In our modern world it can be so easy to lose track of the world’s natural cycles. Without effort, we fall into a cacophony of screens glaring and news screaming 24 hours a day. It’s so important to take a step back and remember just how preciously brief life is. How every day is a new opportunity to learn and grow. How those wheeling stars and arcing sun mark the minutes which steadily stream by. Our artwork celebrates this ephemeral world we all share. Tiny bugs focus on survival. Beautiful architecture fades and decays. Everything around us is in a constant state of change. Poetry delves into the cycles of our lives. How relationships alter as they mature. How death comes to us all, even those in love. How each of us is unique, and that is what makes us wonderful. Fiction lets us walk, for a moment, in another person’s shoes. Parents age. Mothers struggle to protect their children. Fathers demonstrate patience and understanding. Non-fiction pulls back the curtains and reminds us we are part of a global community. A woman comes to term with the frailty of her body. A daughter struggles with a distant father. A teacher…
Autumn is a beautiful time of year. Falling foliage. Gentle breezes. Enjoy some poetry, photography, and other artwork to go with this delightful season!
Technology can be a challenge. I fully embrace that concept. I created PermaFreeBooks.com back in 2015 to be able to share information about awesome always-free books with my readers. I set up a newsletter to be able to share news with them. In July 2018, that entire database was wiped out. Technology happens. Backups fail. Systems crash. Despite your best intentions, things go wrong which should have gone right. I am now using MailChimp for my mail provider which is a solid, secure system. Or at least I hope :). If you have previously subscribed to the PermaFreeBooks.com newsletter, please resubscribe to this one. I’ll be able to get to you the latest news about completely free books for you to enjoy and treasure. It wasn’t that long ago that reading was a privilege for the wealthy and elite. Now nearly everyone can take the steps to read. Nearly everyone can bring the world of adventure, romance, fantasy, learning, and growth into their lives. We live in an amazing age. Take that first step. Fill your personal library full of books that you adore. Then delve into them. Subscribe to our mailing list
The seasons seem more and more askew with each passing year. Summer now appears to be the most convoluted of them all. Is it because I live in Massachusetts, where we have traditionally enjoyed quite reliable and beautiful presentations of spring, summer, autumn, and winter? Is it because I’m closing in on fifty and have seen how bizarrely the cycles have altered in recent years? Out of all the strange changes, it’s summer which seems to have gone most topsy-turvy. Which has been stretched and folded like circus candy taffy. It used to be that spring’s gentle breezes really did linger from the March equinox through mid-June’s arrival of stronger sunshine. Despite clothing stores’ exhortations to start buying-buying-buying on Memorial Day Weekend, one could still treasure yoga on the back porch in early June. One could still walk barefoot along the shore without feeling like a broiled lobster. That kind of heat was reserved for July and August. The true summer months. But the seasons are compressing. Pulling. Changing. Winter’s fury pummels deep into April and the plants barely have time to bud and blossom before the oven begins. And if the plants can’t grow, the animals who rely on…
Spring Equinox 2018 – Volume 12, Issue 1 It can seem sometimes as if our world is whirling faster than we can keep up with. Our favorite restaurant where a key event in our life took place shutters its doors without warning. A website storing decades of our financial data gets hacked by miscreants. Brave people step forward and we realize a public figure we had faith in was never worthy of that trust. It can become overwhelming. Exhausting. A balm which rejuvenates is to explore the creative efforts of individuals around us. To begin, turn off the noise and clatter of the world at large. Take a deep breath and instead focus on connecting with one fellow human being who presents their jewel of a thought to you. Examine it mindfully. Consider its meaning. Soak in the moment with this one human. Then connect with another. And another. You will probably find that even though we have different backgrounds, eat different foods, have different skin colors, and wear different clothes, that we share common bonds. Most of us wish to be loved. To have safe shelter. To have ample food to eat. To have someone recognize us as a…
Happy New Year everyone! The latest edition of the Mused Literary Review is live in beautiful responsive design! We’d love feedback. PDF and Print versions are coming soon! http://www.bellaonline.com/review/index.html
Hurrah! I just put live the Audible version of Book 8 in my cozy zoo mystery series. The narrator for this series is absolutely amazing! You definitely need to give her a listen. Book One in this series, The Preening Peacock, featuring Puerto Rican amateur detective Rosalinda Alameda, is FREE on Kindle. I also have codes to hear it for free on Audible. Let me know if you’d like one! This first case takes place at the Franklin Park Zoo. I visit every zoo before writing it up :). https://www.amazon.com/Preening-Peacock-Rosalinda-Alameda-Mystery-ebook/dp/B014GRKH0K/
The Summer issue of the Mused Literary Review is live! FREE! Enjoy great poetry, short stories, photography, paintings, and more! Mused Literary Review – Summer Solstice 2017 Issue
The Deadline for the Spring Issue of the Mused Literary Review is TODAY!! Get your poetry / short story / artwork / photography submitted by tonight for consideration for the upcoming Mused Spring issue! It’s free to submit! http://www.bellaonline.com/review/
Attention Authors! Deadline for Massachusetts Book Award is Thu January 12 2017! Get those books in! https://www.massbook.org/mass-book-awards