#APC #Spotlight: Valkyrie: Darkness Awaits By Mark McQuillen and Mara Reitsma! (9/9)

Hey Everyone!! :-)

I've got Mark McQuillen in my APC spotlight, today! Mark is an active and supportive member of the  Authors-Professional Co-op Facebook group and his epic, dark, mythological, horror, fantasy novel, Valkyrie: Darkness Awaits, looks great! Here's the description:

Time was but a moment. Past, present, future: it mattered not. The mirror was supposed to give the viewer a look into these moments and prolonged use could lead to insanity. Many had succumbed to the mirror's effects, but Tisiphone, the heir to the Valkyrie throne, had promised herself not to let it get that far. She had no choice, she had to find her mother. She had to learn from the past to prepare for the future, and that mirror was her only option, but the only story she can see is the tale of her Uncle Gil and Aunt Mist... 

An ex-soldier, suffering from a bad case of P.T.S.D, falls head over heels for a Valkyrie, and embarks on a mission to save her realm, from none other than Tisiphone's mother, Malice. Can Tisiphone unlock her mother's secrets through the story of her Uncle Gil? Can she handle what she sees in the mirror?

She's going to have to if she hopes to figure it all out...

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 1368

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 Thirteen-Hundred-Sixty-Eight:

Today, I found out about additional consequences of my recent excursion outside my domicile. My hominid-servant noticed the itchy bump on my nose at the site where the small arthropod extracted my blood, and she became concerned. Apparently, there are parasites within the parasites on this planet! And my hominid-servant was worried that I might have been exposed to one that colonizes the heart of its host, compromising the function of said organ ultimately to the point of fatality for the host. 

Naturally, such an abrupt and gruesome conclusion to my studies on this planet did not appeal to me, so I certainly understand the need to be proactive in diagnosing and treating such an illness. I also appreciate the necessity of extracting a blood sample for testing. As a scientist myself, obviously I recognized the importance of collecting specimens for proper study. 

However, I must say that I did not at all see the need to return me to the frightening medical facility with its sharp, disturbing odors, terrifying cacophony, and catalogue of cruel medical experiments. While it is true that my hominid-servant did not allow me, personally, to be subjected to anything worse than the small prick of a needle used to extract my blood and the application of a foul-smelling, but ultimately beneficial, liquid applied to the back of my neck for the treatment of any potential burgeoning parasitical infestations, I still would have much preferred to avoid the place altogether. 

Though, I must admit, I do appreciate my hominid-servant’s concern for my health. And I am certainly grateful hominids are clever enough to at least devise effective treatments for the pestilence bred on their planet. I do take exception to, once again, being forced to witness just how cruel some hominids can be to their furry companions. Just when I start to believe hominids might, possibly, be on the verge of developing true intelligence, I am forcibly reminded by practices such as "declawing” and "ear and tail docking” how very far hominids are from what I think they may have the potential to become.

Poor Thoth. He may never truly find civilized intelligence on this planet. 😉 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!

Pattern Recognition...

Hey Everyone!! :-)

Here's a little bit more of the third installment in the Petri Dish Chronicles! As always, the disclaimer is that this is a draft and, as such, it's unedited and likely full of errors and is subject to revision, revamping, and being completely scrapped and rewritten. But, with that in mind, I'm reasonably satisfied with the basics of it, at least at the moment, or I wouldn't have bothered posting it. Enjoy! :-)

Excerpt from Shifting Paradigms:
Petri watched her friends walk away as she sank back onto the couch by the fire. True to his word, Vlad took them to the end of the room but no farther. From what she could see, it seemed like he created another seating nook like the one she was in, and he was engaging her friends in conversation. Idly, she wondered what they were talking about as she laid down and closed her eyes, allowing her mind to drift and expand.

Immediately, the pressure from the rainbow threatened to crush her back into herself, but she pushed back against it and forced her consciousness out and away. As she did so, Petri started to see patterns in the energy. They weren’t the same as the patterns she would find in an organic mind, but they also weren’t completely unrecognizable. What they were was utterly alien.

No matter the species, an organic mind had a familiar ebb and flow to its patterns. Even when Petri had a hard time deciphering the meaning of what she found in a mind because the being’s frame of reference, perceptions, sensory organs, or culture were so foreign to her as to give her little in the way of common landmarks. She could see the thoughts and feel the emotions even if should couldn’t understand or define them.

With the rainbow, she could see the patterns, but they wouldn’t mesh with her own mind. Nor could she seem to adjust her patterns to mesh with it. It was too regimented, too one thing or the other. There was no in between stage for her to cozy up to and slip inside of.

Petri let herself drift further out, thinking maybe if she could get a larger picture she could see a way to connect to the patterns that seemed to be trying to asphyxiate her. Idly, she thought it might feel like what drowning felt like… If you could drown without ever being able to get close enough to the water to get wet.

Smoothie Out Your Week #Recipe!

 

Hey Everyone!! :-)

Today, I thought I'd share one of my favorite summertime breakfasts.

Ingredients:
2 cups unflavored Greek yogurt
2 tbsp honey
1/2 banana sliced and frozen
1.5 cups frozen mixed berries (your choice of berries)
1/8 tsp salt

Put all of the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. If it's too thick, add a splash of orange juice to thin it out. Serve in a tall glass and refrigerate any leftovers. If you'd like to turn this into an after-dinner, adult beverage, add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of your favorite liqueur. Cointreau works wells, as does limoncello.

Bon Appetit!

#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 Specter: Waxwood Series: Book 1 By Tam May! (9/2)

Hey Everyone!! :-)

I've got Tam May in my APC spotlight, today! Tam is an active and supportive member of the  Authors-Professional Co-op Facebook group and her gilded-age, family history, psychological-suspense, historical fiction novel, The Specter, looks great! Here's the description:

To what lengths will one go to exorcise a specter?

One rainy morning in 1892, people gather to mourn the death of San Francisco socialite Penelope Alderdice. Among them is a strange little woman named Bertha Ross, who claims to have known “Grace” in the 1850’s in the small town of Waxwood. But Penelope’s granddaughter, Vivian, has never heard of Grace or Waxwood.

Bertha reveals surprising details about Grace’s life in Waxwood, including a love affair with Evan, an artist and member of Brandywine, Waxwood’s art colony.Vivian’s mother, Larissa, insists Bertha is an imposter who has come not to mourn a woman she knew in her youth but to stir up trouble.

Vivian, however, suspects the key to her grandmother’s life and her own lies in Waxwood. She journeys to Brandywine where she meets Verina Jones, Evan’s niece, and discovers a packet of letters her grandmother wrote forty years ago about her time in Waxwood.

As Vivian confronts the specter that holds the truth to secrets buried in the family consciousness, she examines her grandmother’s life as a mid-19th century debutante and her own as a Gilded Age belle. Will she find her way out into the world as an autonomous being, or will she be haunted by the specter of her grandmother’s unhappiness all her life?

 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 1360

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 Thirteen-Hundred-Sixty:

Recent events have left me pondering: why cannot certain felids – felids like the little idiot, for one – when, after eliminating, they find themselves plagued by a bit of stubborn biological waste stuck to their hindquarters simply approach the nearest hominid-servant and calmly request said primate utilize their opposable thumbs to remove the blight and properly dispose of it? Why, instead, when they suffer from this affliction, do they feel the need to streak madly through the domicile, leaving random deposits as they go, and dodging every effort to relieve them of their burden by hiding under and behind furniture? Why, I ask! Why?!? Better yet, why can they not simply leave off eating hair, to begin with, and avoid the trouble altogether? Truly, I despair of ever understanding the natives of this planet, whatever their species.

Earthlings are strange! 😉 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!