Book Review 2018 “The Neon Houses” BY LINDA C. MIMS @boom_lyn. #RRBC #RRBC_RWISA #IARTG

WELCOME TO MY BOOK REVIEW of “THE NEON HOUSES” BY LINDA MIMS @boom_lyn.

MEET LINDA MIMS

 

The Author’s Story – @boom_lyn #RRBC #RWISA

A former classroom teacher, Linda Mims has enjoyed careers as a high school administrator, a radio show co-host and announcer, and a public speaker. Finally free to roam, Linda enjoys traveling and storytelling. The only thing she loves more than telling stories is reading them.

Her novel, “THE NEON HOUSES,” available on Amazon for kindle books, was born when she overheard a speaker claim that people had lost interest in reading. He joked that decades from now America would be holding “reading nights” in neighborhood parks for citizens who couldn’t read.

The statement took shape in her mind until it evolved into two contrasting societies—one for people who had nothing and the other for people who had everything. Now, Linda is busy writing the second book in the Kennedy Circle Mystery series and shaping the message she wants to send.

A resident of the small village of Matteson just outside of Chicago, IL, Linda spends her days writing, cooking, gardening, and blogging—sometimes simultaneously. She is married, has two adult daughters, and one bossy bichon-pom, Ms. Alexis.

***

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Murder, mayhem and suspense abound in this action packed page-turner set in 2087 Chicago. Our heroine, Dr. Noel Kennedy hears screams inside her head. They are the screams of her young friend, 20-year-old Zarah Fisher. She’s miles away and screaming for her life!

Noel knows the exact moment Zarah takes her last breath because Noel has a secret that not even her husband, handsome mayoral aide, Richard Kennedy, shares.

As the youngest Deputy Chief of Schools of Gang Territory, Noel has perfected her life. She is a solid, middle-class citizen from New Chicago, Incorporated. New Chicago and Gang Territory have become vastly different societies since the early Urban Wars. Now, year 2087 finds New Chicago’s military-trained police determined to enforce laws that keep “gang people” out.

Harlem Pierce, a New Chicago police detective, has been warned to stay away from Zarah Fisher’s murder investigation and he urges Noel to let it go, too. But a new killing involves Noel’s cousin and her boyfriend and links Noel to it in a startling way.

Who can Noel trust? Should she turn to Warren Simpson—the menacing, treacherous boss of Gang Territory? Or … could he be the killer?

If you like flying cars, robots, androids, dystopia and utopia mixed in with your thriller then this is the story for you!

MY REVIEW:🌟🌟 🌟🌟🌟 A delightful read that any lover of Dystopian & Paranormal fiction is certain to enjoy.

Finding a book that blends the genre’s of Dystopian/Paranormal and Thriller together is rare enough, finding one as well written as this one most assuredly is pure delight for an avid reader such as myself.

Author Linda Mims has woven intricate threads throughout this book, luring the reader down one path and suddenly throwing a curveball that was not anticipated, keeping me relentlessly turning pages right from the first chapter.

Although set in a Chicago of the future time of 2087 this book is highly relevant right now, if we are honest about the monstrous differences our world already permits to exist between those that ‘Have’ and those that ‘Have Not”.

I rate the believability factor into my enjoyment of reading any book. Everything this author has created within these pages it utterly plausible and as such believable.

From protagonist Dr. Noel Kennedy’s strong, resilient, and determined persona, to the convincingly portrayed streets of the ‘Gang Territory’ this talented author weaves a tantalizing scenario.

All the characters portrayed here are multi-dimensional, they are each flawed by the lives they have had no choice but to live.

There are many characters to meet along this journey, but the author has done a remarkable job with each of them, one of my personal favorites is the treacherous Warren Simpson, head of ‘Gang Territory’ his presence is menacing, threatening, and decidedly dangerous.

The many plot threads are handled well and the book is not difficult to follow. I loved being constantly surprised by a character’s actions.

A delightful read that any lover of Dystopian & Paranormal fiction is certain to enjoy.

***

CONTACT DETAILS:

Contact via:

Twitter

Facebook

Blog/Website:

Linda Mims

Title:

“THE NEON HOUSES”

***

 

 

 

 

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Book Review Jan 2018 “Red Ground: The Forgotten Conflict” by Ken Fry @KenFry10 @EevaLancaster #IARTG #Thriller

ABOUT THE AUTHOR.

Bestselling, and multi-award-winning British author, Ken Fry, holds a university Master’s Degree in Literature and has extensively traveled around the world. The places and events are reflected in his stories and most of his tales are based on his own experiences.

He was a former publisher before deciding to retire and devote his full time to writing. He lives in the UK and shares his home with ‘Dickens’ his Shetland Sheepdog.

Fry has published 9 mystery suspense thrillers to date: The Chronicles of Aveline, Disjointed Tales: A Collection of Eccentric Short Stories, The Patmos Enigma, Red Ground, The Lazarus Succession, Suicide Seeds, The Brodsky Affair, and 2 short stories, Check Mate, and Is That You, Jim? (Free)

The Patmos Enigma and The Lazarus Succession are #1 Bestsellers in Christian Fantasy, Religious Mystery, Religious Fiction and Biblical Fiction on Amazon UK.

Awards:

#1 Best Indie Book 2017 by Read Free.ly (The Lazarus Succession)
Official Selection in Historical Fiction, 2017 New Apple Summer eBook Awards (The Lazarus Succession)
2017 IAN Book of the Year Awards WINNER in Christian/Religious Fiction (The Lazarus Succession)
2017 UK International Novel Writing Competition, Runner-Up (The Brodsky Affair)

Join Ken Fry’s Circle of Readers and get free books and discounts:
http://www.booksbykenfry.com

Red Ground: The Forgotten Conflict: A Blood Diamonds Thriller

BLURB

Vast deposits of diamonds and oil are found in land overlapping both Sierra Leone and Liberia. A scramble ensues to secure the mining and drilling rights of both commodities. Leading the race is the Mining Earth & Ocean Corp.

To amass and control this wealth, the creation of an illegal state called Salonga is proposed. The nominated ruler, backed and supported by the MEO, is a former RUF commander – General Icechi Walker, known as ‘Body Chop’ – a suspected mass murderer involved in countless atrocities.

To secure power, Body Chop, with the help of the MEO, engages the protection of a private mercenary army.

Disgraced, virtually bankrupt, ex-Sgt. Alex Dalloway is hired to join the mercenary brigade tasked to protect the newly elected President of Salonga. He has a personal quest to locate the Army officer who tortured him and killed his men years ago in the jungles of Sierra Leone. He begins to suspect the former RUF commander’s involvement.

With the promise of diamonds upon the completion of their contract, Dalloway and the rest of the mercenaries must decide if they will close their eyes to the atrocities, or fight to stop Body Chop’s rule of terror.

MY REVIEW: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Uncompromisingly brutal and utterly riveting.

This is the first book by author Ken Fry that I have read.

It won’t be the last.

Make no mistake, this work is uncompromisingly brutal, because it needs to be. The devastating pages of the dark history of Sierra Leone don’t allow for compromise.

The characterizations are brilliant and shattering, this author has a deep empathy and an understanding of the dark motives that drive the most inhuman of our species.

This is not pristine matter prettied up for mass consumption, these people are at times horrendously real, and horrifically brutal. Author Fry explores the deepest of emotions and he does it in a way that will alternatively shatter you, and have you moved to tears with its poignancy.

This book is a journey into the darkest of man’s motives and is unforgiving in its depiction of greed, the lust for power, and the driving thirst for vengeance.

It is bloody and brutal and brilliant. Take the journey. You won’t forget it anytime soon.

I’m off to grab another of Ken Fry’s works.

CONTACT THE AUTHOR

Ken Fry on TWITTER

Purchase Red Ground on AMAZON.com

Amazon Author Page for Ken Fry

Join Ken Fry’s Circle of Readers and get free books and discounts:

 

 

 

 

 

Book Review: “This Second Chance” by D.L Finn. @dlfinnauthor #RRBC #RWISA #IARTG #Romance #Paranormal

BOOK REVIEW: THIS SECOND CHANCE BY D.L FINN

Meet Author D.L Finn

D.L. Finn is an independent California local, who encourages everyone to embrace their inner child. She was born and raised in the foggy Bay Area, but in 1990 relocated with her husband, kids, dogs and cats to the Sierra foothills in Nevada City, CA. She immersed herself in reading all types of books, but especially loved romance, horror and fantasy. She always treasured creating her own reality on paper. Finally, being surrounded by towering pines, oaks and cedars, her creativity was cradled until it bloomed. Her creations vary from children’s books, young adult fantasy, adult paranormal romance to an autobiography with poetry. She continues on her adventure with an open invitation to her readers to join her.

 BLURB

Newly married Rachael Battaglia finally had it all. The only detail that stained Rachael’s perfect wedding was a gift she received. It was the exact present that her late ex-husband had given her on their wedding day — a snow globe. That marriage was not what she had envisioned, and she endured years of his abuse and charm until one night she escaped with two kids and one on the way. Now Rachael was headed to Hawaii with an amazing man and her chance at happiness. Unbeknownst to Rachael, she had an Angel on her side, although this Angel might not be able to save Rachael and her family from the evil that surrounded them. This is a tale of love, past relationships, things unseen, and redemption. Will Rachael find her happy ending, or will this evil thing get its way?

MY REVIEW: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A Great read for all those who enjoy romance with a supernatural element.

Life doesn’t always offer us second chances to get it right. When it does we treasure and hold on to it with both hands. That is the premise on which this well-written book is built.

Author D.L. Finn takes us on an intricately woven journey. The characterizations of both Rachel and new husband Tony are beautifully depicted, so much so that we as readers care about them and want their future to grant them the happiness they have thus far been denied.

This author has that marvelous gift of bringing our emotions to the forefront of the reading experience.

Rachel’s first marriage was a tormented and violent nightmare which ended as her then-husband died in an alcohol-fueled car crash.

She has finally learned to trust again with the love and support of her new husband, but the package she receives on her wedding day threatens the very fabric of their new found love as she is catapulted back in the nightmarish memories of the violence that characterized her first marriage.

Forces unseen are waging a battle, the eternal joust between good and evil plays out its hand as Rachel’s eldest child Eddie, fathered by her first husband, heads down the same violent destructive path that his father once walked.

The author caught and held me captive as the paranormal elements of this book were woven so cleverly into the story. The plot twists were both unexpected, continuously engaging and introduced with an assured hand.

If you enjoy a love story with depth, the chance of redemption and hope for the future happiness of the characters you have come to care about this book is for you.

I recommend it for all those who enjoy a great read with a supernatural element.

CONTACT DETAILS.

Contact via:

Twitter:  @dlfinnauthor

Blog/Website:

Embrace Your Inner Child

Titles:

“NO FAIRY TALE”

“ELIZABETH’S WAR” 

This Second Chance on Amazon.com

 

Book Review “The Convict and the Rose” By author Jan Sikes. #RRBC @rijanjks #RWISA #Inspirational Biographical Fiction.

Welcome to my second Book Review of 2018.

The Convict and the Rose by Jan Sikes.

Please meet Jan Sikes!

From the Author

Writing this book was a challenge since I wasn’t personally present in prison. However, I researched endlessly to come with accurate information and details to write each scene.

Since this is a true story, it is super important to me that the facts be correct. I enjoyed doing the research, because that meant digging through boxes of letters, volumes of writings and remembering stories I was told.

During this research, I ran across some song lyrics that I’d never seen before. I’d never heard Rick Sikes sing them or mention them, but they were so powerful, I knew I had to get someone to put music to them. That person turned out to be Jamie Richards and the day we went into the studio was pure magic. He completely captured the emotion in the song, Forty Foot High.

This book is the sequel to my first book, Flowers and Stone.

The 3rd Book “Home at Last” is now available.

 

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Award winning Biographical/Fiction sequel to Flowers and Stone. Luke and Darlina find their love severely tested as they struggle to overcome enormous odds.

When Texas veteran musician, Luke Stone, finds himself behind bars with a seventy-five-year sentence, he is filled with hate, anger, and rebelliousness. He’s lost everything that he treasures, including the woman who holds his heart.

How has it come down to this? He’s spent his entire life writing songs and making music, filling dance halls and bars from Texas to California. But, when he refuses to tell the FBI what he knows about certain bank robberies that he possesses knowledge of, they make sure he pays dearly.

Broken and alone, in a prison of her own, Darlina Flowers struggles to find a way to live without the man she loves so completely.

Over the next sixteen years, Luke and Darlina each search for ways to somehow survive the fate life has hurled them into.

In an effort to dull the pain of living with only half a heart, Darlina gets involved in drugs, then follows a guru and tries different relationships, but nothing fills the void.
Several years pass before Luke makes up his mind that prison will not break him. He crawls up from the bottom one tiny step at a time, determined to be and do something worthwhile and discovers artistic talents he never realized he had.

The Convict and the Rose inspires hope and shows how anyone can turn a negative dark situation into a positive one. But more importantly, the story portrays a love that goes beyond earthly confines and proves how persistence and faith come with their own sweet reward.
Join Luke and Darlina as they continue their epic journey with love as their constant North Star and freedom as the driving force.

MY REVIEW: Some books reach in and take your soul into their keeping. This book is one of them.

I have read and reviewed Flowers and Stone and was delighted to do both. The book lingered in my memory long after I completed reading.

Some books reach in and take your soul into their keeping. Flowers and Stone was one … and The Convict and The Rose has captured me again.

This journey towards growth and a deeper understanding is one very special reading experience.

The anguished struggle of two-fallible, and all too human people as life hands out its own deranged sense of justice is at times painful to read.

This book provoked anger, sadness and a deep sense of empathy in me. It in turn delighted me, and made me cry, and then continued to invade my senses long after the ending.

There is a depth of love between these two damaged souls that defies the limitations of time.

The drug abuse is a road many of us have taken in times of the darkest despair, the struggle to overcome it and move clearly distant is an epic one, as is the final understanding of the violent reactions of Luke to his imprisonment.

Life knocked these valiant people to the ground again and again.  BUT they didn’t stay down for the count.

It takes guts to do that … and to keep right on doing it …

We are permitted to glimpse inside their darkness and anguish …and grow with them as the love and faith that they share takes them from that darkness and into the warmth and the light.

A wonderful, moving and intensely memorable story of love!

The Convict and The Rose on Amazon.com

Book 1. Flowers and Stone on Amazon.com

Book 3. Home at Last on Amazon.com

Contact via:

Email:  rijan21@gmail.com

Twitter:  @rijanjks

Facebook:  Author Jan Sikes Books

Blog/Websites:

Award Winning Author Jan Sikes

Writing & Music

New Book Releases – #RRBC

Join Jan Sikes as she features some wonderful #NewReleases from #RRBC members!

Writing and Music

Some of the members of the RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB have been very busy! These are only a few of the new releases from RRBC authors. I hope you will find one that will pique your interest.

   PURCHASE LINK

NINJA SCHOOL MUM BY LIZZIE CHANTREE

BLURB:

Obsessive-compulsive school mum, Skye, is a lonely elite spy, who is running from her past whilst trying to protect the future of her child. She tries hard to fit in with the other parents at her son’s new school, but the only person who accepts her unconventional way of life is new mother, Thea.
Thea is feeling harassed by her sister and bored with her life, but she suspects that there is something strange about the new school mum, Skye. Thea has secrets of her own and, although the two become unlikely friends, she hesitates to tell Skye about the father of…

View original post 1,241 more words

BOOK REVIEW: “Into Autumn: A Story of Survival” (Four Seasons Book 1.) By Larry Landgraf #RRBC #IAN1 #IARTG @riverrmann

 

Hello and welcome all to my FIRST Book Review for 2018. “INTO AUTUMN” A Story of Survival (Four Seasons) BOOK 1.

Firstly, let’s meet author Larry Landgraf.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Larry Landgraf was born and raised on the Guadalupe River Delta on the Texas Gulf Coast.
After four years of college, Larry spent 20+ years as a commercial fisherman. When that ended he became a general contractor for another 20+ years. He wrote his first book in 1986 in an attempt to save his commercial fishing career. The book and the career failed. After retiring from the contracting business due to a death defying accident, he wrote his second book in 2012 “How to be a Smart SOB Like Me”.

Still he didn’t consider himself an author. He awoke one morning in January 2015 with a story in his head. He sat down at the computer and began to write this story. Next thing he knew, he had written 300 pages. After an extensive re-write and editing, “Into Autumn – A Story of Survival” was published in September 2015. This is his third book, but debut novel. “Into Autumn” was re-published in January of 2017.

As he left some things hanging in “Into Autumn” he had to write a sequel. “Into Spring – The Next Generation” came out in January 2017. It made “finalist” in the Independent Author’s Network (IAN1) 2017 Book of the Year contest. Larry then came up with the idea of a Four Seasons series. “Into Winter” hit the shelves in September of 2017. “Into Summer” is next and is planned for 2018, but before that, another screenplay is in the works as well as turning his “Tales From the Riverside” blog into a book. Larry finally considers himself an author, but you decide for yourself.

Larry still lives on the Guadalupe River Delta…in the swamp. He writes, tends his fruit orchard and his large garden. He enjoys fishing with Ellen, his significant other, traveling and living in the country where he resides.

Update >>> Hurricane Harvey hit Larry dead center. You won’t believe what happened. His home is okay, but the story is unbelievable. Read it on his blog: http://intoautumn.com/?p=562 <<<

You can find much more about Larry at his website, Pinterest or one of the many author websites his books and story are listed. “How to be a Smart SOB Like Me” is his autobiography which will paint you an extensive picture of him. This book was re-published in 2017.

Many people have said “Into Autumn” would make a good movie, so he took it upon himself to write the screenplay. “A Tempest in Texas” is his rendition of that script. It came out in April 2017 and is available on Amazon as well. The gist of “Into Autumn” in an afternoon read. In May of 2017, “A Tempest in Texas” has made the semi-finals in the Los Angeles Cine-Fest screenwriting festival. Shortly thereafter, it made “finalist” in the Influx Magazine Festival. In October it made “finalist” in the New York Screenwriting Festival and as of the end of the month, it is in the hands of two producers in California.

If you would like to take a closer look at Larry and his works, you should visit his website   WEBSITE

BOOK BLURB

What would you do to survive?

Lars lives alone in the Texas countryside as the economy collapses and his world becomes a dystopian nightmare. Joined by ‘city gal’ outsider, Eileen, he and his neighbors band together in their “Peaceful Valley.”

Utilities are cut off, grocery stores close, gas stations close, and there is shooting in the neighborhood.

Could you survive?

Lars, Eileen, and the neighbors struggle with tough decisions while fending off predatory invasions in an increasingly violent and lethal world.

Could you protect yourself from deadly force?

Richard Tucker and his two grown sons have been thorns in Lars’s side for years. The boys raid his garden, root cellar, and smokehouse regularly. As times descend further into chaos, Lars fears the boys may harm Eileen should she get caught off-guard. Lars’s best friend, Reggie, has an easy solution. Will Lars go along with Reggie’s plan?
My REVIEW  5 Star … A highly enjoyable and informative reading experience! Larry Landgraf has a new fan!

We all bring our own history along for the ride when we read. Because of that history, I was eager to begin INTO AUTUMN. The premise caught my attention, the book held that attention throughout.  Other reviewers have remarked that they found the details of survival techniques a little overwhelming. I loved them. A books purpose is to entertain or inform depending on genre … This book does both and does it very well.

Author Larry Landgraf has created highly visual characters, they are very human and as such multi-faceted. The book begs the question ‘Just how far would we go in this same situation.’ Would we be prepared to do whatever it takes to survive?

The author had a clear empathy for nature and an understanding of what drives a person on to survive against overwhelming odds. I found it touched a nerve with me. I found myself nodding in understanding and not a little sadness as these believable characters journeyed on.

I look forward to reading the other books in this series. Author Larry Landgraf has a new fan!

Larry Landgraf on TWITTER

PURCHASE INTO AUTUMN on AMAZON.COM

Author website.

Lizzie Chantree #NewRelease BOOK TOUR “Ninja School Mum.” AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW!

Hello and welcome! I’m delighted to host Lizzie Chantree here today.

Join me in the excited buzz surrounding this NEW RELEASE by Multi-Talented author LIZZIE CHANTREE.   “NINJA SCHOOL MUM”

Meet the author:

Author Bio:

Award-winning inventor and author, Lizzie Chantree, started her own business at the age of 18 and became one of Fair Play London and The Patent Office’s British Female Inventors of the Year in 2000. She discovered her love of writing fiction when her children were little and now runs networking hours on social media, where creative businesses, writers, photographers and designers can offer advice and support to each other. She lives with her family on the coast in Essex.

https://twitter.com/Lizzie_Chantree.

Book blurb:

Obsessive-compulsive school mum, Skye, is a lonely elite spy,  who is running from her past whilst trying to protect the future of her child. She tries hard to fit in with the other parents at her son’s new school, but the only person who accepts her unconventional way of life is new mother, Thea.

Thea is feeling harassed by her sister and bored with her life, but she suspects that there is something strange about the new school mum, Skye. Thea has secrets of her own and, although the two become unlikely friends, she hesitates to tell Skye about the father of her own child.

Zack’s new business is growing faster than he could have dreamed but, suddenly, he finds himself the owner of a crumbling estate on the edge of a pretty village, and a single parent to a very demanding child. Could he make a go of things and give his daughter the life she deserved?

When three lives collide, it appears that only one of them is who they seem to be, and you never know who the person next to you in the school playground really is.

Quick Q&A. I posed these questions to Lizzie Chantree.

Out of all of your books, do you have a favorite and why?

I don’t have a favorite, but I do have a soft spot for my first book, Babe Driven. I wrote the story when my daughter was unwell and published it five years later when her health improved. Writing the book helped me get through hard times and I will always be thankful for it. The story still makes me smile.

In the new release, who is your favorite character to portray, and why?

 I absolutely loved writing the main character, Skye. She is such an emotional and physical mess when we meet her, but she has inner strength and a very dry sense of humor. She doesn’t like other people’s children and suffers the school playground, as she loves her son. Her past causes lots of problems for her future. She has had an exciting history, but it turns out that school life is just as eventful!

Do you form an emotional attachment to your characters?

I do form a bond with them. I spend so much time with them in my head! The problem I have is, that as I’m writing the last section of my latest novel, new characters from my next book introduce themselves and their story begins to unfold.

What is the one thing you love most about writing?

The thing I love most is the other authors and readers I’ve met. They are so generous with their time and support and I can’t thank them enough.

5 fun facts: ABOUT LIZZIE.

Fact 1.    Lizzie is an inventor. She designed her first product at the age of 17.

Fact 2.   Lizzie is allergic to chocolate. She lost 4 stone when she was younger and now she can’t eat chocolate as it makes her pass out!

Fact 3.  Lizzie went to college to study shop display and design, then on to learn about graphic design. This comes in useful for marketing and packaging design.

Fact 4.    Lizzie has just taken up running, but hasn’t quite got to the 5k mark yet.

Fact 5.    Lizzie is a trained silversmith. She used to design her own bespoke, Swarovski crystal jewellery and sell it wholesale to retailers.

Contact details:

Website: www.lizziechantree.com

Author page: viewAuthor.at/LizzieChantree

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Lizzie_Chantree

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lizzie.chantree.3

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lizzie_chantree/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/LizzieChantree/pins/

 

Book links:

viewBook.at/NinjaSchoolMum

Thank you for joining in this exciting time for both Lizzie Chantree and her many fans! “Ninja School Mum” is available now for pre-order … release date January 30th 2018.

 

 

 

“Consider YOUR Verdict!” Is this a glimpse inside the mind of the writer? Or something else entirely! You decide. #RRBC #IARTG #IAN1 #IndBk

Welcome to my first post of 2018! I do love sharing some of my quirkier shorts. Just like this one.

The Verdict

By

Suzanne Burke.

Ladies and gentleman, of the jury, I have been wrongly accused of Murder in the first degree. I stand before you and state my case. My defense, if you will. Your duty, as I see it, is to listen, assess and decide.

Were these incidents murder? Pre-meditated, willful murder? Or justifiable homicide?
Abraham Lincoln is attributed widely for the adage, “He that represents himself, has a fool for a client”  I am a fool such as this.
My ability, if indeed that’s what this is, is to read minds—selected by me of course. I cannot only read their thoughts, I have the power in my keeping to alter them. I have the choice of what I see … and what I deem to be a thought unnecessary.

I have the power to change those thoughts.
As I am sure you can imagine, I carry an awesome responsibility on my shoulders. I have the power to change these lives, to irrevocably set a chain of events in motion that may indeed bring these people to an early demise.
Make no mistake, I have done so several times.
Is there then not blood on my hands?
Have I done so without thought or pity?
That depends entirely on how I am provoked.
This then is my curse, my fate. An obsession has eaten into the very marrow of my bones.
Are they victims? Perhaps, they are.

I prefer to refer to them as puppets. Yes, I like that term. It fits perfectly.

They are the puppets and I am the puppeteer.

Like an orchestra, they must obey my commands, what choice do they have, I control every thought and in consequence every action and reaction that they have, I am both the puppeteer and conductor.
Can I maneuver one to kill another? Oh yes, yes indeed. Is that conspiracy to commit murder?

Alternatively, I prefer to think of it as Murder/Suicide.

You are the ones who will decide, I will simply provide you with the instruments with which to make those decisions.
My little puppets were such fun at first, thinking silly thoughts and reacting to them, without contemplating the end result of their stupid reactions and undignified manner.

I simply assisted them to reach a different conclusion. A different action, provoking, of course, an alternative reaction.
In some instances, I freely admit I went perhaps a little too far.
Death and death at the hands of another is not a pleasant thing to witness. However, witness it I did.
I stood back after having set my puppets in motion and watched as they murdered, slicing through the jugular vein and watching as their victims’ lives ebbed away.
Does that witnessing make me the murderer?
Could I have entered their troubled distorted minds and changed the outcome?

Yes, I have that ability.

The fact that I chose not to intervene Ah, yes …does that make me responsible for the choices they made? I helped them put the plan into action; they made the decision by their behavior.

Pitting one against the other is a joyous game to play.
The power is intoxicating.

A husband or a wife caught cheating, does one not need to seek revenge?

I have been gentle with a few of these pathetic puppets and enabled them to work through the poor delusion that they actually have a life.
The vengeance is perfect.

They must remain together; forever tortured by the doubt that infidelity creates.

Do you find that harsh?  I doubt that anyone of you would be able to not at least think about revenge.
Have I caused murder to happen?
Have I blood on my hands?
Do I sleep at night?

“Yes, no and no”…it is up to you the jury to decide which of those questions has which response.

One of my alleged victims was screaming loudly and piercingly annoying, I simply made the screaming stop.

It does tend to be difficult to make that dreadful sound once your throat has been slit.

Each puppet becomes another challenge, these new puppets with vibrancy and color and life to burn, they are the greatest challenge of all. They offer me their thoughts and then battle with my invasion, turning on me and fighting back every step of the way.

Ah, such exhilaration! The wonder of the game when I am pitted against someone I take a liking to.

It is a wondrous, joyous event; I journey ever deeper into their minds and souls, creating white-hot pleasure within them that they have no choice but to share.

Whilst ever they continue to burn so brightly, they remain in my circle of friends. Fettered and spoiled as all my true friends are, I allow them freedom from responsibility; I enhance their lives and make them rich and vibrant. They meet every need of any person, they live, laugh, cry and sometimes they die.
However, life as you all know is full of disappointments.
Perhaps some fools need it.
Not I….!
If foolishly they disappoint me, or, if they should lose that vibrancy, that color, become brown, dull, uninteresting, flat and boring. Then I will turn their lives upside down. Until they scream with rage at my perceived injustice.

T’was, not my doing, I gave them thoughts and feelings that should have allowed them to live and love throughout their lives.
Disappoint me…and you die.
Simple … yes?
No petty discussions or pleading for mercy at my feet.
I do not often change my mind…or the inevitable outcome of their betrayal.
I offered them the magic of life.
They did not live up to it.
I made my choice … and voila, they ceased to exist.
Therefore, Ladies and Gentleman, I leave the verdict in your capable hands.
Am I a murderess, a homicidal maniac perhaps?
Or a writer…whose characters will never learn to behave as they should?

You Decide

 

 

Jan’s TOP TEN Books 2017

How delighted and humbled I am to have my memoir ‘Empty Chairs” included in this list.

Writing and Music

#1

   PURCHASE LINK

Hands down, this book easily takes the #1 spot this year. This is Foster’s first print publication. It is classic storytelling at its best. Foster writes with an uncommon depth of emotion, humor, empathy, and clarity.  Adding another dimension to this collection of short stories, Foster, a seasoned songwriter/musician, recorded a music CD which accompanies the book. Together, they make an unforgettable read/listen!

#2 

PURCHASE LINK Heart of a Texas Cowboy

PURCHASE LINK To Marry a Texas Outlaw

Yes, I know there are two books sitting in this spot, but I couldn’t find a way to separate them. This “Men of Legend” series was amazing from beginning to end, and it just happens that parts two and three were both released this year. “Some Legends are born and some are made” describes this series perfectly about a father, Stoker Legend and three sons, Sam, Houston…

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