http://www.darlenejonesauthor.comOriginal link

Yeay, I am an April Featured Writer in The Horror Zine with my COTARD short story set in Venice. I’m honoured also because the Bram Stoker Award winner Elisabeth Massie is in there too.Cotard is a real syndrome where people think they are already dead – what a theme for a short story, I couldn’t resist it. FREE for those of you who fancy a mild horror tale to escape the more grim real life horror out there.https://www.thehorrorzine.com/Fiction/April2020/GeoffNelder/GeoffNelder.htmlNelder NewsHaving to stay indoors except for a bike ride or hike in a day is normal life for most of us writers. Yes, we need food and whisky to be brought in by someone younger and healthier and the news is rather...

An absolutely delightful romp through the typical and, in this instance, the not so typical journey to “happily ever after.”Waxman had me anxious to turn the page to see what Nina would do next and in many instances, laughing out loud. Nina and her world is full of wonderful adventure and quirky characters – the kind you would like to call friends.Blurb:Meet Nina Hill: A young woman supremely confident in her own…shell.The only child of a single mother, Nina has her life just as she wants it: a job in a bookstore, a kick-butt trivia team, a world-class planner and a cat named Phil. If she sometimes suspects there might be more to life than reading, she just shrugs and picks up a new book.Whe...

A bit of this, a bit of that...Original link

Love the “feel” of Mexico in these trees. The last one is my favorite.   http://www.darlenejonesauthor.com Original link

 Born in Mumbai, living in Jeddah, Zarin dares to defy the constraints placed on her by both family and society–and her peers with dire consequences. A powerful, well-written novel that raises the reader’s awareness of the world millions of girls and women live in–the limitations and dangers they face often insurmountable.Author Tanaz Bhathena, who was born in Mumbai and raised in Riyadh, Jeddah, and Toronto, writes, “My own story is different from Zarin’s and Mishal’s. Yet it does not make their stories any less true, nor does it diminish the reality of living in a world that still defines girls in various ways without letting them define themselves.”Blurb:Sixteen-year-old Zarin Wadia is ma...

With apologies for the not so great photography.Yes, the cowboy is on a motorbike.http://www.darlenejonesauthor.com.  Original link

Beware: These are addictive.Original link

An intriguing glimpse into the life of the Vanderbilt family. Fowler had done a great job in bringing the family to life in a very relatable way. The story focuses on Alva, who married into the family to give them “acceptability” with the “old money” crowd. She proved to be a dynamo who led the Vanderbilts to the heights of power in the right social circles. But when push comes to shove, she had the courage to break rigid norms and do the right thing — for herself and to help the less fortunate.Blurb:Alva Smith, her southern family destitute after the Civil War, married into one of America’s great Gilded Age dynasties: the newly wealthy but socially shunned Vanderbilts. Ignored by New York’s...

Choose a theme – the munchkin says, “We’re at the beach so ocean theme.” Google party cakes and find one that fits your theme.Download the picture to your phone.Visit the bakery and show them the picture. “I can do the icing,” says the young baker, “but not the starfish or the seahorse. My mother could do them, but she’s away.”Go to the candy store, show the picture and buy appropriate beads and stars to decorate the cake.Go to the craft store, show the picture and ask the lady to make a starfish and seahorse.Go to the piñata store, show the picture and order a seahorse piñata.While at the piñata store, buy the party bags and the candy to fill the bags and the piñata.                   Three...

This excerpt from XAGHRA’S REVENGE illustrates the actual movement of the rowers on galleys in the 16th century. Contrary to what you might see in movies of galley slaves rowing while always sitting down, they stood for part of the cycle. It makes sense. For one thing there was less friction on the benches so their posteriors didn’t get so raw, sore. Also they use gravity better. It has to be remembered too that the oars, while heavy, were finely balanced on the divots so not as heavy to row, especially when there were three men per oar.This section from Chapter 35 is just before our captured Gozo farmer makes a bid to escape over the side.The drummer started the usual rhythm.Push down, stan...

Warning: These are addictive.Original link

Jiles’ story telling almost sparse yet vivid, her world building so strong she had me searching maps to locate and trace the travels of Britt, the Kiowa, the Comanche.The harrowing experiences of the captives, the harsh life of the Indians heartbreaking and mesmerizing with this masterpiece. The bumbling efforts of the government and sometimes well-intentioned religious groups often making relations between whites and Indians so much worse.I had read and loved Jiles’ “News of the World” and leapt at the chance to read another of her books. I’m so glad I did.Blurb:From Paulette Jiles, author of the critically acclaimed New York Times bestsellers Enemy Women and Stormy Weather, comes a stirrin...

The munchkin had to have a baby tooth pulled. This is what the dentist gave her.  Wikipedia:El Ratoncito Pérez or Ratón Pérez (literally translated into English as Perez mouse or Perez the Mouse) is a figure popular in Spanish and Hispanic American cultures, similar to the tooth fairy, originating in Madrid in 1894 when Luis Coloma was contracted to write a story for Alfonso XIII, who had just lost his tooth at the age of 8.Coloma’s story follows Ratoncito Pérez who lived with his family in a box of cookies in Madrid, but frequently ran away from home through the pipes of the city, and into the bedrooms of children who had lost their teeth. The story details how Ratoncito Pérez cunningly mis...

 I like historical fiction especially when the novel is about a little known individual. In “The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter” we meet Grace Darling, who helps to rescue the survivors of a shipwreck and bring them the lighthouse. Her courageous actions turn her life upside down. But more profound are the connections she makes to people she would otherwise have never met. It is their descendents who bring Grace Darling back to our attention 100 years later.A wonderful read!BLURB1838: Northumberland, England. Longstone Lighthouse on the Farne Islands has been Grace Darling’s home for all of her twenty-two years. When she and her father rescue shipwreck survivors in a furious storm, Grace becom...

I have vague memories of hearing about the Spanish Civil War and Hemmingway, but it wasn’t until I read Domingo’s Angel by Jenny Twist, that I had some understanding of what really happened.In Twist’s novel, a tall, thin, pale English girl wanders into a remote Spanish mountain village, meets a young villager and stays. This is not just their love story. It is the story of the personalities and dynamics of a small community and of the worsening conditions under Franco’s rule.The Fountains of Silence brings even greater understanding of the harsh conditions and tyranny of Franco’s regime. Ostensibly this is a YA or NA novel, bit it doesn’t feel that way as you read. Daniel comes to Madrid wit...

After spending 1500 years, taking turns in hibernation on their spaceship, SUPPOSE WE, the four humans crashland on Kepler-20h. Sadly, the natives are so far ahead of Earth in technology and evolution, they ignore the humans, who need help. This excerpt is in a strange forested region.“Em, are you having trouble with your hammock?”He could see her white teeth in a smile as she came closer, followed by a scent of lemon. “I am, it doesn’t have you in it.”He frowned. “You wish us to swap?”“No, you clot. Move over.”Gaston felt more than saw the side of the hammock dipping precariously as if it were a boat bent on capsizing. “Excuse moi? Ah, I see. I didn’t realise you…me…mais, what about the oth...

This fish can safely eat plastic.   Color!Time for lunch.More color!Original link

#6wordstorychallenge #sixwordstory #writing #scifi #fantasy #mystery #adventure #romance #thriller #worldbuildingToday’s challenge is “Mistake” “Garlic, quick! You didn’t pack it?”I look forward to your responses. Cheers, J. I. RogersOriginal link

#6wordstorychallenge #sixwordstory #writing #scifi #fantasy #mystery #adventure #romance #thriller #worldbuildingToday’s challenge is “Faerie Market” “A night spent; a lifetime lost”This is the first of the 2020 season. I look forward to your responses. Cheers, J. I. RogersOriginal link