#FirstLineFriday

#FirstLineFriday Submissions Are Now Closed! Here’s the Answer to Our Quiz

/ Marcia / 21 Comments

 

Submissions for today’s #FirstLineFriday are officially closed now. My thanks to all who stopped by to see if this one rang a bell. I’m sorry—but maybe not surprised– to say we have no winners, though. While I was hoping I’d be wrong, I was also thinking this would be a tough one, and it turns out, I was right.  I hope you enjoyed taking a look at what’s considered an excellent first line, and without further ado, here’s the answer to today’s quiz:

“The year 1866 was signalized by a remarkable incident, a mysterious and inexplicable phenomenon, which doubtless no one has yet forgotten.” is the opening line of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by French author, Jules Verne.

The novel was originally serialized from March 1869 through June 1870 in Pierre-Jules Hetzel’s fortnightly periodical, the Magasin d’éducation et de récréation. A deluxe octavo edition, published by Hetzel in November 1871, included 111 illustrations by Alphonse de Neuville and Édouard Riou. The book was widely acclaimed on its release and remains so; it is regarded as one of the premiere adventure novels and one of Verne’s greatest works, along with Around the World in Eighty Days and Journey to the Center of the Earth. Its depiction of Captain Nemo’s underwater ship, the Nautilus, is regarded as ahead of its time, since it accurately describes many features of today’s submarines, which in the 1860s were comparatively primitive vessels.

WHAT AMAZON SAYS:

The world’s surface has been explored. Humans have reached the land’s highest peaks and lowest vales. And yet vast regions of the planet remain unexplored. Much of the oceans’ vast depths remain a mystery. Few writers have dared imagine what lies beneath the waves. Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is one of the first novels to envision the vast environs locked beneath tons of swirling water. As ships are damaged and scientists report mysterious sightings of a massive sea monster, a ship is sent out to discover the beast. Only it turns out this monster is actually a ship, the most advanced submarine ever built. Follow the crew of the Nautilus as they explore the world’s oceans. They will confront giant squids, delve into the mysteries of Atlantis, and face new challenges none of them dared imagine.

Buy Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea HERE

And that wraps up this week’s quiz, folks! Again, sorry I couldn’t give away any downloads, but I’m still happy to be sharing a book considered to be a pioneer in the genre and a great example of an opening line.

#FirstLineFriday will be back soon, and I’ll try to have something that rings a bell with more of you. Maybe. You never can tell. 😀  See you then!

#FirstLineFriday #GiveawayContest #FreeDownloads

/ Marcia / 28 Comments

Time for another #FirstLineFriday folks, and just to keep you on your toes, I’ve chosen  an opening line from well-known classic. Let’s see how you do. 😀

PLEASE READ these simple rules, just to refresh yourself on how this should be done. Thanks.

  1. Be one of the first five people to email me before the game ends at 4:00pm, with the title and author of the correct book. 
  2. Do not reply here on the blog. Email only: marciameara16@gmail.com
  3. Honor System applies. No Googling, please.
  4. Submissions end at 4:00 P.M. EST, or when I receive 5 correct answers, whichever comes first.
  5. Winners who live in the U.S. may request a free download of any one of my books for themselves, or for someone of their choice. OR, if they’ve read all of the offered books, they may request a free download of my next publication.
  6. Winners who live elsewhere may request a mobi or PDF file of the same books, since, sadly, Amazon won’t let me gift you from the site.

And now, the moment you’ve been waiting for! Put on your thinking caps, because here is today’s opening line:

“The year 1866 was signalized by a remarkable incident, a mysterious and inexplicable phenomenon, which doubtless no one has yet forgotten.” 

Remember, email answers only, please. Thanks! And now off I go to await your guesses. 

#FirstLineFriday#2 Submissions Are Now Closed! Here’s the Answer to Our Quiz, and the Names of Our Winners!

/ Marcia / 17 Comments

Submissions for #FirstLineFriday are officially closed now. My thanks to all who emailed me with their guesses. This is one of my favorite opening lines, and well deserving of being included in this list, in my own opinion. Sadly, wonderful as it is, many of us who’ve read the book seem to have forgotten it. Happily, two folks remembered. Congratulations to our winners:

Bob Nailor 
Harmony Kent

Hope you two will enjoy the books you selected! 

And now, here’s the answer to today’s quiz:

“When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold.”  is the opening line from The Hunger Games, a series of young adult dystopian novels written by the American author Suzanne Collins. The series is set in the Hunger Games universe, the first three novels being a trilogy following teenage protagonist, Katniss Everdeen.

The novels in the trilogy are titled The Hunger Games (2008), Catching Fire (2009), and Mockingjay (2010). These novels were all turned into films starring Jennifer Lawrence, with the film adaptation of Mockingjay split into two parts. The first two books in the series were both New York Times best sellers, and Mockingjay topped all US bestseller lists upon its release. By the time the film adaptation of The Hunger Games was released in 2012, the publisher had reported over 26 million Hunger Games trilogy books in print, including movie tie-in books.

The Hunger Games universe is a dystopia set in Panem, a North American country consisting of the wealthy Capitol and 13 districts in varying states of poverty. Every year, children from the first 12 districts are selected via lottery to participate in a compulsory televised battle royale death match called The Hunger Games.

The novels were all well received. In August 2012, the series ranked second, exceeded only by the Harry Potter series in NPR’s poll of the top 100 teen novels, which asked voters to choose their favorite young adult books. On August 17, 2012, Amazon announced the Hunger Games trilogy as its top seller, surpassing the record previously held by the Harry Potter series. As of 2014, the trilogy has sold more than 65 million copies in the U.S. alone (more than 28 million copies of The Hunger Games, more than 19 million copies of Catching Fire, and more than 18 million copies of Mockingjay). The Hunger Games trilogy has been sold in 56 territories in 51 languages to date.

WHAT AMAZON SAYS:

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, “The Hunger Games,” a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games. The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed.

BUY THE HUNGER GAMES HERE

And that wraps up this week’s #FirstLineFriday quiz. Thanks for playing everyone! Hope to see more winners next time, but for now, congratulations again to Bob and Harmony! Happy Reading, you two!

#FirstLineFriday #GiveawayContest #FreeDownloads

/ Marcia / 29 Comments

Time for another #FirstLineFriday folks, and just to keep you on your toes, I’ve chosen something I suspect will be tricky, even though it isn’t a classic from decades gone by. Let’s see if you prove me wrong today.

PLEASE READ these simple rules, just to refresh yourself on how this should be done. Thanks.

  1. Be one of the first five people to email me before the game ends at 4:00pm, with the title and author of the correct book. 
  2. Do not reply here on the blog. Email only: marciameara16@gmail.com
  3. Honor System applies. No Googling, please.
  4. Submissions end at 4:00 P.M. EST, or when I receive 5 correct answers, whichever comes first.
  5. Winners who live in the U.S. may request a free download of any one of my books for themselves, or for someone of their choice. OR, if they’ve read all of the offered books, they may request a free download of my next publication.
  6. Winners who live elsewhere may request a mobi or PDF file of the same books, since, sadly, Amazon won’t let me gift you from the site.

And now, the moment you’ve been waiting for! Put on your thinking caps, because here is today’s opening line:

“When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold.” 

Remember, email answers only, please. Thanks! And now off I go to await your guesses.

#FirstLineFriday Submissions Are Now Closed! Here’s the Answer to Our Quiz, and the Name of Our Winner!

/ Marcia / 22 Comments

 

Submissions for #FirstLineFriday are officially closed now. My thanks to all who emailed me with their guesses. Today, I’m sorry—but maybe not surprised– to say we only have one winner. While I was hoping I’d be wrong, I had a feeling this would be a tough one, even though it’s a title sure to be familiar with most, if not all, of you. Still, I think it’s fun and interesting to study these opening lines, and I hope you enjoy this little quiz as much as I do.

Congratulations to our winner today, Jeanne Owens, who blogs HERE.

Now, without further ado, here’s the answer to today’s quiz:

“Left Munich at 8.35 pm on 1st May, arriving at Vienna early next morning; should have arrived at 6.46, but train was an hour late.” is the opening line to Bram Stoker’s classic novel, Dracula.

While I know each of you is very familiar with the character of Dracula, whether you’ve read the original story or not, here’s what Wikipedia has to say about Stoker’s book. Dracula is an 1897 Gothic horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. It introduced the character of Count Dracula and established many conventions of subsequent vampire fantasy. The novel tells the story of Dracula’s attempt to move from Transylvania to England so that he may find new blood and spread the undead curse, and of the battle between Dracula and a small group of people led by Professor Abraham Van Helsing.

Dracula has been assigned to many literary genres including vampire literature, horror fiction, gothic fiction, and invasion literature. The novel has spawned numerous theatrical, film, and television interpretations, and none more famous than the 1931 Hollywood film starring Bela Lugosi.

BLURB:

The hunt is on! Dr. Van Helsing and his accomplices begin the chase to track down the infamous vampire Count Dracula before he completes his quest of moving into England and further spreading the undead disease. Even with the garlic, the crosses, and the holy water, the Count manages to entrance a fellow lady vampire hunter and bring her to the undead side. An invincible foe Dracula may appear to be, but Van Helsing and his group will stop short not even to death itself until they have conquered the most notorious villain of all time.

From Transylvania to England and then back again, this classic 19th century Gothic horror became the cornerstone for the horror genre that boomed in the century to follow.

You can download numerous versions of this famous book on Amazon, including the leather bound version HERE.

And that’s it for this week’s #FirstLineFriday. I’ll be back with another in a couple of weeks, if the bridge don’t go, an’ the creek don’t rise. 😉 Hope you’ll join us then, when the line may turn out to be one you recognize at once.

Thanks for taking a look today! See you next time!

#FirstLineFriday #GiveawayContest #FreeDownloads

/ Marcia / 32 Comments

Welcome once again (FINALLY!) to #FirstLineFriday, a little quiz designed to help us appreciate some of the best opening lines in literary history. From the classics of long ago to the latest best-sellers, everything is fair game.

As always, the rules are simple:

  1. Be one of the first five people to email me before the game ends at 4:00pm EST, with the title and authorof the correct book. 
  2. Do not reply here on the blog. Email only: marciameara16@gmail.com
  3. Honor System applies. No Googling, please.
  4. Submissions end at 4:00 P.M. EST, or when I receive 5 correct answers, whichever comes first.
  5. Winners who live in the U.S. may request a free download of any one of my books for themselves, or for someone of their choice. OR, if they’ve read all of the offered books, they may request a free download of my next publication.
  6. Winners who live elsewhere may request a PDF file of the same books, since, sadly, Amazon won’t let me gift you from the site.

And now, the moment you’ve been waiting for! I’m predicting this one will be a challenge, but my predictions haven’t been right yet, so who knows? Either way, here’s today’s opening line: 

“Left Munich at 8.35 pm on 1st May, arriving at Vienna early next morning; should have arrived at 6.46, but train was an hour late.” 

Remember, email answers only, please. Thanks! And now off I go to await your guesses. 

#FirstLineFriday Submissions Are Now Closed! Here’s the Answer to Our Quiz

/ Marcia / 24 Comments

Submissions for #FirstLineFriday#2 are officially closed now. My thanks to all who stopped by to see if this one rang a bell. I’m sorry—but maybe not surprised– to say we have no winners, though. While I was hoping I’d be wrong, I was also thinking this would be a tough one, even though it made an official Top 100 Opening Lines list. This is one of my favorite reads of recent years, and well deserving of being included in the list, in my own opinion. If you are a fantasy reader of any age, I highly recommend you check it out. So, without further ado, here’s the answer to today’s quiz:

“Joost had two problems: the moon and his mustache.” is the opening line from Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. Six of Crows is a fantasy novel which takes place in the Amsterdam-inspired city of Ketterdam. The new series takes place in the same world as Bardugo’s Grisha books but is set in a different time frame, in a world loosely inspired by the Dutch Republic of the 17th century, and based on a magical system. The plot is told from the close third-person viewpoints of five different characters, plus a first and last chapter from the point of view of two minor characters.

The book is the first in a duology, followed by Crooked Kingdom. Bardugo’s Grishaverse” trilogy, which includes Shadow and Bone, Siege and Storm, and Ruin and Rising. Reading both series will provide a deeper understanding of the Grisha world. Bardugo has since also written The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic which features several short stories from the Grishaverse, and King of Scars, a spin-off from the “Shadow and Bone” trilogy.

Take a close look at this stunning cover!
Amazing!

WHAT AMAZON SAYS:

Enter the Grishaverse with the #1 New York Times–bestselling Six of Crows, Book One of the Six of Crows Duology.

Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone. . . .

A convict with a thirst for revenge.

A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager.

A runaway with a privileged past.

A spy known as the Wraith.

A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums.

A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes.

Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo returns to the breathtaking world of the Grishaverse in this unforgettable tale about the opportunity—and the adventure—of a lifetime.

Praise for Six of Crows:

“Six of Crows is a twisty and elegantly crafted masterpiece that thrilled me from the beginning to end.” –New York Times-bestselling author Holly Black

“Six of Crows [is] one of those all-too-rare, unputdownable books that keeps your eyes glued to the page and your brain scrambling to figure out what’s going to happen next.” –Michael Dante DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra

“There’s conflict between morality and amorality and an appetite for sometimes grimace-inducing violence that recalls the Game of Thrones series. But for every bloody exchange there are pages of crackling dialogue and sumptuous description. Bardugo dives deep into this world, with full color and sound. If you’re not careful, it’ll steal all your time.” —The New York Times Book Review 

My Thoughts:

And any book that has garnered a 4.5 star average out of 3,691 ratings can’t be all bad, now can it? I HIGHLY recommend Bardugo’s work, and while reading about the Grishaverse first might be the typical approach, Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom stand on their own, as well. And as an aside, I’ve heard Netflix has plans for this one, and may already have begun filming. I haven’t been following the news, because I almost always hate the film version of my favorite books, but that right there tells you they think it’s a winner.

Buy Six of Crows Here

And that wraps up this week’s quiz, folks! Again, sorry I couldn’t give away any downloads, but I’m still happy to be sharing a book I love with folks who may not have heard of it yet.

#FirstLineFriday will be back in two weeks, and I’ll try to have something that rings a bell with more of you. Maybe. You never can tell. 😀  See you then!

 

#FirstLineFriday #GiveawayContest #FreeDownloads

/ Marcia / 21 Comments

Time for another #FirstLineFriday folks, and just to keep you on your toes, I’ve chosen something I suspect will be tricky, even though it isn’t a classic from decades gone by. Let’s see if you prove me wrong today.

PLEASE READ these simple rules, just to refresh yourself on how this should be done. Thanks.

  1. Be one of the first five people to email me before the game ends at 4:00pm, with the title and author of the correct book. 
  2. Do not reply here on the blog. Email only: marciameara16@gmail.com
  3. Honor System applies. No Googling, please.
  4. Submissions end at 4:00 P.M. EST, or when I receive 5 correct answers, whichever comes first.
  5. Winners who live in the U.S. may request a free download of any one of my books for themselves, or for someone of their choice. OR, if they’ve read all of the offered books, they may request a free download of my next publication.
  6. Winners who live elsewhere may request a mobi or PDF file of the same books, since, sadly, Amazon won’t let me gift you from the site.

And now, the moment you’ve been waiting for! Put on your thinking caps, because here is today’s opening line:

“Joost had two problems: the moon and his mustache.” 

Remember, email answers only, please. Thanks! And now off I go to await your guesses. 

GOOD LUCK!

#FirstLineFriday#2 Submissions Are Now Closed! Here’s the Answer to Our Quiz, and the Name of Our Winner!

/ Marcia / 16 Comments

Submissions for #FirstLineFriday#2 are officially closed now. My thanks to all who emailed me with their guesses. Today, I’m sorry to say we have only one winner: John Howell.  Congratulations, John, and thanks so much for pointing out to me that the correct spelling is “John Galt,” and not “John Gault.” (Let’s just pretend that’s why nobody else got this one right. 😀 😀 😀 )

John’s Author Page can be found  HERE 

And now, here’s the answer to today’s quiz:

“Who is John Galt?” is the opening line from Atlas Shrugged,  written by Ayn Rand in 1957.

Rand’s fourth and final novel, it was also her longest, and the one she considered to be her magnum opus in the realm of fiction writing.[1] Atlas Shrugged includes elements of science fiction, mystery, and romance, and it contains Rand’s most extensive statement of Objectivism in any of her works of fiction. The theme of Atlas Shrugged, as Rand described it, is “the role of man’s mind in existence”. The book explores a number of philosophical themes from which Rand would subsequently develop Objectivism. In doing so, it expresses the advocacy of reason, individualism, and capitalism, and depicts what Rand saw to be the failures of governmental coercion.

The book depicts a dystopian United States in which private businesses suffer under increasingly burdensome laws and regulations. Railroad executive Dagny Taggart and her lover, steel magnate Hank Rearden, struggle against “looters” who want to exploit their productivity. Dagny and Hank discover that a mysterious figure called John Galt is persuading other business leaders to abandon their companies and disappear as a strike of productive individuals against the looters. The novel ends with the strikers planning to build a new capitalist society based on Galt’s philosophy of reason and individualism.

Atlas Shrugged received largely negative reviews after its 1957 publication, but achieved enduring popularity and ongoing sales in the following decades. After several unsuccessful attempts to adapt the novel for film or television, a film trilogy based on it was released from 2011 to 2014. These films were critical and box office failures. (BTW, I read it when it came out and didn’t much like it myself, but I was only 13, and I doubt I really understood it in any depth.)

WHAT AMAZON SAYS:

Peopled by larger-than-life heroes and villains, charged with towering questions of good and evil, Atlas Shrugged is Ayn Rand’s magnum opus: a philosophical revolution told in the form of an action thriller—nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read.

Who is John Galt? When he says that he will stop the motor of the world, is he a destroyer or a liberator? Why does he have to fight his battles not against his enemies but against those who need him most? Why does he fight his hardest battle against the woman he loves?

You will know the answer to these questions when you discover the reason behind the baffling events that play havoc with the lives of the amazing men and women in this book. You will discover why a productive genius becomes a worthless playboy…why a great steel industrialist is working for his own destruction…why a composer gives up his career on the night of his triumph…why a beautiful woman who runs a transcontinental railroad falls in love with the man she has sworn to kill.

Atlas Shrugged, a modern classic and Rand’s most extensive statement of Objectivism—her groundbreaking philosophy—offers the reader the spectacle of human greatness, depicted with all the poetry and power of one of the twentieth century’s leading artists.

Buy Atlas Shrugged HERE

By the way, for those who didn’t see the answer that popped up under the first post, it was 1984 by George Orwell. And that wraps up both efforts for this week. Sorry for the confusion, but happy we at least had one winner. I’ll be back in two weeks, if the bridge don’t go, an’ the creek don’t rise. Hope to see you then! 

 

#FirstLineFriday #GiveawayContest #FreeDownloads

/ Marcia / 19 Comments

As promised, #FirstLineFriday is back! We’ll have to see how it goes, but I’m aiming for every other week, and hope you guys will enjoy these little challenges that teach us so much about how to use opening lines effectively. This week, I’ve chosen one that I think will be fairly easy, but we’ll see if that turns out to be true or not.

As always, the rules are simple:

  1. Be one of the first five people to email me before the game ends at 4:00pm, with the title and author of the correct book. 
  2. Do not reply here on the blog. Email only: marciameara16@gmail.com
  3. Honor System applies. No Googling, please.
  4. Submissions end at 4:00 P.M. EST, or when I receive 5 correct answers, whichever comes first.
  5. Winners who live in the U.S. may request a free download of any one of my books for themselves, or for someone of their choice. OR, if they’ve read all of the offered books, they may request a free download of my next publication.
  6. Winners who live elsewhere may request a mobi or PDF file of the same books, since, sadly, Amazon won’t let me gift you from the site.

And now, the moment you’ve been waiting for! Put on your thinking caps, because here is today’s opening line:

“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” 

Remember, email answers only,  please. Thanks! And now off I go to await your guesses. 

Motivation inscription of splash paint letters