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Monday, December 24, 2012
@RoseDru63: November Winner for BoM PNR at Goodreads New Review plz Read
http://t.co/ITYR3Wl7 new review
Monday, December 10, 2012
Today we have a real treat with us best selling novelist Rebecca Minto so sit back have a cup of hot chocolate or cup of coffee and let's chill.
Rebecca Minto - author of A Kiss To Remember and A Touch To Remember
Tell us about your books.
My first novel, A Kiss To Remember, came about from a venture in sleeplessness and exhaustion. I wrote this several years ago when my son was an infant, and thus I was managing an hour here and an hour there between his frequent feedings. One night I had this vivid dream where I was following this pretty, young lady throughout this large house, and ending with her screams. It fascinated me, of course, because I had no idea why she screamed, so I began to write it down, and the next thing I knew I was writing a full story. The characters just came to life.
While I was writing and editing this first novel, I became fascinated with Annalise, one of the secondary characters. I knew I would have to explore her, and so I did, and the result is A Touch To Remember. In the end, she surprised even me.
Both of these books are set in Regency England. Why?
I'm not an author that is refined to only one era or subject matter. My first book was born of a dream, and the era was the Regency era. Since A Touch To Remember was born of that first book, it, too, is set in the Regency. It is a fascinating time on history to study. It was both the best and worst of times, at least in my opinion. You have the grandiose lifestyles of the titled and wealthy right beside the most horrid conditions for the poor and common-born man. You have a bit more freedom for your heroines in this era, but not quite as much as a contemporary story would have. You also have the threat and aftermath of war with Napoleon and all the politics and spies that go along with such days. It is a fun period to write in, but I also like fantasy and Medieval settings when I write.
Do you have a set formula for writing a book, or do you just fly by the seat of your pants?
The way I write is different for each story. I don't like to restrict myself when it comes to a storyline, but I do like to have a loose roadmap, so to speak. When I was writing A Touch To Remember, it was like I was caught in a fever. I forgot the world around me. I often forgot to eat or sleep, sometimes writing as much as 18-20 hours a day, until it was finished. A Kiss To Remember was different. Each word was carefully measured, each scene carefully concocted. The story I am working on now is more about detail right now, like the scent in the air before a blizzard hits, the texture and feel of a woolen plaid as it rubs against the neck, etc. It is slow going, but I hope to be happy with the end result.
Who inspired you the most to become an author?
Julie Garwood, hands down. For years she has been one of my favorite writers. At one time I could almost quote you any of her books, word-for-word verbatim. When I was about 19 I thought to myself that I wanted to be a Julie Garwood when I grow up. She has the ability to completely take you away from your world. In her older books I both laughed and wept out loud whenever I was reading one of her stories, and at the end I always felt so encouraged and hopeful. I wanted to make people feel that, too, to create a yarn that would have someone sad and discouraged daring to dream once more. To me, that is true magic. Over the years, other authors have inspired me, such as Nora Roberts and Christine Feehan and Karen Moning, but it was always Ms. Garwood that pushed me to hope and dream a bit more.
What are you working on now?
I'm working on a Christmas romance I've titled The Highland Star. It is a historical romance set in England and Scotland in the Middle Ages, which is a huge venture for me. I never thought I would write a Highlander story again. So far it is full of joy and a tenderness I thought I had lost. I have several projects sitting on the back burner right now.
Where can people find you online?
My website is http://www.rebeccaminto.com. I post news and updates there. On Facebook you can like my author page at https://www.facebook.com/rebeccamintok, and I'm on Twitter @Rebecca_Minto.
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Here is my video for Angel in My Heart, Devil in My Soul
Angel in My Heart, Devil in My Soul is sold at:
Links: http://www.amazon.com/Angel-Heart-Devil-Soul-ebook/dp/B00A592P5E/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1354592999&sr=1-1http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/angel-in-my-heart-devil-in-my-soul-linda-hays-
My Angel My Light As Darkness Falls is sold at:
Please stop by Writerly Wednesday today for my interview and make a comment or read information about Linda Hays-Gibbs
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Excerpts from Angel in My Heart Devil in My Soul
By Linda Hays-Gibbs
By Linda Hays-Gibbs
When Rachael awoke, all rational thought blew away on the
light breeze from his breath, as his mouth descended on hers. The kiss started light but it turned into something else. Rachel recognized his need. She tasted it in his kiss, felt it in his arms that cradled her, wanted her and she wanted him...fiercely. No one could kiss with such tenderness, such consideration, such understanding and love, unless it came from the wellspring of their being. He must love her. It was crazy but she felt she knew him and belonged to him in a primeval sort of way. This was so right and the kiss so wonderful. Closing her eyes, she turned towards him, and his arms closed around her. He deepened the kiss even more, and his mouth gently pried hers open. It surprised and excited her, fueling the flaming flicker of desire within her instead of satisfying it. His tongue invaded her mouth, stroking and tasting. Surprised, her eyes popped open, and she pulled back. How could this be happening to her?
Desire was a drug, its addiction potent and it hung in the air
about them. He had stolen her breath, held her mind and senses
enthralled. His slow, achingly sweet exploration of her mouth left her emotionally and mentally reeling.
"What are you doing out here?"
"I could ask the same of you, my sweet. Why are you running
away? How do you think you can make it on your own?" His face, harsh even in the moonlight, caused her heart to race.
"I do not know but I am determined to try. Get out of my way.
I really need to go." John reached around her with his arms and crushed her body to his. His mouth came down on hers and he kissed her long and hard, his arms like iron imprinting her softflesh with his body. Rachael held back for a minute and then her arms went aroundhim, clinging to him with all her strength. She kissed him back, her mouth pliant and hungry, luxuriating in the taste, the scent, and the feel of her body opening to him.
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Another great interview on Launch Day
Angel in My Heart, Devil in My Soul
remember to get your copy at http://eternalpress.biz
Angel in My Heart, Devil in My Soul
remember to get your copy at http://eternalpress.biz
Please check out this interview! How exciting that Morgen Bailey did this for me on Launch day
Please check out this interview! How exciting that Morgen Bailey did this for me on Launch day
COME OVER TO THE PARTY http://eternalpress.biz/chat.php
My new book "Angel in My Heart, Devil in My Soul"
launches to today win door prizes and more at 2 EST and 7 EST
Here are some excerpts and blurbs from my book.
COME OVER TO THE PARTY http://eternalpress.biz/chat.php
My new book "Angel in My Heart, Devil in My Soul"
launches to today win door prizes and more at 2 EST and 7 EST
Here are some excerpts and blurbs from my book.
Angel in My Heart, Devil in My Soul
By Linda Hays-Gibbs
He was a minion of the Devil. She was an angel of goodness. They were meant for each other but things had gone horribly wrong. The only hope for them was in their love. As she searched for him to love, he searched for her to kill her. His job was simple and he had done this many times before but there was something about her, some strange scent and feeling.
She fell down the stairs and lost consciousness at his feet. He picked her up in his arms to take her to a room and make sure she was dead. He had his command and knew his job well.
Would he kill her or love her? Was there hope for a killer? Could he ever love anyone?
A tall man in a scarlet cape with jet-black hair and a mustache
entered the library. He leisurely strolled over to the fireplace and
threw up his hands for warmth. Immediately, a fire blazed up in
the fireplace, overheating the room. He was extremely handsome,
but evil blistered from his black eyes. His tongue slithered from
his lips as he stared at Neville. A fog seeped in his wake, bringing
smells of sulfur and rotting flesh with it.
A hissing, breathy voice came as the room filled with sulfur
fumes. "I made my agreement with your family. I sssssssettled the
gambling debts and sssssset up your household. You owe me." He
towered over Neville.
"I have the document in my hands. It states that you had my
father and me bound by it but not my son. You cannot corrupt
an innocent baby. He is God's own. Surely you see that he had
nothing to do with this agreement?" Neville's voice shook, and he
perspired profusely. He turned away to catch his breath and calm
his heart as he choked on the sulfur.
"I will have what I will. You cannot
The man in his sights looked around nervously. John knew
there was no chance that his prey saw him. He blended into the
smoky shadows. His silent footsteps followed the echoing ones of
the terrified man who hurried to get home. The man's eyes darted
side-to–side, hopeless in their plight to spot the horror that he
knew in his heart followed him in the night. As the man rounded
the corner, he stopped to mop the sweat from his brow, searching
again the maze of tall buildings and ghostly shadows in the
blackness. His heart racing, he tried to focus and adjust his eyes
to the dark. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up in alarm.
He forced in a breath and shook his head. Certain people wanted
his life. He straightened and continued on his path, resigned in
his plight. His eyes dart from left to right, still searching and still
afraid. He walked faster to keep the dangers away. John slithered
in behind the man.
Peering into the dark, the man called to the shadows, "Hello?
Who is there? I warn you, I have a gun. I am armed. I will not be
taken easily. You'd best move along." The man narrowed his eyes.
This man was neither good nor bad. He was just a man who
was in the way of another man, and he had to be removed. John
stalked the night on many occasions just like this. It was second
nature to him. The inky, black void was as comforting to him as a
mother's caress.
A dark void paced beside him as he penetrated the black and
saw his prey. John caught the man by the throat and smiled into
his desperate face. A swift dagger into the ribs, and ultimately
the victim's heart, would end this quickly however, John wanted a
little fun in his game. The man gurgled a half scream as his eyes
widened in horror. The dagger sliced the back of his leg. The left
wrist came next. As blood spurted, the man screamed until John
jabbed smoothly into his neck. The man stumbled away, limping.
Now, nothing came from his mouth. His eyes searched John's
face, but he found no pity, no help for his life. Silently, the man fell
into the gutter like a rag doll. The street claimed another life in
the rat holes of London.
John quietly and leisurely walked away. As he sauntered
through the night, he thought of his next victim.
Rachael was a beautiful girl with wide, yellow
eyes and dark brown chestnut hair and red and gold highlights
running rampant through it. Her hair fell in waves below her
waist and was tied with a yellow ribbon to keep it out of her eyes.
She sat down by a sad, old oak in a mossy mound of a tree root
that looked like a cradle. She stared into the sky, and her heart
spun in her chest. Her mind tried to grasp and hold to the truth
of things. Why do people always assume the Devil is a fairy tale?
Something told by people to frighten children. She knew the devil
was real, and Hell was a place you do not want to go.
Quietly, she picked a clover and tied it to another, making a
chain for a necklace. She spied a four-leaf clover.
"A lucky clover!" A wide grin lit up her beautiful face.
Rachel had dreams and visions, and one of her special dreams
was of a beautiful boy that was anything but beautiful in his ways.
He was cruel and hurt people, but she knew he had been hurt, too.
She saw him hurt in visions that started when she was very small.
She felt sorry for this boy but thought she was in love with him
too, or with the boy he was supposed to have been. Where was he?
Why did she dream about him?
Some part of her heart was drawn to this evil person, and she
did not know why. It was a mystery for her, but she knew she could
help him, if she could find him. She swallowed hard to hold back
tears, for she knew he suffered. She bit her lip hard to stop the
sobs. Her sad eyes roamed the hills, searching for answers
John Monroe was now six and a half feet tall, broad of shoulder,
with coal black hair, dark blue eyes, fringed with long thick
lashes. His face had high cheekbones, a straight aquiline nose,
black slashes for eyebrows, and a cleft in his chin. When he smiled
he had dimples surrounding a mouth of perfectly carved lips
so sensual as to make women weep. With the grace of a cat, he
moved through shadows aloof and confident in his own power as
a minion of the devil. He did not know for how long he had killed
people. Days and nights merged into each other forming a haze
of horror. Sometimes it was as if he looked out from a window
at what he did. It was not him doing murder, but some other evil
John. If only it was that simple. He shook his head in dismay at
his stupidity.
John arose from his bed of daydreaming and washed his face.
He put on his shirt and breeches. He had a dark green superfine
coat and a silk brown vest with stags embroidered on it. His
breeches were brown leather and his black boots shined like glass.
His cravat was tied in several intricate loops
Monday, October 22, 2012
Please check out my little travel interview. It's different and I loved doing it.
Friday, October 19, 2012
I have a wicked give away. I will give a copy of "My Angel, My Light As Darkness Falls" to the two people who figure out who the vampire that loves Pru is? Hint: He is a nice guy. He fought in the battle or was wounded in the battle. He is hidden most of the book.
Duke of Sumerled
Duke of Sumerled
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Check out Writerly Wednesday with Sally and me for a great interview and check out my new video of Angel in My Heart Devil in My Soul
Monday, October 8, 2012
Let us welcom Dina Rae and her Horror stories. I am amazed at the Horrific tales that she
invents. I love all her stories. Her "Halo of the Damned" and "The Last Degree" so here is her latest tale sit back and be prepared to be scared out of your wits.
Do You Know Your Zombies?
With the so-called zombie apocalypse approaching, one must be educated about the different kinds of zombies before prepping for defense. First, there is the most common and believable-the human that turns into a zombie because of mental collapse, disease, infection, and/or radiation. They stagger around dazed and confused and cause panic to others. Then there is the man-made monster kind or the kind Hollywood and horror authors like me tend to capitalize on.
Zombie interest continues to fascinate the world. Jeffrey Dahmer drilled holes then poured acid down his victim's heads in hopes of creating his own zombie. His madness didn't work. Can man make his own zombie? Are these monsters real?
According to Wade Davis, author of The Serpent of the Rainbow, zombies are real. They are a product of the Voodoo religion. He was originally hired by a pharmaceutical company to find out about the drugs Voduists used in their death rituals. He believed that datura also known as zombie's cucumber was a plant that could medically make one who ingested it appear to be dead for a certain length of time. Sounds like the stuff Juliet used to fake her death. Could Shakespeare known about the magical zombie-making plant?
Datura or sometimes Cimora, a close relative of Datura's, eventually wears off but leaves the victim in a state of confusion, highly susceptible to the art of persuasion. Presto! A zombie slave is at the captor's disposal. Mr. Davis didn't just find his datura flower, but witnessed zombie phenomena as he immersed himself within the Haitian culture.
Bad Juju is a unique blend of horror, romance, and fantasy. Besides The Serpent and the Rainbow, I read volumes of other Voodoo material and watched hours of TV specials. Some of the terms I learned can be found below:
Bokor: A wizard who practices black magic, a zombie maker.
Loa: deity/spirit
Ghede Family: A family of loas known as the spirits of the dead. Three barons rule the family. Baron Samedi is the loa of resurrection. Baron Kriminel is the most feared loa associated with cannibalism and souls. He's honored on The Day of the Dead. Baron LaCroix is the loa of the dead and sexuality.
Poppet: Voodoo doll
Ti-bon-ange: "little good angel" The part of the soul that represents a person's individuality.
Gros-bon-ange: "great good angel" Part of the soul that is collected into a reservoir of the Cosmos or spirit world.
Baka: Voodoo spirits in animal form.
Loup Garou: werewolf
Djab: a devil
Dessounin: Death ritual that separates the gros-bon-ange from the body.
Bizango Society: Secret society of Vodouists. They have Freemason-like qualities such as aprons, secret handshakes, oaths, hierarchy, and symbols. Legend states they change into animals at will. They are known for stealing black cats and boiling them to death for Voodoo services. They drink each other's blood from a human skull chalice.
Bad Juju is FREE ALL WEEK: 10/9-10/13 on Amazon!LINK: http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Juju-ebook/dp/B0097L9FHW/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1347218825&sr=8-13&keywords=bad+juju
Dina Tosto/Dina Rae
Twitter: @haloofthedamned
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Hello everyone! This is Linda Hays Gibbs and I have a treat for you today. Let us welcome outstanding, bestselling author, Richard Burns…Hello Richard, I am thrilled to have you here today .
And I'm thrilled to be here too! Before I forget, my webpages are below:
Email: email@example.com
Website: http//www.RichardBurnsBooks.com
Thank you so very much for having me!
You are welcome…now let's get down to basics. Richard's book, SWEET CHOCOLATE'S FIRST TASTE is available on Amazon. Tell me something interesting about your life that few people know.
Personally, I guess it's all rather mundane. I grew up in the Chicago area, went to Catholic school, up until I was paroled into the Public High School system. I left high school early and joined the US Army when I was 17 years old. Some of those days are explained in much more explicit detail in my short story, "Sweet Chocolate's First Taste."
I left active duty in January 1986, and became a Chicago Police Officer on the South side. I did that for eight years before becoming a Federal Agent for the Defense Department. I was the "Last of the Mohicans," so to speak, when we closed our Chicago Field Office, which won me a transfer to Detroit, where I now live.
I re-enlisted in the US Army Reserve (USAR), in December 1986 and moved back & forth from the USAR & the National Guard, reserve status to active duty and all over.
It's probably not a big secret, but I'm retired from the Army after 30 years as a Paratrooper and SCUBA Diver, with over 23 years in Special Forces. I have 3 major overseas deployments, one to the Middle East in 1984, just after the bombing of the US Marine Barracks in Lebanon, and two deployments to Afghanistan. My latest book, "Say Good Night," is a fictionalized account of my last Afghanistan tour in 2009. This story was mostly written contemporaneously to the events as they occurred on the ground.
Wow, that is some resume. I find all of that so interesting and I for one appreciate all the wonderful servicemen that serve our great country. So thanks for that now! Tell me about your interests?
I try to stay in shape so I love Long Distance Running, Orienteering, Cross Country Running, Photography (35mm, still not too accustom to Digitals), and we can't forget writing. Because at this time, that's really all it is…a hobby. I'd love to say that I'm writing my way through retirement, but I'm making so little money from my books, I think that's all it's going to be.
Of course, my latest interest has become writing. Especially erotic writing. I love the affect that a good writer can have on his reader. Naturally, this goes for all genres, but in particular erotica. The way that it quicken the readers pulse, makes their breathing quicken slightly, makes them wetten, or makes them hard enough to drive railroad spikes, so that when you look to your wife or your husband, you give her/him the look. The look that says, "Hey, let's go enjoy each other's company, just a little more…"
Books are great fun, aren't they now...What is your favorite book?
As far as contemporary authors, my good friend, Steve Hartov is an outstanding author. He has uncanny powers of description that I try to emulate. He can paint a picture before the reader's eyes that make you believe he is looking at it as he is writing it.
As for the timeless classics, Mark Twain, I think that he is on par with William Shakespeare! There are so many kids I hear these days talking about how irrelevant those authors are because "they are so old, the stuff they wrote about in their day can't possibly have any bearing on what's going on today…" What these Simpletons don't realize is what these authors wrote will ALWAYS be timeless classics, because they didn't write about the current issues of their day, so much. What they wrote about was the one thing that will remain consistent throughout the ages: Human Nature.
That is so true. What made you start writing? What made you write this story?
An old friend of mine used to rave about the letters I used to write. Always pushed me to be a writer. My cousin Nancy writes a weekly journal on each of her deployments, she calls "The Chronicles of Nancy." So, on my last deployment I started writing my own version of my adventures. When I returned home, everybody who read them just could not say enough about them. I sent them out weekly, and I made every week a serious cliff hanging event. I wanted everybody sitting on the edge of their seats until the next edition came out. Everybody said I should send them to a publisher, so I did. I made every week's edition a separate chapter. Naturally, for security reason, there was not a lot I could write about in reality. Everybody is going to wonder, where the line is between fiction and reality. But I'm going to leave it at that.
What time period is this story? What genre?
2009, current day in Afghanistan. Although I have an idea for a series of Historical period pieces. In particular a sort of Western Series, post Civil War, with the Railroad and our country's expansion west. Naturally, I want it to be very heavy in eroticism! I want both women & men to read my books. The women who have read "Say Good Night," have all loved the intense, underlying sexual energy that is brought out by one character, and in reality, is always a very real, Omni-present factor in all relationships during long deployments or extended periods away from family. While "Say Good Night," is a Military/Espionage, Suspense/Thriller, women will enjoy it too! I promise!
Are you interested in other genre?
Like I just said, my latest book, is a Military/Espionage, Suspense/Thriller, my first book, SWEET CHOCOLATE'S FIRST TASTE is an Erotic-Romance. I call it a book because it stands and sells alone, but it is actually a short story that I wrote for Simon & Schuster that now appears in their latest anthology of erotica for Black women, called Chocolate Flava, which launched on August 28, 2012. This story, while a short one, will leave the reader totally and completely satisfied. This is so much more than just an erotic story. This is certainly not a "wham-bam-thankyou-ma'am." This is a story of a true but short lived romance. By the way, this story sells on my webpage for just 1.99. Once again, I promise! You'll love it! And yes! The sex is very HOT!
Give me an Excerpt and brief Synopsis of this book.
Of course! In fact, if you'll allow me, I'll give you an excerpt of both SAY GOOD NIGHT and SWEET CHOCOLATE'S FIRST TASTE.
From SAY GOOD NIGHT:
I assumed a position above the quarry, which afforded me an excellent view of the road leading from the top, all the way to the bottom. The road was perhaps 900 meters away, and the farthest portion of the quarry floor approximately 700 meters. Not a soul was in sight. I noticed my breathing was much faster and it wasn't all from the crawl. I began my series of exercises to slow my breathing and heart rate.19:08 HoursA gray Toyota Hilux pickup truck was seen driving down the road from the top of the quarry with three passengers in addition to the driver. Once they were at the quarry floor, I could identify the third man from the bazaar that I had seen earlier with 'Stretch' and 'Stumbles.' He was waving his arms wildly and speaking in loud tones which I could still hear faintly, despite the distance. He appeared to be the instructor in the crowd, perhaps fifty to fifty-five years old. Everybody else was at least between twenty-five and forty years old.Ten minutes later, another Hilux was seen driving down the road towards the bottom with a driver and two passengers. I slowly and quietly unfolded the bipod legs of my M-21 sniper system (yeah, it's old, but it still works). Now, I was bathed in sweat. The pressure was always intense.…There was a crane and a bulldozer at the bottom of the quarry. Old Russian pieces of shit. But nobody made any moves to start any machinery, or equipment. Not the crane, not the dozer, not a dump truck. Nobody was there to do any quarry work. This was a bomb making class about to be in session.19:21 HoursI was losing light fast.The driver of the second vehicle broke from the group and started the generator near the shack at the base of the quarry. Within a minute, the entire quarry was bathed in glowing bright light. I could feel the sweat flowing freely from me now.As if to make some kind of point, the instructor raised his arms to shoulder height and turned 360 degrees to show everybody how bright it was, or how vast his power was, or some other such crap.
Now came the stingingly cold blooded aspect of this job. It's cold blooded, because at that precise moment, before action commences, you're shooting a man who is no real imminent threat to you, specifically. Furthermore, I positioned myself a good 200-300 meters beyond the maximum effective range of their rifles, provided they didn't have anything bigger than your garden variety Russian AK. You have to be able to accept the solace that comes with the knowledge that he would kill Americans on another day. All of them would. They would all happily march us down to the train stations and load us all on to cattle cars haul us away, then march us right up to delousing. You, me, all of our children and grandchildren. Well, not today. I made a note of the time, 19:21; Start of action. Either way, I had decided that it was time for them to die.The pressure completely enveloped me now. It was stifling and oppressive, breathing was difficult as my chest was so tight. I felt the old familiar tension headache, come on instantly. It always felt as if my head were clamped in a vice. Despite the relatively pleasant 80 degrees, I was now soaking wet with sweat.I raised the weapon, took a second to dry my sweaty hands on my sleeves, deep breaths, then I took a reading of my winds. They were very light, maybe 2-4 knots, and they were at my back, no value … … … I couldn't see any dust flying anywhere in the kill zone. A straight on simple shot. How often does that happen, I asked myself. Not much. Never mind that, they're targets, nothing more, and it's just another day on the range, I coached myself. Breathe deep, steady, in… out… line 'em up. Come on, Sweet Cheeks. Let me see your smile. Turn a little more. Steady hand, smooooooooth squeeeeeeze… Now…
From SWEET CHOCOLATE'S FIRST TASTE.
By way of introduction, this story was written in response to a call for submissions for Erotic Stories of people's first sexual experiences. It was selected by Simon & Schuster to appear in their anthology for Black women, Chocolate Flava 3. And, Yes! It is the story of MY first experience. The story is available all on its own for just 1.99. Once you get past the fact that the heroine in is a prostitute, you are going to love this story!
Instantly, I was captivated, and a little intimidated by both her age, almost 30, and her luscious beauty. The woman, and she was a real woman, not a kid, had a pleasant round face with high cheek bones that gave it depth. She was tall, perhaps 5'7", but I was struck by her very dark, coffee brown complexion, which seemed at odds with the flowing, shiny curls of gorgeous shoulder length hair. My palms were sweaty at the thought of getting them on her beautiful, perfectly proportioned breasts. Those breasts seemed to call to me, with each sway and bounce. Her soft white cotton dress fit her form sensationally, hugging her upper body alluringly, accentuating the breadth of her torso before tapering down to her narrow waist, then loosely flowing over the graceful, but sweeping curve of her hips. My arms wanted to circle that narrow waist, to lay my hand atop that scrumptious, perfectly developed ass, and then just pull her body to mine. To press our chests and hips together, to meld into a single being; to feel her softness pressed against my hardness. To feel the slope and curve of her back as those glorious breasts pressed against my chest. She was perhaps the most beautiful black woman I had ever met. All of these thoughts vanished quickly with my growing anxiety at my impending moment.Juan was still frantically undressing, "Hey guys, I need the room for a while.""Hey ya'll," she gave us a wave of her hand; "He and I have an... arrangement. If you guys want to make a similar arrangement…we're talking about forty dollars. A piece." Until that moment, I had no idea she was a hooker. I was seventeen, remember, and a virgin.
Who is the Hero or Heroine? Can we interview them?
There is no Heroine, so to speak, in SAY GOOD NIGHT and SWEET CHOCOLATE'S FIRST TASTE, the Heroine, or more accurately, Love Interest, is a woman named Trisha, actually Patricia who is unavailable for comment or criticism. If you read the story, you'll understand why.
Have them describe themselves to us. What motivates your hero? What do they want? Is the hero having a hard time?
That's easy, both of those two stories are written from my point of view. So, if there IS a hero, it would be me! Now the motivation is another easy answer, I've been a professional soldier since I was 17, and while it may sound corny or cheesy, I really do have an intense love of country and a fierce dedication to mission accomplishment. You think that's hokey? I don't much care. That's just the way that is.
Now, in SWEET CHOCOLATE'S FIRST TASTE my motivation was much easier to explain: I was a horny teenager, so curious, so thrilled at the thought of actually get to do what everybody else so raved about. I was finally going to find out for myself, what all of the excitement and fever was about.
Who would you get to star in a movie to be them?
Now that I'm retired, I'm not a young man anymore, so George Clooney would be my pick to play me. I think he did an outstanding job in The Peacemaker, another story, very similar to mine.
What is next for you?
Hopefully, I'll soon get a chance to get started on that Erotic Western Series. I also have an idea for a fiction series set in Detroit (where I now live), not too far into the distant future, where it becomes a sort of 21st Century no man's land. I don't want to give anything away here, so I hesitate to say anything more. This series would be strictly an Action/Suspense line with absolutely NO eroticism. I just don't see a way to work it in without diluting the story.
Do you have another book you are writing?
Actually, I have a fictional series in mind, set in Detroit. I really hesitate to say anymore on the book because I really don't even have it outlined at this point.
But, who knows how I'll do for time in the future. Perhaps I'll find myself with a plethora of time, means & opportunity. We can hope anyways!
Tell us about it. What is the book you wish you had written?
Henry V; as a former Military man, this is the quintessential book on Leadership & Perseverance.
Where can we buy your book?
Where can we find you?
My website address is: http://www.RichardBurnsBooks.com
Well, I live in the Detroit area now, but don't have any signings planned. Keep your eyes on my webpage for that. Thanks!
Do you have a blog? Do you have a page?
Afraid not, but I really am anxious to read any comments that anybody cares to post in the comments section of the webpage.
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Every business owner dreams of growing and expanding their business. One good way you can do this is by growing overseas markets.
Expanding your business internationally can give you the break you've been searching for. In today's world there are numerous emerging economies with bigger populations, hence more spending power, than Western markets.
Foreign markets offer a range of benefits that local ones might not. Your products and services could end up performing much better abroad than in your home country. You might find that the foreign market offers lower overheads, cheaper labor and lower operating costs, therefore saving you some money.
Taking your business to other countries also helps you network with likeminded people and you can build strong partnerships with overseas partners. This might come in handy in the future. Furthermore, exposure to foreign markets can give you new ideas and concepts for your business that you may never have thought of, helping to keep things fresh in your company.
You need to revise your marketing and sales strategy if you intend to expand your business internationally. The methods that have faithfully served you in your local market might not work elsewhere. You also need to embrace technology to help you communicate with people regardless of their location.
Some of the methods you can use to bring in foreign clientele are explored below.
- Establishing an online presence
Your business will need a well-designed website in order to show potential clients what you offer. Additionally, you should take advantage of social media to market your products, build your brand and receive feedback from your customers.
- Improving your cross-cultural competency
While a website is a powerful tool, it is useless if the intended audience cannot understand what it says. You therefore need to translate it to the local language of the new market. Additionally, hire multilingual staff to ease communication with your customers.
- Setting up reliable communication channels
Communication is a vital part of any business, more so an international one. A hosted ip pbx virtual phone system such as http://primus.ca/business/phone/hosted-pbx/ can really put you ahead of your rivals, allowing you to stay in touch with vendors and clients around the world. Since it uses cloud-based technology, you'll get more flexibility at lower costs than a traditional phone.
- Setting up a multi-currency payment option
Another valuable tool you'll need to expand your business globally is a payment provider that allows you to process different payment options and currencies. Giving your customers the flexibility of completing transactions using different options such as MasterCard or Visa as well as the convenience of paying in their own currency will really boost your sales.
- Providing international shipping options
Your business will also attract more foreign clients if you offer international shipping along with your products. The shipping method you use should be both affordable and reliable to ensure that the goods reach the customer. Consider various carries and their fees before making your decision.
Expanding your business overseas might seem daunting but if you prepare carefully, research the market and weigh the risks you can take your company to new heights.

subset: commoncrawl


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Hello Gentle Readers,
An awesome writer friend of mine has just published her debut novel Past Due. And I thought, why not do a book review? I also did an interview that follows the review. Before we get to that, though, allow me to plug the fact that Cult of Koo-Kway, the exciting sequel to The Five Santas comes out September 2012!
Now, enough about that crass self-promotion. Instead let me promote other people! Enjoy!
Past Due by Elizabeth Seckman. World Castle Publishing.
Honestly, I'm not much for a romance novel, so I was a bit reticent to pick up the book. And frankly, I now am very glad I did. Past Due follows Jenna Austin, a widow and resident of North Carolina's Outer Banks. She's a single mom, raising a child, always one step ahead of the bill collector, and bumps into the handsome, affluent Governor's aid Tres Coulter. From there, things get complicated. Very Complicated. Tres and Jenna have a past, or rather a PAST. And unfortunately the past has a way of catching up.
Seckman has a very breezy, light touch with her writing. Her characters have depth, her dialogue is crisp and jumps off the page, and I was pleasantly surprised at how deep and meaningful the resolution of this book is. I won't lie, there's a big twist, a sappy happy ending, and every single character could use some serious therapy. But at it's heart this book is filled to the brim with complex, human characters who are just trying to get by. If you're looking for a book to curl up with, this is definitely the one for you.
What follows is a Q&A between Elizabeth and yours truly. My questions are in bold.
Hello again, I have to say it is an honor to review your book. I guess we should probably get out of the way that you and I are friends, and there may be a certain amount of rooting for you.
Yes, you're an awesome friend. Your facebook pictures have kept me from depression on more than one occasion.
What made you decide to become an author?
I always wanted to be a writer. I've been filling notebooks with meanderings as long as I can remember. My husband has been my motivator to actually do it seriously. He has great faith in me. Crazy man.
I'm curious, why did you end up titling the book Past Due? It's a term that comes up quite a lot in the book, but this could just as easily been called Self-Inflicted Wounds.
Crap J!!! Why didn't you suggest that sooner?! LOL. My kids will watch movies and when the title comes up in the dialogue...it's like, "there's the title"...I typed out in chapter one ..."electric bill came today...it said past due"...and I heard (in my head of course) my kids yell..."there's the title!!"
This book has an interesting narrative, in that it's all very linear, very straightforward. What made you decide to forgo flashbacks?
Have you been talking to my editor? LOL. He suggested flashbacks. I wrote a few and honestly, they stunk. I am a linear, logical sort of thinker (do I hear giggles? Not nice J, you invited me here!!)
*Now between you, me, and the wall...I hate flashbacks. I hate them in movies; I hate them in books. If you throw one in, it better be done well so I don't lose my flow or I'll audibly groan.
I felt like when I was reading that at any moment I could walk out my front door and meet these characters. How did you develop their voices? Or was it something that came natural?
Why thank you very much. I shall pause a moment and enjoy that. Seriously? I'm a daydreamer by nature. And these characters become real in my mind and they talk to me. Sooo, instead of medication, I write them to life!
Was this based on something? Because going back again, this felt so natural and organic a story, it felt like it was entirely grounded.
My sister, Cathy, wanted a story as an anniversary gift. I said fine. She said it had to be about the beach. I said fine. Then she said it had to be during the moving of the lighthouse. I said fine. Then I decided to pattern Jenna after her. That's why Jenna can't cook. The burning of the Jello? My sister really did that. Everything else is made up.
It's interesting because I don't feel like there's a real villain in this story. Everyone has a hurt, everyone has a problem, and you just put the whole thing into a blender. Was there ever a temptation to make one character clearly despicable? Point to someone and go "This is the hero!"
I started that way...the most obvious villain being Tres's mom. But then I started to feel sorry for her. Yes, she can be a bitch...but she has her reasons. Then the brother Craig, but hey, he's human too.
I guess it's only fair that even the bad guys have their say in the court of make-believe appeals. And truly, in life, there are no good guys or bad guys...we are all just different degrees of selfish on a given day. Well, besides Hitler. But even he had a mom who loved him.
I love how you manage to capture the authenticity of living in a resort town, of being that Outer Banks touristy flavor, while never making it Locals Versus Tourists. What made you decide to set it in Outer Banks, NC?
It's my happy place and my home away from home. I'm not a tourist there, I'm a displaced resident.
Is it weird that I see Barbara as Dixie Carter from Designing Women? Maybe it's that Aristocratic thing, but I always felt like she should have that old South voice. Were there any particular voices that you channeled when writing characters such as Jenna and Tres?
No J, you're never weird. ;) But you know I was a HUGE fan of "Designing Women"...maybe it stuck in my psyche!
Without giving away the big twist, what made you decide to tackle so many complicated issues in this story?
I never thought of it as complicated. It's just life. We all have stories and secrets. Some are just bigger than others.
I keep meaning to ask, what in the world is Tres short for? I couldn't seem to find the answer in the book, and apologize if I glossed over it. You have such a unique naming convention in the book with Tres, Jenna, Maureen, and Tanner. Do those names have special significance for you?
He's Charles Winston Coulter the third. (uno, dos, tres...in Spanish, get it?) Stole that from a friend's kid's name. Writers are just thieving sponges!
The other names? Am I a loser to admit they are chosen at random from "What to Name Baby"?
Any chance we'll see a sequel or follow-up? What are your plans for the next book?
I have two more "companion" books to this one. When I was done, I felt bad for Craig. So I had to write him a story because he was just heart broken to have caused soooo much trouble. Then when that was done, the youngest Coulter boy was like, "hey lady, what am I, chopped liver? I deserve a story too!" So, I wrote him a tale too.
What would you like to tell new readers who might be looking to take a chance on this book?
I've been there. Tons of books to choose from, but not tons of cash in my pocket. It's not like me to tell you what to do, but if you do take a chance on me, thanks. It means a lot.
Thank you so much again my friend! Any big plans for the near future?
Yep, going to break my chocolate addiction and lose weight. I hear that giggling again!!!
Thanks J. You're the best. Can't wait to read your next tale. Mr. Landis always makes me GOL...giggle out loud. :)
About the Author
Elizabeth divides her time between her beach cottage and her scrupulously clean house in the hills of West Virginia. Ooops. That's fantasy Elizabeth. The real Elizabeth spends her days schlepping after her four boys (five if you count their father) and the assortment of pets they swore they'd take care of.
She does live in West Virginia; the house is clean when the mother-in-law visits; and she does have serious dreams of living at the beach.
She does live in West Virginia; the house is clean when the mother-in-law visits; and she does have serious dreams of living at the beach.
Elizabeth is a Marshall University graduate with a degree in counseling. This has proven very beneficial when dealing with the make-believe friends she hangs out with all day (she calls this 'writing').
Follow her blog at: http://www.eseckman.blogspot.com


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Tri-City Centennial Stamp Club
For over 170 years, stamp collecting has been one of the most popular hobbies in the world. If you think its time has passed, think again. It's changed in a big way since your parents used to collect when they were children. Visit us and see what it's all about. We serve the Tri-City area of the lower mainland (Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody) in beautiful British Columbia. Learn more by clicking on any of the drop-down menus at the top of this page, or join our mailing list (see Membership page).
Photo courtesy Doug Matthews


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I don't usually waste time on Web quizzes (those things that ask you a bunch of questions and then tell you what Lord of the Rings character you are), because most of them strike me as silly, pointless, or contrived. But today I stumbled across one that I had to take: How Grammatically Sound Are…
Month: May 2004
Great books
Another book meme is circulating through the blogosphere. To participate, you post a copy of this list of 101 Great Books to your blog, and indicate which of them you have personally read. Okay, I'll play. In the following list, the works that I have read are listed in bold. Achebe, Chinua – Things Fall…
I decided I didn't like Blogger's new commenting system. I also wanted to experiment with Trackback.
Lowering the bar
I'm sure that speculation is rampant about exactly what has curtailed my output so drastically. Has a rat stepped on my own personal Power button and shut me off?


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Customer Management
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The world's largest companies have entrusted us with their customer service for more than 30 years now: needless to say, we know what we're doing. We not only take over your customer management, we optimise it - nurturing, developing further and fully exploiting customer relationships: We develop efficient processes and innovative customer management solutions which we successfully implement for you. This includes use of the latest technologies, linking customer contact more and more to digital channels such as the web and social media – where it makes sense for you and your customer.
We are investing continuously – in the best staff, the most innovative concepts and most efficient processes to achieve optimal results and the best lifetime value for you. We are interdisciplinary in the way we think and act – naturally we apply this approach to both problems and our solutions.


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eMail Me By Accident...
If you accidentally send this to your significant other you might find some very cool and fun stuff in your tackle sock.
Once in a while we attach cool items we think will help your fishing habit and we make a few cents (literally) if you buy something, but since this is Christmas and we're all in the season, you're gonna see gifts that will be fun to give away or (better yet) get yourself.
Accidentally send this list to your significant other; nothing here costs big bucks, help you cast a flyrod, or make you more likely to catch a fish on a bad day. But they will make you laugh and might help you get snagged.


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Flexible header menuby huebner berger no ratings yet Source Available 57 Downloads
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In the Shopware standard, the breakpoint, which switches from the mobile to the normal main navigation, is defined for tablet portrait in Shopware standard and the menu bar scrolls with the page content and disappears from the visible area.
With the help of the plugin you have the possibility to define the breakpoint on another viewport width (eg tablet-landscape or desktop) in order to prevent horizontal scrolling even with several menu items in the main menu and to fix the menu bar at the top of the browser as soon as possible it has reached this while scrolling - only the top of the header scrolls with the page. This will give you a much better accessibility to navigation even if the respective page has already been scrolled far down - the menu is always available immediately!
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The Spirit of Innovation
February 17, 2011 1 Comment
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February 17, 2011 1 Comment
January 17, 2011 Leave a comment
The forum of the conference was International Co-operation and Networking. The whole idea was to exchange new ideas and innovations for enhancing the co-operation for fuelling growth. In today's world of Globalization it is important to become exposed to the beliefs of others. To know what the evolving of the market are, it is necessary to have such a platform to help growth and innovation.


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Don Quixote (/ˌdɒn kiːˈhoʊtiː/; Spanish: [ˈdoŋ kiˈxote]Template:IPA audio link), fully titled The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha (Spanish: El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha), is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. It follows the adventures of Alonso Quijano, an hidalgo who reads so many chivalric novels that he decides to set out to revive chivalry, under the name Don Quixote. He recruits a simple farmer, Sancho Panza, as his squire, who often employs a unique, earthly wit in dealing with Don Quixote's rhetorical orations on antiquated knighthood. Don Quixote is met by the world as it is, initiating such themes as intertextuality, realism, metatheatre, and literary representation.
Published in two volumes, in 1605 and 1615, Don Quixote is considered the most influential work of literature from the Spanish Golden Age and the entire Spanish literary canon. As a founding work of modern Western literature, and one of the earliest canonical novels, it regularly appears high on lists of the greatest works of fiction ever published. It has had major influence on the literary community, as evidenced by direct references in Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers (1844) and Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884). In a 2002 list, Don Quixote was cited as the "best literary work ever written".[1]
Alonso Quijano, the protagonist of the novel, is a retired country gentleman nearing fifty years of age, living in an unnamed section of La Mancha with his niece and housekeeper. While mostly a rational man of sound reason, his reading of books of chivalry in excess has had a profound effect on him, leading to the distortion of his perception and the wavering of his mental faculties. In essence, he believes every word of these books of chivalry to be true though, for the most part, the content of these books is clearly fiction. Otherwise, his wits are intact.
He decides to go out as a knight-errant in search of adventure. He dons an old suit of armour, renames himself "Don Quixote de la Mancha," and names his skinny horse "Rocinante". He designates Aldonza Lorenzo, a neighboring farm girl as his lady love, renaming her Dulcinea del Toboso, while she knows nothing about this.
He sets out in the early morning and ends up at an inn, which he believes to be a castle. He asks the innkeeper, whom he thinks to be the lord of the castle, to dub him a knight. He spends the night holding vigil over his armor, where he becomes involved in a fight with muleteers who try to remove his armor from the horse trough so that they can water their mules. The innkeeper then dubs him a knight to be rid of him, and sends him on his way.
Don Quixote next "frees" a young boy who is tied to a tree and beaten by his master by making his master swear on the chivalric code to treat the boy fairly. The boy's beating is continued as soon as Quixote leaves. Don Quixote has a run-in with traders from Toledo, who "insult" the imaginary Dulcinea, one of whom severely beats Don Quixote and leaves him on the side of the road. Don Quixote is found and returned to his home by a neighboring peasant.
While Don Quixote is unconscious in his bed, his niece, the housekeeper, the parish curate, and the local barber secretly burn most of the books of chivalry, and seal up his library pretending that a magician has carried it off. After a short period of feigning health, Don Quixote approaches his neighbor, Sancho Panza, and asks him to be his squire, promising him governorship of an island. The uneducated Sancho agrees, and the pair sneak off in the early dawn. It is here that their series of famous adventures begin, starting with Don Quixote's attack on windmills that he believes to be ferocious giants.
The two next encounter a group of friars accompanying a lady in a carriage. They are heavily cloaked, as is the lady, to protect themselves from the hot climate and dust on the road. Don Quixote takes the friars to be enchanters who hold the lady captive. He knocks a friar from his horse, and is immediately challenged by an armed Basque traveling with the company. As he has no shield, the Basque uses a pillow to protect himself, which saves him when Don Quixote strikes him. The combat ends with the lady leaving her carriage and commanding those traveling with her to "surrender" to Don Quixote.
Sancho and Don Quixote go on, and fall in with a group of goatherds. Don Quixote tells Sancho and the goatherds about the "Golden Age" of man, reminiscent of both Ovid and the later Rousseau in which property does not exist, and men live in peace. The goatherds invite the Knight and Sancho to the funeral of Grisóstomo, once a student who left his studies to become a shepherd after reading Pastoral novels, seeking the shepherdess Marcela. At the funeral Marcela appears, delivering a long speech vindicating herself from the bitter verses written about her by Grisóstomo, claiming her own autonomy and freedom from expectations put on her by Pastoral clichés.
She disappears into the woods, and Don Quixote and Sancho follow. Ultimately giving up, the two stop and dismount by a pond to rest. Some Galicians arrive to water their ponies, and Rocinante (Don Quixote's horse) attempts to mate with the ponies. The Galicians hit Rocinante with clubs to dissuade him, which Don Quixote takes as a threat and runs to defend Rocinante. The Galicians beat Don Quixote and Sancho leaving them in great pain.
After Don Quixote frees a group of galley slaves, The Knight and Sancho wander into the Sierra Morena, and there encounter the dejected Cardenio. Cardenio relates the first part of his story, in which he falls deeply in love with his childhood friend Luscinda, and is hired as the companion to the Duke's son, leading to his friendship with the Duke's younger son, Don Fernando. Cardenio confides in Don Fernando his love for Luscinda and the delays in their engagement, caused by Cardenio's desire to keep with tradition. After reading Cardenio's poems praising Luscinda, Don Fernando falls in love with her. Don Quixote interrupts when Cardenio suggests that his beloved may have become unfaithful after the formulaic stories of spurned lovers in Chivalric novels.
In the course of their travels, the protagonists meet innkeepers, prostitutes, goatherds, soldiers, priests, escaped convicts, and scorned lovers. These encounters are magnified by Don Quixote's imagination into chivalrous quests. Don Quixote's tendency to intervene violently in matters which do not concern him, and his habit of not paying his debts, result in many privations, injuries, and humiliations (with Sancho often getting the worst of it). Finally, Don Quixote is persuaded to return to his home village. The author hints that there was a third quest, but says that records of it have been lost.
Although the two parts are now published as a single work, Don Quixote, Part Two was a sequel published ten years after the original novel. While Part One was mostly farcical, the second half is more serious and philosophical about the theme of deception.
As Part Two begins, it is assumed that the literate classes of Spain have all read the first part of the history of Don Quixote and his squire. Cervantes's meta-fictional device was to make even the characters in the story familiar with the publication of Part One, as well as with an actually published fraudulent Part Two. When strangers encounter the duo in person, they already know their famous history. A Duke and Duchess, and others, deceive Don Quixote for entertainment, setting forth a string of imagined adventures resulting in a series of practical jokes. Some of them are quite sadistic, and they put Don Quixote's sense of chivalry and his devotion to Dulcinea through many tests.
Even Sancho deceives him at one point. Pressured into finding Dulcinea, Sancho brings back three dirty and ragged peasant girls, and tells Don Quixote that they are Dulcinea and her ladies-in-waiting. When Don Quixote only sees the peasant girls, Sancho pretends that their derelict appearance results from an enchantment.
Sancho later gets his comeuppance for this when, as part of one of the duke and duchess's pranks, the two are led to believe that the only method to release Dulcinea from her spell is for Sancho to give himself a surplus of three thousand lashes. Sancho naturally resists this course of action, leading to friction with his master. Under the duke's patronage, Sancho eventually gets a governorship, though it is false, and proves to be a wise and practical ruler; though this ends in humiliation as well.
Near the end, Don Quixote reluctantly sways towards sanity: an inn is just an inn, not a castle.
The lengthy untold "history" of Don Quixote's adventures in knight-errantry comes to a close after his battle with the Knight of the White Moon (actually a young man from Don Quixote's hometown) on the beach in Barcelona, in which the reader finds him conquered. Bound by the rules of chivalry, Don Quixote submits to prearranged terms that the vanquished is to obey the will of the conqueror, which in this case, is that Don Quixote is to lay down his arms and cease his acts of chivalry for the period of one year (a duration in which he may be cured of his madness). Defeated and dejected, he and Sancho start their journey home.
Part Two of Don Quixote is often regarded as the birth of modern literature, as it explores the concept of a character understanding that he is being written about. This is a theme much explored in writings of the 20th Century.
Upon returning to his village, Don Quixote announces his plan to retire to the countryside and live the pastoral existence of shepherd, although his housekeeper, who has a more realistic view of the hard life of a shepherd, urges him to stay home and tend to his own affairs. Soon after, he retires to his bed with a deathly illness, possibly brought on by melancholy over his defeats and humiliations. One day, he awakes from a dream having fully recovered his sanity.
Sancho tries to restore his faith, but Alonso Quixano, for that is his true name, can only renounce his previous existence and apologize for the harm he has caused. He dictates his will, which includes a provision that his niece will be disinherited if she marries a man who reads books of chivalry. After Alonso Quixano dies, the author emphasizes that there are no more adventures to relate, and that any further books about Don Quixote would be spurious.
Various people have varying interpretations on the underlying meaning of the work.
Professor Tariq Ali suggests that by reading the preface and many paragraphs throughout the book in the context of the time and situation after the expulsion of Jews and Muslims from Spain, it becomes clear that Cervantes was attacking the Catholic church, the Spanish Inquisition and the ruling Catholic Spanish nobility. Ali shows how Cervantes points to his Jewish ancestry and to the Jews' (and Muslims') plight in Spain and abroad following the expulsions and mass conversions.[2]
In stark contrast Harold Bloom says that Don Quixote is the writing of radical nihilism and anarchy, preferring the glory of fantasy over the real world which includes imminent death, being "...the first modern novel"[3]
Edith Grossman, who wrote and published a highly acclaimed English translation of the novel in 2003, says that the book is mostly meant to move people into emotion using a systematic change of course, on the verge of both tragedy and comedy at the same time.
The novel's structure is in episodic form. It is written in the picaresco style of the late 16th century, and features reference other picaresque novels including Lazarillo de Tormes and The Golden Ass. The full title is indicative of the tale's object, as ingenioso (Spanish) means "quick with inventiveness"[5] marking the transition of modern literature from Dramatic to thematic unity. The novel takes place over a long period of time, including many adventures all united by common themes of the nature of reality, reading, and dialogue in general.
Although farcical on the surface, the novel, especially in its second half, is more serious and philosophical about the theme of deception. Quixote has served as an important thematic source not only in literature but also in much of art and music, inspiring works by Pablo Picasso and Richard Strauss. The contrasts between the tall, thin, fancy-struck, and idealistic Quixote and the fat, squat, world-weary Panza is a motif echoed ever since the book's publication, and Don Quixote's imaginings are the butt of outrageous and cruel practical jokes in the novel.
Even faithful and simple Sancho is unintentionally forced to deceive him at certain points. The novel is considered a satire of orthodoxy, veracity, and even nationalism. In going beyond mere storytelling to exploring the individualism of his characters, Cervantes helped move beyond the narrow literary conventions of the chivalric romance literature that he spoofed, which consists of straightforward retelling of a series of acts that redound to the knightly virtues of the hero.
From shepherds to tavern-owners and inn-keepers, the characterization in Don Quixote was groundbreaking. The character of Don Quixote became so well known in its time that the word quixotic was quickly adopted by many languages. Characters such as Sancho Panza and Don Quixote's steed, Rocinante, are emblems of Western literary culture. The phrase "tilting at windmills" to describe an act of attacking imaginary enemies derives from an iconic scene in the book.
It stands in a unique position between medieval chivalric romance and the modern novel. The former consist of disconnected stories featuring the same characters and settings with little exploration of the inner life of even the main character. The latter are usually focused on the psychological evolution of their characters. In Part I, Quixote imposes himself on his environment. By Part II, people know about him through "having read his adventures", and so, he needs to do less to maintain his image. By his deathbed, he has regained his sanity, and is once more "Alonso Quixano the Good".
When it was first published, Don Quixote was usually interpreted as a comic novel. After the French Revolution it was popular in part due to its central ethic that individuals can be right while society is quite wrong and seen as disenchanting—not comic at all. In the 19th century it was seen as a social commentary, but no one could easily tell "whose side Cervantes was on". Many critics came to view the work as a tragedy in which Don Quixote's innate idealism and nobility are viewed by the world as insane, and are defeated and rendered useless by common reality. By the 20th century the novel had come to occupy a canonical space as one of the foundations of modern literature.
Sources for Don Quixote include the Castillian novel Amadis de Gaula, which had enjoyed great popularity throughout the 16th century. Another prominent source, which Cervantes evidently admires more, is Tirant lo Blanch which the priest describes in Chapter VI of Quixote as "the best book in the world."
The scene of the book burning gives us an excellent list of Cervantes's likes and dislikes about literature.
Cervantes makes a number of references to the Italian poem Orlando furioso. In chapter 10 of the first part of the novel, Don Quixote says he must take the magical helmet of Mambrino, an episode from Canto I of Orlando, and itself a reference to Matteo Maria Boiardo's Orlando innamorato.[6] The interpolated story in chapter 33 of Part four of the First Part is a retelling of a tale from Canto 43 of Orlando, regarding a man who tests the fidelity of his wife.[7]
Another important source appears to have been Apuleius's The Golden Ass, one of the earliest known novels, a picaresque from late classical antiquity. The wineskins episode near the end of the interpolated tale "The Curious Impertinent" in chapter 35 of the first part of Don Quixote is a clear reference to Apuleius, and recent scholarship suggests that the moral philosophy and the basic trajectory of Apuleius's novel are fundamental to Cervantes's program.[8] Similarly, many of both Sancho's adventures in Part II and proverbs throughout are taken from popular Spanish and Italian folklore.
Cervantes's experiences as a galley slave in Algiers also influenced Quijote.
It is not certain when Cervantes began writing Part Two of Don Quixote, but he had probably not gotten much further than Chapter LIX by late July 1614. About September, however, a spurious Part Two, entitled Second Volume of the Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha: by the Licenciado (doctorate) Alonso Fernández de Avellaneda, of Tordesillas, was published in Tarragona by an unidentified Aragonese who was an admirer of Lope de Vega, rival of Cervantes.[9]
Avellaneda's identity has been the subject of many theories, but there is no consensus as to who he was. In its prologue, the author gratuitously insulted Cervantes, who not surprisingly took offense and responded; the last half of Chapter LIX and most of the following chapters of Cervantes' Segunda Parte lend some insight into the effects upon him; Cervantes manages to work in some subtle digs at Avellaneda's own work, and in his preface to Part II, comes very near to criticizing Avellaneda directly.
In his introduction to The Portable Cervantes, Samuel Putnam, a noted translator of Cervantes' novel, calls Avellaneda's version "one of the most disgraceful performances in history".[10]
The second part of Cervantes' Don Quixote, finished as a direct result of the Avellaneda book, has come to be regarded by some literary critics[11] as superior to the first part, because of its greater depth of characterization, its discussions, mostly between Quixote and Sancho, on diverse subjects, and its philosophical insights.
Don Quixote, Part One contains a number of stories which do not directly involve the two main characters, but which are narrated by some of the picaresque figures encountered by the Don and Sancho during their travels. The longest and best known of these is "El Curioso Impertinente" (the impertinently curious man), found in Part One, Book Four. This story, read to a group of travelers at an inn, tells of a Florentine nobleman, Anselmo, who becomes obsessed with testing his wife's fidelity, and talks his close friend Lothario into attempting to seduce her, with disastrous results for all.
In Part Two, the author acknowledges the criticism of his digressions in Part One and promises to concentrate the narrative on the central characters (although at one point he laments that his narrative muse has been constrained in this manner). Nevertheless, "Part Two" contains several back narratives related by peripheral characters.
Several abridged editions have been published which delete some or all of the extra tales in order to concentrate on the central narrative.[12]
Cervantes wrote his work in a form of Old Castilian, the medieval form of the Spanish language. The language of Don Quixote, although still containing archaisms, is far more understandable to modern Spanish readers than is, for instance, the completely medieval Spanish of the Poema de mio Cid, a kind of Spanish that is as different from Cervantes's language as Middle English is from Modern English. The Old Castilian language was also used to show the higher class that came with being a knight errant.
In Don Quixote there are basically two different types of Castilian: Old Castilian is spoken only by Don Quixote, while the rest of the roles speak a modern version of Spanish. The Old Castilian of Don Quixote is a Humoristic resource - he copies the language spoken in the chivalric books that made him angry; and many times, when he talks nobody is able to understand him because his language is too old. This humorous effect is more difficult to see nowadays because the reader must be able to distinguish the two old versions of the language, but when the book was published it was much celebrated.
In Old Castilian the letter x represented the sound written with sh in modern English, so the name was originally pronounced " "[kiˈʃote]. However as Old Castilian became modern Spanish, the pronunciation of the sh sound changed, and came to be pronounced with a voiceless velar fricative sound like the Scottish or German ch and today the Spanish pronunciation of "Quixote" is [kiˈxote]. The original pronunciation is reflected in languages such as Astur-Leonese, Galician, Catalan, French, Italian and Portuguese that pronounce it with a "sh" or "ch" sound.
Today English speakers generally attempt something close to the modern Spanish pronunciation when saying Quixote (Quijote), as [dɒŋ kiːˈhoʊteɪ], although the traditional English spelling pronunciation pronouncing the name with the value of the letter x in modern English is still sometimes used, resulting in /ˈkwɪksət/ or /ˈkwɪksoʊt/. In Australian English, the preferred pronunciation amongst members of the educated classes was /ˈkwɪksət/ until well into the 1970s, as part of a tendency for the upper class to "anglicise its borrowing ruthlessly".[13] The traditional English rendering is preserved in the pronunciation of the adjectival form quixotic, i.e., /kwɪkˈsoʊtɨk/ or /kwɪkˈsɒtɪk/, the foolishly impractical pursuit of ideals, typically marked with rash and lofty romanticism.[14]
Cervantes' story takes place on the plains of La Mancha, specifically the comarca of Campo de Montiel.
En un lugar de La Mancha, de cuyo nombre no quiero acordarme, no ha mucho tiempo que vivía un hidalgo de los de lanza en astillero, adarga antigua, rocín flaco y galgo corredor. (Somewhere in La Mancha, in a place whose name I do not care to remember, a gentleman lived not long ago, one of those who has a lance and ancient shield on a shelf and keeps a skinny nag and a greyhound for racing.)—Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote, Volume I, Chapter I (translated by Edith Grossman)
The story also takes place in El Toboso where Don Quixote goes to seek Dulcinea's blessings.
The location of the village to which Cervantes alludes in the opening sentence of Don Quixote has been the subject of debate since its publication over four centuries ago. Indeed, Cervantes deliberately omits the name of the village, giving an explanation in the final chapter:
Such was the end of the Ingenious Gentlemen of La Mancha, whose village Cide Hamete would not indicate precisely, in order to leave all the towns and villages of La Mancha to contend among themselves for the right to adopt him and claim him as a son, as the seven cities of Greece contended for Homer.—Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote, Volume II, Chapter 74
In 2004, a multidisciplinary team of academics from Complutense University, led by Francisco Parra Luna, Manuel Fernández Nieto and Santiago Petschen Verdaguer, deduced that the village was that of Villanueva de los Infantes.[15] Their findings were published in a paper titled "'El Quijote' como un sistema de distancias/tiempos: hacia la localización del lugar de la Mancha", which was later published as a book: El enigma resuelto del Quijote. The result was replicated in two subsequent investigations: "La determinación del lugar de la Mancha como problema estadístico" and "The Kinematics of the Quixote and the Identity of the 'Place in La Mancha'".[16][17]
Because of its widespread influence, Don Quixote also helped cement the modern Spanish language. The opening sentence of the book created a classic Spanish cliché with the phrase "de cuyo nombre no quiero acordarme" ("whose name I do not wish to recall"): "En un lugar de la Mancha, de cuyo nombre no quiero acordarme, no hace mucho tiempo que vivía un hidalgo de los de lanza en astillero, adarga antigua, rocín flaco y galgo corredor." ("In a village of La Mancha, whose name I do not wish to recall, there lived, not very long ago, one of those gentlemen with a lance in the lance-rack, an ancient shield, a skinny old horse, and a fast greyhound.")
The novel's farcical elements make use of punning and similar verbal playfulness. Character-naming in Don Quixote makes ample figural use of contradiction, inversion, and irony, such as the names Rocinante[18] (a reversal) and Dulcinea (an allusion to illusion), and the word quixote itself, possibly a pun on quijada (jaw) but certainly cuixot (Catalan: thighs), a reference to a horse's rump.[19]
As a military term, the word quijote refers to cuisses, part of a full suit of plate armour protecting the thighs. The Spanish suffix -ote denotes the augmentative—for example, grande means large, but grandote means extra large. Following this example, Quixote would suggest 'The Great Quijano', a play on words that makes much sense in light of the character's delusions of grandeur.
La Mancha is a region of Spain, but mancha (Spanish word) means spot, mark, stain. Translators such as John Ormsby have declared La Mancha to be one of the most desertlike, unremarkable regions of Spain, the least romantic and fanciful place that one would imagine as the home of a courageous knight.
In July 1604, Cervantes sold the rights of El ingenioso hidalgo don Quixote de la Mancha (known as Don Quixote, Part I) to the publisher-bookseller Francisco de Robles for an unknown sum. License to publish was granted in September, the printing was finished in December, and the book came out on 16 January 1605.[20][21]
The novel was an immediate success. The majority of the 400 copies of the first edition were sent to the New World, with the publisher hoping to get a better price in the Americas.[22] Although most of them disappeared in a shipwreck near La Havana, approximately 70 copies reached Lima, from where they were sent to Cuzco in the heart of the defunct Inca Empire.[22]
No sooner was it in the hands of the public than preparations were made to issue derivative (pirated) editions. "Don Quixote" had been growing in favour, and its author's name was now known beyond the Pyrenees. By August 1605 there were two Madrid editions, two published in Lisbon, and one in Valencia. A second edition was produced with additional copyrights for Aragon and Portugal, which publisher Francisco de Robles secured.[23]
Sale of these publishing rights deprived Cervantes of further financial profit on Part One. In 1607, an edition was printed in Brussels. Robles, the Madrid publisher, found it necessary to meet demand with a third edition, a seventh publication in all, in 1608. Popularity of the book in Italy was such that a Milan bookseller issued an Italian edition in 1610. Yet another Brussels edition was called for in 1611.[21] In total, the novel is believed to have sold more than 10 million copies worldwide.[24]
In 1613, Cervantes published the Novelas Ejemplares, dedicated to the Maecenas of the day, the Conde de Lemos. Eight and a half years after Part One had appeared, we get the first hint of a forthcoming Segunda Parte (Part Two). "You shall see shortly," Cervantes says, "the further exploits of Don Quixote and humours of Sancho Panza."[25] Don Quixote, Part Two, published by the same press as its predecessor, appeared late in 1615, and quickly reprinted in Brussels and Valencia (1616) and Lisbon (1617). Part two capitalizes on the potential of the first while developing and diversifying the material without sacrificing familiarity. Many people agree that it is richer and more profound. Parts One and Two were published as one edition in Barcelona in 1617. Historically, Cervantes's work has been said to have "smiled Spain's chivalry away", suggesting that Don Quixote as a chivalric satire contributed to the demise of Spanish Chivalry.[26]
There are many translations of the book, and it has been adapted many times in shortened versions. Many derivative editions were also written at the time, as was the custom of envious or unscrupulous writers. Seven years after the Parte Primera appeared, Don Quixote had been translated into French, German, Italian, and English, with the first French translation of 'Part II' appearing in 1618, and the first English translation in 1620. One abridged adaptation, authored by Agustín Sánchez, runs slightly over 150 pages, cutting away about 750 pages.[27]
Thomas Shelton's English translation of the First Part appeared in 1612. Shelton is a somewhat elusive figure: some claim Shelton was actually a friend of Cervantes, although there is no credible evidence to support this claim. Although Shelton's version is cherished by some, according to John Ormsby and Samuel Putnam, it was far from satisfactory as a carrying over of Cervantes's text.[23] Shelton's translation of the novel's Second Part appeared in 1620.
Near the end of the 17th century, John Phillips, a nephew of poet John Milton, published what Putnam considered the worst English translation. The translation, as literary critics claim, was not based on Cervantes' text but mostly upon a French work by Filleau de Saint-Martin and upon notes which Thomas Shelton had written.
Around 1700, a version by Pierre Antoine Motteux appeared. Motteux's translation enjoyed lasting popularity; it was reprinted as the Modern Library Series edition of the novel until recent times.[28] Nonetheless, future translators would find much to fault in Motteux's version: Samuel Putnam criticized "the prevailing slapstick quality of this work, especially where Sancho Panza is involved, the obtrusion of the obscene where it is found in the original, and the slurring of difficulties through omissions or expanding upon the text". John Ormsby considered Motteux's version "worse than worthless", and denounced its "infusion of Cockney flippancy and facetiousness" into the original.[29]
A translation by Captain John Stevens, which revised Thomas Shelton's version, also appeared in 1700, but its publication was overshadowed by the simultaneous release of Motteux's translation.[28]
In 1742, the Charles Jervas translation appeared, posthumously. Through a printer's error, it came to be known, and is still known, as "the Jarvis translation". It was the most scholarly and accurate English translation of the novel up to that time, but future translator John Ormsby points out in his own introduction to the novel that the Jarvis translation has been criticized as being too stiff. Nevertheless, it became the most frequently reprinted translation of the novel until about 1885. Another 18th century translation into English was that of Tobias Smollett, himself a novelist. Like the Jarvis translation, it continues to be reprinted today.
Most modern translators take as their model the 1885 translation by John Ormsby. It is said[by whom?] that his translation was the most honest of all translations, without expansions upon the text or changing of the proverbs.
An expurgated children's version, under the title The Story of Don Quixote, was published in 1922 (available on Project Gutenberg). It leaves out the risqué sections as well as chapters that young readers might consider dull, and embellishes a great deal on Cervantes's original text. The title page actually gives credit to the two editors as if they were the authors, and omits any mention of Cervantes.[30]
The most widely read English-language translations of the mid-20th century are by Samuel Putnam (1949), J. M. Cohen (1950; Penguin Classics), and Walter Starkie (1957). The last English translation of the novel in the 20th century was by Burton Raffel, published in 1996. The 21st century has already seen four new translations of the novel into English. The first is by John D. Rutherford and the second by Edith Grossman. Reviewing the novel in the New York Times, Carlos Fuentes called Grossman's translation a "major literary achievement"[31] and another called it the "most transparent and least impeded among more than a dozen English translations going back to the 17th century."[32]
In 2005, the year of the novel's 400th anniversary, Tom Lathrop published a new English translation of the novel, based on a lifetime of specialized study of the novel and its history.[33]
The fourth translation of the 21st century was released in 2006 by former Spanish professor James Montgomery, 26 years after he had begun it, in an attempt to "recreate the sense of the original as closely as possible, though not at the expense of Cervantes' literary style."[34]
Template:Don Quixote
Template:Miguel de Cervantes


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Grab a bargain from the Charles Clinkard women's trainers sale, where you'll find fantastic deals on trainers from some of the UK's biggest brands.
If you're after a new pair of gym shoes or some comfortable footwear you can wear on the weekends, start your search in our ladies' trainers sale and you may well find a steal. In the range above you'll find trainers from Sketchers, Ecco, Merrell and more at some of the best prices around — while stocks last.
Buy a pair of discounted shoes from our women's trainers sale and receive free UK delivery when you order online.


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|Bridal make up
Latest Pakistani Fashion Dresses, Mehndi Wear, Henna Outfits, Anarkali, Pishwas, Fashion Bridal, Mehndi Wear Formal Dresses, Casual Clothing , wedding dress, bridesmaid dresses, flowergirl dress and prom dress, all at amazingly affordable prices.
Friday, 31 August 2012
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Labels: Bridal make up
1 comment:
Great post. I never thought of it that way, but you are right. Your makeup will remain forever in pictures. I don't want my makeup to be outdated in a few years. I was thinking about doing my own makeup but I think I am going to hire a makeup artist in Perth for the big day. I want to look stunning! Thanks so much for sharing!ReplyDelete
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Patenting an idea or product, registering and publishing a book, opening a start-up, immigrating, working, studying, courses, investing or building in Norway, we can help you to develop new projects.
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Trump's reckless tweeting has taken a dark turn.
There are a number of ways to interpret this, none of them good.
As anyone who follows politics knows, Hillary is under constant threat from vicious and hateful individuals who have been whipped into a frenzy by her detractors.
For Trump to allude to disarming those who protect her physical safety is to tread on very dangerous ground. There are unstable people who could read into more his words than may have been intended.
We already know Trump is a vindictive person — he admitted it himself. He also lacks a basic modicum of self-control. This unimaginably reckless tweet is a perfect example.
Express your outrage using this tag: #WomenTrumpDonald
(AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)


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Member Spotlight
Women's Venture Summit Returns to San Diego Sept. 14
Date and Time
Saturday Sep 14, 2019
September 14, 2019 From 7:30am to 7:00pm
University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA
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Send EmailWomen's Venture Summit Returns to San...
Women's Venture Summit Returns to San Diego Sept. 14 On Saturday, Sept. 14, Stella Labs will host Women's Venture Summit, a summit focused on activating female investors and improving access to capital for female founders. To date, the summit has helped women raise $4 million in seed capital. Returning to University of San Diego for its sixth year, the summit will take place at 5998 Alcala Park in San Diego from 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.. Keynote speakers including Kim Perell and Jasmine Crowe. The one-day intensive summit will include: · Entrepreneur track and angel track sessions throughout the day · A gamified pitch contest where qualified startups from across the U.S. will compete to win prizes. Startups who wish to be considered must first compete at Stella Labs Fast Pitch taking place on Aug. 28. For details and to apply now, visit womensventuresummit.org/womens-fast-pitch/. · An expo hall showcasing local women-led businesses and products · An optional pre-summit day for accredited investors Women's Venture Summit is organized by Stella Labs, with support from partners like Qualcomm Ventures, Sony Innovation and University of San Diego School of Business. Please register at www.womensventuresummit.org/.
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A recent lease sale off the coast of Maryland for offshore wind energy development and the possibility for more development off North Carolina's coast boosts this domestic clean energy industry.
On August 19, 2014, the U. S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's (BOEM) leased 80,000 acres of the outer Continental Shelf off the coast of Maryland for offshore wind development as part of the bureau's "Smart for the Start" initiative. U.S. Wind Inc., a subsidiary of an Italian-owned company, Renexia, won the rights to develop in what originally began as two leasing areas, paying a total of $8.7 million. The combined area has the potential to produce 1,450 megawatts of clean, renewable energy, enough to power around 300,000 homes in the state.
Just a week before Maryland's lease sale, BOEM also identified three wind energy areas off the coast of North Carolina for the purpose of developing offshore wind energy. The 307,590 acres consists of three areas: "Kitty Hawk," which is about 25 miles from the Outer Banks, and "Wilmington East" and "Wilmington West," which are just south of Oak Island.
Already an important part of Europe's energy market, offshore wind provides a source of renewable energy that is competitive and less costly in the long-term than traditional fossil fuels. In Oceana's report, Untapped Wealth, analysts found that domestic offshore wind development would cost about $36 billion less than offshore oil and gas production combined, while creating about three times as many jobs per dollar invested than fossil fuel production.
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The main barrier to a thriving offshore wind energy industry is financing. Offshore wind farms are initially expensive to construct, which is why it is critical to incentivize investment in this industry. The Investment Tax Credit (ITC) does just that by providing a 30% tax credit to qualified investors in offshore wind projects.
Allowed to expire at the end of 2013, the ITC needs to be extended as soon as possible to jumpstart this growing industry. The "Expiring Provisions Improvement Reform and Efficiency (EXPIRE) Act," a bipartisan bill that was reported favorably out of the U.S. Senate Finance committee in April, includes an extension of the ITC for offshore wind projects through the end of 2015. The passing of this bill by Congress is imperative to continue the current momentum of the offshore wind industry, and it will allow the U.S. to finally start benefiting from the environmental and economic benefits of this job-creating domestic clean energy industry.
As the threats of global climate change become more severe and recovery more costly, the U.S. must make a serious national commitment to developing all possible domestic clean energy. Doing so will not only help to mitigate the effects of climate change, but it will also stimulate the economy by revitalizing local ports and the manufacturing sector. As Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley has said of offshore wind development, it's "win-win-win."


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W20.4 km
Christmas Lane - Dover FL
in Holiday Displays
You'll enjoy a winter wonderland in Florida. Fun for both young and old.
posted by: sfwife
location: Florida
date approved: 12/17/2009
last visited: 12/16/2009
W34.3 km
Florida State Fairgrounds - Tampa, FL
in Agricultural Fairgrounds
Fairgrounds host many functions throughout the year, but the State Fair is held in February each year.
posted by: ChapterhouseInc
date approved: 5/19/2008
last visited: 2/10/2008
W39.3 km
Bay Area Renaissance Festival
in Renaissance Fairs
The 27th Annual Bay Area Renaissance Festival, now at Mosi. With seven different themed weekends! I've been going to these for years, it recently had to move but it's still lots of FUN!
posted by: DangerousDale
date approved: 12/29/2005
last visited: 8/12/2011
NE52.1 km
Ceramic Pikachu - Davenport, Florida.
in Pikachu Sightings
A Ceramic Pikachu - Sits on the shelf of a Walmart Supercentre, alongside other Iconic fictional character's such as Darth Vader & Hello Kitty. This Supercentre is located in Clermont/Davenport, Florida.
posted by: veritas vita
date approved: 7/22/2016
last visited: 8/1/2016
NE59.7 km
Osbourne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights @ MGM Studios
Christmas Light Show
posted by: tiki-4
date approved: 1/1/2007
last visited: 12/28/2011
NE61.3 km
Pikachu in Japan - Epcot
The Japan section of Epcot has a gitf shop that features many Japanese items, one theme was Pokemon. They had several Pikachu items for sale.
date approved: 9/22/2009
last visited: 2/1/2018
NE61.6 km
Epcot IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth - Orlando, FL
in Fireworks Displays
A nightly fireworks show at the Epcot Center in Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida.
posted by: Lord Elwood
date approved: 10/2/2011
last visited: 8/17/2018
NE62 km
Saturday Nite Cruise, Old Town, Kissimmee, Florida.
in Hot Rod Hangouts and Car Shows
Old Town, Kissimmee, FL is the home of the most well known classic car cruise in the world, the Saturday Nite Cruise.
date approved: 1/21/2012
last visited: 4/16/2014
NE62.1 km
Epcot Food & Wine Festival - Lake Buena Vista, FL
in Festivals
The Epcot Food & Wine Festival is an annual festival that occurs in late August through November inside Epcot, giving guest a unique opportunity to try foods from many different cultures.
posted by: bluesnote
date approved: 9/14/2017
last visited: 9/14/2017
NE63.2 km
Wishes - Magic Kingdom - Lake Buena Vista, FL
A nightly fireworks display that can be seen from the park or surrounding hotels.
date approved: 9/29/2013
last visited: 8/13/2020
Halloween at Magic Kingdom - Lake Buena Vista, FL
Halloween season starts on August 31 and goes to November 1st.
date approved: 9/6/2017
last visited: 8/16/2019
W65.3 km
St Perersburg Waterfront Fireworks - FL
Firework displays are held here several times a year. The north tip of this small park is roped off and used for the lanuching area. On major holidays the other firework displays around the bay are also visible along the horizon.
date approved: 1/7/2010
last visited: 7/4/1999
W70.7 km
Biff Burger - St Petersburg
On Fridays the place is loaded with classic cars, Saturdays are bike nights if that is what you like.
date approved: 11/10/2008
last visited: 5/11/2019
NE71 km
Christmas - SeaWorld - Florida. USA.
The Park has been decorated with Christmas displays themed to the attractions found in SeaWorld Florida.
date approved: 11/21/2013
last visited: 12/29/2013
NW75 km
Chasco Fiesta - New Port Richey, FL
This festival lasts about 10 days during the middle of March--held continuously since 1947.. during which there ave various special events and a midway set up in Sims Park.
date approved: 4/30/2010
last visited: 3/20/2010
NE75.6 km
Pikachu on Amity Island - Universal Studios
Located on the Amity Island Midway, as a prize, Pikachu awaits to reward you for your effort.
date approved: 1/6/2010
last visited: 10/19/2011
NE76.4 km
Orlando Reniassance Festival
The Orlando Reniassance Festival located in Orlando, Florida
posted by: Rivers End
date approved: 12/10/2017
last visited: never
W78.5 km
Pow Wow Festival & Parade - Seminole, FL
City of Seminole's annual festival with rides, games, food, entertainment, parade and fireworks.
posted by: debbado
date approved: 3/17/2009
last visited: 3/14/2009
W79.5 km
Heritage Village and PIN-MAR Antiques - Largo, FL
If you attend one of the festivals at the Heritage Village you will have the opportunity to see some cars owned by members of the PIN-MAR car club.
date approved: 2/2/2009
last visited: 4/3/2010
N86.9 km
Lady of the Lakes Renaissance Faire - Tavares, FL
The Lady of the Lakes Renaissance Faire is an annual festival held in Tavares in Lake County, Florida, USA, and 2008 marks its 7th anniversary.
posted by: Marine Biologist
date approved: 11/24/2008
last visited: 11/7/2008
The Lady of the Lakes Renaissance Faire is an annual festival held in Lake County, Florida, USA, and 2008 marks its 7th anniversary.
date approved: 11/15/2008
NE114.6 km
CHRISTMAS, Florida
A permanent Christmas display in the town of Christmas, Florida.
posted by: overrover
date approved: 7/1/2006
last visited: 12/5/2017
E133.6 km
Space Coast Lightfest - Wickham Park, FL
Each year from late November through December, the Eau Gallie Rotary Club holds a Space Coast Lightfest at Wickham Park in Melbourne, Florida, USA.
date approved: 12/5/2007
last visited: 12/8/2019
S145.5 km
Lee Civic Center and Fairgrounds - North Fort Myers, FL
Home of the SW Florida & Lee County Fair.
11831 Bayshore Road
posted by: crackergals
date approved: 3/5/2009
last visited: 2/18/2017
SE147.9 km
LaBelle Swamp Cabbage Festival - LaBelle, Florida, USA
Annual City of LaBelle event celebrating the Florida State Tree.
posted by: BoomersOTR
date approved: 9/12/2018
last visited: 9/12/2018
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Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes
Step back in time to grandma's kitchen with these chocolate chip cookies recipes, tips and tricks. We'll help you master this simple, easy treat and make it your own.
Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies
These zucchini chocolate chip cookies are a grab-and-eat version of my aunt's zucchini bread. They're perfect for my family's get-togethers. They taste even better if you make them the day before. —Melissa Obernesser, Utica, New York
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