Friday, May 26, 2017

Catching UP!

Books that went to press this week:

             Chasing Nightmares, deliberately embracing terrors, isn’t what you and I are likely to do.  But you and I are not the four central characters in this novel, pretty typical college kids who sense that their lives are so predictable they hardly seem present in them.  They are determined not to succumb to the commonplace scripts set out for them, pathways that are so comfortable they might as well be padded, MUSAK softly playing.
      So, they set out from Los Angeles, trying hard to find the perilous.  They try hard to make themselves unprepared, open, desperate to vivify their minds and senses.  They make it only as far as Lake Tahoe and the nearby Donner Pass, where they do succeed in attracting horrors, certainly not the ones they had, despite themselves, anticipated. 
            But the nightmares they wrap round themselves also contain a good deal more than shivers, and the calls on their resolve demand more than simple courage (or foolhardy consistency).  Without knowing how it happened, they are drawn into a different strangeness, asking for and yet reluctant to receive something very much like love.

EASTERN SHORE NOIR, by Members of the Writer's Bloc.
    These stories are told in many styles. Some writers have been drawn back to memories from long forgotten times; the life they once lived, or observations of families
and friends.  Explore the emotional connections, at the very core, with keen insights that are not all black and white.
   Understand, that the writers are the rays of light, passing 
  through the darkness, resonating long after the final page 
  is turned.
M. Rita Tiso

RED YEAR by Jan Shapin

   CAN A RED-HAIRED WOMAN FROM CHICAGO SINGLE-HANDEDLY
FORCE JOSEPH STALIN TO BACK DOWN?
   China, 1927. Thirty-three-year-old Rayna Prohme, accompanying her left-wing journalist husband, becomes the political confidant and lover of Mikhail Borodin, the Russian commander sent to prop up a failing Chinese revolution. In a bid to continue their love affair, Rayna hatches a plan to accompany Mme. Sun, the widow of the Chinese revolution’s founder, to Moscow. But Moscow doesn’t welcome the women.

ARMY OF THE DEAD by Ray Morand
   "Twists and turns, chivalry and treachery, sword fights and, goblins and fire-breathing dragons---this book has all the familiar trappings of fantasy, but it also has a very human and engaging woman at its heart. Its cliffhanger ending definitely left me wanting more." ---Nina M. Osier, Eppie winning author of the Regs, The Mad Fisherman's Daughter, Interphase, and the Farthinghome Series.
Cover Not Set
BACKWOOD MEMORIES by Shelley Abbott
A collection of memoir essays by a famed singer and songwriter, the Eastern Shore's own, Shelley Abbott.




Jack's News!
  by your Official Bookstore Cat,  
and Gossip Columnist.

Hi Folks,
   Haven't heard from anyone with news of personal appearances, book sales or other events. So it's been a slow week no news or gossip to pass along, and lots of time for thinking. 

 In Memorium:
 R. David Chase
1958 -2015
 Still missing Dave's special belly rubs around here.


Me and Spunky, my baby sister, almost had a night out. I was napping in the back of the closet and they looked there, but didn't see me. Arline started calling out the back door, thinking (Quite unjustly!) that I might have snuck outside. Spunky, noticing the door open, ran outside! I'd like to think she was looking for me, but really, she just runs outside any time she sees the door open, even when it's dark.

Hearing them call (and even though it wasn't supper time or treat time) I came to see what was going on and hurried outide to rescue the baby. SHE hid under the pickup. I chased after her to tell her to get back inside. Then I saw a frog and went to chase it. It wanted to play.

Then Spunky ran back inside, but saw I was gone, and she jumped back out again, before the door could close, and ran off into the little copse of trees in the back corner, where the deer sometimes hide and the groundhog lives. I could hear Arline calling and Roger shouting inside the house, but then more frogs came to play...

Then an awful thing happened. Arline yelled, "To hell with it!" She slammed the door and turned off the porch light. She left us both outside, in the dark, all by ourselves! 

I couldn't believe it. When the light went out, Spunky ran back from the groundhog nest. They have babies and were mean to her so she was very scared. I told her to get up on top of the pickup tire and stay there. There's worse things than groundhogs in that copse. There's a nest of  copperheads in there, five or six little ones, all with bright yellow tails. They are NOT cute. OR fun to play with.

I stayed right at the bottom of the tire to make sure Spunky was safe. Sure, I played with the frogs some more, but you can believe I kept my eyes open. It was cloudy. No stars. It was cold. No fireflies. The security light was a long, long way away. Good thing we cats can see in the dark. 

Then it started to rain but, safe under the fender, Spunky stayed asleep. I got far enough under to stay out of the rain and kept watch. The birds in the birdhouse fluttered and cooed. A raccoon crept along the edge of the field and caught a mouse. He ate it!  Ugh! The whole thing! No wonder they try to get inside where it's safe. 

Roger builds what he calls "hamster traps" and catches them and takes them back outside.

After a long, long time, the porch light came back on. I woke Spunky up and we both ran for the back door. By the time Arline opened it to call us, we were both waiting right there and shot inside fast. 

Spunky jumped right up in the rocking chair.  Arline saw that I was wet, and rubbed me down with a nice, warm, fluffy towel. Roger came out of the bedroom. "They both back?"

"Got 'em. Told ya if we turned off the lights and waited fifteen minutes..."

"Night, Hon..." He yawned and went back to bed. I sneezed and tried to con her out of an extra snack, but it didn't work.

"You're all dry now," she told me, and kissed my nose, and put me down in Roger's chair in the living room. She know's I'm the boss whenever he's not there...

Please remember to let us know if you have readings or events coming up, so we can pass on the news right here, for all the world to see. 

Just send arline@mail.com an e-mail, with 
 "News for Jack" 
 in the subject line, and
I'll make sure it shows up here for all the world to see!

Friday, May 19, 2017

Catching UP!

No books went to press this week:

No Galleys Went Out This Week:

Work Began or continued on the following books:
ARMY OF THE DEAD by Ray Morand
   "Twists and turns, chivalry and treachery, sword fights and, goblins and fire-breathing dragons---this book has all the familiar trappings of fantasy, but it also has a very human and engaging woman at its heart. Its cliffhanger ending definitely left me wanting more." ---Nina M. Osier, Eppie winning author of the Regs, The Mad Fisherman's Daughter, Interphase, and the Farthinghome Series.
RED YEAR by Jan Shapin
   CAN A RED-HAIRED WOMAN FROM CHICAGO SINGLE-HANDEDLY
FORCE JOSEPH STALIN TO BACK DOWN?
   China, 1927. Thirty-three-year-old Rayna Prohme, 
accompanying her left-wing journalist husband, becomes the political confidant and lover of Mikhail Borodin, the Russian commander sent to prop up a failing Chinese revolution. In a bid to continue their love affair, Rayna hatches a plan to accompany Mme. Sun, the widow of the Chinese revolution’s founder, to Moscow. But Moscow doesn’t welcome the women.
CHASING NIGHTMARES, by James R. Kincaid
      So, they set out from Los Angeles, trying hard to find the perilous.  They try hard to make themselves unprepared, open, desperate to vivify their minds and senses.  They make it only as far as Lake Tahoe and the nearby Donner Pass, where they do succeed in attracting horrors, certainly not the ones they had, despite themselves, anticipated. 
            But the nightmares they wrap round themselves also contain a good deal more than shivers, and the calls on their resolve demand more than simple courage (or foolhardy consistency).  Without knowing how it happened, they are drawn into a different strangeness, asking for and yet reluctant to receive something very much like love.

EASTERN SHORE NOIR, by Members of the Writer's Bloc.
    These stories are told in many styles. Some writers have been drawn back to memories from long forgotten times; the life they once lived, or observations of families
and friends.  Explore the emotional connections, at the very core, with keen insights that are not all black and white.
   Understand, that the writers are the rays of light, passing 
 through the darkness, resonating long after the final page 
 
is turned.
M. Rita Tiso


Jack's News!
  by your Official Bookstore Cat,  
and Gossip Columnist.

Hi Folks,
  We have all the corrections for 

Beaucoup thanks to Ann Foley who rounded up 

info from

all the remaining authors and who helped with 

proofing George Mason's work.

If you have questions or comments

 e-mail

 arline@mail.com

I also heard from Ann Foley and Tom Taylor the following news:

The Writers Bloc will meet this Saturday, May 20, in Room  3 of the Salisbury library from 1 to 3. Hope to see you there.

Arline hasn't been very well this week, although she is still working on NOIR she didn't have the new (fixed) galley ready yet, as she had hoped to do. She didn't get anything done on her new book, either. With luck she should have the  fixed NOIR galley up soon.

As for here at home, we were all sad to learn that our cousin Harvey, and his cat Butch, have lost their loving lady, Sharon. She had been sick and suffering for a long time, and we shared their sadness, especially me and Spunky. We both know how hard it is to lose a human who loved you and our hearts go out to Butch. We still miss David's ear scratches and belly rubs.

Please remember to let us know if you have readings or events coming up, so we can pass on the news right here, for all the world to see. 

Just send arline@mail.com an e-mail, with 
 "News for Jack" 
 in the subject line, and
I'll make sure it shows up here for all the world to see!

Friday, May 12, 2017

Catching UP!

No books went to press this week:

Galleys that Went Out This Week:
CHASING NIGHTMARES, by James R. Kincaid
             Chasing Nightmares, deliberately embracing terrors, isn’t what you and I are likely to do.  But you and I are not the four central characters in this novel, pretty typical college kids who sense that their lives are so predictable they hardly seem present in them.  They are determined not to succumb to the commonplace scripts set out for them, pathways that are so comfortable they might as well be padded, MUSAK softly playing.
      So, they set out from Los Angeles, trying hard to find the perilous.  They try hard to make themselves unprepared, open, desperate to vivify their minds and senses.  They make it only as far as Lake Tahoe and the nearby Donner Pass, where they do succeed in attracting horrors, certainly not the ones they had, despite themselves, anticipated. 
            But the nightmares they wrap round themselves also contain a good deal more than shivers, and the calls on their resolve demand more than simple courage (or foolhardy consistency).  Without knowing how it happened, they are drawn into a different strangeness, asking for and yet reluctant to receive something very much like love.
WINTER SONG: Poetry by Bobi Sinha-Morey
   This time Bobbi Sinha-Morey gives us a potpourri. Cookie-cutter poems of mysterious women and her rarely seen neighbor; poems of strangeness and those that come from deep down in her soul. The stuff of life. Poems of beauty and love poetry. Poignant human dramas and the dark side of life. Ones that grow from her sensitive nature. Grim thoughts that paint the dawn. Often haunting, often prophetic. Her expressive thoughts so impassioned, so delicately heard. It's a world like the eclipse of the sun; you want to see it before the sky draws to a close.

Work Began or continued on the following books:
ARMY OF THE DEAD by Ray Morand
   "Twists and turns, chivalry and treachery, sword fights and, goblins and fire-breathing dragons---this book has all the familiar trappings of fantasy, but it also has a very human and engaging woman at its heart. Its cliffhanger ending definitely left me wanting more." ---Nina M. Osier, Eppie winning author of the Regs, The Mad Fisherman's Daughter, Interphase, and the Farthinghome Series.
RED YEAR by Jan Shapin
   CAN A RED-HAIRED WOMAN FROM CHICAGO SINGLE-HANDEDLY
FORCE JOSEPH STALIN TO BACK DOWN?
   China, 1927. Thirty-three-year-old Rayna Prohme, accompanying her left-wing journalist husband, becomes the political confidant and lover of Mikhail Borodin, the Russian commander sent to prop up a failing Chinese revolution. In a bid to continue their love affair, Rayna hatches a plan to accompany Mme. Sun, the widow of the Chinese revolution’s founder, to Moscow. But Moscow doesn’t welcome the women.

EASTERN SHORE NOIR, by Members of the Writer's Bloc.
   
These stories are told in many styles. Some writers 
have been drawn back to memories from long forgotten 
times; the life they once lived, or observations of families
and friends. 
Explore the emotional connections, at the very core, 
with keen insights that are not all black and white.
   Understand, that the writers are the rays of light, passing 
through the darkness, resonating long after the final page 
is turned.
M. Rita Tiso


Jack's News!
  by your Official Bookstore Cat,  
and Gossip Columnist.

Hi Folks,
  FINAL CALL for correction to Eastern Shore Noir

 Just e-mail

 arline@mail.com

if you haven;t done so already.

I Have not heard from the following

AUTHORS

   And  I am wondering if some of the e-mail addresses on our list are incorrect. The one for Beverly Rae Lynch is old and from when she lived in MD. Wouldn't it have changed when she moved to VA?
Do you ANY OF YOU have CURRENT E-MAILs,  OR phone numbers for the authors listed below? If so, please let them know we are ALL waiting on their Response to Galleys.

GWYNN G. HARRIS

NORM SMITH

BRUCE MARJORIE JONES

BEVERLY RAE LYNCH 


And did anyone proof Harry McCoy's works? Arline has, of course, but we all know she's not dependable... 

It's been an interesting week around here.  Arline worked on NOIR quite a bit, although she can't send corrected galleys until she hear's from EVERYONE!  She didn't get anything done on her new book, though. Too bad the Challenge is over. I happen to know she will be working on it over the weekend, though.

Spunky's hair  is growing in where the mockingbirds got her. They didn't get me, though. :D
Please be sure to let me know what is going on with you. Just sendan e-mail to arline@mail.com
and put:
 "News for Jack" 
 in the subject line, and
I'll make sure it shows up here for all the world to see!

Friday, May 5, 2017

Catching UP!

No books went to press this week:


Chasing Nightmares by James R. Kincaid
             Chasing Nightmares, deliberately embracing terrors, isn’t what you and I are likely to do.  But you and I are not the four central characters in this novel, pretty typical college kids who sense that their lives are so predictable they hardly seem present in them.  They are determined not to succumb to the commonplace scripts set out for them, pathways that are so comfortable they might as well be padded, MUSAK softly playing.
      So, they set out from Los Angeles, trying hard to find the perilous.  They try hard to make themselves unprepared, open, desperate to vivify their minds and senses.  They make it only as far as Lake Tahoe and the nearby Donner Pass, where they do succeed in attracting horrors, certainly not the ones they had, despite themselves, anticipated. 

            But the nightmares they wrap round themselves also contain a good deal more than shivers, and the calls on their resolve demand more than simple courage (or foolhardy consistency).  Without knowing how it happened, they are drawn into a different strangeness, asking for and yet reluctant to receive something very much like love

Work Began or cotinued on the following books:



RED YEAR by Jan Shapin
   CAN A RED-HAIRED WOMAN FROM CHICAGO SINGLE-HANDEDLY
FORCE JOSEPH STALIN TO BACK DOWN?
   China, 1927. Thirty-three-year-old Rayna Prohme, accompanying her left-wing journalist husband, becomes the political confidant and lover of Mikhail Borodin, the Russian commander sent to prop up a failing Chinese revolution. In a bid to continue their love affair, Rayna hatches a plan to accompany Mme. Sun, the widow of the Chinese revolution’s founder, to Moscow. But Moscow doesn’t welcome the women.



WINTER SONG: Poetry by Bobi Sinha-Morey
   This time Bobbi Sinha-Morey gives us a potpourri. Cookie-cutter poems of mysterious women and her rarely seen neighbor; poems of strangeness and those that come from deep down in her soul. The stuff of life. Poems of beauty and love poetry. Poignant human dramas and the dark side of life. Ones that grow from her sensitive nature. Grim thoughts that paint the dawn. Often haunting, often prophetic. Her expressive thoughts so impassioned, so delicately heard. It's a world like the eclipse of the sun; you want to see it before the sky draws to a close.


Jack's News!
  by your Official Bookstore Cat, 
and Gossip Columnist.

Hi Folks,
  FINAL CALL for correction to Eastern Shore Noir

 Just e-mail

 arline@mail.com

if you haven;t done so already.

Meanwhile, don't forget to let me know what you are all up to, so I can post it.
Just send an e-mail to arline@mail.com with 
 "News for Jack" 
 in the subject line, and
I'll make sure it shows up here for all the world to see!