News of the week: I've created a few book covers for Western Trail Blazer and added a few pre-made covers to Judge Your Book By Its Cover. So if anyone is in need of book cover for their next best seller, you know where to look. lol

I've also been listening to an audible version of Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare, and I'm reading The Invasion of Falgannon Isle by Deborah MacGillivray. I'm enjoying both stories! What have you been reading or listening to?

Now for Snippet Sunday. This is another snippet from Magic of the Loch. Today's snippet is continued from last week. Click here to read Chapter One #4. In Chapter One Michaela meets Alan and Hyatt for the first time.

The Wild Rose Press
Kindle
NOOK

Blurb:

Michaela Grant travels to Scotland for a holiday, knowing this vacation is her last. A medical condition threatens her life and any chance of a future—until she meets Alan MacLachlin, a man forced to exist between two worlds.

Alan is the legendary Loch Ness Monster. Once every fifty years he returns to human form in search of his soul mate, the one woman who can break his curse. He believes he has found forever with Michaela, but to claim it he must figure out how to save her life.

Michaela and Alan vow to take what time has to offer, but another threat looms. A sinister shape shifter with a vendetta against Alan is making Loch Ness his personal hunting ground. Now he’s threatening Michaela. Alan must discover who the shifter is and stop him before it’s too late.

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Set up for the snippet: Present day, Chapter One. The streets of Drumnadrochit were buzzing with the news of recent sightings of the Loch Ness Monster. Everyone wants to capture his or her own photo of the legendary creature. 

Michaela was heading toward the boat tied off at the end of the pier when a German shepherd, that is chasing a cat, comes barreling toward her. Luckily for Michaela, Alan saves her from a falling into the loch.

Alan and Michaela exchanged some heated words, leaving Michaela believing she doesn't care for her rescuer. Then Hyatt (Alan's brother) shows up to defuse the situation with humor, and to make the proper introductions (Sort of). His handshake has distracted Michaela, but that's soon to change. Rapid barks and hissing snap her out of her trance. (This snippet has been modified to meet the 8 sentence limit. )

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“You might want to call off your dog,” she said and pointed toward the German Shepherd who barked and paced by the boat as the cat purposely walked along the boat’s railing as if to say, Come and get me if you dare.

“That’s just Elvis and Priscilla,” Hyatt proclaimed with a laugh.

"You’re joking.” She then noticed the name of the boat painted in blue script, The Hound Dog.

“Ye have to speak to the owner.” He motioned to Alan.

Michaela stared at Alan with his scowl of displeasure marring his handsome face,  and asked the obvious, “You wouldn’t happen to be an Elvis fan by chance?”

“Isnae everyone?” he growled and turned his attention to his pets.

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What did you think? Like always, I would love to know what you thought of the snippet.

If you’re a writer (regardless of published/unpublished status) come join us and share a snippet of your work in progress, a new release, or an oldie but goodie.

Participating Authors are listed at these sites: Hashtags: #SPeekSunday #8sunday #snippetsunday

http://sneak-peek-sunday.blogspot.com/

Weekend Writing Warriors for Eight Sentence Sunday

News of the week: The winner of the Kindle copy of SOUL TAKER was Sue B! Congratulations! Thanks to all who visited me at Author Roast and Toast! Oliver throws a fantastic party!

Cowboys and Lawmen Blog Hop at KMN Books Blogspot. The winners were: Sherry and Oncerfan! Congrats are in order!  http://kmnbooks.blogspot.com/

Now for Snippet Sunday. This is another snippet from Magic of the Loch. Today's snippet is continued from last week: Chapter One #4. Click here to read Chapter One #3. In Chapter One Michaela meets Alan and Hyatt for the first time.

The Wild Rose Press
Kindle
NOOK

Blurb:

Michaela Grant travels to Scotland for a holiday, knowing this vacation is her last. A medical condition threatens her life and any chance of a future—until she meets Alan MacLachlin, a man forced to exist between two worlds.

Alan is the legendary Loch Ness Monster. Once every fifty years he returns to human form in search of his soul mate, the one woman who can break his curse. He believes he has found forever with Michaela, but to claim it he must figure out how to save her life.

Michaela and Alan vow to take what time has to offer, but another threat looms. A sinister shape shifter with a vendetta against Alan is making Loch Ness his personal hunting ground. Now he’s threatening Michaela. Alan must discover who the shifter is and stop him before it’s too late.

******************************************************************************************
Set up for the snippet: Present day, Chapter One. The streets of Drumnadrochit were buzzing with the news of recent sightings of the Loch Ness Monster. Everyone wants to capture his or her own photo of the legendary creature.  The woman, Michaela is renting her cottage from, gave her the directions to where she could rent a boat for a day. Michaela is on the pier, heading toward the boat tied off at the end when a German shepherd, that is chasing a cat, comes barreling down the pier. Luckily for Michaela, Alan saves her from a falling into the loch.

Alan and Michaela exchanged some heated words, leaving Michaela believing she doesn't care for her rescuer. Then Hyatt (Alan's brother) shows up to defuse the situation with humor, and to make the proper introductions (Sort of). This snippet takes place a few paragraphs from last week's snippet. This is still Michaela's POV. (This snippet has been modified to meet the 8 sentence limit. )

******************************************************************************************
“I’m Hyatt MacLachlin,” he said as he held out his hand. “And the sour puss is my brother, Alan.” He nodded toward Hot Head.

“Michaela Grant.” She let the warmth of Hyatt’s handshake seep through her. His glance was lazily seductive, causing her heart to thud like a drum as he took in every curve of her face.

“Hyatt,” Alan warned, and Hyatt took a step back, releasing his hold and taking the magnetic pull with him. She shook her head at the absurdity of her thinking.

******************************************************************************************
What did you think? Like always, I would love to know what you thought of the snippet.

If you’re a writer (regardless of published/unpublished status) come join us and share a snippet of your work in progress, a new release, or an oldie but goodie.

Participating Authors are listed at these sites: Hashtags: #SPeekSunday #8sunday #snippetsunday

http://sneak-peek-sunday.blogspot.com/

Weekend Writing Warriors for Eight Sentence Sunday

I hope you had a fantastic week.

The winner of the Goodreads Giveaway for SOUL TAKER is Mr. Glass! Congratulations!

May 2- May 6: I'm participating with 46 other authors in the Cowboys and Lawmen Blog Hop at KMN Books Blogspot. My post is all about TV shows featuring Cowboys. Do you remember Alias Smith and Jones? The Wild Wild West? And I'm giving away Ebook copies of WANTED AND STORM RIDERS. The Grand Prize is at least a $100.00 gift card to either Amazon or Barnes and Noble. Follow the link to KMN Books here.: http://kmnbooks.blogspot.com/

Now for Snippet Sunday. This is another snippet from Magic of the Loch. Today's snippet is continued from last week: Chapter One #3. Click here to read Chapter One #2. In Chapter One Michaela meets Alan and Hyatt for the first time.

The Wild Rose Press
Kindle
NOOK

Blurb:

Michaela Grant travels to Scotland for a holiday, knowing this vacation is her last. A medical condition threatens her life and any chance of a future—until she meets Alan MacLachlin, a man forced to exist between two worlds.

Alan is the legendary Loch Ness Monster. Once every fifty years he returns to human form in search of his soul mate, the one woman who can break his curse. He believes he has found forever with Michaela, but to claim it he must figure out how to save her life.

Michaela and Alan vow to take what time has to offer, but another threat looms. A sinister shape shifter with a vendetta against Alan is making Loch Ness his personal hunting ground. Now he’s threatening Michaela. Alan must discover who the shifter is and stop him before it’s too late.

******************************************************************************************
Set up for the snippet: Present day, Chapter One. The streets of Drumnadrochit were buzzing with the news of recent sightings of the Loch Ness Monster. Everyone wants to capture his or her own photo of the legendary creature.  The woman, Michaela is renting her cottage from, gave her the directions to where she could rent a boat for a day. Michaela is on the pier, heading toward the boat tied off at the end when a German shepherd, that is chasing a cat, comes barreling down the pier. Luckily for Michaela, Alan saves her from a falling into the loch.

Alan and Michaela exchanged some heated words, leaving Michaela thinking she doesn't care for her rescuer. this is in Michaela's POV.

******************************************************************************************

If she possessed the strength, she’d push him in the loch to cool off his hot temper. Intent on giving him an off-handed retort, her mouth opened only to clamp shut again at the sound of a deep chuckle behind her. Michaela turned her head and glared at the new arrival with the warped sense of humor.

“I’m sorry, for my brother’s behavior,” the man, who stood an inch or two taller than Hot Head next to her, announced with a meaningful glint in his eyes. Michaela became on guard. She found herself far away from the Village Green with two men. One not too pleased for company and the other who looked at her as if she were a yummy treat.

“We arnae goin’ to harm ye," the man said with a chuckle. "Might I remind ye, my brother just saved ye from an unsavory dunkin’.”

******************************************************************************************
Now Michaela has met Alan and Hyatt. Like always, I would love to know what you thought of the snippet.

If you’re a writer (regardless of published/unpublished status) come join us and share a snippet of your work in progress, a new release, or an oldie but goodie.

Participating Authors are listed at these sites: Hashtags: #SPeekSunday #8sunday #snippetsunday

http://sneak-peek-sunday.blogspot.com/

Weekend Writing Warriors for Eight Sentence Sunday

***My CONTEST at KMN Books: 2 Winners. 2 Books. I’m giving away One Ebook Copy of WANTED and One Ebook copy of STORM RIDERS. 

THAT'S NOT ALL

Love a man in a cowboy hat? How about an lawman who walks the line between good and darn right wicked? And how about a outlaw who finds that certain woman who makes him want to do good? And finally what makes them so gosh-darn sexy? We invite you to hop along with us and find out.

 

http://kmnbooks.blogspot.com/2013/05/cowboys-and-lawmen-cowboyslawmen.html

Z is for Zombies

Frankly, there is nothing lovable about zombies. Zombies are dead people! They’re bluish-pale colored and vein-y, and their bodies leak bodily fluids from all their orifices. I can only imagine how they smell—but my gag reflex would most likely work overtime. If this isn’t bad enough, these animated corpses want to consume living flesh! You, your love one, and even your pets are not safe from these guys.

So what’s the hype about these creatures? Why are there so many books, TV shows, and movies about these smelly walking dead?

Maybe it’s because people are fascinated with being scared, and believe me, being devoured by a zombie is a frightening prospect. Or maybe people are drawn to the zombie fad because of the fight to survive the worst scenario possible. Maybe it’s because everyone is waiting to see what disgusting thing the Zombie will do now.

Warm Bodies (Free Desk Top Nexus)

For me, the fascination is how the living survived the zombie apocalypse. The best and worse of each person are revealed. How someone you may have never thought of as a hero or heroine, steps up and becomes one, and of course, he or she wins the guy or girl’s heart---and not literally. lol (Can’t help it, I’m a romantic.) In all the blood and gore, love has to survive. Right?

Now I’ve always thought of Zombies as these hideous being you must run away from, but in the movie, Warm Bodies, the zombie is the leading man. I know my first response was yuck-y! But as I watched the story unfold, I couldn’t help but fall for the zombie and hope he won the girl in the end. I haven’t read any books where the zombie could think and function, so I rather enjoyed this romantic comedy.

How do you like your zombies? Stinking flesh willing to eat your brains, or romantic leading men (who still want to eat your brains) but are redeemable if they meet the right gal?

In my WIP, Smoke and Mirrors, the animated corpses play a huge role in the story, but their agenda isn’t munching on brains. Someone is controlling them and they have a whole other agenda.

This is another story involving Garran, Harrison, and Isabella from SOUL TAKER. When the dead don't stay dead, the trio sent out to find the Jinn responsible for playing puppet master.

I didn't have to survive a Zombie apocalypse, but I did survive the A to Z challenge! This is the final post for this challenge. YIPEE! I made it! Thanks to all those who came by to read the posts, and a special thanks to all that commented! Much appreciated!

Don't forget to hop to the other blogs for their last post of the month.

Participant list: A to Z Challenge

Y is for Yule

The Yuletide season is filled with magic and mystery until well after midnight on December 24th. This night is called Matrum Noctem, which translates as the Night of the Great Mother. This spirit of Yule, the presence of mystery, inspires visions of a better world in the hearts and minds of all.

The Druids

The custom of lighting the Yule log represents the birth of a god from the fire of the Mother. The Druids would say a prayer of thanks to the spirit of the tree before they would cut it down.

The tradition of burning a Yule log was to honor the Great Mother Goddess.  They would light the log on the eve of the solstice, using the remains of the log from the previous year.  For good luck, they would burn it for twelve hours. 

Decorating the Tree

The Yule tree could be a Fir or Evergreen, but the Pine was the most popular since it represented Odin. They would not chop down the tree, but use a live tree outdoors. This tradition symbolized Yggdrasil (The Tree of Life). Decorating it with brightly colored ornaments symbolized the sun, moon and stars, while other ornaments would represent the souls of the departed from the previous years. 

They would also hang gifts on the Yule tree for the many different Pagan Gods and Goddesses. The Druids would decorate the trees with images that represented their wants and desires for the upcoming year. 

Wreaths were made from holly, ivy and evergreens as a reminder that life still prospered despite the harsh winters they endured.

As you can see, yuletide shadows closely with the Christian celebration of Christmas: decorating a tree, hanging wreaths, and celebrating with family and friends.

Fun Facts

Yule logs were once large enough to last all twelve days of Christmas.

In both ancient and modern celebrations, candles are a big part of the Yule time celebration. The candle flame represents the sun, which has faded in the winter.

In Old Nordic stories, Yule was the main feast of the year and lasted for three nights.

My Holiday Short Stories

In my story, Mistletoe, Stakes and Yuletide Cheer, my hero celebrates Yule, and my heroine celebrates Christmas, but that is the least of their problems.