I missed all of last season’s Game of Thrones episodes. I had them on the DVR. Then things happened and I lost all of them. The new–and final–season starts in 9 days. Here’s a teaser. I can’t wait. What about you? GoT fan? I know epic fantasy isn’t for everyone. If it’s not your catnip, what upcoming series are you looking forward to?
Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Good advice. Especially when that enemy is new words. :lol” So, here it is, another Wednesday and I’m finally getting some new words tippety-typed onto the blank screen that used to be my monitor. Sadly, though, I had no current words for the #1lineWed THEME of **ENEMY**. I have some newish words, though. From the next Penumbra Papers novel. I need to get back into Sinjen’s head soon. It’s almost as interesting a place to be as Sade’s. *bwahaha* This is from the opening of that book–not a prologue per se, just Sinjen reflecting on life. And death.
****
Sade was human. She would age. Die.
He was vampire. He would not change, except to grow colder, more distant. Until an enemy managed to stake him or he walked into the sun to end his existence, he would not die. They’d argued over something of no consequence, or so he’d thought. Sade didn’t think when her blood was up. And even as a Templar, he hadn’t been a saint.
Sinjen could no longer remember the woman’s name. Hadn’t thought about her, especially not since meeting Sade. Granted, she was attractive, with a face and body that most men would consider beautiful. But after Sade? Women faded into the background, like so much white noise.
He swirled the whiskey, watching the lights sparkle through it. He hadn’t wanted to go to that bloody restaurant in the first place. Sade had finally returned from an assignment and he hadn’t wanted to share her with the world. But she insisted. Then she stepped out to take a phone call.
When she returned, that blasted woman was sitting in Sade’s chair, one hand squeezing his arm, the other his thigh, doing her best to look sultry and enticing. He hadn’t been interested.
But Sade overreacted, as she occasionally did. So often he found her antics entertaining but that night? He’d been out of sorts. Missing her. Sade. Wanting to take her home to bed. The woman—what was her bloody name? His fingers tunneled through his hair and he forced his hand to return to the arm of the chair. Closing his eyes, he leaned his head back.
The earth spun on its axis. He could feel the slip of time as sunrise edged ever closer. Maybe he would remain here on the balcony, looking out across the lake. He could watch the first rays of dawn without ill effect, then the lethargy of the day sleep would envelop his body. He would close his eyes, a last breath expelled from his lungs as his heart slowed and ceased beating altogether. He could sit here, watch the sun, and find some semblance of peace.
But he wasn’t a coward. He rose from the chair, went inside, emptied the glass of the whiskey he could no longer enjoy. Courage, he realized, was saying goodbye to the one woman who filled his death with life, so she could live hers to the fullest. And strength was watching over her from afar to ensure she she lived it. Sade deserved her fairy tale ending. And he would never be a prince.
****
This story goes to some dark places for both Sinjen and Sade. I can’t wait! What about y’all? Any enemy words to share?
Sometimes, you just want something different, even if time might be tight. I love feta and red onions and Greek-like things and “designed” a pizza we often order from Papa Murphy’s: their Mediterranean deep dish (oil and garlic sauce, chicken, fresh spinach, and roma tomatoes) minus the tomatoes with added mixed onions. I’ve been known to add Kalamata olives. Anway, I have to drive several miles now to get my pizza fix and this one is quick and easy, even if it’s BBQ based. 😆
Total Time: 22 Min
Prep: 10 Min
Cook: 12 Min
Use Kraft-Heinz BBQ chicken pizza recipe to make a tasty Feta-BBQ Chicken Pizza to serve tonight! This BBQ chicken pizza recipe only takes 22 minutes to complete.
What You Need
1 ready-to-use baked pizza crust (12 inch)
1 cup KRAFT Shredded Mozzarella Cheese, divided
1 pkg. (6 oz.) OSCAR MAYER CARVING BOARD Flame Grilled Chicken Breast Strips, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup KRAFT Original Barbecue Sauce
1 pkg. (4 oz.) ATHENOS Traditional Crumbled Feta Cheese
1 small red onion, halved, sliced and separated into rings
Let’s Make It
1 – Heat oven to 450°F.
2 – Place pizza crust on baking sheet; sprinkle with 1/2 cup mozzarella.
3 – Toss chicken with barbecue sauce; spoon onto crust. Top with feta, onions and remaining mozzarella.
4 -Bake 10 to 12 min. or until mozzarella is melted and crust is golden brown. Let stand 5 min. before cutting to serve.
Kitchen Tips
Tip 1 – Serving Suggestion: This flavorful pizza goes well with a crisp mixed green side salad topped with your favorite KRAFT Light Dressing.
Tip 2 – Special Extra: Sprinkle with 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro just before serving.
Y’all know the drill. CLICK HERE to head on over to Kraft-Heinz for all the nutritional info. Our Wolf of the Week, Brody “Babel” Buchanan wants us to know that even a CIA assassin can learn to cook. His mate, Zeta Cordero, promises not to kill him for being such a tease. Zeta adds, “I will admit that I do not cook. I learned to do this just to make him shut up.” You can read their story in UNDER THE ASSASSIN’S MOON. Just click on the book cover to head on over to Amazon. It’s available to read free with a Kindle Unlimited subscription, or to buy for Kindle or in paperback.
I don’t think I’ve actually celebrated April Fools’ Day in…like a long time, but this meme made me laugh because…truth.
So, in summation…there was a week. I did stuff, listened to stuff, read stuff, watched stuff, and wrote stuff. That is all.
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Okay. April Fools’! Y’all know I wouldn’t let you get away without a bunch of boring narration on my part. 😉
So, writing. I actually did some. In fact, I finally got my $h!t together, got the first chapter and some plot points figured out on Cooper’s book and sent it all off to NYC. Mr. Ed liked the changes and the direction and I now have a go to proceed with the whole book, deadline in June, release early in 2020. I’m going to knock it out and then get back on track with my other series, though maybe, if I get all inspired, I can work simultaneously. Anyway, it feels like that light at the end of the tunnel isn’t a train.
TV: Live PD is back! And they’re here in central Oklahoma riding with the OHP (Oklahoma Highway Patrol). The first two nights? Yeah, mostly boring. Ah well. Life in the fast lane. Not! 😆
Reading: I made it through book #6.5 in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series before sidetracking. Book 7 is on hold at the library, another book I had on hold dropped–which I polished off today because it was short–and now I’m going to re-listen to book 1 in a spin-off series in Shelly Laurenston’s shifter world. The honey badgers and bears are always a treat. The second book is out but I want to refresh my memory as to the events and characters, plus I laugh out loud. For readers looking for a paranormal romance series with lots of species, AND humor, I can recommend Laurenston’s The Pride Series. The world starts with THE MANE EVENT. I’ve laughed through all of these books but there’s also sweet romance and lots of action.
Sports: I ❤ Spring! Baseball! Softball! And did I mention BASEBALL?!?! My Cards played the Brewers and came out of the series 1-3. Ah well. There were lots of homeruns and some great plays but the Brewers are expected to win the NL Central so… My OSU Cowboys are playing some good baseball. Theyr'e 17-8 on the season, and have some votes to bust the top 25. My Cowgirls are ranked! Their place depends on which poll but hey! They're ranked and playing awesome ball. They went 2-1 in the three-game series against Texas (higher ranked), including one game where they run-ruled the Longhorns. OU is ranked #2. They're always hot. If OSU and OU both make it into the Women's College World Series, there would be sell-out crowds! Not holding my breath but it would be fun to watch.
Let's see. What else? I did some updating on the website, getting up-do-date info there, especially on the book list page. I'd love to be in a position to hire somebody to do all the "maintenance/social media" stuff for me. 😆 Then I could just be a hermit in my writer's cave. On that note, I have words to write, coffee drink, and a Monday to face. That fact that it's Monday is enough of an April Fools' joke.
What about y'all? Do you like April Fools' or wish it would die a natural death? Do you play pranks? What are you reading/watching/writing? How's your world? Have a great week.
Warning: This meditation video is totally NSFW (Not Safe For Work–unless you are listening with headphones), but if y’all have had the month I’ve had, this one is for you. 😉 Have a great weekend!
I never used to have a problem with the big nasty that all writers face at some point in their career–the dreaded Writer’s Block. I always had ideas that needed words, stories that needed telling, characters to meet, plots to unfold. And then I…didn’t. I got frustrated. I sat and stared at the monitor. I put away the frustrating WIP, tried to work on other ideas but…nada. So the frustration built. And no matter how hard I pushed, the words just wouldn’t come. Well, words came, just not the right ones. So things stalled. Completely. And time passed. LOTS of time. I truly feared that I’d never find the words. So I started looking for answers, and I found this tucked back in my draft folder:
You can have what you want, do what you dream, and brave what you fear, Silver, if you first see it done in your mind.
Always works.
Always,
The UniverseAnd truly, Silver, your imagination is world class. Although just which “world” is still being hotly debated.
Once upon a time, I would have agreed that I had a world-class imagination. Lately? Not so much, but still, something clicked with this message from the Universe. So I walked away from the keyboard, the stories, and the words. I quit trying to force them. I did some short 250-word themed flash fiction that really didn’t have much to do with anything but…new words based on a prompt. And then one night, while lying awake staring into the dark, a story started taking shape. The beginning words resonated. And the next morning, I sat and wrote. A chapter. Just one, but it’s the first chapter. And maybe…just maybe, the next 45,000 words will come as well.
Are you dreaming about what you want? Or do you fear it will never happen?
Today, #1lineWed is all about the friend zone. Best friends, friends to enemies, old friends, new friends, ex-friends. All the words matter. Have you figured out the theme is **FRIENDS**? And this week’s featured Wolf is Brody “Babel” Buchanan from UNDER THE ASSASSIN’S MOON. He’s “tagged” his mate, Izeta “Zeta” Cordero and she’s meeting his friends, Griff and Lennox from ASSASSIN’S MOON because…hey! That’s how it works in my world. 😆
****
“So tell me, Mrs. Peel, who do you work for?”
She turned her head ever so slowly to regard him solemnly. “My name is not Mrs. Peel.”
“So what is your name? And what alphabet agency do you work for?”
Abel cleared his throat. “Even odds on the CIA.”
Brody didn’t hide his smile as her pupils dilated just the tiniest bit. She countered with, “Why does he—” She indicated Abel with a tilt of her head. “—call you Babel?”
“It’s a nickname. Languages. Speaking and reading them. It’s my superpower.” If she was CIA or one of the covert national security groups, they’d have a file on him so he wasn’t giving anything away.
“I see.” She blinked several times before continuing. “The Tower of Babel. I suppose that is a better nickname than Nimrod.”
Brody and Abel burst out laughing and even Lennox pressed her lips together. The woman looked confused. Brody explained. “Nimrod has a whole different meaning in the modern world, Mrs. Peel.”
“Please stop calling me that.”
“Fine. Tell me your name.”
She hesitated, and her throat worked as she swallowed. Brody was fascinated. So was his wolf. Man and beast stilled, ready to pounce on their prey, waiting for her to speak. She wet her lips, and Brody’s dick went straight to rock hard.
“Zeta,” she whispered. This was wrong. She should not reveal who she was, but there was something about this man, about his friend and his friend’s woman that felt…right. And there was something about this mission that felt horribly wrong. And that was wrong in and of itself. She didn’t feel things. She just followed orders. But this man…he made her wonder. About all sorts of things. Like what it would feel like to kiss him.
She blinked, breaking the intense focus she’d placed on her target and finished. “Izeta Cordero. I work for the CIA, and I was sent here to kill you.”
****
Hope you enjoyed the snippet. If you haven’t read their story, you can CLICK HERE for a variety of ways to snag the book. It’s a cross-over novel between my Moonstruck world and Susan Stoker’s Special Forces: Operation Alpha world.
Writers, got any friendly words for us today? Readers, do you like friends to enemies…er…enemies to friends stories? 😉
A lot of people associate apple pies with fall and the holiday seasons. Me? I like apple pie any time, especially warm with vanilla bean ice cream. Do you need a dessert for a family pot luck? Easter, Mother’s Day? Memorial Day picnic? This recipe is quick and yummy and the crust? Yeah…this unusual crust makes these bars special!
Total Time: 1 Hr 30 Min
Prep: 35 Min
Cook: 55 Min
Serve 16 with these delicious Apple Pie Bars! Watch our video to watch how to serve a crowd with these delicious Apple Pie Bars for dessert.
What You Need
1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup butter, softened
3-1/4 cups flour, divided
10 Granny Smith apples, peeled, sliced (about 9 cups)
1-1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbsp. water
Let’s Make It
1 – Heat oven to 400ºF.
2 – Beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl with mixer until blended. Gradually add 3 cups flour, mixing on low speed after each addition just until blended. Shape into 2 balls. Place 1 ball on large lightly floured sheet of waxed paper; flatten slightly. Cover with second floured sheet of waxed paper. Roll out dough to 15-1/2×10-1/2-inch rectangle. Discard top sheet of waxed paper.
3 – Spray 15x10x1-inch pan with cooking spray; invert over rolled-out dough. Flip dough and pan together. (Pan will be on bottom.) Remove second waxed paper sheet; gently press dough onto bottom and up side of pan. Toss apples with combined granulated sugar, cinnamon and remaining flour; spread onto bottom of crust.
4 – Repeat rolling out of remaining dough ball to make second rectangle. Remove top sheet of waxed paper; carefully flip dough over apples. Discard waxed paper. Tuck edges of dough down sides of pan to enclose apples. Cut several slits in top crust to vent steam.
5 – Bake 35 to 40 min. or until golden brown. Cool 15 min.
6 – Mix powdered sugar and water; drizzle over dessert. Cool 30 min. before cutting into bars.
Kitchen Tips
Tip 1: Size Wise – Balance out your food choices throughout the day so you can savor one of these warm apple bars.
Tip 2 : Note – The dough is rolled between the sheets of waxed paper both to help prevent the dough from sticking to the work surface and to make it easier to transfer the rolled-out dough to the baking pan.
Tip 3: How to Make for 8 Servings
Prepare recipe as directed, cutting all ingredients in half, assembling dessert in 9-inch square pan and reducing the baking time to 30 to 35 min. or until bars are golden brown. Makes 8 servings.
Click on over to the Kraft-Heinz website for a how-to video and all the nutritional details. I checked with Lennox Morgan from ASSASSIN’S MOON and she admits that she can pretty much make this recipe anywhere she can get cream cheese and Granny Smith apples. She makes the full recipe and if she’s really lucky, she gets one bar all to herself. She notes that Tex’s kids really like them too. If you haven’t read Griff and Len’s adventure, you can read MONTANA MOON for free with a Kindle Unlimited subscription, or grab it in digital or paperback from Amazon for your very own copy. Just click on the book cover to get a copy.
What about y’all? Apple pie only on specific holidays or is it a year-round treat?
Madness is defined as doing the same thing over and over while expecting different outcomes. Or at least that’s my definition. I need to try something different. I’m gonna get right on that. Eventually.
So, there was a week and a weekend. Some stuff happened. Other stuff didn’t. End of story. Going back to bed now. Or not.
Let’s see. What did happen? Very little writing. Some health issues. A book trailer (see below). Reading. Baseball. A joint celebration of a 93 year-old Navy vet (who served on the Enterprise) and an 80 year-old army sergeant. Good cake and ice cream. Awesome veterans. Lots of social media drama. I stayed out of it. Reading/listening. Stress. Laughter. Hugs from a BIG 5 year old. (His b-day check up said he’s the size of a 7 year old. Yikes!)
Still trying to befriend (domesticate) the two feral kittens. I’ll make them house cats if I can catch one or both. Met the new neighbors while I was out feeding/calling the cats to eat. They’re…interesting. I think it’s grandfather/grandmother (but not sure about grandmother), son, daughter-in-law and grandsons. Granddad has a long beard. Son has tattoos, including on his head. They’re friendly. They wave. I wave back. They have a big trailer that makes me very curious about what they carry in it and what they do. (Not in a bad way, in an I’m-a-nosy-neighbor-who-writes way.) I suppose I could just ask…huh?
We’re coming up on opening day. I’m getting to see the starting lineup for the Cardinals in the spring training games now. Fun times. Speaking of watching baseball on TV, I wish we had a Menard’s. Just sayin’…
The NCAA basketball tournament is going on. *yawn* Round ball is sooo not my game. Nothing against it, just…not interested. OU is in it and pulled off a first-round upset. There were several of those, evidently. People’s brackets are blowing up. Which makes me sound like I care. Nope. But I have friends who do and I’m hearing about it.
I’ve been bouncing around on my reading/listening. I rated a book low because the author (who’s “facts” are problematic on a good day) got it all wrong. It made me sad because I LIKED the characters and the story line. I just spent so much time ranting (rather than, you know, actually listening to the book) about how she totally screwed the pooch on major plot points dealing with law enforcement stuff. I’m also revisiting a series that I tried several times to read the first book and just couldn’t get beyond the first several chapters because…reasons. Listening to them has eased some of the hot-button issues. There are also several upcoming books that I’m looking forward to. More about them when they drop.
And that’s pretty much my life. As I’m typing this on Sunday, I have a sty that’s all but closed my left eye. I’m headed off for hot packs. By the time you read this, it’ll either be better or I’ll still be applying hot packs. LOL Happy Monday and may this week bring you nothing but good!
Oh, and my attempt at a book trailer….
Sooo…another late start. I got distracted. It happens. Real life stuff. Marketing stuff. (I’m attempting another book trailer and I’m not only having to find images but having to re-teach myself how to use the music and video programs and the lessons are slow.) And no, that’s not why–exactly–I picked this tidbit from the Universe. I mostly picked it because it reminds of of how hard, yet simple, it is to be a writer. Writing comes easy. Usually. Not always–like now when real life is being a witch. It’s the other stuff that goes with writing–the publishing, the marketing, the begging for reviews, the worry about sales and whether you can uphold your financial obligations for the month that drags on the soul and the imagination.
Discretion, dear Silver, is the better part of valor.
Spontaneity is the better part of brilliance.
And imagination is the better part of making dreams come true.
Yes you can,
The Universe
© http://www.tut.com ®Things I learned, Silver, from a bard, a scientist, and a child who went on to rock the world…. Yes you have.
Still, the Universe has faith in me so I guess it’s time to pull up my big girl panties, grab another cup of coffee and get to work.
NEW RELEASE
NEW RELEASE
NOW AVAILABLE
Silver James 