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Monday, May 31, 2010

Fearfully and wonderfully made

Psalm 139:14 (New International Version)


14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful,

I know that full well.

--------------------------------------------------------

On my birthday today, I pray the absolute power of Christ Our Savior may transform you in love and in truth and in joy.
 
We are each fearfully and wonderfully made.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Stay tuned for DOG DAYS OF SUMMER coming June 20, 2010 by KM Wilsher.


IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO HAVE DIED SO WE MAY LIVE FREE.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Word Wednesday. . .prose

I wrote this just after watching a young man spontaneously give his life to Christ in baptism:

Your Call

He walks down the aisle to Your call


No body language or expression can compare

The man who is about to give his life to You.

A new bride’s face is not brighter

A grooms face shows no more longing

Than the man who is about to give his life to You.

The new believer walks in fear

Not of You

Fear of living life without you

And peace, fearfully and wonderfully open before You

The saints that escort the new convert

Another inexplicable event

The joy on their face the confidence in their walk

How beautiful the feet

How beautiful the face

The man who gives his life to the Lover of his soul.

By KM Wilsher

Monday, May 24, 2010

LOST

LOST, THE FINAL HOURS. . .
=======================
I think Kirk and McCoy were speaking of LOST the television series in Star Trek II when they said:

McCoy : "Where are we going?"
Kirk : "Where they went."
McCoy: "What if they went nowhere?"
Kirk: "Then this will be your big chance to get away from it all."


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was totally let down. Lost dragged me from Island to Island, from future to past to present to future again. They dragged Kate from Jack to Sawyer, and John Locke from good guy to bad guy. . . I think I'd been happier if it was all a bad dream Jack had after taking all those pills.

I mean, what about Echo? Whitmore? Richard? Miles and the Captian? Michael? Walt?

Where did Benjamin Linus 'stay'?

And tell me. Did the crash really happen and they wandered around in the some kind of psycho purgatory? Or did it all happen and they died on the island? I mean it all HAD to have happened otherwise they wouldn't have known one another.

So who is watching the island now?

No, a couple of my friends left the island (abandoned LOST tv) Sometime in Season 4. I sure wish I'd gone with them. . .

Okay, after a few minutes to think, this is a character driven story. I loved these characters and that is why I Netflixed the series every year. I was invested in them. They were a part of me. . .so not a total loss.
What are your thoughts?

Friday, May 21, 2010

Breathe Your Life Into Me

Phantasmagorical Freek Friday ~ PFF


This week I had a medical scare. You know, one of those this-could-be-a-fatal-disease moments, followed by a oh-just-kidding-its-nothing statements 3 days later.

So this week I am seeing (hearing)

RED

A few of my friends have struggled this week. My heart is with you and so are my prayers.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

BY DARKNESS HID by Jill Williamson ~ The Review

BY DARKNESS HID by JILL WILLIAMSON
My Synopsis

Achan Cham is a stray. In the feudal caste system of Er’Rets a stray is the bottom rung of society. Without family, he is forced to work in the kitchens and serve an abusive master.

An offer from a charismatic knight to train for the King’s Guard lifts Achan’s spirits. And yet, as Achan grows more capable with the blade and confident in himself, he hears voices in his head. Despite his new found courage gained from his sword training, he fears he has gone mad.

Meanwhile, Vrell Sparrow, a girl dressed as a male stray hiding from an arranged marriage that will unite her to the most horrific of lords, works in the household of a friend of the family. And a powerful man, who covets her strong blood voicing powers which enable to hear other’s thoughts, sends men to fetch her. Though Vrell is admired by a few of her captors, it looks as if she is on her way to the dungeon.

Both Achan and Vrell meet as they get caught up in the whirlpool battle for the highest seat in the land. As century old lies crumble and cruel secrets melt, shocking secrets are revealed about their families, their identities, and the world as they know it. In the end Vrell and Achan are required to run for their lives into the land which is by darkness hid.

My Review

I have to admit, as a writer this book sent me into a long depression – or writer’s block -- whatever title you want to slap onto it. As I read the last page of BY DARKNESS HID and closed the book, I said aloud, “That’s it. It’s been written. The perfect fantasy tale has been written and it is called BY DARKNESS HID.”

Oh yeah, and I went on to wallow about it. Why write? The perfect fantasy tale had been written.

Okay, rest assured that not long after later I have emerged from my self-pity and began writing again, and after you’ve assuredly rested go and buy this book.

These characters are alive, loveable and as real as any I have seen. Without endlesss narrative, you feel like you are in middle of the medieval fantasy world. All that is medieval and fantasy is painted and portrayed in entertaining brilliance.

The action is fast paced without being choppy; the conflict is flashy without being violent. It is my favorite book to date. Aye, my fellow fantasy fan, I said it: This is my favorite book to date!

What more to say? We can look back in admiration at Tolkien and Lewis as they forged the road. We can honor Jordan, Whedon, Lucas, as they constructed their footsteps. But I say, Jill Williamson is a hero of our time.

You decide. Pick up the book.

Check out the Christian Science Fiction and Blog Tour. . .See what the others have to say!
Brandon Barr


Keanan Brand

Gina Burgess

Beckie Burnham

Melissa Carswell

Valerie Comer

Karri Compton

R. L. Copple

Amy Cruson

CSFF Blog Tour

Stacey Dale

D. G. D. Davidson

Jeff Draper

Emmalyn Edwards

April Erwin

Sarah Flanagan

Andrea Graham

Tori Greene

Ryan Heart

Joleen Howell

Becky Jesse

Cris Jesse

Jason Joyner

Julie

Carol Keen

Krystine Kercher

Dawn King

Leighton

Rebecca LuElla Miller

New Authors Fellowship

John W. Otte

Crista Richey

Chawna Schroeder

Andrea Schultz

James Somers

Rachel Starr Thomson

Steve Trower

Fred Warren

Dona Watson

Phyllis Wheeler

KM Wilsher

Jill Williamson's Web site and Blog

Purchase By Darkness Hid

In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Interview with Jill Williamson author of By Darkness Hid

I feel so very grateful to share with you a conversation I had with Jill Williamson about her Blood of Kings Trilogy, especially Book One: By Darkness Hid.

KM: Hi, Jill. Thanks for coming over. So question one: What is your favorite story?

Jill: I don't have one!!! There are way too many to pick. My favorite story of this week was Chop, Chop. It's a coming-of-age story that I couldn't put down. The author may have self published it, I'm not certain. Here is a link to my review of it on Amazon.com.

KM: When did you first consider yourself a writer?

Jill: When I got my first article published in Brio and Beyond.

KM: What is the hardest trial you have with writing? Either ongoing, or your defining moment.

Jill: It's so hard to know what to work on next. I guess this is something that God will reveal to me in time. My mind is always racing from one idea to the next. It's hard to stay focused on one story.

KM: Who designed the covers?

Jill: Kirk DouPonce. You can see what other amazing covers he designed on his website: http://www.dogeareddesign.com/

KM: Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?

Jill: Thank you for reading my story and telling people about it! I'd love to hear from you. If you haven't already, come find me on Facebook. And if you live in the Northwest, I'd love to come and visit your library or school. Email me for more information at info@jillwilliamson.com.

KM: How did you come up with the idea for this story?

Jill: Two things happened close together that inspired this story. First, I was walking with my son one day and we came upon a burned-down house. There was a tree in the front yard. The part of the tree that hung over the fence and above the street was leafy green, rocking and rustling in the wind. But the branches of the tree near the house were charred and stiff.

I stared at that tree for a long time, then took off for home, pushing that stroller at top speed. I went straight to the computer, opened Adobe Photoshop, and made the image of the tree that is the header on my author website. I couldn’t wait to write a story about this tree!

Around that same time, I had a weird dream about a guy with amnesia. Little did everyone know that he was someone very important. When I woke up, I liked the idea of this lost character, so I put him together with my ideas for the half-living, half-dead tree and I was off and running.

The next thing I did was draw the map. It looked a bit like Africa, which was an accident, and it had A LOT of dots on it. I needed a way to name all those places. I remembered that J.K. Rowling used Latin for most of the spells and many character names in the Harry Potter series. So I looked on my shelf. It was French or Hebrew/Greek. I thought Hebrew was way cooler, so I went with it.

For example, in the center of the map, you see Allowntown. Allown is Hebrew for oak. So that's treetown, where my cool half dead tree went. I got many character names the same way. Achan (Ay-kan) means trouble in Hebrew.

I started a notebook and brainstormed things about each town. I used a set of encyclopedias to help me. I knew I wanted Barth to be dessert, so I looked up some countries in northern Africa and wrote down their exports, crops, climate, vegetation, animals, etc. This helped me make each town diverse and realistic to the readers.

I also brainstormed lists of names. In Allowntown, aka treetown, I wrote down a list of types of apples. Braeburn, Concord, Gala, Pippin, Fuji, Ambrosia, Taylor, Macoun, Baldwin, etc. And I had a nice list of character names should I need someone from Allowntown. I used the same process for the other towns. I came up with a theme and made a list of names. Berland names are Inuit. Carmine names have to do with wine. Walden's Watch names have to do with the ocean. It was fun.

At one point, my husband said, "Uh, Jill? You've been messing around with that map for like two months. Are you going to write this book or what?"

He had a point. So I put all that down and started the story.

Thank you, Jill! You have been the most personable author I've ever known. And that story turned out to be one of the best books of 2009.

Jill shared some of the brainstorm images she used while developing By Darkness Hid. I now share them with you:
Look at these "sketches" she is quite the artist as well as writer. Maybe that is why By Darkness Hid's images were so vivid.






Achan is the main character. I likable boy. Honorable and loyal. He is oppressed. Living as a slave for as long as he can remember.

Hang on, the party is just getting started. We have two more days to delve into the Blood of Kings Trilogy: By Darkness Hid.
 
JILL WILLIAMSON'S WEBSITE AND BLOG
PURCHASE BY DARKNESS HID
 
Come back tomorrow for my review. And tonight visit the others on the tour to see what they have to say:
 
Brandon Barr

R.L. Copple
Keanan Brand

Gina Burgess

Beckie Burnham

Melissa Carswell

Valerie Comer

Karri Compton

Amy Cruson

CSFF Blog Tour

Stacey Dale

D. G. D. Davidson

Jeff Draper

Emmalyn Edwards

April Erwin

Sarah Flanagan

Andrea Graham

Tori Greene

Ryan Heart

Joleen Howell

Becky Jesse

Cris Jesse

Jason Joyner

Julie

Carol Keen

Krystine Kercher

Dawn King

Leighton

Rebecca LuElla Miller

New Authors Fellowship

John W. Otte

Crista Richey

Chawna Schroeder

Andrea Schultz

James Somers

Rachel Starr Thomson

Steve Trower

Fred Warren

Dona Watson

Phyllis Wheeler

KM Wilsher

In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

Monday, May 17, 2010

BY DARKNESS HID by Jill Williamson

I am dancing up and down this week. Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy blog tour is hosting the AWARD WINNING: BY DARKNESS HID by Jill Williamson. And boy do I have some treats for you!

If you buy any book this summer, buy this one!

Today I'd like to share with you the book trailor for BY DARKNESS HID.


And click here to see a map of Er'Rets! The lovely medieval town where it all got started.

Stay tuned through out the week for an interview, review, and secret treasures I recently uncovered about and from JILL WILLIAMSON.





Buy by Darkness Hid


Jill's site and blog

See what others on the tour have to say. Participants’ links:

Brandon Barr

Keanan Brand

Gina Burgess

Beckie Burnham

Melissa Carswell

Valerie Comer

Karri Compton

Amy Cruson

CSFF Blog Tour

Stacey Dale

D. G. D. Davidson

Jeff Draper

Emmalyn Edwards

April Erwin

Sarah Flanagan

Andrea Graham

Tori Greene

Ryan Heart

Joleen Howell

Becky Jesse

Cris Jesse

Jason Joyner

Julie

Carol Keen

Krystine Kercher

Dawn King

Leighton

Rebecca LuElla Miller

New Authors Fellowship

John W. Otte

Crista Richey

Chawna Schroeder

Andrea Schultz

James Somers

Rachel Starr Thomson

Steve Trower

Fred Warren

Dona Watson

Phyllis Wheeler

KM Wilsher

In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
Come back tomorrow for more fun with BY DARKNESS HID by Jill Williamson

Thursday, May 13, 2010

All Women Writers Issue



Hey all my fantasy friends, okay, I'm not talking about my imaginary friends, I'm talking to my friends who write in the Fantasy Genre

I saw this on the Lost Genre Guild message board.
Click here for the Lost Genre Guild website.
Realms of Fantasy  planning a special themed issue for August 2011.
Realms of Fantasy: All Women Writers Issue
Women in Fantasy issue
Click here to take a look.

By the way, did you have an imaginary friend when you were little?

I did. His name was "Icky". Honestly. . .ask my family.

Yep, that may explain some of the twisted stories I write. . . I'm just saying.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

IRON MAN 2 - CINEMA SOUND OFF with Lynn Rush and KM Wilsher

Welcome to Cinema Sound Off. We love movies!

My good friend and extraordinary writer, Lynn Rush
- and me, KM Wilsher visit
and we'll be sharing our reviews with you every
second Tuesday of the month.
 
KM's Review:

As always, I am hesitant about sequels, but I think IM2 may even be better than its predecessor!

The characters are deep! Full characters with true actions and reactions i.e. You think Tony Stark was arrogant before he said: "I am Iron Man." ? He is a little shameless, but probably a true picture of what riches and fame might do to a person. I wonder how much Downey relied upon his own troubled past to play this character.

Paltrow and Downey have chemistry like no other super hero series. I saw little sparks in the first one, but in the sequel, it blows me away.

Mickey Rourke gives a performance that proves he is a chameleon. He can be anything you want him to be.

Don Cheadle shows up as Rhodes. A good performance, but I missed Terrance Howard greatly.

Samuel L Jackson and Scarlett Johansson pop in, I'm not sure what their role is, Maybe someone can shed some light on that? Scarlett kicks some butt. She was not Sarah Connor, but. . .

Iron man 2 gives you a high octane ride through twists and thrills that make you forget that its running time is 2 hours and 5 minutes, it flies by leaving you breathless -- and smiling!

So IRON MAN 2 recieves:
5 tickets
5 tickets A must see, buy a ticket for everyone.
from KM Wilsher.


Now head on over to Lynn Rush.com 
to see what Lynn Rush has to say about IRONMAN 2.



And stay tuned for the second Tuesday in June.
I hear we may be reviewing
M Knight Shyamalan's The Last Airbender, NO.
LOOKS LIKE THAT IS NOT OUT UNTIL JULY

is it Robin Hood?

Do you have a must-see film for Summer 2010?

Monday, May 10, 2010

And the winner is. . .

From our drawing on Thursday:
LORI LUNDQUIST OF DRY GROUND is the winner of NO OTHER by Shawna K. Williams and a fresh water pearl bracelet made by Shawna K. Williams.

If you are an ACFW member make sure vote for NO OTHER for discussion in September. The ACFW book club can be found here ACFW BOOK CLUB.

I believe this book would be an interesting and relevant discussion piece.

Thanks for participating. Stay tuned for Cinema Sound Off tomorrow and Iron Man!

Saturday, May 8, 2010

IRONMAN TWO

Hit the Harkins Theater today with my good freind Lynn Rush.

IRONMAN 2

Stay tuned for our report on our Cinema Sound Off review next week.




And Happy Mother's Day!

Thursday, May 6, 2010

NO OTHER by Shawna K Williams interview and contest

Through writing, God has brought me some very special people. One of these: Shawna K Williams. We met in my first ACFW critique group. Her first publication NO OTHER broke out o the gate this past weekend. So I've interviewed her here. Make sure to enter the contest be for you go! Win a freshwater pearl braclet made by Shawna K Williams!

Shawna, tell us about yourself.

I'm pretty ordinary. I'm a mom of three wonderful kids, and I've been married to their dad for 18 and a half yrs. We live on a ranch in Mena, AR, where we raise cattle, horses, goats and rabbits. My interests vary a bit. Apart from writing I also design jewelry, review books, try to keep up with a blog, and look after my family. I'm nerdy in that I think it's fun to study geology and ancient cultures. I'm sentimental in that I can never pass up an abandoned ruin of a house without snapping a picture, and at least trying to convince my family that I'll only be a minute in exploring if they want to wait in the car. My sense of adventure is motivated by curiosity as opposed to the adrenaline rush, and while I love people, I'm an introvert who needs her alone time to recharge. This is when my muse gets a hold of me and fills my head with ideas. I'm also a dog lover. LOVE DOGS!


When did you start writing? Why?
I started writing eight years ago after I had a really bizarre dream. The dream was like a story, and it came in "scenes," if you will, with me sometimes observing and sometimes as one of the characters (that's how I've come to think of the people in this dream). The whole thing made so much sense that I found myself thinking about it, all of the time, for about six months as I tried to fill in the periods between "scenes". It finally became so complicated that I had to start writing it out. It eventually turned into a very long and horrible book that sat as a file in my computer for a few years. Every so often I'd get the urge to revise it and attempt to make it better, and while doing that I'd think, "Maybe I'll try to get it published," but then I'd chicken out. This went on for six years, and then two years ago I decided to get serious. I started with books about writing, and then critique groups (Yeouch!), more books, more critiques. Finally, I started submitting short stories and did pretty well with the few I wrote, getting published fairly quick. This gave me the encouragement to keep after the book.

In essence, that dream is now two books. The first, No Other, has just released, and In All Things comes out in November of this year.

While my writing started because of that dream, I now have a head full of ideas. I also have a third book, not related to the dream, which will be published in December of this year.


What inspires your writing? In particular your current book?
I'm inspired by those moments we all have in life, in which something profound hits us and we're changed forever. It might be something totally obvious, like finding love, but sometimes it's something so simple, and I like to try and draw that out, define it and give it meaning, and hopefully touch the reader in an unexpected way.

I've already said quite a bit about how and why I wrote No Other. The inspiration for it morphed over the years. Initially it was like a puzzle, piecing things together until they made sense. Over the course of the years though, the characters in this book and its sequel, have themselves become the inspiration. I know them intimately, and I feel compelled to share their journey. I'm just so grateful to have the opportunity.


How did you come up with the title?
The title came from the Bible verse, Isaiah 45:6 "So that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting men may know that there is none besides me. I am the Lord, and there is no other."

The underlying theme of the book is God's sovereignty. But I wanted to write a book that had a good story with complex characters to capture a reader's attention whether they enjoyed reading Christian fiction or not. Weaving in the faith element was easy once I knew the story and characters. What I wanted to avoid was preachiness. Nothing turns a reader off faster, and I didn't want to preach anyway. This was meant to be Jakob's story, about a young man who is a Christian, and how he views his faith and his choices in light of that faith. He's not perfect -- far from it actually, which is where -- to me -- the heart of the story is. Stories with perfect people are boring. I can't relate to any of them so I never feel engaged.

Tell us about the book.
I have this blurb I've been using in interviews, but recently a mutual friend of ours, Kat Heckenbach, wrote a review that I just love, and I feel like she summarizes it so much better than me, so I'm going to borrow her words.

This is a romance novel that won my heart, even though I normally do not read romance. Shawna's mastery of characterization infused the story with such believability, and I fell in love with Jakob and Meri. No sappy scenes, no corny lines--this book is about story. Yes, it's a love story, but it is so much more.


Set in post WWII Texas, Jakob's German family faces discrimination while they try to rebuild their household. His parents have returned from an internment camp, and his brother has returned as a war hero. Jakob must now step down from his patriarchal role and make his own return--to the high school he had left three years earlier in order to care for his younger siblings in his parents' and older brother's absence.


Matters become even more complicated when he steps into his classroom and discovers his old classmate, Meri Parker, sitting behind the teacher's desk. Their worlds couldn't be more different--she'd had all the advantages Jakob had not. Wealth, college, no one to care for but herself. But Jakob saw what no one else could--how trapped Meri was by her so-called advantages. With his own family restored, Jakob's natural instinct to rescue shifts its attention to Meri.


No Other is beautifully written. If you love romance, you will love No Other. And if you don't like romance...no matter. You'll still love it.

Eh...I know the last few sentences aren't about the plot of the book, but I liked them too much to cut them out!

I see you have two other releases on 2010 from Desert Breeze. Congratulations on that. Would you like to tell us about them a bit? Are they parts of a series?
"In All Things" is the sequel to "No Other" -- ten years later. While "No Other" is a complete story, if you look, you'll see there are some loose ends that are left unclear. One has to do with a promise Jakob makes to his rival, and another has to do with Meri's salvation. You know she's headed that direction, but when the book ends she hasn't committed her life to Christ yet. The theme to "In All Things" is similar to "No Other" but it deals with unresolved issues from a different phase in life, and adds to them with the complexities of family and careers, and substitutes for God. "No Other" mainly focuses on Jakob and Meri -- primarily because much of their interaction is in secret – but "In All Things" involves Jakob's entire family a lot more.

It's been an emotionally taxing story to write because there's so much to grasp. I find myself praying daily, "Lord, help me tell this story." But I find that there's also so much to love about it, and things I never expected to explore – one of them being how events in the first book affected Jakob's youngest sister, Esther. See, I just gave you something to think about if you read the book.

My other book is called "Orphaned Hearts". I love this story. It started as a novella, but it was accepted for publication on the agreement that I would lengthen it – which I'm working on now -- and had wanted to do even before it was under contract. After writing the novella I saw that there was so much potential with the characters -- David, Sadie and Caleb -- and I, myself, wanted to know them better.

The story is set in Arkansas, my hometown state, in the 1930s. Though the character of David is not based on my granddad, the story was inspired by him. He grew up in an orphanage during this time and his experiences there affected him throughout his life. Orphanages of the day weren't warm and caring places. At least not the one my granddad grew up in.

David is a man who has severe burn scars from the same fire that left him orphaned. His scars are such that they're hidden under his clothes, but as a child he was ridiculed, and he believes his disfigurement was the reason no one ever adopted him.

As an adult, he's a minister who works closely with an orphanage, and he takes a special interest in Caleb, a child who lost his arm in the accident that left him orphaned.

Sadie, is a woman who lost her fiancé years earlier, and then devoted herself to her ailing father. Upon his death she finds that she's alone, and believes she will stay that way because she's too old to marry.

The story is mainly about Sadie and David, and how they both seek to find a home for themselves through Caleb. You'll see. Just thinking about this one warms my heart, so hopefully I can bring those same emotions to the reader through my words. Once again, I'm praying, "Lord, help me tell this story."

What is your next major writing goal?
Don't laugh, but I want to write science fiction. I know, it's quite a bit different than historical, but I've always loved scifi and have the workings of a story swirling about. While I'm at it, maybe I should try my hand at time travel, then I can have both genres in the same book. Not a bad idea actually!

I don't think that will be my next project though. I have another idea brewing along the lines of, "the right guy at the wrong time, and the wrong guy at the right time, and everything according to God's timing." Make sense? Lol! Not sure of the time period this will take place though.

How do you develop your characters?
To me, characters are what make or break a story. Characters are who we experience a story through and if they aren't interesting and relatable, then no matter how intriguing the plot, a huge facet to the story is lost.

Now, I know some authors do character sketches involving the looks and profession of their characters. While this works for some, I don't do this. To me this is surface stuff and it has little to do with the person I want to convey. These details actually fill in themselves as the character evolves anyway. I like to focus on my characters history. This sometimes, as with Jakob, necessitated me going to great depths to uncover his family's history. Most of this stuff never makes it into the book in the form of information, but it does make it into the book in the way it frames my character's mind set, mannerisms, insecurities.

I'll use Jakob as an example again. One of the things I found interesting about him was his duel culture. He grew up in a family that was thoroughly German, in a town that was thoroughly Texan, and he's thoroughly both. The clash of these two cultures cause a bit of an identity crisis in him in the sense that the betrayal he feels over his family's internment because of their German heritage is harder for him to fathom since he's American, and Texan to boot. Yet, when he speaks to his parents it's perfect German, and many of his fondest childhood memories involve the culture. In the midst of war he wonders if that's something to be ashamed of. So...you can imagine, this story begins with a character already caught up in a whirlwind of internal struggle.

Now Meri...This girl's got issues, and quite a back story of her own! I'm not giving that away though. Hopefully a few people will be curious enough to read the book.

In closing, what might surprise people about you?
I love rocks. I don't know why. I just think they're fascinating. I'm really interested in crystal formations (for the record, I don't believe they have mystical properties) However, I can tell you that the molecular formula for quartz in SiO2. And Amethyst is quartz that gets it's coloration from manganese, and if it's heated to high temps within the earth's crust it changes to yellow, thus becoming citrine. I guess this make me a bit of a science geek. Since I also make jewelry with these types of rocks I guess I'm a girly geek too.

Now for the contests:

Shawna's blog:
For the month of May Shawna is running a contest with three prizes – a Good one, a Great one, and a Grand one. You can enter multiple times, the details are here. http://shawnawilliams-oldsmobile.blogspot.com/p/no-other-prize-drawing-details.html

Anyone leaving a comment today gets one entry (please leave your email. I promise these will all be destroyed after the drawing) And, if you can answer this question you get another entry.

"What happened when Ruth surprised Jakob by walking into his room?"

The answer can be found in the first chapter, viewable on my blog, here. http://noother-shawnawilliams.blogspot.com/

Or through Freado, where you can also read the first four chapters. http://www.freado.com/read/6928/no-other-by-shawna-k-williams

Or through the free sample available as a Kindle download.
http://www.amazon.com/No-Other-ebook/dp/B003K15MY0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1272736275&sr=1-1

Here, at KM Wilsher blog, the prize is a handmade freshwater pearl bracelet by our author: Shawna K Williams. and a pdf of NO OTHER.

Shawna says: "I like freshwater pearls because they're imperfect and each is unique. When strung together they become something beautiful, and that's how I feel about the way God has transformed me."

So leave a comment, all the names go in a basket, and a winner will be chosen!

Monday, May 3, 2010

Roswell vs. Twilight on MOVIE MONDAY

I found this 1999 TV show and it was eerie how many similarities it shared with Twilight.

Roswell


All right, Twilight die hards, there is another series that may pique your interest. In Roswell lives an alien named Max Evans who has a lot of  the qualities of Edward. He is a nonhuman in love with a human girl, Liz Parker who is much more interesting than Bella. Liz is Max's lab partner in science class, and Max has used his superpowers to save Liz's life.

I really like this series. At first, this high school alien stalking his lab partner, was a little too much like its the vamp in Forks that followed Roswell. But after four episodes (Based on the novel Roswell High) I was hooked.

There are three aliens living in Roswell and the authors develop all three of them. I really like the snappy, sassy, sister Isabel Evans (Max's sister is played by a young Kathrine Heigl) and love the other alien Michael Guerrin. He's a cutie! And his bad boy persona keeps the plot interesting.

The authors also develop a  quirky friend of Liz's named Maria. Maria seemed a little too odd at first, but she goes through such human responses to the aliens, I just started to connect with her.

Conflict brews with the sheriff in town, who is the son of the the very sheriff that investigated "the crash" of 1947. And rumors of miracle healings has the FBI is poking its nose around too. They even sent an agent undercover as a teacher.

You can't beat the setting: Roswell, New Mexico for a haunting pallet. I mean, don't we all wonder if there really is a great cover up. And don't we all wonder if the guy next to us might be an Alien?

The three aliens have great powers too. They can manipulate molecular structures. . .play cd's without a player, make the air conditioner work in your car, heal quickly, melt metal. . .so cool.

Put this in your Netflix queue! I know, Twilight fans are Twilight fans, but I am Roswell fan. I wonder if anyone is hiring out there in Roswell, New Mexico :0)

(By the way my dad was in Roswell da da da dum. . .LOL)