Thursday, May 30, 2013

Throwback Thursday - Ruth Chew - and a blog Milestone


First, the milestone. This week BlogTheEclectic passed 2,000 page views. Thank you to everyone who contributed!

I know in the grand scheme that is not very many (I know many of you get than many in a day or week) but it made me excited to hit the milestone, especially since it is on a steep upward incline (over 550 page views in the last month, up from less than 100 only in December). So thank you again to everyone who came to look. Please share.

Now for the Throwback. As summer approaches (I'm in New York, schools are open for another month) I remember voraciously reading Ruth Chew's books. They had adventure, magic, history, interesting plots and interesting characters. I never was disappointed.

My favorites were Baked Beans for Breakfast, Summer Magic, and The Hidden Cave. I remember sometimes reading the entire book in a single sitting.



Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Haiku for Mars

The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission (MAVEN) is hosting a contest to get people's interest going for the project by hosting a haiku contest. Details are at LASP. The winner's haiku will be placed on the mission and he or she will be able to boast they have been published extra-terrestially! Anyway, I wrote four. What do you think?

Rover rummages
For water and signs of life
Among the red rocks

Mysterious
The stuff of science fiction
Rust-colored Mars-scape

Haiku for Mars
Wellsian or Robinson
Imaginary

Spy the red planet
Imagine fantastic life
Close to earthly home

Friday, May 17, 2013

Feature and Follow - Summer Reading Favorite

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One summer my friends and I read The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy from start to finish. That was fun, not only to read the books (which are great) but to do them as a kind of summer-long book club.

Another summer I tried to read all of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. I didn't get them all done before summer ended (I read the Hound of the Baskervilles and The Sign of the Four after school started in September) and I couldn't get my friends to sign on, so it missed that element too.

Most summers I just read whatever I can get my hands on!

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Throwback Thursday - Barbara Tuchman



I have always been a history buff. When I was 7 or 8 I was reading biographies of George Washington and Ben Franklin and histories of the American Civil War and the War for Independence (juvenile versions, of course!).

I got all my books from the library and almost from the start I would notice the massive tomes written by Barbara Tuchman on a shelf for "big people".

The first Tuchman I read was The Guns of August. Up to that time I had read books about World War I but they had always focused on the military campaigns. Tuchman's work had a completely different point of view. It was reading that book that made me think in an entirely different way about history. You might say my study of history matured with that experience.

Since then I've read several other Tuchman books - The First Salute, A Distant Mirror, and The Proud Tower. All excellent reads, though they are thick and meaty.

What book have you written which caused your thought process to mature?

Monday, May 13, 2013

Runes Release Trailer



This is a book trailer event!

What reviewers are saying:

HOLY RUNES!I really enjoyed this story especially Torin *swoon*. Ednah did a wonderful job on Runes! It is a must read for fans of YA books!...Breanna
 
Wow! I’ve got to start by saying that it takes something original and excellent to surprise me, and this book did just that! I found myself about 75% of the way through the book with my mouth hanging open... Carrie Williams (Goodreads)

Oh HOLY COW! This book was a mind blowing surprise! I loved the way it turned out and I am literally going crazy over the ending. I was not expecting it to turn out the way it did....Maida
 
Runes is available!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Synopsis:
Seventeen-year-old Raine Cooper has enough on her plate dealing with her father’s disappearance, her mother’s erratic behavior and the possibility of her boyfriend relocating. The last thing she needs is Torin St. James—a mysterious new neighbor with a wicked smile and uncanny way of reading her.
Raine is drawn to Torin’s dark sexiness against her better judgment, until he saves her life with weird marks and she realizes he is different. But by healing her, Torin changes something inside Raine. Now she can’t stop thinking about him. Half the time, she’s not sure whether to fall into his arms or run.
Scared, she sets out to find out what Torin is. But the closer she gets to the truth the more she uncovers something sinister about Torin. What Torin is goes back to an ancient mythology and Raine is somehow part of it. Not only are she and her friends in danger, she must choose a side, but the wrong choice will cost Raine her life.
 
About Ednah Walters:
EDNAH WALTERS grew up reading Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys and dreaming of one day writing her own stories. She is a stay-at-home mother of five humans and two American short-hair cats (one of which has ADHD) and a husband. When she is not writing, she’s at the gym doing Zumba or doing things with her family, reading, traveling or online chatting with fans.
Ednah is the author of The Guardian Legacy series, a YA fantasy series about children of the fallen angels, who fight demons and protect mankind. AWAKENED, the prequel was released by Pill Hill Press in September 2010 with rave reviews. BETRAYED, book one in the series was released by her new publisher Spencer Hill Press in June 2012 and HUNTED, the third installment, will be released April 2013. She’s working on the next book in the series, FORGOTTEN.
Ednah also writes New Adult paranormal romance. RUNES is the first book in her new series. She is presently working on book 2, IMMORTALS.
Under the pseudonym E. B. Walters, Ednah writes contemporary romance. SLOW BURN, the first contemporary romance with suspense, was released in April 2011. It is the first book in the Fitzgerald family series. Since then she has published four more books in this series. She's presently working on book six. You can visit her online at www.ednahwalters.com or www.ebwalters.com.
Contact Ednah:
Website:  http://www.ednahwalters.com/index.html
Goodreads:  http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4188120.Ednah_Walters
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/EdnahWalters
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/ednahwalters
 

 

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Courage


There are all kinds of courage. The kind that soldiers use to move toward battle, the kind firefighters use to go into a burning building. I saw a different kind this morning, from 12-year-old girls.

It was on a soccer field. Two teams from the same club, whose girls went to the same school, were playing well - the score was tied and time was running out. One team had a play on goal but as the goalie grabbed the ball one player did not get up from the ground.

She knew right away she had seriously hurt her leg. She was crying from the pain but otherwise calm and attentive to the caregivers - coach, orthopedist, and parents - who quickly rushed to her side. Both teams offered her encouragement and offered silent prayers as she was taken off to the hospital.

That was one kind of courage, the courage to face a serious personal injury.

But then there was yet one more kind of courage on that field that day. A third team made up of girls from the same school and the same club and a fourth team who had travelled a ways to get there had been witnesses to the entire sequence - the good play by both teams in the second half, the injury, and all the medical attention.

These two teams now took the field. And they showed the courage to play the game as it was meant to be played. They played with skill, they played with heart, they played hard but they played cleanly. They had the courage to come out and play the game as the girl who had been injured had played - well and fairly, and they had fun on the field.

To all four teams I tip my virtual hat. A lot of people around the world could take a lesson from these twelve-year-old girls.

Friday, May 10, 2013

Feature and Follow - Favorite Fictional Mom

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This is a tough one for me - most of my favorite books featuring youthful protagonists have missing mothers - To Kill a Mockingbird, Treasure Island, Oliver Twist, for example.

Mrs. Weasley is a good choice as she has many of the classical good features of a mother - caring, interested, multi-faceted. However, I didn't read all the books - just saw the movies.

A "left-field" choice is Mrs. Quimby from the popular Ramona series by Bevely Cleary.

Looking forward to reading your choices and your comments on mine!

Friday, May 3, 2013

Feature and Follow - Sneak Peak at What I'm Reading

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I am currently reading Lyn Hamilton's archaeological mystery The African Quest. It is a quirky mix of what archaeological tourism used to be before all the turmoil in Tunisia, Libya and other nations, a modern story and the ancient backstory that sets it up. So far (about halfway through) it is both well crafted and well-paced.

One scene in the book that worked well was when the protagonist, Lara McClintock, was following a suspected thief through the markets of Tunis. One could feel the jostling of the crowd and the myriad smells good and bad assaulting one's nose.

A scene that did not work, for me, was the meet-up scene at the hotel on arrival in Tunis. The descriptions were not nearly as crisp and vivid as the market scene and the dialog a bit tired.

The above notwithstanding, I would recommend this for mystery buffs, especially if you like your mysteries with a little bit of historical spice and exotic locations.

Any other mysteries with a twist you'd recommend?