Looking forward to Spring Anyone? by Tena Stetler

 

Well, officially the first day of Spring (vernal equinox) arrived on March 20, 2022. Surprisingly enough, I could actually see green spouts from my crocus, daffodils, snowdrops, tulips, and hyacinths. Usually these sprouts are poking out of the snow on the first day of Spring. Mother Nature allowed us a couple of spring like days before she’ll hit us with more wet snow. Not that I’m complaining, Colorado needs the moisture so badly, I’m fine with the snow. It just felt good to see starting of spring flowers along with the warm sun on my face!

How about a few fun facts about the Spring equinox?

1.      An equinox is a moment in time and space when the sun is positioned directly above the Earth’s equator, which happens just twice a year on the vernal and autumnal equinoxes.

2.     In Mexico, in the ruins of the Mayan city Chichén Itzá, crowds gather at the ancient El Castillo pyramid every spring and fall equinox to witness an equinox celebration that dates around 1,000 A.D. The pyramid is dedicated to the feathered serpent god, Quetzalcoatl. Now this is the part that makes your skin crawl. At sunset on the equinoxes, the angle of the sun creates shadows that look like a giant snake. The light-and-shadow snake appears to slither down the pyramid steps until it merges with the huge sculpted serpent’s head at the bottom.

3.     Spring is a time of renewal and new growth. March showers (in Colorado it’s snow showers) bring April-May flowers and earthworms! The worms spend the winter buried deep below the frost line, but the annual spring showers reduce the oxygen in the dirt so they make their way to the surface. That’s why the first full moon in March is known as the Worm Moon?

4.     Then there is the age old magic egg spring equinox tradition. A day of magic. Folklore claims that special magnetic or energetic changes on the Spring equinox make is possible to stand a raw egg on its end. It’s a myth! When in reality, you can balance some raw eggs on their end anytime of the year. I’ve never been able to, but….

5.     Is there a gateway to hell during the Spring Equinox? Yep. According to Weird U.S.: Your Travel Guide to America’s Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets.  In the tiny town of Stull, Kansas at  a cemetery on Emanuel Hill, legend claims this is one of the places the devil himself can enter the human world only twice a year. Of course the other is Halloween. This is a new one on me.

6.     Did you know that Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox?

7.     What does the Spring Equinox mean for Zodiac Signs? Check it out! 

Looking for An Angel's Wylder Assignment? Got one right here for you.

An impromptu assignment for a Scottish Warrior Angel and a Native American shapeshifter from present day, must time travel to 1878 in an effort to unravel a dangerous mystery and creature their future. 

Angel Killian Dugan’s annual trip to the family castle in Scotland is shattered by the arrival of Legion Commander North. Killian’s skills are needed for an urgent time travel assignment. A rogue demon has escaped back in time. He must discover the why and where then stop the demon before it can damage the past and change the future.

Killian’s girlfriend Chinoah Grace, a Native American shapeshifter is included in the mission, which takes them to the wild west town of Wylder, Wyoming in 1878. She will have her hands full fitting in and making friends. Nothing is as it seems. They encounter visions, spirit quests, and a mysterious shaman. On top of it all, blending in as a blacksmith is more physically difficult than he imagined. But not as challenging as keeping his hands off his undercover wife. Will they complete their assignment or run out of time?

Buy Links:

Amazon   B&N   ibooks   Kobo

What Ifs by Guest Donna Steele @steele_donna

Welcome, Donna Steele.

My go-to genre has always been science fiction/paranormal. The possibilities have fascinated me since I was a kid, because there are no limits. The what if’s are infinite. Adding a little romance only enhanced what I read when I was younger. Add to that the fact that my mother said girls don’t read sci fi and my fate was sealed.

One of the things that always stood out for me was the caution that in changing a time-line, possible negatives could manifest in the future. I’ve read Stephen King’s 11/22/63 and loved it since I was “there” for that trauma. I’ve also read science fiction about such changes as assassinating Hitler earlier than his suicide. While I accept that changing the time-line could cause a major upheaval, does it always have to be a negative? Couldn’t a few small negatives be okay for the overall good that could come from change?

That brought me to Another Time. The premise, that someone could go back in time and possibly change the future for the better, drew me in. I’m a global warming warrior in my small way. I’ve been recycling since 1975 when it first became possible in my town (we took our newspapers to the fire departments for recycle back then – only newspaper – we’ve come a long way), our current recycling bin at home (the city now picks it up!) always has more in it for pickup than the trash, and hubby and I both drive hybrids. But what if these practices had started earlier, a lot earlier? What if the oil industry had never become so powerful? What if plastic bottles had always been made from recyclable materials rather than oil? What if clean energy from the sun and wind had been the norm from the beginning?

So I ran with it. What if . . . an engineer who dappled in green energy and a doctor who specialized in trauma medicine were thrust back into the past through no fault of their own? What if they were practically strangers to one another, but with only one another to rely on?

Researching what was available in 1891 became a passion, especially the medical research. So much has been accomplished in this area due to NASA and other agencies, and more is being done every day. But back then small town doctors had to learn by experience and trial and error. Even though my heroine knows a lot of treatments and potential cures, the materials she needs just aren’t there. What if . . .

Like my heroine, I’ve become accustomed to having Google at my fingertips. Which wasn’t always a good thing. I got caught up more than once in my research and forgot to write. One that surprised me was my interest in the zipper. I highly recommend you Wiki that some day you don’t have deadlines and need a time suck – LOL! Or maybe I was in a major mood to procrastinate that day (which is entirely possible).

    

 I also have a couple of doctors in my family – a surgeon and a pediatrician – who always answer questions in words of one syllable, which helped immensely. A book like this has to be researched. People who love time travel know more than any team of researchers because they love the genre and will go after any error with fervor. That means you have to be as accurate as possible.

On the other side, the family is also full of engineers—you can only imagine the talk around the Thanksgiving table some years. While I never hit up the engineers on time travel, I have engaged them on green energy a few times.

The book that resulted from all of this, Another Time was a fun write. Here’s a snippet to show you -

Blurb –

There is no time travel. Dr. Dustin Williams is a physicist and works with NASA and other companies. If time travel worked, he would know.

Dr. Deanna Stevens is a trauma specialist who gave no credence to science fiction such as time travel or flux capacitors.

But when they are drawn to one another by an unknown force and have to face the reality that they're in this alone, they have to rethink their strongly held beliefs, and rely on each other in ways neither could imagine.

Excerpt –

For the first time all day, Dee relaxed. None of this made sense. When she had left the ER for the evening, she’d been numb. She couldn’t even remember how she’d gotten to the bar. She’d walked away from the hospital, too exhausted to think. Now, out to dinner with a complete stranger, thoughts of attractive serial killers came to mind but drifted away as she watched Dusty.

He was attractive, not to mention tall and well built. If this had been planned, she might have worn heels. She certainly wasn’t dressed for a date. With a jolt Dee realized she hadn’t even changed her footwear when leaving the ER. Tiny flecks of blood decorated her work shoes. He hadn’t noticed so she pushed it aside.

For some reason Dusty’s presence lightened her mood. Maybe the fact he hadn’t turned away when she started to leave. The gloom of the day had dissipated as soon as he walked toward her and that weird buzzing started.

She eyed him discreetly, noting how his dark chestnut hair flopped over his broad forehead, nearly to those hazel eyes. The style suited him, though longer than she would have considered appropriate for meeting clients. Those short curls over his collar, so full and soft, and . . .

Okay, where the hell had that come from?

Get a grip, Dee.

Buy link - https://www.amazon.com/Another-Time-Guardians-Now-Book-ebook/dp/B06VY26B4B/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1488982747&sr=1-1&keywords=another+time

About Donna Steele:

Women strong enough for love.

Donna writes science fiction, paranormal and small town romances about women coming into their strength and having the courage to find and accept love.

Now that she has retired from going into an office every day, she created an office at home and writes full time. Talk about living the dream!

She was the girl at the party who was yearning for the quiet corner and a book to read (go Rory Gilmore!), and has been writing in her head since she learned to read. Getting those stories down on paper (or in her laptop) has been more fun than she ever imagined it could be.

The possibilities of science fiction have always drawn her and she's read them all, there just needed to be a little more romance in them. She finally got up the courage to write them herself and is delighted to be able to share these stories with you.

She is a member of Romance Writers of America, the Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal Chapter of RWA and the Heart of Carolina Romance Writers. She can be reached at

website: www.steelestories.com

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/donnasteeleauthor

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/steele_donna

Loving Christmas ~ #LynnCrain #amwriting #TimeTravel

Hi everyone!

Hope your holidays are all you ever want. I have spent my life in quite a few different places for Christmas but the best I have ever seen is in Europe. And that’s why I wrote a story set around the holidays in Austria.

When I first went there, I didn’t know what to expect but the country grew on me. I find that I’m missing it even more this year than I thought. We had special little places to go, guhlwien to drink and friends to visit.

Not that we don’t have those things here…we do…but there it was magical. And to share some of that magic with you, I want to share a part from my story, Her Magical Vienna Christmas. It is in the Holiday Magic anthology and it’s available at all major ebook venues. Don’t forget to get your copy today! Here’s the setup:

Cryptographer Elizabeth “Lizzie” Camden is more in tune with numbers, cyphers and puzzles than she is with the real world. When her job takes her back in time to 1874 Vienna, she’s more than surprised to find Michael Sondervan there as well. She hadn’t seen him since college when he broke her heart.

Michael has always regretted the way things turned out between him and Lizzie. When he needs someone to figure out the cryptic warning, he knows he needs the best. And Lizzie is the best. Giving her a magical Vienna Christmas in the bargain, he hopes will bring them together and prove his love to the only woman for him.

I loved writing about Lizzie and Michael as the rediscover their love for each other, for history and the life they plan to have. Vienna is a wonderful place to write about and I love revisiting it again and again. Here’s an excerpt from this wonderful story:

Even with the snow falling, the Graben was a hub-bub of activity. Although the shops didn’t look that different on the outside from what existed in her reality, she knew they would be totally devastated in World War II. It wasn’t until much later, in the 1950s, that they would finally be allowed to stand on their own when the last Russian left the city. So much history and she was privileged enough to see it.

Lizzie gripped Michael’s arm when she saw police beating starving people and even children. Some of them appeared so pathetic as she looked at their rag-tag appearances. Their clothes were hardly warm enough for a cold winter. She tugged fiercely toward one of them but Michael held her in place.

“Look at me,” he whispered in her ear. When she turned, he kissed her again. “Remember this is how people were, not how people are in our time. We have come a long way.”

She nodded and kept her eyes on the ground in front of her. Finally, they turned off the main thoroughfare and down the side street of Jungferngasse, then again down a little path. Hidden away from the street was a small bookstore.

“This appears to be the place. Shall we go in, darling?”

She smiled as he pulled the door open for her. Inside there were many bookshelves and even books stacked on the floor. Lizzie managed to push herself in, though the fit was tight right at the door. Picking up a tome or two, she was surprised to see originals of some titles. Even then certain books in mathematics or physics were treasures. Gently replacing one of the books, she waved her hand in front of her face as the dust rose. It looked as if some of these hadn’t been dusted in weeks.

Proceeding to where she suspected the proprietor might be, she continued to gaze around to see if anything else caught her eye. Maybe his having a page from an Enigma machine code book was just a fluke regardless of what Derrick had told them. Turning around, her astonishment grew as she didn’t see anyone minding the store. Turning to Michael, she heard a thump behind her, much like a fist connecting to flesh. The feverish whispers in German made her lift her finger to her lips and point in the direction of a door.

This anthology is available now and along with my great story, you’ll be getting four other wonderful Christmas heart warmers.

I’d love to wish you all a happy holiday season. Please join me next month!

Lynn

Time Travel: Star Trek and Doctor Who

In a recent author interview I was asked if I could travel back in time what would I change. I said nothing because I like the life I have and if I changed anything I might not have my wonderful family. Then I got thinking. What if we could go back in time and change something major? The Mongol Horde, Hitler, September 11^th, Al-Qaeda.

In Star Trek, the Prime Directive orders no interference in the development of alien civilizations. Of course, we know Jim Kirk doesn’t exactly follow that order all the time. Consider the most recent movie Into Darkness. At the beginning, Kirk has to reveal the Enterprise’s presence in order to save Spock who is trying to stop a volcano from wiping out the inhabitants. That’s interference for a good reason, right? Not according to the Powers That Be and Kirk is punished.

What a difference in Doctor Who. He is always interfering. Or so it seems, since

I’m new to this series. Yes, I just wrote new. I’m embarrassed to say I just discovered Doctor Who a few weeks ago. I’d read references to the series in various blogs until my curiosity finally “made” me look it up. Did I ever pick the right week to start watching! Right before the 50^th Anniversary. Right before the Doctor Who marathon. I set the DVR to record the episodes and specials. Wow. Talk about a crash course in Whovian culture. I think there are over eighty episodes I haven’t watched yet, but I’m working my way through.

Back to my original topic. Time Travel and changing history. What if someone went back in time and killed Genghis Khan, Hitler, or Osama Bin Laden before they came to power? Would we be better off or would our history be worse?

Diane Burton

website

blog