Sunday, January 31, 2010

The Sunday Sillies!!

LOL Cats and more - and with more creamy nougat in every bite!

funny pictures of cats with captions


funny pictures of cats with captions


epic fail pictures


funny pictures of cats with captions


funny pictures of cats with captions


funny pictures of cats with captions

fail owned pwned pictures


funny pictures of cats with captions

funny pictures of cats with captions


And my favorite of all time:
funny pictures of cats with captions

Friday, January 29, 2010

And Now For Something Completely Different...

"We've got your dung."
"What dung?"
"Your dung. Three hundredweight of heavy droppings. Where do you want it?"
"I didn't order any dung."
"Yes you did, sir. You ordered it through the Book of the Month Club."
"Book of the Month Club?"
"That's right, sir. You get 'Gone with the Wind', 'Les Miserables' by Victor Hugo, 'The French Lieutenant's Woman' and with every third book you get dung."
"I didn't know that when I signed the form."
"Well, no, no. It wasn't on the form - they found it wasn't good for business."


* BOOK NEWS *

Larado, Texas becomes the largest city in America without a bookstore - CNN

Amanda tells us what she’s learned from writing - that doesn’t have anything to do with writing! YA Highway

Purpose of a paperback, according to one librarian, is to tear out the pages to share. Really! You gotta read it to believe it… Write About Now

Helen Ginger’s guest, Kendra Bonnett, gives tips on how to prevent drowning in anonymity at Straight From Hel

Want to learn about Steampunk? Jemi Fraser of Just Jemi discloses the truth at Michele’s Southern City Mysteries

Just announced! The top 100 blogs for writers - Universities and Colleges

Have all those Internet terms got you confused? Go to THE online dictionary - NetLingo

And in case you missed it, I was a guest at Michele's  Southern City Mysteries giving tips on book tours.

Crystal at Crystal Clear Proofing was so nice to give me the "Blogger Purrfection Award!"
Yes, I am indeed a cat person. Or is that purrson?
I am passing this on to The Book Kitten because she is just about a cat purrfection as one cat get!


* MOVIE NEWS *

In case you missed it Monday morning... Avatar passed Titanic to become the highest grossing film of all time. As of yesterday, the total sits at $1,849,317,325.00. Considering how much it jumped last weekend, expect Avatar to cross $2 billion this weekend.

Frost/Nixon
This was a NetFlix rental and one I've wanted to see for quite some time.
Now, I have to be in just the right mood to watch a drama. I almost never see them in the theatre. But Frost/Nixon intrigued me from the very beginning. The two leads are quite good. Michael Sheen as David Frost had such a naive but eager aura about him. Of course, I kept staring at him thinking "That's Lucian from Underworld - and he looks so different!" Don't let his former werewolf role fool you - Michael can act!
Frank Langella as Nixon was pure genius. Wow, he really looked and sounded the part! I can see why he was nominated for an Oscar for this role. Watching him toy with Frost was like a cat playing with a mouse - until the end, when Nixon finally provided Frost with the incentive he needed to discover the truth...
I was too young to remember Watergate and this movie did not change my opinion of Nixon. He knew he was doing the wrong thing but did it with the best of intentions. (And unlike most of our presidents, he just happened to get caught!)
My rating - A


* PHOTO OF THE DAY *

If you are not following CC Chronicles, let me tell you a little something about this woman! She is one of the most considerate, generous individuals I have ever met. You make friends with CC, you have a friend for life!

She'd surprised me with a gift box a few months ago, filled with Avon body wash, spray, lotion, lip balms, and delicious Mellowcreme Pumpkins. (Those didn't come from Avon!)

Well, I asked her last week if I could buy some of the body wash from her, as I'd just run out. So what does she do?

She send me ANOTHER box of goodies, including a new scent!!!

CC, you are awesome! I need to make a road trip and take you out to dinner!! (And I can do that, too!)

Here's my goodies:

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Thursday Excerpt - A. E. Wolf

Today's excerpt comes from a young writer in Germany!

AEWolf is one of my Deviant Art buddies and member of The Writer's Meow.



And she's a redheaded wolf! How cool is that???



So please sit back and enjoy!


Los Lobos


Written by A. E. Wolf Based on WhiteWolf’s World of Darkness


Introduction

The elite Sabbat pack Los Lobos, “point of the Sword of Caine”, faces a new challenge. For that purpose they decide to embrace some individuals of mortal elite. The archeologist Dr. Catherine Leraux seeks for the truth in mythology. Moving to San Francisco, she is blessed with success. However, not in a way she had in mind. The scientist Prof. Dr. Marlow, director of a secret research institution below the deserts of Nevada, rarely leaves his laboratories. Unexpectedly, his aunt Anna in Germany dies. To arrange the funeral, he has to travel to San Fransciso, where her husband is burried. The hacker Carlos Javier Montoya works for several different groups of interest. One of his special clients is a mysterious person named Maximillian Schreck.

Synopsis

The three main characters belong to the world elite in their respective fields. All of them have devoted their entire lives to their work, from which they expect some kind of enlightenment. After they are turned into vampires, they find themselves at the very bottom of an entirely different world. Soon, each of them discovers that the secrets of secrets they had already unveiled are only the tip of the iceberg.

Once elite scientists, now they feel like children, discovering the world - the hidden world of vampires, interlaced with the known world of humans. They find themselves in an eternal and ancient war in which they are mere pawns. Immortality proves to be a difficult state of existence to maintain than one – who never believed in anything like that – might have thought. The young vampires have to fight enemies with inexplicable powers without and the hunger for blood within. They struggle to find a new purpose for their unlives and learn to deal with morality one way or another.

From many versions of the unsettling history of vampires and their philosophies, each of them strives to find the 'right' one to accomplish more than just surviving with both mind and body intact. But during all of their trials, this trio of individuals who couldn't be more different learns probably the most important lesson of their lives: the three lone wolves have to set their egos aside for the sake of the pack and eventually become friends, an extremely rare relationship among their blood-drinking kindred.

To read further, visit her DA gallery - Series - Los Lobos

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Author Laura Jensen Walker

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing
Becca By The Book
Zondervan (January 1, 2010)
by Laura Jensen Walker

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Laura Jensen Walker is an award-winning writer, popular speaker, and breast-cancer survivor who loves to touch readers and audiences with the healing power of laughter.

Born in Racine, Wisconsin (home of Western Printing and Johnson’s Wax—maker of your favorite floor care products) Laura moved to Phoenix, Arizona when she was in high school. But not being a fan of blazing heat and knowing that Uncle Sam was looking for a few good women, she enlisted in the United States Air Force shortly after graduation and spent the next five years flying a typewriter through Europe.

Her lifelong dream of writing fiction came true in Spring 2005 with the release of her first chick lit novel, Dreaming in Black & White which won the Contemporary Fiction Book of the Year from American Christian Fiction Writers. Her sophomore novel, Dreaming in Technicolor was published in Fall 2005.

Laura’s third novel, Reconstructing Natalie, chosen as the Women of Faith Novel of the Year for 2006, is the funny and poignant story of a young, single woman who gets breast cancer and how her life is reconstructed as a result. This book was born out of Laura’s cancer speaking engagements where she started meeting younger and younger women stricken with this disease—some whose husbands had left them, and others who wondered what breast cancer would do to their dating life. She wanted to write a novel that would give voice to those women. Something real. And honest. And funny.

Because although cancer isn’t funny, humor is healing.

To learn more about Laura’s latest novels, please check out her Books page.

A popular speaker and teacher at writing conferences, Laura has also been a guest on hundreds of radio and TV shows around the country including the ABC Weekend News, The 700 Club, and The Jay Thomas Morning Show.

She lives in Northern California with her Renaissance-man husband Michael, and Gracie, their piano playing dog.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Sales clerk, barista, telemarketer, sign waver...

At twenty-five, free-spirited Becca Daniels is still trying to figure out what she wants to be when she grows up. What Becca doesn’t want to be is bored. She craves the rush of a new experience, whether it’s an extreme sport, a shocking hair color, or a new guy. That’s why she quit her bookstore job, used her last bit of credit to go skydiving, and broke her leg.

And that’s why, grounded and grumpy, Becca bristles when teased by friends for being commitment-phobic. In response, Becca issues an outrageous wager—that she can sustain a three-month or twenty-five date relationship with the next guy who asks her out. When the guy turns out to be “churchy” Ben—definitely not Becca’s type—she gamely embarks on a hilarious series of dates that plunge her purple-haired, free-speaking, commitment-phobic self into the alien world of church potlucks and prayer meetings.

This irrepressible Getaway Girl will have you cheering her on as she “suffers” through her dates, gains perspective on her life’s purpose, and ultimately begins her greatest adventure of all.

The book link is: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0310276977


Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Photo Tuesday - Critters in the Pages!


Well, not literally, unless your cat likes to help when you read or write!

But a recent post from a book blogger alerted me to the fact that we often forget animals when we are writing. I love animals, but I am just as guilty of omitting them from my work. (I think a zoo and Sea World were my only animal sources - I will have to work on that!)


So let's consider some of the critters we might include in our next novel!






Our character could own a dog or a cat.





In addition to being a faithful companion, pet represent a responsibility - or lack thereof!







Maybe they have a fish or other exotic animal.







If they live on a farm, there's always animals about!









Some might also be a pet.







If they venture out into their backyard or go for a hike or on a camping trip, wildlife abounds!







Bunnies, lizards, turtles, butterflies...




























And don't forget the birds!





Remember, critters make sounds, so they will provide good background material.




What if your character goes to a zoo?








Lots of wildlife there!






Just something to ponder when you tackle that next book!


Monday, January 25, 2010

Visiting Today - Author Beverly Stowe McClure!

Please welcome author Beverly Stowe McClure!

When Beverly was a child, she hated to read. Even though her eighth-grade teacher sent her poem “Stars” to a high school anthology, and it was published in Young America Sings, she hated to write. In spite of her rocky relationship with books, she attended Midwestern University, graduated, and became a teacher. Reading Dr. Seuss and other great children’s books to her sons and to her students made her realize what she’d been missing: reading was fun. Now, she reads and she also writes. Her stories and articles have been published in leading children’s magazines. One article was reprinted in a Scott Foresman PreK/K Anthology. Her “Breakthrough” article appeared in the June 2007 issue of Writer Magazine. She has four novels published: Listen to the Ghost, Secrets I Have Kept, Rebel in Blue Jeans, and Just Breeze. Six more of her stories are under contract.

Beverly lives in the country with her husband and cat, where deer, skunks, and armadillos occasionally visit. Her three sons are grown and have given her lovely grandchildren.

Just Breeze, for tweens and teens, is Beverly’s first book from 4 RV Publishing LLC.

About Just Breeze:

Eighth grade starts out the same as every other year for Breeze Brannigan. She’s still the tallest student, boy or girl, in her class, wears shoes that would fit an elephant, and her smile reveals dazzling braces that blind everyone within ten feet. Then she meets Cam, the new boy in school who speaks with an accent and must be from another planet, for none of the earthling boys she knows are so polite. He also has a secret, a secret that could mean life or death for Cam and his mother and that Breeze must help him keep.

Just Breeze can be purchased from the publisher, 4 RV Publishing, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble

And other leading bookstores such as Book-A-Million and Powells.

Good news: 4 RV Publishing is currently editing Life on Hold, Beverly’s forthcoming novel for Young Adults:
A paper found.
A secret revealed.
A girl’s life changed forever.

Also, watch for Beverly’s Young Adult historical novel, Caves, Cannons, and Crinolines, this spring, from Twilight Times Books.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Friday, January 22, 2010

And Now For Something Completely Different...

"It's just gone 8 o'clock and time for the penguin on top of your television set to explode."

* BOOK NEWS *

What to do when you have too many books! Good Golly Miss Holly

Great YA site! YA Highway

Spotlight on authors published in 2010 thru small & independent publishers Write About Now

Send a book or Ebook to the troops! Sharing with Writers

Meet Molly the horse - an amazing Katrina survivor and inspiration! Snopes
Courtesy of Bibliophiles by the Sea

Five subplot blunders to avoid - Chatterbox Chit Chat

Remember to check out the contest - Mystery Man Contest

* I just found out that Teens Read Too has given Book V a FIVE STAR review, claiming it's the best of the series!!! Woo-hoo!!


And I received a wonderful award from CC Chronicles!!!
I feel so honored.
All I did was prod her to begin - CC did all the work.
Thank you so much, CC!
You one awesome chick.


"This one is The Blogger Buddies Award and it's for those blogging buddies I have who have helped me make this blog what it is."

I have several people who really helped me get this blog going.

Marvin Wilson at   The Old Silly- I know I pestered him to death via emails!!
Helen Ginger at Straight From Hel
Dani at   -Book Blog Tours I am so glad I took her class last January!

And thanks to everyone who comments - that's what continues to shape this blog.


* ENTERTAINMENT NEWS *

Wow - I didn't see any new movies or purchase any new CD's! I do have an ITunes gift card burning a hole in my pocket, so new music is in my very near future. Next movie on my list is The Wolfman next month. Nixon/Frost arrived from NetFlix, so will watch that by Saturday.

Otherwise, the show of choice in our house is American Idol. My husband started watching several years ago because he enjoyed the train wreck of really bad auditions. Well, he got hooked, so now he watches every year. I catch some of it. I don't like watching the idiots, but some of the stories are so moving. And is it just me, or is Simon just a little less mean this year? Anyone else an Idol addict?

* VIDEO OF THE DAY *

For my newer watchers who've never seen Steve's Bad Day - this is my husband's short computer animation movie. And yes, I am two of the voices! Enjoy - it's funny! (And for those who wonder - it took him about eight months to do this piece.)

Thursday, January 21, 2010

The Thursday Excerpt - Author Derek Bickerton

Today I welcome Derek Bickerton!


The Desert and the City, by Derek Bickerton
Strategic Publishing, 2009

About the Book:

It is late in the 4th century AD and Zachary, a young Greek from Alexandria, has decided to become a hermit. Spurned in love, Zachary ventures to the fringe of the desert to join a colony of Christians to live a life of pious reflection. There,, Zachary learns from a fascinating mix of individuals who help him take his first steps on the road to spiritual perfection. But an untimely return to Alexandria to join in an attack on a pagan temple pulls him off course, and he falls victim to anger, drunkenness and lechery. Agonized with remorse for his sins, Zachary sets out alone into the deepest desert to wager his very life against his hope of salvation.

Excerpt:


Zachary’s head, bowed by the weight on his back, forced down his gaze to the few feet of ground immediately in front of him, so he saw nothing of what was happening until he heard Benjamin’s cry. John, wrapped in meditation, saw nothing either, and as for Anoub, who knew what, if anything, went on in Anoub’s mind? It was the former pagan priest, curious as always about his surroundings, who first saw the tall dark figure on top of the wall of the escarpment, away to their right, gesticulating wildly, outlined against the sky.

“Look at that, Father!” Benjamin cried out.

“Who is it?” John squinted myopically into the light.

“I’m not sure...I think it’s that Syrian, what’s-his-name.”

“Cosmas.”

“Cosmas the Syrian, he lives just under there.”

“What’s he doing?” Anoub asked.

“I think he’s wrestling with demons,” John said.

And indeed Cosmas, if it was he, seemed to be locked in struggle with some invisible enemy. Now his hands struck out wildly at vacancy, and now his body contorted, as if he were fighting with a ghost.

“Is it charitable to watch him, do you suppose?” Benjamin asked.

“No,” John said. “It’s his own battle. On the other hand, he may need help. We should go to him without looking at him, for that might be embarrassing to the brother.”

“How will we get up there?” Benjamin asked. “There’s no path.”

“If he got up there, we can. Put down your loads, my children. Zachary, stay right there and look after the loads and the donkey.”

And the other three hermits set down their loads and headed for the escarpment, heads bowed so as not to witness what, if it were indeed a battle with demons, the brother might conceivably lose. But Zachary watched. He tried not to, he really tried. He forced his gaze away from the escarpment, out into the blistering glare of the nitrate flats. He shut his eyes and recited the Jesus prayer and the prayer of the publican and any other prayers that came to mind, while the donkey tried patiently but rather hopelessly to graze some spiny, thistle-¬like plant that grew there. Nothing worked. Something, perhaps some premonition of evil, continually drew his eyes back to the gaunt black-clad figure on the escarpment and the three hermits steadily approaching the foot of the cliffs. The figure was no longer struggling--it was erect now, its arms stretched out ... in supplication?

No. In flight.

For a fraction of a second Zachary believed that Cosmas the Syrian actually was flying. His body, like a projectile, was hurled outwards and upwards, arms outstretched, legs spread wide like the forked tail of some improbable bird. The sky could be seen briefly between his feet and the ground. For what seemed an interminable moment he hung there, his tunic ballooning in the breeze, his hands beginning a loose flapping gesture. Did Zachary really see, or only imagine in retrospect, the look of shocked disbelief that replaced the serene confidence of his expression? Whether or not, before the second was over, Cosmas was falling.

Then he screamed.

His scream blended with Zachary’s futile shout of warning. The three hermits began to run. Zachary, oblivious of John’s instructions, started to run too. Only the donkey continued as before, quietly seeking some more tender part of the thistles. Cosmas fell, screaming, his limbs flailing, turning over and over until there came a dull, heavy, shapeless sound, a sound such as a sack of grain dropped from a height onto a granary floor might make. After it came a silence almost tangible, a silence that seemed the reverberant echo of that unhuman sound. For a second, everything was frozen in a static tableau: the three hermits partway up the talus slope, Zachary approaching it, and the black figure sprawled shapelessly higher up, near the foot of the escarpment. Then the three hermits scrambled on up, dust and loose stones cascading from their flying feet, with Zachary following.

Benjamin reached the figure first. He bent over it. “He’s still alive,” he said.

John gained his side and crouched down. “Don’t be afraid, my son ... Friends in Christ are with you.”

Blood was flowing from the man’s mouth. His arms and legs were at angles that no limbs should be capable of. Blood oozed in rusty stains over his black tunic. Yet his eyes were open, with a terrible restlessness, as of a man plagued with evil visions, and the bleeding mouth, missing most of its teeth, opened and closed its dark cavern, struggling to speak.

“Don’t talk,” Benjamin said. “It’ll weaken you.”

“Let him talk,” John said. “He needs to talk. Pray for his soul, but if he talks, stop and listen.”

“Can’t we give him absolution?” Zachary asked, catching up with them.

“Of course not. None of us is ordained, it wouldn’t be valid. But we can pray for his soul.”

 
About the Author:
 
Derek Bickerton is Professor Emeritus of Linguistics at the University of Hawaii. He is author of Language and Species, Bastard Tongues and several other widely-praised books on language, as well as four novels. He lives on the North Shore of Oahu. Volumes 2 and 3 of The Commandment Trilogy are forthcoming.
 
Purchase the book at Strategic Book Group

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

"Mystery Man" Contest!


Book V of my series will be out in less than two months.

How would you like to get a copy a month earlier???


Enter the “Book V - Mystery Man!” contest!

Each book revolves around a relationship, and Book V is no different. However, while the other books overlapped, thus revealing the second main character, Book V’s story does not begin until after the end of Book IV. The young man who will change Heather’s life remains a mystery! Hint - his name has been mentioned in an earlier book.

Do YOU know this person’s name?

Would you like to make a guess?

A free, autographed copy of Book V…Heather will be given away to one lucky winner!

Contest Rules:


* Send your selection to wolferock AT earthlink.net & include “Mystery Man” in the subject line.


* One entry per person.


* Contest open to USA and Canada residents only.


* Early reviewers of Book V not eligible to enter.


* Contest runs from Jan. 20 to Feb. 18, 2010.


* In the event of a tie, winner will be drawn at random.


* Winner will be notified by email and announced next month.

Good luck everyone!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Tales From the Bookshelf - Flattened Fauna

And now for a really strange tale from the bookshelf...

Flattened Fauna, Revised: A Field Guide to Common Animals of Roads, Streets, and Highways
by Roger M. Knutson

Paperback: 96 pages
Publisher: Ten Speed Press; Revised edition (September 1, 2006)
ISBN-13: 978-1580087551

Product Description

Are you among the millions of people whose only opportunity to observe wildlife comes after it has been run over and pressed into a patty by big rigs, then desiccated by the elements until even flies don’t recognize it? This is the field guide for you! FLATTENED FAUNA fills an important gap in our natural history knowledge and fosters a heightened respect for the ecology of the paved environment.

Okay, let me give you a little back story on this one!
In 1987, my best friend helped me drive from Arkansas to Oregon in what was the most humorous road trip imaginable. Along the way, we saw many dead animals on the road, and out of sheer boredom, started keeping track of the flattened fauna. The amount of little fuzzy Frizbees in Wyoming, which we could only assume were at one time rabbits, was astounding! Dead armidillos, cows, dogs - you name it, we saw it.
A week after arriving in Oregon, she shows up at my door with this book. We laughed so hard, we cried.
Flattened Fauna is dark humor at its best. Yes, the author goes to great lengths to help us identify those lumpy shapes on the road! But the subject matter alone should tell you this is done with a twisted sense of humor. (I am also an animal lover, but I found nothing offensive in the book.)

So if you aren't disturbed by the thought of identifying that patch of fur you just passed on the road and have a wicked sense of humor, this book is worth checking out!
8 out of 10

Purchase from  Barnes and Noble or  Amazon

Thank you for visiting the bookshelf today!

Monday, January 18, 2010

The Circle of Friends Award!!!!


Woo-hoo!
I'd seen this bad boy circling other blogs (via Google alerts) and hoped it would one day come my direction.
I mean REALLY!!! That IS the title of my YA series!

BIG hug and thanks to Crystal at Crystal Clear Proofing for giving me this award!

The rules state I must pass it on to five other special friends.

Wow. Only five. Pardon my French, but that sucks, as I could easily give this out to twenty or more!

So for those who did NOT receive this award but are bloggy buddies of mine - you are still in MY Circle of Friends!

I award The Circle of Friends Award to...

Helen Ginger Straight From Hel
Marvin Wilson The Old Silly
Karen Walker Karen Walker
Jamieson Wolf Jamieson Wolf
Michele Emrath Michele Emrath

(Crystal already awarded it to my friends Chris at CC Chronicles and Elizabeth at Mystery Writing is Murder )

Thank you to ALL of my bloggy friends!

The more of you I meet, the  more enriched my life becomes - and the bigger my blogroll!
(Which I really need to update...)

Sunday, January 17, 2010

The Sunday Sillies

It's Sunday Sillies time and today we have more than just cats!

Anyone here relate...?
funny pictures of cats with captions


funny pictures of cats with captions


funny pictures of cats with captions

funny pictures of cats with captions

funny pictures of cats with captions


funny pictures of cats with captions


funny pictures of cats with captions


funny pictures of cats with captions