Blogtoberfest Winners!

This is it, today marks FIVE years that I've been blogging.

To celebrate, during the month of October I offered up FIVE book prizes. I'm happy with the turnout and I am pleased to announce the winners.

I made the little magic origami boxes and an invisible fairy picked the names.

             Anne Gallagher                                                                       Laura Marcella

 Medeia Sharif

                 Vijaya                                                                         Jess

Congratulations to all my winners, hope you enjoy the books. And yes, your prizes will be accompanied with a tatted (by me) bookworm bookmark.

Now all I need from you ladies is your addresses! 

Thanks and a Reminder

I'm a bit behind in sending out acknowledgements to some people.

Thanks to Susan Kaye Quinn  I won THREE books!

I recently finished The Truth about Faking and enjoyed it. The other two look like fun.

Earlier this week I got a nice surprise from C. Lee McKenzie. I've been chomping at the bit to read her new middle grade book Alligators Overhead. Then what do you know? I win a copy direct from the author! I'm about half-way through this delightful tale of swamps and gators and witches and boys who always seem to be getting into trouble.

Last but not least. This is a reminder that on MONDAY the 29th I will be announcing the winners of my Blogtoberfest, celebrating five years of blogging. Five lucky people will be drawing for a number of different books.

Good luck to all of you who entered!

An Interview with Anansi

And now, live on our stage, 
ANANSI THE SPIDER! 

Fabulous art work by Adrienne Saldivar!

Anansi is getting so excited about having his stories published he thought it would be fun to do some interviews. So let's give him a warm round of applause. This is his first interview and he might be a little shy.

Who you calling shy?

Well, I thought maybe dangling in front of an audience might make you a nervous.

No sir, not me! I love attention. Go on, ask your questions. 

All right, let's start out with your nicknames. How many do you have?
I have plenty name they call me by, and some not so nice, but mostly people call me,  ’Nansi, Hanansi, Bru’ ’Nansi, or Brer Anansi. No matter what they call me, we all know who they mean. There is only one Anansi and that's me!

Do you watch much TV? 
Only when it have something good on.

And what would you consider a good show? 
Iron Chef, Rachel Ray…anything to do with cooking or eating food.

Oh, so you like food. (Anansi snorts) 
That would be an understatement. 

Do you have a favorite scent? 
FOOD. Any kind of food smell good to me!

If you had a million dollars you could only spend on yourself, what would you do with it? 
Oh, that's easy. I’d build me a big, big house, with a big, big kitchen and I’d fill it with enough food so’s I’d never be hungry again.

What one place have you visited that you can’t forget, and want to go back to? 
My grandmother  kitchen.

Do you trust easily? 
Do you know who you talking to? I is ANANSI. If you think I am going trust someone like Tiger…well, nothing at all go so.

Do you generally think before you act, or act before you think? 
Well now, it all depend on the situation. Sometime I got no time to think up a plan. Sometime I got to act quick, quick, like when Tiger looking at me as if I were he food. 

Is there anything that has made you unhappy lately? 
The only thing make me unhappy is when there ain’t enough food to fill my belly.

Do you have a good body image? 
I is the most handsome spider in all the world. Why just look at the curve of my back and my fine long legs. You ever seen anything so handsome as me?

What is your favorite fruit? 
Oh now, this one hard. I like them all, you know, like mango, guava, sugar apple, tamarind, genip, sour sop, hog plum, mammie apple….

I get your point. What about websites, are there any you visit daily? 
I love the ones up in the rafters. I go there every day. You get a good view. The ones in the corner is best. That's where you ketch the most fly.

What have you been seriously addicted to lately? 
I addicted to only one thing, and that is food. If I don't get enough food in my belly, I likely to get hungry. Being hungry make my belly growl and I don't like that sound at all, at all. So food is it,  any time of the day or night, I is up for eating.

What’s your favorite item of clothing? 
I is a spider, why I would want to cover up my beautiful self with clothes?

Do you think Rice Krispies are yummy? 
If it food I sure to like them.

What would you do if you saw $100 lying on the ground? 
I would grab it up quick, quick and take all my friend out for a big fancy dinner.

Even Tiger? (Anansi stares at the ceiling, thinking.) 
Yes, even Brer Tiger, because he have been known to give me food.

What items could you not go without during the day? 
My cooking pot and some food.

What should you be doing right now? 
I should be thinking up some way to sneak into Brer Tiger kitchen and steal some of he food.

Well thank you very much, Anansi. Would you like to come back? 
I would love to come back so long as you have some food. 

I'll be sure to have something for you. Would you be willing to answer questions from the audience? 
Sure, sure! I love to talk.

So, audience, do you have any questions for Anansi? Don't be shy. Leave your questions in the comments and I'll be sure to bring Anansi back. 

Alternatives for Awfully Awful

Alternatives is a recurring post in which I give synonyms for an over used word. Click on the tab above for a "complete" list of over used words. 

Depending on how you use it, this list may come in handy for finding another way to say the same thing.

Today's word is Awfully/Awful.

Considering that awful means full of awe, inspiring I'll first give you a short list of  synonyms that are related to that meaning. Then we'll get into the good stuff. Those ugly, nasty, obnoxious words we all like to use.

amazing, astonishing, awesome

eye-opening,

fabulous,

miraculous,

portentous, prodigious,

staggering, stunning, stupendous, sublime, surprising,

wonderful, wondrous

Now for the good stuff.

"In that terrible fight to the death, I managed to stab the fearsome, nauseating, nightmarish, monster in the eye with my plastic bayonet. When its noxious acid blood spurted all over us, I thought we were goners. It was vile I tell you, vile."

abhorrent, abominable, abysmal, alarming, appalling, atrocious

barbarous, blood-curdling, brackish

deplorable, depressing, despicable, detestable, dire, disgusting, distasteful, distressing, disturbing, dread, dreadful

evil

fearful, fearsome, forbidding, foul, frightful, from hell, fulsome

ghastly, ghoulish, godawful, grim, grisly, grody, gross, grotesque, gruesome,

grungy, gut-wrenching

hair-raising, harrowing, hateful, heart-stopping, heinous ,hellacious, hideous, horrendous, horrible, horrid, horrific, horrifying

loathsome, lousy, lurid

macabre, miserable, monstrous

nasty, nauseating, nauseous, nightmarish, noisome, noxious

objectionable, obnoxious, obscene, odious, offensive, off-putting,

painful

rancid, raunchy, repellent, repugnant, repulsive, revolting

scandalous, scary, shake in one’s shoes, shake/tremble like a leaf, shocking, sick, sickening, sickish, sickly, stinking

terrible

ugly, uncivilized, undesirable, ungodly, unhealthy, unholy, unpleasant, unsavory, unsightly, unspeakable, unwanted, unwelcomed, unwholesome, upsetting

vile

Got a favorite awful word?

The Next Big Thing

I've been tagged by my long time friend, Vijaya, over at Reading, Writing & Ruminating. She is the very first person I met online while taking a writing course through Institute of Children's Literature. Vijaya is multifaceted being a scientist, a writer, mother and wife. She's taught me a lot. 

The Next Big Thing is a meme designed as an interview where you describe you current WIP. This particular  meme is the perfect time for me to make a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! So read carefully.

What is your working title of your book?

Anansi and Company

Where did the idea come from for the book?

The idea to translate and retell some of these wonderful stories from the Caribbean came about when my sister Erva gave me, for safe keeping against the tropical climate, an old book of Jamaican Anansi stories. Because they were faithfully transcribed into the Jamaican dialect they are difficult to read and understand. I've spent at least five years slowing going through them, picking ones I feel are worthy of being retold. One of the stories I retold, "Why Dogs Beg," won first place in the Children's Writer Fantasy/Folktale Contest.  You can read it HERE.

What genre does your book fall under?

Caribbean folk lore.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Since it would no doubt be an animated film, who would I like as the voice of Anansi? Oh gosh, somebody who can do a good West Indian accent. I'll shoot for the best, I'll shoot for the moon, Sidney Poitier.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Anansi the spider tricks, sings, and dances his way into and out of trouble in this collection of ten retold Jamaican stories.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Here's the BIG ANNOUNCEMENT folks. I'm going to self-publish this collection. It will be my first foray into the ebook market. The talented Adrienne Saldivar over at The Story Board is doing the cover which will be revealed at a later time. 

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? 

I'd say it's taken me about four or five years to pull these stories together. They're something I've been dabbling at while working on other things.

May we see an intro?

Okay, this is from the first story: "Anansi Takes Wee Pig Home," which has an object lesson at the end.

It was late in the afternoon when Anansi the spider and Wee Pig came to a stream they had to cross. After spending a long day at market selling a few yams and mango, they were tired and wanted to get home.

Wee Pig sat down by the edge of the stream to rest. 

Anansi, impatient to be on his way said, "Wee Pig, jump across this stream so we could go home."

Wee Pig said, "Anansi, I will not jump across this stream."

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Brer Rabbit and family

The Uncle Remus stories come closest, particularly when you realize Anansi is their predecessor. Anansi came to the Caribbean as a stowed away in the minds of the Ashanti people of West Africa.  He survived the Middle Passage and hundreds of years of slavery. His stories eventually made their way into the United States and, over time, evolved into the stories of Uncle Remus.

There are many tricksters in lore like, Loki, Pan, Puss in Boots, and Coyote to name a few. Tricksters break the rules and defy convention. They can be cunning or foolish. They lie, steal, and cheat often unintentionally causing something else to happen that is beneficial. Their importance is that they give the down-trodden a bit of hope and explain why certain things are the way they are. 

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

I'd have to say, in regards to my writing, my mother has always been my primary inspiration. But there other factors as well. The Anansi stories deserve to be more widely known. They are a part of the Caribbean culture and heritage. I want to help spread the word, because the history of the Caribbean is so rich and diverse.

What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?

Although there are picture books depicting Anansi, as far as I have been able to discover, this is the only collection of ten stories in one place. Plus, I've included ten riddles!

So that's it folks. I'm joining many of you in this Brave New World of e-publishing. 

Gulp! Got any tips? Any suggestions? Will you hold my hand? 

What a Little Rain Can Do

We've had a little rain. Not enough to break the drought, but it's made things momentarily green. It's a relief to see grasses sprouting and weeds growing. It's also made a few plants in our yard bloom.

Blackfoot daisy.

 Pavonia

Tecoma stans. This plant has been in the ground three years and this is the first time it's bloomed.

Silver cloud sage.

(My Sweetie took these fabulous photos of the bees.)

You're mine, flower! 

Closer

 Oooooo, sweet! I wonder how much more pollen I can pack on.

Let me just go a little deeper.

The bees love the sage and they've been busy, busy, getting ready for winter.

How about you? Are you ready for fall? Getting ready for winter? Are you busy, busy, busy as a bee?

Never Gone

Today I'm hosting a stop on Laurel Garver's Blog Ramble celebrating the release of her debut novel, Never Gone. Read on to learn more about the book.


Days after her father’s death, fifteen-year-old Dani Deane begins seeing him all around New York — wading through discarded sketches in her room, roaming the halls at church, socializing at his post-funeral reception. Is grief making her crazy? Or could her dad really be lingering between this world and the next, trying to contact her?

Dani desperately longs for his help. Without him keeping the peace, Dani’s relationship with her mother is deteriorating fast. Soon Mum ships her off to rural England with Dad’s relatives for a visit that Dani fears will become a permanent stay. But she won’t let her arty, urban life slip away without a fight, especially when daily phone calls with her lab partner Theo become her lifeline.
To find her way home, Dani must somehow reconnect with Mum. But as she seeks advice from relatives and insights from old letters, she uncovers family secrets that shake her to the core. Convinced that Dad’s ghost alone can help her, she sets out on a dangerous journey to contact him one last time.

Add it on Goodreads
The e-book is available at Amazon.com, Amazon UK, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Smashwords
The paperback is available at CreateSpace, Amazon

Have you read Laurel's book yet?

A Caribbean Fish Dinner

Below is an article about my grandmother, Erva Boulon. It was written by Clementine Paddleford, a food writer who wrote for The New York Herald Tribune, The New York Sun, The New York Telegram and a magazine called This Week. This Week, was a Sunday magazine supplement that was read by as many as 14.6 million people.

The article appeared in This Week on January 26, 1958. It was recently discovered in the archives of the St. John National Park while they were cataloging and organizing. My cousin Rafe, who is Chief of Resource for the park, emailed me a copy.

I love the drawings that accompany it.

Do you think you'll try the fish and coconut torte? I can assure you, from personal experience, it's all quite tasty.

Blogtoberfest!

(Notice new header picture.)

It's my Second Annual BlogtoberFest!
AND it's the first day of National Book Month

So what could be better than a book give-away to celebrate FIVE years of blogging and say THANK YOU to all my Random Followers?

That's right, five years! Who could have known I'd still be at it? Certainly not me.

To celebrate I've got a BIG give-away going on. Not just one, not just two, but FIVE prizes.

The rules are simple.

To win, all YOU have to do is leave a comment and tell me which ONE of the prizes you would like. That's it. AND you can enter as many times as you like, as long as you let me know in your comment which ONE of the prizes you would like.

Did I mention, you can only pick ONE prize at a time?

How's that for simple?

There's just ONE draw-back, this is only open to people living in the United States. (Sorry...)

So what are you going for?

Moon Over Manifest

by Clare Vanderpool

Abilene Tucker feels abandoned. Her father has put her on a train, sending her off to live with an old friend for the summer while he works a railroad job. Armed only with a few possessions and her list of universals, Abilene jumps off the train in Manifest, Kansas, aiming to learn about the boy her father once was.

Having heard stories about Manifest, Abilene is disappointed to find that it’s just a dried-up, worn-out old town. But her disappointment quickly turns to excitement when she discovers a hidden cigar box full of mementos, including some old letters that mention a spy known as the Rattler. These mysterious letters send Abilene and her new friends, Lettie and Ruthanne, on an honest-to-goodness spy hunt, even though they are warned to “Leave Well Enough Alone.”

Abilene throws all caution aside when she heads down the mysterious Path to Perdition to pay a debt to the reclusive Miss Sadie, a diviner who only tells stories from the past. It seems that Manifest’s history is full of colorful and shadowy characters—and long-held secrets. The more Abilene hears, the more determined she is to learn just what role her father played in that history. And as Manifest’s secrets are laid bare one by one, Abilene begins to weave her own story into the fabric of the town.

Island of the Aunts

 by Eva Ibbotson AND

Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry 

by Mildred D. Taylor

ISLAND OF THE AUNTS

When the kindly old aunts decide that they need help caring for creatures who live on their hidden island, they know that adults can't be trusted. What they need are a few special children who can keep a secret - a secret as big as a magical island. And what better way to get children who can keep really big secrets, than to kidnap them! (After all, some children just plain need to be kidnapped.) Don't miss this wildly inventive and funny read from master storyteller Eva Ibbotson. 

ROLL OF THUNDER HEAR MY CRY

Why is the land so important to Cassie's family? It takes the events of one turbulent year - the year of the night riders and the burnings, the year a white girl humiliates Cassie in public simply because she is black - to show Cassie that having a place of their own is the Logan family's lifeblood. It is the land that gives the Logans their courage and pride, for no matter how others may degrade them, the Logans possess something no one can take away.

The Grim and Grimmer trilogy 

by Ian Irvine each book signed by the author!

The Fey Queen, Emajicka, is stealing the children of Grimmery for her Collection. She bathes in their nightmares to relieve her own. There is one nightmare she wants most of all.

If Ike had stayed home that Tuesday, he would not have betrayed a princess or robbed a murderous queen. He would not have been tied to an insane imp desperate to eat his liver. He certainly would not have floated across a strange land on an impossible rescue mission, powered by exploding manure. Nor would he have tried to escape via that disastrous troll-bum door...

But can he ever escape the Nightmare Queen?

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

by Grace Lin

In the valley of Fruitless Mountain, a young girl named Minli lives in a ramshackle hut with her parents. In the evenings, her father regales her with old folktales of the Jade Dragon and the Old Man on the Moon, who knows the answers to all of life's questions. Inspired by these stories, Minli sets off on an extraordinary journey to find the Old Man on the Moon to ask him how she can change her family's fortune. She encounters an assorted cast of characters and magical creatures along the way, including a dragon who accompanies her on her quest for the ultimate answer. 

Grace Lin, author of the beloved Year of the Dog and Year of the Rat, returns with a wondrous story of adventure, faith, and friendship. A fantasy crossed with Chinese folklore, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is a timeless story reminiscent of The Wizard of Oz. Her beautiful illustrations, printed in full-color, accompany the text throughout. Once again, she has created a charming, engaging book for young readers.

The Heart of a Samurai

by Margi Preus

In 1841 a Japanese fishing vessel sinks. Its crew is forced to swim to a small, unknown island, where they are rescued by a passing American ship. Japan’s borders remain closed to all Western nations, so the crew sets off to America, learning English on the way.

Manjiro, a 14-year-old boy, is curious and eager to learn everything he can about this new culture. Eventually the captain adopts Manjiro and takes him to his home in New England. The boy lives there for some time and then heads to San Francisco to pan for gold. After many years, he makes it back to Japan, only to be imprisoned as an outsider. With his hard-won knowledge of the West, Manjiro is in a unique position to persuade the emperor to ease open the boundaries around Japan; he may even achieve his unlikely dream of becoming a samurai.

PLUS!

Each prize will be accompanied by a tatted bookworm bookmark (though not necessarily the one you see here.)

Winners will be announced on Monday, October 29th, the actual anniversary day.

Come one, come all. I'd be thrilled if you spread the word because as with any party, the more the merrier!