I’m not the type of person to talk about myself. Unlike my sisters. Ha Ha. Partly because I was extremely introverted when younger, and also because my dad was a firm believer of never airing your laundry in public. So, that was kinda ingrained in me. Don’t talk about yourself.
Then, I decided to become an author. As an author, we’re told that we HAVE to share ourselves with our readers. That they want to know us and our thought processes. Really? I was a reader way before I published a book and never needed to know anything about my favorite authors. Maybe I’m strange that way? Who knows.
On the other hand, who really cares what I think? I know I don’t most of the time. But after Julie and I started Norns, it became even more important, I guess? So, we started ‘corners’ in our newsletter and came up with cutesy names like Julie’s Jewels, Sahara’s Saviors, and Karen’s Korner to feature more of our personal side. I encourage you to join our newsletter as it’s packed with amazing book deals and Julie does a wonderful job putting it together.
Sometimes it’s hard coming up with ideas for the newsletter. What do I talk about? So guess what I did? I told Julie, Hey, I’m gonna start a new blog series called #SaharasMusings. Say what?
Yeah, you know, like I don’t already have the time or know what to say, but I’ll just start blogging about shit I think of when sitting on my patio while sipping a few beers. Which is where THIS idea came from.
Maybe I’ll be inspired enough to finish the two books I’ve been dickering around with like forever. So stay tuned. You’ll never know what I’ll start spouting about.
A child that should not have been born in the Rimworlds, is hidden behind the impenetrable wall that screens the dominion of frontier gods from the tribal factions. Shortly before they were slaughtered by New Hebrides pirates, baby’s parents named her Miranda. She is the hereditary princess of Bollidor, and a Duchess on her father’s side. But the little girl doesn’t know any of this. Her caretakers named her Kitaya. It is a name that fits the frontier—primitive, raw and savage. Yet it fits her far better than those other aristocratic titles of the DeWynter Dynasty.
The blockade of the passage to the Rimworlds lasts thirteen years. Then finally, the Confederation manages to push the pirates back to their region in New Hebrides. And Admiral DeWynter, who had buried the mother part of herself for many years, allows it to surface. She sends a single ship through the newly liberated passage. The captain has orders to ascertain what happened to Commander Daniel DeWynter and his wife. There is little hope that any of the Allied personnel stationed on Synoor at the time of the attack, survived.
Kitaya’s caretakers would prefer to keep her on Synoor. It’s the only home she’s ever known. However, something so extraordinary happens that the frontier gods have no choice but to return the child to those who came to look for her parents.
Keenly aware that they are releasing someone who should have never existed to join the human ranks, the frontier gods worry they may have doomed galactic humanity. The only consolation they have is that when risks seem to outweigh the benefits, the Universe seeks to re-balance itself. Because somewhere on the other end of the galaxy, another little girl stands on the lip of a horrendous crater, trying to understand the nature of the tragedy that orphaned her at such a young age. And this little girl understands the meaning of revenge only too well….
I guess I’d forgotten that each month has it’s own special ‘birth flower’. For July it’s the larkspur. It symbolizes light and pure fun during the warm summer months. Man, warm is right. 🥵🥵 As a side note, I’m thinking of starting a blog series called #SaharasMusings which will be random thoughts/ideas that pop into my head during the month. Might be fun. Might not be. 🤣😂
My name is Officer Thomas Nolan, and I am a saint.
I can smell evil. I show mercy to the lesser criminals – the desperate. Even those I’ve put behind bars seem to like me. But now there’s a serial killer bringing darkness beyond imagination to my city. I can smell his stench a mile away. But how can I prove it?
How do you do forensics on a killer possessed by a demon?
MY REVIEW:
I was leary about picking up this book because I don’t believe in the cultism of religion, especially Catholics. But, I love a good horror thriller so took the chance. And, I’ll try to put my prejudice aside. Something the author should’ve done.
This story definitely fit the bill for dark and gruesome. His descriptions of the crime scenes were well depicted. You could almost smell the evil that Nolan did. It’s also action packed with lots of encounters so it was mostly a fast paced read.
The characters were okay. But, no one I could really relate too. Mostly because they’re one dimensional and Nolan was a real jerk. I consider myself a moderate conservative and he disgusted me with his extreme right-wing ideology. So, reader beware. If you’re Pro-Choice, you do not want to read this book.
Aside from the overly political nature of this story, my other complaint is the weak storyline and how actions and deeds were done that were so unbelievable. The NY DA would never speak to a suspect that way or jump to conclusions without some shred of physical evidence. Then, there was the lack of editing which kept throwing me out of the story.
I can’t say I enjoyed the book and I felt like I needed to flush out my brain afterwards. However, I can see where readers who are extreme right leaning and Pro-Life will love the story. I give it 3-stars.
Classic Space Opera in the Jack Vance mode told by critically acclaimed science fiction novelist, Matthew Hughes
Released by Spatterlight / The book is available worldwide in all formats
“I really enjoyed Barbarians of the Beyond. Matthew Hughes does Jack Vance better than anyone except Jack himself.”— George R. R. Martin
Twenty years ago, five master criminals known as the Demon Princes raided Mount Pleasant to enslave thousands of inhabitants in the lawless Beyond. Now Morwen Sabine, a daughter of captives, has escaped her cruel master and returns to Mount Pleasant to recover the hidden treasure she hopes will buy her parents’ freedom.
But Mount Pleasant has changed. Morwen must cope with mystic cultists, murderous drug-smugglers, undercover “weasels” of the Interplanetary Police Coordinating Company, and the henchmen of the vicious pirate lord who owns her parents and wants Morwen returned. So he can kill her slowly…
“Lock the door, turn off the phone, get into a comfy chair, and deep-dive into a marvelous continuation of Jack Vance’s Demon Princes series. Matthew Hughes is a treasure and Barbarians of the Beyond is a terrific adventure.” — David Gerrold
“Matthew Hughes follows nimbly in Jack Vance’s footprints, then breaks some fresh trail. First-class space opera.”— Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning author of Hominids
“Engaging and enchanting…a fine companion adventure to Jack Vance’s The Demon Princes series, told with Matthew Hughes’s excellent sense of charm, ethical complexity and exotic worldbuilding. Let’s hope this is just the beginning!” — Kurt Busiek
“Barbarians of the Beyond is just plain old-fashioned space opera fun with a relatable heroine who is sometimes fallible, rather than some Shaolin Temple kung fu megamaster. I enjoyed it a lot.” — Glen Cook
“…a tale that captures that special ‘golden age’ feel in which mankind has travelled far into the stars yet still behaves as though it’s the Wild West.”— David White, RNR Magazine
More from Matthew Hughes:
Winner of the international Endeavour Award
In the mid 1500s shipwrecked African slaves melded with the indigenous peoples of coastal Ecuador and together they fought the Spanish colonial power to a standstill, to remain independent for centuries. The story of the people of Esmeraldas is told through the eyes of three characters: Alonso, an escaped slave; Expectation, an a-gender shaman; and Alejandro, a priest on the run from the Inquistion.With its slipstream elements this novel carries a flavour of South American magical realism tradition into a grand historical epic. Both sweeping and intimate, it is a delight to read from beginning to end.
About Matthew:
Matthew Hughes is a Canadian author of science fiction and fantasy.
His speculative fiction novels are: Fools Errant, Fool Me Twice, Black Brillion, Majestrum, TheCommons, The Spiral Labyrinth, Template, Hespira, The Other, The Damned Busters,Costume Not Included, Hell to Pay, Song of the Serpent and Wolverine:Lifeblood (both as Hugh Matthews), A Wizard’s Henchman, A God in Chains, Baldemar, and Passengers & Perils.
His magnum opus is What the Wind Brings, a historical novel with magical realism elements. It was the first Canadian work to win the international Endeavour Award. He waited more than forty years to write the novel, and spent a year composing several drafts, made possible by a $25,000 grant from the Canada Council for the Arts.
His major influence as a writer of speculative fiction is the Grandmaster Jack Vance. Booklist has called Hughes Vance’s “heir apparent.”
In 2021, Vance’s estate (Spatterlight Press), published Hughes’s Barbarians of the Beyond, an authorized companion novel to Vance’s iconic revenge series, The Demon Princes. The book prompted George R.R. Martin to say, “Hughes does Jack Vance better than anyone except Jack himself.”
His short fiction has appeared in Asimov’s, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Lightspeed, Pulp Literature, Postscripts, Storyteller, Interzone, Amazing, Unfit, and several anthologies edited by Gardner Dozois and George R.R. Martin, including the bestseller, Rogues.
His works have been short-listed for the Aurora, Locus, Nebula, Philip K Dick, A.E. Van Vogt, Neffy, Alberta Book Publishing, and Endeavour Awards.
In 2020, he was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association’s Hall of Fame.
Before turning to writing fiction, he spent three decades as the top-ranked speechwriter in British Columbia, writing for leaders of all three provincial political parties and CEOs of the province’s largest corporations.
Since 2007, he has traveled the world as a housesitter, living in twelve countries.
To request additional review copies or an interview with Matthew Hughes, please contact Mickey Mikkelson at Creative Edge Publicity: mickey.creativeedge@gmail.com / 403.464.6925.
The book is published by Squirrel House Publishing and is available worldwide in print format
In the second collection from D.A. Andrews, author of To Fight Fire With Sun, the poet shares the lessons life has taught her with an audience sure to be spellbound by the strength of her poetry. Exploring themes of familial grief, the heavy weight of expectations, and what it means to come into oneself, Andrews weathers the storms of life with grace and strength, inviting the reader to explore what Embracing the Tempest might look like in their own lives.
More From D.A. Andrews
To Fight Fire with Sun is a chapbook of poetry that dives into the experiences of love and loss. From conception, we have known love (or the lack thereof) and have grown to understand how this experience makes us the humans we are today. Loss comes in all forms. Whether through a friend, lover, or ourselves, we seek to find some method with which we can understand this pain and heal from it. To Fight Fire With Sun is just that- a queer girl’s exploration into how one can love, lose, and heal through the power of words.
“There is a lyricism to these poems that echoes through the pages, words of how to face experiences, adjust, and heal, DA Andrews is a spirit to follow.” _ Grady Harp, Top 100 Amazon Reviewer
“Poetry is subjective. It’s symbolism can take new meaning with each read, which makes it such a fascinating art form. D.A. Andrews does a nice job of modernizing it while giving it an everyday style of language.”, J.M Northup, Editor Norns Triad Publications
About D.A. Andrews:
D. A. Andrews was born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica. Throughout the years, she has developed wide interests in various aspects of life, such as coffee, weddings, books, and psychology. She is a graduate of the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus with a BSc. in Marine Biology and Psychology (Honors) and is currently pursuing her MBA. She considers herself a nomad at heart and has changed cities and apartments quite as often as she changes her clothes. She is currently resting her head in Brunswick, Georgia, with her black cat (and familiar), Luna.
To request additional review copies or an interview with D.A. Andrews, please contact Mickey Mikkelson at Creative Edge Publicity: mickey.creativeedge@gmail.com / 403.464.6925.
Every 4th of July I spend the night sitting on my patio watching the neighborhood fireworks. I live in an area with lots of apartment buildings, so the variety changes from year to year as people move around a lot. Sometimes, I see amazing displays. Other years it’s disappointing. This year it was a little of both.
We all know that our economy sucks right now, money is thigh, and everything costs so much more. I can’t even imagine how much fireworks cost this year. What I noticed was hardly any banging or popping prior to the 4th. Of course, Omaha didn’t make them legal to shoot until the 2nd. Still, usually I hear a build up before the 4th. And none were heard AFTER the 4th.
What I also noticed was that a lot of the ground fireworks were missing. Even though I can’t see them, I can hear them. I can tell when Roman Candles are going off or fountains erupting by the sizzling sounds. I guess people chose to spend their money on the WOW factor than the fun one. Which was fine by me.
While I was watching, I thought, why aren’t I recording them? Duh. So I ran into my apartment, grabbed my camera nd started recording. Sadly, the colors didn’t show up as well as I hoped. But I uploaded them and put them in a video format. Along with some music. Got to have the music. Without it, it’s just colors exploding in the air. That’s why tv shows and movies use music.
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