The Cellophane Queen: 'Cause you can look right through me, Walk right by me and never know I'm there...
https://www.smashwords.com/shelves/promos/ all month!
Find my books at https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/mgdasef
#SWSale2024 #Smashwords
Now is your best chance to find my entire ebook collection for a promotional price at @Smashwords as part of their Annual Summer/Winter Sale! Find my books and many more at
https://www.smashwords.com/shelves/promos all month!
#SWSale2024 #Smashwords
Books created at Smashwords have been migrated to the Draft2Digital platform which distributes to ebook sales sites.
To celebrate the migration, the books from Smashwords are going on sale, some as low as $0. Be sure to take advantage of the sale starting TOMORROW, July 1st.
https://www.smashwords.com/shelves/promos/ (link active July 1) all month!
BLOOD TIES TESTED (Sequel Story)
To all you guys who are taking the job seriously. Special kudos to step-fathers who treat their lady's kids like their own. Also, adoptive dads, a big huzzah for not believing your genes are all that special. You've proven how special they really are.
In my Witches of Galdorheim series, my main gal, Katrina the klutzy witch, does have the ability to talk to the animals—sort of like Dr. Doolittle (isn’t Robert Downey smashing in this remake?). It didn’t occur to me to have Kat chatting up crows or ravens. Oversight!
She does have a close relationship with an orca named Salmon, her bunny familiar Teddy, Nessie, and various other non-human species. She did have some back and forth with a skua bird who was just about as rude as a crow or raven, but how did I miss not having a nice murder of crows circling overhead waiting to attack Kat’s enemies? Ah, well. What could have been…Anyway, read the article. It’s quite fun. You can also read my Witches of Galdorheim series if you’re so inclined. All five of the Galdorheim books are available in a single volume. The books are also available individually, the single-volume set is the best price.
The Compleat and True History of the Witches of Galdorheim
One multiple POV method not mentioned is called the Rashomon effect because of the excellent way it was used in the Japanese film, Rashomon. A Wiki article lists several more examples of the technique used in popular culture. 
Both books in "The Tales of Abu Nuwas" collection are now available in large print. I'm going to figure out a way to make them bargains despite the required minimum price. Authors who publish their own work on Amazon know what I mean.
As did Scheherazade before him, Abu leaves Najda hanging in the middle of each yarn to keep her coming back. Between stories, he questions the girl about her life. He discovers that she’s been promised in marriage to an old man whom she hates, but she must wed him to save her sick mother’s life. The rich bridegroom will pay for the doctors the mother needs. Meanwhile, Najda sells spices in the market to earn enough money to keep her mother alive.
Faizah's Destiny: The Tales of Abu Nuwas 2: Large Print Edition
The village magician has gone missing. His four pupils think he has left a clue to his whereabouts in the Magicalis Bestialis--the book of magical creatures. They must seek the help of the elusive Simurgh, the mythical birds who know all the secrets of the universe.
However, this is not an easy camping trip into the mountains. Spirits, gods, and demons confront the four friends, who are not aware they’re being set up by otherworldly forces for a much larger task.
A farmer’s daughter, Faizah is chosen to lead the humans in the battle. She must persuade a slave, an orphan, and a rich merchant’s son to join in the battle on the side of good. Although divided by Dev, the evil god of war, the teens must band together to find the Simurgh, rescue their teacher, and stave off Armageddon.
THE TALES OF ABU NUWAS: SETARA'S GENIE
At first, all I wanted was a little romance in my life, just the slightest bit of adventure. Was I seeking danger? Did I wish to consort with demons? Heavens, no! I will have to admit, though, the idea of being the future wife of a rich merchant was highly unappealing.
The Vernal Equinox (Spring to you lay folk) this year is March 20th 3:06AM UTC (Universal Time). Since I live on the west coast of the North American continent, Spring will be officially here on March 19th at 8:06PM PDT. Of course, that only holds true if you're in the northern hemisphere. South of the equator, the Vernal Equinox is in September.
The Vernal Equinox means that there is an equal amount of day and night. It occurs when the Sun crosses the celestial equator going south to north. It’s called the “celestial” equator because it’s an imaginary line in the sky above the Earth’s equator. Imagine standing on the equator; the Sun would pass directly overhead on its way north.
On the March equinox, the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere receive roughly equal amounts of sunlight; neither hemisphere is tilted more toward or away from the Sun than the other. Here's a helpful illustration.
Okay, now that's all clear, just what does it mean. For one thing, Spring is the marker when the growing season begins (well, sort of). If that's not something to celebrate then what is?
Humans have recognized this change in the amount of daylight and have noted that there seems to be a bit more greenery for thousands of years. Along with the Spring, these ancestors noted the changes for other seasons. Summer has the most daylight, Fall has equal amounts of day and night, Winter has really long nights (if you live above the Arctic Circle, you'll get only day (Summer) or only night (Winter).
Here’s an interesting fact: Equinoxes are the only two times each year that the Sun rises due east and sets due west for all of us on Earth! While the Sun passes overhead, the tilt of the Earth is zero relative to the Sun, which means that Earth’s axis neither points toward nor away from the Sun. (Note, however, that the Earth never orbits upright, but is always tilted on its axis by about 23.5 degrees.)
* * *
“This is the story of Bridget who was hired to be the nanny for two kids whose parents died in a horrible accident. Now, this all happened in Ireland way back, so don’t go so why this or why that. It’s just how the story happened, okay?”
The boys nodded solemnly. Fiona usually told pretty good stories, so Billy and Hap were willing to listen without making too much fun.
“Anyway, if you’ll all be quiet, I’ll start.”
The boys settled themselves comfortably. Hap and Billy knew Fiona. This was not going to be a short story.
Fiona cleared her throat and began to tell the tale using her best Irish brogue.
“The uncle hired Bridget to act as a nanny for two children whose parents had died. She was supposed to care for them until he could come to take them.
“The boy had blond hair and blue eyes and the girl had dark hair and brown eyes. They had names that were almost alike. The girl was Frances and the boy Francis.
“The children told Bridget there was one thing they must do every day. They needed to go to the graves of their parents which were a little way away from the house.
“Bridget thought it was fine the children wanted to visit the graves of their dead parents, so she didn’t object. She watched them from a window in the second floor. She saw them stand by the graves and thought they might be praying or even singing a song.
“One day, she told the children the weather was getting too bad and she didn’t want them to go to the graves. The children begged and cried, but Bridget didn’t want them to get sick, so she was strict about it.
“When she went to the children’s room the next day to get them up, the boy who was blond had dark hair and the girl who used to be dark was now blonde.”
Billy interrupted at this point. “Was that magic or what?”
“Can you just sit back and let me tell the story?”
“Sure. Sorry. I won’t say another word.”
Fiona continued, “It startled Bridget, but the children insisted they had always been this way and that Bridget was mistaken to think it was the other way around.
“Still, she decided they were lying and, although she couldn’t figure out why, she took them to the village priest. ‘Father, these children have changed. Look at them!’
“The Priest looked at the children and saw the boy was light and the girl was dark. He said, ‘What should I be seeing, Bridget?’
“Bridget saw the children had changed back to the way they were before. She was worried she was going crazy to make such a mistake.
“They all returned home and Bridget kept the children in her room so she could make sure they didn’t go to the grave. She watched the grave through the second story window.
“She saw a green glow come up from the grave and then the children appeared standing next to it. She turned around and saw the children still in the room asleep. She looked back and the children were gone again and the green glow had faded. But, the next morning, the children had changed again. The boy was dark and the girl was blonde.
“This happened again the next night and Bridget thought she must be going mad. She decided she’d just ignore it and pretend it was a trick of the moonlight on vapors rising out of the ground. Just some innocent thing. As for her seeing the children at the grave when they were in the room, she thought the shadows from the limbs of the tree next to the grave were to blame.
“The next day, she heard the clock chime. Since it chimed every fifteen minutes, hearing it wasn’t unusual, but every little noise made her more afraid.
“Then, she left the children in the room and went down into the hallway where the big grandfather clock stood. It was exactly eight o’clock on the morning of November 21st. The pendulum on the clock had stopped. Bridget knew that was the exact date and time the children’s parents died one year before.
“She slowly climbed the stairs again and went back into the children’s room. The boy and girl were gone. She looked out the window toward the graves and saw the children standing there. She knew they couldn’t have gone by her when she was in the hallway.
“She felt a chill come into the air. Walking out into the hallway again, she saw a greenish light coming from under the door of the parents’ bedroom, a room that hadn’t been opened since the day they died.
“This was all too much for Bridget and she ran screaming from the house. She ran down the lane to the village. She ran right to the church.
“Gasping for breath, she found the Father in his office and opened her mouth to speak. But nothing came out. She couldn’t make a sound. The priest saw that she was terrified. Her skin was white as chalk and her mouth gaped open as she tried to speak.
“The priest arranged for someone to go watch the children. He brought Bridget to the doctor, but the doctor said she had a disease of the mind, not the body and he couldn’t help her.
“The woman the priest sent to watch the children came back and said they were not at the house. The villagers arranged for search parties, but they couldn’t find them anywhere. The rumors started that Bridget murdered the children and buried them somewhere, but no grave was ever found.
“The village got together and sent Bridget to the Insane Asylum, where she lived out her days unable to speak. All she could do is scream whenever she heard the sound of a chiming clock.”
Fiona stopped and looked around the campfire. “That’s the end of the story,” she said, so the boys would know she was finished.
“Wow. That is a pretty good story, Fiona. It’s one of those old Irish stories, right?”
“Yes, it’s an old Irish tale, but every word is absolutely true.”
The boys laughed, but were a little uneasy when they looked at the looming black trees surrounding them.
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 3-9. Find my books and many more at https://smashwords.com/shelves/promos
Click on any you might like to read for free. The price will be FREE at checkout. Remember, you'll need to copy the books to your ereader or PC.
