(Warning! There be spoilers ahead. Don’t read if you haven’t seen Silver Lining Playbook.)

I loved Flirting With Disaster. (free streaming with Amazon Prime at the moment) I thought it was great because, obviously: Patricia Arquette, Téa Leoni, Ben Stiller on a good day.

Three Kings was phenomenally good! (sadly, no streaming at all at the moment) But how could it not be? I mean, George Clooney! Mark Wahlberg! Ice Cube! fantastic performances, and an amazing anti-war movie marketed as good, old-fashioned blow-everything-to-hell entertainment.

I’ve just watched Silver Linings Playbook for about the fourth time, and I’m adding it to the David O. Russell-is-fabu pile. Sure, it’s got fabulous actors. Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence are wonderful, and Robert De Niro is … Robert De Niro.

But in the hands of a different director, I wonder if this movie – any of these movies – would be so great. Russell trusts his audience’s intelligence. He doesn’t shove stuff in your face. He lays out all the parts of the story like lace and lets us discover how things are interconnected, spot the frills and the matrices.

And the embellishing tones. In the case of Silver Linings Playbook (spoiler coming), Bradley Cooper’s character Pat is obsessed with getting his wife Nikki back. To him, she’s the perfect woman, and theirs is the perfect love. When he meets Jennifer Lawrence’s Tiffany, she challenges everything he thinks about what’s true. It’s particularly scary that he’s fascinated and delighted by the fact that she has no problem talking about sex.

She tells him about a sexual encounter she had with a woman and how the woman had Tiffany sit on her lap and “do things.” Pat obviously enjoys hearing the story, but then he comments that Nikki would never approve of talk like that.

blah, blah, blah … many scenes about self-denial, obsession, leading to trauma, risk, new choices, self-discovery and happiness.

And at the very end of the movie, Russell plays a little note that I didn’t catch until the fourth viewing. The family is all together, it’s happy days, Mom is making crabby snacks and homemades, the game is about to start, and all is well with the world.

And Tiffany sits on Pat’s lap and with happy, easy smiles they kiss.

No big deal. You can miss it if you’re not thinking about it. But that act is what tells us it’s going to be okay. Russell doesn’t hit us over the hit with it. He doesn’t have the characters say anything about “come sit on my lap” “oh, ha, ha.” It’s just a matter-of-course, lovely bit.

And why I’ll watch anything David O. Russell makes.

It’s been a while since we’ve had a flash giveaway, and JL Bryan’s new book, Nomad has inspired me to go for it.

I was a lucky beta reader of this kick-ass pageturner, and I recommend it enthusiastically.

Think Terminator meets Dollhouse meets Continuum and they all go to college together and save the world while being chased by Dick Cheney.

If you don’t know the drill, here ‘s how it works:

The newsletter goes out today at about noon Pacific Time. It will contain the password and the secret phrase, with a link to the POST AFTER THIS ONE (password protected).

Be among the first 5 to use the password to get into the password-protected post and leave the secret phrase in the comments, and a Kindle OR NOOK! copy of Nomad is yours!

Good luck!

My head feels like it’s going to burst with images and plot points and climactic revelations – oh, my!

The story angels have been bombarding me of late. I’m working on War of the Wyrd and Tethers 4, revamping a few covers, and the Apocalyptos will NOT quiet down.

I finally found a fantastic Mallory for the cover of Firebird, the striking Jessica of faestock.

I just hope I live long enough to write all the stories in my head…

It’s giveaway time! This is a great one – sponsored by Mimi Strong and her new book Stardust. You’ll notice my New Adult romance, Love Scars, (written under my pen name Lark Lane) is involved too!

(contest ended; congratulations to the winners!)

Like the first two Tethers books, War of the Wyrd involves time travel. The story tells what happened back in 12th century Dumnos that led to the disintegration of the wyrding world. We also find out about a terrible secret Max the goblin has carried since that time.

The battle for the English throne is on between Mahtla, daughter of the dead King Henry, and Stephos, Henry’s nephew. Everyone is pressured to choose sides, not only the Earl of Dumnos, but wyrd and fae, as well as the clerics in the Christian church which is only beginning to solidify political as well as spiritual power.

It’s a dark time, laced with fear and longing for happier days. I’m absolutely in love with one of the characters, Bayd Rosswick, a nobleman caught up in church politics and the desires of his patrons, the eeeevilllll Sarumen family. In forming Bayd Rosswick’s character, I’ve leaned heavily on this poem by William Butler Yeats.

The Song of Wandering Aengus

I went out to the hazel wood,
Because a fire was in my head,
And cut and peeled a hazel wand,
And hooked a berry to a thread;
And when white moths were on the wing,
And moth-like stars were flickering out,
I dropped the berry in a stream
And caught a little silver trout.

When I had laid it on the floor
I went to blow the fire aflame,
But something rustled on the floor,
And some one called me by my name:
It had become a glimmering girl
With apple blossom in her hair
Who called me by my name and ran
And faded through the brightening air.

Though I am old with wandering
Through hollow lands and hilly lands,
I will find out where she has gone,
And kiss her lips and take her hands;
And walk among long dappled grass,
And pluck till time and times are done
The silver apples of the moon,
The golden apples of the sun.

William Butler Yeats

New Release: Samskaras (Book 2 in the Love and Light Series)

On Amazon

Now available at:

Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Smashwords
iTunes

When the universe conspired to bring Loti and Wolf together, it was just getting warmed up. After surviving Modore’s assassination attempt on Wolf, the lovers want nothing more than some peace and quiet, but the universe has other plans for them.

And Loti and Wolf are done waiting to find out what they are.

Convinced there will be no happily-ever-after for them until Modore is dealt with, they form a dubious alliance with untrustworthy forces from Wolf’s past. While searching for clues to the homicidal vampire’s whereabouts, they uncover secrets that begin to unravel reality as they know it. Tangled up in black ops conspiracies and fae treachery, they make a fatal mistake—overlooking the enemy in their midst.
Can love and light survive a downward spiral into darkness?

On Amazon

and Enlightened (Book 1 in the Love and Light Series) is available, too!

Amazon
Smashwords
iTunes

Loti Dupree’s meager healing abilities have been more a curse than a blessing. What’s the point if she can’t save her husband from cancer? Harboring a painful secret, Loti flees the life they had in a small Appalachian town for the ashram, the spiritual retreat where she trained to be a yogini. But she finds herself running from more than grief when an ominous nightmare sets her on a dangerous path of self-discovery that challenges everything she believes–and threatens her life.

While dodging psychic attacks from an unknown assailant, Loti races to understand who and what she is before her enemy can catch up with her. To make matters worse, events throw her into the arms of a handsome but frustrating vampire. Love and light are waiting for her—if she can only figure out how to stay alive.

About the Author

Melissa Lummis considers herself a truth seeker, a peaceful warrior, a paranormal and fantasy writer, an avid reader, a thru-hiker GA->ME ’98, a wife, a mother, and a free thinker. She believes the universe conspires to help an adventurer, and that if we live our lives as if it is a daring adventure (and it is!), then everything we need will find its way to us.

The author lives in rural Virginia with her husband, two children, an Alaskan Malamute and a myriad of forest creatures. The nature of her mind dictates that she write to stay sane. Otherwise, her fertile imagination takes off on tangents of its own accord, creating scenarios and worlds that confuse the space-time continuum.

Namaste, dear friends.

– See more at: http://www.melissalummis.com/2013/06/new-release-samskaras-book-2-in-love.html#sthash.bIkwEzrT.dpuf

One splendid sunshiny day, about an hour after noon, Irene, who was playing on a lawn in the garden, heard the distant blast of a bugle. She jumped up with a cry of joy, for she knew by that particular blast that her father was on his way to see her. This part of the garden lay on the slope of the hill and allowed a full view of the country below. So she shaded her eyes with her hand and looked far away to catch the first glimpse of shining armour. In a few moments a little troop came glittering round the shoulder of a hill. Spears and helmets were sparkling and gleaming, banners were flying, horses prancing, and again came the bugle-blast which was to her like the voice of her father calling across the distance: ‘Irene, I’m coming.’

On and on they came until she could clearly distinguish the king. He rode a white horse and was taller than any of the men with him. He wore a narrow circle of gold set with jewels around his helmet, and as he came still nearer Irene could discern the flashing of the stones in the sun. It was a long time since he had been to see her, and her little heart beat faster and faster as the shining troop approached, for she loved her king-papa very dearly and was nowhere so happy as in his arms. When they reached a certain point, after which she could see them no more from the garden, she ran to the gate, and there stood till up they came, clanging and stamping, with one more bright bugle-blast which said: ‘Irene, I am come.’

By this time the people of the house were all gathered at the gate, but Irene stood alone in front of them. When the horsemen pulled up she ran to the side of the white horse and held up her arms. The king stopped and took her hands. In an instant she was on the saddle and clasped in his great strong arms.

I wish I could describe the king so that you could see him in your mind. He had gentle, blue eyes, but a nose that made him look like an eagle. A long dark beard, streaked with silvery lines, flowed from his mouth almost to his waist, and as Irene sat on the saddle and hid her glad face upon his bosom it mingled with the golden hair which her mother had given her, and the two together were like a cloud with streaks of the sun woven through it. After he had held her to his heart for a minute he spoke to his white horse, and the great beautiful creature, which had been prancing so proudly a little while before, walked as gently as a lady—for he knew he had a little lady on his back—through the gate and up to the door of the house. Then the king set her on the ground and, dismounting, took her hand and walked with her into the great hall, which was hardly ever entered except when he came to see his little princess. There he sat down, with two of his counsellors who had accompanied him, to have some refreshment, and Irene sat on his right hand and drank her milk out of a wooden bowl curiously carved.

After the king had eaten and drunk he turned to the princess and said, stroking her hair:

‘Now, my child, what shall we do next?’

from The Princess and the Goblin by George Macdonald

Amazon (I didn’t link to a Kindle version because none available look well done)

Project Gutenberg

Welcome Readers!

So begins Elle Casey’s invitation to YOU – she’s giving away 190 books in the next few days. All you have to do is choose the ones you want. There’s also a place to say why you picked the books you did – fill that out, and give the authors a thrill!

I’ve just skimmed the list so far (Firebird and Spiderwork are included) and it looks like a lot of great books are there, including at least one New York Times bestseller.

Have fun!

How about a $10 gift card to spend at Amazon on a great new book for spring?

And … Congratulations, Kat! You won with this entry!

Kat Riley says:

a Rafflecopter giveaway