Month: July 2016

Cleanliness – SHORT STORY

Visit the Lion’s blog if you want to read about and learn from some cool and very well written insights….if you dare.

LionAroundWriting

      YOU CANNOT CLEAN your hands in dirty water – 0h, and how long I had been trying. All that scrubbing, inspecting my only skin under all the light, all that soap, lathering up into a froth, until every speck of dirt was purged into the filthy basin that looked so pristine once, slurped at by the gurgling spoked sink hole.
Turning the tap off, I dared to look in the mirror dappled with toothpaste and flossing collateral. I dry my hands and look at them, front and back, with a detachment as if viewing exhibits in a museum of sickness.

Nobody ever told me, you can’t clean your insides but I tried. I’d been bleaching the hallways of my within vicariously, gallon barrels kicked over, scorching through the dead life, cleansing with harsh notes, a burning sensation without degrees.
And so I stood outside, with clean hands and a…

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Encounter of a Lifetime – Guest Post…

Guess I should support my human the same as she does for me. Truth be told–I like the story!

Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

Eyes

He was late for a very important meeting. Like most people who always feel like an elevator is taking an eternity to arrive, he pounded impatiently on the down button, even though he—like most people—knew that the constant pressing of that button did nothing to hurry the damn thing along.

Finally! He stepped toward the elevator door and started through it before it was even fully open. And fell into her arms. She was tall for a woman . . . five foot nine inches; of course, that included the four inches provided by her red patent leather heels.

“Hey, Big Boy, take it easy,” she laughed as he righted himself, apologizing as he did so. She waved it off, they locked eyes, hers flashing green, his piercing blue. Each of them saw something they liked. But there were no more words spoken. They rode the elevator to ground…

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Sneak Peek Friday

Intriguing opening!

Allison D. Reid

This week I’m giving readers a brief glimpse into my soon to be released novella, Into the Shadow Wood.

Interested in having your book featured here on Sneak Peek Friday?  I’m always happy to support my fellow authors.  Just contact me through my blog or my author Facebook page.

Our weather-worn tents were nestled into a small clearing, like growing things that had sprung up out of the ground. There were so few of us left…so few. Remaining were the stubborn, the desperate—those who, like me, simply couldn’t let go. Something was still driving us to fight—to hope—in spite of the brutal truth that we had lost. What are we still doing here? This decision to go on is folly. Alaric’s words echoed in my mind. They rang no less true now than they had in the heart of the Shadow Wood.

Though I had escaped the confines of…

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Zoe on Men and Women: Vive la Différence!

My newest “story” (non-fiction!)….while you’re checking this out on The Ape’s site, check out all the other funny and wise stuff he’s got there…The (Great) Ape has a great site for writers and readers alike!

Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

Untitled

This is Zoe the Fabulous Feline with a fascinating—and of course, fabulous—topic for today’s story. Today I’d like to speak to you about one of the key differences between men and women. And I’m not talking about the plumbing, although, of course, there is that too.

No, I’m talking about that subject which women treasure and men despise. A subject that women welcome and seek out, while men are struck senseless with confusion and fear at just the thought of it all. I’m talking about talking. Conversation. Communication!

I can hear you from here. You’re just a cat.What can a cat tell us about how women and men communicate? I may be just a cat, but I live with a male human and a female human. What can I tell you about how they communicate? I can tell you in one word—differently. Actually, there are many other words I…

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Agnes Mae Graham

Great post, thanks! Just wanted to add that Chris’ book is also available in print, which my human bought…she loooooves the cover as much as the content. No, she says the cover is great but the content is wonderful and she does mean “full of wonder.” (She told me to be sure I put her quote in there. So now maybe she’ll leave me alone.)

Reading Recommendations

Christopher Graham, aka Chris The Story Reading Ape*, has done a wonderful thing! He’s gathered together poetry written by his late mother, Mae Graham, and published it as an eBook, available worldwide! Here’s “Mae” to tell us about “her” new book!

Mum B&WAgnes Mae Graham (Mae)

What is your latest release and what genre is it?My Vibrating Vertabrae: and other poems

Quick description: We all have dreams, loves and hopes; but what if you are a girl growing up in 20th century Northern Ireland before, during and after the ‘Troubles’?

From the poetic thoughts of our Mother, we get a sense of what it was like, ranging from humour, sadness, wistful thinking and sometimes just downright nonsensical, these are the words of one such girl.

Each poem tells a story.

MMVV eBook PNG SMALLBrief biography:
I was born into a poor-in-money, rich-in-spirit-and-determination, proud, hard-working family on 2nd July, 1926.

Both my parents…

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On Radical Acceptance (& Not Fixing Your Kid)

The most beautiful and loving and life-changing piece I have ever read.

Star In Her Eye

There’s a small town in Belgium named Geel (pronounced hale with a throaty, Germanic H). By 1930, a quarter of its residents were mentally ill. If you know about Geel, you know this was not because something lurked in the water or food supply. It was because for 700 years families in Geel accepted mentally ill patients, or “boarders,” to live with them in their own homes. The town got a nickname: “Paradise for the Insane.”

I’ve never been to Geel, but I recently heard about it on NPR’s Invisibilia podcast. In the episode, reporter Lulu Miller interviews Ellen Baxter, a researcher who earned a grant to live in Geel for a year. Prior to this trip, Baxter had faked her way into a mental institution, wanting to find out about the therapeutic practices used. She saw virtually none. What she did see: people watching television, looking out the…

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NEWSFLASH – Story Reading Ape Publishes Book…

Check out our friend, Chris the Storyreading Ape, for a look-see at his newly released book–great cover and wonderful tribute to his mother!

Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

MMVV eBook PNG SMALL

“But…but…but…THAT”S not YOUR name as the Author!” I hear you declare indignantly…

That’s TRUE – I’M not the AUTHOR, my Mother is, but unfortunately she is not alive to publish it herself, (she died in 2000), so I’ve published it in her name.

Today would have been Mum’s 90th birthday if she’d still been alive, so my sister and I felt that this book would be a nice way to celebrate Mum’s life and memory.

What’s it about?

As stated in the book description:

We all have dreams, loves and hopes; but what if you are a girl growing up in 20th century Northern Ireland before, during and after the ‘Troubles’?
From the poetic thoughts of our Mother, we get a sense of what it was like, ranging from humour, sadness, wistful thinking and sometimes just downright nonsensical, these are the words of one such girl.

Each poem tells a story.

My sister…

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