Promotional Pricing: Free 12/02/2014 to 12/05/2014 Pricing: $1.99 (after 12/05/2014)
A Cup of Christmas is a lovely mixture of award winning authors. My story, “Home in Time for Christmas” is a story about Cassie and Jim Mink from my Fairfield, Idaho, collection. Cassie wants to return to Seattle to spend Christmas with her widowed mother while Jim wants his family to experience their first Christmas in Idaho. Other stories include Christmases remembered through the years and family traditions. Just how did Daddy shoot the Christmas tree? Romance, an urban fantasy, a mysterious ethereal boy, an elderly man with a new lease on life, a dog wedding, Santa in love, a Texas beauty pageant, Rich’s Department Store remembered, a Vietnam Christmas, and a fairy tale about wanting your heart’s desire . . . the list goes on.
All proceeds from the sale of A Cup of Christmas will be donated to the children’s literacy charity, First Book. First Book addresses one of the fundamentals affecting literacy with children – access to books. To date, they have distributed over 120 million new books to children in both the United States and Canada. (www.firstbook.com)
Contributing authors to A Cup of Christmas include: Kimberly Brock, Jackie Bouchard, Karen E. Martin, R. Leonia Shea, Jane-Ann Heitmueller, Renea Winchester, Audrey Frank, Tori Bailey, Cynthia Graubart, Morgen Bailey, DJ Thomason, Beth Crews Rommel, Jackie Rod, Georgia Lee, Rosemary Dixon, Jamie Salisbury, Kerry Alan Denney, Lane Sebesta, Ramsay Brown, Doug Dahlgren, Penny White, Amie Ray Davis, Bonnie Dodge, Michael W. Paul, Deborah Myers Lewis, Tara Joyner Haussler, Rena Blain, Helen Ross, Howard Johnson, Karen Brown and Barbara Barth.
DON’T MISS OUT. MARK YOUR CALENDARS TO GRAB YOUR FREE COPY NOW!
To celebrate Waiting‘s new book award, Top Ten Fiction 2014 Idaho Author Awards, I am giving away three copies of Waiting on Goodreads. Don’t miss out, enter today!
Today we stopped by Morningside Elementary in Twin Falls and presented the Principal, Steven Hoy, a copy of our book, Billie Neville Takes a Leap. Billie attended Morningside in 1974, the year Evel Knievel attempted to jump the Snake River Canyon. Thank you, Morningside Elementary for letting us wander your halls. You have a great school.
We had so much fun putting this book together. Take a tomboy with no friends with a dream to be a daredevil and you have little Billie Neville. Add a skycycle and the Snake River Canyon and there’s bound to be lots of action.
Hurry and get your copy now just in time to celebrate the 4oth anniversary of Evel Knievel’s failed jump of the Snake River Canyon.
Check out my new children’s book, “Billie Neville Takes a Leap.”
Ten-year-old Billie Neville wants to be a daredevil, just like her hero Evel Knievel. She also wants a best friend. Riding “the best bike in the whole world” Billie’s desperate to enter a bike jumping contest with three boys named The Meanies and show them her cool bike skills. When Evel comes to town to jump the Snake River Canyon, Billie learns she has to be a friend to make friends and that not all heroes have to soar over canyons.
Ten-year-old Billie wants to be a daredevil, just like her hero Evel Knievel. She also wants a best friend. Riding “the best bike in the whole world,” Billie’s desperate to enter a bike jumping contest with three boys named The Meanies and show them her cool bike skills. When Evel comes to town to jump the Snake River Canyon, Billie learns she has to be a friend to make friends and that not all heroes have to soar over canyons.
Pat, Dixie and I have spent countless hours compiling this anthology, which features fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and essays by twenty-seven Idaho writers. In some ways the process has been a labor of love, in others, well, lets just say we understand why it takes a publisher so long to bring a book to the public. We love this anthology and hope you will too. Stories about the old Idaho State Penitentiary, Lincoln Elementary School in Twin Falls, and Stricker Ranch are only some of the tales you will encounter in this collection. For more information about the book and where to buy it, go to http://hauntingsfromtheplain.wordpress.com Then lock the door, turn on all the lights, and enjoy these haunted tales.
Busy, busy, busy. That’s what I’ve been the last few months, editing and laying out the latest book offered by The Other Bunch Press. Hauntings from the Snake River Plain is almost ready to go to print. As soon as we have a release date, we’ll let you know. A lost cave, a possessed canyon and a visit from mysterious strangers are only some of the stories you’ll find in this anthology by Idaho writers. Lock the door, turn on the lights, and get ready to enjoy these haunted tales.
I’m pleased to announce that you can now find Voices from the Snake River Plain, at the Herrett Center Store on the College of Southern Idaho campus. Stop by and check it out!
I was probably ten years old when I first read Jane Eyre. I followed that quickly with Wuthering Heights, and even wrote a paper on the light and dark elements in Wuthering Heights when I was in college. These books remain my all time favorites, my go to books when I want to be transported. I still read them today, even though they were written over 150 years ago. I could go on and on about these wonderful classics, but I won’t. Instead, I’d like to share a video link my friend, Robin Lee Hatcher, posted on Facebook today. She did not make the video, she was just passing it on because it’s too good not to share. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NKXNThJ610
I’m starting the new year out right. On January 30, I’ll be reading from “Voices from the Snake River Plain” in Boise at The Cabin. I’m excited to be part of the Idaho Writer’s Guild and participate in their first event for 2010. If you are in the Boise area on January 30, stop by The Cabin between 1 – 3 and join us while we talk about books, writing, and publishing. Hope to see you there!
Here is the Idaho Writer’s Guild news release.
The publishing world is changing daily, it seems, and there’s a lot of interest in the area of non-traditional forms of publishing. As “Writers Working for Writers,” the Idaho Writer’s Guild is proudly launching a new series called “Random Readings” on Saturday, January 30th from 1-3 pm at The Cabin, in Boise. Featured writers will share their experiences, from writing to publishing.
Here’s what you can look forward to: authors will read from their books, with commentary. Afterwards, there will be time for asking questions and sharing thoughts about the nuts and bolts of a variety of publishing processes. Not-to-be-missed refreshments will be served.
Southern Idaho residents Bonnie Dodge, Dixie Thomas Reale and Patricia Santos Marcantonio wrote and published “Voices from the Snake River Plain.” A collection of short stories, poems and essays, the book has been described as “a small treasure….we learn there is beauty in the landscape around us and people with stories to tell.” Some of the tales by these award-winning writers include a jackalope, an old Mexican ghost story, haunting landscapes and a road trip with Louis L’Amour and Zane Grey.
Val Robertson was the former president of The Couer du Bois Chapter of Romance Writers of America, and the founding and current president of the Popular Fiction Association of Idaho, which produces the Murder in the Grove mystery conference. She is also the organizer of the Boise Speculative Fiction writer’s support group. Her debut novel is entitled “Blade’s Edge.”
Also from Boise, Ken McConnell is both traditionally published and self-published. A Software Test Technician, Ken wrote and published “Starstrikers” in 2008. His first novel is “a military space novel that takes place between two galactic civilizations.” He also wrote “Null Pointer,” a mystery novel about a programmer sleuth.
“Random Readings” will take place in the Jean Wilson Reading Room, on the basement level at The Cabin, 801 S. Capitol Blvd, Boise. Admission is free. For further information contact Diane Graham at diane@idahowritersguild.org.
The Road out of Hell is not a book I would have normally picked to read. It is the story of Sanford Clark and the Wineville Murders that took place in California in the late 1920s. It is a hard book to read, and I read it reluctantly because it was the January selection for my local book club. To make matters worse, I was host for the January meeting, so I knew if I was going to contribute anything worthwhile to the discussion, I would have to read the book.
After a couple of failed starts, I dug in and did the work. I’m glad I did because the publisher of the book had arranged a Skype meeting between my book club and the author. For almost an hour we were able to ask Anthony Flacco questions about the story and the story process. It was like having Mr. Flacco in my living room talking about books and writing, and it was so much fun.
Being the mother of a son, it would have been easy for me to say, “I’m not going to read this book.” But something positive came out of the process. I hope more publishers and authors take advantage of connecting with readers through Skype or other cyberspace technology. It was truly one of the best book discussions we have had, and we’ve read a lot of books.
On November 6, Pat, Dixie and I enjoyed reading excerpts from Voices from the Snake River Plain to a standing-room-only crowd in Twin Falls, Idaho. A heartfelt thanks goes out to everyone who helped celebrate the launch of our new book. If you missed the event, copies are still available at the Magic Valley Arts Council, 132 Main Avenue South, Twin Falls, Idaho. They are also available at the Log Cabin Literary Center, 801 S. Capitol Boulevard in Boise, Idaho.
Just because I haven’t posted a blog since May, it may look like I’m doing nothing. But the truth is that I’ve been busy with summer, gardens, grandsons, and laying out a book for The Other Bunch.
The garden is producing generously every day with more broccoli and cabbage than I can eat. The grandsons spent the month of July with us swimming, riding ATVs, and looking for ghosts. It was an honor to watch Kennedy at age 5 jump off the diving board during swim lessons. Dante, who turns 8 next week, adopted our orphaned cat Lucy Smith and hunted up grasshoppers and caterpillars for his bug box, while big brother Dmitri helped make banana bars, birthday cake ice cream, and Twinkie cupcakes. All boys are now back in Hillsboro with their parents who are glad to have them home and underfoot again. And yes, I miss them, but now that the house is empty, I’ve been busy laying out our new book, “Voices from the Snake River Plain”. This is a collection of essays, short stories, and poems written by Dixie Thomas Reale, Patricia Santos Marcantonio, and me. With any luck and a lot of patience, the book will be available soon. Just so you know, when it looks like I’m doing nothing, I’m busy living life and enjoying every minute of it.
It’s rare that I like a movie better than a book. Often, if I really love a book, I never bother to see the movie because I don’t want to be disappointed. In the case of The Reader, I didn’t really love the book, and probably wouldn’t have read it if it hadn’t been for my book club. But I did read the book, and then watched the movie.
Personally, I believe the movie would have been hard to follow without first having read the book. But unlike the book, which left me lukewarm, Kate Winslet’s portrayal of Hanna Schmitz has stayed with me. I find her popping into my thoughts at the oddest times, and I have to stop and catch my breath. As an artist, Winslet brought Hanna to life in a way the book didn’t, and it’s clear to see why the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded her an Oscar for her work in this movie.
There is something to say about good books and good actors. They make us think, and they make us feel. They help us see with different eyes and amplify our life experiences.
