Monday, March 18, 2024

National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award (NERFA)


Did you publish a Romance novel or novella in digital format in 2023?

Submit your story to the 
National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award (NERFA) contest
until the end of March 2024.

This is a contest for romance writers and is judged by romance readers.

Find all of the details at 






 

Thursday, March 14, 2024

So Many Ways to Scratch My Book Itch

         

          There are many ways to meet my book fix and make my to-be-read pile comfortably overwhelming. Many options are available, whether I like paper or digital, purchased or free. I embrace them all.
          In the last two years, I’ve moved twice. Before the first of the two moves from New Jersey to Florida, I downsized from a large three-story house where the entire second floor was all mine. I decided I could only keep what would fit in my van. I gave away hundreds of real books. In my second move, I still had three boxes of books. These included the cardboard children’s book of Ashenputtel (Cinderella,) the original Grimm’s version, that I received at the age of three, a couple of inherited prayer books from the 1800s in Old High German, signed copies of books authored by friends, and copies of my own novels. These are my treasures.



Then, there’s my Kindle account. Amazon sure knew what I was addicted to when they created this monster. I have 622 digital books. Access to them is 24/7 and anywhere that strikes my fancy. I have a Kindle device, which is perfect for reading in the sunshine outside or at night lying in bed. The light, text size, and font adjust for my old eyes and energy level. It has a font called OpenDyslexic, which I use to read without closing one eye when the orbs go all cross-eyed from fatigue. I’ll be thrilled when it shows I’ve reached the end of the page, and it turns it for me, you know, for those three am reading sessions.
     I have another 216 books in my Audible account. I like to listen to books when I can’t sleep at night. It’s like having an old friend with me. I prefer books while I’m driving.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve been reading for as long as I can remember. Whether it was the back of cereal boxes, movie end credits, or road signs and billboards, I always needed something to read. My cell phone ensures I am never without it. 
     I have access to history, biographies, and classic literature. Wikipedia can take me to so many places. I recently learned about Enhedusnna, a Mesopotamian priestess who was the first named author over four thousand years ago. With the provided links at the bottom of the article, I found many more sites that expanded on the topic.
Short Fiction Break and poets dot org both offer reads sent to your email. Project Gutenberg has over 70,000 free e-books of older great literature, usually where U.S. copyright has expired. And I have a library card, so even more e-books are available.
     These options make it easy for me to spend all my time reading, and I refuse to apologize.




Wednesday, March 06, 2024

Featured Author - Enheduanna

 

image from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enheduanna
Enheduanna written in Sumerian cuneform



Enheduanna (23rd century B.C.E.) was the first named author in history. She was the Akkadian and Sumerian high priestess of the moon god Nanna (Sin) and daughter of Sargon of Akkad.

Enheduanna is named as the author of seven Sumerian temple hymns and several hymns dedicated to Innana and Nanna.

Enheduanna's writings are inscribed on to clay in cuneiform 
(Credit: The Yale Babylonian Collection/ Photo by Klaus Wagensonner)

Inana and Ebih

"1-6. Goddess of the fearsome divine powers, clad in terror, 

riding on the great divine powers, Inana

made perfect by the holy a-an-kar weapon, drenched in blood, 

rushing around in great battles, with shield resting on the ground (?), 

covered in storm and flood, great lady Inana

knowing well how to plan conflicts, you destroy mighty lands 

with arrow and strength and overpower lands."


Go HERE to read all 184 lines.


Enheduanna is pictured on this disc. She's in fancy-dress red.



A scene of sacrifice is carved on to one side of this calcite disc;
an inscription of Enheduanna appears on the other 
(Credit: The Penn Museum)



Monday, March 04, 2024

Book Review - Beyond the next Star by Melody Johnson

 



Beyond the next Star is the award-winning SyFy Romance of Melody Johnson. She's taken the decades-old story of alien abductions with their tales of scientific observations, tests, and rats-in-a-cage by beings similar to humans that don't recognize "peoplehood." However, this time, the specimen is kept and taken to the alien homeworld as a pet.

Torek, a warrior with a psychiatric prescription to get a pet to relieve his PTSD symptoms, adopts the exotic animal. He must prove his fitness to be returned to active duty by keeping the fragile being alive. 

Staying alive on a hostile, frozen planet isn't easy for a human, but Delaney has survived and hidden from danger her whole life, so it's no big deal to pretend to be a witless pet, especially since she's hiding from a murderer. Even on alien planets, greed rears its ugly head.

Despite all the obstacles of the situation, mutual affection and love grows as there are attempts on Delaney's life and she reveals her humanness to save Torek.

This was a surprising storyline and well-written. I enjoyed the creativity that made the story come alive.

Beyond the next Star is the first standalone book in the Love Beyond series. It is followed by Sight Beyond the Sun. Melody Johnson also has a vampire series called Night Blood with four books available. You can find Melody Johnson's books on her WEBSITE

Thursday, February 29, 2024

12 Prompts for Leap Day - the Day that doesn't Really Exist

What if you only existed each leap day?

What if you could only get around by hopping or jumping?

What if your friends jump off a bridge? Would you, too?

What if you wrote yourself a letter containing your hopes and dreams for the future to be opened on the next Leap Day?

What if a witch cursed you and turned you into a frog?

What if you lost your sight on Leap Day?

What if you lost your memory on Leap Day?

What if you could only express your love on Leap Day?

What if we no longer have Leap Years?

What if things no longer come in fours?

What if our calendar were based on the moon and not the sun?

What if we randomly inserted a day in each Leap Year's calendar instead of using February 29th?

~ ~ ~

make an origami leap frog



~ ~ ~

"Use this day to do something daring, extraordinary and unlike yourself. Take a chance and shape a different pattern in your personal cloud of probability!”
― Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

"Happy Leap Day. A day where 'this time last year' and 'this time next year' does not apply." - Anonymous

"Leap and the net will appear."  - Zen saying