CFBA: Pirate Hunter by Tom Morrisey

Song Stuck on the Brain: Shine by the Newsboys

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing:
Pirate Hunter
by
Tom Morrisey

ABOUT THE BOOK:

High Seas Adventure Meets a High-Tech Quest for Pirate Gold West Indies, 18th century Young Ted Bascombe is rescued by notorious pirate Captain Henry Thatch, finding himself caught up in a world of crime, adventure, and a daily fight for freedom.... Key West, 21st century Marine archaeologist Greg Rhode embarks on a treasure-hunting expedition in the turquoise waters of the Florida Keys, but he's as beguiled by a beautiful diver with different-colored eyes as by the lure of pirate gold...The Hunt Is On! Interweaving these two stories, pro deep-sea diver Tom Morrisey spins a multilayered tale of two young men's quests to escape their past by losing themselves to adventure on the high seas. Romantic and thrilling, this unique novel explores the timeless truth that "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

If you would like to read the first chapter of Pirate Hunter, go HERE

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Tom Morrisey is a mountaineer, aviator, shipwreck diver, and explorer, who holds a Full Cave certification from the National Speleological Society - Cave Diving Section.

He has launched, edited or contributed to numerous national publications and is an award-winning adventure-travel writer. A popular speaker, he is also active in both evangelism and the arts. Morrisey earned an MFA in creative writing from Bowling Green State University, and his fiction has been featured in numerous anthologies and magazines.

His first novel, Yucatan Deep (Zondervan, 2002) was a finalist for the Christy award, and he is the author of six novels, including Wind River and In High Places. In addition Tom has also written two nonfiction books: 20 American Peaks & Crags (Contemporary Books, 1978) and Wild by Nature (Baker Books, 2001). He and his family live in Orlando, Florida.

Fairy Tales and More

Song Stuck on the Brain: Gray Squirrel, Gray Squirrel, swish your bushy tail....

I've been watching out my window and laughing at the squirrels in my yard all morning. They've been very playful.

I found something else quite cool while I was surfing the web. I'm a huge fan of kids fairy tale picture books. I love the artwork and collect a lot of them for the fun of looking at the art. I was browsing through Amazon.com, when I found a the book A Knock at the Door. It was originally a Internet video, but was such a huge success they created multiple products around it. I checked it out, and have to say, the art is AMAZING. I thought you all might enjoy it as well, so here's the link: A Knock at the Door.

If you do enjoy fairy tales, here's another fantastic idea: Go rent Penelope starring Christina Rici and James McAvoy. I watched it last night and fell in love with it. Really great story, and a strong message too. It made me feel so warm and fuzzy when it was over, and yet made me think a little more about how I perceive myself and others. Now there's a good combination!

Today, I'm off to spend more time writing, so wish me luck and lots of focus. Maybe I'll get something literary-ily worthwhile accomplished today. :)

Happy Wednesday!

A.

One of Those Days...

Have you ever had 'One Of Those Days'? Of course you have, who hasn't?

Mine happened all in the evening. My day actually went pretty well, until I got home.

Usually, my sister Angel cooks dinner for us, but tonight, I volunteered. She'd spent a long day helping my other sister unpack, so I wanted to give her a break. I decided to cook the very yummy and fairly healthy Cedarlane Mediterannean Focaccia bread (it's stuffed with spinach and cheese) that we'd bought at the health food store. You plop the frozen stuffed crust on a stoneware cookie sheet and wait 20 minutes. Voile, dinner is served. I've cooked this plenty of times before.

So, I pull the focaccias out of the oven, quarter them with the pizza cutter and we start to eat. My first attempt at cutting a piece off with my fork, has the entire quarter zooming off the plate and landing in the floor. Angel laughs hysterically, I call the 5 second rule and check to be sure nothing is stuck to it. Gag if you want, but it looked okay, so it went back on the plate.

I decided the fork wasn't a good option since it seemed to be working better as a hi-speed dinner launcher, so opted for my fingers. I'm halfway in to the second quarter, when upon biting into the bread, a sudden burst of hot cheese and spinach burst out and run over my lip and chin. I almost drop my dinner, and in the process of hurriedly wiping off the cheese I burn two fingers. My lip is screaming and I'm feeling a possible blister rising. I run rinse it off with cold water and grab a bag of frozen peas. The rest of dinner is a rotation of 5 min of frozen peas to a quick bite of now cooled focaccia bread. After a very lengthy eating time, I finished and my lip is still killing me.

Then I remember, Tea Tree Oil is excellent for burns. I go grab a bottle and douse my entire lower lip and chin. It's beet red (but no blisters thank goodness) and swollen, but after a couple of minutes, the pain is easing. I go back to holding the bag of frozen peas to my face.

About halfway through the new 10 Things I Hate About You TV show, I adjust the bag and see that for some reason there's a bald spot on the back of the bag. It's like the ink just magically disappeared.

I look at Angel. "Do I have ink on my face?"

She looks at me and burst into laughter. "You have a blue goatee!"

Great. I go look in the mirror, and sure enough, hand me a sword and call me Bluebeard. It's like I've been chewing on a dozen ink pens and let them dribble down my chin. Apparently, Tea Tree Oil is also a really good solvent. Who knew?

Thankfully it all washed off with my Tea Tree face cleanser. I applied the oil two more times before bed, and praise God, this morning my lip is back to normal.

So, note to self, next time you burn your lip with lava hot cheese, use Tea Tree oil immediately and WRAP THE PEAS IN A DISH TOWEL!

Besides, blue just isn't my best color. :)

A.

CFBA: Who Made You a Princess by Shelley Adina

Song Stuck on the Brain: The Pants by Brad Paisley

I love this song. Actually, I love the whole new album "American Saturday Night". Great songs. But this particular one cracks me up and I've been singing it all day.

- Brad Paisley Lyrics

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing:


Who Made You a Princess


by


Shelley AdinaFaithWords (May 13, 2009)




ABOUT THE BOOK:

Shani Hanna returns to SpencerAcademy for her senior year after an amazing summer spent with her friends Lissa, Gillian, and Carly. But the best part about summer was meeting Danyel Johnstone. Danyel is cute, smart, cool, and super nice. All Shani has to do is get him to see her as more than just one of the gang.

But when the girls return to school, they find a new addition to the distinguished student body: Prince Rashid al Amir of Yasir, an oil-rich desert kingdom in the Middle East. Prince Rashid moved to California to prepare for an eventual MBA at Stanford...and to romance his future wife: Shani Hanna!

It turns out, Shani's family and the prince's go back for generations, entwined in tradition, obligation, and family honor. In each generation, members of the two families have expanded their business interests through arranged marriage. Will Shani put aside her feelings for Danyel to pursue her family's wishes? Or will God answer her prayers for an intervention?

If you would like to read the first chapter of Who Made You a Princess , go HERE



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Award-winning author Shelley Adina wrote her first teen novel when she was 13. It was rejected by the literary publisher to whom she sent it, but he did say she knew how to tell a story. That was enough to keep her going through the rest of her adolescence, a career, a move to another country, a B.A. in Literature, an M.A. in Writing Popular Fiction, and countless manuscript pages.

Shelley is a world traveler and pop culture junkie with an incurable addiction to designer handbags. She writes books about fun and faith--with a side of glamour. Between books, Shelley loves traveling, playing the piano and Celtic harp, watching movies, and making period costumes.

The All About Us book series has its own home over on the Hachette website. Stop by and see what the five fabulous girls at Spencer Acadenmy are up to! Series Website.

Her other books in this series includes book one, It's All About Us, oook Two, The Fruit of my Lipstick, and book three, Be Strong & Curvaceous. This present book is book four.

Win a copy of Ghostwriter by Travis Thrasher

Enter to win a copy of:

Ghostwriter by Travis Thrasher

How To Enter:

Click on the book cover in the sidebar (not the image in this post). This will open an email window, fill out the form and send. The contest is open to US residents only and will end at midnight on July 31, 2009.

Good Luck!

A.