Monday, April 4, 2016

Books We Love's Tantalizing Talent ~ Author Nancy M. Bell




Nancy Marie Bell is a proud Albertan and Canadian. She lives near Balzac, Alberta with her husband and various critters. She is an animal rights advocate and works with and fosters rescue animals. This is why there are always an assortment of animal characters in her work. Storm the dog from the Longview stories, and the horses in The Cornwall Adventures for example. 
She loves the mystery and myths that abound in Celtic legends and can often be found reading ancient manuscripts on the Sacred Texts website. This interest is reflected in her urban fantasy series The Cornwall Adventures and the new Arabella’s Secret series. Nancy is a member of The Writers Union of Canada and the Writers Guild of Alberta. She has publishing credits in poetry, fiction, and non-fiction.






Novels
YA Fantasy
Laurel’s Quest   Book 1 The Cornwall Adventures
A Step Beyond  Book 2 The Cornwall Adventures
Go Gently  Book 3 The Cornwall Adventures
Romance Fantasy
The Selkie’s Song  Book 1 Arabella’s Secret

Contemporary Western Romance
Storm’s Refuge  A Longview Romance
Come Hell or High Water  A Longview Romance
A Longview Christmas  A Longview Romance Novella

Historical Fiction
No Absolution   writing as N.M. Bell



The Selkie’s Song
 
Amazon
Arabella Angarrick wants nothing more than to leave Penzance behind and study nursing in London. Her Da has other plans for her though. Arabella would rather throw herself off the cliffs of Lamorna Cove than marry Daniel Treliving. On one of her rambles across the moors on her pony, Arabella meets a dark and handsome young man who captures her fancy. There is something strange about him, but that only makes him more intriguing. Headstrong and stubborn, Arabella sets out to chart her own course in life, but things take an unexpected turn. Vear Du rescues her from danger, but can he protect her from himself?

Amazon
Come Hell or High Water
Michelle Wilson has the world by the tail. Cale loves her and she loves him. Storm is happy and healthy. To top it off, Michelle has qualified for the Calgary Stampede. She can’t wait to barrel race for a chance at $100,000 on Showdown Sunday. All her dreams are coming true; nothing could possibly spoil her happiness. Could it? Shelly, her brother’s new girlfriend seems a tad too interested in her old friend Cale Benjamin. And what’s with Michelle’s ex-fiancĂ© Rob who keeps popping up in the most unexpected places. Why can’t his brand new wife Kayla keep a tighter rein on that cowboy?

No Absolution

Amazon
Jake Winncott has a troubled past and living in the cesspool of London’s East End in the Victorian era isn’t helping to ease his mind any. Bedeviled by his dead father’s evangelistic shade, Jake sets out do his bidding and cleanse the tainted women of Whitechapel in their own heart’s blood. This is Jack the Ripper as he has never been portrayed. The author takes the reader deep into the tormented heart of the man he might have been and explores a fictional past that might explain his savagery. While the text is gritty at times, and roughly follows the historical timeline of the facts, Jake Wincott is purely a figment of the author’s imagination. N. M. Bell gives the infamous mad man a human face.

Find Nancy at Books We Love   http://bookswelove.net/authors/bell-nancy/






Strange and Unholy Doings by Katherine Pym




London Bridge on Southwark side

Once upon a time, the London Bridge was made of wood. During this time, ferries were popular. These ferries would ply up and down the Thames, taking goods, livestock and people from one side of the river to the other.

Ferry
John Overs was a ferryman. His route was where the Bridge would eventually be designed & built. He suffered from parsimony and eventually became a wealthy man. He garnered many servants, trained several apprentices and allowed his only daughter, Mary, to be educated (in an inexpensive way).

It is said John Overs’ wealth rivaled the richest Alderman in London but his house, his clothes compared with the poorest inhabitant of the city.

As Mary grew into a lovely woman, men began to hound John Overs. They wanted to marry his daughter, but John reckoned they only wanted his money. He never let these eager swains near or to see Mary. He shut her in and guarded the door. Eventually, John allowed one fellow to meet his daughter, which went very well indeed. The young man and Mary agreed to marry.

But John didn’t want to put out the money for a dower. He procrastinated. Quite some time passed, and John’s miserliness grew. He watched what his servants ate, what they wore, how they abused his good nature.

More ferries
During this time, when a master died, the household was plunged into 24 hours of fasting, prayer and the gnashing of teeth. John Overs decided to pretend he was dead. He would save money by not having to feed his household for a full day. He would also see how much his household loved him.

Mary Overs did not approve, but as a pious, honorable woman, she obeyed her father. She wrapped him in winding sheets. He lay on the bed as a dead man, one burning candle at his head and one at his feet. Soon, the household knew their master was dead.

As John lay in the bed, he was astonished to find the household burst into joy. They broke into all the stores, tuned their instruments and feasted. They danced around his body and drank all his beer and wine.

John Overs was outraged. He could not believe what was happening and struggled with the winding sheets. To the servants, the devil had entered the chamber. He would rise in John Overs’ likeness and take possession of the household, the servants and apprentices. The devil would drive them to the depths of hell rather than a merry flight to heaven.

As John continued to wrench free of the cloths, a brave fellow took hold of a stout object and felled him with a heavy blow, breaking John Overs’ skull and ‘struck out his brains’.

As for John Overs’ daughter, she wrote to her fiancĂ© telling him of her father’s demise. The young man was in the country, and so eager was he to gain the daughter and now her inheritance, leapt onto his mount. He drove his horse down the highway at breakneck speed. His horse tumbled, throwing the young man into the dirt of the road where he broke his neck and died.

Poor Mary Overs. Crushed by what had happened, she went into the nunnery and gave all her money to the church. Almost on the site of the ferry landing in Southwark, a convent was built. Later, it evolved into St Mary Overie’s Church, now Southwark Cathedral.

Archeologists and historians have tried to dispute this story, stating a convent had been on this site since the 7th century, but I prefer to believe the story true. When something like this makes the rounds for a long time, there must be a seed of truth. Going a little bit further, I also believe myths and folklore are based on truth.

And there you have it. I will stick to this until someone waves a sheaf of papers filled with proof in my face.

~~~~~~~
Many thanks to:
Abbott, Geoffrey. The Gruesome History of Old London Bridge, Eric Dobby Publishing, Ltd, Kent, UK, 2008
Wikicommons, Public Domain



Saturday, April 2, 2016

JO-JO THE CLOWN - AN UNLIKELY HERO - MARGARET TANNER


 
BUY FROM AMAZON




HEROES COME IN ALL SHAPES AND SIZES – Margaret Tanner



            Jo-Jo looked into the mirror and his eyes brimmed with tears.  His heart was shattered into a thousand fragments, and the bitterness of his loss was overwhelming. He was afraid.  The same sickening sensation of fear he had always felt even as a child, but the crowds were waiting for him to put on a show.

            A clown could not be sad or frightened.  He must laugh, joke and bounce around as if life was one big happy party. No one bothered to look beyond the large red nose or painted face.  If they did so, they would see a man overcome with fear, and slowly dying of grief because Maisie was no longer with him.

            A partnership of thirty years dissolved in a few cruel moments, under the wheels of a hit-run driver’s car. Poor Maisie didn’t stand a chance, not with some drunken maniac skidding around the corner with smoke belching from his wheels.  Lightening fast on his feet as always, he nimbly jumped out of the way, but Maisie, with her varicose veins and hip replacements, was ponderously slow.

            Jo-Jo once aspired to become a jockey.  He was small and wiry enough, but the grotesque lump growing out of his spine like a giant football, and his fear of failure, put paid to those ambitions. His early years were spent in a misery of fear and ridicule.  Children laughed and taunted him, but he was too afraid to stand up for himself. Finally, he decided if he was going to be the butt of jokes and taunts he might as well get paid for it.

            The bitter years of suffering took their toll, and his mind became almost as twisted as the body he so despised.  He longed for, prayed and pleaded with doctors and with God to make him normal, but they never listened.  The older he got the uglier and more fearful he became.

            One day he met Maisie.  She was a plump, darling woman who looked beyond the ugliness of the body and found the real man. She bolstered his confidence and allayed his fears. 

His savior had golden curls, baby blue eyes and fat rosy cheeks that wobbled when she laughed. She possessed melon like breasts, huge backside and fat stumpy legs, but there was not a mean bone in Maisie’s ample body.  Her smile was angelic, her soul that of a saint.  She was a guiding star of goodness, leading him out of the black tunnel of fear and self-loathing into the sunlight. Two fat tears dribbling down his painted cheeks, plopped on to his ruffled collar.

“Never let your audience down,” Maisie always said.

They were a class act, the skinny, sad sack clown and his chubby, pink haired fairy Godmother assistant. Stars of the circus, but how could he face the crowd without her strength and support?  He was terrified. The old cowardice had returned with a vengeance.

            Everyone thought them an odd couple, both on and off the stage. Maisie knew that beneath the clown suit, beat the heart of a sensitive man, and only he knew, the layers of tulle and flab hid a beautiful woman.

            He could hear the crowd chanting.  “We want Jo-Jo. We want Jo-Jo.”

            He scrubbed the tears away with the back of one hand and slapped some more powder over his makeup to hide the smears. With his heart weighed down with grief, he gritted his teeth, mounted his mini bicycle and with a large colorful beach ball balanced on his head, peddled out from behind the curtains.

            “Where’s the old fat fairy?” yelled a kid in the front row.  Jo-Jo felt like ramming the candy stick the boy was devouring down his throat.  He did nothing of the kind, just tossed the ball up in the air and somersaulted off his bike.

“Do it again, Jo-Jo, do it again.” The littlies squealed with delight, while the rest of the audience clapped and stamped their feet.  Jo-Jo continued his routine and his heavy heart lifted with the excitement of the crowd, as he gave the performance of his life.

“I’m doing this for you, Maisie love,” he whispered.  “I’m doing this for you.”

The laughter suddenly changed into shrieks of horror, as a lioness turned on the ringmaster and knocked him to the ground with one powerful leap.  The big cat’s ugly fangs were bared into a snarl as she prepared to attack.

It had been sheer stupidity separating her from her cubs and expecting her to perform so soon after their birth.  The trainers pleaded with the circus owners, but to no avail, they had no compassion for either man or beast working for them.  Money and profit was all they cared about.

Jo-Jo jumped on to his mini bike and rode between the lioness and the fallen ringmaster. The enraged animal turned her ferocity on to him.  He peddled furiously. This was the most important ride of his life and any mistake would cost him dearly. From the corner of one eye he saw the ringmaster crawling to safety, and even as the beast charged towards him, Jo-Jo somersaulted out of the way.

A net dropping down from the roof of the big-top imprisoned the lion, and the trainers dragged her away.  There was silence for a moment, then the crowds began cheering. 

Jo-Jo the frightened clown was a hero.


Margaret Tanner writes historical romance and western historical romance.
Her latest novel from Books We Love - Adam's Frontier Bride, is a Western.

Fear almost crushes Tommy Lindsay when she arrives in South Dakota to live on her uncle’s isolated ranch.  She will need all her courage and daring to survive the hard times ahead.
 Adam Munro is a wealthy rancher who thought he only wanted a presentable wife who would give him heirs.   When he meets Tommy, he is smitten. Can he ever hope to capture the heart of this beautiful English rose?

 
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01AHTA5GM/ref=pe_385040_118058080_TE_M1T1DP


Friday, April 1, 2016

A REPUBLIC, IF YOU CAN KEEP IT, by Shirley Martin

Amazon

Have you ever watched those “man on the street” clips in which the host asks people questions about American history?  Jay Leno used to do his jaywalks in which he posed such questions at random to various people.
Here’s an example: “What did Paul Revere say when the British were coming?”
Silence.
Repeat: What did Paul Revere say WHEN THE BRITISH WERE COMING?”
Reply: “I don’t know.  What did he say?”
(The story of Paul Revere’s ride may be apocryphal, but it is–or should be–so deeply ingrained in the American psyche, that one should be able to answer the question without hesitation.)
Another question: “What country did we break away from during the American Revolution?”
Reply: “Greece?”
How about this question: “What do you think about Benghazi?”
“Ben, who?”

Here's another example, one that prompted this article. The host asked this question of a young man who appeared to be in his early twenties.
"Who was the first president?"
Answer:  A look of perplexity and no response.

It’s not only American history in which so many people are lacking knowledge.  One cable news host stood outside a movie theater where a Jurassic Park movie was being shown.
Here are a couple questions and replies.
“How many people do you think the dinosaurs killed?”
Reply: Two-hundred thousand.”
“When do you think the dinosaurs disappeared?”
Reply: “1940.”
It may be that these answers were meant as a joke, but the responders didn't give the impression that they were joking.

Decades ago, at a time of much discord in the United States, the Miami Herald hired a journalist from Australia. He obtained a copy of the Declaration of Independence and showed it randomly to people on the streets of Miami. When he showed it to an older couple, the wife said, "We don't go in for that sort of thing."  And a policeman's reply:"Just move along. We don't want any trouble here."

It’s obvious from these replies that many people have no concept of basic history or the passage of time.  One wonders what sort of history is taught–or isn’t taught–in American schools.
Years ago, Lynne Cheney, wife of the former Vice President, embarked on a program to
patriotize (my word) American history textbooks.  She failed.  One example of what she encountered was a history textbook that devoted six pages to Marilyn Monroe and three sentences to George Washington.

In contrast, my American history textbook from college spent nine pages on the Constitutional Convention, with no pictures except a map.  All the rest was pure text.  Granted, one example here was a high school textbook and the other a college book, but six pages on Marilyn Monroe is a bit much, and only three sentences on George Washington is a disgrace.

Just what sort of American history are we teaching–or not teaching-- in high school and college?  Many young people have no idea when the Civil War was fought.  They confuse the American Revolution with the French and Indian War.

Our Founding Fathers knew that a well-informed citizenry was necessary in order to maintain our democracy.  But today many Americans are ill-informed and have no idea of our history or our government.

In 1787, when the Constitutional Convention had completed its task and had created one of the greatest documents ever known to man, a woman asked Benjamin Franklin what sort of government the convention had devised.  The sage Founding Father replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.”
But can we keep it?

http://bookswelove.net/authors/martin-shirley/


Please check out my website: www.shirleymartinauthor.com
My Amazon page is http://amzn.to/1zN7YAg
My books are sold at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, KOBO, The Apple IStore and other sites where ebooks are available online. Several of my books are in print.

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