Lift a Mug of Pumpkin Latte to Autumn!

The four major annual events include two Solstices (summer and winter) and two Equinoxes (autumn and spring).

September 22nd is the official first day of autumn and is celebrated in the Pagan/Wiccan tradition as Mabon, the time of harvest, gratitude, and sharing. No doubt, the pagan tradition had a lot to do with the celebration of Thanksgiving in Canada and the US. However, the day divided into equal parts of dark and light, is an excellent marker for any tradition and, most countries to have some kind of harvest celebration.

The Autumnal Equinox is the basis for the myth of Persephone's return to the Underworld after a half year of growth and greenery. If you recall your Greek mythology, you'll know that Persephone was kidnapped by Hades (god of the underworld) to become his wife. Demeter, Persephone's mother and goddess of the harvest was understandably peeved. After a period of mourning and struggle, Demeter eventually got her daughter back from Hades, but only for nine months of the year. Every fall, Persephone would return to the underworld to spend three months with Hades. During these months, Demeter refused to use her divine skills to make plants grow, explaining why we have three months of winter every year.

In Christian tradition, the equinox is Michaelmas Day. Did you know you've been missing a reason to party? These days, Michaelmas is a minor festival mainly observed in the Catholic church. Centuries ago in England, the time around Michaelmas also had a business side. Servants were paid their wages after the harvest, and workers looked for new jobs at employment fairs, which also became a place for celebrations.

And let us not forget The Mayan Snake of Sunlight. At the precise moment of the equinox, when the Sun shines directly on the equator, an enormous “snake of sunlight” slithers down the stairs of the main pyramid at Chichen Itza, Mexico. The Mayans who constructed this ancient temple used advanced astronomical calculations to determine the exact angle of the staircase.

Japan has the Higan Festival, China and Vietnam celebrate the Moon Festival, Indian parties for several day for Havaratri, a celebration of the divine feminine Devi.

So, you have lots of good reasons to celebrate September 22nd. Why not at least lift a glass of grog or pumpkin spice latte to say goodbye to summer and hello to the beginnings of winter.

Book Review - Alvarez Family Mysteries

Cleopatra almost Slept Here: The Alvarez Family Murder Mysteries, Book 11 by Heather Haven
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Four stars only because nothing is perfect. I could have taken a few more thousand words on Egypt. What is included piques my interest even more.

I've read every book in this series and feel like I'm part of the Alvarez family (or would like to be). Lee and Gurn work through the clues and facts as usual. In this book, Lee does most of the heavy lifting for the detective work, while Gurn shows his muscles a bit. Looking good, Gurn!

Anyway, I loved the whole series and hope for more. I wouldn't have read them if I didn't keep being drawn in so thoroughly that I even put up with the fashion descriptions (my look is jeans, jeans, sweatshirt). Ms. Haven even makes this interesting.

Go ahead, grab them all at once or one at a time. You won't regret it. Funny, thoughtful, romantic, and fashionable--the Alvarez family delivers.


View all my reviews

Perfect Gift for Dad's Day

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TALES OF A TEXAS BOY

EBOOKS FREE 6/18-6/23 - See links below

You've heard the phrase "A Legend in His Own Time." That's when somebody does something so extraordinary they create a legend around themselves. As time moves on, the legendary aspect grows and morphs into something bigger and, well, more legendary. That legend is helped along by authors writing about the person. Some people have reputations built on very little reality.  19th Century writers hungry for audience share exaggerated the feats of such legendary characters as Kit Carson, Billy the Kid, Calamity Jane, Buffalo Bill Cody. These mostly untrue stories made good press for the city folks back east.

Then there's another type of legend. It's when an author bases a book on a real person nobody has ever heard about, but exaggerates the person's feats to make for good reading; the writer creates the legend. Can you think of a case where this has occurred? I imagine there are many, considering possible biographers who hero-worship their subject past the point of reality.

Then I come to my own mini-legendary person: Little Eddie from Tales of a Texas Boy.

The stories in this collection are mostly based on some brief vignettes passed to me by my father. Those of you who have read the print edition might have slowed down enough to peruse the Foreword where I lay out that Eddie is my father and some additional background on his life. Nothing too exciting there. He just happened to have a few incidents in his life that I could turn from a passing comment into a short story.

I made my father a legend. The stories I wrote about his experiences are so enhanced that they have become legends. Yes, a tiny part of the population know the stories. However, how long will the Tales books be out in the world? I published the first edition in June 2007. Coming up on the 15th anniversary next month. In fifteen years, more than 5000 people have had possession of the book in some form. They may have even read it. If I keep the book in print, how many people will get to know Eddie in ten years? I should mention that 1000 of those potential readers picked up the book in the last year.

What's my point here? Not sure other than to state my realization that even not-so-famous people can become legendary to some extent from some author deciding to write about them.

Tales of a Texas Boy is available in ebook, print, and audio formats. Side note: this book in large print is a popular Father's Day gift for those who may have lived through the Great Depression themselves or simply grew up in a rural area. They'll feel right at home.

Large Print at Amazon - Perfect Dad's Day gift. $7.95

Hardcover Print at Amazon - An even more perfect Dad's Day gift. $15.99

Ebook at Amazon FREE 6/19-6/23 (always free for KindleUnlimited subscribers and Kindle Owners Lending Library (Prime users benefit) All others $2.99 cents to buy.

Ebook -Photo Illustrated FREE 6/18-6/22

Audio Book at Audible $?.??. Often discounted if you buy the audiobook from Amazon along with the ebook.

Ultimate Duty - Excerpt

ULTIMATE DUTY is available on Amazon and Audible. The $2.99 price for the Ebook is quite reasonable. If you are a Kindle Unlimited member, it's free. Can't beat that price.

Ultimate Duty
A military officer must choose between her sworn duty and her rebellious blood ties.

Remy Belieux, a woman born into a life of servitude on a repressive factory planet, is desperate for a different life. When she's accepted into the Space Service Academy, run by the organization that enslaves her planet, she discovers the truth behind generations of rebellion. Now, she must decide what to believe, where her ultimate duty lies, and fight for more than her life against impossible odds.

Available on Amazon for only $16.12, I actually get a few cents if you use this option.

* First Duty is the PG version of the R-rated Ultimate Duty.

Available on Audible or Amazon. It's a pretty long book and my narrator really needs the royalties (she gets half the royalties for every audiobook sold, and I'll give her my half if you buy the audio book).

Excerpt

One day, Remy spotted a small ship where it had no good reason to be. “Sir, we have a blip heading toward the planet. Its course isn’t on the prescribed jump route within this planetary system.”

Captain Micah glanced at Remy, then spoke to the communications officer. “Hail the ship.” The radioman worked for a few seconds. “I can’t locate their frequency, sir.”

The Captain stared through the view screen at the rapidly receding ship. “Try a broad-range hail. Tell them to stand down.” He glanced toward the communications station. “Any luck?”

“No, sir. I don’t think they have their ears on, at least in the usual frequencies.”

The ship shot away from the Excalibur and Remy tracked its course. “It’s heading for that planet. It’s not classified as habitable.”

Captain Micah opened ship-wide communications. “Captain Micah here. Crew, go to battle stations. This is not a drill.” He looked at the pilot, who punched in coordinates for a wide turn toward the fleeing ship.

Remy’s stomach tightened as the klaxon alarms alerted the entire ship to ready for attack. Disappointment replaced tension as she watched the ship reach the small planet and circle behind the lifeless orb. We’ve lost it!

“Coward should stay and fight,” grumbled an ensign near Remy. She glanced his way and hushed him, tilting her head toward the captain. “Pay attention.” The ensign’s cheeks flared in embarrassment.

“Ahead slow,” the captain ordered. “This could be a trap. Put us into high orbit and extend all scanners to maximum range and power.” Excalibur edged its way slowly around the airless planet thousands of kilometers below.

“I’ve got him, sir!” a crewman reported. “A single blip on the short-range scanner.”

Remy added the short-range display to a corner of her own screen and saw the flickering dot representing the fleeing ship. She grinned. “Gotcha!” But nothing else appeared in range. She hoped they might get some action now, even if only the capture of a small ship.

“All right. Take us in slow,” the captain replied. The pilot cut back power and brought the ship around to the planet’s far side. The small ship came into view, hovering in a stationary orbit.

“Hail them.” Again, the ship didn’t respond, and the captain gestured to the pilot to move in. Remy turned her scanners toward the planet surface, searching for any activity. Seeing nothing, she switched to thermal scan. Out of nowhere, a red-hot dot appeared on the screen, then another. “Captain, I’m getting heat signatures moving near the surface.”

Captain Micah glanced her way, not expecting to hear from the long-range scanning console. “What do you have, Lieutenant?”

“Ten, no, twelve, maybe more heat signatures. Nothing bigger than a cutter, and they’re all in motion. It looks like they’re coming out of a fissure. I don’t detect any structures.”

Remy feared her warning came too late to do any good. Excalibur was fast, once it got moving but, like most ships its size, not very maneuverable this close to a planet.

The smaller ships exploded from the surface. Too fast for normal takeoff velocity, the tiny vessels clearly had a lot of extra power. It was a dangerous move since it’d be easy to lose control traveling way over the limits for the small ships. But it worked.

Some attackers split to flank the cruiser on both sides. Two of them took station above and two below the ship, while two more moved to the stern, effectively surrounding the cruiser. The engineers had designed Excalibur, like most ships in its class, as a pursuit ship, with most of its weapons aimed forward. They could only fire on the ships facing them until the gunners brought the smaller, less effective peripheral weaponry to bear.

Captain Micah glanced at his display. “Weapons, recalibrate for port and starboard, max angle. Fire at will.”

The bridge crew cheered when a burst of laser fire destroyed one of the ships. Metallic fragments drifted outward from the single brief flash of the exploding drive.

Spring Gift - Free Ebook

Eagle Quest - Spring Special

Free Kindle Ebook March 21st-25th on

Amazon

A Vision Quest turns deadly when four friends confront eagle poachers in a wildlife refuge.

Fiona, Hap, Billy, and Mitch make an odd set of friends, as different from the usual junior high school crowd as they are from each other.

Mitch, the oldest of the four, is a half-breed Native American, adopted by white parents. Troubled that he doesn't know his tribe, he avidly studies Native American history and lore. Learning that the nearby Bear Valley Wildlife Refuge is a bald eagle nesting site, he wants to add an eagle feather to his medicine bag and explore the refuge as a site for his Vision Quest, a Native American rite of passage. He and his three friends get far more than an overnight campout as they encounter a black bear, a retired forest ranger living in the refuge, and a pair of eagle poachers. Bringing the poachers to justice, they test their courage and gain confidence in themselves and each other.

Now in Hardcover - Eagle Quest

Out of sheer boredom, I built a hardcover copy of "Eagle Quest." It's a story about three teens helping their Native American friend go on his Vision Quest. Adventure ensues with encounters with a bear and some mean poachers. All set in Bear Valley refuge, which is a nesting site for bald eagles.

EAGLE QUEST - In ebook, paperback, audio, and hardcover editions.

A Vision Quest turns deadly when four friends confront eagle poachers in a wildlife refuge. Fiona, Hap, Billy, and Mitch make an odd set of friends, as different from the usual junior high school crowd as they are from each other. 

Mitch, the oldest of the four, is a half-breed Native American, adopted by white parents. Troubled that he doesn't know his tribe, he avidly studies Native American history and lore. 

Learning that the nearby Bear Valley Wildlife Refuge is a bald eagle nesting site, he wants to add an eagle feather to his medicine bag and explore the refuge as a site for his Vision Quest, a Native American rite of passage. 

He and his three friends get far more than an overnight camp out as they encounter a black bear, a retired forest ranger living in the refuge, and a pair of eagle poachers. Bringing the poachers to justice, they test their courage and gain confidence in themselves and each other.

Read an Ebook Week 3/1-3/7

 READ AN EBOOK WEEK

Happy Read an Ebook Week! To help you find a book to celebrate, you can find my entire collection at a promotional price at @Smashwords from March 1st - March 7th. Find my book at:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/543315

All of my books are free under the Kindle Unlimited program on Amazon:

https://tinyurl.com/DasefKUEBooks

and many more at:

https://www.smashwords.com/sale

Eagle Quest Now in Hardcover

Out of sheer boredom, I built a hardcover copy of "Eagle Quest." It's a story about three teens helping their Native American friend go on his Vision Quest. Adventure ensues with encounters with a bear and some mean poachers. All set in Bear Valley refuge, which is a nesting site for bald eagles.

EAGLE QUEST - In ebook, paperback, audio, and hardcover editions.

A Vision Quest turns deadly when four friends confront eagle poachers in a wildlife refuge. Fiona, Hap, Billy, and Mitch make an odd set of friends, as different from the usual junior high school crowd as they are from each other. 

Mitch, the oldest of the four, is a half-breed Native American, adopted by white parents. Troubled that he doesn't know his tribe, he avidly studies Native American history and lore. 

Learning that the nearby Bear Valley Wildlife Refuge is a bald eagle nesting site, he wants to add an eagle feather to his medicine bag and explore the refuge as a site for his Vision Quest, a Native American rite of passage. 

He and his three friends get far more than an overnight camp out as they encounter a black bear, a retired forest ranger living in the refuge, and a pair of eagle poachers. Bringing the poachers to justice, they test their courage and gain confidence in themselves and each other.