They had no word for what towered over them,
what created the richly fertile land booming with life beneath them...but ignorance will not save them.
She wakens like every other day for the past two months in Pompeii, hating her life with a ferocity fed by the violent hand of her
piggish husband...but unlike every other day, this day is going to CHANGE Daria's life...forever.
HER LAST DAY, a moment by moment recounting of a demon no one knew clawed on
fiery feet beneath the land they all treated with superior disdain.
Daria, wife of Titus the wealthy
shoe maker hates the way the ground shakes. She's from Rome and Roman ground would never be so rude as to tremble beneath the mighty
Caesar Titus, son of the great Vespasian and his Senate.
Here in Pompeii the citizenry thinks they are above the gods and far too wealthy not to be cherished by the rulers of the after-life.
Slavery, an accepted cruelty, is a part of the Roman fabric, and nowhere is it more happily celebrated than here in Pompeii.
Acteon, given to Daria by her husband Titus the moment he returns from Rome with Daria as his wife, is her only comfort, her only "friend" here in her husband's domain.
They had no word for VOLCANO...but
Vulcan, god of fire, does not make distinctions between the wealthy and the slaves of poverty and misuse.
HER LAST DAY is coming next month in October from Muse It Up Publishing...but Kat and I want to GIVE two copies away just as soon as they hit the market...in whatever format you need from us.
So what must you do to win?
Actually it's really easy...
just e-mail Kat placing the word VOLCANO in the subject and tell her the date of the very LAST eruption of Vesuvius.
Send it to MyKitty130 at yahoo dot com
If you have the right date your name will be included in the drawing.
Be sure to include your name, e-mail address and the format you want your free book in.
That's all you have to do...
Easy right?
I am ashamed to admit until I guest hosted my daughter Kat Holmes'
BLOG TALK RADIO SHOW for
Cyrus Keith, author extraordinaire of the amazing
BECOMING NADIA and
UNALIVE...also
Patrick Stewart Look-alike...(and yes, you CAN listen to that show in the archives)...I did not know anything about the EPIC awards.
What does the acronym stand for? I wondered too, so I
Googled them and it stands for The Electronic Publishing Industry Coaltion...and it is BIG!
Cyrus, rightfully, is
walking on air right now. Seriously...how many other first-time published authors can claim to have won something this prestigious so early in the game?
I mean take a look at his award...(I'm gonna give you TWO angles so you can see the intricacy of
his name and his powerful book BECOMING NADIA etched forever upon his first, but I know not last, authorial TROPHY!
As his Muse It Up Publishing Sister,
I am walking on air too, because I am so very proud of him and his exceptional accomplishment. (He told me on the show his second novel UNALIVE is in the running for next year's award...so I KNOW I will be creating another
toast to my brother next year too.)
The Science-Fiction world has been blessed because this gifted, multi-faceted man has joined its ranks...and how brilliant of the EPIC Awards personnel to recognize him right off the bat.
Lea Schizas, Publisher of
Muse It Up Publishing, Inc...on behalf of all of us...
for bringing Keith into our Muse It Up Publishing home.
For more info on
BECOMING NADIA, click HERE for its very own Buy Page.
For info on Book Two,
UNALIVE, click on its BUY PAGE.
The delightfully dynamic Cyrus Keith can be found at his AUTHOR'S PAGE and his brand spanking new (so you can get in on the ground floor) BLOG
Click on THE EPIC AWARDS to learn more about why this is such a HUGE accomplishment.
Keep 'em coming Cyrus. Your fans are chomping at the bit.
This past week has played havoc upon my body and mind.
For nearly forty-eight hours I waged a war with a virulent strain of a stomach flu that saw me losing twelve pounds. YES, I could stand losing the pounds, but I don't recommend anyone using the flu diet.
Once the excruciatingly painful projectile evacuation of my tender innards stopped, I was weak to the point of actually walking unsteadily into walls. I walked like a drunk woman with nothing more than water fermenting inside me.
Yesterday, the first day I felt somewhat...and I DO mean 'somewhat' normal when I'd surface from healing sleep, Kat hit me with the Dear Author
exposé of plagiarism.
My heart is heavy now. A piece of me turned
to ash just like that.
Kat and I waded through a
huge firestorm less than two years ago. Never in our wildest imaginations would we have said the authors we knew from that battleground and were now elsewhere, had
feet of such shifting sands of clay.
I do not understand the need to take from others.
Many's a time I am reading a story by an author who gives me some amazing turns of phrases that I find myself saying..."Gee, I wish I'd written that!"
One such author is
Anne N. Reisser,
whom doesn't seem to be writing anymore...
but I have everyone
of her books and read, re-read and cherish them. (How I wish they had released in hard cover!)
I suppose I could steal some of the phrases I love of Anne N.'s, but I'd like to think I am bright enough to come up with phrases of my own that are equally powerful , geared towards my segment, and most definitely creating what is MINE!
Besides the phrases I fell in love with, I fell in love with her sauciness. She puts her heroines in situations that ring true because they were written solely by her to BE true,
not jammed into mine.
The firestorm I'd already battled my way through two years ago made me stronger, but also it left me scarred with a bitter taste you never forget.
I know what it's like to covet. Who doesn't? My son used to date this beautiful young woman who could lift a sketch pad and with a few deft strokes of her charcoal, bring my
well beaked face to life. I would have loved having that talent...but I don't. I can scarcely draw a straight line using a ruler.
Instead I gush over her talent, and then get back to what Nudge and I do.
Once upon a time I'd hoped to write a book and have her illustrate it for me...Wherever you are Danielle, know I will always be awed by your artistry and I pray you found your joy in life.
Today, the first day I am going to venture out into the world, after my flu bout, I am learning the scope of thievery involved in THIS Dear Author exposé.
PLAGIARISM...WHY?
I don't understand. I can't keep my inner voice Nudge quiet long enough to give me a rest from her active telling voice.
I am heartsick, and I don't know how to respond to this.
To the author caught with her nib in someone else's brain births...are we your brother and sister authors so arrogant and self-absorbed, you could not reach out to us and ask our help in finding your inner voice? Am I that unapproachable?
You are not the first, nor, do I fear will you be the last to quell their fear of that blank page with words that were taken from other creators works...
I am not the Almighty, so I have no answers on how you will or should move beyond this.
One of the authors you plagiarized said you've stolen words, not killed...and she's right. No bodies left their shells to cross into the next soul-phase beyond the Veil
You did not kill, but you maimed the degree of trust we as authors HOPE we share.
You are someone I considered a friend, and towards that end I hope you find your
Phoenix and can rise from the ashes you've created here and flame more humbly and more honorably in the future.
From the Depths of my Despair,
Lin
