Bill Stuart

Kathleen Morris – Another recommendation!!

October 23, 2012 by Bill Stuart Leave a Comment

Last week, I had the opportunity to do a recommendation for another author (Paula Lofting’s Sons of the Wolf). Tonight, I get to do it again for Kathleen Morris!! It is always a great thing to be able to help out a fellow writer. I like to help get the word out about their work!

Today’s recommendation is for two books by Kathleen Morris. The first book is:

Deep Bay Vengeance:

When Loretta’s only son gets killed during a bank robbery, she sets out to find his killer no matter what the cost. The story brings us to a remote fly-in-fishing camp in Northern Saskatchewan where three very different people come together for very different reasons. Together they pursue truth, discover faith, and expose corruption of the human spirit deep in the heart of Canada’s north.

Her second book is:

Deep Bay Relic:

Book Two in the Deep Bay Series. When a rustic lodge in Northern Saskatchewan becomes the nesting ground for diamond smugglers, Carla Reece finds herself in the middle. She and a myriad of others fall victim to circumstance and have to find their own way out of the wilderness. Survival becomes a quest for truth and self-discovery, with faith their only weapon against a foul ancient creature hidden in Deep Bay since the beginning.

About Kathleen Morris:

I was born and raised in Saskatchewan and love to put a little bit of it in each book I write. My favorite genre is Christian Fiction Suspense but I’ve written poems and songs as well as many plays over the years.

I look at my writing as my ministry and I like to write about ‘real’ Christian people with flaws and show how they overcome them. We are all the same basically, I think, with the same pressures in life, the same difficulties. I know I like to read about that and love to incorporate it all in my stories so we can all learn from each other.

I enjoy sitting in my office typing away. If you were a fly on my wall, you’d find me smirking, laughing, grumbling, and yes…even crying as I write my characters lives.

I consider my books as my babies…and I have two. Deep Bay Vengeance and Deep Bay Relic are two books in my first series. I thoroughly enjoyed writing both of them even though it took me ten years to get them published. I’m currently working on my next series. The Blood War Series…but for now…I will keep that a secret:)

My husband and I have raised three grown children and find that our nest is empty now since they have all moved away. But since I’ve filled it with my new babies…I never feel alone. Yes I see my grown children often and spend time with my hubby of twenty five years. I always seem to be thinking of story ideas because writing is and always will be my passion!

Links:

Deep Bay Vengeance:

Deep Bay Relic:

You can also follow Kathleen Morris at the following links:

Twitter: @storytellerkat

Author Page: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/KathleenMorris

Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Kathleen-Morris/e/B0099WZSDY

Blog: http://bloomsblossoms.blogspot.ca/

I hope all of you will check out her books, like them, and buy a few!

Tumbled Emeralds Part 2 – Smoothing the Rough Edges!!

October 20, 2012 by Bill Stuart Leave a Comment

Tumbled Emeralds Part 2 – Smoothing the Rough Edges!!

Well, it has been about a week since I put the emeralds into the tumbler. I stopped tumbling them today in the first step of the tumbling process (using the silicon carbide coarse grit), rinsed them off, let them dry, and readied them for step 2.

Tumbled Emeralds after 1 week of tumbling with coarse grit silicon carbide Part 2 — Emeralds after 1 week of tumbling with coarse grit silicon carbide

You won’t notice a huge difference in the stones yet, except for the fact that some of the hard edges and ridges have been smoothed away and some smaller pieces have broken off.

Tumbled Emeralds with smooth edges from tumbling Part 2 — Emerald with smooth edges from tumbling

Now it is time for step 2 of the tumbling process. I reloaded the tumbling drum with the emeralds, added the med/fine silicon carbide grit, and filled the drum with water. I put it back on the tumbler for another week! The plan is to smooth the rough edges.

Tumbled Emeralds loaded into tumbling drum with med/fine grit Part 2 — Tumbling drum loaded with emeralds and the med/fine silicon carbide grit

I did get some work done on The Gemstone Chronicles fantasy adventure series, so I didn’t waste the entire week! Stay tuned for more updates on the books and the emeralds!

Do you tumble any rocks, metal, or glass? Do you make jewelry with them or just admire their polished beauty? Leave me a comment and let me know!! You can also connect with me on social media on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, or email me at bill@williamlstuart.com. If you don’t want to miss a post, subscribe to the blog! As always, it’s fun to meet and connect with new friends!

Sons of the Wolf by Paula Lofting – My first recommendation!!

October 16, 2012 by Bill Stuart Leave a Comment

My very first recommendation! It’s almost as exciting as promoting my own books! Read on to discover Paula Lofting’s Sons of the Wolf.

Sons of the Wolf:

I have a first for me! Today, I get the privilege of recommending a book from a fellow author. Paula Lofting writes historical fiction and has recently published her debut novel Sons of the Wolf.

Synopsis (from the author):

On bloody fields he fights for his life, but sometimes the enemy is closer to home… 1054, pious King Edward sits on the throne, spending his days hunting, sleeping and praying, leaving the security of his kingdom to his more capable brother-in-law Harold Godwinson, the powerful Earl of Wessex. Against this backdrop we meet Wulfhere, a Sussex thegn who, as the sun sets over the wild forest of Andredesweald, is returning home victoriously from a great battle in the north.

Holding his lands directly from the King, his position demands loyalty to Edward himself, but Wulfhere is duty-bound to also serve Harold, a bond forged within Wulfhere’s family heritage and borne of the ancient Teutonic ideology of honour and loyalty. Wulfhere is a man with the strength and courage of a bear, a warrior whose loyalty to his lord and king is unquestionable. He is also a man who holds his family dear and would do anything to protect them. So when Harold demands that he wed his daughter to the son of Helghi, his sworn enemy, Wulfhere has to find a way to save his daughter from a life of certain misery in the household of the cruel and resentful Helghi, without comprising his honour and loyalty to his lord, Harold. On the battlefield, Wulfhere fights for his life but elsewhere the enemy is closer to home, sinister and shadowy and far more dangerous than any war.

Connect with Paula Lofting:

Find Paula Lofting on her Amazon Author Page, her Goodreads page, or her Facebook page. Stop by, say hi, discover more about her and her book (and maybe buy a couple). While there and consider leaving a review or comment!

Connect with me:

Find me on social media and let’s connect. I’m on Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads, so say hi and let’s start a conversation! Don’t miss a post either. Subscribe to the blog! Find out about The Gemstone Chronicles Book One: The Carnelian!

Tumbled Emeralds

October 14, 2012 by Bill Stuart 21 Comments

Tumbled Emeralds!

I have received a few questions regarding tumbling emeralds in the rock tumbler. Since I have an abundance of rough emeralds (most of which are not facet quality), I decided to do a few posts on the process of tumbling them. Let’s get started with our tumbled emeralds!

The Process:

The first step in the process is to tumble the rough stones using a coarse grit compound. Luckily for me, I have a kit that includes 4 different grits of compound. For the emeralds, I use silicon carbide and water. The stones will tumble for about a week before I will take them out, rinse them, and change the polishing compound to a finer grit.

Below is the picture of the emerald rough before I started the first step. I found some of these in Hiddenite, NC and some in Cleveland, GA.

Once I have the rough selected, I load it into the tumbling drum and add the coarse grit silicon carbide.

I don’t measure the silicon carbide. I simply sprinkle some into the drum until I think I have enough. Yes, there are measurements for it in the instructions for the kit, but if you aren’t filling the drum completely with rock, the measurements vary, so I just eyeball it.

Put the top on the drum and it is ready to go!

I put the drum on the tumbler and will check back in about a week. I will post photos of the rough stones when they come out of the tumbler and before I add the next step of the polish.

While I wait for the tumbles emeralds, I will be working on The Gemstone Chronicles!

Connect with me on social media! I can be found on Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads! I welcome new friends to join in the conversation.

The Great Emerald Hunt results…

October 7, 2012 by Bill Stuart 1 Comment

As I told you last week, Uncle John and I went to Hiddenite NC for the Great Emerald Hunt and to dig at the mine and try to find some emeralds. We made the four-hour drive from our Atlanta area homes on Friday afternoon. We dodged some traffic on the interstate by using the back roads, and we finally got there.

Emerald Hollow Mine:

Saturday morning we got up bright and early and drove to the mine. We were the first customers of the day at Emerald Hollow Mine. We told them we wanted to dig. They issued our dig permit and gave us our complimentary bucket of dirt ticket (pictures coming later in the post). We also found out that the digging area was about a 400 yard walk from the parking area. Doesn’t sound like a long distance, but when you are carrying shovels, screens, and buckets, it can be a bit of a challenge. I decided to leave Lana’s nice camera in the truck and take pictures with my phone (sorry in advance for the poor photos and the limited number).

We headed into the dig area without a clue on what to look for or how to proceed. That didn’t stop us, though. We discovered the mine was a large tree covered hillside pock-marked from many other dig sites. We scouted around for a bit, then settled in to figure out what we were supposed to do. In retrospect, we should have done more research on how to do what we were doing. Maybe the hosts at the mine should have an introductory seminar on how to dig, but neither of those things occurred. John and I picked out a spot and started the hunt. One of the mine employees stopped by and told us to look for seams of mica and quartz and follow the seam until we (hopefully) hit a vein or some type of gemstone. Alas, in about 6 hours of digging, we found nothing….

What we brought home:

We didn’t want to leave empty-handed, of course, so we trekked back to the flumes and claimed our complimentary buckets of dirt. I found a few nice stones in the bucket, so I forked over $25 more and got an “emerald” bucket. It was a good bucket and yielded a number of emeralds and a few other stones. I found some orange calcite, emeralds, blue aventurine, blue sodalite, and a couple of pieces of quartz. Not bad for $25, but I would rather have found some hiddenite or emeralds as we dug. I don’t think I will be heading back to Hiddenite to dig any time soon, but John and I are considering a trip to Hogg Mountain (near LaGrange GA) soon to dig there. Stay tuned for pictures and a post about that trip (should it happen)!! Below are the few pictures that I took.

And just in case any of you were wondering about hiddenite, below is a picture of a hiddenite faceted stone.

There you have it! The Great Emerald Hunt results are in. We didn’t strike it rich at Hiddenite, but we did find where the stones weren’t! Have you been to Hiddenite? If so, what did you find? Leave me a comment and let me know, or, even better, share a picture of your finds with me.

Connect with me:

You can also connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, or drop me an email at bill@williamlstuart.com!

The Great Emerald Hunt Begins (Tomorrow)!

October 5, 2012 by Bill Stuart Leave a Comment

The Great Emerald Hunt Begins!

Just a short blog post tonight to let everyone know that Uncle John and I made it to the NC mountains!! It was a long drive. Tomorrow, the great emerald hunt begins! We will be digging holes and looking for (and hopefully finding) emeralds, sapphires, aquamarine, and, if we are really lucky, the rare gemstone Hiddenite. Stay tuned for pictures and more blogging tomorrow (or Sunday, since UGA and South Carolina play tomorrow night). John and I will be camped out somewhere watching the game and hoping for a UGA win!

We will be at the Emerald Hollow Mine bright and early and plan a full day of digging. Hopefully, we will find some good rocks (including the rare and elusive Hiddenite) during the Great Emerald Hunt! If not, we can always sift through some of the buckets for sale. I promise we won’t come home empty handed!! It’s too long of a drive for that…

If any of you readers have been to the Emerald Hollow Mine, what did you find? Did you think it was worth your time and effort? Leave me a comment and let me know! And feel free to send a picture of your finds. I’d like to see them!

Connect with me:

If you want to connect with me, I can be found on Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads. You can also email me at bill@williamlstuart.com.

Kathleen Morris – Another recommendation!!