How many shots does it take to get the perfect picture? Fifty? One hundred?
As many as it takes.
For me, the perfect shot needs no preamble, explanatory caption, or disclaimer. (Attribution-Yes! Every time.)
Time to share. What’s your perfect picture?
Above photo: A.B. Funkhauser 2014
The second instalment in Rachael Stapleton’s sprawling Temple of Indra Series, The Curse of the Purple Delhi Sapphire finds time-traveling erstwhile librarian Sophia Marcil celebrating her engagement to hunky Cullen O’Kelley. Trouble is, her engagement ring contains a centre stone that’s all too familiar—a purple sapphire from a suite of cursed jewels. Once on her finger, the ring takes her from Ireland to Toronto to England and back again. At various times occupying the body of a child, a malevolent teen and a heinous villain, who continues to track her and the jewel from the first book, Sophia is forced to think and act on her feet, with a little romance in between. Colorful and layered, Curse co opts an astonishing cast with shifting time frames and multiple points of view. The villain, nasty as ever, makes a dramatic entrance, spilling blood and driving this reader to wonder if the wretch will finally get what’s coming to him. But first, I had to figure out who he was masquerading as in the present. Plenty of twists, a sprinkle of humor and a whodunnit with a surprising ending, Curse reminds me of great old story telling, but with a fresh and vital voice. Hello again, Miss Stapleton.
A.B. Funkhauser
A page to highlight some open mic performances of things written and writing. My webby skills are
improving. Good Sunday one and all. Stay above it. ABF
WORDS OF THE SEASON, SPONSORED BY THE WRITER’S COMMUNITY OF DURHAM REGION (WCDR), January 20, 2015, Pickering, Ontario, Canada
I love open mic because I tell myself I do…over and over and over again.
Thank god for the company of great friends
and fellow artists like Heather Whaley, Kevin Craig, Mel E. Cober, and Vinita Kinra for doing the same. Their performances at The Bear (A Firkin fine pub) not only inspired timid hearts to take the stand, but set them alight.
We will be back!
Like my fine friend and fellow author, Marissa Campbell, performing in front of a live audience often provokes in me acute symptoms of hammer heart, wherein the body’s most vital organ either moves north into the mouth and stays there until the reading is done, or stands pat and pounds against the rib cage until the vic’s chest size gives way to something bigger.
But yours truly, determined to break the cycle of fear, shall press on. Surrounded by the likes of Charlene Jones, Connie DiPietro-Sparacino, and Mimi Jones-Taylor do I really have a choice? And truth be told, at the core of things, I am a ham.
With support
from The Writer`s Community of Durham Region and good people like Sally Moore and Cryssa Bazos, my performing chops can only grow. Thanks, guys.
Release the Cracken!
**Stay tuned for more open mic news and pics featuring Sherry Loeffler, Maaja Wentz and
Myrna Marcelline. Bests.**
Get ready for the unexpected, goes the popular saying, and here I am, getting it right in the face, like a cold snowball fresh out of my freezer. See Freezer Balls, Festive Logs, and Tobogganing is Dangerous. Not only have I loosed off lines from The Heuer Effect, the second in my series, on Twitter #1lineWed, but I find myself very juiced over getting back to the full MS. Hooray for unexpected inspirations! So here it is @BookEmDonna @CryssaBazos @DaleRLong67 @KriegYvonne @AJH_Ray @CaitJarrod @KyBunnies @AdriennedeWolfe @SilverJames_ @JulieKMulhern @TamraLassiter @iamruthwalker ; The Bigger Tweet from The Heuer Effect:
“The weather, by turns unforgiving in its nastiness, was an unexpected ally. Shoes back on, she crossed with him over a frigid parking lot under the protection of cloud cover. If there was a moon it did not show, and for this she was glad. She had not got naked in front of a man before; not even Jimmy, and the prospect of close physical examination perturbed her. It was cold. So cold. There was also the issue of Heuer’s feet, which were small, and if the popular myths were to be believed, then so too was his dick. She reached for it, grazing the zipper just like she had moments earlier. She could not tell.
“Wait,”’ he laughed. “Wait. Kommen Sie mit mir, und ich werde Ihnen etwas zeigen, dass Sie vorher nicht gesehen haben. – Come with me and I’ll show you world’s you’ve never seen before.”
It was all she could do to keep from swooning. The heat from the dance hall, combined with the lure of the car, which now came into view, drove her out of her mind. The Chevelle, encased in a sheer coat of gossamer faerie ice waited in the darkest corner. Hidden from onlookers by a tall fence and a dumpster, only her keen eyes could spot the emblems – the mighty 454 on the front quarter panels and the SS on the grill – badging so spectacular that even a novice would know she was special.
Heuer opened the door and got in the back seat only to reach forward into the driver’s side where he started the engine. The heating system was pretty good, but it would take some time to kick in and for the moment she wondered if this wasn’t an invitation to flee. In fact it might have been. Vampire legends spoke of free will: if the heroine wanted to go with the monster she must do so willingly. She grinned at him, filing her observation for future savoring.
He offered his hand, and she accepted it, taking her place beside him in the back seat of the mighty Chevelle.”
Thank you @RWAKissofDeath. Thank you #1lineWed
My prolific friend moves faster than he thinks! Congrats, mate!
Someone I looked up to…
Below are seven stories about (or by) Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., exploring different facets of his life and legacy.
King sat down for a series of interviews with the author Alex Haley shortly after he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. They were edited and compiled into one interview that ran in the magazine the next year, which—according to The Daily Beast—was the longest interview King ever gave any publication.
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I have nothing against new ideas. It’s just keeping up and co-opting them that’s challenging. Take for example global warming. Not a new idea. Some even say its an inaccurate one. We’re not getting warmer, we’re just…evolving…into something else…or something. Whatever the case, the only evidence of winter I have seen so far in my Ontario home lives in my freezer. Last year, we got buried under ice. Without heating or lights for a week, we who live together swore that we’d never have another winter as bad as that again. And we haven’t. In fact, we haven’t had a winter at all. Which is why–I suppose–we keep snow balls in the freezer next to the festive log we picked up on sale around holiday time, and can still have at a reduced price. I found more in the throw out bin at the bargain mart. During January Time, old thoughts of fondue and ski shacks have given way to summer vacation dreams. Why not? Seems so close. And yet the youngsters at the local school are packing their bags for a ski trip to Quebec. Personally, I’m beside myself for them. Rumor has it, there’s snow there. Only, snow balls and tobogganing are forbidden because they’re more dangerous than skiing. The lawyers said so. Another idea to digest. I look out at the bright sun and blue sky and surrender my cynicism to the new order. In that spirit, I’m going to take my freezer ball and throw it somewhere safe.
Good Monday. Stay above it. ABF
Up here in Canada, there’s a whole lot of hand wringing going on about income tax splitting schemes in our august house of parliament. Seems some elected officials believe that we shouldn’t get a break because gas prices are falling and Target and Sony are leaving. One hand clapper went so far as to say that income splitting would give “money that you have not actually received yet and our country can’t afford to give you.” I guess so. If the money is pilfered at source and frittered away on a bunch of bollocks. That wouldn’t even make it a tithe; it would mean we’re working for free, which is more than the soon to be unemployed 17,000 at Target can say. Maybe our elected officials know something we don’t? Or maybe they just shop at the other place.
Good Friday. Stay Above It.
ABF
Historical novelist Cryssa Bazos (mentioned here more than once) is an emerging talent on matters Charles II and events surrounding the English Civil War and its aftermath. But what’s history without a little romance? Check this out.
After offering my readers a steady diet of 17th century warfare and nearly impossible escapes, I’ve decided to change things up a bit, and tell a different story—a romantic encounter from my completed manuscript.
Click here to part the veil and slip back in time to 1650 Warwick, England, during the uneasy lull between episodes of civil war. This is an opportunity for a man to prove his mettle and apply himself to the pursuit of his heart’s fancy.
Featured Image: Louise Rayner [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
A. B. Funkhauser, Author 