Snow and Words Don't always Mix

 Our area is digging out of the snow and low temperatures. Hoped for writing time at night, but we needed online help at work so I ran late for these posts. With multiple snows, the car needed covering at night for work the next day.

I am on chapter two of Separation and explaining the new world the protagonist awoke in. Like life, things aren't always what they appear. We most proceed cautiously as we learn where we stand in new surroundings. It's not that others mean harm, it's just that people act according to their nature over time. And their goals likely don't align with yours. The protagonist finds the rules in place before his accident no longer apply in this new world. He will have to learn new rules and how to apply them while remaining true to himself.

Separation - 1710/80,000

Back to the Keyboard

 After a long hiatus I'm returning to Fantasythyme. My current writing project is Separation. I wondered what would happen if you were convinced your purpose was to pull up roots and work in another land. But, after an accident, you find it was actually another time. And not just a few weeks or months, but twenty years.

The world has changed, and not for the better. Friends and family have moved on, or passed away. The protagonist hasn't aged while everyone else has. Why is he here? What's his new purpose?

Separation: 1200/80,000

Storm Siren by Mary Weber

Storm Siren
THE STORM SIREN TRILOGY - Book 1
by

 Mary Weber

(click image for book link)

DAY 1 - The Beginning of the End of Everything

The Storm Siren -  http://www.amazon.com/Storm-Siren-Trilogy/dp/1401690343/
Author Website -  http://www.maryweber.com/
Author Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/marychristineweber



     Nym is an elemental girl in her late teens with a bit of a problem with her curse; stormy weather. Storm Siren begins as Nym is on the slave block to be sold for the fifteenth time to a foul-smelling slave owner with a quick temper as sharp as the dagger he carries. Nym has managed to create losses for each previous owner; family memebers and even sheep. Will her new owner be any different as Nym feels her blood boiling and the familiar storm clouds gathering above?

   Nym tries to control her temper, but the storms she unleashes match her inner turmoil. As her temper builds over treatment of herself, and others, her curse-driven storm clouds blacken and boil, seething like her spirit inside. But, what if the weather manifestations aren't a curse but a blessing? Nym has an opportunity, and to some a duty, to unleash her wild storm control to vanquish the enemies of Faelen, her country, and save its peoples.

   Will the next storm she calls be her last as she loses control of herself and the deep power coursing through her? Read Storm Siren to find out and get thrown into the story's storm.

Youtube of First Book:

Map of Storm Siren World

CSFF Tour Links:
  Julie Bihn Thomas Clayton Booher Beckie Burnham Jeff Chapman Karri Compton April Erwin Victor Gentile Janeen Ippolito Carol Keen Emileigh Latham Rebekah Loper Shannon McDermott Meagan @ Blooming with Books Nissa Jalynn Patterson Writer Rani Nathan Reimer Audrey Sauble Jojo Sutis Rachel Starr Thomson Robert Treskillard Steve Trower Shane Werlinger Phyllis Wheeler

Fatal Tree CSFF Tour Day 3 - All is Not Lost, God is Still In Control

THE FATAL TREE
THE BRIGHT EMPIRES - Book 5
by

Stephen R Lawhead

(click image for book link)

DAY 3 - All is Not Lost, God is Still In Control

      On this third, and last, day of the Fatal Tree blog tour I wanted to discuss how things work out in The Lord's time, that often isn't our time schedule. But, I don't want to give away the ending. One of the main characters, Wilhelmina, or Mina, seemed a bit nonchalant about God and religion in general back in the first book of the series, the Skin Map. To me, she seemed miserable, and blamed the world for her misfortune.  Over time her travel along the ley lines, and more importantly the gentle kindness of Englebert, or Etzel,  led her to an understanding of a higher purpose for her life. Mina's look to heaven and a prayer of thanks after a safe return seemed to bring home this point.

     To me, Etzel represented the mind-set and attitude Christians should portray. From the beginning, he took newcomer Mina under his wing and grew a business with her. Lord Burleigh and his henchmen attack and harm Etzel, yet Etzel is able to forgive them through Grace, and he brings the five prisoners food and drink to feed them in their cell. Etzel's continued kindness and compassion sway the four henchmen, and Etzel is able to secure their release from prison. Left alone in his cell, Burleigh has weeks to ponder his plight, and begins to reconsider his actions and how his choices had brought him to where he had sunk so low. Yet again, Etzel's actions brought others closer to The Lord. 

     I wondered how past events were important, then remembered how Mina returned to an earlier time to help Kit. When Kit fell through the Spirit House and ended up seeing Arthur Flinders-Petrie carry Xuan Li into the Well of Souls. This happened in the past, yet Kit needed to see Arthur's walk into the waters to help explain why time needed to seek its balance. Turms the Immortal saved the life of Benedict, Arthur and Xuan Li's son. Years later, Turms is unable to save the life of Douglas Flinders-Petrie, Arthur's great-grandson. A balance of sorts is achieved. 

     The Skin Map is a road map of the ley lines through time, but it is also a guide to the balance of all that works into The Lord's plan for mankind. As humans, we are given free will to chose our responses and actions. When we chose wisely we move toward The Lord's plan for our life. When we go against God's plan, stronger measures are called for, and many detours through tough times we wouldn't have needed to  make. Burleigh saw no need for The Lord, or being kind to others. He brought about his own chastisement of a solitary prison cell. He thought he was in control, and master of his own fate. 

Instead, Burleigh learned that God is in control, whether you are lost in far places or times, or in the midst of multitudes. Mina learned that God is there when you seek him; he's been watching over you all along. My take-away from the series is that The Lord has a plan bigger than all of time, and he knows the outcome. 

We have the choice of whether to work toward His Goal, or work against it.

*The Fatal Tree -    http://www.amazon.com/The-Fatal-Tree-Bright-Empires/dp/1595548084/
Author Website -  http://www.stephenlawhead.com/
Author Facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stephen-R-Lawhead/84503526872


I received a review copy of The Fatal Tree by Stephen R Lawhead from Thomas Nelson in conjunction with the December CSFF Blog Tour



Extra: If you're like me and like to read a complete story collection, and read Kindle books, Amazon has the complete Bright Empires set for $16.99
     Stephen Lawhead Bright Empires Set on Kindle

Youtube of First Book:

CSFF Tour Links:
  Julie Bihn Thomas Clayton Booher Beckie Burnham Jeff Chapman Karri Compton April Erwin Victor Gentile Jason Joyner Janeen Ippolito Carol Keen Emileigh Latham Rebekah Loper Shannon McDermott Meagan @ Blooming with Books Rebecca LuElla Miller Nissa Jalynn Patterson Writer Rani Nathan Reimer Audrey Sauble Jojo Sutis Rachel Starr Thomson Robert Treskillard Steve Trower Shane Werlinger Phyllis Wheeler

Fatal Tree CSFF Tour Day 2 - It's All Down Hill from Here

THE FATAL TREE
THE BRIGHT EMPIRES - Book 5
by

Stephen R Lawhead

(click image for book link)

DAY 2 - It's All Down Hill from Here

Stay tuned tomorrow. Day 3 - All is Not Lost, God is Still In Control

*The Fatal Tree -    http://www.amazon.com/The-Fatal-Tree-Bright-Empires/dp/1595548084/
Author Website -  http://www.stephenlawhead.com/
Author Facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stephen-R-Lawhead/84503526872


I received a review copy of The Fatal Tree by Stephen R Lawhead from Thomas Nelson in conjunction with the December CSFF Blog Tour

Yesterday, I mentioned some of the problems caused by tampering with time. Today, I wanted to mention some of the way things have grown worse for the ley travelers. Raising arms, or hands, at some locations helps trigger ley-line travel. When Kit and Cass watch a small bird die after a jolt from the Fatal yew tree, Cass tries to save Kit from stumbling into the tree and instead opens a ley-line portal at the tree that surges between Cass and Kit, throwing the pair apart. The path is blocked and they are caught for a time in the distant past.

Wilhelmina is traveling to meet Kit and Cass, but instead keeps returning to Egypt at the beginning of the previous century. After five failed attempts, she makes the jump and meets with Thomas to discuss a matter of life and death; everyone's.

Englebert the baker has tried time after time to see the Chief Magistrate, but is turned away. On the ninth attempt, the steward convinces the judge to see Englebert who begs for leniency concerning the same Burleigh Men who attacked him. The Burleigh Men seem to have come around to treating Englebert better, but the Magistrate will have none of the forgiveness Englebert claims he has for Lord Burleigh's men. Instead, Englebert is sent away.

Lord Burleigh seems to have lost the most. His men appreciate Englebert's kindness and have left his prison cell. When Burleigh is brought food yet again by the kind baker, Burleigh ignores him and stares at the wall until the baker leaves. As the chapter unfolds, Burleigh realizes that it's no Englebert he dislikes so, it is Englebert's savior Jesus. Englebert explains that is is because of Jesus that he must show kindness, and forgiveness. The Burleigh men can accept this, but Burleigh can not. He remains convinced Englebert has an ulterior motive. So, it seems like Lord Burleigh has lost the most, his freedom, his care for his men, and most importantly, the peace inside from following only what he knows and believes. His spirit is quenched and all he possesses is emptiness inside as he sits alone in a prison cell.

Amazon has the complete Bright Empires in a Kindle collection for $16.99
     Stephen Lawhead Bright Empires Set on Kindle

CSFF Tour Links:
  Julie Bihn Thomas Clayton Booher Beckie Burnham Jeff Chapman Karri Compton April Erwin Victor Gentile Jason Joyner Janeen Ippolito Carol Keen Emileigh Latham Rebekah Loper Shannon McDermott Meagan @ Blooming with Books Rebecca LuElla Miller Nissa Jalynn Patterson Writer Rani Nathan Reimer Audrey Sauble Jojo Sutis Rachel Starr Thomson Robert Treskillard Steve Trower Shane Werlinger Phyllis Wheeler

Fatal Tree CSFF Tour Day 1 - The Beginning of the End of Everything

THE FATAL TREE
THE BRIGHT EMPIRES - Book 5
by

Stephen R Lawhead

(click image for book link)

DAY 1 - The Beginning of the End of Everything

Mr. Lawhead manages to tie all the Bright Empires storylines  together in this fifth and final book of the series. I mention this because I've always enjoyed his rich story details, scenes, and characterization. He brings everything to life. The tale began back in the first book, The Skin Map, when Kip's great-grandfather introduces him to ley-line travel. By this fifth book, it seems everyone is traveling at times. That's where the problem seems to compound. All this travel has unsettled the universal order.

We found out in the previous book, The Shadow Lamp, that Arthur Flinders-Petrie had disrupted the natural laws by his actions at the Spirit Well. In The Fatal Tree, time itself is trying to regain its balance as people and things from different eras are dropped in other time and other places. Things like disappearing bridges holding cars were strange enough, but one poor mother had fed her three children and husband, who were all back at the table to eat breakfast even though their dirty dishes were in the sink but really strange. Even stranger, was the lady who kept running into herself coming from another direction. This early section of the story really made me wonder about what might happen if time stopped flowing normally, and took a side trip.

To give you an idea how bad things are by the first few chapters, Wilhelmina has traveled to the Ice Age and finds out the saber tooth cat, Baby, arrived after her, Kip and his group are back in the Stone Age trying to get around a well-charged yew tree that is right over the badly needed main ley-line, Lord Burleigh is stuck in a prison cell and his men have been moved after showing their appreciation of Etzel's continued kindness in prison because of his faith, and Zetetic members are meeting their selves coming and going; literally.
then, just when you think things can't get any worse... guess what?

Stay tuned tomorrow.

*The Fatal Tree -    http://www.amazon.com/The-Fatal-Tree-Bright-Empires/dp/1595548084/
Author Website -  http://www.stephenlawhead.com/
Author Facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stephen-R-Lawhead/84503526872


I received a review copy of The Fatal Tree by Stephen R Lawhead from Thomas Nelson in conjunction with the December CSFF Blog Tour



Extra: If you're like me and like to read a complete story collection, and read Kindle books, Amazon has the complete Bright Empires set for $16.99
     Stephen Lawhead Bright Empires Set on Kindle

Youtube of First Book:

CSFF Tour Links:
  Julie Bihn Thomas Clayton Booher Beckie Burnham Jeff Chapman Karri Compton April Erwin Victor Gentile Jason Joyner Janeen Ippolito Carol Keen Emileigh Latham Rebekah Loper Shannon McDermott Meagan @ Blooming with Books Rebecca LuElla Miller Nissa Jalynn Patterson Writer Rani Nathan Reimer Audrey Sauble Jojo Sutis Rachel Starr Thomson Robert Treskillard Steve Trower Shane Werlinger Phyllis Wheeler

SPLICKETY CYBER WEEK FLASH DEAL

(Ends 11:59 PM EST on Friday, December 5)

 

 

 You get all this for $17.95

• Every back issue of Splickety’s magazines we’ve ever published. You’ll get them all, starting with our debut issue of Splickety Magazine from 2012 and including our upcoming Christmas 2014 issue.
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I ordered this last Fall as a renewing subscriber. It's great to get all these issues for $18, but you also get the back issues, an anthology, half-off the flash fiction writing book, and Blood for Blood. I mention Blood for Blood last, because it's just a good read. I stayed up late, really late, on a work night to finish the book as I wanted to read how it turned out. I'm usually not much for horror, but couldn't resist the tale of a vampire who wants to become a Christian. The story has some great twists i didn't see coming, and the characters and setting are great. it sure kept my interest.