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booksbydlwhite · 5 months ago

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BOOKCAST 88: Check-in and Unraveling the Mystery: The Photograph, Part 3

Send me fan mail!

I woke up with a craving for tacos but first I had to record the Bookcast. Episode 88 brings updates on reading and writing as a self published author of romantic fiction that centers Black love. I also recorded part 3 of my four part serial, THE PHOTOGRAPH. Woot.

Books on sale:

Leslie's Curl & Dye is $.99 everywhere and Beach Thing is on sale for $1.99. Find links to both at my store- payhip.com/booksbydlwhite.

Appearances:

Celebrating Curvy Girl Summer by Danielle Allen at RESIST booksellers June 22, 2024. Details at Resist Booksellers.com.

EssenceFest 2024 (I am NOT a featured author and will not be on the stage, jut in the buildin!)

Black Romance Book Fest May 2025-: https://blackromancebookfest.com. Tix go on sale June 21st.

LISTEN to today’s episode here. Transcript is below the episode details. ENJOY!

I discussed the following books today:

Starcrossed: An Enemies to Lovers Romance (Jackson Brothers Book 2) by Shae Sanders

Truth Be Told (Rogue Justice #2) by Kendra Elliot

Do What Godmother Says by L.S. Stratton

Just Like Her: A Queer Romance by Fiona Zedde

Bitter and Sweet by Rhonda McKnight

Uncovering her Dreams by Rae Shawn

Come Ride with Me by AC Arthur

What If I Love You by Yvonne Marie

The Stones We Cast by Chelsea Marie

Back Down Memory Lane by Lamartz Brown

Legal Seduction by Sharon C Cooper.

What You Leave Behind by Wanda M. Morris

A Dream in the Dark (A Wrongful Conviction Novel 2)

Nia Forrester Backlist titles

Support the Show with a recurring gift at bookcast.buzzsprout.com. Buy books by DL White at https://BooksbyDLWhite.com/books. Buy Merch by DLWhite at https://payhip.com/BooksbyDLWhite/collection/merch Find the Bookcast on booksbydlwhite.com/bookcast or your fave podcast app: Apple Podcasts | Spotify |Overcast | Podlink| Youtube

TRANSCRIPT

DL White [00:00:00]:

This has nothing to do with anything podcast related, but I woke up thinking about tacos. Like, tacos with a little bit of yellow rice and some black beans at 7 AM. So guess what I'm having for dinner? Welcome back to the book cast, my platform for sharing short fiction and updates on life as a self published author of romantic fiction that centers black love and relationships. I am so excited that you're here, especially since you're not supposed to be. I was not supposed to record today. I was supposed to be visiting a, bustling Midwestern city, but I delayed my flight by a few days, so I'm here. I am Dale White. I'm an Atlanta based author of 14 and counting novels and numerous short stories and fan fiction works.

DL White [00:00:50]:

I'm a reader First. So we usually begin with a book report, and we talk about writing and topics of the day. I am currently in pre publication for The Pearl, a Black Diamond Romance. Tentative release date is scheduled for on or before July 2nd 2024. Check my blog and my social media for Goodreads and story graph links as well as samples, teasers, even a playlist for this book. I also want you to pay really close attention, in case this book might come out early. You never know. It might be for sale exclusively on my website for a few days if you're very excited about that kind of thing.

DL White [00:01:29]:

I'm really I'm I I can't wait to bring Davis and Kari to your faces. I do have some advanced readers out there who have expressed that they're enjoying the book, so I can't wait until the general population gets their hands on it. I actually just sent out another arc to someone who requested it, so yay for them and for me. It's gonna be a busy month at Books by d l White. I do have some travel, on deck. Leslie's curl and die is on sale as part of the blue collar romance Kobo promotion. Beach thing is also on sale for 199 if you still need to get started on the Black Diamond romance series before book 3 comes out. I actually have a hankering a hankering to refresh myself on the Black Diamond couples, so I might spin Wade and Amina and Vance and Athena one time before I release the pearl.

DL White [00:02:21]:

My most recent newsletter is out. You'll find a link to that if you're not subscribed on my links page. It's books by dlwhite.com/linkinbio. I also need you to take care of that subscription thing exceptionally. Booksbydlwhite.com/newsletter. I'm gonna work on a couple exclusive excerpts to go out before the book is published, so you wanna be on that to get the good stuff. Thank you so much, and don't forget to confirm. Your mailbox will not be blessed if you do not confirm.

DL White [00:02:51]:

I just go go ahead and delete it. As always, if you're a member at Kobo Plus, you can grab all my ebooks and audiobooks as part of your subscription. And if you're a premium subscriber at Spotify, you get 15 free hours there, so snatch up my audiobooks. I get paid for them. I don't think you understand. I get paid for them. I'm available in ebook and audio at your local library, so hit them up, Libby Hoopla, and request me. If you don't find me there, let me know when your request is granted because I absolutely love it.

DL White [00:03:23]:

Libraries buy books. I love it so much. Libraries actually pay more than retail for books, so request me everywhere all the time nonstop. I do believe all my audiobooks are now available on Hoopla, and they have ebooks, and I'm most pleased. Do you have a topic you would like me to cover on the book cast? Something author y, something reader y, something hybrid y? Let me know. Shout me out. Holler. I'm always on Instagram or Twitter at author_dlwhite.

DL White [00:03:56]:

You can even visit the show notes of this year episode at booksbydlwhite.com/bookcast slash 88. You can also drop me a voice note called fan mail. Peep the link in the show notes and send me some dulcet tones of love. I welcome your comments and questions. I'll dedicate a part of the show to answering them. Onward. Today's gonna be a great show. Not not too long, not too short, but not too long.

DL White [00:04:21]:

It's the weekend. I don't have a book to write. My editor is rejoicing. I I see it. I see it. I I'm picturing it in my mind, and I am all about the books. So we will talk about my reading challenge and what I have been putting into my face. I'll finish today's episode with part 3 of the photograph, which is my short run serial that I wrote specifically for the podcast because I just had not shared enough short fiction lately.

DL White [00:04:48]:

Today is Saturday, June 8th. It is 9:55 AM. Whoo. I'm way behind y'all. It's sunny and 65 degrees today in the AAT l. I have a mic and I am ready to dig in, but first, join me for some coffee. It took me so long to get up and running today that my coffee is lukewarm, and I'm sad about it. I like it hot.

DL White [00:05:26]:

We begin as always with the book report because I am a book head. I have read 89 books of my challenge to read 150 books this year, putting me 24 books ahead on my Goodreads challenge. The more I read, the further ahead I am. How how is that happening? Should I increase my goal or just be really ridiculous with it? Let me know in the comments. I had a very good reading week, so let's get into it. This week, I read star crossed and enemies to lovers romance by Shay Sanders. This was absolutely slap your nearest relative. Delicious.

DL White [00:06:00]:

Fantastic. So well done. I'm a Shea Sanders fan. It is cemented in the pantheon. She did such a good job with this. I highlight highlighted so much in this book. I really tried not to spoil things, but, like, she just has a way with, like, a twist of phrase. She is very sassy and sarcastic, but, like, also able to to bring out, like, emotion and, like, just, like, talk about what's actually happening between these two characters.

DL White [00:06:28]:

And her steamy scenes aren't bad either. Big fan. Love that. I also listened to truth be told, Rogue Justice number 2 by Kendra Elliott. Kendra is another one of those thriller authors that has, like, 99 books out in Kindle Unlimited, so I can read and listen with my subscription. And I often will just throw on something to, like, listen to just because. So this was a just because listen. I also got an audio arc of Do What Godmother Says by Ellis Stratton, who is my author bae.

DL White [00:07:03]:

I absolutely love her. You also know her as Shelley Ellis and Shelley Stratton. Listen. If you don't read Shelley, I need you to get your life together immediately, like, right now because sis is on the way up, and you you you you wanna climb on this train, this rocket ship as it's ascending. Do what Gomother says is I think it's called a gothic thriller? Gothic? It's a gothic something, it's dual time period which is my fave, absolutely love it. There's a little bit I feel like there's a little bit of Shelley Ellis in Ellis Stratton. Just just the way that she writes a relationship in a book, it's very reminiscent. But this book is heavily, heavily a mystery, a thriller.

DL White [00:07:57]:

There's, like, a lot going on with, like, some spooky characters and some people that, like, make the hair on the back of your neck stand up, and I'd be like, I knew. I knew it. I knew it. But then, like, I send her a DM, and she was doesn't tell me anything, and she makes me find out for myself. It's just not fair. It's not it's not like, being friends with an author should mean that you get to know the twist before you have to read the twist, but she doesn't play fair. I also read Just Like Her, a queer romance by Fiona Zedd. This finally came out.

DL White [00:08:30]:

I know she's been working on it for a minute. Congratulations, Fiona. And then, I read bitter and sweet by Rhonda McKnight, which was absolutely fantastic. Really, really well done. I can't remember if I had that on my list last week. I just I don't I don't know. The weeks are all running together, but, really, really enjoyed that. That comes out on Tuesday.

DL White [00:08:50]:

Also, Do What Good Mother Says comes out on Tuesday. You wanna grab both of those. They are both excellent. I don't have anything officially on my reading list, but I do know I have at least one ARC for June 11th that I need to read. It's not likely to come out in audio, so I really need to get it together. I'll probably get on it, like, Sunday afternoon. It's a romance, and I don't think it's a long one. And I don't typically read romance by white authors, but Laurie Foster is a fave.

DL White [00:09:17]:

I also love Ronnie Lauren. So I saw that she had a new book coming out. I've loved her since getting rowdy came out, like, 7000000 years ago. Love me some Laurie Foster, so I'm gonna snatch that one up. I have a bunch of stuff in Kindle Unlimited that I wanna read or clear, ala Brigitte Bianca's KU reader release challenge. I have, uncovering her dreams by Rayshawn, Come Ride With Me by AC author, What If I Love You by Yvonne Marie. I have a couple of few Nia Forester backlist titles. I'm I'm on a mission to read all of Nia Forester's work, and so I'd wanna get a few more of those down.

DL White [00:09:56]:

I just love her writing. Just delicious. Like, Nia Forester and Tasha l Harrison, if I don't bring them up every other episode, something is wrong. Please send when they send the police to your house because they think something's wrong, if I don't mention Nia Forester or Tasha l Harrison, send the police. That's what I'm saying. The stones we cast by Chelsea Marie, back down memory lane by LaMarts Brown. I've gotta gotta gotta read more black male authors, specifically more black male indie authors, so I gotta get into it and legal seduction by my good good friend Sharon c Cooper. Lots to dig through, plus I have some upcoming arcs I need to get read.

DL White [00:10:35]:

First up is What You Leave Behind by Wanda Morris. I'm very, very excited about this. I might wait for audio on that one. That one's coming up, June 18th. So, I don't know if I can I don't know if I can wait? I also have a dream in the dark, wrongful conviction novel number 2 by Robert Justice coming up. I'm very excited about that one also, and, I'm just saying I know Robert listens to the podcast, and sometimes I know a book is just gonna be absolutely awesome in audio. And so I will wait for audio to come out so I can listen to it, but I get an ARC specifically so I can read it early because I'm impatient. And so now I'm in this thing where do I wanna read it on the page early because that helps the author, or do I wanna wait for it on audio because that helps me? You know, it's it's it's a struggle.

DL White [00:11:34]:

It's a struggle. That one's coming out in July. I'm very excited about it. I'm really, really excited for Robert Justice. I'm also wanna thank him that he read one of my books, and I so do cherish my, male readers because I I write specifically for 2 black women, but I do have some male readers that really dig me, and I so appreciate your good words about my books. So, thank you so much, and, keep them coming. This week, I put down Secret Keeper of Main Street by Tricia r Thomas. This book just didn't hit me.

DL White [00:12:09]:

It just didn't love love Tricia. I just I couldn't finish it. Sometimes I skip through till the end, because I feel bad about putting down a book. I just I got to about 30%, and I just was not interested in finishing. I think this book has some pretty good reviews, and I just wasn't interested in bringing it down, so I just went ahead and put it down. I don't know if it's a mood thing or the way the book is written or if it would have been better on the page versus audio. I just I lost interest. I didn't wanna pick it back up.

DL White [00:12:38]:

Often, this is a pacing issue. If it doesn't snap, I just I can't I can't stay engaged. I blame my short span of attention. On appearances, reminder that I'll be celebrating Danielle Allen's release cover girl summer in Petersburg, Virginia. She'll be at Resist Booksellers. I will be there to support. I'll be a featured author, and I'm I'm really looking forward to seeing Danielle and Demetrius who owns Resist Booksellers again. That'll be on June 22, 2024, I believe, from 1 to 3 PM.

DL White [00:13:09]:

There's a post on my Instagram and my TikTok and my Facebook page with details, and, of course, follow Danielle Allen and resist booksellers for all of the deets. I'll also be at the Black Romance Festival in Atlanta, Georgia, May 30th through June 1, 2025. I have already booked my room, and I'm telling you, start saving your money. I'm gonna say this every week. Start saving your money. Tickets go on sale June 21st, so get in there, and, come find me because it's very likely that you'll know me before I know you, so don't quiz me. I don't know your name. I might know your face.

DL White [00:13:44]:

I can't tell who people are by that little little avatar, but please come say hi to me. I am not shy, but I am introverted, so I am not likely see see me. Say hi. Give me a hug. You ain't even gotta buy a book. I mean, I'm a just be there to meet authors and, like, fawn over people that I have wanted to meet and see in person, so I might not even ever be at my table. I'm just saying. I'm also gonna be at Essence Fest.

DL White [00:14:24]:

I am not a featured author. I am not on anybody's stage. I'm basically just there to be a fan of some bookish people and authors. The BJ's said they were gonna be there. I have met miss Beverly Jenkins. I have not met miss Brenda met miss Brenda Jackson, and I can't stand the thought of so many good people being in one space at one time. So I'm really, really super excited. So I will be in the building for Essence Fest.

DL White [00:14:53]:

I believe I'll be in town the 3rd through 7th, leaving on 7th. So let a system know if you're gonna be out there. I would love to meet you. Onto the writing update. No real update on the Pearl except we're still in editing. I expect final edits back next weekend ish ish. No. Seriously.

DL White [00:15:16]:

Like rush, but no rush. You know what I'm saying? And then I'll be heads down and making corrections to my file in Vellum and getting my girl ready for her close-up. I wanna be done with this novel, like, have it put together and up for a private sale by the time I hug Danielle's at Resist. So fingers crossed, I can get I can get that. As I mentioned, ARCs are out. The initial reception is good. I real I really, really try not to be precious about the words. So I don't stalk my reviews, and I ask that people not tag me in them if they can help it, send egregious errors and concerns to my email so I can address them before publication, but otherwise, enjoy and warn the others.

DL White [00:15:59]:

It's good or it's not. I mean, it's it's done. You know what I'm saying? Reviews are for readers, so I hope the readers like what they see and decide to read or not read the book based on honest opinions. I'm I am of the I said what I said variety. So if it's not something that popped up in my group chat or from my editor, it is not likely to change shoulder shrug. If you haven't read Beach Thing or Elysium, do not let that stop you from snatching up this novel. I did add a bit in the front matter on some previously on Black Diamond tip, so you can catch up without having to read both books because this book will spoil the first two. I have been working on my front matter and my back matter, so the book is ready to go once edits are complete.

DL White [00:16:46]:

We're getting really close. I'm getting really excited. I've lost count of how many books we've written together on this podcast. 3? 4? I wrote Neverlist, Hey, Lover, Elysium, and Now The Pearl live on the podcast. What a time. What an exciting time to be alive. So it's exciting every time and never ever, ever gets old going through this process. And this process.

DL White [00:17:12]:

And this fall, I'm about to go through the process of writing book 15, and I'm a take you all along. I don't even care if you want to go. We going. Get in the car. Sunday is our first check-in for the summer writing challenge. I'm writing I'm running over at the fiction archive that I own and operate. I hope the writers are getting in good words this week and are ready to chat it up about their summer of writing. Again, this is an off shoot of the 1,000 words of summer challenge, which is a 2 week challenge to write 1,000 words a day.

DL White [00:17:45]:

Our challenge will span June July, and it would be hard to maintain that for 2 months, so our parameters are very loose. The idea is to jump into summer with words and gear up for our most popular challenge, awesome August. So I'm looking forward to writing for fun, writing just because, writing to write, writing to get these thoughts out of my head, and really just, like, building that habit and getting some good ideas flowing. Speaking of writing, it is time for part 3 of the photograph. A little ditty I came up with because it had been too long since I shared fiction on the podcast. It's not lost on me that as a writer of kissing novels, my opportunity to break from the right publish stress about how much I sold rhythm manifests in material that is decidedly not romantic. Anyone that tells you that writing romance is easy as lying. Lying through their teeth.

DL White [00:18:38]:

It's much easier for me to write these little mystery thriller trysts, and I admit they don't go deep, they're not intricate. I will literally I sit down, I read what I wrote before. I write the next section. I edit it a little bit. I record it. Like, it's, like, not deep because if I start too early, I will start stressing about it, and then we have, like, a 67,000 word novel that I have read on the podcast. And, frankly, 67,000 words is something I need to sell. You know what I'm saying? I have decided, though.

DL White [00:19:11]:

My next short serial is going to be romantic. So I will close out the show after the jump. So if you are jumping here, thank you so much for joining me for this week's chat. We will talk again next week. I almost always have chapters in these, episodes, so you can just skip to the end. I appreciate you. Bye bye. The photograph, part 3.

DL White [00:19:40]:

I knew I had to confront Robin, but I couldn't just barge into her office and demand answers. Considering that someone found my email address and sent me a menacing note, the possibility that our offices and her home might be bugged was high. We needed to be careful. I suggested we meet at a quiet out of the way park where we could talk freely without fear of being overheard. Robin agreed and we found ourselves sitting on a secluded bench far from prying eyes or ears. Robin, I need to ask you something and I want need you to be honest with me, I said, looking her straight in the eye. What really happened to Damon? She stiffened, her fingers clenching in her lap. I told you he's not part of our lives anymore.

DL White [00:20:28]:

Why are you so interested in him all of a sudden? Because I found something and I started asking questions. I pulled up my phone showing her the photo that had been haunting my dreams followed by a screenshot of the threatening text message. Someone doesn't want me looking into Damon's disappearance. I know you know why. Robin's eyes widened as she read the message, and for a moment, I thought she might bolt, but then she sighed, her shoulders slumping in defeat. There's a lot that I haven't told you, Jada. There's so much, but I haven't been going on dates. I furrowed my brow, confused.

DL White [00:21:06]:

What do you mean you haven't been going on dates? I've been meeting with someone who claims to have information about Damon, she admitted, about what happened to him, his disappearance, and who might be responsible. My heart began to race. Who is this person? I don't know him. His name is Liam. He used to work with Damon back when he was involved in some less than legal activities. Drugs mostly, Robin explained, her voice trembling slightly. It was all stuff he was involved in before we met. He tried to leave to go straight, live a normal life, but you know you can never really leave that life especially if they have something on you.

DL White [00:21:45]:

Liam reached out to me about a year ago telling me he had important information about Damon, but it's taken this long to get him to meet me and relay anything I could work with. I leaned forward, my mind reeling. So what has he told you? Robin took a deep breath. He said years ago Damon was involved with a man named Donovan, a drug dealer, of course. Liam said that Damon had crossed Donovan somehow and that Damon's disappearance was likely due to him. He had it inside track, and he was sending me information as he could get it. Isn't that enough to go to the police? Your husband has been missing, Robin. I did, Robin said, her eyes filling with tears.

DL White [00:22:28]:

I did go to them, but they weren't interested. They know that name from back in the day. They're probably happy to not have to deal with a low level drug dealer. They told me that it wasn't illegal for him to leave his family. They even suggested that photo of him being tortured might be a deep fake meant to throw me off so he could start a new life somewhere else. I reached out and took her hand, squeezing it gently. But you don't believe that, do you? No, Robin whispered, shaking her head. I think someone killed him, and I think they're still out there watching me making sure I don't talk.

DL White [00:23:02]:

I felt a chill run down my spine. Robin, this is serious. If what Liam is saying is true then you could be in real danger and what about your kids? Why are you even still here? Robin's face crumpled and she let out a sob. I know. I've been so afraid to tell anyone. I can barely keep us above water. I don't have money to move them where Donovan can't watch us. I can't let anything happen to them, Jada.

DL White [00:23:26]:

They're all I have left of Daemon. I pulled her into a hug, feeling the weight of her pain and fear. We'll figure this out, Robin, together. She pulled back, wiping her eyes. How? Where do we even start? I thought for a moment, my mind racing. We'll start with Donovan. If he's as dangerous as Liam says, then he's our best lead. I'll see what I can find out about him.

DL White [00:23:52]:

Maybe I can track him down. In the age of the Internet, it's really hard to hide. Robin nodded, a flicker of hope in her eyes. And I'll keep meeting with Liam to see if he has any information that can help us. We have to be careful, I warned her. Someone knows I've been snooping. There's no telling what Donovan might do or have done. I know, Robin said, her jaw tight.

DL White [00:24:16]:

I can't go one more day not knowing the truth. I need to know and I need justice for Damon, for my kids. I cannot let his tillers go free. I nodded feeling a surge of admiration for her strength and courage. We'll get them, Robin. We need to make sure they pay for what they did to Damon. We just have to get enough information that the case looks good to the police. We left the part separately going in opposite directions, couldn't shake the feeling that we were being watched, Every car that passed me on the street, every set of headlights in my rearview mirror seemed to hold some hidden threat.

DL White [00:24:52]:

I pushed down that fear and focused on the task at hand. I had inserted myself into something way bigger than I thought it would be, and I had now tethered myself to Robin, to her kids. I was in just as much a danger as she was, and the only way out was to find the truth about what happened to Damon. I wouldn't rest until we found a way to bring his killers to justice no matter the cost. That'll do it. Thank you for joining me for part 3 of the photograph. I think it's getting interesting, and we will see how I managed to wrap this up in one episode. I don't know how I'm going to do that, but I'm committed to this only being 4 chapters before I start the next one.

DL White [00:25:41]:

So that also brings us to a close for today's chat. I truly enjoy having you here. I welcome any comments or feedback at books by dlwhite.com/bookcast/eighty 8. You'll find full show notes with all the books I talked about today, the links to all the writing, I'm sorry, the links to all the things I talked about today, and a transcript for today's show including the serial if you would rather read it instead of listen to it. Please share the podcast if you enjoyed today's episode and if you listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, give a girl a rating. I'd really appreciate it. Do not forget that you can support this podcast with your book purchases by spreading the good word or throwing some coins in the hat at bookcast.busprout dotcom. Every little bit helps.

DL White [00:26:28]:

I will be back next Saturday, June 15th. Is next Saturday 15th? Let's check the calendar super quick because I was not prepared. Yes. Next Saturday, June 15th, also payday. So, I will be back post my trip to a bustling Midwest city. So enjoy your week as always. Have a superlative one, and we'll chat again soon. Bye bye.

#BOOKCAST #podcast #the photograph #serial fiction #goodreads

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emmapalova · 2 years ago

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Mid-Michigan Women’s Expo Feb. 10 - Feb. 12

Join us for Mid-Michigan Women's Expo at the Lansing Center Feb. 10 -12.

Join us for the 23rd annual Mid-Michigan Women’s Expo in Lansing at the Lansing Center, 333 E. Michigan Ave. next weekend including Friday. Michigan Authors representing most genres will be among the 300 exhibitors. They are Jean Davis, Emma Palova, Loraine J. Hudson, Kristine Brickey, Sylvia Hubbard, Norma Lewis, Mikel Classen, Melanie Hooyenga, Rod Sadler, Julie Nelson, Rhonda Accardo, and…

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#Emma Palova author #Mid-Michigan Women&039;s Expo

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weirdletter · 4 years ago

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Vastarien: A Literary Journal, Vol. 3, Issue 2, edited by Jon Padgett, Grimscribe Press, Fall 2020. Cover art and internal illustrations by Harry 0. Morris, info: vastarien-journal.com.

Vastarien: A Literary Journal is a source of critical study and creative response to the corpus of Thomas Ligotti as well as associated authors and ideas. The journal includes nonfiction, literary horror fiction, poetry, artwork and non-classifiable hybrid pieces. Double issue! Original cover art and 13 original, full color illustrations by living legend Harry 0. Morris. 25 works of fiction by Michael Griffin, Cody Goodfellow, LC von Hessen, Sarah L. Johnson, John Claude Smith, Casilda Ferrante, Lora Gray, Matthew M. Bartlett, and others! 2 Nonfiction articles by Alex Skopic and John Palisano. 9 poems by Sonya Taaffe, Rae White, Dimitry Blizniuk and others. All new recurring column by a special guest!

Contents: Vastarien Column: Tenebrous Ramblings – Romana Lockwood Year in White – Alex Jennings Heath Crawler – Sam Hicks Homeownership and You – Kurt Fawver Roscoe’s Malefic Delights – LC von Hessen Konrad – Rhonda Pressley Veit your AI girlfriend named “it” – Rae White I Wake Up and Remember Myself – Michael Griffin The Psychic Surgeon – Cody Goodfellow Stoneborn – Nina Shepardson Her Lullaby – Casilda Ferrante Gunfire and Brimstone – Alicia Hilton Win Big – Carson Winter [Applause] – Joshua Plack A Spectre Haunting Detroit: On Corporate Horror and Historical Materialism – Alex Skopic Theory of Forms – Sarah L. Johnson There’s Something Wrong with Henry – Eddie Generous Lessons in Etymology for the New Human – Korbin Jones Secret Voice of Fire – Casilda Ferrante Drinking from the Incantation Bowl – Sonya Taaffe You Are the Arm – J.A.W. McCarthy Music for a Peripheral Companion – Timothy G. Huguenin Deprimer – Mike Thorn APOCTATRYPTAMIN® – T. M. Morgan Brood Five – Lora Gray Hecatomb – Tiffany Morris Grooming my Grandfather – David Stevens Dear Will – Tim Major Death Doll – Roberta Gould Picturing Her Hands – Ivy Grimes The Hole in the Wall is Oblivion – John Claude Smith Phases of the Shadow – Jessica Ann York The Inexhaustible Rhyme of Nature – Dmitry Blizniuk Music for a Peripheral Companion – Timothy G. Huguenin Oh the Beautiful Stink – Matthew M. Bartlett On the Adaptation of “The Frolic” from Prose to Screen – John Palisano Dissolutions – Miguel Fliguer Advice I Wish I’d Been Given When I Was a 12-Year-Old Girl about to Watch The Exorcist for the First Time – Chelsea Davis Mount P – Denise Robbins

#magazine #vastarien #weird fiction #horror fiction #dark fiction #ligottian

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blackchildrensbooksandauthors · 7 years ago

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40 Books to Celebrate National Poetry Month

The forty books listed offer a range of diverse topics from Phillis Wheatley’s ruminations on various subjects to Mahogany L. Browne’s Black Girl Magic—from laughing feet to family love—Harlem to hair. April is National Poetry Month, and there’s something here for personal, classroom, and community enjoyment or inspiration. Poetry Month is “the largest literary celebration in the world,” so go here for ideas on how to celebrate all month long and here for more poetry selections from Nikki Grimes, Marilyn Nelson, Kwame Alexander, and other poets. Happy Poetry Month!

My People - Langston Hughes, Illustrator - Charles R. Smith Jr.

I Am Loved - Nikki Giovanni, Illustrator - Ashley Bryan

My Feet Are Laughing - Lissette Norman, Illustrator - Frank Morrison

Young Cornrows Callin Out the Moon - Ruth Forman, Illustrated by Cbabi Bayoc

Bronzeville Boys and Girls - Gwendolyn Brooks, Illustrator - Faith Ringgold

Love to Langston - Tony Medina, Illustrator - R. Gregory Christie

Hey Black Child - Useni Eugene Perkins, Illustrator - Bryan Collier

Read and Rise - Sandra L. Pinkney, Illustrator - Myles Pinkney

I Am the Virgin Islands - Tiphanie Yanique

I Live in Music - Ntozake Shange, Illustrator - Romare Bearden

We Are Shining - Gwendolyn Brooks - Jan Spivey Gilchrist

In Your Hands - Carole Boston Weatherford, Illustrator - Brian Pinkney

That Is My Dream! - Langston Hughes, Illustrator - Daniel Miyares

Some Kind of Love: A Family Reunion in Poems - Traci Dant Illustrator - Eric Velasquez

Life Doesn't Frighten Me - Maya Angelou, Illustrator - Jean-Michel Basquiat

Oh, Brother! - Nikki Grimes, Illustrator - Mike Benny

Sail Away - Langston Hughes, Illustrator - Ashley Bryan

Ostrich and Lark - Marilyn Nelson, Illustrators - San Artists of the Kuru Art Project in Botswana

Crowning Glory - Joyce Carol Thomas, Illustrator - Brenda Joysmith

Harlem - Walter Dean Myers, Illustrator - Christopher Myers

Poetry for Young People: Maya Angelou - Dr. Edwin Graves Wilson Ph.D., Illustrator - Jerome Lagarrigue

The Angels Lullaby - Joyce Carol Thomas, Illustrator - Pamela Johnson

Wonders: The Best Children’s Poems of Effie Lee Newsome - Rudine Sims Bishop (Compiler), Illustrator - Lois Mailou Jones

I See the Rhythm - Toyomi Igus, Illustrator - Michele Wood

Under the Moon & Over the Sea: A Collection of Caribbean Poems - James Berry & Grace Nichols

Daddy Calls Me Man - Angela Johnson, Illustrator - Rhonda Mitchell

Children of Long Ago - Lessie Jones Little, Illustrator - Jan Spivey Gilchrist

America, My New Home - Monica Gunning, Illustrator - Ken Condon

Soul Looks Back in Wonder - Tom Feelings (Editor) Illustrator - Tom Feelings

Words with Wings: A Treasury of African-American Poetry and Art - Belinda Rochelle https://amzn.to/2Gz4E5m

The Pioneers (Poetry from the Masters) - Wade Hudson

The Poems of Phillis Wheatley: With Letters and a Memoir - Phillis Wheatley

Carver: A Life in Poems - Marilyn Nelson

Poetry from the Masters: The Black Arts Movement - Eugene Useni Perkins

Remember the Bridge: Poems of a People - Carole Boston Weatherford

Martin Rising: Requiem for a King - Andrea Davis Pinkney, Illustrator - Brian Pinkney

How I Discovered Poetry - Marilyn Nelson, Illustrator - Hadley Hooper

One Last Word: Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance - Nikki Grimes, Illustrators - Various Artists

Out of Wonder - Kwame Alexander, Chris Colderley, & Marjory Wentworth, Illustrator - Ekua Holmes

Black Girl Magic - Mahogany L. Browne. Illustrator - Jess X. Snow

Find more children’s and young adult books by Black authors here

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#Black children's books and authors #national poetry month #picture books #middle-grade books #ya books

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cupestrike2018-blog · 6 years ago

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Open letter to the President of York University and the Board of Governors:Settle with CUPE 3903 now!

We, the undersigned current and former full-time professors, librarians and archivists at York University, are deeply concerned with the unilateral and unproductive approach taken by York’s central administration and Board of Governors to the CUPE 3903 strike. This approach has had serious, detrimental effects on learning, teaching, academic decision-making, and job security for a range of workers at York University. And it undermines public trust in our university. Months before the strike began, York University’s President and Provost issued calls for binding arbitration. These actions signaled their refusal to bargain with CUPE on major, qualitative bargaining issues such as job security, employment and graduate funding (which arbitrators often deemphasize). During the strike, central administrators have dedicated their efforts to ending the strike by force, without bargaining; they pushed a forced ratification vote on CUPE members, convinced the province to send a special commissioner, and lobbied for back-to-work legislation. Each of these efforts failed but wasted weeks of potential bargaining time. At the same time, York University’s Central Administration has conducted an intense public relations campaign, blaming the union for lack of movement. The Administration’s inept approach has paralyzed talks and created confusion and consternation among students and other members of the University. As of May 10, the councils of five faculties, ten departments, and more than fifteen graduate and undergraduate student associations, passed motions of non-confidence in President Rhonda Lenton and York’s Board of Governors chaired by Rick Waugh. Comprising programs that represent more than 50% of York’s full-time faculty members and over 70% of undergraduate and graduate students, these motions condemn the Administrations’ refusal to negotiate with CUPE 3903 and its inability to engage in sound and collegial decision-making. For example, the Faculty of Graduate Studies and the York Federation of Students also passed motions of non-confidence. The significance of motions made by these two bodies cannot be under-estimated. The motions indicate that an overwhelming majority of graduate and undergraduate students have no confidence in the present Administration. Crucially, York University’s Central Administration has also undermined the collegial authority of Senate on academic matters. In doing so the Central Administration risks betraying its fiduciary duties, undermining academic integrity and circumventing the York Act. Now, in the 12th week of the CUPE 3903 strike, the Central Administration canceled summer term courses taught by members of CUPE 3903, which leaves students few options but to take courses at other universities. At the same time, the Administration has started to assign grades to graduating students based on their grade average, not based on work done in the winter courses that were suspended by the strike. These decisions, which are taken to put pressure on CUPE and YUFA (York University Faculty Association), are deeply troubling and put the educational reputation of the University at risk. In light of widespread concerns about the future of our university, we seek an immediate end to the labour dispute. We call on the York University Administration and the Board of Governors to (1) respect collegial governance processes, including the role of Senate; and act in the University’s best interest by (2) return to the bargaining table with CUPE 3903 to reach a settlement. Signatories Greg Albo, Department of PoliticsAimé Avolonto, French department, GlendonRanu Basu, Department of GeographyShannon Bell, Department of PoliticsJody Berland, Department of HumanitiesMalcolm Blincow, Professor Emeritus, AnthropologyPhilippe Bourdin, French Studies and Lingusitic Program, GlendonRob Bowman, Department of MusicMartin Breaugh, Department of PoiliticsLinda Briskin, Department/School of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s StudiesSheila Cavanagh, Department of SociologyDavid Cecchetto, Depeartment of HumanitiesChris Chapman, School of Social WorkClaudia Chaufan, School of Health Policy and ManagementSylwia Chrostowska, Department of HumanitiesBruce Connell, Linguistics and Language, GlendonMarc Couroux, Department of Visual Art and Art HistoryElizabeth Dauphinee, Department of PoliticsNancy Viva Davis Halifax, Faculty of HealthLykke de la Cour, Social ScienceKathryn Denning, Department of AnthropologyWilliam Denton, York University LibrariesMario DiPaolantonio, Faculty of EducationLisa Drummond, Department of Social ScienceBarbara Evans, Department of Cinema and Media ArtsSarah Flicker, Faculty of Environmental StudiesHonor Ford-Smith, Faculty of Environmental StudiesJennifer Foster, Faculty of Environmental StudiesGail Fraser, Faculty of Environmental StudiesAmber Gazso, Department of SociologyLiette Gilbert, Faculty of Environmental StudiesStephen Gill, Department of PoliticsAmanda Glasbeek, Department of Social ScienceLuin Goldring, Department of SociologyTed Gossen, Department of HumanitiesJohn Greyson, Department of Cinema and Media ArtsRicardo Grinspun, Department of EconomicsShubhra Gururani, Department of AnthropologyRatiba Hadj-Moussa, Department of SociologyLaam Hae, Department of PoliticsPhillip Harland, Department of HumanitiesJudy Hellman, Professor Emerita, Social Science and Politics DepartmentsStephen Hellman, Professor Emeritus, Department of PoliticsCraig Heron, Professor Emeritus, Department of HistoryRob Heynen, Department of Communication StudiesTeresa Holmes, Department of AnthropologyPablo Idahosa, Department of Social ScienceSusan Ingram, Department of HumanitesStanley Jeffers, Associate Professor Emeritus, Department of Physics and AstronomyWilliam Jenkins, Department of GeographySherry Johnson, Department of MusicIlan Kapoor, Faculty of Environmental StudiesEva C. Karpinski, School of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies.Magdalena Kazubowski-Houston, Program in Theatre and Peformance StudiesRoger Keil, Faculty of Environmental StudiesPhillip Kelly, Department of GeographyKamala Kempadoo, Department of Social ScienceStefan Kipfer, Faculty of Environmental StudiesAvron Kulak, Department of HumanitiesLarry Lam, Department of SociologySam Lanfranco, Professor Emeritus, EconomicsNick Lary, Senior Scholar and professor emeritus of Humanities and Graduate EnglishFrances Latchford, School of Gender, Sexuality and Women's StudiesYam Lau, Department of Visual Art and Art HistoryLouis Lefeber, Professor Emeritus, Economics and SPTDavid Lidov, Department of Music, Senior ScholarCarla Lipsig-Mumme, Department of Social ScienceBrenda Longfellow, Department of Cinema and Media ArtsLibby Lunstrum, Department of GeographyWillem Maas, Political Science, GlendonMarcia Macaulay, English, GlendonHeather MacRae, Department of PoliticsTerry Maley, Department of PoliticsCarlota McAllister, Department of AnthroplogyPatricia McDermott, Department of Social ScienceWendy McKeen, Department of Social WorkDavid McNally, Department of PoliticsJacinthe Michaud, School of GSWSAparna Mishra Tarc, Faculty of EducationRadhika Mongia, Department of SociologyEsteve Morera, Department of Philosophy, Department of PoliticsKaren Bridget Murray, Department of PoliticsNatasha Myers, Department of AnthropologyEric Mykhalovskiy, Department of SociologyJonathan Nitzan, Department of Politics, Social and Political ThoughtNaomi Norquay, Faculty of EducationLiisa North, Professor EmeritusAnne O'Connell, School of Social WorkAndrea O'Reilly, School of Gender, Sexuality and Women's StudiesDeborah Orr, Department of HumanitiesLaurence Packer, Department of BiologyViviana Patroni, Department of Social ScienceMark Peacock, Department of Social ScienceRoberto Perin, Department of History, GlendonPatricia E. (Ellie) Perkins, Faculty of Environmental StudiesKelly Pike, School of Human Resource ManagementAnn Porter, Department of PoliticsNorene Pupo, Department of SociologyRoberto Quinlan, Department of BiologyIndhu Rajagopal, Department of Social ScienceDennis Raphael, School of Health Policy and ManagementArt Redding, EnglishMarkus Reisenleitner, Department of HumanitiesGeoffrey Reaume, Critical Disabilty StudiesDon Rubin, Professor Emeritus and Senior Scholar, Dept of TheatreL. Anders Sandberg, Faculty of Environmental ScienceJohn. S. Saul, Professor Emeritus, Social Science and PoliticsEllen G. Schraa, School of Health Policy & ManagementDayna Scott, Osgoode Hall Law SchoolTheresa Shanahan, Faculty of EducationVictor Shea, Department of HumanitiesJoel Shore, Department of BiologyJohn Simoulidis, Department of Social ScienceLisa Sloniowski, York University LibrariesBruce Smardon, Department of Political ScienceGlenn Stalker, Department of SociologyDavid Szablowski, Department of Social SciencePatrick Taylor, Department of HumanitiesMark Thomas, Department of SociologyOzgun Topak, Criminology, Social ScienceRoopa Desai Trilokekar, Faculty of EducationEric Tucker, Osgoode Law SchoolSteven Tufts, Department of GeographyKaren Valihora, Department of EnglishPeter Vandergeest, Department of GeographyRichard Wellen, Social ScienceWalter Whiteley, Department of Mathematics and StatisticsDavid L. Wiesenthal, Professor Emeritus and Senior Scholar, Department of PsychologyLesley Wood, Department of SociologyPatricia Wood, Department of GeographyDouglas Young, Department of Social ScienceAnna Zalik, Faculty of Environmental Studies

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scifihorroradventure · 7 years ago

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FRANKENSTEIN UNBOUND (1990)

The year is 2031. Completing his work on a new particle beam weapon for the government, scientist Joe Buchanan (John Hurt) assures that the atmospheric "time slips" appearing in the skies are harmless and totally reversible. Unfortunately, as he returns home that day, a time slip appears above his house and sucks him in, sending him through time and space to Geneva in 1817. As he attempts to piece the situation together, Joe encounters none other than Doctor Victor Frankenstein (Raul Julia). An innocent girl (Catherine Corman) is currently on trial for the death of Victor's brother William, but Joe soon discovers that the culprit is none other than Victor's own Monster (Nick Brimble). Despite Joe's pleading for Victor to come forth with the truth, the girl is executed for the murder. Having met her at the girl's trial, Joe spends time with Mary Shelley (Bridget Fonda), the author of the "Frankenstein" novel, though at this point she has yet to write it. When Victor refuses to give in to the Monster's demands to create a mate for him, the Monster lashes out and kills Victor's fiance Elizabeth (Catherine Rabett). Desperate, Victor forces Joe into helping resurrect her as a second monster. Realizing he has to stop Victor and the Monster before they cause any more harm, Joe uses a newly constructed version of his particle beam to teleport them all into a frozen wasteland of a future. Victor and Elizabeth are killed and Joe hunts the Monster down to finish him once and for all.

A downright bizarre film, Frankenstein Unbound is an oddly captivating experience. Its premise is completely insane and yet somehow it works far better than it has any right to. Based on Brian Aldiss' novel of the same name, Unbound was the first film Roger Corman had directed in nearly twenty years (the last one being Von Richthofen and Brown in 1971). Part of why the film works so well is that, despite all the time travel and dystopian framework, once Joe ends up in 1817, the movie mostly forgets about all that and turns into a pretty decent Frankenstein movie. The relationship between Victor and the Monster is portrayed rather well, with the latter much more humanized than most incarnations. Wisely, the film skips the more well known parts of the Frankenstein story - Victor creating the Monster - picking up well after the Monster has escaped out into the world, allowing the story to venture into new territory right off the bat (or at least new territory for most film adaptations). The movie looks very nice, filmed in some very pretty sets and locations. The special effects in the future at the start of the film are serviceable, most notably the purple space-like time slip that opens and absorbs Joe throughout the movie, which is a really striking visual.

What really makes the film work, though, is its cast. John Hurt makes for a great lead as Joe Buchanan, a well-meaning man who is nonetheless blind to his own creation's side effects, even as giant portals begin to open in the sky. Luckily, Joe proves to be a likeable hero who lets common sense prevail more often than not when he could've easily been a jackass know-it-all type. If there's anything about Joe that could be legitimately complained about, it's that there are times where it doesn't feel like he has very much to do other than stand around and watch the story of Frankenstein unfold around him. This, of course, changes by the explosive finale, where he takes a very active role in things. But while John Hurt may be the hero of the story, Raul Julia steals the show as the infamous Dr. Victor Frankenstein. Julia is such an odd casting choice for the doctor, but like the over the top premise of the movie, somehow it just works. Julia's Victor is a clearly unstable man, having reached a peak of frustration and fury with the Monster, not caring for much else. While he views the Monster as a threat that must be destroyed, he otherwise sees nothing wrong with what he's done, even letting innocent Justine hang so that he can be allowed to carry on with his work. By the time Elizabeth is killed, he has completely lost it, vowing to not let her pay for his mistakes even as he turns her into an even more hideous creature than the Monster. Bridget Fonda plays Mary Shelley and honestly doesn't have very much to do. She acts mainly as a love interest for Joe, but all she really accomplishes is muddling the line between fiction and reality for no real reason. This is supposed to be "real life," yet Victor and the Monster actually exist, and nothing is really said about it either way, not even by Joe. Later, Joe shows Mary a completed version of "Frankenstein," but apparently isn't worried about what possible effect this will have on history. While Fonda plays the character well enough, she's an overall strange addition that doesn't really do anything but raise several questions that otherwise wouldn't have been there.

As the titular Monster, Nick Brimble plays the character less like a hulking beast and more as the lost and confused being that he is in the original story, resorting to violence when his anger with Victor reaches its peak - which is frequent. Brimble is far more talkative and coherent than most screen incarnations of the Monster, though he still has trouble comprehending concepts such as what murder truly means, even after killing Victor's brother William. He also can't seem to understand that Victor didn't make everyone else in the world (he asks Victor why he didn't "make William stronger" and later asks Joe if Victor made him or not), which is odd considering the whole "I am all alone and I want you to make me a mate so I can no longer be alone" thing. While not one of the most iconic incarnations of the Frankenstein Monster, Brimble makes for a good one, his stretched out face prostheses effectively grotesque yet striking in a way completely different from the traditional look most people associate the Monster with. If there's one oddity about the Monster's role in the film, it's not because of Brimble, but rather the film itself. Throughout the film, the Monster is portrayed as an admittedly violent, but still ultimately sympathetic, misunderstood, and tragic character, as he usually is. Which is why it's so disturbing when the film goes full on Jason Voorhees on him during the climactic fight with Joe in the futuristic laboratory. We have to watch him get shot multiple times, impaled, his arm torn off, and then finally slowly, slowly burned to death, screaming in agony and confusion all the while. Yes, the Monster had to be dealt with by the end of the film, but the way they went about it was just so drawn out and needlessly cruel, it's rather uncomfortable to watch.

Upon first glance, one might be inclined to dismiss Frankenstein Unbound. Roger Corman's involvement, the initially odd casting of Raul Julia, the futuristic, dystopian, and time travel elements, when all rolled together, might make one think that this will be a bad, over the top film that does no justice to the Frankenstein story. And while it certainly is over the top and cheesy, it's done in such a serious manner that one can't help but find themselves drawn in by it. At the very least, the performances by the cast alone make this movie worth a watch.

Rating: ★★★★

Cast: John Hurt ... Dr. Joe Buchanan Raul Julia ... Dr. Victor Frankenstein Nick Brimble ... The Monster Bridget Fonda ... Mary Shelley Catherine Rabett ... Elizabeth Terri Treas ... Computer Voice Jason Patric ... Lord Byron Michael Hutchence ... Percy Shelley Catherine Corman ... Justine Moritz

Director: Roger Corman. Producer: Jay Cassidy (associate producer), Roger Corman, Kobi Jaeger, Laura J. Medina (associate producer), and Thom Mount. Writer: Brian Aldiss (original "Frankenstein Unbound" novel), Roger Corman (screenplay), F.X. Feeney (screenplay), and Mary Shelley (original "Frankenstein" novel). Music: Carl Davis. Special Effects: Nick Dudman (special makeup effects), Suzy Evans (prosthetic makeup assistant), Suzanne Reynolds (prosthetic makeup), Renato Agostini (set special effects), Reza Karim (foam latex supervisor), Betzy Bromberg (optical supervisor), Syd Dutton (matte artist), Bruno George (optical effects), Rhonda C. Gunner (computer animation and displays), Richard E. Hollander (computer animation and displays), John Huneck (visual effects camera), Adam Kowalski (special rigging), Lynn Ledgerwood (special engineering), Gregory L. McMurry (computer animation and displays), Bret Mixon (rotoscoping supervisor), Gary Rhodaback (modelmaker), Mark Sawicki (matte photography), Robert Stromberg (matte artist), Catherine Sudolcan (production manager: visual effects), Bill Taylor (visual effects camera), Gene Warren Jr. (visual effects supervisor), Christopher Warren (visual effects assistant), John C. Wash (computer animation and displays), and David S. Williams Jr. (optical effects).

#sci fi horror adventure #frankenstein unbound #roger corman #frankenstein #mad scientists #time travel #1990s

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firstladybe-blog · 5 years ago

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Tyler Perry Had Some Church During Movie Studio Opening Celebration

Ain't no way we were going to get Tyler Perry, Oprah Winfrey and Bishop Jakes in the same place and not have some church.... To cap off his history making weekend, Tyler Perry had some church during Sunday Brunch on the lawn of his very own...history making, brand new, state of the art movie studio in Atlanta... The brunches theme was "Glory to Glory." https://www.instagram.com/p/B3U7T2Mnzev/ "Glory to Glory - Couldn’t close the weekend without Jesus meeting us on the lawn at the studio!! Having a full heart and a thankful soul to all that have prayed me all the way here," Tyler wrote on Instagram.

Photo Credit: The Clark Sisters Instagram This is how you make sure that Jesus is glorified, you bring in Bishop Jakes to bring the message, and you top it off with music from Shirley Caesar, the Clark Sisters, Yolanda Adams, and Smokie Norful. https://www.instagram.com/p/B3Sh_x1lLBK/ https://www.instagram.com/p/B3VmBO7nUKa/ https://www.instagram.com/p/B3U7doont-z/ I can't get enough of the way Tasha Page and Rhonda Chambers blessed the folks with a rendition of "Speak Lord" from The Color Purple, Lady O's reaction says it all. Check it out: https://www.instagram.com/p/B3TWPbtnArt/ https://www.instagram.com/p/B3TJ2WPg1pO/ https://www.instagram.com/p/B3TEudFnwpm/ The Hate You Give author, Angie Thomas attended the brunch with her mother. https://www.instagram.com/p/B3S-7xlhKEj/ https://www.instagram.com/p/B3W7UlzHu2E/ Also in attendance were Will and Jada Smith, Ava DuVernay, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Halle Berry, Spike Lee, Whoopi Goldberg, Tamron Hall, Viola Davis, all 3 members of Destiny's Child, Diddy, and a long list of others. We will close with an inspiring message from Mr. Perry: https://www.instagram.com/p/B3QQSS-hPSR/ Read the full article

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rjdavies · 2 years ago

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Celebrating Black History Month: Mary Jackson

On a mission … celebrating Black History Month with amazing and inspirational Black Women for the rest of the month and continuing into March to celebrate not only inspirational Black Women but International Woman’s Day

Born April 9, 1921 in Hampton, Virginia and died February 11, 2005 (at age 83). In 1958, she was the first African American female engineer to work at NASA, she was a mathematician and aerospace engineer.

She was known as a “Human Computer” at NACA with her math and science skills. She served a vital role in the development of the space programs as well as helped other women and minorities advance their careers.

Mary Jackson also served for more than 30 years as a Girl Scout leader, in the 1970s she helped African American children in her community and created a miniature wind tunnel for testing airplanes. She worked as an aerospace engineer for 20+ year, much of her work centered on the airflow around aircraft. She was denied management level positions and in 1979 she left engineering and took a demotion to become a manager of the women’s program at NASA where she sought to improve the opportunities for all women in the organization.

R. J. Davies

A Riveting Jacked-In Dreamy Mind-Bender

RJ Davies - Science Fiction Author, Maddox Files, Novels

#R. J. Davies #R. J. Davies author #Rhonda Davies #Rhonda Davies author #Rhonda Joan Davies #mystery author #science fiction author #author of Maddox Files #Celebrating Black History Month #BHM2023 #Mary Jackson #International Women's Day 2023 #Celebrating International Women's Day

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science-criticaltheory · 7 years ago

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Kansas Won’t Expand Medicaid, Denying a Lifeline to Rural Hospitals and Patients by Alex Thompson, Ryan Grim

Photo: Alex Thompson

On a Friday afternoon in late March, some of the most powerful people in Wellington, Kansas, crowded into the office of physician Faustino Naldoza. The civic leaders, were trying to prevail upon state Sen. Larry Alley to side with them in a vote the following week. The state legislature would be deciding on whether to overturn a veto by Gov. Sam Brownback of an expansion of the state healthcare program called KanCare — otherwise known, unfortunately for its prospects, as Medicaid.

Kansas had long rejected the expansion of Medicaid authorized by the Affordable Care Act, until, that is, President Barack Obama left office, and the legislature voted to accept the federal money. The expansion was a lifeline to towns like Wellington. Across Kansas, and throughout much of the rural U.S., small hospitals have been closing. In 2017, Wellington’s Sumner Regional Medical Center joined a growing list of more than 600 rural hospitals that, according to 2016 report by health analytics firm iVantage, are at risk of shuttering, potentially leveling blows to local economies and leaving residents without nearby emergency services and accessible routine care.

Expanding Medicaid, according to Sumner Regional officials, would bring in an extra $750,000 a year, enough to keep it afloat. Alley had nonetheless voted against the expansion, but it passed without him. Then Brownback vetoed the bill, and Alley’s vote became necessary to override the veto.

In Naldoza’s office, according to an account in Sumner Newscow, a local news site, and interviews by The Intercept, town leaders brought every argument they had to bear on Alley.

Wellington’s mayor, Shelley Hansel, recalled an injury to her young son, wondering if he would have even survived if the facility hadn’t been so close by. J.C. Long, president of the town’s Bank of Commerce and himself a former firebrand Republican lawmaker, told Alley that “good policy should trump good politics.” From his perspective as a banker, a struggling hospital was better than no hospital —and if the hospital closed, the community would suffer through job losses (Sumner employs 130 people, according to Stacy Davis, the Director of Economic Development for Sumner County).

Earlier in the day, officials from GKN Aerospace Precision Machining, one of the town’s leading employers, explained that their workplace insurance premiums would jump, because insurers don’t look kindly on factories with no emergency room anywhere nearby. What’s more, recruitment is difficult in towns without hospitals, they said, and absent one in Wellington, the company would consider moving elsewhere.

That Monday, the House fell three votes short of the number needed to override, so the Senate never even needed to vote.

The looming closure of Sumner Regional Medical Center stands as a potential disaster for many Sumner County residents.

Tagging clothes for her volunteer post at the Presbyterian Church thrift shop on a summer afternoon, Betty Farley expressed her fear that the closure could have a lasting impact on the community. But for the nearby hospital, the mother would not have been able to deal with her daughter’s treatment that has required both emergent and routine care over the last 15 years. The nearest hospital would now be 30 minutes away. For residents caught in a medical emergency, this could mean a costly ride in an ambulance or worse, not receiving that care in time.

To understand the magnitude of a local hospital closure, you only need turn to nearby Independence, Kansas, which lost its hospital two years ago.

When her son’s finger was severed in a home accident, Rhonda Graven, a resident of Independence and at the time uninsured, was forced to make a drastic decision. She had her son Justin airlifted to Wichita but, when he arrived, doctors there refused to operate on him without a signature from his parents, who were a 90-minute drive away (they could not accompany Justin in the helicopter). The effort proved fruitless; Graven attributes the lapse in time from the accident to surgery as the reason why doctors could not reattach the finger.

“It’s a traumatic thing,” Graven said. “When your son wakes up and he’s 12 years old and you have to tell him they couldn’t attach it, it’s devastating.”

Then came the bills. Graven, who owns a furniture depot in Independence, is still dealing with the fallout more than a decade later. Without insurance, her son’s procedure was billed at nearly $40,000 — more than their combined annual income. After filing a hardship waiver that covered $26,000 of the total, the Gravens paid off the balance on their credit cards. But even those payments were too much to keep up with, and Rhonda Graven’s credit rating has not since recovered.

With more than a fifth of Independence residents living below the poverty level, paying for health insurance quickly falls off the list of priorities. Heath Welton — a cowboy, Army veteran, and physician’s assistant in nearby Coffeyville — knows this too well. He said it costs him $2,000 per year in tax penalties for leaving his family of four uninsured —but that’s cheaper than spending $7,200 a year on insurance

Welton has the luxury of being able to attend to some of his family’s medical needs himself, but many of his neighbors are not so lucky. When he is not working at the clinic, herding cattle, or working on the ranch, he makes house calls for uninsured members of the community, sometimes trading services for chickens and eggs.

In Wellington, the community’s emergency response teams know the financial burden of the hospital closure will go well beyond chickens and eggs, bracing for the impact of increased demand for emergency services.

Sumner County EMS already responds to more than 1300 calls per year, according to EMS Chief Tim Hay, a number that is rising steadily year-to-year. If the local hospital closes, the total time for ambulance trips to Wichita would be two hours — an extended trip time that requires extended staffing. According to a fact sheet prepared by the EMS team laying out contingencies to deal with closing Sumner Regional, EMS Chief Hay estimates that hiring emergency responders, purchasing ambulances, and creating a larger station to accommodate staff would increase annual spending by close to a million dollars.

The cost to Sumner County as a whole will be especially difficult to bear because the closure of the hospital could incur a $6 million hit to the retail economy, according to Stacy Davis.

Wellington residents have consistently voted to tax themselves — 63.6 percent of voters approved a one-cent sales-tax increase in November 2014 — to keep the hospital open. The funds from the tax directly benefit the Sumner Regional Medical Center, but they have not proved to be enough.

For Wellington farmers, who, along with their food processing counterparts make up almost 50 percent of the local economy, skipping town is not an option. “We can’t just pick and up go,” said Bob White, whose family’s wheat farm dates back to 1902. In a late morning drive toward White’s farm this summer, speeding down gravel roads through the sea of Kansas wheat to his farm just outside of Wellington, he mused on the issue of universal access to healthcare.

“Most people around here know how much it costs, but they don’t understand the value of it.”

The real problem for Wellington, however, is momentum. The impending closure of Sumner Regional coupled with consistent population decline — meaning even fewer tax-paying residents — could trigger further dislocations, causing further economic woes.

Federal funding can help close the gap in financing for local hospitals that rural communities like Sumner County must contend with. That’s why local leaders in Wellington took such drastic action trying to convince Larry Alley to vote to override Brownback’s veto of expanding Medicaid; the Kansas Hospital Association estimates the state lost nearly $1.8 billion in lost federal funding due to the expansion effort’s failure. In turn, the debate about expanding Medicaid and local hospital closures is percolating into national politics.

In an April special election for Kansas’s 4th Congressional District, the Democrat James Thompson came close to beating the Republican candidate in a district that the GOP — including Donald Trump — routinely wins by 50 or more percentage points. In his bid to run again in 2018, Thompson’s strategy is to have liberal Wichita push him over the top, but he needs to perform decently in surrounding rural areas like Sumner County. He sees a political opportunity in Republicans’ failure to expand Medicaid. In the April special election vote, which came just a week after the failure to override Brownback’s veto of Medicaid expansion, the likely death knell of Sumner Regional, Thompson exceeded expectations in Sumner County, cutting Trump’s 50-point margin in half.

“When I go out to the rural areas now, the things they’re talking about are how these policies are really starting to affect them. The failure to expand Medicaid is hurting rural hospitals in particular,” Thompson told The Intercept. “The people out there realize that. The hospital is the lifeblood of the community.”

#republican controlled states #basic services #extreme austerity

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inspirenationshow · 6 years ago

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NAPOLEON HILL’S POWER OF POSITIVE THINKING WITH MITCH HOROWITZ! + Meditation! Health | Law of Attraction | Career | Self-Help

If you’ve ever heard, read, or watched a movie about Positive Thinking and the Law of Attraction, then do we have a special show for you.

Today I’ll be talking with Mitch Horowitz, PEN Award Winning Historian, and the author of Occult America, and the vice-president, executive editor, and director of backlist and reissues at TarcherPerigree. He is also the author of a fascinating new book on Positive Thinking “ One Simple Idea.

Today we’ll talk about what Positive Thinking, New Thought, and the Law of Attraction really is, where it came from, how it came about, what’s real about it, and what isn’t, and how we can all use it to transform our lives.

That plus we’ll talk about hardware stores and milk, heart shaped pink buckets, and how we can transcend our cake and eat it too.

Questions and Topics Include:

What book Elvis’s hair stylist gave him?

How Elvis read books by Earnest Holmes, Madame HP Lebatsky, Manley P. Hall

Gave him a copy got a copy of the Impersonal Life from Joseph Benner

What do we do if we’re stuck in a 9 to 5 job?

What’s a great book to discover your purpose?

Why you want to read Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich

Bill Wilson and Bob Smith, co-founders of Alcoholics Anonymous and Ebby Thatcher

How do you help someone to find their one thing and light the fire underneath them

How to get the subconscious working for at night or at any time through the day.

Why we don’t want to blame ourselves for negative events…and why we don’t want to interpret Rhonda Byrne’s The Secret in this way.

What you want to do if someone (or you) is sick.

What is a D-Day approach to healing (including, but not limited to the spiritual and meditative side of things)

What do we need to know about Wallace D. Wattles author of The Science of Getting Rich

What can we learn about Ralph Waldo Emerson and the New Thought movement

What is the definition of New Thought (Positivity and New Age and metaphysics movement)

What it means that thoughts are causative – that thoughts become things

Where did the Law of Attraction come from and when did it first come about?

What Andrew Jackson Davis has to do with the Law of Attraction

Who were the first new thought writers to talk about ‘what you think about you bring about

Prentice Mulford and his book Your Forces and How to See Them. (also used by Christian D. Larsen)

What is Hermeticism? (From Alexandria and Egypt in the time after Christ)

What Greeks have to do with the positivity movement?

Why ESP research has been hijacked, when there’s good literature and proper science behind it.

JB Rine who had an ESP lab at Duke for several decades and did several hundred thousand trials

What ESP has to do with positivity

Why New Thought was originally focused around healing and then why it shifted in this country

What can we learn from Earnest Holmes?

Why Neville Goddard is Mitch’s personal favorite.

What can we learn from Norman Vincent Peale?

Who was American’s evangelizer of the positive

What did Ronald Reagan have to do with positivity and positive thinking metaphysics

How Reagan made positive thinking metaphysics mainstream Americanism.

Who gave birth to the whole field and business of audiobooks today.

What can we learn from Earl Nightingale and The Strangest Secret

Where the Dr. Demartini statement ‘What we think about and thank about we bring about’ (Law of Attraction!)

How do we transcend our cake and eat it too?

How important is the meaning behind each word we chose to use.

What’s wrong with the term ‘enlightenment’?

How Mitch just wrote the article “Is there a right way to affirm” for Science and Mind Magazine

Is there a best way to think and to pray?

What’s it mean in New Thought or positivity to ‘think from the end’

What are pink heart-shaped buckets?

What did Rod Sterling of the Twilight Zone give us?

What can William James tell us?

What are some of Mitch’s most powerful personal practices?

What’s the importance of expressing gratitude?

What strange habit Michael and Mitch share on journaling

What’s the power of writing down goals

What’s the power of a 3 PM prayer

Why Aldous Huxley felt kindness was the powerful tool

What’s the importance of radical forgiveness

Why it’s so important to abstain from humiliation

What are a few more of his top must reads

Resurrection by Neville Goddard

William James Essay “Is Life Worth Living”

Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich

The Power of Your Super Mind by Vernon Howard

One Simple Idea is now out on paperback – Occult America also available wherever books sold

Can find more at mitchhorowitz.com or on google put in Mitch Horowitz

How there is a vast family tree behind new age, new thought, and positivity have such a rich and powerful history

Guided Positive Thinking Law of Attraction Meditation

For More Info Visit: www.InspireNationShow.com

Check out this episode!

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taylorscorner · 8 years ago

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Where I Stand

This is where I stand on the 45th President, his power hungry cronies taking positions of authority in his Cabinet and administration, and the majority of Republicans in Congress are a real and active threat to me, my way of life, and all the people I love. Some people are saying that we should give Trump a chance, that we should "work together" with him because he won the election and he is "everyone's president." This is my response: •I will not forget how badly he and so many others treated former President Barack Obama for 8 years... • I will not forget how he disrespected a gold star family based on their religion. • I will not forget how he discriminated against a federal judge based on his ethnic background. •I will not "work together" to privatize Medicare, cut Social Security and Medicaid. •I will not "work together" to build a wall. •I will not "work together" to persecute Muslims. •I will not "work together" to shut out refugees from other countries. •I will not "work together" to lower taxes on the 1% and increase taxes on the middle class and poor. •I will not "work together" to help Trump use the Presidency to line his pockets and those of his family and cronies. •I will not "work together" to weaken and demolish environmental protection. •I will not "work together" to sell American lands, especially National Parks, to companies which then despoil those lands. •I will not "work together" to enable the killing of whole species of animals just because they are predators, or inconvenient for a few, or because some people want to get their thrills killing them. •I will not "work together" to remove civil rights from anyone. •I will not "work together" to alienate countries that have been our allies for as long as I have been alive. •I will not "work together" to slash funding for education. •I will not "work together" to take basic assistance from people who are at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder. •I will not "work together" to get rid of common sense regulations on guns. •I will not "work together" to eliminate the minimum wage. •I will not "work together" to support so-called "Right To Work" laws, or undermine, weaken or destroy Unions in any way. •I will not "work together" to suppress scientific research, be it on climate change, fracking, or any other issue where a majority of scientists agree that Trump and his supporters are wrong on the facts. •I will not "work together" to criminalize abortion or restrict health care for women. •I will not "work together" to increase the number of nations that have nuclear weapons. •I will not "work together" to put even more "big money" into politics. •I will not "work together" to violate the Geneva Convention. •I will not "work together" to give the Ku Klux Klan, the Nazi Party and white supremacists a seat at the table, or to normalize their hatred. •I will not "work together" to deny health care to people who need it. •I will not "work together" to deny medical coverage to people on the basis of a "pre-existing condition." •I will not "work together" to increase voter suppression. •I will not "work together" to normalize tyranny.I will not “work together” to eliminate or reduce ethical over-site at any level of government. •I will not "work together" with anyone who is, or admires, tyrants and dictators. •I will not "work together" to help private corporations build pipelines to transport their oil, at the expense of our safety and environment.This is my line, and I am drawing it. •I WILL stand for honesty, love, respect for all living beings, and for the beating heart that is the center of Life itself. •I WILL use my voice and my hands, to reach out to the uninformed, and to anyone who will LISTEN: That "winning", "being great again", "rich" or even "beautiful" is nothing... When others are sacrificed to glorify its existence.

Signed:

Kathrine Iacofano

Susan Goldberg

Debbie Slavkin Linda Rosefsky Rebecca Tortorice Anna Konya Karen Redding Wendy Lemlin Patricia Rollins Trosclair Andrea Dora Zysk George Georgakis John Christopher John Bowles Patrick St.Louis Carla Patrick Darnell Bender Vickie Davis JMichael Carter Janice Frazier-Scott Rev. ELaura James Reid Jeanette Bouknight Rev. Dollie Howell Pankey Gerald Butler Carolyn McDougle Vaughn Chatman Adrienne Brown Gary Trousdale Steven E Gordon Isis Nocturne Debi Murray Maureen O. Betita Mona Enderli Fernie James Tamblin Myrna Dodgion Alan Locklear Tom Wilmore Jackie Evans Donna Endres Lora Fountain Roberta Gregory Heather A Mayhew Stevo Wehr Nathan Stivers Jen RaLee Joan Holden Leigh Lutz Deborah Kirkpatrick Linda Levy Tom Rue Nancy Hoffmann-Allison Beejay McCabe Michael James Myers Edward T. Spire Rupert Chapman Dawn R. Dunbar Robin Wilson Monique Boutot Laura Brown 💪🏼 Susan Aptaker Steve Katz Bonnie Wolk Risa Guttman-Kornwitz Angela Gora Butch Norman Sharon Tolman Sue Zislis Maurice Hirsch Satch Dobrey Jim Krapf Don Starwalt Deb Johansen Daniel Anderson Diane Kenney Rebecca Koop Nancy Shuert Bill Pryor Patrick Lamb Bob Travaglione Margaret Ragan Martha Peters Steve Wilson Lauren Sullivan Scott Bevan Roger Saunden Susanne Lavelle Benita Yimsuan Kathryn Scarano Kathleen E Neff Evey G Quines Debbie Dey John Dennehy, Jr. Marsha Vaughn Adam Sklena Larry David McGregor Blumenthal Gustavo Rodriguez ARJ Alva Freeman Yvette Ellard Rory Thayer Wilson Wayne Booth Streven King Phyllis Vlach Adrian Sandy Miller Castellano Nick Strippoli Ben Papapietro RenaePerry Ann Elliott Maria DelloStritto Kimberly Bauso Rebecca Smith Theresa Taylor Terri Feldman Cheryl Pitman Molly Spalding Janice Wiles Michael Bello Vicki Carlson Gloria Salazar Angie Sincell Dana Shimrock Cheryl Josh Henderson Danielle Luscombe Clint Bickford Jason C. Frank Aviad C. Sasi Michel L. Poli Quintin Kreutzer Malcolm McHugh Sharon Hamer Bob Melvin Mike Feinstein Allison Parker Barbara Darrow Amy Levitt Michael Chechanover Bruce Kanin Rhonda Friedman Tina Bug Dave St.Hill Arty Williams Al Ward Charline Forrest Donna Fargas Alice Bowdwin Terri Holman Ronald Jones Dollise Howard-Whitehurst Miriam Lucas Simmon Anita Jackson David E. Early,Sr. Alexander Thomas, Jr. Delano Tucker Donnie Fitzgerald Michael j Washington Vern Owens Jr. ALFONSE P. JOHNSON SR.😡 Tom Outland Millard whatley Jr. Joseph Kane III Bill Dix Ruth Price Scott Taper Bernard Coley Susie Richardson Marde Ross Carol Landa-McVicker Lindy Cater Ben Cater Cameron Smith Becky Oos Lori Freshman Ellen Moody Brian Cummings Tom Hall Jeff Cohen Wayne Humphrey Kenneth Felz Tom Schneiter Patrick Ley Lynn Ray Allen Jill Williams Sheila Woods Deandra Clark Allan Dunlap Roger Morales Veronica Rios Angela Quiles. Michelle Villanueva Alexis Castro

Bobby Lewis

Your turn. Copy, paste, add your name, post...

#notmypresident #resistance #dumptrump

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princessalethea · 7 years ago

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YA Scavenger Hunt–ARE YOU READY??

In June, the Alliance of Young Adult Authors is sponsoring a massive young adult scavenger hunt. This is a chance to meet some new authors, grab a bunch of free books, and sign up to win a whole bunch of epic prizes!

RULES

Each author will be given a special keyword, which will be bolded and all caps like this: BUTTERFLIES.

All you have to do is visit all the author’s sites in this order, write down the special keywords to discover the short story, then enter the giveaway with the completed secret legend HERE.

There will be one main giveaway for the main prize, but most of the participating authors will also have smaller giveaways for free books, amazon credit and author swag, so make sure you read their post carefully to see what else they’re offering while you’re on their site for the keyword.

THE MAP (participating authors)

Cindy Ray Hale

Katherine Bogle

Melle Amade

David Kudler

A.M. Yates

Alethea Kontis

Stevie Rae Causey

Katlyn Duncan

Debbie Manber Kupfer

Meredith Rose

N.M. Howell

Lara Ann

K.M. Robinson

J.A. Culican

Heather Karn

Rob L. Slater

Dylan Keefer

Sarah K. Wilson

L.J. Higgins

Gina Marie Long

Em Kazmierski

Travis Hall

Heather Young-Nichols

Anna Santos

J.L. Weil

Jo Schneider

Rebecca Fernfield

Kristin D. Van Risseghem

Martine Lewis

Tara Benham

Stacy Claflin

Beth Hammond

Erica Cope

Nicole Zoltack

Char Webster

Sabrina Ramoth

T.J. Muir

Raquel Lyon

Beth Rodgers

S.L. Beaumont

Eva Pohler

Melanie McFarlane

Cheryllynn Dyess

Audrey Rich

Amanda Zieba

Sandie Will

Elle Scott

Angie Grigaliunas

Ashley Maker

Mandy Peterson

Audrey Grey

Elisa Dane

Amy McNulty

Melinda Cordell

Monica Leonelle

Claire Luana

Frost Kay

Preeti C. Sharma

Bentz Deyo

April Wood

Lena Mae Hill

Angel Leya

Wendi Wilson

Wendy Knight

Chogan Swan

Tamara Hart Heiner

Norma Hinkens

Patti Larsen

Megan Crewe

Jamie Thornton

Jessie Renée

T.A. Maclagan

Lydia Sherrer

Phyllis Moore

P.D. Workman

J.A. Armitage

K.N. Lee

Angela Fristoe

Rhonda Sermon

G.K. DeRosa

Erin Richards

Ali Winters

Larissa C. Hardesty

Kristine Tate

Debra Kristi

Bella Rose

Cortney Pearson

Jeff Kohanek

Kristal Shaff

Rachel Morgan

Emma Right

C.L. Cannon

Joanne Macgregor

Lindsey Loucks

Farah Kuck

Erin Hayes

Jesikah Sundin

Dorothy Dreyer

Danielle Annett

C.J. Ethington

L.C. Hibbett

Madeline Dyer

Katie John

Nicole Schubert

Rachel Medhurst

Tee G Ayer

May Freighter

Heather Dyer

Jen Minkman

J.L. Gillham

Karen Tomlinson

Kate Haye

Megan Linski

Martina Billings

Jo Ho

Brian King

Inna Hardison

Rachel Bateman

Sally Henson

J.L. Hendricks

A.L. Knorr

T.M. Franklin

Konstanz Silverbow

felisha Antonette

Jake Devlin

S.F. Benson

Laurie Treacy

Emily Martha Sorensen

Leia Stone

T. Rae Mitchell

J. Keller Ford

Kat Stiles

Jessica Hawke

Elyse Reyes

Sophie Davis

Bianca Scardoni

Jenetta Penner

David R. Bernstein

Olivia Wildenstein

Derek Murphy

Starts June 1st!

Just go through the “treasure map” above to find the keywords and reconstruct the secret legend. Once you’ve got it, enter for the grand prize HERE. Don’t forget to keep an eye out for other giveaways or free books as you search for the keywords, most authors will be offering their own prizes as well.

For rules, updates or trouble-shooting, make sure to check out this main post which will stay updated.

TIMELINE

Authors will post the rules and the full list of participating authors sometime in June, and have their post up and visible on their site/blog, with their keyword, by June 1st. Readers just need to go through the list, find the words, and use the story to enter for the grand prize.

The post YA Scavenger Hunt–ARE YOU READY?? appeared first on AletheaKontis.com.

from YA Scavenger Hunt–ARE YOU READY??

#YA Scavenger Hunt–ARE YOU READY??

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jenniferfaye34 · 5 years ago

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#Giveaway ~ Australia Burns Anthology (Show Australia Some Love) by various authors... #books #YoungAdult @romance #WomensFiction #charity #readers

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions for AUSTRALIA BURNS, three collections published by The Wild Rose Press for a very special purpose. Stories in this collection are contributed by authors who care about Australia and the relief efforts from the devastating bushfires. All profits from the book will be donated to charities involved with the recovery efforts. The publisher and authors are not affiliated with the charities. They simply want to show Australia their love and support. The books will be available on February 14, but are currently available for pre-order. Enter the Rafflecopter for a chance to win a $10 Amazon/BN GC.

Volume 1 Stories in this collection are contributed by authors who care about Australia and the relief efforts from the devastating bushfires. All profits from the book will be donated to charities involved with the recovery efforts. The publisher and authors are not affiliated with the charities. They simply want to show Australia their love and support. A collection of Short Stories in Mainstream Fiction, Women's Fiction, Thrillers, and Mystery A Solicitous Wife by Madeleine McDonald No One Knew by Larry Farmer Pinochle by Brenda Whiteside The Tuesday Night Meeting by Peggy Jaeger 911, What's Your Emergency? by D. V. Stone Tall Tales by Laura Strickland Fare Gain by Alexandra Christle The Note by Stephen B. King Three Ghosts by Julie Howard Detective Paws and Lip Gloss by Maureen L. Bonatch The Ring by Margaret Ann Spence Portrait of a Gunfighter by Hywela Lyn Six Hours or So by Lisa Wilkes Prussic Acid by Melody DeBlois

Volume 2 Stories in this collection are contributed by authors who care about Australia and the relief efforts from the devastating bushfires. All profits from the book will be donated to charities involved with the recovery efforts. The publisher and authors are not affiliated with the charities. They simply want to show Australia their love and support. A collection of Romance, Young Adult, and Women's Fiction Short Stories Che Gelida Manina by M. S. Spencer Recipes for Love by Carol Henry Waiting for Caleb by Gini Rifkin Wings of Fire by Jana Richards A Lark by Gabbi Grey Apple Crisp by Terry Graham Goody Twoshoes by Mark Love The Number by Barbara Bettis Deadly Homecoming by Peggy Chambers An Egg-Cellent Witness by Marilyn Barr Season of Withered Corn by Judy Ann Davis Beneath the Pines by Debby Grahl Christopher Reisner by Linda Griffin Unexpected Love: Chase Allen by Anna Lores The Cowboy and the Lady by Jean Adams The Heart Necklace by Amanda Uhl The Relaxation Response by Darcy Lundeen Dancing Through Tears by Jeny Heckman

Volume Three Stories in this collection are contributed by authors who care about Australia and the relief efforts from the devastating bushfires. All profits from the book will be donated to charities involved with the recovery efforts. The publisher and authors are not affiliated with the charities. They simply want to show Australia their love and support. A collection of Paranormal, Horror, and Sci-Fi Fiction Short Stories. The Pilot's Son by CJ Zahner The Vengeance by Rhonda Gilmour A Climb to Kill by ML Erdahl Born of Fangs by Sydney Winward Johnny Appleseed by Robert Herold Rebellion in Slot III by Roni Denholtz Home, Sweet Mobile Home by Alana Lorens The Filthy Human by Tori V. Rainn Baby Daddy by Kerry Blaisdell The Witch of Calico Island by Cat Dubie Stained-Glass Vision by Mary Morgan A Witch's Protocol by Tena Stetler I Choose Life by Kristal Dawn Harris Together Forever by N. Christine Samuelson Where Is Your High School Sweetheart? by Donna Kunkel Lost and Found by Joanne Guidoccio Nursery Chimes by D.S. Lucas

Volume One Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0848W2HQT Volume Two Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0849MSLBT Volume Three Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084H4J37S a Rafflecopter giveaway

#Australia Burns Anthology #romance #Womens Fiction #Young Adult #Goddess Fish Promotions #Hearts & Scribbles

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poetrybooksya · 7 years ago

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MARKED BY FATE 'UNREALITY' by Ingrid Seymour | ARC STREET TEAM REVIEW/BLOG TOUR

Marked by Fate: A Young Adult Fantasy and Science Fiction Collection Publication date: October 24th 2017 Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Young Adult

Marked by Fate is now enhanced with Augmented Reality! Read, Watch, Listen. The new ultimate reading experience! Step into adventure with Marked By Fate; the ultimate reading experience. Be immersed in twenty-six fantasy & science fiction worlds with state of the art Augmented Reality technology. Read, listen, and watch bonus content inside to bring the characters and story to life around you. Enjoy the added features of this special edition, which allow you to enjoy bonus content right from your reading device. See character artwork. Listen to your story’s soundtrack. Watch book trailers and bonus videos. Experience behind the scenes like never before, thanks to Augmented Reality technology. Immersive Fantasy™; bringing fantasy worlds to life. 25 COMPLETE SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY NOVELS BY 26 BESTSELLING AUTHORS. PLUS, A SPECIAL BONUS NOVELLA. Embark on fantastic journeys through magical realms, dystopian lands, and faraway galaxies in this exciting collection of fantasy & science fiction novels brought to you by some of today’s hottest authors. Encounter werewolves, robots, angels, time travelers, shifters, and more in this action-packed box set that will leave you breathless. Authors: Kristin D. Van Risseghem Rhonda Sermon Kelly St. Clare Raye Wagner Ednah Walters Erin Hayes Siobhan Davis Jamie Thornton Debra Kristi Sarah K. L. Wilson Hilary Thompson Ingrid Seymour Jeanne Bannon Melle Amade Lena Mae Hill C.J. Anaya Jackson Dean Chase D. L. Armillei Emily Martha Sorensen Amalie Jahn Dionne Lister J.L. Weil Alisha Klapheke Angela Fristoe Meg Cowley Brandon Barr

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo / iBooks

99¢ for a limited time only!

—

Welcome to Marked By Fate: An interactive Immersive Fantasy™reading experience! The authors of Marked By Fate are thrilled to share this ground-breaking novel with you! Think Harry Potter and Kindle in Motion. Moving, singing books,and all the excitement of a truly enriched reading experience. We call it Immersive Fantasy™, because that’s what it does. It draws you into our stories and brings our worlds to life! The titles in Marked By Fate use this revolutionary technology to bring you the best reading experience of your life. How does Immersive Fantasy™ work? Immersive Fantasy™ utilizes what’s known as Augmented Reality (AR). Using a smart phone/device, you can scan secret cues in the stories, and extra AR content will pop up on your device, streamed direct from the cloud (internet connection required). See amazing, exclusive character artwork. Watch video content.Listen to the soundtrack whilst you read. Discover behind the scenes with the authors in bonus content. Would you like to try it? Then keep reading! You have already downloaded the Immersive Fantasy edition of Marked By Fate, and you just need to bring the magic to life. The simple instructions overleaf will help you easily access this astonishing new world of fantasy that will delight your every sense. Start your Immersive Fantasy™ adventure today! Immersive Fantasy™ Instructions Getting set up These three steps are crucial to ensure you can access the AR content. 1.On your smart phone or tablet, download the Aurasma app from your app store. 2.Login to the app, and register your account. 3.Search for the user ‘MarkedByFate’, and click follow. Accessing the Immersive Fantasy™ Augmented Reality content Follow these steps carefully to access the AR content. Additional help can be found on the Aurasma help desk. 1.Read and enjoy the story, and watch for clues to the AR content. These will appear in the form of images with a symbol next to them, denoting the type of AR content. Content viewable includes images (camera icon), videos (movie clip icon), or music (music icon). 2.You will need one device/format to read on, and a smart device to access the AR content. 3.When you spot an Immersive Fantasy™ clue, open the Aurasma app on your smart device.(Navigate to the viewfinder screen if the app does not automatically do this.) 4.Centre your viewfinder on the trigger image. Make sure to include all of the trigger image in the screen. You can view the content vertically/in portrait or horizontally/in landscape. 5.The app will display the AR content in the form of an image overlay, video overlay,or music overlay, as denoted by the symbol next to the image. 6.Enjoy!You can zoom in and out and tilt your camera to fully explore each piece of content. Make sure you have your sound turned on so you can listen to the video and audio content! You will have to continue focusing on the content to keep listening to music/watching videos/viewing images. 7.It might take a little practice – don’t worry if you struggle on your first try. Troubleshooting What to try if it won’t work. 1.No AR content is popping up: have you registered an Aurasma account,and followed ‘MarkedByFate’? You must do this to access the content. 2.No AR content is popping up: have you made sure all of the trigger image is in your viewfinder? 3.No AR content is popping up on my kindle/e-ink device: please adjust your device screen brightness. If the screen is too bright or too dim, the image cannot be recognised by the app. 4.I can’t hear any sound: check the icon. Only video/music AR content has sound. 5.I can’t hear any sound, and it should be playing some: please ensure your volume is not muted,and turned up. 6.The content keeps disappearing: ensure you keep the viewfinder focused on the trigger image so that the AR content will remain overlaid on your screen.If you move too far away from the trigger image, the AR content will disappear.Activate it again by re-scanning the trigger image. 7.Can I access the eBook and the AR content on the same device? No. Aurasma uses your device camera, so you will have to read the book on a difference device to the device you are using Aurasma with. 8.It’s just not working – I’ve tried everything: Please refer to the Aurasma help files,and contact their help desk if you are still having issues. Whilst extensive testing has been performed to ensure maximum device compatibility, regrettably not all devices may be compatible. Best compatibility will be found on pixel based screens with good brightness levels.

GIVEAWAY! a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review

Unreality was both fascinating and a bit of a disappointment at the same time. I thought Meadow's psychic powers were interesting enough, with how when she got into her visions to find context clues --- what she calls 'bygones' --- that led to finding Kristie's body in the woods. It didn't read like an extensive, elaborate ability, like say, Eleven from Stranger Things. But Meadow's abilities focused on using them like how a detective uses evidence and hard work to get what they want. She had also used her abilities to discover her mother's murder as a child, which I can't imagine how terrifying and awful that feels. That was why she had built a protective wall around herself not to use her abilities unless absolutely necessary. The Good...Meadow and Nicolas! Book Relationship Goals! One thing I did like was the relationship between Meadow and her best friend Nicolas. Their slow-burn love story, going from friends to lovers, was possibly the most heartwarming I've ever read. Now granted, Meadow had started looking at Nicolas a certain way a few chapters in, but when he'd finally confessed his feelings for her...it was so sweet!! That scene killed me because Meadow's mind was half-focused on the information she'd found in his room about her powers and finding Brianna. But I was screaming outloud, "Girl!!! Forget about your missing friend right now and focus on this amazing best dude of color who loves you FOR YOU!!" But then, she'd admitted her feelings back later on, and my heart burst. Also, she had noticed certain things about him, like how he doesn't like being called "Nico" or "Nic". Their whole relationship was just so touching and wonderful. The Bad...Meadow basically had to work around her loved ones in order to find and save her friend from danger. One thing I didn't like was how her Uncle George, cousin Leonardo, and her father were so adamant on her not using her abilities to find her friend Brianna, who goes missing. I really did not like how every male is telling Meadow how she should be when she’s the MOST POWERFUL ONE of them all. She has the best power out of all of them --- her father knows of her powers, but he himself does not have them, I think they skipped a generation; Leonardo also has these psychic abilities, but his is more focused on persuasion/compulsion. I didn't think Uncle George had abilities of his own, but he too knows about his niece and son's. But anyway, I still didn't like how Meadow basically had to work around her loved ones in order to find and save her friend from danger. If she wasn't going to learn her abilities from her family who knows the world itself, how was she supposed to learn? Leonardo had taught her some things, but I didn't find him very reliable since his powers are based on persuasion and not visions. Another thing that creeped me out was how Leonardo claimed to see Meadow. I got the feeling that he had maybe liked her as more than family (they're cousins), but that only looked hella creepy and weird, given that they're family. There could have been some kind of incest going on, if Ingrid Seymour could have taken it there. But just the fact that Leonardo had kept pestering Meadow to stay away from Nicolas, I sensed a lot of jealousy from him, which was both creepy and borderline obsessive. The Ending...WHUT...

And that ending...what in the world was that??! It basically ended with Leonardo, Meadow and Nicolas fighting and hang-gliding in the air, Meadow knocked Leonardo out with a rock, with Leonardo's body disappearing. The police couldn't find the body, so they just let Meadow's dad out of jail, Uncle George goes through an easy trial to get life in prison? Huh?! So there's no hint that Leonardo could come back? What if he does come back? Will Meadow's powers become more controlled and stronger? We need answers! This is a short story part of an anthology, so I don't think there will be a companion series or book coming soon. However, I'd be interested to know about what the future holds for Meadow, Nicolas, her father, and Leonardo. Final Verdict: Good but wanted more.

All in all, this was a very good read, but I wish some things were executed and explained more, to make the story come to a full circle. It was pretty character-driven, so if you're into going into the supernatural world that's more internal than external, this would be a good one for you. I have not read the rest of the Marked by Fate anthology box set, but if it's any good, please let me know so we can discuss. Are you on the Unreality ARC Review tour? What did you think of this short story from Marked by Fate? Leave comments below!

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#book reviews #ingrid seymour #October 2017 #sabaa tahir. ingrid seymour November 10 #2017 at 10:00AM

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