Happy Holidays!

AND A

I'm going to do what a lot of other people are doing, TAKE THE HOLIDAYS OFF!

I'll be back Monday, January 5th.

Until then have a most wonderful Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year.

"Juletræslys". Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.


Peace to you and to the Earth.
 


Happy New Year!

A Moonless Fest!

Crystal Collier is celebrating the release of her book Moonless with a fun Blogfest! Congratulations, Crystal.

     

In the English society of 1768 where women are bred to marry, unattractive Alexia, just sixteen, believes she will end up alone. But on the county doorstep of a neighbor’s estate, she meets a man straight out of her nightmares, one whose blue eyes threaten to consume her whole world—especially when she discovers him standing over her murdered host in the middle of the night.

Her nightmares become reality: a dead baron, red-eyed wraiths, and forbidden love with a man hunted by these creatures. After an attack close to home, Alexia realizes she cannot keep one foot in her old life and one in this new world. To protect her family she must either be sold into a loveless marriage, or escape with her beloved and risk becoming one of the Soulless.

BUY IT HERE

PLUS!

As a thank you, Crystal's publisher is offering a $2.00 coupon until February 14^th that you are welcome to to take advantage of.

Book link: https://www.createspace.com/4550104

Coupon code: LQJM3F84

***

So here's the question: If you lived in a society where arranged marriages were a la mode, whom would you beg your parents to set you up with? Why?

My Answer

It's seems kind of serendipitous that yesterday, the 9th, was the 50th anniversary of The Beatles performing on the Ed Sullivan Show. I was a sniveling 13 year old... and I didn't even like The Beatles. I'd been weaned on jazz, big band and classical music. What was that stuff they were playing?

Still, even though I didn't like their music (that came several years later, now I'm a die-hard fan) George was always my favorite. I loved his wit, musicianship, and his spirituality. 

So, if I lived in a society where my parents arranged my marriage, I'd beg, plead, grovel and promise them anything if they'd just hook me up George.

Here's, Run of the Mill, one of my favorite songs... there are so many. :)

Find the rest of the hop below!

And while you're at it, enter to win one of these great prizes!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Anansi is taking a break this week. He's really been enjoying visiting everyone and trying out all the different kinds of food his hosts have laid out for him.

He says, "Tanks! I'll see you all again, nex' week."

Ring Out the Old, Ring in the New

I'm glad to be shaking the dust of 2013 off my feet, glad to be facing into a New Year.

I can't say it was all bad as I did manage to complete a novel writing course which entailed finishing the most complicated and difficult novel I've written to date.




I truly wanted to get my Anansi stories out in 2013, but it was not to be. I know they will come out sometime 2014, I just don't know when. The rascally spider is impatient, not that I blame him...







I managed to read 38 books, not quite as many as I usually read in a year, which is closer to 45. But then, some of them were very long, as was the incredible Monster Blood series by D. M. Cornish. As I'm a slow reader it took me a while to get through the three books. But I enjoyed them immensely. I'm not sure what this list says about me except that I might be eclectic. There's history: Celia, A Slave - autobiographical fiction: Frost in May - and satire: Ptomaine Street. There's classics: A Tale of Two Cities - Science Fiction: Time's Eye - romantic mystery: Solomon's Compass and short story anthologies: The Weight of a Feather. There's middle grade, young adult and adult, historical and contemporary fiction, humor and drama. There seems to be a little bit of everything.

Books read in 2013

38. Celia, A Slave: A True Story by Melton A. McLauren
37. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
36. The Big Wave by Pearl S. Buck
35. What Jamie Saw by Carolyn Coman
34. The Insanity of Zero by Michael Offutt
33. Ptomaine Street by Carolyn Wells
32. Muted: A short story in verse by Jessica Bell
31. Cross-Eyed by Sarah Allen
30. The Weight of a Feather and Other Stories by Judy Croome
29. Saving Sam by J. L. Campbell
28. How to Publish and Promote Your Book Now! by L. Diane Wolfe
27.Volition by Lee Strauss
26. The Time Fetch by Amy Herrick
25. Solomon's Compass by Carol Kilgore
24. The Foul and the Fallen by Kevin McGill
23. When Boats Breathe and Cities Speak by Kevin McGill
22. Nikolas and Company by Kevin McGill
21. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
20. Viking Warrior by Judson Roberts
19. Frost in May by Antonia White
18. Foundling by D. M. Cornish
17. Lamplighter by D. M. Cornish
16. Factotum by D. M. Cornish
15. Shades of Earth by Beth Revis
14. The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
13. Silent Thunder by Andrea Davis Pinkney
12. Behind a Mask, or A Woman's Power by Louisa May Alcott
11. Stopover at the Backworld's Edge by M. Pax
10. Sunstorm by Arthur C. Clarke
9. Time's Eye by Arthur C. Clarke
8. The Marvelous Land of Oz by Frank L. Baum
7. Weighted by Ciara Knight
6. Year of the Big Thaw by Marion Zimmer Bradley
5. The Magic Soap Bubble by David Cory
4. Love, Tink by Elle Strauss
3. New York, New York by Elle Strauss
2. Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
1. Zachary Pill: Of Monsters and Magic by Tim Greaton

Now, help me ring out the old and ring in the new.

What do you look forward to in 2014? And what does your reading list look like?

Random Thought Thursday

I haven't done one of these in a while. Today I thought I'd share two quotes by two different people that relate to their friendship and speaks volumes.




George Harrison said of Bob Dylan:
Can you imagine what a world it would be if we didn't have a Bob Dylan? It would be awful.




Bob Dylan said of George Harrison:

He inspired love... the world is a profoundly emptier place without him.

The two collaborated many times.

Let's hear it for collaboration.

Do you have a favorite someone you'd like to collaborate with? 

If I Could Be Anyone, I'd Be...

...George Harrison. Well, I'd LOVE to play guitar like he did.

In honor of Talli Roland's new book, Watching Willow Watts which is coming out TODAY, I am participating in her bloghop/blogfest where we confess who we most admire, or would like to impersonate, or would like to be, or envy.

About Watching Willow Watts: For Willow Watts, life has settled into a predictably dull routine: days behind the counter at her father's antique shop and nights watching TV,  as the pension-aged residents of Britain's Ugliest village bed down for yet another early night. But everything changes when a YouTube video of willow's epically embarrassing Marilyn Monroe impersonation gets millions of hits after a viewer spots Marilyn's ghostly image in a frame.

Instantly, Willow's town is overrun with fans flocking to see the 'new Marilyn'. Egged on by the villagers -- whose shops and businesses are cashing in -- Willow embraces her new identity, dying her hair platinum and ramming herself full of cakes to achieve Marilyn's legendary curves.

But when a former flame returns seeking the old Willow, Willow must decide: can she risk her stardom and her village's newfound fortune on love, or is being Marilyn her ticket to happiness?

You can find Talli's book at:
Amazon UK  and at
Amazon  Go on you know you want a copy!
And hop around, click HERE to check who the rest of us wish we could be!

(Back to George.)

Even when I didn't like The Beatles (a period of time that didn't last very long) I liked George. Though he was called "The Quiet Beatle," I believe he had the quickest wit, the sliest sense of humor. His songs, "Taxman" and "Piggies," attest to his ability to employ sarcasm. He didn't have to play a million notes and sound like he was on speed to get his point across. I love his slide work which sounds faintly of sitar, an instrument he discovered in India. It's extremely difficult to learn to play, yet he took up the challenge and was the first to bring it's sound into rock music. He had a few other firsts as well: first Beatle to have a solo album (1968) writing the soundtrack for the movie "Wonderwall," first rock musician to hold a benefit concert known as, "The Concert for Bangladesh," first solo Beatle to tour North America.

I also admire how he found a spiritual faith that he sustained through-out his life and expressed without apology through his music.

I swore if I ever got the chance to see any former Beatle in concert I'd go.

In 1974 I happened to be living with my folks in northern California when I learned that George Harrison was going to be playing at the Oakland Coliseum promoting his new album Dark Horse. Luckily I had a cousin living in the Bay area who not only got me a ticket, but let me stay with her. She even dropped me off and picked me up after the concert. She and her boyfriend couldn't afford to go...the tickets cost too much, a whopping $8 or $9! And for that we got not only George, but Ravi Shankar, Billy Preston, Tom Scott and the L. A. Express and a host of other musicians and singers.

This is a the cover of the concert booklet. Yes, I still have it. The picture of him above is also from the booklet.

I have never been more excited and terrified at the same time as I was walking into that stadium by myself. I'd been to other concerts but none as large as that one. There I was one of about 20,000 people. I have no idea how I found my seat, which was perched up in the clouds. I even brought my father's bird binoculars so I could maybe get a closer glimpse of my one and only rock idol.

When he came out on stage and started to play, I wasn't prepared for my reaction. Up until that moment I hadn't understood why people (mostly females I suspect) scream at concerts. But I got it. Something totally primal and  filled with love came bubbling up out of me and burst from my throat and mouth being expressed in the only possible way it could be expressed. A scream. It so startled me I clapped my hand over my mouth and looked around embarrassed. A young man sitting next to me, yelled into my ear, "Don't worry, I screamed too!" And we laughed and screamed with delight, just as most everyone else was doing.

We were a good audience. We didn't scream through the entire concert, just at that first initial rush of energy. Then we settled down to listen. Ahhhh. I'll not soon forget. He was hoarse from having done so many concerts, but did I care? Hell no.

Of all the things I've done in my life, seeing George Harrison in concert is in the top five "Best Of" list.

These two videos are taken from the 1974 tour when he stopped in Fort Worth, Texas. The first one, "Hari's on Tour,"  highlights his slide work and his exuberance. The second is the song "Dark Horse." The film and audio aren't the best, but do I care? Hell no.

You thought that you knew where I was and when
But it looks like they've been foolin' you again,
You thought that you'd got me all steaked out
But baby looks like I've been breaking out

I'm a dark horse
Running on a dark race course
I'm a blue moon
Since I stepped from out of the womb
I've been a cool jerk
Looking for the source
I'm a dark horse.

You thought you had got me in your grip
Baby looks like you was not so smart
And I became too slippery for you
But let me say that was nothing new.

I'm a dark horse
Running on a dark race course
I'm a blue moon
Since I picked up my first spoon
I've been a cool jerk
Looking for the source
I'm a dark horse

I thought that you knew it all along
Until you started getting me not right
Seems as if you heared a little late
But I warned you when
We both were at the starting gate

I'm a dark horse
Running on a dark race course
I'm a blue moon
Since I stepped from out of the womb
I've been a cool jerk
Cooking at the source
I'm a dark horse.

Ring Out the Old, Ring in the New

It's 2010 HAPPY NEW YEAR!

All right folks, we're in our twosies now, and officially tweeners, a golden age for sure.

And here, to teach you how to be a tweener is George Harrison, who, as this video shows, had a great sense of humor and knew (new) how to have fun.



Ring out the old, ring in the new!