*Reposted by request!*

Right out of the gate this book creeped me out. Being a brunette myself, the title alone was enough to scare me! This was a seriously good book.

Words like unhinged, grotesque, shocking, intriguing, and macabre were spinning through my head as I read the stunning and suspenseful pages. In this book, the lines between profiler and killer severely blur constantly. Cristyn West keeps you guessing, “Just WHO is the killer?” And just when you think you’ve figured it out, she takes you through to another labyrinthine twist.

I found myself wondering, “Just who is watching you?” This was a creepy, gritty, horrifying and shocking ride. Right until the last page I found myself exclaiming, “No way!” This book will make you jumpy, especially if you’re a brunette. You’ll find yourself checking your doors and windows, and looking over your shoulder. You’ll catch yourself watching everyone around you, wondering…

The suspense is drawn out to the last drop, right up until you discover the shocking truth! To catch a killer, just how far would you go? Read Plain Jane: Brunettes Beware and you will discover that there’s a fine line between madness and genius!

The Noricin Chronicles by Mark Sheldon

The Lost Boy is the first of 12 installments in The Noricin Chronicles series by author Mark Sheldon. It is a tale of riddles, lineage and super humans, and will have you turning every page rapidly.

Meet 12 year old Daniel Regal, lonely, different than everyone else around him, and an orphan living in a Boston orphanage. Right off the bat we get into it, and we learn that although Dan may feel lost and alone, he is a child that is in possession of a rare gift. He is part of a super human race called Norcinites, or the New Race, and is descended from a rare bloodline known as Margatheans.

After a tragic incident involving a bully on Dan’s twelfth birthday, Nevar Loeren arrives at the orphanage and extends an invitation to Dan to attend a special school for Norcinites named Snisnar. The school was founded by the first Norcinite Steven Noricin, the first Norcinite ever to come into existence. The purpose of the school is to help young Norcinites learn to master their abilities. It also helps the Norcinites to live a life under the radar of the Commens, also known as mere mortals, who would surely persecute them if they found out about the existence of a race of super humans. Despite doubting his sanity and having trepidations about starting a new life, Dan accepts the offer of the school’s principle, the enigmatic and powerful Nevar Loeren.

That September, Dan’s new life as a student of Steve Noricin’s School for the New Race commences, and so too does the mystery of who Dan is and why is someone trying to kill him.

Amongst claims of Superman being a Noricin, a special boarding school for gifted children, and a child of an elite bloodline with rare abilities even amongst his own people,  I couldn’t help but feel excited to read this first novel in the series. The Lost Boy was like a hybrid of Harry Potter meets X-Men, and Nevar Loeren reminded me of Dumbledore and Xavier all rolled into one mysterious character. The main character Dan was a boy I liked right away, and his adventure was fast paced and interesting, and I was a willing participant on his journey of self discovery.

The Lost Boy explores themes of tolerance and fear, the struggle for enlightenment, the vagaries of acceptance and discrimination due to social status, the desire to find one’s place in the world, and accepting your true nature and therein finding your worth. Dan Regal must determine for himself if he has what it takes to embrace and conquer his fear, and he is a character that the reader will definitely root for.

The story gives the reader an intimate view of what it would be like before a super hero became a super hero. It seems there is a learning curve, and watching Dan come into his own, discover his talents and capabilities and hone his craft so to speak, as well as find a place where he finally belonged was an enjoyable endeavour. Mark Sheldon does a great job of combining humor with wisdom and wit, and has created a new world for readers to enjoy.

The Lost Boy is filled with ominous foreboding, puzzling riddles and challenges, secret passageways and dark corridors, nightmares and monsters, and an eclectic group of enigmatic and eccentric professors. There are struggles and rivalries amongst foes, and the close bonds of friendship, and a bevy of exciting, psychic and paranormal super powers. Not only is there an assassination plot or two, but in addition to eluding and helping to ferret out a would be murderer, Dan must unlock the secret of his past and discover the origins of his family. I for one have a keen interest to discover just who is the lost boy Dan Regal and what is his destiny? I will be eagerly awaiting the second installment in The Noricin Chronicles, definitely an intriguing new series by Mark Sheldon.

The Lost Boy is available January 11, 2011. Visit http://noricin.webs.com for more information, and join Mark Sheldon on Facebook. Enjoy the book trailer for The Lost Boy below!

Salquin to the Rescue by Rosie Reay with illustrations by Candice McMullan

Stop the presses! The wait is over! Salquin to the Rescue has just been released as an EBook at Foden Press! The 2nd book in the popular The Chimona Chronicles series is written by children’s author Rosie Reay and illustrated by Candice McMullan. The story takes us back to the Okanagan Lakeside Resort in beautiful British Columbia, Canada to see all our friends from the 1st book in the series, How Kelvyn Got His Name, and to meet some new friends.

The story begins with a Thunder storm rolling in over the Okanagan Lake. It’s getting dark and all the boaters are starting to come in and return the boats they’ve rented for the day. Everyone is accounted for except a vacationing family from Scotland, and this sparks a brave plan to try and rescue them — if they can find them in the dark during a storm! But Chimona and Kelvyn are on the scene, and so is their new Blue Raven friend Salquin, a young First Nations boy with a knack for tracking and a trusty canoe. In addition to the search and rescue, a mystery is afoot. Another boat is missing, and no one can figure out who took it or where it could possibly be! Will the OLKs be able to find the family in time? And will the mystery of the missing boat ever be solved? And who do you think will solve the mystery?

This is a lovable story about furry, feathered, finned and human friends who all live around the lakeside community coming together to help a lost family. Kids will love reading about the intrepid Chimona, Kelvyn and Salquin and their adventures and mystery solving techniques. Great for travel reading and capturing the imaginations of the young reader and grandparents alike, Salquin to the Rescue is sure to please and entertain! Kids will enjoy gazing at the beautiful illustrations by talented artist Candice McMullan and will enjoy the bonus, full length poem Firelogs Burning. This original poem is also written by Rosie Reay, and poems are a unique trademark in The Chimona Chronicles series of books. Want to learn more about your favorite characters? It’s simple! Just visit the official website of Rosie Reay and The Chimona Chronicles series at www.Chimona.com and explore until your heart’s content!

So pick up a copy of Salquin to the Rescue today, and enjoy hours of reading and learning fun for the whole family! You can connect with Rosie Reay on Facebook and Twitter. Connect with Candice McMullan on Facebook. Just click on the links above!

Plain Jane by Cristyn West

Right out of the gate this book creeped me out. Being a brunette myself, the title alone was enough to scare me! This was a seriously good book.
Words like unhinged, grotesque, shocking, intriguing, and macabre were spinning through my head as I read the stunning and suspenseful pages. In this book, the lines between profiler and killer severely blur constantly. Cristyn West keeps you guessing, “Just WHO is the killer?” And just when you think you’ve figured it out, she takes you through to another labyrinthine twist.
I found myself wondering, “Just who is watching you?” This was a creepy, gritty, horrifying and shocking ride. Right until the last page I found myself exclaiming, “No way!” This book will make you jumpy, especially if you’re a brunette. You’ll find yourself checking your doors and windows, and looking over your shoulder. You’ll catch yourself watching everyone around you, wondering…

The suspense is drawn out to the last drop, right up until you discover the shocking truth! To catch a killer, just how far would you go? Read Plain Jane: Brunettes Beware and you will discover that there’s a fine line between madness and genius!

Nothing happens unless first we dream ~ Carl Sandburg

I am a writer. I like to write about the things that interest me. This is one of the simple things that makes me happy. I wanted to share with you the kinds of things you will find here on this blog. It’s probably a little different than what you might be expecting; but my wish for you is that you have as much fun reading the things I write here as I have in the thinking, and the writing of these words and ideas.

You see, like myself, this blog is a myriad of facets and elements. This blog is a labyrinthine collection, and a meandering mosaic of writing. It’s filled with the things I find not just interesting, but also amazing, intriguing, entertaining, engaging, appealing, silly, and ponder-worthy. Sometimes the posts will be short. Sometimes they will be long. Sometimes they will fall somewhere in between, or have just one line. 99% of the time, you’ll see images. I like to use images a lot. I am a very visual person, and I think images spice up the posts quite nicely. And the categories, well, as you will see, my list is unusually long; and that’s OK, because I like to write about a lot of different things. That’s where the whole eclectic writer thing comes in. Besides, there’s no real hard and fast rules for blogging, is there? Aren’t personal blogs meant to be as original and unique as each individual writer is?

So on any given day, at any given time, I could be writing about what cucumber sandwiches remind me of, my much beloved Youngling and my much beloved others, my adventures in reading, or my random musings and attempts at philosophy. You may also notice the odd run on sentence, as I tend to be quite loquaciously articulate at times.

One thing you will discover without fail, is that I love movies. This blog is filled with my unique contemplations of cinema, and with the exploration of my understanding and interpretation of movies of all kinds. I have an obsessive kind of love affair with movies. More than anything else other than writing, reading, and spending time with my Youngling and beloveds, I love spending time with movies. I am not ashamed to say that I am a BIG TIME movie geek, and you will find A LOT of inner musings and odes to the movies I adore on this site.

So, if you are looking for a more tailored, streamlined or rigid read, this may not be your 4 o’clock cup of ginseng tea. But if you just want to visit a friendly place created by a dreamer, have some fun, and free your mind from the daily grind, then this is the pumpernickel for you!

So be well, and happy reading! I hope you have as much fun as I do. And that, my dear readers, is my wish for you.

Your Brighter Scribe…

“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.“
~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe