A Wrinkle in Time

T and I finally got to see the new movie version of A Wrinkle in Time this week. Bonus: we were the only two in the theater for a Tuesday morning showing.

I appreciated the way the film updated the Madeleine L’Engle classic, setting it in the present day. I also appreciated the diversity of the casting among the leading roles and the smaller roles/extras. Many of the themes in L’Engle’s book – bullying, the role of science, love of family and friends, the strength of community in overcoming evil – feel fresh and pertinent in contemporary America. Though the story had to be condensed to fit into a movie-length timeframe, the core of L’Engle’s message remained strong.

I loved the vibrancy of the film and the richness of the color palette, especially when visiting other worlds. I also enjoyed the performances, bringing to life L’Engle’s sometimes enigmatic characters. I especially enjoyed Storm Reid’s portrayal of Meg.

I hope that the film will inspire a new generation of young people to read L’Engle’s novel and the rest of the Time Quintet.

The Magician’s Curse – Now Available for Pre-Order!

Linda G. Hill, of the Life in Progress blog, through which she leads One-Liner Wednesdays, Stream of Consciousness Saturdays, Just Jot It January, and other general awesomeness, has a novel that is about to be published. The Magician’s Curse is now available for pre-order. Check it out!

When Herman Anderson leaves home to make a better life for herself, she doesn’t expect to meet a tall, dark stranger with whom she’ll fall hopelessly in love.

Charming and mysterious, Stephen Dagmar is a stage magician seeking an assistant. The moment he sets eyes on Herman, he knows she’s the one. He brings her home to his Victorian mansion where they embark upon an extravagant romance. Yet a shadow hangs over their love. Will the curse on his family end Stephen and Herman’s happily ever after, before it really begins?

Amidst lace and leather, innocence and debauchery, The Magician’s Curse begins the Gothic tale of The Great Dagmaru. Magic and romance await.

Official release date: June 27, 2017! Pre-order your Kindle copy today here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0721ZH2KN
Available soon on Kobo, and on June 27th in paperback on Amazon.

An excerpt from Chapter 2:
The moment Stephen stepped out the door…

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Free Kindle Version of My Chicago novel to celebrate the Windy City’s 179th birthday

Melanie Villines, editor of Silver Birch Press, is making the Kindle version of her novel Windy City Sinners available FREE this weekend. Check it out!

No(vember)

It’s November and my reader and notifications is filling up with posts about participating in 30-day blog posting or novel-writing challenges. (Yes, I know that there are acronyms with lots of syllables and mixed cases invovled, but I’m not in the mood to type them in properly.)

I’m wishing luck to all those participating. Have fun! Write! I’ll try to follow along with as many of you as I can manage.

But I’m not joining in.

Blog posting every day would not be that difficult as an exercise for me. I just don’t want to commit to it in a month where I know I will be continuing to deal with the changing day-to-day demands of dealing with my mother-in-law’s health issues stemming from osteoporosis. (Could I put a few more prepositional phrases in that sentence?) On a happier note, we will also get to have our younger daughter home for Thanksgiving week from her grad school, mostly coinciding with a week’s visit from our older daughter and her spouse from Hawai’i. It will be their first time back since Christmas almost three years ago, when L. proposed. I may be overflowing with news and decide to post when they are here or I may be too busy with visiting and multiple big family dinners. Also this month will be a poetry anthology submission deadline for Binghamton Poetry Project plus a public reading and a Bach and Haydn University Chorus concert with attendant extra rehearsals.

I actually do have an idea for a novel which has been in my head for over five years. I even started it once. But I have made a more recent commitment to pursue poetry. To a poet, fifty thousand words is not one book, but a wall full of books.

Come to think of it, it’s actually somewhat odd that I, who have trouble saying anything briefly in prose, have felt drawn to poetry that concentrates thought into as few words as possible. While there are great epic poets and, more recently, prose poets who use lots and lots of words in their work, I’m not drawn to either of those forms. (You can thank me later.)

So, all you bloggers and novelists – and poets, enjoy your November, whether or not you have chosen to write/post daily. You have a lot of company, either way.