Tui T. Sutherland, Rosetta, Philae, and a Comet

Friday night I took my kids to see one of their favorite authors Tui T. Sutherland at the Mission Viejo Civic Center. She writes the extremely popular Wings of Fire Dragon series. She also shares the pen name of Erin Hunter with a few other female writers on the Seekers and Warriors series. 

This was a real treat for the kids. Me too, as I’ve read some of the Warrior series as the kids downloaded the books on my Samsung Galaxy tablet. They bought some of the Wings of Fire books, stood in line for an hour, got to meet the author, and she signed their books. 

I got something out of the event too. Tui Sutherland knows how to handle an event such as this. I’ve been to other author events and often they make the mistake of rambling on and on, especially during the Q & A. But Ms. Sutherland kept the evening moving at a brisk pace while giving a power packed lecture and then answering questions. 

But Wait, That’s Not All: In 2009, Tui appeared as a contestant on Jeapordy! becoming a two-day champion and winning a grand total of $46,200. 

You can check out Tui Sutherland’s Website and blog HERE 

Did You Know: After a ten-year journey, Rosetta and Philae had finally reached their destination, Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. Scientists will now attempt to land the probe Philae directly onto the comet. How cool is that! 

Artist's rendition of Philae Landing

Fun Facts: Comets are believed to form in the Kuiper Belt (beyond the planet Neptune) and the Oort Cloud (beyond the Kuiper Belt). There may be are hundreds of thousands of icy bodies larger than 100 km (62 miles) and an estimated trillion or more comets within the Kuiper Belt. The Oort Cloud may contain more than a trillion icy bodies. 

Take a couple minutes to watch this YouTube clip about this amazing feat!

 

IWSG, NaNo, and Other Fun Stuff

IWSG: It’s the first Wednesday of the month and time for IWSG. You can also follow threads throughout the month on Facebook at this link: IWSG Critique Corner. 

Steve’s Science and Other Fun Stuff: This Thursday I’m posting over at the Blogging A to Z Challenge. I do this every first and third Thursday of the month. I post on the latest and greatest realms of science and such. These posts are timely, informative, and downright interesting. 

This month is no exception. Just click on Einstein’s image at the top left of my sidebar this Thursday. While we’re at it, there is someone posting every day at Blogging A to Z Challenge covering all kinds of relevant topics regarding a wide range of topics. You’ll be glad you did! 

Finally: I performed my civic duty on Tuesday and voted. Sure, my puny little vote may not change the world. But it's still important people take their future and the future of their posterity seriously.

2014 Foodie Blog Tour and Bloghop, Fuzzy Navel, and Other Fun Stuff

2014 Foodie Blog Tour and Bloghop: Sponsored by H. R. Sinclair to celebrate the release of her new cook book 365 Nights. The objective of this BlogHop? Post about food: 

--a fond food memory 

--a disaster in the kitchen 

--your favorite recipe 

--pictures of food 

--anything food related 

These days wifey and I are juicing a lot. We have a jack LaLane juicer and throw whatever fresh organic produce we have in it. Mainly veggies. I’ve found adding Granny Smith apples, limes, and ginger root takes the edge of purely vegetable drink. We’re feeling better, losing those pounds that sneak up on us, and are replacing meals with processed food with fresh produce. 

To download 365 Nights: CLICK HERE 

What I’m Reading: My first J.A. Konrath book. As many of you know, Konrath has sold over a million ebooks by self publishing, although I believe he has since had a publisher for a recent release. 

A particular series about the character Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels, a Chicago detective, is named after mixed drinks. I found Fuzzy Navel as a free promotion and downloaded it. About a third the way into it I can see why Konrath has sold so many downloads. Review upcoming. 

BTW, a Fuzzy Navel is equal amounts of peach schnapps and orange juice. No Jack Daniels, though. Add vodka, and you have yourself a Hairy Navel. Me, I’ll just stick to the wine when writing. You can check out words of writing, publishing, and selling ebooks wisdom from Konrath HERE. 

IWSG: This Wednesday is IWSG. With NaNo kicking into high gear, this is a great venue for participants of the event to chime in their thoughts. 

Steve’s Science And Other Fun Stuff: And be sure to stop by the Blogging A to Z Challenge website the first and third Wednesday of each month where I post something in the latest and greatest realms of science and such. These posts are timely, informative, and downright interesting. This month is no exception. Just click on Einstein’s image at the top left of my sidebar this Thursday. 

Recap: Are you doing NaNo this year? Read any of J. A. Konrath’s books or checked out his thoughts on publishing? Have any books you’re writing that you’ll wrap up by year’s end?

Weekend Follies aka WEP October Challenge

Happy Halloween everyone. Here is my post for the WEP October Challenge, sponsored by Denise Covey at Write ... Edit ... Publish. Okay, here we go. Enjoy! 

Carla and Darla, twin sisters and cheerleaders, dressed as cheerleaders, entered the night club already half drunk. The room vibrated and pulsed from the music the DJ channeled through the speakers. 

Carla scanned the room. “Look. Over there.” 

“Clever Halloween costumes,” Darla said facetiously, smacking her gum. "Why is everyone here dressed like zombies? Like, gross, you know? And like, totally unoriginal.” 

Carla tugged on her sister's arm. “Let’s go to the bar. As always, we’ll find more than enough men to buy us drinks.” 

Halfway to there, the music ceased. Everyone in the club looked at Carla and Darla. They growled and groaned as they left the dance floor and bar seats, circling the twins and closing in. 

“Argghh,” said one zombie. 

“Gghhrrgg,” gurgled another. 

“Ewwww,” Darla said, waving her hand in front of her face and scrunching nose. “They have brain breath.” 

“That’s because they really are zombies,” Carla cried out. “Let’s go.” 

Darla looked around. “We can’t we’re surrounded.” 

“What ... what do you want,” Carla said to the zombies through a face full of terrified tears.” 

“Brains,” the zombie crowd gurgled in unison, their eyes dangling out of their sockets and clawed and bloodied hands stretched out toward the twins. “We want to eat your brains.” 

Carla and Darla hugged each other and closed their eyes. 

“Brains. We want to eat your brains.” 

“Well, sis, I guess this is it," Carla said. "We’re leaving this world by being eaten by zombies.” 

Darla opened one eye and saw the zombie herd inches away. "I just wished they brushed their teeth first."

After a minute, Carla opened her eyes. She saw the zombies shuffle to the dance floor and their seats. The music pumped loud to Oingo Boingo's Dead Man's Party.

Carla placed her hands on her cheer leader skirt hips and shouted, “Hey. What’s going on? Why aren't you eating us? What's the matter? Aren't we good enough for you?” 

One zombie standing next to then leaned in and said in blood laden breath, “You’re cheerleaders. You don’t have any brains. Um .... can I buy you ladies a drink?” 

 Rim shot please! Now enjoy this classic Oingo Boingo song set to this  The Nightmare Before Christmas clip.  This is classic, folks. You'll want to take a few minutes to appreciate this.

Halloween Book Recommendations and November Celestial Calendar

Thanks for participating in the Survive and Thrive Blogfest. This was the second one we did, last year's being the Get Healthy Blogfest. 

There were so many topics covering a wide spectrum of physical and mental ailments. Sharing personal experiences, encouraging early detection, and teaching lifestyle changes will help make a major difference for the better in people's lives. We'll do this again next year and I hope to see you all sign up. I'm shooting for 100 participants in 2015. 

Halloween Reads: Looking for a quick Halloween read or two? Here are two I recommend: 

The Horror 

By Randy Shaffer 

Genre: Horror 

43 pages 

$0.99 

AMAZON LINK 

A classic short story that is far better than ninety percent of short stories I’ve recently read. This is a fun short story I recommend to anyone who doesn’t have time to read a full novel but needs a quick rush. I love the idea of a madman serial killer using a Halloween haunted house to do his dirty deeds. 

Charley scans the line of people waiting to go though the house of horrors, looking for the perfect victims. He finds the perfect unsuspecting couple, and once its their turn to enter, he locks the doors and begins his killing spree which also includes hired actors inside the house dressed as monsters and zombies. 

A bit campy, but I highly recommend The Horror. Enjoy! 

Ghost Camera 

By Darcy Coates 

Genre: Young Adult 

118 Pages 

$0.99 

AMAZON LINK 

Jenine finds an old Polaroid camera. But this is no ordinary camera. It’s a ghost camera that has the ability to capture ghosts on film. 

Problem is, every picture she takes opens a portal into the dimension ghosts live in, allowing them to see the user. Each successive shot opens more portals and soon the ghosts come looking for Jenine to kill her. 

At first, only a few ghastly ghouls are after Jenine. But as the story unfolds and she snaps more images, hordes of ghosts spill out into our world and are hunting her down. Jenine has to take drastic measures if she is to free herself from the curse of the camera. 

A well written, original, fun read for adults young and old. 

November Celestial Calendar: November 5 - 12 South and North Taurids Meteor Shower: Unfortunately a full moon will obscure all but the brightest meteors. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Taurus, but can appear anywhere in the sky. 

November 6 - 30  Leonids Meteor Shower: The Leonids is an average shower, producing an average of up to 15 meteors per hour at its peak. This shower is unique in that it has a cyclonic peak about every 33 years where hundreds of meteors per hour can be seen. That last of these occurred in 2001. The Leonids is produced by dust grains left behind by comet Tempel-Tuttle. The shower peaks on the night of the 17th and morning of the 18th. The waning crescent moon will not be much of a problem this year. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Leo, but can appear anywhere in the sky. 

Finally: If you haven’t seen out my post last week on Jessica Bell’s latest release White Lady, scroll down to the previous blog and check it out!

Survive and Thrive Blogfest and Jessica Bell's White Lady

Survive and Thrive Blogfest: Hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh, Michael Di Gesu , L. Diane Wolfe, and myself, this blogfest is meant to bring awareness of disease prevention and early detection regarding medical conditions that may be averted or treated if caught in the early stages. 

Our desire is to motivate people to go in for early screening, and if a condition is caught early and treated, then our world just became a little better place to live. The topics are wide open. You can post about a particular cause you support. Or you can share a personal or family experience that is near to your heart. What’s great about this Blogfest is you can inspire people to take care of themselves and their loved ones early enough to make a difference in their lives. 

My Cause is Colon Cancer: one of the most easily curable cancers. Early detection is the key. I’ve had pre-cancerous polyps removed because I went in for a routine colonoscopy. My job of 10 years was coming to a close and my insurance at the time covered it. Good thing I went in when I did. If I had waited a few years, then who knows how far it could have progressed. So I encourage everyone to talk to their doctor if they have not had a colonoscopy. Sure, it’s not going to be on anyone’s Bucket List. But it just might reveal something that if caught early can be easily treated. 

GUESS THE TRUE STATEMENT & WIN JESSICA BELL’S THRILLER, WHITE LADY! (Statement #86)  To celebrate the release of Jessica Bell’s latest novel, WHITE LADY, she is giving away an e-copy (mobi, ePub, or PDF) to the first person to correctly guess the one true statement in the three statements below. To clarify, two statements are lies, and one is true: 

The genre of the novel Jessica Bell is currently writing is ... 

a. Speculative Fiction 
b. Romance 
c. Horror 

What do you think? Which one is true? 

Write your guess in the comments, along with your email address. Comments will close in 48 hours. If no-one guesses correctly within in 48 hours, comments will stay open until someone does. 

Want more chances to win? You have until October 31 to visit all the blogs where Jessica will share a different set of true and false statements on each one. Remember, each blog is open to comments for 48 hours only from the time of posting. 

If you win, you will be notified by email with instructions on how to download the book. 

Click HERE to see the list of blogs. 

ABOUT THE BOOK: *This novel contains coarse language, violence, and sexual themes. Sonia yearns for sharp objects and blood. But now that she’s rehabilitating herself as a “normal” mother and mathematics teacher, it’s time to stop dreaming about slicing people’s throats. 

While being the wife of Melbourne’s leading drug lord and simultaneously dating his best mate is not ideal, she’s determined to make it work. 

It does work. Until Mia, her lover’s daughter, starts exchanging saliva with her son, Mick. They plan to commit a crime behind Sonia’s back. It isn’t long before she finds out and gets involved to protect them. 

But is protecting the kids really Sonia’s motive? 

Click HERE to view the book trailer. 
Click HERE for purchase links. 

Jessica Bell, a thirty-something Australian-native contemporary fiction author, poet and singer/songwriter/guitarist, is the Publishing Editor of Vines Leaves Literary Journal and the director of the Homeric Writers Retreat & Workshop on the Greek island of Ithaca. She makes a living as a writer/editor for English Language Teaching Publishers worldwide, such as Pearson Education, HarperCollins, MacMillan Education, Education First and Cengage Learning. Connect with Jessica online: Website | Retreat and Workshop | Blog | Vine Leaves Literary Workshop | Facebook | Twitter

Mars and Comets and the Weekend Follies

Hi all, Just a few items of note as I work feverishly on my latest book, Murcat Manor, as it’s currently in the editing stage. 

Comet’s Close Encounter With Mars: A comet will give Mars a close shave on Sunday, Oct. 19, and NASA isn't taking any chances. 

Comet C/2013 A1, or 'Siding Spring,' is expected to come within 87,000 miles of the red planet. To keep debris from the comet's long trail from hitting the three NASA spacecraft now in orbit around Mars, the space agency has adjusted their positions so that they'll be on the planet's far side when the comet approaches. 

The Sliding Spring flyby will also give NASA its first-ever close-up look at a comet from the Oort Cloud, a spherical "cloud" of icy objects in the solar system's outer reaches. The space agency hopes that by studying the comet's trajectory, scientists will gain a better understanding of comets that whiz close to Earth. Huffington Post Reference 

The Survive and Thrive Bloghop: This event is Monday October 20th, and is meant to bring awareness of disease prevention and early detection regarding medical conditions that may be averted or treated if caught in the early stages. 

Our desire is to motivate people to go in for early screening, and if a condition is caught early and treated, then our world just became a little better place to live. 

The topics are wide open. You can post about a particular cause you support. Or you can share a personal or family experience that is near to your heart. You can still sign up at the Linky List below. 

Weekend Follies: Speaking of Mars and Comet’s, here’s a little Intergalactic Humor for your weekend. And don’t forget to sign up for the Survive and Thrive Blogfest below!