Wednesday, September 30, 2009

"What's-Up-Wednesday Book Review!"






This past weekend, I had the pleasure of reading one of the best books that I have read in quite some time. It was engaging; the characters were believable, complex, and likable; the story was very poignant; and there was an even an exciting murder mystery hidden inside this compelling story that puts a very real face on the problem of the abuse of helpless patients in mental institutions by their caregivers.

The book is "Tasting The Wind" written by Allan Mayer.


On the evening of Christmas Eve, in a Victorian Mental Institution, two patients (Eddie and Andrew) with severe learning disabilities watched as another patient helplessly died, choking to death on his own vomit, after having his hands tied to his bed crucifixion style by a nasty, abusive nurse (Della Cahill) in a fit of rage.

When the nurse came back later and realized what had happened as a result of what she had done, she cleaned up the mess and locked Eddie, the only witness that she thought was capable of uttering a word against her, in what was called "The Punishment Room." Then, after a short investigation, the whole thing was written off as an accident, even though they suspected (with no proof) that the nurse may have been responsible for the incident.

Ten years later, when a man named Martin Peach (the protagonist of the story) comes to take a job at the mental institution where Eddie and Andrew are still living, things finally start to happen.


As coincidence would have it, the nurse who left under the cloud of suspicion all those years ago has now returned to fill the position of Manager and Martin's boss at the newly-formed institution.

Immerse yourselves in the intrigue as Martin and his co-workers try to fit together the clues they uncover and solve the mystery of "Tasting The Wind" before Eddie and/or Andrew become one of Della's next victims. TRUST ME...you won't want to miss this awesome book!





Here's a video of the Prologue for this book—it's really great!


For more information on "Tasting The Wind" and its author, visit Mr. Mayer's official website here and his blog here. His website contains author interviews, publishing tips and other goodies that are very useful—you'll really enjoy it there.




Until next time...stay safe, stay well and may God bless you all.

Cynde

Please visit my other blogs:

Cynde's Daybook ~and~ Usurper Exposed. Thank you!

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

"My Blog Has Received Another Award!"




"“Boredom is a disease of the mind and psyche, an insidious disease. It not only takes the joy out of life, but the creativity as well. No one of God's children should ever be bored with life.”
Unknown Author







I was surprised by one of my followers last week and I want to share my news with everyone. Angie Lofthouse from the wonderful blog, Notes From The Writing Chair, gave my blog The Kreative Bloggers Award!" (see above) I was both thrilled and honored.







I want to publicly thank Angie for thinking of me; I'm deeply touched and hope that I am worthly of such an award. Thank you, Angie!





I now have the pleasure of nominating seven (7) bloggers that I believe are also worthy of this wonderful award. But before I do, let me post the rules that go along with this award.


The rules are as follows:


  1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award.

  2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.

  3. Link to the person who nominated you for this award.

  4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting. (below)

  5. Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers.

  6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.

  7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know they have been nominated.





Here are the seven (hopefully) interesting things about myself:


  1. I have a twin sister named Sande and we look just alike--and we used to be triplets.

  2. My first husband was a twin, and his twin brother wanted to marry my twin sister. Thankfully Sande say "no" or we both would have made huge mistakes.

  3. Sande and I also have another set of twin sisters named Barbara & Beverly. They are older than we are and are half-sisters, but look enough like us to be full sisters.

  4. I used to be engaged to my husband's older brother. This is a sad story: Dana (my fiance) was killed in a car accident while we were engaged. The story ends happily in a different way because my husband and I are very happy together and we believe that Dana (who is in Heaven now) is happy for us because he loved us both very much.

  5. My twin and I sing harmony together at weddings and church functions, etc. It's like our voices were made for each other!

  6. Dion (my husband) and I ride on his 1973 Honda CB750 motorcycle together on weekends, and it's one of our favorite things to do.

  7. I have written skits, songs and little stories since I was a little girl, and not until I was married have I had the chance to be able to pursue my dream. My husband has been a tremendous encouragement. How cool is that? I'm finally living my dream!








The following are the Bloggers that I have nominated:


  1. I Write Therefore I'm Happy!

  2. More Than Words

  3. Murderous Musings

  4. Tales of Extraordinary Ordinariness

  5. The Kill Zone

  6. The Writer's Porch

  7. Two To Write





Until next time...stay safe, stay well, and may God bless you all.

Cynde

Please visit my other blogs:
Cyndes's Daybook ~and~ Usurper Exposed. Thank you!

Sunday, September 6, 2009

"LOOK: My Brother's Book, "BLOOD KIN" For Sale At BORDERS!"



Monday, 31 August 2009 would have been my brother, John S. Bond's 62nd birthday, so my husband, Dion, my sister, Carol Lee Harris (the editor and "mastermind" for the publishing of the book for my brother, posthumously) and I thought that it would be the perfect day to have the Borders Bookstore in Ithaca set up the display for his book, "Blood Kin". The Sales Manager at the store, Linda Hendrix, even came in on her day off to accomodate us, (what a sweetheart!) so everything went very smoothly!



Carol Lee brought both soft cover and hard cover copies of "Blood Kin" with her, and we are hoping that his book will sell out and need to be replaced before our scheduled return to town next month. Wouldn't that be great?

Dion took a couple of pictures to show you what the book looks like on display, plus here's a close-up of the one with the "Borders Local Author" sticker on it. I think that it turned out really great! Hopefully, the next time that I report on my brother's book, I'll have some more good news for you.



Quote for the day: "Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor." Truman Capote

Until next time...stay safe, stay well, and may God bless you all.

Cynde

Please check out my other blogs:
Cynde's Daybook ~and~ Usurper Exposed. Thank you!

Saturday, September 5, 2009

"Did You Miss Me? Well, It's TINKERBELL's Fault!"



Did you miss me? Well, I certainly have missed you! I have been so busy, and I have lots of news to catch up on, too.


The only reason that I haven't been online is because: "Tinkerbell" (my laptop computer) has been extremely naughty! She refused to cooperate with me--at all! And then when she did decide to, it was only for an hour, here and there. She was driving me crazy!

I finally had to have the "Doctor" look at her, and he prescribed some medications that have worked wonders on her, shall we say, "attitude", and she is feeling much better now.



After I get situated and all of my photos downloaded, I'll try to get some more postings done in the next few days so that I can catch up on some of what has been going on.

I am amazed at how helpless I felt when I didn't have a laptop available to use. How did I become so dependent on one? I'm wondering--do all of you out there feel the same way as I do? I wish you would leave me some comments and tell me one way or the other and if you have an interesting story to tell along those lines.

Also..."Tinkerbell" just asked if she could leave a message for all of you and I said, "yes". Here is her message to you (and to me) for messing up my computer and interrupting my blog for three weeks:



"Awww...Your apology is accepted, "Tinkerbell". Right, guys? Now...let's try to put this episode behind us and we'll all try to do better, OK? But...if you do it again, I'll have to replace you. Understood, "Tinkerbell"? Alright then. Great!"



Until next time...stay safe, stay well, and may God bless you all.

Cynde

Please visit my other blogs:
Cynde's Daybook ~and~ Usurper Exposed. Thank you!