Madeline L'Engle passed away Sept. 6 at the age of 88. She had been ill and ultimately died in a hospice.

I've never been lucky enough to meet her, but she influenced me in ways she'll never know. "A Wrinkle In Time" was the first fantasy book I

ever read. It opened my eyes to another world — literally and

figuratively. I understood Meg in a way I don't think I'd ever

understood another character. Imagine my delight when I found out

there were MORE books I could…

SILENT COUNSEL Tour - September 7

Sherlock’s Tomes

Bridgeton, NJ

www.SherlocksTomes.com

Sherlock’s Tomes is the name, and Bridgeton, NJ is the place. What a wonderful little mystery bookstore, tucked away in a town I’d admittedly never heard of…

I've been a ghost for a few weeks while I finished the new book. I had a heck of a time with the title. In my previous post I called it "Speak for the Dead" but boy did I not like that one. After kicking a few other options around, I finally settled on "The Open Contract" because it has a thriller-esque feel to it and refers to the plot. I'm happy with that one. I rolled the last page out of the Royal yesterday in time for my birthday party (I'm 32 now), and stuck it in a drawer. It's going…

You can find me at bookaholics4ever@yahoogroups.com Stop in, ask questions. And I'll pop up and answer

I was channel-surfing last night and watched a host on one of those entertainment TV magazines (I think it was ET) talk about her tummy tuck that her plastic surgeon husband had done on her. She's a mother of two and had a slight tummy roll (yes, they shot it on camera). The program had some gratuitous "after" shots of her proudly baring her now flat midriff. She then expresses that she is so happy, that she was "so ashamed" before. Ashamed? What does having a slightly poofy belly after…

posted by Leann Sweeney

This week, the cat feels better, the dog and I are calmer and I am about a month away from becoming a first time grandma. It doesn't get any better than that in my personal life. Even my son-in-law, who is the worst airplane phobic ever, will be taking a train to be in Seattle at Thanksgiving and meet the newest member of our family. I'm smiling, folks. But there's more good stuff--at least I hope all of you reading this, some who have hopefully read…

I'm in the middle of A Rage in Harlem by Chester B. Himes and there is a big difference as to how he introduces the main chacaters to his series of books.

In the first paragraph of the first chapter of The Maltese Falcon we get a detailed description of Samuel Spade. Through the course of the novel where we are Sam Spade is as well. Philip Marlowe guides us through every step of Raymond Chandler's novels.

In A Rage in Harlem Grave Digger Jones and…

I love football. Sometimes I don't understand the nuances, but I love to watch the game. I can't tell you why exactly, since sometimes it can be deadly dull. There's nothing slower than slogging through mud and rain in search of those ten yards using only running plays; especially when those plays don't seem to be doing a darn thing. Pass! I scream (in the stands, at the big screen TV, at the radio). Throw the damn ball...there's a receiver wide open in the end zone! Of course, no one…

I've been at this writing business for 7 years now, starting cold as a new career without any background and taking the classes and learning by experience. Two things I'm good at, paying my taxes and promoting my work in the long term effort that some publisher will believe I'm a good candidate for publication. I think many new writers and even some more experience will find this articles helpful.…

In the wake of the recent Chinese ban on unlicensed reincarnation, Reuters reports another interesting religious development: On Tuesday, officials of Nepal’s state-run airline sacrificed two goats to appease Akash Bhairab, the Hindu sky god, because the airline was having trouble with one of its Boeing 757s.

Assuming for the moment that this approach is not suggested in the Boeing Users Manual, I think the airline officials…

Being published is an odd experience. First you spend a year all alone, hunched over a keyboard, talking to yourself and trying to coax a story and some people into being. Then your agent finds a publisher, and suddenly the emphasis is on the second book: What’s it going to be? How soon can you finish it? So the writer spends another year all

alone, hunched over a keyboard, and eventually turns in roughly…

The big news in Boone is Appalachian State University's historic 34-32 football victory over Michigan. I'm an ASU graduate and though I grumble about increased traffic, it was a wild time. The students tore down the home goalposts, even though it was an away game. Our newspaper is printing extra copies

of the sports edition because we figure it will be a collector's item.

My…