It's Baby Moo and Julie, Too! (& Links)

Today, I'm featuring Julie Flanders and her new book Baby Moo's Great Escape. If you've been by Julie's blog, you know she cares deeply about animals and works to bring attention to ways to help them. Now she's taken that love and put out her first children's book.

Without further ado, here's Baby Moo! (Man, I keep rhyming.)

Baby Moo has a dream. He wants to travel the world and sing on the stage of the Sydney Opera House! While he loves his home at Sunrise Sanctuary, it hasn’t been the same since a piglet named Nathan showed up and stole all the attention away from Moo. Jealous of the new baby, Moo decides now is the time to make his escape and pursue his dream.

But the world outside the sanctuary gates is not quite the fun and exciting place Moo imagined, and he quickly finds himself in big trouble. Moo's friends Missy the dog and Ruthie the cat rush to help him, and land in some trouble of their own.

Lost and frightened, Moo and his friends must rely on each other to find their way back home. Will they ever see Sunrise again?

Release date: September 8, 2016 from Native Ink Press

Links:

https://julieflanders.blogspot.com/p/baby-moos-great-escape.html

Add on Goodreads

Julie Flanders will donate $1 to Sunrise Sanctuary, home to Baby Moo and numerous other rescued animals, for each copy sold in September. 

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Now for some links! Bear in mind that I'm not endorsing any of these links, merely passing them along. Always do your own due diligence before submitting.

Accepting Submissions:

The Patchwork Raven is open for submissions of children's bedtime stories aimed at kids 3-9. Pays $25. Deadline September 30.

The Fantasist is open for novellas. They have a whole big list of stuff they like, so I'm going to leave it up to them, but fantasy and YA, in general, though YA is not required. 15,000-40,000 words. Pays $50. Deadline September 30.

Chicken Soup for the Soul is looking for stories matching the theme Best Mom Ever! Up to 1200 words. Pays $200. Deadline September 30.

Karen Walker is putting together an anthology called Still Me After All These Years. She's looking for contributors age 50 and over. I don't believe this will be paid, which I usually wouldn't share, but this is a passion project for her, so I agreed to share, anyway. Deadline September 30.

The Last Line is open for flash and short fiction ending with the line "It was hard to accept that from now on everyone would look at her differently." 300-5000 words. Pays $20-40. Deadline October 1.

Robert N. Stephenson is looking for submissions of speculative fiction for the anthology The Worlds of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Vol II. 4500-10,000 words. Pays AUD$100. Deadline October 15.

Disquieted Dreams Press is seeking body horror short stories for the anthology In Our Bodies. 2000-5000 words. Pays $10. Deadline October 15.

Helios is looking for fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and art. Theme for the December issue is RE_ACTED, and they're looking for stories that explore the dark side of human progression. 500-1500 words. Pays $.01/word. Deadline October 15.

Blog Hops:

The October theme for the Write Edit Publish blog hop/challenge is Constellations. Up to 1000 words. Post October 19.

Of Interest:

I thought this was interesting and helpful: Beta Reader Etiquette.

Sounds cute, doesn't it? And isn't it awesome she's donating money to Sunrise Sanctuary for all September purchases? What do you think of Baby Moo? Any of these links of interest? Anything to share? Publishing or submission news?

May you find your Muse.

Bish Denham - The Bowl and the Stone Cover Reveal & Links

Today, I'd like to welcome Bish Denham, for the cover reveal of The Bowl and the Stone!

You ready for it?

Here it comes...

Pirates. Explorers. And spooky ghost hunters.

It’s 1962. Sam and her best friend, Nick, have the whole island of St. John, in the U. S. Virgin Islands, as their playground. They’ve got 240 year-old sugar plantation ruins to explore, beaches to swim, and trails to hike.

But when a man disappears like a vapor right in front of them, they must confront a scary new reality. They’re being haunted. By whom? And why? He’s even creeping into Nick’s dreams.

They need help, but the one who might be able to give it is Trumps, a reclusive hunchback who doesn’t like people, especially kids. Are Sam and Nick brave enough to face him? And if they do, will he listen to them? 

Their carefree summer games turn into eerie hauntings, and Sam and Nick learn more about themselves and life than they could ever have imagined.

Pre-order today and enter the ghostly tale as soon as it releases.

Bish Denham, whose mother’s side of the family has been in the Caribbean for over one hundred years, was raised in the U. S. Virgin Islands. She still has lots of family living there whom she visits regularly. 

She says, “Growing up in the islands was like living inside a history book. Columbus named the islands, Sir Francis Drake sailed through the area, and Alexander Hamilton was raised on St. Croix. The ruins of hundreds of sugar plantations, built with the sweat and blood of slave labor, litter the islands. Then there were the pirates who plied the waters. It is within this atmosphere of wonder and mystery, that I grew up. Life for me was magical, and through my writing I hope to pass on some of that magic.”

The Bowl and the Stone: A Haunting Tale from the Virgin Islands, is her third book and second novel. You can find Anansi and Company: Retold Jamaican Tales and A Lizard’s Tail, at Amazon.com.

To learn more about Bish, you can visit her blog, Random Thoughts, at www.http:/bish-randomthoughts.blogspot.com.

She can also be found on Facebook: www.facebook.com/BishDenham/Author

And Twitter @BishDenham 

Thanks for stopping by, Bish. I love your author photo!

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Link time! Bear in mind that I'm not endorsing these links, merely passing along those I happen across. Always do your own due diligence before submitting to a publication.

Accepting Submissions:

Pole to Pole Publishing is taking submissions of speculative short fiction for their anthology In a Cat's Eye. 3000-5000 words. Pays $.02/word, plus possibility of royalties. Deadline August 30.

Chicken Soup for the Soul is looking for submissions for Curvy & Confident. Up to 1200 words. Pays $200. Deadline August 30.

Frith Books is seeking horror short stories for Restless, an anthology. 7000-12,000 words. Pays $25. Deadline August 31.

ELJ Publications is seeking poetry, micro and flash fiction, flash essays, and hybrid works for Come as You Are. Pays $.01/word. Deadline August 31.

Contrary is seeking commentary, fiction, and poetry. Up to 1500 words. Pays $20. Deadline September 1.

Sirens Call is open for submissions to the themed anthology Alone With Your Fear. 4000-8000 words. Pays $25. Deadline September 1.

Geometry is seeking creative nonfiction and fiction. Up to 8000 words. Pays $.01 to $.03/word. Deadline September 1.

|tap| is seeking poetry and prose. Pays $25. Deadline September 1.

Contests:

The Rotting Post is holding a humor competition. Up to 1000 words. First prize is $250. No entry fee. Deadline August 31.

Poets & Patrons is holding the Helen Schaible International Sonnet Contest. First prize $50. No entry fee. Deadline September 1.

What do you think of the cover? Isn't this the kind of adventure you would have loved to go on as a kid? What is your favorite childhood adventure? Any of these links of interest to you? Anything to share?

May you find your Muse.

Horror List Book Review: Coraline

I'm reading through three lists of best horror with two friends, posting reviews as we go. (For more information, including a list of the books, see this post.) So far, I've reviewed Poppy Z. Brite's Drawing Blood, Robert McCammon's The Wolf's Hour, and Laird Barron's The Imago Sequence. This week, I'm reviewing Coraline, by Neil Gaiman.

The version I read, borrowed from the library, was an anniversary edition. It had a snippet at the beginning about Gaiman's inspiration for the story, which was a fun addition, and gave me some insight into the details behind it.

I liked this. A lot. I'm surprised I hadn't read this before. Of course, I'd seen the movie, which I enjoyed, so I was wary of liking the movie better. However, they're pretty close, and both are wonderful.

Coraline's parents are busy people, wrapped up in their own worlds, so she spends her time exploring and playing on her own. Everyone she interacts with only barely listens to her, and they never really hear her. If you've ever had your name mispronounced, especially if it happens habitually, you'll know how she feels when it repeatedly happens to her. While I've always been called Sharon instead of Shannon, Coraline gets called Caroline. I automatically had that internal urge to correct them when they called her Caroline. I think I would have appreciated that part of the storyline as a kid.

The story takes a turn when Coraline begins seeing shadows and hearing someone moving around the house. A locked door magically unlocks. On the other side, she finds a flipped world that looks much like the real world, and is inhabited by twisted versions of the people in the real world. Things seem better in this version of the world at first, with people paying more attention to Coraline and calling her by the correct name. Then things begin to change. Through it all, Coraline is clever and polite. She faces some freaky things, like her Other Mother and Other Father, alternate versions of her parents possessing buttons instead of eyes, and she remains brave throughout, acknowledging that bravery doesn't mean you aren't scared. A great lesson for kids. 

By the end of the story, not only has she been shown how important her family is to her, I'd like to think her parents learned the same thing.

Gaiman creates a unique girl who is easy to identify with. The alternate world is creepy and well realized, the atmosphere surreal. Yet there's something about Gaiman's writing in this that makes it feel comfortable and intimate, like he's directly telling you a scary story. The dialog is witty. There's a solid creep factor throughout, with some scary moments, things that would not only be frightening as a child, but that adults can identify with, as well. 

Basically, I don't have anything bad to say about this story. I'm glad I finally read it. The version I read had illustrations that fit the mood perfectly. I enjoyed it as an adult, and part of that was because I could still identify with being a kid in a world that looks down on them, humors them, condescends to them. She was so lonely, yet not in a self-pitying kind of way. 

From the adult perspective, it made me look at how I interact with my kids. Am I paying them enough attention? When they speak to me, do I really listen? Often, the answer to that is no. Much like the adults in the story, I'm so often deeply engaged with myself, my work, my troubles, that I give them the attention I have to, but don't always see the people they are, and let myself set aside my work, my finances, my b.s., and just enjoy hanging out with them.

For kids, they get to see that other kids deal with these same issues, and they maybe get some insight into the fact that it doesn't mean adults don't care, just that they're preoccupied. They see this girl using her imagination, being strong, brave, and polite, using her wits to problem solve and get out of trouble. It shows her caring for and worrying about other people, not just herself. 

All in all, I found it delightful. I'm looking forward to reading this with my kids. When the book I purchased gets here. :)

My next review will be Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale.  

Have you read Coraline? Seen the movie? Which did you prefer? Did you enjoy either or both? Did you read it as a child or an adult? Have you read a book that made you look at yourself, maybe your parenting or another aspect of your life, and re-evaluate?

May you find your Muse.