Reblog of the long awaited cover for my lovely friend Vashti. This cover’s a staggering beauty and I’m a sucker for beautiful covers! xx
Cover Reveal: The Curse of Time – Book 1 – Bloodstone
Today, I am delighted to share with you my cover reveal for my debut fantasy YA novel:
The Curse of Time – Book 1 – Bloodstone
I’m delighted with the cover – Wendy Anne Darling at BOOKXEEDO Book Covers has done a marvellous job. Isn’t the cover just beautiful? Thank you Wendy so much.
Cover photography credit: Chronopage and grasshopper – John C Taylor, OBE.
Cover photography credit (spine) : Bloodstone – Alex Marlowe, via https://samanthamurdochblog.wordpress.com
Synopsis:
On Amelina Scott’s thirteenth birthday, her father disappears under mysterious circumstances. Saddened by this traumatic event, she pieces together details of a curse that has stricken the heart and soul of her family.
Amelina longs for someone to confide in. Her once carefree mother has become angry and despondent. One day a strange black cat and a young girl, named Esme appear. Immediately, Esme becomes the sister Amelina never had. The only catch is that Esme must remain a prisoner, living within the mirrors of Amelina’s house.
Dreams and a puzzling invitation convince Amelina the answer to her family’s troubles lies within the walls of the illusive Crystal Cottage. Undaunted by her mother’s warnings, Amelina searches for the cottage on an isolated Cambridgeshire pathway where she encounters a charismatic young man, named Ryder. At the right moment, he steps out of the shadows, rescuing her from the unwanted attention of two male troublemakers.
With the help of an enchanted paint set, Amelina meets the eccentric owner of the cottage, Leanne, who instructs her in the art of crystal magic. In time, she earns the right to use three wizard stones. The first awakens her spirit to discover a time of legends, and later, leads her to the Bloodstone, the supreme cleansing crystal which has the power to restore the balance of time. Will Amelina find the power to set her family free?
Continue reading “Cover Reveal: The Curse of Time – Book 1 – Bloodstone”
Colleen’s Weekly #Poetry Challenge – #Haiku #Tanka #Haibun: HEAT & CONFUSE
Colleen’s prompt words this week are heat and confuse.
I reckon I’ll write a passionate Tanka this week! Why? I’m feeling happy having just set up my author page on Amazon: Amazon Buying Link… for my debut novel The Curse of Time – Book 1 – Bloodstone, even though it was stressful setting it up….
Yes, formatting isn’t my favourite job. It made me confused, hot, headache prone and more than a bit irritable, so let’s have some passionate poetry to make me feel less stressed! Lol…
To join in with Colleen’s wonderful weekly poetry challenge follow the link: https://colleenchesebro.com/2017/07/25/colleens-weekly-poetry-challenge-haiku-tanka-haibun-heat-confuse/
Keep an eye out for my next post – my book cover reveal!!! Yippee!!!
Bye for now,
Authors Bloggers Rainbow Support Club
Fellow Administrators of The Authors Bloggers Rainbow Support Club. #ABRSC, myself
Colleen Chesebro and Debby Gies
Twitter: @Marjorie_Mallon
Twitter: @curseof_time
#SundayBlogShare MJ Interviews The Grasshopper – The Curse of Time.
A big welcome… (If I dare!) to my next interviewee the intriguing Grasshopper, a fine bug of a creature who features in my soon to be released YA Fantasy – The Curse of Time: Book 1: Bloodstone. I have set a tentative date for the release of my e-book – 26th August, so keep a look out for further details and updates about that.
Today, I am interviewing the Grasshopper using the initials MJ – (my author nickname and tribute to my favourite superhero Spiderman’s Mary Jane!)
MJ: Grasshopper, I’m speechless, is that really you? Have you come to eat me up?
Grasshopper: Of course not dear girl, I don’t eat humans, even though I have pincer sharp teeth.
MJ: I can see that… Oh, what a relief! Tell me all about yourself Mr. Grasshopper.
Grasshopper: I am the world’s largest grasshopper escapement. I’m crafted out of the finest materials, only the very best for me.
MJ: Could you explain a little about the Corpus Christi Chronopage?
Grasshopper: The Chronopage is a large sculptural clock, and my home. It is the brainchild of a team of two hundred talented people including sculptors, engineers, scientists, jewellers, and calligraphers. It includes not one, not two, but six new patented inventions.
MJ: How extraordinary! It is a breath-taking invention and I have always found you phenomenally intriguing Mr. Grasshopper. Not surprisingly, you draw crowds of onlookers and tourists on King’s Parade.
Grasshopper: Oh, yes, no one can resist me. I provoke a reaction, people pause, take photos, respond in horror, or delight. And all the while time marches on, in its cruel, relentless manner.
MJ: Such is life. Hence the spikey teeth?
Grasshopper: Yes, I eat away at your life, your youth, your beauty. Sadly, it is my fate. I am at the mercy of my tragic role in this Chronopage. No one is exempt. I am its wretched servant.
Continue reading “#SundayBlogShare MJ Interviews The Grasshopper – The Curse of Time.”
My Review of Thirteen Reasons Why
Goodreads Synopsis:
You can’t stop the future.
You can’t rewind the past.
The only way to learn the secret . . . is to press play.
Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a strange package with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker–his classmate and crush–who committed suicide two weeks earlier. Hannah’s voice tells him that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he’ll find out why.
Clay spends the night crisscrossing his town with Hannah as his guide. He becomes a firsthand witness to Hannah’s pain, and as he follows Hannah’s recorded words throughout his town, what he discovers changes his life forever.
My review:
This is a difficult book to review not because of the writing brilliance or lack of, more because suicide is such an emotive and difficult subject to deal with sensitively. It’s one of those books that definitely fits in the unputdownable category. Curiosity carries you forward, and keeps you turning the pages… but, for me the tapes were a device, a method that the author used to convey the suicide’s victims feelings beyond the grave to the people who had hurt her. Wait a minute, I have an issue with this. Suicides don’t do this. This involves planning, and people considering ending their lives are unlikely to write a note, family and friends are left wondering – Why? But, I reckon Jay Asher meant well. I believe her intention was to explain that even the smallest hurt can attach to a larger hurt to grow into a huge hurt ball of pain. I get that, and it sounds plausible, but the upshot of this is the main protagonist starts of sounding whiny, and distances the reader somewhat. I didn’t find the main protagonist Hannah a likeable character, but perhaps that’s the point? The act of suicide means that you don’t dwell on who you might hurt by your actions – you are too immersed in your own pain – hence the significance of the rape scene. I’m not going into details in this review, no spoilers, read this yourself and make up your own mind.
Ultimately, suicide is the most terribly sad act of self destruction committed by a person who has mental health issues, or is suffering with unbearable pain. Mental health, bullying and depression are major reasons why people commit suicide and these issues should be discussed openly and with a caring attitude, particularly as they are a rising problem in our young people.
Thirteen Reasons Why isn’t a perfect book, but it does provokes discussion. It makes you consider what damage people do to each other and acknowledges that we don’t really know what is going on in other people’s lives.
Of course this debut has been an enormous success with a TV series on Netflix. Both of my daughters have watched the series.)
Rating: A very difficult one to rate, I spent a lot of time deliberating about this one. I’d say it is sitting on a 4 star read.
Resources:
If you are experiencing mental health problems I’ve discovered this wonderful online resource that I would recommend: https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/general/i-need-someone-to-talk-to-about-my-problems-but-where-do-i-turn/
Disclaimer and buying links:
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:
UK Kindle: http://amzn.to/2f5UABK
UK Paperback: http://amzn.to/2f61iaR
Bye for now,
My social media links:
Facebook: Authors/Bloggers Rainbow Support Club
Twitter: @Marjorie_Mallon
Twitter: @curseof_time
Fellow Administrators of our Authors Bloggers Rainbow Support Club #ABRSC on Facebook, myself, my good friends Colleen Chesebro and Debby Gies. Click on Colleen’s and Debby’s photos to be directed to their awesome blogs. These ladies rock!
Continue reading “My Review of Thirteen Reasons Why”
Guest Post – Cat Davis – Four Quotes to Help You And Me Understand Bi-Polar
Hello Marje’s fans! My name is Cat, and I am a 20 year old diagnosed with Bipolar 1 disorder. Writing is one of my main coping mechanisms for accepting my diagnosis, so I am thrilled to share a part of me with you today.
Bipolar sounds like a terrifying, debilitating, life-changing disorder…and it definitely is. At times. When I was locked in my 2nd hospital, after getting out of my 1st one only 41 days earlier, I thought I had gone absolutely insane. And in a way, I had. I was misdiagnosed with depression and misprescribed an antidepressant that ended up making matters worse. Hospital-worthy worse.
But my 5th psychiatrist listened to me and changed my meds, and my 12th therapist listened to me and believed what I said, and I stabilized in six months. And here I am!
I write when I’m depressed. I write when I’m manic. Okay…I mostly write when I’m manic. And I write when I’m stable. When I sit down and open my laptop, I have no idea what to expect from my brain. I have no idea which me will come out. But today I have a theme in mind, thanks to Marje’s suggestion, and that theme is using quotes to explain what bipolar is and what it means to me. I hope you enjoy!
Four Quotes to Help You (and Me) Understand Bipolar Disorder:
“I have traveled through madness to find me.” –Danny Alexander
I started experiencing my first symptoms of bipolar disorder when I was 14 years old. Before long, I self-diagnosed myself as depressed. When I wasn’t depressed, I thought I was back to normal.
I didn’t know that when I felt normal, I was actually feeling manic.
It started with hypomania, which is a less intense form of mania. A patient who only experiences hypomania is by definition a patient who is never hospitalized for mania. Patients without full-blown manic episodes are diagnosed with Bipolar 2.
My hypomania didn’t detract from my life. Sometimes I was impulsive, but that was written off as a teenage rebellious phase. Sometimes I talked really fast and bounced off the walls with energy, but I was just labeled an extrovert, maybe with a little bit of ADHD thrown in. My experience mimics many other patients who do not get diagnosed properly, if they get diagnosed at all. Hypomania often looks like normal.
I don’t know if it was growing up or going off to boarding school or college or what else, but the full-on mania came. I was hospitalized. Twice. This was partly due to my misdiagnosis of unipolar depression and subsequent treatment with antidepressants. Antidepressants like Prozac close the mechanisms in the brain that essentially “suck up” serotonin, leaving more happy neurotransmitters for the depressed person. But more serotonin in a person with bipolar can induce a manic episode. And it did.
So when I was correctly diagnosed, I felt a wave of relief wash over me, softly pulling me into the comfort of the sand bar and telling me that the storm was over. My psychiatrist, the first person other than myself, did not only acknowledge my madness, but he accepted it. And he helped me. I figured out who I am; I understood why I felt the things I felt and did the things I did for the first time.
“It is both a blessing and a curse to feel everything so very deeply.” –David Jones
Continue reading “Guest Post – Cat Davis – Four Quotes to Help You And Me Understand Bi-Polar”
Colleen’s Weekly #Poetry Challenge – my #Tanka – Calm & Wild
I’ve been scarce on social media of late as it was my daughter Natasha’s graduation this week and we had several days in Brighton enjoying the seaside and celebrating her success.
It’s been a time tinged with a touch of sadness and oodles of happiness too. Sadness that she is leaving Brighton and her much-loved university – Sussex – but happiness and promise to come. I can’t believe that it has been three years. It seems like yesterday that we dropped her off at her student accommodation. Her time at Sussex University has had its up and its downs – her first year was tough, especially as she fractured her ankle early on (just before Valentine’s day!) and she lived in a third floor flat on campus, (not a good idea on crutches) at what seemed like the furthest point from her seminar and lecture theatres. More about that here: An Unusual Valentine’s Adventure!
But, she didn’t come home; she carried on, braved it out and showed great character. I admire her resilience greatly, and couldn’t be a prouder mum!
I’m so glad she studied in Brighton, as this has meant several wonderful visits there! I have a great affinity to the sea, I’m always happiest when I can walk on a beach – even the squawking sea gulls don’t faze me!
So my Tanka this week is with that in mind, and the promising future that awaits my daughter and graduates this year. Seize those opportunities guys before the seagulls snatch ’em up!
I was particularly struck by an inspiring speech that Sussex University’s chancellor, the well-known comedian Sanjeev Baskar gave. He said that he took ten long, difficult years of struggle before he became successful. More about that here:
So don’t be disheartened if you are back home living with your parents, have a pile of debt or are not successful straight away. To begin with Sanjeev Baskar @TVSanjeev wasn’t even accepted as a student at Sussex University, but look at him now. Such inspiring food for thought.
Do comment, has your son or daughter graduated recently? Do you love the sea too?
Bye for now… much love,
My social media links:
Facebook: Authors/Bloggers Rainbow Support Club
Twitter: @Marjorie_Mallon
Twitter: @curseof_time
Fellow Administrators of our Authors Bloggers Rainbow Support Club #ABRSC on Facebook, myself, my good friends Colleen Chesebro and Debby Gies. Click on Colleen’s and Debby’s photos to be directed to their awesome blogs. These ladies rock!
GUEST POST: NATASHA MALLON – MUSIC SPOTLIGHT – WAX MACHINE
Brighton-based, seven-person band, Wax Machine brings a new kind of psychedelic folk music to the fray. With instruments such as the flute and the saxophone, Wax Machine successfully portrays an otherworldly atmosphere to their music, while the use of bass, drums, keys and the guitar ground their style, making their sound likeable to a wider target audience. On the 23rd June 2017, I was fortunate enough to be able to watch one of their live performances at The Hope and Ruin in Brighton, a vegetarian/vegan pub which hosts live events. The first of three acts to play that night (the other bands being Psychic Lemon and headliner Kikagaku Moyo), Wax Machine set the bar high with their dream-like vocals and intriguing lyrics. Many of the songs performed were brand-new originals which were well-loved by their audience. Wax Machine’s look also complimented their sound, further enhancing that psychedelic element to their music.
As expected, I highly recommend checking their music out, or coming along to one of their shows (especially if you are ever in Brighton.)
Their next show takes place at Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar on the 15th July at 19:00PM.
You can also check out their music on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/waxmachine
Band members: Isobel, Flute, vocals. Gigi, vocals. Freddie, sax, keys and vocals. Harry, keys. Willow, bass. Rose, drums. Lauro, guitar.
Images of the band courtesy of: © Abel Oberon.
Guest post by Natasha Mallon.
Previous music posts by Natasha: https://mjmallon.com/2016/08/12/sayonara-hitori-by-taemin/
and: https://mjmallon.com/2016/05/05/bts-firek-pop/
COLLEEN’S WEEKLY #POETRY CHALLENGE 41 – #HAIKU #TANKA #HAIBUN: MUSIC & ART
I couldn’t have asked for better prompt words – music and art.
Both feature as a wonderful source of inspiration in my writing. In our family, there’s always music playing – my husband is a keen guitarist and loves to strum away whenever he can. He serenades me at night in our garden…. Our next door neighbours get cranky about this! We are lucky to have a room dedicated to music with many guitars and an electronic piano too.
Creativity, Photography and Art inspire my writing to such a degree that I have decided to collaborate with one or perhaps two artists/friends to showcase the character/s, and crystal cottage that feature in my book The Curse of Time – Book 1 – Bloodstone which I intend to release late this summer. More about that to come…
One of my artist friends Catherine S. Walker had her first open studies event last weekend. My friend Timea and I had a lovely time visiting her and viewing all of her awesome art. I’d love for Catherine to create a stunning art piece of the crystal cottage that features in my book…
Take a look at Catherine’s awesome artist page on Facebook: Artist Page: Catherine S. Walker, scroll down her facebook page to see her Acrylic and Watercolour paintings and line drawings: trees, rocks, flowers and landscapes. And detailed buildings too…
So, my Tanka this week… is especially for Catherine, wishing her much success. We spent the day enjoying her art, sitting in her garden, and blowing bubbles!
My good friend Timea looked so wonderfully elegant in these photos…
Bye for now, time for a celebratory cocktail… No bubbles, just a parasol!
My social media links:
Facebook: Authors/Bloggers Rainbow Support Club
Twitter: @Marjorie_Mallon
Twitter: @curseof_time
Fellow Administrators of our Authors Bloggers Rainbow Support Club #ABRSC on Facebook, myself, my good friends Colleen Chesebro and Debby Gies. Click on Colleen’s and Debby’s photos to be directed to their awesome blogs. These ladies rock!