It’s a pleasure to be part of Sally Cronin‘s Blog Sitting Special while she’s off celebrating her birthday with her sisters in England. There will be many more hosts throughout the week, so do stop by and enjoy the variety of posts she has lined up for our edification in her absence 💜
Category Archives: Books
Guest #Author #Jan Sikes
I’m delighted to feature Jan Sikes on my blog today. Jan is a dear friend and multi-award winning author of five books.
Find Jan’s books here and here.
With the publication of each book, Jan also releases a CD of original songs appropriate to the story’s time period, because “the stories revolve and evolve around a passion for music.”
Jan lost her husband, friend, and soulmate in 2009. Her novels are “true stories about the journey of two people moving through adversity in order to grow and learn to become better humans.”
Featured below are a back cover blurb and short synopsis of two of Jan’s books, along with my review of the first.
Back Cover Blurb
With empty pockets and a heart full of dreams Luke Stone leaves behind the nightmare of fifteen long years in Leavenworth prison, not giving it a backward glance.
Eyes firmly on the future, he boards a Greyhound bus bound for Texas…for freedom…for the one who holds his heart. The unjust conviction no longer matters and revenge haunts him no more. Darlina Flowers, the woman who takes his breath away, waits ahead and with her by his side, nothing can stop him.
He is headed HOME AT LAST.
Short Synopsis
When Luke Stone gains freedom from prison, he heads home to Texas, to family and to the woman he loves. Though his pockets are empty, his heart is full – full of hopes, dreams and plans. He knows it won’t be easy starting over with nothing, but he believes in the power of positive thinking and hard work.
Darlina Flowers has spent her entire adult life waiting to be Mrs. Luke Stone. She’s never been more ready than now to welcome Luke home, into her arms and into her bed.
Trying to carve out a new life for their little family proves to be a challenge. At times Darlina wonders if she’s strong enough to be the woman Luke needs.
Together, they face extreme hardships from poverty to a near fatal heart-attack. None of it is easy, but their love is mighty.
My review 
One of the elements that makes Jan Sikes’ novels compelling is that they’re autobiographical. I was so moved by her second book, The Convict and the Rose, that I knew the third book would prove equally poignant.
Luke Stone is finally released after spending 15 grueling years behind bars for something he didn’t do. Darlina Flowers meets him at the bus station, filled with anticipation and hope for the life together that was denied them when Luke was imprisoned. With little money and no home of their own, their deep and resolute love determines to imbue their lives — and the lives of Darlina’s 2 young daughters — with joy and meaning.
Austerity greets them head-on, but Luke and Darlina never fail to ride the waves with conviction. They remain focused on carving out a better future and seldom look back on past obstacles or tragedies. Damaged and awkward family relationships in need of renewal are handled with warmth, hope, determination, and a sprinkling of raw veracity. When problems threaten to sabotage their happiness or undermine their stability, their solid love for one another always helps them prevail. The adversity they’re forced to deal with would crush a less immutable nature. But Luke and Darlina’s firm resolve, tenacity, and enduring love see them through the hard times as well as embellish the joyful times.
This review might read like that of a fairy tale, but the characters depicted are real people, and this is their story. It’s both tragic and triumphant. It exhibits the depth the human spirit can reach in order to not only survive, but also thrive. It exemplifies the long-held truth that believing makes it so. Energy follows thought. And Luke and Darlina show us how to manifest our heart’s desire.
Back Cover Blurb
Over the course of Luke Stone’s life, he’s been everything from a simple farm boy to a singing star, from a convict to a family man.
Only one woman has managed to keep his out-of-kilter world on track. When Darlina Flowers danced her way into his heart so many years ago, he never dreamed she’d stick by him through the best and worst.
He should be satisfied. Yet, the lifelong dream he harbors deep in his heart – the dream of making music again – won’t let him rest. He grabs at one more chance to prove that he still has what it takes.
But, Luke’s body is failing him and he faces catastrophic changes that might end more than his re-born music career; they may end his life. He’s more determined than ever to provide for his family and share the music in his heart with them and the world in the days he has left.
In the dead of night when the world is silent and still, the forlorn hoot of an owl, his spirit animal, sends a warning up his spine too strong to ignore.
Will fate allow him to sing his last song?
Short Synopsis
Things for Luke and Darlina finally start to get a little easier. Luke is writing and performing music again and this time, Darlina is participating with him. He’s even going into the studio to record a new CD. And just when it looks like he will have a shot at another music career, he suffers a leg amputation and winds up in a wheel chair.
But, Luke doesn’t let anything keep him down. He and Darlina continue to find ways to make lemons out of lemonade. Together they are writing songs and pitching them everywhere they can. Luke opens a music store and begins to teach students to play guitar.
Luke is compelled to leave behind a legacy for Darlina and for his family. He won’t let anything stop him…until it does.
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Join Luke and Darlina on an emotional and powerful tale of the life they build together and feel inspired at their determination to wring the most out of every minute they are given. Love is an elixir like none other and they find there is an endless supply in their hearts, even in death.
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I hope you enjoyed learning more about Jan and her books. Please visit her sites, like and share. Thank you so much for stopping by ❤
Jan’s Sites: Website Blog Twitter Facebook Pinterest Amazon
I threw a little teaspoon
The imagery in this short poem is exquisite. Visit Kate McClelland‘s blog and let your imagination run wild . . . or balance on the toss of a spoon . . . whichever is your pleasure 🙂
I threw a little teaspoon
I threw a little teaspoon into the kitchen sink.
It landed in a cereal bowl that bobbed on the surface of the hot soapy water
It lay there like the Lady of Shalott in her dying throes
I saw that little teaspoon
Floating in a sea of suds in perpetuity.
Then I saw myself adrift in a boat on a blue lake far away
With mountains, trees wild flowers and untamed creatures for company
And I suddenly envied the spoon
Kate McClelland c 2017
Meet Guest Author Colin Chappell…
A #Dog After My Own Heart . . .
Ray Chappell, beloved canine companion of Colin Chappell, charmed his way into Colin’s heart and home, despite being insecure. Colin tells us the tail-wagging tale in his guest post on The Story Reading Ape 🙂
I am Colin Chappell and was bitten by a German Shepherd at 14, which established a strong dislike of dogs for the next 40 years or so. Then I met a dog lover and we eventually became a couple, but without dogs!
In late 2012, I decided that perhaps I could find a place in my life for a dog and so started talking to our local Humane Society. I decided that yes, I would adopt a dog, and I wanted a large, very self assured, cuddly, openly affectionate and domesticated dog!
However, while I was planning on adopting a dog, there was a dog (Ray) planning on adopting me… and his plans were clearly better than mine as he moved in with us in March 2013!
Ray is a German Shepherd / Rottweiler. He was very insecure; was afraid of anything that moved and would lung and bark to…
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#Author Interview: SallyCronin
Sally Cronin is a prolific author and blogger, a nutritional therapist, an ardent supporter of indie authors, and has worked on radio and Internet television as producer and presenter. She is originally from England but has lived and worked all over the World. Her books can be purchased through Amazon US, Amazon UK, and Moyhill Publishing. I’m thrilled to feature her as my guest today, as we celebrate the launch of her new book.
Buy Sally’s books HERE and HERE
Welcome, Sally!
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Thank you so much, Tina, for this lovely invitation to join you today. I am only sorry it is not in person, but perhaps that might happen this year.
I’m hoping we’ll meet up at the Bloggers Bash, Sally. Keeping my fingers crossed. In the meantime . . .
Tell us a little about yourself. I am a 64-year-old explorer. I 
have done the tough bits on the knees climbing mountains in reality and have climbed a few metaphorical ones too. Great life, wonderful people and a sense that there is always something more to come. Adore reading and writing and cannot imagine doing anything else. I have been married to David for 37 years. He is my partner in life and in my work. He makes me laugh, likes the same movies that I do, loves books and keeps me grounded. Can’t ask for more than that.
What is the title and genre of your latest book? Who published it? We have just published What’s in a Name, which is the first volume of 20 short stories that feature men and women in alphabetical order. One for Anne and one for Alexander. The first volume goes up to the letter J and includes tales of loss, murder, revenge, romance, rebirth and a couple of ghosts. Something for everyone I hope. I am self-published under our own label, Moyhill Publishing.
You have written in several different genres. What motivates you to write? I believe that I have always been a good communicator. My mother tells me I was talking out of turn at a very early age! Most of my jobs relied on good communication, both oral and written, especially when managing large teams. I was writing songs and poems from the age of ten or eleven, which coincided with my thirst for reading; not just fiction but also non-fiction books, particularly about animals and adventure. That balance of the two crept into my writing and motivates me to share subjects of interest to me, as well as ones that are a product of my imagination.
How do you write – outline or free flow? Both I would think. For my novels, I would outline the chapters and what I am planning to cover in each of them, and then flesh out the characters and the major events and locations etc. For my short stories, I tend to write them in my head first; and when I have them more or less complete, I sit down and put them on paper. I may make a change as it flows, but invariably it stays true to the image in my head.
How do you schedule your time between writing and keeping your
physical life together? Both David and I are what some might call workaholics. When we went freelance 15 years ago, we had to put the hours in across our various projects to make ends meet. Neither of us has ever been a 9-to-5 person. But lines have to be drawn to avoid being in a stressed environment. I have worked out strategies that work for me with regard to combining an active online routine and my own projects. But we take healthy breaks during the day for exercise and meals, and if something slips by . . . Well, it is not life threatening.
What fostered your love of animals? Growing up, we either had a cat or a dog. I have been on the receiving end of their unconditional love since then. This includes my own dogs and cats who have shared my home in the last forty years. I have had three Rough Collies – Sasha, Sabre and Sam – and several feral cats who have adopted me. Once you have experienced that kind of unconditional devotion, it becomes impossible not to love and respect all animal life.
What inspires you most in life? You made me think quite a bit about this, Tina.
I am not really motivated by money as long as the bills are paid and there is some left over to buy books, movies, the odd trip out for a meal; oh, and a little retail therapy from time to time.
I think what inspires me most are the people around me who smile at my writing or are moved by it. The feedback I receive online and in person motivates me to do more and to do it better.
Have you ever had a paranormal experience? I have had several strange encounters. When I was a young manager of a steak house, I used to do a stock take late Sunday nights to reconcile meals sold and remaining stock. I would go through the bars and kitchen and basement storage and then to an attic room to do the figures. I would be sitting there for about ten minutes when the hair on the back of my neck would stand on end and I would feel that someone was looking at me intensely. I found out from one of our oldest regulars that the first owner of this big Victorian house had starved 
his wife to death in the attic. There have been a couple of other incidents; stories for another time.
Aside from your lovely eclectic blog, what are your plans for 2017?
I am planning on doing more reading and have freed up time at the weekend to do so. It is my first love, even before writing. And last year, with our move and work on the house, everything took a back seat. I also want to get another four books finished that are sitting in my files glaring at me; two nonfiction and two fiction. I think that will keep me out of mischief for the time being. Well, perhaps not!
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Thank you so much, Tina, for allowing me to share the things I love doing with you and your readers. I value your incredible friendship beyond measure.
You’re most welcome, Sally. It’s been a pleasure having you as my guest. We’ve learned a little more about you, which always delights fellow authors, as we tend to have an insatiable curiosity about the face behind the name on the books we love to read. I treasure your friendship and am blessed to have you in my life.
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Connect with Sally: Blog Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Amazon US Amazon UK Moyhill Publishing
I hope you enjoyed learning more about Sally, her writing process, and her books. Please visit her sites, like and share.
Thank you so much for stopping by ❤
Meet Guest Author Steve Boseley…
Author Steve Boseley introduces himself on The Story Reading Ape today, giving Stephen King and Stephen Colbert a run for their money. Don’t believe me? I dare you to read his post without cringing and laughing ~ not necessarily in that order and probably not at the same time 🙂
Everything you always wanted to know about me, but didn’t care enough to ask.
If you are looking for horror fiction that is chock-full to the brim with werewolves and zombies, I’m probably not your man. I write horror (amongst other things) that people can (hopefully) relate to. If pressed, I would say I write horror that takes the ordinary and mundane and makes it extraordinary and fantastic. I want to write about people like you and me that are dragged towards the edges of their reality and shown what lies just beyond.
Hello. I’m Steve, and I’m an author (AA is Authors Anonymous, right?).
I started writing as a much younger man, but lost my way when life interjected. Children, house, bills, health. But isn’t that always the way? I found my way back to writing several years ago and it feels like a familiar place. There are good…
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Meet Guest Author A.C. Flory…
Author A.C. Flory is a guest on The Story Reading Ape, where she refers to the rhythm and flow in our writing as the “hidden ‘soundtrack’ to the action.” Being a musician and songwriter, this struck a chord in me ~ no pun intended ~ maybe 🙂
“Hi, my name is Andrea, and I’m a writer,” she said, stumbling over her words.
That’s me, A.C. Flory, science fiction writer and introvert extraordinaire. I’m not stereotypically shy, and if you ask me about one of my passions, I’ll happily chew your ear off, but talking about myself and my writing still feels…odd. Perhaps that’s why I didn’t start writing fiction until I was forty-eight.
I may have been a late bloomer when it came to storytelling, but reading was another matter entirely. I began reading for pleasure when I was eight, and by twelve I’d read Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment…and loved it. Before anyone gets too excited, I have to point out that education was very different back then, especially in the Catholic school system. We were expected to be really good at ‘reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmetic’ by the time we reached the end of primary…
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Meet Guest Author Pamela D. Beverly…
Author Pamela D. Beverly is a guest on The Story Reading Ape today, recalling our pre-tech days, which ~ I realized while reading her humorous post ~ weren’t that long ago! I, too, went from pencil to pen to manual typewriter. Geez, where has the time gone . . . 🙂
Anyone over 30 seems to get written off these days as an old geezer, which is kind of ironic and funny to me. The music accompanying TV commercials to present-day TV shows and movies are chock-full of retreads, ahem, reboots they’re called by the younger generation.
Wedge-heeled shoes that women wear in the summer aka espadrilles (uh, we did that).
Horn-rimmed aka Clark Kent eyeglasses (“Birth control glasses” are what we called them when I was in basic training in the Air Force. If you wore eyeglasses, you were issued a pair. And trust me, they weren’t considered cool back in the day, especially for those of us women that were forced to wear them if we wanted to see. Yikes! I didn’t even wear them in my basic training photo. Who knew that they’d actually come back into style one day? I sure didn’t! And really, I have to admit, they were even…
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Rejection: the Ultimate Teacher – Guest Post by author Tina Frisco…
Thank you to Chris Graham, The Story Reading Ape, for hosting me on his blog and for his steadfast support of authors 💖
Image courtesy of Lucie Stastkova
Rejection comes in many forms, from many places, and is very painful. What makes rejection so devastating? What causes us to react in a particular way? How can we use rejection to our advantage?
On a purely instinctual level, rejection threatens to extinguish our life force by depriving us of vital nourishment. No being can truly thrive without some measure of love and acceptance.
Rejection devastates when we attach our personal worth to someone or something outside of ourselves. Feeling worthy only when liked and accepted by those with whom we engage sets the stage for rejection.
When feeling disliked or ignored by another, it’s wise to step back and view that person’s behavior as a mirror our own subconscious. Often the things we don’t like in ourselves are reflected back to us by others, giving us an opportunity to examine what…
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Guest Post Reblog: Returning Author #Tina Frisco
Author Allan Hudson has kindly hosted me on his blog for a return visit to talk about my new novel, Vampyrie. I want to thank Allan for his continued support. Please visit his sites and follow, like, and share.
Blog Amazon Facebook Twitter Google+
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The Scribbler is happy to have Tina Frisco return as a guest this week. She lives in California and is a very generous participant, not only in sharing her thoughts about her own writing as well as advice on being an author. She is a relentless promoter of other authors as well.
This is Tina’s second visit to SBS. She talks about her latest work and shares an excerpt from her novel, Vampyrie. Her first visit can be seen here.
Her links are below.
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First let me say that Vampyrie is not your typical vampire novel. It’s 
based in science and brings the myth of the vampire into the realm of possibility. Although Vampyrie is not part of a series, two primary characters from my first novel, Plateau, play major roles. In this excerpt, Phoebe, the protagonist in Vampyrie, has just met one of these characters in the catacombs. W’Hyani has told Phoebe that she’s there looking for her mate who didn’t return home to their village after his vision quest. Phoebe is in the catacombs searching for two of her friends who went missing. She’s sure they were abducted and brought to this infernal domain. Coming from two different cultures, Phoebe and W’Hyani had a bit of an awkward introduction; but the gifts they exchanged and their common goal quickly united them.
Abyss of Doom
Phoebe and W’Hyani walked stealthily side by side, each keeping close to the tunnel wall and holding her torch in her outer hand. It seemed they’d been walking forever with no end in sight.
“It can’t be much farther,” Phoebe whispered.
“Look; a forked tongue.” W’Hyani pointed up ahead. “We have been walking in a circle.”
“Are you sure?”
“I am certain. Follow me and I will show you.” They hadn’t walked five yards when she extended her torch to the right. “Do you see? It is the other side of the passage.”
Hoping W’Hyani was wrong, Phoebe walked a few more yards and stepped into the same large open area from where she’d started. “Damn it!” She clamped her hand over her mouth. Cursing doesn’t lend itself to whispering.
“We have taken the wrong path. We must now walk into the wind.”
Feeling a cool breeze blowing from the west arm of the main tunnel, Phoebe assumed it was the direction to which W’Hyani referred. It also was the direction she should have taken instead of diverting to the smaller passage.
W’Hyani laid her torch on the ground and turned toward Phoebe.
“Give to me the feather. You must wear it. It will give you much
strength.”
TINA FRISCO 
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