Monday, June 19, 2017
A Small Gang of Authors: NEWS
A Small Gang of Authors: NEWS: Our author gang member's book is up for the Book of the Year award You can vote for her book on this link: https://docs.g...
The devil made me write it. #OurAuthorGang
As a child, I used to love to write.
However, due to the fact that I attended Catholic school, I was not allowed to write what I wanted to write because the nuns did not like what I wrote.
If they asked us to write an essay about the sky, they wanted us to write something like: the sky is blue and pretty, the clouds are white and fluffy.
I would write: as the skies turn into different shades of greys, the thunders get louder and louder as the lightning bolts dance in the sky.
The nuns use to make me read what I wrote in front of the class. They mocked me and made fun of me in front of the whole class because I wrote nonsenses. Because the devil was inside me, making me write dark ugly sentences.
So, I learned to write: the sky is blue and pretty, the clouds are white and fluffy, and I was praised for finally writing as a good girl should.
Never again I wrote what I wanted to write. Never again I put down on paper my thoughts or ideas.
If people were laughing at them, why should I write them?
Nobody likes to be ridiculed, especially at our formative years.
It took me many years to write again. Actually, it took me decades to write again. And some more years, to let somebody see what I wrote.
And now, finally, I am letting the world see what I write.
Yeah!!!
I already publish “Fulfill your dreams” in English and in Spanish “Realiza tus SueƱos”.
I will be publishing “Backpacking my style” soon in English and in a not so distant future (hopefully) in Spanish “Mochileando a mi Manera”.
In the meantime, I am blogging about my six months trip through Eastern Asia in my personal blog and about this and that here. Nevertheless, I am sure I will be posting about my travels too.
English
Saturday, June 17, 2017
Do Your Characters Have A Family Tree? #OurAuthorGang
Tolkien did it, CS Lewis did it and various other authors do it, too.
In the back of their books they add all these interesting little tidbits to draw readers even deeper into their imaginary worlds. Things like a glossary, which lists a brief biography of all their characters; detailed maps of their fantasy worlds and, at times, even a genealogy.
I love genealogies.
Books series' often go through a range of characters, sometimes over generations, so seeing them all presented on one chart is a great reminder of their relationship to each other as the stories progress.
I created one for my Dantonville Legacy series and it was included as part of the back matter in the first paperback edition of Book 1, BloodGifted, but it was harder to do in the digital version, and so it didn't go in.
But, here it is now and I've included an updated version with characters from the 2nd and 3rd books.
If you want to find out more about these characters, you can start the series here - Amazon
In the back of their books they add all these interesting little tidbits to draw readers even deeper into their imaginary worlds. Things like a glossary, which lists a brief biography of all their characters; detailed maps of their fantasy worlds and, at times, even a genealogy.
I love genealogies.
Books series' often go through a range of characters, sometimes over generations, so seeing them all presented on one chart is a great reminder of their relationship to each other as the stories progress.
I created one for my Dantonville Legacy series and it was included as part of the back matter in the first paperback edition of Book 1, BloodGifted, but it was harder to do in the digital version, and so it didn't go in.
But, here it is now and I've included an updated version with characters from the 2nd and 3rd books.
Wednesday, June 14, 2017
Book Excerpt ~ The Du Lac Chronicles #Historical #Fantasy #OurAuthorGang
Would
you like to have a sneak peek between the covers of The Du Lac Chronicles? Yes?
Well, read on…
The Du Lac Chronicles
by
Mary Anne Yarde
A generation after
Arthur Pendragon ruled, Briton lies fragmented into warring kingdoms and
principalities.
Eighteen-year-old
Alden du Lac ruled the tiny kingdom of Cerniw. Now he half-hangs from a wooden
pole, his back lashed into a mass of bloody welts exposed to the cold of a
cruel winter night. He’s to be executed come daybreak—should he survive that
long.
When Alden notices the
shadowy figure approaching, he assumes death has come to end his pain. Instead,
the daughter of his enemy, Cerdic of Wessex, frees and hides him, her motives
unclear.
Annis has loved Alden
since his ill-fated marriage to her Saxon cousin—a marriage that ended in blood
and guilt—and she would give anything to protect him. Annis’s rescue of Alden
traps them between a brutal Saxon king and Alden’s remaining allies. Meanwhile,
unknown forces are carefully manipulating the ruins of Arthur’s legacy.
Book Excerpt
AD 495 Wessex, Briton.
Alden du Lac drew in a ragged breath. The cold night
air hurt his lungs, and the rough wooden post that he was tied to rubbed the
wounds on his back. He had prayed for the welcomed relief of unconsciousness;
alas, it was not to be. It seemed even God wanted him to suffer for his
failings.
He had lost count how many times he had been lashed.
All he knew was that each lash represented every Wessex soldier that had been
killed by his men. Cerniw's losses had been far higher, but no one paid for
their deaths. Life was never fair, though; he did not need a lost battle and
hundreds dead to tell him that much.
The year had been horrendous. Cerniw, with its rugged
moorlands, its vast forests and beautiful coasts, had been struck with one
pestilence after another. The people started to talk about moving, and some
already had. Those who had stayed loyal to the land and, of course, to him, no
doubt now wished they had not, for when Cerdic's Saxons came, they purged the kingdom, making it look like the hell the
bishop preached of in his Sunday sermon. Alden, unlike God, had been powerless
to do anything about it. Oh yes, he had fought, but the numbers he fought
against had overwhelmed his army, for who could fight the devil, without God on
their side, and think to win?
Alden hung his head in shame, his shoulder-length dark
hair falling into his face. He cursed his naivety and worse still, his
arrogance. His younger brother had warned him, but he had not heeded the
warning; instead, he believed the useless treaty that Cerdic of Wessex had
offered him only months before. He should have seen where Cerdic was going with
it then, only he had been blinded by grief, by guilt. The responsibility for
what happened, therefore, was his and his alone. He knew
that, and he took the blame. He deserved to be tied to a post waiting for
death.
Alden closed his pain-filled grey eyes as the image of
his homeland in flames scorched his mind. He could hear the screams, the
begging for mercy, and the cries for help. He could taste the terror in the air
and feel the heat of the flames. Dear God, what had he done?
He had been left with no alternative. Even now, with
the clarity of hindsight, he could see no other choice. He had ridden towards
the enemy, carrying the white flag of truce and hoping ⎯ sweet Lord, how he had hoped ⎯ for
clemency, not for himself, but for his people.
Instead, Cerdic's soldiers had pulled him
unceremoniously from his horse and taken him prisoner along with at least
eighty of his kinsmen. Of their fate he was uncertain, but his was assured. If
he did not die tonight from exposure then an axe awaited him at dawn. It was a
terrifying thought, and he prayed to God for courage. He felt no warm, welcoming
presence and he feared what all men secretly feared, that on the morrow, he would
not die well.
Snow began to fall softly from the night sky, not
enough to settle, just enough to plummet the temperature further. He began to
shiver. He tried thinking of a warm fire and his large bed covered in thick
furs. It did not help. After all, when last he saw his fort it was in flames.
“Are you still alive, du Lac?”
Alden kept his head down, pretending to be unconscious,
and hoped the bastard would leave him alone to die in peace.
Draca, the guard in charge of the prisoners, was not
fooled. He lived for terror and he had no intention of allowing the former
ruler of Cerniw an easy death. He grabbed Alden's chin roughly and forced his
head up.
Alden opened his eyes and stared with contempt at the
soldier in front of him. Draca was a huge man, with a shiny bald head, tiny
eyes and a big fist, whose breath stank of stale beer and his body of gone-off
fish mixed horribly with the smell of fresh blood ⎯ not his own, but someone else's.
“Not quite dead yet, are you? Won't be long, though.”
Draca chuckled deep in his throat. “I've never killed a King before. I'm
looking forward to it…”
Links for purchase
Or read the series for #free with
subscription.
Thanks for reading...
Mary Anne xxx
Tuesday, June 13, 2017
You Talk Funny #OurAuthorGang
The bilingual story of Pico, the Pesky Parrot
Sarah, Emma’s mom, promised to bird-sit Pico for two weeks but soon regrets her decision because the noisy parrot keeps screeching and squawking all day, annoying her family and the neighbors. When Pico makes a mess of Emma’s room, Emma gets very angry, but her friends help her. Charlotte notices that Pico seems sad, and Pedro finds out why Pico is shrieking so loudly all the time. The parrot is frustrated because nobody pays attention to him, and nobody understands what he wants.
A little background to this story
Working as a nurse in the US the past twenty-eight years, having an accent always helped braking the ice with young children who were afraid and nervous when brought to the hospital. "You talk funny. I like it," they would say distracted by my accent and paying less attention to the needle in my hand.But the first few months, after we moved to the US, were difficult. I had a hard time communicating with people and had to use the dictionary to look up even basic words. Most of my neighbors and coworkers were patient and most helpful. But sadly, I experienced isolation, discrimination, as well as ridicule from some people. It felt like as if my 158 IQ and my good communication skills were reduced to being a "retard" and I learned the words, "*** foreigner" in the first few days on the job working in a restaurant as a dishwasher.
Thanks to my bulldog nature not to let go and keep going, and to my ability to adopt and learn fast, within two months I spoke English at a conversational level, and I advanced my language skills to the level of publishing my first book in 2013.
Young children are open, compassionate and don't judge others by origin, color, or appearance, they either like the person, or not. They learn to judge others later by listening to adults and watching them the way talk about and treat others. They also learn the value of friendship and family from stories.
The purpose of this English and Spanish bilingual book is to show children the beauty of another language and that learning a new language is not easy, but with a little compassion and help from others, it could be fun.
The story also delivers a message that when we don’t take the time to listen to each other, we tend to judge others quickly before we get to know them.
he book in this magazine style presentation
Click HERE
After all the frustration and misunderstanding, the story has a happy ending:
ENGLISH
A week later the children saw Molly arriving in a taxi. They went to meet her in the plaza by her favorite bench under the big old tree.
As soon as Pico spotted the old lady he started screeching, “Helllo Mollyy! Wellcomzz homzz!”
Molly looked at her bird astonished and asked the children, “Did he just say my name and welcome home? Did you teach my bird to talk?”
Pedro giggled. “He was speaking all along, but he could only speak Spanish. Now he can speak a little English too.”
“Oh, my!” Molly cried out. “The poor bird was trying to talk to me.”
“The truth is,” Emma confessed, “that I was very angry at Pico for all the noise he made until Charlotte figured it out that he wanted something and Pedro understood what he was saying. We didn’t know that he’s such a smart bird.”
“Yes, I didn’t know either,” Molly sighed. “Sometimes we don’t listen to each other and quickly judge others without getting to know them. We should take the time.” She sat down on the bench turning to Pedro. “Could you teach me Spanish?”
“Yes, of course, it will be fun,” Pedro replied.
SPANISH
Una semana mƔs tarde los niƱos vieron a Molly llegar en un taxi. Fueron a su encuentro para reunirse con ella en la plaza, junto a su banco favorito y bajo el viejo, gran Ɣrbol.
En cuanto Pico viĆ³ a la abuelita, empezĆ³ a parlotear:
—¡Helllo Mollyy! Wellcomzz homzz!
Molly mirĆ³ a su pĆ”jaro atĆ³nita y les pregunto a los niƱos:
—¿Ha dicho mi nombre y bienvenida a casa? ¿HabĆ©is enseƱado a hablar a mi loro?
—Ćl ha estado hablando todo el tiempo —Pedro riĆ³—, pero sĆ³lo sabĆa hablar espaƱol. Ahora tambiĆ©n puede hablar un poco de inglĆ©s.
—¡Madre mĆa! —Molly exclamĆ³— El pobre pĆ”jaro intentaba hablar conmigo.
—Lo cierto es que yo estaba muy enfadada con Pico por todo el ruido que hacĆa hasta que Charlotte se imaginĆ³ que Ć©l querĆa algo, y Pedro entendiĆ³ lo que decĆa. No sabĆamos que era un pĆ”jaro tan listo —Emma confesĆ³.
Molly les mirĆ³ detenidamente.
—Si, yo tampoco lo sabĆa. A veces no nos escuchamos los unos a los otros y juzgamos rĆ”pidamente sin tomarnos la molestia de conocernos. DeberĆamos tomarnos nuestro tiempo —Se sentĆ³ en el banco y girĆ”ndose hacia Pedro le preguntĆ³:
—¿PodrĆas enseƱarme espaƱol?
—Por supuesto, serĆ” divertido —contestĆ³ Pedro.
This fun bilingual story is available in eBook and print
The teachers said
"As a former ESL teacher, I was impressed by author Erika’s bilingual story about a pesky parrot and wondered why books like this one (written in both English and Spanish at many reading levels and interest ranges) were not available when I was teaching." ~Bette A. Stevens
"Pico the Pesky Parrot is an adorable story that teaches a strong message of compassion, community, and communication." ~Janet Balletta
About the translator of this story
Carmen G. Monterde was born in Barcelona and works as an English teacher and group leader with students of all ages.” That was not easy in Spain for my generation when it came to learning a second language, what´s more, we didn´t have the tools our children have nowadays. And yet, I still think there are two key points that can lead us to bilingualism: motivation and reading. But you have to start when they are young, teaching them that English is not only a subject to pass at "school", but a form of communication that opens many doors, including millions of stories we find in books, movies, songs, and so on. The day will come that we have to sit down and talk with them about the professional world and those things that the youngest ones, encourage them so little”
Take a few minutes and watch this video
Watch this fun video
Take a few minutes and watch this video
Watch this fun video
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