.

Grand Prix drivers (read any of my books, I destroy one or its driver).

People who brush by you without saying 'excuse me,' or even acknowledging you were there in the first place.

People who don't have weeds in their lawn.

Guys who don't flush after going to the bathroom, or worse, wash their hands.

The thing about pet peeves is you have to take care of them. Feed them, keep them safe. Fortunately, there are so many people out there who feel it's their personal responsibility to keep your peeves charged up.

Here's to them.

Norm

www.normcowie.com
(vampire, humor book Fang Face on ebook for three bucks)

Grrr

2010-06-19T09:18:00.002-04:00

Pet peeves... hmmm. I have things I really, really hate (i.e. racism) and then I have things that seem to more fit the "Pet Peeve" label; annoying, annoying, annoying, and annoying. Like homework.

Now that it's summer vacation I don't have homework every day, so I have more time to gripe about how annoying homework was and will be again next year. As a student I understand the effect teachers want homework to have--review of the day's lesson--but as a teenager I see the actual impact it has on my and my friends' lives. If I hear that a highschooler (or middle schooler for that matter, or college student, et cetera) is a total grouch in the morning, stressed, shredding books in frustration, and up until all hours of the morning, I know the diagnosis imediately: homework.

I agree that students need to be responsible for making sure they understand what they're taught. I also agree that studying is usually necessary and should be done, and even review the night after a lesson if someone has time and feels the need. But the reality is that most homework that's assigned is simply busywork under the disguise of "review." In order to keep up a grade a student must complete the mind-numbing repetitive work in multiple subjects, which can take hours, and usually this is done after hours already spent in school, after-school sports or activities, and other obligatons such as practicing an instrument or working or doing chores.

There's my post-school rant...

Kieryn
www.kierynnicolas.com
www.kierynnicolas.blogspot.com

Pet Peeves

2010-06-19T01:46:00.000-04:00

I've been told I'm easy to get along with. Few things get on my nerves.

However! If you want to be sure to get on my bad side, do these:

Be two-faced. I live my life in a manner where I always try to mean what I say, say what I mean, keep my promises, tell the truth -- even when it hurts, stand for what I believe, and treat everyone as I would expect to be treated. I expect you to do the same.
Be petty. I can be as catty as the next girl, but I don't bite unless I've been bitten first.
Be mocking. No one likes being made fun of, so knock it off.
Don't listen. At least make an attempt to hear what I'm saying. If you have something to add, at least wait until I've said my piece. And if you're one of those people who carry on multiple conversations at once, or are glued to your phone, please, don't. I want to know I've got your attention. I'll try to do the same for you.

It's not that hard to be respectful and courteous and forthright. And believe me: a little politeness can do amazing things.

~*~

Buy a story (or two or three): Heather Ingemar in the Echelon Catalog

Copy editing pet peeves

2010-06-17T19:26:00.004-04:00

One of my tasks in my day job is copy editing summaries of court cases for legal newsletters. If you've never been a copy editor or worked with one, let me clue you in: Copy editors have a TON of pet peeves, especially if what they're editing is supposed to follow specific guidelines.

In my line of work we follow Associated Press rules for writing news stories and use Blue Book guidelines for citing court cases.

Copy editors are also generally detail-oriented, type-A, obsessive-compulsive people (and not necessarily in that order).

Here's a short list of errors that drive me crazy:

1. Overuse of the word "that." Ninety percent of the time, it's unnecessary.

2. Misplaced or missing commas. You can't just throw them in willy-nilly.

3. Using pronouns to describe two or more of the same things in the same sentence. "He gave him his book" could be interpreted as "Billy gave Tom Billy's book" or "Billy gave Tom Tom's book."

4. Run-on sentences. Enough said.

I would to say that being a copy editor my writing is impeccable. Sadly, I am not immune to errors in my stories. But I guarantee that if I need to include a court citation in one, it will be correctly constructed.

Katie Pasek is the author of "Sure-foot Sam in Jeopardy" and Junior's New Home. For more information, please visit www.katiepasek.com.

Printers Row

2010-06-14T11:31:00.002-04:00

WOW! It was my first time at Printers Row. What an experience.
If you're ever in the Chicago Area on the second weekend of June, be sure and go to Printers Row. There are blocks closed off, with tents filling the streets. Books of every kind for sale. People by the thousands streamed by buying books and meeting authors. It was a great time for a photo shoot. How exciting to meet so many other Echelon authors. It's nice to know so many people love books!

My Most Anticipated Summer Blockbusters

2010-06-09T17:02:00.004-04:00

M. Night Shyamalan is one of my favorite directors. Some say he's too predictable, too artsy, but I say he does psychologically creepy like no other moviemaker around today, except maybe Guillermo del Toro.
So of course, I was incredibly disappointed when I found out a day too late last year that he'd been shooting scenes for an upcoming movie just down the road from my house in Beltzville State Park, a favorite stomping ground for me, my husband, and our two dogs (click here for pics of Sirius and I at Beltzville). I threw a pretty sizeable tantrum. I could have been an extra. Or a groupie. Probably just a groupie, but still.
Therefore, I've been looking forward to seeing The Last Airbender, if only to test myself and see if I can recognize the scenes shot in my backyard.
The other summer blockbuster I'm looking forward to should be in my mailbox tomorrow. Justin Cronin is being called the new Stephen King, and stores are having trouble keeping his book, The Passage, on the shelves. Check back on my blog within the next few weeks, and I'll tell you if I think it lives up to the hype.

Jacquelyn Sylvan is the author of Surviving Serendipity, a book where damsels in distress are just so last season. Click the link to buy on Amazon!

Jaws - Still the Greatest Summer Blockbuster

2010-06-07T21:09:00.000-04:00

For those of you not alive during that summer of 1975, it’s probably hard to imagine the impact this film had on the public when it was released. This was a movie that had audiences lining up for hours in the hot, sweltering sun. This was the movie which scared so many people that they stayed out of the water for years (and not just the ocean). It was also the first movie to make more than $100 million at the box office, convincing studio heads that there was some serious money to be made at the box office during the summer. And, of course, Jaws was the movie which launched Steven Spielberg’s career.

But back then, we were simply scared to death, and loving it. Not since Hitchcock’s Psycho had a single horror movie had such a profound impact on audiences and popular culture.

Nowadays, we expect summer movies to give us the most bang for our buck, but back then, when there wasn’t a designated summer movie season, Jaws was a welcome sucker-punch, demonstrating that movies weren’t simply meant to be watched…they were meant to be experienced.

Yeah, today, the shark effects may seem a bit quaint, but the film itself still scary, still suspenseful, and still tons of fun. The effects-heavy summer blockbusters we take for granted today would not exist if it weren’t for Jaws, easily the most visceral, violent and audience-rousing movie of all time.

D.M. Anderson
http://dmanderson.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/frandavea

Being a Chick

2010-06-04T11:22:00.002-04:00

One of the coolest things about writing fiction is writing characters who aren’t you. Writing about aliens, vampires, murderers … unless you are a murderer, of course. Or writing a character of the other gender.

Outside of Chastity Bono, who legally named her/his name and sex to Chaz Bono, very few people have been both genders, so we fiction writers really have to stretch our imagination to try and ‘become’ someone else, especially if it’s the other gender.

Like how can I understand what it’s like to have ‘female’ health issues - what it’s like to be the physically weaker sex - how a guy could actually be attractive - enjoying romance movies - being afraid of spiders - in touch with your emotions?

(shiver)

Tough stuff.

There’s a tendency to go too far, stretching tendencies out of whack where the guy is too manly or the woman too womanly. Of course, these will still have a basis in reality because there are guys who are too manly and women who are too womanly.

I think that’s why I make my female characters kind of tough. They don’t take guff, they stand up for themselves … though they might still be afraid of spiders.

One of the coolest things has been the feedback I get from females regarding my characters. A girl from Chicago wrote to me that she wants to ‘be Erin,’ the vampire from “Fang Face.” A woman from Oregon identified so strongly with the woman warrior from “The Adventures of Guy” she changed her Myspace name to the warrior’s name. A lot of my reviews have come from female reviewers.

So it’s pretty clear that I’ve nailed the female POV, at least from what I’m hearing.

Boo-yah!

Try it yourself. Write from the other gender POV, show it to a friend, and see how you did.

Norm

www.normcowie.com

Lots of free stuff to read on my site!

Two of my books are available on ebook for $3 or less

2010-06-03T13:11:00.000-04:00

Up until my most recent story, I've only ever written novels from the female perspective. That makes sense to me, because I write the way I think, but in my most recent novel I challenged myself. I wrote from three different perspectives, and one was male. Therefore I had to create three different voices and understand the female/male distinctions.

It went pretty well, I think. I was told from some of the guys that have read it that I got the male perspective down pretty good. It wasn't entirely different from writing female perspective. There's a large plotline that affects all perspectives, but for the most part the chapters from Neil's--my male character's--perspective had a different setting that also helped distinguish it from the two female characters.

I think I still have a preference for writing from a female perspective, but I feel good doing whatever lends itself to the story the best.

Kieryn
www.kierynnicolas.com
www.kierynnicolas.blogspot.com

Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus... Not so Much

2010-06-03T01:12:00.006-04:00

The differences between men and women are huge fodder for discussion, especially where relationships are concerned. Books upon books upon books are written around interactions between men and women, with everyone beating the dead horse about how we are so incredibly, fundamentally, different.

In my humble opinion, people are, at their core, very similar. We all have the same wants, the same basic needs. What makes it interesting, and what makes us unique unto ourselves are the things that make up our past history, everything from how our parents treated us, to who we're friends with, to what adventures or experiences we have.

It's these things that influence our choices, and are the nuts and bolts of our characters in writing.

~*~

Buy a story (or two or three): Heather Ingemar in the Echelon Catalog

Penning male characters as a female writer

2010-06-01T16:46:00.003-04:00

I generally have an easier time writing female character over male character, probably because I’m female myself, but I have never let that fact dictate the types of people who populate my stories (I couldn’t even if I wanted to).

Most of the time I don’t even pay attention to the gender of my characters because to me they are living, breathing people with their own personalities and lives, and I’m simply recording a few brief moments of those lives.

So it came as a surprise to me when I finished writing “Sure-foot Sam in Jeopardy” and realized there were only two female character in the whole adventure.

Interesting, I mumbled aloud, and didn’t give it a second thought until I was preparing to read an excerpt to two fifth-grade classes.

It was then I realized having a story comprised almost exclusively of male characters was hard to read if you’re female because not only do you have to make each character’s voice unique and distinctive, but then you have to drop the tone of your voice a register to make it sound genuine (and not like a female trying to read a male’s part).

Good thing I love a challenge!

Now here’s a challenge for my readers:

Name the two female characters in “Sure-foot Sam in Jeopardy.” (Hint: One of them is not human.) E-mail me your answers at katie.pasek@gmail.com. First reader with the correct answer wins a prize!

Katie Pasek is the author of “Sure-foot Sam in Jeopardy” (available from Echelon Shorts/Quake) and Junior’s New Home (available from Lulu.com). For more information, or to order, please visitwww.katiepasek.com.

Friendship Lasting Through The Decades

2010-05-30T08:33:00.026-04:00

Cynthia and I have been friends since our days in a baby buggy (I'm on the right). As you can see, I was happier about our "friendship" than Cynthia.

We were friends all through school, then went our separate ways. I got married and began raising a family and Cynthia went on to nursing school. Not surprising since she'd said from the time she was about six that she wanted to be a nurse.

We lost touch for about 20 years or so, until hurricanes and a job relocation brought us from Fort Myers, FL, to the Atlanta area. Cynthia and I are now less an hour from each other. Ironic considering we were both born and raised in Southern Indiana.

The first time we got together after our move, we talked non-stop for the entire evening. Our husbands just looked at us, smiled, shrugged and talked among themselves.

As you might have guessed, Cynthia is the Cynthia of attic fame. The series, Cynthia's Attic is based on my childhood playing in her attic.

I believe it was fate that brought us back together, but a the solid base on which our friendship was built all those years ago (No, I'm not going to say how many!), is what keeps our friendship going strong.

I'm the author of the 'Tween time-travel series, Cynthia's Attic.

Mary Cunningham Books
Amazon
Kindle
Fictionwise
Quake/Echelon Press

Friends

2010-05-29T11:59:00.000-04:00

Someone once said, "A real friend will help you move." In my mystery writer circles they say, "A real friend will help you move the body."
I love to go to mystery conferences where the panels teach us how to identify the time of death, look for clues, track down leads, and learn about poisons and weapons.
Magna cum Murder takes place every year on Halloween weekend in Muncie, IN. They decorate the banquet tables with skulls and cobwebs. The servers wear fangs. It's fun to meet the people who read and write mysteries. All four of my books are mysteries. The most recent is a fantasy/mystery, The Secret of Bailey's Chase. I can't imagine reading or writing a book that didn't have a mystery in it. Harriet the Spy is a great book for middle-grade readers as is Among the Hidden, The Giver, Belle Prater's Boy, and Snowbound. The Sammy Keyes mysteries are fun for the tween crowd and everyone loves Hank the Cowdog. If you need a good book, get to the library and check out some of these for summer reading.
Don't forget Crispin by Avi!

Fictional Friends

2010-05-24T17:26:00.003-04:00

There's a quote floating around that about sums up how I feel about friendship, which goes something like this: "A good friend will bail you out of jail, but a true friend will be sitting beside you saying, 'Wow, that was fun.'"

Friends are both rescuers and accomplices, or at least the best ones are. How could Novalee Nation have survived, homeless and with a new baby, without Sister Husband and Lexie Coop in Where the Heart Is? And would Dru have been able to summon the strength to go on after her father's death, without Graves' help in Strange Angels?

Of course, the bonds of friendship often turn to something more, as with Dru and Graves, and Clary and Simon in the Mortal Instruments series. However, I think the most famous example to date of attraction overtaking a friendship would have to be the strangely-fated relationship of Jacob Black and Bella Swan.

And then there are the threesomes, the Musketeers, like Buffy, Willow and Xander from Buffy the Vampire Slayer (yes, I'm aware it's a television show and not a book, but I do occasionally catch glimpses of alternate media). If you know me at all, though, you'll know my favorite triangulated amigos, though; Harry, Ron and Hermione, from the Harry Potter series. Need I say more?

Who are your favorite fictional friends?

Jacquelyn Sylvan is the author of Surviving Serendipity, a YA fantasy novel where damsels in distress are so last season. Click the link to buy on Amazon!

Genre Schmenre

2010-05-23T14:35:00.001-04:00

As for me, I don’t pick genres. Not anymore.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, when I was trying to be the next Stephen King, I always had lots of story ideas, but never pursued the ones which weren’t of the horror genre. Even if I had a great idea for a humorous story or adventure tale, I’d choose to write horror, even if my idea for that story wasn’t as good. I wanted to be known as a horror writer.

Though I managed to publish a few, most of them weren’t any good, and horror became less enjoyable to try and write. I have to enjoy the process of writing, even if that means getting rid of the notion I need to write in a specific genre. After all, the books I read aren’t exclusively of one genre, so why should my own stories be?

That’s how I came to write what would be my first published novel. Other than the target audience (young adults), I didn’t write Killer Cows to try and fit into any particular genre. It ended up being a big mixed-bag of realistic fiction, humor, B-movies and sci-fi. But most importantly, I liked it. And if you can’t love your own work, how can you expect someone else to?

And even though it was my first sale, I didn’t try to duplicate it with my second novel. Though aimed at the same age, it’s an entirely different genre. My third book (a work in progress) is different from both of those.

The important thing for me, just like for any reader, is the story comes first. Who cares what genre it falls under?

D.M. Anderson
http://dmanderson.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/frandavea
Killer Cows available at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Killer-Cows-ebook/dp/B003CT33LY/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2
and Fictionwise: http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b107106/Killer-Cows/DM-Anderson/?

Romance? (snort)

2010-05-19T01:03:00.001-04:00

My wife was hanging around when I was doing our taxes, and in the course of our conversation, I mentioned another author had suggested I join the Romance Writers of America .

Of course, my wife nearly snorted up a lung, so for the next fifteen minutes we giggled about me writing a romance novel. She said the romantic moments would be like, "Hey, I like your butt." Then she added that me writing a romance novel would be like her writing a cookbook (she hates cooking) or a travelogue (she's hates traveling even more).

Then I started Tweeting. So for your enjoyment, here are the top ten reasons I can't write romance.

Yay!

(clap, clap, clap)

I'm a guy
I hate staring at a blank screen
I'd have to access remote, undeveloped parts of my brain.
When you say 'romance', I say SuperBowl.
I keep that part of my brain mixed up with my funny bone.
It's like ... alien.
No guy can. those guy writers are actually women in disguise.
My wife already thinks I'm Fabio because I cook on weekends and put the toilet seat down.
It ... might ... CHANGE me!
Cuz I'm doing my taxes right now.
When I actually sit and watch a romance, I can feel rigor mortis settling in.
Those are the parts of the movies where I take a pee break.
Romance isn't nudity.
My wife wouldn't recognize me.
Cuz I think romance is bouncing my eyebrows and saying, "how you' doin'?"
Cuz it would just come out creepy.
The amount of wine required would make me a lush and pickle my liver.
Fart jokes and belching the alphabet would have no place in the book.
Have you seen me attempt to dance? I think there's a connection there.
It's Just. Not. Funny.

We stopped because she had to go to the bathroom. What's disturbing was how eager she was to help me create the twenty Top Ten reasons.

And more disturbing, she had twenty more.

So I write humor. It's easier on the brain and I've learned to type with my funny bone.

Norm

http://www.normcowie.com/

(author of Fang Face: YA humor/vampire - download into your computer or Kindle and read in less than five minutes for under three bucks!)

No Two Stories Are The Same

2010-05-18T16:21:00.004-04:00

So far, none of the stories I've finished have been the same genre. They're like snowflakes; they refuse to copy one another.

In sixth grade I wrote an entire Oregon Trail journal. I wrote a fantasy novel in 7th grade. RAIN is about espionage. My latest story is a futuristic dystopia. I guess I'm not a one-genre kind of person.

I don't write my stories for the genre. Usually, I write them for the characters, and whatever the character needs to fulfill his or her story becomes the plot and subsequently the genre. My dystopia story is actually the only one I've written where I had the idea for the plot before the idea for the characters. However, once the story took off, the characters became the focus.

Kieryn
www.kierynnicolas.com
www.kierynnicolas.blogspot.com

Picking a genre is like picking a single crayon

2010-05-17T01:23:00.001-04:00

At my heart, I'm a non-conformist. Sure, I follow the rules -- but only long enough to get the rule-makers to give me my space. Then it's Watch Out! I color outside the lines. I mix and match my algebraic variables. I ask questions teachers don't want to answer.

Not that I'm a mischief-maker -- I'm not. I'm just... different. (This is probably why I have such a hard time pigeon-holing my work into a genre.)

In publishing, it's easier if your work fits tidily into a box. Mysteries are marketed to demographic A, and romance sells best among women. Horror goes another place entirely -- let's call it demographic C -- and the opposite for sci-fi and fantasy. Each type of work has its own little niche to fill.

Remember I said I color outside the lines? Same thing here.

Don't ask me to pick just one genre. I'm a fan of all of them.

~*~

Buy a story (or two or three): Heather Ingemar in the Echelon Catalog

Animal Whisperer

2010-05-16T08:15:00.005-04:00

I have a secret wish to be able to talk to animals. Flying around, burrowing in the ground, and swimming underwater they get to see our world a unique and more varied way then us humans.

I suppose that’s why my two protagonists are a bulldog and an orangutan. OK, well, Junior is a stuffed animal and not a real orangutan ... but don’t try telling him that :-)

Writing about animals gives me the opportunity to research them. And yes, I’m just nerdy enough to enjoy doing research voluntarily.

Then I have to imagine the world through their eyes, which can be difficult because Junior likes to swing up high, while Sir Reginald (the bulldog) is only 14 inches tall.

Over the years both Junior and Sir Reginald have taken on human-like personas, while Sir Reginald’s master, Sure-foot Sam, very often acts like a dog. He’s loyal, lovable and a bit impulsive.

So I guess I’m starting bridging the gap between the animal and human worlds. Hopefully that’s the first step to understanding animals better, which may lead me to be able to talk them someday.

Katie Pasek is the author of "Sure-foot Sam in Jeopardy" and Junior's New Home. Visit us at www.katiepasek.com.

My Secret Wish - Time Travel

2010-05-13T00:05:00.001-04:00

My secret wish is to travel back in time, have adventures and solve mysteries with my ancestors. Hmmm...sounds like a great book idea. Wait! I've already written it!

Cynthia's Attic series takes 12-year-old best friends, Cynthia and Gus (me!) through time from 1964 to 1914 and beyond. They even manage to make a trip into the future in The Magician's Castle.

A couple of reasons led to writing the books. A recurring dream I had for over 20 years about a mysterious attic was one. When realizing the dream took place in the attic of my childhood friend, Cynthia...well, you see where I'm going.

But, the main reason I've enjoyed writing the books is the ability to have adventures with my ancestors. I always regretted not paying more attention to my grandparents' stories about "the good ol' days." There are so many things I'd love to ask them, today. Unfortunately, they're all gone and many family stories died with them.

That didn't stop me from writing about the real disappearance of my g. g. grandfather who disappeared while taking a flat boat loaded with produce down the Mississippi River (Curse of the Bayou), or my g. grandfather's music store that came in handy when the circus needed an organ for the evening performance (The Magic Medallion).

I've written adventures about my dad, who was a teenage cave guide, my g. grandmother, who had to deal with running the family farm after her husband disappeared, and even my dog, Molly who died halfway through the writing of The Magician's Castle. I was so devastated over her death, that finishing the book was in question until a friend suggested I write her into the story. She quickly became my favorite character.

So, I guess my wish would be to really travel back in time and talk to my ancestors and listen to all the stories they'd have to tell. But, until someone invests a real time machine, or finds a magic trunk (besides the one in Cynthia's attic!), guess I'll be content to have adventures with them through my stories.

Mary Cunningham Books
Amazon
Kindle
Fictionwise
Quake/Echelon Press

Alien Invasions??

2010-05-12T11:59:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure what they are. I'll tell you what I do know. I live at the end of a long winding lane, my home against a deep woods. At night I hear owls screeching. I see coyotes slink across my pastures regularly. Bobcats and cougars slip silently near my home at night. Large snakes slither around the edges of my lake. Huge snapping turtles raise their heads and give me an evil eye when I swim. Headlines tell me murderers and serial killers abound. It's so quiet.
I nearly stepped on the gelatinous mass growing on the ladder of my dock in August. It was alive, a million eyes watching me, breathing, reproducing. I tore at it, then saw more and more, too many to destroy. The seeds had been planted.
The large mushroom growth on the tree appeared this spring for the first time. The tree has been there for years, but the fungi chose this season to visit me. It's there, watching, waiting....
I move carefully about during the day. I lock my doors at night. I have a loaded gun nearby.
No one wonders why my books contain murder, ghosts, netherworlds, and mayhem.
Visit me at http://wwwmarlisday.blogspot.com

Fun Mother's Day Facts and Trivia

2010-05-08T16:16:00.002-04:00

Mother's Day has been celebrated, in one form or another, as far back as the beginning of recorded history. In those days, it was a celebration of "Mother Gods," such as Isis in Egypt, and Rhea in Greece.

It wasn't until the 1800's that Mother's Day began to take on the form we're familiar with today. Julia Ward Howe, who wrote The Battle Hymn of the Republic (even if you don't think you know it, trust me, you know it), disgusted by the Civil War's destruction of families, proposed the holiday as a celebration of peace and motherhood.

Unfortunately, Ward Howe's efforts fell flat, but a West Virginian Woman, Anna Reeves Jarvis, took up the cause to try and mend fences between Northern and Southern neighbors. The third woman to take up the banner, Jarvis's daughter, Anna M. Jarvis, stopped working so she could petition state and federal governments full-time for the holiday to be officially recognized. In 1914, President Wilson declared the second Sunday in May Mother's Day.

And now, for some fun Mother's Day Trivia:

--Mr. Rogers's own mother knitted most of the sweaters he wore on his popular children's show.

--The highest number of children born to one mother is 69, to a Russian woman whose name is unfortunately lost in history. Between 1725 and 1765, she gave birth to sixteen sets of twins, seven sets of triplets, and four sets of quadruplets. Only two did not survive infancy, which, given the times, I think is pretty amazing.

--An armadillo can stall her pregnancy for up to three years using delayed implantation while she finds a suitable environment in which to give birth. Armadillos also reproduce via natural cloning, where one fertilized egg splits into four identical embryos.

--Both Jack Nicholson and Eric Clapton were born to young, unwed mothers, and both grew up believing their grandparents to be their parents and their mothers to be their sisters.

--And the most selfless Mother's Day gift-giver of all: Carole Horlock, of Hertfordshire, England. She's acted as surrogate mother to childless couples since 1995, giving birth to eight girls and four boys.

Happy Mother's Day, mommies!!!!

Uh oh! Forgot to get Mom something for Mother's Day? Click below to order my book...fun for all ages!

Ode to Mom

2010-05-05T23:12:00.001-04:00

The best moms never stop being moms, no matter how crazy they drive you.

I’m 46 years old, with a wife of twenty years and two daughters, one 15, the other, 6. I’ve been a teacher for 14 years.

Still, my mom laments the fact I wear my hair long, constantly comments on my taste in music (which hasn’t changed a lot since I was a teenager) and feels the incessant need to offer life-advice as though I had just recently landed on this planet.

Our arguments have changed over the years, of course. Yet, despite my position on our current government and/or headline news, she acts as though I know nothing and she knows all (despite the fact most of her information comes from FOX News, an oxymoron if their ever was one).

But you know what? I love her for it. I look forward to our pointless debates over issues which seem important at the time, revel in our clashes over personal values, and despite my advanced age, enjoy the rebelling to the point she gets upset (most recently, my somewhat belated decision to get a tattoo).

I love her for all of that. I love her values, even though they aren’t mine. I love the fact that she (unconsciously?) allows me to actually feel rebellious, despite my middle age. We argue about lots of stuff, though I doubt either of us really think we’ll convince the other they are wrong. It’s the conversation with Mom I truly love.

Mom may no longer be a doting parent, but she’s so much more now...my sounding board, my mentor, my moral compass, my friend. We agree on almost nothing, but I respect everything she says, simply because she’s my mom and, everything I am, everything I think or believe, I owe to her.

Mother’s Day is coming up, and I’ll likely venture to my nearby Barnes & Noble to pick up a gift card to tuck into her Mother’s Day card. Is it a gift like that worthy of the attributes I’ve mentioned about my mom?

Of course not. If I could, I'd give her the world.

She’s Mom. I owe her everything. And, no matter what your age, not matter what your beliefs, you owe your mom everything, too.

The Morph-mobile

2010-04-27T22:45:00.004-04:00

There are a lot of advantages to being a humor writer ... not the least that we can burp in public without too much of an eye roll ... because people expect it.

But better, we have freedom other writers don't have. We can screw up, and our editor will go, "did you mean to put a weasel in your underpants?"

I mean, for most people, that's a screw up, but for a humor writer not necessarily so. The editor has does some hand-wringing, thinking, "there must be something funny about this that I'm not getting."

How liberating, huh?

Case in point. With my first book, "The Adventures of Guy ... written by a guy (probably)," there's a point in which my characters jump in an SUV and go off to battle telemarketers. But later on, I described the same vehicle as a mini-van. Later, it was an SUV again.

So my editor sends me a hesitantly phrased email asking, "Was this an 'oops', or is this the incredible morphing vehicle?"

I love putting doubt in my editor like this!

Anyway, yeah, it was a screw up, so I'm glad I had a sharp-eyed editor.

So when you're off writing your gut wrenching love stories, or twisty-turnie mysteries or whatever it is you write other than humor, remember ...

... we humor writers are laughing at you.

Norm

Get yourself some Fang Face today! $2.99 on ebook! A bit more expensive on paper, but worth it. Just go to my website www.normcowie.com, and follow the instructions.

Bewinged Jungle Beasts

2010-04-27T17:23:00.003-04:00

A vehicle is defined as "any device or contrivance for carrying or conveying persons or objects, esp. over land or in space." That gave me a lot to choose from as far as "awesome" vehicles. But then the space part caught my eye. Air is space right?

If so, then the most awesome vehicle would have to be a Curtiss P-40. This WWII fighter plane was instrumental in the operations of the Flying Tigers, an American volunteer group that defended China. In 7th grade my friend and I did a documentary on the Flying Tigers (my great-great uncle was one), and learned a lot about the P-40s in the meantime.

The reason I think the P-40s are so awesome is the fact that they were able to be awesome against a ton of odds. The P-40s couldn't match the maneuverability of the opposing aircraft and there was a severe lack of spare parts, so repairs had to be made constantly. Despite these and other issues, the P-40s were the pride of the Tigers-- they even painted Tiger mouths on their planes.

After spending a year researching and presenting about them, I definitely think P-40s are pretty awesome vehicles.

Kieryn www.kierynnicolas.com www.kierynnicolas.blogspot.com RAIN print preorders are available!

An 80s fasion flashback

2010-04-25T11:51:00.001-04:00

I am a child of the 80s.

I grew up watching MTV, with all the hair bands, skinny jeans, and wild accessories. Van Halen, Michael Jackson, Madonna, and Cyndi Lauper.

When people say that "history repeats itself," it's true.

Walking through some department stores the other day, I saw skinny jeans, patterned vests, and wild accessories. I saw a girl who looked like a carbon copy of Cyndi Lauper.

Pity MTV doesn't play music anymore.

~*~

Buy a story (or two or three): Heather Ingemar on Echelon Direct

80's fashion is TOTALLY AWESOME

2010-04-24T14:34:00.002-04:00

The 80s definitely boast “best in fashion.” I mean, what other time in history was it socially acceptable to crimp your hair, pull it back into a neon scrunchie and then tease your bangs six inches off your head with about half a can of Aquanet hairspray? True, after applying the product you could spend days trying to wash it out or just use it as a base for your next application.

Like most decades in the U.S., fashions were largely dictated by the music industry. From Madonna, to Michael Jackson, to the many “hair bands,” there was no shortage of fashion icons.

Madonna gave us lace fingerless gloves, headbands with large bows, and short tulle skirts over leggings.

Michael Jackson sported white socks, white suits and the infamous single white glove (before he became white).

The hair bands, meanwhile, gave us ... well, hair, along with every kind of outfit from ripped jeans to leather to animal print. These bands made having bed-head cool.

Last October some friends I went to Boogie Nights, one of our favorite nightclubs in Atlantic City that plays a great mix of 70’s and 80’s music. This time we decided to dress the part, too. I went all out, sporting a poofy dress, black lace-edged leggings, white socks and red pointy heels (see photo). I even crimped my hair. (Yes, I admit to still owning a crimping iron. You never know when you’re going to need it.)

We had a truly AWESOME time and everyone thought my shoes were really cool.

Katie Pasek is the author of “Sure-foot Sam in Jeopardy” and Junior’s New Home. For more information, visit www.katiepasek.com.

The 70's - The Decade of Fashion Disasters!

2010-04-21T00:05:00.002-04:00

The 70's wasn't such a bad decade. Some of the music was pretty good. The Eagles, the Doobie Brothers, Kansas, Jim Croce (my personal fav), Bob Dylan (still going strong!) and, ahem...cough, The Bee Gees. Okay, so most people hate the Disco Era! I probably wouldn't have given the Brothers Gibb a second though either, except Barry was so darn good-looking!! And, I still like songs such as Nights On Broadway, How Deep Is Your Love, To Love Somebody, etc. So, give me a break.

Oh, but the clothes!! I gag just thinking of polyester! Does anyone out there remember leisure suits? If not, you're in for a treat. Yep. This is how we dressed in the early 70's. Enough to gag a maggot...right?

When the 70's fashion look began creeping its way back a year or two ago, I just shook my head. No way, no how. I would NOT be a party to such awful clothes. Been there-done that. Not again. NEVER! Okay, so shoot me. I did break down and buy a couple pairs of flared-leg pants and jeans, but only because they guaranteed to make me look taller! Just don't get me near polyester! That ship has sailed.

Mary Cunningham is the author of the award-winning, 'Tween Fantasy/time-travel series, "Cynthia's Attic," women's humor book, "WOOF: Women Only Over Fifty," and several short stories.

Mary Cunningham Books
Amazon
Kindle
Fictionwise
Quake/Echelon Press

TODAY SHOW'S "Top Dog Contest"

2010-04-20T11:59:00.000-04:00

My granddaughters and I take Gypsy, my Jack Russell terrier, to nursing homes to entertain the residents. She does a routine of tricks. I just sent a video of her tricks to the Top Dog Contest being held on the TODAY SHOW. Winner gets a trip to NY and gets to perform on the show. If you'd like to see her tricks, click on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQUu3LC9Y_U

Bell Bottom Blues

2010-04-19T11:54:00.013-04:00

by Pam Ripling

Whether you participated in, slept through it or weren't even born yet, the 1970's happened and there's no refuting the mark they made on fashion. The sixties set up the trends with permissive, bold, "free" design that evolved with the help of a fun-loving media and a daring entertainment industry.

Paisley. Hot pink and orange. Loud anything, sparkles, tight fitting. Think John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever (1977). Goldie Hawn in Rowen and Martin's Laugh In (1968 – 73). Below, she is with Monkees Mike Nesmith, Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz, sporting his own rather eye-catching garb. Platform shoes and disco boots came into their own. Glam rockers made it okay for men to wear shiny metallic spandex jumpsuits and makeup. Unisex garb raged, too. How about hot pants? Bell-bottoms or flaired pants peaked in the mid-70's.

Me? I was just a kid, but I loved the bells and the crop-tops. My favorite fashion faux pas was a brown velveteen hat with a green feather on the side, shaped similar to Robin Hood's famous chapeau. My BFF and I both had this hat, and we wore them everywhere. Our trademark, so to speak. Wish I had a photo.

Some things have not changed. Underground fashion icons of TV's The Mod Squad (1968 – 73) would not look out of place today, really, with the possible exception of Linc's (Clarence Williams III) fabulous Afro. Julie's (Peggy Lipton) long hair is timeless, as are Linc's and Pete's (Michael Cole) classic Levi's. Not sure about the necklaces, though.

Pam Ripling is the author of middle-grade mystery, LOCKER SHOCK! Buy it at Quake, Fictionwise or Amazon today! E-book version now available for your Kindle! Visit Pam at www.BeaconStreetBooks.com.

Holy Swifties!

2010-04-18T01:54:00.000-04:00

Author Edward Stratemeyer created Tom Swift, a character well known for his play on words. Some are hilarious:

"Get away from the dynamite," Tom said explosively.

"I'm an ordained minister," said Tom reverently.

Maybe this was an inspiration for some of the dialogue in the original Batman series. Robin sure uses the same concept to create some hilarious, memorable lines, like this one:

"Holy costume party! That's the Penguin!"

Can you think of a Robin Swiftie? I'll give it a whirl:

Holy blizzards, Batman! What a snow job!

Holy shrubbery! An ambush!

Holy wagging tongues! You're on the front page of the National Enquirer!

Have fun! :)

Warmly,
J.R. Turner

J.R. Turner is the author of the Extreme Hauntings series. The first book, DFF: Dead Friends Forever is available at Amazon.com, Kindle, Fictionwise, and Echelon Press.com

Where the Wind Blows

2010-04-10T02:41:00.001-04:00

The storm caught us all totally by surprise.

Upon reflection, it shouldn't have, because we had all been eating beans.

But the backlash, oh, the backlash.

We should have known better when we plucked all of the cans of beans off the shelf at the store ... that the combination of beans and beer... like nitro ... and glycerin ... and bananas.

Anyway, it wasn't pleasant.

And when Andy tried lighting one of them...

Yeah, it was ugly, but at least everyone's eyebrows grew back.

Norm

(still immature after all these years)

www.normcowie.com

Tornado?

2010-04-09T22:42:00.001-04:00

I've been fortunate enough not to be in any natural disasters or incredibly dangerous storms. Metaphorically I've had some emotional storms, but literally I do have one memory from when I was little...

I (Little-me) was in bed already, but I could hear my parents in the living room. They were watching the TV and not talking much. After a while they came in and told me that we had to go down to the basement.

Naturally, my first response was, "Can I bring Madeline and Ariel?" My Madeline (you know, the one who lives in an old house in Paris all covered with vines) and Ariel (little mermaid. You knew that) dolls were my most important possessions.

I'm not sure what the actual response was, but what I heard was "You can take one."

It was the hardest choice I'd had to make. I finally chose Ariel when my parents told me to hurry up as they were getting my sister awake. We all went down to the basement, where they explained that there was a tornado across the mountain and it probably wouldn't hit us but we were being careful anyway, because that's what you should do during a storm.

The entire time we were downstairs I was worrying about Madeline, still in my bed. I knew I would be sad if she blew away--I'd waited months to get her from Growing Tree!

But when we went back upstairs a while later, Madeline was safe, and I fell asleep.

Kieryn
Author of the YA spy novel RAIN
www.kierynnicolas.blogspot.com
www.kierynnicolas.com

The wildest storm I survived

2010-04-07T11:58:00.000-04:00

My parents divorced when I was 12.

It was August, hot and sweltering, and even our neighbor's horses had forgone their frolicking in favor of hiding in whatever shade they could find. Dad had left for work a few weeks earlier -- he was a long-haul trucker by trade -- and the house was wrapped in a quiet, comforting afternoon of radio music and laundry. The mail came, and Mom left to get it. "It's a letter from your Dad," she said with wonder as she walked in the door, tearing it open.

The rest of that day -- and the months that followed -- was a blur.

To put it plainly, divorce is ugly. There's no saying it otherwise. It rips you apart from the inside, makes you bleed out all the faith and trust and love you ever had in people. It lets loose all the pain contained in Hell and pumps you full of watery sorrow like a mad scientist. And amid the tearing, howling, violent storm of family destruction, you may think it kinder to die, to be swallowed up in the dark water instead of weathering the hungry tide.

I am 25 now, and when I look in the mirror, I still see the scars. They no longer bleed and ooze, nor are they merely scabbed over -- fresh skin has knitted over the emotional wounds. I stand here, broken and re-healed, bent and re-straightened to testify:

You can survive.

You can heal again.

It is possible, with a little stubbornness, with a little persistence. The waters of turmoil are potent and deep, it's true. But be like a sailor and fight the tide. Keep rowing. Eventually, the rain and clouds will clear, and you'll see the shore in the distance.

~*~

Buy a story (or two or three): Heather Ingemar on Echelon Direct

The Blizzard(s) of 2010

2010-04-06T21:10:00.004-04:00

The Northeast has seen its share of drastic weather during the past six months — from the first Nor'esters in October 2009, to

three blizzards between December 2009 and February 2010, to now record-breaking heat in the first full week of April 2010.

The worst of the weather for the Philadelphia area came in mid-February with back-to-back blizzards. There was already abo

ut a foot and half on snow on the ground when round two dumped at least that much.

Schools were closed. Area airports were closed. Most offices were closed as employers told workers to stay home.

Even those few who attempted to make it into work were met with closed or restricted roadways.

Although it was tiring and strenuous to dig out and re-dig out after each storm — and few in the area are looking forward to next winter — I weathered the snow rather well.

My employer was one of those who not only told workers to stay at home but started planning to close the office a couple days in advance, so employees could prepare to work from their home offices.

While the plows went to work, I sat on my couch with my laptop and a cup of hot chocolate watching the flakes fall.

The snow had an unexpected side effect, in that it brought most neighbors closer together.

In my condo complex, people worked together to dig out each others' vehicles or shoveled sidewalks before the snow blower crew could come around.

It became evident early on that even if you dug your car out, there was nowhere to go as the area streets were still covered with snow.

People were content to take their time and make small talk while shoveling.

I met more than a dozen of my neighbors during this winter, people I lived near for more than six years but never ran into before the snow fell.

I would prefer not to see another winter with about 79 inches of snow (about 60 inches more than the norm for Philadelphia) but I wouldn't mind being forced to slow down and appreciate my neighborhood a little more.

Posted by Katie Pasek, author of "Sure-foot Sam in Jeopardy." For more information about Katie or Sure-foot, visit www.katiepasek.com.

The Cadbury Egg - A Favorite Easter Treat

2010-04-03T00:05:00.002-04:00

"Here comes Peter Cottontail...hoppin' down the bunny trail." Bringing Cadbury Eggs, I hope! Or, any kind of rich chocolate.

To my everlasting joy and appreciation, John Cadbury opened his first chocolate shop in Birmingham, England in 1824. Do you think he had a clue what an addicting little product the Cadbury Egg would become? Probably not, but how many of you out there have snuck into your children's or younger siblings Easter baskets to swipe one or ten?

At least our consciences can be clear knowing we're doing something really good for our moods, or bodies and our overall well-being. Chocolate, especially the dark kind, also gives us reasons to woof down dinner to get to dessert. Preferably a Cadbury Egg; a delicious combination of rich chocolate and creamy filling. Now, if they would just make dark chocolate creme eggs, I'd be in Heaven! Those little mini eggs just don't cut it.

So, what's your favorite Easter indulgence? Do you eat chocolate for pure satisfaction, or for medicinal purposes? (Yeah, right!)

Mary Cunningham Books
Amazon
Kindle
Fictionwise
Quake/Echelon Press

Mary Cunningham is the author of the award-winning, 'Tween Fantasy/time-travel series, "Cynthia's Attic," women's humor book, "WOOF: Women Only Over Fifty," and several short stories.

Easter!

2010-04-01T11:59:00.001-04:00

Usually by Easter, this flower bed has red tulips and white jonquils along with the yellow daffodills. Maybe next week. It's still nice to see Spring popping up everywhere.
My favorite Easter was the year it fell on my birthday and my mom had a party for me the day before. One little girl brought me 6 live chicks, all dyed pastel colors. What a surprise that was!The kids loved holding the little fuzz balls. Sadly, they didn't live long - probably the dye.
Our Easter consists of church and then a family dinner. We'll have barbecue, baked beans, corn casserole, salad, deviled eggs, chips, and dessert. Afterwards, we all go outside and play whiffle-ball in the front yard with the kids. Some of the men may try to catch a bass in the lake. There will be Easter baskets for the children. Hopefully it will be a sunny day!

Coloring Our Spring

2010-03-31T14:48:00.004-04:00

by Pam Ripling

Well, I was going to talk about Cadbury, and the history of the chocolate Easter egg. Faberge eggs, too, and how all this sweetness got its start in Europe. But gosh darn it, J.R. and Jackie have already done such a good job with this topic, I've been scooped.

So instead, I'll answer J. R.'s question. What do we do, as a family, to celebrate Easter? Well, plans are already underway to put together our annual egg-coloring event. Every year, rain or shine, my sister & I and our two daughters break out the Paas pills and vinegar, boil up a whole mess of eggs and arrange 8 coffee mugs with spoons. We have the requisite white (or colorless) crayon handy. Newspapers spread on the counter, and a rag or two at the ready. We decorate, with rubber banks, decals, stickers, etc. Ooh and ahh, and compete for the prettiest egg.

"Whose egg is still in the purple?"
"Oh no! Another one cracked!"
"Did we make one for Mema yet?"
"How did yours get so blue???"

And so it goes. Our girls are teens now, so the Big Bunny himself sorta skips our houses these days, but we determined and dedicated moms have taken over the tradition by mimicking the traditional egg hunt on Easter morning. In keeping with the eggy-day, I make a wonderful Serbian Eggs casserole for brunch, and we are often blessed with weather warm enough to sit outside and reflect on the beauty of spring and those sinfully excellent Cadbury eggs.

Happy Easter!

Oh, and by the way, Paas has an excellent page here on creating your own Easter egg eggstraveganza!

The Sentimental Hop

2010-03-30T01:23:00.000-04:00

Traditions are like fairy tales. The basket full of goodies, egg hunts, and chocolate bunnies with big ears are all a part of my family's tradition. For one day, we get to pretend and make believe, leaving behind the cares of the world. No balancing the checkbooks, no juggling schedules or trying to fit in the laundry sometime between grocery shopping, dinner and boy/girl scouts.

For the whole day, we get to goof around and pretend that chocolate eggs come from rabbits and marshmallow chicks come from marshmallow chickens. Little girls get to wear the most gorgeous dresses, sometimes complete with matching hat and dainty lace gloves.

Most of all, we get to celebrate the end of winter and the beauty of a new spring. So yeah, okay, I'm being a little poetic here, but these family traditions always bring out my sentimental side.

What does your family do during this time of year? Do you take spring vacations to far off places? Visit relatives in different states?

Warmly,
J.R. Turner

J.R. Turner is the author of the Extreme Hauntings series. The first book, DFF: Dead Friends Forever is available at Amazon.com, Kindle, Fictionwise, and Echelon Press.com

Now, if only they tasted like chocolate...

2010-03-29T06:05:00.005-04:00

Meet the Marans chicken, an uncommon European breed, named for the town in France in which it was developed. And now...

Meet its embryo.

That's right, the Marans chicken lays chocolate eggs. They vary in shade, from milk chocolate to dark, but are always some glossy shade of our favorite treat. Of course, they still taste like eggs, so the Cadbury bunny doesn't need to worry about finding a new job yet, but c'mon. Chocolate eggs. How cool is that?

This got me thinking--are the Marans chicken and Easter candy related in some way? The candy chocolate egg did originate in Europe, so...did someone see a glossy chocolate Marans egg and think, hey, I could do that with real candy? Or was the Marans bred to create a living imitation of a tasty chocolate craze?

In other words, what came first...the Marans chicken, or the Easter egg?

Jacquelyn Sylvan is the author of Surviving Serendipity, a YA fantasy novel. Click below to buy on Amazon!

Top Ten Things Which Freak Me Out

2010-03-27T13:22:00.000-04:00

What freaks me out? After thinking long and hard, I’ve discovered that a lot of things freak me out. These are my top ten.

1. Spiders, of course. Always have, always will. I don’t care how much they benefit my garden.

2. People who smile all the time, even when they are by themselves, and especially when I see them on downtown buses.

3. Digging up something weird in the yard, especially if it is moving.

4. People using Bluetooth devices in public. I know it’s simply technological progress, but to me, they simply look like they are talking to themselves. Speaking of which...

5. People who talk to themselves...especially accompanied by smiling all the time...on buses.

6. Giving interviews, as I’d just recently discovered when I gave my first the other day. I kept worried about finding that fine line between coming across as an idiot and being a pretentious bore. Not used to it yet, and it didn’t help that I was 15 minutes late because I showed up at the wrong Starbucks where we agreed to meet (but in my defense, where I live, there’s a Starbucks roughly every 100 feet).

7. When my kids get injured. I’ll never get used to that.

8. When my dog does disgusting things, such as throwing up, then deciding the meal he just lurched is worth enjoying a second time, or how he’s recently discovered the hidden treasures of our cat’s litter box. I’m starting to think he considers the cat’s butt as some kind of doggy vending machine.

9. Seeing people who were obviously never taught that digging in your nose (or other regions) in public isn’t socially acceptable behavior.

10. Death. And the older I get, the more it freaks me out. I’m at that age where any unexplained ache or pain sometimes has me hitting the panic button.

What Freaks Us Out

2010-03-24T18:35:00.002-04:00

I suppose that's a really good question. I mean, we are all different, so we can't just assume what freaks one person out freaks the next person out as well.

However, there are some pretty common fears that 'freak people out'.

Heights, for example. You go on vacation. Want to go to the top of the Sears Tower? No thank you. Want to go on this roller coaster with me? Yeah right. (You know, excluding the fear of roller coasters.) I'm taking a trip to Europe. Want to come with me? Do you mean that I have to fly?

Or there's spiders. Or anything that has more than four legs and doesn't bark or meow. Quite possibly snakes. Or mice. Clump those out into one giant cluster of things that can make some people take a step back.

What about water? I've known a couple people who are afraid to go in a pool unless they can stand on the bottom. Ocean? Probably not. Boat? Yeah, there's no point in even mentioning it. It'll be a no.

There are just certain things that freak people out. And there's nothing wrong with it because most people have that one odd thing that just tends to make them cringe. (And no, I'm not talking about nails on a chalkboard).

So what freaks you out?

Total Toilet Freedom

2010-03-23T08:34:00.001-04:00

This week's theme ... you knew there was a theme on this blog, right? ... anyway, this week's theme is ...

(drum roll)

Here goes ...

It's "What Freaks Us Out."

When I read the theme, one thing came immediately to mind, followed by a number of other things, then some ESPN leakage and other stuff. But I decided to stick with my first impulse.

So what freaks me out?

In a word ... Women.

Yep, the so-called 'weaker sex.'

Yeah, right, weaker.

I have two daughters and my wife of almost a quarter century, and I'm bigger than them. I'm stronger. I out stink them. Heck, I'm a black belt. I shouldn't be afraid of them.

Okay, so explain to me why on a recent trip, when I stayed in a hotel by myself ... five hundred miles away from my wife and kids ... why ...

... I still couldn't leave the toilet seat up.

I mean,here's my taste of freedom. My chance to boldly leave the toilet bowl exposed and uncovered. Heck, there was no reason I'd even feel required to flush the thing.

Total Toilet Freedom!

But I couldn't do it.

Yeah, women, they freak me out.

Norm

http://www.normcowie.com

(author of the young adult humor vampire book, Fang Face - now available for just three bucks on ebook)

Hedgehogs.

2010-03-22T18:49:00.004-04:00

What freaks me out?

Hmm. I could say the usual... I could say it freaks me out when I'm told I have a math test coming up, or when I witness bigotry, or when my cousin wears a maroon sweater with a bright orange tee shirt sticking out the bottom (despite how many times I make a pointed remark about how much my eyes are hurting. I think he thinks I get migraines)...

But I think I can classify those as rational. I do, however, have a completely irrational fear.

Hedgehogs freak me out.

I don't know why, or how they started, but I've had recurring nightmares about the little animals. In my dreams I'm in Ireland, on a cliff, searching for something, and all of a sudden a hedgehog jumps out at me. Next thing I know I'm wide awake in bed, listening to my heart thud away like I've turned up the volume dial to INSANE.

So, that's my totally irrational freak kryptonite. Hedgehog nightmares.

I find it even more interesting when I point out to myself that I never have actually seen a hedgehog in the flesh. (But maybe it's better that way. I mean, look at this picture. The thing's positively rabid.)

Kieryn
Author of RAIN, a YA spy novel.
www.kierynnicolas.com
www.kierynnicolas.blogspot.com

Hello, my name is Heather Ingemar, and I'm a Twitter-freak

2010-03-20T06:40:00.001-04:00

I'm a Twitter addict.

Which is funny, because I never thought Twitter was something I'd get into -- after all, you've only got 140 characters, and why would people be interested in knowing what you're doing? All the time? Every waking minute of every day?

But I was curious.

So I signed up, and...

What's that saying about killing the cat??? ;)

~*~

Buy a story (or two or three): Heather Ingemar on Echelon Direct

My favorite Internet addictions

2010-03-19T10:32:00.003-04:00

The Internet gives users the opportunity to easily placate any addiction from their comfort of their homes.

For me, the big three Internet addictions are keeping in with friends, keeping informed about my favorite TV shows and, of course, keeping up-to-date with the latest fashion trends.

Facebook

After high school (and especially after college) my friends and I all scattered from our home town just outside Philadelphia. Although some of us didn't get very far (I just moved to another side of the city), two of my friends now call the UK home.

While we were fortunate to all meet up again this past Christmas, we use Facebook to keep everyone apprised of our adventures the rest of the year.

TV Guide

This Web site has virtually all the features of its paper version without the cost or carbon footprint. And since stations can change their programming last minute for breaking news, the site is more accurate than the printed copies.

There are also links to any episode you may have missed that week.

Rue la la

A friend turned me on to this Web site last year. The site sells leftovers from top designers on sale -- most for more than half off the retail price. It's like a high-end flea market; you're never quite sure what's available.

I will admit, though, that half off a Coach bag is still out of my price range. So I use the site for virtual window shopping when I can't get to the King of Prussia mall.

Yes, the Internet can satisfy all your latest addictions (and even create a few more -- every try the free games available at Yahoo!), just remember to surf carefully. Because wipe outs can happen without any waves.

Katie Pasek is the author of "Sure-foot Sam in Jeopardy" available from Echelon Press and Junior's New Home available from Lulu.com. For more information please visit www.katiepasek.com.

Addicted to Facebook

2010-03-15T00:05:00.001-04:00

Addicted to Facebook?!? Who me? Naaaaah. Never.

Twitter, Facebook, Plaxo, LinkedIn, Gather, Authors Den, MySpace, Good Reads, Digg, JacketFlap, Nothing Binding, Red Room...

Okay, you caught me. I belong to all of these and more. I've learned to control my addiction, however, and usually concentrate on two or three a week. I don't believe I'm addicted to Facebook, but admit to snousing what my friends are up to even before I check e-mails!

From book releases to author visits to political, uh...discussions, it's all right there, simple and concise for my overloaded brain to digest.

A special benefit is connecting with old friends and classmates with the Facebook search tool. I've re-friended people I haven't seen for over 4 decades! What an eye-opening experience.

Do I look that old??

For my school friends reading this: I'm not talking about you! Just all those other classmates of ours. (ahem)

I've also joined family groups and discovered 2nd, 3rd, 10th cousins! Relatives I never knew existed are uncovered with the click of a mouse.

Social networking at its best. But, let me be clear. I will not join FARMVILLE. Not NOW, not EVER!

What are your favorite social networking sights? Has it been a good experience for you, or a bad one? Facebook addicts want to know.

On another subject, if you're addicted to ebooks, check out "Cynthia's Attic" series on Kindle!

Mary Cunningham Books
Amazon
Kindle
Fictionwise
Quake/Echelon Press

Mary Cunningham is the author of the award-winning, 'Tween Fantasy/time-travel series, "Cynthia's Attic," women's humor book, "WOOF: Women Only Over Fifty," and several short stories.

I May Be Crazy.....

2010-03-14T12:00:00.000-04:00

I may be crazy but I had to try this! It's called Zip-Lining. Some young men took me to a high point of this island near Honduras, where we climbed onto a platform. Then after trussing me up like a Thanksgiving turkey and placing a helmet on my head, they clipped my harness to some cables and sent me flying over the treetops. It was scary but exhilerating. Not only did I zip from one post to the next, where they pulled me onto another platform, but I then was unclipped and reclipped to another set of cables and sent off again. I zipped from each post to the next making my way zig-zagging down the hill. Probably 8 zips in all. It took almost an hour as the posts were about 900 ft apart. I never asked how fast I went or how high up I was - some questions are best unanswered. It was sooooo cooool. I felt like Batman, James Bond, and Indiana Jones all rolled into one super hero. I think Margo Brown will do this in my next mystery.

Advisors On My Shoulders

2010-03-13T19:52:00.003-05:00

by Pam Ripling

Do you ever hear it? Better yet, do you hear multiple voices, one taunting, teasing, pushing, the other admonishing, warning, and scaring you back under the covers?

In visual fiction they are oft depicted as the little angel, the little devil that sits on each shoulder, whispering into your ear when you're undecided. "Do it!" "Don't!" "Aw, c'mon, wimp." "You'll be sorrrryyyy..." We've all warred with our conscience at one time or another. And, clearly, only saints could truthfully say that the devil in us has never won. But it isn't all black and white, is it?

Sometimes, the warring factions might be connected to our own fears, rather than good and evil. I recently blogged a recollection of crashing a snowmobile into a tree at Steamboat Springs. I'd had those conversations with my shoulder buddies that very morning. Should I go? Hop on board a death-defying, raging vehicle that sped through the snow at an alarming speed – a vehicle I'd never paid any attention to before? Or...should I stay? Inside a warm condo, with a cup of hot chocolate and a good book, a blaze in the fireplace, quiet, solitude...?

While it certainly wasn't evil to opt for the excitement of the snow eating monster, it was that little Lucifer type that made me do it. The angelic bookworm sniffed and turned her back, and I dropped her into my novel like a bookmark for later. I returned with a butterfly bandage on my eyebrow, rosy cheeks and a new experience I wouldn't have traded, in retrospect, for all the cocoa and Heathcliffs in the world.

So sometimes, not always, the little guy in red is only trying to show you a good time!

PS - That's not me on the snowmobile above, but it certainly felt like it!

It's All Their Fault

2010-03-12T04:43:00.001-05:00

I blame my parents. If it weren't for their combined DNA, I wouldn't be a writer or have spent so many years as an artist. Yeah, it's all their fault!

Seriously though, before I even had a say-so, I became apprentice first to my father with the silk screening business he launched from his studio. Then with my mom, I started helping out when the deadlines were shorter than the amount of work we had. (We painted canvas for tapestries.) From there, I went into painting children's portraits.
Of course, when they got me this huge dictionary and a typewriter for my thirteenth birthday, it would have been craptacularly rude not to use them. I had been writing all the stories and stuff in my head by hand for so long. But I loved that old ribbon typewriter, even if the klutzy keys kept getting stuck on one another.

So yeah, they made me do it. They made me become an artist and a writer. If it weren't for them, I'd probably be an accountant or a dentist or a postal worker.

(Thank you bunches, Mom and Dad!)

Warmly,
J.R. Turner

J.R. Turner is the author of the Extreme Hauntings series. The first book, DFF: Dead Friends Forever is available at Amazon.com, Kindle, Fictionwise, and Echelon Press.com

But My Brother Said...

2010-03-11T17:20:00.004-05:00

Peer pressure. Not just a human problem.

Meet my dogs:

Sirius, a three-year-old Shepherd mix, professional cuddler and party guy. And...

Dobby, a sweet, mellow two-year-old Husky we adopted in September of last year.

Despite his calm, yielding nature, Dobby has one flaw; he loves to run. As in away. While Sirius is kind of crazy, he's never run off, even before we had a fenced-in backyard.

A few weeks ago, I let the dogs out before work, fixed their breakfast, went back out to fetch them--and found the yard empty, gate swinging open.

I know that, without Dobby's encouragement, Sirius would never have left the yard, especially when he could hear the delicious sound of kibble being poured into his bowl inside. But he saw Dobby slip through the gate, and, well, adventure beckoned.

I woke my husband, and we raced through the pitch-black streets at five a.m., following the dog tracks through the snow. I ran back to get the car so I could cover more ground, and left M to search on foot while I drove up and down the neighborhood.

No luck, so I returned to the house to regroup with my husband, just as he burst out and almost knocked me over.

"Got...Dobby," he panted. "Sirius...on railroad bridge."

M had found Dobby a few moments after I left him, but there was no sign of Sirius. He was trudging home with Dobby when he happened to look up, and saw the silhouette of a large animal standing smack in the middle of the railroad bridge, twenty feet above the ground. Apparently, Sirius, following his brother on this new adventure, climbed up the hill and started across the bridge, only to freeze in fear when he realized he could see the very far-away ground in the large spaces between the ties. He refused to budge, and M, without leashes and with Dobby in hand, was forced to run the block and a half home while Sirius cried after him.

We sprinted back to the bridge, and sure enough, Sirius was still there, crying and wagging his tail pathetically, hopelessly stuck. No amount of coaxing could get him down; M finally had to climb the hill, go out onto the bridge, pick up our 70 lb dog, and carry him off.

As much as I wanted to kill him, I felt for the poor dog. He's that kid we all either knew or were growing up, the kid who gets roped into his friends' schemes, but ends up being the only one to get in trouble.

Oh, and if you would happen to see an engineer's hat for a dog, drop me a line. This kind of adventure deserves a souvenir.

Jacquelyn Sylvan is the author of Surviving Serendipity , a YA fantasy book. Click to buy from Amazon!

Alice in Wonderland

2010-03-07T03:23:00.002-05:00

Yes! The long-awaited movie is now out! And I, myself, know many people who were waiting anxiously to watch the midnight premiere.

I know that I can't wait to see it.

I have to admit that I haven't read the book yet, but I'm really interested in both reading the book and then seeing how well the movie actually sticks to the book. But if the rave reviews I've been hearing are any indication, regardless of whether or not it has remained rigid to the book, the movie is still amazing to watch.

So now, I guess, my first step is to go out to the store and buy myself a copy of Alice in Wonderland if I want to compare it to the movie. Yes, that would be the first logical step to take.

Looking forward to it.

Dressed as a Hat

2010-03-04T03:41:00.001-05:00

Crazy as a loon ... heh, heh ... yeah, loons are crazy. Whoa! Just stepped over a dead body.

Gross.

Anyway, the mad Hatter ... actually, I look pretty good in hats. I didn't think I would, but...

Oh, yeah, and on the way home, I saw the best smelling...

But I digress, for if I didn't, I'd be naked. Oops, that's dress, not digress. Now if I bi-dressed, would that mean I'm a cross-dresser?

But crazy people make the world go ...have you ever wondered why planets are round? Why not square? And that whole pi thing. Like the square root of 2 is 1.414, how weird is that?

What was I going? Or was that were? Am I a were-human? What if I was an animal and I had opposable thumbs? I'd be a human, or an ape, or a fence post.

If you were on the moon you'd weigh less. Would you be happier? Or would your hair look funky? Oh, look, a weight lifter!

Hey, gotta go, a Snickers bar is calling me. Have a cow.

Norm

www.fangface.homestead.com

"Crazy"

2010-03-03T16:12:00.002-05:00

"You're crazy!"
"That's crazy!"
"What are they, crazy?"

People call each other crazy all the time. The word can be synonymous with "outrageous," nuts," or "amazing." The latter is my favorite-- when I say I've written a book, and that it's published, half the time people look at me and say, "You're crazy!" or, "That's crazy!"

So, I enjoy being "crazy." And if I continue to write and publish another book while in high school, and that makes me "crazier," then I'm ready to be the next Mad Hatter!

Kieryn
Author of RAIN
www.kierynnicolas.com
www.kierynnicolas.blogspot.com

I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell...

2010-03-01T01:00:00.006-05:00

(from Matchbox Twenty)

Insanity is a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Things like hearing voices, seeing things... Most people consider that sort of stuff "crazy." Maybe not necessarily straitjacket-crazy, but definitely odd and eccentric at the very least.

But us writers and arteest-folk... We're lucky.

That's what we call fun!

...I know right now you can't tell, But stay awhile and maybe then you'll see,
A different side of me...

~*~

Buy a story (or two or three): Heather Ingemar on Echelon Direct

Stitches - A Mother's View

2010-02-25T00:05:00.007-05:00

I've always prided myself on being tough when it comes to blood and guts. I was an interested spectator as a surgeon dug a cyst out of my ring finger. "If you get light-headed, just look away," he'd said. "Nope. I want to see what it looks like," I'd answered, calmly and curiously as he proceed to stitch up my knuckle.

My husband, on the other hand, can see my leg hanging by a thread after a chainsaw accident (No! This didn't really happen. Just giving an example, here) and carry out life-saving measures, but blood spilling from any part of his body? He's on the ground, passed out cold.

But, back to me. As I mentioned before, I'm usually tough as nails when it comes to blood and injuries. Tough, that is, until it came to my 10-year-old son and his first bike wreck. I heard the crash on our front sidewalk and ran to the door just in time to see him standing on the porch, shock on his face, holding his chin.

I persuaded him to let me look at the injury. His chin was hanging open and the only thing visible was blood and bone. I rushed him to the doctor, at least I think I did. Fortunately, it was Saturday afternoon, and we arrived just as the office was getting ready to close.

As the doctor led the patient back to the surgical room, I was told several stitches to close a pretty bad wound would be needed — at which time I almost passed out in the empty waiting room. The nurse smiled and said, "Why don't you sit down and wait. It won't be long.''

I imagined all sorts of horrible things and braced myself for screams of pain coming from my son. But, none came. All I heard was a calming voice talking through the cleaning and sterilization of the injury, and then on to the procedure of putting in the stitches. When all was done, I heard the doctor say, "You're all set to go, John. You've been very brave."

I sighed with relief until he went on to say, "Now, if we can just figure out how to get your mother home."

Mary Cunningham is the author of the award-winning 'Tween fantasy/mystery series, Cynthia’s Attic.

She is also co-writer of the humor-filled, women's lifestyle book, Women Only Over Fifty (WOOF), along with published stories, Ghost Light and Christmas With Daisy, A Cynthia's Attic short story.

Mary Cunningham Books
Cynthia's Attic Blog
Amazon
Kindle
Quake/Echelon Press

My Brave Moment

2010-02-24T11:59:00.001-05:00

It happened in this building. It was my first day in a new school. I was an awkward, chubby sixth-grader with a slight stammer. I didn't know anyone in the class and they were all staring at me. Everyone seemed to already have a best friend and they all grouped around and looked me over before the teacher entered the room. He read off the names of the class roster and assigned seats. I noticed a girl named Kathryn was absent. The teacher left a seat open for her if she came the next day. No one seemed to notice that my name was the same as the teacher's name. He was my father, but he paid no attention to me, nor did he introduce me as a new student. He told me later that he didn't want the other kids to think he favored me. Small chance of that, since he never called on me or let me do any of the special things that other teachers had always let me do.The other children had mostly been together since first grade at this rural school in southern Indiana. I felt so alone I could have cried. I wanted my old school and my old friends.

My mother, who would later open her own beauty shop in our new home, had curled my hair. I had on my very best Sunday clothes. I have never been so nervous in my life. Every eye in the room followed my every move. We said the pledge. We were given an assignment. I opened my new tablet and began to write with my new pencil. The teacher told us to stay busy, he'd be right back. He slipped from the room. closing the door. All was quiet. Again, 30 pairs of eyes watching my every move.

Suddenly, the door opened and Kathryn came in. It was her first day too, but her parents had dropped her off 30 min. late. She was skinny and dirty, with stringy hair and a dress that was way too small for her. I found out later that she was one of eleven children of a poor, welfare family who moved around from school to school as they looked for cheaper housing or got evicted. All eyes went to this strange, new girl. She faced the class and blushed. No teacher. No one said anything. I still remember feeling her pain as she stood there alone, dirty, and afraid, not knowing what to do.

Suddenly, and without any warning from myself, I sprang to my feet, pointed to the empty seat in the middle of the room and declared loudly, "That's your seat!" She smiled a little at me and hurried to her seat, ducking her head from the stares. She had no new pencil or tablet. Within a few minutes the teacher came back and it took him a few minutes to realize Kathryn had arrived. When he did, he called her up to his desk and got the vital information he needed. Maybe he gave her a pencil and paper, I don't remember. But I do remember how this frightened child saw someone who needed help more than she did. Later, the other kids accepted me and I formed lifelong friendships as we finished school and graduated together. It wasn't long until Kathryn moved away and had to do it all over again. I often wonder where she is now.

Marlis Day is the author of The Secret of Bailey's Chase and three Margo Brown Mysteries

You may visit her at her at http://wwwmarlisday.blogspot.com

Being Brave

2010-02-23T14:19:00.003-05:00

by Pam Ripling

I used to sew Halloween costumes. I’ve made a space suit, a Middle-Eastern get up, a harem girl, a Care Bear, Super Mario, a green crayon. A purple wizard. A gypsy, a hippie, and a pair of pink striped clowns. So I know all about stitches, buddy.

Wait. You’re talking about the other kind? The ones they sew right into your very flesh? Eww! Ouch! Nope, never had them. Guess I’ve been lucky, eh? No stitches, no broken bones. No dismemberments or gaping wounds.

Does that say something about me? Am I too cautious, hiding behind my sewing machine, behind my apron strings, behind my ebook reader?

NO. I’ve done a few courageous things in my life. Courageous to me, anyway. I went up in a hot air balloon (that fairly crash-landed.) I tried water skiing (okay, so I have weak ankles. Took a little water.) Once got up (and down, see: water skiing) on snow skis. On one particular fun and notorious vacation, I wedged a snowmobile into a barely visible pine tree. Only a few of those pine needles still remain imbedded in my forehead, but the way I comb my hair, you can hardly see them through the green hair dye.

What else. Scary. Hmm. Does being a parent count? WAY scary!!!

How about getting a book written and published? How about 7 books? Try being brave enough to tell people about those stories, and asking them to take a chance and actually buy one!?

(Ah, marketing. Don’t you just love it?)

Seeing Red

2010-02-22T04:24:00.000-05:00

A boy called "Choppers" lived across the street from me when we were growing up. We called him Choppers because he loved to break off huge sticks and branches from trees and spin in circles. Over and over again, all summer long, you could see him spinning in his yard.

Of course I should have known better, but he always listened to me in the past. As I came down the sidewalk on my bike, I called to let him know he should stop spinning this huge branch. Either he didn't hear me, or he couldn't stop in time, but I got whacked in the face.

I saw red. Truly! Blood seeped into my eye and I could barely see to get my bike across the street. I dashed inside, bawling and hollering. Turns out he ripped my eyelid nearly off. A thin bit of skin kept it attached to my eye.

While we waited for the taxi, I gave away my favorite bookmark to my best friend. My mom had me lie down with a wet towel over my damaged eye. Crying, my friend and I told each other good bye. Mom snorted and said we'd be back in a few hours.

I ended up with stitches that looked like I had a double row of eyelashes for a while. Luckily there wasn't any nerve damage or scar left behind. Now when ever I hear or read anyone saying they saw red, I'm always reminded of that summer day and those stitches!

Warmly,
J.R. Turner

J.R. Turner is the author of the Extreme Hauntings series. The first book, DFF: Dead Friends Forever is available at Amazon.com, Kindle, Fictionwise, and Echelon Press.com

Awkward...

2010-02-21T06:00:00.002-05:00

Surprisingly, though I had a pretty extensive dating history by the time I'd reached college, I'd only broken up with one guy. I didn't do it very well, either, because I found out only about a year ago that he thinks he broke up with me (whether that was due to my poor break-up skills or his ego-protecting memory modification, the world will never know.)

It really could have been my break up skills, though. See, I am terrified of hurting someone's feelings. And no matter how you slice it, when you break up with someone, you will hurt their feelings. So I was generally content to let things fall apart on their own. Until...

I met Derek. Derek's not actually his real name, but since I've never dated a Derek, we'll just stick with that. I met him at my favorite college haunt, the low concrete wall outside the coffee kiosk. We exchanged numbers and went on a double date with some friends of mine. He was a sweet guy. Until, we moved from awkward hugs to kissing. And then I discovered Derek's downfall.

He was a wet kisser. A very, very, very wet kisser. The act of kissing, is, understandably, a slightly moist activity. But this was like getting caught in an Indo-tropical monsoon.

I knew he had to have other qualities. But, since all he wanted to do was kiss me, I never found out, since both our mouths were unavailable for conversation.

Finally, after two weeks of meeting him, hoping today he would feel chatty instead of smoochy, and two weeks of running to the bathroom afterward to blot my face off with handfuls of paper towels, I decided it had to end. The non-confrontational panic attack began, and, in the end, this is something like what I came up with:

"Dereklistenyou'reagreatguyandIreallylikeyoubutIdon'tfeelourrelationshipisgoinganywhereandIthinkweshouldbefreetoexploreouroptionsandI'mreallysorryyou'reagreatguybutIcan'tdothisanymore."
All one breath, and I turned tail and ran out of his room.

Technically speaking, I've been on both ends of worse breakups, breakups that ended eight-month relationships, cross-continental breakups, epically sad breakups. But when I look back--this is the only one that really makes me shudder. The poor guy never saw it coming. He must have thought things were going so well, is looking forward to another pleasant makeout session, and then here comes the girl, who babbles at him and runs away.

All I can say is, thank God I'm married, because I suck at dating.

Worst Break-Up Ever.

2010-02-15T13:13:00.002-05:00

My worst break-up. Ever.

What does that really mean?

Okay. I suppose what's it's asking me is what is my worst break-up ever with a boyfriend. Yeah, okay. I get it. But that gets so boring. I actually don't have a really ugly break-up. Or even an interesting one. So why should I bore you all with a story that has a high yawn factor?

But I suppose you could also consider friendships under the worst break-up ever, right? Friends can break-up just as much as a romantic couple can.

Because ten years of a friendship suddenly ending for no visible reason kind of sucks. When the friendship just randomly up and ended one day. Granted we 'rejoined' six months later, but when we did rejoin, it took a long time to even reach a fraction of the friendship that we had been before.

So I say that had to've been a pretty bad break-up.

Probably even the worst ever.

But I guess that just goes to show you that even when it may seem like your worst break-up, that doesn't mean that there isn't something good in the future.

St. Valentine's Day Massacre

2010-02-14T02:40:00.000-05:00

The World's Most Romantic Couple?

Are you freaking kidding me?!

You want me ... a guy ... to talk about romance?

ON VALENTINES'S DAY??!!

Look, I'm buying candy for my wife as a survivalist, not a romantic. Like any other ESPN-respecting guy, romance is just a word. I'm certainly not going to be able to tell you or anyone who the most romantic couple is.

I can tell you who isn't romantic ... me.

I mean, my heroes are the ones who staged a massacre on St. Valentine's Day. And do you know why they did that? Huh? Do you?

It was because Capone got torked off that he had to find flowers, candy and then go to Walgreens and read all of the mushy stuff in Valentine's Day cards.

Is it any wonder they freaked out and shot everyone instead?!

Of course not! They took the only reasonable guy-action possible, armed themselves and killed a bunch of people ... most likely Hallmark Card employees.

(pant, pant)

So if you want to draw me into some kind of debate about Princess Di and Charles, or Shreck and Princess Fiona, or the frog and some princess, you can just forget it!

I'm not a romantic!

And, uh, honey, if you somehow come across this, I love you.

Norm

http://www.normcowie.com

Reconsidering the benchmark

2010-02-13T11:19:00.007-05:00

The world's most romantic couple....hmmm. There are a lot of choices here. Of course, my mind jumps straight to fiction, and my favorite character couples. Ron and Hermione, Katniss and Peeta, Alec and Magnus, Peter Parker and MJ, Tony and Ziva (okay, they're not a couple yet, but I'm hopeful), Booth and Bones, Han and Leia....

But to the world, the universal romantic couple seems to be Romeo and Juliet. How many times have we heard references to those Shakespeare characters? Well, after actually reading the play, I have to disagree, world.

This is my synopsis of Romeo and Juliet:
Day 1--Romeo meets Juliet. They kiss. Later they decide to get married.
Day 2--Romeo and Juliet are married in secret. Then Romeo is banished from Verona.
Day 3--They both commit suicide.

Of course, there's a lot more to the story. Like the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets, and Tybalt and Paris, and the nurse (my personal favorite character). But the romantic parts really aren't all that romantic. For example, the famous "balcony scene" where Romeo appears under Juliet's window and confesses his love for her? It goes something like this:

Romeo: I'll be whoever you want me to be! I love you!
Juliet: OMG! Who are you and what are you doing listening to me talk to myself?
Romeo: I don't want to tell you my name. I love you!
Juliet: Hey, aren't you Romeo?
Romeo: Yeah, but I love you!
Juliet: Why are you creeping on me?
Romeo: Because I love you!
Juliet: Oh. Okay. I love you too!

As you can tell, I didn't interperet that to be very romantic. I found Romeo to be a bit of a needy creeper, to be honest, and Juliet was a naieve airhead. Also, both of them were very self-absorbed. And I think that that's something Shakespeare intended in this play.

I actually enjoyed the story as a whole, I just don't think that Romeo and Juliet are a very good benchmark couple when judging romanticism.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Kieryn
www.kierynnicolas.com
www.kierynnicolas.blogspot.com
My YA novel, RAIN, is now available as an eBook!

The world's most romantic couple?

2010-02-11T06:06:00.002-05:00

Romance is as romance does. Who's to say how romantic one is, unless you're one of the people inside the relationship?

Of course, as a writer, even though the characters are the one getting mushy with one another, I am in the middle of it all.

So here's a hint: the best romance is found in the sweet, little things of everyday affection.

~*~

My First Favorite Book - Forever Amber???

2010-02-07T00:05:00.003-05:00

So, maybe this wasn't my first favorite book! As most young readers, I devoured Nancy Drew and even read The Hardy Boys. I read every young reader sports biography I could get my sweaty little hands on — from Aaron to Zaharias.

But, I'll always remember Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor, the historical novel that was banned in Boston, among other places. I was almost 15, and getting bored with the reading material available in my small town library. In those days, the Young Adult category was non-existent.

Enter: The head librarian who also happened to be my dear aunt! She noticed my frustration with age-appropriate books and started stashing books under her desk that she thought I might like. Books that my mother would've fainted dead-away had she known, even though my aunt was careful to suggest books that had no erotic content or 4-letter words. Mostly just romance. As I remember, "heaving bosom" was about as bawdy as it got.

I read everything from Tolstoy to Belva Plain. But, the beautiful, historically relevant, Amber St. Clare still haunts me. Unfortunately, it isn't the romance that I remember most about the book, but, instead, the Great Plague! These were the first vivid accounts I'd read of this horrific event, but, don't worry, I'm keeping them to myself on this post. If you want to know more about the "rat plague," Google!

But, plagues aside, I have a decision to make. I'm torn between wanting to read Forever Amber again, after all these years, or simply keeping the memory of this special book and my special aunt in my heart.

What's your advice?

Mary Cunningham is the author of the award-winning 'Tween fantasy/mystery series, Cynthia’s Attic. Her children's mystery series was inspired by a recurring dream about a mysterious attic. After realizing that the dream took place in the home of her childhood friend, Cynthia, the dreams stopped and the writing began.

She is also co-writer of the humor-filled, women's lifestyle book, Women Only Over Fifty (WOOF), along with published stories, Ghost Light and Christmas With Daisy, A Cynthia's Attic short story.

Mary Cunningham Books
Cynthia's Attic Blog
Amazon
Kindle
Quake/Echelon Press

Most Loved Books

2010-02-06T11:59:00.000-05:00

The Boxcar Children was the first book I loved. My second-grade teacher read it to our class and I could hardly wait to get to school each day to find out what happened. It was pure magic for me.

My favorite book for middle-school students is Among the Hidden by Margaret Haddix. Set it the future, Luke is forced to hide upstairs because his parents broke a criminal law by having a third child. If Luke is discovered by the Population Police, he will be killed, so he hides in the attic while his two brothers attend school and have normal lives. One day, when his parents are at work and his brothers at school, Luke sees a girl's face in the window of a home that already has two children. He knows he's found another person like himself. This book will make you keep turning the pages until you find out what happens when Luke dares to slip out and meet the other "shadow child."

My favorite Y/A book is Snow Bound by Marry Mazer. Set in upstate New York, two teenagers meet and are forced to survive a blizzard together. These two total strangers, who don't even like each other very much, finally realize their lives are at stake and they must cooperate to survive. It makes you cold to read this book, but you won't want to put it down.

Of course, my first mystery, Why Johnny Died, is also a great book for high school students and has been used in several high schools. Read it and find out what really happened to Johnny Benson and why the school administrators covered it up. If you do read it, I'd love to hear from you!

Marlis Day

marlisday@gmail.com

www.marlisday.com

http://wwwmarlisday.blogspot.com

Made Me Cold Just Reading It!

2010-02-04T00:01:00.001-05:00

by Pam Ripling

Books have always been a big part of my life. As a young child, my favorites were always Little Golden Books, about Poky Little Puppy, Saggy Baggy Elephant, Shy Little Kitten, Tawny Scrawny Lion, etc. I had quite a collection. But when I really began to read, I lost myself in Hardy Boys and Louisa May Alcott. My favorite Alcott novels were EIGHT COUSINS and LITTLE WOMEN.

Whenever I think back to the book that most sticks in memory, I think of MRS. MIKE: THE STORY OF KATHERINE MARY FLANNIGAN, by Benedict and Nancy Freeman. First published in 1947, this is the story of a Canadian Mountie’s wife and the trials and tribulations of living in the frosty, harsh northern territories. A quick search on-line will reveal that I am far from alone in my love of this book.

The book takes place in the early 1900’s. The protagonist, 16 year old Katherine Mary O’Fallon, travels from the “warm” and comfortable Boston to Alberta, Canada, and marries Royal Mounted Police sergeant Michael Flannigan. The hardship and troubles they experience make for a poignant, entertaining story of life without transportation, medicine, electricity or telephones. The thing I remember the most about this story is that Katherine, who suffers devastating losses over the years, learns from other Canadian women to define segments of her life as separate lifetimes, or “families,” even though she remains married to the same man. Can’t say more without spoiling.

I read this book when I was around 13 years old, but I would recommend it for anyone from around 12 and up!

Pam Ripling is the author of middle-grade mystery, LOCKER SHOCK! Buy it at Quake, Fictionwise or Amazon today! E-book version now available for your Kindle! Visit Pam at www.BeaconStreetBooks.com.

Barbie Dreams and Wiggle Magic

2010-02-03T04:16:00.000-05:00

Every Christmas Mom allowed us to pick one present under the tree to unwrap. The year I turned eight, I just knew the super-sized gift with my name on it just had to be the Barbie DreamHouse I'd begged and begged for. With great excitement, I rushed to rip the paper off. But Mom wouldn't let me pick that one, and instead, forced on me one of the smallest gifts under the tree.

Yeah, that sucked. Wasn’t even a toy! Just a dumb old book. Oh, what a disappointment. I wanted to whip the stupid thing across the room. Gee, thanks Mom! is what I thought. "Thanks, Mom," is what I actually said.

Then I started to read. And I read, and I read more. I kept reading all through the night until I got so tired I couldn't see. I just couldn't stop reading. What a fun book! What a very cool story! Mrs. Piggle Wiggle definitely ruled. All the crazy remedies she had for naughty children cracked me up. The kid who didn't clean up his toys had to stay in his room with his mess, until they couldn’t get the door open and food had to be delivered up the ladder. A picky eater ended up with smaller and smaller spoons. Her house was upside down and added to that, she had a magic hump!

There are a bunch of books in the series—but most definitely, Miss Piggle Wiggle was my very first favorite book. By the way, the elevator on Barbie's Dream House was so poorly designed, it stopped working the same day. Go figure!

Warmly,
J.R. Turner

J.R. Turner is the author of the Extreme Hauntings series. The first book, DFF: Dead Friends Forever is available at Amazon.com, Kindle, Fictionwise, and Echelon Press.com

The Beginning...

2010-02-02T15:36:00.003-05:00

It didn’t take a lot of time for me to come up with my very first favorite book. Even at age five, I was already horse-crazy, so when this secondhand book somehow got passed to me, it was like the album of my dreams.

The book was called Album of Horses, by Marguerite Henry, and even at first glance, it was magical. I was used to glossy picture-books with shiny jackets and retina-scarring primary colors. But this book had a matte hardcover, painted in muted earth-tones, which made it seem grown-up and antique. The binding was nearly worn through, but that didn’t matter—it gave it a sense of age, like it had been rescued from a store of ancient scrolls and shuffled down through the ages until it came to rest with its true owner—me.

Hey, I was five.

Anyway, the book was no less magical when the cover was lifted. The illustrations (by Wesley David, in case you’re interested) were so realistic I used to pass my finger along the broad back of a finely captured horse and imagine I could feel the hair.

This was another reason the book captured me—I was quite the firm realist as a child (which is really funny if you know me now), and believed animals should look like animals, not neon pink or green and dressed in clothing. If someone gave me a teddy bear or something dressed in an outfit at that age, you could rest assured it would be stripped down to its natural state within the hour. Clothes on animals was just something I couldn’t handle, probably the main reason I never got into Dr. Seuss.

This book, though—I used to sit for hours, reading the words, absorbing the paintings. It has been on my shelf from that day until the present. And every now and then, I still take it out and look at it. It's a piece of my childhood, and I treasure it.

Buy Jacquelyn's YA fantasy novel at Amazon.com!

My First Favorite Books

2010-02-01T00:00:00.001-05:00

My first favorite book? That’s a tough one. I remember carting Go, Dog, Go! everywhere I went when I was very little, and was especially enamored with one of the final pages depicting the ‘big dog party’ atop a tree. I loved that picture...so much to take in, so much going on.

I also remember the first honest-to-goodness novel I ever finished back in the fifth grade, The Horse That Played Center Field by Hal Higdon. I don’t remember much about it, except I was sure proud of myself for reading a book (with no pictures!) cover-to-cover.

Other than that, I remember loving Beverly Cleary’s books, like The Mouse and the Motorcycle, Runaway Ralph, Socks and Otis Spofford.

The first book I actually fell in love with was Stephen King’s The Stand, which I read when I was 15. A friend gave it to me and said it was great, but it sat on my dresser for a month...until one weekend when I was grounded, with nothing else to do, I happened to pick it up, and didn’t put it down until I was done...some twelve hours later (this was an 800 page book). After that, I began to devour King’s novels. Some were good, some were bad, but The Stand remains my favorite (and the favorite of a lot of King fans), and it still the I’ve read the most often (at least five times).

Parental Craziness

2010-01-31T07:16:00.000-05:00

Oh, the potential today! Do you want to know how crazy my parents were or how I've driven my own kids crazy?

Yikes!!! Well, let's see if I can do this without too much pain, angst, or autobiographical detail.

I was raised by two loving parents who did all the normal things: they loved me oodles and bunches and showed it by setting protective limits I didn't appreciate and holding me accountable when I screwed up. They tried to shield me from their divorce, made me cringe with post-divorce dating, remarriage, more divorce...Like I said, they were normal.

Basically it was such a normal childhood, I wished for my real parents to come claim me. When they didn't show, I looked around for a circus or local wolf pack to run off with. And I lost plenty of sleep waiting for my superpowers to kick in so I could join Professor Xavier's school.

Which probably explains why my imagination is so over-developed and my young adult stories (heck, even my novels) have a healthy dose of adventure, not too much meddling from parental units and involve unique, magical transportation to new places.

As for the craziest thing I've ever done as a parent:

I'm an author. I make stuff up all day long and I've even told my kids it's a respectable profession. Parenting doesn't get much crazier than that!

Real life's full of crazy parents and other people - make your escape with a good story!
Regan

Regan is the author of the young adult Hobbitville Saga: The Pixie Chicks, Hot Spots, The Shadow Stone, and Snow Covered Resolutions. All available now on Kindle, or at Echelon Press!

Parents

2010-01-27T23:59:00.004-05:00

Parents - the people that raise you from birth. Parents can come in a multitude of different forms, and nobody's parents are alike. (Even when kids discuss how their parents are ruining their lives.) They're all different.

But let's take a look at a different aspect of parents. People always say that their parents are crazy - controlling who they go out with, when they go out with them, where they go, where they live... But what about a softer version of crazy that's really just a form of showing how outgoing they are. (Or it could be how the child thinks the parents are just embarrassing them. That's another option. I just think the parents are being fun.)

...

They go to a party and are the couple singing karaoke, horribly off-key but having fun. They go to your baseball game and cheer regardless of whether or not you hit the ball or whether or not you won the game.

But they love you. They might be crazy, but they love you.

Welcome to the world of craziness!!

Crazy Me

2010-01-27T02:22:00.000-05:00

My kids think I’m crazy. And, well, maybe they’re right. Of course, they had a hand in it.

A time ago, I was just a normal guy … listening to eight tracks, wearing terry cloth shorts, watching antenna television … yeah, quite awhile ago. But I was normal. A regular guy, just hanging and stuff.

But then I met and married a beautiful woman, and we decided to bring new humans into the world.

Before we could consider all of the ramifications, there were two, both girls.

Flash to fifteen later, and I’m having a patient conversation with one of them, complete with bulging eyeballs, veins standing out from my neck.

She’s warding me off by rolling her eyes like ‘Dad, you’re so stupid, and I’m just pretending to listen while I’m really humming that new song by Twobuckrapalot, and I’m not learning anything here and I’m telling you this by rolling my eyes at you.”

I could yell at her for what she’s thinking, but we’ve had circular arguments about my mind-reading ability in the past that have all ended in a draw, with her winning because it ended in a draw.

So I vented and spewed, and noticed she was just looking at me, a ‘my dad’s a crazy person’ look in her eyes.

WHAT! WHAT’S SHE TALKING ABOUT! I’M NOT CRAZY! I’M NORMAL !!! JUST A REGULAR GUY!!! ALL I WANT IS FOR THEM TO ACT AND SAY ONLY THE THINGS THAT I WANT THEM TO, BECAUSE I’M THE PARENT AND I KNOW WHAT’S GOOD FOR THEM. SO HOW’S THIS MAKE ME THE BAD GUY. HUH?! HUH? TELL ME! SO I’M OKAY. I’M NORMAL. THERE’S NOTHING WRONG WITH ME!!

(pant, pant)

Whew.

Um …

… well, okay maybe she has a point.

Norm

author of Fang Face (vampire young adult funness)

www.normcowie.com

My cat, the Prizefighter

2010-01-24T06:26:00.000-05:00

I have a cat.

He's kind of a funny creature. For a cat, he's extraordinarily well-behaved (mostly). He comes when called (usually), growls when there's a stranger at the door (seriously!), sleeps outside my bedroom door (probably would sleep IN my bed if I let him), and gives lots of lovey greetings when I come home from work.

Sounds like an average cat, right?

Except, I suspect Bear (my cat) was an Irish Prizefighter in a past life.

You see, he loves to box. Many times I have come home to see my husband playing bloody knuckles with him, and you can't wave anything -- umbrellas or walking sticks or curtain tassels -- around without expecting a fight. He'll box with my purse if I hang it from the chair, he'll attack the plastic bags from the grocery if they so much as look at him funny.

Yet, for all his wild athletics, he maintains the quiet dignity of a gentleman from the 1900s (including an awesome mustache!). Who, me? I'm stretching before taking on the side of the couch! It insulted you, dear lady, behind your back!

My husband's cat, on the other hand, was a certain, fearless Civil War general (Stonewall Jackson) and a Sous-chef in his previous lives. (He has to inspect everything we put on our plates.)

It's never dull around here, to say the least.

~*~

An interview with Junior

2010-01-23T09:24:00.002-05:00

By Katarzyna Eluski

When I sat down with Junior at his favorite café in downtown Wayne, Pa., he was sipping warm banana milk (shaken, not stirred) and signing a stack of self-portraits.

“It’s hard to keep up with all of my fan mail,” the popular children’s book character said, “especially cause I haven’t learned how to read yet.”

Junior’s claim to fame came after Katie Pasek, his “guardian,” began writing about the orangutan’s antics.

“He thinks he’s a real orangutan, and not just a stuffed animal as he appears,” said Katie, who was joining us at the table — presumably to pay for Junior’s meal.

None of Junior’s fans seem to mind, though.

When Katie finished her first story, titled “Junior’s New Home,” she read the book to her mother’s second grade students at Ralph Waldo Emerson Elementary School in Levittown, Pa. Then she introduced them to Junior.

“He has no problem starting a conversation,” she said, “and after a minute the kids didn’t notice that he wasn’t the one doing the talking.”

“They asked me what I like to swing on and what my favorite foods are,” Junior recalled. “They also kept asking me math questions and were trying to tell me two plus two is four.”

Junior maintains the answer is really 22.

Since that initial reading in fall 2002, Katie has written three more stories about the orangutan, and Junior has met more than two dozen classrooms of children from first through sixth grade in both Emerson and nearby Clara Barton Elementary School.

The precocious primate has become something of a legend at Emerson, and children who have met or heard about Junior eagerly await his next visit.

Over the past few years Junior has had to field the occasional question about why his mouth doesn’t move when he talks — “He’s not a puppet or a ventriloquist’s dummy,” Katie explained — but he handles those inquiries with his trademark style.

“I just tell them it’s too much effort,” Junior said.

Katie declined to comment on the next tale in the continuing saga that is Junior’s daily life, but she said a book is in progress.

Junior, however, offered a hint for curious fans: “I get a chance to visit the zoo!”

Before we parted Junior passed me one of the signed photographs.

“You should frame it,” he said, “because someday I’m going to be famous!”

No doubt he will.

For more information about Junior, visit www.katiepasek.com.

Pet Mayhem - Tomato Juice...Anyone?

2010-01-19T00:05:00.006-05:00

Several years back, my husband and I, along with our adopted dog, Molly, vacationed in Maine at the summer home of long-time friends. The Northeast landscape was new to South Florida Molly, and she was captivated by the trees, the lake and the unusual scents.

We arrived late that evening, so Molly didn't get to do much exploring, but the next morning was another story. I opened the door and leaned down to snap on her leash a split second too late. She took off running, into the neighbors yard and under a small out building. The next thing I heard was a yelp and then I saw Molly crawl sheepishly out from under the building, her eyes blinking and squinting. The closer she came, the more obnoxious she smelled.

Since I've always had a pretty keen nose for scents, I knew instantly she'd been skunked! We were scheduled to stay three more days with our friends, but how could we possibly ask them to put up with our stinky dog? That's where the tomato juice comes in. "Best thing to kill the odor," we were told at the local food/everything store. So, we bought every can they had. Come to think of it, the cans on the shelves didn't look like they'd moved in months...not until we were told of this sure-fire remedy. Hmmmm....

We soaked poor Molly in tomato juice, then rinsed her in the cold, Maine lake. Even though it was mid-summer, trust me, you don't want to be anywhere near water without a wetsuit. But, that's the price you pay for chasing black and white-striped "kitty-cats."

In case you're wondering, the tomato juice didn't kill the smell. It lingered for weeks on Molly and all through our friends' vacation home. We did get a thank you from them a few months later. Seems that their string of summer guests didn't stick around as long as they had the year before, and they had more time to enjoy the peace and serenity of their vacation home.

Molly spent the rest of her vacation exploring the rocky lake which was fine with us. The more time she spent outdoors, the better!

Mary Cunningham is the author of the award-winning series, Cynthia's Attic.

Mary Cunningham Books
Cynthia's Attic Blog
Amazon
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Echelon Press

My Favorite Leading Lad

2010-01-18T11:37:00.003-05:00

My favorite leading lad is Frankie Muniz. He premiered in 2000 in "Malcolm in the Middle." The same year he starred in one of my all-time favorite movies, "My Dog Skip." One reason I love the movie so much, in spite of the fact that I love dogs, is that I own a Jack Russell terrier who looks very much like Skip. I know, I know, Skip dies at the end of the movie and that is sad, but after all, dogs do die when they are fifteen years old. Skip had a wonderful life and influenced the life of his whole family of humans.
Later, Frankie starred as Agent Cody Banks and delighted kids everywhere.
Frankie was such a talented child star and I know he has turned into a wonderful young man. I hope he continues to make movies.

Boys to Men?

2010-01-17T00:01:00.000-05:00

by Pam Ripling

What is a leading lad? Is that like a leading man, only younger? I guess all leading men were young, at one time... think Brad Pitt in “Legends of the Fall” (I once thought “the fall” might refer to the hair Brad wore, but it was actually his.)

Today’s leading lads include the ever-youthful Daniel Radcliffe, Shia LaBeouf, Emile Hirsch and Zac Efron. Shia (pictured below) gets my vote for leading man potential, esp after seeing him in “Eagle Eye.”

What does it take to be “leading” quality? Acting talent, sex appeal, lovable image? When I think of classic Hollywood leading men of the past, I think of Clark Gable, Gregory Peck, James Stewart. Later, Tom Hanks, Sean Penn, Denzel Washington. George Clooney, Hugh Jackman, Matt Damon.

My personal favorites? Johnny Depp. Oh, do I need more? Hmm. Okay, Gerard Butler... and Johnny Depp.

Does Shia have what it takes to be the next Jack Sparrow? The next Phantom? Stay tuned...

By Josh, I Think He's Got It!

2010-01-16T04:00:00.000-05:00

Oh where to begin! What makes an awesome leading lad? He's the guy who respects your wishes without being a doormat. He's tough enough to fight off anyone who would bring you harm, but secure enough to let you fight your own battles. He's experienced life, has street smarts as well as plain ol' smarts, but he's not corrupt. And of course, he's totally hot!

If I could cast one actor to play Davey in my Extreme Hauntings series, I'd choose Josh Hutcherson. I think he'd do an awesome job capturing the depth of Davey's struggles, but still keep him upbeat, not to mention…well, I can't say because that happens in the next book, Detour 2 Death. (You get a few good hints in School's Out 4-Ever.) I know for sure that Kaylee would definitely approve.

So who's your favorite leading lad? Personally, I'm torn between Hugh Jackman, Vin Diesel and Jensen Ackles (huge Supernatural fan! ;) )

Warmly,
J.R. Turner

J.R. Turner is the author of the Extreme Hauntings series. The first book, DFF: Dead Friends Forever is available at Amazon.com, Kindle, Fictionwise, and Echelon Press.com

Forever Cool

2010-01-13T21:31:00.003-05:00

As a life-long typical guy (I have the birth certificate to prove it) and movie fan for nearly as long, I’ve acquired a long list of personal heroes, most of them cartoonish tough guys whose onscreen characters always reflected the kind of cool I wanted to be when (or if) I grew up. I think the first was Charleton Heston after I saw Planet of the Apes, and later Earthquake, The Omega Man and Soylent Green. I know most people think of Heston as the larger-than life superdude from Ben Hur and The Ten Commandments (also quite cool), but for me, Heston was coolest when he played everyday folks forced to kick-butt when he had to. In reflecting similar heroes of my youth, I gotta add Charles Bronson, Steve McQueen and (of course) Clint Eastwood. With hindsight, none of these guys made many ‘chick flicks’ or faced moral dilemmas in their movies (back then, anyway). They just took action, consequences be damned. They were just plain cool.

As a teen, cool was redefined by Kurt Russell in Escape from New York and Mel Gibson in The Road Warrior. Both true anti-heroes if their ever were any, their antics weren’t too far removed from very the bad guys going up against them. Not only did they look cool, dress cool and act even cooler, they hardly talked. If I learned nothing else from these two characters, it’s that truly cool people don’t sit and debate endlessly about an issue. Why debate with some idiot when it’s easier to just punch their lights out or blow them away?

I still love those types of movie characters even now, even though I’m well into my forties. While Bruce Willis may be a fine actor, equally adept at comedy and drama, I’d much rather see him kick the crap out of bad guys in the latest Die Hard movie than demonstrate his dramatic range in The Sixth Sense. There’s nothing cooler than a guy who, not only blows people away, but always has the perfect line afterwards to punctuate his actions. I’m sorry, but Shakespeare in Love, as fine as the movie is, just doesn’t give you that kind of rush. That’s what guys like me love, and we never outgrow it, for the same reasons we will always think farts are funny.

Think I’m wrong? Then name the last Harrison Ford movie, where he isn’t kicking-butt, saving the world or living off the seat of his pants, that’s worth seeing a second time.

Leading Lads: Heart-throbs from Past to Present

2010-01-13T08:14:00.000-05:00

Hey, I was a teenager once (at least that's what I tell my kids) and I had my fair share of impossible crushes on the heart-throbs of my day. Those actors made an impression, and definitely have an impact on the leading men (young and old) I put in my stories.

Waaay back when everyone was nuts for Shaun Cassidy (you can look him up on wiki) I wasn't. But I like heroes with less flash - more substance. When Tom Cruise was THE man in Top Gun, I was watching Val Kilmer. Then and now, he still tops my list. I loved his comic brilliance and quick wit in Real Genius and thought he rocked years later in movies like The Ghost and The Darkness and The Saint.

Then you've got actors like Harrison Ford who evoke dreamy eyes and sighs from female fans of all ages from the original Star Wars to the latest Indiana Jones. He remains a hot commodity, but there are some younger leading men who show similar stage presence now and great promise for the future.

Now, you're probably thinking Robert Pattinson (a fine actor) tops my list but I warned you I buck trends. Shia LaBeouf has shown a solid range of talent and courage, and while we'll always think of him as Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliffe's already proved he's got a future beyond Hogwarts. And if your one who crushes on the geek, then you can't beat Michael Cera, in my opinion.

So who's your current leading man (past or present)? And now that you've got that dreamy expression on your face, can you remember why?

Happy Crushing!
Regan

Regan is the author of the Hobbitville series featuring four girlfriends known as the Pixie Chicks. Catch the latest adventure, Snow Covered Resolutions now!

Leading Ladies in Life

2010-01-10T19:43:00.003-05:00

Everybody knows about leading ladies in movies - it's always the talk about who the stars are in the upcoming movies. Yet, what about leading ladies in life?

There are, no doubt, many definitions of what defines a leading lady in life.

You can be active. And I don't necessarily mean active in the athletic sense, but as in involved. Become a part of something. Join a club or a group. Get active!

Speak up! Have opinions! Don't be afraid to speak your mind.

Now that's not to say that this is the only way to be a leading lady in life. This is only one of the countless ways that, as well as only one interpretation of how, you can be a leading lady in life.

But one of the best methods is to find your own definition of it. Decide what you think defines it and if you want to be one, strive to be it. There is nothing wrong with trying to be a leading lady in life.

Leading the Ladies

2010-01-09T01:06:00.001-05:00

I’m a guy.

(last I checked)

So as a guy, how can I write leading ladies in my stories?

Recently, I received a cool email from a teacher who teaches English as a Second Language in an inner city Chicago school. She had purchased Fang Face at one of my recent events for one of her seventh grade students. We’ll call her student, Emily.

Emily had moved to the States from Puerto Rico a year ago, knowing no English at the time. She is an exceptional student, and already has grasped a lot of our sometimes-confusing language. (I mean, seriously, “to, two, too”? Jeesh!).

The teacher wrote that (we) “…spend a tremendous amount of time, money and effort on struggling students, but sometimes forget those that are on the other side of the spectrum.”

This committed teacher reached into her own wallet for her special student.

Emily ripped through Fang Face in a couple of days and was inspired to want to write me. She didn’t have email, so the teacher enclosed Emily’s email in her own.

Here’s a snippet (remember, she is new to our language):

“I love your book! Its funny and scary. I love it fangs and all. I picture myself as Erin because I love vamps and so I would love to be a vampire.”

This was cool on several levels. First, any author is thrilled when something they write touches a reader, more so when the reader is an easily influenced young person still facing the choices that will help shape her life.

It’s also cool because Emily is a teenaged girl.

And I’m not.

When you write fiction, you hope and pray you are creating a world that draws the reader in, captures them in the story and makes them give a hoot about your characters. I didn’t have trouble writing the boy characters in my book …because I’ve been there … (shaddup, I know it was a while ago)

But I’ve never been a girl, teenaged or otherwise. So when I wrote the parts of Erin and her sister, I was going into uncharted territory. I mean, seriously, though I have a wife and two daughters, I know less about women than I do blood suckers (I do know some attorneys).

Writing leading lady characters meant I had to reach deep into my imagination, past all of the guy-stuff (like ESPN, tools and Victoria Secret catalogues) to connect with that inner women that some men (not me) have.

So I did my best and hoped it was enough.

Emily says it was.

Norm

http://www.normcowie.com
http://fangface.homestead.com