Category: Indie Author

*Blog Book Tour* A Chimerical World: Tales of the Seelie Court {a faerie anthology of short stories} edited by Scott M. Sandridge

Posted Monday, 19 May, 2014 by jorielov , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

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A Chimerical World: Tales of the Seelie Court (edited by) Scott M. Sandridge

Chimerical World Vol 1 Anthology by Seventh Star Press
Artwork Credit by: Enggar Adirasa

Published By: Seventh Star Press (@7thStarPress) 12 February, 2014
Official Author WebsitesBlog | Twitter | Facebook | GoodReads
Available Formats: Softcover Page Count: 434
Genres: Short Story | Fantasy  | Faerie Fiction

Converse on Twitter: #AChimericalWorld & #7thStar

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Acquired Book By: I was selected to be a stop on the dual anthology virtual blog tour for “A Chimerical World”, opting to read the ‘Seelie’ Court vs the ‘Unseelie’ Court installment of the dual anthology release from Seventh Star Press. The tour is hosted by Tomorrow Comes Media who does the publicity and blog tours for Seventh Star Press and other Indie and/or Self Published authors. I am a regular blog tour host with Tomorrow Comes Media and was happy to see more anthologies being offered for review. I received a complimentary copy of “A Chimerical World: Tales of the Seelie Court” direct from the publisher Seventh Star Press in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Interest to Read a Faerie Anthology:

I should be honest, my heart is always going to be attached to #dragonfiction (I created the tag for it even!), but part of me was always equally curious and endeared to seeking out wicked quality stories of faerie fiction too! I have several authors and books slated TBR (to be read) at some junction in time, but to truly get a nice overview of what is currently been written and offered, there is not a better way to accomplish this task than by seeking out an anthology! I find myself motivated lately to keep a fingertap on those thematic explorations inside science fiction & fantasy which whet my palette of interest. Previously, it was attempting to sort out my own heart’s desire in seeing science-based Steampunk and/or inventive Steampunk which runs the gambit of traditional Steam and deviates into Clockpunk or Automation stories.

Coming out of that well of endless possibilities, and keeping myself hinged to the cosy side of everything I read, I leapt at the chance to be a part of a new anthological tour for short stories within the world of the fey! I am always most curious to learn the new approaches of revealing a particular character inside of a story as much as I am a natural bourne book cheerleader who loves to rally behind creative stories which light the mind with deeply enriching worlds of creative thought. I never quite know where I am being lead in my literary wanderings, but half the fun for me is the art of discovery! Thus, my expectations for reading this anthology is to simply soak into different perspectives of the fey and see which of the stories give me the most joy in reading them!

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Anthology Synopsis: A Chimerical World: Tales of the Seelie Court

Scott M. Sandridge
Photo Credit: Stephen Zimmer, taken on a book convention floor

Tales of the Seelie Court:

The Fey have been with us since the beginning, sometimes to our great joy but often to our detriment. Usually divided (at least by us silly humans) into two courts, the first volume of A Chimerical World focuses on the Seelie Court: the court we humans seem to view as the “good” faeries. But “good” and “evil” are human concepts and as alien to the Fey as their mindsets are to us.

Inside you will find 19 stories that delve into the world of the faeries of the Seelie Court, from authors both established and new, including George S. Walker, Eric Garrison, and Alexandra Christian.

But be warned: these faeries are nothing like Tinker Bell.

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Scott M. Sandridge is a writer, editor, freedom fighter, and all-around trouble-maker. His latest works as an editor include the Seventh Star Press anthologies Hero’s Best Friend: An Anthology of Animal Companions, and the two volumes of A Chimerical World, Tales of the Seelie Court and Tales of the Unseelie Court.

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Stories inside: Tales of the Seelie Court:

“Extra-Ordinary” by BC Brown +
“Dead Fairy Doormat” by George S. Walker
“Taggers” by Christine Morgan
“Wormwood” by Alexandra Christian
“The Harpist’s Hand” by Steven S. Long
“Sanae’s Garden” by Chantal Boudreau +
“Mark of Ruins” by SD Grimm
“Birdie’s Life at the School for Distressed Young Ladies” by JH Fleming
“Cultivated Hope” by Jordan Phelps
“Seelie Goose” by E. Chris Garrison +  
“I Knocked Up My Fairy Girlfriend” by Brandon Black
“The Body Electric” by Sarah Madsen +  
“The Last Mission” by Cindy Koepp
“The Beggar-Knight & the Lady Perilous”
by Matthew A. Timmins
“The Filigreed Lamp” by Edward Ahern
“Keys” by Michael M. Jones
“Like a Sister in the Proper Court” by Lisa Hawkridge
“Gnome Games” by Saera Corvin
“The Goat Man’s Garden” by Marten Hoyle

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My Review of A Chimerical World: Tales of the Seelie Court

{ am electing to highlight the stories within the anthology

which piqued my interest the most out of the nineteen offered inside }

| “Extra-Ordinary” by B.C. Brown |

The mark of a well-written short story is the effect after it is concluded for the reader to double-check to make sure that the next short is not going to start right at the very moment she’s inclined to read more of the one she’s consumed! And, yet, that is unfortunately what happened as I turnt the page to see what becomes of the lovely hidden world revealed inside Extra-Ordinary! I must admit, I have appreciated the fey for such a long time that I never even questioned what I knew of them or what I could be lacking in reading faerie fiction! Clearly, there is quite a heap I have not had the pleasure of knowing, and inside this little gem of a story lies such a wondrous truth to who they are and how they appreciate interacting with humans! Or rather even, how some humans have the ability to interact with the fey, people you would not realise due to outward appearance or living circumstance could in effect hold a key to a world wonderfully unique and brilliantly more magical than the one we live in. I truly wanted to spend more time snuggled into this young boy’s life, seeing what he saw, and breathing in world of the fey in which alighted inside his ordinary hours. The writer had the clever sense to build upon our knowledge of the young boy as a regular school-aged curious wanderer of thoughts and imaginative possibilities — seeing beyond where he was and knowing there was more yet to come. And, within that innocent world-view and isolated piercing glimpse his everyday hours, we find ourselves meeting a young boy who will electrify our curiosity to know the fuller truth of who he is and how a shoebox can transport us there.

I felt as though this were a Prologue teaser to a larger story which would evolve into this wicked adventure between Marcus and the fey! How lovely it would be to see this knitted into a novella or a full-length novel!

|  “Dead Fairy Doormat” by George S. Walker |

At first I wasn’t sure the direction this particular story was going to take-on, as the possibilities for it to extend into certain dimensions of believability were extensive. The cat in the story (Mephyst) gives Andrei a bit more than he bargained for when he agreed to ‘cat sit’ a client’s rather feisty and demonic charge. Demonic here refers to the fact that this particular outdoor dwelling cat had a penchant for bringing his ‘kills home’ and leaving them rather ceremoniously on his owner’s doormat, but with a bit of a twist of what he ‘kills’ verse what his end-goal is once he returns home with them. I loved how Walker gave equal measure of attention on both Mephyst & Andrei as their paths intertwined for a short period of time. This short reminded me of fabled life lessons swirled into mystical and fantastical stories of a past age. Where you can root out the symbolism of right and wrong, as much as good verse evil by the way in which the story is fused together. Andrei is the unspoken hero of the story, who by rather clever devices sorts out the insidious nature of Mephyst, rights the malicious wrongs he has created against the fey, and takes-on a sense of freedom in knowing that his limited knowledge of the Other World affairs trumps the superficial elite attitude of Mephyst’s owner. For me, what kept me tuned into the story is the determination of Andrei to be a qualified cat-sitter in charge of a cat who is not quite like other cats at all! The lengths this bloke went to ensure not only the cat’s well-being but the well-being of innocents truly warmed my heart! In the end, I nearly could see him changing his stars and lifepath to something a bit more interesting than pedaling errands and message-driven deliveries. He is the character you always hope to find inside of a story – he completely surprises you and endears you to his cause.

| “Sanae’s Garden” by Chantal Boudreau|

A mystical and Eastern story illuminated out of the stories of the Seelie Court, to where my heart-strings were taut in the pull of the narrative to emote such a soul-tinged story of love. I may have not readily said this, but I have not read any of the collective works by the authors in this collection, and are therefore a bit blind to what they regularly write or offer in their individual worlds of fiction. What I found inside Sanae’s Garden is what I would consider a classical mythological story where you can barely notice the veil of the human world and of the world of the wood sprites. Harou and Sanae are unconventional soul-mates in how their love grew out of their innermost desire to protect and care for those who need it most. Their child Masaki was blessed to have such a loving embrace of joy, love, and parental bliss attached to him as he grew but it is how he came into being that was the mark of a chosen path towards embracing true love. I loved drinking in this story, a paragraph at a time and allowing the images filter into my mind’s eye as I etched out their characteristic qualities and the semblance of where the story was taking place. I wanted to explore more of this world, digging a bit deeper into its heart and seeing how this one perception of time could be walked back through in the future. Boudreau gave us such an enriched tale as to endear us to the possibilities of not only following our hearts in all areas of our lives, but in owning to a greater truth of what a well-lived life can encompass by scope of depth.

My heart-felt full enough to choke my throat with the tears of a grateful reader who was blessed to know their story. The nature lover in me celebrated the close-knitted connection of the characters to the living garden and trees, as I am a firm believer that the longer you spend outside in nature’s loving arms of grace, the more you will find yourself in balance; rooted to the living well of the cycles and seasons of Earth. Trees have a kinetic way of sensing our presence and of returning our love for them in the gentle whispers only heard by heart. I felt everything that Sanae felt and I celebrated Harou’s ability to guide her towards a life she never dared dreamt was previously plausible.

|  “Cultivated Hope” by Jordan Phelps |

The innocence of Clarrisa is a warm spring of hope stitched into this short story where a moral choice is the defining moment of her young life. What I appreciated about this story is that it is not set-up in the regular way you are expecting it to be. You’re entering a story already in-progress where the fates of those who could be affected by the actions of the characters both seen and unseen hang in the balance. Clarrisa is a faerie of conscience who unlike her peers aligns her life choices with those of her heart, spirit, and mind. She elects to take the harder path if it means that she can live without remorse etched into every fibre of her being. She is a gardener of dreams and of the tangible joy life can unexpectedly bring as you live your life forward. She reminded me a bit of Sanae in this regard, as she put her entire focus of how she wanted to live into the cultivation of her garden. The garden knew her innermost truths and where she would find her heart leading her next. Bourne without wings, a blight for any faerie other than her, she found strength in both resilience and in owning her uniqueness. The best part of the story for me, is watching how she evolved inside the Ministry of her employ to carry forward a mission of self-sacrifice and freedom. Each of us has the ability to embrace the right path but it takes the strength in knowing by doing what is right, you have to face those who might not agree with your reasoning.

|  “Seelie Goose” by E. Chris Garrison |

About my Connection to Garrison: I had the absolute pleasure of guesting on The Star Chamber Show on the same episode Garrison was appearing as a Guest Author. I was the Guest Book Blogger that night, and I appreciated the opportunity for our airtime to cross-over on each other. From that day forward, I have enjoyed our continuing conversations about all things bookish, including how we respected each of our differences in writing as well as our individual stance on ‘Vulgarity in Literature’ but came out of it on solid ground. I respect Garrison as a new-found friend and as a writer.

I am disclosing this, to assure you that I can formulate an honest opinion, even though I have interacted with Garrison through our respective blogs, the twitterverse, the podcast world, and privately. I treat each book as a ‘new experience’, whether I personally know the author OR whether I am reading a book by them for the first time.

I am familiar with Garrison’s character Skye from my previous reading of Virtual Blue, however, at that particular point in time I had not realised the full scope of Skye’s character! You see, Skye was ‘lent on loan’ to Sullivan in order to create the Urban Fantasy story in which I reviewed on a previous blog tour! I remember reading about the ‘Seelie Goose’, as regular readers of Jorie Loves A Story will recognise that I also hosted a Cover Reveal for Garrison and around that point in time or thereabouts I became familiar with the short story I now have happily read! For one thing, the comic brilliance of the anarchy of the fairy-tale world spun into reckless flight of an attempt to stop a wedding was most keen indeed! The way in which people react to weddings and those of whom wish to marry is always fodder for comedy. No one seems to understand nor accept that when two people fall in love, it is their right to marry of whom their heart speaks true! Whether that is goose for gander or goose to goose; matrimony should always be a freedom of both choice and of celebration of love. I was caught in the trance of the moment, seeing the absurdity of how one ruffled feathered Mum could not let her daughter be free to live her own life whilst noting how Otherworldy Skye is still attached to walking a life-like no one else could! Skye is not involved in this story but a part of Skye is central to how everything is resolved! I was most taken by how giddy I was to see the resolution and how happy I was to find a story by Garrison which I can do nothing but celebrate the joy of reading!

The descriptions of the geese were especially intriguing as I loved how their wings and feathers were worked into their quirky personalities and how their essence of being geese set the tone for how they interacted with everyone else! By far it was a clever story to be told! Especially considering how ‘rhyme’ took on a new level of meaning as it was used as a method of communication rather than of prose!

| “The Body Electric” by Sarah Madsen |

Cautionary tales of how far man is willing to push the envelope on technologic advances and the window which separates reason, logic, and the pursuit of progress are ones that I have always enjoyed reading. They speak to a greater level of knowledge towards where humanity has travelled and how far humanity continues to push the barriers between right and wrong. Ethical repercussions emerging out of the fever of wanting to go further than we dare, when even we can acknowledge that a thin line is being crossed in the sand. I could feel the harbinger tone of this short story even before I settled into its rhythm. There was a back-note of ominous danger igniting into the forefront of where the central characters were acting out of duty rather than out of honour. I enjoyed watching the internal conflict grab hold of them and appreciated where Madsen choose to take them whilst they were conflicted. The choices we make can have ripple effects on people we may or may not know, yet it is within the golden moments of those choices we can ultimately choose which path we will set our feet to tread upon. And, in the end what matters most is whether or not we were willing to sell our soul in order to survive; or take the harder path and do what was right.

The technology that is expressed in this short is always the kind of tech that I hope we do not cross the line to bring into reality. Where the fusion of technology against the condition of humanity would slowly erase and decode the very essence of who we are as there would no longer be a bridge between who we are and the advances science could provide us. To study and to grow in knowledge is one thing, to help others who have lost the ability to use their limbs is another, but to take away our humanity for the sake of replacement without cause or reason? That is quite another. We would be playing God to the worst degree of illogical pursuit.

“The Filigreed Lamp” by Edward Ahern |

A new appreciator of stories of the Jinn, courtesy of a book I discovered from my local library (The Golem and the Jinni, of which I reviewed last year) I was most delighted to see a short of the Jinn included in this collection! Ever since I met the Jinn in the forementioned story, I have set myself up to uncover more Magical Realism stories (hence my ever-expanding and growing tCC List!)!! The gentleness of this tale was refreshing as by time I had reached a moment to read it, I was ruminating in my mind about how reflectively open and honest the rest of the shorts are presenting the current state of time. From economic hardship to the uncertainty of how the future always hangs in the balance just out of view from where we are in the present. The shorts in of their own are knitted together with commonalities as you read through them. A pulse of forbearance as much as keen insight in where we aspire to be and how circumstances can never paint our future’s black. The Jinn in this story took a different angle of acceptance towards her new charge, and it was through her no-nonsense approach that her charge learnt the most from her. I like being unexpectedly surprised when I read, as much as I like entering new worlds to walk around.

“Like a Sister in the Proper Court” by Lisa Hawkridge |

I was happily surprised and thankful to see a more traditional faerie story included, as for a while I felt that perhaps the collection was only going to yield more modern spins on the fey. In this particular short, what struck me the most was the breadth of the world created to explain the differences between the Courts, and as Hawkridge did such a great job of doing this, I could start to envision the differences between the Seelie & UnSeelie Courts! The very basis of the dual-anthology collection which I am reading! I think the hardest part for the world of faeries is understanding who to trust and to understand which motives are being presented once you undergo accepting an accord with someone who appears to be above-board with you. Iona is on the edge of reasoning out how to contribute more to the collective good of her kind whilst being drawn into plans that might have an outcome she would not appreciate. The entire hierarchy of the fey reminded me a bit of the honey bee. Everyone has their own duties and responsibilities, but at the very same time, there is freedom to choose how best to create the contributions which help the collective survive. In this way, I appreciated seeing the point of view given in this short as it aligns with how I felt the fey might interact and live together.

| “The Goat Man’s Garden” by Marten Hoyle |

This short was as stirring and gutting of emotions as “Sanae’s Garden”, as the fate of one family to save the entire towne is pushed into the forefront of reality when an over zealous ruler twists their chance to survive. I have not had the chance to read a lot about Centaurs or even of faeries who are not quite dark but are not living within the light either. I have read a few stories of the fey which were more depressingly melancholic than enlightening, but this story is more of a classical one. It takes on the drunken intoxication of power set against the welfare of the innocent. Where what is perceived as truth is not what it appears and what is feared cannot always be recognised. Although my heart was lurching with each new step the characters took towards facing their fate, I appreciated the level of sincerity Hoyle gave to the story. It is not one anyone will quickly forget once they read it. Nor should they.

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Each of the stories I have highlighted desire second and third readings in order for the mirth of their tales to be fully enjoyed, processed, and appreciated. I am grateful that I have had this opportunity to become introduced to new voices in fiction, and of being able to settle my mind a bit around where the fey live and how they choose to interact with humans. Each of them approach us in different ways, some with a smarting of bewitchment in their eyes and others with a slight tendency towards maliciousness. Yet, each of them own true to who they are and what their innermost gift is to give and/or to takeaway. The stories themselves are a delight to read and I found myself unaware of the hours ticking off the clock as I was fully absorbed into the collection itself and only gave a nodding of what I was finding through my tweets prior to publishing my finalised reflections!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comFly in the Ointment:

Being this is an anthology collection of stories, the blessing for me was skipping over the stories which either did not give me enough to sink into their narratives or wrinkled my nose due to the cursing of choice words during the telling of the story itself. Therefore, as I have read and highlighted the stories which appealed to me directly, you may or may not find the same to be true for you. Everyone has a different reading temperament and mine is not one to accept a parlay affect of strong language within the context of joyful reading explorations. I truly only skipped over a few stories that held strong language, the others I did not mention did not touch me in the same way as I read them as the ones I did mention.

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This Book Review is courtesy of:

A Chimerical World Virtual Tour via Tomorrow Comes MediaFun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Virtual Road Map for “A Chimerical World Anthology Tour”:

18 May: Editor Interview @ Jorie Loves a Story

19 May: Review @ Jorie Loves A Story

20 May: Guest Post: Four Simple Writer Mistakes by B.C. Brown @ Deal Sharing Aunt

21 May: Guest Post: Heavy Metal Faeries by Scott M. Sandridge @ Armand Rosamilia, Horror Author

21 May: Guest Post: Making of Seelie Goose by E. Chris Garrison @ Vampires, Witches, and Me, Oh My!

21 May: Guest Post: My Favourite Because It’s All About the Numbers by Scott M. Sandridge @ Beauty in Ruins

21 May: Interview Part 1 @ The Bird’s Word

22 May: Guest Post: Creating the Unseelie Court by DeeDee Davies @ Bee’s Knees Reviews

22 May: Promo / Spotlight @ Spellbindings

22 May: Guest Post: Pros / Cons of being an Anthology Editor by Scott M. Sandridge @ I Smell Sheep

23 May: Guest Post by Carmen Tudor @ The Official Writing Blog of Deedee Davies

June: Review: Tales of the Seelie Court @ Heroic Fantasy Writers

24 May: Guest Post: Rituals of a Seelie Writer by Alexandra Christian @ Sheila Deeth Blog

25 May: Interview: Scott M. Sandridge @ Come Selahway With Me

I am happily honoured to be:

Tomorrow Comes Media Tour Host

Previously on this blog tour stop,

I featured an Editor Interview with Mr. Sandridge!

Do not forget to *VOTE* in my Reader’s Poll after reading the Interview! And, leave your response to my enquiry in the comment threads whilst your there too! I appreciate it!

Anthology Discussions on Jorie Loves A Story:

Comments are open on all blog posts!

Comment & Converse freely!

Please visit my Bookish Events page to stay in the know for upcoming events!

It should be noted that I am curating the habit of tweeting my blog life on such handles as #amwriting | #amediting | #amblogging | #amreviewing | #amreading as much as there are antidote tweets being sent out prior to a blog post alighting on JLAS! Little snippets of insight into what I am going to reveal next and/or what I am anticipating will be a newly published post! Be sure to follow and/or keep an eye on my Twitter feeds! All pertinent links are also housed on my About.Me page as well for easy reference, access, and clickablity!

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What do you seek out when sorting out which anthology to read next!? Do you appreciate the journey you are taking to seek out newly emerging writers & their stories? What are your happiest discoveries in both short story, novella, and novel offerings of the fey in fiction!? Which authors are your favourites to soak inside and visit for a short spell!? Are the stories I mentioned today encouraging you to pick up “A Chimerical World”!?

{SOURCES: Book covers for “A Chimerical World: Tales of the Seelie Court”, Editor Biography and Book Synopsis of the anthologies were provided by Tomorrow Comes Media and used with permission. Collage of all three anthology book covers created by Jorie in PicMonkey. Author Interview badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Post dividers & My Thoughts badge by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

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Posted Monday, 19 May, 2014 by jorielov in Animals in Fiction & Non-Fiction, Anthology Collection of Stories, Blog Tour Host, Bookish Discussions, Cats and Kittens, Earthen Magic, Earthen Spirituality, Equality In Literature, Faeries & the Fey, Fairy Tale Fiction, Fantasy Fiction, Folklore and Mythology, Futuristic Fantasy, Good vs. Evil, Indie Author, LGBTTQPlus Fiction | Non-Fiction, Magical Realism, Seventh Star Press, Seventh Star Press Week, Short Stories or Essays, Speculative Fiction, Supernatural Creatures & Beings, The Natural World, Tomorrow Comes Media, Urban Fantasy, Vulgarity in Literature

+Book Review+ Debut novelist Brenda S. Anderson gives readers a heartfelt story of redemption in “Chain of Mercy” (Book One: Coming Home Series)

Posted Sunday, 18 May, 2014 by jorielov , , , , 1 Comment

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Chain of Mercy by Brenda S. Anderson

Chain of Mercy by Brenda Anderson

Published By: Winslet Press () 7 April, 2014
Official Author WebsitesSite | Twitter | Facebook | Pin(terest) Boards
Active in Book Blogosphere: Personal Blog
+ Guest Blogger @ Inkspirational Messages

Available Formats: Softcover
Page Count: 360

Converse on Twitter: #ChainOfMercy & #ComingHomeSeries

#ChristianFiction, #InspirationalFiction#ChrisFic, #ChristIndie & #cleanromance

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Acquired Book By: I answered a call to become a member of Ms. Anderson’s Author Street Team which was posted on her blog in March 2014. She accepted me as part of her Street Team, whereby I am one of her early readers who has the opportunity to read her novels a bit ahead of their published release or just after their release date. I received a complimentary copy of “Chain of Mercy” direct from the author herself, Brenda S. Anderson in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comOn how I know Brenda S. Anderson: Before I was a book blogger, I was a happy-go-lucky blog commenter who loved to visit bookish blogs around the book blogosphere, sharing the joy of reading and blissfully spending time soaking up the booklove the bloggers would knit into their blogs! Through my wanderings in late 2012 and into the early bits of 2013, I stumbled across quite a few author-driven book blogs in both the mainstream and inspirational fiction markets. One author I was pleasantly thrilled to bits to discover was a writer in pursuit of a publishing contract for her novels: Ms. Brenda S. Anderson hailing from Minnesota and of whom has the sweetest personality you’ve ever been graced to find in the blogosphere! Her encouragement on behalf of fellow writers always warmed my heart, as she gets as giddy as I do about upcoming book releases and truly celebrates each milestone another author is experiencing! I felt as though I had found a kindred soul in that regard, as we were both #bookcheerleader(s) before I ever thought to create the tag!

I am disclosing this, to assure you that I can formulate an honest opinion, even though I have interacted with her through her blog as much as I am a member of her Author Street Team. I treat each book as a ‘new experience’, whether I personally know the author OR whether I am reading a book by them for the first time.

Previously I was able to describe exactly why I am drawn into stories knitted together with powerful honesty and an exercise in a faith-based lifepath. Let me copy the paragraph which also applies to why I appreciate Ms. Anderson’s style of writing as she is now firmly in my heart alongside Ms. Lisa Wingate for whom this paragraph was originally on her behalf:

I applaud strong characters who embark on a journey, whether internal, spiritual, or in life. Pieces of the premise reminded me a bit of a Hallmark Christmas film I tend to see during the holidays, starring Richard Thomas, “The Christmas Box”. I love when characters are set up to be in a place they are not intending to stay for a long period of time, yet the place they find themselves is the very place a transformation can occur. That is always powerful to read or watch, because there is such a hearty breath of living truth to the stories! Each of us are walking through life as best we can, growing and learning as we move forward, and never quite knowing when God has an alternative course in mind to restore something to us that has become lost or hidden from view. quoted from my disclosure of connection to Lisa Wingate on my “The Prayer Box” book review

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Book Synopsis:

They forgave him for the accident that killed their son, but he will never forgive himself. Manhattan businessman Richard Brooks was at the top of the world, drunk with success, wealth, and women. Until one disastrous evening, when his world came crashing down. Richard flees to Minneapolis where he repairs ancient boilers instead of solving corporate problems, and he’s determined to live the solitary life he now deserves. But Executive Sheila Peterson has other plans for the handsome custodian. Richard appears to be the perfect match for the no-strings-attached romance she’s after, but she soon discovers that he’s hiding more than the designer suits in his closet.

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Brenda S. Anderson
Author Photo Credit: Portraits from the Heart

Brenda S. Anderson writes gritty, life-affirming fiction that offers hope and reminds the reader they’re not alone. She is a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers, and is currently President of the ACFW Minnesota chapter, MN-NICE. When not reading or writing, she enjoys music, theater, roller coasters, and baseball (Go Twins!), and she loves watching movies with her family. She resides in the Minneapolis, Minnesota area with her husband of 26 years, their three children, and one sassy cat. Her début novel, Chain of Mercy, Book #1 in the Coming Home series, comes out on April 22, 2014, and Pieces of Granite, the prequel to Chain of Mercy, is scheduled to release on September 16, 2014!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comRealistic Fiction by honest portrayal of turmoil:

What I appreciated from the moment I started reading Chain of Mercy, is that I knew that I was going to go through a story where the lead characters would not only have to handle life-altering choices in regards to parenthood but they would have to dig deeper to re-set the internal balance of their soul’s spirit. A person can walk a thin line towards redemption and forgiveness, but surely the worst battle to win is not even the act of accepting grace, but the choice in letting go of what cannot be changed, resolved, or fixed. There are parts of everyone’s past where we might want to go back and opt to do something differently, but the one part about the past is simply that: it is past and done.

Humans have the hardest difficulty to understand that full acceptance of where you are on your lifepath is that you have to acknowledge the threads of your own tapestry. You have to accept each stumbling block, each diversion of your plans, and each wrong choice you made whilst you were doing the best you could at the time in which you erred. No one is perfect on Earth, but the hardest part for any of us is recognising our fragility and our humanity. Being human is the greatest gift we are given, but with it comes a swath of emotions which are not easy to reconcile nor overcome. I would suspect that the circumstances where we might have played a minor role in the outcome to the level that the full outcome was left for someone else to decide is even the worst of all because inside that hour of despair there is not a single thing anyone can do to sway the other opinion towards a different outcome.

Tackling real-life choices such as determining what to do when you arrive at an unexpected pregnancy and a conception of a child out-of-wedlock is a bold choice for any author, but especially I think in Inspirational Fiction as I still stand by what I said in the supplemental Author Interview to this book review. There is another element of real-life conflict that I am not going to disclose as it will reveal too much of the character (Richard Brooks) story arc, and yet, this other element is just as strong of a topic of interest to the former! Not every author would have taken on either of the subject matters, but I always feel not every author would have been the right choice to tell the story. Anderson has a gift for rooting out the heart of what is wrong inside each of her character’s lives, but it is her deft hand to guide the reader and the character through their journey that I celebrated the most within the context of Chain of Mercy!

My Review of Chain of Mercy:

Richard Brooks is a man whose downtrodden soul does not believe he’s warranted mercy to enter his life anymore than happiness. His mind and spirit is bogged down in the remembrance of his mistakes and how those mistakes placed him in circumstances that would allow society to judge him by actions rather than the changes he made in the present. A man with a mind for business gave himself the displeasure of choosing the wrong relationship which cast his attention off his duties as a power player in a firm long enough to be unabashedly dismissed.

In this single act of a life shift moment, he not only weighs the absence of redemption of his past indiscretions but the measure of how far he must go to overcome the guilt he carries in his soul. A man’s emotional baggage and guilt infested conscience can cause far more harm in the long-term than most are willing to admit. His path spilt in half – where two guttingly difficult incidents erupted into his everyday hours causing him the most pain of his soul. The story is half hinged to his present life where he is attempting to rise like a Phoenix whilst part of him is unable to shift out of the past completely living his life through a mess of ashes. The juxtaposition is strongly supported by how the narrative shifts back and forth in the threadings of where Richard is in the present and of whom he was in the past. Including the shifting perspectives of his previous girlfriend with that of his current.

Choices which can alter the course of an individual’s life is one aspect of humanistic turmoil but a choice in which affects three lives at once, where one individual makes the decision without the consult of a second is by far the hardest to reconcile. Especially if the third life is a child not yet bourne, and the second is a father who was never fully given the chance to fill his role in the child’s life nor the mother’s whose only motivation is to abort a life not planned. I cannot even imagine what Richard Brooks went through realising that it wasn’t a violent act of crime which would end the life of his child nor would it be an act of domestic violence which brought a child into his life. No, it would be the choice of whether or not to accept an unexpected blessing at a time in life when other plans had already come into action. Watching Brooks’ anguish over the choice made by his girlfriend which did not match his own heart’s will is the centerpiece of the story. Understanding his perspective of how an act of lust can lead to an act of love (through conception) and then pulled out from under him by a woman whose scorn was lit aflame by selfish preservation is a gutting punch to the conscience.

What is appreciated in the path Anderson took to tell the story is that both sides of the argument on Women’s Rights and the Women’s Right to Choose are explained, identified and explored through different points of view of equal merit. She doesn’t allow you to take sides initially because she wants to be honest in the representation of what real counterpart people of her characters are facing during the same moments where their lives intersect the characters. She even takes a different approach on the topic depending on which character is in the driver seat of the conversation. For this, I applaud her ability to remain neutral as a narrator as oft-times a writer’s own voice can narrate where the direction of the story will head next.

Yet his revelation of his girlfriend’s choice is the tipping stone of what would happen next, as it was a catalyst of where he would take his own actions and what would become of a night lived in shadows. Guilt takes all forms and snakes into our conscienceness if we allow it to overtake our sanity. Richard Brooks found a way to chain irrevocable absolution to his past and thus allowing him the sanction of a living purgatory bent on anguished nightmares of what he could not accept as his own living truth.

The story isn’t a work of judgement but rather an exploration of a living truth: come what may in our lives we are still able to be forgiven even if for choices that we feel are the ultimate sacrifice of receiving forgiveness. No one has the right to judge anyone else, not on the level of where they stand on this topic of political and sociological charging narrative but what can be spoken about is how we choose to handle what life presents us. We can choose our attitudes on how we survive what happens to us in life and we can choose how we will walk forward even when we no longer feel we have the ability to walk at all. That is the strength of the story in Chain of Mercy, in seeing how the fragments can be put back together and how nothing is ever truly lost if we are willing to remain humble.

The hidden beauty of the life affirming message knitted into Chain of Mercy is that all three principal characters (Richard Brooks, Sheila Peterson, and Meghan Keene) are each walking their own path towards self-acceptance, self-forgiveness, and ache for a redemptive measure of mercy and grace none of them believe they deserve. It is how they are all threaded together and how their individual lives are interwoven into the plot that left me wanting to turn each new page to see what was coming along next! Brooks own walk of faith can easily be translucently applied to the other two as each of these three characters reached cross-roads whilst their own lives intersected with each other.

 

A notation on Anderson’s writing style:

What endeared me to the story is Anderson’s compelling way of knitting a realistic story-line set in the modern era and yet denote a hint of a layering of complexity which speaks directly to the human condition to persecute rather than accept self-forgiveness. In the opening chapters, I knew knowingly Richard Brooks was about to embark on one incredible character journey towards self-acceptance and spiritual renewal.

I loved reading the natural world symbolism stitched into the secondary main character Sheila Peterson as it was not only reflective of her unique personality, but a harkening to how we all need to remember to slow down and appreciate what is around us. What I had not realised in those early chapters is that the symbolism of nature and of slowing down was a bit of a foreshadowing of coming events and tides. In regards to Brooks, our past is never an edification of our future nor can our past ever truly shackle us inside its steadfast hold — unless we allow the darkness of bad choices convince us that we are not redeemable from the errors in judgement which besotted our minds with nauseous unease.

I even enjoyed how the flashbacks to the past were represented by text in italics which creatively fit into the regular pace of the story. Sometimes I find flashbacks and/or time slips do not always correlate to the dialogue or the narrative as they can come across as being a jolt out of step. Anderson fuses the flashbacks to the moment in the story which would give the reader the most advantage at connecting with Richard Brooks and the anguish of why he believes he has to live without mercy, grace, and forgiveness.

The reason why I enjoy reading books by Dee Henderson, Julie Lessman, Deeanne Gist, Lisa Wingate, Susan Meissner, and now Brenda S. Anderson is due to the new approach in Inspirational Fiction being rooted in open honesty of real-life circumstances yet grounded in faith, hope, and charity of spirit. These are the authors and women I applaud and seek out as they are the women I could read their back-list and new releases completely enraptured by their stories. They each have their own individualistic style, voice, and choice of time and setting, yet within their stories I breathe in an inspiring breath of calm. The first two authors I mentioned were the foundation of why I wanted to undergo my 70 Authors Challenge, in which I am challenging myself to read 1-5 books by the Inspirational Authors you will find in my sidebar under the challenge countdown badge. I have been slightly delayed in getting my challenge off the ground, but this novel combined with “The Prayer Box” and “A Fall of Marigolds” has inspired me to pick up where I’ve left off! Further details shall follow soon. Stories like these which seek to invigorate and inspire the spirit and heart are always ones that I will fully support.

When Ms. Anderson says she writes ‘gritty fiction’ she is referring to the fact she likes to dig deeper than the superficial layering of telling a story. She likes to go directly into a character’s soul and walk of faith, rooting out their emotional and psychological stability or instability if the case might be, in order to best show the growth and spiritual awakening they need to embark towards. For some it is a spiritual renewal and for others, it’s an awakening because they never gave themselves the proper credit towards understanding God in the first place. She breathes honesty and raw emotions into the context of her stories, and her vision for her characters is realistic humility in recognition of everyman’s faults, fragilities, and sensitivities. She organically digs deeper to tell a more compelling and openly captivating story which pulls you in from page one and does not leave your heart even after the last page is turnt; the story fully absorbed and known. She is most definitely an emerging voice in Inspirational Fiction to keep an eye out for new releases and a finger-tap on interlocking book series!

She maintains the spirituality of Christianity in a gentle way of allowing you to oversee the character going through the motions of returning to a God-centered life which is cross-referenced by light commentary of scriptures and affirmations of God’s grace. It is through the lessons of her character’s actions that the greatest arc of spirituality is found.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com This author’s Interview is courtesy of the Author’s Street Team:

Brenda S. Anderson
Author Photo Credit: Portraits from the Heart

For which I am blessed and thankful to be a part of!

Previously I interviewed Ms. Anderson on behalf of her début as an author!

Please visit my Bookish Events page to stay in the know for upcoming events!

{SOURCES: Book cover for “Chain of Mercy”, Author photograph of Brenda S. Anderson, and Book Synopsis were provided by the author Brenda S. Anderson and used with permission. Author Interview badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Post dividers & My Thoughts badge by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets embedded due to codes provided by Twitter.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

What I’ve shared on Twitter about ‘Chain of Mercy’ or Brenda S. Anderson:

The following is a sampling of the tweeting I’ve done.

Read a convo on Twitter where I recommended “Chain of Mercy” to the author who wrote the incredibly layered “Lemongrass Hope”. (my review of ‘Lemongrass Hope’) | Twitter convo

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

  • Go Indie
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Posted Sunday, 18 May, 2014 by jorielov in 21st Century, A Father's Heart, Abortion, Agnostic (Questioning & Searching or Unsure), Balance of Faith whilst Living, Blogs I Regularly Read, Book Review (non-blog tour), Bookish Discussions, Bout of Books, Brenda S. Anderson's Blog, Contemporary Romance, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Debut Author, Debut Novel, Geographically Specific, Indie Author, Inspirational Fiction & Non-Fiction, Lessons from Scripture, Life Shift, Mental Illness, Minnesota, Modern Day, New York City, RALs | Thons via Blogs, Realistic Fiction, Romance Fiction, Small Towne Fiction, Special Needs Children, Women's Right to Choose (Health Care Rights), Women's Rights

Day 4 of the #BoutofBooks readathon, gives Jorie a reason to forego half a #bookseries & launch into an Egyptological parfum legacy!

Posted Friday, 16 May, 2014 by jorielov , , , , , , , 0 Comments

What I find most surprising as I go through the Bout is what I am finding as I read the stories I am picking up. I always consider myself an open-minded reader who appreciates a widely diverse reading life, yet what surprises me the most is that how surprised I can become whilst attempting to read a book by an author I previously felt I would be captivated by! :( On this note, I have become a bit disappointed and frustrated twiceover in one week! As I started to settle into The Reincarnationist, I was plumb aghast by what I was finding inside the opening pages of Chapter 1! To the brink that I felt that the author & publisher should have changed the genre from historical suspense to historical horror! I will write more about this in a moment, because what was even more interesting is before I boomeranged back the ENTIRE Reincarnationist series to my local library (they are such a blessing to have knowing how many books are in our local catalogue and thus are able to read when I am either about to seek a book for review &/or simply want to get caught up with an author’s work) I remembered what I had loved reading & listening about The Book of Lost Fragrances.

I also knew Seduction & The Collector of Dying Breaths would follow the same vein of thought & intrigue as this particular Book 4 in the series, so before I carted off this half of the series I was less than enthused to be reading now, I decided to take the high road. I thought, no wait! What if the books centered in a focus about ‘scent’ and ‘parfum’ are written in a different style than the previous books!? What if that style was more agreeable to where my reading sensitivities and interests could find common ground!? I pulled these books out of my library bag, placed them on the shelf, and walked out the door. As I returned, I was both apprehensive and joyful in knowing that I could quite possibly have found a way to enjoy an author I had read so very much about!

At the very same time, Richard Brooks was requesting I continue his journey, and I did not want to keep him waiting! :)

Book I am Reading:

  • The Reincarnationist by M.J. Rose – barely made it to page 12! Books 1-3 go promptly back to the library!
  • The Book of Lost Fragrances by M.J. Rose
  • Chain of Mercy by Brenda S. Anderson

Books &/or Memes I am Blogging About:

  • Chain of Mercy: a book review of a debut novel (editing at time of post)
  • 10 Bookish and not So Bookish Thoughts (editing at time of post)
  • Booking Through Thursday (editing at time of post)

Blogs I am Visiting (including non-bouter blogs):

Twitterverse Events I Attended:

  • #k8chat – I enjoyed visiting Ms. Tilton’s chat during their 1st Anniversary celebration the prior week, and I could barely believe it was time to visit with them once more! Their topic of discussion was Diversity in Lit, which I have been talking about since Black History Month in February! I am enjoying keeping in the loop with the on-going dialogue of open-mindedness in reading & exploration of stories. I happily shared links to my own blog, engaged in the conversation, & rather unexpectedly had the pure joy in *winning!* a copy of a novel by an author I have been most delighted getting to know through tweetchats: Ms. Ellen Mulholland! And, coincidentally, the book I have won is a Young Adult novel set in the style of coming of age and is a contribution to LGBT fiction from a similar point of view of Etched On Me, on the level that the character is going through a moment in their life where they want to better understand & accept who they are. I do know the story is lighter than Etched On Me in its scope, but poignant in how the story is told by its author! I was thrilled to bits as this brings the author & I full circle in regards to going from acquaintances online, to fast bookish friends (we tend to have a bit in common as we converse), to a book blogger discovering a new author’s work! Isn’t life bookishly beautiful, at times!? I cannot wait to see “Birds on a Wire” arrive by postal mail! :) Cheers! Thank you K8chat!
  • #10MinuteNovelists – Except to say I did not stay very long because their tag for some reason was being wonky & quirky, and I felt as though I was not able to properly follow the line of thought threaded into the conversation! :( Such a shame as I enjoy visiting with them!
  • I had properly forgotten about #StoryDam! As I appear to be forgetting my regular tweetchats of late! Need more post-its!?

Notes:

I am not certain how I erred twice in one week with books I was quite eager to read, but apparently, I have as when I first opened The Reincarnationist novel I was expecting to be swept away into this historical suspense novel akin to The Skin Map (a still need to finish novel left-over from Sci Fi November!)! I was not expecting to be appalled and more than a bit grossed out by the gutting scene of murder and chilling attack of a woman before I even reached page 15! I promptly put the book in the stash of books being carted back to the library this afternoon! I mean, truly!? I am now a bit betwixt understanding how all my research into the Reincarnationist series is now ending on such a sour note, as one thing I cannot handle to read is brutal mind-bending gore inside of a historical novel! There was a delicate grace in my readings of Citadel by ?. I am not finding the same to be true of M.J. Rose as it is reading more like a horror centered novel than a historical!? I am most confused! As this reminds of how much I appreciate Anne Rice’s research and dedication to writing her novels but at the very same time, cannot find the heart of  mind to read the novels which have enchanted readers for decades! :(

After my library run,…

I decided that it was time to give The Book of Lost Fragrances a bit of a go, as what did I have to lose at this point in time!? From page 1 to page 34 I was literally entwined with the story, the characters, and this tingling nudge towards following one’s heart and nose through a story which was written with a passion for the past and the history of perfumery! :) I was greatly entranced by the Egyptology focus, as much as how a person can have a gift in ? ask Mum the word! ? that not only gives them a field to work in but a gift that takes on a path their life must travel. I loved being consumed by the crushing grief of Jac as she starts to reconcile her sorrow against the fact she does not want to admit that she’s gifted with the ability to see past death and visit with her Mum between the veils. I loved the atmosphere shifting between the tombs Napoleon Bonaparte was attempting to plunder in his quest for conquest, as much I appreciated the Gothic Literature undertones I have always enjoyed reading. This had the etchings of historical suspense, and I felt my spirits starting to soar a bit! The fact that I could reach page 34 and not find one thing wrong except for the fact my dear eyes could not drink in the narrative fast enough was a marker of improvement!

In Chain of Mercy, I found myself captivated and compelled to read Richard Brook’s story simply because he is a broken man in his spirit who needs not only a boost of encouragement but he needs to re-affirm his acceptance of understanding his own humanity. He’s at a cross-roads in his life where he needs to not only determine the course he wants his future to be set upon but in which method he wishes to arrive into that future. I love the fact that his character is not only flawed, but he is genuinely going through a lift shift that takes patience, perservance, time, and the ability to truly look in the mirror seeing your faults and knowing you can overcome them. And, to me that is a very compelling story to engage yourself and find the pages cannot be turnt fast enough!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Contemporary & More (#36) by padfootandprongs07

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Post Six: of

Bout of Books Readathon

{SOURCE: Bout of Books Badge created by Jorie in Canva to give readers & visitors who come to her blog a way to know of  its existence and therefore increasing the mystery & lore surrounding it! The booktuber video “Contemporary & More (#36) via Padfootandprongs07 had either URL share links or coding which made it possible to embed this media portal to this post, and I thank them for the opportunity to share a random joy discovery during Bout of Books. Tweets embedded due to codes provided by Twitter.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

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Posted Friday, 16 May, 2014 by jorielov in #10MinuteWriters, #K8chat, #StoryDam, 10 Bookish (& Not-So-Bookish Thoughts), Blogs I Regularly Read, Booking Through Thursday, Bookish Films, Booktuber : Bookish & Geeky Readers, Bout of Books, Brenda S. Anderson's Blog, Coming-Of Age, Debut Author, Debut Novel, Indie Author, Inspirational Fiction & Non-Fiction, LGBTTQPlus Fiction | Non-Fiction, Literature for Boys, RALs | Thons via Blogs, Readerly Musings, School Life & Situations, Teenage Relationships & Friendships, Twitterland & Twitterverse Event, Young Adult Fiction