Monthly Archives: November 2017

Mystery Mondays: Jennifer Young on Researching Historical Fiction

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A FREE copy of COLD CRASH and a thorough and helpful post on research for the writing of it by Jennifer Young.

KRISTINA STANLEY

I’m so pleased to have award winning novelist Jennifer Young on Mystery Mondays. She’s here to talk to us about researching historical fiction – something I’m in awe of.

Hot off the press: Cold Crash (eBook Edition) is free today on Amazon. Why not check it out and post a review for Jennifer?

Researching Tips for Historical Fiction

cold crash front cover Cinnamon Press Debut Novel Winner

When I started writing Cold Crash, I looked online for music that came out in early spring 1952. I found ‘Tenderly’ by Rosemary Clooney, and it played on a continual loop as I wrote the first chapters of Max Falkland’s story. It even found its way into what eventually became chapter twelve.

As I researched further though, I found that while ‘Tenderly’ came out in the United States in spring 1952, Rosemary Clooney didn’t release any records until years later in the United Kingdom. Max…

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Puerto Rico – Two Months Later …

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The condition of Puerto Rico two months after the storms.

Filosofa's Word

I have not written much, to date, about Puerto Rico since Hurricane Maria plowed through the island in late September.  The U.S. response in the immediate aftermath was delayed, pitifully inadequate, and controversial.  So where does Puerto Rico stand today, just over two months after the worst natural disaster on record in the area?

More than half of the island is still without power, and hundreds of thousands of residents are fleeing to the American mainland in an extraordinary exodus.

It has been weeks since President Trump visited to jovially toss rolls of paper towels to needy fellow Americans and brag about how successful the recovery effort was. But true evidence of progress has been hard to come by. Even the simplest symbols of government, like traffic lights, remain useless. Most of the Pentagon’s emergency troops have begun pulling out, except for those working on the island’s shattered power grid.

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Top Ten Things Not to Do While Decorating the House for the Holidays

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John Howell’s list of 10 things not to do when decorating your house for Christmas.

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Top Ten things not to do

The inspiration for this list came naturally from having decorated a number of houses over the years. I guess I could be guilty of some of these, but not all. I hope you enjoy.

10 If you are decorating your house for the holidays, do not ignore the number of lights on a continuous string instruction on the lights. If you do, at best you will trip a circuit breaker. At worst, you may take down the Eastern seaboard grid. (Who’s going to pay that bill, Caelan? Don’t forget the lawsuits that range anywhere from unwanted pregnancy to being trapped in an elevator.)

9 If you are decorating your house for the holidays, do not hire unlicensed contractors especially if they are named Tiny the WWF champ who just got out of confined anger management care. If you do, at best you may get off with a broken window or two…

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Donor Relief Act Or Rs’ Tax Cut/ Obamacare Mandate/ Net Neutrality/ Google Fiber

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What you should know.

Gronda Morin

Dear Republicans, You have so many irons in the fire that you think those who are part of “The Resistance” can’t keep up, but we are up to the task. While you may pass your 2017 Donor Relief Act (republicans tax cut bill), stop net neutrality protections and end the Obamacare mandate, every middle class family will know the following:

1.) The Donor Relief Act or the republicans’ tax cuts bill favoring the wealthy will add a minimum of $1.5 trillion dollars to the deficit at a time where the stock market economy (only 52% of population owns stock) is booming but middle and poor income folks have seen stagnant wages for ages because rich corporations awash in profits and sitting on trillions of dollars in cash have decided against sharing their record breaking profits/ spoils with their front-line workers.

(L-R) Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Sen. Orrin Hatch, Treasury…

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THE LIGHTHOUSE AT MAGNUM POINT

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Photo Copyright: Al Forbes

This story was written for Sunday Photo Fiction-November 26th, 2017. Each week the host, Al Forbes, provides a picture prompt taken by himself or sent in by one of the other participants in the group of writers. The challenge for each member of the group is to write an original story or poem with no more than 200 words, not including the title and inspired by the prompt. This week’s prompt was taken by Al himself. Thanks, Al.

To read the other stories written by group members, just click on the link below, then on the little blue frog in the blue box.

The link to the other stories this week is as follows:

https://sundayphotofictioner.wordpress.com/2017/11/26/sunday-photo-fiction-november-26th-2017/

Genre: Speculative Fiction

Word Count: 200 Words

THE LIGHTHOUSE AT MAGNUM POINT by P.S. Joshi

Frank Patterson, a cousin of Mrs. Wilson was visiting them on Magnum Point for the week. Early Monday morning he awoke with the urge to take a long walk. Quietly getting ready so as not to awaken the family, he left a note and let himself out.

The old lighthouse near the ocean seemed a desirable choice to explore. It was empty since the new automated light had been installed.

As he neared the location he saw an old wrinkled man out front.

“Hi. I thought there would be no one here now.”

The old man turned and laughed.

“You can’t always believe what you hear. I stayed on and no one seems to care. I guess they know I have nowhere else to go.”

Frank smiled. “Good for them. You’ve lived here a long time then. You’ve probably seen the area change a lot.”

“You bet. I’ve seen folks come and go. The new folks pay no attention to me. I’m just another old man.”

Frank chatted a short while then said goodbye and headed back.

At the Wilson’s  he described his afternoon.

George Wilson gently patted Franks’s shoulder. “You’ve just met our 200-year-old local ghost.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Review : Circumstances of Childhood by John Howell

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A great review by Helen Valentina of John W. Howell’s book, “Circumstances of Childhood”.

helenvalentina

CoC

It’s always a pleasure to read a novel written by John Howell. He has a way of mixing action, thriller level excitement, real world politics, intelligent discourse and detail (much of which feels ripped presciently from today’s headlines), all wrapped up in believable, relatable, and importantly – likeable – characters.  And it’s all his own – the John Howell style – immediate, engrossing and always great fun.

This time the author notes some autobiographical parts, and an homage to great friendships. And this is what surrounds the novel – a great, true friendship from life and beyond life, adding a paranormal element that is warming and comforting rather than frightening or strange.  It is a testament to John’s writing skill that you accept the supernatural premise immediately and naturally. Of course such a strong friendship, which is more like a family tie than just companionship – of course it survives…

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