Bookish Tuesdays - Jan 5 2016

Thanks to MizB for hosting Teaser Tuesday at her blog, A Daily Rhythm.

Thanks to Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea for hosting FCFP.

Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

~~~oOo~~~

(links to GoodReads)

Blurb:

Life is good for Kit Marshall. She's a staffer in D.C. for a popular senator, and she lives with an adoring beagle and a brainy boyfriend with a trust fund. Then, one morning, Kit arrives at the office early and finds her boss, Senator Langsford, impaled by a stainless steel replica of an Army attack helicopter. Panicked, she pulls the weapon out of his chest and instantly becomes the prime suspect in his murder.

Teaser:

"A burst of adrenaline propelled me into action.

I grabbed the Apache model with my right hand, 

Pulling with all my strength, The Apache model came out of his chest more easily than I had anticipated."

First Chapter, Fist Paragraph:

"Ascending from the underground depths of the Metro, I confronted the alabaster dome in the distance.  The sight never failed to leave me awestruck.  It was a imposing reminder of the city's fundamental purpose.  New York City has the Empire State Building, Paris the Eiffel Tower, and Washington, D.C., the Capitol Building.  The stillness of the morning on the hill was a rare gift.  Only a few ambitious politicos beat the nine o'clock cattle call, summoning over 10,000 congressional staffers to their lairs."

~~~oOo~~~

So, what do you think?

FCFP/Teaser Tuesday - Pale Highway by Nicholas Conley

Gabriel Schist is spending his remaining years at Bright New Day, a nursing home. He once won the Nobel Prize for inventing a vaccine for AIDS. But now, he has Alzheimer’s, and his mind is slowly slipping away.

When one of the residents comes down with a horrific virus, Gabriel realizes that he is the only one who can find a cure. Encouraged by Victor, an odd stranger, he convinces the administrator to allow him to study the virus.  Soon, reality begins to shift, and Gabriel’s hallucinations interfere with his work.

As the death count mounts, Gabriel is in a race against the clock and his own mind. Can he find a cure before his brain deteriorates past the point of no return?

~~~oOo~~

"First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesdays" is a linkup hosted by Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea.

I'm going to use the first paragraph of the books prologue, because it is more ... evocative.  Let me show you what I mean....

"The patient had charcoal-black eyes, hard and cold, as if rounded chunks of volcanic rock and been shoved inside her eye sockets.  Her skin possessed a sickly white pallor, as if it had been sucked dry of all its nutrients and hung up on a clothesline.  Dark veins crawled over her body like wriggling snakes, pulsing with every unsteady heartbeat.  Her mouth hung open, and a pockmarked grey tongue hung uselessly over her lower lip.  Her bedridden form emitted the stench of necrotic flesh. 

Glenda Alvarez was 63 years old, young compared to the other residents.  Just last week she'd had her hair permed and her nails manicured.  The virus had hit fast."

~~~oOo~~~

"Teaser Tuesdays" is a linkup hosted by Jenn at A Daily Rhythm.

This is from approximately 58% on the mobi file:

"If he died tomorrow, his nudity would be all they would remember, not the Nobel Prize, not the Schist vaccine.  No, his humiliation would be his legacy."

~~~oOo~~~

So, what do you think?  Too far out for you?  Not far enough?

~~~oOo~~~

Here's a little about the author:

Originally from California, Nicholas Conley has currently made his home in the colder temperatures of New Hampshire. He considers himself to be a uniquely alien creature with mysterious literary ambitions, a passion for fiction, and a whole slew of terrific stories he’d like to share with others. 

When not busy writing, Nicholas is an obsessive reader, a truth seeker, a sarcastic idealist, a traveler, and — like many writers — a coffee addict.

~~~oOo~~~

So, how did I come by this read, do you ask?  The book will be on tour (via Sage's Blog Tours) and I will post a review here on the porch this coming, Sunday, November 22, 2015.

Story Starters - "It Felt Like All Hope Was Lost"

STORY STARTERS is a weekly meme at A Daily Rhythm, where you’re given a writing prompt to play with. You can do a paragraph, a short story, whatever!

~~~oOo~~~

It felt like all hope was lost.

You see, I had just found out at the week before that I was pregnant for the 3rd time at 40 years of age.  The day before I had had my first ob-gyn appointment where the pregnancy was confirmed.

Two nights later, on my overnight shift transcribing officers' reports at the local police department, I went to the restroom.  There was blood.  I had spotted the first time a little bit, but nothing like this.

Luckily, my senior tech was cool and when I explained what was happening, she handed me the form that needed to be filled out for my leaving work to be 'approved' and said, "Just sign it.  I'll fill out the rest."

So I drove myself to the nearest hospital that accepted my insurance.  (Luckily, there was no shortage of hospitals in this major Texas city.)  I parked in the garage and made my way into the building, trying to hold back the tears.  I had no idea where the ER was from there, but luckily a nurse wearing scrubs noticed my near-hysteria and pointed me in the right direction.

I got there, finally, and waited and waited.  It seemed like an awfully long time to wait to someone worried about possibly being in the middle of a miscarriage.

When I finally got to see the doctor, he said it looked like I was on my period.  I told him I had taken a home test and that the pregnancy had been confirmed by my ob-gyn less than 48 hours before.  He stated since they were urine and not blood tests, they were 'probably not right' anyway.  He ordered an ultrasound and a blood test before he would make a decision from his exalted position.

During one of the many times I was alone in the exam room, trying to cover up as best I could in that awkward position, tears started streaming from my eyes.  It almost felt like I was 'talking to God', instead of 'praying'.

"What am I supposed to hope for here?

That I'm not really pregnant when I had wanted for so long to have one last chance at a little girl?

Or maybe that I was pregnant, but might having a miscarriage?

Or that I was pregnant, but there might be something 'wrong' with the baby?  Sometimes I felt like I had trouble taking care of myself and the two children Chris and I had already, let alone taking on a baby with medical or developmental challenges."

I turned to the one piece of scripture I had memorized years before (specifically for the dentist's chair), Psalm 23.  Over and over again, I silently choked the words out through my tears.  Then the answers started:

"I would be really disappointed if I wasn't pregnant after all.  How can those tests and an ob-gyn be wrong like that?  If that is the case, I will get through it somehow.

I would likewise be heartbroken if I was in the middle of a miscarriage.  But I knew I could lean on God for support.

And although I doubted my own abilities, I had little doubt (being honest here) that somehow I would be the best steward of the precious life entrusted to me, no matter how that life was expressed."

And I surrendered to God's will for myself and my family.

Immediately, the sweetest peace I have ever known flowed through my body, warming me as it went.  The feeling was almost indescribable (but that won't stop me from trying to use words to do just that).

I had some 'splaining to do when I got home early Sunday afternoon.  You see, we didn't have a phone at the apartment at that time, and cell phones were still in the 'too-soon-to-be-cheap-enough-for-us' stage of technology.  Normally, I would have been home by 8:00 am, and I got back sometime between noon and 1:00 pm.

Long story short, about 7 months later (at approximately 32 weeks), this happened:

Since I had no idea I would be writing about this this morning, I don't have a picture of my daughter as an infant to hand.  She was born at 32 weeks gestation, and weighed 3 lbs .4 oz, and was 13.5" long at birth.  She was in NICU for 22 days.

Although this picture is a little old, my little bunny is closing in on the teenage years now at an alarming rate:

She is one of my four favorite miracles in the entire world.

Mailbox Musings on Monday

Musing Mondays, hosted at A Daily Rhythym, is a weekly meme that asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer:

I’m currently reading…Up next I think I’ll read…I bought the following book(s) in the past week…I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…I can’t wait to get a copy of…I wish I could read ___, but…I blogged about ____ this past week…

So here goes:

I'm super excited to tell you about the song lyrics I made up to the tune of "Something to Talk About" (performed by Bonnie Raitt).  Only my version is called "Pumpkin to Talk About", some words I made up to the tune that go along with the story of Joyce and Jim Lavene's new book (out tomorrow!) called "Give 'Em Pumpkin to Talk About" (link goes to GoodReads).  Bear in mind that the lyrics I wrote are far more in line with the book than the music:

People are talkin' 'bout people

That disappeared long ago, no one knows

Where they went but the time has come now

Their grandkid is grown and she wants to know

How and why they disappeared

She has friends she needs to clear

Danger’s not gone; in fact it’s near

As near as the pumpkin patch maybe, Darlin’

Let's give them pumpkin to talk about

Down to the barn raisin’ we’ll give ‘em out

Let's give them pumpkin to talk about

Talk about pumpkin bread?

He looked so scruffy, not her kind of guy

He sabotaged her

Efforts to sell the house

But for her grandparents he helped her out

She started thinking he’s not so bad

For her he even shaved his beard

They faced some danger side by side

Once or twice they almost died

Now that the murders are solved, they thought, Darlin’

Let's give them pumpkin to talk about

Down to the barn raisin’ we gave ‘em out

Let's give them pumpkin to talk about

How about pumpkin pie?

Let's give them pumpkin to talk about

A little mystery to figure out

Let's give them pumpkin to talk about

How about pumpkin cheesecake?

~~~oOo~~~

From the Mailbox Monday site (click the button to go there):

Here at Mailbox Monday, we want to encourage participants to not only share the books they received, but to check out the books others have received.

One of these days I'll keep a running draft post during the week, but until then, here's some Kindle books I got during the last couple of days:

  

  

  

   

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

Since I didn't do a little bit of work on this post each day, I won't put up links but you can find any of them on GoodReads

Teaser Tuesday - Rhyme of the Magpie by Marty Wingate

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

~~~oOo~~~

GoodReads