The Story Behind Miracle Man: Guest Post by William R. Leibowitz

by Carol2 Comments
Today I'm happy to welcome the author of Miracle Man, William R. Leibowitz, to my blog. You may have read the excerpt from his book I posted last month. The Story Behind Miracle Man by William R. Liebowitz What inspired me to write Miracle Man? Three things, really. Firstly, I wanted to tell a story about a real hero—not a celebrity, but a person who treasures and acts on important human values. A person who, in fact, is an anti-celebrity, in the sense that he pursues his selfless goals in virtual isolation. I think such a person would be inspirational in the times we live in –where baseless fame has seemingly become the chief goal of so many. The protagonist in Miracle Man, Robert James Austin, uses his extraordinary gifts selflessly to cure diseases. He doesn’t want adulation. He doesn’t want his picture to be on magazine covers and T-Shirts. In my opinion, too much time and attention is heaped upon meritless celebrities who contribute...
Read More

Grim Shadows by Jenn Bennet

by Carol4 Comments
I have to admit that at first I was a bit annoyed with the male lead, Lowe Magnusson. When he first meets Hadley Bacall, he just keeps going on and on about her rear-end. Thankfully he eventually moved on to noticing her as a person. And they are a good match. Lowe is a con-artist, liar and a thief, but he has a truly good heart. Who doesn't love that type of bad boy, the kind that's just bad enough to be interesting but isn't going to intentionally hurt the people he cares about? Hadley has spent her life proving she's worthy and trying to keep her spirits at bay. Because they do want to kill someone, they're just waiting for her to get angry enough to let them. And she comes close - Lowe is quite good at pushing people's buttons. While this is a romance, Lowe and Hadley are also on a mission. They need to collect the pieces of an artifact, but...
Read More

Fitness Tuesday #12

by Carol2 Comments
Here's my plan, more or less. (SS stands for strength training/stretching; CT stands for cross-training) Since last check-in, I've been a bit of a failure, but I'm going to move on to Week 11 anyway. Tuesday I took the dog for a mile walk in the afternoon and in the evening I ran four miles at a pace of 10:46 min/mile. I was going to do a little stretching and dumbbells in bed - not a good idea. When my husband came in I was asleep with the dumbbells lying on my stomach. Oh well. Wednesday I ran out of time, but I did do 30-min of the machines at the gym on Thursday, all arms. I was going to back in the evening to do 60 mins of CT, but I ended up walking with my friend in the evening instead. We were out of town over the weekend and I just totally skipped my Friday and Sunday runs. Monday I took the dog for a...
Read More

Feature & Follow Friday 10/03/2014

by Carol2 Comments
Question of the Week: Book looks - Your favorite fashions from the books you've read - Suggested by Go Book Yourself I'm told my husband and daughter picture books in their head as they read them, almost like a movie I think. I don't. This is a tough question because I don't really see the outfits as I read about them. In general, though, I love the Victorian gowns and the '20s flapper look. Feature and Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read. The goal of the hop is to gain new followers and make new friends. All my "follow me" links are on the sidebar....
Read More

Thursday’s Tale: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

by Carol4 Comments
I know "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is not actually a folk tale, but it has become so familiar to us, so much a part of our culture, that I think it still fits in my rather loose Thursday Tales collection. I've read the story of the schoolmaster, Ichabod Crane several times and I love the descriptions of the area and the locals. It really sets the stage for the story. They are given to all kinds of marvelous beliefs, are subject to trances and visions, and frequesntly see strange sights and hear music and voices in  the air. The whole neighborhood abounds with local tales, haunted spots, and twilight superstitions; stars shoot and meteors glare oftener across the valley than in any other part of the country, and the nightmare, with her whole ninefold, seems to make it the favorite scene of her gambols. The dominant spirit however that haunts this enchanted region, and seems to be commander-in-chief of all the...
Read More