Feature and Follow #10 - Bloggers I Would Like to Meet

Happy Friday, everyone! :)

Feature & Follow is a blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read. The purpose is to meet new people and gain more followers in the book blogging community. If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers. But you have to know, the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me. The general the rules are:

•  Follow the Feature and Follow Hosts {Parajunkee & Alison Can Read}
•  Follow the Featured Bloggers
•  Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing. You can also grab the code if you would like to insert it into your posts.
•  Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say "hi" in your comments and that they are now following you.
•  Follow Follow Follow as many as you can. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don't just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don't say "HI"
•  If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers. Thanks!!

Here’s this week's question: What blogger would you most like to meet in real life? Tell us about him or her.

Since I started blogging, I’ve met so many cool people online. I wish I could list them all, but I can’t, so here are some which I’d love to meet.

1. Robyn @ robgirlbooks. Apart from being a very good supporter of my blog, Robyn is such an awesome person. You only have to read her posts to know that. I love her posts, especially the Think out Loud meme, which comes up every Thursday. Did I also mention that she’s a wonderful writer? Well, I haven’t read any of her books, but I have on my ‘to read’ list. And if you want to read nice books, movies and even a zoo review with good concept, do stop by her blog.

2. Uzoma @ 85degrees. Uzoma is my brother from another mama. He’s a good writer; reading his works inspires me. In fact, his 100-Word stories inspired, my 400-word horror story, The Beach Man. He is such a cool artist and did I mention we beta read for each other? Well, the day I’d meet with him I’m going to buy him a lot of beer for all the good suggestions he’s been making in my WIP.

3. Florentine @ Readiculously peachy. I think it was the sweet title of her blog that got me curious about her. Apart from the title, her blog, in my opinion, has the most beautiful design I’ve ever come across. You can’t help but admire the beautiful layout. Sometimes you even want to lick it, because it looks so delicious. Okay, blog title and design apart, I love her reviews. They’re fun to read, and recently I enjoyed her review of The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa. That review made me get the first book, The Immortal Rules, which I started reading today. And Florentine is a good supporter of my blog.

4. Athina @ Between My Lines. I’d love to sit by the beach with her one day, discussing writing and publishing. Even though I haven’t met her, I can feel her passion about writing, especially in her blog posts about writing, editing, and criticism. Athina seems to me like a headstrong person who’ll never give up until they achieve their goal. And that’s what she’s been doing ever since, seriously working to better her debut novel, DAZED. I hope to read that book one day.

Okay, I think I’ll stop here. There are others I want to meet, like Alison and Parajunkee, so I can say ‘thank you’ for hosting such a wonderful meme.

And thanks to everyone who’s ever stopped by The Creative Forum!

I love you all! :)

The 400-Word Story: The Beach Man #5

Ifeoma

I can remember lying on the bed in the spiritualist’s dark room, but when I open my eyes, I find myself sitting on a round stool, inside a small hut.

‘Welcome again to our home.’

I turn towards the voice, and I see him – the killer – standing few feet away, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

‘Why are you tormenting me?’ I say.

‘Why?’ He frowns slightly. ‘Because a wife isn’t supposed to cheat on her husband.’

‘What do you-’

‘You know what I mean. You’ve been cheating on me with that boy, Peter.’

‘But I’m not your-.’

‘I knew you’d doubt me. Remember the dead goat when you were five?’

I frown. The dead goat.

‘Yes. Remember?’

‘But how…’ I turn away from him, and my biggest secret, the incident with the dead goat, rushes through my mind.

On the Christmas when I was five, our family woke up to a tragedy: the goat, which my father had bought for the celebration, dead. It hurt me seeing the disappointment on my parents and brother’s face; we were poor then, and everybody knew it was going to be a terrible Christmas. So, when I was alone, I knelt beside the goat, talking to it, begging it to return to life. It didn’t. But when I touched it, I felt energy depart my body. And just then, the goat bleated.

We had a pleasant Christmas afterwards.

But I didn’t stop there. Dead insects, dead animals, they all returned to life whenever I touched them. I was scared; I knew I was different from other people, so I stopped touching dead things.

‘You know,’ the killer’s deep voice brings me back to the hut. ‘You have the same scar she had. The one in your right palm.’

I shake my head. ‘I’m not your wife.’

‘Back then you always said that after death, souls return to live a new life in another body and that you hope we’d meet again.’

‘Okay, let’s say I believe you. What do you want from me now?’

‘They were envious of your healing gift, that’s why they killed you. But I saved some of your emergency potion. All you have to do is drink it, become invincible like me, and let’s wipe out the community, avenge yourself.’

‘And what if I disagree?’

The killer sneers at me, his face deeply malevolent. ‘Then you’ll die with them.’


Footnote: This is the fifth episode of The Beach Man, a 400-Word Blog Series.
Click HERE for the next episode.

Thanks for reading!

Feature: Paradise Squandered by Alex Stefansson

Hello, everyone.

I hope you’re all having a good week! It’s Wednesday, and a good time for another feature. So, today I’m happy to present you Paradise Squandered by Alex Stefansson.

And now, time for a sneak peek. Enjoy!

Book Blurb

Insightful, provocative and bold, Paradise Squandered is Alex Stefansson's take-no-prisoners debut novel about a cynical teenager's naive artistic aspirations, and his pining love for a girl he is too afraid to actually talk to. It is a raw, powerful portrait of a disaffected generation in an empty, consumer-culture world. It is the story of Andrew Banks, a recent graduate of Puget Sound Prep and quite possibly the most directionless member of his graduating class.

This is a story of what it is like to aimlessly trudge along that strange and uncharted course that is life after high school. 

Andrew returns home from a long-promised graduation trip to Hawaii and re-enters a bland, suburban landscape of privilege and indifference feeling alone and empty. The house he grew up in doesn't feel like home anymore. His mother seems more interested in desperately clinging to youth than being a mother. His sister only cares about playing the role of dutiful daughter. His brother disappeared years ago. His dad died when he was ten.

Talented but uninspired, Andrew knows he wants to pursue his art, but he has no idea how. He resigns himself to going through the motions of his own life, until he overhears the disturbing truth of his father's death. He instantly decides he has to leave his childhood home forever, and a darkly hilarious odyssey ensues.

Excerpt

I shift into neutral, kill the engine and start coasting through the last few blocks of eerily-silent residential streets, running stop signs, not wanting to disturb anyone or alert anyone to my presence. The wharf is in sight, barely lit by the waning moon and my approaching headlights. It's all downhill from here. I switch off the headlights and stop the car behind an overflowing dumpster. The air coming through the heater-vents is already growing cold again, I notice as I set the emergency brake; I was just starting to warm up, too. I can see my breath every time I exhale. The windows begin to fog up again. I pull the key out of the ignition, open the door and step out into the cold night air.

I'm digging around in the trunk, using my cell-phone as a flashlight, hoping to find some extra clothes, or a blanket, or anything else that could possibly help keep me warm. But there is not all that much to look through. The trunk is unfortunately clean and uncluttered. All I see is an empty gas can and this enormous emergency kit my mother gave me for Christmas the year I started driving.

“That car is a death-trap,” she told me. She told me that on more than one occasion. “That's the biggest kit I could find,” she said, which, in her mind at least, undoubtedly meant it was the best. “You'll thank me one day.” It wasn't the merriest Christmas. I don't have many happy holiday memories. Too much awkward, forced mingling.

An emergency blanket rustles obnoxiously as I shake it out of its packaging. I'm still mentally debating whether or not to actually use anything from the kit as I pull the thin Mylar rectangle over my shoulders, tightening the blanket around my back—I'm concerned my mother will later somehow find out what I've done here and be proven correct about the usefulness of her very thoughtful Christmas gift. I shake off the doubt, grab a road flare, slam the trunk lid shut and walk the rest of the way down the steeply-declining, dead-end road. I cross the railroad tracks and stop for a moment, peering through the chain-link fence that cordons off the remains of the decaying wharf. I'm amazed at the fact that such disrepair exists only a few hundred yards from million-dollar refuges for undeserving, maladjusted social climbers. Inherited wealth is all around me, and it makes me feel a bit sick about my own lot in life.

I'm trying to calm myself by intently listening to the tranquil sounds of seawater softly lapping at the bottoms of boulders, above which railroad tracks run parallel to the Puget Sound coastline as far as I can see. The tide is high. I'm all alone. Alone in my head. My very cold head. I pull the Mylar blanket tighter as I examine the tall chain-link fence in front of the crumbling fishing-pier.

The construction gate and various sections of fencing are cobbled together by a haphazard assortment of chains and padlocks, bailing wire and zip-ties. No Trespassing and Watkins Construction, LLC signs threaten various punishments for intruders, but most of it is obscured by graffiti and weather-damage. A plastic shopping bag rustles in the breeze, caught on the coil of barbed wire which runs along the top of the length of the fence.

I walk along the towering barrier until I find a hole. I easily step through, but my blanket gets caught. Annoyed, I wrap it around myself even tighter, holding onto it with both hands, my arms crossing my chest. I can feel the material stretching until it finally breaks free, sending me stumbling forward across the trash-strewn gravel. My blanket has already become a tattered rag, I perceive with dismay, feeling cold air rushing in around my back. But at least it is still crinkly and reflective, I conclude sarcastically.

About the Author

Alex Stefansson's writing is often influenced by sleep deprivation and too much caffeine. He lives in the Pacific Northwest.

Links:

Squandering Paradise: the blog of writer, Alex Stefansson

Paradise Squandered on Smashwords

Paradise Squandered on Amazon

Paradise Squandered on Goodreads

The 400-Word Story: The Beach Man #4

Ifeoma

I pull my shoes off at the door before I walk into the room – that’s what the sign at the door says. The room is dimly lit and smells faintly of burning incense. A heavyset woman sits behind a small desk, her face pinched in concentration as she reads the newspaper spread before her, completely oblivious of my presence.

But then she looks up immediately and smiles. ‘Sit down.’

I sit across from her, and she fixes her large eyes on me for a moment, uncomfortable silence stretching between us.

“The beach man,” she says finally. “ You're here because of him.”

I nod.

She closes the paper and pushes it towards me. Then I shift my eyes to the cover; there, I see the headline, printed in big black letters:

THE BEACH MAN STRIKES AGAIN!

Under the headline, the bodies of a man and a woman lie beside each other on the sand, both of them headless. I feel my throat tighten, suppressing the scream building inside me, and then I throw my eyes off the paper and gaze at the floor.

“Isn’t it strange?” Ms. Adenuyi says.

“How do you mean?” I force the words from my mouth.

“He kills only on Sundays, if anyone ventures to the beach. But…wasn’t yesterday Friday?”

I nod slowly, in realization – the beach man has gone against his pattern.

“So, what’s your name, young lady?”

“Ifeoma. Ifeoma Okoli. I was told you could help me. He’s appeared in my dreams twice, stabbed me in the last one and I can still feel the pain in my stomach. I’m really worried. I’m afraid. I hardly sleep anymore.”

“I’ll help you, Ifeoma. I deal with issues like yours every time and this one won’t be any problem.’ She opens a drawer and takes out a bracelet, a small string of cowries. ‘Wear this around your right wrist.”

I wear the bracelet, and after what seems like an eternity, she pulls it off my wrist, slowly, and wears it on hers. Then she stands up and with a stiff gait walks into another room, muttering something unclear.

She emerges from the room few minutes later, frowning.

“What’s the matter?” I say.

“He doesn’t want to kill you. He’s only trying to pass a message.”

“What message?”

“I have no idea what it is. But I know it’s something bad, something you wouldn’t want to hear about.”


Footnote: This is the fourth episode of The Beach Man, a 400-Word Blog Series. 
Click HERE for the next episode.

Thanks for reading!

Feature and Follow #9 - Favorite Summer Reading Book

Happy Friday, everyone! :)

Feature & Follow is a blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read. The purpose is to meet new people and gain more followers in the book blogging community. If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers. But you have to know, the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me. The general the rules are:

·  Follow the Feature and Follow Hosts {Parajunkee & Alison Can Read}
·  Follow the Featured Bloggers
·  Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing. You can also grab the code if you would like to insert it into your posts.
·  Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say "hi" in your comments and that they are now following you.
·  Follow Follow Follow as many as you can. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don't just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don't say "HI"
·  If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers. Thanks!!

Here’s this week's question: School is out! What is your favorite Summer Reading book?

Well, I live in a tropical region where the weather could be hot even in January, so I'd say it’s “summer” all the year round for us here. I don’t change my reading habits based on holidays or seasons. But I have some cool books I look forward to reading next. Here they are:

Prodigy by Marie Lu

We Need New Names by Noviolet Bulawayo

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

How about you. What is your favorite Summer Reading book?

With GFC going away please follow via BlogLovin, RSS, or Email. And please check out my 400-Word Blog series, The Beach Man. I’ll appreciate it.

Thank you to everyone who stopped by. And don't forget to leave your link in the comments section below so I can follow back!

Book Review: Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

AMERICANAH
Author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Released Date: April 11th 2013
Publisher: Fourth Estate

From the award-winning author of Half of a Yellow Sun, a dazzling new novel: a story of love and race centered around a young man and woman from Nigeria who face difficult choices and challenges in the countries they come to call home.

As teenagers in a Lagos secondary school, Ifemelu and Obinze fall in love. Their Nigeria is under military dictatorship, and people are leaving the country if they can. Ifemelu—beautiful, self-assured—departs for America to study. She suffers defeats and triumphs, finds and loses relationships and friendships, all the while feeling the weight of something she never thought of back home: race. Obinze—the quiet, thoughtful son of a professor—had hoped to join her, but post-9/11 America will not let him in, and he plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London. 

Years later, Obinze is a wealthy man in a newly democratic Nigeria, while Ifemelu has achieved success as a writer of an eye-opening blog about race in America. But when Ifemelu returns to Nigeria, and she and Obinze reignite their shared passion—for their homeland and for each other—they will face the toughest decisions of their lives.

Fearless, gripping, at once darkly funny and tender, spanning three continents and numerous lives, Americanah is a richly told story set in today’s globalized world: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s most powerful and astonishing novel yet.

*Goodreads Blurb*

MY REVIEW

Americanah is a love story, not the kind of love stories I grew up reading, those with really beautiful women and handsome tall guys. In fact, the lovers in this one aren’t too attractive, but their love is. Their love is beautiful, but then it is tried, beaten, stretched, yet it endures and gets stronger.

Okay, love aside. Americanah deals on the subject of race and hair. You may wonder how hair could be an issue, but it is in this book. The book begins in a hairdresser shop, where Ifemelu goes to make her hair for her return journey to Nigeria. There, she muses on her decision to go back home, and then, in Adichie’s well-known style, the narrative jumps back in time, and we are transported to Ifemelu’s teenage years. We see her as a girl with strong opinions and who isn’t afraid of saying what’s on her mind, a trait which she always gets rebuked for, especially by her elders. She meets Obinze in her secondary school, and they fall in love. The narrative follows them through their secondary school to their university days, where things begin to fall apart. University lecturers are frequently striking because the military government delays their salaries. This forces students to remain at home with nothing to do. And then people begin to travel out of the country, in search for greener pastures and for better education. Ifemelu grabs the opportunity when it is presented to her and she goes to America to study, while Obinze hopes to join her later.

While in America, Ifemelu notices something she has never thought about before – race, and she would later say, “We all wish race was not an issue. But it’s a lie. I came from a country where race was not an issue, I did not think of myself as black and I only became black when I came to America." The issue of and racism makes her start a blog: Raceteenth or Various Observations About American Blacks (Those Formerly Known as Negroes) by a Non-American Black.

I loved the blog posts that appeared from time to time, a good innovation, which left me marveled. I’ve never read any novel where this was done, and I found it impressive, not just because of the concept, but because it doesn’t distract you from the main story, although it makes you think and wonder, and you can’t help but mark some of the posts so you could visit them later.

I enjoyed this book. There were funny scenes where I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. And the dialogue is good; it felt so real and I could identify with it, especially in the Nigerian settings. I loved Adichie’s descriptions of Lagos, London, and all the American cities where Ifemelu sojourned. Even the character descriptions, sometimes funny, create solid images in the head. And the writing is superb.

Americanah has a large cast of memorable characters. There’s the younger and older version of Ifemelu and Obinze; Obinze’s mother, one of the coolest fictional mother I’ve ever read; Ifemelu’s Dad, who uses big vocabulary and doesn’t hesitate in blaming the government for his misfortunes; Ifemelu’s mother, devoted to religion and isn’t rational in her thinking sometimes. Then there’s Aunty Uju and her son, Dike; Blaine, Ifemelu’s African-American boyfriend, who she refers to as “Professor Hunk” on her blog. And then Curt, the White American Boyfriend, rich, always cheerful and easy to please. I loved each of these characters. They have enough depth and substance – they felt too real. Not the kind of characters you will easily forget. I think my favorite among them is Obinze’s mother. She’s a thoughtful woman with a calm demeanor, the kind of woman I’d listen to talk and talk and I won’t get bored, because she spits wisdom from her mouth.

Overall, I’d say Americanah is a remarkable book, a thoughtful book, a book filled with truth; it touches other issues such as social inequality, immigration, self-acceptance, loss of cultural identity, and change. The book remains with you after you finish reading, begging you to “read again.” Without doubt, I’ll read this book again at a later time.

The Purple Hibiscus has always been my favorite Adichie novel. Now, Americanah, I think, is my favorite.

It’s a Five Star read, and although I didn’t like the book cover, I still look forward to Adichie’s next book.

The 400-Word Story: The Beach Man #3

The Killer

People describe me as half-human, half-ghost when they talk about me. Some say I am a headless monster, which is why I always chop off the head of my victims. Others say my body is decayed and maggot-infested. I laugh whenever I hear a new version, because nobody has seen me. The ones who did, I killed them, even before they could talk.

Only Ifeoma knows what I look like – I let her see me again because she’ll be seeing me often, henceforth. She was scared when I took her from the beach, but she'd put up a brave face, all the while staring at my scars with disgust.

If only she knew she was there when I got the scars…

It was a Saturday evening, many years ago. I was back from hunting, and my wife had just returned from the market and was about to prepare her healing potions. Then shouts came from outside. Engrossed in wiping my machete, I didn’t notice when my wife left the hut.

I jumped at the sound of her scream. I was outside the door in a flash. The villagers were yelling, ‘Witch! Witch! You must die!’ Dragging my wife between. And then I saw him – the man with the club. One quick blow and my wife tumbled to the ground. Another blow and her body stopped moving.

It happened very fast, but I watched it, transfixed, and when it dawned on me that she was dead, I entered the hut and drank the potion she said was only for emergency.

I felt strange.

But I was late; the villagers had set the hut on fire already. The door did not budge when I tried it. And so the fire consumed me. Later, the villagers took my body, along with my wife’s, dumped us far out in the sea.

That night, while they were celebrating the death of the witch and her hunter-husband, one of them, drunken, had wandered far towards the beach. He froze when he saw me.

I smiled as I swung my machete at him, and I watched his head roll towards the-

“Oh, baby!”

I straighten up and peer around the tree, my eyes scanning for the distraction. I see them few yards away, lying near the edge of the water – a man and a woman, kissing and fondling.

I clutch my machete.

Then I creep towards them.


Footnote: This is the third episode of The Beach Man, a 400-Word Blog Series. 
Click HERE for the next episode.

Thanks for reading!

Book Review: Prey by Michael Crichton

PREY
Author: Michael Crichton
Released Date: November 11th  2003
Publisher: Avon

In the Nevada desert, an experiment has gone horribly wrong. A cloud of nanoparticles -- micro-robots -- has escaped from the laboratory. This cloud is self-sustaining and self-reproducing. It is intelligent and learns from experience. For all practical purposes, it is alive. It has been programmed as a predator. It is evolving swiftly, becoming more deadly with each passing hour.

Every attempt to destroy it has failed.

And we are the prey.

*Goodreads Blurb*

MY REVIEW

This is my first Michael Crichton read, and I loved it. Prey is told in first person by Jack Foreman, a stay-at-home dad, who suspects his wife, Julia, of having an affair. Julia, a vice president at Xymos, a molecular manufacturing company, works late night, and one night she doesn't even come home at all. Eventually, Julia shows Jack a video demonstration of what they’re working on - a cloud of nanoparticles, which works as one big camera. Then something goes wrong at the facility and Jack is invited by Ricky, his former employee to come and help fix the problem. A cloud of nanoparticles -- micro-robots -- has escaped from the laboratory, and he has to get it back. But this cloud is self-reproducing, intelligent; it evolves quickly, and is now a threat. There at the facility Jack learns the truth about his wife, the nanoparticles, and his former co-workers.

The book has a slow start. Jacks suspects his wife of having an affair and he’s taking time on deciding what to do because he isn’t very sure yet. He doesn't want a divorce; he wants to keep his family together, and his kids, always biting each other, are not helping matters. He can’t get a job; he’s rejected wherever he applies because of a ‘got fired for doing the right thing’ incident in his former workplace.

And then the story kicks off when he’s asked to come and solve a problem at the plant. Then comes the action, the suspense, and of course the thrill. You wouldn't want to be anywhere near the swarms – those molecular robots. They're dangerous, they hurt the skin, and they can get into your nasal cavity, suffocating you. They kill wildlife as well as humans. Jack has to stop it, no matter what. Because he designed the program used in modeling the swarms. But he can't do it himself. There are other notable characters there like the quiet, strong and beautiful Mae; devious Ricky; loud-farting/non-stop talking Charley; and of course Jack’s beautiful and secretive wife, Julia. Some of these characters help to achieve the goal, while others stand in Jack’s way. There are lots of deaths in the end. 

I loved the technological and biological details the author wove in the various part of the story. It’s blended well into the narrative and doesn’t cause any distraction. Even though I found some of them boring or overly done, I still learnt something from them.

The five-paged bibliography at the end of the book shows well the thorough research undertaken by the author for this book. It is a book worth reading, and I’ll certainly read more titles from Crichton. I have my mind on Jurassic Park next. Although I’ve seen the movie, I’d still love to experience the book side of it.

I recommend this book to any sci-fi and techno-thriller lover. If you like the science-goes-wrong genre, then this is the book for you.

Four stars (****) to Prey.

Feature: Fire (Elements of Power #1) by Heather James

Hi, everyone

I hope you’re all having a good time. Today I’m happy to present you Fire (Elements of Power #1) by Heather James. This book sits on my TBR list now, and I hope to read it and write a review soon. Wonderful cover, wouldn’t you agree?

Now it’s time for a sneak peek into Fire.

Book Blurb

Is control over the elements a gift, or a curse?

Enter a world where it's normal to spark flames in your fingertips, or produce gale-force winds with a flick of your wrists.

Roxy thinks that she is in control of everything: with flames flaring at her fingertips and an equally fiery attitude, what more could she need? But then she meets Brae, a prince from a rival Realm, who turns her assumptions of superiority upside down.

Jasmine has none of Roxy’s confidence or intensity. But she does have a secret - and Brae - and she’s not going to give either up willingly.



Excerpt

Fire rose high into the trees on either side of me, closing in much faster than I'd anticipated. The air was thick with heat and smoke. I had to keep moving, fast. My heart hammered against my chest, keeping time with my feet as they pounded across the uneven ground. Above me, both suns hung high in the air, shining down mercilessly and adding more heat to that of the blaze.
I heard, rather than saw, the ball of flames whizzing through the air behind me, branches crackling to dust as it went. Moving on instinct, I threw myself to the ground, feeling the gritted earth graze my already filthy face and arms.

Only one thought ran through my mind: they were getting closer.

I pushed myself to my feet and set off again, faster than before. As I ran, I pushed a loose strand of hair - as red as the inferno surrounding me - away from my face. It had fallen out of its tie hours ago, but I hadn't stopped for long enough to fix it.

The flames kept coming, attacking me from both sides so that I had to duck and weave as I went. As I darted right, my feet stumbled on the uneven terrain. I couldn't keep this up for much longer; I needed to stand and fight.

"Come on then. I'm ready for you," I whispered to myself as I came to a stop. I wheeled around just in time to see a cloaked figure emerge from the trees to my left. The cloak gleamed with glittering red swirls that made it look as though it were aflame.

Where there should have been a face, I saw nothing but darkness.

Slowly, the figure raised his hands out towards me, toying with me; he thought I was beat. Flames sprung up at his fingertips and danced across his hands, gradually increasing in intensity.

But he was being complacent. He was nowhere close to winning this fight. While he put on his pyrotechnics show, my own fingertips burst into flames, burning faster and fiercer. Before he realised what was happening, I cast my hands out in front of me, sending a ball of fire straight at his chest. Thrown back by the force of the hit, he lay on the ground, motionless.

One down, two to go.

The flare receded from my fingers but the tingling sensation lingered; I was ready to attack as soon as I needed. Bending over the unconscious figure I pulled a shining silver ring from the index finger of his left hand. Shoving it into my pocket I set off again, but this time I headed left, in the direction the cloaked figure had emerged from.

I'd had enough of being hunted.

About the author

Heather James is a young-adult author who writes about heroines with amazing powers, heroes who will break your heart and fantasy realms that you will want to move to.

She works in the attendance office of a South-East London secondary school and spends her school holidays writing, reading, playing flag-American football and using Pinterest and Goodreads.

You can find out more about her over at her blog.

100 Followers Giveaway

To be in with a chance of winning one of ten e-copies of Fire, just follow Heather James' blog and enter here.

Other Links

To start reading straight away, you can purchase Fire from:

Amazon
Kobo
Barnes and Noble

You can also check it out on Goodreads. And don’t forget to write a review when you read, for that’s the best way to make love to an author. :)

Thank you!

The 400-Word Story: The Beach Man #2

Ifeoma

The concert turns out to be a nightclub. Music vibrates around me as I sit at the bar, watching the dancers, mostly students from the university nearby. Peter has taken an interest in the girl in red gown. When he thinks I’m not watching, he'll put his arms around her waist, pull her close to him, and whisper in her ears. Sometimes she'll whisper back, casting furtive glances at my direction.

Up until now, I can feel pain in my stomach. I had tried explaining to Emeka and Chika on our way here, but they said I was having illusions. With her trademark frown, Chika had said, ‘Ifeoma, relax jare! I've never seen anyone as scared as you are.’ Now she walks towards me with that frown.

“That university slut is trying to steal your boyfriend!” she shouts over the music, pointing towards Peter and the girl in red. “You should do something about it!”

I let out a heavy sigh and then grab her hand and place it against my stomach. “The beach man stabbed me right here, in the dream! I still feel the pain! You think I should be more concerned about the girl stealing Peter than about my upsetting dream?”

“See a doctor then!” Obviously regretting why she'd come up to me in the first place, Chika scowls and then walks away, quickly.

I leave the bar and make for the exit of the club. Outside, the air is cool. I have not wandered far away when someone suddenly grabs my hand from behind.

The sound of my scream attracts stares from the people around.

“I’m sorry,” he says as I face him, and I recognize him – the barman at the club. “I overheard your discussion at the bar.”

“So why-”

“When he appears in your dream, it’s because he wants to torment you. Before he finally kills you.”

“How do-”

“I'm a native of this community, so there’s no need asking me how I know this. Before he killed my mother, he tormented her severely.” He reaches into his pocket and takes out a card, then hands it to me.

I study the card under the dull lights of the street. It reads:

Ms. Folakemi Adeniyi

Spiritual Consultant

The address and phone numbers are printed in smaller letters.

“She’s helped so many people around here. You must see her, if you want to remain alive.”


Footnote: This is the second episode of The Beach Man, a 400-Word Blog Series. 
Jare: A Nigerian Pidgin English expression, which adds emphasis to a sentence.

*Click HERE for the next episode

Thanks for reading!

Feature and Follow #8 - Fun or Fail Scenes

Happy Friday, everyone! :)

Feature & Follow is a blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read. The purpose is to meet new people and gain more followers in the book blogging community. If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers. But you have to know, the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me. The general the rules are:

·  Follow the Feature and Follow Hosts {Parajunkee & Alison Can Read}
·  Follow the Featured Bloggers
·  Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing. You can also grab the code if you would like to insert it into your posts.
·  Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say "hi" in your comments and that they are now following you.
·  Follow Follow Follow as many as you can. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don't just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don't say "HI"
·  If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers. Thanks!!

Here’s this week’s question: Give us a sneak! What are you reading? Tell us about a fun or fail scene in your current read.

I just started PREY by Michael Crichton. I’m in page 4, so I’m not far enough into the story to have any fun scene to share. So I’m going to share a fun scene from the book I recently finished: TWO LITTLE GIRLS IN BLUE by Mary Higgins Clark. You can find my review HERE.

     “I always had an escape plan in mind, just in case Clint got caught on one of the jobs he did with Lucas,” she told Kathy with a chuckle. But then, seeing that Kathy was falling back asleep, she frowned and went over the bed and tapped the little girl’s shoulder. “Listen to me when I’m talking to you. You might learn something.”

     Kathy’s eyes remained closed.

     “Maybe I gave you too much of that cough medicine,” Angie speculated. “If it made Clint sleepy when he used it last year, I guess it could really knock you out.”

Actually, this isn’t supposed to be fun because the book deals with the kidnap of two three-year-old twins. But I so much loved Angie’s character. Though a psychopath, her character had enough depth to it, and she always make fun of everything.

How about you? What fun or fail scene from a book are you reading?

If you decided to follow me, you can do it through BlogLovin, RSS, or Email. I heard that GFC will disappear soon. And please check out my 400-Word Blog series The Beach Man. I’d appreciate it.

Thank you to everyone who stopped by. And don't forget to leave your link in the comments section below so I can follow back!