At an end (poem)

I write some rather macabre poetry these days. Just wrote this one yesterday.

All is darkness
Full moon shining
A shadow moves
The blade's flashing
Quickly the cut
My blood coursing
Flows from within
Crimson drenching
My last moment
Visions ending

Chapter Five

(This is from Realms Beyond, a project I'm working on presently)

Pushing past a clump of bushes Carla broke out into an opening. She spotted a small stream that was flowing by. Being parched, the clear cool water drew her. She barely noticed the dirt road that ran both ways along the bank. It looked, at best to her, little better than a pair of wagon ruts running through the trees and therefore was unimportant.

Kneeling at the shore, she cupped her hands together and dipped them in. Scooping some up, she drank hungrily and got the front of her shirt soaked when some dribbled through her fingers. The coolness was feeling great on her skin as she let her cares melt away.

Having partially slaked her thirst she took off her shoes and socks and placed them in a neat pile. Then she pulled the legs of her Capri pants up as far as she could. Placing her feet in the water she breathed a sigh of relief as the coolness flooded through. Digging her toes in the sand felt good. This was something she would do every day if she had the chance. Then, the realization that she wasn’t at home anymore came back. Looking around, the only viable option seemed to be the decrepit looking road. Sighing, picked her feet up out of the water and let them dry in the slight breeze which only took a few minutes.

Putting her socks and shoes on, she got up and began walking down the road. As her eyes swept the adjoining forest, she thought how this must be the wildest place that she had ever seen in her life that she could remember. It was as if there was an almost complete absence of people. All day, she’d never seen anyone else. Rounding one more bend, she finally seen one individual.

He was wearing a long ankle length black hooded robe and sandals. A thick rope was tied around his middle like a belt. Gazing at her for a moment, recognition came to him. Pulling back his hood he stared at her unable to hide his wide-eyed shock. His mouth hung open as he calmly regarded her. She was equally shocked at how he appeared. His eyes were red, his hair was pure white and skin was pale.

He blinked at her for a few moments. Carefully choosing his words, he finally spoke. “Your majesty, you’re back. What are you doing out here on the road today?”

“What are you talking about? What do you mean by calling me majesty and that I’m back?”

“You really look like the princess. What pray tell is that strange raiment that you’re wearing?”

 In her confusion she tried to understand what he was saying. Some of the words were really odd to her ears. “I can tell you I’m no princess. I really don’t know what you’re talking about, I’m just wearing clothes.”

“You really do have quite the same likeness as our princess does.”

“Okay, I understand who you think I am. I’m pretty sure that I’m not her thought. So tell me please, what are you supposed to be?”

“Why I’m a monk milady.”

“You’re a monk?”

“Yes, I’ve dedicated my life to the service of the gods.”

She nodded as she tried to correlate it to what she knew. “That’s cool.”

“I’m sorry to bother you. I really did think you might be the princess, she’s been missing a while.” He frowned as he put his hood back up and continued walking in the direction that she had come from. Before he had made it very many paces, she called out him to stop him, “where does this road go to?”

Slowing his step a little, he called out over his shoulder. “If you keep going that way you’ll end up in Effingham milady.”

This guy must be crazy. Since when would I ever be a princess? She shook her head and started walking down the road again. Then again, maybe she was the crazy one and she was imagining all of this. There were no such things as dragons either; was there? 

Health Coverage Debate

I've seen a lot of things on the health insurance debate. There are things for and against it, what will become basically our national system. One of the things against it is that we'll now have created another bureaucracy. That's understandable; I don't like being told what to do either. Whether I want it or not, I'll have to have it. Somehow I'm rather averse to that concept.

I've also seen the things for it and I understand the economic reasons behind it. Because everyone has to have what's basically a similar plan, costs are supposed to be reduced overall. Of course, some that haven't been carrying medical insurance will now have to pay for it. So, those like myself, will obviously find their costs increased.

Anyways, the pool will become larger so the costs are spread out over more people. Even all businesses are treated equally, therefore no company will be allowed to have a competitive advantage. Walgreen's will have the same expense as Kmart does. Theoretically, it's supposed to be a better system.

The origins of Obamacare, or Romneycare, whichever term you want to use (they're actually the same law) is from many years back. Some were running up to their benefit maximums, or they were being dropped by their insurance companies. I remember reading the articles in the Wall Street Journal, etc regarding this. Another thing that added fuel to the fire is the financial system breakdown. A chunk of the individual bankruptcies were the result of extensive medical bills. That added its little bit to the meltdown that had happened. Basically, some of the businesses that could have weathered the storm otherwise weren't able to.

There are some in Congress that didn't want that happening again. There are only so many write offs you can take. Now only a small amount of businesses ever went under because of health care costs though it it is something that has happened in the past.

For good, or bad, it looks like we'll all soon have health insurance. I'm not really sure if I'm for it, or against it, but I haven't had health insurance for many years. When I did have it, the copays were a killer so I never went to see the doctor. Either way, it means I probably still won't be seeing any doctors since I'm having a hard time paying for groceries, let alone copays. 

Realms Beyond (Work In Progress)

(This is something that I've started to write and I'm not far on it either.)

Chapter One

The atmosphere in the one bedroom apartment reached the point it felt oppressive. Emanating from the radio’s speaker was the song, “The Four Horsemen,” by Metallica. Hard rock and heavy metal music added its own special ambiance to the tense antagonistic situation. Angered at the argument that they were having, Carla stared at John sullenly. Her sour expression broadcasted loudly her displeasure and blackened thoughts. In her rage she considered strongly throwing various things at him like the vase on the end table next to the chair she was sitting in.

Quite often arguments, it would escalate into shouting matches between the couple. It would all start over something that was quite innocent but would be taken wrong by either herself, or by John. Soon, they would once descend into a morass of invective. Of course, neither of them would remember the initial reason for all of the acrimony next day. The only way to soothe their bruised egos was to let time pass and maybe put a little distance into the equation. That is why John would head to the gym, and Carla would take a walk around the block.

"Why are you always such a nagging bitch?" John’s blue eyes blazed with fury.

"That's one too many times that you’ve called me that. You are so impossible. Just impossible to be around." Through her clenched jaw, she growled the words. Deciding she was done with the whole situation, she didn’t want to continue to blow up at him like she had so many times before. It wasn’t helping anyhow so it obviously wasn’t the answer to the problem. And besides, she was tired of it all.

They had devolved to the point there was so little happiness in the relationship. It didn’t take a genius to realize it just wasn’t working out for them and it was time to do something since it wasn’t getting any better. She got up from her chair and stormed across the living room of the apartment. The fact that it was the middle of the night wasn’t even crossing her mind, she was so furious she wasn’t thinking clearly.

"So, where in the hell do you think you’re going?” He thundered at her as she swung the door all the way open and slammed it against the wall. The doorknob made a perfectly round dent in the wall.

Stopping momentarily in the doorway she muttered as she shook her head, “why do I even bother?”

Hearing what she said, in his most authoritarian voice he responded. “I forbid you to leave now.”

“Hrmph,” she took off down the hallway not answering further. He heard her footsteps clomping down the stairs to go down to the bottom floor. A few moments later, he faintly heard the entrance closing. He wanted so badly to run after her, grab her, and drag her back. For a moment, he could picture himself like a cave man carrying her over his shoulder. How dare she leave the place like she just did! She had no right to refuse him! There was no way he was going to put up with that from her.

Then, he remembered what happened the last time when he ran after her and caught her. She hit him with a vicious uppercut which knocked him out. On top of that, the neighbors had called the cops and since they pressed charges, he went to jail. Having lots of time overnight to think about it, he begrudgingly realized that he respected her. At least the way she could hit him was something he could respect.

It was no fun to be in the jail either and knew it was the last place that he needed to be. The place was cold, the lights stayed on and everyone made noise through the night. He was thankful the next morning though when they let him out with just a warning since she wouldn’t press any charges against him.

Still, he learned something important from the whole mess. If she walked out like that, to let her go until she had finally calmed down. Picking a chair, he sat down. Closing his eyes, he began to breathe deeply and slowly in an attempt to defuse his ire.

In her fury she ignored everything that was going on around her as she walked along. That included the pair of eyes that noticed her from the darkness of a shadow. Their interest thoroughly became captured when she tripped on one of the edges of the damaged concrete. Her watcher decided that she wasn’t paying much attention so she would be a good target.

Being in the middle of the night, the city was quiet with all of the bustle decreased. As the darkness enveloped her, it felt comforting to her as her thoughts began to slow. How could it have gone as wrong as it had? Once he’d seemed so very perfect for her and then something had changed. She wasn’t sure what it was either, but whatever it was it wasn’t the same anymore. If he were to disappear from her life she wasn’t sure it would hurt her feelings at all. It seemed that he wanted to do anymore was to control her completely.

Inspiration Unlimited magazine.

I recently received a message through Facebook from Preethi Kashyap inviting me to start writing for Inspiration Unlimited e-magazine. She’s one of the editors with the publication. It’s not a magazine that I’d ever heard of before the invite. After checking through the list of contributors I found that I recognized a few of the names. I accepted the invitation and here is the first article I wrote for them.

http://iuemag.com/july2013/the-choices-you-make.php

His Boss Lady cover reveal

Emma Michaels gets off on people calling her ma’am and fearing the fear the sound of her four inch heels instills as she stomps by her employees’ offices. The intelligent female worked hard to make partner at Johnson, Franks and Michaels and will not let anything distract her from work. With her path set firmly towards the future she has no idea that a young intern is coming to derail her plans. Tyler Higgins is proving to be a distraction that creates chaos and anxiety in Emma’s world. Will the young and handsome Higgins take the exec to school or has she met her match?

Tyler Higgins is a shark. The master of everything he touches comes from a long line of CEOs and self-starting businessmen. Landing his dream internship was icing on already well-dressed cake, but shadowing a woman was not what he had in mind. Emma Michaels’ attitude about work drives him crazy, and he cannot help but test her every chance he gets. However, not wanting to shadow Emma does not stop Tyler from thinking of the naughty things he could do to the buxom brunette haired beauty. Yes, this is dangerous territory.

Author Bio:

Emily Walker loves creating worlds and stumbling around in them. She is constantly losing her chap-stick, and has an obsession with the color pink. Currently a resident of the mountains and loving the view she writes mostly paranormal fiction, and horror. Her small family consists of her red bearded other half, a rat terrier named Rebel, and a cat called Mr. Creepy.

(I personally love the name of the cat  ;-P )

Links:
Website – http://www.authoremilywalker.com
Blog – http://www.selfpublishordie.com
Review site – http://www.reviewsfrombeyondthebook.blogspot.com
Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/authoremilywalker
Twitter- http://www.twitter.com/authorewalker

Interview with Ey Wade

Thank you for taking your time out of your busy day to be here today. I took a look at the books that you've written. Some of them are really fascinating to me from the descriptions that I've read.
__________________________
Let's first talk about, "The Perfect Solution." What was your purpose in writing the book?"

My idea was to first entertain and then to have the reader question their beliefs and blind trust in the childcare profession. Most parents drop off their children and never give it a second thought. Things happen quickly and they aren't always for the better.

Were there any specific incidents that led you towards the story concept?

Oh yes. I've worked in childcare system for over 30 years, so many of the incident in the book have happened. I've rescued a child after it was left in park by a preschool center.

Now, I would like to ask you a little about, "Beads on a String." Why a multicultural history?
Well, the idea for the book came about while homeschooling my youngest. We were going through book after book researching for Black history month. Its very disheartening to see America's history written as separate as we live on the daily and I thought it would be awesome to read of every everyone's accomplishment in one book.

The cover shows a string of beads. Why is that?
You're right it does. The book has a string of multicolored beads the cover to represent my belief:

“I feel that we as Americans are all equal and held together by a common thread. Like a treasured beaded necklace of different colors held together on a string, we are held together by our necessities and our circumstances and our humanity. Every color helps to make the necklace beautiful. We can never be a totally separate entity! Americans of all colors are so integrated that if we hurt one, we hurt all. Just like that necklace of treasured beads, leave one out and the gap is seen. Break the chain and many of us are lost.”
What new things did you learn during your research that you didn't expect to find?
I learned of things invented by different races I assumed were invented by White people. I learned so much it was astounding .

Do you forsee a time when color and race, as we know, doesn't exist anymore?
I think things as we see it will eventually change. It has to come from the youth because many elders have their bias so deeply iningrained they can't see beyond color. I believe if the contributions of every race is taught daily, no one would think they , as a race of people. Are better than another.

You write children's books also. Found the concept of the Sun being given a hug during an eclipse in, "Who Will Hug the Sun?" to be really interesting. Where did that idea come from?
This little book was born from the conversation I had with one of my daughters. She wanted to know who could hug the sun. When a kid is two...three you come up with a lot of stories. I have three two more written in the 'In My Sister's World series and am working on a few more.
These are all stories pertaining to experiences with my daughter's.
I have picture books featuring my grandson
wishing to 'be' published
Are there any books you're working on at present?Oh, yes. I have a novel Tripping Prince Charming. Coming out in August 8th. This is the story of three female friends denying the fairy tale romance theory and giving every man who crossed their paths a hard time. You can read about them on their blog, http://trippingprincecharming
I have a few more fiction and nonfiction billabong the works.

Where can we find more of your books? All of my books can be found in the major bookstores near you.
Visit my. Com Wade-In Publishing http://wade-inpublishing.com for the specific links, to see videos and to learn so much more.

Thank you so much for your time, I enjoyed having you here today.
Thank you very much for having me, it's been fun I love talking.