2021-01-27 by Karen

Book Blitz: Takakush (Genus Magica #1) by Raine Reiter @rainereiter @BookReviewTours

“A fantastic tale that weaves a spell of ancient mysticism and modern charm.” –Tim Marquitz, Author of the Demon Squad series, The Enemy of My Enemy series, and more.

When Professor Elena Lukas returns to her cozy Pacific Northwest hometown with a broken heart, she’s plunged back into the fate she tried to escape. Like her mother and grandmother before her, Elena must now dedicate her life to a powerful ancient Lithuanian goddess. Although she is prepared to live as a priestess hiding in a contemporary tourist town, she arrives to find that a series of so-called animal attacks have terrorized her forest.With the help of a handsome detective from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Elena uses her expertise in invasive and endangered species to identify that these are no normal animal attacks. The woods are stalked by a dark, mystical creature bent on ravaging the area in an attempt to quell its insatiable hunger. When her little sister goes missing, Elena realizes that the beast can only be vanquished if she is brave enough to face it in-person, embrace her identity as a high priestess, and expose her powers to the man she is growing feelings for.Raine Reiter weaves together an empowered, female-centered narrative with rich descriptions of nature and an ever-present sense of mystery. Her vivid, flowing prose takes readers of dark fantasy into a world that looks and feels real, while still evoking the enticing paranormal creativity shared by authors such as Richelle Mead and Kat Richardson.

Book Links:

Goodreads * Amazon.in * Amazon.com

Novel celebrates the pagan history of Lithuania

Celtic and Norse mythology are common themes in fantasy fiction. The dark contemporary novel, Takakush explores a different mythology, the gods and goddess of ancient Lithuania.

The Lukas family live ordinary lives in Olympia, Washington. They run a business, pay bills, and go to school. These powerful women also are avatars for four Lithuanian Goddesses. The woman channel the deity and are gifted with powers, but at a cost. The long history and fascinating customs of Lithuania inspired their story.

The last pagan country in Europe

In the late 14th century, Lithuania became the last country in Europe to adopt Christianity. The nobility embraced this new religion and the power gained from association with Rome, but the peasantry clung to their beliefs and remained pagan through the 17th century.

Over time the invading foreign priests encased folk religion in a thin veneer of Roman Catholicism. Kaleda, the pagan solstice celebration became Christmas. They reduced the traditional solstice meal of thirteen dishes honoring the moons to twelve for the disciples. Easter soon supplanted Pavasario Lyge – the spring equinox. The locals gave up a sunrise bath in a freezing river for colored eggs. Slowly incursion reduced the old ways to ancient customs, superstitions, folktales, and songs yet paganism remained deep in the Baltic cultural memory.

Pagan revival and Russian suppression

A national revival in the 19th century brought a fresh interest in Lithuanian paganism and the traditional stories, songs, and ancient pagan festivals. Romuva, a polytheistic faith honoring the sanctity of nature and worship of ancestors was resurrected.

The Soviet occupation of Lithuania in the 1940s put a stop to the nascent Lithuanian pagan movement. Romuva practitioners were executed or sent to Siberian forced labor camps. In prison these brave people continued to practice in secret.

Independence, Recognition, and Growth

The fall of the Soviet Union and Lithuanian independence, allowed Romuva communities to practice their religion in the open. Today, neo-paganism is the fastest growing religion in Lithuania with congregations in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the UK.

The novel, Takakush celebrates the Lithuanian people’s resistance and perseverance over centuries.

Author Raine Reiter weaves together an empowered, female-centered narrative with rich descriptions of nature and an ever-present sense of mystery. Her vivid, flowing prose takes readers of dark fantasy into a world that looks and feels real, while still evoking the enticing paranormal creativity shared by authors such as Richelle Mead and Kat Richardson.

Raine Reiter weaves together an empowered, female-centered narrative with rich descriptions of nature and an ever-present sense of mystery. Her vivid, flowing prose takes readers of dark fantasy into a world that looks and feels real, while still evoking the enticing paranormal creativity shared by authors such as Richelle Mead and Kat Richardson.

A fifth generation Washingtonian, Raine lives in the gloomy Pacific Northwest and wanders the rainforest with her silly spaniel, Luke.

Raine Reiter on the Web:
Facebook * Twitter * Pinterest * Goodreads * Amazon

Giveaway:

1st Prize – $10 Amazon Gift Card

2nd Prize – Paperback Copy of Takakush & a T-shirt

3rd Prize – An eBook Copy of Takakush

Entry Rules:
Enter your answers to the following questions in the Rafflecopter below:

Where did the Lukas family originally come from?

Zimbabwe
Jupiter
Lithuania
Antarctica

What is our hero, Elena Lukas’ occupation?

Butcher
Baker
Candlestick Maker
College Professor

The novel Takakush takes place in what region of the US?

The Pacific Northwest
The South
The Midwest
The Northeast

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2019-08-11 by Karen

Spotlight: The Missing Fairy Princess by Walter Salvadore Pereira

The Missing Fairy Princess by Walter Salvadore Pereira

~ Book Tour~

11th to 17th August

About the Book:

“The Missing Fairy Princess” is the story of a 16-year-old fairy princess pitted against a powerful witch. The witch has stolen a potent new mantra developed by a colleague, ruthlessly snuffing out a brilliantly innovative mind. She then hatches an elaborate plot to frame an adversary for her misdeed. Her intention is to exact sweet revenge from her foe and at the same time, get away with the theft. The victim, caught in her vicious web, is doomed to disgrace and a life sentence on a harsh penal colony. Meanwhile, the witch learns from her crystal ball, about an imminent threat from a fairy princess wearing a pink tiara. To ward off that threat she kidnaps the fairy princess, wipes her memory clean and then turns her into a two-year-old girl.

Unfortunately for the culprit, she has goofed up by kidnapping the wrong fairy princess, Merlyn, instead of Ashlyn, her twin. The mistake turns out to be the undoing of the witch because Ashlyn proves to be her nemesis. The brilliant fairy princess exposes the cobweb of misleading evidence fabricated by the witch, ultimately unmasking her.

If you love mystery, whodunit, with a dash of magical realism and sci-fi, this book is for you.

Book Links:

Goodreads * Amazon India * Amazon USA

Cleanliness

“Cleanliness” ~ a topic which has featured so prominently in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speeches whenever he addressed gatherings across the country, Swachh Bharat!

Despite the rigorous drive by the central government, it is disheartening that except in small pockets, the larger picture that emerges is that there has been no appreciable improvement.

Why is it so difficult to inculcate the habit of cleanliness in us Indians? This question gives rise to a plethora of others. Is it inborn and so deep-rooted that it has become uncorrectable? Have we been always like this and have fallen into a rut!

Certainly, not! History attests that for bygone centuries India had an unblemished record as a much admired country. Our hospitality matched our wealth and surroundings. Our famed structures like Taj Mahal and Qutub Minar attracted visitors from all over the world, praising our land. Given such a glorious background, how does one explain the degeneration to present abysmal depths?

Also, one mustn’t forget that the issues of overall cleanliness and environment damage although distinctly separate, are definitely correlated. One has to take a look at the pathetic condition of our famed river of Ganga which at places reeks of raw sewage, despite 22,000 crores claimed to have been spent during the last four years. In Mumbai, the Mithi river has been reduced to an open sewer and is an eye sore, again after humongous amounts of public money supposedly spent on cleaning it.

Those born in 30’s and 40’s would agree with me that the conditions in those days weren’t as pathetic like those one sees today. There is a plausible theory that the industrialization was the cause of the fast deterioration. If that indeed is the case, then it inevitably gives rise to a serious question; one of dereliction of duty. Unquestionably, the finger of blame points squarely at the watchdog authorities, including the governments at the centre and the states. Were they so consumed in their eternal fights for power that ‘minor’ issues such as the blatant environment damage taking place so openly all over the country, were ignored overriding the persistent grave warnings from the environmentalists. In the process, some of those politicians succeeded in turning the national calamity to their advantage, abetting the defaulters by fraudulent means by lining their own pockets.

I am sure we could discuss this issue for hours, but at the end, it would emerge as a classic example of the ‘fence feeding on the crop’! The present policy of the ‘carrot and stick’ hardly has shown a worthwhile improvement. It seems imperative that sterner and punitive measures are called for.

I cannot resist the temptation of quoting an interesting anecdote. There is the proven case of a tiny state in the Far East which was struggling to come to terms with filth and squalour and a true visionary leader transformed it into a country which is now proud of its environmental achievements. Many years ago, a visitor stepped out of the International Airport and even as he was looking for a cab, succumbed to the habit of spitting. In the blink of an eye, a marshal materialized and gave the man a receipt for 500 dollars in local currency, pointing to a prominent notice prohibiting spitting. Apparently, there was further misery in store for the despondent visitor. Another marshal handed him a pail and a groom and ordered him to clean a stretch of around 100 feet as a token punishment.

There is a colloquial saying that you cannot expect one’s hand to produce the results what a stick alone can do. May be it is time for our authorities to shift gears and adopt tougher legislation to discipline the legions of errant citizens blatantly spitting and littering. Many years ago, it was a common sight to see people urinating at dark corners, with the result one had to block one’s nostrils while passing such stinking spots. Subsequently, someone came up with a brilliant idea of putting up ceramic tiles with the picture of prominent deities at such places, the results were noteworthy. Unfortunately, the idea didn’t have the desired results in curbing spitting.

Mere sloganeering will not help! The change has to take place at the grassroots level. The parents and teachers have a greater role to play in moulding the young minds. A recent advertisement on TV comes to mind where a child sees her mother throw a wrapper in a park and replicates it later at a public place. The rebuke from mother has the kid saying the former did exactly the same thing in the park, causing acute embarrassing as well as realization of her folly in the mother. It pains one to see even educated youngsters indulging in wanton littering from the trains, buses or cars involving plastic bottles, wrappers and plastic sachets with little regard to the environmental damage they are causing. That also applies to the disgusting habit of spitting which we have formed maybe due to of our pan-chewing habit.

I can recall yet another significant effect of the role of the teacher. My granddaughter was in the first grade then. One day we saw her coming home inconsolable, tears rolling down her cheeks even though she had left her class a good 10-15 minutes earlier. The reason as it transpired was that the teacher has explained to the class how unscrupulous builder were irresponsibly cutting down trees to make way for new buildings, thereby destroying what the nature has taken centuries to build. Such was the impact on the young mind of a five-year-old that she was prepared to take part into a demonstration against the errant builders.

Precious moments are ticking and with every passing minute, the mankind is racing towards an inevitable tryst with doom. The nature sounded a number of loud warnings, but if we stupidly continue to ignore them, we would be dropping the proverbial axe on our own feet.

About the Author:

After spending over 25 years in the Middle East, the author, aged 75, now leads a retired life. He lives with his wife and son in Thane, near Mumbai. He has been passionate about writing from his early days. His first book was a fast-paced sci-fi novel titled “This Nightmare is for Real”, was self-published. That was followed by a historical fiction titled “Bheem – The Sage of Madhavpur”, again a self-publication. A third book, a fairy tale titled “The Missing Fairy Princess” which was published on Kindle Select during the first week of June 2019, while a fourth on the oft-discussed topic of cross-border terrorism titled “The Carnivore has a Heart” is slated for publication shortly thereafter again on Kindle Select.

Contact the Author:

Facebook * Twitter * Website

2018-09-20 by Karen

From Child Scribbler to Global Success: Art Inspiration in ‘Connectedness’ @SandraDanby

Connectedness is the story of Justine Tree, a globally successful artist who goes in search of the daughter she gave away when she was an art student. To get an idea of Justine’s success think Tracey Emin, Paula Rego, Tacita Dean, Phyllida Barlow. Key to Justine’s story is the risk she takes in searching for her lost daughter. She has built her career, her public image, her reputation, on baring her emotions for the world to see, of searching the depths of her soul and putting it into her art. Except she has been hiding a large secret for twenty-seven years.

In order to understand the adult Justine, I had to know how she started out as an artist. So I set her childhood in a location I know well, the East Yorkshire coastline where I also grew up. There are two key influences at this stage of her life.

The first, Pablo Picasso, is mentioned by her father when her attempt to draw a pigeon is proving a challenge:

The woodie was getting restless in his box in front of the Rayburn. He could move his wing and her mother was making noises about him being shifted from the kitchen to the shed. Justine wanted him to get well and fly again, but she wanted to keep him too. So far she had thirty-three sketches of him. On Saturday the touring library van arrived, and she quickly found a book about Pablo Picasso. She flicked through the illustrations and found one of a dove, but it was not what she expected. It was a black line drawing on a white background. Pigeons weren’t white. Davy Jones was mostly grey with a pink breast and two white patches where his collarbones would be, if birds had collarbones. Justine made a mental note to ask her father.

She closed the book with a bang.

‘Are you all right, dear?’ The lady who drove the library van was sitting at the tiny desk where she kept the wooden box in which were stored everyone’s library cards. They were little envelopes, really – blue for children, red for adults – into which the library lady slipped the ticket for each book borrowed. When you returned the book, the ticket was put back into the book, which was returned to the shelf.

‘Are you searching for something in particular?’

Justine was standing beside the adult section of the bookshelf, out of bounds to children.

‘I’m trying to find out about Picasso because my dad said he drew a pigeon and I’ve got a pigeon. Davy Jones.’ She waited for a reaction.

‘Davy Jones,’ she said again, ‘like the Monkee. The English one.’

There was no sign of recognition on the library lady’s face.

She started to sing ‘Hey Hey We’re the Monkees’, including some dance moves popular in the playground. The library lady did not smile. Justine stopped dancing.

‘He’s not a pet, he’s wild. But he’s injured and I’m trying to make him better. But,’ she held up the Picasso book, ‘this isn’t a drawing of a pigeon. It’s white.’

Maybe Picasso didn’t draw a pigeon after all, or maybe it wasn’t Picasso who drew it but another artist altogether. But her father was always right. He knew everything about birds: where swallows went in the winter; why owls sicked-up their poo; why a woodpecker’s beak didn’t break with all that hammering.

‘Well now, let’s have a look.’

They both leant over the page, studying the illustration.

‘Yes, I see what you mean. This is actually a print, a lithograph. The title is French for dove; it’s called ‘La Colombe’. Picasso made it in 1949 when he drew another very famous dove picture, ‘La Paloma’, which is also sometimes called ‘The Dove of Peace’. I know it’s confusing; two pictures of doves, made in the same year, one title in French and one in Spanish. But, you see, although he was born in Spain Picasso has lived in France for many years.’

The second influence on the young Justine is a real place, the Ferens Art Gallery in Hull. Justine visits on a school trip and is disappointed with the absence of Picasso works hanging on the walls. When she finds a picture of a tiger, it makes her reconsider what she is looking at:-

Justine trailed from room to room without a glance at her questionnaire or her study partner Susan Pratt. Painting after painting, wall after wall, room by room, it all seemed the same to her. Just like those sea paintings in the library at Brid. Dark brown and grey. Ships tossing on the sea. Fishermen pulling in nets. Mariners shipwrecked. And then she turned a corner into another room. It was empty of people; just four paintings but dominated by the largest. At first it made her think of a tiger, with a large eye, and green-striped fur. Then she thought it was a paper cut-out of a tiger, laid flat, like the dresses you could cut out of Twinkle magazine with tabs to attach to the body of the paper girl. Then she wasn’t sure at all what the painting was of, except that it definitely wasn’t a shipwreck. She read the small plaque on the wall. It read: ‘The Archer by Eileen Agar, 1967.’ That was all.

I was seven when this was painted.

She took three paces backwards and, with her arms folded and fingers neatly tucked in, studied the painting. Then with her sketch pad and best HB pencil, specially sharpened last night, she sat on the polished floor opposite the painting, her back leaning against the wall. She thought there was probably a rule saying ‘no sitting on floors’ but had purposely avoided reading any signs so, if caught, she could honestly say she didn’t know it wasn’t allowed.

‘The Archer’ had two outlines, one inside the other, which she drew. Each had shapes that were a bit like legs, a head, a mane. The outer shape was solid black and was the shape she imagined an animal skin would be if it was cut off the animal and laid out flat like a rug. What a disgusting thought. Surely that couldn’t be right. She concentrated on the inner shape. She sketched in the green tiger-patterned parts, though now she wondered if it was meant to be grass. At the top left, where the animal’s eye should be, there was a daisy.

She stopped and examined what she had done.

That’s not right.

She tore the page out of the pad, folded it into two once, again, and again, and then slotted it in at the back.

This time, she decided to really study the painting. To wait before drawing anything. To see what she could see.

She could see a tiger.

About ‘Connectedness’

TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD, ARTIST JUSTINE TREE HAS IT ALL… BUT SHE ALSO HAS A SECRET THAT THREATENS TO DESTROY EVERYTHING

Justine’s art sells around the world, but does anyone truly know her? When her mother dies, she returns to her childhood home in Yorkshire where she decides to confront her past. She asks journalist Rose Haldane to find the baby she gave away when she was an art student, but only when Rose starts to ask difficult questions does Justine truly understand what she must face.

Is Justine strong enough to admit the secrets and lies of her past? To speak aloud the deeds she has hidden for 27 years, the real inspiration for her work that sells for millions of pounds. Could the truth trash her artistic reputation? Does Justine care more about her daughter, or her art? And what will she do if her daughter hates her?

This tale of art, adoption, romance and loss moves between now and the Eighties, from London’s art world to the bleak isolated cliffs of East Yorkshire and the hot orange blossom streets of Málaga, Spain.

A family mystery for fans of Maggie O’Farrell, Lucinda Riley, Tracy Rees and Rachel Hore.

About the ‘Identity Detective’ series

Rose Haldane reunites the people lost through adoption. The stories you don’t see on television shows. The difficult cases. The people who cannot be found, who are thought lost forever. Each book in the ‘Identity Detective’ series considers the viewpoint of one person trapped in this horrible dilemma. In the first book of the series, Ignoring Gravity, it is Rose’s experience we follow as an adult discovering she was adopted as a baby. Connectedness is the story of a birth mother and her longing to see her baby again. Sweet Joy, the third novel, will tell the story of a baby abandoned during The Blitz.

Author Bio

Sandra Danby is a proud Yorkshire woman, tennis nut and tea drinker. She believes a walk on the beach will cure most ills. Unlike Rose Haldane, the identity detective in her two novels, Ignoring Gravity and Connectedness, Sandra is not adopted.

Author Links

Ignoring Gravity and Connectedness at Amazon

Author website

Twitter @SandraDanby

Facebook

Goodreads