First Friday w/the Crew: It's Autumn: Going into "Squirrel Mode!"

We’ve had our first taste of chilly weather here in the Heartland in the past couple of weeks and frankly, I’m ready for summer to be done. I know there are some of you who relish the high temps, the days on the beach, laying by an azure pool, watching that cabana boy serving up drinks. Kudos, to the sun-worshipers.

Me? I love looking out over a cornfield at the break of dawn, a heavy fog lays low shrouding the world in an ethereal mist. I love those brilliant sunny days with a snap in the air forcing the hoodie to be dug out of hibernation. Football Saturday tailgates. Talking an early morning walk. Breathing in the crisp clean air and seeing the sky turn a brilliant blue.

And never mind the sunsets, holy cow. Ribbons of purple, orange, yellow and pink settling on the horizon accentuating the silhouettes of trees that have shed their summer coats in favor of naked branches as they prepare for a long winters nap.

It’s the joy of sitting around a campfire or fire-pit with family and friends, wrapped in a sweatshirt or blanket. The joy of conversation as you gaze into a crackling flame.

Have I convinced you yet?

As this theme suggests, like the furry squirrel, I too, go into a mode of preparation-the summer clothes are packed away and the snuggly stuff brought to the surface. I start thinking about soups and stews, about freezing fresh corn off the cob, visiting those farmers markets, apple orchards and pumpkin farms. 

Example: Yesterday I woke before the sun and pulled out my “autumn” totes from storage. It will be my first fall in our new home. By eight a.m. when hubby stumbled out of bed, it looked like autumn had thrown up in the house! My heart is giddy when I look at a field of pumpkins. When I drive down a country road and the leaves swirl up around my car. Heaven.

~KINDNESS MATTERS~

Amanda

Maybe it’s too forward to think that you may exhibit “squirrel-mode” tendencies, (like me) but I’ve never been subtle in asking questions, so…

WHAT “SQUIRREL-LIKE” TENDENCIES START TO NUDGE YOU WITH THE ONSET OF THE FALL EQUINOX?

Fess up. When do the holiday decorations come out to play? 

Do you do it up big/scary at Halloween? 

Do you get bake-happy? (I’m pretty sure that’s a thing and oh, I’ll give you my address!) 

Would you dare to share any special stew or soups, casserole recipes you want to share?

One blog guest who leaves a comment and email addy will be chosen to receive a $25 gift card from Cracker Barrel!! (can be used in store or online.)

 NOW LETS SEE HOW OUR GLIAS CREW CELEBRATE AUTUMN'S ARRIVAL!

AVRIL TREMAYNE

The first spring flowers in the courtyard
of my inner city house

Oh dear!  As usual, I'm, bucking the trend as the resident Southern Hemisphere dweller - because here in Australia it's spring!

Believe me, I much prefer autumn, which is my favourite season of the year. Although I'd have to say, the past few autumns in Sydney have been more like an extension of summer. Right now, though, after a very mild winter (did not need to put on an overcoat even once!) I'm preparing for hay fever. All it takes is one breeze where I live for everyone to be coughing up a lung or two, because the streets are full of fluff from the plane trees, and that stuff gets right up your nose and down your throat.

Wisteria, Centennial Park, Sydney

Still, the sun is shining, the flowers are blooming, the sky is almost painfully blue - and I can tell you that Sydney will be doing what it usually does - dining al fresco. Just about every cafe and restaurant here offers seating outside, whether it's on the street or out the back in a courtyard, and every house has a barbecue ready to be put into action! 



E.E. BURKE

Fall has always been my favorite time of year. I get outside to take walks, go look at leaves, or just sit on the deck and write. Here's a picture of my little pumpkin (some years ago) with her best friend at the local "patch." She's 18 now and the other day said, "Let's go out to Red Barn Farm this year!" When fall strikes, we all revert to children.

That same child suffers from severe depression and her worst bouts are in the fall. What we've learned on this journey is that depression is often triggered by seasonal changes and even moving into a wonderful time of year can be traumatic. She's fought this awful illness throughout her teenage years, but as she moves into adulthood I see an amazing young person with courage and hope and an intense desire to make the world a better place.

We are walking into fall together, holding hands and anticipating that the best has yet come.

JACQUI NELSON

I grew up in the land (or at least one of the lands) of extreme snow – northern Alberta, Canada – so autumn was always more intense. More colorful leaves, bluer skies against that color, crisper air, frostier mornings, and sweeter scents of nature getting ready to hibernate. 

Now living on Canada's West Coast where winter is rain, I have to concentrate hard to see changes that don’t include a torrent of rain. But occasionally nature makes it easy as shown by these pictures I’ve taken during my 10 years living in Victoria, British Columbia. 

ANGI MORGAN

Well, Amanda and friends... Fall in North Central Texas lasts about 12 minutes around Thanksgiving. I actually rake leaves year-round because Live Oak trees that are in abundance here drop leaves as new leaves grow to replace them. As a result, I'm raking leaves year round.  So even though there's a breath of cooler air that wanders through Dallas before or after a storm, it's still fairly warm. One of the things I love about this time of year is another round of roses. Love that. 


As everyone knows, I take a lot of photographs. Some of our favorites are displayed on our walls. I normally change these out to fit the seasons. I also have welcome signs that fit all the national holidays for the front door. Seasonal flowers are almost always around. And I too, have a crate of fall decorations. Those will come down as soon as the new windows for the house are installed and the dust settles. 

The one holiday I don't hesitate about decorating is Christmas. It happens on or the day after Thanksgiving. Almost always. Right along with my little suburb.

Amazon | B&N | Google | iBooks | Kobo  | Walmart 

NANCY ROBARDS THOMPSON

Fall is my favorite season. I feel like I need to qualify that since I lived in Florida, where we didn’t get seasons, most of my life. There it was hot and less hot. We would call it a cold front if the temps dipped below seventy. Well, last December we traded in the beaches for the mountains and we moved to northeast Tennessee. We loved the snow and the gradual change to spring and then summer, but this will be our first fall. It’s only the first week of October, but every day, the Norwegian and I look out the window and assess the trees to see if they’re starting to change colors…not yet, but we’re sure it will happen any moment.

In the meantime, we’ve pulled out the fall decoration in an attempt to make the house more fall festive. I’ve been enjoying pumpkin everything – from coffee to bread and soup and candles. I can’t get enough of it. I’ve set out a few Halloween decorations, but they’re of the non-scary variety.

Here’s a peek out my office window, where, clearly there is no sign of fall. But I keep hoping. 

My current release is MADDIE FORTUNE'S PERFECT MAN.  It's a fun read for a cool night in front of the fire. 

your host is Amanda McIntyre

Get Lost on Facebook   @GetLostInAStory  #GetLostStories

AND OUR NEW Facebook Group: The Readers’ Spot

DON'T FORGET: One blog guest who leaves a comment and email addy will be chosen to receive a $25 gift card from Cracker Barrel!! (can be used in store or online.)

Jacqui Nelson’s North of the Border with guest Glenn Lindsey

Who's next on my North of the Border guest blog series? Today we have Glenn Lindsey, author of the Billy Fender PI Series!

Where does Glenn get his inspiration? How is Canada part of his inspiration? Read on and see...

~ * ~

Thank-you Jacqui for your blog invitation. I’m delighted to share my North of the Border inspiration.

It’s the Lindsey family cottage. Erected in the early 1950s, this is a very humble edifice. A pre-fab consisting of lumber, nails, shingles, and windows, it was built by my father on cow pasture near the shores of Lake Simcoe in then-rural-southern-Ontario-Canada. Three bedrooms, a living-room, a kitchen, and a washroom are squeezed into 600 square feet. In the early years, a big iron-cast stove provided heat on cooler August evenings while an ice-box kept the milk cool during the blast furnace hot days of July.

My younger brother and I shared a bedroom which housed a clothes dresser, (some of) our toys, and a bunkbed. I had the top bunk; he, the bottom. From this safe, tiny room, we ventured out and explored the surrounding farmers’ fields, the clear waters of the lake, and the leafy branches of the many trees. All the stuff of stories.

This was my summer world, populated by family, by cottage community friends, by birds and animals, by sweet warm breezes, by the fresh water in which to swim, nearby fields in which to explore, and by books—lots of books. This is where I first read Robinson Crusoe, Black Beauty, Swiss Family Robinson, and Tom Swift Adrift in the Stratosphere.

Sometimes, my mother would venture from the cottage and drive her 1952 black Austin into town to the local library where my brother and I would troll for books amongst the stacks. (We also hoped for an ice cream cone would be part of this in-town adventure.) I can always remember my mother reading at the kitchen dining table while I often lay on couches getting lost in my favorite books and comics.

Stories continually spun out from this wonderful rural world North of the Border. Some came from Marvel comics read on rainy days, some from marshmallows impaled on sticks sizzling over evening bonfires, some from our tree fort built high above the ground, and some from innumerable pasture patties, occasional bee stings, and quite often—very impressive thunderstorms!

Probably the most bombastic inciting incident for a story was a simple bedroom whisper uttered one hot and humid night.

“Did you hear that?”

Our humble cottage must have been in the middle of an energy vortex. Every summer, it seemed that thunderstorms would roll across the lake and lash the cottage with rain, hailstones, and wind. Lightning would flash amongst cumulonimbus, and thunder would shake the earth. Huddled under our covers, my brother and I would share hushed commentary while violence rained [sic] just outside our bedroom window.

As I grew older, my world grew bigger. I bought a shortwave radio and stretched a copper wire out the cottage window to a flagpole in the backyard. I heard foreign news stories from distant radio stations: examples included Radio Moscow, Radio Australia, Radio Hungary, the BBC, and the more exotic Radio Brazzaville. Some stories were exciting (the launch of Sputnik), some scary (Cold War nuclear tests), and some very sad (the murder of President Kennedy).

If the cottage’s walls could speak, they too would spin stories of two little boys growing up playing in a world of discovery and dreams, of happiness and sadness, and of love and concern. Most of all, it would be a storyteller of heroes and heroines who flew rockets, captained ships, and drove race cars.

The cottage is now old and creaky. Cloth pennants, however, still dot the bedroom walls and aged fishing rods still sit in a corner. I visited the cottage last summer. What did my brother and I do while we sat on the porch during a rain storm? We reminisced, filling that familiar space with warm, happy stories.

The Awesome Cottage

How did the cottage inspire the character Billy Fender? 

Well, it didn’t—at least not directly.

In retrospect and after some consideration, however, the super hero, Superman, found in my cottage comic book collection, is Billy’s metaphor. He could jump tall buildings, fly faster than a speeding bullet, see through walls, and hear the faintest sounds. He would work with a team, fight villains, solve mysteries, and help the community.

Does Billy Fender do the same things? You bet!

For a chance to win a Billy Fender bookmark (which Glenn will deliver to you by snail mail), leave a comment below. 

~ * ~ 

Glenn Lindsey was born and schooled in the Toronto area. He enjoyed careers as a teacher, a banker, a computer programmer, and a curriculum designer in technical training. For six years in Victoria, he drove a school bus for children and youth with disabilities but has now turned his energies to writing novels fulltime. His author career started with his first university English paper which garnered him a mark of D+. Fortunately, his author’s skills progressed and has included a short stint as a journalist writing articles for the Boulevard magazine. He has also penned six full-length screenplays (one, in fact, garnered some interest from a director) and is now writing novels for his middle-grade Billy Fender PI Series.

His first is The Shoebox Mystery which has been followed with The Dinosaur Bone Mystery and The Ghostly Maiden Mystery. A fourth, The Fortune Cookie Mystery, will be ready for the 2018 holiday season. When he’s not writing, he enjoys hobbies like ham radio (call sign VE7GRQ), cartooning, and photography.

Webpage – www.glennlindsey.com

Facebook - www.facebook.com/Snug.da.Joiner

Twitter - www.twitter.com/snugthejoiner
Amazon - www.amazon.com/Glenn-Lindsey/e/B0777TQX3V

~ All pictures (except for the 1st) are supplied by today’s guest with their assurance of usage rights ~ 

Meet Hero and Rancher Ben Blackwell

THE BLACKWELL BROTHERS ARE COMING HOME…

…whether they want to or not.

THE RANCHER’S REDEMPTION

His family committed a terrible wrong
Ben Blackwell wants to make it right

The last time Ben saw Rachel Thompson was when her best friend left him at the altar. Now Rachel’s suing the Blackwells over river water rights. Rachel’s a triple threat—rancher, fellow attorney and single mom—and Ben’s plan to win in court hits a snag when mutual attraction blooms. If he divulges a long-held secret, will his family forgive him? Will Rachel?

Read a Little, Buy the Book

Prior to writing romance, Melinda was a junior manager for a Fortune 500 company, which meant when she flew on the private jet she was relegated to the jump seat—otherwise known as the potty. After grabbing her pen (and a parachute) she made the jump to full-time writer, focusing on sweet romance for Harlequin and indie-pubbed sweet romantic comedy. She recently came to grips with the fact that she’s an empty nester and a grandma, concepts easier to grasp than jet-setting on a potty. 

Amazon  | BookBub | Facebook | Twitter @MelCurtisAuthor | Website | Newsletter

THE Q&A

ANGI:  Writing a continuity series takes a lot of work and cross-referencing with your co-authors. Is there any back story you needed for your characters that either didn’t make it into the book (no spoilers) or that you needed to brainstorm from a co-author?

MELINDA: Yes! It was my idea to have Ben jilted at the altar just after he graduated from law school because his grandfather had eloped with his bride. I wanted about 7 years to have passed (the 7 year itch, right?) but our editor wanted it to be five years. This impacted how many years Ben had been at a law firm in New York City (I had wanted him to be partner or junior partner, but that’s way too short at most firms).

ANGI: What’s special about Ben Blackwell, the hero of your book?

MELINDA: Ben left town and never looked back, because if he looked back, he felt a little guilty about what he’d left behind. His actions in court were influenced by his grandfather (before he got jilted) and essentially robbed the ranch next door of their water supply (but legally, in court).

ANGI: What do you love about a rancher or a rancher’s life?

MELINDA: I grew up on a sheep farm – which isn’t what Ben would consider a true ranch – but what I loved was the wide open spaces. When Mr. Curtis and I were shopping for a house the first time, I kept telling him the neighbors were too close. We ended up buying a house that backs up to undeveloped land.

ANGI: Would Ben take Rachel to a fancy restaurant or a picnic? 

MELINDA: Oh, Ben is a fancy restaurant dude. In fact, he laments the fact that he can’t get a good salad or quinoa bowl delivered to the ranch. Canned food? (shiver)

ANGI: Favorite TV rerun you watch every time you channel surf? 

MELINDA: I am not the rerun type of woman (that would be Anna Stewart). I watch it once and move along.

ANGI: Worst thing about ranching (according to you or your hero)?

MELINDA: Barbed wire. I can say from experience there is nothing scarier to me than trying to unloop barbed wire to put on a fence. I even mentioned it in the book.

ANGI: The most daring thing you’ve ever done… Care to share?

MELINDA: When I was in college, I dressed up as Carmen Miranda for Halloween – swimsuit top, flimsy flowery skirt, and a pile of fruit wrapped around my head. Guys were swiping my fruit and then the rest fell upon me. I don’t dress up for Halloween anymore.

ANGI’s GOTTA ASK:  Where did you write THE RANCHER’S REDEMPTION?

MELINDA’S GOTTA ANSWER:  I wrote this book mostly at my desk. Notice the two dogs. One is usually in my lap. The other at my feet trying to get me to play tug of war with a two foot headless gator (that used to squeak).

  

UP NEXT for MELINDA:

SANTA SCHOOL

Heartwarming Days of Christmas #12

Read a little, Buy the book

GET LOST WITH ALL 
THE BLACKWELL BROTHERS

JON | ETHAN | BEN

Coming next month… TYLER

And in December… CHANCE

PURCHASE:   JON | ETHAN | BEN | TYLER | CHANCE

Melinda, Carol, Anna, Cari Lynn & Amy

MELINDA is giving away Four commenters will each receive a copy of Marrying the Wedding Crasher (autographed in the U.S., digital for international), a Harlequin Heartwarming clean romance in Melinda’s Harmony Valley series.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

your host, Angi Morgan

Get Lost on Facebook   @GetLostInAStory  #GetLostStories

AND OUR NEW Facebook Group: The Readers’ Spot

MELINDA WANTS TO KNOW: I used to own a horse that was a bit spirited (understatement). One time, she tossed her head while we were riding through a neighbor’s vineyard, broke her chin strap (what makes a horse stop), realized she had literal free rein, and raced down the hill directly at a barbed wire fence (did you catch my confession earlier about hating barbed wire?). I bailed, she swerved, and we both lived to ride another day. So now for your questions. Have you ever ridden a horse? If so, have things ever gone south? 

E.E. Burke's Best of the West: An old friend, a new adventure...

Join the adventure on Oct. 23

His greatest adventure is about to catch up with him.

Steamboat pilot Huck Finn lives life on his terms and steers clear of messy entanglements that might tie him down—until he takes charge of an orphaned boy that needs rescuing.

Starched and proper, Miss Hallie MacBride is determined to atone for past sins by raising her estranged sister’s son. She doesn’t expect footloose Mr. Finn to challenge her, much less up and run off with her nephew. 

On a wild journey fraught with danger, a freedom-loving adventurer and an avowed spinster battle over the destiny of a young boy, who is doing his level best to convince them they belong together.

Embark on an unforgettable adventure from award-winning author E.E. Burke in a novel inspired by one of America’s most beloved characters.

June 2, 1870, Atchison, Kansas

“What you layin’ in there for, mister?”

A childish voice disturbed Huck’s sleep. He screwed his eyes tightly shut, willing his mind to return to dreams of pleasanter things than inquisitive children. 

Something struck the bottom of his boot. 

He jerked awake, his head connecting with a crack against the inside of the hogshead barrel. “Ow! Blame it.” 

Gingerly, he touched a rising lump and grimaced at the painful reminder of where he’d ended up. After celebrating into the wee hours, it appeared a convenient place to await the next packet chugging up the Missouri River. Sobriety declared it a bad idea. Only halfwits and drunks slept in discarded barrels. Not men who commanded steamboats.

Curling around, he squinted at the opening where his legs were exposed. 

Daylight outlined the figure of a child. 

Huck shut his eyes hoping it was just a dream. When he opened them again, the boy had bent to peer inside the barrel. 

Gap-toothed smile, snub nose, merry eyes that held the promise of mischief…

“Tom?” Huck rasped. 

The boy giggled. 

No, he couldn’t possibly be. Tom had been nearly full-grown fifteen years ago. 

Huck rubbed his stinging eyes. He must’ve gotten ahold of some bad brew like the Fire Rod his old man used to swig by the jug full. That stuff made Pap see crazier things than a boy that wasn’t there.

The spitting image of Tom laughed again. “Uncle Huck?” 

Uncle?

Huck shook his head to clear it. By God, he’d swear off whiskey forever if it brought on these strange imaginings, and it had to be his imagination. Huck Finn weren’t nobody’s uncle.

~~~

E.E. Burke is a bestselling author of emotionally powerful historical and contemporary romances that combine her unique blend of wit and warmth. Her books have been nominated for numerous national and regional awards, including Booksellers' Best, National Readers' Choice and Kindle Best Book. She was also a finalist in the RWA's prestigious Golden Heart® contest. Over the years, she’s been a disc jockey, a journalist and an advertising executive, before finally getting around to living the dream--writing stories readers can get lost in.

Follow E.E. Burke: 

www.facebook.com/AuthorEEBurke

www.twitter.com/author_eeburke

www.goodreads.com/EEBurke

https://www.bookbub.com/authors/e-e-burke

Where did you get the idea for this story?

Mark Twain’s adventures about the boy, Huckleberry Finn, made me wonder what kind of man Huck would’ve grown up to be. I know others have written books that feature this character and interpreted his adulthood in other ways, but this is the story that Huck gave me when I asked him what happened to him after he “set out for the Territory.”

How did you decide what occupation Huck would have as an adult?

It didn’t seem a far stretch to imagine Huck growing up to be a steamboat pilot. He was most at home on the river and had the temperament and intelligence to learn this challenging job. Of course, I couldn’t write a book about Huck being a steamboat pilot without referring to Twain’s Life On The Mississippi, which is largely based on his own apprenticeship as a riverboat pilot. But the books that really fed my imagination were the diaries of Missouri River pilots.

Why put the story on the Missouri River rather than the Mississippi – the original setting?

In Taming Huck Finn, as in Twain’s original book, the river itself is a character. In this case, it’s Missouri River rather than the Mississippi. In the 1870s, the Upper Missouri River formed a natural boundary between civilization and the frontier. What better place for a riverboat pilot who wants to stay one step ahead of civilization? 

The Missouri River of today is nothing like what it was at the time of Huck’s story. Before being dredged and tamed by the Army Corps of Engineers in the early twentieth century, the Big Muddy was a wide, wild, unpredictable river. I have a map that shows where steamboats sank along the old path of the river, and it is littered with wrecks. It was a dangerous job to take a steamboat on the Missouri River, and especially the upper river where it was shallower and rocky and prone to flooding. Just the kind of challenge Huck Finn would relish.

When we meet 30-year-old Huck, the era of the steamboat is slowly giving way to the railroad as a young country pushes westward. Huck sees himself and the old boats as relics of a past that is quickly fading. He’s struggling to figure out how he fits into this new world that is catching up with him. Does he keep running? Or does he risk his freedom to have the one thing that’s eluded him all these years?

You’ll have to read the book to find out.

I'm holding a raffle for two ARC copies of Taming Huck Finn - one print and one ebook. Enter the raffle below and don't forget to comment.

Are you a fan of Mark Twain's original adventures? 

How would you imagine his characters grown up?

a Rafflecopter giveaway