Category Archives: Author type stuff

It’s Monday! What are you reading? The Gerson Therapy

Posted on by Lori Crane

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I just finished reading

The Gerson Therapy: The Proven Nutritional Program for Cancer and Other Illnesses

by Charlotte Gerson and Morton Walker

 

 

coverThis is a different book than the sort I usually talk about. It’s a juicing book to heal your body. Dr. Max Gerson (1881-1959) was a pioneer in using nutrition to HEAL every chronic illness from arthritis to diabetes to cancer. After losing my son-in-law to Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in February, I spoke to so many people who knew people who beat cancer using this program. They swear this program works. I also saw a TV special on Dr. Gerson and found him quite amazing. Well, heading into the second half of my life (if I live that long), I have some health concerns and thought I’d take a look at this book. I’ve fought blood sugar problems my whole life and was told by a physician that I would probably be an insulin dependent diabetic by the time I turned 50. I hasn’t happened yet, but I do feel it sneaking up on me.

I found the 2-year-long nutrition program to be quite intensive, but if it’s a matter of dying of cancer or following a strict diet for two years, I’ll go with the diet. There are some quirky things like coffee enemas that I won’t go into, but the science that backs it in the book is quite convincing.

My only problem with the book is what it said at the end. It said the diet should NOT be followed by healthy people. I don’t get that at all. You have to come down with a chronic illness before you can get healthy? I understand it’s a radical diet, but something about that didn’t make sense to me, and they could have told me that BEFORE I bought the book.

So, long story short, I’m sticking with my basic pyramid diet and hoping for the best.

The Backstory of the STUCKEY’S BRIDGE TRILOGY

Posted on by Lori Crane

Here’s a little background on the Stuckey’s Bridge Trilogy.

stuckey's bridge from VA Iron and Bridge Co on wikiMy childhood: I grew up in Meridian, Mississippi and heard the legend of Stuckey’s Bridge my whole life. It actually began in a book about the area written in the 1970s. The local paper, The Meridian Star, picked up on the legend from the book and the story spread like wildfire. The bridge instantly became THE place to party on the weekends, searching for ghosts and frightening girls into cuddling closer. (If you want to go there: head south out of Meridian on Interstate 59. Turn right at exit 142, then a quick left onto Meehan-Savoy Road. Travel 2.2 miles until you see a dirt road on your left. That is Stucky Bridge Road. The bridge will be about two miles down the dirt road. It is now closed, so you’ll have to turn around to leave. After you read the following legend, you may not want to go.)

The legend goes: In the late 1800s, a former member of the Dalton Gang came to Lauderdale County, Mississippi to find his fortune. He opened an inn near the Chunky River and stood on the old wooden bridge at night, flagging down merchants with his lantern, offering them a warm bed and a hot meal. Supposedly, he murdered his victims in their sleep and buried their bodies on the banks of the river. In 1901, the Virginia Bridge and Iron Company began rebuilding the old bridge and the bodies were discovered. The innkeeper, Old Man Stuckey as he is known to the locals, was hung by a posse from the iron rails of the new bridge.

Stuckey's cover_webIf you know me, you know I couldn’t stop searching until I figured out who this Old Man Stuckey really was…that became the first book in the Stuckey’s Bridge Trilogy, THE LEGEND OF STUCKEY’S BRIDGE. (Check out the book trailer…creepy!)

unnamedWhile writing the story, I didn’t want Old Man Stuckey to be alone all the time, so I had him run across a young boy named Levi. In the story, young Levi took on a creepiness all his own, and I received tons of emails and messages asking what Levi’s past was. As usual with my overactive imagination, I was more interested in his future than his past, so I wrote STUCKEY’S LEGACY: THE LEGEND CONTINUES. At the end of that book, Levi “got his” and the story focused on the young woman he met during the story, Penelope Juzan.

Back to my childhood: There was a second legend around the area where I grew up. Supposedly there was an inn on Lake Juzan in the 1840s where an innkeeper murdered his guests for wealth, much like Old Man Stuckey. The man’s name was Pierre Juzan, and he dumped the bodies in the lake with the help of his Indian sidekick. Toward the end of the legend, one of them killed the other for the wealth of gold they had confiscated.

Side note: There were also a couple different accounts of trunks of confederate gold disappearing as they traveled through the area during the Civil War.

I thought all these stories had a similar thread, and I wondered if I could separate them.

stuckey Gold Cover smallBack to the trilogy: I came to the conclusion that these legends were indeed different stories, but thought they were probably connected in some way. Those crazy ideas in my head became the third book in the trilogy, STUCKEY’S GOLD: THE CURSE OF LAKE JUZAN. 

These tales tickled me pink while writing them, and I hope you enjoy them too!

stuckey Trilogy_ smal

 

 

 

 

 

Update: October 1st release of – The Complete Stuckey’s Bridge Trilogy  available exclusively on Kindle at Amazon. Click HERE!

Lori Crane Books at Amazon

Saturday Snippet – Stuckey’s Gold

Posted on by Lori Crane

Here’s a snippet from my coming release:

STUCKEY’S GOLD: THE CURSE OF LAKE JUZAN

stuckey Gold Cover smallBlurb

In 1840, Pierre Juzan was an innkeeper on the shores of Lake Juzan. His business was successful, but he wanted more. One day he got wind of a coach transporting a trunk of gold near his home, and his actions on that fateful day would spark an Indian curse that would haunt his family for four generations. Seventy years later, can Penelope Juzan break the curse, or will she suffer the same tragic fate as her forefathers?

“The Legend of Stuckey’s Bridge” and “Stuckey’s Legacy: The Legend Continues” told tales of the gold leaving a trail of destruction from Meridian, Mississippi to Jekyll Island, Georgia. In “Stuckey’s Gold: The Curse of Lake Juzan,” we may find the victims in the original tales were merely bit players in a story that is far darker and more sinister than one could imagine.

“Stuckey’s Gold: The Curse of Lake Juzan” is the final installment in the “Stuckey’s Bridge Trilogy” and is the tale of four generations struggling to escape a curse caused by greed.

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The sun had already reached its highest point and was slowly beginning its descent behind them. By the look of the shadows, Leon guessed it was around three o’clock. He knew the traveling distance from the county line, so he figured the coach would be arriving at any moment. As he recalculated its arrival time, he heard horse hooves on the road. The two sat silent and still on their horses and watched the man from last night trot past them. Their plan was to let him travel by unharmed as to not warn the drivers of impending danger. They would take care of him later.

Not more than a few minutes had passed before they heard the grinding of wagon wheels. Two men sat in the driver’s seat of the wooden coach. One was whistling a tune. Leon was feeling anxious and wanted to get on with it, so he decided to make the annoying whistler his first target. He pulled out his bow, armed it with an arrow, took aim through the trees, and let his arrow fly. It hit its intended target and the whistling abruptly stopped. The whistler slumped in his seat, an arrow through the left side of his neck. The horses didn’t flinch, but the man’s partner looked over at him and his jaw dropped. Leon quickly pulled out another arrow, aimed, and put it through the chest of the second man as he still stared at his partner in disbelief. The second man slumped in the seat.

From higher up on the hill, Pierre rode his horse out of the woods and fell in line behind the wagon. He gave Leon a nod. Leon nodded back. Leon tucked his bow away and emerged from the woods, trotting alongside the wagon. The wagon’s team kept pulling the wagon forward, oblivious to the fact they no longer had a driver. They began to pick up speed as the road began to slant downhill. Leon grabbed the side of the wagon and pulled himself onto it, abandoning his own horse on the road. He crawled across the canvas back and climbed over the rail, into the driver’s seat. He grabbed the whistler by the shirt and pushed him over the side. The man plopped onto the road like a sack of potatoes, and Leon felt the coach jostle and heard bones snap as the back wheel of the wagon ran over some part of the whistler’s body. He grimaced at the sound.

Behind him, Pierre grabbed Leon’s abandoned horse’s reins and continued down the hill, pulling Leon’s horse along with him. Leon glanced back and saw both horses neigh and rear up when they approached the whistler’s body unexpectedly sprawled in the middle of the road.

He turned his attention back to the coach’s horses. They were now nearing a gallop down the hill. He reached down on the floor of the wagon and fumbled around until he found the reins. He grabbed them and was about to pull back on them when the butt of a gun came down on top of his head. He saw stars as he fell to the floor of the coach. He turned his head and saw the whistler’s partner pointing a revolver at his face. As the driver clicked the hammer back, Leon kicked the gun out of the man’s hand. He heard it bounce off the edge of the wagon then discharge as it hit the ground. The sound echoed through the trees, startling the wagon’s horses who took off at full gallop.

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STUCKEY’S GOLD is available at Amazon!

It’s Monday! What are you reading? “A Newfound Land”

Posted on by Lori Crane

2a2I’m reading yet another of my favorite authors…

Anna Belfrage

“A Newfound Land”

 

 

 

 

 

91lWunghvPL._SL1500_“A Newfound Land” is the 4th in the Graham saga. I would suggest you start at the 1st book, “A Rip in the Veil,” and set aside some time, because once you get caught up into the world of Matthew Graham and his time-traveling wife Alexandra, you will not want to stop reading. This story takes up where the 3rd book left off. Matthew and Alex were having trouble in their homeland of 1670 Scotland. Religious and political turmoil gave them no option but to pack and leave, and what better place to travel to than the new world – the Colony of Maryland? Unfortunately, some of their former adversaries make an appearance and the reader is left gripping the arm of the chair as the suspense builds, and new complications arise to increase the tension. We know these two are strong and steadfast, but we wonder how in the world they will make it through. It is a pleasure to see their children growing, and I look forward to reading the 5th book in the series, “Serpents in the Garden.” Keep ’em coming!

 

“A Newfound Land” blurb

It’s 1672, and Matthew Graham and his family have left Scotland. Having taken the drastic decision to leave their homeland due to religious conflicts, Alexandra and Matthew hope for a simpler, if harsher, life in the wilds of the Colony of Maryland.
Unfortunately, things don’t always turn out as you want them to, and the past has a nasty tendency to resurface at the most inappropriate moments. Both Matthew and Alex are forced to cope with the unexpected reappearance of people they had never thought to meet again, and the screw is turned that much tighter when the four rogue Burley brothers enter their lives.

Matters are further complicated by the strained relations between colonists and the Susquehannock Indians. When Matthew intercedes to stop the Burleys from abducting Indian women into slavery he makes lifelong – and deadly – enemies of them all.
Once again Alex is plunged into an existence where death seems to threaten her man wherever he goes.

Will Matthew see himself – and his family – safe in these new circumstances? And will the past finally be laid to rest?

A Newfound Land is the fourth book in Anna Belfrage’s time slip series featuring time traveller Alexandra Lind and her seventeenth century husband, Matthew Graham.

downloadAnna Belfrage

As a child, I spent a lot of time trying to find ways of travelling through time – always backwards – and somewhere along the way I concluded that while real time travelling is as yet (sadly) not possible, it is always possible to leap through time by using that most powerful tool, imagination.
I don’t know how many hours I’ve whiled away submerged in one daydream after the other, all of them set in the misty past, all of them starring yours truly. As a matter of fact, I still daydream, and my hourly walks with the dog tend to be one long delicious escape from the world of today to another place, another time.

The books in The Graham Saga (so far I’ve published A Rip in the Veil,Like Chaff in the Wind,The Prodigal Son, A Newfound Land, Serpents in the Garden and the NEW Revenge and Retribution – more is to come)are the products of very many hours of daydreaming – although at times I’m not entirely sure who is doing the actual daydreaming, my characters or myself. Alex(andra) Lind and Matthew Graham have grown into most tangible beings, people with likes and dislikes – and very exciting lives, putting it mildly. Which is why the story developed into a whole series, six of which have now been published (two more to come).

The latter half of the seventeenth century is rife with dangers, and even more so when you’re a woman who has been yanked out of your comfortable, modern timezone and dropped into 1658. But Alex is lucky; she lands at the feet of Matthew, a man most women would give an arm and a leg to get to know closely. Things, however, are complicated by the general political unrest of the times and Matthew’s present status as convicted (but fugitive) royalist. Phew; at times I almost feel sorry for all the situations I land Alex in.
“Tell me about it,” she sort of growls, “and it’s not you who’s got the bruises to show, is it?”
Erm, no; but I’m the author, remember?
“We can trade anytime,” she says.
Ooh yes, please! I nod eagerly, throwing Matthew a longing glance. Alex follows my look, and two well-formed brows come down in an impressive scowl.
“He’s mine,” she says.
Matthew raises his face and looks at her. Those magical hazel eyes shine gold in the afternoon sun, and a slow smile spreads across his face. She sort of dances towards him and I sigh; he’s definitely hers, I can see it in the way his fingers graze her cheek, in how he laughs at whatever she’s saying. Shoot…

The Graham Saga is a heady mix of romance, swashbuckling adventure and emotional drama. while each book has been written so as to make it possible to read them as stand-alones. I believe the experience is enhanced by reading them in order. Alex and Matthew have more than their share of adventures, both in Scotland and in the New World – more specifically the Colony of Maryland.

I like my female protagonists strong and capable, and Alex is nothing if not resilient, no matter what full blown punches fate throws her way – and they are many. And as to Matthew, well… the man is stubborn and brave, rarely back downs when it comes to issues of faith and integrity and is at times more than a little frustrated by his opinionated, time travelling wife.

It isn’t always easy, to bridge the divide of three centuries in perceptions and ideas. Some days, Alex wants to kick Matthew in the butt for being a old-fashioned jerk. Other days, Matthew is sorely tempted to belt her, this woman with eyes the colour of the deep sea. But the moment his fingers graze hers, the instant she steps into his arms, none of that matters: She is his woman, and he is her man – that is the way things are, that is the way things will always be!

Oh; BTW. For those of you that want to know when the next book in the Graham Saga, Wither Thou Goest, will be out, it is planned for November 2014. (The paperback will probably be available somewhat earlier than the e-book version)

I hope you choose to buy my books and that you find the reading as enjoyable as I’ve found the writing!

Anna’s Amazon page

Anna’s blog

Anna’s website

 

Saturday Snippet – Stuckey’s Legacy

Posted on by Lori Crane

This snippet is from the second in the Stuckey’s Bridge Trilogy, STUCKEY’S LEGACY. Last week, I posted a snippet from the first book. You can see it HERE. Next Saturday, I’ll post a snippet from the coming book, STUCKEY’S GOLD. It is scheduled for release on August 25th!

unnamedSTUCKEY’S LEGACY: THE LEGEND CONTINUES

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Levi was so elated at his good fortune, he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep, so he stopped off at the King Street Pub near the old Charleston Orphan House. He wandered into the musty-smelling place, with its plank floor and wood tables, and ordered a whiskey at the bar. Ragtime music filled the room from a piano player in the corner, and the air was foggy with cigar smoke. He always thought he’d like to partake in the habit but he just couldn’t stand the smell. He pulled the silver lighter from his pocket and flipped the top open and closed over and over without pushing the ignition button. He gazed around the room. The place was quite lively for a Monday night. A handful of men sat at the other end of the bar and a few played cards around a large table in the center of the room.

“Where are all the women?” he asked the barkeep.

“Not much business for them here on a Monday, but I can send for some ladies if you’d like.” The husky man wiped down the bar top with a dirty cloth and then shoved it back into his stained apron. “You’ll have to make it worth their time, though, if you know what I mean.”

Levi grinned. “I can certainly do that. I’m having a celebration of sorts tonight. It’d be nice to have some company.”

“Louis!” the barkeep called over his shoulder.

Levi downed his drink as a dirty, young boy dressed in knickers, with long curls sticking out of his sailor hat, appeared from around the corner. The barkeep told him to run down to Miss Mabel’s place and ask her to send over a couple ladies. The boy nodded and ran back the same way he had come.

The man turned to Levi. “They’ll be here shortly. Miss Mabel runs a tight ship.”

The word ship made Levi smile. He flipped the lighter open and closed again.

“Why don’t you get in on a couple hands of poker and a good cigar while you wait,” the barkeep said, gesturing toward the game.

“No, I’m not much of a card player and not really in the mood for a cigar. I’ll just have a refill and wait for the ladies.” Levi pushed his empty glass toward the barkeep, who refilled it and sloshed it back toward Levi.

Levi downed the whiskey and listened to the piano player for a few minutes. When the man started playing “Camptown Races,” Levi started humming along. “Doo dah, doo dah, camptown racetrack’s five miles long, oh…”

His singing was interrupted by the jingle of the brass bells on the front door. He spun around and saw two women enter. They glanced at the barkeep, who nodded toward Levi. One of the women was a thin brunette, wearing a light green dress that gave her body more of an hourglass shape than she probably had. The other was a blonde, wearing a loose-fitting blue dress that sloppily drooped off one shoulder. She caught Levi’s eye and dramatically pulled the neckline back up to its proper spot, raising her chin as if she were royalty and he a mere peasant. He smiled at her pompousness.

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Lori Crane Books at Amazon

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It’s Monday! What are you reading? “Live from the Road”

Posted on by Lori Crane

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I’m reading one of my favorite authors…

PC Zick

“Live from the Road”

 

 

 

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“Live from the Road” is a story of two friends, Meg and Sally, and their road trip across Route 66. They are escorted by their grown daughters, and the four women each have their own personal demons to face during the trip. Some of their struggles are shared with each other, some kept private.

There were idiosyncrasies in this story that made me giggle. At each stop, they invite whomever they ran into to join them, and a lot of people strangely took them up on the offer. I would never be that open to invite strangers to join my vacation, but I have some girlfriends who would do something that crazy, so it’s not all-together impossible. At one point, they had four or five cars in their caravan. I thought the concept of strangers joining on one’s vacation was a little weird, but then I realized I had joined them, too. I was traveling the Route with them, experiencing the sites and sorting through the personal problems. The road trip mimicked the trip through life – the inner journey. The part I loved best was Meg’s 50-year-old brain struggling with her own mid-life crisis. I found myself thinking her thoughts many times. Perhaps these are the thoughts of every mature woman.

 

“Live from the Road” blurb

Live from the Road takes the reader on an often humorous, yet harrowing, journey as Meg Newton and Sally Sutton seek a change in the mundane routine of their lives. Joined by their daughters, they set off on a journey of salvation enhanced by the glories of the Mother Road.

Along the way, they are joined by a Chicago bluesman, a Pakistani liquor store owner from Illinois, a Marine from Missouri, a gun-toting momma from Oklahoma, and a motel clerk from New Mexico.

Death, divorce, and deception help to reveal the inner journey taking place under the blazing desert sun as a Route 66 motel owner reads the Bhagavad-Gita and an eagle provides the sign they’ve all been seeking.

Enlightenment comes tiptoeing in at dawn in a Tucumcari laundromat, while singing karaoke at a bar in Gallup, New Mexico, and during dinner at the Roadkill Cafe in Seligman, Arizona.

The trip isn’t always easy as laughter turns to tears and back again. However, the four women’s lives will never be the same after the road leads them to their hearts – the true destination for these road warriors.

088eb14324190ad8956eff.L._V146807737_SX200_PC ZICK – Author

P.C. Zick began her writing career in 1998 as a journalist. She’s won various awards for her essays, columns, editorials, articles, and fiction. She describes herself as a “storyteller” no matter the genre.

She’s published five works of fiction and two nonfiction books.

She was born in Michigan and moved to Florida in 1980. She finds the stories of Florida and its people and environment a rich base for her storytelling platform. Florida’s quirky and abundant wildlife – both human and animal – supply her fiction with tales almost too weird to be believable.
Her fiction contains the elements most dear to her heart, ranging from love to the environment. In her novels, she advances the cause for wildlife conservation and energy conservation. She believes in living lightly upon this earth with love, laughter, and passion.

“This is one of the most exciting times to be an author,” Ms. Zick says. “I’m honored to be a part of the revolution in writing and publishing.”

PC’s website

PC’s Amazon Page

PC’s blog

Saturday Snippet – Stuckey’s Bridge

Posted on by Lori Crane

In celebration of the coming release of the third book in the Stuckey’s Bridge Trilogy on August 25th, I’m posting a short snippet of the first book today, the second book next Saturday, and the third book the following Saturday.

Stuckey's cover_webThis is from THE LEGEND OF STUCKEY’S BRIDGE.

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He staggered down to the river to inspect the boat, carrying the ax in one hand and the lantern in the other. He realized as he walked that he may have consumed one too many swigs of whiskey, for he didn’t remember the path being this difficult to navigate. He giggled as he stumbled toward the bank. The cool mist of the fog felt good on his face, but the lack of visibility made him a little disoriented. He wasn’t sure if the feeling was caused by the fog or the whiskey.

He reached the river, placed the lamp on the dirt next to the boat, and crawled aboard. He searched around the deck, under the seats, and down in the hole, but found nothing.

“Damn it. Why do they always keep the money on them?” he griped.

“Hey! What are you doing there?” called the skinny boy, who surprisingly emerged from the woods and neared the boat.

“I was making sure your boat was tied up securely.” The words sure and securely came out in a slur, but Thomas ignored it and climbed out of the boat, back onto the bank. He still held the rusty ax.

“Why do you need an ax to check on the boat?”

“Oh.” He looked down at the ax. “Just in case I run into something out in the woods. You can never be too careful out here, you know?”

“Don’t you have a gun?”

“Well, yes,” he said as he neared the boy. “But guns make noise.”

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The Creation of a Creepy Trilogy…by accident.

Posted on by Lori Crane

Stuckey's cover_webLast year, I wrote “The Legend of Stuckey’s Bridge.“ If you haven’t read it, it’s based on an old Mississippi legend and is the story of an inn keeper who murdered his guests, confiscated their wealth, and buried their bodies on the banks of the river. When a nearby bridge was rebuilt years later, the workers began uncovering bodies, and Old Man Stuckey was eventually found out. I had a blast getting inside the head of a serial killer and writing the story. While creating the tale, I decided Old Man Stuckey couldn’t be alone with his thoughts throughout the entire story, so I had him run across a young boy named Levi. I guess being in psycho mode at the time of writing, young Levi became quite a creepy character himself.

Following the book’s release, I received a bunch of emails and messages asking me what the deal was with Levi. Apparently, he captured everyone’s attention.

 

unnamedSo, I gave it some thought and penned the second book in the trilogy, “Stuckey’s Legacy: The Legend Continues.” It was released May 2014. In that book, which takes place a decade after Old Man Stuckey paid for his crimes, young Levi is 22 years old and living off the wealth of the Old Man. He’s hobnobbing with the rich and famous on Jekyll Island off Georgia’s coast. When he meets the beautiful and mysterious Penelope Juzan, he is mesmerized, and an intense game of cat and mouse begins.

In the great state of Mississippi, not far from the real Stuckey’s Bridge, lies the black, swampy waters of Lake Juzan. It is surrounded by its own legend of an inn keeper who murdered his guests, confiscated their wealth, and buried their bodies in the depths of the lake. Well, who wouldn’t grab that and run with it? 🙂

 

stuckey Gold Cover smallThe legend of Lake Juzan became the basis for the third in the trilogy, “Stuckey’s Gold: The Curse of Lake Juzan.”  Penelope Juzan’s great grandfather was Lake Juzan’s inn keeper and the original holder of the trunk of gold that made its first appearance in “Stuckey’s Bridge.”  When all is said and done, Old Man Stuckey and Levi are only bit players in a story that is far darker and more sinister than even they could have imagined.

“Stuckey’s Gold” is the tale of four generations trying to escape the curse that is Lake Juzan.

Lori Crane Books at Amazon

 

Summer 2014 Newsletter

Posted on by Lori Crane

10312579_10152357221103326_361961938920997917_nIf you’re not signed up for my author newsletter, you don’t know what’s up with this donkey! CLICK HERE!! to find out.

My latest newsletter is filled with info about new books, recent awards, and coming stuff, including a giveaway of my new book STUCKEY’S LEGACY. I’m giving the book away this Saturday, before it is available to the public, so pop over and enter. CLICK HERE!!

If you want to sign up for my newsletter, you can do so at the top of the newsletter page. CLICK HERE!! I promise I will never give away or sell your email address, and you can unsubscribe at any time with one click of your mouse. Also, I won’t fill up your inbox with junk. I’m definitely unorganized when it comes to putting together newsletters, so I only send three or four a year, if I remember to do so. 🙂

If you don’t want to sign up but would like to see the latest newsletter and enter to win my new book, you can do that, too. See? We’re easy around here. Simply CLICK HERE!!

Farming, Winning, Unpacking, and Catching Up

Posted on by Lori Crane

Holy cow, the last month as been NUTZZZ!

IMG_20140507_075738760I moved from Michigan to Tennessee on May 1st. Whew, that was a lot of work! I felt kinda bad that I went to work on May 3rd for two weeks and left my trophy husband in Tennessee to deal with the movers, the dogs, and his new job, but I had to sit on a beach in St. Maarten and get paid. (I work for Norwegian Cruise Lines, if you don’t know.) So, trophy husband unpacked boxes as best he could and regularly emailed me pictures of the house. I was so happy to see all our stuff made it, but I must admit, my first thoughts were, “Hey, that doesn’t go there. Why would he put those things on that table? That other stuff should go there, and move those things to the other place.” LOL. Poor guy. Well, it was so cool to fly into Nashville on Saturday to come home. I’ve been home for two days and have most of our belongings sorted out. I’m still finding things we didn’t unpack when we moved three years ago, but it’s fun to go through it.

IMG_20140518_184641045In case you missed it, we now have a farm and poor trophy husband has a lot to do. While we were driving down from Michigan (eight hours in the car with two dogs panting and turning it into a smelly steam room), one of the six moo moos had a calf. I called her Peanut (standing on the left), which will be totally wrong when she weighs 900 pounds, but I don’t care. While I was away last week, we had the second calf. I named her Buttercup (laying down on the right). They are precious!!

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While I was gone, Twister (the neurotic donkey) apparently went into the chicken enclosure and wouldn’t come out. He’s out now and back with his buddies, but he was a poor little loner for over a week. My house sits by the barn and the chickens, and I haven’t seen Twister since I’ve returned home. He may be a little freaked out by the whole experience. He’s hiding on the back of the property.

AOH%20cover_webAlso while I was gone, my book “An Orphan’s Heart,” was named as a finalist in the 2014 Eric Hoffer Awards. I’m tickled pink!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

unnamedThe sequel to “Stuckey’s Bridge” is coming out in two weeks. “Stuckey’s Legacy” will hit the shelves on June 1st. While I was on the ship, I finished writing the third in the trilogy. “Stuckey’s Gold” is now in the pipeline and will be out in August. If you haven’t read “Stuckey’s Bridge” yet, get busy.

 

I think that’s all the news. I’m leaving Sunday for Bermuda for nine weeks, so I won’t be around until the end of July. Have a great summer and I’ll yack at y’all soon!