28/12/2016

FREEBIE ALERT! PREJUDICE MEETS PRIDE BY RACHAEL ANDERSON

featured freebie


Don't miss this fabulous freebie! Grab your copy of Prejudice Meets Pride by Rachael Anderson 

today!!!   

prejudice-meets-pride

  Prejudice Meets Pride by Rachael Anderson 

After years of pinching pennies and struggling to get through art school, Emma Makie’s hard work finally pays off with the offer of a dream job. But when tragedy strikes, she has no choice but to make a cross-country move to Colorado Springs to take temporary custody of her two nieces. She has no money, no job prospects, and no idea how to be a mother to two little girls, but she isn’t about to let that stop her. Nor is she about to accept the help of Kevin Grantham, her handsome neighbor, who seems to think she’s incapable of doing anything on her own. Prejudice Meets Pride is the story of a guy who thinks he has it all figured out and a girl who isn't afraid to show him that he doesn't. It’s about learning what it means to trust, figuring out how to give and to take, and realizing that not everyone gets to pick the person they fall in love with. Sometimes, love picks them.


amazon
   

26/12/2016

HOW TO LEARN SPEED READING

Today the Internet provides people with tons of useful and interesting information. There is no need to go to the library or pay enormous sums of money in order to read desired book or article. It is possible to find great amounts of information in the vastness of the Internet. Thus, it is extremely important for modern people to read more information and apply useful reading techniques that can improve person’s reading skills. Here are some tips that can be beneficial for readers:

24/12/2016

A MOTIF OF SEASON BY EDWARD GLOVER - READ THE PROLOGUE & WIN A COPY

Happy holidays, everyone! Today I've got a great bookish gift for you: the chance to win a very good historical novel,  A Motif of Season by Edward Glover, and the possibility to read its catching prologue.  If you liked Birdsong or Parade's End (either the novels or theirTV adaptations)  or The Crimson Field, you'll love this book! 

The novel is part of a saga but can be read as a stand alone book. Set in the latter half of the 19th century, Motif of Seasons tells the stories of two powerful European families – the von Deppes in Germany and theWhitfields in England – still locked in an ancient rivalry, triggered by an ancestral union. The unexpected marriage in 1766 between the beautiful, capricious and musically accomplished young Arabella Whitfield and the older Prussian military officer Count Carl Manfred von Deppe has left a legacy of distrust and prejudice.

Against the backdrop of a widening and destructive gulf between England and Germany, Motif of Seasons follows three women – Victoria Elise von Böhm, Alice Bartlett and Arabella von Eisenwald – kindred spirits of the feisty Arabella, who share her musical talent and her passion for life. The three women find love, uncover family secrets locked away in an 18th-century music book and define their individuality in a patriarchal landscape of social straitjackets and dictated norms. But the past proves a formidable opponent.

22/12/2016

16 FABULOUS OUTDOOR CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS


After yesterday's simple DIY gifts, today we have a set beautiful ideas to make your Christmas special! Christmas is a time of family, celebration and, of course, decoration. Yet how do you decorate the outdoor of your house in a way that is fun, stylish and Christmassy without covering your house in garish and tacky Christmas lights. This guide is to provide you with some inspiration to help you decorate the front of your house in a way that complements your personal style and shows that you're taking part in the festivities. Some of these ideas suite those looking for elegance in their Christmas decorations while others are more quirky and fun.

21/12/2016

EASY DIY CHRISTMAS GIFTS


Hello, everyone, and happy Christmas season! I'm not on holiday yet and busy, busy, busy with the end of term at school. So, finding the time to go shopping to look for the right gifts for all my dear and friends has been quite a problem so far. As usual, these last days before Christmas will be crucial and ... stressing. Do you find yourself in the same situation? What about some good DIY ideas? Have a look at these ones. They are easy and lovely!

05/12/2016

SPOTLIGHT ON ... SILENCE INTERRUPTED BY SANIA SHAIKH

About the book

Two months before Troye Saavedra’s senior year of high school, his father’s drinking problem skyrockets. When Troye’s parents make an impulsive move to Georgia in order to “help” him finish high school on a positive note, he is forced to leave behind everything he knows. Things couldn’t get worse for Troye. That is, until he meets three enigmatic teenagers: Adelaide, an independent violinist with radical ideas; Zaidan, fiercely loyal and always funny; and Arabella, a girl who harbors secret struggles. Together, the four friends try to pick up the jagged pieces of their lives without getting hurt themselves. An insightful tale of perseverance, Silence Interrupted is a young adult novel about the beauty and peril of traversing the world as a teenager.

Buy the Book:  Amazon


Author's Bio

Sania Shaikh is a junior at Cambridge High School. Inspired to write from a young age, she worked on Silence Interrupted, her debut novel, starting in eighth grade.

Connect with the author: Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook

23/11/2016

BOOK UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT - EDWARD GLOVER, A MOTIF OF SEASON

“Reading them for the first time, Victoria was struck by the written words: I will do what people want but only as I want it to be. They summarised pithily her own approach to life.”

Motif of Seasons: The Story

Overshadowing the social games and vindictive gossip of the European elite, a dark and threatening cloud steadily draws across Europe. On 28th June 1914 an Austro-Hungarian archduke is assassinated and the mounting tension finally snaps. War is declared and the lives of two families will be changed forever.

Set in the latter half of the 19th century, Motif of Seasons tells the stories of two powerful European families – the von Deppes in Germany and theWhitfields in England – still locked in an ancient rivalry, triggered by an ancestral union. The unexpected marriage in 1766 between the beautiful, capricious and musically accomplished young Arabella Whitfield and the older Prussian military officer Count Carl Manfred von Deppe has left a legacy of distrust and prejudice.

Against the backdrop of a widening and destructive gulf between England and Germany, Motif of Seasons follows three women – Victoria Elise von Böhm, Alice Bartlett and Arabella von Eisenwald – kindred spirits of the feisty Arabella, who share her musical talent and her passion for life. The three women find love, uncover family secrets locked away in an 18th-century music book and define their individuality in a patriarchal landscape of social straitjackets and dictated norms. But the past proves a formidable opponent.

With tales of hidden illegitimate children, sensual affairs and young soldiers braving the horrors of First World War battlefields, Motif of Seasons is an adventurous, gripping and touching epic about family, love and social freedom.

22/11/2016

DREAMING SOPHIA BLOG TOUR - AUTHOR GUEST POST & GIVEAWAY


Sophia Loren once said: Credo in sogni, sogni diventano realtà—I believe in dreams, dreams become reality. This idea resonates with me, and it is one of the themes of my new book “Dreaming Sophia”. It is a novel about Italy and weaves together many strands of Italian culture in a mixture of fantasy, romance, art, and history. “Dreaming Sophia” is also about turning fantasy and whimsy into tangible realities. I have always believed if you can dream it you can do it!

07/11/2016

LOREENA'S GIFT BLOG TOUR - AUTHOR COLLEEN M. STORY: 3 THINGS YOU CAN'T TEACH ABOUT WRITING


A BLIND GIRL'S TERRIFYING "GIFT" ALLOWS HER TO REGAIN HER EYESIGHT--BUT ONLY AS SHE FERRIES THE RECENTLY DECEASED INTO THE AFTERLIFE.

Loreena Picket thinks she knows herself. A blind young woman who lives with her uncle, a reverend at a small-town church, she's a dutiful niece and talented pianist for the congregation.

But they're both hiding a terrible secret. Loreena can kill people with the touch of her hand.

While her uncle sees her as an angel of mercy, helping usher the terminally ill members of his flock into the afterlife, Loreena has her doubts.

Torn between doing her uncle's bidding and the allure of the fleeting moments when her eyesight returns on the journey to the other side, Loreena cooperates with her uncle until her troubled older brother returns to town. When she reveals her power by saving him from a local drug dealer, she is drawn into a sinister and dangerous world that will test the true nature of her talent and force her to consider how far she is willing to go to survive.

An exciting debut that crosses fantasy and literary fiction, Loreena's Gift is a thought-provoking meditation on life and death and what ultimately lies beyond this world.

* Loreena’s Gift was recently named 1st place fiction in the 2016 Idaho Author Awards *


Buy the Book:  Amazon  ~  Barnes & Noble  ~  Book Depository  ~  Chapters Indigo

06/11/2016

BOOK UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT: JACK WILD, IT'S A DODGER'S LIFE. INTERVIEW WITH CLAIRE HARDING-WILD.


The book


The book under the spotlight today is an autobiography coming out 10 years after the death of its protagonist, actor Jack Wild, whom many of us still remember for his unforgettable role as Dodger in Oliver! at age 15. It is not a sad and depressing memoir, but,  on the contrary, is the lively recount of a man who deeply loved life and acting. 

Many thanks to Ms Claire Harding Wild for finding the time to answer my questions about her beloved husband and about the book she completed. 

Propelled to stardom at the age of 15, until his tragic death from cancer at the age of 53, this is the story of actor Jack Wild, in his own words - published for the first time.
Jack was just an ordinary young boy, whose talent was spotted by chance by a theatrical agent, and propelled onto the world stage through his performance in the 1968 film musical Oliver! It brought him an Oscar nomination and international stardom.
As his fame grew, Jack also began to battle with alcoholism, which eventually dominated most accounts of his life. After the glittery highs of the 60’s and 70’s came the “lost decade” of the 80’s; the lows of debts and sectioning under the Mental Health Act. The real story of this is here, in Jack’s own words.
But this isn’t a memoir of pity and darkness. Jack loved life, and loved his life. In the 90’s, and fully sober, Jack returned to the screen in films such as Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves. Even in the face of the tragic diagnosis of mouth cancer which eventually killed him, he remained resolutely optimistic about life.
His story contains vivid behind the scenes accounts of many great names he worked with, from British favourites such as Diana Dors and Ron Moody to international stars like Bing Crosby and Kevin Costner.
Completed by Jack's widow Claire, the book is in Jack’s unique narrative voice with honesty, roguish charm and a breath-taking lack of self-pity.

31/10/2016

THE BREEDLING AND THE CITY IN THE GARDEN BLOG TOUR - INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR KIMBERLEE ANN BASTIAN & GIVEAWAY

About the Book

Absolute obedience, servitude, neutrality.
These were the laws that once governed Bartholomew, an immortal soulcatcher, until one ill-fated night when he was forced to make a choice: rebel against his masters or reveal an ancient, dangerous secret.

He chose defiance.

Imprisoned for centuries as punishment for his decision, Bartholomew wastes away—until he creates an opportunity to escape. By a stroke of chance, Bartholomew finds himself in the human world and soon learns that breaking his bonds does not come without a price. Cut off from the grace that once ruled him, he must discover a new magic in 1930s Chicago.

Armed with only a cryptic message to give him direction, Bartholomew desperately tries to resume the mission he had started so long ago. Relying on the unlikely guidance of the streetwise orphan Charlie Reese, Bartholomew must navigate the depressed streets of the City in the Garden. But in order to solve this riddle, he must first discover if choice and fate are one in the same.


MY INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR KIMBERLEEE ANN BASTIAN

Hello and welcome, Kimberlee! Let’s start with my first question. THE BREEDLING AND THE CITY IN THE GARDEN is the first instalment of your Element Odysseys saga. What are the main features/themes in your series?

The main features in the series are the historical setting and elements I use to surround my fictitional characters. It was important to me to create a historical fantasy that is set apart from those traditionally thought of, especially those in Europe. Setting it in America during the Depression Era gave me the leeway to use a melting-pot of beliefs, folklore, and myths to create an unique world building mythology, as well as provide a setting that would cater to the plausibility that supernatural elements intereacted with the “real” world. 

Two of the biggest themes of the series deal with the notions of free-will verses destiny, and the honor of keeping ones word.

When and How did your fascination with mythology start?

I was a Disney Kid, through and through, so I have always been facinated by make-believe and fairytales; but I think my love for mythology was fully realized in sixth grade when my class read and studied Homer’s Odyssey.

Time travelling is one of the elements in your saga, especially in this first book.  How difficult is it to write about different time periods, especially past periods. Do you work a lot on research?

03/10/2016

OCTOBER WATCHING, READING, TEACHING, LIVING

1. WATCHING - Don't you love Sunday nights?


Aidan Turner as Ross Poldark

Most people hate Sunday nights since the weekend is over and the idea of starting a new working week is not easy to tackle. But I'm lucky enough to have found not one but two perfect antidotes in the recent weeks and I don't mind sharing them with you. This is how I face the ugly truth: Monday you do not scare me!  I prepare all my lesson plans and do my paperwork in advance, which I usually do at night, so that I can sit as comfortably as I can, turn the TV on and 1) enjoy Poldark's 18th century Cornish adventures on BBC 1 then 2) swoon on Victoria and Albert's 19th century royal romance on ITV +1. The result is I head to bed something like this  ...

... mesmerized! And who cares it'll be Monday in few hours!
Why are these series such safe havens? Too long to explain, but I'm sure you can understand. I am so grateful to UK TV for giving us such great period drama series.

21/09/2016

HAPPY PEACE DAY, DEAR FRIENDS!


Today,  21st September, is the International Day of Peace, also known as Peace Day. It was brought into being by United Nations Resolutions in 1981 and 2001. Each year, hundreds of students take part in a student observance of Peace Day at the United Nations which includes Messengers of Peace

"The people of the world have asked us to shine a light on a future of promise and opportunity. Member States have responded with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development... It is an agenda for people, to end poverty in all its forms. An agenda for the planet, our common home. An agenda for shared prosperity, peace and partnership." stated UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon. 

But is this mere utopia? 

Let's see if unforgettable and undeniable peace makers can  help us find the answer

18/09/2016

BOOKS & MORE BOOKS! A GREAT MUST - READ LIST FROM GUEST BLOGGER STACEY

 Our guest blogger today is young and lovely Stacey Marone. Get to know more about her reading the bio note below this post and following her on twitter. Stacey has prepared a 30 must- read list full of interesting titles and reading tips. What title would you absolute add to her list? How many of these books have you read? Contribute your titles in the comment section,  it would be great to hear from you.  Happy reading, everyone!

     The 30 Books Everyone Should Read in Their Lives

Books are a luxury that can be enjoyed at every stage of your life, and nothing is more enjoyable nor enlightening than  to sit down with a book that gets you thinking, pulls the heartstrings and takes you to a new place. Below is an overview of 30 books that everyone should read at least once in their lifetime - in no particular order.

1. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

It is not enough to simply see the movie. The book is a mixture of humanity and humour and there is a reason why it is one of the most loved and discussed books of our time.

2. A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson

So much more than a science book, Bill Bryson attempts to make sense of the universe and the meaning of the planet. A must read for anyone even remotely interested in what is out there.

3. Maus: A Survivor’s Tale - Art Spiegelman

A clever take on the usual holocaust novels, Maus is a graphic novel (comic) that tells a story of survival in the war by using cats and mice to represent Nazi's and Jews.

12/09/2016

SPOTLIGHT ON ... EVERLASTING LIES BY BARBARA WARREN

About the Book

Edina Paxton is kissed at twelve, seduced at fourteen and married with child at fifteen. She immediately regrets her marriage to Charles Vernon and is relieved when he leaves to fight in the trenches during WW1. She soon finds love, comfort and sexual satisfaction with Bill, another soldier and the boy who first kissed her.

Charles is invalided out of the army and is sent to India on a hospital ship. There, he becomes a manager of a coalmine in Britain’s Indian Empire, with all the privileges that his position rewards, including sexual favours from female employees. At the end of his army service in 1920 he returns to England to collect his family and return to India, only to be greeted with the news that while he was away Edina was at play. She is pregnant.

Reluctantly, Edina and her three children sail for India with Charles and Edina gives birth to her fourth child while sailing south on the Red Sea. On reaching India Charles finds his Indian mistress is pregnant and Edina finds Charles’s Indian boss to be very attractive. It’s a mutual attraction. Neither Edina nor Charles is a saint.

03/09/2016

BOOK BLAST & GIVEAWAY: THE KING OF FRIEND ZONE BY SHERALYN PRATT

King of the Friend Zone The King of the Friend Zone by Sheralyn Pratt

Esme Taylor has an amazing fiancé, a lifelong best friend, and a problem. The problem stems from the fact that her best friend is named Hunter and, well. . .he’s kind of (totally) hot. It’s hate at first sight when her fiancé, Jon, and Hunter meet. Jon’s convinced that Hunter is in love with Esme, and that Hunter must be out of the picture if their upcoming marriage is to succeed. Esme thinks Jon is paranoid. The truth is, Jon’s not that far off. Hunter is in love with his best friend and always has been. What Jon has wrong, however, is that Hunter never had any plans of ruining Esme’s happily ever after. Hunter wants what’s best for Esme, even if that’s not him. When Jon pushes hard to end Esme and Hunter’s friendship, opposition comes from the most unlikely of places. It’s an eccentric lady with a cookie cart who suggests a different solution to Esme’s problem: Hunter and Esme should give each other a chance. They’ve both thought of the possibility over the years—of course they have. But with a ring already on Esme’s finger and a heap of hurt feelings and broken trust in the mix, there hasn’t been a worse time to explore the depths of their feelings for each other. Both Esme and Hunter think it’s time to move on and leave childhood crushes in the past. The question is: Can one woman and the taste of one cookie change their minds?

  amazon

29/08/2016

NEW RELEASE - THE FALL OF LORD DRAYSON BY RACHEL ANDERSON + GIVEAWAY

The Fall of Lord Drayson
The Fall of Lord Drayson by Rachael Anderson 


Who is he really? A high and mighty lord or a lowly servant? When Colin Cavendish, the new earl of Drayson, informs Lucy Beresford that she and her mother need to vacate the house they've called home for the past two years, Lucy is fit to be tied. They have no money, no relations they can turn to for help, and nowhere to go. 

How dare the earl break the promise his father had made to the Beresfords without so much as a twinge of conscience? Fate plays her hand when Lucy discovers the earl unconscious and injured in the middle of the road. When he awakens with no recollection of who he is, Lucy seizes the opportunity to teach the earl a much-needed lesson in humility and tells him that he is nothing more than a mere servant. 

Her servant, in fact. And thus begins the charming tale of a pompous lord and an impetuous young woman, caught together in a web so tangled that it begs the question: Will they ever get out?


26/08/2016

ARE YOU A WRITER? HERE'S TOP BOOKS TO AMP UP YOUR WRITING SKILLS


(by guest blogger Rachel Bartee) If you want to be a successful writer, there’s no room for stagnation. You must continuously learn new stuff and improve your writing skills. Your style and the quality of your content is greatly influenced by how much time you put into your personal development. Every successful writer, no matter the writing genre, got to where he is now by consistently crafting his writing skills through various methods.
As a writer for Edugeeksclub, constantly having to improve myself in order to keep up with the requirements, I’ve figured out many techniques on how to improve myself and my writing.

One of the most efficient ways writers use in order to improve their quality of writing is quite simple. They read. There are so many helpful books that are written with one purpose in mind: educating and training novice writers. They’re extremely specific and they’re offering a lot of useful and on-topic information concerning writing styles, grammar, writing tricks, and so on. In today’s article, we’ll take a look at the top eight books that can take your writing to the next level:

#1 On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser                  


This book is dedicated to everyone who wants to improve their writing. It’s a collection of well-written essays, along with in-depth analytics and explanations. It is not a technical book which offers step-by-step processes!
It offers a lot of great tips and insights, shows you many mistakes that you’re currently doing, and gives you the necessary tools to correct and improve your writing. It’s more about non-fiction writing rather than other genres. If you’re looking for those small details that can do a lot, this is the book for you.

25/08/2016

PERIOD & MORE PERIOD: POLDARK IS BACK - ARE YOU IN FOR SOME MORE CORNISH DELIGHTS AND BITTERSWEET DRAMA?

Autumn usually brings new series and new shows on TV.  Summer is going to end soon, this means we must get ready to some excitement. Are you waiting for anything in particular? Excited for any of the coming-soon shows? 

I'm writing about mine, ok? What about sharing yours in the comments section? Too many question marks here! To the point! 

What about Poldark series two? Isn't that something worth some enthusiasm? After the cliffhanger we were left with at the end of series one, I can't wait? Have you read the books meanwhile? Or re-watched the episodes of the first season? 

Too many question marks again! Time for real news, now. Here is some info from the BBC Press Media Center website. Beware of some spoilers!

Aidan Turner as Ross Poldark and Eleanor Tomlinson as his wife Demelza are back on BBC One this September 4 at 9pm . The debut series peaked with 9.4 million viewers across TV and iPlayer, generating phenomenal media interest and devotion from viewers which culminated in it winning the Radio Times Audience Award at this year’s Baftas.


23/08/2016

BOOKS & MORE BOOKS - 'ME BEFORE YOU' AND 'AFTER YOU' BY JOJO MOYES


Prologue

I did it again. It was around the end of the school year in May. I saw one of my students fully-immersed in the reading of a book during the break and asked: "What is it that you are so eagerly reading?”
Her answer was a big smile and “So beautiful, prof.! You must read it. “ And then she showed me the book cover with the title.
“In English?”
“Yes, it is not out in Italian yet”
“A romance?” I suspected it from the cover and the title.
 Her answer came after a while: “ Not exactly … not only … it’s pretty special”
That  was enough to made me curious. I googled it, saw there was a movie coming soon starring Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin, read the synopsis and … promised myself I was definitely not going to read it! Not another cheesy romance my students loved which was going to make me cry!
But then, while on holiday in Scotland,  I happened  to enter a bookshop with books half-price all over and I came out with not only “Me Before You” but its sequel too! I must be crazy, you say? Must be, since I not only bought those books,  I even read them. Well, worse even: I not only read them but also liked them.
Why did I start this post with "I did it again"? It ‘s not the first time I read books or watch movies recommended by my students and find them not so bad.  Did I say cheesy, somewhere above? Well, it wasn't. It isn't. Aren’t I a lucky teacher? ;-)

22/08/2016

BOOKS UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT


New books under the spotlight, ebooks to be more precise. The latest downloaded in my iPad and added to my TBR list. A book for each of my favourite genres. Number 1 is romance, number 2 historical fiction. 

1. The Full Brontë is a light-hearted novella set around a beautiful Yorkshire manor house which is being used to film the latest version of Jane Eyre. 

Gayle Hargreaves has never read a Brontë novel so, when a film crew descends on her small Yorkshire town and her life is thrown into disarray, she isn’t impressed. 
And she’s even less impressed when the handsome actor playing Mr Rochester starts flirting with her. But she can handle it, can’t she? After all, she just isn’t the sort to fall for a man in period costume... 
Set in the beautiful landscape so beloved of the Brontë sisters, The Full Brontë is a light-hearted novella. 

19/08/2016

READING ITALIAN: FABIO STASSI & ALESSANDRO D'AVENIA

    Fabio Stassi,  La lettrice Scomparsa  (2016)


La Lettrice Scomparsa (The missing reader) is a literary mystery. A book which contains an entire shelf of good books (Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ernest Hemingway, John Fante, Jorge Amado, Luigi Pirandello, Honoré de Balzac, George Simenon among others),  an investigation on fiction and life, a novel wondering how much life and fiction interfere with each other. Can fiction help men and women endure life? Can life, real life, make it to a good book page? Can reading a novel be therapeutic?

Fabio Stassi is a writer I truly appreciate and whom I have already mentioned and reviewed here at FLY HIGH! His latest novels are set in Rome and deal with fragile characters coping with the harshness of reality. They are watched and described through the lens of poetry, music and fiction,  which are Stassi’s solid background.

The protagonist is one of my unlucky colleagues, one who has lost his position after being a temporary teacher in several different schools for years. Now middle-aged and unemployed, Vince Corso has to reinvent himself and to find a way to survive.  Bibliotherapy is the first thing that comes to his mind: as a teacher of literature and a book lover, book counseling is an activity he thinks he can be successful at.

15/08/2016

HAVEN BLOG TOUR - SPOTLIGHT & GIVEAWAY


About the book

Haven (Chronicles of Warshard #1) is the 2nd place winner of World's Best Story!

Princess Haven was never meant to be Queen.

Her immortality has saved her time and time again, but when the last of her royal family dies at her feet, she is next in line to rule a nation on the brink of war. With no formal training on how to be Queen, Haven must rise to the occasion with the help of her best friends, and personal guard, or risk losing everyone she has ever loved.

With war to the West, and no escape to the East, the evil tyrant Kadia sets her sights on the six kingdoms. Haven's neighbors are quick to fall under the swords of Kadia's shadow soldiers, leaving a sea of bodies and a clear path to Haven's only home. Haven must make a choice; take her people and flee to the foreign Republic across the sea or lead a last stand against a powerful dictator.

14/08/2016

SCOTLAND, AT LAST!

Loch Lochy, the Highlands, Scotland

After an exciting experience it is not easy to go back to your everyday life. After a journey, you download, order and archive the pictures you’ve taken and look at your travel notes: all those beautiful moments flew at the speed of light and left you astonished,  with beautiful memories but also the awkward impression that you dreamt and have just woken up. Maybe writing can help you fix them somewhere in a safer place and make them somehow more real.

Scotland, at last!


Eilean Donan Castle 

Scotland is the 3-M land: the land of magic, mist and myth. How could one resist its charms? I simply couldn’t.  Last year, after a very brief visit,  I had to promise myself I would soon go back to see more of it. I did it in July and here I am,  back from an incredible tour,  which has been as magical, misty and mythical as Scotland in my dreams.  In our 10-days’ schedule an unforgettable series of fantastic sites, a variety of wonderful places, which I had the opportunity to visit  in the company of four of my anglophile friends.

One of the themes of our  tour was Outlander, the best-selling saga set in Scotland written by Diana Gabaldon,  as well as its TV adaptation.   We managed to visit a few of the main locations they used in seasons one and two or important sites mentioned in the books.

02/08/2016

RAGE BLOG TOUR - A SPECIAL EXCERPT FROM A GREAT THRILLER


... dark – and darkly humorous – European crime fiction at its best... (Reader Dad Blog)

Rage is a book by Poland’s number one crime writer, Zygmunt Miłoszewski, which has been released just yesterday in English.  It became one of the bestselling books in Polish literary history when it came out last year.

Zygmunt Miłoszewski is the biggest name in Polish crime fiction, his addictive, gritty novels have been compared to the Scandinavian crime masters. The first two novels Prosecutor Szacki series (A Gain of Truth and Entanglement) have been made into films and BBC Radio 4 are currently in the process of dramatizing Grain of Truth for radio. His books have been translated into over 13 different languages. 


Here’s a special excerpt for you,  readers of FLY HIGH! 

Chapter Two


For a while Szacki was lost. He remembered Olsztyn’s Warszawska Avenue as a wide road leading out of town past the university, but it turned out to have an uglier sister—a short extension lined with scruffy little tenements right next to the Old Town. He had to turn left by Jan’s Bridge. The hospital was located opposite something that called itself the “regional beer center.”
He showed the guard his ID and found a parking spot between the buildings. This had once been the German garrison hospital, probably of lesser importance, as the buildings of immortal red brick looked much smaller and more modest than the neo-Gothic blocks of the city hospital. Part of it looked neglected, and part had been renovated, with a modern interior that was nicely integrated with the German architecture. The place had the atmosphere of a building site, arising from the fact that Olsztyn’s university medical faculty had only been up and running for a few years. In a short time a squalid military hospital had been transformed into a clinical marvel. Szacki had been to see Żenia’s mother here last year and had realized that on the whole it had quite a human dimension, compared with the various medical monstrosities he had seen in his career. That had been during a hot spring, when the chestnut trees were flowering among the buildings, and the old brick walls exuded a pleasant chill.