Eden-West by Janelle Stalder

Title:   Eden-West

Series:  Eden Series

Author: Janelle Stadler

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Age: 13 and up

Published:   August 2012

Purchase: Amazon  ~  Barnes & Noble  ~  Smashwords 

New beginnings, new conflicts, and new adventures arise in the second installment of the Eden Series, Eden-West.

Months after his initial journey to Eden, Aiden is learning to cope with his own transformation. His social status has changed, his friendship with his best friend Ethan is in jeopardy because of it, and worst of all, he has heard absolutely nothing from his new friends in Eden. What has become of the world he fell in love with? Are his friends safe? Is the war over? With no answers, and no hope for contact, Aiden decides to focus on his life in his world.

Just as he makes this decision, he encounters a familiar bright light and thinks he knows exactly what it means. Except the light isn’t at all what he expects and neither is the person behind it. When Aiden returns to Eden, it is to a whole new part of that special world, and a whole new set of adventures.

Weeks after Aiden was returned to his own world, Elisa is sent to Nysa, the revered Southern city, to retrieve the one thing she’d rather avoid – Wolf. Captain Turk instructed her to get in and get out - but that is easier said than done. When she finds her missing friend, she also stumbles upon a great deal of trouble. This trouble goes by one name – Markus, the leader of the Sun People.

Follow all your favourite characters as they ready themselves for battle and fight for a world threatened to be destroyed. 

If you haven't read Eden, book one in the Eden Series, you can find it here on Goodreads!

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My Fifty Shades of Grey
No not that Fifty Shades, tempting, but no. What I’m referring to are the shades of grey I’ve created in my series, the Eden series. I’m, of course, referring to the reader’s favourite Callum. For those of you who haven’t read the series, I’ll quickly explain.

Callum is the youngest prince of two. His father, the late High King, picked Callum’s brother Jameson to be King after his passing, even though Callum was the likely choice. This left Callum feeling betrayed and slighted, causing him to leave the Capital and join forces with the northern enemy, Brutus the Red, and the sorcerer Aziz. He is essentially the “bad guy” in the novel. Callum, Brutus, and Aziz declare war on Jameson and the rest of Eden, in a bid for Callum to regain his lost crown. 

The kicker with Callum and Brutus is that most readers love them! Yes, they are my shades of grey. Even though they are the “bad guys” I wanted to make them likable. The advantage, on my part, is that readers will develop an emotional attachment to both sides, causing them to become more involved in the war and its outcome. The other important factor in their side is Rose, as most of my readers will know. Rose is a prisoner of war, taken by Brutus and Callum’s army after her entire family is killed. She is kept in Callum’s tent, and a slow bond builds between them resulting in an inevitable romance. 

I love shades of grey. I think it’s very easy to have a black and white story, where there is a good side and bad side. What’s more difficult as a writer is to create a sense of hesitancy in the reader to really dislike one side over the other. It makes them consider the reasons for the war, and who they actually want to see win; especially when they’re rooting for two characters to fall hopelessly in love. What I find funny is that because of the romance between Rose and Callum, I think a lot of readers tend to overlook his less likable qualities. My grey areas completely fogged over the fact that Callum is still, in fact, a “bad” guy. 

Not only do we ignore the fact that Callum is still killing innocent people, even talks about seeking revenge on an entire city filled with innocent citizens as one reviewer pointed out, but we also ignore the fact that it’s actually very unusual that Rose can love him. He didn’t personally kill her family, despite what some may think. I’ve never confirmed or denied this outright in the story, but I am telling you here that he didn’t kill her family. That doesn’t really matter when you consider the fact that he is leading the men that did. He also takes her from her burning village, along with all the other young females in the village, for the purpose of being brutalized by his men. Of course Rose is saved from this horrible fate because Callum takes a personal liking to her, but again it doesn’t erase the fact that he sentenced girls she would have grown up with to this. Rose even comments on the fact that all the girls suddenly disappear. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what happened to them. 

Despite all this, Rose still falls for him, and you can’t help but wonder why? And why, as readers, do we find this romantic? Does the blurry line between right and wrong affect the way we see things? Do we, like the character of Rose, turn a blind eye to Callum’s less than admirable qualities because of the idealistic love evolving between them? You also have to stop and question Rose’s mental state at this point. Has the loss of everyone she’s known pushed her to the first sort of safe person she finds in the aftermath? 

All of these questions are not only asked by readers, but by me as well, funny enough. I find Rose to be one of the harder characters to write. When I created this sort of grey area with the northern army, I also opened myself up to a difficult blurred line between right and wrong. For example, why does Rose sit and discuss the war with Brutus and Callum, when the opposing side has her brother fighting for them? You see her inwardly fight with what’s happening, but she never acts out against either of them. On the contrary, not only is she with Callum, but she’s also developed a very endearing relationship with Brutus. You also have to stop and ask yourself, would Callum be like this if he had stayed in the Capital? How much of his hatred is actually from himself, and how much was influenced by those around him? It’s all very controversial for me, which is one of the reasons why I love and hate writing their story.

I still love the fact that people seem to like the other side of the war. I want my readers to be emotionally involved in what’s happening, and being torn between who they want to see win. I learned this from reading other novels where the same thing happened to me. You tend to feel more connected to the characters when you don’t want to see anyone hurt, but know that only one person will come out of the situation as a winner. It’s just a matter of finding out who it will be.

In the third book you will start to see another side to this war, turning it into quite the triangle. What was grey area now becomes a little less grey, and a little more black. You will finally officially be introduced to the, up to this point only talked about, sorcerer Aziz. Until now we haven’t really seen him in person. Brutus and Callum discuss him, but he hasn’t been a big part of the story. Well that changes in the third, and he’s definitely not as grey as Callum.

The other main reason for creating such a shaded area around Callum, aside from tormenting my readers, was that in that grey area there is always the possibility that he can choose either side. It is left to be seen whether he will finally move to the lighter side, or the darker. I guess you’ll have to wait to find out! 

Thanks to Sheri and Making Connections for having me on here today, and being a part of the Eden-West Blog Tour! I appreciate you putting up with my nonsensical ramblings J 

xo

Janelle Stalder


Contact:
Email: jmstalder@gmail.com

Website: http://janellestalder.tumblr.com/

Twitter: @jmstalder                                                     

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Janelle-Stalder/131833216896295

Hereafter by Terri Bruce

 

 

Welcome to the afterlife. The food has no taste, the drinks don't get you drunk, and the sex...well, let's just say 'don't bother.'

 

Welcome to the Making Connections blog today for a guest post (Chinese Ghost Festival) and giveaway with Terri Bruce, author of Hereafter!

Today is Chinese Ghost Festival—a holiday occurring in the middle of Ghost Month (August 17^th to September 15^th this year)—commemorating the dead, similar to the Mexican Day of the Dead or the Roman festival of Parentalia. During Ghost Festival, people leave plates of food outside (on the sidewalk or at altars) for the dead, prepare lavish banquets for their deceased relatives/ancestors, and burn paper effigies of items they believe the dead will need in the afterlife, such as money, animals, and even televisions, sailboats, and houses. Ghost Festival is not celebrated just by the Chinese—there’s a form of Ghost Festival in almost every Asian country.

 Ghost Festival has become one of my favorite aspects of Chinese afterlife mythology, and is featured prominently in Hereafter. At some point, I began imagining a version of the afterlife in which the dead could actually take possessions with them—what would such a world look like and what would the dead do with all this stuff they had collected—and Hereafter was born.

 

Today, to celebrate ghost festival I wanted to share part of a scene from Hereafter that takes place during Ghost Festival, and give a few “behind the scenes” glimpses into the scene, including a couple of hidden “Easter Eggs” (for more Hereafter Easter Eggs, check out my August 22^nd guest post at Butterfly-o-Meter Books).

 

At the start of the scene set during Ghost Festival, Irene—the main character—and her friend Amy (both ghosts) are in downtown Boston, near Chinatown:

 

A loud blast of horns and drums drew their attention, followed by the sharp crackle of firecrackers.

“What’s going on over there?” Amy asked, turning to look down the cross alley that led to the next street. She started cautiously toward the alley, motioned for Irene to follow, and then surged forward without waiting.

 

My sister-in-law teaches English in China and has become quite versant in Chinese culture. She told me that firecrackers are a big part of Chinese culture—they are used to drive away bad spirits (apparently the noise is meant to frighten them). The Chinese don’t regard ghosts and spirits as “bad” or malevolent, per se; however, spirits are believed to be generally jealous of the living and often bent on mischief. In a bid to be “safe, rather than sorry,” the Chinese generally combine placation and prevention in their approach to ghosts—they provide offerings for the dead, while at the same time using preventative measures to drive spirits off. Firecrackers are one such method and are used to “cleanse” an area before anything significant takes place—which can include a marriage, a birth, or even having sex for the first time! I so wanted to have a scene where I worked in the firecrackers before sex, but unfortunately I didn’t find any way to use that tidbit (in this book).

 

They emerged into a thick crowd of people watching a Chinese dragon parade down the street.

“Oh my God, it’s Ghost Festival!” Amy grabbed Irene’s hand and began pulling her through the crowd.

“Ghost Festival?” Irene asked. Something dinged in her memory. Jonah had said something about a ghost festival. She wracked her brain, trying to remember what he had said. Something about…the living sending stuff to the dead…

“Yeah, all these foreigners have one, you know. They’re really superstitious, but I’m not complaining. It’s like Christmas.” She gave Irene’s hand a sharp tug. “Come on!”

 

Unfortunately, (as of the writing of this blog post), to my great sorrow, I have never attended Ghost Festival. The Chinese calendar is based on a lunar cycle, which means dates move from year to year (Ghost Festival generally falls somewhere between mid-July and mid-September) and I always manage to miss it.

 

She dragged Irene down a side street, away from the crowd. Irene noticed things laid out on the sidewalk. She slowed down, trying to get a closer look, and realized it was mats covered with dishes of…“Hey! That’s food,” she cried.

“Yeah,” Amy said, still tugging her down the street, “but it’s all nasty Oriental food. God, what is it with these people? Doesn’t anyone have anything good? I’d kill for a pork chop or even a Skybar.”

Irene pulled her hand free. “Okay, slow down for a second and please explain to the new girl what exactly is happening here.”

Someone knocked against Irene and a man—glowing blue—dropped to all fours in front of the closest mat of food. “I haven’t eaten anything in months,” he moaned and began shoveling food into his mouth with both hands. Repulsed, Irene took a step back.

She thought back to the last time she had thought about food—it seemed so long ago that she had stood in front of Stephanie’s thinking that she hadn’t eaten in days. It seemed a lifetime ago. She still wasn’t hungry, but the sight—and tantalizing smell—of the ghost food stirred the memory of hunger and her “stomach” growled.

You don’t have a stomach, she reminded herself.

 

My goal for Hereafter was to create a world in which all the afterlife beliefs—from every culture and religions—were true. I’ve always been interested in mythology and love to learn about the origins of myths—the “real story” behind the story. So I tried to imagine the “real” origins of some of these myths. Of course, one of the earliest problems I had was that so many myths have to do with giving physical objects and food to the dead—who technically have no bodies. What, then, would a ghost do with food? As I delved further into afterlife mythology, the Egyptian belief that the soul is made up of five parts—the heart, the shadow, the name, the soul or essence, and the “vital spark,” that which makes us alive—captured my attention. The Egyptians believe that each of these five parts separates at death and serves a vital function. I used this idea to create an afterlife in which that which remains after death is the spirit or “essence” of an item—whether it be a person, an object, or food. Therefore, in Hereafter, spirits don’t eat actual physical food—they consume the spirit or essence of food.

 

“Come on,” Amy said. “Before all the good stuff is gone!”

Amy gave Irene’s hand a tug and then, dropping Irene’s hand, she bee-lined down the street and disappeared around a corner. Irene slowed down, trying to get a good look at the items laid out on the sidewalk. On closer inspection it turned out that it wasn’t just food laid out for the dead. There were small items—such as soap, candy, jewelry, flowers, and money. There were also elaborate paper models of larger items—sailboats, cars, even animals.

Irene stooped and picked up a paper horse—delicate and precise. It was beautiful, obviously folded with care. She reached down and scooped up several more paper items, turning them over in her palm to study them—paper money, some sort of building that was either a pagoda or a house, and a motley collection of animals, mostly birds.

She meandered down the street, stopping to explore the contents of each display with fascination. She found a cigarette lighter at one—just a cheap, convenience store item—but it was glowing blue so she slipped it into her bag to give to Ernest next time she saw him.

Food seemed to be the most popular item left for the dead—she passed many empty plates and quite a few dead, greedily eating. The paper animals seemed to be the least popular, judging by the number that she found left behind. She picked up a few more, holding them in her palm like pebbles.

 

Of course, a whole separate issue was what would a ghost do with all the “stuff” left for it during something like Ghost Festival? Did ghosts have ghost houses, populated with ghost televisions, ghost refrigerators, ghost furniture? Almost every culture thinks that the dead need some form of currency in the afterlife—the Chinese mythology is perhaps the most elaborate in that they create paper money (ghost currency) specifically for the dead (which they burn as a way of sending it to the afterlife). What, exactly, were the dead doing with all this money? Are there cities in the land of the dead—an economy, stores, jobs where one can earn more money? It was all incredibly fascinating to envision and try to figure out!

 

She heard Amy shout her name. She absentmindedly dropped the paper items into her bag and ran to catch up. She found Amy around the corner, happily munching what turned out to be a hamburger from a local fast food chain.

“God, this is good,” Amy said.

“Really? Someone left a bag of fast food for the dead?” Irene gaped at the blue glow surrounding the fast food bag.

Amy held out the remainder of the burger, offering it to Irene. Irene shook her head. “You are so lucky,” Amy said, polishing it off. She burrowed into the bag and pulled out some fries. “We didn’t have anything like this during my time!”

“It seems like a rather smart-assed move to me—leaving fast food.” Irene couldn’t believe it was a serious offering to the dead, on par with the meticulously folded paper animals.

Amy wrinkled her nose. “I’ll take a hamburger over a paper cow any day!”

Irene wasn’t convinced

“Think about it,” Amy added. “If you thought the dead were hanging around, pining away for the things they enjoyed when they were alive, which would you send them...a…”—she snatched up one of the paper animals—“…pig? Or a television? Stewed cabbage or a hamburger?” She dropped the tiny animal to the ground and took Irene’s arm. “Let’s see if we can find some dessert. I adore dessert!”

 

Apparently people actually do put out hamburgers during Ghost Festival. I took this a step further and had someone leave a bag of fast food. It’s meant to be a kind of funny and irreverent addition to Ghost Festival, but at the same time, there was a strange kind of logic that made it reasonable that someone might actually do this. I know people who pour a glass of scotch over their hard-drinking father’s grave every year and I’ve seen medals, photos, and toy cars left on grave stones as a token of remembrance, so why not a bag of fast food? I know that’s what I’d want someone to send me!

 

They wandered down the narrow street, checking both sides and the alleys leading off of it. At one point, Amy cried out in elation at finding a pack of playing cards and then promptly had to fight off another young, dead woman who tried to wrestle them away from her. There were a lot of wind chimes, which Irene and Amy had a good laugh over, wondering what possible use those could be to the dead, and a lot of paper money that Amy impatiently told Irene wasn’t of any use when she saw her picking it up.

“Coins are the only money that matters,” she said.

“Why?”

Amy shrugged. “Just is.”

 

Here’s another Easter Egg—anyone who knows their mythology know why coins are important in the afterlife! The dead were buried with a coin for millennia so that they could pay the ferryman to row them across the river, to the land of the dead. This practice went out of fashion a couple hundred years ago, leaving Amy and Irene confused as to why coins are important.

 
The scene continues on after this, touching on some of the traditional food offerings (stewed cabbage and Red Bean Paste Buns [which I really like!]) and also traditional preventative means of keeping a ghost out of a house. I had a lot of fun imagining that during Ghost Festival, ghosts just walk into houses, sit down at the table, and help themselves to the food left for them. While it’s traditional to set a place for the ghosts, I don’t think anyone actually expects ghosts to literally sit down and eat with them. Imagine if you found out that they really did! It was little twists like this that made Hereafter so much fun to write. J
 

I hope you enjoyed this behind the scenes glimpse into the writing of Hereafter and Chinese Ghost Festival. If you want to learn more about Ghost Month, visit my post on the topic, celebrating the first day of Ghost Festival, at Kelly A. Harmon’s site.
 

Visit Terri's blog for a complete list of blog tour stops!

 

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Why let a little thing like dying get in the way of a good time?

Thirty-six-year-old Irene Dunphy didn't plan on dying any time soon, but that’s exactly what happens when she makes the mistake of getting behind the wheel after a night bar-hopping with friends. She finds herself stranded on Earth as a ghost, where the food has no taste, the alcohol doesn’t get you drunk, and the sex...well, let’s just say “don’t bother.” To make matters worse, the only person who can see her—courtesy of a book he found in his school library—is a fourteen-year-old boy genius obsessed with the afterlife.

This sounds suspiciously like hell to Irene, so she prepares to strike out for the Great Beyond. The only problem is that, while this side has exorcism, ghost repellents, and soul devouring demons, the other side has three-headed hell hounds, final judgment, and eternal torment. If only there was a third option..

 

 

Publication Date: August 1, 2012

Publisher: Eternal Press

Number of Pages: 296

Genre: Contemporary Fantasy

 

Available Wherever Books Are Sold:

Amazon

Amazon UK

Barnes & Noble

Eternal Press

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Giveaway!
Enter the Rafflecopter form for your chance to win! 
 
1st Place - E-book of Hereafter plus swag pack
2nd Place - E-book of Hereafter
 

a Rafflecopter giveaway      

Contacts
Email: tbruce@terribruce.net

Website/Blog: http://www.terribruce.net/

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/author/show/6450132.Terri_Bruce

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100003716022408

Facebook fan page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Terri-Bruce-Fan-Page/325830544139030

Twitter: @_TerriBruce

Michael Cargill Guest Post

I'd like to welcome Michael Cargill to our blog today to talk about his take on epiracy. 

You can find Michael on Goodreads or his blog

__________________

"Literature is something of a latecomer to the digital revolution.  In some ways, this is quite surprising, as it predates other forms of entertainment like computer games, film, and TV by several thousand years.  Mind you, the older generations are often the slowest to get to grips with anything new.  After all, when was the last time you heard your granddad talk about getting an Xbox?

Some of the growing pains for ebooks, have been the same ones that other forms of digital media have gone through, and still are going through.  Piracy is one such pain.

The mere mention of the word ‘piracy’ generates quite an angry response from many people, whether they are a writer, or a reader.

To those people, I say you should perhaps step back, and rethink things a bit.  I’m an indie author, and I know for a fact that my work is available to download from torrent/pirate websites.  I know this to be a fact, as it was me who put them there in the first place.

Before I go any further, I’ll just mention a few things, to provide some context.  Firstly, you won’t see me on any bestseller lists anywhere, not unless that list is based on an otherwise empty shelf.  Yes, woe is me, get out the violin and all that.

Secondly, years ago, I used to be something of a profligate pirate myself.  My hard drive was chock full of computer games, applications, films, and TV shows.  I knew lots of other people who did the same thing as well.

Lastly, I have no formal legal education, or training.  This puts me at around about the same level as that bloke in the pub, who insists that it’s perfectly legal to shoot a Welshman with a crossbow, so long as you do it outside the city walls, on a Wednesday afternoon.

Just to be clear, I have no intention of getting involved with the tedious, semantic differences between copyright infringement, and theft.  I’m also mainly talking about the financial impact of piracy, rather than the copyright side of things.

So then: why did I upload my own work to some torrent sites?  Well, “Why not?”, is my response.  At the moment, practically no-one knows about me.  My ability to market myself is largely limited to blogs, Twitter, and pinning posters up on the trees along my road.  Now that my work is available by torrents, I have added one more avenue for readers to find me.  I created threads on the torrent site forums, informing them all of what I did.  I got a few replies from people thanking me, and wishing me luck.  In the few days following on from this, I had an increase in the number of hits to my blog, from people searching for terms like “Michael Cargill author” on Google.  Prior to doing this, that had never happened before.

Of course, the usual retort to this is “You don’t get money from pirates!”, to which I say is a load of poppycock.

As I mentioned earlier, I was once a profligate pirate myself.  Yet, despite the fact that my hard drives were heaving with illegally downloaded material, my shelves were also teeming with legally purchased material as well.

And the same goes for many people who pirate things.  There are numerous studies that show that the people who illegally download the most music, are also some of the biggest purchasers of music.  This won’t be true for all of them, of course, but it is a fact that cannot be ignored.

It’s also important to recognise that just because someone illegally downloads a book, or a film, or a song, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the copyright owner has lost a sale.  For a start, pirates will often download stuff that they have no intention of ever using.  They’ll often do it, just because they can.  I mean, who wouldn’t want to download the latest version of AutoCAD if the opportunity is there...?

A quick search on a torrent site reveals that I can download the entire works of Stephen King, in about fifteen minutes.  That’s everything that he has ever published, about sixty five books in total, right there on the Internet.  Ebooks are small in size, so they take no time at all to pirate.  However, to say that anyone who downloads them all has denied Mr King of sixty five books worth of royalty fees, is wrong.

First of all, very few people will ever go out and purchase that many books at once.  Secondly, that pirate simply isn’t going to read all sixty five of those books either.  He or she may read one of them, and enjoy it.  However, they aren’t that likely to immediately read another Stephen King book.  They are more likely to read something from someone else, whether it’s pirated, or legally bought.

The reading habits of a pirate are exactly the same as those of a ‘normal’ reader.  They will talk about it to their friends, and family.  They will join in with the discussions about it on Goodreads.  They leave reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, and their blog.  After illegally sampling an author’s work, they may go on and purchase legitimate copies of their work.  This is something I did when I was a pirate.  It’s what I witnessed other people who pirated media do, as well.  It’s what some of the studies into piracy have shown, as well.

Of course, you don’t have to just take this indie’s word for it.  Bestselling author Neil Garman has taken a similar stance to ebook piracy.  He even made a video on YouTube about it, that is still available to watch, though he is someone who made his name (and fortune) long before ebooks ever existed.

It’s also worth bearing in mind that you can’t actually fight piracy, either.  For every anti-piracy method that is put in place, it is easily defeated.  Companies can spend thousands implementing an anti-piracy scheme, only to see it cracked within hours of its release.

An author could spend a huge amount of time, scouring all corners of the Internet, trying to hunt down those elusive illegal links to their work.  Yet, all that time is wasted.  It took me less than five minutes for me to put my own work up on a torrent site, but it might take days for a furious copyright owner to get something removed from a website.

Many people will say “if everyone pirated books, then authors would starve!”  Now, whilst that might be true, it’s also true that if everyone flushed their toilets at once, the sewer system would collapse.  The fact is, that not everyone will pirate books.  At least part of this is down to the fact that it requires a certain level of technical knowledge to pirate, that many people struggle to get over.  Some Kindle owners simply don’t know how to manually copy ebooks onto their device.

To be honest, I probably have more sympathy for the readers, than I do the authors.  They can be understandably annoyed when they see someone stealing books, and getting them for free, rather than paying for them.

In writing this short article, I’m not expecting to drastically change anyone’s mind.  However, the piracy debate has been raging for a long time now, and it really needs a more level-headed approach.  None of the heavy-handed antics employed so far have put so much as a dent in it.

I think we should embrace it, rather than hate it.

Study: Piracy Does Not Deter the Production of Music, Films, Books -
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/study_piracy_does_not_deter_the_production_of_music_books_films.php

Study Shows That BitTorrent Piracy Doesn’t Affect U.S. Box Office Profits - http://www.geekosystem.com/bittorrent-box-office-study/

Neil Garman video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Qkyt1wXNlI"

Writings From the Heart Blog Tour

Hello Sheri and everyone!  My name is Beth Ann Masarik, and I am here to talk to you about an anthology that I published with 30 authors.  This collection is called Writings From the Heart: Stories and Poetry From Around the World.  I collaborated this project in order to help raise money for the pediatric cardiology unit at the Cohen Children’s Medical Center of NY.  CCMC, was also known as Schneider Children’s Hospital, and is a part of the North Shore/LIJ health system. 

Each of the contributing authors has their own personal reason for contributing to the anthology, and I would like to share some of them with you. 

William Cass: ‘‘I have a son who is severely disabled and medically fragile who has been a longtime patient at our local children’s hospital (in fact, at one point, he was admitted there for over a year), so I applaud and am personally touched by the purpose of your efforts with this anthology.”

Frank Cavano: ‘‘As a retired physician, I am impressed by your intention to collect writings that may prove helpful to sick children.”

Melodie Corrigall: I am inspired and humbled to hear stories of the courage, resilience and insight shown by children whose youth has been blighted by poor health and painful health treatments. I contributed to this anthology in support of these young people and their families.

I hope that you all will support this great cause.  The anthology is available in paperback for $13USD on all sales channels, and in electronic format for $4.99. If $4.99 is too much for you, during the week of the Fourth of July, I am going to run a holiday special, and offer it at half off ($2.99.)

Thank you for having me on your blog today, Sheri! I really appreciate it, and I know the authors of the anthology do as well!

For those interested in purchasing the anthology, here are some of the purchase links:

Nook

Kindle

You can also purchase it in paperback from

Barnes &Noble and Createspace, as well as on Smashwords for all other electronic formats.


Thanks again everybody! For more information, please visit my blog www.bahbammymusings.wordpress.com and click on the category “Charity” or visit my Goodreads page.

30 short stories and poems make up this unique anthology. Authors and poets from around the world joined together for one cause; to raise awareness of congenital heart disease in children.

All proceeds from this collection will go to the Adult Congenital Heart Program at Cohen Children's Medical Center of NY for education and research in this area.

My review:

This anthology will have something for everyone. The short stories range widely in topic and are heartwarming and full of emotion, playful and funny. One of my favorites was the very first story, "Hiding in Plain Sight," though there were a few others I really enjoyed as well.

Though I'm not normally a huge fan of poetry, I really enjoyed the poems in this anthology. A couple of my favorites were "Invisible Scars" and "Succubus in Chains."


This book is for a good cause, so even if short stories and poetry is not something you usually read, give it a try. The proceeds from this collection will go to the Adult Congenital Heart Program at Cohen Children's Medical Center of NY for education and research in this area.

Beth Ann Masarik was born on Long Island, NY in the year 1984 with an over-active imagination. She used to love playing make-believe games, and now loves creating her own fantasy worlds. Masarik has been writing since she was 15 years old, and had her first newspaper article published in her high school newspaper in her sophomore year. She has taken several creative writing classes, and started writing her very first novel in college, and is currently searching for the right literary agent. Aside from writing novels, Masarik enjoys bowling, gaming, and role playing online. She enjoys reading fantasy novels written by Richelle Mead, L.J. Smith, and J.K. Rowling, and looks to them for role models.

-Author of The World Among Us, Prince of Darkness (available where books are sold!)
-Author of 5 star story, Murderous Regrets, a World Among Us short story (available where ebooks are sold!)
-Moon Spirit, a The World Among Us short story available where ever ebooks are sold!
-Luney Writers, an anthology coming in 2012
-Founder of Literary Lunes Magazine www.literarylunes.com for more details!
-Founder of Wordsmiths and Ink Scribblers writing network www.wordsmithsinkscribblers.spruz.com

Follow me here: 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BethAnnMasarik
https://www.facebook.com/TheWorldAmongUs
Twitter: @theworldamongus

Personal Website: www.bethannmasarik.com
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/bethmasarik

Stop by all the other stops on this tour!
June 13- Erin Danzer www.erindanzer.blogspot.com
June 14- Me, My Shelf and I www.memyshelfandi.com
June 15- Bilinda Ni Siodacain http://bilindanisiodacain.blogspot.com/
June 16- Beth Ann Masarik www.bahbammymusings.wordpress.com
June 17-Nikki http://www.closeencounterswiththenightkind.blogspot.com
June 18-Lizzy Ford http://www.guerrillawordfare.com/
June 19- Tricia Kristufek http://triciakristufek.com
June 20- Martha http://theshortone08.blogspot.com
June 21-Danica Page http://danicapage.blogspot.com/
June 22- Cassie from Gathering Leaves http://gatheringleavesreviews.blogspot.com/
June 23-Misty http://www.the-top-shelf.com/
June 24-Ali http://myguiltyobsession.blogspot.com/
June 25- Sheri www.makingconnectionsgroup.blogspot.com
June 26-Adrienne DeWolfe www.writingnovelsthatsell.com
June 27- Cambria Hebert www.cambriahebert.com
June 28-Audris http://yabookmark.blogspot.com/
June 29- Miriam Pia http://www.uranianfiction.webs.com/
June 30- Tiffany http://reviewsalatiffany.blogspot.com/
July 1-Heidi Permann www.rainydayramblings.typepad.com
July 2- Kindlegraph book signing and www.literarylunespublications.com release & new website launch party!
July 3-Vix Parungao http://www.mum-writes.com
July 4- Jenn at www.indiesupporter.com

Tony Talbot Guest Post

A few months ago, I'd just finished another novel, and was wondering (maybe dreaming would be a better word) what would happen if I was suddenly granted my wish...to be a full time writer and at that a famous full time writer. Kind of suddenly discovered like JK Rowling, people everywhere reading one of my books.

What would my life be like? Imagine that...never having to leave for work in the morning and never having to drive through snow or rain or rush hour traffic. To sit at my desk all day and (to quote Steven Spielberg) 'to dream for a living'.

But it wouldn't be all regular royalty cheques and a quiet home. I know I'd get easily distracted, sitting there in an empty house. I'd be forever checking my Goodreads reviews, my Facebook friends. There'd be constant pressure to Tweet my every move. Not to mention the endless meetings and flying to Hollywood to meet with Mr Spielberg for the movie deal, and the endless parties and other things I'm sure I'd hate. Would be tough, I'm sure, having to fly to the Caribbean and lie on a beach.

I digress into my fantasy there, but thinking about how my life would change set me thinking about a story, as such things do. I imagined a housewife, bored with her life and her three children. She has everything she ever wanted: beautiful home, devoted husband and adorable kids. But still she's bored. She's always defined by how other people see how she relates to her family. She's always a wife, or a mother...never just her.
Finally, she starts writing one day, just to slay the boredom and the incipient feeling that life has more to offer her. She writes, and she writes, telling no one - this is something just for her. Eventually she writes a novel and sends it to an agent, and they accept it, but still she tells no one what she's doing.

Which is where the story starts: she's sitting at her kitchen table, looking at an advance from an agent and a publication deal that would free her from her domestic life forever. All she has to do is cash the cheque and make it to the airport, and her life is her own. The story is about how trapped she feels, and whether she'd be more free if she was suddenly flung into the spotlight.

I loved that story. I really felt for that woman and what she was going through. It might have been realistic if she just told her family what she was doing when they came home, but I wasn't interested in that; I wanted to go through what she was going through.

But here's the really terrible thing: I lost that story.
I thought I had it saved on at least ONE of the computers I use, or the memory sticks that hold my work, but I can't find it. I must have saved it somewhere because (being the tech guy I am) I always hit save before I print. And I printed two copies: one for me and one for a writing friend.
I can't find my printed copy, and I NEVER throw my work away. I have hopes my writing friend can find it and I can re-type it. I've even tried a file recovery program...but nothing.

Why not recreate it? You might ask. That's a hard one to explain...stories are ephemeral, flighty things, gone with a breeze. If I re-write it, it won't be the same story. I know I won't be able to recreate the same...intimacy...with the woman in the story, I won't get into her head the way I did when I wrote it on a whim. I won't know who she is as well as I did before.

I've never lost a story before, and it's gone as though it never existed. And I feel bereft. I've lost a story and it feels like I lost a friend as well, and they're such hard things to grasp at the best of times. I know all the arguments: hit save, hit save, then hit save again. I did. I do.
But this time it wasn't enough. Farewell, lonely housewife.

I'll miss you.

(Stop Press 18th June 2012: My writing friend found my story! Thanks Portia!)

About the Author:
Tony Talbot started writing short stories in 2008, after a dream he had and couldn't shake; Finally his wife told him to write it down or stop talking about it.

He wrote his first Young Adult novel, Over the Mountain, in 2008, and has completed several others and a growing raft of short stories since.

He lives in a village in Leicestershire UK, with an American wife he met online and a teenage cockatiel. As well as writing, he enjoys reading, playing Mario Kart on the Wii and not getting enough exercise.

Over the Mountain - 2008
Taken - 2009
American Girl - 2011
Eight Mile Island - coming 2012

Web:  http://www.tony-talbot.co.uk/
Blog:  http://www.tony-talbot.co.uk/wordpress/
Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/tonytalbotwriter        
Twitter:  @authortony
Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/Tony-Talbot/e/B004SUXOXS
Goodreads:  http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4645418.Tony_Talbot

What if your whole life was a lie...?

Amon Russo lives in a huge villa in a huge estate on a secluded Greek island with his super rich parents. He has a private beach, his father has a yacht and as many fast cars as he can think of.
He seems to have it all...
Until he starts to see cracks in his life.

Why do his parents keep him hidden away from the islanders?

Who is the strange girl living next door in a deserted villa?

The truth shatters Amons life, and the price he pays for finding out the truth is almost too high...

If everyone you know is lying to you...who do you trust?