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Book Review: The Real Bogie & Bacall
While I loved Lauren Bacall's 1978 autobiography, written from her own point of view, to my surprise I found this account of my favorite love story of all time to be much more…
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Shredding It – Sightings in the Wild
I'm starting to see sightings of Shredding It here and there!
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Book Review: Ship of Theseus
The author has not just written a book, he's crafted a transmedia storytelling experience. "Transmedia storytelling" can be defined as 'a technique of telling a story across multiple platforms and formats using current…
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Book Review: The Cure for Women
I'm not sure what I was expecting from this book, but what I got was an extensive reference guide that shed a massive amount of light on the plight of women wishing to…
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Book Review: Death and the Taxman
As a fan of Terry Pratchett's version of Death, I was easily pulled into this story by the blurb's promise of death cheating hijinks and hilarity. And as a former cubicle dweller and…
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Book Review: The Gauntlet Runner
Picking up right where The Dragon Eater left off, J. Scott Coatsworth’s The Gauntlet Runner continues the story of Raven, Aik, Silya, and Spin.
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The True Origins of Irish Coffee
Who invented that delicious, warming, soothing drink called Irish Coffee, and where? For many years, various San Francisco establishments claimed that honor. But the truth is that the true home of Irish Coffee…
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Book Review: My Favorite Season is Spring
I hope children reading this book feel a sense of acceptance and self-worth after spending time with such approachable characters.
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Book Review: Dexter & Sinister: Detecting Agents
Fun True Fact: When looking at a coat of arms, the right side is the Dexter, and the left side is the Sinister. The Dexter side is considered to be more honorable than…
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Fantasy Faire Chat Transcript: The AI-lephant In The Room
There’s no denying that AI is here, probably to stay. How can a writer ethically make use of this technology to get tasks done, and still sleep well at night? My co-host for…
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Book Review: The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies
I noticed other reviewers expected a lighthearted romp, based on the book's cover. This is a fine lesson in NOT judging a book by its cover. Our Ill-Mannered ladies, while quite prim and…
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Writer’s Workshop with Ceejay Writer: Getting Down To It – The Reality of Fiction Writing
This is the transcript of a workshop held in the virtual world of Second Life. About 30 avatars attended. There's lots of chatter and brainstorming going on (as often happens in SL) as…
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Book Review: Noodles, Rice, and Everything Spice
I enjoy learning about cultures beyond my own, and cooking food from other countries to enjoy and share. I've just finished savoring my very first comic cookbook, and what a delight it is!
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Second Life’s Fantasy Faire Literary Festival 2024 Begins
Fantasy Faire is open! Check the Literary Festival calendar for my events, which I will be running as my avatar, Ceejay Writer.
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Break A Spell Contest
Break a spell and share it for a collection of magical short stories and the chance to hear your story read by a voiceover artist!
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Book Review: Spellbreakers
Author August Niehaus launches her new series, "The Library Attic Collection Presents" with Spellbreakers, a collection of a half-dozen stories. This collection reminded me a little of a Tardis, as it's much bigger…
- Action and Adventure, Book Reviews, Coming of Age, Dystopian, Historical Fiction, Realist Fiction, Suspense and Thriller
Book Review: Strawberry Fields
Strawberry Fields by Patrick D. Joyce My rating: 5 of 5 stars In 1968, I was a bookwormish fourteen-year-old whose biggest worry was finishing my math homework. In those insular, pre-internet times in…
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Book Review: The Husbands
I'm a sucker for a good book blurb. I know how hard it can be to write one that's short while also compelling. "Do you take this man? No? What about this one?"…
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Just a Ceejay Girl, in a Barbie World
Today my Second Life avatar, Ceejay Writer, took a vacation from the Real World and visited Barbie Land.
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Book Review: Starter Villain
I dove straight into Starter Villain just after closing the third book in John Scalzi's "The Dispatcher" series. It wasn't too much of a jolt, as the author's voice is so strong in…
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Igniting Your Creative Spark: Strategies to Flourish and Unleash Your Full Potential
In a world where creativity is the currency of innovation and personal fulfillment, finding ways to boost your creative energy is more crucial than ever.
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Book Review: Travel by Bullet (The Dispatcher #3)
While Scalzi always does a great job of coming up with something really unusual for his characters to grapple with, he really outdid himself this time.
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The Making of a Cover: Behind The Magic of The Hencha Queen
Ever wonder what goes into the making of a book cover? J. Scott Coatsworth, author of the Tharassas Cycle, lets us in on the evolution of the amazing cover for The Hencha Queen,…
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Book Review: Playing With a Full Deck
Playing With a Full Deck: Stories of Hope in Hard Times: An Aces High, Jokers Wild Collection by O. E. Tearmann My rating: 5 of 5 stars Now and then, loyal readers of…
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Book Review: Suck a Little Happy Juice
Whether you're a fledgling author or a seasoned one, this book is for you. Even if you've 'gone traditional', you'll get a lot out of this book of advice, written by an author…
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Book Review: The Dispatcher #2, Murder by Other Means
I love how Scalzi created a concept and then explores all its possibilities. I was darkly amused by the entertainment possibilities of experiencing death just for the thrill of it.
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Book Review: Legends & Lattes
Our protagonist, Viv, is an orc who’s grown weary of the fighting life, so she retires to the city of Thune to build a coffee shop. Amusingly, no one in Thune even knows…
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Book Review: The Dispatcher
A big concept in a small story. That ratio is perfect, since we the readers are expected to not only accept an absurd phenomenon, but embrace it. We're not alone though, as the…
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Book Review: Fueling the Appetite: Poetically Speaking
Poetry carries connotations of romance and seduction, and what can be more romantic than indulging a chocoholic with poetry about chocolate… while enjoying chocolate?
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Things To Do With Your Old Coffee Grounds
If you love coffee, most likely you are generating used coffee grounds, and lots of them. Are you tossing them in the trash? Don't! There's plenty of uses for them!
