tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57079804803891573532024-03-21T02:27:04.668-04:00Mistral Dawn's MusingsNews, possible items of interest, and random thoughts on various topics. Thanks for reading and please feel free to drop me a line! :-)Mistral Dawnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944545165185674709noreply@blogger.comBlogger2415125truetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707980480389157353.post-23513726620564971902023-07-04T00:00:00.007-04:002024-01-07T09:06:48.777-05:00Fae-tastic Fun On A Day Of Celebration! 😉<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div><br /></div>Hey Everyone! 😊<div><br /></div><div>Despite my deep misgivings over the state of my country, I would like to wish a Happy Independence Day to all my fellow Americans. And to everyone else, Happy Tuesday! To celebrate, or to escape from reality for a little while, I thought I'd share some Fae Fun with you. Enjoy! 😉</div><div><br /></div><div><b><u>Excerpt from <i>Bound by the Summer Prince</i>:</u></b><div>When he was confident his Anamchara was ready to proceed, Uaine began to work himself in and out of her with shallow movements. He held her body back from his, to minimize the friction she was able to generate with her squirming, and maintained a slow and steady pace. She whipped her head back and forth, causing her hair to brush against him, and squealed into her gag with frustration, but he just smiled. "I'm doing you a favor, my love, you don't truly wish a spanking; do you?"</div><div><br /></div><div>Becoming more and more desperate to feel her lover's body working against her own, Roni tried to use her legs to gain the leverage she needed, but the restraints at her ankles did not allow her the necessary range of motion. The cuffs were wide and padded enough that she could yank on them as hard as she liked without damaging herself, but they had no give at all. She began thrashing as much as her bonds allowed and screamed her dissatisfaction and lust out to the room.</div><div><br /></div><div>Uaine smiled and said; "Your wish is my command, my love, but you still do not have permission to cum." With that, he pushed her back against the wall and altered his grip on her from her waist to underneath her thighs, which tilted her hips up. The change in angle allowed him to move over that spot, at the front of, and just inside of, her, with every stroke, and for him to grind his pelvis against her clitoris every time their bodies met. He rotated his hips as he moved in and out of her, and soon could feel the muscles inside of her gripping at him. "Remember darling, you will be punished if you cum without permission."</div><div><br /></div><div>Roni threw her head back and closed her eyes, as the waves of pleasure built inside her belly. Now that he was finally fucking her properly, she could feel herself swiftly moving towards her peak. When she heard his words, they were like a bucket of ice water thrown over her. Snapping open her eyes, she glared at him in frustration and growled into the gag.</div><div><br /></div><div>Smirking he said; "No sweeting, not yet. You'll have to be patient."</div></div><div><br /></div><div>Want to find out what happens next? Grab your copy at the link below. Happy reading! 😊</div><div><br /></div><div><br /><h1 style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00U1QFOWC/?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=md02be-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=8428e315b9804f99a7e5df875ac7429f&camp=1789&creative=9325" target="_blank"><b>Bound by the Summer Prince</b></a></h1>
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Mistral Dawnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944545165185674709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707980480389157353.post-187435761694563052023-04-23T10:09:00.004-04:002024-01-07T09:08:12.868-05:00Is The Fun In The Chase Or In Being Caught? 😉<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhaKlSkBMMq4AhdWCptTEP0jH8BSqDafeHjO0NqGTEDNgJLcK14YTqiaec9Sb8AFE6QIJzmNjCVY55CG0Qiw49f3V31cVcb0R7Oll21ptF5i1KKB5dyYNx5r-lnW7V0ft9ZA_jgZ7Z5mYX/s1600/TakenbytheHuntsman+Amazon.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhaKlSkBMMq4AhdWCptTEP0jH8BSqDafeHjO0NqGTEDNgJLcK14YTqiaec9Sb8AFE6QIJzmNjCVY55CG0Qiw49f3V31cVcb0R7Oll21ptF5i1KKB5dyYNx5r-lnW7V0ft9ZA_jgZ7Z5mYX/s640/TakenbytheHuntsman+Amazon.jpg" width="426" /></a></div>
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Hey Everyone!! 😊<br />
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I thought I'd give you a little something to start your weekend off right. Enjoy! 😉<br />
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<b><u>Excerpt from <i>Taken By The Huntsman</i>:</u></b><br />
As she slowed to unfasten her clothing, a body slammed into her, knocking her to the ground. Her captor turned them both in the air so that she landed on top of him, but then quickly rolled her beneath him and pinned her. The scent of the one who held her drove her wild, and she grabbed him and pulled him closer. Sliding her hands up to his mass of hair, she grabbed two handfuls of it and pulled his face closer to hers. Reaching up, she placed her lips gently against his and inhaled deeply. This was what she needed.<br />
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Cassie pulled her captor even closer and wrapped her legs around his waist. She opened her mouth and probed his lips with her tongue. When he opened his mouth, she slid her tongue inside and kissed him passionately.<br />
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Using her hands, she searched until she found a gap in his clothing. She slid her arms around him, skimming her hands up the bare skin of his back, underneath his shirt. Sinking her fingernails into the flesh of his back, she held him close to keep her prey from escaping.<br />
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She didn’t know why she needed this so badly, but she felt like she would die if the male on top of her didn’t help ease the pain she was feeling. Frantically, she worked her hips back and forth, grinding the center of her body against his stomach. She groaned in frustration, and then in satisfaction when she felt him touch her there with his hand.<div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br />
Want to see how Cassie's captor handles her sudden...appetite? Grab your copy at the link below. Happy reading! 😊</div><div><br /></div><div><br /><h1 style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Taken-Huntsman-Mistral-Dawn-ebook/dp/B00NGANG5C/?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=md02be-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=f13909367a701d49b24242d110307ab1&camp=1789&creative=9325" target="_blank"><b>Taken by the Huntsman</b></a></h1>
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<br /></div>Mistral Dawnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944545165185674709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707980480389157353.post-3521479016402775422023-03-10T12:28:00.001-05:002024-01-07T09:10:03.962-05:00Exploring #Taboos And #Trust 😉<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLCL5u9N0qIVbPAh5WHU7OtelgQdCYYlrbFnjcXZLyApIeExz_gPJlB7XI53XJLKYMh4mc9owQKXB9H6so04Q69iUM7r5Pu5r7Ns7XgtwIUtykuqQX5DWbAj8INSh1ARsKOzds31Kmrgqq/s1600/CaptivatedbytheWinterKing+Winner+Tag.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLCL5u9N0qIVbPAh5WHU7OtelgQdCYYlrbFnjcXZLyApIeExz_gPJlB7XI53XJLKYMh4mc9owQKXB9H6so04Q69iUM7r5Pu5r7Ns7XgtwIUtykuqQX5DWbAj8INSh1ARsKOzds31Kmrgqq/s640/CaptivatedbytheWinterKing+Winner+Tag.jpg" width="426" /></a></div>
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<br />
Hey Everyone!! 😊<br />
<br />
With summer just around the corner, I thought I'd share a little snippet from the Winter Court. Enjoy! 😊<div><br />
<b><u>Excerpt From <i>Captivated By The Winter King</i>:</u></b><br />
Turning back to his mate, he said, "Come here." When she approached, he ordered, "Remove your clothing."<br />
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In spite of the warmer air, Kate shivered. There was something deliciously naughty about the idea of being naked outside. They were alone and the area was remote, but it was not a private space. Anyone might happen by.<br />
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Reaching behind her neck, she tugged at the closure that sealed the dress in back. It had been spelled to release when she pulled at it, and the bodice dropped away from her body. Sliding the sleeves down her arms, she allowed it to pool at her waist as she unfastened the top of the skirt. Once freed, she allowed the dress to fall to the ground and stepped out of it. Seeing that Ankou held his hand out for it, she picked it up and handed it to him.<br />
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Standing under the cloudless sky in nothing but her lacy underwear, she felt free. She looked at her mate, who just raised his eyebrows and said, "Those as well."<br />
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After sliding the bra straps down her arms, she reached behind herself to unhook it. The cool air caressed her skin and her nipples puckered. She shivered as she handed the bra to Ankou. Taking a deep breath, she removed her boots and stockings. The cold of the snow under her feet was noticeable, but not unbearable. She realized Ankou was using magic to protect her there as well and she smiled. Sliding her panties down her legs, she stepped out of them and handed them to her mate.<br />
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"Stay there," ordered Ankou, who took Kate's clothing and laid it on the platform they had slept on to keep it from getting wet in the snow. Walking around the small clearing, he looked for things he could use. He found the remnants of a tree that had broken and fell. Using magic, he smoothed and shaped the stump into a wooden platform. After making sure the surface was polished and free of any splinters or sharp edges, he ordered Kate to join him.<br />
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As she padded across the snow, Kate couldn't help but wonder what Ankou had planned. Looking at the stump he had prepared, she was confused. It looked sturdy and came up to her belly button, but she didn't see what it could be used for.<br />
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Walking a few feet away, Ankou selected a large stick from the pile of wood Kate had collected the night before. Using magic again, he shaped it into a long, thin, smooth cane. He used both hands to bend it, testing how much give was in the wood. Satisfied, he returned to where his Anamchara waited for him.<br />
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When Kate saw what Ankou had in his hand, her eyes widened. Did he intend to use that on her? Searching his face, she found no clues in his blank expression.<br />
<br />
Standing in front of her, the Winter king saw the trepidation in his mate's eyes. Cupping his hand behind her head, he threaded his fingers through her hair and drew her body against his. He leaned down, claiming her lips in a possessive kiss. Skimming his lips along her cheek, he nipped at her ear and whispered, "Do you trust me?"<br />
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Want more? Join Kate and Ankou in exploring the magic of Fairie by grabbing your copy here:</div><div><br /></div>
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<br /><h1 style="text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B016NHLDT0/?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=md02be-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=70ca4d524878c10b55da56d72afdc43e&camp=1789&creative=9325" target="_blank">Captivated by the Winter King</a></b></h1></div>
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</div>Mistral Dawnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944545165185674709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707980480389157353.post-62442095474530810662023-01-15T10:05:00.001-05:002024-01-07T09:12:26.510-05:00A Little Taste of Summer Heat<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFnyGfg3lx_Ov-eClto-MB019ZCPmOHGxvddMUj5Lc7LefaBJxhiCEnOsBFjYTOqZjOmssHt32a4d52EbLJpPipycdQpcUu6lP6kj4qBMj0yolGIj40VB1oULG6vmnfQoj1wg4G4fX21ON/s1600/BoundByTheSummerPrince+Amazon2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFnyGfg3lx_Ov-eClto-MB019ZCPmOHGxvddMUj5Lc7LefaBJxhiCEnOsBFjYTOqZjOmssHt32a4d52EbLJpPipycdQpcUu6lP6kj4qBMj0yolGIj40VB1oULG6vmnfQoj1wg4G4fX21ON/s1600/BoundByTheSummerPrince+Amazon2.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<div><br /></div>Hey Everyone! 😊<div><br /></div><div>With winter in full swing, I thought it might be nice to give us all a reminder of the heat that comes in the summer. 😉 Enjoy... </div><div><br /></div><div><b><u>Excerpt from <i>Bound by the Summer Prince</i>:</u></b><br />Roni gulped. Uaine had placed a shallow platform against the wall for her to stand on, to make the difference in their heights less of a complication. He had then placed restraints on the wall, in the perfect positions to hold her ankles when she stood on the platform, and her wrists if she held them up by her head. The restraints were wide, padded, leather cuffs with buckles. They looked comfortable enough, it was clear he had no intention of causing her injury, but were intimidating all the same.<br /><br />"What do you think?" He asked, causing her to whip her head back around to meet his eyes.<br /><br />"You obviously have some delusion of me allowing you to put me in those." she stated.<br /><br />Uaine watched his mate's face, she was always so careful to guard her expressions, but sometimes a flicker of what she felt would show. Trepidation slid briefly through her eyes, but also excitement. She wasn't as opposed to the idea as she pretended.<br /><br />While he would never attempt to coerce his Anamchara to do anything she truly did not wish to do, he was reasonably certain she was willing to be persuaded in this, and he hoped that making her reliant on him in this way would deepen their bond. He knew she did not trust him with her heart, but perhaps that would come if he could get her to trust him with her body.<br /><br />"You are afraid." He teased.<br /><br />Roni's nostrils flared as she bristled at the accusation. "I fear nothing! Certainly not you! Don't you keep telling me that you're bound to me by some mystical bond? You can't hurt me!"<br /><br />Reaching out to cup her cheek gently, Uaine smiled. "No, I can't hurt you. I don't want to hurt you. I would sooner plunge a dagger into my own heart, than allow a single hair on your head to be harmed. So will you not indulge me in this? I promise you will not be disappointed."<br /><br />Momentarily allowing her eyes to slide closed at the feel of his hand against her face, Roni forced herself to put aside her weakness, her craving for touch, and consider her options. She could flatly refuse, and insist on remaining unfettered while they played; it was clear he would not force the issue. Her past had taught her enough about how a male's body worked, that she was sure she could make the experience memorable for him.<br /><br />On the other hand, he so rarely asked her for anything that it was becoming difficult to play on his feelings. Con games worked best when the mark had expectations that she could either fulfill or deny. It was true that she had to assert her independence, so that he would work to please her and she could use that to manipulate him into doing what she wanted. But she also needed him to feel as if she were forming a connection with him. If she frustrated all of his efforts, he might give up altogether, and then she'd be stuck. Besides, this would hardly be the first time she'd been tied up during sex.<br /><br />No matter how boring or distasteful she ended up finding the encounter, she was sure she'd be able to feign enough enthusiasm to satisfy him; she always had before. It had become clear long ago that males generally had no idea, or interest in, how to please a female; as long as she made the right sounds at the right moments, and told them how wonderful they were, it kept them happy. Sex was just one more tool to be used to manage people, especially males.<br /><br />Still, she'd have to lay some ground rules. He had told her he was tens of thousands of years old, but that didn't mean he knew how to play this game without hurting her. She knew he didn't intend to cause her harm, but there was a difference between hurting someone and damaging them. Being willing to humor him didn't extend as far as allowing him to torture her without limits. She cocked an eyebrow. "Okay, but first we have to agree on the terms."<br /><br />"Terms?" He smiled. "You enjoy turning everything into a negotiation, don't you? Very well, what are your terms?"<br /><br />Ignoring his dig she said; "First, I'll need a word or phrase to say if I want you to stop. It has to be something I wouldn't say otherwise, and I must have your word that if I say it you'll stop immediately."<br /><br />Uaine's eyebrows shot up almost to his hairline. Would she really question something so basic? "Of course!! You will have a safeword, it would be impossible to engage in such play without one, and if I gag you then we will first agree upon a gesture that will serve the same purpose. I suggest the word 'stad,' it means 'stop' in the old language, and should be easy to remember."<br /><br />Roni nodded. "That will do. Also, if I agree to this then you have to agree to do something that I ask of you."<br /><br />He laughed. "I thought that might be one of your terms. What would you like me to do?"<br /><br />She gave him a naughty grin. "I don't know yet, but I'm sure something will come up." She reached out and ran her hand over his hip, heading towards his groin.<br /><br />He intercepted her hand and raised it to his lips, placing a gentle kiss on the back of it. "I have no doubt that the appropriate eventuality will arise." He teased while making gentle circles with his thumb against her palm. "But I reserve the right to refuse one request. Agreed?"<br /><br />Sighing, Roni nodded. "Agreed."<br /><br />Smiling, Uaine brought both of his hands up to cup her face tenderly. He laid the most chaste of kisses on her mouth, and when she tried to deepen it he used the grip he had on her chin to restrain her.<br /><br />Roni's eyes had somehow closed when she felt his lips against hers, but when he pulled away they flew open and met his. She saw him grinning down at her, and, taking a deep breath, she tried to settle herself. Perhaps several thousand years was enough time for a male to finally learn a few tricks about pleasing a female.<br /><br />Uaine gently maneuvered his Anamchara so that her back was between the restraints. He didn't raise her up onto the platform yet, but he took her hands and placed them next to her head on the wall. Lightly pressing on them, he looked into her eyes to see if she understood she was to keep them there. When she nodded, he lowered his hands to her shoulders, massaging them, and then ran them slowly down her body. His thumbs brushed almost imperceptibly over her breasts, and he felt her nipples harden. <br /><br />Smiling to himself at her responsiveness, his hands drifted lower; over her hips and thighs, squeezing slightly as they moved, until he reached the hem of her dress. With one quick motion, he grabbed her garment and lifted it over her head. Her arms pulled through cleanly, and he dropped the clothing on the ground. Pausing a moment, he allowed himself to admire the beauty of his female in her undergarments. Heat filled his eyes as he thought about how he would worship her body.<br /><br />Roni gasped in surprise as her dress flew over her head, and then smiled at the look on Uaine's face. That was the type of desire she wanted to see when a male looked at her in lingerie; it went a long way towards soothing the hurt caused by his previous rejection. With challenge in her eyes, Roni stepped back and up onto the platform, keeping her hands next to her head.<br /><br />Uaine licked his lips, and hoped that his mate was enjoying their game as much as she seemed to be. The playfulness in her expression made him think she might be...now he just needed to put some heat in her eyes. Reaching up, he moved her arms lower so he could slide the straps of her bra down; but he had never seen a Fae female wear such a garment, and the method for removing it completely escaped him.<br /><br />Laughing at his confusion, Roni reached behind herself and unhooked the clasp of her bra. She allowed it to slowly drift down until her chest was fully revealed, reveling in her lover's response to his first sight of her uncovered breasts. She was proud of the fact that even with such a large bust, removing the support resulted in barely any sagging at all. The garment fell from her fingers, and she kicked it away.<br /><br />Leaning toward his Anamchara, Uaine put his hands on her forearms and pinned them against the wall as his lips moved slowly from her shoulder to the hollow just below her ear. He breathed against her, and allowed his shirt-covered chest to brush lightly against her swollen nipples. A shudder went through her as he moved both of her wrists into the restraints.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Want to find out what happens next? Grab your copy at the link below. Happy reading! 😊</div><div><br /></div><div><br /><h1 style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00U1QFOWC/?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=md02be-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=3f442ddd008ad683d49472b6141e85f9&camp=1789&creative=9325" target="_blank"><b>Bound by the Summer Prince</b></a></h1>
</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Mistral Dawnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944545165185674709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707980480389157353.post-75733819338895124402022-12-25T10:15:00.003-05:002024-01-13T10:19:04.448-05:00A Holiday Escape<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiujL1YTSixCNghr2FYVw3Sn6Zz8SOUgyPozWH3FwK_9IzNZWQmUW6oiBBihDkq6L0UQgxNS38wJcalOGmUiHT6puUWW1hEUo4eR0HOCpgD8jiHoc7JOXTVRyL4yjbqhSnNV3XeVeO3fZ9l/s1600/TakenbytheHuntsman+Amazon.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiujL1YTSixCNghr2FYVw3Sn6Zz8SOUgyPozWH3FwK_9IzNZWQmUW6oiBBihDkq6L0UQgxNS38wJcalOGmUiHT6puUWW1hEUo4eR0HOCpgD8jiHoc7JOXTVRyL4yjbqhSnNV3XeVeO3fZ9l/s640/TakenbytheHuntsman+Amazon.jpg" width="426" /></a></div>
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Hey Everyone!! 😊<br /><div><br /></div><div>I hope you're all having a FANTABULOUS holiday season!! But just in case you could use a break from all the merry-making -- or your family 😉 -- let me recommend you make a quick escape into that new Kindle/tablet/phone/etc and indulge in a hot, fairytale romance. Enjoy!! </div><div><br /></div><div><b><i>Taken by the Huntsman:</i></b></div><div>Cassie sighed. She could see she wasn’t going to win this
argument either. The music that was playing in the background caught her
attention, and she used it as an excuse to change the subject.</div><div>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Where is the music coming from?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Some of my people like to play in the evening. I asked them
to play in the sitting room down the hall, if they chose to play this evening.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Why?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Because I would like to dance with you, and I am hoping
that you will agree.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Cassie studied the being sitting next to her. She had never
met a male like him before. He stated what he wanted boldly, with no apology,
but he <i>was</i> willing to take "no" for an answer. She knew that the choice truly was
hers. If she told him she didn’t want
to dance with him, he wouldn’t attempt to coerce or guilt her into it. He would
simply accept her decision.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The men she had known before had either demanded and then
whined when they didn’t get their way, or they refused to speak their minds and
then sulked when what they wanted didn’t happen. Cadeyrn had the annoying and
disconcerting habit of often making decisions without consulting others. But he
had also shown himself willing and able to listen and, at times, to compromise.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So far, the only times he had truly ignored her wishes was
in keeping her in Fairie and in not stopping Yestin’s torture. She had to admit
that her attempt to interfere with the laws the Erlking was enforcing had been
rather arrogant on her part. If she had walked up to the warden of a jail in
the United States and demanded he take a prisoner out of solitary confinement
because she thought it was inhumane, she’d have met with no more success than
she had in Yestin’s case. Whether she agreed with them or not, the laws of
Fairie <i>were</i> the laws. And, as a Fae, Yestin was subject to them. Cadeyrn
was just doing his job and had been exceedingly patient with her objections.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">His excuse for keeping her in Fairie against her will was
that she would be in danger if he did not keep her in protective custody. She thought that was probably true. But it still didn’t seem right to her that
her freedom should be curbed because of some crazy fairy-bond-thing.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">She couldn’t say he was entirely right in his decision to
keep her captive; she thought, if she could get back to Earth, she could
probably disappear and be safe enough from fairies. But, without more
information about the capabilities of the Fae, she couldn’t say he was entirely
wrong either. In the final analysis, though, it was her life, so it should be
her decision. At least, that was her
opinion on the matter. Still, she had to admit that for someone who had
absolute power, he was amazingly liberal in his behavior and attitudes.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Yes, I’ll dance with you.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Cadeyrn gave her a heart-stopping smile and stood, holding
his hand out to her.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Placing her hand in his, she allowed him to help her from
her chair. She laughed as she looked up at him and noted their disparity in
heights.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Do you think it’ll hurt your back to stoop so low?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Ha! Not at all. Watch.” With that, he swept her up into his
arms and held her tight against him as he whirled around the dining room in
time to the music.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Cassie laughed as her feet dangled above the floor. “I don’t
really think this qualifies as dancing.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Cadeyrn gave her a smoldering look and allowed her to slide
down the front of his body. She couldn’t help but be impressed by what she felt
his pants concealing. When her feet touched the floor, she looked up at him and
shivered from the heat she saw in his eyes. Would taking this male to bed
really be so bad? Just because she
slept with him, didn’t mean she was vowing to spend forever with him. And she
was sure that several hundred thousand years of practice would have honed more than
just his debating skills. It was definitely something to consider.</p></div><div><br /></div>Want to see what sort of celebration dancing can lead to? Grab your copy at the link below. Happy reading! 😊<div><br /><h1 style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Taken-Huntsman-Mistral-Dawn-ebook/dp/B00NGANG5C/?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=md02be-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=b6335db22e835a6e38069072d66a7e94&camp=1789&creative=9325" target="_blank"><b>Taken by the Huntsman</b></a></h1>
</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Mistral Dawnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944545165185674709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707980480389157353.post-18126081321597428512022-07-03T21:00:00.001-04:002024-01-13T10:21:19.284-05:00Bringing The Fireworks! 😉<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiujL1YTSixCNghr2FYVw3Sn6Zz8SOUgyPozWH3FwK_9IzNZWQmUW6oiBBihDkq6L0UQgxNS38wJcalOGmUiHT6puUWW1hEUo4eR0HOCpgD8jiHoc7JOXTVRyL4yjbqhSnNV3XeVeO3fZ9l/s1600/TakenbytheHuntsman+Amazon.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiujL1YTSixCNghr2FYVw3Sn6Zz8SOUgyPozWH3FwK_9IzNZWQmUW6oiBBihDkq6L0UQgxNS38wJcalOGmUiHT6puUWW1hEUo4eR0HOCpgD8jiHoc7JOXTVRyL4yjbqhSnNV3XeVeO3fZ9l/s640/TakenbytheHuntsman+Amazon.jpg" width="426" /></a></div>
<br />
Hey Everyone!! 😊<br />
<br />Given current events in the US, it's with a somewhat heavy heart that I'd like to wish a Happy Independence Day to all my fellow Americans. And to everyone else, Happy Monday! To celebrate, or to escape from reality for a little while, I thought I'd share some Fae-style fireworks with you. Enjoy! 😉<br />
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<b><u>Excerpt from <i>Taken By The Huntsman</i>:</u></b><br />
As she exited the shower and grabbed a towel to dry herself, Cassie marveled at how much of a difference being clean could make in how a person felt. She turned to get a second towel to wrap around her hair when the candles in the bathroom were suddenly snuffed out. She fumbled a bit in the darkness until she felt the warm firmness of her mate’s chest against her back. The feel of him so close to her made things low in her body tighten.<br />
<br />
After speaking with Arthfael and learning that no problems had cropped up in his absence, and that his attention was not needed urgently anywhere in the castle, Cadeyrn had hurried up to the room he now shared with his Anamchara and prepared a surprise for her. He hoped she would be receptive since he had wanted to try something similar with her for some time. But, as they had discussed on their trip back to the castle, trust was not her strong suit. And what he had in mind would take some trust on her part. <br />
<br />
“Cadeyrn? Why are the lights out? Is something wrong?”<br />
<br />
The Erlking wrapped his arms around his Anamchara and let his magic flow over her, drying her skin and hair. When she gasped in surprise, he bent over her and gently scraped his lengthening fangs up her neck to whisper in her ear.<br />
<br />
“Nothing’s wrong. I want to make love to you, and I am hoping you’ll agree. And that you’ll let me show you something new.”<br />
<br />
When she heard her lover’s words, moisture trickled from her core and down her thigh. She inhaled a shuddering breath and nodded her head.<br />
<br />
“Okay, what do you want me to do?”<br />
<br />
“First, I want you to wear this,” said Cadeyrn, as he gently placed a silken blindfold around her eyes. <br />
<br />
Cassie jumped when she felt the fabric cover her eyes and reached up to touch it with her hands.<br />
<br />
Cadeyrn gently caught her hands and returned them to her sides.<br />
<br />
It surprised her that he had known she had moved. “You can see in this darkness?”<br />
<br />
“Yes, I can see perfectly. I will keep the candles unlit, and the hearth is dark, but the blindfold will further assure that you cannot see. Do you agree to this?”<br />
<br />
She nodded.<br />
<br />
“Do you remember the word to say if you want to stop?”<br />
<br />
“Stad.”<br />
<br />
“Yes.” Growling, he scooped her up into his arms.<br />
<br />
When she felt herself lifted into the air, Cassie gasped. And when he tossed her lightly onto the bed, she yelped and giggled.<br />
<br />
Cadeyrn came down on top of his Anamchara as soon as she landed on the bed and kissed her passionately. She kissed him back and, as they explored each other’s mouths, he gently took one of her hands and slipped it through the loop of a silken rope he had prepared. The other end of the rope was tied to one post of the headboard. As he secured the knot around her wrist, she jerked against it.<br />
<br />
“Cadeyrn?”<br />
<br />
“Do you trust me?”<br />
<br />
“Yes.”<br />
<br />
“Then relax.”<br />
<br />
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Want to see just how hot this celebration gets? Grab your copy at the link below. Happy reading! 😊<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /><h1 style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Taken-Huntsman-Mistral-Dawn-ebook/dp/B00NGANG5C/?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=md02be-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=b6335db22e835a6e38069072d66a7e94&camp=1789&creative=9325" target="_blank"><b>Taken by the Huntsman</b></a></h1>
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<br />Mistral Dawnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944545165185674709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707980480389157353.post-32044330161715751792021-12-24T00:00:00.002-05:002024-01-13T11:20:55.499-05:00A Little Fairytale Fun For The Holidays... 😉<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhsCgXPQTj6yY4EsFczcbW1z9fiseoU5cetnAvBljpruAoGaG-ioZGS8lOKpySLaP5Op35bmGqIGftCLxKdGsm_Ih9tLARY3LQFJfxAh75Pt2PshjwGyDyY9Tx9kLX8GDNS6bKNRRA-YoyohHzcR5p497i1PvT_zbcA0Ch-mSH_Cy9MkaPh0aAX8GNobA=s2700" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2700" data-original-width="1800" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhsCgXPQTj6yY4EsFczcbW1z9fiseoU5cetnAvBljpruAoGaG-ioZGS8lOKpySLaP5Op35bmGqIGftCLxKdGsm_Ih9tLARY3LQFJfxAh75Pt2PshjwGyDyY9Tx9kLX8GDNS6bKNRRA-YoyohHzcR5p497i1PvT_zbcA0Ch-mSH_Cy9MkaPh0aAX8GNobA=w426-h640" width="426" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>Hey Everyone! 😊</p><p>Since tomorrow is Christmas, I thought I'd give us all an early present and share a peek at how the Fae celebrate. Enjoy! 😉</p><div style="text-align: left;"><b><u>Excerpt from <i>Captivated by the Winter King</i>:</u></b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Ankou removed his trousers and arranged Kate on her back on
the bed while he kneeled over her. "Hold still," he said. Lying down
next to her, he leaned over and kissed her gently on the lips. Trailing his
kisses down her neck and chest, he took first one nipple and then the other between
his lips. Alternating back and forth, he suckled them until they stood up in
stiff peaks. Summoning the bottle of stimulating lubricant to his hand, he
dribbled the liquid over her swollen buds, making her gasp and writhe on the
bed.</div><p class="MsoNormal">Capping the bottle and setting it aside, he continued his
journey southward and swirled his tongue around her navel. When he reached the
top of the tuft of hair that protected her most intimate places, he sat up and
looked at her.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Groaning, Kate met her lover's eyes. She wanted to ask why
he had stopped but remembered just in time that she wasn't supposed to speak
unless he asked her a question. Biting her lips, she maintained her silence.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Smiling to see that his Anamchara had remembered the rules
of their game, Ankou said, "I want you to close your eyes and keep them
closed unless I tell you to open them. Do you understand?"</p><p class="MsoNormal">Nodding, Kate said, "Yes, Master," and relaxed
into the bed, closing her eyes. </p><p class="MsoNormal">Shifting his position so that he kneeled between her
outspread legs, Ankou kissed and licked his way down to her left foot. Rubbing
his fingers under the arch and around her ankle, he massaged her limb until he
felt the last of the tension drain out of it. Setting it aside, he moved to her
other foot.</p>As Ankou massaged her right foot, Kate became aware of a pressure around her left ankle. She realized it felt like her leg was being held against the bed by someone's hand, but both of her mate's hands were occupied tending to her right foot. When the implications of those two facts penetrated her consciousness, she barely kept herself from panicking. Gasping, she forced herself to remain still and silent. She wanted to sit up and see what was happening, but that would mean disobeying the rules of the game. As would asking Ankou what was going on. Her heart racing, she tried to decide what to do.<div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Want to find out what Kate decides to do? Need a last-minute gift that you can send with the speed of an email? Looking for something to fill up that new Kindle you bought for your special someone? Grab a copy of <i>Captivated by the Winter King</i> at the link below. Happy reading! 😊</div><div><br /></div>
<h1 style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Captivated-Winter-King-Spellbound-Hearts-ebook/dp/B016NHLDT0?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=md02be-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=c088dac4667060f61581ab680595711e&camp=1789&creative=9325" target="_blank"><b>Captivated by the Winter King</b></a></h1><div><br /></div>Mistral Dawnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944545165185674709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707980480389157353.post-15546184797938705122021-11-05T00:00:00.002-04:002021-11-05T00:00:00.186-04:00#Animal #Rescuer's #Guide To #Staying ( #Relatively ) #Sane! #Free! 😊<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIUYBf7g_5iWXm8wX3bUaWBpXcGOkIJMjPVtuJc6yNjxDgiiWnJgihQ4XqB0M0AUrP2WA194RgQtB6xfJkQYMb8xEhRpVT-aSXGqEN0Lqr5sU7inluOj47nFko7YTpuivx7C6prZoGZDFv/s1600/Animal+Rescue+Guide+Cover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIUYBf7g_5iWXm8wX3bUaWBpXcGOkIJMjPVtuJc6yNjxDgiiWnJgihQ4XqB0M0AUrP2WA194RgQtB6xfJkQYMb8xEhRpVT-aSXGqEN0Lqr5sU7inluOj47nFko7YTpuivx7C6prZoGZDFv/s400/Animal+Rescue+Guide+Cover.jpg" width="255" /></a></div>
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<br />
Hey Everyone!! 😊<br />
<br />
Just a reminder, for those who haven't checked it out yet, I've collected all my animal rescue/care posts together and published them as a small book. If you'd like, you can download the book for <i><b><u>free </u></b></i>from Amazon, Smashwords, B&N, Kobo, and iTunes.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Animal-Rescuers-Guide-Staying-Relatively-ebook/dp/B01C0OADNW/" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">Amazon</span></a></b><br />
<b><br /></b> <b><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/616932" target="_blank">Smashwords</a></span></b><br />
<b><br /></b> <b><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/animal-rescuers-guide-to-staying/id1087156987?mt=11" target="_blank">iTunes</a></span></b><br />
<b><br /></b> <b><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/animal-rescuers-guide-to-staying-mistral-dawn/1123461736" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">Barnes & Noble</span></a></b><br />
<b><br /></b> <b><a href="https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/animal-rescuer-s-guide-to-staying-relatively-sane" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">Kobo</span></a></b></div>
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Thanks for stopping in today, and don't forget to check back tomorrow for the next installment of Mistral Dawn's Musings! :-)<br />
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<br />Mistral Dawnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944545165185674709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707980480389157353.post-54824848898680856722021-10-31T00:00:00.008-04:002021-10-31T00:00:00.175-04:00Button Soup #Recipe!<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp7gqdkKshWR_vnRQT_V3y0jNqXs6j6mlOAF7h6b3DHHglwHR_dSBc0I-pPS3qOBhweVaiGpQJWDSgfrsSGG_XEBLI3PDuuCfSUlrHWLZIoN8QoGh0CF5F_XAXdxCUmeS8E8OksO4vhIEZ/s1600/Dinnertime.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="656" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp7gqdkKshWR_vnRQT_V3y0jNqXs6j6mlOAF7h6b3DHHglwHR_dSBc0I-pPS3qOBhweVaiGpQJWDSgfrsSGG_XEBLI3PDuuCfSUlrHWLZIoN8QoGh0CF5F_XAXdxCUmeS8E8OksO4vhIEZ/s640/Dinnertime.jpg" width="520" /></a></div>
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<br />
Hey Everyone!! 😊<br />
<br />
I've got another recipe for you, today...sort of. 😉 First, as befits Halloween, a story. This one isn't one of my stories. This is an old story; an old folk tale. I don't know who originally came up with it, but I've heard several versions. The title I first heard it called was <i>Button Soup</i>, but I've heard it called <i>Stone Soup</i> and a couple of other titles, too.<br /><br />It's about a town miser, an Ebeneezer Scrooge-type character, who lives in a town where a lot of people are starving. He's the only one who has money, so the rest of the town comes to beg for food, but he claims he doesn't have any. So, they write to his niece (or sister or another close relative, depending on the version) who comes for a visit. He's inhospitable and tells her she should leave because he has nothing to feed her. She tells him all she needs is a single button (or pebble or ax head, depending on the version) and she can make a delicious, filling soup.<br /><br />Intrigued, the miser gives her a button, which she puts in a great big soup pot with a lot of water. He's fascinated to find out how this is going to turn into soup, so he stays with her as she stirs the pot. She makes small talk and eventually mentions that while the soup will be fine as it is, it would be an awful lot better if she just had a little salt. He thinks that over and then allows how while he doesn't have any food, he does have a bit of salt put aside. So he brings it to her and she adds it to the pot and keeps stirring.<br /><br />This goes on for a while, and every now and again she mentions that if she just had one thing - an onion, a potato, a ham bone, a carrot, and on and on - the soup would be just that much better. And each time he claims he has no food, but he might have a little of that one thing put aside. Eventually, she has a ginormous pot of soup.<br /><br />Then, she tells him the only thing the soup needs is some friends to share it with. So, they invite the whole town, and all the starving people get to eat. The end.<br /><br />Anyway, Button Soup is what I call it when I have a bunch of bits and bobs leftover and I throw them all together into a single dish to make something. Because anything can go into button soup, it just depends on what you happen to have on hand.<br /><br />So, that's my recipe for you, today. Take a look in your fridge, freezer, and pantry and see what you have that needs to be used up. Then, use a little imagination and create something yummy. It doesn't have to be soup, though soup is a good vehicle for such a recipe, it can be a casserole, a stir fry, a hash, or whatever will fit your leftovers. And, to finish it off, why not invite a friend over and share?<br /><br />Bon Appetit! 😊<br /><br /><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Mistral Dawnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944545165185674709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707980480389157353.post-33662391113347382112021-10-26T00:00:00.028-04:002024-01-07T09:13:58.501-05:00Something #Wicked This Way Comes...<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVoVSDT5k-LUXt0eKlmN17vBViS_PtSg0hs3yZK-ywJl8M9OZTZ_j6rkCLrowa78E1JG_SVHvJ6bgOw6WDJtI6SCzo7vti5sxlMsK4M7H21kPse4ZjN-mN6xeUgIl6p8ZBOuFfssA2SEb5/s2048/TakenbytheHuntsman+Amazon.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVoVSDT5k-LUXt0eKlmN17vBViS_PtSg0hs3yZK-ywJl8M9OZTZ_j6rkCLrowa78E1JG_SVHvJ6bgOw6WDJtI6SCzo7vti5sxlMsK4M7H21kPse4ZjN-mN6xeUgIl6p8ZBOuFfssA2SEb5/w426-h640/TakenbytheHuntsman+Amazon.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>Hey Everyone!! 😊<br /><br />The other day I was going back through <i>Taken By The Huntsman</i> and, as I was rereading part of it, I thought, with Halloween just around the corner, it might be fun to remind everyone just why the Wild Hunt is considered so fearsome by the Fae. So, go ahead and take a peek at Jillian's thoughts as she waits to meet the Erlking for the first time. Enjoy! 😉<br /><br /><b><u>Excerpt from <i>Taken By The Huntsman</i>:</u></b><br />Jillian knew that the Hunt counted among its members some of the most violent Fae, such as the Harpies, and some ancient, faded deities, such as the Morrigan. But she also knew that there were other horrors within the Hunt. There was Ionhar, the Erlking’s second in command and a member of the fearsome race of Spriggans, who were a plague upon the roads of Fairie.<br /><br />Ionhar was known to have been forced into becoming part of the Hunt after interfering when the Erlking slew his band of highwaymen. Because his service to the Hunt was not voluntary, any failure on his part to follow the Erlking’s instructions would result in a long and painful punishment. With that in mind, Ionhar was always extremely careful to be thorough in carrying out his duties. Which boded ill for anyone whom the Erlking had a reason to dislike.<br /><br />The odd female Fae who had once been known as Jenny Green-Teeth was also a part of the Hunt. She had always been a lone Fae, and at one time she lured thirsty travelers to their deaths by promising them a drink of water and then drowning them in the water source she brought them to. Jillian didn’t know how such a Fae could fit into the goddess’s plan. But, apparently, she had somehow pleased the goddess, because she had later been granted additional powers. Before Jillian had been born, Jenny Green-Teeth had gained the ability to cause and control storms and had been renamed the Storm Hag. All of Fairie knew the story of the drowning Fae’s elevation, but no one was quite sure how she had become part of the Wild Hunt. One thing was certain, though, she served the Erlking loyally.<br /><br />There were also the Fachan. Those Fae were actually members of the Winter Court, but several individuals had made themselves famous by joining the Hunt. They were horribly ugly Fae, whose looks were said to be enough to cause a grown male’s heart to freeze in his chest. Their entire bodies were covered in fur, and they had only one eye, one arm and hand, and one leg and foot arranged along the center of their bodies. They had large, bat-like wings on their backs, which were their only method of locomotion. The tops of their heads were one enormous mouth, which was filled with venomous fangs and a razor-sharp tongue.<br /><br />All of these terrifying creatures, and so many more, answered to the Erlking. He also had the Jacks-In-Irons guarding his walls, and the Virikas to give his enemies to. If Ithel’s actions should bring the Erlking’s wrath down on the Summer Court, Jillian's people would be lost. She knew it was imperative that she do everything in her power to make it clear that the fault lay with only one Fae, and not the whole kingdom. Her mistress, Briallen, loved Ithel dearly and, for her sake, Jillian would try to make some attempt to gain mercy for the Summer king. But, in the final analysis, the fate of that male was of small concern when weighed against the welfare of the rest of the kingdom. Jillian hoped the Erlking would see her soon, before her imagination sapped all of her courage.<br /></p><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>If you haven't read <i>Taken By The Huntsman</i>, and you'd like to get to know all these Fae a little better, why not grab your copy now? After all, who doesn't love a fairy tale? 😉</div><div><br /></div><div><br /><h1 style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Taken-Huntsman-Mistral-Dawn-ebook/dp/B00NGANG5C/?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=md02be-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=76d3de8b91199e600d06369c083d2c34&camp=1789&creative=9325" target="_blank"><b>Taken by the Huntsman</b></a></h1>
</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Mistral Dawnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944545165185674709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707980480389157353.post-6113027770828741822021-10-24T00:00:00.005-04:002021-10-24T00:00:00.240-04:00Delicious, Easy Manicotti #Recipe!<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp7gqdkKshWR_vnRQT_V3y0jNqXs6j6mlOAF7h6b3DHHglwHR_dSBc0I-pPS3qOBhweVaiGpQJWDSgfrsSGG_XEBLI3PDuuCfSUlrHWLZIoN8QoGh0CF5F_XAXdxCUmeS8E8OksO4vhIEZ/s1600/Dinnertime.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="656" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp7gqdkKshWR_vnRQT_V3y0jNqXs6j6mlOAF7h6b3DHHglwHR_dSBc0I-pPS3qOBhweVaiGpQJWDSgfrsSGG_XEBLI3PDuuCfSUlrHWLZIoN8QoGh0CF5F_XAXdxCUmeS8E8OksO4vhIEZ/s640/Dinnertime.jpg" width="520" /></a></div>
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<br />
Hey Everyone!! :-)<br />
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This recipe is a delicious, stick-to-your-ribs way to welcome in the cooler weather. Enjoy! :-)<br /><br /><b><u>Ingredients:</u></b><br />1 package manicotti shells<br />1 15oz container ricotta cheese<br />2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese<br />1/2 cup grated pecorino Romano cheese<br />1 10oz package frozen spinach thawed and squeezed dry<br />2 onions minced fine<br />4 cloves garlic minced fine<br />4 tsp fresh parsley chopped<br />2 tsp fresh basil chopped<br />2 tsp fresh oregano chopped<br />1 egg<br />4 cups tomato sauce (<a href="http://mistralkdawn.blogspot.com/2017/07/easy-fresh-tomato-sauce-recipe.html" target="_blank">Recipe Here</a>)<br />Salt and pepper to taste<br /><br />In a large bowl, mix the ricotta, 1 cup of the mozzarella, 1/4 cup of the Romano, spinach, onion, garlic, basil, oregano, 2 teaspoons of the parsley, salt and pepper, and egg. Spread 1 cup of the tomato sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Stuff the uncooked manicotti shells with the ricotta mixture, and arrange them in a single layer in the dish. Cover with the rest of the tomato sauce and sprinkle with the remaining parsley, mozzarella, and Romano. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 to 55 minutes, or until the cheese is browned and the manicotti shells are soft.<br /><br />Buon Appetito!<br /><br /><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Mistral Dawnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944545165185674709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707980480389157353.post-31151164230635406112021-10-17T00:00:00.004-04:002021-10-17T00:00:00.287-04:00Delicious Autumn Pasta #Recipe!<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp7gqdkKshWR_vnRQT_V3y0jNqXs6j6mlOAF7h6b3DHHglwHR_dSBc0I-pPS3qOBhweVaiGpQJWDSgfrsSGG_XEBLI3PDuuCfSUlrHWLZIoN8QoGh0CF5F_XAXdxCUmeS8E8OksO4vhIEZ/s1600/Dinnertime.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="656" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp7gqdkKshWR_vnRQT_V3y0jNqXs6j6mlOAF7h6b3DHHglwHR_dSBc0I-pPS3qOBhweVaiGpQJWDSgfrsSGG_XEBLI3PDuuCfSUlrHWLZIoN8QoGh0CF5F_XAXdxCUmeS8E8OksO4vhIEZ/s640/Dinnertime.jpg" width="520" /></a></div>
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Hey Everyone!! :-)<br />
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This is one of my favorite Fall pasta dishes. Enjoy! :-)<br /><br /><b><u>Ingredients:</u></b><br />1 lb pasta (your favorite kind)<br />5 tbsp butter<br />1 large red onion thinly sliced<br />1 cup spinach chopped fine<br />1 small pumpkin seeded, roasted, and chunked<br />2 tbsp thyme leaves<br />2 cloves garlic minced fine<br />2 tbsp olive oil<br />1 cup grated pecorino romano<br />1/2 cup white wine (optional)<br />Salt and pepper to taste<br /><br />Cook the pasta according to the package directions, and save 1 cup of the cooking water. Drain the pasta and set it aside. Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter with the olive oil in a deep-sided skillet. Add the onion, garlic, thyme and salt and pepper and cook until translucent. Add the wine and simmer until reduced (optional step). Add the pumpkin, spinach, cheese, and the remaining butter to the skillet, stirring to combine. Add the cooked pasta and saved water to the skillet and toss them together. Garnish with more cheese and parsley, if desired. Serve hot.<br /><br />Buon Appetito!<br /><br /><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Mistral Dawnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944545165185674709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707980480389157353.post-66789214882548058892021-10-10T00:00:00.005-04:002021-10-10T00:00:00.331-04:00A Quick Meal For Days On The Go #Recipe!<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp7gqdkKshWR_vnRQT_V3y0jNqXs6j6mlOAF7h6b3DHHglwHR_dSBc0I-pPS3qOBhweVaiGpQJWDSgfrsSGG_XEBLI3PDuuCfSUlrHWLZIoN8QoGh0CF5F_XAXdxCUmeS8E8OksO4vhIEZ/s1600/Dinnertime.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="656" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp7gqdkKshWR_vnRQT_V3y0jNqXs6j6mlOAF7h6b3DHHglwHR_dSBc0I-pPS3qOBhweVaiGpQJWDSgfrsSGG_XEBLI3PDuuCfSUlrHWLZIoN8QoGh0CF5F_XAXdxCUmeS8E8OksO4vhIEZ/s640/Dinnertime.jpg" width="520" /></a></div>
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Hey Everyone!! :-)<br />
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This is a really simple recipe for those days when you just don't have two minutes to rub together. It's quick and easy with almost no clean-up. And it's delicious! :-)<br /><br /><b><u>Ingredients:</u></b><br />1 English muffin or 2 slices of bread<br />1/2 cup hummus (your favorite flavor)<br />1 carrot<br />1 apple<br />1 zucchini<br />2 tbsp toasted pine nuts or sesame seeds<br /><br />Toast the muffin or bread and spread the hummus over it while it's still warm. Use a vegetable peeler to peel off a strip or two from the carrot, apple, and zucchini and lay the strips on top of the hummus. Sprinkle the nuts or seeds over the top. Eat immediately or wrap up to take with you and eat on the go. Wrap the unused portions of the carrot, apple, and zucchini tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate to use in other recipes or to eat later as snacks.<br /><br />Bon Appetit!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Mistral Dawnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944545165185674709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707980480389157353.post-26462014249297788962021-10-08T00:00:00.015-04:002024-01-07T09:14:57.922-05:00Rub-A-Dub-Dub, Fun In The Tub... 😉<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7GfsW_UWpmLoEfTU5tJSdOELeJKzm_TwgSv2nj1CyolfyVQRAarzwNd9cO15klpmF2BlcAcK7eA-dx4QF_uo_NKf4vmemretKPm3TMCJDh0F8It4TUlWOErN8YLZJQfmXPxRgYxAYVbQm/s2048/BoundByTheSummerPrince+Amazon2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7GfsW_UWpmLoEfTU5tJSdOELeJKzm_TwgSv2nj1CyolfyVQRAarzwNd9cO15klpmF2BlcAcK7eA-dx4QF_uo_NKf4vmemretKPm3TMCJDh0F8It4TUlWOErN8YLZJQfmXPxRgYxAYVbQm/w426-h640/BoundByTheSummerPrince+Amazon2.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><br /> Hey Everyone!! 😊<p></p><br />I just thought I'd share something to help you get your weekend off to a good start. Enjoy! 😉<br /><div><br /></div><div><b><u>Excerpt from <i>Bound by the Summer Prince</i>:</u></b><br />Sauntering over to the bath that was big enough for an entire football team, Roni watched her Anamchara watching her. His eyes darkened with lust as she slid into the warm water with him, and he reached for her. She splashed him and floated away from him with a laugh, all the while challenging him with her eyes to come get her.<br /><br />The prince wiped the water from his face with his hand, and then gave his mate a dangerous look. He lunged for her, growling, and grabbed her, dragging her back against his body.<br /><br />Before she knew what was happening, Roni found herself spun around and laid over the side of the tub, with her ass in the air. Her lover’s hand at the small of her back held her down. “Hey!” she said, kicking out with her feet and splashing the water.<br /><br />Uaine’s hand descended on his Anamchara’s generous behind, and the sound echoed through the room. Again and again, his hand landed, until her skin had taken on a rosy hue. “You must learn to behave. How can you, the future queen of the Summer Court, justify acting like an unruly child?”<br /><br />“Ooohhhh.” Roni moaned and squirmed against the slick stone. “I don’t know,” she gasped. “I can’t think.”<br /><br />Smiling, the prince said; “Then I guess I shall have to help you learn how to behave properly.” He ran his hand over her glowing flesh, and lightly massaged it.<br /><br />Roni found herself relaxing into her lover’s ministrations, and collapsed limp against the side of the tub. When Uaine pulled her back into the water and sat her on the ledge, she simply allowed him to move her.<br /><br />He picked up her hand and massaged her fingers. Moving up her arm, he thoroughly kneaded her tired muscles. By the time he made it to her back, her head had fallen forward onto her chest and her eyes were closed. After he had given her back, arms, and neck a complete rub down, Uaine gathered his mate into his arms.<br /><br />“Mmmmmm….” She moaned. “That was wonderful.”<br /><br />“I’m glad you enjoyed it.”<br /><br />“Much more and you’ll end our fun too soon. I’ll fall asleep.”<br /><br />Uaine smiled. “I believe I can think of ways to keep your attention.”</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Want to find out how he intends to do that? Go ahead and grab your copy at the link below. Happy reading! 😊</div><div><br /></div><div><br /><h1 style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00U1QFOWC/?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=md02be-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=3f442ddd008ad683d49472b6141e85f9&camp=1789&creative=9325" target="_blank"><b>Bound by the Summer Prince</b></a></h1>
</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Mistral Dawnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944545165185674709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707980480389157353.post-47957160974459385162021-10-03T00:00:00.004-04:002021-10-03T00:00:00.351-04:00Autumn Grain Salad #Recipe!<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp7gqdkKshWR_vnRQT_V3y0jNqXs6j6mlOAF7h6b3DHHglwHR_dSBc0I-pPS3qOBhweVaiGpQJWDSgfrsSGG_XEBLI3PDuuCfSUlrHWLZIoN8QoGh0CF5F_XAXdxCUmeS8E8OksO4vhIEZ/s1600/Dinnertime.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="656" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp7gqdkKshWR_vnRQT_V3y0jNqXs6j6mlOAF7h6b3DHHglwHR_dSBc0I-pPS3qOBhweVaiGpQJWDSgfrsSGG_XEBLI3PDuuCfSUlrHWLZIoN8QoGh0CF5F_XAXdxCUmeS8E8OksO4vhIEZ/s640/Dinnertime.jpg" width="520" /></a></div>
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Hey Everyone!! :-)<br />
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Since it's Fall, I've got a delicious salad recipe that incorporates some of those Autumn flavors for you. :-)<br /><br /><b><u>Ingredients:</u></b><br />2 cups uncooked quinoa<br />3 cups vegetable stock<br />1 cup pureed tomatoes<br />1 20oz can chickpeas drained<br />2 ears corn broiled or grilled and removed from cobs<br />2 roasted bell peppers any color chopped<br />1 small pumpkin<br />2 onions chopped<br />1 cup golden raisins<br />1 cup pine nuts<br />2 cloves garlic minced<br />1/2 cup white wine<br />1/4 cup apple cider vinegar<br />1 cup olive oil plus some to drizzle<br /><br /><br />Combine the quinoa, stock, and tomatoes and cook as you would normally cook quinoa. Set aside to cool. Cut the pumpkin in half and remove the "guts." Then cut the two halves into "smiles" and place them on a baking sheet. Drizzle the smiles with olive oil and sprinkle them with salt and pepper. Broil them until the pumpkin meat is fork-tender. Cool and remove the meat from the rinds. Cut the pumpkin meat into small chunks.<br /><br />In a saute pan, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the onions. Cook until the onions start to caramelize. Add the garlic, pine nuts, and raisins. Cook until the pine nuts start to toast and then deglaze the pan with the wine. Simmer the wine for a couple of minutes and then remove the pan from the heat and cool the onion mixture.<br /><br />In a bowl, combine the cooked quinoa, pumpkin, corn, chickpeas, onion mix, and peppers. In a separate bowl whisk together the remaining olive oil and vinegar. Stir the dressing into the quinoa mixture. Serve chilled.<br /><br />Bon Appetit!<br /><br /><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Mistral Dawnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944545165185674709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707980480389157353.post-31583723080964206762021-10-01T00:00:00.002-04:002021-10-01T00:00:00.292-04:00#Animal #Rescuer's #Guide To #Staying ( #Relatively ) #Sane! #Free! 😊<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIUYBf7g_5iWXm8wX3bUaWBpXcGOkIJMjPVtuJc6yNjxDgiiWnJgihQ4XqB0M0AUrP2WA194RgQtB6xfJkQYMb8xEhRpVT-aSXGqEN0Lqr5sU7inluOj47nFko7YTpuivx7C6prZoGZDFv/s1600/Animal+Rescue+Guide+Cover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIUYBf7g_5iWXm8wX3bUaWBpXcGOkIJMjPVtuJc6yNjxDgiiWnJgihQ4XqB0M0AUrP2WA194RgQtB6xfJkQYMb8xEhRpVT-aSXGqEN0Lqr5sU7inluOj47nFko7YTpuivx7C6prZoGZDFv/s400/Animal+Rescue+Guide+Cover.jpg" width="255" /></a></div>
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Hey Everyone!! 😊<br />
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Just a reminder, for those who haven't checked it out yet, I've collected all my animal rescue/care posts together and published them as a small book. If you'd like, you can download the book for <i><b><u>free </u></b></i>from Amazon, Smashwords, B&N, Kobo, and iTunes.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Animal-Rescuers-Guide-Staying-Relatively-ebook/dp/B01C0OADNW/" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">Amazon</span></a></b><br />
<b><br /></b> <b><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/616932" target="_blank">Smashwords</a></span></b><br />
<b><br /></b> <b><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/animal-rescuers-guide-to-staying/id1087156987?mt=11" target="_blank">iTunes</a></span></b><br />
<b><br /></b> <b><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/animal-rescuers-guide-to-staying-mistral-dawn/1123461736" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">Barnes & Noble</span></a></b><br />
<b><br /></b> <b><a href="https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/animal-rescuer-s-guide-to-staying-relatively-sane" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">Kobo</span></a></b></div>
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Thanks for stopping in today, and don't forget to check back tomorrow for the next installment of Mistral Dawn's Musings! :-)<br />
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<br />Mistral Dawnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944545165185674709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707980480389157353.post-56644604745646985032021-09-30T00:00:00.003-04:002021-09-30T00:00:00.326-04:00#APC #Spotlight: The Quantum Eavesdropper Volume 1 By Richard Gibney!(9/30)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Hey Everyone!! :-)<br />
<br />
I've got Richard Gibney in my APC spotlight, today! Richard is an active and supportive member of the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/1605983442956270/?ref=bookmarks" target="_blank">Authors-Professional Co-op</a> Facebook group and his espionage, thriller, action/adventure, time-travel, science fiction novel, <i>The Quantum Eavesdropper</i>, looks great! Here's the description:<br />
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Keir Tremayne and Yadana Osai arrive unexpectedly in New York in 1979, in an advanced space-going vessel. They are assisted in their return to the year 2095 – using physics previously learned from the future Tremayne and his allies – by an MIT professor with whom Tremayne has apparently been in contact from his future...<br />
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In 2094, Detective Sergeant Keir Tremayne's wife is brutally murdered in Dublin, Ireland. In 2095, on the lip of a black hole, Keir finds himself in the most incomparable of circumstances: he can now communicate with those living throughout Earth's history—and finds he can right the wrongs in his own past.</blockquote>
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On the first faster-than-light manned spaceflight to an alien world, Tremayne, hopelessly trapped on the edge of a black hole, finds himself once more forced into battle with the most formidable of nemeses.</blockquote>
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Hidalgo Ingoldsby, a psychotic crime lord from Latin America, is keen to seize power in Ireland by exploiting the country’s Unionist and Nationalist divisions. Teaming up with Tremayne's arch rival, Zhinny Zhao, a Thailand-based, world-traveling terrorist with psionic links to alien life, Ingoldsby plans a mass alien invasion of Earth and the fall of most of human kind.</blockquote>
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Zhinny Zhao’s estranged father is a retired US naval admiral with whom she reconciles and ultimately installs as US president. Zhao’s estranged daughter, Yadana, is a prodigious 22-year-old scientist. Like Tremayne, she finds herself a reluctant draftee into Earth’s first faster-than-light space program.</blockquote>
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Will Tremayne alter history to save his wife at the possible expense of Earth’s future?</blockquote>
If you think this sounds like something you might enjoy, go ahead and grab your copy here:<br />
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Thank you all so much for stopping by! Happy reading! :-)</div>
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</div>Mistral Dawnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944545165185674709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707980480389157353.post-20736343871696380212021-09-28T00:00:00.040-04:002024-01-07T09:17:22.003-05:00Advancing Understanding And Increasing Knowledge... 😉<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSFEJvwGa471cXYMGPo2PKgau4um1y9ltkXL7LLeYJ0McyC9foUhGJt0o2ETX_JLuM-ZCSi7rrfnSmBXSu9_qzEXExw_11n1V3Wl_UHuRRerc_yP3vQjJF27tAPq4OzxFIUMOgQdwujU9F/s2048/answersfromalyce.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1306" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSFEJvwGa471cXYMGPo2PKgau4um1y9ltkXL7LLeYJ0McyC9foUhGJt0o2ETX_JLuM-ZCSi7rrfnSmBXSu9_qzEXExw_11n1V3Wl_UHuRRerc_yP3vQjJF27tAPq4OzxFIUMOgQdwujU9F/w408-h640/answersfromalyce.jpg" width="408" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>Hey Everyone! 😊</p><p>Happy Tuesday! I'm back today with another peek at Alyce's efforts to help shed a little light on current events. Enjoy! 😉</p><div style="text-align: left;"><b><u>Excerpt from Answers from Alyce:</u></b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Squid-boy tucked his clipboard under one of his tentacles
and bent forward slightly, which I interpreted as a nod. "Yes, the
exhibits, such as they are, start in the room beyond." He stepped off the
walkway and headed towards the door. "Come this way, please."</div><p class="MsoNormal">I followed Squid-boy into another room full of life-size
dioramas and mechanized mannequins, which were all going through a series of
seemingly random jerky motions. After watching them for a few minutes, I
realized it looked like they were trying to contort themselves into some
standard yoga poses.</p><p class="MsoNormal">"What in the pink and purple heck do you have your
dummies doing, Squid-boy?"</p><p class="MsoNormal">He glanced up from his clipboard to see what I was talking
about and then turned back to what he was typing. "The androids require
fine-tune programming to refine their movement subroutines. For 'droids
constructed to mimic the physical form of your species, this series of
movements has been found to be the most efficient for facilitating such
adjustments."</p><p class="MsoNormal">"Intergalactic yoga robots. Who knew?"</p><p class="MsoNormal">He didn't bother looking up at that. "We have not left
your galaxy, so the term 'intergalactic' is inaccurate."</p><p class="MsoNormal">I snorted as I continued looking over the exhibits under
construction. To be honest, they were strange enough that I had a hard time
trying to figure out what they were supposed to represent. Besides,
the…people…working on them were a bit distracting.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Climbing all over the exhibits were creatures that looked
like Squid-boy's older, scarier brothers. They had so many arms, all of which
were in constant motion, that I had a hard time trying to count them. Instead
of the cute beak and large, almost cartoonish eyes that Squid-boy boasted,
these aliens had multifaceted eyes, like giant insects, and their mouths seemed
to consist of long, flexible looking tubes that were currently curled up tight
against their tubular bodies. I didn't know for sure, but for some reason I had
the feeling that the tips of those tubes would be sharp. The smallest of them
was at least seven feet tall, and their skin appeared to change colors to mimic
whatever background scenery they were near, which made studying them hard on my
eyes.</p><p class="MsoNormal">To ease the strain, I turned my attention to the smaller
aliens that were swarming about. The <i>much</i> smaller aliens. None of them
were larger than a hamburger patty. They seemed to range from semi-translucent
white to semi-translucent gray, and they looked more like large spiders than
small squids. Black beads ran from the top of their heads in two rows along the
length of their bodies.</p><p class="MsoNormal">"Are those decorations?"</p><p class="MsoNormal">Squid-boy glanced around. "What?"</p><p class="MsoNormal">"The black beads on the little fellas' backs. Are they
decorations? Do they have some meaning?"</p><p class="MsoNormal">Looking around some more, his gaze finally settled on the
spider creatures. "Do you mean the yruggles?"</p><p class="MsoNormal">"The little spider-looking ones."</p><p class="MsoNormal">He gave a honking snort. "Those are their eyes. They
are all highly skilled artisans who are extremely well-suited for fine-detail
work."</p><p class="MsoNormal">I blinked. "How can they see to work if their eyes are
on their backs?"</p><p class="MsoNormal">He rolled his eyes and returned to his clipboard. "They
have a mirror arrangement of eyes along the undersides of their bodies and
unusually dense clusters of neural fibers in their extremities."</p><p class="MsoNormal">"Oh." I looked around some more. "So, are we
just gonna stand here, or what?"</p><p class="MsoNormal">He glanced up at me. "Or what."</p><p class="MsoNormal">I crossed my arms over chest and glared at him. "Well,
then…?"</p><p class="MsoNormal">He gargled at me and then tucked his clipboard under one of
his tentacles. "Apologies, young human. I have been responding to the
multiple queries that my updates to the records concerning your planet have
prompted. But, you're correct, such things can wait." He stretched his
tentacles, craning his head to look over the exhibits. "Right now all we
need is… Ah! There he is."</p><p class="MsoNormal">At Squid-boy's exclamation, I turned to see what he was
talking about and gasped. Coming towards us was what looked like the embodiment
of the classic description of Satan. The alien towered above me, at least nine
feet of hard muscle and gleaming red skin, and I couldn't help it; I gaped at
him. My eyes kept running from the hooves that looked like they belonged on a
goat, up those backwards-turned legs, to the thick-muscled thighs that were
covered in black shorts, to the washboard abs, sculpted chest and broad
shoulders, to the pointed cleft chin, past the full lips and straight, pointed
nose right above them, up to the wide, tilted, blood-red eyes that were framed
by the black, glittering ram's horns curling out from the top of his head and
back again. Even for an atheist like me, the sight of such a creature
was…startling.</p><p class="MsoNormal">It took me a minute, but I realized Squid-boy was talking to
the Devil incarnate as if he was just another person. "Greetings, Yaxurg,
this is the human that was brought to help with some of the exhibits. Are you
ready to begin?"</p><p class="MsoNormal">Satan turned to look at me, his gaze showing interest and
curiosity. His perusal made me feel like a roast he was considering having for
dinner. My eyes widened even more and my heart stuttered in my chest as a
forked tongue flickered out past his lips towards me.</p><p class="MsoNormal">"A human <i>female</i>,
Paxtiguantialablingondintalblinganham? I've heard of such creatures before.
According to rumor, they can be quite…friendly." His voice was a bass
rumble that raised the hair on the back of my neck.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Gazing down at me, he grinned, showing a row of pointed,
black teeth, and crossed his arms over his chest. I just continued to gape as
his biceps bulged and shifted. When I tore my eyes away from his chest and
focused on his face again, he winked at me. </p><p class="MsoNormal">Which was like a bucket of cold water over my head. I might
not know why the personification of evil was standing in front of me, but I
knew I was being rude. And my mamma raised me better than that.</p><p class="MsoNormal">I stepped forward and hesitantly raised my hand. "Sorry
for staring; your appearance is astonishingly similar to a mythological
creature from my culture and it surprised me for a minute. I'm Alyce."</p><p class="MsoNormal">His grin widened and it was all I could do not to step back
when confronted with that mouthful of cutlery. He gently took my extended hand,
his large fingers swallowing my own. I think I squeaked when I felt the tips of
his curved, black talons dimple my skin, but he was careful not to cut me with
them. Bending over, he brought his forehead down to touch the back of my hand,
and then released me and straightened.</p><p class="MsoNormal">"My name is Yaxurg, and think nothing of it. I've heard
of the mythology on your world that surrounds my kind. There's good reason for
it, apparently. Our history documents several occasions in the distant past
when renegade members of my species visited your planet and caused havoc. Those
incidents have led to some…interesting… interactions between your species and
mine through the last few centuries. Perhaps, after our work here is done, you
and I can spend some time together and get to know each other better."</p><p class="MsoNormal">After a heartbeat, my brain caught up with the conversation.
My jaw dropped as my eyes ran the length of his body again. He couldn't
possibly mean… But when I saw the look in his eyes, I knew that he did. Whoo,
boy! I've experienced many things in life, but I never thought I'd be
propositioned by Satan. Something he had said before about human women
registered, and I rolled my eyes. I guess I could see why getting
"friendly" with someone from his species might appeal to some women.
After all, wouldn't the Devil be the ultimate bad boy? But that's never been my
scene.</p><p class="MsoNormal">I couldn't help it, I laughed. "In the interest of
advancing interspecies understanding, right?"</p><p class="MsoNormal">His expression turned grave, but his eyes twinkled. "Of
course, what else?"</p><p class="MsoNormal">I shook my head. "Well, Yax, you certainly have the
Devil's own charm. But I think I'll have to pass."</p><p class="MsoNormal">He cocked an eyebrow. "Yax?"</p><p class="MsoNormal">Squid-boy chimed in. "She has an aversion to the use of
proper names."</p><p class="MsoNormal">I glanced down at him and snorted. "You don't have a
'proper name'; you have a random rearrangement of the entire alphabet."</p><p class="MsoNormal">Yax laughed. "Ah. At least I'm in good company,
then." Turning back to me, he smiled. "I understand. But if you
happen to change your mind, the offer stands."</p><p class="MsoNormal">I smiled back, but shook my head again. "I promise, if
I change my mind, you'll be the first to know. In the meantime…" I
gestured towards the exhibits.</p><p class="MsoNormal">After grinning at me for another heartbeat, Yax nodded and
turned back to Squid-Boy. "As the lady says, we have work to do."</p><p class="MsoNormal">Squid-boy gurgled at us both. "Indeed. Now that the
mammalian mating ritual is completed, by all means, let us get to work."</p><p class="MsoNormal">Yax guffawed and patted Squid-boy on the head. "Now,
Paxtiguantialablingondintalblinganham, I wouldn't think a scientist like you
would mind the opportunity for close study of the behavior of two such
exceptional specimens." He gestured from himself to me.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Squid-boy snapped his beak at Yax and slapped at his hand
with his tentacles. "You always did have an over-inflated opinion of
yourself."</p><p class="MsoNormal">I couldn't hold it back; I laughed at the two of them
together. "Why, Squid-boy, you didn't tell me you have a sense of
humor!"</p><p class="MsoNormal">He snapped his beak at me, and then drew himself up to his
full height and took two steps away from both of us. "Are you two quite
finished?"</p><p class="MsoNormal">Yax grinned, but I just shrugged. "Sure."</p><p class="MsoNormal">Squid-boy held us with his stare for another minute, and
then took out his clipboard and stabbed at it with one of his tentacles.
"Where do you wish to start?" he asked Yax.</p><p class="MsoNormal">The big alien turned and led us over to an exhibit that
looked like it was almost complete. It had several sections, each telling a
distinct part of the story. It took me a minute to get it, but once I put them
all together it was clear what this particular exhibit was supposed to be
describing. The funny thing was, they had it all wrong. But…they also had it
completely right.</p><p class="MsoNormal">"How about here?"</p><p class="MsoNormal">I looked the exhibit over again. It was set up like a giant
diorama with the background being an office setting on one side and a forest on
the other, with a divider in between the two sides. In the office, there were
two men wearing business suits. One was sitting behind a fairly standard wooden
office desk and the other was sitting in front of it. On top of the desk was a
briefcase with the lid open. Inside, there were stacks of money and the man in
front of the desk was pushing it towards the other man.</p><p class="MsoNormal">It was pretty clear what the exhibit was trying to portray
even without the narration that was playing in the background, especially when
combined with what was going on in the forest scene. Part of the forest had
already been razed and giant earth-moving machines were digging up the ground
with large pipes being laid in the troughs that were created. The rest of the
forest was being cut down and the trees loaded onto large, smoke-billowing
trucks. A little farther down, where the pipes had already been buried, black
sludge was pouring out of the end of one and into a river.</p><p class="MsoNormal">It was all so real I thought I could smell the water and the
chemicals polluting it. "How do you make it look so realistic?" I
gestured towards where the river seemed to simply disappear into a wall.</p><p class="MsoNormal">"It is a hologram with supplemental environmental
control equipment to complete the experience."</p><p class="MsoNormal">"So, I really am smelling the river? I thought it was
just my imagination because the image was so real."</p><p class="MsoNormal">"Yes. Scent stimuli are incorporated into the exhibit
so that the effect is complete. Some species rely more on their sense of smell
than they do on sight or hearing."</p><p class="MsoNormal">"That makes sense." I gestured at the office
scene. "So that's supposed to be a politician taking a bribe from the
company that is causing this destruction?"</p><p class="MsoNormal">"Correct. We thought that displaying the two scenes
side-by-side would help make the connection between them obvious."</p><p class="MsoNormal">"Well, the end result is what happens, but it's not
quite as obvious as just shoving a bunch of cash at someone. Usually, the
closest most politicians come to taking cash for favors is if they own a
business and someone<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;">¾</span>generally
a corporate lobbying group or a rich individual who wants a favor<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;">¾</span>chooses
to patronize the politician’s business, which results in them giving the
politician money. But it’s under the guise of being a customer and receiving a
product or service for their money. Though, under those circumstances, it’s
fairly common for the price of the product or service to be quite a bit higher
than comparable products or services from other vendors, conveniently enough.
Then the politician might look favorably on legislation that might benefit
their valued customer or unfavorably on legislation that would be detrimental
to them. But even that's not the most common way people bribe politicians.
There are other ways that are even less likely to come under legal
scrutiny."</p><p class="MsoNormal">"What do you mean?"</p><p class="MsoNormal">I pointed at the office scene. "There are laws
prohibiting that kind of thing, and even the type of laundered bribery I just
told you about is iffy. Some politicians might break those laws, but there are
ways around them that don't carry the risk of going to prison, so that's
usually what they do."</p><p class="MsoNormal">"Can you elaborate?"</p><p class="MsoNormal">"Well, the most common way for people to legally bribe
politicians is to make campaign contributions to them. They give them money the
politicians can use to help them get elected again. But there are laws limiting
how much money people can give directly to politicians so, a lot of the time,
corporations and rich donors who want favors from politicians will give money
to PACs<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;">¾</span>Political
Action Committees<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;">¾</span>that
work to help get politicians elected. Technically, politicians aren't allowed
to be directly involved with PACs or to coordinate election strategy with them,
but they can usually get around that because it's hard to track. Not that
anyone tries all that hard."</p><p class="MsoNormal">"So wealthy people give money to these PACs and then
politicians allow them to pollute your planet? And why does no one attempt to
investigate if a politician is not following the laws regarding these
PACs?" asked Squid-boy.</p><p class="MsoNormal">"Mostly no one investigates because the investigations
would be done by either law enforcement or the media. Law enforcement works
for, and is controlled by, politicians. And almost all politicians skirt those
laws, so they don't want to encourage investigations of that kind. Large
corporations that sometimes want to be able to legally bribe politicians own
the media; at least, they own the media that has the largest audience. So, they
don't allow their employees to pursue investigations into violations of those
laws, either. Or, more often, they just don't hire people who would be
interested in doing those kinds of investigations."</p><p class="MsoNormal">"As for your first question, it's not quite that
direct, either. It's not so much that politicians allow certain companies to
just pollute, usually. That can happen, but it's not how it's usually handled.
What they do is either repeal or refuse to pass legislation that would regulate
manufacturing practices, limits on emissions, and waste disposal. So, since
there's no law against dumping chemicals in rivers, and it's cheaper to just
dump the chemicals in the river than to dispose of them safely, corporations
end up polluting. Because from their perspective, there's no reason not
to."</p><p class="MsoNormal">"But don't your people wonder why their representatives
allow such a lack of regulation when it results in danger to your populace and
damage to your planet? How do they justify not having those laws?" asked
Yax.</p><p class="MsoNormal">"Well, that's kind of complicated, too."</p><p class="MsoNormal">He gave me his Devil's grin again. "We have time."</p><p class="MsoNormal">"It's a lot of things that combine to allow the status
quo to continue. First, people are pretty busy just trying to make a living.
It's hard for most people to take the time to really look into what's going on
and untangle it all. Especially since, as I said, the mainstream media doesn't
do much to enlighten the public because the companies that own them are often
involved in the corruption.</p><p class="MsoNormal">"Since people are so busy, they're mostly dependent on
what they hear on the news. And, generally speaking, the news just reports what
politicians say. It's rare that they do any fact-checking or challenge the
assertions politicians make. So a lot of people just think that what the
politicians say is true.</p><p class="MsoNormal">"But it often isn't true. A lot of them pretend that
there's no scientific evidence showing that the pollution damages the planet or
that the changes in the climate aren't caused by human activity. They lie and
claim that contaminated water doesn't make people ill, that there's some other
reason for people who live in areas where the water is polluted to be sick. Or
they lie and say the water isn't contaminated at all and try to prevent anyone
from testing it, or if it is tested they try to prevent the test results from
becoming public."</p><p class="MsoNormal">"That's incredible!" cried Yax. "How can
anyone believe them?"</p><p class="MsoNormal">"Some people believe them because they don't understand
the science and they don't want to believe the government would lie to them.
Most people don't believe them, but they're too busy to think about it much if
it doesn't affect them directly. And, again, the mainstream media doesn't do
much to bring it to their attention. Anyone who does try to bring public
awareness to these problems is discredited as hysterical or unreliable or
biased against business. Corporations spend a lot of money ensuring that
politicians won't regulate them and they don't want public outcry to override
their bribes, so they work pretty hard to make sure that people don't pay
attention to what they're doing."</p><p class="MsoNormal">"But I do not understand, how do they hide it? The
effects of their actions are being felt by your entire planet," interjected
Squid-boy, waving his tentacles around his head.</p><p class="MsoNormal">I shrugged. "The effects of climate change are just
starting to be felt by most people. And it's not as if what is happening is
new; it's just more intense and happening more often. Storms like hurricanes
and tornadoes, droughts, floods, wildfires<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;">¾</span>these are all things that
have always happened. It's easy for politicians to lie and say that just
because the storms are larger and more frequent, or the wildfires happen more
often and in more places, it isn't evidence of climate change. Or, if it is,
that it isn't caused by anything humans are doing."</p><p class="MsoNormal">Squid-boy made a gurgling sound. "But that is patently
absurd! Even your own scientists are in agreement; the evidence is overwhelming
that the pollutants your species have been dumping into the environment for
more than a century are a direct cause of the changes in your planetary
climate. No rational dispute of these facts can exist!"</p><p class="MsoNormal">I snorted. "And what ever gave you the idea that human
beings are rational, sugar? A lot of people don't want to believe it because
their political opponents say it's true. And the politicians they like say it
isn't true. And the media they listen to either says it isn't true or doesn't
talk about it at all."</p><p class="MsoNormal">"So they disregard evidence and deny <i>facts</i>?
That's nonsensical!" exclaimed Yax.</p><p class="MsoNormal">I gave him a wry smile. "Welcome to America."</p><p class="MsoNormal">Squid-boy looked at Yax. "I'm not certain how to modify
the exhibit to reflect this additional information. The exchange of money for
political favors is straightforward and common throughout many civilizations,
though the fact that it is not a violation of their laws is rather bizarre. But
the contortions and convolutions these people go through just so that they can
continue to deceive themselves and deny reality is difficult to
conceptualize."</p><p class="MsoNormal">I laughed. "Oh, sugar, it can get much more complicated
than that."</p><p class="MsoNormal">"It can?" Squid-boy stared at me with wide, round
eyes. "How?"</p><p class="MsoNormal">"Well, another way politicians might pay back the legal
bribes a company gives them would be to give them 'incentives' to locate new
additions to their business in the politician's jurisdiction. They sometimes
use tax money to build, or help build, the facility the company needs. Or they
waive regulations and allow the company to ignore laws that protect the public
from unsafe construction and environmental damage. Sometimes they allow the
company to not pay taxes, or to pay almost no taxes, for a period of time. If
unions are strong in the area, the politician might try to pass legislation to
weaken the unions or help keep the employees of the corporation from joining a
union."</p><p class="MsoNormal">"And what possible justification can they give to their
constituents for such things?" demanded Yax.</p><p class="MsoNormal">I shrugged. "Jobs, usually. They promise people the company
will give them jobs. And since there are a lot of people who don't have jobs,
or who have jobs that don't pay enough to live on, they agree to it." </p><p class="MsoNormal">"But if the politicians and the corporations are
working to thwart organized labor, those jobs can't pay all that well."</p><p class="MsoNormal">I smiled at the handsome alien. "Yeah, well, somehow
that little detail never seems to get discussed."</p><p class="MsoNormal">"And if the corporation doesn't pay taxes, that means
the financial burden would have to be transferred to the people. Is that not correct?"</p><p class="MsoNormal">"Yep, Squid-boy, that's right. People pay taxes because
we all know we need certain things like roads, police, and firefighters, and
then the politicians give that money to private corporations so they can build
private buildings that the public can't use. Then, those companies get to come
in and hire desperate people at starvation wages. And for that privilege we get
to pay their taxes for them, too. A nice, tidy little racket, wouldn't you
say?"</p><p class="MsoNormal">"And your people allow this because they are desperate?"
asked Yax.</p><p class="MsoNormal">"Some are desperate. Our government has done a terrible
job of forcing corporations to pay their employees fairly, so a lot of people
have to work two or three jobs just to survive. Also, all the same things that
allow corporations to legally bribe politicians to let them destroy the
environment apply to this as well. People are busy just living their lives and
don't have extra time to think about these things. Or they don't know enough
about what's going on because the media doesn't do much to educate them. Also,
even when people do know what's going on, they often just don't know what to do
about it."</p><p class="MsoNormal">I pointed at an exhibit that was just beyond the one we were
discussing. "Not everyone has the energy or determination to do something
like that. And those who do often face terrible consequences for trying to
fight the corruption."</p><p class="MsoNormal">Yax looked where I was pointing and waved me over. "You
know what this represents even without the voice-over commentary?"</p><p class="MsoNormal">"Yes. Though, again, it's not quite right. But I can
tell what you were trying to show, here."</p><p class="MsoNormal">Yax nodded, looking at the exhibit thoughtfully. "Can
you tell us what parts aren't accurate and what you think needs to be changed
or added?"</p><p class="MsoNormal">I followed his gaze. "Well, this, right here, isn't
quite true." I pointed at a robot that was holding a sign while doing a
fair representation of a tree pose. "This says 'Destroy pipelines!' but
that's not what this political action was about at all." I reached for the
sign, but my arm wasn't long enough and I bumped into the robot's knee. Shaking
my head, I told the robot, "Put your leg down, sugar, and hand me that
sign."</p><p class="MsoNormal">It just stood there and looked at me. Putting my hands on my
hips, I turned to Yax and raised my eyebrows. That devil, he just grinned at me
and gave the robot an order in a language I didn't understand. The robot put
its foot back on the floor and brought the sign down where I could reach it. I
took it and handed it to Squid-boy. "Look…"</p><p class="MsoNormal">I broke off as the robot took advantage of the fact that its
hands were free to shift into a bridge pose. But something must have been wrong
with its motion controllers because, once it was in position, it kept thrusting
its hips up into the air. It was way too human-looking for that to be anything
but obscene.</p><p class="MsoNormal">I looked at my two escorts. Squid-boy seemed not to have
noticed, but Yax was almost vibrating with his effort not to laugh. I raised my
eyebrows. "This your doin'?"</p><p class="MsoNormal">At that he did laugh. "No. I'm sorry to disappoint you,
but that's just a glitch in the 'droid's movement subroutines. It's the reason
we have them go through these exercises; so we can find and fix these problems
before the exhibits go live."</p><p class="MsoNormal">Squid-boy had caught up by that point and gave me one of his
nod/bows.</p><p class="MsoNormal">I just looked at the two of them. "Riiight."
Shaking my head, I turned my back on the distracting robot. "Well,
that," I pointed at the sign Yax was now holding, "isn't what
this," I gestured at the exhibit full of gesticulating robots behind me,
"was all about."</p><p class="MsoNormal">"Then what was it about?" asked Squid-boy.</p><p class="MsoNormal">"It had nothing to do with wanting to destroy
pipelines. It was about protecting water sources and the rights native peoples
have on their own land."</p><p class="MsoNormal">"What do you mean by 'native peoples'?" asked Yax,
staring at the exhibit with a thoughtful expression on his face.</p><p class="MsoNormal">I sighed. "It has to do with the way my country was
formed. Do you know our history?"</p><p class="MsoNormal">Yax and Squid-boy both shook their heads.</p><p class="MsoNormal">I grimaced. "Well, it's a really long story and a lot
of stuff happened. But, briefly, people from several different European
countries invaded the continent I live on a few hundred years ago and, over
time, killed most of the people who had already been living there."</p><p class="MsoNormal">Squid-boy blinked at me. "Why?"</p><p class="MsoNormal">I closed my eyes and massaged my temples.</p><p class="MsoNormal">"Are you feeling ill?" asked Yax.</p><p class="MsoNormal">"Huh?" I looked up. "Oh, no, thanks for
asking. I'm okay. It's just this isn't a fun topic to talk about. Human beings
can be pretty brutal, sometimes."</p><p class="MsoNormal">The tall alien nodded. "I knew that from the stories of
what happened when some of my kind chose to engage your people over the
centuries."</p><p class="MsoNormal">I snorted and shook my head, marveling again at how closely
he resembled every classical rendering of Satan. "I can only
imagine."</p><p class="MsoNormal">"But why did some of your people kill so many others,
young human?" interjected Squid-boy.</p><p class="MsoNormal">I cocked an eyebrow at him. "One-track mind there, huh,
Squid-boy?" He opened his mouth to respond, but I waved it away. "No,
you're right. Back to business. Why did the Europeans go to the Americas or why
did they slaughter the natives?" I shrugged. "Either way, the answer
is a variety of reasons."</p><p class="MsoNormal">Squid-boy opened his beak and then closed it with a snap.
Gesturing with his tentacles he made a gargling sound and said, "I don't
understand."</p><p class="MsoNormal">Sighing, I said, "I could give you the official
explanations that they teach us all in school<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;">¾</span>God, Gold, and Glory, and
all that<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;">¾</span>but
honestly it all just boils down to greed. The Europeans wanted what the
indigenous people had and they were willing to do whatever was necessary to
take it. There were also some people from Europe who were fleeing persecution,
and who were just trying to find somewhere safe to live the way they wanted to
live. But that didn't stop them from trying to impose their beliefs on the
natives in the same way those they ran from had tried to do to them. And some
of the slaughter was accidental; there were diseases that the Europeans brought
with them.</p><p class="MsoNormal">“The Europeans had some immunity to these diseases, but the
people who were native to the Americas hadn't been exposed to them previously
and so had no resistance to them at all. They died by the millions. Of course,
over time, even disease was turned into a weapon. There were several instances where
the Europeans deliberately infected the indigenous people.</p><p class="MsoNormal">"But mostly the killing was done on purpose. It wasn't
all at once; it happened over a couple of hundred years, but eventually the
native peoples had been pushed back to small areas of land that the Europeans
found undesirable for different reasons. Then, as things progressed, the people
who had taken over started coveting what little the native peoples had left. By
that time, a government had been established in the US and there were some legal
contortions that those who wanted to steal from the indigenous people had to go
through, but it was all still just dressed-up thievery.</p><p class="MsoNormal">"One of the last examples of this eventually led to
what happened here." I gestured at the exhibit again. "The government
decided it wanted the land that had been granted to a tribe of indigenous
people by a treaty and offered them money to buy the land. The leaders of the
tribe rejected the deal and refused the money. They wanted to keep their land.
So the government put the money in a trust for the tribe, where it sits to this
day, and took the land anyway. But the tribe never accepted the money, so by
treaty the land still belongs to them.</p><p class="MsoNormal">"Then, the government gave a private corporation
permission to build an oil pipeline on the land that belongs to the tribe. The
pipeline runs underneath the river that the tribe uses as their water source.
Oil pipelines are notorious for leaking, which poisons the land and the water
around them, and the tribe never gave permission for the corporation to build
on their land. So they organized to try to protect their land and water. It
kind of snowballed when it became a symbol of people standing up for their
rights and the environment against government corruption and corporate greed."</p><p class="MsoNormal">"Our records indicate there were some violent conflicts
surrounding this incident," said Squid-boy.</p><p class="MsoNormal">I nodded. "There were. But the violence came from the
government and from the corporation. The people protecting the water were
largely peaceful in their tactics."</p><p class="MsoNormal">"If they weren't violent, what did they do?" asked
Yax.</p><p class="MsoNormal">"Well, they formed a large camp near where the pipeline
was being built and thousands of people congregated there." I pointed at
the exhibit. "That's what you seem to be trying to portray here, but the
people in the camp were there to protect the water and the rights of the native
people. Not to destroy anything."</p><p class="MsoNormal">"So they just built temporary housing near where the
pipeline was being built? Why would your government react violently to
that?"</p><p class="MsoNormal">I snorted. "The government tends to react violently
anytime anyone points out that what they're doing is wrong. But, no, they
didn't just camp near the pipeline. They took action to try to stop
construction. Some of them chained themselves to equipment so it couldn't be
used. Some of them stood in groups, blocking the way of the construction. There
were also marches to try to draw attention to what was going on. Also, after
the corporation destroyed the tribe's ancestral burial ground, there was a
prayer march."</p><p class="MsoNormal">"Your government allowed this corporation to disturb
these people's dead? That's heartless!" cried Squid-boy.</p><p class="MsoNormal">"Why did the corporation object to prayer?" asked
Yax.</p><p class="MsoNormal">"They objected to anything that brought attention to
what they were doing," I answered. "And considering what the
government has done to indigenous people in the past, does it really surprise
you that it has no respect when it comes to native cemeteries?"</p><p class="MsoNormal">"But common decency…" objected Squid-boy.</p><p class="MsoNormal">"Isn't something corrupt politicians or greedy
corporate officials concern themselves with too often," I interrupted.</p><p class="MsoNormal">He made a buzzing sound in the back of his throat but didn't
reply.</p><p class="MsoNormal">"And all this is the result of the corruption you told
us about?" asked Yax.</p><p class="MsoNormal">I nodded. "Probably. The governor and both senators of
the state the native reservation is in have taken a lot of money from the oil
and gas industry." I shrugged again. "'One hand washes the other', as
they say."</p><p class="MsoNormal">"And this happens often?" asked Squid-boy.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Grimacing, I answered. "It used to happen all the time,
then the laws got stricter and the protections against corporate abuse got
stronger. But lately the laws have been going back in the other
direction." I gestured at the exhibit again. "What happened here with
private corporate security working hand in glove with the police reminds me a
lot of what the Pinkerton Gang used to get away with. These fossil fuel
companies are pretty aggressive when it comes to fighting dirty to get what
they want from land that belongs to other people. Heck, the fracking boys have
even been after me and my land."</p><p class="MsoNormal">"After you? They're trying to take your property?"
asked Yax.</p><p class="MsoNormal">"What is this 'Pinkerton Gang'?" asked Squid-boy.</p><p class="MsoNormal">"They're trying to force me to give them permission to
put a pipeline under my land. I don't want to, but they're pretty
persistent."</p><p class="MsoNormal">"Will they win?"</p><p class="MsoNormal">I looked at Yax and shrugged. "Dunno. I like to think I
can protect what's mine, but it's hard to fight people who have billions of
dollars and the government behind them. I guess it'll depend on if the people
in my country are able to take back control of our government or if we fold and
just let the corporations run everything."</p><p class="MsoNormal">"Which do you think will happen?"</p><p class="MsoNormal">I shrugged again. "The jury's still out." I jerked
my chin towards the exhibit that had already been shifted to better show how a
group of regular citizens had joined together in peace to stand up against
those who wanted to take their rights from them. "Things like this will
answer that question."</p><p class="MsoNormal">I turned to Squid-boy who was gazing at the exhibit with a
strange expression on his face. When he realized I was looking at him, he
turned his eyes to meet mine. "Your species is at an interesting
crossroads. You are a complex people, capable of both astonishing selflessness
and devastating selfishness. I hope, for your sake, that the better parts of
your nature prevail."</p><p class="MsoNormal">I reached down to pat him on his back. "Me too,
Squid-boy. Me too." I took a last look at the representation of some of my
fellow citizens' stand against tyranny and turned away. Taking a deep breath, I
shook my head and said, "The Pinkerton Gang, to answer your question, was
a private security firm that was active in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries. They were infamous for union-busting, strikebreaking, and intimidating
workers into submission. There were several violent conflicts between them and
union laborers that resulted in deaths on more than one occasion. Though, they
also did other kinds of security work, tracking criminals, and such. They sort
of morphed and merged over the years, not being as involved in conflicts with
organized labor as the laws changed to protect unions and workers' rights.
Eventually, they were bought by a different security company and aren't really
called the 'Pinkertons' anymore."</p><p class="MsoNormal">I jerked my head back towards the exhibit. "The
mercenaries here were deployed by the company building the pipeline. That
company bribed the police by offering to pay for the costs incurred by the
police department during this protest, if the police agreed to collaborate with
the company’s mercenaries; the company wanted them to share information and
collude to create a strategy for how the police would respond to the people
trying to protect the water. That kind of shady, cozy relationship between law
enforcement and private, corporately-owned armies reminds me of the stories
about how the unions used to have to fight with 'the Pinks'."</p><p class="MsoNormal">"At least, no one was killed this time," observed
Yax.</p><p class="MsoNormal">I shook my head. "No. No one was killed. But the
company did attack the people protecting the water with dogs. And the police
used tear gas and water cannons against peaceful marchers, even though the
weather was cold enough to make hypothermia likely when their clothes got wet.
A woman was permanently blinded in one of her eyes from tear gas and another
woman's arm was badly damaged when a tear gas canister hit her. So there was
violence, though not by the people protecting the water.</p><p class="MsoNormal">"Also, even though the corporate media ignored what
happened, there were several independent journalists who covered it. If they
hadn't been there, recording what was happening, the violence from the
corporation and the police might have been even worse. Knowing that what they
did would end up on the Internet and result in calls to DC might have moderated
their behavior, a bit."</p><p class="MsoNormal">The big alien frowned and shook his head. I'd never seen a
devil look sad before.</p><p class="MsoNormal">"I still can't believe your government allows private
interests to get away with such abuses. Or to influence their own police forces
so blatantly," said Squid-boy.</p><p class="MsoNormal">I shrugged. "Like I said before, the corruption in our
government is an open secret. The corporations have a lot of money. As the
saying goes, 'money talks' and our politicians' hearing is quite good when it
comes to that money. Not so much when it comes to everyone else, though."</p><p class="MsoNormal">"But, surely, at some point, the people who elect these
politicians must get frustrated and refuse to elect them again," exclaimed
Squid-boy, his beak snapping.</p><p class="MsoNormal">I rubbed the back of my neck and winced. "Yeah, that's
how we got our current Disaster In Chief. People were fed up with the same old,
same old and decided anything would be better, even a monster."</p><p class="MsoNormal">"That doesn't seem like the correct solution to the
problem," Squid-boy pointed out.</p><p class="MsoNormal">"Well, now, sugar, I agree with you. Unfortunately,
enough people didn't see any alternative that it happened anyway."</p><p class="MsoNormal">"The failures of your current leader aside, though I'd
be interested to hear more on that topic later, that still doesn't explain why
your politicians would be willing to alienate their supporters for short-term
gains. What happens when they can't get elected anymore and they lose their
jobs?" asked Yax.</p><p class="MsoNormal">"Oh, that's all tied up nice and tight for them. It's
the other part of the bribes they get. Like I said before, the bribery that
happens in our political system isn't usually just a bag of cash shoved at
someone. When the politicians who have allowed the corporations to legally
bribe them leave public office, the corporations hire them."</p><p class="MsoNormal">Squid-boy blinked at me. "Hire them to do what?"</p><p class="MsoNormal">I shrugged. "Anything. Nothing. It doesn’t matter. It
isn't about them doing an actual job; it's about paying them back for the job
they've already done."</p><p class="MsoNormal">"And this is <i>legal</i>?" gasped Squid-boy.</p>"Yep."<br /><br />Squid-boy waved his arms around his head. "No wonder our researchers decided representations of your political system belong in our Museum of Galactic Oddities. If I hadn't met an at least nominally reasonable example of your species," he said, gesturing towards yours truly, "I'd be tempted to believe you're all insane." He pointed several tentacles back at the exhibits we'd been reviewing. "The system you describe is certainly bizarre enough to support such a hypothesis."<br /><br />I rubbed the back of my neck again. "Well, now, sugar, I can't rightly argue with you much, there."<br /><br />Yax cleared his throat and Squid-boy and I both looked at him. "While I sympathize with my colleague's dismay," he said, nodding at Squid-boy, "we do have a number of other exhibits to get to. Perhaps we can all continue this discussion over refreshments later?"<br /><br />Squid-boy's beak snapped and his head turned a light purple. "Of course. I'm being unprofessional. Young human, if you will?" He gestured towards some more exhibits farther down the row.<br /><br /><br />Want to find out what other delights are in store for Alyce? Grab your copy at the link below. Happy reading! 😊 <div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><h1 style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Answers-Alyce-Mistral-Dawn-ebook/dp/B07QYP78CG/?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=md02be-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=ec91e1d2dbad16c0336dbff2e071b34d&camp=1789&creative=9325" target="_blank"><b>Answers from Alyce</b></a></h1><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Mistral Dawnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944545165185674709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707980480389157353.post-65430273047314662842021-09-26T00:00:00.005-04:002021-09-26T00:00:00.276-04:00A Fritter For All Ages #Recipe!<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp7gqdkKshWR_vnRQT_V3y0jNqXs6j6mlOAF7h6b3DHHglwHR_dSBc0I-pPS3qOBhweVaiGpQJWDSgfrsSGG_XEBLI3PDuuCfSUlrHWLZIoN8QoGh0CF5F_XAXdxCUmeS8E8OksO4vhIEZ/s1600/Dinnertime.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="656" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp7gqdkKshWR_vnRQT_V3y0jNqXs6j6mlOAF7h6b3DHHglwHR_dSBc0I-pPS3qOBhweVaiGpQJWDSgfrsSGG_XEBLI3PDuuCfSUlrHWLZIoN8QoGh0CF5F_XAXdxCUmeS8E8OksO4vhIEZ/s640/Dinnertime.jpg" width="520" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Hey Everyone!! :-)<br />
<br />
I'm back with another summertime recipe for you! Enjoy! :-)<br /><br /><b><u>Ingredients:</u></b><br />1/4 cup flour<br />1 large or 2 small zucchini grated<br />3 large carrots grated<br />4 tbsp chives chopped fine<br />1 tsp cumin<br />1 egg<br />1/2 tsp salt<br />1.5 tsp sugar<br />1 tbsp cornstarch<br />1/3 cup vegetable oil<br />3 tbsp rice wine vinegar<br />1 tbsp soy sauce<br />1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes<br />Salt and pepper to taste<br /><br />Toss the shredded zucchini and carrots with half a teaspoon of salt and let stand 10 minutes. Wring the veggies dry in a clean kitchen towel and then put them in a large bowl and mix in the egg, flour, chives, cumin, and cornstarch. Season the batter with salt and pepper to your taste.<br /><br />Heat the oil in a large skillet. Drop 1/4 cupfuls of the veggie mixture into the skillet. Press down with a spatula to flatten a bit. Cook until golden and crisp and turn over and cook the other side to the same doneness. Put the fritters on a paper towel-lined plate and season with salt and pepper to your taste. Serve warm.<br /><br />In a separate bowl, mix the vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, and red pepper flakes until the sugar is dissolved. Serve as a dip for the veggie fritters.<br /><br />You can add some frozen spinach that has been thawed and drained and/or some finely chopped onion to the fritters, but you'll need to adjust the amount of flour and egg to fit the additional vegetables. Also, you can add some sriracha to the batter, if you'd like to add a little kick to it.<br /><br />Bon Appetit!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Mistral Dawnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944545165185674709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707980480389157353.post-79290016884703099142021-09-24T00:00:00.037-04:002024-01-07T09:19:28.712-05:00Morning Fun And Games... 😉<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxEOmSeVN5-OnLYZO6fKIlxjRCagaUegwcCiIHVwZnHsNJ-mM2NZJtEHf6QsUQ3JkfUE25yX4ECW2OF0fXh1rrQYvTHk1bkYVESLF7nJnhd0lxQn_wx7Hz8JmNEsd2vbCJRvjmPhFRPmKO/s2048/CaptivatedbytheWinterKing+Winner+Tag.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxEOmSeVN5-OnLYZO6fKIlxjRCagaUegwcCiIHVwZnHsNJ-mM2NZJtEHf6QsUQ3JkfUE25yX4ECW2OF0fXh1rrQYvTHk1bkYVESLF7nJnhd0lxQn_wx7Hz8JmNEsd2vbCJRvjmPhFRPmKO/w426-h640/CaptivatedbytheWinterKing+Winner+Tag.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Hey Everyone! 😊</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Happy Friday and congratulations on making it through another week! To celebrate the weekend -- slow, lazy weekend mornings -- I thought I'd share a little peek at how the Fae like to start the day. Enjoy! 😉</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><u>Excerpt from Captivated by the Winter King:</u></b></div>Kate opened her eyes, confused about where she was. Looking around, she saw the remnants of a fire glowing in the fireplace and a large expanse of well-muscled chest. Raising her eyes, she saw Ankou's face still relaxed in sleep and the memories of the night before came back to her.<br /><br />They had started her recitation of her history on opposite ends of the sofa, but when she told him about the first time Erik beat her she hadn't been able to control her tears. Ankou had moved closer to comfort her, and it had felt so good she hadn't moved away. Somehow, the horror of the past few years seemed more distant when she was in his arms. She didn't remember falling asleep, but it seemed they both had.<p></p><p>Thinking about that, Kate realized she wasn't upset about it. It was nice to wake up next to someone and not be afraid. And she wasn't. It took her a moment's reflection, but she determined that she felt relaxed and content. The absence of fear in another person's presence was a heady sensation, and it made her feel bold.</p><p>For a long time, she had craved a connection with another person. She had always wanted to be close to someone who would stand by her and love her for who she was. Such a relationship had eluded her for her entire life, but she still yearned for it with a desperation that often left her breathless. Her doubts lingered, but she hoped that Ankou might be that person for her. He claimed they were soulmates. Did a deeper understanding of another person exist? Maybe, finally, she had found someone she could trust.</p><p>Ankou's full lips were just out of her reach, but by stretching just a little bit she could meet them with her own. Did she want to? Did she have the courage? Her desire for touch and affection burned within her, and she decided the answer to both questions was yes. Reaching up, she grazed his mouth with her lips and inhaled his scent. He smelled sweet and spicy at the same time.</p><p>Feeling warm and relaxed, Ankou came awake to find his Anamchara's mouth hovering over his own. He waited to see what she would do, not wanting to rush her to do more than she was ready for. When her eyes met his, he saw the question in them and silently gave her consent to proceed if she wished; leaving the decision in her hands. The moment she made up her mind, her lips met his in a gentle caress and he groaned his approval.</p><p>The teasing brushes of her mouth against his caused his body to react, and he was aware of every point of contact between them with painful acuity. The feel of her lying against him, her body melting into his, made him want to tear the clothes from her and explore every inch of her delectable form with his tongue. But he knew he couldn't do that. If anything had been made clear during Kate's description of her relationship with the odious human male who had tried to claim her, it was that this woman needed to know her needs would be considered and her limits respected. A precipitous coupling would not give her that reassurance. So he would be patient and proceed at her pace.</p><p>The gentle butterfly kisses she gave him progressed to soft nips and firmer contact between their mouths. After some hesitation, she eased her tongue between his lips and he met it with his own. As their kissing deepened, she ran her hands experimentally over his body. He mirrored her actions; careful only to follow where she led. In time, his patience was rewarded as she moaned in satisfaction and shifted so that the contact between their bodies increased.</p><p>Changing the angle at which his thigh lay, he pressed it between her legs and was delighted when she rubbed herself against it. She slid her hands under his tunic, and he shivered as her slender fingers teased his nipples.<br /><br /><br />Want to find out what happens next? Grab your copy at the link below. Happy reading! 😊</p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B016NHLDT0/?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=md02be-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=9585ac62d96d903f1589500bbb86dbeb&camp=1789&creative=9325" target="_blank"><b>Captivated by the Winter King</b></a></h1>
<p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Mistral Dawnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944545165185674709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707980480389157353.post-11012264556802880582021-09-23T00:00:00.005-04:002021-09-23T00:00:00.255-04:00#APC #Spotlight: A Web Through Time By Niki Livingston! (9/23)<div class="separator tr_bq" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
Hey Everyone!! :-)<br />
<br />
I've got Niki Livingston in my APC spotlight, today! Niki is an active and supportive member of the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/1605983442956270/?ref=bookmarks" target="_blank">Authors-Professional Co-op</a> Facebook group and her young adult, science fiction, time travel, action, adventure novella, <i>A Web Through Time</i>, looks great! Here's the description:<br />
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Meet Alex. Ordinary. Quiet. And she plays by the rules.<br />
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However, her entire life shifts in an instant, when a blue-eyed man walks into her place of work and discloses a ludicrous story to explain the mystery of her forgotten past. Despite her resistance and demands to be left alone, she’s forced into a world where her future becomes her past and the governments of Earth are searching for her execution.<br />
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Will she embrace her true nature or succumb to the threats of her parents’ enemies?<br />
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The tumble through the webs of time has just begun.</blockquote>
If you think this sounds like something you might enjoy, go ahead and grab your copy here:<br />
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Thank you all so much for stopping by! Happy reading! :-)</div>
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</div>Mistral Dawnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944545165185674709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707980480389157353.post-11237099201246814562021-09-19T00:00:00.008-04:002021-09-19T00:00:00.257-04:00Easy Spring Roll #Recipe!<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Hey Everyone!! :-)<br />
<br />This recipe is perfect for those late summer days when it's just too hot to think about eating anything warm. Enjoy! :-)<br /><br /><b><u>Ingredients:</u></b><br />8 rice paper sheets (spring roll wraps)<br />1.5 oz uncooked rice vermicelli noodles<br />8 oz extra-firm tofu drained<br />1 cup Chinese cabbage thinly sliced<br />3/4 cup shredded carrots<br />1/2 cup shiitake mushroom caps sliced<br />2 tbsp mint leaves chopped<br />1/2 cup basil leaves shredded<br />4 green onions sliced thin<br />5 tsp rice vinegar<br />2 tbsp soy sauce<br />2 tbsp dark sesame oil<br />1.5 tbsp hoisin sauce<br />2 tsp chili paste (optional)<br />1.5 tbsp chunky peanut butter<br />1 tbsp water<br />Salt and pepper to taste<br /><br />Cook the noodles according to the package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water. Drain and set aside.<br /><br />Cut the tofu crosswise into 4 slices. Put the slices between several layers of paper towels. Put a sheet pan or something heavy-ish on top of the paper towels. Let it stand for about ten minutes. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper on the tofu and cut it into cubes.<br /><br />Whisk together one tablespoon vinegar, one tablespoon soy sauce, the sesame oil, one and a half teaspoons of hoisin sauce, and the chili paste in a bowl. Add the cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, and mint leaves. Toss the ingredients together to coat.<br /><br />Prepare the rice paper sheets according to the directions on the package. Sprinkle some of the basil leaves on the bottom third of each sheet. Add a couple of the tofu cubes and about 3 tablespoons of the cabbage mixture. Top with about two tablespoons of the noodles and an onion slice. Fold the bottom of each sheet over the filling. Then, fold the sides of each sheet over the filling. Starting with the filled side, roll the sheets into spring rolls and gently press the seams to seal.<br /><br />Place the rolls, seam side down, on a serving platter, and cover them to keep them from drying out. Serve chilled.<br /><br />For a dipping sauce, whisk together the rest of the vinegar, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, the peanut butter, and the water in a separate bowl. Serve the sauce chilled in a small dish or bowl wide enough for dipping.<br /><br />Bon appetit!<br /><br /><br /><br />
<br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Mistral Dawnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944545165185674709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707980480389157353.post-31687335834779504722021-09-16T00:00:00.003-04:002021-09-16T00:00:00.293-04:00#APC #Spotlight: Forever Desired (Vampire Brides) By Ariel Marie!(9/16)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
Hey Everyone!! :-)<br />
<br />
I've got Ariel Marie in my APC spotlight, today! Ariel is an active and supportive member of the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/1605983442956270/?ref=bookmarks" target="_blank">Authors-Professional Co-op</a> Facebook group and her vampire, fantasy, interracial, paranormal romance novella, <i>Forever Desired</i>, looks great! Here's the description:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
He'd waited an eternity to find her.<br />
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Athena captivated her audience every night. Her husky voice, sensual moves and megawatt smile, packed the nightclub where she sang. It was her name on the lips of her audience. Everyone wanted a piece of her—even him.<br />
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One song and Sorin was enthralled by the beauty on the stage. Her voice awoke a part of him he had thought to be dead long ago. She had no idea of the power she wielded over him with one glance, one smile and one kiss. Never one to pursue a human before, he couldn’t ignore the hunger that burned for her. Only she can satisfy him, but he will first need to protect her from the ones who want him dead.</blockquote>
If you think this sounds like something you might enjoy, go ahead and grab your copy here:<br />
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Thank you all so much for stopping by! Happy reading! :-)</div>
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</div>Mistral Dawnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944545165185674709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707980480389157353.post-10454399744615305362021-09-15T00:00:00.009-04:002021-09-15T00:00:00.242-04:00#Agent Thoth's #Personal Log: Day 1372<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ4i4ykPzKWKrsDXinhv_iQ5albu3gvXlD57pB8A_jm1oqBvVRA0a8Msi7MSwkPxYRg1UENODWCz4lCK4QlM12cW4xl05tmtAOclb_V5yCQb08M6Ub7CXYfFxLViuPTQd1xI-CfOPo9GGI/s1600/Thoth+Sad.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1409" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ4i4ykPzKWKrsDXinhv_iQ5albu3gvXlD57pB8A_jm1oqBvVRA0a8Msi7MSwkPxYRg1UENODWCz4lCK4QlM12cW4xl05tmtAOclb_V5yCQb08M6Ub7CXYfFxLViuPTQd1xI-CfOPo9GGI/s640/Thoth+Sad.jpeg" width="562" /></a>
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Hey Everyone! 😊<br />
<br />
Agent Thoth discusses more of the trials and tribulations associated with living with hominids. <span style="font-size: 16px;">Incidentally, if you've missed Agent Thoth's earlier entries, you can find them here: <a href="http://mistralkdawn.blogspot.com/p/thoths-journal.html" target="_blank">Thoth's Journal</a></span><br />
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<b>Department for the Preservation and Confirmation of Intelligent Life (DPCIL)</b></div>
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<b>Agent Thoth's Personal Log</b></div>
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<b><u>Day Thirteen-Hundred-Seventy-Two:</u></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="MsoNormal">The temperatures at the coordinates where I am stationed on this planet are once again decreasing, on average, as the planet moves into the portion of its revolution around the local start when the planetary tilt results in this part of the planet being slightly further from the star than it is during other portions of the planet’s revolution. As is her habit, my hominid-servant is using these lower temperatures as an excuse to help warm my domicile by experimenting in the preparation of various new edibles. The scents that result from this experimentation are often delectable; however, my hominid-servant has not been at all cooperative in assisting, or even allowing, me to gain a vantage point from which I might properly observe.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>Naturally, this obstruction only makes me all the more determined to discover just what sort of delicious delicacies, precisely, my hominid-servant is concocting. I am determined to persevere in my efforts to explore, examine, and most importantly sample the fruits of my hominid-servant’s labors and, as always, I will report back with any further developments. Thoth-out.<br /></div><div><br /></div></div></div></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Hominids! 😉 You may have noticed that Agent Thoth has a new look. I hope you like his new picture as much as I do, but I'd love to hear your thoughts, either way. Feel free to let me know what you think in the comments. 😉 Happy reading, everyone!</div></div></div><div class="MsoNormal">
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</div>Mistral Dawnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944545165185674709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707980480389157353.post-29364220396256451812021-09-14T00:00:00.050-04:002024-01-07T09:21:50.503-05:00Social Control And Manipulating The Masses...<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9kmWmh67SU3uT8Rx2WigOt8vpFFsShq_-pcgCIf59i2C9RmegJJhsuQLxIywbddnXBv6_1sRHR9Xn5nDBxVrKEW8Yb9psR1_5hmDyKi8tNJkFho-oEIalXAQeNPQD7USXOlY7TELSs5-Q/s2048/Rainbow+Dreams+Fullsize.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1306" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9kmWmh67SU3uT8Rx2WigOt8vpFFsShq_-pcgCIf59i2C9RmegJJhsuQLxIywbddnXBv6_1sRHR9Xn5nDBxVrKEW8Yb9psR1_5hmDyKi8tNJkFho-oEIalXAQeNPQD7USXOlY7TELSs5-Q/w408-h640/Rainbow+Dreams+Fullsize.jpg" width="408" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>Hi Everyone!! 😊</p><p>Happy Tuesday, and congratulations on making it through Monday. To celebrate, and help us all navigate the corporate rat-race for the rest of the week, I thought I'd share a little peek at Petri's corporate hellscape. Enjoy! 😉</p><div style="text-align: left;"><b><u>Excerpt from Rainbow Dreams:</u></b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Even though she knew it was silly, Petri couldn't help but
feel like the eye of every guard was on her as she moved through the Upworld
pedestrian traffic. It was earlier in
the day and there were more people around than the night before. Some of the other people on the path moved
away when they saw her, but most of them just gave her odd looks. She knew it wouldn't be long before someone
reported her presence and the guards came to investigate. Clutching her pass in her hand, she
increased her pace.</div><p class="MsoNormal">Many of the residents of Upworld were sensitive about having
dealings with underworlders. The
society of Upworld was extremely stratified, with an enormous gap between the
lowest levels and the highest levels of income. People who lived on the lower rungs of the Upworld salary ladder
were usually only a paycheck or two away from becoming underworlders
themselves.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Trying to fit in better, Petri surreptitiously observed
those around her and tried to ape their mannerisms. One thing she couldn't help but notice was that quite a few of
her fellow pedestrians had the same sort of obvious, artificial augmentation as
Per Mirna had for his eyes. Almost all
of even the low-level jobs that Upworld citizens did required the tech to
facilitate interfacing with the computer systems they used. It was possible to camouflage the
enhancements of course, and even create them out of organic tissue. Most executives at least concealed their
accessories, and many used the biotech instead of the straight tech. But those types of cosmetic upgrades were
expensive, so most junior employees made do with the less sophisticated models.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Residents of Under City weren't allowed to possess that kind
of tech, so anyone who lost their Upworld citizenship had their tech
augmentation removed. Petri had seen
people in Under City missing eyes, ears, hands, arms, legs, and other body
parts. She knew that sometimes it was
because they had sold part of themselves to the grinders, but now she realized
that some of them were probably also people who had lost their tech. It hadn't occurred to her before because
almost no one who was low enough in rank to have to use the unconcealed tech
would willingly travel to the underworld.</p><p class="MsoNormal">The companies that ran the Upworld government made sure to
keep the majority of the populace on the margins of survival. They needed a small, relatively stable, and
educated pool from which to draw employees who they could work to death, but
they also needed to maintain control. Making sure that most people were entirely occupied with making ends
meet was the easiest way to keep them from pursuing a more equitable
distribution of power. Any remaining
energy the drones might have, the companies strove to get them to focus on
investing in the belief that they were better off than the underworlders. If any citizen did have the temerity to show
the slightest hint of disloyalty to or rebellion from the companies, that person
would immediately be banished from Upworld and relegated to the slums of Under
City.</p><p class="MsoNormal">This culture of conformity and fanatical devotion to the
companies resulted in a tendency among the rank and file of Upworld to resent
any effort from the underworlders to improve their situation. After all, their one comfort in life came
from the fact that there was someone else who was worse off than them. Without that, it was hard for many of them
to face the emptiness of their existence. So they clung to their perceived superiority fiercely, and did everything
in their power to protect it.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Of course, Petri was only superficially aware of the complex
social dance that took place among those in Upworld. What she did know was that if she stayed too long, or stood out
too much, the people around her would either kill her themselves or call the
guards to do it for them. She needed to
get to the transfer station to Western sector fast.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Want to find out if Petri makes it to safety? Grab your copy at the link below. Happy reading! 😊</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Rainbow-Dreams-Petri-Dish-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B01E1INIQE?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=md02be-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=ebd33e1c5ffedaf6e5481fb3abd5a946&camp=1789&creative=9325" target="_blank"><b>Rainbow Dreams</b></a></h1><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>Mistral Dawnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944545165185674709noreply@blogger.com0