Friday, June 17, 2011

Burn Out - Victoria Heckman, Author

 
Elizabeth Murphy's Junk Food Cookies

1 cup margarine or butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
Blend above until creamy
Add in:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Mix in any or all of below-adjust proportions of "junk" to taste!
1 pkg chocolate chips
1 cup dried cranberries or cherries
1 cup crushed or chopped macadamia nuts
1/2 cup shredded coconut

Roll into balls a little bigger than a golf ball.  Makes approx. 20
cookies that size.
Bake in 350 degree oven for approx. 14 min. Cool 5 min.
before removing from sheet.

Victoria Heckman, Sisters in Crime-Central Coast Chapter President
Author of the K.O.'d in...Hawaii Mystery Series:
www.victoriaheckman.com
& the Ancient Hawaii Mystery Series

Burn Out – An Animal Communicator Mystery – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat
 
Cap continued to dominate the physical space and Shirley’s attention, but Elizabeth watched Missy, too.  Missy was not happy with the attention Cap was getting.  She distinctly said, He is always first.  He’s always getting fussed over.  I deserve that too.  She stuck out lower lip and rolled her brown eyes.  She’s no fun.  She thinks she’s a princess.  She doesn’t know how to have fun.  If Elizabeth had any doubt the speaker was Cap, he removed it by prancing in place, raising his hoof and waving it.  “Okay.  I see what’s going on.”  “Yes?”  Shirley asked.  “It’s an ego thing.  Missy is pretty strait-laced and came from a show background that Cap is working hard to diminish from his high up status as a dressage horse.  Cap has a sense of humor.  He knows it makes her mad to bring it up, so he does.  He doesn’t necessarily really believe that, but she’s so easy to rile.  Then Missy gets mad and retaliates by biting and chasing him.  He comes off looking like the abused one, but it’s mutual.  Like siblings anywhere.”  “I see.  I can believe that.  I’ve had Cap over 20 years and Missy only one.  The other problem is Missy has started trying to do to me what she does to Cap.  Now I understand why she does it to him, but how can I get her to stop doing it to me?”  “We have to come up with a plan and stick to it.”
 
Yep, you guessed it.  Elizabeth Murphy is a “Doctor Doolittle” “Horse Whisperer,” call her what you want but she communicates with animals as well as a bug now and then.  Her “talking” to the animals isn’t something that she makes too public for fear that people will think for one that she needs to be in a loony bin and for another because her husband is a firefighter hoping to make captain.  But, when fires start happening for no apparent reason, talking to the animals at the scene comes in handy. 
 
While visiting her husband Tig at the training center one day, Elizabeth noticed an announcement for a part-time job entering data into the computer.  It was a short time job so she decided to give it a try.  After the job was underway, she started noticing “accidents” were occurring while fighting what were being called arson fires.  After doing more research she determined that the fire that had injured her best friend’s husband Terry wasn’t normal.  Someone had cut a hole in the concrete pad under the floor and dug a hole, covering it up before setting the fire.  Not knowing the hole was there, Terry fell through the burned wood injuring himself.  And when Tig was injured in a training fire, Elizabeth knew it had to be someone connected to the department.  But the Firefighters were like a big family.  Who would want to hurt their own?  With the help of the animals, Elizabeth was determined to find out.
 
Victoria Heckman had me guessing throughout the whole book on this one.  By page 187 I had my suspects narrowed down to 3.  By page 199 I had added another suspect to my list.  Turned out to be one of my weakest suspects! 
 
Burn Out was a joy to read.  I laughed at some of the “conversations” with the animals.  Victoria Heckman had me believing that people/animal conversations was quite normal.  All of her characters were very creatively created making them seem like people you actually knew.  This was a fun, humorous yet serious book to read.
 
242 pages
2010
Revenge Publishing
ISBN# 978-0-9846098-1-9
 

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Energetics: The First Order - Daniel Ward and Terre Britton, Authors



Uncle Eddie is a larger than life character in ‘Energetics: The First Order,’ and below is one of his recipes:
“Eddie, Samantha’s brother, was an accomplished baker, and many Saturdays before sunrise Jordy’s nostrils were filled with the smell of yeast and fresh cinnamon sticks, pop-overs, sticky buns or cat pies. Sleepy-eyed, he’d make his way to the dimly lit kitchen and fall into his uncle’s open arms—Just like being wrapped in warm dough, Jordy remembered.”


Ingredients:
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons large granule sea salt, or 1 teaspoon fine grind sea salt
1/4 cup shortening (better yet 1/4 cup salted butter)
1/2 ounce dry yeast, 2 packages (Fleischmann’s Active Dry Yeast, Instant Yeast, Rapid Rise Yeast or Fast Rising Yeast)
1/2 cup very warm water
2 eggs, beaten
4 cups King Arthur bread flour
Filling:
2 cups brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
1 cup crushed walnuts
1 cup raisins (optional)
1/2 cup (1 stick) of melted butter
Directions:
  1. Scald milk and stir in sugar, salt and shortening/butter
  2. Cool to lukewarm
  3. Dissolve yeast and 1 teaspoon of brown sugar in very warm water
  4. Wait for the yeast to bloom (approx. 20 min)
  5. Stir the yeast mixture into the lukewarm milk mixture
  6. Add beaten eggs
  7. Add 3 cups flour
  8. Beat until smooth
  9. Stir in an additional cup flour
  10. Turn dough out onto lightly floured board and knead until smooth and elastic
  11. Place in a greased bowl and brush top with melted butter
  12. Cover and let rise in a warm place, free from draft, until double in bulk (about 1 hour)
  13. Punch down and turn out onto lightly floured table
  14. Roll into rectangle 2-1/2 ft x 1-1/2 ft  x 1/2” approx.
  15. Spread filling onto rectangle evenly
  16. Divide down the middle lengthwise
  17. Cut across making 9” x 3” strips approx.
  18. Fold the strips side to side and twist 3 times
  19. Generously butter a large baking dish
  20. Place the twisted cinnamon sticks side by side touching each other
  21. When all the sticks have been placed in the baking dish, brush with melted butter and sprinkle with brown sugar
  22. Put in oven with the oven light on and let rise until double in volume
  23. Place in the center of the oven and bake at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes, or until evenly golden brown
  24. Enjoy!
Making this recipe is like uncle Eddie came to visit: the smell of the yeast rising, the aroma of cinnamon, the taste of yesteryear, and of course, dunking the cinnamon sticks in hot coffee.
The memories are priceless.


Energetics: The First Order – Review by Guest Reviewer Matthew Morrison

Three MIT scientists risk their careers, reputations and their lives bringing a new form of energy to life in ‘Energetics: The First Order’ by Daniel Ward and Terre Britton.  Who wouldn’t want America to have a self-sustained energy source?  Only the U.S. government and the “Big Energy” companies.  Now, add the concerns of the entire international community as well as extraterrestrial abduction of one of the scientists, and you are ready to begin the journey. 

This book has the rambling adventure of a Clive Cussler yarn, shrouded in the political intrigue of a David Baldacci thriller, wrapped in the mysterious, other worldly, enigma of a Whitley Strieber diary.  Throw in the esoteric, technical ramblings of Nikola Telsa, a personal laboratory notebook of James C. Maxwell, a cross-country jaunt and a few bloody noses and you too will believe that Energetics is just the First Order.  Be brave, follow along, and see if these inventor’s can reject their null hypotheses, break free of convention, save the world, and reduce the carbon footprint of our modern society down to zero.  I can’t wait!

2010/2011
Sirius Press
225 pages
ISBN# 978-0-9841952-0-6

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

13 Horror Stories - John McDonnell, Author

"Black Bean Pie"
(a John McDonnell Special)

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes

Yields: 6 servings

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups canned black beans, drained
1/2 cup medium salsa
1/2 cup chopped roasted red peppers
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 pie shell
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar-monterey jack blend cheese

DIRECTIONS:
Combine the beans, salsa, roasted peppers, and seasonings.
Empty the mixture into the pie shell.
Top the mixture with the shredded cheese.
Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.
Allow to cool slightly before cutting.


13 Horror Stories – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat

As the title states – 13 Horror Stories is made up of 13 horror stories.  They range from The Beauty Part, which is a story about a woman who didn’t accept rejection, to Stuck, which is a story about a man who can’t get the image of a tree, a car and the moonlight out of his head.  You also have The Thing in the Basement.  You can imagine what the outcome will be when Billy is sent to the basement as punishment – or can you?  The Box can bring knowledge to the one who opens it -- or maybe not.  In Conclusions – will the wife allow the girlfriend to move in with her and her husband?  And the stories go on…….

13 Horror Stories is an amusing book that may be short but it’s packed full of horror.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Releasing Gillian's Wolves - Tara Woolpy



Gillian’s Endure the Scandal Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are so easy and yummy it’s sinful. They’re the perfect breakfast food for those days when your spouse’s sexual peccadilloes make front page news, or anytime you could use a little sweet buttery love. All you need is a cup of butter, ¾ cup of brown sugar, an egg, some vanilla, a cup of flour, 3 cups oats, 1 tsp baking soda and ½ tsp salt, cinnamon and nutmeg to taste, 2-3 handfuls of raisins and a bag of chocolate chips.

Preheat the oven to 375. Cream the butter and sugar, dump in the egg and vanilla and blend. In another bowl mix up the flour baking soda and spices. Fold that mixture in with the butter/sugar/egg goop. Add oats, stir, add raisins, stir, add chocolate chips, stir. Form into cookies and bake for 10-15 minutes. Ignore the newspaper and enjoy with coffee and a good book.

Releasing Gillian’s Wolves – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat

“Jack, I don’t care what you do, I really don’t.  But,”  I paused until I was sure of his full attention, “you might want to keep it in your pants.  All deals are off if I wake some morning to find your dirty laundry all over the papers.”  Jack blanched, started to speak, stopped and simply nodded.  He sat back in his chair and watched me in silence as I ate my dinner.  He finished his drink.  We were both relieved when Mark rang the doorbell.  I nodded to Mark as he entered the kitchen.  “Hi, make yourself at home, there’s more salad in the bowl if you’d like.  I’ll clean up later.”  I turned to Jack.  “Excuse me, I have work to do,” and I exited out the patio door, down the steps and through the grass to the cabin.  I closed the door behind me and collapsed onto the couch before I let out the first sob.  The cabin air felt moist and hot, but I hugged myself close as I rocked back and forth, feeling it all crumble away.’

Gillian Wolf Sach is married to Congressman Jack Sach.  That’s if you can call it a marriage.  Gillian has played the part of being the “good wife” for years while Jack has played the part of being the “bad husband.”  It appears that if it wore a skirt and fell for his celebrity status, they were fair game for on the side activities.  But when Gillian became suspicious of his affair with an aide younger than their own daughter, something clicked.  In her own words “One day something, could be something unimportant that you’d usually gloss right over, something tips you over the line and things change.  You might not even know it at the time, but that’s when a bad marriage ends.”  And hers did.   She promised to stay with Jack until the end of the next election but made no promises after that. 

The day after the election Gillian left to first visit her daughter and then on to Amsterdam where her long time friend Edward was now living with his significant other Sam.  A trip that started as an attempt to collect herself and her feelings ended up becoming the beginning of a new life for Gillian.  But when she receives word that the FBI have a warrant out for her she sees the possibility of her new life slipping through her fingers. 

It seems like there is always a political figure ending up in the news due to their extramarital activities and I’ve often wondered why their spouse seems to stand by them.  Why not just leave, make them leave and/or divorce and get it over with.  After reading Releasing Gillian’s Wolves, I now have a bit more of an understanding as to why they stay.  There is always that slight hope of things changing, they feel the world will see them as the cause of the failure, the list goes on and on.  Gillian felt all of these but she also didn’t want the publicity that her family would be put through if the real truth regarding Jack came out.  And in the beginning she took the out that many, whether in the political eye or not, seem to take.  Ignore it and run away.  Sort of like “out of sight, out of mind.”  But that never works.  Problems must be faced to be solved.

When I first started reading Releasing Gillian’s Wolves I had no idea as to what it was going to be about.  It turned out to be a beautiful love story with a message that there can be life after love and that we all deserve to be happy.  I loved it!

2010
Bats in the Boathouse Press
280 pages
ISBN# 978-0-9832033-0-8

Saturday, June 11, 2011

The Body in the Gazebo - Katherine Hall Page, Author

 
Baked Chicken With Red Wine, Sage  Root Vegetables
  (One of Faith & Katherine's Favorites)
 
2 1/2 pounds chicken
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2  pound parsnips
1/2  pound carrots
1 large yellow onion
2 tablespoons fresh sage
1/2  teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 cup red wine (not sweet)
 
Faith’s family likes dark meat, so she uses four whole chicken legs.
 
Preheat the oven to 350°. Rinse and pat the chicken dry with a paper towel. Drizzle the oil in a casserole large enough to hold the chicken and vegetables. Faith prefers the oval ones from France, but Pyrex is just fine too. Place the chicken pieces in the casserole. Peel the parsnips, scrub (or peel) the carrots and cut both into chunks, about an inch long. Peel the onion and cut it into eighths. Arrange the assorted vegetables around the chicken. Strip the leaves off the sage stems. Roll them into a small cigar shape and slice into thin strips (a chiffonade). Sprinkle on top of the chicken and vegetables along with the salt and pepper. Pour the wine evenly over the casserole. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour. Uncover, baste with a bulb baster or a spoon and bake for another 45 minutes, basting occasionally. The chicken should be nicely browned. Let the dish rest for 5 minutes. Serves 4 amply. Be sure to spoon some of the liquid on top of the chicken and vegetables when serving.
 
What is nice about this dish is that it omits browning the chicken, which you would do in a more traditional coq au vin. It takes less time to prepare and Faith created it as a heart-wise version for her husband. She uses a salt substitute and takes the skin off the chicken unless she’s making it for company. You can vary the vegetables—turnips are good also. 


The Body in the Gazebo – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat
 
‘Where could she hid it?  It wouldn’t do to have her daughter come across it.  Not that Pix was nosy, but she sometimes put Ursula’s wash away, so the Sheraton chest of drawers was out.  And the blanket chest at the foot of the bed that had been her grandmother’s was out, too.  Pix regularly aired the contents.  There wasn’t much furniture in the room.  Some years after Arnold died, Ursula had removed his marble-topped nightstand – the repository of books, eyeglasses, reading lamp, alarm clock, and eventually pill bottles – replacing it with a chaise and small candlestick table, angled into the room  It felt wrong to go into bed during the day, but she wanted a place to stretch out to read and, increasingly, to nap.  Somehow the chase made her feel a bit more like a grande dame than an old one.  There was a nightstand on her side of the bed, but her granddaughter, Samantha, often left little notes in the drawer and might notice the envelope.  Ursula always saved the notes – bits of poetry Samantha liked or just a few words, “Have sweet dreams, Granny.”  Generally Ursula did.  Her days had been good ones and she felt blessed.  Arnold, the two children, although Arnold junior lived in Santa Fe and she only saw him and his wife during the summer in Maine and on her annual visit out there.  Three grandchildren, all healthy and finding their ways without too much difficulty so far.  But you never know what life will hand you.  She stood up, chiding herself.  The six words – “Are you sure you were right?” – had entered her system like a poison, seeping into the very marrow of her bones and replacing her normal optimism with dark thoughts.’
 
Ursula Rowe has a problem.  Someone is sending her notes pertaining to something that happened years before when her brother Theo was still alive.  The notes threaten to tell her family about Theo whom her family doesn’t even know existed.  When she was young, her parents never talked about him and Ursula never found the right time to tell her own family that she had a brother.  This is something she can’t handle alone so she decides to solicit the help of her daughter Pix’s best friend Faith Fairchild. 
 
Faith finds Ursula’s story quite intriguing and will do whatever needs to be done to help but she too is faced with her own family problems.  Her husband, the Reverend Tom Fairchild has been “accused” in so many words, of dipping his hand into one of the church funds.  It appears that there is $10,000.00 missing and only he has access to the account.  As for Pix, she has gone to Charleston to meet her son’s new in-laws and help plan for the wedding.  But she adds to Faith’s building plate of problems by admitting that she recognized the bride’s father.  He turns out to be someone she met while in college and that the over a weekend party, the 2 got to know each other “very” well.  Problem is, she recognized him but he apparently didn’t recognize her.
 
So in The Body in the Gazebo, I found Faith with her plate full in trying to solve everyone’s problems as well as comfort those who needed comforting.  But, being the true friend and the creative person she is, she can handle just about anything.  See, she isn’t like her husband, seeing only the good in people.  And that’s just part of what made The Body in the Gazebo such a fun read.   Oh, did I forget to tell you, Faith is also a caterer?  Throughout the book you will find her preparing different dishes for different events with the treat of the recipes for her dishes being given at the end of the book!  Being a cook myself, this made a good read even better. 
 
2011
HarperCollins
259 pages
ISBN# 978-0-06-147426-2

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Broken But Not Dead - Joylene Butler, Author


Butler’s Bannock Biscuits

6 cups flour
6 tsp shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
2 cups water – gradually
1 tsp nutmeg
1 cup raisins

Mix ingredients together in a large bowl, gradually adding water until dough is no longer sticky. Knead dough and place scone-size portions onto floured cooking sheet and bake at 350 for 18 – 22 minutes or until centre springs back when touched. If camping, flatten dough to half inch and fry in lightly greased pan over medium heat for 10 – 15 minutes.

Either way is very yummy.

*For something sweeter, add instant chocolate pudding mix and subtract from flour measurement. Add walnuts when desired. Still warm from the oven, smear butter on top and serve with jams on side.


Broken But Not Dead – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat

‘I lifted my head and squinted. My eyes finally adjusted to the semi-darkness. Was that the woodstove next to me? I squinted harder. It was less than five feet away. How-? On my right, the chesterfield and chair, so close I could have reached out to touch them. A chunk of moonlight outlined the veranda doors less than six feet from the foot of my bed. I sucked in air. Not possible. I slumped back. I was in my bead in the middle of the living room, lying where my coffee table should be. “Confused?” a voice whispered.’

Brendell Meshango had just resigned her position with The University of Northern British Columbia where she taught English. For the first time in her 50 years of life she was finally free to do whatever she pleased. And today it pleased her to go to her cabin, build a fire, sit on the veranda and listen to the loons. Apparently someone else had other plans for Brendell which proved true when she woke up in the middle of her living room instead of her bedroom.

Brendell was one of twelve kids born to abusive, alcoholic parents. Her Indian mother loved to beat her children because she hated them, all of them. Her father beat them because he didn’t want them to end up like him. The kids were beaten for no apparent reasons but mother Agnostine enjoyed telling Brendell her beatings were due to her being a “stupid frog-squaw”, in other words – a half-breed. Brendell was determined not to allow them to break their spirits. Her defiance allowed her to prove to her mother, as well as herself, that she was a good person was to teach the one language her mother hated – English. Her determination paid off when it took her straight to the top by becoming the head of the English department.

So, who has captured Brendell, who is holding her captive, who is torturing her and threatening her daughter Zoe if she tells anyone? Even after she’s released and allowed to go home, her intruder shows up there with more threats. When Zoe’s best friend ends up being beaten, the police suspect her husband but when the details came out as to how she was beaten, Brendell recognizes his method and style. Her only choice for protecting Zoe is to get her out of town to safety and find this person before he strikes again.

Broken But Not Dead is written without the “fluff” that’s found in many books. Joylene Nowell Butler gets straight to the story, taking you from one happening to the next and keeps you turning the page. The characters of Brendell and her determination, Zoe and her stubbornness, the mental instability of the “intruder” is written with such possibility that the book is very believable. Now that I’ve read Broken But Not Dead, I can’t wait to read Dead Witness also written by Joylene Butler.


244 pages

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

The Adventures of Larry the Alien - John McDonnell, Author

Breakfast egg and bagel.
  A John McDonnell Special

Beat one egg in a coffee mug till it’s well mixed (no separation between yolk and whites). Add a few drops of milk. Microwave this mixture in the coffee mug for one minute and 25 seconds, on high. It’s very important to mix the egg well, or it will come out of the microwave in clumps of yolk and white.
. Microwave a large frozen bagel for 25 seconds to thaw it out, then cut it open. 
. When the egg is finished microwaving, spoon it out on one half of the bagel. Try to distribute it evenly on the bagel, so none of it falls over the edge.  
. Take a slice of American cheese and put it on top of the egg. If you don’t have American cheese, a spreadable cheese like Velveeta will make an excellent substitute.
. Put the other half of the bagel on top of the egg and cheese, like a sandwich. Press down so the hot egg will thaw the bagel some more. 
. Cut the bagel in half if you prefer, and eat it. This egg breakfast bagel makes a tasty, quick, and nutritious breakfast meal.

The Adventures of Larry the Alien – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat

‘Murphy didn’t realize the guy at the end of the bar was an alien until he tried to flag him.  The guy had been drinking for hours and was pretty scuppered at this point, but when Murphy said, “You’ve had enough, pal,” he suddenly found himself standing knee deep in a Cretaceous swamp, with the largest crocodile he’d ever seen staring at him from 50 feet away.  He took a step back, then heard a thunderous roar behind him and turned to see a Tyrannosaurus Rex’s head above the treetops, heading this way fast.  He probably would have been the T. Rex’s breakfast if the alien hadn’t zapped him back to the bar just in time.’

Murphy has just met his 1st alien, at least that he knows of.  His name is Larry and he was sent to earth to monitor its people.  But Larry feels rejected and sorry for himself which always ends up with him having anxiety attacks, crying and him turning into multiple “beings.”  Murphy, being the good bartender he is, listens to Larry’s problems and decides to invite him to stay with him, his wife Dolores and her mother Edna.  So, to help him out even more, Larry’s new found friends try cheering him up by taking him to a seafood restaurant, which was a mistake because they served octopus, and even tried to find him a girl friend, which turned out to be an exterminator.

The Adventures of Larry the Alien is written with so much humor but so realistic that I could actually see Larry taking on his different forms and protesting that serving octopus was barbaric.  This short book of Larry’s adventures is not only funny but so creative on the author’s part.  It has taken me to the decision that if I ever run into an Alien, and know it, that I want him to be just like Larry.  A really fun book to read.

Smashwords
2011

 
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