Monday Madness in March

Posted on March 27, 2017 by Silver James

Not ready to face the day, but yeah… Work mode. Must get self in gear. Working on it.

So, who’s paying attention to the NCAA basketball tournament? *looks around* “Bueller?” … “Bueller?” Yeah, not a big roundball fan. On the other hand, baseball! We’re a week away from Opening Day! *muppet flail cheering* In the meantime, I’m watching some Spring Training games, college baseball, and college softball.

I’m still staying away from Facebook–mostly. I feel like a slug of a friend because I hang out on my author page and check a few groups that are writing/reading related. I avoid my personal feed because I’m so sick and tired of the politics and hatred that is rampant. I…just no. Not going there. For my sanity and blood pressure, I need to stay away until people calm down. Which means probably never. Jiminy. I just don’t understand the maniacal levels of loathing and malice. Moving on…

Reading! That’s a safe topic. Mostly. One of my long-term goals as a book “collector” is to own the entirety of JD Robb’s IN DEATH series in all three formats (hardback, Kindle, audio) if available, paperback if not in HB. Some of the earlier books aren’t in HB, except in a Thorndike reprint. With this current “re-listen” of the series, I broke down and started filling in the blanks where I’d used the library before. I still need to get PORTRAIT IN DEATH and IMITATION IN DEATH in digital/Kindle versions. And I need all the anthologies. I have them in paperback, but the individual stories are now in Kindle and on Audible but it’ll be awhile before I “complete the set.” I’d already broken down and now buy all new releases in all three versions to begin with. I also found a new-to-me author, Erin Kellison, and read her TEMPTED BY FIRE, the 1st book in her Bloodfire series. Dragons, people! It was a short, fun read. I’ll eventually get back into the series when my book budget recovers from the ID splurge. I also discovered that Andre Norton’s WITCH WORLD, the first book in that series, is on Kindle Unlimited! *muppet flail yays* Yeah, snatched that baby for old times’ sake. I’m doing a little of that…rereading favorite books from long ago. Dragonriders of Pern, Anita Blake, and now Andre Norton. I grabbed YEAR OF THE UNICORN and CATSEYE when they were on daily deals. Read UNICORN. Haven’t read CATSEYE yet. Was thinking about it when I discovered WW was on KU.

So…that’s life at the moment. Writing, revisions, edits, writing, treading water to keep my head above water. How’s life in your corner of the world?

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Friday Sinema: You know that feeling…

Posted on March 24, 2017 by Silver James

I caught this commercial the other night and splorted Diet Coke. I hope you enjoy this awkward moment as much as I did. Have a wonderful weekend!

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Thursday Thoughts: Don’t Compromise

Posted on March 23, 2017 by Silver James

Sometimes, even when things are going good, something ugly will rear its head. Depression. Discouragement. Disappointment. Dejection. Despair. Disillusionment. Call it what you want but it hits all of us at one time or another. The thing is, at the same time, we all have a dream. Or three. The Universe has a thing about dreams. And a message. One I’m going to do my best to pay attention to.

Silver, never compromise a dream.

Sure, take a step back, regroup, go bowling, but never compromise a dream.

Ciao,
The Universe
© http://www.tut.com ®

Well… I don’t really bowl, Silver, but I do love the shoes.

Time to step back, regroup, and dive right back into life. Who wants to go bowling?

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Wednesday Words: Twisting in the Wind

Posted on March 22, 2017 by Silver James

Another Wednesday, another #1lineWed prompt. Today’s? **TWIST** Oh, the possibilities…twist and shout, twist and turn, twisting in the wind, twisted up. 😆 Today’s snippet comes from NIGHT FIRE, the story of an arsonist named Smoke and the arson investigator who twists him into knots. 😉

****
He straddled his bike, kicked it into gear. He had to get away. The Nightriders had attorneys with big retainers. They’d see to those bogus arson charges. They always did, even the ones he was guilty of. No, he wasn’t running from that. Fuck. He wasn’t running at all. He was riding. Heading out into the night where he belonged.

On the road. Sayonara, baby. The bitch turned on him. And he was the biggest gawddamned fool on the planet to have believed they could make something together. Ha. The arson investigator and the arsonist. At best it was a bad B movie. At worst?

At worst, it was just exactly what had happened. She didn’t believe him. Didn’t believe in him. He was fire. She was water. Only she wasn’t. She should have quenched his heat. Except, she was the fire, lighting him up, burning in his blood. She lit up his darkness when she should have just faded into it.

He hit the highway doing eighty. The wind’s fingers twisted in his hair, not like the lover she had always been, but like the whore she could be on a cold night on a lonely stretch of of road.

His heart burned in his chest—not with heat but with a frigid intensity that left his whole body numb. Smoke didn’t know where he was going. Didn’t care as long as it was away from her. From Leigh. He should never have stopped. Never turned around to go back for her that godforsaken morning.
****

What twisted words do you have to share?

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Tuesday Titles: Under a SEAL Moon

Posted on March 21, 2017 by Silver James

I have to give props to Susan Stoker, one for asking me to write in her world and two, for telling me that she loves a good “lost in the jungle and running for their lives” story. From that comment, the idea of Riley and Taylor was born. I hope you’ll come along for the wild ride!

A Wolf haunted by his past…
Former Navy SEAL Riley “Speed” O’Brien left the Teams after his best friend died in his arms. After kicking around for a couple of years, the wolf shifter lands on the Gulf Trident, a drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico. As Safety Officer, the lives of everyone on board are this Wolf shifter’s responsibility—including the new OIM, who just might be his mate.

A woman out to prove her worth…
Taylor Dagny has the right ticket punches and an almost desperate need to prove herself to her family, who owns the controlling interest in Delta-Dansk Exploration. Taking over as the Offshore Installation Manager of the Gulf Trident is her first step toward her future. One problem. Her sexy safety chief is determined to knock the chip off her shoulder, and get her naked.

Under attack…
A mercenary force, an uninhabited tropical island, and two people fighting for their lives. Can this moonstruck Wolf save his mate and convince her to love him at the same time?

There are EIGHT wonderful new books releasing today in Susan’s Special Forces: Operation Alpha Kindle world. You can go HERE to grab the buy links to them all! And you can get mine EXCLUSIVELY FROM AMAZON here: Special Forces: Operation Alpha – SEAL Moon

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Monday Market

Posted on March 20, 2017 by Silver James


Have I mentioned that marketing is not my strong suit? Yeah, asking people to buy “me” in the form of my books is not my favorite thing. But, I have a another book releasing tomorrow. Remind me to plan my calendar better next time. 😆 Anyway, I’ve made these book memes to celebrate. You can click on the pics if you can’t read them. The media file will pop up.

So, Monday. There was a weekend. I did some yardwork. I caught up on some paperwork. I watched Baseball Boy’s high school team win a game played against a Texas team–coming from behind to do it. It also meant time with Stormageddon. That’s a win all the way round.

And speaking of baseball, both the USA and Puerto Rico made it into the final four of the World Baseball Classic. I’m really hoping they are the two teams in the finals, because USA! And Yadi! See, Yadier Molina is one of my favorite Cardinals players and he’s playing–brilliantly, by the way–for the PR team. As far as I’m concerned either winning is cool!

I read one really good book last week, listened to one that was okay enough and that caused me to pick up the first book in a series that used to be an old favorite until the author went off the rails, in my opinion. Anyway, Joanne Wylde had a new Reapers MC release in the 1001 Dark Nights anthology. SHADE’S LADY. Loved it! And Shade is now on my top Book Boyfriend list. Then I tried GRAVE MAGIC from the library. It was okay. I enjoyed it, but it reminded me of other series, like the author pulled bits and pieces together to build the world. Nothing wrong with that. But listening to the audio book but me in mind of one of those bits and pieces–the Anita Blake series. On a whim, I checked out the audio book of GUILTY PLEASURES from the library. This book (despite my feelings for later books) still holds a fond spot in my heart. And yeah, listening to it is rather a guilty pleasure. 😆

So anyway, that pretty much sums of things for me of late. What about y’all?

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Friday Sinema: A-Mazed

Posted on March 17, 2017 by Silver James

May the luck of the Irish touch all that you do today and always! And because I’m feeling a bit Celtic today, I thought I’d share this really cool video about labyrinths. Also, I think they are totally cool and wish I had land, patience, and green thumb enough to create one! Have a great weekend!

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Wednesday Words: Luck of the Irish

Posted on March 15, 2017 by Silver James

Happy almost St. Patrick’s Day, which makes today’s #1lineWed prompt rather fitting. The theme is **LUCK**. In today’s snippet, our hero Riley O’Brien is of obvious Irish descent. The former Navy SEAL doesn’t rely on the leprechauns for his luck. He depends only on himself. To set things up, Riley and Taylor are marooned on what they believe is an uninhabited island in the Gulf of Mexico. Except it’s not. *BWAHAHAHAHA* They’ve just been shot at and are headed into the jungle to hide. Only Riley doesn’t plan on hiding. He’s just ordered Taylor to keep moving… 😉

****
Taylor was too stunned to do much of anything but turn and stumble away as Riley headed back the way they’d come. Her mind whirled. Had the men who attacked the Gulf Trident found them? How was that even possible? But there were men with guns. And Riley was going back to confront them. She stopped. Hesitated. He couldn’t face all those men alone. But what could she do? Except create a distraction and get in the ex-SEAL’s way.

Former SEAL, she thought. O’Brien had quickly disabused her of term “ex” at some point during their swim. Taylor still wasn’t quite sure why the distinction but as it seemed to be a matter of honor on Riley’s part—no, not Riley, O’Brien. She had to remember that he was her employee. Except she didn’t feel very much in charge at the moment and knew all the way down to the marrow of her bones that she wouldn’t be standing here if Riley O’Brien had been any other man.

He’d told her to stick to the trail and that’s what she would do. Getting lost and thrashing about in the jungle was not an option. She would only draw the attention of those other men and she was fairly certain that Riley would be able to find her anywhere. That thought settled her nerves and she studied the ground. There did seem to be a faint trail. Treading carefully, and glancing up from time to time to check what was in front of her, she headed deeper into the overgrowth, noticing that the land was beginning to rise.

Riley waited, hidden from Taylor’s sight, until she started forward. Good. Now it was time to deal with those who were thrashing through the jungle behind them. He quickly stripped out of his clothes and shifted. He would hunt them on four legs. Why waste ammunition when he could take them out up close and personal with teeth and claws.

And if those guys were unlucky, he’d take them all out so he and Taylor could use their fast boat to make the trip to the Yucatan peninsula. With any luck at all, the two of them would survive this. He bared his fangs in a wolfish grin. Time to go make his own luck.
****
And yes. I intentionally overused the word in that last paragraph. 😆 What about y’all? Are you lucky at cards, unlucky at love? Believe in the luck of the draw? If it weren’t for bad luck, you wouldn’t have any luck at all? Share your lucky words with us!

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Tuesday Treats: March Madness B-Ball

Posted on March 14, 2017 by Silver James

Not a big fan of basketball, though March Madness is always a bit of fun when local teams are involved. Big 12 is well represented though Oklahoma State is pitted against Michigan (sorry B.E. 😦 ) in the Midwest Regionals first round. I am, however, a fan of all things cheesy and dippy. This cheese ball/spread sounds easy and yummy. Plus, Ritz crackers!

Ingredients
1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Neufchatel Cheese, softened
1/2 cup (1/2 of 8-oz. tub) PHILADELPHIA Spicy Jalapeño Cream Cheese Spread
1 pkg. (8 oz.) KRAFT Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1/2 cup KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese
1/2 cup KRAFT Classic Ranch Dressing
2 green onions, chopped
1 pkg. (3 oz.) OSCAR MAYER Real Bacon Bits
8 red pepper strips (1/4 x 2-inch)

Make It:
Beat all ingredients except bacon bits, peppers and parsley with mixer until blended. Refrigerate several hours.

Form into basketball shape on platter. Coat with bacon bits. Add pepper strips for the stitching. Serve with crackers of your choice.

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Friday Sinema: Dog’s Day

Posted on March 10, 2017 by Silver James

This is such an awesome story, and such an amazing bond between a little girl and her Great Dane, George. Makes me want to go to Boston and stay at the Copley with Cooper and Boone. 🙂 Have a great, doggy weekend!

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