Free for All Friday: Guest Blogger Marilyn Meredith, Author of Raging Water (Giveaway)

It's Friday again! TGIF. Though with how busy the weekends are lately, I'm wondering if I should be thrilled they have arrived.

Today's giveaway is from Marilyn Meredith, author of the Tempe Crabtree Mystery Series. Marilyn's latest release is Raging Water, which I reviewed here. Below, Marilyn shares a bit about this series that has been one of my favorites for years. Marilyn also writes the Rocky Bluff P.D. series under the name F.M. Meredith.

THE DEPUTY TEMPE CRABTREE MYSTERY SERIES

By Marilyn Meredith 

The series features a female Native American Deputy Sheriff in a small mountain community of Bear Creek, in the Southern Sierra. (California mountain range.)

The heroine, Tempe Crabtree, is married to the minister of the local community church. They have a good marriage, but sometimes Hutch has a problem with Tempe’s usage of Native American spiritualism to solve crimes.

Because Tempe is the only law enforcement in the rural area, she is often the first one on the scene of any incident. As a deputy she isn’t responsible for investigating a crime, but the detectives who are often call on her to help, especially if the crime is on the Bear Creek Indian Reservation or if the victims or suspects are Indians. She will investigate on her own when she feels the wrong person has been arrested.

In the beginning of the series, Tempe knows little about her Native American heritage, but thanks to Nick Two John, the part owner of the local inn, over time she has learned more and more.

Though this is a mystery series, if I had to give it a rating like a movie, I would call it PG. There is seldom any bad language and the bedroom door is always closed. If you like strong heroines, and following along as she tries to solve the crime, books set in small towns, and plenty of action, you will probably enjoy this series.

Raging Water Blurb: Deputy Tempe Crabtree’s  investigation of the murder of two close friends is complicated when relentless rain turns Bear Creek into a raging river. Homes are inundated and a mud slide blocks the only road out of Bear Creek stranding many—including the murderer.

I know there are some people who like to read a series in order, but let me reassure you that every book is complete. Though the characters grow through each book, the crime is always solved. . Here is the order of the books for anyone who wants to know: Deadly Trail, Deadly Omen, Unequally Yoked, Intervention, Wing Beat, Calling the Dead, Judgment Fire, Kindred Spirits, Dispel the Mist, Invisible Path, Bears With Us, Raging Water.

And Another Contest: The person who leaves comments on the most blogs will have his/her name used for a character in my next book—can choose if you want it in a Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery or a Rocky Bluff P.D. crime novel.

Bio: Marilyn Meredith is the author of over thirty published novels, including the award winning Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series, the latest Raging Water from Mundania Press. Writing as F. M. Meredith, her latest Rocky Bluff P.D. crime novel us No Bells, the forth from Oak Tree Press. Marilyn is a member of EPIC, three chapters of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and on the board of the Public Safety Writers of America. Visit her at http://fictionforyou.com and follow her blog at http://marilymeredith.blogspot.com/

Marilyn borrows a lot from where she lives in the Southern Sierra for the town of Bear Creek and the surrounding area.

In addition to the contest she mentions above, Marilyn is giving away a copy of Bears With Us. You can read my review of that book here. Please use the Rafflecopter form below to enter. Good luck! 

 

 

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Wordless Wednesday

Teaser Tuesdays - September 11th

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"Don't just say people are overweight, show it! Show them out of breath while climbing steps, their faces red and perspiring, buttons popped off their dresses or shorts, rips under their sleeves."

~Page 83, A Step in the Write Direction: The Complete How-to Book for Christian Writers by Donna Clark Goodrich

Teaser Tuesdays - September 11th

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

 

 

 

"Tracy and I were married on July 16, 1988, and the reviews were terrible. The Globe announced on its front page that the wedding had been "a fiasco."

 

~ Page 124, Lucky Man: A Memoir by Michael J. Fox

Guest Blogger: Mark Connelly, Author of The IRA on Film and Television (Giveaway)

The Irish Republican Army (IRA) has for decades pursued the goal of unifying its homeland into a single sovereign nation, ending British rule in Northern Ireland. On film, the IRA has appeared in mainstream motion pictures such as The Quiet Man, action films like Blown Away, political dramas, dark comedies, and even a spaghetti Western, A Fistful of Dynamite. The IRA has been explored by major directors from three countries, including John Ford (The Informer), John Frankenheimer (Ronin), Carol Reed (Odd Man Out), David Lean (Ryan’s Daughter), Neil Jordan (Michael Collins), and Jim Sheridan (In the Name of the Father).  IRA characters have been portrayed by international stars, such as Victor McLaglen, James Cagney, Anthony Hopkins, James Mason, Richard Gere, and Brad Pitt.  Films about the Irish Republican Army range from realistic docudramas like Paul Greengrass’ Bloody Sunday, shot with handheld cameras and natural lighting to create the sensation of watching 1972 newsreel footage, to Joseph Merhi’s action farce Riot in which a British superhero battles IRA bikers in the streets of Los Angeles during a race riot.

Whether portrayed as a heroic patriot, ruthless terrorist, or troubled anti-hero, the Irish rebel has emerged as a universally recognized cinematic archetype.   Over eighty motion pictures include IRA references, and IRA characters have appeared in iconic American television series such as Hawaii Five-O, Columbo, and Law and Order.

This illustrated history analyzes film depictions of the IRA from the 1916 Easter Rising to the peace process of the 1990s. Topics include America’s role in creating both the IRA and its cinematic image, the organization’s brief association with the Nazis, the changing depiction of women in IRA films, and critical reception of IRA films in Ireland, Britain, and the United States.

The Gangster Film:  Criminalizing the IRA by Mark Connelly

           

The Irish Republican Army has long been implicated in criminal activity – typically robberies, smuggling, protection rackets, and money laundering – to obtain funds to purchase arms, support prisoners’ families, and pay pensions.  As an underground organization, it has engaged in “expropriations,” generally aimed at the rich and state enterprises. However necessary to finance operations, these actions provide political opponents with a powerful avenue of attack, allowing them to discredit the IRA for its crimes rather than its ideology.

            Filmmakers have made the IRA-crime link for dramatic and political reasons. 

Carol Reed’s classic Odd Man Out devotes more running time to a mill robbery and its aftermath than the obscure political motivations behind it.  On its American release, ads did not even mention Northern Ireland, instead announcing a new movie about “a killer on the loose . . . hiding in the shadows . . . while an angry city screams for his blood.” Significantly, the alternative title for Reed’s film was Gang War.

            British films in particular build on the criminal theme.  The Day They Robbed the Bank of England (1960), directed by Basil Deardon, stars Aldo Ray as a turn-of-the century Irish-American who arrives in London to help an Irish revolutionary organization tunnel into the Bank of England to steal a million pounds in gold.  The Long Good Friday (1980) stars Bob Hoskins as the mob lord of London whose empire is torn asunder on a single day as the IRA who “run half of Londonderry” supplant English gangs and become the new mafia bosses of Britain’s largest city.  David Caffrey’s black comedy Divorcing Jack (1998) includes the IRA bank robber Patrick “Cow Pat” Keegan.  Dressed like a Hollywood Mafioso with styled hair, designer suit, and jewelry, he appears as simply a murderous hooligan braced by sneering gunmen.  He has robbed over thirty banks for the IRA, but the film never offers a political rationale for the crimes.

            American movies have been less likely to dismiss the IRA as a criminal organization.  In John Frankenheimer’s Ronin (1998) the mastermind of a criminal conspiracy to steal a mysterious suitcase turns out to be an Irish terrorist “denounced by the IRA.”  By ascribing terrorism and crime to lone wolves and dissidents, American films cast the “real IRA” in a favorable light, presenting it as revolutionary organization that operates under self-imposed rules of engagement.

To get your paperback copy of THE IRA ON FILM AND TELEVISION by Mark Connelly, visit Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/The-IRA-Film-Television-History/dp/0786447362/

To get your ebook copy of THE IRA ON FILM AND TELEVISION by Mark Connelly, visit Amazon Kindle Store at

http://www.amazon.com/The-IRA-Film-Television-ebook/dp/B0084FA030/

Pick up your copy of THE IRA ON FILM AND TELEVISION by Mark Connelly at Barnes & Noble:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-ira-on-film-and-television-mark-connelly/1110783855?ean=9780786447367

Watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvj_ii7ae_Y  

Born in Philadelphia, Mark Connelly completed a masters degree in Creative Writing from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he received a Ph.D in English.  His books include The Diminished Self: Orwell and the Loss of Freedom, Orwell and Gissing, Deadly Closets:  The Fiction of Charles Jackson, and several college textbooks.  He currently teaches literature and film in Milwaukee, where he is the Vice-President of the Irish Cultural and Heritage Center of Wisconsin.

His latest book is The IRA on Film and Television.

You can visit his website at www.theiraonfilmandtelevision.com.

Pump Up Your Book and Mark Connelly are teaming up to give you a chance to win a Kindle Fire HD! 

Use the Rafflecopter form below for your chance to enter and win!

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You've Got Mail Monday

Phew! It's almost the end of the day. This weekend was the Lil Diva's (11) sleepover party. The Hunger Games theme went over well. I'll post some pictures later this week.

Since I haven't let you take a peek in my mailbox for a couple of weeks, this might take a while. Feel free to take a potty break first.  LOL!

The girls were thrilled to find that all their clothes from Land's End and Old Navy fit well. In the picture below, you'll see the Lil Princess in her new clothes from Justice. This was her first soccer practice, and we had gone shopping earlier in the week, so you know she had to wear her new clothes.

 

 

Most of the catalogs I received over the past couple of weeks were the usual ones: Land's End, Oriental Trading, and flyers from Macy's. I bought a few of the girls' school clothes at JcPenney. They had some awesome Back-To-School deals. They sent me a flyer last week about their Liz Claiborne® collection for men and women. I thought these jeans were lovely.

 

 

I also thought some of the bold prints they had this year were stunning.

I've been down in the dumps lately, so I used some of our Discover rewards to buy books from Amazon. Not that I really need more books, but these are special ones I wanted in print. I wouldn't have bought so many if the rewards hadn't accumulated. Here's what arrived over the last couple of weeks:

Farmer Boy Goes West by Heather Williams. This book is considered a sequel to Laura Ingalls Wilder's Farmer Boy. I've been reading it with one of my online chums. We are enjoying the discussions.

Laura Ingalls Wilder and Rose Wilder Lane: Authorship, Place, Time, and Culture by John E. Miller. This was my most expensive purchase, but I am familiar with Miller's work and I have wanted this book for a long time.

Rose Wilder Lane: Her Story by Rose Wilder Lane and Roger Lea MacBride. This was my cheapest purchase. The book cost a penny and the shipping only $3.99. MacBride was Lane's heir, and is responsible for The First Four Years, the final book of the Little House series, being published after Lane's death. He also wrote his own series of children's books about Rose's childhood.

Little House, Long Shadow: Laura Ingalls Wilder's Impact on American Culture by Anita Clair Fellman. I don't know that I would have bought this book without using my rewards. It seems to be a controversial book, based upon the reviews I've read. That William Holtz, author of The Ghost in the Little House: A Life of Rose Wilder Lane endorsed it, didn't make me very confident I would enjoy it. Still, I rarely pass up a book about Wilder or her daughter. After my new LIW related purchases, however, I need a new bookshelf, as my shelves dedicated to my collection are full.

The Strangers on Montagu Street by Karen White. I have wanted this book for ages, but I refused to request it from her publicist when I knew I was so behind on reviews. I'm still thrilled when I open one of White's books and see my review blurb from The House on Tradd Street on the inside pages. I've read the previous two books in this series, so I wasn't going to miss this new book. Now, I just need to find time to read it.

Lucky Man by Michael J. Fox. I have wanted to read Fox's memoir since I learned it was coming out. He remains one of my favorite actors. I was so thrilled when I learned he was coming back to TV. I can't wait until his new sitcom comes out next year.

Lessons from the Mountain: What I Learned from Erin Walton by Mary McDonough. While The Waltons doesn't hold the same appeal for me as Little House on the Prairie or Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, I rarely missed an episode when it originally aired. I didn't know that Alison Arngrim (Nellie Oleson, Little House on the Prairie) and McDonough were good friends in real life, until I read about a book signing they held together.

I almost picked up Rob Lowe's autobiography, Stories I Only Tell My Friends, but I decided I better curb my enthusiasm before I have to walk over piles of books just to reach my desk.

My final purchase was a DVD titled, Pa's Fiddle: The Music of America. This is a collection of songs Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote about in her Little House books. Overseen by Dale Cockrell, director of MTSU's Center for Popular Music, in conjunction with Peak Moore Enterprises, Inc, and Santa Fe Productions, then manufactured and distributed by Compass Records Group, it features Randy Travis, Rodney Atkins, Ronnie Milsap, Natalie Grant, and other country music greats. This will be an excellent addition to my LIW book collection.

As you can see, I've kept the United States Post Office in business the last couple of weeks. Hope you've enjoyed this peek into my mailbox. Have a great week!

Beautiful in My Eyes by Jewel Adams Giveaway at A Family Friendly Blog

Title: Beautiful In My Eyes

Author: Jewel Adams

Blog: Linda Weaver Clarke’s A Family Friendly Blog

Giveaway Link: http://lindaweaverclarke.blogspot.com/2012/09/interview-with-sweet-romance-author.html

Genre: Sweet Romance

Giveaway Dates: Sept 6 - 12

Open to: International