Author: Marcia Meara

#ShareAReviewDay Tuesday – The Heart of Applebutter Hill by Donna W. Hill

/ Marcia Meara / 37 Comments

Please help me welcome our second guest of the day, Donna W. Hill, who will be sharing a lovely review from her book The Heart of Applebutter Hill. I’m sure this one will speak to many of you, and you’ll be happy to share it on your favorite social media. Thanks!

REVIEW:

The Heart of Applebutter Hill
by Donna W. Hill

 Reviewed by Jacqueline Williams

From the Editor: Jacqueline Williams has taught in New York, in Uganda, and on the San Carlos Indian Reservation in Arizona. After she earned a master’s degree in special education from Northern Arizona University, she served as a special education teacher and administrator in Mesa, Arizona. Now retired, she writes poetry and serves as dance coordinator in the Mesa public schools.

The Heart of Applebutter Hill
 by Donna W. Hill
 Smashwords Press, 2013, 346 pages

 Available in print and as a Kindle ebook, and from Bookshare and Learning Ally.

The Heart of Applebutter Hill is a story of suspense and a passage through adolescent growth. Coping with vision loss and bullying are combined with adventure and fantasy, demonstrating Donna Hill’s vivid imagination. This novel will inspire teachers and readers who want to be part of the solution to bullying and other actions that harm the disadvantaged.

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#ShareAReviewDay Tuesday – The Prince’s Man by Deborah Jay

/ Marcia Meara / 13 Comments

This morning, our #ShareAReviewDay guest is Deborah Jay, and the review she is featuring is from her novel The Prince’s Man. I know you’ll enjoy learning about this one, and I can attest to how good it is! Let’s help get the word out to those who haven’t discovered it yet. Thanks!

~~~

REVIEW:

5.0 out of 5 stars Grown up fantasy with real meat on its bones

April 9, 2019
Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I’m not sure what I was expecting when I started reading ‘The Prince’s Man’, but the reality blew me away.

The story is a grown up fantasy reminiscent of Robin Hobb’s Farseer series [which I also happen to love]. You’ll find Machiavellian politics, intrigue, loyalty, a hint of love, and a cast of characters you can relate to. Yes, they have their flaws, but don’t we all?

To my mind, watching the characters change and grow is at least half the fun. The other half is getting to know the world in which those characters live. In all types of speculative fiction, the world is as much of a ‘character’ as the characters themselves. Think how important the planet Arrakis is to the story of Dune.

As readers we want to step out of our everyday lives and get lost in another world. And the author does not disappoint. The otherness of The Prince’s Man is evident right from the start, but there are no boring info. dumps. We learn about the world in the same way we learn about the human characters, by watching the story unfold, a bit at a time.

And finally, I’d like to say something about the plot. It. Is. Not. Predictable. To me, that’s one of the book’s greatest strengths. I like to be surprised, and nothing puts me off more than ‘the same old same old’. In The Prince’s Man, the author kept me guessing right to the end.

I’m looking forward to reading the next book of the series, and I highly recommend this one to anyone who likes a story with real meat on its bones.

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Character Sheets

/ Marcia Meara / 5 Comments

A quick and easy way to create character sheets that I just love. Perfect for a handy reference to little details you have to be consistent with throughout your book(s). It’s going to help me greatly with my secondary characters, especially, who only occasionally pop in. Check it out, and while you’re there, be sure to check the links on Overview and Series Premise. This is good stuff! 🙂 Don’t forget to pass it along! And thanks to Staci for this very helpful series!

Staci Troilo's avatarStory Empire

Ciao, amici. We’ve been discussing the story bible. So far, we have the overview and the series premise. Today, we’re going to cover character sheets.

character sheet

There are a few things you absolutely need to keep consistent when you create a character. Appearance, age, and the character arc. Filling out this simple form will give you an easy, at-a-glance reference that helps you keep all these things straight. (If you’re interested in this specific form, click on the graphic to download it to use as-is or manipulate for your own needs.)

The first column is simply the characters’ names. Make sure you write first and last. This will keep you from changing the spelling or the last name (which isn’t mentioned frequently) later in the story. Once you have a row for each main character, color code them so they are easy to distinguish. And if you write in Scrivener…

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Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – Weekly Round Up

/ Marcia Meara / 2 Comments

Another week, another wonderful round-up post from Sally Cronin’s fabulous Smorgasbord blog. Sally has a new feature underway that promises to be very entertaining, along with jokes, health information, and even some wonderful singing birds! Check it out and spread the word. Thanks, and thanks to Sally, also, for such a terrific week on her blog! 🙂 ❤

Author Inspiration and This Week’s Writing Links

/ Marcia Meara / 2 Comments

As always, Staci Troilo’s “Author Inspiration and This Week’s Writing Links” post is AWESOME. Do yourself a favor–check it out! And then share far and wide so others can enjoy it, as well. Thanks, and thanks, Staci, for another great recap. (I really love the Gaiman quote, too. He’s a favorite of mine.)

Staci Troilo's avatarStaci Troilo

Ciao, amici! The days are passing with dizzying speed. Makes me think of warp drives and worm holes (since I’m in sci-fi mode these days) but my series is decidedly grounded on our planet. Doesn’t mean I won’t take to the stars later, but as for now, no space operas. Just alien invasions.

There’s a reason sci-fi and fantasy get lumped together so often. They both require suspension of belief and extensive world-building. My love for this type of writing started back before I could even read. It started with fairytales. Today’s quote is another by Neil Gaiman (the guy seriously says a lot of profound stuff).

Fairy tales are more than true:
not because they tell us that dragons exist,
but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.

I’m having so much fun slaying my dragons. And I don’t just mean literary monsters. I think writers battle…

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#ShareAReviewDay Tuesday – Amanda in New Mexico: Ghosts in the Wind by Darlene Foster

/ Marcia Meara / 32 Comments

This afternoon, please help me welcome Darlene Foster to The Write Stuff. Darlene is sharing a review of Amanda in New Mexico: Ghosts in the Wind, and I know you’ll enjoy reading this one. Don’t forget to pass it along to all and sundry to help more people learn about this wonderful series. Thanks!

REVIEW:
Bette A. Stevens
5.0 out of 5 stars History & Mystery with plenty of life lessons along the way!

January 15, 2019

Amanda and her sixth-grade class are on an educational field trip from their hometown of Calgary, Canada to visit, explore and document their experiences in New Mexico, USA. As the class tours Taos, New Mexico and the surrounding area, their trip is interrupted by ghosts present and past. In “Amanda in New Mexico—Ghosts in the Wind,” Foster has written a contemporary fiction story through which middle-grade students will not only learn about the region’s geography, architecture, and artifacts—they’ll learn invaluable life lessons along the way. Students and teachers are sure to want to follow Amanda through further adventures in this well-written series.

~Bette A. Stevens, author of award-winning children’s picture book” AMAZING MATILDA, A Monarch’s Tale” and other books for children and adults. Continue reading →

#ShareAReviewDay Tuesday – A Thousand Yesteryears by Mae Clair

/ Marcia Meara / 68 Comments

This morning, we are very happy to welcome Mae Clair to our first returning #ShareAReviewDay post.  I know you are going to enjoy reading about her deliciously shivery book, A Thousand Yesteryears, which is currently on sale for a super bargain price. Check it out, and share the news! Thanks.

REVIEW:

A Thousand Yesteryears by Mae Clair
Book 1 of the Point Pleasant series (can be read as a standalone)

Press review provided by NY Times bestselling author, Kevin O’Brien

“A THOUSAND YESTERYEARS is masterful, bone-chilling fiction that begins with a real-life tragedy on December 15, 1967: the Silver Bridge collapse in Point Pleasant, West Virginia.  46 people died.  Author Mae Clair has seamlessly woven fact, fiction and creepy urban folklore into one intense thriller. The gripping story focuses on two witnesses to the disaster—fifteen years later.  Both Eve Parrish and Caden Flynn lost loved ones in the catastrophe and still carry the emotional scars.  After a long absence, Eve returns to Point Pleasant to bury her recently-deceased aunt, face some old ghosts, and reunite with her one-time “impossible-crush,” Caden.  But when Eve begins to investigate her aunt’s death, she’s plunged into danger and a nightmare world where scary urban legends are very real.  Full of suspense, A THOUSAND YESTERYEARS will keep you guessing, gasping and turning the pages for more.” Continue reading →

In Conversation With “D.Wallace Peach” from “MythsOfTheMirror🐉” #AuthorInterview

/ Marcia Meara / 6 Comments

Lovely interview with one of my favorite writers, D. Wallace Peach. And I like that she chose Sunwielder as her favorite of her own books. It’s mine, too. If you haven’t read it, you really should. Check out the interview for yourself, and learn more about this very nice and talented author who, like me, started her writing career later in life. Then pass it along to all your favorite social media sites. Thank you, Himani and Diana, for a fun and interesting read. 🙂

Himani's avatarBooks&Sstuff

Omigod! I am just so super excited to start with my Author Interview Series with one of my favourite Blogger (Myths of the Mirror) who is equally an awesome Fantasy writer. I personally like her more because she has helped me extract my (not-so-great, being humble☺) writing talent, hidden deep inside some dark corner of my heart❤ scared of coming out in front of the world😵

(Now the question in your mind would be) How she did that?🤔 Her monthly #writingprompts. If you haven’t participated yet, don’t forget to miss the next one.

I wanted to know more about her and then I thought the other Fantasy readers too, wanted that. So, here I am with this smashing Interview for you all to know more about none other than D.Wallace Peach.

SIh3zWgr_400x400

1. When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

First, Himani, I want to…

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#ShareAReviewDay Tuesday is Back!

/ Marcia Meara / 47 Comments

In an ongoing effort to bring back some of this blog’s most popular features, I hereby announce the resumption of #ShareAReviewDay Tuesday. For full instructions on how you can share your favorite or latest reviews, please click on the link entitled “General Blog Rules & Share A Review Day Instructions” in the black header bar above.  I will schedule the reviews 2 per Tuesday in the order in which I receive them.  (NOTE: I will need to set these posts up myself, even for those of you who are contributors to the blog. Thanks.)

And now, to start things off, I’m sharing one of my reviews from That Darkest Place: Riverbend Book 3.  This is basically the way I will set up your reviews each Tuesday. Hope you’ll enjoy taking part!

REVIEW:

MacTrish
5.0 out of 5 starsThis book has it all – Suspense, Romance, Tragedy and Humour
24 September 2018
Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

That Darkest Place is the third book in Marcia Meara’s Riverbend series. It begins where the second one finishes and tells the stories of the older two Painter brothers, Jackson and Forrest.

Marcia has an insight into the workings of the human spirit that makes for compelling reading. There’s the sense of struggle, of families disagreeing but solidly behind each other, of menace from the unknown antagonist and the tender, sparky love scenes which are always wonderfully done – there’s joy and mischief and twinkling there that makes those scenes for me! She handles these scenes with a light touch that avoids graphic description yet captures the essence of the delight, the amazement, the miracle of love.

There’s also the subtly interwoven information about strokes, counselling and recovering from physical and emotional trauma that grounds the progress in a way that feels real and ‘right’. As with Hunter, the subject of the second book, the real hook as far as I’m concerned lies in the interaction between the characters and how readily we can identify with them. These fears, confusion and delight are common to us all and her ability to express them so realistically means that we share in them and become part of them, too.

I’d read these in chronological order to avoid spoilers even though they can all be read as standalones. Settle down somewhere cosy and prepare yourself for a most satisfying experience! Continue reading →