Is black clothing a magnate or a magnet for animal hair? Does a horse have a main or a mane?…
Read more →Are you a Nervous Nellie? Or perhaps you’re a Negative Nellie. Has anyone ever said to you, “Not on your…
Read more →Why use common words like untidy, contemptible, vain, simple, etc., when describing a person when there are so many fun…
Read more →𝑈𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑛𝑒 is a different kind of zombie book, one that will without a doubt grab your attention. I thought it…
Read more →How would you create an invisible sculpture, and would you be able to sell it? Your town is flooded and…
Read more →Is black clothing a magnate or a magnet for animal hair? Does a horse have a main or a mane?…
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There is a word for every condition under the sun. What word describes the inability to feel pleasure? How much do you love books? Are you a bibliophile, bibliomaniac, or a biblioholic? Do you have bibliomania? Have you ever had the desire to eat grass like an ox? Have you ever gone temporarily insane? Been…
Two quotes by Hunter S. Thompson sum up my youth and my writing: “Truth is weirder than any fiction I’ve seen” and “It never got weird enough for me.” I was fascinated with people, but I quickly grew bored with ordinary life. I went off exploring other worlds: criminals, gangs, commies, Birchers, hippies, drug dealers,…
Being part of the king’s court should be a dream job, right? Unfortunately, it wasn’t so for Hop-Frog and Tripetta. The king’s jester, Hop-Frog, was a dwarf and a cripple. Hop-Frog wasn’t the name with which he was christened; he was called that because of the way he moved around. Along with a female dwarf,…
What words do you use to describe your character’s habits or traits? Does your character enjoy good food, drink, and other luxuries? Or maybe your character is a mean, sneaking coward. Even though your character is an adult, does he act like a spoiled brat? A bon viveur is a person who lives high and…
Now that the new Vietnam War documentary by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick is running on PBS, that most difficult time in American history is once again before us. However, when I saw us so easily fall into fighting in Iraq, I couldn’t help but wonder had our politicians forgotten about our quagmire in Southeast…
“Why do you like vampires? What’s so special about them? Why read about them? What’s so appealing?” Thus do the philistines speak. What’s so appealing about literary vampires? Let me count the ways… …by doing a bit of history… The literary vampire didn’t begin to flourish until the mid-1880s. I’ve heard it said that before…
Would you make a deal with the devil to keep from getting the plague? The book opens in France on May 21, 1349. The plague is making its rounds, killing each one who is infected, and it is almost impossible to escape infection. Damian’s fiance has come down with it and life no longer has…
Have you ever burst into laughter and not been able to quit? Have you ever experienced an afterclap or been knocked agroof? Are you acquainted with an alterocentric person? Do you have a cacoëthes? Would a person with cerebropathy need to be put in a mental institution? What is curglaff? Have you ever burst into laughter…
Set in the vast Bavarian forest in Germany, this story gave me the feeling that I was in the middle of an original Grimm’s fairy tale, not one of the innocent Disney versions where all the blood and gore have been taken out. Konrad and his mother lived on the edge of this forest. Full…
The eerie feel of autumn swoops in on the wings of birds and insects as they fly south for the winter on nature’s highways. Seasonal decorations grace the shelves of stores all around America, and the excited chatter of children turn from the latest toys to this year’s costumes. When the leaves fall and the…
I am going to share with you the reason behind my first novel and subsequent books as well as the important part that music always plays whenever I start writing a novel. Back in 1992, I was 19 years old and still grieving for my first love who had destroyed my life two years before.…
In my historical novel Neespaugot: The Legend of the Indian’s Coin, Runinniduk, the Native American forefather of the story, is awarded one of the first coins minted in the New World for his help in translating the Holy Bible into Algonquian. Bearing the seal of Massachusetts Bay Colony, the coin is subsequently passed down from…
Neespaugot: The Legend of the Indian’s Coin begins in 1675 and continues on until 2015. How can there be so much to tell about a coin, even if it was one of the first coins minted in the U.S.? This coin is passed from one adventurer to another, all of them linked by the blood…
When you’re waiting for the other shoe to drop, are you caught out in a rainstorm of shoes? No, you are waiting for something to happen, something that you expect to happen. But what does waiting have to do with shoes? For the answer to this, we need to go back in time to manufacturing…
What is the word that describes being clumsy or unskilled with both hands? When you throw someone or something out of a window, what have you done? What are individuals who are involved in bribery and corruption known as? If you have coulrophobia, will you be going to see IT? ambisinistrous – A person who…
What would inspire you to join the military in a time of war? Would anything? The Chords of War opens on 9/11, the same date that the Twin Towers were bombed. Max was ready to do away with himself because everything he held precious in his life had gone down the tubes. His band, the…
Would one be indicted or indited by a grand jury? If someone lacks good judgment and prudence, are they indiscreet or indiscrete? Is endless or unlimited space infinity or affinity? Is a person who is open and frank ingenious or ingenuous? indicted, indited Indicted is the act of a grand jury bringing a formal accusation…
Ellie the Wienerdog does not want to go in the water. Does she think that maybe the wild creatures swimming beneath the surface will gobble her up? Does she think that she will sink to the bottom of the lake and not be able to come back to the surface? Ellie the Wienerdog thinks that…
Teddy Rose is the owner of Virtual Author Book Tours. When and how did she decide to offer authors the opportunity to have a virtual book tour? What are her requirements for accepting a book? How many packages are offered? What is her favorite part of the job? Has she ever had any trouble with…
Have you ever seen a troupe of acrobats perform? Can you hear a pound of carpenters as they work on your house? What about the pint of Irishmen you met last night in the bar? Do you think you will see them again? How often do you think you would find a catalogue of librarians…
Something eerie is going on at Stillbrook Apartments where Harris is the maintenance man. The bizarre and disturbing residents, screaming birds, strange noises and odors, an eerie abandoned unit—these all add up to make a chilling and oppressive atmosphere. I’m so glad that I don’t live there. This spooky tale is told by Harris and…
I’ve always been an avid reader. About ten years ago, I decided to write my first book. I grew up on Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes, but the supernatural called to me and enticed me. I wanted to write a book with all the sarcasm and wit of the TV show, Supernatural, the mystery of…
If you had lived during a time when people had no clue what was happening during a solar eclipse, what would you have thought when the moon covered the light of the sun and everything went dark? Why would you think the sun had disappeared? Would you believe that a frog or toad was eating…
Trying to find the perfect writing software to write with was a frustrating endeavor. I thought how much easier it would be to just type my story in Microsoft Word. I had been using MS Word, but it wasn’t fun having to scroll down through all the pages to find the chapter or section I…
