Hosted by An Island Life

From An Island Life:
In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So I thought that on Fridays I would take it easy on posting, too. Therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response.
If you’d like to participate, visit An Island Life answer the question and then post your own question on your blog and leave your link below. Don’t forget to visit the other participants! It’s a great way to make new bloggy friends!

When I first created my blog , I had no idea what I was doing, plus it was supposed to be a private journal for me as to keep a record of the books I had read with a small review so that I would remember what it was about and what I thought. And then I went “public” with it. Looking back, and if I knew then what I know now, I would have named it something different. So my question for you today is:

Are you happy with the name of your blog?
If not, what would you have like to have called it?.

We all need laughter and humor in our lives and Nicole, from Tribute Books, is stopping by today with just that type of author.  So please welcome Mark Saunders to the CMash blog!!

ABOUT MARK SAUNDERS

An award-winning playwright, screenwriter, and cartoonist, Mark Saunders tried standup comedy to get over shyness and failed spectacularly at it — the standup part, not the shyness. He once owned a Yugo and still can’t remember why. Nearly 30 of his plays have been staged, from California to New York – with several stops in-between – and two plays have been published.

With three scripts optioned, his screenplays, all comedies, have attracted awards but seem to be allergic to money. Back in his drawing days, more than 500 of his cartoons appeared nationally in publications as diverse as Writer’s Digest, The Twilight Zone Magazine, and The Saturday Evening Post.

As a freelancer, he also wrote gags for the popular comic strip “Frank and Ernest,” as well as jokes for professional comedians, including Jay Leno. Nobody Knows the Spanish I Speak is his first book.
Mark Saunders’ web site
Tribute Books Blog Tours Facebook
Nobody Knows the Spanish I Speak blog tour site

GUEST POST

Some cultures record their history by cataclysmic events: the year of the big fire or flood, the day the great earthquake or tornado struck. My history is recorded by my stomach. In conversations with my wife and friends, it’s not unusual for me to interject a comment such as, “Oh, I remember now, dear, that was the time we were in San Francisco and I took my first bite of monkfish in lobster sauce.”

With such habits, it should come as no surprise that what I miss most about no longer living in Portland, Oregon, is Dungeness crab. I currently reside in the middle of Mexico, six thousand feet up in the mountains and three thousand miles from the nearest Oregon crab pot.

These days, when December rolls around, generally considered the official start of the Dungeness crab season, I am depressed. For me, there’s nothing quite as simple or as bountiful as a meal of fresh, sweet, and meaty Oregon Dungeness crab, a loaf of sourdough French bread, and a green salad, all complemented by an inexpensive bottle of wine from Trader Joe’s. Now that is a meal.

Unfortunately, for me, those days and meals are gone. I’m not complaining, mind you, I’m just describing.

It goes without saying, of course—which is why I’m going to say it—I also miss the friends we left back in Portland, even though we find no shortage of new friends here in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, a convivial tourist town known for its fiestas.

I miss certain urban conveniences. Portland, for example, believes so thoroughly in public transportation that they let you ride for free in certain areas. It has, perhaps, the best used bookstore in all of America, along with well-stacked and oft-frequented libraries. I like and miss the fact that Portland is almost equidistant, slightly over an hour each way by car, from either the ocean or the mountains.  I miss the clean air that floats through Portland because it is, at times, so fresh it could serve as a role model for retail air fresheners. I certainly miss the variety of lush parks full of gorgeous trees and vibrant shrubs, as well as the breathtaking sweep of the Cascades, with at least two volcanoes in easy view.

However, I do not miss the damp weather or gloomy skies or traffic or pace or the high cost of living of Portland. I’ve replaced all of those things with what I consider to be a kinder-gentler way. My new life in old Mexico is full of dry-blue skies and a sun at my back. I walk everywhere and everywhere I walk I see brightly-colored houses, like field color paintings, that make me smile.

Oregon, it’s been said, is like Ireland: All green and no gold. But if you ask me, there’s plenty of gold in Oregon, and it’s usually panned in crabbing nets during winter.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Ay, chihuahua! Ay, caramba! Oy vey!

In early December 2005, Mark Saunders and his wife, along with their dog and cat, packed up their 21st century jalopy, a black Audi Quattro with a luggage carrier on top, and left Portland, Oregon, for San Miguel de Allende, three thousand miles away in the middle of Mexico, where they knew no one and could barely speak the language.

Things fell apart almost from the beginning. The house they rented was as cold as a restaurant’s freezer. Their furniture took longer than expected to arrive. They couldn’t even get copies of their house keys made. They unintentionally filled their house with smoke and just as unintentionally knocked out the power to their entire neighborhood. In other words, they were clueless. This is their story.

DISCLAIMER
No items that I receive
are ever sold…they are kept by me,
or given to family and/or friends.

http://btt2.wordpress.com

This week’s question:
A while ago, I interviewed my readers for a change, and my final question was, “What question have I NOT asked at BTT that you’d love me to ask?” I got some great responses and will be picking out some of the questions from time to time to ask the rest of you. Like now.
Ted asks:
Which non-series book would you most like to read the sequel to? Do you have any wishes for what might happen in it?

My answer:
Ironically, I just finished a book the other day, The Ninth Step by Barbara Taylor Sissel, in which I stated in my review that I hoped that there would be a  sequel.  There are others, but that came instantly to mind since I just finished it.

I enjoy reading novels that have strong character relationship dynamics that explore the psychological and emotional aspects with and between characters.   The type of read where you feel either you can truly relate or would like to form a “friendship” with the people on the pages that are brought to life.  Any novel, such as those, I always wish there would be a sequel to follow their lives.  Authors like Michael Baron, Diane Chamberlain, Kristin Hannah, Melissa Foster, Nancy Thayer, just to name a few,   have created wonderful characters and story lines that  I have enjoyed and wish there were sequels to some of their books.

What about you?  Do you have a particular book you would like to see a sequel to?

………of LITTLE GIRL GONE by Drusilla Campbell

16 Beth Shepherd Leave a Blog Post Comment……yes  thank you

29 Andrea Henry “Like” the Blog Post

15 pamela james Follow @CherylMash on Twitter

An email has been sent to the winners and they have 48 hours to respond with their mailing address or another winner will be chosen.  Thank you to all that entered.

Hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

Hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
*Grab your current read
*Open to a random page
*Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
*BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
*Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

He glanced at the girl again, standing there relaxed.   She wasn’t afraid because she was in on it, she was the bait.  But how’d they know he’d go after the thieves on the motorcycle?.

Kindle  16%

Synopsis:
 Rome:
McCabe and Chip, two American exchange students, are about to become embroiled with a violent street gang, a beautiful Italian girl, and a flawed kidnapping plan.
Detroit:
Sharon Vanelli’s affair with Joey Palermo, a Mafia enforcer, is about to be discovered by her husband, Ray, a secret service agent.
Brilliantly plotted and shot through with wry humor, ALL HE SAW WAS THE GIRL sees these two narratives collide in the backstreets of Italy’s oldest city.

This book will be on tour with Partners In Crime Tours from May 15th (publication date) through July.  Any one that would be interested in reviewing this novel, contact me at CMash@Partnersincrimetours.net for more details.

Today, Melissa from Simon & Schuster, has given me the distinct honor to host as my guests today New York Times Best Selling Authors, W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O’Neal Gear.   Please help me give them a warm welcome to the CMash blog.

ABOUT W. MICHAEL GEAR and KATHLEEN O’NEAL GEAR

W. MICHAEL GEAR and KATHLEEN O’NEAL GEAR are the New York Times bestselling authors of Coming of the Stormand Fire the Sky, the previous books in the Contact series, and more than thirty international bestsellers that have been translated into twenty-eight languages. Their novel People of the Raven won the Golden Spur Award. In addition to writing both fiction and nonfiction together and separately, the Gears operate an anthropological research company, Wind River Archeological Consultants, and raise buffalo on their ranch in Wyoming.

W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O’Neal Gear welcomevisitors to their website. 

ABOUT THE BOOK

New York Times bestselling authors W. Michael and Kathleen O’Neal Gear richly portray a clash of cultures and a native peoples’ struggle to protect their world in the eagerly awaited third installment of the Contact: Battle for America series, A SEARING WIND (Gallery Books; March 6, 2012; $26.00).  Set against the tragic war sparked by Hernando de Soto’s brutal invasion of the American South, A SEARING WIND heightens the historical action in this series hailed as “magnificent” (Douglas Preston) and “exciting, skillfully crafted, and fast-paced” (Publishers Weekly).

Black Shell is an exile, banished by his people for his cowardice in battle. To his fearsome patron spirit, Horned Serpent, however, he is imbued with the courage and keenness to stop the Kristiano onslaught. He and his beautiful wife, Pearl Hand, have fought them from the Florida Peninsula through the very heart of native America. A trader by profession, Black Shell now dedicates his soul to destroying the invaders, with their impenetrable armor, their swift cabayos, and their flashing, razorsharp swords.

Black Shell and Pearl Hand have seen the shackled, naked, starving slaves, heard the broken promises—and learned de Soto’s plans. While the battle of Mabila cost many Kristianos life and limb, the marauder does not retreat. Now he heads for Chicaza and the people from which Black Shell was once exiled.

Wounded and pursued by memories and visions, Black Shell is obsessed with setting the perfect trap. To do so, he must use the Chicaza and their stockpiles of food and supplies. And he must gamble everything on his people’s pride, traditions, and failings. As winter sets in, new dangers abound—that of a family’s shame, a woman’s anger, and a betrayal that may force Black Shell to forfeit his last chance to save their world from utter destruction. But, worst of all, he and Pearl Hand must walk boldly into de Soto’s camp and engage the cunning monster in a desperate game of wits that will decide the fate of a continent.  Powerful and pulsing with authenticity, A SEARING WIND is an unforgettable tale of humanity and cruelty, passion and ignorance—and of historical events burned into America’s history and soul.

THANKS TO MELISSA FROM SIMON & SCHUSTER,
I HAVE 2 SETS OF THIS TRILOGY TO GIVE AWAY.

CLICK HERE TO BRING YOU TO
THE GIVEAWAY ENTRY PAGE.

*USE THE RAFFLECOPTER FORM BELOW
IN ORDER TO BE INCLUDED IN THE GIVEAWAY*
BE SURE TO INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL

ADDRESS IN THE RAFFLECOPTER FORM
SO THAT I CAN CONTACT YOU IF YOU WIN
*LEAVE COMMENT: FROM READING THE SYNOPSIS,
WHAT MAKES YOU WANT TO READ THIS TRIOLOGY?*

*U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY*
*NO P.O. BOXES*

**HONOR SYSTEM**
ONE WINNING BOOK PER HOUSEHOLD
PLEASE NOTIFY ME IF YOU HAVE
WON THIS BOOK FROM ANOTHER
SITE, SO THAT SOMEONE ELSE MAY
HAVE THE CHANCE TO WIN
AND READ THIS BOOK.
THANK YOU.

Continue reading “GIVEAWAY ENTRY PAGE “A SEARING WIND” ENDED“ →