New Release Sample: VIRTUALLY LONDON

 

Then I knew. I understood. Fragments of those sad, confusing days bobbed up to the surface of my memories.

"There was that weird storm. Mrs. Miller... She didn't die of a heart attack, did she?" I whispered.

Angela gripped my hand tighter and shook her head.

Six years ago, there were strange buzzing sensations in the ground for a day or two. Other people didn't seem to notice the electrical tingles in the soil, but Granddad let me curl up on the couch with him, where we both kept our feet off the ground. That day, Bethany and I were at soccer practice with Miss Lanie. Mrs. Miller had left the diner on an errand before lunch and didn't come back. A freak storm had struck, sending people diving for cover, driving rain horizontally. When it cleared up, she was found collapsed in an alley between two stores on the Mall, drenched, cold and dead.

Part of me wanted to yank my hand free of Angela's and run away. If I tried, she probably wouldn't hold onto me, keep me there. Not with her hand, anyway.

"Where are the dreams coming from? There's someone--no, something trying to come up, come out, break through a wall." I shook my head and pressed my free hand against my forehead. "I remember hearing things. You and Miss Lanie and Granddad talking. Mrs. Miller stopped something." For a second, it was like I couldn’t catch my breath. “Something that tried to happen before.”

"Yes, our enemy tries periodically to shatter the barriers we hold up to protect the world. Stephanie was part of that defense. Neighborlee has many guardians, each of us picking up clues, warning signs, in different ways.”

"So my dreams really do mean something?"

"How I wish they didn’t. But be encouraged. Every time the enemy tries to break through, we grow stronger and we learn better how to fight it. Someday, we will defeat it once and for all."

Are You Coming to the Party on Sunday? It'll be fuuuuuunnnnnn!!!!!

  

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Ye Olde Dragon Fiction Fan Group

New Release Sample: VIRTUALLY LONDON

 

"Guardians," Angela murmured. Her little superior smile edged toward a smirk when I flinched at her word, coming so soon on the heels of my thoughts.

Yeah, I could definitely believe Angela read minds.

"Bethany, would you and Doni go upstairs and get one of my moonlight journals from the chest in my bedroom?" Angela reached inside the neck of her dress and drew out a thin silver chain with a long, crystalline skeleton key hanging from it, and handed chain and key to Bethany.

As the two of them held hands and hurried out of the room, heading for the stairs, Angela's smile faded entirely.

"It's real, isn't it?" I whispered. "The things in my dreams." I swallowed hard. "And you don't want Doni to hear what you're going to tell me about fighting it."

"Right, and yet not entirely." Angela took hold of my hand. "My dear Athena... How I wish you weren't so perceptive, that you hadn't inherited your grandfather's gifts and the responsibilities that come with them. And yet I know, from long years of experience, we are born to duties and burdens. We destroy our souls if we refuse them." She took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, all the while gazing into my eyes. "First, I sent them away because there are things I don't want Bethany to hear. I made a promise to her mother to protect her from the very things you must face because you are Ford Longfellow’s granddaughter. Until Doni starts dreaming too … why worry her?”

"Why don't you want Bethany to know?"

"Her bloodline has done enough already for Neighborlee. Her mother was another foundling, just like your grandfather, like Lanie Zephyr and her friends."

"Her mom?" I shivered, the cold coming from deep inside, as I remembered when Bethany's mother died. We were only nine. Sometimes being young helped to make the heavy sadness fade, but other times it just made the impact worse, and last longer.

It's a BOOK LAUNCH PARTY!

 

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Off the Bookshelf: THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR, by R.A. Dick

 

This is in a series called Vintage Movie Classics: Novels that Inspired Great Films.

If you've never seen the old movie with Rex Harrison and Gene Tierney ... *sigh* One of my favorites. I need to get myself a DVD copy, because I'm sure the videotape I have it on is probably old and brittle.

Love story. A bittersweet romance. Of course, a lot more bittersweet for the sweethearts in the movie version, because he sacrifices  ... well, I'm not going to spoil it for you if you haven't seen the movie yet. But why HAVEN'T you? It's utterly lovely. (And like with Galactica 1980, as far as I'm concerned, the silly TV series never happened ...)

Basic premise: A put-upon young widow finally stands up for herself, escapes the domineering in-laws, and goes to live in a cottage by the sea. The ghost of the sea captain who built the cottage haunts it, because he has unfinished business. They strike a bargain, to allow her to live there in peace and over the years they become good friends. Well, there's a lot more to it than that, but you NEED to read the book.

The differences? Well, in the movie Lucy Muir only has a daughter -- in the book, a snotty prig of a son and a free spirit daughter. The cad who breaks her heart isn't another writer, the real estate agent doesn't try to romance her, and her selfish twit of a sister-in-law keeps coming back and trying to run her life. 

And then there's the triumph of being a successful writer -- and nobody knows it! She keeps her identity as the author of "Blood and Swash" secret, and the book just keeps selling.

Take my word for it, you want to read the book AND watch the movie. The differences between the two don't ruin either one. *sigh*

New Release Sample: VIRTUALLY LONDON

 

Honestly, I wanted to talk to Gram and Granddad about my dreams before anyone else. They would listen and understand. They weren't the kind of grownups who listened to psychology books that contradicted what their children knew was going on. I planned on going to them that night, probably after dinner, when all our day's craziness had calmed down.

Going to Angela, however... That might be a better first step.

So we went right after school, Doni and Bethany and me.

Doni slipped her little hand into mine as we sat around the white wrought iron café table in the main room of Divine's. We sipped pineapple sherbet floats while I talked about my dreams. Angela didn't react. Her expression didn't change, except maybe that funny little smile, indicating she knew more than anyone else about what was going on... Well, it didn't quite fade, but it wasn't as strong as usual. She didn't ask me any questions, just focused her big blue eyes on me and listened until I ran out of words. Angela had a way of listening that made me think she heard more than anyone said. It would have been a relief not to say some of the things I had experienced in my nightmares, just picture them in my mind and have them go directly to hers.

I finished my story. We sat sipping in comfortable silence, for a few more minutes. I felt a lot better, like some pressure had been removed. Maybe it would be more accurate to say that having told Angela, I had fulfilled a responsibility I didn't know I had.

That made sense, I realized. Angela and Divine's Emporium were there in Neighborlee to protect it, or us, or maybe... Well, to be honest, sometimes I was sure there were things in our town that had to be contained in our town. So maybe Divine's protected the world from Neighborlee, instead of just the special people, the oddness, being hidden from the world? By telling Angela about my dream, I was helping her to guard us, or guard something else?

It's Time for OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD

 And to make it even more fun this year, to fill a shoebox of goodies for children overseas, I'm having a contest.

Copy me your electronic receipts from Samaritan's Purse when you pay for shipping for your box, or buy booklets to go in boxes, or sponsor other boxes, or buy from the Samaritan's Purse Gift Catalog. That will earn you "tickets" in the prize drawing.

Here's where you can go for more information:

New Release Sample: VIRTUALLY LONDON

 

Like I said, I had nightmares. Those really nebulous, misty, disjointed nightmares where I knew I was being chased. I had to keep moving, because if I slowed down or looked behind myself, whatever it was would catch me. Plus, the nightmares weren't letting me go. As soon as I fell asleep again, I was right back to the point in the dream where I had managed to yank myself awake.

"What's bothering you?" Bethany asked, one morning after some wake-me-up-six-times-during-the-night nightmares.

That was the great thing about having Bethany for my closest friend. We could tell when things were wrong with each other, or when one of us had an incredible secret. I lost count of the times, growing up, when one of us would be thinking about the other, wanting to talk, and the other one would call, or come by the house. Angela encouraged our friendship and said we were good for each other. As we got older, I grew more sure that she somehow helped our link or whatever-it-was grow stronger.

So when Bethany asked me, before I even finished sitting down next to her in homeroom, I tapped my ear, then my wristwatch, our signal for "tell you later--when the mundanes aren't listening."

We went outside at lunch and walked around the high school instead of sitting in our favorite spot under the trees next to the agriculture class's experimental garden plot. It was the only way we could guarantee someone wouldn't eavesdrop. When I finished describing the nightmares, the solid sense of threat but no other details, Bethany didn’t even pause before telling me what was only common sense.

"You need to talk to Angela. Have you told your folks?"

"I would have, but you know how crazy it is in the mornings at our house."

Bethany just rolled her eyes and grinned. She had slept over enough times to know that no matter what time of the year, whether it was the weekend or weekday, Longfellows couldn't seem to get our acts together in the morning. We were always rushing around and snatching up things, hurtling out the door and coming back a few times. Usually we raced out the door half-dressed, running late for work or shopping or appointments or school or wherever we had to be that morning.

Off the Bookshelf: GEEKERELLA, by Ashley Poston

 Audible

Audiobooks

Narrated by Eileen Stevens and Tristan Morris

What a BLAST. A tribute to fandom. A clever rewrite/modernization of Cinderella. Elle is our heroine, living with an awful stepmother who is punishing her for her father "thoughtlessly" dying in an accident and leaving them all to fend for themselves. Catherine, the stepmother, and the awful twin stepsisters, Chloe and Calliope, just don't get it -- being nasty to Elle will not make her want to be like them. That seems to be the justification for all the nasty things her stepmother does -- she thinks Elle, the ultimate geek girl, is strange, and she's only looking out for her by destroying everything about Elle that takes after her father.  Starting with fandom and Elle's love of the old TV show, Starfield.

Starfield is given a reboot with a major motion picture, and Elle is horrified when teen heartthrob Darien is cast as the hero. Her stepsisters are delighted, and start plotting how to meet Darien and punch their ticket to fame at the very convention that Elle's father created.  Starfield was the show they both loved, and winning the cosplay contest might just be Elle's chance to make connections and escape the evil steps once and for all -- even if too-pretty Darien is there.

There's a strong element of "You've Got Mail," when Darien and Elle meet by accident via text messages. They become friends, without her knowing its him, and him not knowing her alter-ego, the blogger who loathes the casting for the movie. Elle's faerie godmother is her green-haired fashion designer go-worker at a food truck appropriately named the Magic Pumpkin. All the ingredients and "oh no, how could you?" moments from Cinderella are faithfully revised for the modern age.

Great fun, well done!

The dragonkids LOVE audiobooks -- and love GEEKERELLA.

#dragonkids   #audiobooks   #Geekerella

New Release Sample: VIRTUALLY LONDON

 

"Lanie swears some of these kids don't want to attend their own graduation ceremony," Mr. Zephyr said with a chuckle.

"We're still trying to figure out how she and her friends threaded those tires on the flagpoles in front of the schools, the board of education office and the police department," Mr. Carr said. "No ladder in this town tall enough to get to the top of those flagpoles. I tend to think that friend of hers, the one with the gift for gizmos--" He looked around, stumped for a moment.

"Kurt Hanson," I supplied.

"That's right." He nodded. "I think he rigged some elaborate pulley system to lift those tires up and over. At least Lanie’s prank didn't get anyone hurt." He chuckled. "And they used ordinary, worn-out tires that could be cut off easily. As I recall, the year that idiot Grandstone and his friends tried to blow up Blackwater Pool, some other fool in their graduating class put steel-belted radials on the shorter flagpoles in front of the bank and the post office. Brand new ones. That's what got them caught, as I recall."

"How?" Doni sat up, eyes wide, her fourth cookie in her hand.

"They tracked the tires back to the store where they were stolen and the fools were caught on the security tape. Had to get a special saw to cut those tires off the flagpole." He nodded to Mr. Zephyr. "Nobody was hurt or upset, and didn't cost the town or the schools a penny to remove those tires, the year Lanie graduated."

"Yeah, Rainbow and I raised our kids right, I think," Mr. Zephyr said.

"I suppose Lanie is on patrol tonight," Gram said.

"You can bet on it."

New Release Sample: VIRTUALLY LONDON

 

"Charlotte, did you send Jinx to get Ford, tell him the news? Or would you like me to run up to the old fishing hole and get him?" Mr. Zephyr said, when they came down after the final trip, hauling the last set of bookshelves.

"Oh, you'd better believe it," Gram said. "That boy wasn't in so much a hurry to get out of town that he'd overlook something like that." She chuckled and gestured with her tray of lemonade and fresh sugar cookies, out onto the porch. We all settled down. Doni curled up next to Gram on the three-seater swing with one of her new books.

"Get out of town?"

"Senior Prank Night." I took my usual spot on the steps with my back against the big support pillar Uncle Jinx had carved to look like dragons had wrapped around it. The other pillar had unicorns chasing each other around and around up to the top.

"Oh, joy." He shared grins with Mr. Carr. “Forgot about that.”

"What's Senior Prank Night?" Doni asked, and sprayed a few crumbs from her mouthful of sugar cookie.

It was kind of nice to see she was a normal little kid in some aspects.

We explained about the long-standing tradition in Neighborlee for graduating seniors, on the first Wednesday of June, to play some extravagant prank. Sort of to leave their mark on the town before they headed off into adulthood. If they survived. Some members of the police and fire departments, and teachers spent Senior Prank Night on patrol. They tried to head off any pranks that got out of control, and prevent expensive or long-term damage to people, places, and things.

Off the Bookshelf: FISHERS OF MENACE, by Wendy Heuvel

 

#1 in the Faith and Foils cozy mystery series

I "met" Wendy during a book launch class we were both taking online, and won this book through her promotion on Goodreads. Glad I did. This is a fun series with just the right balance of humor and tension.

The small river town of Banford, in Canada, is gearing up for the yearly fishing tournament. Cassie Bridgestone, our heroine (and I hope the heroine for the whole series?) is a landlord and runs an antiques store she took over from her grandmother, who raised her.  She has some wounds from a near-miss at the altar, so that makes her leery of men who show interest. Which makes things uncomfortable for her when her new tenant isn't the old man she anticipated, but handsome and young and giving off signs that he's interested in her.

But while Daniel appears to be lying to her on a number of details, he isn't the main mystery and challenge for Cassie. Not yet anyway. The town curmudgeon is found dead, drowned in the river. The local part-time cop (who does come across as an arrogant jerk more than a few times) determines it's murder, and decides that the guy who found the dead man is the murderer. Cassie decides Officer The-case-is-solved-gimme-my-donut isn't interested in finding out the truth, so she sets out to do so. And trips over people. And gets people angry with her. And chooses the wrong guilty party several times. And gets frustrated with herself. 

And learns a few things about herself, about her relationship with God, and finds a little bit of healing from her past, along the way. Enjoyable adventure, and very believable worldbuilding. I WANT to visit the town of Banford again.

So ... more please!

Dragonkids approved!

#dragonkids

#cozymysteryseries

#faithandfoilscozymysteryseries

New Release Sample: VIRTUALLY LONDON

 

"So they took care of you until your relatives showed up?" Mr. Zephyr said. His voice was so gentle, it made me want to cry. Doni nodded. She sniffled a little when I reached up to her in the front passenger seat and took hold of her hand. "How long was that?"

"About..." She frowned for a few seconds and the fingers on the hand I was holding twitched a little, so I guessed she was counting. "About seven weeks."

Mr. Zephyr growled something that sounded Chinese. It was a good guess he was cussing, like Granddad did sometimes. Doni's eyes got big. Then she giggled.

"Sorry about that." He shook his head and gave us both a crooked grin. Then he pulled into the driveway of our house, right behind the glossy black Lincoln that belonged to Mr. Carr.

The nice thing about Mr. Carr was that he wasn't afraid to do manual labor or get his hands or even his clothes dirty. Of course, there wasn't any dust on the furniture or books we hauled home from Divine's, but the possibility of it counted. Mr. Carr came outside in his light gray, three-piece summertime lawyer suit, and helped haul that furniture upstairs to Doni's room.

Before that, he bowed to Doni and shook her hand and said he was very pleased to meet her. Gram had told him the whole story already, so he didn't ask any questions. Instead, he talked about Mr. Zephyr's upcoming research trip, and offered to help find someone to rent the big old Zephyr farmhouse while they were away.

New Release Sample: VIRTUALLY LONDON

 

"Hey, Doni, how long after Aunt Lenore and Uncle Thad...well, after they had their accident--"

"There were a lot of government people and protective services people and lawyers." Her eyes got bigger and full of shadows, but there was no feeling in her voice. That was kind of scary.

Mr. Zephyr gave her that look I had seen him and Police Chief Tanner use when someone tried to snatch a little girl from the playground at the middle school back in March. The middle school was next to the high school, and I was trying out for the track team with Miss Lanie when it happened. Someone screamed. Miss Lanie vanished, like she flew from the running track to the playground. Then she was back, holding that little girl, who was so scared she didn't start crying until Miss Lanie told us what happened and sent someone to call school security. The kidnapper got away, though.

Suddenly there were people coming from every side of town. Police and teachers and Mr. Zephyr and Pastor Rocky. They got those sad, determined looks on their faces, just like he had now. Nobody ever said what happened, but there was a big time gap between when they caught up with the kidnapper on the edge of the Metroparks, and when he showed up at the police station.

That kind of look can be scary, but make you feel really safe, all at the same time.

Off the Bookshelf: THE ANSWER IS ... by Alex Trebek

 

Have you been watching Jeopardy! long enough that you feel like Alex Trebek is kind of a family friend?

So reading this book of reminiscences and thoughts and reflections is kind of like having a chat late in the evening, when everyone is a little tired and the conversation gets deep and personal, and it's safe to share because you trust the people around you to understand.

I liked the short chapters and lots of photos and fun or touching glimpses into his background. Here's a man who's secure enough, and honest enough, to admit gaffs and flaws and embarrassing moments. And share the things that mean the most to him.

Thanks! Here's to many more seasons of Jeopardy! and more answers and questions to amaze and amuse and stump us all. Pray for strength and comfort in the times of pain, and a miracle of healing and grace for our long-time friend.

The Dragonkids loved reading the book too!

#dragonkids

#readbooks

New Release Sample: VIRTUALLY LONDON

 

A funny little hitch socked me in the chest, when I looked at Doni and realized something. Aunt Lenore was dead, but in all the fuss of Doni showing up and getting her settled and being so furious on her behalf, that little fact had slipped right past us. Who was going to tell my mother that her sister was dead? Had anybody thought of that yet?

I felt about twenty years older all of a sudden, and tired. Tragedy sure created a lot of work and a lot of things to think about. Even if--maybe especially if?--that tragedy was four months old.

What was wrong with those Hallidays, that they couldn't be bothered to call and say, "Oh, by the way, your daughter is dead. We don't want her daughter. She's on her way"?

Doni turned and looked at me with those big, sad eyes, and I shuddered at a new thought: Maybe it wasn't that they didn't care about her. Maybe they hoped something nasty would happen to her. Then there would no one to claim whatever inheritance she had coming to her, so they could take it over.

Of course, that begged the question of just what these people had done to Doni in the four months since her parents died. Why had they held onto her all that time, and only now cut her loose?