Wednesday Words: Kid Games

Posted on June 20, 2018 by Silver James

#1lineWed isn’t playing around this week. No games when it comes to the THEME which is **HIDE** and **SEEK** and bonus points for using both. 😉 I get bonus points even if the snippet is short because…spoilers.

I know I keep saying that I’m close to finishing this dang book, tentatively titled NIGHT FALL but I really am. I have a love scene to finish, some explanations, and acceptance, and voila! It’ll be ready to edit and revise. I hope to have a cover to share soon. But I digress. Gravedigger. He…uhm…well…see…there was this thing that happened. And Shy left. So Digger turned wolf.

Gravedigger
Hardy sat, back braced against a broad tree trunk. He stared into the underbrush, his gaze fixed on me. “It’s time, Digger. You need to come back now. No more of this hide and seek shit.”

His voice was low, with a hint of alpha command in it. Not that it would work on me. We’d never tested who was the stronger wolf but I was damn sure he couldn’t force me to change. Only the Russian was capable of that.

“I brought your clothes, bro. It’s been over a week.”

I sank down on my haunches, regarding him unblinkingly, a snarl on my muzzle.

“You don’t scare me, Dig. You forget. I work for the Russian and I served under Mac McIntire. You’re tough. But you ain’t either of them.”

True.

“And not to sound humble, but I can take you.”

I snorted, which came out more of a sneeze. Like hell.

“I need to check your wound. I suspect you haven’t been shifting nor have you smeared any of the antibiotic ointment on it. That means you’ve been licking it. We heal fast but that was a wicked wound and wolf spit won’t do squat.”

I growled, even though he was right. That’s exactly what I’d done. If it worked for our wild kin, why wouldn’t it work for us?
****
Why yes, Gravedigger has been running wild licking his wounds, literally and metophorically. Anyone have hide-and-seek words to share? Anyone want to make odds on when I will actually type The End?

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Tuesday Titles: Mystery Man

Posted on June 19, 2018 by Silver James

Dennis Haggerty is a big city homicide detective thrust into small town life. And he is AWESOME! So is the writer who created him, B.E. Sanderson. I’ve read B.E. since the beginning of her career, when she first published her Once Upon a Djinn urban fantasy series. I stuck with her as she dove into the cold waters of suspense and mystery and I never looked back. If mystery and suspense is your thing, you need to give this author a chance. Because hey! You’re only out two bucks and I’ve heard a rumor that a 3rd Haggerty book is bound to happen fairly soon. Check out the blurbs then click the link at the bottom and go indulge your ol’ reading self. Trust me, you’ll be glad you dipped your toe in this pond!

Murder doesn’t happen here.

Serenity is the safest, little town in Colorado. But residents are dropping like flies. No big deal. Accidents happen.

Detective Dennis Haggarty is there to comfort his recently widowed sister, not investigate a homicide. However, finding a corpse means he can’t avoid doing his job—especially since the local authorities are determined to disregard the facts. Delving deeper, he finds a string of deaths everyone wants to ignore even when all the evidence points to murder. Lucky for the detective, one person in town seems rational enough to help him.

Too bad she’s his prime suspect.

Murder is never natural…

As the new police chief in the mountain town of Last Ditch, Colorado, the worst case Dennis Haggarty has investigated dealt with vandalized decorations. Life is slow and laid back, exactly what he and his new bride, Jillian, need after the debacle in Serenity. But when a hiker stumbles onto a gruesome scene in a secluded ravine, the calm world he’s trying to build for them fractures. Now he’s faced with determining whether a cougar attack is actually man-made mayhem in disguise, who’s lying to him, and how to take down another killer with no regard for human life.

Tough luck for him, he’s not certain he could pull the trigger again—not even to save his new life.

Both books are on sale for 99 cents or 99 pence, if you happen to be in the UK. Both are worth reading at full price, but if you enjoy a good “who-done-it” with a small bit of romance on the side

CLICK HERE to visit B.E.’s website and get the buy links to both Dennis Haggerty books.

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Meh Monday

Posted on June 18, 2018 by Silver James

As I stare morosely into my cup of coffee, I contemplate last week and the week to come. There were some words written. Not enough, but new words. There was much procrastination which is evil given the amount of stuff on my to-do list. My brain just didn’t want to engage. There was insomnia. There was baseball. There was a weekend. There was hot waeather.

The weekend was a smidge better. There was T-ball. There was Father’s Day and brunch out with the kids. There was much napping to make up for the little-sleeping nights. And there were audio books. Also Lucier was picked up by Netflix!

As for last week’s to-do list? Yeah…all that crap is still on this week’s to-do list. I think the dog days of summer have come early.

So, today, I ignore the innertubes of procrastination. At least until I get many new words written. The time for Meh is gone. If I keep telling myself this, maybe it’ll take hold. Right? Right! Okay. I’m going now. Just as soon as I post to my FB author page.

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Friday Sinema: “Perfect” Cranes

Posted on June 15, 2018 by Silver James

A woman was driving down a street in her Florida neighborhood and saw these sandhill cranes. She rolled down the car window, grabbed a video with her smart phone and Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect” just happened to be on the radio. Kismet because after her husband posted the video on Facebook, it went viral with over 9 million views. I think it’s an awesome way to finish up the week and get a head start on the weekend! Have a good one and remember to smile.

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Thursday Thoughts: Universal Pantser

Posted on June 14, 2018 by Silver James

Once upon a time, there were Plotters and Pantsers. The two peoples maintained a civil discourse but neither side truly understood the other. Then one day, in true Romeo and Juliet tradition, a Pantser and a Plotter sat down over coffee and discussed in complete honesty how their writing processes worked. An outsider occupied the next table and pretended not to listen but while eavesdropping, she discerned that she was a species altogether different–a melding of the Plotters, with their arcs and outlines and scene-by-scene linear writing, and the Pantsers, with their make-stuff-up as it happens free spirit. Lo and behold, she was a Puzzler, with a framework of story, of scenes that seemed to appear from the vast cosmic void of her Muse’s imagination, that followed no rhyme or reason but told a story in the end.

And then the Universe said…

Think not of “how,” Silver, whether in terms of logistics, people, or inspiration, but of the end results you dream of. The end, in thought, combined with action in its general direction, will always create the necessary circumstances, serendipities, epiphanies, ideas, and discoveries necessary to bring about the desired manifestation. The hard part is done for you. Your part is the easy part: Think and let go. Knock on every door and turn over every stone. Do not insist upon the path, but upon the overall change you wish to experience, and never take no for an answer.

You’ve been doing it your whole life.

You take after me,
The Universe
© http://www.tut.com ®

Silver, the end result forces the “hows” that yield the manifestation, just as long as you keep physically moving.

And that’s how stories get told. If you are a writer, what label do you use–if any? And as a reader, do you think you can tell what process the author uses to tell the story you’re reading?

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Wednesday Words: Jump and shout

Posted on June 13, 2018 by Silver James

It’s Wednesday so time for another snippet from the ol’ WIP. Today’s #1lineWed theme could make a writer JUMP for joy, JUMP off a cliff, or JUMP and shout.

To set the scene a little, Shy has shown up at the Nightriders’ clubhouse to confront Gravedigger. Except she doesn’t know who Gravedigger is, exactly. He’s switched cuts with one of the brothers until they figure out what she’s doing. There’s some NSFW stuff at the beginning that I left out. And there’s language. But who’re we kidding? It’s me. There’s ALWAYS language! 😆
****
Shy
… I searched for his name patch. Domino.

He was tall enough I had to tip my head back to look at his face since we were standing so close. A brick wall. That’s what he reminded me off. A brick wall that I could shelter behind. His brown eyes were framed by the most incredibly long black lashes. And they were intense as they stared at me. Sharp. Assessing. Assassin’s eyes. Scary as hell.

I was terrified and turned on and that was so messed up I couldn’t wrap my head around it. This guy—Domino—was one of the bad guys. The enemy. Who’d walked up behind me in the dark, shoved his hands down the front of my jeans and sent me straight to heaven. Christ but I was so screwed. And I needed to get out of there before I did something stupid like jump on him, wrap my legs around his waist and hump that hard-on pressing against the buttons of his fly.

Backing up, I bumped something solid. Strong hands gripped me. I jerked away, pivoted and swung. I knew how to make a fist. Hell, I’d participated in a few bar brawls. I barely glimpsed the guy as his hand flashed and wrapped around my fist. It stopped my momentum cold and jarred my arm all the way to my shoulder. Ow. That was gonna hurt like a sonavabitch tomorrow. The guy who’d snuck up behind me wasn’t looking at me. His eyes were glued to tall, dark and scary sexy. I glanced over my shoulder and stopped breathing.

Domino’s eyes promised death. And not mine. The guy whose fingers still wrapped around my fist was staring at him, not me. Movement flickered in the corner of my eye. Gravedigger was shrugging out of his cut and moving toward our little frozen tableau. He held out the black leather vest to Domino, who stripped off his vest. The two of them put the exchanged cuts back on, but Domino’s eyes never lost mine. My eyes didn’t lose him either.

I was confused and then the other shoe dropped. This was Gravedigger. Not the other guy—Domino, or whoever. They’d traded vests to confuse me. Why? Did they know who I was? Who I really was?

The hand immobilizing my fist dropped away and the guy said, “Get your shit together. You need to deal with this, Digger.”

I didn’t move for almost a minute, my arm frozen in mid-swing. Then my hand dropped to my side, fingers twitching with the need to reach for the knife in my boot.

The man whose voice haunted my nightmares spoke. “We need to talk.”
****
And I really hope I haven’t shared this snippet before because…my brain looks suspiciously like Swiss cheese. If I have, tough. Enjoy the reread. If I haven’t, I hope you still enjoy it. If you have some JUMPY words to share, awesome. If not, no biggy. It’s not like I’ll make you JUMP through hoops or anything. 😉

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Tuesday Treats: Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake

Posted on June 12, 2018 by Silver James

Are you celebrating Father’s Day with a family dinner? This recipe is a bit more convoluted and difficult than I usually share but TRIPLE CHOCOLATE MOUSSE CAKE!!!! And with that much chocolate, it makes for good eating any time you want to put in the effort. And did I mention TRIPLE CHOCOLATE?!?!

Prep Time: 25 min.
Total Time: 4 hr. 55 min.
Servings: 24 servings

Live the dream with this showstopping Triple-Chocolate Mousse Cake. Watch our step-by-step video to learn how to make this Triple-Chocolate Mousse cake. [To see the video, click the link below.]

What You Need
1/2 cup chocolate syrup
1 pkg. (2-layer size) chocolate cake mix
1 cup water
1/3 cup oil
7 eggs, divided
1/2 cup BREAKSTONE’S or KNUDSEN Sour Cream
1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 can (12 oz.) evaporated milk
1 pkg. (4 oz.) BAKER’S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, melted
1 cup thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping

Make It

Heat oven to 375ºF.

Pour chocolate syrup into 12-cup fluted tube pan sprayed with cooking spray.

Beat cake mix, water, oil and 3 eggs in large bowl with mixer 2 min. or until blended. Add sour cream; mix well. Pour over syrup in pan.

Beat cream cheese and sugar in separate bowl with mixer until blended. Add remaining eggs; mix well. Blend in evaporated milk and melted chocolate; gently spoon over cake batter in pan. Cover with Reynolds Wrap® Aluminum Foil sprayed with cooking spray, sprayed side down.

Place tube pan in large shallow pan. Add enough water to larger pan to come at least 2 inches up side of tube pan. Bake 1 hour 30 min. or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool cake completely in pan. Refrigerate 2 hours. Invert cake onto plate; remove pan. Serve cake topped with COOL WHIP. [This means dropping a dollop on the cut slices as your serve, rather than “icing” the cake with Cool Whip.]

Worth it to go to website and watch the video by CLICKING HERE. As you know, most of my characters are chocoholics but given that this is a cool dessert, I think Isabelle “Izzy” Fontaine Tornjak takes the time to fix this dessert for her Wolf, Rudy Tornjak, of ROGUE MOON noteriety. There’s enough cake-y goodness in this dessert that the guys are all over it when Izzy serves it up. If you’re familiar with the series, Rudy first appears in BLOOD MOON but he gets his mate and his story in ROGUE MOON. You can start with MOONSTRUCK: SECRETS to get a couple of stories. FYI, ROGUE is book #6 in the Moonstruck series. 🙂 Just click on the cover for the buy link. You can read it free with a Kindle Unlimited subscription.

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A Monday in June

Posted on June 11, 2018 by Silver James

T-Ball. Everyone should locate someplace where littles are playing T-ball. It’s “swarm ball” at it’s finest, though the coaches and parents are herding cats. When I coached competive travel fastpitch softball, I’d periodically insist my players sit down between tournament games and watch the littles play T-ball. It invariably made them smile, relax, and remember why they started playing ball in the first place. I am happy to related that Stormegeddon hit two of the longest balls in the two games his team played. He also got to play first in the second game. It made a fun day Saturday.

I’m also doing a massive re-listen to Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changeling series in anticipation of her new release, OCEAN LIGHT, which comes out Tuesday. It’s the next book in the continuing spin-off series, Psy-Changeling Trinity. I’m currently on book 7, with…something like 9 more to go so I won’t be jumping on OCEAN as soon as it hits my Audible App. That’s okay. I want to remember all the players, all the plot twists, all the everything leading up to the new addition. Doesn’t matter that I read and listened to this series multiple times. It still keeps my attention.

TV? Yeah…not so much. Though…I am curious about Kevin Costner’s new series, “Yellowstone,” coming to the Paramount channel on June 20.

Not a whole lot else going on so not much to follow-up on from last week. Instead, here are some random thoughts that have bounced around in that vast cosmic void I call my brain.

I was watching the news and flashed on one of my poly-sci classes from college. We spent a great deal of time talking about propaganda and how the media can either be coerced or complicit in promulgating it. I see far more complicity and complacency than my journalism teachings are comfortable with.

Self-driving cars make me nervous as hell. The fact that there’s a generation that won’t be able to manually parallel park sends shudders down my spine.

Adidas thinks she’s supposed to be fed no later than 6 a.m. It doesn’t matter that she take three bites, jumps down, and goes off somewhere to nap after those bites. She will sit next to my face and pat me until I notice her. And she gets upset when I pull the bedspread over my head. She then coerces Cooper into coming in and patting the bed until I acknowledge him. He thumps the mattress hard enough that it moves. I keep reminding myself that I’d be lonely without my furry children.

How does one tell the difference between an alpaca and a llama? Especially at a distance?

I need new glasses. And no, it has nothing to do with my previous question. My prescription has changed hugely, both my far vision and my medium. Surprisingly, my reading vision is better without my glasses, so I’m not sure what’s up there. Maybe in August, depending on my next HQN royalty check. Glasses are not cheap with my weird eyes.

That’s been my weirdness of late. What observations are you making?

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Friday Sinema: The Champion

Posted on June 8, 2018 by Silver James

Oklahoma’s own Carrie Underwood won her 18th Country Music Association award this week for the Female Artist Video of the Year. The video and the song? THE CHAMPION. Which I think is going to be my theme song for the rest of the year. If this doesn’t give you a lift on this Friday, and a bright outlook going into the weekend, there’s not much that will. Congrats, Carrie! You ARE a CHAMPION!

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Thursday Thoughts: Universal Knowing

Posted on June 7, 2018 by Silver James

I wish I could say I was emersed in my writing and forgot to set up this post yesterday, which is what I normally do. I try to be organized and stay a day ahead. The operative word is try. I’ll admit to being pretty bummed by the world of late. I see adults acting like spoiled toddlers–and don’t put words or sides into my mouth because most of you don’t know me well enough to know what I truly think. There’s enough to go around, trust me. There are times I want to lash back and tell people what I truly think, but then I realize that I’m not helping to solve the problem, I’m adding to it. Civility. We need more of it. So I’ll continue to keep my mouth shut because the Universe has it right once again.

Silver, you’re the only person who knows what’s right for you.

The only one –
The Universe
© http://www.tut.com ®

And if you don’t know what to do, Silver, wait until you do. In the meantime, bask in your awesomeness.

I do know what’s right for me. Most of the time. And if I’m waffling, I’ll wait. There are some things that I know without a doubt. I know right from wrong. And I know it’s right to bite my tongue and let the stupid people be stupid without my comments. That doesn’t necessarily make me awesome but hey, who am I to argue with the Universe, right?

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