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Queen Mab Courtesy by Bruce Davis

    Review by Al Kalar

    I can see why Bruce Davis is an award-winning author. Queen
    Mab is a fast-paced science-fiction book set in the
    not-too-distant future. Chicago is still Chicago, but the Welfare
    Society has become much more prevalent.

    Tito, A “Denver Dwarf” (result of a virus that infected pregnant
    women in Denver) lives in Chicago and would very much prefer
    to make it on his own rather than live in “homes” designed for
    “spuds”, as they are called. Spuds are mostly mentally slow, but
    Tito’s mind works just fine.

    Unfortunately, the Welfare folks want him under their control and avoiding welfare is
    actually a crime. So Tito is on the run from ...

    Read the rest of this review at Book Reviews

Things You Don’t Want to Learn the Hard Way by Robin Cain

    As a columnist, novelist and prolific Facebook participant, I seem to get a great deal
    of email from new writers asking questions. I don’t know if it’s true for every author,
    but I seem to get an awful lot. And I have to be honest: I often laugh at what I find to
    be the sheer absurdity of it.

    Yes, I am a writer, but being a writer doesn’t make me an expert at anything. Sure,
    we writers know a few things, but they are all, more likely than not, lessons we
    learned the hard way. As is the case with many of our most profound life lessons,
    learning things the ‘hard way’ does tend to etch them deeper into our brains, but  it
    is still no guarantee that we have come away able to call ourselves “experts”.

    Many new authors I speak with often don’t have the first clue as to what they are up
    against when throwing their hat into the publishing ring. Far be it from me to rain on
    their parade (after all, some people do win at this game), so for those that choose to
    actually take some advice from this “expert”, I have decided to share what I know for
    sure. If nothing else, maybe an agent will one day thank me.  

    Top 10 Ways to NEVER Get an Agent ...Read more at Writing Tip

Videos

    Sneak Peak into:

         The Triumph of Deborah
    Eva Etzioni-Halevy
    CHAPTER ONE

    Two women were standing on high places, shielding their eyes
    from the blazing sun with their hands, peering into the distance
    in search of messengers from the battlefield. Each knew that her
    life depended on the outcome of the battle; but their lives
    depended on opposite results.
                                                                                              
    * * *
    On the rooftop of the royal castle in Hazor, in the north of the land of Canaan, stood the
    youngest daughter of King Jabin, the mightiest of all the kings of Canaan. Asherah, an
    arrestingly beautiful young woman seventeen years of age, had long straight hair the
    color of ripe wheat. Her large eyes, slightly tilted at the corners, were a blue-green color
    and endowed with the sparkle of precious stones. The skin of her face and body was the
    shade of pure white milk, with pink roses of Sharon gracing her cheeks. . . Because of
    Asherah’s rare colors, her delicate small nose and her finely chiseled mouth, she was
    renowned for her beauty in her father’s kingdom.

    The princess was the new wife of ......
          (click to read more of this Sneak Peak)
Kim Reale
Mainely Classic Art By Kim
jump
General Ways To Protect Yourself From Snoops, Thieves
and Apparatchiki’s
By Don Hagelberg

    The following list is one which covers potential threats to you security like the pattern
    of a discharging shotgun: broad enough to cover a large target and yet powerful
    enough to remain on target.
    A)        Do not choose the same password for all computer accounts: different words
    for different accounts.
    B)        Keep a list of the passwords in a safe place away from the computer or
    unlocked desk.
    C)        Create your passwords so that they are at least:
    a.        Ten characters long;
    b.        Uses: letters, capitals and small;
    c.        Uses: numbers and special characters;
    d.        Does not use autobiographical data in easy ways.
    D)        Try not to give out .....

    (click to read more of this Article)

Book Review
Fran Lewis: Reviewer
    Powerfully written: Mind Stimulating: Terrifying and Full of Twists and Turns:

    (The mystery of)
    The Solar Wind

    By Lyz Russo

    Secrets, mysteries, lies, deceptions, intrigue and murder are just some of what you
    will encounter when you board the Solar Wind for your journey into the 22nd
    century.  This will not be just any ordinary journey, it will keep you spellbound,
    alert, terrified, inquisitive and more, to learn about the new regime and the new
    world powers of the year 2116 and just what changes are in store for you.  With a
    cast of characters so diversified, yet so alike, you will want to not only learn the
    reasons why each crewmember signed on to the Solar Wind, but go along with
    them on their dangerous journey to find freedom and safety in a world filled with
    fear.

    The world is not the same any more.  The governments in most parts of the world
    are no longer democratic.  The Unicate and the Rebellion are two opposing World
    Domination Governments that have taken over and captured many countries on
    both the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts. Let’s meet the Captain of the Solar Wind:  
    Radomir Lascek, who sails his illegal trader ship around the world doing shady
    deals and illegal trading of ships and much more.  Next we have three teenagers
    that were rescued and brought aboard in Dublin, escaping the wrath of the Unicate
    Government.  What would happen if everyone in the world that needs medical care
    did not have to pay a co-payment for service but instead a hefty fee for a medical
    care license, just like a driver’s license?  This license has to be renewed on a
    yearly basis and if you cannot afford the fee, you do not get the care.  What would
    happen if you had to flee your country because
    (read more of this Book Book Review)
See this and other videos at our Videos Page.
ASK PAT
Online Discussion
with Author Pat Bertram
Wandering Pam
Travel the World
with Pamposh Dhar

Music, Dance, and Art in the Heart of Europe
How do you juggle writing, promotion, online activities, and everyday life? And
how do you find time to write?
Timeless in Tennessee
Timeless, you’re not the first person to ask me that! People often marvel at how I juggle
promotion, writing, and offline life, but the truth is, I don’t juggle very well. I always drop a ball or
two so that a single ball is kept in the air at a time. Right now, my offline life is taking
precedence (nothing particularly good or bad, just work). I am doing almost no promoting, doing
a poor job keeping up with my discussion groups, writing a single blog post a week, and yet all
that and more used to fit into a few hours a day. Now it barely fits into a week.

Since I have no answer for you, I posed the question at one of my online discussion groups
(http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=app_2373072738&gid=2397748813#/topic.php?
uid=2397748813&topic=21473). The answers, so generously given, ranged from “I wait until I
have time to write” to “I squeeze the writing in,” to “I make sure I write every day.” The
consensus is that we need to manage our time. If we want to write (or clean house or promote
or whatever) we need to schedule our time and have the discipline to stick to that schedule. It
all comes down to what our priorities are. If you’re not writing, perhaps writing is not your main
concern. Maybe your family is, or a clean house.

Many people treat writing like a job in the hopes that someday it will become their job. Others
think ...
(read more & Ask Pat your writing questions)

Vienna – the very name conjures up sounds and images of music and dance, of fin de siecle
art, of beautiful old buidings, and of the Blue Danube, immortalized in Johann Strauss’s famous
waltz. Beethoven, Mozart, Strauss have composed music in this city; Klimt, Schiele and
Hundertwasser have painted here. It is a city replete with art, culture, and history.

Vienna’s history dates back to a military camp set up in the city centre under the Roman empire
in the first century. Roman remains can be seen in old city just outside the Hofburg palace.

However, most of what you see in Vienna today dates back to the much later Habsburg dynasty
and the Austro-Hungarian empire. It was during this period that Vienna became the cultural hub
of Europe.

Stefansdom (St. Stephen’s Cathedral) dominates the old cobbled city which is enclosed within a
circular road called simply the Ring. The cathedral’s one tall spire offers a wonderful view of the
old city. The oldest remaining parts of the cathedral date back to the 13th century.

Many of the beautiful old buildings along the Ring were largely rebuilt after ......
(read more of this Article & ask travel questions)
Taking Wings
A Poetry Session
with Poet Jeanne Riple
Poetry Writing Tips

During my featured presentation on Red River Writers Blog Talk Radio on Feb.04th,2010, I
read a love poem in an early celebration of Valentines Day. I also shared two poetry tips as
follows:

After writing and/or editing your poem, read it aloud. The way a poem reads and looks on the
page is quite different than the way it reads aloud. Listen to your own voice ... you will be
reading to others one day. Where do you want the emphasis? Are you reading slowly enough?

In addition, watch and listen for areas where you may hesitate, the words do not flow or you
have used too many of the same words. Is there any musicality or rhythm within the line?

(Join the Session & ask question of the Poet)

An Empty Stage
By Kathy Stemke
Do You Have Rhythm?
By
Maryann Miller

    Rhythm is important in establishing voice and style, and it is equally important in
    dialogue. To make your characters distinct, they have to speak with their own
    cadence. A street-wise kid is going to talk differently than one who goes to a
    preppy boarding school. Cops talk differently than lawyers. Farmers talk differently
    than store clerks. Adults talk differently than children, and women talk differently
    than men.

    In creating those differences, however, be careful about using dialect, Ebonics,
    and/or pigeon English to extreme. If you want a character to come across as
    uneducated, that can be accomplished without totally fracturing the written
    language.

    At one point an editor from Southern Living Magazine rejected a short story of
    mine, with a handwritten notation that he might consider it if I rewrote it. He included
    editorial guidelines that said he would not even consider a story that attempted
    southern dialect by dropping ‘g’s.

    At first I thought, how weird. Southerners drop the ‘g’s all the time. But his point was
    that a good writer can
Ads
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For everyone not just seniors the following activities are really great and might charge your
brain and keep it going on what I call high power instead of low voltage:
Tips to Keep your mind and Brain Active:
These are some ways you can help keep your  mind alert and hopefully delay memory loss.
Some of the research I have done on MInd and Brain stimulating Activities lists these are some
ways to keep your brain active and from turning to mush.

Card games
2.  Board games
Brain teasers
Crossword puzzles: some with categories
Word finds
Sudoku
Math puzzles and word scrambles
Cognitive function skills that involve reasoning, problem solving and memory
Concentration is a great card game
Bingo with words and numbers
Jigsaw puzzles are great
Chess or checkers
.......
Learn more about this Fran Lewis Article

    stuck in a tree, a million feet high
    inches from finding her own way down--
    mother's voice telling her
    one more inch, just go forward
    and you'll be free--but she cries
    for her daddy's rescue, though he isn't there.
    fearful and tiring, aching arms, craving release
    she knows soon she will not be able to hold on
    and will fall, seemingly forever--
    she hears a familiar voice from below
    "jump," he says--and she does,
    into her daddy's waiting arms.

    stuck in a hospital bed, for months on end
    moments from leaving this earth--
    doctor's voice telling them
    it won't be long now, a few more days
    and he'll be free--and she cries,
    for her daddy's leaving, and it isn't fair.
    fearful and tiring, aching body, craving release
    they know soon he won't be able to hold on
    and will go, forever in heaven--
    and she remembers that familiar voice long ago,
    "jump," he said--and she did,
    and with that memory, she'll never be alone.

    stuck in a loveless relationship
    months without finding her own way out--
    mother's voice telling her
    that's enough, just move on
    and be free--but she cries
    for her a love like her daddy's, a life to share.
    fearful and tiring, aching heart, craving release--
    she knows soon she will not be able to hold on
    and will fall, seemingly forever--
    though the voice is unfamiliar
    she jumps, headlong
    into a new love's waiting arms.


    Amanda James Dill

POETRY
Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com
Love Bites
    By Margie Church

    Jui Fabrice rose early and left her hotel to take a cab into the Oldtown Heidelberg. She
    planned to lose herself there, walking the cobblestone streets of the Oldtown, even if just
    for the day. The bright morning sun inspired her to stick her nose into most every shop
    on the Hauptstrasse along the Neckar River. The narrow street flowed to the Church of
    the Holy Ghost and when the church’s steeple bell sounded the hour, Jui smiled, happy
    to know plenty of Saturday lay ahead of her.

    With a few purchases in hand, Jui sat in one of the outdoor cafes for lunch. She tossed
    her long, black hair over her shoulder. Tendrils curled around her face and neck under
    the warm, late summer sun making her wish she’d put it up. She found a shaded table
    and chose a seat with her back to the wall so she could enjoy the colorful scenery. The
    hem of her skirt ruffled in the breeze, giving life to the bold, puce-colored orchids woven
    into the white fabric. Jui fluttered her wide-necked, emerald-green, peasant blouse to
    cool off a bit and then rested her chin on her hands, waiting for a waiter to appear.

    A few tables away, a handsome man sitting with two beautiful women caught...
    (click to read more of this Sneak Peak)

Coiled torso frozen on an empty stage,

a living sculpture trapped in place

with no gown of tulle to hide her age

only weeping knees below her waist.



Framed in light, her insides groan

with pent up passion poised for release,

she now waits long and alone

for rhythm to carry her to peace.



But I remember her unencumbered

prance, so light for one held down

by unfulfilled dreams remembered,

floating above her tattered gown.
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