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)

Book Review - Beyond the next Star by Melody Johnson

 

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. 

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?

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make an origami leap frog

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"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

Bookish Adventures in Daytona

I went to the Coastal Magic Convention with my daughter this past weekend (Thursday evening until Sunday morning) in Daytona Beach, Florida.

This was my first book-related convention. It's a reader-focused event that began in 2013. 

Authors in the urban fantasy, paranormal, sci-fi, and romance genres come out to meet their readers with Meet n Greet panels. The hosts made this easier by doing passports, scavenger hunts, and pick-the-lie activities to get folks chatting.

There were various panels where authors discussed their processes for storytelling and information about their various books and series.

Friday night was a Las Vegas Murder Mystery where authors played roles in the WhoDoneIt. We guessed the murder victim but got the killer wrong.

Saturday night was a pajama game night. We played Harry Potter Trivia. Erika was a finalist. I was in the final place.

Saturday, we had Lunch with an Author and joined Melody Johnson for delish ravioli. Erika got her vampire book, The City Beneath, and I got her sci-fi book, Beyond the next Star. She signed them for us, too.

I also got to meet Ilona and Gordon Andrews, my favorite authors. They signed Magic Tides for me, and I got a picture with them. They are sweet and funny.

The asparagus in the hotel restaurant was really good. I had some every night with dinner.

The American Sentence - Haiku for US, Too

 The American Sentence is a poetry form invented by the beat poet Allen Ginsberg in the mid-1980s.

17 syllables are the agreed-upon requirement. After that, you can write it in one line or multiple lines, use concrete images, refrain from using articles, and include a time, place, and a title, if you like.

The poet Paul E. Nelson wrote an article on The American Sentence.

Here are some examples by Allen Ginsberg:

• "That grey-haired man in business suit and black turtleneck thinks he's still young."

• "Bearded robots drink from Uranium coffee cups on Saturn's ring."

• "Crescent moon, girls chatter at twilight on the bus ride to Ankara."

I'm am writing one a day for The 100 Day Project based on 3 randomly selected words. I've done 5 so far.

Here are a couple I wrote before the project began:

    Ashes floated in the sky like snowflakes on a quiet winter night.

    Her hair spread out in the frothing water as I jockeyed the river.