First Day - Waikiki Beach

My first trip to Hawai'i! We arrived on Saturday, August 15, 2009. I arrived first since booking complications caused Frazier to wait until the next flight out of LAX to Honolulu. I had a few hours before I had to pick him up so I did a little exploring along Kalakaua Avenue in Waikiki.

This was the beach across the street from our hotel.

Beautiful landscaping along the sidewalks included waterfalls like this one.


Our first room had a city view. Although not ocean-view, the clouds perched on the mountains was breath-taking. It was a premium room but next to the elevators, which sounded like freight trains.

Soumets-toi a moi released by loveyoudivine Alterotica May 1!

loveyoudivine Alterotica released 'Soumets-toi á moi' on May 1, 2009, my FIFTH short story! It's a paranormal story of two lovers who find themselves between a beautiful treasure they found and the ghost of a pirate who wants it back!

Synopsis:

In New Orleans, Henry meets Cole in a spooky cemetery for a quick hook-up during Mardi Gras. During their encounter, Henry finds a beautiful crucifix in a pile of dirt. Suddenly, they are being followed by the ghost of a pirate, wanting his treasure returned. Unfortunately, there is nowhere to hide even among the thousands of people in town for the celebration. What must Henry and Cole do to escape the fate that the ghost has in mind for them?

Excerpt:

Henry nodded as he fished the strange object out of his pocket. Both men sucked in breaths. Even caked with dirt, it was stunning. Smaller than Henry’s palm, a golden crucifix, ornate and bejeweled, glittered in the low light. He took it into the bathroom and began washing off the grime. Most of the soil fell away at first but it soon became apparent that the precious item had been buried for a long time.

“Is it real?” Cole whispered over his shoulder as if speaking aloud would cause it to vanish into thin air.

“It’s real, all right,” Henry answered in the same low voice. “I think it’s solid gold. Feel how heavy it is.”

Cole felt the weight of the crucifix in his hand as Henry placed it delicately in his palm. “Wow,” he said, still afraid to raise his voice.

“Maybe we can find out something about it tomorrow,” Henry took it back and turned it in his fingers, scrutinizing the elaborate craftsmanship. “It doesn’t look anything like the crucifixes I’ve seen before.”

“Me, either,” Cole put in. “It looks kinda ancient.”

Henry wasn’t convinced it was more than a few decades old at most, but said nothing. He placed it carefully on the bureau. “We can find a museum in the morning and see if they can help us figure out how old or valuable it is.” Turning back to Cole, he smiled suggestively. “Now let’s pick up where we left off.”

Featured Author at Dark Diva Reviews

A. J. Llewellyn interviewed me for his blog, Dark Diva Reviews, on February 11. He asked me about my works and future projects. Check it out!

Thanks, A. J.!

Author Interview at His & His Kisses, loveyoudivine Alterotica

Brynneth Colvin, editor and author at loveyoudivine Alterotica, interviewed me for her blog, His & His news! It was exciting to talk about expanding my short story, Safe Word, into a novel.

Thanks, Bryn!

http://brynneth.blogspot.com/

The Chatter of Maidens by Alys Clare

Alys Clare just keeps getting better and better. In her fourth Hawkenlye Abbey installment, The Chatter of Maidens, she surpasses her previous works easily with a complex and deliciously twisted plot. Abbess Helewise and her close friend Sir Josse d’Acquin join forces to discover the mysterious origin and truth behind the lies of three sisters who have come to Hawkenlye. The oldest, Alba, is a professed nun from an distant abbey that she refuses to name. She brought her two younger sisters to take the veil. Meriel and Berthe are more timid than she is and are also cowed by Alba, who is uncaring and disobedient.

Helewise suspects something is amiss with ‘Sister’ Alba, but when she chastises her for countermanding an order from her, the defiant nun takes a swing at her. At her wit’s end, the Abbess locks her up and sets off on a journey to find the abbey from whence she came, using what little clues she has.

Meanwhile, Sir Josse is laid up in the abbey’s infirmary, recovering from a near-fatal infection brought on by an old wound. Facing the brutal facts that he almost died, he must stay behind and continue his recovery while Helewise with two of the brother monks set out for Ely.

Clare takes her characters on an interesting journey through England’s fens and swamps where they find a Templar monastery and a strange abbey where the abbess seems to know Helewise’s intent before she tells her. They also find a burned out building with a body inside. Suddenly, Alba and her sisters are mixed up in murder.

Clare’s knowledge of religious communities in the twelfth century adds a new dimension to historical mysteries. She paints the grittier side of life in the cloister next to those more prosperous with stark vividness.

It’s also interesting to note the development of her main character. Although, the readers know she is in love with Sir Josse, Abbess Helewise is slow to realize it even though she is otherwise shrewd and intelligent. It is fun to see the upright and proper Helewise struggle with her own feelings, which conflict were religious vows. Will she ever realize that she is a woman, regardless of her vocation?

Clare always brings something new and unexpected in her novels. She brings the twelfth century alive with her words.

Shame on you, Pittsburgh!

It is a travesty that the Pittsburgh Steelers AFC championship win January 18, 2009 had to be marred by thousands of their fans’ rude behavior. What should have been a memorable experience has been forever sullied by those who feel that common rules of decency do not apply to them. Their conduct during such an event was reprehensible, incorrigible and unacceptable. Twice during the game, the Steelers’ organization broadcast announcements on the single huge viewing screen in the stadium urging fans to make it a “positive Heinz Field experience” for all fans. The announcement called for “integrity” and “respect for others”. Unfortunately, very few of their own fans heeded these words.

Among the offenses by the hometown:

• Physically assaulting fans (both male and female) of the opposing team
• Shouting obscenities and calling them names
• Making offensive gestures
• Cheering and singing when an opposing team’s player lay on the field injured
• Booing their own team when they were winning

These were not examples of a few rotten apples spoiling the bunch. No, this outrageous behavior was exhibited by the vast majority. The ones who did not make transgressions punishable by law did commit grievances that broke laws of dignity and courtesy. Male Ravens fans going to the restrooms were not allowed to relieve themselves unmolested. One Pittsburgh fan ceased his rude behavior only after being threatened with eviction for inappropriately touching a 16-year-old boy.

An extremely low number of locals did show a slight modicum of respectability by voluntarily switching seats with two Lady Ravens fans, who were being brutalized verbally and physically by the males and females around them. A security guard even recognized the physical danger they were in, but only acted when the game ended by escorting them out of the stadium.

Unsportsmanlike conduct like this is not tolerated in other stadiums where fans are respectable, such as Dallas Cowboys, Tennessee Titans, Baltimore Ravens and the Miami Dolphins. All conduct in a bit of good-natured teasing of opposing team fans, but there was nothing, absolutely nothing remotely good-natured in and around Heinz Field Sunday night.

Steelers fans do not have respect for their own city. Parking lots were littered with trash and junk left over from the numerous tail-gating parties with no regard for trash cans.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are a great football team and deserve the championship title and trip to the Super Bowl. But Big Ben and company also deserve much better fans.

Antiques Maul by Barbara Allan

When I started writing, another author with good intentions told me that parentheses should rarely be used "as in never". But Barbara Allan makes frequent and liberal use of them in her funny story Antiques Maul with hilarious results. I liked the novel as a comedy but not as a mystery.

Barbara Allan is the pseudonym of writing duo Barbara Collins and Max Allan Collins. Their sleuth (or main character, to be more exact) is Brandy Borne (oops! There I go. Using parentheses.) She and her overly dramatic mother decide to set up a booth at the local antique mall. Brandy's mother Vivian is sorely put out after being passed over for the position of director of the local theatre group.

Adding insult to injury, her best friend (albeit now former best friend) got the position. The antique booth is Brandy's way of keeping Vivian occupied. However, when the owner of the mall is brutally murdered, there's no stopping Mother.

The police think that the mall owner was attacked by her dog, Brad Pit Bull, but Vivian is not convinced. Everyone writes her off as a nutcase.

The story drags on. Brandy's ten year-old son Jake comes to visit during a school break. She manages to get the moody pre-teen to help them with their antique booth. She tussles with her (much older) big sister's best friend. Mom snoops between gossip sessions with her girlfriends and just carrying on like a big diva.

Antiques Maul focuses mainly on Brandy, Vivian and Jake through their adventures, buying merchandise, setting up shop and interacting with the locals in Serenity, where everybody knows everybody else's business. The mystery barely rates as a subplot.

There are only hints to a mystery for more than two thirds of the book as Vivian insists to anyone who will pretend to listen that Brad Pit Bull did not kill his owner.

When Jake disappears from a haunted house attraction, Brandy, close to hysterics, calls her ex-husband in from Chicago for help. Only after the kidnapper and accomplice are unmasked is the entire mystery (for real, now) laid out for the reader. Everything is played out in retrospect much like the Hardy Boys or Scooby-Doo. Where there was no mystery, now there is.

If you love a comedy, this book is for you. If you love a great whodunit, this isn't.

By the way, loafers aren't a giveaway anymore, guys.