Kevin J. Howard Takes Readers to Yellowstone Park During Forest Fire... Watch The Shadows...

Kelly opened the door to their cabin and stood for a moment, closing her eyes as she took her first deep breath of fresh air. It’s her ritual, something she does to usher in a good day. With a final look back at her roommate, Kelly shut the door and began her walk; a brisk walk from her cabin, past the inn, and through the parking lot. Once she reached the tourist cabins across the street where the trail started, she’d break out into a light jog. There was no traffic this early in the morning, nothing to break her stride as she hurried through the nearly empty parking lot. Not too many tourists staying at the inn, given the state of things. Kelly looked up at the unnatural redness of the morning sun shining through the black smoke of the fire. She shook her head, angry that such a tragedy should befall the park the one year she’d decided to work there. It was a family tradition for the Foster clan. Her mother and father had first met working there. Her brother Phil had even worked there, but he had entirely different reasons for making the trip. He once told her it was the best place to sell pot since the market was virtually wide open. Kelly had come for the beauty of nature, the peace, and experience. It would be so sad if her time here were cut short by the fire and horrible if the uncontrolled burn made it to the inn. 
~~~

Faithful Shadow

By Kevin J. Howard

We've all seen at least one "camp" movie where teenagers head for a place to spend their summer, perhaps having their own fun or, more likely, being camp counselors...And then the slashing starts...

So when I started reading about young people starting a fire to cook food, with phrases like, "keep your panties on..." that was exactly what I was expecting. Oh yes, there are young people working at, in this case, Yellow Stone Park, but the story line is much more sophisticated and main characters are really the Head Ranger and lead fire fighter...

Perhaps a horror story for adults? LOL No matter what, this novel has the narrative and backup story to keep readers interested... Unfortunately, with fighting a forest fire! It was out of control, and still far away but spreading and moving forward...

Janice nodded, feeling much better. She looked at the beautiful trees and smelled the dampness in the air. The forest sounds were quite beautiful, wind rustling through the leaves and the fresh smell of wildflowers and tree bark. Then came the strong smell of burning wood. The fire was growing closer and it was now dominating her sense of smell. She couldn’t see the flames and didn’t think they were all that close, probably more than twenty miles away actually, but it smelled as if it were bearing down on them. The black clouds above had thickened, darkening the sky till two o’clock resembled nine. “What’s that smell?” Marco stopped to sniff the air, sticking his nose into the sky like a dog. “Do you smell that?”

 “It’s just the fire.” 

“No… not that.” Marco grimaced, shaking the odor from his head. “Never mind. We’re almost there.”

~~~

The scariest part of the book is that from the very beginning, the "victims" just disappear...

It started with couples who had gone out into the woods to have a picnic...and enjoy their time before starting to work...

First one couple...

Then another...

Stew was the leader of the remaining group who had first gone to report their missing friends. But they were sadly disappointed when they talked to the head ranger...

It was very clear, and Stew even said it to his face, that he was drunk! He had said they'd have to wait, just like the police would normally say, but, hey, this was out in the woods and there was a forest fire raging. Quite a different scenario! 

The ranger still told them to go away...

But then, one of the firemen on site also disappeared!

"Dale felt like an idiot, as if he were suffering from Alzheimer’s and likely losing his mind at the age of forty-eight. Had he told Paul to okay the orders and he ran off as he watched the drop? Not likely. Especially when he saw Arnold Gaines with the radio and Paul was nowhere to be seen.
 “Hey Arnold,” Dale yelled, but Arnold didn’t turn. Dale ran the distance and tapped him on the shoulder.
 “Hey, are we heading out?” Arnold’s voice muffled through the mask. 
“Did Paul come over here?” “Yeah, that’s when I told him to give you the orders from HQ.” 
“But he hasn’t been back since?” 
“No.” Arnold cocked his head to the side, trying to understand what Dale was getting at. “What the hell is going on?” Dale pulled off his mask and rubbed his eyes, the smoke instantly causing irritation. “Paul!” he yelled. “Paul!”
!!!

Head Ranger Joe had felt he had a right to be drinking...to help him get past his own tragedy, but now he knew that Yellowstone was in Danger! Although he kept his booze with him in his hip pocket, and would routinely check to make sure it was there, he had to look at himself and realize he had the responsibility for what was happening here and he also realized that he was thinking better since he'd laid off the drinking... Joe needed to act--he loved this place! But people were disappearing left and right and when a second fireman tripped, fell and then was brought to the room reserved for resting firemen and was soon found dead... 

Actually, it was much worse than just dying... The body was so dried up that it was falling apart! 

"There must have been something all over him, some kind of ash off of some tree. But Natasha knew better. The state of the fireman’s face was enough to get her moving. His nose had crumbled and fallen into a fine pile of ash at the base of the pillow, his eye sockets bare and black. The color of his flesh had gone from normal olive brown to a light gray. Natasha stepped away from what was left of his face, bumping into his foot. The contact made his right foot crumble to the floor before her very eyes, leaving nothing but his skeletal foot up to the ankle. 

"Something was watching her, grinning even. She could feel it. Every fiber of her being told her not to look, to run and hide, but she couldn’t help it. Her actions were now under the control of numb panic, not rational thinking. Natasha turned her head slowly and looked into the closet. Two green eyes were staring at her from the top corner, peeking out through the small opening. They were fastened on her, pinning her to the wall with malice. Natasha felt her sanity slipping, pulled from her into those eyes. It let out a deep snarl, resonating from the darkness of the closet. Natasha had seen enough. She slid along the wall to the door, screaming at the top of her lungs, producing a shrill sound she herself didn’t know she was capable of..."                             

~~~

Old Faithful Inn

“He just looked sick, is all. Not what I really expected to see after a long fall. No injuries, just sick. Like his skin had gone this pale gray.” Dale thought for a moment, remembering something that had bothered him at the time but he’d forgotten, put away among the numerous other oddities over past few days. “His uniform looked swollen, like someone had filled it with air. I remember now, because Bob commented on how his coat kept shifting. That and the smell.” 

"A light bulb went on over Joe’s head. A sudden epiphany struck him, ripping through him as if he’d been hit with a bolt of lightning. That smell, always that damn putrid smell, had followed him everywhere he’d gone in the past few days, hanging about as if it were his body emitting it. “The creature’s hiding in the Inn.” Joe spoke quickly, hopping to his feet and heading back down the trail without bothering to wait for Dale and Andy. “The damn thing is hiding in the Inn,” he yelled back over his shoulder. 

“How can you be so sure?” Dale broke out in a speed walk to catch up. “It all makes perfect sense now. The missing kids in the woods; the fireman; then that giant leech was carried into the Inn while hiding in Cameron’s suit. It drank out all his fluids and then hid in the closet. That’s what that poor girl saw.”

~~~

And when one of the employees thought to check on him, she found him...

Then she turned and saw what had probably killed him...  Something was there in the Old Faithful Inn... She was the first person who had seen it!

http://authorkevinjhoward.com/journey-through-the-book_269.html

The final battle center began here...when the lights went out, only the fireplace

provided light...then the first body fell...

~~~

Joe and Dale, through their investigation,  had found where it had come from, but as they had put things together, they knew it was now in the Inn. They planned an evacuation, claiming it was due to the forest fire. Then they locked themselves into the Inn, sealing all the exits. Joe and Dale plus a few firemen--they didn't know about the friends of the young couples who had disappeared, who had gone up into the rafters.

They didn't know until the screams started...

Whew! This writer certainly knows how to build the suspense, keep readers on the edge! Not wanting to see who it is, and then later "what" it is...but still needing to know! I have to say that I put my inside cats out while I was reading this one! There was no way I wanted something to jump on me as I was reading! 

This is a great horror book in my opinion... It's great because readers aren't seeing anything that happens while it happens--it's all in our imagination. Well, yeah, we see the "results" but those bodies just makes it scarier because we still don't know what or how it is killing...

Or worse, whether IT could be killed...Guns certainly weren't going to help...

If you're a horror fan, know that this book was voted the "scariest" and "readers favorite" for 2012 from the publisher...It deserved it, in my opinion... If you decide to read it, do so with precautions... But I still loved it!

GABixlerReviews

Kevin J. Howard was born in Mission Viejo, California, moved to Seattle at the age of twenty-one, and now lives in Puyallup. He hand wrote his first novel in the fifth grade and has been writing ever since. His first published novel, Faithful Shadow, is a return to the classic horror novel. Since writing Faithful Shadow he has completed four additional horror novels that will soon be published. In 2012, he won an award in the Las Vegas International Film Festival for his screenplay, Identical Opposites. Kevin published, Precipice: The Beginning, in November of 2012.  Kevin's latest novel, Precipice: The Retrieval, was published in May 2013.

Kevin J. Howard is an author/screenwriter working hard to get new ideas out into the world.  To anyone that visits this website, please feel free to ask him anything you want.

From Kevin J. Howard...  

I believe in sharing knowledge when it comes to writing.  Please review my websites pages for information on coming events, novel outline formats, links to resources, writing tools and all sorts of useful info.  My latest novel, Faithful Shadow, is now available to the world.  I encourage everyone to secure your copy, read it and ask me anything you would like to know.  All of my novels are a work of fiction, but every author likes to slip a little truth into each chapter. 

Nocomus Columbus Spits Out New "Food Therapy" for Readers' Consumption!

"The beginning of the dream was a breathtaking image. Corey, able to walk, able to move with no limitations. Just himself, alone, in a room full of pizza boxes.   Such is ecstasy.            
"Corey places both hands on a pizza box located on top of a stack of other pizza boxes. He rubs his hands on the cardboard. Softly.   He draws the aroma into his nostrils. Savoring the smell, the spices. Pure bliss. Slowly, he lifts the lid of the pizza box. Nearly powerless, almost unwilling to contain his excitement.   Is this what God felt like when he created Adam?   Is this what Mary felt like when she looked into her son’s eyes for the first time?            
"The box is empty. How can it be? I can smell it. Tranquility abandoned. The ecstasy. The bliss. No more.   He works his way from box to box each box, each one like the next. Empty.            
"The smell of spice and cardboard persists. Panic. Only one box remains. There must be something in this box. There must. He closes his eyes. He opens the last box..."
~~~

Food Therapy

By Nocomus Columbus

Like Dale "The Whale" Biederbeck, a character in the famous Mr. Monk series, Corey is now condemned to spend his life in bed... His mother his only...supporter. They made due on the money that was provided by his father's company after he was killed on the job. My thought about him was that he was OCD--but you'll have to decide that for yourself. There's a couple of clues!

After his father was killed, it really didn't affect Corey that much since his father had never spent time with him, preferring to use his free time with his LEGGO collection and building models, which of course Corey was not allowed to touch...

Once the money was gone, his mother had to get a job to make more money than her teaching so she learned how to be a massage therapist. Corey's room was changed to one of the first floor since he had reached 800 pounds, so that he was able to set up a system for having pizza delivered. A young delivery girl, overweight, often delivered the pizza and was nice to say hello to him, but she never would come in... 

Corey's mother established her business on the second floor--perhaps doing a little more than advertised. My hint was her "brushing her teeth" after every client but you can decide because of course Corey didn't know... but he knew his mother had some weird customers!

One guy named Jim would stop and talk to him before or even after his appointments... Corey enjoyed spending time with this new friend...

"Jim came by the house once a week.   Corey always looked forward to his time with Jim.   Jim and Corey would talk for a while, and then Corey’s mom would come downstairs and get Jim. After they were finished doing whatever they did upstairs, Jim would come back down and visit with Corey some more.   If Corey’s mother didn’t have a client booked after Jim, he’d sit and talk with Corey even longer.   "Corey found out that Jim had a daughter. Becky was her name.   Jim hadn’t seen Becky in years.   He said he couldn’t. He said Becky’s mother wouldn’t let him see her.   He said Becky’s mother told Becky he was a bad man, and that he was dead, which Corey thought was horrible.   Corey hated Becky’s mother for doing this to Jim.                     Jim also told Corey that he used to be in the Army.   He didn’t talk about that much.   Jim said he was retired now, said he received disability from the military, although he wouldn’t say what the disability was.   He just said that war changes people, and not for the better. 
"Jim also said he wanted to get an RV, and travel to every state except Hawaii.  One afternoon during a visit, Jim asked Corey if he could date his mom.   This pleased Corey, not only because he liked Jim, but because he asked Corey for permission to date his mother.   He respects me.                                   ~~~

Napoli. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)"What do you mean Corey?"
"I mean, I took your advice. Now I have
2 friends...
"At that moment, Corey felt an
irrepressible hunger. He surveyed the
ash-filled room. The Pizza! He looked at
the slices of pizza sitting at room
temperature before him. He focused
on the largest piece. There were pieces
of Sam on it..."
~~~

But one day a preacher man came to meet with his mother, which changed everything. For one, the man carried something like a vase with him and would leave it in Corey's room. Corey was confused when the man told him that it was the remains of his son Sam...

Soon Sam and Corey were having conversations...



Corey is a social networker, having 352 friends until Sam suggested he put his real picture up on Phasebook...

Then Corey accidentally dropped Sam and he flew everywhere. He didn't like preacher man anyway...

Columbus' first novel, 3:53 a.m. was much more graphic and violent in content and language. This time, he presents a subtle, but definite horror fantasy that, once again, forces you to read each and every word to comprehend his story. Not a bad thing in my opinion. Because it forces you to remember his characters and how they were involved...Take the ending for instance...

All I've got to say is that he should have been faster in listening to Sam...

His overall writing style continues as his first novel, however. In many ways, it's merely a copy of the journal he might keep. If his mind wanders you get to start with:

Not long after creation. Not long in terms of the infinite. A single moment of frustration. Abandoning all his senses. HE shattered the first conception. Shattered it in style, of course. An explosion so bright even HE had to look away. Bursting into a billion tiny little particles. Atomic shrapnel. HE watched with a smirk as the particles joined with one another. Joined in a dance. Propelled together by a mutual attraction. Defiance. Later on He watched as THEY limped out of the ocean. Rebellion. Those unintended perversions. Those twisted images of himself. In time THEY became something else. God-like but not quite. These insignificant pieces lost in dissatisfaction. Micro-deities of imperfection. HE watches. Nothing more.

I'm enjoying reading this new writer who claims he's not an author...But I will tell you that his writing continues to improve and he has an excellent grasp of using street lit to share his thoughts with his readers. A little mystery, a little murder, a little spooky, a little humor, a little...sad...

Great combination for those who enjoy the extraordinary, the unusual, the...strange...once in a while, like I do!
Highly recommended!


GABixlerReviews

  

Ever Dreamed of Flying? How About on the Back of a Bird? Check Out Gigi Sedlmeyer's Second in Talon Series!

Oh, right.’ Turning back to Matica and seeing her stunned face after what he had said before, he said, ‘Talon’s so... well, massive now. I don’t know how to play with Talon anymore. It was so easy when he was small. I could teach him things then. But now?’ His tone became judgmental and negative. ‘Sometimes it seems to me as if he would love to teach me. Can you imagine that? A bird teaching me! Anyway,’ he grinned, ‘he’s getting ugly and like Dad said, his neck and head look half boiled now.’

‘Half boiled, hey?’ Emelio giggled into his hands, cheered up again.

‘Oh, come on. It’s bad enough when Dad says it.’ Matica extended her tongue and pulled a face. ‘Don’t say things like that in front of Emelio. It’s not nice.’

‘Okay,’ Aikon gave in then said to his friend, ‘Forget it, okay? I never said it.’

Emelio nodded. ‘I can do that. Yes, I will. It is not nice, as Matica said. I agree.’

~~~

‘Crayn interrupted her thinking with, ‘Why does he have to look half boiled? Ugly thing.’ He tapped his beak, but Talon hopped away so suddenly that Matica nearly fell off. Crayn put his hand into the pocket of his trousers, grinning.

Talon cocked his head and grinned back at him.

‘Dad,’ she answered quickly so as not to let the opportunity get away, ‘don’t look at his neck and head. Look at him as a bird that flies your daughter around.’ She stroked Talon’s neck. ‘Look at his character, at his heart, like God is looking at His people. God would never abandon an ugly-looking person, or even a murderer.’ www.ihana.com

~~~

Talon, On the Wing

By Gigi Sedlmayer 

I always enjoy when a writer works to grab the attention of readers immediately. Gigi Sedlmayer certainly accomplished that! Even though it was a dream. This series, which, in my opinion, would be great for children to adults is about a young girl, Matica, and her family, including her birds...  You don't know what I mean by her birds? Well, do a quick click back to read about the first novel in the series and then come back! I always recommend that you read from the first book in a series if possible, but at least my review will give you a start, because you don't want to miss this latest one! Matica is flying!

Well, yes, she is dreaming as the book opens, but that's only because she had already!

On the back of Talon, a Condor, and one of her birds...

I have dreamed of flying, have you? Here's what it is supposed to mean if you do!

What do dreams about flying mean?

"A lot depends on the nature of the dream and the relationship we have to flying," explains Sumber. Often times, though, flying represents a sense of freedom. Sumber explains that flying dreams serve as a sort of escape from the pressures of the real world (which is represented by the ground).

I don't mind admitting that I've enjoyed and remembered those dreams more than any others I have had. And the reason fits for me--as it did for Matica. She had never had many friends since they had moved to Peru, because she was different from the Indians and even her family...She had a growth problem and was much smaller than she should be!

It all started because of my growth problem. Was it good then? Yes, of course it was. Well, not then but definitely now. I was five years old and way, way, way too small for my age. Therefore the Indians rejected me from the time we arrived. Mum and Dad loved me, but it wasn’t really enough. Being lonely, I made friends with my condors, Tamo and Tima.

For the last five years I have lived with Mum and Dad here in the remote little village of Pucara in Peru. Aikon arrived over four years ago. More than eight months ago, Dad and I saved Tamo and Tima’s egg from poachers and I incubated it. At my tenth birthday, Talon hatched. Thank you, Lord. I raised him and he grew to be an impressive condor, even bigger and stronger than his father.

My life changed dramatically from that point on. And yesterday, even more.

I flew on Talon after a spark from the open fire-place had frightened him. Hence I found out that there is more to life...

                                                                    ~~~

Talon took off with Matica by accident...And once that had happened, both Matica and Talon realized that they loved to fly together and they wanted to continue!

Talon's parents were all for it! And they flew with them!

But Matica's mother was harder to convince, even though she would have loved to fly herself!

Finally, though, she agreed... In fact, the whole village was thrilled. They now knew that Matica was special and that the condors were really quite wonderful too! Soon, Matica was flying every day and then would tell everybody in the community--and even people from other places--about what she had seen. Of course, it was sometimes dangerous--for both Matica and Talon! Talon was still young and was still growing! And sometimes he over-estimated how long he could carry Matica! But neither of them were seriously hurt...

And what's great about it is that readers get to travel with them, reading along as they soar up into the sky, near dangerous mountains, and so much more! Why they even saw a lost city, a puma...and a Raven flew with them to watch! Matica felt that God had sent the raven to help whenever there was danger!

In the meantime, though only 10, Matica has fallen in love and her love is returned...

And she has new friends! She wonders if they love her only because of her birds...but she always decides that that doesn't really matter, does it?!

I personally enjoyed the little touches/references about God taking care of Matica - it certainly added to the book to have the young girl wrestling with feelings of despair when the Indians wouldn't accept her, as well as when she was truly in danger while flying. In addition to that, included was the story of a young boy named Alexander who had lost his brother, and now hated his parents who had caused his death. The story leads all of the Indians to understand that being different when born doesn't mean that these individuals won't have a happy life. Obviously, this important issue can be used to help teach children about those who, for whatever reason, are different from their own...

There is so much to learn from this book! And I haven't even told you about the giant spider or the armadillo!

If you read to your children, I think this would be a wonderful book to share as soon as they are old enough. Older children and adults will also find it a fun and entertaining story--wouldn't YOU love to fly?! Highly recommended!


GABixlerReviews

‘He folded his wings to go through the door. Remember? But he probably wasn’t thinking about it. Neither did I. But since I was lying on him, his wings went over me, covering me. Not completely, because he stopped doing it when he felt me under them, I guess. So, I was, for a short time, buried under his wings. It felt so, so... it felt so warm, so secure, so safe and protected. Just lovely. Yes, it really was.’ A bright grin parted her face when she looked at her father.

‘Oh yeah, I can imagine it. When he folds his wings...yes, he does that.’ Crayn suddenly doubled up in laughter. ‘I actually saw it, but didn’t think about that.’

~~~

Ok, it's an eagle not a condor...but...still holds true! Wide Wings will hold us all!

About the Author

Gisela (Gigi) Sedlmayer was born on 19 May 1944 in Potsdam, a suburb of Berlin in Germany.

Her family escaped to the West just before the infamous wall went up. They moved around in Germany until finally settling in Munich where Gigi studied architectural drafting and met Albert in 1965, marrying in December 1967. She worked as a civil draftsperson in various private consultancies in Munich.
Since her uncle was a writer, she tried to write short animal stories. She developed a love for the written word and started to consume books.
In May 1975, Gigi and her husband moved to New Zealand. Having language challenges, she started a handicraft business. Specialty, colourful parrots of which she sold thousands in a few years.

In 1988, they adopted and became adoptive parents of twin girls the year after. After living in New Zealand for eighteen years they moved to Australia in September 1992.

Two years later Gigi was diagnosed with cancer. After operations and radiation, she withdrew, thinking that she would be dead, like her friend who died of cancer, but her two little girls gave her the courage to keep going. After two years still among the living, her brain started to work again, so she thought, 'Get a grip on yourself and do something good with your life'.

She remembered the time writing stories and got inspired again, seeing her husband Albert writing the story of their adoption. Her English became increasingly better so she pressed on to develop her creative writing.

She entered them in competitions and often got very good reports back, which gave her confidence to go on writing. One day the idea for the TALON series came to her and she spent the next several years bringing the story and the characters to life. She pend most of her time at the computer, developing new story lines. She also loves travelling, 4x4 touring, swimming, gardening, handcrafting, reading, fossilizing and enjoys good adventure DVD's or going to the movies.

Related articles

• Blurb
• About Talon book series

Humorist Edmund Christopher McCombs Picks "Inappropriate Moments" for First Book!

Australia pinnacle (Photo credit: Kenny Teo (zoompict))
"XXX marked the spot. At the very bottom of
this now mangled cardboard box, lay a graphically encased video displaying two
contorted women. The women were obviously
good friends based on the way they were kissing and caressing each other's ample
breasts while in some sort of folded, double-
jointed position. The title of this cinematic
masterpiece was emblazoned across the top.
"Double Headed Dildos," I confusingly read
aloud to my wide-eyed audience. In that
moment, my cousins and I saw in awe at what
we had found but this was, by no means, our
first foray into the vast land of adult
entertainment..."
~~~

stuck.at.seven
[while awkwardly aiming for ten]:
 Short recollections of Life's more inappropriate moments

By Edmund Christopher McCombs

I have found that, for me, humor is a personal thing...Like I had a lot of fun recently with the Senior Sleuth novel, because I could relate so much to the women characters! For this book, I also had a personal reaction--it sounded like my two nephews when everybody gets together and they start getting "ignorant" as some of us would say...

Through knowing them, I have found (1) boys talk about different things and (2) the generation of my nieces and nephews are so much more liberal in their talk, their discussions and their humor... I learned this when both of them had watched a Christmas movie that has a little boy sticking his tongue out, freezing it on a light pole, that they could repeat the words of the whole movie [which I have never watched completely] that we would never agree on what is funny... But then I learned that my sister watches it every year as well! It's me--I must be the one with the weird sense of humor...

"You see, from a very young age, my concept of
oral sex had been one wrought in confusion and
misinterpretation and through the dinner table
debacle, I realized very little had changed. The
term "oral sex" first came into my life at about
7 years of age. My mom and dad were watching
a news program and the reporter said that a 13-
year-old girl had been caught having oral sex
with a 14-year-old boy in the back of a school bus.
As most kids do, I completely irnored any other
details of the broadcast and blurted out, "What's
oral sex? My Mom gentle explained that the
term "oral" refers to mouth and that "oral sex"
is the medical term for kissing..."
~~~

On the other hand, since this book is about the recollections of a young man--well, it obviously was humor from his perspective...so guys will love it, and probably girls of the same age...and probably mothers...and, definitely, fathers will be saying: "That's my boy!" Well, actually, I'm not so sure about the latter. You see Edmund is only a "seven" and he's not into sports much...

In any event, you'll see that the humor I share are those that made me smile, and sometimes giggle...hey! it's my review, so get your own copy to read the guy stuff. And believe me, there's lots of it, as evidenced of the above picture--yes, purely my interpretation of whatever it is that this is supposed to represent...LOL And yes, you'll learn about awkward (that adjective I'm not so sure about since he's making jokes of those days) moments...from the boy's standpoint...

Like take for instance, the inquiring mind of a five-year-old boy fascinated with learning about new languages, cultures and geography...who sees an African-American woman who was
breastfeeding... (I figured I was safe using Angeline Jolie's cover photo!)

"I turned to my mom and innocently asked, "Do they give their babies chocolate milk?" My mom looked a little bit horrified, but she couldn't deny my astute query. "Shhhh, we'll talk about it later!" she yelped and stuffed me in the car as quickly as possible. As I sat there, in the backseat of a used station wagon, I gently pondered the lactation process. "If she gives chocolate milk, do Asian mothers give soy milk?" My little mind was on fire, and apparently the Florida heat was making me thirsty. Later on, my mom explained breastfeeding to me in detail and I was sad to learn there was no variety in flavor. This news disappointed me greatly, but looking back, this initial inkling of curiosity about different cultures would pave the way for many experiences. ~~~

I found this pic on Facebook and decided that this writer is still practicing to be on Survivor. Actually, by the way he looks now, I think he should try again...but, even though he has applied a number of times, he has never been accepted. My guess is that it's because they have a DNI file (Do not Invite!) on him after he wrote an email when he was at last contacted...

"To: Marissa (Survivor Casting)
Title: I realize that you hate me...

I realize that you hate me at this point because I am annoying but I have applied and applied and then I got a call, finally...after several years and I can't, won't let it go...so, march in the room and tell them that I will be interviewed in person. I realize that you told me to wait a week but I have the self=control of a toddler...
                                                     ~~~

Besides being reminded of my nephews, I had another family connection to one of the stories... When I was a young girl, we were told that one of our cousins had entered a convent. We'd never see her again! But when we were all adults, we learned that she had left the convent and was now married! Still haven't seen her again, but McCombs' story did make me laugh...and remember our own nun...

"Does it ever weird you out?" I asked.

 "What?" my friend Sophie responded.

"You know, the fact that your mom used to be married to the Lord." 

"I don't think about it too much, to be honest. Can you pass me the salt?" She had nonchalantly dismissed me because it may have been a non-issue for her but for me; I thought about it a lot in my life. I have met three people whose mothers were former Catholic nuns. Each beginning their pious journey at a young age, they pledged allegiance to their maker and vowed their faithfulness to Him for all eternity. However, somewhere along the way, they stumbled into a rough patch that would cause them to question the church and their own faith. Making what must have been one of life's more difficult decisions, they decided to file an "irreconcilable differences" divorce decree against Jesus H. Christ and move on to more tainted yet tangible, mortal mates. For me though, my fascination didn't lie in knowing the details of their marriage to the All Mighty. I wanted to know more about the second husbands and how exactly those men felt being the understudy of the Holy One.

~~~

Well I have to admit that we were scandalized when that rumor swept through the family. Even the non-Catholics in the family immediately wondered what kind of man her husband was...

Then we heard that he "waited on her for everything, including doing the cooking, cleaning, etc..."

My guess is that she was a Mary, like me, rather than a Martha... (inside joke???)

Hey, if you enjoy reading humor based upon personal life experiences, check this one out! There's probably a story or two that each of you will personally relate to...Or, if you're as ignorant as my two nephews who laugh at everything gross...this one is definitely for you! And a p.s. to "The Survivor..".I think your show would be fantastic with this guy providing some "light humor" to the program...Of course, I don't watch your show...

GABixlerReviews

About this author

Edmund Christopher McCombs is from beautiful Pensacola, Florida but currently living "down under" in Sydney, Australia. He began writing as an outlet to cope with the craziness that sometimes lives in his head, as opposed to beating people up. But, with his small arms and lack of coordination, writing was probably the best choice anyways.

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Darcia Helle's Novel, Killing Instinct, Not for Squeamish But Excellent Story of Revenge and Justice...Haunting Characters Indeed!

"Sean glanced over at the workbench with what looked like longing in his eyes. Then he told Michael what

Jake had requested. Slow torture. Lots of suffering. Photos. Audio recording. Video.

"Audio and video?" Michael repeated in disbelief. "He wanted you to record the torture?"

"As unbelievable as that sounds." Sean said. "He wanted shots of her suffering. Close-ups of the wounds.

Essentially, a snuff film without the sexual content.

"Okay, that's beyond twisted. Did he say why he wanted these extras? Or why he wanted her to suffer?"

"...Sean got up, picked a screwdriver off the workbench and tapped it against his thigh....She's at my house."

"Who is?"

"Maria. The woman I was supposed to kill."

~~~ 

Violence In FictionI write suspense. Topics I’ve covered include domestic abuse, religious cults and hired killers. The nature of my chosen genre requires a certain level of detail to the violent scenes. But how much is too much?No doubt, if I asked ten people this question, I’d get at least five different answers. Each of us has our own limit, and tolerance varies widely. Maybe a better question would be, how much is enough? Read more...

"Over the past few hours, with prodding
from the remaining sewing needles, a
well-placed hammer, and his knowledge
of pressure points, he learned all about
the inner workings of Morpheus..."
~~~

Killing Instinct:

A Michael Sykora Novel

By Darcia Helle

If you get queasy when reading some scenes of murder,
please know that this is a graphic violent novel. I have
linked you to an article by the author so that you can learn
about her issues in writing her novels.

I admit I got squeamish at some of the scenes. so, frankly, I went looking on her site to see if there was anything related to the inclusion of torture details... I must say that I understood what she meant about the characters driving the acts, and It was persuasive for me, so much so that I wanted to read the first two books in the Michael Sykora series, so quickly downloaded copies for some weekend reading...

"William nodded as he passed, turning left only the
wide hallway leading toward the holding area. Jake
would have been spending his time in one of the many
soundproofed seven-by-five cells they'd built on this
wing. They housed all their stock separately. The
isolation kept them more manageable. Compliant.
Desperate. Terrified.
"Stock. That's how he thought of them. Merchandise.
Inventory. Their humanity rarely entered his mind.
"Jake had been brought to the intake room on the
near end of the holding area. Adam, one of their
long-time and most trusted employees, stood outside
the door. He straightened slightly when he spotted
William. "Hey, Boss," he said. "Lenny's inside with
the prey. Jake."
"William almost corrected Adam's choice of nouns.
Prey irritated him. The word sounded vulgar, somehow.
Made him think of pedophiles, which he serviced but
didn't want to associate himself with. He was aware,
though, that most of the men working the factory
referred to their stock this way. And this wasn't the
time to make a stand on that issue. He'd mention it to
Lenny. Dealing with the help wasn't his job.
"Adam pushed the door open and William stepped into
the room. The first thing he noticed was the repugnant
smell of fear. Hot and sour, it made William recoil
slightly..."
~~~

I liked the cover. No pictures could portray "killing instinct" anyway, right? Yet there were four male lead characters who could be classified as having that Instinct (many more, in fact) and Darcia Helle did an excellent job in creating the psychological background so that readers can quickly understand exactly what type of individual these four men are.

Michael Sykora, the lead character, got involved after his fiancee was murdered. All he was able to feel for any type of justice was through revenge...

He took it...

And now he is in the business of helping others when someone they love have been brutalized or murdered...

He's very good at it...

So is Sean, his partner. He was an assassin who somehow got hooked up with Michael (haven't read the how of that yet--LOL). But as you will see from the narrative, Michael has been influential in teaching Sean to first stop to think about what he's being asked to do. Especially for Maria. He fell for her immediately, but it was more than that... He could not grasp a need to torture and film somebody unless...

Yes, the man who wanted her dead wanted to have a snuff film for his vast collection and, of course, to sell as well... This man is the Sandman...

He's runs a business something like Fantasy Island--except it relates to providing the "right individual" for what your fantasy is... And that leads to the fourth man, Lenny, who, like William, considers those individual his livestock...he's in it for the money and has no feelings for that stock as people for whom he should care...

Since Sean had saved Maria rather than killing her, as soon as he had shared what had been planned for her, she wanted to be involved. She had been a bounty hunter and worked security, so was well prepared.

Michael was now involved with Nicky. While she didn't have the same background and training, after meeting Maria and learning about what these men were doing, she demanded to be involved too. Michael was afraid, given his major loss in the past, but Nicky wouldn't back down. So all of them were involved, trying to track down who the Sandman was, why he wanted Marie dead, and then as the two groups knew about each other, a friend of Marie's who worked for the bounty hunting office, was taken...and tortured... Michael and Sean gambled that they would not really harm her, pending a potential trade for Marie...or at a minimum, adding her to the stock--after all, anybody still alive can help fulfill "somebody's" fantasy...

I don't know about you, but given the "real" atrocities that happen every day in America--murder, kidnapping, human trafficing, rape--it has become more acceptable to read about vigilantes, revenge and justice (payback).
If the government and law enforcement cannot take the real criminals off the streets, would we be happy to encourage men like Michael and Sean to act? It's a scary thought...

And too easy to understand...

Darcia Helle writes to entertain us...
But she also says the characters await us...

Murder as Entertainment. I write about murder - gruesome murder, bizarre murder, murder for hire and murder as revenge. What I write is fiction. Mine is a make-believe world of murder as entertainment.
I'd like to take a noble stance and say that I don't enjoy writing the murder scenes. But I do. That's creepy to admit out loud, I know. I kill people on paper and I like it. How did this happen?
The truly odd thing is that I am a total pacifist. I even feel bad when I kill a mosquito and I despise mosquitoes. So why is it that I enjoying writing murder scenes? Read more...

I liked the fact that she provides info on her "gruesome" writing. LOL! And I have to say that her characters and their actions were sometimes edgier than I could handle--so I read those parts quickly, but those needles stuck in my mind through the night...excuse the pun...Funny how one scene bothered me, but when it was the man getting the needles, it didn't...hmmm...

"The room was in shadows, and Michael didn't want to direct his flashlight in their faces. He heard soft murmurs and what sounded like sniffles. "Is someone crying?"
"Maria"
"Why?"
"She's been reading about that that psychiatrist did..."
"Dr. Eric Wilkinson needs to pay for what he did."
"She stared straight at Sean when she said this. Something invisible passed between them, an unspoken understanding. Sean nodded and said, "Consider it done."

Obviously if I went out and got the first two books in this series, I "got past" the fictional torture. But what sold me was the ending. When it comes right down to it, I'm willing to agree, at least in fiction, it is not just black and white...There's an awfully lot of gray, isn't there? I think the author did an exceptional job in working within the gray area and even coming out white in some ways... I know what I mean by that--I hope you do too...

Highly recommended.


GABixlerReviews

About the Author
Darcia Helle lives in a fictional world with a husband who is sometimes real. Their house is ruled by spoiled dogs and cats and the occasional dust bunny. Suspense, random blood spatter and mismatched socks consume Darcia’s days. She writes because the characters trespassing through her mind leave her no alternative. Only then are the voices free to haunt someone else’s mind. Join Darcia in her fictional world: http://www.QuietFuryBooks.com The characters await you.

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