a TeMPLe of WoRDS

I am an avid reader, beautiful screamer, and lover of big words; a book editor (MeghanH Editing) and a book blogger (Meghan's House of Books).  Any free moment I have, you'll find me reading - especially now that I have gotten back into the reading thing, after far too long being unable to concentrate on anything (have you ever had to force yourself to do something that you have always loved?  it's aGoNy!!).  My taste in books is rather eclectic, so much so that friends have actually commented on it.  I'm honest about what I like and what I don't like, but I'm never rude when I'm giving my opinion (that's just not how southerners do it).  I absolutely love discussing anything book related, so don't hesitate to strike up a conversation.

She who leaves a trail of glitter is never forgotten

The Gal's 2017 Halloween Frivolities - Day 6

There is just one post today - an interview with one of my favorites, John Boden.  If you haven't read him, you really should.

Source: http://the-gal-in-the-blue-mask.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-gals-2017-halloween-frivolities-day_27.html

The Gal's 2017 Halloween Frivolities - Day 5

Today two interviews - two of the best I've ever done: J.R. Park and Andrew Robertson!!

Source: http://www.the-gal-in-the-blue-mask.blogspot.com

The Gal's 2017 Halloween Frivolities - Day 4

Today, for day four, we have an author interview Scott Carruba AND I sit down with his character, Denman Malkuth, from his Butterfly series.  Check 'em out :)

Source: http://the-gal-in-the-blue-mask.blogspot.com

The Gal's 2017 Halloween Frivolities - Day 3

Today we have author Christine Morgan, with an author interview AND a character interview.  Talk about amazing answers - she's so much fun to learn about AND Mr. Nathaniel Caron (a side-character in Scoot, and a main character in an upcoming book/series) is so easy to interview.  I can't wait to read his story!!

Source: http://the-gal-in-the-blue-mask.blogspot.com

The Gal's 2017 Halloween Frivolities - Day 2

Today we have an interview with author Russell R. James AND a character interview with one of the people from Tamara Jones' SPORE!!

Source: http://www.the-gal-in-the-blue-mask.blogspot.com

The Gal's 2017 Halloween Frivolities

The Gal's Halloween Frivolities began today and will be going on until the end of December.

 

Come on by each day and take a look at what we have in store for you.

 

Today: Two posts from author Amber Fallon, who has a collection coming out on October 31st. 

Source: http://the-gal-in-the-blue-mask.blogspot.com

The Impact of Reading to a Child

An blog post over on The Gal...

Source: http://the-gal-in-the-blue-mask.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-impact-of-reading-to-child_6.html

Scares That Care 2017

This past weekend was my very first Scares That Care, so I decided to write a blog post (with pictures) to share my adventure.

Source: http://the-gal-in-the-blue-mask.blogspot.com/2017/07/scares-that-care-weekend-2017.html

It's been awhile

I know I know.  It's been awhile since I've been on here.

 

I got really busy working full time in retail... and after the horrors that I dealt with there, well, it's been hard for me to deal with anyone... online or in person.

 

I'm working on coming back out of my shell, so bare with me on this.

 

I do miss y'all... quite a bit.

 

I have started working for a couple of authors as a personal assistant (this may be a thing for me, considering how much I've loved being a PA in the past).  If you're looking for a new book to read, I have a couple from one of my authors (some audiobooks, too, if that's what you're into.  All fall under the horror genre, but with additional sub-genres that make them quite different from each other.  Reach out to me if you're interested. :)

The last two installments of The Gal's 62 Days of Horror...

Today is New Year's Day (I hope everyone had a fun time ringing in the new year), and to finish off The Gal's 62 Days of Horror, we have an Among the Stacks with Lisa Vasquez (author, and owner of Stitched Smile Publications, LLC) and the final Christmas Takeover story, one about New Year's Eve, from the amazing, talented, and oh so gorgeous Stevie Kopas-Starnes!

 

http://the-gal-in-the-blue-mask.blogspot.com/2017/01/among-stacks-lisa-vasquez.html

 

http://the-gal-in-the-blue-mask.blogspot.com/2017/01/christmas-takeover-31-stevie-kopas.html

 

Source: http://the-gal-in-the-blue-mask.blogspot.com

And some more horror short stories from The Gal's 62 Days of Horror Christmas Takeover

#27 All That Glitters from Jon M. Jefferson

 

http://the-gal-in-the-blue-mask.blogspot.com/2016/12/christmas-takeover-27-jon-m-jefferson.html

 

#28 Festival of Lights from Martin Berman-Gorvine

 

http://the-gal-in-the-blue-mask.blogspot.com/2016/12/christmas-takeover-28-martin-berman.html

 

#29 Welcome to Paradise from Glenn Rolfe

 

http://the-gal-in-the-blue-mask.blogspot.com/2016/12/christmas-takeover-29-glenn-rolfe.html

 

Source: http://the-gal-in-the-blue-mask.blogspot.com

The Gal's 62 Days of Horror Christmas Takeover 26: John McNee

Source: http://the-gal-in-the-blue-mask.blogspot.com/2016/12/christmas-takeover-26-john-mcnee.html

The Gal's 62 Days of Horror Christmas Takeover continues...

#19 Slay Bells by Martin Berman-Gorvine

 

http://the-gal-in-the-blue-mask.blogspot.com/2016/12/christmas-takeover-19-martin-berman.html

 

#20 The Gateway to Hell by Luke Gracias

 

He's doing a two book giveaway, so comment here, Facebook, or on my blog to put yourself into the running

 

http://the-gal-in-the-blue-mask.blogspot.com/2016/12/christmas-takeover-20-luke-gracias.html

 

#21 Night of the North Pole Zombies by Chris Kosarich

 

http://the-gal-in-the-blue-mask.blogspot.com/2016/12/christmas-takeover-21-chris-kosarich.html

 

#22 Needful Strangers by Shaun Hupp

 

http://the-gal-in-the-blue-mask.blogspot.com/2016/12/christmas-takeover-22-shaun-hupp.html

 

#23 Christmas Microfiction by Stephen Kozeniewski

 

http://the-gal-in-the-blue-mask.blogspot.com/2016/12/christmas-takeover-23-stephen.html

 

#24 Another Reason for Horror Fans to be Thankful, an article by Jonathan Janz

 

http://the-gal-in-the-blue-mask.blogspot.com/2016/12/christmas-takeover-24-jonathan-janz.html

 

#25 Evans Light has a special gift for his fans

 

http://the-gal-in-the-blue-mask.blogspot.com/2016/12/christmas-takeover-25-evans-light.html

 

I hope you all have a very merry Christmas and a truly wondrous winter holiday season.

The Gal's 62 Days of Horror Christmas Takeover 18: Matt Hickman

Matt Hickman with a story called The Naughty List

Source: http://the-gal-in-the-blue-mask.blogspot.com/2016/12/christmas-takeover-18-matt-hickman.html

REVIEW: Redshift Rendezvous

Redshift Rendezvous - John E. Stith

In my lifetime of reading, there are very few times that I have ever DNF-ed a book. I'm always convinced that, if I put it down and come back to it later, I may enjoy the book more, and I actually have a folder on my Kindle for books that I need to come back and look at later on.

 

This book was almost put into that folder. More than once.

 

I found the first 32% of it to be very tedious. It wasn't the "hard science" that was the problem - I actually prefer that over just regular science fiction - but the fact that things about the ship were repeated over and over again, in different ways. It actually became quite annoying, reading an explanation again, wondering why the author kept deciding to explain this, as if his readers were complete idiots. (Hard science fiction readers tend to read a lot of hard science fiction books, and they shouldn't be treated like that.) Sometimes it is really hard for me to read a book without being an editor, and this was one of those times. The story itself needed so much cleaning up that it left me quite frustrated. On top of that, there were several times that the wrong word was used in the manuscript - and not just once, but several times with the same word.

 

There was an "underlying" story - a mystery, an adventure, some bad guys (ones you expected and ones you didn't), and two characters (Jason and Tara) - that kept me coming back to read more. Unfortunately, with all the focus on the Redshift, all of that gets sort of lost, at least for a time, and felt rather secondary, instead of being the main focus of the story. Having finished the book, I realize that what I thought was an "underlying" story was actually the main plot. Unfortunately, with the beginning of the story as it was, it took me until the end to realize all that.

 

The book really picks up once the ship gets close to Xanahalla. The adventure begins before that, and on the way you learn a lot about the two main characters, but once there, what you think you know changes, and I had a hard time putting the book down. There is a bit of romance, but not enough to take away from the story, and it actually drives the characters a little more than they may have been without that.

 

I enjoyed the ending. With all of that buildup, I'm glad that the end wasn't too easy... and that sometimes there's just a little bit more around the corner.

 

At the end of the book, the author includes a "Phenomena Aboard the Redshift" section, which I think would have benefited the reader a lot more had he put it at the beginning of the book, or at least included a page that let them know about this so, if they were curious about certain things, they would know it was there to find. It would have definitely taken away from all that tedious repetitiveness at the beginning.

 

The book has some good and bad moments, but I am glad that I fought through it to find out what happened.

 

Note: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

The Gal's 62 Days of Horror Christmas Takeover 17: Kevin J. Kennedy

Source: http://the-gal-in-the-blue-mask.blogspot.com/2016/12/christmas-takeover-17-kevin-j-kennedy.html