A Marquis to Protect the Governess by Parker J. Cole  historical romance fiction  Harlequin Historical, December 26, 2023  Sometimes scrolling through new releases available on Libby (even though there's a stack of physical books within arm's reach), leads to unexpected reading pleasure. That's what happened with me upon starting this gem of a tale. Like opening my first books by Ms. Bev(erly Jenkins), Gay G. Gunn, Vanessa Riley, Alyssa Cole, and Lisa Rayne, Isadora and Andre's rocky love story hooked me from the first page. Using a seamless integration of historical context, character evolution, and high stakes combined with emotional nuances, this author has crafted an engaging tale that organically includes people and places too often erased from historical romance fiction.   Hot Flashes and Hockey Slashes by Marika Ray & Sylvie Stewart, authors & publisher  contemporary romance fiction  October 2023  Who knew that normalizing op...

  Above sugar cookies tasted delicious, but were super time-consuming to make and bake compared to making a pan of crispy rice cereal treats (using the vintage recipe of 4 or 5 - instead of 3 - TBSP of butter + 1/2 tsp vanilla extract) pressed out on a 18 inch x 15 inch cookie sheet or jelly roll pan as shown below. Multiple reading breaks may have caused me to stay up really late to finish wrapping gifts.  Wherever you fall on the winter holidays celebration spectrum, hope you survive and thrive this season. 

  Black Comic Book History by Demetrius Sherman, author & publisher  nonfiction  Lion Man. Ace Harlem. The Phantom.  Using the Dumas Family as its foundation, this compact text starts with the fact that in 1844 The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas was banned by the Catholic Church. From there it moves to the 1947 debut of Lion Man in All Negro Comics. Parallels between that fictitious character's goal of protecting Africa, its people and natural resources and the current real-life in/humanitarian crisis on the African continent related to cobalt mining are hard to ignore (or avoid being complicit in as my laptop, tablet, and cellphone are used to produce this content and live my daily life). Incidents of racist caricatures and the white-washing of Black characters created by Black artists and publishers also seem relevant to conversations about the American Fiction film currently in theaters.  Black Comic Book History offers readers an intriguing overvie...

  Soul Jar, Thirty-one Fantastical Tales by Disabled Authors  edited by Annie Carl with Foreword by Nicola Griffith  fantasy  Forest Avenue Press, October 2023  from the introduction:  Western society is beginning to understand, after centuries of ignorance, that the disabled community is like other minorities. We're made up of real people with real lives and real stories.  The foreword, introduction, thirty-one stories divided into four thematic sections--Earth in Retrograde, Gone Astray, Wild Space, Creature Feature--acknowledgements, about the editor, contributors' biographies, and a reader's guide work in concert to mesmerize and entertain as they prove the essential premise stated in the foreword: Ableism is a crap story... What disables a person in our culture is not impairment but society's attitude to that impairment... We need to hear our own voices. Our strong, beautiful, ordinary, disabled voices...  The voices in these stories sing som...

  There's video to upload from TWWBF2023 day one panels and the keynote from day 2, but the delay in sharing is 100% due to my lack of anything beyond the most basic tech savvy combined with still recovering from successful event crash, and deciding at the last minute to use NaNoWriMo to complete book 2 in my polyamorous erotica series. (Book 1 was written in 2020, then shelved for various personal and professional reasons.)   And of course, so many books, never enough hours to read...  current binge reading selections Happy thriving & creating! 

Recent & Current Reads  And this review of mine from January 2020 seems particularly relevant.  Legacy of Empire by Gardner Thompson Britain, Zionism and the Creation of Israel political history Saqi, February 2020 (U.S.) With meticulously researched and annotated details worthy of the most strenuously vetted academic text deconstructed from the Ottoman Empire forward, Legacy of Empire satisfies the intellectual cravings of serious sociopolitical historians and curious everyday citizens. Maps, illustrations, photographs, a timeline, nine chapters, a bibliography, an index, and acknowledgements provide factual structure for a compelling narrative that fills in layers of overlapping and competing personal beliefs, religious ideology, shifting political interests and military objectives. The introduction examines the differences between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism. These distinctions substantially impacted the reasoning and motivations of the men who mandated changes to th...

  Thank you!  The Write Women Book Fest team thanks the long list of people who made this year's success possible: EC Poetry & Prose, each participating author & vendor (especially those who travelled long distances by train, plane or automobile), the featured panelists, panelists* & moderators, each day 2 workshop presenter, everyone who attended one or both days, our Chief Voluntolder, our day-of operations manager, all of the volunteers, supportive family and friends...  Extra Special Thanks to  Author Leslye Penelope, featured panelist on day 1 & day 2 keynote speaker   Marietta House Museum, our partner in bookish endeavors since year one EC Poetry & Prose  TWWBF Poet Laureate Aressa V. Williams  Prince George's County Memorial Library System  Barnes & Noble Booksellers at the Bowie Town Center Curmudgeon Books at Marley Station Mall in Glen Burnie, Maryland  Draft2Digital  Michelle Fewer!!!  Digital Cre...

  Thank you!  EC Poetry & Prose, authors (& their assistants), poets, featured guests, panelists, moderators, attendees, day-of volunteers, voluntolders (family members drafted into book fest service), the Bowie Comfort Inn team, the Marietta House Museum team, Prince George's County Memorial Library System, Bowie B & N, Curmudgeon Books, Mark Leslie Lefebvre with Draft2Digital, all of the Sunday workshop leaders and students...  Apologies to anyone omitted during this brief first gratitude post. My sleep-deprived brain is operating at maybe 2% coherent thoughts capacity. Next weekend I'll post a more detailed recap of what turned out to be an outstanding event because so many people showed up for us in a variety of substantial ways.  Happy creating! 

  One week until the 5th annual The Write Women Book Fest!  thewritewomenbookfest.org   Swag bags for influencers, volunteers, 100+ authors/poets/creatives and the first 50 visitors? Check.  Escalating nerves as day one approaches? Check.  Excitement for two days of bookish fun? Check.  Stress reduction reading options 

  A Chat with Children’s Author Keka Novales  I won an author chat with Keka Novales through her Instagram feed, and just like her “Hola, Lola!” series, she delivered thoughtful observations, encouragement, and humor.  Since pressing “record” is evidently beyond my technical abilities, here’s a summary of our engaging exchange:  After introductions, we discussed Keka’s original idea of a picture book. It was her agent who recognized Hola, Lola! as suitable for a chapbook series. As a first-generation U.S. citizen of Guatamalan heritage, Keka’s desire to preserve and share her cultural connections and family legacy with her children inspired her to create this series.  During Keka’s travels and in response to her socials posts, readers of all ages have shared that Hola, Lola! has encouraged them, helped them feel connected to their heritage, and expanded their horizons. For one young reader, reading and rereading Lola and the New School whenever the challenges o...

  Flashback Friday to 2 weeks ago when my fandom for romance authors was rewarded while sitting in a Yale University auditorium in a How to Write a Romance Novel workshop taught by publishing phenoms Adriana Herrera & Sarah MacLean! With my sitting in the front row seated next to brilliant Dr. Margo Henderson (Elysabeth Grace*) and Legendary Shirley Hailstock on one side; TWWBF2023 participating author Briana Ellis on the other, who recognized me even with my face half-hidden by my mask! I THINK Nalini Singh was in the audience along with Ms. Bev and so many other super talented, successful authors and book industry professionals. 5th annual The Write Women Book Fest featured panelist Leslye Penelope and I crossed paths in a hallway while searching for the ladies room. WordLink literary agent Macey Howell and I had a lovely chat after a different session. The sister to the documentarian for "Love Between the Covers" was quite engaging as she snapped pics per her sibling...

  It's the last day to use discount code MYFANS2023* to get $19 off tickets for Saturday, October 14 day 1 of The Write Women Book Fest with more than 100 authors of fiction, non-fiction, poetry & kids books!  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-write-women-book-fest-author-expo-reader-event-tickets-572092844097?aff=ebdshpsearchautocomplete   In between my co-organizer duties, I'm prepping to moderate the featured panel, "Fantasy & Romance: Myth, Magic, Love, and Steamy Stories as Told by Women Authors" with Golden Angel, Mariah Ankenman, H.L. Brooks, Mary E. Jung, Leslye Penelope, and Maria Vale.  Golden's, Mariah's, and Mary's works are my TBR priorities this week.  A Cat & Bones fan? Jeaniene Frost will be a panelist on the "Women Authors & Storytelling: FIction" and "Been There, Done That: Making Romance Stories New and Relatable" panels. Start thinking about your questions now. (Hey, we would've invited her as a fe...

  Six weeks until the 5th annual The Write Women Book Fest on Saturday, October 14 & Sunday, October 15!!! thewritewomenbookfest.org   Use discount code: MYFANS2023 until Sunday 9/17 to get $19 off, making tickets only $10 each!  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-write-women-book-fest-author-expo-reader-event-tickets-572092844097?aff=ebdshpsearchautocomplete   My DIY decorated shirts for book lovers are given in thanks to people who buy my books at events. TWWBF2023 next month, then a TBA library event in November. I'm overdue for restocking.   And of course, more books borrowed even though the two book stacks shown in last week's post are only half-read, but the library is closed for Labor Day on Monday and there's no such thing as having too many reading options (according to book hoarders and binge readers).  Also, celebrating the fortitude of SAG-AFTRA and striking workers in other industries  https://aflcio.org/strike-map who are standing...

  On Saturday, the 60th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington where Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech, I spent a delightful evening at Wolf Trap listening to Mary Chapin Carpenter's enchanting voice with appreciation for her upbeat spirit and musical talents in addition to her acknowledgement of this significant historical date, along with reminders about the importance of voting, and the ways in which the events of that day improved life for everyone. Also, hearing her new "A Girl and Her Dog" song generated anticipation for her next project.    Then Sunday was all about hanging with close friends (with pool benefits) who also provided a delectable buffet in celebration of the upcoming end of summer and the start of school tomorrow for the teachers and students in our group.  And finally, here's photo evidence that shows why it's always better for me to return my borrowed library items using the book drop rathe...

  "If they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair."  Shirley Chisholm  https://www.bringyourownchair.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/SeatattheTableFacilitationDiscussionGuide.pdf Lion Man, The First and Greatest Black Superhero by Demetrius Sherman, author & publisher  nonfiction comics history  February 2023  Almost two decades before Marvel Comics introduced Black Panther in 1966, All-Negro Comics, Inc., created to "... give Negro artists an opportunity gainfully to use their talents... glorify Negro historical achievements..." introduced Lion Man in 1947. That's only one of a long list of intriguing facts shared in this compact history book about the evolution of comics after World War II. An introduction, six chapters including images from multiple comic strips and books of the era, and the conclusion peel back layers of sociopolitical context that likely will inspire readers to pursue additional books about Black journalists and n...