Friday, January 27, 2012

The Repurposed Writer (arts & entertainment)


REVIEWED BY: Marguerite Zelle

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: The Repurposed Writer

WEB ADDRESS: http://setthiswriterfree.blogspot.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: I am a repurposed writer who got off the couch several months ago, formatted my out-of-print backlist books published them on Amazon and now sell them in the Kindle store. The idea of publishing another book with a traditional publisher was soul crushing and I remained silent for several years. E-publishing has set me free. My mind used to only work for a couple of hours in the morning. Now it works all the time. I don't know if I will sell enough books to make a difference in my life but the psychic income of having control to publish my writing and control what happens to it is thrilling. Yes, thrilling. The first day, I pulled the trigger and uploaded my historical epic novel, Daughters, onto the publishing platform on Amazon, I was beyond happy. As Truman Capote said when he sold two short stories in one day: Dizzy with happiness is no mere phrase. It used to be that I would clean the oven to avoid writing. Now I write avidly because I know I can publish what I write. I have satisfied my two passions - writing and commerce. I'd love to share the ride with you and also everything else that I think about.

MY REVIEW: I enjoyed this blog from a fellow writer. It's a blog of interest to everyone - writers, women..men...anyone who has an interest in what goes on in a daily basis within ourselves.

Her book titles are interesting. I particularly liked Thinner Thighs in Thirty Years!

Sample post:
"I'm with the rescue boats."
Hop scotching over the news:

In the phrasing is everything department:
“Get back on board!” De Falco (Coast Guard) to the Captain of the Costa Concordia.
“I’m with the rescue boats.” Captain Francesco Schettino.

In the equal opportunity department:
People are all upset about the image of President Obama on the cover of Newsweek.
“ He looks terrible, and surprisingly like Jimmy Carter, even down to the downturned liverish lips and incipient jowls.”
Let’s not forget Michele Bachman’s cover where Newsweek gave her those googly unfocused eyes. It all evens out.

In the giggling over excess department:
Poor Paula Dean. Yes, she sort of withheld the truth. Is that lying? (I think lying has its place.) Yes, she is now being compensated by a drug company that provides relief for diabetics. Yes, she doesn’t make sense when she begins to defend the timing of her revelation. Maybe all that maniacal giggling over her excess that goes on in the cooking show is not put on. Okay here’s our problem. We thought Paula was lovable, like our ditzy Auntie Josephine. Now we find out she is an avaricious uncontrollable giggler who is slavishly devoted to money. What’s wrong with that?

Apropos of nothing remember when Christopher Hitchens called Mother Teresa an avaricious gnome? How can you not miss that guy?

Too much admiration can ruin you department:
Tom Hanks’ dog, Monty, died. That was a headline. I’m not one to feel that because our brave young soldiers are dying in foreign lands we can’t say anything fun but come on. Here’s my problem with Tom Hanks. People loved him too much and then he thought he was too special and could be good at everything. Who wouldn’t? I think his “jump the shark” moment came right after Forrest Gump. Then he began acting all “awh shucks” that was really hiding, “I’m so freaking special but I don’t want to look as if I agree.” Whenever anything good happens to me I start acting up, too, so I’m no better than Tom Hanks except no one is shoving a microphone in my face.

An irrelevant revelation department:
Newt Gingrich’s ex revealed that Newt wanted “an open marriage.” If you were named Newt and looked like a kewpie doll and some good-looking woman wanted to have an affair with you, wouldn’t you want an open marriage? Remember when Jimmy Carter admitted to having “lust in his heart.” In the Catholic Church there’s no difference between lust in your heart and lust in the bed. Thought or deed, a sin is a sin. I would give Newt a pass on this one especially since the ex who is blabbing was the “affair” when Newt was married to another.

Okay, that’s the news in a nutshell except for the irresistible clip of our President looking up at Al Green and singing a phrase from “Let’s Stay Together” at the Apollo.

RECENT POSTS:
--I tilt toward nurture.
--Goodnight Moon for Grandma
--#SampleSunday: "I'm so worried and afraid."
--E-warning! I'm going to ramble. (Redux)
--"I'm with the rescue boats."
--Have this blog delivered to your device. Whaaaat?...
--Letting Spills Harden on the Stove
--“Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow” Steve Jobs
--The power of soup and the power of sound.


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Reviews published every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
___________________________
Check out my kindle BOOKS!:Whose Body, by Dorothy Sayers (the Annotated Edition)
The Coldest Equations (science fiction)
Volcano Seven: Treasure and Treasure Hunters
The Lady and the Tiger...Moth

Monday, January 23, 2012

Eve Le QiNu's Flashwords - Unofficial Scrabble Study Guide

This is why I've missed several days worth of posting. I've been working on this Scrabble Guide. Volume 1 went on sale about a week ago. I finished Volume 2 yesterday and uploaded it, and it is also available now.

Scrabble enthusiasts will love these two books which will help them memorize all 2- and 3-letter words - the building blocks of any successful Scrabble strategy.

(The books are also available on the Nook)

Here's the link to Volume 1:
http://www.amazon.com/Eve-QiNus-Flashwords-Unofficial-ebook/dp/B006XLTMK4/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1327339509&sr=1-1

Here's the link to Volume 2
http://www.amazon.com/Eve-QiNus-Flash-Words-ebook/dp/B0070RVY9W/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1327339509&sr=1-2

Description from Vol 1
A 7-letter word (bingo) in Scrabble is a spectacular play, averaging 70 points in a single turn. But if you know your 2-letter and 3-letter words back-words and fore-word (and middle-word), you can easily make up those points in two well-played turns, by making five 2-and 3-letter words in a single turn and reaping the benefits.

In Volume 1 of Eve Le QiNu's Flashwords, an unofficial Scrabble and other word game study guide) we help you memorize all the 2-letter and 3-letter words currently approved for Scrabble.

We do this by the Flashcard system. You read a definition, you think of the word, you go to the next page and find out if you're right. Or you're given a list of words - all the 3-letter words that begin with the letter A and end in the letter A and are asked, Which one is missing.

It's a fun game and one that will help you memorize these words quickly.

We've broken it into two volumes, as this volume already has 2000 pages.

First we cover the 2-letter words, then the 3-letter words which end in the letters from A to G. (The next volume will cover 3-letter words that end in letters from H to Z, plus some other fun stuff).

At the back of the book are also word lists - 2 letter words sorted by first letter and last letter, and 3 letter words sorted by first letter, middle letter and last letter.

Eve Le Qinu is the pseudonym of Caroline Miniscule, who has written two science fiction novels - the Coldest Equations: The People Out There and The Coldest Equations: The Labyrinth Makers.

She also has a five year mission to memorize every single word in the Scrabble dictionary and become a world champion Scrabble player.

Description from Vol 2
In Volume 2 of Eve Le QiNu's Flash Words, an Unofficial Scrabble and Word Game study guide, we continue our quiz of 3-letter words, beginning with those 3-letter words ending in the letter H and continuing on through the letter Z.

We also provide appendices: 2-letter words sorted by 1st and last letter, and 3-letter words sorted by first, middle and last letter.

The 2- and 3-letter words are the building blocks of any successful scrabble player's high scores. While a bingo of 70 points in one turn may be spectacular, that person's competitor can make up that score in two turns, if they know how to parlay 2-and 3-letter words into a 35 point score or so, by spelling five or more 2-and 3-letter words at one time and reaping the benefits.

In Volume 1, we gave unique and humorous definitions for all those 2- and 3-letter words that might be unknown to the average player, and then segued into a flash-card like game in which the reader was presented with a list of words - for example 2 out of the 3 3-letter words that began with H and ended in G, and asked to name the missing word. (We also give the reader a hint, never fear).

In Volume 2, which is over 1,500 pages, we continue that game with 3-letter words ending in the letters H through Z.

This type of game helps our readers remember these words and increase their ability to remember them when the time comes to play Scrabble.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

T E O T W A W K I (Doomsday 2012)


REVIEWED BY: Marguerite Zelle

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: T E O T W A W K I

WEB ADDRESS: http://thetwelvetwelvetwelve.blogspot.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: Mankind has always been obsessed with the end of the word. On several occasions throughout history, members of cults have gathered together in caves or other locations to wait out the end of the world - which of course has never ended. The latest obsession is the belief that when the Mayan Long Calendar ends on 12/21/12, the world will end. This blog will spend a year chronicling the evolution of this most current fear, "Doomsday 2012" - from the books published on the subject to the TV shows made to the people who believe it and their actions. We also study the culture of the Mayans, Aztecs and Incas. And we'll also discuss the psychology and literature of those individuals and organizations who await for TEOTWAWKI . While we believe these individuals are misguided, articles will be posted in a respectful manner. Only the dawn of December 22, 2012 will prove who is right in that regard. This blog is updated at least a couple of times a week.

MY REVIEW: This blog represents the danger of using an in-joke as a name. I don't think very many people will be doing a search on T E O T W A W K I (the end of the world as we know it). Much better if they'd named it Doomsday 2012, or The Doomsday Seekers, or something like that.

For those folks who don't know why a certain amount of people think the world will end on Dec 21, 2012, this is the blog for you.

For those who wonder why people are so quick to embrace the end of the world...this blog will eventually be for you!

RECENT POSTS:
--The Mayan Calendar
--ROONEY BIN: Hoping for an end to doomsday predicti...
--The Mayan Series of Calendars
--What is a baktun?
--Manifesto
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Reviews published every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
___________________________
Check out my kindle BOOKS!:
Whose Body, by Dorothy Sayers (the Annotated Edition)
The Coldest Equations (science fiction)
The Lady and the Tiger...Moth

Scrabble Quest

REVIEWED BY: Marguerite Zelle

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: Scrabble Quest

WEB ADDRESS: http://scrabblequest.blogspot.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: By October 10, 2012, I want to have learned/memorized the over 100,000 2-to-8 letter words in the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary (the American edition!) as well as Scrabble strategy, so that I can compete at a decent level in an NSA sponsored Scrabble tournament.

Learn along with me.

Word lists, word quizzes, playing strategy

MY REVIEW: This blog is simply a lot of fun. Even a casual scrabble player will enjoy it. The not-so-casual scrabble player will learn a lot!

Sample post
Vengeance will be mine
You meet a wide variety of people on the online scrabble club Wordbiz. Some of them are friendly and will chat with you, some won't. Some will do the bare minimum. They'll do Hi, GL to open the game. (Hi and good luck) and at the end of the game TY. GG. (Thank you, good game.)

And I don't mind those. It's obvious they don't want to chat but rather concentrate on the game, and I completely understand that.

What irks me are people who don't respond to those bare minimum overtures.

I had a guy tonight, ZAquariusZ, rankled about 70 points higher than me. He challenged me. I did my, Hi and Gl. No response. I got no vowels on my first rack. Instead of exchanging a few of them - I hate to do that on my first turn - I played an H and a W around a E.

No vowels.

I had no choice. I turned in 4 letters, got back 4 consonants. Again, my opponent spelled a word such that there was nowhere I could go to spell anything that would give me any points, so I turned in 4 letters again. And got back 3 consonants and an O.

So I was frustrated, and I said to my opponent (in a little message bar), something like "3 changes of tiles and I finally get one vowel."

No response.

Well, that really irked me. A simple ; ) to know that he (or she) knew the feeling would have been nice. But no.

Eventually I managed to catch up, but he pulled ahead again at the end and beat me by about 10 points. I said TY, GG. I didn't expect a response and i didn't receive one.

Now, had I won, I'd make a point of never playing this guy again. But he was a jerk and he beat me, so he must pay.I "buddied" him, so I'll be told when he's on the site again, and I'll challenge him, and if the computer plays fair by me I'll beat him.

And then I'll message him, "sucks to you!" and put him on my noplay list!


RECENT POSTS:
-- Vengeance will be mine
-- My collection of Scrabble books
-- 6 letter word: R N V O G E
-- How can SIG *not* be a word????
-- The Cynic's Dictionary - the Hs
-- Eve Le QiNu's Flashwords - Unofficial Scrabble Stu...
--- 6 letter anagram: I L L E D K
-- This is a Usable Word? Ablins
-- The Cynic's Dictionary - the Gs
-- This is a Usable Word? Abaser
-- 1000 games, 200 ranking?
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Reviews published every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

___________________________
Check out my kindle BOOKS!:
Whose Body, by Dorothy Sayers (the Annotated Edition)
The Coldest Equations (science fiction)
The Lady and the Tiger...Moth

The Terry Pratchett Reader


REVIEWED BY: Marguerite Zelle

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: Terry Pratchett Reader

WEB ADDRESS: http://terrypratchettreader.blogspot.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: Terry Pratchett is the creator of the Discworld - a world that rests on the back of four turtles, which stand on the back of Great A'Tuin, the Star Turtle. The Discworld has witches, wizards, trolls, dwarfs, an orangatang and Death, to name only a few. In this blog, updated every other day, I annotate each of the Discworld novels (there are over 20 of them), share my thoughts on some of Pratchett's powerful imagery, and share news and reviews of Terry Pratchett, his other writings, as well as movie, tv and radio adaptions of his Discworld ouvre.

MY REVIEW: This is a new blog that studies the Discworld ourvre. As a Terry Pratchett fan I find it of interest. Pratchett's works are so popular that there are many small websites and a couple of larger ones devoted to his work. Pratchett's work is sophisticated and he satirizes and homages many other books, movies and TV shows - some evident to an American audience, some not so evident. So for an American audience, this blog should be a lot of fun.

RECENT POSTS:
-- The Color of Magic: The Wizard's Quarter
-- The Color of Magic: Krull
-- Colour of Magic covers
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Reviews published every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
___________________________
Check out my kindle BOOKS!:
Whose Body, by Dorothy Sayers (the Annotated Edition)
The Coldest Equations (science fiction)
The Lady and the Tiger...Moth