A Great Read for the holiday season and Subtext?

Widow Rebecca Rice moves to Oklahoma planning to begin a hew life as a nurse and healer. It was 1895 and time for a change, or so Rebecca thought. For thirteen years Rebecca Rice had suffocated under the social restraints of widowhood, soaking up the leftovers of other people's lives. Armed with a knowledge of nursing and faith- healing that she learned from a visiting missionary group, she heads for the hill country of southeastern Oklahoma, Indian Territory, to share her new vocation.

Question from the e-mail: Members of my critique  group keep talking about subtext. I think I know what it means, but if I do, THEY don't? Can you help?

Answer:  Subtext is what is implied by what is said, although the actual words are not included in the text.  For instance our local TV Station has a slogan that says, "More News in Less Time!"  The subtext for that is: "More time for Advertising!" Because if they spend less time giving you news....

In dialogue and narrative both there is always both text and subtext. First there is what is said, and second what is implied by what is left unsaid. Often, subtext, which the reader usually picks up on, is as important as what is actually said. Look at the following sample:

    “Oh, is that slide show at the library with the nature photographer tonight?” John grimaced. “I’ll go if you want, but I’m really tired. After all, I was out to the Bible Study at church last night and you stayed home and read a book. This makes two nights in a row, for me. Of course, I don’t want to mess up your plans....” 

Of course he wants to mess up her plans! If he didn’t, he’d say, “You go ahead, hon. You're the one who loves photography. I’m ta bit too tired tonight." What this really says is, “You couldn’t find time to go with me last night, so I’m NOT going to be nice about what you want to do tonight.”

Black Raspberries Recipe

Plagued by religious friction, violent fights and a belief, "the grass is always greener,"my peripatetic parents dragged their five children in search of the next good farm. From upstate New York to the Mississippi Delta, to the hills of Ohio and West Virginia their dreams led us forward to disillusion and defeat. I was the middle child, unwanted from birth and over-looked while growing up. Though all five of us are deeply scarred, sometimes being the least-loved can be your salvation.
Black Raspberry Cobbler

Ingredients

3/4 cup flour
3/4cup light brown sugar

1 stick butter, softened
1/1 tsp salt

4 cups fresh or frozen black raspberries
3 tablespoons white sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch

Instructions

• Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly butter 8 ramekins or spray them with cooking spray.
  
• Placeflour, brown sugar, and butter in a bowl. Mix until crumbly; set aside.
  
• Place blueberries, sugar and cornstarch in another bowl; toss to coat well.
   
• Divide berry mixture evenly into 8 buttered ramekins, about ½ cup berries in each ramekin. Sprinkle  topping mixture evenly over fruit. Place ramekins on a baking sheet and bake 35-40 minutes or until fruit is bubbly and crisp topping is golden brown.

Catching UP!

Books that went to press or back to press this week:

ANNALS OF A DANGEROUS HANDYMAN, by Geoff Geauteerre
   The tale of Henri Chabron, Canadian, American, commercial mercenary for hire, in the business of personal salvage. The fast-moving story story tells how a child, becoming a man in a world of lies, deceit and betrayal, is still able to preserve his soul. 

 

 

 

 

 REFINER'S FIRE, Sisters in Freedom Series, Vol. 2, by Ann Nolder Heinz
   A life in ruins—and a journey of deliverance...Lizzie Hamilton’s life as a pampered belle in the antebellum South is over.  Alone and destitute due to the disintegration of her family’s fortunes, she makes the mistake of trusting a handsome but unprincipled professional gamble whose silver-tongued promises lead only to disgrace and virtual servitude. 

A VANISHING BREED, by Tom Ward, Jr.
    The story of Medic 1260 continues in the second book of the "Volunteer" series.

DOING DEAD MAN'S TIME, by Matthew L. Schoonover

   From the author who brought you the supernatural thrillers of The Arbiter series and the impossible mysteries of The Tornado Man series comes a new tale of supernatural suspense. Phil Talbot is in the here-after, awaiting judgment. He is given the opportunity to come back to the mortal plane and fix the one mistake that changed his supernatural fate. But there are two conditions: he isn’t to know what that mistake is, and he is not allowed to come back as himself. To add to this, the ‘‘other side’’ gets a hand in helping to decide his fate. If you think living’s hard, try DOING DEAD MAN’S TIME

 

Galleys that went out, are STILL out, or went out again, this week:

 

THE BOY WHO COULD UNDERSTAND ANIMALS: Magic Book Series, Vol. 2, by Evelyn Moll

   It was a normal, hot summer day for Josh Sparkins…lazily swinging in a hammock and thinking
about the upcoming school year. Then thoughts of his Gramps’s Ancient Magic book pop into his head. Remembering his recent use of his time-stopping ability and aging a year in the process brings a chill to the air. 

   Then Josh’s mom brings home a puppy from the Humane Society and Josh finds he can understand her barking.

 

PERIPHERAL VISION, by Joan L. Cannon. 
   A collection of widely published and, in some cases, award-winning short stories from well-respected novelist Joan L. Cannon. All the stories contain rich detail of both language and imagery.

   They are wide-ranging, with a variety of characters, experiences, and settings and are told in a unique style that is well-seasoned with both wit and insight.

Work began or Continued on the following books:   

THE BOY WHO COULD STOP TIME, Magic Book Series, Vol. 1by Evelyn Frederick Moll

   Josh Sparkins finds his grandfather's old magic book and decides to try a spell that is supposed to stop time. The trouble is, it works.

Work began or Continued on the following books:  

 

ROYAL PRINCESS: WIFE AND MOTHER, Royal Hearts of Mondoverde Series, Vol. 1 by Anna Dynowski  

    Prince Stefano, Crown Prince of Mondoverde, never shirks the responsibilities attached to his privileged position. Born to reign and trained from birth, he accepts his life is not his own and does not complain about his duties to the House of Graziani, at least, not publically. But now he must wed and produce the next heir to the throne. Can he find a woman who is willing to take him on, embrace the public life of a royal princess, and produce the required heir? 

 

THE KIDNAPPING OF SEN. ANDY THOMPSON: Adventures on Capital Hill Series, Vol. 2. 

   by Celine Rose Mariotti
  

    Do you ever wonder what it would be like to have U.S. Senators who really did their job, got along well, and stood up for what was right? This is not your typical book about politics.  It’s the perfect U.S. Senate!  Throughout the book, there is an ongoing health care debate.  Senators Andy Thompson and Hunt Wagner lead the way with a resolution to try to stop President Robinson and Secretary von Schumann from sending troops to Botswana.  But a real adventure begins when Senator Thompson is kidnapped and Brian Travors, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State is suspected of being involved.  Senators Hunt Wagner and Darius Clemens head a committee hearing to get to the truth.  President Robinson suffers a heart attack and Vice-President Barry Newman takes over temporarily.  This book is a real page turner!  Read it and you’ll have hope for tomorrow!

 

 

Earthquake in Messina Italy, in the early 20th Century

STORYBOOK II, by Elena Dorothy Bowman

      Within the pages of this book are stories that my mother once told me; of certain incidences that she remembered. But mostly it is compiled of the memories that were a part of all our lives.
    There were happy times and there were sad times. It was a time of struggle, of prosperity, of joblessness, of wondering where the next paycheck would come from.  Times when a “breadwinner” didn’t have the money to buy a quart of milk, put bread on the table, or a dime to ride the trolley to work. Even a time when the poor didn’t know they were poor. But always, a family that stood together no matter what problems they were facing.  
 

 
THE MURDER OF SEC. JUDD KANE: Adventures on Capital Hill Series, Vol. 2. 

   by Celine Rose Mariotti
  
    Do you ever wonder what it would be like to have U.S. Senators who really did their job, got along well, and stood up for what was right? This is not your typical book about politics.  It’s the perfect U.S. Senate!  Throughout the book, there is an ongoing health care debate.  Senators Andy Thompson and Hunt Wagner lead the way with a resolution to try to stop President Robinson and Secretary von Schumann from sending troops to Botswana.  But a real adventure begins when Senator Thompson is kidnapped and Brian Travors, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State is suspected of being involved.  Senators Hunt Wagner and Darius Clemens head a committee hearing to get to the truth.  President Robinson suffers a heart attack and Vice-President Barry Newman takes over temporarily.  This book is a real page turner!  Read it and you’ll have hope for tomorrow!

REVEREND CASTLE'S CRISIS, Rev. Castle series, Vol. 2 by Celine Rose Mariotti
 
   Rev. Castle is back in another cozy mystery.

BLEEDING HEARTS: Killian Kendal Mystery Series, Vol. 1
   Winner of the Stonewall Society's 2002 Pride in the Arts Literary Award in the Whodunit Category!

REAP THE WHIRLWIND: Killian Kendall Mystery Series, Vol. 2,  by Josh Aterovis.
   Suicide, or murder? That's the question in the second Killian Kendall mystery. Will Smith suspects murder when an old childhood pal drowns, and asks his friend Killian for help in solving the mystery.

TRUTH OF YESTERDAY,  by Josh Aterovis

ALL LOST THINGS, by Josh Aterovis

CHANGE  OF WORLDS, by Josh Aterovis

Jack's News!

  by your bookstore cat,  gossip columnist, and feline friend.

 

Andy Nunez is finishing up his new book on Pirates. He painted the cover himself!

Isn't he a really good artist??

I can't wait to read it. I saw a pirate's cat on TV once. His bo'sun had a cat named Scorge!

 

As you can see behind me, I am in a holiday mood. I decorated! Well, Arline and Roger did. But I supervised while my baby sister took a nap. I have to say, I did a pretty good job.

Arline has been out of sorts all week. Grumpy from being on her feet with the decorations. She only put up the little ceramic tree and got out Roger's Toy Grinch. Not a lot of work there. Roger helped with the decorations and then he got out the guitar and sang for us. Boy I love to hear him sing. Sometimes I join right in...just can't help myself.

 

Don't forget me IF you are going to have a book signing somewhere, 

make a personal appearance, or are 

planning a launch party where you live, 

please let ME KNOW. Just put 

 NEWS FOR JACK, in the subject line, 

and we will be sure your news 

 is included here in the blog and posted on Facebook!

 

Your friend, JACK

Great Holiday Read and a Cake Recipe

The characters will walk right off the pages and into your heart because they are real live people. This is a treasury of family stories, told with easy Southern charm and warm humor.A great read for the holiday season.

Any Holiday Celebration
Coffee Cake

Ingredients

• 1 cup pecans, chopped

• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar

• 1/4 cup granulated white sugar

• 1/4 cup butter, melted

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• CAKE:

• 7 green maraschino cherries, finely chopped

• 7 red maraschino cherries, finely chopped

• 1/2 cup shortening

• 1 cup sugar

• 2 eggs

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream

Directions

1. In a small bowl, combine the first five ingredients; mix well. Set aside.
   
2.  Drain cherries on paper towels. In a bowl, cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla; mix well. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream. Fold in cherries.
   
3. Pour half of the batter into a greased 9-in. springform pan; sprinkle with half of the pecan mixture. Top with remaining batter and pecan mixture. Bake at 350° for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen. Remove sides of pan just before serving. Yield: 12 servings.

How to cut a MS. Question from the e-mail

Lizzie Hamilton’s life as a pampered belle in the antebellum South is over. Alone and destitute due to the disintegration of her family’s fortunes, she makes the mistake of trusting a handsome but unprincipled professional gambler whose silver-tongued promises lead only to disgrace and virtual servitude.

Question:  How do you cut a manuscript? Is there an easy way to do it?

Answer: There are several good ways. Many authors will say to drop a sub-plot; delete  or combine characters with only a background role; OR to look for scenes where nothing CHANGES  and delete those.

But you asked what I do. And one of my biggest failings is that I tend to overwrite, and overexplain. I don't trust my reader to "get it" enough. So my own method differs from those I have been taught by excellent teachers over the years.


First I use the "search" function to look for words like:
and
because
for
either
or

and I make sure that what comes after them  is really something new.  If it's "already been said" (thank you Alice Orr, for warning me about my own bad habits)... if it's clear without any added explanation, I delete the explanation.

NEXT I SEARCH for prepositions, and see if the following phrase is one the sentence can do without. In my own work, I have often found that I add prepositions to make sure I've been clear, when actually I've already said all that  needed to be said and I'm just not trusting my reader enough to know they will understand.

List of common prepositions:

and
but
for
of
to
because
as
at
by
except
for
into
with
over
under
moreover


LAST BUT NOT LEAST, I search for  ly to find all the adverbs. (Thank you Carla Neggers for warning me about them: "Adverbs are lazy writing.")

My own most overused adverbs are:

really
very
truly
and any ly adverb that follows a said.  I usually delete them or replace them with an image so the reader can See it, rather than be told what happened or will happen. That's what teachers mean when they say "Show don't tell."

Question from the e-mail

An exciting young adult adventure based on true events in 1880, and a great gift for your favorite teen, who may not realize that in that day many teens were considered responsible  and expected to be self-supporting.

Who killed Andrew Gates’s father? Can he fill his father’s shoes? These are the questions facing 14-year-old Andrew as he struggles to understand a world turned upside down.

With the death of his father, Andrew has to go from childhood to adulthood while fighting with the idea that maybe his father died in vain.

Question from the e-mail: I am a new author, but have worked on a newspaper for years. I read your submission guidelines closely and it seems to me they are very different from the usage standards we were required to meet at the paper. Any comment?

Answer:  Sure. It's all in the stylebook. I, too, used to work on a Daily Newspaper. Cops and courts were my beat,  and the book we followed was the AP Handbook though most of us didn't bother to look up the correct usage. If we needed to know whether to type five dollars, or $5.00 or $5 dollars, we just asked Sylvia Windsor, who had been at the paper since she was in high school and knew all the rules hands down.

With print books, the Chicago Manual of Style, is used by most professional publishers. If you sell your book to Random House, or Doubleday, or Knopf, that is what they will tell you to follow.

But each publisher, even lowly us, will have a list of exceptions any of those rules in order to avoid problems inherent in our system. For instance CMS says that "okay" is always OK, all caps, no periods, a plain initialism, like FBI. CMS says good-bye always gets a hyphen, even though you will see it printed without one by many professional publishers.

But when files are converted to e-book formats as well as print, words with all caps Can and Do Disappear without a trace. So we use okay, and never OK and we us a.m. and p.m. instead of A.M. and P.M.even thought CMS wants those to be caps too. Yes, you will see FBI in our books and TV and a few other initialisms, but we work extra hard to stay away from them, lest they disappear altogether and leave every reader confused ab  t wh t w s sup os d to fill i th  e em t  let  r spaces.

It's that Goodie Time of year

 A perfect gift for the youngster in your life!
Vol. 1 in a three book Series.

By Elaine Simmons

Rootie, the pot-bellied pig, learns about friendship and about danger.

Cream Cheese Penguins

Ingredients Edit and Save

Original recipe makes 18 penguins Change Servings

• 18 jumbo black olives, pitted
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

• 18 small black olives
• 1 carrot

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• PREP
  30 mins
• READY IN
  35 mins

Directions

1. Cut a slit from top to bottom, lengthwise, into the side of each jumbo olive. Carefully insert about 1 teaspoon of cream cheese into each olive. Slice the carrot into eighteen 1/4 inch thick rounds; cut a small notch out of each carrot slice to form feet. Save the cut out piece and press into center of small olive to form the beak. If necessary cut a small slit into each olive before inserting the beak.
   
2. Set a big olive, large hole side down, onto a carrot slice. Then, set a small olive onto the large olive, adjusting so that the beak, cream cheese chest and notch in the carrot slice line up. Secure with a toothpick.