Join Me On Rave Waves "Behind The Pen!" :-)

Hey Everyone!! :-)

I've been invited to be on Behind The Pen on Rave Waves Blog Talk Radio, today! :-)  They're featuring my book, Captivated By The Winter King, and will be interviewing me on air.  It starts at 1pm EDT, today, and I hope you all will be able to join us at the link below. And just in case what you hear makes you want to read the book, I'll have the link at the bottom of this post. Happy Reading!!! :-)

Listen To My Interview

#Summer Lovin' #Readers #Giveaway! $80 #Cash #Grand #Prize! #Free To #Enter!

Hey Everyone!! :-)

There's a new giveaway for Summer!  Please take a moment to check out the Summer Lovin' Readers Multi Author/Blogger Giveaway!!  There are lots of awesome books and prizes!! :-)  It's free to enter, there are over 27 prizes, and the grand prize is $80 cash payable through PayPal!! :-)  Now isn't that worth taking a few minutes to check out? ;-)   Here are all the details:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you so much for stopping by today!  And don't forget to check back tomorrow for the next installment of Mistral Dawn's Musings! :-)

#Animal #Rescuer's #Guide To #Staying ( #Relatively ) #Sane! #Free! :-)

Hey Everyone!! :-)

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 free from Amazon, Smashwords, B&N, Kobo, and iTunes.

Amazon

Smashwords

iTunes

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

Thanks for stopping in today, and don't forget to check back tomorrow for the next installment of Mistral Dawn's Musings! :-)

#APC #Spotlight: The Portal (Tales of Mentara Book 1) By Ashley Uzzell!

Hey Everyone!! :-)

I've got Ashley Uzzell in my APC spotlight, today! Ashley is an active and supportive member of the  Authors-Professional Co-op Facebook group and her new release, children's, magical, sci-fi/fantasy, adventure novel, The Portal, looks great! Here's the description:

Five children find themselves stuck in a beautiful jungle on a strange planet. But all is not as peaceful as it first appears…

Twelve-year-old Charlotte has been different all her life. It isn’t just that her father left when she was a child, or her mother ignores her. What really makes her an outsider is the fact that she has strange abilities that she can’t explain and struggles to control.

Everything changes in the summer of 1993 when she feels drawn to a certain spot outside of town. Unfortunately, she isn’t alone when things go sideways.

When the children realize they are definitely not on Earth anymore, they have to learn not only how to fend for themselves, but how to get along. The problem is, even Charlotte has no idea how to get off the alien planet. And, perhaps, she doesn’t want to.

It doesn’t take long for the five to realize they aren’t alone in this strange land and that life here is more dangerous than they could have imagined.

 If you think this sounds like something you might enjoy, go ahead and grab your copy here:

Thank you all so much for stopping by! Happy reading! :-)

#Agent Thoth's #Personal Log: Day 775

Hey Everyone! :-)

Agent Thoth discusses more of the trials and tribulations associated with living with hominids. Incidentally, if you've missed Agent Thoth's earlier entries, you can find them here: Thoth's Journal

Department for the Preservation and Confirmation of Intelligent Life (DPCIL)

Agent Thoth's Personal Log

Day Seven-Hundred-Seventy-Five:

The hominids who reside in the area around my domicile have been setting off explosives in the hours just after the local star dips below the horizon, for the past several planetary rotations. I am not certain what they seek to gain by this activity, as it does not appear that there are any threats that they are defending themselves against. Nor have I noticed any appreciable changes in the landscape, so I do not believe they are preparing to build anything.

The only effects these explosives have had, as far as I am able to discern, is to completely destroy any chances I might have of advancing my studies and to drive the adolescent felid and the canid into periodic episodes of panic. My two furred companions have been so discomfited by the sounds of these explosions that they have both entered a molting stage, which has caused my hominid-servant to become obsessive in her attempts to capture all the loose fur and confine it to the waste receptacles. Her frenzied use of her suction cleaning device, and the excessively loud noise it makes, has only exacerbated the state of terror that the small annoyance and the canid are maintaining.

At this point, it seems as though every living creature I come in contact with is twitching or flailing about randomly, either out of fear or an unhealthy determination to maintain an arbitrary state of cleanliness. Once again, I find myself despairing of ever finding true intelligence on this planet.

Oh, my! Flailing and twitching! ;-) 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!

United In Spirit; Divided In Practice

Hey Everyone!! :-)

I've got a little more of Alyce's adventure to share with you, today! Enjoy! :-)

Excerpt from sci-fi satire novel:
The two aliens looked at each other and then back at me. They seemed to be at a loss.

"What?" I asked.

The tall alien crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head. "Do you mean to say that, after everything so many people have done, all the time and energy they have expended, it's possible that nothing will come of it?"

I shrugged. "Sure. If people get complacent again, if they don't follow through, if they refuse to see that most of us are fighting for the same things and we need to work together, if they seek an advantage for themselves and their own cause instead of standing united with everyone else, there are so many things that could stop the movements for change in their tracks. The fact that I still have to speak of them as separate movements is a problem, in itself. Because it means that they haven't yet taken the step to join forces and work together. And they should, because most of them have a lot in common with each other."

"How is that possible when you, yourself, have named so many different issues that the various groups are championing?" asked Yax.

"Because most of those issues are intertwined. The groups that seek increased wages for workers have common cause with groups who want greater racial equality and justice. Because no group is more economically depressed than the racial minorities who are still fighting for basic rights. Those groups could support each other and work together to achieve all of their combined goals. And if the environment is destroyed, problems involving inequality and economic uncertainty will only get worse. Not to mention, it's generally the poor and voiceless in our society who suffer the brunt of the damage when it comes to environmental toxins and pollutants. So, it certainly makes sense for labor groups and civil rights groups to work together with environmental protection groups. And on and on. There's a lot of overlap in all of these causes, and if the people in all the groups would work together, they'd all have a much better chance of making progress towards their objectives."

"Will that happen?" asked Squid-boy.

"I don't know, sugar. I sure hope so, though. There are a few people who are starting to get people to listen to them who seem to be headed in that direction. Hopefully, more people will follow them and we'll get the non-violent, political revolution we've been needing for decades."

"And if that doesn't happen?"

I shook my head. "I don't know what will happen, exactly. But none of the possibilities are good."

Something Worth Watching?

Hey Everyone!! :-)

I'm back today with another video I wanted to share. There has been a lot of discussion, lately, about "civility," and I wanted to add my two cents. I'll start by saying that I'm against violence of any kind directed towards anybody. Once you resort to violence, you lose the moral high ground and, no matter how legitimate, your concerns get drowned by the blood you shed. So, no violence. But when it comes to non-violent confrontation and civil disobedience, I'm extremely supportive.

Right now, our government is in the hands of fascists. We're about to have another corporately-owned member of the Christian Taliban on our Supreme Court, who will most likely take what little protection women have left in this country from us, roll back all worker protections until employees are little more than slaves to their corporate overlords, and turn this entire planet into a toxic waste dump. So, as far as I'm concerned, Maxine Waters is right, now is not the time for meekness and civility.

Don't misunderstand, I have my political differences with Representative Waters. She's far too much of an establishment neo-liberal for me to agree with her on policy all that often. But, in this particular case, she's right. We need to push back against the rise of fascism in this country and being polite about it won't get the job done. We need to be loud, aggressive (not violent), and we need to refuse to ever back down. Courtesy is a wonderful thing when you're dealing with reasonable people, but we aren't dealing with reasonable people. And it's time we acknowledge that fact and respond accordingly.

So, please take a few minutes to watch the video below. Note the differences between what Representative Waters said, fight back with public outcry, and what our tangerine study in moral turpitude said, strike out violently against people who voice an opinion you disagree with. And once you've compared the two, I hope you'll join me in looking for ways to engage in discourteous, but non-violent, expressions of dissent. Peace!