Month: August 2016

Poets For Peace: Promise People Peace

This is my submission for #PoetsForPeace.

To join in please refer to this post by Neha: Forgotten Meadows: Poets For Peace Submission Details for Praxis Magazine

Promise People Peace

I long for it to return,
The word I can no longer say,
But in my throat. It chokes:

-‘The bomb blast silenced me.’

This word, rich companion,
To Happiness, Joy, Love, and Hope,
Is lost, discarded. It whispers:

-‘I’m buried under hatred’s rubble.’

Now my words fragment,
Syllables of death and destruction.
Scatter, scare. I scream:

– ‘So the suffering grows.’

In a poultice of grime,
Black smoke, battered skin, broken lives,
Unspeakable, incomprehensible. My…

-‘Tragedy lives on.’

I am numb, that’s my new word.
The one that claims,
Whispers and holds me.  Together ….

– ‘Binding my sadness.’

 I need that unspoken word,
Wrap it tenderly,
In layers of bubble wrap. Pop ….

– ‘Break its bonds with an explosion of joy.’

Let’s find that sweet word again.
A simple expression of the human race,
Unite us in love. I say,

-‘Make me whole again.’

This wondrous word – our go to home,
Haven to our blessed children,
Let them know love. I pray,

-‘Nurture this gentle word.’

Please

Promise

People

Peace.

 

© Marjorie Mallon 2016 – aka, Kyrosmagica. All Rights Reserved.

 

A subject that is very dear to my heart, please do feel free to comment below.

Bye for now. Hope you have a purrfectly peaceful day.

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Writespiration #94: Condense Your Novel Into 3 Sentences

Writespiration: Condense Your Novel into Three Sentences

In Sacha’s words:

So, your challenge this week is to boil your plot down to its simplest form. This isn’t marketing 101, don’t try an sell me your book like a pitch sentence. This is purely about plot. Tell me your entire novels story in three sentences.

If you want to join in,  you can pop your sentences in the comments on her blog or in a blog post and ping back  so she can find it. You have until 12pm on the 28th August.

No pressure… three simple sentences. Somehow, that sounds a bit unrealistic, simple sentences, there is nothing simple about my plot, convoluted, yes, but simple, No!  But, this challenge couldn’t have come at a better time, because right now this is the kind of activity I’m engaging in… writing blurbs, author bios, etc, trying to get everything ready for my novel release this coming autumn.

Here are my three sentences:

Da da dee da,

Da da dee da,

Da da dee da!

Only joking…  though I did think the da da’s had a certain ring to them, not sure about those dee da’s! Cup of tea perhaps? Sacha did suggest that we boil our plot! Maybe not… Perhaps I should indulge in a bit of FB? Twitter? Instagram? But no selling… OK, I could be nosey, see what folks are up to… Or I could go for the simple approach.

Right, no mucking about, concentrate Marje, stop procrastinating! You can do this…

Ah, I know what to do, doodle, get a cute doodle pad and write a few words on it:

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That will do the trick… Don’t plan, just write…

By now, you really must be thinking this gal has gone a bit doolally twist… perhaps.

Enough! This procrastination is really becoming a curse.

Here is my contribution, my three simple sentences for my WIP: The Curse of Time.

Amelina Scott doesn’t know it yet, but she is a magical Krystallos. That knowledge might just save her family from the cruel roller coaster ride which has bugged her family’s happiness, since The Curse of Time. A shadow hides, crystals twinkle, and gossamer wings threaten to bring Amelina full circle on the ride of her life.  

I thought I’d elaborate upon this to make an initial blurb idea which would go very roughly something like this:

 Sixteen year old Amelina  Scott lives in Cambridge with her prematurely aged father, cranky mother, a black cat called Shadow, and a self-harming mirror girl.  

She doesn’t know it yet, but she is a magical Krystallos. That knowledge might just save her family from the cruel roller coaster ride which has bugged her family’s happiness, since The Curse of Time. A shadow of two halves hides – Ryder’s  mesmerising eyes and dark charisma draw her to him – but appearances can be deceptive. While crystals twinkle, and gossamer wings threaten, Amelina’s spirit is brought against her will to a tranquil meadow in Grantchester. Whilst there she is encouraged by her captor to paint a  bizarre puzzle of art, and all the while, a threat lingers groaning to turn youth into old age, and to turn neighbour against neighbour.  

The verdict is out, hope that made sense, and didn’t bore you.

Bye for now,

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My fun (totally not serious but nevertheless 90% true,) author bio on Wattpad – Link below.

Marjorie Mallon was born in Lion City: Singapore. She grew up in a mountainous court in Hong Kong. Her crazy parents dragged her  spotty soul away from her exotic childhood and her much loved dog Topsy to the frozen wastelands of Scotland. There she mastered Scottish country dancing, haggis bashing, bagpipe playing and a whole new Och Aye lingo. 
As a teenager she travelled to many far flung destinations to visit her abacus wielding wayfarer dad. On one such occasion a  barracuda swam by. It stopped to view her  bikini clad body, longing to take a big bite. With dogs' fangs replacing barracudas' teeth, she returned to her mother's birthplace: Kuching, Cat City. There, Blackie, a black-hearted dog sniffed her frightened butt, whimpered and ran away! Shortly after this extraordinary event an angry female Orang-Utan chased her unfit ass out of the Malaysian jungle believing that she was a threat to her babies! She still monkeys about, would love to own a cat, or a replacement Topsy but refuses to entertain  murderous dogs, or over-protective monkeys.
It's rumoured that she lives in the Venice of Cambridge, with her six foot hunk of a Rock God husband, and her two enchanted daughters. 
After such an upbringing her author's mind has taken total leave of its senses. When she's not writing, she eats exotic delicacies while belly dancing, or surfs to the far reaches of the moon. To chill out she practises Tai Chi and Yoga on the crest of a wave. If the mood takes her she goes snorkelling with mermaids, or signs up for idyllic holidays with the Chinese Unicorn, whose magnificent voice sings like a thousand wind chimes. 

She is a child of the light and the dark. Her motto is simply this: Do what you love,  stay true to your heart's desires, remain young at heart, and  inspire others to do so, even if it appears that the odds are stacked like black hearted shadows against you...

 

My Links: 

Wattpad

Goodreads

Instagram

Twitter

Facebook

 

 

 

 

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Thursday Doors : Edinburgh Queen’s Gallery

 

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For this week’s Thursday doors I’m focusing on my recent day trip to Edinburgh. I’ve been in Glasgow for a few days with my hubby and some friends so I popped over to Edinburgh to see my mum and dad. We went for a Chinese dim sum lunch and then mum and I took the bus to Hollyrood Palace. Here’s a photo of the crags of Arthur’s Seat.

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Now for the doors. The Queen’s Gallery –  an art gallery at Holyrood Palace complex.

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And here it is with a bit of a magic wand makeover… From Prisma.. Using the Gothic touch.

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This gateway… leads to the tea room where we had a very royal Cappucino.

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Hope you liked my Thursday doors post. If you share your posts on Twitter and Instagram remember to use the #ThursdayDoors hastag. If you’d like to join in Norm’s Thursday doors here’s the link to his blog to do so: Norm’s Thursday Doors

Bye for now,

 

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My Kyrosmagica Review of The Eternals by Richard M. Ankers

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Goodreads Synopsis:

For Jean, eternity should have meant forever.

The Eternals, they are a breed apart. Born to immortality, neither human nor vampire, a dying sun is to end their race where no other could. It is to this ultimatum that Jean, the last Eternal lord, is born. Jean accepts the end once preached by his deceased parents, where others won’t, their arrogance furthering his melancholy. He would fight for the future where they, the Hierarchy, would waltz into nothingness.

But everything changes for Jean when he commits the cardinal sin: his bite takes the life of Princess Chantelle of The New Europa Alliance, whose sister will come to enthrall him. It is a deed Jean thinks has passed unnoticed; it has not. When the Britannian dandy, Sir Walter Merryweather, informs him of this, Jean runs. Aided and abetted by the irksome Merryweather, Jean stumbles from manipulated mishap into age-old conspiracies and beyond.

With the sun’s clock ticking, Jean must find time where there is none to reconcile his sordid past with the promise of new love.

Author Bio: 

Richard is a former Company Director who after winning a Gold Medal on HarperCollins’ Authonomy website gave up everything to become the writer he had always wished to be.

Richard counts himself fortunate to have been published both online and in print by such wonderful magazines as Daily Science Fiction and Devoltion Z, as well as anthologies by Third Flatiron Publishing and Leap Books.

The cumulation of his storytelling has arrived in the form of The Eternals. This is the first in a trilogy of books of the same name. The Eternals is set on our Earth in the far distant future as the sun prepares to set one final time. Neither human nor vampire, the Eternal Hierarchy look to waltz their way into oblivion. Jean, a brooding and disillusioned outcast, would have it different.  Aided and abetted by the hapless dandy Merryweather, Jean’s tale unfolds to a backdrop of love, death and deceit. With the sun’s clock ticking, Jean must find time where there is none to reconcile his sordid past with the promise of new love.

Genre: Romance, Adventure, Action, Fiction.

My review:

Well I love a good old vampire story, so I was really looking forward to reading this.  The Eternals isn’t quite a traditional vampire story. This is something else. These creatures are ‘neither human nor vampire.’

I enjoyed The Eternals – particularly the descriptive passages, (you really can tell that the author, Richard. A Ankers  is a poet too, ) which for a bit of a poetic soul like myself is absolutely wonderful.

I also really found myself chuckling along to some of the little touches of humour that liberally peppered the story. But, I did find the instant love, and some of the terms of endearment (at the beginning of the story,) between Jean, and Linka a little difficult to relate to, particularly if you consider that Jean has just lost his wife, (not much of a grieving period for our hero!) and killed Linka’s sister, Chantelle. Though, there is more to this sibling relationship between Linka and Chantelle than meets the eye……  Either way, perhaps Eternals aren’t prone to having much of an emotional attachment to their siblings.  The Eternals is exciting in parts. Particularly in the second half of the novel, the pace picks up, and the eloquence of the prose more than made up for some minor irks that I had.

Overall, I’m a great fan of beautiful prose, and without a doubt The Eternals is absolutely chocka block full of wonderfully descriptive writing, and the dialogue flows well too.

So I’d recommend The Eternals for readers who:

Appreciate a more poetic type of writing.

Who’d enjoy going on an adventure with a hero who is used to women swooning at his feet, (or even dying for his return,) – perhaps a kind of ruthless, but charming Sean Connery – James Bond of Vampires! Sean Connery always was my unchallenged favourite James Bond –  us ladies do like the charmingly rugged Scottish bad guys!

I do believe this is the first in a Trilogy so I will be interested to see how this series progresses.

I’m sharing this as part of the Terry Tyler #AugustReviews initiative, and #FridayReads to try to encourage people to read and write a review. More about that here: Terry Tyler Blog August Reviews

DISCLAIMER: “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. 

Amazon buying link:

UK Buying Link: http://amzn.to/2wf7t7q

My rating:

Overall rating : 4 stars.

Authors Website: Richard Ankers – The Eternals

Have you read The Eternals? Do comment if you have, I’d love to hear your opinion.

 

Bye for now,

 

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New book release

Today is release day for Devastation, second volume of Jane Dougherty’s Pathfinders series. She is offering free Amazon downloads of Abomination, in case (like me) you have some catching up to do. The book covers look amazing….. I can’t resist the pull of a pretty cover!!

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Thursday Doors and Emotography Showcase: Glasgow University

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Here’s the info on Thursday Doors via Norm:

Thursday Doors is a weekly feature allowing door lovers to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos from around the world. Feel free to join in on the fun by creating your own Thursday Doors post each week and then sharing it, between Thursday morning and Saturday noon (North American eastern time), by using the blue link-up button below. 

Do pop over to Norm’s blog to join in the fun: Thursday Doors – Norm Frampton

If you share your post on Twitter and Instagram don’t forget to use the #ThursdayDoors.

I’ve been saving a few photos of doors because they’re real special. I discovered them on my recent trip to Glasgow. I went adventuring for the day on my own (my hubby was at The Golf Open with his pal.) I didn’t mind that one bit. It gave me a chance to do exactly what I wanted for a day!  Sounds a bit selfish but sometimes a bit of Me Time is just what we need. I had a lovely old time treating myself to  ice cream in Kelvingrove Park, watching the skate boarders, and lunching in Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. I had lots of opportunity to go…. wait for it…. door searching! There’s no chance I could have done all this with hubby in tow. He would have been tugging me away, or walking so fast (he has long legs,) that I’d miss out on all these wonderful opportunities.

Doors bring me back to my childhood, and my love for The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis. This alternative land of Narnia, reached via a wardrobe really did enthrall my young self, and developed my love of fantasy.

I’m sharing the emotion behind these doors for Claudette’s Emotography link up. Her blog can be reached via this link: https://ceeisme.com

The principal idea behind Claudette’s Emotography project is to share an emotion that your photographs evokes. For me, photos of doors in general, and these in particular make me feel free. They celebrate my freedom to do what I want!! To walk through such amazing entrances to explore, to discover new wonderful experiences, perhaps to lead me to places which I’d never have imagined, and to share my deep love of learning. Doors have such potential, they can lead you to so many amazing possibilities. Yes, I just love doors. I’m an addict! There’s no cure.

Without anymore rambling chit chat it’s time for the big reveal…… and these are big doors!

With dark mysterious attitude…

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Pretty stunning, that’s some door. Wouldn’t you love to walk through and explore?

I love photography, whether it’s doors, trees, people, sunsets, or places. It’s always nice to try out new things, and create new images. You may be interested to know that I’ve discovered this app called Prisma. A  tool to jazz up your photography….and share on Instagram etc…. oops another thing to get addicted too! Quick, look away!

In their words:  Be an artist! Turn your photos into awesome artworks:
– Modern art filters!
– Stunning photo effects.

The app is available on i-tunes, and google play.

I used the Transverse line filter to get this look below…

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Here’s another view of a door in the same magnificent building.. taken without any filters. I like the suggestion of light on the right side of the photo, contrasting with the dark. Yes, I have a thing about darkness/light.

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Here’s how it turned out with Prisma…. see how addictive this can be!! I went a bit crazy and used the candy filter to get this colourful effect …  What fun! A door with a sweet touch.

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See what I mean – these doors are so incredible aren’t they? Imagine stepping through these magnificent entrances into a world of learning. I really envy students at Glasgow University! Oh, if only I had a time machine with a cracking door to travel back to my student years….

Still never say never, maybe one day I’ll have enough cash to do an M.A in Creative Writing. Now, that would be something!

Next time I will be sharing some Edinburgh doors…. Being an Edinburgh girl, (I spent my teenage years in Edinburgh,) It’d be remiss of me not to! Edinburgh tends to be a bit posh so expect something pretty classy.

Hope you enjoyed my post for Norm’s Thursday Doors, and Claudette’s Emotography project.

Bye for now. Oh, before I go perhaps you’d like to check out my previous Glasgow photography posts.

Here’s the links in case you’re interested:

Glasgow Inspiring City Award

Glasgow University, Hogwarts and Kelvingrove Park

Here’s me and my imaginary cat signing off for a bit of Me Time.. imaginary cat you say, why? My husband and youngest daughter are allergic –  so no real cats for me.. sigh..

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My fun (totally not serious but nevertheless 90% true,) author bio on Wattpad – Link below.

Marjorie Mallon was born in Lion City: Singapore. She grew up in a mountainous court in Hong Kong. Her crazy parents dragged her  spotty soul away from her exotic childhood and her much loved dog Topsy to the frozen wastelands of Scotland. There she mastered Scottish country dancing, haggis bashing, bagpipe playing and a whole new Och Aye lingo. 
As a teenager she travelled to many far flung destinations to visit her abacus wielding wayfarer dad. On one such occasion a  barracuda swam by. It stopped to view her  bikini clad body, longing to take a big bite. With dogs' fangs replacing barracudas' teeth, she returned to her mother's birthplace: Kuching, Cat City. There, Blackie, a black-hearted dog sniffed her frightened butt, whimpered and ran away! Shortly after this extraordinary event an angry female Orang-Utan chased her unfit ass out of the Malaysian jungle believing that she was a threat to her babies! She still monkeys about, would love to own a cat, or a replacement Topsy but refuses to entertain  murderous dogs, or over-protective monkeys.
It's rumoured that she lives in the Venice of Cambridge, with her six foot hunk of a Rock God husband, and her two enchanted daughters. 
After such an upbringing her author's mind has taken total leave of its senses. When she's not writing, she eats exotic delicacies while belly dancing, or surfs to the far reaches of the moon. To chill out she practises Tai Chi and Yoga on the crest of a wave. If the mood takes her she goes snorkelling with mermaids, or signs up for idyllic holidays with the Chinese Unicorn, whose magnificent voice sings like a thousand wind chimes. 

She is a child of the light and the dark. Her motto is simply this: Do what you love,  stay true to your heart's desires, remain young at heart, and  inspire others to do so, even if it appears that the odds are stacked like black hearted shadows against you...

 

My Links: 

Wattpad

Goodreads

Instagram

Twitter

Facebook

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Sayonara Hitori by Taemin

Guest Post written  by Natasha Mallon  

Lee Taemin is a Korean idol from one of KPOP’s biggest groups SHINee which debuted in 2008 with ‘Replay’. They have gone from cute-pop bops to synthesizer melodies which have dabbled in house/techno. Currently, they are working on a new comeback after the success of their 2015 album release ‘Odd Eye’ and ‘Married to the Music’.

Lee Taemin is a vocalist/dancer/visual of SHINee and is their youngest member at the age of 23. In 2014, Taemin released his first ever solo debut with songs like ‘Ace’ and ‘Danger’ which successfully changed his cute image into a whole new persona. In his music video ‘Danger’, Taemin is seen with piercings and heavy eye make-up and array of different outfits. After his 2014 release, Taemin also released his second solo album Press It. Longer in length, Taemin worked with artists such as Bruno Mars to create and produce this ten track album. As well as this, Taemin has released songs in Japanese, his most recent album ‘Sayonara Hitori’ takes on a whole different kind of genre, many of the songs sounding like the OST (Opening Sound Track) of any fantasy anime. The video for ‘Sayonara Hitori’ deals with themes of light and dark, the fear of our own shadow. It is a stunning video, switching from beautiful scenes of mountains and valleys illuminated by a giant full moon to scenes of destruction — of volcanoes and war. The wardrobe changes in the video also reflects this, as Taemin is seen in silk clothing in one scene, and all in black in another. Taemin’s success in Japan is quite evident, and I will be looking forward to the music that he releases in the near (and distant future).

Please check Taemin and SHINee out!

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Hope you liked my eldest daughter’s guest post. She’s absolutely obsessed with Korean K-Pop, and likes to share her love with others. She urged me to watch this video – she said that it reminded her of the themes of dark/light in my manuscript The Curse Of Time. I’m very flattered that she thought so. The video really is stunning. 

Do you like Korean K-Pop? Do comment I’d love to hear from you. 

Happy Friday  – I hope you have a lovely weekend. 

Bye for now, Sayonara!

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My fun (totally not serious but nevertheless 90% true,) author bio on Wattpad – Link below.

Marjorie Mallon was born in Lion City: Singapore. She grew up in a mountainous court in Hong Kong. Her crazy parents dragged her  spotty soul away from her exotic childhood and her much loved dog Topsy to the frozen wastelands of Scotland. There she mastered Scottish country dancing, haggis bashing, bagpipe playing and a whole new Och Aye lingo. 
As a teenager she travelled to many far flung destinations to visit her abacus wielding wayfarer dad. On one such occasion a  barracuda swam by. It stopped to view her  bikini clad body, longing to take a big bite. With dogs' fangs replacing barracudas' teeth, she returned to her mother's birthplace: Kuching, Cat City. There, Blackie, a black-hearted dog sniffed her frightened butt, whimpered and ran away! Shortly after this extraordinary event an angry female Orang-Utan chased her unfit ass out of the Malaysian jungle believing that she was a threat to her babies! She still monkeys about, would love to own a cat, or a replacement Topsy but refuses to entertain  murderous dogs, or over-protective monkeys.
It's rumoured that she lives in the Venice of Cambridge, with her six foot hunk of a Rock God husband, and her two enchanted daughters. 
After such an upbringing her author's mind has taken total leave of its senses. When she's not writing, she eats exotic delicacies while belly dancing, or surfs to the far reaches of the moon. To chill out she practises Tai Chi and Yoga on the crest of a wave. If the mood takes her she goes snorkelling with mermaids, or signs up for idyllic holidays with the Chinese Unicorn, whose magnificent voice sings like a thousand wind chimes. 

She is a child of the light and the dark. Her motto is simply this: Do what you love,  stay true to your heart's desires, remain young at heart, and  inspire others to do so, even if it appears that the odds are stacked like black hearted shadows against you...

 

My Links: 

Wattpad

Goodreads

Instagram

Twitter

Facebook

 

 

 

 

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