Kyrosmagica is Now Award Free

Hi All,

Just a quick little post here about Awards. I meant to do an Award Free post ages ago, in fact I thought I’d done it. Perhaps my memory is going? I think I got as far as doing a Bitstrips cartoon, I found this in my picture files. So time to get to it before anyone else nominates me for an award, (particularly if said person is a good friend.) I really do appreciate it so much but due to time constraints I just feel it’s time to step back from these type of awards for now.

In the past I have been blessed with the following awards:

One Lovely Blog Award, Real Neat Blog Award, Premio Dardos Award, Liebster Award, The Creative Blogger Award, Wonderful Team Member Readership Award, Sunshine Bloggers Award, Blogger Recognition Award, The Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award, The Versatile Blogger Award. I think that’s the ones I’ve had… Oh, I nearly forgot there was also an Encouraging Thunder Award, I can still hear the thunder claps….

Latest – The Mystery Blogger Award.

Here’s the link to all my awards if you’d like to have a gander:

My Awards

My very first award is of course very dear to me, a bit like your first baby!

I remember it well, it was The One Lovely Blog Award which was delivered to me on the 14th of July 2014:

My First Award: The One Lovely Blog Award

Plus I had fun doing The Girl Love Blog Challenge:

The Girl Love Blog Challenge

I will still be doing the odd challenge, time permitting..

I will be adding names of bloggers who have nominated me recently for awards. My way of saying a big Thank You for thinking of me….

Thank you :

Annika Perry – Annika nominated me for the Liebster Award. Thank you so much Annika for nominating me. She is on a similar writing journey, and we chat about blogging, writing, and books. Definitely one of my favourite blogs to follow, I count her as one of my special blogging friends.

– Annika Perry

Amalia Pedemonte – Amalia nominated me for the One Lovely Blog Award. Thank you so much Amalia for nominating me. Do check out Amalia’s wonderful blog it truly is a treasure chest of information about Greek Mythology, a subject that fascinates me so much that several Greek Gods and Goddesses have crept their way into my current WIP! Do follow her blog, she’s lovely, a very supportive and friendly blogger.

– Aquileana

Inese M J. Thank you so much to Inese for nominating me for The Creative Blogger Award. This is such a great honour coming from such a wonderful photographer. I urge you to follow Inese’s wonderful blog, she is such a lovely and friendly lady and has the most beautiful photography blog.

–Inese M J Photography

Gary Jefferies. A big thank you to Gary for nominating me for The Versatile Blogger Award. Such a lovely award to receive. I do highly recommend that you follow Gary’s blog. He writes books, short stories and memoirs and has been known to participate in Kindness challenges. He is a really friendly chap and very supportive:

– Gary Jefferies – Fiction Is Food

A big thank you to Cat for nominating me for The Mystery Blogger Award.

– Cat at High Risk

Bye for now…

Marje @ Kyrosmagica. xx

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March 14, 2016 25

Bloggers Bash 2016: Behind the Scenes Part 1

Sometimes it is good to reblog especially if you get a chance to go behind the scenes of a Bloggers Bash. Follow the antics of Ali, Geoff, Sacha and Hugh, otherwise known in Geoff’s words as the gang of Four – Ali ‘bog diver’ Isaac, Hugh ‘The Welsh’ Roberts, The Geoffle and their Supreme Commander de Blog, Sacha ‘Eyebrows’ Black, at the dastardly bash. You won’t regret it…..

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March 14, 2016 3

My Kyrosmagica Review of The Game of Love and Death

Goodreads Synopsis:

Antony and Cleopatra. Helen of Troy and Paris. Romeo and Juliet. And now… Henry and Flora.

For centuries Love and Death have chosen their players. They have set the rules, rolled the dice, and kept close, ready to influence, angling for supremacy. And Death has always won. Always.

Could there ever be one time, one place, one pair whose love would truly tip the balance?

Meet Flora Saudade, an African-American girl who dreams of becoming the next Amelia Earhart by day and sings in the smoky jazz clubs of Seattle by night. Meet Henry Bishop, born a few blocks and a million worlds away, a white boy with his future assured—a wealthy adoptive family in the midst of the Great Depression, a college scholarship, and all the opportunities in the world seemingly available to him.

The players have been chosen. The dice have been rolled. But when human beings make moves of their own, what happens next is anyone’s guess.

Achingly romantic and brilliantly imagined, The Game of Love and Death is a love story you will never forget.

My review:

Well with a title like that this novel was bound to capture my attention: The Game of Love and Death by Martha Brockenbrough… huh!! To begin with I have to admit it took me a while to get into this novel but when I did it was a soaring in the air doing crazy flips kind of moment. If I was to use one word to describe this novel, it would be: imaginative. Loved those imaginative loop-the-loops!

The heroine Flora sings in a jazz club her parents once owned, but dreams of being a pilot, Amelia Earhart is her inspiration. But this is 1937, and Flora can’t get sponsorship to fly, due to horrible racist attitudes about her skin colour. The story is set in Hooverville, USA, at a time when racism and sexism were rife.

The characters of Love and Death have a certain fondness for each other, having spent much time locked together in an endless battle to overcome each other and win. Love chooses Henry as his player, whilst Death, picks Flora. Both end up being pretty ruthless in their desire to win, but Death has a soft side to him which is expressed in subtle and unexpected ways.

This is a tale of love between two ‘star crossed lovers,’ Flora and Henry. Henry is an orphan too but he has a wealthy family backing him, Flora only has her Grandmother. There is a particularly poignant point later in the story regarding the grandmother but rather than spoil it for you I’ll just say read it and weep. The ‘star crossed lovers’ are discouraged from being a couple purely on the basis of their differing skin colour. They are drawn into a game with deadly consequences with no realisation that they are players.

The Game Of Love And Death is also a reflection on attitudes to homosexuality at the time, played out beautifully with the character of Love taking the persona of James Booth and engaging in a relationship with Henry’s best friend Ethan.

The story is written against a fantasy backdrop – a game between two mighty game players, LOVE and DEATH. Who will win? Until now Death has always won but with the right players could Love win?

The characters of Love and Death shapeshift into people to try to influence the outcome of the game. Love is portrayed as a guy, and Death as a girl, this I liked as the girl gets to be the wicked one! Of the two game masters I enjoyed (if that is the right word to use!) Death’s persona more!

Expect surprises, interesting characters, a romance which is not overplayed, and a well researched historical background.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel in countless ways. Highly recommended.

A few of my favourite quotes:

“Life is a temporary condition, Henry. And it’s uncertain. That’s why you have to seize chances when you find them. Pursue what you want. Take risks. Live, love…all of it. Every last one of us is going to die, but if we don’t live as we truly want, if we’re not with the one we want to be with, we’re dead already.”

“We have all the time in the world.’ Love found a record. He laid it on the player. The music started again, scratchy from age, but so sweet and beautiful and deep.
Someday.
And there, in the darkness, Love and Death and the ones inside of them danced until the song was done.
And then, when all around them was silent and still, they disappeared.”

“The kiss: It felt like light rising through them. It was a memory and it was a promise, an enigma and a wonder. It was music. A conversation. A flight. A true story. And it was theirs.”

Rating:

4.5 stars.

DISCLAIMER: “As of 13th September 2017 we are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.”

My opinions are my own and any reviews on this site have not been swayed or altered in any way by monetary compensation, or by the offer of a free book in exchange for a review.

Buying Links:

Amazon UK kindle: http://amzn.to/2xgUBuP

Amazon UK Paperback: http://amzn.to/2xSuJs4

Have you read The Game of Love and Death? If so what did you think of it? Do tell.

Bye for now,

Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

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March 13, 2016 7

Ronovan Writes Haiku Challenge#87 Class and Firm

Ronovan’s prompt words this week, class and firm seem to be very appropriate judging by my new part-time role working in a primary school.

It’s been quite a week. We’ve had rain, fog, cold days, mishaps, sharing issues, arguments, little fights and then…. one day this week the fire alarm went off during the lunch break and the little ‘uns were very upset. They thought their school was about to burn down, and they wanted their mummies! So I did my best to reassure them that this was not the case and it was just the kitchens getting too hot!! Poor wee mites, when you’re little every drama ends up being a major crisis of disproportionate proportions.

It didn’t help that just before the fire alarm went off one of the little girls hurt her lip, adding even more drama to an already raging inferno!

So the Monkeying Around haiku below is with them in mind…. sometimes, I’d advocate a fair old dousing of over imaginativeitis – only in extreme cases you understand! But if all else fails a big hug from mum is always a good idea:

MONKEYING AROUND

Raging school drama,

Classes monkeying around,

Firm, but fair dousing!

Oh and today I came across one of many little cherubs. This one with curly blond hair and the brightest blue eyes, but even little cherubs can be challenging! This little fellow only responds to the words kind hands when he’s been a bit naughty – kind hands involves putting your little hands up in the air and proposing kindness to your fingertips… miraculously it seemed to work, perhaps he is a bit theatrically inclined. I hope when I ask him to do it again his hands oblige!

I mentioned it to my youngest daughter and she laughed and admitted that she was really naughty in reception!!! In fact she was so naughty that she used to have to stay in sometimes as they wouldn’t let her out to play! And I thought she was an angel, us mothers, huh!!! She sounds like a cherub too….

BE KIND

A little cherub,

Not naughty just challenging,

Firm words then kind hands.

Do pop over to Ronovan Writes, to join in with the haiku weekly challenge fun:

https://ronovanwrites.wordpress.com/2016/03/07/ronovanwrites-weekly-haiku-poetry-prompt-challenge-87-classfirm/

Hope you liked my haiku.

Have a lovely weekend, have fun, but remember no monkeying around!

Bye for now,

Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

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March 12, 2016 28

Inspiring Aspiring Young Authors

I am very busy at the moment editing my book getting it ready for self publishing so with that in mind I will be doing some reblogs of posts that I have enjoyed. Today, its been a tough decision which to pick as there have been so many that I have enjoyed but after much thought I’d like to share with you author Ali Stegert’s inspiring post about young authors. Christopher Paolini started writing Eragon (2002) when he was 15…….. So age is no obstacle, young, old, we’re all in this together! Enjoy.. 🙂

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March 11, 2016 4

If a Place Called Writing Town Existed…#writerslife #writer #amwriting

Lucy at Blonde Write More tells us all about the amusing life of an author. Are you stuck in Procrastination Boulevard, or perhaps you spend too much time in Social Media Square. Wherever it is you hang out you are bound to recognise some of these writerly hot spots! Our end goal is always Literary Heights…. its a bit of a skyscraper journey but hopefully we’ll get there..

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March 10, 2016 4

Jane Dougherty Poetry: Hourglass Challenge

I couldn’t resist doing some Hourglass poetry too, via Jane Dougherty’s Poetry Challenge: https://janedougherty.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/poetry-challenge-20-hourglass-poetry/

More about the form: ten lines with a syllable count of 5.4.3.2.1.2.3.4.5, on Jane’s blog. Basically you end up with nine lines.

True happiness lives

Simplicity

Lies in the

little

breaths

of life

Death clings on

Memories lived

Simple Moments Shared.

Hope you liked my hourglass poetry, it’s a bit of a paradoxical one about happiness too. Hope it doesn’t give you the heeby-geebies.

Bye for now,

Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

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March 8, 2016 13

Quote Challenge: Day 2 Albert Camus

Day Two of Heena’s Quote Challenge continues with my focus on the nature of happiness.

This was to be my Day 3 Challenge but unfortunately WP is playing up on me and has lost my Day 2 Challenge post – hence bringing this forward a day…. quite fitting as I am now not too chuffed…… and searching vainly for my original Day 2 post!

Today I am considering the illusive, and paradoxical nature of happiness.

“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better pushing right back.”
― Albert Camus, The Stranger

“There is not love of life without despair about life.”
― Albert Camus, The Stranger

“You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.”

― Albert Camus

There is something quite fascinating about the above photo that I found on Pixabay. It would make a wonderful prompt for a story. It makes you ponder why the girl is in such a sorrowful pose, with her head hanging, and a cigarette poised in the air. The shadows and lit pathway ahead suggest possibilities, the foreground is all bright, and yellow like her jeans. Perhaps she has had terrible news. Life is not all happy days, there are good and bad moments, and true happiness can sometimes allude us. Recently I heard a very sad story from my mother about the grandmother of a young man who died of a heart attack at age eighteen, such a shock to his family, and friends. This goes against all our expectations – how can a seemingly fit young man die before his grandmother? How does one cope with such grief? The very thought of it makes me shudder. How can we accept such loss, and what does it say about the meaning of life?

Life is too short. For some it is bitterly short. So perhaps we shouldn’t search for happiness as if it is a goal to be achieved. Instead, just be. Happiness is not a quality that you can capture, it is a state of being that you experience first hand without hardly noticing. So rather than searching down endless pathways looking for the things that make us happy perhaps it’s better to live in the moment, treasure those seconds, minutes, and hours of pleasure spent in the company of much loved family and friends, store them up and keep them for a rainy day when you might just need them.

RULES OF THIS CHALLENGE:

Post three consecutive days
You can pick one or three quotes per day
Challenge three different bloggers per day

MY THREE NOMINEES FOR TODAY ARE:

Ameena @ https://randomsbyarandom.wordpress.com/

Charley @ https://booksandbakes1.wordpress.com/

Kayleigh @ https://kayleighm8.wordpress.com/

Here is the link to Heena’s Challenge. Do visit her lovely blog:

http://heenarathorep.com/2016/02/27/quotes-challenge-2/

If only we could all find that special moment of happiness and hold it in our hearts forever… negating all the other crappy things that happen..

Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

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March 8, 2016 9

Quote Challenge: Day 3, Nikos Zazantzakis

Welcome to the third day of Heena’s 3 Day Quote Challenge:

My focus today is on happiness in its simplest form.

“I felt once more how simple and frugal a thing is happiness: a glass of wine, a roast chestnut, a wretched little brazier, the sound of the sea. Nothing else.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, Zorba the Greek

Yes this charming quote says it all, happiness doesn’t have to be anything fancy and elaborate in fact often it is the simplest things that give us the most pleasure. We’ve all had those little moments of happiness that leave us breathless in their simplicity, they’re the ones that remain the longest in our memories, such sweet moments to treasure.

Here’s the Goodreads synopsis – Zorba The Greek.

The classic novel, international sensation, and inspiration for the film starring Anthony Quinn explores the struggle between the aesthetic and the rational, the inner life and the life of the mind.

The classic novel Zorba the Greek is the story of two men, their incredible friendship, and the importance of living life to the fullest. Zorba, a Greek working man, is a larger-than-life character, energetic and unpredictable. He accompanies the unnamed narrator to Crete to work in the narrator’s lignite mine, and the pair develops a singular relationship. The two men couldn’t be further apart: The narrator is cerebral, modest, and reserved; Zorba is unfettered, spirited, and beyond the reins of civility. Over the course of their journey, he becomes the narrator’s greatest friend and inspiration and helps him to appreciate the joy of living.

Zorba has been acclaimed as one of the most remarkable figures in literature; he is a character in the great tradition of Sinbad the Sailor, Falstaff, and Sancho Panza. He responds to all that life offers him with passion, whether he’s supervising laborers at a mine, confronting mad monks in a mountain monastery, embellishing the tales of his past adventures, or making love. Zorba the Greek explores the beauty and pain of existence, inviting readers to reevaluate the most important aspects of their lives and live to the fullest.

RULES OF THIS CHALLENGE:

Post three consecutive days
You can pick one or three quotes per day
Challenge three different bloggers per day

MY THREE NOMINEES FOR TODAY ARE:

Jade @ Scatterbooker: https://scatterbooker.wordpress.com/

Val @ http://findyourmiddleground.com/

Geoff@ http://geofflepard.com/

Don’t forget to stop by Heena’s lovely blog too, here’s the link:

http://heenarathorep.com/2016/02/27/quotes-challenge-2/

Love Nikos Kazantzakis’s quote – hope you did too.

Bye for now, time for some happy thoughts in a simple meadow of daisies…

Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

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March 7, 2016 7

Quotes Challenge # 1, Stephen Chbosky

The lovely Heena tagged me to do the Three Days Three Quotes Challenge. Thank you Heena for inviting me!

For this challenge I thought I’d focus on quotes about happiness, so here’s my Day 1 quote:

“There’s nothing like deep breaths after laughing that hard. Nothing in the world like a sore stomach for the right reasons.”

“So, this is my life. And I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I’m still trying to figure out how that could be.”

“It was the kind of kiss that made me know that I was never so happy in my whole life.”

― Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Laughter’s the best indication of happiness ever invented! We can’t hope to laugh unless we are happy, and laughter has the most infectious quality to it.Happiness can’t exist without sadness, we wouldn’t know what happiness was unless we’d experienced its opposite. And of course there’s nothing like a kiss to make us happy.

If you haven’t read The Perks of Being A Wallflower then I’d recommend that you do. I read it ages ago in 2013 – perhaps I need to read it again – and I rated it 4 stars. Unfortunately I didn’t review, as I read it before I started writing reviews.

Here’s the Goodreads Synopsis:

Charlie is a freshman.

And while he’s not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. Shy, introspective, intelligent beyond his years yet socially awkward, he is a wallflower, caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it.

Charlie is attempting to navigate his way through uncharted territory: the world of first dates and mix tapes, family dramas and new friends; the world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite. But he can’t stay on the sideline forever. Standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a deeply affecting coming-of-age story that will spirit you back to those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up.

This particular blog post follows on from a post I did about the things that make me happy, just in case you’ve missed it – here’s the link: https://mjmallon.com/2016/03/06/sundayblogshare-happy-mothers-day-vibes/

RULES OF THIS CHALLENGE:

Post three consecutive days
You can pick one or three quotes per day
Challenge three different bloggers per day

MY THREE NOMINEES FOR TODAY ARE:

Debby’s blog at http://dgkayewriter.com/
Judy’s blog at http://edwinasepisodes.com/
Svengliati Cara blog at https://tramontoalba.wordpress.com/

Thank you so much to Heena for inviting me to take part in the challenge.

Here’s the link to her lovely blog: http://heenarathorep.com/2016/02/24/quotes-challenge-1/

Bye for now,

Hope you have a blissful Monday ! Filled with sun rays of laughter, happiness, and lots of kisses!

Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

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March 7, 2016 6