Listen to "Fires of Belenus"

A chapter from my novel "Fires of Belenus" was selected and read on the British internet program the "Celtic Myth Pod Show".
The show is done live from, Eastbourne by the Sea. The reading is done by Gary Colcombe, moderator of the show. Gary is known for bringing Celtic tales and myths to your fireside in the finest bardic tradition. As story tellers go, there is none better.

The story appears in Summer Special part II and it is the second feature in the program. The narration has been enhanced with sound effects and music, a truly professional job.

Just click on the link below to the pod shows site. The show is available in every format available. Once you on the site it will lead you to the program.

http://www.celticmythpodshow.com/

Take Care
William Russeth
"Fires of Belenus" Wings-Press: http://www.wings-press.com/

For more information and excerpts visit the website:http://mysite.verizon.net/resr5omo/whrhomepage/

Akasha

Akasha raised her pretty calico head and sniffed the air. Something about the brooding stillness didn’t feel right. There was too much electricity in the heavy atmosphere. The cat peeped out the cubbyhole in the boathouse, where she made her home, and looked at a sky turned black with storm clouds. The waves of the lake lifted and hit against the shore with a sharp slap that made her flinch. Thunder rumbled. In the distance a bolt of lightning cut through the dark and hurled a sizzling blaze of light to the ground.
“Mamma, I’m scared.” A tiny replica of herself, down to the gold spot on her chin and black splotch on her right shoulder, peeped at her from the top of an old wooden fishing boat resting upright on a flat webbing rack supported by eyehooks.
“Don’t worry, Cairo. Mamma’s here. Mamma will take care of you.” Akasha purred. Her first litter and she was so proud. She’d never known kittens that were as smart or as cute as her little five-week old darlings. She’d had no idea how it would feel to be a mom. That nothing in the world would ever matter as much as these three balls of fluff. She would lay down her life to keep them safe.
Cairo’s head disappeared abruptly, followed by a hollow thump as she fell to the bottom of the boat. “I’m okay, Mamma,” Cairo’s voice sounded muffled as she sang out from the bowels of the boat. “Oh look, I found a leaf.”
“That’s nice, dear.” Akasha lay on an old towel deep in the shadows of the boathouse, Cubbie and Cosmo, her two boys, drowsing beside her.
A crack of thunder sounded close by and a streak of blinding lightning landed almost on top of the building. The sound of splintering wood followed a great whoosh and the maple next to the boathouse crashed to the ground.
The wind picked up at a frightening rate.
The two boys woke with a start and burrowed against her. “What was that, Mamma?” Cubbie asked, raising his little black head to look around.
Blowing gusts howled. The heavens opened and rain battered the building pinging off the steel roof like the rat-a-tat-tat of bullets.
“Mamma.” Cosmo tried to burrow under her.
“Mamma, I’m scared,” Cairo called out.
A whistle like an approaching train sounded in the distance, getting closer and closer at an alarming rate of speed.
Akasha tensed and laid back her ears as the noise rose to a piercing shriek, hurting her eardrums. She sensed danger, terrible danger.

E-Books and the Fictional Future

Love them or hate them, most readers have an opinion about the E-book format. A great many of us like their convenience, but don't think they'll ever replace "real", paper books. We like the tactile presence of the pages turning in our hands. Others say that's because we grew up with paper books and future generations won't have that emotional tie. So let's take a look at two television representations of the future:

Star Trek has always believed in E-books, right from the very beginning. There are still "antique" books around, but otherwise, everyone reads off of their hand-held devices.

Consequently, it truly surprised me when the recent Doctor Who two-parter, Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead, had the Doctor and Donna visit a world-size library of the distant future - and it was all paper books! Did the builders realize that if they'd put all those books in e-book format, it might have taken up only a continent instead of a whole world? And then it turns out that the computer which runs the library has access to the contents of all the books. How is that possible unless the books have been scanned into the computer? In which case they ARE available in e-book format. So isn't their paper presence a duplication of labor and space?

Also, I assume none of these paper books can be checked out because if they weren't returned, their knowledge would be lost...except to the computer. Another reason to have e-book copies. They would be far more portable, too. Can you imagine visiting an entire WORLD of books? I check out 60-some books from a university-size library. My space-ship would never be able to lift-off.

Not to mention the un-green-ness of this situation - all the trees that died to make those books! Because it turns out they weren't collected from other libraries - oh, no, they were all printed up new using the wood-pulp from a planet of forests. Lovely. Wipe out an entire planet of forests to build a planet of books.

Now, that is where the writer, Steven Moffat, got clever. Because had those forests not been consumed for paper for the books, none of the terrible things that happen next would have happened. So Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead play very well as a warning about the dire consequences of ignoring ecological conservation practices. Had the library contained E-books, the Doctor and Donna would have simply had a nice visit to a busy library and all the patrons would have lived happily ever after. So I guess you can say that Doctor Who believes in E-books, too.

Now, I know some of you are reading this and thinking, "That's all you have to say about that two-parter? You're kidding!" Well....no. I must admit that another of my thoughts upon watching it was, "So the Doctor's taste in girlfriends gets even MORE annoying over time??!!"

But I'm not a Doctor Who 'shipper. X-Files? Hell, yes. Doctor Who? Not so much. Probably because I watched Original Who, where sex was no part of the Doctor's - or anyone's - life, I just don't have a place for it in my Who-niverse. So I find 'shippiness annoying, no matter what form it takes.

I can see how the episodes would depress Ten/Rose 'shippers, though, and I sympathize. Technically, if Rose is The One, then having the Doctor fall in love with every other woman he meets just makes him look like a slut. He abandons Rose on a people-eating ship for that French chick, he has a close relationship with Astrid, and he has a terribly close relationship - where he tells her his name (and he hasn't even told Rose that) - with River Song.

I liked the "everybody lives" bit at the end, though. I think you have to have watched Original Who to really appreciate that. I'm guessing that Steven Moffat was, like me, scarred by the original series, in which EVERYBODY DIES. Seriously. The cast of each episode was: The Doctor, the companion(s), and Miscellaneous Red-shirts (to use a Star Trek term).

You'd meet all sorts of cool characters and they'd all be dead by the end of the story. I remember many times thinking, "Please don't let him/her get killed off." while watching the old series. One time the fellow I liked survived and I was elated!!! Note how it was "one time".

So I really enjoy when Steven Moffat figures out how to let everybody live at the end of his stories.

And I hope next time the Doctor visits a library or reads in the Tardis, he will pull out a hand-held device instead of a paper book.

Hi everyone,



This is my first time posting to the WingsAuthor's blog. I'm a little late, my book came out May 1. And by the way, I just recieved a contract from Wings for another of my novels. It's due out in November.



A little about the book.


Her mother's death, and fiancé's deceit sends Constance Hart in search of peace in Virginia. As a freelance writer, Connie explores the historic wonders of America, but she soon finds that this trip has more in store for her than a story. Not only does she make new friends, one that she takes a very special interest in, but she is also put off balance by fleeting visits to the past.


You can see more on Wings ePress author's pages, or my website. http://www.wandakeesey.com/mist.html

A Daddy for Danny by Mary Kate Brogan

My debut contemporary novel, A Daddy for Danny, was released May 1st by Wings ePress.

A little about the book: Jenny Eglington's dying sister begged her to raise Danny as her own. Six years later, when Roland LaPierre meets his son, Jenny must deal with an attraction to the man who has the power to destroy her life.

Mary Kate Brogan

My Blog

Url to purchase

I'm thrilled that Her Name Is Mommy is to be the selected book in July. I'll be answering any questions here or on the Wings Yahoo readers group. Here's a bit of a teaser:

At Christmastime, Chicago PI Mike Shepherd spots a child silently crying on an otherwise empty mall bench. Mike and his fiancé try to help four-year-old Madison. He alerts mall security about the lost child and a surveillance tape reveals one hour earlier a man had kidnapped Madison’s mother.

Mike takes on the task of delivering the ransom, battling deadlines, kidnappers, bureaucrats and even the FBI. Mike must rescue the woman in spite of dealing with a disgruntled federal officer bent upon proving he can handle the case without the help of a lowly private investigator.

J D Webb

The Year I Lost My Mind

My newest release, The Year I Lost My Mind, will be the discussion book in June on the Wings Readers loop.

On her fiftieth birthday, realizing she is not content with her life, Beth Rutledge makes a decision that tests the strength of her marriage, confronts the strained relationship with her mother, and forces her to spend time with the one person she knows the least—herself.

The Year I Lost My Mind is available from Wings ePress in both electronic download and trade paperback. Read it now, and join us in our discussion in June. I'll post a reminder before the discussion begins.

Linda Rettstatt
www.geocities.com/lindarettstatt
www.lindarettstatt-author.blogspot.com/

Wings ePress Authors: Night Brigade The Satellite ~ a GOLDEN WINGS AWARD WINNER!

Wings ePress Authors: Night Brigade The Satellite ~ a GOLDEN WINGS AWARD WINNER!http://www.nightbrigade.com

When the Ocotillo Bloom - promotion

My first novel, When the Ocotillo Bloom, has been out just over a year now. I've had a great time promoting. In April 2007 I went to the Texas Mountain Trail Writers Retreat in Alpine, TX. While there I sold a couple of copies but more importantly I sold 10 copies to a local bookstore, 6 copies to a hotel gift shop in Fort Davis, and 8 copies to a gift shop in Fort Stockton. I also donated copies to 5 libraries and had a book signing at one. Now, these sales will not put me on the best seller list, nor did I make big bucks, but it opened doors for future books and those placed in the library got my name out there.

My husband is a shriner and while at a shooting competition in North Dallas we met friends from Brownwood. I'd donated a copy to the Brownwood library and one of our friends had read my book. He'd brought it home and asked his wife, "Is this our Linda LaRoque?" As a result, I sold 3 copies while at the shoot.

Sales are fewer now, but I still keep books in my car in case. And, it's never too late to promote. It's even possible to begin the promotion process again. It's been a wonderful year. Thank you Wings for making it possible.

If you haven't read When the Ocotillo Bloom, check it out at my website at www.lindalaroque.com

Linda