THE "BEFORE" TRILOGY: THE COMPLETE LOOK OF LOVE

by guest blogger Prima Santika

It’s LOVE in your twenties, and then thirties, and then fourties. From love you can call the first which seems to be grander than life at that time, goes to the one when you think you either doubt or master the term love itself, and finally to the one that prevails when your life [and your body] is no longer pretty. The “BEFORE” trilogy wonderfully explores them all.

What’s called the “BEFORE” trilogy is the three movies entitled BEFORE SUNRISE [1995], BEFORE SUNSET [2004] and BEFORE MIDNIGHT [2013]. These three movies are made possible by three people, the Director Richard Linklater, the Actor Ethan Hawke and the Actress Julie Delpy, who co-write the movies together [except for the first one where Ethan and Julie are only acting]. I don’t really know how they do it technically, but all I can personally say for them is that they must be the best team in making a movie imitation from real life. You will feel connected to these movies. Not to the characters or to the stories, but merely to the conversations, which is a lot! So, if you’re not a big fan of listening to what characters are talking in a movie, then these movies will put you asleep in five minutes, guaranteed. But if you have a keen interest in life [not only, but mostly about, love], then these ones will feed your hunger head and touch your tender heart.

Throughout the trilogy, the movies follow the two main characters, Jesse and Celine. A boy and a girl in the first movie, who become a man and a woman in the last one. That’s exactly what they are as characters, no more and no less, simply male and female. What they do for living doesn’t really matter, and even in their fourty with a son and a twin daughters, they’re not referred to as a husband and a wife. It’s interesting, actually.

AUTHOR'S SPOTLIGHT TOUR: MEET SHERRILL BODINE, AUTHOR OF "WRITTEN IN THE STARS"

Hello Sherrill and welcome to FLY HIGH! I’m glad to talk about your  “Written in the Stars” as well as writing and reading with you. Could  you briefly present yourself to our readers?

Thank you so much for asking me here!  I’m thrilled to talk about Written in the Stars, my 19th book.  After writing three contemporaries for Grand Central Publishing and co-authoring a comic book series (an ongoing project) I loved the change back to a historical period ( I did 6 Regency novels for Fawcett).

Romance and black magic, past and present,  suspence and adventure. “Written in the Stars” promises to be a real  gripping page- turner. Where did you take inspiration for such an intriguing blend?

The subject of Reincarnation has always fascinated me and I loved writing Intrigues for Harlequin so to combine both – plus history into this epic love story was too yummy to resist!

GISBORNE: THE BOOK OF KNIGHTS BY PRUE BATTEN - MY REVIEW & GIVEAWAY

(Book 2 of The Gisborne Saga by Prue Batten)

MY REVIEW

Ysabel is now De Courcey’s widow, Gisborne has been caught, imprisoned  and tortured with the accusation of  killing her husband.  Ysabel knows he is safe now but  why can’t he come back to her and their little son?

Gisborne and her, their love,  just past memories. She’s been left alone with their little boy, William. Gisborne has her helped and protected by loyal Ulric and a bunch of reliable servants. She must hide and move throughout Europe, as Gisborne disposes.  Problem is she is not a woman who easily accepts to be ordered  .

Gisborne has been  far away for long now,  a man of King Richard the Lionheart, who spared his life and trusts him.  She fears she will never see him again and  doesn’t know what her fate is going to be, she fears for her little William’s future,  William of  Gisborne. Will she ever see father and son together again?

The memory of them  together  “plucks at her heart like a troubador’s fingers” and makes her fall in love with Gisborne each time, though her feelings are torn.   

THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: CITY OF BONES . READ-A-LONG + GIVEAWAY. CHAPTER 10 RECAP & MY REACTION TO THE UPCOMING MOVIE

Welcome to Day 10  of The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (*) Read-A-Long hosted by Kayla at Ramblings of a Book Junkie! I'm very excited to be a part of it.  21 days, 23 chapters and a gripping tale to read during August until the official premiere of  The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones the Movie (August 21st).

Chapter 10 Recap - Welcome to the City of Bones!

Clary is in NY Institute where, little by little,  she discovers  he truth about her mother's past and her own identity. 
Hodge, the tutor of the two Lightwood siblings and Jace, reveals that he was a member of the secret group of young shadowhunters called The Circle,  to which Jocelyn, Clary's  mother, belonged too.  Jocelyn was married to Valentine Morgernstern at the time.

Revelation after revelation, Clary is extremely puzzled. She makes up her mind to discover what her mother has tried to hide from her all her life long. She will meet the Silent Brothers, as Jace suggests, and  they will read her mind. Jace and Hodge are sure all the answers are inside Clary's head.

Simon is in the Istitute too, but he is unkindly dismissed by Jace. Isabelle accompanies him to the door. 

Clary is  rather confused and hasn't completely recovered from the demon's poisonous attack.  When Jace wakes her up very early the next morning,  she finds herself in bed, experiencing the strangest dream of herself dancing with Simon first then with Jace. She can't even remember how she got to bed. 

BOOKSHELF TOUR - NEVERMORE, A NOVEL OF LOVE, LOSS & EDGAR ALLAN POE BY DAVID NIALL WILSON

Holes in the Heart of History

guest post by David Niall Wilson

Anyone familiar with my work (and I say this with a smile, because I'm aware that's not as large a group as it ought to be) knows that I love history.  I also have opinions about it, which I've written about before.  I doubt very sincerely that very much of what we know of the events of our past is accurate.  We have history books.  We have journalistic accounts.  We have diaries and biographies and even stories passed through families from generation to generation, but all of them are colored by society, prejudice, and simple error.  None of that is what matters. What matters is that we keep that past alive – that we don't let our history escape us.

I live in a state with one of the longer domestic histories, North Carolina.  When British governors ruled the day, Quakers inhabited this area; plantations grew where forests and fields had stood.  In other words, Americans put down roots.  Thankfully, those roots are deep here.  There are homes dating back to the 1600s.  There are families who have lived here – literally –for centuries.  A lot of the history has been preserved, and there is more out there to be unearthed.  We regularly haunt estate auctions, thrift stores, anywhere something might turn up that has a secret.

THE PARADISE 2: BEHIND THE SCENES PHOTOS

Chronicle Live UK published a gallery of pictures from the set of the Paradise 2. 

SHE WOLVES, HENS AND NIGHT MOTHS: THE PROSTITUTES OF ANCIENT ROME - AUTHOR GUEST POST BY ELISABETH STORRS + GIVEAWAY

What’s in a name? In Rome, there were many different categories of prostitutes, all of whom were known by colourful titles which not onlyidentified their status but also where they plied their trade.

Wall fresco of Roman prostitutes and customers - Pompeii

Prostitution was heavily regulated with a division created between those who were accredited and worked in brothels, and those who were not officially recorded and operated on the streets or in taverns and bakeries.As part of the registration process with the city magistrate, a woman would provide her correct name and age, her place of birth and the pseudonym under which she wished to be known. She also stipulated the price she intended to charge for her services. Her name was then listed on a rollpermanently, her reputation irrevocably stained. Despite this, a licensed whore or “meretrix” (“one who earns wages”) was considered socially acceptable because she only worked during the night whereas a “prostibula” (unregistered whore) made herself available at any hour. By the time of Caligula, a tax was levied on enrolled prostitutes consisting of an amount equivalent to the sum received in one day from a single client. Failure to pay resulted in a black mark being placed against the woman’s name on the list and a whipping.However, at least a meretrix could rely on the protection of the magistrate who could be called upon to enforce payment from a client.

LOOKING FORWARD TO THE BITTERSWEET END OF DEXTER

(by guest blogger Chloe Trogden) All good things must come to an end. This year, the series finale of “Dexter” is upon us. At three episodes into the season, I am both urging on the episodes to learn how this amazing series will come to a conclusion and also dreading the passage of the episodes as each one signals a step closer to the end. Each episode is bittersweet, and each is more thrilling with the knowledge that it is providing another piece of the puzzle to what will become of Dexter and those he loves.

Will the police discover who Dexter really is? Will he be arrested? Will he be killed – by the police, by another serial killer, maybe even by Deb? Who is Dr. Vogel really, and what does she want?

I’m dreading that the series will end in the same way “The Sopranos” did – offering so much promise and instead quietly slipping out in ambiguity. If that happened, it would be a disservice to the series, which has blazed a trail in television and which deserves an ending as powerful as its story and characters have been over the last eight years.

Here are just a few of the reasons why – and so many other viewers – love the show:

HELEN MIRREN, THE BEST NEVER REST

(by guest blogger Spencer Blohm) Despite having her 68th birthday and the premiere of her new film RED 2 both happening within the last few weeks, fantastic Dame Helen Mirren is showing no signs of slowing down. At the film’s Los Angeles premiere, Helen arrived in a stunning green Elie Saab gown paired with tasteful jewels and platform, lucite stripper heels she picked up for $40 on Hollywood Boulevard. Helen calls the heels her “secret weapon” on the red carpet -for the lift they give her backside and tautness created in her stomach. This isn’t the first time Helen has pushed standard conventions of what it means to be an “older woman” in show business.

While most actresses her age are gravitating towards more “mature” roles, Helen is choosing to do quite the opposite. After already spending the majority of her career paying her dues on the theater circuit, it seems like Helen is finally ready to have some fun! She has gracefully transitioned from playing the Queen of England, to the madam of a brothel, to the dean of a university for monster, all within the past few years.

THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS CITY OF BONES: READ-A-LONG & GIVEAWAY

My journey to the Shadowhunters' world  has  been one of the most exciting experiences in my recent reading life, so I enthusiastically accepted to be part of this event: a read -a- long to share and discuss book one in the series, City of Bones, waiting for the release of movie 1.


Join us!
If you have read or plan to read City of Bones before the movie comes out on August 21, join us. If you like the idea, grab your copy,  get one as soon as possible and read with us. We will be sharing a chapter recap a day and more: characters analysis, musings, reactions to the movie making, merchenrise, interviews with the cast and  more.

There's also a chance  ( more than one, actually) of winning TMI related e-books! How?  Have a look at the rafflecopter form you'll find below this post and find out.

Here's the list of blogs and bloggers participating in the tour: