Book Review: North Sun

I am in a book club that just throws a book at you at a club meeting, and it’s the book you’re meant to read for the next club. There is no preamble, no warning, no sneak peek. Sometimes this works for me, and sometimes it baffles me: should I read this book? I know…

Series Review: Love’s Academic

I have not had this much fun reading a book(s) in a long time. And it’s not like I haven’t had some fun reading some books lately, it’s just that the Love’s Academic series by India Holton is the most fun. Victorian England, fantasy, science, romance, and Indiana Jones, but over-the-top on all counts. I…

Book Review: Journey to the Center of the Earth

I have meant to read some Jules Verne for many years, because his books are classics (though they were intended more for boys, originally). In the latter half of the 1800s, Verne wrote prolifically on his Voyages Extraordinaires series (he was French) and those fifty-four novels (and novellas) include Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea,…

Helping Orphans in China

Announcement time! My daughter and I are headed to China! As you probably know, I very rarely solicit my bloggers. Like when I publish a novel (which is rarely). And when I go on some major humanitarian adventure. This post falls into the latter category. There is a woman from our church who has been…

Book Review: The Princess Bride

I’m going to do you a solid. You want to read The Princess Bride, but you don’t want to be as confused as I was when I started reading. And you don’t want to have to do research in order to get your bearings. So, here. The Princess Bride is, on one level, a standard…

The Life of a Writer in a Few Hundred Bulletted Words

Things I don’t particularly like about being a writer: Marketing Publicity Talking to people, especially answering questions on the spot (Crotchety!) Not getting paid for long periods of work Tweeting Distractions (from working at home) Not being taken seriously Self doubt Snooty writers and snooty critics Needing a GRE or 12 conferences in Hawaii Editors,…