#st writers twitter: there's a new couple heres a couple hearts from me to you (two heart emojis)

[chirpsythismorning]

Imagine having byler doubt when the CGI hearts exist

[lilydalexf]

Old School X is a project interviewing X-Files fanfic authors who were posting fic during the original run of the show. New interviews are posted every Tuesday.

Interview with Tabula Rasa

Tabula Rasa has 8 stories at Gossamer, but there are even more X-Files fics at AO3 and her website. She writes Mulder and Scully in a very lovely way. I've recced 3 of my favorites of her fics here before: Bird in Snow, Fall: East on M St, and Skuamorph. Big thanks to Tabula Rasa for doing this interview.

Does it surprise you that people are still interested in reading your X-Files fanfics and others that were posted during the original run of the show (1993-2002)?

I'm always extremely pleasantly surprised to get kudos (or, very rarely, a comment) on my old fic, but I'm always happy to see it! I did post them all (I think) to AO3. I'm not surprised people are still reading fic, though. It's an iconic show and now with streaming, it's really easy to watch older shows and natural to want fic about them!

What do you think of when you think about your X-Files fandom experience? What did you take away from it?

XF was my first fandom, definitely my first online fandom, and so it will always have a special place in my heart. Also... I had a great time! I stumbled upon and joined the Scullyfic email list by accident, but it was the best thing I could have done. I learned a lot about how to be a writer and how to be in fandom, and those lessons are still important to me. Foundational. Also, in terms of modern fandom drama, XF was more low-key on the drama (although it didn't seem like it at the time!). But I learned something that's always served me well: find like-minded people, and hang out with them. Don't worry about the rest.

Also... you can't control the show, but you kind of can control the canon.

Because of Scully, I ended up taking a forensic anthropology class in university-- and now I have a Master's in a forensic science! Part of the Scully Effect, and proud of it!

Social media didn't really exist during the show's original run. How were you most involved with the X-Files online (atxc, message board, email mailing list, etc.)?

Definitely mostly email list! I never really got the hang of message boards. Posting fic was exhausting, and tbh I never figured out how to work Ephemeral. I checked it every day, though! I loved, after a new episode, everyone sending in their thoughts and reading everyone's experiences together. Fandom was a lot more work back then, tbh!

What did you take away from your experience with X-Files fic or with the fandom in general?

That fic can be just as good, or better, than traditionally published works. There are works of XF fic that have stuck with me for years now, far more than some books I've read. That fan writers can know the characters better than the show writers. The fandom in general was really smart, and mostly more adult than me (I joined fandom when I went away to college, so I always felt at the younger end of the scale. That was good though!).

Also, my first time reading and writing porn. Not gonna lie, I was shocked the first time I accidentally read smut. But I adjusted fast. lol

What was it that got you hooked on the X-Files as a show?

I was still a kid (now we would say preteen) when the show premiered- I think in middle school. But I was already into ghosts, aliens, monsters, solving mysteries, and I'd already imprinted on the dynamic thanks to Square One (really)! I was also just old enough to start developing celebrity crushes. Hilariously, I did not twig to the fact that I'm bisexual the entire time I was in XF fandom, despite having enormous crushes on BOTH Mulder and Scully. Ahhhh!

Also, my whole family was into the show, but I was definitely the one with the hyperfixation. I used to take notes and record the episodes as I watched. It just had the right stuff and hit at the right time. And I've always been obsessive.

What got you involved with X-Files fanfic?

As a kid I also really liked Star Trek, and someone had given my dad a book about the history of Star Trek, which I read. This included mentions of fandom and fanfic. As soon as I had a private-- and perhaps more importantly fast-- internet connection (in college), I went looking for XF fanfic, and that was that. Hooked immediately. Also I shipped them A LOT so that's what I went looking for.

What is your relationship like now to X-Files fandom?

I tend to not go back to a fandom once I have a new fandom, so I wouldn't say I'm in it. I did hang around the edges for the revival, of course, because I wanted to experience that with the same people, but since the revival was mostly not that great (with a few exceptions), I didn't get pulled back into it. But I still think of the people I knew in the fandom a lot, and always hope they're doing well.

Were you involved with any fandoms after the X-Files? If so, what was it like compared to X-Files?

I've never left fandom, and I've been in a BUNCH: Harry Potter, Doctor Who, Bandom, Supernatural, now CQL/The Untamed and other Chinese-media fandoms, with many smaller ones in between or on the side. I feel like at their core fandoms tend to be similar, although where you host the fandom makes a big difference: Livejournal, tumblr, twitter. I think that because fandoms now tend to be bigger and more diverse (which is good) there tends to be more wank (which is bad). In some of them I was close to a group of people, some of them not. Honestly the best thing is when someone you know from an old fandom is in your new fandom. It's so much fun. I have really good friends thanks to fandom, and I've had them for YEARS. Like. 15 years.

Who are some of your favorite fictional characters? Why?

I tend to focus more on ships than characters, but some of my all-time favs: Scully, Hermione, Sirius Black, Castiel, Lan Wangji, Xie Lian. That's just fandom-oriented ones, otherwise we'd be here all day. :D

Do you ever still watch The X-Files or think about Mulder and Scully?

I don't often rewatch episodes any more, although if I come across an ep on tv I might. I definitely still think about them though! For example, I'm a teacher now, and just a couple weeks ago one of my colleagues mentioned he'd heard the students saying they shipped two of their classmates, and he was like "Ship? I don't get it" and I was like "HOO BOY, do I have a story for you!" And I explained how shipping came from XF fandom, and why. That was fun. I definitely still think about Mulder and Scully too-- I mean, they're cultural touchstones, so they do come up sometimes in greater pop culture. Also, I was in Hannibal fandom for a while, and Gillian Anderson is still The Best.

Do you ever still read X-Files fic? Fic in another fandom?

I haven't read XF fic in years, even the ones I remember as being really significant/important to me. I still have my all-time favs saved on an external HD though! Fic in another fandom- every day lol.

Do you have any favorite X-Files fanfic stories or authors?

Blinded by White Light by DashaK has stuck with me. Mr. and Mrs. Smith and the Ruby-Throated Warbler by I forget I'm so sorry -- that's lasted as my ideal post-canon MSR and as an interesting and different way to tell a story.  [Lilydale note: It’s by rah.] I was always thrilled to see fic by Brandon, JET, MaybeAmanda, Syntax6... and, frankly, everyone on the Scullyfic/ Emuse list. So many talented people in that fandom!

What is your favorite of your own fics, X-Files and/or otherwise?

Things Outside, which is the only thing I've ever written based on a dream, and I'm really satisfied with it. It was hard to write but so much fun to revel in the weirdness. I always kind of wanted to write more because I know a lot more about the situation, but otoh, I like the open, ambiguous ending (usually I am very HEA).

In other fandoms, King & Country in bandom (MCR) and in Supernatural I'm very proud of Hope and Clay. I struggle to write casefics even though I love to read them, but that one really worked out.

Do you think you'll ever write another X-Files story? Or dust off and post an oldie that for whatever reason never made it online?

I don't think I'll ever write something new. There is an old fic that may be done but it was smut so I was too shy to post it at the time. In theory if I find it and it's decent, I could post it!

Do you still write fic now? Or other creative work?

I do! I write fic very slowly, but I do write still! I have a million ideas for stories, but I'm so slow at the actual writing part.

Where do you get ideas for stories?

I usually take a jumping-off point from canon, or of course, something I need to fix or expand on. Or sometimes I start telling myself a story as I fall asleep and the idea grabs me long enough I can manage to write it.

What's the story behind your pen name?

I was getting into fandom and realized people didn't use their real names. I flipped through my history book looking for inspiration, and decided tabula rasa was a great name for a writer. I tend to add an X because it's rare to get "tabularasa" as a username, and the X is indeed for X-Files (so I'm something like tabulaxrasa most places). I usually go by Tabula Rasa or Tab, though. And I still use it because 1) it IS a great name for a writer; and 2) it's not fandom-specific so I can keep it in every fandom.

I identify with it so much I have answered to this name in class (oops). I have a "Tab" t-shirt (as in the soda, but I have worn it to Comic-Con for ease of ID-- better than a nametag!). And my mom got me a necklace with a "tab" typewriter key as a charm, which I adore. Yes, I have accidental merch of myself.

Do your friends and family know about your fic and, if so, what have been their reactions?

As you can tell from the above, my family knows (my family being my parents and sister). They are supportive! I think my mom read a couple stories? But obviously she has to know the fandom to get it... I got my sister into fic, and we even wrote a couple fics together (in Gundam Wing). She's a lot more selective about fandoms, but she's joined fandoms on her own, too. She's just not in one constantly, like me. :p

I tend not to tell not-online friends unless I have felt them out and know they're super fannish, or they bring it up first.

Is there a place online (tumblr, twitter, AO3, etc.) where people can find you and/or your stories now?

Most of my old fic is now on AO3 and I hang out on twitter a lot, @tabula_x_rasa

Is there anything else you'd like to share with fans of X-Files fic?

I'm really glad people are still in this fandom! It will always be so important to me. Thank you Lilydale, for this nostalgia trip!

(Posted by Lilydale on March 30, 2021)

[thefaeriereview]

Tour: A Perfect Storm

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A PERFECT STORM

Mike Martin Mystery

Sgt. Windflower is back, untangling another swirling mystery, this one bringing the meth crisis and biker gangs to the quiet Newfoundland town of Grand Bank, feeling the sting of their deadly tentacles reaching all the way from Las Vegas.  He’s working with his familiar crew of RCMP characters – but wait, are some of the faces changing? New challenges for Jones, an unknown side of Smithson reveals itself, and what ever happened to Tizzard?  In the midst of putting the pieces of the puzzle together, Windflower and his beloved Sheila also find themselves navigating sorrows and surprises on the family front.

Come back to Grand Bank for more fun, food and cool, clean, Canadian crime fiction with Sgt. Windflower Mysteries.

   MY REVIEW

 5 out of 5

A Perfect Storm is a great mystery. I really enjoyed this cozy mystery following various members of the RCMP stationed out of Newfoundland. Although this is a cozy mystery, it is far from fluffy. There's a wonderful balance between the hard and rough parts and the softer, sweeter side of life. At first I wasn't sure how much I would like the focus changing between characters, but Martin handled it seamlessly, and I was quickly lost in the story. This definitely made me want to read the other mysteries in the series!

Amazon → https://amzn.to/36sHEBz

  Chapter One

Eddie Tizzard passed his card over the sensor and pushed the door open. He flicked on the light. “Holy jumpins,” he said when he saw what was on the bed in his hotel room— thousands of dollars strewn around like confetti. When he looked closer, he saw something else. There, right in the middle of the bed, was a very red, very large bloodstain.

His first instinct was to run. But his years as an RCMP officer got the best of him, and he had another look around. Soon the source of the blood became obvious. It was a man in a suit lying face down in the bathroom with a visible hole in the back of his head. Tizzard should have trusted his first instinct because when he did decide to leave the room, he walked directly into the path of who he would later find out was the head of hotel security.

He was remembering all of this as he sat in a holding cell with a dozen other men in the Las Vegas jail. Tizzard had gone to Vegas for private detective training, having decided on a new career path after leaving the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, or the Mounties. Technically, he was on leave for the rest of the year, but he doubted he’d ever return to his old job. He’d applied for and received his firearms license, but he wanted a certificate to put on the walls of his new office, that is when he got an office. That seemed very far away right now, about as far as he could get from his home in Newfoundland on the eastern tip of Canada.

He’d watched enough police shows on TV to know that he could make one phone call. But nobody had said when he could do that. The duty officer kind of smirked when he pushed him into the lock-up with his dozen new friends and told him, “Yeah, yeah, coming right up.”

Tizzard was confused but tried to look like he fit in with his fellow cell mates. They, in turn, looked like they were measuring his clothes to see if they might be a fit. As long as they don’t find out that I used to be a cop, I’ll be OK, thought Tizzard as he backed up as far as he could into a corner.

It seemed like he had waited forever, but as several of his new friends came in for a closer look, he heard his name called, “Tizzard, Tizzard.”

“That’s me,” he said and pushed by the two large men who had got the closest.

The duty cop opened the door, and Tizzard walked along the hallway to an interview room. He was pushed inside, and the door clicked shut behind him. It was a small, windowless room with a camera in the ceiling, a mirror on the wall, a single chair on one side of a table, and two on the other. Tizzard knew the drill and took a seat on the one-chair side. Then he waited, again. Feels like home, he thought. Just not my home.

On the other side of the continent Mayor Sheila Hillier was wrapping up her town council meeting and was on her way to meet Moira Stoodley who was babysitting her daughter, Amelia Louise. The meeting had been made unpleasant by a couple of contentious issues, including whether the older buildings in the downtown core of Grand Bank should be modernized or restored to maintain their historic character. But Sheila also realized that most of the tension was really about who would replace her as mayor in the election only a couple of weeks away.

Jacqueline Wilson was Sheila’s preference, but there was another candidate, Phil Bennett, who was leading the anti-tax faction of council. Every meeting, Bennett would try to disrupt things to show how influential he thought he could be, but Sheila would have none of it and would put him back in line. Bennett’s behaviour in itself was more than enough reason for her to want to leave, she thought.

Sheila had decided to go back to school part-time, eventually do an MBA once she had cleared up her scholastic records and completed the course load for an old degree program she had started several years earlier. Politics had never really been her thing, even though she was very good at it. She had only taken the mayor’s job to try to improve the town’s economy. And she had succeeded, mostly. The Town of Grand Bank’s fish plant was now operating on a regular basis with a quota for crab and the sea urchins considered a delicacy in Japan and China. The town also had a recycling factory and a solar panel fabrication plant.

Half of the town’s people wanted to not just preserve the past but to live in it. The other half wanted to blow it all up and start over. They had no use for the old and wanted everything to be modern, like the way it was in St. John’s or even nearby Marystown. It seemed there was no middle ground for the residents of Grand Bank, yet Sheila was sure you could have the best of both worlds. Getting others to agree with her, though, seemed impossible.

Sheila gathered up her things and drove to the Mug-Up, which was known through much of the province to be the best little café there was in Grand Bank. That it was the only café in Grand Bank was usually not mentioned. Sheila had owned the place years ago but gave it up after a horrific car accident left her with a slight limp and no desire to stand all day. Moira and her husband, Herb, had taken it over, and it was there that she found Amelia Louise sitting at a table with her Poppy Herb.

“Mama, mama,” she shrieked as Sheila’s heart melted. “Ook, ook.”

“I think she’s got talent,” said Herb Stoodley.

Sheila examined the crayon scrawls on the paper and murmured her approval. “It’s so nice,” she said. “Is it Lady, your doggie?” she asked, making a leap of faith based on the fact that there was one small circle on top of a large mass of scratches.

Amelia Louise smiled and nodded her head up and down emphatically. She had always been able to somehow say no, but now the 20-month-old toddler was happy to signify yes with a grand gesture.

“Well, thank you,” said Sheila. “And thank you, Herb. And here’s Moira, too. Thank you, Moira, for looking after her.”

“It’s our pleasure,” said Moira, wiping her hands on her apron. “I was just finishing off some baking.”

“Em,” said Amelia Louise. “Ook, ook,”

“I can see,” said Moira. “Has Poppy Herb been nice to you?”

“She’s like our baby, too,” said Herb. “It’s easy to be nice to her. ‘Those that do teach young babes, do it with gentle means and easy tasks.’”

“Okay, my soon-to-be-famous artist, let’s go,” said Sheila as she put on Amelia Louise’s jacket. Once outside again, Sheila noticed the November air had lost any tinge of summer warmth, and the wind was picking up, making it a bit of an adventure to walk the short distance to their house. Sheila tried to carry her daughter, but Amelia Louise was determined to walk on her own, while examining every leaf that blew their way.

When they got home, Molly the cat watched them carefully as they came up the walkway. The dog, Lady, was more directly affectionate and showed how much she had missed them both by almost knocking them over in the hall. The only one missing from the happy family was Sheila’s husband and the father of Amelia Louise, Sergeant Winston Windflower of the RCMP Grand Bank Detachment. He was at work, but Sheila expected to hear from him soon because his stomach would be rumbling any minute now, and he’d want to know what was on for dinner.

Mike Martin was born in St. John’s, NL on the east coast of Canada and now lives and works in Ottawa, Ontario. He is a long-time freelance writer and his articles and essays have appeared in newspapers, magazines and online across Canada as well as in the United States and New Zealand. He is the author of Change the Things You Can: Dealing with Difficult People and has written a number of short stories that have been published in various publications across North America.

The Walker on the Cape was his first full fiction book and the premiere of the Sgt. Windflower Mystery Series. Other books in the series include The Body on the T, Beneath the Surface, A Twist of Fortune, and A Long Ways from Home, followed by A Tangled Web, which was shortlisted for the 2017 Bony Blithe Light Mystery Award as the best light mystery of the year, and Darkest Before the Dawn, which won the 2018 Bony Blithe Light Mystery Award. Fire, Fog and Water was the eighth in the series. He has also published Christmas in Newfoundland: Memories and Mysteries, a Sgt. Windflower Book of Christmas past and present.

He is Past Chair of the Board of Crime Writers of Canada, a national organization promoting Canadian crime and mystery writers and a member of the Newfoundland Writing Guild and Ottawa Independent Writers.

A Perfect Storm is the latest book in the Sgt. Windflower Mystery series.

  Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mike54martin

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheWalkerOnTheCapeReviewsAndMore

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[whenislunch]

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This summer I saw my favorite artist perform live on an island off of Manhattan that used to serve as a jail/mental health institution.

When Frank Ocean came out with his screen grabbed text file posted as a “photo” on Tumblr in 2012, I knew the platform was something special - the one niche he could safely post something so revealing and vulnerable and still not open himself to the direct hate-filled or homophobic comments of any other forum. I had signed up for Tumblr the year prior. I joined with the fantasy of becoming a famous food blogger (and later as a nail artist) so I could quit my publicity job and score all of the PR perks that I so readily dished out to any 'mommy' with a touch of digital pretense.

Personal space on the vast internet was never my craving. I resisted being too present, and enjoyed the ability to control how much I “put myself out there” on facebook, twitter, and later Instagram. With my original two tumblrs, like Frank, I could focus on sharing and following the things I cared the most about: in early cases, it was fan art of Bill Murray, gifs of Daft Punk, and mostly photos of food I had eaten from the everyday life of a new New Yorker discovering the cult nature of the restaurant scene (a similar practice to my behavior as a teen taking shitty photos at punk shows in St Pete, Florida to pin on my bedroom wall). Tumblr became my collection of “curated cool," and nobody cared how hard I was trying or what I put up there, except for me, and it became my favorite place on the internet. Eventually, I realized all of the writers I was admiring on The Awl were including their Tumblrs in their bios, and I was there to follow them. I saw Rebecca Black become a meme before her one-hit would become a wedding band wonder. If sitting at the open kitchen counter at an edison bulb-lit restaurant was the closest you could get to a food industry version of “backstage”, then a Tumblr dashboard filled with all of the blogging generation of the “fake news media” was the analogy. It’s human nature to want to be seen and understood. Selfies perform better than friendies on Instagram - and GPOY’s on Tumblr… well I challenge anybody on music.ly to define the acronym without that peeking at the Childish Gambino Genius page first.

And that’s the tip of the iceberg for where I stand with Tumblr now. After three years of hanging out in the same field, they invited me to meet them at the dugout. After four months of interviewing and pitching challenges and pretending like I was at a digital optimization workshop, I was offered a job. After five years, or nearly, I’m ready for another one. I had the BEST time and the BEST TEAM working at Tumblr. Sentiment is incalculable, and being the Comms professionals that we are, we can swear to the moon that the effect of press results on a brand is unquantifiable when one piece can qualitatively alter the nature of the public’s perception versus the reality of a goal. And I had the the immeasurable luxury to be surrounded by the smartest, most creative, intensely productive, and to borrow a food world phrase - hardiest colleagues in the history of the internet.

My first day at Tumblr also belonged to six others - together we endured a questionable onboarding interaction and then were sent with laptops and branded hoodies to our respective seats at our superdesks on various floors. There were dogs everywhere. I was told that I’d be introduced to the company on Friday and to submit two truths and a lie to help them get to know me. Here they are:

I have photo credits in the New York Times and New York Magazine

I appeared as a backup dancer in a rap video in high school

I watercolor paintings of crustaceans as a hobby

Leave your guess in the comments (oh wait, it’s Tumblr, you can’t). 

Friday lunches were my lifeblood for a couple of months. Every week for at least seven thereafter unloaded a new set of amazing humans to be introduced in some absurd way by Sean from recruiting. I remember @sexpigeon vs Homer’s owner in game of pictionary, Johnny and Jake quickly competing for my heart as #1 engineer dudes, and of course, the instant classic game of Mark Coatney/ Marc Cote/ Marked Coat. Tumblr ramped up fast thanks to Lee, a fundraising series and at the tireless behest of my personal champion, Lindsey Dole.

Meanwhile, more magic was brewing in the cauldron. I heard @amandalynferri talking about some game she invented called Pretty Little Lasagna box, or I heard Maddie recalling the time she had her palm read in 14th street psychic's booth seeking refuge from a snowstorm, or @lexkap who sat on the other side of the building with a dog on her lap DM’d me on hip chat to show me her own nail art blog. Then a few of us won a chance to see a sneak preview of a new arthouse film by Harmony Korine and featuring an ensemble cast of former Disney talent that had been filmed in my hometown with a y2k airbrushed aesthetic - there was something innately emotional tied to each of us with this first viewing of Spring Breakers. When we left the midtown theater alongside the ATL Twins, I realized that this company had curated a community to match the intended behavior of its user base. We all connected on a level beyond any workplace I had experienced before.

And there was the professional side to the job - the work wins came quick because I was so lucky to sit under leaders who wanted the team to succeed. Rick Webb and Katherine encouraged me to dig in, and get deep with these shiny new toys called “evangelists” - Valentine, Nate, Liba, Annie, Max, Rachel, Jen, and briefly DCH. An enviable group of brilliant minds and creative energy who have all gone on to accomplish even more for their respective industries than a marketing budget at a start up could have enabled - and I had the pleasure to help share their Tumblr stories with the world - from a puppy bowl to annual southby's to groundbreaking art auctions to thirteen fucking fashion weeks to 35+ art and music shows (brrr)?

And then Tumblr got acquired and the Jenna Wortham turned the New York Times blue, and I got to do something I’m sure will never happen again in my entire career: I threw a party where the goody bag included a free tattoo, and multiple brave souls got them (Tyler, @bryanasortino, Megan & Johnny, among others).

And then Karen (aka #takingitallin aka @beautifulliving) joined, and me and Katherine gained a new teammate at the same time that I gained a new soul sister (and because of her self-described passion for advertising I never had to write an announcement about a new ad product ever again.) I’ve never been more challenged to succeed as I have over the three years I sat next to Karen - a generous and driven woman with endless dreams of supporting others (literally, ask her about the gap in the undergarment sector), who will always find a spot to squeeze me into a photobooth. Even at her wedding.

And lucky us, because then we invited @lilders into the #teamcomms fold and wow, wow, wow was life good. It was my honor working with Lily as she grew from FIT intern into somebody we should all aspire to work for someday.

Which leads to me to the poker faced improv master of all - Katherine. Allora @alittlespace! I am so lucky she believed that this girl who came into talk about a hypothetical strategy to get Eleven Madison Park on Tumblr and then pitched her a fantasy football launch party hosted by Nick Kroll and Mark Duplass could fit in and have the privilege to join the Tumblr Communications team. KB - I’ve already written you the dopiest thank you letter and shared my orchid growing miracle secrets - but it can’t be said enough - I am so grateful to have worked for you for all of these years. You are the best boss, and we will always be the #bestteam.

Because of Tumblr (and @david), I had the pleasure of working with so many additional incomparable people on projects outside of my designated Marketing Comms position, wearing more hats than we even produced for branded activation swag:

Designing and contenting for months with the relaunch of the precious Staff blog with David, Peter, Damien, Tag, Toph, among others

Setting the inaugural year in review with Danielle, Amanda, Christine loose (and then doing it again and again and again, with the wonderful team at DKC - especially that time we added a serving Kale to America’s breakfast.

Marathoning dozens of events with amazing producers like Julia, Suzanne and Magic - and encountering the native talent that thrives on Tumblr like Humans of New York, Chloe Wise, Sam Cannon, Johnny McLaughlin, Jillian Mercado, to a point where I can honestly say “I knew them when.”

Participating in the first ever Sales Offsite aka the greatest bar mitzvah ever thrown by Lee Brown, Dan Walsh and Sarah Won and the rest of the coolest sales team ever assembled (here’s to you @katemaxx, @jeffdtaylor, Meredith, Ari, Kira, and so many more)

Reaching back into my fashion bag of tricks and launching three different clothing lines.

Creating partnerships to show off super surprises at nerd parties at Comic Con and another breaking the internet for Art Basel

Interviewing the CEO of Shake Shack for the one-time-only live episode of “5 with a side of fries" in front of the whole company.

Urgently dealing with Legal, Ads, Trust and Safety on one of the definitive news story of a generation after nine months of back channeling and reporting.

DOING IT FOR THE CULTURE: Racing with the content and analytics teams for stats on the contentious day of #thedress, and then bling rings, witches, boneghazi, superwholockians, wholesome memes, studyblr, emojis, and of course, the toe thing! Thus redefining what it means to “go viral.”

Cleaned a ball pit for the dude from the 1975 to make a splash into them and trolled a legacy music publication

And wow - it took me this long to mention Post It Forward…I am so proud of everyone who helped make Tumblr the most empathetic community on the internet: Nicole Blumenfeld, Jeff D’Onofrio, @skiphursh “Dolphin", @dougrichard, Andy Sebela, Jess Frank, Sarah Won @swon, @pauwow, the brilliant and diligent Michelle Johnson. From building the blog, commissioning the art, recruiting and onboarding the partners, writing the endless number of give/gets, planning the sponsored posts and social content, running the day to day on the blog (and bequeathing that role to Lily), then doing it again with the Mental Health Quilt and IRL with the Post It Forward Summit - I’ve found my new track as a special projects person who can take on any issue, even suicidal teens. If this is my legacy, I’ve planted seeds in the garden I might never see. And special thanks to Victoria, who allowed me to speak at Obama’s White House about why kids need a place on the internet that can help heal - so long as they can find each other.

As it turns out, adults need that, too. From tailing Frank Ocean’s Ferrari to the most woke, mentally aware community and on to, thank god, a bonafide company to match - I will forever cherish my time at Tumblr and I’ll forever been asking #whenislunch. But from every tomorrow on, it will be somewhere else. And you can find me on the internet! 

Here’s my LinkedIn, I’m looking. 

[andrewuttaro]

What’s wrong with Rochester Sports?

Of all the questions I ask blogging this is one that is closest to my heart. For the last several years this question has been asked in different words by many people in Rochester and her orbit. This line of questioning arises from a few factors, not least of them being the thinning down of the number of sports teams in the City in recent years. We had a lot of sports teams for a mid-sized City. Now we’re losing some. The Rochester Rattlers (outdoor Lacrosse) moved out of town, the Western New York Flash (professional women’s outdoor soccer) moved out of town almost five years ago, the Rochester Knighthawks (indoor lacrosse) are going through a bit of a cup trick, and the Rochester Rhinos (professional men’s outdoor soccer) went on hiatus and left their relatively new stadium after a decade in attendance decline and lease disputes with the City.

I have been critical of those in my home City insisting Rochester has lost her “Sports Mojo”, in part because that is an easy way of encapsulating three dozen variables into an answer that really doesn’t mean anything. However, the more I look into it the simpler it seems to become. In the examples I provided two are the results of dispassionate ownership (the Flash and Knighthawks) and the other two are the result of fan attendance’ steady decline over several years. The situations are all unique enough to not be encapsulated by “Sports Mojo” but the idea something is up with Rochester in particular seems credible at the surface. Blaming the fans for any problem in sports is always the least neaunced answer. It’s often the kiss of death. So how can we say there is a problem with Rochester in particular beyond the more obvious observations of bad ownership or attendance problems? This tact of refusing the premise is where I sat on it for a while.  Then the County Executive tweeted.

Whatever you think of Cheryl Dinolfo aside, she shared something that got me thinking. She tweeted a link to a Bloomberg article that put places like Syracuse, NY and Rochester in the top twenty in destinations for Millennials to find work. I’m a millennial and for years I’ve watched folks my age heading south and elsewhere for work after graduating college. It’s mainly teachers and other helping professions but certainly many others have left as well. I’ve seen the story repeat itself over and over. Dinolfo’s retweet was obviously politically fodder but it points to rays of light breaking through that youth diaspora trend we’ve been used to for a couple decades here. Depopulation here skews towards younger people and as a region, we export college graduates if you haven’t noticed. The rays of light the Bloomberg article referenced got me thinking a new way about Rochester’s sports woes in recent years.

I went to a Rochester Americans playoff game last month. My dad had got these wicked second row seats by the team benches and my wife and I had redesigned my Captain America shield for what was surely to be a deep playoff run by our hometown hockey team. It was not a deep run and my shield was not exactly welcome at that fateful Game One. Not by security, I had it throughout the game at my seat; no, it wasn’t welcome because a woman sitting behind me gave me an earful about how it was nice, but it obstructed her vision and I had to keep it down. Ok, I’m not an asshole, I kept it down. Later in the game, that same woman did her best shrieking-Indian cheer, her words not mine, and I thought to myself: something is backwards here. All the research and first-hand experience with this problem in Rochester sports came flooding back with some clarity now.

Demographics has a part to play in Rochester’s sports woes. The woman behind me was well over 60 and spoke of her affection for the St. Paul street area of North Rochester/Irondequoit but vocalized how much its “gone downhill” over the years. The discussion of specific sections of Rochester aside, there is a generational imbalance going on in Rochester Sports that I think goes unspoken more often than not. I’m sure the woman sitting behind me is a wonderful lady and has many great memories cheering on the Amerks, Red Wings, and maybe even the Rhinos; but older adults aren’t what drives a sports team’s crucial numbers. Yes, they have the disposable income to help but successful sports teams these days pull in a cross-section of the public skewing towards the crazy folks who want to yell and scream. I’m not saying older folks like the woman behind me don’t yell and scream, trust me they do, but there is clearly an imbalance in this equation; particularly with the teams still in town making it work.

Hold your horses, I’m not trying to single out any groups or individuals with this criticism. I am not here to write an ageist think piece on how boomers are ruining Rochester sports. Although that would be hilarious given the surplus of pieces written about how millennials are ruining everything because they think they’re so darn special! No, I think there is a more stylistic change slowly unfolding. It has a lot more to do with how sports are marketed. I am no sports management or marketing expert but there are some huge differences between the leagues and teams hitting it big these days and the ones atrophying and folding. The difference is how you talk about what you’re building… and also what that product is meant to do.

Credit where credit is due, the Red Wings are doing a great job pulling in a cross section of Rochester’s little piece of humanity. The Rochester Rhinos on the other hand are in dire straights right now in large part because of the push they made for MLS in the early 2000s. Crowds packed Frontier Field and even Sahlen’s Stadium in its early days because we all wanted to be a part of the first Rochester sports team going top-flight since the early 1950s; not to mention they were just a really friggin good team back then! When that didn’t happen, the crowds dispersed. The Rochester Americans were world-beaters for four decades before they fell off the banner-raising beat, and the crowds have been tepid in the years since. These two teams are a case study in what’s going on in Rochester sports: failed expectations and a lot of them. Failed expectations lead to mediocre interest which leads to lack of coverage which leads to poor recruitment of young, new fans. It becomes a vicious cycle.

You have to be what you tell you’re fans you are going to be. Of course, I don’t fault the Rhinos for not making MLS nor do I fault the Amerks for not winning three championships a decade like they did fifty years ago but the point remains the same: tell the people what they’re getting and get them excited about that. To the Rochester Americans’ credit, they’ve bounced back to some degree. Crowds can be slim some nights but for the most part the averages have returned to an acceptable level. The Rhinos have not had the same recovery but there is potential for them to do so. There is more to this than butts-in-seats though, right? Yes, the king of Rochester Sports teams has this next part nailed down – and that’s kind of funny considering they’re the oldest club in the City.

The aforementioned Rochester Red Wings Baseball Club, or at least their marketing department, has a handle on something Rochester teams have been struggling to catch up with: online engagement. That may seem of negligible importance but that’s why I made the attendance/expectations point first. The Red Wings have put on a master class in how to keep your supporters thinking about your team even when its not playing. Two years ago, the Red Wings did a brilliant promotion focused on Rochester that is uniquely baseball but still something to be emulated: The Rochester Plates! So, if you’re not familiar with Rochester, there is this dish called the garbage plate. There is a number of foods that can go on a garbage plate but nonetheless its one of those things that makes Rochester unique and as a born and raised Rochesterian I will defend the dish to my last breath! The Red Wings, Rochester’s oldest professional team of any kind, made several promotional nights, jerseys and a whole line of merchandise out of the Plates. It was just a chef’s kiss, brilliant!

That kind of thing emphasizes the uniqueness of a town and local fans love to get behind it. You cheer for where you’re from and garbage plates are where I’m from. That is the sports marketing of the future. The Rochester Americans have caught on and added more themed nights and promotions that really scream Rochester. I could do without the Blue Collar Built tagline, but beggars can’t be choosers. Speaking of the future, I would be remised to not bring up the third piece here that needs to be said: the changing way sports teams are covered. This one is going to be a little bit meaner so bear with me because I think this is a conversation we need to have. While some folks have complained about how no one leaves their houses anymore because of how many entertainment options are out their Soccer Sam Fantauzzo, the same guy who yells about pizza for a living, managed to pull 3000+ into the Dome Arena this past winter for… wait for it… indoor soccer! The local maestro of vaguely irritating promotions got 3000 men, women and children to leave their homes in the dead of winter, at night, to drive down to Henrietta for indoor soccer. Nothing against indoor soccer but the argument no one will consume local sports anymore doesn’t hold water. Period. It doesn’t. I say that as preface to what I’m about to say.

The Democrat and Chronicle abandoning Pro Sports coverage is shameful. A handful of writers at that paper have defended their dramatic pairing down of all local Pro Sports coverage online for the most legitimate reason anyone arguing with nameless twitter eggs can: money. Apparently the coverage of the Red Wings, Americans and Rhinos just wasn’t getting the clicks and therefore wasn’t lucrative enough for ad revenue. That would be a great argument if it weren’t so lazy. Before I go off listing the numerous sports blogs that are growing into lucrative businesses just in upstate New York, it’s worth pointing out priorities. The guys I’m grilling at the D&C right now are probably facing cuts no matter what. I’d rather that paper cut sports than something far more important like investigative journalism. That’s actually important in the real world so let me just place that disclaimer. However, this is a sports blog and not covering sports in this City, arguably the best minor sports City in America, is pretty awful.

What makes it so awful is the trend it sets. After the D&C gave up you could see the other local print sources and local broadcast networks pair down as well. In spite of print media’s decline nationwide, the sports section in most towns still has some power of influence in local media. Before Jeff DiVeronica left the D&C last year he was really making headway in my personal opinion with D&C Digital and the video pieces he was putting out. I don’t know the numbers, I didn’t see what they were doing in ad revenue, I’m not going to pretend I know the financially sustainability of that; but the vast strata of sports blogs arising from every corner of the sports world these days leads me to believe it can be done and excuses shouldn’t be made when it’s not getting done in a City as sports-hungry as Rochester, New York. Remember what we said at the beginning: blaming the fans is the kiss of death.

Those are my three points: a generational shift, a marketing shift and a coverage collapse. If there is something wrong with Rochester Sports there are probably a million little factors we can discuss but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. I’m not writing a burn book; this article is meant to point out shortcomings as a means to growth but if you have something to talk about on this topic I genuinely want to hear from you. I hear a lot of anger when it comes to Rochester Sports and I don’t quite know why. If there was going to be a fourth item on this list anger might be it because holy crap when you say anything about this City in a public setting it seems like hordes of angry folks come yelling. If you have something to say about this please say it to me in a non-angry way. That’s a lot more helpful in having a productive conversation. If you do say it me angrily, well hey, it means you care and that would make two of us.

[omgcpwomen]

The Women of Check Please! Festival Schedule

March 4th - 11th, 2017

Thank you for your interest and enthusiasm! Here’s the schedule for activities.

All content creation challenges are open not just for fic writers but for ALL artists. If you make paintings, comics, moodboard, playlists, edits, videos, poems, sculptures, needlepoint, digital art, music, whatever, we want to see it all! Anyone can participate, as long as the works are central to the nice ladies over in the Check Please! universe.

Here’s a list of women in canon: Lardo, Camilla, Caitlin, Alicia, Suzanne, Georgia, Mandy, Jenny, March, April, Camilla, Kate, Samantha, Esther S, Professor Atley and Johnson’s mysterious girlfriend. And as for canon sisters -- Ransom is the middle child with two sisters, and Holster is the oldest with two sisters, while Nursey has an older sister and Chowder has a younger one.

**If you’re a TERF, this festival isn’t for you. Don’t reblog this. Don’t participate. Fuck off. 

Schedule under the cut:

Saturday, March 4th

Opening ceremonies

Share your favourite headcanons about the women of OMGCP!

Rec/reblog/comment on the works you love most about and/or by women -- fics, art, moodboards, playlists, videos, whatever!

HoliDay

Share any works themed around your favourite holiday. 

Birthdays, Halloween, Chanukah, Easter, St Patrick’s Day, New Year’s Eve, Valentine’s Day, Christmas... the possibilities are endless!

Make sure to properly tag your works if NSFW. 

Don’t forget to add your works to the omgcpwomenfest collection on ao3 if posting there, or tagging them with #omgcpwomenfest on tumblr!

Woman of the day: Alicia Zimmermann!

Sunday, March 5th

Femslash/wlw Day

Share your works themed around your favourite f/f pairing!

Some possible pairings: Lardo/Camilla, March/April, Alicia/Georgia, Mandy/Jenny, Caitlin/April, Lardo/Alicia, Camilla/March, Alicia/Suzanne, Lardo/Georgia, Kate/Samantha/Esther S. And so many more combos possible!

Make sure to properly tag your works if NSFW. 

Don’t forget to add your works to the omgcpwomenfest collection on ao3 if posting there, or tagging them with #omgcpwomenfest on tumblr!

Woman of the day: Caitlin Farmer!

Monday, March 6th

AU and Meet-cute Day

Time to talk about the AUs that speak to you the most, and that includes crossovers!

How about crafting an amazing (or embarrassing, or awkward or...) meet-cute for your fave f/f pairing?

If you need a prompt, I got you covered. Just send this blog an inbox message and I’ll give you a few ideas!

Make sure to properly tag your works if NSFW. 

Don’t forget to add your works to the omgcpwomenfest collection on ao3 if posting there, or tagging them with #omgcpwomenfest on tumblr!

Woman of the day: Camilla Collins!

Tuesday, March 7th

WoC Day

A whole day dedicated to the women of colour in Check Please!

Who’s that? Lardo, Georgia, Professor Atley, and April for sure, and Mandy (the Haus ghost) is generally accepted as a WoC too.

Make sure to properly tag your works if NSFW. 

Don’t forget to add your works to the omgcpwomenfest collection on ao3 if posting there, or tagging them with #omgcpwomenfest on tumblr!

Celebrate Ngozi Day

We love @ngoziu!! She spends so much time and effort to give us a thoughtful, beautiful, heart-warming and funny story. So it’s time to thank her! How about some posts and drawings to celebrate N?

What does Check Please! mean to you? Why do you love it? Why does it inspire you? Why does Ngozi inspire you? Just a few questions that could spark your reflection.

Don’t forget to tag your posts with #omgcpwomenfest on tumblr and twitter!

Woman of the day: Larissa Duan!

Wednesday, March 8th / International Women’s Day

Friendship Day

Aw! A day for appreciating friendships between women (and women-aligned people), whether that’s in Check Please! or in fandom or in real life.

Post your art and fics that celebrate the awesome women in the comic.

Send a message to a woman (or woman-aligned person) you admire and tell them why!

Talk about a woman who’s changed your life for the better -- someone you look up to, someone who’s a role model or mentor to you.

Don’t forget to add your works to the omgcpwomenfest collection on ao3 if posting there, or tagging them with #omgcpwomenfest on tumblr!

Post Your Selfie Day

Are you a woman or a woman-aligned person in the Check Please! fandom and feel comfortable showing us your face? Share a selfie!

Make sure you specify if it’s okay or not to reblog your selfie. 

If you do see a selfie that is okay to reblog, why not reblog it with a compliment?

Woman of the day: Suzanne Bittle!

Thursday, March 9th

Small Gifts Day

Don’t have time for a fully fleshed out fic or an intricate piece of artwork that’ll take hours? No worries. Thursday is dedicated to drabbles, quick sketches, and anything else you have just a little bit of time for. 

Need somewhere to start? Let me know and I’ll give you a couple prompt words -- write a couple sentences for each prompt, or 100 words, or give yourself 15 minutes to work on a sketch and post what you have.

Reblog the omgcpwomenfest ask meme and encourage others to reblog it too -- and ask each other questions!

Make sure to properly tag your works if NSFW. 

Don’t forget to add your works to the omgcpwomenfest collection on ao3 if posting there, or tagging them with #omgcpwomenfest on tumblr!

Woman of the day: Georgia Martin!

Friday, March 10th

Original Female Character Day

Time to talk about your OFCs! Or create one? Hmm...

If you’re not really sure where to start, there are some canon characters you could probably take and put your own spin on: Kate and Samantha are Jack’s ex-whatevers, then there’s the infamous Esther Shapiro, and Johnson’s girlfriend who was mentioned in one tweet freshman year...

If you wish to incorporate others’ OFCs in your works, PLEASE ask first and credit properly.

Make sure to properly tag your works if NSFW. 

Don’t forget to add your works to the omgcpwomenfest collection on ao3 if posting there, or tagging them with #omgcpwomenfest on tumblr!

Women of the day: March and April!

Saturday, March 11th

Anything Goes Day

Need a prompt? Let me know and I’ll find something for you!

Make sure to properly tag your works if NSFW. 

Don’t forget to add your works to the omgcpwomenfest collection on ao3 if posting there, or tagging them with #omgcpwomenfest on tumblr!

Closing Ceremonies

Go through this blog, the ao3 collection, and the #omgcpwomenfest tag and comment on at least 5 things you haven’t commented on before. The goal is to leave love, kudos, feedback and appreciation to the creators who worked so hard to produce content for the festival.

Women of the day: Mandy and Jenny!

My name is Karo and I’m your host for the week -- but just that! The success of this festival depends on the participation of this fandom, and I know we can make it awesome. If you think you might want to host an event (a chat, a game, a contest, a movie, anything) let me know and I’ll add it to the schedule. The goal is to get as many people as possible to participate -- not just content creators. 

Any questions can be directed to this blog. Please indicate if you don’t want to me to publish the answer publicly. 

Don’t forget to tag any and all posts about the festival with #omgcpwomenfest (and if you can, mention this blog in the post) and I’ll reblog as much as I can (though I will be on vacation the 10th and 11th, so it might get a little spotty those two days).

Aside from that --

Happy Festival!

[localfoodandwine]

by Paige Donner

This episode of Paris GOODfood+wine, April 2019 is dedicated to my father, Eugene Martin Donner. He passed away on April 11th.

It was his love and passion for life, and his appreciation for fine wines and good food that started me on this path discovering exceptional terroirs of the world. Thank you, Dad. Your wisdom and guidance enriched my life immeasurably in countless ways since the day I was born. And will continue to do so, even though you have now departed this world and evolved into the next.

My dad, Eugene Martin Donner. b. February 27, 1932 – d. April 11, 2019. Pictured here May, 2015. 

  The French have an expression. It’s C’est la vie.

“Ç la vie,” sums up so much about life. Perhaps only ‘I love you’ are three words more potent and full of meaning.

C’est la vie is both acceptance and resignation. It’s that recognition of changing the things we can and accepting the things we cannot change.

This past month of April in Paris has been most certainly a C’est la vie point in time.

As the world stood and watched Notre Dame Cathedral burn, in people’s shocked and stricken faces, there was a sense of powerlessness in the destruction of this great monolith of love.

Whether one is Catholic or not Catholic, Christian or perhaps not even practicing any kind of religion, the Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris is so symbolic of French culture, of Paris, of the uniting of the world’s peoples in prayer and love, that watching it consumed in flames, was a devastating and heartbreaking moment.

As I stood on Pont de la Tournelle, at 8pm on Monday April 15th, watching my beloved neighborhood church burn in bright red and orange flames, I couldn’t contain my sorrow.

But my overwhelming sorrow was not just for the church. My father had passed away only days before, and watching the spire of Notre Dame burn felt like watching my father’ funeral pyre.

The great church came within about 30 minutes of being completely destroyed. But in the end, France’s firefighters were able to save it.

Photo taken April 16, 2019 7am Paris time; photo by Paige Donner copyright 2019

It has been just over a week now since the fire. It has been roughly about the same amount of time since my father’s soul and spirit have been set free from his human body. For if anything, that is the message I’m getting from my meditations this week. It’s that God’s love and the human spirit are eternal. And whether they are housed in a church or in a human body, or liberated from these outward structures, they live on. They exist. In eternity.

They live now in an invisible realm. But in God’s love, they exist eternally.

The Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris survived on this earth for 850 years without destruction or significant damage. That historical fact changed on April 15th , 2019

My father, Eugene Martin Donner, survived on this Earth for 87 years, without significant damage or destruction. That historical fact changed on April 11th, or 12th if you consider Paris time, 2019.

A very strange, and even somewhat spooky coincidence, is that the architect of the spire that burned along with Notre Dame’s roof, was named Eugène Viollet Le Duc. Of course it is just a coincidence that my father and he both shared the same first name. But it feels significant, in a sort of God’s winking kind of way, nonetheless.

Both the spire of Notre Dame and my father, who had a terrific sense of wit, comedy and irony – his favorite writer was Mark Twain – and who resembled to a great degree Jean Paul Belmondo, and who had a heart and soul full of love for humanity, in all its forms, colors and expressions, will be sorely and sadly missed.

I thank him for so many things, including his unwavering love for me, but also for instilling in me such a great appreciation for good food and wine. It’s thanks to him that I was set forth on this fascinating discovery of God’s and Earth’s fruits and elixirs. As Benjamin Franklin once said,

Wine is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.

My father always seconded that. Cheers to you Pops. May God’s love keep you eternally forevermore.

  Our April show of Paris GOODfood+wine is one focused on wines.

  First we speak to Samuel Montgermont of Domaine and Clos St. Patrice in the Côte du Rhône.

Pictured here: Samuel Montgermont of Domaine St. Patrice, Côte du Rhône. photos by Paige Donner copyright 2019.

With his wines, we are firmly in Chateaneuf-du-Pape territory. In fact, we’re right in the village of Chateauneuf-du-Pape. He has a lot to say about his unique wines. Interestingly, he is a musician as well as a wine master blender.If you haven’t heard the term master blender coupled with wine before, don’t worry. He’ll explain all that to you during the interview.

  Following that segment, we then go to Burgundy. In fact you are being whisked off to the Cuverie des Ursulines which is an ancient convent that was once inhabited by Ursulines nuns.

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  The family Boisset, of Jean Charles Boisset fame, has just renovated and built an impressive and absolutely stunning Cuverie, or chai, a wine estate, around this historical property in Nuits St. Georges. Nuits St. Georges is, of course, one of the most prestige areas just outside of Beaune in Burgundy wine country.

Along with opening up this Cuverie in 2018, they have also now instigated daily wine estate tours. It is open to the public, you just have to call and reserve in advance. The tour includes a visit to the tank room, also outside into the ancient convent’s gardens dating all the way back to 1717, and then concludes with a barrel tasting and then a tasting of a total of 6 of their wines in the historical Ursuline cellars down below.

It is one of the most comprehensive, friendly, and educational wine tours you will get in all of France, and certainly in Burgundy, that is open to the public. It lasts about an hour and a half and costs only €32. Though if you want to organize a special group and throw in a lunch after the 10am tour start time, just communicate that to the Boisset team and they’re happy to make your wishes come true in a bespoke way.

  So, ç la vie. Life goes on. The cathedral of Notre Dame will be rebuilt. And Dad, I’ll see you in heaven one day when I get there.

Hemingway: As people bring so much courage to this world, the world has to kill them to break them. So of course it kills them. The world breaks everyone and afterwards many are strong in the broken places. But those it will not break it kills… It kills the very good, and the very gentle, and the very brave impartially. – Ernest Hemingway

Another big new development this season is the release from Domaine Clarence Dillon of their new range of Clarendelle wines.

Clarendelle inspired by Haut-Brion. New release from Domaine Clarence Dillon Photo by Paige Donner copyright 2019

Launch Soirée, Clarendelle, Paris, photo by Paige Donner

  There’s Clarendelle Rouge, Blanc, Rosé and Clarendelle Amberwine.

All are inspired by Haut-Brion the estate’s famous and historic 1855 Grand Cru Classé chateau in Bordeaux. The rouge comes in several expressions, including Médoc and St. Émilion.

All are accessible and are perfect for when you have a taste for fine quality, but perhaps don’t feel like opening up your First Growth wine that very moment.

I particularly enjoyed the Amberwine. Especially so because it isn’t always easy to find a sweet wine that expresses that balance between the honey-like sweetness brought on by the natural botyritis and a fresh acidity that keeps it fresh with every sip. The Clarendelle Amberwine achieves this by using both methods: grapes are allowed to develop botyritis as in the grand tradition of Sauternes, and then others are late harvest which allow the grapes to sweeten on the vine with their ripe maturity. The wine takes its name, Amber, from the beautiful color achieved by this assemblage. The varietals in this fine wine are the traditional Graves Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc with a bit of Muscadelle.

The wines are available widely now. Though I encourage every listener who gets to Paris to pay a visit to the Cave du Château located near the Champs-Elysées on Avenue Franklin Roosevelt. It is hands down one of the very finest wine shops not just in Paris but the world over. Here you will find famous and rare wines as well as handpicked affordable coup de coeurs that you can put all your faith in that they, guaranteed, won’t disappoint.

Check our show notes for the wine shop’s address. Or just do an online search for La Cave du Château, Paris.

31 Avenue Franklin D. Roosevelt, Paris 75008 lacaveduchateau.com

Thank you for joining us on this episode of Paris GOODfood+wine.

A big thank you to all who helped make this show possible.

Music:

Jazzy Piano from Bensoundmusic.com

Terry Jacks, Seasons in The Sun

Ilya Truhanov, Miracle from

FreeSoundTrackmusic.com

  Show Notes: LocalFoodAndWine.wordpress.com &ChérieduVin.wordpress.com

Contact Host-Producer, Paige Donner @http://PaigeDonner.info

© Paige Donner 2019

TO CONTACT PAIGE DONNER FOR SPEAKING/HOSTING/PRODUCING PAIGEDONNER.INFO FOR MORE INFO ABOUT PARIS GOODFOOD+WINE AND A COMPLETE SHOW LINEUP GO TO LOCALFOODANDWINE.WORDPRESS.COM AND OUR WEBSITE PARISFOODANDWINE.NET  & ParisFoodAndWines.com

INSTAGRAM @PAIGEFOODWINE TWITTER @PARISFOODWINE

Listen to Paris GOOD food + wine on :

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    All photos (where noted) copyright 2018  Paige Donner  FoodWine.photography

iTunes – Paris GOODfood+wine / 

Media Engagements, speaking and collaborations: contact PaigeDonner.info

Episode 46: Eulogy to Dad, Notre Dame, Clos St. Patrice, Cuverie des Ursulines by Paige Donner This episode of Paris GOODfood+wine, April 2019 is dedicated to my father, Eugene Martin Donner.

[kristiny98372207-blog]

11 Ways Your Residence May Be Actually Creating You Body fat

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[fictionalescapeartist-blog]

    I know, I know I have been gone for a while. I took a bit of a sabbatical, because I was having a hard time coming up with content and then would go into a shame spiral etc. Blogging stopped being fun and became another thing to beat myself up about, if you haven’t picked up on it I might have a slight self esteem issues… but I am back and applying less pressure on myself because ultimately I enjoy blogging.

  Anyway! I wanted to take a few to talk about some of my favorite Fictional Escapes (see what I did there?) from 2017. Some I blogged about already, some I have not. Even though I have it in a list format, it is not a ranking. THAT WOULD BE LIKE ASKING ME TO PICK A FAVORITE CHILD! Here are 10 favorite things from 2017:

s1. Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

I blogged about this book, so I wont spend a ton of time on this one, my feelings on this book are well documented here, on Twitter and Facebook. BTW Taylor Jenkins Reid is a mega sweetie to her fans, I suggest following her. This book was absolutely amazing! I read it in like a day. I say read, but more devoured it. The book takes you through 2 stories of very different women and how their lives connect. It is beautifully written and so well done at times I forgot I wasn’t reading an Autobiography.

2. Reincarnation Blues

Another one that I haven’t shut up about since I read it. Milo is the oldest soul in the universe, living nearly all of his 10,000 lives. We are taken through several of his lives as he tries to reach perfection, as well as his time between lives where he is in love with a Death who goes by Suzie. This book is magical, fun, and at times heart breaking. This book is reminiscent of Douglas Adams. The many different worlds Michael Poore has built in just one book is astounding.

3. Twin Peaks the Return

What can I say about this show? Honestly I am never so happy to be confused then when watching Twin Peaks, and the Return took that up a notch or. Kyle MacLachlan playing several hard roles so perfectly, you forget its the same actor. Dougie Jones absolutely broke my heart on a weekly basis, while the bad Cooper was scary as hell. The fact they were on Showtime, they were able to get a lot darker then in the original show. Plus we so got this beautiful sigh-worthy moment:

#BigEdandNormaForever

4. The final season of the Mindy Project

Mindy, Mindy, Mindy. There is nothing that Mindy Kaling has done that I didn’t love, this show included. I was hooked from the very first episode. The characters, the story line, the jokes, everything was perfect. Season 6 was the shortest and one of the best seasons of the show. They wrapped up everyone’s story line, with out every feeling like everyone was short changed or rushed. With out spoiling the overall story arch, I was nervous about how the show would end, the direction it seemed to head and they nailed it, with out sacrificing the character’s emotional growth as I feared they could. This show goes down as one of my all time favorites with 30 Rock, Parks and Rec and Scrubs. I will miss this show so much!

5. Season 3 of Playing House

  Ugh! I guess technically I should have titled this one “The final season of Playing House” but I’m not there emotionally and it is too soon. I knew the Mindy Project was ending, this one was ripped from my arms by the cruel USA. This show. THIS SHOW YOU GUYS! I have so many thoughts and feelings about it, and have blogged about it in the past. The entire show is amazing, but season 3 was something truly special. Season 3 had Emma being diagnosed with breast cancer and shows her and Maggie battle it together, in a story line “ripped from the headlines” as Law and Order likes to say. You see in reality the lead actresses Jessica and Lennon are best friends, and Jessica did have breast cancer. The way the show handled the story line was perfect. It was touching and informative. It was sad at times with out ever actually feeling too heavy. They educated us on cancer treatment options, with out ever pulling you out of the story or feeling preachy about things. Damn you USA Network for canceling it! If you have On Demand, I could not recommend watching this show enough.

6. Womp It Up! Podcast

What? Jessica and Lennon get 2 spots on your list? Yes they do, because they are amazing people who rocked my 2017. Womp It Up! has been around for a while, but I didn’t discover it until this year, and luckily for me I didn’t have to wait a year and half between episodes like other fans. Womp I Up! is a comedy podcast that was birthed from Comedy Bang Bang characters. Jessica St Clair plays Marissa Wompler, a 17(ish) year old, not very well adjusted, student at the Marina Del Rey High School, the podcast is her senior project. She is doing some alternative learning in her school’s program called STARS, ran by her teacher and lets face it best friend Charlotte Listler, played by Lennon Parahm. Every week there is a new comedian on playing a person in the Marina Del Rey community. My favorite has been Andrew Daly as Joe Bongos, the Health teacher who has some interesting ideas on what to teach the kids.

7. Oh, Hello on Broadway

Oh, Hello got it’s start on the Nick Kroll Show, where Gil Faizon and George St Geegland had a prank show on public access channel in New York. Their one prank was ordering a tuna sandwich with way too much tuna, ultimately getting the person say “That’s too much tuna”. What was the prank show called? Too Much Tuna of course. Somehow, in Nick Kroll and John Mulaney’s brilliance they were able to make a super successful Broadway play based on these two dirt bags.

Gil (a writer) and George (an actor) have been best friends and roommates since the 1970s. They decided to write an autobiographical play telling their story. The brilliance of this show is the play that is happening around the play. It gets pretty meta at times, often Gil and George stop the actual play to have their own interactions, generally it is Gil giving George notes on how he is doing in the play. The sheer detail that has gone into this show is mind boggling. I can’t even describe the layers of the play. I highly recommend checking it out.

8. Wonder Woman

Let’s not get into a DC vs MCU argument here, generally I am an MCU fan and haven’t been too excited over the last few DC movies, but this one. I will admit was a little nervous when I first saw Gal Gadot was cast as Wonder Woman, but she won me over immediately in Batman vs Superman. I was still cautiously optimistic for the Wonder Woman movie, but it came out better then I imagined. In my opinion it was just awesome (I am aware of the issues people had with it, but to me the good outweigh the bad). I enjoyed the hell out of it, it made me laugh and cry. I also enjoyed the feel of it, different then the other super hero movies, it felt more like a war movie. If you haven’t seen it, check it out!

9. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 and Thor: Ragnarok

I decided to combine these two into one, because well I didn’t want this list to be 3/4s super hero movies. I could also write a book on my feelings for these two movies and their directors. Guardians was written and directed by James Gunn and Thor was directed by Taiki Waititi, a kiwi writer and director known for his work with Flight of the Concords, What we do in the Shadows to name a couple. Also if you’re looking for a sort of weird but sweet movie, check out Eagle Vs Shark.

These two movies have a bit of a rag-tag team thing going on, and both delve into family relationships. They are both visually stunning, and laugh out loud hilarious, (yes I know that is a problem some people have with Marvel, but I love to laugh and they are right up my alley). Their similarities are one reason I decided to group them together. The first Guardians became my favorite Marvel movie about 10 minutes into it, and was thrilled that James Gunn actually made something better. I have always had a soft spot for Thor, and been sad at the state of the movies he’s had. I left Ragnarok thinking they finally gave him the movie he deserves, also Jeff Goldblum at his Goldbumiest.

My other favorite part of both of these movies, is they seemed to fix the villain problem. Hela and Ego managed to be interesting and complex. They didn’t seem to fall flat like others have in the past.

These two movies are all in all a good ass time!

10. Hamilton the Musical, paired with Hamilton the book

   I know, I know. It’s based on true events, but some of it is changed for dramatic effect. I am so late to the game on Hamilton, but I just recently got Spotify Premium which let me listen to the soundtrack in order… and I am HOOKED. I decided to check out the biography the musical was based on by Ron Chernow. Combining the two adds a lot more depth to the play, certain lines in songs make sense. There is so much drama in Hamilton’s life, so much that the play never even touched on.

If you want to add to your Hamilton experience, read the book as well. Honestly, it makes the entire experience so much better.

  Thanks for reading everyone!

    Check out my top 10 from 2017 list of my favorite Fictional Escapes. I know, I know I have been gone for a while. I took a bit of a sabbatical, because I was having a hard time coming up with content and then would go into a shame spiral etc.

[jenmedsbookreviews]

Today it’s my great pleasure to welcome Karen Cole to the blog to help spread a little BookLove. Karen blogs at Hair Past a Freckle which is a wonderful blog with a wide range of books, including some of my all time favourites. Before we find out whcih books have made Karen’s all time greatest books list, let’s find our a bit more about Karen.

About Karen

My name is Karen, I write about books on my blog, Hair Past A Freckle and I’m a mum to three daughters, aged 9, 15 and 18.  I’m a midday supervisor in a primary school and from September I will also be a teaching assistant there, mostly 1:1 with a child in Reception but I’ll also be the whole class TA for a few hours a week, and I’m going to be the cover TA for the other classes too so I’ll be kept busy! Before having my daughters I was a veterinary nurse in a mixed practice – my claim to fame is I once asked Michael Kitchen (of Foyle’s War) if he had gas! (Gas was his cat’s name, so it wasn’t an entirely random question but I could have phrased it better!) I originally started Hair Past A Freckle as a blog about anything and everything but I fell in love with book blogging. I love being able to writing about and recommending books, and reviewing them is my way of thanking authors for the hours of pleasure they give me. The vast majority of book bloggers are wonderful too and it’s a real pleasure to be a small part of such a friendly community.

You can follow Karen on Twitter, Facebook and her blog Hair Past A Freckle

Childhood Sweetheart Favourite book from childhood

I read voraciously as a child and loved nothing better than rifling through second hand book stalls at summer fetes. That old book smell lured me from a young age! I adored Shadow the Sheepdog by Enid Blyton – I loved several of her books but the story of Shadow and his fellow sheepdogs, Bob, Rafe, Tinker and Dandy enthralled me and I reread it many many times. I also loved The Winter of Enchantment by Victoria Walker, I lost my original copy years ago and for a long time thought I’d never replace it as it was out of print. Fortunately Fidra Books republished it so I was able to buy a copy for my own daughters.

First love The first book you fell in love with

The Outsiders by S.E Hinton. We read That Was Then, This is Now in class when I was in the third year at middle school and I was blown away by this book that featured teenagers who, while still a world away from my sheltered life in rural Dorset, felt more believable and more relatable than anything I’d read before. I immediately read the rest of her books and while I loved them all it was The Outsiders, with Ponyboy, Johnny, Sodapop and Dallas that really won my heart.

Biggest book crush The book character you’re totally in love with

My heart will forever belong to Remus Lupin. I still haven’t really forgiven J.K. Rowling!

Weirdest book crush Well… duh

There’s possibly a theme going on here as if my biggest book crush is a werewolf then my weirdest is faun – namely, Mr Tumnus. He was always my favourite character in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe but I must admit seeing James McAvoy portray him on screen probably cemented this crush.

Hardest break up The book you didn’t want to end

I’m not there yet but I’m eagerly anticipating while simultaneously dreading the last of Paul E. Hardisty’s Claymore Straker series. I wasn’t sure I’d really enjoy his first book, The Abrupt Physics of Dying as I’m not always a fan of adventure thrillers but he completely won me over, and then with The Evolution of Fear and Reconciliation for the Dead got better and better. I’ll be devastated to read the last Straker book but I’m consoled by the knowledge that whatever else he writes will be equally wonderful.

The one that got away The book in your TBR or wish list that you regret not having started yet.

The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer. I bought this after it won the Costa Prize but it wasn’t long after my brother Simon’s death by suicide and the description on the back, ‘I’ll tell you what happened because it will be a good way to introduce my brother. His name’s Simon. I think you’re going to like him. I really do. But in a couple of pages he’ll be dead. And he was never the same after that.’ meant that although the circumstances between my real life tragedy and that in the book are different, I wasn’t emotionally ready to read it. I’m in a much better place now and have read so many good things about the book, I really should read it soon.

Secret love Guilty Reading pleasure

I don’t really believe in being embarrassed my book choices. We should all choose the the right book for the right time. Sometimes you may want something deep and thought-provoking, other times may call for a lighter, easier read. That said I don’t often mention Going West with Annabelle by Molly Douglas. My mum bought me the paperback when I had the flu as a teenager and I loved the real life story of Molly, her husband, Christopher and their family as they moved to Canada in 1953 to start a new life. Annabelle was their goat! Originally published in the late seventies it’s very dated now but it was my comfort read when I was ill for years.

Love one, love them all Favourite series or genre

This is difficult! I’ve loved lots of different series over the years – Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers and St Clare’s books, The Chronicles of Narnia of course, Anne of Green Gables, Harry Potter, Patrick Ness’ Chaos Walking trilogy… I think though I’m going to choose a publisher here. I’ve read several books from Orenda and have loved every single one. Karen Sullivan and her team seem to have been blessed with a bookish (and therefore not a curse at all) version of the Midas Touch. I may not know where an Orenda author is going to take me but I always know I’m in for a fabulous read.

Your latest squeeze Favourite read of the last 12 months

I can’t just pick one, that would be like choosing a favourite child! So here’s a few that have really stood out for me this year (in no particular order) Reconciliation for the Dead by Paul E. Hardisty, Block 46 by Johana Gustawsson, How to Stop Time by Matt Haig, The Unquiet Dead, and  The Language of Secrets by Ausma Zehanat Khan and The Man Who Died by Antti Tuomainen. There’s a lot of Orenda Books there! I could have easily picked several more books too, this is such a hard question to answer!

Blind date for a friend If you were to set a friend up with a blind date (book) which one would it be?

I’ve already told my brother he should read Western Fringes by Amer Anwar. The book is set in Southall and I’m sure some of the locations will be familiar to him as he lived on a canal boat in the area for about a year. It’s a brilliant contemporary thriller too so I recommend it to everyone, not just my brother.

Greatest love of all Favourite book of all time.

Now this is an easy choice! It has to be The Humans by Matt Haig. The first book I reviewed for Hair Past A Freckle, without The Humans I may not have become a book blogger. It was the book I needed to read when I most needed books and will always hold a special place in my heart.

Thanks Karen. Some absolutely great choices in here and I totally agree about Orenda Books. Karen and her team of fabulous writers have produced some of my favourite books of the year, if not all time. You’ve also inspired me to go a purchase another book so now have the latest Ausma Zehanat Khan book in my collection – whoops.

What do you think guys? Any suggestions for Karen. As you can see she’s a true book-a-holic and like all good book-a-holics, can’t pick just one book, so perhaps a brilliant series that you think might catch her eye?

Have a brilliant week all. Hope it’s full of bookish wonders

Jen

#BookLove: Karen Cole @karlou Today it's my great pleasure to welcome Karen Cole to the blog to help spread a little BookLove.

[cathygeha]

Enter to win a Preload Bundle!

(Signed paperback copies of JORDAN RECLAIMED & ELLIOTT REDEEMED + $10 Amazon Gift Card)

 http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b050ef29407/?

Review:

Elliott Redeemed by Scarlett Cole

Preload #2

 I wanted to scoop these characters up in my arms and hug them!

 Elliott had such a rotten childhood and Kendalee was hurting from the loss of her dreams with a son in the hospital and Daniel (her son) was also hurting – in more ways than one.

 I *FELT* and

I *CARED* and

I *Hurt* with them all

 That said…I really liked Elliott as a person and his realization that Kendalee was the woman for him…no matter what. I enjoyed seeing Kendalee come out of her shell and realize that Elliott was the person she needed in her life…no matter what. I loved the interactions between Elliott and Daniel. I just really really REALLY enjoyed this book – even though it was painful for the characters to deal with the issues they faced in the story. And, I was thrilled with the ending and hope to hear how the three are doing in the next books of the series.

 Preload is a group of men that I adore. Meeting them in Cole’s first series was a treat but getting to know them better in this series is oh so special. The talented rock stars of Preload have all gone through H*LL as children and come out on the other side stronger but with backstories/issues that impact them as adults. The fact that they are able to meet women that see beyond their fame, money and issues to the men they are and accept and love them creates powerful love stories with wonderful couples. I can’t WAIT for the rest of this series!

 Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Pres-Swerve for the ARC – This is my honest review.

 5 Stars

A single mom and tortured musician find common ground in Scarlett Cole's REDEEMED, the second standalone romance about the band PRELOAD. Elliott “Pyro” Dawson has a past he's fought like hell to overcome and Kendalee Walker is at her wits end and homeless. Will Kendale provide the family Elliott has never had or will dangerous habits prove to strong? Readers will savor this dark, sexy rockstar romance.

 ELLIOTT REDEEMED releases next week and we can’t wait for you to read this sexy Rockstar romance! Pre-order today to not miss this dark and sexy read. Plus enter to win a Preload Bundle!

 Synopsis:

A single mom and tortured musician find common ground in Scarlett Cole's Elliott Redeemed, the second standalone romance about the band Preload.

Elliott “Pyro” Dawson burns up the lead guitar like a legend. But the nickname Pyro isn’t just a clever play on words. It’s much darker. A past he's fought like hell to overcome.

Grocery store cashier Kendalee Walker is at her wits end and homeless. She's watched her fourteen-year-old son, Daniel, go so far off the rails, he can no longer see the tracks.

When the two are brought together, attraction flares, but can Elliott find the family he never had with the sexy woman and her son, or will he fall back on dangerous habits?

 : Amazon US | Amazon UK | B&N | iBooks | Chapters Indigo

Amazon →http://amzn.to/2kWTsB7

Amazon UK → http://amzn.to/2kSn9Yc

B&N → http://bit.ly/2tumyQY

iBooks → http://bit.ly/2udUnTI

Chapters Indigo → http://apple.co/2uGgog8

ELLIOTT REDEEMED Excerpt

Copyright © 2017 Scarlett Cole

 As she turned, Elliott appeared in front of her.

“I was sitting down here,” he said roughly, “because knowing you were in that bathtub only a floor away was fucking killing me.”

She hadn’t heard him come home, but he’d obviously been there a while, as he wore a pair of shorts that rode low on his hips and nothing else. Maybe it was the alcohol making her bolder, but she wanted to run her fingers down the lines of muscle that led down into his shorts. “Elliott,” she whispered, taking a step toward him. She placed her hand over his heart, a heart she knew was capable of good things. His skin was warm, his muscles solid, and she took comfort from the fact he was here with her and that she wasn’t alone. Tentatively, she stroked her hand down his chest, but Elliott placed his hand over hers and studied her intently. His eyes, heavy lidded, telling her that he wanted her as much as she did him.

What was he waiting for? It had all made sense to stand her ground, to not get involved. But now, feeling as she did in her sexy new nightgown after years of feeling unwanted, none of it was relevant. She stepped up onto her toes and pressed her lips to his.

Elliott groaned against her and ran his tongue along the seam of her lips, and she opened for him immediately. He nudged the robe off her shoulders, and it slithered to the floor. Softly, he nuzzled his way along her jaw, and kissed her as he had the previous evening along the side of her neck, leaving her knees weak.

Kendalee slipped her fingers into his hair, holding him close. Her heart beat so furiously that she was certain Elliott could hear it. Finally. She’d get to experience what it was to let go and make love with someone who wanted her as she was.

He gripped the silk of her nightdress, pulling it tight around her hips, then let go and slid his hands down her thighs until he reached the hem of the gown. Rough fingertips danced along her skin. In two steps, he backed her up against the counter, then lifted her as if she weighed nothing, making her gasp as the cool marble met her heated skin.

The sensations were impossible to absorb. From the way his stubble tickled her cheek as he kissed her again to the way his calloused hands gripped her knees and pressed them open. As the nightdress rose up her thighs, Elliott stared at the space between them. She was naked beneath the slip of silk, and for a moment, she panicked, trying to recall just how many weeks ago it had been since she’d had the privacy to shave her bikini line.

“Fuck.” Elliott groaned as his hands slid higher, his thumbs almost touching her most intimate places. “We can’t,” he then said and stepped away.

About Scarlett Cole

The tattoo across my right hip says it all really. A Life Less Ordinary. Inked by the amazingly talented Luke Wessman at the Wooster Street Social Club (a.k.a. New York Ink). Why is it important? Well, it sums up my view on life. That we should all aspire to live a life that is less boring, less predictable. Be bold, and do something amazing. I’ve made some crazy choices. I’ve been a car maker, a consultant, and even a senior executive at a large retailer running strategy. Born in England, spent time in the U.S. and Japan, before ending up in Canada were I met my own, personal hero – all six and a half feet of him. Both of us are scorpios! Yeah, I know! Should have checked the astrological signs earlier, but somehow it works for us. We have two amazing kids, who I either could never part with or could easily be convinced to sell on e-bay.

I’ve wanted to be a writer for a really long time. Check through my office cupboards or my computer and you’ll find half written stories and character descriptions everywhere. Now I'm getting the chance to follow that dream.

Connect with Scarlett: Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

http://www.barclaypublicity.com/

[mysteryshelf]

BLOG TOUR - A Wanted Man

Welcome to

THE PULP AND MYSTERY SHELF!

DISCLAIMER: This content has been provided to THE PULP AND MYSTERY SHELF by Pump Up Your Book Tours. No compensation was received. This information required by the Federal Trade Commission.

  Title: A WANTED MAN Author: Robert Parker Publisher: Endeavour Press Pages: 307 Genre: Crime Thriller

INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR

What initially got you interested in writing?

Time spent at my Grandma and Grandad’s house, in Eccleston, St Helens. The box room at their house, which had a little bunkbed in it, had the most brilliant bookshelves full of books: pulp, crime, adventure, thrillers, classics, encyclopedias, so on. When I was little it seemed that if there was anything in the world that wasn’t written about somewhere on those shelves, then it wasn’t worth knowing. And downstairs, Grandad had the most fantastic VHS collection – again not too vast, but the titles were all thrilling to a story-loving kid like myself. I loved the old adventure films he had, anything from Swiss Family Robinson to The Cat and The Canary through to Superman. James Bond films too. Anything that had a fantastic story, adventure and mystery, and he was there. And I spent hours watching these with him. Then, when I learned to write, I couldn’t believe that I could concoct my own tales. The power was thrilling.

  What genres do you write in?

Presently, that would be crime thrillers. There’s nothing really off the table in terms of genres I’d like to write in though, and respect the differences hugely. However, when I set down to write something, I never really think of genre – I just write the kind of story I’d like to read, and see what comes out the other end. I’m writing something at the minute that is a whole different speed to the Ben Bracken books, and I’ve got no idea what genre it’ll be – but if I had to pick it, from how it’s shaping up, I’d have to say somewhere around the mystery category, although which way it’ll swing, I just don’t know! But for now, crime seems to be my thing, so I’ll stick to that.

  What drew you to writing these specific genres?

Very good question. The freedom it gives me to look at darkness, and bring darkness to normal settings and situations. I love books that examine the quaint overlooked details in life, and then throws something truly horrible into the mix. It’s the fact that anything can happen in these worlds we create, and also that the darkness created is often overcome by the end of the story – there is redemption, and a brightness in crime when it is overcome. And there is an excitement in thrillers that is hard to match.

  How did you break into the field?

  Still trying to, I guess would be the correct way to preface my answer! In short, perseverance. For everyone who told me that my books were rubbish, I turned it into fuel. A longer answer would be that I had 3 double knee surgeries, one after the other, over the course of 18 months. I had plenty of time on my hands, while I was recovering all that time, doing rehab and resting, and my brain was crawling itself inside out with boredom. My business had taken over at this point, and writing hadn’t been as high a priority. I picked up a pen to alleviate the boredom, and within 8 weeks I’d written my first novel. I self-published to kindle, in its haphazard state, and connected with readers almost straight away. It was a heck of a thing. Before long, I’d written a second, and it won a couple of online five star awards things. That’s when readers started to suggest I send it to the literary world to see if I could get them published for real. I approached a lot of agents (possibly 250-300) and had so many varied responses – some ranging from the positive, some to the downright rude. The nasty, rude ones became my favourites, and it just made me want to try harder, get better and show them – fair enough, if you don’t like the work that’s fine, but to go out of your way to be rude and put someone down? I loved it. Rejection became welcomed. And I kept plugging away. Eventually had a brilliant conversation with Linda Langton of Langtons International Agency in New York. She was the first agent to show a real passion for my work, and was utterly lovely to deal with. We clicked immediately, and she was very kind, encouraging and thoughtful in the way she cajoled me through. That was three years ago now, and she has stood by me while I have rewritten my books countless times and found me a publisher. She is a guardian angel, and I owe her so much.

  What do you want readers to take away from reading your works?

I want them to close the book and say ‘wow’. I want them to feel satisfied. I want them to feel like they’ve been really entertained, and I want them to be happy they read it!

  What do you find most rewarding about writing?

When people tell you they enjoyed it. That is just the greatest thing to hear as a writer – to know that you contributed to someone’s enjoyment and happiness (even though you’re making them read about all manner of crime and death!) is the best.

  What do you find most challenging about writing?

Not having enough hours in the day! Knowing that some days the words will overflow like a boiling pan, but other days it’ll be blood from a stone.

  What advice would you give to people wanting to enter the field?

Never dare give up. Never dare think it. Rejection is part of the deal, even when your book is out there. You can’t please everyone, so just write the story you want to write, and never ever quit scrapping until you get where you want to be.

  What type of books do you enjoy reading?

Crime, thriller, mystery, suspense, ghosts, supernatural, adventure, legal, scientific – and anything at all that has a rollicking twist. I want my socks knocking off and the rug pulled.

  Is there anything else besides writing you think people would find interesting about you?

I fight regularly at charity boxing events, training six days a week to do so. I do this to raise money for Cancer Research UK, a disease that affects us all in so many ways. I figured that people suffer so fiercely, I can definitely suffer the hard work of a training camp then a fight. It’s unlocked a part of me I didn’t know was there, and I love it.

  What are the best ways to connect with you, or find out more about your work?

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/RobertRParker45

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/robertparkerauthor

Website: www.robertparkerauthor.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7789447.Robert_Parker

  And thank you so much for having me!

    It’s down to fathers and fatherhood.Ben Bracken, ex-soldier, has just got out of Strangeways.

Not by the front door.

With him, he has his ‘insurance policy’ – a bag of evidence that will guarantee his freedom, provided he can keep it safe – and he has money, carefully looked after by a friend, Jack Brooker.

Rejected by the army, disowned by his father, and any hopes of parenthood long since shattered, Ben has no anchors in his life.

No one to keep him steady. 

No one to stop his cause…

The plan: to wreak justice on the man who had put him in prison in the first place. 

Terry ‘The Turn-Up’ Masters, a nasty piece of work, whose crime organisation is based in

London.But before Ben can get started on his mission, another matter is brought to his attention: Jack’s father has been murdered and he will not rest until the killers are found.

Suddenly, Ben finds himself drawn in to helping Jack in his quest for revenge.

In the process, he descends into the fold of

Manchester’s most notorious crime organisation – the Berg – the very people he wants to bring down…This action-packed and fast-paced story will keep you turning the pages.

Manchester is vividly portrayed as Ben races around the city seeking vengeance.

ORDER YOUR COPY:

Amazon

It’s not long before I am there again. Haugh Road, right in the middle. Everything looks the same, right down to the chewing gum on the pavements. There’s the old off- licence, the pub I used to drink in. There’s the phone box I’d call my mates from, out the front of the house I called home for thirty years.

My heart feels a hot stab at seeing it, worse than I expected. Home.

It’s a terraced house that could do with some work. The lawn is a bit longer than Dad used to have it, by quite a bit, actually, and the PVC window frames we had put in on a government grant to promote greener living a few years ago are a bit mucky. The door is still painted red, with a brass knocker.

What are you doing here, Ben? Are you going to invite yourself in for a cuppa? Or stand out here like a stalker?

I hadn’t really thought that far ahead. But somehow, I needed to see it. I needed to see something concrete, to remind me where I came from… Christ, this fucking neediness… I don’t like it.

I feel abandoned by them, for sure, but they had their reasons. They were so proud, and suddenly all that pride was gone.

And now, with my visit this evening? I suppose I just need to know that, even though everything else is chaos, things back here at home remain the same. We wouldn’t even need to talk, just…

In fact, despite the curtains being open, it doesn’t look like they are home.

Wait. I can see in through the front window, despite the dwindling light. Something’s different: On the left-hand side, Grandma’s mirror is missing, the one passed down to Mum when she died. It had a gold frame – well, gold edging on top of tin – and it was Mum’s pride and joy. And the curtains that are open… there are no curtains. Looking closer I can see the tie-back hooks stand visible and empty.

I walk up the path, leaving prints in the long grass, and peer inside, and more and more of my past looms up in front of me the closer I get. But this nostalgia, and the stir of anticipation that has arisen despite my efforts to subdue it, is quickly replaced by something cold, something bitter.

The room is empty.

I can see through to the kitchen along the old carpet that runs right through the downstairs, which in the emptiness now looks more threadbare. There’s nothing.

They’ve gone. My parents have left here.

I stand simply staring into the hollow space, and feel as if I’m gazing into the very emptiness that has been abruptly carved inside of me. My feeling of loneliness is complete.

I have no way to contact them. They are gone, and from the look of things, gone for good. And considering that they never sent me a forwarding address while I was in prison, they clearly don’t want me to know where they are.

All I wanted was to see that they were ok, but as far as I can tell, they didn’t even want me to have that. They have disowned me. I should have guessed from their passive stares in the public gallery at my trial, fixing on any point but their own son’s searching gaze. I can’t help but stand and dwell.

I quickly decide that I’ve had enough. I walk away because there’s nothing for me here anymore, not for the first time. Rawmarsh is no longer my home. I feel I could cry, but I won’t. No chance – those bastards, they won’t get that from me.

I walk down the path to the scuffed, mucky pavement. The gum on the concrete beneath my shoes, some of it is undoubtedly mine. My DNA lies at my feet, inseparable from my town, my past. That DNA is now the only evidence I was ever here. Thirty years of love, life, family – all reduced to a dirty bit of gum on an old pavement.

This will steel me. Toughen me. It has to. Because this would, could, should break a lesser man.

  Robert Parker is a new exciting voice, a married father of two, who lives in a village close to Manchester, UK. He has both a law degree and a degree in film and media production, and has worked in numerous employment positions, ranging from solicitor’s agent (essentially a courtroom gun for hire), to a van driver, to a warehouse order picker, to a commercial video director. He currently writes full time, while also making time to encourage new young readers and authors through readings and workshops at local schools and bookstores. In his spare time he adores pretty much all sport, boxing regularly for charity, loves fiction across all mediums, and his glass is always half full.

His latest book is the crime/thriller, A WANTED MAN.

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    BLOG TOUR – A Wanted Man was originally published on the Wordpress version of The Pulp and Mystery Shelf

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  E. N. Joy

The man might be the head of the family, but the woman is definitely the head of the house. Pastor Margie has been doing just fine running her house, as well as the house of the Lord, New Day Temple of Faith, all by her lonesome. As a matter of fact, her motto has been, “I can do better all by myself.”

Well, certain members of the congregation beg to differ. Some of them have been nagging at Margie for so long about finding a help mate that she just might be crazy enough to give it a try. Once her congregation learns the method in which she goes about seeking a man for the house, they might worry for her sanity. After all, a woman of the cloth would have to be certifiably nuts to agree to go on a reality dating show in order to find a husband.

Margie assures her members that she will be just fine, because the Lord will guide her. That may be so, but a former member comes across the miles to offer her help as well. Usually the voice of reason who can speak truth and sense into any situation, even Mother Doreen might not be able to handle this scenario.

As Margie and Doreen navigate the pitfalls of reality television, will the voices of the producers, production team, and not to mention the men—some of whom aren’t even saved—drown out the voice of God?

Watch the book introduction: https://youtu.be/LuJO444ihKA

Chapter Excerpt: Lady of the House by E. N. Joy

“Sister Melanie, did I just see you steal money from the church offering basket?” Doreen stood in the doorway of the church treasurer’s office. She’d just seen the church treasurer take one of the white tithes and offering envelopes and slip it into her sweater pocket.

Melanie shot up out of her seat. “First Lady Doreen!”

“It’s church policy that you don’t count the funds without myself, pastor, or another member of the finance board. You know what this means, don’t you? You’re going to have to resign from your position as church treasurer until you’ve been delivered from that pilfering spirit.” Doreen walked around the desk to where Melanie stood. “You know we are a place of healing and deliverance, so you definitely need to be here so we can minister that spirit of theft right on out of you.” Mother Doreen gave Melanie a great big Holy Ghost hug. “We love you.”

“And I love you too,” Melanie said, returning the gesture of hugging Doreen. “That’s why I would never—”

“Hey, you two.” Pastor Wallace Frey, senior pastor of Living Word Living Waters and Doreen’s husband, entered the room in a rush. “Sorry, I’m late, Sister Melanie.” He turned to close the door. “I know it’s my week to help you count the money.” He turned around to see his wife and Melanie releasing each other from a hug. Both their eyes were cast downward. “Is everything okay?”

“No, Pastor, everything is not okay.” Doreen nodded to the chair her husband stood by. “You might want to sit down for this.” He took his wife’s advice and sat.

“Honey, I know Sister Melanie has been with this church longer than I have,” Doreen said. “Which is why it pains me to see her have to go.”

Wallace hadn’t even gotten comfortable in the chair before he shot up right out of it. “What? Sister Melanie, you can’t quit.” He stepped around the desk and placed his hand on Melanie’s shoulder. “Whatever it is, I’ll make it right. I don’t understand why you didn’t come to me with something as serious and life changing as you deciding to quit.”

“That’s because I didn’t decide to quit,” Melanie said.

“What?” Wallace was confused. “If you didn’t quit . . .” He allowed his eyes to travel from Melanie to his wife, the only other person in the room who might be able to offer him up some answers.

“I had to let Sister Melanie go,” Doreen said, answering her husband’s unasked question. “Sister Melanie was fired.”

Wallace went and sat back down in the chair while shaking his head. “This isn’t The Apprentice. We don’t up and tell folks, ‘You’re fired,’ especially not folks like Sister Melanie. Not one who has served as an outstanding member of Living Word Living Waters since I can’t remember how many years.”

“Seven,” Doreen said. It was obvious she’d been keeping count. She wasn’t sure whether that was consciously or subconsciously. She could understand how her husband must feel losing a church leader, but a part of her couldn’t help but wonder if he’d be acting this way had it been any one other than Sister Melanie. “I don’t go around firing folks, that is, unless they’re stealing from the church.”

“You saw Sister Melanie stealing?”

Doreen nodded. “Took an envelope from the offering just as I was entering the office.”

Wallace looked at Melanie. In that instance, she looked up from the ground and locked eyes with her pastor. He shot her a knowing look.

“I’m sorry, Pastor Frey. I’ll clear my things out now.” Melanie’s eyes darted with nervousness. “I’ll go to the supply room and get some boxes.” She hurriedly walked to the office door.

With each step Melanie took, Wallace looked as though he wanted to stop her. This didn’t go unnoticed by Doreen. She surveyed the scene and waited with bated breath for fear of what her husband’s next action would mean, not only to the ministry, but to their marriage. If her husband stopped Melanie from leaving, then she’d know his was personal and not church business.

At the beginning of her and Wallace’s courtship, he had not hesitated to let Doreen know he and Melanie had been a couple long before Doreen had ever been thought of. But the sparks between them was no more. Just the love of Christ. That was the story Wallace had passed on to Doreen, and she’d believed him . . . up until now.

Doreen could hear her heart thumping loudly. She could hear her own deep breaths sounding like a gust of wind. She could hear loud and clear that voice inside her head begging and pleading to her husband to not stop Melanie; that he allow her to walk through that door. A man of God, her husband, wouldn’t think twice about letting a church employee go after being caught stealing. A man in love, though, perhaps not.

She watched as Melanie made her way through the threshold of the doorway. The corners of Doreen’s mouth raised into a slight smile as she now exhaled. She closed her eyes and thanked God that her worst fear had not come to pass. However, perhaps Doreen had thanked God a little too soon, as before she could even open her eyes she heard Wallace call out, “Melanie, wait. Don’t go!”

( Continued… )

© 2017 All rights reserved.  Book excerpt reprinted by permission of the author, E.N. Joy.  Do not reproduce, copy or use without the author’s written permission. This excerpt is used for promotional purposes only.

Purchase Lady of the House by E.N. Joy Christian Fiction. Book Three of the Forever Divas Series https://www.amazon.com/Lady-House-Three-Forever-Divas/dp/1622867513

About the Author BLESSEDselling Author E. N. Joy is the author behind the “New Day Divas,” “Still Divas,” “Always Divas” and “Forever Divas” series, all which have been coined “Soap Operas in Print.” She is an Essence Magazine Bestselling Author who wrote secular books under the names Joylynn M. Jossel and JOY. Her title, If I Ruled the World, earned her a book blurb from Grammy Award Winning Artist, Erykah Badu. An All Night Man, an anthology she penned with New York Times Bestselling Author Brenda Jackson, earned the Borders bestselling African American romance award. Her Urban Fiction title, Dollar Bill (Triple Crown Publications), appeared in Newsweek and has been translated to Japanese.

After thirteen years of being a paralegal in the insurance industry, E. N. Joy divorced her career and married her mistress and her passion; writing. In 2000, she formed her own publishing company where she published her books until landing a book deal with St. Martin’s Press. This award winning author has been sharing her literary expertise on conference panels in her home town of Columbus, Ohio as well as cities across the country. She also conducts publishing/writing workshops for aspiring writers.

Her children’s book titled The Secret Olivia Told Me, written under the name N. Joy, received a Coretta Scott King Honor from the American Library Association. The book was also acquired by Scholastic Books and has sold almost 100,000 copies. Elementary and middle school children have fallen in love with reading and creative writing as a result of the readings and workshops E. N. Joy instructs in schools nationwide.

In addition, she is the artistic developer for a young girl group named DJHK Gurls. She pens original songs, drama skits and monologues for the group that deal with messages that affect today’s youth, such as bullying.

After being the first content development editor for Triple Crown Publications and ten years as the acquisitions editor for Carl Weber’s Urban Christian imprint, E. N. Joy now does freelance editing, ghostwriting, write-behinds and literary consulting. Her clients have included New York Times Bestselling authors, entertainers, aspiring authors, as well as first-time authors. Some notable literary consulting clients include actor Christian Keyes and singer Olivia Longott.

You can visit BLESSEDselling Author E. N. Joy at http://www.enjoywrites.com or email her at enjoywrites@aol.com.   Facebook: AuthorENJoy Twitter: @enjoywrites Website: http://www.enjoywrites.com Pinterest: @authorENjoy Periscope:  @Author_E_N_Joy Instagram: @bestselling_author_enjoy LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/enjoywrites YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/enjoywrites Google: https://plus.google.com/106225352418367600340 GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1159242.E_N_Joy

Lady of the House by E. N. Joy The man might be the head of the family, but the woman is definitely the head of the house.