Different and Dangerous

       Eddy Turner and his best friend Scott, both with ESP talents, are planning a fun weekend at a family reunion in the Big Thicket area of East Texas. Scott's reoccurring visions of a hangman's noose is a threat Eddy wants to avoid thinking about.  Is the noose a warning for Scott or for him. Or is it for someone else? When will they know?  When will the axe fall?
       The pickup is loaded with food, camping gear, clothes, and fishing gear, but illness and storms of weather and emotion have a way of disrupting their best laid plans.
       Can a man who feels he must die be saved? Will a story heard years ago, an almost forgotten story, be the key to reaching a tormented, harassed individual? Will help come in time to prevent the faces and voices from pushing the victim over the edge and into death? by Galand Nuchols holds the answer.
Different and Dangerous

Play The Cards You Are Dealt

        Play The Cards You Are Dealt by Galand Nuchols is the author's tiny step into the world of science fiction, or is ESP really a well hidden fact and not science fiction at all? Eddy Turner is an empath, feeling others' emotions offear, joy, curiosity, pain, etc. Dealing with the constant stimulus of emotional fallout from
people surrounding him daily is difficult.
       Eddy's stepfather is  physically and emotionally abusive to both Eddy and his mother. Their secret plans to escape the man are interrupted when Eddy's second ESP talent makes itself known. Friends of Eddy's blood father are called.  With their help, Eddy and his mother begin a new life in a secret compound where talents are protected and trained to use their special gifts.
       Can Eddy's anger and distrust of people be overcome by these new people in his life? Will he ever have real friends like normal boys his age? When he protests that life isn't fair, he is given the advice he must play the cards he is dealt.

     George Will's Article in the Longview News- Journal - Thursday July 6, 2017 titled The sequence to success should be a wake-up call to all our high school and college students.  The article is long and has a number of references to prestigious research institutions that indicate there is a pattern connected to reaching that goal of "Success".
   How do today's adults define success?  According to Will's article today's young adults define success as - insurance against poverty. And the recipe or sequence to the success pattern according to information from the Brookings Institution is:

•        First get at least a high school diploma

•        Then get a job. 

•         Then get married

•         Only then have children                     

    The above steps should be taken in that order. The formula is not a sure thing, however. Yet Wills quotes Wang and Wilcox research of couples ages 28 to 34 and found that "only 3 per cent of those who followed this sequence are poor." That means 97 percent were experiencing 'success.' I'll take those odds any day of the week.
      I keep remembering what someone told me years ago.  "The choices you make today affect the rest of your life."  George Will's article, "The Sequence to success," is well worth your time to dig out and read top to bottom.

Hurray For Our Young People

Twice in two weeks I have been privileged to discover young people out working along side our streets and on our school grounds. Three cheers for the kids and their sponsors!!!

Last week I passed a group from St. Michael's picking up trash along Florey and Choctaw Streets. I asked if I could take a picture of them and they agreed. Today I drove past P.E. Wallace School and saw a bunch of kids planting trees.  I had to stop, ask questions and take pictures.  I learned the group went to the Houston Zoo in April as part of an Earth Day Program.  Center Point Energy then gave them over one hundred Bottle Brush and Crape Myrtael trees to plant. I lucked out and caught the students in the act of finishing their planting on the school grounds along Choctaw Street.

I can image these same students twenty or thirty years from now stopping by Mt. Pleasant and pointing out the school they attended in 5th and 6th grade and showing them the very tree they planted May 5, 2017. They may also remember the crazy old lady that stopped to take their picture.

 

From Now On

       Ms. Royal has won me as a convert with her novel From Now On. 
Told in first person, Ms. Royal popped me, the reader, into a future time where I met groups of people living a way of life normally thought of as that lived in the Middle Ages. Knights, squires, castles, romance, and dungeons are all a part of this adventure. A secret few have control of time travel and have plans of their own for Manx Island, the site of this unusual tale.
      Erin is a strong, stubborn, woman determined to rescue Griffin, the man she loves, from the dungeon of a man trying to take over the island.
      I measure most of my science fiction books against Elizabeth Moon's novels.  This author is very close to Miss Moon's work.
      A phrase from Ms. Royal's novel captured my attention and I want to share it. 
"A new day begins, and it is one fresh with endless possibilities. Like a blank canvas it beckons, luring me to seize it with both hands and make it into something worthwhile, something memorable."
       The twist, turns, and ending of this novel make it a book I can heartily recommend to all readers looking for adventure via the printed page.

Life With Lily

     Life With Lily by Suzanne Woods and Mary Ann Kinsinger is a revealing book picturing the every day life of an eight year old girl growing up in an Amish home. While I'm not Amish and have no intention of joining an Amish community, I found that I envied the harmony, and support system in this home and community.
      Not everything was perfect. Lily manages to get into several jams thanks to a friend with interesting ideas and a persuasive tongue. While there is much support between different branches of the family and community, there are some that push their own beliefs onto others causing much discord. How mother and father handle the different crises' is revealing. We English               (everyone not Amish) can learn a lot from these people.
      I highly recommend Life With Lily for girls seven or eight years old through high school.  I also recommend this book for young adults considering marriage and having a family. In this time where stress, road rage, drugs, hate, and lying is becoming the norm, Life With Lily paints a different picture of family life, a better life if we English can adopt some of their attitudes and problem solving skills.
      Life With Lily can be purchased at Amazon   https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Life+with+Lily
There are paper back and Kindle versions available.

Life With Lily

     Life With Lily by Suzanne Woods and Mary Ann Kinsinger is a revealing book picturing the every day life of an eight year old girl growing up in an Amish home. While I'm not Amish and have no intention of joining an Amish community, I found that I envied the harmony, and support system in this home and community.
      Not everything was perfect. Lily manages to get into several jams thanks to a friend with interesting ideas and a persuasive tongue. While there is much support between different branches of the family and community, there are some that push their own beliefs onto others causing much discord. How mother and father handle the different crises' is revealing. We English               (everyone not Amish) can learn a lot from these people.
      I highly recommend Life With Lily for girls seven or eight years old through high school.  I also recommend this book for young adults considering marriage and having a family. In this time where stress, road rage, drugs, hate, and lying is becoming the norm, Life With Lily paints a different picture of family life, a better life if we English can adopt some of their attitudes and problem solving skills.
      Life With Lily can be purchased at Amazon   https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Life+with+Lily
There are paper back and Kindle versions available.

WHEN THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE MOON

Last week, I Skyped with our eight-year-old granddaughter and asked about what book she was reading. She was excited about WHEN THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE MOON by Grace Lin. I checked it out of our library and read it so we could discuss the different scenes and share which ones we liked and disliked.

I thoroughly enjoyed the story of a young girl dissatisfied with her and her parents' poor life and determined to do something about it.  Learning that she must ask The Old Man of the Moon why her village was so ugly and poor, Minli sets out on a journey and meets a dragon, a poor but happy young man, a king, and finally the Old Man of the Moon. She had two very important questions to ask the old man, but learned she could only ask one.  Would she ask a question that might benefit her and her family, or would she ask a questions that would help her friend?

This book is made up of 48 short chapters, each a story within itself dealing with Milin's journey, her parents' fears, and what they all learned about being happy.

I can truly recommend this book for any young girl eight years old or older.  I wish I could sit down with our granddaughter and discuss it chapter by chapter.  I hope parents and grandparents will consider doing this with their granddaughters.  For more information about Grace Lin, the author, check out her web site at www.gracelin.com