Book Reviews, Thoughts, and Random Interesting Ideas

Dahlonega Literary Festival!

Dahlonega Literary Festival – Gold Mine of Books & Authors!

When most people think or hear about Dahlonega, Georgia, the first thing that comes to mind is the Dahlonega Gold Rush. And why not, with all of the gold that came out of the hills in the area! Gold mining, on a much smaller scale still persists to this day. I even do a little prospecting myself!

The Dahlonega Mint was commissioned in 1835 to mint gold coins from the gold found in the Dahlonega area and, perhaps, some of the California gold. According to the New Georgia Encyclopedia, during its history, the Dahlonega Mint coined over $6 million.

Today, though, I want to discuss another type of treasure found in Dahlonega. The Dahlonega Literary Festival is a gold mine of authors and their books. Set in the beautiful North Georgia Mountains, it’s an amazing event!

Come celebrate the 10th anniversary edition of the festival on March 8-9, 2014 at the Community House and St. Luke’s. There will be panel discussions, presentations, and book signings!

The very cool thing for me is that I have the honor of participating in the Festival as a Regional Author! I get to join in the fun, interact with festival goers, and meet the other authors. As a reader, the idea of meeting writers is exciting to me! As a writer, the opportunity to meet and greet readers is simply awesome!!

Connect with the Dahlonega Literary Festival:

Follow this link for more information about this year’s Dahlonega Literary Festival!

Visit the links below to find out about the authors, their books, and pictures and bios.

Authors:

Regional Authors:

Connect with the festival on Facebook:

If you are going to be in the Dahlonega area on March 8-9, 2014, make plans to stop by the Dahlonega Literary Festival. Discover books and authors in the North Georgia Mountains!

Connect with me:

Find me on social media and let’s connect. I’m on Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads. Say hi and start a conversation! Let’s discuss books, reviews, and just about anything else! I love to meet new friends.

Have you read The Gemstone Chronicles? Since you’re already here, if you’ve read one (or more) please consider leaving a review! I love to know what my readers think! It helps me become a better writer, too!

In keeping with the theme of unusual monsters for The Gemstone Chronicles young adult and middle grades fantasy adventure series, the mythical creature of Book Four: The Ruby is the cherufe lava monster! Fearsome looking beast, I think! Overall, I think it is my favorite of the gemstone guardians!

The Cherufe:

According to Wikipedia, the cherufe lava monster is a creature from the legends of the Mapuche people of Chile. The cherufe is an evil humanoid creature made of rock and magma, though it is often depicted as a snake. It likes humans – especially virginal sacrifices – as a delicacy and is rumored to eat the body, then toss the head out of the volcano as a fireball.

The cherufe lava monster lives in the molten lava deep in the bowels of volcanoes. In The Ruby, the cherufe is the guardian of the last of the stolen gemstones from the Elven Bow. Read The Ruby to see if the beast can be defeated!

Interestingly, the creature may actually be based on a real creature that could exist in the extreme temperatures found in volcanoes. Since animals thrive near hydrothermal vents deep in the ocean, who knows? While such a creature has never been found and the chances of it living are remote, it is not impossible!

The monsters:

There you have all four monsters from The Gemstone Chronicles! The kelpie, a giant, the cockatrice, and finally, the cherufe lava monster. Of all of them, which one is your favorite – or least favorite? Leave me a comment and let me know!! And, if you are intrigued by any of the monsters, check out the books at the following links.

Links:

Smashwords:

Amazon:

Facebook:

Connect with me:

Find me on Twitter, Facebook, or Goodreads and let’s connect and talk mythical monsters!!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from The Gemstone Chronicles! It’s the most wonderful time of the year and I have so much to be thankful for!

I wanted to take this opportunity to say thanks to everyone for the comments, helpful advice, and for reading and reviewing The Gemstone Chronicles in 2013! The final book of the series, The Ruby, will be released in early 2014. Please take time to thank those who have blessed your life! Enjoy your family and reflect on what the holiday season means to you. As for me, I will be spending time with my beautiful and amazing wife Lana, my awesome grandchildren Aidan and Maggie, my wonderful daughter Laura and son-in-law Mike, and my extended family. Have a Merry Christmas and a wonderful and prosperous New Year!!

If you received a Kindle (or iPad or Nook) as a gift during this season of giving, why not fill it up with The Gemstone Chronicles? The books are available in mobi and epub formats for your ereader and make great gifts! Like the feel of holding a book? They are in paperback, too, so there’s something for everyone!

Connect with me:

I’ll be on social media over the holidays (though intermittently). If you use Twitter, Facebook, or Goodreads, look me up and say hi! It’s always a pleasure to meet new friends!

Happy Holidays!!!

Cockatrice!

In The Gemstone Chronicles Book Three: The Emerald, our heroes, Maggie and Aidan have to strike out on their own to free their parents, grandparents, and elf friends from the clutches of the witch Maeva. Once they complete that onerous task, they all have to journey to fight a cockatrice to recover the Emerald for the Elven Bow. Facing this monster is a momentous task!

What is a cockatrice?

What exactly is a cockatrice? According to Wikipedia, a cockatrice is a mythical beast that is born from a chicken egg incubated by a toad. Often confused and somewhat synonymous with the basilisk, the difference is that the basilisk has no wings.

Among the mythical powers associated with the cockatrice is the ability to scorch the very earth with its breath. In The Emerald, the cockatrice blasts the area around the second tower with its horrid breath and leaves the area devoid of vegetation. A second power is the ability to turn any creature into stone simply by looking into its eyes. While this may be a takeoff on the Medusa myth, it serves its purpose in well in the book. The beast protects the Emerald given to it by Naesse.

The picture above depicts the seal of the City of Zwolle from 1295 and it shows Saint Michael battling a cockatrice. Note the weasel in the bottom corner of the picture. Weasels (and their cousins the ferrets), have the ability to withstand the beast’s gaze – something that plays a very important role in the book!

The monsters:

I tried to create a unique monster to guard each of the stolen gemstones. I think the cockatrice fits that bill quite nicely.

For my final monster, I have a very unusual creature that will be the subject of the last post in this series. Without knowing what that monster is, which of the first three is your favorite? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Connect with me:

Find me on social media and let’s connect! I’m on Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads, so stop by and say hi!

Giants!

Giants! What does the word conjure up for you? Is it the giant from Jack and the Beanstalk? Or perhaps the Cyclops from Greek mythology? David and Goliath? There are many others that could qualify, but, as I mentioned in a previous post about kelpies, I wanted the monsters of The Gemstone Chronicles series to be unique. This caused a lot of headaches and research before I settled on the right giant for Book Two: The Amethyst.

History:

Before I go deeper into that, though, I want to talk more about giants in general. Giants have been part of human history forever, it seems. Just Google the term and you get over 87 million hits. Granted, some of those are for sports teams, but still. So, where do giants exist in mythology and legend? Most people are familiar, as I mentioned above, with David and Goliath. But, Goliath isn’t the only giant mentioned in the Bible. The Nephilim were on the Earth before and after the Flood.

Other civilizations have giants, too. According to Wikipedia, the giants of Hinduism are called Daityas and they fought against the gods. In Native American lore, the Si-Te-Cah were a race of red-haired cannibalistic giants. Other cultures that feature giants are the Greeks, Romans, Norse (and who doesn’t like the idea of frost giants, fire giants, and mountain giants), Baltic, and many others.

Irish mythology:

This research lead me to a great tale from Northern Ireland. According to Irish legends (listed in Wikipedia), the giant Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn McCool in English) tore some of the land from the ground and threw it at a rival. Finn missed, and the chunk of land became the Island of Man. I used that legend as the basis of the Island of Man in the book.

Another cool story is the that of the Giant’s Causeway. I used that tale, too, as it involves our giant from the Island of Man legend. In this story, Finn McCool built the causeway so that he and another giant Benandonner could meet and fight. Finn wins in one version of the story. In another version, Finn sees that Benandonner is much larger than he is, so Finn’s wife disguises him as a baby. Benandonner, seeing how large Finn is, believes that Finn’s father must be truly huge and he flees to Scotland, tearing up the causeway behind him. Here is a picture of the Giant’s Causeway!

I morphed the tales into the story of Brendan, the giant who controls the Island of Man in The Amethyst. I loved the way the story turned out, but you won’t get any spoilers from me. You just have read it to find out!

To be sure, giants aren’t always malevolent. For instance, the giant in Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels is a friendly giant. In the US, we have the Jolly Green Giant advertising vegetables. Paul Bunyan and his Blue Ox Babe are seen in various towns in North America. This tempers the image of Cyclops, Frankenstein’s monster, or any of the other more unpleasant giants.

Which of the giants are your favorites? Scary, man-eating monsters, or gentle, helpful creatures of immense stature? Whichever you prefer, giants are awesome!!!