The Chasm by Branwen OShea

 

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They thought the biggest problem they faced was each other.

After Bleu, Rana, and their new friends narrowly prevent war between the star beings and humans, they hope the upcoming negotiation will secure the peace. Newly emerged from their subterranean haven, the Northern Haven humans are clearly not suited to Earth’s ice age, and require assistance from the enlightened star beings to survive long term on the Surface. But Commander Savas doesn’t trust the suspiciously kind star beings and their unexplainable abilities. When both sides reluctantly negotiate a joint mission to find the other Havens, Bleu must somehow cooperate with the manipulative commander to keep his friends safe.

As their team confronts unexpected dangers, Bleu and his teammates begin to suspect the star beings don’t know as much about the Surface as they claimed, while Rana is torn between remaining true to her nonviolent ways or becoming more human to survive. When an unnatural predator attacks, even the nearly all-knowing Kalakanya can’t explain it. Now the team must pull together or their new discovery will pull them apart, limb by limb.

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As the sun descended behind the mountain and darkness crept across the frozen field, a strange dread seeped into Bleu’s bones. It felt like a warning, an alarm that danger lurked nearby.

He had known safety in Rana’s village, and he’d lost the spatial anxiety caused by the wide-open spaces of the Surface that differed so much from the cozy walls and tunnels of home. No, this unease wasn’t spatial anxiety to the openness of the sky and horizon.

This was different, and perhaps a bit similar to what Kahali feared. Bleu had never faced the possibility of other humans with guns. His team sat out in the open, exposed. The meager light from the cooking fire did nothing against the shroud of blackness surrounding them. No safe walls protected them from physical attacks or bullets. And then, there were the unknown predators of the region.

His earlier excitement of finding the footprints evaporated, leaving behind a gnawing awareness of their vulnerability. The darkness beyond the campfire could be punctured any moment by monstrous claws or gunfire. Childhood tales of the evil Undescended crowded his mind with images so ludicrously terrible that he wanted to laugh at himself.

Instead, he checked that they were all armed and sent Savas and Neviah to make sure the helicopters were locked. Animal calls and crunching footsteps drifted down the mountains as if something were encircling them. Even the confident star beings kept glancing out into the night. They should be comfortable in such wilderness, right?

About the Author:

As a young girl, Branwen wanted to become an ambassador for aliens. Since the aliens never hired her, she now writes about them.

Branwen OShea has a Bachelors in Biology from Colgate University, a Bachelors in Psychology, and a Masters in Social Work. She lives in Connecticut with her family and a menagerie of pets, and enjoys hiking, meditating, and star-gazing. Her published works include Silence of the Song Trees, The Calling, The Cords That Bind, and The Chasm.

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Buy The Calling (Book 1) on Amazon
The Cords That Bind (Book 1.1) on Amazon
The Chasm (Book 2) on Amazon

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Around and about all over the world

 A lot of my travels were done before I can properly remember them. I was born in Kingston, NY, but can't recall a thing about that. Possibly my first memories are of California, when my sister was born, but the memories are like small details cut from faded photographs and tell me nothing about California. Then we moved an impossibly long distance across the Pacific to the Samoan islands - and I have rain drenched memories of this place.

 (Julie, my Mom and me on the beach in Samoa)

I learned to talk here, made my first friends here,  and went to my first nursery school. I never wore  shoes. I drank fresh coconut milk, I rode on a  skinny horse that was tethered to a stake. The  horse could only walk in a circle. There were ten  kids on the horse's back, and high up on  the neck, clutching the mane was me, with my  father hanging on to me, walking beside me. I ate  off banana leaves. I had a cat, who was a mighty  hunter. I would go into town with our nanny and  chat with the villagers. I used to speak Samoan.  My sister's first words were Samoan. And then,  just as we were getting settled in, we left.

We got into a propellor plane and flew back across  the Pacific. The plane bounced and juddered across the sky, falling into low pressure areas, dropping like a stone then catching air again, which broke all the dishes in the gallery. My mother spent the entire flight being sick My father clutched Julie. I hung onto the window, looked out at the clouds that I was sure were the North Pole and searched for Santa's workshop. We made a stopover in Hawaii, which I remember because our friends lived there, and I had watermelon for the first time - the most delicious fruit (with the most annoying seeds) I'd even eaten. We didn't stay, though I think I would have loved it there too. We went on to California, where suddenly I had to wear shoes. We were treated to Disneyland, which gave me nightmares for ages - we were greeted at the entrance by the Pirate Captain Hook - I screamed and screamed.  For me, everything was real then. There was no such thing as fiction. Then we moved back to New York, where I had started off nearly six years earlier.

We moved into an old haunted farmhouse near the Sleepy Hollow, where Ichabod Crane had met the headless horseman. It was nearly autumn. Everything was strange to me - the radiators on the walls, the way the leaves turned color and fell off the trees - the chill in the air - but I was looking forward to going to school and to seeing snow for the first time.

So what, my mother sometimes asks me, do you remember about Samoa? I remember the rainy afternoons. The sand that was everywhere. The coconut trees, and watching people climb them. I remember climbing up the flagpole. The festival on the cliffs, the torches at night, the boat rides to other islands, and the constant humidity. I remember the grass skirts for ceremonies, the dances, the songs, the music. I can recall the clothes the natives wore and some of the words they spoke. I remember the twins, and the girls who babysat us. I remember hating our nanny, and running away to hide. I remember Julie in her youpla, her seat with wheels, pushing herself along but refusing to walk. I had a red wagon. I had a swing in the livingroom. I can remember the layout of our house, and how our room had one window on the end wall, and it was narrow and screened in with louvered glass. Samoa is so much a part of me that sometimes I can close my eyes and be back there. I can still see the light, how it looked there, always a bit hazy because of the clouds, and after the rain how crystal-clear the air was. But it's the child's part of me - the part that saw everything for the first time that remembers Samoa. The birds, flowers, jungle, beaches, fish and buildings are unimportant. What I remember most are the faces, the voices, & pulling my red wagon down the sidewalk & thinking that this was utter happiness.

THE RISE OF THE LAST BEAST KINGDOM: The Reason for Capitalism by Anonymous

Blogger's Note:  The author of this book chose to remain anonymous. The views expressed here do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of this blogger.

THE RISE OF THE LAST BEAST KINGDOM: The Reason for Capitalism by the One who loves GOD

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Enslaved by a system of its own creation, humankind desperately seeks to free itself from the Beast. Lacking the knowledge, having refused the truth, all hope is gone…or is it?

Examining our history from creation to the present, this book provides insight as to why we are where we are today. Using the Hebrew Scriptures as its guide, we are taken from the cause of our plight to the ultimate ending. Although the Hebrew Scriptures are used, this is not a book supporting any major religion. There are only a few people in the world today who actually follow and obey the WORD of God – YeHoVaH. Most of the world follows man made religious practices. This book explains how this came about and how the present day systems evolved. This book provides a means for hope for the world, something surely needed now and especially in the coming days.

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Governing System

Having failed to obey our Father, we lost the chance to live with YeHoVaH under the original governing system which YeHoVaH established. We lost the opportunity to live under His governing system in which we were to trust and live with each other in love. Instead, man would set up a governing system, establishing the way we live together. Ultimately mankind would develop governing systems which did not include trusting and obeying our Creator or loving Him above all else or each other. We as His creations instead instituted a system of dominance one over another. This system which requires and is based upon the will of one person dominating that of another is what we established and how we govern ourselves instead of trusting and following the Commandments of YeHoVaH.

With the failure of humankind to trust, acknowledge and obey our Creator, we set up the human governing systems. Failing to obey the Command of YeHoVaH we failed to love each other. After being taken out of the Garden, man began the pattern of interaction which continues to this day and resulted in the formation of the current beast system in which we live. The first human being born after our creation established the pattern which enabled our current system to develop and be put in place.

About the Author:

As a child in elementary school, only attending church on Easter, the author did not feel strange when getting down on their knees and praying to GOD. Entering high school, the pull to understand GOD became greater and greater. A study of various religious books began - the Bible, Islam, eastern religions and thoughts were all examined. After reading the Hebrew Bible and particularly Isaiah 56:7 - “I will bring them to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”

The author determined that the GOD of the Hebrew Bible was in fact GOD. The author then began following the Hebrew traditions.

After earning an undergraduate degree from an Ivy League University and a law degree, the author began a successful law practice, joining the ranks of the millionaire’s club while living in Brentwood, CA near Beverly Hills. Life continued with marriage by a Rabbi and a family - until disaster hit. Business fell apart and bankruptcy left the author with nothing except faith in GOD which continued. A period of moving back and forth across the USA, 6 times in 8 years, finally resulted in settlement in the eastern USA. Upon finally deciding to stay in the east, one last trip was needed to the west by the author. During this trip, GOD brought an understanding to the author which changed everything and led to the writing of this book.

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Big Wild Love Adventure by Julianna Keyes

 

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After being ditched at the altar, Emmy Shaw’s heart, like her dented food truck, is definitely not open for business. Deeply in debt to her parents and evicted from her apartment, she takes a friend’s drunken dare and fills out an application for a new dating-adventure reality show. She never expects to be chosen—or to get a chance at the show’s huge cash prize, which could put her life back on track.

But when she’s abandoned in the middle of the jungle two months later wearing only a bathing suit and a backpack, she questions if being on the show might be even worse than the #emmytrashtruck hate brigade she left back home. Then she meets her fellow cast members—including sexy, inscrutable Wes—and starts to reconsider, wondering if maybe money’s not all she stands to gain from this experience.

After a year of abysmal failures, this summer of cave treks, jungle hikes, impromptu talent shows, and a sexy flirtmance turns out to be just the thing to help Emmy rebuild her shattered confidence. She signed up for the show to hide from the mess her life had become, but this escape from reality might be just what she needs to find herself.

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Night fell while we were getting dressed, and the pool area has been decorated with flaming tiki torches and fairy lights, their glow reflecting on the surface of the water. It’s still hot but there’s a light breeze, and this far out in the jungle, the sky is pitch black and a million stars twinkle. Now that I have a second to breathe, the true enormity of my situation settles on me like a lead blanket. I’m here. I’m doing this.

The men are lined up opposite, dressed in shorts and linen trousers, tees and button-ups, smiling like they’re excited for whatever’s about to happen. It’s cliché, but everyone appears to be here for the right reasons, and I’m not. I’m not looking for love; I’m not ready for it. My humiliating heartbreak was less than a year ago, but I haven’t come close to dealing with it. All I want is to get my business back up and running, and if it means selling my soul for a few episodes of free advertising, then that’s what I’m going to do. There’ll be no “vibing” with anyone. And, to be honest, it’s hard to believe any of those men would vibe with me when I’m standing next to seven women who appear to have come straight from the Victoria’s Secret runway. I have wet hair and flip-flops and bug spray is leaking out of my pores.

All of a sudden, everyone starts to clap. I have no idea why, but I start clapping too, glancing around as I try to find the source of inspiration. Slowly, a grinning man in a bright white shirt and yellow shorts approaches from the field, making eye contact with every single one of us, which takes forever.

“Hello, adventurers!” He speaks with an Australian accent and never stops smiling. We keep clapping. “I’m your host, Kip Kendall. Welcome to the jungle.”

About the Author: Julianna Keyes is a Canadian writer who has lived on both coasts and several places in between. She’s been skydiving, bungee jumping and white water rafting, but nothing thrills—or terrifies—her as much as the blank page. She loves Chinese food, foreign languages, baseball and television, though not necessarily in that order, and writes sizzling stories with strong characters, plenty of conflict, and lots of making up.

When not helping characters fall in love, she sometimes kills them in thrillers and suspense stories written as Elaine Murphy

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Daddies and Daughters Stick Together by Aissatou Balde and Diariatou Sow

 

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Diari doesn’t mind when Mommy goes into the city for work, because she and her little sister, Fatima, get to spend the whole day with Daddy.

From when the moon trades places with the sun until the sun trades places with the moon, daddies and daughters do everything together.

A day with Daddy means cooking, learning, dancing, and playing. After all, Daddy knows that with a little imagination, a sense of fun, and a lot of love, every part of a normal day can feel special!

About the Authors:

Aissatou Balde is the creative director and editor in chief of TalesandTurbans.com, a lifestyle brand sought after by all those looking for an authentic and positive representation of womanhood, motherhood, and family. Aissatou currently lives in Indiana with her husband, Alhassane, and her two daughters, Diari and Fatima.

It’s no surprise that six-year-old Diariatou Sow would become an author at such an early age. Diari is an avid reader, eager learner, and incredibly creative kid who loves learning new languages. When she is not dancing, drawing, playing with her little sister, or writing with her mom, she is hanging out with her dad, which is her favorite thing to do.

Nandi L. Fernandez is an illustrator, concept artist, and animator. While she grew up in Uganda, Zambia, and Liberia, her love for travel, art, and exploring different African cultures was nurtured. Nandi has worked as a concept artist and has illustrated educational materials and various children’s books. She currently resides in the United Kingdom.

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