Thursday, March 19, 2015

More Than Meets the Eye

Just recently, I purchased the entire DVD collection of one of my staple cartoon shows from my youth, the original Transformers series. Yes, I admit, I was fully around 17 years old when it first aired, but any true geeky person who was alive enough to enjoy the show when it originally aired on TV who claims that they never watched it, or didn't like it, in my opinion, is lying.  I would always get home from school and rush through my chores and whatever homework I had so I could watch it when it came on at 4pm.  I even collected some of the figures, some of which I still have somewhere. But I digress, as that is not the topic of this post.

As I was watching the first disc in the set, and singing along to the opening theme like a total geekwad, it occurred to me that we are all like the Transformers in that there is more to each of us than meets the eye. Think about it. Each one of us has an outer persona that everybody sees, regardless of who we encounter. That persona is what we put forward, our front, so to speak. However, there is always more below the surface that people do NOT see. That is our innermost being, those things we either do not share at all, or share with a select few people. That underlying identity can hide many things, from past trauma, to secret desires, fears, dreams, etc.  What we choose to share from this "hidden" persona depends mainly on who we trust enough not to use that information against us. In my case, it's usually only close friends and family members that I share my inner-being with.

Sometimes, that outer facade cracks, or fails, and what is kept hidden is revealed. Sometimes, this is a good thing, but more often than not, it is not. Take, for example, the leader who puts on an outer facade of fairness, honesty, and integrity. That facade fails to reveal someone who is completely opposite of what was put forward for everyone to see, and he is revealed to be unfair, unjust, completely dishonest, and has no moral integrity at all. What happens then?  Said leader will most likely keep the weaker-minded followers (let's call them the sheep), but lose those who are able to think for themselves and see him for the fraud that he really is. Always keep in mind when dealing with people that there really is MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE.

Sunday, March 8, 2015

And the Winners Are....

Thanks to those who participated in the Faerie Blood/Bone Walker giveaway.  Though it didn't generate as many responses as I thought it might, I still think it got the word out enough to help support Dara and Anna.  Anyway, I will dispense with the babble and get on with the announcement.  Along with the help of my best bud, Raistlin, and my little buddy, Dude, (who each batted a name out of the bowl) the winners were decided as follows:

The winner of the Books/CD bundle is Dria Howlett.
The winner of the digital books is E Susan Baugh.

Dria, I will pass your information on to Anna so the books can be mailed to you this week.
Susan, please leave a comment with your email, so I can pass it on to Anna and make arrangement for payment.

And special thanks to Kat for throwing her hat in the ring to help get the ball rolling. She got copies of the book and CD for her birthday, and is enjoying them. (though she bought the digital copies so her books wouldn't get crinkled.)

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

A Completely Unsolicited Review of "Bone Walker" by Angela Korra'ti


Once again, I was not disappointed by the talents of my friend, when I opened my copy of her latest book, Bone Walker. From the first chapter until the last, it was a never-ending experience full of adventure, intrigue, and suspense. Bone Walker picks up shortly after the events of Faerie Blood, with our two main heroes, Kendis Thompson and Christopher MacSimidh, enjoying an outdoor concert in a Seattle park. With the sudden, and quite unexpected appearance of a somewhat battered unseelie bard, things rapidly get out of hand, and draw our heroes and their friends into a battle of life or death for them and those around them, no thanks to the queen of the unseelie court, and the ghost of an unseelie mage that is out to destroy not just them, but the entire west coast if she can.  The usual mix of elves, kitsune, warders, and non-magic-using humans joined by a family of nogitsune and a dragon child in trying to destroy the bone walker, keep a city from being destroyed, and restore order. To sum it up, Bone Walker is a roller coaster ride for the imagination. Ms. Korra'ti succeeds in holding the reader's attention through a variety of twists and turns and wrapping it all up neatly at the end.  I give Bone Walker five stars, and recommend it to any fan of urban fantasy.

my playlist

This div will be replaced