Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Sins of the Father NBtM

Blurb:
As Hannah recovers from emergency brain and heart surgery, memories of the past overtake her dreams with such clarity they cannot be denied. As the last of the painful family secrets come to light it's up to her brother, Doctor Richard Mason, and his unconventional methods to help her confront the ugliness.


Excerpt:
"If this doesn't work, she should sue you." Spaulding intoned as he turned on the hall light and advised Mason of the room's layout.  "Ok, look, the room is sort of 'U' shaped, the bed is in the middle of the room, Sister Cynthia built a fire in the hearth at the foot of the bed and there's a chair in a corner that's out of the way."

"Good. You wait until I start to walk in. You come in right behind me and get to the chair. Try not to let her see you."

"Oh, of course," Spaulding said in a mocking tone, "we wouldn't want her to think there was someone there to actually help her."

"Exactly." Mason returned in a deadpan voice. "There never was so why should there be now?"  He fiddled with the tie at his neck, smoothed his hair back one more time before putting the pipe to his lips and lighting it.  He stoked it hard filling the area with thick sweet smoke.  "Show time."

Hannah was in a light doze on the bed when the door opened.
The room was glowing a soft red/orange and she could only see the silhouette of someone standing in the doorway with the hall light behind them.  It looked like a man, he had a cane in one hand and…

A swirl of sweet smoke came from his mouth and drifted toward the ceiling as it wafted into the room.

"D-d-…Daddy?"

"What'r you doin', girl?"

Part of her told her that he was dead….buried….long fuckin' gone.  The other part told her she couldn't deny her own eyes and ears.  It reminded her that she hadn't gone to his funeral, hadn't seen his dead body, and watched it lowered into the cold, cold, ground.  Maybe they lied to her. Maybe he was alive and coming into her room.  "Tttt…tired, Daddy."  Hannah pulled the covers all the way up to her chin as she watched him make his way into the room. "I---I—I, don't…feel…well. Sick."

"Lazy's more like it, ain't that right, girl?"



Top 10 Reasons Writing is Like Gardening
By Lisa Beth Darling

1-You have to plan it out. You must look at your yard (or your blank page) and envision what your garden (or book) will contain, how it will look, what fruits it might bear.

2-You have to dig it up. Yes, you get out there (or in there) and break your back with a shovel or a tiller if you're lucky enough to have one. You carefully carve out the edges and then really get in there to dredge it all up.


3-For a while you stand back and look at your hard work continuing to see the end result only in your mind. Perhaps you walk around in the freshly tilled earth barefoot to feel the dirt between your toes.


4-You carefully pick your plants (your characters). You might get them from a gardening center or someplace else where they originated outside of your care or you might plant them from seed. Either way, they are yours and you cultivate them with love and care.


5-You plant them in your new garden. You water them well. You watch them grow. You talk to them. You encourage them and tell them how beautiful they are. You cry when they don't do very well. You rejoice when they grow strong.


6-You weed them. Endlessly. You weed. Every day it seems you're out there under the hot sun, down on your hands and knees digging in the dirt pulling out things that don't belong, things that suck the nutrients from the plants you're trying to hard to grow and, most of all, things you just don't want. 


7-You feed them, you give them all of your time and energy along with a heaping dose of fertilizer to keep them going strong.


8-By midsummer you marvel at the lush greenery with its bright beautiful flowers and its ripening fruits. Perhaps you pick some flowers to bring inside and keep close to you for inspiration.


9-You weed some more.


10-At the end of the season, you carefully harvest your fully ripened plants and indulge yourself in the fruits of your labor holding in your hands a hard won victory that makes you smile. Perhaps you even share them with friends and neighbors who will also enjoy them.




February 3: Rogue's Angels
February 10: Author C.A.Milson
February 10: Lynn Crandall
February 17: Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
February 17: Edgar's Books
February 24: SolaFide Book Club
February 24: Sharing Links and Wisdom
March 2: Lisa Haselton's Reviews and Interviews
March 9: Two Ends of the Pen 
March 16: Books Direct
March 23: T's Stuff
March 30: Stormy Nights Reviewing and Bloggin' - review only
March 30: A Writer's Life
April 6: Independent Authors
April 13: Straight from the Library
April 20: Long and Short Reviews


Author Bio and Links:
It was in the 4th grade when Lisa Beth Darling discovered she was a naturally gifted writer. For her very first creative writing assignment, the teacher asked the class to pen a story about a baby bird's first flight and read them to the class. Putting pencil to paper, Lisa was instantly whisked away by a force she couldn't explain. When they were finished, all of the children read their happy stories to the class. Not Lisa. She got up and told of how the baby bird flew too high, hit a plane, crashed to the ground and died. She told of how the mama bird and daddy bird cried of how even God was upset sending the rains pouring from the sky. The class was speechless when she finished all they could do was stare at her. The teacher kept her after class told her the story was very good but it was different from the others. She asked Lisa if she'd ever heard of Icarus and had she based her story on him. Lisa had yet to encounter Greek Mythology or hear a whisper of Icarus. As Lisa left the classroom the teacher again told her how good the story was but suggested she might want to write something happier next time. Perplexed,  Lisa turned and asked her teacher: "Why?" The teacher had no answer. Luckily for us, Lisa never took that teacher's advice.

Today she brings us complex multi-layered stories rich with the trials and tribulations that make up the world in which we live. Not one to be pigeonholed into any single genre, Lisa's stories revolve around the intricacies of couples from range the intimacy of lovers, to mothers and sons, and brothers and sisters.

Lisa Beth Darling is 49 years-old, lives in her hometown of New London, CT with her husband of nearly 30 years, Roy.  She is the author of more than fifteen novels along with several short stories and non-fiction books.

Website    |    Blog    |    Twitter    |    Facebook    |    Goodreads

Purchase Links:
Kindle/Amazon (paperbacks available on Amazon)

Nook

iBooks

Smashwords

12 comments:

  1. Happy to be a part of this tour, thank you for sharing!

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  2. What is your favorite non-fiction?

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    Replies
    1. My favorite non-fiction book is "The Master Book of Herbalism" by Paul Beyerl followed closely by "A Modern Herbal" by M. Grieve.

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  3. Thanks for the chance. This is a great giveaway.

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  4. Loved the list - great analogy :). Thanks for sharing :)

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  5. Hi,
    Thanks so much for having me here!

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  6. Intriguing excerpt! I also enjoyed the Top 10 Reasons Writing is Like Gardening. Thank you for sharing.

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  7. I enjoyed the excerpt! Thank you!

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  8. Loved the excerpt! The comparison between gardening and writing is something I've never seen before and really interesting. Thanks for the chance at the giveaway!

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  9. I loved the excerpt and look forward to reading the book.

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