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Showing posts from September, 2012

“Things Every Southern Woman Should Know How to Make”

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Alice clicked on the headline, mildly curious about what yet another stranger thought should be in her kitchen repertoire. Pictures of China plates mounded with crispy fried chicken, greens, cobbler, and a pile of biscuits a mile high flooded the screen, all set off with a pitcher of sweet tea beaded with condensation. The table was set; an apron draped off to the side next to a box labeled “Gramma’s Recipes” in fine calligraphy. She closed the browser and put away her tablet. She was born a Georgia peach, but she couldn’t make a cobbler to save her life. Did that mean she wasn’t southern? Or maybe just not “Southern.” For Alice, there was no recipe box full of family traditions. Her younger years were filled with rental homes in different states and her father’s voice coaxing her toward a text book rather than a cookbook. Metalworking and fabrication held more interest than learning to flambé or sauté. Did it make her less of a woman that her cooking skills consisted of fresh salads
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Meet Pete, My Office Roomie

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From time to time on campus, a storm will come through and knock down trees or limbs. And sometimes, the high wind will blow down a squirrel nest. When that happens, sometimes there are baby squirrels.  That's how we ended up with Pete. I took a call early one morning after a storm. The person who called was looking for someone to pick up the baby squirrel she had found near her building, and she wondered if we had an animal control person or someone who would come take it off of her hands. I knew just the person to call. I called up my friend Jo, who was more than happy to get the little guy. She's raised several squirrels, one of which I was particularly attached to because she slept in our hoodie pockets and used our sleeves for a hammock. Pete when he was first found. His eyes weren't even open yet. Because she works outside and can't carry him around, I get to babysit, which thrills me to death. Baby squirrels are just so freaking cute!  Pete.
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Fan Love, Ain't it Grand? Unsounded Kickstarter Update

Last week, I posted about the Kickstarter page for Ashley Cope’s Unsounded web-comic. And in the last week, I’ve had the chance to witness fan love at work. (You can check out my post and links to the comic and the Kickstarter page here .) Ashley set her goal at $9,800. In a week’s time, that goal has been nearly tripled. There’s 24 days to go! I can’t help but read the comments on most things, and reading the ones on the Unsounded Kickstarter makes me hope I have fans like hers one day. They love her work, they realize and respect the time and effort she puts into making Unsounded such a great graphic novel, and they want to support her. From my comment lurking on the comic’s site, I’ve noticed it’s been the fans that have urged access to Donate buttons and pushed for the Kickstarter page. As far as I know, Ashley has never asked her fans for a thing, but to read the latest page. Even now, there are a few wishing the top tiers weren’t all sold out just so they could gi
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Unsounded in Print? Hell Yes!

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The artwork of Unsounded. The entire comic's like this! I’ve mentioned my love for the Unsounded web-comic once before. It’s a perfect blend of great art, excellent storytelling, and hard work that brings Ashley Cope’s characters to life. And like any great novel, I’m left thinking about the fates of her characters every time I leave the page. Unsounded has a loyal following of readers, and gathers new ones all the time. I always take the time to read the comments section at the end of the latest page where often amongst the witty and intelligent discussions of Unsounded’s world, I will see a new comment from someone who did the same thing I did. They started at the first page and couldn’t stop. Yeah, it’s that good. You can check it out here . Daughter of the Sharteshane thief-king Nary-A-Care Frummagem, fearless and loud-mouthed Sette sets out to make her pa proud. With Duane Adelier—according to Sette, the worst attack-zombie ever—she takes off to collect a
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TV Rambles: My Thoughts on the Premiere of Revolution

****Contains spoilers. If you DVR’d this show, don’t let me ruin it for you.****   Okay, warning is made.         The world goes dark. Now how do people survive? The premise sounded pretty awesome, and it got my fiancé’s attention. He loves the post-apocalyptic shows like Jericho , even the Luke Perry show Jeremiah , so Revolution was right up his alley. We settled down on the couch last night, and as the show started, I was holding out hope. It started off showing a little girl named Charlie who was too engrossed with the television to say hi to her grandma on the phone. Then her dad comes home, freaking out, downloads something to flash drive, and calls his brother. The conversation tells me he knows what’s going on. The power goes out. Now we’re getting to business. We jump 15 years into the future. The dad-who-knows-all has helped set up a nice self-sustaining village. And then for the rest of the show, I bit my tongue. Let’s go back to t
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Ghosts...and the Girls Who Love Them Bloghop and Giveaway

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Here's my entry into this party. If you like what you read, let me know in the comments, and if you really like it, leave the word VOTE in the comments! You can vote between now and Oct. 1st. Enjoy! Binary Socks dangled from the slowly rotating blades of the ceiling fan. On any other occasion, Carrie would have laughed. Not this time.She had witnessed the hurricane-like destruction Daniel had wreaked, and it was a testament to his self-control that she wasn’t hurt. He stood in the only clear spot on the floor, what had been the eye of the storm. All around him,the room was littered with debris. Glittering among the boxers and tees, change from his dresser top and splinters of mirror. His college diploma he’d gotten last week. Things he would never need. Carrie repeated the words that had brought out his rage. “Daniel, you have to move on.” “I promised I wouldn’t leave you. I keep my promises.” His form solidified as anger coursed through him. When it faded, he did t
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Rambling of a Casual Gamer: Skyrim and Why I Love the Bows

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I’m quite a ways into Skyrim now, and of all the weapons I can choose from, my favorite is the bow. I’m far enough along now that I have a Daedra bow (well, two). My enchanting is crap, but my knock-down power is excellent. The best part is I’m not even done with the Archery perks. I will get stronger! I like the bow versus the other weapons because it’s long range. I pop enemies before they ever get a glimpse of me. And unlike some games, the Skyrim bows are nicely effective. The targeting works well. For most things, lower level arrows are fine, and since iron and steel arrows are easily obtained in battle, ammo is usually free. Nothing makes me happier than taking down a dragon with my bow. Except maybe turning their bones and scales into my armor. Dragonscale armor, oh yeah!   On a practical note, I like the bows best in Skyrim simply because they don’t mess with my line of sight like the melee weapons. I have a staff and a war-axe I carry for close-up situations,
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We Will Never Forget

Today is a  day to say, "I love you." Share a smile. Shake a hand. We will never forget September 11, 2001, but we can show we're not afraid. That the terrorists didn't win. We will never forget. But we will overcome. So, while you're out in your busy lives today, remember we're all Americans, love your neighbor. I wish you peace and love.
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Be Inspired Blogship Meme

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So, I got tagged by Hali Baumstein for this bloggy thing where I’m supposed to talk about my current project. Luckily, since it’s a blog, you can’t see my horribly red face as I write this. (End moan.)   Here’s the dirt on my most recent completed project: 1.       What is the name of your book? INSATIABLE   2.       Where did the idea for your book come from? One day, my main character popped into my head and said, “Hey, I’m Charlie!” I could hear him so clearly that I had to write him down. 3.       In what genre would you classify your book? Definitely YA contemporary fantasy. Possibly UF. While it’s full of faeries, it’s also set in a city, with cell phones and movie theaters and homework. Not fun, magical homework where if you screw up your rainbow potion explodes and paints everything multi-colored.  Math. English. 4.       If you had to pick actors to play your characters in a movie rendition, who would you choose? I honestly have no clu
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